The Racial Politics of Booker T. Washington, Volume 13 (Research in Race and Ethnic Relations)

Scholars have sought, over many decades, to understand the mystique surrounding Booker T. Washington. He is an enigma and continues to be lauded by those who offer him and his ideas as a model for Black Progress. He was both simple and complex; a passive observer on some issues and an active participant in others; non-assuming, yet egoistic, and a very public man who talked freely with others, yet, a private man who kept certain social tactics and strategies close to his chest. He sought to both make sense of his world, then to manipulate that world in order to obtain from it those things he most wanted and needed. This volume provides the reader with a wide inter-disciplinary landscape with which to assess Washington. We continue to study and research the life and works of Washington because, though we've moved beyond Washington and the ideology of race and racial politics of his times on certain levels, yet in reality, this generation is confronted with all the contradictions and ambiguities around race, and class, which Washington encountered and for which he sought solutions. For example, as black Americans continue to be mired in the deficits of educational opportunity and development, employment opportunities and occupational advancements, and health and medical problems, we are reminded of Washington's arguments for greater individual and group black self-sufficiency and self-reliance, as well as the need for practical educational objectives which Washington advocated under aegis of vocational education. As we move into the new century, the economic and educational goals and programs highlighted by Washington remain forgotten and unfulfilled. Hopefully, the articles in this volume will force a re-thinking of Washington's economic and educational objectives and strategies. This may prompt the emergence of new thinkers and builders who will create the educational and economic bases, similar to the ones created by Washington. This volume uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine Washington's life. It reflects on obstacles that remain despite Washington's influence, and aspires to serve as an inspirational vehicle towards educational and economic change. Cover......Page 1 The Racial Politics of Booker T. Washington......Page 4 Contents......Page 6 Dedication......Page 8 List of Contributors......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 Historical Significance......Page 13 Washington’s Importance Today......Page 17 Part I: Racial Politics, Leadership, and the Theory of Practicality......Page 34 The Situational Politics of Booker T. Washington......Page 36 The Black South......Page 39 The White South......Page 42 Black North......Page 45 White North......Page 47 Situational Politics and Situational Logic......Page 50 Conclusion......Page 52 References......Page 54 A Black Leader in the age of Jim Crow......Page 56 Notes......Page 64 Acknowledgment......Page 65 Introduction: Focus and Procedure......Page 66 Voices of Struggle: Black Leadership in the Late Nineteenth Century......Page 67 Civil War Legacies and the American South......Page 75 Booker T. Washington’s Race Leadership......Page 79 Significance of Hampton......Page 81 Tuskegee and the Rise of Political Hegemony......Page 82 Washington’s Aftermath: Legacy of Capitulation......Page 85 Conclusions......Page 88 Notes......Page 90 Part II: Racial Culture, Masks, Myths, and Symbols......Page 94 ‘‘Your arms are too short to box with me’’: Encounters with Booker T. Washington, International Trickster......Page 96 Notes......Page 113 References......Page 115 Booker T. Washington and the art of Resistance......Page 118 Washington and Photo History......Page 119 Perspective......Page 122 Educational Philosophy......Page 124 National Leader......Page 126 Location of the text and the Cultural Formation of the Reader......Page 128 Conclusion......Page 132 Notes......Page 133 References......Page 134 Part III: Race and the Sociological Imagination......Page 136 Booker T. Washington and the Sociology of Black Deficit......Page 138 Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Address......Page 141 Washington and Douglass Reconsidered......Page 151 Defining the Strands......Page 153 Notes......Page 160 References......Page 163 Monroe N. Work’s Contribution to Booker T. Washington’s Fight Against White Supremacy......Page 166 The Early Period......Page 168 Work at the University of Chicago......Page 169 The Middle Period......Page 172 The Influence on Washington......Page 174 The Final Period......Page 177 Notes......Page 178 Booker T. Washington, Robert Ezra Park and Second Generation African-American Sociologists......Page 182 Stages of the African-American Sociological Tradition: A Definition and Description......Page 183 The Second-Generation African-American Sociological Network......Page 186 The Chicago School and Robert Ezra Park’s Influence on the Second-Generation......Page 187 Park and Washington: Ghostwriting across Europe and Developing a view on Race......Page 190 Second-Generation Tuskegee Scholars: Lewis Wade Jones and Oliver Cromwell Cox – Selected Works......Page 191 Robert Ezra Park’s Relationship and Influence on Lewis Wade Jones and Other Second-Generation African-American Sociologists in Alabama......Page 192 A Review of Selected Works by Lewis Wade Jones......Page 193 A Review of Selected Works by Oliver Cromwell Cox......Page 198 Conclusion......Page 204 Notes......Page 207 References......Page 209 Part IV: Washington the Internationalist: The World Beyond Tuskegee......Page 214 Booker T. Washington and the Danish Folk High School......Page 216 Notes......Page 224 References......Page 225 Booker T. Washington’s European Encounter......Page 226 Negro Dined with King6......Page 231 Washington’s ‘‘Larger Education’’......Page 239 Notes......Page 241 References......Page 242 Epilogue......Page 244