Booker T. Washington and Education Throughout the life of Booker T. Washington expressed in his autobiography, Up From Slavery, one element has remained the same through his influences, education, public speaking, and teaching of others. This is the fact that one cannot succeed solely on a “book” education, but must accompany this with that of an “industrial” education as well. He believed that with this type of education, the black man could provide necessary services not only for himself, but also for those in his community as well. Washington was born on a slave plantation in either 1858 or 1859 in Franklin County, Virginia. He grew up with his mother, his brother John, and his sister Amanda. They lived in an extremely small log …show more content…
About this same time a school had been stated in Kanawha Valley, a little town a few miles away from Malden. This is where Washington began his book education. To attend the school, Washington, at first, had to go to night classes due to his job at the salt mines. With a little persuasion, Washington finally was allowed to attend during the day provided he worked from four o’clock to nine o’clock in the morning. This education was very disorderly due to the fact he could not attend regularly. Eventually Washington had to drop out of the school and continue working full time at the salt mines. Washington continued working at the salt mines until he was able to work in the coal mines. The coal mines paid a little more, but not a significant difference. It was here where Washington overheard two men talking about a new all Negro school in Hampton, Virginia. In order to go to this school, Washington needed to save money for clothes and traveling expenses. For this he worked in the house of Mrs. Viola Ruffner, who turned out to have an ample affect on his life. “The lessons that I learned in the home of Mrs. Ruffner were as valuable to me as any education I have ever gotten since,” (Washington 52). From Mrs. Ruffner, Washington learned about taking pride in having a clean living area. She also encouraged his education during the time of his work there. After saving whatever money he could, Washington set off for the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. During
Booker T Washington was one of the best advocates in his time. Growing up in slavery and out coming the horrifying struggles of the 1870’s was a great effort. Born in the era were black people were like flies he found a determination to succeed and discovered many powers in life.
and got a job as a waiter. Soon after this period of time he got a
Booker T. Washington’s philosophy and actions betrayed the interests of African Americans because he was more interested on the blacks getting educated and getting the respect of the white authorities, instead of worrying on getting their political and social equality right away, which was the main interest of the African Americans. In “The Atlanta Exposition Address”, Washington said that blacks would sacrifice their civil rights and social equality for the time being, as long as whites guaranteed that they would receive industrial education and jobs because he believed that in order to fully obtain equality, the blacks should improve themselves. “It is at the bottom of
Racial discrimination hindering their lives, bound by chains of white supremacy. African American prominent influential leaders Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois sought to make a movement during the Gilded Age, fighting for the amelioration of African Americans place in society. Notably, their surrounding atmosphere influenced their political views on the rights for African Americans. Booker T. Washington believed African Americans should accept their unequal positions in society having the belief that they would gain acceptance and respect if they worked hard enough and obtained financial independence and cultural advancement. On the other hand, W.E.B Du Bois insisted that African Americans should have full civil rights. Conclusively
The common school teaches their students math, reading, science, and history, but this predictable curriculum is a newer concept. Many freed slaves did not know the basics of self-preservation, so it was irrational to teach them multiplication prior to hygiene. Booker T. Washington devoted his entire day to teaching "emancipated slaves basic math and reading as well as personal hygiene: how to comb one's hair, bathe regularly, and use a toothbrush." (Goldstein, 2015, p.53) Washington shows that education is not limited to a singular form or subject, however, it ranges from simple life lessons to learning the equation of a line.
Education was not readily available for Southern blacks as it was for whites, and Du Bois took notice. In an effort to teach, he was taken aback by “how faithfully, how piteously, this people strove to learn.” (Du Bois, 12) While most African Americans devoted themselves to learning, the information was not presented in an understandable way, and most struggled to even make an advance in basic courses. Du Bois commented that education was a freedom denied to none, and the aggressive pursuit of a higher education was the way of crossing the threshold into equality. In a similar matter, Booker T. Washington praised the school house as a place with equal deliverance as heaven itself. His point of view came through the looking-glass of slavery, being raised a slave himself. As a child, when he carried his mistress’ books to her schoolhouse, he felt that “to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.”(Washington, 3) Washington,
Booker T. Washington grew up as a slave on a small farm in Virginia in 1856. He rose to become one of the most impactful African-American educators of the late 19th century. When Washington was only ten years old, he worked in a salt furnace. At his next job, he served as a houseboy for a white family and
In one site, Booker T. Washington, the most influential lieder of his period (1856-1915), who was born as a slave in 1856 (Virginia), who because of studying in the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Learned the skills he needed to be respected by the withes society and gain considerable influence over the black people. Washington philosophy was based on self-improvement, education, accommodation and others. He preaches that African American rather than concentrate their effort in combating segregation, they should be focus in self-improvement, education and wealth. He encourages Young African American develop patience, commercial agricultural skills and others instead of instead of
