In 1895 he was invited to speak at the opening of the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia where he advocated that African Americans could attain their constitutional rights through their own economic and moral progression by becoming efficient at practical skills such as farming, carpentry, and masonry rather than pursuing legal and political means for collective advancement. Washington with members of the Negro Business League in Greensboro, North Carolina, 1910Īs the principal of Tuskegee Institute, Washington had the vehicle and platform to practice and espouse his educational philosophy and theory concerning the advancement of African Americans. As a result of a recommendation from Hampton officials, he became the first principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University), which opened on Jhe remained in this capacity for 34 years until his death in 1915. He also attended Wayland Seminary from 1878 to 1879 before returning to teach at Hampton. He had always been known as simply “Booker” until he decided to add the name “Washington” after feeling the pressure to have two names when he started grammar school.Īt the age of 16, Washington began college at the Hampton Normal and Agriculture Institute in Hampton, Virginia. At the age of nine, Washington was freed from slavery and moved to West Virginia.
His mother’s name was Jane and his father was a white man from a nearby plantation. Yet, it is widely understood that he was born enslaved on Apin Hale’s Ford, Virginia. According to his autobiography Up From Slavery (1901), he did not know the exact year, date, and place of his birth or his father’s name. Washington is one of the most controversial and dominant figures in African American history.
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