Patricia F. Woodward BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: THE AMBIGUITY OF INFLUENCE ABSTRACT       My paper will discuss the continuing influence of Booker T. Washington's writings on historically black colleges. While my paper will focus on the ways in which the historically black college continues to adhere to the model provided by Washington, it will also explore the ways in which it diverges from the early Hampton-Tuskegee ideal. According to James D. Anderson in The Education of Blacks in the South, both contemporary observers and later historians have portrayed the white south as taking a monolithic view of black education. However, many secondary schools in the south did not emphasize the kind of industrial education advocated by Washington. In the same manner, the historically black college no longer places the emphasis on vocational training it did at one time. However, there are still advocates for Washington's model although the training under discussion is in technical fields. Washington's influence can also be found in the importance often placed on action in historically black colleges, such as mine, which can undermine attempts on the part of faculty to pursue a life of the mind. At the same time, stimulating new influences emerging from African-American studies are changing and enhancing the campus culture enriching both students and faculty. My paper will conclude by considering the influence of honors programs as well as multi-ethnic and multi-cultural student bodies and faculties on the future directions of the historically black college. INTRODUCTION       The freedmen and women of the Ante-Bellum South had a thirst and hunger for knowledge known by few; often learning from another freedman who had just learned to read himself, freed slaves attended schools in the evenings and on weekends. Parents made every possible sacrifice to secure their children's education. The first freedmen's schools were run by the freedmen and women themselves.       Booker T. Washington's account of his own perseverence in securing his education is poignantly told in Up From Slavery. Yet with Washington's influence, a shift began from educating students in a liberal arts tradition to an industrial training mode. Unfortunately, by the turn of the century, with the help of the benefactor Samuel Chapman Armstrong, the Hampton-Tuskegee Idea had come to represent the ideological antithesis of the educational and social movement begun by ex-slaves (33). In order for freed slaves to fully participate in a democracy, a classical liberal curriculum was adopted in post-Civil War black, elementary, normal and collegiate schools. As James D. Anderson aptly points out,        Black leaders did not view their adoption        of the classical liberal curriculum or its        philosophical foundations as mere imitation        of white schooling. Indeed, they knew        many whites who had no education at        all. Rather, they saw this curriculum        as providing access to the best        intellectual traditions of their era and the        best means to understanding their own        historical development and sociological        uniqueness. (Anderson 29) In fact, black educators like Richard Wright found support in the classics for racial equality; the study of the classics was a means to understanding the development of the western world and blacks' inherent rights to equality within that world (Anderson 30). THE HBCU PAST & PRESENT       Although it is often assumed that the focus of the Hampton-Tuskegee model was on technical training, in actuality its main mission was the training of teachers for the South's educational system. However, both Armstrong and Washington advocated the use of hard labor to train all their students; in fact, at Hampton, manual labor formed the core of the teacher training program and intruded into every aspect of both curricular and extracurricular activities (Anderson 35). Armstrong had an abiding suspicion of black intellectuals and suggested that the better pupils who could best serve as models to their race were those who performed well in the field rather than the classroom, the field being an environment which inculcated ideals of daily discipline, hard work and humility. In addition to preparing students to teach, the academic program incorporated a strong ideological component/strand which emphasized the need for ex-slaves to remain politically inconspicuous and subservient to white southerners, particularly planters. This ideological position was based on the premise that as a race blacks were as much as three thousand years behind whites; this racist theory based on a peculiar brand of social Darwinism supported Armstrong's position which was also buttressed by remarks made by Booker T. Washington. Washington's criticism of intellectual attainment also posed problems for African Americans concerned with acquiring higher education. W. E. B. Du Bois critiques Washington's anti-intellectual attitudes, particulary his satire of a young black boy studying a French grammar. Yet in his critique of ex-slaves who had rushed to learn Greek and Latin, Washington had some legitimate concerns. In the nation's capital, Washington found educated blacks working as pullmen and porters so that they would not have to leave the city despite the fact that they could not find jobs suited to their abilities, a situation many educated citizens of all races can relate to today. He felt that some practical training would help African Americans retain their employability which in turn would prevent an accumulation of debt.       Despite some of the practical advantages of Washington's approach, in terms of curriculum, the contemporary historically black college has largely returned to the earlier liberal arts model advocated by Du Bois, although HBCUs are extremely diverse in terms of academic programs as well as curriculum. Many colleges have programs which emphasize technological and business training. Advocates can still be found for vocational training, faculty who argue that some practical training might better serve under prepared students, providing them with realistic, achievable goals.       