Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on 5 April 1856, in Hale’s Ford, Virginia; the date came to light only after his death. He worked his way through the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, and on the recommendation of its head, Samuel C. Armstrong, he was named in 1881 as the first leader of the new Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
His Atlanta Address of 1895 made him nationally prominent, and his autobiography, Up From Slavery (1901), became a major text. He died in Tuskegee, Alabama, on 14 November 1915.