Working with the Hands was published by Doubleday, Page & Company in 1904 as a companion to Up from Slavery. Where the autobiography told Washington’s personal story, this book describes Tuskegee Institute’s educational philosophy in action — the specific programs, methods, and results of training Black students in industrial skills.
Washington walks the reader through Tuskegee’s departments: brickmaking (the students built the campus itself), agriculture (the school farm demonstrated scientific farming methods to the surrounding community), carpentry, blacksmithing, printing, sewing, cooking, and nursing. Each chapter combines practical description with philosophical argument: the act of making a brick is simultaneously a lesson in chemistry, geometry, discipline, and self-respect. Washington insists that manual labor, far from being degrading, is the foundation of civilization, and that the educated person who cannot do anything with their hands has received a defective education.
The book is Washington’s most detailed statement of his educational philosophy and the most useful source for understanding what Tuskegee actually did. It is also, inevitably, a fundraising document — the Northern philanthropists who funded Tuskegee wanted evidence of results, and Washington provides it abundantly.
Collecting Working with the Hands
First edition (Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1904): Cloth binding with photographic illustrations.
Market values:
- First edition, near fine: $150–$400
- Very good: $60–$150
- Good: $25–$60