ies at the dinner table. He yearned to want to be important just like them. To be able to discuss political and social events with people. He wanted an education. That time came in 1865 during the defeat of the South in the Civil War. A neighboring slave name Washington Furguson married Bookers mother Jane. He then traveled to Malden, West Virginia where he worked in the salt furnaces of Kanawha Salines. Jane and the rest of the family soon joined him that same year. Booker worked along side Ferguson in the salt factories, and later was forced to labor in the local coal mines. Coal mines wasn't what Booker had in mind. As he wrote in his autobiography, "From the time that I can remember having any thoughts about anything, I recall that I had an intense desire to learn to read." Booker got his first classroom education in Malden. He attended the local school for black children a few hours during the day or night while still working full time in the mines. When asked by his first teacher for his name, the ten- year-old replied, "Booker Washington," taking as his last name the first name of his stepfather. Booker, years later added the middle name Taliaferro.Getting the local school for black children wasn't enough for Mr. Washington. One day at the coal mines, Washington overheard discussion over a school for blacks called Hampton Institute. The youngest boy there explained that he was promptly determined to seek a formal education there. Washington's family was very poor though. Booker couldn't even quit the coal mine to go to a local school, let alone Hampton. He worked extra hard. He took a job as a houseboy for the owner of a local coal mine, Mr. Ruffner. Lots of people supported Booker. His employers wife, Mrs. Viola Ruffner always encouraged Booker to keep working and that soon he would reach Hampton. His local community also supported him with some financial aid. With all of this help Booker was able to enroll at Hampton Institu...
