Compare And Contrast Frederick Douglass And Booker T Washington

Diligent Work Today in America, every man, regardless of his race, is granted the right of freedom. However, there was a day when all men were not free. African men, forced to live in horrific conditions while being treated lower than animals, were purchased and traded among white men. Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass both lived during this dark time when slaveholding was common practice in America. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery, yet freed by the age of nine, thus living the greater portion of his life as a free man. Frederick Douglass, born many years earlier, suffered under the wrath of his cruel slave holders for 20 years. Although these two men were born under far different circumstances, they both possessed many similar traits as they both yearned quality education, demonstrated determined perseverance, and obtained ultimate freedom. Firstly, both men yearned quality education. From an early age, Booker T. Washington possessed the motivation and ability to succeed in schoolhouse

Not long after Booker T. Washington graduated from the Hampton Institute, he founded the Tuskegee Institute. This however, was not an easy task. The school board often struggled to maintain the necessary supplies to house and feed their students. Additionally, gathering the funds to pay their fees proved to be a difficult challenge. As Booker himself stated, “In the early years of the Tuskegee school I walked the streets or travelled country roads in the North for days and days without receiving a dollar. Often it has happened, when during the week I had been disappointed in not getting a cent from the very individuals from whom I most expected help…” Nevertheless, Booker did not allow these rejections to break him. Instead, he persevered and continued to work long hours, educating people about Tuskegee and organizing campaigns to raise money for his school, only resting after