April 13, 2021
Dear Friends and Family,
Segment 9 of the Nihilism series titled “Slavery: Part II” focuses on two books written by black men in the very early 1900s. The first is Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington published in 1901. Washington was born in 1856 as a slave in Virginia. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 he took job in the mines of West Virginia at an early age and attended school sporadically. At 16 he enrolled in Hampton Institute where he became an instructor. In 1881, at the age of 25, he founded Tuskegee Institute, which is still in operation today. He soon became recognized as the nation’s foremost black educator.
The second book is The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois which was published in 1903. DuBois was born in 1868 in Massachusetts and grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. He graduated from Harvard with a PhD., and became a professor and a radical supporter of aggressive protest. He was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
My Takeaways:
In the summer of 2019, we did a series titled “Racism: The Polarization of the United States.” That series was divided into two parts: a historical section and an opinion section. In the opinion section we learned there were two distinctly different camps on how to approach racism and the plight of the black community in our country. The first camp – the conservative camp – advocated for improved education, meritocracy, expectations of success, and no government intervention as the answer. This view was promoted by such authors a Shelby Steele, Thomas Sowell, and Jason Riley (all black men). The second camp – the progressive camp – fixated on blacks as a group, a victim group as opposed to individuals. Their advocate position was for more government assistance for the victims and government leadership to achieve repentance and education of white people for their continued sins against black people. This was promoted by such authors as Carol Anderson and Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum (black women), Ta-Nehisi Coates (a black man) and Robin DiAngelo and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (a white woman and white man).
I found it most interesting that the same two camps existed in 1903 with Booker T. Washington having the conservative, meritocracy, educational, and expectations view and W.E.B. DuBois having the progressive victimization, the government must fix it, and an educational and repenting call for Southern white people view. Further, in the last 118 years or so, the accusations on the progressive side have intensified and broadened. DuBois termed America slavery “as not the worst of slavery in the world” in his book, whereas today it is the “cruelest form of slavery in the history of the world and capitalism was at the root,” per Howard Zinn (Segment 4). DuBois limited white discrimination and supremacy primarily to the Southerners whereas today it has expanded to all white people with the definition of discrimination expanded to include subconscious microaggression. One aspect that seemingly has remained the same is the progressive view on the criminal justice system (see the excerpts).
Wrap-up of Section 1:
Segment 9 concludes the section on the beliefs of our history. The following is where we started the section on history.
The Traditional View of History: America has faced many challenges but has always emerged victorious in meeting such challenges. We are an imperfect union but have met those challenges in a way that has strengthened and grown our nation in the process, to the point we can claim and take pride in America’s exceptionalism.
The Social Justice Activist’s View: The America of the past has to be left behind. Its philosophy was corrupt, exploitive and driven by white supremacy. Its culture was racist and cruel. Its history is a litany of abuses punctuated by sporadic wars directed at overthrowing its philosophy and culture which still needs to occur, little has changed.
Question to Ponder: What are your views on the validity of each of the above two views given your exposure to segments 3 through 9?
Next:
Next, we move on from America’s history to America’s philosophy. The following is the contrast between the Traditional View and the Social Justice Activist views on America’s philosophy as expressed in Segment 1 of the series.
The Traditional View of America’s Philosophy: The philosophical principles of the United States include (1) inalienable rights - created and bestowed by our creator – not the government, (2) equality of human beings before the law and relative to their rights, and (3) government exists only to protect natural rights and enforce equality before the law per the Declaration of Independence. Further to avoid tyranny, America’s philosophy embraces the Constitution and its system of checks and balances.
The Social Justice Activist’s View: Natural rights do not exist. The only rights that exist are those granted by the government. Further, equality before the law and equality of individual rights is insufficient in today’s world. The Social Justice Advocates seek equality of outcome, in terms of income, wealth, respect, treatment, etc. Further, they see the system of checks and balances as barriers to progress and view the current governmental system as a construct instituted by the top of the hierarchy to reinforce its own control. In their view this must change.
