Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Booker T. Washington


As I get older, I'm gaining a greater appreciation for and interest in history, particularly that bit that took place during the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. Some of the appreciation centers around three legendary figures--Eric Liddell, about whom the movie Chariots of Fire is largely centered, Teddy Roosevelt, the president, scholar and adventurer, and Booker T. Washington, who founded Tuskegee Institute and was a great civil rights leader for all Americans.

Bookert T. Washington was born on this day in 1856 and died in 1915. So far, I've read three biographical-related books about him and recommend all of them highly: Up from Slavery, his autobiography, Booker T. Washington and the Adult Education Movement by Virginia Lantz Denton, and Then Darkness Fled: The Liberating Wisdom of Booker T. Washington by Stephen Mansfield.

Recently, I discovered two interesting but different websites that include his namesake: Booker T. Washington Society and Booker T. Washington Inspirational Network. I also keep a link to both of these under the "News, Interests, & More" section of this blog site.

Our education systems could learn a lot from his whole-person (head, hands and heart) approach to learning.