Washington had great difficulty in making bricks for the buildings at the Tuskegee Institute with no money and no experience in brick building. Washington had trouble finding a location to build the bricks, constructing a working kiln, burning bricks properly, and earning the funds to continue building kilns. However, Washington perfected brick building on his fourth try, and at the time that the autobiography was written, Tuskegee was producing some of the best bricks in the region. Washington sees the brick as a symbol of the fruit of hard labor and perseverance. When others quit brick building after the initial failures, Washington continued to develop the trade and learn from his mistakes. For Washington, the brick is then an emblem of the fruit of hard labor and the joy that one can find in it.
Bricks Symbol Timeline in Up From Slavery
