The twentieth century was the century in which African-Americans fought their way into American democracy. But it did not begin that way. From 1895 until 1915, Booker T. Washington advised African-Americans, with considerable success, to adopt a different course. He believed that blacks were unlikely to attain equal rights through political protest. Hence, they should stop fighting racial segregation and political exclusion. Equality would come only after blacks had attained a substantial level of economic success. In order to achieve this, African-Americans would have to build their own institutions – schools, businesses, and the like. Thus, Washington advised accommodation, economic initiative, and racial self-help. And his was not idle advice, for Washington became the most influential black leader of his day – possibly of any day.