Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

             Washington always had a longing for an education ever since he was a young boy. He went as far as comparing the opportunity to get into a schoolhouse with being allowed to study alongside boys and girls to that of living in paradise (4). Considering the fact that he was a slave for the first nine years of his life it was virtually impossible for him to earn a suitable development of knowledge by way of formal schooling. This all changed when the Emancipation Proclamation was set forth and schools in the South started to admit intelligent Negroes. Although he could not get an education right away, for the reason that he had to work in the salt mines with his step-father, he eventually climbed the steps on his journey to obtain one. This was all made possible by key figures in his life who he acknowledges in his autobiography, "Up From Slavery", who motivated and drove Washington to reach heights that he could have never imagined reaching. Significant people such as his mother, Mrs. Ruffner, Ms. Mackie, and General Armstrong were all figures that fueled Washington's ascension into a position where very few of his race had been before. They not only provided him with the basic necessities of living but also taught him core values that he would use in his life to become one of the most influential African-American spokesman of all time.
             Perhaps the most beloved figure who played a vital role in helping Washington ascend to greatness was his mother, Jane, who had taught him the value of being genuine. Unfortunately for Washington and his mother, as a slave living on a plantation, her job as the cook came before her family duties. There were times where she would come home late from work and wake up her kids just to feed them because she had not been there the whole day to do so. That was just one of the few instances that displayed how nurturing his mother was. Aside from sacrificing precious sleep just to feed her kids, Washington described a time when he was in a schoolhouse for the very first time and noticed that all the other children, besides himself, were wearing caps on their heads.