Washington, yet the prevailing public opinion of the land has been buttoo willing to deliver the solution of a wearisome problem into his hands,and say, “If that is all you and your race ask, take it.”
He was such a strong leader that made people want to believe what he was saying and work towards giving him solutions
when in fact the burden belongs to the nation, and the hands of none ofus are clean if we bend not our energies to righting these great wrongs
Where he placed blame was great cause fir doubt of the people
To praise this intricate whirl ofthought and prejudice is nonsense; to inveigh indiscriminately against“the South” is unjust
Do not use the past against the present when it makes so much more sense to just move forward together
he present generation of Southerners are not responsible for the past
This is very relevant to today, blaming someone for something because they are a decedent and did not actually commit the crime or act is massive in todays media. Compensation and whatnot is coming back
.
They must not be oblivious to the fact that change does not happen overnight and not everyone will like it right away
they insist that the way to truthand right lies in straightforward honesty, not in indiscriminate flattery
No need to lie or make something sound better, get right to the point
relentless color-prejudice is more often a cause than a result of the Ne-gro’s degradation
Self inflicted?
1. The right to vote.2. Civic equality.3. The education of youth according to ability.
Washington does not hold the same values as others on what is super important or what makes someone '"free"
He is striving nobly to make Negro artisans business menand property-owners
He wants to make them equal by allowing them to move up in the world instead of hopelessly wanting to be equal
meagre
(of something provided or available) lacking in quantity or quality.
First, political power,Second, insistence on civil rights,Third, higher education of Negro youth,—and concentrate all their energies on industrial education, and accu-mulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South
He asks them to give up so much of what they had been fighting for, which is not something someone wants to just give up and to put everything into industrial education
It seems like he wants to step away from trying to make them more equal but make them better equipped for the future
more advanced races are comingin closer contact with the less developed races, and the race-feelingis therefore intensified
Race at the time was already a hightended issue
But Booker T.Washington arose as essentially the leader not of one race but of two,—acompromiser between the South, the North, and the Negro
He stood in the middle, and could work with both groups
the suppression of the Negro votes,the changing and shifting of ideals, and the seeking of new lights in thegreat night
Their power was taken from them once again, some rights that they had before were even taken back
butthe assertion of the manhood rights of the Negro by himself was themain reliance
taking back of their power and rights by themselves, taking it into their own hands
as “people of color,” not as“Negroes.”
It almost feels like they are taking back some of their power and title here
insurrection
There is a history of fighting back and having a revolt when they are not happy with something
ardor
enthusiasm or passion.
Now in the past the American Negro has had instructive experience inthe choosing of group leaders, founding thus a peculiar dynasty which inthe light of present conditions is worth while studying
These people have now had the chance to have a say in how they are governed and they do not want to all of a sudden give up this right or put it in the hands of someone they do not know
If the best of the AmericanNegroes receive by outer pressurea leader whom they had not recog-nized before, manifestly there is herea certain palpable gain.
If people do not know their leader very well, it is not common that they may just blindly hand over their trust to someone
It leads some of the best of the critics to unfortunate silence andparalysis of effort, and others toburst into speech so passionatelyand intemperately as to lose listeners.
This reminds me of the reading about the oppressed and some of the reading done in my tradition and revolution class, if someone is constantly pushed down and being oppressed there is always the chance that they could revolt
demagogues
a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.
mere envy
People could have been very jealous of not only the work he was doing and was being successful at, but possibly the fame that he was gaining on the way
Mr. Washington has encounteredthe strongest and most lasting opposition, amounting at times to bit-terness, and even today continuing strong and insistent even thoughlargely silenced in outward expression by the public opinion of thenation.
I wonder why he faced opposition by his own people, did he go about it in a way that would only benefit some maybe?
hitherto
until now or until the point in time under discussion.
So Mr. Washington’s culthas gained unquestioning followers, his work has wonderfully prospered,his friends are legion, and his enemies are confounded
V: It seems like he was incredibly prepared for what he wanted to propose and change which I think made him such a great leader and activist . I think that people can really pick up on if their leader is strong or not and if they are not they may be less inclinded to follow them
and training, so by singular insight he intuitively grasped the spiritof the age which was dominating the North
He is very smart here in noticing that in order to gain the south trust it is important to do things that they would like. The south and the north did not love each other and if Washington could play the North the south might be more inclined to work with him
This “Atlanta Compromise” is by all odds the most notable thing inMr. Washington’s career. The South interpreted it in different ways: theradicals received it as a complete surrender of the demand for civil andpolitical equality; the conservatives, as a generously conceived workingbasis for mutual understanding
V: He worked to create not only people being equal too, but I imagine that he wanted to create the mindset that people are equal too
the Free Negroes from 1830 up to war-time hadstriven to build industrial schools, and the American Missionary Associ-ation had from the first taught various trades; and Price and others hadsought a way of honorable alliance with the best of the Southerners. ButMr. Washington first indissolubly linked these things; he put enthusiasm,unlimited energy, and perfect faith into his programme, and changed itfrom a by-path into a veritable Way of Life
ML: He was nor the first to come up with the idea obviously but he put a face on it. It seems like people myself included have a much easier time following something if there is a person in charge of it for them to follow.
It was empty, and theywere grown into fat, lazy farm-hands
Seems like the author is angry with how the kids grew up since they left and who they tirned into
jovial
cheerful and friendly.
with a stoop in his shoulders; and the rest
Very descriptive detail of the people which gives you a very easy guide to follow
My log schoolhouse was gone. In its place stood Progress; and Progress, I understand, isnecessarily ugly.
