Du Bois and educator Booker T. Washington that describes the social history of African-American people in the southern United States.
Washington also adds a bit to the end of his lecture regarding the relationship that Black Americans have with Christianity and how that helped them when creating a life after slavery.
Continuing where he left off on "the Economic Development of the Negro Race in Slavery," Washington states that he wishes to talk about the things that were to Black Americans' disadvantage when creating a life post-slavery.
This notion was challenged, he says, as abolition sentiments grew stronger and the democratic Methodist and Baptist churches spread.
His belief was that in focusing on improving their economic situation, or valuing the importance of what he called "green power," they would gain the rights many were fighting a losing battle for.
For this reason he proposed to put the emphasis at present upon training in the skilled trades and encouragement in industry and common labor.
"[6][5] In "The Economic Revolution in the South," Du Bois touches upon aspects of Antebellum Southern culture that reinforced the institution of slavery like paternalism through his discussion of serfdom paralleling the experiences of Black people.
[2][9][7] He may have also been referring to the rise of sharecropping after the Civil War, which also made it difficult for former slaves to find independence of their former masters.
In Du Bois' personal life, he "retained a deep spiritual identification with the radical, messianic tradition of black faith," and was a lifelong critic of Western Christianity.