For most, King represents the diametric opposite of Washington. King was a lion. Washington was a lamb. King’s techniques to secure civil rights were uncompromising. Washington’s methods were conciliatory. King pricked the conscience of the American people. Washington, on the other hand, believed that his time was better fueling blacks, young and old, and at any skill level, with the Protestant Ethic.
Lost altogether, however, are their similarities. King and Washington were hyperaware of the social construction of blacks. That is to say, both shared a commitment to shaping the way that whites thought about blacks’ character in order to elicit better, indeed fairer, treatment for blacks. King and Washington shared Frederick Douglass’ precedent in applying Constitutional guarantees to blacks. Both warned of the danger of hate, the power of love, and the bliss of reconciliation. Just as King portrayed blacks as loving and unworthy of the terrible treatment that segregationists visited upon them, Washington described blacks as hardworking and moral. To be sure, King was much more vocal about the appalling treatment that whites visited upon blacks than Washington. But both averred that the worst of whites could be redeemed. Each appealed to the democratic process as a key method of ameliorating race relations and both were prophetic that it would happen. So, during the final weeks of black history month, let’s put some thought to the similarities between these two amazing American citizens: Martin Luther King Jr. and Booker T. Washington.
Brian A. Pitt
