Washington's Views On Freedom, By Booker T. Washington

835 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact and influence of booker t washington

Booker T. Washington was one of the most influential African American writer on the issue of racial discrimination and freedom for African Americans. Washington was born in franklin county Virginia, not knowing his father. He described his growing up as the most “miserable, desolate, and discouraging surrounding” (570). In his speeches for freedom, Washington suggested that the best way to ensure progress is for white people to allow people of color to work their way upwards. After his speech, “African Americans embraced Washington as their champion and adopted his autobiography, up from slavery as their guide to better future” (570). On the other hand, there were many people who disagreed with Washington’s view on freedom. One of them was W.E.B. Du Bois who demanded immediate equality for black people. According to Du Bois, he claimed that “ideas not slogans, principles not personalities were essential to the eradication of the many forms of bigotry and inequality that had perverted what he called “the ideal of human brotherhood” in America” (686). Du bois focused on book smart as the best way for blacks to be free and also be able to earn good living like whites. Both writers have different vision on how to end racial discrimination and regain freedom for blacks. Nevertheless, both authors showed some weakness and strength in their opposition. Even though they very completely have different opinions, their choices made a great impact in black society and they will never be forgotten. First of all, Washington was born in slavery, in his book up from slave, he expressed his view on slavery is based on his life experience. To Washington, African Americans have no place in the society, in other to move upwards, he “encourages th... ... middle of paper ... ...equal: that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (708). Du Bois voice spoke what every African American wished to obtain; which is the right to be free of slavery. On the other hand, Du Bois’s weakness was that his approach came off as aggressive. He felt that blacks should not wait to be told their rights and that it’s something they deserve. He believed that blacks do not have to show that they are/can be useful in the society. In conclusion, although both men did not work through the same system of approach, they involvement and commitment had a great impact on freedom of blacks. Booker T Washington started with short term reward, which was African Americans fighting their way up whereas Du Bois was more focused on the long term reward which is encouraging education.

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast Book T Washington And Booker T. Dubois

    1522 Words  | 4 Pages

    Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois are two incredibly famous civil rights activists in United States history. Although they both sought to uplift blacks socially and economically across the country, they clashed over the best strategy for doing so. Coming from vastly different backgrounds, it’s understandable as to why they disagreed. However, as is evident by our current societal problems, Du Bois was the one who had the correct plan. That doesn’t mean that Washington’s ideas were wrong, but they were a temporary solution to a permanent and systematic problem.

    Read More

  • Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Dubois

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    When it all comes down to it, one of the greatest intellectual battles U.S. history was the legendary disagreement between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. This intellectual debate sparked the interest of the Northerners as well as the racist whites that occupied the south. This debate was simply about how the blacks, who just gained freedom from slavery, should exist in America with the white majority. Even though Washington and DuBois stood on opposite sides of the fence they both agreed on one thing, that it was a time for a change in the treatment of African Americans. I chose his topic to write about because I strongly agree with both of the men’s ideas but there is some things about their views that I don’t agree with. Their ideas and views are the things that will be addressed in this essay.

    Read More

  • Ida B. Wells, Booker T, Washington, and W.E.B Dubois

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    Booker T. Washington was an African American leader who established an African-American college in 1181. Then in 1895 delivered the Atlanta Compromise Speech to an audience of mainly Southerners, but some Northerners were present. In his speech he made a few points. He said, “No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” Washington believed that the African American race needed to learn first that manual labor was just as important as the work of intellects. He thought that until they learned this they were not worthy of becoming intellects themselves. The color line is thus important in teaching them this lesson. He also said, “It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges.” His opinion was that one day blacks would deserve to have equal rights with the whites, but right now in 1895 the blacks needed to be...

