I'm working on some personal projects going forward so I'll be walking away from Blogging for a while. Hope to return but will see what happens next.
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Go Read Booker T. Washington
During some finals week of a year I no longer remember, I was passing through the bookstore at the Indiana Memorial Union and found the autobiography of one of my heroes, Booker T. Washington, on discount. Booker T. had always been a hero of mine due to the strength of his ideals and the fact that he was underappreciated as a civil rights leader, so I got it. It took a couple years, but recent events finally made me get around to reading it.
Booker T. was a prominent civil rights leader in the 1800s who had been born into slavery and eventually went on to lead the Tuskegee Institute. He was a believer in the concept of black excellence, that African Americans should constantly better themselves and learn the skills required to go into and potentially create the industries that would better society. From this, equality would eventually be achieved through self-improvement and education.
His autobiography starts about the feelings of what it was like to be freed from slavery when he was a boy. The feelings of jubilation and the knowledge that the worst of their lives was over is well documented in the book as well as what it would mean going forward. This inevitably led to opportunities, but hardships as well.
From there, he travelled with the support of his family to look for work before he ended up teaching at the Tuskegee Institute. From there, he impressed people to the point that he was made the head of the Institute. The rest of the book chronicles his work from going to conferences to getting talent to work at the institute to his personal life to fundraisers to working with various Presidents and more.
The book is an excellent chronicle of his beliefs in how to uplift African Americans during the worst of segregation and a chronicle of what he was up against. From lynchings to white supremacy to southern politics, his autobiography gives an overview of life during this time and the struggle for civil rights. It is a time period not as often talked about during the discussions of racism in the United States so it is good to have a primary source on it.
Booker himself gives a good overview of how to face challenges when there is little support from the establishment. Often one cannot overwhelmingly defeat the system alone, but they can improve themselves and give the best impression of what they believe. It is something important that anyone should consider.
The book is both a good look into the views and issues of the time as well as his philosophy. I highly recommend it as his values are still applicable and have the potential to improve the lives of those interested. Without any hindrance of a doubt, go give it a read.
Booker T. was a prominent civil rights leader in the 1800s who had been born into slavery and eventually went on to lead the Tuskegee Institute. He was a believer in the concept of black excellence, that African Americans should constantly better themselves and learn the skills required to go into and potentially create the industries that would better society. From this, equality would eventually be achieved through self-improvement and education.
His autobiography starts about the feelings of what it was like to be freed from slavery when he was a boy. The feelings of jubilation and the knowledge that the worst of their lives was over is well documented in the book as well as what it would mean going forward. This inevitably led to opportunities, but hardships as well.
From there, he travelled with the support of his family to look for work before he ended up teaching at the Tuskegee Institute. From there, he impressed people to the point that he was made the head of the Institute. The rest of the book chronicles his work from going to conferences to getting talent to work at the institute to his personal life to fundraisers to working with various Presidents and more.
The book is an excellent chronicle of his beliefs in how to uplift African Americans during the worst of segregation and a chronicle of what he was up against. From lynchings to white supremacy to southern politics, his autobiography gives an overview of life during this time and the struggle for civil rights. It is a time period not as often talked about during the discussions of racism in the United States so it is good to have a primary source on it.
Booker himself gives a good overview of how to face challenges when there is little support from the establishment. Often one cannot overwhelmingly defeat the system alone, but they can improve themselves and give the best impression of what they believe. It is something important that anyone should consider.
The book is both a good look into the views and issues of the time as well as his philosophy. I highly recommend it as his values are still applicable and have the potential to improve the lives of those interested. Without any hindrance of a doubt, go give it a read.
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
No Blog Post This Week
Sorry to admit that there will be no blogpost this week. I have been rather busy with professional and personal projects so I have not had time to give one the time it deserves. Rest assured, a new one should be back up on Tuesday.
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