Book Review of Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
UPDATED: 2/5/2023
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160 pages, published in 1900
YOU MAY ENJOY THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE:
Black American experiences * Auto-biographies * American history * Historic primary sources
TRAVEL INSPIRATION:
Booker T. Washington was born and remained enslaved until he was 9 years old and was freed at the end of the American Civil War as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation. He was born and worked on a farm in Hardy, Virginia, in the Piedmont region of Virginia about 30 minutes away from Roanoke. His birthplace is a National Monument, which we have visited, and you can, too! Check that post out here.
After being granted freedom, Washington spent the next portion of his life in Malden, West Virginia, nearby the state capital Charleston. There, he received an initial education through perseverance, squeezing in lessons around a hard work day in the mines (keeping in mind he was still a child). From there, he headed to Hampton, Virginia and attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) with some trips back home to West Virginia.
At about the age of 25, Washington relocated to Tuskegee, Alabama, where he lived for the remainder of his life, founding, stabilizing, and growing what is today Tuskegee University. It is in these three places - Virginia, West Virginia, and Alabama - that Washington made a substantial impact on his local communities in the era immediately following the Civil War, known as Reconstruction.
Washington’s first foray into the world, when his family moved from the farm where they were enslaved to Malden, West Virginia, was on foot, a staggering 200 miles over mountains and ridges.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Booker T. Washington
Born Booker Taliaferro in 1856, the infant’s lot in life was pre-determined: Booker was born to an enslaved mother on the farm of James Burroughs in Virginia’s Piedmont region. From an early age, Booker, along with all enslaved children, was put to work on and near the 200-acre farm. Life in his family’s dirt-floor cabin was hard-scrabble and alternated between too cold in the winter and too hot in the humid Virginia summer. A highlight of those times that he would recall later in life was the occasional molasses treat from the so-called “Big House,” where the Burroughs family resided.
The entire arc of Booker’s life changed in 1865 when, at nine years of age, word reached the Burroughs farm that all enslaved people were free.
In the 50 years between then and his death in 1915 at the age of 59, Washington made a significant impact on the individual lives of tens of thousands of Black Americans, served as a leader and inspiration to others, and was at the center of the Reconstruction-era discussions and debates over the “race issue” facing the country.
Washington is often most acclaimed for his founding of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He was hand-selected for the post. Upon arrival in Alabama, Washington discovered essentially nothing - no money, no buildings - and he single-handedly developed a plan to solve all these various needs. It was through Washington’s work for the school, which continued until his death, that he gained broader acclaim. To solve fundraising issues, he spent a substantial amount of time on the road seeking generous philanthropists. Over time, he was asked to speak to crowds and gradually became known as a spokesperson, a role he played well but hesitatingly. In his own words, he sought to only accept speaking engagements that would help his primary goal of his school, not to be a speaker for speaking’s sake.
REVIEW OF Up from slavery BY booker t. Washington
When Booker T. Washington wrote Up from Slavery in about 1900, he was still only 44 years old. He had fully filled those years, gained widespread acclaim within the United States and internationally, and made a personal impact on so many thousands of individuals and communities.
Washington wrote this auto-biographical account to document and share his journey to that point.
The auto-biography moves chronologically from Washington's earliest memories and experiences on the Burroughs farm as an enslaved child and his family's relocation to West Virginia upon receipt of their freedom. Washington's first-person account of life for an enslaved and, then, formerly enslaved child seeking to gain an education while working long, hard, scary hours in the coal mine is itself a fascinating window into the past.
Washington tells of kind people who helped him along his way and sacrifices others made on his account. For example, his older brother worked to support the family while Washington went away to college and only received his own college education later on.
Throughout the entirety, Washington is very clear on his mission and goals in life, and his personality that made him so successful in Reconstruction-era US shines through clearly. He has strong views and a personal philosophy that he incorporated into all his life activities. He believed in hard work and self-sacrifice, perhaps to a fault.
In Up from Slavery, Washington shares his journey through his own memories and eyes. The period where he attended college at Hampton and then later taught both there and in West Virginia are foundational to his future and more well-known efforts in founding Tuskegee. He shares his thought process around public speaking and his obligation and hesitancy to be viewed as any sort of public figure.
One of the most fascinating and unexpected portions of the book is Washington's experiences in Europe during a 3-month trip. Washington was a work-a-holic before that word existed and some of the philanthropists who supported his work decided he needed a break. They fully raised the funds to support a vacation abroad and even raised additional money to shore up Tuskegee while he wasn't fundraising on its behalf. While Washington was initially uncomfortable with taking a vacation, he went and seeing his perspectives of various European countries was enlightening.
Washington's style of writing is matter-of-fact and so his private, personal life remains largely an enigma. Washington had a partnership with his succession of wives, all of whom were truly dedicated to the success of Tuskegee and seemed to work as hard as he did. It is only in passing that he mentions the death of his first and then his second wife, each occurring after only 2-3 years of marriage. With one, he seems to indicate she worked herself to death essentially. Washington did marry a third time, and that marriage lasted over 20 years until his death. Over the course of his life, Washington also had three children, whose trajectories are briefly covered.
To me, one of the most important elements of this auto-biography is gaining a real-life view into the world in 1900. So many of Washington's anecdotes can seem both familiar and foreign to a modern reader. They are also telling insights into the years just after slavery was dissolved. For example, Washington describes a man he met who had formerly been enslaved. The man had been born in Virginia but was sold to Alabama. When Washington asked the man how many were sold at the same time that he was, he replied: "There were five of us; myself and brother and three mules." In another portion, Washington describes early voters and how initially many of the former enslaved individuals would listen to the white people around them to see who they were voting for and then vote for the opposite candidate. I should add that this practice bothered Washington, who felt that these individuals needed to vote for themselves instead of basing their votes on others'.
Other portions of this auto-biography brought sadness when it was clear how optimistic Washington was about the future of Black Americans, and modern readers have the benefit of seeing what has - and has not - transpired since. After describing his experiences with the Ku Klux Klan, Washington then writes:
“I have referred to this unpleasant part of the history of the South simply for the purpose of calling attention to the great change that has taken place since the days of the “Ku Klux.” Today there are no such organizations in the South, and the fact that such ever existed is almost forgotten by both races. There are few places in the South now where public sentiment would permit such organizations to exist.”
In fact, the peak of the Ku Klux Klan hadn’t even occurred as of Washington’s writing in 1900. The early years of Reconstruction were filled with a lot of hope and optimism for the country, and Washington’s auto-biography shines a light on this exact period.
DISCUSS up from slavery
What portions of Washington’s life philosophy did you agree or disagree with? Which of Washington’s anecdotes most resonated with you and why?
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