Booker T. Washington - (1856-1915)
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Page Middle School, Virginia
"No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem." -Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington was one of America's first African-American educators. He made "footsteps" in this nation's history, and also opened doors for African-Americans across America.
Washington was born a slave in Franklin County, Virginia, in 1856. He lived with his mother and two older siblings. He never knew his father but suspected he was a white man who lived on another plantation nearby.
His family eventually moved to West Virginia with his stepfather, walking the entire journey. One day while working he overheard a conversation of two men talking about a
school for colored people. Washington was fascinated at the thought of going to school. After working as a servant for 1 1/2 years to earn his tuition, Washington attended
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Washington traveled almost 500 miles to reach his final destination- Hampton, Virginia.
When he arrived at Hampton Institute he had not eaten, taken a bath, or had a good night's sleep in a long time. The administrator accepted Washington as a student only after he
swept the recitation-room. Not long after he was accepted into college, Washington took a job as a janitor. Of the time Washington was at the college, he spent most of his days and
nights studying. While in Hampton, he worked in a restaurant at Fortress Monroe. After graduation, he returned home to Malden, West Virginia. There he became the town
schoolteacher. To Washington, these where the happiest times in his life. He also opened a night school for the adults, taught two Sunday School classes, established a reading
room, began a debating society, and taught private lessons for the students he planned to send away to Hampton Institute. Washington would later on send his older brother John
and his adopted brother James on to Hampton Institute. Washington even returned to Hampton Institute. This time he delivered the commencement address! Washington even taught at the school before being asked to
travel south to Tuskegee, Alabama to teach in a school for colored people. This essay was submitted by a student of Michelle Davis, an English teacher at Page Middle School in Gloucester, Virginia.