Fiction illustrates life. And sometimes that life jumps out of the pages and forms a person. The aforementioned holds true in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Booker T. Washington and his school, the Tuskegee Institute, serve as the inspiration behind many important aspects of the stirring novel.

Born a Virginia plantation slave in 1856, Booker Taliaferro (T.) Washington began his life following orders delivered to him by wealthy white Southerners. This experience would forever affect his actions and views. In a sense, it can be justified that Washington represents Invisible Man's grandfather, for Invisible Man never understands why his grandfather encourages him to listen to the orders given him by the white man. Since Washington was a former slave like Invisible Man's grandfather, Washington considers the thoughts of the white man before making decisions or taking action. Although he moved with his family to Charleston, West Virginia, a few years later following Emancipation, he never forgot his roots in slavery. While in West Virginia he mastered basic school subjects and soon set his sights on a college education.

That education arrived in the form of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. In 1872, at 17, he entered as a new student at the school, which at the time was the school for blacks to attend. Again, this is very similar to Invisible Man's college experience, for he earned a scholarship to the fictional equivalent of the Hampton Institute. Run by General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Hampton emphasized industrial education for black students. This idea of manual labor training for blacks would influence Washington's beliefs for the rest of his eventful life. In the novel, real-life connections can be drawn between the college's principal, A. Herbert Bledsoe and Armstrong. As author Nicholas Lemman mentions in his works, Washington is a product of Armstrong. As Invisible Man strives to become Dr. Bledsoe's assistant (184), Washington aspired to mimic the life of Armstrong.

After graduation from Hampton, Washington taught at the college. Specializing in instructing Indian youth, he, like Armstrong, emphasized industrial education. Because of his successes at the school, Armstrong chose him in 1881 to start a new Alabama school. The new school was designed as a counterpart of Hampton, called the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Providing black girls and boys with an education with minimal writing, reading, and arithmetic, the academic program encouraged proficiency in industrial fields.

It was as Tuskegee principal that connections can be noted between Washington and Bledsoe. This is only the case because Washington resembles his mentor, Armstrong, so closely. As history professor John Hope Franklin believes, he won the good will of the ruling class by doing services for them. When Tuskegee town residents complained about the black institution existing in their area, he quickly assuaged them by ordering students to provide them services. He ingratiated himself into the good graces of the wealthy white residents. Bledsoe demonstrates this quality as well, informing Invisible Man that "I's big and black and I say 'Yes, suh' as loudly as any burrhead when it's convenient, but I'm still the king down here" (142). Using the stereotypical and accommodating Southern black behaviors, he acts the certain part necessary to gain respect and acceptance from the whites. But at the same time, he feels in charge of his school--historians often say the same about Washington.

This ingratiation rewarded Washington, for by 1900 he was the most famous black American living. The same happens to Bledsoe--hard work and dedication to his school's program rewards him with celebrity status. As Invisible Man remembers hearing, "when he [Bledsoe] gets up North he makes everybody call him Mister Doctor Bledsoe" (179); dedicating his life to his work pays off for him. The wealthy Northern whites, more liberal than their southern counterparts, embraced him for providing them with excellent workers. This parallels with Washington, who gained respect as not just an educator but as a black spokesman as well.

Washington's basic philosophy rested upon his theory of American economics. He believed that certain services were required to exist in the United States to guarantee a stable economy. Entering blacks into this equation, he exhorted them to complete these necessary services for whites. Because these services were necessary, he insisted that the whites would not mind the fact that blacks were doing these jobs; consequently, these black citizens could establish a firm grounding in the nation's economic structure from which to build upon and advance in society. As he often preached to listeners, "no race can prosper until it learns there is as much dignity in till being a field as in writing a poem." Although criticized for a system which many cited as accepting white supremacy, logic actually existed in his philosophy. He wanted black citizens to simply earn a firm grounding in American.

His philosophy received major public attention in 1895, with his famous speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. In the controversial speech, he urged blacks to accept their role in society as being beneath white citizens; moreover, he instructed his race to stay out of politics. Instead, they were to perform manual labor and hold menial jobs. Again, connections exist between him and Bledsoe, who tells Invisible Man to respect the place in society which blacks are expected to hold. W.E.B. DuBois, Washington's major opponent in black affairs and the other leader in the struggle for black rights, often referred to the speech as "The Great Compromise." DuBois, like others, believed that white supremacy was being encouraged through Washington's dangerous message. In some ways, a definite juxtaposition can be discovered between DuBois and the novel's Ras the Exhorter. Neither want much white involvement in the struggle for black equality; they exhort blacks to serve as self-sufficient citizens and rise up due to their own race's efforts. The Brotherhood parallels more with Washington's philosophy, for many of its members are white New Yorkers. Of course, as black historian Alan L. Keyes, Ph.D., notes, Washington preached black self-sufficiency to a point as well. Continuing with his idea of a stable black class in society, he wanted blacks to form their own communities to guard against the destruction of this new emerging class.

Founding the National Negro Business League in 1900, Washington further demonstrated his concern for a stable economic level for blacks. The organization aided blacks involved in business practices, and it encouraged the overall advancement of blacks in society. If searching for more parallels, some exist between the League and the Brotherhood, for the respect for Washington which the Brotherhood holds shines. Choosing Invisible Man as their new chief Harlem speaker, this parallel holds true. As Brother Jack informs Invisible Man soon after recruiting him, he "shall be the new Booker T. Washington, but even greater than he" (307). The admiration of the man is obvious; they want their leader to exhibit the exact same qualities as he, only larger. However, Invisible Man has reservations about following in Washington's footsteps--he can think of men better than he, such as the Founder of his college. This separates Invisible Man from Bledsoe, for Bledsoe and Washington are models of one another. Although exhibiting reservations about Washington's stature, Invisible Man does mimic him in one sense; he learns to respect Frederick Douglass. The fact that around 1900 the nation named Washington Douglass's successor makes this respect important. Keyes presents the idea that black Americans needed a leader following the death of Douglass, and Washington burst on to the national scene at the right time for him to take his empty place. Adding to this theme, Brother Tarp hangs a poster of Douglass in Invisible Man's office, commenting that "he belongs to all of us" (348). As Washington filled Douglass's space, Invisible Man does the fictional equivalent of this act. Washington proves his reverence toward Douglass with his famous biography, Life of Frederick Douglass, which was published in 1907. When Washington died in 1915, he left behind an amazing legacy. His 1901 autobiography, Up From Slavery, would inform generations of Americans of the black struggle which he lived for so long. Preaching non-violent acts as a method of achieving success in society for blacks, his messages would re-surface later on through the words of black leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. This belief also holds true in the novel, for the Brotherhood bans its members from resorting to violence. His college, the controversial Tuskegee Institute, also proved that higher education for blacks could work. Growing from forty students in 1881 when the institute first opened, at his death thirty-four years later 1,537 students attended the school. He served as a representative of the black race as it first began to define itself in America, and black historians rarely refer to the era around 1900 by any other title than "The Booker T. Washington Era." He left his mark on the world in a way which few have ever been able to. Marking him as a true legend, he survives forever as fictional characters in classic literature.

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Franklin, John Hope, and Alfred A. Moss, Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. New York: McGraw Hill, 1988.

Keyes, Alan L., Ph.D. Masters of the Dream: The Strength and Betrayal of Black America. New York: Morrow, 1995.

Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America. New York: Knopf, 1991.

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Tompkins, Vincent, ed. American Eras: Development of the Industrial United States, 1878 - 1899. Detroit: Gale, 1997.

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