up from slavery essay

Up From Slavery

Booker t. washington, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

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Up From Slavery: Introduction

Up from slavery: plot summary, up from slavery: detailed summary & analysis, up from slavery: themes, up from slavery: quotes, up from slavery: characters, up from slavery: symbols, up from slavery: literary devices, up from slavery: theme wheel, brief biography of booker t. washington.

Historical Context of Up From Slavery

Other books related to up from slavery.

• Full Title: Up From Slavery
• When Written: Late 1800s
• Where Written: Tuskegee, Alabama
• When Published: 1901
• Literary Period: Early African American Literature
• Genre: Autobiography
• Setting: 19th Century America, primarily in Hampton, VA and Tuskegee, AL
• Climax: Washington delivers his famous “Atlanta Exposition Address.”
• Antagonist: Racism, liberal black Americans, and uneducated black Americans serve as symbolic antagonists to Washington’s educational philosophy.
• Point of View: First Person

Extra Credit for Up From Slavery

Other accounts. Up from Slavery was not Washington’s only autobiography. In 1900, a year before the publication of the autobiography, Washington published another account of his life titled The Story of My Life and Work written with the help of a ghost writer. Despite positive sales, Washington disliked the general style of the writing and its editing, so he decided to publish Up from Slavery a year later.

Formidable opponents. Washington’s speech to the Atlanta Exposition became an important factor in W. E. B. Du Bois’ seminal work The Souls of Black Folk . Du Bois, Washington’s main political rival, offered a whole chapter titled “The Atlanta Compromise” devoted to refuting Washington’s address. Du Bois’ opposition to Washington’s ideology of gradual racial progress eventually led him to found the NAACP in 1909.

“Up From Slavery” by Booker T. Washington Essay

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In his autobiography, Up From Slavery Washington depicts casualties of life and grievances experienced since childhood. The book consists of 17 chapters devoted to different periods of life and events which changed the life of Washington. The strength of this book is that it depicts the system of management on large plantations where there were three classes of slaves: field hands, house servants, and skilled laborers.

Born as a slave, Washington did not know the exact date and place of his birth. “ I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery” (Washington). The author depicts that the field hands began their work at sunrise with the sound of the horn as each was allotted his task for the day. At noon, time was allowed for lunch, after which work was resumed until three or four when the task was completed. The slave was now free to “cultivate his garden, hire himself to his master for extra labor, or take a stroll to visit his wife or mistress on some adjoining plantation.” Each morning it was the duty of the overseer to assign the daily work for the slaves and, when the task was completed, to inspect the fields to see that the work had been done properly. At the end of the day, the owner rode his horse over the fields to inspect the day’s work and to give any necessary instructions to his overseer for the next day. This schedule was performed with regularity. The work of house servants was not as regimented as that of slaves in the field, nor was their work as routine or strenuous. It was extremely difficult for Washington to receive an education, but he did everything possible to finish New Hampton University.

I like this book because it depicts the reality faced by many slaves. Similar to millions of people, Washington did resist being enslaved. As the critics of slavery Washington blamed the South’s chronic problem of soil exhaustion upon the system of slave labor. In the relationship he constructs between narrator and reader(s), Washington necessarily focuses on what is at once the most intimate and the most public manifestation of his cultural identity. The reader, thus positioned, faces not only a discomforting choice but also the recognition that the choice is artificially restrictive. Washington is a presence both beyond and within each of these specters–a complex self-represented by neither but involved in the representation of both. Washington draws attention to the multiplicity of the enslaving world and indicates his attention to that world’s multiple discourses of brutalization. In his attraction to this world that excludes civilization but not nature, Washington emphasizes both the power of culture to shape adaptable natures and the extent to which Washington himself had internalized the larger struggle. Naturally, the changes in the narratives reflect Washington’s changing concerns as his life proceeds; his changing conception of the story he lives changes the narrative of that life, the meaning he draws from it, and the implicit philosophical and moral framework he hopes the narrative will support. The changes reflect also the changing demands Washington faced as he attempted to assert control over his life and his story. Washington is a hero who changed his life and escape slavery educating himself; he tried to change the world and life of other people who suffered.

Washington, B.T. Up from Slavery . Web.

