Up from Slavery

Dear Sir: Many of the best citizens of West Virginia have united in liberal expressions of admiration and praise of your worth and work, and desire…

Your recent visit to your old home in our midst awoke within us the keenest regret that we were not permitted to hear you and render some substantial…

In view of the foregoing, we earnestly invite you to share the hospitality of our city upon your return from Europe, and give us the opportunity to…

I accepted the invitation, and at the appointed day was met at the railway station at Charleston by a committee headed by ex-Governor W.A. MacCorkle,…

Before going to Europe some events came into my life which were great surprises to me. In fact, my whole life has largely been one of surprises. I…

The death of General Armstrong, a few weeks later, gave me the privilege of getting acquainted with one of the finest, most unselfish, and most…

My Dear Sir: Harvard University desired to confer on you at the approaching Commencement an honorary degree; but it is our custom to confer degrees…

This was a recognition that had never in the slightest manner entered into my mind, and it was hard for me to realize that I was to be honoured by…

I had never sought or cared for what the world calls fame. I have always looked upon fame as something to be used in accomplishing good. I have often…

When my name was called, I rose, and President Eliot, in beautiful and strong English, conferred upon me the degree of Master of Arts. After these…

It would in some measure relieve my embarrassment if I could, even in a slight degree, feel myself worthy of the great honour which you do me to-day.…

If my life in the past has meant anything in the lifting up of my people and the bringing about of better relations between your race and mine, I…

When the name of Booker T. Washington was called, and he arose to acknowledge and accept, there was such an outburst of applause as greeted no…

In conferring the honorary degree of Master of Arts upon the Principal of Tuskegee Institute, Harvard University has honoured itself as well as the…

It has been mentioned that Mr. Washington is the first of his race to receive an honorary degree from a New England university. This, in itself, is a…

It is Harvard which, first among New England colleges, confers an honorary degree upon a black man. No one who has followed the history of Tuskegee…

Soon after I began work at Tuskegee I formed a resolution, in the secret of my heart, that I would try to build up a school that would be of so…

In the fall of 1898 I heard that President McKinley was likely to visit Atlanta, Georgia, for the purpose of taking part in the Peace Jubilee…

How any man can see so many people of all kinds, with all kinds of errands, and do so much hard work, and still keep himself calm, patient, and fresh…

By the middle of the following month the President had definitely decided to attend the Peace Jubilee at Atlanta. I went to Washington again and…

Just previous to my going to Washington the second time, the country had been excited, and the coloured people greatly depressed, because of…

When it became known that the President was going to visit our school, the white citizens of the town of Tuskegee—a mile distant from the school—were…

The citizens of Tuskegee had decorated the town from the station to the school in a generous manner. In order to economize in the matter of time,…

To meet you under such pleasant auspices and to have the opportunity of a personal observation of your work is indeed most gratifying. The Tuskegee…

Nowhere, I think, could a more delightful location have been chosen for this unique educational experiment, which has attracted the attention and won…

To speak of Tuskegee without paying special tribute to Booker T. Washington’s genius and perseverance would be impossible. The inception of this…

I cannot make a speech to-day. My heart is too full—full of hope, admiration, and pride for my countrymen of both sections and both colours. I am…

God bless the President under whose majesty such a scene as that is presented to the American people. God bless the state of Alabama, which is…

We have witnessed many spectacles within the last few days. We have seen the magnificent grandeur and the magnificent achievements of one of the…

Dear Sir: By this mail I take pleasure in sending you engrossed copies of the souvenir of the visit of the President to your institution. These…

Twenty years have now passed since I made the first humble effort at Tuskegee, in a broken-down shanty and an old hen-house, without owning a dollar’…

There are in constant operation at the school, in connection with thorough academic and religious training, thirty industrial departments. All of…

In our industrial teaching we keep three things in mind: first, that the student shall be so educated that he shall be enabled to meet conditions…

While the institution is in no sense denominational, we have a department known as the Phelps Hall Bible Training School, in which a number of…

The value of our property is now over $700,000. If we add to this our endowment fund, which at present is $1,000,000, the value of the total property…

From thirty students the number has grown to fourteen hundred, coming from twenty-seven states and territories, from Africa, Cuba, Porto Rico,…

5 a.m., rising bell; 5.50 a.m., warning breakfast bell; 6 a.m., breakfast bell; 6.20 a.m., breakfast over; 6.20 to 6.50 a.m., rooms are cleaned; 6.50…

We try to keep constantly in mind the fact that the worth of the school is to be judged by its graduates. Counting those who have finished the full…

Wherever our graduates go, the changes which soon begin to appear in the buying of land, improving homes, saving money, in education, and in high…

Ten years ago I organized at Tuskegee the first Negro Conference. This is an annual gathering which now brings to the school eight or nine hundred…

In the summer of 1900, with the assistance of such prominent coloured men as Mr. T. Thomas Fortune, who has always upheld my hands in every effort, I…

In addition to looking after the executive side of the work at Tuskegee, and raising the greater part of the money for the support of the school, I…

Nor can I, in addition to making these addresses, escape the duty of calling the attention of the South and of the country in general, through the…

As I write the closing words of this autobiography I find myself—not by design—in the city of Richmond, Virginia: the city which only a few decades…