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In the distributor point aft(prenominal)(prenominal) Reconstruction the position of African Americans in southern American society steadily deteriorated. After 1877 the possibilities of advance handsts for African Americans disappeared just about completely. African Americans experience a loss of voting rights and political power created by methods of terrorisation such as lynching. The remaining political and economic gains that were made during reconstructive memory were eventually whittled a commission by Southern legislation. By the 1900s African Americans had almost no access to political, social, or economic power. Shortly after this Jim vaunt laws began to emerge, segregating blacks and whites. This dramatic transition from African American power to powerlessness after reconstruction gave birth to two all-important(a) leaders in the African American community, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Although these two remarkable men were twain in search of a common last, their roads leading to this goal were significantly different. This is most evident in the two most important documents of the mens careers Booker T. Washingtons, 1895 Atlanta Exposition talk and W.E.B. DuBois response to this, The Souls of Black Folks. These two men were both dedicated to resolving power the difficult problems African Americans experienced in the post reconstruction south. both(prenominal) DuBois and Washington wanted economic prosperity for African Americans but they differed on what would be done to achieve this. Both men focused on education as a key to the improvement of black disembodied spirit but they differed on the form education should take. The true difference in these mens extremely different routes to better the lives of African Americans after reconstruction was a product of their extremely different backgrounds. In this adjudicate I will examine the documents, 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, The S ouls of Black Folks in order to descend the paths that each of these men took towards the advancement of African Americans, and the reasons behind these methods. DuBois and Washington came from extremely different backgrounds. These differences are essential to understanding why each of these men went about trying to achieve progress for their race in the way they did. DuBois, the son of free parents, was born a free man and grew up in a white environment with more privileges and advantages than the majority of African Americans living in the United States at that time. He suffered neither awful economic hardship nor from repeated encounters with racism. In contrast, Booker T.