Labels:text | man | clothing | human face | person OCR: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Washington, Booker T Booker T. Washington At the turn of the century Booker T. Washington was the leading spokesman for the black population of the U.S. A passionate believer in the importance of self-help, he founded the influential Tuskegee Institute for the education of black students, yet publicly opposed any political agitation for civil rights. Working as a janitor to pay his way, he studied, and later taught, at the Hampton Institute, Virginia. He moved to Alabama to become principal of a school in Tuskegee that was housed in a shack owned by the local church. Within seven years he had transformed the school into the Tuskegee Institute, with more than 400 black students. Washington placed great emphasis on advancement through vocational training, good manners, and Booker T. Washington, religion. His views were broadcast in a series U.S. educator and black activist, of speeches and lectures, which gathered the 1856-1915 support of many whites in the U.S. However, his philosophy eventually alienated the more militant black activists, who believed that racial equality could never be achieved by such moderate means. CHRONOLOGY
