Invisible Man Dbq
Invisible Man
Dara Kelly
Mrs. Williams
AP English 11
14 December 2011
Dara Kelly
Mrs. Williams
AP English 11
14 December 2011
Invisible Man Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois all had their own ideas of how the black race could better itself, and these three men were all given voices by characters in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. The characters that were designed to portray these men represent their theories, thoughts, and practices. While their ideas may have conflicted, researchers agree that each of these men’s philosophies possessed strong and weak points. Booker T. Washington was an educator, reformer, and one of the most influential black leaders during the period from 1895-1915. He has been labeled …show more content…
Washington believed that blacks should help themselves and rely on the whites, and in racial solidarity and accommodation, which means that blacks should be flexible and agree with what the whites say. (“Up From Slavery”) Washington also urged blacks to accept discrimination and use their energy to raise themselves up through hard work and material prosperity, and stated that blacks should work to win the respect of whites, in his 1895 speech “the Atlanta Compromise.” He believed in education in the crafts, industrial and farming skills and the cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise and thrift. This is what he said would allow African Americans to win the respect of whites, and to become fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all aspects of society. (Booker T. and …show more content…
Washington. Booker T. Washington was “…the son of a white man who did not acknowledge him and a slave woman named Jane…” (People & Events) The Founder was “…a slave and a son of slaves, knowing only his mother.” (Ellison, 118) Also like Washington, the Founder worked in order to put himself through school, and became the head of a school for African Americans. The Founder was said to have “…worked noontimes, nights and mornings for the privilege of studying, or, as the old folk would say, of ‘rubbing his head against the college wall,’” (Ellison, 119) just as Washington worked as a janitor to pay his way through college. Both Washington and the Founder were supported by blacks and whites. Whites aided Washington in getting through college by providing him with a job that could give him money to pay his way. When the Founder was running away, both blacks and whites helped to hide him so he wouldn’t be discovered. “…in and out of cabins, by night and early morning, through swamps and hills. On and on, passed from black hand to black hand and some white hands, and all the hands molding the Founder’s freedom…” (Ellison, 123) The Founder opened the college in the hopes that the African Americans who attended the school would use the information they were given there to do, or be, something in life. Washington was appointed as the principal of the newly-founded Tuskegee Institute, and he developed a
Dara Kelly
Mrs. Williams
AP English 11
14 December 2011
Dara Kelly
Mrs. Williams
AP English 11
14 December 2011
Invisible Man Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois all had their own ideas of how the black race could better itself, and these three men were all given voices by characters in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. The characters that were designed to portray these men represent their theories, thoughts, and practices. While their ideas may have conflicted, researchers agree that each of these men’s philosophies possessed strong and weak points. Booker T. Washington was an educator, reformer, and one of the most influential black leaders during the period from 1895-1915. He has been labeled …show more content…
Washington believed that blacks should help themselves and rely on the whites, and in racial solidarity and accommodation, which means that blacks should be flexible and agree with what the whites say. (“Up From Slavery”) Washington also urged blacks to accept discrimination and use their energy to raise themselves up through hard work and material prosperity, and stated that blacks should work to win the respect of whites, in his 1895 speech “the Atlanta Compromise.” He believed in education in the crafts, industrial and farming skills and the cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise and thrift. This is what he said would allow African Americans to win the respect of whites, and to become fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all aspects of society. (Booker T. and …show more content…
Washington. Booker T. Washington was “…the son of a white man who did not acknowledge him and a slave woman named Jane…” (People & Events) The Founder was “…a slave and a son of slaves, knowing only his mother.” (Ellison, 118) Also like Washington, the Founder worked in order to put himself through school, and became the head of a school for African Americans. The Founder was said to have “…worked noontimes, nights and mornings for the privilege of studying, or, as the old folk would say, of ‘rubbing his head against the college wall,’” (Ellison, 119) just as Washington worked as a janitor to pay his way through college. Both Washington and the Founder were supported by blacks and whites. Whites aided Washington in getting through college by providing him with a job that could give him money to pay his way. When the Founder was running away, both blacks and whites helped to hide him so he wouldn’t be discovered. “…in and out of cabins, by night and early morning, through swamps and hills. On and on, passed from black hand to black hand and some white hands, and all the hands molding the Founder’s freedom…” (Ellison, 123) The Founder opened the college in the hopes that the African Americans who attended the school would use the information they were given there to do, or be, something in life. Washington was appointed as the principal of the newly-founded Tuskegee Institute, and he developed a