A Black History Month Tribute to Booker T. Washington

Historians have generally recognized Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) as the outstanding American black leader of his day. Booker's reputation among his contemporaries was nothing short of enormous. William Dean Howells, widely known as the "Dean of American Letters," described Booker as "a public man second to no other American in importance."

Booker's speech in Atlanta, delivered to the Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895, was effusively praised by white and black writers alike. Clark Howell, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, praised the speech as "one of the most notable speeches ... ever delivered to a Southern audience." Pulitzer Prize winner David Levering Lewis counts Washington's speech as "one of the most consequential pronouncements in American history," and historian Rayford Logan declared it "one of the most effective pieces of political oratory in the history of the United States. It deserves a place alongside that in which Patrick Henry proclaimed, 'Give me liberty, or give me death.'"

In his speech, Booker challenged both his black and white listeners to "cast down your bucket where you are," urging former slaves and slave owners to work together to achieve prosperity. Sadly, because Booker's comments were taken by W.E.B. DuBois as a compromise with the racist status quo, Booker's reputation suffered a sharp decline in the following decades. However, the true legacy of Booker T. Washington is anything but one of compromise.

The full scope of Booker's work and writings was not made public until the acquisition of the Washington papers by the Library of Congress. Historian E. Franklin Frazier first reviewed these papers in 1944 in the Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress. Frazier said, "one is first impressed by the size of the collection. There are 151 file drawers of correspondence extending back to 1883, 69 letter file cases of correspondence, 10 books of minutes about the school, and 12 books on students." The papers revealed the extent of Booker's connections and the scope of his aspirations for his people.

Booker's network included Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft as well as academic and industrial leaders. Robert E. Park, a renowned professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, spent several years conducting research and co-authoring books with Booker at the Tuskegee Institute. Many of the greatest academic thinkers of his day belonged to Booker's inner circle.

The great tragedy is that a man described by Langston Hughes as "a Roy Wilkins (NAACP), James Farmer (CORE), and Martin Luther King Jr. rolled into one" should be so seldom celebrated during Black History Month.

Louis Harlan, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for his biography of Booker, spent 25 years going over the Washington papers before producing his two-volume biography. His essay in Black Leaders in the Twentieth Century contains this telling quote: "It is ironic that Booker T. Washington, the most powerful black American of his time and perhaps of all time, should be the black leader whose claim to the title is most often dismissed by the lay public. And yet, Washington was a genuine black leader, with substantial black following."

Perhaps Booker is a victim of his own unwavering commitment to the Tuskegee Institute. Convinced that men can really do only one thing well, Booker decided that Tuskegee would be his primary contribution to his people.

However, we should not lose sight of the fact that through his advocacy of entrepreneurship, self-discipline, and ownership, Booker transcended the role of educator and became the foremost leader of the black race.

The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change is proud to keep alive Booker's vision of economic independence through education, diligence, and entrepreneurial activity.

Lee Walker (lwalker@newcoalition.org) is president of The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change.