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Booker T. Washington was a highly recognized educator of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. He had a strong influence on southern race relations and was the dominant figure in black public affairs from 1895 until his death in 1915. Born a slave on a small farm in Virginia, he recalled his childhood in his autobiography, Up From Slavery. He went to school in Franklin County, not as a student, but to carry books for one of James Burrough’s daughters. After emancipation, he moved with his family to work in the salt furnaces and coal mines of West Virginia. He received a secondary education at Hampton Institute and took up the job as a teacher at an upgraded school. He briefly studied law and ministry, but a teaching position at Hampton decided his future career. Washington became the chief black exemplar and spokesman for industrial education. As one of the most influential black men of his time