Which leader advocated vocational training for Black Americans?

• A. W.E.B. Du Bois
• B. Ida B. Wells
• C. Frederick Douglass
• D. Booker T. Washington

Answer: (D)

Focusing on how Black leaders guided progress after Reconstruction, this question highlights practical education as a path to economic independence. Booker T. Washington argued that vocational and industrial training would equip Black Americans with marketable skills, prove their value to a hostile society, and gradually earn rights. He put this into practice by founding the Tuskegee Institute to provide hands-on training in trades. This emphasis on work-based education is why he is associated with advocating vocational training. Other leaders had different approaches: W. E. B. Du Bois pushed for immediate pursuit of higher education and civil rights, Ida B. Wells concentrated on anti-lynching activism, and Frederick Douglass championed abolition and broad education, but none are as closely linked to vocational training as Washington.