Booker T. Washington has become a significant symbol that represents a positive revolution in society that is based on evolving as a hardworking and educated being with the drive to be accounted for in the world. His philosophies and his ideas that encouraged people to become better for the purpose of obtaining social recognition have been established as a more peaceful alternative to the angry protests African American individuals would take part in. As a former slave that learnt to earn all that he achieved, Washington believed that to gain what you desire, it would only be obtained through your hard work as an individual with values and morals. Though he was often perceived as a controversial individual for advocating silent resilience, the countless ideas he expressed through famous speeches have motivated not only black individuals but the entire human race to grow as self-reliant.
Before he gained attention for his philosophies, Booker T. Washington had been raised as a slave that worked in mines alongside with his father. Regardless of this, he had the motivation to become educated to ultimately set a concrete example for every rising African American. After he was granted his freedom, he was able to accomplish many things such as being the first black individual to speak in the great hall and being the leading spokesmen of African Americans throughout the United States by giving inspiring speeches such as the Atlanta speech. Additionally, he had obtained the title of being the most well-recognized teacher and founder of an important school for black students called the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee Alabama. While the origin of the school were simple and modest, Washington was able to gradually build his school to provide an effective learning experience with his students.
In continuation, Booker T. Washington remarkably made his mark by demonstrating how blacks should achieve equality in America through the means of education. Without a doubt Booker T. Washington was one of the single most well know African American of his century. Furthermore, this is due to him openly expressing his preference of education when he had become a self-educator that influenced other African Americans to become as equally intelligent as their white superiors. To commence, Booker Taliaferro Washington, was born a slave on “April 5, 1856 on the James Burroughs plantation in Franklin Country, Virginia”. From the moment of birth, he was the legal property of James Burroughs, whom was a respectable landowner who got along quite well with his slaves therefore Washington never experienced any aggression towards him.
Coincidently, by being born into slavery, he had little to no information about his life such as his birthdate and last name, he merely knew his first name “Booker”, in which his mother Jane Ferguson had named him. When Washington was only five years of age, several southern states, such as Virginia, had experienced a geographic and social division due to disputed issues concerning the abolishment of slavery. After the regional separation, the states that had seceded from the United States had banded together to form the Confederate army to combat the Union army in favor of the continuity of slavery in the south. Both armies had strongly opposing opinions with regards to the abolishment of inhumane bondage. This consequently prompted the war to last for four years from 1861 up until the Union army had obtained their final victory in 1865.
For the first 9 years of his life, Washington didn’t live as comfortably as his master and his children, he instead lived with his mother and siblings in a filthy, dirt floored, cramped cabin on the plantation that had gaping holes in the walls to serve as windows. Washington, also experienced many other hardships. To further explain, his only item of clothing was a shirt made out of homespun flax, and he had very little to eat due to how food was scarce in the slave quarters, therefore he would eat mere scraps that his mother would steal from the owner’s kitchen while working as the family cook. In addition to his hardships, he also experienced very hard work as a slave by doing demanding tasks such as tending the farmyards, carrying water to the men in the fields, and fan the flies away from the dinner table. Washington’s slave-owner, James Burroughs, had two daughters that had soon begun to attend school and he’d often assign Washington to carry their books to the local one-room schoolhouse. While he accompanied them, he would then stand outside looking into the schoolhouse with his intrigued curiosity over the material the other children would learn. He would notice the organized rows of white children who’d obediently recite the alphabet and read aloud from their humble books.
As he observed the other boys and girls attentively learning new words and information, he would find himself wishing that he could also attend school with the other children. After he witnessed the life of the white students, he had felt gratitude seeing as they had offered him further insight as to what it would be like to become an educated individual with the means to evolve. He had later claimed that being so close to hardworking students had “made a deep impression upon [him], and [he] had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.” With the end of the Civil War, James Burroughs had gathered the slaves that inhabited the plantation and led them into the “big house” where a man had recited Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The document had officially stated that every African American nationwide was declared free of bondage to any former slave-owner, this included Washington and his family. After the declaration of freedom had begun to be implemented in 1865, the family had moved to Malden where his step-father had acquired a job on the mines with Washington taking part in the work as well.
