DID YOU KNOW?
with Du Bois. The motive of the exhibition was to demonstrate the positive contributions of African Americans to US society. The same year, Washington also founded the National Negro Business League (NNBL). The organization actively worked towards promoting the interests of African American businesses.
In the period from 1900 to 1912, Washington published five books with the help of ghostwriters Timothy Fortune, Max Bennett Thrasher, and Robert E. Park. His second autobiography Up from Slavery went on to become a bestseller and it had a major effect on the African American community. Due to the success of the book, in October 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Washington to dine with him and his family at the White House. Washington was the first African American to be invited there by a president.
Death
Washington continued as the principal of Tuskegee until the end of his days. In 1915, his health deteriorated rapidly and he collapsed while in New York. Washington was ultimately diagnosed with Bright’s disease by two different
doctors, who told him that he had only a few days left. As he wanted to spend his dying days in Tuskegee, Washington traveled and arrived there on November 14, 1915. A few hours later, he passed away at the age of 59. His funeral on November 17, 1915 was held in the Tuskegee Institute Chapel and attended by around 8,000 people. Booker T. Washington was buried within the campus of Tuskegee University. The reason for the death of Washington is congestive heart failure that worsened due to overworking. I hope you enjoyed this amazing life story of this man.
Down below is a link to the Booker T. Washington FREE Museum, Visitor Center, Birthplace, and 1850s farm in Hardy, Virginia where he lived as a boy, and a video.