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Up From Slavery

48 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-17

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

What continuities exist between Washington’s argument in Up From Slavery and the present-day discourse on racial justice?

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?

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Booker T. Washington: ‘Up from Slavery

The autobiography of Booker T. Washing titled Up From Slavery is a rich narrative of the man’s life from slavery to one of the founders of the Tuskegee Institute. The book takes us through one of the most dynamic periods in this country’s history, especially African Americans. I am very interested in the period following the Civil War and especially in the transformation of African Americans from slaves to freemen. Up From Slavery provides a great deal of information on this time period and helped me to better understand the transition.

Up From Slavery provided a narrative on Washington’s life, as well as his views on education and integration of African Americans. All though this book was written in the first year of this century I believe Washington’s views are still valid today. America can probably still learn from them. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in either 1858 or 1859. Birth Records were usually not available to slaves. Booker, his brother and his mother moved to Malden West Virginia after the Civil War.

They went to live with his stepfather, whom they had only seen a few times before. When they arrived in Malden, Washington was no more then nine years old. However, he went to work with his stepfather in the salt mine business feeding the furnaces. His education started with a Webster’s old “Blue-Black” spelling book that his mother had provided him. She hoped it would help him to learn to read. When Washington started working with his stepfather in the salt mines, he had to work from dawn to 9:00 PM, receiving very few breaks during the day.

During his breaks he would study his spelling book, teaching himself to read. While working with his stepfather, a local school opened up for black people. But because of Booker’s value to his family in the mines, he continued to work there at the request of his parents. Eventually, he talked his stepfather into letting him attend school a few hours during the day. Booker, however, ran into another problem. His stepfather wanted him to work until 9:00 AM and the young Booker found it difficult to reach school in time.

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. The supervisor realized someone was changing the clock and locked it to deny access to all but himself. This is an example of the length to which the young Booker went to have a chance to learn. Booker learned at an early age the importance of doing things for himself. Another story from the book shows what helped to build Booker’s character.

While at school he noticed that all of the people were wearing caps. When he confronted his mother about this she explained they could not afford to buy him a store bought cap. But she told him that she would work something out. Washington’s mother took two old pieces of cloth and sewed them together to make him a cap. For the rest of his life, he would remember that cap as an important lesson in his life. Washington states: 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.

I have always felt proud, whenever I think of the incident, that my mother had the strength of character enough not to be led into the temptation of seeming to be that of which she is not-of trying to impress my schoolmates and others with the fact that she was able to buy me a “store hat” when she was not. Later, the young Washington took a job at the home of a Mrs. Ruffiner as a house servant. Many boys before him, in the same job, lasted had only a few weeks because of her demands. Ruffiner was very strict and expected the best out of the boys that worked for her.

She demanded that they be clean and well behaved. This stayed with Booker for the rest of his life. He notes, “Even to this day I never seen bits of paper scattered around the house or in the street that I do not want to pick them up at once. After working for Ruffiner for a year and a half, young Washington was accepted at the Hampton Institute, a school set up by whites to educate African Americans after the Civil War. He worked as a janitor there to support himself and pay his tuition, room, and board. At the Hampton Institute, Booker met General Armstrong, a white man and the principal of the Hampton Institute.

Armstrong made a great impression on Booker. He writes: “a great man-the noblest, rarest human being that it has ever been my privilege to meet… art 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. ” While at the Hampton Institute, Washington learned important lessons about education that would stay with him the rest of his life. These lessons included the fact that keeping clean was an important part of a person’s self worth. He also learned that education does not mean that one was above manual labor.

Washington felt that education should be well rounded and that a person should learn to love labor. He should also become self reliant and useful to those around him. He believed that a person should not be selfish and should lead by example. Washington would take these lessons with him to the Tuskegee Institute where he would later be the principal. In May of 1881, General Armstrong received a request, from a group of philanthropists, to suggest a principal for a new school for colored people in a small town in Alabama called Tuskegee. When the request was made it was assumed no colored man would be qualified.

But to the surprise of the founders of the Tuskegee Institute Washington was suggested for the position. They accepted him. After arriving in Tuskegee, the founders and Washington decided that the school would open up on July 4, 1881, Independence Day. The doors to the soon be famous institute opened as planned with “little more then a broken down shanty and a old henhouse, without owning a dollars worth of property and but one teacher and thirty students. “Washington believed the purpose of the Tuskegee Institute was to produce people who could work hard, to learn a trade, and earn a living.

