As an accommodationist and a conservative who generally took great care not to offend white Americans, Booker T. Washington was widely expected to support the imperialist position at the end of the nineteenth century. In fact, he spoke and wrote strongly against American imperialism. He was particularly outraged by the...
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annexation of Hawaii, saying in a speech in Ashfield, Massachusetts in 1898:
We went to the Sandwich Islands with the Bible and prayer book in our hands to win the soul of the natives; we ended up taking their country without giving them the privilege of saying yea or nay.
Washington made similar comments about American intervention in the Philippines. The principal points he made were that missionary work should not be used as a cover for imperialism, one could teach other cultures about Christianity without taking over their government, and that every country ought to be given the opportunity to select its own leadership and determine its future.
Washington also wrote to the American Anti-Imperialist League to align himself with their position against the annexation of the Philippines, though he did not join them.