Booker T washington Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Booker T washington - Essay Example One of the most prominent amongst this school is the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. This school operated with a purpose to deploy such skills which prove to be profitable for the black Americans as well as the oppressed minorities. His purpose was to empower the troubled minorities and the black nation and unite them on a single platform. In this novel he does not forget the generosity of the instructors and the humanitarians who were involved in the education process of the black as well as Native Americans. "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." (History, Booker) Booker had a very disturbed childhood. Since he was born during a time where slavery was at its peak and no records where maintained of the slave class therefore his birthday remains controversial. As he was born in a state where black Americans were not c onsidered human therefore he was forced to work in the mines with his stepfather. During the time when a child was supposed to be enrolled to acquire his basic education, Booker on the other hand had become a victim of child labor. He had to spend his entire day in the furnace and whatever time he got after that he spent on educating himself through the book his mother gifted him. Later a school was established within their region with a purpose to educate the blacks. Thus he wanted to get enrolled in the school, when he asked his parents they refused as their financial state did not allow them to lose a child who was earning bread and butter for their family. This disturbed state had a profound impact on Booker and inspired him to do well for his nation, and bring about a change within them Booker spent his childhood as a slave. At an age where he was supposed to go to school he worked at a burning furnace. Later he was a slave to the whites where he used to carry his mistress to s chool at an age where he should have been carrying his luggage to school. At Virginia it was a trend that all the white families owned a black slave who used to perform their everyday chores as well as obey their master's command what so ever it be. He states in his autobiography that his masters were cruel and they did not have any sort of humanity remaining in them. The answer to the question that how his masters treated him was answered at various points in the book. In the book he wrote that his life when it started was a victim of misery, desolation and despair. But he believed that he was fairly lucky when it came to masters who kept him as slaves as they were not as cruel as others. the worst part that Booker experienced was that he had to get whipped if he reached late for work. So apparently he was victim of physical assault as well. He even describes the height of brutality which his uncle faced when he asked his master to pray. For this act he was whipped with hunter made out of cow leather by being tied to the bark of a tree. This was the level of torture and the inhumanity that a slave had to experience during that era. Further "Black and white abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century waged a biracial assault against slavery. Their efforts proved to be extremely effective. Abolitionists focused attention on slavery and made it difficult to ignore. They heightened