Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on a small plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. After slavery was abolished, Washington studied at Hampton Institute in Virginia, working as a janitor to pay expenses. He graduated with honors and returned home to teach school from 1875 to 1877. In 1879 Washington returned to Hampton Institute to teach in a program for American Indians. In 1881 he was chosen to organize a school at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which Washington built into a major job-training school for African Americans. Washington lectured and wrote widely about the importance of education and economic progress for African Americans. He believed in industrial and agricultural training rather than liberal arts education for African Americans. Many other African American leaders, most notably W. E. B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells, opposed Washington’s views. Washington founded the National Negro Business League and served as its first president. He also wrote Up from Slavery, which was published in 1901.
