Booker T Washington is one of the most controversial individuals of color and black history This is due to his beliefs that if blacks wanted to be accepted in society they needed to go to school and work to earn their rights In this report I'll discuss Washington's childhood how he came to the belief and how he contributed to the Civil Rights Movement Booker Taliaferro Washington was born a slave in April of 1856 He was born in Virginia to a slave mother and white father who he would never know Booker and his family live in a room cabin on the Burroughs family property As a young slave he did chores on the farm as many slave children did in those times In 1865 the slaves on the burroughs farm learned that they were free Booker later said The Emancipation Proclamation made us men instead of property Months later Booker and his family moved with his stepfather in West Virginia They still lived poorly and Booker and his brother worked in a salt mine along with their stepfather Booker wanted to learn to read and write after seeing a young black man who came into town to read the newspaper every day
