In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. Two figures loom large over the early stages of African-American education: Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois. Washington, who was born into slavery in 1856, became the leader of the above-mentioned Tuskegee Institute. He advocated for accommodation and encouraged blacks to bolster themselves through educational and business opportunities, rather than by defying the Jim Crow laws that were taking effect at the time. Though …
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