Final answer:
Booker T. Washington advocated for economic self-improvement and industrial education within the segregated system, while W. E. B. Du Bois criticized Washington's approach and emphasized the need for civil and political rights and higher education for cultivating leadership against racial segregation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The descriptions and critiques of Booker T. Washington by W. E. B. Du Bois differ primarily in their approach to African American advancement and social change. Washington, often seen as a conservative figure within Black politics, endorsed a philosophy of self-help and industrial education, advocating for blacks to improve their economic status as a means to gain equality. He focused on vocational training and saw value in the segregated system, believing that African Americans could advance by working within it. He is famous for the Atlanta Compromise, which implicitly accepted segregation in exchange for black economic progress.
In contrast, Du Bois, a Harvard-educated Northerner, critiqued Washington's views, particularly in his work 'The Souls of Black Folk'. Du Bois found Washington's willingness to accommodate segregation and his silence on civil and political rights to be misguided, even detrimental to the fight for equality. He proposed instead that a 'talented tenth' of the black population should receive a higher education in the liberal arts to develop leadership, which was critical to dismantling systemic racism and segregation. Du Bois's disagreement with Washington also led him to co-found the Niagara Movement, which later became the NAACP, emphasizing litigation to challenge segregation and the pursuit of equal rights.