With then end of slavery and the subsequent freedom that followed, Booker T. Washington, author of Up from Slavery, saw an opportunity for advancement, for black elevation and progression in a society where race relations were unstable and hostility was high. After living as a slave in Virginia, his freedom provided him an opportunity to pursue an education, to learn to read and write and become a functional, independent entity within society. His book Up from Slavery offered a “testimonial of black progress,” as well as a window into the daily life of a freedman living within the tumultuous and turbulent south (viii). He viewed African American social and economic independence as the main paths to black elevation, which was his primary and
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Washington’s emphasis on an industrial education for social advancement was showcased through The Tuskegee Institute, his primary school for vocation and industrial training. He firmly believed an industrial background and education “would both nurture individual self-confidence and transform blacks into people of property” (2-3). Washington pressed for an industrial education above all else, primarily because he believed that learning skills, crafts, and proper hygiene would benefit freedmen more than any classical education would, as an industrial education was practical, useful, and applicable in day-to-day society. It showed students “how to lift labour up from mere drudgery and toil,” how to see labor as a blessing and relief rather than as a burden and hardship (108-109). The Tuskegee Institute, to Washington, was his way of showcasing and emphasizing the …show more content…
Washington’s personal experiences created the foundation for his beliefs and ideologies. His history as a slave caused him to place an extremely high, irreplaceable value on education, and he used this importance and desire to form and shape his opinions on what was vital for black elevation in society. His childhood as a slave and as a youth in school taught him to love labor, to appreciate it and see it as self-preservation and admiration for one’s own accomplishments. This mentality came to be what founded The Tuskegee Institute, where he pushed physical works and labor in order to create a sense of self-preservation and community. “Hard work and self improvement,” above all else, would allow blacks to elevate themselves both socially and economically, which he later argued when he supported segregation (19). His life in Virginia, seeing the hostility and wrath the whites had for the freedmen, caused him to understand that progress could not be made without some form of social cohesion, which was lacking greatly in the south. Social cohesion would only come from mutual benefits, he argued, and Washington emphasized this mentality with his “separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” argument (153). All of the points and opinions Washington made during his life were in some way connected to or because of his past experiences, and his emphasis on education leading to social advancement linked
Washington’s emphasis on an industrial education for social advancement was showcased through The Tuskegee Institute, his primary school for vocation and industrial training. He firmly believed an industrial background and education “would both nurture individual self-confidence and transform blacks into people of property” (2-3). Washington pressed for an industrial education above all else, primarily because he believed that learning skills, crafts, and proper hygiene would benefit freedmen more than any classical education would, as an industrial education was practical, useful, and applicable in day-to-day society. It showed students “how to lift labour up from mere drudgery and toil,” how to see labor as a blessing and relief rather than as a burden and hardship (108-109). The Tuskegee Institute, to Washington, was his way of showcasing and emphasizing the …show more content…
Washington’s personal experiences created the foundation for his beliefs and ideologies. His history as a slave caused him to place an extremely high, irreplaceable value on education, and he used this importance and desire to form and shape his opinions on what was vital for black elevation in society. His childhood as a slave and as a youth in school taught him to love labor, to appreciate it and see it as self-preservation and admiration for one’s own accomplishments. This mentality came to be what founded The Tuskegee Institute, where he pushed physical works and labor in order to create a sense of self-preservation and community. “Hard work and self improvement,” above all else, would allow blacks to elevate themselves both socially and economically, which he later argued when he supported segregation (19). His life in Virginia, seeing the hostility and wrath the whites had for the freedmen, caused him to understand that progress could not be made without some form of social cohesion, which was lacking greatly in the south. Social cohesion would only come from mutual benefits, he argued, and Washington emphasized this mentality with his “separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” argument (153). All of the points and opinions Washington made during his life were in some way connected to or because of his past experiences, and his emphasis on education leading to social advancement linked