Dialectical Journal #4
Name: Rajvee Ramji
For this journal entry, we will shift our approach a little. Your task is to provide a summary of
each assigned reading, some observations and (2 or 3) questions. (Please feel free to use the
following table or something approximating it.)
Author/Work Summary
Washington In Chapter 1, Booker
Washington provides a
Up From Slavery backstory to his earliest
memories of origin. Being
deprived of education as a
slave, he is ignorant of his
birthdate, his mother’s
ancestry, and his father’s
identity. He later learns that
his father was possibly a
white man… but feels no
resentment towards his
abandonment as Washington
believes his father to be a
victim of the slave system.
Washington vividly
remembers living with his
older brother, mother, and
sister in a log cabin, that was
also a makeshift kitchen.
Washington articulately
describes the poor
infrastructure of the cabin; no
glass windows, the barren
earth as the floor, due to
which they were never
comfortable in their own
home. The seasonal changes
and its effects on the cabin
only made it worse.
Washington worked at the
plantation along with the
other slaves, but what he
dreaded the most was going
to the mills. Due to his small
smize, he was not able to load
the horses with bags of corn,
Observations & Questions
Observations
1. Washington claiming
to not have much
information on his
ancestry. Comparing
it to Frederick
Douglass’s narrative,
he as well mentioned
that he did not know
much of his family
except his
grandparents. This
was a common
practice among the
masters in relation to
the slaves and their
families. Slaves were
prevented from
having strong bonds
with their families.
2. Washington mentions
entering the “big
house” and
understanding the
topics of conversation
conversed by the
white men. We can
deduce that the
masters and slaves
spoke in the same
tongue at all times.
They did not speak
another language in
the “big house”
meetings. This is
interesting because
one would think that
nor stop them from falling off
halfway that would lead him
into despair. He recalls most
of his childhood being “all
work and no play”. Despite
the family never having the
chance of having a civilized
meal together, his mother,
being the plantation cook, had
access to the master’s
backyard and would often
feed chicken to her children
late in the night. Washington Questions
dreamt of studying in a
schoolhouse wanting to have
the opportunity to receive
formal education. But what
had astonished him the most
was when the slaves had
more information on the
politics of the country than
the white men by means of
the “grape-vine” whispers.
After the end of the civil war,
the emancipation
proclamation was declared
that freed all the slaves.
Washington’s mother had
been praying for this day. In
the later days of their
freedom, some slaves were
overwhelmed with the
responsibility that came with
their freedom while the aged
slaves returned back to their
masters as they had formed a
familial bond in their life of
bondage to their owners and
their children.
Chapter 14 begins with
Washington being provided
with the opportunity to
address the audience at the
Atlanta Exposition Address
where he delivers his full
speech. His message
the masters receiving
a formal education
would have spoken in
a different tongue
especially in their
private meetings
while the slaves were
descendants from
Africa, so perhaps
they spoke more than
one language?
1) Why didn’t
Washington’s father
“buy” his children and
wife if he was
supposedly a white
man? White men did
not fall under the rules
of slavery, then why
did he never try to
reunite with his
family?
2) Why does
Washington feel he
was born in an
unpleasant and
distrustful
environment when it
was not due to the
masters that he felt
that way? What made
him feel like he was
surrounded by misery
and discouragement
when he had the
privilege of living
with his family?
surrounds the themes of racial
inequality, racial animosity,
equal human rights, love and
peace among the two races
and is very well received.
From the very next day after
delivering his speech, he
receives recognition beyond
belief on news outlets, media
platforms and so forth. But he
is most elevated with the then
President, Grover
Cleveland’s response to his
letter of his speech.
Washington admires
Cleveland as he knows of the
president to be a true, non-
biased man of honor and
respect. A few months after
his speech, the black papers
post negative criticism on
Washington’s speech
accusing him of downplaying
the violence that black people
have endured over the span of
many years. Washington
relates this criticism to a time
where he had accused black
ministers of performing their
jobs inadequately where he
initially received backlash,
but people eventually began
realizing he was right. Later,
Washington accepts the
invitation to serve as a judge
of an award in the
Department of Education and
feels honored sitting next to
highly influential jurors from
different fields. Washington
believes that black people
will receive their rights to
citizenship when they have
‘earned’ it on their own rather
than granted easily. The
Chapter ends with
 Washington’s confidence on
the rights of black people
when he reminisces the time
where he had never thought
he himself would be able to
deliver a speech that felt like
a revelation to many.
