Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Today in Black History


November 14
Booker T. Washington died, 1856 - 1915
Background
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American political leader, educator and author. He was one of the dominant figures in African American history in the United States from 1890 to 1915.
Washington was born into slavery to a white, slave owner father and a black, slave mother in Franklin County, Virginia. He learned to read and write while working at manual labor jobs. At the age of sixteen, he went to Hampton, Virginia to Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, now Hampton University, to train as a teacher. In 1881, he was named as the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He was granted an honorary Masters of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1896 and an honorary Doctorate degree from Dartmouth College in 1901. Washington played a very prominent role in black politics.

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