Booker T. Washington

David Clark

September 28, 2005

Mini Report-Booker T. Washington

Charlie Frazier

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A True Leader

He was a writer, educator, community leader, organization founder, college president, and a school founder. Most sources consider him the first national black leader after slavery (Smith 1181). This prolific man graced the earth on April 5, 1856 near Hale’s Ford, Virginia (Kranz & Koslow 251). This great African American became one of the great leaders of the African-American community. This great man happens to be Booker Taliaferro Washington (Christmas 244).

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery. Although his time spent as a slave was not that long, the slavery experience molded Washington into the great leader he was and the slavery experience shaped Washington’s theories. After the bonds of physical slavery were broken, Washington’s mother moved the family to West Virginia. While living in West Virginia, Washington began labor in the coal mines and the painstaking process of educating himself. Washington was encouraged to continue his education by the wife of the coal mine owner. At the age of sixteen, Washington left home in an attempt to get an education (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAbooker.htm).

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Booker T. Washington enrolled at Hampton Institute; Samuel Armstrong, an opponent of slavery and a leader of African American troops during the Civil War, was the president of Hampton Institute. Hampton Institute served as an institution that taught normal classes and a trade to the black students. Through Washington’s eyes, Samuel Armstrong would come to be seen as a father figure. The teachings from Armstrong and Hampton Institute would be the basis for most of Washington’s ideologies (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAbooker.htm). Washington would graduate with honors from Hampton Institute and a dream of how he could help the black and white community coexist (Kranz & Koslow 252).

Washington’s big opportunity to help black people in the South came in 1881(Smith 1183). After being recommended by Hampton Institute’s Samuel Armstrong, Washington was given the chance to start his own school in Tuskegee, Alabama (Christmas 245). Tuskegee Institute began on July 4, 1881 with a $2,000 salary allowance and with Booker T. Washington as the only teacher. Washington and Tuskegee Institute created a space for black people to become educated. Washington modeled the school after Hampton Institute. Washington believed the educated Black citizens would benefit the South and the nation. He articulated conservative values such as self-help and hard work. Black people should earn a living with their hands was a major idea of Washington and the reason for his founding of Tuskegee Institute. Washington’s emphasis on industrial education took hold of both the black and white communities (Smith 1181). Tuskegee Institute’s survival is mostly credited to the

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donations of wealthy white northerners who agreed with Washington’s theories and the endeavors of the students (Kranz & Koslow 253).

Washington advocated economic justice for black people through compromise and accommodation. Other African American leaders like W.E.B Dubois highly disagreed with this theory; however, Washington was highly supported by the black press. Washington was regarded with high esteem in both the black and white communities. He advised presidents like William Taft and Theodore Roosevelt on race relations. The profound Washington decided black political appointments throughout