Industrial Education for the Negro Booker T. Washington Audiobook
Summary
TLDRBooker T. Washington's 'The Negro Problem' advocates for industrial education as a means for African Americans to find economic independence and social mobility. He emphasizes the importance of learning the difference between being worked and working, highlighting the dignity in labor and the necessity of economic foundation for societal progress. Washington argues for a balanced education that includes mental, moral, and industrial training, with a focus on practical skills that can be applied in everyday life and contribute to the betterment of the community.
Takeaways
- 📚 Booker T. Washington emphasizes the importance of industrial education for the Negro, advocating for a balance between physical labor and intellectual development.
- 🔨 The distinction between 'being worked' and 'working' is highlighted, with the former being associated with degradation and the latter with civilization and progress.
- 🏡 Washington points out that the economic foundation of a race is crucial for its upliftment, with the cultivation and ownership of land being key elements.
- 👕 Industrial training during slavery, though crude and self-serving, provided the Negro with skills in various trades, which became valuable post-emancipation.
- 🌾 The agricultural industry in the South, which was heavily reliant on the labor of the Negro, played a significant role in the region's economy before and after the Civil War.
- 🏫 Washington criticizes the lack of practical education in schools, which often leaves educated Negroes without the skills to engage in manual labor or agriculture.
- 👩🏫 He calls for an education system that prepares students for the occupations available in their communities, including modern and scientific methods in various trades.
- 👷♂️ The Tuskegee Institute's approach to education is praised for combining academic learning with practical skills, such as agriculture, construction, and mechanical work.
- 🏢 Washington argues that industrial education should not confine the Negro to manual labor but should equip them with the skills to use natural forces to their advantage.
- 🌱 He envisions a future where the Negro community contributes significantly to society through successful businesses, education, and community service, challenging prevailing prejudices.
Q & A
What is the main theme of 'The Negro Problem' by Booker T. Washington?
-The main theme of 'The Negro Problem' is the necessity for the African American community to embrace industrial education as a means of self-improvement, economic empowerment, and social advancement.
What does Booker T. Washington believe is the key difference between 'being worked' and 'working'?
-Booker T. Washington believes that 'being worked' signifies degradation, while 'working' signifies civilization, emphasizing the importance of labor in the advancement of the African American community.
How does Washington argue that industrial education can create wealth and opportunities for higher education?
-Washington argues that industrial education can create wealth and opportunities for higher education by teaching the present generation to work and save, which in turn provides the material foundation for leisure and higher learning.
What role did the Southern white man play in the industrial training of African Americans during slavery, according to the transcript?
-During slavery, the Southern white man provided industrial training to African Americans by involving them in various trades such as carpentry, blacksmithing, and farming, which were essential for plantation operations.
Why does Washington emphasize the importance of teaching practical skills alongside academic education?
-Washington emphasizes the importance of teaching practical skills alongside academic education to ensure that African Americans are equipped with the necessary skills to succeed in their communities and to contribute to the economy effectively.
What is the significance of the Tuskegee Institute in the context of the transcript?
-The Tuskegee Institute is significant as it is an institution that Washington leads and where he implements his philosophy of industrial education, combining academic, religious, and practical training to prepare students for productive lives.
What does Washington suggest as the best way to address the economic challenges faced by the African American community?
-Washington suggests that the best way to address the economic challenges faced by the African American community is through industrial development, which includes learning to work and save, cultivating the soil, and building an economic foundation.
Why does Washington argue that industrial education is not meant to confine the African American community to manual labor?
-Washington argues that industrial education is not meant to confine the African American community to manual labor but to empower them with the skills and knowledge to improve their economic conditions and to pursue higher education and professional opportunities.
What is the role of agriculture in Washington's vision for the African American community's development?
-In Washington's vision, agriculture plays a crucial role as it is a significant part of the industrial education that he advocates. It provides a practical means for economic self-sufficiency and is seen as a foundation for the community's progress and prosperity.
