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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24627-8.txt b/24627-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b8d446 --- /dev/null +++ b/24627-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9863 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Booker T. Washington, by Emmett J. Scott and +Lyman Beecher Stowe + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Booker T. Washington + Builder of a Civilization + + +Author: Emmett J. Scott and Lyman Beecher Stowe + + + +Release Date: February 16, 2008 [eBook #24627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKER T. WASHINGTON*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Linda Cantoni, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 24627-h.htm or 24627-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/2/24627/24627-h/24627-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/2/24627/24627-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + Some illustrations have been moved so as not to break up the + flow of the text. + + + + + +BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + +Builder of a Civilization + +by + +EMMETT J. SCOTT and LYMAN BEECHER STOWE + +With a Preface by Theodore Roosevelt + + + + + + + +[Illustration: logo] + + +Illustrated from Photographs + + +Garden City New York +Doubleday, Page & Company +1918 + +Copyright, 1916, by +Doubleday, Page & Company +All rights reserved, including that of +translation into foreign languages, +including the Scandinavian + +Copyright, 1916, by the Outlook Publishing Co. + + + +[Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON] + + + + +FOREWORD + + +In the passing of a character so unique as Dr. Booker T. Washington, +many of us, his friends, were anxious that his biography should be +written by those best qualified to do so. It is therefore a source of +gratification to us of his own race to have an account of Dr. +Washington's career set forth in a form at once accurate and readable, +such as will inspire unborn generations of Negroes and others to love +and appreciate all mankind of whatever race or color. It is especially +gratifying that this biography has been prepared by the two people in +all America best fitted, by antecedents and by intimate acquaintance +and association with Dr. Washington, to undertake it. Mr. Lyman +Beecher Stowe is the grandson of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose "Uncle +Tom's Cabin" had a very direct influence on the abolition of slavery, +and Mr. Emmett J. Scott was Dr. Washington's loyal and trusted +secretary for eighteen years. + +ROBERT R. MOTON. +Principal Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. + +_Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _August 1, 1916._ + + + + +AUTHORS' PREFACE + + +This is not a biography in the ordinary sense. The exhaustive "Life +and Letters of Booker T. Washington" remains still to be compiled. In +this more modest work we have simply sought to present and interpret +the chief phases of the life of this man who rose from a slave boy to +be the leader of ten millions of people and to take his place for all +time among America's great men. In fact, we have not even touched upon +his childhood, early training, and education, because we felt the +story of those early struggles and privations had been ultimately well +told in his own words in "Up from Slavery." This autobiography, +however, published as it was fifteen years before his death, brings +the story of his life only to the threshold of his greatest +achievements. In this book we seek to give the full fruition of his +life's work. Each chapter is complete in itself. Each presents a +complete, although by no means exhaustive, picture of some phase of +his life. + +We take no small satisfaction in the fact that we were personally +selected by Booker Washington himself for this task. He considered us +qualified to produce what he wanted: namely, a record of his struggles +and achievements at once accurate and readable, put in permanent form +for the information of the public. He believed that such a record +could best be furnished by his confidential associate, working in +collaboration with a trained and experienced writer, sympathetically +interested in the welfare of the Negro race. This, then, is what we +have tried to do and the way we have tried to do it. + +We completed the first four chapters before Mr. Washington's death, +but he never read them. In fact, it was our wish, to which he agreed, +that he should not read what we had written until its publication in +book form. + +EMMETT J. SCOTT, +LYMAN BEECHER STOWE. + + + + +PREFACE + + +It is not hyperbole to say that Booker T. Washington was a great +American. For twenty years before his death he had been the most +useful, as well as the most distinguished, member of his race in the +world, and one of the most useful, as well as one of the most +distinguished, of American citizens of any race. + +Eminent though his services were to the people of his own color, the +white men of our Republic were almost as much indebted to him, both +directly and indirectly. They were indebted to him directly, because +of the work he did on behalf of industrial education for the Negro, +thus giving impetus to the work for the industrial education of the +White Man, which is, at least, as necessary; and, moreover, every +successful effort to turn the thoughts of the natural leaders of the +Negro race into the fields of business endeavor, of agricultural +effort, of every species of success in private life, is not only to +their advantage, but to the advantage of the White Man, as tending to +remove the friction and trouble that inevitably come throughout the +South at this time in any Negro district where the Negroes turn for +their advancement primarily to political life. + +The indirect indebtedness of the White Race to Booker T. Washington +is due to the simple fact that here in America we are all in the end +going up or down together; and therefore, in the long run, the man who +makes a substantial contribution toward uplifting any part of the +community has helped to uplift all of the community. Wherever in our +land the Negro remains uneducated, and liable to criminal suggestion, +it is absolutely certain that the whites will themselves tend to tread +the paths of barbarism; and wherever we find the colored people as a +whole engaged in successful work to better themselves, and respecting +both themselves and others, there we shall also find the tone of the +white community high. + +The patriotic white man with an interest in the welfare of this +country is almost as heavily indebted to Booker T. Washington as the +colored men themselves. + +If there is any lesson, more essential than any other, for this +country to learn, it is the lesson that the enjoyment of rights should +be made conditional upon the performance of duty. For one failure in +the history of our country which is due to the people not asserting +their rights, there are hundreds due to their not performing their +duties. This is just as true of the White Man as it is of the Colored +Man. But it is a lesson even more important to be taught the Colored +Man, because the Negro starts at the bottom of the ladder and will +never develop the strength to climb even a single rung if he follow +the lead of those who dwell only upon their rights and not upon their +duties. He has a hard road to travel anyhow. He is certain to be +treated with much injustice, and although he will encounter among +white men a number who wish to help him upward and onward, he will +encounter only too many who, if they do him no bodily harm, yet show a +brutal lack of consideration for him. Nevertheless his one safety lies +in steadily keeping in view that the law of service is the great law +of life, above all in this Republic, and that no man of color can +benefit either himself or the rest of his race, unless he proves by +his life his adherence to this law. Such a life is not easy for the +White Man, and it is very much less easy for the Black Man; but it is +even more important for the Black Man, and for the Black Man's people, +that he should lead it. + +As nearly as any man I have ever met, Booker T. Washington lived up to +Micah's verse, "What more doth the Lord require of thee than to do +Justice and love Mercy and walk humbly with thy God." He did justice +to every man. He did justice to those to whom it was a hard thing to +do justice. He showed mercy; and this meant that he showed mercy not +only to the poor, and to those beneath him, but that he showed mercy +by an understanding of the shortcomings of those who failed to do him +justice, and failed to do his race justice. He always understood and +acted upon the belief that the Black Man could not rise if he so acted +as to incur the enmity and hatred of the White Man; that it was of +prime importance to the well-being of the Black Man to earn the good +will of his white neighbor, and that the bulk of the Black Men who +dwell in the Southern States must realize that the White Men who are +their immediate physical neighbors are beyond all others those whose +good will and respect it is of vital consequence that the Black Men of +the South should secure. + +He was never led away, as the educated Negro so often is led away, +into the pursuit of fantastic visions; into the drawing up of plans +fit only for a world of two dimensions. He kept his high ideals, +always; but he never forgot for a moment that he was living in an +actual world of three dimensions, in a world of unpleasant facts, +where those unpleasant facts have to be faced; and he made the best +possible out of a bad situation from which there was no ideal best to +be obtained. And he walked humbly with his God. + +To a very extraordinary degree he combined humility and dignity; and I +think that the explanation of this extraordinary degree of success in +a very difficult combination was due to the fact that at the bottom +his humility was really the outward expression, not of a servile +attitude toward any man, but of the spiritual fact that in very truth +he walked humbly with his God. + +Nowhere was Booker T. Washington's wisdom shown better than in the +mixture of moderation and firmness with which he took precisely the +right position as to the part the Black Man should try to take in +politics. He put the whole case in a nutshell in the following +sentences: + +"In my opinion it is a fatal mistake to teach the young black man and +the young white man that the dominance of the white race in the South +rests upon any other basis than absolute justice to the weaker man. It +is a mistake to cultivate in the mind of any individual or group of +individuals the feeling and belief that their happiness rests upon the +misery of some one else, or their wealth upon the poverty of some one +else. I do not advocate that the Negro make politics or the holding of +office an important thing in his life. I do urge, in the interests of +fair play for everybody, that a Negro who prepares himself in +property, in intelligence, and in character to cast a ballot, and +desires to do so, should have the opportunity." + +In other words, while he did not believe that political activity +should play an important part among Negroes as a whole, he did believe +that in the interests of the White, as well as in the interests of the +Colored race, the upright, honest, intelligent Black Man or Colored +Man should be given the right to cast a ballot if he possessed the +qualities which, if possessed by a White Man, would make that White +Man a valuable addition to the suffrage-exercising class. + +No man, White or Black, was more keenly alive than Booker T. +Washington to the threat of the South, and to the whole country, and +especially to the Black Man himself, contained in the mass of +ignorant, propertyless, semi-vicious Black voters, wholly lacking in +the character which alone fits a race for self-government, who +nevertheless have been given the ballot in certain Southern States. + +In my many conversations and consultations with him it is, I believe, +not an exaggeration to say that one-half the time we were discussing +methods for keeping out of office, and out of all political power, the +ignorant, semi-criminal, shiftless Black Man who, when manipulated by +the able and unscrupulous politician, Black or White, is so dreadful a +menace to our political institutions. But he felt very strongly, and I +felt no less strongly, that one of the most efficient ways of warring +against this evil type was to show the Negro that, if he turned his +back on that type, and fitted himself to be a self-respecting citizen, +doing his part in sustaining the common burdens of good citizenship, +he would be freely accorded by his White neighbors the privileges and +rights of good citizenship. Surely there can be no objection to this. +Surely there can be no serious objection thus to keep open the door of +hope for the thoroughly decent, upright, self-respecting man, no +matter what his color. + +In the same way, while Booker T. Washington firmly believed that the +attention of the Colored race should be riveted, not on political +life, but on success sought in the fields of honest business endeavor, +he also felt, and I agreed with him, that it was to the interest of +both races that there should be appointments to office of Black Men +whose characters and abilities were such that if they were White Men +their appointments would be hailed as being well above the average, +and creditable from every standpoint. He also felt, and I agreed with +him, that it was essential that these appointments should be made +relatively most numerous in the North--for it is worse than useless to +preach virtue to others, unless the preachers themselves practise it; +which means that the Northern communities, which pride themselves on +possessing the proper attitude toward the Negro, should show this +attitude by their own acts within their own borders. + +I profited very much by my association with Booker T. Washington. I +owed him much along many different lines. I valued greatly his +friendship and respect; and when he died I mourned his loss as a +patriot and an American. + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +_Sagamore Hill,_ + _August 28, 1916._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +FOREWORD BY ROBERT R. MOTON v + +AUTHORS' PREFACE vii + +PREFACE BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT ix + +CHAPTER + + I. THE MAN AND HIS SCHOOL IN THE MAKING 3 + + II. LEADER OF HIS RACE 19 + + III. WASHINGTON: THE EDUCATOR 57 + + IV. THE RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO 82 + + V. MEETING RACE PREJUDICE 107 + + VI. GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 135 + + VII. BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO FARMER 164 + +VIII. BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO BUSINESS MAN 185 + + IX. BOOKER WASHINGTON AMONG HIS STUDENTS 222 + + X. RAISING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS A YEAR 248 + + XI. MANAGING A GREAT INSTITUTION 272 + + XII. WASHINGTON: THE MAN 300 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Booker T. Washington _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE + +Tuskegee in the making. Nothing delighted Mr. + Washington more than to see his students doing + the actual work of erecting the Tuskegee + Institute buildings 12 + +Tuskegee Institute students laying the foundation + for one of the four Emery buildings 14 + +"His influence, like that of his school, was at first + community wide, then county wide, then State + wide, and finally nation wide" 16 + +A study in black. Note the tensity of expression + with which the group is following his each and + every word 32 + +Showing some of the teams of farmers attending the + Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference 58 + +An academic class. A problem in brick masonry 62 + +Mr. Washington in characteristic pose addressing + an audience 136 + +Mr. Washington silhouetted against the crowd upon + one of his educational tours 136 + +Mr. Washington in typical pose speaking to an + audience 136 + +A party of friends who accompanied Dr. Washington + on one of his educational tours 138 + +This old woman was a regular attendant at the + Tuskegee Negro Conference 170 + +The cosmopolitan character of the Tuskegee student + body is shown by the fact that during the + past year students have come from the foreign + countries or colonies of foreign countries indicated + by the various flags shown in this picture 238 + +In 1906 the Tuskegee Institute celebrated its 25th + Anniversary. A group of well-known American + characters attended 248 + +Some of Mr. Washington's humble friends 274 + +Soil analysis. The students are required to work + out in the laboratory the problems of the field + and the shop 274 + +Mr. Washington was a great believer in the sweet + potato 280 + +Mr. Washington had this picture especially posed + to show off to the best advantage a part of the + Tuskegee dairy herd 290 + +Mr. Washington feeding his chickens with green + stuffs raised in his own garden 306 + +Mr. Washington in his onion patch 306 + +Mr. Washington sorting in his lettuce bed 306 + + + + +BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + +BUILDER OF A CIVILIZATION + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +THE MAN AND HIS SCHOOL IN THE MAKING + + +It came about that in the year 1880, in Macon County, Alabama, a +certain ex-Confederate colonel conceived the idea that if he could +secure the Negro vote he could beat his rival and win the seat he +coveted in the State Legislature. Accordingly, the colonel went to the +leading Negro in the town of Tuskegee and asked him what he could do +to secure the Negro vote, for Negroes then voted in Alabama without +restriction. This man, Lewis Adams by name, himself an ex-slave, +promptly replied that what his race most wanted was education and what +they most needed was industrial education, and that if he (the +colonel) would agree to work for the passage of a bill appropriating +money for the maintenance of an industrial school for Negroes, he +(Adams) would help to get for him the Negro vote and the election. +This bargain between an ex-slaveholder and an ex-slave was made and +faithfully observed on both sides, with the result that the following +year the Legislature of Alabama appropriated $2,000 a year for the +establishment of a normal and industrial school for Negroes in the +town of Tuskegee. On the recommendation of General Armstrong of +Hampton Institute a young colored man, Booker T. Washington, a recent +graduate of and teacher at the Institute, was called from there to +take charge of this landless, buildingless, teacherless, and +studentless institution of learning. + +This move turned out to be a fatal mistake in the political career of +the colonel. The appellation of "nigger lover" kept him ever after +firmly wedged in his political grave. Thus, by the same stroke, was +the career of an ex-slaveholder wrecked and that of an ex-slave made. +This political blunder of a local office-seeker gave to education one +of its great formative institutions, to the Negro race its greatest +leader, and to America one of its greatest citizens. + +One is tempted to feel that Booker T. Washington was always popular +and successful. On the contrary, for many years he had to fight his +way inch by inch against the bitterest opposition, not only of the +whites, but of his own race. At that time there was scarcely a Negro +leader of any prominence who was not either a politician or a +preacher. In the introduction to "Up from Slavery," Mr. Walter H. Page +says of his first experience many years ago with Booker Washington: "I +had occasion to write to him, and I addressed him as 'The Rev. Booker +T. Washington.' In his reply there was no mention of my addressing him +as a clergyman. But when I had occasion to write to him again, and +persisted in making him a preacher, his second letter brought a +postscript: 'I have no claim to Rev.' I knew most of the colored men +who at that time had become prominent as leaders of their race, but I +had not then known one who was neither a politician nor a preacher; +and I had not heard of the head of an important colored school who +was not a preacher. 'A new kind of man in the colored world,' I said +to myself--'a new kind of man surely if he looks upon his task as an +economic one instead of a theological one." + +And just because Booker Washington did look "upon his task as an +economic one instead of a theological one" he was at first regarded +with suspicion by most of the preachers of his race and by some openly +denounced as irreligious and the founder of an irreligious school. +Like so many men of greater opportunity in all ages and places, many +of these Negro ministers confounded theology and religion. Finding no +theology about Booker Washington or his school, they assumed there was +no religion. Some of them even went so far as to warn their +congregations from the pulpit to keep away from this Godless man and +his Godless school. To this formidable and at first almost universal +opposition from the leaders among his own people was added the more +natural opposition of the neighboring white men who assumed that he +was "spoiling the niggers" by education. A youth with a high collar, +loud necktie, checked suit, and patent-leather shoes, dangling a cane, +smoking a cigarette, and loitering impudently on a street corner was +their mental picture of an educated Negro. + +Among the original group of thirty students with whom Mr. Washington +started Tuskegee Institute on an old plantation equipped with a +kitchen, a stable, and a hen-house, was a now elderly man who to-day +has charge of the spacious and beautiful grounds of the Institute. He +was approaching middle age when he entered this original Tuskegee +class. The following is a paraphrase of his account of the early days +of the school: "After we'd been out on the plantation three or four +weeks Mr. Washington came into the schoolroom and said: 'To-morrow +we're going to have a chopping bee. All of you that have an axe, or +can borrow one, must bring it. I will try and provide those of you who +cannot furnish an axe. We will dismiss school early to-morrow +afternoon and start for the chopping bee.' So we came to school next +day with the axes, all of us that could get them; we were all excited +and eager for that chopping bee, and we were all discussing what it +would be like, because we had never been to one before. So in the +afternoon Mr. Washington said it was time for that chopping bee, so he +put his axe over his shoulder and led us to the woods and put us to +work cutting the trees and clearing the land. He went right in and +worked harder and faster and handled his axe better than any of us. +After a while we found that a chopping bee, as he called it, was no +different from just plain cutting down trees and clearing the land. +There wasn't anything new about that--we all had had all we wanted of +it. Some of the boys said they didn't come to school to cut down trees +and clear land, but they couldn't say they were too good for that kind +of work when Mr. Washington himself was at it harder than any of them. +So he kept with us for some days till everybody had his idea. Then he +went off to do something more important. + +"Now, in those days he used to go off every Saturday morning and he +wouldn't come back till Monday morning. He'd travel all round the +country drumming up students for the school and telling the people to +send their children. And on Sunday he'd get the preachers to let him +get up in their pulpits and tell the people about the school after +they had finished preaching. And the preachers would warn their people +against him and his school, because they said it wasn't Methodist, and +it wasn't Baptist, and it wasn't Presbyterian, and it wasn't +Episcopalian, and it wasn't Christian. And they told the people to +keep their children away from that Godless man and his school. But +when he came along and asked to speak to the people they had to leave +him, just as everybody always did--let him do just what he wanted to +do. And when they heard him, the people, they didn't pay no attention +to the preachers, they just sent their children as fast as ever they +could contrive it. + +"Now, in those days Mr. Washington didn't have a horse, nor a mule, +nor a wagon, and he wanted to cover more country on those trips than +he could afoot, so he'd just go out in the middle of the road and when +some old black man would come along driving his mule wagon he'd stop +him and talk with him, and tell him about the school and what it was +going to do for the black folks, and then he'd say: 'Now, Uncle, you +can help by bringing your wagon and mule round at nine o'clock +Saturday morning for me to go off round the country telling the people +about the school. Now, remember, Uncle Jake, please be here promptly +at nine,' and the old man would say, 'Yes, boss, I sure will be +here!' That was how he did it--when he needed anything he'd go out and +put his hand on it. First, he could put his hand on anything he wanted +round the town; then, he could put his hand on anything he wanted all +over the county; then he could put his hand on anything he wanted all +over the State; and then finally they do tell me he could put his hand +on anything he wanted away up to New York. + +"In those days, after we came to live here on the 'plantation,' I used +to take the wheelbarrow and go round to the office when Mr. Washington +opened up the mail in the morning, and if there was money in the mail +then I could go along to the town with the wheelbarrow and get +provisions, and if there was no money then there was no occasion to go +to town, and we'd just eat what we had left. Most of the white +storekeepers wouldn't give us credit, and they didn't want a 'nigger +school' here anyhow. Times have changed. Now those storekeepers get a +large proportion of their trade here at the Institute, and if there +should be any talk of moving, they'd just get up and fight to the last +to keep us here and keep our trade. + +"And in those days the Negro preachers, or the most of them, and the +white folks, or the most of them, were always trying to dispute with +Mr. Washington and quarrel with him, but he just kept his mouth shut +and went ahead. He kept pleasant and he wouldn't dispute with them, +nor argue with them, nor quarrel with them. When the white folks would +come round and tell him he was 'spoiling good niggers by education,' +he would just ask them to wait patiently and give him time to show +them what the right kind of education would do. And when the colored +preachers would come round and tell him he was no Christian, and his +school had no religion, he would ask them to just wait and see if the +boys and girls were any less Christian because of the education they +were getting. But whoever came along and whatever happened Mr. +Washington just kept his mouth shut and went ahead. + +"After two years of school I went out and rented some land and planted +cotton, and just about time to harvest my crop Mr. Washington sent for +me one Saturday and said: 'I need you. I want you to come back and +work for the school on the farm. I want you to start in Monday +morning.' When I told him about my cotton crop just ready to be picked +he said: 'Can't help that, we need you. You'll have to arrange with +your neighbors to harvest your crop for you.'" + +To the inquiry, "Well, did you come?" the old man replied, "Of course +I did. When Mr. Washington said come I came same as everybody did what +he told them. I got a neighbor to harvest my crop and I lost money on +it, but I came to work that Monday morning more than thirty years ago, +and I've been here ever since." + +The idea of not doing what Mr. Washington wanted him to do, or even +arguing the matter, was evidently inconceivable to this old man. He +had always obeyed Mr. Washington just as he had obeyed the laws of +nature by sleeping and eating. That is the kind of control which +Booker Washington always exercised over his fellow-workers. He +accepted their implicit obedience as naturally and simply as they gave +it. + +As Mr. Page also points out in the introduction to "Up from Slavery," +however humble Mr. Washington's origin may have been, what might be +termed his intellectual pedigree was of the highest and finest. He may +be called, in fact, the spiritual grandson of the great Dr. Mark +Hopkins of Williams College. Just as Samuel Armstrong was perhaps the +most receptive of Mark Hopkins' pupils, so Booker Washington became +the most receptive pupil of Samuel Armstrong. As says Mr. Page: "To +the formation of Mr. Washington's character, then, went the missionary +zeal of New England, influenced by one of the strongest personalities +in modern education, and the wide-reaching moral earnestness of +General Armstrong himself." In his autobiography Mr. Washington thus +describes General Armstrong's influence and the impression he made +upon him: "It has been my fortune to meet personally many of what are +called great characters, both in Europe and America, but I do not +hesitate to say that I never met any man who, in my estimation, was +the equal of General Armstrong. Fresh from the degrading influences of +the slave plantation and the coal mines, it was a rare privilege for +me to be permitted to come into direct contact with such a character +as General Armstrong. I shall always remember that the first time I +went into his presence he made the impression upon me of being a +perfect man; I was made to feel that there was something about him +that was superhuman. It was my privilege to know the General +personally from the time I entered Hampton till he died, and the more +I saw of him the greater he grew in my estimation. One might have +removed from Hampton all the buildings, classrooms, teachers, and +industries, and given the men and women there the opportunity of +coming into daily contact with General Armstrong, and that alone would +have been a liberal education. (This recalls President Garfield's +definition of a university when he said, 'my idea of a university is a +log with Mark Hopkins on one end and a boy on the other.') The older I +grow, the more I am convinced that there is no education which one can +get from books and costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be +gotten from contact with great men and women. Instead of studying +books so constantly, how I wish that our schools and colleges might +learn to study men and things!" + +When the young man imbued with these ideas and fresh from these +influences found himself responsible for the destinies of a +studentless, teacherless, buildingless, and landless school it is +significant how he went to work to supply these manifold deficiencies. +First, he found a place in which to open the school--a dilapidated +shanty church, the A.M.E. Zion Church for Negroes, in the town of +Tuskegee. Next he went about the surrounding countryside, found out +exactly under what conditions the people were living and what their +needs were, and advertised the school among the class of people whom +he wanted to have attend it. After returning from these experiences +he said: "I saw more clearly than ever the wisdom of the system which +General Armstrong had inaugurated at Hampton. To take the children of +such people as I had been among for a month, and each day give them a +few hours of mere book education, I felt would be almost a waste of +time." + +Six weeks after the school was opened, on July 4, 1881, in the shanty +Methodist Church with thirty students, Miss Olivia A. Davidson entered +the school, the enrollment of which had already grown to fifty, as +assistant teacher. She subsequently became Mrs. Washington. The school +then had students, a teacher, and a building such as it was, but it +had no land. It was succeeding in so far as teaching these eager and +knowledge hungry young people what could be learned from books, but +little more. Mr. Washington found that about 85 per cent. of the +Negroes of the Gulf States lived on the land and were dependent upon +agriculture for their livelihood. Hence, he reasoned that it was of +supreme importance to teach them how to live on the land to the best +advantage. In order to teach the students how to live on the land the +school itself must have land. About this time an old plantation near +the town of Tuskegee came upon the market. The school had no money. +Mr. Washington had no money, and the $2,000 a year from the State +Treasury could be used only for the payment of teachers. Accordingly +Mr. Washington personally borrowed the $250, from a personal friend, +necessary to secure title to the land, and moved the school from the +shanty church to the comparative comfort of four aged cabins +formerly used as the dining-room, kitchen, stable, and hen-house of +the plantation. + +[Illustration: Tuskegee in the making. Nothing delighted Mr. +Washington more than to see his students doing the actual work of +erecting the Tuskegee Institute buildings. A group of students raising +the roof on one of the buildings.] + +And as soon as they were established in their new quarters he +organized the "chopping bee" already described and cleared some of the +land so that it could be used for crops. He did not clear and plant +this land to give his students agricultural training. He did it for +the purpose that all land was originally cleared and planted--to get +food. He, of course, realized that the educational content of this +work was great--greater than any possible textbook exercises in the +classroom. He then and there began the long and difficult task of +teaching his people that physical work, and particularly farm work, if +rightly done was education, and that education was work. To secure the +acceptance of this truth by a race only recently emancipated from over +two hundred years of unrequited toil--a race that had always regarded +freedom from the necessity for work as an indication of +superiority--was not a hopeful task. To them education was the +antithesis of work. It was the magic elixir which emancipated all +those fortunate enough to drink of it from the necessity for work. + +He also began to emphasize at this time his familiar dictum that +learning to do the common things of life in an uncommon way was an +essential part of real education. Probably the reverse of this dictum, +namely, learning to do the uncommon things of life in a common +way--would have more nearly corresponded to the popular conception of +education among most Negroes and many whites. + +Mr. Washington later developed a brickyard where, after a series of +failures sufficient to convince any ordinary man of the hopelessness +of the enterprise, they finally succeeded in baking creditable bricks +which were used by the students in the construction of buildings for +the school. He did not start this brickyard for the purpose of +vocational training any more than he started the farm for agricultural +training. He started it because they needed bricks with which to +build buildings in which to live, just as he started the farm to raise +food upon which to live. He saw to it, however, that the brickyard was +used as an instrument of education and was never allowed to degenerate +into a mere brickyard and nothing more, just as he saw to it that the +farm was used as a means of education and was not allowed to +degenerate into a mere farm and nothing more. It was even more +difficult to persuade the students that the hard, heavy, dirty work of +the brickyard was education than it had been to persuade them that +farm work was education. Mr. Washington wasted no time in arguing this +point, however, but merely insisted that without bricks they could not +put up proper buildings, and that without buildings they could not +have such a school as they must have not only for themselves but for +their race. + +[Illustration: Tuskegee Institute students laying the foundation for +one of the four Emery buildings--boys' dormitories.] + +So this originally landless, buildingless, studentless, and +teacherless school came eventually to have all four of these obvious +requisites, but it still lacked a fundamental requirement for the +effective fulfillment of its purpose. It lacked a boarding department +where the students might learn to live. In his tours among the people +Mr. Washington had found the great majority in the plantation +districts living on fat pork and corn bread, and sleeping in +one-room cabins. They planted nothing but cotton, bought their food at +the nearest village or town market instead of raising it, and lived +under conditions where the fundamental laws of hygiene and decent +social intercourse were both unknown and impossible of application. +The young men and women from such homes must be taught how to live in +houses with more than one room, how to keep their persons and their +surroundings clean, how to sleep in a bed between sheets, how not only +to raise but to prepare, serve, and eat a healthful variety of proper +food at regular and stated intervals, to say nothing of a trade by +which to maintain themselves both during their course and after +graduation as well as the usual book learning of the ordinary school. +Obviously they could not be taught these things unless they lived day +and night on the school grounds instead of boarding about with people +whose standards of living were very little if at all higher than those +of their homes. Accordingly volunteers were called for, and the +students made an excavation under their new brick building which was +made into a basement kitchen and dining-room. As Mr. Washington says +in "Up from Slavery," "We had nothing but the students and their +appetites with which to begin a boarding department." As soon as this +boarding department was established it became possible to influence +directly the lives of the students during the entire twenty-four hours +of the day. From then on each student was required to have and to use +a toothbrush. Mr. Washington has since remarked that, in his opinion, +the toothbrush is the most potent single instrument of civilization. +Then, too, it was possible for him to begin to enforce this injunction +taken from one of his now well-known Sunday night talks, "Make a study +of the preparation of food. See to it that a certain ceremony, a +certain importance, be attached to the partaking of the food----" This +exhortation sounds so commonplace as to be scarcely noticed by the +average reader, but just put yourself in the place of one of these +boys or girls who came from a one-room cabin and realize what a +profoundly revolutionary, even sensational, injunction it is! To the +boy or girl who had snatched a morsel of food here, there, or anywhere +when prompted by the gnawings of hunger, who had never sat down to a +regular meal, who had never partaken of a meal placed upon a table +with or without ceremony--imagine what it meant to such a boy or girl +"to see to it that a certain ceremony, a certain importance, be +attached to the partaking of the food"--not on special occasions but +at each one of the three meals of each day! + +Finally it came about that this school which had started with a paltry +$2,000 a year, a great need, and the invincible determination of one +man, came to have land, buildings, teachers, students, and even a +boarding department. But in Mr. Washington's view there was still a +great fundamental lack in their work. They were doing nothing directly +to help those less fortunate than themselves--those about them who +could not come and enjoy the advantages of the school. Mr. Washington +held that as soon as an individual got hold of anything as useful +and desirable as education he should take immediate means to hand +it on to the greatest possible number of those who needed it. He had +no patience with those persons who would climb the tree of knowledge +and then pull the ladder up after them. + +[Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + +"His influence, like that of his school, was at first community wide, +then county wide, then state wide, and finally nation wide."] + +He and his teachers then began to go out on Sundays and give the +people homely talks on how to improve their living conditions. They +encouraged the farmers to come to the school farm and learn how to +grow a variety of crops to supplement the cotton crop which was their +sole reliance. They relieved the distress of individual families. Mrs. +Washington gathered together in an old loft the farmers' wives and +daughters who were in the habit of loafing about the village of +Tuskegee on Saturday afternoons and formed them into a woman's club +for the improvement of the living conditions in their homes and +communities. Mr. Washington and his teachers went right on to the +farms and into the homes, and into the churches and the schools, and +everywhere showed, for the most part by concrete object-lessons, how +they could make their farms more productive, their homes more +comfortable, their schools more useful, and their church services more +inspiring. All this was done not with an idea of starting an extension +department or a social service department, but merely because these +people needed help, and Mr. Washington knew that both teachers and +students would help themselves in helping them. Finally, chiefly +through the efforts of Mrs. Washington, a model country school was +established in the district adjoining the Institute's property. This +school is a farm home where the young teacher and his wife, both +graduates of Tuskegee, teach the boys and girls who come to them each +day how to live on a farm--teach them by practice and object-lesson as +well as by precept. They follow the ordinary country school +curriculum, but that is a small and relatively unimportant part of +what this school gives its pupils. Then, too, the teachers of Tuskegee +early started campaigns looking to the extending of the school terms +throughout Macon County and the adjoining counties from three to five +months, as was customary, to nine months. + +And this work of Tuskegee beyond its own borders grew as constantly in +volume and extent as the work within its borders, so that Tuskegee +soon became the vital force--the yeast that was raising the level of +life and well-being throughout, first, the town and neighborhood of +Tuskegee, then the County of Macon, then the surrounding counties and +the State of Alabama; and finally, in conjunction with its mother, +Hampton, and its children situated at strategic points throughout the +South, the entire Negro people of the South, and indirectly the whole +nation. + +And as the school grew, so grew the man whose life was its embodiment. +It is impossible to think of Booker Washington and Tuskegee +separately. Just as he typified Tuskegee, so Tuskegee typified him. +Just as he made the school, so the school made him. His influence, +like that of his school, was at first community wide, then county +wide, then State wide, and finally nation wide. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +LEADER OF HIS RACE + + +In 1895, fourteen years after the founding of Tuskegee Institute, +Booker T. Washington was selected to represent his race at the opening +of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. +On this occasion he mounted the platform, to make the first address +which any member of his race had ever made before any representative +body of Southern men and women, as an obscure but worthy young colored +man who had commended himself to a few thinking persons by building up +an excellent industrial school for his people. He came off that +platform amid scenes of almost hysterical enthusiasm and was +thenceforth proclaimed as the leader of his race, the Moses of his +people, and one of America's great men. + +In this epoch-making speech Booker Washington had presented a solution +of an apparently insoluble problem. He had offered a platform upon +which, as Clark Howell said in the Atlanta _Constitution_, "both +races, blacks and whites, could stand with full justice to each." In +the course of the speech he told this story: "A ship lost at sea for +many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the +unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: 'Water, water; we die of +thirst!' The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: 'Cast +down your bucket where you are.' A second time the signal, 'Water, +water, send us water!' ran up from the distressed vessel, and was +answered: 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' And a third and +fourth signal for water was answered, 'Cast down your bucket where you +are.' The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the +injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, +sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River." He then appealed +to his own people to "cast down their buckets where they were" by +making friends with their white neighbors in every manly way, by +training themselves where they were in agriculture, in mechanics, in +commerce, instead of trying to better their condition by migration. +And finally to the Southern white people he appealed "to cast down +their buckets where they were" by using and training the Negroes whom +they knew rather than seeking to import foreign laborers whom they did +not know. + +When he reached the crux and climax of the speech--the delicate matter +of the relations between the races, socially--he held up his right +hand with his fingers outstretched and said: "In all things that are +purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the +hand in all things essential to mutual progress." At this remark the +audience went wild! Ladies stood on their chairs and waved their +handkerchiefs, while men threw up their hats, danced, and catcalled. +An old ante-bellum Negro, who had been sitting crosslegged in one of +the aisles, wept tears of pride and joy as he swayed from side to +side. By this statement, with what had led up to it, Booker Washington +captured the allegiance of all really representative Southern whites, +and by consistently adhering to this position he, in an +ever-increasing degree, won and held their allegiance till the end. + +Frederick Douglass, the great leader of his race during the closing +days of slavery, during the War and the Reconstruction period, had +died only a few months before. Everywhere, by leading whites, as well +as blacks, Washington was acclaimed as the successor of Douglass--the +new leader of the Negro race. One of the first colored men so to +acclaim him was Emmett J. Scott, who was then editing a Negro +newspaper in Houston, Texas, and little realized that he was to become +the most intimate associate of the new leader. In an editorial Mr. +Scott said of this address: "Without resort to exaggeration, it is but +simple justice to call the address great. It was great! Great, in that +it exhibited the speaker's qualities of head and heart; great in that +he could and did discriminately recognize conditions as they affect +his people, and greater still in the absolute modesty, self-respect, +and dignity with which he presented a platform upon which, as Clark +Howell, of the Atlanta _Constitution_ says: 'both races, blacks and +whites, can stand with full justice to each.'" Perhaps the most +remarkable feature of Booker Washington's leadership was that from +that time on he never deviated one hair's breadth in word or deed from +the platform laid down in this brief address. + +It was not to be expected, however, that such a radically new note in +Negro leadership could be struck without some discord. As was +perfectly natural, some more or less prominent Negroes, whose mental +processes followed the lines of cleavage between the races engendered +by the embittering experiences of the Reconstruction period, looked +with suspicion upon a Negro leader who had won the approbation of the +South, of leading white citizens, press, and public. In the days of +slavery it was a frequent custom on large plantations to use one of +the slaves as a kind of stool pigeon to spy upon the others and report +their misdeeds. Naturally such persons were hated and despised and +looked upon as traitors to their race. Hence, it came about that the +praise of a white man was apt to throw suspicion upon the racial +loyalty of a black man. This habit of mind, like all mental habits, +long survived the system and circumstances which occasioned it. +Therefore, it was inevitable that the fact that the white press +throughout the South rang with his praises for days and weeks after +the sensationally enthusiastic reception of his speech at the +exposition should not be accepted as a desirable endorsement of the +new leader by at least a few of his own people. + +A more or less conspicuous colored preacher summed up this slight +undertow of dissent when he said: "I want to pay my respects next to a +colored man. He is a great man, too, but he isn't our Moses, as the +white people are pleased to call him. I allude to Booker T. +Washington. He has been with the white people so long that he has +learned to throw sop with the rest. He made a speech at Atlanta the +other day, and the newspapers of all the large cities praised it and +called it the greatest speech ever delivered by a colored man. When I +heard that, I said: 'There must be something wrong with it, or the +white people would not be praising it so.' I got the speech and read +it. Then I said, 'Ah, here it is,' and I read his words, 'the colored +people do not want social equality.' (This man's interpretation of +this sentence in the speech, "The wisest among my race understand that +the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, +and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will +come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather +than of artificial forcing.") I tell you that is a lie. We do want +social equality. Why, don't you want your manhood recognized? Then Mr. +Washington said that our emancipation and enfranchisement were +untimely and a mistake; that we were not ready for it. (Naturally, Mr. +Washington said no such thing.) What did he say that for but to tickle +the palates of the white people? Oh, yes, he was shrewd. He will get +many hundreds of dollars for his school by it." + +Let it not be thought that this attitude represented any large or +important body of opinion among the Negroes. The great majority both +of the leaders and the rank and file enthusiastically accepted both +the new leader and his new kind of leadership. The small minority, +however, holding the view of the preacher quoted, continued to cause +Booker Washington some annoyance, which, although continuously +lessening, persisted in some degree throughout his life. This +numerically small and individually unimportant element of the Negroes +in America would hardly warrant even passing mention except that the +always carping and sometimes bitter criticisms of these persons are +apt to confuse the well-wishers of the race who do not understand the +situation. + +The Negroes holding this point of view are sometimes pleased to refer +to themselves as the Talented Tenth. They are largely city dwellers +who have had more or less of what they term "higher education"--Latin, +Greek, Theology, and the like. A number of these persons make all or a +part of their living by publicly bewailing the wrongs and injustices +of their race and demanding their redress by immediate means. Mr. +Washington's emphasis upon the advantages of Negroes in America and +the debt of gratitude which they owe to the whites, who have helped +them to make more progress in fifty years than any other race ever +made in a like period, is naturally very annoying to this type of +person. In spite of their constant abuse of him Mr. Washington some +years ago agreed to confer with the leaders of this faction to see if +a program could not be devised through which all could work together +instead of at cross purposes. In spite of the fact that the chief +exponent of this group opened the first meeting with a bitter attack +upon Mr. Washington, such a program was adopted, to which, before the +conferences were over, all duly and amicably agreed to adhere. Some of +the more restless spirits among the leaders of the Talented Tenth +soon, however, broke their pledges, repudiated the whole arrangement, +and started in as before to denounce Mr. Washington and those who +thought and acted with him. + +After the Atlanta speech Mr. Washington's task was a dual one. While +the active head of his great and rapidly growing institution, he was +also the generally accepted leader of his race. It is with his +leadership of his race that we are concerned in this chapter. His +duties in this capacity were vast and ill defined, and his +responsibility exceedingly heavy. He said, himself, that when he first +came to be talked of as the leader of his race he was somewhat at a +loss to know what was expected of him in that capacity. His tasks in +this direction, however, were thrust upon him so thick and fast that +he had not long to remain in this state of mind. After the Atlanta +speech he was in almost daily contact with what was befalling his +people in all parts of the country and to some extent all over the +world. Through his press clipping service, supplemented by myriads of +letters and personal reports, practically every event of any +significance to his race came to his notice. When he heard of rioting, +lynching, or serious trouble in any community he sent a message of +advice, encouragement, or warning to the leading Negroes of the +locality and sometimes to the whites whom he knew to be interested in +the welfare of the Negroes. When the trouble was sufficiently serious +to warrant it he went in person to the scene. When he heard of a Negro +winning a prize at a county fair, or being placed in some position of +unusual trust and distinction, he wrote him a letter of +congratulation and learned the circumstances so that he might cite +the incident by way of encouragement to others. + +After the riots in Atlanta, Georgia, some years ago, when infuriated +white mobs foiled in their efforts to lynch a Negro murderer, burned, +killed, and laid waste right and left in the Negro section of the +town, Mr. Washington, who was in the North at the time, boarded the +first train for the city, arrived just after the bloody scenes, +gathered together his frightened people amid the smoking ruins of +their homes, soothed, calmed, and cheered them. He then went to the +leading city officials, secured from them a promise of succor for the +stricken people and protection against further attack. Next he went to +the Governor of the State, secured his sympathy and coöperation, and +with him organized a conference of leading State and city officials +and other representative men who there and then mapped out a program +tending to prevent the recurrence of such race riots--a program which +up to the present time has successfully fulfilled its purpose. It is +characteristic of Mr. Washington's methods that he turned this +disaster into an ultimate blessing for the very community that was +afflicted. + +Mr. Washington was the kind of leader who kept very close to the plain +people. He knew their every-day lives, their weaknesses, their +temptations. To use a slang phrase, he knew exactly what they "were up +against" whether they lived in country or city. Within a comparatively +short period before his death he addressed two audiences as widely +separated by distance and environment as the farmers gathered +together for the first Negro Fair of southwestern Georgia at Albany, +Georgia, and five thousand Negro residents of New York City assembled +in the Harlem Casino. He told those Georgia farmers how much land they +owned and to what extent it was mortgaged, how much land they leased, +how much cotton they raised, and how much of other crops they raised, +or, rather, did not raise; how many mules and hogs they owned, and how +they could with profit increase their ownership in mules and hogs; he +told them how many drug stores, grocery stores, and banks in the State +and county were owned by Negroes; and then, switching from the general +to the particular, he described the daily life of the ordinary, +easy-going tenant farmer of the locality. He pictured what he saw when +he came out of his unpainted house in the morning: that gate off the +hinges, that broken window-pane with an old coat stuck into it, that +cotton planted right up to the doors with no room left for a garden, +and no garden; and, worse than all, the uncomfortable knowledge of +debts concealed from the hard-working wife and mother. Then he +pictured what that same man's place might be and should become. + +It was once said of a certain eminent preacher that his logic was on +fire. It might be said of Booker Washington that his statistics were +on fire. He marshalled them in such a way that they were dynamic and +stirring instead of static and paralyzing, as we all know them to our +sorrow. It so happened that Mr. Washington had never before been in +southwestern Georgia. After his speech one old farmer was heard to +say as he shook his head: "I don't understan' it! Booker T. Washington +he ain't never ben here befo', yit he knows mo' 'bout dese parts an' +mo' 'bout us den what eny of us knows ourselves." This old man did not +know that one of Mr. Washington's most painstaking and efficient +assistants, Mr. Monroe N. Work, the editor of the _Negro Year Book_, +devoted much of his time to keeping his chief provided with this +startlingly accurate information about his people in every section of +the United States. + +On this occasion there were on the platform with Mr. Washington and +the officials of the fair the Mayor of Albany and members of the City +Council, while in the audience were several hundred whites on one side +of the centre aisle and twice as many blacks on the other. And Mr. +Washington would alternately address himself to his white and black +audience. He would, for instance, turn to the white men and tell them +that he had never known a particularly successful black man who could +not trace his original success to the aid or encouragement he had +received in one form or another from a white friend. He would tell +them that without their assistance his race could never have made more +progress in the last fifty years in this country than any similar +group of people had ever made in a like period of time. After he had +raised the white section of his audience to a high degree of +self-congratulatory complaisance he would suddenly shift the tenor of +his remarks and ask them why they should mar this splendid record by +discriminating against the weaker race in matters of education, by +destroying their confidence in the justice of the courts through mob +violence, and by the numerous small, mean ways in which race prejudice +shows itself and retards and discourages the upward struggle of a +weaker people. As he proceeded along these lines one could see the +self-congratulatory expression fade from the faces of his white +listeners. + +He would next turn to his own people and tell them of their phenomenal +progress since emancipation and of the great and essential part they +had played in the upbuilding of the South--left prostrate by the Civil +War. One could see their eager, upturned faces glow with pride and +self-satisfaction. But suddenly he would shift the tone of his +comments and tell them how sadly those of them who were indolent and +shiftless and unreliable and vicious were retarding the upward +struggles of the industrious and self-respecting majority and how they +were perpetuating the prejudice against the whole race. And as he +pictured this seamy side of the situation one could see the glow of +pride gradually wilt from the myriads of swarthy upturned faces. + +Hardly less successful than his use of statistics was his use of the +much-abused funny story. He never told a story, however good, for its +own sake. He told it only when it would most effectively drive home +whatever point he happened to be making. In this same speech he was +saying that a Negro who is lazy and unreliable and does nothing to +accumulate property or improve his earning capacity deserves no +consideration from whites or blacks and has no right to say that the +color line is drawn against him. By way of illustration he told this +story: "A shiftless Southern poor white asked a self-respecting old +black man for three cents with which to pay his ferry fare across a +river. The old black man replied: I's sorry not to commerdate yer, +boss, but der fac' is dat a man what ain't got three cents is jest as +bad off on one side ob der ribber as der udder.'" + +At another point in this speech he was telling his people not to be +discouraged because their race has less to point to than other races +in the way of past achievements. He said that after all it was the +future that was of vital concern and not the past, and that the future +was theirs to a peculiar degree because they were a young race. And to +illustrate their situation he told of meeting old Aunt Caroline one +evening striding along with a basket on her head. He said, "Where are +you going, Aunt Caroline?" And she replied: "Lor' bless yer, Mister +Washin'ton, I dun bin where I's er goin'." "And so," he concluded, +"some of the races of the earth have dun bin where dey was er goin'!" +but fortunately the Negro race was not among them. + +In making the point that, in spite of race prejudice, the handicaps to +which his people were subjected in the South were after all +superficial and did not interfere with their chance to work and earn a +living, he told the experience of an old Negro who was accompanying +him on one of his Southern educational tours. At a certain city they +were obliged to wait several hours between trains, so this old man +took advantage of the opportunity to stroll about and see the sights +of the place. After a while he pulled out his watch and found he had +barely time to get back to the station before the train was due to +leave. Accordingly he rushed to a hack stand and called out to the +first driver he came to, who happened to be a white man: "Hurry up an' +take me to the station, I's gotta get the 4:32 train!" To which the +white hack driver replied: "I ain't never drove a nigger in my hack +yit an' I ain't goin' ter begin now. You can git a nigger driver ter +take ye down!" + +To this the old colored man replied with perfect good nature: "All +right, my frien', we won't have no misunderstanding or trouble; I'll +tell you how we'll settle it: you jest hop in on der back seat an' do +der ridin' and I'll set in front an' do der drivin'." In this way they +reached the station amicably and the old man caught his train. Like +this old Negro, Mr. Washington always devoted his energies to catching +the train, and it made little difference to him whether he sat on the +front or the back seat. + +A few months later, to the five thousand people of his own race in the +Harlem Casino in New York City, he described their daily lives, their +problems, perplexities, and temptations in terms as homely, as +picturesque, and as vivid as he used in talking to the Georgia +farmers. He urged them, just as he did the farmers, to stop moving +about and to settle down--"to stop _staying_ here and there and +everywhere and begin to _live_ somewhere." He urged them to leave the +little mechanical job of window washing, or what not, and go into +business for themselves, even if they could only afford a few +newspapers or peanuts to start with. He told of a certain New York +street where he had found all the people on one side of a row of push +carts were selling something, while all the people on the other side +were buying something. Those that were selling were white people, +while those that were buying were colored people. That, he said, was a +color line they had drawn themselves. He reminded them of the high +cost of living, and by way of example he commented upon the expense of +having to buy so many shoes. He said: "Up here you not only have to +have good, expensive shoes, but you have to wear them all the time." +And then he reminded them how back in the country down South, before +they came to the city, they would buy a pair of shoes at Christmas and +after Christmas put them away in the "chist" and not take them out +again until "big meeting day," and then wear them only in the meeting +and not walking to and from the church. And as he concluded with the +words, "Under those conditions shoes last a long time," people all +over the audience were chuckling and nudging and winking at one +another as people will when characteristic incidents in their past +lives are graphically recalled to them. + +Then he described the almost innumerable temptations to spend money +which the city offers. Some of the store windows are so enticing that, +as he said, "the dollars almost jump out of your pockets as you go by +on the sidewalk." "Then you men working for rich men here in the city +smell the smoke of so many twenty-five-cent cigars that after a while +you feel as though you must smoke twenty-five-cent cigars. You don't +stop to think that when the grandfathers of those very men first came +from the country a hundred years ago they smoked two-for-five +cigars." Then he told of a family he had found living on the tenth +story of an electric-lighted, steam-heated apartment house with +elevator service, and this very family only two years before was +living in a two-room cabin in the Yazoo Valley on the Mississippi +bottoms. And he commented: "Now, that family's in danger. No people +can change as much and as fast as that without great danger!" + +[Illustration: A study in black. Note the tensity of expression with +which the group is following his each and every word.] + +Next he touched on the high rents and said: "You mothers know that +sooner or later you have to take in roomers to help pay that rent, and +after a while you take in Tom, Dick, or Harry, or anybody who's got +the money regardless of who or what they are, and you mothers know the +danger that spells for your daughters." (At this point he was +interrupted by a chorus of "amens" from women all over the great +hall.) He continued: "Now, you take the 'old man' aside an' tell him +straight, you're not going to have any more roomers hanging round your +house--that he's got to hustle for a better job or go into some little +business for himself, or move out into some little cottage in the +country, or do something to get rid of those Tom, Dick, and Harry +roomers." + +In short, in this speech Mr. Washington showed that he knew just as +intimately the lives of his people in the flats of Greater New York as +on the farms of southwestern Georgia. + +In spite of his grasp of details Mr. Washington never became so +immersed in them as to lose sight of his ultimate goal, and conversely +he never became so blinded by the vision of his ultimate goal as to +overlook details. The solution of the so-called Negro problem in +America, he felt, is to be found along these lines: As his people have +more and more opportunity for training and become better and better +trained they become more and more self-sufficient. They are developing +their own carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, farmers, merchants, and +bankers as well as lawyers, teachers, preachers, and physicians. These +trained people naturally, for the most part, serve their own race, and +to them the members of the race naturally turn for the service that +each is equipped to render. As they acquire wealth, education, and +cultivation, the persons possessing these advantages naturally +intermingle socially and build up a society from which the rough, +ignorant, and uncouth of their own race are as inevitably excluded as +are such persons from all polite social intercourse of whatever +people. These Negroes of education and cultivation no more desire to +force themselves into the society of the other race than do any +persons of real education and cultivation desire to go where they are +not wanted. As the race increases in wealth and culture it becomes +more and more easy and natural for its successful members to satisfy +their social desires and ambitions in their own society. Already in +the centres of Negro prosperity and culture it would be almost, if not +quite, as impossible for a white man to be received into the best +Negro society as it would for a Negro to be received into the best +white society. This growing independence and self-sufficiency in the +trades, the professions, and social intercourse leads inevitably, as +he pointed out, to a form of natural segregation based upon economic +needs and social preferences, and in conformity to the laws of nature, +which is a very different matter from the artificial and arbitrary +segregation forced upon unwilling people by the laws of men. Under +these conditions the disputes as to whether the best society of the +blacks is inferior or superior to the best society of the whites +becomes as academic and futile as would be similar contentions as to +whether the best society of Constantinople is inferior or superior to +that of Boston. + +While Negroes are more and more drawing apart from the whites into +their own section of the city, town, or county they nevertheless find +it a source of strength to live near the whites in order that they may +have the benefit of their aid in those matters in which the older and +stronger race excels. Nor is this an entirely one-sided advantage, as +there are not a few matters in which the Negroes have natural +advantages over the whites and hence may render them useful service. +Thus the two races, socially separated but economically +interdependent, may to mutual advantage live side by side. + +Some persons claim that any such plan of race adjustment, while +theoretically plausible and ideally desirable, is nevertheless +practically impossible. They contend that no so radically different +races have ever lived side by side in harmony and each aiding the +other. However that may be, there remains the fact that such a +harmonious and mutually helpful relationship between the two races +does already exist in the town of Tuskegee, throughout Macon County, +and in many other of the more progressive localities throughout the +South to-day. And at the same time, the lynchings and riots and other +manifestations of racial conflict are continuously if slowly growing +less frequent. Whatever may be the relative strength of the two +theories, the facts are lining up in support of the Booker Washington +prophecy at the Atlanta Exposition when he said: "In all things that +are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the +hand in all things essential to mutual progress." + +During the last twenty years of his life Mr. Washington came more and +more to be regarded as the representative and spokesman of his race, +and was invited to represent and speak for them at such national and +international gatherings as the annual conventions of the National +Negro Business League, of which he was the president and founder; the +great meeting in honor of the brotherhood of man, held in Boston in +1897; the Presbyterian rally for Home Missions, at which President +Grover Cleveland presided; the International Sunday-school Convention +held in Chicago in 1914; the meeting of the National Educational +Association in St. Louis in 1904; the Thanksgiving Peace Jubilee in +the Chicago Auditorium at the close of the war with Spain in 1898, +with President McKinley and his Cabinet in attendance; the +Commencement exercises at Harvard in 1896, when President Eliot +conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts; the International +Conference on the Negro, held at Tuskegee in 1912, with +representatives present from Europe, Africa, the West Indies, and +South America, as well as all sections of the United States. Dartmouth +College conferred his Doctorate upon him in 1901. + +At Harvard in 1896 President Eliot, with these words, conferred upon +Mr. Washington the first honorary degree ever conferred by a great +university upon an American Negro: "Teacher, wise helper of his race; +good servant of God and country." In his speech delivered at the +Alumni Dinner on the same day Mr. Washington brought this message to +Harvard: "If through me, an humble representative, seven millions of +my people in the South might be permitted to send a message to +Harvard--Harvard that offered up on death's altar young Shaw, and +Russell, and Lowell, and scores of others, that we might have a free +and united country--that message would be: 'Tell them that the +sacrifice was not in vain. Tell them that by the way of the shop, the +field, the skilled hand, habits of thrift and economy, by way of +industrial school and college, we are coming. We are crawling up, +working up, yea, bursting up. Often through oppression, unjust +discrimination, and prejudice, but through them all we are coming up, +and with proper habits, intelligence, and property, there is no power +on earth that can permanently stay our progress!'" + +The next year at the great meeting in honor of the brotherhood of man +held in Music Hall, Boston, which concluded with the unveiling of the +monument of Robert Gould Shaw, Booker Washington in concluding his +address turned to the one-armed color bearer of Colonel Shaw's +regiment and said: "To you, to the scarred and scattered remnants of +the Fifty-fourth, who with empty sleeve and wanting leg have honored +this occasion with your presence--to you, your commander is not dead. +Though Boston erected no monument, and history recorded no story, in +you and the loyal race which you represent Robert Gould Shaw will have +a monument which time cannot wear away." + +In his speech at the Peace Jubilee exercises after the war with Spain, +Mr. Washington said: "When you have gotten the full story of the +heroic conduct of the Negro in the Spanish-American War--heard it from +the lips of Northern soldiers and Southern soldiers, from +ex-abolitionist and ex-master--then decide within yourselves whether a +race that is thus willing to die for its country should not be given +the highest opportunity to live for its country." And again in the +same speech, after rehearsing the successes of American arms, he said: +"We have succeeded in every conflict, except the effort to conquer +ourselves in the blotting out of racial prejudices.... Until we thus +conquer ourselves, I make no empty statement when I say that we shall +have, especially in the Southern part of our country, a cancer gnawing +at the heart of the Republic that shall one day prove as dangerous as +an attack from an army without or within." Note this as the language +of a man on a great national occasion who has been accused of a +time-serving acquiescence in the injustices which his race suffers! + +In his address before the National Educational Association in St. +Louis, in 1904, he made the following remarks which are typical of +points he sought to emphasize when addressing audiences of white +people: "Let me free your minds, if I can, from possible fear and +apprehension in two directions: the Negro in this country does not +seek, as a race, to exercise political supremacy over the white man, +nor is social intermingling with any race considered by the Negro to +be one of the essentials to his progress. You may not know it, but my +people are as proud of their racial identity as you are of yours, and +in the degree that they become intelligent, racial pride increases. I +was never prouder of the fact that I am classed as a Negro than I am +to-day.... I can point you to groups of my people in nearly every part +of our country that in intelligence and high and unselfish purpose of +their school and church life, and in the purity and sweetness of their +home life and social intercourse, will compare favorably with the +races of the earth. You can never lift any large section of people by +continually calling attention to their weak points. A race, like a +child in school, needs encouragement as well as chastisement." + +In his address before the annual session of 1914 of the National Negro +Business League at Muskogee, Oklahoma, Mr. Washington made the +following remarks which are typical of his points of chief emphasis in +addressing his own people: "Let your success thoroughly eclipse your +shortcomings. We must give the world so much to think and talk about +that relates to our constructive work in the direction of progress +that people will forget and overlook our failures and shortcomings.... +One big, definite fact in the direction of achievement and +construction will go farther in securing rights and removing +prejudice than many printed pages of defense and explanation.... Let +us in the future spend less time talking about the part of the city +that we cannot live in, and more time in making that part of the city +that we can live in beautiful and attractive." + +It is characteristic of the kind of criticism to which Mr. Washington +was subjected that a certain element of the Negro press violently +denounced this comment as an indirect endorsement of the legal +segregation of Negroes. Probably the last article written by Mr. +Washington for any publication was the one published posthumously by +the _New Republic_, New York City, December 4, 1915, entitled, "My +View of Segregation Laws," in which he stated in no uncertain terms +his views on the segregation laws which were being passed in the +South. In concluding his article, he said: + +"Summarizing the matter in the large, segregation is ill-advised +because: + +1. It is unjust. + +2. It invites other unjust measures. + +3. It will not be productive of good, because practically every +thoughtful Negro resents its injustice and doubts its sincerity. Any +race adjustment based on injustice finally defeats itself. The Civil +War is the best illustration of what results where it is attempted to +make wrong right or seem to be right. + +4. It is unnecessary. + +5. It is inconsistent. The Negro is segregated from his white +neighbor, but white business men are not prevented from doing business +in Negro neighborhoods. + +6. There has been no case of segregation of Negroes in the United +States that has not widened the breach between the two races. Wherever +a form of segregation exists it will be found that it has been +administered in such a way as to embitter the Negro and harm more or +less the moral fibre of the white man. That the Negro does not express +this constant sense of wrong is no proof that he does not feel it. + +"It seems to me that the reasons given above, if carefully considered, +should serve to prevent further passage of such segregation ordinances +as have been adopted in Norfolk, Richmond, Louisville, Baltimore, and +one or two cities in South Carolina. + +"Finally, as I have said in another place, as white and black learn +daily to adjust, in a spirit of justice and fair play, these interests +which are individual and racial, and to see and feel the importance of +those fundamental interests which are common, so will both races grow +and prosper. In the long run, no individual and no race can succeed +which sets itself at war against the common good; for in the gain or +loss of one race all the rest have equal claim." + +In concluding his Muskogee speech he said: "If there are those who are +inclined to be discouraged concerning racial conditions in this +country we have but to turn our minds in the direction of the +deplorable conditions in Europe, growing largely out of racial +bitterness and friction. When we contrast what has taken place there +with the peaceful manner in which black people and white people are +living together in this country, notwithstanding now and then there +are evidences of injustice and friction, which should always be +condemned, we have the greatest cause for thanksgiving. Perhaps +nowhere else in the world can be found so many white people living +side by side with so many of dark skin in so much of peace and harmony +as in the United States." + +This concluding observation was particularly characteristic of him. +Somewhere, or somehow, he always turned to account all significant +events for weal or woe from the most trivial personal happenings to +the titanic world war. + +Like all great leaders, Booker Washington did the bulk of his work +quietly in his own office and not on dramatic historic occasions +before great audiences. He received every day, for instance, a huge +and varied mail which required not only industry to handle, but much +judgment, patience, and tact to dispose of wisely and adequately. We +will here mention and quote from a sheaf of letters taken at random +from his files which partially illustrate the range of his interests +and the variety of the calls which were constantly made upon him. + +A railroad official in Colorado asked his opinion on the question of +separate schools for white and black children apropos of a movement to +amend the State constitution so as to make possible such separate +schools. In his reply Mr. Washington said: "As a rule, colored people +in the Northern States are very much opposed to any plans for +separate schools, and I think their feelings in the matter deserve +consideration. The real objection to separate schools, from their +point of view, is that they do not like to feel that they are +compelled to go to one school rather than the other. It seems as if it +was taking away part of their freedom. This feeling is likely to be +all the stronger where the matter is made a subject of public +agitation. On the other hand, my experience is that if this matter is +left to the discretion of the school officials it usually settles +itself. As the colored people usually live pretty closely together, +there will naturally be schools in which colored students are in the +majority. In that case, the process of separation takes place +naturally and without the necessity of changing the constitution. If +you make it a constitutional question, the colored people are going to +be opposed to it. If you leave it simply an administrative question, +which it really is, the matter will very likely settle itself." + +We next find a courteous reply to the letter of some poor crank who +wanted to secure his backing for a preparation which he had concocted +for taking the curl out of Negroes' hair. Then comes a letter to a man +who wants to know whether it is true that the Negro race is dying out. +To him Mr. Washington quoted the United States census figures for +1910, which indicate an increase of 11-3/10 per cent. in the Negro +population for the decade. + +Next, we come upon a letter written to a man who is interested in an +effort of the Freedman's Aid Society to raise a half a million dollars +for Negro schools in the South. Since this letter so well describes +an important phase of Booker Washington's leadership we give it almost +in full. It was written in 1913 and runs thus: + +"I think the most interesting work that Tuskegee has done in recent +years is its work in rural schools in the country surrounding the +Institute. During the last five or six years forty-seven school +buildings have been erected in Macon County by colored people +themselves. At the same time the school term has been lengthened in +every part of the county from five to eight months. This work has been +done under the direction of a supervising teacher working in +connection with the extension department of the Institute. + +"Among other things that have been attempted to encourage the people +to improve their schools has been a model country school started in a +community called Rising Star, a few miles from the Institute. The +school at Rising Star is an example of the rural school that Tuskegee +is seeking to promote. It consists of a five-room frame house in which +the teachers--a Tuskegee graduate and his wife--not only teach, but +live. All the rooms are used by the school children. In the kitchen +they are taught to cook, in the dining-room to serve a meal, in the +bedroom to make the beds. In the garden they are taught how to raise +vegetables, poultry, pigs, and cows. They recite in the sitting-room +or on the veranda, and their lessons all deal with matters of their +own every-day life.... Instead of figuring how long it will take an +express train to reach the moon if it travelled at the rate of forty +miles an hour, the pupils figure out how much corn can be raised on +neighbor Smith's patch of land and how much farmer Jones' pig will +bring when slaughtered. + +"The pupils learn neatness and cleanliness by living in a decent home +during their school hours. They carry the lesson home, and the result +is seen in cleaner and better farmhouses. The model school has become +the pattern on which the farmers and their wives are improving their +homes...." + +Then comes a letter from a poor woman who wants him in the course of +his travels to look up her husband who abandoned her some years +before. For purposes of identification she says: "This is the hith of +him 5-6 light eyes dark hair unwave shave and a Suprano Voice his age +58 his name Steve...." Even though Mr. Washington did not agree to +spend his spare time looking for a disloyal husband with a soprano +voice, he sent the poor woman a kind reply and suggested some means of +tracing her recreant spouse. + +We come next upon a long letter written to a man who wishes to quote +for publication in a magazine Booker Washington's opinion on the +relation between crime and education. In the concluding paragraphs of +his reply Mr. Washington says: "In nine cases out of ten the crimes +which serve to unite and give an excuse for mob violence are committed +by men who are without property, without homes, and without education +except what they have picked up in the city slums, in prisons, or on +the chain gang. The South is spending too much money in giving the +Negro this kind of education that makes criminals and not enough on +the kind of schools that turn out farmers, carpenters, and +blacksmiths. Other things being equal, it is true not only in America, +in the South, but throughout the world, that there is the least crime +where there is the most education. This is true of the South and of +the Negro, just the same as it is true of every other race. +Particularly is it true that the individuals who commit crimes of +violence and crimes that are due to lack of self-control are +individuals who are, for the most part, ignorant. The decrease in +lynching in the Southern States is an index of the steady growth of +the South in wealth, in industry, in education, and in individual +liberty." + +Then comes a letter to an individual who desires to know what +proportion of the American Negroes can read and write now, and what +proportion could at the time of the Civil War. The reply again quotes +the 1910 census to the effect that 69.5 per cent. can now read and +write as compared with only 3 per cent. at the close of the war. The +letter also points out that the rate of illiteracy among American +Negroes is now lower than the rate for all the peoples of Russia, +Portugal, Brazil, and Venezuela, and almost as low as that of Spain. + +There follows a sheaf of correspondence in which Mr. Washington agreed +to speak at the unveiling of a tablet in Auburn, New York, to the +memory of "Aunt Harriet" Tubman Davis, the black woman, squat of +stature and seamed of face, who piloted three or four hundred slaves +from the land of bondage to the land of freedom. While there he also +agreed to speak at Auburn prison in response to the special request of +some of the prisoners. + +Then we find a courteous but firmly negative reply to a long-winded +bore who writes a six-page letter urging Mr. Washington to secure the +acceptance by the Negro race of a flag which he has designed as their +racial flag. + +After this follows a group of letters which passed between him and the +late Edgar Gardiner Murphy, author of "The Present South," "The Basis +of Ascendency," and other important books. In one of these letters Mr. +Washington agrees, as requested, to read the proofs of "The Basis of +Ascendency," and in another he thus characteristically comments upon +Mr. Murphy's fears that a pessimistic book on the status of the Negro +written by a supposed authority (a colored man) would do wide-reaching +harm: "Of course among a certain element it will have an influence for +harm, but human nature, as I observe it, is so constructed that it +does not take kindly to a description of a failure. It is hard to get +up enthusiasm in connection with a funeral procession. No man, in my +opinion, could write a history of the Southern Confederacy that would +be read generally because it failed. I am not saying, of course, that +the Negro race is a failure. Mr. ---- writes largely from that point of +view, hence there is no rallying point for the general reader." + +In reply to a Western university professor who had asked his opinion +of amalgamation as a solution of the race problem he wrote: "I have +never looked upon amalgamation as offering a solution of the so-called +race problem, and I know very few Negroes who favor it or even think +of it, for that matter. What those whom I have heard discuss the +matter do object to are laws which enable the father to escape his +responsibility, or prevent him from accepting and exercising it, when +he has children by colored women. I think this answers your question, +but since there seems to be some misunderstanding as to how colored +people feel about this subject, I might say in explanation of what I +have already said: The Negroes in America are, as you know, a mixed +race. If that is an advantage we have it; if it is a disadvantage, it +is still ours, and for the simple reason that the product of every +sort of racial mixture between the black man and any other race is +always a Negro and never a white man, Indian, or any other sort of +man. + +"The Negro in America is defined by the census as a person who is +classed as such in the community in which he or she resides. In other +words, the Negro in this country is not so much of a particular color +or particular racial stock as one who shares a particular condition. +It is the fact that they all share in this condition which creates a +cause of common sympathy and binds the members of the race together in +spite of all differences." + +To an embarrassing question put by the society editor of some paper +Mr. Washington replied by merely telling a funny story the application +of which to the impertinent inquiry was obvious. In another letter he +summed up his opinion of the much-mooted question of the franchise in +these two sentences: "There is no reason why every Negro who is not +fitted to vote should not be disfranchised. At the same time, there +is no good reason why every white man who is not fitted to vote should +not also be disfranchised." + +From the foregoing correspondence it will be seen that one of Booker +Washington's many rôles was to act as a kind of plenipotentiary and +interpreter between his people and the dominant race. For this part he +was peculiarly fitted by his thorough understanding of and sympathy +for each race. + +Theodore Roosevelt, immediately after taking the oath of office as +President of the United States, in Buffalo after the death of +President McKinley, wrote Mr. Washington the following note: + + [_Copy_] + + _Executive Mansion_ + + _Washington_ + + _Buffalo, N.Y.,_ + _Sept. 14, 1901._ + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: + + I write you at once to say that to my deep regret my visit + South must now be given up. + + When are you coming North? I must see you as soon as + possible. I want to talk over the question of possible + appointments in the South exactly on the lines of our last + conversation together. + + I hope that my visit to Tuskegee is merely deferred for a + short season. + + Faithfully yours, + + (Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + _Booker T. Washington, Esq.,_ + _Tuskegee, Alabama._ + +This deferred visit finally took place in 1905, not long after Colonel +Roosevelt's triumphant election to the Presidency, when he came to +Tuskegee accompanied by his secretary, William Loeb, Jr.; Federal +Civil Service Commissioner, John McIlhenny; Collector of Revenue for +the Birmingham District, J.O. Thompson; Judge Thomas G. Jones of +Montgomery, and a fellow Rough Rider by the name of Greeneway. + +In response to the above note Mr. Washington went to the White House +and discussed with the President "possible future appointments in the +South" along the lines agreed upon between them in a conference which +they had had at a time when it had seemed possible that Mr. Roosevelt +might be given the Republican Presidential nomination of 1900, that +is, while Mr. Roosevelt was Governor of New York and a tentative +candidate for the nomination. + +Upon his return to Tuskegee after this talk with President Roosevelt, +Mr. Washington found that the judgeship for the Southern District of +Alabama had just become vacant through the death of the incumbent, +Judge Bruce. Here was an opportunity for the President to put into +practice in striking fashion the policy they had discussed--namely, to +appoint to Federal posts in the Southern States the best men available +and to reward and recognize conspicuous merit among Southern Democrats +and Southern Negroes as well as among Southern white Republicans. +Being unable at the moment to return to Washington, he sent his +secretary with the following letter: + + _Tuskegee, Alabama,_ + _October 2, 1901._ + + President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C. + + MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I send you the following information + through my secretary, Mr. Emmett J. Scott, whom you can + trust implicitly. + + Judge Bruce, the Judge of the Middle District of Alabama, + died yesterday. There is going to be a very hard scramble + for his place. I saw ex-governor T.G. Jones yesterday, as I + promised, and he is willing to accept the judgeship of the + Middle District of Alabama. I am more convinced now than + ever that he is the proper man for the place. He has until + recently been president of the Alabama State Bar + Association. He is a Gold Democrat, and is a clean, pure man + in every respect. He stood up in the Constitutional + Convention and elsewhere for a fair election law, opposed + lynching, and he has been outspoken for the education of + both races. He is head and shoulders above any of the other + persons who I think will apply for the position. + + Yours truly, + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + P.S.