When Washington was nine years old the Civil War ended, and his mom married a free slave. At this point in her son's impoverished youth, she understood the need to educate him so that he would one day have a better life. She gave him a book and he learned the alphabet and how to read and write. In 1866, Washington found work as a houseboy for the wife of a coal mine owner. Seeing his potential, who enabled Washington to attend school daily for an hour during the winter months. This fed Washington's appetite to become the learned young man who would leave his home on foot in 1872 to travel to eastern Virginia for college at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Summary of background paragraph 2:

When Washington was nine years old the Civil War ended, and his mom married a free slave. At this point in her son's impoverished youth, she understood the need to educate him so that he would one day have a better life. She gave him a book and he learned the alphabet and how to read and write. In 1866, Washington found work as a houseboy for the wife of a coal mine owner. Seeing his potential, who enabled Washington to attend school daily for an hour during the winter months. This fed Washington's appetite to become the learned young man who would leave his home on foot in 1872 to travel to eastern Virginia for college at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Summary of background paragraph 2: