The Place

Booker T. Washington

      In Booker T. Washington’s life he was born to a slave on April 5, 1856, Booker T. Washington. Early on Franklin County a child of a slave became a slave. Booker's mother, Jane, worked as a cook for Plantation, owner James Burroughs. His father was an white man, most likely from a nearby plantation. Booker and his mother lived in a one-room log Cabin with a, which also served as the plantation’s kitchen. At an early age, Booker went to work; he carried sacks of grain to the plantations Mill.   Booker's first sight of education was from the outside school house close to the plantation. Inside watching the children read and write wish he could do the same thing, but it is illegal to teach a slave to write or read.                                             After the Civil War, Booker and his mother moved to Malden, West Virginia, where she married Washington Ferguson. The family was very poor, and barely nine year old Booker went to work with his stepfather in the salt mines instead of going to school. Booker's mother noticed he had interest in learning and got him a book from where he learned the alphabet and how to read and wrote basic words. Because he was still working, he got up nearly every morning about 4 a.m. to practice and study, and then went to work.
      In 1866, Booker T. Washington got a job as a houseboy for Viola Ruffner, the wife of coal mine owner Lewis Ruffner. Mrs. Ruffner was known for being strict to her servants, especially boys. But she saw something special in Booker his, intelligence and integrity and soon notice is hard work .Over the two years he worked for her, she understood that he wanted an education and allowed him to go to school for an hour a day during the winter months. In 1872, Booker T. Washington left home and walked 500 miles to Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute in Virginia. Along the way he took odd jobs to support himself. He convinced administrators to let him attend the school and took...