Booker T. Washington’s Legacy in Wilmington, NC
In the fall of 1910, famed educator and president of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington, made a series of speeches in North Carolina. On November 3, 1910, he spoke at the Academy of Music in Wilmington (Reaves, Strength through Struggle p. 48). A large crowd of both races attended his speech, in which he said:
The Negro is here and is here to stay. We are to live in the South together, black and white, and it is sometimes helpful for us to speak directly and frankly to each other… [we must] do everything that will promote goodwill and friendship rather than enmity and discord.
Underneath this cordial appeal, Washington had a steely determination to further African American education and enterprise. Although criticized by some for accepting segregation, it’s important to realize that Washington earned the nickname “The Wizard of Tuskegee” for a reason.
Operating in the hostile climate of Alabama, where more than 300 African Americans were lynched between 1877 and 1950, Washington couldn’t advocate for social equality between the races and stay alive. As it was, he received death threats on a regular basis for doing things such as dining with Theodore Roosevelt in 1901.
Washington was continuously playing a game of strategy with his own life at stake. He pushed the limits of what…
