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Education used to be considered a goal of many immigrants and was their only way to achieve economic and social success. Americans desired an education as well but did not have the same education as immigrants, because immigrants sent their children to schools who taught their own history and in their own language. 150 new colleges opened to the public and philanthropists began to educate through these schools. There were two very significant figures in the development of educational equality which eventually led to overall equality. Booker T. Washington believed that learning a vocational skill would give blacks economic security and also insisted that racism would end once black people learned labor skills and proved their economic value to society. He founded the Tuskegee Institute for this cause in 1881 which was later turned into a university. W.E.B. Dubois was the first black Harvard graduate, and strongly disagreed with Washington's gradual approach. He believed that political rights and equality should come first and encouraged blacks to get a liberal arts education in order to become the leaders of tomorrow. He developed the Niagara Movements in 1905 that insisted blacks should receive a liberal arts degree so that the African American community would have well educated leaders.

Danzer, Gerald A. The Americans. Orlando, Fla.: Holt McDougal ;, 2012. Print. "School Segregation Is a Thing Again, According to Research." PBS. PBS. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.