Book Review Spotlight:Robert J. Norrell Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington
-- Library Journal, 02/11/2009
Norrell, Robert J. Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington. Belknap Pr. Jan. 2009. 508p. ISBN 0-674-0321-1-X. $35. BIOG
African American educator Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), who organized the Tuskegee Normal and 
Industrial Institute in Tuskegee, AL, was a sought-after speaker, an adviser to several presidents, and a voracious reader and writer. Born to an illiterate slave, he overcame the rampant racism of the time to become the “leader of his race,” only to be vilified by history as being too accommodating to whites. Norrell (history, Univ. of Tennessee) has written a new examination of Washington’s life, the title playing off of Washington’s famous autobiography Up from Slavery. Just as Washington worked to escape the figurative and literal shackles of slavery, Norrell works to rescue Washington’s life from latter-day depictions of him as an “Uncle Tom” who sought to mollify whites. Norrell argues that Washington’s message (education, moral development, financial stability, racial consensus, patience, and optimism) has been unfairly dismissed, with his hard work to improve the lives of black Americans forgotten. The revisionist approach succeeds: as Norrell points out, the values promoted by Washington have helped many oppressed peoples and were an important part of the Civil Rights Movement. Recommended for both academic and public libraries.—Jason Martin, Univ. of Central Florida Libs., Orlando
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