Booker T Washington

Booker T. Washington


Booker T, Washington was born on April 5, 1856, as a slave at the 207-acre farm of James Burroughs and his wife Elizabeth Burroughs. He was released after the civil war and became the first principal of a new school called the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School and that school is still up and running today. Booker T. Washington’s mother was named Jane. Booker had three siblings named John, Amanda and James B who was adopted. After Booker T. Washington was a principal for the tuskegee school he became an advisor for president Roosevelt and also became an educator. Booker T. Washington’s real name was Booker Taliaferro Washington but people preferred to call him Booker T. Booker T. Washington was also an author of a book called “Up From Slavery”, which is an autobiography of his life in slavery and how it was like being released. The book states that “his mother was crying tears of joy when the small family was being released”. Booker T. Washington’s mother was the cook for the slave owners and the slaves so she could take care of young Booker because she was able to prepare food. Booker T. Washington has made the most motivational speech in america called the Atlanta Compromise speech which states the phrase “Cast Down Your Bucket, Where You Are” which means that you need to make do with what you have and make the best of it and everything will soon get better.

The Burrough family also had an involvement in the civil war taking place, such as the Burrough five sons fighting for what they thought was right in the civil war. One of the sons was injured severely while in battle. Another son Newt Burroughs was enlisted “August 1, 1862, Newt was wounded in the thigh at the Battle of St. Mary's Church (called Nance's Shop in the south) on June 24, 1864. The family recalled that Uncle Newt got shot in the rump, and he was teased a lot for it. People said he must have been running away and he said 'well, if you have bullets whizzing all around you, you'd run too." At the end of the war in 1865, Newt was living at his parent's home. By 1870, Newt was working as a farm laborer in Bedford County.”

Booker T. Washington was known as one of the most motivational man in that time, people are still touched by his life story from his book “Up From Slavery” the Atlanta Compromise speech still lives on as the greatest speech against slavery ever known, and now that slavery is now outlawed thanks to the thousands of lives lost and risked during that war people can now be free without fear of being sold or arrested as a slave. We should all be thankful for living in the United States because of our freedom, united we stand together as one nation-The greatest country in the world still today. That’s why they were fighting for freedom.