Why did Booker T Washington start the school?

Answer 1

Born April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia, Booker Taliaferro was the son of an unknown White man and Jane, an enslaved cook of James Burroughs, a small planter.

Jane named her son Booker Taliaferro but later dropped the second name. Booker gave himself the surname "Washington" when he first enrolled in school. Sometime after Booker's birth, his mother was married to Washington Ferguson, a slave. A daughter, Amanda, was born to this marriage. James, Booker's younger half-brother, was adopted. Booker's elder brother, John, was also the son of a White man.

Booker spent his first nine years as a slave on the Burroughs farm. In 1865, his mother took her children to Malden, West Virginia, to join her husband, who had gone there earlier and found work in the salt mines. At age nine, Booker was put to work packing salt. Between the ages of ten and twelve, he worked in a coal mine. He attended school while continuing to work in the mines. In 1871, he went to work as a houseboy for the wife of Gen. Lewis Ruffner, owner of the mines.

Answer 2

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery and given few if any opportunities to be educated. Once the slaves were emancipated, he was able to study, and he became convinced that only through education could black people (then called "Negroes") advance. Even though the slaves were now free, attitudes had not yet changed: he lived in an era when opportunities for blacks were limited, few universities would admit black students, and white society had many prejudiced beliefs about what black people were capable of achieving.

So, Washington decided to create a vocational school for black students, one that would provide them a good education, and train them for the occupations where they could get hired, and where they could make a living. This turned out to be controversial-- some black leaders believed Washington was accepting white society's prejudices, rather than challenging them. These leaders thought he should stand up for, and demand, full equality of opportunity. But Washington believed white society was not yet ready to open all doors to black people, and rather than making demands, he believed that a gradual and non-confrontational approach made the most sense. That is why he felt his vocational school would be a good place to start.