and political cache, Booker T. Washington was the most famous African American leading the black charge into the 20th Century. His power increased with his economic and political ties through the Tuskegee Institute and his relations with Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, both of whom were racially prejudiced. Mr. Washington believed that blacks should accept their subjugated citizenship for the time being instead of agitating the white population. In his mind, if blacks could earn a dollar through industrial education they would be much better off than fighting the latent power of white society.On the other end of the spectrum, Harvard educated W.E.B. DuBois took the intellectual path to the racial struggle. His theory held that blacks should never accept a lower position in society just because that was the way things were. Through his writings and organizing tactics, DuBois rallied the intelligentsia, The Talented 10th, in order to raise black consciousness above the perceived blind acceptance of Booker T. Washington. DuBois was severely opposed to racial segregation in both politics and economics whereas Washington supported an agenda based on the separation of the races.
