Up from Slavery

The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment…

In conclusion, may I repeat that nothing in thirty years has given us more hope and encouragement, and drawn us so near to you of the white race,…

The first thing that I remember, after I had finished speaking, was that Governor Bullock rushed across the platform and took me by the hand, and…

I very soon began receiving all kinds of propositions from lecture bureaus, and editors of magazines and papers, to take the lecture platform, and to…

I thank you with much enthusiasm for making the address. I have read it with intense interest, and I think the Exposition would be fully justified if…

Later I met Mr. Cleveland, for the first time, when, as President, he visited the Atlanta Exposition. At the request of myself and others he…

The coloured people and the coloured newspapers at first seemed to be greatly pleased with the character of my Atlanta address, as well as with its…

While speaking of changes in public sentiment, I recall that about ten years after the school at Tuskegee was established, I had an experience that I…

During the whole time of the excitement, and through all the criticism, I did not utter a word of explanation or retraction. I knew that I was right,…

The change of the attitude of the Negro ministry, so far as regards myself, is so complete that at the present time I have no warmer friends among…

Dear Mr. Washington: Would it be agreeable to you to be one of the Judges of Award in the Department of Education at Atlanta? If so, I shall be…

I think I was even more surprised to receive this invitation than I had been to receive the invitation to speak at the opening of the Exposition.…

I am often asked to express myself more freely than I do upon the political condition and the political future of my race. These recollections of…

I believe it is the duty of the Negro—as the greater part of the race is already doing—to deport himself modestly in regard to political claims,…

I know coloured men who, through the encouragement, help, and advice of Southern white people, have accumulated thousands of dollars’ worth of…

I do not believe that any state should make a law that permits an ignorant and poverty-stricken white man to vote, and prevents a black man in the…

It is the first time that a Negro has made a speech in the South on any important occasion before an audience composed of white men and women. It…

There was a remarkable figure; tall, bony, straight as a Sioux chief, high forehead, straight nose, heavy jaws, and strong, determined mouth, with…

I have heard the great orators of many countries, but not even Gladstone himself could have pleased a cause with most consummate power than did…

At the close of the speech Governor Bullock rushed across the stage and seized the orator’s hand. Another shout greeted this demonstration, and for a…

So far as I could spare the time from the immediate work at Tuskegee, after my Atlanta address, I accepted some of the invitations to speak in public…

In my efforts on the public platform I never have been able to understand why people come to hear me speak. This question I never can rid myself of.…

As to the kind of audience that I like best to talk to, I would put at the top of the list an organization of strong, wide-awake, business men, such,…

Next to a company of business men, I prefer to speak to an audience of Southern people, of either race, together or taken separately. Their…

When speaking directly in the interests of the Tuskegee Institute, I usually arrange, some time in advance, a series of meetings in important centres…

Three years ago, at the suggestion of Mr. Morris K. Jessup, of New York, and Dr. J.L.M. Curry, the general agent of the fund, the trustees of the…

These meetings have given Mrs. Washington and myself an opportunity to get first-hand, accurate information as to the real condition of the race,…

I have seen the statement made lately, by one who claims to know what he is talking about, that, taking the whole Negro race into account, ninety per…

No one can come into contact with the race for twenty years, as I have done in the heart of the South, without being convinced that the race is…

Early in the year 1897 I received a letter inviting me to deliver an address at the dedication of the Robert Gould Shaw monument in Boston. I…

This flag Sergeant Carney held in his hands as he sat on the platform, and when I turned to address the survivors of the coloured regiment who were…

He pictured the Negro choosing slavery rather than extinction; recalled Crispus Attucks shedding his blood at the beginning of the American…

The part of the speech which seems to arouse the wildest and most sensational enthusiasm was that in which I thanked the President for his…

One portion of my address at Chicago seemed to have been misunderstood by the Southern press, and some of the Southern papers took occasion to…

In Chicago, after I had spoken at a meeting, I met one of these fellows. They usually have some process for curing all of the ills of the world at…

One of the most encouraging signs in connection with the Tuskegee school is found in the fact that the organization is so thorough that the daily…

The main executive work of the school, whether I am at Tuskegee or not, centres in what we call the executive council. This council meets twice a…

In order that I may keep in constant touch with the life of the institution, I have a system of reports so arranged that a record of the school’s…

When I begin my work in the morning, I expect to have a successful and pleasant day of it, but at the same time I prepare myself for unpleasant and…

In nineteen years of continuous work I have taken but one vacation. That was two years ago, when some of my friends put the money into my hands and…

I have said that I make it a rule to finish up each day’s work before leaving it. There is, perhaps, one exception to this. When I have an…

Out of the twelve months in a year I suppose that, on an average, I spend six months away from Tuskegee. While my being absent from the school so…

My garden, also, what little time I can be at Tuskegee, is another source of rest and enjoyment. Somehow I like, as often as possible, to touch…

In 1893 I was married to Miss Margaret James Murray, a native of Mississippi, and a graduate of Fisk University, in Nashville, Tenn., who had come to…

Aside from these two enterprises, Mrs. Washington is also largely responsible for a woman’s club at the school which brings together, twice a month,…

Portia, the oldest of my three children, has learned dressmaking. She has unusual ability in instrumental music. Aside from her studies at Tuskegee,…

My dear Papa: Before you left home you told me to work at my trade half of each day. I like my work so much that I want to work at my trade all day.…

The thing in my life which brings me the keenest regret is that my work in connection with public affairs keeps me for so much of the time away…

Another thing at Tuskegee out of which I get a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction is in the meeting with our students, and teachers, and their…

The whole thing was so sudden and so unexpected that I was completely taken off my feet. I had been at work steadily for eighteen years in connection…

Two other thoughts troubled me a good deal. I feared that people who heard that Mrs. Washington and I were going to Europe might not know all the…

Mr. Garrison had thoughtfully arranged to have us have one of the most comfortable rooms on the ship. The second or third day out I began to sleep,…

The next day after we landed happened to be one of those numberless holidays which the people of those countries are in the habit of observing. It…

After spending some time in Antwerp, we were invited to go with a part of a half-dozen persons on a trip through Holland. This party included…

The love of pleasure and excitement which seems in a large measure to possess the French people impressed itself upon me. I think they are more noted…

In Bristol, England, both Mrs. Washington and I spoke at the Women’s Liberal Club. I was also the principal speaker at the Commencement exercises…

On various occasions Mrs. Washington and I were the guests of Englishmen in their country homes, where, I think, one sees the Englishman at his best.…

Another thing that impressed itself upon me throughout England was the high regard that all classes have for law and order, and the ease and…

It was hard for me to get accustomed to speaking to English audiences. The average Englishman is so serious, and is so tremendously in earnest…

When the Englishman takes you into his heart and friendship, he binds you there as with cords of steel, and I do not believe that there are many…