Washington Was Wrong
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, while fictional, echoes many of the social speakers in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. An allusion to Ralph Waldo Emerson, a white abolitionist, is made early in the novel. Another allusion is made to W.E.B. Du Bois, a key figure in the civil rights movement, near the end of the novel. One of the most important social speakers alluded to in the novel is Booker T. Washington. In particular, the novel details his theory on achieving civil rights for African Americans and his clash with W.E.B. Du Bois. At the beginning of the novel the narrator accepts his grandfather’s advice, to “undermine ’em with grins”, which reflects Washington’s theory of submissiveness(13). By the end of the novel the narrator’s feelings toward Washington’s theory waver allowing him to move toward Du Bois’ theory of racial uplift. These allusions reveal how Washington’s theory hinders the narrator’s ability to gain civil rights through the assertion of his identity, contrarily, Du Bois’ allows for the acquisition of such an ability.
A former slave, Booker T. Washington gained renown after founding the historically black college, Tuskegee Institute, in the South. He later made himself a leader in race relations after giving his “Atlanta Compromise Speech” in 1895, three and a half decades after the abolition of slavery(Wesson). In the speech he called for African Americans to focus their energy “in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions” instead of politics and equality(Washington). He believed that looking to the South for employment, for the opportunity to claim economic success as proof of their intelligence was the only path toward civil rights. Washington was confident that when the Whites recognized the African American community’s tenacity and proficiency in the labor sphere of society, they would be obligated to grant them access to the political sphere. Additionally, he asked that African Americans forgive the “sins [that] the South may be called to bear”(Washington). This request, made in his Atlanta speech, was accepted by Whites in the North and South, however, it generated backlash from the portion of the African American community unable to reconcile with the South and the atrocities of slavery.
Washington’s Atlanta speech triggered a critical response eight years later from W.E.B. Du Bois. His response, “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others”, claims that the Atlanta Compromise has failed “to state plainly and unequivocally the legitimate demands of their[African American] people”(Du Bois). As a graduate from Harvard, an author, and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Du Bois’ theory on racial uplift resounded through the African American community(NAACP History). He assembled all those opposed to Washington’s theory, those opposed to submission by the Whites, and called them to action; he instructed them to pursue “the right to vote… civic equality… [and] the education of youth according to ability”(Du Bois). These rights, Du Bois believed, are “rights which the world accords to men” and that one should not accept living without them(Du Bois).
These two conflicting theories of behavior created strife and barriers to pursuing an identity in politics within the African American community. With the races divided and the African American race subdivided in society, it was a grueling venture to search for social identity. This chasm that partitions the different ideological African American groups is seen through combats between the narrator, the school, and the Brotherhood.
Initially, the narrator perceives a sense of identity in Washington’s theory; he was able to go to college because of his passivity. This can be seen in the first allusion to Washington in chapter one; the narrator’s grandfather tells the narrator to “agree ‘em[his oppressors] to death and destruction”(13). This quote is the epitome of Washington’s theory; to submit and tarnish one’s dignity for a quality of life that’s only slightly superior to that of a slave. Nescient to the peril these words hold, the narrator journeys to college dragging along his grandfather’s advice, ambitions, and naivety. He overlooks the possibility that something more than conscientiousness and honesty are needed to obtain power and can neither bring himself into history nor find his identity while bearing this misconstruction.
While the narrator still surrenders himself completely to Washington’s theory, he begins to notice cracks during his last few weeks at college. The narrator’s period of passivity begins to end when he and Mr. Norton, a school trustee whom he is responsible for, meet a war vet at the Golden Day bar. The war vet helped Mr. Norton through his fit of hysteria and warns him that some of the bar patrons see him as “the lyncher of souls”(74). This quote draws attention to the population of African Americans that were unable to become submissive, under Washington’s theory, as easily as the narrator was. The narrator, who does nothing to or for Mr. Norton excluding the submission of his identity, is frightened by the freedom with which the war vet talks and suggests that they leave promptly. The war vet, noticing that the narrator has learned nothing during their time together tells him that “he’s[the narrator] learned to repress not only his emotions but his humanity”(74). With this, cracks begin to form and the narrator begins to question the relationships between races leading him to an understanding of society and eventually to the Brotherhood in the hopes of restoring race relations and granting African Americans civil rights.
