CLASH OF THE TITANS

Booker T. Washington

and

W.E.B. DuBois

**CURRICULUM-BASED EDUCATION PROGRAM**

**GRADE 11**

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**BOOKER T. WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT**

**HARDY, VIRGINIA**

**[MISSION STATEMENT FOR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM]{.underline}**

It is the mission of Booker T. Washington National Monument\'s education
program to satisfy the curriculum needs as specified in the Standards of
Learning for Virginia Public Schools utilizing the park as a classroom.
The programs and activities included in Booker T. Washington National
Monument\'s *Clash of the Titans* educational packet are designed to
meet these requirements while introducing students to the philosophical
differences between Booker T. Washington and W.E. B. DuBois.

By engaging in classroom activities that are appropriate to their grade
level, students will examine in depth Booker T. Washington and W.E.B.
DuBois and gain insight into what motivated these men to act, in what
they felt was the best interest of African Americans of the period.

The activities included in this packet enable students to investigate,
research, and participate in meaningful learning experiences. They will
build a strong foundation in communication skills, research techniques,
computer skills, writing, and thinking in terms of multiple points of
view.

At Booker T. Washington National Monument, students can learn about the
cultural diversity that makes up Franklin County, Virginia. It is the
hope of Booker T. Washington National Monument\'s educational staff that
by learning about the past and the life of Booker T. Washington that we
can evolve in our understanding of the context of race in American
society.

**11^TH^ GRADE PROGRAM**

THEME: Although Booker T. Washington was a nationally respected African
American leader, there were many of his own race who opposed his views,
especially W.E.B. DuBois.

GOALS:

1.  To learn Booker T. Washington\'s philosophy of education and his
    hopes for African Americans.

2.  To learn the philosophy of those who opposed him, especially W.E.B.
    DuBois.

3.  To understand how both of these men\'s philosophies contributed to
    the Civil Rights movement.

OBJECTIVES:

1.  Students will analyze Booker T. Washington\'s \"Atlanta Address.\"

2.  Students will analyze W.E.B. DuBois\' speech at Harpers Ferry, West
    Virginia. (1906)

3.  Students will compare the philosophies of Booker T. Washington with
    W.E.B. DuBois.

4.  Students will research Washington\'s and DuBois\' points of view by
    using primary sources and computer technology.

5.  Students will compare the philosophies and styles of Washington and
    DuBois with the leaders of the Civil Rights movements from the
    1950\'s to the present.

**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

**FOR**

**11^TH^ GRADE PROGRAM**

The 11^th^ grade program at Booker T. Washington National Monument is
designed to compare and contrast Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois,
the men and their philosophies. The program also includes an examination
of these figures and their effects on the modern Civil Rights movement.
There are eight suggested lesson plans that teachers can utilize as they
teach students about the conflict between Washington and DuBois. A trip
to Booker T. Washington National Monument is recommended for further
study.

Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools that are met by the
learning activities are history and social science 11.16, 11.17, and
11.18.

**ACTIVITIES**

1.  The Atlanta Address

> Students will analyze the \"Atlanta Address\" and fill out a speech
> analysis form.

2.  \"The Atlanta Exposition Address\"

3.  Debate

> Students will analyze the philosophies of Booker T. Washington and
> W.E.B. DuBois and argue which benefited African Americans more.

4.  DuBois\' Thoughts on Washington

> Students will analyze and discuss a critique of Mr. Washington by an
> African American contemporary, W.E.B. DuBois, then write reaction
> papers.

5.  Harpers Ferry Speech

> Students will analyze the speech given by W.E.B. DuBois at Harpers
> Ferry and fill out a speech analysis form.

6.  Harpers Ferry Speech given at Storer College

7.  Interviews of Famous Americans

> Students will research famous Americans that lived and influenced the
> era 1865-1915.

8.  Multimedia Presentation

> Students will present to the class a multimedia presentation on
>
> Booker T. Washington or W.E.B. DuBois.

9.  Panel Discussion

> Students will analyze and discuss \"Individual Responsibility.\"

10. \"Individual Responsibility\"

11. Persuasive Writing

> Students will write a persuasive paper opposing or defending Booker T.
> Washington\'s educational philosophy.

