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In the period subsequently Reconstruction the position of African Americans in southern American society steadily deteriorated. After 1877 the possibilities of advancements for African Americans disappeared almost completely. African Americans experience a loss of voting rights and political force out created by methods of terrorization such as lynching. The remaining political and economic gains that were made during reconstruction were eventually whittled away by Southern legislation. By the 1900s African Americans had almost no access to political, social, or economic power. Shortly after this Jim Crow laws began to emerge, segregating blacks and whites. This dramatic transition from African American power to powerlessness after reconstruction gave birth to two important leaders in the African American community, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Although these two remarkable men were both in search of a common goal, their roads leading to this goal were significantly di fferent. This is most evident in the two most important documents of the mens careers Booker T. Washingtons, 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech and W.E.B. DuBois response to this, The Souls of Black Folks. These two men were both dedicated to solving the difficult problems African Americans experienced in the post reconstruction south. both 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 life but they differed on the form education should take. The neat 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 essay I will examine the documents, 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folks in order to curb 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 close 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 severe economic hardship nor from reiterate encounters with racism. In contrast, Booker T.