Up from Slavery

 

Up from Slavery

By Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington was a highly influential thinker during and after the Reconstruction Era. A subject of both praise and criticism for his "Atlanta Compromise" speech, which sparked a movement seeking to appease Southern white lawmakers, Washington's autobiography depicts the caution of a former slave rooted in the desire to retain newfound freedoms. 

Washington foresaw that increases in social tensions over African American rights in southern states could lead to legal retaliation. As Jim Crow laws spread across the nation, Washington strove to, at least, maintain the small liberties won for Black people after the Civil War. In Up From Slavery, he recounts his own life experience, from being born into slavery to his leadership of the Tuskegee Institute, as an example of the type of achievement possible via bootstrapping. Controversial even at the time, Washington's views nonetheless offer a viewpoint into the experience of a certain class of Black Americans in the second half of the 19th century.

About

Out of Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of American educator Booker T. Washington (1856-1915). The book describes his personal experience of having to work to rise from the position of a child slave during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame in obtaining an education at the new Hampton Institute, and his work establishing vocational schools—most notably Tuskegee Institute in Alabama—to help blacks and other disadvantaged minorities. They learn useful and marketable skills and work to raise themselves, as a race, by boot. He reflects on the generosity of both teachers and philanthropists who helped educate blacks and Native Americans. Describes his efforts to inculcate morals, education, health, and a sense of dignity in students. His educational philosophy emphasizes the combination of academic subjects and professional learning (which is reminiscent of John Ruskin's educational theories). Washington explained that the incorporation of practical topics is designed in part to reassure the white community regarding the usefulness of black education.

This book was first published as a serialized work in 1900 by The Outlook, a Christian newspaper in New York. This work was serialized because this means that in the writing process, Washington was able to hear criticism and requests from his audience and could easily adapt his paper to his diverse audience.

First cover of Outlook

Washington was a controversial figure in his life, and WEP Du Bois, among others, criticized some of his views. The book was a bestseller and remained the most popular African-American autobiography until Malcolm X. In 1998, Modern Library listed the book as number three on its list of the 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the 20th Century, and in 1999 it was also listed by the conservative Intercollegiate Review as one of the "50 Best Books of the 20th Century".

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