12. Booklist

13. Obituary of Booker T. Washington

14. Obituary of W.E.B. DuBois

15. Unveiling Exercises of the Booker T. Washington Memorial

11^TH^ GRADE ACTIVITY

**DEBATE**

Objective: Students will analyze the philosophies of Booker T.
Washington and W.E.B. DuBois and argue which benefited African Americans
more.

Subject: Social Studies

Materials: Research books, internet, paper, pencil

Procedure:

1.  Have students research the philosophies of Washington and DuBois.

2.  Have students research the history of the time period between 1895
    and 1915. Find out what was going on in the country, especially in
    relationship to African Americans. Was the Civil Rights movement
    underway? How were African Americans treated during this period?

3.  Question for debate. Resolve: Booker T. Washington benefited African
    Americans of the late 19^th^ and early 20^th^ century more so than
    W.E.B. DuBois.

4.  Have students formally debate the issue.

5.  After the debate, discuss with students that even though both men
    had very different philosophies and ideas that they both contributed
    to the advancement of their race in their own way. Civil rights
    leaders that came after Washington and DuBois were influenced by
    both. Help the students see the multiple points of view.

11^TH^ GRADE ACTIVITY

**DUBOIS\' THOUGHTS ON WASHINGTON**

Objective: Students will analyze and discuss a critique of Mr.
Washington by an African American contemporary, W.E.B. DuBois, then
write a reaction paper.

Subjects: Social Studies

Materials: A copy of [The Souls of Black Folks]{.underline} by W.E.B.
DuBois, pencil, and paper

Procedure:

1.  Have students read the chapter from [The Souls of Black
    Folks]{.underline} called \"Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and
    Others.\"

2\. Divide the class into small groups to answer questions and discuss
the article.

3\. Have students answer the following questions:

A. Who was W.E.B. DuBois?

B.  Why is Booker T. Washington considered the national leader and
    spokesman for his race?

C.  What does DuBois consider a \"dangerous thing?\"

D.  What is the Revolution of 1876 according to Mr. DuBois?

E.  DuBois says that Washington \"gives up much of what Negroes should
    demand.\" List the three things that DuBois feels is important that
    he says Washington gives up.

F.  What had happened in the last 15 years (1888-1903) to African
    Americans?

G.  Describe DuBois\' two classes of colored Americans.

H.  What does DuBois see as the solution to these problems?

I.  According to DuBois what is the distinct impression left by Mr.
    Washington\'s propaganda?

J.  How does DuBois feel that the problems of the Negro can be resolved?

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4.  After students have analyzed and discussed thoroughly, have them
    write a reaction paper about the critique of Mr. Washington. Do they
    feel that DuBois\' criticisms are valid or not? Have them research
    more about the time period if they are not familiar with the
    treatment of African Americans at that time. Stress that they should
    consider the times and not just view these criticisms through modern
    eyes.

11^TH^ GRADE ACTIVITY

**HARPERS FERRY SPEECH**

Objective: Students will analyze the speech given at Harpers Ferry and
fill out a speech analysis form.

Subject: Social Studies

Materials: Speech analysis form, copy of the speech given at Harpers
Ferry at Storer College, paper, and pencil.

Procedure:

1.  Direct students to make a speech analysis form. The form should
    include:

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A.  Who is making the speech?

B.  What is the topic of the speech?

C.  When and where was the speech made?

D.  List the key ideas of the speech.

E.  Tell whether the speech is informational or persuasive.

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2.  Have students research the following questions:

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A.  What was the Niagara Movement? When was it founded?

B.  Why was the Niagara Movement founded?

C.  Who were members of the Niagara Movement?

D.  Why did the Niagara Movement meet in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia?
    What was the significance?

