BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

I NOW see why so many school and institutes of learning have been named after this great man, in almost every major city there's a high school with his name. he deserves it. born a slave this man rose to become one of  the greatest Americans in history.  BOOKER believed the best way for blacks to rise was through education and hard work along with clean living and people would eventually respect you.  he's right. he did not believing in complaining all the time he believed that the more people complained the less people listen. he was right. he lived through so much hate, i believe that it would be helpful if our young people could live back during those times especially the 1880's and 90's if only for just 6 months i think it would stop some of the behavior that we see now.  man i wonder what BOOKER would say if some one told him where ever he is that we have a black president of the united states!  wow!  in the book it talked about Booker being invited to the white house for dinner by Theodore Roosevelt, no black had ever dined at the white house, it was national news.  just having dinner at the white house would bring threats on his life and a national uproar from most whites, tells you just how far we've come. example;  Ben Tillman of s.Carolina said "it will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the south before they will learn their place again"  wow! just a dinner! JAMES K. VARDAMAN former gov. of miss. said  that Roosevelt had insulted every white man in America by having dinner with a nigger.  2 years later just to show you how big it was he says"the white house was so saturated with the odor of that nigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable" wow!  it just shows you the kind of pressure that he was under living in the south. there was an unfair characterization of Booker as an accommodationist but he couldn't speak out like the blacks living in the north because he would almost certainly have been killed. he sustained black morale at a time when it was very low. B.T.W. told black people they would survive the dark times and gave them reason to have faith in the future by building an institution that demonstrated blacks potential for success. I love a quote from Booker that i read in the book I'm reading now 'on her on ground' the life and times of madame C.J.WALKER he says "no man of any race, whatever his color, who knows something that is of value to the world or can do something that is of value to his community can be held back"  thank you BOOKER!  R.I.P.