author
Booker T. Washington
1856–1915
Born into slavery and rising to become one of the most influential Black leaders of his era, he built education into a practical path toward opportunity. Best known for founding Tuskegee Institute, he also became a widely read author and powerful public speaker.
11 Audiobooks
Up from Slavery: An Autobiography
by Booker T. Washington
The Future of the American Negro
by Booker T. Washington
Frederick Douglass
by Booker T. Washington
The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe
by Booker T. Washington, Robert Ezra Park
The Story of Slavery
by Booker T. Washington
Character Building Being Addresses Delivered on Sunday Evenings to the Students of Tuskegee Institute
by Booker T. Washington
The Story of My Life and Work
by Booker T. Washington
The Negro in the South His Economic Progress in Relation to his Moral and Religious Development
by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois, Booker T. Washington
Working With the Hands Being a Sequel to "Up from Slavery," Covering the Author's Experiences in Industrial Training at Tuskegee
by Booker T. Washington
Putting the Most Into Life
by Booker T. Washington
My larger education : Being chapters from my experience
by Booker T. Washington
About the author
Born on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia, Booker T. Washington spent his earliest years in slavery. After emancipation, he worked while pursuing an education, a struggle that shaped his lifelong belief in discipline, self-help, and schooling as tools for advancement.
Washington became the founding leader of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama in 1881, helping grow it from a small new school into a major institution. He became one of the best-known African American educators and public figures in the United States, arguing that education, economic progress, and vocational training could open doors that had long been closed.
He was also a prolific writer and speaker, and his autobiography Up from Slavery remains his best-known book. Though his ideas were debated in his own time and have continued to be discussed since, his influence on American education and Black history is unmistakable. He died on November 14, 1915.