E.  What was happening to African Americans within the time frame
    1895-1906?

F.  Why were these ideas set down by DuBois considered militant?

G.  Who was the nationally recognized leader of African Americans in
    1906?

H.  Would he have agreed or disagreed with this speech? Why or why not?

**SPEECH GIVEN AT HARPERS FERRY**

**BY W.E.B. DUBOIS**

**AT STORER COLLEGE**

**AUGUST, 1906**

**FOR A MEETING OF THE NIAGARA MOVEMENT**

The men of the Niagara Movement, coming from the toil of the year\'s
hard work, and pausing a moment from the earning of their daily bread,
turn toward the nation and again ask in the name of ten million the
privilege of a hearing. In the past year the work of the Negro hater has
flourished in the land. Step by step the defenders of the rights of
American citizens have retreated. The work of stealing the black man\'s
ballot has progressed and fifty and more representatives of stolen votes
still sit in the nation\'s capital. Discrimination in travel and public
accommodation has so spread that some of our weaker brethren are
actually afraid to thunder against color discrimination as such and are
simply whispering for ordinary decencies.

Against this the Niagara Movement eternally protests. We will not be
satisfied to take one jot or tittle less than our full manhood rights.
We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn
American, political, civil, and social; and until we get theses rights
we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of America. The
battle we wage is not for ourselves alone, but for all true Americans.
It is a fight for ideals, lest this our common fatherland, false to its
founding, become in truth the land of the Thief and the home of the
Slave - a by word and a hissing among the nations for its sounding
pretensions and pitiful accomplishment.

Never before in the modern age has a great and civilized folk threatened
to adopt so cowardly a creed in the treatment of its fellow-citizens,
born and bred on its soil. Stripped of verbiage and subterfuge and in
its naked nastiness, the new American creed says: Fear to let black men
even try to rise lest they become the equals of the white. And this in
the land that professes to follow Jesus Christ. The blasphemy of such a
course is only matched by its cowardice.

In detail our demands are clear and unequivocal. First, we would vote;
with the right to vote goes everything: freedom, manhood, the honor of
our wives, the chastity of our daughters, the right to work, and the
chance to rise, and let no man listen to those who deny this.

We want full manhood suffrage, and we want it now, henceforth and
forever.

Second. We want discrimination in public accommodation to cease.
Separation in railway and street cars, based simply on race and color,
is un-American, undemocratic and silly. We protest against all such
discrimination.

Third. We claim the right of freemen to walk, talk and be with them who
wish to be with us. No man has a right to choose another man\'s friends,
and to attempt to do so is an impudent interference with the most
fundamental human privilege.

Fourth. We want the laws enforced against rich as well as poor; against
Capitalist as well as Laborer; against white as well as black. We are
not more lawless than the white race, we are more often arrested,
convicted and mobbed. We want justice even for criminals and outlaws. We
want the Constitution of the country enforced. We want Congress to take
charge of the Congressional elections. We want the Fourteenth Amendment
carried out to the letter and every State disfranchised in Congress
which attempts to disfranchise its rightful voters. We want the
Fifteenth Amendment enforced and no State allowed to base its franchise
simply on color.

Fifth. We want our children educated. The school system in the country
districts of the South is a disgrace and in few towns and cities are the
Negro schools what they ought to be. We want the national government to
step in and wipe out illiteracy in the South. Either the United States
will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States.

And when we call for education, we mean real education. We believe in
work. We ourselves are workers, but work is not necessarily education.
Education is the development of power and ideal. We want our children
trained a intelligent human beings should be and we will fight for all
time against any proposal to educate black boys and girls simply as
servants and underlings, or simply for the use of other people. They
have a right to know, to think, to aspire.

These are some of the chief things which we want. How shall we get them?
By voting where we may vote; by persistent, unceasing agitation; by
hammering at the truth; by sacrifice and work.

We do not believe in violence, neither in the despised violence of the
raid nor the lauded violence of the soldier, nor the barbarous violence
of the mob; but we do believe in John Brown, in that incarnate spirit of
justice, that hatred of a lie, that willingness to sacrifice money,
reputation, and life itself on the altar of right. And here on the scene
of John Brown\'s martyrdom, we reconsecrate ourselves, our honor, our
property to the final emancipation of the race which John Brown died to
make free.

