Booker T. Washington, educator, reformer and the most influential black leader of his time (1856-1915) , he was born into slavery, yet put himself through school and became a teacher after the Civil War when he started to preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity and accommodation. He urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity, he believed that with this the black population would eventually lead to equal political and civil rights,in order words he believed in blacks having economic independence because from his own opinion, that would solve all problems. Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama (now known as Tuskegee University)
