out of slavery

Out of Bondage is the autobiography of one of the most controversial figures in American history, Booker T. Washington. The work chronicles Washington's rise from a slave on a Virginia tobacco plantation to his long tenure as president of the famous Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Booker Washington was instrumental in helping to establish specialized vocational training schools for minorities to advance their status in society by acquiring marketable skills. Washington's message was one of economic empowerment for African Americans because, as he put it, "the individual who can do what the world expects of him will, in the end, make his own way regardless of his race." His contributions to self-empowerment added dramatic force to the struggle for racial equality and will forever be remembered in the annals of American history.