"Up From Slavery" and "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" both share first person narratives of black civil rights activists---more importantly, the stories highlight two figures with different approaches to achieving justice. Despite their differing ideologies, both Booker T. Washington and Malcolm X had to adapt to the American system in a major way: by adopting relentless work ethics. Here, I argue that Malcolm X had a more humanitarian, community-driven notion of hard-work, while Booker T. Washington worked hard to promote individuality for other black Americans. These contrasting motives meant Malcolm and Washington had notably different impacts on the Civil Rights scene.
Malcolm X's autobiography distinguishes between his "private" and "public" persona. Publicly, he was not afraid of intimidating white America (which can't be said about Booker T. Washington), and as a result many thinkers of the time were unwilling to debate him (preface). Malcolm X gained notoriety among various communities (both black and white) for his "straight-to-the-point" mentality, which made sense given the circumstances he grew up in. Since his birth, the Ku Klux Klan tried to oust Malcolm X from his hometown of Omaha. Additionally, his father was a staunch support of Marcus Garvey and the "Back to Africa" movement, a system which "stressed becoming independent of the white man" (16). Thus, Malcolm's public hatred for the actions of white people seems to have stemmed from his early life.
In contrast, Booker T. Washington chose to basically ignore the post-abolition racism in America. His story was that of rigid individualism, and he didn't mention his humanity in writing too much; rather, he viewed life as a series of obstacles which must be overcome to achieve "greatness". Success was linked to intellect for Washington, and thus his main goal since childhood---as detailed in "Up From Slavery---was to receive a solid education. He describes what it was like to get freed from a plantation, and the sort of directionless future his family looked upon, but doesn't dwell on the systemic injustice too much. He simply works away, in order to gain increments of small wages that could help make his life better (child labor). This perspective is held by Washington for multiple decades of his life, and he never changed it, even when others tried to make him re-consider his beliefs (like Malcolm X did).
For Washington, the motivation to work hard was obvious: he didn't want to end up uneducated and deformed like coal miners (38-43). Even though white Americans had a much easier life path than him, Booker T. Washington insisted upon focusing on just making the best of what his environment provided to him; if he worked hard enough and focused on himself, no matter how unfair his life was, he'd be bound to find success. For example, to gain admission to a selective boarding school, Washington had to constantly clean the building, purely relying on the fact that some higher-up would be impressed by this and let him enroll. A powerful statement in his autobiography is that "sweeping of [the classroom] was [his] college examination", and I think this best represents Washington's mindset (53). Booker T. Washington never really changed his views to accomodate to his surroundings (like Malcolm X did), rather he worked hard enough so that his surroundings would accept his views.
Hi Dan, I think you did an awesome job with this blog! I especially enjoyed the detail and depth of your analysis of both Malcom X and Washington; how certain elements and circumstances in their lives were able to mold their future views and ideologies. I definitely agree that while its important to see things from a modern perspective, and analyze the ways where these two may disagree, it's just as important to look at Washington and X in the contexts of their time period and acknowledge why they believe these things, and in general just recognizing their similarities, and applauding their collective accomplishments
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you characterize Malcolm X as having a more human story than Booker T. Washington. I had not thought of it like that, but come to think of it I can see it reflected in their ideologies. Washington just wanted to face up to life's challenges, but Malcolm X, having a more human quality to his own story, talked about the human aspect of those challenges, namely, that they were often caused by the racism of white people.
ReplyDeleteI did a similar post for my second blog (comparing and contrasting Malcolm X and Booker T. Washington), but you took a much different approach to looking at their lives which I thought was interesting. You delve a lot more into the personal aspects of their lives and ideology, or lack thereof, which I though was really helpful for getting a better understanding of their stories
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you! I think it's really important not to judge these great historical figures based on today's standards and we should learn from both of them. I also agree with you about Malcolm X seeming more "human". I think this might be because Malcolm X collaborates with and learns from a lot more black people in his autobiography while the people that inspire Booker T. Washington are mostly white. There's a sense that these people that inspire Booker T. Washington aren't really people he can discuss with or challenge but people that inspire him in a one way relationship as opposed to Malcolm X's collaborations which are more two way.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting how different these two are even though they both seem to have the same goal. I also think it's interesting how Malcom X talked about his public and private life and how he had to adapt his views while Booker T Washington didn't. He was considerably more focused on education while Malcom X was more questioning of existing educational systems.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting how you compared both of the autobiographies in the sense of the authors different ways of influencing the public with their ideas of racial justice. I liked how in the end you discussed how important it is to recognize how the differences in the times that each of the authors lived is vital in understanding why they say what they say, and I mentioned something similar in my blog as well. Nice job, Dan!
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job of appreciating the nuances of comparing the two figures. I liked that you acknowledged the muddled perspective on Washington by our experiences in the 21st century, and gave props to both Malcom and Washington for being quite strong willed and significant for their time periods. I also liked the way you contrasted them- I think framing some of their differences in terms of their environment and goals was a great way to contrast them.
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