Booker T Washington

Up From Slavery Booker T Washington

During his lifetime, Booker T. Washington was a national leader for the betterment of African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South. He advocated for economic and industrial improvement of Blacks while accommodating Whites on voting rights and social equality. This approach, however, died with Washington, and its success prior to 1915 was largely due to Washington's adept method of tailoring his speaking and writing to suit the race of his audience. Booker T. Washington's first autobiography, The Story of My Life and Work, was published in 1900 for a largely African American audience. Meanwhile, during the years 1900-1901, Washington began publishing Up from Slavery, a serialized account of his life in the popular magazine Outlook, which reached a more diverse audience. This account was then published as a book and in both forms it gained Washington significant White support. In Up from Slavery, Washington traces his journey from slave to educator. The early sections document his childhood as a slave and his efforts to get an education, and he directly credits his education with his later success as a man of action in his community and the nation.