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Booker's Contribution To Society Essay

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“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.” – Booker T. Washington. Booker was unconventional as a child, but later contributed greatly to society. Booker’s contributions impacted not only society, but his own unconventionality.
Booker was born in 1856 on a large Virginia plantation and died in 1915 of heart congestion at the age of 59. At nine, he received his first book from his mother. Even though she had not one penny in her pocket, booker’s hope for education moved her to get it for him. Also at nine when the civil war had finally ended, he and his stepfather moved them to Malden to work in the mines. At sixteen, after saving up money working with his stepfather, he moved to Hampton to go to school in 1872. He spent three years in school and graduated in 1875 and moved to Tuskegee to teach. Booker had one brother, John and sister Amanda in which his mother Jane and …show more content…
As a child in that time of slavery, he also outlived the civil war, at nine years old it was over and his family was freed. Most families did not know they were free until after the war was officially over. After he and his family were freed, he and his stepfather went to work so he never really felt free. Also as a child he didn’t go to school till he was sixteen, for our youth today that is very unconventional.
As a leader and educator Booker challenged segregation greatly. He wanted for his own as he wanted for himself. Booker T. Washington was a great influence on the African Americans of his time and greatly impacted them. Most of the people he taught or spoke too often looked up to him or admired him. Booker loved education, he thought it was a very important part of life and believed that all people should have the right of knowing how to read and write. So in that belief he became one of the proud founders of the Tuskegee

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