The Legacy of Booker T. Washington

The Legacy of Booker T. Washington

            Booker T. Washington is an outstanding legendary figure who proved the world wrong by breaking from the chains of slavery to becoming an exceptional black leader. He did so many things for the black community to help them raise after the end of slavery. After completion of his studies at Hampton, Booker went back to his home and became a teacher. He gave back to the community by accommodating everyone that wished to study. He was selfless evident when he was approached by delegates to lure him into taking up a political position (Booker 48). To him, he would serve his colored folks in a better way as a teacher than as a politician. During his time as a teacher in his hometown, Booker was able to send young men to Hampton Institute where they lived better lives after graduation. When he was called upon to teach at the Hampton Institute, Booker went and showed dedication in teaching the students (Booker 50).

Booker took a particular interest in the particular night class and guided them with devotion. He motivated them with certificates that recognized their efforts. Also, Booker portrayed his passion for ending racism when he agreed to take charge of the Indian class although some of the Negroes did not approve of it. By the time he was done, the Indians and the Negroes were coexisting peacefully in the institute, and the Indians have gained a lot regarding education (Booker 54). His legacy as a true black leader was crowned when he accepted the call to Tuskegee. Booker worked from scratch to establish an institution that taught not only books but the value of work to young Negroes. Through this institution, Booker impacted the lives of many negroes who wanted to learn and acquire big jobs, and he taught them the value of learning life skills and giving back to the community. Through this institute, different races learned to live peacefully and interact on business grounds. The white community in Tuskegee learned that the educated negroes did not diminish them, instead they were empowered as they now saw the positive impact the institute was having on their region (Booker 79).  Booker has held no white man in contempt, and he encouraged negroes to do the same to create a harmonious environment for them. After his great speech in Atlanta, Booker received numerous invitations to high-end jobs, but he turned them down because his passion was in educating the negroes in the Tuskegee Institute (Booker 115).

The experience of Booker T. as a slave child was a sad one. He lived with his mother and two siblings in a small cabin which coupled up as their house and the plantation kitchen. The cabin was small, and it had no glass windows to protect them from the harsh winter season. He never had any knowledge of his birth father, and his stepfather worked in a different plantation, and they saw him rarely. Even though Booker was a small boy during the slavery era, he was not exempted in the duties of the implantation. He carried outs tasks such as carrying water to the other slaves in the fields. The duty that he dreaded most was taking the corn to the mill (Booker 6). A horse carried the corn, but along the way, the corn would somehow fall from the back of the horse. Since Booker was a small boy, he did not have the strength to lift the corn to the back of the horse to continue with his journey to the mill. He had to wait for a passerby to help him reload the horse and sometimes he waited for hours before someone passed by that road. As such, this would make him late in delivering the floor, and it always earned him a scolding or a flogging. The food in the plantation was poor and especially during the war when their masters had a hard time securing food supplies for them. The hardest time Booker had during slavery was wearing the flax garments (Booker 9). The garments were rough, and they pierced his tender body such that his elder brother had to wear to for a few days to make it softer for young Booker. It is during his service as a boy slave that he discovered his interest in learning, but he did not accomplish it since there was no chance for slaves to receive an education (Booker 6). There was also no time for play because he was always engaged in duty as was required of him even as a child.

Booker T. never had any bitter feelings against his white slave masters during and after slave abolishment (Booker 11). During slavery, Booker T. noticed that the slaves were loyal to their masters and never held them in contempt. During the war, the slaves took it upon themselves to protect the mistresses that were left behind when their husbands went for the war (Booker 9). There was so much sadness in the plantation when one of the young masters died, and the ones that were injured were nursed with affection by their slaves. After they were granted freedom, the Negroes still respected their former masters and looked out for their welfare. As such, this is evident where the Negroes still provided the son of a former master with supplies to ensure that he did not die out of hunger (Booker 10). According to Booker, he felt sorry for their former masters who were accustomed to slaves that they never had any sense of self-reliance (12). As such, this made him feel sorry rather than bitter.

