were greater for the master. On the whole, Wash-
ington wrote, slaves were devoted to their masters.
He overlooked, for example, the possibility that the
perceived willingness of former slaves to remain
on the plantations was not one of blind loyalty to
former owners but a calculated assessment of how
to survive in an oppressive environment.
Washington wrote, “we must acknowledge that,
notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of
slavery, the ten million Negroes inhabiting this
country... are in a stronger and more hopeful
condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and
religiously, than is true of an equal number of
black people in any other portion of the globe”
(37). Thus, in Up from Slavery, Washington pre-
sented an account of the slave experience that, for
the most part, glosses over its dehumanizing and
abusive aspects. Some historians believe Washing-
ton engaged in much speculation when presenting
his memories of slavery. Washington placed his
slave days within the traditional plantation set-
ting, mentioning an overseer and the “Big House.”
Washington actually lived on a farm, and his owner
did not employ an overseer. Some of Washington’s
claimed experiences were probably those of his
older brother, John.
Washington also devoted a portion of Up from
Slavery to his view of the Reconstruction, an era
during which southern whites, and Washington
himself, believed that the priorities of African
Americans were misdirected. Washington not
only argued that blacks were too dependent on the
federal government for support but also believed
their focus on politics and the study of Greek and
Latin were misdirected. Instead, he argued, the
newly freed blacks should have concentrated on
agricultural cultivation and industrial education.
Washington failed to discuss the powerlessness of
southern blacks to protect themselves from the
former Confederates, nor does he mention the re-
strictions and limitations placed on them by Black
Codes or the inability of the majority of former
slaves to acquire land.
In Up from Slavery, Washington also discusses
his thirst for and valuing of education, which
eventually led him to Hampton Institute. So driven
was he to gain an education that, when he ran out
of funds on his travels from Malden to Hampton
(a distance of 500 miles), Washington walked the
remaining distance, sleeping under sidewalks at
night for safety in Richmond, an unfamiliar urban
environment. Arriving at Hampton, Washington,
to gain admission and pay for boarding, demon-
strated his determination and commitment by
cleaning a classroom with precision, using the
lessons he had learned from Mrs. Viola Ruffner, a
former New England schoolteacher who had em-
ployed Booker as a servant in her family home in
Virginia and taught him the value of hard work.
Washington wrote, “I had the feeling that in a large
measure my future depended upon the impression
I made upon the teacher in the cleaning of that
room” (56). He was given work as a janitor, which
allowed him to meet his financial responsibilities.
“The work was hard and taxing, but I stuck it out”
(57), Washington proudly admitted. At Hampton,
Washington came under the direct influence of
General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, the founder,
who, Washington writes, “made an impression
upon me of being a perfect man.... [T]here was
something about him that was superhuman” (58).
Like Mrs. Ruffner, Armstrong taught Washington
to value hard work and the fundamental prin-
ciples of the Puritan work ethic. Armstrong, who
believed that the Reconstruction had failed be-
cause the former slaves were misguided, undoubt-
edly shaped Washington’s negative portrayal of
southern blacks.
Approximately two years after graduating from
Hampton Institute, Washington enrolled at Way-
land Seminary in Washington, D.C. This was his
first experience with urban living and higher edu-
cation, and he rejected them both. As a result of
his urban experience, Washington condemned the
moral values of urban living and expressed a belief
that industrial education was more valuable than
a liberal college education.
Washington spends much of the second half
of Up from Slavery discussing the preparation,
delivery, and significance of his “Atlanta Exposi-
tion Address”; he includes the text in its entirety
in his autobiography. “When I arose to speak,” heUp from Slavery 517