In addition, he believed they should also learn the importance of cleanliness and spirituality. Washington hoped that graduates would go throughout the country and be an example to all who came in contact with them. Reading, writing and arithmetic was taught. But a stronger emphasis was placed on the trades and daily living skills. He wanted students to understand that there was no shame in being a laborer. He believed that an education was for the whole person and not an excuse to avoid manual work. As part of the students training, they were required to do all of the work at the institute.

Learning a marketable trade such as construction, farming, raising of livestock, and mechanical repairs were vital. Life skills such as how to keep a bankbook and save money, bathing, table manners, clothes washing, and mending were also taught. Furthermore Washington made religion a large part of his students program. Although no one particular form of Christianity was forced upon the students, it was part of their education to participate in daily services. By doing this Washington felt he was teaching students to be complete persons, who could be proud of themselves and what they were able to accomplish.

Twenty years after its humble beginnings, the Tuskegee Institute encompassed over 2,300 hundred acres of land, 66 buildings built by the student themselves, and over thirty industrial departments. All of the industrial departments taught trades that allowed students to get jobs as soon as they left the institute. At this point of the institute’s life, the major problems were trying to fill the requests for workers. They were receiving more than twice what they could provide. Because of space and funds, the school could only admit half the men and women who applied.

Washington sums up his ideas on education in his autobiography:In our industrial teachings we keep three things in mind: first, that the student shall be so educated that he shall be enabled to meet conditions as they exist now, in the part of the South where he lives-in a word, to be able to do the things which the world wants done; second, that ever student that graduates from the school shall have enough skill, coupled with intelligence and moral character, to enable him to make a living for himself and others; third, to send every graduate out feeling and knowing that labor is dignified and beautiful-to make each one love labor instead of trying to escape it. Washington died in 1915 as one of the most well known black men in the world.

He sat for dinners with the President of the United States, royalty of Europe, as well as most of the industrial giants of his time. Washington was an intelligent man trying to do what he believed to be best for his people. That was to provide them with an education that would enable them to live exemplary lives. Some black leaders in America today, such as Alan Keys, look to return to Washington’s form of educating the “head, hand, and the heart. ” The Tuskegee Institute has changed since Washington’s time. Although the school was created to help the most black people possible to learn a trade, it now helps a very few earn elite college degrees.

Whether it is better to try and help the top10 percent of a population or to help the other 90 percent is a question that has yet to be answered by anyone adequately. Washington’s view on integration consisted of living by example. Washington felt that if black people were to show white people that they could act civilized and be an asset to the community all the races would eventually get along. Washington did not think that the government could force one people to accept another with the stroke of a pen. Washington felt that it was up to African Americans to prove themselves as equals. In my opinion, Washington’s ideas on education should replace today’s school system. High schools are trying to prepare everyone to go to college rather then teach them how to do a job and earn a living.

Today’s schools are starting to change with Community Based School Management and Charter schools, which return control back to the local level. However, in my opinion, the transformation is too little and too slow for the generation of African Americans that are now being left behind. I also agree with Washington’s views on integration. I believe that he has been misinterpreted as a separatist. I believe that there should be laws against discrimination. However I also realize, as did Washington, that the government can not force people to change their attitudes. While reading about Washington I came across some information that might help vindicate him on his views on education. Today, the emphasis is on a college degree in academia, instead of manual labor.

Also moral character is definitely not part of today’s teachings. Joe Maxwell of the Capital Research Center writes in his report “The Legacy of Booker T. Washington” that market trends have shown Washington’s system may provide more jobs to a greater number of the population then centers for higher learning. He reports that a recent survey showed that 25 percent of small businesses surveyed are worried about the shirking number of qualified workers in the trades. On the other hand in a recent survey of graduates from a small vocational school where 125 of 132 grads responded, only 8 of them were unemployed. The rest were working in their trades.

