“Endure until the context changed.” The last line of the video sums up BTW’s approach so well. And the flip side: His hope that this endurance * would* change the context. It’s heartening to hear about his behind-the-scenes efforts, too. He was a brilliant man who shows us that action is possible even in deeply compromised circumstances. DuBois’ critique is understandable, but so is Washington’s canniness.
I read this when I was 12 or so, along with The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B.Dubois (I much preferred the latter). [I had been an activist in the Movement since I was six]
It seemed to me, even then (and I didn't know about systemic racism at the time), that while Washington did tout education as the way up, he was still stuck in a "plantation mentality", i.e., "go along to get along". Tuskegee was founded as a Vocational College (as if that were the only thing Black people were fit for). It irked me at 12, and still does at 67.
“Endure until the context changed.” The last line of the video sums up BTW’s approach so well. And the flip side: His hope that this endurance * would* change the context. It’s heartening to hear about his behind-the-scenes efforts, too. He was a brilliant man who shows us that action is possible even in deeply compromised circumstances. DuBois’ critique is understandable, but so is Washington’s canniness.
I read this when I was 12 or so, along with The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B.Dubois (I much preferred the latter). [I had been an activist in the Movement since I was six]
It seemed to me, even then (and I didn't know about systemic racism at the time), that while Washington did tout education as the way up, he was still stuck in a "plantation mentality", i.e., "go along to get along". Tuskegee was founded as a Vocational College (as if that were the only thing Black people were fit for). It irked me at 12, and still does at 67.