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Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

1/26/2010

 
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Up From Slavery is Washington's autobiography chronicling his life from his childhood spent in slavery in Virginia to his being the famed orator and driving force of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Unsure of the year of his birth, Washington always had a strong desire to improve his life through education. He struggled to put himself through Hampton Institute where he cultivated a stern belief in hygiene, agriculture, and trade skills.   Booker T. Washington's brilliance is easily displayed in his idea that the institution of slavery harmed both slaves and slave owners' families. Labor was forced upon one group while the other had little to no training in trades altogether and that lack of self sufficiency became most evident during Reconstruction. This also fueled his desire to have the students of Tuskegee educated in agriculture and trades like brick making with as much emphasis as traditional school subjects. This was so much a focus that the first students, literally, helped to build the school brick by brick. This was also due to very little funding which eventually changed once much wealthier admirers took notice of Washington's work with southern Blacks. He was an unshaken, organized, and disciplined man who wholeheartedly believed in each person's need to be competent in some trade and be the best one could possibly at it. Today, as we try to climb out of this economic depression and see our fellow man and woman in dire need in Haiti, we can still take heed to his words of wisdom delivered in his famous Atlanta Exposition Address: Cast down your buckets where you are. Do what you can- with full effort - with what and who you have around you.

Challenges:
African Diaspora
Black Classics
POC Reading


Ari link
2/1/2010 08:43:44 am

I admire what Booker T. washington did but I'm upset by his policies and how he seemed ok with segregation (the whole seperate fingers but one hand thing). Also, the fact that he didn't encourage Black people to get involved in politics, business, the academic world ,etc. really annoy me. I'm going to read his autobiogrpahy to see his side but I'm currently wholeheartedly on W.E.B. duBois' side =)

BrownGirl
2/1/2010 09:15:18 am

I agree that Washington did not impress upon his readers the importance of Black people exploring other avenues for success and change the way he did with agriculture. However, we must keep in mind Du Bois' perspective came from a relatively more privileged background whereas Washington was playing catchup in comparison. Washington was speaking more directly to former slaves and to the honing of trades for self-sufficiency in his text than the brilliant Dr. Du Bois was in The Souls of Black Folk. Washington was more intuitive to the fact that a formal education was not a guarantee for everyone. This is still very relevant today. I don't know how many of my college mates a decade later still have done nothing with the degrees that cost them thousands of dollars. I am not by any means saying to not pursue higher education, but that it is not the only way to be successful and that people should know how to actually do something. Washington's core audience were a people who had spent most, if not all, of their lives "working the land". He wanted them to learn the modern techniques as a stepping stone and not necessarily as the final step.

Akilah link
2/2/2010 09:57:17 am

Awesome comment. I know a lot of people who are upset by Washington's ideals, but...he is speaking the truth. It's also important to remember, as you pointed out, that he comes from a rural working class background and DuBois was Mr. Talented Tenth, which was problematic in its own right.

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6/9/2010 04:58:17 pm

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