Booker Taliaferro Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856-1915), African American educator and racial leader, founded Tuskegee Institute for black students. His "Atlanta Compromise" speech made him America's major black leader for 20 years.

Booker Taliaferro (the Washington was added later) was born a slave in Franklin County, Va., on April 5, 1856. His mother was the plantation's cook. His father, a local white man, took no responsibility for him. His mother married another slave, who escaped to West Virginia during the Civil War. She and her three children were liberated by a Union army in 1865 and, after the war, joined her husband.

Growing Up Black

The stepfather put the boys to work in the salt mines in Malden, W.Va. Booker eagerly asked for education, but his stepfather conceded only when Booker agreed to toil in the mines mornings and evenings to make up for earnings lost while in school. He had known only his first name, but when pupils responded to roll call with two names, Booker desperately added a famous name, becoming Booker Washington. Learning from his mother that he already had a last name, he became Booker T. Washington.

Overhearing talk about a black college in Hampton, Va., Washington longed to go. Meanwhile, as houseboy for the owner of the coal mines and saltworks, he developed scrupulous work habits. In 1872 he set out for Hampton Institute. When his money gave out, he worked at odd jobs. Sleeping under wooden sidewalks, begging rides, and walking, he traveled the remaining 80 miles and, bedraggled and penniless, asked for admission and assistance. After Hampton officials tested him by having him clean a room, he was admitted and given work as a janitor.

Hampton Institute, founded in 1868 by a former Union general, emphasized manual training. The students learned useful trades and earned their way. Washington studied brickmasonry along with collegiate courses. Graduating in 1876, he taught in a rural school for two years. Studying at Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C., he became disenchanted with classical education, considering his fellow students to be dandies more interested in making an impression and living off the black masses than in serving mankind. He became convinced that practical, manual training in rural skills and crafts would save his race, not higher learning divorced from the reality of the black man's downtrodden existence. In 1879 he was invited to teach at Hampton Institute, particularly to supervise 100 Native Americans admitted experimentally. He proved a great success in his two years on the faculty.

Tuskegee Institute

In 1881 citizens in Tuskegee, Ala., asked Hampton's president to recommend a white man to head their new black college; he suggested Washington instead. The school had an annual legislative appropriation of $2, 000 for salaries, but no campus, buildings, pupils, or staff. Washington had to recruit pupils and teachers and raise money for land, buildings, and equipment. Hostile rural whites who feared education would ruin black laborers accepted his demonstration that his students' practical training would help improve their usefulness. He and his students built a kiln and made the bricks with which they erected campus buildings.

Under Washington's leadership (1881-1915), Tuskegee Institute became an important force in black education. Tuskegee pioneered in agricultural extension, sending out demonstration wagons that brought better methods to farmers and sharecroppers. Graduates founded numerous "little Tuskegees." African Americans mired in the poverty and degradation of cotton sharecropping improved their farming techniques, income, and living conditions. Washington urged them to become capitalists, founding the National Negro Business League in 1900. Black agricultural scientist George Washington Carver worked at Tuskegee from 1896 to 1943, devising new products from peanuts and sweet potatoes. By 1915 Tuskegee had 1, 500 students and a larger endowment than any other black institution.

"Atlanta Compromise"

In 1895 Washington gave his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech. Although he shared the late Frederick Douglass's long-range goals of equality and integration, Washington renounced agitation and protest tactics. He urged blacks to subordinate demands for political and social rights, concentrating instead on improving job skills and usefulness. "The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera-house, " he said. He appealed to white people to rely on loyal, proven black workers, pointing out that the South would advance to the degree that blacks were allowed to secure education and become productive.

Washington's position so pleased whites, North and South, that they made him the new black spokesman. He became powerful, having the deciding voice in Federal appointments of African Americans and in philanthropic grants to black institutions. Through subsidies or secret partnerships, he controlled black newspapers, stifling critics. Overawed by his power and hoping his tactics would work, many blacks went along. However, increasingly during his last years, such black intellectuals as W.E.B. Du Bois, John Hope, and William Monroe Trotter denounced his surrender of civil rights and his stressing of training in crafts, some obsolete, to the neglect of liberal education. Opposition centered in the Niagara Movement, founded in 1905, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which succeeded it in 1910.

Although outwardly conciliatory, Washington secretly financed and encouraged attempts and lawsuits to block southern moves to disfranchise and segregate blacks. He had lost two wives by death and married a third time in 1893. His death on Nov. 14, 1915, cleared the way for blacks to return to Douglass's tactics of agitating for equal political, social, and economic rights. Washington won a Harvard honorary degree in 1891. His birthplace is a national monument.

