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The excerpt below is from "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others" in The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois:

Mr. Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things,—

First, political power,

Second, insistence on civil rights,

Third, higher education of Negro youth,—and concentrate all their energies on industrial education, and accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South. This policy has been courageously and insistently advocated for over fifteen years, and has been triumphant for perhaps ten years. As a result of this tender of the palm-branch, what has been the return? In these years there have occurred:

1. The disfranchisement of the Negro.
2. The legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the Negro.
3. The steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher training of the Negro.

These movements are not, to be sure, direct results of Mr. Washington's teachings; but his propaganda has, without a shadow of doubt, helped their speedier accomplishment. The question then comes: Is it possible, and probable, that nine millions of men can make effective progress in economic lines if they are deprived of political rights, made a servile caste, and allowed only the most meager chance for developing their exceptional men? If history and reason give any distinct answer to these questions, it is an emphatic NO.

What three things does DuBois state are the goals of Washington's agenda for the black people?

political power, civil rights, higher education
enfranchisement, legal status, institutional aid
industrial education, accumulation of wealth, conciliation of the South
peace, happiness, prosperity

1 Answer

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Final answer:

DuBois stated that Booker T. Washington's agenda for Black people consisted of giving up political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education in favor of industrial education, wealth accumulation, and conciliation of the South.

Step-by-step explanation:

The goals of Booker T. Washington's agenda for Black people, according to DuBois in "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others" from The Souls of Black Folk, were for Black people to temporarily give up three specific things:

  1. Political power,
  2. Insistence on civil rights,
  3. Higher education of Negro youth, and instead focus their efforts on industrial education, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South.

DuBois critiqued Washington's approach, arguing that it indirectly aided in the disenfranchisement of Black people, the creation of a status of civil inferiority, and the withdrawal of aid from institutions for higher education.

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