Black History Month: Booker T. Washington and the Jews

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

                                                   Washington in 1905

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) is noted as a preeminent African American educator, orator, author, and influential leader who advocated for vocational education, economic self-reliance, and racial uplift. As the founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, he promoted a strategy of "accommodation" to Jim Crow segregation in exchange for funding education and economic opportunity.  

Based on the search results, there is no evidence of a specific legal rule or law that prohibited Black people from using the surnames of U.S. presidents.

In fact, after the Civil War and emancipation, many newly freed African Americans intentionally chose the surnames of U.S. presidents—such as Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, and Lincoln—to symbolize their new status, dignity, and, in some cases, to assert their identity as American citizens.  Note that Booker is  the 2nd known Washington used that I have found so far.  Usually, Black came to use the slave owner'surname and often there was a genetic reason for this. 

 George Washington Carver took his surname from the family that enslaved him in Missouri, while Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in Virginia.                            

Booker T. Washington's collaboration with Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald (president of Sears, Roebuck) created a landmark partnership, establishing nearly 5,000 schools for Black children in the segregated South. This alliance, rooted in shared values of education and philanthropy, marked a significant early 20th-century connection between Black and Jewish communities.

• The Rosenwald Schools: Starting in 1912, Washington and Rosenwald partnered to fund over 4,977 schools, 217 teachers' homes, and 163 shops in 15 Southern states, addressing the severe lack of educational facilities for Black, rural children.
• A "Mutual Aid" Model: The program required local community fundraising and buy-in, encouraging collaboration between Black communities, white officials, and the Rosenwald Fund. By 1932, one-third of all Black children in Southern schools were in Rosenwald-built facilities.
• Philanthropic Support: Beyond schools, Rosenwald provided crucial funding to the NAACP, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and created fellowships for Black artists and intellectuals.
• Shared Values: Both men (Rosenwald and Washington)  believed in the power of education for advancement and were motivated by a desire to combat prejudice and institutionalized inequality. 

This partnership is recognized as one of the most productive and significant collaborations between Jewish and Black leaders in the early civil rights era.

                Booker T Washington Known Accomplishments

• 1. Founder of Tuskegee Institute: He built the institution into a major center for African American technical and vocational education.
• 2. The "Atlanta Compromise" (1895): He famously argued that Black people should focus on economic advancement and vocational skills rather than immediate political or social equality.
• 3.  "Accommodationist" Strategy: Known for advising patience in the face of Jim Crow, he focused on self-help, which gained him support from white financiers and, controversially, led to criticism from figures like W.E.B. Du Bois.
• 4.  Advisor to Presidents: He was a trusted advisor on racial issues to U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.
• 5.  Hidden Activism: Despite his public accommodationist stance, he secretly funded legal challenges against segregation and disenfranchisement.
• 6.  Author: His autobiography, Up From Slavery (1901), was a bestseller.