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A review by jmtaylor1981
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
2.0
I grew up and still live less than 20 miles from the Booker T. Washington National Monument and remember going there once for an elementary school trip. I’ve always wanted to go back as an adult because I think the idea of slavery and what that really means can be a bit too heavy for 6 & 8-year-olds to fully comprehend. And going to places like Mount Vernon or Monticello doesn’t quite give you the same feelings as a place like the Booker T. Washington National Monument. All that being said, I decided to pick up his autobiography to give it a read because I have always found Washington interesting. After reading his story, I find that I have less understanding than when I began.
This was no literary masterpiece. It was a very humdrum and simple read.
I feel like I am more appalled and angry with my white ancestors for slavery than Washington was as a former slave. Also, it is as though Washington was writing about a different reconstruction era than anything I have ever read before. It’s like he was trying to whitewash our horrendous past.
Washington’s achievements are something to be celebrated, being born a slave and rising above to become an educator and leader of the Tuskegee Institute; it is a story that needs to be told. But, it seems as though this book was used more to advertise the school instead of being a narrative of his life and accomplishments. It felt to me that Washington spent a little too much time excusing the white race for their racism and less time telling the reader about what drove him. Maybe this is a lesson in Grace or maybe it was a necessary strategy? I’m not quite sure.
This was no literary masterpiece. It was a very humdrum and simple read.
I feel like I am more appalled and angry with my white ancestors for slavery than Washington was as a former slave. Also, it is as though Washington was writing about a different reconstruction era than anything I have ever read before. It’s like he was trying to whitewash our horrendous past.
Washington’s achievements are something to be celebrated, being born a slave and rising above to become an educator and leader of the Tuskegee Institute; it is a story that needs to be told. But, it seems as though this book was used more to advertise the school instead of being a narrative of his life and accomplishments. It felt to me that Washington spent a little too much time excusing the white race for their racism and less time telling the reader about what drove him. Maybe this is a lesson in Grace or maybe it was a necessary strategy? I’m not quite sure.