As a courteous, cooperative, hard-working young man
he secured a job cleaning and doing other tasks around the house
of one of the mine owners. This occupation was less strenuous
than working in the mines, and it left him more energy to pursue
his studies, In 1872, with nothing to help him besides his
determination, he traveled and worked his way hundreds of miles
to Hampton Institute. Undaunted by lack of tuition, he insisted
that he could do some useful work to cover his expenses. When he
was directed to clean the adjoining room as a kind of entrance
test, his response was to apply himself to the task. When the
teacher's white handkerchief could not discover any dirt in the
room, she was so impressed with his work and with his genial
personality that she admitted him to the institute and found a
janitorial job to ease his financial situation.
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute had been started after
the Civil War by General Samuel Armstrong to train ex-slaves to
lead their people in pursuit of land and homes. Armstrong strongly
believed that they should not be given what they could earn for
themselves.
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