Meet Booker T. Washington:
American Hero
May 17, 2012
Booker T. Washington was one of the last of his kind, born a slave on a tobacco farm in 1856 and rose as one of the figures instrumental in inspiring and advocating for African-Americans. A brilliant orator, he gained recognition from many influential figures and philanthropists who helped him to build schools for children in the south, one of his great passions.
Theodore Roosevelt was one of Washington's great admirers and referred to him as "one of the most useful citizens of our land."
Washington founded what is now Tuskegee University in 1881. He was a champion for the legal challenges of Jim Crow laws. He became the first African-American to receive an honorary degree from Harvard University in 1896, and a Boston newspaper ranked him among "our national benefactors." By the time of Washington's death in 1915, Tuskegee had enrolled 1,500 students for the year and its campus encompassed some 100 buildings and 3,500 acres. His book, "Up with Slavery", is one of many he wrote and is still widely read today.
An article recently described Washington as well aware of the racists in the south and the north. He worked quietly and consistently around those people, working to ensure a better future for African-Americans. He believed that the fight for equality would take generations. Washington had a strategy, which he felt would lead to full civil rights for African Americans. His vision consisted of four things: "industry, thrift, intelligence and property."
Industry: Washington believed that there was a misconception that white America viewed African-Americans as lazy. He sought to prove them wrong by endorsing work and invention. He trained African-Americans, both men and women as engineers and architects and other skilled professions. He wanted African-Americans to experience the dignity and reward that comes with hard work.
Thrift: Washington encouraged African-Americans to save their money and invest in their future. He believed that communities that did not invest in themselves did not flourish.
In fact, when philanthropists offered to pay for a school in a southern black community, Booker asked for only half of the money, and required the community come up with the other half. When a community invested in its' own future, it had a future, according to Washington.
Intelligence: Some racists believed that African-Americans were not smart and could not learn. Washington sought to fight this myth with the truth. As an educator, he wanted to assure that African-Americans had the opportunity to learn. He believed that "intelligence meant power".
Property: Washington insisted that if possible, African-Americans should own their own property. He believed that in the ownership of property, freedom would be found.
Washington's Vocal Critic, W.E.B. Du Bois
One of Washington's most vocal critics was W.E.B. Du Bois, born in 1868, the first African-American to earn a doctorate at Harvard University and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910. Du Bois, a socialist, believed that capitalism was a primary cause of racism. Du Bois was a civil rights activist, and earned the label "The Father of Pan-Africanism."
Of Washington, Du Bois wrote, "Mr. Washington's programme practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races." He was against the Atlanta Compromise (a compromise with white southern leaders made by Washington that was seen by Du Bois as degrading). In 1905, Du Bois and several other African-American civil rights activists, incorporated as the Niagara Movement.
At their conference, the view of the Atlantic Compromise was summed up by a pastor who spoke at the conference, "Today, two classes of Negroes ... are standing at the parting of the ways. The one counsels patient submission to our present humiliations and degradations; ... The other class believe that it should not submit to being humiliated, degraded, and remanded to an inferior place ... it does not believe in bartering its manhood for the sake of gain."
In 1961, Du Bois renounced his American citizenship and moved to Ghana and joined the Communist Party. He passed away in 1963.
Booker T. Washington endures as one of the founders of the civil rights movement. His lessons of industry, thrift, intelligence and property still hold true for all people.