Booker T. Washington’s great history

Nelson Graves
Published: August 13, 2008

I don’t remember if my classmates and I were in the fifth or sixth grade, but I remember going on a field trip to Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown. Most of what we knew at the time was about Pocahontas, Capt. John Smith and the settling of Jamestown.
American history taught back in the mid 1950’s was similar to today’s Shenandoah Pride milk. It was white and homogenized. The real history – the poor treatment of Native Americans and, not long afterward, African slaves – didn’t mean anything to 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds. What little we knew of slavery didn’t resonate.
I also recall going on a field trip to President Woodrow Wilson’s birthplace in downtown Staunton. Growing up in the city of Wilson’s birth made us proud. Like the true history of slavery, it was many years later that I discovered how little he thought of African Americans.
On a recent Sunday, my wife suggested visiting the birthplace and National Monument of Booker T. Washington. It was a scenic and relaxing drive. After visiting Booker T.’s birthplace and watching a short documentary about him, the visit was very enlightening. I don’t like admitting it, but by going to his place of birth, I discovered how little I knew of him.
Returning home, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of visiting the site before. A history buff and graduate of a high school in Staunton named after him, visiting Booker T.’s birthplace was long overdue.
It’s generally known that he was born a slave four years before the Civil War, gained freedom at its end and later founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Since my high school days, I’ve learned that Booker T.’s philosophy, of how former slaves should have improved themselves after being set free, was controversial.
W.E.B. DuBois, an outspoken advocate for equal rights and opportunity for freed blacks following the Civil War, felt Booker T. was too accommodating and patient in demanding rights for former slaves. DuBois’ main irritation with Washington was that Booker T., having the ears of presidents, did not speak out loudly or strongly enough against the lynching of blacks.
What Booker T. did to help former slaves and their descendants, even to this day, is unbelievable. How he determined that hard work and obtaining an education or trade was the way to transition from slavery to citizenry shows just how far he was ahead of his time.
It’s too late for the Recreation Departments of Augusta County, Staunton and Waynesboro to plan visits to Booker T.’s birthplace for this summer season. However, all of them could plan visits for future summers.
Here’s another thought. Instead of celebrating Black History Month the same old way, the school system of each locality could plan annual field trips to Washington’s birthplace. There might even be adults who would desire to go, at a reasonable cost.
It’s a history all Americans should know.
Nelson Graves writes a weekly column for The News Virginian and he’s Western Virginia director of the Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council. E-mail him at .