Talk:Booker T. Washington
Template:Maintained Welcome to the Talk page for the Wikipedia article on Booker T. Washington.
Some thoughts on additions after reading Up From Slavery
I just finished his fascinating autobiography, "Up From Slavery." There is much missing in the summary, but then, it is intended to be a summary. I recommend anyone who wants to know more about him read it. It is a rather quick and easy read, and besides, what better way to understand the man than to hear him tell his own story.
I would like to know how it was determined he was born April 5, 1856. The very first thing he writes in his book is, "I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time. As nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near a cross-roads post-office called Hale's Ford, and the year was 1858 or 1859. I do not know the month or the day."
I thought it would be important to note ALL his wives and children. His three wives were Fannie N. Smith, Olivia A. Davidson, and Margaret J. Murray. Fannie was from Malden, West Virginia, they married in the summer of 1882, they had Portia M., and Fannie passed away in May of 1884.
He married Olivia in 1885, they had Booker Taliaferro and Ernest Davidson, and she died in 1889. Olivia was born in Ohio, spent time teaching in Mississippi and Tennessee, and received her education at Hampton University and the Massachusetts State Normal School at Framingham. They met at Tuskegee when she came there to teach.
Margaret was from Mississippi, a graduate of Fisk University, and they married in 1893. Booker gives all three women enormous credit for their work at Tuskegee and is emphatic he would not have been successful without them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.82.187.119 (talk • contribs)
- I just added a new (and long-needed IMHO) section on Family, which incorporates much of the above. Mark in Historic Triangle of Virginia Vaoverland 10:00, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
- I also would like to know about the birth date. It seems to me that if Booker T. Washington didn't know his own birth date, nobody else could have either. Does anyone know the specific source for this exact birth date? I thought at first it was the date chosen to be his arbitrary birthdate, but the year is way off from what he states in Up From Slavery. - Ron (Minnesota, USA)
- According to some quick research, b. April 5, 1856 d. November 14, 1915. Vaoverland 00:32, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
Images
Someone posted a photo here (not me) of good old Booker T. but Wikipedia Administrator Zoe decided to delete it without reason., I have put a new one here. User:Black Widow
- Black Widow I still wonder how can you find so much "public domain" images.
- If there are so much PD image available this would really great for the enhancement of Wikipedia. Please explain what is your interpretation of public domain to see if some serious jurist would agree instead of accusing us to be a "mafia". Ericd 13:25 Apr 15, 2003 (UTC)
Henry H. Rogers
I have been researching and writing on Henry H. Rogers and have contributed related content to this article. I feel that the article lacks needed information about how Dr. Washington progressed from his education at Hampton University to become a famous person. I also ran across some information about BTW's involvement with Giles Jackson of Richmond, who was apparently of a similar mindset that he could accomplish more net gain for black people by maintaining an openly cordial relationship with whites while working behind the scenes to fight discrimination and related problems. I lack the information to do a good job on improving this section of the BTW WP article, and I hope someone else will do so. Vaoverland 01:31, Dec 28, 2004 (UTC)
Tuskegee section
Is it just me, or does it seem like this section talks little or none about his actual work at Tuskegee? Does anyone have any information about it, and could contribute some? This section has more to do with his private life than his work at Tuskegee.--ViolinGirl 13:57, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
- I agree,
- this article tells nothing of what he actually did. I am a student trying to do a report for school and found this website. But really, it shouldn't be on the list! It shows nothing about his work or what he taught. It tells nothing of the schools that he founded and the people he worked with. I don't need to know about his privite life or anything that the article actually tells you other than his birth and death. But i could find that anywhere! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.100.147.157 (talk • contribs)
- I must agree as well. B.T.W. remains an important role model for african american students interested in science and engineering. It deserves mention (and should deserve as much space as was devoted to his "politics"). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.159.240.221 (talk • contribs)
Merge
Someone created this article. It should be merged here, I'm not sure how much difference there is. Jdcooper 02:27, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
- That was a test article on my user page. It's been deleted. | QzDaddy 02:29, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
Schools
To stem a thousand school references, I've removed the following from the article:
- ...including the Dallas Independent School District's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and Booker T. Washington Magnet High School in Montgomery, Alabama as well as Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, FL, Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, TN, and Booker T. Washington High School for Egineering in Houston, TX.
jareha 05:20, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
coal miner?
I have removed a recent edit which stated that Booker worked as a coal miner in West Virginia when he was there from 1865-1872. This was a period before the coal mines became very active, and I can find no source to support this. Vaoverland 04:25, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
- It's true: "Young Booker was put to work packing salt from a nearby mine and later did even harder work in a coal mine."
from Citation: William F. Mugleston. "Washington, Booker T."; http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-00737.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Rjensen 06:07, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
- I have also researched and found a second source as well. He worked in a drift mine (into a hillside-type of coal seam). I will revise the article to reflect this. My apologies to the anonymous editor I reverted. Mark in Historic Triangle of Virginia Vaoverland 18:00, 13 February 2006 (UTC)