Source: **[The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois a Soliloquy on Viewing My
Life]{.underline}**

11^th^ GRADE ACTIVITY

**MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION**

Objective: Students will present to the class a multimedia presentation
on Booker T. Washington or W.E.B. DuBois.

Subject: Social Studies

Materials: Computers that have multimedia programs, video camera,
slides, camera, varying types of materials depending on what you have
available.

Procedure:

1.  This activity is going to depend on the type of technology that you
    have available. Some will have access to computers on which a
    multimedia presentation can be constructed. Some may have Windows
    and access to a program such as Microsoft Office Power Point that
    can be used. Others can use varying types of media such as video
    cameras, slides, posters, recordings of music, or mobiles.

2.  Students will choose to work on either Booker T. Washington or
    W.E.B. DuBois.

3.  Research your person. Since students are working on this
    individually, you may only want to take one aspect of the subject\'s
    life for the presentation. For example, Booker T. Washington\'s 1895
    \"Atlanta Address.\"

4.  Put together a presentation using varying media.

5.  Present your project to the class.

11^TH^ GRADE ACTIVITY

**PANEL DISCUSSION**

Objective: Students will analyze and discuss \"Individual
Responsibility.\"

Subject: Social Studies

Materials: A copy of \"Individual Responsibility,\" \* paper, pencil,
video camera (optional)

Procedure:

1.  Have students read \"Individual Responsibility.\"

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2.  After reading \"Individual Responsibility,\" have students answer
    the following questions:

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A.  Who do your actions affect?

B.  Who are the people who are happy?

C.  What is an [essential]{.underline} habit?

D.  Who can you hurt when you fail a subject?

E.  What is the world looking for?

F.  The world has little patience with what?

G.  How does Mr. Washington feel about a person\'s luck?

> H. Is what Mr. Washington said relevant to today\'s youth? Why or why
> not?

3.  Have students write down what they think individual responsibility
    means to them and those around them.

4.  Hold a panel discussion on how a person\'s individual responsibility
    can affect others and the world around them. How can individual
    responsibility have a positive or negative impact on our society?
    Examples: Crime, school shootings, and lack of respect for those
    around us.

5.  Optional - Video tape the panel discussion and make it available to
    other classes to watch and discuss.

\*This is a chapter from the book, [Character Building]{.underline}, by
Booker T. Washington published in 1902.

**INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY**

**By**

**Booker T. Washington**

I have referred in a general way, before this, when I have been speaking
to you, to the fact that each one of you ought to feel an interest in
whatever task is set you to do here over and above the mere bearing
which that task has on your own life. I wish to speak more specifically
to-night on this subject - on what I may term the importance of your
feeling a sense of personal responsibility not only for the successful
performance of every task set you, but for the successful outcome of
every worthy undertaking with which you come in contact.

You ought to realize that your actions will not affect yourselves alone.
In this age it is almost impossible for a man to live for himself alone.
On every side our lives touch those of others; their lives touch ours.
Even if it were possible to live otherwise, few would wish to. A narrow
life, a selfish life, is almost sure to be not only unprofitable but
unhappy. The happy people and the successful people are those who go out
of their way to reach and influence for good as many persons as they
can. In order to do this, though, in order best to fit one\'s self to
live this kind of life, it is important that certain habits be acquired;
and an essential one of these is the habit of realizing one\'s
responsibility to others.

Your actions will affect other people in one way or another, and you
will be responsible for the result. You ought always to remember this,
and govern yourselves accordingly. Suppose it is the matter of the
recitation of a lesson, for instance. Some one may say: \"It is
nobody\'s business but my own if I fail in a recitation. Nobody will
suffer but me.\" This is not so. Indirectly you injure your teacher
also, for while a conscientious, hard-working teacher ought not to be
blamed for the failures of pupils who do not learn simply because they
do not want to, or are too lazy to try, it is generally the case that a
teacher\'s reputation gains or loses as his or her class averages high
or low. And each failure in recitation, for whatever cause, brings down
the average. Then, too, you are having an influence upon your
classmates, even if it be unconscious. There is hardly ever a student
who is not observed by some one at some time as an example. \"There is
such a boy,\" some other student says to himself. \"He has failed in
class ever so many times, and still he gets along. It can\'t make much
difference if I fail once.\" And as a result he neglects his duty, and
does fail.