While Washington was working in the coal mines, he discovered not only the value of cleanliness, but also the efficiency of a school that placed emphasis in industrial education. It was during this occasion that he had overheard two miners discussing the establishment of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, a school in Virginia meant for colored people. In further explanation, the school trained young black students for jobs in farming, education or industry, and poor students could work at the school to pay for their education. From that moment on, Washington’s true ambition was to go to Hampton. Therefore to follow his dream in 1872, Washington set off on his 500-mile journey to get their even if he lacked money. In order to arrive at Hampton he had to take a series of transportation methods such as taking the train, stage coaching, hitchhiking and walking.
When reaching Hampton Institute he was filled with a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment and claimed he reached the “Promised Land.” With his growing excitement, he immediately presented himself to Mary F. Mackie, the principle of the Hampton institute. Soon after, she admitted Washington after giving him an entrance exam that only required him to clean a classroom. His ability to effectively clean the room had allowed him a job at the institute where he worked as a Janitor for three years in order to pay the expenses for his room and board. During his enrollment at Hampton, he learned of his appreciation of earnest work, which inspired him to adopt faith in the dignity of labor. Similarly, in his second year of attending the Hampton Institute, he had been gravely informed of his mother’s death, which proved to be an important misfortune that would affect him later on. A few years after, Washington graduated from Hampton in 1875, soon after he obtained a job as a teacher in a black school in Malden. He had received a letter in 1879 from General Samuel C. Armstrong, the head of the Hampton institute, encouraging him to teach Native American individuals how to speak fluent English, to which he accepted. Additionally, Washington then received a second letter asking him to return to Hampton to serve as a faculty member during a night-school program. As he had done so before, he had promptly accepted the invitation to teach in the Institute that had offered him a new beginning for his future.
In 1881, General Armstrong once again offered Washington a position as principal in the Tuskegee Institute located in Alabama. The school mainly focused on expanding the education of black students that had little to no opportunities to obtain the needed knowledge in an industrial society. Shortly after he had received his letter, Washington had agreed to become the principal of the institute. When Washington arrived at Tuskegee, he was eager to begin teaching, but he came across the hindering issue that there was no school building to conduct the classes. However, this did not halt Washington’s determination of teaching his black students and providing them with an education. He persevered by coming across a run-down, black church that would serve as the foundation of Tuskegee Institute. The Tuskegee institute, specialized in the teaching of math, English along with other academic subjects. Additionally, the school also focused on vocational subjects that would teach the students how to grow cotton and build a house as Washington felt it was important for his students to “know how to make a living after they left…” A short while after the school opened, Washington had borrowed $200 as a down payment to buy a 100 acre plantation that would be used to expand the institute.
The main house had been badly burned during the Civil War, but he was aware of the possibility that the property could make the perfect campus he had envisioned. By the end of the first year, the school had expanded in size as well as included a student body of more than one hundred students. With his fulfilled goal of expanding the school, Washington returned to Malden in 1882 where he met and married Fanny Smith. After his wife had given birth to their first daughter, Portia Washington, he had returned to the institute to continue his plans with the school’s progress. With an increase in improvements and student attendance, the Tuskegee Institute proved to be a great success in 1885. In accordance to the achievements pf the school, one newspaper reported that “Tuskegee is the most successful effort of the Negro at self-education in this country”
After his previous wife died, Washington had married Olivia D. Davidson in 1885, who had given birth to their first son, Booker T. Washington Jr., two years after they wed. A short while after Davidson had given birth to their second son, she began to experience health complications dealing with her second pregnancy that ultimately resulted in her death. Washington had later met and courted Margaret Murray and the couple married shortly after. During this time, the Tuskegee Institution had underwent a difficult era that included financial issues that brought the school to the brink of bankruptcy. Coincidently, Washington had to constantly travel throughout the country to raise money. He managed to acquire monetary aid through speeches he had made to encourage financial support to keep the school open and help it flourish. As he gained nationwide attention for his effective spokesman ship, Washington became a popular guest speaker in both the North and South.
