I feel that Washington was making a bigger impact because he was a slave. Which means that he knows what it is like to suffer and what people have to do to get away from that lifestyle. Such as Du Bois has not been in that position and does not know the ways to get through to someone and "please" an owner. Washington knew how to get to an owner and by making his speech to the cotton states he knew the way that he had to deliver it to get the owners attention to make a change.