Booker T. Washington: Legacy Lost
[This biographical information on Booker T. Washington is excerpted
from the special commemorative edition of Issues & Views, Spring 1992.]
 In reading Booker T.
Washington's letters, speeches, personal biographies, and the many articles
written about him while he lived [1856-1915], the most striking feature that
one comes away with is his exceptional maturity. One can only be impressed by
the clarity of this man's thinking and his objective grasp of the situation in
which blacks found themselves in the late 1800s. He understood, in a way that
only a son of the South could, the complicated nature of the relationship
between the two races and the interests they shared in the future economic
development of the country.
Convinced that the progress of blacks depended first and foremost on the
race establishing a firm economic foundation, he made it his mission to help
his people bring this about. In Washington's lifetime he proved that it was
possible for thousands of ex-slaves to prosper throughout this country as
creators of a whole new set of opportunities. Not only did blacks excel beyond
all expectations of the day, we did it in this land of our bondage--without
set-aside contracts and without annual "civil rights" bills.
To Washington it was clear that economic independence from whites was
critical, if blacks were to develop and prosper as other groups. Education was
the primary tool to begin the building of a firm economic foundation, and
self-help was its cornerstone. In 188l, at Tuskegee, Alabama, he began his
great experiment to educate the poorest blacks. Under his direction, Tuskegee
Institute was to become a renowned training and educational center, where the
highest standards prevailed, and its students were obligated to go and teach
others.
Touching the lives not only of the students who attended, Tuskegee's
"wagon schools on wheels" took education and skills to blacks in the
rural outback [see Issues & Views, Summer 1995], teaching the newest
techniques to improve harvests, and offering instruction in nursing and other
trades. Small farmers were helped to grow better crops for the market, and
shown how to start small crafts businesses on their lands to increase their
incomes. In this way, thousands of the poorest were able to raise their
standard of living.
Tuskegee became a mecca not only for those blacks concerned with personal
uplift, but for all who were committed to what became commonly known as the
"progress of the race." Over the years, thousands came to be
educated, and left to enter skilled occupations or to open businesses in
various regions of the country, all the while spreading the Tuskegee seeds of
self-help.
Although no one was more intimately acquainted with the painful past,
Washington conveyed no malice or hatred for whites. He viewed the intertwined
and interdependent history of the two races as exactly that--our common history.
His objective nature kept him from wasting energy on replaying the sins of the
past, and he conveyed this spirit to all who came under his influence. He
declared, "We should not permit our grievances to overshadow our
opportunities."
Washington's refusal to rebuke whites or to publicly express animosity
toward them incurred the wrath of those blacks who were not about to bury the
hatchet of past grievances. Festering in their resentment and envy, such people
were determined to rub the white man's face in his wicked deeds and to make
sure he never forgot them. Even if it meant setting back the progress of the
poorest, these already privileged ones were set to do battle with the white
man. These were the forerunners of today's purveyors of in-your-face politics,
the so-called leadership that has kept the black masses paralyzed and unable to
move forward.
Washington recognized the destructive tendencies of these opponents, and
fought them at every turn. The NAACP, conceived of by this elite and their
increasingly influential white supporters, was founded primarily to counter the
work and philosophy of Washington. When he died in 1915, these notables quickly
stepped into the breach, and began the reversal of his work that continues to
this day. The leadership of the race had fallen into the hands of a class of
professional povereticians.
Black energy was diverted away from the drive for economic independence and
turned, instead, to making whites take notice, move over, and give-all in the
name of "social justice." The legacy of Washington's devotion to
systematically developing what he called the "latent capacity of the Negro
people" was lost to us, probably forever. Believing that opportunity was
abundant and limitless, he had urged blacks to act on their own initiative.
"No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is
long in any degree ostracized." This is the legacy we lost.
With the end of the Tuskegee Machine, as its outreach came to be called,
blacks lost the trustworthy leaders to whom we could look for moral and
spiritual uplift-the people who kept us optimistic. We lost the most vital part
of our legacy, the driving will to continue to build on the foundation already
laid by great ancestors. The leadership of the race was now usurped by a
privileged class that discovered it could maintain its privilege by heightening
despair and gloom, and by keeping blacks focused on the most negative aspects
of the past and on the prospect for an equally grim future.
Booker T. Washington is the spectre of truth that haunts the black
community. To admit that his rational approach to our problems was right, is to
cast doubt on years of energy spent in turbulent protest and ceaseless demands.
Taught by fellow blacks a distorted version of Washington's message of
self-help, and ignorant of his life's work, most blacks are conditioned to
belittle this great man. Even those who are drawn to the principles he
crystallized feel compelled to deny the unique and singular role played by this
unpretentious, dedicated man.
The moral force of those earlier leaders, epitomized by Washington, who
galvanized tens of thousands of individuals to work toward economic
independence, is needed more today than ever.
See also
Booker T. Washington: True Believer
The Movable School
A Trip to the Southwest
Copyright © 1992 Issues & Views
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