Booker T. Washington and Success
Booker T. Washington does not get the credit he deserves as a thinker. W.E.B. Du Bois gives him some recognition in his review of Up From Slavery in 1901, but it is muted. Knowing what we know now, what Washington said in 1895 at the Atlanta Exposition could have made all the difference if implemented.
“…it is strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the state legislature was more sought than real estate or industrial skill…”
“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”
“No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized.”
Leftist historians like to say the address was before a “mostly white” audience which is strange because Washington says that when rose to speak “there was considerable cheering, especially from the coloured people”. The left refers to the speech disparagingly as the Atlanta Compromise and some, like Kevin Levin, say Washington helped establish the Lost Cause myth.
In any case, Washington is advocating for the same thing that successful immigrants have implemented from beginning of the 20th century to present. Don’t focus on political power, instead build wealth through practical education, small businesses, and hard work. Thomas Sowell in his book Black Rednecks and White Liberals explores this theme extensively. He posits and, in my opinion, proves that success is learned and that different cultures have attributes that are more aligned to success.
West Indian blacks who immigrated to America had slavery in their past and surpassed blacks already in America in terms of success. This was cultural. Southern blacks were at a disadvantage as they took on the worst of the Southern white cultural attributes which stunted their progress. Made worse still by the lack of training and practical education that Washington was advocating. The politics of Reconstruction where blacks were pawns of Northern politicians did not help either.
