Lecture 6. Uplift, Accommodation, and Assimilation (continued)

American History: From Emancipation to the Present (AFAM 162)

In this lecture, Professor Holloway explains the two major schools of thought that emerged at the end of the century to solve the problems of black social and economic distress. The accommodationists, like Booker T. Washington, believed that the quickest way to improve the quality of black life was to forge a social peace with powerful whites, temporarily accepting the continued separation of the races and advocating vocational education as a pragmatic way for blacks to improve their lives. Opposed to Washington were people like Anna Julia Cooper and W.E.B. Du Bois who embraced assimilation and saw higher education as the cure-all to racialized problems. Du Bois, in particular, is famous for his assertion that it would be the "Talented Tenth" of the race who would lead blacks to a better life.

00:00 - Chapter 1. The Chronological Context for Today's Lecture
04:39 - Chapter 2. Booker T. Washington and the Politics of Accommodation and Assimilation
29:59 - Chapter 3. W.E.B. Du Bois and the Politics of Accommodation and Assimilation

Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu


This course was recorded in Spring 2010.