Imagine the amount of work you must put in to become an African-American Progressive Movement leader after being born into slavery. Well this is what Booker T. Washington made of his terrible situation. Today the progressive movement is mostly about dealing with discrimination, education, and poverty issues, these are fundamentally the same problems that Booker T. Washington devoted his whole life to try and fix. The Presidential Debates for the upcoming election will show how similar these issues have been throughout the history of the United States. Booker T. Washington lead a life of leadership and inspiration because of how he dealt with his early life strugglings, the they way he carried himself through his accomplishments, and the amount of contribution he made to the progressive movement and how it helped others. …show more content…
Booker T. Washington was born a slave on Apr 5, 1856 on a slave plantation in Franklin County, VA. He was born in a one room log cabin to his mother, Jane, who was the cook for the white family that owned them and his father was an unknow nearby plantation owner. One day while working for the family one of their daughters took him to their school. There he saw the children reading and wondered what they were doing. She told him about books, and that day Booker promised himself that he would one day learn how to read. When he was nine the civil war ended and he and his family moved to Malden, WV there he worked in nearby salt mines. In 1872 Booker walked 500 miles to Hampton Agricultural Institute. He convinced the Dean to let him attend the Institute and three years later he graduated with high marks and began to work as a teacher for young black men and women. These are the reasons how Booker T. Washington was able to make all his many