The Story of the Negro

Booker T. Washington used his own life and experience as a former slave to write The Story of the Negro. Equal parts sociology, history, cultural critique, and memoir, it is presented in three sections: “The Negro in Africa,” “The Negro as a Slave,” and “The Negro as a Freeman.” In this classic text, Washington describes a “new Negro for a new century,” who stood upon the bulwark of his own economic independence. One hundred years after its initial publication, The Story of the Negro remains instructive as citizens of the world and Americans in particular continue to grapple with persistent questions concerning the nature and importance of “race” and class; the role of African Americans in political, economic, and cultural affairs; and the often blurred boundary between collective history and individual biography or personal memoir.