The actual sight of a first-class house that a Negro has built is ten times more potent than pages of discussion about a house that he ought to build, or perhaps could build.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
No white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man’s clothes, eats the white man’s food, speaks the white man’s language, and professes the white man’s religion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Cultural assimilation is often a prerequisite for acceptance in society.
This quote by Booker T. Washington highlights the deep-rooted biases in society that require individuals from other races to adopt the customs, behaviors, and beliefs of the dominant white culture to be seen as civilized or acceptable. It points to the systemic nature of racism and the cultural barriers that minorities face in gaining societal acceptance.
Themes
RaceAssimilationCultureAcceptanceCivilization
In practice
Example use cases
In a diversity training session to discuss the impact of cultural expectations.
More from Booker T. Washington
All quotes →Leaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems _x000D_ that political independence disappears without economic independence _x000D_ that economic independence is the foundation of political independence.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
You go to school, you study about the Germans and the French, but not about your own race. I hope the time will come when you study black history too.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
Similar quotes
The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so
Quintus EnniusRead
It is impossible, in principle, to explain any pattern by invoking a single quantity.
Gregory BatesonRead
We are completely unaware of our true nature because we identify ourselves with our body, our emotions and our thoughts, thus losing sight of our unchanging centre, which is pure consciousness. When we return to our true nature, our thoughts and perceptions no longer appear as modifications of a single substance, they come into being and subside like waves of the ocean.
Jean KleinRead
He knew it was possible for shame to be nursed and doctored like an illness, if you wanted to keep it separate from the rest of your life, but that didn't mean there'd be any way to keep from knowing it was there.
Richard YatesRead
The measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity - adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.
Thomas A KempisRead
she was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off. The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice.
Lewis CarrollRead