Posted on 02/27/2021 8:29:22 AM PST by Kaslin
Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Kent M. MacDonald.
As longtime admirers of legendary civil rights pioneer and educational entrepreneur Booker T. Washington, we felt compelled to pay tribute to this profoundly influential American during Black History Month.
Born into slavery on April 18, 1856 in Hale’s Ford, Virginia, Washington died a free man 59 years later on November 14, 1915 in Tuskegee, Alabama. From a young age, he understood the power of education. He worked hard and earned degrees from Hampton Normal, an agricultural institute (today Hampton University) and Wayland Seminary. Washington became recognized as a leading educator, author, orator, champion of freedom, mentor and advisor to thousands, including U.S. presidents William Howard Taft and Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. As a prominent leader in the African American community, Washington fought the disenfranchisement of freed slaves during reconstruction as well as discriminatory laws like Jim Crow.
Booker T. Washington also helped found Alabama’s renowned Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) nearly 140 years ago. The school’s unique mission produced stellar students who appreciated the theoretical and practical sides of higher education.
Booker T. Washington’s words and influence remain powerfully relevant today. Former U.S. Congressman and U.S. Army Lt. Colonel (Ret) Allen West recently shared the following thoughts on Washington with us.
"When people ask me ‘who is my role model? the answer is easy: my dad, Corporal Herman West Sr., U.S. Army World War II veteran was that guiding hand who shaped me to be the man that I am today. And my dad's best friend was a gentleman named William 'Stickey' Jackson. He was also a World War II veteran, my godfather, and a Tuskegee Airman. My dad and godfather were originally from Alabama, but they settled in Georgia, never forgetting their Alabama roots."
"Therefore, when anyone asks, who is my ideological mentor, the answer is simple. It is the trailblazer, the man, who founded the institution that is now called Tuskegee University, Booker T. Washington. Why? Simple, because as a Black conservative, Washington is the founding father of Black conservatism. His book Up From Slavery is about the indomitable individual spirit to be a victor, not a victim. It provides a roadmap for economic independence, not dependence. Booker T. Washington, in establishing Tuskegee Institute, had a three-point plan -- education, based on critical thinking, entrepreneurship, and self-reliance. Education was not just about, as the ol' folks down south say 'book learning.' It was about an industrial education that created skills, talents, and capabilities. It is easy to understand why the famed botanist, George Washington Carver, chose Tuskegee Institute to conduct his research, which became the founding basis for research-based institutions of higher learning, especially agricultural-centered studies. The students at Tuskegee, under Washington's leadership and vision, built the institution by their own hands. They grew their own foods, constructed their own furniture, including beds."
"Booker T. Washington believed the true value of an education was not in what you knew, it was what you could produce and contribute to society through voluntary free exchange. That is where one attains self-esteem. My Mom taught me, 'self-esteem only comes from doing estimable things.' Government programs cannot endow you with self-esteem, certainly not self-reliance."
In these divided times, we invite everyone to reflect on the unifying words and great wisdom by Booker T. Washington: “there are two ways of exerting one’s strength, one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.”
Booker T. Washington, through his works and deeds and the sheer power of his inspirational ideas, has pulled millions of people up, including academics like us – for which we are forever grateful. This Black History Month we should all find the time to pay tribute to heroes like Booker T. Washington, Allen West, Herman West Sr., William ‘Stickey’ Jackson, and the 450 heroic Tuskegee Airmen who were deployed overseas during WWII, helping to save much of the world from despots like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. Many of the flyboys from Tuskegee, Alabama paid the ultimate sacrifice and are buried in cemeteries across Europe. While most returned to the United States, the country they proudly fought for, had to overcome much prejudice. In doing so, they helped to build cities from Washington, D.C. to Detroit, Michigan and states from Florida to California, into the world’s post-WWII economic powerhouse.
Today, as America’s global economic leadership is being questioned, we would be a far better country if all of us took the time to read (or re-read) Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery. In doing so, we should embrace its powerful message of a former slave who overcame great odds to advance economic empowerment through an enlightened vision that education is the key to individual freedom and achievement.
Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915)
https://librivox.org/author/3597
Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver were two
people I looked up to as a kid.
