UP FROM SLAVERY-
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Written By Booker T. Washington).pdf

UP FROM SLAVERY :-AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
(Written By Booker T. Washington)

Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his personal experiences in working to rise

from the position of a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at

the new Hampton University, to his work establishing vocational schools—most notably the Tuskegee Institute in

Alabama—to help black people and other disadvantaged minorities learn useful, marketable skills and work to pull

themselves, as a race, up by the bootstraps. He reflects on the generosity of both teachers and philanthropists who helped

in educating blacks and native Americans. He describes his efforts to instill manners, breeding, health and a feeling of

dignity to students. His educational philosophy stresses combining academic subjects with learning a trade (something

which is reminiscent of the educational theories of John Ruskin). Washington explained that the integration of practical

subjects is partly designed to reassure the white community as to the usefulness of educating black people.
This text, while certainly a biography of his life, is in fact an illustration of the problem facing African Americans by detailing

the problems of one. By showing how he has risen from servitude to success, he demonstrates how others of his race can

do the same, as well as how sympathizers can aid in the process.
This book was first released as a serialized work in 1900 through The Outlook, a Christian newspaper of New York. It is

important to mention that this work was serialized because this meant that during the writing process, Washington was

able to hear critiques and requests from his audience and could more easily adapt his paper to his diverse audience.

Washington was a somewhat controversial figure in his own lifetime, and W. E. B. Du Bois, for example, criticized some of

his views. The book was, however, a best-seller, and remained the most popular African American autobiography until that

of Malcolm X. In 1998, the Modern Library listed the book at #3 on its list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the 20th century.

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