Kindle
$6.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Library Binding
from $25.02
Paperback
$4.99
$4.99 with 17 percent savings
List Price: $5.99

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 8 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Tuesday, May 7. Order within 13 hrs 50 mins
In Stock
$$4.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$4.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Jim Buckley
Follow
James Buckley
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Who Was Booker T. Washington? Paperback – Illustrated, February 6, 2018

by James Buckley Jr. (Author), Who HQ (Author), Jake Murray (Illustrator)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 1,197 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$4.99","priceAmount":4.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"4","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"%2B1mmDrQJVWSZdIpY7ly9KKxNSMly8QyTnJRke%2BtPqTAaF%2BAwK2Xdv3wUEzn7dx5VYEuYlvcrWIu2%2FgDMgXchAS6PX1jIlbt4luLB1uQGf7AM0sN6uLPYSpdqDRx%2BSy5YxWydlVm2T9KRdiZDd6Ltrg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Learn how a slave became one of the leading influential African American intellectuals of the late 19th century.

African American educator, author, speaker, and advisor to presidents of the United States, Booker Taliaferro Washington was the leading voice of former slaves and their descendants during the late 1800s. As part of the last generation of leaders born into slavery, Booker believed that blacks could better progress in society through education and entrepreneurship, rather than trying to directly challenge the Jim Crow segregation. After hearing the Emancipation Proclamation and realizing he was free, young Booker decided to make learning his life. He taught himself to read and write, pursued a formal education, and went on to found the Tuskegee Institute--a black school in Alabama--with the goal of building the community's economic strength and pride. The institute still exists and is home to famous alumnae like scientist George Washington Carver.
Previous page
  1. Reading age
    8 - 12 years
  2. Part of series
    Who Was?
  3. Print length
    112 pages
  4. Language
    English
  5. Grade level
    3 - 7
  6. Lexile measure
    930L
  7. Dimensions
    5.38 x 0.24 x 7.69 inches
  8. Publisher
    Penguin Workshop
  9. Publication date
    February 6, 2018
  10. ISBN-10
    0448488515
  11. ISBN-13
    978-0448488516
  12. See all details
Next page
Teachers' picks | Explore children's books by grade

Frequently bought together

Who Was Booker T. Washington?
$4.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 8
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Who Is Cristiano Ronaldo? (Who HQ Now)
$5.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 8
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
What Is the World Cup? (What Was?)
$4.19
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 8
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

From the Publisher

WHO

Ha

Hb

Hc

Hd

Varied Themes & Affinity Categories

Readers come in all kinds, so why shouldn't their history books? Who HQ books focus on critical themes explored in history, with titles highlighting important scientists, artists, writers, athletes, changemakers, and musicians. There's truly a book for every kind of interest.

Book Report-Friendly

Who HQ titles are incredibly accessible and are perfect for engaging reluctant readers inside and outside the classroom. Whether being read for leisure or critically explored in the classroom, the Who HQ series provides a myriad of formats and uses.

Connect With Family Over History

While books are written for middle-grade readers, their inviting and digestible package serves as the perfect go-to resource across the entire family. Learn facts you never knew and extend learning into your family from outside the classroom.

A New York Times Bestselling Series Trusted by Educators

Educators from across the country use Who HQ titles in their classrooms and libraries. Featured on reading lists during the school year and the summer season, teachers look to this series to support and engage students alongside their lesson plans and extended learning programs.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Buckley Jr. has written more than 50 books for kids, including Who Was Ernest Shackleton? and Who Was Roberto Clemente?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Who Was Booker T. Washington?

 
Booker T. Washington was born a slave in the Southern state of Virginia in 1856. He was one of millions of people of African descent forced to work in the fields of large farms, called plantations, without pay. They were considered property by white people who called themselves masters.
 
White children lived in and near the plantation, too. They were the sons and daughters of the masters and paid white workers. They studied together in a schoolhouse. As a young boy, Booker walked by the school building many times. He knew something amazing was happening inside, and he wanted very badly to be a part of it.
 
Sometimes, he would be told to carry the books of one of the plantation master’s daughters. He would walk her to the door of the schoolhouse, but no farther. He peered inside before the door closed in his face. He later wrote that “the picture of several dozen boys and girls engaged in study made a deep impression upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.”
 
Booker dreamed about the world of books, reading, and education. But it was a risky dream.
 
Enslaved children were not allowed to go to school. It was even illegal for a slave to learn to read! One of the main reasons white owners didn’t want slaves to be educated was so that they would not find out about the world outside their plantation.
 
“From the moment that [I was told] that it was dangerous for me to learn to read . . . I resolved that I should never be satisfied until I learned what this dangerous practice was like.” Booker knew that if he was caught with a book, he might be whipped as punishment.
 
But still he dreamed. And Booker made learning his life. He studied hard and eventually became a teacher. He helped thousands of African Americans and former slaves get an education. He also inspired the creation of dozens of schools and universities for black people.
 
Booker worked his whole life to give others the chance at learning that he had struggled to get. His devotion to education for African Americans made him famous around the world. He showed that with focus and determination, a person could come “up from slavery” to a better life.
 

Chapter 1: A Difficult Beginning
 
 
When Booker T. Washington was born on a farm in Virginia on April 5, 1856, he did not have a last name. He was just called Booker. He was born a slave. Booker’s mother, Jane, was also a slave. She cooked for everyone on the farm. Booker’s older brother, John, was a slave, too. “Who my father was, I have never been able to learn with any degree of certainty,” Booker wrote.
 
Dozens of other slaves lived and worked on the farm. They were forced to do whatever work their masters—the bosses on the farm—told them to do. They weren’t paid for their labor. All the slaves were owned by Mr. Burroughs. They had no rights of their own.
 