--I do not believe in all the South you could select a + better man through whom to emphasize your idea of the + character of a man to hold office than you can do through + ex-governor Jones. + + [_Copy_] + +Mr. Scott described what occurred on his delivery of this letter in +the following report to his chief: + + _Washington, D.C.,_ + _October 4, 1901._ + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: I called to see the President this + morning. I found him all cordiality and brimming over with + good will for you. That pleased me much! He had received the + telegram and had made an appointment for me. He read your + letter, inquired if I knew the contents, and then launched + into a discussion of it. Wanted to know if Governor Jones + supported Bryan in either campaign. I told him _no_. He + wanted to know how I knew. I told him of the letter wherein + he (Governor Jones) stated to you that he was without + political ambition because he had opposed Bryan, etc. Well, + he said he wanted to hear from you direct as to whether he + had or not, and asked me to write you to find out. I am now + awaiting that wire so as to call again on him. As soon as I + see him again I will wire you and write you as to what he + says. He is going to appoint Governor Jones. That was made + apparent. While I was waiting to see him Senator Chandler + with the Spanish Claims Commission called. They saw him + first. I heard the talk, however, which was mostly + felicitation. Incidentally, however, Senator Chandler said + that the Commission was afraid it would lose one of its + members because of the vacancy in Alabama, referring to Hon. + W.L. Chambers, who was present and who is a member of the + Commission. The President laughed heartily. Said the Senator + always sprung recommendations unexpectedly, and so forth and + so forth. He did not inquire as to any of the others--the + applicants--seemed interested only to find out about + Governor Jones.... There were many correspondents there at + the door, but I told them I was passing through to Buffalo, + but had stopped over to invite the President to include + Tuskegee in his itinerary when he goes South again.... Will + write again when I see the President again. + + Yours sincerely, + + (Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT. + +As soon as he had received Dr. Washington's telegram in reply, Mr. +Scott went again to the White House and wrote thus of his second call: + + [_Copy_] + + _Washington, D.C.,_ + _October 5, 1901._ + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: You have my telegram of to-day. I + sent it as soon as I had seen the President. I had a + three-hour wait to see him and it was tiresome, but I + "camped with them." When admitted to the general reception + room the President met me and was cordial and asked me to + wait awhile, till he could dismiss two delegations, then he + invited me into the office, or cabinet room, and read very + carefully the telegram received from you last night--Friday + night. His face was a study. He was greatly surprised to + learn that the Governor voted for Bryan, and walked about + considerably. At last he said, "Well, I guess I'll have to + appoint him, but I am awfully sorry he voted for Bryan." He + then asked me who Dr. Crum[1] is and I told him that he was + a clean representative character, and that he was favorably + considered by Harrison for the Charleston postmastership, + etc. He did not know him and asked me what place was + referred to. You had not discussed it with me, but I told + him you most likely referred to the place made vacant by the + death of Webster. He then called Mr. Cortelyou, Secretary, + into the office and asked him if he knew Crum. He said he + didn't but that he had heard of him and always favorably. + The President then asked Cortelyou what place a man named B. + was being considered for, and he said the place made vacant + by Webster's death. He then turned to me and said that he + was sorry, that he would certainly have considered the + matter if he had had your word earlier. He asked me to tell + you that if you wish Dr. Crum considered for any other place + that he will be glad to have you communicate with him. I + then asked him what I should tell you in the Governor Jones' + matter, and he said: "Tell Mr. Washington without using my + name that party will most likely be appointed--in fact I + will appoint him--only don't make it that strong by wire." + So I consider the matter closed. + + The colored brethren here are scared. They don't know what + to expect, and the word has passed, they say, that you are + the "Warwick" so far as they are concerned. I hope to find + you well in Chicago. + + Sincerely yours, + + (Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT. + +[Footnote 1: This refers to a suggestion made by Mr. Washington in his +telegram recommending the appointment of Dr. W.D. Crum, a colored +physician, to a South Carolina vacancy, so that the President could +thereby announce at the same time the appointment of a first-grade +Southern white Democrat and a first-class colored man.] + +This precedent-breaking appointment of a Southern Democrat by a +Republican President, made primarily on the recommendation of Booker +Washington and Grover Cleveland, was acclaimed with enthusiastic +approval by all Democrats everywhere, and in fact there was no +dissenting voice except from the officeholding Southern Republicans +who naturally resented this encroachment upon what they regarded as +their patronage rights. At first appreciation was almost universal of +the efforts of the Negro leader in helping a Republican President to +make this far-reaching change in the Federal officeholding traditions +of the South. Soon, however, some Southern newspapers began to +question the wisdom of allowing a Negro to have even an advisory voice +in political matters notwithstanding his advice had in this instance +been so acceptable to the South. This criticism grew so insistent that +Judge Jones found himself in an uncomfortable position because his +appointment had been made, in large part, on the recommendation of a +Negro. He tried to soften the situation by giving out a statement to +the effect that his endorsement by representative white men would +probably have assured his appointment even without the assistance of +Booker Washington. Later, however, the Judge expressed to Mr. Scott +privately, after listening with deep interest to the recital of all +the incidents connected with his appointment, his appreciation of what +Booker Washington had done for him. + +Aside from this appointment, Booker Washington had a voice in many +others, including those of Gen. R.D. Johnson as Receiver of Public +Moneys at Birmingham, Colonel Thomas R. Roulhac as United States +District Judge, and Judge Osceola Kyle of Alabama as United States +District Attorney in the Panama Canal Zone. During the administrations +of both Presidents Roosevelt and Taft hardly an office of consequence +was conferred upon a Negro without first consulting Mr. Washington. He +did not strive through his influence with Presidents Roosevelt and +Taft to increase the number of Negro appointees, but rather to raise +the personnel of Negro officeholders. During the period when his +advice was most constantly sought at the White House, Charles W. +Anderson was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Second +District of New York City; J.C. Napier of Nashville, Tenn., became +Register of the Treasury; William H. Lewis of Boston was appointed +successively Assistant United States District Attorney and Assistant +Attorney-General of the United States; Robert H. Terrell was given a +Municipal Judgeship of the District of Columbia; Whitefield McKinlay +was made Collector of the Port for the Georgetown District, District +of Columbia; Dr. W.D. Crum was appointed Collector of Customs for the +Port of Charleston, S.C.; Ralph W. Tyler, Auditor for the Navy +Department at Washington, D.C.; James A. Cobb, Special Assistant U.S. +Attorney in charge of the enforcement of the Pure Food Law for the +District of Columbia, and Charles A. Cottrell, Collector of Internal +Revenue for the District of Hawaii at Honolulu. In all these notably +excellent appointments Mr. Washington had a voice. + +In 1903, in commenting on a speech of Mr. Washington's in which he had +emphasized the importance of quality rather than quantity in Negro +appointments, President Roosevelt wrote him as follows: + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: That is excellent; and you have put + epigrammatically just what I am doing--that is, though I + have rather reduced the quantity I have done my best to + raise the quality of the Negro appointments. With high regard. + + Sincerely yours, + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +WASHINGTON: THE EDUCATOR + + +The Tuskegee Commencement exercises dramatize education. They enable +plain men and women to visualize in the concrete that vague word which +means so little to them in the abstract. More properly they dramatize +the identity between real education and actual life. On the platform +before the audience is a miniature engine to which steam has been +piped, a miniature frame house in course of construction, and a piece +of brick wall in process of erection. A young man in jumpers comes +onto the platform, starts the engine and blows the whistle, whereupon +young men and women come hurrying from all directions, and each turns +to his or her appointed task. A young carpenter completes the little +house, a young mason finishes the laying of the brick wall, a young +farmer leads forth a cow and milks her in full view of the audience, a +sturdy blacksmith shoes a horse, and after this patient, educative +animal has been shod he is turned over to a representative of the +veterinary division to have his teeth filed. At the same time on the +opposite side of the platform one of the girl students is having a +dress fitted by one of her classmates who is a dressmaker. She at +length walks proudly from the platform in her completed new gown, +while the young dressmaker looks anxiously after her to make sure that +it "hangs right behind." Other girls are doing washing and ironing +with the drudgery removed in accordance with advanced Tuskegee +methods. Still others are hard at work on hats, mats, and dresses, +while boys from the tailoring department sit crosslegged working on +suits and uniforms. In the background are arranged the finest +specimens which scientific agriculture has produced on the farm and +mechanical skill has turned out in the shops. The pumpkin, potatoes, +corn, cotton, and other agricultural products predominate, because +agriculture is the chief industry at Tuskegee just as it is among the +Negro people of the South. + +This form of commencement exercise is one of Booker Washington's +contributions to education which has been widely copied by schools for +whites as well as blacks. That it appeals to his own people is +eloquently attested by the people themselves who come in ever-greater +numbers as the commencement days recur. At three o'clock in the +morning of this great day vehicles of every description, each loaded +to capacity with men, women, and children, begin to roll in in an +unbroken line which sometimes extends along the road for three miles. +Some of the teachers at times objected to turning a large area of the +Institute grounds into a hitching-post station for the horses and +mules of this great multitude, but to all such objections Mr. +Washington replied, "This place belongs to the people and not to us." +Less than a third of these eight to nine thousand people are able +to crowd into the chapel to see the actual graduation exercises, but +all can see the graduation procession as it marches through the +grounds to the chapel and all are shown through the shops and over the +farm and through the special agricultural exhibits, and even through +the offices, including that of the principal. It is significant of the +respect in which the people hold the Institute, and in which they held +Booker Washington, that in all these years there has never been on +these occasions a single instance of drunkenness or disorderly +conduct. + +[Illustration: Showing some of the teams of farmers attending the +Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference.] + +In his annual report to the trustees for 1914 Mr. Washington said of +these commencement exercises: "One of the problems that constantly +confronts us is that of making the school of real service to these +people on this one day when they come in such large numbers. For many +of them it is the one day in the year when they go to school, and we +ought to find a way to make the day of additional value to them. I +very much hope that in the near future we shall find it possible to +erect some kind of a large pavilion which shall serve the purpose of +letting these thousands see something of our exercises and be helped +by them." + +The philosophy symbolized by such graduation exercises as we have +described may best be shown by quoting Mr. Washington's own words in +an article entitled, "Industrial Education and the Public Schools," +which was published in the _Annals of the American Academy of +Political and Social Science_ for September of the year 1913. In this +article Mr. Washington says: "If I were asked what I believe to be +the greatest advance which Negro education has made since emancipation +I should say that it has been in two directions: first, the change +which has taken place among the masses of the Negro people as to what +education really is; and, second, the change that has taken place +among the masses of the white people in the South toward Negro +education itself. + +"I can perhaps make clear what I mean by a little explanation: the +Negro learned in slavery to work but he did not learn to respect +labor. On the contrary, the Negro was constantly taught, directly and +indirectly during slavery times, that labor was a curse. It was the +curse of Canaan, he was told, that condemned the black man to be for +all time the slave and servant of the white man. It was the curse of +Canaan that made him for all time 'a hewer of wood and drawer of +water.' The consequence of this teaching was that, when emancipation +came, the Negro thought freedom must, in some way, mean freedom from +labor. + +"The Negro had also gained in slavery some general notions in regard +to education. He observed that the people who had education for the +most part belonged to the aristocracy, to the master class, while the +people who had little or no education were usually of the class known +as 'poor whites.' In this way education became associated in his mind +with leisure, with luxury, and freedom from the drudgery of work with +the hands.... + +"In order to make it possible to put Negro education on a sound and +rational basis it has been necessary to change the opinion of the +masses of the Negro people in regard to education and labor. It has +been necessary to make them see that education, which did not, +directly or indirectly, connect itself with the practical daily +interests of daily life could hardly be called education. It has been +necessary to make the masses of the Negroes see and realize the +necessity and importance of applying what they learned in school to +the common and ordinary things of life; to see that education, far +from being a means of escaping labor, is a means of raising up and +dignifying labor and thus indirectly a means of raising up and +dignifying the common and ordinary man. It has been necessary to teach +the masses of the people that the way to build up a race is to begin +at the bottom and not at the top, to lift the man furthest down, and +thus raise the whole structure of society above him. On the other +hand, it has been necessary to demonstrate to the white man in the +South that education does not 'spoil' the Negro, as it has been so +often predicted that it would. It was necessary to make him actually +see that education makes the Negro not an idler or spendthrift, but a +more industrious, thrifty, law-abiding, and useful citizen than he +otherwise would be." + +The commencement exercises which we have described are one of the +numerous means evolved by Booker Washington to guide the masses of his +own people, as well as the Southern whites, to a true conception of +the value and meaning of real education for the Negro. + +The correlation between the work of farm, shop, and classroom, first +applied by General Armstrong at Hampton, was developed on an even +larger scale by his one-time student, Booker Washington. The students +at Tuskegee are divided into two groups: the day students who work in +the classroom half the week and the other half on the farm and in the +shops, and the night students who work all day on the farm or in the +shops and then attend school at night. The day school students pay a +small fee in cash toward their expenses, while the night school +students not only pay no fee but by good and diligent work gradually +accumulate a credit at the school bank which, when it becomes +sufficiently large, enables them to become day school students. In +fact, the great majority of the day students have thus fought their +way in from the night school. But all students of both groups thus +receive in the course of a week a fairly even balance between theory +and practice. + +[Illustration: An academic class. A problem in brick masonry. Mr. +Washington always insisted upon correlation; that is, drawing the +problem from the various shops and laboratories.] + +In a corner of each of the shops, in which are carried on the forty or +more different trades, is a blackboard on which are worked out the +actual problems which arise in the course of the work. After school +hours one always finds in the shops a certain number of the teachers +from the Academic Department looking up problems for their classes for +the next day. A physics teacher may be found in the blacksmithing shop +digging up problems about the tractive strength of wires and the +expansion and contraction of metals under heat and cold. A teacher of +chemistry may be found in the kitchen of the cooking school unearthing +problems relating to the chemistry of food for her class the next +day. If, on the other hand, you go into a classroom you will find the +shop is brought into the classroom just as the classroom has been +brought into the shop. For instance, in a certain English class the +topic assigned for papers was "a model house" instead of "bravery" or +"the increase of crime in cities," or "the landing of the Pilgrims." +The boys of the class had prepared papers on the architecture and +construction of a model house, while the girls' papers were devoted to +its interior decoration and furnishing. One of the girls described a +meal for six which she had actually prepared and the six had actually +consumed. The meal cost seventy-five cents. The discussion and +criticism which followed each paper had all the zest which vitally +practical and near-at-hand questions always arouse. + +When the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational +Association met in Atlanta, Ga., in 1904, many of the delegates, after +adjournment, visited the Tuskegee Institute. Among these delegates was +Prof. Paul Monroe of the Department of History and Principles of +Education of the Teachers' College of Columbia University. In +recording his impressions of his visit, Professor Monroe says: "My +interest in Tuskegee and a few similar institutions is founded on the +fact that here I find illustrated the two most marked tendencies which +are being formulated in the most advanced educational thought, but are +being worked out slowly and with great difficulty. These tendencies +are: first, the endeavor to draw the subject matter of education, or +the 'stuff' of schoolroom work, directly from the life of the pupils; +and second, to relate the outcome of education to life's activities, +occupations, and duties of the pupil in such a way that the connection +is made directly and immediately between schoolroom work and the other +activities of the person being educated. This is the ideal at +Tuskegee, and, to a much greater extent than in any other institution +I know of, the practice; so that the institution is working along not +only the lines of practical endeavor, but of the most advanced +educational thought. To such an extent is this true that Tuskegee and +Hampton are of quite as great interest to the student of education on +account of the illumination they are giving to educational theory as +they are to those interested practically in the elevation of the Negro +people and in the solution of a serious social problem. May I give +just one illustration of a concrete nature coming under my observation +while at the school, that will indicate the difference between the +work of the school and that which was typical under old conditions, or +is yet typical where the newer ideas, as so well grasped by Mr. +Washington, are not accepted? In a class in English composition two +boys, among others, had placed their written work upon the board, one +having written upon 'Honor' in the most stilted language, with various +historical references which meant nothing to himself or to his +classmates--the whole paragraph evidently being drawn from some +outside source; the other wrote upon 'My Trade--Blacksmithing'--and +told in a simple and direct way of his day's work, the nature of the +general course of training, and the use he expected to make of his +training when completed. No better contrast could be found between the +old ideas of formal language work, dominated by books and cast into +forms not understood or at least not natural to the youth, and the +newer ideas of simplicity, directness, and forcefulness in presenting +the account of one's own experience. Not only was this contrast an +illustration of the ideal of the entire education offered at Tuskegee +in opposition to that of the old, formal, 'literary' education as +imposed upon the colored race, but it gave in a nutshell a concept of +the new education. This one experience drawn from the life of the boy +and related directly to his life's duration and circumstances was +education in the truest sense; the other was not save as Mr. +Washington made it so in its failure...." + +Among the delegates was also Mr. A.L. Rafter, the Assistant +Superintendent of Schools of Boston, who in speaking at Tuskegee said: +"What Tuskegee is doing for you we are going to take on home to the +North. You are doing what we are talking about." In general, these +foremost educational experts of the dominant race looked to Booker +Washington and Tuskegee for leadership instead of expecting him or his +school to follow them. + +Booker Washington not only practised at Tuskegee this close relation +between school life and real life--and it is being continued now that +he is gone--but preached it whenever and wherever opportunity offered. +Some years ago, in addressing himself to those of his own students who +expected to become teachers, he said on this subject among other +things: "... colored parents depend upon seeing the results of +education in ways not true of the white parent. It is important that +the colored teacher on this account give special attention to bringing +school life into closer touch with real life. Any education is to my +mind 'high' which enables the individual to do the very best work for +the people by whom he is surrounded. Any education is 'low' which does +not make for character and effective service. + +"The average teacher in the public schools is very likely to yield to +the temptation of thinking that he is educating an individual when he +is teaching him to reason out examples in arithmetic, to prove +propositions in geometry, and to recite pages of history. He conceives +this to be the end of education. Herein is the sad deficiency in many +teachers who are not able to use history, arithmetic, and geometry as +means to an end. They get the idea that the student who has mastered a +certain number of pages in a textbook is educated, forgetting that +textbooks are at best but tools, and in many cases ineffective tools, +for the development of man.... + +"The average parent cannot appreciate how many examples Johnny has +worked out that day, how many questions in history he has answered; +but when he says, 'Mother, I cannot go back to that school until all +the buttons are sewed on my coat,' the parent will at once become +conscious of school influence in the home. This will be the best kind +of advertisement. The button propaganda tends to make the teacher a +power in the community. A few lessons in applied chemistry will not +be amiss. Take grease spots, for example. The teacher who with tact +can teach his pupils to keep even threadbare clothes neatly brushed +and free from grease spots is extending the school influence into the +home and is adding immeasurably to the self-respect of the home."[2] + +[Footnote 2: From "Putting the Most Into Life," by Booker T. +Washington. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., Publishers.] + +The idea that education is a matter of personal habits of cleanliness, +industry, integrity, and right conduct while of course not original +with Booker Washington was perhaps further developed and more +effectively emphasized by him than by any other American educator. +Just as Matthew Arnold insisted that religion was a matter of conduct +rather than forms and dogmas so Booker Washington held that education +is a matter of character and not forms. He concluded one of his Sunday +night talks to his students with these words: "I want every Tuskegee +student as he finds his place in the surging industrial life about him +to give heed to the things which are 'honest and just and pure and of +good report,' for these things make for character, which is the only +thing worth fighting for...." In another of these talks he said: "A +student should not be satisfied with himself until he has grown to the +point where, when simply sweeping a room, he can go into the corners +and crevices and remove the hidden trash which, although it should be +left, would not be seen. It is not very hard to find people who will +thoroughly clean a room which is going to be occupied, or wash a dish +which is to be handled by strangers; but it is hard to find a person +who will do a thing right when the eyes of the world are not likely to +look upon what has been done. The cleaning of rooms and the washing of +dishes have much to do with forming characters."[3] + +[Footnote 3: "Sowing and Reaping," by Booker T. Washington. L.C. Page +& Co., Boston, Publishers.] + +This recalls Booker Washington's own experience when as a ragged and +penniless youth he applied for admission to Hampton and was given a +room to sweep by way of an entrance examination. Indeed, one of Booker +Washington's greatest sources of strength as a teacher lay in the fact +that his own life not only illustrated the truth of his assertions, +but illustrated it in a striking and dramatic manner. His life was, in +fact, an epitome of the hardships, struggles, and triumphs of the +successful members of his race from the days of slavery to the present +time. A great believer in the power of example he lived a life which +gave him that power in its highest degree. Because of his inherent +modesty and good taste he never referred to himself or his +achievements as examples to be emulated, and this merely further +enhanced their power. + +In concluding another Sunday night talk he said: "As a race we are +inclined, I fear, to make too much of the day of judgment. We have the +idea that in some far-off period there is going to be a great and +final day of judgment, when every individual will be called up, and +all his bad deeds will be read out before him and all his good deeds +made known. I believe that every day is a day of judgment, that we +reap our rewards daily, and that whenever we sin we are punished by +mental and physical anxiety and by a weakened character that separates +us from God. Every day is, I take it, a day of judgment, and as we +learn God's laws and grow into His likeness we shall find our reward +in this world in a life of usefulness and honor. To do this is to have +found the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of character and +righteousness and peace."[4] + +[Footnote 4: From "Putting the Most Into life," by Booker T. +Washington. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., Publishers.] + +To quote once more from these Sunday night talks, in another he said: +"There is, then, opportunity for the colored people to enrich the +material life of their adopted country by doing what their hands find +to do, minor duties though they be, so well that nobody of any race +can do them better. This is the aim that the Tuskegee student should +keep steadily before him. If he remembers that all service, however +lowly, is true service, an important step will have been taken in the +solution of what we term 'the race problem.'" + +As is shown by these quotations Booker Washington used these Sunday +night talks to crystalize, interpret, and summarize the meaning and +significance of the kind of education which Tuskegee gives. He, the +supreme head of the institution, reserved to himself this supremely +important task. The heads of the manifold trades are naturally and +properly concerned primarily with turning raw boys and girls into good +workmen and workwomen. The academic teachers in the school are +similarly interested in helping them as students to secure a mastery +of their several subjects. The military commandants are concerned with +their ability to drill, march, carry themselves properly, and take +proper care of their persons and rooms. The physician is interested in +their physical health and the chaplain in their religious training. +Important as are all these phases of Tuskegee's training and closely +as he watched each Mr. Washington realized that they might all be well +done and yet Tuskegee fail in its supreme purpose: namely, the making +of manly men and womanly women out of raw boys and girls. As he said +in one of the passages quoted, "character is the only thing worth +fighting for." Now, while the forming of character is the aim, and in +some appreciable degree the achievement, of every worth-while +educational institution, it is to a peculiar degree the aim and the +achievement of Tuskegee. The ten million Negroes in the United States +need trained leaders of their own race more than they need anything +else. Whatever else they should or should not have these leaders must +have character. Since Tuskegee is the largest of the educational +institutions for Negroes, with the man at its head who was commonly +recognized as the leader of leaders in his race, naturally the +heaviest responsibility in the training of these leaders fell, and +will continue to fall, upon Tuskegee. Consequently the task at +Tuskegee is not so much to educate so many thousands of young men and +women as to train as many leaders for the Negro people as can possibly +be done and done well within a given space of time. These Tuskegee +graduates lead by the power of example and not by agitation. One runs +a farm and achieves so much more success than his neighbors, through +his better methods, that they gradually adopt these methods and with +his help apply them to their own conditions. Another teaches a country +school and does it so much better than the average country school +teacher that his or her school comes to be regarded as a model to be +emulated by the other schools of the locality. When a Tuskegee girl +marries and settles in a community she keeps her house so much cleaner +and in every way more attractive than the rank and file of her +neighbors that gradually her house and her methods of housekeeping +become the standard for the neighborhood. There is, however, nothing +of the "holier than thou" or the complaisant about the true Tuskegee +graduate and neither is there anything monopolistic. They have had the +idea of service thoroughly drilled into their consciousness--the idea +that their advantages of education are, as it were, a trust which they +are to administer for the benefit of those who have not had such +advantages. + +Now such leaders as these must not only be provided if the so-called +race problem is to be solved, but they must be provided speedily. In +every community in which the black people are ignorant and vicious and +without trained leaders among themselves they are likely at any time +to come into conflict with the dominant race, and every such conflict +engenders bitterness on both sides and makes just so much more +difficult the final solution of the race problem. This is why Booker +Washington labored so incessantly to increase the quantity of +Tuskegee's output as well as to maintain the quality. He brought +Tuskegee to the point where it reached through all its courses +including its summer courses, short courses, and extension courses, +more than 4,000 people in a single year, not counting the well-nigh +innumerable hosts he counseled with on his State educational tours. In +short, Booker Washington's task at Tuskegee was not only to turn out +good leaders for his people, but to turn them out wholesale and as +fast as possible. He was, as it were, running a race with the powers +of ignorance, poverty, and vice. This in part accounted for the sense +of terrific pressure which one felt at Tuskegee, particularly when he +was present and personally driving forward his great educational +machine. This also may have accounted for the seeming lack of finesse +in small matters which occasionally annoyed critical visitors who did +not understand that the great institution was racing under the spur of +its indomitable master, and that just as in any race all but +essentials must be thrown aside. + +Long before the University of Wisconsin had, through its extension +courses, extended its opportunities in greater or less degree to the +citizens of the entire State, Booker Washington, through similar +means, had extended the advantages of Tuskegee throughout Macon County +in particular and the State of Alabama and neighboring States in +general. + +The extension work of Tuskegee began in a small way over twenty years +ago. It preceded even the work of the demonstration agents of the +United States Department of Agriculture. There was first only one man +who in his spare time went out among the farming people and tried to +arouse enthusiasm for better methods of farming, better schools, and +better homes. He was followed by a committee of three members of the +Tuskegee faculty, which committee still directs the work. One of the +first efforts of this committee was to get the farmers to adopt deep +plowing. There was not a two-horse plow to be found. There was a +strong prejudice against deep plowing which was thus expressed by a +Negro preacher farmer whom one of the committee tried to persuade: "We +don't want deep plowing. You're fixin' for us to have no soil. If we +plow deep it will all wash away and in a year or two we will have to +clear new ground." Not long after this a member of the committee with +a two-horse plow was practising what he had been preaching when a +white planter who was passing stopped and said: "See here, its none of +my business of course, but you're new here and I don't want to see you +fail. But if you plow your land deep like that you'll ruin it sure. I +know. I've been here." + +After a time, however, the committee persuaded a few colored farmers +to try deep plowing on a small scale as an experiment. One of the +first of these was a poor man who had had the hardest kind of a +struggle scraping a scant existence out of the soil for himself and +his large family. He was desperate and agreed to try the new method. +He got results the first year, moved on to better land and followed +instructions. In a few years he bought 500 acres of land, gave each of +his four sons 100 acres, and kept 100 acres for himself. Since then +father and sons alike have been prosperous and contented and have +added to their holdings. + +In short, these Negro farmers were no more eager to be reformed and +improved in their methods than are any normal people. There is a +shallow popular sentiment that unless people are eager for +enlightenment and gratefully receive what is offered them they should +be left unenlightened. Booker Washington never shared this sentiment. +His agent reported that in response to their appeals for the raising +of a better grade of cattle, hogs, and fowl the farmers replied that +the stock they had was good enough. One of their favorite comments +was, "When you eat an egg what difference does it make to you whether +that egg was laid by a full-blooded fowl or a mongrel?" Instead of +being discouraged or disgusted by this attitude on the part of the +people he merely regarded it as what was to be expected and set about +devising means to overcome it. As always he placed his chief reliance +upon the persuasive eloquence of the concrete. He decided to send +blooded stock and properly raised products around among the farmers so +that they might compare them with their inferior stock and products +and see the difference with their own eyes. This plan was later +carried out through the Jesup Wagon contributed by the late Morris K. +Jesup of New York. This wagon was a peripatetic farmers' school. It +took a concentrated essence of Tuskegees' agricultural department to +the farmers who could not or would not come to Tuskegee. + +The wagon was drawn by a well-bred and well-fed mule. A good breed of +cow was tied behind. Several chickens of good breeds, well-developed +ears of corn, stalks of cotton, bundles of oats and seeds, and garden +products, which ought at the time to be growing in the locality, +together with a proper plow, for deep plowing, were loaded upon the +wagon. The driver would pull up before a farmhouse, deliver his +message, and point out the strong points of his wagonload and would +finally request a strip of ground for cultivation. This request +granted he would harness the mule to the plow, break the ground deep, +make his rows, plant his seeds, and move on to the next locality. With +a carefully planned follow-up system he would return to each such plot +for cultivation and harvest, and, most important of all, to +demonstrate the truths he had sought to impress upon the people by +word of mouth. Where the first driver sent out was a general farmer, +the second would be, let us say, a dairyman, the third a truck +gardener, and finally a poultry raiser would go; usually a woman, +since in the South women, for the most part, handle this phase of +farming. These agents also distribute pamphlets prepared by the +Agricultural Research Department of Tuskegee on such subjects as +school gardening, twenty-one ways to cook cowpeas, improvement of +rural schools, how to fight insect pests, cotton growing, etc. The +constant emphasis upon practice by no means entails any neglect of +theory. + +Besides this work there is each January for two weeks at Tuskegee the +regular Farmers' Short Course. Many of the country schools adjourn for +this period so that both teachers and pupils may attend. In this +course not only teachers and pupils, but fathers and mothers, sons +and daughters sit side by side in the classrooms receiving instruction +in stock raising, canning, poultry raising, and farming in all its +branches. There are special courses for the women and girls in the +care of children and in housekeeping. The following breezy +announcement is taken from the prospectus of this course for the year +1914: + + "_A creation of the farmer, by the farmers and for the + farmer._" + + "It meets the crying needs of thousands of our boys and + girls, fathers and mothers. + + "_It's free to all--no examination nor entrance fee is + required._ + + "It started 7 years ago with 11 students; the second year we + had 17, the third year we had 70, the fourth year we had + 490, and last year we had nearly 2,000. It is the only thing + of its kind for the betterment of the colored farmers. It + lasts for only 12 days. It comes at a time when you would be + celebrating Christmas.[5] In previous years the farmers have + walked from 3 to 6 miles to attend; many have come on + horseback, in wagons, and in buggies. You who live so that + you cannot come in daily can secure board near the school + for $2.50 per week. We expect 2,000 to 2,500 to enter this + year." + +[Footnote 5: There is a custom among the colored people, inherited +from the days of slavery, which is fortunately now drying out, to +celebrate Christmas for a period of a week or ten days by stopping +work and giving themselves over to a round of sprees.] + +And then as a further stimulus to attend there comes: + + "_Prizes will be given as follows:_ + + "A prize of $5 will be given to the person who makes the + greatest progress on all subjects taught. + + "A prize of $2 will be given to the person who is the best + judge of livestock. + + "A prize of $1 will be given to the person who shows the + best knowledge of the use and application of manures and + fertilizers. And so on through a further list of one-dollar + prizes for all the major activities of the Course." + +It will be noted that there is nothing stilted or academic about this +announcement. + +Immediately following this Farmers' Short Course comes the Annual +Farmers' Conference which holds its session in January of each year. +To enforce the lessons in canning, stock raising, gardening, and all +the other branches of farming, exhibits of the best products in each +activity are displayed before the audience of farmers and their +families, who number in all about 2,000. These exhibits are made and +explained by the farmers themselves. The man, woman, or child who has +produced the exhibit comes to the platform and explains in his or her +own way just how it was done. In these explanations much human nature +is thrown in. An amazingly energetic and capable woman had explained +at one of these gatherings how she had paid off the mortgage on their +farm by the proceeds from her eggs, her kitchen garden, and her +preserving in her spare moments when she was not helping her husband +in the cotton field, washing and dressing her six children, or +cooking, mending, washing, and scrubbing for the household. + +In conclusion she said: + +"Now my ole man he's an' old-fashion farmer an' he don' kere fur dese +modern notions, an' so I don't git no help from him, an' that makes +it hard for me 'cause it ain't nat'ral for der woman to lead. If I +could only git him to move I'd be happier jest ter foller him." While +these explanations are going on the farmers in the audience are +naturally saying to themselves over and over again, "I could do that!" +or "Why couldn't I do that?" + +One of Mr. Washington's chief aims was to increase the wants of his +people and at the same time increase their ability to satisfy them. In +other words, he believed in fermenting in their minds what might be +termed an effective discontent with their circumstances. With this +purpose in view he addressed to them at these conferences such +questions as the following: + +"What kind of house do you live in?" + +"Do you own that house?" + +"What kind of schoolhouse have you?" + +"Do you send your children to school regularly?" + +"How many months does your school run?" + +"Do you keep your teacher in the community?" + +"What kind of church have you?" + +"Where does your pastor live?" + +"Are your church, school, and home fences whitewashed?" + +The farmers who were asked these questions would make an inward +resolve that they would do what they could to put themselves in a +position to answer the same questions more satisfactorily another +year. + +Another feature of the work of Tuskegee beyond its own borders is that +of the Rural School Extension Department. Mr. Julius Rosenwald of +Chicago, one of the trustees of Tuskegee, has offered, through this +department, during a stated period of time, to add $300 to every $300 +the Negroes in rural communities of the South raise for the building +of a new and modern schoolhouse. Under this plan ninety-two modern +rural school buildings have already been constructed. At the close of +the time set Mr. Rosenwald will probably renew his offer for a further +period. The social by-products of this campaign, in teaching the +Negroes of these communities how to disregard their denominational and +other feuds in working together for a high civic purpose of common +advantage to all, and the friendly interest in Negro education +awakened among their white neighbors, have been almost if not quite as +important as the new schools themselves. + +There is also at Tuskegee a summer school for teachers in which last +year were registered 437 teachers from fifteen Southern and several +other States. Most of these teachers elect such practical subjects as +canning, basket-making, broom-making, shuck and pine needlework or +some form of manual training, as well as the teacher-training courses. +One of these students, who was the supervisor of the Negro schools of +an entire county, when she returned from her summer school work +proceeded to vivify her dead schools by introducing the making of +wash-boards, trash baskets, baskets made of weeping-willow, and pine +needle work in its various forms. The registration soared at once, the +indifferent Negro parents became interested, and before long the +parents of white children complained to the county superintendent +that the colored children were being taught more than their children. + +There is at the present time being developed at Tuskegee a unique +experiment in the nature of what might be called a post-graduate +school in real life for the graduates of the agricultural department. +This consists in providing such graduates, who have no property of +their own, with a forty-acre farm, on an 1,800-acre tract about nine +miles from Tuskegee, known as Baldwin Farms, after the late Wm. H. +Baldwin, Jr., who was one of the ablest and most devoted supporters +and advisers of Booker Washington and Tuskegee. The land is held by +the Tuskegee Farm and Improvement Company which is conducted on a +business and not a charitable basis. The company sells the farms at an +average price of $15 an acre, and purchasers who move directly on to +the land are given ten years in which to pay for it, with the first +payment at the end of the first year. If there is no house on the land +the company will put up a $300 house so planned as to permit the +addition of rooms and improvements as rapidly as the purchaser is able +to pay for them; the cost to be added to the initial cost of the land. +When the graduate lacks the money and equipment necessary to plant, +raise, and harvest crops, for this, too, the company will advance a +reasonable sum, taking as security a mortgage on crops and equipment +until the loan has been paid off. This mortgage bears interest at 8 +per cent. while the interest on the mortgage on the land is not more +than 6 per cent. Through coöperative effort within this colony it is +proposed to develop such organizations as coöperative dairy, fruit +growing, poultry, and livestock associations and thus make it possible +for the members of the colony to make not only a comfortable living +but to lay by something. They will, of course, have also the great +advantage of the advice and guidance of the experts of the Institute. +Formerly the penniless Negro youth, who graduated even most creditably +from the agricultural department of Tuskegee, had before him nothing +better than a greater or less number of years of monotonous drudgery +as a mere farm or plantation laborer. Now, he may at once take up his +own farm at Baldwin and begin immediately to apply all he has learned +in carving out his own fortune and future. Thus did Booker Washington +plan to carry the benefits of classroom instruction directly into the +actual life problems of these graduates as well as to bring the +problems of actual life into the classroom. + +However much Mr. Washington may have seemed to eliminate +non-essentials in the pressure and haste of his wholesale educational +task he never neglected essentials, but among essentials he included +matters which might on the surface appear to be small and trifling. +For instance, he insisted upon good table manners, and no boy or girl +could spend any considerable time at Tuskegee without acquiring such +manners. Instead of a trivial detail he regarded good table manners as +an essential to self-respect and hence to the development of +character. In short, he was engaged not so much in conducting a school +as educating a race. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +THE RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO + + +Booker Washington was occasionally accused both by agitators in his +own race and by a certain type of Northern white men who pose as the +special champions of the "downtrodden" black man as encouraging a +policy of submission to injustice on the part of his people. He was, +for example, charged with tame acquiescence in the practical +disfranchisement of the Negro in a number of the Southern States. As a +matter of fact, when these disfranchising measures were under +consideration and before they were enacted, he in each case earnestly +pleaded with the legislators that whatever restrictions in the use of +the ballot they put upon the statute books should be applied with +absolute impartiality to both races. This he urged in fairness to the +white man as well as the black man. + +In an article entitled, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" published +in the _Century Magazine_ five years ago, Booker Washington said in +illustrating the evil consequences of discrimination in the +application of ballot regulations: "In a certain county of Virginia, +where the county board had charge of registering those who were to be +voters, a colored man, a graduate of Harvard University, who had long +been a resident of the county, a quiet, unassuming man, went before +the board to register. He was refused on the ground that he was not +intelligent enough to vote. Before this colored man left the room a +white man came in who was so intoxicated that he could scarcely tell +where he lived. This white man was registered, and by a board of +intelligent white men who had taken an oath to deal justly in +administering the law. + +"Will any one say that there is wisdom or statesmanship in such a +policy as that? In my opinion it is a fatal mistake to teach the young +black man and the young white man that the dominance of the white race +in the South rests upon any other basis than absolute justice to the +weaker man. It is a mistake to cultivate in the mind of any individual +or group of individuals the feeling and belief that their happiness +rests upon the misery of some one else, or that their intelligence is +measured by the ignorance of some one else; or their wealth by the +poverty of some one else. I do not advocate that the Negro make +politics or the holding of office an important thing in his life. I do +urge, in the interest of fair play for everybody, that a Negro who +prepares himself in property, in intelligence, and in character to +cast a ballot, and desires to do so, should have the opportunity." + +While Booker Washington did not believe that political activities +should play an important part among the Negroes as a whole he did +believe that the exceptional Negro who was particularly qualified for +holding public office should be given the opportunity just as he +believed in the higher academic education for the relatively small +minority capable of profiting by such an education. + +In concluding a letter in which he asks Booker Washington to recommend +a member of his race for a Federal office in Vicksburg, Miss., +President Roosevelt said: "The question of the political importance of +the colored man is really of no consequence. I do not care to consider +it, and you must not consider it. Give me the very best colored man +that you know of for the place, upon whose integrity and capacity we +can surely rely." + +The man, T.V. McAlister, whom Mr. Washington "gave" the President for +this office was of such character and reputation that the white +citizens of Vicksburg actually welcomed his appointment. Certainly +neither Vicksburg nor any other portion of Mississippi can be accused +of over-enthusiasm for conferring civil and political privileges upon +Negroes. + +Booker Washington's habit of never losing an opportunity to advance +constructively the interests of his people is well illustrated by the +following letter to President Roosevelt: + + [_Personal_] + + _March 20, 1904._ + + MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: It has occurred to me that there are + a number of ways in which the colored people of the United + States' could be of service in digging the Panama Canal, + and personally I should be glad to do anything in my power + in getting them interested if deemed practicable. + + First: I think they can stand the climate better or as well + as any other people from the United States. + + Second: I have thought that a reasonably satisfactory number + of them might be useful as common, or skilled, laborers. + + Third: That in the Health Department our well-trained nurses + and physicians might be found helpful. + + Fourth: If the United States should assume any + responsibility as to education, that many efficient colored + teachers from our industrial schools, and colleges, might + prove of great benefit. And, then, besides the presence of + these educated persons would, in my opinion, both by + character and example, aid in influencing the morality of + the darker-skinned people to be employed at the Isthmus. I + believe that these educated colored people could get closer + to the masses than white men. + + Yours truly, + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + _To President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C._ + +Nothing came of this suggestion except an acknowledgment and an +assurance that the matter would be considered. About two years ago, +however, when Doctor Washington and Surgeon-General Gorgas met on a +train the Surgeon-General said to Mr. Washington: "The biggest man at +the canal was the Negro," and he added that when they came to the +dedication of the canal at its formal opening some Negro should have a +place on the program. + +In recent years a certain section of the Republicans in the far +Southern States have tried to free themselves of the reputation of +being "nigger lovers" by vying with their Democratic rivals in seeking +to deprive Negroes of civic and political rights. Republicans of this +particular stripe are known colloquially as the "Lily Whites." In this +connection the following correspondence is of interest. + + [_Copy_] + + [_Personal_] + + _White House,_ + _Washington, March 21, 1904._ + + DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: By direction of the President I send + you herewith for your private information a copy of letter + from the President to Mr. ----, dated February 24, 1904. + Please return it to me when you have read it. + + Yours very truly, + + WM. LOEB, JR., + Secretary to the President. + + _Principal Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Normal and + Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama._ + +This was the letter enclosed: + + [_Copy_] + + [_Personal_] + + _White House,_ + _Washington, February 24, 1904._ + + MY DEAR MR. ----: I take it for granted that there is no + intention of making the Louisiana delegation all white. I + think it would be a mistake for my friends to take any such + attitude in any state where there is a considerable Negro + population. I think it is a great mistake from the + standpoint of the whites; and in an organization composed of + men whom I have especially favored it would put me in a + false light. As you know, I feel as strongly as any one can + that there must be nothing like "Negro domination." On the + other hand, I feel equally strongly that the Republicans + must consistently favor those comparatively few colored + people who by character and intelligence show themselves + entitled to such favor. To put a premium upon the possession + of such qualities among the blacks is not only to benefit + them, but to benefit the whites among whom they live. I very + earnestly hope that the Louisiana Republicans whom I have so + consistently favored will not by any action of theirs tend + to put me in a false position in such a matter as this. With + your entire approval, I have appointed one or two colored + men entitled by character and standing to go to the National + Convention. + + Sincerely yours, + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +In the year 1898 the success of the suffrage amendments in South +Carolina and Mississippi in excluding from the franchise more than +nine-tenths of their Negro inhabitants inspired an agitation in +Louisiana to cut off the Negro vote by similar means, and this +agitation came to a head in the Constitutional Convention of that +year. Mr. Washington, assisted by T. Thomas Fortune, the well-known +Negro editor, and Mr. Scott, his secretary, prepared an open letter +addressed to this convention which was taken to the convention by Mr. +Scott and placed in the hands of the suffrage committee as well as the +editors of the New Orleans _Times-Democrat_ and the _Picayune_, the +leading daily papers of the State. Extracts from the letter were sent +out by the local representative of the Associated Press and widely +published throughout the country. These New Orleans editors expressed +to Mr. Scott their approval of the letter and their substantial +agreement with its main features, and promised to publish it in full, +which they not only did, but accompanied it by editorial reviews. This +letter stated in part: + +"The Negro agrees with you that it is necessary to the salvation of +the South that restriction be put upon the ballot.... With the +sincerest sympathy with you in your efforts to find a way out of the +difficulty, I want to suggest that no State in the South can make a +law that will provide an opportunity or temptation for an ignorant +white man to vote and withhold the same opportunity from an ignorant +colored man, without injuring both men.... Any law controlling the +ballot, that is not absolutely just and fair to both races, will work +more permanent injury to the whites than to the blacks. + +"The Negro does not object to an educational or property test, but let +the law be so clear that no one clothed with state authority will be +tempted to perjure and degrade himself by putting one interpretation +upon it for the white man and another for the black man. Study the +history of the South, and you will find that where there has been the +most dishonesty in the matter of voting, there you will find to-day +the lowest moral condition of both races. First, there was the +temptation to act wrongly with the Negro's ballot. From this it was an +easy step to dishonesty with the white man's ballot, to the carrying +of concealed weapons, to the murder of a Negro, and then to the murder +of a white man and then to lynching. I entreat you not to pass such a +law as will prove an eternal millstone about the neck of your +children." + +Later in the same appeal he said: "I beg of you, further, that in the +degree that you close the ballot-box against the ignorant, that you +open the schoolhouse.... Let the very best educational opportunities +be provided for both races: and add to this the enactment of an +election law that shall be incapable of unjust discrimination, at the +same time providing that in proportion as the ignorant secure +education, property, and character, they will be given the right of +citizenship. Any other course will take from one half your citizens +interest in the State, and hope and ambition to become intelligent +producers and taxpayers--to become useful and virtuous citizens. Any +other course will tie the white citizens of Louisiana to a body of +death." + +The New Orleans _Times-Democrat_, in its editorial accompanying the +publication of this letter, said: "We have seen the corrupting +influence in our politics and our elections of making fraud an element +of our suffrage system. We are certainly not going to get away from +fraud by encouraging it, or making it a part of the suffrage system we +place in our new constitution." The same editorial further states that +impartiality in the use of the ballot can be given Negro and white man +not only "with the utmost safety," but "it would have a beneficial +effect upon the politics of the State." In fact, the press of both +North and South, both of the whites and the blacks, published this +letter with practically unanimous editorial endorsement, but in spite +of all this the leaders of the convention remained obdurate, the +immediate object was lost, and Louisiana followed the example of +Mississippi and South Carolina. No one realized, however, better than +Booker Washington that the effort was by no means in vain. Owing to +the general awakening of intelligent public opinion the convention +leaders were forced into the position of driving through the +discriminatory amendment not only in the face of the condemnation of +the better element throughout the country but even with the +disapproval of the better and leading citizens of their own State. + +Shortly afterward members of the Georgia Legislature, seeking +political preferment for themselves through the familiar means of +anti-Negro agitation, introduced a bill which aimed to discriminate +against the Negroes of Georgia by legislative enactment just as the +Negroes of Louisiana had been discriminated against by a +constitutional amendment. This time Mr. Washington went personally to +Atlanta and appealed directly to a number of the members of the +Legislature and to the editors of the leading papers in opposition to +this bill. In an interview published in the Atlanta _Constitution_ at +the time he said: + +"I cannot think that there is any large number of white people in the +South who are so ignorant or so poor that they cannot get education +and property enough to enable them to stand the test by the side of +the Negro in these respects. I do not believe that these white people +want it continually advertised to the world that some special law must +be passed by which they will seem to be given an unfair advantage over +the Negro by reason of their ignorance or their poverty. It is unfair +to blame the Negro for not preparing himself for citizenship by +acquiring intelligence, and then when he does get education and +property, to pass a law that can be so operated as to prevent him from +being a citizen, even though he may be a large taxpayer. The Southern +white people have reached the point where they can afford to be just +and generous; where there will be nothing to hide and nothing to +explain. It is an easy matter, requiring little thought, generosity or +statesmanship to push a weak man down when he is struggling to get up. +Any one can do that. Greatness, generosity, statesmanship are shown in +stimulating, encouraging every individual in the body politic to make +of himself the most useful, intelligent, and patriotic citizen +possible. Take from the Negro all incentive to make himself and his +children useful property-holding citizens, and can any one blame him +for becoming a beast capable of committing any crime?" + +This time the immediate object was attained. The Atlanta +_Constitution_ and other leading Georgia papers indorsed Booker +Washington's appeal and the Legislature voted down its anti-Negro +members. Be it said to the credit of the Georgia Legislature that it +has resisted several similar attempts to discriminate against the +Negro citizens of the State, and it was not till 1908, ten years after +the Louisiana law was passed, that Georgia finally passed a law +disfranchising Negro voters. + +Booker Washington has been accused of not protesting against the +lynching of Negroes. In the article published in the _Century +Magazine_ in 1912, from which we have previously quoted, he said on +this subject: "When he was Governor of Alabama, I heard Governor Jelks +say in a public speech that he knew of five cases during his +administration of innocent colored people having been lynched. If that +many innocent people were known to the governor to have been lynched, +it is safe to say that there were other innocent persons lynched whom +the governor did not know about. What is true of Alabama in this +respect is true of other states. In short, it is safe to say that a +large proportion of the colored persons lynched are innocent.... Not a +few cases have occurred where white people have blackened their faces +and committed a crime, knowing that some Negro would be suspected and +mobbed for it. In other cases it is known that where Negroes have +committed crimes, innocent men have been lynched and the guilty ones +have escaped and gone on committing more crimes. + +"Within the last twelve months there have been seventy-one cases of +lynching, nearly all of colored people. Only seventeen were charged +with the crime of rape. Perhaps they are wrong to do so, but colored +people do not feel that innocence offers them security against +lynching. They do feel, however, that the lynching habit tends to give +greater security to the criminal, white or black." + +Mr. Washington often pointed out how the lynching of blacks leads +inevitably to the lynching of whites and how the lynching of guilty +persons of either race inevitably leads to the lynching of innocent +persons of both races. + +Let it not be supposed that Booker Washington confined his +condemnation of lynching to the comparatively safe cover of the pages +of an eminently respectable Northern magazine. Some years ago when he +was on a speaking trip in the State of Florida two depraved Negroes in +Jacksonville committed an atrocious murder. The crime aroused such +intense race feeling that Mr. Washington's friends foresaw the +likelihood of a lynching and, fearing for his safety, urged him to +cancel his engagements in Jacksonville, where he was due to speak +before white as well as black audiences within a few days. This he +refused to do and insisted that because there was special racial +friction it was especially necessary that he should keep his +engagements in the city. While he was driving to the hall where he was +to address a white audience the automobile of one of his Negro escorts +was stopped by a crowd of excited white men who angrily demanded that +Booker Washington be handed over to them. When they found he was not +in the car they allowed it to pass on without molesting the Negro +occupant, who enjoyed to an unusual degree the confidence and respect +of both races in the city. What they would have done had they found +Booker Washington one may only conjecture. At about the same time the +Negro murderers were captured. The howls of the infuriated mob on its +way to the jail to lynch the accused murderers could be heard in the +distance from the hall where Mr. Washington spoke. Without referring +in any way to the event which was taking place at the time Mr. +Washington, to the alarm of his friends, launched into a fervid +denunciation of lynching and ended with an earnest and eloquent appeal +for better feeling between the races. Instead of his words breaking up +the meeting in a storm of anger and rioting, this audience composed of +Southern whites and colored people vigorously applauded his +sentiments. Undoubtedly they were applauding not so much the views +expressed as the courage shown in expressing them at that place and +under those circumstances. + +A somewhat similar experience occurred on a recent speaking tour which +he and a party were making through the State of Louisiana. He was +accompanied by a company of Negro leaders, including Major Moton of +Hampton, who has since become his successor as Principal of Tuskegee +Institute. They were in a portion of the State notorious for its +lynchings of Negroes. No one who has ever seen Major Moton, or knows +anything about him, would think of accusing him of timidity or +cowardice. But when they went before a white audience in this +particular district he urged Mr. Washington as a matter of common +prudence to "soft pedal" what he had to say about lynching. Just as in +Jacksonville Mr. Washington did just the opposite, and made his +denunciation particularly emphatic, and just as in Jacksonville there +was the same applause and apparent approval of his views. + +Booker Washington also protested that in the matter of public +education his people are not given a square deal in parts of the +South, particularly in the country districts. He continually +emphasized the relation between education and crime. Other things +being equal the more and the better the education provided the less +the number and seriousness of the crimes committed. Also he pointed +out that the neglect of Negro school facilities injures the white +citizens almost if not quite as much as the Negroes themselves. And +conversely that good school facilities for the colored children +benefit the whites almost as much as the Negroes. He also insisted +that quite aside from all moral and ethical considerations Negro +education pays in dollars and cents. As illustrating the relation +between Negro education and crime or rather lack of Negro education +and crime he related this incident in an article entitled, "Black and +White in the South" published in the _Outlook_ of March 14, 1914: "A +few weeks ago three of the most prominent white men in Mississippi +were shot and killed by two colored boys. Investigation brought to +light that the two boys were rough and crude, that they had never been +to school, hence that they were densely ignorant. While no one had +taught these boys the use of books, some one had taught them, as mere +children, the use of cocaine and whiskey. In a mad fit, when their +minds and bodies were filled with cheap whiskey and cocaine, these two +ignorant boys created a 'reign of murder,' in the course of which +three white men, four colored men, and one colored woman met death. As +soon as the shooting was over a crazed mob shot the two boys full of +bullet-holes and then burned their bodies in the public streets. + +"Now this is the kind of thing, more or less varied in form, that +takes place too often in our country. Why? The answer is simple: it is +dense ignorance on the part of the Negro and indifference arising out +of a lack of knowledge of conditions on the part of the white people." + +He then pointed out that the last enumeration in Mississippi, where +this crime was committed, indicated that 64 per cent. of the colored +children had had no schooling during the past year. That in Charleston +County, South Carolina, another backward State in Negro education, +there was expended on the public education of each white child $20.2; +for the colored child $3.12; in Abbeville County $11.17 for the white, +69 cents for the colored child. This 69 cents per capita expense was +incurred by maintaining a one-room school for two and one-half +months, with a teacher paid at the rate of $15 a month. In another +county the Negro school was in session but one month out of the +twelve. Throughout the State, outside the cities and large towns, the +school term for the colored children is from two to four months. Thus +200,000 colored children in South Carolina are given only three or +four months of schooling a year. "Under these conditions it would +require twenty-eight years for a child to complete the eight grades of +the public school.... But South Carolina is by no means the only State +that has these breeding spots for ignorance, crime, and filth which +the nation will sooner or later have to reckon with." + +In the article in the _Century Magazine_ from which quotations have +already been made Mr. Washington cites this statement made by W.N. +Sheats, former Superintendent of Education for the State of Florida, +in explanation of an analysis of the sources of the school fund of the +State: "A glance at the foregoing statistics indicates that the +section of the State designated as 'Middle Florida' is considerably +behind all the rest in all stages of educational progress. The usual +plea is that this is due to the intolerable burden of Negro education, +and a general discouragement and inactivity is ascribed to this cause. +The following figures are given to show that the education of the +Negroes of Middle Florida does not cost the white people of that +section one cent. Without discussing the American principle that it is +the duty of all property to educate every citizen as a means of +protection to the State, and with no reference to what taxes that +citizen may pay, it is the purpose of this paragraph to show that the +backwardness of education of the white people is in no degree due to +the presence of the Negro, but that the presence of the Negro has been +actually contributing to the sustenance of the white schools." + +Mr. Sheats then shows that the cost of the Negro schools was $19,467, +while the Negroes contributed to the school fund in direct taxes, +together with their proper proportion of the indirect taxes, $23,984. +He concludes: "If this is a fair calculation the schools for the +Negroes are not only no burden on the white citizens, but $4,525 for +Negro schools contributed from other sources was in some way diverted +to the white schools." + +Mr. Charles L. Coon, Superintendent of Schools at Wilson, N.C., is +quoted as demonstrating that had there been expended upon the Negro +schools the Negro's proportionate share of the receipts from indirect +taxes, as well as the direct taxes paid by them, $18,077 more in a +given year would have been expended on colored schools in Virginia, +$26,539 more in North Carolina, and $141,682 more in Georgia. These +figures would seem to show that in these States at least the Negro +schools are not only no burden upon the white taxpayers but that the +colored people do not get back in school facilities the equivalent of +all they themselves contribute in taxes. + +In the matter of passenger transportation facilities Booker Washington +protested that injustice is done his people by most of the railroads +of the South, not in providing separate accommodations for blacks and +whites, but in furnishing the Negroes with inferior accommodations +while charging them the same rates. This injustice causes, he +believes, more resentment and bitterness among his people than all the +other injustices to which they are subjected combined. The Negro or +"Jim Crow" compartment is usually half of the baggage car which is +usually inadequate for the traffic, badly lighted, badly ventilated, +and dirty. The newsdealer of the train uses this coach and increases +the congestion by spreading his wares over several seats. White men +frequently enter this compartment to buy papers and almost always +smoke in it, thus requiring the colored women to ride in what is +virtually a smoker. Aside from these matters the Negroes rarely have +through cars and no sleeping, parlor, or buffet cars, and frequently +no means of securing food on long journeys since many if not most of +the station restaurants refuse to serve them. + +In the _Century_ article Mr. Washington thus quoted the experience of +a sensible and conservative Negro friend of his from Austin, Texas--a +man of education and good reputation among both races in his native +city: "At one time," he said, in describing some of his travelling +experiences, "I got off at a station almost starved. I begged the +keeper of the restaurant to sell me a lunch in a paper and hand it out +of the window. He refused, and I had to travel a hundred miles farther +before I could get a sandwich. At another time I went to a station to +purchase my ticket. I was there thirty minutes before the ticket +office was opened. When it did finally open I at once appeared at the +window. While the ticket agent served the white people at one window, +I remained waiting at the other until the train pulled out. I was +compelled to jump aboard the train without my ticket and wire back to +get my trunk expressed. Considering the temper of the people, the +separate coach law may be the wisest plan for the South, but the +statement that the two races have equal accommodations is all bosh. I +pay the same money, but I cannot have a chair or a lavatory, and +rarely a through car. I must crawl out at all times of night, and in +all kinds of weather, in order to catch another dirty 'Jim Crow' coach +to make my connections. I do not ask to ride with white people. I do +ask for equal accommodations for the same money." + +Booker Washington was of course obliged to travel in the South almost +constantly and to a great extent at night. He nearly always travelled +on a Pullman car, and so when not an interstate passenger usually +"violated" the law of whatever State he happened to be passing +through. The conductors, brakemen, and other trainmen, as a rule, +treated him with great respect and consideration and oftentimes +offered him a compartment in place of the berth which he had +purchased. + +Pullman cars in the South are not as a rule open to members of the +Negro race. It is only under more or less unusual conditions that a +black man is able to secure Pullman accommodations. Dr. Washington, +however, was generally treated with marked consideration whenever he +applied for Pullman car reservations. He was sometimes criticised, not +only by members of his own race, but by the unthinking of the white +race who accused him of thus seeking "social equality" with the white +passengers. + +The work he was compelled to do, however, in constantly travelling +from place to place, and dictating letters while travelling, made it +necessary that he conserve his strength as much as possible. He never +believed that he was defying Southern traditions in seeking the +comfort essential to his work. + +Upon one occasion Dr. Washington went to Houston, Texas, and was +invited by the Secretary of the Cotton Exchange, in the name of the +Exchange, to speak to the members of the leading business +organizations of Houston, upon the floor of the Cotton Exchange Bank. +He was introduced by the secretary, who desired to give Dr. Washington +the opportunity to put before representative Southern white men the +thoughts and ideas of a representative colored man as to how the two +races might live together in the South on terms of mutual helpfulness. +Such was the impression he made upon the whites that when Dr. +Washington's secretary applied for Pullman accommodations for him, +returning East, they were not only ungrudgingly but even eagerly +granted. In those days it was unheard of for a colored man to travel +as a passenger in a Pullman car in Texas. + +The injustices mentioned and all others connected with railway +passenger service for Negroes Booker Washington sought in +characteristic fashion to mitigate by instituting, through the agency +of the National Negro Business League, what are known as Railroad +Days. On these days each year colored patrons of railroads lay before +the responsible officials the respects in which they believe they are +unfairly treated and request certain definite changes. Although +started only a few years ago these Railroad Days have already +accomplished a number of the improvements desired in various +localities. + +As an aid to the committees appointed in the various communities Mr. +Washington sent out a letter addressed to these committees which was +published in the Negro papers. This letter advised that all protests +on Railroad Days give: first, "a statement of present conditions," +second, "a statement of conditions desired." There followed a sample +detailed statement of the present conditions about which there is +usually cause for complaint accompanied by a similar statement of the +conditions desired. + +It was then suggested that these specific recommendations be followed +by these general requests: + +"1. The same class and quality of accommodations for colored +passengers as are provided for the most favored class of travellers. + +"2. Such regulations as will protect colored passengers from the +rudeness and insults of employees of the railroad. + +"3. Some definite authority to whom these matters may be referred, +where friction arises, and who will, in good faith, investigate and +adjust them." + +The letter concluded with this advice: + +"All those who are going to act on the suggestions to make a united +effort to bring about better railroad and other travelling facilities +should not omit to remind our people that they have a duty to perform +as well as the railroads. + +"First, our people should try to keep themselves clean and presentable +when travelling, and they should do their duty in trying to keep +waiting-rooms and railroad coaches clean. + +"Second, it should be borne in mind that little or nothing will be +accomplished by merely talking about white people who are in charge of +railroads, etc. The only way to get any results is to go to the people +and talk to them and not about them." + +Compare this definite, reasonable, and effective form of protest with +the bitter, vague, and futile outcry against the "Jim Crow" car which +is frequently heard. + +Booker Washington sent a marked copy of the _Century Magazine_ +containing the article, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" to the +head of every railroad in the South calling attention to the portion +relating to unfair treatment in passenger service for his people. In +response he received letters which in almost every case were friendly +and in many cases showed an active desire to coöperate in the +improvement of the conditions complained of. Mr. Washington published +extracts from these letters in the Negro press prior to his Railroad +Day proposal in order to show that the railroad officials were for the +most part at least willing to give a respectful hearing to the +complaints of their Negro patrons if properly approached. President +Stevens of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company wrote that he had had +one hundred copies of the article distributed among the officials and +employees of his road. Mr. J.M. Parker, Receiver and General Manager +of the Arkansas, Louisiana & Gulf Railway Company, wrote: "I have your +favor with enclosure.... I shall take pleasure in reading this +article, and from glancing through it I am inclined to think that the +statement that the Negro is not getting a square deal in the way of +transportation facilities is well founded." Mr. William J. Black, +Passenger Traffic Manager of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway +System, wrote in part: "You will, no doubt, be pleased to learn that +the Santa Fé has already provided equipment for colored travel in +conformity with the plan outlined in your article." From all or most +of the Southern railways came letters of the general tenor of those +quoted, and thus was the way prepared for the successful inauguration +of the Railroad Days. + +Constantly as he labored for the rights of his people he never sought +to obtain for them any special privileges. Unlike most leaders of +groups, classes, or races of people he never sought any exclusive or +special advantages for his followers. He did not want the Negro to +receive any favors by reason of his race any more than he wanted him +to be discriminated against on that account. He wanted all human +beings, Negroes among the rest, to receive their deserts as +individuals regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, or any +other consideration which has nothing to do with the individual's +merits. One of his favorite figures was that "one cannot hold another +in a ditch without himself staying in the ditch." There is not a +single right for which he contended for his people which if won would +not directly or indirectly benefit all other people. Were they in all +the States admitted to the franchise on equal terms with white +citizens what Mr. Washington termed the "encouragement of vice and +ignorance among white citizens" would cease. + +Were the lynching of Negroes stopped the lynching of white men would +also cease. Both the innocent black man and the innocent white man +would feel a greater sense of security while the guilty black man as +well as the guilty white man would be less secure. Were the Negroes +given their full share of public education the whites would gain not +only more reliable and intelligent Negro labor, but would be largely +freed so far as Negroes are concerned from the menace of the crimes of +violence which are committed