Booker T Washington Essay
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Booker T. Washington Essay
Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington was born on April 5, 1865. He was born into slavery at the James Burrough's
family plantation in Virginia. Nothing is known about Booker T. Washington's father beyond the fact
that he was a white man. After the Civil War Booker T. Washington worked in a salt furnace and
attended school 3 months out of the year. At the age of 17, he was accepted into Hampton Institute
in Virginia. When Booker T. Washington graduated from the institute, he then entered the Wayland
Seminary. In 1881, Booker T Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. But he did not
stop there. He initiated many forms of work and established the National Negro Business League,
the National Negro Health
...show more content...
Washington was a leader in Negro America. He has been described as the most prominent Negro in
America. State and National officials sought him out to endorse Negroes to fill political offices. He
used to urge Negroes to subordinate their political, civil and social strivings for economic
betterment. Because he accepted segregation and his refusal to make an open attack on Jim Crow it
brought him a conflict with two militant Harvard newspapermen. William Lloyd Garrison criticized
Booker T. Washington through his Liberator telling people that he was a traitor to his race and he
also demanded immediate equality. His purpose was to gain the sympathy and cooperation of the
white South, which seemed like an almost impossible task. Booker T. Washington displayed an
interest in Africa. He enrolled a number of African students at Tuskegee. In 1901, he traveled to
Africa to introduce modern techniques of cotton culture. The mission was successful because today,
the country ranks 5th in the economy. Washington sponsored other missions to Africa but none
proved to be more successful than that one. Booker T. Washington was married three times. In 1882,
Fannie N. Smith, who was a graduate of Hampton, became his first wife. She ended up dying two
years later and left him a daughter. His second marriage, which was in 1885, was to Olivia A.
Davidson, taught at Tuskegee but also died in 1889 leaving him two
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Booker T. Washington Essay
Equality Through Knowledge'; an essay on the views of
Booker T. Washington
Born a slave, Booker T. Washington rose to become a commonly recognized leader of the Negro
race in America. Washington continually strove to be successful and to show other black men and
women how they too could raise themselves. Washington
’s method of uplifting was
education of the head, the hand, and the heart. From his founding of the Tuskegee Institute in 1881
to his death in 1915 Booker T. Washington exerted a tremendous influence on the people that
surrounded him. With his emphasis on industrial education Washington’s approach
gave African–Americans hope of accomplishment and success.
...show more content...
Washington envisioned a future for Black America where their hard work would earn them the
respect of whites and pave the way for equality between the races.
Washington had success on his mind for his whole life. There is not a moment in his life where he
did not think of achieving a goal that would make him more successful and a better person. He used
to picture in his mind how he would climb from the bottom of the ladder and one day be on the top,
despite his race. He did envy the white boy as you would think in his early part of his life, but once
again his view changed from what is considered normal in my opinion. Washington states,
“ I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has
reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.';(27) Washington
felt that a Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth
in order to secure recognition, and in that also gaining more strength and confidence than a white
youth.
Booker T. Washington was infatuated with learning ever since his childhood slave days. His intense
desire to learn enabled him to master a Webster “blue–back'; spelling book, and even
led him to move ahead the hands of a clock at work so that he could get to his night school on time.
Washington had a goal to go to Hampton where he can
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Booker T Washington Essay examples
Booker T. Washington and the Struggle Against White Supremacy
One of the most powerful black leaders to have ever live, this is what some people argued of Booker
T. Washington. With a black mother and white father he never knew, Washington was born into
slavery near Hale's Ford in Franklin County, Virginia. He worked growing up, and then attended
Hampton Institute, a school designed to educate African and Native Americans. I don't think he
knew, that anybody knew, how much he would change the world over his lifetime. There were many
racists view's back then. Booker T. Washington learned how to work around whites to get what he
wanted, and took many tours around the United States to teach other blacks. Racism has been
around for
...show more content...
If they would abide by the law and cooperate, the industrial education would provide them with an
economic niche. Eventually, he believed this would lead to economic independence. Of course,
white people thought that Washington was trying to promote segregation and black inferiority. He
was not trying to promote segregation, but he was going for black inferiority. Black people needed
to do this. Washington was basically saying that if black people continued to work in their field, and
other fields, they had the upper hand. They would learn all the techniques, and know everything
about that field. Whites did not work, so they knew nothing. Without the blacks, they could not
make any money. Booker T. Washington took many tours. The tour that I was most interested in was
his tour of Florida. This caught my attention I live here in Florida. This is apart of its history.
