Isaias Salgado
Mr. Siso
February 11, 2016
Paragraph: Washington, DuBois, and Douglas
What was Washington urging African Americans to do? What was he urging white Americans to do? Washington's plea for people to "cast down buckets where you are" How does this relate to his view of his new era?
Booker T Washington was a social activist who advocated for increased rights of African Americans in the South. In Booker T Washington's speech he was urging African Americans to have patience with White Americans and accept discrimination from the white men and to focus on working to make Black men better through hard work and education. We see this when he says, "Gentlemen of the Exposition, as we present to you our humble effort at an exhibition of our progress, you must not expect overmuch"(Washington 1635). Washington talks to "you" the African Americans and tells them to "not expect overmuch" this shows that Washington believes that the African Americans should submit to the whites and to be patient because it is not an easy process. This letter was read to a white audience and many criticize Booker T Washington for being a toady, but in reality that words were chosen very carefully and helped the growth of African American rights in the United States. In this time period white Americans owned many business and hired people to do the jobs that they did not want to do, foreigners. Booker T Washington urges the White Americans to hire African Americans and to help the African Americans be prosperous in this land they both share because the blacks have earned the right to call this remarkable nation home. Washington tells the whites
"To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those foreign birth and
strange tongue and habits for the fidelity of the South, were I permitted I would
repeat what I say to my own race.Cast down your bucket among these people who
have, without strikes and Labor wars, tilled your fields, cleared your forests,
builded your railroads and cities, and brought forth treasures from the bowels of
the earth and helped make possible this magnificent presentation of the progress
of the South.'" (Washington 1634)
Washington's speech was written a short time after the industrial Revolution when factories and industries were booming and a slew of immigrants were coming into this nation, from all parts of Europe. Washington sees that the white Americans running these businesses were hiring immigrants,he says, " to those who look for the incoming of those foreign birth and strange tongues" he makes his first argument, arguing that there is no reason to hire these immigrants with "strange" tongues when they have all these African African, whose morals they know, whose culture they know, yet they hire these immigrants who they know nothing about.Washington tells the whites to "cast down your bucket among these people" ( Washington 1634) here he is telling the whites to lend a "bucket" or a helping hand to the blacks. He then says "who have without strikes and labor wars, tilled your fields, cleared your forests" (Washington 1634) he is proposing the argument that hiring blacks is important because even though they put them through so much pain and so much suffering the blacks have remained loyal "without strikes" and " without labor wars." Booker T Washington's view of the new era was one with a great economy that had equal rights and equal opportunities for African-Americans and he hoped that one day the Black and white men and women would get along from sea to shining sea.
2. What statements in the Atlanta Compromise speech make it appropriate for the mostly white Audience? What is "extremist folly" in Washington's opinion? Also, in your answer be sure to explain Washington's metaphor of the fingers and the hand.
Washington spoke to a large white audience and in order for his voice to be heard, he had to speak in a way that would appease them. Washington first says, "we shall prospers I proportion as we learned to dignify common labor" (Washington 1634)by saying this Washington is stating that blacks are not ready to be educated, or be the upper class, he is submitting to the white folks and telling them that the black folks are meant to be the working class, the ones who do all the labor and do all the work others don't want to do. Washington then addressed the issue of social integration by blacks into the society, and once again appeased the white folks by making a reference to the hand. "In all things that are purely social we can be separate as fingers, yet one as hand in all things essential to mutual progress" (Washington 1635) to many whites at this time their biggest fear was that the blacks were going to try to integrate themselves into the society but Washington said that they could be one in all this economy, but as separate as fingers in all things social. Washington then points out that hoping there would be racial unity in America would be "extremist folly." To many of us now we see this and think that Washington was completely submitting to the white folks by saying this but in reality he was being very sarcastic but wrote so elegantly that not many people would understand. In conclusion, Washington is known for being so what of a toady, but in reality he was talking to a congregation of white men who in order for them to truly hear and understand what he was trying to say, he had to say things that appease the whites.
3.Explain DuBois’ concept of the veil and the idea of “double-consciousness.†What is the veil represent? According to DuBois, what is problematic about having double-consciousness? How does this “second sight†also lead to pursuing “double aims� (Chapter 1)
In DuBois' novel '"In the Souls of Black Folk" he brings up this idea of a veil. This veils symbolizes white people's inability to see African-Americans as true Americans, and this veil also represents the inability of African-Americans to see each other and themselves as anything other than the perception that the white folks have of them. Washington says, " It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others" this problem of double consciousness is so significant because it keeps the African-American population from moving forward because the perception that the white folks have toward them is so negative that they can't look past it and pursue what they want to do. Another concept that DuBois has is the concept of second sight, through this concept DuBois says that the African Americans can see one another as who they truly are but they can also see how the rest of of the white people see them.
4. In Chapter Three of Souls of Black Folk, DuBois criticizes Booker T. Washington. What are the three things that Washington calls for all African Americans to give up? According to DuBois, what three problems arise from these sacrifices? Be sure to elaborate on DuBois’ triple paradox criticism and what DuBois concludes that African Americans should do (end of chapter).
According to Washington the negro population can only survive if they submit to the white Americans. Washington tells the blacks to give up three things political powers education of the negroes, and the increased emphasis on civil rights. Washington then says that they should focus more on industrial education and how to do the simple blue collared jobs. The three things that arose from these sacrifices and they were, they powerless and voiceless state of the negroes, the clean-cut creation of civil,social, and racial inferiority of the African American population and the ceaseless abdication of help from places in American, such as white activist, social reformers, and the state governments. Washington creates a triple paradox that he has to face for the rest of his life. Washington wants to make black people successful business men and wants them to own property but it is very impossible without blacks having the right to vote, the right to run for office, and the basic rights of suffrage. Washington also wants self-respect for the negroes but he advocates for blacks to submit to the white folks and be inferior to them. Lastly Washington undermines the need for higher education whe he himself admits that "Neither common-schools, nor Tuskegee itself, could remain open a day were it not for teachers trained in negro colleges, or trained by their graduates." This triple Paradox makes him the center of much criticism, and one of the reason many black activist nowadays don't like Washington and what he fought for.
5. As we discussed in class, slavery did not involve just the physical control of the body and one’s labor, but also control of one’s mind and emotions. In Chapters One and Three of Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, what examples does he give of this emotional type of control? Discuss at least three distinct examples.