Was Washington’s View of the Future also My View of the Future

Up From Slavery, the autobiography of Booker T. Washington(a very influential African American educator, and a founder of the Tuskegee institute), has been a very insightful and interesting autobiography to read. Washington’s life itself is rather remarkable, being freed as a slave as a young child, and working his way up to success, it’s a very interesting life story. Also most importantly his biggest legacy was helping younger African Americans to gain success and social acceptance as African Americans, through the Tuskegee institute. But now, was Washington’s view of the future also my view of the future?

 Washington’s view of the future was largely influenced by his helping of other African Americans. His school, the Tuskegee institute was largely influenced by this also. He believed in short that if a person works hard non stop, masters a trade which he/she wants to pursue, and serves others without complaint, that person will become successful economically. So over a period of time this person because of them being successful, will gain respect and acceptance by others regardless of their race. Hence this in his opinion was the way that African Americans will gain social acceptance in society, and also his view of the future. Even though it will take a while for African Americans to achieve this, he even stated that it would, saying that would take approximately fifty years for this to happen, this was his view.

My view of the future is rather similar in the sense that I believe that gaining success and respect comes from hard work, mastering a trade, and working for others(this is also true if you start a business because when owning a business you are technically serving others by selling them things or providing services). Success in my opinion is definitely not easy to achieve, and is far from being free of difficulty but if you work hard and have faith in God and yourself, you have a higher chance of achieving it. But also I believe my view of the future is also different because the time I live in is far different than the time that Washington lived in, and the circumstances are different.

In summary Washington’s and my view of the future share in common the fact that we both believe that working hard, mastering a trade, and working for others overtime is a way to gain respect and success. But also our views of the future are different thanks to the fact that we both live in very different times and our life circumstances are/were different. But overall our views are rather similar.