- Sep 2022
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moodle.lynchburg.edu moodle.lynchburg.edu
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One of the most fundamental and far-reaching deedsthat has been accomplished during the last quarter of acentury has been that by which the Negro has beenhelped to nd himself and to learn the secrets ofcivilization
This idea of African Americans being able to find themselves reminds me of Garrison's idea that students are in college to find themselves. However, African Americans use to be denied the right to education because many were subjected to slavery for their entire lives. Once slavery was abolished, within "the last quarter of a century" Washington says, African Americans could attempt to seek the education that they were deprived of, and find themselves. Therefore, this also reminds me of Freire's main idea of the oppressed becoming aware of their oppression through education and finally being given the encouragement to use their voices.
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Our pathway must be up through the soil, up throughswamps, up through forests, up through the streams, therocks, through commerce, education, and religion.
I think that this means Washington believes a little bit of struggle creates a well rounded person that is ready to work in the real world.
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as a slave theNegro was worked, and that as a freeman he must learnto work.
African Americans were forced to work as slaves, but as free people, they must learn to work for themselves and not others.
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They will give us an agricultural class, a class oftenants or small land owners, trained not awayfrom the soil, but in relation to the soil and inintelligent dependence upon its resources.
I think this means that teaching a variety of skills will create a well-rounded student that is in tune with the resources and environment surrounding them.
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these things, upon their elementaryside are absolutely vital to the worth and success ofhundreds of thousands of these people of theNegro race, and yet our whole educational systemhas practically ignored them.
Doesn't this contradict what Washington just said on the previous page about not needing to teach or train in the subject of agriculture?
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I have not emphasized particularly in these pages thegreat need of training the Negro in agriculture, but Ibelieve that this branch of industrial education does needvery great emphasis.
Why do they not need training in agriculture? Does he think this because their family members/ancestors may have taught them training in agriculture already? If so, I feel as though that might not be the case.
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Many seem to think that industrial education is meant tomake the Negro work as he worked in the days of slavery.
At the beginning of this article, I was also thinking and feeling this way. However, I can see throughout his argument that it is not exactly like this, and that there is more benefits to industrial work oftentimes.
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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.
I think this shows that the Institute is always changing, trying to stay on top of the latest developments in the area so that their students are better prepared for the workforce.
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I think should be the policy of all industrial schools– ttingstudents for occupations which would be open to them intheir home communities.
Students should not be expected to stay in their home communities, it should be a choice they get to make.
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drudgery
drudgery = hard work/dull work
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Under these circumstances we cannot be surprised if shedoes not ful ll the expectations made for her.
Girls should not be expected to do domestic work, and people should not be disappointed if they cannot do it. Is this also expected of men? The answer is no.
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Ireceived a great many verbal messages and letters fromparents informing me that they wanted their childrentaught books, but not how to work.
This is interesting, for the parents' desire for their children to be taught books reminds me of Barr's emphasis on teaching the classics to students in school. However, Washington believed it was important to teach students how to work (prepare for the world).
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Not only do the students receive instruction in thesetrades, but they do actual work, by means of which morethan half of them pay some part or all of their expenseswhile remaining at the school.
Why don't more schools apply this technique? I feel as though students learn best when they are instructed and then can apply that instruction to real world situations.
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We began teaching wheelwrighting and blacksmithing ina small way to the men, and laundry work, cooking andsewing and housekeeping to the young women.
Why are the domestic classes only offered to the women? I feel as though men and women could have benefitted from all of the classes the Institute had to offer, not just the ones that matched the stereotypical gender roles.
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mental, moral and industrialeducation
Could this be considered a liberal arts education? It is an education pulling from various categories that could make for a well-rounded person.
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Iplead for industrial education and development for theNegro not because I want to cramp him, but because Iwant to free him.
I think this means that Washington believes African Americans feel the need to seek higher education rather than stick with industrial education because they believe they owe it to their ancestors. They believe that they must take advantage of everything their ancestors were never offered.
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Every blow of the sledge hammer wielded by a sable armis a powerful blow in support of our cause.
When reading this I am imagining a strong arm winding up and smacking a firm wall with a sledgehammer hard enough to break apart the wall. This visualization allows me to understand the purpose of this part of the quote, that hard work and consistency can create change/make a difference.
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districts and must and should continue to live there
I believe that people don't always have to do what will make them best off, they should be free to pursue their passions/what they want to do in life.
