400 Years Of Racism Book Discussion: Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

 400 Years of Racism book discussion series returns in 2024 with Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington 

Some chroniclers have called black history from 1881 to 1915 'The Age of Booker T. Washington' and the label is apt, for he was without question the most prominent spokesman for his race during the post-Reconstruction period. Many of his contemporaries deemed him a savior -- the one man who could bring concrete improvement to the lives of African-Americans while also promoting racial harmony.

 Others, particularly black intellectuals, called him a traitor to his race, asserting that his accommodationist position not only contributed to black disenfranchisement and dejure segregation but, in the words of W. E. B. Du Bois, 'practically accepts the alleged inferiority of blacks.' 

But however one judges Booker T. Washington, his vast influence is inescapable, and his autobiography, "Up From Slavery," winner of the National Book Award, is essential…