Booker T Washington Up From Slavery

I chose to write a review on the book Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington because after reading The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. Du Bois, I wanted the opportunity too look into the life of an African American man in the same time period with different views on education, work, politics, and civil rights. Booker T. Washington was born on April 5, 1856. Washington was born into slavery in Virginia. Booker's mother, Jane, worked as a cook for plantation owner James Burroughs. His father was an unknown white man, most likely from a nearby plantation. At an early age, Booker went to work carrying sacks of grain to the plantation’s mill. Booker grew up during the time of the Civil War. In 1865, when Booker was around nine years old,his family was freed. Booker's stepfather found a job in West Virginia working in the salt mines. The family moved there and Booker and his brother worked in the salt mines alongside their father. Booker heard word of a college for black students in Hampton, Virginia called the Hampton Institute. In 1872, Booker packed up his things to make the journey to Hampton. Once arrived, he convinced the school to enroll him and worked as a janitor to pay his way through. Booker would
Washington brought forth the idea of hard work and education as the foundation for new ideologies of African Americans. He has taught the reader that although he came from nothing, he built a life for himself and paved the way for blacks of generations to come. Washington used this book to portray to so many young men and women that it is more than just race and that anyone can have the life they yearn for so long as they work towards it. Through education and dedicated labor anything is possible, no matter that race or age. Washington pushed for a brighter tomorrow in the lives of African Americans throughout time, because of his upfront storytelling and strive for achieving greatness he achieved just