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Booker T. Washington - Slave to School Teacher - Part 1 - Farm and Garden Chores

© Georgene A. Bramlage

The early years of my life, which were spent in the little cabin, wrote Booker T. Washington in his autobiography Up From Slavery, were not very different from those of other slaves.

You are worth money and somebody owns you. Your owner can sell you because you are worth money. Does this sound mind-boggling? If you were African-American like Booker T. Washington growing up in the middle of the 1800s, ownership by another human was part of your life.

Looking toward the reconstructed slave quarters across a manmade field and a small vegetable garden.

Booker was born on April 5, 1856, on a small plantation (207 acres) in rural southwest Virginia. The land, buildings and ten slaves who did much of the work all belonged to farmer James Burroughs. A written inventory or list of farmer Burroughs' possessions in 1861 showed a little boy named Booker valued at $400.

The work each slave did decided how much money each one was worth. So what could a little boy like Booker do to earn his keep?

Although Booker's father was a white man from a nearby plantation, his mother, a slave, was a cook for Mr. Burroughs' family. Therefore, we can expect he probably helped her a lot and did simple chores from the time he could walk.

Booker wrote in his autobiography, I was not large enough to be of service, still I was occupied most of the time in cleaning the yards, carrying water to the men in the fields, or going to the mill.

Can you imagine what your life might have been like if you and Booker shared some of the same jobs while growing up in the middle of the 19th century?

We don't need to stretch our imaginations too widely because most of the 207 acres that made up the original Burroughs Plantation are now part of the Booker T. Washington National Monument. Reconstructed buildings dot the area and the plantation looks like it might have in the middle of 19th century Virginia, right before the Civil War. Demonstrations and displays along The Plantation Trail show the skills and knowledge needed for simple farm life during Booker's childhood.

Booker probably helped in the huge (about one acre) vegetable garden planted and cared for by female slaves. Hoeing kept weeds from the rows of plants and plucking insects from plants kept them free from damage.

What were some of the vegetables needed to supply a large family? Here is just a sample of what might have been on hand:

• An almost continuous supply of fresh peas and greens for immediate eating in spring;
• Cucumbers, beans, beets and herbs for summer meals, with extra cucumbers and beets pickled, and beans and herbs dried for winter eating;
• Sweet potatoes for fall and winter cooking with a lot stored in a pit in the kitchen cabin.

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