Booker Washington's Unwavering Commitment to Black Americans' Socio-Economic Development in the United States

 Booker T. Washington, who had only received a primary education after being freed from slavery, was admitted to Hampton Institute on a probationary basis and demonstrated such excellence as a student, teacher, and speaker that the principal of Hampton Armstrong recommended him to Alabamans to lead them in establishing a school for African Americans in their state.

He was hired as the first principal of a new school in Alabama in 1881. The first time a black person was offered such a high position was under a charter from the legislature for teacher training. In Washington, they quickly found the energetic and visionary leader they were looking for. As a result, Washington became the first principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, which he developed from the ground up into the most reputable and stable higher education institution for African-Americans in the country.

Washington was invited to speak at the Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895, which was an unparalleled accolade for an African American at the time. His fundamental premise, that blacks could guarantee their constitutional rights via their own economic and moral growth rather than through legal and political changes, was outlined in his Atlanta Compromise address. The African American community as well as liberal whites in the North and South applauded Washington's speech. His views were well-liked by whites. As a result, he won over a varied group of southern whites, whose support for the initiatives he envisioned and implemented, particularly in the area of education, he easily enlisted.

At the time, he had the support of W.E.B. Du Dubois, but the two began to disagree after a few years. Some blacks, especially Du Bios, were enraged by Washington's conciliatory position, fearing that it would bolster opponents of equal rights. While Washington admired the "industrial" education geared toward actual jobs available to the majority of African Americans at the time, Marais advocated a "classical" liberal arts education for the "talented tenth."