According to Michael Cantwell, national director of manufacturing at a management consulting firm, “There is clearly a supply and demand problem for many manufactures” (Maxwell). An employment manager for a large electric company states that it is very frustrating that even C- minus students are going to college, leaving only D students for the blue collar jobs. Currently there are companies with hundreds of job openings that can’t be filled, paying up to $20. 00 per hour. Today a good tool and die maker can make up to $60,000 a year with a little over time (Maxwell). Since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, and forced busing starting in 1971, living standards for African Americans in America have declined markedly (Martin).

Some African Americans leaders are suggest a return to the ways of Booker T. Washington. Kenneth W. Jenkins, former President of Yonkers New York chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), states that “in Yonkers segregated schools have been eliminated. But that outcome came years into litigation by the U. S. Department of Justice and the NAACP, which has cost the city about $37 million in legal expenses. And today black students still test two grade level below white schoolmates. ” It is his belief that this money would have been better spent on schooling and teaching students the skills necessary to participate in the work force (Kunen).

Alvin Thornton, who devised the Neighbor Schools Plan, believes we should teach the whole child as did Washington, “It’s about making the black child whole-even if it means educating them in schools that happen to be all black (Eddings). ” I realize that these last few paragraphs are getting off of the autobiography of Booker Washington. However these questions came to mind while reading the book and you can not help but want to investigate further into the life and legacy of Washington. Washington did not think it was possible to take a race that had been held as slaves for generations and set them free then expect them to be equal to their former masters.

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Essay On Up From Slavery By Booker T. Washington

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Slavery , United States , Washington , Literature , Struggle , White , Community , Democracy

Published: 12/31/2021

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Up from Slavery is an autobiography of Booker T. Washington, which came out by the dawn of the twentieth century. It is different in a way that a Black author has used humor to highlight slavery than use misery and suffering to talk about it. He wants his readers to believe that slavery was as much useful for the black population as it was to white population. Washington adopts a positive approach that involves humor, in discussing the African American struggle. His indifference to racial riots, black killings, and protests make him a ‘destructive’ social activist, whereas, his positive critics understand his point of humor and remarks, terming them to be in favor of black population but with a different approach. They term his approach to be a ‘mask’, yet to highlight the black problems. In this way, he is not adopting a negative tone to describe slavery. Surprisingly, he makes jokes of racist nature while compromising over the black struggle. He does not seem to care much about black protests, riots, killing of blacks, and oppression of blacks by whites. He takes a hopeful approach to describe the future of the two opposite races in the United States. In his first section of Up from Slavery, he discusses his childhood period of being a black slave. He describes his childhood as a black individual, who had seen everything in the context of food. Perhaps this is the reason for his focus on economic freedom of the black than the social equality and racial uplift. At one place, when he sees white women eating ginger-cakes, he wished to eat ginger-cakes just as those white women one day (Washington 45). This indicates how he wanted to be economically free just as those white women, which probably gave rise to his ‘subtle’ mechanism to accomplish the goal of freedom. Washington had a blazing craving for education and portrays the school building as a heaven. He likewise observes that notwithstanding their lack of education, the slaves of the time were very much educated with reference to what was happening in the other parts of the country, particularly in regards to the condition of the Civil War. This was accomplished through grapevine technique, in which the slave who was sent to the mail station to gather the mail would wait sufficiently long to catch the discussions of the whites while getting their mail. The slaves spread the word to the other slaves after listening to the news. These details are included in his book to shed light on the importance of black education and economic participation. It is interesting to notice though that he made fun of such situations. One wonders upon his use of humor to make jokes of the black struggle. It can be understood as a literary mask and literary device to highlight the pain and suffering of the black community in a ridiculous way. Perhaps, whites will feel shame and disgust on their behavior towards the African American community or they may be moved by the desire of ginger-cake in a black child’s heart. The reader can understand while he goes on reading the book that the author’s sole aim is to highlight the black issues in a subtle tone, to not offend any reader, but deliver his message effectively. In his work Up from Slavery, Washington abstains from putting fault about the organization of slavery, going to far as to express that the previous slaves are in a superior position than dark individuals in any other part of the world. However, he doesn't legitimize the foundation, yet at the same time guarantees that the black man got almost as much out of slavery as the white man. While whites turned out to be less independent, figuring out to consider manual work to be something to be embarrassed about, blacks frequently comprehended a workmanship and figured out how to struggle towards economic and individual freedom. Washington’s views are complex and they need to be comprehended before even understanding them in their real sense. While Washington uses many metaphors and themes in order to deliver his message and perspective, he also ensures that the reader can understand and grasp the use of those metaphors. For instance, the use of coal mine, which was a reality in Washington’s life, as he worked in a coal mine, is to depict the condition of the black community at large. This means that he knows where to hit to make his point as a coal mine is dark and hopeless place to him, while he would struggle out to come out of it. That coal mine is a symbol of black life, but the hope lies in his idea of struggle and hard work. In the light of discussion, it can be concluded that slavery was not a curse to Washington as he perceived it as a ‘training mechanism’ that made blacks better individuals in many senses than the white population. To him, freedom and emancipation had a different meaning, which required a different route to the final destination. Moreover, he did not care much about making jokes about black community that implies his ability to laugh at his own community, which could act as a breeze in an already suffocated environment of suffering, sabotage, and slavery.

