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Booker T. Washington National MonumentStudents working on a building at Tuskegee Institute.
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Booker T. Washington National Monument
Plan Your Visit
 

Booker T. Washington National Monument is the former Burroughs Plantation. In 1850, James and Elizabeth Burroughs moved their children and a few slaves to this 207-acre tobacco farm in southwestern Virginia. The plantation cook, a female slave named Jane, would give birth to three children within the next ten years. Her middle child would simply be called Booker. 

Here you are able to explore the small plantation where Washington first longed for an education, pondered what freedom meant and eventually took his "first breath of freedom."

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Railroad track attached to a 'sleeper'  

Did You Know?
When the Portage Railroad opened on March 18, 1834, it was a single track line. The rule was when 2 drivers met the one who had passed the center post had the right to go on. The other driver had to back up. Some sat nose to nose until a magistrate determined who got to the center first.

Last Updated: September 26, 2006 at 15:15 EST