Up From Slavery: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Like his time in the salt mine, Washington construes his time in the coal mine as difficult, but not without opportunity. After all, the coal mine provided him an opportunity to hear about the Hampton Institute, which he is now determined to attend. He also foreshadows some of the struggles that will come in his journey to get an education at Hampton, and he sets up another plot construction of problem-struggle-success.

This symbolic movement from the hard labor of the mines to the domestic labor at the Ruffners’ is suggestive of the field vs. house slave paradigm in slavery. Field slaves, seen as having a lower status, were relegated to hard labor in the fields. House slaves, on the other hand, were generally seen as having a higher status in the slave hierarchy because of their position of relative comfort in the house and their access to more material resources. Similarly, Washington sees his position in the Ruffner house as an opportunity for personal uplift through the development of cleanliness and access to educational resources, in contrast to the material disparity of the mines. The problem with this kind of framework is that it was originally used in slavery to divide slaves against one another in order to prevent unification or rebellion. By repeating this framework, Washington can be seen as repeating some of the same divisive problems that are found in the field slave/house slave paradigm.

Mrs. Ruffner was an influential factor in Washington’s ideas of meritocracy. He saw cleanliness, organization, and work ethic as key character traits that exemplify merit. Mrs. Ruffner also plays a key role in Washington’s educational development by encouraging him to pursue book knowledge in conjunction with his household duties.

This passage begins a series of problem-struggle-solution constructions in the text, as Washington’s journey to Hampton is fraught with difficulty. The problem of money is a recurring issue in the narrative, and Washington demonstrates in this passage how the generosity of his community and his family helped him to overcome it in this situation. By showing how his community rallied around him to support his dream of getting an education, Washington tries to relay that the black community recognizes the value of education, regardless of monetary burden.

This portion of Washington’s account is designed to show the extreme conditions that he is willing to endure in order to get an education. He is willing to literally starve, freeze, or collapse from exhaustion simply to make it to Hampton. His narrative of such hardship is not to invoke sympathy in the reader, however. Its purpose is rather to show that, if one works hard enough, education can be attained, and no obstacles, even racial and class barriers, are too large to overcome.

Washington also is not afraid to sacrifice his dignity in order to achieve his goals. He is even willing to sleep under a sidewalk, homeless and cold, if the result is a chance at an education.

Washington’s problem of homelessness and lack of money is, as is expected, again solved through hard labor. Washington works for weeks in the harbor, still sleeping under the sidewalk, to save enough money to pay his way to Hampton. The result, when Washington returns to Richmond years later for a reception, is his elevated status as Tuskegee principal and famous speaker. To him, anything is possible, even moving from sleeping under a sidewalk to speaking behind a podium, if one works hard and depends on one’s merit.

Even when Washington finally accomplishes his goal and makes it to Hampton, he is still concerned about his appearance. He wishes to look clean and professional to demonstrate his merit to the school. Throughout the rest of the narrative, Washington will repeatedly emphasize his belief that appearance is a key indicator of personal merit.

Washington has no problem proving his worth through labor, and he takes joy in demonstrating his thoroughness and strong work ethic. He believes that his demonstration of worth and practical skills are what granted him admission to the school (while also ignoring the problematic aspect of a school admitting students entirely based on their sweeping ability). Thus his goal, the one that he was willing to starve and freeze for, was granted with his own hard labor and merit.

Once again, Washington suggests that labor creates opportunity in life, and that people who apply themselves in labor can accomplish their goals. Success is founded in hard work.

General Armstrong is the closest character in the narrative that Washington could consider a father figure, since Washington is physically alienated from his biological father and emotionally alienated by his stepfather, and doesn’t even tell us the name of either. General Armstrong, however, fills this gap in Washington’s narrative. Armstrong is hard working, strong in character, and deeply admired by all of his students, all traits that Washington wishes to emulate. To Washington, Armstrong is the ideal man, the archetype that demonstrates the true potential of dependence on merit and hard labor.

Washington never mentions any “book learning” that he engages in at Hampton. All of the educational lessons mentioned in his narrative have to do with practical purposes, such as his “sweeping” exam or the importance of the bath. Note that Washington again places a huge emphasis on appearing “respectable,” seeing this as a mark of civilization and even moral character.

Even though Washington’s education was partially subsidized by a rich New England family, he insists that his labor in his janitorial position and his meticulous care for his belongings are what propelled him through Hampton’s education program.

Although much of Washington’s narrative is about his personal and individual accomplishments through merit and hard labor, he also occasionally points out the labor of collective groups, such as the Hampton staff and students here. To Washington, labor not only fosters individual improvement and accomplishment, but community uplift as well. In this passage, the importance of labor is a collective rather than an individual concern.