Booker T. Washington: The Great Accommodator

1225 Words5 Pages
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro was born a slave on April 5, 1856. Booker’s mother, Jane, worked as a cook for plantation owner James Burroughs. His father was an unknown white man, most likely from a nearby plantation. Booker and his mother lived in a one-room log cabin with a large fireplace, which also served as the plantation’s kitchen. His family gained freedom in 1865 as the Civil War ended, and his mother took them to West Virginia to join her husband. Booker t. Washington took his father’s surname Washington. Booker t Washington worked in salt furnaces and coal mines in West Virginia for several years. Determined to educate himself, he traveled hundreds of miles until he arrived at the Hampton Institute. The…show more content…
Especially, W. E. B. Du Bois who demanded a stronger tone of protest for advancement of civil right’s needs. He was labeled Washington "the Great Accommodator". Washington's response was that confrontation could lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks. He believed that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way to overcome racism in the long run. His belief was that African-Americans should "concentrate all of their energy on industrial education, and accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South." Washington valued the "industrial" education, as it provided critical skills for the jobs then available to the majority of African-Americans at the time, as most lived in the South, which was overwhelmingly rural and agricultural. He thought these skills that would lay the foundation for the creation of stability that the African-American community required in order to move forward. He believed that in the long term "blacks would eventually gain full participation in society by showing themselves to be responsible, reliable American citizens." His…show more content…
He had the plane named the Booker T. Washington. On April 7, 1940, Washington became the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp. Several years later, he was honored on the first coin to feature an African American, the Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollar, which was issued by the United States from 1946 to 1951. He was also depicted on a U.S. Half Dollar from 1951–1954. In 1942, the Liberty Ship Booker T. Washington was named in his honor, the first major oceangoing vessel to be named after an African American. On April 5, 1956, the hundredth anniversary of Washington's birth, the house where he was born in Franklin County, Virginia, was designated as the Booker T. Washington National Monument. A state park in Tennessee was named in his honor, and a bridge crossing the Hampton River it is adjacent to the Hampton University. In 1984 Hampton University dedicated a Booker T. Washington Memorial on campus. Despite his travels and widespread work, Washington remained a principal of Tuskegee. Washington's health was deteriorating rapidly; he collapsed in

More about Booker T. Washington: The Great Accommodator

Open Document