Up From Slaves

Booker Taliaferro Washington was born, it is thought, in 1856.

Born into slavery Washington grew up to be a formidable advocate of black rights.

Perhaps he is best remembered for his speech in 1895 known as ‘The Atlanta Compromise’ calling for progress via education and entrepreneurship, rather than a direct challenge on the Jim Crow segregation and its attendant disenfranchisement of African-Americans, who at that time still lived mainly in the South.

His auto-biography narrates both the hardships and the successes of his difficult life.