|
Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was born enslaved in Franklin County, Virginia.
After emancipation, he lived for a time in West Virginia before attending Hampton Institute from 1872 to 1875. After graduation,
he taught school.
In the face of racial hatred, segregation, and disenfranchisement, Washington contended that it was unrealistic for African
Americans to gain entry to America's white-collar professions. Instead, they should establish themselves as a skilled
and indispensable laboring class. Then, he believed, political and social inequities would disappear.
In 1881 Washington put his theory to the test. Placed in charge of a fund of $2,000 for the establishment of a school
in Alabama, he founded Tuskegee Institute. As this venture grew into a thriving complex of classrooms and workshops,
Washington's philosophy gained wide currency. By the early 1900s, the "Tuskegee idea" represented the mainstream
in African American education, and since the death of Frederick Douglass, Washington had become the most visible
spokesman for his race. By the time of his death, however, other blacks such as W. E. B. Du Bois had come to
reject Washington's philosophy as too timid and too gradual.
Photograph by the Scurlock Studio, Washington, D.C.
Image rights owned by the Virginia Historical Society. Do not use without permission. Rights and reproductions
|
