The Future of the American Negro

This passage to me, is further motivation to stay in college. Washington's views were ridiculous and very shocking, coming from an African American man. The low value he seemed to place on education was both appalling and disappointing. Reading the passage angered me slightly because it is hard to believe that a black person could feel that way about his own people. He believed that education was second-nature to materialistic things, and the only way for blacks to gain respect and/or equality amongst whites is to work hard building and acquiring things that white people would need, forcing them to have to co-exist with black people. Washington also argued that the woes of slavery had subconsciously made black people lazy and resentful of hard manual labor. He stated this almost as if to say that the only reason African Americans would be pursuing higher education is to avoid having to do heavy labor.
The passage was ridiculous and contradictory in my opinion. Intelligence is the key to equality, and by placing education low on your list of priorities black people are still not achieving equality. With the brains to outsmart them, white people in turn would still wield some control over blacks. All the money and worldly possessions cannot replace the value of a good education. Also, by suggesting that blacks perfect manual laborious trades instead of professional careers, Washington is still treading dangerously close to the slavery mentality of black people doing the hard work, while white people reap the benefits.
This type of thinking still somewhat exists today, as most of Corporate America, and white collar jobs are operated by white people, while blacks maintain the blue collar positions. I think the only way to truly gain equality is to be able to match wits and intellect with all races. A solid education should be held as first priority, because you can always rely on an acquired skill or trade later in life, should career plans fall through. However, you should not automatically settle for less than great. Placing higher education over industrial labor is the same as the quote "reach for the stars, so if you miss you'll still land on the moon."