I lived just 1.5 miles from the George Washington Carver
farm as a kid, and used to walk over there and look around.
I had an interest in these men because they found a way to
flourish in a time when it wasn’t that easy to do so.
I don’t think Booker T. Washington lived a lavish lifestyle,
but he was an accomplished man.
It has been my thought in life to respect everyone until
given a reason not to. Color of skin has never been a big
deal to me.
Now I’m supposed to be a racists based on the idea I was
born white.
LOL
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Racism is alive and well today. It’s been picked up, wiped
off, and shined up under a new label. Now it’s okay to be
a racist as long as your target is white.
The people trashing racism for the last 50 years, are now
the new racists. And they’re darned proud to be racists.
Booker T. and The MG’s....
Too bad that Booker T. Washington, with his philosophy of self-sufficiency and education (particularly in the trades) is hardly mentioned today. Washington believed that the best path to integration and acceptance was to demonstrate value, learn a trade. He believed (and rightly) that if a black man learned a trade such as brick-making, and was good at it, then people of any color would pay good money for the product.
Instead, W.E.B. Dubois is the man elevated and revered by the Left. His bitter socialist/communist views, his adherence to agitation, protest, and political activism engendered the hateful race related aspects of Leftism.
I agree 100%. You have voiced something I have embraced my entire life and voiced many times here on this forum, and I call it "Default Respect". That is, you treat people with respect and equanimity until they give you a specific reason not to.
Washington’s book “Up From Slavery” should have been embraced by blacks (and was, by many who attended the Tuskegee Institute) but that isn’t where we are today.
I have owned a copy for years, and his philosophy of self-reliance resonates with me.
There are certain traits that don’t have to be taught. They
are innate in us, if we just listen to ourselves, and try to
live a good decent life. If you are trying to live a good
life, somewhere along the line it dawns on you to treat
others this way. And then you will do so.
I’ve never read it.
When I related that I had respect for him and Carver, it was
a general realization that here were two men that had every
excuse not to excel, but they excelled anyway.
I have the utmost respect for that.
I know that I would enjoy the book, and I will do so shortly.
Just went over the Amazon and both the book for $0.60 cents.
I’ll read it this weekend.
What you wrote drives right to the heart of the matter, and one that only increases respect.
Yes it does. Thanks Rimorel...
You bet...I get a lot of my book and movie suggestions from the good people on this forum...:)
And audiobooks!
Any group of people (i.e. blacks) who willingly accept the benefits of reverse-discrimination policies such as affirmative action, quotas and other such set-asides are simply reinforcing the notion that they are inferior to whites and so need whites "brought down a peg or two" in order to make it more fair for them.
It is like a golfer accepting a handicap. By doing so, the golfer is accepting the fact that his/her golfing partner is a superior golfer and that they need a "head start" to make it fair.
Let's say your golf handicap is 20 and you score a 90 on a 72-par course. Did you really "beat" your golfing partner with no handicap who shot a genuine 71 on that same course? Does that really make you feel good about yourself?
Well, I’m glad you pointed me in this direction.
Yes...I have been unable to read for the last 7-10 years, have gone though a boatload of glasses, but...couldn’t do it.
So I began listening to Audiobooks.
Been a lifesaver for me. But just a few months ago, they got me glasses that kind of work for me...:)
Yes, it truly is a great book. I’ve always found the parallels to the great Ancient Greek Xenophon’s book Anabasis (Greek for to march upward) intriguing. In that book Cyrus, the leader of the expedition is killed early, and Xenophon has to lead the army back to safety. Similarly, early in Washington’s life, Lincoln was killed and this book details his efforts to lead the former slaves upward.
It seems that one of the central teachings is the following: the virtuous method by which one acquires political power is to become the “go to” guy for your fellow citizens: someone they can count on when in need. Washington spent his life trying to give former slaves the knowledge and skills to do just that in all sorts of practical fields. Ironically, he is most condemned today for the “Atlanta Compromise.” Unfortunately, the path that other (W.E.B DeBois and others) followed only produced ephemeral political power.
Thank you for that reference, I will check the book out.
And your second paragraph is right on. Right on.
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