The changes that happned while they were away were not for the better and it seems like the town did not progress much
Reuben is a Baptist preacher now
Seemed like everything changed when they moved away and then came back, not for the better
Fisk University
Moved on to a bigger school and left the small area
“mean”
this makes me question the author, were they not mean or is this a term used in place of another
but people said that he would surely fail, and the “white folks wouldget it all
This is during a time when black people were still not trusted to the same standards as white
little feet bare
could be terminology to describe to the reader that the students are poor
their faces shading from a palecream to a deep brown,
What he is saying here is that there were people of all color and that race did not play a factor
There was an entrance where adoor once was, and within, a massive rickety fireplace; great chinks between the logs served aswindows.
It seems like it was somewhat already set up for leaning
The father was a quiet, simple soul, calmly ignorant, with no touch of vulgarity. The mother wasdifferent,—strong, bustling, and energetic, with a quick, restless tongue, and an ambition to live“like folks.”
Almost seems like reversed rolls for the time
varmints
a troublesome wild animal.
white teachers inthe morning, Negroes at nigh
There was an obvious separation between the two
as a slave theNegro was worked, and that as a freeman he must learnto work.
V: There must be a difference here and it must be taught to both the free and the newly freed, it cannot remain the same ideals even if the situation (Like for example someone working under someone else on a farm) just because it is the same situation.
but an education through agricultureand education, through natural symbols andpractical forms, which will educate as deeply, asbroadly and as truly as any other system which theworld has known.
V: An education that is very connected to nature and one that is very grounded
Ours is anagricultural population. The school must be broughtmore closely to the soil.
I: He keeps a very heavy emphasis on soil and agriculture
This is far from my conception of industrial education. Ifthis training is worth anything to the Negro, it consists inteaching him how not to work, but how to make theforces of nature–air, steam, water, horse-power andelectricity–work for him.
V: it is not teaching him to keep him oppressed it is the opposite he is taking back the power by learning to do things that he then can excel at
We opened a dairy department in connectionwith the school, where a number of young men couldhave instruction in the latest and most scienti c methodsof dairy work.
V: It really seems like this school had forward thinking in their ways of teaching and did not stress so much about the classics and put more emphasis on teaching for the real world and adapting to the world which is always changing anyway.
It seems to me that too often mere book educationleaves the Negro young man or woman in a weakposition.
V: I think that it does not set them up to work like it might have a rich white child that does not need to work as much as they wanted to simply be educated and then not have to work after
they wanted their childrentaught books, but not how to work.
OT: Barrs need to teach the classics
Hampton Institute
ML: This is very close to my house and high school so we learned about this a lot in high school.
Iplead for industrial education and development for theNegro not because I want to cramp him, but because Iwant to free him.
OT: the oppressed need to be taught in order to fight against the oppressor
“Every blow of the sledge hammer wielded by a sable armis a powerful blow in support of our cause.
V: This makes me think of how strong people of that time had to be
Out of it in the future will grow practicaleducation, professional education, positions of publicresponsibility. Out of it will grow moral and religiousstrength. Out of it will grow wealth from which alone cancome leisure and the opportunity for the enjoyment ofliterature and the ne arts.
I: He is making note that the future can be very bright for both races
And just the same with theprofessional class which the race needs and must have, Iwould say give the men and women of that class, too, thetraining which will best t them to perform in the mostsuccessful manner the service which the race demands
W: What does he mean here, confused a little overall with this sentence, but especially with the last part
It is discouraging to nd agirl who can tell you the geographical location of anycountry on the globe and who does not know where toplace the dishes upon a common dinner table. It isdiscouraging to nd a woman who knows much abouttheoretical chemistry, and who cannot properly wash andiron a shirt.
V: Tasks were split so early on in society between what was done by the rich family and what was done by the main or house worker which later down the line caused a split in knowlege
I wasamazed to nd that it was almost impossible to nd inthe whole country an educated colored man who couldteach the making of clothing.
I: Maybe this was because it was a job that was put onto women? Or lower class white men simply did not want to learn from or teach the other race.
Our schools teach everybody a little of almosteverything, but, in my opinion, they teach very fewchildren just what they ought to know in order tomake their way successfully in life.
ML: This makes me think of when teachers would teach the basics and then move on and say things like "we do not have time in the year to go any further with this" It would make me angry becase it was like we would just stop leanring that and move onto something new all together.
that all forms of labor are honorable
V: This makes me think of giving power back to the worker, you cannot always change your situation and some may have not had the finds to work anywhere else, but they took back their power. Just because you work under someone does not mean you are a slave.
Think, though,how frequently it is the case that from the rst day that apupil begins to go to school his books teach him muchabout the cities of the world and city life, and almostnothing about the country.
OT: This makes me think of Garrisons why we are in college. It is so important to ask why and to further your education past the books.
In all these works theNegro did most of the heavy work.
V: Maybe the white men felt threatened once the slaves were free before was now a whole new group of people that were highly qualified for jobs that the white men could have been fighting for.
In a certain wayevery slave plantation in the South was an industrialschool
V: It is almost like they were educated in a way that would make them fit into a lower class of white society, yet no one wanted to let them into it.
neither white nor black properly understood the case.Nor is it any wonder that this was so, for never before inthe history of the world had just such a problem beenpresented as that of the two races at the coming offreedom in this country
ML: I kind of think that he is getting out how when you bring to very different groups of people together it is not always easy to get them to interact perfectly in the beginning. It kind of makes me think of how I have different friend groups and I would not think they would interact well the first time they would meet.
by which the Negro has beenhelped to nd himself and to learn the secrets ofcivilization
OT: This reminds me of Frieres writing about how when one is educated they can use that as a tool to escape oppression.