Character Building / Edition 1

by Booker T. Washington

Overview

Booker T. Washington has been regarded as the leading figure in African American life, and as the man who brought his people from slavery to unfettered economic, political, and social involvement in the American mainstream. He has also been strongly criticized for advancing the cause of racial accommodation when the political agenda dictated the development of an independent black standpoint in all areas of the industrial structure. This agenda went far beyond educational reform and agrarian participation.

Character Building first appeared in 1902. While enormous changes have occurred in all phases of African American rights and responsibilities, Booker T. Washington's broad outlines on building moral character have remained intact. Washington's book can be viewed as a Dale Carnegie volume on How to Win Friends and Influence People—black and white—as noted by the very title of the chapters: "Helping Others," "Influencing by Example," "Education that Educates," "The Gospel of Service," etc.

For those in search of the ideological roots of black life in post-slavery times, this text will be a reminder of where the American nation has come from and, arguably, where it is going.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412847322
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	11/15/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was born a slave. He graduated from what is today Hampton University in 1875, and subsequently taught there. In 1881 he founded the forerunner of Tuskegee University. He made himself and his school two of the most well-known institutions in twentieth-century black America. He earned world-renowned recognition as an educator, social theorist, and spokesperson for African Americans.

Tim Mealiff was educated at Illinois Wesleyan University. Currently he is senior proposal analyst at CVS Caremark.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Transaction Edition xiii

Preface xli

1 Two Sides of Life 1

2 Helping Others 7

3 Some of the Rocks Ahead 13

4 On Influencing by Example 19

5 The Virtue of Simplicity 23

6 Have You Done Your Best? 29

7 Don't Be Discouraged 35

8 On Getting a Home 39

9 Calling Things by Their Right Names 43

10 European Impressions 49

11 The Value of System in Home Life 55

12 What Will Pay 59

13 Education that Educates 65

14 The Importance of Being Reliable 71

15 The Highest Education 77

16 Unimproved Opportunities 83

17 Keeping Your Word 91

18 Some Lessons of the Hour 97

19 The Gospel of Service 103

20 The Negro Conference 109

21 What Is to Be Our Future? 115

22 Some Great Little Things 121

23 To Would-Be Teachers 127

24 The Cultivation of Stable Habits 131

25 What You Ought to Do 135

26 Individual Responsibility 141

27 Getting on in the World 147

28 Each One His Part 151

29 What Would Father and Mother Say? 157

30 Object Lessons 163

31 Substance vs. Shadow 167

32 Character as Shown in Dress 171

33 Sing the Old Songs 175

34 Getting Down to Mother Earth 181

35 A Penny Saved 187

36 Growth 195

37 Last Words 199