(It won't allow me to highlight the other part of the sentence I wanted to use for my annotation)
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service which the race demands.
I am confused by what Washington means when he says "the service which the race demands." Is he encouraging the stereotypical jobs for each race?
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No race can be lifteduntil its mind is awakened and strengthened.
This reminds me of Freire and his idea that education is an awakening for the oppressed to use their voices.
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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.
It frustrates me that Washington is taking his frustrations out on women taking the opportunity to do more than the stereotypical domestic work. Why can't Washington also be frustrated with the men who do not know how to do these things.
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I wasamazed to nd that it was almost impossible to nd inthe whole country an educated colored man who couldteach the making of clothing.
Would that be because they were escaping the labor once forced upon their ancestors? Do those of color believe they have to do more than what their ancestors did in order to make up for what they were not allowed to do?
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Many a mother andsister have worked and slaved, living upon scantyfood, in order to give a son and brother a ’liberaleducation,’
Why can't the sister and the brother both have an education?
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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.
When I was in high school, my mom would always say that they don't teach us some of the most important life skills in class. She was always ranting about how we should have to take a finance class to prepare for adulthood.
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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. How natural it is, then, thatwhen he has the ordering of his life he wants to live it inthe city.
When we are taught only one way of life, we stick to that one way of life (afraid to branch out into the unknown).
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As a generation began to pass,those who had been trained as mechanics in slaverybegan to disappear by death, and gradually it began to berealized that there were few to take their places.
I wonder if when this happened, Southern white men regretted their actions? They forced African Americans into accomplishing their physical labor instead of learning to do so themselves, so when slavery was abolished, there were few left to run the work on the plantations (many slaves left as their first act of freedom and the Southern white men didn't know how to do the work themselves).
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In all these works theNegro did most of the heavy work.
It makes me angry that the African Americans did all the heavy lifting, but the Southern white men took all of the credit and praise. No one likes when someone steals the credit for their own hard work.
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The industriesthat gave the South its power, prominence and wealthprior to the Civil War were mainly the raising of cotton,sugar cane, rice and tobacco.
I think this means that African Americans ran the South even though they were not acknowledged for it.
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there was an absence of mental training in connectionwith the training of the hand.
I think this means that African Americans were never given an opportunity for education, which kept them oppressed because they were never able to learn that they could do more than the physical labor forced upon them.
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On these plantations young colored men andwomen were constantly being trained not only as farmersbut as carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, brickmasons, engineers, cooks, laundresses, sewing womenand housekeepers.
On plantations, African Americans would perform the undesirable jobs. As a result, African Americans practically ran the entire plantation, not the Southern white man.
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For two hundred and fty years, I believe the way for theredemption of the Negro was being prepared throughindustrial development.
I think that this means it was a common belief among African Americans that if they learned how to perform the gritty/undesirable jobs, they would gain societal acceptance from slave owners. They might have thought that if they took on this work then the slave owners would be grateful for them and show them mercy, when they would truly take advantage of them instead.
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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.
At the origin of American history, white Americans gained their freedom. Meanwhile, black Americans were denied their freedom during this time. However, with abolition, African Americans were finally given freedom, yet it was the first time in American history that two races were free at once.
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It has been necessary for the Negro to learn thedi erence between being worked and working–to learnthat being worked meant degradation, while workingmeans civilization;
The process of being forced to work is nothing like being a working citizen. Working is meant to be for one's own fulfillment, while being worked is meant as a form of oppression.
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moodle.lynchburg.edu moodle.lynchburg.edu
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ascendancy
ascendancy = dominance, superiority, predominance
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And yet, by the irony of fate, nothing has more effectually made thisprogramme seem hopeless than the recent course of the United Statestoward weaker and darker peoples in the West Indies, Hawaii, andthe Philippines,—for where in the world may we go and be safe fromlying and brute force?
There is no easy escape from the treatment African Americans face, they must act if they want to experience a difference.
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“We hold these truthsto be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowedby their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these arelife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Today, it is frustrating to think that even from the beginning (the founding of our nation) we were unable to uphold the ideas put forth in the Declaration of Independence. For the longest time, and still often times today, people in our country were not treated like they were "created equal".
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The South ought to be led, by candid and honest criticism, to asserther better self and do her full duty to the race she has cruelly wrongedand is still wronging. The North—her co-partner in guilt—cannotsalve her conscience by plastering it with gold
I think this means that the North and South, despite and because of both of their histories, must work equally towards the solution.