WORKS CITED

Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery. Raleigh, N.C.: Alex Catalogue. Print. 34-78.

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US laws created during slavery are still on the books. A legal scholar wants to at least acknowledge that history in legal citations

Associate Professor of Law, Michigan State University

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Justin Simard receives funding from Michigan State University, the Proteus Foundation Vital Projects Fund, and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium.

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As the story of Juneteenth is told by modern-day historians, enslaved Black people were freed by laws, not combat.

Union Gen. Gordon Granger said as much when he read General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, in front of enslaved people who were among the last to learn of their legal freedom.

According to the order, the law promised the “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves.”

But the new laws guaranteeing legal protections for equal rights – starting with the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863 and followed by the ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments after the U.S. Civil War had ended in April 1865 – did not eliminate the influence of slavery on the laws.

The legacy of slavery is still enshrined in thousands of judicial opinions and briefs that are cited today by American judges and lawyers in cases involving everything from property rights to criminal law.

For example, in 2016 a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited Prigg v. Pennsylvania , an 1842 U.S. Supreme Court case that held that a state could not provide legal protections for alleged fugitive slaves. The judge cited that case to explain the limits of congressional power to limit gambling in college sports.

In 2013, a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited Prigg for similar reasons. In that case, involving challenges to an Indian tribe’s acquisition of land, the judge relied on Prigg to explain how to interpret a federal statute.

Neither of these judges acknowledged or addressed the origins of the Prigg v. Pennsylvania case.

That is not unusual.

What I have learned by researching these slave cases is that the vast majority of judges do not acknowledge that the cases they cite involve the enslaved. They also almost never consider how slavery may have shaped legal rules.

The Citing Slavery Project

To place these laws in historical context for modern-day usage and encourage judges and lawyers to address slavery’s influence on the law, I started the Citing Slavery Project in 2020. Since then, my team of students and I have identified more than 12,000 cases involving enslaved people and more than 40,000 cases that cite those cases.

We have found dozens of citations of slave cases in the 2010s. Such citations appear in rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and in state courts across the country. Citation by lawyers in briefs is even more prevalent.

An ethical obligation?

Addressing slavery’s legal legacy is not just an issue for historians.

It is also an ethical issue for legal professionals. The code of conduct for U.S. judges recognizes that “an independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society.” The code further calls for judges to “act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity … of the judiciary.”

Lawyers share in this obligation.

The American Bar Association notes the profession’s “special responsibility for the quality of justice.” It also calls for lawyers to further “the public’s understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system.”

Such actions are particularly important because of the rising importance of the Supreme Court’s history-and-tradition test , which uses analysis of historical traditions to determine modern constitutional rights. Courts risk undermining their legitimacy by paying attention to some legal legacies while ignoring others.

It is my belief that lawyers and judges must confront slavery’s legacy in order to atone for the legal profession’s past actions and to fulfill their ethical duties to ensure confidence in our legal system.

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Up From Slavery

By booker t. washington, up from slavery themes.

First and foremost, Up from Slavery is a book about the power of education to transform lives. From an early age, Washington views school as a paradise, a way to escape ignorance and to become equipped to help others. He sees industrial education as key, as it gives students the skills to make a living and to be of value in their communities. For this reason he chooses to work in education rather than politics, believing he "would be helping in a more substantial way by assisting in the laying of the foundation of the race through a generous education of the hand, head, and heart" (32).

