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Blacks could gain equality by improving their economic situation through education rather than by demanding equal rights that was Washington’s life story was told during the mid to late 1800’s into the early 1900’s, in the time when the Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect. The Emancipation Proclamation was one major event in history that forever changed our country. All slaves were free and had to go find a new place to live and a new place to work. When the slaves were first freed there was alot of hostile feelings from the whites towards the newly freed slaves. To blacks living within post- Reconstruction South, Washington offered industrial education as the means of escape from sharecropping and allowed blacks to become self-employed, while owning their own land, or small business. Booker over came the obstacles of the free black man by educating himself and other blacks to become “equal” to whites. Until the start of World War I African Americans had a difficult time. His speaking tours and private persuasion tried to equalize public educational opportunities and to reduce racial violence. There were many gains earned after the Civil War seemed lost by the time of World War I because racial violence and lynching reached an all time high. However, both the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League (NUL) were founded by blacks and whites during this time. Both of these major civil rights organizations make efforts on the part of blacks and their white allies to insure that the United States provides "freedom and justice to all". The year of Washington's death marked the beginning of the Great Migration from the rural South to the urban North. He is known as one of the best civil rights leaders for the African American people in the late 1800’s and Booker began his life as a slave for the Burroughs family. He was born in Franklin Co., Virginia around the year 1858 or 1859, he was not sure exactly when he was born because there was never any paper work kept on slaves. His mother was a slave and his father was a white man that he never knew. After the emancipation Booker’s family decided to move to Malden, West Virginia. The trip from Franklin county to Malden, West Virginia was the first he had ever taken. The trip took Booker’s family many days because all of them had to walk to whole way. They settled in a very small house with many other black and very poor white neighbors. His step-father soon found work for Booker and his brother John. They worked in the salt furnaces and coal mines. Booker did not want to work he wanted to go to school to learn. A school teacher, Mr. William Davis, came into his community. Booker was eager to attend the school but his step-father was not able to spare me from work, so could not attend it when it was first opened. Booker would go to work during the day and be taught by a teacher at night. This seemed to be a problem because the teacher his mother hired didn’t know much more then he. After working in the coal mine for some time, his mother found a position for him as a house boy for the Ruffner Family. He went to live with Ruffner’s with many fears and doubts. Mrs. Viola Ruffner had the reputation of being very strict and hard to please. While staying at the Ruffner household Booker learned the exact way to have things; clean, neat, and orderly. Mrs. Ruffner taught him for a few hours in the afternoon. She was his first real teacher that gave him a great After being at the Ruffner house for about four years Booker made the decision to attend Hampton Institute, in Virginia. He had gotten this idea from a man he had heard talking about a school in Virginia. The man said that black boys and girls were permitted to enter, and poor students were given an opportunity of working for their board, if they had not money to pay for it. After hearing this he was set on going there. Booker started his journey with almost nothing and did not know where the Hampton Institute was exactly. When he finally arrived he was dirty and hungry. He presented himself to a teacher to be admitted. She did not admit him but also did not refuse him. Booker asked to show her that he could clean well, like he had learned from Mrs. Ruffner, to be admitted. He cleaned the recitation room four times. The teacher admitted him as a janitor to earn his board. He went to class to learn during the day and at night he would clean the buildings. In 1875, Booker successfully completed his studies at Hampton He returned to West Virginia with alot of debt to repay The Hampton Institute. Booker started teaching in Malden. There he prepared many students to study at the Hampton Institute including his own brother. In 1881 he was selected to head the Tuskegee Institute, a new school for blacks, by Rev. Dr. H. B. Frissel, the principal of Hampton. Washington had to start building Tuskgee with no money, just donations from people who supported him. Booker would travel around the country to raise money to build the new school. He would give speeches to mainly white audiences in different states in hope of raising money to build new buildings. Washington and his students built the school from the ground up. He successfully transformed Tuskegee into a thriving institution. It taught students both academic and vocational training. Under Washington's direction, the students built their own buildings, produced their own food, and provided for most of their own basic necessities. It was a constantly ongoing process of raising more money and building more buildings to accommodate the raising number to students at Tuskgee was teaching. One of Bookers most well know speeches was given at the Atlanta Exposition. For the first time ever he had a mixed audience of white northerners and southerners as well as blacks. After he had finished his speech all the men congratulated him and shook his hand. This speech enlarged Washington's influence into the area of race relations and black leadership. Washington encouraged black progress in economic and educational opportunity. I strongly agree with what Booker T. Washington believed in and all the accomplishments that he had made throughout his life time. I believe that he is one of the most well know civil rights leaders for African American people in the United States today. Booker was a one of a kind man in his life time. If I were to have been alive in his time I would have been one of his supporters. Booker, in my eyes, was a man not afraid of failure, he pushed to reach his goals for all people of the African American race. He did not want anything given to him on a platter just because he was black but he wanted to earn it just like any other man would have to do. He wanted equal rights but also believed that blacks would also have to be equally educated. His speeches not only attracted the black people but also, northern and southern white people. Booker worked hard for all that he achieved during his life time. People all over were followers of Booker T. Washington. One example of how much these followers appreciated Washington is through raising money for a trip to Europe. Not just anyone went to Europe in those days. The trip showed how much the people appreciated Booker’s efforts for civil rights and education of blacks. They sent him and his wife away for three months of strictly relaxation. I believe that this is a very inspirational book giving the message “you can do anything if you put your mind to it”. Booker shows his reader this through all the things he does in his life time. This book was a very enjoyable book to read. I would highly recommend all people to read Up From Slavery to see the impact Booker T. Washington had on the African American civil rights that are present in the United States today. I believe that Up From Slavery showed how blacks improved their economic situation through gaining education. Bibliography: Book summary - Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington Word Count: 1454
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