Book Review Louis Harlan's edited edition of Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington's body of work, study, and his life as a whole,as most notably encompassed within the text his own autobiography,entitled, Up From Slavery, is often set against the live of W.E.B. Du Bois. As noted by the scholar Louis T. Harlan, conventional wisdom holds thatBooker T. Washington advocated a fairly conservative point of view,regarding the place of African-Americans in American society, in contrastto Du Bois's advocacy of immediate political as well as economic equalityfor the races of America. Booker T. Washington's ethos of 'putting downone's bucket' where one stood, as an African American, is seen asfundamentally conciliatory to white society, rather than offering apotentially liberating point of view to America's community of oppressedAfrican Americans. Blacks under the tyranny of Jim Crow's de factosegregation, or even the de jure educational and economic segregation ofthe North, were hungry not simply for economic advancement, but forpolitical and spiritual justice. By over-focusing on economics, as opposedto integrated education and justice and intellectual advancement,Washington is said to have sold himself short, as well as his people.
It is easy to forget that during the heyday of his life, Washingtonwas considered to be the foremost black America's foremost spokesman in theworld. Often theslaves got knowledge of the results of great battles before the whitepeople received it. To a modern reader, this might strike one asan absurdity, but with the memory of the politically enfranchising power ofthe fictitious drama of Uncle Tom's Cabin on his mind, perhaps, Washingtonadded to the myth of the oppressed, noble Black man or woman whose heartwas uncorrupted by the institution of slavery, who worked hard in the faceof non-remunerative rewards for his or her labors and felt nothing butChristian fellowship towards all people, even whites. Henotes that his owners were not especially cruel, yet that his life, "hadits beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, anddiscouraging surroundings. This makes him, in the judgment ofhistory either less or more blameworthy for his stress upon hard work atthe expense of all else. To stress the need for hard work simplyreinforced the image individuals already had of African Americans at thetime, as merely fit for manual labor. Unlike the rebel forces, African Americanswere the patriots, the people of Lincoln. " Washington's version of hisearly life is characteristic of the man-he makes a claim between hisbackground and that of Lincoln, but it is a modest one. Rather than judging Washington bycontemporary standards, Harlan suggests, one must view Washington as he wasin life, and judge him upon his own, rather than contemporary terms. Coherent as well withWashington's stress upon the beauty of humble occupations, the Black postalworker becomes a heroic figure and disseminator of information, rather thanmore radical elements of the community. He cautions the white reader, that "one may get the idea, fromwhat I have said, that there was bitter feeling toward the white people onthe part of my race, because of the fact that most of the white populationwas away fighting in a war which would result in keeping the Negro inslavery if the South was successful. But thishatred by Southerners, as well as the man's own impressive efforts, failsto acknowledge the failure of Washington to link high aspirations and aspiritual and intellectual understanding with economic advancement over alonger, larger period of history, as did Du Bois's writings. It was they who watched thespread of the battle and hoped for a Northern victory; regardless of theimmediate economic price this might accord. Hestated that African Americans should willingly; temporarily sacrificeclaims to political and social equality, with an eye to economically betterthe community. If the American dream statesthat anyone could potentially succeed, the structure of segregation legallybound African-Americans to their place.
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