Born into slavery, Booker T. Washington grew up as a slave. "He put in a lot of effort after Emancipation to go to school, become a teacher, and, in 1881, become the founding president of the brand-new Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He rose to prominence as a writer, public speaker, and political figure. His "Atlantic Address of 1895" urged African Americans to pursue progressive equality through economic mobility and industrial education." He believed that rather than requesting things like voting rights and social integration, he should ask for the right to an education.