Booka T.

Booker T. Washington provides the answer of staying South to the debate we looked at in Douglass’s Life and Times. Booker T. agrees with Douglass that the newly freed blacks should stay in the South. He thinks that the black people should make it work with the South. Black people of the time wanted to look elsewhere to solve their problems, but Washington says, “Cast down your bucket where you are.” He stated that it was necessary that they stay in the South.
Booker T. Washington says, “No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field, as in writing a poem.” (pg. 595) He says this because there is just as much dignity and virtue in staying and working fields in the South as there is in the North writing poems. At this time, the economy was driven by the labor in the South. If all the black people went to the North, then the economy would suffer.
He argued that the white needed to cast down their buckets too to give African Americans a chance. He said that blacks were 1/3 of the population and as a whole, Americans could not succeed with the African Americans because they are a huge chunk of it. Washington says that they are the people that have taken care of white people’s children, worked for them, and built the city that they live in, and they would all come together to make process. Even though whites and blacks don’t have to like each other, everyone has to come together. Both whites and blacks had to be willing to work.
Washington explained that by everyone going to the North is like saying that freedom doesn’t work in the South and that their rights don’t count just because the southern whites refuse to recognize them. This is why he says that this is an opportunity and that they should stay put and make it in the North.
He thinks this will work because he believes that helping others is what makes oneself most happy. He thinks that that is the most important thing, and he believes in cooperation, but this is not always how things work out.

Equiano and Smith

Odaulah Equiano and Venture Smith are both native Africans who were born within their tribes in different parts of Africa. Both of these men were the sons of chiefs or important elders in their tribe. Smith does not go into much detail about his tribe, yet Equiano gives much detail about the culture and beliefs of his tribe. Smith explains the polygamy in his tribe, but that’s about it. He also talks about what happens with his mother when she takes him away. Equiano on the other hand, gives a lot of detail about his native tribe. Equiano is eager to talk about his tribes’ rituals, like the different sections for dancing. He also explained in detail the role of the elders and how they punished people. A difference in Smith and Equiano is that just by reading the beginning of both stories, Equiano values his tribal life much more than Smith did. I thought it was interesting how they kept the same values when they were captured and thrown into slavery. They kept the values they learned from their tribe, like their honesty and optimism. Equiano gave much more detail about his life and little things, like the long ship ride to America. He explained everything, like a commentary. All Venture Smith said was it was long, a lot of people died, and he was bought. They differ because in the end, it seemed to be that Smith was mostly worried about his monetary achievements. He was so excited for the price in which he bought his sons, and the two for one deal he got on his pregnant wife. When he recounted everything he had done, he explained how he had been taken advantage of and lost this much money, how his chest had burned and he lost this much, how his son died and his “investment” of buying his freedom was wasted, and so on. At the end of Equiano’s story, he learned about the religion and the traditions of the new people he came into contact with.