How does Washington view the relationship between industrial education and the moral and mental development of the African American community?
-Washington views industrial education as a complement to the moral and mental development of the African American community. He believes that while industrial training is essential, it should be accompanied by mental and moral training to ensure a well-rounded education.
Outlines
🔧 Industrial Education for the Negro
This section emphasizes the importance of industrial education for the Negro community, as advocated by Booker T. Washington, the principal of Tuskegee Institute. He argues that the key to racial uplift lies in learning the difference between being worked and working, and that all labor is honorable. Washington stresses the need for the Negro to establish an economic foundation through industrial work, which will eventually lead to leisure, higher education, and the opportunity to enjoy literature and the fine arts. He also highlights the practical industrial training that slaves received on plantations, which he views as a starting point for economic development post-emancipation.
📚 Education and the Practical Life
Paragraph 2 discusses the shift in education focus from industrial skills to more academic subjects, which led to a gap in practical skills among the educated Negro population. Washington points out the irony of young men educated in foreign languages but not in carpentry or engineering. He criticizes the education system for not preparing students for the work they are suited for, thus creating a barrier between education and practical life. He advocates for a balanced education that includes both mental and moral training alongside industrial training, to ensure that knowledge is applied to real-life situations and improves the community's conditions.
🏡 Building Foundations for Progress
In this section, Washington argues for the necessity of industrial development as a foundation for wealth creation and the advancement of the Negro race. He believes that by focusing on industry, the race can build habits of thrift, a love for work, and economic stability, which in turn will support higher education and professional development. Washington uses the example of the Hampton Institute to illustrate the success of combined mental, moral, and industrial education. He also describes the growth of Tuskegee Institute, detailing how it began with basic agricultural training and expanded to offer a wide range of industrial and academic courses, with students contributing to the construction and maintenance of the institute's facilities.
👩🏫 The Value of Practical Education
Paragraph 4 continues the discussion on the importance of practical education, particularly in the context of the Negro community. Washington notes the societal shift towards valuing industrial training and the positive change in public sentiment. He emphasizes the need for education to prepare students for occupations available in their home communities, citing the example of dairy operations. He also addresses the misconception that industrial education aims to revert the Negro to slave-like labor conditions, clarifying that the goal is to elevate labor through the use of modern forces and technologies, thus improving economic status and social standing.
🌱 Agriculture and the Path to Prosperity
The final paragraph of the script underscores the significance of agricultural education for the Negro race. Washington argues for a more integrated approach to education that connects schools with agricultural practices, enabling students to understand and engage with the land. He believes that such education will not only improve the economic prospects of the Negro community but also contribute to the broader agricultural development of the South. The paragraph concludes with a call to action, urging the Negro community to demonstrate its capabilities and potential through tangible achievements in various fields, thereby reinforcing their position in society.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Industrial Education
💡Civilization
💡Labor
💡Economic Foundation
💡Slavery
💡Higher Education
💡Wealth Creation
💡Leisure
💡Mental and Moral Training
💡Self-sufficiency
Highlights
The necessity for the races learning the difference between being worked and working.
The best service to higher education is teaching the present generation to work and save.
The Negro has been helped to find himself and learn the secrets of civilization.
All forms of labor are honorable and all forms of idleness are disgraceful.
Economic foundation through cultivation and ownership of the soil is crucial for a race's rise.
The industrial training during slavery was crude but provided a foundation for future development.
The Negro was the chief dependence in the manufacturing of tobacco and other industries post-Civil War.
The value of industrial training was overlooked, leading to a shortage of skilled laborers.
Education should be directed towards practical things of life and the needs of the community.
The education of the Negro should not be confined to industrial life but should include mental and moral training.
The Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute focus on combined mental, moral, and industrial education.
Tuskegee Institute's growth from teaching with minimal resources to owning extensive land and industries.
The importance of fitting students for occupations open to them in their home communities.
The demand for skilled dairymen in the South and the response from Tuskegee Institute.
