Booker T Washington Biography

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.

Booker T. Washington was a leader in the African American community from 1890 – 1915, a teacher, and an author. He was the very first principal and teacher at Tuskegee University, a historically black school. He also gave The Atlanta Address at the Cotton States and International Exposition where he disagreed with political and social equality with whites.

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.

Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey shared some similar ideologies, however to a large extent Washington’s philosophies contradict Garvey’s outlook on African American society. Washington was known for accommodating the white people’s desires. For instance, “he advised African Americans to accept segregation, work hard for the friendship of whites, and achieve economic equity”. Washington probably encouraged African Americans to accept their circumstances, because he knew that fighting against norms would be a difficult task to accomplish and he wanted the race to better themselves through hard work during an era of prejudice. This belief contradicts Garvey’s ideas, because Garvey believed that pleasing the white man was the issue that prevented African Americans from being viewed as equals in the society. Although both men believed that working hard would gain Blacks an advantage in their community, Washington advocated for satisfying the white man while Garvey’s thoughts of Black Nationalism lied in the separate rights of Blacks and keeping the white man out of their way to success. Garvey’s ideology to promote economic equality of the black race was not liked by the white race, and compared to Washington’s policy of accommodation and gradual progress, was more acceptable to whites.

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois are similar to each other but disagree on plans for African Americans social and economic progress. “Booker T. Washington, educator, reformer and the most inflectional black leader of his time (1856-1915) preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity and accommodation.” Washington encouraged African Americans to take on discrimination and focus on educating themselves through hard work and discipline. He believed that education was the answer to how African Americans can prove themselves to whites without anger and hatred. Washington believed that this would win the respect of whites and African Americans would be accepted as citizens into society. “W.E.B. Du Bois, a towering black intellectual, scholar and political thinker (1868-1963) said no--Washington's strategy would serve only to perpetuate white oppression.” Du Bois was one of the founders of the NAACP (National

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

Booker T. Washington is one of the most respected and influential African American figures in American history, Mr. Washington was born into slavery and was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. His peaceful personality along with his exceptional education in many different studies turned him into a well-rounded individual. Washington wanted blacks and whites to become partners and strive for both races to succeed. He delivered his most famous speech in 1895 known as the “Atlanta Compromise”. In Atlanta Georgia, Mr. Washington expresses himself with exceptional rhetoric and tone throughout his speech. He states that African Americans should take benefit of what they know and endeavor

Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of economic power through industrial education better suited the future of Black America because it addressed the masses at the time. Washington argued in his Atlanta Compromise Speech that the only way to advance the black community was to allow them to study industrial education and work a trade in order to make capital that would in turn allow them to buy themselves out of the situations they were put

In Chapter three of The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B Du Bois discusses Booker T. Washington and some of his accomplishments for African Americans and also criticizes some of his lack of understanding in his propaganda that he could have done more in his position to progress African Americans status instead of trying to be accepted by the white community. Washington has been criticized by Du Bois because of his “submission” to the white view on African Americans and their rights Du Bois calling him “the most distinguished Southerner since Jefferson Davis” (Du Bois, 1903).

In one site, Booker T. Washington, the most influential lieder of his period (1856-1915), who was born as a slave in 1856 (Virginia), who because of studying in the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Learned the skills he needed to be respected by the withes society and gain considerable influence over the black people. Washington philosophy was based on self-improvement, education, accommodation and others. He preaches that African American rather than concentrate their effort in combating segregation, they should be focus in self-improvement, education and wealth. He encourages Young African American develop patience, commercial agricultural skills and others instead of instead of

Washington’s speech in Atlanta, Georgia is what made his career really take off for being an African American activist. His speech was directed towards both white and black races. He told them that both the races need to surround each other with one another and to try and overcome this inequality. In Clashes of Will it states, “Specifically Washington reminded the blacks in his audience that they must be prepared to start at the bottom as workers, not executives, as grade school teachers, not university professors; that they would have to earn the respect of whites rather than demand it as a right guaranteed by law….” Another accomplishment he set out for was creating the National Negro Business League. The organization promoted the businesses that were owned by African Americans and to help them feel that they were supported and protected. The main goal of the National Negro Business League was to advocate the sales of the Negro community businesses. Booker T. Washington’s baby was the Tuskegee Institution, a black college. Washington even offered DuBois a job three times to teach at the institution but he denied them all three times because he did not believe in the same morals as Washington. Washington was quite clever. When he had his hand in the businesses he managed to become familiar with wealthy white businessman that generously donated to the funds of the black education. One of the contributors was Andrew Carnegie, leading entrepreneur for the steel

Booker T. Washington contended for African Americans to first improve themselves through education, industrial training, and business ownership. Equal rights would certainly come later, he believed. He used the Hampton Institute, with its emphasis on agricultural and industrial training, as his model. Washington argued that African Americans must first focus on educating themselves, learning useful trades, and investing in their own businesses. Hard work, economic progress, and merit, he believed, would prove to whites the value of blacks to the American economy. Washington believed that his vision for black people would eventually lead to equal political and civil rights. In the meantime, he advised blacks to put aside immediate demands for voting and ending racial segregation. In his famous address to the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, Washington acknowledged the reality of racial segregation. However, he insisted that African Americans be included in the economic progress of the South. Washington anounced to an all-white audience, "In all things social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." He went on to express his

Booker T. Washington was introduced to the world as a slave. His early life in the South was spent at work helping pay for his college education. He was conscious of the disparities that Southern African Americans confronted everyday through his teaching of school age children. Washington understood that the era for opposition had not presented itself, but also that an adjustment was expected.

Throughout the life of Booker T. Washington expressed in his autobiography, Up From Slavery, one element has remained the same through his influences, education, public speaking, and teaching of others. This is the fact that one cannot succeed solely on a “book” education, but must accompany this with that of an “industrial” education as well. He believed that with this type of education, the black man could provide necessary services not only for himself, but also for those in his community as well. Washington was born on a slave plantation in either 1858 or 1859 in Franklin County, Virginia. He grew up with his mother, his brother John, and his sister Amanda. They lived in an extremely small log

Booker T. Washington was one of the most well-known African American educators of all time. Lessons from his life recordings and novelistic writings are still being talked and learned about today. His ideas of the accommodation of the Negro people and the instillation of a good work ethic into every student are opposed, though, by some well-known critics of both past and current times. They state their cases by claiming the Negro’s should not have stayed quiet and worked their way to wear they did, they should have demanded equal treatment from the southern whites and claimed what was previously promised to them. Also, they state that Washington did not really care about equality or respect, but about a status boost in his own life. Both