Answer to Question #108813 in History for Chris

Question

How do you think Booker T. Washington’s background impacted his ideas about African American education and economic pursuits?

Answer 1

Washington was born into slavery and worked in a salt mine. He also worked as a domestic for a white family until the time he started attending the Hampton Institute. Washington believed that it was economic independence and the ability to show themselves as productive members of society that would eventually lead blacks to true equality and that they should for the time being set aside any demands for civil rights. His ideas were readily accepted by both blacks who believed in the practical rationality of his approach, and whites who were more than happy to defer any real discussion of social and political equality for blacks to a later date.