Character Building

by Michael Mitchell (Editor)

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 Peopleblack 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:	9781138520271
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/02/2017
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

1: Two Sides of Life; 2: Helping Others; 3: Some of the Rocks Ahead; 4: On Influencing by Example; 5: The Virtue of Simplicity; 6: Have You Done Your Best?; 7: Don’t Be Discouraged; 8: On Getting a Home; 9: Calling Things by Their Right Names; 10: European Impressions; 11: The Value of System in Home Life; 12: What Will Pay; 13: Education that Educates; 14: The Importance of Being Reliable; 15: The Highest Education; 16: Unimproved Opportunities; 17: Keeping Your Word; 18: Some Lessons of the Hour; 19: The Gospel of Service; 20: The Negro Conference; 21: What Is to Be Our Future?; 22: Some Great Little Things; 23: To Would-Be Teachers; 24: The Cultivation of Stable Habits; 25: What You Ought to Do; 26: Individual Responsibility; 27: Getting on in the World; 28: Each One His Part; 29: What Would Father and Mother Say?; 30: Object Lessons; 31: Substance vs. Shadow; 32: Character as Shown in Dress; 33: Sing the Old Songs; 34: Getting Down to Mother Earth; 35: A Penny Saved; 36: Growth; 37: Last Words