The Story of My Life and Work

The Story of My Life and Work

Born in Virginia in 1856, Washington spent his early childhood as a slave on a plantation. Following the Emancipation Proclamation, his mother Jane took the young Booker to West Virginia, where Booker soon demonstrated a keen aptitude for learning and educating. In 1881, aged only twenty-five, Booker was appointed leader of the Tuskegee Institute - a school the first of its kind for black Americans.