Question

On what basis does Booker T. Washington criticize the railroad segregation laws? Do you believe this is the most convincing way he might have approached this issue? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Brooker T. Washington is very clear about how silly the segregation laws are.

He specifies that the fact that segregation coming from black people would be treated as a stigma, as a bad thing and as a crime, therefore it can't be legal.

In addition, he can't really see the point of making laws that forbid interracial relationships for the sake of not mixing races. Even if they really wanted to prevent the races to be mixed, he pointed out to the fact that the races didn't share the same social spaces. Many times, not even physical spaces.

He also mentions that there's no such a thing as white people suffering because of a black neighborhood nearby. He says that he can use the white people from the South as an example of how silly that sort of comment is.

In the end, he condemned the fact that the laws exist not because he believes that many blacks want to be mixed socially with whites, but mostly because a law that promotes segregation is something that just should not exist.