up from slavery essay

Up From Slavery

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Up From Slavery: Introduction

Up from slavery: plot summary, up from slavery: detailed summary & analysis, up from slavery: themes, up from slavery: quotes, up from slavery: characters, up from slavery: symbols, up from slavery: literary devices, up from slavery: theme wheel, brief biography of booker t. washington.

Historical Context of Up From Slavery

Other books related to up from slavery.

• Full Title: Up From Slavery
• When Written: Late 1800s
• Where Written: Tuskegee, Alabama
• When Published: 1901
• Literary Period: Early African American Literature
• Genre: Autobiography
• Setting: 19th Century America, primarily in Hampton, VA and Tuskegee, AL
• Climax: Washington delivers his famous “Atlanta Exposition Address.”
• Antagonist: Racism, liberal black Americans, and uneducated black Americans serve as symbolic antagonists to Washington’s educational philosophy.
• Point of View: First Person

Extra Credit for Up From Slavery

Other accounts. Up from Slavery was not Washington’s only autobiography. In 1900, a year before the publication of the autobiography, Washington published another account of his life titled The Story of My Life and Work written with the help of a ghost writer. Despite positive sales, Washington disliked the general style of the writing and its editing, so he decided to publish Up from Slavery a year later.

Formidable opponents. Washington’s speech to the Atlanta Exposition became an important factor in W. E. B. Du Bois’ seminal work The Souls of Black Folk . Du Bois, Washington’s main political rival, offered a whole chapter titled “The Atlanta Compromise” devoted to refuting Washington’s address. Du Bois’ opposition to Washington’s ideology of gradual racial progress eventually led him to found the NAACP in 1909.

Masters and Slaves: ”Up From Slavery” by Washington Booker Essay

The historical issues often are rather controversial. Any historical fact can give rise to doubts of the historians and become a subject for scientific debates. An autobiographical work Up from Slavery by Washington Booker describes the relationships between the black and white people in the United States before the Civil War from a new unexpected perspective of the actual participant of the events.

Bookers’ memoirs do not contradict the descriptions of 1890s in The Awakening by Kate Chopin or The Strenuous Life by Theodore Roosevelt but add new significant information to them.

Instead of criticizing the opposition between the black and the white, Booker emphasizes the interpersonal relationships between the masters and their slaves, emphasizing the devotion of the latter to the white population.

Anyone attempting to harm ‘young Mistress’ or ‘old Mistress’ during the night would have to cross the dead body of the slave to do so… there are few instances, either in slavery or freedom, in which a member of my race has been known to betray a specific trust (Washington 28).

In this point Booker’s perspective is opposed to the widely spread bias concerning the hatred of Afro-Americans towards their odious masters. In a number of situations the relations were rather warm and some of the slaves got accustomed to their position and did not want to change their life style.

Giving rise to readers’ doubts concerning the generally accepted view on the confrontation between Afro-Americans and white population, Booker motivates them to get rid of their stereotypes. Pointing at another shift in public consciousness of Americans in 1890s, Kate Chopin sheds light upon the first signs of feminism in the society, choosing a woman struggling for her rights as the main protagonist of her book The Awakening.

“The years that are gone seem like dreams… Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.” (Chopin 292). The idea of awakening is rather broad and can be used to define various changes in the country of the period under analysis.

Up from Slavery by Washington Booker can be regarded as a part of the 1890s America explored by Roosevelt emphasizing the same ideas of universal values which preceded the decline of slavery.

The outside world does not know the struggle that is constantly going on in the hearts of both the Southern white people and their former slaves to free themselves from racial prejudice; and while both races are thus struggling they should have the sympathy, the support, and the forbearance of the rest of the world (Washington 220).

A similar idea is proclaimed by Roosevelt who points at the significance of ensuring equal rights for all the citizens for demonstrating the level of development of the state and entering the world community as a civilized country. “In the end the slave was freed, the Union restored, and the mighty American republic placed one more as a helmeted queen among nations” (Roosevelt 5).

Thus, describing the phenomenon, both authors point at its devastating effects for further progress of the United States, while the decision to get rid of it was similar to getting rid of a burden that prevented the development.

Up from Slavery by Washington Booker views the situation in America of 1890s through the eyes of an Afro-American, adding a new perspective to the descriptions of the situation in the country in The Awakening by Kate Chopin or The Strenuous Life by Theodore Roosevelt, without contradicting or opposing to them.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Bibliobazaar, 2008. Print.

Roosevelt, Theodore. The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses . New York: Cosimo Classics, 2006. Print.

