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A review by misspalah
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
4.0
“But no White American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilised until he wears the white man’s clothes, eat the white man’s food, speaks the white man’s language and professes the white man’s religion”.
- Up from slavery by Booker T. Washington
.
.
The book follow the narrative of Mr Booker T. Washington in retelling his childhood until he become one of the prominent civil rights activists. Born of a White Father and a slave mother, he grew up recognising the impact of slavery. The oppression and the status of being one’s property - that even though his mother and him were being released once Lincoln won the civil war and declared that slavery has been abolished, he acutely observed that freedom is not meant for everybody. He saw some former slaves past certain ages made deal with their former masters to keep on living with them. He then adopted Washington as his last name as given the status as a Slave’s child, he doesn’t have it initially and eventually added T. as it was originally what his mother wanted to name him. He saw the value of education and knew that it is the way to upgrade himself and at the same time, to pursue a brighter future. He took various jobs from cleaner to the helper and eventually got enough money to let him travel to Hampton. He almost starved himself to death as he has no money , no one that he knew around when he reached there and not even living place but his hard work paid off when he got accepted into the institution. He then was introduced to a great man name General Armstrong whom he felt a greatest man he ever met. General Armstrong instilled in him that education is a way to lift up his races - that in any way, everyone who is willing to learn should be given chance for it because that’s exactly how he managed to graduate from Hampton. He then worked at few places before finding himself back in Hampton when
General Armstrong asked him to come back to teach the batch of Natives American. He was reluctant at first but decided to go for it and he did jot down few differences while making some observations in teaching them. Fate has other path handed to Mr Booker when his name was being put to teach the black community in Tuskegee. He went for it but was surprised that the facilities is not up to par and few objections came from some white and black people. One was afraid no one will pickup farm job, the one does not see the value of going to school. Tuskegee proved to be a challenging job but he got many help to make it work. Throughout the book, Booker did what he could in championing the education to his community. He also felt that knowledge should not be only classified as one that we can get from the book , it should be from an experience and the life itself. This is why some of his students were perplexed when they sometimes were asked to do heavy work like farming or brick building. HOWEVER, i can see that why some people dislike this book despite what he has done and contribute so much specifically at the time that where black people rarely succeeds. The book has an excessive optimism tone it especially downplaying the aftermath of Civil War. Mr Booker also the firm believer that if you work hard, you can do it too in a way he overlooked the systemic racism and the large boulder that usually being placed to hijack the BIPOCs from advancing further. He even stated that Ku Klux Klan is already gone in the South which is most of people knew that it is not quite true. Would i recommend this to other readers? I would. i still feel this is important read. It is a story of perseverance and persistence. You might not agree with all the ideas and opinions by Mr Booker T. and You does not have to, but you can understand where he’s coming from. Ultimately, i still find this book inspiring because there is no way i will be able to not harbor any resentment towards the race that subjugate, enslaved and oppressed my people.
- Up from slavery by Booker T. Washington
.
.
The book follow the narrative of Mr Booker T. Washington in retelling his childhood until he become one of the prominent civil rights activists. Born of a White Father and a slave mother, he grew up recognising the impact of slavery. The oppression and the status of being one’s property - that even though his mother and him were being released once Lincoln won the civil war and declared that slavery has been abolished, he acutely observed that freedom is not meant for everybody. He saw some former slaves past certain ages made deal with their former masters to keep on living with them. He then adopted Washington as his last name as given the status as a Slave’s child, he doesn’t have it initially and eventually added T. as it was originally what his mother wanted to name him. He saw the value of education and knew that it is the way to upgrade himself and at the same time, to pursue a brighter future. He took various jobs from cleaner to the helper and eventually got enough money to let him travel to Hampton. He almost starved himself to death as he has no money , no one that he knew around when he reached there and not even living place but his hard work paid off when he got accepted into the institution. He then was introduced to a great man name General Armstrong whom he felt a greatest man he ever met. General Armstrong instilled in him that education is a way to lift up his races - that in any way, everyone who is willing to learn should be given chance for it because that’s exactly how he managed to graduate from Hampton. He then worked at few places before finding himself back in Hampton when
General Armstrong asked him to come back to teach the batch of Natives American. He was reluctant at first but decided to go for it and he did jot down few differences while making some observations in teaching them. Fate has other path handed to Mr Booker when his name was being put to teach the black community in Tuskegee. He went for it but was surprised that the facilities is not up to par and few objections came from some white and black people. One was afraid no one will pickup farm job, the one does not see the value of going to school. Tuskegee proved to be a challenging job but he got many help to make it work. Throughout the book, Booker did what he could in championing the education to his community. He also felt that knowledge should not be only classified as one that we can get from the book , it should be from an experience and the life itself. This is why some of his students were perplexed when they sometimes were asked to do heavy work like farming or brick building. HOWEVER, i can see that why some people dislike this book despite what he has done and contribute so much specifically at the time that where black people rarely succeeds. The book has an excessive optimism tone it especially downplaying the aftermath of Civil War. Mr Booker also the firm believer that if you work hard, you can do it too in a way he overlooked the systemic racism and the large boulder that usually being placed to hijack the BIPOCs from advancing further. He even stated that Ku Klux Klan is already gone in the South which is most of people knew that it is not quite true. Would i recommend this to other readers? I would. i still feel this is important read. It is a story of perseverance and persistence. You might not agree with all the ideas and opinions by Mr Booker T. and You does not have to, but you can understand where he’s coming from. Ultimately, i still find this book inspiring because there is no way i will be able to not harbor any resentment towards the race that subjugate, enslaved and oppressed my people.