In-depth program descriptions and curriculum materials can be accessed on the programs individual web pages. If you would like to receive our interactive education cd, please contact the park's education coordinator by e-mail or by phone at (540) 721-2094.

To Be a Slave
K-1 Program

In this program, students participate in a flannel board story activity and a walk which helps students compare their lives to the life of Booker T. Washington. Students see, touch, and smell life on the mid-nineteenth century Burroughs plantation. While exploring objects and clothing related to Washington and the farm, students learn about what being a slave meant to him.

Lifting the Veil
2 - 3 Program

Students explore and discuss the reality of an uncertain future faced by millions of freed men. While exploring the tobacco field, students compare and contrast sharecropping and convict lease. Discussing Washington’s determination to secure an education, his commitment to teaching others and his ascension to national leadership, students learn how education improved Washington’s life and how he used it to better the lives of people he touched and influenced. Booker T. Washington’s struggle up from slavery is a role model for children today.

War on the Home Front
4 - 5 Program

While exploring the park, students discover that the Civil War and emancipation meant different things to the people that lived on the Burroughs plantation. By comparing and contrasting their experiences during those tumultuous times, students will evaluate how these events affected both master and slave.

Cast Down Your Bucket!
5 -7 Program

During their visit to Booker T. Washington National Monument, students explore the Southern plight from the 1880s through the turn of the 20th-century as African American struggled, fought and even died for the right to vote. Students analyze the politics and commercial industries of the South, examine the speeches and papers of Washington and other leaders of the era and debate the economic and social philosophy of Booker T. Washington. While analyzing, describing and discussing the climate of the post-Reconstruction South, students discover that drive and determination can change a nation.

Clash of the Titans
11th Grade Program

This education packet enables students to investigate, research, and participate in meaningful learning experiences about Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Students gain insight into what motivated these men to act in the context of their time.