Written by: Ansel Dhungana - 2022018, Grade XI
Posted on: 05 April, 2021
Up from slavery is an autobiography of Booker T. Washington. In the book, he wrote about his life after freedom and the life of the whole of the black race. He wrote about the difficulties that black people faced in America during the time.
Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Franklin County, Virginia. He lived with his mother and his siblings on the plantation. On the plantation, he did all sorts of work like hauling sacks to and from the plantation and attending to the daughters of his master. There were many slaves in the plantations that worked together. They lived in cabins that did not have anything to cover the ground, neither did the slaves have beds to sleep in. The slave had an information network during the antebellum period through which they got to know how the war was going. When the war was almost over and the north had almost won, the slaves would stay up late into the night and talk excitedly about what they would do when they were free. Here, Washington writes that although the slaves had no freedom and were kept in a bad condition, they still had a sense of loyalty towards their masters. If ordered to guard their masters, they would gladly do so and the attackers would have to go past the dead bodies of the slaves before they could lay a hand on their masters.
All the slaves had gathered around the house of their master when their freedom was announced. All the members of the family of their master were present. The family of the master had a look of pensiveness like they were getting separated from a close member of the family or a close friend. While the slaves were also sad about getting separated from their masters whom they had served for most of their lives, that feeling was dominated by the elation of finally getting freedom.
Once they were free, Washington and his siblings traveled with their mother to Malden, West Virginia to meet with their father. In Malden, he worked as a coal miner in a coal mine to help support his family. Washington had always wanted to read and write so he started learning to do so by scrounging books. Shortly after a school was opened there were people of all ages to study. But since his father had recognized his ability to earn money, Washington was made to work at the coal mine. He protested this decision of his father. They came to an agreement that he would wake up early in the morning and work in the coal mine until school started. And that he would also work after school ended. Washington did so for some time. Once while he was working at the coal mine he heard of a school in Hamilton where black people could study. Hearing that he made a decision that he would go to study at Hampton. To go to Hampton he had to work very hard to secure his travel expenses. We can understand that Washington had to struggle in his early days to secure enough money for his family and himself. He also had to work hard to get an education. When he reached Hampton University, he had no money with which he could pay the board expenses. Thus, he had to work as a janitor in the university to compensate for his lack of money.
In Hampton, he met a man he respects the most, General Armstrong. General Armstrong was a great man of strong morals. He was a believer in true equality. He was also the person who recommended Washington to go to Alabama where Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute.
In the book, Washington writes that being a slave might have been an advantage to the black person over being born a white person because society expected the black person to fail which made overcoming the odds that much more satisfying. The hardships that people have faced in their life will help them overcome the challenges of the future. He also believes that cleanliness is of the utmost importance and teaches that to every one of his students. In fact, the student needs to own a toothbrush in order to get admitted to the Tuskegee Institute.
But, above all, Washington believes that there can only be progress when both the races live in harmony within the neighborhood, helping each other and being useful. He believes that a black person can be of equal importance to society as a white person the moment the black person can show his worth is equal to that of a white person. In the Atlanta Exposition, this is the very thing he talks about. He says to the people of the south, cast down the bucket where you are,He says that should white need a hand 16,000,000 hands would reach out to help.
Hence, the book deals with the situation of America post-civil-war and the situation of the slaves who became free. Washington also talks about his life, his thoughts on the future of America and also the stories of certain black people.
