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Booker T. Washington #2
Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901-1915
The first volume of Louis R. Harlan's biography of Booker T. Washington was published to wide acclaim and won the 1973 Bancroft Prize. This, the second volume, completes one of the most significant biographies of this generation.
Booker T. Washington was the most powerful black American of his time, and here he is captured at his zenith. Harlan reveals Washington's complex personality--in sharp contrast to his public demeanor, he was a ruthless power borker whose nod or frown could determine the careers of blacks in politics, education, and business.
Harlan chronicles the challenge Washington faced from W.E.B. Du Bois and other blacks, and shows how growing opposition forced him to change his methods of leadership just before his death in 1915.
Also Volume 1, $10.95k, 501915-6, 394 pp., plates
Booker T. Washington was the most powerful black American of his time, and here he is captured at his zenith. Harlan reveals Washington's complex personality--in sharp contrast to his public demeanor, he was a ruthless power borker whose nod or frown could determine the careers of blacks in politics, education, and business.
Harlan chronicles the challenge Washington faced from W.E.B. Du Bois and other blacks, and shows how growing opposition forced him to change his methods of leadership just before his death in 1915.
Also Volume 1, $10.95k, 501915-6, 394 pp., plates
562 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 1983
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About the author
Louis R. Harlan
18 books2 followersLouis Rudolph Harlan was an American historian and academic whose two-volume biography of African-American educator and social leader Booker T. Washington was awarded the 1973 Bancroft Prize for the first volume as well as the 1984 Bancroft Prize and Pulitzer Prize for the second volume.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 15, 2020
Louis Harlan’s biography begins in 1901 with Booker T. Washington at the zenith of his influence, and ends with his death in 1915.
The book’s main focus is on his complex figure of the most eminent Afro American of his time, but also gives the reader an account of the struggle’s of the freedmen’s middle class.
Harlan’s work impressed me with its insight into many different aspects of Washington’s life. While some chapters are dedicated to his personal life, others describe his achievements in the field of education, fund raising campaigns, and journeys to Europe.
The book succeeds in expressing Booker T. Washington’s social philosophy of accommodationism and self-help. Led by his idea that only unity can achieve mutual progress, Washington turns Tuskegee into a sort of a base, from which he controls each aspect of the Afro-Americans’ lives.
The most interesting chapters in the biography, in my opinion, are the one discussing the mysterious New York incident and the consequent changing of the Afro-Americans’ attitude towards Booker T. Washington.
I think that the decline of Washington’s fame was a natural consequence of the changing ideas of the society.
In the age of the Southern Afro-Americans’ exodus and the Civil Rights movements, Booker T. Washington’s conservatism and conciliation would have hardly been accepted.
Booker T. Washington was often criticized for never speaking directly about the Afro-American issues. His critics compared him to “Nero, who fiddled while Rome burnt”.
Although he was opposed to the unjust treatment of Afro-Americans, Washington wasn’t a radical. He called for progress through education and entrepreneurship, and this earned him criticism.
In general, the biographic study is well-written and profound. Four stars.
The book’s main focus is on his complex figure of the most eminent Afro American of his time, but also gives the reader an account of the struggle’s of the freedmen’s middle class.
Harlan’s work impressed me with its insight into many different aspects of Washington’s life. While some chapters are dedicated to his personal life, others describe his achievements in the field of education, fund raising campaigns, and journeys to Europe.
The book succeeds in expressing Booker T. Washington’s social philosophy of accommodationism and self-help. Led by his idea that only unity can achieve mutual progress, Washington turns Tuskegee into a sort of a base, from which he controls each aspect of the Afro-Americans’ lives.
The most interesting chapters in the biography, in my opinion, are the one discussing the mysterious New York incident and the consequent changing of the Afro-Americans’ attitude towards Booker T. Washington.
I think that the decline of Washington’s fame was a natural consequence of the changing ideas of the society.