Self-reliance

Washington is a strong advocate of self-reliance and believes that individual merit will bring success regardless of one's race. Even as a child, he expresses admiration for these traits, praising his mother for making him a cap for school rather than going into debt to purchase one. At Tuskegee, he insists not only that students learn and practice a trade, but also that they grow their own food, construct their own buildings, and build their own furniture. He condemns wasteful spending and often reiterates the idea that people who make themselves useful will be valued in society, no matter the color of their skin.

Helping Others

One of Washington's most often-repeated messages is that those who are happiest are those who dedicate themselves to helping others. He commends his fellow students at Hampton for educating themselves in order to lift up the people in their communities rather than for their own advancement, and he expresses his admiration for the teachers who have given their careers to teach his race. He shares numerous examples of generosity, from a former slave donating six eggs to wealthy philanthropists giving thousands of dollars, and implies that those who do good are rewarded for their deeds.

The Dignity of Labor

Washington believes strongly that there is dignity in labor. He notes that one of the worst things about slavery was that it "cause[d] labour, as a rule, to be looked upon as a badge of degradation, of inferiority" (7), while the most important thing he learned at Hampton was that "it was not a disgrace to labour" (28). He celebrates the fact that the lady principal at Hampton joins him to wash windows and prepare beds, and he is adamant that Tuskegee students do manual labor as part of their education. In this way they can learn to be self-reliant and earn the respect of others who value their work.

Fellowship between the Races

Washington believes the way to solve the race problem is to encourage fellowship between the races. He bears no animosity towards his former enslavers, instead assuring them that both races were victims of the institution of slavery. When he mentions the Ku Klux Klan, he is careful to acknowledge the whites who defended blacks during a scuffle. While he is often the victim of racism before he achieves fame, he tells of such incidents without anger or malice. He often praises the generosity of whites and highlights the way they treat him with kindness and respect.

Perseverance

Washington's life story is an excellent example of the power of perseverance. Faced with numerous barriers, he never gave up trying to get an education as a boy, even going so far as to alter the time displayed on the clock in the salt mines to make it to school on time. He did not give up his dream of getting to Hampton even when he had to sleep under the sidewalk, nor of promoting industrial education when Tuskegee had no money for land, buildings, or materials. He kept trying to make bricks after three failed attempts, and he refused to become discouraged when students complained of the lack of even basic amenities at the school. The great success achieved by both Washington and the Tuskegee Institute is a testament to what can happen when one perseveres even when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Rags to Riches

Washington is adamant that blacks should progress from the foundations up. In his famous Atlanta Exposition address he states: "No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top" (83). His own life began with "rags", as did the life of the Tuskegee Institute; it is an apt metaphor that he has his students dig the actual foundations for the buildings at Tuskegee. He often juxtaposes images from either his early life or the early life of the school with those from later on, highlighting the dramatic progress that was made. In this way he highlights his belief that individual merit and hard work can allow others of his race to achieve success, despite the barriers of social and political discrimination that stand in the way.

Up From Slavery Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Up From Slavery is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

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Study Guide for Up From Slavery

Up From Slavery study guide contains a biography of Booker T. Washington, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Up From Slavery
• Up From Slavery Summary
• Character List

Essays for Up From Slavery

Up From Slavery essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington.

• The Danger of Passiveness in Booker T. Washington’s “Up from Slavery”

Wikipedia Entries for Up From Slavery

• Introduction
• Plot summary
• Major themes
• Chapter summaries

The Debate Was a Mess. What We Pay Attention to Next Is What Matters

Debates are a test of candidates; post debates are a test of everyone else. As much as anything, we are about to experience an especially high stakes assessment of our collective attention spans.

For the political press, the coverage of Thursday’s debate reflects both of the reality of the event and the force fields of our politics. However many people made it through the entire painful 90 minutes, everyone will see some of it : there is no hiding from the posts and reels and supercuts spinning the various threads of the evening into tight cords of conviction about who won, who lost, and what it all means.

Stories matter. We get ratings and focus groups, poll results and donation stats, but numbers are bloodless compared to stories. Facts may speak for themselves, but stories sing. So what will be the tenor and tune of the coming days?

