Booker T. Washington's childhood was one of privation, poverty, slavery
and hard labor. Born in 1856 into slavery he was deemed the property of one James Burroughs of Virginia. His father virtually unknown, he was raised by his mother and put to work as early as possible. Since it was illegal for an enslaved African to learn to read and write Washington received no education.
When slavery ended things did not fare much better for Washington. The former slaves were at first over joyed with their new found freeedom, but it quickly became apparent that there was no place for most of them to go. As early as 9 years of age Washington took up hard work packing salt. Secretly however, he yearned to attend school. At age 16 he made up his mind to leave to attend Hampton University for blacks. Not knowing his fate, he arrived penniless and hungry on their doorsteps in 1872. The school was run by a General Samuel Chapman Armstrong. Its main focus was to create black teachers, but Armstong believed each student should have a practical trade as well. Washington's trade was that of a janitor. These lesosns of hard work would profoundly affect the young Washington and shape his ideologies in later life.
Following graduation Washington became a teacher in Tinkersville, West Virginia for three years. In 1878 he left to attend Wayland Seminary in Washington DC, but quit after six months. In 1879 Armstrong asked him to return to Hampton Institute as a teacher. Washington did so, and then in 1881 Armstrong recommended him as the principal of a new school called Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. From humble beginnings this university rose to national prominence with such graduates as scientist George Washington Carver. The school gave Washington a great name in the South and in the nation. But Washington's fame would come not only with unbelievable power, but bitter controversy.
In 1895 Washington traveled to Atlanta to speak at the opening of the Cotton states and International Exposition. Washington, the only black speaker, gave a stirring speech that would cause the white audience to erupt into cheers. In his speech Washington said those words that white America had so wanted to hear from any black individual: "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." It was these non-threatening racial views that gave Washington the title of the "Great Accomodater". He held that blacks should not push to attain equal civil and political rights with whites. Rather blacks should 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
obtained in such logical fashion. This was a very non-threatening and popular idea with a lot of whites. And figures such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockerfeller showered him with praise and money. Soon Washington became one of the most powerful men in black America. He became the "go to" man in black America. When influential whites wished to give money to black causes, they first asked the opinion of Washington. When they considered giving a prestigious position to any black person, they first conusluted Washington. It was said of Washington, "He knew the Southern white man better than the Southern white man knew himself, and knew the sure road to his head and heart." But Washington's power would be challenged by a growing new brand of black ideology.
Washington found his power base challenged by many black individuals who saw his actions as detrimental to black empowerment. They called his actions and words "crimes" and acts of "dishonesty." Henry McNeal Turner, the AME bishop, stated: "the colored man who will stand up and in one breath say that the Negroid race does not want social equality and in the next predict a great future in the face of all the proscription of which the colored man is the victim, is either an ignoramus, or is an advocate of the perpetual servility and degradation of his race..." Booker T. Washington's downfall is blamed upon the fact that his methods, while producing an avenue for blacks, did not erase the hostile racist forces in America. Some critics argued that his refusal to fight for the basic human equality of blacks, led to increased acts of violence in the form of anti-black riots and lynchings. It is most likely that Washington did not intend for his ideologies to spur on such actions, but his seeming unwillingness to tackle this problem or speak out upon it enraged many blacks. The paradox of his words and existence also moved many to anger. Here was a black man who all the while decrying political gain, directed political agendas from Tuskeegee. Here was a man who decried social equality, but yet had dinner with none other than President Theodore Roosevelt. Here was a man who shockingly blamed the lynching of a black man in Mississippi on "the lack of education of the blacks who were lynched." Yet he would turn about in the next sentence and warn whites, "It is unreasonable for any community to expect that it can permit Negroes to be lynched or burned in the winter, and then have reliable Negro labor to raise cotton in the summer." Here was the man who though he in public opposed pushes for social equality, secretly writes a memo to the American president about the dangers of removing all black men from offices of power in the South. It was even rumored that he secretly gave money to causes of social equality behind closed doors.
In the end Booker T. Washington was a contradiction and a paradox. As his own parable went, he "cast his buckets" where he stood. Believing an attack on Jim Crow to be suicide, he urged black America to instead focus on self improvement and economic gain. In some ways many feel that Booker T. Washington actually felt himself and blacks to be better than whites. And that through hard work and fortitude they would show America the way to prosperity. But Washington's foot hold on power was eroded by the very thing that placed him there: white supremacy. The violence and oppression against blacks didn't stop under Booker T. Washington's guidance; in fact it increased. It became apparent to many blacks that whites that had gained control of Southern institutions after
Reconstruction did not ever want the civil and political status of blacks to improve - regardless of how hard they worked or how much character they had. They passed laws to keep blacks from voting and to keep blacks from mixing with whites in schools,
stores and restaurants. Many blacks lost sight of Washington's dream and came to believe that a more forceful, demanding approach was needed. They turned to the leadership of figures such as William Monroe Trotter, W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP.
But Washington's legacy of self improvement would manifest itself in varoius organizations and individuals including the National Business League, black business districts such as those in Tulsa Oklahoma, black universities and even later movements such as Marcus Garvey's UNIA and Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam. Paradox he may have been, but his role in black political development remains certain. Remaining a contradiction to the very end, Booker T. Washington's magazine article was published only after his death in November 15, 1906. Surprising to his critics and everyone perhaps except himself, it was an article attacking segregation and social inequality.
(Photo and Information courtesy of Before the Mayflower, by Lerone Bennett and Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington)
Electronic Version of Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington