Booker T. Washington (2953 words) Essay Example For Students

Booker T. Washington (2953 words) Essay Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. WashingtonBooker Taliaferro Washington was the foremost black educators of the 19th and 20th centuries. He also had a major influence on southern race relations and was a dominant figure in black affairs from 1895 until his death in 1915. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in 1858. As a slave Booker did not have a last name and chose Washington, his stepfathers name. After the Civil War Booker, his brother, and his mother moved to Malden, West Virginia were they went to live with his stepfather, whom they had only seen a few times. When they arrived in Walden, Washington was no more than 10 years old. However, he immediately went to work with his stepfather at the salt mines feeding the furnace. His education started with a Websters Blue Black spelling book that his mother had provided him. She hoped it would help him to learn to lead. Washington was unable to do much reading at home because he would work from dawn until around 9:00 at night, but during his breaks he would study his reading book teaching himself how to read. While working at the salt mines a local school opened up for black people. Unfortunately Washington was unable to attend the school because of his value to his family andstayed at the salt mines at the request of his parents. Eventually Washington was able to talk to his parents and convince them to let him attend the school for a few hours a day. Washington, however, had a problem. His stepfather wanted him to work until 9:00 a.m. This made it almost impossible for him to make it to class on time so Washington came up with an idea. Every morning he would change the clock from a half past eight to nine so that he could make it to class on time. Later, the young Washington took a job at the home of Mrs. Ruffiner as a servant. Ruffiner was a very strict lady and expected the best out of the people that worked for her. She demanded that they be clean and well behaved. This stayed with Washington for the rest of his life. He notes, Even to this day Ive never seen bits of paper scattered around the house or on the streets that I didnt want to pick up at once. Washington worked for Ruffiner for over a year and a half until he was accepted at the Hampton Institute. The Hampton Institute was set up to educate African-Americans after the Civil War. At the Hampton Institute Washington worked as the janitor to support himself, pay his tuition and his room and board. While at the institute Washington meets a man by the name of General Armstrong. Armstrong was the principal at the school and became one of Washingtons closest friends. Washington writes: a great man-the noblest, rarest human being that it has ever been my privilege to mee t. While at the Institute Washington learned important lessons in education that he would carry with him for the rest of his life. These lessons included the fact that keeping clean was an important part of a persons self worth. He also learned that education does not mean that one was above manual labor. Washington felt that education should be well rounded and that a person should learn to love labor. He should also become self reliant and useful to those around him. He believed that a person should not be selfish and should lead by example. After graduation in 1875, he returned home to Malden to teach school for both black children and adults. It was at this time where Washington was recognized as an eloquent speaker and leader in the black community. In 1878 he left Malden to attend Wayland Seminary in Washington D.C. In 1879 Armstrong asked him to return to Hampton as a teacher. In May of 1881, General Armstrong received a request from a group of philanthropists to suggest a principal for a new school for colored people in a small town in Alabama. When the request was made it was assumed that no colored man would be qualified for the position, but to the surprise of the founders Washington was suggested for the position. After arriving in Tuskegee, Washington decided that the school would open on July 4, 1881. The doors opened as planned and the Tuskegee Institute was off and running. Washington believed that the purpose of the Institute was to produce people who could work hard, to learn a trade, and most importantly earn a living. In addition to this he also hope that the students would learn the importance to cleanliness and spirituality. Washington hope that the graduates would go throughout the country and be an example to all that came in contact with them. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught, but a stronger emphasis was placed on the trades and daily living skills. He wanted students to know that there was no shame in being a laborer. He believed that an education was for the whole person and not an excuse to avoid work. As part of the student training , they were required to do all of the work around the campus. ‘Learning a marketable trade such as construction, farming, raising livestock and mechanical repairs were vital. Life skills like keeping a handbook, saving money, bathing, and table manners were also taught. Furthermore, Washington made religion a part of his student program .Although no particular religion was forced on them, it was part of the education to attend daily services. By doing this Washington felt he was teaching students to be complete persons who could be proud of themselves and what they were able to accomplish. In the beginning Washington found it hard to raise money for the school because the state was neither generous nor stable enough to build the kind of school he was developing. Washington had to come up with a way to raise money for the newly founded Tuskegee Institute. Washington was able to do this by going on speaking tours and soliciting donations. He was impressing white northerners with the work he was doing and his non-threatening racial views. Washington was able to get donations from many of the top industrialist of the time such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. ‘Twenty years after its beginnings, the Tuskegee Institute encompassed over 2,300 acres of land, 66 buildings built by the students, and over thirty industrial departments. All of the industrial departments taught trades that allowed students to get jobs as soon as they left the institute. Washington had turned the Tuskegee Institute into one of the leading African-American educational institutions in the country. Analysis of the Atomic Bomb EssayThe Atlanta Compromise was a means to an end and not an end in itself. If an ex-slave could start at the bottom and develop manners and friendliness, Washington believed that he could earn his rights. He felt that the individual Afro-Americans would gain trust, acceptance, and respect. The class line based on the color of ones skin would be replaced by ones intelligence and morality. At the conclusion of the speech the audience applauded wildly. After reading the speech, President Cleveland wrote Washington and thanked him for what he had said. The next year Washington was honored at Harvard University with an honorary masters degree. As Washingtons influence with whites and blacks grew he was able to reap the benefits. In 1901 he wrote Up From Slavery which was a best selling autobiography. He also became an advisor for President Theodore Roosevelt. He was the first black man ever to dine in the White House with the President. Eventually Washingtons leadership of blacks began to decline. It had become apparent that the white people of the south had gained control after the reconstruction and never wanted the civil and political status of the blacks to improve. There was also the problem of growing black and white liberal opposition in the Niagara Movement and the NAACP. These groups were demanding civil rights and encouraging protests in response to white aggres sions such as lynching, disfranchisement, and segregation laws. Washington was initially able to fend off these critics often by underhanded means. At the same time, however, he was able to translate his own personal success into black advancement through secret sponsorship of civil rights cases, serving on boards at Fisk and Howard Universities, and directing philanthropic aid to these and other black colleges. Washington presided over Tuskegee until his death on November 14, 1915. He had written 12 books, the most famous being, Up From Slavery. He sat for dinners with the President of the United Stated, royalty of Europe, as well as most of the industrial powerhouses of his time. He was an intelligent man trying to what he felt was best for his people. Which was to provide them with the chance to get an education to better themselves and help them to lead commendable lives. Washington did not think it was possible to take a race that had been held as slaves for generations and set them free and expect them to be equal to their former masters. It is impossible to sum up what Washington thought about race relation and the education of African Americans without using his own words from The Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition, in Atlanta on September 18, 1895:Progress in the enjoyment of all privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rathe r than artificial forcing.it is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than an opportunity to spend a dollar at an opera house. WORKS CITEDWashington, Booker T. Up From Slavery, an autobiography. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday. Louis R. Harlan, Booker T Washington, 2 vols. (1972, 1983), with Raymond W. Smock, eds., The Booker T Washington Papers, 12 vols. (1972-): August Meier, Negro Thoughts in America, 1880-1915 (1963). History Essays