#100BooksChallenge for 2021, this was book two. Now all I can say is this is book I have bought in paperback. Something special I’d love my son to read (when he can actually read well enough lol). And a book I’d love to read again. I’ve not read a slave, or indigenous person’s narrative for a while. Again, it was suggested to me as a book to listen to on YouTube and I found it so inspiring, beautiful, and uplifting even with the sadness behind it. The one time reality of what people of colour had to go through. And fight to be educated in schools. Following the ‘freedom of coloured people’ in the USA, Booker. T. Washington tells us his uplifting story.

About The Book

Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of American educator Booker T. Washington (1856–1915). The book describes his personal experience of having to work to rise up from the position of a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton Institute, to his work establishing vocational schools—most notably the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama—to help black people and other disadvantaged minorities learn useful, marketable skills and work to pull themselves, as a race, up by the bootstraps.

He reflects on the generosity of both teachers and philanthropists who helped in educating blacks and Native Americans. He describes his efforts to instill manners, breeding, health and a feeling of dignity to students. His educational philosophy stresses combining academic subjects with learning a trade. 

In 1998, the Modern Library listed the book at No. 3 on its list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the 20th century, and in 1999 it was also listed by the conservative Intercollegiate Review as one of the “50 Best Books of the Twentieth Century”.

An American Classic that Belongs on Every Bookshelf!

5 Wonderful Stars!

What made me read this after the recommendation as a book, was  what the world has been through in 2020, and I wanted to just hear a story about how life once was, and in some ways you could argue still is! For people of any kind of minority. I found the autobiography to be deeply touching, educational, insightful, and for sure worth while a read for everyone. Booker.T.Washington’s story is a tale of survival, determination, justice for himself, and one that should not be forgotten. It’s really hard for me to say anything more than, I really enjoyed this book and it has made me want to read more narratives of this kind. From inspirational people all over the world.  I do agree with the blurb for the book, ‘it’s a classic.’