Booker t Washington was a big believer that education would be the source of social mobility and a means to acquire power in American society. He believed that if a large amount of the black population could become educated (and keep in mind a majority of the black population was illiterate at the time) they would rise to power in society and become respected as equals in American society. This was in contrast to his contemporaries who believed that political demonstrations, protests and other ways of "fighting" for social and political power were more effective. Booker T Washington was also a career educator and founded the Tuskegee Institute which was one of the first historically black colleges, and is still educating students to this day.
West Virginia's leading industry, coal, underwent wrenching changes. In the early stages of the Depression, the industry suffered from a virtual collapse as mining companies failed and unemployment grew, leaving once busy coal camps idle and stranding thousands of miners and their families.
