William Gaines: "African American Leadership: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois"

William E. Gaines has a long-standing interest in African-American

leadership, both historical and for the future. His talk on W.E.B. Du Bois and

Booker T. Washington will include: background of the two leaders (early life,

education and race relations); Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise Speech

and W.E.B. Du Bois’s reaction to the speech; Technical Education vs. Higher

Education; obstacles in achieving civil rights; lynching; Southern Democrats;

and the impact of the two leaders on race relations in the 20th and 21st

century.

Mr. Gaines did his undergraduate work at Lincoln University in

Pennsylvania and later earned Master's Degrees in History and in Education

Administration. He has taught at Union County College and Essex County College

as well as for 26 years at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, where

he teaches World History and African History. In 1989, as a German Marshall

Fund Exchange Recipient, he traveled to Germany where he lectured on W.E.B. Dubois

and Booker T. Washington. A resident of the Maplewood-South Orange communities

for 30 years, he was a South Orange Villager of the Month in 1996. In 2002, he

was honored with a NAACP Community Award and was profiled in the “Neat Things

Done By Teachers” column in the New Jersey Education Association Review. He was

chair of the Discipline Review Committee at Columbia High School that wrote the

report resulting in a successful alternative high school program in South

Orange-Maplewood, and he is the Coordinator for the Columbia High School

African-American History Challenge Bowl team that has won 4 of 5 competitions

at the state level.

 The Ethical Culture Society of Essex

County is a progressive non-theist religion dedicated to living ethically in a

complex world. Founded in l876 and established in Maplewood in l945, over the

years the ethical culture movement (known as The American Ethical Union) has

been instrumental in launching Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, Visiting Nurses, New

York Settlement House, Fieldston School, and National Ethical Service at the UN.

The Society began a long-running Ethics for Children program and most recently,

Time Essex Exchange (a time bank facilitating the exchange of services) among

other initiatives. The Maplewood Society was the first peace site in the

country. Its motto is: to act so as to bring out the best in ourselves by

bringing out the best in others.  

Contact information:

973-763-1905; www.essexethical.org. Join us for

weekly programs, discussions, and fellowship Sundays at 11 am. All are welcome.