Happy Learning,
Harley
Dear Friends and Family,
Segment 9 of the Nihilism series titled “Slavery: Part II” focuses on two books written by black men in the very early 1900s. The first is Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington published in 1901. Washington was born in 1856 as a slave in Virginia. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 he took job in the mines of West Virginia at an early age and attended school sporadically. At 16 he enrolled in Hampton Institute where he became an instructor. In 1881, at the age of 25, he founded Tuskegee Institute, which is still in operation today. He soon became recognized as the nation’s foremost black educator.
The second book is The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois which was published in 1903. DuBois was born in 1868 in Massachusetts and grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. He graduated from Harvard with a PhD., and became a professor and a radical supporter of aggressive protest. He was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
My Takeaways:
In the summer of 2019, we did a series titled “Racism: The Polarization of the United States.” That series was divided into two parts: a historical section and an opinion section. In the opinion section we learned there were two distinctly different camps on how to approach racism and the plight of the black community in our country. The first camp – the conservative camp – advocated for improved education, meritocracy, expectations of success, and no government intervention as the answer. This view was promoted by such authors a Shelby Steele, Thomas Sowell, and Jason Riley (all black men). The second camp – the progressive camp – fixated on blacks as a group, a victim group as opposed to individuals. Their advocate position was for more government assistance for the victims and government leadership to achieve repentance and education of white people for their continued sins against black people. This was promoted by such authors as Carol Anderson and Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum (black women), Ta-Nehisi Coates (a black man) and Robin DiAngelo and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (a white woman and white man).
I found it most interesting that the same two camps existed in 1903 with Booker T. Washington having the conservative, meritocracy, educational, and expectations view and W.E.B. DuBois having the progressive victimization, the government must fix it, and an educational and repenting call for Southern white people view. Further, in the last 118 years or so, the accusations on the progressive side have intensified and broadened. DuBois termed America slavery “as not the worst of slavery in the world” in his book, whereas today it is the “cruelest form of slavery in the history of the world and capitalism was at the root,” per Howard Zinn (Segment 4). DuBois limited white discrimination and supremacy primarily to the Southerners whereas today it has expanded to all white people with the definition of discrimination expanded to include subconscious microaggression. One aspect that seemingly has remained the same is the progressive view on the criminal justice system (see the excerpts).
Wrap-up of Section 1:
Segment 9 concludes the section on the beliefs of our history. The following is where we started the section on history.
The Traditional View of History: America has faced many challenges but has always emerged victorious in meeting such challenges. We are an imperfect union but have met those challenges in a way that has strengthened and grown our nation in the process, to the point we can claim and take pride in America’s exceptionalism.
The Social Justice Activist’s View: The America of the past has to be left behind. Its philosophy was corrupt, exploitive and driven by white supremacy. Its culture was racist and cruel. Its history is a litany of abuses punctuated by sporadic wars directed at overthrowing its philosophy and culture which still needs to occur, little has changed.
Question to Ponder: What are your views on the validity of each of the above two views given your exposure to segments 3 through 9?
Next:
Next, we move on from America’s history to America’s philosophy. The following is the contrast between the Traditional View and the Social Justice Activist views on America’s philosophy as expressed in Segment 1 of the series.
The Traditional View of America’s Philosophy: The philosophical principles of the United States include (1) inalienable rights - created and bestowed by our creator – not the government, (2) equality of human beings before the law and relative to their rights, and (3) government exists only to protect natural rights and enforce equality before the law per the Declaration of Independence. Further to avoid tyranny, America’s philosophy embraces the Constitution and its system of checks and balances.
The Social Justice Activist’s View: Natural rights do not exist. The only rights that exist are those granted by the government. Further, equality before the law and equality of individual rights is insufficient in today’s world. The Social Justice Advocates seek equality of outcome, in terms of income, wealth, respect, treatment, etc. Further, they see the system of checks and balances as barriers to progress and view the current governmental system as a construct instituted by the top of the hierarchy to reinforce its own control. In their view this must change.