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His doctrine has tended to make the whites,North and South, shift the burden of the Negro problem to the Negro’sshoulders and stand aside as critical and rather pessimistic spectators;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.
The process of gaining political and civil rights for African Americans has to be accomplished with the help of the entire nation. It is a large problem, it requires a large group working towards the solution.
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It would be unjust to Mr. Washington not to acknowledge that inseveral instances he has opposed movements in the South which wereunjust to the Negro
Washington's ideas weren't all steps back for African Americans, for he spoke out against their violent mistreatment in the South.
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Through the pressure of the money-makers,the Negro is in danger of being reduced to semi-slavery, especially inthe country districts
Could this be due to Washington's emphasis on industrial education, preparing African Americans to do gritty physical labor in the country?
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The present generation of Southerners are not responsible for the past
We can't judge or blame people based off of their ancestors' actions. In high school, I always hated that everyone knew my older siblings because it often felt like my future was already written for me even though I had not even experienced it myself yet.
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Wehave no right to sit silently by while the inevitable seeds are sown for aharvest of disaster to our children, black and white.
Sitting idle and waiting for the right time to come could take forever, and the foundation for the future generation is already being established.
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The growing spiritof kindliness and reconciliation between the North and South after thefrightful difference of a generation ago ought to be a source of deep con-gratulation to all,
Is a big part of this reconciliation between the North and South Washington's doing with the "Atlanta Compromise"?
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prejudices of years disappear at the blast of a trumpet; but they are ab-solutely certain that the way for a people to gain their reasonable rightsis not by voluntarily throwing them away and insisting that they do notwant them;
(the beginning of this sentence that I highlighted is to also be included in my annotation here)
Political and civil rights for African Americans will not happen magically, they will take time, insistence, and hard work to achieve. Therefore, it is no longer important to remain patient like Washington asked.
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for a few such institutions throughout the South to train the best of theNegro youth as teachers, professional men, and leaders.
I think this means that society doesn't just need African American laborers, but they also need educated African American leaders in different areas (i.e. teachers and professional men).
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abatement
abatement = lessing
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1. The right to vote.2. Civic equality.3. The education of youth according to ability.
The time has come to ask for/fight for the three things Washington asked African Americans to give up.
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If history and reason give any distinct answer tothese questions, it is an emphatic No.
I feel like this is a bit frustrating, for Washington convinced African Americans to take a step back for a bit, but it just created more barriers.
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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.
I think this means that in order to progress and advance, we must know when we have to take a step back or pause from our perusal.
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Mr. Washington’s programme practicallyaccepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races
Does Washington do this because he knows it is not the right time to fight for civil and political rights with so many changes regarding race already happening?
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more advanced races are comingin closer contact with the less developed races, and the race-feelingis therefore intensified
Was this new close contact between different races a contributor to the racism and prejudice that would soon intensify?
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Then came thenew leader. Nearly all the former ones had become leaders by the silentsuffrage of their fellows, had sought to lead their own people alone, andwere usually, save Douglass, little known outside their race
I think this means that some of the other African American leaders were not nearly as successful as Washington at achieving their own personal goals because they failed to reach those outside their race, working alone and not with others for their cause.
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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.
Washington did what no leader before him did, he made all differing groups work together to converse and compromise.
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Afterthe war and emancipation, the great form of Frederick Douglass, thegreatest of American Negro leaders, still led the host.
When and how did the switch from Douglass as a leader to Washington occur?
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and they eventually turned to theAbolition movement as a final refuge.
I think this means that after the failed attempt at achieving equality as a freemen, many free African Americans moved onto focusing on Abolition. They hoped that in the process they would gain more freemen that desired the equality they could not achieve with fewer people.
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The free Negroes of the North, inspired by themulatto immigrants from the West Indies, began to change the basisof their demands; they recognized the slavery of slaves, but insistedthat they themselves were freemen, and sought assimilation and amal-gamation with the nation on the same terms with other men.
Freemen tried to separate themselves from slaves and become a member of American society. They wanted and attempted to be on the same playing field as all other men in the nation.
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In the Free States, on the other hand, a new and curious attempt atself-development was made
Actions of African Americans in Free States differed from those in the South. In the South, slaves revolted, while in Free States they worked to develop themselves as people separately from white influence.