almost exclusively by ignorant persons. +Finally, were Negro travellers given equal accommodations and +treatment for equal rates on all the Southern railways the volume of +Negro travel would more rapidly increase, thus increasing the +prosperity of the railways and their shareholders which would in turn +promote the prosperity of the entire South. + +True to his policy of always placing the emphasis upon those things +which are encouraging instead of upon those things which are +discouraging, Mr. Washington concluded the already much-quoted +article, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" with these observations: +"Notwithstanding all the defects in our system of dealing with him, +the Negro in this country owns more property, lives in better houses, +is in a larger measure encouraged in business, wears better clothes, +eats better food, has more schoolhouses and churches, and more +teachers and ministers, than any similar group of Negroes anywhere in +the world." + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +MEETING RACE PREJUDICE + + +Although intensely human and consumingly interested in humanity--both +in the mass and as individuals, whether of his own race or any +other--Booker Washington thought and acted to an uncommon degree on +the impersonal plane. This characteristic was perhaps most strikingly +illustrated in his attitude toward race prejudice. When, many years +ago, he had charge of the Indian students at Hampton, and had occasion +to travel with them, he found they were free to occupy in the hotels +any rooms they could pay for, whereas he must either go without or +take a room in the servants' quarters. He regarded these experiences +as interesting illustrations of the illogical nature of race +prejudice. The occupants of these hotels did not resent mingling with +members of a backward race whose skin happened to be red, but they did +object to mingling on the same terms with members of another backward +race whose skin happened to be black. It apparently never entered his +head to regard this discrimination with bitterness or as a personal +rebuff. One could not, however, make a greater mistake than to assume +from this impersonal attitude that he condoned race prejudice, or in +any sense stood as an apologist for it. To dispel any such idea one +has only to recall his speech at the Peace Jubilee in Chicago after +the Spanish War, from which we have already quoted, and in which he +characterized racial prejudice as "a cancer gnawing at the heart of +the Republic, that shall one day prove as dangerous as an attack from +an army without or within." + +Very early in his career Washington worked out for himself a perfectly +definite line of conduct in the matter of social mingling with white +people. In the South he scrupulously observed the local customs and +avoided offending the prejudices of the Southerners in so far as was +possible without unduly handicapping his work. For instance, in his +constant travelling throughout the South he not only violated their +customs, but oftentimes their laws, in using sleeping cars, but this +he was obliged to do because he could spare neither the time to travel +by day nor the strength and energy to sit up all night. This +particular Southern prejudice and the laws predicated upon it he was +hence forced to violate, but he did so as a physical necessity to the +accomplishment of his work and not in any sense as a defiance of +custom or law. While in the South he observed Southern customs and +bowed to Southern prejudices, but he declined to be bound by such +customs, laws, and prejudices when in other parts of this country or +the world. Except in the South he allowed himself whatever degree of +social intercourse with the whites seemed best calculated to +accomplish his immediate object and his ultimate aims. He never +accepted purely social invitations from white persons. He always +claimed that he could best satisfy his social desires among his own +people. He believed that the question of so-called "social equality" +between the races was too academic and meaningless to be worthy of +serious discussion. + +Probably he never made a more well-considered or illuminating +statement of his personal attitude toward social intercourse with the +dominant race than in a letter to the late Edgar Gardiner Murphy, a +Southerner "of light and leading," author of "The Present South," "The +Basis of Ascendancy," and other notable books on the relations between +the races. Mr. Murphy, as a Southerner, became alarmed at the attacks +upon Booker Washington by certain Southern newspapers and public men +because of his appearance at so-called social functions in the North. +Mr. Murphy, rightly regarding the retention of the favorable opinion +of representative Southern whites as essential to the success of +Washington's work, very naturally feared any course of action which +seemed to threaten the continuance of that favorable opinion. In +response to a letter in which Mr. Murphy expressed these fears and +asked for an opportunity to discuss the situation with him Mr. +Washington replied as follows: + + [_Personal_] + + MY DEAR SIR: I have received your kind letter, for which I + thank you very much. I was very much disappointed that I did + not have an opportunity of meeting you, as I had planned the + other day, so as not to be so hurried in talking with you as + I usually am. I shall be very glad, however, the very first + time I can find another spare hour when in New York (Mr. + Murphy was then living in New York City) to have you talk + with me fully and frankly about the matters that are in your + mind. + + However we may differ in our view regarding certain matters, + there is no man in the country whose frankness, earnestness, + and sincere disinterestedness I respect more than yours, and + whatever you say always has great weight with me. + + Your letter emphasizes the tremendous difficulty of the work + at the South. In most cases, and in most countries where a + large section of the people are down, and are to be helped + up, those attempting to do the work have before them a + straight, simple problem of elevating the unfortunate people + without the entanglement of racial prejudice to be grappled + with. I think I do not exaggerate when I say that perhaps a + third or half of the thought and energy of those engaged in + the elevation of the colored people is given in the + direction of trying to do the thing or not doing the thing + which would enhance racial prejudice. This feature of the + situation I believe very few people at the North or at the + South appreciate. What is true of the Negro educator is true + in a smaller degree of the white educator at the South. I am + constantly trying, as best I can, to study the situation as + it is right here on the ground, and I may be mistaken, but + aside from the wild and demagogical talk on the part of a + few I am unable to discover much or any change in the + attitude of the best white people toward the best colored + people. So far as my own individual experience and + observation are concerned, I am treated about the same as I + have always been. I was in Athens, Georgia, a few days ago, + to deliver ah address before the colored people at the State + Fair, and the meeting was attended by the best class of + whites and the best class of colored people, who seemed to + be pleased over what I said. + + Mr. Blank, a Southern Congressman, just now is making a good + deal of noise, but you will recall that Mr. Blank spoke just + as bitterly against me before Mr. Roosevelt became President + as he has since. I do not want to permit myself to be + misled, but I repeat that I cannot see or feel that any + great alienation has taken place between the two classes of + people that you refer to. + + For the sake of argument I want to grant for the moment a + thing which I have never done before, even in a private + letter, and which is very distasteful to me, and that is, + that I am the leader of the colored people. Do you think it + will ever be possible for one man to be set up as the leader + of ten millions of people, meaning a population nearly twice + as large as that of the Dominion of Canada and nearly equal + to that of the Republic of Mexico, without the actions of + that individual being carefully watched and commented upon, + and what he does being exaggerated either in one direction + or the other? Again, if I am the leader and therefore the + mouthpiece for ten millions of colored people, is it + possible for such a leader to avoid coming into contact with + the representatives of the ruling classes of white people + upon many occasions; and is it not to be expected that when + questions that are racial and national and international in + their character are to be discussed, that such a + representative of the Negro race would be sought out both by + individuals and by conventions? If, as you kindly suggest, I + am the leader, I hardly see how such notoriety and + prominence as will naturally come can be wholly or in any + large degree avoided. + + Judging by some of the criticisms that have appeared + recently, mainly from the class of people to whom I have + referred, it seems to me that some of the white people at + the South are making an attempt to control my actions when I + am in the North and in Europe. Heretofore, no man has been + more careful to regard the feelings of the Southern people + in actions and words than I have been, and this policy I + shall continue to pursue, but I have never attempted to hide + or to minimize the fact that when I am out of the South I do + not conform to the same customs and rules that I do in the + South. I say I have not attempted to hide it because + everything that I have done in this respect was published + four years ago in my book, "Up from Slavery," which has been + read widely throughout the South, and I did not hear a word + of adverse criticism passed upon what I had done. For + fifteen years I have been doing at the North just what I + have been doing during the past year. I have never attended + a purely social function given by white people anywhere in + the country. Nearly every week I receive invitations to + weddings of rich people, but these I always refuse. Mrs. + Washington almost never accompanies me on any occasion where + there can be the least sign of purely social intercourse. + Whenever I meet white people in the North at their offices, + in their parlors, or at their dinner tables, or at banquets, + it is with me purely a matter of business, either in the + interest of our institution or in the interest of my race; + no other thought ever enters my mind. For me to say now, + after fifteen years of creating interest in my race and in + this institution in that manner, that I must stop, would + simply mean that I must cease to get money in a large + measure for this institution. In meeting the people in this + way I am simply doing what the head of practically every + school, black and white, in the South is constantly doing. + For purely social pleasure I have always found all my + ambitions satisfied among my own people, and you will find + that in proportion as the colored race becomes educated and + prosperous, in the same proportion is this true of all + colored people. + + I said a minute ago that I had tried to be careful in regard + to the feelings of the Southern people. It has been urged + upon me time and time again to employ a number of white + teachers at this institution. I have not done so and do not + intend to do so, largely for the reason that they would be + constantly mingling with each other at the table. For thirty + years and more, in every one of our Southern States, white + and colored people have sat down to the table three times a + day nearly throughout the year, and I have heard very little + criticism passed upon them. This kind of thing, however, at + Tuskegee I have always tried to avoid so far as our regular + teaching force is concerned. But I repeat, if I begin to + yield in the performance of my duty when out of the South in + one respect, I do not know where the end will be. It is very + difficult for you, or any other person who is not in my + place, to understand the difficulty and embarrassment that I + am confronted with. You have no idea how many invitations of + various kinds I am constantly refusing or trying to get away + from because I want to avoid embarrassing situations. For + example, over a year ago Mr. S---- invited me to go to + Stockbridge, Massachusetts, near Lenox, to deliver an + address on General Armstrong's life and work. When I reached + Stockbridge an hour or so before the time of delivering the + address, I found that Mr. S----, who had invited me, had + also invited five or six other gentlemen to meet me at + luncheon. The luncheon I knew nothing about until I reached + the town. Under such circumstances I am at a loss to know + how I could have avoided accepting the invitation. A few + days afterward I filled a long-standing invitation to + lecture at Amherst College. I reached the town a few hours + before dinner and found that a number of people, including + several college presidents, had been invited to meet me at + dinner. Taking still another case: over a year ago I + promised a colored club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that I + would be their guest at a banquet in October. The banquet + was held on the third of the month, and when I reached + Cambridge I found that in addition to the members of the + colored club, the Mayor of the city and a number of Harvard + professors, including President Eliot, had been invited; and + I could go on and state case after case. Of course, if I + wanted to make a martyr of myself and draw especial + attention to me and to the institution, I could easily do so + by simply writing whenever I receive an invitation to a + dinner or banquet that I could not accept on account of the + color of my skin. + + Six years ago at the Peace Jubilee in Chicago, where I spoke + at a meeting at which President McKinley was present, I took + both luncheon and dinner in the same dining-room with + President McKinley and was the guest of the same club that + he was a guest of. There were Southern men present, and the + fact that I was present and spoke was widely heralded + throughout the South, and so far as I know not a word of + adverse comment was made. For nearly fifteen years the + addresses which I have been constantly making at dinners and + banquets in the North have been published throughout the + South, and no adverse comment has been made regarding my + presence on these occasions. + + Practically all of the invitations to functions that are of + even a semi-social character are urged upon me by Northern + people, and very often after I have refused to accept + invitations pressure is brought to bear on special friends + of mine in order to get me to accept. Notwithstanding all + this, where I accept one invitation I refuse ten; in fact, + you have no idea how many invitations to dinner I refuse + while I am in the North. I not only do so for the reason + that I do not care to excite undue criticism, but for the + further reason that if I were to accept any large proportion + of such invitations I would have little time left for my + legitimate work. In many cases the invitations come from + people who do not give money but simply want to secure a + notoriety or satisfy curiosity. + + I have stated the case as I see it, and with a view of + having you think over these matters by the time that we + meet. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + +There were two particularly notable occasions upon which Mr. +Washington unwittingly stirred the prejudices of the South. The first +was when in 1901 he dined with President Roosevelt and his family at +the White House; the second, when four years later he dined with Mr. +John Wanamaker and his daughter at a hotel in Saratoga, New York. + +The truth of his dining at the White House, of which so many imaginary +versions have been given, was this: having received so many +expressions of approval from all sections of the country on his +appointment of ex-Governor Jones to a Federal judgeship in Alabama, +which appointment was made, as described in a previous chapter, on the +recommendation of Booker Washington and Grover Cleveland, President +Roosevelt asked him to come to the White House and discuss with him +some further appointments and other matters of mutual interest. + +On arriving in Washington he went to the home of his friend, +Whitefield McKinlay, a colored man with whom he usually stopped when +in the Capital. The next morning he went to the White House by +appointment for an interview with the President. Since they did not +have time to finish their discussion, the President, in accordance +with the course he had often followed with others under similar +circumstances, invited Washington to come to dinner so that they might +finish their discussion in the evening without loss of time. + +In response to this oral invitation he went to the White House at the +appointed time, dined with the President and his family and two other +guests, and after dinner discussed with the President chiefly the +character of individual colored office holders or applicants for +office and, as says Colonel Roosevelt, "the desirability in specific +cases, notably in all offices having to do with the administration of +justice, of getting high-minded and fearless white men into +office--men whom we could be sure would affirmatively protect the +law-abiding Negro's right to life, liberty, and property just exactly +as they protected the rights of law-abiding white men." Also they +discussed the public service of the South so far as the +representatives of the Federal Administration were concerned--the +subject upon which President Roosevelt had wished to consult him. The +next day the bare fact that he had dined with the President was +obscurely announced by the Washington papers as a routine item of +White House news. Some days later, however, an enterprising +correspondent for a Southern paper lifted this unpretentious item from +oblivion and sent it to his paper to be blazoned forth in a front-page +headline. For days and weeks thereafter the Southern press fairly +shrieked with the news of this quiet dinner. The very papers which had +most loudly praised the President for his appointment of a Southern +Democrat to a Federal judgeship now execrated him for inviting to dine +with him the man upon whose recommendation he had made this +appointment. + +Mr. Washington was also roundly abused for his "presumption" in daring +to dine at the White House. This was a little illogical in view of the +well-known fact that an invitation to the White House is a summons +rather than an invitation in the ordinary sense. Neither President +Roosevelt nor Mr. Washington issued any statements by way of +explanation or apology. While it was, of course, farthest from the +wishes of either to offend the sensibilities of the South, neither +one--the many statements to the contrary, notwithstanding--ever +indicated subsequently any regret or admitted that the incident was a +mistake. + +During the furore over this incident both the President and Mr. +Washington received many threats against their lives. The President +had the Secret Service to protect him, while Mr. Washington had no +such reliance. His co-workers surrounded him with such precautions as +they could, and his secretary accumulated during this period enough +threatening letters to fill a desk drawer. It was not discovered +until some years after that one of these threats had been followed by +the visit to Tuskegee of a hired assassin. A strange Negro was hurt in +jumping off the train before it reached the Tuskegee Institute +station. There being no hospital for Negroes in the town of Tuskegee +he was taken to the hospital of the Institute, where he was cared for +and nursed for several weeks before he was able to leave. Mr. +Washington was absent in the North during all of this time. Many +months later this Negro confessed that he had come to Tuskegee in the +pay of a group of white men in Louisiana for the purpose of +assassinating Booker Washington. He said that he became so ashamed of +himself while being cared for by the doctors and nurses employed by +the very man he had come to murder that he left as soon as he was able +to do so instead of waiting to carry out his purpose on the return of +his victim, as he had originally planned to do. + +Booker Washington, with all his philosophy and capacity for rising +above the personal, was probably more deeply pained by this affair +than any other in his whole career. His pain was, however, almost +solely on Mr. Roosevelt's account. He felt keenly hurt and chagrined +that Mr. Roosevelt, whom he so intensely admired, and who was doing so +much, not only for his own race but for the whole South as he +believed, should suffer all this abuse and even vilification on his +account. President Roosevelt evidently realized something of how he +felt, for in a letter to him written at this time he added this +postscript: "By the way, don't worry about _me_; it will all come +right in time, and if I have helped by ever so little 'the ascent of +man' I am more than satisfied." + +Probably no single public event ever gave Booker Washington greater +pleasure than Colonel Roosevelt's triumphant election to the +Presidency in 1904. The day after the election he wrote the President +the following letter: + + [_Personal_] + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _November 10, 1904_. + + MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I cannot find words in which to + express my feeling regarding the tremendous outcome of + Tuesday's election. I know that you feel the sacred and + almost divine confidence imposed. In my opinion, no human + being in America since Washington, perhaps, has been so + honored and vindicated. The result shows that the great + heart of the American people beats true and is in the + direction of fair play for all, regardless of race or color. + Nothing has ever occurred which has given me more faith in + all races or shows more plainly that they will respond to + high ideals when properly appealed to. + + I know that you will not misunderstand me when I say I share + somewhat the feeling of triumph and added responsibility + that must animate your soul at the present time because of + the personal abuse heaped upon you on account of myself. The + great victory and vindication does not make me feel boastful + or vainglorious, but, on the other hand, very humble, and + gives me more faith in humanity and makes me more determined + to work harder in the interest of all our people of both + races regardless of race or color. I shall urge our people + everywhere to manifest their gratitude by showing a spirit + of meekness and added usefulness. The election shows to + what a great height you have already lifted the character of + American citizenship. Before you leave the White House I am + sure that the whole South will understand you and love you. + + God keep you and bless you. + + Yours most sincerely, + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + _To President Theodore Roosevelt, White House, Washington_ + +President Roosevelt expressed great appreciation of this letter and +said that Mr. Washington had taken the election in just the way he +would have wished him to take it. + +About two years later Mr. Washington wrote President Roosevelt another +letter which throws light upon the relations between the two men as +well as upon the incongruous phases of racial prejudice: + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _June 19, 1906._ + + MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: It will interest you to know that the + Cox family, over whom such a disturbance was made in + connection with the Indianola, Miss., post-office, have + started a bank in that same town which direct and reliable + information convinces me is in a prosperous condition. The + bank has the confidence of both races. It is a curious + circumstance that while objection was made to this black + family being at the head of the post-office no objection is + made to this black man being president of a bank in the same + town. + + A letter just received from a reliable banker in Mississippi + contains the following sentences: + + "Now, with reference to Mr. W.W. Cox, of Indianola, Miss., I + beg to advise that no man of color is as highly regarded and + respected by the white people of his town and county as he. + It is true that he organized and is cashier of the Delta + Penny Savings Bank, domiciled there. I visited Indianola + during the spring of 1905 and was very much surprised to + note the esteem in which he was held by the bankers and + business men (white) of that place. He is a good, clean man + and above the average in intelligence, and knows how to + handle the typical Southern white man. In the last statement + furnished by his bank to the State Auditor, his bank showed + total resources of $46,000. He owns and lives in one of the + best resident houses in Indianola, regardless of race, and + located in a part of the town where other colored men seem + to be not desired. The whites adjacent to him seem to be his + friends. He has a large plantation near the town, worth + $35,000 or $40,000. He is a director in Mr. Pettiford's bank + at Birmingham, Ala., and I think is vice-president of the + same. He also owns stock in the bank of Mound Bayou." + + Yours very truly, + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + _To President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C._ + +In August, 1905, Booker Washington spoke one Sunday morning before a +large audience in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. After his address Mr. John +Wanamaker and his daughter were among those who came forward to greet +him. They also invited him to dine with them at the United States +Hotel that afternoon. Mr. Wanamaker had been particularly interested +in Booker Washington and his work for many years. Mr. Washington +accepted this invitation without the least thought of reawakening the +clamor caused by the Roosevelt dinner. The dinner itself passed off +quietly, pleasantly, and without particular event. It was not until he +took up the papers at his little hotel in New York the next morning +that he found that he had again stirred up a hornet's nest similar to +that of four years before. The denunciation was if anything more +violent; for, as many of his assailants said, he should have profited +by the protests of four years before. In an editorial entitled, +"Booker Washington's Saratoga Performance" a Southern newspaper said: +"Since the fateful day when Booker T. Washington sat down to the +dinner table in the White House with President Roosevelt he has done +many things to hurt the cause of which he is regarded as the foremost +man.... Leaving out of the question the lack of delicacy and +self-respect manifested by Wanamaker and his family, blame must rest +upon Washington, because he knows how deep and impassable is the gulf +between whites and blacks in the South when the social situation is +involved. He deliberately flaunts all this in the face of the Southern +people among whom he is living and among whom his work has to be +carried on. He could have given no harder knock to his institution +than he gave when he marched into that Saratoga dinner room with a +white woman and her father." + +These sentiments were expressed editorially by another Southern paper: +"Wanamaker is unworthy to shine the shoes of Booker Washington. He is +not in Washington's class. If the truly smart set of Saratoga was +shocked that Booker should have been caught in this man's company and +as his guest we are not surprised. But still Booker Washington could +not eat dinner with the most ordinary white man in this section. He +wouldn't dare intimate that he sought such social recognition among +whites here"; and in conclusion this editorial said: "The South only +pities the daughter that she should have allowed herself to be used by +a father whose sensibilities and ideas of the proprieties are so +dulled by his asinine qualities that he could not see the harm in it." + +This vituperation of Mr. Wanamaker, and the scoring him for his part +in the affair even more than Washington, recalls an incident which Mr. +Washington himself relates in his book entitled, "My Larger +Education." When he was making a trip through Florida, a few weeks +after his dinner with President Roosevelt, at a little station near +Gainesville, "A white man got aboard the train," he says, "whose dress +and manner indicated that he was from the class of small farmers in +that part of the country. He shook hands with me very cordially, and +said: 'I am mighty glad to see you. I have heard about you and I have +been wanting to meet you for a long while.' + +"I was naturally pleased at this cordial reception, but I was +surprised when, after looking me over, he remarked: 'Say, you are a +great man. You are the greatest man in this country.' + +"I protested mildly, but he insisted, shaking his head and repeating, +'Yes, sir, the greatest man in this country.' Finally I asked him what +he had against President Roosevelt, telling him at the same time that, +in my opinion, the President of the United States was the greatest man +in the country. + +"'Huh! Roosevelt?' he replied, with considerable emphasis in his +voice, 'I used to think that Roosevelt was a great man until he ate +dinner with you. That settled him for me.'" + +Mr. Washington goes on to say: "This remark of a Florida farmer is but +one of the many experiences which have taught me something of the +curious nature of this thing that we call prejudice--social prejudice, +race prejudice, and all the rest. I have come to the conclusion that +these prejudices are something that it does not pay to disturb. It is +best to 'let sleeping dogs lie.' All sections of the United States, +like all other parts of the world, have their own peculiar customs and +prejudices. For that reason it is the part of common sense to respect +them. When one goes to European countries, or into the Far West, or +into India or China, he meets certain customs and certain prejudices +which he is bound to respect and, to a certain extent, comply with. +The same holds good regarding conditions in the North and in the +South. In the South it is not the custom for colored and white people +to be entertained at the same hotel; it is not the custom for black +and white children to attend the same school. In most parts of the +North a different custom prevails. I have never stopped to question or +quarrel with the customs of the people in the part of the country in +which I found myself." + +And so he acted in the case of the Wanamaker dinner. He accepted Mr. +Wanamaker's invitation because he was in the North and his host was a +Northerner. In so doing he felt that he was not violating any +generally accepted custom or universally entertained prejudice of the +part of the country in which he found himself. Had the inconceivable +occurred, and had a Southerner invited him to dine in the South, under +conditions in all other respects identical, he would not have +accepted. He would not have been willing to incur the resentment of +the South even had his host been willing to defy local prejudices by +inviting him. On the other hand, he felt that the attitude of those +who would seek to control him in matters of social custom when he was +not in the South or among Southerners was unfair and unreasonable. + +An incident which occurred while he was stopping at the English Hotel +in Indianapolis in 1903 furnished copy for the more or less +sensational press of the country. This hotel does not as a rule accept +Negroes as guests, but Mr. Washington was always a welcome visitor +there just as he was at many other hotels where less-favored members +of his race were excluded. He never patronized this hotel or any other +for the purpose of asserting his rights, but merely to obtain the +comforts and the seclusion so essential to a man who always worked up +to the limits of even his great strength and usually a little beyond +such limits. It is, indeed, quite possible that he might have lived +longer had he been free to stop at hotels in the South instead of +undergoing the constant wear and tear of being entertained in the +private homes of the all-too-kind hosts of his own race. All public +men and lecturers, in a large way of business, learn early in their +careers that they must decline practically all proffers of private +hospitality if they are to preserve their health. + +On this occasion the white chambermaid assigned to care for the room +he occupied refused to perform her duties so far as his room was +concerned on the ground, as she stated, that she "would not clean up +after a nigger." For this refusal to do her work the management +discharged her. The Springfield _Republican_ of that date thus +describes what followed: "A hotel at Houston, Texas, immediately +offered her a place there, which she accepted, but as matters are now +going she is more likely to retire from the business as a grand lady +living on an independent income. Her name is upon all tongues in the +Southland, and the newspapers print long and complimentary accounts of +her life and the one great deed that has made her famous. Citizens and +communities vie with each other in contributing money.... Captain John +W. Johnson of Sheffield, Ala., is organizing a general subscription +fund from that and neighboring towns. A meeting at Houston, Texas, +raised $500 for her in the name of a 'self-respecting girl.' The +Houston _Chronicle_ is conducting another popular subscription. +Contributions are coming into it from all parts of Texas. Citizens of +New Orleans have raised $1,000. About twoscore Southern towns and a +dozen cities so far figure in the contributions. The movement extends +to Indianapolis, where a gold watch has been contributed." The +hysterical lauding of this "heroine" was subsequently wet blanketed by +the discovery that she had cared for Mr. Washington's room for the +first day or two of his stay without protest, and by the further +discovery that her second or third husband had recently obtained a +divorce from her. + +It is only fair to add that many of the leading citizens of the South +strongly deprecated the sensational magnifying of this trivial +incident by a certain section of the Southern press. Mr. Washington +declined to make any comment for publication during or after this +petty tumult. + +In spite of the three events described, and others of a like nature +that might be mentioned, no Negro was ever so liked, respected, +admired, and eulogized by the Southern whites as Booker Washington. +The day following his great speech before the Cotton States Exposition +in Atlanta in 1895 when he went out upon the streets of the city he +was so besieged by white citizens from the highest to the lowest, who +wanted to shake his hand and congratulate him, that he was fairly +driven in self-defense to remain indoors. Not many years after that it +had become a commonplace for him to be an honored guest on important +public occasions throughout the South. On occasions too numerous even +to note in passing he was welcomed, and introduced to great audiences, +by Southern Governors, Mayors, and other high officials, as well as by +eminent private citizens. Such recognition came partly as a +spontaneous tribute to the great work he was doing and partly because +of his constantly reiterated assurance that the Negro was not seeking +either political domination over the white man or social intercourse +with him. He reasoned that the more Southern whites he could convince +that his people were not seeking what is known as social equality or +political dominance, the less race friction there would be. + +It has already been mentioned that at the opening of the first Negro +agricultural fair in Albany, Georgia, in the fall of 1914, the Mayor +of the city and several members of the City Council sat on the +platform during the exercises and listened to his speech with most +spontaneous and obvious approval. In this part of Georgia the Negroes +outnumber the whites by at least six to one. The afternoon of the same +day the Mayor invited Booker Washington and his party to come to the +city hall and confer with himself, the other city officials, and a +group of prominent private citizens on the relations between the races +in that city and locality. At this conference there was a friendly, +easy interchange of ideas interspersed with jokes and laughter, but +all the time Mr. Washington was leading them step by step to see that +by giving the Negroes proper educational opportunities they were +helping themselves as well as the Negroes. Mr. Stowe, who was present +at this conference, noticed to his surprise that some of the arguments +advanced by Dr. Washington, which seemed to him to be almost worn-out +truisms, although freshly and strongly expressed, were seized upon by +his auditors as new and original ideas. When he made this observation +to Mr. Washington after the meeting he said that several other +Northerners had under similar circumstances made the same observation +and then he added: "I only wish that it were possible for me to spend +several months of each year talking with just such groups of +representative Southern men. They are always responsive, eager to +understand what we are driving at, and sympathetic when they do +understand. The necessity for raising money has forced us to devote +the bulk of our time to educating the Northern public to the needs of +the situation to the neglect of our Southern white neighbors right +here about us." + +It was an interesting illustration of the illogical workings of race +prejudice that this man to whom the city fathers from the Mayor down +gave up practically their entire day--this man to whom the city hall +was thrown open and at whose feet sat the leading citizens as well as +the officials of the city, could not have found shelter in any hotel +in town. This man whom the officials and other leading citizens +delighted to honor arrived at night on a Pullman sleeping car in +violation of the law of the State; and, after all possible honor had +been paid him, save allowing him to enter a hotel, departed the next +night by a Pullman sleeper in violation of the law! + +This constant "law-breaker" was welcomed and introduced to audiences +by Governor Blanchard of Louisiana at Shreveport, La.; by Governor +Candler at Atlanta, Ga.; by Governor Donaghey at Little Rock, Ark.; +by Governor McCorkle of West Virginia, and successively by Governors +Jelks and O'Neil of his own State of Alabama. Still other Southern +Governors spoke from the same platform with him at congresses, +conventions, and meetings of various descriptions. + +Next to South Carolina and Georgia, perhaps no State in the Union has +shown as much hostility to the progress of the Negro as Mississippi. +In 1908, in response to the urgent appeals of Charles Banks, the Negro +banker and dominating force of the Negro town of Mound Bayou, Mr. +Washington agreed to make a tour through Mississippi such as he had +made three years before through Arkansas and what were then Oklahoma +and Indian Territories. At Jackson, Miss., the management of the State +Fair Association offered the local committee of Negroes the great +Liberal Arts Building for Mr. Washington's address. In the audience +were not less than five thousand persons, among them several hundred +white citizens. Among the whites who sat on the platform were Governor +Noel, Lieutenant-Governor Manship, Bishop Charles B. Galloway of the +Methodist Episcopal Church South, Mr. Milsaps, the richest citizen of +the State; the postmaster of Jackson, the United States Marshal, Hon. +Edgar S. Wilson, and a considerable number of other prominent white +citizens. + +At Natchez, a few nights later, the audience literally filled every +available space in the Grand Opera House and overflowed into the +adjoining streets. This audience was in many respects the most +remarkable that the city had ever seen. The entire orchestra was given +over to the white citizens of Natchez and Adams County, and still +there was not room to accommodate them, for they were packed in the +rear and stood three and four deep in the aisles. The colored people +were crowded into the balcony and the galleries. When Booker +Washington arose to speak, he was greeted by a perfect whirlwind of +applause and cheering. He was visibly affected by the reception given +him by whites as well as blacks. + +When he finished speaking a large delegation headed by the Mayor of +the city made their way to the platform, welcomed him to the city, +thanked him for his address, and stated that his influence for good in +the city and county could not be estimated. + +Mr. J.T. Harahan, of the Illinois Central Railroad, provided the +Pullman tourist car in which Mr. Washington and his party toured the +State. It was estimated that from sixty to eighty thousand people saw +and heard him during his seven days' trip. On the conclusion of the +tour one paper said, "No more popular man ever came into the State, +white or black, and no man ever spoke to larger audiences than he did. +He is the only speaker who ever filled the Jackson, Miss., Coliseum." + +Only six months before his death Booker Washington made a similar tour +through Louisiana. Louisiana has always been reputed to be in the same +category as Mississippi in opposing Negro progress. To some of his +audiences Mr. Washington said that he and his party of twenty-five +colored men had felt before they started very much like the little +girl who was about to go on a trip to Louisiana with her parents. The +night before they started she said her prayer as usual: + + "_Now I lay me down to sleep + I pray the Lord my soul to keep. + If I should die before I wake, + I pray the Lord my soul to take._" + +With a deep sigh she then added, "Good-bye, Lord, for two weeks. We +are going down to Louisiana." + +In introducing Mr. Washington to a great audience in New Orleans, made +up of both races, Mayor Berhman said, turning to Booker Washington: + +"The work you are doing for the uplift of your people means untold +good to the great State of Louisiana and to the whole country. Nowhere +has your race greater opportunities than in Louisiana. If the people +of the Negro race will follow your teachings, they will help +materially to bring about a condition that will mean much for +Louisiana, the South, and the nation." + +At Shreveport former Governor N.C. Blanchard, in introducing Dr. +Washington to an audience of over 10,000 white and colored citizens, +said: "I am glad to see this goodly attendance of white people, +representative white people at that, for his Honor, the Mayor, is +here, and with him are members and officials of the city government +and other prominent citizens of our community. They are here to give +encouragement to Mr. Washington, to hold up his hands, for they know +that he is leading his people along right lines--lines tending to +promote better feeling and better understanding between the two +races.... + +"Our country needs to have white and black people, sober, honest, +frugal, and thrifty. Booker T. Washington stands for these things. He +advises and counsels and leads toward these goals. Hear him and heed +his words." + +At the invitation of Superintendent Gwinn the colored school children +of New Orleans were given a half-holiday to hear Dr. Washington. He +addressed them in an arena seating more than five thousand people, +which was given for the occasion by its white owner. + +To one of these Louisiana audiences Mr. Washington said: "Both races +in the South suffer at the hands of public opinion by reason of the +fact that the outside world hears of our difficulties, of crimes, +mobs, and lynchings, but it does not hear of or know about the +evidences of racial friendship and good-will which exist in the +majority of communities in Louisiana and other Southern States where +black and white people live together in such large numbers. Lynchings +are widely reported by telegraph. The quiet, effective work of devoted +white people in the South for Negro uplift is not generally or widely +reported. The best white citizenship must take charge of the mob and +not have the mob take charge of civilization. There is enough wisdom, +patience, forbearance, and common sense in the South for white people +and black people to live together in peace for all time." + +In short, Booker Washington met race prejudice just as he did all +other difficulties, as an obstacle to be surmounted rather than as an +injustice to be railed at and denounced regardless of the +consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE + + +One secret of Booker Washington's leadership was that he always had +his ear to the ground and his feet on the ground. Some one has said +that "a practical idealist is a man who keeps his feet on the ground +even though his head is in the clouds." Booker Washington was that +kind of an idealist. He kept in constant and intimate touch with the +masses of his people, particularly with those on the soil. Like the +giant in the fable who doubled his strength every time he touched the +ground, Booker Washington seemed to renew his strength every time he +came in contact with the plain people of his race, particularly the +farmers. No matter how pressed and driven by multifarious affairs, he +could always find time for a rambling talk, apparently quite at +random, with an old, uneducated, ante-bellum black farmer. Sometimes +he would halt the entire business of a national convention in order to +hear the comment of some simple but shrewd old character. He had a +profound respect for the wisdom of simple people who lived at close +grips with the realities of life. + +At the 1914 meeting of the National Negro Business League at Muskogee, +Okla., a Mr. Jake ----, who had started as an ignorant orphan boy, +delighted Mr. Washington's heart when he testified: "When I first +started out I lived in a chicken house, 12 × 14 feet; now I own a +ten-room residence, comfortably furnished, and in a settlement where +we have a good school, a good church, and plenty of amusement, +including ten children." + +After the laughter and applause had subsided Mr. Washington asked: "Do +you think there is the same kind of an opening out here in Oklahoma +for other and younger men of our race to do as you have done and to +succeed equally as well?" + +To which Mr. Jake replied: "... I think I have succeeded with little +or no education, and it stands to reason that some of the graduates +from these industrial and agricultural schools ought to be able to do +better than I have done." + +Which was, of course, just the answer Mr. Washington hoped he would +make. + +Mr. Washington's instinct for keeping close to the plain people was +perhaps best illustrated by his tours through the far Southern States +for the improvement of the living conditions of his people, the tours +to which allusion has several times been made. His insistence upon +cleanliness, neatness, and paint became so well known that his +approach to a community frequently caused frantic cleaning up of +yards, mending of gates, and painting of houses. These sudden converts +to paint sometimes found out from which side the great man was to +approach their house and painted only that side and the front. + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington in characteristic pose addressing an +audience.] + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington silhouetted against the crowd upon one +of his educational tours.] + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington in typical pose speaking to an audience +at Shreveport, La.] + +When he spoke to his people on these trips he had the faculty of +becoming one of them. He described their daily lives in their own +language. He told them how much land they owned, how much of it was +mortgaged, how much and what they raised, and in fact every vital +economic and social fact about their lives and the conditions about +them. He praised them for what was creditable, censured and bantered +them for what was bad, and told them what conditions should be and how +they could make them so. + +He made these tours through Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, +South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and portions of Alabama and +Georgia. + +Besides these State tours he would, whenever he could take the time, +shoot out into the country surrounding Tuskegee Institute to encourage +and promote the efforts of his neighbors of his own race. In July, +1911, accompanied by some guests and members of his faculty, he made +such a visit to Mt. Olive, a village on the east of Tuskegee. The +party was first taken to the village church where they found a teeming +congregation to greet them. Here Mr. Washington was introduced by the +principal of the "Washington School" who said that since Mr. +Washington's visit eighteen months ago the colored people had +purchased forty-one lots, built several new houses, whitewashed or +painted the old ones, and increased their gardens to such an extent +that few, if any, had still to buy their vegetables. + +Mr. Washington opened his talk by saying: "It is an inspiration +simply to drive through and see your pleasant houses surrounded by +flowers and gardens and all that goes to make life happy." He then +appealed to the women to make their homes as attractive on the inside +as the gardens had made them on the outside. He told them the best +receipt for keeping the men and the children at home and out of +mischief was to make the homes so attractive that they would not want +to go away. Then, as always, before he closed he put in his warnings +and injunctions to the derelict: "Paint your houses; if you can't +paint them, whitewash them. Put the men to work in their spare hours +repairing fences, gates, and windows. Get together in your church, as +you have in your school-work, settle on a pastor and get him to live +in your community. Pay him in order that he may live here and become a +part of your community." + +On another such trip through the southwestern part of Macon County, +the county in which Tuskegee is located, he was once accompanied by +Judge Robert H. Terrell, the Negro Judge of the District of Columbia; +the Hon. Whitefield McKinlay, the Negro Collector of Customs for the +District of Columbia; George L. Knox, owner and editor of the +Indianapolis _Freeman_, a Negro newspaper; W.T.B. Williams, agent for +the Anna T. Jeanes Fund and the Slater Board; Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones +of the United States Census Bureau, and Lord Eustace Percy, one of the +Secretaries of the British Embassy at Washington. + +[Illustration: A party of friends who accompanied Dr. Washington on +one of his educational tours through the State of Mississippi. In the +party are Charles Banks, a leading Negro banker and business man of +Mississippi; Bishop E. Cottrell; and on Dr. Washington's right, Robert +R. Moton, his successor in the work at Tuskegee Institute.] + +One can well imagine with what pride the simple black farmers of Macon +County displayed their products and their live stock to these +distinguished representatives of both races headed by their own great +neighbor and leader. At Mt. Andrew, one of the communities visited, +the Farmers' Improvement Club had prepared an exhibit consisting of +the best specimens of vegetables, fruits, and meats raised in the +community. A report stated that the Negro people of the town owned +over two hundred head of live stock and had over thirty houses which +were either whitewashed or painted. When called upon for remarks, Mr. +Washington expressed himself as greatly encouraged by what he had seen +and said in conclusion, "Here in Macon County you have good land that +will grow abundant crops. You have also a good citizenship, and hence +there is every opportunity for you to make your community a heaven +upon earth." + +Booker Washington was always emphasizing the necessity of better +conditions right here and now instead of in a distant future or in +heaven. He was constantly combating the tendency in his people--a +tendency common to all people but naturally particularly strong in +those having a heritage of slavery--to substitute the anticipated +bliss of a future life for effective efforts to improve the conditions +of this present life. He was always telling them to put their energies +into societies for the preservation of health and improvement of +living conditions, instead of into the too numerous and popular sick +benefit and death benefit organizations. + +At the next stop of the party Mr. Washington was introduced to the +assembled townspeople by a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, who was +one of their leading citizens and most successful farmers. In this +talk he urged the people to get more land and keep it and to grow +something besides cotton. He said they should not lean upon others and +should not go to town on Saturdays to "draw upon" the merchants, but +should stay at home and "draw every day from their own soil corn, +peas, beans, and hogs." He urged the men to give their wives more time +to work around the house and to raise vegetables. (This, of course, +instead of requiring them to work in the fields with the men as is so +common.) He urged especially that they take their wives into their +confidence and make them their partners as well as their companions. +He assured them that if they took their wives into partnership they +would accumulate more and get along better in every way. + +There was no advice given by him more constantly or insistently in +speaking to the plain people of his race, whether in country or city, +than this injunction to the men to take their wives into their +confidence and make them their partners. He recognized that the home +was the basis of all progress and civilization for his race, as well +as all other races, and that the wife and mother is primarily the +conservator of the home. + +One of the stops of the trip was at a little hamlet called Damascus. +Here, in characteristic fashion, he told the people how much richer +they were in soil and all natural advantages than were the inhabitants +of the original Damascus in the Holy Land. He then argued that having +these great natural advantages, much was to be expected of them, etc. +Like all great preachers, teachers, and leaders of men he seized upon +the names, incidents, and conditions immediately about him and from +them drew lessons of fundamental import and universal application. + +The efforts of the Negro farmers on these trips to get a word of +approval from their great leader were often pathetic. One old man had +a good breed of pigs of which he was particularly proud. He contrived +to be found feeding them beside the road just as the great man and his +party were passing. The simple ruse succeeded. Mr. Washington and his +companions stopped and every one admired the proud and excited old +man's pigs. And then after the pigs had been duly admired, he led them +to a rough plank table upon which he had displayed in tremulous +anticipation of this dramatic moment a huge pumpkin, some perfectly +developed ears of corn, and a lusty cabbage. After these objects had +also been admired the old man decoyed the party into the little +whitewashed cottage where his wife had her hour of triumph in +displaying her jars of preserves, pickles, cans of vegetables, dried +fruits, and syrup together with quilts and other needlework all +carefully arranged for this hoped-for inspection. + +The basic teaching of all these tours was: "Make your own little +heaven right here and now. Do it by putting business methods into your +farming, by growing things in your garden the year around, by building +and keeping attractive and comfortable homes for your children so they +will stay at home and not go to the cities, by keeping your bodies and +your surroundings clean, by staying in one place, by getting a good +teacher and a good preacher, by building a good school and church, by +letting your wife be your partner in all you do, by keeping out of +debt, by cultivating friendly relations with your neighbors both white +and black." + +Mr. Washington was constantly bringing up in the Tuskegee faculty +meetings cases of distress among the colored people of the county, +which he had personally discovered while off hunting or riding, and +planning ways and means to relieve them. Apparently it never occurred +to him that technically, at least, the fate of these poor persons was +not his affair nor that of his school. At one such meeting he told of +having come upon while hunting a tumbledown cabin in the woods, within +it a half-paralyzed old Negro obviously unable to care for his simple +wants. Mr. Washington had stopped, built a fire in his stove, and +otherwise made him comfortable temporarily, but some provision for the +old man's care must be made at once. One of the teachers knew about +the old man and stated that he had such an ugly temper that he had +driven off his wife, son, and daughter who had until recently lived +with him and taken care of him. The young teacher seemed to feel that +the old man had brought his troubles upon his own head and so deserved +little sympathy. Mr. Washington would not for a moment agree to this. +He replied that if the old fellow was so unfortunate as to have a bad +temper as well as his physical infirmities that was no reason why he +should be allowed to suffer privation. He delegated one of the +teachers to look up the old man's family at once and see if they +could be prevailed upon to support him and to report at the next +meeting what had been arranged. In the meantime he would send some one +out to the cabin daily to take him food and attend to his wants. + +At another faculty meeting he brought up the plight of an old woman +who was about to be evicted from her little shack on the outskirts of +the town because of her inability to pay the nominal rent which she +was charged. He arranged to have her rent paid out of a sum of money +which he always had included in the school budget for the relief of +such cases. In such ways he was constantly impressing upon his +associates the idea that was ever a mainspring of his own +life--namely, that it was always and everywhere the duty of the more +fortunate to help the less fortunate. + +While he was sometimes severe with his more prosperous and better +educated associates he was always considerate and thoughtful of the +ignorant, the old, and the weak. He was never too busy to delight the +heart of a white-haired old man who had been the original cook of the +school by listening to his stories about the early days, or to discuss +with another old man his experiences in the Civil War. He would never +betray the least impatience in listening to these old men tell him the +same story for the five hundredth time. Although the real usefulness +of both these old fellows had long passed he never showed them by word +or deed that he did not regard them as useful and valuable members of +his staff. + +Another old character to whom he invariably showed kindness and +patience was a crack-brained old itinerant preacher who kept up an +endless stream of unintelligible pious jargon. This old fellow would +harangue the air for hours at a time right outside the Principal's +busy office, but he would never allow him to be stopped or sent away +and always sent or gave him a small contribution at the conclusion of +his tirades, if indeed they could be said to have any conclusion. + +Booker Washington had a weakness for the picturesque ne'er-do-wells of +his race. One such old fellow, who lived near Tuskegee and who had +always displayed great ingenuity in extracting money from him, one +day, when he was driving down the main street of Tuskegee behind a +pair of fast and spirited horses, rushed out into the street and +stopped him as though he had a matter of the greatest urgency to +impart to him. When Mr. Washington had with difficulty reined in his +horses and asked him what he wanted the old man said breathlessly, +"I'se got a tirkey for yo' Thanksgivin'!" + +"How much does it weigh?" inquired Mr. Washington. + +"Twelve to fifteen poun'." + +After thanking the old man warmly, Mr. Washington started to drive on +when the old fellow added, "I jest wants to borrow a dollar for to +fatten yo' turkey for you!" + +With a laugh Mr. Washington handed the old man the dollar and drove +on. He never could be made to feel that by these spontaneous +generosities he was encouraging thriftlessness and mendicancy. He was +incorrigible in his unscientific open-handedness with the poor, +begging older members of his race. + +At the time of the Tuskegee teachers' annual picnic, usually held in +May, many of these old colored people would attend uninvited and armed +with huge empty baskets. Mr. Washington always greeted them like +honored guests and allowed them to carry off provisions enough to feed +large families for days. He would also introduce them to the officers +and teachers of the school and to any invited guests who might be +present. + +Old man Harry Varner was the night watchman of the school in its early +days and a man upon whom Mr. Washington very much depended. He lived +in a cabin opposite the school grounds. After hearing many talks about +the importance of living in a real house instead of a one or two room +cabin, old Uncle Harry finally decided that he must have a real house. +Accordingly he came to his employer, told him his feeling in the +matter, and laid before him his meagre savings, which he had +determined to spend for a real house. Mr. Washington went with him to +select the lot and added enough out of his own pocket to the scant +savings to enable the old man to buy a cow and a pig and a garden plot +as well as the house. From then on for weeks he and old Uncle Harry +would have long and mysterious conferences over the planning of that +little four-room cottage. It is doubtful if Dr. Washington ever +devoted more time or thought to planning any of the great buildings of +the Institute. No potentate was ever half as proud of his palace as +Uncle Harry of his four-room cottage when it was finally finished and +painted and stood forth in all its glory to be admired of all men. And +Booker Washington was scarcely less proud of it than Uncle Harry. + +With Uncle Harry Varner, Old Man Brannum, the original cook of the +school to whom reference has already been made, and Lewis Adams of the +town of Tuskegee, whom Mr. Washington mentions in "Up from Slavery" as +one of his chief advisers, all unlettered-before-the-war Negroes, his +relationship was always particularly intimate. These three old men +enjoyed the confidence of the white people of the town of Tuskegee to +an unusual extent and often acted as ambassadors of good-will between +the head of the school and his white neighbors when from time to time +the latter showed a disposition to look askance at the rapidly growing +institution on the hill beyond the town. + +Another intimate friend of Mr. Washington's was Charles L. Diggs, +known affectionately on the school grounds as "Old Man Diggs." The old +man had been body servant to a Union officer in the Civil War and +after the war had been carried to Boston, where he became the butler +in a fashionable Back Bay family. When Mr. Washington first visited +Boston, as an humble and obscure young Negro school teacher pleading +for his struggling school, he met Diggs, and Diggs succeeded in +interesting his employers in the sincere and earnest young Negro +teacher. When years afterward the Institute had grown to the dignity +of needing stewards, Mr. Washington employed his old friend as steward +of the Teachers' Home. In all the years thereafter hardly a day passed +when Mr. Washington was at the school without his having some kind of +powwow with Old Man Diggs regarding some matter affecting the +interests of the school. + +To the despair of his family Booker Washington seemed to go out of his +way to find forlorn old people whom he could befriend. He sent +provisions weekly to an humble old black couple from whom he had +bought a tract of land for the school. He did the same for old Aunt +Harriet and her deaf, dumb, and lame son, except that to them he +provided fuel as well. On any particularly cold day he would send one +or more students over to Aunt Harriet's to find out if she and her +poor helpless son were comfortable. Also every Sunday afternoon, to +the joy of this pathetic couple, a particularly appetizing Sunday +dinner unfailingly made its appearance. And these were only a few of +the pensioners and semi-pensioners whom Booker Washington accumulated +as he went about his kindly way. + +One means of keeping in touch with the masses of his people which he +never neglected was through attending the annual National Negro +Baptist Conventions. At these great gatherings he came in touch with +the religious leaders of two million Negroes. Notwithstanding the fact +that he practically collapsed at the annual meeting of the National +Negro Business League held in Boston in August, 1915, and had to be +nursed for some weeks following before he was even strong enough to +return to Tuskegee, he insisted in spite of the admonitions of +physicians and the pleadings of friends, family, and colleagues, in +keeping his engagement to speak before this great convention in +Chicago in September. To all protests he replied, "It would do me more +harm to stay away than to go." With these words, and rallying the +rapidly waning dregs of his once great strength he went and made an +address which ranks with the most powerful he ever delivered to his +people. A threatened split in the Baptist denomination in part +accounted for his insistence upon attending this convention. In this +address, delivered only two months before he died of sheer exhaustion, +and the last he made before any great body of his own people, he said +in part: + +"My only excuse for accepting your invitation to appear before you in +these annual gatherings is that I am deeply interested in all that +this National Baptist Convention stands for. It is in my opinion the +largest and most representative body of colored people anywhere in the +world.... I believe most profoundly in the work of this convention +because it represents the common masses of all our people, those who +are the foundation of our success as a race. I believe in you because +you do not pretend to represent the classes but the masses of our +people. I am here, too, because the Baptist Church among our people +throughout the country is affording them an opportunity to get lessons +in self-government in a degree that is true of few other +organizations. + +"You who control this great convention have before you a great +opportunity and along with this opportunity a tremendous +responsibility. It is given to you, as to all men, to pursue one of +two courses, and that is, to be big leaders or little leaders. You can +construct or you can destroy. The time is now at hand when in each +individual church organization and each district association and each +State convention and in this great national convention, the little man +must give way and let the big, broad, generous man take his place. +Nothing is ever gained in business, in education, or in religious work +by being little, narrow, or jealous in our sympathies and activities." + +Two days later, after he had left the convention and returned home, +Mr. Washington received word that the convention had split, contending +leaders holding out for what they termed principles. Immediately on +the receipt of this report he dispatched the following telegram to the +leaders of the two opposing factions: + + I earnestly beg and urge that each convention remain in + session until all differences are composed. In the event + this cannot be done I hope each convention will empower a + small committee or authorize some one to appoint committees + that may have power in settling present difficulties so that + next year there may be but one convention. It is easier now + to bring about reconciliation than it will be later. It will + be a calamity to the Baptist Church and to our race for the + present split to continue. It will soon spread to all the + Baptist churches in all the States. I would urge that each + side manifest a broad liberal spirit and be willing to + sacrifice something for the good of the cause. Millions of + our humble people throughout the country are depending upon + our leaders to settle their difficulties in a Christian + spirit and they should not be disappointed. If I may be used + at any time in any way my services are at your command. Have + sent a similar telegram to Dr. ----. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + +Unhappily he did not have the satisfaction of bringing the two +factions together before he died, but until the last he continued his +efforts in this direction. + +Largely because of his intimate knowledge of the plain people Booker +Washington appealed to the great of the earth. In his books, "Up from +Slavery," "The Story of My Life and Work," and "My Larger Education," +he tells of taking tea with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, of his +association with Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft, of his +introduction to Prince Henry of Prussia, of his dining with the King +and Queen of Denmark, and of his long friendships with William H. +Baldwin, Jr., Robert C. Ogden, Henry H. Rogers, John D. Rockefeller, +and Andrew Carnegie. He was of value and interest to such people +largely because of his closeness to his own people. His power to +interest such people was largely because he was so close to the rank +and file of his own people. + +After the death of Henry H. Rogers, Mr. Washington said of him in an +interview published at the time in the New York _Evening Post_: "The +more experiences I have of the world, the more I am convinced that +the only proper and the only safe way to judge any one is at first +hand and by your actual experience. It seems to me that, outside of +the immediate members of my family, I knew the late Henry H. Rogers +during the last fifteen years as well as I could know any one. Of all +the men that I have ever known intimately, no matter what their +station in life, Mr. Rogers always impressed me as being among the +kindest and gentlest. That was the impression he made upon me the +first time I ever met him, and during the fifteen years that I knew +him that impression was deepened every time I met him." (And this was +Booker Washington's impression of the second greatest figure in the +building up of the huge, world-powerful corporation whose methods +during its period of rapid expansion had at that time been only +recently described in _McClure's Magazine_ by Ida M. Tarbell.) "I am +sure that the members of his family will forgive me for telling, now +that he has laid down his great work and gone to rest, some things +about him which I feel that the public should know but which he always +forbade me to mention while he lived. + +"The first time I ever met Mr. Rogers was in this manner: about +fifteen years ago a large meeting was held in Madison Square Garden +concert hall, to obtain funds for the Tuskegee Institute. Mr. Rogers +attended the meeting, but came so late that, as the auditorium was +crowded, he could not get a seat. He stood in the back part of the +hall, however, and listened to the speaking. + +"The next morning I received a telegram from him asking me to call at +his office. When I entered he remarked that he had been present at the +meeting the night previous, and expected the 'hat to be passed,' but +as that was not done he wanted to 'chip in' something. Thereupon he +handed me ten one-thousand-dollar bills for the Tuskegee Institute. In +doing this he imposed only one condition, that the gift should be +mentioned to no one. Later on, however, when I told him that I did not +care to take so large a sum of money without some one knowing it, he +consented that I tell one or two of our Trustees about the source of +the gift. I cannot now recall the number of times that he has helped +us, but in doing so he always insisted that his name be never used. He +seemed to enjoy making gifts in currency." + +In an article published in _McClure's Magazine_ in May, 1902, +Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans thus describes the occasion on which he +presented Booker Washington to Prince Henry of Prussia: "The first +request made by Prince Henry, after being received in New York, was +that I should arrange to give him some of the old Southern melodies, +if possible, sung by Negroes; that he was passionately fond of them, +and had been all his life--not the ragtime songs, but the old Negro +melodies. Several times during his trip I endeavored to carry out his +wishes, with more or less success; but finally, at the Waldorf-Astoria, +the Hampton singers presented themselves in one of the reception rooms +and gave him a recital of Indian and Negro melodies. He was charmed. +And while I was talking to him, just after a Sioux Indian had sung a +lullaby, he suddenly turned and said: 'Isn't that Booker T. Washington +over there?' I recognized Washington and replied that it was, and he +said: 'Evans, would you mind presenting him to me? I know how some of +your people feel about Washington, but I have always had great +sympathy with the African race, and I want to meet the man I regard as +the leader of that race.' So I went at once to Washington and told him +that the Prince wished him to be presented, and took him, myself, and +presented him to the Prince. Booker Washington sat down and talked +with him for fully ten minutes, and it was a most interesting +conversation, one of the most interesting I ever heard in my life. The +ease with which Washington conducted himself was very striking, and I +only accounted for it afterward when I remembered that he had dined +with the Queen of England two or three times, so that this was not a +new thing for him. Indeed, Booker Washington's manner was easier than +that of almost any other man I saw meet the Prince in this country. +The Prince afterward referred to President Roosevelt's action in +regard to Booker Washington, and applauded it very highly." + +In 1911 Mr. Washington visited Denmark with the particular purpose of +observing the world-famed agricultural methods of that country. While +in Copenhagen he was presented to the King and Queen. This experience +he described on his return to this country in an article published in +the New York _Age_, the well-known Negro paper, in December of the +same year. The portion of the article describing his meeting with the +King and Queen reads as follows: + + "Soon after I entered, the Chamberlain went in and presently + returned to tell me the King would be ready to see me in + about five minutes. At the end of the five minutes exactly + the door was opened and I found myself in the King's + chamber. I had expected to see a gorgeously fitted + apartment, something to compare with what I had seen + elsewhere in the palace. Imagine my surprise when I found + practically nothing in the room except the King, himself. + There was not a chair, a sofa, or, so far as I can recall, a + single thing in the way of furniture--nothing except the + King and his sword. I was surprised again, considering the + formality by which he was surrounded, by the familiar and + kindly manner in which the King received me, and by his + excellent English. Both of us remained standing during the + whole interview, which must have lasted twenty minutes. I + say we remained standing, because, even had etiquette + permitted it we could not have done anything else because + there was nothing in the room for either of us to sit upon. + + "I had been warned by the American Minister and Mr. Cavling, + however, as to what might be the result of this interview. + Among other things in regard to which I had been carefully + instructed by the American Minister was I must never turn my + back upon the King, that I must not lead off in any + conversation, that I must let the King suggest the subjects + to be discussed, and not take the initiative in raising any + question for discussion. I tried to follow Minister Egan's + instructions in this regard as well as I could, but I fear I + was not wholly successful. + + "I had not been talking with the King many minutes before I + found that he was perfectly familiar with the work of the + Tuskegee school, that he had read much that I had written, + and was well acquainted with all that I was trying to do for + the Negroes in the South. He referred to the fact that + Denmark was interested in the colored people in their own + colony in the Danish West Indies, and that both he and the + Queen were anxious that something be done for the colored + people in the Danish possessions similar to what we were + doing at Tuskegee. He added that he hoped at some time I + would find it possible to visit the Danish West Indian + Islands. + + "As I have said, I had been warned as to what might be the + result of this visit to the King and that I had best be + careful how I made my plans for the evening. As the + interview was closing, the King took me by the hand and + said, 'The Queen would be pleased to have you dine at the + palace to-night,' at the same time naming the hour. + + "The Minister had told me that this was his way of + commanding persons to dine, and that an invitation given + must be obeyed. Of course I was delighted to accept the + invitation, though I feared it would wreck my plans for + seeing the country people. The King was so kind and put me + so at my ease in his presence that I fear I forgot Minister + Eagan's warning not to turn my back upon him, and I must + confess that I got out of the room in about the same way I + usually go out of the room when I have had an audience with + President Taft. + + "Leaving the King and the palace, I found out on the street + quite a group of newspaper people, most of them representing + American papers, who were very anxious to know, in the usual + American fashion, just what took place during the interview, + how long I was with the King, what we talked about, and what + not. They were especially anxious to know if I had been + invited to the palace for dinner." + +And further on he thus describes the dinner: + + "The dinner was not at the palace where I was received in + the morning, but at the summer palace several miles out of + Copenhagen. When I reached the hotel from the country it + soon dawned upon me that I was in great danger of being + late. To keep a King and Queen and their guests waiting on + one for dinner would of course be an outrageous offense. I + dressed as hastily as I was able, but just as I was putting + on the finishing touches to my costume my white tie bursted. + I was in a predicament from which for a moment I saw no + means of rescuing myself. I did not have time to get another + tie, and of course I could not wear the black one. As well + as I could, however, I put the white tie about my neck, + fastened it with a pin, and earnestly prayed that it might + remain in decent position until the dinner was over. + Nevertheless, I trembled all through the dinner for fear + that my tie might go back on me. + + "I succeeded in reaching the summer palace about ten minutes + before the time to go into the dining-room. Here again I was + met by the King's Chamberlain by whom I was conveyed through + a series of rooms and, finally, into the presence of the + King, who, after some conversation, led me where the Queen + was standing and presented me to her. The Queen received me + graciously and even cordially. She spoke English perfectly, + and seemed perfectly familiar with my work. I had, however, + a sneaking idea that Minister Egan was responsible for a + good deal of the familiarity which both the King and Queen + seemed to exhibit regarding Tuskegee. + + "As I entered the reception-room there were about twenty or + twenty-five people who were to be entertained at dinner. I + will not attempt to describe the elegance, not to say + splendor, of everything in connection with the dinner. As I + ate food for the first time in my life out of gold dishes, I + could not but recall the time when as a slave boy I ate my + syrup from a tin plate. + + "I think I got through the dinner pretty well by following + my usual custom, namely, of watching other people to see + just what they did and what they did not do. There was one + place, however, where I confess I made a failure. It is + customary at the King's table, as is true at other functions + in many portions of Europe, I understand, to drink a silent + toast to the King. This was so new and strange to me that I + decided that, since I did not understand the custom, the + best thing was to frankly confess my ignorance. I reassured + myself with the reflection that people will easier pardon + ignorance than pretense. + + "At a certain point during the dinner each guest is + expected, it seems, to get the eye of the King and then rise + and drink to the health of the King. When he rises he makes + a bow to the King and the King returns the bow. Nothing is + said by either the King or the guest. I think practically + all the invited guests except myself went through this + performance. It seemed to me a very fitting way of + expressing respect for the King, as the head of a nation and + as a man, and now that I know something about it, I think if + I had another chance I could do myself credit in that + regard. + + "During the dinner I had the privilege of meeting a very + interesting old gentleman, now some eighty years of age, the + uncle of the King, Prince ----, who spoke good English. I + had a very interesting conversation with him, and since + returning to America I have had some correspondence with + him. + + "As I have already said, the Queen Mother of England was at + this time in Copenhagen, and as I afterward learned, her + sister, the Queen Mother of Russia, was also there. As both + of these were in mourning on account of the recent death of + King Edward, they did not appear at this dinner. I was + reminded of their presence, however, when as I was leaving + the King's palace after my interview in the morning, one of + the marshals presented me with two autograph books, with the + request that I inscribe my name in them. One of the books, + as I afterward learned, belonged to the Queen Mother of + England; the other belonged to the Queen Mother of Russia." + +A mere catalogue of the principal organizations which Booker T. +Washington founded for the purpose of helping his people to help +themselves tells a story of constructive achievement more impressive +than any amount of abstract eulogy. + +The following is a list of such organizations given in chronological +order with a few words of description for the purpose of identifying +each: + +In 1884 he founded the Teachers' Institute, consisting of summer +courses, conferences, and exhibits having as their main purpose the +extension of the advantages of Tuskegee Institute to the country +school teachers of the surrounding country. The work of this Institute +is described in the chapter: "Washington, the Educator." + +In 1891 he established the Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference. He +decided that the school should not only help directly its own +students, but should reach out and help the students' parents and the +older people generally in the country districts of the State. He +started by inviting the farmers and their wives in the immediate +locality to spend a day at the school for the frank discussion of +their material and spiritual condition to the end that the school +might learn how it could best help them to help themselves. From this +simple beginning the Conference has grown until it now consists of +delegates from every Southern State, besides hundreds of teachers and +principals of Negro schools, Northern men and women, publicists and +philanthropists, newspaper and magazine writers, Southern white men +and Southern white women, all interested in helping the simple black +folk in their strivings to "quit libin' in de ashes," as one of them +fervently expressed it. At one of these conferences an old preacher +from a country district concluded an earnest prayer for the +deliverance of his people from the bondage of ignorance with this +startling sentence: "And now, O Lord, put dy foot down in our hearts +and lif' us up!" + +The year following Mr. Washington established a hospital in Greenwood +village, the hamlet adjoining the Institute grounds where live most of +the teachers, officers, and employees. It was at first hardly more +than a dispensary, but when the Institute acquired a Resident +Physician two small buildings were set aside as hospitals for men and +women, respectively. Later a five-thousand-dollar building was given +which served as the hospital until, in 1913, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Mason, +of Boston, presented Tuskegee with a fifty-thousand-dollar splendidly +equipped modern hospital, in memory of her grandfather, John A. +Andrew, the War Governor of Massachusetts. While these hospitals, from +the first humble dispensary to the fine hospital of to-day, were of +course primarily for the Institute they were in true Tuskegee fashion +thrown open to all who needed them. And since the town of Tuskegee has +no hospital they have always been freely used by outside colored +people. Mr. Washington, himself, on his riding and hunting trips would +from time to time find sick people whom he would have brought to the +hospital for care. + +The next year, 1893, he started the Minister's Night School. This is +conducted by the Phelps Hall Bible Training School of the Institute. +Here country ministers with large families and small means are given +night courses in all the subjects likely to be of service to them from +"Biblical criticism" to the "planting and cultivating of crops." + +The year following Mrs. Washington began the Tuskegee Town Mothers' +Meetings. Both she and Mr. Washington had long been distressed at +seeing the women and young girls loafing about the streets of the town +of Tuskegee when they came to town with their husbands and fathers on +Saturday afternoons. Now, instead of loafing about the streets these +women attend the Mothers' Meetings where Mrs. Washington and the +various women teachers give them practical talks on all manner of +housekeeping and family-raising problems from the making of preserves +to proper parental care. + +In 1895 the Building and Loan Association was established. The +Institute's chief accountant is its president, and the Institute's +treasurer its secretary and treasurer. This Association has enabled +many scores of people to secure their own homes who without its aid +could not have done so. + +The next year the Town Night School was started. This school has as +its purpose giving instruction to the boys and girls who have +positions in the town which make it impossible for them to attend the +Institute, and to the servants in the white families. This school has +become one of the best and strongest forces in the life of the +community. As an outgrowth of it came later the Town Library and +Reading Room, for which Mr. Washington personally provided the room. +There is now in this school a cooking class for girls and several +industrial classes for boys. At the same time Mr. Washington +established a Farmers' Institute which is described in the chapter +"Washington and the Negro Farmer." + +In 1898 he started a County Fair to spur the ambition of the Negro +farmers of the county. This Negro County Fair under his guidance grew +and flourished from year to year. The whites maintained a separate +County Fair. Finally the two fairs were combined, and now one of the +most flourishing County Fairs in all the South is conducted, both +races supporting it by making exhibits, and sharing in the success and +profits of the enterprise, as well as in its general management. + +In 1900 he organized the National Negro Business League, as described +in the chapter, "Washington and the Negro Business Man." + +Two years later he established the Greenwood Village Improvement +Association for the little community which has grown up around the +school. Taxes are collected from the property holders as well as the +renters for the upkeep of the roads, bridges, and fences, and a park +in the centre of the village, which was introduced in emulation of the +typical New England village. Just as in New England, also, this +central park, or "green," is surrounded by a number of churches. An +elective Board of Control presides over this village, settles +disputes, and keeps the community in good repair morally and +spiritually, as well as physically. On the Monday immediately +following the close of a regular school term a town meeting is held at +which reports are read and discussed covering every phase of the life +of the community. Mr. Washington particularly enjoyed presiding at +these meetings because they demonstrated what the people of his race +could accomplish under a favorable and stimulating environment. He +always contrived to have the meetings followed by simple refreshments +and a social hour. + +In 1904 he started the Rural School Improvement Campaign and the +Farmers' Short Course at the Institute, both of which are described in +the chapter, "Washington, the Educator." In the same year he started a +systematic effort to improve the conditions in the jails and the chain +gangs and for the rehabilitation of released prisoners. + +The next year he founded a weekly farm paper, a circulating library, +and a Ministers' Institute. The year after, 1906, the Jesup +Agricultural Wagon--the agricultural school on wheels, which is +described in the chapter, "Washington, the Educator"--was started. In +1907 the farmers' coöperative demonstration work, which has also been +mentioned, was inaugurated. In 1910 the rural improvement speaking +tours began. And finally, in 1914, he established "Baldwin Farms," the +farming community for the graduates of the agricultural department of +Tuskegee, which also has been previously described. + +These, then, are some of the tangible means which Booker Washington +developed during a period of thirty years for keeping in touch with +his people and for keeping his people in touch with one another and +with all the things which go to make up wholesome and useful living. