Booker T. Washington Essay

To me it is obvious why many whites agreed with Washington and many blacks disagreed with him. I agree with Washington by not demanding our rights because making demands would be met with opposition and nothing will be done that is necessary to bring blacks up to the equality line. On the contrary, I disagree with the way that Washington believed that blacks should just ignore how whites treated us with violence then turn around and try to earn their respect. African Americans during this time wasn’t trying to hear this because just 3 years before his speech in Atlanta, 156 blacks were lynched in one year alone. To the blacks of that time, forgetting that was too big of a pill to swallow and it is obvious why blacks second-guessed the views of Booker T. Washington.

For African Americans, Jim Crow laws encompassed and affected every part of American life. The racial slur synonymous with negro and the laws used to discriminate against them. Two of the most recognizable figures advocating against of Jim Crow were Booker T. Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Though they lived through different times, they both shared the same goal of bettering circumstances of the African Americans people. While sharing a same common goal, Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. had different approaches to confronting the color line, each approach with its positive and negative attributes.

The book, Up From Slavery, written by Booker Taliaferro Washington, profoundly touched me when I read it. Washington overcame many obstacles throughout his life. He became perhaps the most prominent black leader of his time. Booker T. Washington belived that African Americans could gain equality by improving their economic situation through education rather than by demanding equal rights.

Booker T. Washington believed that blacks should not push to attain equal civil and political rights with whites. That it was best to concentrate on improving their economic skills and the quality of their character. The burden of improvement resting squarely on the shoulders of the black man. Eventually they would earn the respect and love of the white man, and civil and political rights would be accrued as a matter of course. This was a very non-threatening and popular idea with a lot of whites.

Washington was often looked at as an “Uncle Tom” because of the things he did, such as advising blacks to remain in the South and to avoid politics and protest in favor of economic self-help and industrial education. He eventually became a powerful political boss, friend of white businessmen like Andrew Carnegie, and advisor of some presidents. Washington publicly accepted without protest racial segregation and voting discrimination, but secretly financed and directed many court suits against such proscriptions of civil rights. To Washington his ideas was obvious and clear, by earning the respect of whites they would either help blacks or deal with their crime against humanity that will eventually bring them down.

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Booker T. Washington’s philosophy and actions betrayed the interests of African Americans because he was more interested on the blacks getting educated and getting the respect of the white authorities, instead of worrying on getting their political and social equality right away, which was the main interest of the African Americans. In “The Atlanta Exposition Address”, Washington said that blacks would sacrifice their civil rights and social equality for the time being, as long as whites guaranteed that they would receive industrial education and jobs because he believed that in order to fully obtain equality, the blacks should improve themselves. “It is at the bottom of

of the races, and accommodation. He urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. Washington believed in education, industrial and farming skills and themes of patience, owning busineses and thrift. This, he belived, would win the respect of whites and lead to African Americans being fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all stagesof society. Washington's thinking was one of accommodation to white oppression. He advised blacks to trust southern whites and accept the fact of white supremacy. He stressed the interdependence of blacks and whites in the South, but said they were to remain socially separate: One of Washington's famous quotes was "In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." Up from slaves 1901p.Washington counseled blacks to remain in the South, obtain a useful education, save their money, work hard, and purchase property. By doing such things, Washington believed, the Negro could one day be a full fledge citizen.

The policy Washington is advocating is separate but not equal. He saying that we can learn to live with each other on one hand, yet being as separate and unequal as fingers.

Two men with the same goals but different views on how they should be achieved is exactly how Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois’ controversy should be described as. Their debate revolved around the idea of abolishing slavery as well as paving the way for the modernized Civil Rights Act in America to take place. Washington and DuBois were born in the same time period with the same intentions, yet had different methods of approaching how to do them. Both of their ideas were focused on how America could be best improved for the future in political, social and educational ways. Booker T. Washington’s perspective and ideologies were better than DuBois’ for

Booker T. Washington was educator and a civil rights activist. In May 23, 1901 he wrote a letter to Alabama Constitutional Convention, regarding the African American (black) race. Within the letter he states how he wishes for blacks to be represented, as during this time, they did not have a voice in any public affairs. During this era of segregation, Booker T. Washington’s intent was for his letter to sway the minds of the Alabama Committee. With his letter, Washington displayed his concerns; He wanted African Americans to have a say in society, ease tension between the whites and black races, and explain the role and contributions of the black race to the members of the Alabama Constitution Convention.

Following the Civil War, while black Americans were freed from slavery, general attitudes towards blacks hardly changed. Blacks were still heavily discriminated against and because of the Jim Crow laws, were legally segregated from white Americans until the mid-20th century. Now, blacks in America enjoy all the same legal rights as whites, and while racial discrimination still exists today, it is not nearly as potent as the discrimination that existed before. Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Dubois were two educated black Americans who wrote around the early 1900s on the topic of racial discrimination and what blacks ought to do about their situations. In Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery, he argues that blacks should put aside the immediate

This quote expresses Washington’s idea of the role black citizens play in American society. As founder of Tuskegee University, his focus was education through industrialism. He viewed politics as reserved for the white elite. Washington believed that African-Americans were to live simple lives in silence. Being quiet in the face of the government was a way to not disrupt the superiority complex of southern whites.

The autobiography of Booker T. Washing titled Up From Slavery is a rich narrative of the man's life from slavery to one of the founders of the Tuskegee Institute. The book takes us through one of the most dynamic periods in this country's history, especially African Americans. I am very interested in the period following the Civil War and especially in the transformation of African Americans from slaves to freemen. Up From Slavery provides a great deal of information on this time period and helped me to better understand the transition. Up From Slavery provided a narrative on Washington's life, as well as his views on education and integration of African Americans. All though this book was

Booker T. Washington was born as a slave in 1856. He was freed in 1865 and then later attended Hampton institute. One day he overheard a conversation between two miners about a great school in Virginia. AS he learned more about the school. He became more determined to go there. He was so determined that, he wanted to go there doesn;t matter what was the cost. On his journey, he was tired, hungry, exhausted and out of money but that didn’t stop him. His determination to go there kept him going. He took the job of a janitor in order to pay for him board, but he didn;t wanted to be just a janitor. He wanted be the best among them all.