Thy word is very pure, therefore Thy servant loveth it.

Psalm 119:140, KJV

Do you know the story of Booker T. Washington? He was born into slavery sometime between 1856 and 1858. When the Civil War started, he was listed on his owner's inventory as property valued at $400. When the Civil War ended, his mother and he moved to West Virginia, where she remarried and he went to work in the salt furnaces and coal mines. After work, nine year old Booker (he may have just been seven, he said they never really knew for sure) went to school.

He said going to school was like a dream. It was as close to heaven as he could imagine. Sitting there with other boys and girls, former slaves all, at their own desks and getting to learn. It was a love he never lost, for when he completed his education in 1871, he wanted more. He heard of a school in Virginia called Hampton Institute. It took three weeks walking to get there, but get there he did. The woman principal who interviewed him was not completely satisfied, so she took him to a room and said, "clean it." When she came back with her white gloves for an inspection, the room was spotless - not a speck of dust! Booker was officially accepted into Hampton.

After three years of hard study and working as a janitor for room and board, Booker T. Washington graduated with honors. He went back home and taught for a while, putting his brothers through school, but he still longed for something else. He got that chance in 1881, when two unlikely partners (a former slave owner and a former slave) came to the President of Hampton with a determination to start a school of upper learning for black men and women in the heart of the south - Tuskegee, Alabama. Booker T. was recommended for the job.

When Booker arrived at Tuskegee, he found 100 acres of pine trees, a small cabin and a one room church. It was enough. Over the years the Tuskegee Institute grew to around 100 buildings, many of brick construction, built by the students with bricks handmade by the students. I came across an account of one such student who was said to be complaining that he didn't come to Tuskegee to earn how to lay bricks. When overheard by Booker T. Washington, the president of the Institute had this question: "I suppose you would rather be learning Greek. Tell me young man, how many people speak Greek where you are from?" The young man replied none of course, to which Booker then asked how many needed good housing. The young man let him know it was a great need, indeed. Then he thought about it and said, "I understand."

You see, Booker T. Washington, a man who saw the need and provided the training in English, math and science, also had a vision of sending these men and women home with an ability to provide for themselves and others. He saw this type of education as vital to preparing the black men and women under his teaching to be able to live and assimilate in an environment that was completely new to them. He knew that a nation was being re-built, and that they needed to have a part in that building.

His vision was contagious, and men like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and the railroad tycoon, William Baldwin, all contributed heavily to the Tuskegee Institute. They did so because they not only believed in the vision, but they also believed in the man. There were many people, black and white, who opposed his efforts, but that mattered little to Booker T. Washington. He had a mission on earth to prepare the men and women of his race to live in a world dominated to this point by another race entirely. And the only way they could do that, in his mind, was to be educated, prepared and willing to work.

As with all men and women of great accomplishment, there is nearly always a strong relationship with God. With Booker T. this was especially true, and he revealed this relationship in his autobiography. At Hampton, he was introduced to a love for reading God's Word. He attended Wayland Seminary in Washington D.C. before taking the job at Tuskegee. He described the nature of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in a speech he gave in 1900 in this manner: 

"The school is strictly undenominational, but is thoroughly Christian, and the spiritual training for the student is not neglected. Our preaching service, prayer meetings, Sunday School, Christian Endeavor Society, Young Men's Christian Association and missionary organizations testify to this." He also said this on another occasion, "I learned to love to read the Bible. I always make it a habit to read a chapter or portion of a chapter in the morning, before beginning the work day." And then he said this: "The men doing the vital things of life are those who read the Bible and are Christians and who are not ashamed to let the world know it."

The memory of Booker T. Washington is held in honor today. It is interesting to me to find out that the foundation for his success was his Christian faith and his love for the Word. But that should not surprise any of us, for the truly great men and women of history have shared that same love for God and His Word since time immemorial. How about you?