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO FARMER + + +Booker T. Washington was a great believer in the experience meeting, +and the Tuskegee Negro Conference, which he started in 1891, is +nothing more nor less than an agricultural experience meeting. He +placed his faith in the persuasive power of example--in the contagion +of successful achievement. He once said: "One farm bought, one house +built, one home sweetly and intelligently kept, one man who is the +largest taxpayer or has the largest bank account, one school or church +maintained, one factory running successfully, one truck garden +profitably cultivated, one patient cured by a Negro doctor, one sermon +well preached, one office well filled, one life cleanly lived--these +will tell more in our favor than all the abstract eloquence that can +be summoned to plead our cause. Our pathway must be up through the +soil, up through swamps, up through forests, up through the streams, +the rocks, up through commerce, education, and religion." + +Nothing delighted Mr. Washington more than the successful Negro +farmers who had started in life without money, friends, influence, or +education--with literally nothing but their hands. At one of the +Tuskegee conferences not many years ago his keen eyes spotted such a +man in the audience and he called to him in his straight from the +shoulder manner: "Get up and tell us what you have been doing as a +farmer." + +A tall, finely built, elderly man, looking almost like a Nubian giant, +arose in his place, his face wreathed in smiles, and showing his white +teeth as he spoke: "Doctor, I done 'tended one o' yore conferences +here 'bout ten year ago. I heard you say dat a man ain't wurth nuthin' +as a man or a citizen 'less he owns his home, 'least one mule, and has +a bank account, an' so I made up my mind dat I warn't wuth nuthin', +an' so I went home an' talked de whole matter over wid de ol' woman. +We decided dat we would make a start, an' now I's proud to tell you +dat I's not only got a bank account, but I's got two bank accounts, +an' heah's de bank books (proudly holding on high two grimy bank +books); I also own two hun'ed acres of land an' all de land is paid +for. I also own two mules, an' bofe dem mules is paid for. I also own +some other property, an' de ole woman an' me an' de chilluns lives in +a good house an' de house is paid for. All dis come 'bout from my +comin' to dis heah conference." + +Another old fellow, when called upon to tell what he had accomplished, +dexterously evaded the direct inquiry for some minutes, and when Mr. +Washington finally succeeded in pinning him down, said: "All I's got +to say, Doctah Washington, is dat dis heah conference dun woke me up +an' I'll be back heah next year wid a report jist like dese oder +fellers." + +Mr. Washington was a great believer in his favorite animal, the pig, +as a mortgage lifter and general aid to prosperity. At one of the +conferences, after he had paid a particularly warm eulogy to the +economic importance of the pig, an old woman got up and said: "Mr. +Washington, you is got befo' you now Sister Nelson of Tallapoosa +County, Alabama. All I has I owes to dis conference and one little +puppy dog." + +Mr. Washington challenged: "How's that?" + +The old woman continued: "I got a little pig from dat little puppy dog +an' I got my prosperity from dat pig!" + +Mr. Washington and the whole company in amazement hung upon the old +woman's words as she continued: "It was dis way: Dat little puppy dog +when she growed up had some little puppies herself. One day one o' my +fren's come by an' as' me for one o' dem puppies. I tol' him 'No,' I +would not gib him dat puppy, but dat he had a little pig an' I would +'change a puppy for a pig. I had heard you tell ober heah so much +'bout hogs an' pigs dat I thought dis was a good chance to get +started. He give me de pig an' I give him de puppy. In de course o' +time dat little pig dun bring me in some mo' pigs. I sol' some an' +kep' some. I had to feed de pig, so I had begun savin'. I den begun to +find out dat I could git on wid less den I had ben gettin' on wid, an' +so I kep' on savin' an' kep' on raisin' pigs 'til I was able to supply +most o' my neighbors wid pigs, an' den I got me a cow, an den I begun +to supply my neighbors wid milk, an' den I started me a little garden. +Den I sol' my neighbors greens an' onions, an' so I went on fum time +to time 'til I dun paid for de lot an' de house in which I lib, an' I +keeps my pigs about me an' keeps my garden goin', an' dat's why I says +all I is I owes to dat little puppy dog an' to dis heah conference." + +At these conferences the most elementary subjects are discussed. +Booker Washington would tell and have told to these farmers matters +which one would naturally assume any farmers, however ignorant, must +already know. He never tried to deceive himself as to the woful +ignorance of the Negro masses, and still he was never discouraged, but +always said ignorance was not a hopeless handicap because it could be +overcome by education. While he frankly although sadly acknowledged +the lamentable ignorance of the rank and file of his race, +particularly those on the soil and dependent for education upon the +short-term, ill-equipped, and poorly taught rural Negro school, he as +stoutly denied and constantly disproved the assertion that these +ignorant masses were not capable of profiting by education. He +earnestly strove and signally succeeded in attracting to these great +annual agricultural conferences the most pathetically ignorant of the +Negro farmers as well as the leading scientific agriculturists of the +race. But he always insisted that the meetings be conducted for the +benefit of the ignorant and not in the interests of the learned. + +He would, for instance, tell the attendants at the conferences what to +plant and when to plant it, and what live stock to keep and how to +keep it. He would have printed and distributed among them a "Farmer's +Calendar" which gave the months in which the various standard +vegetables should be planted and what crops should be used in +rotation. He constantly insisted that the Experiment Station at +Tuskegee Institute, supported by the State of Alabama, should not be +used for scientific experiments of interest only to experts, but +should deal with the fundamental problems with which the Negro farmers +of Alabama were daily confronted. The titles of some of the Experiment +Station Bulletins selected at random suggest the homely and practical +nature of the information disseminated. Half a dozen of them read as +follows: "Possibilities of the Sweet Potato in Macon County, Alabama," +"How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human +Consumption," "How to Raise Pigs with Little Money," "When, What, and +How to Can and Preserve Fruits and Vegetables in the Home," "Some +Possibilities of the Cowpea in Macon County, Alabama," "A New and +Prolific Variety of Cotton." And all of these bulletins, so many of +which deal with the problems of the home, are written by an old +bachelor of pure African descent, without a drop of white blood, who +in himself refutes two popular fallacies: the one that bachelors +cannot be skilled in domestic affairs, and the other, that +pure-blooded Africans cannot achieve intellectual distinction. This +man is George W. Carver, who is not only the most eminent agricultural +scientist of his race in this country, but one of the most eminent of +any race. His work is so well known in scientific circles in his field +throughout the world that when leading European scientists visit this +country, particularly the Southern States, they not infrequently go +out of their way to look him up. They are usually very much surprised +to find their eminent fellow-scientist a black man. + +The last of these conferences over which Booker Washington presided +was held at Tuskegee, January 20 and 21, 1915. A woman, the wife of a +Negro farmer, was testifying when she said: "Our menfolks is foun' out +dat they can't eat cotton." As the outburst of laughter which greeted +this remark died down, Mr. Washington said in his incisive way: "What +do you mean?" The woman replied: "I mean dat we womenfolks been +tellin' our menfolks all de time dat they should raise mo to eat." + +She then displayed specimens of canned fruits and told how she had put +up enough of them to supply her family until summer. She told of +having sold thirty-six turkeys and of selling two and three dozen eggs +each week, with plenty left over for her family. She said that she and +her husband had raised and sold hogs, and still had for their own use +more than enough pork to last them until the next hog-killing time. + +"How often do you eat chicken?" asked Dr. Washington. + +"We can eat chicken every day if we want it," she replied. + +When she had finished Mr. Washington explained that all this had been +done on 178 acres of the poorest land in Macon County. + +In his opening address at this conference Mr. Washington denounced +"petty thieving, pistol-toting, crap-shooting, the patronizing of +'blind tigers,' and unnecessary lawsuits" as some of the weights and +encumbrances which are keeping the Negro from running well the race +which is set before him. + +These are some of the basic questions which Booker Washington placed +before the conference for discussion: + +"How and why am I so hard hit by the present hard times?" + +"What am I doing to meet present conditions?" + +"How may I, after all, get some real benefit from present +difficulties?" + +The most spectacular feature of the exercises was the parade. It +extended for almost a mile and included a score or more of floats, +hundreds of men and women in appropriate costumes, and dozens of +horses, mules, and other live stock. + +There were a large number of colored preachers in attendance who +showed that they had adopted the Washington slogan of trying to make a +heaven on earth and whose testimony showed that they were now giving +as much time to soil salvation as to soul salvation. One of them told +of a flourishing Pig Club which he had organized among his +parishioners after reading Mr. Washington's open letter, "Pigs and +Education; Pigs and Debts," the circulating of which will be later +described. + +[Illustration: This old woman was a regular attendant at the Tuskegee +Negro Conference and idolizingly watched Mr. Washington during the +whole four hours that he would preside over one of the Conference +sessions.] + +After the awarding of prizes for the best floats the declarations of +the conference were read by Major R.R. Moton of Hampton Institute, who +then little realized that before the year was out he was to be chosen +to succeed the leader of his race as the Principal of Tuskegee +Institute. + +The following were the especially significant paragraphs of these +declarations: + +"It is found that for every dollar's worth of cotton we grow, we raise +only forty-nine cents' worth of all other crops. An investigation has +shown that there are 20,000 farms of Negroes on which there are no +cattle of any kind; 270,000 on which there are no hogs; 200,000 on +which no poultry is raised; 140,000 on which no corn is grown; on +750,000 farms of Negroes no oats are grown; on 550,000 farms no sweet +potatoes are grown, and on 320,000 farms of Negroes there are no +gardens of any sort. These hundreds of thousands of farms without +cattle, grain, or gardens are for the most part operated by tenants. +In their behalf, the Tuskegee Negro Conference respectfully requests +of the planters, bankers, and other representatives of the financial +interests of the South that more opportunities be given Negro tenants +on plantations to grow crops other than cotton." + +After the regular conference the usual Conference of Workers was held. +This conference is composed of people such as heads of schools and +colleges, preachers, teachers, and persons generally holding +responsible positions of leadership in their respective communities. +These leaders discuss the larger community problems in distinction +from individual problems. At this gathering, for instance, the +principal of the County High School at Cottage Grove, Ala., explained +how through diversified farming the parents of his students had been +able to live while holding their cotton for higher prices. + +Some of the principals of schools told how they had accepted cotton as +payment of tuition for some of their students. Others had taken in +payment barrels of syrup, sacks of corn, and hogs. All the schools +reported cutting expenses, by reduction of their dietary, the salaries +of teachers, or some other forms of retrenchment, meaning sacrifice +for students or teachers, or both, that the work of education might +continue and weather the hard times. In concluding the conference +Booker Washington explained the terms of the recently enacted Smith +Lever Act for Federal aid in the extension of agricultural education +throughout the rural districts of the country. Thus ended the +twentieth session of the great Tuskegee Negro Conference and the last +session presided over by the Founder of the Conference. It was most +appropriate that this, his last conference, should have so unanimously +and effectively applied one of the leading tenets of Booker +Washington's teaching--namely, the winning of lasting profit from the +experiences of adversity. + +As well as these annual Farmers' Conferences there are held at +Tuskegee monthly meetings for the farmers from the locality where they +display their products, tell of their successes and failures, and +compare notes on their experiences all under the expert leadership, +guidance, and advice of the staff of the agricultural department of +the Institute. Every month, or oftener, there is an agricultural +exhibit in which the best products of the various crops such as +potatoes, corn, and cotton are displayed, and the methods used in +their production explained by figures and graphic charts. + +As early as 1895 Booker Washington started a campaign to get his +people to raise more pigs. This campaign he revived at intervals, and +for the last time in the fall of 1914, when the whole country and +particularly the South was suffering from the first acute depression +caused by the European War. In the Southern States this depression +was, of course, especially acute because the European market for +cotton was for the time being cut off. As one of the means to aid his +people in this trying time he sent the following letter to the entire +press of the South of both races: + + "PIGS AND EDUCATION; PIGS AND DEBTS" + + _To the Editor:_ + + Our race is in constant search of means with which to + provide better homes, schools, colleges, and churches, and + with which to pay debts. This is especially true during the + hard financial conditions obtaining on account of the + European War. All of this cannot be done at once, but great + progress can be made by a good strong pull together in a + simple, direct manner. How? + + There are 1,400,000 colored families who live on farms or in + villages, or small towns. Of this number, at the present + time, 700,000 have no pigs. I want to ask that each family + raise at least one pig this fall. Where one or more pigs are + already owned, I want to ask that each family raise one + additional pig this fall. + + As soon as possible, I want to ask that this plan be + followed by the organization of a Pig Club in every + community where one does not already exist. I want to ask + that the matter be taken up at once through families, + schools, churches, and societies, Farmers' Institutes, + Business Leagues, etc. + + The average pig is valued at about $5. If each family adds + only one pig, in a few months at the present price for hogs, + $10 would be added to the wealth of the owner, and + $14,000,000 to the wealth of the colored people. If each + family adds two pigs, it would have in a few months $20 more + wealth, and $28,000,000 would be added with which to promote + the welfare of the race during the money stringency created + by the European War. + + Let us not put it off, but organize Pig Clubs everywhere. + Give each boy and girl an opportunity to own and grow at + least one pig. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, + Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. + +This letter was not only printed by most of the white papers as well +as all of the Negro papers, but it was widely endorsed editorially in +the white as well as the black press. Many of the newspapers for +whites urged that the white farmers also follow the suggestion. The +granges and farmers' institutes of both races took up the appeal and +urged it upon their members. There can be no doubt that through the +publication of this one brief letter, sent out at just the right +psychological moment, Booker Washington materially aided the Southern +farmers of both races to tide over a serious crisis and materially +increased the economic wealth of the entire South. As he well knew, +the people were desperate and panicky and hence ready to follow +almost any lead. In any ordinary state of the public mind such a +letter could have produced nothing like such an influence. This well +illustrated Booker Washington's accurate knowledge of and feeling for +the psychology of the public which enabled him almost without +exception to speak or remain silent at the right times. + +Booker Washington was not only interested in black farmers but white +farmers. He always emphasized the responsibility of the farmer as the +builder of the foundations of society. He was constantly inviting the +white farmers of the surrounding country to visit the school and see +what was being done on the school farms and by the Experiment Station. +And the white farmers availed themselves freely of this opportunity +and profited by it. The school's veterinarian is probably the only one +in the county, and this division was established very largely for the +purpose of bringing the school and the community--both white and +black--into closer relation. In dealing with farmers, even more +perhaps than with other classes of people, Washington would appeal to +their pride and even to their vanity. He was fond of telling them that +they were the salt of the earth. One of his favorite stories was about +the farmer who keeps his best potatoes for himself and his family and +sends the speckled ones to town; keeps his tender young chickens and +sends the old tough ones to town; keeps his rich milk and sends his +skimmed milk to town. While there may never have been quite such a +farmer the story had its element of truth, and helped to make the +farmer appreciate his good fortune and his importance in the scheme of +things. + +In 1910, when the last Federal Census was taken, 503 Negro farm owners +in Macon County, Booker Washington's home county, owned 61,689 acres, +or an average of more than one hundred and twenty-two and one-half +acres of land per man. This is probably the largest amount of land +owned by the Negroes of any county in the United States. Certainly +this was true at that time. The better class of Negro farmers has +greatly increased during the past thirty years until at present from +90 to 95 per cent. of the 3,800 Negro farmers in the county operate +their own farms either as cash tenants or owners. The increase in the +number of Negroes owning or operating farms has been an important +factor in securing a better quality and variety of food. They have +diversified their crops and raised a larger amount of their own food +supplies, particularly meat and vegetables, and they have produced +more milk, butter, and eggs. It will be seen that Booker Washington's +voice when he reiterated over and over again, "The man who owns the +land will own much else besides," did not fall upon deaf ears. + +When Booker Washington came to Macon County and founded Tuskegee +Institute, in 1881, the soil was worn out, and cotton, the chief crop, +was selling for an almost constantly lowering price. Although there +were few counties with a lower yield of cotton per acre, one-quarter +of a bale, over 42 per cent. of the tilled land of the county was +devoted exclusively to this crop. Very little machinery was used in +the farming, the antique scooter plow and hoe being the main reliance. +The soil was rarely tilled more than three or four inches deep. There +was, in fact, a superstition among whites as well as blacks that deep +plowing was injurious to the soil. Two-horse teams were seldom used. +Sub-soiling, fall plowing, fallowing, and rotation of crops were +little known and less practised. The county was producing per capita +per year only about five pounds of butter, four dozen eggs, and less +than three chickens. + +The Negroes were with few exceptions shiftless and improvident +plantation laborers and renters. Of the almost 13,000 Negroes in the +county not more than fifty or sixty owned land. They lived almost +exclusively in one-room cabins. Sometimes in addition to the immediate +family there were relatives and friends living and sleeping in this +one room. The common diet of these Negroes was fat pork, corn bread, +and molasses. Many meals consisted of corn bread mixed with salt +water. This, then, was the raw material with which Booker Washington +had to work and from which has been developed, largely through his +influence, one of the most prosperous agricultural counties in the +South--a county which has been heralded in the press as feeding itself +because of the great abundance and variety of its products. In 1910 +the per capita production for the county was: 40 gallons of milk, 11 +pounds of butter, 7 dozen eggs, and 5 chickens. It must, of course, do +more than this before it will actually feed itself. + +Mr. Washington was constantly drumming it into the consciousness of +the Negro farmer that as long as he remained ignorant and improvident +he was sure to be exploited and imposed upon. He used to illustrate +this by the story of the ignorant Negro who after paying a white man +fifty cents a week for six months on a five-dollar loan cheerfully +remarked: "Dat Mr. ---- sho is one fine gen'lman, cause he never has +ast me fo' one cent ob dat principal." It may be surmised that this +type of money lender is not enthusiastic over Negro education. + +It is significant of the importance which Booker Washington attached +to agriculture that the first great Federal official whom he invited +to visit the school was the National Secretary of Agriculture. In 1897 +he got the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture in President +McKinley's Cabinet, to visit Tuskegee and attend the dedication of the +school's first agricultural building. + +Secretary Wilson arrived at night accompanied by Dr. J.L.M. Curry, a +Southerner, a leader of the educational thought of the South, and the +secretary of the John F. Slater Fund Board. The students lined up on +either side of the main thoroughfare through the school grounds with +back of them a great gathering of the farmers from the surrounding +territory and many from a distance. Each one of this great throng was +given a pine torch and all these torches were simultaneously lighted +as Secretary Wilson entered the school grounds. The Secretary and +Doctor Curry, preceded by the Institute Band, rode between these two +great masses of cheering people and flaming torches. + +The next day the dedication exercises were held on a specially +constructed platform piled high with the finest specimens of every +product known to that section of the South. On this platform, with the +Secretary and Doctor Curry, were the State Commissioner of Agriculture +and several other high State officials and many other prominent white +citizens. This was the formal launching of the Agricultural Department +of the school. George W. Carver, the full-blooded African and eminent +agricultural scientist, of whom mention has already been made, had +recently been placed in charge of this department. He had come from +the Agricultural Department of Iowa State College, of which Secretary +Wilson had been the head. + +The annual budget of this department alone is now nearly fifty +thousand dollars a year, and more than a thousand acres of land are +cultivated under the supervision of the agricultural staff. The modest +building which Secretary Wilson helped to dedicate has long since been +outgrown and the department is now housed in a large, impressive brick +building known as the Millbank Agricultural Building. + +Under the provisions of the Smith-Lever Act, passed by Congress in +1914 for the purpose of aiding the States in Agricultural Extension +Work, Booker Washington secured for Tuskegee a portion of the funds +allotted to the State of Alabama for such work. With the aid of these +funds Agricultural Extension Schools have been organized. These +schools are conducted in coöperation with the Agricultural Department +of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the farm demonstration work +of the United States Department of Agriculture. They are really a two +days' Short Course in Agriculture carried out to the farmers on their +own farms. These schools have the advantage over the Short Course +given to the farmers on the Institute grounds in that they have the +farmers' problems right before them, to be diagnosed and remedies +applied at once. Through such schools farm instruction is being +carried to the Negroes of every Black Belt County of Alabama. + +T.M. Campbell of the Tuskegee Institute, the District Agent in charge +of these Extension Schools for the Negro Farmers of Alabama, reports +that among the subjects taught the men are home gardening, seed +selection, repair of farm tools, the growing of legumes as soil +builders and cover crops, best methods of fighting the boll-weevil, +poultry raising, hog raising, corn raising, and pasture making. The +women are instructed in sewing, cooking, washing and ironing, serving +meals, making beds, and methods for destroying household pests and for +the preservation of health. At all the meetings the names and +addresses of those present are taken for the purpose of following them +up by correspondence from the district agent's office, so that the +benefits of the instruction shall not be lost from one year to +another. The slogan for these Alabama schools is: "Alabama Must Feed +Herself." Practically all the black farmers have shown a pathetic +eagerness to learn and the white farmers and the white demonstration +agents everywhere have heartily coöperated. Churches, schoolhouses, +and courthouses have been placed at the district agent's disposal for +the Extension School session. One of the most hopeful features of the +experiment has been the great interest in this new and better farming +aroused among the boys and girls--an interest which the ordinary rural +school sadly fails even in attempting to arouse. All told throughout +the State 3,872 colored people attended these schools the first year. +The sessions were usually opened by a prayer offered by one of the +rural preachers. In one such prayer the preacher said among other +things: "O Lord, have mercy on dis removable school; may it purmernate +dis whole lan' an' country!" At another meeting, after the workers had +finished a session, some of the leading colored farmers were called on +to speak. One of them opened his remarks with the words: "I ain't no +speaker, but I jes wan' a tell you how much I done been steamilated by +dis my only two days in school!" + +A report of one of these schools held recently at Monroeville, Ala., +reads: "Only subjects with which the rural people are directly +concerned are introduced and stressed by the instructors, such as +pasture making, necessary equipment for a one and two horse farm, care +of farm tools, crop rotation, hog raising, care of the cow, seed +selection, diversified farming, how to make homemade furniture, +fighting the fly, and child welfare. + +"The home economics teacher attracted the attention of all the colored +farmers and also the white visitors by constructing out of dry goods +boxes an attractive and substantial dresser and washstand, completing +the same before the audience, even to the staining, varnishing, +hanging the mirrors and attaching the draperies." One paper, in +estimating the value of these Movable Agricultural Schools said: +"Given ten years of good practical agricultural instruction of the +kind that was imparted to the Negro farmers, their wives and children, +for the past three weeks in Wilcox, Perry, and Lowndes counties, there +is no reason why every Negro farmer in the State should not only help +'Alabama feed herself,' but so increase the yield of its marketable +products that the State will be able to export millions of dollars' +worth of food and foodstuffs each year." + +These Extension Schools are advertised by posters just like a country +circus, except that the language is less grandiloquent. On the +following page is a typical announcement presented in heavy black type +on yellow paper. + +[Illustration: + +Co-operative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics + +STATE OF ALABAMA + +FARMERS ATTENTION! + +AN EXTENSION SCHOOL + +OF + +AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS + +FOR + +COLORED FARMERS, BOYS, GIRLS, AND WOMEN + +WILL BE HELD IN PERRY COUNTY AT + +MARION, FEBRUARY 8-9 + +MORNING STAR COMMUNITY, FEBRUARY 11-12 + +_COME AND BRING YOUR FAMILY!_ + +THE PROGRAM OF THE SCHOOL WILL EMBRACE THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS AND MANY +OTHERS. + +--FOR MEN AND BOYS-- + +Diversified Farming for the South, "A Ray of Hope to the Man with the +Hoe." + +How to Make the Cotton Farm Fertile--Every Farmer Must Feed Himself. + +Care and Treatment of Live Stock--"To Thee, my Master, I offer my +prayer; feed me, water and care for me, and when the day's work is +done, provide me with shelter."--From the Horses' Prayer. + +Cotton Growing under Boll Weevil Conditions--Looks like Billie Boll +Weevil is here to stay. + +Waste caused by weeds, stumps and skips. + +Corn--Seed testing. + +Dairying and Its Possibilities in Alabama. + +Sweet Potatoes--How to grow and save them. + +--FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS-- + +"Home Made Home."--A Home should be more than a place in which to eat +and sleep. + +The Health of the Family--Much responsibility rests on the Mother. + +Child Welfare--Every 4th Negro baby dies before it is One Year Old. +Fifty per cent of the diseases of Negro children under One Year can be +prevented. + +The Care of the Girls and Boys on the Farm--Make them your partners in +the business of Home Making. + +Demonstration in Cookery--Too few of our women and girls know how to +cook. + +A FREE PICTURE SHOW WILL BE GIVEN ONE NIGHT AT EVERY MEETING PLACE + +This Extension School is being held under the auspices of the +Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and +the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. The subjects will be discussed by +experts from the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. + +T.M. CAMPBELL, District Demonstration Agent, +Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.] + +Thus did Booker Washington in the very year of his death, with the aid +of the National Government, launch the last of his many means for +helping the people whose welfare lay ever nearest his heart--the Negro +farmers. These Extension Schools are literally "going out 'into the +by-ways and hedges'" carrying to those who most need it Booker +Washington's gospel of better farming. + +One of the great secrets of Mr. Washington's success was his unerring +instinct for putting first things first. In nothing that he did was +this trait better illustrated than in the unceasing emphasis which he +placed upon the fundamental importance of agriculture. He never +forgot that over 80 per cent. of his people drew their living directly +from the soil. He never ceased to impress upon the business and +professional men of his race that their success was dependent upon the +success of the farmers; and upon the farmers that unless they +succeeded the business and professional men could not succeed. In +short, he made Tuskegee first and foremost an agricultural school +because the Negro race is first and foremost an agricultural race. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO BUSINESS MAN + + +In 1900 Booker Washington founded the National Negro Business League. +He was president of this league from its foundation until his death. + +During the winter of 1900, after reviewing the situation at length +with his friend T. Thomas Fortune, the Nestor of Negro journalism, and +at that time the dominant influence in the New York _Age_, who was +spending the winter at Tuskegee, with Mr. Scott and others of his +friends, he came to the conclusion that the time had come to bring the +business men and women of his race together in a great national +organization, with local branches throughout the country. He decided +that such an organization might be a powerful agency in creating the +race consciousness and race pride for which he was ever striving. All +the then-existing organizations, other than the sick and death benefit +societies and the purely social organizations, had as their main +purpose the assertion of the civil and political rights of the Negro. +There was no organization calculated to focus the attention of the +Negroes on what they were doing and could do for themselves in +distinction from what was being done for them and to them. All the +existing associations laid their chief emphasis upon the rights of +the Negro rather than his duties. Mr. Washington held that without in +any degree sacrificing their just demands for civil and political +rights a more wholesome and constructive attitude could be developed +by stressing the duties and the opportunities of the race. He believed +it would be helpful to emphasize in an organized way what they had +done and could do in the way of business achievement in spite of race +prejudice rather than what they had not done and could not do because +of racial discrimination. He believed they needed to have brought home +to them not how many of them had been held down, but how many of them +had come up and surmounted obstacles and difficulties. He believed +that they should have it impressed upon them that the application of +business methods would bring rewards to a black man just as to a white +man. + +The first meeting of the National Negro Business League was held in +Boston, August 23 and 24, 1900. After these sessions Booker Washington +made the following statement of the purpose in calling the meeting and +the results obtained: + +"As I have travelled through the country from time to time I have been +constantly surprised to note the number of colored men and women, +often in small towns and remote districts, who are engaged in various +lines of business. In many cases the business was very humble, but +nevertheless it was sufficient to indicate the opportunities of the +race in this direction. My observation in this regard led me to +believe that the time had come for the bringing together of the +leading and most successful colored men and women throughout the +country who are engaged in business. After consultation with men and +women in various parts of the country it was determined to call a +meeting in the city of Boston to organize the National Negro Business +League. This meeting was held during the 23d and 24th of August, and +it was generally believed that it was one of the most successful and +helpful meetings that has ever been held among our people. The meeting +was called with two objects in view: first, to bring the men and women +engaged in business together, in order that they might get acquainted +with each other and get information and inspiration from each other; +secondly, to form plans for an annual meeting and the organization of +local business leagues that should extend throughout the country. Both +of these objects, I think, have been admirably accomplished. I think +there has never been a time in the history of the race when all feel +so much encouraged in relation to their business opportunities as now. +The promoters of this organization appreciate very keenly that the +race cannot depend upon mere material growth alone for its ultimate +success, but they do feel that material prosperity will greatly hasten +their recognition in other directions." + +The spirit and purpose of this first national convention of Negro +business men may be gathered by this quotation from the speech of J.H. +Lewis, a merchant tailor, and perhaps the most successful business man +of the race at the time: "But what hope has the Negro to succeed in +business?" said Mr. Lewis. "If you can make a better article than +anybody else, and sell it cheaper than anybody else, you can command +the markets of the world. Produce something that somebody else wants, +whether it be a shoe string or a savings bank, and the purchaser or +patron will not trouble himself to ask who the seller is. This same +great economic law runs through every line of industry, whether it be +farming, manufacturing, mercantile or professional pursuits. Recognize +this fundamental law of trade; add to it tact, good manners, a +resolute will, a tireless capacity for hard work, and you will succeed +in business. I have found in my own experience of thirty years in +business that success and its conditions lie around us, regardless of +race or color. I believe that it is possible for any man with the +proper stuff in him to make a success in business wherever he may be. +The best and only capital necessary to begin with is simply honesty, +industry, and common sense." + +The Boston _Herald_ of August 24, 1900, said of this gathering: "The +national convention of colored business men began its sessions in this +city yesterday in a businesslike and hopeful manner. This is not a +political gathering. It is not a race gathering in the sense of one +met to air sentimental grievances that spring from race +oppositions.... President Washington believes that the security and +progress of the colored people in this land depend upon their +development of a moral worth commanding respect and an industrial +capacity that will make them both useful and independent. He +apprehends that these qualities cannot be bestowed as a gift of +benevolence, but must be acquired by individual energy and struggle. +'As I have noted,' he says, 'the condition of our people in nearly +every part of our country, I have always been encouraged by the fact +that almost without exception, whether in the North or in the South, +wherever I have seen a black man who was succeeding in his business, +who was a taxpayer, and who possessed intelligence and high character, +that individual was treated with the highest respect by the members of +the white race. In proportion as we can multiply those examples, North +and South, will our problem be solved.' That is the great lesson that +the members of the colored race have to learn. It will aid in +extending this knowledge for those colored business men who have +attained a measurable degree of success in life to meet for mutual +encouragement and helpfulness." + +Just fifteen years later, in August, 1915, Booker Washington presided +over the last session of the league held during his lifetime. This +meeting also was held in Boston. There attended it seven hundred +delegates from thirty different States. Mr. Washington in his annual +address as president summed up what had been accomplished by the race +during the fifteen-year interval and projected what they should strive +for in the future. He also took occasion publicly to thank his +foremost colleagues in developing the work of the league, particularly +Mr. Scott, the secretary of the league. Undoubtedly he fully realized +that it was his farewell meeting. He practically collapsed before the +sessions were over. In less than three months he was dead. + +Among other things he said in this speech: "Since the league met in +Boston fifteen years ago, great changes have taken place among our +people in property-getting and in the promotion of industrial and +business enterprises. These changes have taken place not solely +because of the work of the league, but this and similar organizations +have had much to do with bringing about this progress. Let me be more +specific.... In 1863 we had as a race 2,000 small business enterprises +of one kind and another. At the present time, the Negro owns and +operates about 43,000 concerns, with an annual turnover of about one +billion dollars. Within fifty years we have made enough progress in +business to warrant the operation of over fifty banks. With all I have +said, we are still a poor race, as compared with many others; but I +have given these figures to indicate the direction in which we are +travelling." + +Later he said: "A landless race is like a ship without a rudder. +Emphasizing again our opportunities, especially as connected with the +soil, we now have, for example, 122 poultry raisers; the number should +be increased to 1,500. We now have 200 dairymen; the number should be +increased to 2,000.... We now own and operate 75 bakeries; the number +can be increased to 500. From 32 brickmakers the number can be +increased to 3,000. From 200 sawmills we can increase the number to +1,000." + +And so he continued giving the present achievement and future goal for +many more industries. After giving these estimates he said: "With our +race, as it has been and always will be with all races, without +economic and business foundation, it is hardly possible to have +educational and religious growth or political freedom. + +"We can learn some mighty serious lessons just now from conditions in +Liberia and Hayti. For years, both in Liberia and Hayti, literary +education and politics have been emphasized, but while doing this the +people have failed to apply themselves to the development of the soil, +mines, and forests. The result is that, from an economic point of +view, those two republics have become dependent upon other nations and +races. In both republics the control of finances is in the hands of +other nations, this being true notwithstanding the fact that the two +countries have natural resources greater than other countries similar +in size.... Mere abstract, unused education means little for a race or +individual. An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction. We +must not be afraid to pay the price of success in business--the price +of sleepless nights, the price of toil when others rest, the price of +planning to-day for to-morrow, this year for next year. If some one +else endures the hardships, does the thinking, and pays the salaries, +some one else will reap the harvest and enjoy the reward." + +Just before his closing words he said: "No matter how poor you are, +how black you are, or how obscure your present work and position, I +want each one to remember that there is a chance for him, and the more +difficulties he has to overcome the greater will be his success." + +Perhaps the most significant speech at this conference, next to that +of Booker T. Washington, was that of William Henry Lewis who is +probably the foremost lawyer of the Negro race in America. Mr. Lewis +is a graduate of Harvard where he distinguished himself on the +football field as well as in the classroom. After graduation from the +Harvard Law School he served with distinction in the Massachusetts +Legislature, was appointed Assistant United States District Attorney +for the Boston district by President Roosevelt, and became Assistant +Attorney-General of the United States under President Taft. + +In opening his speech Mr. Lewis said: "I do not know why my +fellow-citizens have chosen me for this honor, except to heap coals of +fire upon my head. Fifteen years ago I was not with you. I was one of +the critics, one of the scoffers, one of those who asked, 'What is it +all about?' 'What does it amount to?' You have lived to confute my +judgment, and shame my sneers, and I am now making generous +acknowledgment of my error. I claim no merit in doing this, except +that I can look backward as far as your great leader can look forward. +Booker Washington has always been from fifteen to twenty years ahead +of any other leader of his race.... While most of us were agonizing +over the Negro's relation to the State and his political fortunes, +Booker Washington saw that there was a great economic empire that +needed to be conquered. He saw an emancipated race chained to the soil +by the Mortgage Crop System, and other devices, and he said, 'You must +own your own land, you must own your own farms'--and forthwith there +was a second emancipation. He saw the industrial trades and skilled +labor pass from our race into other hands. He said, 'The hands as well +as the heads must be educated,' and forthwith the educational system +of America was revolutionized. He saw the money earned by the hard +toil of black men passing into other men's pockets. He said, 'The only +way to save this money is to go into business--sell as well as buy.' +He saw that if the colored race was to become economically +self-sufficient, it must engage in every form of human activity. +Himself a successful business man as shown by Tuskegee's millions, he +has led his race to economic freedom." + +Later Mr. Lewis said: "Just as in Boston three-quarters of a century +ago began the movement for Emancipation from Slavery, so fifteen years +ago appropriately began the movement for our economical +independence.... In 1900 there was one league with 50 members, and a +few businesses represented. To-day I am told there are 600 leagues, +nearly 40,000 members, who represent every branch and variety of +business, trade and finance. When one realizes that business rules the +world, the possibility of such an organization seems almost unlimited +in its power to help the race along other lines of progress." + +Such a tribute from one of the most rarely and genuinely talented +members of "The Talented Tenth" was indeed a triumph for Booker T. +Washington and his policies. In fact, it may fairly be said that this +event marked the end of the honest opposition from this element of +the Negro race--the end of the honest opposition of a group or section +of the race in distinction from the of course inevitable opposition of +individuals here and there. + +One of the features of this 1915 meeting was a summary of the economic +progress of the race since the organization of the league fifteen +years before. This summary brought out the following facts: + +In 1900, when the National Negro Business League was organized, there +were about 20,000 Negro business enterprises; now there are 45,000. + +In 1900 there were two Negro banks; now there are 51. + +In 1900 Negroes were running 250 drug stores; now they have 695. + +In 1900 there were 450 undertaking businesses operated by Negroes; now +there are about 1,000. + +In 1900 there were 149 Negro merchants engaged in wholesale +businesses; now there are 240. + +In 1900 there were 10,000 Negro retail merchants; now there are +25,000. + +In the fifteen years since the National Negro Business League was +organized, farm property owned by Negroes has made a remarkable +increase. From 1900 to 1910, the value of domestic animals owned by +Negro farmers increased from $85,216,337 to $177,273,785, or 107 per +cent.; poultry from $3,788,792 to $5,113,756, or 35 per cent.; +implements and machinery from $18,586,225 to $36,861,418, or 98 per +cent.; land and buildings from $69,636,420 to $273,501,665, or 293 per +cent. In ten years the total value of farm property owned by Negroes +increased from $177,404,688 to $492,892,218, or 177 per cent. + +It is significant of the standing and catholicity of this convention +that the Governor of Massachusetts, Hon. David F. Walsh, and Dr. John +E. White, a leading white Southern clergyman, both spoke at the +opening meeting at Symphony Hall. + +The National League is made up of more than 600 local leagues which +influence in a direct and practical way almost every community in the +United States with any considerable number of Negro inhabitants. These +local leagues are all chartered, guided, and supervised by the +national organization and with them all the Secretary, Mr. Scott, +keeps in touch. From time to time he issues pamphlets setting forth +methods of organization, activities that can be undertaken, and +subjects that may be discussed under the head of "Some things that it +is possible for a local league to do to be of service to the town or +city in which it is located" are the following: + +"(1) To keep a list of the young men and women who are intelligent, +trained, and qualified to fill responsible places as clerks, +accountants, salesmen, janitors, porters, etc.; in this way a league +can do much in getting suitable occupations for as many as are +competent, especially so in Northern States. + +"(2) In protecting the community against fraudulent schemes, as false +stock companies, that are gotten up solely for the purpose of +defrauding colored people. + +"(3) In fostering an interest in civic affairs, such as sanitation, +clean yards, cultivating pride in making attractive in appearance the +home districts of our people, and in other ways showing an interest in +everything that may make up a better community life." + +In the same pamphlet under the head of "Suggested Subjects for +Discussion" comes the following list: + +1. How to unify the colored people in the business interests of the +community. + +2. What the professional men, ministers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, +etc., can do to assist the business men and women. + +3. What the business men can do to assist the professional men. + +4. Patronizing Negro business enterprises. + +5. What new business can be established in the community. + +6. How can the business enterprises already established be improved? + +7. How to secure additional country trade. + +8. If a bank does not exist, can one be established and supported? + +9. If a millinery establishment does not exist, can one be established +and supported, etc.? + +10. If a shoe store or gents' furnishing store does not exist, can one +be established and supported? + +11. If a drug-store does not exist, can one be established and +supported? + +In another such pamphlet monthly meetings between the grocers and the +clubwomen are suggested. Such meetings would have as their object the +fixing of uniform and mutually satisfactory prices and service. It is +also recommended that Negro insurance agents constitute themselves +unofficial health inspectors for their sections of the town. In this +capacity they would report to the public health committee of the local +league all instances of badly ventilated homes or schools, +mosquito-breeding spots, accumulations of rubbish and filth, or any +other conditions menacing the health of the colored citizens. The +suggestion is made that where possible reading-rooms and bureaus of +information be opened in connection with the offices of Negro +newspapers and that such rooms place the colored papers from all +sections of the country at the disposal of the patrons after the +editor has finished with them. That several small shopkeepers club +together and employ one expert bookkeeper is another idea offered. It +is also proposed that small retailers get together for the purpose of +purchasing jointly such commodities as can be advantageously secured +in this manner. It is finally urged that a committee be appointed each +year to make a social survey of the Negro population. This study would +show what progress had been made during the year in all lines of +endeavor and at the same time furnish a directory of all the business +and social activities of the Negroes of the community. It is pointed +out that the sale of advertising space in its pages would alone more +than pay for such a directory. + +It will be noted that these business leagues, like all other +organizations founded or moulded by Booker Washington, do not stick +to their lasts in any narrow sense. Mr. Washington never lost sight of +the fact that the fundamental concern of all human beings was living, +and that farming, business, education, recreation, or what not, were +only important in so far as they made the whole of life better worth +living. The means employed never obscured his vision of the aim sought +as is so frequently and unhappily the case with lesser men. + +Just as at the agricultural conferences, so at these business +gatherings, Booker Washington used the methods employed by the +revivalist at the experience meeting. By so doing he accomplished the +double purpose of encouraging the successful by the tribute of public +recognition and spurring on the less successful and the unsuccessful +to go and do likewise. Also by means of men and women telling their +fellows in open meeting how they achieved their success the race is, +as it were, revealed to itself. It was, for instance, through a +meeting of the National Negro Business League that it came to light +that the man who raises the most potatoes in the United States, and +who is commonly known as the Potato King of the West, is a Negro--J.G. +Groves of Edwardsville, Kan. Groves' story at one of the annual +meetings attracted so much attention that an account of his life later +appeared in an illustrated special article in the _American Magazine_. +It was also discovered through a league meeting that Scott Bond, +another colored man, was probably the most successful farmer in the +State of Arkansas. After he had told his story at the meeting of the +National League held in New York in 1910 he was pursued by cameramen +and interviewers for days and weeks and his story was spread all over +the United States. At the Chicago meeting of 1912 Watt Terry, a modest +and even shrinking colored man of Brockton, Mass., unfolded a +remarkable story of success in spite of the hardest and must untoward +circumstances. So unbelievable seemed this man's story that the +Executive Committee took up with him personally the facts of his +recital, and later the Secretary of the League, in response to a +demand, had to vouch for his statements in open meeting. To clinch the +matter still further Mr. Washington wrote to the Secretary of the +Young Men's Christian Association in Brockton, who replied that +Terry's story had, if anything, been understated rather than +overstated. Booker Washington himself told Watt Terry's story in the +pages of the _Independent_ for March 27, 1913. Here it is: "... Mr. +Terry is a modest-appearing young man about thirty years of age. When +he landed at Brockton some twelve years ago he had, according to his +own story, a capital of just twelve cents. He found work at first as a +coachman. After a time he obtained what he thought was a better +position as janitor in the Young Men's Christian Association Building. +Some of the members of the association succeeded in getting him a +position as a railway porter. + +"'Somehow or other,' said Terry, 'I did not care for that sort of +work, and after a few months gave it up. I made up my mind that I +would rather work at a trade, and tried to get work in one of the +shoe factories in Brockton. As I did not know the trade and there was +a good deal of competition for the places open to apprentices it +looked rather hopeless at first. Finally, I got the foreman to say he +would give me a chance, provided I was willing to work for two weeks +without pay. I accepted that offer and made up my mind to make the +most of those two weeks.' + +"At the end of the two weeks Terry had done so well that he was given +a position in which he earned $7 a week. By sticking close to his job +and making the most of his opportunities he was gradually promoted +until he earned first $10, then $15, $18, and finally $25 a week. + +"'I had some difficulties at first,' said Terry. 'The other men did +not like me at first and showed it. However, I stuck to the job, kept +on smiling, and it was not long before I was on just as good terms +with the men in the shop as I cared to be. As I did not have much +opportunity to spend my money, I found it easier to save.' + +"When Terry reached the point where he was earning $25 a week his wife +was earning $9 as matron in the Brockton railway station, and they +both saved their money. Meanwhile Terry had begun to buy and sell real +estate in a small way. One day he sold a house and lot upon which he +cleared as commission $100. + +"'That seemed to settle the question of my future,' said Mr. Terry. 'I +decided to go into the real estate business.' + +"He added that at the present time his gross income from his houses +was between $6,000 and $7,000 per month. Altogether, including several +store buildings and two apartment houses containing fifty-four suites +of rooms, Mr. Terry owns 222 buildings in Brockton. One of these +buildings is leased by the United States Government for the use of the +post-office; another is rented for a public library and reading-room +by the city. + +"I should not, perhaps, have dared to make this statement if I had not +confirmed the truth of Mr. Terry's statement by independent inquiry. +In a recent letter from Secretary White, of the Brockton Young Men's +Christian Association, he says: 'Some weeks ago I wrote you relative +to our mutual friend (Watt Terry's) business, but now I want to +enclose a clipping from the tax list which you will see is positive +evidence that the time the taxes were recorded he was carrying well on +to $300,000 and I know that his purchase of $120,000 occurred since +that time. It is certainly a most wonderful development within a few +years.' + +"I ought to add that during all the time that Mr. Terry has been in +Brockton he has been connected with the Young Men's Christian +Association, and not long ago he contributed $1,000 toward the support +of that institution. + +"Many persons will, perhaps, feel that money which is acquired in this +rapid way is likely to do the person who obtains it as much harm as it +does good. I confess that it seems to me that the same amount of money +acquired more slowly would mean more to the man who gained it. On the +whole, however, the Negro race has not reached the point where it has +been troubled by the number of its millionaires. And if getting slowly +and laboriously is a good discipline, the Negro has almost a surplus +of that kind of blessing. I ought to add, also, in justice to Mr. +Terry, that from all I can learn, his rapid rise has neither injured +his character nor destroyed his good sense. I suspect that the effort +to keep all those houses rented and the effort to pay interest on his +mortgages has had a tendency to make him humble." + +Although Watt Terry's success is, of course, phenomenal he is only one +of the many notably successful Negro business men who have told their +stories at meetings of the National Negro Business League. Neither is +Mr. Terry the only Negro who has made a big success in real estate. At +the meeting of the league already described, held in Boston in 1915, +Mr. Washington introduced Philip A. Payton, Jr., of New York City; +E.C. Brown, of Philadelphia, Pa.; and Watt Terry, of Brockton, Mass.; +as the three largest real estate operators of the Negro race. Philip +A. Payton, Jr., was the pioneer in opening the Harlem district in New +York City to settlement by Negroes, who had formerly been excluded +from all decent portions of the city and obliged to live on San Juan +Hill and in other sections of unsavory reputation. E.C. Brown made +money in real estate in Newport News and Norfolk, Va., and headed +movements for the establishment of Negro banks in both of these +cities. Afterward he moved to Philadelphia, where he has opened a +bank, and also conducts a real estate business on Broad Street--the +only Negro, it is said, who conducts a large business enterprise on +this important thoroughfare. At the same meeting it was brought out +that a Negro by the name of Phillip J. Allston was chemist for the +Potter Chemical Company, having risen from bottle-washer to that +responsible post. The story of J.S. Trower, caterer, of Philadelphia, +showed that he was frequently engaged for the most important functions +in the city and had been regularly employed by the Cramps Company, +shipbuilders, to take charge of the catering in connection with the +ceremonies accompanying the launching of new ships for the Navy. Mrs. +Bell Davis of Indianapolis, Ind., has become equally successful as a +caterer. When the National Negro Business League met in Indianapolis +it was she who served the annual banquet. Booker Washington took the +greatest satisfaction in disclosing her achievements to the Negro +people who had previously known little or nothing about her. He thus +introduced her at a meeting of the League, "Mrs. Bell Davis, a widow, +the celebrated caterer of Indianapolis, Ind., who has served banquets +and receptions in honor of Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the +United States, who owns a stock of Haviland china, linen, and +silverware valued at thousands of dollars, all unencumbered, furnishes +another illustration of what heights can be attained in the commercial +world by strenuous effort and making use of every little opportunity +which presents itself. Mrs. Davis' humble beginnings, hardships +encountered, and success achieved would make three chapters of a most +interesting biography." + +Among the men spoken of by Booker Washington at the Philadelphia +meeting of the Business League was Heman E. Perry, the founder of the +first and only old line legal reserve life insurance company operated +by and for Negroes. In his efforts to raise the $100,000 initial +capital required by the law of his State--Georgia--Mr. Perry had +tramped all over the United States at least three times. Finally, +having tried every conceivable source without securing the required +amount, he returned to all the subscribers of capital stock the money +they had paid in plus 4 per cent. interest. This action so inspired +the confidence of the subscribers that almost without exception they +not only returned the money, but subscribed for additional stock with +the result that the initial capital stock was oversubscribed. When +examined by the State Insurance Department three years after it opened +business this company was found to have a gross income of almost +$77,000 and admitted assets of almost $160,000. Each subsequent +examination by the State Department has showed a healthy growth, low +mortality, good judgment in the selection of risks, prompt payment of +claims, careful management, and a sound financial condition. By means +of this company, known as the Standard Life Insurance Company, life +insurance may be had by any Negro under the same conditions, with the +same degree of security, and at the same rates as a white man. + +Among the other notably successful Negro business men who have told +their stories at meetings of the league are the following: Victor H. +Tulane, of Montgomery, Ala., whose story of small beginnings and +present success stirred his fellows at a meeting of the league. Mr. +Tulane entered the grocery business twenty-five years ago, a business +that any ambitious man of his race may enter, requiring small capital +but unlimited patience and close attention to business. He now owns +considerable property, and is a factor in all matters that concern his +race in Montgomery, being regarded by white and colored citizens alike +as Montgomery's first colored citizen. Mr. Tulane says: "Twenty-five +years ago I was a renter; to-day I am landlord of not a few tenants. +Twenty-five years ago my stock represented less than a hundred +dollars; at the present time it values several thousands. Twenty-five +years ago I had but one helper--a small boy; to-day I employ on an +average of seven assistants the year round, excluding my wife and +self. Twenty-five years ago I bought lard in five-pound quantities; +to-day I purchase by the barrel. Twenty-five years ago I bought salt +in ten-cent quantities; at present I buy it in ton lots. Twenty-three +years ago I was unable to secure credit to the amount of three +dollars, but since that period the very house that then refused me has +credited me at one time with several hundred times this amount, and +to-day it is not, how much do you owe?--but, how much do you want? +Twenty years ago my business barely required the service of one horse +and wagon; at present it demands the use of several. Twenty years ago +I did an annual business of something less than a thousand dollars; +during several years since that time the value of my business has +exceeded $40,000 per year." It is Mr. Tulane's boast that he has not +been denied credit during his business career except the one time +mentioned above, and that he has never been threatened or sued in +connection with the collection of a debt. + +Another man's story that came out at the meeting of the National Negro +Business League is the story of Charles H. Anderson, a wholesale and +retail fish and oyster dealer. He conducts a fish, oyster, and game +business in Jacksonville, Fla., which supplies the largest hotels and many +of Jacksonville's richest white families. He is also interested in a fish +and oyster packing business on the Florida coast, and is the cashier of the +colored bank at Jacksonville. A speaker at the league meeting held in the +John Wanamaker store, Philadelphia, in August, 1913, referred to Mr. +Anderson as follows: "The first time I saw this gentleman was fourteen +years ago, when he was standing up behind a white sheet that had a round +hole cut in it, bravely negotiating his head and face as a target; he was +working for a man who was running one of those games known as: +'Every-time-you-hit-the-nigger's-head-you-get-a-fine-cigar!' +(Uproarious laughter.) There I found him fourteen years ago, posing as +a target, and for the magnificent sum of five cents anybody could have +secured the privilege of throwing three balls at his face. (Prolonged +laughter and applause as Mr. Anderson stepped forward and was +introduced to Hon. John Wanamaker, who warmly shook his hand.) To-day +this young man is one of the most competent and one of the most +prosperous business men of our race, regardless of section, North, +South, East, or West. (Hearty applause.) Recently he was offered +$18,000 for one piece of property which he owns in Jacksonville, Fla., +and if he would sell out to me to-day all of his real estate and other +holdings and equities, I would be willing to give him my check for +$75,000." + +Others are: Edward C. Berry of Athens, Ohio, who owns and operates a +family hotel in which he does a business of $25,000 to $35,000 a year; +J. Walter Hodge of Indianapolis, Ind., who, inspired by the recitals +at the Business League meetings, gave up his job as a Pullman car +porter, after he had saved some money, and is now the owner of a large +real estate business; Thomas H. Hayes who, starting as a day laborer +for the Southern Railway, now controls probably the largest +undertaking establishment in Memphis, Tenn. + +Perhaps the most remarkable story of business success ever told before +a meeting of the league was that of J. H. Blodgett of Jacksonville, +Fla. Mr. Blodgett told his story at the sessions of the league held in +Philadelphia in 1913 at the Academy of Music. By request he in part +repeated it at the meeting held in the Wanamaker Store the following +day. Mr. Blodgett is an ex-slave. He has had no education whatever +except what he has picked up in his long and successful struggle with +life's sternest realities. We will give his story in his own language. +Bear in mind that this is the language, as taken down verbatim by a +stenographer at the time, of a totally unschooled ex-slave. He said: +"Now I want to say I went to Jacksonville nineteen years ago with the +magnificent sum of a dollar and ten cents in my pocket. (Laughter.) I +also had an extra suit of underclothing in a paper bag; that was all +the baggage I had as a boarder. (Laughter.) I was also arrested as a +tramp for having on a straw hat in the winter time. (Hearty laughter.) +And I say all this especially to you young men who are present here +to-night, for so many of our young men seem to think that they can't +start or succeed in business unless somebody shoves them off the bank +into the water of opportunity and makes them swim for themselves; I +simply want to say this to you young men, I started with $1.10 and one +extra suit of underclothing in a paper bag--(laughter)--and to-day I +pay more taxes than any Negro in Florida. (Prolonged applause.) I have +had all sorts of struggles and difficulties to contend with, but you +can't get away from it--if you get anything in this United States of +America now, you have got to work for it. (Hearty applause.) The white +people all over this country have 'weaned the Negro.' (Laughter and +applause.) Dr. Washington has been going all over this country +boasting about what you could do and what our race has done, and the +white man is just quietly and gently and in every way telling us: 'Go +thou and do what Dr. Washington said you could do.' (Prolonged +laughter and applause.) + +"When I began, I commenced working for a railroad company; I had a +splendid job--washing cars for a dollar and five cents a day; I got +$8.40 from the railroad every eight days. After working for a month +and a half I saved enough money to send back and bring my wife from +Charleston, South Carolina, to Jacksonville. Both of us went to work; +we opened a little boarding-house; she ran that, and when my $1.05 a +day enabled me to save as much as one hundred dollars, I quit that job +and began to hustle for myself. I told the white man I was working +under: 'You don't know that a Negro with $100 in cash is a rare thing +among my people. I'm going to strike out and see what I can do by +myself.' I made up my mind that if all of the big Negroes that I had +heard of, read about, and talked with, if they could get honor and +recognition by having brains, money, and ability, there was nothing +the matter with me and my poor little wife to prevent us from getting +up, too; so I went to work and determined to work day and night, if +need be, to get some money, and other things necessary to succeed in +life. I wanted money because I had seen and suffered so many +humiliations put on the man who does not have money. (Applause.) + +"The first time I saw this distinguished gentleman (pointing to Dr. +Booker T. Washington) I was laying brick in Jacksonville, Fla., at +$1.25 a day, and he drove by in company with Mr. James W. Johnson, Mr. +J. Rosamond Johnson, and another gentleman. I had always loved the big +men of my race; even as a little boy I delighted to hear of what they +had achieved, and when I heard that the great Booker T. Washington +was in town, I quit my job for that day, went to the place where he +spoke, walked up close, and was hoping somebody would do me the honor +of introducing me. But I found the gentlemen who had him in charge +were introducing him to nobody but the big Negroes, and the big +Negroes were shaking hands with him and completely monopolizing Booker +T. Washington. (Prolonged laughter.) I did not like to be rude and +therefore did not push through the crowd and shake hands with him +anyway, as I felt like doing. I was nothing but a poor brick-layer, +nobody would introduce me, but I heard his grand speech, was richly +benefited and inspired by all he said, and when I went away I made a +solemn vow to myself. I said: 'If God be with me, I mean to so work +and conduct myself so that some day I shall deserve to shake hands +with Booker T. Washington.' (Hearty applause.) Now let me tell you the +sequel of the story. Away down in Florida, in my humble home in +Jacksonville, there is a room named 'Booker T. Washington.' +(Applause.) I have set apart and dedicated a portion of my home in +honor of this distinguished gentleman and leader of our race. +(Applause.) He is the first human being on earth I have ever permitted +to sleep in it, and his good wife is the first woman and second person +I have ever permitted to sleep in that room. (Prolonged laughter and +applause.) We love him in the South, both Negro and white man! (Hearty +applause.) Booker T. Washington's name is a monument of strength +because he is teaching the Negro to use his hands and head in order +to be useful in the community and to achieve success. (Applause.) + +"I have been sick this summer and just got back from +Saratoga--(prolonged applause)--of course all men who get rich go to +Saratoga. (Laughter and applause.) While there I met some folks, and +in the course of my remarks I had occasion to remind them that Dr. +Booker T. Washington, while an earnest advocate of industrial +training, is not an enemy or opposed to higher education. There was a +man from the British West Indies who began to speak on the subject of +the Negro; he began to orate around, began to tell how the Negro must +expect to rise in the world; oh! he made a magnificent speech going to +show that there was nothing in the world like higher education for the +Negro; he even said that the Negro race would never amount to anything +and get its rights until every one of us had secured a college +education. (Laughter.) Why, you ought to have been there and heard him +orate; he took us all through Greek, Roman, ancient, and medieval +history; across the Alps and all around the Egyptian pyramids--(hearty +laughter)--and even cited the Druids of old to testify to the grandeur +and necessity of higher education for the Negro. After he got through +orating I said to him: 'Brother, I was down to a meeting of Negroes in +the State of Florida--at the State Business League, and I saw sitting +on one bench eleven (11) Negro men whose combined wealth would amount +to more than one million dollars, and not one of them ever saw the +inside of a college.' (Prolonged applause, mingled with laughter.) +And I said to him further than that: 'If any of you gentlemen who +claim to be educated in the British West Indies, and all you gentlemen +who hail from Beloit College (wherever it is)--if you can fool any one +of those eleven Negroes out of one dime, I will give you ten dollars!' +(Laughter and applause.) Yes, sir, without much education these men +own their own homes and dozens of homes in which other people live; +they are self-sustaining and independent, and can write their names to +checks away up in the thousands of dollars; they live in neat, +comfortable, well-appointed homes and enjoy the respect and esteem of +their neighbors--black as well as white. 'Now, sir,' I turned to him +and asked him, 'will you kindly tell me what is your occupation in +life and what you have been able to accomplish with all this higher +education you have been talking about?' I found out that he was a +waiter in the United States Hotel. (Laughter.) I said to him further: +'My brother, I don't claim to be an educated man, but live in a villa +of my own; I own considerable real estate, and my dear little wife +rides around in our own $5,500 Packard automobile, all paid for.' +(Prolonged applause and laughter.) + +"I am somewhat of a carpenter and builder; I went to work, bought some +ground while it was cheap and at a time when everything in +Jacksonville was at low tide; there were plenty of sick Yankees whose +investments had depreciated and I invested what money I had in some +land. I would build a house, then sell it; buy more land, build +another house and sell that; after a while I was able to build three +houses and sell two, build two and sell one and so on--(applause)--until +pretty soon I found myself in the real estate business, buying land +and building and selling houses. In this way I have gone on building +my own houses until now I have plenty to support myself and that dear +little red-headed woman who has a seat somewhere in this beautiful +audience. (Laughter and applause.) She doesn't have to keep a +boarding-house any more; she is on the retired list. (Laughter and +applause.) We have made enough to keep from doing that." + +At this point Dr. Washington asked, "How many houses do you own?" + +Mr. Blodgett replied: "I have been selling houses pretty rapidly +during the last few years, but I have built--and right here I want to +say that while my subject is 'Building and Contracting' I have never +built a house for anybody but myself. I build my own property. I have +built since the fire we had in Jacksonville in 1902 two hundred and +eight houses of my own. (Prolonged applause.) I have sold a good many +of them. When I realized that I was beginning to get old and not in +such good physical condition as I used to be, I was afraid I might get +afflicted with tuberculosis, or appendicitis, or some of these other +high-sounding diseases the doctors now talk about--(laughter)--and so +I thought it best to convert some of my estate into another form that +could be more easily handled by my better half when I had gone to +inhabit my mansion in the skies. (Laughter.) So I have begun to sell +off some of my property and get out of debt. I now have one hundred +and twenty-one houses, the rents from which amount to a little over +twenty-five hundred dollars a month. (Prolonged applause.) I have +invested my money in recent years in what I call 'grip-sack' +securities, so that if there should be any little unpleasantness among +the races, I can go to my safe and grab that grip-sack. (Prolonged +laughter and applause.) You see if there should ever be any friction +or trouble, I can grab my grip-sack, jump into a powerful machine, and +come up here around Philadelphia, 'The City of Brotherly Love' or over +here in Canada, and I can sit down at my leisure and read in the +papers what they are doing down there. (Prolonged laughter.) + +"Dr. Washington has been in my home in Jacksonville; I have now had +the honor of not only shaking hands with him, but of having him as my +special guest. I know I am going to make one break here now, I'm going +to say something that my little modest wife may not like me to say, +but I hope she will excuse just this one time--(laughter)--for +everybody knows that I ain't very bright anyhow--not really +responsible. (Prolonged laughter.) I want to say this, not in a +boasting way--I live in the best home of any Negro in this country I +have so far seen. (Hearty applause.) I live in a home--we call it +'Blodgett Villa'; we have flowers and lawns and vines and shrubbery, a +nice greenhouse and all those things that go to make up for higher +civilization. I surrounded myself with all these things to show that +the Negro has the same taste, the same yearning for higher +civilization that the white man has whenever he has the money to +afford it. (Applause.) You know they have been saying all these years +that the Negro is coarse and vicious, that he is kin to the +monkey--(laughter)--and that we do not appreciate those things that +make for higher civilization such as flowers, hothouses, neatly kept +houses and lawns, automobiles, and such things, so I went and got +them. (Applause.) When you step inside of Mrs. Blodgett's home there +you will find art and music and literature, and if you can find +anything in there that does not tend toward the higher civilization, +you have my promise and consent to throw it outdoors. (Laughter and +applause.)