The Atlantic Exposition Address

Amanda Onalaja

January 12, 2010

AP English – III

Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, has always had, in my humble opinion, a creative way of wanting to establish the African American race. The opposite of W.E.B. DuBois’ “liberal approach”, Washington insisted on a vocational one, whereas give my race work and let us earn our keep; a view that has always earned my disapproval and criticism. However, in the chapter titled “The Atlantic Exposition Address”, from his autobiography, Up From Slavery, Washington illustrates the method behind the madness.

Ultimately at the Atlanta Exposition, Washington wanted to deliver a speech that would, “cement the friendship of the races and bring about hearty cooperation between them”. The reaction to his speech was better than he expected, but I couldn’t help but wonder why else they wouldn’t be. He preached that, “No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin and not at the top”, I agree that African Americans should not be ashamed to work, but it’s unconstitutional to have to work for our respect in a Nation that is equally our own. He follows with, “Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities”. In other words Washington believed that, we shouldn’t take a mile when we were barely offered an inch, but it is my argument that that inch and that mile should have been equally ours to claim. Washington harbored good intentions, but he chose the easy way out, and I believe anything worth struggling over, is work fighting for. After two centuries of tolling in soil and being degraded, I refuse to do the same thing over under slightly different conditions.

He was praised for wanting blacks to stay subordinates, “Just as soon as the South gets over the old feeling that it is being forced by "foreigners," or "aliens," to do something which it does not want to do, I believe that the change in the direction that I have indicated is going to begin”, until the whites allow them into civil society. He seemed to criticize DuBois’ theories by stating, “think, though, that the opportunity to freely exercise such political rights will not come in any large degree through outside or artificial forcing, but will be accorded to the Negro by the Southern white people themselves”, rebutting DuBois’ liberal education wants.

All in all I find it wrong to condemn Washington for his peaceful views. His ideal was the succession of the African American race regardless of what his methods were. He was probably right, even though some are too ignorant to take a glance at his perspective.

Of the Black Belt

Amanda Onalaja

January 11, 2010

AP English – Pd. 3

“Of the Black Belt”, is the seventh chapter of W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk. The Black Belt is the southeastern region of the United States, extending from southwest Tennessee to east-central Mississippi and then east through Alabama to the border with Georgia. Known for its poverty and low education system, the Black Belt is an abundance of the Negro dilemma during the 20^th century. However, the area has negative effects for all races which inhabit it. The early 20th century brought a general economic collapse, among the many causes of which were agriculture depletion, the boll weevil invasion and subsequent collapse of the cotton economy, and the socially repressive Jim Crow laws. What had been one of the nation's wealthiest and most politically powerful regions became one of the poorest.

DuBois’ writing seems more to inform than to persuade. His use of rhetorical examination is clever. By filling chapters with tragic events such as those experienced by the residents of the Black Belt, he allows readers to draw upon their own conclusions, causing emotional turmoil. One can’t help but pity the poor man whose furniture was unlawfully repossessed at the chapters end. Cotton, one of the most old time successful crops no longer shared its abundance of fluffy softness, deepening cotton farmers in debt. DuBois recounts, “you may stand on a spot which is to-day the centre of the Negro problem,—the centre of those nine million men who are America’s dark heritage from slavery and the slave-trade”. True enough Georgia had a large population of African Americans.

Of Booker T. Washington & Progress

Amanda Onalaja

January 10, 2010

AP English III – Pd. 2

In the third chapter of The Souls of Black Folk, “Of Booker T. Washington and Others”, DuBois writes about the disadvantages on what may seem the opposite of his “liberal approach”. That is a vocational one; who better than Booker T. Washington to express this approach. I’ve always considered Booker T. Washington and DuBois as opposites. DuBois believed African Americans needed higher learning in order to make their way into a civil society, whereas Washington believed African Americans should seek economic leverage and then equality would come later. This very chapter discusses the “subtle” rejection DuBois feels for this approach.

The Tuskegee Institute to this day is a place where hose can learn a craft and perfect a skill. This approach is created with good intentions. Washington believed men and women should excel at their skill, which helped their movement as a people, however DuBois argues, “… nor Tuskegee could remain open a day were it not for teachers trained in Negro colleges or trained by their graduates”, ultimately stating education is the root to all success. It is the life water which can nourish the African American race if applied the proper way. Civic equality is what blacks needed, and being able to craft the sturdiest steel, won’t accomplish that. While complimenting Washington for his ideals, DuBois still politely discouraged them.

The fourth chapter titled, “Of the Meaning of Progress”, DuBois recounts his travels; meeting several families and persons along the hills of Tennessee. He illustrative each character from homely to rough, retelling the story of their demise or survival. The interesting thing, is that there is a moral to his madness, more than just a tale of strangers, inside lies the tale of progress. The children of those hills were eager to learn, but a string of mishaps, including the departure of their teacher Mr. DuBois, caught up with them along with life. “My log schoolhouse was gone. In its place stood Progress; and Progress, I understand, is necessarily ugly”. How can one progressive if a forward step are never taken, never even dreamed of being taken. Ambition is just a tool of progressivism.

Of Our Spiritual Strivings

Amanda Onalaja

December 9, 2010

AP English III – Pd. 2

The Souls of Black Folk is a collection of essays written by W.E.B. DuBois and other this influential persons. The first chapter, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”, centers on DuBois coming to terms with our race’s role in America. A definite example of social realism, this chapter previews what many men and women of the African American brand had to search and sacrifice in times of slavery, how in many ways our liberation was truly not freedom, and how America would handle losing a resource it violated and humiliated.

DuBois makes a powerful statement when describing the “veil” he felt whites put up about him, “….no desire to tear down that veil… [I] lived above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows”. He chose to overcome the limitations placed upon him by exceeding expectations, “that sky was bluest when I could beat all my mates at examination-time”. He compares his decisions to and actions to those of his peers, “their youth sunk into tasteless sycophancy or into silent hatred of the pale world about them and mocking distrust of everything white”. A positive versus negative approach is used, both in an attempt at pathos. DuBois’ felt knowledge is the greatest weapon against the mercy of their “superiors”; he believed a liberal education was the key to our race’s success. While others scorned the majority, he took academic action.

Being ashamed of who you are is highly discouraged, “He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows the Negro blood has a message for the world”, as stated by DuBois. How can one be African and American? “Two souls, two thoughts… two warring ideals in one dark body”. It was a battle amongst yourself, being a Negro slave. He goes on to illustrate how badly people wanted to bring these two different worlds together. Americans are always thought of as patriotic with fair skin, but why couldn’t Negro’s just be the ebony version? With the arrival of the emancipation came a bigger issue, suffrage. In order to uphold their freedom, Negro’s had to enter the government that corrupted them in the first place, lest suffer the chances of being enslaved again.. All in all, their freedom truly wasn’t freedom, “he felt his poverty; without a cent, without a home…” they were a handicapped people living with the little they had managed to secure.