ipl-logo

Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery

986 Words4 Pages

After 200 strenuous years of the enslavement of African Americans, the establishment of the 13th amendment banned all forms of slavery in the United States. Though African Americans received emancipation, they did not stop facing social inferiority. In the late 1800s, the Jim Crow laws, a series of laws oppressing African American freedoms in the South, prohibited African Americans from gaining social equality. The ongoing oppression of African Americans is the focal point in Booker T. Washington's “Up From Slavery”. In this autobiography, Washington stresses his views on how African Americans should counteract racism and discrimination. He emphasizes the fact that former slaves should be: rewarded as individuals, strive to educate themselves, and push for equality. These ideals seem may seem easily attainable, but they are still not received by African Americans. To this day, African Americans face racial discrimination in their neighborhoods, their jobs, and even their homes. History …show more content…

Washington believed that deserving individuals should be rewarded as an individual, rather than as a whole, or as a group. Quite often, he thought of success not as being measured by where someone ends up in the long run, but rather the obstacles and the hardships that they overcame to get to where they are now. He references the enslavement of African Americans in the sense that he encourages them to “cast down their buckets where they are” (Washington 58). This meaning that former slaves should perform the services that they know how to do. They should strive for education and equality but they should not attempt to be highly educated, businessmen right away. Rather a farmer, or a chef because they already have the skill set needed for these occupations. In doing so, Washington solely believed that white folk would notice how vital African Americans were to American society and that they would grant African Americans social equality and end the war on

Show More
Related
914 Words | 4 Pages

Washington believed that a subtle approach instead of a direct challenge would be more successful for black people in the South (McKenna). He believed that in order to better the lives of African Americans and to help them someday realize the dream of full citizenship; they must first better themselves and build up their segregated communities (Moses). Washington’s philosophy of character building and social values in the black community would eventually build trust and better relationships with the white community. He wanted blacks to have access to education and to learn skills that would bring them economic success. Through prosperity, they could demonstrate their value to society and ultimately gain their civil rights.

Read More
681 Words | 3 Pages

Washington believed in working simple labor jobs and starting from the bottom and progressing up in order to gain the respect necessary to achieve racial equality, Du Bois believed in not submitting to lesser occupations and demanding racial equality. Washington says that the key to prosperity is through learning to dignify common labor. Whereas Du Bois states that “Becoming a gospel of work and money to such an extent as apparently almost completely overshadow the higher aims of life.” “Common Labor” is viewed by Washington as the only way to make progress toward a higher quality life, however, Du Bois views “common labor” as a social setback. Washington’s views can be summed up, almost completely, in the following quote “It is at the bottom of life we must begin, not the top.”

Read More
1157 Words | 5 Pages

I have never ever been thinking about the country and its nations from this viewpoint, but his words made such a great impression on me. Indeed, no matter how different we are, we all suppose to work together for the whole country’s prosperity. Moreover, adding to Washington’s accomplishments, he was the first Negro in the whole history awarded an honorary degree from the Harvard University, an oldest university in the United

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

Booker Washington wrote the book Up from Slavery to show his hardships of living as a slave, and after being liberated from the plantation. He wanted to show people how hard his life was as a child while he was a slave, and how trying to get an education wasn’t easy. Up from Slavery depicts his life of a slave to a schoolmaster. He wrote about how as a child, he had to endure hard manual labor on a Virginia plantation, and eventually how he strived for a decent education and for relationships with great people. He stresses that it is important for the freedman to get an education in hopes it’ll ease race relations in the South.

Read More
1745 Words | 7 Pages

Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Prior to the riot, African Americans had listened to Washington’s advice. Washington believed that African Americans should be sublevel to whites and focus all their time working diligently and progressing in blue-collar society. This would allow whites to feel supreme, but also allow African Americans to make something of themselves and provide for their families. Washington wanted blacks to be educationally ready for the argument of equality.

Read More
488 Words | 2 Pages

Washington believed that collaboration was key to creating a more inclusive society for both races. Instead of getting African-Americans to the position of the whites, their contribution to the economy is enough for the whites to acknowledge their success. With one-third of the population being African-Americans, Washington points out that the one-third could either could add to the “crime and ignorance” or the “intelligence and progress” of the South. This meaning that through a collective effort, the success of the South would be furthered. “Cast down your bucket among these people who have helped make possible of this magnificent representation of the progress of the South.”

