Booker T. Washington Biography

One of the foremost leaders of the African-American community, Booker T. Washington was a great educator and orator who founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, now known as the Tuskegee University. Born to a black slave mother and an unknown white father, Washington had a very difficult childhood; as a small boy he was forced to work strenuously and often beaten up. He would observe white children at school and wanted to study but it was illegal for slaves to receive an education. Poverty prevented him from studying even after his family was freed forcing him to seek employment. However, he found a saviour in Viola Ruffner, the woman he worked for, who encouraged him to study. He eventually attended the Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute where the headmaster Samuel Armstrong became his mentor and deeply influenced the young Washington’s philosophy. The former slave became an educator after his graduation and eventually helped found the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. He became an orator and represented the African-American community in the Atlanta Compromise in 1895 thereby becoming a national figure. His speech on bringing economic and social progress of blacks through education and entrepreneurship made him a widely respected member of the African-American community.