This autobiography begins with the sentence, I was born a slave on a

plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. Washington expands and informs

us that he is not sure of the exact place or exact date of his birth, but
thinks it was 1858 or 1859.
His earliest memories are of the plantation and slave quarters, which is
where the slaves had their cabins. He describes these surroundings as the
most miserable, desolate and discouraging possible but adds that this is
not because his owners were especially cruel.
He was born in a typical log cabin, which was about 14 by 16 feet square
and lived there with his mother, brother and sister till after the Civil War,
when we were all declared free.
He knows almost nothing of his ancestry, but used to hear whispered
conversations among the colored people of the tortures suffered by slaves
in the middle passage of the slave ship while being conveyed from Africa to
America. He thinks this will have included his ancestors on his mothers
side but he has not been able to trace back further than her. He knows even
less about his father, and does not even know his name, but thinks he was a
white man who lived on a nearby plantation. His father never provided for
him, but Washington says he does not find especial fault with him and
sees him instead as another unfortunate victim of the institution which the
Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at that time.
The narrative returns to his home life, and to a description of how the
cabin they lived in was also used as the kitchen for the plantation and his
mother was the cook. It had only openings, rather than glass windows, and
these let in the light and cold. There was a door, but this was cracked and
too small. The floor was just the naked earth and there was a hole in the
middle of the room to store potatoes. There was no cooking stove, so his
mother had to cook on an open fire.
He does not remember sleeping in a bed until after the Emancipation
Proclamation declared them free. Before then, he and his brother, sister

and mother slept on a bundle of filthy rags laid on the floor. He does not
remember playing either, only working, and had no schooling as a slave.
He did visit a schoolhouse, but this was when he carried the books of one of
his mistresses. These glimpses inside the school made him think of
entering it as akin to entering paradise.
Washington recalls how the slaves knew of the great National questions
through the grape-vine telegraph. There were without books or
newspapers but were aware of wider events such as when Lincoln was a
candidate for the presidency. Information would come from the man who
was sent to the post office three miles away. On his return, he would stop
and tell them what he had heard. When Washington worked at the big
house fanning flies from the food on the table, he would also listen to the
talk of war and freedom, which was circulating then and so learn of events
further afield.
He shifts to discuss how in the case of the slaves where he lived and for
others who were treated with anything like decency there was not bitter
feeling towards the white population who were involved in fighting a war
that would keep the Negro in slavery. He remembers when one of the
masters was killed and two were injured, the sorrow was great in the slave
quarters as well as the big house. He also states that the male slave who
was chosen to sleep there when the white men were away saw it as an
honor.
This point is expanded as he refers to many instances of when Negroes
carried on caring for their former masters and mistresses who were poor
and dependent after the war. He also tells of a former slave who made a
contract with his owner to buy his freedom, and even though he did not
have to fulfil this agreement after the war, he still did so.
Washington states that he feels no bitterness to any one person for slavery
and argues again that it was an institution that for years was protected by
the general government. He furthers his point and claims that the
ancestors of slaves ten million Negroes are in a stronger and more
hopeful condition materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously, than

is true of an equal number of black people in any other portion of the

globe. He explains that this does not justify slavery, but shows how
Providence so often uses men and institutions to accomplish a purpose.
Since he has been old enough to think, he has thought the following:
Notwithstanding the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the black man got
nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did.
He argues that the whole machinery of slavery was constructed to cause
labor to be regarded as a badge of degradation, of inferiority and as
something both races sought to escape. He uses the case of the old
master and how his many children never learned a trade as a case in point.
Such work was left to the slaves.
As the end of the war approached, he describes how the slaves sang more
boldly about freedom and for the first time threw off their masks. They had
sung of freedom before, but previously said this was about the next world.
At the end of the war, they were all asked to gather at the big house and a
stranger (who he presumes was a United States officer) read what he
thinks was the Emancipation Proclamation.
After the reading, the slaves were told they were free. There were scenes of
rejoicing but no bitterness. By the time they returned to their cabins,
though, the sense of responsibility increased: It was very much like
suddenly turning a youth of ten or twelve years out into the world to
provide for himself. They only had a few hours to solve their problems of
home, a living, the rearing of children, education, citizenship, and the
establishment and support of churches. Some of the slaves were also 70 or
80 years old and gradually the older ones went to the big house to have
whispered conversations with their former owners about their future.
Analysis Chapter One, A Slave Among Slaves
This first chapter is detailed in its descriptions of the hardships of slavery,
but at the same time is extremely careful to explain that Washington and
other former slaves who were treated with comparative decency had no
bitterness towards their former masters. It is perhaps difficult if not

