In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, there were many conflicts between races primarily African Americans and whites. African Americans were not treated the same as white people.

Their individual rights were taken away at times and even worse, their lives. The three following documents, Lynch Law in Georgia, Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Address (1895), and W.E.B.DuBois Critique of Booker T. Washington (1903) explains just how the African

American race had to battle racial unjustification coming into the 20th century.

A pamphlet written by Ida B. Wells-Barnett titled Lynch Law in Georgia, contains diffrent lynching accounts and a police report behind a brutal killing of Samuel Wilkes. Wilkes was accused of killing Alfred Cranford. He worked for Mr.Cranford and knew him well. He was also accused of assaulting Mrs. Cranford after killing her husband. He denied assaulting Mrs.

Cranford. On the other hand, he did admit to throwing an axe at Mr.Cranford after an argument. The argument started when Wilkes asked Mr.Cranford for some money to go visit his mother.

Mr.Cranford never gave any money to Wilkes nor allowed him to leave to see his mother. He threw an axe at Mr.Crandford and fled to see his mother. A mob got a hold of this incident,

captured Wilkes, and threatened to hang him if he did not plead guilty to assaulting Mrs. Cranford. After multiple attempts of trying to explain to the mob that he was guilty, Major Thomas spoke on his behalf saying,”Hose said Lige had promised to give him $20 to kill Cranford, and I believe Lige has not had $20 since he has been on my place. This is a law-

abiding Negro you are about to hang. He has never done any of you any harm, and now I want you to promise me that you: will turn him over either to the bailiff of this town or to some one who is entitled to receipt for him, in order that he may be given a hearing on his case. I do not

ask that you liberate him. Hold him and if the courts adjudge him guilty, hang him”(Barnett 12). Major Thomas was trying to get the mob off of Wilkes' case and let him have a civil court case as he deserved. Wilkes still continued to plead innocent and the mob brutally lynched him. Barnett wrote this pamphlet to inform and educate the public of America on how an African American life still meant nothing after the reconstruction period. People still found a way to take away

African American civil rights and no justice was served to them. The Lynch Law in Georgia pamphlet contradicts Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Address (1895) due to the fact that Barnett express to us that African Americans were still being robbed of their civil rights after the reconstruction time period. White people and African Americans were still having racial

conflicts. On the other hand, Washington wants to put all of the differences in the past and move forward for a new South for African Americans and whites. He believes that both races must

come together to build a brighter tomorrow, but if African Americans do as Washington says they are still throwing away their civil rights in which they deserve.

In the Atlanta Exposition Address (1895) written by Booker T. Washington, Washington speaks to a multiracial crowd about his goals for putting the racial differences in the past in the South. He is speaking to the president, the board of directors, and the citizens of the South. The overall message of the speech was for African Americans to have a fair chance in the real world, and for African American equality. He wanted African Americans to hold office positions, to be treated fairly in the name of law, and for African Americans to hold job occupations other than

working with their hands. He also wanted white people to see that African Americans are not bad

people as they are portrayed to be. Washington asserted, “Nearly sixteen millions of hands will aid you in pulling the load upwards, or they will pull you against the load downwards. We shall constitute one third and more of the ignorance and crime of the South, or one third its intelligence and progress; we shall contribute one third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South, or we shall prove a veritable body of death, stagnating, depressing, retarding every effort to advance the body politic”(Washington). With that being said, Washington believed with the help of African Americans and his followers, together they could bring new opportunities to the South. He believes that his goals will be met by the kindness and willingness of others, learning along the way as well as making mistakes, and to stop fighting segregation and just learn skills. His speech was written to inform the South on how the two races should put aside the past, and to bring new business to the surrounding areas. Washington's speech counters W.E.B.DuBois Critique of Booker T. Washington (1903) because, W.E.B.Dubois argues that

Booker T. Washinton is throwing away the civil rights of African Americans. He believes that African Americans should still be fighting segregation instead of letting it all go into the past.

W.E.B.DuBois Critique of Booker T. Washington (1903) was created to revise Booker T. Washington's goals for a new South. He targeted his audience to Booker T. Washington himself and his followers. First off, he implies that Washinton made it seem like a perfect plan to carry

out. DuBois says, “His doctrine has tended to make the whites, North and South, shift the burden of the Negro problem to the Negro’s shoulders and stand aside as critical and rather pessimistic

spectators; when in fact the burden belongs to the nation, and the hands of none of us are clean if we bend not our energies to righting these great wrongs”(DuBois). He believes that African

Americans should stand up for their civil rights. He also contradicts Washington's idea of

working with the hands for a brighter future. Dubois believes in education and civil rights to

build a new foundation for African Americans. Again, W.E.B.Dubois Critique of Booker T. Washington (1903) contradicts Booker T. Washinton’s Atlanta Exposition Address (1895) being, Dubois and Washington have different views on a new South. DuBois beliefs in standing up for African American civil rights as well as being educated for progress to adhere. On the other hand, Washington wants to forget and forgive the white people for their racial discrimination and for African Americans to work from the groud up with her hands to prove their worthiness to the South.

With all of the information from the three documents, African Americans still struggled entering the twentieth century. Although African Americans were free, they did not get the same

treatment as a white person. Racial inequality still existed. White people still found a way to treat African Americans poorly as if nothing has changed. African American children were still fighting to get into school. African American men and women were still fighting to obtain jobs other than cheap paying farm labor. The main point is through all of the struggles that were happening, they never stopped fighting for their civil rights. Ida B. Wells-Barnett did not stay

silent. Barnett wrote, “The purpose of this pamphlet is to give the public the facts, in the belief that there is still a sense of justice in the American people, and that it will yet assert itself in

condemnation of outlawry and in defense of oppressed and persecuted humanity”(Barnett). She believed through her writings, she could bring the dark to light. In the late eighteen hundreds, a debate formed on how to fight racial segregation. Booker T. Washington gave his

famous Atlanta Exposition Address and gained a heavy amount of followers. Washington spoke, “Our greatest danger is, that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labor and put brains and