- Sep 2022
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moodle.lynchburg.edu moodle.lynchburg.edu
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One farm bought, one house built,one home sweetly and intelligently kept, one man who isthe largest tax payer or has the largest bank account, oneschool or church maintained, one factory runningsuccessfully, one truck garden pro tably cultivated, onepatient cured by a Negro doctor, one sermon wellpreached, one o ce well lled, one life cleanly lived–these will tell more in our favor than all the abstracteloquence that can be summoned to plead our cause.
Washington again asserts the value of the middle and upper class, of land and business owners, over the value of the working class, and yet he doesn't grasp the almost complete lack of social mobility within the capitalist system.
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small land owners,
Well that one didn't work out.
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who will prove by actual resultstheir value to the community, I cannot but believe, I say,that this will constitute a solution to many of the presentpolitical and social di culties.
While I understand that Washington could not see the future, and was perhaps simply being optimistic, he was wrong. No matter how strong capitalism is in influencing your respectability within society, it will never be enough to overcome racism as racism does not view things rationally. Furthermore, these industrial jobs are now looked down upon and any attempt by African-Americans to move into more respected jobs has faced resistance from upper class whites, largely due to their attempt to keep wealth concentrated within the hands of the 1% but also due to either conscious or subconscious racial biases about the ability of black people to work in jobs that are not trades.
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The home which she would then havebeen able to nd by the results of her work would haveenabled her to help her children to take a still moreresponsible position in life.
Aka, since women are capable of having children they should forgo formal education in favor of housework so that they may one day better take care of their children who can then attempt to move up the socioeconomic ladder.
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and there is now a positive enthusiasm for it.
While I have been harping on Washington for his capitalist views, I do think it's important to stress the importance of industrial education and work. At the same time, though, the reason this work is viewed with a lack of respect is due to the capitalist system that allows for the exploitation of said labor. As long as the system refuses to protect the right of workers, working in the trades, while it may get you a job, will also leave you ripe to exploitation.
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Of the sixty buildingsbelonging to the school all but four were almost whollyerected by the students as a part of their industrialeducation. Even the bricks which go into the walls aremade by students in the school’s brick yard, in which, lastyear, they manufactured two million bricks.
It seems academia never changes, no matter what form it takes.
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From thissmall beginning we have grown until now the Instituteowns two thousand acres of land, eight hundred of whichare cultivated each year by the young men of the school.
It's interesting that these students work communal land owned by the school while Washington continues to express the importance of bending tot he will of a capitalist system.
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I would set no limits to the attainments of the Negro inarts, in letters or statesmanship, but I believe the surestway to reach those ends is by laying the foundation in thelittle things of life that lie immediately about one’s door. Iplead for industrial education and development for theNegro not because I want to cramp him, but because Iwant to free him. I want to see him enter the all-powerfulbusiness and commercial world.
Here Washington encourages readers to seek only the smallest amount of success and approval they can from the system in which they live, that they should not seek to change an unjust system but rather adapt to it and take the crumbs that are offered to them with nothing more than a "thank you."
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And just the same with theprofessional class which the race needs and must have, Iwould say give the men and women of that class, too, thetraining which will best t them to perform in the mostsuccessful manner the service which the race demands.
He seems to view the status of a race of people as equivalent to how much work and capitol said race can contribute to the economy.
"Internalized capitalism is this idea that our self-worth is directly linked to our productivity." - Professor Anders Hayden of Dalhousie University
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Without industrial development there can be nowealth; without wealth there can be no leisure; withoutleisure no opportunity for thoughtful re ection and thecultivation of the higher arts.”
He repeatedly seems to assert the idea that due to their current state in the economy at the time of this writing, black people should continue to work in jobs they hate in order to hopefully receive some semblance of relevance and respect in the capitalist system as controlled by middle and upper class whites. Here he claims that black people of the working class should not take time for themselves, should not focus on anything outside of work, and should not attempt to elevate their socioeconomic status. He views time off, rest, and activities outside of work as something that only the upper class should seek, and that black people of his day should continue to work lower paying jobs so that their future descendants may one day be a part of this oppressive upper class. All I see here is an awful case of internalized and externalized capitalism that seeks to further oppress people for things that are outside of their control.
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It is discouraging to nd agirl who can tell you the geographical location of anycountry on the globe and who does not know where toplace the dishes upon a common dinner table. It isdiscouraging to nd a woman who knows much abouttheoretical chemistry, and who cannot properly wash andiron a shirt.
While practical life skills are important, I can't help but notice how long he goes on about his disappointment in black women for receiving liberal arts educations in comparison to how long he goes on about his disappointment in black men for the same.
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ownership of the soil.
Washington expresses the importance of land ownership, which is integral to creating intergenerational wealth, and a goal that many black Americans were unable to fill due to institutionalized racism and housing discrimination.
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that all forms of labor are honorable,and all forms of idleness disgraceful.
Washington seemed to have a very capitalist view of labor and the right of workers to have time free of said labor. Not surprising honestly.
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