# VII: Early Days at Tuskegee explained — Up from Slavery

> Chapter companion for Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington.

## What happens

Booker T. Washington recounts his arrival in Tuskegee, Alabama, in June 1881, after being recommended by General Armstrong to lead a new normal school for African Americans. He describes the dilapidated facilities—a shanty and a church—used for the school, the poverty and debt among local farmers, and the political attitudes of the time. Washington also details his travels through the countryside, observing the living conditions, schools, and churches, while noting the hunger for education among the people.

## Themes in this chapter

### Overcoming Adversity and Poverty

Washington faces a lack of buildings and resources, teaching in a dilapidated shanty with an umbrella during rain, and observes widespread poverty among local farmers.

### Education and Self-Improvement

The chapter highlights the hunger for knowledge among African Americans, with hundreds of eager students despite poor facilities.

### Race Relations and Compromise

Washington notes generally pleasant race relations in Tuskegee, exemplified by a joint black-white hardware store, and discusses the political tendency to vote opposite to white men.

## Character check-ins

### Booker T. Washington

Narrator and protagonist; arrives in Tuskegee to start the normal school.

### General Samuel C. Armstrong

Recommended Washington for the Tuskegee position and sent a telegram confirming the offer.

### Dr. Hollis B. Frissell

Instructor at Hampton who taught Washington during his time there.

### Mr. George W. Campbell

One of the gentlemen who wrote to General Armstrong seeking a teacher for Tuskegee.

### Mr. Lewis Adams

Another gentleman involved in the request to General Armstrong for a teacher.

## Key lines

> It seemed much like making bricks without straw.

The task of starting the school with no land, buildings, or apparatus felt nearly impossible.

_Washington uses a biblical metaphor to express the challenge of building a school from nothing._

> We watches de white man, and we keeps watching de white man till we finds out which way de white man's gwine to vote; an' when we finds out which way de white man's gwine to vote, den we votes 'xactly de other way. Den we knows we's right.

A local man explains that the community watches white voters and then votes the opposite, believing that ensures they are correct.

_Illustrates the political distrust and oppositional voting patterns among African Americans at the time._

> There were five of us; myself and brother and three mules.

An elderly man recalls being sold into Alabama along with his brother and three mules.

_Highlights the dehumanizing nature of slavery, equating people with livestock._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/up_from_slavery_se/chapters/vii-early-days-at-tuskegee
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/up_from_slavery_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/up_from_slavery_se/chapters