INSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIES
The Story of Slavery
By Booker T. Washington
President of Tuskegee Institute; author of
"Up From Slavery," Etc.
With Biographical Sketch
PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY
F. A. OWEN PUB. CO., Dansville, N. Y.
HALL & McCREARY, Chicago, Ill.
Copyright, 1913, by
F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING CO.
The Story of Slavery
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON BY EMMETT J. SCOTT
Booker T. Washington, the author of the following sketch of slavery inAmerica, was himself born a slave, and the story of his life beginswhere "The Story of Slavery" leaves off. He was born about 1858 or 1859on a plantation near Hales Ford, Va., about twenty-five miles east ofthe city of Roanoke, in a region which, now almost deserted, was inslavery days a flourishing tobacco country. A few years ago he wasinvited to speak at the annual fair at Roanoke, and took advantage ofthe opportunity to drive out to the old plantation to visit again thescene of his childhood. He met there several members of the Burroughsfamily to which he had formerly belonged, and with them he went throughthe old Burroughs house, which is standing, and talked over the old days.
It was while he was living there that he was awakened one morning tofind his mother kneeling on the earth floor of the little cabin in whichthey lived, praying that "Lincoln and his armies might be successful andthat one day she and her children might be free." It was here a littlelater on, as he tells us in the book, "Up From Slavery," in which he hasrelated the story of his life, that he heard the announcement that heand all the other slaves were free.
"I recall," he says, "that some man who seemed to be a stranger and whowas undoubtedly a United States official, made a little speech and thenread a rather long[Pg 4] paper—the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. Afterthe reading we were told that we were all free and could go where we pleased.
"My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed herchildren, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to uswhat it all meant; that this was the day for which she had so long beenpraying, but fearing she would never live to see.
"For some minutes," he continues, "there was great rejoicing, andthanksgiving and wild scenes of ecstasy. But there was no feeling ofbitterness. In fact, there was pity among the slaves for our formerowners. The wild rejoicing of the emancipated colored people lasted buta brief period, for I noticed that by the time they returned to theircabins there was a change in their feelings. The great responsibility ofbeing free, of having charge of themselves and their children, of havingto plan for themselves and their children, seemed to take possession ofthem. To some it seemed, now that they were in actual possession of it,freedom was a more serious thing than they had expected to find.Gradually one by one, stealthily at first, the older slaves began towander back to the 'big house' to have whispered conversations withtheir former owners as to their future