As you walk up the stairs to the library at the HBCU where I teach, you’ll see two 9-foot-by-5-foot photographic portraits on opposing walls.
On one side, W.E.B. Du Bois, on the other, Booker T. Washington, staring at each other, not smiling. Their rivalry, which lies at the heart of the Black intellectual tradition, escorts you up the stairs to the books.
When I was teaching sociology, I would bring my students to this spot and lecture in that staircase, explaining to them that Du Bois was a champion of grand systemic change while Washington was a pragmatist focused on better jobs for Black people, which was why he founded the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University).
Chris Caldwell
These two giants never saw eye to eye, never resolved their tension. (Footnote here: Gary Dorrien, speaking at Harvard Divinity School in 2015, noted that had our college’s namesake, William J. Simmons, not died at an early age, he might have been the one person with the stature to bring the two together.)
As I explained this tension to students, I always leaned personally in the direction of Du Bois, because he had bigger dreams and broader goals. But I learned something the first time I assigned the homework based on the lecture, which was an essay question: “Whose side would you say you are on, Washington’s or Du Bois’s, and why?”
I figured most everybody would side with Du Bois, but I was wrong. A majority did, yes, but a sizable minority always were drawn to the pragmatic side of Washington. In essence, they would argue, “We need tangible progress more than hoped-for sweeping change.”
Lately I’m finding myself siding with my Booker T. students in the age of Trump. As I watch the Supreme Court gut the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and as I see progressive movements continue to squabble with each other, I’m wondering if times like these call us to honor the old Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond tradition of “finding a towel with your name on it.”
I’m the same age as the Civil Rights Act, and I have seen few deep structural changes in my lifetime. So maybe (in the Richard Rorty sense), today is a time for “campaigns” rather than “movements.” Maybe we progressives need less Sturm und Drang and more grit. Maybe it’s time to be less philosophical and more strategic. Maybe we need to spend less time looking for virtue signaling in favor of long-term causes, more time focusing on short-term struggles.
Jesus, of course, was a mix of Du Bois and Washington. He spoke of light overcoming darkness and of God’s reign changing everything. But he also was a pragmatist whose sandals marched ever forward, who rounded up his entourage of 12 not at the philosophy or sociology departments of Galilee University, but rather at the local Wendy’s.
So, in short, what say we focus less on movements and the “moral arc of the universe.” Instead, let’s “be of good cheer,” think strategically and choose campaigns worth fighting.
Chris Caldwell is a sometimes preacher who teaches at Simmons College of Kentucky and BSK Theological Seminary. He’s also a member of the BNG board of directors.