Booker T. Washington and guests, about 1906. Washington is front row, center, with the watch chain. Booker T. Washington is our first featured biography for Black History Month 2011.
It makes sense: he was a teacher. Booker T. Washington began running the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1881, and urged African-Americans to better themselves by getting an education and learning a trade.
This photo shows Booker T. Washington with a group of “distinguished guests” about 1906. It’s a distinguished group indeed: at far right is Charles Eliot, who was president of Harvard University for 50 years (1869-1909) and remains the school’s longest-lasting president. Washington himself remained head of the Tuskegee Institute until 1915.
See our full Booker T. Washington biography >>