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Washington And W. E. B. Dubois

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the late 19th and early 20th century, racial injustice was very prominent and even wildly accepted in the South. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two of the most renowned “pioneers in the [search] for African-American equality in America” (Washington, DuBois, and the Black Future). Washington was “born a slave” who highly believed in the concept of “separate but equal,” meaning that “we can be as [distant] as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Washington 1042). DuBois was a victim of many “racial problems before his years as a student” and disagreed with Washington’s point of view, which led

    Read More

  • W.E.B Du Bois vs. Booker T Washington

    2086 Words  | 5 Pages

    When talking about the history of African-Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, two notable names cannot be left out: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. They were both African-American leaders in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, fighting for social justice, education and civil rights for slaves, and both stressed education. This was a time when blacks were segregated and discriminated against. Both these men had a vision to free blacks from this oppression. While they came from different backgrounds, Washington coming from a plantation in Virginia where he was a slave, and Du Bois coming from a free home in Massachusetts, they both experienced the heavy oppression blacks were under in this Post-Civil War society.

    Read More

  • Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery

    1462 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book, Up From Slavery, written by Booker Taliaferro Washington, profoundly touched me when I read it. Washington overcame many obstacles throughout his life. He became perhaps the most prominent black leader of his time. Booker T. Washington belived that African Americans could gain equality by improving their economic situation through education rather than by demanding equal rights.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Booker T Washington's Up From Slavery And The Souls Of Black Folk.

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    Du Bois was a scholar activist who proposed lots of solutions for the issue of racism and discrimination. Du Bois was sort of an opposition to Washington’s ideology, as he strongly believes that it can only help to disseminate white’s oppression towards blacks. We can see his dissatisfaction based on his writing with a title On Booker T. Washington and Others. He wrote that Washington’s philosophy was really not a good idea because the white extremists from the south will perceived this idea as blacks’ complete surrender for the request of civil rights and political equality. Du Bois had a different view on this issue if compared to Washington because of their different early lifestyles. Unlike Washington, Du Bois was born free in the North and he did not receive any harsh experienced as a slave himself and was also grew up in a predominantly white area. In his writings, it is obvious that he thought that the most important thing that the black should gain was to have the equality with whites. Regarding the issue of the voting rights, Du Bois strongly believed that it is important for black people to agitate to get the right to vote. He also believed that the disfranchisement of poor men could mean the catastrophe of South’s democracy (Painter 157). In his writing with a title Of Our Spiritual Strivings, he wrote that it was significant for blacks to exercise the right to vote because there were whites that wanted to put them back in their inferior position—and it was

    Read More

  • Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois Impact the Fight for Racial Equality

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...s with their words, whether it be oration or writing. They caused blacks to be proud of who and what they were, and it also showed them that they could do more. These two men squashed the notion that Booker T. Washington spoke of in his speech in Atlanta, Georgia on September 18, 1895, where he said that blacks must accept their inferior role.

    Read More

  • Of Booker T Washington And Others Summary

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    While trying to help make life easier for African Americans in the south, Washington also tried to ease the fears of the whites on blacks wanting to integrate socially. Even though Du Bois understood the importance of the speech, he felt Washington was asking’s blacks to give up pushing and wanting equality in education for their youth and civil rights, which he felt were the exact things that they needed to be trying to

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance: Planned Phenomenon and The Search for An Identity

    1482 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lewis’s viewpoint is not without it’s truths. The Harlem renaissance was overseen by a number of intellectuals such as Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Dubois. Booker T. Washington‘s, a highly influential speaker of the age, words appealed to both Caucasians and African-Americans. Washington forged an interracial bridge of communication through his unique tactics in the quest for equality. He believed in more subtle ways of gaining equality through hard work, cunning, and humility. He stated, “The wisest among my race understands that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.”(Salley, 15) With this statement, Washington himself denies that this new awakening in equality and arts could be forced,...

    Read More

  • Of the Coming of John by W.E.B. Du Bois

    2251 Words  | 5 Pages

    Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were very important African American leaders in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They both felt strongly that African Americans should not be treated unequally in terms of education and civil rights. They had strong beliefs that education was important for the African American community and stressed that educating African Americans would lead them into obtaining government positions, possibly resulting in social change. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had similar goals to achieve racial equality in the United States, they had strongly opposing approaches in improving the lives of the black population. Washington was a conservative activist who felt that the subordination to white leaders was crucial for African Americans in becoming successful and gaining political power.

