By Cehan Ahmad Booker T. Washington

Introduction Booker T. Washington was a civil rights leader. He is best known for opening Tuskegee Institute.

Childhood He was born in 1856 in Hale’s Ford, Virginia. He was born into slavery. He started working for his master when he was 5. He had to live in a shack with a dirt floor. It had no glass windows. It also had holes in its’ walls. Booker’s shack was warm in the winter but too hot in the summer. Booker had a sister named Amanda. Booker usually had only a cup of milk or a potato. Often Booker ate corn that was put out for the farm animals. In 1865 the slaves were free! Booker’s mother married another slave on a close farm.

Adulthood Booker opened a school for blacks called the Tuskegee Institute. When he arrived 1881 the school didn’t have any buildings or school supplies, but it did have many eager students! At first Booker was the only educator and taught in a church. Booker spent the rest of his life building Tuskegee Institute. He died when he was still president of the Tuskegee Institute.

Fun Facts Booker found a job in a salt mine. The Tuskegee Institute is now Tuskegee University. The Tuskegee Institute was in Tuskegee, Alabama. The T in his name stands for Taliaferro. He wrote a book about his life called, “Up From Slavery.”

Glossary Slavery- the custom of owning people (slavery is against the law now) Salt mine- a mine for salt Educator- a teacher Alabama- a US state