Up from Slavery (Penguin Classics)

Former slave and the foremost spokesman for African-North Americans, Booker T. Washington was a stirring and inspirational speaker, a trail-blazer and a champion of equal rights who lay down the foundation for activists in the years to come. Preaching to whites on the issues of social and racial equality, he gained ground for his people while putting himself, a most profound target of hate, into extreme danger. Up From Slavery is his remarkable story, spanning a life through slavery and a struggle for education to his founding of the Tuskegee Institute. Powerful and evocative even a century later.