Are You Kidding? :: Up From Slavery Booker T. Washington Essays

Are You Kidding? Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery is an autobiography describing a man’s journey from slavery to prominence. Or is it? Mr. Washington’s complete assimilation into the white man’s world could be seen as an example of complete and total sycophancy, a lesson in sucking up. Booker T. Washington knew that in order to further the Tuskegee Institute, a school in the south, he would need the help of the very race and culture that had imprisoned him and his people. Long before his association with southern, black schools, Booker T. Washington knew exactly what he didn’t want out of life. He didn’t like being poor. Being raised on a plantation, he learned very early in life, that if you appeased the white man, you could live in relative peacefulness. If you went a little further and assimilated into their culture, you could achieve a certain amount of prominence. From the very beginning, Booker T. Washington learned that playing the role of the grateful, black man would allow him to achieve his goals in life. He wrote that he had â€Å"†¦long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race†(10). He goes so far as to comment â€Å"†¦notwithstanding the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the black man got nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did†(10). Could he really be suggesting that anyone enslaved and stripped of an identity could possibly benefit from it? He claims that there existed â€Å" no feeling of bitterness†¦ † only â€Å"†¦pity among the slaves for our former owners† (13). Could this statement be truly realistic? If a person is to believe that anyone could feel anything but bitterness is ridiculous. The only reason for this deliberate misrepresentation of the truth must be to fulfill anot her agenda. He continues throughout his autobiography to continually depict his encounters with whites in the most favorable light. General Samuel C. Armstrong, obviously a soldier in the Civil War, is described as â€Å"†¦the noblest, rarest human being that it has ever been my privilege to meet† (32).