The political, social, and economic movements during the Gilded Age left defining marks on the history of the United States. African Americans during this era were battling for freedoms in order to become active agents among society. Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up from Slavery is a direct narrative which examines his civil rights philosophy of racial uplifting by rejecting social and political ideologies. Washington’s perspectives on racial equality are most notably reflected through his early life, his work at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and the Atlanta Exposition Address.
To begin with, after the Civil War, the freed slaves faced cultural biases through segregation, sharecropping, and class differences. “After the coming of freedom there were two points upon which practically all people on our place were agreed, and I find that this was generally true throughout the South: that they must change their names, and they must leave the old plantation for at least a few days or weeks in order that they might really feel sure that they were free”(Washington 11). Clearly recognizing freedom and essentially the rebirth of life through renaming greatly influenced Booker T. Washington’s belief of self-sufficiency for African-Americans at a young age. To enumerate, Booker T. Washington believed that before tackling social issues African-Americans needed to establish their own identity through family and education. “Years ago I resolved that because I had no ancestry myself I would leave a record of which my children would be proud, and which might encourage them to still higher effort”(Washington 17). This deeply instilled philosophy of successful self-sufficiency followed Washington for the remainder of his education, and continued to be his life’s work.
Moving forward, Booker T. Washington set out on the goal of educating African Americans at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. “Of one thing I felt more strongly convinced than ever, after spending this month in seeing the actual life of the coloured people, and that was that, in order to lift them up, something must be done more than to merely imitate New England education as it then existed”(Washington 57). The Tuskegee Institute is the most defining example of Booker T. Washington’s ideology for civil rights because here his birthed philosophy came to fruition. His goal was to focus on a trait through education that would help the community.(Notes) “Aside from this, we wanted to give them such practical knowledge of some one industry, together with the spirit of industry, thrift, and economy, that they would be sure of knowing how to make a living after they had left us”(Washington 61). This dedicated strategy of education gained Booker T. Washington such notoriety that he was invited to speak at numerous public events.
The last example of Washington’s push for civil rights is his famous speech delivered at the Atlanta Exposition. “As I remember it now, the thing that was uppermost in my mind was the desire to say something that would cement the friendship of the races and bring about a hearty cooperation between them”(Washington 105). To clarify, Booker T. Washington spoke about education, the importance for African Americans to learn a trade, and how this would enable equality in American society. Additionally, the speech was so well received it got national press coverage from the media. In Up from Slavery, Washington quotes Clark Howell from Atlanta Constitution: “The whole speech is a platform upon which blacks and whites can stand with full justice to each other”(Washington 110).
With attention focused on the heightened fame of Booker T. Washington at the time, an analysis of his autobiography reveals its construction has a tone of self promotion for his way of thinking. The first of three examples of Washington’s advertising his ideology appear in chapter five. “Many of the Southern whites have a feeling that, if the Negro is permitted to exercise his political rights now to any degree, the mistakes of the Reconstruction period will repeat themselves”(Washington 41). Standing alone this statement parallels Booker T. Washington’s idea of ignoring politics in society. Actually, a contention can be made that his perspective about politics was forced by white Southerners when in reality in was driven by his own experiences as a slave.
Another example and more compelling evidence of Washington promoting his ideas is at the beginning of chapter six where he reflects on his reluctance to run for political office. “As for my individual self, it appeared to me to be reasonably certain that I could succeed in political life, but I had a feeling that it would be a rather selfish kind of success-individual success at the cost of my duty in assisting in laying a foundation for the masses”(Washington 44). Here Washington gives the impression that the driving force for his life’s work was bigger than his own success. Obviously, his work was bigger than his success, but his self analysis is oddly out of place in a chapter where he is discussing teaching Native Americans. In fact, chapter six in its entirety pushes the ideology of his faith in education as he shares observations of language barriers and habits of different races.
The last example of Booker T. Washington promoting his philosophical drive is at the end of chapter seven. “With few exceptions I found teachers in these country schools to be miserably poor in preparation for their work, and poor in moral character”(Washington 56). This mirrors Washington’s goal to as previously mentioned while discussing Tuskegee that he wanted to uplift, educate, and allow African Americans do better themselves.
Given these points, Booker T. Washington’s early life reflections, his success at Tuskegee, the Atlanta Exposition Address, and the construction of his autobiography all pushed for African Americans to better themselves in order to improve conditions coming out of slavery. Despite DuBois and other critics his vision of a better society still exists today.
Works Cited
Washington, Booker T. Up from Slavery . New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1995.
