This week I was assigned to write a paper on the book I was reading, Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up From Slavery. What the book is about is the story of Booker, who was born 1856 april 5th. He grew up in Virginia with his mother, brother, and sister. He writes about slave life and how disrespected colored people were. He also wrote on how his mother always prayed for God to let Abrahahm Lincoln to succeed in the black rights. Then, in the year 1856, after the Civil War was won by Abraham, Booker and his family were declared free! This is when we get into what Booker’s arguments against the slave system were.
Once Booker and his family were declared free, they went to an old cabin that was, as he described, horribly built, Booker’s floor was dirt, no wood. No windows to protect them from raging storms. No cooking stoves or pans or anything to cook with, and massive breaches in the walls of the cabin. Booker’s mother worked as a cook. She was talented in this because she always cooked for her masters. This was one of Washington’s arguments, low food supplies, and horrible living conditions.
Late one night bookers mom brought home a chicken that was stolen from the owner of the restaurant Booker’s mom was working at. This was theft, but Booker didn’t believe this. This is one of the things I disagree with. Stealing is wrong, no matter what. Booker believes that it wasn’t stealing because his mother stole during a time when food was nearly impossible to get. That doesn’t excuse thievery. Booker begins to get into a topic about names. This was another thing Booker strongly disagreed with.
Booker said that slaves were treated like animals, this was due to the name slaves were often given. He explained that slaves were not named by their real name, they were just called basic names like Robert or Rebbeca. They were known as master’s Robert or master’s Rebbeca instantly claiming ownership over these humans. Booker isn’t even his actual name, He doesn’t even know his real name. Being mistreated by the owners was another argument Booker had against the slave system.
Another thing Booker disagreed with was the schooling system. Once the Civil War was won, there were no schools that colored people could go to. There were 70 year old men that didn’t know how to read. A little bit later Booker moved out of their old hut to move into yet another bad hut except with Bookers step-dad. During Booker’s spare-time he found a book laying around, and he decided to attempt to learn the alphabet. A few years later he attended a school for colored people of all ages. This is how he learned to read and write. This ends my paper about the slave system that Booker disagrees with.
Eli's Journey 