Booker T. Washington felt that demanding civil and equal rights for African Americans were pointless in the south wherein political control was essentially handed back to confederate leaders and the government turned a blind eye towards discriminatory laws and practices in the south.
Washington asserted that if African Americans displayed themselves as hard workers, financially responsible, and economically important that the issues of civil rights and social equality would solve themselves. This was very controversial at the time as many African Americans felt that Washington’s plan would be accommodating the agenda of southern whites’ disenfranchisement activities.