... + +"I remember when I was a drayman on the streets of Jacksonville; I was +a great big man, even heavier than I am now: I wore a pair of +magnificent feet appropriate to my size, and when I drove along +everybody whistled and called me 'Old Big One.' Since that time I have +graduated from a drayman to what the program calls me: a 'Builder and +Contractor,' and when they see me now riding through the streets of +Jacksonville in my $5,500 Packard automobile, if one of those Negroes +should call me 'Old Big One,' I would put him in jail. (Laughter and +applause.) I am interested in business with white men, and I tell you +when a Negro gets to the point where he makes cash deposits in a white +man's bank--say $5,000 this week, $2,000 next week, and so on, they +will begin to discover you, honor and respect you. If you deposit +$2,000 this week, the bank president will know about it, and when it +gets to the place that you have got in the bank $25,000, why this man +even (pointing to an ebony black man in the audience) will have become +a bright mulatto!" + +Perhaps the most unique and impressive session of the National Negro +Business League was that held at the invitation of John Wanamaker in +his great department store in Philadelphia in 1913. One of the most +interesting talks at this meeting was that of Charles Banks of Mound +Bayou, Miss. Mr. Banks has been referred to in an earlier chapter. He +has often been called the J. Pierpont Morgan of his race. He said in +part: "I live in the little town of Mound Bayou, Miss., that was +founded by Isaiah T. Montgomery, an ex-slave of Jefferson Davis, the +President of the Southern Confederacy. Mr. Montgomery, the ex-slave in +question, is present at this meeting. We live in what is called the +'Black Belt of Mississippi' and our plantations embrace some of the +richest and most fertile land that can be found in the entire 'Delta.' +In some parts of the 'Delta' the Negro population outnumbers the white +population in a ratio of five to one. In the town in which I live +(Mound Bayou) we outnumber the white population in a ratio of five to +nothing. (Laughter and applause.) + +"Instead of whining and lamenting our lot, and bemoaning the racial +prejudice which exists in our section of the country, we are taking +advantage of some of the opposition and the tendency to segregate us +and we are trying to show, through the leadership of this ex-slave of +Jefferson Davis, that it is possible for us to build up a Negro +community, a town owned and controlled by Negroes right there under +his direct supervision. And as a result, on the Yazoo and Mound Bayou +Branch of the Yazoo Central Railroad, we have one of the best-governed +and most prosperous towns on the whole line. We have something like +thirty to forty thousand acres of land in that rich and fertile +country owned and controlled exclusively by Negro men and women. We +have there the little town of Mound Bayou, which it is our privilege +to represent, and so far as its management or government is concerned, +we have control of everything. There we have a Negro Depot Agent, a +Negro Express Agent, a Negro Postmaster, a Negro Mayor, a Board of +Negro Aldermen and City Councilmen, and every other official of the +city administration is a full-fledged Negro. In that town I am the +banker, and I pass for a Negro." (Laughter and applause followed this +sally, as the speaker is the blackest of full-blooded Africans.) + +In concluding his address of welcome on this occasion Mr. Wanamaker +said: "I do hope that meetings like this will come often and be held +in every large city in the North. In exhibiting to the world the +successful business men and women of your race, your league is doing +exactly what every good merchant legitimately does, that is--you are +showing your goods. (Laughter.) And you are delivering the goods. +(Prolonged applause.) Your league is making an 'Annual Report' as it +were; it is making a 'Yearly Inventory' of what your race has on hand, +and though this large hall has been the scene of many delightful +occasions (mainly connected with this business) your coming here +to-day is the first meeting of its kind. (Applause.) I believe that +this meeting ought to be put down as historical, and should serve as a +set-off--in striking contrast to the stoning of William Lloyd +Garrison, in the streets of Philadelphia, scarcely more than fifty +years ago. (Prolonged applause.) This meeting will simply help to +balance your account. (Applause.) The world is moving on, and it is a +glorious thing to-day to find that, instead of stepping +backward--contrary to the predictions of some--you are making such +splendid strides forward under the fine leadership of Dr. Booker T. +Washington--(applause)--as evidenced in this Business League +Convention. + +"In closing I want not only to pay just tribute to what you have +achieved in music, in education, and religious life, but I think it +fitting, on this occasion, and I have planned to show you a fine +painting from the brush of the greatest artist of your race--the son +of Bishop Tanner. I have seen his handiwork in some of the art +galleries of the first rank in Europe. For the most part his paintings +are religious in conception, and the peculiar beauty of them is that +they deal with the heart, even as they are fine expressions of art. +(Applause.) Before you leave I have planned to show you several other +pictures of real merit that members of your race have produced. +(Applause.) + +"And oh--when I consider all these things, and when I gazed upon this +vast and beautiful audience a few minutes ago, as you were singing so +fervently our national anthem, 'America,' as I looked over the sea of +earnest, intelligent faces, I wondered how on earth we could sing that +song for a hundred years or more--I wondered how it was possible to +keep a race like yours enslaved while, for years and years, the people +of this nation sang that last line of that song, 'Let freedom +ring!!!'" (Prolonged applause, tumultuous cheering, and the waving of +countless handkerchiefs as Mr. Wanamaker resumed his seat.) + +Aside from having the successful colored men and women tell one +another and their less-successful fellows how they had achieved their +success at these sessions of the league, Booker Washington also +arranged to have one or more prominent white men speak. His reason for +this, aside from the obvious one of helping to foster friendly feeling +between the races, was, it may safely be hazarded, to impress upon his +people that white people succeed by the possession and the application +of the same qualities which bring success to colored people. At the +Chicago meeting of the league in 1912 Julius Rosenwald spoke--Julius +Rosenwald, the Jewish philanthropist who has done and is doing so much +to help the Negro. It was he who offered $25,000 to any city in the +United States which would raise $75,000 for a Young Men's Christian +Association Building for colored men. It is he also who is helping +Tuskegee in the building of rural schoolhouses as was explained in the +third chapter. He is one of Tuskegee's trustees. + +The late Robert C. Ogden, the New York manager of the Wanamaker +business, addressed the convention of 1905 in New York. He was a man +whom Booker Washington delighted to hold up to his people as an +example of what a man could accomplish through his own unaided +efforts. He had begun his business career at a salary of $5 a week, +and from that as his starting-point he had risen to be the New York +head of the greatest department store business in the country. He was +for twenty-five years President of the Board of Trustees of Hampton, a +member of the Tuskegee Board, and the originator and host of the +annual educational pilgrimages which gave leading Northerners a first +hand and intelligent insight into the dire need of education for the +masses of the people both white and black throughout the South. Much +of the educational activity in the South to-day may be traced to the +early Ogden educational pilgrimages. + +Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the New York meeting in 1910. He had just +returned from Africa. He said later that nothing connected with his +homecoming had touched him so deeply as the ovation given him by +these, his fellow-citizens of African descent. Among other white men +who have spoken before the league are Henry Clews, the banker; Dr. +H.B. Frissell, the Principal of Hampton Institute, and Dr. J.H. +Dillard, president of the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation of Negro Rural +Schools. + +One of Mr. Washington's many methods for inspiring his people to +strive for business efficiency and success was to excite their +imaginations by holding up before them the achievements of such men as +John Wanamaker, Robert C. Ogden, William H. Baldwin, Jr., Henry H. +Rogers, Julius Rosenwald, the Rockefellers, and Andrew Carnegie. + +Out of the National Negro Business League have developed the following +organizations which are affiliated with it: + + The National Negro Funeral Directors' Association, + The National Negro Press Association, + The National Negro Bar Association, + The National Negro Retail Merchants' Association, + The National Association of Negro Insurance Men. + +Booker Washington was able to speak with assurance and authority to +the business men of his race because he practised what he preached. +The business methods which he employed in conducting the business, in +distinction from the educational affairs, of Tuskegee Institute, +compare favorably with those of the best-managed industrial +corporations. He may even have appeared to be over-insistent upon +business accuracy, system, and efficiency, so anxious was he to belie +the popular notion that Negroes must of necessity, because they are +Negroes, be slipshod and unsystematic. In refutation of this familiar +accusation he built up an institution almost as large as Harvard +University which runs like clockwork without a single white man or +woman having any part in its actual administration. Tuskegee itself is +the most notable example of its founder's method of argument. No +person knowing the facts about Tuskegee can ever again honestly say +that Negroes are always and necessarily slipshod and unsystematic in +their business methods. + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +BOOKER WASHINGTON AMONG HIS STUDENTS + + +In spite of his absorption in guiding the destinies of his race Booker +Washington never lost interest in individuals however humble or in +their individual affairs however small. This was strikingly shown in +his relations to his students. He never wearied in his efforts to help +in the solution of the life problems of the hundreds of raw boys and +girls who each year flocked to Tuskegee and to Booker Washington with +little but hope and ambition upon which to build their careers. With +many of these newcomers he not infrequently had his initial talk +before they knew who he was. This was made easy by his simple and +unassuming manner, which was the exact opposite to what these +unsophisticated youths expected in a great man. One of the graduates +of Tuskegee in the book, "Tuskegee and Its People," thus describes his +first meeting with Booker Washington. His experience was almost +identical with that of many another entering student. He says: + +"My first glimpse of Mr. Washington was had in the depot at +Montgomery, Ala., where a friend and I, on our way to Tuskegee, had +changed cars for the Tuskegee train. Two gentlemen came into the +waiting-room where we were seated, one a man of splendid appearance +and address, the other a most ordinary appearing individual, we +thought. The latter, addressing us, inquired our destination. Upon +being told that we were going to Tuskegee, he remarked that he had +heard that Tuskegee was a very hard place--a place where students were +given too much to do, and where the food was very simple and coarse. +He was afraid we would not stay there three months. We assured him +that we were not afraid of hard work, and meant to finish the course +of study at Tuskegee at all hazards. He then left us. Very soon after +the gentleman who had so favorably impressed us, and whom we afterward +found to be the treasurer of the Tuskegee Institute, Mr. Warren Logan, +came back and told us our interlocutor was none other than the +Principal of the school to which we were going." + +Booker Washington was always keenly interested to get at the reasons +which had impelled the new students to come, and they would naturally +state these reasons more freely to a friendly unknown person than they +would to the Principal of the school. As previously mentioned, Booker +Washington always kept his ear to the ground. These raw boys and girls +brought him fresh and frank messages as to how the people were +thinking and feeling about Tuskegee and those things for which it +stands. + +Some time after Mr. Washington's death the students of the Senior +Class were asked to write brief themes describing their first +impressions of him. In one of these themes the boy writer says, "His +general attitude did not bear out my idea of how a great man should +appear. I expected to see him with a diamond ring and riding in an +automobile on a pleasure trip, which most great men do. He was quiet, +not overdressed, nor yet self-conscious of the position he held and +the influence he wielded among the people. He seemed to me a man of +great thoughts, yet not realizing his greatness." Another boy writes: +"One of my first questions after arriving at Tuskegee, September 9, +1912, and registering as a student was to ask, where is Mr. +Washington? I was told that he hardly ever stayed here but was often +in the North. Two weeks later he came, and my first opportunity to see +him was one day on the street. I was so enthused over him that I went +to my room and wrote a letter home trying to describe him. + +"The following Sunday night he lectured in the Chapel. His title was, +'Have a Place to Put Everything and Put Everything in That Place.' In +his talk he said: 'There are many people who have no system about +their work nor home. Often you visit persons' homes and every member +of the family is looking for the broom. The same is true of a match +when the time comes to light the lamp.' + +"That talk was the most impressive one that I ever heard before or +since. From that talk I have reaped more benefit than any other. It +was the talk that I took in and began practising. I first started in +my room having a place to put everything and putting everything in +that place. After getting my room systematized I then began putting +this talk in practise at my work, etc...." + +The next quotation is from the paper of a native African boy. He +says: "My first impression, or, at least, the first time I heard the +name of Booker T. Washington, was about the year 1902. I was then a +young boy, just arrived in one of the Native Training Institutions +existing in South Africa. These schools train young native boys +primarily to become teachers in their communities. As a native African +I had just acquired the elementary use of the English language, when +the following incident took place: One, a native teacher from the +upper part of the country, was announced and that he was to give a +lecture to the 'Boys' Saturday Evening Society.' + +"The meeting assembled, and I at once heard that the lecture was about +a boy--Booker T. Washington--who obtained an education through his +struggles.... I did not hear or understand more. But it is strange to +say that this name was pinned in the bottom of my heart.... + +"It was during the coronation of King George V of England that I saw +this name. I had now finished that school and was teaching. It was +printed in a native paper that Booker T. Washington, an American +Negro, made an excellent speech. I cannot, however, say the exact +words of the editor, which were in greatest praise of that man, nor do +I recall the circumstances under which Mr. Washington had spoken. + +"When I wanted to come to school in this country I made up my mind to +find the school--as I found later he was principal of one--where this +man was leader; and so I came to Tuskegee Institute. I found the +editor had well described the man's character and disposition." + +Still another boy writes: "I first saw Dr. Washington at the +Appalachian Exposition held at Knoxville, Tenn., in 1912. It was Negro +Day and there were thousands of Negroes out to hear Dr. Washington +speak.... At times he would make the people laugh and then again he +would have a few crying. When I saw the tears in the eyes of his +listeners, I looked at Dr. Washington and thought of him with awe +because he was so highly honored. I thought of him with admiration +because he could speak so well, and I thought of him with pride +because he was a Negro.... His speech made me feel as if there were +really a few Negro men and women in the world who were making a mark, +and that there was a chance for more." + +Booker Washington's interest in the lives of his students, as in all +things else, showed his combination of breadth of view and attention +to what less-thorough persons would have considered trivial details. +When, for instance, in 1913 Tuskegee was visited by one of the very +infrequent snowstorms which occur so far South, he himself went from +building to building to see that they were properly heated and to many +of the rooms, particularly of the poorer students, to make sure that +they had sufficient bed-clothes. During the last three winters of his +life he had a confidential agent make an early morning tour of all the +dormitories to make sure that they were so heated that the students +might dress in comfort on getting up in the morning. + +Also when the weather was unusually cold he would make sure that the +boys who drove the teams that hauled wood and other supplies were +provided with gloves and warm clothing. One cold night he sent for Mr. +Palmer, the Registrar of the school, and said to him: "I wish you +would seek out the poor worthy students and see that it is made +possible for them to secure proper shoes and warm clothing. Some of +the most deserving of them will often actually suffer before they will +ask for assistance. We'll look out for the expense some way." He was, +in fact, as insistent that the students should have comforts as he was +that they should not have luxuries. + +His attention to details and the comfort of the students was well +illustrated in the close watch he kept over the dining-rooms and +kitchens which he inspected every day he was on the grounds. Tomkins +dining-hall is the largest building on the Institute grounds and is +one of the largest dining-halls in America. It can seat over two +thousand persons at one time. Adjoining this hall is a spacious +dining-room for the teachers as well as extensive kitchens and a +bakery. Underneath it is a great assembly hall which seats twenty-five +hundred. Mr. Washington would usually appear before breakfast to +assure himself at first hand that the stewards, matrons, and cooks +were giving the students warm, nourishing, and appetizing food upon +which to begin the day's work on the farm and in the shops and +classrooms. Nothing made him more indignant than to find the coffee +served lukewarm and the cereal watery or the eggs stale. For such +derelictions the guilty party was promptly located and admonition or +discharge followed speedily. Probably in nothing was his instinct for +putting first things first better shown than in his insistence upon +proper food, properly prepared and served for both students and +teachers. + +He once said to his students, as previously quoted, "See to it that a +certain ceremony, a certain importance, be attached to the partaking +of food, etc...." To carry out this idea each table in this great hall +has a centrepiece of ferns, mosses, or flowers gathered from the woods +by the student selected by his or her companions to decorate the table +for that week. Boys and girls sit together at the tables. On Sundays +and holidays first and second prizes are given for the tables most +artistically decorated. Frequently these prizes take the form of some +coveted delicacy in the way of food. Each day when at the Institute +Mr. Washington would walk through the dining-hall during the noon meal +and criticise these centrepieces, and things generally. He would point +out that a certain decoration was too gaudy and profuse and had in it +inharmonious colors. He would then remove the unnecessary parts and +the discordant colors and point to the improved effect. He would next +stop at a table with nothing in the way of decoration except a few +scrawny flowers stuck carelessly into a vase. Picking up the meagre +display he would say, "The boy or girl who did this is guilty of +something far worse than bad taste, and that is laziness!" At the next +table he would have a word of praise for the simple and artistic +effect which they had produced with a centrepiece of wood mosses and +red berries. These comments would be interspersed with an occasional +admonition to this boy or that girl for a slovenly manner of eating, +or an inquiry of a newcomer as to where he had come from and whether +he thought he was going to be happy in his new surroundings. An +oft-repeated cause of merriment was his habit of stopping in the +middle of the hall, calling for attention, and then asking the +students if they were getting enough of various articles which he +would name, such as sweet potatoes, corn, and blackberries. Cutting +red tape was one of his special delights. Sometimes he would discover, +for instance, that certain vegetables were not being served because +the steward had objected to the price charged by the Farm Department. +He would immediately order these vegetables served and tell the +protesting steward that he could fight it out with the Farm Department +while the students were enjoying the vegetables. From the dining-room +he would finally disappear into the kitchens in his never-ceasing +campaign for cleanliness. Over and over again would he repeat to +students, teachers, and employees alike that the public would excuse +them for what they lacked in the way of buildings, equipment, and even +knowledge, but they would never be excused for shiftlessness, filth, +litter, or disorder. + +One of the opportunities which he most highly prized and one of his +most effective means of influencing the whole body of students was +through his Sunday evening talks in the Chapel. Over two thousand +students, teachers, teachers' families, and townspeople would crowd +into the Chapel to hear these talks. They were stenographically +reported and published in the school paper. In this way he influenced +not only the undergraduates, but a large number of graduates and +others who subscribed to the paper largely for the purpose of +following these talks. We here quote from a previously unpublished +(except in the school paper) collection of these talks, delivered +during the school term of 1913-14, under the title of "What Parents +Would Like to Hear Concerning Students While at School." The first +talk was called, "For Old and New Students." In it he said in part: "I +suspect that each one of your parents would like to know that you are +learning to read your Bible; not only to read it because you have to, +but to read it every day in the year because you have learned to love +the Bible; because you have learned day by day to make its teachings a +part of you.... Each one of you, in beginning your school year, should +have a Bible, and you should make that Bible a part of your school +life, a part of your very nature, and always, no matter how busy the +day may be, no matter how many mistakes, no matter how many failures +you make in other directions, do not fail to find a few minutes to +study or read your Bible. + +"The greatest people in the world, those who are most learned; those +who bear the burdens and responsibilities of the world, are persons +who are not ashamed to let the world know not only that they believe +in the Bible, but that they read it." + +And this was the advice of a man who never preached what he did not +practise and who only a few years before had been denounced by many of +the preachers of his own race as a Godless man, building up a Godless +school! + +A little further on he said: "In many cases you have come from homes +where there was no regular time for getting up in the morning, no +regular time for eating your meals, and no regular time for going to +bed. + +"Now the basis of civilization is system, order, regularity. A race or +an individual which has no fixed habits, no fixed place of abode, no +time for going to bed, for getting up in the morning, for going to +work; no arrangement, order, or system in all the ordinary business of +life, such a race and such an individual are lacking in self-control, +lacking in some of the fundamentals of civilization.... + +"If you take advantage of all these opportunities, if your minds are +so disposed that you can welcome and make the most of these +advantages, these habits of order and system will soon be so fixed, so +ingrained, so thoroughly a part of you that you will no longer +tolerate disorder anywhere, that you will not be willing to endure the +old slovenly habits which so many of you brought with you when you +came here." + +And later, in speaking of the haphazard, slipshod, irregular meal, he +said: "Instead of bringing the family together it has put them wider +apart. A house in which the family table is a mere lunch-counter is +not and cannot be a home." + +And just before concluding this talk he said: "Now what is true of +this school is true of the world at large. This is a little world of +itself. It is a small sample of civilization, an experiment station, +so to speak, in which we are trying to prepare you to live in a manner +a little more orderly, a little more efficient, and a little more +civilized than you have lived heretofore. If you are not able to live +and succeed here, you will not be able to live and succeed in the +world outside. If we do not want you here, if we cannot get on with +you here, it will mean that the world outside will not want you, will +not be able to get on with you." + +Probably no educator ever kept more constantly before his own mind and +before the minds of his students and teachers that the purpose of +education is preparation for right living than did Booker Washington. +Everything that did not make for this end he eliminated, regardless of +customs and traditions, everything which did make for this end he +included, equally regardless of customs and traditions. + +In a talk called, "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother," the second of +this series, he made this rather touching statement: "Many of your +parents are poor. Not only that, but many of them are ignorant, at +least, so far as books are concerned. Notwithstanding all this, in +every case they have done something for you. It may have been, in many +cases I know that it has been, a very little, but out of their poverty +and out of their ignorance they have done something. They have made it +possible, in the majority of cases, for you to come here, and no +matter how poor they are, no matter how ignorant they are, their +ambition is largely centred in you." + +This is one of the many statements which show that Booker Washington +had no illusions as to the ignorance and poverty of the rank and file +of his people, and yet with this full knowledge and realization he +never became discouraged. + +In another of these talks, on "The Importance of Simplicity," he said: +"In many cases young men in cities do not own anything in the world +except what they are carrying around on their backs. They have a few +collars and a few cuffs, some bright-colored socks and neckties, and +that is all; nothing would be left of the man if you were to bury +these things. A few collars and cuffs, neckties, and a few pieces of +cheap jewelry--that is all there is of such men." + +Later in the same talk he said: "Short, simple, direct sentences +indicate education, indicate culture, indicate common sense. Some +people think the way for them to show their education is by using big +words, elaborate sentences, and by discussing subjects which nobody on +earth can understand. + +"Whenever you hear a man using words or talking on a subject that you +can't understand, you can be very sure that the man does not +understand himself what he is trying to talk about. If a man is +talking about any subject, literary or what not, of which he is really +master, he will be so direct, so simple, so perfectly clear and +intelligible in the discussion of that subject that the most humble +person can understand what he is saying." + +In a talk on "Being Polite," he said: "It is often difficult, I might +better say, it is always difficult, for persons to have genuine +politeness in their hearts when they live in a country that is +inhabited by different races. Here in the South, and throughout this +country, for that matter, we come into contact with persons of another +race, persons of another color. It takes some effort, some training, +and often some determination to say, in dealing with a person of +another race, of another color, I will be polite; I will be kind; I +will be considerate." + +In a talk on "Being Economical," he said: "You will help yourself and +help this school if you will say to yourself constantly: 'This is my +home; this property does not belong exclusively to the Trustees, but +it is mine; I am a trustee, every student is a trustee of this +institution. How can I make every dollar go as far as possible? How +can I help cut down expenses here?'" And later on, "I want you to get +into the habit of saying: 'This institution belongs to me, belongs to +my race; every dollar that is spent here is spent for my benefit and +for the benefit of my race; every cent that is wasted here is my loss +and the loss of all the generations that come after me.'" + +In a talk on "The Use of Time," he said: "You hear people speaking +sometimes about 'killing time.' No civilized man should be allowed to +kill time any more than he should be allowed to destroy any of the +other natural resources. When you find a man engaged in 'killing time' +you will find a man who is disobeying one of the most fundamental laws +of civilization. A man who habitually devotes himself to 'killing +time' is a dangerous citizen and the law against vagrancy is aimed +against him." + +In a talk on "Being All Right, But," he said: "You frequently hear it +said of certain persons in one connection or another that 'they are +all right, except,' or 'they are all right, but.' You are thinking, +perhaps, of employing some one for this or that important service and +among others the question is asked: 'What kind of disposition has this +one or that one?' Very often you receive an answer something like +this: 'They are all right, but----' That 'but' carries with it a lot +of things. There are too many people in the world who are 'all right, +but.' We want to get rid of just as many of these 'buts' as we can." +And in concluding the same talk he said: "Think big thoughts, think +about big questions, read big books, and, most of all, get into +contact with the big people of your acquaintance and get out from +under the control of the little people of your acquaintance. If you +will do this, gradually you will find yourself better fitted for life; +you will find yourself happier and better fitted to render +service...." + +In a talk on "The Power of Persistence," he said: "Always keep your +eye on the student who seems to be dull, who is slow in his studies, +who has to repeat his class, but who keeps plodding along doggedly, +determinedly, until he has finished the course of study. + +"Keep your eye on that student after he has gone out into the world. +He has learned to endure, he has learned to stick to his job in season +and out of season...." + +In a talk on "Standing Still," he said: "People say of us that, as a +race, we are not capable of going very far, not capable of making +steady, persistent progress. We go a little way and there we stop, +stand still, and stagnate.... Now one of the things which this school +aims to do for you and through you is to change, as far as possible, +the reputation of our people in so far as they are regarded as +unprogressive, lacking in initiative and in ability to go forward +unwaveringly." + +The concluding talk of this series, and perhaps the strongest of them +all, was entitled, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." In it he said: "I believe +if you could get down into the deep, dark corners of your own hearts, +and if you could get deep down into the hearts of your parents, you +could find there, in both cases, a misgiving, a sense of danger, never +clearly expressed but always present, a fear that some time, +somewhere, trouble was in store for you and for them. + +"This is so far true, in some cases of which I know, that if parents +should some day learn that their children were in trouble they would +not be surprised, because they have expected it, looked forward to it, +and feared it; because they have known and suspected all along that +you had never thoroughly learned to control yourself when dealing with +other people's property...." + +Later on he added: "This disposition to pilfer was, to a large extent, +a part of the history of slavery. It was rare when colored people who +belonged to a white family where they served as cooks, butlers, or in +some other form of household service, did not feel that everything +belonging to the white family belonged equally to them. Thus, when +freedom came, it was difficult to get the colored cook to feel that +she was a mere employee, that in the wages she received by the week or +month she was being paid for her services for cooking. It was very +hard to get her away from the customs and practises of slavery, +especially when receiving very small wages. + +"In many cases boys and girls have seen or have known that their +mothers kept up this practice of pilfering from persons for whom they +cooked. They have seen it going on day after day and year after year +in their own homes and have observed that employers seem to expect it, +wink at it, at any rate, put up with it. While they know, as their +parents know, that it is wrong, they have nevertheless come to feel +that it is one of the ways in which black folk and white folk get on +together; one of the indirect ways, in other words, in which black +people have learned to recompense themselves for disadvantages which +they suffer in other directions." + +In conclusion he said: "Each one of you can do something toward +solving the race problem, for example, by making, each for himself, a +reputation for honesty in the community in which you live. If in the +part of the country where you now live members of our race have a +reputation for carelessness, looseness in regard to the ownership of +property, you can help to solve the race problem, and make life here +in the South more comfortable for every other member of the race if +you will win for yourself a reputation for downright honesty and +integrity in all your dealings with your neighbors, whether they be +white or black." + +Mr. Washington once said, "In all my teaching I have watched carefully +the influence of the toothbrush, and I am convinced that there are few +single agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching." He made +periodic tours of the students' rooms to find out what students if any +were without toothbrushes. The possession and use of a toothbrush is +one of the entrance requirements for Tuskegee. In this connection he +used to tell with a chuckle the reply of the girl who in answer to his +question as to whose toothbrush he found on the washstand said, "That +is ours," referring to her roommate and herself. + +In his tours of inspection of the students' rooms he would also +inquire how many nightgowns they owned. He insisted that every student +should have at least two nightgowns. He was constantly impressing upon +the students that decent, respectable people do not sleep in the +garments in which they work during the day. In fact, he preached the +gospel of the nightgown and the toothbrush as insistently as he did +the gospel of work and simplicity. + +He constantly insisted that the welfare of the students should be at +all times the dominant consideration in the conduct of the +institution. When the teachers would sometimes complain that their +welfare was not sufficiently considered he would remind them that the +Institute was being conducted for the benefit of the students and +that teachers were not required except for the benefit of the +students. That the students should be happy was almost a mania with +him. He was constantly sending for officers and teachers to inquire as +to whether the students seemed happy. + +[Illustration: The cosmopolitan character of the Tuskegee student body +is shown by the fact that during the past year students have come from +the foreign countries or colonies of foreign countries indicated by +the various flags shown in this picture.] + +To the delight of the students he would occasionally call a +mass-meeting where he would call upon them one by one to get up and +tell him of anything that was wrong, of anything that was keeping them +from being as happy as he wanted them to be. It was understood that +everything that a student said in such a meeting would be regarded as +a confidence and that nothing that he said would be used against him. +The teachers sometimes protested against the unbridled criticism which +Mr. Washington permitted in these meetings. He, however, continued +them without modification, and while many of the students' complaints +were grossly exaggerated their statements nevertheless led to reforms +in some important particulars. The meetings undoubtedly added greatly +to the contentment and happiness of the student body. + +He was always trying to protect the poorer students against the danger +of being embarrassed or humiliated by the more fortunate ones. In this +connection he was constantly resisting the importunities of students +and teachers who wanted to charge admission fees to this or that game +or entertainment. When the occasion really demanded and justified an +admission fee he would make secret arrangements with the management to +have the poorer students admitted at his personal expense. + +His willingness to hear the students' grievances was a characteristic +not always appreciated by the officers and teachers. He was a firm +believer in the right of petition either for a group or an individual. +No matter how pressed and driven he was with business no student or +group of students, and no teacher or group of teachers, was too humble +or obscure in the school's life to win a personal hearing. He would +without hesitation reopen and painstakingly review a case, already +decided by the Executive Council, if he thought there was the +slightest chance that an injustice had been done. He insisted upon +giving the accused not only "a square deal," but the benefit of every +doubt. On the other hand, when there was no reasonable doubt of guilt +no one could be more stern and unrelenting than he in meting out +justice. + +Mr. Washington always encouraged and helped every ambitious student +who came to Tuskegee to develop his capacities to the utmost no matter +whether they were large or small. Years ago a student, William Sidney +Pittman, showed a particular aptitude for carpentry and draftsmanship. +After working his way through Tuskegee he was very anxious to take a +course in architecture. Mr. Washington arranged to have the Institute +advance him the money for a three years' course at the Drexel +Institute of Philadelphia, on the understanding that he would return +to Tuskegee as a teacher after his graduation and from his earnings +pay back to the school all that had been advanced for his training at +Drexel. Pittman's record at Drexel was wholly satisfactory. He +returned to Tuskegee and repaid his loan in accordance with the +agreement. He has since won the competitive award for the design of +the Negro Building at the Jamestown Exposition, has built a large +number of public and semi-public buildings throughout the South, +including the Carnegie Library at Houston, Texas; a Pythian Temple at +Dallas, Texas, where he lives, for the Negro members of the Knights of +Pythias; the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Building at Tuskegee, and a +number of Young Men's Christian Association buildings for colored men. +In 1907 he married Mr. Washington's only daughter, Portia Marshall +Washington, after her graduation from Bradford Academy, Massachusetts. +He is now generally regarded as the foremost architect of his race. + +Somewhat later Mr. Washington succeeded in securing some scholarships +which enabled promising Tuskegee graduates to take two years of +post-graduate work in teaching methods at the Teachers' College of +Columbia University. These scholarships were given by John Crosby +Brown, V. Everett Macy, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In each case +these students were required to return to Tuskegee as teachers for two +years--the same time as their course at Columbia. Dean Russell of the +Teachers' College has testified to the earnestness and high character +of these Tuskegee graduates. + +As measured by the Tuskegee standard of success, which is service to +others, perhaps the most successful of all Tuskegee's graduates is +William H. Holtzclaw, the Principal of the Utica Normal and Industrial +Institute of Mississippi. There is no school that has better emulated +the best there is in Tuskegee Institute, and there is no graduate of +Tuskegee that has followed more faithfully and effectively in Booker +Washington's footsteps. Holtzclaw has told his own story in an +admirably written and most interesting book entitled, "The Black Man's +Burden." Starting in 1903 with a capital of seventy-five cents, no +land and no buildings in a little one-room, ramshackle log cabin, +which he did not own and in which he and his wife lived as well as +taught, Holtzclaw now has an annual enrollment of nearly five hundred +students and a faculty of thirty teachers. The school through its +varied forms of extension work influences yearly about thirty thousand +people. It owns seventeen hundred acres of land and conducts twenty +different industries aside from its academic work. The buildings and +property are valued at one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. It has +also its own electric light plant and water-works and an endowment of +over thirty-two thousand dollars. In concluding his book Mr. Holtzclaw +says: "I see more clearly than ever before the great task that is +before me, and I propose to continue the struggle. It is an appalling +task: a State with more than a million Negroes to be educated, with +half a million children of school age, 35 per cent. of whom at the +present time attend no school at all (only 36 per cent. in average +attendance), a State whose dual school system makes it impossible to +furnish more than a mere pittance for the education of each child--yet +these children must be educated, must be unfettered, set free. That +freedom for which Christian men and women, North and South, have +worked and prayed so long must be realized in the lives of these young +people. This, then, is my task, the war that I must wage; and I +propose to stay on the firing-line and fight the good fight of faith." + +Another Tuskegee graduate in whom Mr. Washington was especially +interested is Isaac Fisher. Fisher has been awarded the following +prizes for his writings: + +"What We've Learned About the Rum Question," $500; "German and +American Methods of Regulating Trusts," $400 (in order to write this +paper Mr. Fisher had to acquire a reading knowledge of German which he +did alone and unaided in a few months' time); "Ten of the Best Reasons +Why People Should Live in Missouri," $100; "A Plan to Give the South a +System of Highways Suited to Its Needs," $100; "The Most Practicable +Method of Beginning a Tariff Reduction," honorable mention. (Upon the +request of the chief examiner of the United States Tariff Board this +essay was sent to that body for its use.) Besides these, Mr. Fisher +has taken several minor prizes for compositions on various subjects. + +It would be difficult to say, however, whether Booker Washington +showed greater interest in the most brilliant or the most backward +students. Certain it is that the most backward students won his +special attention and encouragement. + +In the early days of the school there was a student by the name of +Jailous Perdue whom Mr. Washington constantly encouraged and in whom +he never lost faith in spite of his almost total failure to master his +classroom work. Monroe N. Work, the statistician of the Institute and +the editor of "The Negro Year Book," under the title "The Man Who +Failed," has thus told Perdue's story: + +"Back in the days when the cooking for students at Tuskegee was done +out of doors in pots and the principal entrance requirement was a +'desire to make something of himself' a young man, Jailous Perdue, +came to Tuskegee to get an education. He was financially poor and +intellectually dull. Examinations he could not pass. After struggling +along for several years and accumulating a lot of examination +failures, he decided to quit school, go out to work and help educate +his sisters. Although he had failed in his literary subjects, he had +nevertheless got an education in how to use his hands. He had learned +to be a carpenter. Out in the world he went and began to work at his +trade. As soon as he had earned a little money he placed three of his +sisters in school at Tuskegee, and with the help of his brother +Augustus, who had graduated some time before, supported two of them +there for three years and one for four years. + +"In the meantime he had succeeded at his trade and gone into business +for himself at Montgomery, Ala., as a contractor and builder. Here +also he was successful and did thousands of dollars' worth of work. No +job was too small nor too large for him to make a bid on. If he did +not have a contract of his own he was not above working for some other +contractor, and as a result he was always busy. He has superintended +the construction of some of the largest buildings in Montgomery. Among +the buildings the erection of which he has superintended are the +Exchange Hotel, at a cost of $150,000; the First Baptist Church, at a +cost of $175,000; the First National Bank Building, at a cost of +$350,000; and the Bell Building, at a cost of $450,000. Perdue also +assisted as foreman or assistant foreman in erecting many of the +important buildings at Tuskegee Institute, such as the Principal's +house, the chapel, the library, Rockefeller Hall, the Academic +Building, and the Millbank Agricultural Building. + +"It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Perdue has accumulated +property or that he owns a good home in Montgomery, for in these +progressive days every black man in the South with any foresight is +investing some part of his earnings in property. The most interesting +and somewhat remarkable thing about the career of Perdue and the +greatest measure of his success is that twenty-three years after he +had left Tuskegee a literary failure he was asked to come back and +become a member of the faculty as an instructor in carpentry. Thus it +was that the man who failed succeeded and returned to the scene of his +failure a success. Perdue was constantly encouraged by Mr. Washington. +He came under the type of those who were not brilliant, but who were +always in his opinion worthy of help and encouragement." + +Washington A. Tate was even duller in books than Perdue. During his +early years at Tuskegee he seemed unable to grasp the most +rudimentary information. His native dullness was made unpleasant and +aggressive by a combative disposition. He was constantly trying to +prove to his exasperated teachers that he knew what he did not know. +He was almost twenty-five years of age when he reached the Institute +and entered the lowest primary grade. He had the greatest difficulty +in passing any examinations and never succeeded in passing all that +were required. Motions were constantly made and passed in faculty +meetings to drop Tate, and were as constantly vetoed by Mr. Washington +on the plea of giving him one more chance. Finally when Tate's time to +graduate came the teachers in a body protested against giving him a +diploma. Mr. Washington argued that a man who had made all the +sacrifices Tate had made at his age to stay in school, a man who had +worked early and late in fair weather and foul for the school, a man +who had stuck to his task in the face of repeated failures and +discouragements, had in him something better than the mere ability to +pass examinations. Through Mr. Washington's intercession for him Tate +got his diploma. The next day Mr. Washington had him employed to take +charge of the school's piggery. Because of his hard, conscientious, +and effective work in this capacity he was afterward recommended to +the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington as the +proper man to take charge of the United States demonstration work in +Macon County, Ala. Tate proved to be one of the Government's most +successful demonstration agents. He is now farming successfully on +his own account in an adjoining county. + +Booker Washington, as previously pointed out, saw very much more +clearly than most educators that education's only purpose and sole +justification lies in preparation for right living. A man who has +passed all manner of examinations may not be prepared to live rightly +and hence may not justly claim to be educated. A man who has failed to +pass examinations may be prepared for right living and hence may +justly be called an educated man. In other words, Booker Washington +realized that education was primarily a matter of the development of +character and only secondarily a matter of the acquisition of +information. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +RAISING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS A YEAR + + +During recent years the expenses of Tuskegee Institute have run to +between $250,000 and $300,000 a year. Of this sum Booker Washington +had to raise over $100,000 annually aside from the large sums +constantly demanded for new equipment such as the great central +heating and power plant which was installed in 1915 at a cost of more +than $245,000. + +At the ceremonies commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the +founding of Tuskegee Institute President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard +was one of the speakers. He said that one of his "first impressions of +Tuskegee Institute," after just a glimpse, was "that the oldest and +now largest American Institution of learning was more than 200 years +arriving at the possession of much less land, fewer buildings, and a +smaller quick capital than Tuskegee had come to possess in twenty-five +years. That's just a fact," he said, "Harvard University was not as +rich after living two hundred years among the people of Massachusetts +as Tuskegee is to-day, after having lived twenty-five years among the +people of Alabama. And that's the first impression that I have +received here. + +[Illustration: In 1906, the Tuskegee Institute celebrated its 25th +anniversary. In the group above appear such well-known American +characters as Dr. William J. Schieffelin, New York; Dr. H.B. Frissell, +Hampton Institute, Va.; J.G. Phelps Stokes, philanthropist, New York; +Isaac N. Seligman, banker, New York; Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of the +_Outlook_; Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Secretary General Education Board; +William G. Willcox, now President of the New York Board of Education; +Robert C. Ogden, philanthropist, New York; Andrew Carnegie, and Miss +Clara Spence of the Spence School, with numbers of their friends.] + +"This evening I have received another impression from your Principal. +He said that the great need of Tuskegee, to-day, was a considerable +sum of money, which could be used at the discretion of the Trustees, +to fill gaps, to make improvements, and to enlarge and strengthen the +different branches of the institution. Now I should not find it +possible to state in more precise terms the present needs of Harvard +University. The needs of these two institutions, situated, to be sure, +in very different communities, and founded on very different dates, +are precisely the same." This comparison is the more striking when we +realize that President Eliot had at the time been at the head of +Harvard University for thirty years, five years longer than Tuskegee +had been in existence--President Eliot of whom it was said, "When he +goes to rich men they just throw up their hands and say, 'Don't shoot! +How much do you want?'" + +The magnitude of Booker Washington's financial task is indicated in +his last annual report which he made to his Trustees in 1915. He +reported: + +"As of May 31st, we have received from all sources for current +expenses $268,825.17; for buildings and improvements, $28,919.47; for +endowment, $28,102.09; from undesignated legacies, $53,858.10, making +the total receipts for the purposes named for the year $379,704.83. + +"The gifts to the Endowment Fund for the year amounting to $28,102.09 +now make the Fund stand at $1,970,214.17. + +"The budget recommended for your consideration for the new year calls +for an expenditure for current expenses, repairs, renewals, and +equipment of $291,567.92...." + +Later in the report he said: "Notwithstanding the depressed financial +condition of a large part of the country, I feel it would be a great +mistake for us in any degree to slacken our efforts to keep the school +before the public or to get funds. I believe, as Dr. H.B. Frissell, +Principal of the Hampton Institute, has often expressed it, that a +large part of the mission of both Hampton and Tuskegee is to keep the +cause of Negro education before the country, and that the benefits +coming from such efforts of publicity do not confine themselves alone +to Hampton and Tuskegee, but benefit all the schools in the South. +With this end in view, I very much hope that the Trustees may see +their way clear to encourage and help us as far as possible in holding +a number of large public meetings during the coming year." These were +brave words for a dying man. Five months later he died of sheer +exhaustion shortly after addressing one of these "large public +meetings." They also show the breadth of his conception of his task. +You will note that he points out that such publicity as he urges, +"benefits all the schools in the South"--not merely the schools for +Negroes, but "all the schools." It never occurred to him to limit his +sense of responsibility to his own school nor even to the schools for +his own race. As previously mentioned he would sometimes devote an +entire public address to an appeal for more and better schools for the +poor whites of the South. + +Booker Washington's money-raising efforts consumed two-thirds of his +time and perhaps even more of his strength and energy. He planned +these money-raising campaigns just as carefully as a good general +plans a military campaign. His last big money-raising campaign was +conducted during June, 1915. He and the Trustees of the Institute had +been engaged for two or three years in the effort to raise the money +to complete the cost of the central power and heating plant, but +nearly $100,000 of the $245,000 needed had not been raised. This +burden bore heavily upon him. At last, with the approval of the +Trustees, he decided to make one last herculean effort not only to +raise this huge sum, but in addition, the money necessary to end the +school year free of debt. For this purpose he formulated a plan of +campaign by which five representatives of the school should cover the +chief centres of population throughout the Northern and Middle Western +States. This was the outline of the territorial assignments of the +collectors: + +Frank P. Chisholm: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode +Island, Connecticut--important centre--Boston. + +Charles W. Wood: New York east of Syracuse, and Binghamton--important +centre--New York City. + +Jesse O. Thomas: New York west of Syracuse and Binghamton, +Pennsylvania--important centre--Philadelphia. + +John D. Stevenson: Illinois, Wisconsin--important centre--Chicago. + +Clarence A. Powell: Michigan, Ohio--important centres--Detroit and +Cleveland. + +Each representative carried letters of introduction to leading men and +women in the various centres throughout his territory. All these +letters were personally signed by Mr. Washington. At the close of each +day each collector telegraphed Mr. Washington at Tuskegee giving the +amount of subscriptions and pledges he had secured that day. The next +morning Mr. Washington wired each collector, stating the total amount +of gifts and pledges secured by all five collectors. When the Trustees +met in New York City, on the last Thursday of June, 1915, all but four +or five thousand dollars of the over $245,000 had been raised. + +The Trustees themselves made up the difference by increasing by this +amount their own subscriptions. Thus was successfully concluded the +last great and difficult task which Booker Washington was to be +permitted to perform. + +Of the hundreds of invitations to speak here, there, and everywhere +which kept pouring in upon him certain ones he definitely accepted +because of the money-raising opportunities either direct or indirect +which they offered; others of less promise he tentatively accepted to +fall back upon in case the more desirable ones for any reason +miscarried. Chautauqua engagements he considered only where they +provided an opportunity for direct appeal for contributions for the +work, or at least the chance to distribute printed matter. Chautauqua +bureaus offering him as much as half the gate receipts above $500 in +addition to a guarantee of $300 a night he turned down out of hand if +they did not include one or both of these opportunities. No matter how +much money they offered he would never accept such propositions unless +they carried with them some opportunity to make a direct appeal for +his work. It was sometimes suggested to him that he might receive +these fees personally and then turn them over to the school. This he +declined to do because he was unwilling to give even the appearance of +capitalizing his reputation and oratorical gifts for his personal +enrichment. Booker Washington was not one of those simple-hearted +individuals who are guided solely by what they deem inherently right. +He always strove to avoid the appearance of evil as well as the evil +itself; and, with one unhappy exception, he always succeeded. He fully +realized that his conduct was under constant scrutiny by enemies in +both races eager to find some pretext to drag him down. So circumspect +was he in his behavior that once only between the time he became a +national character in 1895 until his death twenty years later did his +critics succeed in distorting any deed of his into the semblance of +misconduct. The very nature of the charge in this one instance was +sufficient refutation for any person acquainted in even the slightest +degree with the man's life, work, or character. + +The press as well as the platform he constantly used to keep his work +before the public for money-raising purposes. He had as good a "nose +for a story" as the best of reporters, and every story that came his +way was sure to find its way into print. No matter how driven with +pressing matters nor how tired he never denied himself to "the +newspaper boys." He believed that the more prominence, the more +"limelight," he could secure the better, provided he used it for the +promotion of his work. Thus he presented the apparent anomaly of being +at the same time one of the most modest and unassuming of men and also +one of the greatest advertisers of his day. + +As well as the general press of both races he constantly used the +school press for money-raising purposes. The school paper which +circulates among donors and prospective donors as well as among the +students, teachers, and graduates carries in each issue brief +statements of some immediate and pressing needs and the money required +to satisfy them. These needs are set forth in the following manner: + + "WHAT $1,700 WILL DO" + + "For a long while an important part of our extension work + and publicity work has been greatly hindered and hampered + because of the lack of a new and up-to-date printing press. + + "One thousand and seven hundred dollars will supply us with + this long-felt need and greatly add to the value and + influence of our work." + + "WHAT $3,000 WILL DO" + + "One of our very greatest and most practical needs is a well + but simply equipped Canning Factory. Three thousand dollars + would help us to properly equip the Canning Factory we + already have at Tuskegee. The factory will help not only in + preserving large quantities of vegetables, fruits, berries, + etc., during the summer, but at the same time could be used + as a means of teaching large numbers of our girls a useful + industry, and, more than that, the products could be used to + sustain the institution during the winter months. + + "We could not only use everything that might be put up in + cans here at the school in feeding the students and + teachers, but there is an increasing demand among the + merchants of the South, in the large cities, for anything we + can produce on the school grounds. + + "We very much wish that some friend might see his way clear + to give $3,000 with which to properly equip this factory." + +The need for a new laundry building with equipment, a foundry, and a +veterinary hospital were similarly presented. The funds to meet each +of these needs were received as a result of these appeals, and a new +list of needs is now being advertised. + +In concluding his annual report each year Mr. Washington would +summarize the immediate needs of the institution. In his last report +he thus stated them: + + 1. $50 a year for annual scholarships for tuition for one + student, the student himself providing for his own board and + other personal expenses in labor and cash. + + 2. $1,200 for permanent scholarships. + + 3. Money for operating expenses in any amounts, however + small. + + 4. $2,000 each for four teachers' cottages. + + 5. $40,000 for a building for religious purposes. + + 6. $16,000 to complete the Boys' Trades Building. + + 7. $50,000 for a Boys' Dormitory. + + 8. $50,000 for a Girls' Dormitory. + + 9. An addition to our Endowment Fund of at least $3,000,000. + +A few months later, as he lay dying in a New York hospital, the +following letter was received for him at Tuskegee. It was at once +forwarded and passed him on his last journey to his home in the South. +He never saw it. The donor, a Northern friend who withholds his name, +has renewed the offer to the Trustees and they have accepted it. + + _November 8, 1915._ + + _Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama._ + + DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: I have read your annual report and also + your treasurer's report, and make you the following + proposition: If you will raise enough money to pay all of + your debts up to May 1, 1916, and add two hundred and fifty + thousand dollars to your endowment fund, I will give you the + sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your + building fund, to be used in building the items such as Nos. + 4, 6, 7, 8, and the "Barnes, etc.," mentioned under the head + of "Special Needs," and for objects of similar character. + The above does not include item No. 5, "Building for + religious purposes," as I am not interested in that sort of + work. I shall be glad to know whether this proposition + interests you. + + Yours very truly, + + ---- ----. + +The interest of this giver was first _aroused_ by his reading "Up from +Slavery" when it appeared in book form in 1901. As soon as he had read +the book he sent Dr. Washington a check for $10,000 for his work +which he has renewed each year since until he made the above offer. +"Up from Slavery" has brought more money to Tuskegee than all the +other books, articles, speeches, and circulars written by Mr. +Washington himself and the many others who have written or spoken +about him and his work. Among its larger immediate results, aside from +awakening the interest of the anonymous giver already mentioned, was +its similar effect upon the late H.H. Rogers, Vice-President and +active head at the time of the Standard Oil Company, and upon Andrew +Carnegie. Mr. Rogers became so much interested that he not only gave +large sums for the general needs of Tuskegee but eventually financed a +large part of the rural school extension work, which has been +described in earlier chapters, and which is now so important a part of +the school's activities. Under Booker Washington's inspiration and +guidance, too, Mr. Rogers later combined railroad building with race +building. In building his Virginia railroad he undertook a +wide-reaching work in agricultural education among the Negro farmers +living within carting distance of his road. Booker Washington had +demonstrated to his satisfaction that by increasing at the same time +their wants and their ability to gratify their wants he would be +building up business for his railroad. + +Shortly after the publication in 1901 of "Up from Slavery," Frank N. +Doubleday, of Doubleday, Page & Co., the publishers of the book, in +playing golf with Mr. Carnegie mentioned Booker Washington and told +him something of his life. Mr. Carnegie was interested and wanted to +know more. Mr. Doubleday gave him a copy of "Up from Slavery." After +reading the book he immediately got into communication with the +author, told him of his interest in his life and work, and of his +desire to help him. The result was that Mr. Carnegie agreed to pay for +the construction and equipment of a library to be built by the +students. Booker Washington, his Executive Council, and the school's +architect, spent hours and hours of time in scrutinizing every detail +to bring the cost down to the smallest possible figure consistent with +an adequate result. The final cost to Mr. Carnegie was only $15,000. +Mr. Carnegie was amazed that so large, convenient, and dignified a +building could be built at so small a cost. Over and over again both +to Mr. Washington and to friends of the school he expressed his +surprise and pleasure at the result obtained by this relatively small +expenditure. After that there was no doubt he would do more for the +school. It was simply a question of how much more and what form it +would take. In 1903 the following letter was received by the late +William H. Baldwin, Jr., in his capacity as president of the Tuskegee +Board of Trustees. + + _Andrew Carnegie_ + _2 East 91st Street, New York_ + + _New York, April 17, 1903._ + + MY DEAR MR. BALDWIN: I have instructed Mr. Franks, + Secretary, to deliver to you as Trustee of Tuskegee + $600,000 of 5 per cent. U.S. Steel Company bonds to complete + the Endowment Fund as per circular. + + One condition only--the revenue of one hundred and fifty + thousand of these bonds is to be subject to Booker + Washington's order to be used by him first for his wants and + those of his family during his life or the life of his + widow--if any surplus is left he can use it for Tuskegee. I + wish that great and good man to be free from pecuniary cares + that he may devote himself wholly to his great Mission. + + To me he seems one of the foremost of living men because his + work is unique. The Modern Moses, who leads his race and + lifts it through Education to even better and higher things + than a land overflowing with milk and honey--History is to + know two Washingtons, one white, the other black, both + Fathers of their people. I am satisfied that the serious + race question of the South is to be solved wisely only by + following Booker Washington's policy which he seems to have + been specially born--a slave among slaves--to establish, and + even in his own day, greatly to advance. + + So glad to be able to assist this good work in which you and + others are engaged. + + Yours truly, + + (Signed) ANDREW CARNEGIE. + + _To Mr. Wm. H. Baldwin, Jr., New York City, N.Y._ + +This great gift delighted Booker Washington not only for what it meant +directly to his work, but because it so strikingly illustrated a truth +which he had long and insistently impressed upon his staff and his +students: namely, that if every dollar contributed were made to do +the work of two, more dollars would be forthcoming from the same +source. + +The two events upon which Booker Washington's popular fame chiefly +rests are his speech before the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, +Ga., in 1895, and the publication of "Up from Slavery" five years +later. Since "Up from Slavery" played so great a part in aiding its +author to secure funds for his work it seems appropriate to give here +some account of how it came to be written, how it was written, and how +it was received. + +In the year 1900 the editors of the _Outlook_ decided to illustrate in +the concrete the opportunities of America by getting some of the +Americans of greatest achievement to tell how they had risen by their +own efforts from the very depths of untoward circumstances. For this +purpose they selected Jacob A. Riis and Booker T. Washington. After +much hesitancy on his part and urgency on theirs Booker Washington +finally agreed to write the story of his life for serial publication +in the _Outlook_. His hesitancy was due merely to the fact that he +could not believe that the events of his life would be of any interest +to the public. So convinced was he in this belief that he had the +greatest difficulty in starting to write even after he had agreed to +do so. Finally, after a particularly urgent letter from the editors, +he stole some hours from his absorbing and exacting duties at Tuskegee +to write the first chapter. After these efforts had been typewritten +by his stenographer they produced only three and one-half pages--an +amount of copy discouragingly inadequate for the first installment. +He mailed the material, however, with a line of apology for its +inadequacy and promising to send more the next day. On receipt of this +scant initial copy the editors wrote him a letter of congratulation +and approval which greatly encouraged him, in spite of his heavy and +unrelenting administrative duties, to push ahead with new courage. +Notwithstanding, however, the best intentions on the part of the +writer and the most patiently insistent reminders on the part of the +editors there were many and wide gaps in the supposedly consecutive +series of chapters before the story was finally finished. Much of the +story he dragged from his tired brain, and jotted down on odds and +ends of paper on trains, while waiting in railway stations, in hotels, +and in ten and fifteen minute intervals snatched from overburdened +days in his office. The fact that it was a physical impossibility to +give adequate time and attention to so important a piece of work +distressed him and made him feel even more apologetic about the +product. + +The enthusiastic reception of his story by the editors and later by +the public was accordingly particularly surprising and gratifying to +him. After its serial publication he was soon almost overwhelmed with +congratulatory letters and laudatory reviews. Julian Ralph in the New +York _Mail_ and _Express_ wrote in part: + +"It does not matter if the reader feels a prejudice against the Negro, +or if he be a Negrophile, or if he has never cared one way or the +other whether the Negro does or does not exist. Whatever be his +feelings, 'Up from Slavery' is as remarkable as the most important +book ever written by an American. That book is 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' +Booker Washington's story is its echo and its antithesis. 'Uncle Tom's +Cabin' was the wail of a fettered, hope-forsaken race. 'Up from +Slavery' is the triumphant cry of the same race, led by its Moses upon +a trail which leads to an intelligent use of the freedom that came to +it as an almost direct result of Mrs. Stowe's revolutionary novel. 'Up +from Slavery' and 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' are inseparably linked in the +history of our relations with our dark-skinned fellow-citizen. One +book begins precisely where the other left off." + +William Dean Howells in the _North American Review_ said of it: "... +What strikes you first and last is his constant common sense. He has +lived heroic poetry, and he can, therefore, afford to talk simple +prose.... The mild might of his adroit, his subtle statesmanship (in +the highest sense it is not less than statesmanship, and involves a +more Philippine problem in our midst), is the only agency to which it +can yield...." + +Among the congratulatory letters came one from Athens, Greece, signed +"Bob Burdette, Mrs. Burdette, and the children" which greatly amused +and delighted Mr. Washington. It reads, paraphrasing the passage in +the book where he tells of the insistent stranger who unerringly seeks +him out when he tries to get a little quiet and rest on a train, "'Is +not this Booker T. Washington? We wish to introduce ourselves.' You +see, you can't escape it. We read that sentence, and shouted with +delight over it, in Damascus. I was going to write--'far-away +Damascus'--but no place is far away now. Damascus is very near to +Tuskegee, in fact, only six or seven thousand years older, and not +more than fifty thousand years behind. It must have had a good start, +too, for Abraham went there or sent there to get that wise and tactful +'steward of his house,' Eliezir. But Damascus has always remained in +the same place, whereas Tuskegee has been marching on by leaps and +bounds. But you are a busy man--we have heard that, even in this land. +And I can see you reading this letter five lines at a time. No use +sitting next the window, piling your hand-baggage up in the seat, and +pulling your hat over your eyes, is there? No, for we come along just +the same, sit on the arm of the seat, touch your elbow, and--'Is not +this Booker T. Washington?' We have been travelling for a year. The +_Outlook_ has followed us week by week. And week by week we have +reached out to clasp your hand, and have knelt to thank God for the +story of your life--for its inspiration, its hopefulness, its trust, +its fidelity to duty and purpose. Such a wonderful story, told in the +elegance of simplicity that only a great heart can feel and write. We +paused again and again to say 'God bless him.' And now we send you our +hand clasp and message--'God bless him and all of his.' There, now! +You may pile up your baggage a little higher--pull your hat down over +your eyes a little farther--and pretend to sleep a little harder. We +will leave you. But not in peace. More likely in pieces. For I see +other people, crowding in from the other car, with their glittering +eyes gimleted upon you." + +Barret Wendell, Professor of English at Harvard University, wrote him: +"Will you allow me to express the pleasure which your book, 'Up from +Slavery,' has given me? For about twenty years a teacher of English, +and mostly of English composition, I have become perhaps a judge as to +matters of style. Certainly I have grown less and less patient of all +writing which is not simple and efficient; and more and more to +believe in a style which does its work with a simple, manly +distinctness. It is hard to remember when a book, casually taken up, +has proved, in this respect, so satisfactory as yours. No style could +be more simple, more unobtrusive; yet few styles which I know seem, to +me more laden--as distinguished from overburdened--with meaning. On +almost any of your pages you say as much again as most men would say +in the space; yet you say it so simply and easily that one has no +effort in reading. One is simply surprised at the quiet power which +can so make words do their work." + +Thus was received the simple narrative of his life up to this time as +hastily written down in odd moments snatched from his already +overcrowded days. In this country alone more than 110,000 copies of +the book have since been sold. It has been translated into French, +Spanish, German, Hindustani, and Braille. + +Booker Washington's philosophy as to money raising after a generation +of constant and successful experience was summed up in this statement +which he made in "Up from Slavery": "My experience in getting money +for Tuskegee has taught me to have no patience with those people who +are always condemning the rich because they are rich, because they do +not give more to objects of charity. In the first place, those who are +guilty of such sweeping criticisms do not know how many people would +be made poor, and how much suffering would result, if wealthy people +were to part all at once with any large proportion of their wealth in +a way to disorganize and cripple great business enterprises. Then very +few people have any idea of the large number of applications for help +that rich people are constantly being flooded with. I know wealthy +people who receive as many as twenty calls a day for help. More than +once, when I have gone into offices of rich men, I have found half a +dozen persons waiting to see them, and all come for the same purpose, +that of securing money. And all these calls in person, to say nothing +of the applications received through the mails. Very few people have +any idea of the amount of money given away by persons who never permit +their names to be known. I have often heard persons condemned for not +giving away money, who, to my own knowledge, were giving away +thousands of dollars every year so quietly that the world knew nothing +about it.... Although it has been my privilege to be the medium +through which a good many hundred thousand dollars have been received +for the work at Tuskegee, I have always avoided what the world calls +'begging.' My experience and observation have convinced me that +persistent asking outright for money from the rich does not, as a +rule, secure help. I have usually proceeded on the principle that +persons who possess sense enough to earn money have sense enough to +know how to give it away, and that the mere making known of the facts +regarding the work of the graduates has been more effective than +outright begging. I think that the presentation of facts, on a high, +dignified plane, is all the begging that most rich people care for." + +Although this favorable estimate of the money-giving rich was based +upon many years of successful experience it must not be supposed that +Booker Washington did not have his share of rebuffs and +discouragements. In fact, scarcely a day went by that he did not +receive some such disheartening rebuff as the following note from a +man who had for several years contributed a small sum each year to +Tuskegee Institute: + + ----, _May 10, 1913._ + + _Mr. Warren Logan, Treasurer, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, + Ala._ + + DEAR SIR: I enclose my check for ten dollars in reply to + President Washington's appeal of the 6th inst. + + I do not understand why such an appeal should be necessary + after the large gifts by Mr. Kennedy and others. The Indians + have received much less than the Negroes in money and care, + yet they beg less, and are more ready to imitate the whites + in being self-reliant. All over the North I find the Negroes + despised by the whites for their laziness and disposition to + be dependent. + + Very truly, + + ---- ----. + +Mr. Washington's patient, circumstantial, and constructively +informative reply is characteristic of his method of rejoinder. It +also illustrates his habit of placing his reliance on facts and not on +adjectives, and of so marshalling his facts that they fought his +battles for him. He replied thus: + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _May 26, 1913._ + + MY DEAR SIR: Our Treasurer has shown me your letter of May + 10th, in which you inquire as to why it should be necessary + for Tuskegee to appeal to the public for additional funds, + also stating that the Indians receive much less than Negroes + in money and care. + + Under the circumstances, I thought you would not object to + my making the following report to you, covering the + inquiries suggested in your letter. + + The Indians from a financial standpoint are better off than + any other race or class of people in this country. The + 265,863 Indians in the United States own 72,535,862 acres of + land, which is 273 acres for each Indian man, woman, and + child. If all the land in the country were apportioned among + the inhabitants there would be 20 acres per person. The + value of property and funds belonging to Indians is + $678,564,253, or $2,554 per capita, or about $10,000 per + family. The Negroes, but lately emancipated, are by contrast + poor and are struggling to rise. + + The Indians are carefully looked after by the United States + Government. In addition to the elaborately organized Indian + Bureau at Washington, there are six thousand (6,000) persons + in the Indian field service, to especially look after and + supervise them. There is one director, supervisor, or + teacher for each 44 Indians. + + Some of the things that the Government does for the Indians + are: + + (1) Look after the health of the Indians; for this purpose + there are in the field one Medical Supervisor, 100 regular + and 60 contract physicians, 54 nurses, and 88 field matrons. + + (2) Supervise their farming and stock raising. For the + 24,489 Indians engaged in farming there are two general + supervisors, 48 expert farmers, that is, men with experience + and scientific knowledge, and 210 men in subordinate farming + positions. + + Over $7,000,000 have been spent in irrigating lands for + Indians. Congress in 1911 appropriated $1,300,000 for this + purpose. For the 890,000 Negro farmers in the South, the + United States Government maintains 34 Agricultural + Demonstration Agents. + + For the supervision of the 44,985 Indians engaged in stock + raising, the Government maintains 22 superintendents of live + stock. For the 700,000 Negro farmers engaged in live stock + raising there is only one Government expert working + especially among them. + + (3) A system of schools is maintained by the Government for + Indian children. For this purpose there are 223 day schools, + 79 reservation boarding schools, and 35 boarding schools + away from reservations. In these schools in 1911 there were + 24,500 pupils. For the support of these schools the United + States Government for 1912 appropriated $3,757,495. To + assist in teaching the 1,700,000 Negro children in the South + there was received in 1911 from the United States Government + $245,518. + + In general the Indians are not taxed for any purpose. On the + other hand, the Negroes are taxed the same as other persons + and in this way contribute a considerable amount for their + own education and the education of the whites. In this + connection, I call your attention to the enclosed pamphlet + "Public Taxation and Negro Schools." + + I enclose herewith copy of my Last Annual Report, giving + information as to the various activities of the Institution. + + Yours very truly, + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + +On October 25, 1915, a few weeks before he died, Mr. Washington +delivered an address before the delegates to the National Council of +Congregational Churches, in New Haven, Conn., in which he well +illustrated his belief already quoted, "that a large part of the +mission of both Hampton and Tuskegee is to keep the cause of Negro +education before the country." He said in part: + +"There is sometimes much talk about the inferiority of the Negro. In +practice, however, the idea appears to be that he is a sort of +super-man. He is expected with about one-fifth or one-tenth of what +the whites receive for their education to make as much progress as +they are making. Taking the Southern States as a whole, about $10.23 +per capita is spent in educating the average white boy or girl, and +the sum of $2.82 per capita in educating the average black child. + +"In order to furnish the Negro with educational facilities so that the +2,000,000 children of school age now out of school and the 1,000,000 +who are unable to read or write can have the proper chance in life _it +will be necessary to increase the $9,000,000 now being expended +annually for Negro public school education in the South_ to about +$25,000,000 or $30,000,000 annually." + +And in conclusion he said: "At the present rate, it is taking not a +few days or a few years, but a century or more to get Negro education +on a plane at all similar to that on which the education of the whites +now is. To bring Negro education up where it ought to be will take the +combined and increased efforts of all the agencies now engaged in this +work. The North, the South, the religious associations, the +educational boards, white people and black people, all will have to +coöperate in a great effort for this common end." + +These were the last words he ever spoke at a great public meeting. +They show his acute realization of the immensity of the task to which +he literally gave his life, and his dread lest what had been +accomplished be over-estimated with a consequent slackening of effort. + +A very cordial friendship existed between Mr. Washington and his +Trustees. Every man among them was his selection and joined the Board +on his invitation. In the year 1912 they manifested their friendship +and interest in the most practical of ways by volunteering to raise a +guarantee fund of $50,000 a year for five years to help bridge the +ever-widening gap between the income of the school and its unavoidably +mounting expenses. To do this, aside from contributing handsomely +themselves, almost all went out and "begged" of their friends. Mr. +Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, for instance, after making his own +liberal personal contribution, and soliciting funds among his Chicago +friends, left his great and absorbing interests at a busy time of the +year to go to New York and devote a week's time to "begging" money for +Tuskegee among his friends and acquaintances, Messrs. Low, Willcox, +Trumbull, Mason, and others also personally solicited funds. Many men +have gotten millionaires to give large sums of money, but how many men +have ever gotten millionaires both to give large sums and personally +to solicit large sums for a purely unselfish purpose? + +In his final report Booker Washington said of this guarantee fund: "It +is not possible to describe in words what a relief and help this +$50,000 guarantee fund has proven during the four years it has been in +existence.... We shall have to begin now to consider some method of +replacing these donations. The relief which has come to us because of +this guarantee fund has been marked and far reaching." + +The same qualities which enabled Booker Washington to get close to the +plain people helped him to win the confidence of the great givers. +Through his money-raising efforts he constantly added to his great +stock of knowledge of human nature. Also the same qualities of heart +and mind which enabled him to rise superior to the obstacles of race +prejudice helped him to bear without discouragement or bitterness the +many rebuffs of the money raiser. One cannot help speculating, +however, on the loss to Tuskegee, to the Negro race, and to the +general welfare, entailed by the necessity of his devoting two-thirds +of his time, strength, and resourcefulness merely to the raising of +money. + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +MANAGING A GREAT INSTITUTION + + +Booker Washington's chief characteristic as an administrator was his +faculty for attention to minute details without losing sight of his +large purposes and ultimate ends. His grasp of every detail seems more +remarkable when one realizes the dimensions of his administrative +task. Besides leading his race in America, and to some extent +throughout the world, and raising between one hundred thousand and two +hundred thousand dollars each year, he administered an institution +whose property and endowment are valued at almost four million +dollars. Although the original property of the school was only a +hundred acres of land with three small buildings, it now owns +twenty-four hundred acres, with one hundred and eleven buildings, +large and small, in its immediate vicinity. In addition to these +twenty-four hundred acres of land the school now owns also about +twenty thousand acres, being the unsold balance of a grant of +twenty-five thousand acres of mineral land, made by the Federal +Government as an endowment to the Institute in 1899. + +The organization of the Institute ramifies throughout the entire +county in which it is located. It has a resident student population +of between fifteen hundred and two thousand boys and girls, with a +teaching force of about two hundred men and women. It enrolls in its +courses throughout the year from thirty-five hundred to four thousand +persons. The receipts of its post office exceed those of the entire +postal service of the Negro Republic of Liberia in Africa. In a given +year the revenues of Liberia were $301,238 and the expenditures +$314,000. In the same year the receipts from all sources of Tuskegee +Institute were $321,864.87 and its expenditures $341,141.58. + +Booker Washington so organized this great institution that it ran +smoothly and without apparent loss of momentum for the nine months out +of the twelve, during the greater part of which he was obliged to be +absent raising the funds with which to keep it going. The Institute is +in continuous session throughout the twelve months of the year. During +the summer months a summer school for teachers is conducted in place +of the academic department. For the purposes of this summer school all +or most of the trades and industries are kept in operation. + +The school is organized on this basis. There is, first, a Board of +Trustees which holds the property in trust and advises the principal +as to general policies, etc., and aids him in the raising of funds; +second, the principal, who has sole charge of all administrative +matters; third, an executive council, composed of the heads of +departments, with the principal as its chairman. The following +officers serve as members of this executive council: Principal, +treasurer, secretary, general superintendent of industries, director +mechanical industries, director department of research and Experiment +Station, commandant, business agent, chief accountant, director +agricultural department, registrar, medical director, dean women's +department, director women's industries, chaplain, director extension +department, superintendent buildings and grounds, dean Phelps Hall +Bible Training School, director academic department. + +The position of general superintendent of industries is held by John +H. Washington, brother of Booker T. Washington. Mrs. Booker T. +Washington fills the position of director women's industries. + +After this executive council comes the faculty made up of the leading +teachers who have charge of the instruction in the various divisions +of the agricultural, industrial, and academic departments. This +faculty Mr. Washington in turn subdivided into a series of standing +and special committees having particular charge of certain phases of +the work such as repairs, cleanliness, etc. The committee on +cleanliness would, for instance, be expected to see that the boarding +department was insisting upon the proper use of knives and forks and +napkins--was serving the food hot and in proper dishes, and that the +kitchens were at all times ready for inspection and models of +cleanliness. + +[Illustration: Some of Mr. Washington's humble friends. (_See page +136_)] + +[Illustration: Soil analysis. The students are required to work out in +the laboratory the problems of the field and the shop.] + +In the same way he constantly appointed committees to go into the +academic classes and see that they were correlating their work with +the trade work. The tendency to backslide is especially strong in an +institution which, like Tuskegee, is working out original problems. +It is fatally easy for the teachers in both academic and industrial +classes to slip away from the correlative method, for which the +institution stands, back to the traditional routine. The correlative +method requires constant thought. As Mr. Washington well knew, the +average person only thinks under constant prodding. Hence, the +committees to do the prodding! It is so much easier to take one's +problems from the textbooks than to dig them up in the shops or on the +farm as to be practically irresistible unless one is being watched. +Then, in the shops it requires a constant effort to work the theory in +with the practice. If the instructors in the trades tended to become +mere unthinking mechanics a vigilant committee was at hand to keep +them true to their better lights. And if the committees themselves +ever became slack, the all-seeing eye of the principal soon detected +it and they in turn were "jacked up." Mr. Washington himself had a way +of leisurely strolling about day or night into shop, classroom, or +laboratory with a stenographer at his elbow. If he thus came upon a +recitation in which no illustrative material was used, that teacher +would receive within the next few hours a note such as this: + + _December 8, 1914._ + + MR. ----: After a visit to your class yesterday, I want to + make this suggestion--that you get into close contact with + some of the teachers here like Mrs. Jones of the Children's + House, and Mrs. Ferguson, Head of the Division of Education, + and Mr. Whiting of the Division of Mathematics, who + understand our methods of teaching and try to learn our + methods. + + Your work yesterday was very far from satisfactory, _not + based upon a single human experience or human activity_. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +Three days before he had sent the following note to the head of the +academic department: + + _Mr. Lee, Director of the Academic Department:_ + + I was very glad to see the wideawake class conducted by Mr. + Smith this morning. His methods are certainly good. + + On asking questions of the individual members of the class, + I found that about half of the class did not know just what + was to be found out from the measurements. If Mr. Smith will + go to the new Laundry Building, in case he has not done so, + he will find an opportunity to teach the same lessons in + connection with a real building. I hope you will make this + suggestion to him. Nothing takes the place of reality + wherever we can get something real. