Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington

by Robert J. Norrell

Since the 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr., has personified black leadership with his use of direct action protests against white authority. A century ago, in the era of Jim Crow, Booker T. Washington pursued a different strategy to lift his people. In this compelling biography, Norrell reveals how conditions in the segregated South led Washington to call for a less contentious path to freedom and equality. He urged black people to acquire economic independence and to develop the moral character that would ultimately gain them full citizenship. Although widely accepted as the most realistic way to integrate blacks into American life during his time, Washington’s strategy has been disparaged since the 1960s. The first full-length biography of Booker T. in a generation, Up from History recreates the broad contexts in which Washington worked: He struggled against white bigots who hated his economic ambitions for blacks, African-American intellectuals like W. E. B. Du Bois who resented his huge influence, and such inconstant allies as Theodore Roosevelt. Norrell details the positive power of Washington’s vision, one that invoked hope and optimism to overcome past exploitation and present discrimination. Indeed, his ideas have since inspired peoples across the Third World that there are many ways to struggle for equality and justice. Up from History reinstates this extraordinary historical figure to the pantheon of black leaders, illuminating not only his mission and achievement but also, poignantly, the man himself.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, African American, Race, Education

528 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2009

Reviews

[Eric Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best things about being an active reader, is getting the opportunity to discover that the foundation of a long held and firm belief, actually rested on pudding. To have such shifts in thinking, is what real living should be about. No matter how uncomfortable that process can be.

I always took W.E.B. Dubois's side over Booker T. Washington. I never considered Booker T a "sell-out" or an "Uncle Tom". But I did think his actions were mostly self serving, and toward the end of his life,( he died with his boots on) harmful and destructive to the Black Freedom Movement.

But the fact was that, unfortunately, Booker T. Washington was caught up in an unfortunate power struggle with Dubois, and his northern faction, comprised of prominent members of the Black educated elite. The battle was over both ideology and influence over the Black community and whites who provided badly needed resources for the fledgling Civil Rights Movement, that W.E.B Dubois ultimately got credit for. But in actuality, Washington at least incubated and perhaps even nurtured the movement before DuBois and his "team" even got started.

The problem was that Washington, had to down play his political activism. So he operated behind the scenes yet was very engaged and proactive. This was the only way he could get away with it, and it was astill risky. His grand college was located in the cradle of extreme white violence and hostility directed toward any Black person who even deviated from the status quo.


In fact Washington's school was highly controversial down south. Most white legislators believed that education was harmful to Blacks, which is why Washington was so dependent on Northern funding. Clearly W.E.B. Dubois knew this. He was also one of the many beneficiaries of Washington's support early on. Part of this sadly came down to class. The Northerners were Harvard trained and lived safely in the North, so they could be far more outspoken. But Booker T was a former slave with little education which was a factor I believe in how they treated him. I'm glade this important book was written, and it's been a long time in coming, because Booker had both a long term and a short term strategy. The short term strategy was particularly successful, and is probably what's needed today because the Black community has lost so much social and economic ground due to the economic collapse. Black saving/wealth in America was primarily in home ownership. Many of these homes were passed down from relatives from several generations. This wealth has now almost been depleted.

Washington stressed home ownership and self sufficiency from planting and farming. But equally important, Booker was about building schools in impoverished Black communities. Schools that whites not only refused to fund but burned some of them down and killed teachers and principals.

Booker's long term strategy, was the same as W.E.B Dubois and could have been far more successful had they been working together. And on that it seems DuBois was largely responsible.

[Yasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great account of the life of Booker T Washington. Very formative and well written book about the struggles and triumphs that occured in his life time. All the things I didn't know about the man and I don't know that are well documented in contemporary history. It is a pity that W.E.B. DuBois and his associates were at odds with Booker Washington and his associates, but he was unable to be aware of the extent of the terrible conditions black Americans were living under at that time. He was truly a man of vision and a man of his time. In a wonderful way this book brings Booker Washington back into the light of time and history and how still even now he needs to be fully recognised for his efforts for all Americans. He worked hard and honestly to bring black and white Americans together and to live harmoniously.

