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BOOKER T. WASHINGTON 
Booker Taliaferro was born in Franklin County, Virginia, on April 5, 1856. He was the son of an enslaved cook who was owned by a small planter and an unknown white man. His mother Jane later married Washington Ferguson. He would later drop his own last name in favor of that of his step-father, and he became known as Booker T. Washington.
When he was nine his mother moved to Malden, West Virginia, to be with her husband. He began work, packing salt in the same salt mine that his step-father worked. From the age of 10 until he was 12, he worked in a coal mine, while at the same time, attending school in his spare time. At the age of 15, he went to work as a houseboy for the wife of the owner of the mines, Lewis Ruffner. At the age of 16, Booker enrolled at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia (now Hampton University), where his entrance examination consisted of cleaning a room. He worked as a janitor to pay for his room and board, and his tuition was paid for by a white benefactor. He studied academic subjects and agriculture and developed a love for public speaking and debating. He was heavily influenced by the school's principal, Samuel Chapman Armstrong, from whom he derived much of his educational philosophy. Washington graduated with honors in 1875 and returned to Malden to teach. He spent eight months studying at Wayland Seminary and then in 1879, he returned to Hampton to teach in a program for Native Americans. In 1880, after lobbying by Lewis Adams, a former slave and George W. Campbell, a former slave owner, the State of Alabama passed a bill which included an appropriation of $2,000 to establish a school for blacks in Macon County. On February 12, 1881, the Tuskegee Normal School for the Training of Black Teachers was established. Samuel Chapman Armstrong was asked to recommend a white teacher to take charge of the school, however he suggested Washington instead. When he arrived at Tuskegee, the school owned no land or buildings, neither was any money earmarked as such. He set about remedying the situation, and on July 4, 1881, the school opened in a building that was loaned by a local black church. Shortly after its opening, Washington was able to borrow some money so that the school could purchase 100 acres of land on the outskirts of Tuskegee. The students built a kiln themselves and were able to make bricks to sell as well as to build buildings for the school. By 1888, the school owned 540 acres of land, had more than 400 students who studied such things as carpentry and farming for boys and cooking and sewing for girls.  By the time the school was 25 years old, Washington had been instrumental in building the school into a 2,000 acre campus with 83 buildings that was valued at more than $800,000 and an endowment fund of almost $1.3 million. More than 1,500 new students were taught at the school each year.
On the opening day of the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition on September 18, 1895, he made his famous "compromise" speech which urged blacks to accept their inferior social position for the time being, and to strive to raise themselves through vocational training and economic self-reliance. This position unsurprisingly angered many black leaders. However, it is because of his conservative attitude that he was able obtain the support of local white political leaders for the school, and was able to obtain financial support from the likes of Andrew Carnegie and Collis Huntington. In addition to being the soul of the school at Tuskegee, Washington had many other interests. His writings included more than 40 books one of which was his autobiography "Up From Slavery". He also helped establish the National Negro Business League. He exercised influence in national and state affairs and on October 16, 1901, he became the first African-American to dine at the White House, when he was a guest of President Theodore Roosevelt. He was counsel to a number of politicians and was chief advisor on black issues to Presidents Roosevelt and Taft. However, his conservative policies became increasingly unpopular among such groups as the NAACP and the Niagara Movement, and many of the more militant black leaders saw him as an "Uncle Tom." Washington was married three times and had three children. He died on November 14, 1915, from arteriosclerosis and exhaustion. He was buried in a brick tomb made by Tuskegee Institute students and was laid to rest on top of a hill from which the entire campus could be viewed. For his contribution to society, Booker T. Washington was granted honorary degrees by Dartmouth College and Harvard University. His birthplace was awarded the status of National Monument, and he was the first African-American to appear on a postage stamp. Links To Other Booker T. Washington Internet Resources: Booker T. Washington - Up From Slavery: An Autobiography. The African America Registry - Booker T. Washington, educator and inspirational source. thatsalabama.com - Speeches, Writing and Thoughts - Booker T. Washington. Wikipedia - Booker T. Washington. Sparticus - Booker T. Washington. SIGN UP TO OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER If you would like us to keep you updated with changes and improvements to thatsalabama.com, please enter your email address here: If you would like to support thatsalabama.com with a donation via paypal, please click on this button: |
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