Booker T. Washington: Civil Rights Activist

Booker T Washington was an Civil rights activist, educator, author, orator, and advisor for many presidents. Washington was the most influential African American male in the late 19 century and early 20th. Booker Taliaferro Washington was born on April 5, 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia. He was raised by his mother, Jane, who was a slave ; his father, was an unidentified white male. In most states prior to the Civil War, the child of a slave became a slave, it was also illegal to teach slaves to read and write. Majority of washington’s childhood was spent working. After the Civil war,washington's family moved to Malden, West Virginia. His mother saw his passion for education and bought him a book, where he taught himself how to read and

In 1895, Booker T. WAshington gave the “Atlanta Compromise” speech at the at the Atlanta Cotton Exhibition , he urged African Americans to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. One of his most famous quotes was “ In all things social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” He believed in education in the crafts, industrial and farming skills and the cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise and thrift. He stated, this would win the respect of whites and lead to African Americans being fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all strata of society. He was willing to trade politics and voting rights for economic rights. He founded organizations like the National Negro Business League to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro. But political leaders like W.E.B Dubois, did not agree with Washington’s philosophy. Dubois believed that social change could be accomplished by developing the small group of college-educated blacks he called "the Talented

Individuals many may not use what they already know to help themselves. During Washington’s speech at the Cotton Expo, he stated “Cast down your bucket where you are.” explaining that you should not keep seeking some other place or circumstance in the idea that such will make everything better, rather, use what you have, where you are, to its best advantage and in so doing you will gain what you are seeking. He used this phrase throughout the speech to make the points that all circumstances and places hold the seeds of what is needed to succeed if you try. As a social worker, when helping a client, you have to start off by identify their strengths and began working on helping them from there. Social workers and Washington are using the same