Up from slavery: Washington and Booker T in 1901

Booker T. Washington was an exemplary example to change for his race and for the nation, during a significantly difficult period of U.S. history. Washington, created the Tuskegee Normal and Vocational Institute, which according to its founder took into consideration the current situation for the nation and taught black men and women how to fulfill the needs of their communities. The Tuskegee Institute, served as a transitional school for many blacks, seeking education an that was not available to them in any other format in the south.

Harlan 174) the surge of former slaves and their children to receive an education was intense, as the majority of slaves at the turn of the century were illiterate, by law.

Denton 36) Additionally, many believed that education would create opportunity, and self sustainability for themselves and their families.

Young black men and women would seek to go to Tuskegee, initially because it was all the higher education offered and later because it became well-known as a great place to work toward getting a good job, as many people black and white would eventually seek out graduates from Tuskegee to fill open positions.

Washington 311)

In our industrial teaching we keep three things in mind: first, that the student shall be so educated that he shall be enabled to meet conditions as they exist now, in the part of the South where he lives -in a word, to be able to do the thing which the world wants done; second, that every student who graduates from the school shall have enough skill, coupled with intelligence and moral character, to enable him to make a living for himself and others; third, to send every graduate out feeling and knowing that labour is dignified and beautiful -- to make each one love labour instead of trying to escape it. In addition to the agricultural training which we give to young men, and the training given to our girls in all the usual domestic employments, we now train a number of girls in agriculture each year. These girls are taught gardening, fruit-growing, dairying, bee-culture, and poultry-raising.

Washington 312)

Some have argued that Washington was not an example, as he taught blacks only vocational trades, rather than elevating them to higher positions in life, yet Washington clearly believed that from slavery, black people had learned a disdain for work, and white people had learned nothing of industry.

Sehat 323) Washington believed that the evils of the system had damaged the industry of individuals, both white and black and they must therefore relearn the joy of doing a job well.

The slave system on our place, in a large measure, took the spirit of self-reliance and self-help out of the white people. My old master had many boys and girls, but not one, so far as I know, ever mastered a single trade or special line of productive industry. The girls were not taught to cook, sew, or to take care of the house. All of this was left to the slaves...When freedom came, the slaves were almost as well fitted to begin life anew as the master, except in the matter of book-learning and ownership of property. The slave owner and his sons had mastered no special industry. They unconsciously had imbibed the feeling that manual labour was not the proper thing for them. On the other hand, the slaves, in many cases, had mastered some handicraft, and none were ashamed, and few unwilling, to labour.

Washington 17-18)

Washington goes on in his autobiography to make an example of the standards that were kept in many institutions of slavery, as no single person or group had any pride in industry. All members of the system were deprived of what Washington considered good living.

The slaves, of course, had little personal interest in the life of the plantation, and their ignorance prevented them from learning how to do things in the most improved and thorough manner. As a result of the system, fences were out of repair, gates were hanging half off the hinges, doors creaked, window-panes were out, plastering had fallen but was not replaced, weeds grew in the yard. As a rule, there was food for whites and blacks, but inside the house, and on the diningroom table, there was wanting that delicacy and refinement of touch and finish which can make a home the most convenient, comfortable, and attractive place in the world. Withal there was a waste of food and other materials which was sad.

Washington 18)

Washington was also frequently asked by people he came into contact with, how he could remain so up-beat about the future for himself, his school and his race, given the conditions they had endured.

When persons ask me in these days how, in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in the future of my race in this country, I remind them of the wilderness through which and out of which, a good Providence has already led us.

Washington 17)

Washington, unlike many before him and unlike most of his contemporaries believed that the whole of the institution of slavery was at fault for the current conditions and the leveling blame at whites was futile, as it had certainly not been begun by those living today and they had lost much in the system as well. "I early learned that it is a hard matter to convert an individual by abusing him, and that this is more often accomplished by giving credit for all the praiseworthy actions performed than by calling attention alone to all the evil done."

Washington 201)

Above all else Washington believed that the mark of success for any man was to create in himself such skill in industry, depending on his calling that he was indispensable to the community in which he lived. To him this was the most important aspect of success, as from this indispensable position, the individual would always earn and receive respect.

A the whole future of the Negro rested largely upon the question as to whether or not he should make himself, through his skill, intelligence, and character, of such undeniable value to the community in which he lived that the community could not dispense with his presence. I said that any individual who learned to do something better than anybody else -- learned to do a common thing in an uncommon manner -- had solved his problem, regardless of the colour of his skin, and that in proportion as the Negro learned to produce what other people wanted and must have, in the same proportion would he be respected.