Booker T. Washington

Can you imagine being born a slave? Can you imagine working all day instead of going to school? What if you were told it is illegal for you to learn how to read? What if reading could mean being beaten, sold to another owner, or even death? How would a boy who started life off as a slave become one of the most educated and influential black men in the United States? How did Booker T. Washington end up having dinner at the White House and become an advisor to more than just one President?

Booker Taliaferro Washington was born on a tobacco farm owned by James and Elizabeth Burroughs in Virginia. He and his mother were slaves. When he was old enough, he was given a job carrying grain to the mill, and he would pass the school. He wished more than anything that he could go to school and learn. After the Civil War, slaves were emancipated. That means they were set free. His family moved and he had to go to work at a salt mine to help make money. His mom bought him a book and he taught himself letters and how to read. She agreed to let him go to school but he had to work in the mines first then go to school after work. 

Would you walk 500 miles to go to school? Booker did. He heard about a school named the Hampton Institute. It was a school like a college for young black men. The superintendent at the school was General Armstrong. When Booker got there all he had in his pocket was 50 cents. He worked hard and graduated. General Armstrong liked Booker, so he gave him a job at Hampton. When Booker was 25 years old, the general was given $2,000.00 to build a new school to train black teachers. The general chose Booker to go build the school in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Booker agreed and moved. All he found when he got there was 30 students and no land or building. So for the first year he taught class at a church. The church gave him land. He would teach the students then he and his students made bricks, and in one year they had built the first building. Not only did Booker T. Washington go to school, but he was now teaching other black men and women how to be teachers! Tuskegee Institute began small but it is now a big university. Booker was the principal there from 1881-1915. When he died in 1915, he was buried at the Institute.

It bothered Booker that racism kept black children from going to school. They weren’t allowed to go to school with white children. He became friends with some very important people while trying to get them to donate money to help build schools. President Theodore Roosevelt liked Booker and invited him to the White House for dinner. Booker was the first black man to eat dinner with the President of the United States. Some people were very mad about this because of racism and both Booker and the President had threats made against them. 

Julius Rosenwald was Booker’s biggest supporter for building black schools in America. The first school they built was in 1913. Booker T. died two years later. His partner continued building Booker’s dream. These schools were known as Rosenwald schools and some are still standing.