Booker Garvey's Life: Booker T. Washington

In this essay the author argued the strategy employed by Mr. Booker T. Washington during a period in history where race relations were hyper sensitive. Mr. Washington felt that the only chance for the survival and development of the Negro race was to submit to the white man by giving up three critical rights of American society; those were, the right to vote, civil rights, and access to higher education. In doing so, he calculated that if black people focused on industrial education, wealth accumulation, and conciliation of the South, they’d stand a better chance of advancing as a race. As Du Bois argued,” In other periods of intensified prejudice all the Negro's tendency to self-assertion has been called

The principle argument of this dissertation posits that Booker T. Washington was more of a hindrance than a help to the advancement of African American civil rights, despite this, his actions did serve to mobilise African Americans into forming a cohesive counter movement centred, on political agitation. Through opposition to Washington, African Americans created a sense of unity and coherency which would in time prove to lay the foundation for the successes of the mid-twentieth century. Three key chapters prove useful in further exploring the role of Washington in the advancement of African American civil rights.

The common school teaches their students math, reading, science, and history, but this predictable curriculum is a newer concept. Many freed slaves did not know the basics of self-preservation, so it was irrational to teach them multiplication prior to hygiene. Booker T. Washington devoted his entire day to teaching "emancipated slaves basic math and reading as well as personal hygiene: how to comb one's hair, bathe regularly, and use a toothbrush." (Goldstein, 2015, p.53) Washington shows that education is not limited to a singular form or subject, however, it ranges from simple life lessons to learning the equation of a line.

Too often, society measures success by wealth, power, and status. In American society, those favored by pop culture like the Kardashians tend to wield more influence than rocket scientists or brain surgeons. Acting as a major determining factor of how success is perceived, power often trumps attributes such as intelligence and determination. However, Booker T. Washington firmly disagreed. He posited that how far a person advances and how many obstacles he overcomes should determine success. While Washington’s reasoning is valid in theory, the position one has achieved remains ultimately more significant in certain facets of life.

Brooker T. Washington talked in the interest of blacks who lived in the South, yet had lost their capacity to vote considering unforgiving voter directions put forward by southern councils. He turned into the most powerful representative for dark Americans near 1895 and 1915.Although he achieved numerous things in his lifetime, his most noteworthy and maybe best commitment toward the South was the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, better referred to today as Tuskegee University. Washington buckled down pick up help from various gatherings: influential whites; the black business, educational and religious groups across the nation; money related gifts from givers. He was additionally outstanding for his convenience to the political substances of Jim Crow isolation laws.

Booker Taliaferro Washington was born to a slave on April 5, 1856. His life had slight promise early on. In Franklin County, Virginia, as in most states previous to the Civil War, when you were a child to a slave, you became a slave. His mother worked as a cook for plantation owner James Burroughs. His father was an unknown white man, probably from a nearby plantation. He and his mother lived in a one-room log cabin with a large fireplace. Their small home also served as a kitchen.

1a. Booker T. Washington had a very different social philosophy than most African Americans pursuing their freedom had during this era. This philosophy brought upon much tension and many tended not to agree with Washington’s ways of thinking. One of the people who disagreed with Washington was W.E.B. Du Bois. Both Washington and Dubois were essentially striving towards the same outcome, but they both had different approaches. Booker T. Washington argued that African Americans must educate themselves and eventually this would show white Americans that they were valuable to society. However, W.E.B. Du Bois was completely against this ideology. He did not want to sit back and prove anything to white Americans who put them through treacherous conditions while they were slaves. He wanted to stand up and fight for his rights and the rights of his fellow African Americans. Du Bois’ goal was to gain every privilege that white Americans had. He wanted the right to vote, the right to education, and high economic standards for all African Americans. Washington on the other hand accepted racial segregation, which is clear in the statement he made that said, "In all things social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." However, he also pushed for African Americans to be included in the economic growth of the South. This ideology of accepting racial segregation infuriated Du Bois because he felt that with this mind

African Americans were freed after the Civil War with the thirteenth amendment, which emancipated all slaves in the United States. Even though they were free, African Americans were not treated as equals because of the Jim Crow Laws, sharecropping, and segregation. Two African American leaders in the late 19th and 20th century – Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois – both longed for black equality and civil rights, yet each had a very different method to achieve this. Booker T. Washington intended for African Americans to eventually obtain equality, but his plan of racial accommodation betrayed their interests. However, W.E.B Du Bois had a better method for bringing social equality to the African Americans, since he made gaining equality one of his main focuses; therefore, he was right between the two.

