MALDEN, W.Va. -- Booker T. Washington, the celebrated African-American educator who was born into slavery and spent much of his childhood in 19th Century "Old Malden," has been memorialized on a stone monument at the site of his sister's home.

During a Monday afternoon ceremony, Gov. Joe Manchin joined with Malden Elementary students, local historians and educators from West Virginia State University to dedicate the monument to Washington and those families from the Malden area who helped him become a renowned educator, leader and statesman.

Malden attorney Larry L. Rowe recognized Washington's vision for a strong black middle class and strong families as helping pave the way for the election of an African-American president of the United States.                

During Washington's formative years, it mattered greatly whether you were white or black in much of the American South. "In Malden, it didn't," Rowe said.

For instance, the values Washington experienced in the salt mines and coal mines of the Kanawha Valley taught him to embrace the ideals of equal pay for equal work, integrated housing and the value of education, Rowe wrote in a recent op-ed for the Sunday Gazette-Mail.  

Hazo Carter Jr., president of West Virginia State University, said Washington lectured many times at the college in Institute, which was then known as the West Virginia Colored Institute, and delivered the school's first commencement address.

His wife, Phyllis Carter, an administrative law judge with the state Human Rights Commission, said Washington "pointed the way to progress through education and industry."

Washington was the first black man to visit the White House for a private dinner, when he met with President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, she noted.

Phyllis Carter also said Washington was influential in West Virginia State's becoming a land-grant institution in the Kanawha Valley in 1890, and he influenced the college's early curriculum.

In 1881, Washington became the founding president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and later secured financing from John D. Rockefeller, Collis P. Huntington and other industrial magnates to help sustain the school, which is today known as Tuskegee University.

During a Monday afternoon ceremony, Gov. Joe Manchin joined with Malden Elementary students, local historians and educators from West Virginia State University to dedicate the monument to Washington and those families from the Malden area who helped him become a renowned educator, leader and statesman.

Malden attorney Larry L. Rowe recognized Washington's vision for a strong black middle class and strong families as helping pave the way for the election of an African-American president of the United States.                

During Washington's formative years, it mattered greatly whether you were white or black in much of the American South. "In Malden, it didn't," Rowe said.

For instance, the values Washington experienced in the salt mines and coal mines of the Kanawha Valley taught him to embrace the ideals of equal pay for equal work, integrated housing and the value of education, Rowe wrote in a recent op-ed for the Sunday Gazette-Mail.  

Hazo Carter Jr., president of West Virginia State University, said Washington lectured many times at the college in Institute, which was then known as the West Virginia Colored Institute, and delivered the school's first commencement address.

His wife, Phyllis Carter, an administrative law judge with the state Human Rights Commission, said Washington "pointed the way to progress through education and industry."

Washington was the first black man to visit the White House for a private dinner, when he met with President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, she noted.

Phyllis Carter also said Washington was influential in West Virginia State's becoming a land-grant institution in the Kanawha Valley in 1890, and he influenced the college's early curriculum.

In 1881, Washington became the founding president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and later secured financing from John D. Rockefeller, Collis P. Huntington and other industrial magnates to help sustain the school, which is today known as Tuskegee University.

Born in Franklin County, Va., Washington walked about 200 miles in 1865 with his mother and siblings to Malden, where he began work as a salt packer at age 9, according to Tuskegee University's Web site.

In 1875, after he graduated from Hampton Institute in Virginia, Washington returned to teach public school and Sunday school in Malden for a few years.

After he formed the Tuskegee Institute, Washington would return home to Malden to visit his half-sister, Amanda Johnson, at her cabin on the site of the new monument.

Ken Sullivan, director of the West Virginia Humanities Council, said it's important to occasionally recognize Malden's rich history.

"It's a wonderful thing that Larry Rowe and the leaders of Malden take the time to remember their history," he said.

Manchin, in speaking to the Malden Elementary students, said Washington was able to pick himself up from being born into slavery because he was surrounded by family and neighbors who loved and cared for him.

He also told the children about the importance of their education.

"Learning belongs to you," he said. "That is the first piece of ownership you will ever have in your life."

Rowe thanked those who have helped preserve Malden's history, which includes sisters Martha Darneal Cole and Llewellyn Shrewsbury Cole and Henry Battle, president of the Kanawha Valley Historical & Preservation Society.

Reach Davin White at davinwh...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1254.