A Chief Lieutenant of the Tuskegee Machine

This essay tells the life and work of Charles Banks, Booker T. Washington's chief lieutenant in Mississippi; he was an African American leader in the state and most influential black businessmen in the early decades of the 20th century. This book was to enlighten people about who Charles banks was and how he was important to our history. Charles Banks was born March 25, 1973, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, to Daniel A. and Sallie Ann Banks. His parents had been slaves in Mississippi. In A Chief Lieutenant of the Tuskegee Machine, David H. Jackson Jr. tells the life of Charles Banks leading African American entrepreneur and adherent to Booker T. Washington's strategy of self-help and racial uplift in the Jim Crow South.

Charles banks became a retail merchant, bank founder, mill owner, and a founder and leading citizen of the all-black town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Jackson attributes Bank's achievements as a hard worker and business men. Charles Banks was a famous Black leader, like Jessie Jackson. Banks spent most of is life in a discriminating and violent town. The conflict of his town motivated him to the point that he wanted to help his community and he became a successful entrepreneur.

Banks attended rust university in holly springs, Mississippi. Banks opened a general merchandise store in his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi. He married trenna Ophelia booza at the age of 20. trenna believed that it was important for African American women to be educated. Many men believe women should have stayed home and be a house wife. Trenna was a schoolteacher in Mississippi. In 1908 trenna and Charles built a house in mound bayou, Mississippi.

Charles believed in elevating blacks through economic development. Banks had a connection with Tuskegee to obtain Mound Bayou a farm demonstration agent from the Department of Agriculture in 1907. Banks served as first vice-president of the NNBL 1907 until 1923. The histories of Charles Banks remind me of the everyday struggle that people go through now.

The Machine served Washington more faithfully than Bank and his relationship with Washington and his friendship with Washington's secretary. Banks work provided information about how Booker Washington obtained and used his influence and work of the Tuskegee Machine. The Machine worked in ways that benefit Washington and his lieutenants. Washington influence and trust his lieutenants, Charles Banks fulfill their personal and racial thinking. Washington was