Booker T. Washington: Letter to C. Elias Winston

Following his success as principal of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington began to address the issues confronting African Americans in the South. Washington was an astute politician. He developed associations with northern business leaders and southern politicians that enabled him to operate Tuskegee as a black educational institution. As he addressed the concerns of his race, he balanced his attack on the injustice of segregation and racial violence with his need to survive in an increasingly racist and violent South. The significant point is that Washington was not silent. He spoke out about the injustice of discrimination and biased suffrage laws and the horror of lynching. But his language was more moderate than shrill. He retained the belief that logic would prevail and that if they were shown that it was in their interest to promote the development of blacks, the leadership of the South and educated and cultured southerners would support the cause of racial...