The Souls of Black Folk - Dr. Earl Wright II

W. E. B. Du BoisIIIOf Mr. Booker T. Washingtonand OthersFrom birth till death enslaved; in word, in deed, unmanned!* * * * * * * * *Hereditary bondsmen! Know ye notWho would be free themselves must strike the blow?—ByronEASILY THE MOST STRIKING thing in the history of the American Negrosince 1876 is the ascendancy of Mr. Booker T. Washington. Itbegan at the time when war memories and ideals were rapidly passing;a day of astonishing commercial development was dawning; asense of doubt and hesitation overtook the freedmen’s sons,—thenit was that his leading began. Mr. Washington came, with a simpledefinite programme, at the psychological moment when the nationwas a little ashamed of having bestowed so much sentiment onNegroes, and was concentrating its energies on Dollars. Hisprogramme of industrial education, conciliation of the South, andsubmission and silence as to civil and political rights, was not whollyoriginal; the Free Negroes from 1830 up to war-time had striven tobuild industrial schools, and the American Missionary Associationhad from the first taught various trades; and Price and others had35