If the stories focus on Democratic panic , solemn columnists calling on Joe Biden to step aside , White House sources saying he won’t, spooked office holders offering shivery blind quotes, donors looking to hedge their bets, then the subtext is that Biden was damaged, his odds of winning sank and the next four months just got a lot harder for Democrats. The subtext is that it’s too late to change course, so the only question is how ugly this might all get and can Biden’s candidacy be saved.

Read More: Why the Biden-Trump Debate May Boost RFK Jr

But if the next tranche of stories looks beyond the bonfire to the eternal favorite fantasy of political reporters—the open convention, in Chicago of all places —then the subtext is very different: that this is not a done deal, some Deus ex Machina delegation appeals to Biden’s record of service and patriotism to persuade him to stand down. Let 1000 stories bloom, one part explanation for every 100 parts speculation: how would this work, who are the delegates anyway, who could win them over, how would other potential candidates calculate their odds, are there any king-or-queenmakers left in Democratic politics, would this rupture the already fragile coalition committed to defeating Donald Trump or would it cement it?

And that’s the other point: 350 words into this column before mentioning the Candidate who Blots Out the Sun . If our collective attention span is supple enough that days go by with sustained focus on the Debate Debacle, then we could be looking at countless stories from the political multiverse, where the Democratic nomination and thus the race and the future of the country is up for grabs.

Read More: Trump’s Debate Strategy: Let Biden Bury Himself

Storylines have a way of taking on a life of their own, creating new force fields and self fulfilling prophecies. Donald Trump, long an entertainer and salesman before becoming a pol, understands this and his instinct was on full display Thursday night. He’s the Grand Master of the Illusory Truth Effect, which holds that people are more likely to believe something, true or not, if they hear it over and over again.  His lies become so familiar that to many, they become true, and to others, they at least cease to be news.

If the discussion in the coming days is over damage control and how the Biden campaign hopes to reset the debate, then the subtext is that nothing fundamental about this race has changed. But if the energy and focus of coverage is on what options exist, who has the power to shape outcomes, how nomination rules actually work and what a post-Biden party looks like, not in 2028 but in 2024, then it will be just the latest reminder that in our current information environment, the old rules don’t apply, and the greatest power resides with those who best tell the story of the future we want to see.

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The Cellular Site of Translation and its Role in Protein Synthesis

This essay is about the cellular site of translation, focusing on how protein synthesis occurs in ribosomes. Translation is the process by which mRNA is decoded to produce proteins, taking place in ribosomes either free in the cytoplasm or attached to the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The essay explains the roles of free and ER-bound ribosomes in synthesizing different types of proteins, such as cytosolic enzymes and membrane-bound or secretory proteins. It also discusses the regulation of translation, its significance in gene expression, and recent scientific advances in understanding this complex process. The essay highlights the importance of translation in cellular function and its implications for medical research and biotechnology.

How it works

The spot where translation happens in a cell is crucial in biology—it’s where the magic of making proteins goes down. Translation is the process where messenger RNA (mRNA) gets decoded to whip up specific proteins, the building blocks of cells. And where does all this action take place? Mostly in the ribosomes—these tiny factories can be found floating freely in the cell’s cytoplasm or chilling on the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

Ribosomes are like intricate machines made of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and proteins.

They’re the go-to place for turning genetic instructions into proteins, which are like the cell’s workhorses. Each ribosome has two parts, a big one and a small one, and they team up during translation to read mRNA’s codons—the recipe for each amino acid. Transfer RNA (tRNA) swoops in with the right amino acids, and the ribosome stitches them together to form a protein chain.

When ribosomes are free in the cytoplasm, they mainly crank out proteins that work inside the cell, like enzymes for metabolism. But when ribosomes hang out on the ER, they’re all about making proteins that either sit in cell membranes or get shipped out of the cell. These proteins often have a signal that tells the ribosome to head to the ER membrane. Once there, the protein-in-progress gets fed into the ER’s inner space, where it gets folded up nice and gets any tweaks it needs before it’s ready for action.

This setup—free ribosomes versus ER-bound ones—shows how cells organize their protein game. It ensures proteins get made and sent to exactly where they’re needed, whether it’s inside the cell or out in the world. For example, insulin—the key hormone for controlling blood sugar—is made by ribosomes on the rough ER in pancreatic cells. After it’s cooked up, insulin gets packed into little bubbles and sent to the Golgi apparatus for more fine-tuning before it hits the bloodstream.