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +Previous to this he had written Mr. Lee the following letter relative +to the general problem of the teaching efficiency in his department: + + _November 24, 1914._ + + _Mr. Lee, Director Academic Department:_ + + When you return, I want to urge that you give careful but + serious attention to the following suggestions: + + First, I am convinced that we must arrange to give more + systematic and constant attention to the individual teachers + in your department in the way of seeing that they follow + your wishes and policy regarding the dovetailing of the + academic work into the industrial work. + + I am quite convinced that the matter is taken up in rather a + spasmodic way; that is, so long as you are on hand and can + give the matter personal attention, it is followed, but when + you cease to give personal attention to it or are away, + matters go back to the old rut, or nearly so. + + In some way we must all get together and help you to + organize your department so that this will not be true. + + There are two elements of weakness in the academic work: + First, I very much fear that we take into it every year too + many green teachers, who know nothing about your methods. + This pulls the whole tone of the academic work down before + you can train them into your methods. I am quite sure that + though you might not get teachers who have had so much book + training, that it would be worth your considering to employ + a larger number of Hampton graduates or Tuskegee graduates, + who have had in a measure the methods which you believe in + instilled into them. + + In my opinion, the time has come when you must consider + seriously the getting rid of, or shifting, some of your + older teachers. You have teachers in your department who + have been here a good many years, and experience proves that + they do not adapt themselves readily and systematically to + your methods. I think it would be far better for the school + to find employment for them outside of the Academic + Department, or to let them take some clerical work in your + department, than for them to occupy positions of importance + and influence, which they are not filling satisfactorily and + where they have an influence in hurting the character of the + whole teaching. + + All these matters I hope you will consider very carefully. + I am sure that the time has come when definite and serious + action is needed. + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +First and last on these apparently aimless strolls with a stenographer +he visited not only the classrooms and shops but every corner of the +great institution. He would return to his office with a notebook full +of memoranda of matters to be followed up or changed, and of people to +be commended or censured for their efficient or inefficient handling +of this, that, or the other piece of work. Once after writing a series +of letters calling attention to ragged tablecloths, unclean napkins, +and uncleanliness in other forms in kitchens, bakery, and dining-rooms +without the desired result, he personally took charge of the +situation, organized a squad of workers, put things in proper +condition, and then insisted that they be kept in such condition. + +His passion to utilize every fraction of time to its maximum advantage +led him even to smuggle a stenographer into the formal annual +exercises of the Bible Training School so that he might during the +exercises clandestinely dictate notes for the head of the Bible school +as to those features in which the program was weak, failed "to get +across," did not hold the interest of the people, seemed to be over +their heads, or whatever might be his diagnosis of the difficulty. He +was not interested in the program for and of itself, but was keenly +interested in its effect upon the people. If it interested and helped +them, it was a good program; if it did not, it was a poor program and +no amount of learning or technical perfection could redeem it. He +sometimes reduced his more scholarly teachers to the verge of despair +by his insistence that there should be nothing on the program at any +exercise to which the public was invited which the every-day man and +woman could not understand and appreciate. + +In opening the chapter we mentioned Booker Washington's faculty for +giving attention to apparently trivial details without losing sight of +his large policies and purposes. This was part of his habit of taking +nothing for granted. He never assumed that people would do or had done +what they should do or should have done any more than he assumed they +would not or had not done what they should. He neither trusted nor +distrusted them. He kept himself constantly informed. Every person +employed by the institution from the most important department heads +down to the men who removed ashes and garbage were under the +stimulating apprehension that his eye might be upon them at any +moment. He harassed his subordinates by continually asking them if +this or that matter had been attended to. He would sometimes ask three +different people to do the same thing. This resulted in wasted effort +on somebody's part, but it always accomplished the result, which was +all that interested him. He took nothing for granted himself and he +insisted that his subordinates take nothing for granted. He was a task +master and a "driver" but he taxed himself more heavily and drove +himself harder than he did any one else. Like other strong men, he had +the weaknesses of his strength, and probably his most serious +weakness was driving himself and his subordinates beyond his and their +strength. + +His eye was daily upon every part of the great machine which he had +built up through an exhaustive system of daily reports. These reports +were placed on his desk each morning when at the Institute and mailed +to him each morning when away. They showed him the number of students +in the hospital with the name, diagnosis, and progress of each case. +From the poultry yard came reports giving the number of eggs in the +incubators, the number hatched since the day before, the number of +chickens which had died, the number of eggs and chickens sold, etc. +Similarly daily reports came from the swine herd, the dairy herd, and +all the other groups of live stock. + +He received also each morning a report from the savings department +giving the number of new depositors, the amounts of money deposited +and withdrawn, and the condition of the bank at the close of the +previous day. There was, too, a list of the requisitions approved by +the Business Committee the previous day giving articles, prices, +divisions, or departments in which each was to be used and totals for +different classes of requisitions. + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington was a great believer in the sweet +potato. He personally supervised the work of preparing for sweet +potato planting.] + +The Boarding Department head would report just what had been served +the students at the three meals of the day before. In running over +these menus he would give a contemptuous snort if he came upon any +instance of what he called "feeding the students out of the barrel." +By this he meant buying food which could as well or better have been +raised on the Institute farms. He objected to this practice not +only because it was more expensive, but because it eliminated the work +of raising, preparing, and serving the foods which he regarded as a +valuable exercise in civilization. He also insisted that everything +raised on the farms should in one way or another be used by the +students. Besides serving to the students every variety of Southern +vegetable from the Institute's extensive truck gardens, he always +insisted that their own corn be ground into meal and that they make +their own preserves out of their own peaches, blackberries, and other +fruits. In other words, he made the community feed itself just as far +as possible. And this he did quite as much because of the knowledge of +the processes of right living which it imparted as for the money which +it saved. + +The Treasurer also submitted a daily report of contributions and other +receipts of the previous day with the name and address of each +contributor. Mr. Washington arranged to receive and look over these +daily reports even when travelling. Hence, in a sense, he was never +absent. Only very rarely and under most unusual circumstances did he +cut this means of daily contact with the multifold activities of the +institution. + +Although a task master, a driver, and a relentless critic, he was just +in his dealings with his subordinates and his students, very +appreciative of kindness or thoughtfulness, and generous in his +approbation of tasks well done. Three of the younger children of +officers of the school, while out walking with one of their teachers, +discovered a fire in the woods near the Institute one day. After +notifying the men working nearby, the children hurried home and wrote +Mr. Washington a letter telling him about the fire. They had heard him +warn people against the danger of forest fires and of the great harm +they did. This letter the three children excitedly took to the +Principal's home themselves, as it was on Sunday. He was not in, but +the first letter he dictated on arriving at his office the next +morning was this: + + _March 24, 1915._ + + _Miss Beatrice Taylor, Miss Louise Logan, Miss Lenora + Scott:_ + + I have received your kind and thoughtful letter of yesterday + regarding the forest fire and am very grateful to you for + the information which it contains. It is very kind and + thoughtful of you to write me. I shall pass your letter to + Mr. Bridgeforth, the Head of the Department, and ask him to + look after the matter. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +In the fall of the same year he addressed this letter of appreciation +to Mr. Bridgeforth, director of the Agricultural Department, mentioned +in the note of the children: + + _Principal's Office,_ + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama_ + + _October 4, 1915._ + + _Mr. G.R. Bridgeforth, Director of Agricultural Department:_ + + I have been spending a considerable portion of each day in + inspecting the farm, and I want to congratulate you and all + of your assistants on account of the fine sweet potato crop + which has been produced. It is certainly the finest crop + produced in the history of the school. + + You deserve equal commendation, especially in view of the + season you have had to contend with, in connection with the + fine hay crop, the pea crop, and the peanut crop. + + I wish you would let the members of your force know how I + feel regarding their work. + + I believe if the farm goes on under present conditions, that + at the end of the year it will very much please the Trustees + to note the results accomplished especially so far as the + Budget is concerned. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +His quick mind and his keen sense of humor would sometimes lead him to +make fun in a kindly way of his slower colleagues. The members of the +Executive Council and the Faculty sometimes felt he treated them +rather too much as if he were the teacher and they the pupils. His +frequent humorous sallies and stories exasperated some of the more +serious-minded members of his staff very much as Lincoln's sallies and +stories exasperated some of the members of his Cabinet, particularly +Secretary Stanton. This sense of humor was undoubtedly with Booker +Washington as with Abraham Lincoln one of the great safety valves +without which he could not have carried his heavy burden as long as he +did. + +Among other things he always insisted that the human element be put +into the work of the institution and kept in it. He would reprimand a +subordinate just as sharply for failure to be human as for a specific +neglect of duty. He was particularly insistent that all letters to the +parents of the students should be intimate and friendly rather than +formal and stereotyped. He believed that nothing would more quickly or +more surely kill the effectiveness of the school than the application +of cut-and-dried theories and formulas to the handling of the students +and their problems. He never lost sight of the fact that the most +perfect educational machine becomes worthless if the soul goes out of +it. + +On his return from trips he would write a personal letter about their +boy or girl to each parent whom he had met while away. After he had +addressed a meeting and was shaking hands with those who came forward +to meet him a man would say, as one once did, with embarrassed pride, +"I 'spec you know my boy--he's down to your school. He's a tall, black +boy an' wears a derby hat." When Mr. Washington got back to Tuskegee +he sent for "the tall, black boy" with the derby hat and wrote his +proud father all about him. + +On his return from journeys he would write individual letters not only +to the parents of students and to his hosts and hostesses, but to each +and every person who had tried in any way to contribute to the +pleasure and success of his trip. On returning from the State +educational tours which we have described he would write personal +letters of thanks and appreciation not only to every member of the +general committee on arrangements which had managed his tour +throughout the State, but also to every member of the local committees +for the various towns and cities which he visited. He would also write +such a letter to the Governor or Mayor or whatever public official or +prominent citizen had introduced him. Usually on these tours school +children, or a group of women representing a local colored women's +club, would present him with flowers. He would in such cases insist +that the name of each child or each woman in the group be secured so +that he might on his return write to each one a personal letter of +thanks. Many such letters are now among the treasured possessions of +humble Negro homes throughout the country. + +Recognizing that Tuskegee's chief claim to support from the public +must be found in the achievements of her graduates he built up the +Division of Records and Research to keep in constant touch with the +graduates and gather information about them and their work. By this +means he could find out in detail at a moment's notice what most of +the graduates were doing and in terms of statistics what all were +doing. Eighteen to twenty of them are building up or conducting +schools on the model of Tuskegee Institute in parts of the South where +they are most needed. With these he naturally sought to keep in +particularly close touch. + +With funds provided for the purpose by one of the Tuskegee Trustees, +committees of Tuskegee officers and teachers are sent from time to +time to visit these schools established by Tuskegee graduates. They +act as friendly inspectors and advisers. The following is the plan of +report drafted for the guidance of these committees: + + OBSERVATIONS + + 1. Physical. + (a) Cleanliness of premises. + (b) Keeping up repairs. + + 2. Teaching. + (a) Methods of instruction. + (b) Books used, etc., that is, are they up to date. + (c) To what extent correlation is being carried out. + (d) Visiting teachers might give some definite + demonstrations in methods, etc. + (e) Special meetings with the faculty should be held. + + 3. Financial. + (a) To what extent does the school keep up with its + accounts so that its receipts and expenditures + can be easily ascertained? + + 4. Community work. + (a) Extension activities carried on by the school, + (b) The efficiency of these activities. + + 5. Attendance. + (a) Number of students enrolled on date of visit. + (b) Number in attendance on date of visit. + (c) What efforts are being made to get the students + to enter at the beginning of the term and remain + throughout the year? + + SUGGESTIONS + + 1. Before concluding its visit the committee should make, to + proper persons in the school, suggestions concerning the + improving of the teaching and of other things as may be + necessary. + + 2. If committee makes a second visit, see to what extent the + suggestions of the previous visit have been carried out. + + REPORT + + After each visit a written report by the committee covering + all of the above shall be sent to Principal Washington. + +To all the graduates of the Institute Mr. Washington sent a circular +letter on the first of each year in which frequently he told them of +the progress that had been made by the school during the year in +improvements, number of students enrolled, etc., and asked them in +turn to answer a list of questions about their life and work, or +sometimes in such letters he merely wished them success and gave them +some practical advice. The 1913 letter which follows is an example of +the latter: + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _January 1, 1913._ + + _Dear Mr. (or Miss) Blank:_ + + I take this opportunity to send you greetings, to inquire + how you are getting along, and to express the hope that in + every way you are prospering. If, however, you are having + discouragements, I trust that you are meeting them bravely. + If you have difficulties, or are laboring under + disadvantages, use them as stepping-stones to success. + + I again call your attention to the importance of keeping in + touch with the Institute. Keeping your address on file with + us and sending a report of your work will assist in doing + this. I enclose herewith a blank for that purpose. Visits to + the school should also be made from time to time. You should + begin to prepare now to be here during the coming + commencement exercises in May in order that you may see what + is being done at the institution and to meet your former + classmates. Already the officers of the General Alumni + Association have begun preparations for your welcome. + + I urge upon you the importance of keeping up the habit of + study and of reading good books and papers. The accompanying + circular on "How to Buy Books" gives valuable suggestions + about how to secure the best books cheaply. I take this + occasion to inform you that already we are making + preparations for our 1913 Summer School. It is hoped that + every graduate who is teaching will attend this or some + other good summer school. + + I trust that wherever you are located you will do all that + you can for community uplift. Be active in church and + Sunday-school work, help to improve the public schools, + assist in bettering health conditions, help the people to + secure property, to buy homes and to improve them. In doing + all these things, you will be carrying out the Tuskegee + idea. + + Very truly yours, + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +The questions were slightly varied from year to year. The following +were those sent out with the 1915 letter--the last to bear the +signature of the Institute's founder. + + Please favor me by answering these questions and returning + the blank as soon as you receive it. + + 1. Your full name when at Tuskegee? + + 2. What year were you graduated from Tuskegee? + + 3. Your present home address? + + 4. If you are not at home, your temporary address for the + winter of 1915-1916? + + 5. If you have married, your wife's name before marriage? + Was she ever a student at Tuskegee? + Is she living? + + 6. Your present occupation? If in educational work, give + your position in the school. + + 7. How long have you followed it? + + 8. What are your average wages or earnings per day, week, or + month? + + 9. What other occupation have you? + + 10. Average wages per day, week, or month at this + occupation? + + 11. Kind and amount of property owned? + + 12. Tell us something of the work you are doing this year. + (We will also be pleased to receive testimonials from + white and colored persons concerning your work). + + 13. We especially wish to get in touch this year with as + many of our former students as possible. Please give + present addresses and occupations of all of these that + you can. + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama._ + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington had this picture especially posed to +show off to the best advantage a part of the Tuskegee dairy herd.] + +As previously mentioned the relationship between Mr. Washington and +his Trustees was at all times particularly friendly and harmonious. +While they were always directors who directed instead of mere +figureheads, they nevertheless were broad enough and wise enough to +give the Principal a very free rein. Preëminent among the able and +devoted Trustees of Tuskegee was the late William H. Baldwin, Jr. In +order to commemorate his life and work the William H. Baldwin, Jr., +Memorial Fund of $150,000 was raised by a committee of distinguished +men, with Oswald Garrison Villard of the New York _Evening Post_ as +chairman, among whom were Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, and +Charles W. Eliot, and placed at the disposal of the Tuskegee Trustees. +A bronze memorial tablet in memory of Mr. Baldwin was at the same time +placed on the Institute grounds. At the ceremony at which this tablet +was unveiled and this fund presented to the Trustees, Mr. Washington +said in part, in speaking of his relations with Mr. Baldwin and Mr. +Baldwin's relations to Tuskegee: + +"Only those who are close to the business structure of the institution +could really understand what the coming into our work of a man like +William H. Baldwin meant to all of us. In the first place, it meant +the bringing into our work a certain degree of order, a certain +system, so far as the business side of the institution was concerned, +that had not hitherto existed. Then the coming of him into our +institution meant the bringing of new faith, meant the bringing of new +friends. I shall never forget my first impression. I shall never +forget my first experience in meeting Mr. Baldwin. At that time he was +the General Manager and one of the Vice-Presidents of the Southern +Railway, located then in its headquarters in the city of Washington. I +remember that, a number of days previous, I had gone to the city of +Boston and had asked his father if he would not give me a line of +introduction to his son, about whom I had already heard in Washington. +Mr. Baldwin's father readily gave me a line of introduction and I went +in a few days after that and sought out Mr. Baldwin in his Washington +office and he looked through this letter of introduction, read it +carefully, then he looked me over, up and down, and I asked him if he +would not become a trustee of this institution. After looking me over, +looking me up and down for a few seconds or a few minutes longer, he +said, 'No, I cannot become a trustee; I will not say I will become a +trustee because when I give my word to become a trustee it must mean +something.' He said, 'I will study the institution at Tuskegee, I +will go there and look it over and after I have found out what your +methods are, what you are driving at--if your methods and objects +commend themselves to me, then I will consent to become a trustee.' +And I remember how well--some of the older teachers and perhaps some +of the older students will recall--that upon one day, when we were +least expecting it, he stopped his private car off here at Chehaw and +appeared here upon our grounds, and some of us will recall how he went +into every department of the institution, how he went into the +classrooms, how he went through the shops, how he went through the +farm, how he went through the dining-room; I remember how he went to +each table, and took pieces of bread from the table and broke them and +examined the bread to see how well it was cooked, and even tasted some +of it as he went into the kitchen. He wanted to be sure how we were +doing things here at Tuskegee. Then after he had made this visit of +examination for himself, after he had studied our financial condition, +then after a number of months had passed by, he consented to permit us +to use his name as one of our Trustees, and from the beginning to the +end we never had such a trustee. He was one who devoted himself night +and day, winter and summer, in season and out of season, to the +interests of this institution. Now, having spoken this word, you can +understand the thoughts and the feelings of some of us on this +occasion as we think of the services of this great and good man. + +"It is one of the privileges of people who are not always classed +among the popular people of earth to have strong friends for the +reason that nobody but a strong man will endure the public criticism +that so often comes to one who is the friend of a weak or unpopular +race. This, in the words of another, is one of the advantages enjoyed +sometimes by a disadvantaged race." + +Naturally no account of Booker Washington's administration of the +great institution which he built would be complete without some +mention of Mrs. Washington's part in her husband's work. Aside from +her duties as wife, mother, and home maker--duties which any ordinary +woman would find quite exacting enough to absorb all her time, +thought, and strength particularly in view of the fact that a wide +hospitality is part of the rôle--Mrs. Washington, as director of +women's industries, is one of the half-dozen leading executives of the +institution. In addition to her many and varied family and official +duties at the Institute Mrs. Washington has always been a leader in +social service and club work among the women of her race throughout +the country, and has besides all this come to be a kind of mother +confessor, advisor, and guide to hundreds of young men and women. We +will conclude this chapter by quoting in large part an article written +by Mr. Scott and published some years ago in the _Ladies' Home +Journal_, which describes how and when Mrs. Washington entered her +husband's life and work and the part she played in his affairs: + +"Even before the war closed there came to the South on the heels of +the army of emancipation an army of school teachers. They came to +perfect with the spelling-book and the reader the work that the +soldiers had begun with the sword. It was during this period in the +little straggling village of Macon, Miss., that a little girl, called +then Margaret Murray, but who is known now as Mrs. Booker T. +Washington, was born. When she grew old enough to count she found +herself one of a family of ten and, like nearly all children of Negro +parentage, at that time, very poor. + +"In the grand army of teachers who went South in 1864 and 1865 were +many Quakers. Prevented by the tenets of their religion from entering +the army as soldiers these people were the more eager to do the not +less difficult and often dangerous work of teachers among the freedmen +after the war was over. + +"One of the first memories of her childhood is of her father's death. +It was when she was seven years old. The next day she went to the +Quaker school teachers, a brother and sister, Sanders by name, and +never went back home to live. + +"Thus at seven she became the arbiter of her own fate. The incident is +interesting in showing thus early a certain individuality and +independence of character which she has exhibited all through her +life. In the breaking or loosening of the family relations after the +death of her father she determined to bestow herself upon her Quaker +neighbors. The secret of it, of course, was that the child was +possessed even then with a passion for knowledge which has never since +deserted her. Rarely does a day pass that Mrs. Washington amid the +cares of her household, of the school, and of the many philanthropic +and social enterprises in which she takes a leading part, does not +devote half or three-quarters of an hour to downright study. + +"And so it was that Margaret Murray became at seven a permanent part +of the Quaker household, and became to all intents and purposes, so +far as her habits of thought and religious attitude are concerned, +herself a Quaker. + +"'And in those early days,' says Mrs. Washington, laughing, 'I learned +easily and quickly. It was only after I grew up that I began to grow +dull. I used to sit up late at night and get up early in the morning +to study my lessons. I was not always a good child, I am sorry to say, +and sometimes I would hide away under the house in order to read and +study.'... + +"When Margaret Murray was fourteen years old the good Quaker teacher +said one day, 'Margaret, would thee like to teach?' That very day the +little girl borrowed a long skirt and went downtown to the office of +Judge Ames, and took her examination. It was not a severe examination. +Judge Ames had known Margaret all her life and he had known her +father, and in those days white people were more lenient with Negro +teachers than they are now. They did not expect so much of them. And +so, the next day, Margaret Murray stepped into the schoolroom where +she had been the day before a pupil and became a teacher.... + +"Then Margaret heard of the school at Nashville--Fisk University--and +she went there. She had a little money when she started to school, and +with that and what she was able to earn at the school and by teaching +during vacations she managed to work her way as--what was termed +rather contemptuously in those days--a 'half-rater.' It was not the +fashion at that time, in spite of the poverty of the colored people, +for students to work their way through school. + +"In those days very little had been heard at Fisk of Tuskegee, of +Hampton, or of Booker T. Washington. Students who expected to be +teachers were looking forward to going to Texas. Texas has always been +more favorable to Negro education than other Southern States and has +always got the best of Negro public school teachers. + +"But upon graduation day, June, 1889, Booker T. Washington was at +Fisk, and he sat opposite Margaret Murray at table. About that time it +was arranged that she should go to Texas, but, without knowing just +how it came about, she decided to go to Tuskegee and become what was +then called the Lady Principal of the school. Mrs. Washington has been +at Tuskegee ever since. + +"Mrs. Washington's duties as the wife of the Principal of the Tuskegee +Institute are many and various. She has charge of all the industries +for girls. She gives much time to the extension work of the school, +which includes the 'Mothers' meetings' in the town of Tuskegee and the +'plantation settlement' nearby. Her most characteristic trait, +however, is a boundless sympathy which has made her a sort of Mother +Confessor to students and teachers of the Institute. All go to her +for comfort and advice. + +"The 'mothers' meetings' grew out of the first Tuskegee Negro +Conference held at Tuskegee in February, 1892. Mrs. Washington, as she +sat in the first meeting of Negro farmers and heard what they had to +say, was impressed with the fact that history was repeating itself. +Here again, as in the early days of the woman's suffrage movement, +women had no place worth mentioning in the important concerns of life +outside the household. While there were many women present at this +first conference, they did not seem to realize that they had any +interest in the practical affairs that were being discussed by their +sons and husbands. While her husband was trying to give these farmers +new ideas, new hopes, new aspirations, the thought came to Mrs. +Washington that the Tuskegee village was the place for her to begin a +work which should eventually include all the women of the county and +of the neighboring counties. The country colored women crowd into the +villages of the South on Saturday, seeking to vary the monotony of +their hard and cheerless lives. Mrs. Washington determined to get hold +of these women and utilize the time spent in town to some good +purpose. Accordingly, the first mothers' meeting was organized in the +upper story of an old store which then stood on the main street of the +village. The stairs were so rickety that the women were almost afraid +to ascend them. It answered the purpose temporarily, however, and +there was no rent to pay. How to get the women to the meeting was, +for a time, a question. For fear of opposition Mrs. Washington took no +one into her confidence except the man who let her have the room. She +sent a small boy through the streets with the instruction to go to +every colored woman loitering about the streets and say: 'There is a +woman upstairs who has something for you.' Mrs. Washington says: 'That +first meeting I can never forget. The women came, and each one, as she +entered, looked at me and seemed to say, 'Where is it?' We talked it +all over, the needs of our women of the country, the best way of +helping each other, and there and then began the first mothers' +meeting which now has in its membership two hundred and twenty-nine +women.'... + +"Mrs. Washington asked some of the teachers at Tuskegee to begin to +help these people (the people of the country districts surrounding the +school). At first they went to the plantation (selected for the +purpose) on Sundays only. Mrs. Washington selected what seemed to be +the most promising cabin and asked the woman who lived there if she +could come to that house the next Sunday and hold a meeting. When the +party went down early the next Sunday morning a stout new broom was +taken along. Making the woman a present of the broom, it was suggested +that all take a hand in cleaning the house a little before the people +should begin to come. The woman took the broom and swept half of the +room, when Mrs. Washington volunteered to finish the job. + +"She had not gone far along on her half before the woman was saying: +'Oh, Mis' Washington, lemme take de brom an' do mah half ovah.' Mrs. +Washington says: 'I have always thought that that one unconscious +lesson in thoroughness was the foundation of our work on that +plantation.'... + +"Not the least of the duties which fall to Mrs. Washington is that of +caring for the distinguished people who visit the Tuskegee Institute. +The Tuskegee rule that everything must be in readiness for the +inspection of visitors, as much so in the kitchen as in any other +department of the school, prevails in her home also. + +"An interesting part of this home life is the Sunday morning +breakfast. The teachers have slept later than usual, and, through the +year, when Mr. Washington is at home, they are invited in groups of +three and four to share this morning meal. In this way he keeps in +personal touch with each of his teachers; he knows what they are +doing; he hears their complaints, if they have any; he counsels with +them; they 'get together.' + +"Mrs. Washington's labors for the good of her people are not confined +to the school. She is (has been) president of the Southern Federation +of Colored Women's Clubs, editor of the official organ of the National +Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, of which she is also an officer. +She is a frequent contributor to the newspapers and magazines. (Mrs. +Washington has since served two terms as president of the National +Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.) + +"Mr. Washington's own estimate of his wife's helpfulness to him may +be gathered from his tribute in his widely read autobiography, 'Up +from Slavery': 'She is completely one with me in the work directly +connected with the school, relieving me of many burdens and +perplexities.'" + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +WASHINGTON: THE MAN + + +Just as in the first chapter we sought to show the man in the making, +so in this last chapter we shall seek to picture him as he became in +the full fruition of his life. In the fully developed man of the last +decade of his life we find the same traits and qualities which began +to show themselves in those early years of constant struggle and +frequent privation. There is the same intense mental and physical +activity; the same readiness to fight against any odds in a good +cause; the same modesty, frankness, open-mindedness, and passion for +service. + +One of the many illustrations of this intense activity was shown in a +trip he made to Atlanta, Ga., three or four years before he died. Even +at this time his strength had begun to wane. In accordance with his +unfailing practice he got up at six o'clock in the morning, and after +visiting his poultry and his beloved pigs, mounted his horse and rode +over farms and grounds inspecting crops and buildings and what-not +until eight o'clock, when he went to his office and attacked his huge +morning's mail. After dictating for an hour or more he left his office +just in time to catch a train which brought him to Atlanta at two +o'clock in the afternoon. At the station he shook hands with four +hundred people who had gathered to meet him. As he went along the +streets to the Government Building he shook hands with many others who +recognized him in passing. At the Government Building he shook hands +with another large group assembled there to meet him. After the dinner +tendered him by some of the leading individuals and associations among +the Negroes of the city he posed for his photograph with a group of +those at the dinner. He then made a tour of the city by motor, during +which he visited three or four schools for Negroes and at each made a +half-hour speech into which, as always, he threw all the force and +energy there was in him. + +After supper that evening he addressed twelve hundred people in the +Auditorium Armory, speaking for an hour and a half. From the armory he +went to a banquet given in his honor where he gave a twenty-minute +talk. He did not get to bed until one o'clock. Four hours later he +took a return train which brought him back to the school by +ten-thirty. He went at once to his office and to work, working until +late in the afternoon when he called for his horse and took his usual +ride before supper. After supper he presided at a meeting of the +Executive Council and after the Council meeting he attended the Chapel +exercises. After these exercises were over at ten o'clock he made an +inspection on foot of various parts of the buildings and grounds +before going to bed. By just such excessive overwork did he constantly +undermine and finally break down his almost superhuman strength and +powers of endurance. This he did with an obstinate persistence in +spite of wise and increasingly urgent warnings from physicians, +friends, and associates. Where his own health was concerned he +obdurately refused to listen to reason. It would almost seem as though +he had deliberately chosen to put forth herculean efforts until he +dropped from sheer exhaustion rather than to work with moderation for +a longer span of life. + +Booker Washington was a man who thought, lived, and acted on a very +high plane. He was, in other words, an idealist, but unlike too many +idealists he was sternly practical. His mind worked with the rapidity +of flashes of lightning, particularly when he was aroused. This led +him at times to feel and show impatience in dealing with slower-minded +people, particularly his subordinates. He was often stirred to +righteous indignation by injustice, but always kept his temper under +control. He had a lucid mind which reasoned from cause to effect with +machine-like accuracy. His intuitions were amazingly keen and +accurate. In other words, his subconscious reasoning powers were very +highly developed. Consequently his judgments of men and events were +almost infallible. Although practically devoid of personal vanity, he +was a very proud and independent man, and one who could not brook +dictation from any one or bear to be under obligation to any one. He +had the tenacity of a bulldog. His capacity for incessant work and his +unswerving pursuit of a purpose once formed, were a constant marvel to +those who surrounded him. While he was without conceit or vanity he +had almost unlimited self-confidence. While it cannot be said that he +overrated his own abilities, neither can it be said that he underrated +them. His sympathies were easily aroused and he was abnormally +sensitive, but he never allowed his emotions to get the better of his +judgment. He forgave easily and always tried to find excuses for +people who wronged, insulted, or injured him. In repartee he could +hold his own with any one and enjoyed nothing more than a duel of wits +either with an individual or an audience. + +Less than a month before he died, when he was wasted by disease and +suffering almost constant pain, he received this letter of appeal from +Madame Helena Paderewski: + + _New York, October 26, 1915._ + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: I am writing you a very personal + letter on a subject that is close to my heart, and I know + the message it carries will find a response in your generous + sympathy. It is with great pleasure that I recall our + meeting, some years ago, and I have watched the success of + your work among your people with sincere satisfaction, for I + have always been an advocate of the principles for which you + stand, the uplift of the colored race. + + It is because I know you have ever directed your broad + influence toward the most worthy causes that I am asking you + in the name of the starving babies and their helpless + mothers, to tell your people that we need them in our work + of sending food and medicines to Poland. We need, my dear + sir, even the smallest contribution that your beloved + followers may offer, and I beg of you to make an appeal to + your people. Tell them, for they may not all know as well + as you, yourself, that it was a Pole--Kosciusko--who, in + addition to fighting for American liberty, gave that which + he needed himself to help the colored race. As you will + recall, after refusing the grant of land offered him in + recognition of his services in the War of the Revolution, he + returned to Poland, not wishing to accept a reward for doing + what he considered a sublime duty to those in need. Later, + after eight years, when he again visited America, he was + given a pension as General in the American Army. With the + back pay during his absence, the sum amounted to about + $15,000. Although poor himself, he felt deep compassion for + the neglected colored children and, with the money given + him, he established the first school in America devoted + exclusively to the education of the colored youth. + + I am sure you know the story in all its details, but I + desire the colored people of America to know that to-day the + descendants of the man who--unasked--aided them--plead for a + crust of bread, a spoonful of milk for their hungry + children. Tell them this and God will bless and prosper you + in your telling and them in their giving. Do not think that + small amounts are useless--five cents may save a life. I am + sending Mr. Paderewski's appeal, but conditions, to-day, are + worse now than when it was written. Will you help Poland? + Will you do it now? + + Please reply to Hotel Gotham. + + Yours in work for humanity, + + [Signed] HELENA PADEREWSKI. + + _Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama._ + +In spite of disease, pain, and weakness--in spite of the fact that he +must have realized that his remaining time for his own chosen work had +narrowed down to a matter of weeks--he instantly responded to this +appeal. Immediately he sent Madame Paderewski's letter to the Negro +press of the entire country with this explanatory note: + + MADAME PADEREWSKI'S APPEAL FOR POLISH VICTIMS + + Madame Helena Paderewski, wife of the famous pianist, has + addressed a letter to Dr. Booker T. Washington, of the + Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, making an appeal + for the Polish victims of the European War. The letter is + sent to the press with the thought that there may be those + among the Negro people who may feel disposed to respond to + Madame Paderewski's appeal. + + An organization known as the Polish Victims' Relief Fund has + been organized, with headquarters in Aeolian Building, 35 + West Forty-Second Street, New York City. Madame Paderewski's + letter follows, etc. + +Immediately after Mr. Washington's death Mrs. Washington received the +following note from Madame Paderewski: + + _New York, November 15, 1916._ + + _Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama._ + + MY DEAR MRS. WASHINGTON: It was with a feeling of personal + loss that I read this morning of the death of Dr. + Washington. I have always admired his courage and wonderful + ability, and his passing at this time brings a double + sorrow, for in this morning's mail I received a copy of the + _Tuskegee Student_ containing my letter and appeal to Dr. + Washington. I wish it had been possible for me to have + thanked him for what he has done, but I am sure that the + Heavenly Father will bless this and the many other good + works with which he was connected. + + I desire you to know how much I appreciate the kindness of + Dr. Washington and how highly I esteemed him. Please accept + my deep sympathy and believe me, + + Very sincerely yours, + + [Signed] HELENA PADEREWSKI. + +Although apparently indifferent to the treatment he received from +those about him Booker Washington was in reality, as has been said, +unusually sensitive. No matter what his engagements he always insisted +upon being at home with his wife and children on Thanksgiving Day and +on Christmas. One Christmas, about ten years ago, it so happened that +no Christmas presents were provided for him. The children gave +presents to one another and to their mother and she to them, but +through oversight there were no presents for Mr. Washington. Mrs. +Washington says that after the presents had been opened her husband +drew her aside and said in broken tones: "Maggie, they've not given me +a single Christmas present!" From then on Mrs. Washington saw to it +that the children remembered their father at Christmas. + +In Birmingham, Ala., about three years before his death, he and his +secretary entered an office building one day to call on one of the +Tuskegee Trustees whose office was on the top floor. When they looked +for an elevator they were referred by the hall man to the elevator for +colored people. On this elevator was a sign reading, "For Negroes and +Freight." His secretary expected him to comment on this, but he said +nothing and seemed hardly to notice it. That evening, in addressing +a great audience of both races in one of the big theatres of the city, +he was urging the Negroes to look upon their Southern white neighbors +as their friends and to turn to them for advice when he said very +slowly and distinctly: "I visited, this morning, a building which had +on the elevator for colored people a sign reading, 'For Negroes and +Freight.' Now, my friends, that is mighty discouraging to the colored +man!" At this not only the colored people, but the white people sprang +to their feet and shouted, many of them, "You're right, Doctor!" +"That's mean!" "That's not fair!" and other such expressions. + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington feeding his chickens with green stuffs +raised in his own garden.] + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington in his onion patch.] + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington sorting in his lettuce bed.] + +Every morning before breakfast when at home Mr. Washington would visit +his chickens, pigs, and cows. He said of finding the newly laid eggs: +"I like to find the new eggs each morning myself, and am selfish +enough to permit no one else to do this in my place. As with growing +plants, there is a sense of freshness and newness and restfulness in +connection with the finding and handling of newly laid eggs that is +delightful to me. Both the realization and the anticipation are most +pleasing. I begin the day by seeing how many eggs I can find or how +many little chicks there are that are just beginning to creep through +the shells. I am deeply interested in the different kinds of fowls, +and always grow a number of different breeds at my own home." + +But none of the animals interested him and aroused his enthusiasm as +did the pigs. He always kept on his own place some choice specimens of +Berkshires and Poland Chinas at whose shrine he worshipped each +morning. Also he always insisted that the swine herd of the Institute +be kept recruited up to full strength and in fact considerably beyond +full strength in the opinion of the Agricultural Director who in vain +protested that it was not profitable to keep so large a herd. It would +be interesting to know whether the great economic importance of the +pig to his race was at the bottom of Booker Washington's fondness for +the animal. + +After breakfast he mounted his horse and made a round of the Institute +farms, truck gardens, dormitories, and shops before going to his +office and attacking his huge correspondence. This correspondence, +both in its dimensions and catholicity, was typical of the man. His +daily incoming mail amounted to between 125 and 150 letters. The +outgoing ran to between 500 and 1,000 letters daily--in large part, of +course, "campaign letters,"--as he called them, letters seeking to +interest new friends in the work of the Institute, and others keeping +in touch with friends already interested, etc. His advice, opinion, or +comments were sought on every conceivable subject both by serious and +sensible men and women and by cranks of both races. Hundreds of the +humbler people of his own race were constantly applying to him for +information and advice as to whether it would be profitable to start +this or that business venture, or whether or not it would be possible +to establish a school in this or that community, and how they should +set about it. + +Booker Washington's sense of justice was unquenchable. While at +Coden-on-the-Bay, near Mobile, Ala., in September, 1915, snatching a +few days of rest and recreation as a palliative for the insidious +disease which was so soon to end his life, he was distressed by a +newspaper report of the killing of a number of Haitians by United +States Marines. He read the report in a Mobile paper late one +afternoon on his return from a fishing trip. He went to bed but could +not sleep. The misfortunes of the turbulent little black republic +seethed through his mind. Early in the morning, while his companions +were still sleeping, he awakened the inevitable stenographer and +dictated an article counselling patience in dealing with the +unfortunate little country. This article, dictated by a dying man on +the impulse of the moment, briefly recites the history of Haiti from +the period over a hundred years ago when the people of the island +wrested their liberty from France under the leadership of Toussaint +L'Ouverture, up to the present time. He then says in part: + +"Associated Press dispatches a few days ago stated that forty or fifty +Haitians had been killed on Haytian soil in one day by American +marines and a number of marines wounded. To every black man in the +United States this dispatch brought a feeling of disappointment and +sorrow. While, as I have stated, the United States, under the +circumstances, was compelled to take notice of conditions in Haiti and +is being compelled to control matters, largely because of the fault of +the Haitians, I had hoped that the United States would be patient in +dealing with the Haitian Government and people. The United States has +been patient with Germany. It has been patient in the Philippines. It +has been exceedingly patient in dealing with Mexico. I hope this +country will be equally patient and more than patient in dealing with +Haiti--a weaker and more unfortunate country! + +"I very much wish that it might have been possible for the United +States to have taken a little more time in making known to the +Haitians the purposes we have in mind in taking over the control of +their custom houses and their governmental affairs. While everything +that we intend to do, and have in mind to do, is perfectly plain to +the officials of the United States, we must remember that all this is +not perfectly plain to the Haitians. It would have been worth while, +in my opinion, before attempting arbitrarily to force Haiti to sign +the treaty put before its officials, to have spent a little time and a +little patience in informing the Haitian people of the unselfish +benevolence of our intentions. They, in time, would have understood +why it is necessary to intervene in their affairs. + +"Another reason, in my opinion, why patience may be manifested in this +matter is that the treaty, even at the best, cannot be ratified by the +United States Senate until it meets in regular session in December, +unless the President calls it in special session earlier. + +"I confess that while I am unschooled in such matters, since reading +the treaty the Haitians have been told they must ratify, it seems to +me rather harsh and precipitate; one cannot be surprised that the +Haitians have hesitated to agree to all the conditions provided for in +this treaty. No wonder they have hesitated when they have had so +little time in which to understand it, when the masses of the Haitian +people know little or nothing of what the treaty contemplates. + +"The way matters are now going, there is likely to be bitterness and +war. The United States, in the end, will conquer, will control, will +have its way, but it is one thing to conquer a people through love, +through unselfish interest in their welfare, and another thing to +conquer them through the bullet, through the shotgun. Shooting +civilization into the Haitians on their own soil will be an amazing +spectacle. Sending marines as diplomats and Mauser bullets as +messengers of destruction breed riot and anarchy, and are likely to +leave a legacy of age-long hatreds and regrets. + +"I also hope the United States will not pursue a mere negative policy +in Haiti, that is, a policy of controlling the customs and what-not, +without going further in progressive, constructive directions. In a +word, the United States now has an opportunity to do a big piece of +fine work for Haiti in the way of education, something the island has +never had. I hope some way will be provided by which a portion of the +revenues will be used in giving the people a thorough, up-to-date +system of common school, agricultural, and industrial education. Here +is an excellent opportunity for some of the young colored men and +women of the United States who have been educated in the best methods +of education in this country to go to Haiti and help their fellows. +Here is an opportunity for some of the most promising Haitian boys +and girls to be sent to schools in the United States. Here is an +opportunity for us to use our influence and power in giving the +Haitians something they have never had, and that is education, real +education. At least 95 per cent. of the people, as I have said, are +unlettered and ignorant so far as books are concerned." + +Booker Washington's self-control was never more needed than on an +occasion at Tuskegee described by T. Thomas Fortune, the Negro author +and publicist. A Confederate veteran who had lost an arm fighting for +the Confederacy and who had served for a number of years in Congress +was on the program to speak at a Tuskegee meeting. This Confederate +veteran had a great liking for Mr. Washington and believed in his +ideas on the importance of industrial education for the colored +people. Mr. Fortune says: + +"John C. Dancy, a colored man, at that time Collector of Customs at +Wilmington, N.C., was to speak first, the Confederate veteran second, +and I was to follow the latter. Mr. Dancy is an unusually bright and +eloquent man. Mr. Dancy paid a glowing tribute to the New England men +and women who had built up the educational interest among the colored +people after the war, of which Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes are +lasting monuments. Mr. Dancy had plenty of applause from the great +concourse of countrymen, but his address made the white speaker +furious. When the former Congressman was called upon to speak he +showed plainly that he was agitated out of his self-restraint. +Without any introductory remarks whatever, he said, as I remember it: + +"'I have written this address for you,' waving it at the audience, +'but I will not deliver it. I want to give you niggers a few words of +plain talk and advice. No such address as you have just listened to is +going to do you any good; it's going to spoil you. You had better not +listen to such speeches. You might just as well understand that this +is a white man's country, as far as the South is concerned, and we are +going to make you keep your place. Understand that. I have nothing +more to say to you.' + +"The audience was taken back as much by the bluntness of the remarks +as if they had been doused with cold water. Indignation was everywhere +visible on the countenances of the people. But Mr. Washington appeared +unruffled. On the contrary, his heavy jaw was hard set and his eyes +danced in a merry measure. It was a time to keep one's temper and +wits, and he did so, as usual. Without betraying any feeling in the +matter, and when everybody expected him to announce the next speaker, +he said: + +"'Ladies and Gentlemen: I am sure you will agree with me that we have +had enough eloquence for one occasion. We shall listen to the next +speaker at another occasion, when we are not so fagged out. We will +now rise, sing the doxology, and be dismissed.' + +"The audience did so, but it was the most funereal proceeding I had +ever witnessed upon such an occasion. Mr. Washington's imperturbable +good nature alone saved the day." + +Some time after President Roosevelt had begun to consult Booker +Washington on practically all his appointments and policies which +particularly affected the relations between the races, and after +several Southern white men had been given Federal appointments on Mr. +Washington's recommendation, the bitterness against him grew so +intense, especially among the "Talented Tenth" element of the Northern +Negroes, that he decided to meet a group of their leaders face to +face, and have it out. Accordingly, through Mr. Fortune, he arranged +to meet a number of these men at a dinner at Young's Hotel in Boston. +Mr. Fortune thus describes what took place: + +"At the proper time, when the coffee and cigars were served, I arose +and told the diners that Dr. Washington had desired to meet them at +the banquet table and at the proper time to have each one of them +express freely his opinion of the race question, and how best the race +could be served in the delicate crisis through which it was then +passing. Each of the speakers launched into a tirade against Dr. +Washington and his policies and methods, many of them in lofty flights +of speech they had learned at Harvard University. The atmosphere was +dense with discontent and denunciation. + +"The climax was reached when William H. Lewis, the famous Harvard +football coach, told Dr. Washington to go back South, and attend to +his work of educating the Negro and 'leave to us the matters political +affecting the race.' Every eye was upon Dr. Washington's face, but +none of them could read anything in it; it was as inscrutable as a +wooden Indian's. When every one of them had had his say, I called upon +Dr. Washington to respond to the speakers who had unburdened +themselves. Dr. Washington rose slowly, and with a slip of paper in +his hand, said: + +"'Gentlemen, I want to tell you about what we are doing at Tuskegee +Institute in the Black Belt of Alabama.' + +"For more than a half-hour he told them of the needs and the work +without once alluding to anything that had been said in heat and anger +by those to whom he spoke. He held them close to him by his simple +recital, with here and there a small blaze of eloquence, and then +thanking them for the candor with which they had spoken, sat down. +They were all disappointed, as they expected that he would attempt to +excuse himself for the things they had complained of." + +At the time of Mr. Washington's death, the same William H. Lewis, who +told him at this time to go back to the South and attend to his work +and "leave to us the matters political affecting the race," said of +him: + +"Words, like tears, are vain and idle things to express the great +anguish I feel at the untimely death of Booker Washington. He was my +friend who understood me and believed in me. I did not always believe +in him because I did not understand him. I first saw and heard him +when a junior at Amherst in the early 90's, when he spoke at Old John +Brown's church in Springfield, where I journeyed to hear him. I could +not then appreciate his love for the Southern people and his gospel of +work. I even doubted his loyalty to his race. When I came to Boston I +joined in with his most violent and bitterest critics. The one thing +that I am so thankful for is that I early saw the light and came to +appreciate and understand the great work of Booker T. Washington. + +"I have just finished reading an old letter from him, date, October 1, +1901, in which he said: 'The main point of this letter is to say I +believe that both you and I are going to be in a position in the +future to serve the race effectually, and while it is very probable +that we shall always differ as to detailed methods of lifting up the +race, it seems to me that if we agree in each doing our best to lift +it up the main point will have been gained, and I am sure that in our +anxiety to better the condition of the race there is no difference +between us, and I shall be delighted to work in hearty coöperation +with you.' + +"Since then, I have known him intimately and well. He was unselfish +and generous to a fault; he was modest yet masterful; he was quiet yet +intense; his common sense and sagacity seemed uncanny, such was his +knowledge of human nature. His was a great soul in which no bitterness +or littleness could even find a lurking place. His was the great heart +of Lincoln, with malice toward none and charity for all. He loved all +men and all men loved him. + +"My humble prayer is that his torch has lighted another among the dark +millions of America, to lead the race onward and upward." + +Booker Washington's insistence that the classrooms, shops, and farms +were for the development of the students rather than the students for +their development was well illustrated by a remark he once made to +Bishop William Lawrence of Massachusetts when the Bishop was visiting +the Institute. In reply to Bishop Lawrence's question as to whether he +had chosen the best available land for his agricultural work, he said, +"No, sir, I chose pretty nearly the poorest land I could find. I chose +land on which men would have to spend all their energies to bring out +the life in the land. They work here under the hardest conditions. +When they go out to other lands--to their own lands, perhaps--they +won't find any worse land to till. If they find any better land the +difference will be all gain for them." + +Perhaps more remarkable than any or all of his achievements was the +fact that Booker Washington was a gentleman. It would be difficult to +find a man who better conformed to the exacting yet illusive +requirements of that term. He had not only the naturalness and the +goodness of heart which are the fundamentals, but he had also the +breeding and the polish which distinguish the finished gentleman from +the "rough diamond." This fact about Booker Washington has been well +described by Hamilton Wright Mabie in an article entitled: "Booker T. +Washington: Gentleman," in which he says in part: + +"Booker Washington became one of the foremost men in America; he was +heard on great occasions by great audiences with profound attention; +he was a writer and speaker of National position, the founder of a +college, and the organizing leader of a race in ideas and industry. +These were notable achievements; but there was another achievement +which was in its way more notable. Without any advantages of birth or +station or training, a member of an ostracized race, with the doors of +social life closed in his face, Dr. Washington was a gentleman. I +recall two illustrations of this quality of nature, often lacking in +men of great ability and usefulness. The first was in Stafford House, +London, the residence of the Duke of Sutherland. The older Duke was +the lifelong friend of Queen Victoria; and once, when she was going to +Stafford House, she wrote the Duke that she was about to leave her +uninteresting house for his beautiful palace. Nothing could be more +stately than the great hall of Stafford House, with its two marble +stairways ascending to the galleries above; and when the Duchess of +Sutherland, standing on the dais from which the stairs ascended, +received her guests she reminded more than one of her guests of the +splendid picture drawn by Edmund Burke of Marie Antoinette moving like +a star through the palace of Versailles. On that evening Dr. +Washington was present. At one time in one of the rooms he happened to +be talking with the duchess and two other women of high rank, two of +them women of great beauty and stateliness. There were some people +present who were evidently very much impressed by their surroundings. +Booker Washington seemed to be absolutely unconscious of the splendor +of the house in which he was, or of the society in which for the +moment he found himself. Born in a hut without a door-sill, he was at +ease in the most stately and beautiful private palace in London. + +"On another occasion there was to be a Tuskegee meeting at Bar Harbor. +The Casino had been beautifully decorated for a dance the night +before. The harbor was full of yachts, the tennis courts of +fine-looking young men and women; it was a picture of luxury tempered +with intelligence. Mr. Washington was looking out of the window. +Presently he turned to me and said, with a smile, 'And last Wednesday +morning I was eating breakfast in a shanty in Alabama; there were five +of us and we had one spoon!'" + +At the time of his stay in London, during which this reception at +Stafford House took place, he was given a luncheon by a group of +distinguished men to which Mr. Asquith, the Prime Minister, was +invited. In reply, Mr. Asquith sent this note: + + _10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S.W._ + _26th September, 1910._ + + DEAR SIR: I much regret that my engagements do not allow me + to accept your invitation to be present at the luncheon + which it is proposed to give in honor of Mr. Booker T. + Washington. I feel sure, however, that he will be welcomed + with a cordiality which his persistent and successful labors + in the cause of the education of the American Negro deserve, + especially at the hands of English men, whose difficulties + in many parts of the Empire have been helped toward a + solution by the results of his work. + + Yours faithfully, + + [Signed] H.H. ASQUITH. + +While at home, no matter how pressed and driven with work, Booker +Washington snatched an hour or so every day for hunting or riding. +This daily exercise became a fetich with him which he clung to with +unreasonable obstinacy. He would frequently set off upon these hunts +or rides in so exhausted a condition that obviously their only effect +could be worse exhaustion. His intense admiration for Theodore +Roosevelt probably had its influence, conscious or unconscious, in +strengthening his devotion to violent outdoor exercise. + +Whatever he was doing or wherever he was, his mind seemed constantly +at work along constructive lines. At the most unexpected times and +places he would suddenly call the inevitable stenographer and dictate +some idea for an article or address or some plan for the improvement +of Tuskegee or for the betterment of the whole race in this or that +particular. He would sometimes reduce his immediate subordinates to +the verge of despair by pouring out upon them in rapid succession +constructive suggestions each one of which meant hours, days, and even +weeks of time to work out, and then calling for the results of all +before even one could be fairly put into effect. This tendency became +particularly marked in his closing years when the consciousness of an +immense amount of work to be done and a short and constantly lessening +period in which to do it must have become an obsession and almost a +nightmare to him. + +He would sometimes wound the feelings of acquaintances and friends, +particularly his teachers, by passing them on the street and even +looking at them without recognition. This naturally was not +intentional, nor was it because his mind was wool-gathering, but +merely because he was thinking out some idea with which the people and +events immediately about him had for the moment no connection and were +consequently totally obliterated from his consciousness. + +Mr. Washington's strength of will and determination were never better +shown than in the closing hours of his life. When he was told by his +doctors at St. Luke's Hospital, New York, whither he had been taken by +the New York trustees of the Institute after his final collapse, that +he had but a few hours to live, he insisted upon starting for home at +once. His physicians expostulated and warned him that in his condition +he could not reasonably expect to survive the journey. He insisted +that he must go and be true to his oft-repeated assertion, "I was born +in the South, I have lived and labored in the South, and I expect to +die and be buried in the South." This remark, when sent out in the +Associated Press dispatches announcing his death, touched the South as +nothing else could have. No Negro was ever eulogized in the Southern +press as he was. Long accounts of his career and death with +sympathetic and appreciative editorial comments appeared in most of +the Southern papers. + +One of the doctors who was called in to attend him at the time he was +taken to the hospital remarked that it was "uncanny to see a man up +and about who ought by all the laws of nature to be dead." In this +condition, then, he set out upon the long journey from New York to +Tuskegee. When the party reached the Pennsylvania Station an invalid's +chair was awaiting him, but he declined to use it, and leaning on the +arms of his companions walked or rather tottered to his seat in the +train. As soon as the train began to move Southward a slight +invigoration of triumph seemed to come over him which increased as the +journey continued, until at its close he seemed stronger than when he +started. All along the way he would inquire at frequent intervals what +point they had reached. The reaching and passing of each important +station such as Greensboro, Charlotte, and Atlanta he would seem to +score up in his mind's eye as a new triumph. And when finally he +reached Chehaw, the little station five miles from Tuskegee, he was +fairly trembling with eager expectancy. As we have said, he reached +Tuskegee apparently stronger than when he left New York and strong +enough to enjoy the final triumph of his indomitable will over his +overworked and weakened body. The next morning, November 14, 1915, he +was dead. + +Of the myriads of tributes to Booker Washington by white men and black +both North and South, which were spoken from platforms and pulpits and +printed in newspapers and periodicals throughout the length and +breadth not only of America but the world, there are two which we feel +irresistibly compelled to use in concluding this chapter and book. One +is the tribute of a former student, Isaac Fisher, president of the +Tuskegee Alumni Association, speaking for the graduates at the +memorial exercises held at Tuskegee on December 12, 1915; the other +is the tribute of one of his teachers, Clement Richardson, head of the +division of English, speaking in effect for the Tuskegee teachers in +an article published in the _Survey_ of December 4, 1915. + +At this memorial meeting, after being introduced by Seth Low, Chairman +of the Board of Trustees, as the representative of the Tuskegee Alumni +Association, Mr. Fisher said: + +"Mr. Chairman: The greatest citizens of this nation have paused long +enough to pay tributes of honor to the memory of Dr. Washington; and +to-night some of the world's most distinguished citizens are present +to say their words of love for the departed chieftain whose body lies +in a grave just outside of those walls. In the presence of these great +men I do not see why you have asked me, one of the least of all, to +add my simple praise. + +"But I can say that no persons have sustained so great a loss as have +the members of the Tuskegee Alumni Association; and I come to bear +testimony to the depth and sincerity of their grief. + +"There is a story which has not yet been told, in connection with the +spread of industrial education in the South and throughout the entire +country. I must tell that story here before I can make clear just how +great is the Alumni's loss. + +"In telling of the spread of industrial education, during the past +twenty-five years, we seem not to know that the work has been +difficult and prosecuted at great sacrifice on the part of the +Tuskegee graduates who have sought to interpret Dr. Washington's +theory that economic fitness was the basis of racial growth in many +other directions. + +"The people did not take kindly to this form of education, believing +that it was the same old slavery from which we have emerged under a +new name; and the Tuskegee graduates have prosecuted their work in the +face of the misrepresentations, prejudice, opposition, and ridicule of +those of their own race who could or would not understand the spirit +of industrial education--a spirit broader and finer than the phrase +suggests. More than this: in the communities where they have worked it +has been the fashion to permit our graduates to do the difficult tasks +and carry all the burdens of leadership; but if there were any honors +to be bestowed, they were given to the graduates of other schools. + +"Being human and denied those honors and public marks of esteem which +always gladden the heart, these Tuskegee men and women have often +grown discouraged and have been tempted to lay down their work. But +like Daniel, when those gloomy hours came, they have turned their +faces toward Jerusalem, to Tuskegee, over which the great spirit of +Dr. Washington brooded and lived; and from this place he has sent back +to them whenever they have called, encouragement, counsel, and help. + +"Sometimes they have been so depressed that they have come to Tuskegee +just to see and talk with their prophet once more and to be baptized +again in his sweet and noble spirit. Many times we have seen them here +and wondered at their presence. They were here to receive comfort, +and to hear Mr. Washington say in his own convincing manner: 'It has +been my experience that if a man will do the right thing and go ahead, +everything will be all right at last.' And these men and women who +have sat at his feet and who trusted him have gone back to their work +with new and increasing strength. + +"But now Dr. Washington is gone, and the graduates of the school will +never again receive his counsel and encouragement, however gloomy +their paths may be. That is the measure of our loss. + +"And yet our Principal is not buried out yonder. It is his tired body +which is resting just beyond that wall; but he is not buried in that +grave. The real Dr. Washington is buried in the graduates who sat at +his feet and imbibed his spirit, and he lives in them. + +"King David, pondering over God's mercies and goodness to him, +thinking of how he had been taken from minding sheep and placed upon +the throne of Israel; and how God had guided and protected him and +made his name great in the earth, exclaimed reverently, one day, 'What +shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits unto me?' and he +answered his question, in part, by saying: 'I will pay my vows unto +the Lord now in the presence of all the people.' + +"If all our graduates could speak to-night, they would have me pay +their vows of gratitude for the opportunity to make blessed and +beautiful their lives, given by our great teacher; and they would have +me give public assurance of their fealty to the work for which Mr. +Washington gave his life. + +"And so, Mr. Chairman, in the name of the Alumni Association and in +the spirit of him whose body lies buried just beyond those walls, I +pledge you and the Trustees the loyalty of the Tuskegee graduates to +whatever work they are called in connection with the realization of +Dr. Washington's great purpose. I pledge you their support in the work +which you have come to Tuskegee to perform; because we are learning +self-government and wish to help prove to the world that we can pass +the succession to the Principalship here without revolution. By this +time to-morrow night another prophet will have been raised up to serve +in the room of the great founder of this school. I want you, Sir, and +the Board of Trustees to know that when the proclamation is made that +'The King is Dead!' our Alumni Association will be ready to reply: +'Long Live the King!' and we will faithfully, honestly, and loyally +support the person you elect to succeed our great father, whoever that +person may be. + +"In the furtherance of Dr. Washington's work, the graduates stand +ready to say: + + "'I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, + O'er the mountain, or plain, or sea; + I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; + I'll be what you want me to be.'" + +In the _Survey_ article, after briefly describing the ups and downs of +Mr. Washington's long fight against a breaking constitution, Mr. +Richardson says: + +"With such perpetual rallying power who could cope? A latent feeling +crept among many that he was immune to pain as he had been to insult +and abuse. You know he could steer on over an insult and never see it. +Some of us shook our heads and said, 'Why he is good for ten years +yet.' Seeing that he thus defied nerves and baffled pain, we hoped. It +was in the hour of hope that the last stroke came, and we felt that +pulling at the throat which we should have felt had he gone by sudden +accident. + +"How Tuskegee took Dr. Washington's death can probably best be +appreciated by an account of what his life meant among his teachers. +Officially he was a stern and exacting task master. A tireless worker +himself, he imposed heavy tasks upon others. In the home, however, he +had a genius for cheering by little kindnesses and by a thoughtful +word. Now he would send around a basket of vegetables from his garden, +now a cut of one of his pigs which he had killed and in which he took +great delight. + +"People who sent books and pictures to Tuskegee can hardly realize +what a double pleasure they were shipping: the pleasure they gave him +and others through him. He would have the boxes opened and books and +pictures brought in to his office. Then from all his heaps of +correspondence, from business engagements, from matters of national +importance, he would turn aside and go through these himself, culling +them out. He would sort a pile here for this family; one there for +another, according to what he considered would suit each. Many a time +one could scarcely find a place to step in his office for the +pictures and books. In all things he received, but to share. + +"Then he had a way of kicking organizations to pieces for a few +minutes. If some rural school had a creditable exhibit he would order +that the senior class, 150 strong, should be taken there, whether it +was one mile or ten miles away. He would order the class out to see +how some poor, illiterate farmer had raised a bumper crop of peas, +corn, sugar cane, and peanuts, how he surrounded himself with +conveniences, both inside and outside the home. Now he would declare a +half holiday; now he would allow the students to sleep a half-hour +later in the morning. + +"In the same way the teachers would get an outing once or twice a +year, sometimes at night, sometimes in the day. As the teachers are on +duty for both day and night school, and as the students usually rise +at 5:30 and breakfast at 6, these little breaks were windfalls. They +sent each one back to his labors with a smile. He knew the value of +change and the psychology of cheer. No wonder then that when death +closed his eyes both teachers and students went about heavy of limb +and with eyes that told too plainly what the heart felt. + +"Just as he touched the students and teachers with little thoughtful +deeds so he touched the town and State, both white and black. One +feature of his funeral illustrated how complete had been his triumph +over narrow prejudices. He was always talking about the white man up +the hollow, back in the woods. How many times have I heard him urge +picturesquely upon gatherings of teachers to 'win that old fellow +who, when you begin to talk Negro education and Negro schoolhouse, +scratches his head, leans to one side, and looks far away. That's the +man,' he would say, 'that you've got to convince that Negro education +is not a farce.' + +"Well, that man was at Booker T. Washington's funeral. He came there +on foot, on horseback, in buggies, in wagons. He was there in working +clothes, in slouched hat, with no collar. + +"During the service I chanced to stand near the end of the platform. +Pretty soon I felt a rough brushing against my elbow. As I turned I +saw a small white child, poorly clad, being thrust upon the end of the +flower-laden platform. Then followed an old white man, collarless, +wearing a dingy blue shirt and a coat somewhat tattered. After him +came two strapping fellows, apparently his sons. All grouped +themselves there and listened eagerly, freely spitting their tobacco +juice on the platform steps and on the floor. + +"How thankful would Dr. Washington have been for their presence. What +a triumph! Ten years ago those men would not stop at the school. They +cursed it, cursed the whole system and the man at the head of it. But +quietly, persistently, he had gone on with that everlasting doctrine +that service can win even the meanest heart, that an institution had +the right to survive in just so far as it dovetailed its life into the +life of all the people. Beautiful to behold, to remember forever; +there was no race and no class in the Tuskegee chapel on Wednesday +morning, November 17th; heart went out to heart that a common friend +had gone. + +"Broken as everybody is over the loss, no one is afraid. No panic as +to the future of the school disturbs the breasts of the 190 odd +teachers here. In the first place, poor as most of us are, we are +ready to suffer many a privation before we see the institution slip +back the slightest fraction of an inch. All these years it has been on +trial, on record. It has been a test, not of a mere school, but of a +race. A tacit pledge--not a word has thus far been spoken--has gone +out among us that it shall remain on record, that it shall stand here +as a breathing evidence that Negroes can bring things to pass. + +"Back of this is the unshaken faith in our Board of Trustees. I doubt +if such another board exists. It is made up of white men and black +men, of men of the North and men of the South. There is not a +figurehead among them. Though intensely engaged they go into the +details of the workings of the school, getting close to the inner +workings and to the lives of the teachers and students. + +"Finally, we are confident that the public will have a good deal to +say before Tuskegee is let die. The beaten path has been made to her +door. Her methods have not only been commended but adopted wholly or +in part both in this country and in other lands. Her use is +undisputed. She takes students almost literally out of the gutter, +puts them on their feet, and sends them out honest, peaceful, useful +citizens. This is the ideal for which Dr. Washington struggled, and +over which his life-cord snapped too soon. + +"For the same ideal the people at Tuskegee, though broken in spirit, +are willing to spend themselves; for they are confident that their +cause is just and that the world is with them." + + +THE END + + +[Illustration] + +THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS +GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKER T. WASHINGTON*** + + +******* This file should be named 24627-8.txt or 24627-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/2/24627 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. 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Washington, by Emmett J. Scott and Lyman Beecher Stowe, et al</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + hr.med { width: 45%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; + } + + ul {list-style: none;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; + font-size: 75%; text-indent: 0em; + border-top: solid gray 1px; border-bottom: solid gray 1px; + background-color: inherit; font-weight: normal; + font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; + text-decoration: none;} + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .bbox {border: solid black 2px; margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + .adbox {border: solid black 2px; margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; padding: 1em; + background-color: #FFFACD;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .hang {text-indent: -2em; margin-left: 2em;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .gesperrt {letter-spacing: .2em;} + .sm {font-size: 75%;} + .lg {font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;} + + .border img {border: 5px solid silver;} + .caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center; + margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: baseline; + position: relative; bottom: 0.4em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + + .cpoem {width: 45%; margin: 0 auto;} + + .notes {background-color: #eeeeee; color: #000; + padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; + margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Booker T. Washington, by Emmett J. Scott and +Lyman Beecher Stowe</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Booker T. Washington</p> +<p> Builder of a Civilization</p> +<p>Author: Emmett J. Scott and Lyman Beecher Stowe</p> +<p>Release Date: February 16, 2008 [eBook #24627]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKER T. WASHINGTON***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Linda Cantoni,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<p class="notes"><i>Transcriber's Note:</i><br /> +<br /> +Some illustrations have been moved so as not to break up the flow +of the text, and there are some page-number discrepancies as a result. The +original page numbers in the list of <a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS">illustrations</a> +have been preserved, but the links point to the pages on +which the illustrations actually appear in this e-text.</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<h1>Booker T. Washington</h1> + +<h2><i>Builder of a Civilization</i></h2> + + +<h2><span class="sm">By</span><br /> +Emmett J. Scott<br /> +<span class="sm">and</span><br /> +Lyman Beecher Stowe</h2> + + +<h3><i>With a Preface by Theodore Roosevelt</i></h3> + +<p class="center"><br /> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="93" height="100" alt="logo" title="logo" /> +</p> + +<h3><br /><i>Illustrated from Photographs</i></h3> + +<p class="center"><b><a href="#CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></b></p> + +<p class="center"><br /> +<b><span class="sm">Garden City<span style="margin-left: 2em">New York</span></span><br /> +Doubleday, Page & Company<br /> +<span class="sm">1918</span></b><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="med" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="sm"><i>Copyright, 1916, by</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Doubleday, Page & Company</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>All rights reserved, including that of<br /> +translation into foreign languages,<br /> +including the Scandinavian</i></span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="sm">COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE OUTLOOK PUBLISHING CO.</span><br /><br /></p> +</div> + + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><a name="FRONT" id="FRONT"></a><br /> +<img src="images/booker01.jpg" width="256" height="400" alt="BOOKER T. WASHINGTON" title="BOOKER T. WASHINGTON" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">BOOKER T. WASHINGTON</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">v</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="FOREWORD" id="FOREWORD"></a>FOREWORD</h2> + + +<p>IN THE passing of a character so unique as Dr. Booker T. Washington, +many of us, his friends, were anxious that his biography should be +written by those best qualified to do so. It is therefore a source of +gratification to us of his own race to have an account of Dr. +Washington's career set forth in a form at once accurate and readable, +such as will inspire unborn generations of Negroes and others to love +and appreciate all mankind of whatever race or color. It is especially +gratifying that this biography has been prepared by the two people in +all America best fitted, by antecedents and by intimate acquaintance +and association with Dr. Washington, to undertake it. Mr. Lyman +Beecher Stowe is the grandson of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose "Uncle +Tom's Cabin" had a very direct influence on the abolition of slavery, +and Mr. Emmett J. Scott was Dr. Washington's loyal and trusted +secretary for eighteen years.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Robert R. Moton.</span><br /> +Principal Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute.</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>August 1, 1916.</i></span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">vii</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="AUTHORS_PREFACE" id="AUTHORS_PREFACE"></a>AUTHORS’ PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>THIS is not a biography in the ordinary sense. The exhaustive "Life +and Letters of Booker T. Washington" remains still to be compiled. In +this more modest work we have simply sought to present and interpret +the chief phases of the life of this man who rose from a slave boy to +be the leader of ten millions of people and to take his place for all +time among America's great men. In fact, we have not even touched upon +his childhood, early training, and education, because we felt the +story of those early struggles and privations had been ultimately well +told in his own words in "Up from Slavery." This autobiography, +however, published as it was fifteen years before his death, brings +the story of his life only to the threshold of his greatest +achievements. In this book we seek to give the full fruition of his +life's work. Each chapter is complete in itself. Each presents a +complete, although by no means exhaustive, picture of some phase of +his life.</p> + +<p>We take no small satisfaction in the fact that we were personally +selected by Booker Washington himself for this task. He considered us +qualified to produce what he wanted: namely, a record of his struggles +and achievements at once accurate and readable, put in permanent form +for the information of the public. He believed that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">viii</a></span> such a record +could best be furnished by his confidential associate, working in +collaboration with a trained and experienced writer, sympathetically +interested in the welfare of the Negro race. This, then, is what we +have tried to do and the way we have tried to do it.</p> + +<p>We completed the first four chapters before Mr. Washington's death, +but he never read them. In fact, it was our wish, to which he agreed, +that he should not read what we had written until its publication in +book form.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Emmett J. Scott</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Lyman Beecher Stowe</span>.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">ix</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>IT IS not hyperbole to say that Booker T. Washington was a great +American. For twenty years before his death he had been the most +useful, as well as the most distinguished, member of his race in the +world, and one of the most useful, as well as one of the most +distinguished, of American citizens of any race.</p> + +<p>Eminent though his services were to the people of his own color, the +white men of our Republic were almost as much indebted to him, both +directly and indirectly. They were indebted to him directly, because +of the work he did on behalf of industrial education for the Negro, +thus giving impetus to the work for the industrial education of the +White Man, which is, at least, as necessary; and, moreover, every +successful effort to turn the thoughts of the natural leaders of the +Negro race into the fields of business endeavor, of agricultural +effort, of every species of success in private life, is not only to +their advantage, but to the advantage of the White Man, as tending to +remove the friction and trouble that inevitably come throughout the +South at this time in any Negro district where the Negroes turn for +their advancement primarily to political life.