DuBois Dubois opens the first
chapter, “Of Our Spiritual
Striving” from his book,
“The Souls Of Black Folk”
with a poem by Arthur
Symons. Briefly, the poem
provides an imagery of the
sea with DuBois personifies
with the despair and sorrows
of the black folk. The chapter
is an overview of the
struggles of black lives post
emancipation. He plainly
distinguishes himself from
the “other world” (white
men’s world) acknowledging
the problems associated with
the color of his skin. Dubois
provides a brief account of
his childhood and the
moment he realized he was
‘different’… when a female
classmate refused his card.
There on, he introduces the
concept of the veil – a
metaphor for the imaginary
yet unmistakable line that
separated the black men’s
world from the white. He
reminisces the times where he
excelled in all educational
and non-educational fields in
school but was never given
merit for due to the prejudices
of the white folk. Blacks were
compelled to bear the
subjugation of inequality and
cruelty dawned upon them.
Observations
1) DuBois mentions the
presence of an
unanswered
question… “How
does it feel to be a
problem?” But no
white man was bold
enough to say that
directly, rather
maneuver the question
in a way to portray
some sort of
consolation and
compassion for the
barbarism inflicted by
their race, all the
while latently
implying the black
men’s inferiority.
Dubois dispenses a
few examples, one
which began with “I
know an excellent
colored man in my
town...”. I felt a
personal relation to
this when I first came
to America. Being a
brown woman with an
Indian ethnicity, some
who approached me
had began their
sentences the same
way. To some level, it
feels as though people
of my skin color are
uncommon and are
Yet, DuBois had no intend to
tear down the veil. He wanted
to bring change… he did not
know how or when, but he
had a vision. And just like the
discern line of the veil, there
existed another line -
“twoness” … a self-
conflicting concept where
black men would see himself
from the eyes of white men
and his own. Due to the
twoness, black men ignored
their potential. They were like
“falling stars”. Similarly,
black ministers fell into
demagogy because of these
double aims. The struggle
post emancipation was
difficult. The black folk
engaged in a movement to
gain equal political power but
failed in their attempts.
Thereafter, they turned to
“book learning”. With
education, Negroes began
analyzing their situation…”
the dead weight of social
degradation and racial
poverty”. Not only did they
feel the burden of their
ignorance but also the ‘red
stain’ where the white men
raped and degraded their
women and washed away
their chastity while their
people remained silent.
DuBois ends the chapter with
the message of unity. The
need for a unified ideal of
race where unity means
fighting for their equal rights
with strategy and education.
Despite the brutality of the
white men enforced for
decades, DuBois encourages
not supposed to be in
the United States but
rather in India. I even
received questions
such as “Why are you
not black?” because I
was born and raised in
Africa. The level of
ignorance was
astonishing. And it is
unfortunate that it still
prevails.
2) “The first decade was
merely a prolongation
of the vain search of
freedom”. There on,
Dubois discusses the
events of the
holocaust of war and
the savagery of the Ku
Klux Klan which is
relatable to Wells-
Barnett’s account of
the white men’s
excuses and the
formation of the KKK
that lynched black
men for no valid
reason. Over 30-40
years post
emancipation, black
people still aimed to
fight for their
striving… as they are
today. After having
dealt with systematic
racism for so long,
this time their battle
cries will be heard.
 the black folk to remain
humble but resilient. His
“alliance” with the white men
and their world has not
softened him to their horrors,
rather made him stronger to
fight his battles with his
people.
Wells-Barnett Wells-Barnett’s The Red
Record predominantly
focuses sadistic and inhuman
act of lynching. The first
chapter provides the
foundation one need know of
the dreadful acts of lynching.
She takes no time in
introducing the themes of
slavery and brutality. The
purpose of “The Case Stated”
is to create awareness of the
significance of documenting
lynching and the 3 petty
excuses given by southern
white men for their
barbarism. Prior to the
Emancipation Proclamation,
southern white men were
more lenient towards
preserving the bodies of their
slaves by scourging them and
focused on deforming their
souls. After the emancipation
proclamation was delivered,
“the vested interests of the
white men in the Negro’s
body were lost”, and it wasn’t
just revenge they seeked…
they were willing to kill in
Observations
1) Wells-Barnett says,
“Humanity abhors the
assailant of
womanhood.” This
was used as an excuse
by the southern white
men to murder in cold
blood the Negroes.
