Du Bois criticizes Washington for advocating submission, arguing that Washington's program practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races. Du Bois contends that surrendering political power, civil rights, and higher education, as suggested by Washington, implies a concession to inferiority rather than the assertion of self-respect and equal rights. Option C is correct.
W.E.B. Du Bois criticizes Booker T. Washington for promoting a philosophy of submission in his advice to the black community. Du Bois argues that Washington's emphasis on industrial education, wealth accumulation, and conciliation of the South implies the acceptance of alleged Negro inferiority.
Du Bois rejects Washington's plea to temporarily surrender political power, civil rights, and higher education, contending that such concessions compromise self-respect and perpetuate inequality. Washington's approach, according to Du Bois, deviates from the historical principle that self-respect is paramount, particularly in times of economic development, and implies that survival for the Negro is contingent upon submission, a notion Du Bois vehemently opposes.
The correct option is C.
The complete question is:
W.E.B. Du Bois Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission; but adjustment at such a peculiar time as to make his programme unique. This is an age of unusual economic development, and Mr. Washington’s programme naturally takes an economic cast, becoming a gospel of Work and Money to such an extent as apparently almost completely to overshadow the higher aims of life. Moreover… Mr. Washington’s programme practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races.… In the history of nearly all other races and peoples the doctrine preached at such crises has been that manly self-respect is worth more than lands and houses, and that a people who voluntarily surrender such respect, or cease striving for it, are not worth civilizing. In answer to this, it has been claimed that the Negro can survive only through submission. 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, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South. Question: What is Du Bois' primary criticism of Mr. Washington's advice to the black community? Group of answer choices
A. Washington advises the black community to organize protests as a way to fight for equal rights.
B. Washington believes that black and white people should not live in the same neighborhoods.
C. Washington's advice focuses on submission by the black community, which suggests that they are inferior to white people.
D. Washington is too focused on political issues and does not address the other challenges that black people face.