Later these cracks in Washington’s theory are magnified when the narrator discovers that the Brotherhood is sacrificing the African American community for political power. He decides to put his grandfather’s advice to the test, to “undermine them[Brotherhood] with grins”(394). The narrator observed that the African American community was becoming more and more impatient with the Brotherhood’s lack of action. He planned to demolish the Brotherhood accordingly; he would accept the Brotherhood’s corrupt ideology, feed them the lies he thought they wanted to hear, and wait for them to sink themselves. However, this passive opposition failed to make a change as the narrator did exactly what the Brotherhood wanted: nothing. By doing nothing the narrator took himself outside of history; he made himself powerless, he changed nothing, and he was defeated in his campaign for civil rights and identity. Instead of the Brotherhood crumbling, the narrator beheld the collapse of his community which preceded the ruinous riot.
Amidst the wreckage conducted by the Brotherhood, the narrator meets two men who offer him solace after he experiences the total failure of Washington’s theory. The two men, Dupre(Du), a stand in for Du Bois, and Scofield, haul the narrator along as they loot various stores around Harlem. After looting kerosene and other fire starting ingredients from a shop the three men and another group of looters head to the tenement building where they live. Their aim is to burn the building down, the narrator deduces as Du takes charge, evacuating the rest of the people from the building. One looter shares that his “kid died from the t-bees in that deathtrap” hushing all opposition to preserve the building(424). The narrator gets caught in the flow of people and ends up carrying a bucket of kerosene into the building to aid the retributory inferno. On his way out the narrator begins to think, “they did it themselves… planned it, organized it, applied the flame”, exhibiting his awe and admiration toward Du’s and Scofield’s theory which reflects Du Bois’ own theory of racial uplift. With this last event the narrator accepted that “yessing them to death and destruction” was incapable of providing civil rights to African Americans(438). That submissiveness and passivity were qualities of defeat rather than resistance and that the only true resistance is activism. That he must claim Du Bois’ theory of racial uplift to find his place and identity in the society that confines him.
As can be seen in the novel, Washington’s theory of racial uplift does not support the African American community. Rather, it succeeds in telling the Whites what they want to hear: the surrender and submission of African Americans’ civil rights. Whereas Du Bois’ states that activism and the immediate pursuit of rights is the key toward equality. As the narrator gradually grasps the truth behind Washington’s theory he begins to rely more on Du Bois’ theory. The narrator’s transition between these two theories mirrors the conflict between Washington and Du Bois and highlights the significance of resisting those who promote your suffering, even if they had previously stood beside and for you. To truly understand the bouts of Washington and Du Bois, it is necessary to research their philosophies. They both have a myriad of published works, however, the most crucial to understanding them during this period would be their biographies and the aforementioned speech and critique of said speech. These two leaders of race relations offer us insight into the real world and also the novel; the potential for African Americans to contribute to intellectual goals when given the chance and also the narrator’s transformation from an invisible man to a man inside history.
Further Resources/Readings:
“Booker T. Washington Delivers the 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech” from the website History Matters
“W.E.B. DuBois Critiques Booker T. Washington” from the website History Matters
“The debate between W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington” from the website Public Broadcasting Service
Works Cited
Alchin, Linda. “The Atlanta Compromise.” Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Compromise for Kids ***, www.american-historama.org/1881-1913-maturation-era/atlanta-compromise.htm
Du Bois, William. “W.E.B. DuBois Critiques Booker T. Washington.” HISTORY MATTERS — The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, historymatters.gmu.edu/d/40
Ellison, Ralph, and John F. Callahan. Invisible Man. Penguin Books, 2016
L, J L. “The Failure of Black Elitism: An Armchair Case Study of Morehouse College.”The Uppity Negro, 17 Feb. 2010, uppitynegronetwork.com/2010/02/17/the-failure-of-black-elitism-an-armchair-case-study-of-morehouse-college/
“NAACP History: W.E.B. Dubois.” NAACP, www.naacp.org/oldest-and-boldest/naacp-history-w-e-b-dubois/
Washington, Booker T. “Booker T. Washington Delivers the 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech.” HISTORY MATTERS — The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, historymatters.gmu.edu/d/39/
Wesson, Stephen. “Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Compromise.” Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Compromise | Teaching with the Library of Congress, 29 July 2011, blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2011/07/booker-t-washington-and-the-atlanta-compromise/