[Finn Mokrzycki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually read biographies on founding fathers and political and business figures, but I wanted to try a civil rights one. I love Booker T and I think he gets forgotten in history, since the textbooks choose to focus on W.E.B. Du Bois instead since he is less controversial. But Booker T's life story is so inspiring and this book puts the racism of the south into perspective. Well written, very factual, and interesting. One of the best biographies I have read.

[Otter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent in its contextualization of Washington's strategies in his own place and time. My one complaint is that, in trying to be fair to Washington, Norrell is often unfair to Du Bois, basically painting him as a man with a personal grudge. Overall, though, I learned so many interesting historical details about Crumpackerism, the Brownsville scandal, etc., that I'll take the bias along with it--after all, I've got a volume of Du Bois's complete writings at home that can correct the misleading impressions Norrell promotes.

[Chanel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historical tribute to Mr. Booker T. Washington was both insightful and inspiring. A true American hero, his significant contributions have often been overshadowed by jealousy, lack of self-determination, and hidden agendas from all sides of leadership.

One striking statement from the book reads: "Thus interpretations of Washington's historical meaning were used not only to condemn the past but also to demonize those in the present who did not demand maximum, immediate change. To serve the purposes of the present, Washington's historical meaning was extracted from its original context and misrepresented."

From his beginnings in bondage to founding Tuskegee University, Washington's journey highlights the immense challenges and sacrifices required to achieve greatness, especially when faced with opposition and ill will.

[Catherine Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography places Washington firmly in the context of his time and place and provides the means of understanding him as a product of that time and that place. Was he perfect? Absolutely not. But no truly thinking person should fail to give him credit for giving his all - literally his life - to the cause he believed in. The man walked a steep ledge in a hurricane for nearly all his life, and he stayed the course.

[Clayton Brannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography that is fair and balanced. It puts him in the perspective of his times and explains why he has been so mistreated by historians. A great American that deserve a better legacy than that painted by many historians that come under the mystique of WEB DuBois. He has been judged too often by todays standards rather than by the times he lived in.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent history and biography that was glossed over in the history I was taught in high school and college. The difficulty of living in the south in that era is eye-opening and frightful. Booker did so much in those circumstances. The sectional differences in black leadership and how to approach the issues are described as Booker reaches national prominence.

[J Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stellar book that balances Washington's focus on skills based education with his desire for civil rights- exposing a more nuanced and complicated man then many may learn about in school. I highly recommend this book

[Robin Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a difficult read given its subject matter. The injustice that Mr. Washington endured from both whites and African Americans is stunning and devastatingly sad.

[Sonja Brue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting read on the South and African-American lives after the Civil War. This was such a good book, in my opinion.

[Noel Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: Up From History

Robert J. Norrell’s biography of Booker T. Washington is a fresh look at the remarkable African American leader that explores his remarkable achievements in advancing the opportunities available to blacks in the Southern US in the face of nearly impossible opposition. Washington was born a slave in 1856 on a Virginia farm and against all odds he succeeded in school, survived the Reconstruction Era following the civil war and established the Tuskegee Institute, a black school in Alabama in 1881. The Institiute, which amazingly survived the Jim Crow era, the depression, the great migration of blacks to the northern states in the 1940s, the bitterly contested civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s and remains in operation to this day.

Washington was the most famous black man in American from 1895 until his death in 1915. He advised presidents Roosevelt and Taft and raised millions of dollars from Northern philanthropists to help keep black education alive in the south. Washington clashed bitterly with black intellectuals from the north like W.E.B. Dubois and was accused of being accomodationist toward white supremists during a time when blacks were losing the right to vote throughout the Southern US.

Norrell does a great job of explaining the impossibly complex situation that Washington found himself in. Rather than retreat to northern states where blacks were (only slightly) more accepted in business and education. He carefully walked a tightrope between militant black activists that wanted violent retribution for the cruelty that blacks suffered in the south and white supremists that violently opposed the advancement and education of black Americans in the South. Washington said that his bitter rivals in the North didn’t understand what it was like to live in the south and he was absolutely right. As some graduates of the Tuskegee Institute tragically learned, standing up and demanding social or political equality with whites could quickly get you killed.

