Booker Taliaferro Washington's Accomplishments

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator and one of the most influential African Americans during the late 1800s and early 1900s. He had widespread support among northern whites and many blacks, due to his accomplishments. Washington’s most well-known success was the Tuskegee Institute, which started as Normal School for Colored Teachers. Later, the school would change to provide education for all emancipated slaves to learn the knowledge of different trades. Washington was the first principal and remained there until he died. Making sure the school remained all black, Washington wanted to “develop Black leadership to the maximum extent”. While many believed that Washington was providing good deeds for the blacks and helping them

His next development was the National Negro Business League formed in the 1900s. He believed the main issue to racial discrimination was economic and that black entrepreneurship was the key. The purpose of the League was to upraise social equality and help build African American businesses. The members were made up of small business owners, craftsman, farmers, and doctors. This provided many opportunities for blacks to build a life for themselves. Between 1895-1915, Washington wrote fourteen books, newspapers, articles, and many speeches. Many of his books are focused on growing up in slavery, black’s rights, and education. His most read book is his autobiography titled Up From Slavery because it gives an insight of the journey from a slave to a well-known educator. In his novel, Washington inspires others to pursue their goals by stating, “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed” (Page

My mother and I jumped the fence in order to get the information and pictures I needed. I believe there might have been another way in because there were many people walking the trail. Since the place was shut down, I could not go inside the mini museum, but I got most of my information from the plaques along the trail and each building. On the land, they did have animals such as pigs, sheep, and a horse. All the animals were keep in a barn that looked like it could have been the original design. On the plantation the Burroughs house, slave cabin, smokehouse, and kitchen cabin were close together and the blacksmith shed, tobacco barn, and the barns were farther away from the other buildings. The Burroughs house and slave cabin buildings, were no longer there, but I could see where Washington lived with his family in the kitchen cabin. I could also go into the tobacco barn, which was just an open room with dirt floors and did not have a pleasant scent. From there we looked at the buildings and took picture, we also walked the trail through the woods, it was only about a mile and a half. Along the trail they had plaques telling us that this was the slaves “safe” place. There was a tiny stream running along the whole trail, the water was still covered with a little ice from the last snow. When we were done walking, we went to look at the animals, they had two giant pigs. The site