Booker T. Washington

It’s easier to get freed from slavery than to free your mind from slavery. Just look at the 23 kajillion times the Israelite former slaves complained about being freed from slavery and wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt.

When you see that, you realize how extraordinary was the life of Booker T. Washington. He was born in slavery, but his mind soared far away from his oppressed beginnings to the launching of the  black higher institution of learning Tuskegee Institute. He literally built it out of bricks of clay made by the first students.

Freed by the end of Civil War, Washington moved to West Virginia where he worked in salt furnaces and coal mines to cost his education. An indefatigable leader, he took the reins of the fledgling Tuskegee and drove it relentlessly into prominence. Thousands of blacks, who were refused admittance at “white” institutions, graduated from Tuskegee.

A dynamic orator, resourceful, a master deal-maker, Washington wheedled and cajoled finances and genius for his institution. The stand-out scientist George Washington Carver was persuaded to join Tuskegee and, when Thomas Edison would entice him away, to stay.

To overcome insurmountable odds, to triumph through wit, wisdom and work, to line up allies and disarm enemies all in the service of a greater cause, this is the remarkable legacy of the man who remains an inspiration for generations. To live only for self is such a waste when you could do so much good.

George Washington Carver

Liberated from slavery when he was only a tyke, George Washington Carver slept in a barn to get an education. He was denied entrance into several colleges because he was African American but eventually graduated in botany from Iowa State Agricultural College. He was the first black student and, because of his brilliance, first black faculty.

The national monument

But he transferred to the Tuskegee Institute, to help other struggling African Americans, where he stayed for 47 years, developing a strong agricultural department. Seeing the soil depletion of cotton, he urged farmers to rotate crops and developed hundreds of uses for the peanut, which up until then was employed only to fatten pigs. (Thanks to Carver, we have peanut butter!)

The stamp honoring him

A devout Christian, he preached Christ as mediator of racial harmony and social equality. He was inducted into the Royal Society of Arts in England, one of only a few Americans to be bestowed that honor. He was consulted by three presidents and car-maker Henry Ford. In Diamond, Missouri, stands a monument in his honor.

He is an inspiration not only to African Americans, but to anyone who must overcome immense opposition to do

Being in his laboratory, what he loved most

good and attain heights. By patient hard work, achieve your God-given destiny. Don´t  be dismayed by setbacks.