What type of person was booker t washington

Granted statehood in , Washington was named in honor of George Washington; it is the only U. George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and served two terms as the first U. The son of a prosperous planter, Washington was raised in colonial Virginia. As a young Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Washington Beliefs And Rivalry with W. Recommended for you. Washington on Race Relations. March on Washington.

George Washington Carver. George Washington Carver George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts though not peanut butter, as is often claimed , sweet potatoes and soybeans.

Washington 1. March on Washington The March on Washington was a massive protest march that occurred in August , when some , people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. Du Bois W. Marcus Garvey Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican-born Black nationalist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement, which sought to unify and connect people of African descent worldwide.

He was suspicious of the group's motives and "wanted nothing to do with its militant policies" Black Americans of Achievement Video Collection The election of Woodrow Wilson, in , as the twenty-eighth President of the United States may have been a turning point in Washington's public rhetoric. Wilson had campaigned with assurances that he would pursue equal rights for African Americans. He did not follow through with such promises after he was in office.

Stung by this betrayal, Washington surprised some by publishing an article with a tone more in common with the militant black leaders of this time. Despite this change in rhetoric, many believe that Washington had always done more behind the scenes than he outwardly made apparent or for which he was given credit. Washington died in November Whether the cause of death was related to exhaustion or a complete nervous breakdown, it was clear that he had made a major impact on the world.

This impact would continue to be felt as the United States struggled with racial issues through the twentieth century. Washington moved away from the confrontational approaches embraced by his predecessor in the African American community, Frederick Douglass. It has been debated whether or not Washington was simply being realistic in what could be accomplished during that era or whether he personally believed such approaches were the best for the community.

Whatever the case, Washington clearly was one of the most influential leaders of his time. It must be remembered that Booker lived during a time when blacks were not allowed to vote, most lived in poverty, and very few were educated. The racial overtones in the fifty years after the Civil War made for political and social environments that were unstable at best.

In today's terms, Booker may have been acting in a "politically correct" manner so that he did not lose the support of key white individuals. He worked hard to develop these relationships and may have calculated that a confrontational approach was not advantageous. Washington was also well-known for his abilities to raise funds for the Tuskegee Institute.

Many northern philanthropists gave to Tuskegee because Washington had a clear vision for how the school could help Southern blacks make a better life for themselves. The success of Tuskegee Institute was clearly associated with Booker T. Washington's ability to raise funds in various ways. His most successful literary endeavor was writing his autobiography Up From Slavery.

This book benefited from the national recognition that came from his "Atlanta Compromise" speech in It was said that Andrew Carnegie learned of Tuskegee Institute by reading this book and soon became a supporter of the school.

The other key philanthropic individual of the time, John D. Rockefeller, also contributed to the growth of Tuskegee Institute. Teaching African Americans to use education to promote economic progress was a key issue in the late nineteenth century.

Washington taught many people who came from destitute backgrounds "how to improve their lives by cleanliness, industry, thrift, diversified farming, painting and mending, family budgeting, and better planning" Toppin , Washington's ideals set forth many practical concepts that helped the African American community to move from slavery toward integration in the greater society's economic system.

His founding of Tuskegee Institute as a leading college for African Americans further solidified the role of vocational training or vocational education for the underclass.

It was said that Frederick Douglass believed his own best advice to a young black man was to "agitate! Washington's advice similar to the Protestant work ethic , was "work! It was this focus on individual pursuit to promote group economic progress, and not directly challenging the social institutions that caused oppression and injustice, which caused critics to label Washington's viewpoints as accommodationalism accepting the status quo.

Toward the end of his life, Booker T. Washington is attributed to saying, "more and more, we must learn to think not in terms of race or color, or language, or religion, or political boundaries, but in terms of humanity" Black Americans of Achievement Video Collection He believed in equality, but differed on the manner in which it would be achieved.

Frederick Douglass was the clear leader of his race from the end of the Civil War until his death. Unlike Booker T. A daughter, Amanda, was born to this marriage. James, Booker's younger half-brother, was adopted. Booker's elder brother, John, was also the son of a White man.

Booker spent his first nine years as a slave on the Burroughs farm. In , his mother took her children to Malden, West Virginia, to join her husband, who had gone there earlier and found work in the salt mines. At age nine, Booker was put to work packing salt. Between the ages of ten and twelve, he worked in a coal mine. He attended school while continuing to work in the mines. In , he went to work as a houseboy for the wife of Gen. Lewis Ruffner, owner of the mines. In , at age sixteen, Booker T.

The dominant personality at the school, which had opened in under the auspices of the American Missionary Association, was the principal, Samuel Chapman Armstrong, the son of American missionaries in Hawaii. Armstrong, who had commanded Black troops in the Civil War, believed that the progress of freedmen and their descendants depended on education of a special sort, which would be practical and utilitarian and would at the same time inculcate character and morality.

Washington traveled most of the distance from Malden to Hampton on foot, arriving penniless. His entrance examination to Hampton was to clean a room. The teacher inspected his work with a spotless, white handkerchief. Booker was admitted. He was given work as a janitor to pay the cost of his room and board, and Armstrong arranged for a White benefactor to pay his tuition.

At Hampton, Washington studied academic subjects and agriculture, which included work in the fields and pigsties.

He also learned lessons in personal cleanliness and good manners. His special interest was public speaking and debate. Activists like W. Du Bois who was working as a professor at Atlanta University at the time deplored Washington's conciliatory philosophy and his belief that African Americans were only suited to vocational training. Du Bois criticized Washington for not demanding equality for African Americans, as granted by the 14th Amendment , and subsequently became an advocate for full and equal rights in every realm of a person's life.

Though Washington had done much to help advance many African Americans, there was some truth in the criticism. During Washington's rise as a national spokesperson for African Americans, they were systematically excluded from the vote and political participation through Black codes and Jim Crow laws as rigid patterns of segregation and discrimination became institutionalized throughout the South and much of the country.

But the fact that Roosevelt asked Washington to dine with him inferring the two were equal was unprecedented and controversial, causing an ferocious uproar among white people. Both President Roosevelt and his successor, President William Howard Taft , used Washington as an adviser on racial matters, partly because he accepted racial subservience. His White House visit and the publication of his autobiography, Up from Slavery , brought him both acclaim and indignation from many Americans.

While some African Americans looked upon Washington as a hero, others, like Du Bois, saw him as a traitor. Many Southern white people, including some prominent members of Congress, saw Washington's success as an affront and called for action to put African Americans "in their place. Washington was a complex individual, who lived during a precarious time in advancing racial equality. On one hand, he was openly supportive of African Americans taking a "back seat" to white people, while on the other he secretly financed several court cases challenging segregation.

By , Washington had lost much of his influence. The newly inaugurated Wilson administration was cool to the idea of racial integration and African American equality. Washington remained the head of Tuskegee Institute until his death on November 14, , at the age of 59, of congestive heart failure. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!