The misconception that industrial education aims to make the Negro work as during slavery.
The need for training in agriculture and the practical knowledge of farming for the Negro population.
The pathway for the Negro must be up through the soil, commerce, education, and religion.
Concrete achievements like buying farms, building houses, and maintaining schools speak louder than abstract eloquence.
Transcripts
section one of the Negro problem this is
a LibriVox recording all LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain for
more information or to volunteer please
visit librivox.org
recording by James K white the Negro
problem section one industrial education
for the Negro by Booker T Washington
principal of Tuskegee Institute
the necessity for the races learning the
difference between being worked and
working he would not confine the Negro
to Industrial life but believes that the
very best service which anyone can
render to what is called the higher
education is to teach the present
generation to work and save this will
create the wealth from which alone can
come Leisure and the opportunity for
higher
education one of the most fundamental
and far-reaching deeds that has been
accomplished during the last quarter of
a century has been that by which the
Negro has been helped to find himself
and to learn the secrets of
civilization to learn that there are a
few simple Cardinal principles upon
which a race must start its upward
course unless it would fail and its last
estate be worse than its
first it has been necessary for the
Negro to learn the difference between
being worked and working to learn that
being worked meant degradation while
working means
civilization that all forms of Labor are
honorable and all forms of idleness
disgraceful it has been necessary for
him to learn that all Races that have
got upon their feet have done so largely
by laying an economic foundation and in
general by beginning in a proper
cultivation and ownership of the
soil 40 years ago my race emerged From
Slavery into Freedom if in too many
cases the Negro race began development
and at the wrong end it was largely
because neither white nor black properly
understood the case nor is it any wonder
that this was so for never before in the
history of the world had just such a
problem been presented as that of the
two races at the coming of freedom in
this
country for 250 years I believe the way
for the Redemption of the Negro was
being prepared through Industrial
Development through all those years the
southern white man did business with the
Negro in a way that no one else has done
business with him in most cases if a
southern white man wanted a house built
he consulted a negro mechanic about the
plan and about the actual building of
the structure if he wanted a suit of
clothes made he went to a negro tailor
and for shoes he went to a Shoemaker of
the same race in a certain way every
slave plantation in the South was an
industrial school on these plantations
young colored men and women were
constantly being trained not only as
Farmers but as Carpenters blacksmiths
wheel writs brick masons Engineers Cooks
laundresses sewing women and
housekeepers I do not mean in any way to
apologize for the curse of slavery which
was a curse to both races but in what I
say about industrial training and
slavery I'm simply stating facts this
training was crude and was given for
selfish purposes it did not answer the
highest ends because there was an
absence of mental training in connection
with the training of the hand to a large
degree though this business contact with
the southern white man and the
industrial training on the plantations
left the Negro at the close of the war
in possession of nearly all the common
and skilled labor in the South the
industries that gave the South its power
prominence and wealth prior to the Civil
War were mainly the raising of cotton
sugar cane rice and tobacco
before the way could be prepared for the
proper growing and marketing of these
crops forests had to be cleared houses
to be built public roads and railroads
constructed in all these works the Negro
did most of the heavy work in the
planting cultivating and marketing of
the crops Not only was the Negro the
chief dependence but in the manufacturer
of tobacco he became a skilled and
proficient Workman and in this up to the
present time in the South whole holds
the lead in the large tobacco
manufactures in most of the industries
though what happened for nearly 20 years
after the war except in a few instances
the value of the industrial training
given by the plantations was overlooked
negro men and women were educated in
literature in mathematics and in The
Sciences with little thought of what had
been taking place during the preceding
250 years except perhaps as something to
be escaped to be got as far away from as
possible as the generation began to pass
those who had been trained as mechanics
and slavery began to Disappear by death
and gradually it began to be realized
that there were few to take their
places there were young men educated in
foreign tongues but few in carpentry or
in mechanical or architectural drawing
many were trained in Latin but few as
engineers and blacksmiths too many were
taken from the farm and educated but
