Final answer:
Booker T. Washington advocated for Black empowerment through education and economic self-sufficiency, whereas W.E.B. Du Bois emphasized immediate equality and civil rights, rejecting any acceptance of segregation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were two pivotal figures in African American history, offering differing ideologies on how to achieve equality for African Americans during the Jim Crow Era. Washington, who was born into slavery, advocated for Black empowerment through education and entrepreneurship, believing that a focus on vocational training and economic self-sufficiency would lead to respect and equality. He emphasized the development of skills and character in his famous work, Up from Slavery. In contrast, Du Bois, who was a Harvard-educated Northerner from the black upper class, pushed for immediate equality and civil rights and believed that African Americans should not accept segregation or any form of inferior treatment. As a result, he published The Souls of Black Folk, which critiqued Washington's views and established the Niagara Movement, which opposed Washington's conservative approach, advocating for full civil liberties and an end to racial discrimination.