The era of Jim Crow began after the end of Reconstruction in 1877, in which through the rebuilding of the South, whites established laws and customs that forced freed slaves to stay marginalized and targeted by Southern whites. The purpose of these Jim Crow ideas was to keep blacks and white separated, and to also keep blacks from progressing in society. For instance, Southern whites forced blacks to take literacy tests before they could be considered able to vote. From the start of this Jim Crow era, racial compromise was already occurring. One of the most obvious examples of this compromise comes from the real name of the era. “Jim Crow” was a name used in a

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were very important African American leaders in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They both felt that African Americans should not be treated unequally in education and civil rights. They had beliefs that education is crucial for the African American community where they stressed that educating African Americans would lead them into obtaining government positions, possibly resulting in social change. Washington and Du Bois had similar goals to achieve racial equality in the United States, but there approaches were very different in educating the lives of the black population. Washington was conservative, who felt that the subordination to white leaders was essential for African Americans in becoming successful to gain political power. On the other hand, Du Bois voiced his opinions through public literature and protest, making it clear that discrimination among blacks were intolerable. The opposing ideas of these African American leaders are illustrated in Du Bois’ short story, “Of the Coming of John”, where Du Bois implies his opposition to Washington’s ideas. He shows that the subordination of educated black individuals does not result in gaining respect or equality from the white community.

During the progressive era in the late 1800’s, white people were in control of society. The blacks had been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation, but were not being treated equal. Mainly because they were black. But that was not the only reason. Blacks were also not treated equally because they did not possess the intelligence and skills of whites. A great man decided to fight for equality between blacks and whites. His name was Booker Taliaferro Washington.

and got a job as a waiter. Soon after this period of time he got a

After the end of slavery, blacks were free and had the right to vote, but they were oppressed by white supremacist and state laws that restricted their voting rights. Many great minds rose from the shadows and spoke against these injustice, but the one that stands out the most is Marcus Garvey. Garvey created a huge impact in the African-American history, but his stubbornness and ignorance lead to his self-destruction. As a young boy, in Jamaica, Garvey was inspired by the works of Booker T Washington especially by the book “Up from Slavery”. From a young age, Garvey believed that is was his destiny to speak in front of millions this was one of the many reasons why he became an activist. Throughout his lifetime he made enemies with other African- American activist, like W. E. B Du Bois, who criticized Garvey and his ideology. The first American branch of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was established by Garvey in September 1917; the main causes of this association was to improve the lives of African Americans around the world and to take back Africa from the grasps of the white men and claim it for the Africans that were scattered around the world. Marcus was put on trial on May 18 1923 this marked the beginning of the downfall of Garvey’s empire. In general, Marcus Garvey was an activist who wanted the best for his people but his downfall was cause by his own stubbornness and because he surrounded himself by incompetent people and his enemies.

The period between 1865 and 1945 saw some of the most dramatic social, political and economic changes in America. The key issue of black civil rights throughout this period was advocated and led by a range of significant, emotive and inspiring leaders. Marcus Garvey was a formidable public speaker and is often named as the most popular black nationalist leader of the early twentieth century. He believed in pan-Africanism and came nearer than any other black leader in mobilising African American masses. He was hailed as a redeemer and a “Black Moses” who tried to lead ‘his people back to freedom’. However, arguably although

Soon after World War I, Garvey concluded that the anger that engulfed many Black communities after the war could be used as a catalyst to end both imperialism in Africa and discrimination in the United States. He combined the economic nationalist ideas of Booker T. Washington with various Pan-Africanist idealists of the time. Garvey’s goals were modern and urban. He wanted to end imperialist rule and create modern societies in Africa. He formed black communities on three continents with his newspaper the “Negro World ,” and in 1919 he established the Black Star Line, an international shipping company to provided transportation and encourage trade among the Blacks in Africa and Blacks in the United States. In the same year he founded the Negro Factories Corporation to establish such