Washington, Booker. Up from Slavery: An Autobiography . New York: Bibliobazaar, 2008. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2022, March 22). Masters and Slaves: ”Up From Slavery” by Washington Booker. https://ivypanda.com/essays/up-from-slavery/

"Masters and Slaves: ”Up From Slavery” by Washington Booker." IvyPanda , 22 Mar. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/up-from-slavery/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Masters and Slaves: ”Up From Slavery” by Washington Booker'. 22 March.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Masters and Slaves: ”Up From Slavery” by Washington Booker." March 22, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/up-from-slavery/.

1. IvyPanda . "Masters and Slaves: ”Up From Slavery” by Washington Booker." March 22, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/up-from-slavery/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Masters and Slaves: ”Up From Slavery” by Washington Booker." March 22, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/up-from-slavery/.

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Up From Slavery

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Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-17

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

What continuities exist between Washington’s argument in Up From Slavery and the present-day discourse on racial justice?

Compare Washington’s speeches transcribed in Up From Slavery to the rest of the book. Does his tone , word choice, content, etc. differ between his speeches and his writing?

Compare Up From Slavery to W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk . How do the two writers differ in how they write about the experience of Black people in 19th-century America? Do they share any similarities?

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Essay On Up From Slavery By Booker T. Washington

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Slavery , United States , Washington , Literature , Struggle , White , Community , Democracy

Published: 12/31/2021

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Up from Slavery is an autobiography of Booker T. Washington, which came out by the dawn of the twentieth century. It is different in a way that a Black author has used humor to highlight slavery than use misery and suffering to talk about it. He wants his readers to believe that slavery was as much useful for the black population as it was to white population. Washington adopts a positive approach that involves humor, in discussing the African American struggle. His indifference to racial riots, black killings, and protests make him a ‘destructive’ social activist, whereas, his positive critics understand his point of humor and remarks, terming them to be in favor of black population but with a different approach. They term his approach to be a ‘mask’, yet to highlight the black problems. In this way, he is not adopting a negative tone to describe slavery. Surprisingly, he makes jokes of racist nature while compromising over the black struggle. He does not seem to care much about black protests, riots, killing of blacks, and oppression of blacks by whites. He takes a hopeful approach to describe the future of the two opposite races in the United States. In his first section of Up from Slavery, he discusses his childhood period of being a black slave. He describes his childhood as a black individual, who had seen everything in the context of food. Perhaps this is the reason for his focus on economic freedom of the black than the social equality and racial uplift. At one place, when he sees white women eating ginger-cakes, he wished to eat ginger-cakes just as those white women one day (Washington 45). This indicates how he wanted to be economically free just as those white women, which probably gave rise to his ‘subtle’ mechanism to accomplish the goal of freedom. Washington had a blazing craving for education and portrays the school building as a heaven. He likewise observes that notwithstanding their lack of education, the slaves of the time were very much educated with reference to what was happening in the other parts of the country, particularly in regards to the condition of the Civil War. This was accomplished through grapevine technique, in which the slave who was sent to the mail station to gather the mail would wait sufficiently long to catch the discussions of the whites while getting their mail. The slaves spread the word to the other slaves after listening to the news. These details are included in his book to shed light on the importance of black education and economic participation. It is interesting to notice though that he made fun of such situations. One wonders upon his use of humor to make jokes of the black struggle. It can be understood as a literary mask and literary device to highlight the pain and suffering of the black community in a ridiculous way. Perhaps, whites will feel shame and disgust on their behavior towards the African American community or they may be moved by the desire of ginger-cake in a black child’s heart. The reader can understand while he goes on reading the book that the author’s sole aim is to highlight the black issues in a subtle tone, to not offend any reader, but deliver his message effectively. In his work Up from Slavery, Washington abstains from putting fault about the organization of slavery, going to far as to express that the previous slaves are in a superior position than dark individuals in any other part of the world. However, he doesn't legitimize the foundation, yet at the same time guarantees that the black man got almost as much out of slavery as the white man. While whites turned out to be less independent, figuring out to consider manual work to be something to be embarrassed about, blacks frequently comprehended a workmanship and figured out how to struggle towards economic and individual freedom. Washington’s views are complex and they need to be comprehended before even understanding them in their real sense. While Washington uses many metaphors and themes in order to deliver his message and perspective, he also ensures that the reader can understand and grasp the use of those metaphors. For instance, the use of coal mine, which was a reality in Washington’s life, as he worked in a coal mine, is to depict the condition of the black community at large. This means that he knows where to hit to make his point as a coal mine is dark and hopeless place to him, while he would struggle out to come out of it. That coal mine is a symbol of black life, but the hope lies in his idea of struggle and hard work. In the light of discussion, it can be concluded that slavery was not a curse to Washington as he perceived it as a ‘training mechanism’ that made blacks better individuals in many senses than the white population. To him, freedom and emancipation had a different meaning, which required a different route to the final destination. Moreover, he did not care much about making jokes about black community that implies his ability to laugh at his own community, which could act as a breeze in an already suffocated environment of suffering, sabotage, and slavery.

