Grand tours: Booker T Washington is tired, hungry, dirty - and the wrong colour

Booker T Washington was born a slave on a small farm in Virginia in 1856. Following emancipation, he moved with his family to work in the salt furnaces and coal mines of West Virginia. In 1872 he went to study at the Hampton Institute and in 1881 he founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Washington was renowned for his work around the education of black people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He had a major influence on southern race relations and was a dominant figure in black public affairs from 1895 until his death in 1915. He also worked as an adviser to President Theodore Roosevelt and was the first black person to dine at the White House with the President. This extract is taken from his autobiography 'Up From Slavery', which was published in 1901.

Booker T Washington was born a slave on a small farm in Virginia in 1856. Following emancipation, he moved with his family to work in the salt furnaces and coal mines of West Virginia. In 1872 he went to study at the Hampton Institute and in 1881 he founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Washington was renowned for his work around the education of black people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He had a major influence on southern race relations and was a dominant figure in black public affairs from 1895 until his death in 1915. He also worked as an adviser to President Theodore Roosevelt and was the first black person to dine at the White House with the President. This extract is taken from his autobiography 'Up From Slavery', which was published in 1901.

Finally the great day came, and I started for Hampton. I had only a small, cheap satchel that contained a few articles of clothing I could get. At that time there were no through trains connecting that part of West Virginia with eastern Virginia. Trains ran only a portion of the way, and the remainder of the distance was travelled by stage-coaches.

The distance from Malden to Hampton is about five hundred miles. I had not been away from home many hours before it began to grow painfully evident that I did not have enough money to pay my fair to Hampton. One experience I shall long remember. I had been travelling over the mountains most of the afternoon in an old-fashion stage-coach, when, late in the evening, the coach stopped for the night at a common, unpainted house called a hotel. All the other passengers except myself were whites. In my ignorance I supposed that the little hotel existed for the purpose of accommodating the passengers who travelled on the stage-coach. The difference that the colour of one's skin would make I had not thought anything about.

After all the other passengers had been shown rooms and were getting ready for supper, I shyly presented myself before the man at the desk. It is true I had practically no money in my pocket with which to pay for bed or food, but I had hoped in some way to beg my way into the good graces of the landlord, for at that season in the mountains of Virginia the weather was cold. Without asking as to whether I had any money, the man at the desk firmly refused to even consider the matter of providing me with food or lodging. This was my first experience in finding out what the colour of my skin meant. In some way I managed to keep warm by walking about, and so got through the night. My whole soul was so bent upon reaching Hampton that I did not have time to cherish any bitterness toward the hotel-keeper.

By walking, begging rides both in wagons and in the cars, in some way, after a number of days, I reached the city of Richmond, Virginia, about eighty-two miles from Hampton. When I reached there, tired, hungry, and dirty, it was late in the night. I had never been in a large city, and this rather added to my misery. I applied at several places for lodging, but they all wanted money, and that was what I did not have. Knowing nothing else better to do, I walked the streets. In doing this I passed by many a food-stand where fried chicken and half-moon apple pies were piled high and made to present a most tempting appearance. At that time it seemed to me that I would have promised all that I expected to possess in the future to have gotten hold of one of those chicken legs or one of those pies. But I could not get either of these, nor anything else to eat.

I must have walked the streets till after midnight. At last I became so exhausted that I could walk no longer. I was tired, I was hungry, I was everything but discouraged. Just about the time when I reached extreme physical exhaustion, I came upon a portion of a street where the board sidewalk was considerably elevated. I waited for a few minutes, till I was sure that no passers-by could see me, and then crept under the sidewalk and lay for the night upon the ground, with my satchel of clothing for a pillow. Nearly all night I could hear the tramp of feet over my head. The next morning I found myself somewhat refreshed, but I was extremely hungry, because it had been a long time since I had had sufficient food. As soon as it became light enough for me to see my surroundings I noticed that I was near a large ship, and that this ship seemed to be unloading a cargo of pig iron. I went at once to the vessel and asked the captain to permit me to help unload the vessel in order to get money for food. The captain, a white man, who seemed to be kind-hearted, consented. I worked long enough to earn money for my breakfast, and it seems to me, as I remember it now, to have been about the best breakfast that I have ever eaten.

Follow in the footsteps

Life on the plantation

You can visit the birthplace and early childhood home of Booker T Washington in Hardy, Virginia, at the Booker T Washington National Monument, 12130 Booker T Washington Highway (Hwy 121).

This reconstructed tobacco plantation of the 1800s has a visitors' centre with informative exhibits, films and shop. In the grounds there are hiking trails, a picnic area and a living-history farm.

Guided tours are held throughout the day. Open 9am-5pm, Mon-Sun. Admission free. There are no lodgings or camping facilities within the park, but a variety of hotels, motels and campsites can be found within a 30-mile radius (www.nps.gov/bowa).

A childhood home

A replica of the cabin where Booker T Washington lived when his family moved from Hardy has been built at Malden, West Virginia, only 200 metres from the original site. As well as the cabin, there is also a chicken house, a museum and a building that was used as both a church and school.

Tours of the site are available free. For reservations, call West Virginia State College (001 304 766 5701).

Pages from history

The Oaks, Washington's personal residence, was restored in 1980 by the National Park Service and has been furnished with original period pieces. Booker T Washington's own study still contains all of the original furnishings.

Hourly tours of the Oaks are provided by the National Park Rangers, which start at the George Washington Carver Museum (001 334 727 3200), Mon-Sun, 9am-4.30pm. Talks about the site's historical significance are held throughout the year. Tours are free.

The Tuskegee Institute, which was set up by Washington to educate black children, is now a National Historic Site. Details are also available through the museum.

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