In the age of the Southern Afro-Americans’ exodus and the Civil Rights movements, Booker T. Washington’s conservatism and conciliation would have hardly been accepted.
Booker T. Washington was often criticized for never speaking directly about the Afro-American issues. His critics compared him to “Nero, who fiddled while Rome burnt”.
Although he was opposed to the unjust treatment of Afro-Americans, Washington wasn’t a radical. He called for progress through education and entrepreneurship, and this earned him criticism.
In general, the biographic study is well-written and profound. Four stars.
June 8, 2015
Starts slowly when Harlan gets falls in love with the million+ Washington papers he had just cataloged and buries the reader in an avalanche of names, places, dates of Washington's early political career as the Presidential "referee" for an entire race.
But Harlan redeems himself with chapters on Washington's dealings with his family, his school, his fund-raising, the world (he made three trips to Europe and was the most widely known African-American in the world), and his attack under mysterious and still unexplained circumstances in New York City.
Harlan does a better job in this volume than the first of explaining the contradictions of Washington's leadership style ("separate but equal" accomodationism) in a region and country increasingly violent and dominated by white supremicist feelings. The ultimate end of Washington's other-cheek economic self-help style was racial exclusion and unimpeded trammelling of rights.
His flaws must be acknowledged, but in the end the flaws magnify the worth of the man. I go back to that humble farm in western Virginia and the reconstructed "cabin" at the National Historic site (rougher and even more rudimentary than the mental image the word evokes) and imagine the journey that young boy made from slavery to freedom, from ignorance to education, from insignificance to leadership. From these beginnings to his end (at an early but aged 59), Booker T. Washington's greatness can not be doubted.
But Harlan redeems himself with chapters on Washington's dealings with his family, his school, his fund-raising, the world (he made three trips to Europe and was the most widely known African-American in the world), and his attack under mysterious and still unexplained circumstances in New York City.
Harlan does a better job in this volume than the first of explaining the contradictions of Washington's leadership style ("separate but equal" accomodationism) in a region and country increasingly violent and dominated by white supremicist feelings. The ultimate end of Washington's other-cheek economic self-help style was racial exclusion and unimpeded trammelling of rights.
His flaws must be acknowledged, but in the end the flaws magnify the worth of the man. I go back to that humble farm in western Virginia and the reconstructed "cabin" at the National Historic site (rougher and even more rudimentary than the mental image the word evokes) and imagine the journey that young boy made from slavery to freedom, from ignorance to education, from insignificance to leadership. From these beginnings to his end (at an early but aged 59), Booker T. Washington's greatness can not be doubted.
July 26, 2024
I am surprised at some of the ratings n this book. The biography is meticulously researched and goes a long way toward situating Washington in the turmoil at the turn of the century. In short, the accommodationist finds nothing but ashes as his institution becomes a shadow of itself and DuBois lays a foundation for a more confrontational method for securing rights for African Americans. Where current scholars may find fault with the author is the sympathy paid to a figure now reviled by the academy. Regardless, I found this an insightful narrative about a quixotic figure.
November 28, 2021
Interesting book - what a great man.
July 2, 2012
I'm trying to read at least 2 historical biographies a year, and I must say, it's tedious work. Booker T Washington seemed like an interesting figure, and this, the second installment in Louis R Harlan's set, won the Pulitzer Prize in Biography. The best thing I can say about this book is that it wasn't that hard to get through. But it mostly read as a succession of ventures Washington involved himself in, and then gave up on. I'm sure it was meticulously researched, and it certainly had its own forward momentum, but I often felt like I was reading a list of names and events. Washington himself didn't come off that well either. Of course he was an amazing man, but at the same time he sounds like he valued people based on how much use they could be to him. Once again, perhaps I should have chosen something more current, but at least I did come away knowing a lot more about an important man.
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September 23, 2010"Booker T. Washington: Volume 2: The Wizard Of Tuskegee, 1901-1915 (Oxford Paperbacks) by Louis R. Harlan (1986)"
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews