Booker T. Washington
As an influential African American, living in a time of escalating segregation, Booker T. Washington negotiated a course between accomodation and progress in advocating greater civil rights for blacks. His philosophy of "request" not "protest" allowed him to gain the respect of presidents and politicians, but sometimes alienated those of his own race. Washington believed education was a cornerstone for the advancement of blacks and his efforts to raise money for his beloved Tuskegee Institute helped secure its well-deserved reputation as a leading educational institution for African Americans.
"My life work is the promotion of education of my race."
— Booker T. Washington
Born: April 5, 1856 Franklin County, Virginia
Died: November 5, 1915 Tuskegee, Alabama
Booker Taliaferro Washington went from slave to foremost leader of black society in the early 20th century. As principal of Tuskegee Institute, Washington took the school from a single shanty building, 40 students, and $2,000 annual state funding, to more than 100 well equipped buildings, 200 faculty, an enrollment of 1,537, and an endowment of $2 million, by his death. Today, Tuskegee University enrolls approximately 3,000 students. Historically awarding normal and trade school certificates, the university now offers a diverse set of degree offerings in business, science, liberal arts, etc. Degrees are offered at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate levels.
Tuskegee produced the World War II pilots known as the "Tuskegee Airmen," as well as the first black four-star general, General Daniel "Chappie" James. Tuskegee has produced more African-American military generals than any other institution, including all of the military academies. It has the first nursing baccalaureate program in Alabama and is one of two centers funded by NASA to develop a technology for growing food in space during human space missions. These are only a few of a long list of distinctive achievements in Tuskegee University's history. Acclaimed in 1900 as the successor to Frederick Douglass, Washington was an advisor to presidents and philanthropists of all types.
Published in 1901, Washington's autobiography, Up From Slavery, has never been out of print. It continues to educate people about the black struggle to survive and succeed in America. His adherence to the principle of non-violence would later resonate in the words and actions of Martin Luther King and others. He was a complicated man negotiating a course between accommodation to the white power structure, and the steady progress and survival of the black race in an increasingly segregated society. Washington shunned "protest" in favor of "request.” He believed that both whites and blacks suffered from the ill effects of racial hatred; by bringing down one race, the other was brought down as well. He was as fervent at the end of his life as at the beginning that if blacks displayed high moral character and a strong work ethic, whites would be morally forced to accept and treat them properly.
Washington was born a mulatto slave in Franklin County, Virginia, and given the name Booker Taliaferro. Washington described his early childhood: "My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings." Though his father is unknown, his slave mother did marry fellow slave Washington Ferguson, who lived on a neighboring farm. As was customary, Washington was put to work as soon as possible cleaning the yards, carrying water to the field hands, and taking the corn to be ground. The brief glimpses he stole of his masters' children's schoolroom gave him the feeling that, “to study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise."
At the end of the Civil War, Washington, his mother, and his siblings moved several hundred miles away to join his stepfather, Washington Ferguson, in Malden, West Virginia. It was here that Booker Taliaferro added Washington to his name. At the age of nine, Washington joined Ferguson in the salt mines and became a salt packer. He was elated when a school was opened in Malden for the purpose of educating the newly freed black children. He was so intent on getting an education that on school days he would alter the mine's clock so he could get to class on time. Eventually his manager caught on and locked the timepiece away in a case.
From 1866 to 1868, he worked in the coalmine that supplied fuel to the salt mine and erratically attended night school. After this period, he was employed as a houseboy for Viola Ruffer, the wife of the owner of the mines. She was a stern taskmaster who further instilled the strong work ethic that Washington evinced his entire life. In 1872, he left West Virginia to attend the Hampton Agricultural Institute in Hampton, Virginia. Having no idea what it cost to get there, let alone the cost of attending the school, he arrived in Richmond, Virginia, penniless. Destitute and forced to sleep under an elevated sidewalk, Washington waited in Richmond until he earned enough money to continue his way to Hampton. He finally arrived at Hampton dirty, rumpled, and with 50 cents in his pocket. Only after thoroughly cleaning a classroom was he admitted to the school and given the job of janitor to pay his board. He was given a scholarship to pay his tuition.
Samuel Armstrong, a commander of black troops during the Civil War, was principal of the institute and became Washington's mentor. Armstrong believed it was important for the freed slaves to get a practical education. Armstrong's own views on the development of character, self-sacrifice on the behalf of others, and belief in practical education had a profound effect on Washington. After graduating in 1875, Washington returned to Malden to teach. The students he tutored for admission to Hampton did so well there that in 1878, the institute hired him to teach a program for Native Americans and establish a night school.
In 1880, a bill to establish a school for blacks in Macon County was passed by the Alabama State Legislature. Samuel Armstrong was asked to recommend a white teacher as principal for this new school; instead he suggested Washington. Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute was opened on July 4, 1881, in a shanty building owned by a local church. The $2,000 state appropriation provided only enough to cover the staff's wages. Washington was forced to take out a personal loan of $500 from Hampton's treasurer to purchase land on which to construct the first school building.