educated in everything but farming for
this reason they had no interest in
farming and did not return to it and yet
85% of the Negro population of the
southern states lives and for a
considerable time will continue to live
in the country districts the charge is
often brought against the members of my
race and too often justly I confess that
they are found leaving the country
districts and flocking into the great
cities where Temptations are more
frequent and harder to resist
and where the Negro people tooo often
become
demoralized think though how frequently
it is the case that from the first day
that a pupil begins to go to school his
books teach him much about the cities of
the world and city life and almost
nothing about the country how natural it
is then that when he has the ordering of
his life he wants to live it in the
city only a short time before his death
the late Mr CP Huntington to whose
memory a magnificent library has just
been given by his widow to the Hampton
Institute for Negroes in Virginia said
in a public address some words which
seem to me so wise that I want to quote
them here our schools teach everybody a
little of almost everything but in my
opinion they teach very few children
just what they ought to know in order to
make their way successfully in life they
do not put into their hands the tools
they are best fitted to use and hence so
many
failures many a mother and sister have
worked and slaved living upon scanty
food in order to give a son and brother
a liberal education and in doing this
have built up a barrier between the boy
and the work he was fitted to do let me
say to you that all honest work is
Honorable work if the labor is manual
and seems common you will have all the
more chance to be thinking of other
things or of work that is higher and and
brings better pay and to work out in
your minds better and higher duties and
responsibilities for yourselves and for
thinking of ways by which you can help
others as well as yourselves and bring
them up to your own higher
level some years ago when we decided to
make tailoring a part of our training at
the Tuskegee Institute I was amazed to
find that it was almost impossible to
find in the whole country an educated
colored man who Could Teach the making
of clothing we can find numbers of them
who could teach astronomy theology Latin
or grammar but almost none who could
instruct in the making of clothing
something that has to be used by every
one of us every day in the year how
often have I been discouraged as I have
gone through the South and into the
homes of the people of my race and have
found women who could Converse
intelligently upon abstruse subjects and
yet could not tell how to improve the
condition of the poorly cooked and still
more poorly served bread bread and meat
which they and their families were
eating three times a day it is
discouraging to find a girl who can tell
you the geographical location of any
country on the globe and who does not
know where to place the dishes upon a
common dinner table it is discouraging
to find a woman who knows much about
theoretical chemistry and who cannot
properly wash and iron a
shirt in what I say here I would not by
any means have it understood that I
would limit or Circ circumscribe the
mental development of the Negro student
no race can be lifted until its mind is
awakened and strengthened by the side of
industrial training should always go
mental and moral training but the
pushing of mere abstract knowledge into
the head means little we want more than
the mere performance of mental
gymnastics our knowledge must be
harnessed to the things of real life I
would encourage the Negro to secure all
the mental strength all the mental
culture whether gleaned from science
mathematics history language or
literature that his circumstances will
allow but I believe most earnestly that
for years to come the education of the
people of my race should be so directed
that the greatest proportion of the
mental strength of the masses will be
brought to bear upon the everyday
practical things of life upon something
that is needed to be done and something
which they will be permitted to do in
the community in which they reside and
just the same with the professional
class which the race needs and must have
I would say give the men and women of
that class too the training which will
best fit them to perform in the most
successful manner the service which the
race
demands I would not confine the race to
Industrial life not even to agriculture
for example although I believe that by
far the greater part of the Negro race
is best off in the country districts and
must and should continue to live there
but I would teach the race that in
Industry the foundation must be laid
that the very best service which anyone
can render to what is called the higher
education is to teach the present
generation to provide a material or
industrial
foundation on such a foundation as this
will grow habits of thrift a love of
work economy ownership of property bank
accounts out of it in the future will
grow practical education professional
education positions of public
responsibility out of it will grow moral
and religious strength out of it will
grow wealth from which alone can come
Leisure and the opportunity for the