The same thing is true of work in the industrial departments. Too many
students try to see how easily they can get through the day, or the work
period, and yet not get into trouble. Or even if they take more interest
than this, they care for their work only for the sake of what they can
get out of it for themselves, either as pay, or as instruction which
will enable them to work for pay at some later time. Now there ought to
be a higher impulse behind your efforts than that. Each student ought to
feel that he or she has a personal responsibility to do each task in the
very best manner possible. You owe this not only to your
fellow-students, your teachers, the school, and the people who support
the institution, but you owe it even more to yourselves. Your owe it to
yourselves because it is right and honest, because nothing less than
this is right and honest, and because you never can be really successful
and really happy until you do study and work and live in this way.

I have been led to speak specifically on this subject to-night on
account of two occurrences here which have come to my notice. One of
these illustrates the failure on the part of students to feel this sense
of responsibility to which I have referred. The other affords an
illustration of the possession by a student of a feeling of personal
interest and personal responsibility which has been very gratifying and
encouraging. The first incident, I may say occurred some months ago. It
is possible that the students who were concerned in it may not be here
now or, if they are, that it would not happen again. I certainly hope
not.

A gentleman who had been visiting here was to go away. He left word at
the office of his wish, saying that he planned to leave town on the five
o\'clock train in the afternoon. A boy was sent from the office early in
the afternoon with a note to the barn ordering a carriage to take this
gentleman and his luggage to the station. Half-past four came, and the
man had his luggage brought down to the door of the building in which he
had been staying, so as to be ready when the team came. But no team
came. The visitor finally became so anxious that he walked over to the
barn himself. Just as he reached the barn he met the man who was in
charge there with the note in his hand. The note had only just that
moment reached this man, and of course no carriage had been sent because
the first person who felt that he had any responsibility in the matter
had only just learned that a carriage was wanted. The boy who had
brought the note had given it to another boy and he to someone else, and
he, perhaps, to someone else. At any rate it had been delayed because no
one had taken enough interest in the errand to see that whatever
business the note referred to received proper attention. This occurred,
as I have said, several months ago, before the local train here went
over to Chehaw to meet all of the trains. It happened that this
particular passenger was going north, and it was possible by driving to
Chehaw for him to get there in time to take the north-bound train. If he
had been going the other way, though, towards Montgomery, he would have
lost the train entirely, and, as chanced to be the case, would have been
unable to keep a very important engagement. As it was, he was obliged to
ride to Chehaw in a carriage, and the time of a man and team, which
otherwise would have been saved, was required to take him there.

Now when such a thing as this happens, no amount of saying, \"I am
sorry,\" by the person or persons to blame, will help the matter any. It
is too late to help it then. The thing to do is to feel some
responsibility in seeing that things are done right yourself. Take
enough interest in whatever you are engaged in to see that it is going
to come out in the end just as nearly right, just as nearly perfect, as
anything you can do will go towards making it right or perfect. And if
the task or errand passes our of your hands before it is completed, do
not feel that your responsibility in the matter ends until you have
impressed it upon the minds and heart of the person to whom you turn
over the further performance of the duty.

The world is looking for men and women who can tell one why they can do
this thing or that thing, how a certain difficulty was surmounted or a
certain obstacle removed. But the world has little patience with the man
or woman who takes no real interest in the performance of a duty, or who
runs against a snag and gets discouraged, and then simply tells why he
did not do a thing, and gives excuses instead of results. Opportunities
never come a second time, nor do they wait for leisure. The years come
to us but once, and they come then only to pass swiftly on, bearing the
ineffaceable record we have put upon them. If we wish to make them
beautiful years of profitable years, we must do it moment by moment as
they glide before us.

