Up From Slavery

As part of his industrial training plan, Washington insists that the Tuskegee students must build almost everything for themselves. He believes that this approach will have several benefits; it will teach the students practical skills that they can use later in life, and it will remind them that academic learning does not make a person too good for manual work. He also notes that Tuskegee does not have a local brick factory, so by teaching its students to make bricks, he hopes the school will establish a source of income.

The first three attempts at building a brick factory are unsuccessful: The bricks burn, the kiln collapses, and the students become disgruntled. Many wish to give up, but Washington vows to try again, pawning an expensive watch to get money for a new kiln. They finally succeed, and Washington writes that the brickmaking industry is a huge success for the school. It raises their status within the community, as they are now able to provide a service that other residents need. White and Black people begin visiting the school to buy bricks, and the teachers and students become more engrained in the local social structure.

Alongside the brick factory, students also operate the growing farm, build wagons, and learn other trades. Some parents disagree with this approach, saying that their children should be learning exclusively from books. Washington reiterates his opinion that all people should know how to do at least one necessary, practical task. By doing this, they will ensure a viable future for themselves, since more work is available for skilled tradespeople than for Greek experts. Although students also complain about the work, Washington sees increasing enrollment as a sign that his system is working.

During the school’s second year of operation, Tuskegee opens a dining hall. The students dig a dirt basement beneath a building, and with no furniture and few cooking supplies, they begin to serve meals there. At first, the dining hall is very disorganized: Food is often cooked poorly, there is not enough food or dishware for all students, and hours are unpredictable. Washington, listening to students complain about hunger, begins to become disillusioned, but again the school prevails. At the time of writing, he reports that the school has a beautiful dining hall and that visitors cannot believe the basement was once used as an eating place. 

Hampton leaders including General Armstrong, Miss Mackie, and the treasurer who initially lent the money for the land make a visit to Tuskegee and are impressed with the school’s progress. Most of the teachers are Hampton students, and the Tuskegee school operates in much the same way as its Virginia counterpart. As usual, Washington is impressed by General Armstrong’s kindness and generosity. The writer assumed that as a Union general, Armstrong would hold a grudge against Southern white people, but instead, Armstrong expresses as much concern for the white population as he does for the Black students, and he is graceful and polite to everyone he meets. He imparts a lesson to Washington, that everyone in a difficult situation should be helped if possible, even if they have opposing views. Washington writes that he feels pity for the Southern white population, whose bigotry stems from a fear of losing their own status as Black people gain basic human rights. He believes that while the Black people’s situation is temporary, there is nothing that can be done for men who have been drawn toward evil thoughts.

The boarding program at the school continues to grow, and the school begins to run out of room for students to sleep. The cabins are bitterly cold and lack adequate furniture, but the school cannot afford to provide better housing because the students cannot afford to pay more than they already do. The students often spend sleepless nights huddled around outdoor fires, sharing one blanket for warmth. Despite their lack of basic needs, the students are always eager to learn and to help the teachers in any way they can. Washington is impressed by this unselfishness and wishes the rest of society could learn the same values. Eventually, the school begins to build better quarters for the students and embarks on industrial programs to build furniture and sew mattresses. Like the brick building, these efforts are largely unsuccessful at first: The mattresses are uncomfortable and much of the furniture collapses. By the time of writing, though, Washington reports that Tuskegee-made furniture and mattresses are as good a quality as anything professionally made.

Washington’s fame begins to grow in this period, and he finds himself treated differently than other Black people. He gives an example from a train ride, when two female acquaintances from Boston invite him to sit in their cabin and eat supper with them. He tries to refuse, worried about the repercussions if the white men on the train see him sitting with white women, but they insist, and he reluctantly eats. To his surprise, when he leaves for the smoking car, he is met with adoration rather than anger. 

As the Tuskegee school expands, Washington and his colleagues must expand their fundraising efforts. The lack of housing remains a pressing concern, especially for female students, as the administration refuses to let them sleep outside as many of the boys do. Miss Davidson begins sourcing small donations from Tuskegee locals, and the students begin digging foundations for a large new dormitory. Washington begins to worry that their efforts will not be enough, but General Armstrong shows his commitment to the school once again when he invites Washington on a speaking tour through the North, funded by the Hampton school, from which all proceeds will be donated to Tuskegee. This tour gives Washington a huge slate of powerful Northern contacts and potential donors. This list includes people like Andrew Carnegie, who promises to fund a new library for the school to replace the current library, a tiny corner of a run-down shanty.

Washington realizes that the best way to ask wealthy people for money is to speak in business language, convincing donors of the value they will create by giving him money. He does not want to be seen as a “beggar.” Instead, he wants people to see their donations as investments in the future of the country. He is extremely successful with this approach, and he writes that many people seem grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the school. This somewhat embarrases him, as donors often shower him with gratitude before he has a chance to thank them for the money.

Washington condemns the common view that wealthy people are selfish. He writes that many people criticize those they do not see publicly donating to worthy charities, but that in his experience, many of the most generous donors prefer that their contributions go unpublicized. He also warns against immediately assuming that someone who refuses to donate at first will never choose to do so; he relays the story of a wealthy man from Connecticut whom he went out of his way to visit only to leave with nothing. Two years later, he received a large check along with a letter stating that the man had included Tuskegee in his will but has chosen to give the money early.

Despite the large donations from a few rich individuals, Washington says that the majority of Tuskegee’s funds still came from small, local donations. The state of Alabama also increased the school’s funding over several years. Washington resents people who say this financial success was due to good luck, as it could not have happened without extensive work by himself and his fellow administrators. He is also careful to point out that he personally lived on very little money at the time, illustrated through a story about finding a 25-cent piece on the road while in Rhode Island, a lucky break without which he would not have been able to buy breakfast.