This Day in History: 1856-04-05

African American leader, orator and educator, Booker T. Washington is born into slavery in Hale’s Ford, Virginia. Washington would become one of  America’s most recognized African American leaders by the beginning of the twentieth century. Washington worked his way through Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute in Virginia (now Hampton University).  He also studied at Wayland Seminary (now Virginia Union University).  On July 4, 1881 Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) located in Tuskegee, Alabama. Learn more.