Booker T. Washington
Talking about slavery in America without talking about Booker T. Washington appears unfair to most American. The April of 1856 marks the birth of Booker T. Washington at a time when slavery was at the peak. Descent into slavery forced Washington to go through one of the hardest life experiences to become the man who America came to know. The situation around Booker T. Washington’s birth did not favor most privileges that are enjoyed by children born in freedom. Therefore, children in Booker T. Washington’s time did not enjoy the freedom of education, and only the most determined would be lucky to get a taste of schooling. Booker T. Washington was among the lucky children who went to school, although he had to take care of his education. The efforts of Booker T. Washington culminated into several commendable achievements such as becoming a reformer and educationist. Booker T. Washington contributed immensely towards helping the African-Americans out of slavery and helped in changing the perspectives of the people who had been affected by slavery.
Education and Early Life
The birth of Booker T. Washington happened in a time when America was in the middle of the slave trade. A slave hut hosted the birth of Booker T. Washington in the county of Virginia (Washington, 2019). The early life of Booker T. Washington was spent in Malden, West Virginia and his family lived in poverty. Besides, the challenges that Booker T. Washington went through as a child might have helped in shaping his character towards the man he later became. For example, poverty ruled out the chance of Booker T. Washington to attend education regularly. At the age of nine, Booker T. Washington had to start working in a bid to supplement his parents’ low income. Booker T. Washington began working in a salt furnace and later was employed in a coal mine. The determination to get education pushed Booker T. Washington into catering for his education from an early age.
The journey of Booker T. Washington’s education began in the year 1872. The nearest school that Booker T. Washington could enroll was approximately 500 miles from Booker T. Washington’s home. However, Washington was determined enough to walking over that distance to fulfill his dream of joining the school. Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute was Booker T. Washington’s school, and challenges were part of Washington’s journey throughout education. For example, Washington had to take several odd jobs on his way to finance some expenses on his journey to school. After convincing the administrators to enroll him in the institution, Booker T. Washington took a job as a janitor to finance his stay in the school. The education of Booker T. Washington was boosted by the scholarship given by a white man through the school’s principal who realized the determination of Booker t. Washington. The principal to Hampton Institute, Samuel c. Armstrong was Washington’s mentor and helped in shaping Washington’s character before Booker T. Washington graduated from the school in 1875.
Washington’s fortune started to shine after graduating from Hampton, where he had scored significantly high marks. Booker T. Washington took several teaching jobs in his county and would be called to give several speeches during graduation ceremonies (Bennett, 2016). The teaching jobs that Booker T. Washington took involved day classes for children and night classes for adults. Also, Booker T. Washington became a staff member in his former school in 1881, where he got the opportunity to shape his career. Besides, Washington was later given the mandate to head a newly established Tuskegee institution that had only two unequipped buildings. Booker T. Washington took the initiative to build the Tuskegee institute that has remained as a monument for his work to date.
Achievements and Legacy
Apart from the development of the Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington is remembered for his contribution towards helping America to overcome the spirit of slavery. The main tool used by Booker T. Washington was education. Booker T. Washington believed that blacks would be in a position to overcome slavery if given education (Claiborne & Gibbon, 2016). Therefore, the contribution towards building a robust Tuskegee Institute was among the plans by Booker T. Washington of creating an institution that would go over education to several African-Americans. Besides, Booker T. Washington believed that slavery was based on the blacks’ lack of financial independence and cultural advancement. Therefore, Washington took advantage of heading the Tuskegee institute to ensure that the learners were taught on the values of patience and enterprise. Generally, the efforts of Booker T. Washington were motivated by the desire to help his fellow African-Americans overcome the challenges brought about by slavery.
Booker T. Washington employed all the available means to put across his ideologies. For example, Booker T. Washington wrote several books in his lifetime. Five books have been recorded to have been written by Booker T. Washington. In several of his books, Booker T. Washington expressed his support of freedom from slavery. The expression of sufferings that slaves went through gave the whites a reason to consider their treatment upon the slaves. Besides, Booker T. Washington did not fail to make his intentions for the African-Americans. On top of writing books, Booker T. Washington used the opportunity of the several speeches he gave during meetings such as graduations to declare his stand on the issue of racial discrimination. The position of Booker T. Washington on racial relations was that blacks had no problem with racial segregation as long as the whites did not infringe the rights of the blacks.
The contributions of Booker T. Washington were however not spared by criticism from fellow black leaders. The philosophy held by Booker T. Washington was that the blacks needed to accept the treatment that the system was exposing them to and instead use education to fight discrimination (French, 2018). The general belief by Booker T. Washington that Africans were only suited for vocation training was not taken in good faith by activists such as W.E.B Du Bois. Du Bois was quick to criticize Washington for not fighting for the equality of the blacks and whites despite having the opportunity to do so. The influence of Booker T. Washington fell owing to the rise of other leaders with conflicting opinions, and he later died in 1915 at the age of fifty-nine.
In sum, the birth of Booker T. Washington in 1856 brought hope to the African-American community. Booker T. Washington contributed immensely towards helping the African-Americans out of slavery and helped in changing the perspectives of the people who had been affected by slavery. The efforts of Booker T’ Washington culminated into several commendable achievements such as becoming a reformer and educationist. The aims of Booker T. Washington were however not spared by critics who thought that Washington would have championed for equality between whites and blacks.
References
Bennett, F. A. (2016). A New Method of Teaching Biography. Qualitative Methods in Africana Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Examining Africana Phenomena, 183.
Claiborne, T., & Gibbon, P. (2016). Much Ado About the Blacks: Booker T., WEB, and others on Educating African Americans.
French, S. A. (2018). Kenneth M. Hamilton. Booker T. Washington in American Memory.
Washington, B. T. (2019). Booker T. Washington-Up from Slavery: Autobiography. epubli.