The Story of Slavery
1913
Booker T. Washington wrote this account in 1913 as both historical document and moral testimony. Born into slavery in Virginia, he survived the Civil War and went on to found the Tuskegee Institute, but here he returns to the darkness he was born into, not as a polemicist, but as a witness. The book traces American slavery from the arrival of twenty enslaved Africans in Jamestown in 1619 through the centuries of institutionalization that followed, documenting the Middle Passage, the evolution of plantation life, the roles enslaved people occupied from field labor to skilled craftsmanship, and the psychological toll on both the enslaved and their captors. Washington's power lies not in detached narration but in what he witnessed firsthand: the texture of daily brutality, yes, but also the moments of unexpected humanity, community, and resistance that persisted even in the shadow of the lash. This is primary source history written by a man who escaped slavery as a child and spent his adult life trying to understand what it had done to a nation. It remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand America's original sin directly from someone who lived inside it.
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“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.””
— Booker T. Washington
“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.””
— Booker T. Washington
“I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.””
— Booker T. Washington
“The happiest people are those who do the most for others. The most miserable are those who do the least.””
— Booker T. Washington
“Among a large class, there seemed to be a dependence upon the government for every conceivable thing. The members of this class had little ambition to create a position for themselves, but wanted the federal officials to create one for them. How many times I wished then and have often wished since, that by some power of magic, I might remove the great bulk of these people into the country districts and plant them upon the soil – upon the solid and never deceptive foundation of Mother Nature, where all nations and races that have ever succeeded have gotten their start – a start that at first may be slow and toilsome, but one that nevertheless is real.””
— Booker T. Washington
“The thing to do when one feels sure that he has said or done the right thing and is condemned, is to stand still and keep quiet. If he is right, time will show it.””
— Booker T. Washington
“I early learned that it is a hard matter to convert an individual by abusing him, and that this is more often accomplished by giving credit for all the praiseworthy actions performed than by calling attention alone to all the evil done.””
— Booker T. Washington
“Great men cultivate love and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred; assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.””
— Booker T. Washington
“I would permit no man, no matter what his color might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.””
— Booker T. Washington
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Washington, Booker T.. The Story of Slavery. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-story-of-slavery-5ba1e1c7-288a-4e07-933a-7bc68539c2db.Washington, B. T. (1913). The Story of Slavery. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-story-of-slavery-5ba1e1c7-288a-4e07-933a-7bc68539c2dbWashington, Booker T.. The Story of Slavery. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-story-of-slavery-5ba1e1c7-288a-4e07-933a-7bc68539c2db.
