A boys' life of Booker T. Washington

No state in the Union has a more interesting history than Virginia. It is the oldest of the states. It was at Jamestown in 1607 that the first permanent English settlement was m...

When the slaves were set free, one of the first things that many of them did was to change their names. Most of the slaves had only one name. As free people they felt that they...

Later in life Washington said: “There was never a time in my youth, no matter how dark and discouraging the days might be, when one resolve did not continually remain with me, a...

At the close of the Civil War one of the most important needs of the country was to provide some kind of education for the negroes. They had never had any schools. If they were...

General Armstrong handed Washington his diploma in June, 1875, and he walked forth from the college walls a very proud and happy boy. He had a right to be. No boy had ever striv...

There is an old saying that “opportunity knocks but once” upon our door. This is not true. Opportunities will certainly continue to come to us. The important thing is to be read...

Washington says his hardest task was to get them to give up some of their old habits and customs. They did not want to part with their long hair; they did not want to quit weari...

At Hampton the chapel exercises were at night. Here they sang the beautiful old negro melodies and listened to a talk by General Armstrong, or some other good speaker. One Sunda...

As Booker Washington began the second year of his school, he met a new obstacle. That was nothing unusual for him, however. He was usually facing a hard job. He spent his life w...

Tuskegee grew rapidly and steadily. Students began to pour in from all parts of the country. Girls were coming as well as boys. It was absolutely necessary to find some place fo...

Frederick Douglass and Booker Washington rank as the greatest orators the negro race has ever produced. This is a high place to occupy, for the race has produced many remarkable...

Booker Washington spent his life in the education of the negro. Negroes of ability in his day usually became preachers or they entered politics. The negro preacher had rendered...

Immediately following Washington’s great speech in Atlanta in 1895, there came the statement from all parts of the country, “Here is the new leader of the negro race.” During th...

Most of the negroes who gained any prominence or influence in the years just after the Civil War entered politics. Bruce and Revels had been United States Senators; Elliott and...

Washington was a great traveler. He was away from his home at least half of each year and often more than that. He traveled principally in the North, making speeches and intervi...

Booker Washington at home, with his wife and children, his garden, his chickens, his pigs, his horses and cows, is far more interesting than Washington the orator, the writer, t...