On Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery (5)

Yuen M. Ho
English 48B
February 9, 2007
Journal #26 Booker T. Washington

I. Quote

“When the two young masters were brought home wounded, the sympathy of the slaves was shown in many ways. They were just as anxious to assist in the nursing as the family relatives of the wounded… This tenderness and sympathy on the part of those held in bondage was a result of their kindly and generous nature.”

II. Summary

This quote is from the description of the war. During the civil war, which the result would determine the fate for the Negroes, instead of having a mean heart and hoping their owners to suffer, the Negroes, according to Booker T. Washington, showed their tender care and sympathy towards their owners. While the owners might not have treated them their same way before the war, Washington explained that their behaviors were a result of their kind nature.

III. Response

Since Washington was a slave and a Negro himself, I wondered if he could have some bias in depicting only the good sides of his race. The behavior he mentioned might not be fabricated. Nevertheless, how about behind-the-scene? What did they say about their owners? Did they secretly curse them at night? Or did they really just pray for their own freedom?

There is never an answer to the above questions. Let’s just assume his depiction is genuine. I am sure that it is impossible for the care and love to be one-sided. Their owners should have been generous and benevolent to them in certain ways in life, leading to their respect and obedience for them. Otherwise, why would they “wander from the slave quarters back to the ‘big house’ to have a whispered conversation with their former owners as to the future” after emancipation?