Further Reading

Washington's autobiographical works are The Story of My Life and Work (1900), Up from Slavery (1901), and My Larger Education (1911), the last two especially revealing. Collections of his writings along with contemporary opinions are Hugh Hawkins, ed., Booker T. Washington and His Critics (1962), and Emma Lou Thornbrough, ed., Booker T. Washington (1969). There are three major biographies: Emmett J. Scott and Lyman Beecher Stowe, Booker T. Washington (1916), an unscholarly glorification, is useful because Scott was Washington's assistant; Basil Mathews, Booker T. Washington: Educator and Interracial Interpreter (1948), is also highly laudatory; Samuel R. Spencer, Jr., Booker T. Washington and the Negro's Place in American Life (1955), the most balanced account is still not sufficiently critical of Washington. The best account of Washington's times is August Meier, Negro Thought in America, 1880-1915: Racial Ideologies in the Age of Booker T. Washington (1963). □

WASHINGTON, BOOKER T. 1856-1915

African american political leader and educator

Up from Slavery

Booker T. Washington was the most influential African American political, social, and educational leader of the 1900s . As head of the Tuskegee Institute and founder of the National Negro Business League he shaped an accommodationist strategy to cope with segregation and discrimination and became the center of a fierce debate among black leaders and intellectuals. He was born the son of a slave woman and a white father, whose identity he never learned, on a small farm in western Virginia in 1856. As a child Washington, who was taught the virtues of frugality, cleanliness, and personal morality, worked in a salt furnace and as a houseboy for a white family. In 1872 he entered Hampton Institute, graduating in 1875. There he formed one of the central ideas of his life: if African Americans were to be accorded equality and respect by whites, they would have to demonstrate their usefulness and establish their autonomy in concrete and unmistakable ways.

Tuskegee

This idea shaped the guiding principles of the Tuskegee Institute, which Washington founded in 1881. The school instructed its students in academic subjects, but it primarily emphasized training in carpentry, masonry, agriculture, cooking, and other basic skills. Washington shaped the curriculum at Tuskegee around manual training, not because he accepted the notion that blacks were inferior to whites but because he believed that the black community would have to establish a firm economic foundation before demanding political equality. Washington's ideals attracted the financial support of several northern white philanthropists, whose contributions helped to fund the dramatic expansion of Tuskegee in the 1880s and 1890s. The school was even accepted by most white southerners, despite their hostility to education for African Americans.

Washington and Jim Crow

In the 1890s and 1900s, as Washington's influence was reaching its peak, southern politics and government were being transformed by new legislation mandating separation of the races and disenfranchising black voters. These "Jim Crow" laws were advocated by white Democrats, who had controlled the region since the end of Reconstruction. Since virtually all southern blacks voted for the Republican Party—the party of Abraham Lincoln and not the party of most former slaveowners—disenfranchising black voters solidified Democratic control of the South and made it clear to disgruntled poor southerners that racial solidarity was the foremost political issue of the era. Washington's critics believed that in his 1895 address at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, he signaled to both whites and blacks his acceptance of segregation and political repression when he said, "In all things purely social we can be as separate as the five fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." In the same address he advised black southerners to stay in the region rather than seeking opportunity in northern cities. When a year after Washington's Atlanta address the Supreme Court upheld the legality of segregated facilities, Washington seemed fully in step with white opinion and the political reality of the New South.

Republican Leader

Washington's prominence among whites, and a war chest he assembled at Tuskegee from funds donated by northern benefactors, made him an intimidating presence in black politics in the 1900s. His stature as a political leader with the power to influence federal patronage was immensely augmented in 1901, when Theodore Roosevelt invited Washington to dine with him at the White House. Southern Democrats were outraged, and blacks across the country were delighted at this signal that Roosevelt did not side with segregation. Despite the uproar that followed Washington's visit with the presidents, both Roosevelt and his successor, William Howard Taft, continued to consult with Washington throughout the 1900s on political appointments and policy issues touching on the race issue. While on the surface Washington seemed content to build his influence, he in fact was working behind the scenes throughout the 1900s to fight segregation, not through the ballot box but through establishing the economic importance of the black community to southern businessmen. He quietly supported boycotts of segregated streetcar lines, and he proclaimed that he did not "favor the Negro's giving up anything which is fundamental and which has been guaranteed to him by the Constitution."

