te in the fall of 1872.Hampton was located on the famous peninsula between the York and James rivers. Centered in Academic Hall, it was an imposing three-story building completed only the one year before Mr. Washington arrived. To an untraveled and untutored boy like Booker, it was the most beautiful structure imaginable. After having an interview with the assistant principal Mary Mackie in which he was asked to sweep the room, he was enrolled. This was how he got the job as the schools janitor. Washington was paid $10.00 a month. Lots of times he had to wake up at 4:00 a.m. Or he had to clean classrooms late at night. Booker worked so hard that the principal and founder, General Samuel C. Armstrong, of Hampton became interested in him. General Armstrong was so impressed with Booker that he had S. Griffith, a friend of the school. pay Booker's tuition fee of seventy dollars. Despite this aid and the income from his janitorial duties, Booker still struggled constantly to make ends meet. But, he borrowed the books he needed instead of buying them. Teachers helped him out by getting him cloths from a local missionary store. General Armstrong was the most help to Washington though. Armstrong was like a role model to Washington. Booker felt as though Armstrong was one of the most intellectual, interesting, and beautiful people in this world. Booker felt that Armstrong had a great deal of belief in him.Washington graduated in 1875, realizing that his formal training despite it's value, could not match what General Armstrong had given him by precept and example. For three years after his graduation Washington did what Armstrong wanted every Hampton graduate ot do: he became a missionary to his people, returning to Malden to take over the school which had given his first formal education. Before he could do that though, he had to get some money together for his journey. He worked as a waiter in the summer of 1875 at the United States Ho...
