Booker T Washington in Ragtime

This year I have had the pleasure of taking Mr. Sutton’s junior year US history class as well as Mr. Leff’s class (Race Class Gender in 20th Century American Pop Culture). Through both these classes, I have learned a lot about Booker T Washington. Mr Washington was born a slave in Virginia but attended college at Wayland Seminary. Between the years 1890 and 1915, he was the dominant leader in the African American community. He founded the Tuskegee Institute, a historically black college in Alabama and delivered a speech known as the Atlanta Compromise that gained him national fame. Washington believed that blacks must first become respectable,  economically indispensable, and religiously upright in order to prove themselves to whites. He encouraged blacks to understand their place in society as inferior to whites and to work toward equality over time by “keeping their noses clean”. I found Doctorow’s portrayal of Mr. Washington to be predictable in Ragtime. Based on what I have learned this year, I was able to guess what Mr. Washinton would tell Coalhouse Walker in the library.

In Mr. Leff’s Race Class Gender class, we talked a lot about a boxer named Jack Johnson who became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion between 1908 and 1915 (Roughly the same time Booker T. Washington was popular). Outside of the ring, Jack Johnson’s personality and his lavish lifestyle were problematic to Booker T. Washington. Jack Johnson ignored racism when he was at the peak of his career. He was seen with white women during various points in his career. He broke the law a lot, drove fast cars around town, and ignored authority. Booker T Washington publicly denounced Johnson’s behavior:

"It is unfortunate that a man with money should use it in a way to injure his own people, in the eyes of those who are seeking to uplift his race and improve its conditions, I wish to say emphatically that Jack Johnson’s actions did not meet my personal approval and I am sure they do not meet with the approval of the colored race.”

Booker T Washington denounces Coalhouse Walker in a similar way in Ragtime. Washington thinks Walker is reflecting poorly on the African American community and tries to convince Walker to turn himself in. As soon as I saw Booker T Washington’s name in the book, I immediately thought of Jack Johnson and was able to guess that Washington would denounce Coalhouse Walker in a similar way. All in all, I thought Coalhouse Walker’s personality was very similar to Jack Johnson’s. Both men had a kind of “smooth swagger” in the way they dealt with racism. Doctorow depicts Coalhouse Walker as reserved yet motivated to get back at everyone for his mistreatment. Jack Johnson defies authority by being showy and taking care of business in the ring.