Booker T. Washington offered a message of empowerment and
community activism that speaks to the economics and social
problems we confront. Our society would benefit from taking a
leaf out of his book. America has just endured a dangerously
divisive election. Now we must set about solving the problems
defined by the two presidential campaigns -- in particular, how
to move our government and its people forward together. For a
model of what we need to do, let's look back 100 years to a man
who knew a lot about healing deep divides: Booker T. Washington.
Washington was a major force for change in his time.
Industrialist Andrew Carnegie likened him to George Washington.
President Teddy Roosevelt invited him to dinner at the White
House. He was as famous as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. would
later become. He founded and built what is now Tuskegee
University in Alabama and spent his career encouraging both
Northern and Southern audiences to invest in the education of
poor children, black as well as white. Washing