Booker T. Washington
From Conservapedia
Booker Taliafero Washington (1856-1915) was a visionary, educator, and leader of the post-Civil War African-American community.
Born into slavery, Washington grew up without an education because it was illegal for slaves to learn how to read.[1] After the Civil War, he began to attend school, and worked as a janitor at the Hampton Institute in order to pay for his education. He later became an instructor at this school, and in 1891, founded the Tuskegee Institute for blacks.[2] In 1895, he gave the famous Atlanta Compromise speech in which he simultaneously exhorted African Americans to work and white employers to hire them.
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Washington to a formal dinner at the White House. Many Americans were shocked at this due to Washington's race, and Roosevelt was unable to invite him back for political reasons, although Washington remained as an advisor to Roosevelt. [3]
References
- ↑ http://www.ushistory.net/toc/washington.html
- ↑ http://www.nps.gov/archive/bowa/btwbio.html
- ↑ Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, "A Patriot's History of the United States" (Sentinel 2007)
