Booker T. Washington

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Booker T. Washington (1895)
Booker T. Washington (1903)

Booker Taliaferro Washington (born April 5, 1856 at Burroughs Farm, Hale's Ford , Franklin County , Virginia , † November 14, 1915 in Tuskegee , Alabama ) was an American educator , social reformer and civil rights activist .

Live and act

Training and teaching

Born as a slave on a plantation , he and his family moved to Malden in West Virginia after the American Civil War and the liberation of slaves , where Washington was temporarily active in the mining industry and also attended school. From 1872 to 1875 he attended the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute , where he got a job and was able to finance the school fees, and then taught for two years himself in Malden, after which he finally began studying at Wayland Seminary in Washington, DC . From 1879 he built an evening school, at which he campaigned, among other things, for the training of Indians.

In 1881 Washington was appointed director of a newly established school for blacks in Tuskegee, Alabama, at the suggestion of Samuel Chapman Armstrong , founder and director of the Hampton Institute and mentor to Washington. With only $ 2,000 annually allocated to pay teachers, he succeeded in duplicating the model Chapman designed and creating a nationally recognized educational institution teaching craft and farming skills. Over the years the Tuskegee Institute has trained in the following professions: iron caster, electrician, painter, plumber, carpenter, blacksmith, basket weaver, bricklayer, wagner and many others. He also founded the National Negro Business League , which campaigned for the professional advancement of black citizens. At the year of his death (1915), the Tuskegee Institute consisted of 123 buildings on 930 acres of land and owned machines valued at over a million dollars.

It has always been clear to Washington that real education could not come from books alone and meant more than stubborn memorization . For him, an educated person was someone who possessed the ability to solve problems , who worked in a disciplined manner , who led a moral lifestyle and who felt obliged to society, since character development and self-discovery are only possible through participation in charitable activities. All students at the Tuskegee Institute were required to do physical work in addition to their practical and theoretical lessons, which should instill a respect for honest work and self-discipline. The entire environment of the students, both inside and outside the school, should be designed in such a way that students always have the opportunity to study . With this attitude Washington was among the pioneers of modern professional education .

Position on the race problem and the DuBois debate

Washington took the position of slow progress on the racial issue. In his famous "Atlanta Compromise Speech" of 1895, he set out his basic position, according to which it is advantageous for blacks in view of the white position of power in the southern United States to live in peaceful and subordinate coexistence with whites. Although he called for equality, he was also of the opinion that blacks must accept their social position for the moment and stop the demands for social equality. They should only improve their status through education and economic activity, in order to bring it in line with that of whites over time. Washington believed that training in technical professions would lead to economic independence in the long run. Such knowledge is in great demand in industry and would help blacks to better fit into society . Through its educational work Washington received great recognition in the black community and with this attitude was also acceptable to many whites . He established himself as one of the most important black speakers of his time. The White House even saw his ideas as guidelines for the social and economic development of blacks - President Theodore Roosevelt received Washington as the first African American to an official meeting in the White House.

In contrast, more militant black leaders, such as WEB Du Bois , rejected his stance as too conciliatory. For DuBois, an immediate achievement of all civil rights was the cornerstone for the emancipation of blacks. While respecting Washington, he said that the proposal to focus first on vocational training meant the fall of blacks into permanent status as a social and economic underclass, while cutting off their path to political influence. For him, social emancipation was associated with the development of personal and cultural values. Mental rather than physical development would mean that blacks would ultimately have a real say in society in the United States ( see also: Niagara Movement ). These debates between Washington and DuBois, some in the newspapers and some at the lectern, have had a profound impact on professional education in the United States.

Honors

Booker T. Washington National Monument, Virginia

Harvard awarded Booker T. Washington an honorary master's degree in 1896 , Dartmouth an honorary doctorate in 1901 ; in 1904 he was accepted as an honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa .

Washington was an active member and speaker of Prince Hall Freemasonry .

1940 Washington became the first African American on a postage stamp of the US Postal Service displayed. In 1945 he was inducted into the New York Hall of Fame for Great Americans . In April 1956, part of the plantation on which Booker T. Washington was born as a slave became a National Monument , and in April 1966 the Tuskegee Institute became a National Historic Landmark .

The US Treasury issued half dollar coins with the portrait of Booker T. Washington: 18 coin types from 1946 to 1951 with the portrait of Booker T. Washington in a total of 3,091,205 pieces. From 1951 to 1954, a further 12 types of coins were issued with the portraits of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver with a total edition of 2,422,392 pieces, on which the double portrait was to be seen on the obverse and a USA map on the reverse.

Several schools and high schools are named after him.

Works

  • The Future of the American Negro (1899)
  • Up from Slavery (1901, From the slave up ; autobiography )
  • Life of Frederick Douglass (1907)
  • The Story of the Negro (1909)
  • My Larger Education (1911).

See also

literature

  • F. Erik Brooks: Booker T. Washington . In: Encyclopedia of Alabama . 2013.
  • Rebecca Carroll: Uncle Tom or New Negro: African Americans Reflect on Booker T. Washington and Up From Slavery 100 Years Later. Harlem Moon Titles, New York 2006.
  • HRD Gordon: The history and growth of vocational education in America . Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 2003.
  • CW Hall: Black vocational technical and industrial arts education and history . Chicago: American Technical Society, 1973.
  • Louis R. Harlan: Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Leader 1856-1901. (Vol. 1) Oxford University Press, New York 1972.
  • Louis R. Harlan: Booker T. Washington: the Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901-1915. (Vol. 2) Oxford University Press, 1986.
  • Alan Schroeder: Booker T. Washington. Chelsea House Publishers, New York 1992.
  • EL Thornbrough (Ed.): Booker T. Washington . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969.
  • Booker T. Washington: Up From Slavery. Penguin Publishing, New York 1986.

Web links

Commons : Booker T. Washington  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States . Harper Perennial, New York 2005, ISBN 0-06-083865-5 , p. 208
  2. ↑ Famous Freemasons: Booker T. Washington. In: Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Washington, Booker T.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Washington, Booker Taliaferro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American educator, social reformer and black rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Franklin County , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1915
Place of death Tuskegee , Alabama