Uncle Tom or new Negro? : African Americans reflect on Booker T. Washington and Up from slavery 100 years later / edited by Rebecca Carroll.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Carroll, Rebecca.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915.

Washington, Booker T.

Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915. Up from slavery.

African Americans--Biography.

African Americans.

Educators--United States--Biography.

Educators.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 320 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Broadway Books/Harlem Moon, [2006]

Summary:

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in 1858, yet roughly forty years later he had established the Tuskegee Institute. Befriended by a U.S. president and corporate titans, beloved and reviled by the black community, Washington was one of the most influential voices on the postslavery scene. But Washington's message of gradual accommodation was accepted by some and rejected by others, and almost a century after his death, he is still one of the most controversial and misunderstood characters in American history.

Uncle Tom or New Negro? does much more than provide yet another critical edition of Washington's memoir. Instead, Rebecca Carroll has interviewed an outstanding array of African American luminaries including Julianne Malveaux, cultural critics Debra Dickerson and John McWhorter, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and radio talk-show host Karen Hunter, among others. In a dazzling collection bursting with invigorating and varying perspectives (e.g., What would Booker T. think of Sean Combs or Russell Simmons? Was Washington a "tragic buffoon" or a "giver of hope to those on the margins of the margins"?), this cutting-edge book allows you to reach your own conclusions about a controversial and perhaps ultimately enigmatic figure.

Contents:

I Dr. Bill E. Lawson, Philosophy Scholar 9

II Elizabeth Gardner Hines, Writer/Great-Grandniece of A. G. Gaston 18

III Ronald Walters, Director of the African American Leadership Institute 25

IV Lucenia Williams-Dunn, Mayor of Tuskegee, Alabama 32

V Cleophus Thomas, Jr., Chairman and CEO of A. G. Gaston Corporation 41

VI Karen Hunter, Journalist/Radio Talk Show Personality 48

VII Avon Kirkland, Filmmaker 57

VIII Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Author/Economist 68

IX Bakari Kitwana, Author 76

X Debra Dickerson, Writer 85

XI Gregory S. Bell, Journalist/Author 94

XII Cora Daniels, Journalist/Author 100

XIII Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Political Analyst 106

XIV Ruby Sales, Founder and Executive Director of SpiritHouse 115

XV James Clingman, Author/Speaker 124

XVI Jock Smith, Attorney, Cochran, Cherry, Givens, & Smith, PC, Tuskegee 131

XVII Kathy Y. Wilson, Author/Journalist 138

XVIII John McWhorter, Author 145

XIX Sharon Madison Polk, Businesswoman/Entrepreneur 150

XX John Bryant, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE 155.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-308) and index.

Contains:

Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915. Up from slavery.

ISBN:

0767919556

OCLC:

64442516