Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was an African American educator, orator, and author who became one of the most influential Black leaders in the United States after the Civil War. Born into slavery in Virginia, he pursued education and rose to national prominence through his advocacy of vocational training and economic self-reliance. In 1881 he founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, serving as its first principal and building it into a major center for Black education. Washington wrote widely, including his autobiography *Up from Slavery* (1901), and delivered the 1895 Atlanta Exposition Address.