Up from Slavery

Booker T. Washington

Cosimo, Inc., Oct 1, 2007 - Social Science - 168 pages

First published in 1901, Up From Slavery is one of the classic books from the era of American slavery. In it, Booker T. Washington details his rise from a child born into slavery to a free man with a college education. He offers readers his views on the future of blacks in America, charting a course for their development that starts with an education in practical trades. By proving themselves to be important parts of society, he believed they would be granted civil rights without a bloody struggle. Students of history will find this an essential read from the dawning of the civil rights struggle in America. American author BOOKER T. WASHINGTON (1856-1915) was born to a white father and black slave mother in Virginia. His Atlanta Address of 1895 brought him great acclaim, and for the rest of his life he remained a respected figure in the African American community. Among his most influential writings is an article for Atlantic Monthly called "The Awakening of the Negro" (1896).

What people are saying

Review: Up from Slavery

User Review  - Will - Goodreads

Some of Washington's ideas seem outdated by contemporary standards, but I expected that going in. What's amazing is how many of them don't seem so anachronistic, even as they must have seemed so when ...

Review: Up from Slavery

User Review  - Rebecca - Goodreads

What an amazing and inspirational life. If only the people of today carried on his refusal for bitterness against others. This one I will read again because his life and example have much to teach and help.

Contents

• Chapter Page I A Slave among Slaves: 1
• Boyhood Days: 11
• The Struggle for an Education: 20
• Helping Others: 30
• The Reconstruction Period: 38
• Black Race and Red Race: 44
• Early Days at Tuskegee: 51
• Teaching School in a Stable and a HenHouse: 57
• Anxious Days and Sleepless Nights: 64
• A Harder Task than Making Bricks without Straw: 71
• Making Their Beds before They Could Lie on Them: 79
• Raising Money: 86
• Two Thousand Miles for a FiveMinute Speech: 95
• The Atlanta Exposition Address: 105
• The Secret of Success in Public Speaking: 116
• Europe BO XVII LastWords: 143
• Index: 159

Popular passages

Page 3 - I used to take the corn, once a week, to be ground. The mill was about three miles from the plantation. This work I always dreaded. The heavy bag of corn would be thrown across the back of the horse, and the corn divided about evenly on each side; but in some way, almost without exception, on these trips, the corn would so shift as to become unbalanced and would fall off the horse, and often I would fall with it. As I was not strong enough to reload the corn upon the horse, I would have to wait,...

About the author

Booker Taliaferro Washington, 1856 - 1915 Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Hales Ford, Virginia, near Roanoke. After the U.S. government freed all slaves in 1865, his family moved to Malden, West Virginia. There, Washington worked in coal mines and salt furnaces. He went on to attend the Hampton, Virginia Normal and Agricultural Institute from 1872-1875 before joining the staff in 1879. In 1881 he was selected to head the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, a new teacher-training school for blacks, which he transformed into a thriving institution, later named Tuskegee University. His controversial conviction that blacks could best gain equality in the U.S. by improving their economic situation through education rather than by demanding equal rights was termed the Atlanta Compromise, because Washington accepted inequality and segregation for blacks in exchange for economic advancement. Washington advised two Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, on racial problems and policies, as well as influencing the appointment of several blacks to federal offices. Washington became a shrewd political leader and advised not only Presidents, but also members of Congress and governors. He urged wealthy people to contribute to various black organizations. He also owned or financially supported many black newspapers. In 1900, Washington founded the National Negro Business League to help black business firms. Washington fought silently for equal rights, but was eventually usurped by those who ideas were more radical and demanded more action. Washington was replaced by W. E. B. Du Bois as the foremost black leader of the time, after having spent long years listening to Du Bois deride him for his placation of the white man and the plight of the negro. He died in 1915.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Up from Slavery; Cosimo Classics
• Author: Booker T. Washington
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Cosimo, Inc., 2007
• ISBN: 1602068011, 9781602068018
• Length: 168 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / General; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies; Social Science / Slavery