Though Tuskegee taught academic subjects, Washington emphasized the importance of getting a practical education. Students learned farming, carpentry, brick making, shoemaking, printing, and cabinetmaking, all skills that were used in physically constructing the new school. Students worked long hours rising at 5 a.m. and finishing at 9:30 p.m. Washington worked alongside his students. He believed his students should graduate with enough skill, intelligence, and moral character to enable them to make a living for themselves and their families. He called this combined curriculum "dovetailing." For example, in English class, students wrote essays on how and why to plant turnips while simultaneously planting turnips as part of their Agriculture class. For Washington, "The individual who can do something that the world wants done will in the end, make his way regardless of race."
On September 18, 1895, Washington gave a speech before an integrated audience at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta that attracted national attention. This was the first time a black man sat on the same dais and spoke from the same podium as whites. The speech became known as the "Atlanta Compromise." In Washington's historically significant speech, he states, "In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the five fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." He also spoke against black emigration saying, "Cast down your bucket where you are." He implored blacks to stay in the South and asked whites to hire or otherwise use the services of blacks. The speech and the philosophy it expressed comforted Tuskegee's immediate neighbors and helped pave the way to obtaining white protection and patronage from the North. Criticism came from other black leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois who thought his plan of accommodation and manual labor reinforced segregation and degradation of blacks. They were especially alarmed at his apparent lack of support of the right to vote. However, Washington did believe in the right to vote: "I do not believe that any state should make a law that permits an ignorant and poverty-stricken white man to vote, and prevents a back man in the same condition from voting." However, he did not campaign or agitate for this right.
By 1900, Washington spent most of his time on the lecture circuit in a tireless effort to win financial support for Tuskegee Institute. Washington knew his ability to develop and administer a large educational institution would reflect on the abilities of the black community in its entirety. He always made it clear that he was not speaking for his own commercial gain but for the "needs of his people."
Washington was an advisor to President William McKinley, President Theodore Roosevelt, and President Taft as well as countless other politicians. He had a strong hold on the black press and great influence at other black educational institutions, demanding great loyalty from all supplicants. Washington also found time to marry three times and raise three children. His first wife was Fannie Norton Smith of Malden, West Virginia, whom he married and brought to Tuskegee in 1882. They had one daughter before Fannie died in 1884, possibly from injuries suffered in a fall from a wagon. Olivia America Davidson, then Lady Principal of Tuskegee, became Washington's second wife in 1885. She was a strong supporter of women's rights and helped Washington advance Tuskegee by assisting with fund raising and teaching. Davidson died from tuberculosis in 1889. Washington's third wife was Margaret James Murray, who became Lady Principal of Tuskegee. They married in 1893.
Washington clashed with other black leaders of the day over his accommodation to whites and insistence on teaching a vocation in conjunction with the liberal arts. W.E.B. Du Bois and others claimed his reliance on white donations made him less vocal about racial injustice. It was also argued that Tuskegee's vocational training was designed only to produce workers for white employers. Washington and Du Bois argued over the Niagara Movement, which became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), because of its polarizing political nature. Washington instead favored the Urban League, an organization concerned not with politics, but with job opportunities and living conditions of northern working class blacks. In 1900 Washington helped to start the National Negro Business League. As president, Washington made sure that the organization concerned itself with commercial issues instead of civil rights. To him the right to earn a living and acquire property was most important.
Washington lost his power as presidential advisor when Woodrow Wilson was elected and the first southern cabinet and president since the Civil War took office. All black officeholders except those protected by the civil service regulations lost their positions. Washington deplored these actions but initially remained conciliatory towards Wilson. Black life in America was changing for the worst and segregation was increasing. Washington began to speak out more directly about racial injustices as he lost political influence. He was vocal in expressing his opinions on issues including racial segregation in law and practice, unequal accommodations, and cultural events such as the production of the film, Birth of A Nation. He felt free in doing so because he no longer was obligated as an advisor to the sitting president. He was particularly outspoken against housing segregation. He countered the argument that living in close proximity to blacks was harmful to whites by noting that the president, his cabinet, and many leaders in Congress had been reared in the South, many of them having black "Mammies" with no apparent harm to their later success. He contended that there was no spontaneous demand from the vast public for the passage of laws establishing segregation. He argued that such laws were passed only by appealing to racial prejudice and intimidation of white dissenters. Washington's article, “My View of Segregation Laws,” was posthumously published and received accolades from previous enemies for its criticism of segregation laws.
On November 5, 1915, Washington became gravely ill while on a tour in New York. Warned that he was dying, he was determined to return to Tuskegee saying, "I was born in the South, I have lived and labored in the South, and I expect to die and be buried in the South." Washington was transported by train to Tuskegee, where he died on November 14, 1915. Over 8,000 people attended his funeral. He was buried in the small Tuskegee cemetery next to the school's chapel.
Booker Taliaferro Washington believed in the power of moral living, education, and hard work. He was a forthright speaker who was able to inspire his students to become independent small businessmen, farmers, teachers, and nurses rather than continue as wage earners and tenant farmers. What makes him exceptional is that he was able to accomplish his goals in a time of increasing racial turmoil. He was able to cajole funding from the wealthy while maintaining the independence of its use. He was able to influence politicians without being demanding or threatening. When his southern neighbors tried to instill in the community a fear of educated black students, he was always capable of countering their arguments and continuing the growth of his school. Washington proved that he could handle the great responsibility of paving the way for other black leaders of educational institutions. His life's work was for the improvement of his race, not for his personal gain, and that is how he would most like to be remembered.
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