Terry Miles, age 13, of Henderson, Nev., for his question:

WHO WAS BOOKER T. WASHINGTON?

Booker T. Washington was the best known black leader and educator in the United States during the period following the Civil War. In 1880 he started the famous Tuskegae Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. This was one of the first black colleges.

Washington was born a slave in Virginia. He wasn't able to go to school but studied whenever he could.

He walked 500 miles to the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia and studied there for three years after getting a janitor's job to pay his way. He later returned to the school as a teacher.

The Tuskegee school started in an old church with 30 pupils. Students learned skilled trades and many then used their knowledge to help other black people improve their living conditions.

Washington is given lots of credit for helping black citizens leave their old ways as slaves and change over to new lives of freedom.