Booker T Washington
/ˌbʊkə tiː ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/
/ˌbʊkər tiː ˈwɑːʃɪŋtən/
- Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856-1915) a US teacher, born into a slave family in Virginia. In 1881 he started Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) for black students. He encouraged African Americans to achieve economic independence before fighting for equal rights, and for this he was sometimes criticized. The best known of his many books is Up from Slavery (1901), the story of his own life.