The other case to which I have referred is pleasanter to speak about.
One day this spring, after it had got late enough in the season so that
it was not as a general thing necessary to have fires to heat our
buildings, a student passing Phelps Hall noticed that there was a volume
of black smoke pouring out of one of the chimneys there. Some boys might
not have noticed the smoke at all; others would have said that it came
from the chimney; still others would have said that it was none of their
business anyway, and would have gone along. This boy was different. He
noticed the smoke, and although he saw, or thought he saw that it came
from the chimney, and if so was probably no sign of harm, he felt that
any smoke at all there at that time was such an unusual thing that it
ought to be investigated for fear it might mean danger to the building.
He was not satisfied until he had gone into the building and had
inspected every floor clear up to the attic, to see that chimney and the
building were not in danger. As it happened, the janitor had built a
fire in the furnace in the basement for some reason, so that the young
man\'s anxiety fortunately was unfounded, but I am heartily glad he had
such an anxiety, and that he could not rest until he found our whether
there was any foundation for it or not. I shall feel that all of our
buildings are safer for his being here, and when he graduates and goes
away I hope he will leave many others here who will have the same sense
of personal responsibility which he had. Let me tell you, here and now,
that unless you young men and young women come to have this
characteristic, your lives are going to fall far short of the best and
noblest achievement possible.

We frequently hear the word \"lucky\" used with reference to a man\'s
life. Two boys start out in the world at the same time, having the same
amount of education. When twenty years have passed, we find one of them
wealthy and independent; we find him a successful professional man with
an assured reputation, or perhaps at the head of a large commercial
establishment employing many men, or perhaps a farmer owning and
cultivating hundreds of acres of land. We find the second boy, grown now
to be a man working for perhaps a dollar or a dollar and a half a day,
and living from hand to mouth in a rented house. When we remember that
the boys started out in life equal-handed, we may be tempted to remark
that the first boy has been fortunate, that fortune has smiled on him;
and that the second has been unfortunate. There is no such nonsense as
that. When the first boy saw a thing that he knew he ought to do, he did
it; and he kept rising from one position to another until he became
independent. The second boy was an eye-servant who was afraid that he
would do more than he was paid to do - he was afraid that he would give
fifty cents\' worth of labour for twenty-five cents. He watched the
clock, for fear that he would work one minute past twelve o\'clock at
noon and past six o\'clock at night. He did not feel that he had any
responsibility to look out for his employer\'s interests. The first boy
did a dollar\'s worth of work for fifty cents. He was always ready to be
at the store before time; and then, when the bell rang to stop work, he
would go to his employer and ask him if there was not something more
that ought to be done that night before he went home. I was this quality
in the first boy that made him valuable and caused him to rise. Why
should we call him \"fortunate\" or \"lucky?\" I think it would be much
more suitable to say of him: \"He is responsible.\"

**BOOKLIST**

Ayers, Edward L., *The Promise of the New South.* Oxford University
Press, NY, 1992.

Denton, Virginia Lantz, *Booker T. Washington and the Adult Education
Movement.* University Press of Florida, 1993.

DuBois, W.E.B., *The Souls of Black Folk.* Penguin Books, NY, 1989.

Franklin, John Hope and Meier, August (ed.), *Black Leaders of the
Twentieth Century.* University of Illinois Press, Chicago, 1982.

Harlan, Louis R., *Booker T. Washington, the Wizard of Tuskegee,
1901-1915.* Oxford University Press, 1983.

Harlan, Louis R., *The Making of a Black Leader, 1856-1901.* Oxford
University Press, NY, 1972.

King, Wilma, *Stolen Childhood Slave Youth in Nineteenth-Century
America.* Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 1995.

Lewis, David Levering, *W.E.B. DuBois Biography of a Race, 1868-1919.*
Henry Holt and Company, NY, 1993.

Lewis, David Levering (ed.), *W.E.B. DuBois a Reader.* Henry Holt and
Company, NY, 1995.

Loewen, James W., *Lies My Teacher Told Me.* Simon and Schuster, NY,
1996.

Mackintosh, Barry, *Booker T. Washington An Appreciation of the Man and
his Times.*

National Park Service, 1972.

Paschal, Andrew (ed.), *W.E.B. DuBois a Reader.* Macmillan Publishing
Co., NY, 1971.

Washington, Booker T., *Up From Slavery.* Penguin Books, NY, 1986.