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Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington was born into slavery in Franklin County, Virginia, on April 5, 1856. His mother Jane was a cook and his father was a white man from a nearby farm.

remembering his birth and emancipation day

Later in life, in his 1901 autobiography, Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington recalls the circumstances of his birth this way:

"I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time. As nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near a cross-roads post-office called Hale's Ford, and the year was 1858 or 1859. I do not know the month or the day. The earliest impressions I can now recall are of the plantation and the slave quarters -- the latter being the part of the plantation where the slaves had their cabins.

My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings. This was so, however, not because my owners were especially cruel, for they were not, as compared with many others. I was born in a typical log cabin, about fourteen by sixteen feet square. In this cabin I lived with my mother and a brother and sister till after the Civil War, when we were all declared free.

In early 1865 at the age of 9, young Booker T. remembers the dramatic effect of “emancipation day” on his mother with these words, also taken from his autobiography:

”As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted late into the night. Most of the verses of the plantation songs had some reference to freedom. Some man who seemed to be a stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper -- the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After the reading we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see.”

The Formative Years:

From Houseboy To 25 Year Old School Principal

Later that summer of 1865, Booker, his brother John and sister, Amanda, moved with their mother to Malden, West Virginia to join his stepfather. Booker worked with his mother and other free blacks as a salt-packer and in a coalmines. He even signed up briefly as a hired hand on a steamboat. However, soon he became employed as a houseboy for Viola Ruffner, the wife of General Lewis Ruffner, who owned the salt-furnace and coal mine. Many other houseboys had failed to satisfy the demanding and methodical Mrs. Ruffner, but Booker's diligence and attention to detail met her standards. Encouraged to do so by Mrs. Ruffner, when he could, young Booker attended school and learned to read and to write. Soon, he sought more education than was available in his community.

Leaving Malden at age sixteen, Washington enrolled at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Hampton, Virginia. Financially poor students such as Washington could get a place there by working to pay their way. The normal school at Hampton was founded to train black teachers and had been largely funded by church groups and individuals. In many ways he was back where he had started, earning a living through menial tasks, but his time at Hampton led him away from a life of labor. From 1878 to 1879 he attended Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C., and returned to teach at Hampton.

Soon, Hampton officials recommended him to become the first principal of a similar school that former slave Lewis Adams and others were starting in Tuskegee, Alabama. At first, the founders anticipated employing a white administrator. Instead, they found the desired qualities in 25 year-old Booker T. Washington who became the first principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute when it opened on July 4, 1881.

Pictured here on the right is Booker T. Washington, the Tuskegee Institute's famous founder. And pictured on the left, is its equally famous educator and scientist, George Washington Carver. Carver was a botanist who worked in agricultural extension at the Tuskegee Institute teaching former slaves farming techniques for self-sufficiency. Both men are standing beside the school's turn-of-the-century buildings that were designed and built by African American students using homemade bricks. The Tuskegee Institute is now Tuskegee University.

B.T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois:

Two Approaches To The Same Goal

Tuskegee provided an academic education and instruction for teachers, but placed more emphasis on providing young black boys with practical skills such as carpentry and masonry. The institute illustrates Washington's aspirations for his race. His theory was that by providing these skills, African Americans would play their part in society and this would lead to acceptance by white Americans. He believed that African Americans would eventually gain full civil rights by showing themselves to be responsible, reliable American citizens. He argued that self-reliance was the key to improved conditions for African Americans in the United States and that they could not expect too much, having only just been granted emancipation.

Booker T. Washington received national prominence for his famous Atlanta Address of 1895, attracting the attention of politicians and the public as a popular spokesperson for African American citizens. However, the address sparked a controversy in which he was cast as an “accommodationist” by those who heeded Frederick Douglass’ call to "Agitate, Agitate, Agitate" for social change. A public debate soon began between those like Washington who valued the so-called "industrial" or more job-oriented education; and those who, like W. E. B. DuBois, supported the idea of a "classical" or more academically oriented education among African-Americans. Both sides sought to define the best means to improve the conditions of the post-Civil War African-American community. And, echoes of the debate still continue to this day.

His Legacy:

Improved Relationships

And Pointing The Way

Through Education & Hard Work

Booker T. Washington associated with the richest and most powerful businessmen and politicians of the era and became a conduit for funding educational programs. Through these contacts and Washington’s efforts, countless small schools were established all across the South. In addition to the substantial contributions in the field of education, Dr. Washington did much to improve the overall friendship and working relationship between the races in the United States.

And, as president of the Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington made it his habit to deliver an address to his students every Sunday night. Washington was not only concerned with a giving his students a technical education, but with teaching them how to be successful in both the moral and commercial realm. These collected lectures have now been combined into a book entitled, Character Building, because they were on topics of character building and living a moral life. Originally published in 1902, the lessons are on thrift, clean living, sharing what you learn with others, the need to read, and the value of education of the heart as well as the head. Topics include "The Virtue of Simplicity", "Keeping Your Word", and "Individual Opportunities."

The hard-driving Washington finally collapsed in Tuskegee, Alabama due to a lifetime of overwork and died soon after in a hospital, on November 14, 1915.

He is buried on the campus of Tuskegee University near the University Chapel. At the center of the campus, the Booker T. Washington Monument called "Lifting the Veil" bears the inscription: "He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and hard work."