</p> + +<p>The indirect indebtedness of the White Race to Booker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">x</a></span> T. Washington +is due to the simple fact that here in America we are all in the end +going up or down together; and therefore, in the long run, the man who +makes a substantial contribution toward uplifting any part of the +community has helped to uplift all of the community. Wherever in our +land the Negro remains uneducated, and liable to criminal suggestion, +it is absolutely certain that the whites will themselves tend to tread +the paths of barbarism; and wherever we find the colored people as a +whole engaged in successful work to better themselves, and respecting +both themselves and others, there we shall also find the tone of the +white community high.</p> + +<p>The patriotic white man with an interest in the welfare of this +country is almost as heavily indebted to Booker T. Washington as the +colored men themselves.</p> + +<p>If there is any lesson, more essential than any other, for this +country to learn, it is the lesson that the enjoyment of rights should +be made conditional upon the performance of duty. For one failure in +the history of our country which is due to the people not asserting +their rights, there are hundreds due to their not performing their +duties. This is just as true of the White Man as it is of the Colored +Man. But it is a lesson even more important to be taught the Colored +Man, because the Negro starts at the bottom of the ladder and will +never develop the strength to climb even a single rung if he follow +the lead of those who dwell only upon their rights and not upon their +duties. He has a hard road to travel anyhow. He is certain to be +treated with much injustice, and although he will encounter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">xi</a></span> among +white men a number who wish to help him upward and onward, he will +encounter only too many who, if they do him no bodily harm, yet show a +brutal lack of consideration for him. Nevertheless his one safety lies +in steadily keeping in view that the law of service is the great law +of life, above all in this Republic, and that no man of color can +benefit either himself or the rest of his race, unless he proves by +his life his adherence to this law. Such a life is not easy for the +White Man, and it is very much less easy for the Black Man; but it is +even more important for the Black Man, and for the Black Man's people, +that he should lead it.</p> + +<p>As nearly as any man I have ever met, Booker T. Washington lived up to +Micah's verse, "What more doth the Lord require of thee than to do +Justice and love Mercy and walk humbly with thy God." He did justice +to every man. He did justice to those to whom it was a hard thing to +do justice. He showed mercy; and this meant that he showed mercy not +only to the poor, and to those beneath him, but that he showed mercy +by an understanding of the shortcomings of those who failed to do him +justice, and failed to do his race justice. He always understood and +acted upon the belief that the Black Man could not rise if he so acted +as to incur the enmity and hatred of the White Man; that it was of +prime importance to the well-being of the Black Man to earn the good +will of his white neighbor, and that the bulk of the Black Men who +dwell in the Southern States must realize that the White Men who are +their immediate physical neighbors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">xii</a></span> are beyond all others those whose +good will and respect it is of vital consequence that the Black Men of +the South should secure.</p> + +<p>He was never led away, as the educated Negro so often is led away, +into the pursuit of fantastic visions; into the drawing up of plans +fit only for a world of two dimensions. He kept his high ideals, +always; but he never forgot for a moment that he was living in an +actual world of three dimensions, in a world of unpleasant facts, +where those unpleasant facts have to be faced; and he made the best +possible out of a bad situation from which there was no ideal best to +be obtained. And he walked humbly with his God.</p> + +<p>To a very extraordinary degree he combined humility and dignity; and I +think that the explanation of this extraordinary degree of success in +a very difficult combination was due to the fact that at the bottom +his humility was really the outward expression, not of a servile +attitude toward any man, but of the spiritual fact that in very truth +he walked humbly with his God.</p> + +<p>Nowhere was Booker T. Washington's wisdom shown better than in the +mixture of moderation and firmness with which he took precisely the +right position as to the part the Black Man should try to take in +politics. He put the whole case in a nutshell in the following +sentences:</p> + +<p>"In my opinion it is a fatal mistake to teach the young black man and +the young white man that the dominance of the white race in the South +rests upon any other basis than absolute justice to the weaker man. It +is a mistake<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">xiii</a></span> to cultivate in the mind of any individual or group of +individuals the feeling and belief that their happiness rests upon the +misery of some one else, or their wealth upon the poverty of some one +else. I do not advocate that the Negro make politics or the holding of +office an important thing in his life. I do urge, in the interests of +fair play for everybody, that a Negro who prepares himself in +property, in intelligence, and in character to cast a ballot, and +desires to do so, should have the opportunity."</p> + +<p>In other words, while he did not believe that political activity +should play an important part among Negroes as a whole, he did believe +that in the interests of the White, as well as in the interests of the +Colored race, the upright, honest, intelligent Black Man or Colored +Man should be given the right to cast a ballot if he possessed the +qualities which, if possessed by a White Man, would make that White +Man a valuable addition to the suffrage-exercising class.</p> + +<p>No man, White or Black, was more keenly alive than Booker T. +Washington to the threat of the South, and to the whole country, and +especially to the Black Man himself, contained in the mass of +ignorant, propertyless, semi-vicious Black voters, wholly lacking in +the character which alone fits a race for self-government, who +nevertheless have been given the ballot in certain Southern States.</p> + +<p>In my many conversations and consultations with him it is, I believe, +not an exaggeration to say that one-half the time we were discussing +methods for keeping out of office, and out of all political power, the +ignorant, semi-criminal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">xiv</a></span> shiftless Black Man who, when manipulated by +the able and unscrupulous politician, Black or White, is so dreadful a +menace to our political institutions. But he felt very strongly, and I +felt no less strongly, that one of the most efficient ways of warring +against this evil type was to show the Negro that, if he turned his +back on that type, and fitted himself to be a self-respecting citizen, +doing his part in sustaining the common burdens of good citizenship, +he would be freely accorded by his White neighbors the privileges and +rights of good citizenship. Surely there can be no objection to this. +Surely there can be no serious objection thus to keep open the door of +hope for the thoroughly decent, upright, self-respecting man, no +matter what his color.</p> + +<p>In the same way, while Booker T. Washington firmly believed that the +attention of the Colored race should be riveted, not on political +life, but on success sought in the fields of honest business endeavor, +he also felt, and I agreed with him, that it was to the interest of +both races that there should be appointments to office of Black Men +whose characters and abilities were such that if they were White Men +their appointments would be hailed as being well above the average, +and creditable from every standpoint. He also felt, and I agreed with +him, that it was essential that these appointments should be made +relatively most numerous in the North—for it is worse than useless to +preach virtue to others, unless the preachers themselves practise it; +which means that the Northern communities, which pride themselves on +possessing the proper attitude<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">xv</a></span> toward the Negro, should show this +attitude by their own acts within their own borders.</p> + +<p>I profited very much by my association with Booker T. Washington. I +owed him much along many different lines. I valued greatly his +friendship and respect; and when he died I mourned his loss as a +patriot and an American.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt.</span></p> + +<p> +<i>Sagamore Hill,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>August 28, 1916.</i></span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">xvii</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table style="width: 75%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tr><td class="right" colspan="3"><span class="sm">PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><span class="smcap"><a href="#FOREWORD">Foreword</a> by Robert R. Moton</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><span class="smcap"><a href="#AUTHORS_PREFACE">Authors' Preface</a></span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><span class="smcap"><a href="#PREFACE">Preface</a> by Theodore Roosevelt</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><span class="sm">CHAPTER</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_ONE">I.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">The Man and His School in the Making</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_3'>3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWO">II.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Leader of His Race</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_19'>19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_THREE">III.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Washington: the Educator</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_57'>57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FOUR">IV.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">The Rights of the Negro</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FIVE">V.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Meeting Race Prejudice</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SIX">VI.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Getting Close to the People</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SEVEN">VII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Booker Washington and the Negro Farmer</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_164'>164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHT">VIII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Booker Washington and the Negro Business Man</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_185'>185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_NINE">IX.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Booker Washington Among His Students</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_222'>222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TEN">X.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Raising Hundreds of Thousands a Year</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_248'>248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_ELEVEN">XI.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Managing a Great Institution</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_272'>272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWELVE">XII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Washington: The Man</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_300'>300</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">xix</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table style="width: 75%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="illustrations"> +<tr><td>Booker T. Washington</td><td class="right"><a href="#FRONT"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="right"><span class="sm">FACING<br />PAGE  </span></td></tr> +<tr><td>Tuskegee in the making. Nothing delighted Mr.<br /> +Washington more than to see his students doing<br /> +the actual work of erecting the Tuskegee<br /> +Institute buildings</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_13'>12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Tuskegee Institute students laying the foundation<br /> +for one of the four Emery buildings</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_14'>14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>"His influence, like that of his school, was at first<br /> +community wide, then county wide, then State<br /> +wide, and finally nation wide"</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_17'>16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>A study in black. Note the tensity of expression<br /> +with which the group is following his each and<br /> +every word</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_32'>33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Showing some of the teams of farmers attending the<br /> +Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_59'>58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>An academic class. A problem in brick masonry</td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_62'>62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mr. Washington in characteristic pose addressing<br /> +an audience</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_136'>136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mr. Washington silhouetted against the crowd upon<br /> +one of his educational tours</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_136'>136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mr. Washington in typical pose speaking to an<br /> +audience</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_136'>136</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">xx</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td>A party of friends who accompanied Dr. Washington<br /> +on one of his educational tours</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_138'>138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>This old woman was a regular attendant at the<br /> +Tuskegee Negro Conference</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>The cosmopolitan character of the Tuskegee student<br /> +body is shown by the fact that during the<br /> +past year students have come from the foreign<br /> +countries or colonies of foreign countries indicated<br /> +by the various flags shown in this picture</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_239'>238</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>In 1906 the Tuskegee Institute celebrated its 25th<br /> +Anniversary. A group of well-known American<br /> +characters attended</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_248'>248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Some of Mr. Washington's humble friends</td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_274'>274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Soil analysis. The students are required to work<br /> +out in the laboratory the problems of the field<br /> +and the shop</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_274'>274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mr. Washington was a great believer in the sweet<br /> +potato</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_280'>280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mr. Washington had this picture especially posed<br /> +to show off to the best advantage a part of the<br /> +Tuskegee dairy herd</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_289'>290</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mr. Washington feeding his chickens with green<br /> +stuffs raised in his own garden</td><td class="right" style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href='#Page_307'>306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mr. Washington in his onion patch</td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_307'>306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mr. Washington sorting in his lettuce bed</td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_307'>306</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + +<hr /> +<h2>BOOKER T. WASHINGTON</h2> + +<h3>BUILDER OF A CIVILIZATION</h3> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_ONE" id="CHAPTER_ONE"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 1"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">ONE</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">THE MAN AND HIS SCHOOL IN THE MAKING</span></h3> + + +<p><br />IT CAME about that in the year 1880, in Macon County, Alabama, a +certain ex-Confederate colonel conceived the idea that if he could +secure the Negro vote he could beat his rival and win the seat he +coveted in the State Legislature. Accordingly, the colonel went to the +leading Negro in the town of Tuskegee and asked him what he could do +to secure the Negro vote, for Negroes then voted in Alabama without +restriction. This man, Lewis Adams by name, himself an ex-slave, +promptly replied that what his race most wanted was education and what +they most needed was industrial education, and that if he (the +colonel) would agree to work for the passage of a bill appropriating +money for the maintenance of an industrial school for Negroes, he +(Adams) would help to get for him the Negro vote and the election. +This bargain between an ex-slaveholder and an ex-slave was made and +faithfully observed on both sides, with the result that the following +year the Legislature of Alabama appropriated $2,000 a year for the +establishment of a normal and industrial school for Negroes in the +town of Tuskegee. On the recommendation of General Armstrong of +Hampton Institute a young colored man, Booker T. Washington, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> recent +graduate of and teacher at the Institute, was called from there to +take charge of this landless, buildingless, teacherless, and +studentless institution of learning.</p> + +<p>This move turned out to be a fatal mistake in the political career of +the colonel. The appellation of "nigger lover" kept him ever after +firmly wedged in his political grave. Thus, by the same stroke, was +the career of an ex-slaveholder wrecked and that of an ex-slave made. +This political blunder of a local office-seeker gave to education one +of its great formative institutions, to the Negro race its greatest +leader, and to America one of its greatest citizens.</p> + +<p>One is tempted to feel that Booker T. Washington was always popular +and successful. On the contrary, for many years he had to fight his +way inch by inch against the bitterest opposition, not only of the +whites, but of his own race. At that time there was scarcely a Negro +leader of any prominence who was not either a politician or a +preacher. In the introduction to "Up from Slavery," Mr. Walter H. Page +says of his first experience many years ago with Booker Washington: "I +had occasion to write to him, and I addressed him as 'The Rev. Booker +T. Washington.' In his reply there was no mention of my addressing him +as a clergyman. But when I had occasion to write to him again, and +persisted in making him a preacher, his second letter brought a +postscript: 'I have no claim to Rev.' I knew most of the colored men +who at that time had become prominent as leaders of their race, but I +had not then known one who was neither a politician nor a preacher; +and I had not heard of the head of an important colored school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> who +was not a preacher. 'A new kind of man in the colored world,' I said +to myself—'a new kind of man surely if he looks upon his task as an +economic one instead of a theological one."</p> + +<p>And just because Booker Washington did look "upon his task as an +economic one instead of a theological one" he was at first regarded +with suspicion by most of the preachers of his race and by some openly +denounced as irreligious and the founder of an irreligious school. +Like so many men of greater opportunity in all ages and places, many +of these Negro ministers confounded theology and religion. Finding no +theology about Booker Washington or his school, they assumed there was +no religion. Some of them even went so far as to warn their +congregations from the pulpit to keep away from this Godless man and +his Godless school. To this formidable and at first almost universal +opposition from the leaders among his own people was added the more +natural opposition of the neighboring white men who assumed that he +was "spoiling the niggers" by education. A youth with a high collar, +loud necktie, checked suit, and patent-leather shoes, dangling a cane, +smoking a cigarette, and loitering impudently on a street corner was +their mental picture of an educated Negro.</p> + +<p>Among the original group of thirty students with whom Mr. Washington +started Tuskegee Institute on an old plantation equipped with a +kitchen, a stable, and a hen-house, was a now elderly man who to-day +has charge of the spacious and beautiful grounds of the Institute. He +was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> approaching middle age when he entered this original Tuskegee +class. The following is a paraphrase of his account of the early days +of the school: "After we'd been out on the plantation three or four +weeks Mr. Washington came into the schoolroom and said: 'To-morrow +we're going to have a chopping bee. All of you that have an axe, or +can borrow one, must bring it. I will try and provide those of you who +cannot furnish an axe. We will dismiss school early to-morrow +afternoon and start for the chopping bee.' So we came to school next +day with the axes, all of us that could get them; we were all excited +and eager for that chopping bee, and we were all discussing what it +would be like, because we had never been to one before. So in the +afternoon Mr. Washington said it was time for that chopping bee, so he +put his axe over his shoulder and led us to the woods and put us to +work cutting the trees and clearing the land. He went right in and +worked harder and faster and handled his axe better than any of us. +After a while we found that a chopping bee, as he called it, was no +different from just plain cutting down trees and clearing the land. +There wasn't anything new about that—we all had had all we wanted of +it. Some of the boys said they didn't come to school to cut down trees +and clear land, but they couldn't say they were too good for that kind +of work when Mr. Washington himself was at it harder than any of them. +So he kept with us for some days till everybody had his idea. Then he +went off to do something more important.</p> + +<p>"Now, in those days he used to go off every Saturday<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> morning and he +wouldn't come back till Monday morning. He'd travel all round the +country drumming up students for the school and telling the people to +send their children. And on Sunday he'd get the preachers to let him +get up in their pulpits and tell the people about the school after +they had finished preaching. And the preachers would warn their people +against him and his school, because they said it wasn't Methodist, and +it wasn't Baptist, and it wasn't Presbyterian, and it wasn't +Episcopalian, and it wasn't Christian. And they told the people to +keep their children away from that Godless man and his school. But +when he came along and asked to speak to the people they had to leave +him, just as everybody always did—let him do just what he wanted to +do. And when they heard him, the people, they didn't pay no attention +to the preachers, they just sent their children as fast as ever they +could contrive it.</p> + +<p>"Now, in those days Mr. Washington didn't have a horse, nor a mule, +nor a wagon, and he wanted to cover more country on those trips than +he could afoot, so he'd just go out in the middle of the road and when +some old black man would come along driving his mule wagon he'd stop +him and talk with him, and tell him about the school and what it was +going to do for the black folks, and then he'd say: 'Now, Uncle, you +can help by bringing your wagon and mule round at nine o'clock +Saturday morning for me to go off round the country telling the people +about the school. Now, remember, Uncle Jake, please be here promptly +at nine,' and the old man would say, 'Yes, boss,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> I sure will be +here!' That was how he did it—when he needed anything he'd go out and +put his hand on it. First, he could put his hand on anything he wanted +round the town; then, he could put his hand on anything he wanted all +over the county; then he could put his hand on anything he wanted all +over the State; and then finally they do tell me he could put his hand +on anything he wanted away up to New York.</p> + +<p>"In those days, after we came to live here on the 'plantation,' I used +to take the wheelbarrow and go round to the office when Mr. Washington +opened up the mail in the morning, and if there was money in the mail +then I could go along to the town with the wheelbarrow and get +provisions, and if there was no money then there was no occasion to go +to town, and we'd just eat what we had left. Most of the white +storekeepers wouldn't give us credit, and they didn't want a 'nigger +school' here anyhow. Times have changed. Now those storekeepers get a +large proportion of their trade here at the Institute, and if there +should be any talk of moving, they'd just get up and fight to the last +to keep us here and keep our trade.</p> + +<p>"And in those days the Negro preachers, or the most of them, and the +white folks, or the most of them, were always trying to dispute with +Mr. Washington and quarrel with him, but he just kept his mouth shut +and went ahead. He kept pleasant and he wouldn't dispute with them, +nor argue with them, nor quarrel with them. When the white folks would +come round and tell him he was 'spoiling good niggers by education,' +he would just ask them to wait<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> patiently and give him time to show +them what the right kind of education would do. And when the colored +preachers would come round and tell him he was no Christian, and his +school had no religion, he would ask them to just wait and see if the +boys and girls were any less Christian because of the education they +were getting. But whoever came along and whatever happened Mr. +Washington just kept his mouth shut and went ahead.</p> + +<p>"After two years of school I went out and rented some land and planted +cotton, and just about time to harvest my crop Mr. Washington sent for +me one Saturday and said: 'I need you. I want you to come back and +work for the school on the farm. I want you to start in Monday +morning.' When I told him about my cotton crop just ready to be picked +he said: 'Can't help that, we need you. You'll have to arrange with +your neighbors to harvest your crop for you.'"</p> + +<p>To the inquiry, "Well, did you come?" the old man replied, "Of course +I did. When Mr. Washington said come I came same as everybody did what +he told them. I got a neighbor to harvest my crop and I lost money on +it, but I came to work that Monday morning more than thirty years ago, +and I've been here ever since."</p> + +<p>The idea of not doing what Mr. Washington wanted him to do, or even +arguing the matter, was evidently inconceivable to this old man. He +had always obeyed Mr. Washington just as he had obeyed the laws of +nature by sleeping and eating. That is the kind of control which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> +Booker Washington always exercised over his fellow-workers. He +accepted their implicit obedience as naturally and simply as they gave +it.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Page also points out in the introduction to "Up from Slavery," +however humble Mr. Washington's origin may have been, what might be +termed his intellectual pedigree was of the highest and finest. He may +be called, in fact, the spiritual grandson of the great Dr. Mark +Hopkins of Williams College. Just as Samuel Armstrong was perhaps the +most receptive of Mark Hopkins' pupils, so Booker Washington became +the most receptive pupil of Samuel Armstrong. As says Mr. Page: "To +the formation of Mr. Washington's character, then, went the missionary +zeal of New England, influenced by one of the strongest personalities +in modern education, and the wide-reaching moral earnestness of +General Armstrong himself." In his autobiography Mr. Washington thus +describes General Armstrong's influence and the impression he made +upon him: "It has been my fortune to meet personally many of what are +called great characters, both in Europe and America, but I do not +hesitate to say that I never met any man who, in my estimation, was +the equal of General Armstrong. Fresh from the degrading influences of +the slave plantation and the coal mines, it was a rare privilege for +me to be permitted to come into direct contact with such a character +as General Armstrong. I shall always remember that the first time I +went into his presence he made the impression upon me of being a +perfect man; I was made to feel that there was something about him +that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> was superhuman. It was my privilege to know the General +personally from the time I entered Hampton till he died, and the more +I saw of him the greater he grew in my estimation. One might have +removed from Hampton all the buildings, classrooms, teachers, and +industries, and given the men and women there the opportunity of +coming into daily contact with General Armstrong, and that alone would +have been a liberal education. (This recalls President Garfield's +definition of a university when he said, 'my idea of a university is a +log with Mark Hopkins on one end and a boy on the other.') The older I +grow, the more I am convinced that there is no education which one can +get from books and costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be +gotten from contact with great men and women. Instead of studying +books so constantly, how I wish that our schools and colleges might +learn to study men and things!"</p> + +<p>When the young man imbued with these ideas and fresh from these +influences found himself responsible for the destinies of a +studentless, teacherless, buildingless, and landless school it is +significant how he went to work to supply these manifold deficiencies. +First, he found a place in which to open the school—a dilapidated +shanty church, the A.M.E. Zion Church for Negroes, in the town of +Tuskegee. Next he went about the surrounding countryside, found out +exactly under what conditions the people were living and what their +needs were, and advertised the school among the class of people whom +he wanted to have attend it. After returning from these ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span>periences +he said: "I saw more clearly than ever the wisdom of the system which +General Armstrong had inaugurated at Hampton. To take the children of +such people as I had been among for a month, and each day give them a +few hours of mere book education, I felt would be almost a waste of +time."</p> + +<p>Six weeks after the school was opened, on July 4, 1881, in the shanty +Methodist Church with thirty students, Miss Olivia A. Davidson entered +the school, the enrollment of which had already grown to fifty, as +assistant teacher. She subsequently became Mrs. Washington. The school +then had students, a teacher, and a building such as it was, but it +had no land. It was succeeding in so far as teaching these eager and +knowledge hungry young people what could be learned from books, but +little more. Mr. Washington found that about 85 per cent. of the +Negroes of the Gulf States lived on the land and were dependent upon +agriculture for their livelihood. Hence, he reasoned that it was of +supreme importance to teach them how to live on the land to the best +advantage. In order to teach the students how to live on the land the +school itself must have land. About this time an old plantation near +the town of Tuskegee came upon the market. The school had no money. +Mr. Washington had no money, and the $2,000 a year from the State +Treasury could be used only for the payment of teachers. Accordingly +Mr. Washington personally borrowed the $250, from a personal friend, +necessary to secure title to the land, and moved the school from the +shanty church to the comparative comfort of four aged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> cabins +formerly used as the dining-room, kitchen, stable, and hen-house of +the plantation.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/tuskegee01.jpg" width="500" height="283" alt="Tuskegee in the making" title="Tuskegee in the making" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Tuskegee in the making. Nothing delighted Mr. +Washington more than to see his students doing the actual work of +erecting the Tuskegee Institute buildings. A group of students raising +the roof on one of the buildings.</p> + +<p><br />And as soon as they were established in their new quarters he +organized the "chopping bee" already described and cleared some of the +land so that it could be used for crops. He did not clear and plant +this land to give his students agricultural training. He did it for +the purpose that all land was originally cleared and planted—to get +food. He, of course, realized that the educational content of this +work was great—greater than any possible textbook exercises in the +classroom. He then and there began the long and difficult task of +teaching his people that physical work, and particularly farm work, if +rightly done was education, and that education was work. To secure the +acceptance of this truth by a race only recently emancipated from over +two hundred years of unrequited toil—a race that had always regarded +freedom from the necessity for work as an indication of +superiority—was not a hopeful task. To them education was the +antithesis of work. It was the magic elixir which emancipated all +those fortunate enough to drink of it from the necessity for work.</p> + +<p>He also began to emphasize at this time his familiar dictum that +learning to do the common things of life in an uncommon way was an +essential part of real education. Probably the reverse of this dictum, +namely, learning to do the uncommon things of life in a common +way—would have more nearly corresponded to the popular conception of +education among most Negroes and many whites.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington later developed a brickyard where,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> after a series of +failures sufficient to convince any ordinary man of the hopelessness +of the enterprise, they finally succeeded in baking creditable bricks +which were used by the students in the construction of buildings for +the school. He did not start this brickyard for the purpose of +vocational training any more than he started the farm for agricultural +training. He started it because they needed bricks with which to +build buildings in which to live, just as he started the farm to raise +food upon which to live. He saw to it, however, that the brickyard was +used as an instrument of education and was never allowed to degenerate +into a mere brickyard and nothing more, just as he saw to it that the +farm was used as a means of education and was not allowed to +degenerate into a mere farm and nothing more. It was even more +difficult to persuade the students that the hard, heavy, dirty work of +the brickyard was education than it had been to persuade them that +farm work was education. Mr. Washington wasted no time in arguing this +point, however, but merely insisted that without bricks they could not +put up proper buildings, and that without buildings they could not +have such a school as they must have not only for themselves but for +their race.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/tuskegee02.jpg" width="500" height="315" alt="Laying the foundation" title="Laying the foundation" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Tuskegee Institute students laying the foundation for +one of the four Emery buildings—boys' dormitories.</p> + +<p><br />So this originally landless, buildingless, studentless, and +teacherless school came eventually to have all four of these obvious +requisites, but it still lacked a fundamental requirement for the +effective fulfillment of its purpose. It lacked a boarding department +where the students might learn to live. In his tours among the people +Mr. Washington had found the great majority in the plantation +dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>tricts living on fat pork and corn bread, and sleeping in +one-room cabins. They planted nothing but cotton, bought their food at +the nearest village or town market instead of raising it, and lived +under conditions where the fundamental laws of hygiene and decent +social intercourse were both unknown and impossible of application. +The young men and women from such homes must be taught how to live in +houses with more than one room, how to keep their persons and their +surroundings clean, how to sleep in a bed between sheets, how not only +to raise but to prepare, serve, and eat a healthful variety of proper +food at regular and stated intervals, to say nothing of a trade by +which to maintain themselves both during their course and after +graduation as well as the usual book learning of the ordinary school. +Obviously they could not be taught these things unless they lived day +and night on the school grounds instead of boarding about with people +whose standards of living were very little if at all higher than those +of their homes. Accordingly volunteers were called for, and the +students made an excavation under their new brick building which was +made into a basement kitchen and dining-room. As Mr. Washington says +in "Up from Slavery," "We had nothing but the students and their +appetites with which to begin a boarding department." As soon as this +boarding department was established it became possible to influence +directly the lives of the students during the entire twenty-four hours +of the day. From then on each student was required to have and to use +a toothbrush. Mr. Washington has since remarked that, in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> opinion, +the toothbrush is the most potent single instrument of civilization. +Then, too, it was possible for him to begin to enforce this injunction +taken from one of his now well-known Sunday night talks, "Make a study +of the preparation of food. See to it that a certain ceremony, a +certain importance, be attached to the partaking of the food——" This +exhortation sounds so commonplace as to be scarcely noticed by the +average reader, but just put yourself in the place of one of these +boys or girls who came from a one-room cabin and realize what a +profoundly revolutionary, even sensational, injunction it is! To the +boy or girl who had snatched a morsel of food here, there, or anywhere +when prompted by the gnawings of hunger, who had never sat down to a +regular meal, who had never partaken of a meal placed upon a table +with or without ceremony—imagine what it meant to such a boy or girl +"to see to it that a certain ceremony, a certain importance, be +attached to the partaking of the food"—not on special occasions but +at each one of the three meals of each day!</p> + +<p>Finally it came about that this school which had started with a paltry +$2,000 a year, a great need, and the invincible determination of one +man, came to have land, buildings, teachers, students, and even a +boarding department. But in Mr. Washington's view there was still a +great fundamental lack in their work. They were doing nothing directly +to help those less fortunate than themselves—those about them who +could not come and enjoy the advantages of the school. Mr. Washington +held that as soon as an individual got hold of anything as useful +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> desirable as education he should take immediate means to hand +it on to the greatest possible number of those who needed it. He had +no patience with those persons who would climb the tree of knowledge +and then pull the ladder up after them.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/booker02.jpg" width="254" height="400" alt="BOOKER T. WASHINGTON" title="BOOKER T. WASHINGTON" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">BOOKER T. WASHINGTON<br /> +<br /> +"His influence, like that of his school, was at first community wide, +then county wide, then state wide, and finally nation wide."</p> + +<p><br />He and his teachers then began to go out on Sundays and give the +people homely talks on how to improve their living conditions. They +encouraged the farmers to come to the school farm and learn how to +grow a variety of crops to supplement the cotton crop which was their +sole reliance. They relieved the distress of individual families. Mrs. +Washington gathered together in an old loft the farmers' wives and +daughters who were in the habit of loafing about the village of +Tuskegee on Saturday afternoons and formed them into a woman's club +for the improvement of the living conditions in their homes and +communities. Mr. Washington and his teachers went right on to the +farms and into the homes, and into the churches and the schools, and +everywhere showed, for the most part by concrete object-lessons, how +they could make their farms more productive, their homes more +comfortable, their schools more useful, and their church services more +inspiring. All this was done not with an idea of starting an extension +department or a social service department, but merely because these +people needed help, and Mr. Washington knew that both teachers and +students would help themselves in helping them. Finally, chiefly +through the efforts of Mrs. Washington, a model country school was +established in the district adjoining the Institute's property. This +school is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> a farm home where the young teacher and his wife, both +graduates of Tuskegee, teach the boys and girls who come to them each +day how to live on a farm—teach them by practice and object-lesson as +well as by precept. They follow the ordinary country school +curriculum, but that is a small and relatively unimportant part of +what this school gives its pupils. Then, too, the teachers of Tuskegee +early started campaigns looking to the extending of the school terms +throughout Macon County and the adjoining counties from three to five +months, as was customary, to nine months.</p> + +<p>And this work of Tuskegee beyond its own borders grew as constantly in +volume and extent as the work within its borders, so that Tuskegee +soon became the vital force—the yeast that was raising the level of +life and well-being throughout, first, the town and neighborhood of +Tuskegee, then the County of Macon, then the surrounding counties and +the State of Alabama; and finally, in conjunction with its mother, +Hampton, and its children situated at strategic points throughout the +South, the entire Negro people of the South, and indirectly the whole +nation.</p> + +<p>And as the school grew, so grew the man whose life was its embodiment. +It is impossible to think of Booker Washington and Tuskegee +separately. Just as he typified Tuskegee, so Tuskegee typified him. +Just as he made the school, so the school made him. His influence, +like that of his school, was at first community wide, then county +wide, then State wide, and finally nation wide.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_TWO" id="CHAPTER_TWO"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 2"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">TWO</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">LEADER OF HIS RACE</span></h3> + + +<p><br />IN 1895, fourteen years after the founding of Tuskegee Institute, +Booker T. Washington was selected to represent his race at the opening +of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. +On this occasion he mounted the platform, to make the first address +which any member of his race had ever made before any representative +body of Southern men and women, as an obscure but worthy young colored +man who had commended himself to a few thinking persons by building up +an excellent industrial school for his people. He came off that +platform amid scenes of almost hysterical enthusiasm and was +thenceforth proclaimed as the leader of his race, the Moses of his +people, and one of America's great men.</p> + +<p>In this epoch-making speech Booker Washington had presented a solution +of an apparently insoluble problem. He had offered a platform upon +which, as Clark Howell said in the Atlanta <i>Constitution</i>, "both +races, blacks and whites, could stand with full justice to each." In +the course of the speech he told this story: "A ship lost at sea for +many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the +unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: 'Water, water; we die of +thirst!' The answer from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> friendly vessel at once came back: 'Cast +down your bucket where you are.' A second time the signal, 'Water, +water, send us water!' ran up from the distressed vessel, and was +answered: 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' And a third and +fourth signal for water was answered, 'Cast down your bucket where you +are.' The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the +injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, +sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River." He then appealed +to his own people to "cast down their buckets where they were" by +making friends with their white neighbors in every manly way, by +training themselves where they were in agriculture, in mechanics, in +commerce, instead of trying to better their condition by migration. +And finally to the Southern white people he appealed "to cast down +their buckets where they were" by using and training the Negroes whom +they knew rather than seeking to import foreign laborers whom they did +not know.</p> + +<p>When he reached the crux and climax of the speech—the delicate matter +of the relations between the races, socially—he held up his right +hand with his fingers outstretched and said: "In all things that are +purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the +hand in all things essential to mutual progress." At this remark the +audience went wild! Ladies stood on their chairs and waved their +handkerchiefs, while men threw up their hats, danced, and catcalled. +An old ante-bellum Negro, who had been sitting crosslegged in one of +the aisles, wept tears of pride<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> and joy as he swayed from side to +side. By this statement, with what had led up to it, Booker Washington +captured the allegiance of all really representative Southern whites, +and by consistently adhering to this position he, in an +ever-increasing degree, won and held their allegiance till the end.</p> + +<p>Frederick Douglass, the great leader of his race during the closing +days of slavery, during the War and the Reconstruction period, had +died only a few months before. Everywhere, by leading whites, as well +as blacks, Washington was acclaimed as the successor of Douglass—the +new leader of the Negro race. One of the first colored men so to +acclaim him was Emmett J. Scott, who was then editing a Negro +newspaper in Houston, Texas, and little realized that he was to become +the most intimate associate of the new leader. In an editorial Mr. +Scott said of this address: "Without resort to exaggeration, it is but +simple justice to call the address great. It was great! Great, in that +it exhibited the speaker's qualities of head and heart; great in that +he could and did discriminately recognize conditions as they affect +his people, and greater still in the absolute modesty, self-respect, +and dignity with which he presented a platform upon which, as Clark +Howell, of the Atlanta <i>Constitution</i> says: 'both races, blacks and +whites, can stand with full justice to each.'" Perhaps the most +remarkable feature of Booker Washington's leadership was that from +that time on he never deviated one hair's breadth in word or deed from +the platform laid down in this brief address.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span></p> + +<p>It was not to be expected, however, that such a radically new note in +Negro leadership could be struck without some discord. As was +perfectly natural, some more or less prominent Negroes, whose mental +processes followed the lines of cleavage between the races engendered +by the embittering experiences of the Reconstruction period, looked +with suspicion upon a Negro leader who had won the approbation of the +South, of leading white citizens, press, and public. In the days of +slavery it was a frequent custom on large plantations to use one of +the slaves as a kind of stool pigeon to spy upon the others and report +their misdeeds. Naturally such persons were hated and despised and +looked upon as traitors to their race. Hence, it came about that the +praise of a white man was apt to throw suspicion upon the racial +loyalty of a black man. This habit of mind, like all mental habits, +long survived the system and circumstances which occasioned it. +Therefore, it was inevitable that the fact that the white press +throughout the South rang with his praises for days and weeks after +the sensationally enthusiastic reception of his speech at the +exposition should not be accepted as a desirable endorsement of the +new leader by at least a few of his own people.</p> + +<p>A more or less conspicuous colored preacher summed up this slight +undertow of dissent when he said: "I want to pay my respects next to a +colored man. He is a great man, too, but he isn't our Moses, as the +white people are pleased to call him. I allude to Booker T. +Washington. He has been with the white people so long that he has +learned to throw sop with the rest. He made a speech at Atlanta the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> +other day, and the newspapers of all the large cities praised it and +called it the greatest speech ever delivered by a colored man. When I +heard that, I said: 'There must be something wrong with it, or the +white people would not be praising it so.' I got the speech and read +it. Then I said, 'Ah, here it is,' and I read his words, 'the colored +people do not want social equality.' (This man's interpretation of +this sentence in the speech, "The wisest among my race understand that +the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, +and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will +come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather +than of artificial forcing.") I tell you that is a lie. We do want +social equality. Why, don't you want your manhood recognized? Then Mr. +Washington said that our emancipation and enfranchisement were +untimely and a mistake; that we were not ready for it. (Naturally, Mr. +Washington said no such thing.) What did he say that for but to tickle +the palates of the white people? Oh, yes, he was shrewd. He will get +many hundreds of dollars for his school by it."</p> + +<p>Let it not be thought that this attitude represented any large or +important body of opinion among the Negroes. The great majority both +of the leaders and the rank and file enthusiastically accepted both +the new leader and his new kind of leadership. The small minority, +however, holding the view of the preacher quoted, continued to cause +Booker Washington some annoyance, which, although continuously +lessening, persisted in some de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span>gree throughout his life. This +numerically small and individually unimportant element of the Negroes +in America would hardly warrant even passing mention except that the +always carping and sometimes bitter criticisms of these persons are +apt to confuse the well-wishers of the race who do not understand the +situation.</p> + +<p>The Negroes holding this point of view are sometimes pleased to refer +to themselves as the Talented Tenth. They are largely city dwellers +who have had more or less of what they term "higher education"—Latin, +Greek, Theology, and the like. A number of these persons make all or a +part of their living by publicly bewailing the wrongs and injustices +of their race and demanding their redress by immediate means. Mr. +Washington's emphasis upon the advantages of Negroes in America and +the debt of gratitude which they owe to the whites, who have helped +them to make more progress in fifty years than any other race ever +made in a like period, is naturally very annoying to this type of +person. In spite of their constant abuse of him Mr. Washington some +years ago agreed to confer with the leaders of this faction to see if +a program could not be devised through which all could work together +instead of at cross purposes. In spite of the fact that the chief +exponent of this group opened the first meeting with a bitter attack +upon Mr. Washington, such a program was adopted, to which, before the +conferences were over, all duly and amicably agreed to adhere. Some of +the more restless spirits among the leaders of the Talented Tenth +soon, however, broke their pledges, repu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span>diated the whole arrangement, +and started in as before to denounce Mr. Washington and those who +thought and acted with him.</p> + +<p>After the Atlanta speech Mr. Washington's task was a dual one. While +the active head of his great and rapidly growing institution, he was +also the generally accepted leader of his race. It is with his +leadership of his race that we are concerned in this chapter. His +duties in this capacity were vast and ill defined, and his +responsibility exceedingly heavy. He said, himself, that when he first +came to be talked of as the leader of his race he was somewhat at a +loss to know what was expected of him in that capacity. His tasks in +this direction, however, were thrust upon him so thick and fast that +he had not long to remain in this state of mind. After the Atlanta +speech he was in almost daily contact with what was befalling his +people in all parts of the country and to some extent all over the +world. Through his press clipping service, supplemented by myriads of +letters and personal reports, practically every event of any +significance to his race came to his notice. When he heard of rioting, +lynching, or serious trouble in any community he sent a message of +advice, encouragement, or warning to the leading Negroes of the +locality and sometimes to the whites whom he knew to be interested in +the welfare of the Negroes. When the trouble was sufficiently serious +to warrant it he went in person to the scene. When he heard of a Negro +winning a prize at a county fair, or being placed in some position of +unusual trust and distinction, he wrote him a letter of +con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span>gratulation and learned the circumstances so that he might cite +the incident by way of encouragement to others.</p> + +<p>After the riots in Atlanta, Georgia, some years ago, when infuriated +white mobs foiled in their efforts to lynch a Negro murderer, burned, +killed, and laid waste right and left in the Negro section of the +town, Mr. Washington, who was in the North at the time, boarded the +first train for the city, arrived just after the bloody scenes, +gathered together his frightened people amid the smoking ruins of +their homes, soothed, calmed, and cheered them. He then went to the +leading city officials, secured from them a promise of succor for the +stricken people and protection against further attack. Next he went to +the Governor of the State, secured his sympathy and coöperation, and +with him organized a conference of leading State and city officials +and other representative men who there and then mapped out a program +tending to prevent the recurrence of such race riots—a program which +up to the present time has successfully fulfilled its purpose. It is +characteristic of Mr. Washington's methods that he turned this +disaster into an ultimate blessing for the very community that was +afflicted.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington was the kind of leader who kept very close to the plain +people. He knew their every-day lives, their weaknesses, their +temptations. To use a slang phrase, he knew exactly what they "were up +against" whether they lived in country or city. Within a comparatively +short period before his death he addressed two audiences as widely +separated by distance and environ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span>ment as the farmers gathered +together for the first Negro Fair of southwestern Georgia at Albany, +Georgia, and five thousand Negro residents of New York City assembled +in the Harlem Casino. He told those Georgia farmers how much land they +owned and to what extent it was mortgaged, how much land they leased, +how much cotton they raised, and how much of other crops they raised, +or, rather, did not raise; how many mules and hogs they owned, and how +they could with profit increase their ownership in mules and hogs; he +told them how many drug stores, grocery stores, and banks in the State +and county were owned by Negroes; and then, switching from the general +to the particular, he described the daily life of the ordinary, +easy-going tenant farmer of the locality. He pictured what he saw when +he came out of his unpainted house in the morning: that gate off the +hinges, that broken window-pane with an old coat stuck into it, that +cotton planted right up to the doors with no room left for a garden, +and no garden; and, worse than all, the uncomfortable knowledge of +debts concealed from the hard-working wife and mother. Then he +pictured what that same man's place might be and should become.</p> + +<p>It was once said of a certain eminent preacher that his logic was on +fire. It might be said of Booker Washington that his statistics were +on fire. He marshalled them in such a way that they were dynamic and +stirring instead of static and paralyzing, as we all know them to our +sorrow. It so happened that Mr. Washington had never before been in +southwestern Georgia. After his speech one old farmer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> was heard to +say as he shook his head: "I don't understan' it! Booker T. Washington +he ain't never ben here befo', yit he knows mo' 'bout dese parts an' +mo' 'bout us den what eny of us knows ourselves." This old man did not +know that one of Mr. Washington's most painstaking and efficient +assistants, Mr. Monroe N. Work, the editor of the <i>Negro Year Book</i>, +devoted much of his time to keeping his chief provided with this +startlingly accurate information about his people in every section of +the United States.</p> + +<p>On this occasion there were on the platform with Mr. Washington and +the officials of the fair the Mayor of Albany and members of the City +Council, while in the audience were several hundred whites on one side +of the centre aisle and twice as many blacks on the other. And Mr. +Washington would alternately address himself to his white and black +audience. He would, for instance, turn to the white men and tell them +that he had never known a particularly successful black man who could +not trace his original success to the aid or encouragement he had +received in one form or another from a white friend. He would tell +them that without their assistance his race could never have made more +progress in the last fifty years in this country than any similar +group of people had ever made in a like period of time. After he had +raised the white section of his audience to a high degree of +self-congratulatory complaisance he would suddenly shift the tenor of +his remarks and ask them why they should mar this splendid record by +discriminating against the weaker race in matters of education, by +destroying their confidence in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> justice of the courts through mob +violence, and by the numerous small, mean ways in which race prejudice +shows itself and retards and discourages the upward struggle of a +weaker people. As he proceeded along these lines one could see the +self-congratulatory expression fade from the faces of his white +listeners.</p> + +<p>He would next turn to his own people and tell them of their phenomenal +progress since emancipation and of the great and essential part they +had played in the upbuilding of the South—left prostrate by the Civil +War. One could see their eager, upturned faces glow with pride and +self-satisfaction. But suddenly he would shift the tone of his +comments and tell them how sadly those of them who were indolent and +shiftless and unreliable and vicious were retarding the upward +struggles of the industrious and self-respecting majority and how they +were perpetuating the prejudice against the whole race. And as he +pictured this seamy side of the situation one could see the glow of +pride gradually wilt from the myriads of swarthy upturned faces.</p> + +<p>Hardly less successful than his use of statistics was his use of the +much-abused funny story. He never told a story, however good, for its +own sake. He told it only when it would most effectively drive home +whatever point he happened to be making. In this same speech he was +saying that a Negro who is lazy and unreliable and does nothing to +accumulate property or improve his earning capacity deserves no +consideration from whites or blacks and has no right to say that the +color line is drawn against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> him. By way of illustration he told this +story: "A shiftless Southern poor white asked a self-respecting old +black man for three cents with which to pay his ferry fare across a +river. The old black man replied: I's sorry not to commerdate yer, +boss, but der fac' is dat a man what ain't got three cents is jest as +bad off on one side ob der ribber as der udder.'"</p> + +<p>At another point in this speech he was telling his people not to be +discouraged because their race has less to point to than other races +in the way of past achievements. He said that after all it was the +future that was of vital concern and not the past, and that the future +was theirs to a peculiar degree because they were a young race. And to +illustrate their situation he told of meeting old Aunt Caroline one +evening striding along with a basket on her head. He said, "Where are +you going, Aunt Caroline?" And she replied: "Lor' bless yer, Mister +Washin'ton, I dun bin where I's er goin'." "And so," he concluded, +"some of the races of the earth have dun bin where dey was er goin'!" +but fortunately the Negro race was not among them.</p> + +<p>In making the point that, in spite of race prejudice, the handicaps to +which his people were subjected in the South were after all +superficial and did not interfere with their chance to work and earn a +living, he told the experience of an old Negro who was accompanying +him on one of his Southern educational tours. At a certain city they +were obliged to wait several hours between trains, so this old man +took advantage of the opportunity to stroll about and see the sights +of the place. After a while he pulled out his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> watch and found he had +barely time to get back to the station before the train was due to +leave. Accordingly he rushed to a hack stand and called out to the +first driver he came to, who happened to be a white man: "Hurry up an' +take me to the station, I's gotta get the 4:32 train!" To which the +white hack driver replied: "I ain't never drove a nigger in my hack +yit an' I ain't goin' ter begin now. You can git a nigger driver ter +take ye down!"</p> + +<p>To this the old colored man replied with perfect good nature: "All +right, my frien', we won't have no misunderstanding or trouble; I'll +tell you how we'll settle it: you jest hop in on der back seat an' do +der ridin' and I'll set in front an' do der drivin'." In this way they +reached the station amicably and the old man caught his train. Like +this old Negro, Mr. Washington always devoted his energies to catching +the train, and it made little difference to him whether he sat on the +front or the back seat.</p> + +<p>A few months later, to the five thousand people of his own race in the +Harlem Casino in New York City, he described their daily lives, their +problems, perplexities, and temptations in terms as homely, as +picturesque, and as vivid as he used in talking to the Georgia +farmers. He urged them, just as he did the farmers, to stop moving +about and to settle down—"to stop <i>staying</i> here and there and +everywhere and begin to <i>live</i> somewhere." He urged them to leave the +little mechanical job of window washing, or what not, and go into +business for themselves, even if they could only afford a few +newspapers or peanuts to start with. He told of a certain New York +street where he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> found all the people on one side of a row of push +carts were selling something, while all the people on the other side +were buying something. Those that were selling were white people, +while those that were buying were colored people. That, he said, was a +color line they had drawn themselves. He reminded them of the high +cost of living, and by way of example he commented upon the expense of +having to buy so many shoes. He said: "Up here you not only have to +have good, expensive shoes, but you have to wear them all the time." +And then he reminded them how back in the country down South, before +they came to the city, they would buy a pair of shoes at Christmas and +after Christmas put them away in the "chist" and not take them out +again until "big meeting day," and then wear them only in the meeting +and not walking to and from the church. And as he concluded with the +words, "Under those conditions shoes last a long time," people all +over the audience were chuckling and nudging and winking at one +another as people will when characteristic incidents in their past +lives are graphically recalled to them.</p> + +<p>Then he described the almost innumerable temptations to spend money +which the city offers. Some of the store windows are so enticing that, +as he said, "the dollars almost jump out of your pockets as you go by +on the sidewalk." "Then you men working for rich men here in the city +smell the smoke of so many twenty-five-cent cigars that after a while +you feel as though you must smoke twenty-five-cent cigars. You don't +stop to think that when the grandfathers of those very men first came +from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> the country a hundred years ago they smoked two-for-five +cigars." Then he told of a family he had found living on the tenth +story of an electric-lighted, steam-heated apartment house with +elevator service, and this very family only two years before was +living in a two-room cabin in the Yazoo Valley on the Mississippi +bottoms. And he commented: "Now, that family's in danger. No people +can change as much and as fast as that without great danger!"</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/study.jpg" width="500" height="317" alt="A study in black" title="A study in black" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">A study in black. Note the tensity of expression with +which the group is following his each and every word.</p> + +<p><br />Next he touched on the high rents and said: "You mothers know that +sooner or later you have to take in roomers to help pay that rent, and +after a while you take in Tom, Dick, or Harry, or anybody who's got +the money regardless of who or what they are, and you mothers know the +danger that spells for your daughters." (At this point he was +interrupted by a chorus of "amens" from women all over the great +hall.) He continued: "Now, you take the 'old man' aside an' tell him +straight, you're not going to have any more roomers hanging round your +house—that he's got to hustle for a better job or go into some little +business for himself, or move out into some little cottage in the +country, or do something to get rid of those Tom, Dick, and Harry +roomers."</p> + +<p>In short, in this speech Mr. Washington showed that he knew just as +intimately the lives of his people in the flats of Greater New York as +on the farms of southwestern Georgia.</p> + +<p>In spite of his grasp of details Mr. Washington never became so +immersed in them as to lose sight of his ultimate goal, and conversely +he never became so blinded by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> vision of his ultimate goal as to +overlook details. The solution of the so-called Negro problem in +America, he felt, is to be found along these lines: As his people have +more and more opportunity for training and become better and better +trained they become more and more self-sufficient. They are developing +their own carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, farmers, merchants, and +bankers as well as lawyers, teachers, preachers, and physicians. These +trained people naturally, for the most part, serve their own race, and +to them the members of the race naturally turn for the service that +each is equipped to render. As they acquire wealth, education, and +cultivation, the persons possessing these advantages naturally +intermingle socially and build up a society from which the rough, +ignorant, and uncouth of their own race are as inevitably excluded as +are such persons from all polite social intercourse of whatever +people. These Negroes of education and cultivation no more desire to +force themselves into the society of the other race than do any +persons of real education and cultivation desire to go where they are +not wanted. As the race increases in wealth and culture it becomes +more and more easy and natural for its successful members to satisfy +their social desires and ambitions in their own society. Already in +the centres of Negro prosperity and culture it would be almost, if not +quite, as impossible for a white man to be received into the best +Negro society as it would for a Negro to be received into the best +white society. This growing independence and self-sufficiency in the +trades, the professions, and social intercourse leads<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> inevitably, as +he pointed out, to a form of natural segregation based upon economic +needs and social preferences, and in conformity to the laws of nature, +which is a very different matter from the artificial and arbitrary +segregation forced upon unwilling people by the laws of men. Under +these conditions the disputes as to whether the best society of the +blacks is inferior or superior to the best society of the whites +becomes as academic and futile as would be similar contentions as to +whether the best society of Constantinople is inferior or superior to +that of Boston.</p> + +<p>While Negroes are more and more drawing apart from the whites into +their own section of the city, town, or county they nevertheless find +it a source of strength to live near the whites in order that they may +have the benefit of their aid in those matters in which the older and +stronger race excels. Nor is this an entirely one-sided advantage, as +there are not a few matters in which the Negroes have natural +advantages over the whites and hence may render them useful service. +Thus the two races, socially separated but economically +interdependent, may to mutual advantage live side by side.</p> + +<p>Some persons claim that any such plan of race adjustment, while +theoretically plausible and ideally desirable, is nevertheless +practically impossible. They contend that no so radically different +races have ever lived side by side in harmony and each aiding the +other. However that may be, there remains the fact that such a +harmonious and mutually helpful relationship between the two races +does already exist in the town of Tuskegee, throughout Macon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> County, +and in many other of the more progressive localities throughout the +South to-day. And at the same time, the lynchings and riots and other +manifestations of racial conflict are continuously if slowly growing +less frequent. Whatever may be the relative strength of the two +theories, the facts are lining up in support of the Booker Washington +prophecy at the Atlanta Exposition when he said: "In all things that +are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the +hand in all things essential to mutual progress."</p> + +<p>During the last twenty years of his life Mr. Washington came more and +more to be regarded as the representative and spokesman of his race, +and was invited to represent and speak for them at such national and +international gatherings as the annual conventions of the National +Negro Business League, of which he was the president and founder; the +great meeting in honor of the brotherhood of man, held in Boston in +1897; the Presbyterian rally for Home Missions, at which President +Grover Cleveland presided; the International Sunday-school Convention +held in Chicago in 1914; the meeting of the National Educational +Association in St. Louis in 1904; the Thanksgiving Peace Jubilee in +the Chicago Auditorium at the close of the war with Spain in 1898, +with President McKinley and his Cabinet in attendance; the +Commencement exercises at Harvard in 1896, when President Eliot +conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts; the International +Conference on the Negro, held at Tuskegee in 1912, with +representatives present from Europe, Africa, the West Indies,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> and +South America, as well as all sections of the United States. Dartmouth +College conferred his Doctorate upon him in 1901.</p> + +<p>At Harvard in 1896 President Eliot, with these words, conferred upon +Mr. Washington the first honorary degree ever conferred by a great +university upon an American Negro: "Teacher, wise helper of his race; +good servant of God and country." In his speech delivered at the +Alumni Dinner on the same day Mr. Washington brought this message to +Harvard: "If through me, an humble representative, seven millions of +my people in the South might be permitted to send a message to +Harvard—Harvard that offered up on death's altar young Shaw, and +Russell, and Lowell, and scores of others, that we might have a free +and united country—that message would be: 'Tell them that the +sacrifice was not in vain. Tell them that by the way of the shop, the +field, the skilled hand, habits of thrift and economy, by way of +industrial school and college, we are coming. We are crawling up, +working up, yea, bursting up. Often through oppression, unjust +discrimination, and prejudice, but through them all we are coming up, +and with proper habits, intelligence, and property, there is no power +on earth that can permanently stay our progress!'"</p> + +<p>The next year at the great meeting in honor of the brotherhood of man +held in Music Hall, Boston, which concluded with the unveiling of the +monument of Robert Gould Shaw, Booker Washington in concluding his +address turned to the one-armed color bearer of Colonel Shaw's +regiment and said: "To you, to the scarred and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> scattered remnants of +the Fifty-fourth, who with empty sleeve and wanting leg have honored +this occasion with your presence—to you, your commander is not dead. +Though Boston erected no monument, and history recorded no story, in +you and the loyal race which you represent Robert Gould Shaw will have +a monument which time cannot wear away."</p> + +<p>In his speech at the Peace Jubilee exercises after the war with Spain, +Mr. Washington said: "When you have gotten the full story of the +heroic conduct of the Negro in the Spanish-American War—heard it from +the lips of Northern soldiers and Southern soldiers, from +ex-abolitionist and ex-master—then decide within yourselves whether a +race that is thus willing to die for its country should not be given +the highest opportunity to live for its country." And again in the +same speech, after rehearsing the successes of American arms, he said: +"We have succeeded in every conflict, except the effort to conquer +ourselves in the blotting out of racial prejudices.... Until we thus +conquer ourselves, I make no empty statement when I say that we shall +have, especially in the Southern part of our country, a cancer gnawing +at the heart of the Republic that shall one day prove as dangerous as +an attack from an army without or within." Note this as the language +of a man on a great national occasion who has been accused of a +time-serving acquiescence in the injustices which his race suffers!</p> + +<p>In his address before the National Educational Association in St. +Louis, in 1904, he made the following remarks which are typical of +points he sought to emphasize when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> addressing audiences of white +people: "Let me free your minds, if I can, from possible fear and +apprehension in two directions: the Negro in this country does not +seek, as a race, to exercise political supremacy over the white man, +nor is social intermingling with any race considered by the Negro to +be one of the essentials to his progress. You may not know it, but my +people are as proud of their racial identity as you are of yours, and +in the degree that they become intelligent, racial pride increases. I +was never prouder of the fact that I am classed as a Negro than I am +to-day.... I can point you to groups of my people in nearly every part +of our country that in intelligence and high and unselfish purpose of +their school and church life, and in the purity and sweetness of their +home life and social intercourse, will compare favorably with the +races of the earth. You can never lift any large section of people by +continually calling attention to their weak points. A race, like a +child in school, needs encouragement as well as chastisement."</p> + +<p>In his address before the annual session of 1914 of the National Negro +Business League at Muskogee, Oklahoma, Mr. Washington made the +following remarks which are typical of his points of chief emphasis in +addressing his own people: "Let your success thoroughly eclipse your +shortcomings. We must give the world so much to think and talk about +that relates to our constructive work in the direction of progress +that people will forget and overlook our failures and shortcomings.... +One big, definite fact in the direction of achievement and +construction will go farther in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> securing rights and removing +prejudice than many printed pages of defense and explanation.... Let +us in the future spend less time talking about the part of the city +that we cannot live in, and more time in making that part of the city +that we can live in beautiful and attractive."</p> + +<p>It is characteristic of the kind of criticism to which Mr. Washington +was subjected that a certain element of the Negro press violently +denounced this comment as an indirect endorsement of the legal +segregation of Negroes. Probably the last article written by Mr. +Washington for any publication was the one published posthumously by +the <i>New Republic</i>, New York City, December 4, 1915, entitled, "My +View of Segregation Laws," in which he stated in no uncertain terms +his views on the segregation laws which were being passed in the +South. In concluding his article, he said:</p> + +<p>"Summarizing the matter in the large, segregation is ill-advised +because:</p> + +<p>1. It is unjust.</p> + +<p>2. It invites other unjust measures.</p> + +<p>3. It will not be productive of good, because practically every +thoughtful Negro resents its injustice and doubts its sincerity. Any +race adjustment based on injustice finally defeats itself. The Civil +War is the best illustration of what results where it is attempted to +make wrong right or seem to be right.</p> + +<p>4. It is unnecessary.</p> + +<p>5. It is inconsistent. The Negro is segregated from his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> white +neighbor, but white business men are not prevented from doing business +in Negro neighborhoods.</p> + +<p>6. There has been no case of segregation of Negroes in the United +States that has not widened the breach between the two races. Wherever +a form of segregation exists it will be found that it has been +administered in such a way as to embitter the Negro and harm more or +less the moral fibre of the white man. That the Negro does not express +this constant sense of wrong is no proof that he does not feel it.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that the reasons given above, if carefully considered, +should serve to prevent further passage of such segregation ordinances +as have been adopted in Norfolk, Richmond, Louisville, Baltimore, and +one or two cities in South Carolina.</p> + +<p>"Finally, as I have said in another place, as white and black learn +daily to adjust, in a spirit of justice and fair play, these interests +which are individual and racial, and to see and feel the importance of +those fundamental interests which are common, so will both races grow +and prosper. In the long run, no individual and no race can succeed +which sets itself at war against the common good; for in the gain or +loss of one race all the rest have equal claim."</p> + +<p>In concluding his Muskogee speech he said: "If there are those who are +inclined to be discouraged concerning racial conditions in this +country we have but to turn our minds in the direction of the +deplorable conditions in Europe, growing largely out of racial +bitterness and fric<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span>tion. When we contrast what has taken place there +with the peaceful manner in which black people and white people are +living together in this country, notwithstanding now and then there +are evidences of injustice and friction, which should always be +condemned, we have the greatest cause for thanksgiving. Perhaps +nowhere else in the world can be found so many white people living +side by side with so many of dark skin in so much of peace and harmony +as in the United States."</p> + +<p>This concluding observation was particularly characteristic of him. +Somewhere, or somehow, he always turned to account all significant +events for weal or woe from the most trivial personal happenings to +the titanic world war.</p> + +<p>Like all great leaders, Booker Washington did the bulk of his work +quietly in his own office and not on dramatic historic occasions +before great audiences. He received every day, for instance, a huge +and varied mail which required not only industry to handle, but much +judgment, patience, and tact to dispose of wisely and adequately. We +will here mention and quote from a sheaf of letters taken at random +from his files which partially illustrate the range of his interests +and the variety of the calls which were constantly made upon him.</p> + +<p>A railroad official in Colorado asked his opinion on the question of +separate schools for white and black children apropos of a movement to +amend the State constitution so as to make possible such separate +schools. In his reply Mr. Washington said: "As a rule, colored people +in the Northern States are very much opposed to any plans for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> +separate schools, and I think their feelings in the matter deserve +consideration. The real objection to separate schools, from their +point of view, is that they do not like to feel that they are +compelled to go to one school rather than the other. It seems as if it +was taking away part of their freedom. This feeling is likely to be +all the stronger where the matter is made a subject of public +agitation. On the other hand, my experience is that if this matter is +left to the discretion of the school officials it usually settles +itself. As the colored people usually live pretty closely together, +there will naturally be schools in which colored students are in the +majority. In that case, the process of separation takes place +naturally and without the necessity of changing the constitution. If +you make it a constitutional question, the colored people are going to +be opposed to it. If you leave it simply an administrative question, +which it really is, the matter will very likely settle itself."</p> + +<p>We next find a courteous reply to the letter of some poor crank who +wanted to secure his backing for a preparation which he had concocted +for taking the curl out of Negroes' hair. Then comes a letter to a man +who wants to know whether it is true that the Negro race is dying out. +To him Mr. Washington quoted the United States census figures for +1910, which indicate an increase of 11-3/10 per cent. in the Negro +population for the decade.</p> + +<p>Next, we come upon a letter written to a man who is interested in an +effort of the Freedman's Aid Society to raise a half a million dollars +for Negro schools in the South.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> Since this letter so well describes +an important phase of Booker Washington's leadership we give it almost +in full. It was written in 1913 and runs thus:</p> + +<p>"I think the most interesting work that Tuskegee has done in recent +years is its work in rural schools in the country surrounding the +Institute. During the last five or six years forty-seven school +buildings have been erected in Macon County by colored people +themselves. At the same time the school term has been lengthened in +every part of the county from five to eight months. This work has been +done under the direction of a supervising teacher working in +connection with the extension department of the Institute.</p> + +<p>"Among other things that have been attempted to encourage the people +to improve their schools has been a model country school started in a +community called Rising Star, a few miles from the Institute. The +school at Rising Star is an example of the rural school that Tuskegee +is seeking to promote. It consists of a five-room frame house in which +the teachers—a Tuskegee graduate and his wife—not only teach, but +live. All the rooms are used by the school children. In the kitchen +they are taught to cook, in the dining-room to serve a meal, in the +bedroom to make the beds. In the garden they are taught how to raise +vegetables, poultry, pigs, and cows. They recite in the sitting-room +or on the veranda, and their lessons all deal with matters of their +own every-day life.... Instead of figuring how long it will take an +express train to reach the moon if it travelled at the rate of forty +miles an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> hour, the pupils figure out how much corn can be raised on +neighbor Smith's patch of land and how much farmer Jones' pig will +bring when slaughtered.</p> + +<p>"The pupils learn neatness and cleanliness by living in a decent home +during their school hours. They carry the lesson home, and the result +is seen in cleaner and better farmhouses. The model school has become +the pattern on which the farmers and their wives are improving their +homes...."</p> + +<p>Then comes a letter from a poor woman who wants him in the course of +his travels to look up her husband who abandoned her some years +before. For purposes of identification she says: "This is the hith of +him 5-6 light eyes dark hair unwave shave and a Suprano Voice his age +58 his name Steve...." Even though Mr. Washington did not agree to +spend his spare time looking for a disloyal husband with a soprano +voice, he sent the poor woman a kind reply and suggested some means of +tracing her recreant spouse.</p> + +<p>We come next upon a long letter written to a man who wishes to quote +for publication in a magazine Booker Washington's opinion on the +relation between crime and education. In the concluding paragraphs of +his reply Mr. Washington says: "In nine cases out of ten the crimes +which serve to unite and give an excuse for mob violence are committed +by men who are without property, without homes, and without education +except what they have picked up in the city slums, in prisons, or on +the chain gang. The South is spending too much money in giving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> the +Negro this kind of education that makes criminals and not enough on +the kind of schools that turn out farmers, carpenters, and +blacksmiths. Other things being equal, it is true not only in America, +in the South, but throughout the world, that there is the least crime +where there is the most education. This is true of the South and of +the Negro, just the same as it is true of every other race. +Particularly is it true that the individuals who commit crimes of +violence and crimes that are due to lack of self-control are +individuals who are, for the most part, ignorant. The decrease in +lynching in the Southern States is an index of the steady growth of +the South in wealth, in industry, in education, and in individual +liberty."