Journal #3 Washington

Liana Laskin

English 48B

"Up From Slavery" by Booker T. Washington

January 14, 2009









"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed."
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T_Washington)

Summary:

The first two chapters of this story are about Washington's childhood first as a slave and then as a schoolboy working in the saltmines. Chapter fourteen focuses on his famous speech, the Atlanta Compromise, and meeting Presidents Cleveland and Roosevelt.

Response:

I found a quote from Washington's speech ("Cast down your bucket where you are") to be a terrible thing not only for those of African American decent, but also for anyone because it basically says that it is better to gradually make it from the bottom to the top, even if a person is qualified to be in a higher position. Although I can see that Washington could only say and do so much because his audience was mainly Southern, I can definitely understand that many would think he was not doing enough. I was actually quite surprised that he of all people would be sympathetic and pity the white people who kept slaves. His reason for pitying them (saying that slavery hurt them because they never learned to do things like cook, clean, and take care of a home without slaves) is justified, but I have a hard time understanding why anyone who was a slave would feel sorry for the race of people who made them into something less than human. I liked that Washington was very honest about the fact that just because slaves were free did not mean that life got much better. In fact, at least in Washington's case, living got a little worse because where he was living was smaller and dirtier than when he was a slave and working in the salt mines was scarier. Yes, he may have been able to get an education, but at the expense of possibly living worse than before.