The deepest desire and ambition for Booker T. was to get enough education (Booker 17). This ambition, however, faced endless challenges, but Booker never lost hope in all the challenges. He was enrolled as a worker at a very young age by his step-father. When a school was opened, Booker never had the opportunity to attend since his father wanted him to work (Booker 18). When he was finally permitted to attend school under the condition that he had to combine school and work, he did it willingly. His desire to attend school was further deepened when he heard of the Hampton institution, and he set his mind to go there (Booker 24). Having no money, Booker had to resolve to work for one of the most feared mistresses to save some money. While serving Mrs. Ruffner, he learned some valuable lessons that aided him later in his life at Hampton. The journey to Hampton was a tough one since he did not have enough money for the journey. In the midst of hunger, exhaustion, cold and racism, Booker never felt discouraged in his quest for education (27). Upon reaching Hampton, Booker never appealed to the head as an ideal student, and she hesitated to admit her. She gave him a simple sweeping task but the perfection in which he did his tasked impressed her so much that he admitted him (Booker 29). Booker gave this credits to his former employer, Mrs. Ruffner because she is the one who taught him how to sweep correctly (Booker 28). He lived his life in Hampton as a janitor and this aided in paying off the school. During his stay in school, he interacted with many great personalities among them being General Armstrong from whom he learned a great deal (Booker 30). Although Booker was penniless most of the time, he made most of his time in Hampton and by the end of his two-year study period, he was not only a great public speaker and debater but was also in the honor list (Booker 38).

Racism was the concept Booker T. aspired to bring an end to. He asserted this by stating that he did not feel any kind of bitterness towards former slave owners (Booker 11). In my trust, this is evident when he recognized a former slave owner as a close friend and advisor. During his time in Hampton as a teacher, Booker was assigned to be in charge of the newly admitted Indians. It is through them that he came to learn that they were not different from the Negroes as they showed the same eagerness to learn (Booker 51). The experience with the whites from Tuskegee made him realize that they did not support the school since they thought that if the Negroes became educated, they would feel inferior. Booker made attempts to show that educating the Negroes would be of benefit to them too. After the fourth and successful attempt of brick-making, the whites became more receptive of the institute since the business between them lead to pleasant relations between the two races. (Booker 78). In my trust, this was the foundation of a strong and lasting relationship between the Negroes and the whites of Tuskegee.

Booker’s works and ideas in Tuskegee portray him as a selfless man who wanted nothing but success for the negro community. When he was sent to Tuskegee, he was faced with the enormous task of establishing a school. After studying the people of that region, Booker concluded that education from books alone would not help the people of Tuskegee (63). He embarked on a relentless mission to find a site for the school, and when he finally got one, he did not have the funds to secure it. Booker had to secure a personal loan to purchase the land (Booker 66). Although there was a lot of financial struggle, he managed to pay off the land. Booker was faced with the challenge of changing the mindset of his students who believed that manual labor was demeaning to them. He had to lead by example and prove to them that manual skills did not demean a person but improved his efficiency.

Another task that Booker was set out to achieve was that of hygiene. He impacted his students with the importance of hygiene. After noting that a majority of his students had agricultural backgrounds, he saw it fit to train them in a way that they would find it necessary to go back to their people and impact positive change based on what they had learned rather than running away to other cities seeking federal jobs (Booker 65). Booker taught his students the importance of manual labor by having them participate in cultivation and construction processes. Although he received protests from some of the parents, the impact of this type of education was soon visible as the students portrayed a wide range of skills which in turn helped them financially (Booker 79). As the population of the institution grew larger, Booker saw the need of including boarding facilities. This matter was essential to Booker as he traveled far up in the north to gather funds to build a proper boarding facility (Booker 92). Booker attributes the acquisition of such funds to hard work rather than luck (96). As such, this is because he had worked so relentlessly to make the institute successful such that donors were happy to contribute to aid in its course. Booker’s immense dedication to the Tuskegee institute proved the passion he had for negroes and how he wanted them to turn their lives into success by all skills they would acquire.

Booker T. was a great public speaker, and he attributes this to his instructor Mrs., Lord who taught him how to read and love the Bible (). In the Hampton, Booker was in the Honor list great public speakers and debaters when he graduated (Booker 38). Among the most significant speeches delivered by Booker was the Atlanta Speech. He had been invited to give a speech as the representative of the Negroes at the Exposition. The primary purpose of this speech was to cement the relationship between the whites and the negroes. In his speech, Booker stated the need for the negroes to make peace with the white community. Instead of seeking foreign land for better opportunities, the negroes should work to make their land better. He stressed the importance of supporting and encouraging the negroes to work hard and change their lives. He stated that if the whites encouraged the negroes, there would be progress in the whole America regarding intelligence and if the negroes were not encouraged, America would have the same rate of crime and Ignorance (Booker 113). According to Booker, the importance of putting brain and skill in common labor would have maximum profit (112). He urged all the races to venture into agriculture, mechanics, and commerce seeing that this would acknowledge all types of work as necessary. At the end of his speech, Booker thanked the southern state for the tremendous support they had shown to the Tuskegee Institute and the northern philanthropists who had continuously financed the institute. He also expressed his gratitude for the opportunity given to the negroes to take part in the Exposition (Booker 114). It is good to note that this was the most excellent speech by Booker, and it changed the relationship between the two races.

