Teaching School in a Stable and a Hen House Summary and Analysis

After a month of traveling around the region recruiting students and visiting families, Washington is somewhat defeated. He says that he wonders if he - a single person - can impact the lives of these people, but determines to do his best. He believes a mere education from books is not what the people need. Mr. George W. Campbell, a former slave owner, and Mr. Lewis Adams, a former slave, become Washington's mentors as they work to establish the school. Adams learned to read and write while in slavery and mastered shoemaking, harnessmaking and tinsmithing. Washington says he totally trusts the judgment of both men.

School begins on July 4, 1881, with thirty students, all aged fifteen or older who have had some prior education. Many were...