The Battle for the Souls of Black Folk: W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and the Debate That Shaped the Course of Civil Rights: W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and the D by Thomas Aiello

Author:Thomas Aiello [Aiello, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: African American Studies, Civil Rights, Discrimination, Ethnic Studies, History, Law, Non-Fiction, Race Relations, Social Science
ISBN: 9781440843587
Google: U_EZDAAAQBAJ
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Published: 2016-05-22T23:00:00+00:00

FRANCIS JACKSON GARRISON (Garrison was the son of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and Oswald Garrison Villard’s uncle.)

The Cedars, [Lexington, Mass.] April 9, 1905

Dear Oswald [Garrison Villard]: I return the Du Bois letter & documents herewith, after showing them to Uncle William, who sympathizes with my view of the matter as expressed in my hasty letter of Friday to you. I do not know that I have much to add to what I then wrote. It will take a great deal more than what Du Bois has written or presented to shake my faith in Washington’s purity of purpose & absolute freedom from selfishness & personal ambition. In spite of all the praise & honors & laudation that he is constantly receiving, I do not believe that he has any thought or purpose but the uplifting of his race, & I am sure that whatever he does is with that single object in view. Nor have I ever seen the slightest trace of personal jealousy, bitterness or resentment in him towards those who have been so despiteful towards him. His spirit & temper have been wonderfully calm & patient & enduring. Certainly the same cannot be said of Trotter & his sympathizers, & I cannot take any such stock in him as Du Bois does. I believe there is a vast deal of petty jealousy & spite in all this criticism of Washington, & I have never liked the bitterness betrayed by my friends the [Butler Roland] Wilsons, (Mrs. W. especially) & by Mrs. Bumstead, when B.T.W. was mentioned.45 Their spirit seemed to me far, far below his, & their “atmosphere” was as unpleasant as his was inspiring. Trotter’s behavior & speech at the mob meeting were that of a blackguard, & his purpose to wreck the meeting was deliberate.

Now as to the charges of subsidizing the negro press, the evidence offered by Du Bois is circumstantial & plausible, & I do not doubt that B.T.W. is doing all he can to influence the colored papers & secure unity rather than contention & discord, & this not because he cares for the attacks on himself, but because he knows that some of his assailants would gladly see Tuskegee wrecked if necessary to discredit & pull him down. He does show bad taste, or careless supervision of Scott, in allowing the latter to send fulsome praise of himself as syndicate matter. Theresa [Holmes Garrison] suggests that he may draw on his personal income ($7500) from the Carnegie gift for this press business.46

As for the men he influences, those mentioned by Du Bois are for the most part poor sticks, & like the mass of white politicians ready to sell their principles for an office or an income. I dare say Lewis would, though I have never heard before that B.T.W. had anything to do with his appointment, which was Roosevelt’s reply to the taunt that he made colored appointments at the South only, & R. of course knew Lewis through his Harvard athletic career, which was sufficient without any prompting from W.

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