Booker T. Washington was a prominent African American educator, author, and political leader during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born into slavery in 1856 in Virginia and, after gaining his freedom, he pursued an education, eventually founding the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881. This institution became a model for vocational training for African Americans, emphasizing practical skills and self-reliance as vital components for improving their social and economic status....