Towering over the late 19th and early 20th centuries like a latter-day Moses, Booker T. Washington lifted himself up from slavery to become the most important black leader in America. Born on a Virginia farm in 1856, Washington remained a slave until the Civil War ended, then went to work in the salt furnaces and coal mines of West Virginia. He was determined to make something of himself, however, and at age 16 walked 200 miles to enroll at Virginia`s Hampton Institute, an industrial school for blacks. Paying his way by working as the janitor, he graduated in 1875 and became a teacher, first in his hometown and then at Hampton.