Booker viewed education as the only way negroes could improve their lives after the civil war. Still, this was evident in his burning passion for getting an education. After his education in Hampton, choose to go back to his community and taught the people what he learned. He helped several people get to Hampton to get an education for the betterment of their lives. He got enticing offers to join politics, but he declined them since he felt that he would serve his community better as a teacher. His dedication to giving the negroes in Tuskegee was proof that he saw education as the only true liberator of the black man. He stressed on the importance of labor which had more impact compared to that of books alone since he found out that some of the students have a vast knowledge of books but could not apply the knowledge into real life. Therefore, Booker resulted in practical education (Booker 65).

Part two

The ideas of Booker T. about education have since lost value in today’s generation. Booker gave priority to teaching students the use of brain and skills in common labor. He never gave much attention to the knowledge found in books mostly if the student could not put into practice what he had learned. When he started teaching in Tuskegee, Booker noticed that the students degraded manual labor and were only interested in learning so that they could get high-end jobs after education. In my trust, this is similar to the students today. Because of the belief that a bachelor’s degree will automatically secure a well-paying job has made students rush to enroll in the programme even without assessing their skills first. As such, this has made many students waste their time and money while pursuing a dream they are not familiar with (James, Jennifer & Janet 2).

Booker T. had a very elaborate method of teaching that saw his students exercise their abilities to the maximum. During his time as a teacher in Hampton, he identified bright students and gave them individual attention which helped them pursue further education (Booker 50). He then helped the others train in skills that were not academic but would help them in the future. However, this is contrary to today. Schools have guidance and counselors who advise students on what career paths to take, but they only propel the urge of the students to enroll in a bachelor’s degree. They are afraid of advising students who perform poorly academically to avoid pursuing a degree and instead take up an Associate degree. They get reprimanded by the principals and the parents of the children and face a risk of losing their jobs is they give such advice (James et al 4.). This lack of genuine advice has made many young people make decisions without adequate information, and they end up desolate.

Booker T. made sure that his students earned a place in his institution. He ensured this by introducing manual labor to the curriculum and made sure that the students who worked are the only ones who stayed in the school. The students paid for their fees with the labor they provided for the school, and this was regardless of whether the students could afford the fees or not. This instilled the value of hard work in the students, and they learned at a tender age that one must work tirelessly to achieve his goals. This is however not the case today because colleges have open admission for all students (James et al. 4). This open admission has opened the gates for all categories of students to pursue bachelor’s degrees. The students have it easy since the open admission does not require any time of entrance exam. This has made students lazy, and they lack a sense of self-reliance. They do not think or make other plans apart from getting into college. To them, manual labor is beneath them, and the only thing that suits them is a bachelor’s degree. They assume that the same way they gained open admission without having to study hard is the same way college is going to be. If there were a severe entrance exam for college enrollment, these students would work hard to attain the required grade for college admission. Those who fail to get the required grade would think of pursuing an alternative angle such as pursuing an associate’s degree or even work harder to gain admission in the next intake. The open admission into colleges has taken away the value of hard work and self-reliance which Booker T. worked so relentlessly to instill.

During his time, Booker ensured that the students learned the value of manual work and that it was as crucial as any other job. Today, however, students are not adequately informed. They live in a stereotypic society that believes that bachelor’s degree jobs are superior to associates degree jobs in dignity and payment. This is however not the case because some associate jobs pay higher than bachelor’s jobs (James et al 4). Students are not informed adequately about associate’s degree jobs, and when they are, they are given negative reviews which discourages them from pursuing that alternative.

In summary, the current generation regards a bachelor’s degree in higher esteem than an associate’s degree which is contrary to the belief of Booker T. that all aspects were equal since they were all geared toward self-reliance. If the students are correctly enlightened about the many opportunities in an associate’s degree, many would be open to the idea of pursuing an associate’s degree compared to a bachelor’s degree considering their academic capability.