Nine-year-old Booker works with his father and brother at the saltworks but dreams of the day when he'll be able to read.

Learn how a slave became one of the leading influential African American intellectuals of the late 19th century.
African American educator, author, speaker, and advisor to presidents of the United States, Booker Taliaferro Washington was the leading voice of former slaves and their descendants during the late 1800s. As part of the last generation of leaders born into slavery, Booker believed that blacks could better progress in society through...

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. In the summer of 1899, Booker T. Washington visited Europe to rest from his demanding schedule. Yet everywhere he turned, he encountered French and American scholars, politicians, businessmen, abolitionists, and average citizens eager to hear him tell the story of his life. The former slave had earned a college degree, taught at the black freedman college Hampton...

At a time when Booker T. Washington is being rediscovered by African Americans today, the author offers a compelling look at the man and the qualities of leadership he embodied in his life and work. The result is a timeless message of hope, empowerment, and responsibility, which Washington himself characterized as the training of head, heart, and hand.

Examines the life of the African-American educator who rose from slavery to found Tuskegee Institute.

Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915) was born into slavery in Virginia. After emancipation he worked his way through college, attending the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (today, Hampton University) and Wayland Seminary, became a teacher; then was chosen to be the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, a position he held the rest of his life. As educator, orator and author, he was a dominant leader of the African American community...

When nine-year-old Booker T. Washington was finally freed from slavery, he soon discovered that freedom had a price, and that he had to work, and work hard, to make his way in the world. After years of study and struggle, Washington became a teacher at what would become the famed Tuskegee Institute. Built from the ground up by Washington, his students, and his staff, Tuskegee became one of the finest schools for black students in the nation. More...

"Booker T. Washington had an incredible passion for learning. Born a slave, he taught himself to read. When the Civil War ended, Booker finally fulfilled his dream of attending school. After graduation, he was invited to teach in Tuskegee, Alabama. Finding many eager students, but no school, Booker set out to build his own school--brick by brick"--

"Booker T. Washington was an educated black man who was very influential in the transition in the United States from the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery to the election of President Barack Obama. He believed education was key in helping lift African Americans out of poverty and built the Tuskegee Institute to provide that education"--