This, he said, would win the respect of whites and lead to African Americans being fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all strata of society. W.E.B. Du Bois, a towering black intellectual, scholar and political thinker (1868-1963) said no--Washington's strategy would serve only to perpetuate white oppression. Du Bois advocated political action and a civil rights agenda (he helped found the NAACP).