WORKS CITED

Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery. Raleigh, N.C.: Alex Catalogue. Print. 34-78.

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Up From Slavery Booker T. Washington

Up From Slavery essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington.

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Up From Slavery Essays

The danger of passiveness in booker t. washington’s “up from slavery” anonymous college, up from slavery.

The latter years of the 19th century brought with them a time of vast change in race relations in the United States. The end of the Civil War and the period of Reconstruction that followed brought a slew of rights to the newly freed Southern...

Comparative Essay: Up from Slavery and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

The books Up from slavery and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an enslaved American, are great books that detail Booker T. Washingtons' life and Frederick Douglass's life. In Up from Slavery, Washington traces his journey from a slave to an educator. The early sections document his childhood as a slave and his efforts to get an education. He directly credits his education with his later success as a man of action in his community and the nation. 

And Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an 1845 memoir and treatise on abolition written by famous orator and former slave Frederick Douglass during his time in Lynn, Massachusetts. It is generally the most famous of several narratives written by former slaves during the same period. 

We will compare Booker T. Washington, an American educator, author, orator, and adviser, to several presidents of the United States between 1890 and 1915. He was the dominant leader in the African American community and the contemporary black elite, and the most influential spokesman for Black Americans between 1895 and 1915; he was born towards the end of slavery and was freed later in his life. And Fredrick Douglas who was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the Massachusetts and New York abolitionist movement, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings.

Even though they were alive in different times and led separate lives in slavery, they were both eager to make a difference, cared about fellow free slaves, and were determined to succeed.

First off, they were both eager for change and made a positive difference. Fredrick Douglas, when freed, sought to abolish the practice of slavery. He became a leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought to end slavery before and during the Civil War. After this and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, he continued his push for equality and human rights until he died in 1895. You may ask how this is an example of assertion here is why he was determined to end slavery, even leading the movement through the Civil war and until his death. 

Booker T. Washington designed, developed, and guided the Tuskegee Institute; He advocated economic independence through self-help, hard work, and practical education. He was committed to improving the lives of African-Americans after the Civil War. He was determined to help others, especially African-Americans who had spent their lives as enslaved people. "Those who are happiest do the most for others." in both Fredrick Douglas and Booker T. Washington's lives; we see that they were both eager to change other people's lives and make a difference in the world.

Secondly, both Fredrick Douglas and Booker T. Washington helped slaves change their lives to live better ones. Fredrick Douglas helped other slaves; he is known as the Slave that helped other Slaves. Douglass met with President Abraham Lincoln regarding the treatment of black soldiers in the war and helped devise a plan to get freed slaves out of the South and into the North. During the war, he also assisted the Union by serving as a recruiter, recruiting even his son. Later, he met with President Andrew Johnson on black suffrage. "For my part, I should prefer death to hopeless bondage." He did not care what others thought; he was determined to find a way to help other slaves.

Booker T. Washington had a similar idea but went about it differently.

He started a great institution to help slaves and others. vThe Institution was named Tuskegee (now Tuskegee University), which has helped tens of thousands of people gain skills needed to lift themselves. The graduates have included people from Africa, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Research conducted at Tuskegee, especially by botanist George Washington Carver, helped poor Southern farmers. "Those who are happiest do the most for others." This was one of the main ways Booker helped others, especially teaching freed slaves how to live appropriately. Even though both of their ways to help other slaves were a bit different, they still worked, and they both still had the same mindset to help others. 

Fredrick Douglas was determined to escape slavery. The determination of Frederick Douglass paid off on his third attempt to escape slavery in 1838. Douglass's determination continued after he escaped slavery. He helped push for the end of slavery and the start of voting rights for African American men. Lastly, they both Spent most of their freed life helping others.

"Nothing valuable shall be obtained without labor and agony." even after failing twice to escape, as people say third times the charm because on his third attempt to escape, it worked out. He continued to push for more things with great determination. 

They were both determined to succeed, with Fredrick escaping and Booker getting an Education. On the other hand, Booker T. Washington was determined to get an education. He was so determined to get an education that he worked as a janitor to be able to participate in the school. With this in mind, he enrolled at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia (1872).

Both of these men were eager to make a difference, cared about fellow free slaves, and were determined. However, they both spent their lives watching more about others than themselves. Frederick Douglas was a runaway slave who worked to end slavery. Booker T. Washington was a slave freed after the Civil War; he spent his life bettering his race by educating African-Americans. These great men had a significant impact on America, but Booker T. Washington was more important as he helped free slaves learn how to live correctly; without him, it could have changed our country to this day.

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