My second difficulty occurred when I heard the roll called. I had always been simply called "Booker." But I could see that the teacher was demanding two names. So when my turn came, I calmly told him my name was "Booker Washington."

Later in my life I found out that my mother had named me "Booker Taliaferro" when I was born. As soon as I found that out, I made my full name "Booker Taliaferro Washington."

My daytime schooling did not last long. Shortly after I started, I had to stop and go back to work. However, I continued with night schooling. It was difficult at times. I often had a hard time finding a teacher. And some of them did not know as much as I did. Sometimes I had to walk several miles to recite my lessons.

But no matter what the difficulty I encountered, I was determined to get an education at any cost.