Washington started his tour of Florida on March 1, 1912. It lasted from March 1st til March 7th. His
tour was sponsored by The Florida State Negro Business League. FSNBL was made up of
businessmen and women who believed that they could form a "good strong organization" that would
"benefit and up build the colored race
". They accomplished exactly what they wanted. Booker T.
Washington's first stop on the was Pensacola. Pensacola was the home of Matthew Lewey, the
publisher of the first black newspaper in Florida, the Florida Sentinel. This was not only
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Booker T. Washington Essay
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
...show more content...
There were laws against them and what they were or were not allowed to do and they were most
definitely treated differently by their pale skinned neighbors. White southerners would never own
them physically ever again, but they would own them mentally. Washington made his life's purpose
to get past the mind games and help other Negroes like himself do the same. They needed to work
their way up and earn respect because there wasn't a chance that the southerners were just going to
give it to them. Washington acknowledged that forcing others into undeserved respect was never
going to work when he stated, "The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions
of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that
will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than artificial forcing"
(682). His people had to suffer. They had to start at the bottom and work their way up to the top day
after day. Nothing came easy to them. In the first half of this quote, Washington makes it clear he
believes that being pesky and bothersome about social status and fairness is a waste of time. One is
just expelling breathe into the air when they worry about little things that do not matter in the long
run of most people's lives. He instead praises progress, defining it not only as the one thing that
everyone should aspire for, but as the wonderful enjoyment of having failed and struggled many
times, yet
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Booker T. Washington Essay examples
Booker T. Washington
At a time when the Black community is being afforded a free status, but not one of equality, many
leaders arise out of the woodwork to appeal to the white governing body for social equality. The
transition from the ninetieth century to the twentieth century gives birth to two of these leaders,
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. These two men are both working to achieve a common
goal, but the roads on which they're each traveling to get there differ significantly. Booker T.
Washington and W.E.B. Du
Bois offer different strategies for dealing with the problems of poverty and discrimination facing
Black Americans. Booker T. Washington's gradualism stance gives him wide spread appeal among
both
...show more content...
The opposing approaches of Washington and Du Bois are far from unnoticeable, and receive
recognition from both sides. Whether or not these two dynamic leaders are intentionally attacking
each other, one can only speculate that the vast differences in methodology creates tension within
the arena. In Washington's "Atlanta Compromise
Address"(D) he comments that the "wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions
of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that
will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing."
(D) This statement, delivered at a time when Blacks and whites have separate water fountains(J),
almost one–hundred and forty Black people were lynched(C), and forty–five to sixty percent of
Blacks over the age of nine are illiterate(B), directly condemns the blunt complaining with which
Du Bois is aligning himself.
Return criticism is illustrated in The Souls of Black Folk, written by Du Bois in 1903.
"The way for a people to gain respect is not by continually belittling and ridiculing themselves; that,
on the contrary, Negroes must insist continually, in season and out of season"(E) as written by Du
Bois seems to be a direct response to the 1895 infamous address of Washington. With Jim Crow
laws in effect, Du Bois position seems to be the more fitting and proper of the two. The ideology of
Washington
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Booker T. Washington Essay
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the
obstacles which he has overcome" –Booker T. Washing. Booker Taliaferro Washington was born in
Hale's Ford, Virginia on April 5th, 1856 to Jane Burroughs and an unknown White man. Washington
was married three times. His first wife was Fannie N. Smith from Malden, West Virginia. Booker
and Fannie were married in the summer of 1882 and had one child together named Portia M.
Washington. Fannie died two years later in May 1884. The second wife was Olivia A. Davidson in
1885. Olivia was a teacher in Mississippi and Tennessee. She then worked as a school teacher in
Tuskegee and that is how she met Booker T. she was an assistant principal. Olivia and
...show more
content...
Washington attracted the support of White philanthropists. In late 1890s he was the most prevailing
African American man in the country. "Dozens of business leaders and politicians (including
presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft) regularly sought his advice on race
relations, southern politics, appointing Black Americans to federal jobs, and granting funds to Black
institutions." Washington formed loyal supporters African Americans and Whites as well.
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
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Booker T Washington Essay
Booker T Washington was one of the best advocates in his time. Growing up in slavery and out
coming the horrifying struggles of the 1870's was a great effort. Born in the era were black people
were like flies he found a determination to succeed and discovered many powers in life.