Opposition

Despite these sentiments, Washington found himself confronted by increasingly vocal opposition from other African Americans in the 1900s, particularly those outside the rural South. The leading spokesman for an alternative black political strategy was W. E. B. Du Bois, who admired Washington's achievements but disagreed with his tactics. Du Bois argued that the only appropriate response to disfranchisement was to demand equality and to fight for it at the polls when possible and in the courts when necessary. While he shared Washington's aspirations for black economic independence (a goal Washington advanced in the 1900s through the National Negro Business League), Du Bois believed that African Americans were equally in need of a cadre of leaders with college educations and professional training. As an alternative to Washington's "Tuskegee Machine" Du Bois helped to organize the Niagara Movement in 1905 and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. While Du Bois's willingness to battle prejudice directly left an important legacy, so too did Washington's quiet diplomacy and emphasis on the need for the economic autonomy and independence of African Americans.

Sources:

Edward L. Ayers, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992);

Louis R. Harlan, Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Leader, 1856-1901 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972);

Harlan, Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901-1915 (New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983);

Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery: An Autobiography (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1901).

WASHINGTON, BOOKER TALIAFERRO

Booker Taliaferro Washington was born into slavery, but grew up to become one of the nation's most prominent leaders and educators. While various groups both supported and opposed his views, no one denied that Washington's accomplishments were notable. He remained, until his death, an influential proponent of race relations and African American self-sufficiency.

Booker Taliaferro was born on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia. His mother was a slave; his father a white man whose identity remains unknown. When Booker was a child, his mother married a slave named Washington Ferguson. Booker took his stepfather's first name and became known as Booker T. Washington. After the u.s. civil war ended, Washington and his family moved to Malden, West Virginia. At age nine, Washington began work in the local salt mines. He then labored as a coal miner before going to work as a houseboy for the wife of Lewis Ruffner, the mine owner, while attending a poorly equipped school that could only give him the bare rudiments of an education.

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."
—Booker T. Washington

Possessed of a quick and lively intelligence, Washington was fascinated by the books he saw at the Ruffners' house and, with Mrs. Ruffner's encouragement, became determined to get a higher education. When Washington was 16, he made a long trek on foot to attend the Hampton Agricultural Institute in Virginia. The institute had been founded in 1868 by Samuel Armstrong, a former Union Army general who had led African-American troops during the Civil War. Armstrong believed strongly that freed slaves must be educated but also must learn to provide for themselves by receiving training in manual skills. An ardent proponent of the virtues of good hygiene and strong morals as well as self-discipline, Armstrong became a mentor to Washington.

Washington graduated from Hampton Institute in 1875 and returned to Malden where he worked as a teacher. Washington later taught at Hampton. When a new school, the Tuskegee Negro Normal Institute, was opened in Alabama on July 4, 1881, Washington, on Armstrong's recommendation, was placed in charge of it. Following the Hampton Institute model, Tuskegee Institute had an academic regimen but placed an emphasis on learning such practical trades as farming, carpentry, brickmaking, shoemaking, and printing.

Washington traveled the country to raise funds for his school, speaking to both whites and African Americans. His speeches eventually began to earn him a national reputation. In 1895, Washington spoke at the opening of the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. In that speech Washington emphasized the need for African Americans to become economically self-sufficient before pressing for political rights. Washington's speech, called the "Atlanta Compromise," was well-received by numerous politicians and white citizens in the South who were proponents of jim crow laws, legislation which mandated segregation and political disenfranchisement.

Washington's conservative views were denounced by W. E. B. DuBois and other African American, as well as white, leaders who felt that civil rights could not be compromised and that Washington's emphasis on a vocational education was an affront to those who wished to become professionals. Opposition to Washington's views helped to create the Niagara Movement, which was started in 1905 and served as the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (naacp), established in 1909.

Undaunted by criticism from both liberals and conservatives, Washington continued to write, lecture, and disseminate his personal philosophy of non-agitation. In addition, his influence expanded. He served as advisor to Presidents theodore roosevelt and william howard taft, on the subject of political appointments of African Americans and issues concerning race relations. He also was instrumental in securing funds for African-American institutions from such millionaire industrial leaders as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.

When Washington died in New York City on November 14, 1915, Tuskegee Institute had more than 1,500 students enrolled, and approximately two hundred faculty members. Its endowment was larger than that of any other African American institution. Washington was able to add a considerable amount to Tuskegee funds through the sale of his popular and groundbreaking autobiography, Up From Slavery, which was published in 1901.

