Work, schooling, and teaching
Born enslaved in Virginia, Washington moved with his family to West Virginia after emancipation. He worked while seeking schooling and entered Hampton in 1872. Samuel Chapman Armstrong's combination of academic study, practical training, and character formation strongly influenced him.
After graduating in 1875, Washington taught in Malden and later returned to Hampton. These experiences connected his own education to the preparation of teachers who could serve other communities.
References: [1]
Building Tuskegee
Recommended to lead a new Alabama school in 1881, Washington initially lacked land and buildings. Tuskegee opened that July. He borrowed to purchase property and organized brickmaking, construction, and farming alongside classroom work.
The curriculum joined academic subjects, teacher preparation, and trades such as carpentry and printing. Students supplied some institutional needs through labour, while teachers, local supporters, and donors helped sustain the school. Olivia Davidson joined as a teacher and assistant principal in 1881; George Washington Carver later directed agricultural work. Institution-building involved these collaborators as well as Washington's fundraising.
References: [1]
The Atlanta address and its critics
His September 1895 Atlanta speech advocated economic cooperation while accepting social separation. Washington argued for practical opportunity and acknowledged legal rights, but discouraged agitation over social equality. His address asked white Southerners to support and employ Black workers rather than exclude them from regional development.
In 1903 Du Bois praised his institutional achievement while criticizing the deferral of political power, civil equality, and higher education. Their disagreement concerned whether economic progress could be secured without those rights. Washington's own account appears in his 1901 autobiography.