In his autobiography, he emphasizes that the most important thing he learned there was not to despise manual labor. He was admitted to the school and given janitorial work, the wages from which he could use to pay his room and board.īooker excelled at the Hampton Institute becoming a noted public speaker. Booker went over that room with the broom again and again, cleaning it so thoroughly that the teacher was amazed. One of the teachers gave Booker an unusual admissions test, instructing him to sweep one of the classrooms. He did not have the money to pay either room and board or tuition at Hampton, but the school was used to finding sponsors to pay tuition for promising young people. With barely enough money for traveling expenses, he made his way to Hampton and asked to be admitted as a student. Even though he had few chances for education, Booker set his heart on learning to read, and once he had mastered reading, he determined that he must learn more.Īfter several years, Booker heard about a new school for blacks established in Virginia called the Hampton Institute. The newly freed slaves had to work hard to support themselves, and Booker (not even a teenager yet) did hard labor in the salt factories and coal mines to earn wages for the family.
After the war ended and the slaves were emancipated, young Booker moved to West Virginia with his mother, brother, and step-father. Washington was only a child when the American Civil War commenced.
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