For the 50 years that followed its publication in 1901, Up from Slavery was the most widely known book written by an African American. The life of Booker T. Washington embodied the legendary rise of an American self-made man, and his autobiography gave voice for the first time to a vast group that h[...]

UP FROM SLAVERYThe autobiography of Booker T Washington is a startling portrait ofone of the great Americans of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The illegitimate son of 'a white man and a Negro slave, Washington, a man who struggled for his education, would go on to struggle for the [...]

Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856-1915) was born into slavery. After the Civil War he obtained a basic education while working as a coal miner and other jobs. After many difficulties, he studied at Hampton Institute in Virginia (1872-1875). He became an instructor at Hampton and in 1881 was asked t[...]

"Up From Slavery" is the classic autobiography of one of the most controversial figures in American history, Booker T. Washington. "Up From Slavery," recounts Washington's rise from a Virginia tobacco farm slave to his long standing tenure as President of the famed Tuskegee Institute of Alabama. Was[...]