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Haytian revolt
We briefly touched on this in Traditions/Revolutions, and I know we will learn more about it later on in the course.
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there was in all leadership or attempted leader-ship but the one motive of revolt and revenge
This reminds me of learning about the everyday acts of rebellion among slaves in Traditions/Revolutions. We talked and read about slaves signing, slowing down their work, burning food, etc. as everyday acts of rebellion (anything to make life harder for the plantation owners). We also talked about slaves burning down plantations as an act of rebellion.
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When sticks andstones and beasts form the sole environment of a people, their attitude islargely one of determined opposition to and conquest of natural forces.
I think this means that when people are strongly banded together, their first instinct is to fight against those who do not agree with them.
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what can be more instructive thanthe leadership of a group within a group?
Does this mean conversation between leaders and followers?
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demagogues
demagogues = troublemaker
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Honest and earnest criticism fromthose whose interests are most nearlytouched,—criticism of writers byreaders,—this is the soul of democ-racy and the safeguard of modernsociety
I think this means that criticism from those who are most impacted by one's thoughts is important because it leads to conversation and compromise (democracy).
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Among his own people, however, Mr. Washington has encounteredthe strongest and most lasting opposition
I wonder if this is because African Americans wanted to push for more civil and political rights, but Washington encouraged them not to for the time being?
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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.”
I think this means that people were willing to work with Washington to find solutions because of the strong leadership qualities he possessed.
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his educational programme was un-necessarily narrow.
When I was first annotating "The Education of the Negro," I also found Washington's idea of teaching industrial education singularly focused. However, towards the end of his article he made me come around to the idea because it seemed like a good way to instill a desire in students to work for themselves instead of someone else.
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To-day he standsas the one recognized spokesman of his ten million fellows, and one of themost notable figures in a nation of seventy millions
I wonder how Washington's voice was able to stand out among thousands of others and gain such a large audience?
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And so thoroughly didhe learn the speech and thought of triumphant commercialism, andthe ideals of material prosperity, that the picture of a lone black boyporing over a French grammar amid the weeds and dirt of a neglectedhome soon seemed to him the acme of absurdities.
I think this means that Washington put himself into the shoes of someone from the North in order to better understand and connect with those who inhabited the region, for he was already a man of the South.
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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
Washington strategically created the "Atlanta Compromise" to gain the approval of all groups. While it truly just called for African Americans to step back for the time being in regards to their perusal of civil and political rights, different groups were able to interpret it as they saw fit.
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It startled the nation to hear a Negro advocating such a programmeafter many decades of bitter complaint
I think this means that society expected that if any African American spoke out with ideas at the time, it would be involving complaints for more rights.
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submission and silence as to civil and political rights
Did Washington believe that African Americans should not push for their civil and political rights? Was this because he believed so much change was occurring already with abolition that it would be too much to push for more for the time being?
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indissolubly
indissolubly = lasting or durable
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moodle.lynchburg.edu moodle.lynchburg.edusomeTitle31
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I rode to Nashville in the Jim Crow car
I think this means that Jim Crow was in control of everything, all colored people's fates were driven by the Jim Crow laws (racial segregation).
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hill and dale, and Life and Death.
I think ... Hill (where the white people resided) = Life Dale (where the black people resided) = Death
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Thenie came wandering back to her home overyonder, to escape the blows of her husband. And next morning she died in the home that her littlebow-legged brother, working and saving, had bought for their widowed mother.
I feel sad that Du Bois was excited to come back to the town, yet nothing was what he expected it to be.
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The Burkes held a hundred acres, but they were still in debt.
Even when successful, African Americans experienced unfortunate circumstances because of discrimination.
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And lo! the cabin in the hollow hadclimbed the hill and swollen to a half-finished six-room cottage.
I think this means that the Burkes got the seventy-five acres that everyone believed would go to someone white, so Du Bois is excited.
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Doc Burke saved a murder anda lynching that day.
This reality within the South makes me really sad, I couldn't imagine living in fear each day.
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blighted
blighted = wrecked
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every year there is asession of school.
A singular session of school? Not week after week of school?
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Progress
I think Progress means industrialization.
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She looked somewhat worried with her new duties,but soon bristled into pride over her neat cabin and the tale of her thrifty husband, and the horseand cow, and the farm they were planning to buy.
