Changes

Washington was a genius at fund raising from rich whites such as [[Standard Oil]] magnate Henry H. Rogers and [[Sears, Roebuck and Company]] president [[Julius Rosenwald]]. To upgrade the southern schools open to blacks Washington solicited millions of dollars, often using matching funds that stimulated local contributions. He established and operated over 5,000 schools and supporting resources throughout the South. This work was a major part of his legacy and was continued (and expanded through the [[Rosenwald Fund]] and others) for many years after Washington's death in 1915.<ref>Anderson (1998)</ref>   

Washington was a genius at fund raising from rich whites such as [[Standard Oil]] magnate Henry H. Rogers and [[Sears, Roebuck and Company]] president [[Julius Rosenwald]]. To upgrade the southern schools open to blacks Washington solicited millions of dollars, often using matching funds that stimulated local contributions. He established and operated over 5,000 schools and supporting resources throughout the South. This work was a major part of his legacy and was continued (and expanded through the [[Rosenwald Fund]] and others) for many years after Washington's death in 1915.<ref>Anderson (1998)</ref>   

==Improving race relations==

==Improving race relations==

Washington was the central figure in improving the overall friendship and working relationship between the races in the United States, and heading off the "herrenvolk" racism of lower class whites expressed through lynching and led by [[Ben Tillman]]. His powerful autobiography, ''[[Up From Slavery]]'' (1901) was widely read among blacks and sympathetic whites. It told the story of his own emancipation, education, and successful career to inspire southern blacks who had been denied opportunity for education and self-improvement. He carried the same theme  forward in ''The Story of the Negro: The Rise of the Race from Slavery'' (1909).  Washington, in contrast to the civil rights activists like DuBois and the NAACP, deemphasized politics in favor of the importance of cultivating middle class habits of skill, industry, thrift and character so that blacks, having prepared themselves educationally and culturally for the responsibility, would be accepted by liberal whites as meriting  civil rights.  

Washington was the central figure in improving the overall friendship and working relationship between the races in the United States, and heading off the "herrenvolk" racism of lower class whites expressed through [[lynching]] and led by [[Ben Tillman]]. His powerful autobiography, ''[[Up From Slavery]]'' (1901) was widely read among blacks and sympathetic whites. It told the story of his own emancipation, education, and successful career to inspire southern blacks who had been denied opportunity for education and self-improvement. He carried the same theme  forward in ''The Story of the Negro: The Rise of the Race from Slavery'' (1909).  Washington, in contrast to the civil rights activists like DuBois and the NAACP, deemphasized politics in favor of the importance of cultivating middle class habits of skill, industry, thrift and character so that blacks, having prepared themselves educationally and culturally for the responsibility, would be accepted by liberal whites as meriting  civil rights.

==''Up from Slavery'', invitation to the White House==

==''Up from Slavery'', invitation to the White House==