Pivotal Chices In Booker T. Washington's Life

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Pivotal Chices in Booker T. Washington's Life

It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to start a school today. One can not imagine what starting a school was like for a white man, much less an African American in the 1800s. But, Booker T. Washington did start a school, and wrote about it in his autobiography, Up From Slavery. His novel tells about his life from where he started: in slavery. Washington went from an enslaved and scared boy, to an ambitious intelligent man. There were many factors that contributed to Washington's growing as a person. But, three pivotal decisions set the course of Booker T. Washington's life. In this essay, we will discuss the tree pivotal choices in Washington's life and how they affected him and the people …show more content…

Washington's life was his decision to accept help from others. This counts as a pivotal decision because when things started to get tough for Washington, he never declined someone's offer for help. He accepted all of the help gratefully and with many thanks. When Washington decided to travel to Hampton, a school about 500 miles away from his home, many people from his town contributed money to help him get there. His brother John helped as much as he could and "some of the older people gave [him] a nickel or a quarter", which was a lot for them (Washington 26). After Washington acquired an education, he decided to help others too. He opened his own school and it was so popular that he needed money to expand, since what they already owned was so small. Washington asked General Marshall, a man from Hampton, if he could borrow some money belonging to Hampton. General Marshal said he: "had no authority to lend me money belonging to Hampton, but he gladly would lend me $250 from his own funds", making Washington able to put a down payment on the house (Washington 66). Washington's acceptance of help throughout his life counts as a pivotal choice because when he has trouble acquiring the hints he needs, and people offer help, he does not let his pride get in the way. If he were to have declined the offers of help he received, then Tuskegee might not have ever been