Business Strategy of Booker T. Washington

The Business Strategy of Booker T. Washington University Press of Florida Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers Florida International University, Miami Florida State University, Tallahassee New College of Florida, Sarasota University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola This page intentionally left blank The Business Strategy of Booker T. Washington Its Development and Implementation Michael B. Boston University Press of Florida Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers/Sarasota Copyright by Michael B. Boston All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America. This book is printed on Glatfelter Natures Book, a paper certified under the standards of the Forestry Steward- ship Council (FSC). It is a recycled stock that contains 30 percent post-con- sumer waste and is acid-free. First cloth printing, First paperback printing, Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Boston, Michael B. The business strategy of Booker T. Washington: its development and implementation/Michael B. Boston. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ---- (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN ---- (pbk.) . Washington, Booker T., –. Washington, Booker T., –—Philosophy. African American business enterprises—History. African American leadership—History. African Americans— Economic conditions. African American businesspeople—Biography. Entrepreneurship—United States—Biography. . Success in business— United States. I. Title. E..WB .–dc The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Interna- tional University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, Univer- sity of South Florida, and University of West Florida. University Press of Florida Northwest th Street Gainesville, FL - http://www.upf.com I dedicate this book to the loving memory of my father, David Boston Jr., and my brother, Gregory E. “Keith” Boston. This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi . The Setting That Shaped Booker T. Washington’s Entrepreneurial Philosophy . Key Influences that Helped to Mold and Develop Washington’s Entrepreneurial Ideas . The Entrepreneurial Ideas of Booker T. Washington . The Negro Farmers’ Conference: Helping Those Near and Far . The National Negro Business League: A History and Analysis . Fundraising, Management, and Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington as a Business Executive and Promoter of the Tuskegee Spirit . Washington’s Broad Economic Influence on African-American Life and History Conclusion: Booker T. Washington, a Shrewd Strategist Notes Bibliography Index This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments I would like to thank a number of extraordinary people who helped me to complete my book. I thank Dr. Rashid Hamid, who was a great teacher and mentor to me while I was an undergraduate student at Oneonta State College. I thank Dr. Mwalimu J. Shujaa for sharing with me his extensive knowledge of research methods. I thank the Tuskegee University archivists for guiding me through their archives; Daniel Williams introduced me to some of the descendants of Booker T. Washington, and Cynthia Wilson provided housing during the summer of . I thank all of the librarians who assisted me at the Library of Congress, the Schomberg Center for Research, Cornell University, and the University of Buffalo. I owe a great debt to my colleagues, Professors Henry Taylor, David Ger- ber, and Michael Frisch. These scholarsscrutinized each of my chapters and helped me elevate them to a still higher level. I thank Professor Henry Taylor for providing encouragement in my moments of doubt. I thank Professor David Gerber for helping me to expand my knowledge of African-American history. I thank Professor Michael Frisch in particular for all his untiring work, his critical eye, and his thoughtful guidance. Last but not least, I thank my mother for her guidance, encouragement, and the strong example she has exhibited throughout the years. This page intentionally left blank Introduction Toward a New Framework for Understanding Booker T. Washington Booker T. Washington, one of the most controversial leaders in African- American history, rose to prominence as head of Tuskegee Institute in Macon County, Alabama. Using Tuskegee Institute as a power base and launching pad for his efforts to improve the plight of African Americans, Washington became one of the most influential men in the United States. A major key to Washington’s success and influence was his business philosophy, which was reflected in his entrepreneurial approach to developing, maintaining, and expanding Tuskegee Institute. Unfortunately, even after the enormous amount of revisionist work that has been done, the average person still possesses a distorted image of Booker T. Washington. This misperception largely stems from the conflicts between him and W.E.B. Du Bois, as a result of which Washington has often been por- trayed as the cowardly Uncle Tom, financed and controlled by white money, leading his people into a new form of slavery. Du Bois, on the other hand, is typically described as the antithesis of Washington. He has often been written of as a courageous, unappreciated, and underfinanced genius who attempted to lead his people to true freedom and equality while fending off formidable foes such as Washington. Both definitions of these two great men, however, are far too simple to hope to explain them or their roles in American history. An extensive reading of primary source materials from to about and by African-American entrepreneurs reveals an image of Booker T. Washington at variance with the popular interpretation. Many of these entrepreneurs, who were respected leaders in their communities, admired Washington, naming their businesses or associations after him and incor- porating aspects of his business philosophy into their own. The parents of xii Introduction Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr., for example, named their grocery store after Booker T. Washington. Sherman L. Walker, a funeral hall director and Buffalo, New York’s first African-American alderman, and Frank Mer- riweather Sr., the founder and editor of the Buffalo Criterion, named their political club after Booker T. Washington. They and many others clearly did not view Washington as cowardly, an Uncle Tom, or a puppet of white finan- cial interests. They saw him not only as a great man but as a visionary. This inconsistency led me again to begin a casual reading of literature about and by Booker T. Washington, but this time focusing on materials with entrepreneurship as a framework. Over time, my interest increased and my readings grew intense. As I reread Up From Slavery, Washington’s business ideas seemed to literally jump out of the pages, and this was also true for other works that I read by him. In studying the standard secondary literature, it seemed that much of it was missing a critical component of Wash- ington’s leadership strategy—his business (or entrepreneurial) philosophy. Fragments were present, but none provided a composite, detailed view of Washington’s entrepreneurial philosophy. This crucial gap in scholarship my book strives to fill. Hence, this study examines the entrepreneurial ideas and practices of Booker Taliaferro Washington, which were the foundation of his uplift strat- egies for African Americans. Numerous works on Washington have been written, the best studies having been conducted since his death and the general publication of his extensive papers. Moreover, underscored below are gaps in the literature that my work addresses. Most authors do not study Washington as an entrepreneur, nor do they spell out his entrepreneurial philosophy at any great length. In terms of the setting in which Washington operated, most stress the segregated environ- ment but not so much the general economic state or the specific economic conditions in Macon County, Alabama, where Washington lived. Very few even briefly acknowledge Washington as a champion of African-American business development. Indeed, not much scholarly attention has been given to the profundity and dynamics of Washington’s advocacy of African-Amer- ican business development. Washington’s entrepreneurial philosophy was much more intricate and complex than scholars have generally characterized it as being, and one of his crucial objectives was to encourage a significant number of African Americans to become “economic producers” rather than simply consumers. Washington functioned as a reform nationalist—one who seeks to reform the state and society—because he sought to correct the low status of African Americans by helping them to become valued assets Introduction xiii integral to the state and society. In doing this he reasoned that his actions would reform the state. No scholars recognized Washington as the father of the extensive promotion of twentieth-century African-American business development. None traced Washington’s economic progression, comparing and contrasting stages of his development. In not covering these themes, most studies fail to uncover a crucial

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