Dunn’s Civics > Black History > Resisting the Badges of Slavery

Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington 1856 – 1915 was a Black American educator, author, orator, political leader and strategist, and the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. 

Representative of the last generation of black American leaders born in slavery, he spoke and built institutions on behalf of the large majority of blacks who lived in the South, but had lost their ability to vote through disfranchisement by southern legislatures.

The Booker T. Washington Monument at Tuskegee University: "He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry."

Is this true?

On April 7, 1940, Washington became the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

Why?

For Washington’s relevance for the 21st Century, see: Read More >>