Washington childhood was one of privation, poverty, slavery, and backbreaking work. Born in 1856,
he was from birth the property of James Burroughs of Virginia. He didn't know his father but his
mother Jane raised him and put him to work as soon as possible. Washington received no Education
because it was illegal for him to receive an education. Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, but it could not be enforced until the end of The Civil War in 1865.
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content...
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. July 4, 1881 was the first day of school at Tuskegee Institute. It was
a humble beginning, but under Washington's care both the school and Washington grew to be world
famous. His school made lasting and profound contributions to the South and to the United States –
such as through the work of one of its teachers – George Washington Carver.
One of his main problems was always finding enough money. The support he received from the state
was neither generous nor stable enough to build the kind of school he was developing. So he had to
raise the money himself by going on speaking tours and solicitating donations. He received a lot of
money from white northerners who were impressed with the work he was doing and his non–
threatening racial views. Industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller would donate
money on a regular basis. It was these non–threatening racial views that gave Washington the
appellation "The Great Accomodater". He believed that blacks should not push to attain
equal civil and political rights with whites. 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.
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Booker T. Washington
Established in history for his tremendous efforts to improve the condition of blacks in the United
States, Booker T. Washington well deserves admission into the Progressive Hall of Fame.
Washington took it upon his own conscience to deal with the poverty and discrimination faced by
black americans during the Jim Crow era. He provided education and economic opportunity to
disadvantaged black men at institutes, much like the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Though
Washington focused moreso on economic equality than social equality, he provided a stepping stone
for the future, which would surmount to the furthering of civil rights for blacks.
In a time of desperation for the common black man, Washington provided a beacon of hope,
providing a community to those lost in the waves of
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Washington took advantage of the situation, offering a humble plea to the white race
, so that his
black brothers could be employed. Washington then continued to describe the fidelity that the Negro
would offer, being a reliable source of work. Washington's views were not without fault however, as
they were assailed by W.E.B. Du Bois for subjugating the black race to menial labor and social
inferiority. In Du Bois' essay "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others" in his collection The Souls
of Black Folk, Du Bois accuses Washington of allowing the South to solidify the supremacy of the
white race over the black. "Washington's programme practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the
Negro races." Though partly true, Washington's incentive was not to gain equal economic footing,
but a footing at all. Due to the numerous labor strikes following the Panic of 1893, unemployment
went through the roof, leaving many white southerners without an efficient labor force. Washington
chose to fill the gap with a band of hard working blacks, so that they may prove their aptitude to
their white employers. "Washington insisted instead that blacks could surmount trade unions by
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Booker T Washington Essay
Booker T.Washington: Fighter for the Black Man
Booker T. Washington was a man beyond words. His perseverance and will to work were well
known throughout the United States. He rose from slavery, delivering speech after speech
expressing his views on how to uplift America's view of the Negro. He felt that knowledge was
power, not just knowledge of "books", but knowledge of agricultural and industrial
trades. He felt that the Negro would rise to be an equal in American society through hard work
.
Washington founded a school on these principles, and it became the world's leader in agricultural
and industrial education for the Negro. As the world watched him put his heart and soul into his
school, Tuskegee Institute, he gained
...show more content...
He was later allowed to attend in the morning, but would then work all afternoon and into the
evening. Booker did not have a last name until he went to school. "When he realized that all of
the other children at the school had a 'second' name, and the teacher asked him his, he invented the
name Washington."
A great influence on Washington was Viola Ruffner, the wife of the owner of the salt furnace.
Washington became her house boy, where he learned the importance of cleanness and hard work,
and pride in a job well done. He would use these principles for the rest of his life. "The
lessons I learned in the home of Mrs. Ruffner were as valuable to me as any education I have ever
gotten anywhere since," he later commented.
Booker heard of a big school for Negro's in Hampton, Virginia, and he decided to go there. In 1872,
at the age of sixteen, he set out on the 400 mile journey to Hampton, traveling most of the way by
foot. When he finally arrived, he was so ragged and dirty that he almost wasn't admitted, but he was
so persistent that they finally caved in, and he was allowed to attend. He studied there for three
years, working as a janitor to pay his board. At Hampton, Washington participated in the debating
society, which helped him develop a talent for public speaking. He used this talent many times
throughout the rest of his life.
In 1875, he
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