enjoyment of literature and the Fine
Arts in the words of the late beloved
Frederick Douglas every blow of the
sledgehammer wielded by a sable arm is a
powerful blow in support of our cause
every colored mechanic is by virtue of
circumstances and elevator of his race
every house built by a black man is a
strong tower against the Allied hosts of
prejudice it is impossible for us to
attach too much importance to this
aspect of the subject without Industrial
Development there can be no wealth
without wealth there can be no leisure
without Leisure no opportunity for
thoughtful reflection and the
cultivation of the higher Arts I would
set no limits to the attainments of the
Negro in arts in letters or
statesmanship but I believe the shest
way to reach those ends is by laying the
foundation in the little things of life
that lie immediately about one's door I
plead for industrial education and
development for the Negro not because I
want to cramp him but because I want to
free him I want to see him enter the all
powerful business and Commercial
world it was such combined mental moral
and Industrial education which the late
General Armstrong set out to give at the
Hampton Institute when he established
that school 30 years ago the Hampton
Institute has continued along the lines
laid down by its great founder and now
each year an increasing number of
similar schools are being established in
the south for the people of both
races early in the history of the
Tuskegee Institute we began to combine
industrial training with mental and
moral culture our first efforts were in
the direction of Agri culture and we
began teaching this with no appliances
except one hoe and a blind
mule from this small beginning we have
grown until now The Institute owns 2,000
acres of land 800 of which are
cultivated each year by the young men of
the school we began teaching wheel
riding and blacksmithing in a small way
to the men and laundry work cooking and
sewing and housekeeping to the young
women the 1400 and over young men and
women who attended the school during the
last school year received instruction in
addition to academic and religious
training in 33 trades and industries
including carpentry blacksmithing
printing wheel riding harness making
painting Machinery founding shoe making
brick masonry and brick making
Plastering sawmilling tin smithing
tailoring mechanical and Architectural
drawing electrical and steam engineering
canning sewing dress making millenary
cooking laundering housekeeping mattress
making basketry nursing Agriculture
dairying and stock raising horiculture
not only do the students receive
instruction in these trades but they do
actual work by means of which more than
half of them pay some part or all of
their expenses while remaining at the
school of the 60 buildings belonging to
the school all but four were almost
wholly erected by the students as part
of their industrial education even the
bricks which go into the walls are made
by students in the school's Brickyard in
which last year they manufactured 2
million
bricks when we first began this work at
Tuskegee and the idea got spread among
the people of my race that the students
who came to the Tuskegee School were to
be taught Industries in connection with
their academic studies were in other
words to be taught to work I received a
great many verbal messages and letters
from parents and informing me that they
wanted their children taught books but
not how to work this protest went on for
three or 4 years but I'm glad to be able
to say now that our people have very
generally been educated to a point where
they see their own needs and conditions
so clearly that it has been several
years since we have had a single protest
from parents against the teaching of
Industries and there is now a positive
enthusiasm for it in fact public
sentiment among the students at Tuskegee
is now so wrong for industrial training
that it would hardly permit a student to
remain on the grounds who was unwilling
to
labor it seems to me that too often mere
book education leaves the Negro young
men or woman in a weak position for
example I have seen a negro girl taught
by her mother to help her in doing
laundry work at home later when this
same girl was graduated from the public
schools or a high school and returned
home she finds herself educated out of
sympathy with laundry work and yet not
able to find find anything to do which
seems in keeping with the cost and
character of her
education under these circumstances we
cannot be surprised if she does not
fulfill the expectations made for her
what should have been done for her it
seems to me was to give her along with
her academic education thorough training
in the latest and best methods of
laundry work so that she could have put
so much skill and intelligence into it
that the work would have been lifted out
of the plane of
drudgery the home which he would then
have been able to found by the results
of her work would have enabled her to
help her children to take a still more
responsible position in
life almost from the first Tuskegee has
kept in mind and this I think should be
the policy of all industrial schools
fitting students for occupations which
would be open to them in their home
communities some years ago we noted the
