Optimism Gets the Job Done
One of the most striking aspects of Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery autobiography is the credit he gives to his experience as a slave, arguing that those enslaved learned many practical skills from their labors. Given that slavery is widely considered to be one of American history's cruelest episodes, reading an ex-slave's strangely positive depictions is startling, yet these ideas are not unique to Washington's story. In Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl , her recollection of the hardships she endured are mixed with similar anecdotes about her positive and beneficial experiences, such as learning to read and write from her mistress. These details reveal the tremendous range of conditions faced by slaves, as well as the optimism necessary to survive slavery and emerge from the experience stronger than before. In Jacobs' case, the positive details she describes create a sharper contrast with the suffering she is put through. Many times...