Essay on Booker T. Washington - 629 Words

Booker T. Washington 1856-1915, Educator Booker Taliaferro Washington was the foremost black educator of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He also had a major influence on southern race relations and was the dominant figure in black public affairs from 1895 until his death in 1915. Born a slave on a small farm in the Virginia backcountry, he moved with his family after emancipation to work in the salt furnaces and coal mines of West Virginia. After a secondary education at Hampton Institute, he taught an upgraded school and experimented briefly with the study of law and the ministry, but a teaching position at Hampton decided his future career. In 1881 he founded Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute on the Hampton model in†¦show more content†¦Washington cultivated local white approval and secured a small state appropriation, but it was northern donations that made Tuskegee Institute by 1900 the best-supported black educational institution in the country. The Atlanta Compromise Address, delivered before the Cotton States Exposition in 1895, enlarged Washingtons influence into the arena of race relations and black leadership. Washington offered black acquiescence in disfranchisement and social segregation if whites would encourage black progress in economic and educational opportunity. Hailed as a sage by whites of both sections, Washington further consolidated his influence by his widely read autobiography Up From Slavery *menu.html* (1901), the founding of the National Negro Business League in 1900, his celebrated dinner at the White House in 1901, and control of patronage politics as chief black advisor to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Washington kept his white following by conservative policies and moderate utterances, but he faced growing black and white liberal opposition in the Niagara Movement (1905-9) and the NAACP (1909-), groups demanding civil rights and encouraging protest in response to white aggressions such as lynchings, disfranchisement,Show MoreRelatedBooker T. Washington Essay1249 Words   |  5 Pagesposition that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome† –Booker T. Washing. Booker Taliaferro Washington was born in Hale’s Ford, Virginia on April 5th, 1856 to Jane Burroughs and an unknown White man. Washington was married three times. His first wife was Fannie N. Smith from Malden, West Virginia. Booker and Fannie were married in the summer of 1882 and had one child together named Portia M. Washington. Fannie died two years later in May 1884. The second wife was Olivia A. DavidsonRead MoreBiography of Booker T. Washington1869 Words   |  7 PagesBooker T. Washington is a famous African American educator, author, civil rights activist, and philanthropist who is from Virginia (Wells). He is the man that promoted African American to rise above their status of trying to be equal with Caucasians by promoting education and economic self-determination. Washington’s life serves as an example of his philosophy or belief due to his experience of knowing where African Americans started after the Civil War, where they were headed, and resulted in changingRead More Booker T Washington Essay1260 Words   |  6 Pages Booker T.Washington: Fighter for the Black Man Booker T. Washington was a man beyond words. His perseverance and will to work were well known throughout the United States. He rose from slavery, delivering speech after speech expressing his views on how to uplift Americas view of the Negro. He felt that knowledge was power, not just knowledge of quot;booksquot;, but knowledge of agricultural and industrial trades. He felt that the Negro would rise to be an equal in American society throughRead MoreEssay on Booker T. Washington1133 Words   |  5 Pages Booker T. Washington amp;#8220;Up From Slavery; inspired readers across the nation. People of this time had realized that they could no longer expect support from the federal government, in their struggle for dignity and opportunity in the south, so many blacks concluded that self-reliance, self-help, and racial solidarity were their last best hopes. So, people saw Booker T. Washington as their champion and adopted his autobiography, up from slavery. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In FranklinRead MoreBooker T. Washington Essay493 Words   |  2 PagesBooker T. Washington Booker T. Washington was born on April 5, 1865. He was born into slavery at the James Burrough’s family plantation in Virginia. Nothing is known about Booker T. Washington’s father beyond the fact that he was a white man. After the Civil War Booker T. Washington worked in a salt furnace and attended school 3 months out of the year. At the age of 17, he was accepted into Hampton Institute in Virginia. When Booker T. Washington graduated from the institute, he thenRead More Booker T Washington Essay693 Words   |  3 Pages 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. Washington childhood was one of privation, poverty, slavery, and backbreaking work. Born in 1856, he was from birth the property of James Burroughs of Virginia. He didn’t know his father but his mother Jane raised himRead MoreEssay on Booker T. Washington508 Words   |  3 PagesHis name was Booker Taliaferro Washington. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on James Burroughamp;#8217;s Virginia Plantation in 1856. When he was 9 he was gathered with the other slaves and was told he could go freely due to the Emancipation Proclamation. After he was freed, his mother and him moved to West Virginia where he worked in the coalmines. Then, he decided that he needed to go to college. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Booker T. Washington enrolled atRead MoreEssay on Booker T. Washington2149 Words   |  9 PagesBooker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington was the foremost black educators of the 19th and 20th centuries. He also had a major influence on southern race relations and was a dominant figure in black affairs from 1895 until his death in 1915. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in 1858. As a slave Booker did not have a last name and chose Washington, his stepfathers name. After the Civil War Booker, his brother, and his mother moved to Malden, West Virginia were they wentRead MoreBooker Du Bois And Booker T. Washington715 Words   |  3 Pagesproved to be the worse decision that black America could ever make. The writing Of Booker T. Washington and Others highlighted the views W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington had for Black America. Both men had the interest of blacks at heart but yet their positions were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Both men were highly educated, Mr. Du Bois being the first Black to earn a Ph.D. at Harvard and Mr. Washington being the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute. Both men wanted blacks to succeedRead MoreBooker T. Washington ( 1856-1915 )1856 Words   |  8 PagesBooker T. Washington (1856-1915) was a standout amongst the most persuasive (and questionable) African Americans ever. Brought up the child of a slave mother, Washington was self-propelled and focused on his own training from a youthful age. The tumultuous time in America s history amid which he lived managed him new opportunities that originated from Abraham Lincoln s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the inevitable achievement of the North in the Civil War. He took the first c hance to go