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A review by kevin_shepherd
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
3.0
I’ve heard it said that Booker T. Washington was “the white man’s black man.” I read nothing here that would make me assume otherwise. He certainly heaped praises on white philanthropists ad nauseam. This, his autobiography, reads like the well edited, painstakingly inoffensive inculcation that it was intended to be.
Insanely naive or overly optimistic?
“The "Ku Klux" period was, I think, the darkest part of the Reconstruction days. I have referred to this unpleasant part of the history of the South simply for the purpose of calling attention to the great change that has taken place since the days of the "Ku Klux." To-day there are no such organizations in the South, and the fact that such ever existed is almost forgotten by both races. There are few places in the South now where public sentiment would permit such organizations to exist.” ~Booker T. Washington, 1901
Really Booker? ‘Few places in the South where public sentiment would leave room for racist intent? Tell that to Emmett Till (d. Mississippi, 1955), Medgar Evers (d. Mississippi, 1963), and Ahmaud Arbery (d. Georgia, 2020).
“…no white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man's clothes, eats the white man's food, speaks the white man's language, and professes the white man's religion.” ~Booker T. Washington
If Frederick Douglass or W.E.B. Du Bois or Malcolm X had made that statement, it would have been an indictment of white supremacy. Booker presented it as a floor plan. Capitulate and assimilate.
The Atlanta Kowtow.
In 1895 Washington proposed that black Americans forgo political aspirations, civil rights litigations, and higher university educations. In exchange, southern whites would guarantee basic education and due process under the law. What came to be known as the “Atlanta Compromise” drew heavy praise from a LOT of white people (of course) and some pretty harsh criticisms from a LOT of black people (of course). The highest profile public lambasting of Washington’s racial gradualism came from W.E.B. DuBois (see: The Souls of Black Folk, 1903). In spite of the backlash, Booker persisted.
“I believe it is the duty of the Negro—as the greater part of the race is already doing—to deport himself modestly in regard to political claims, depending upon the slow but sure influences that proceed from the possession of property, intelligence, and high character for the full recognition of his political rights.”
I think the most telling quote in all of Up From Slavery is the one (THE ONLY ONE) where Washington uses the word “equality.”
“The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest 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.”
Let me quote that again, just in case you missed it: “The agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly…”
Translation: Don’t rock the boat everybody.
I can almost hear Dr. King and Malcolm spinning in their graves.
Insanely naive or overly optimistic?
“The "Ku Klux" period was, I think, the darkest part of the Reconstruction days. I have referred to this unpleasant part of the history of the South simply for the purpose of calling attention to the great change that has taken place since the days of the "Ku Klux." To-day there are no such organizations in the South, and the fact that such ever existed is almost forgotten by both races. There are few places in the South now where public sentiment would permit such organizations to exist.” ~Booker T. Washington, 1901
Really Booker? ‘Few places in the South where public sentiment would leave room for racist intent? Tell that to Emmett Till (d. Mississippi, 1955), Medgar Evers (d. Mississippi, 1963), and Ahmaud Arbery (d. Georgia, 2020).
“…no white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man's clothes, eats the white man's food, speaks the white man's language, and professes the white man's religion.” ~Booker T. Washington
If Frederick Douglass or W.E.B. Du Bois or Malcolm X had made that statement, it would have been an indictment of white supremacy. Booker presented it as a floor plan. Capitulate and assimilate.
The Atlanta Kowtow.
In 1895 Washington proposed that black Americans forgo political aspirations, civil rights litigations, and higher university educations. In exchange, southern whites would guarantee basic education and due process under the law. What came to be known as the “Atlanta Compromise” drew heavy praise from a LOT of white people (of course) and some pretty harsh criticisms from a LOT of black people (of course). The highest profile public lambasting of Washington’s racial gradualism came from W.E.B. DuBois (see: The Souls of Black Folk, 1903). In spite of the backlash, Booker persisted.
“I believe it is the duty of the Negro—as the greater part of the race is already doing—to deport himself modestly in regard to political claims, depending upon the slow but sure influences that proceed from the possession of property, intelligence, and high character for the full recognition of his political rights.”
I think the most telling quote in all of Up From Slavery is the one (THE ONLY ONE) where Washington uses the word “equality.”
“The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest 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.”
Let me quote that again, just in case you missed it: “The agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly…”
Translation: Don’t rock the boat everybody.
I can almost hear Dr. King and Malcolm spinning in their graves.