Up From Slavery. An Autobiography.

WASHINGTON, Booker T.

$4,800.00

Item Number: 135007

New York: Doubleday, Page, 1901.

First edition of Booker T. Washington’s landmark biography with an autograph letter signed by him on his Tuskegee Institute letterhead. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of the author. Accompanied by an autograph letter signed by Washington on his The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute letterhead which reads, “Oct. 19, 190 Mr. George A. Dary Exchange Bldg 53 State St. Boston Mass Dear Sir: – you will find enclosed a copy of my last annual report to the Board of Trustees which has just been printed. I thought you might like to read it or at least glance through it. Please permit me to thank you again for your help and interest. Yours truly Booker Washington Principal.” At the age of 25, Washington became the first leader of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, the new teachers’ college in Alabama. Over the course of the next 30 years he developed the school, adding to both the curriculum and the facilities on the campus. In very good condition.

Booker T. Washington was an African-American teacher, author, presidential advisor, and civil-rights leader. Born in Virginia in 1856, Washington was of the last generation born into slavery. After emancipation, Washington attended college in Virginia, and gained fame as a result of his 1895 speech about the importance of educating African Americans and his belief that African Americans were capable of great feats through education. Washington s contribution to educational equality was made greater by his influence in the social circles of millionaires and self-starters, and he was the first African American invited to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt. Washington’s Up From Slavery is listed among the most widely read autobiographies. It was originally published as a serial in the Outlook Magazine and was ultimately published in more than 12 languages” (Blockson 51). "It remains one of the most important works on such an influential African-American leader" (Delia Crutchfield Cook). Listed by Modern Library as one of the greatest English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century.