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I was not aware of how obviously and powerfully Booker T. Washington was used by white elites to support their racist theories and policies. Inviting him to speak on panels with De Bois would be speaking and funding his educational work at Tuskegee as well as his efforts to defame rivals are two examples.

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Kendi wrote about his experience internalizing racist messages to such an extent that he, as a Black person, had racist beliefs about Black people. In this chapter, we read that apparently Booker T. Washington had a similar experience due, at least in part, to his schooling experience at Hampton, and potentially also his early experience in performing manual labor. However, Kendi felt tension from an early age between these racist beliefs, which grew more and more conscious as he grew older, and the pride he gained when reading the books his parents bought for him about Black leaders and thinkers. I would think that his own capacity for thinking became more apparent to him as he grew older, leading him to see a logical disconnect between racist ideas of Blacks as inferior mentally and his own lived experience. This does not appear to be the case for Booker T. Washington, based on this chapter, which is somewhat surprising since he did not continue to perform manual labor, but instead essentially served as a public intellectual, even without a college degree.

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I wonder if indeed Booker T. Washington believed his message of Blacks being better suited to manual labor to be factually true, or if he felt it a necessary truth in order to facilitate Black acceptance into white society. Strangely, this would mirror what Kendi wrote about self-interest being the primary driver of racist policy, in this case Black self-interest being the origin. On page 12, the author writes that BTW understood a need for Blacks to acculturate in order to survive in a capitalist society like the U.S., leading me to think the purpose behind his argument was practical.

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1. "Because of these calculated pronouncements, the Atlanta
speech catapulted Washington into leadership status over black America and made him useful to European colonizers, who elevated him as a model to be imitated by colonized people globally" (pg 11).

2. "Booker T. Washington’s leadership had a profound impact on social scientists in the early twentieth century. This was so because his racial doctrines aligned with their scientific racism, which claimed that blacks were at the bottom of the social order because of biological and cultural inferiority" (pg 14).

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I was unaware of the influence that Booker T. Washington had on social scientists of the 20th century, mainly because, "...his racial doctrines aligned with their scientific racism (p.14)." He convinced both white elites and recently emancipated black individuals that economic independence was the key to increased equality and that it could be achieved through industrial education because ..."blacks were best fitted for manual labor (p.9)". He also encouraged the idea that equality through racial development was a slow process that could not be hurried, it would emerge gradually over time.

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1.  "Implicitly referring to blacks' political equality during Reconstruction as a mistake, he argued that because blacks were 'ignorant and inexperienced, it is not strange that in the first five years of our new life we began at the top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the state legislature was more sought than real estate or industrial skills; that the political convention or stump speaking had more attractions than starting a dairy farm or truck garden.' Washington embraced racial inequality, declaring, 'It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top (p.10).'"

2. "Following the Atlanta speech, Washington became the unquestioned black leader, embraced by white elites and the black masses. Social scientists and white philanthropists gravitated to Washington because his Darwinian stance implied a bright future for white privilege (p.13)."

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At the close of the chapter, there is a brief mention of W.E.B Du Bois indicating that he challenged the work and leadership of Washington; I wondered whether they had a professional (or personal) relationship? And if so, what was the dynamic of their relationship?

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Booker T. Washington won favor with influential white elites because his, "...racial doctrines aligned with their scientific racism, which claimed that blacks were at the bottom of the social order because of biological and cultural inferiority (p.14)." Kendi discusses biological racism in-depth and concludes that 'racist power' maintains authority by perpetuating racist ideas through mechanisms such as a racial hierarchy. However, he also cautions against eliminating racial categories because they help to illuminate racial disparities, and inequities, "Terminating racial categories is potentially the last, not the first, step in the antiracist struggle (p.54). Through the mapping of the human genome, it has been proven that human beings are 99.9% the same in genetic terms. Race, therefore, is a social construct created to group the human race into categories.

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In all honesty and quite a bit of embarrassment while I am familiar with the name Booker T. Washington, I knew next to nothing about him. So, this whole chapter was very informative, especially his tie-ins with Tuskegee University.

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[because blacks were] “ignorant and inexperienced, it is not strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the state legislature was more sought than real estate or industrial skill; that the political convention or stump speaking had more attractions than starting a dairy farm or truck garden. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top” (p.10).

“As we have proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sickbed of your mothers and fathers, and often following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves, so in the future, in our humble way, we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can approach, ready to lay down our lives, if need be, in defense of yours” (p. 11).

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On page 11 Washington is quoted saying, “no race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem”. He was arguing that “blacks should pursue manual labor”. Does he not think that they have done their fair share of manual labor? I am so curious as to the reasoning behind this.

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Kendi’s chapter Power and race as a power construct was my connection to this chapter. The power of race had a hold of Booker T. Washington. As of this writing I don’t feel I know enough about him to understand why he believed so deeply in it. I do know that he didn’t embrace it as Kendi did in order to understand and navigate his world. Washington interpreted it in a way to bring his race down.

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I learned about the Chicago school of sociology & how they had to denounce/ reject/ ignore Du Bois. If they didn’t they would have had to reject as inferior & incorrect their own work.

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“Washington was as adamant about his cultural work as we was about developing black economic independence because he thought a main reason for blacks’ inequality was their lack of civilization.” P. 12

“Blacks, in his view, had to learn how to use basic hygiene techniques, eat properly, speak and dress correctly and avoid suspicious immoral activities including crime, drinking, and carrying weapons.”

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I wonder if Washington ever had his own reckoning of his own internalized racism as Kendi experienced.

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I relate the second quote I noted to the process of exhibiting racism that Kendi experienced in himself when he talked about colorism. That certain physical characteristics of black people are more acceptable than others, namely those who looked more like white people were more palatable. Likewise, Washington sought to learn, embody, teach and espouse characteristics of “civilized” white people and that if these characteristics could be mastered, black people would be less inferior and more acceptable to society, meaning white people.

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Morris states, "Beyond ideology lay naked economic and political interests because southern white elites needed cheap labor akin to that provided by slaves if they were to remain a ruling aristocracy. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, white northern capitalists also required cheap labor to fuel the massive industrialization rapidly developing within the factory system embedded in American cities". This makes me question if this whole emancipation and war was based pure economics?

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1.  "Beyond ideology lay naked economic and political interests because southern white elites needed cheap labor akin to that provided by slaves if they were to remain a ruling aristocracy. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, white northern capitalists also required cheap labor to fuel the massive industrialization rapidly developing within the factory system embedded in American cities"
2. "Thus America faced serious challenges regarding social relations between immigrants, blacks, and native-born whites during the period of rapid industrialization. Should it attempt to assimilate the immigrants, and if so, what should happen regarding their native cultures, languages, politics, religions, and ethnic associations?"

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I learned that whites in power, specifically those in the south, expected blacks' cooperation in subordinating blacks and wanted to have black leaders who safeguard their interest. That is why Booker T. Washington's leadership was celebrated by whites in the South after Fredrick Douglas' death.

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Behavioral and biological racism was widespread in mid 1890s. Kendi discussed behavioral or biological racism is normalized and refused to accept that one form of behavior can be applied to whole group. according to Morris, in the 1895, Booker T. Washington declared "blacks were best fitted for manual jobs like carpentry, cooking, brick masonry, housekeeping, and blacksmithing. Implicitly referring to blacks’ political equality during Reconstruction as a mistake, he argued that because blacks were “ignorant and inexperienced."