Booker T. Washington

Full Name: Booker Taliaferro Washington
Profession: Education Pioneer

Nationality:

Biography: Booker T. Washington was an African American educator, author, and orator during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the dominant leader in the African American community and of the contemporary black elite, playing a significant role in fighting racial discrimination.

Washington was born into slavery, and after the Civil War, he worked his way through Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) and attended college at Wayland Seminary. He then served as the first principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, which is now Tuskegee University, a role he held for over three decades.

Through his work at Tuskegee, Washington developed the concept of practical education as a means for social advancement, advocating for vocational training as opposed to a classical academic education. He was a strong proponent of African Americans learning useful trades, obtaining land, and gaining economic self-determination.

Washington gained national prominence through his Atlanta Address of 1895, where he advocated for economic cooperation between white and black communities while accepting segregation and disfranchisement. This perspective, often known as the Atlanta Compromise, was criticized by many African American leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter who favored direct action to achieve civil rights.

Despite criticism, Washington's views wielded considerable influence, earning him an advisory role to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. His legacy continues through his autobiography, Up From Slavery (1901), which remains a classic, and the continuation of Tuskegee University, which stands as a testament to his life’s work.

Born: April 5, 1856
Birthplace: Hale's Ford, Virginia, USA
Star Sign: Aries

Died: November 14, 1915 (aged 59)
Cause of Death: Deteriorating health