ner house for about four years Booker made thedecision to attend Hampton Institute, in Virginia. He had gotten this idea from aman he had heard talking about a school in Virginia. The man said that blackboys and girls were permitted to enter, and poor students were given anopportunity of working for their board, if they had not money to pay for it. Afterhearing this he was set on going there. Booker started his journey with almost nothing and did not know wherethe Hampton Institute was exactly. When he finally arrived he was dirty andhungry. He presented himself to a teacher to be admitted. She did not admithim but also did not refuse him. Booker asked to show her that he could cleanwell, like he had learned from Mrs. Ruffner, to be admitted. He cleaned therecitation room four times. The teacher admitted him as a janitor to earn hisboard. He went to class to learn during the day and at night he would clean thebuildings. In 1875, Booker successfully completed his studies at HamptonInstitute.He returned to West Virginia with alot of debt to repay The HamptonInstitute. Booker started teaching in Malden. There he prepared many studentsto study at the Hampton Institute including his own brother. In 1881 he was selected to head the Tuskegee Institute, a new school forblacks, by Rev. Dr. H. B. Frissel, the principal of Hampton. Washington had tostart building Tuskgee with no money, just donations from people who supportedhim. Booker would travel around the country to raise money to build the newschool. He would give speeches to mainly white audiences in different states inhope of raising money to build new buildings. Washington and his students builtthe school from the ground up. He successfully transformed Tuskegee into athriving institution. It taught students both academic and vocational training. Under Washington's direction, the students built their own buildings, producedtheir own food, and provided for most of t...
