Up From Slavery — Outline
Thesis
“My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings.”
Development
- 1.
Opening: conditions of birth and slave life
Chapter I. A Slave Among Slaves“I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia.”
- 2.
Transition: emancipation and its immediate aftermath
Chapter I. A Slave Among Slaves“The great responsibility of being free, of having charge of themselves, of having to think and plan for themselves and their children, seemed to take possession of them.”
- 3.
Boyhood: naming, schooling, and early ambition
Chapter II. Boyhood Days“There was never a time in my youth, no matter how dark and discouraging the days might be, when one resolve did not continually remain with me, and that was a determination to secure an education at any cost.”
- 4.
Struggle: journey to Hampton and the entrance examination
Chapter III. The Struggle For An Education“I resolved at once to go to that school, although I had no idea where it was, or how many miles away, or how I was going to reach it”
- 5.
Development: teaching others and early lessons in unselfishness
Chapter IV. Helping Others“Before the end of the year, I think I began learning that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.”
- 6.
Analysis: the Reconstruction period and its errors
Chapter V. The Reconstruction Period“I felt that the Reconstruction policy, so far as it related to my race, was in a large measure on a false foundation, was artificial and forced.”
- 7.
Transition: Indian education at Hampton and the night-school
Chapter VI. Black Race And Red Race“I found that they were about like any other human beings; that they responded to kind treatment and resented ill-treatment.”
- 8.
Founding: arrival at Tuskegee and survey of conditions
Chapter VII. Early Days At Tuskegee“I did find, though, that which no costly building and apparatus can supply,—hundreds of hungry, earnest souls who wanted to secure knowledge.”
- 9.
Building: opening the school in a stable and hen-house
Chapter VIII. Teaching School In A Stable And A Hen-House“I saw more clearly than ever the wisdom of the system which General Armstrong had inaugurated at Hampton.”
- 10.
Crisis: financial anxiety and early institutional hardships
Chapter IX. Anxious Days And Sleepless Nights“I knew that, in a large degree, we were trying an experiment—that of testing whether or not it was possible for Negroes to build up and control the affairs of a large education institution.”
- 11.
Industry: student labour, brickmaking, and race relations
Chapter X. A Harder Task Than Making Bricks Without Straw“My experience is that there is something in human nature which always makes an individual recognize and reward merit, no matter under what colour of skin merit is found.”
- 12.
Discipline: cleanliness, furniture, and character formation
Chapter XI. Making Their Beds Before They Could Lie On Them“I learned that assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.”
- 13.
Fundraising: methods and philosophy of securing support
Chapter XII. Raising Money“I have always avoided what the world calls “begging.”
- 14.
Platform: the Atlanta Exposition address and its preparation
Chapter XIII. Two Thousand Miles For A Five-Minute Speech“I knew, too, that this was the first time in the entire history of the Negro that a member of my race had been asked to speak from the same platform with white Southern men and women on any important National occasion.”
- 15.
Address: text and reception of the Atlanta Exposition speech
Chapter XIV. The Atlanta Exposition Address“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top.”
- 16.
Oratory: philosophy of public speaking and personal habits
Chapter XV. The Secret Of Success In Public Speaking“I do not believe that one should speak unless, deep down in his heart, he feels convinced that he has a message to deliver.”
- 17.
Europe: the trip abroad and its lessons on race and merit
Chapter XVI. Europe“any man, regardless of colour, will be recognized and rewarded just in proportion as he learns to do something well—learns to do it better than some one else—however humble the thing may be.”
- 18.
Culmination: Harvard degree, President McKinley's visit, and Tuskegee's growth
Chapter XVII. Last Words“I believe that any man’s life will be filled with constant, unexpected encouragements of this kind if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day of his life”
Conclusion
“As I write the closing words of this autobiography I find myself—not by design—in the city of Richmond, Virginia: the city which only a few decades ago was the capital of the Southern Confederacy, and where, about twenty-five years ago, because of my poverty I slept night after night under a sidewalk.”