Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 83

53. Francis E. Leupp, “Why Booker Washington Has Succeeded in His Life Work,” Outlook (May 37, 1902): 326-33.

Analysis of Booker T. Washington’s philosophy. “In short, the secret of Washington’s success lies in the fact that the black man is to him a black man, not merely a white man colored black. He is a black man himself, and therefore in full sympathy with black men; but his thorough knowledge of them, so far from blinding him to their shortcomings, has sharpened his critical sense and made him a keener judge of them than any white man can be. In trying to reform the most serious weakness of the negro character he has three real obstacles to overcome: first, the negro’s disinclination to grapple with his own faults; second, the indifference of the Southern whites, most of whom do not consider the negro capable of any permanent or general improvement; and last, the well-meant but ignorant assumption, so common in the North, that there are no race distinctions except those which are artificial and conventional.”