Happy Learning,
Harley
NIHILISM: GOOD OR BAD? – SEGMENT 9
SLAVERY: PART II – EXCERPTS
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: Preface Excerpts: Booker T. Washington was born a slave in 1856 in Virginia. His mother was a cook, his father, was a white man from a nearby farm. After the Emancipation Proclamation, Booker’s family moved to West Virginia, where Booker took a job in the mines, but attended school whenever possible. Within a few years, Booker was taken in as a houseboy by a wealthy townswoman who further encouraged his desire to learn. At age sixteen, he returned to Virginia and enrolled in the Hampton Institute, where he later became an instructor. In 1881, he left Hampton and founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which he and his small staff and students built with the own hands. He soon became recognized as the nation’s foremost black educator, as one of the pioneers of black education in the U.S., and as one of the most outspoken critics of racism. In 1896, he became the first African American to receive an honorary PhD. from Harvard University. Up from Slavery, his autobiography, was published in 1901. In October 1915, Washington collapsed while delivering a speech in New York City and was hospitalized. He asked to be returned home and died on his beloved campus the next day.
FROM: Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington (1901). Enslaved: My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings. This was so, however, not because my owners were especially cruel, for they were not, as compared with many others. I was born in a typical log cabin, about 14’ by 16’ square. In this cabin I lived with my mother and brother and sister till after the Civil War, when we were all declared free. The cabin was not only a living place but was also used as the kitchen for the plantation. My mother was the plantation cook. The cabin was without glass windows; it had only openings in the side which let in the light, and also the cold, chilly air of winter. There was a door to the cabin – that is, something that was called a door – but without uncertain hinges by which it was hung, and the large cracks in it. To say nothing of the fact that it was too small, made the room a very uncomfortable one. I cannot remember having slept in a bed until after our family was declared free by the Emancipation Proclamation. Three children – my older brother, my sister and my self – had a pallet on the dirt floor, or to be more correct we slept in and on a bundle of filthy rags laid upon the dirt floor. During the period that I spent in slavery I was not large enough to be of much service, still I was occupied most of the time in cleaning the yards, carrying water to the men in the fields, or going to the mill, to which I used to take the corn, once a week to be ground. The mill was about three miles from the plantation.
I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave. The first pair of shoes that I recall wearing were wooden ones. They had rough leather on the top, but the bottoms, which were about an inch thick, were of wood. When I walked, they made a fearful noise, and besides this they were very inconvenient, since there was no yielding to the natural pressure of the foot. The most trying ordeal that I was forced to endure as a slave boy, however, was the wearing of a flax shirt. That part of the flax from which our clothing was made was largely the refuse, which of course was the cheapest and roughest part. Putting on a new flax shirt for the first time was almost equal to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs.
Boyhood Days: The opening of a school in the Kanawha Valley brought to me one of the keenest disappointments that I ever experienced. I had been working in a salt furnace for several months, and my stepfather had discovered that I had a financial value, and so, when the school opened, he decided that he could not spare me from any work. Finally, I won, and was permitted to go to the school in the day for a few months, with the understanding that I was to rise early in the morning and work in the furnace till nine o’clock and return immediately after school closed in the afternoon for at least two more hours of work. I am conscious of the fact that mere connection with what is known as a superior race will not permanently carry an individual forward unless he has individual worth, and mere connection with what is regarded as an inferior race will not finally hold an individual back if he possesses intrinsic, individual merit.
Education: Life at Hampton Institute was a constant revelation to me; was constantly taking me into a new world. The matter of having meals at regular house, of eating on a tablecloth using a napkin, the use of the bathtub and of the toothbrush, as well as the use of sheets upon the bed, were all new to me. In was June of 1875 when I finished the regular course of study at Hampton.
Teaching School: After consultation with the citizens of Tuskegee, I set July 4, 1881, as the day for the opening of the school in the little shanty and church which had been secured for its accommodation. The number of pupils increased each week, until by the end of the first month there were nearly fifty. The students had come from homes where they had had no opportunity for lessons which would teach them how to care for their bodies. With few exceptions, the homes in Tuskegee in which the students boarded were but little improvement upon those from which they had come. We wanted to teach the students how to bathe, how to care for their teeth and clothing. We wanted to teach them what to eat, and how to eat it properly, and how to take care for their rooms. Aside from this, we wanted to give them such a practical knowledge of some one industry, together with the spirit of industry, thrift, and economy, that they would be sure of knowing how to make a living after they had left us. The school was constantly growing in numbers, so much so that after we had got the farm paid for, the cultivation of the land begun, and the old cabins which we had found on the place somewhat repaired. From the very beginning at Tuskegee, I was determined to have the students do not only the agricultural and domestic work, but to have them erect their own buildings. My plan was not to teach them to work in the old way, but to show them how to make the forces of nature – air, water, steam, electricity, and horse-power – assist them in their labor. My experience is that there is something in human nature which always makes an individual recognize and reward merit, no matter under what color of skin merit is found.