fact that there was beginning to be a
demand in the South for men to operate
dairies in a skillful modern manner we
opened a dairy Department in connection
with the school where a number of young
men could have instruction in the latest
and most scientific methods of dairy
work at present we have calls mainly
from Southern white men for twice as
many dairymen as we are able to
supply what is equally satisfactory the
reports which come to us indicate that
our young men are giving the highest
satisfaction and are fast changing and
improving the dairy product in the
communities into which they go I use the
Dairy here as an example what I have
said of this is equally true of many of
the other Industries which we teach
aside from the economic value of this
work I cannot but believe and my
observation confirms me in my belief
that as we continue to place negro men
and women of intelligence religion
modesty conscience and skill in every
community in the South who will prove by
actual results their value to the
community I cannot but believe I say
that this will constitute a solution to
many of the present political and social
difficulties many seem to think that
industrial education is meant to make
the Negro work as he worked in the days
of slavery this is far from my
conception of industrial education if
this training is worth anything to the
Negro it consists in teaching him how
not to work but how to make the forces
of nature air steam water horsepower and
electricity work for him if it has any
value it is in lifting labor up out of
toil and drudgery into the plain of the
dignified and the
Beautiful the Negro in the South works
and works hard but too often his
ignorance and lack of skill causes him
to do his work in the most costly and
shiftless Manner and this keeps him near
the bottom of the ladder in the economic
world I have not emphasized particularly
in these Pages the great need of
training the Negro in agriculture but I
believe that this branch of industrial
education does need very great emphasis
in this connection I want to quote some
words which Mr Edgar Gardner Murphy of
Montgomery Alabama has recently written
upon this subject we must incorporate
into our Public School System a larger
recognition of the Practical and
Industrial elements in educational
training ours is an agricultural
population the school must be brought
more closely to the soil the teaching of
history for example is all very well but
nobody can really know anything of
History unless he has been taught to see
things grow has so seen things not only
with the outward eye but with the eyes
of his intelligence and conscience the
actual things of the present are more
important however than the institutions
of the past even to young children can
be shown these simpler conditions and
processes of growth how corn is put into
the ground how cotton and potatoes
should be planted how to choose the soil
best adapted to a particular plant how
to improve that soil how to care for the
plant while it grows how to get the most
value out of it how to use the elements
of waste for the fertilization of other
crops how through the alternation of
crops the land may be made to increase
the annual value of its products these
things upon their Elementary side are
absolutely vital to the worth and
success of hundreds of thousands of
these people of the Negro race and yet
our whole educational system has
practically ignored them such work will
mean not only an education in
agriculture but an education through
Agriculture and education through
natural symbols and practical forms
which will educate as deeply as broadly
and as truly as any other system which
the world has known such changes will
bring Far larger result results than the
mere Improvement of our Negroes they
will give us an agricultural Class A
Class of tenants where small landowners
train not away from the soil but in
relation to the soil and in intelligent
dependence upon its
resources I closed then as I began by
saying that as a slave the Negro was
worked and that as a Freeman he must
learn to work there was still doubt in
many quarters as to the ability of the
Negro grow unguided unsupported to Hue
his own path and to put into visible
tangible indisputable form products and
signs of
civilization this doubt cannot be much
affected by abstract arguments no matter
how delicately and convincingly woven
together patiently quietly doggedly
persistently through summer and winter
sunshine and Shadow by
self-sacrifice by foresight by honesty
and Industry
we must reinforce argument with
results one Farm bought one house built
one home sweetly and intelligently kept
one man who is the largest taxpayer or
has the largest bank account one school
or church maintained one Factory running
successfully one truck Garden profitably
cultivated one patient cured by a negro
doctor one sermon well preached one
office well filled One Life cleanly
lived these will tell more in our favor
than all the abstract eloquence that can
be summoned to plead our cause our
pathway must be up through the soil up
through swamps up through forests up
through the streams the Rocks up through
Commerce education and
religion end of section one recording by
James K white Chula Vista
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