A boys' life of Booker T. Washington

by Walter Clinton Jackson

What a wonderful journey it had been! And now at its end, as the big buildings of the school came into view, he had a thrill that more than repaid him for all the hardships of his trip. He was supremely happy, for he had reached the end of his rainbow and had found his great treasure.

CHAPTER IV
SCHOOL DAYS AT HAMPTON

At the close of the Civil War one of the most important needs of the country was to provide some kind of education for the negroes. They had never had any schools. If they were to become good citizens, they must have the proper training. A great many good men in the North and in the South recognized this fact, and set to work to establish schools. Among these men was General Samuel C. Armstrong. The General’s parents had been missionaries to Hawaii. He had been educated in the United States, had entered the army as soon as the war began, and had made such a brilliant record as a soldier that, when the war was over, he had risen to the rank of general.

He had seen a great deal of the negro as a soldier during the war. He knew about the conditions in the South, and he felt that the greatest service he could render would be to give his life to the cause of education. He went to work at once, and, through the aid of a number of Southern men, he established a school for negro boys and girls at Hampton, Virginia, and called it Hampton Institute.

His main purpose was to give negro boys and girls an opportunity to learn some useful trade. He believed that people must first learn to make a good living before they could make much progress in any other direction. He wanted the negroes to have good food and good clothes and good homes. He wanted them to be able to earn these things. Likewise, he wanted them to be good farmers, good carpenters, good brick masons, good mechanics, and good workmen in all kinds of trades. He wanted these trades taught in the schools. Then, as the race progressed, he wished to have the higher branches of study given, such as Latin, mathematics, and literature.

Cabinetmaking at Tuskegee

Booker T. Washington as a Hampton Graduate (1875)

Thus was begun one of the greatest schools in America. Every negro boy knows about Hampton. Thousands of the best negroes in the country were trained there. General Armstrong was president of the school and did a wonderful work. He seemed to inspire every student who entered to become a good and useful citizen. Too much cannot be said in praise of him and the great school he founded.