Up From Slavery
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4.5 • 492 Ratings
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Publisher Description
An Apple Books Classic edition.
“I was born a slave…in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings.” Thus begins Booker T. Washington’s account of his incredible journey from a child enslaved on a Virginia plantation to one of the leading speakers and educators of the late 1800s. Washington shares formative experiences. He recalls carrying books to school for his master’s children while wishing he himself could learn and tells the story of how, after his family was emancipated, he walked almost 500 miles to enroll in a new school for Black people. Washington went on to found the famous Tuskegee Institute so that he could help others in his community receive a good education.
Throughout his personal anecdotes, Washington expresses his belief in the importance of education for creating a future free from oppression, particularly for Black people. His autobiography, and the ideas expressed within its pages, continue to spark conversation today, more than 100 years after its publication.
Customer Reviews
Bragging
My strongest complaint is with the audio. The reader hesitates between phrases and separates clauses that should be read together. HD also mispronounces proper names and common nouns. This shows that Apple Books does not have good editors.
Washington writes very well. He uses a formal style that is lucid and attractive. There are numerous rhetorical flourishes that probably mimic his speaking style.
While he mentions his desire against fame and his complete devotion to Tuskegee, he relishes in quoting articles that praise him and copies verbatim many letters addressed to him.
Notwithstanding these traces of vanity, he manages to describe the condition of blacks at the time and his efforts to “raise his race.”
Marvelous biographical and humanitarian reading
The biography of Mr. Washington brings its audiences back to the era of the end of slavery and the beginning of liberation of the black community in the United States of America. Through the ups and downs of stories in different episodes of the life of Mr. Washington, the book depicted a hardworking man and his ambition to empower his own race to right against racism and his commitment to better education for the black community. By reading such biography, I learned the essential characteristics of hardworking and dedication for a good cause.
Audio Review
The cadence of the reader was so distracting. We didn’t finish it. So I’m rating the audio not the book.