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Nineteenth-century African American businessman, activist, and educator Booker Taliaferro Washington's Up from Slavery is one of the greatest American autobiographies ever written. Its mantras of black economic empowerment, land ownership, and self-help inspired generations of black leaders, including Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan. In rags-to-riches fashion, Washington recounts his ascendance from early life as a mulatto slave in Virginia to a 34-year term as president of the influential, agriculturally based Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. From that position, Washington reigned as the most important leader of his people, with slogans like "cast down your buckets," which emphasized vocational merit rather than the academic and political excellence championed by his contemporary rival W.E.B. Du Bois. Though many considered him too accommodating to segregationists, Washington, as he said in his historic "Atlanta Compromise" speech of 1895, believed that "political agitation alone would not save [the Negro]," and that "property, industry, skill, intelligence, and character" would prove necessary to black Americans' success. The potency of his philosophies are alive today in the nationalist and conservative camps that compose the complex quilt of black American society. Book Description
In reverence of Black History Month -- Born a slave in Virginia in 1856, Booker T. Washington rose in prominence to become black America's foremost spokesman. This is the dramatic autobiographical account of Washington's struggle to succeed and prosper in a country that refused to acknowledge his existence. From his fight for an education to his founding of the world-renowned Tuskegee Institute, Up From Slavery is one of the most significant and defining works in American literature.Download Description
This volume is the outgrowth of a series of articles, dealing with incidents in my life, which were published consecutively in the Outlook. While they were appearing in that magazine I was constantly surprised at the number of requests which came to me from all parts of the country, asking that the articles be permanently preserved in book form. I am most grateful to the Outlook for permission to gratify these requests...Booker T. Washington Please Note:This book has been reformatted to be easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher.The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year.Both versions are text searchable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

An Amazing Human Being
This book is one in a vast library of African American literary history that I posses. It is academically written, yet very easy to read. The contents of this text continue to inspire my will to be a great humanitarian, world citizen, and advocate for African education, science, medicine, and unity

Booker T. Washington
Very interesting perspective on slavery from someone who actually lived through it. All slave tales are not alike.

Booker T Washington
Product was on time and in good condition. Would order from you again.

Well-written story of an amazing man
I knew next to nothing about Booker T. Washington prior to reading this book. Now I feel honored to have had his story shared with me. Despite the risk of sounding cliche, he has become an inspiration and hero to me. If not for his convictions and spirit, he would have been quite ordinary. Instead, he accomplished incredible goals, overcoming unimaginable feats, and has reachedan inumerable amount of people, generation after generation. This book is a mainstay on my bedside table. Required reading for all.

Inspirational Autobiography
This autobiography of an African American intellectual will inspire you.See how Washington rose from nothing to hold a respectable place in American history. ... Read more