Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were very important African American leaders in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They both felt strongly that African Americans should not be treated unequally in terms of education and civil rights. They had strong beliefs that education was important for the African American community and stressed that educating African Americans would lead them into obtaining government positions, possibly resulting in social change. Although Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had similar goals to achieve racial equality in the United States, they had strongly opposing approaches in improving the lives of the black population. Washington was a conservative activist who felt that the subordination to white leaders was crucial for African Americans in becoming successful and gaining political power. On the other hand, Du Bois took a radical approach and voiced his opinion through public literature and protest, making it clear that racial discrimination and segregation were intolerable. The opposing ideas of these African American leaders are illustrated in Du Bois’ short story, “Of the Coming of John”, where Du Bois implies his opposition to Washington’s ideas. He shows that the subordination of educated black individuals does not result in gaining respect or equality from the white community. In fact, he suggests that subordination would lead the black community to be further oppressed by whites. However contrasting their views might have been, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were significant influential black leaders of their time, who changed the role of the black community in America. Booker T. Washington’s ideologies for economic advancement and self-help played a major role in his approach to fight for equal rights. By founding the Tuskegee Institute in Mound Bayou, he created a university that was segregated for black students and encouraged higher educational standards (Meier 396). These students were also encouraged to follow the social system of segregation in order to achieve political status in the United States. In an interview with reporter Ralph McGill, Du Bois recalls that in the process of obtaining funds for the Tuskegee Institute “Washington would promise [white philanthropists] happy contented labor for their new enterprises. He reminded them there would be no strikers” (Du Bois, qtd. in McGill 5). This shows the nature of Washington’s contradicting approach in obtaining political power by embracing the system of segregation and working with white leaders rather than against them to achieve his goals. Washington’s view was clearly addressed in his famous speech “The Atlanta Compromise” when he stated “in all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (“Atlanta”). These words supported the segregation of schools that were unequal in the type of education that black students received compared to white students. This therefore complied with the social status that was imposed on the black community to educate black students to become labor workers rather than politicians. On the other hand, W.E.B. Du Bois chose to publicly speak out against segregation and published many literary works that favored racial equality. He states in his chapter “Of the Training of Black Men” from his book The Souls of Black Folk, that a black college “must maintain the standards of popular education, it must seek the social regeneration of the Negro, and it must help in the solution of problems of race contact and cooperation” (13). Rather than complying with the inferior standards set for them, this idea fought for an equal education that would allow black students to become ambitious and educated enough to possibly take on political positions. In contrast to Washington’s views, Du Bois believed that in accepting the subordinate cultur