Born a slave on a Virginia farm, Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856-1915) rose to become one of the most influential African-American intellectuals of the late 19th century. He was nine years old when the Civil War ended. He worked hard as a young child and at 16, he left home to attend Hampton Institute. One of the few black high schools in the South, it focused on industrial and agricultural training while maintaining an extremely structured curriculum that stressed discipline and high moral character. Washington thrived in that environment. He eventually went on to head a new school in Tuskegee, Alabama. The Tuskegee Institute was devoted to the training of black teachers, farmers, and skilled workers. Under his
In his 1901 autobiography Up From Slavery author, educator, and orator Booker T. Washington chronicles his rise from Virginia slave to President of Tuskegee Institute. The work outlines Washington’s roadmap for racial uplift which is centered on agricultural and industrial education. Washington argued that hard work and virtuous living — traits instilled African Americans during slavery— would demonstrate the value African Americans possessed to the South and the nation. Operating within the political realities of the time, Washington was able to mobilize a coalition of middle-class blacks, church leaders, white philanthropists, and politicians from the North and South to build Tuskegee Institute and his vision for the African American community. However, Washington’s strategy asked for African Americans to put aside immediate demands for voting and the end of racial segregation. Washington’s willingness to publicly side step these civil rights issues to advocate for slow progress towards true equality earned him powerful critics such as NAACP president W.E.B. DuBois and journalist William Trotter. By the time of Washington’s death in 1915, Jim Crow laws entrenched segregation throughout the South. Washington’s plan for racial uplift was pragmatic and realistic. However, his advocacy for dignity in labor played into white stereotypes that black men and women were made solely for labor.
Washington like myself highly valued and found purpose in education for similar reasons. Since Washington was born into slavery he was mainly surrounded and only knew and spoke with people who were completely illiterate. Washington didn’t know anything about school or reading and writing because at the time there was no schooling for colored children; However he did say “I felt that getting into a schoolhouse and studying in this way must be like getting into heaven,”(6). Washington saying that shows that he valued education before he even knew what it was like because he knew there would be so much more opportunities for him if he could obtain one. Washington also had to struggle with another obstacle which was work. Just like my parents he had to work at a very young age to help support his family, because of this Washington couldn’t possibly attend day school once it became available for the colored children. Washington did not give up though he however attended night school when that became available to him. Booker T. Washington also struggled when he began to read because he had absolutely no help from anyone who knew about education or how to read and write. Booker did however have all the encouragement he needed from his mother “In all my efforts to learn to read, my mother encouraged me and aided me in every way that she could. Although she was illiterate, she had high ambitions for her children,”(17) stated Washington. This shows that like my mother
Booker T. Washington rose up from slavery and illiteracy to become the foremost educator and leader of black Americans at the turn of the century. He was born on April 5, 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia. As a child he worked in the salt mines but always found time for education. Washington constantly dreamed of college but as an African American this dream was nearly impossible. His scrupulous working habits from the mines set him out for college at the Hampton Institute. He graduated in 1876 and became a teacher at a rural school. After 2 years of teaching, he went back to the Hampton Institute and was a “professor” here for 2 more years. His next challenge would be at a new all black college, Tuskegee Institute where he would become president. Under Washington's leadership (1881-1915), Tuskegee Institute became an important force in black education. Washington won a Harvard honorary degree in 1891.
However, there were two different views at this time, Washington completely disagreed and wanted the African Americans to go to vocational school and learn trades so they are better able to help one another. He stated that “it is better to know how to lay bricks to help a person in need rather than have the ability to speak Greek to them.” Though both men had the same goal, they wanted to accomplish it in extremely different ways. The way to accomplish any goal is by teaching students as much as we can. In this case, we can teach them academics and trades. We can do this by Dewey’s principle of learn by doing. For example, the students would be able to learn arithmetic by playing store and it would also be a vocational trade. This material would help the students in the future regardless of the path that they choose later in life. I will encourage all of my students to follow whatever they wish to achieve. We all have our place in this world.
The autobiography of Booker T. Washing titled Up From Slavery is a rich narrative of the man's life from slavery to one of the founders of the Tuskegee Institute. The book takes us through one of the most dynamic periods in this country's history, especially African Americans. I am very interested in the period following the Civil War and especially in the transformation of African Americans from slaves to freemen. Up From Slavery provides a great deal of information on this time period and helped me to better understand the transition. Up From Slavery provided a narrative on Washington's life, as well as his views on education and integration of African Americans. All though this book was
Booker T. Washington was one of the most well-known African American educators of all time. Lessons from his life recordings and novelistic writings are still being talked and learned about today. His ideas of the accommodation of the Negro people and the instillation of a good work ethic into every student are opposed, though, by some well-known critics of both past and current times. They state their cases by claiming the Negro’s should not have stayed quiet and worked their way to wear they did, they should have demanded equal treatment from the southern whites and claimed what was previously promised to them. Also, they state that Washington did not really care about equality or respect, but about a status boost in his own life. Both