Editing Booker T. Washington (section)

== Marriages and children ==

[[File:Booker T. Washington.jpg|right|upright|thumb|Booker T. Washington with his third wife Margaret and two sons, Ernest, left and Booker T. Jr., right]]

Washington was married three times. In his autobiography ''[[Up from Slavery]]'', he gave all three of his wives credit for their contributions at Tuskegee.  His first wife [[Fannie (Fanny) Smith Washington|Fannie N. Smith]] was from [[Malden, West Virginia]], the same [[Kanawha River]] Valley town where Washington had lived from age nine to sixteen. He maintained ties there all his life, and Smith was a student of his when he taught in Malden. He helped her gain entrance into the Hampton Institute. Washington and Smith were married in the summer of 1882, a year after he became principal there. They had one child, [[Portia Washington Pittman|Portia M. Washington]], born in 1883. Fannie died in May 1884.{{Sfn | Harlan | 1972}}

In 1885, the widower Washington married again, to [[Olivia A. Davidson]] (1854–1889).  Born free in [[Virginia]] to a [[free people of color|free woman of color]] and a father who had been freed from slavery, she moved with her family to the free state of Ohio, where she attended common schools. Davidson later studied at Hampton Institute and went North to study at the [[Framingham State College|Massachusetts State Normal School]] at [[Framingham, Massachusetts|Framingham]]. She taught in Mississippi and Tennessee before going to Tuskegee to work as a teacher. Washington recruited Davidson to Tuskegee, and promoted her to vice-principal. They had two sons, Booker T. Washington Jr. and Ernest Davidson Washington, before she died in 1889.<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/washington-olivia-davidson-1854-1889  Encyclopedia.com website, ''Washington, Olivia Davidson (1854–1889)'']</ref>

In 1893, Washington married [[Margaret Murray Washington|Margaret James Murray]]. She was from Mississippi and had graduated from [[Fisk University]], a [[historically black college]]. They had no children together, but she helped rear Washington's three children. Murray outlived Washington and died in 1925.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.awhf.org/inductee.html |title=Inductees |work=Alabama Women's Hall of Fame |publisher=State of Alabama |access-date=November 6, 2021 |archive-date=February 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204063533/http://www.awhf.org/inductee.html |url-status=live }}</ref>