astounding to read of his deprivations as a child slave and to then read that
he wants no recriminations for this treatment.
His outlook may be interpreted as forgiving within the tenets of
Christianity, in that he both turns the other cheek in this narrative and
refuses to continue bearing a grudge. This forgiveness may also be
interpreted as a practical means of moving into the future rather than
being trapped in the past of hate. By attempting to work and live alongside
the white population, he may also be viewed as being practical rather than
revolutionary.

Summary Chapter Two, Boyhood Days

With freedom, Washington saw two things happen that were generally
true throughout the South. Firstly, many slaves changed their names and
secondly they left the plantation for at least a few days or weeks to feel
certain they were free. Many former slaves wanted a different name to that
of their former owner, so many changed them to names such as Lincoln or
Sherman.
Washingtons step-father sent for his mother and the children after the war
as he was living and working in West Virginia. They went, but still kept in
touch with their former owners. They moved to Malden and lived in a
cabin near the salt furnaces and there were many other cabins in the area.
He recalls there was drinking, gambling, quarrels, fights, and shockingly
immoral practices.
The first number he learned was 18 as this was the one allotted to his
step-father and was written on his barrels at the furnace. He remembers
having a longing to learn to read and induced his mother to get him a book.
One day she brought him an old copy of Websters spelling book, as she
wished to encourage him, and he taught himself the greater portion of the
alphabet.

While struggling to teach himself, a young African-American boy came to

Malden and he had learned to read in Ohio. When others learned of his
knowledge, he was asked to read a newspaper and was surrounded by
groups of men and women. Washington used to envy him for this.
Around this time, they discussed having a school for Negro children. This
would be the first in the area and they had to find a teacher. The boy was
deemed too young, but another young man from Ohio appeared and he
was employed. Each family had to pay a certain amount and the teacher
spent a day with each family.
Washington describes how everyone wanted to learn (as a whole race
trying to go to school). Day and night schools were filled when teachers
were secured and it was a great ambition of older people to learn to read
the Bible before they died.
However, his step-father kept him working with him rather than sending
him to school. Despite his disappointment, he was still determined to learn
to read. He had some evening lessons and finally won his case to go to day
school for a few months. To do so, he worked until 9 am and then 2 hours
after school as well.
When he started school, he only had one name, Booker, but at the time of
enrolment he said he was called Booker Washington. He found out when
he was older that his mother had given him the name Booker Taliaferro
soon after he was born, but this had been forgotten. When he learned of
this, he revived it and this is part of his name now.
Even though he has wished more than once that he had ancestors and an
inherited fortune, he also thinks he would have been tempted to rely on
this if this had been the case. In addition, with having no ancestry of his
own he decided he would leave a record for his children to be proud of and
to encourage them to still higher effort. He explains that the Negro youth
starts out with the presumption against him and that the white youth with
a proud family history is given a stimulus to encourage him to succeed.

With reference to his own family, despite their poverty his mother adopted
a young orphan called James while they were living in West Virginia.
The narrative shifts again to explain that he went from working in the salt
furnace to the coal mine. At this time and later, he used to envy the white
boy who had no obstacles in his way to becoming anything such as a
Bishop or the President. He ends the chapter by emphasizing that he does
not envy the white boy as he once did. He argues instead that it is a
universal that merit is rewarded no matter the skin color of a person and
is proud of the race he belongs to.