Booker T. Washington - Washington, DC
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 38° 53.871 W 077° 02.012
18S E 323652 N 4307406
Civil Rights leader Booker T. Washington is honored with a bronze memorial medallion along the Extra Mile Points of Light Volunteer Pathway on 15th Street, NW in front of the Willard Hotel.
Waymark Code: WM19ZW2
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 05/22/2024
Views: 1
A bronze plaque honoring Booker T. Washington is embedded in the sidewalk along 15th Street, NW,. It is part of a series of memorials honoring American who have made the world a better place.
The bronze medallion contains an image of Booker T. Washington and is inscribed:
THE EXTRA MILE
Booker T.
Washington
1856 - 1915
AS AN INFLUENTIAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN, LIVING IN A TIME OF ESCALATING SEGREGATION, BOOKER T. WASHINGTON NEGOTIATED A COURSE BETWEEN ACCOMMODATION AND PROGRESS IN ADVOCATING GREATER CIVIL RIGHTS FOR BLACKS. HIS PHILOSOPHY OF “REQUEST” NOT “PROTEST” ALLOWED HIM TO GAIN THE RESPECT OF PRESIDENTS AND POLITICIANS, BUT SOMETIMES ALIENATED THOSE OF HIS OWN RACE. WASHINGTON BELIEVED EDUCATION WAS A CORNERSTONE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF BLACKS AND HIS EFFORTS TO RAISE MONEY FOR HIS BELOVED TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE HELPED SECURE ITS WELL-DESERVED REPUTATION AS A LEADING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS.
“My life work is the
promotion of education
of my race.”
Points of Light Volunteer Pathway
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Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in Virginia and freed by Union troops during the Civil War. He attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute and Wayland Seminary. In 1881, he became the first leader of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, a college for black students.
Washington believed that education of black people, instead of activism, was the key to ending segregation of the races in the South. Through his writings and speeches he became a prominent leader in the Civil Rights movement.