Booker T. Washington in American Memory by Kenneth M. Hamilton (review)

Among contemporary scholars and the public, Booker T. Washington has occupied a space as both a visionary and a villain of African American progress. For some, Washington was the quintessential accommodationist in terms of race relations. After Washington's death, W. E. B. Du Bois published an obituary of Washington in the Crisis, proclaiming that Washington had "'a heavy responsibility for the consummation of Negro disenfranchisement, the decline of the Negro college and public school, and the firmer establishment of color caste in this land'" (p. 46). Kenneth M. Hamilton's Booker T. Washington in American Memory shows us that Washington was an American icon, one whose life and death were deeply grieved by most of the country.

In six chapters, Hamilton's extensive research, illustrated through personal letters, telegrams, speeches, eulogies, memorials, and newspaper articles, reveals the full lamentations of a nation anguished by the loss of a national hero. In fact, Hamilton argues, Washington was so treasured that no other American drew more tributes after his or her death, save for Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. This was shocking to read, but Hamilton makes a convincing case.

Hamilton explains why people were so enamored with the life and legacy of Washington. For Hamilton, it is difficult if not impossible to separate Washington's work from his Christian values and what Hamilton drills into the reader as the "Yankee Protestant ethic" (p. 2). Throughout his life, Washington wholeheartedly embraced the ideals of labor, service, education, economy, thrift, entrepreneurship, and commitment to the common good. After his death, sympathizers offered extensive testimonies of Washington's benevolence and faith. Washington firmly believed that the Yankee Protestant ethic would secure the wealth and esteem African Americans needed to develop into good citizens and model Christians. Born a slave, Washington found fame and, most important, fortune in a short period of time. His supporters viewed his as the ultimate bootstrapper story. He gave the poorest and least educated person hope. Hamilton also argues that the African American collective memory of Washington was consistently filtered through the lens of race. Washington's accomplishments and accolades were important because they projected positive images of black success in their community. Hamilton sees Washington as a symbol, good, bad, or benign, of American values and potential.

While the loss of Washington was particularly acute in the black community, even white southerners, who were not inclined to speak highly of black Americans outside of their subservience, praised Washington as a great man whose contributions could be felt at a national level. Hamilton demonstrates the need among Washington's black and white supporters to preserve and perpetuate his goals.

Hamilton also points out that attendance at Washington's funeral was far greater than at famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass's funeral. While Douglass's family held services in Washington, D.C., and Rochester, New York, Washington's services took place in the epicenter of the black belt, where large numbers of African Americans lived. Attending Washington's funeral became a necessary pilgrimage. Remarkably, Hamilton claims, for two days in 1915, over ten thousand people from all backgrounds (northerners, southerners, black, white, poor, and wealthy) came together, without incident, to celebrate an African American leader on Tuskegee Institute's 3,500-acre campus.

Hamilton's work is well done and highly readable. He challenges many assumptions contemporary scholars may have regarding Washington's legacy and effectiveness, disputing the prevailing negative view of Washington made popular by scholars such as Louis R. Harlan, Benjamin Quarles, and Lerone Bennett Jr. Hamilton is most effective in getting readers to appreciate Washington via the lived experiences of the people who witnessed his life and death. The book also offers an array of illustrative photographs, including the last known public image of Washington, which was published not long before his death...