Some moderate reformers, like Booker T. Washington,
earned support from whites. Washington suggested that
whites and blacks work together for social progress.
A PERSONAL VOICE BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
“ To those of the white race . . . I would repeat what I say
to my own race. . . . Cast down your bucket among these
people who have, without strikes and labour wars, tilled
your fields, cleared your forests, builded your railroads and
cities, and brought forth treasures from the bowels of the
earth. . . . In all things that are purely social we can be as
separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things
essential to mutual progress.
”
—Atlanta Exposition address, 1895
Washington hoped that improving the economic skills
of African Americans would pave the way for long-term
gains. People like Ida B. Wells and W. E. B. Du Bois, howev-
er, thought that the problems of inequality were too urgent
to postpone.
VIOLENCE
African Americans and others who did not fol-
low the racial etiquette could face severe punishment or
death. All too often, blacks who were accused of violating
the etiquette were lynched. Between 1882 and 1892, more
than 1,400 African-American men and women were shot,
burned, or hanged without trial in the South. Lynching
peaked in the 1880s and 1890s but continued well into the
20th century.
DISCRIMINATION IN THE NORTH
Most African Americans lived in the segregated
South, but by 1900, a number of blacks had moved to Northern cities. Many blacks
migrated to Northern cities in search of better-paying jobs and social equality. But
after their arrival, African Americans found that there was racial discrimination in
the North as well. African Americans found themselves forced into segregated
neighborhoods. They also faced discrimination in the workplace. Labor unions
often discouraged black membership, and employers hired African-American
labor only as a last resort and fired blacks before white employees.
Sometimes the competition between African Americans and working-class
whites became violent, as in the New York City race riot of 1900. Violence erupt-
ed after a young black man, believing that his wife was being mistreated by a
white policeman, killed the policeman. Word of the killing spread, and whites
retaliated by attacking blacks. Northern blacks, however, were not alone in facing
discrimination. Non-whites in the West also faced oppression.
Discrimination in the West
Western communities were home to people of many backgrounds working and
living side by side. Native Americans still lived in the Western territories claimed
by the United States. Asian immigrants went to America’s Pacific Coast in search
of wealth and work. Mexicans continued to inhabit the American Southwest.
African Americans were also present, especially in former slave-holding areas,
such as Texas. Still, racial tensions often made life difficult.
MEXICAN WORKERS
In the late 1800s, the railroads hired more Mexicans than
members of any other ethnic group to construct rail lines in the Southwest.
494 C
HAPTER 16
B
WASHINGTON VS. DU BOIS
Booker T. Washington argued for
a gradual approach to racial
equality—suggesting that “it is at
the bottom of life we must begin,
and not at the top.”
Ten years later, W. E. B. Du
Bois denounced this view of grad-
ual equality. Du Bois demanded
full social and economic equality
for African Americans, declaring
that “persistent manly agitation
is the way to liberty.”
In 1909 the Niagara Movement,
founded by Du Bois in 1905,
became the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP), with Du Bois as
the editor of its journal, The
Crisis. He wrote, “We refuse to
surrender . . . leadership . . . to
cowards and trucklers. We are
men; we will be treated as men.”
The NAACP continues the fight for
racial equality today.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Summarizing
What were
Booker T.
Washington’s
views about
establishing racial
equality?
C
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Contrasting
How did
conditions for
African Americans
in the North differ
from their
circumstances in
the South?
B. Answer
He believed it
was best not to
emphasize legal
equality but to
concentrate on
creating eco-
nomic opportu-
nities for African
Americans.
C. Answer
Discrimination
existed in both
the North and
the South, but
the rules of seg-
regation were
more strict and
pervasive in the
South.
