Booker T. Washington

Educator

Born a slave and deprived of any early education, Booker Taliaferro Washington nonetheless became America's foremost black educator of the early 20th century. He was the first teacher and principal of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, a school for African-Americans where he championed vocational training as a means for black self-reliance. A well-known orator, Washington also wrote a best-selling autobiography (Up From Slavery, 1901) and advised Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft on race relations. His rather flaccid nickname of "The Great Accommodator" provides a clue as to why he was later criticized by W. E. B. Du Bois and the N.A.A.C.P. Washington was principal of Tuskegee Institute from 1881 until his death in 1915; it was originally called the Normal School for Colored Teachers and is now known as Tuskegee University.

Extra credit: Washington's middle name was Taliaferro... According to the Tuskegee University website, Washington was married three times: to Fannie Smith from 1882 until her death in 1884; to Olivia Davis, from 1885 until her death in 1889; and Margaret Murray, from 1893 until his death in 1915... He was unrelated to President George Washington or botanist George Washington Carver... The Tuskegee Institute was the training ground for the Tuskegee Airmen, the famous all-black flying squadron of World War II.

Booker T. Washington appears with tennis star Althea Gibson in our loop on Black History.