In September 18, 1895, Booker T. Washington was invited to deliver a speech in Atlanta Cotton State and International Exposition located in Atlanta. This occasion had been the first time an African American man was asked to speak from the same stage with an audience of southern white men and women, which sparked strong resentment and anger. The speech came to be commonly known as the Atlanta Compromise, where he pledged for the support of every black individual and in turn help lessen the social difference between the races. Throughout the speech, he held his hand above his head with his fingers spread apart while stating, “In all things are purely social we can be as separate as fingers.” He then memorably clenched his fist and added, “Yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”
These statements efficiently summarized his strong feelings in regards to the strained relationship between whites and African Americans. Almost every individual that attended his speech began to believe that the two races could live separately, yet have equal opportunities throughout the nation. The next day after Washington had delivered his speech, newspapers all across the country carried stories about the important perspective he had brought up amongst the American people. One editor in particular had claimed it was one of the most notable speeches ever given to the largest southern audience. Overnight, Booker T. Washington had managed to become a distinguished black leader who would become the successor of Frederick Douglass.
In continuation, after Washington had delivered his Atlanta speech he had become immensely popular and managed to earn the respect of both black and white citizens. With his exemplary public speaking skills he was able to become the esteemed adviser of President William McKinley on the matter of race relations. This honorary post was also granted to him by the 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt. In 1886, Washington had received one of the greatest honors of his life, which took place when Harvard University awarded him an honorary master’s degree. The transaction had become a historical achievement seeing as it was the first time that a New England university had honored a black man in such a diplomatic way. Ten years after he was awarded with a master’s degree, Washington invited George Washington Carver to accompany him to Tuskegee to begin an agricultural department that would further improve the school. In 1898, Washington was invited to make a speech at Chicago Peace Jubilee, a large event celebrating the end of the Spanish American War. Additionally, he had gained much more popularity amongst many national officials that when he took a trip to Europe he was invited by Queen Victoria of England to be her guest for tea at the Windsor castle in 1899.
Washington continued to work as hard as ever, and not only did he handle the daily activities involved in managing the growing school, but he also worked to promote better relations between blacks and whites. He had continued his efforts to bring about economic equality between black and white Americans during the early 1900s. To go more in depth, he had been a leading founder in the establishment of an organization called the National Negro Business League. The organization focused primarily on helping black citizens start their own business without danger of discrimination or violence directed towards them. In 1901, Washington had published his autobiography, “Up From Slavery” that consequently made him globally famous and prompted many wealthy philanthropists to donate money to the Tuskegee Institute. In the same year, Franklin Roosevelt had invited Washington to dine with him at the white house. This event marked the first time that an African American man had dined with a president and his family in a monumental setting, therefore demonstrating how far African Americans had come in American history. However, as much as an accomplishment the event was, it had also stirred up issues with white southerners who accused him of pushing for social equality by publicity eating with a white man, more importantly, the president of the United States. The large group of angry Americans believed that it was socially unacceptable for a black man and a president to dine on equal terms in the white house.
Despite the controversy that Washington’s dinner at the white house had caused, it further solidified his position as the most important black man in America. By 1903, many African Americans and liberal whites had begun to criticize Washington’s racial philosophy that evidently favored the implementation of racial divisions amongst the races. Countless individuals had also accused that his social efforts did not speak out strongly enough against discriminating injustices toward African Americans. Critics had soon begun to look for other black leaders that preached beliefs that were more assertive of racial integration in society. One of the potential leaders included W.E.B. DuBois because his racial philosophy opposed Washington’s passive beliefs for society. To further elaborate, Washington accepted segregation in the south while Dubois strongly opposed the act of separating white individuals from African Americans. Additionally, Washington believed that whites would eventually give black people the equal rights they had been demanding for decades, while Dubois believed that they should not have to wait to be given their civil rights. In time, Washington’s role as the leading spokesman for all African Americans began to lessen, however, he still continued to administer his school and publicly stress the importance of education and economic advancement. In 1910, Washington’s health was beginning to fail, but he still participated in speaking engagements and even managed to write two other books, “My largest Education in 1911”, and, “The Man Farthest Down in 1912” . During 1915, while Washington was on a tour in New York City, he became gravely ill. He had received immediate medical attention at a nearby hospital where it was discovered that he was suffering from a serious kidney problem. Therefore, Washington wanted to stop the tour and return home to Tuskegee and claimed that “[he] was born in the south, lived and labored in the south so [he] [expected] to die and be buried in the south”. Shortly after, Washington and his wife had boarded a train to Tuskegee and arrived on November 13, though he had barely survived the trip and died the very next day. After his death had become public, thousands of people throughout America and the world mourned his death. Booker T. Washington had become an exemplary individual who had raised himself up from poverty to become a leader of the people.
