Up From Slavery

Compare Washington’s speeches transcribed in Up From Slavery to the rest of the book. Does his tone, word choice, content, etc. differ between his speeches and his writing?

Compare Up From Slavery to W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk. How do the two writers differ in how they write about the experience of Black people in 19th-century America? Do they share any similarities?

What role does Christianity play in Up From Slavery?

How does Washington’s childhood, as depicted in Up From Slavery, influence his work and his views?

How do Washington’s views change as the book progresses? What experiences bring about these changes?

What roles do women play in Up From Slavery? How do these roles reflect the gender dynamics of the 19th-century United States?

According to Booker T. Washington, why is industrial education important? How does he believe it will help the South recover from the damages wrought by slavery? 

Read Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (available here). How might King respond to the arguments expressed in Washington’s 1895 speech to the Cotton States Exposition?