Raising Money: I said that any individual who learned to do something better than anybody else had solved his problem, regardless of the color of his skin, and that in proportion as the Negro learned to produce what people wanted and must have in the same proportion would he be respected. I think that the future of my race hinges on the question as to whether or not it can make itself of such indispensable value that the people of the town and the state where we reside will feel that our presence is necessary to the happiness and well-being of the community.
Twenty years have now passed (making it 1901) since I made the first humble effort at Tuskegee, in a broken-down shanty and an old hen house, without owning a dollar’s worth of property, and with but one teacher and 30 students. At the present time the institution owns 2300 acres of land over 700 of which are under cultivation every year, entirely by student labor. There are now upon the grounds, counting large and small, 40 buildings; and all but four have been erected by the labor of our students. There are 28 industrial departments, all of which teach industries at which our men and women can find immediate employment as soon as they leave the institution. From 30 students the number has grown to 1100. We can safely say that at least 3000 men and women from Tuskegee are now at work in different parts of the South; men and women who, by their own example or by direct effort are showing the masses of our race how to improve their material, educational and moral and religious life. What is equally important, they are exhibiting a degree of common sense and self-control which is causing better relations to exist between the races and causing the Southern white man to learn to believe in the value of educating the men and women of my race. The great human law that in the end recognizes and rewards merit is everlasting and universal.
Source: Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
W.E.B. DUBOIS: Preface Excerpts: W.E.B. DuBois (1868 – 1963) played a key role in developing the strategy and program that dominated early 20th century black protest in America. DuBois was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer, and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts after the Civil War, DuBois lived in a relatively tolerant and integrated community and after completing graduate work at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. DuBois was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancements of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
FROM: The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois (1903). The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people, a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded saved by the simple ignorance of a lowly people. The holocaust of war, the terrors of the Ku-Klux-Klan, the lies of carpet baggers, the disorganization of industry, and the contradictory advice of friends and foes, left the bewildered serf with no new watchword beyond the old cry of freedom. Emancipation began to have a dim feeling that, to attain his place in the world, he must be himself, and not another. He felt his poverty, without a cent, without a home, without land, tools, or savings, he had entered into competition with rich, landed, skilled neighbors. To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships. He felt the weight of his ignorance – not simply of letters, but of life, of business. Of the humanities, the accumulated sloth, shirking and awkwardness of decades and centuries shackled his hands and feet. He had emerged from slavery – not the worst slavery in the world, not a slavery that made all life unbearable, rather a slavery that had here and there something of kindliness, fidelity, and happiness, -- but withal slavery, which, so far as human aspiration and desert were concerned classed the black man and the ox together.
The Plight of the Black Man: Daily the Negro is coming more and more to look upon law and justice, not as protecting safeguards, but as sources of humiliation and oppression. The laws are made by men who have little interest in him, they are executed by men who have little interest in him, they are executed by men who have absolutely no motive for treating the black people with courtesy or consideration, and, finally, the accused law breaker is tried, not by his peers, but too often by men who would rather punish ten innocent negroes than let one guilty one escape. There can be no doubt that crime among Negroes has increased in the last 30 years, and that there has appeared in the slums of cities a distinct criminal class among the blacks. In explaining this development, we must note two things: (1) that the inevitable result of Emancipation was to increase crime and criminals, and (2) that the police system of the South was primarily designed to control slaves. Negros came to look upon the court as instruments of injustice and oppression, and upon those convicted in the martyrs and victims.