Read More
137 Words | 1 Pages

Booker T. Washington felt that the southern African American and southern White Americans should “cast down” their buckets and work together in order for both races to prosper in the South (Washington, 1895). I understand Washington feeling that in order for the South to prosper African Americans needed to work with White Americans, but some of the ways he wanted African American to achieve this was personally limiting. Washington wanted African American to start from bottom not the top as far as aspirations and jobs (Washington, 1895). However, Washington felt that southern African Americans should educate themselves in the areas of agriculture, mechanics, commerce, and domestic service (Washington, 1895).

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

Washington. He was an educated African American, born in slavery, and saw as the leader of the black folk. His main agenda was to promote the policy of submission since black folk could only survive in it. They wanted political power, civil liberties, higher education, accumulation of wealth, and consolidation of the south, and for their values and beliefs, Washington publicly shamed them. Th black folk further internalized the propaganda that slavery was justified, they neglected their own education, and their future depended mainly on their own efforts.

Read More
846 Words | 4 Pages

He says that "It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities" (Washington). Because of Washington's acceptance of inferiority of his race, at the time, economically, he again appeals to the white audience in front of his speech, at the African American expo. He almost apologizes for how low the blacks are starting by saying "Gentlemen of the Exposition, as we present to you our humble effort at an exhibition of our progress, you must not expect overmuch" (Washington). This puts the pressure of equality on the black community, and takes pressure off the white community.

Read More
98 Words | 1 Pages

In George Washington Cable’s work, he is exposing attention to the injustice and mistreatment of African Americans in the south during the time of slavery in the United States. Additionally, he is wanting to bring positive attention to the African Americans by stating how accomplished the nation has grown with the African American efforts, especially given their cruel circumstances. Once slaves have become “freedmen”, Cable states the treatment of a “freed” black individual is still not the same and that although they are stated as “freedmen”, they are still chained as socially inferior in the eyes of whites.

Read More
872 Words | 4 Pages

Racism was a huge problem that started slavery, causing the civil war. Not, only- but also, The enslaved people were constantly disrespected in the south and would get beaten if they didn’t live up to the southern standards. When Frederick Douglas wrote “all men are created equal,” equally important, He wanted to challenge the reader’s beliefs of what “All men are created equal” means. Subsequently, He tries to challenge this by discussing his experiences as an enslaved person. With the purpose of,

Read More
771 Words | 4 Pages

As claimed by Booker T. Washington, “keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour, and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful” (Paragraph 2). The African American people will and over time work to get to the top, and that they will prove to the white man that they do belong whether success of the field or in the new world they have finally allowed to be successful in. In this paragraph Mr. Washington uses a emotional point and turned it into motivation for Africans to work hard and try their best no matter what lay ahead. “It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities” (Paragraph

Read More
565 Words | 3 Pages

Washington stated, “It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.” Washington believed that people could succeed in labor or industrial jobs just as much as those who gained a higher education. Speaking to the majority of whites at the Atlanta Exposition, Washington pleaded for them to work with blacks, and they would “find that they will buy your surplus land, make the waste places in your fields, and run your factories.” Washington’s strategy to speak to the majority of whites was to ease their minds about blacks seeking economic and racial progress.

Read More
615 Words | 3 Pages

He believed in taking responsibility for your condition, and proving that you are not inferior by working hard getting a job and becoming financially stable. Washington believed in working hard and that ¨No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities¨ (Textbook p.4). Washington told African Americans to be thankful for the progress made and hopeful for the future.

Read More
1390 Words | 6 Pages

What does he hope to accomplish? Washington hoped to show that the Negroes needed to trust their neighbors and work together in the new south. They lived and worked next to their previous slave owners and he used the metaphor of the ships meeting in the sea with one needing water. “Cast down your buckets where you are”. For the south to recover his race would have to trust the friendships of the white race.

Read More

More about Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery

Related Topics

Open Document