While in the context
of the brutality against
the black men, it fits
its position to be an
excuse. Yet, we still
witness this today.
Women are more
subjected to be
victims of rape than
men. India, following
a polytheistic religion,
worships many
gods… a significant
amount being women
who represent the
prosperity of the land,
and yet they are raped.
The southern white
men considered
themselves
chivalrous. Where
the most inhumanly way
possible. Wells-Barnett’s
provides us with the basic
statistics where over 10,000
Negroes were killed in the
span of 30 years without legal
trials and execution, yet only
3 white men were tried,
convicted, and executed in
this duration. She references
one of Frederick Douglass’s
articles that give out the 3
excuses used by the southern
white men. The first one is
insurrection by the Negros,
second, Black domination in
electoral politics, and third,
sexual violence against the
white women. These excuses
were planted carefully and
executed periodically to
ensure they were believable.
Wells-Barnett notes that no
insurrection was ever
materialized, black men never
fought back for their voting
rights to maintain the peace,
and the northern women who
bravely made their way to the
south to help these Negroes
never once complained about
sexual harassment or
violence. Towards the end of
the chapter, the author
introduces the lynching
statistics records that go
further into detail in the
following chapter.
Chapter 10, “The Remedy”.
Wells-Barnett begins by
discussing the principles of
law. According to the justice
system, “every wrong has it’s
remedy”. However, as basic
equality in matters of life
were deprived from the black
was their chivalry
when the Northern
women came to help
the Negroes? Instead,
they were classified as
“Nigger teachers” and
outlaws. Furthermore,
comparing Wells-
Barnett’s account to
Harriett Jacobs
narrative, Jacobs was
subjected to repeated
sexual harassment by
her master. How was
a woman’s honor
upheld then?
“Chivalry which
depends upon
complexion of skin
and texture of hair can
command no honest
respect.”
2) The first excuse,
insurrection by black
people is still in effect
today. In spite of the
history of slavery and
the measures taken to
abolish it, black
people still feel the
need to fight for their
rights…
predominantly their
right to live. White
supremacy groups and
the far right are in a
constant battle trying
to suppress black
lives. The police are
called on black people
who are simply living
their lives but are
being perceived as a
threat the moment
they enter a grocery
store, a bank,
people, the same was
expected when it came to the
justice system. Negroes were
never considered equal to the
white men and therefore the
punishment for their crimes,
even though the same crime
may have been committed by
a white man, was not the
same. The criminal justice
process was just as biased.
Negroes had “no right” to
provide justification or
evidence for their pardon.
The white men only needed
an excuse for murder, and
they would later claim that
the suspect had confessed to
his crime after he was killed.
Several Mayors and
Governors tried to protect the
black prisoners but failed in
their attempts due to violence
and some, in their own
prejudices and corruption.
The main purpose of this
chapter is to provide ways of
preventing lynching. The
suggested ways are:
information dissemination of
the facts supplied in the book
that can be used as a medium,
using social and religious
powers to condemn lynching,
seeking assistance from
authorities to defund the
southern states in their
investments of outlawry,
acting independently during
such an event and advocating,
and assisting in pushing
Mr.Blair’s bill to the House
of Representatives that
suggests a detailed
investigation to sexual
violence against women that
throwing a social
event, sleeping in
their homes. In the
accounts of both
Wells-Barnett and
Washington, we see
that during the Civil
War, wives and
children of the white
men were left
defenseless when they
went off to fight in the
war. But no slave
harmed them, instead,
cared for them. No
slaves were accused
of any insurrection or
rape charges. Cases
such as George Floyd
and Breonna Taylor
have brought an
uproar from the black
community that led to
the initiation of the
black lives movement.
In the 21st century,
where people are
more liberal and have
accepted diversity,
why do people of
color still feel
suppressed? They are
considered minorities.
Is that due to the total
number of people of
their race within the
country or because
they suffer from
relative poverty and
are more likely to
commit crimes?
Questions
1) Why were the
southern white
ask for specifics and men so intimated
providing a $25,000 fund for by the black men?
the entire process. Wells- What did they
Barnett’s ends by providing fear?
an impassioned poem on 2) Why we
human rights and freedom by
poet James Russell Lowell.
Specifically aimed at those
who feel they have no
obligation to the matter.