I don't think that he's necessarily trying to appease white people. I think he's just trying to speak in a way that unites all races.

That's what I thought too. It just makes sense to maintain a certain calm demeanor when trying to convince anyone of anything. I don't...

... think he's acting nonthreatening and compliant to somehow pacify anyone.

But I think Washington does a good job of that in sharing certain details that drive home his message, like the breaking in of the flax...

shirt. If he would have tried to encompass all of what slavery was like, if would have been sensory overload and many people would have, ...

... I think, broken down. He's also not writing a realist depiction of slavery so much as a persuasive speech about what to now, so some...

details might have obscured his point. (Phew!)

I think he should get the benefit of the doubt since he actually went through it...

That's why I have a problem with Dubois take on it. He didn't live it like Washington did. He was able to get an education...

...he had the luxuries that Booker T. didn't. He reminds me sort of an armchair quarterback. He criticizes Washington's views...

...when he didn't have the experiences Washington did. Washington lived it, Dubois didn't.

Washington’s approach in attempt to reunite the races was very effective in appealing to a variety of people.

He was killing them with kindness!!! Which is a great strategy for this time.

(sorry this is behind the curve) i think if washington would have delved more into slavery's miseries it would have distracted from his

point. he wanted people to begin moving on, and to stay so absorbed in the past limits possibilities for the future. BTWs complacency toward

his past gives way for his chance to redefine himself in society. were it his point to shout "i'm a former slave!" prevents anyone black or

white from thinking of him as anything else.

yeah, i don't really know that he was trying to do that. Only he knows where his heart was, but it's possible for people to not be bitter