Booker T. Washington's "Up from Slavery"

I chose to write about Booker T. Washington because not only is he a very interesting writer, but a very influential man. What I liked most about him is that he was a very persistent person and never gave up hope in realizing his dreams. Not only did he accomplish his educational goals, but he surpassed them.

In his writing, Washington uses a variety of symbolic figures to express himself. For example, he writes “My mother, I suppose, attracted the attention of a purchaser who was afterward my owner and hers. Her addition to the slave family attracted about as much attention as the purchase of a new horse or cow” (666). Washington later states, “On the plantation in Virginia, and even later, meals were gotten by the children very much as dumb animals get theirs. It was a piece of bread here and a scrap of meat there. It was a cup of milk at one time and some potatoes at another” (668). In these two quotes, the comparison to the purchase of he and his mother to that of a horse of a cow and the way they were fed, demonstrates that slaves were not only seen as animals, but also treated like animals.

Another piece of Washington’s writing that is very symbolic, is when he was in the “big house” and the white ladies are having ginger-cakes. Washington explains, “At the time those cakes seemed to me to be absolutely the most tempting and desirable things that I had ever seen; and I then there resolved that, if ever I got free, the height of my ambition would be reached if I could get to the point where I could secure and eat ginger-cakes in the way that I saw those ladies doing” (668-669). I believe that, for Washington, the ginger cakes were a symbol of freedom. Only the free would ever be able to eat ginger-cakes, and upon his freedom he would do just that.

The paragraph that I found really striking was when he writes about being young and envying the white man for having everything handed down to him. But, now that he is older he realized “that success is measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed” (679). I agree with Washington’s philosophy. Having to overcome poverty and racial inequality is no easy task, and should therefore be merited and measured as success. Not only does one appreciate what one has accomplished, but the skills one develops through one’s struggle cannot be handed down to you.

Finally, the last piece that I found interesting was when he states, “It will become apparent that the white man who begins by cheating a Negro out of his ballot soon learns to cheat a white man out of his, and that the man who does this ends his career of dishonesty by the theft of property or by some equally serious crime” (687). I think this could be applied to any race. These are words of wisdom. I remember my mom used to tell me when I would hang around with the wrong crowd, “those that run with wolves, learn to howl.”