Without the little school running, all the young people in the town got sucked into the cycle of work/physical labor.
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and slept—and sleeps
I think this means that this is the moment Josie passed away.
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Josie grew thin and silent, yet worked the more.
I think that this means Josie kept working despite it being bad for her health because she saw it as a duty and not a passion.
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there swept over me a suddenlonging to pass again beyond the blue hill, and to see the homes and the school of other days, andto learn how life had gone with my school-children
If Du Bois longs for his little school, then why did he leave? Was it unsuccessful because the children had to work?
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There were, however, some—such as Josie,Jim, and Ben—to whom War, Hell, and Slavery were but childhood tales, whose young appetiteshad been whetted to an edge by school and story and half-awakened thought.
Time keeps moving forward without any worry of what happened in the past, so we should be able to move forward and want more for the future.
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from the sight of the Veil that hung between us and Opportunity.
I think that the Veil refers to a barrier and Opportunity refers to equality between white and black people.
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lexandria was “town,”—astraggling, lazy village of houses, churches, and shops, and an aristocracy of Toms, Dicks, andCaptains.
I wonder why town is put in quotations? Could it be because it isn't truly town if people of color felt unwelcome there?
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Josie longed to go away to school, but that it “looked like” they never could get farenough ahead to let her; how the crops failed and the well was yet unfinished
Josie wanted an education, but she was depended upon to work at home.
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how“mean” some of the white folks were.
I wonder why Du Bois put mean in quotation marks? Is it to emphasize that their discrimination and racism was much worse than mean, but that the statement is coming from an innocent child?
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ever working, and trying to buy the seventy-five acres ofhill and dale where he lived; but people said that he would surely fail, and the “white folks wouldget it all.”
Despite hard work and a desire for something, people of color still came in second to those who were white at this time.
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the crops needed the boys; and the thin, slovenlymother, whose face was pretty when washed, assured me that Lugene must mind the baby.
This reminds me of Washington's idea of industrial education, for the children miss school in order to work (physical labor).
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their faces shading from a palecream to a deep brown,
There are students of both races within Du Bois' classroom, hints at the school not being segregated.
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There were the Burkes,—two brown and yellow lads, and a tiny haughty-eyed girl. FatReuben’s little chubby girl came, with golden face and old-gold hair, faithful and solemn. ‘Theniewas on hand early,—a jolly, ugly, good-hearted girl,
Du Bois uses such descriptive words that it is easy to visualize a classroom full of a variation of children.
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I trembled when I heard the patterof little feet down the dusty road, and saw the growing row of dark solemn faces and bright eagereyes facing me.
I think this shows that Du Bois has a real passion for teaching others, one could probably consider it his way of leadership.
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There was an entrance where adoor once was, and within, a massive rickety fireplace; great chinks between the logs served aswindows. Furniture was scarce. A pale blackboard crouched in the corner. My desk was made ofthree boards, reinforced at critical points, and my chair, borrowed from the landlady, had to bereturned every night. Seats for the children—these puzzled me much.
It is easy to visualize a classroom that was neglected for years and is currently running on a low budget (borrowed and recycled materials/furniture).
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“Oh,” thought I, “this is lucky”; but even then fell the awful shadow of the Veil, for they ate first,then I—alone.
It makes me sad that Du Bois was riding a high from getting the school, but was immediately brought back down by not being treated as an equal to the other men.
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for their knowledge of theirown ignorance.
I think this means that they had the knowledge of experiences, but ignorance in regards to education that could shine a light on their oppression.
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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.”
Would this be considered a reversal in gender roles during the time?
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that but once sincethe war had a teacher been there; that she herself longed to learn,—and thus she ran on, talkingfast and loud, with much earnestness and energy.
This reminds me of the line from Du Bois "The Souls of Black Folk Part I" that mentions "The steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher training of the Negro." This girl longed to learn, yet she lacked an education probably because of Washington's encouragement to give up the pursuit of higher level education for African American youth.
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I feel my heart sink heavily as Ihear again and again, “Got a teacher? Yes.”
I think this means that Du Bois had trouble finding himself somewhere to teach, which was very discouraging.
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white teachers inthe morning, Negroes at night.
This description provides me with a visual of racial segregation occurring.
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I was a Fisk student then, and allFisk men thought that Tennessee—beyond the Veil—was theirs alone,
I think this means that Du Bois was a student at Fisk University, a historically black university.
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