Booker T. Washington's View of Reconstruction and Its Impact upon African Americans in the South

Booker T. Washington’s view of Reconstruction and its Impact upon African Americans in the South.

Booker T. Washington was an American educationalist, novelist, speaker, and political leader. He was the leading person in the Black community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. Symbolic of the previous generation of black front-runners born in slavery, Booker declared on behalf of the great mainstream of African-Americans who existed in the South but had lost their entitlement to vote. Even though, his enemies called his powerful group of followers, the "Tuskegee Machine," Washington preserved his authority because of the help of dedicated whites, extensive support inside the black industry, educational and religious communities nationwide. With that said, it is clear that Booker T. Washington was an strong person that had an extensive view of reconstruction and its impact upon African Americans in the South in many ways.

View of Education

Washington's views on education were illustrative of the circumstance that he was not a scholar, but a man of accomplishment. Washington desired blacks in the south to appreciate and warrant the necessity for industrialized education equally from a vantage of American and African participation. Booker was in contradiction of the view of education as an device used just to provide one to dialogue and dictate the English language properly; Booker desired school to be a place where one could learn to make life more manageable, and if likely, appealing - Washington wanted an education that would relieve him of the times he had at home that were hard, immediately. Washington, early saw that those people thought to be educated were not that far removed from the circumstances in which he was living. Therefore, he disagreed with the post-emancipation beliefs of blacks who trusted that liberty from slavery produced freedom from hard work. Moreover, education of the head would bring even more sweeping liberation from work with the hands. Booker was adamant about not wanting his black people to be embarrassed of exercising their hands, but to show respect for producing something and a sense of satisfaction upon completion of that job.

Earlier in life, Booker went the Tuskegee Institute which would represent a crucial role in education. Tuskegee University is a private college, which is historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama. In 1881, Booker T. Washington, then a budding teacher, disembarked in the town of Tuskegee, Alabama, where he had been requested by native whites to design a school for blacks (The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow). Booker was totally enthralled with the town but rather discouraged with the school itself. With whites supporting him financially, and his rising capability to assure loans and