Booker T. Washington National Monument
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON VISITOR CENTER
Hardy, VA
I just want you all to know that it looks fabulous! And, I want to thank each of you for your contribution to this great endeavor. This means so much to me and I wanted you to know that your contribution was central to the fruition of this project.
Carla Whitfield, Superintendent
Booker T. Washington National Monument
Exhibit Design: Wondercabinet Interpretive Design, Inc.
Exhibit Graphics: Proun Design, LLC
Illustration: Leslie Evans
Exhibit Fabrication: Mystic Scenic Studios, Inc.
Opened: 2013
BORN HERE. FREED HERE
Born here. Freed here. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on a plantation in Hardy, VA.
He was just nine years old when the Civil War ended and was emancipated along with his mother, brother, and all of the other slaves on this and every other plantation in the country. Booker went on to become educated, founded Tuskegee Institute, and became a dominant voice for the post-Civil War African-American community.
The exhibits at the plantation of his birth focus on his life as an enslaved child—the difficulties and hardships that were typical of the enslaved throughout the country. Illustrated graphic murals and interactive exhibits convey the bleak realities of daily life of an enslaved person on the plantation.