    Read More

  • Booker T Washington Influence

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    E. B. Du Bois indicated that the dominant influence that Booker T. Washington had on Blacks came at a time when there was less attention on the memories of war and more focus towards the idea of commercialism. Du Bois stated that Washington’s plan of industrial education was not original, that he simply added great enthusiasm as a way to gain an interest of the people. He recognized Washington’s achievements in the South as being the founder of Tuskegee Institute and the most notable achievement in favor of African Americans, his “Atlanta Compromise” speech. As a result, radicals accepted this as an act of surrender to Whites, and conservatives received this as a mutual understanding. Washington then gained attention in the North by grasping the concept that now dominated that area, which was maximizing profits and material

    Read More

  • Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    Booker T. Washington was a young black male born into the shackles of Southern slavery. With the Union victory in the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, Washington’s family and blacks in the United States found hope in a new opportunity, freedom. Washington saw this freedom as an opportunity to pursue a practical education. Through perseverance and good fortunes, Washington was able to attain that education at Hampton National Institute. At Hampton, his experiences and beliefs in industrial education contributed to his successful foundation at the Tuskegee Institute. The institute went on to become the beacon of light for African American education in the South. Booker T. Washington was an influential voice in the African American community following the Civil War. In his autobiography, Up from Slavery, Washington outlines his personal accounts of his life, achievements, and struggles. In the autobiography, Washington fails to address the struggle of blacks during Reconstruction to escape the southern stigma of African Americans only being useful for labor. However, Washington argues that blacks should attain an industrial education that enables them to find employment through meeting the economic needs of the South, obtaining moral character and intelligence, and embracing practical labor. His arguments are supported through his personal accounts as a student at Hampton Institute and as an administrator at the Tuskegee Institute. Washington’s autobiography is a great source of insight into the black education debate following Reconstruction.

    Read More

  • Booker T Washington Character Analysis

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the autobiography Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington enumerates the struggles of his race to rise from the bondage of slavery, and describes his contributions toward this end and toward the education of his race. Narrated by himself, he displays many character traits in the telling of his lifelong trials. The most noticeable trait is that he is assiduous, that he recognizes the value of hard work, and encourages others to do the same. Furthermore, he is charitable, in that he possesses a spirit of kindness towards all, even to those who were once oppressors of the African-Americans in the South. Finally, he was humble throughout his accomplishments, never performing any deed out of pride or vanity, but for the progress of his people.

    Read More

  • Virtues of Leadership

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    The absence of freedom drives individuals to rethink the values and morals that has accustomed ones understanding of the enslaved world in contrast to a free world. Up From Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington chronicles the journey of young enslaved Washington as his transition into manhood. Enslaved Washington and his family suffered from the institution of slavery, but once emancipated the obstacles to securing a home, employment, and education did not stop Washington from achieving notable success as a leader for the African American community. He acknowledged the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery and used that as a foundation to build towards something greater than the ten million Negroes inhabiting this country, who themselves or whose ancestors went through the school of slavery, and are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously as a result of knowing that the institution of slavery was greater than the enslaved and their white counterparts. Washington did let slavery hinder his aspiration of greatness, which depicts Immanuel Kant ethical theory deontology, which postulates “necessity” and “universality” as moral conduct. That our imperative, a principle or conclusion about what we have reason to do, expressed using the term “ought” which, out of the necessity to do good will, the right thing to do is our universal duty and is something that is naturally good for our moral character. Washington career in the public sector went beyond the expectations of society, especially former slaver owners. Public administrators today ought to model themselves after the lessons Washington learned throughout his career as a public administrator in order to make a diff...

    Read More

More about Washington's Views On Freedom, By Booker T. Washington

Open Document