School & Education, African American - Biography - General, Educators - Biography, African American Civil Rights Leaders - Biography

Booker T. Washington: Character Is Power

Name: Booker T. Washington: Character Is Power
Author: Anne E. Schraff
ISBN: 9780766025356

by Anne E. Schraff

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Synopsis

Booker T. Washington, born a slave in 1856 and freed after the Civil War, devoted his life to education, for himself and for others. Washington's Tuskegee Institute taught farming, carpentry, sewing, and other skills to African Americans. With these skills, he believed, blacks would gain acceptance in the white world. Washington became a leading educator of African Americans and a powerful national figure, but fame is never without controversy. The man applauded by white leaders was challenged by black leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois: Was Washington teaching African Americans to work with their hands and not with their minds? Readers will enjoy this engaging profile while learning about the challenges facing blacks after the Civil War and Booker T. Washington's place in history.