Final answer:
Booker T. Washington prioritized vocational training over liberal arts education for African Americans, promoting self-improvement and economic self-reliance within the segregated society of the time.
Step-by-step explanation:
Booker T. Washington believed that African Americans should focus on vocational and practical education rather than pursuing a liberal arts education or going to college. His educational philosophy was influenced by his mentor, General Samuel C. Armstrong, who saw industrial education as the way to uplift African Americans morally and economically by making them self-supporting and providing a labor force for the South. Washington's approach at the Tuskegee Institute, which he founded, was to teach skills that would help African Americans be successful and gain respect by working their way up in society, emphasizing self-improvement within the segregated environment rather than directly challenging the system of segregation. This approach contrasted with W. E. B. Du Bois's view that higher education was critical for developing African American leaders who could fight for racial equality.