100 Objects #5: Blue Back Speller

Following the Revolutionary War, educator Noah Webster sought to standardize American English and promote literacy by publishing "The Blue-Back Speller." This pocket-sized book became immensely popular, helping shape a distinct American identity and language by introducing simplified spellings.

This segment explores how Noah Webster's Blue-Back Speller, originally not intended for Black Americans, became a vital tool for literacy and liberation among enslaved people. It highlights the story of Frederick Douglass, who taught himself to read using the book, and discusses how the pursuit of education continued to symbolize freedom after emancipation.

This segment explores the profound impact of the Blue Back Speller on Black education in post-emancipation America, focusing on the life of Booker T. Washington. After teaching himself to read with the book, Washington walked 500 miles to attend the Hampton Institute and later founded Tuskegee University. The discussion introduces the ideological debate between Washington's focus on practical industrial education and W.E.B. Du Bois's contrasting philosophy.

This segment explores Booker T. Washington's advocacy for industrial education and economic self-sufficiency for Black Americans as a strategic compromise during the Jim Crow era. It focuses on his famous 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech, where he proposed that Black and white Americans could exist socially 'as separate as fingers on a hand.' While the speech was widely celebrated by white audiences, it drew criticism for implicitly relinquishing civil and political rights.

This segment explores the ideological divide between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois following Washington's famous Atlanta Compromise speech. While Washington became a powerful national figure advocating for pragmatic compromise, Du Bois emerged as a key challenger with a different vision for Black education and freedom. Both men's intellectual foundations are traced, highlighting their differing experiences with the Blue Back Speller.

This segment explores the contrasting philosophies of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington regarding racial progress. Through Du Bois's experience teaching rural Black children in Tennessee with the Blue Back Speller, he witnesses the devastating impact of the Jim Crow system, solidifying his belief that economic progress is impossible without full civil and political rights.

Roman Mars and Imani Perry explore the historic intellectual conflict between W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. They examine Du Bois's critique of Washington's accommodationist approach in his seminal work, 'The Souls of Black Folk', and contrast their differing visions for Black education and civil rights.

Roman Mars and Imani Perry discuss the contrasting yet deeply committed approaches of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois toward Black education and liberation. Despite their ideological differences, both leaders carried immense personal and political burdens to advance civil rights and education for African Americans.

Hosts Roman Mars and Imani Perry discuss how the Blue-Back Speller served as a foundational tool for literacy and empowerment for prominent Black historical figures like Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Frederick Douglass. They explore how these thinkers took an object not intended for them and used it to redefine the American intellectual and political tradition.

Roman Mars concludes his conversation with author Imani Perry, highly recommending her books including 'South to America'. He then reads the production credits for 'A History of the United States in a Hundred Objects', acknowledging the teams at Ninety-Nine Percent Invisible and BBC Studios.