How Booker T. Washington Rose To Fame.

A Rise of Determination

Up From Slavery illustrates Booker T. Washington as the public figure often invoked his own past to illustrate his belief in the dignity of work. "There was no period of my life that was devoted to play,"(p. 3) Washington once wrote, "From the time that I can remember anything, almost everyday of my life has been occupied in some kind of labour" (p. 4). This concept of self-reliance born of hard work was the cornerstone of Washington's social philosophy. Washington thought that to succeed in life any man black or white needed first to be educated to the conditions of the world today, secondly to hold enough all around skill, and thirdly knowing and loving labor (p. 140).

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in the year of 1858 or 1859. Washington reflected that ever since he could remember, “if I accomplished nothing else in life, I would in some way get enough education to enable me to read common books and newspapers” (p.14). As Washington’s mother noticed that he had great interest in learning and reading. She gave him his first book which was an old Webster’s Blue Black Spelling book. During Washington’s breaks at work he would study his spelling book, teaching himself to read. His will to read started the education process for Washington as he went onto find out about a school for young blacks. He was able to over hear some other men talk about a school while he was working with his father in the salt mines. Washington later pointed out that as the blacks were freed they had the desire to gain the profits that became available, but their desire to locate this was not there. So unlike most blacks Washington pushed on with the desire to attend school, but his father still wanted him to work. Washington then went about to work until 9:00 AM and then rush to school however he usually did not make it on time. So he therefore did something that he was not proud of later in life, Washington learned to change the clock every morning from half past eight to nine so he could arrive at school on time. This showed his hard work and determination to learn. Washington later said that, “Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work” (p. 84). Washington may have learned some of this determination from his mother, as when he went to school he noticed that all the other kids in class had a hat except for him so his mother went about to find two pieces of cloth and sewed them together to make a cap. Washington went on to say later in life that, “The lesson that my mother taught me in this has always remained with me, and I have tried as best I could to teach it to others” (p. 17).

Later, the young Washington took a job at the home of a Mrs. Ruffner as a house servant. She was a very strict woman and many boys had not lasted because of her great demands of perfection. However Booker learned the ways of Mrs. Ruffner and was able to adapt to her expectations, he was able to learn behavior and cleanliness from her. Washington viewed Mrs. Ruffner as one one of his best educators as he said, “the lessons that I learned in the home of Mrs. Ruffner were as valuable to me as any education I have ever gotten anywhere since.” Mrs. Ruffner’s intensity to be cleanly and behave properly was a habit that Washington used until the day he died. He said that, “Even to this day I never see bits of paper scattered around a house or in the street that I do not want to pick them up at once” (p. 21).

Mrs. Ruffner was also a huge supporter of Washington’s education and she was the big idea behind him going to the Hampton Institute. It was a school set up by whites to educate African Americans after the Civil War. It would once again take a great strength of Washington’s will to make it to the Hampton Institute, because the Institute was 500 miles away. Washington gathered money from whomever he could to support him on his travel. There was nothing that was going to stop Washington on his way to his educational success and as a result he traveled those 500 miles by working odd jobs, sleeping under wooden, begging rides, and walking. Washington stated his determination by saying, “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 overcome while trying to succeed” (p. 19). This education meant everything to his success.

His education continued at the Hampton Institute where he met General Samuel C. Armstrong. Washington immediately began to adopt Armstrong’s teaching and philosophy. Washington described Armstrong as, “a great man-the noblest, rarest human being that it has ever been my privilege to meet...part of that Christlike body of men and women who went into the Negro schools at the close of the war by the hundreds to assist in lifting up my race” (p. 27). From Armstrong is where Washington learned the educational view of labor and industry. Coincidentally that is how he was admitted to the school as he arrived in ragged clothes and was not well suited for and admittance he demonstrated his love of labor and cleaned the room to the likes of Mrs. Ruffner. After leaving Hampton, he recalled being admitted to the school,