Bring Into Our Beloved South a New Heaven and a New Earth

Abstract This article posits a new frame for understanding Booker T. Washington’s sociopolitical philosophy: eschatology, a branch of theology concerned with the ultimate purpose or destiny of humanity. I argue that Washington was not solely an educator or political operative with a controversial program for the South; he was an eschatological visionary with a vision that competed and prevailed in the millennial marketplace that was Industrial America. Both black and white Southerners needed stories, and religious ones, to make sense of the chaotic Nadir and Progressive eras that had in many respects marginalized and left them behind. Washington responded to this need by taking the Exodus myth of his slave youth and combining it with mentor Samuel Armstrong’s philosophy and Henry Grady’s millennial chauvinism to produce a distinct African American eschatology. Viewing Washington’s lifework and thought through an eschatological framework enables us to better understand his controversial adamance on the place and function of black people in the American South, white people’s duty to them, and his vision for the future of the region, as well as understand the era in which he operated.