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Despite the small size of the farm Washington always referred to it as a plantation, and his life was not much different from any other slave on the larger plantations. “The early years of my life, which were spent in the little cabin, were not very different from those of other slaves” (Awakening). As a child he was able to go to school but not in the traditional sense, since at the time it was illegal to educate a slave, he went to school carrying the books of the slave masters daughter, which didn't matter to Washington, he was getting an education by any means necessary. "I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study would be about the same as getting into paradise," (Industrial). At the age of ten (1865) the Emancipation Proclamation declared that slavery had been abolished and soon after his family moved to his stepfather’s home in Malden, West Virginia. At his stepfather’s house Washington had taken a job at a salt mine that began at 4 A.M., so Washington could take advantage of his new found privilege to schooling. By the time he reached the ripe old age of sixteen he was working as a houseboy to a wealthy woman who encouraged his need to learn. In this same year he walked much of a 500 mile journey back to Virginia to take become educated at Hampton Institute, he was admitted to the Institute by much surprise, by cleaning the head teacher’s room. To afford this new schooling Washington was back to slave-like tasks for a living but was well on his way to a prosperous life. After his initial schooling at the Institute he became an instructor and the principal, then he studied at Wayland Seminary. Another mark in his educational career was opening the Tuskegee Institute with $2,000 acquired from a grant from the Alabama legislature. Started in a shanty type building with only thirty or so students, the institute expanded to a 100-acre farm to support the school. Each student could work his way through school by working and maintaining the farm. Since Washington has graduated from the Institute he had become influential for the racial equality movement; although Washington was criticized for his methodology as being too conservative. Washington believed that dedicated work and not being a threat would be the only way for his race achieve social equality. Much of his thoughts were expressed in his Atlanta Compromise speech. Booker T. Washington wrote to advance the black man in a well-rounded manner. He wanted to uplift the man to a level of not only book smart but professionally smart as well. He emphasized the need to educate the black man for industrial purposes in the south, such as carpentry, blacksmithing, and agricultural work . He wrote in a manner that was very diplomatic to both races, as he did believe that to gain equality was express equality. He didn't persecute the white man for slavery and expressed faults of both parties, which made Washington a popular figure. "I do not mean in any way to apologize for the curse of slavery, which was a curse to both races, but in what I say about industrial training in slavery I am simply stating facts." (Industrial Education). He mainly wrote in a first person perspective and wrote of personal events, such as how he lived and grew up, and his years at the Tuskegee Institute. He wrote to persuade the black community to start with the basic building blocks to bring themselves out of poverty and then to pursue larger dreams. As he wrote in one of his speeches, he came across a girl playing a piano inside of her parents shanty. He concocted a way to enter the house and conversed with the young girl, she had stated that she studied Music and French and had also talked her parents into renting the piano for her, even though her parents were eating poorly and living poorly in general ,(The Awakening of the Negro). A repeated concept that is expressed in his writings was the fact that the black man and woman have been learned all the things that a white man and woman had learned, but have not learned the things that will bring them out of poverty in the south and that more and more of his race have been moving to the city where menial agricultural work is not needed and where they do not have to learn to cook and to clean and to do any laborious work, as they would have to do in there home towns or counties. Bibliography: Work Cited Washington, Booker T. “The Awakening of the Negro” n.page. On-Line. Internet. 19 Jan. 2001 Available WWW:http://eserver.org/race/awakening.txt Washington, Booker T. “Industrial Education for the Negro” The Negro Problem Sept. 1903: n.page. On-Line. Internet. 17 Jan. 2001. Available WWW:http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/wash_b04.htm Washington, Booker T. “Signs of Progress Among the Negroes” N.page. On-Line. Internet. 19 Jan. 2001 Available WWW:http://eserver.org/race/signs-of-progress.txt Washington Booker T. britanica.com Encyclopedia Britannica 19 Jan. 2001 AvailableWWW:http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/printable/3/0,5722,78193,00.html “Up From Slavery” nps.gov National Park Service 19 Jan. 2001 Available WWW:http://www.nps.gov/bowa/btwbio.html Word Count: 814
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