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Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington

Growing up, I learned about the big names in American history—the presidents, the generals, the inventors. But the more I dive into our past, the more I focus on the people who pushed forward through impossible circumstances. One of them is Booker T. Washington. Born into slavery, he taught himself to read against every barrier designed to keep him down. He eventually made his way to Hampton Institute, even working as a janitor just to afford his education. His success didn’t stop with himself—he went on to lead the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, a school built around teaching real skills and the importance of hard work. Washington believed that by becoming skilled and economically independent, Black Americans could gain respect in a country that refused to give it freely. In 1901, he even became the first Black leader to dine at the White House—an historic moment, even if equality was still far away.

Lincolns Assassination

Abrham Lincoln

Reconstruction after the Civil War should have been a turning point. Abraham Lincoln pushed for the 14th and 15th Amendments, giving citizenship and voting rights to formerly enslaved people. But after Lincoln was assassinated—by John Wilkes Booth—Andrew Johnson took over, and things changed. Johnson turned land back to white owners, leaving newly freed people with nowhere to go. Sharecropping became a new form of slavery, trapping families in endless debt while working someone else’s land. By 1870, only around 30,000 Black Americans owned land in the South—out of 4 million who had just gained freedom. And anyone who dared challenge the system risked being murdered.

Jim Crow Era

Still, during Reconstruction (1865–1877), Black Americans voted for the first time in U.S. history, and even held office. It was a glimpse of what could have been—maybe what would have been if Lincoln had lived.

Jim Crow Laws

But as Jim Crow laws spread across the South, segregation crushed those early gains. By 1900, 90% of Black Americans still lived in the South under these oppressive rules. Eventually, people decided they had to leave. Between 1916 and 1917, the Great Migration began—millions moving north and west searching for dignity, jobs, and a future.

This history shows the strength of those who kept pushing forward. They didn’t just survive—they laid the foundation for the rights we continue to fight for today.

AI Disclosure: I put all my notes into Claude and then had it write me a blog post. I then edited it, added images, subheadings and captions.