The slaves on the Burroughs farm were not alone. Throughout the Southern United States, millions of black people were enslaved. For more than one hundred years, they had been kidnapped and taken from Africa to the United States and islands throughout the Caribbean. Slaves were considered property, the same as a horse for riding or a plow to use in the fields.
 
Families were broken up and sold to other plantations. Children could be taken from their mothers and sold, too. If a slave ever dared to disobey his master, he could be punished by whipping or worse.
 
About his early life as a slave, Booker later wrote that it “had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surrounding.”
 
Booker’s home was a small shack. The floor was dirt and there were no windows—just the openings where windows should have been. The door was a thin plank of wood that did not shut completely. Cold wind blew in during the winter, and dust blew through in the summer. The children in Booker’s family slept on a pile of rags on the floor.
 
The first pair of shoes Booker wore had soles made of wood and were very uncomfortable. His clothes were made from a rough and scratchy fabric called flax. Booker said that putting on his new flax shirt was “torture.”
 
Jane was very busy cooking all day long and could not spend much time with her sons. Booker later wrote that his family never sat down to a meal together. He said that the children got their meals “much as the dumb animals [got] theirs.”
 
Most of the family’s shack was taken up with the cooking fire and pots and pans, leaving only a tiny space for Jane and her children. The center of the floor was dug into a pit where potatoes were stored.
 
Booker worked in the fields and around his home, helping Jane. He had no winter clothes. When he was sick, his mother took care of him. There were no doctors for slaves. In 1861, when Booker was about five, he was included on a list that showed the value of the Burroughs slaves as property. It read: “1 Negro Boy (Booker)—$400.” 
 
The life of a slave was one of constant work. The white people who owned slaves did not let their “property” learn to read or go to school, or even hope for a better future. The plantation masters saw no value in educating slaves. But not everyone in America believed that owning slaves was right.
 
The Civil War, which began in 1861, was fought for several reasons, but the biggest was slavery. Most Northern states were against slavery. Most Southern states were for it. The Southern plantations relied on slaves to do the difficult field work for free. That meant more profit for the landowners. Many Southerners believed that black people were simply not human. The Southern states did not want to be told what to do by Northern states that did not rely on farming as much.
 
As Civil War battles raged throughout the South and even into some Northern states, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
 
For two years after President Lincoln’s proclamation, the war continued. Booker, along with nearly four million other people, remained enslaved. The Civil War became the deadliest in the nation’s history. More than 620,000 American soldiers were killed. In April 1865, the Union Army of the North won the Civil War. Lincoln’s proclamation could now be enforced in the South.
 
Booker remembered the day a Union Army officer visited the Burroughs farm. The officer gathered the slaves together and read the Proclamation. Jane, Booker, and their family realized with amazement that they were no longer slaves.
 
“There was great rejoicing, and thanksgiving,” Booker later wrote. At the time, he was nine years old. And he was free.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Workshop; Illustrated edition (February 6, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 112 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0448488515
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0448488516
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 12 years
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 930L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.99 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.38 x 0.24 x 7.69 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 1,197 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Jim Buckley

    Jim Buckley

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
  2. James Buckley

    James Buckley

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
1,197 global ratings
Wrong book on so many levels....
1 Star
Wrong book on so many levels....
I am a teacher and I ordered this book for a project my students are doing. I am so frustrated! This isn't the correct book! The pages are bigger than the cover, the cover is (obviously) misplaced and the inside contains the WRONG book AND it is printed upside-down! I have a student waiting to use it and now I have to send this back AND (waste time in order to) reorder it!
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Jerry Ayers
5.0 out of 5 stars Learned so much about Pele
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024
Verified Purchase
The worlds greatest Soccer player
Helpful
 Report
janis loves trees
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun book
Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2024
Verified Purchase
My child loved it
Helpful
 Report
Sue Martinez
5.0 out of 5 stars Who was books
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
My grandchildren love these books and there’s a wide variety to pick from also not expensive
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Philip D. McGaughey
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for kids!
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2023
Verified Purchase
Great book for kids! I got these for my local children's library from their wish list. The kids are excited about reading them.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Judy Wesslen
5.0 out of 5 stars Granddaughter LOVES these books! She is in 2nd grade, but is an advanced reader.
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2023
Verified Purchase
Granddaughter LOVES these books! She is in 2nd grade, but is an advanced reader.
Helpful
 Report
barbie01
4.0 out of 5 stars Grandson gift
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2019
Verified Purchase
I am not a huge video fan but my grandson seemed to enjoy the game.
Helpful
 Report
OG JT
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reading for a few Bucks
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2022
Verified Purchase
Good reading and nice graphics
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Souza
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2021
Verified Purchase
Great book for kids that loves soccer and want to know about soccer legends . My son enjoy reading this book. He was 6 when he read it. The book is easy to read.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
RH Fulford
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for young football lovers
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2023
Verified Purchase
Fast delivery. Excellent book for young independent readers.
Report
Joani Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars SO GOOD!!
Reviewed in Canada on September 4, 2020
Verified Purchase
I bought this as one of the gifts to give to an 8 month old because his Father loves Soccer. Mom and Dad really loved receiving the book and the Dad said he wants the whole collection of these.
Report
Cliente de Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Who is
Reviewed in Mexico on January 26, 2019
Verified Purchase
Excelente libros mi hijo los ama
Report
Ngachung
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice and interesting story
Reviewed in India on February 20, 2020
Verified Purchase
my kids watched its story movie and than read the story. they are really enjoy this book.
Report
Presentelaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational!
Reviewed in Australia on November 6, 2023
Verified Purchase
Pele is so inspirational! It even tells you where he got the nickname from. Solid book.
Report