Booker T Washington : An Autobiography
www.staidenshomeschool.com Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T_WashingtonAll text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See
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graduates had often gone back to their local communities only to find precious fewschools and educational resources to work with in the largely impoverished South.To address those needs, Washington enlisted his philanthropic network in matchingfunds programs to stimulate construction of numerous rural public schools for black children in the South. Together, these efforts eventually established and operatedover 5,000 schools and supporting resources for the betterment of blacks throughoutthe South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The local schools were a source ofmuch community pride and were of priceless value to African-American familieswhen poverty and segregation limited their children's chances. A major part ofWashington's legacy, the number of model rural schools increased with matchingfunds from the Rosenwald Fund into the 1930s.Washington did much to improve the overall friendship and working relationshipbetween the races in the United States. His autobiography,
Up From Slavery
, firstpublished in 1901, is still widely read today.
Youth, freedom and education
Booker T. Washington was born on April 5, 1856, on the Burroughs farm at thecommunity of Hale's Ford, Virginia about 25 miles from Roanoke. His mother Jane wasan enslaved black woman who worked as a cook and his father was an unknownwhite plantation owner. Under the laws of the time, his mother's status meant thatBooker was born a slave. His given name was "Booker Taliaferro," but during hischildhood he was known as only Booker; "Taliaferro" was temporarily forgotten.Washington recalled Emancipation in early 1865: [
Up from Slavery
19-21]As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual.It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted later into the night. Most of the verses of theplantation songs had some reference to freedom.... Some man who seemed to be astranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read arather long paper -- the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After the reading wewere told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. Mymother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, whiletears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this wasthe day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never liveto see.In the summer of 1865, when he was nine, he migrated with his brother John and hissister Amanda to Malden in Kanawha County, West Virginia to join his stepfather,Washington Ferguson. Washington's mother was a major influence on his schooling.Even though she couldn't read herself, she bought her son spelling books whichencouraged him to read. She then enrolled him in an elementary school, whereBooker took the last name of Washington because he found out that other childrenhad more than one name. When the teacher called on him and asked for his namehe answered, "Booker Washington," as if I had been called by that name all my life;..."He worked with his mother and other free blacks as a salt-packer and in a coal mine.He even signed up briefly as a hired hand on a steamboat. About the only other jobs
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