NOVEMBER 14, 1915: Booker T. Washington Dies

On November 14, 1915, Booker T. Washington passed away from kidney failure (then called Bright's disease, now called nephritis) brought on by hypertension. I.e., the conservative Republican educator and free enterprise advocate overworked himself to an early grave at age 59.

Mr. Washington was taken ill and entered St. Luke's Hospital in New York City on November, 5, 1915. He was warned that he only had days to live, so on November 12 he decided to return to Tuskegee, Ala. He died at 4:40am, four hours after his return to Tuskegee. The photo at right is Mr. Washington's coffin being carried to his grave site at his funeral at Tuskegee University on November 18, 1915. More than 8,000 people attended his funeral. His gravesite is on the Tuskegee University campus.

It was originally believed that Mr. Washington died of congestive heart failure. There was even a rumor that he died from syphilis, because one of the doctors wrote down that his death was due in part to "racial characteristics". That was white doctors' dismissive term whenever a black patient died of either hypertension or syphilis, both of which disproportionately affected black folks (I wonder if white patients ever died of "racial characteristics"...say, like leukemia?).

The cloud surrounding his cause of death was resolved in 2006 at a medical conference that specializes in analyzing the deaths of famous people, with his descendants' permission. Records show that his blood pressure was 225 over 145, nearly double the 120 over 80 that is considered normal. The records also show that a blood test showed that he tested negative for syphilis.

Ninety-four years after Mr. Washington's death, black Americans still have a high rate of high blood pressure and severe hypertension. Nephritis is the #8 cause of death for black Americans. However, nowadays there is more knowledge about the condition and drugs to help treat it.