Orem Library

A Negro Explorer at the North Pole (1912) is a memoir by Matthew Henson. Published a few years following an expedition to the planet's northernmost point-which he claims to have reached first-A Negro Explorer at the North Pole reflects on Henson's outsized role in ensuring the success of their mission. Although he was frequently overshadowed by Commander Robert Peary, Henson continues to be recognized as a pioneering African American who rose from...

A biography of the former slave and inspiring educator describes the hardships he overcame in youth, the circumstances that challenged his efforts to learn how to read, and his triumphant pursuit of a college education.

Traces the life and achievements of the former slave who became the leading African-American educator of his time and the founder of Tuskegee University.

Booker T. Washington helped shape the education system for African Americans in the aftermath of slavery. He was an influential black educator and leader. Booker T. Washington: Leader and Educator explores his life and legacy.

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.

Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915) was born into slavery in Virginia. After emancipation he worked his way through college, attending the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (today, Hampton University) and Wayland Seminary, became a teacher; then was chosen to be the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, a position he held the rest of his life. As educator, orator and author, he was a dominant leader of the African American community...