Setterstrom 1

Ashley Setterstrom
Dr. Workman
History 208
11 April 2014
Larry Rowe and Tom Rodd
Larry Rowe spoke to us about Booker T. Washington and the greatest heroes that inspired
him to become the man who has, and always will, go down in history. Booker and his family
walked from Roanoke, Virginia to Malden, West Virginia to escape the mistreatment of slaves.
As a child, he worked in the salt mines with his step-father, and was introduced to the Ruffners
when he became their houseboy and gardener.
The Ruffners were of German descent and spoke German in their home. They were
Mennonites and believed that people were people, not beasts, and that they were equal to one
another. They did not believe in slavery or the mistreatment of others. David Ruffner had two
sons, William Henry, and Lewis. Lewis was hit in the head with a brick, suffering permanent
brain damage, while protecting freedmen from white night riders and the incident created a
lifelong reminder for Booker of his mortality in the South.
William Henry fought tirelessly for equal schools for African Americans and
whites, and West Virginia had the first free public school for both races. Viola Ruffner, stepmother to William Henry and Lewis, was delighted by Booker and saw the light inside of him.
The warmth that she showed Booker gave him the great realization of life and he knew, that just
as the Ruffners had seen the wilderness of the Kanawha Valley and could change so much, that
he could change the wilderness of slavery and African American oppression in the United States.

Setterstrom 2
The lessons learned in Bookers youth created a life of contribution to all people who live their
lives to uplift themselves and their families through the generations.
Tom Rodd spoke to us about John Robert J.R. Clifford, West Virginias Civil Rights
pioneer. When he was just sixteen years old, he enlisted in the Union Army and served in the
United States Colored Troops. After the Civil War, he went to a college that trained African
American teachers who taught freed slaves. Upon graduation, he became a school principal and
taught African American children. In 1882, J.R. started a newspaper, and while he still worked as
a school principal and publisher, he also studied law in the evenings. He became the first African
American Lawyer in West Virginia. As a lawyer, he argued and won cases that paved the way to
African American children receiving the same education as white children. He later went on to
found the Niagara Movement, advocating for full rights for African Americans.