Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 15, 1915) was an African American educator and author. He was born into slavery at the community of Hale's Ford in Franklin County, Virginia. After he and his mother were freed, as a young man he made his way east from West Virginia (where she had obtained work) to obtain schooling at Hampton in eastern Virginia at a school established to train teachers.

Henry H. Rogers: friend and benefactor

Around 1894, Dr. Washington developed a friendship with millionaire industrialist and financier Henry Huttleston Rogers. The latter had attended one of his speeches in New York City, and had been surprised that no one had "passed the hat" afterwards. Rogers had risen from a working-class family in a small town to become a partner of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust. With additional interests in natural gas, copper, mining, and railroads, Rogers was one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Related Topics:
Millionaire - Industrialist - Financier - Henry Huttleston Rogers - New York City - John D. Rockefeller - Standard Oil

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Despite his great wealth, and widespread reputation for tough business dealings, Rogers was apparently both a modest and generous man. Dr. Washington became a frequent visitor to Rogers' office, to his family's 85-room mansion in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and was an honored guest aboard Rogers' yacht Kanawha. Their friendship extended over a period of 15 years, during which time Rogers quietly financially supported and encouraged Washington in his work.

Related Topics:
Fairhaven, Massachusetts - Kanawha

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Among many other enterprises, Rogers was the builder of the Virginian Railway, completed in 1909. Although Rogers had died suddenly a few weeks earlier, Dr. Washington went on a previously arranged speaking tour in June, 1909 along the route of the new railroad which was built to transport bituminous coal from the mountains of West Virginia to port at Sewell's Point on Hampton Roads.

Related Topics:
Rogers - Virginian Railway - June - 1909 - Bituminous coal - Sewell's Point - Hampton Roads

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Dr. Washington rode in Rogers' personal rail car, "Dixie", making speeches at many locations over a 7-day period. He told his audiences that his recently departed friend, Henry Rogers, who was held in their esteem for having financed the railroad from his personal fortune, had urged him to make the trip and see what could be done to improve relations between the races and economic conditions for African Americans along the route of the new railway, which touched many previously isolated communities in the southern portions of Virginia and West Virginia.

Related Topics:
African American - Virginia - West Virginia

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Some of the places where Dr. Washington spoke on the tour were (in order of the tour stops), Newport News, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lawrenceville, Kenbridge, Victoria, Charlotte Courthouse, Roanoke, Salem, and Christiansburg in Virginia, and Princeton, Mullens, Page and Deepwater in West Virginia. One of his trip companions reported that they had received a strong and favorable welcome from both white and African American citizens all along the tour route.

Related Topics:
Newport News - Norfolk - Suffolk - Lawrenceville - Kenbridge - Victoria - Charlotte Courthouse - Roanoke - Salem - Christiansburg - Virginia - Princeton - Mullens - Page - Deepwater - West Virginia

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It was only after the multi-millionaire's death that Dr. Washington said he felt compelled to reveal publicly some of the extent of Henry Rogers' contributions for his causes. The funds, he said, were at that very time, paying for the operation of at least 65 small country schools for the education and betterment of African Americans in Virginia and other portions of the South, all unknown to the recipients. Known only to a few trustees, Rogers had also generously provided support to institutions of higher education.

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Dr. Washington later wrote that Henry Rogers had encouraged projects with at least partial matching funds, as that way, two ends were accomplished:

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:1. The gifts would help fund even greater work.

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:2. Recipients would have a stake in knowing that they were helping themselves through their own hard work and sacrifice.

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