Booker T.

Washington and the Black Experience

BreAnna Bell
BreAnna Bell

Intro to Black Politics

Prof. Daryl B. Harris

Paper 1

Overtime, many things have been discovered to be true of the black experience and what

it has meant to be a black person living in America. The definition has come to evolve over time,

but what remains constant are the core values of each black individual. The core values being,

resistance, freedom, social justice, equality, unity, community, education, and self-determination.

One individual in particular, by the name of Booker T. Washington has embodied these values in

our history. Through his countless works within the black community to inspire, educate, and

unify, it becomes evident that he has upheld most of the core values and played a major role of

taking steps to overturn the handle of white dominance over the black community.

Booker Taliaferro Washington, the man who would later come to be described as a

schoolbook black hero (Harlan), was himself, born a slave in 1856 and lived through the

institution until it was abolished after the end of the Civil War. He embodies the core value of

self determination through his will to learn. Washington, as a child, worked in a salt furnace

from four to nine in the morning and went to school, which started at nine a.m. as well, in a town

one mile away from the salt furnace. Then, upon finishing his school day, he had to come back to

the furnace to work another two hours. He was so determined to learn, he completed school this

way because it was the only way his stepfather would let him attend school. There is another

instance
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where Booker T. Washington shows his will to learn and his character to make a way when he

travels to the Hampton Institute in Virginia to enroll in classes. The Lady Principal, Miss Mary

Mackie met with Washington and told him it would need to be decided later if he could attend

the school, as he was already late to enroll. Mackie then assigned him to a room which she

handed him a broom and had him clean. Once she returned to the room and saw that Mr.

Washington had cleaned the room spotless, she decided he had earned his admittance. These

anecdotes show his self-determination and his willingness to do for himself. This would help him

develop his future endeavors.

Booker T. Washington, after his graduation from Hampton Institute, became a teacher. At

first, he taught Sunday School at two different places, Father Rices Zion Baptist Church and

Snow Hill salt furnace. After his short time teaching Sunday school, he went back to Hampton to

teach night school.In his time in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he taught a class titled The Plucky

Class, which was catered to mostly an Indian student body. He would later go on to take part in

the founding of, as well as teach at, Tuskegee University. While he was in Alabama teaching at

Tuskegee, he also founded a new school inside the African Methodist Episcopal Baptist Church

where he had three classes: the Juniors Class, and A and B preparatory students. Booker T.

Washington made a home of Tuskegee. He ran the school as far as following rules, making sure

they were enforced, as well as running the faculty. These facts come to show how Booker T.

Washington embodied another of the black core values: education. Through his efforts to build
the black community by teaching no matter the capacity- whether Sunday school in the Snow

Hill salt furnace or night school at his Alma

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Mater, Hampton Institute. He showed his interest in changing the status of black men and

women in this way, along with many other ways as well.

Booker T. Washington wanted to see black men and women doing better for themselves.

In a letter written to the Charleston Newspaper in 1877, Washington asked the question, Can we

not improve? I mean the colored people, for I am a colored man myself, or rather a boy.He

wished to see black people in positions of power such as headmaster or headmistresses of

schools. When the letter was sent to General Armstrong, the state superintendent, asking for a

white man to be recommended as the principle for a new normal school in the south, what would

come to be Tuskegee University, Washington was perplexed as to why it would be a white man.

His critics tend to find that Booker T. Washington opened his hands to the promises of white

men too often; many called him, later on in life, an Uncle Tom. However, it can be said that

Washington was a smart player. While it was seen in public that Washington was an

accommodationist, Booker T. had developed a secret lifein which he kept his true interests to

himself. Behind closed doors, it is said, Washington had secret meetings where he fought against

the injustices of the world such as disenfranchisement, Jim Crow segregation, and other

injustices black people faced. These acts alone follow the black core values of resistance because

he is resisting the social status forced on him and other black people of the time; social justice
because of the issues that he is fighting to put an end to (disenfranchisement, exclusion of black

people in federal appointed offices); and freedom by constantly seeking these ideals, while not

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always in the public eye or under false pretenses, but still seeking freedom from a system of

oppression.

Booker T. Washingtons teaching at black schools of all kinds, higher learning like

Hampton and Tuskegee; of kids in Sunday schools in different churches over years; of students

of all ages from the teenagers to the ministers in the African Episcopal Methodist Baptist Church

not only shows his dedication to the education of black people, but also his dedication to the

community. He participated in multiple conferences to speak on how to advance the status of

black people such as the NAACP meetings during its rise in the early 1900s. While typically

disagreed with on most points due to Washingtons being from a different era in the history of

black people, he spoke on his ideas for the advancement of colored people which also shows his

commitment to the black community.

Over time, Booker T. Washington has come to be seen as a complex but revered figure in

the black community. As many disagree with his tactics or ideals, he is still praised for the

dedication of his life to amending the status of colored people in America through his works to

educate, fight for social justice, resist the status of black people as dictated by the white people,

and argue for freedom for the community. Though he may not have wanted to get into politics,

as he said publicly many times, He has become a great political figure for his beliefs and his

works which the black community can still benefit from today.
 Works Cited

1. Bieze, Michael. Booker T. Washington and the Art of Self-representation. New York:

Peter Lang, 2008. Print.

2. Harlan, Louis R. Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Leader, 1856-1901.

New York: Oxford UP, 1972. Print.

3. Harlan, Louis R. Booker T. Washington The Wizard of Tuskegee (1901-1915).

Oxford: Oxford UP, 1983. Print.