One of my favourite stories in the book came from the celebration of the Silver Jubilee of the Tuskegee Institute in 1906. The program that day was a carefully orchestrated parade of black progress, attended by hundreds of whites and black with dignitaries and donors from all over the United States. After a number of encouraging speeches and positive contributions, John W. Abercrombie, president of the University of Alabama and a Democratic politician claimed in front of the assembled audience that slavery had been of greater benefit to slaves than to their owners and freeing them had been a colossal mistake of Reconstruction, wresting control of society from the superior race. He added that any additional funding for education that became available from donors in the North should be used to help “the dominant race.”

Washington seethed, but recognized that he was being baited, white reporters were just looking for a reason to lynch Washington, or members of his faculty and all they needed was a story of an outraged black man railing against white superiority. Washington was a genius at managing media and the public perception of his work at Tuskegee. Rather than responding to Abercrombie, he diverged from the published program and publicly recognized William Lloyd Garrison Jr., a seventy-year-old Boston investment banker, who was present in the crowd, and invited him to say a few words.

Norrell writes that "Booker knew his white people. In a vibrant, penetrating voice, the white-bearded Garrison proceeded to tear into Abercrombie. He first announced that he did not speak as a member of the superior race but only as one of the human race. Slavery was no benefit to any black man and was a humiliation to him as a white man. Abercrombie’s insistence that it had been a blunder to enfranchise the Negro was the “veriest nonsense.” The anniversary crowd loudly registered its agreement. “The way to teach a man to vote is to put a ballot in his hand.” When Garrison turned away from the podium the audience burst into shouting and applause. (p. 337)
If Fredrick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King were lions in the fight for civil rights, then Booker T. Washington was a fox. He was no “Uncle Tom” who meekly accepted second-class status with a smile and a “thank-you sir.” Washington was faced with an impossible situation, and critics in the North that could not understand the stresses that he was working under. “Although Washington’s approach was appropriate to the harsh circumstances of his world, it by no means changed his world. In that sense he was a heroic failure” (p. 440).

Washington firmly believed that as a black person gained economic independence they would command the respect of their white neighbours and ultimately that would lead to political influence and full rights as citizens. Sadly that has never happened. Washington’s investments in black American have largely been misunderstood and even ignored, but the world he wanted to see is closer now than it was 100 years ago.

NCW

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia, freed as a child, and was educated first in a rural school in West Virgina and then in a misssionary school in Virginia. He was taught the New England virtues of hard work, thrift, hygiene/neatness, moral behavior, and self-control. He emulated his teachers to the extent of losing his black accent. In Tuskegee, Alabama, he promoted the same values for emancipated black children, together with an education suited to make them into teachers or artisans. Living as he was, in the deep South, he was conciliatory towards whites. He promoted education, small businesses and property ownership for his students, and did not press for integration or for the vote. He was successful in fund-raising, mainly from wealthy northern whites. After becoming widely-known and highly-regarded by blacks and many whites by the end of the 19th century, he came under attack from militant blacks in the early 20th century for not being sufficiently militant himself. His attackers, living more safely in the North, included the founders of NAACP, notably the apparently-jealous W.E.B. DuBois, whose view has prevailed generally today. Nowadays Booker T. would be called an "Uncle Tom". Nonetheless, it seems to be that we need more Bookerism in today's education of poorer black kids, it would help them enormously to learn to speak clearly in standard English, to be courteous and pleasnt, to hold to high moral/family values, to educated themselves, to prepare for jobs -- rather than protesting and calling for entitlements. This biography helps justify Washington's actions against the background of the time and place. His successes are amazing, given the tight-rope that any black public figure had to walk. The attitude of Teddy Roosevelt, who was first helpful and then scared off, and of Taft and Woodrow Wilson and Robert Lincoln, none of whom were at all helpful, was new information to me. Public hysteria over a black man sitting at a table to partake of a meal with white people was not a surprise to me, for I remembered such attitudes from my own youth.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As his title implies, Up From History, seeks to restore our understanding of Booker T. Washington by placing him firmly in the context of the post-reconstruction South. The misrepresentation of Washington began even during his life, as he was under constant attacks from both white supremacists in the south and northern black men who sought to replace him as the perceived leader of his race. Sadly, it was the latter who were most effective in tarnishing Washington's reputation for much of the 20th century.

