Summary:
Its an analysis of the life and workings of Booker T Washington
Slavery and putting those less unfortunate in bondage is probably the most oppressive quality of human nature. Slavery has been in existence since the beginning of man and remains a shameful part of our country's history. Ever since we first landed on this continent almost four hundred years ago we have been enslaving cultures that we have been able to take advantage of. In the later part of our country's history we enslaved hundreds if not thousands of African Americans, not including the Indians which would probably go into the millions of the ones that we did not kill. As a result of slavery we have missed out on many great minds that will never be known. An example of one of the great minds that we were fortunate to experience right out of slavery was Booker T. Washington. In his autobiography "Up From Slavery" Booker goes into great detail the struggles he overcame as a born slave in pre Civil War Virginia. He also describes his life as a child slave and the day the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached his plantation freeing the slaves. Most importantly he talks about the many accomplishments he achieved during his life and what it took to get there. This book was written in 1901 and is an inspiring classic story of the American self made man.
Booker T. Washington was born into slavery between the years 1856 -1859 in Franklin county Virginia. His mother was a slave and his birth father a white man from another plantation. The actual date of his birth was unknown as were the birth of many slaves before him. As a slave he lived in very poverished conditions, which are described in great detail in this book. Despite the filthy conditions provided by their masters Booker and his fellow slaves at his plantation where pretty fond of them. A reason may be because the slaves and the white owners grew up together over many generations over the plantations history. An example Booker uses the book is when one of the younger sons went to go fight in the civil war and returned wounded. Many of the slaves put away much of their personal time taking care of him and bringing him back up to strength. Another example is when the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached their plantation freeing the slaves. Many of the slaves did not want to leave and the ones that did leave helped support there master's family with there own jobs due to the devastating loss of the south.
When the Emancipation reached his plantation Booker's family left with very few possessions and had an arduous trek to Malden West Virginia were Booker's stepfather found a salt mining job. While living in Malden Booker's mother noticing Booker's great interest in learning how to read gave him an old Webster's "Blue Black"Spelling book. Booker used this book to teach himself how to read during his breaks from the salt mining job. During the time he was working in the mines an all black school opened up a couple of miles away. Booker after much debate finally convinced his parents to let him attend it. Unfortunately there were conflicts with his work schedule and he was often late to class. Booker later Got out of his mining job and became a servant to an old woman named Mrs. Ruffiner. While working for Mrs. Ruffiner he learned a hard work ethic that stayed with him for the rest of his life and became sort of a trademark to his life. During his servant hood he was accepted to the Hampton institute, which was a school, set up to teach young blacks after the Civil War. When Booker finally got there he only had 1.50 in his pocket and had to work as a janitor to work off his tuition. His work at the institute was very difficult and the hours where extremely tiring. But Booker enjoyed this challenge and believed that it would better his life. In 1875 Booker Graduated from Hampton and impressed the principle General Armstrong with his performance.
Down in Alabama a small all black school opened called Tuskegee. They where in need of an educated black principal and Asked General Armstrong. Remembering Booker's stellar performance he suggested Booker for the job. Booker got the job and started teaching at Tuskegee in 1881. Booker taught for many years and was very involved with the students. Later Booker continued his education and received a degree from Harvard in 1896. He was also invited to Europe were he made many speeches and met with many foreign dignitaries. His life also touched the heart of president Roosevelt and Booker was invited to the white house.
This book is a testimony that if you want it bad enough and you are willing to work for it you can be anything you want. What I loved the best about this book was his perspective on life that no matter were you come from what race you are that if you have a good work ethic you can accomplish many things. The only thing I wished was described more in this book was the effects on the lives of all Negro slaves through out the south when the Emancipation Proclamation was made. Other than that I loved the way he wrote the book. I think he can only truly tell the story because these are his experiences and his life; having this book written in the first person also gives you a feeling of the struggles he overcame and the successes he had. After reading this book I felt really inspired by his life. I also think everybody should live by his example and not take no for an answer.
Works Cited
Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery: New Jersey: Avenel, Outlook, 1993.
Http://education.yahoo.com. The Britannica Concise, 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.2000
John A. Schutz. Dawning of America, Forum Press up South Carolina, 1981
George Brown Tindall. America a Narrative History, Norton & Company Inc. USA, 1999
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