But here’s the kicker: translation isn’t just a straightforward assembly line. It’s a carefully controlled process that keeps the cell ticking. Lots of things can throw it off, like how many ribosomes are around, the supply of tRNAs, and even what’s going on in the cell’s environment. When things get stressful—like if the cell’s hot under the collar or short on snacks—it might slow down making proteins to save energy and focus on handling the situation.

What’s really cool is how translation plays a role in turning genes into actions. It’s not just about making proteins; it’s about when and how fast it happens. Cells are pros at controlling this, tweaking the start, middle, and end of translation to match what’s going on inside or outside the cell. For example, during a viral invasion, cells can dial down the protein-making to starve out the virus while beefing up antiviral proteins.

Modern science keeps unveiling more about how translation works. Techniques like ribosome profiling let scientists peek at ribosomes in action, showing how they move along mRNA and what controls their speed. This has opened new doors for understanding how cells fine-tune protein production in real-time.

The importance of where translation happens goes way beyond textbooks—it’s shaping the future of medicine and technology. Understanding these nuts and bolts could lead to new ways to treat diseases, like cancer, where wonky protein production is a big clue. Plus, it’s driving innovations in making synthetic proteins for medicine and other cool stuff.

In a nutshell, whether it’s free-floating in the cytoplasm or hitched to the rough ER, where translation goes down is ground zero for protein action in cells. It’s a marvel of biology, cranking out the proteins that keep life ticking. By diving deeper into this process, we’re not just learning more about cells—we’re opening doors to new breakthroughs in science and medicine.

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Guest Essay

End Legal Slavery in the United States

By Andrew Ross ,  Tommaso Bardelli and Aiyuba Thomas

The writers, members of the New York University Prison Education Program Research Lab, are the authors of “Abolition Labor: The Fight to End Prison Slavery.”

Today we celebrate Juneteenth, the day when word of the Emancipation Proclamation reached the farthest outpost in America. Many people do not realize that Emancipation did not legally end slavery in the United States, however. The 13th Amendment — the culmination of centuries of resistance by enslaved people, a lifetime of abolitionist campaigning and a bloody civil war — prohibited involuntary servitude “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”

In the North, that so-called exception clause was interpreted as allowing the private contracting of forced prison labor, which was already underway, and in the ex-Confederacy it gave rise to the much more brutal system by which freed men and women were routinely arrested under false charges and then leased out to plantation owners and industrialists to work off their sentence. Some historians have described this convict leasing system as “worse than slavery,” because there was no incentive to avoid working those people to death.

Over time, courts accepted that all people who are incarcerated lose the protection against slavery or involuntary servitude. The legacy of that legal deference is a grim one. Today, a majority of the 1.2 million Americans locked up in state and federal prisons work under duress in jobs that cover the entire spectrum, from cellblock cleaning to skilled manufacturing, for wages as low as a few cents per hour or, in several states, for nothing at all. And though members of Congress denounce imported goods made with prison labor in places like China’s Xinjiang province, the offices of many government agencies in Washington and elsewhere are stocked with furniture and supplies made by prisoners in this country. In fact, federal agencies are mandated to purchase goods from federal prisons, just as state or municipal agencies, including public schools and universities, often must consider sourcing from state penitentiaries. In many states, prison-made goods are freely available on the open market and shipped overseas.

Labor that people have no meaningful right to refuse and that is enforced under conditions of total control is, unquestionably, slavery. It’s a different model from the chattel slavery over which the Civil War was fought, but by all norms of international law, it is a violation of fundamental human rights.

The nation that deigns to teach the rest of the world lessons in liberty should ban this practice on its own shores rather than integrating its products into the economy. For those who want to work while serving their sentence, we should guarantee fair pay for their labor.

The prisoner rights movement of the late 1960s and early ’70s called for raising prisoners’ hourly pay. One of the top demands during the 1971 Attica uprising was to “apply the New York State minimum wage law to all state institutions.” More radical Black nationalists saw the nation’s overcrowded penitentiaries as akin to modern slave ships and argued that even if they were to offer prevailing wages, collective bargaining and workplace protections, they would still be instruments of racial capture and control.

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