Up From Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington

UP FROM SLAVERY is the autobiography of influential African-American author and educator Booker T. Washington. He recounts his early life as a slave to becoming educated, achieving a measure of success, and becoming head of the Tuskegee Institute in the late 19th century. Washington is famous for his "Atlanta Compromise," in which he advocated a temporary accommodation with Jim Crow, and that the surest way for blacks to achieve equality "industry, thrift, intelligence and property," rather than agitation or legal action.