"WITH KIND WISHES OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, MAY 21, 1902": PRESENTATION/ASSOCIATION FIRST EDITION OF UP FROM SLAVERY, 1901, INSCRIBED BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON, Booker T. Up From Slavery. An Autobiography. New York: Doubleday, Page, 1901. Octavo, original gilt-stamped burgundy cloth, top edge gilt. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition of Washington's landmark autobiography, a distinctive presentation/association copy inscribed by him the same day its recipient and a group of Northern congressman met Washington at Tuskegee, "To Judge Fuller, with kind wishes of Booker T. Washington, May 21, 1902 [with his flourish]," with frontispiece portrait of Washington, a splendid copy.

Washington, "the son of a black slave and a white man, was born into slavery on a Virginia plantation. Freed, he taught himself to read from Webster's 'Blue-back spelling book,' adopted his inspirational surname, and walked most of the 500 miles to attend Hampton Institute for vocational training. Ten years later, aged 25, he was selected to head Tuskegee Institute… His leadership in education as well as his talents as a public speaker made him the outstanding black man of his time" (Hart, 803). "Counted among the ablest public speakers of his time… he became the most recognized spokesman of his generation. Washington's Up From Slavery is listed among the most widely read autobiographies. It was originally published as a serial in the Outlook Magazine… and was ultimately published in more than 12 languages" (Blockson, Commented Bibliography 51). Judge Fuller, the recipient of this copy, was in a group of Congressmen and Northern leaders who visited Tuskegee on May 21, the date of Washington's inscription. It was a time when Washington and Tuskegee were often targeted by a group known as the Lily Whites, which "opposed black political participation and supported the return of segregation and white supremacy" (Little, Prodigal Republican).

Three days before the date of Washington's inscription, The New York Times reported: "Representative Charles W. Thompson of Alabama is going to take some Northern Congressmen down into Alabama to show them the race problem in its home, and give them an insight into Southern conditions." A May 31, 1902 article in a Washington, D.C. newspaper, The Colored American, noted that Thompson, who represented Alabama's Fifth District in the U.S. Congress, brought Judge Fuller, Congressmen Samuel Barney and Charles Littlefield, and other leaders to "the school of Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Wednesday May 21… Students of the school took charge of the party immediately on their arrival in the grounds and the visitors were shown the various departments at work… Washington referred to the graduates of the school as successful men and women and made the observation that not one of his students had ever broken into jail or Congress. Mr Littlefield, Mr Barney, Mr Smith, Judge Fuller and Mr. Brown made short talks to the students and gave them advice." A year after Washington's inscription, James Vardaman, who vowed "to abolish black education once and for all in Mississippi," was elected governor. Convinced other states would follow, Washington knew "Tuskegee rested on a powder magazine" (Norell, Up from History, 286). Includes the text of Washington's famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech of 1895, which set the tone of race relations in America for decades to come. With tipped-in photogravure frontispiece with facsimile signature. Title page with "Author of 'The Future of the American Negro'" printed beneath Washington's name, no priority established. Without dust jacket, as issued. Brignano 270. Blockson 10188.

A fine presentation copy with a memorable association.