Booker T Washington

Doctorow introduces the historical figure, Booker T. Washington, as a response and comparison to Coalhouse’s actions and fight for black equality.  Coalhouse is using violence to avenge Sarah’s death and the vandalizing of his car.  Coalhouse and his followers represent the radical and violent action of some black equality groups in America during the early 1900s all the way up to the civil rights movements in the 60s and 70s.  One reason Doctorow may have introduced Washington to the story is to show the different divisions in the fight for black equality in America.  Doctorow gives a short biography of Washington saying, “He was against all Negro agitation on questions of political and social equality” and “his book called for the Negro’s advancement with the help of his white neighbor”(279).  Washington and Coalhouse have differing views on the relationship between blacks and whites and how to earn respect for the blacks.  While Coalhouse believed that violence and radical action would demand the respect from the Whites, Washington believed that manual labor and hard work would eventually show the Whites the true character of Blacks and then they would achieve respect and equality.  In Washington’s Atlanta compromise speech he said, “The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera house” (Atlanta Compromise Speech).  Washington believed that first a man must work hard and then he will be given opportunity.  And in the novel, Washington addresses Coalhouse and his followers and criticizes the work they have done, asking: “What will it cost my students laboring to learn a trade by which they can earn their livelihood and still White criticism!”  Washington believes that Coalhouse has scarred White’s perception of Black character.  The interesting aspect of the comparison between Coalhouse and Washington is that while Coalhouse has earned money and worked hard, like Washington would have supported, he tries to demand respect from the firemen in his nice car that he had bought with his own hard earned money, and the firemen only laugh and treat him like any other black.  Maybe Doctorow is trying to point out something about Booker T. Washington and his Atlanta Compromise theory that working hard and earning money isn’t going to make Whites have respect for Blacks, but instead, like in the example of Coalhouse, money and hard work will only cause fear and anger.  Doctorow uses the comparison between Coalhouse and Washington to mirror the tension between race and class in relation to the American struggle for equal rights.

                                                                                                         By Louis Cusano 

Bibliography

Washington, Booker T. "'Atlanta Compromise' Speech." In Scott, John, ed. Living Documents in American History. New York: Washington Square Press, 1964-68.American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=E02400&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 10, 2011).

"Washington, Booker T." Library of Congress. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=LPIC0079&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 10, 2011).

Seraile, William. "Washington, Booker T." In Hoogenboom, Ari, and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: The Development of the Industrial United States, 1870 to 1899, Revised Edition (Volume VI). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVI298&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 10, 2011).