Washington was a very private man, so there are no revelations here, no newly discovered papers to reveal his inner life. What is here is a careful analysis of the events the day and how Washington responded to them. In an era of rampant lynchings and disfranchisement, Washington carefully advocated for increased education and opportunities for African Americans. He worked unceasingly to raise money for Tuskegee and other schools, believing that education and economic success would lead to better race relations. He advised President T. Roosevelt, advocating for fair minded men to receive federal appointments. He worked tirelessly to promote the ideal of unity and fight the stereotypical images of blacks in popular culture. He financially supported lawsuits to forward equality and lobbied against disfranchisement. Because his actions were liable to provoke more lynchings and riots, he often hid his involvement in political matters from public view, at least in the south.

In his concluding chapter, Norrell explores the reasons Washington's achievements and contributions were so maligned by later generations, and offers a fair assessment of his legacy.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent retelling of Booker T.'s life and work. The author effectively demolishes the negative historiographical framework DuBois, Meier, Woodward, and Harlan imposed on the subject. While clearly a sympathetic biographer, Norrell's treatment is balanced, critical, and well-sourced.

In my upcoming master's thesis on the past century of historiography concerning Washington, I will offer these "criticisms" of Norrell's otherwise outstanding work: He fails to place Booker T. within the penumbra of American classical liberalism which ran through much of the first two centuries of American intellectual life. In fairness, Washington never labeled himself as a liberal, as he was more concerned with concrete goals than with ideology. Norrell also misses that Washington's alliance with Teddy Roosevelt and his acceptance of gradualism over radical change was exemplary of the "internal rot" and conservative complacency with the Establishment that Murray Rothbard says presaged the collapse of classical liberalism into the statism of the modern left and right in America. All in all, however, these are minor criticisms.

"Up from History" is to be applauded as it has already changed and will continue to change the way we view Booker T.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Norrell's revisionist history deserves to be read. It allows Booker Washington's life to make the case for his greatness and it gives us a nuanced appreciation of one of the most subtle minds ever to lead black Americans. Norrell says we've allowed modern viewpoints to stunt our thinking about the constrains a man like BTW would have faced in the early 20th century in improving the lot of his race. BTW was no Uncle Tom, but a man whose original vision and strategy would be repeated in some ways by the people and organizations that replaced him. His vision was wily, not exactly showy, but radical since it would lead to the kind of equality he disavowed in front of whites. He should be considered a great black leader. Norrel makes the case he was.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read any other biographies of Booker T. Washington; so I can't compare Up From History to them. Unto itself, Up From History puts Washington's life into the context of his place and time. It portrays him as a man who tried to do what he could for his people against incredible odds. He worked in a constructive, positive way in the face of monumental hatred and ignorance. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century American history.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkably strong review of Booker T Washington and his significance. What really stands out is how Norrell locates Washington within the life and times of the Jim Crow south. In doing so, he picks up the tension between north and south among the African-American community, a tension also noted indirectly in James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I may question some of Norrell's interpretations of Washington, I greatly appreciated the fact that he treats Washington sympathetically and sets the record straight about W.E.B. DuBois' falsehoods.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellent!

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the first chapter, then it had to go back to the library. I'll finish it when I have more time.

Who knew, I had one more renewal. So I'm still reading it.

[Beth]

World mag. rec.

[David Martin]

Glad I finally had the chance to read this book. It is a much needed reevaluation of a great American figure.

[Daryl Grigsby]

is looking forward to reaching about this very influential leader with profound implications for today

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read. If Norrell is correct, then a lot of wrongs have been committed against BTW's legacy. He should have offered a much more thorough analysis of the Tuskegee educational system.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to read more non-fiction. Book was interesting. Amazing what the mainstream attitudes were like during those times. Got a little repetitive at the end, though.

[Sanjay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was enthralling and highly informative, but it was very repetitive. Nevertheless, the book well-explains Booker T. Washington's successes, pressures, and experiences.