Like many community colleges, HBCUs often accept students with a need for college preparatory work. While Du Bois saw the historically black college as a place where the talented tenth of the population would be educated, this group now often find their niche in honors programs which offer advanced courses. Honor programs provide students who excel with opportunities for travel and growth beyond those provided by the typical college experience. While the concept of isolating a select group of students may seem elitist, these programs provide the means for both recruiting and retaining academically talented students who might choose other schools, or who could possibly find classes where they are mainstreamed unstimulating. Ideally, the honors programs should not create two classes of students, but rather should improve the overall academic atmosphere of the campus. For this reason, many honors programs have a strong service component which emphasizes a commitment to both the campus community as well as the community at large.       HBCUs must also be concerned with the recruitment and retention of talented, qualified faculty. For many years, historically black colleges, particularly those in the South, were victims of a pro- vincialism sometimes typified by remarks made by Booker T. Washington. However, a lack of resources often relegated them to this position. As pointed out by Willie and Edmonds in Black Colleges in America,        ...the problem of faculty recruitment and retention        is intensified for colleges in culturally poor communities.        Younger faculty, regardless of salary offers, would be        reluctant to become established in such communities...        More or less isolated colleges also do not offer        enough opportunity for the social and professional        development of their teachers. They are outside the        mainstream of the academic life of this society.        Teachers complain that they do not have sufficient        opportunities to interact with others in their particular        disciplines and they feel alienated from the main channels        of thought in a non-academic world. There is, then, a        real likelihood that teachers who are partially isolated        professionally and culturally may eventually experience        a sort of intellectual atrophy. Many teachers expressed this        fear. (25-26) Today it is still possible for teachers in historically black colleges to feel the need for better libraries in order to pursue research interests. New faculty trained at research institutions may also find the myriad of activities they are expected to participate in overwhelming in addition to a daunting course load and committee work. While the emphasis on activity over study could be traced to the early Hampton-Tuskegee model, it could also be symptomatic of the small liberal arts college in general.       Historically new faculty have also had difficulty adjusting to the more conservative pattern of thought often found on many historically black university campuses. In fact, during the Civil Rights Movement, many HBCU worked with the larger white community to quell protest. These attitudes of appeasement and conciliation can be linked to Washington and remarks he made to students on the nature of authority and the need for obedience:        The great and fundamental difference between ignorance        and intelligence--certainly one of the great fundamental        differences--consists in the fact that ignorant people have not        learned the value of respect for authority, have not learned the        value of instant, unquestioned obedience to authority, while        intelligent and cultured individuals, have learned the value of        unquestioned obedience and respect for authority        (A Sunday Evening Talk) The ultimate involvement of many HBCU including mine in the Civil Rights Movement challenged the paradigm of obedience to authority stressed by Washington. Courses in African American history required by many HBCU offer students new perspectives on U. S. as well as world history and culture which question traditional assumptions and teachings. In Diversifying Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Serbrenia Sims argues for the need of HBCU to be concerned with diversity; the multi-cultural approaches fostered by diversity present immediate challenges to the concept that there is only one truth, only one authority.        In fact, within the environment of my college campus, I come into daily contact with multi-cultural currents of thought that are much more stimulating influences than the theoretical approach often found in the academy. Our faculty is extremely diverse; I work and interact daily with colleagues from Carribean, African-American and Hispanic as well as European backgrounds. Our students are increasingly from diverse backgrounds as well; our Carribean and Hispanic populations are growing steadily. Recently I visited the Dominican Republic, where we are sending students for a study abroad program. CONCLUSION       The amalgam of cultural and educational backgrounds will surely affect our college in the future; however, the tradition of the historically black college will not be lost. When our chorale and gospel choir sing spirituals on Founder's Day or commencement, one cannot forget the auspicious beginning of our college and the many colleges like ours, the ideal men and women like Booker T. Washington envisioned and strove to achieve. In this time of historical backsliding when doors are closing to talented students of color, the historically black college is again a home and a sacred space, a setting where one can cultivate talent, self love and the love of others--a special place where the bonds to a past and to an American tradition erase all personal feelings of self-aggrandizement and intellectual pride, a place where the self encounters the struggle of America's past, a place where the soul grows deep like the rivers. WORKS CITED Anderson, James D. The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1988. Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. 1903. New York: Penguin Books, 1989. Sims, Serbrenia J. Diversifying Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A New Higher Education Paradigm. Westport: Greenwood P, 1994. Washington, Booker T. A Sunday Evening Talk. Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. 15. Jan. 1911. Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery. 1901. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1963. Willie, Charles V., and Edmonds, Ronald R. Black Colleges in America. New York: Teachers College Press, 1978. Return to Session XIII BB Program