ELIZABETH WRIGHT, who died in 2011, was an independent-minded black writer who left behind many interesting articles and essays (here and here) on race and culture. She was especially fond of Booker T. Washington and wrote about him in 1992:

In reading Booker T. Washington’s letters, speeches, personal biographies, and the many articles written about him while he lived [1856-1915], the most striking feature that one comes away with is his exceptional maturity. One can only be impressed by the clarity of this man’s thinking and his objective grasp of the situation in which blacks found themselves in the late 1800s. He understood, in a way that only a son of the South could, the complicated nature of the relationship between the two races and the interests they shared in the future economic development of the country. 

Convinced that the progress of blacks depended first and foremost on the race establishing a firm economic foundation, he made it his mission to help his people bring this about. In Washington’s lifetime he proved that it was possible for thousands of ex-slaves to prosper throughout this country as creators of a whole new set of opportunities. Not only did blacks excel beyond all expectations of the day, we did it in this land of our bondage–without set-aside contracts and without annual “civil rights” bills.

To Washington it was clear that economic independence from whites was critical, if blacks were to develop and prosper as other groups. Education was the primary tool to begin the building of a firm economic foundation, and self-help was its cornerstone. In 188l, at Tuskegee, Alabama, he began his great experiment to educate the poorest blacks. Under his direction, Tuskegee Institute was to become a renowned training and educational center, where the highest standards prevailed, and its students were obligated to go and teach others. [More here.]

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