Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was born into slavery and freed after the Civil War in 1865. After completing his education and teaching at Hampton Institute, he headed the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Upon giving his famous Atlanta Compromise Speech, Washington became a national figure and received an honorary master's degree from Harvard University and an honorary doctorate from Dartmouth College. The publication of Up from Slavery garnered Washington an invitation from Pres. Theodore Roosevelt to visit the White House, the first given to an African American.
