death marked the beginning of the GreatMigration from the rural South to the urban North. He is known as one of thebest civil rights leaders for the African American people in the late 1800’s andearly 1900’s. Booker began his life as a slave for the Burroughs family. He was born inFranklin Co., Virginia around the year 1858 or 1859, he was not sure exactlywhen he was born because there was never any paper work kept on slaves. Hismother was a slave and his father was a white man that he never knew. After the emancipation Booker’s family decided to move to Malden, WestVirginia. The trip from Franklin county to Malden, West Virginia was the first hehad ever taken. The trip took Booker’s family many days because all of themhad to walk to whole way. They settled in a very small house with many otherblack and very poor white neighbors. His step-father soon found work for Bookerand his brother John. They worked in the salt furnaces and coal mines. Booker did not want to work he wanted to go to school to learn. A schoolteacher, Mr. William Davis, came into his community. Booker was eager toattend the school but his step-father was not able to spare me from work, socould not attend it when it was first opened. Booker would go to work during theday and be taught by a teacher at night. This seemed to be a problem becausethe teacher his mother hired didn’t know much more then he. After working in the coal mine for some time, his mother found a positionfor him as a house boy for the Ruffner Family. He went to live with Ruffner’s withmany fears and doubts. Mrs. Viola Ruffner had the reputation of being very strictand hard to please. While staying at the Ruffner household Booker learned theexact way to have things; clean, neat, and orderly. Mrs. Ruffner taught him for afew hours in the afternoon. She was his first real teacher that gave him a greatpart of his education. After being at the Ruff...