Of Booker T. Washington: To gain sympathy and cooperation of the various elements comprising the with South was Mr. Washington’s first task; and this at the time Tuskegee was founded seemed for a black man, well-nigh impossible. And yet ten years later it was done. This “Atlanta Compromise” is by all odds the most notable thing in Mr. Washington’s career. Today he stands as the one recognized spokesman of his ten million fellows, and on of the most notable figures in a nation of 70 million. Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission, but adjustment at such a peculiar time as to make his program unique. This is an age of unusual economic development and Mr. Washington’s program naturally take an economic cast, becoming a gospel of Work and Money to such an extent as apparently almost completely overshadow the highest aims of life. Mr. Washington’s program practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races. Mr. Washington distinctly askes that black people give up, at least for the present three things: first concentrate all their energies on industrial education, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South. Mr. Washington thus faces the triple paradox of his career.
- He is striving nobly to make Negro artisans businessmen and property owners; but it is utterly impossible under modern competitive methods, for workingmen and property owners to defend their rights and exist without the right of suffrage.
- He insists on thrift and self-respect, but at the same time counsels a silent submission to civic inferiority such as is bound to sap the manhood of any race in the long run.
- He advocates common school and industrial training and depreciates institutions of higher learning, but neither the Negro common schools, nor Tuskegee itself, could remain open a day were it not for teachers trained in Negro colleges.
Source: The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois
The publication of The Souls of Black Folk was a dramatic event that helped polarize black leaders into two groups: the more conservative followers of Washington and the more radical supporters of aggressive protest. Its influence cannot be overstated.
Source: Back Cover of The Souls of Black Folk.
From: Up from Slavery Afterword: In the late 1890s Washington functioning as the leader of his race, redoubled his efforts to change the way people were thinking. If he rendered enough positive judgements about his race, and if he expressed sufficient optimism about the future, he might influence as many minds as needed to reverse the downward spiral of black morale – and at the same time stop the swell of white antipathy. He worked toward those ends by writing newspaper editorials, magazine articles, and books to show Americans that blacks were rising. In 1901 Washington’s life story became part of his effort to improve the black image. He thought his example might inspire other blacks to have hope for a better future and whites to be more optimistic about black potential. The clear message was that if African Americans followed his path and embraced his attitudes and behavior, they too would rise. Up from Slavery’s proof of progress was black’s emerging self-mastery. Unsanitary living habits, poor morality, and bad schools had been overcome with good educational opportunities. The published reviews mostly praised the man first and the book second. The only negative review came from W.E.B. DuBois, the African American sociologist, who took the opportunity to critique Washington’s leadership.
Until recently, Washington would have been surprised at such a negative assessment from DuBois. They had known each other since 1894 when Washington first offered DuBois a teaching job, which he had turned down. DuBois had written to Washington approvingly of the Atlanta address, and they had corresponded periodically after 1895 about an appointment at Tuskegee. DuBois had defended Washington’s leadership from attacks by Northern opponents in 1899.
Their values were at odds. DuBois admired European culture, whereas Washington assumed that the American way of life was inherently better. DuBois had a romantic racialism absent from Washington’s practical, assimilationist instincts. Washington was suspicious of urban life and assumed that the best places in America, especially for blacks, were rural. Even their person styles clashed: Washington wore overalls at home in Tuskegee and always the standard sack suit when at work or traveling, while DuBois often dressed the part of the European professor, including the accessories of kid gloves and a cane.
Still, in 1900 he had not yet written a negative word, nor had he indicated any of the ideological opposition for which he would become so famous. DuBois’s negative assessment of Washington formed the basis of a fuller critique two years late in The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois declared Washington a black leader chosen by whites, having won their favor with his 1895 speech, which DuBois dubbed “The Atlanta Compromise,” one of the most enduring pejoratives ever coined in American letters. All white Southerners liked Booker and his message, DuBois insisted – this, in spite of continuous hysteria in the white South about Washington’s dinner at the White House with Theodore Roosevelt soon after Up from Slavery appeared. Washington’s alleged white popularity was due to the fact that he “practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races,” and had asked blacks to forgo political power, civil rights and higher education. None of this was true.
Source: Afterword on Up from Slavery by Robert J. Norrell, Professor of History at the University of Tennessee.
The unabbreviated version of the above can be found in the pdf document below.
| 9_nihilism_long_slavery_part_ii_--_segment_9.pdf |