"Dignify and glorify common labor. It is at the bottom of life that we must begin, not at the top."
- Booker T Washington
Booker T Washington is a famous figure in black history who lived around the turn of the century. He is known for being an "accomodationist" -- meaning he felt in order to build up black membership and respect in society, black people had to thrive within the norms created by whites and thereby prove that they were capable and deserving of being moved up in society. In effect, he believed strongly in a merit system of moving up in society for blacks as a collective (despite the contradictory idea that black people should not have to prove their humanity). He was the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute, a vocational college for black students.
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