The biography "Booker T. Washington" by Alan Schroeder, describes the life, trials, and tribulations that were encountered by Washington in his journey to becoming one of the most recognized black leaders that our nation has seen. Alan Schroeder is the award-winning author of several American Library Association picture books aside from Booker T. Washington. His works include such books as "Lily and the Wooden Bowl", "Carolina Shout" and "Monty." The first book that he wrote, Ragtime Tumpie" which describes the childhood of Josephine Baker, was chosen as an American Library Association, a booklist Children's Editor's Choice, and a Parents Choice award winner.
             Booker T. Washington was Born on April 5, 1856, near Hales' Ford, Virginia to a woman named Jane. The whereabouts and identity of his father are uncertain but it is likely that his father was a white man. Upon his birth, Booker was the legal property of James Burroughs. For 9 years Booker lived with his mother and siblings a brother and a sister in a small house on the Burroughs Plantation. When Booker was old enough he began to work feeding the hogs and taking water to the men in the fields. It was around this time that Booker came to realize that he had a desire to learn. On occasion, Booker was sent to walk the daughters of James Burroughs to the local schoolhouse, which heightened his desire to learn. In 1861 the civil war began which involved the issue of slavery. The north wanted to abolish it while the south wanted to pursue it.
             On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves living in the Confederate South were forever free. On April 9, 1865, Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee surrendered to the north, thus bringing an end to the civil war. Before the end of the war, however, Booker's stepfather, Washington Ferguson has escaped to Malden, West Virginia and by 1865 raised en...