UP FROM SLAVERY (Annotated): AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Booker T. Washington - an American Slave, his Life from slavery to freedom, Slavery in the South and the American Abolishment of Slavery

This autobiography of Booker T. Washington is unabridged, and contains an additional annotation at the start of the book. This section aims to give the reader an historical context, and contains a brief History of Slavery in America, and the Abolishment of Slavery. This will help set the stage for this autobiography by Booker T. Washington: “I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time. As nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near a cross-roads post-office called Hale's Ford, and the year was 1858 or 1859. I do not know the month or the day. The earliest impressions I can now recall are of the plantation and the slave quarters—the latter being the part of the plantation where the slaves had their cabins.

My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings. This was so, however, not because my owners were especially cruel, for they were not, as compared with many others. I was born in a typical log cabin, about fourteen by sixteen feet square. In this cabin I lived with my mother and a brother and sister till after the Civil War, when we were all declared free.

This volume is the outgrowth of a series of articles, dealing with incidents in my life, which were published consecutively in the Outlook.

I have tried to tell a simple, straightforward story, with no attempt at embellishment. The greater part of my time and strength is required for the executive work connected with the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, and in securing the money necessary for the support of the institution. Much of what I have said has been written on board trains, or at hotels or railroad stations while I have been waiting for trains, or during the moments that I could spare from my work while at Tuskegee.”

—Booker T. Washington “