Up From Slavery : An Autobiography

"Up From Slavery" is the autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his slow and steady rise from 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, and the futility of teaching only intellectual, classical subjects as later espoused by W. E. B. Du Bois and others. An excellent book with a timeless message of how effort can overcome tremendous obstacles.