Up from Slavery, Chapter 3 summary

What happens

1. After overhearing miners describe Hampton, Washington resolves to attend and learns careful work habits while serving Mrs. Viola Ruffner.
2. He leaves home in the fall of 1872 with little money and faces racial exclusion at a mountain hotel.
3. In Richmond, he sleeps beneath a sidewalk and unloads a ship to earn food and travel money.
4. He reaches Hampton with fifty cents and gains admission after Miss Mary F. Mackie tests his cleaning skills.
5. Janitorial work covers his board, and General Samuel C. Armstrong arranges a donor to pay his tuition.
6. Washington describes Armstrong’s influence, students’ sacrifices, and Hampton’s lessons in cleanliness, disciplined work, and service.

In this chapter

What to notice

The cleaning test joins practical training to educational opportunity. Skills learned in household service become the means of gaining admission.

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