Booker T. Washington was both praised and reviled for practicing the "politics of accommodation." To some he was a hero who advocated for moral development and economic self-reliance for African Americans who had to forge a life after being freed from the bonds of slavery. To others he was supportive of segregation and a compatriot of whites who attempted to suppress equal rights for African Americans. Regardless of these views, Washington was a pivotal figure in American race relations after the Civil War.

further readings

Harlan, Louis R. 1986. Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

——. 1975. Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Leader, 1856–1901. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

Washington, Booker T. 1901. Up from Slavery, an Autobiography. Reprint, New York: Gramercy Books, 1993.

Booker Taliaferro Washington 1856–1915, American educator, b. Franklin co., Va. Washington was born into slavery; his mother was a mulatto slave on a plantation, his father a white man whom he never knew. After the Civil War, he worked in salt furnaces and coal mines in Malden, W.Va., and attended school part time, until, at 16, he was able to enter the Hampton Institute (Va.). A friend of the principal paid his tuition, and he worked as a janitor to earn his room and board. After three years (1872–75) at Hampton he taught at a school for African-American children in Malden, then studied at Wayland Seminary, Washington, D.C. Appointed (1879) an instructor at Hampton Institute (now Hampton Univ. ), he was given charge of the training of 75 Native Americans, under the guidance of Gen. S. C. Armstrong . He later developed the night school.

In 1881 he was chosen to organize (and construct) an academic, agricultural, and industrial school for African Americans at Tuskegee, Ala. Under his direction, Tuskegee Institute (see Tuskegee Univ. ) became one of the leading African-American educational institutions in America. Its programs emphasized industrial training as a means to attaining self-respect and economic independence for black people, and Washington continued to advocate self-help and self-sufficiency as the most effective means of improving life for African Americans.

A skilled orator, Washington gave many lectures in the interests of his work, both in the United States and in Europe, and he was counted among the ablest public speakers of his time. In 1895 at Atlanta, Ga., Washington made a highly controversial speech on the place of the African American in American life. In it he maintained that it was foolish for blacks to agitate for social equality before they had attained economic equality. His speech pleased many whites and gained financial support for his school, but his position was denounced by many African-American leaders, among them W. E. B. Du Bois .

Though many African Americans saw him as a compromiser and a reactionary, in the early years of the 20th cent. Washington was widely viewed as the main spokesman for black America. He was the organizer (1900) of the National Negro Business League, a group committed to black economic independence. He also became a trusted adviser to President Theodore Roosevelt on matters related to the African-American community, and received honorary degrees from Dartmouth and Harvard. By the time of his death, however, Washington's influence had waned considerably. Among his many published works are his autobiographies, Up From Slavery (1901, repr. 1963) and My Larger Education (1911, repr. 2008) as well as such studies as The Future of the American Negro (1899), Tuskegee and Its People (1905, repr. 1969), Life of Frederick Douglass (1907, repr. 1968), and The Story of the Negro (1909, repr. 1969).

Bibliography: See L. R. Harlan et al., ed. The Booker T. Washington Papers (14 vol., 1972–89); biographies by E. J. Scott and L. B. Stowe (1916, repr. 1972), B. Mathews (1948, repr. 1969), S. R. Spencer, Jr. (1955), A. Bontemps (1972), L. R. Harlan (2 vol., 1972–83), R. J. Norrell (2009), and R. W. Smock (2009); studies by H. Hawkins, ed. (1962), E. L. Thornborough, ed. (1969), L. R. Harlan (1988), and S. Mansfield (1999).

Washington, Booker T(aliaferro) (1856–1915) US educationist. An emancipated slave, he pursued a career in teaching and was appointed head in 1881 of the newly founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama for the training of Black teachers. Washington emerged as a leading commentator for Black Americans at the turn of the century and published his influential autobiography, Up from Slavery, in 1901. His emphasis on vocational skills and financial independence for Blacks rather than on intellectual development or political rights, combined with his support for segregation, brought criticism from other Black leaders.

Washington, Booker T. ( Taliaferro) (1856–1915) US educator and African American leader. Born a slave, he gained an education after the Civil War and became a teacher. Washington advocated self-help, education, and economic improvement as preliminaries to the achievement of equality for blacks, and believed in compromise with white segregationists. He had considerable influence among whites as a spokesman for African-American causes.

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