</p> + +<p>Then comes a letter to an individual who desires to know what +proportion of the American Negroes can read and write now, and what +proportion could at the time of the Civil War. The reply again quotes +the 1910 census to the effect that 69.5 per cent. can now read and +write as compared with only 3 per cent. at the close of the war. The +letter also points out that the rate of illiteracy among American +Negroes is now lower than the rate for all the peoples of Russia, +Portugal, Brazil, and Venezuela, and almost as low as that of Spain.</p> + +<p>There follows a sheaf of correspondence in which Mr. Washington agreed +to speak at the unveiling of a tablet in Auburn, New York, to the +memory of "Aunt Harriet" Tubman Davis, the black woman, squat of +stature and seamed of face, who piloted three or four hundred slaves +from the land of bondage to the land of freedom. While<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> there he also +agreed to speak at Auburn prison in response to the special request of +some of the prisoners.</p> + +<p>Then we find a courteous but firmly negative reply to a long-winded +bore who writes a six-page letter urging Mr. Washington to secure the +acceptance by the Negro race of a flag which he has designed as their +racial flag.</p> + +<p>After this follows a group of letters which passed between him and the +late Edgar Gardiner Murphy, author of "The Present South," "The Basis +of Ascendency," and other important books. In one of these letters Mr. +Washington agrees, as requested, to read the proofs of "The Basis of +Ascendency," and in another he thus characteristically comments upon +Mr. Murphy's fears that a pessimistic book on the status of the Negro +written by a supposed authority (a colored man) would do wide-reaching +harm: "Of course among a certain element it will have an influence for +harm, but human nature, as I observe it, is so constructed that it +does not take kindly to a description of a failure. It is hard to get +up enthusiasm in connection with a funeral procession. No man, in my +opinion, could write a history of the Southern Confederacy that would +be read generally because it failed. I am not saying, of course, that +the Negro race is a failure. Mr. —— writes largely from that point of +view, hence there is no rallying point for the general reader."</p> + +<p>In reply to a Western university professor who had asked his opinion +of amalgamation as a solution of the race problem he wrote: "I have +never looked upon amalgamation as offering a solution of the so-called +race problem, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> I know very few Negroes who favor it or even think +of it, for that matter. What those whom I have heard discuss the +matter do object to are laws which enable the father to escape his +responsibility, or prevent him from accepting and exercising it, when +he has children by colored women. I think this answers your question, +but since there seems to be some misunderstanding as to how colored +people feel about this subject, I might say in explanation of what I +have already said: The Negroes in America are, as you know, a mixed +race. If that is an advantage we have it; if it is a disadvantage, it +is still ours, and for the simple reason that the product of every +sort of racial mixture between the black man and any other race is +always a Negro and never a white man, Indian, or any other sort of +man.</p> + +<p>"The Negro in America is defined by the census as a person who is +classed as such in the community in which he or she resides. In other +words, the Negro in this country is not so much of a particular color +or particular racial stock as one who shares a particular condition. +It is the fact that they all share in this condition which creates a +cause of common sympathy and binds the members of the race together in +spite of all differences."</p> + +<p>To an embarrassing question put by the society editor of some paper +Mr. Washington replied by merely telling a funny story the application +of which to the impertinent inquiry was obvious. In another letter he +summed up his opinion of the much-mooted question of the franchise in +these two sentences: "There is no reason why every Negro who is not +fitted to vote should not be disfranchised. At<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> the same time, there +is no good reason why every white man who is not fitted to vote should +not also be disfranchised."</p> + +<p>From the foregoing correspondence it will be seen that one of Booker +Washington's many rôles was to act as a kind of plenipotentiary and +interpreter between his people and the dominant race. For this part he +was peculiarly fitted by his thorough understanding of and sympathy +for each race.</p> + +<p>Theodore Roosevelt, immediately after taking the oath of office as +President of the United States, in Buffalo after the death of +President McKinley, wrote Mr. Washington the following note:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">[<i>Copy</i>]</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Executive Mansion</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Washington</i></p> + +<p class="right"><i>Buffalo, N.Y.,</i><br /> +<i>Sept. 14, 1901.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. Washington:</span></p> + +<p>I write you at once to say that to my deep regret my visit +South must now be given up.</p> + +<p>When are you coming North? I must see you as soon as +possible. I want to talk over the question of possible +appointments in the South exactly on the lines of our last +conversation together.</p> + +<p>I hope that my visit to Tuskegee is merely deferred for a +short season.</p> + +<p class="center">Faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="right">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt</span>.</p> + +<p><i>Booker T. Washington, Esq.,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em"><i>Tuskegee, Alabama.</i></span></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span></p> + +<p>This deferred visit finally took place in 1905, not long after Colonel +Roosevelt's triumphant election to the Presidency, when he came to +Tuskegee accompanied by his secretary, William Loeb, Jr.; Federal +Civil Service Commissioner, John McIlhenny; Collector of Revenue for +the Birmingham District, J.O. Thompson; Judge Thomas G. Jones of +Montgomery, and a fellow Rough Rider by the name of Greeneway.</p> + +<p>In response to the above note Mr. Washington went to the White House +and discussed with the President "possible future appointments in the +South" along the lines agreed upon between them in a conference which +they had had at a time when it had seemed possible that Mr. Roosevelt +might be given the Republican Presidential nomination of 1900, that +is, while Mr. Roosevelt was Governor of New York and a tentative +candidate for the nomination.</p> + +<p>Upon his return to Tuskegee after this talk with President Roosevelt, +Mr. Washington found that the judgeship for the Southern District of +Alabama had just become vacant through the death of the incumbent, +Judge Bruce. Here was an opportunity for the President to put into +practice in striking fashion the policy they had discussed—namely, to +appoint to Federal posts in the Southern States the best men available +and to reward and recognize conspicuous merit among Southern Democrats +and Southern Negroes as well as among Southern white Republicans. +Being unable at the moment to return to Washington, he sent his +secretary with the following letter:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>Tuskegee, Alabama,</i><br /> +<i>October 2, 1901.</i></p> + +<p>President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. President</span>: I send you the following information +through my secretary, Mr. Emmett J. Scott, whom you can +trust implicitly.</p> + +<p>Judge Bruce, the Judge of the Middle District of Alabama, +died yesterday. There is going to be a very hard scramble +for his place. I saw ex-governor T.G. Jones yesterday, as I +promised, and he is willing to accept the judgeship of the +Middle District of Alabama. I am more convinced now than +ever that he is the proper man for the place. He has until +recently been president of the Alabama State Bar +Association. He is a Gold Democrat, and is a clean, pure man +in every respect. He stood up in the Constitutional +Convention and elsewhere for a fair election law, opposed +lynching, and he has been outspoken for the education of +both races. He is head and shoulders above any of the other +persons who I think will apply for the position.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours truly,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>.</p> + +<p>P.S.—I do not believe in all the South you could select a +better man through whom to emphasize your idea of the +character of a man to hold office than you can do through +ex-governor Jones.</p> + +<p class="center">[<i>Copy</i>]</p> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Scott described what occurred on his delivery of this letter in +the following report to his chief:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>Washington, D.C.,</i><br /> +<i>October 4, 1901.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. Washington</span>: I called to see the President this +morning. I found him all cordiality and brim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span>ming over with +good will for you. That pleased me much! He had received the +telegram and had made an appointment for me. He read your +letter, inquired if I knew the contents, and then launched +into a discussion of it. Wanted to know if Governor Jones +supported Bryan in either campaign. I told him <i>no</i>. He +wanted to know how I knew. I told him of the letter wherein +he (Governor Jones) stated to you that he was without +political ambition because he had opposed Bryan, etc. Well, +he said he wanted to hear from you direct as to whether he +had or not, and asked me to write you to find out. I am now +awaiting that wire so as to call again on him. As soon as I +see him again I will wire you and write you as to what he +says. He is going to appoint Governor Jones. That was made +apparent. While I was waiting to see him Senator Chandler +with the Spanish Claims Commission called. They saw him +first. I heard the talk, however, which was mostly +felicitation. Incidentally, however, Senator Chandler said +that the Commission was afraid it would lose one of its +members because of the vacancy in Alabama, referring to Hon. +W.L. Chambers, who was present and who is a member of the +Commission. The President laughed heartily. Said the Senator +always sprung recommendations unexpectedly, and so forth and +so forth. He did not inquire as to any of the others—the +applicants—seemed interested only to find out about +Governor Jones.... There were many correspondents there at +the door, but I told them I was passing through to Buffalo, +but had stopped over to invite the President to include +Tuskegee in his itinerary when he goes South again.... Will +write again when I see the President again.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="right">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Emmett J. Scott</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span></p> + +<p>As soon as he had received Dr. Washington's telegram in reply, Mr. +Scott went again to the White House and wrote thus of his second call:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">[<i>Copy</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>Washington, D.C.,</i><br /> +<i>October 5, 1901.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. Washington</span>: You have my telegram of to-day. I +sent it as soon as I had seen the President. I had a +three-hour wait to see him and it was tiresome, but I +"camped with them." When admitted to the general reception +room the President met me and was cordial and asked me to +wait awhile, till he could dismiss two delegations, then he +invited me into the office, or cabinet room, and read very +carefully the telegram received from you last night—Friday +night. His face was a study. He was greatly surprised to +learn that the Governor voted for Bryan, and walked about +considerably. At last he said, "Well, I guess I'll have to +appoint him, but I am awfully sorry he voted for Bryan." He +then asked me who Dr. Crum<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> is and I told him that he was +a clean representative character, and that he was favorably +considered by Harrison for the Charleston postmastership, +etc. He did not know him and asked me what place was +referred to. You had not discussed it with me, but I told +him you most likely referred to the place made vacant by the +death of Webster. He then called Mr. Cortelyou, Secretary, +into the office and asked him if he knew Crum. He said he +didn't but that he had heard of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> him and always favorably. +The President then asked Cortelyou what place a man named B. +was being considered for, and he said the place made vacant +by Webster's death. He then turned to me and said that he +was sorry, that he would certainly have considered the +matter if he had had your word earlier. He asked me to tell +you that if you wish Dr. Crum considered for any other place +that he will be glad to have you communicate with him. I +then asked him what I should tell you in the Governor Jones' +matter, and he said: "Tell Mr. Washington without using my +name that party will most likely be appointed—in fact I +will appoint him—only don't make it that strong by wire." +So I consider the matter closed.</p> + +<p>The colored brethren here are scared. They don't know what +to expect, and the word has passed, they say, that you are +the "Warwick" so far as they are concerned. I hope to find +you well in Chicago.</p> + +<p class="center">Sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Emmett J. Scott</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p>This precedent-breaking appointment of a Southern Democrat by a +Republican President, made primarily on the recommendation of Booker +Washington and Grover Cleveland, was acclaimed with enthusiastic +approval by all Democrats everywhere, and in fact there was no +dissenting voice except from the officeholding Southern Republicans +who naturally resented this encroachment upon what they regarded as +their patronage rights. At first appreciation was almost universal of +the efforts of the Negro leader in helping a Republican President to +make this far-reaching change in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> the Federal officeholding traditions +of the South. Soon, however, some Southern newspapers began to +question the wisdom of allowing a Negro to have even an advisory voice +in political matters notwithstanding his advice had in this instance +been so acceptable to the South. This criticism grew so insistent that +Judge Jones found himself in an uncomfortable position because his +appointment had been made, in large part, on the recommendation of a +Negro. He tried to soften the situation by giving out a statement to +the effect that his endorsement by representative white men would +probably have assured his appointment even without the assistance of +Booker Washington. Later, however, the Judge expressed to Mr. Scott +privately, after listening with deep interest to the recital of all +the incidents connected with his appointment, his appreciation of what +Booker Washington had done for him.</p> + +<p>Aside from this appointment, Booker Washington had a voice in many +others, including those of Gen. R.D. Johnson as Receiver of Public +Moneys at Birmingham, Colonel Thomas R. Roulhac as United States +District Judge, and Judge Osceola Kyle of Alabama as United States +District Attorney in the Panama Canal Zone. During the administrations +of both Presidents Roosevelt and Taft hardly an office of consequence +was conferred upon a Negro without first consulting Mr. Washington. He +did not strive through his influence with Presidents Roosevelt and +Taft to increase the number of Negro appointees, but rather to raise +the personnel of Negro officeholders. During the period when his +advice was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> most constantly sought at the White House, Charles W. +Anderson was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Second +District of New York City; J.C. Napier of Nashville, Tenn., became +Register of the Treasury; William H. Lewis of Boston was appointed +successively Assistant United States District Attorney and Assistant +Attorney-General of the United States; Robert H. Terrell was given a +Municipal Judgeship of the District of Columbia; Whitefield McKinlay +was made Collector of the Port for the Georgetown District, District +of Columbia; Dr. W.D. Crum was appointed Collector of Customs for the +Port of Charleston, S.C.; Ralph W. Tyler, Auditor for the Navy +Department at Washington, D.C.; James A. Cobb, Special Assistant U.S. +Attorney in charge of the enforcement of the Pure Food Law for the +District of Columbia, and Charles A. Cottrell, Collector of Internal +Revenue for the District of Hawaii at Honolulu. In all these notably +excellent appointments Mr. Washington had a voice.</p> + +<p>In 1903, in commenting on a speech of Mr. Washington's in which he had +emphasized the importance of quality rather than quantity in Negro +appointments, President Roosevelt wrote him as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. Washington:</span> That is excellent; and you have put +epigrammatically just what I am doing—that is, though I +have rather reduced the quantity I have done my best to +raise the quality of the Negro appointments. +With high regard.</p> + +<p class="center">Sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt.</span></p></div> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_THREE" id="CHAPTER_THREE"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 3"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">THREE</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">WASHINGTON: THE EDUCATOR</span></h3> + + +<p><br />THE Tuskegee Commencement exercises dramatize education. They enable +plain men and women to visualize in the concrete that vague word which +means so little to them in the abstract. More properly they dramatize +the identity between real education and actual life. On the platform +before the audience is a miniature engine to which steam has been +piped, a miniature frame house in course of construction, and a piece +of brick wall in process of erection. A young man in jumpers comes +onto the platform, starts the engine and blows the whistle, whereupon +young men and women come hurrying from all directions, and each turns +to his or her appointed task. A young carpenter completes the little +house, a young mason finishes the laying of the brick wall, a young +farmer leads forth a cow and milks her in full view of the audience, a +sturdy blacksmith shoes a horse, and after this patient, educative +animal has been shod he is turned over to a representative of the +veterinary division to have his teeth filed. At the same time on the +opposite side of the platform one of the girl students is having a +dress fitted by one of her classmates who is a dressmaker. She at +length walks proudly from the platform<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> in her completed new gown, +while the young dressmaker looks anxiously after her to make sure that +it "hangs right behind." Other girls are doing washing and ironing +with the drudgery removed in accordance with advanced Tuskegee +methods. Still others are hard at work on hats, mats, and dresses, +while boys from the tailoring department sit crosslegged working on +suits and uniforms. In the background are arranged the finest +specimens which scientific agriculture has produced on the farm and +mechanical skill has turned out in the shops. The pumpkin, potatoes, +corn, cotton, and other agricultural products predominate, because +agriculture is the chief industry at Tuskegee just as it is among the +Negro people of the South.</p> + +<p>This form of commencement exercise is one of Booker Washington's +contributions to education which has been widely copied by schools for +whites as well as blacks. That it appeals to his own people is +eloquently attested by the people themselves who come in ever-greater +numbers as the commencement days recur. At three o'clock in the +morning of this great day vehicles of every description, each loaded +to capacity with men, women, and children, begin to roll in in an +unbroken line which sometimes extends along the road for three miles. +Some of the teachers at times objected to turning a large area of the +Institute grounds into a hitching-post station for the horses and +mules of this great multitude, but to all such objections Mr. +Washington replied, "This place belongs to the people and not to us." +Less than a third of these eight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> to nine thousand people are able +to crowd into the chapel to see the actual graduation exercises, but +all can see the graduation procession as it marches through the +grounds to the chapel and all are shown through the shops and over the +farm and through the special agricultural exhibits, and even through +the offices, including that of the principal. It is significant of the +respect in which the people hold the Institute, and in which they held +Booker Washington, that in all these years there has never been on +these occasions a single instance of drunkenness or disorderly +conduct.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/farmers.jpg" width="500" height="278" alt="Teams of farmers" title="Teams of farmers" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Showing some of the teams of farmers attending the +Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference.</p> + +<p><br />In his annual report to the trustees for 1914 Mr. Washington said of +these commencement exercises: "One of the problems that constantly +confronts us is that of making the school of real service to these +people on this one day when they come in such large numbers. For many +of them it is the one day in the year when they go to school, and we +ought to find a way to make the day of additional value to them. I +very much hope that in the near future we shall find it possible to +erect some kind of a large pavilion which shall serve the purpose of +letting these thousands see something of our exercises and be helped +by them."</p> + +<p>The philosophy symbolized by such graduation exercises as we have +described may best be shown by quoting Mr. Washington's own words in +an article entitled, "Industrial Education and the Public Schools," +which was published in the <i>Annals of the American Academy of +Political and Social Science</i> for September of the year 1913. In this +article Mr. Washington says: "If I were asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> what I believe to be +the greatest advance which Negro education has made since emancipation +I should say that it has been in two directions: first, the change +which has taken place among the masses of the Negro people as to what +education really is; and, second, the change that has taken place +among the masses of the white people in the South toward Negro +education itself.</p> + +<p>"I can perhaps make clear what I mean by a little explanation: the +Negro learned in slavery to work but he did not learn to respect +labor. On the contrary, the Negro was constantly taught, directly and +indirectly during slavery times, that labor was a curse. It was the +curse of Canaan, he was told, that condemned the black man to be for +all time the slave and servant of the white man. It was the curse of +Canaan that made him for all time 'a hewer of wood and drawer of +water.' The consequence of this teaching was that, when emancipation +came, the Negro thought freedom must, in some way, mean freedom from +labor.</p> + +<p>"The Negro had also gained in slavery some general notions in regard +to education. He observed that the people who had education for the +most part belonged to the aristocracy, to the master class, while the +people who had little or no education were usually of the class known +as 'poor whites.' In this way education became associated in his mind +with leisure, with luxury, and freedom from the drudgery of work with +the hands....</p> + +<p>"In order to make it possible to put Negro education on a sound and +rational basis it has been necessary to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> change the opinion of the +masses of the Negro people in regard to education and labor. It has +been necessary to make them see that education, which did not, +directly or indirectly, connect itself with the practical daily +interests of daily life could hardly be called education. It has been +necessary to make the masses of the Negroes see and realize the +necessity and importance of applying what they learned in school to +the common and ordinary things of life; to see that education, far +from being a means of escaping labor, is a means of raising up and +dignifying labor and thus indirectly a means of raising up and +dignifying the common and ordinary man. It has been necessary to teach +the masses of the people that the way to build up a race is to begin +at the bottom and not at the top, to lift the man furthest down, and +thus raise the whole structure of society above him. On the other +hand, it has been necessary to demonstrate to the white man in the +South that education does not 'spoil' the Negro, as it has been so +often predicted that it would. It was necessary to make him actually +see that education makes the Negro not an idler or spendthrift, but a +more industrious, thrifty, law-abiding, and useful citizen than he +otherwise would be."</p> + +<p>The commencement exercises which we have described are one of the +numerous means evolved by Booker Washington to guide the masses of his +own people, as well as the Southern whites, to a true conception of +the value and meaning of real education for the Negro.</p> + +<p>The correlation between the work of farm, shop, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> classroom, first +applied by General Armstrong at Hampton, was developed on an even +larger scale by his one-time student, Booker Washington. The students +at Tuskegee are divided into two groups: the day students who work in +the classroom half the week and the other half on the farm and in the +shops, and the night students who work all day on the farm or in the +shops and then attend school at night. The day school students pay a +small fee in cash toward their expenses, while the night school +students not only pay no fee but by good and diligent work gradually +accumulate a credit at the school bank which, when it becomes +sufficiently large, enables them to become day school students. In +fact, the great majority of the day students have thus fought their +way in from the night school. But all students of both groups thus +receive in the course of a week a fairly even balance between theory +and practice.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/academic.jpg" width="500" height="316" alt="An academic class" title="An academic class" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">An academic class. A problem in brick masonry. Mr. +Washington always insisted upon correlation; that is, drawing the +problem from the various shops and laboratories.</p> + +<p><br />In a corner of each of the shops, in which are carried on the forty or +more different trades, is a blackboard on which are worked out the +actual problems which arise in the course of the work. After school +hours one always finds in the shops a certain number of the teachers +from the Academic Department looking up problems for their classes for +the next day. A physics teacher may be found in the blacksmithing shop +digging up problems about the tractive strength of wires and the +expansion and contraction of metals under heat and cold. A teacher of +chemistry may be found in the kitchen of the cooking school unearthing +problems relating to the chemistry of food for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> her class the next +day. If, on the other hand, you go into a classroom you will find the +shop is brought into the classroom just as the classroom has been +brought into the shop. For instance, in a certain English class the +topic assigned for papers was "a model house" instead of "bravery" or +"the increase of crime in cities," or "the landing of the Pilgrims." +The boys of the class had prepared papers on the architecture and +construction of a model house, while the girls' papers were devoted to +its interior decoration and furnishing. One of the girls described a +meal for six which she had actually prepared and the six had actually +consumed. The meal cost seventy-five cents. The discussion and +criticism which followed each paper had all the zest which vitally +practical and near-at-hand questions always arouse.</p> + +<p>When the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational +Association met in Atlanta, Ga., in 1904, many of the delegates, after +adjournment, visited the Tuskegee Institute. Among these delegates was +Prof. Paul Monroe of the Department of History and Principles of +Education of the Teachers' College of Columbia University. In +recording his impressions of his visit, Professor Monroe says: "My +interest in Tuskegee and a few similar institutions is founded on the +fact that here I find illustrated the two most marked tendencies which +are being formulated in the most advanced educational thought, but are +being worked out slowly and with great difficulty. These tendencies +are: first, the endeavor to draw the subject matter of education, or +the 'stuff' of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> schoolroom work, directly from the life of the pupils; +and second, to relate the outcome of education to life's activities, +occupations, and duties of the pupil in such a way that the connection +is made directly and immediately between schoolroom work and the other +activities of the person being educated. This is the ideal at +Tuskegee, and, to a much greater extent than in any other institution +I know of, the practice; so that the institution is working along not +only the lines of practical endeavor, but of the most advanced +educational thought. To such an extent is this true that Tuskegee and +Hampton are of quite as great interest to the student of education on +account of the illumination they are giving to educational theory as +they are to those interested practically in the elevation of the Negro +people and in the solution of a serious social problem. May I give +just one illustration of a concrete nature coming under my observation +while at the school, that will indicate the difference between the +work of the school and that which was typical under old conditions, or +is yet typical where the newer ideas, as so well grasped by Mr. +Washington, are not accepted? In a class in English composition two +boys, among others, had placed their written work upon the board, one +having written upon 'Honor' in the most stilted language, with various +historical references which meant nothing to himself or to his +classmates—the whole paragraph evidently being drawn from some +outside source; the other wrote upon 'My Trade—Blacksmithing'—and +told in a simple and direct way of his day's work, the nature of the +general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> course of training, and the use he expected to make of his +training when completed. No better contrast could be found between the +old ideas of formal language work, dominated by books and cast into +forms not understood or at least not natural to the youth, and the +newer ideas of simplicity, directness, and forcefulness in presenting +the account of one's own experience. Not only was this contrast an +illustration of the ideal of the entire education offered at Tuskegee +in opposition to that of the old, formal, 'literary' education as +imposed upon the colored race, but it gave in a nutshell a concept of +the new education. This one experience drawn from the life of the boy +and related directly to his life's duration and circumstances was +education in the truest sense; the other was not save as Mr. +Washington made it so in its failure...."</p> + +<p>Among the delegates was also Mr. A.L. Rafter, the Assistant +Superintendent of Schools of Boston, who in speaking at Tuskegee said: +"What Tuskegee is doing for you we are going to take on home to the +North. You are doing what we are talking about." In general, these +foremost educational experts of the dominant race looked to Booker +Washington and Tuskegee for leadership instead of expecting him or his +school to follow them.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington not only practised at Tuskegee this close relation +between school life and real life—and it is being continued now that +he is gone—but preached it whenever and wherever opportunity offered. +Some years ago, in addressing himself to those of his own students who +expected to become teachers, he said on this subject among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> other +things: "... colored parents depend upon seeing the results of +education in ways not true of the white parent. It is important that +the colored teacher on this account give special attention to bringing +school life into closer touch with real life. Any education is to my +mind 'high' which enables the individual to do the very best work for +the people by whom he is surrounded. Any education is 'low' which does +not make for character and effective service.</p> + +<p>"The average teacher in the public schools is very likely to yield to +the temptation of thinking that he is educating an individual when he +is teaching him to reason out examples in arithmetic, to prove +propositions in geometry, and to recite pages of history. He conceives +this to be the end of education. Herein is the sad deficiency in many +teachers who are not able to use history, arithmetic, and geometry as +means to an end. They get the idea that the student who has mastered a +certain number of pages in a textbook is educated, forgetting that +textbooks are at best but tools, and in many cases ineffective tools, +for the development of man....</p> + +<p>"The average parent cannot appreciate how many examples Johnny has +worked out that day, how many questions in history he has answered; +but when he says, 'Mother, I cannot go back to that school until all +the buttons are sewed on my coat,' the parent will at once become +conscious of school influence in the home. This will be the best kind +of advertisement. The button propaganda tends to make the teacher a +power in the community. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> few lessons in applied chemistry will not +be amiss. Take grease spots, for example. The teacher who with tact +can teach his pupils to keep even threadbare clothes neatly brushed +and free from grease spots is extending the school influence into the +home and is adding immeasurably to the self-respect of the home."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>The idea that education is a matter of personal habits of cleanliness, +industry, integrity, and right conduct while of course not original +with Booker Washington was perhaps further developed and more +effectively emphasized by him than by any other American educator. +Just as Matthew Arnold insisted that religion was a matter of conduct +rather than forms and dogmas so Booker Washington held that education +is a matter of character and not forms. He concluded one of his Sunday +night talks to his students with these words: "I want every Tuskegee +student as he finds his place in the surging industrial life about him +to give heed to the things which are 'honest and just and pure and of +good report,' for these things make for character, which is the only +thing worth fighting for...." In another of these talks he said: "A +student should not be satisfied with himself until he has grown to the +point where, when simply sweeping a room, he can go into the corners +and crevices and remove the hidden trash which, although it should be +left, would not be seen. It is not very hard to find people who will +thoroughly clean a room which is going to be occupied, or wash a dish +which is to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> handled by strangers; but it is hard to find a person +who will do a thing right when the eyes of the world are not likely to +look upon what has been done. The cleaning of rooms and the washing of +dishes have much to do with forming characters."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>This recalls Booker Washington's own experience when as a ragged and +penniless youth he applied for admission to Hampton and was given a +room to sweep by way of an entrance examination. Indeed, one of Booker +Washington's greatest sources of strength as a teacher lay in the fact +that his own life not only illustrated the truth of his assertions, +but illustrated it in a striking and dramatic manner. His life was, in +fact, an epitome of the hardships, struggles, and triumphs of the +successful members of his race from the days of slavery to the present +time. A great believer in the power of example he lived a life which +gave him that power in its highest degree. Because of his inherent +modesty and good taste he never referred to himself or his +achievements as examples to be emulated, and this merely further +enhanced their power.</p> + +<p>In concluding another Sunday night talk he said: "As a race we are +inclined, I fear, to make too much of the day of judgment. We have the +idea that in some far-off period there is going to be a great and +final day of judgment, when every individual will be called up, and +all his bad deeds will be read out before him and all his good deeds +made known. I believe that every day is a day of judgment, that we +reap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> our rewards daily, and that whenever we sin we are punished by +mental and physical anxiety and by a weakened character that separates +us from God. Every day is, I take it, a day of judgment, and as we +learn God's laws and grow into His likeness we shall find our reward +in this world in a life of usefulness and honor. To do this is to have +found the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of character and +righteousness and peace."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>To quote once more from these Sunday night talks, in another he said: +"There is, then, opportunity for the colored people to enrich the +material life of their adopted country by doing what their hands find +to do, minor duties though they be, so well that nobody of any race +can do them better. This is the aim that the Tuskegee student should +keep steadily before him. If he remembers that all service, however +lowly, is true service, an important step will have been taken in the +solution of what we term 'the race problem.'"</p> + +<p>As is shown by these quotations Booker Washington used these Sunday +night talks to crystalize, interpret, and summarize the meaning and +significance of the kind of education which Tuskegee gives. He, the +supreme head of the institution, reserved to himself this supremely +important task. The heads of the manifold trades are naturally and +properly concerned primarily with turning raw boys and girls into good +workmen and workwomen. The academic teachers in the school are +similarly inter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span>ested in helping them as students to secure a mastery +of their several subjects. The military commandants are concerned with +their ability to drill, march, carry themselves properly, and take +proper care of their persons and rooms. The physician is interested in +their physical health and the chaplain in their religious training. +Important as are all these phases of Tuskegee's training and closely +as he watched each Mr. Washington realized that they might all be well +done and yet Tuskegee fail in its supreme purpose: namely, the making +of manly men and womanly women out of raw boys and girls. As he said +in one of the passages quoted, "character is the only thing worth +fighting for." Now, while the forming of character is the aim, and in +some appreciable degree the achievement, of every worth-while +educational institution, it is to a peculiar degree the aim and the +achievement of Tuskegee. The ten million Negroes in the United States +need trained leaders of their own race more than they need anything +else. Whatever else they should or should not have these leaders must +have character. Since Tuskegee is the largest of the educational +institutions for Negroes, with the man at its head who was commonly +recognized as the leader of leaders in his race, naturally the +heaviest responsibility in the training of these leaders fell, and +will continue to fall, upon Tuskegee. Consequently the task at +Tuskegee is not so much to educate so many thousands of young men and +women as to train as many leaders for the Negro people as can possibly +be done and done well within a given space of time. These Tuskegee +graduates lead by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> the power of example and not by agitation. One runs +a farm and achieves so much more success than his neighbors, through +his better methods, that they gradually adopt these methods and with +his help apply them to their own conditions. Another teaches a country +school and does it so much better than the average country school +teacher that his or her school comes to be regarded as a model to be +emulated by the other schools of the locality. When a Tuskegee girl +marries and settles in a community she keeps her house so much cleaner +and in every way more attractive than the rank and file of her +neighbors that gradually her house and her methods of housekeeping +become the standard for the neighborhood. There is, however, nothing +of the "holier than thou" or the complaisant about the true Tuskegee +graduate and neither is there anything monopolistic. They have had the +idea of service thoroughly drilled into their consciousness—the idea +that their advantages of education are, as it were, a trust which they +are to administer for the benefit of those who have not had such +advantages.</p> + +<p>Now such leaders as these must not only be provided if the so-called +race problem is to be solved, but they must be provided speedily. In +every community in which the black people are ignorant and vicious and +without trained leaders among themselves they are likely at any time +to come into conflict with the dominant race, and every such conflict +engenders bitterness on both sides and makes just so much more +difficult the final solution of the race problem. This is why Booker +Washington labored so in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span>cessantly to increase the quantity of +Tuskegee's output as well as to maintain the quality. He brought +Tuskegee to the point where it reached through all its courses +including its summer courses, short courses, and extension courses, +more than 4,000 people in a single year, not counting the well-nigh +innumerable hosts he counseled with on his State educational tours. In +short, Booker Washington's task at Tuskegee was not only to turn out +good leaders for his people, but to turn them out wholesale and as +fast as possible. He was, as it were, running a race with the powers +of ignorance, poverty, and vice. This in part accounted for the sense +of terrific pressure which one felt at Tuskegee, particularly when he +was present and personally driving forward his great educational +machine. This also may have accounted for the seeming lack of finesse +in small matters which occasionally annoyed critical visitors who did +not understand that the great institution was racing under the spur of +its indomitable master, and that just as in any race all but +essentials must be thrown aside.</p> + +<p>Long before the University of Wisconsin had, through its extension +courses, extended its opportunities in greater or less degree to the +citizens of the entire State, Booker Washington, through similar +means, had extended the advantages of Tuskegee throughout Macon County +in particular and the State of Alabama and neighboring States in +general.</p> + +<p>The extension work of Tuskegee began in a small way over twenty years +ago. It preceded even the work of the demonstration agents of the +United States Department<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> of Agriculture. There was first only one man +who in his spare time went out among the farming people and tried to +arouse enthusiasm for better methods of farming, better schools, and +better homes. He was followed by a committee of three members of the +Tuskegee faculty, which committee still directs the work. One of the +first efforts of this committee was to get the farmers to adopt deep +plowing. There was not a two-horse plow to be found. There was a +strong prejudice against deep plowing which was thus expressed by a +Negro preacher farmer whom one of the committee tried to persuade: "We +don't want deep plowing. You're fixin' for us to have no soil. If we +plow deep it will all wash away and in a year or two we will have to +clear new ground." Not long after this a member of the committee with +a two-horse plow was practising what he had been preaching when a +white planter who was passing stopped and said: "See here, its none of +my business of course, but you're new here and I don't want to see you +fail. But if you plow your land deep like that you'll ruin it sure. I +know. I've been here."</p> + +<p>After a time, however, the committee persuaded a few colored farmers +to try deep plowing on a small scale as an experiment. One of the +first of these was a poor man who had had the hardest kind of a +struggle scraping a scant existence out of the soil for himself and +his large family. He was desperate and agreed to try the new method. +He got results the first year, moved on to better land and followed +instructions. In a few years he bought 500 acres of land, gave each of +his four sons 100 acres, and kept 100 acres<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> for himself. Since then +father and sons alike have been prosperous and contented and have +added to their holdings.</p> + +<p>In short, these Negro farmers were no more eager to be reformed and +improved in their methods than are any normal people. There is a +shallow popular sentiment that unless people are eager for +enlightenment and gratefully receive what is offered them they should +be left unenlightened. Booker Washington never shared this sentiment. +His agent reported that in response to their appeals for the raising +of a better grade of cattle, hogs, and fowl the farmers replied that +the stock they had was good enough. One of their favorite comments +was, "When you eat an egg what difference does it make to you whether +that egg was laid by a full-blooded fowl or a mongrel?" Instead of +being discouraged or disgusted by this attitude on the part of the +people he merely regarded it as what was to be expected and set about +devising means to overcome it. As always he placed his chief reliance +upon the persuasive eloquence of the concrete. He decided to send +blooded stock and properly raised products around among the farmers so +that they might compare them with their inferior stock and products +and see the difference with their own eyes. This plan was later +carried out through the Jesup Wagon contributed by the late Morris K. +Jesup of New York. This wagon was a peripatetic farmers' school. It +took a concentrated essence of Tuskegees' agricultural department to +the farmers who could not or would not come to Tuskegee.</p> + +<p>The wagon was drawn by a well-bred and well-fed mule.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> A good breed of +cow was tied behind. Several chickens of good breeds, well-developed +ears of corn, stalks of cotton, bundles of oats and seeds, and garden +products, which ought at the time to be growing in the locality, +together with a proper plow, for deep plowing, were loaded upon the +wagon. The driver would pull up before a farmhouse, deliver his +message, and point out the strong points of his wagonload and would +finally request a strip of ground for cultivation. This request +granted he would harness the mule to the plow, break the ground deep, +make his rows, plant his seeds, and move on to the next locality. With +a carefully planned follow-up system he would return to each such plot +for cultivation and harvest, and, most important of all, to +demonstrate the truths he had sought to impress upon the people by +word of mouth. Where the first driver sent out was a general farmer, +the second would be, let us say, a dairyman, the third a truck +gardener, and finally a poultry raiser would go; usually a woman, +since in the South women, for the most part, handle this phase of +farming. These agents also distribute pamphlets prepared by the +Agricultural Research Department of Tuskegee on such subjects as +school gardening, twenty-one ways to cook cowpeas, improvement of +rural schools, how to fight insect pests, cotton growing, etc. The +constant emphasis upon practice by no means entails any neglect of +theory.</p> + +<p>Besides this work there is each January for two weeks at Tuskegee the +regular Farmers' Short Course. Many of the country schools adjourn for +this period so that both teachers and pupils may attend. In this +course not only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> teachers and pupils, but fathers and mothers, sons +and daughters sit side by side in the classrooms receiving instruction +in stock raising, canning, poultry raising, and farming in all its +branches. There are special courses for the women and girls in the +care of children and in housekeeping. The following breezy +announcement is taken from the prospectus of this course for the year +1914:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"<i>A creation of the farmer, by the farmers and for the +farmer.</i>"</p> + +<p>"It meets the crying needs of thousands of our boys and +girls, fathers and mothers.</p> + +<p>"<i>It's free to all—no examination nor entrance fee is +required.</i></p> + +<p>"It started 7 years ago with 11 students; the second year we +had 17, the third year we had 70, the fourth year we had +490, and last year we had nearly 2,000. It is the only thing +of its kind for the betterment of the colored farmers. It +lasts for only 12 days. It comes at a time when you would be +celebrating Christmas.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> In previous years the farmers have +walked from 3 to 6 miles to attend; many have come on +horseback, in wagons, and in buggies. You who live so that +you cannot come in daily can secure board near the school +for $2.50 per week. We expect 2,000 to 2,500 to enter this +year."</p> +</div> + +<p>And then as a further stimulus to attend there comes:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"<i>Prizes will be given as follows:</i></p> + +<p>"A prize of $5 will be given to the person who makes the +greatest progress on all subjects taught.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span></p> + +<p>"A prize of $2 will be given to the person who is the best +judge of livestock.</p> + +<p>"A prize of $1 will be given to the person who shows the +best knowledge of the use and application of manures and +fertilizers. And so on through a further list of one-dollar +prizes for all the major activities of the Course."</p> +</div> + +<p>It will be noted that there is nothing stilted or academic about this +announcement.</p> + +<p>Immediately following this Farmers' Short Course comes the Annual +Farmers' Conference which holds its session in January of each year. +To enforce the lessons in canning, stock raising, gardening, and all +the other branches of farming, exhibits of the best products in each +activity are displayed before the audience of farmers and their +families, who number in all about 2,000. These exhibits are made and +explained by the farmers themselves. The man, woman, or child who has +produced the exhibit comes to the platform and explains in his or her +own way just how it was done. In these explanations much human nature +is thrown in. An amazingly energetic and capable woman had explained +at one of these gatherings how she had paid off the mortgage on their +farm by the proceeds from her eggs, her kitchen garden, and her +preserving in her spare moments when she was not helping her husband +in the cotton field, washing and dressing her six children, or +cooking, mending, washing, and scrubbing for the household.</p> + +<p>In conclusion she said:</p> + +<p>"Now my ole man he's an' old-fashion farmer an' he don' kere fur dese +modern notions, an' so I don't git no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> help from him, an' that makes +it hard for me 'cause it ain't nat'ral for der woman to lead. If I +could only git him to move I'd be happier jest ter foller him." While +these explanations are going on the farmers in the audience are +naturally saying to themselves over and over again, "I could do that!" +or "Why couldn't I do that?"</p> + +<p>One of Mr. Washington's chief aims was to increase the wants of his +people and at the same time increase their ability to satisfy them. In +other words, he believed in fermenting in their minds what might be +termed an effective discontent with their circumstances. With this +purpose in view he addressed to them at these conferences such +questions as the following:</p> + +<p>"What kind of house do you live in?"</p> + +<p>"Do you own that house?"</p> + +<p>"What kind of schoolhouse have you?"</p> + +<p>"Do you send your children to school regularly?"</p> + +<p>"How many months does your school run?"</p> + +<p>"Do you keep your teacher in the community?"</p> + +<p>"What kind of church have you?"</p> + +<p>"Where does your pastor live?"</p> + +<p>"Are your church, school, and home fences whitewashed?"</p> + +<p>The farmers who were asked these questions would make an inward +resolve that they would do what they could to put themselves in a +position to answer the same questions more satisfactorily another +year.</p> + +<p>Another feature of the work of Tuskegee beyond its own borders is that +of the Rural School Extension Department.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> Mr. Julius Rosenwald of +Chicago, one of the trustees of Tuskegee, has offered, through this +department, during a stated period of time, to add $300 to every $300 +the Negroes in rural communities of the South raise for the building +of a new and modern schoolhouse. Under this plan ninety-two modern +rural school buildings have already been constructed. At the close of +the time set Mr. Rosenwald will probably renew his offer for a further +period. The social by-products of this campaign, in teaching the +Negroes of these communities how to disregard their denominational and +other feuds in working together for a high civic purpose of common +advantage to all, and the friendly interest in Negro education +awakened among their white neighbors, have been almost if not quite as +important as the new schools themselves.</p> + +<p>There is also at Tuskegee a summer school for teachers in which last +year were registered 437 teachers from fifteen Southern and several +other States. Most of these teachers elect such practical subjects as +canning, basket-making, broom-making, shuck and pine needlework or +some form of manual training, as well as the teacher-training courses. +One of these students, who was the supervisor of the Negro schools of +an entire county, when she returned from her summer school work +proceeded to vivify her dead schools by introducing the making of +wash-boards, trash baskets, baskets made of weeping-willow, and pine +needle work in its various forms. The registration soared at once, the +indifferent Negro parents became interested, and before long the +parents of white children complained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> to the county superintendent +that the colored children were being taught more than their children.</p> + +<p>There is at the present time being developed at Tuskegee a unique +experiment in the nature of what might be called a post-graduate +school in real life for the graduates of the agricultural department. +This consists in providing such graduates, who have no property of +their own, with a forty-acre farm, on an 1,800-acre tract about nine +miles from Tuskegee, known as Baldwin Farms, after the late Wm. H. +Baldwin, Jr., who was one of the ablest and most devoted supporters +and advisers of Booker Washington and Tuskegee. The land is held by +the Tuskegee Farm and Improvement Company which is conducted on a +business and not a charitable basis. The company sells the farms at an +average price of $15 an acre, and purchasers who move directly on to +the land are given ten years in which to pay for it, with the first +payment at the end of the first year. If there is no house on the land +the company will put up a $300 house so planned as to permit the +addition of rooms and improvements as rapidly as the purchaser is able +to pay for them; the cost to be added to the initial cost of the land. +When the graduate lacks the money and equipment necessary to plant, +raise, and harvest crops, for this, too, the company will advance a +reasonable sum, taking as security a mortgage on crops and equipment +until the loan has been paid off. This mortgage bears interest at 8 +per cent. while the interest on the mortgage on the land is not more +than 6 per cent. Through coöperative effort within this colony it is +pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span>posed to develop such organizations as coöperative dairy, fruit +growing, poultry, and livestock associations and thus make it possible +for the members of the colony to make not only a comfortable living +but to lay by something. They will, of course, have also the great +advantage of the advice and guidance of the experts of the Institute. +Formerly the penniless Negro youth, who graduated even most creditably +from the agricultural department of Tuskegee, had before him nothing +better than a greater or less number of years of monotonous drudgery +as a mere farm or plantation laborer. Now, he may at once take up his +own farm at Baldwin and begin immediately to apply all he has learned +in carving out his own fortune and future. Thus did Booker Washington +plan to carry the benefits of classroom instruction directly into the +actual life problems of these graduates as well as to bring the +problems of actual life into the classroom.</p> + +<p>However much Mr. Washington may have seemed to eliminate +non-essentials in the pressure and haste of his wholesale educational +task he never neglected essentials, but among essentials he included +matters which might on the surface appear to be small and trifling. +For instance, he insisted upon good table manners, and no boy or girl +could spend any considerable time at Tuskegee without acquiring such +manners. Instead of a trivial detail he regarded good table manners as +an essential to self-respect and hence to the development of +character. In short, he was engaged not so much in conducting a school +as educating a race.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_FOUR" id="CHAPTER_FOUR"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 4"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">FOUR</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">THE RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO</span></h3> + + +<p><br />BOOKER WASHINGTON was occasionally accused both by agitators in his +own race and by a certain type of Northern white men who pose as the +special champions of the "downtrodden" black man as encouraging a +policy of submission to injustice on the part of his people. He was, +for example, charged with tame acquiescence in the practical +disfranchisement of the Negro in a number of the Southern States. As a +matter of fact, when these disfranchising measures were under +consideration and before they were enacted, he in each case earnestly +pleaded with the legislators that whatever restrictions in the use of +the ballot they put upon the statute books should be applied with +absolute impartiality to both races. This he urged in fairness to the +white man as well as the black man.</p> + +<p>In an article entitled, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" published +in the <i>Century Magazine</i> five years ago, Booker Washington said in +illustrating the evil consequences of discrimination in the +application of ballot regulations: "In a certain county of Virginia, +where the county board had charge of registering those who were to be +voters, a colored man, a graduate of Harvard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> University, who had long +been a resident of the county, a quiet, unassuming man, went before +the board to register. He was refused on the ground that he was not +intelligent enough to vote. Before this colored man left the room a +white man came in who was so intoxicated that he could scarcely tell +where he lived. This white man was registered, and by a board of +intelligent white men who had taken an oath to deal justly in +administering the law.</p> + +<p>"Will any one say that there is wisdom or statesmanship in such a +policy as that? In my opinion it is a fatal mistake to teach the young +black man and the young white man that the dominance of the white race +in the South rests upon any other basis than absolute justice to the +weaker man. It is a mistake to cultivate in the mind of any individual +or group of individuals the feeling and belief that their happiness +rests upon the misery of some one else, or that their intelligence is +measured by the ignorance of some one else; or their wealth by the +poverty of some one else. I do not advocate that the Negro make +politics or the holding of office an important thing in his life. I do +urge, in the interest of fair play for everybody, that a Negro who +prepares himself in property, in intelligence, and in character to +cast a ballot, and desires to do so, should have the opportunity."</p> + +<p>While Booker Washington did not believe that political activities +should play an important part among the Negroes as a whole he did +believe that the exceptional Negro who was particularly qualified for +holding public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> office should be given the opportunity just as he +believed in the higher academic education for the relatively small +minority capable of profiting by such an education.</p> + +<p>In concluding a letter in which he asks Booker Washington to recommend +a member of his race for a Federal office in Vicksburg, Miss., +President Roosevelt said: "The question of the political importance of +the colored man is really of no consequence. I do not care to consider +it, and you must not consider it. Give me the very best colored man +that you know of for the place, upon whose integrity and capacity we +can surely rely."</p> + +<p>The man, T.V. McAlister, whom Mr. Washington "gave" the President for +this office was of such character and reputation that the white +citizens of Vicksburg actually welcomed his appointment. Certainly +neither Vicksburg nor any other portion of Mississippi can be accused +of over-enthusiasm for conferring civil and political privileges upon +Negroes.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington's habit of never losing an opportunity to advance +constructively the interests of his people is well illustrated by the +following letter to President Roosevelt:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">[<i>Personal</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>March 20, 1904.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. President</span>: It has occurred to me that there are +a number of ways in which the colored people of the United +States' could be of service in digging the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> Panama Canal, +and personally I should be glad to do anything in my power +in getting them interested if deemed practicable.</p> + +<p>First: I think they can stand the climate better or as well +as any other people from the United States.</p> + +<p>Second: I have thought that a reasonably satisfactory number +of them might be useful as common, or skilled, laborers.</p> + +<p>Third: That in the Health Department our well-trained nurses +and physicians might be found helpful.</p> + +<p>Fourth: If the United States should assume any +responsibility as to education, that many efficient colored +teachers from our industrial schools, and colleges, might +prove of great benefit. And, then, besides the presence of +these educated persons would, in my opinion, both by +character and example, aid in influencing the morality of +the darker-skinned people to be employed at the Isthmus. I +believe that these educated colored people could get closer +to the masses than white men.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours truly,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>.</p> + +<p><i>To President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C.</i></p></div> + +<p>Nothing came of this suggestion except an acknowledgment and an +assurance that the matter would be considered. About two years ago, +however, when Doctor Washington and Surgeon-General Gorgas met on a +train the Surgeon-General said to Mr. Washington: "The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> biggest man at +the canal was the Negro," and he added that when they came to the +dedication of the canal at its formal opening some Negro should have a +place on the program.</p> + +<p>In recent years a certain section of the Republicans in the far +Southern States have tried to free themselves of the reputation of +being "nigger lovers" by vying with their Democratic rivals in seeking +to deprive Negroes of civic and political rights. Republicans of this +particular stripe are known colloquially as the "Lily Whites." In this +connection the following correspondence is of interest.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">[<i>Copy</i>]</p> + +<p class="center">[<i>Personal</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>White House,</i><br /> +<i>Washington, March 21, 1904.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Washington</span>: By direction of the President I send +you herewith for your private information a copy of letter +from the President to Mr. ——, dated February 24, 1904. +Please return it to me when you have read it.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Wm. Loeb, Jr.</span>,<br /> +Secretary to the President.</p> + +<p><i>Principal Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Normal and +Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama.</i></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span></p> + +<p>This was the letter enclosed:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">[<i>Copy</i>]</p> + +<p class="center">[<i>Personal</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>White House,</i><br /> +<i>Washington, February 24, 1904.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr.</span> ——: I take it for granted that there is no +intention of making the Louisiana delegation all white. I +think it would be a mistake for my friends to take any such +attitude in any state where there is a considerable Negro +population. I think it is a great mistake from the +standpoint of the whites; and in an organization composed of +men whom I have especially favored it would put me in a +false light. As you know, I feel as strongly as any one can +that there must be nothing like "Negro domination." On the +other hand, I feel equally strongly that the Republicans +must consistently favor those comparatively few colored +people who by character and intelligence show themselves +entitled to such favor. To put a premium upon the possession +of such qualities among the blacks is not only to benefit +them, but to benefit the whites among whom they live. I very +earnestly hope that the Louisiana Republicans whom I have so +consistently favored will not by any action of theirs tend +to put me in a false position in such a matter as this. With +your entire approval, I have appointed one or two colored +men entitled by character and standing to go to the National +Convention.</p> + +<p class="center">Sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p>In the year 1898 the success of the suffrage amendments in South +Carolina and Mississippi in excluding from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> franchise more than +nine-tenths of their Negro inhabitants inspired an agitation in +Louisiana to cut off the Negro vote by similar means, and this +agitation came to a head in the Constitutional Convention of that +year. Mr. Washington, assisted by T. Thomas Fortune, the well-known +Negro editor, and Mr. Scott, his secretary, prepared an open letter +addressed to this convention which was taken to the convention by Mr. +Scott and placed in the hands of the suffrage committee as well as the +editors of the New Orleans <i>Times-Democrat</i> and the <i>Picayune</i>, the +leading daily papers of the State. Extracts from the letter were sent +out by the local representative of the Associated Press and widely +published throughout the country. These New Orleans editors expressed +to Mr. Scott their approval of the letter and their substantial +agreement with its main features, and promised to publish it in full, +which they not only did, but accompanied it by editorial reviews. This +letter stated in part:</p> + +<p>"The Negro agrees with you that it is necessary to the salvation of +the South that restriction be put upon the ballot.... With the +sincerest sympathy with you in your efforts to find a way out of the +difficulty, I want to suggest that no State in the South can make a +law that will provide an opportunity or temptation for an ignorant +white man to vote and withhold the same opportunity from an ignorant +colored man, without injuring both men.... Any law controlling the +ballot, that is not absolutely just and fair to both races, will work +more permanent injury to the whites than to the blacks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span></p> + +<p>"The Negro does not object to an educational or property test, but let +the law be so clear that no one clothed with state authority will be +tempted to perjure and degrade himself by putting one interpretation +upon it for the white man and another for the black man. Study the +history of the South, and you will find that where there has been the +most dishonesty in the matter of voting, there you will find to-day +the lowest moral condition of both races. First, there was the +temptation to act wrongly with the Negro's ballot. From this it was an +easy step to dishonesty with the white man's ballot, to the carrying +of concealed weapons, to the murder of a Negro, and then to the murder +of a white man and then to lynching. I entreat you not to pass such a +law as will prove an eternal millstone about the neck of your +children."</p> + +<p>Later in the same appeal he said: "I beg of you, further, that in the +degree that you close the ballot-box against the ignorant, that you +open the schoolhouse.... Let the very best educational opportunities +be provided for both races: and add to this the enactment of an +election law that shall be incapable of unjust discrimination, at the +same time providing that in proportion as the ignorant secure +education, property, and character, they will be given the right of +citizenship. Any other course will take from one half your citizens +interest in the State, and hope and ambition to become intelligent +producers and taxpayers—to become useful and virtuous citizens. Any +other course will tie the white citizens of Louisiana to a body of +death."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span></p> + +<p>The New Orleans <i>Times-Democrat</i>, in its editorial accompanying the +publication of this letter, said: "We have seen the corrupting +influence in our politics and our elections of making fraud an element +of our suffrage system. We are certainly not going to get away from +fraud by encouraging it, or making it a part of the suffrage system we +place in our new constitution." The same editorial further states that +impartiality in the use of the ballot can be given Negro and white man +not only "with the utmost safety," but "it would have a beneficial +effect upon the politics of the State." In fact, the press of both +North and South, both of the whites and the blacks, published this +letter with practically unanimous editorial endorsement, but in spite +of all this the leaders of the convention remained obdurate, the +immediate object was lost, and Louisiana followed the example of +Mississippi and South Carolina. No one realized, however, better than +Booker Washington that the effort was by no means in vain. Owing to +the general awakening of intelligent public opinion the convention +leaders were forced into the position of driving through the +discriminatory amendment not only in the face of the condemnation of +the better element throughout the country but even with the +disapproval of the better and leading citizens of their own State.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterward members of the Georgia Legislature, seeking +political preferment for themselves through the familiar means of +anti-Negro agitation, introduced a bill which aimed to discriminate +against the Negroes of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> Georgia by legislative enactment just as the +Negroes of Louisiana had been discriminated against by a +constitutional amendment. This time Mr. Washington went personally to +Atlanta and appealed directly to a number of the members of the +Legislature and to the editors of the leading papers in opposition to +this bill. In an interview published in the Atlanta <i>Constitution</i> at +the time he said:</p> + +<p>"I cannot think that there is any large number of white people in the +South who are so ignorant or so poor that they cannot get education +and property enough to enable them to stand the test by the side of +the Negro in these respects. I do not believe that these white people +want it continually advertised to the world that some special law must +be passed by which they will seem to be given an unfair advantage over +the Negro by reason of their ignorance or their poverty. It is unfair +to blame the Negro for not preparing himself for citizenship by +acquiring intelligence, and then when he does get education and +property, to pass a law that can be so operated as to prevent him from +being a citizen, even though he may be a large taxpayer. The Southern +white people have reached the point where they can afford to be just +and generous; where there will be nothing to hide and nothing to +explain. It is an easy matter, requiring little thought, generosity or +statesmanship to push a weak man down when he is struggling to get up. +Any one can do that. Greatness, generosity, statesmanship are shown in +stimulating, encouraging every individual in the body politic to make +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> himself the most useful, intelligent, and patriotic citizen +possible. Take from the Negro all incentive to make himself and his +children useful property-holding citizens, and can any one blame him +for becoming a beast capable of committing any crime?"</p> + +<p>This time the immediate object was attained. The Atlanta +<i>Constitution</i> and other leading Georgia papers indorsed Booker +Washington's appeal and the Legislature voted down its anti-Negro +members. Be it said to the credit of the Georgia Legislature that it +has resisted several similar attempts to discriminate against the +Negro citizens of the State, and it was not till 1908, ten years after +the Louisiana law was passed, that Georgia finally passed a law +disfranchising Negro voters.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington has been accused of not protesting against the +lynching of Negroes. In the article published in the <i>Century +Magazine</i> in 1912, from which we have previously quoted, he said on +this subject: "When he was Governor of Alabama, I heard Governor Jelks +say in a public speech that he knew of five cases during his +administration of innocent colored people having been lynched. If that +many innocent people were known to the governor to have been lynched, +it is safe to say that there were other innocent persons lynched whom +the governor did not know about. What is true of Alabama in this +respect is true of other states. In short, it is safe to say that a +large proportion of the colored persons lynched are innocent.... Not a +few cases have occurred where white people have blackened their faces +and committed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> a crime, knowing that some Negro would be suspected and +mobbed for it. In other cases it is known that where Negroes have +committed crimes, innocent men have been lynched and the guilty ones +have escaped and gone on committing more crimes.</p> + +<p>"Within the last twelve months there have been seventy-one cases of +lynching, nearly all of colored people. Only seventeen were charged +with the crime of rape. Perhaps they are wrong to do so, but colored +people do not feel that innocence offers them security against +lynching. They do feel, however, that the lynching habit tends to give +greater security to the criminal, white or black."</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington often pointed out how the lynching of blacks leads +inevitably to the lynching of whites and how the lynching of guilty +persons of either race inevitably leads to the lynching of innocent +persons of both races.</p> + +<p>Let it not be supposed that Booker Washington confined his +condemnation of lynching to the comparatively safe cover of the pages +of an eminently respectable Northern magazine. Some years ago when he +was on a speaking trip in the State of Florida two depraved Negroes in +Jacksonville committed an atrocious murder. The crime aroused such +intense race feeling that Mr. Washington's friends foresaw the +likelihood of a lynching and, fearing for his safety, urged him to +cancel his engagements in Jacksonville, where he was due to speak +before white as well as black audiences within a few days. This he +refused to do and insisted that because there was special racial +friction it was especially necessary that he should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> keep his +engagements in the city. While he was driving to the hall where he was +to address a white audience the automobile of one of his Negro escorts +was stopped by a crowd of excited white men who angrily demanded that +Booker Washington be handed over to them. When they found he was not +in the car they allowed it to pass on without molesting the Negro +occupant, who enjoyed to an unusual degree the confidence and respect +of both races in the city. What they would have done had they found +Booker Washington one may only conjecture. At about the same time the +Negro murderers were captured. The howls of the infuriated mob on its +way to the jail to lynch the accused murderers could be heard in the +distance from the hall where Mr. Washington spoke. Without referring +in any way to the event which was taking place at the time Mr. +Washington, to the alarm of his friends, launched into a fervid +denunciation of lynching and ended with an earnest and eloquent appeal +for better feeling between the races. Instead of his words breaking up +the meeting in a storm of anger and rioting, this audience composed of +Southern whites and colored people vigorously applauded his +sentiments. Undoubtedly they were applauding not so much the views +expressed as the courage shown in expressing them at that place and +under those circumstances.</p> + +<p>A somewhat similar experience occurred on a recent speaking tour which +he and a party were making through the State of Louisiana. He was +accompanied by a company of Negro leaders, including Major Moton of +Hamp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span>ton, who has since become his successor as Principal of Tuskegee +Institute. They were in a portion of the State notorious for its +lynchings of Negroes. No one who has ever seen Major Moton, or knows +anything about him, would think of accusing him of timidity or +cowardice. But when they went before a white audience in this +particular district he urged Mr. Washington as a matter of common +prudence to "soft pedal" what he had to say about lynching. Just as in +Jacksonville Mr. Washington did just the opposite, and made his +denunciation particularly emphatic, and just as in Jacksonville there +was the same applause and apparent approval of his views.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington also protested that in the matter of public +education his people are not given a square deal in parts of the +South, particularly in the country districts. He continually +emphasized the relation between education and crime. Other things +being equal the more and the better the education provided the less +the number and seriousness of the crimes committed. Also he pointed +out that the neglect of Negro school facilities injures the white +citizens almost if not quite as much as the Negroes themselves. And +conversely that good school facilities for the colored children +benefit the whites almost as much as the Negroes. He also insisted +that quite aside from all moral and ethical considerations Negro +education pays in dollars and cents. As illustrating the relation +between Negro education and crime or rather lack of Negro education +and crime he related this incident in an article entitled, "Black and +White in the South" published in the <i>Outlook</i> of March<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> 14, 1914: "A +few weeks ago three of the most prominent white men in Mississippi +were shot and killed by two colored boys. Investigation brought to +light that the two boys were rough and crude, that they had never been +to school, hence that they were densely ignorant. While no one had +taught these boys the use of books, some one had taught them, as mere +children, the use of cocaine and whiskey. In a mad fit, when their +minds and bodies were filled with cheap whiskey and cocaine, these two +ignorant boys created a 'reign of murder,' in the course of which +three white men, four colored men, and one colored woman met death. As +soon as the shooting was over a crazed mob shot the two boys full of +bullet-holes and then burned their bodies in the public streets.</p> + +<p>"Now this is the kind of thing, more or less varied in form, that +takes place too often in our country. Why? The answer is simple: it is +dense ignorance on the part of the Negro and indifference arising out +of a lack of knowledge of conditions on the part of the white people."</p> + +<p>He then pointed out that the last enumeration in Mississippi, where +this crime was committed, indicated that 64 per cent. of the colored +children had had no schooling during the past year. That in Charleston +County, South Carolina, another backward State in Negro education, +there was expended on the public education of each white child $20.2; +for the colored child $3.12; in Abbeville County $11.17 for the white, +69 cents for the colored child. This 69 cents per capita expense was +incurred by maintaining a one-room school for two and one-half<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> +months, with a teacher paid at the rate of $15 a month. In another +county the Negro school was in session but one month out of the +twelve. Throughout the State, outside the cities and large towns, the +school term for the colored children is from two to four months. Thus +200,000 colored children in South Carolina are given only three or +four months of schooling a year. "Under these conditions it would +require twenty-eight years for a child to complete the eight grades of +the public school.... But South Carolina is by no means the only State +that has these breeding spots for ignorance, crime, and filth which +the nation will sooner or later have to reckon with."</p> + +<p>In the article in the <i>Century Magazine</i> from which quotations have +already been made Mr. Washington cites this statement made by W.N. +Sheats, former Superintendent of Education for the State of Florida, +in explanation of an analysis of the sources of the school fund of the +State: "A glance at the foregoing statistics indicates that the +section of the State designated as 'Middle Florida' is considerably +behind all the rest in all stages of educational progress. The usual +plea is that this is due to the intolerable burden of Negro education, +and a general discouragement and inactivity is ascribed to this cause. +The following figures are given to show that the education of the +Negroes of Middle Florida does not cost the white people of that +section one cent. Without discussing the American principle that it is +the duty of all property to educate every citizen as a means of +protection to the State, and with no reference to what taxes that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> +citizen may pay, it is the purpose of this paragraph to show that the +backwardness of education of the white people is in no degree due to +the presence of the Negro, but that the presence of the Negro has been +actually contributing to the sustenance of the white schools."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sheats then shows that the cost of the Negro schools was $19,467, +while the Negroes contributed to the school fund in direct taxes, +together with their proper proportion of the indirect taxes, $23,984. +He concludes: "If this is a fair calculation the schools for the +Negroes are not only no burden on the white citizens, but $4,525 for +Negro schools contributed from other sources was in some way diverted +to the white schools."</p> + +<p>Mr. Charles L. Coon, Superintendent of Schools at Wilson, N.C., is +quoted as demonstrating that had there been expended upon the Negro +schools the Negro's proportionate share of the receipts from indirect +taxes, as well as the direct taxes paid by them, $18,077 more in a +given year would have been expended on colored schools in Virginia, +$26,539 more in North Carolina, and $141,682 more in Georgia. These +figures would seem to show that in these States at least the Negro +schools are not only no burden upon the white taxpayers but that the +colored people do not get back in school facilities the equivalent of +all they themselves contribute in taxes.</p> + +<p>In the matter of passenger transportation facilities Booker Washington +protested that injustice is done his people by most of the railroads +of the South, not in providing separate accommodations for blacks and +whites, but in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> furnishing the Negroes with inferior accommodations +while charging them the same rates. This injustice causes, he +believes, more resentment and bitterness among his people than all the +other injustices to which they are subjected combined. The Negro or +"Jim Crow" compartment is usually half of the baggage car which is +usually inadequate for the traffic, badly lighted, badly ventilated, +and dirty. The newsdealer of the train uses this coach and increases +the congestion by spreading his wares over several seats. White men +frequently enter this compartment to buy papers and almost always +smoke in it, thus requiring the colored women to ride in what is +virtually a smoker. Aside from these matters the Negroes rarely have +through cars and no sleeping, parlor, or buffet cars, and frequently +no means of securing food on long journeys since many if not most of +the station restaurants refuse to serve them.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Century</i> article Mr. Washington thus quoted the experience of +a sensible and conservative Negro friend of his from Austin, Texas—a +man of education and good reputation among both races in his native +city: "At one time," he said, in describing some of his travelling +experiences, "I got off at a station almost starved. I begged the +keeper of the restaurant to sell me a lunch in a paper and hand it out +of the window. He refused, and I had to travel a hundred miles farther +before I could get a sandwich. At another time I went to a station to +purchase my ticket. I was there thirty minutes before the ticket +office was opened. When it did finally open I at once appeared at the +window. While the ticket agent served the white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> people at one window, +I remained waiting at the other until the train pulled out. I was +compelled to jump aboard the train without my ticket and wire back to +get my trunk expressed. Considering the temper of the people, the +separate coach law may be the wisest plan for the South, but the +statement that the two races have equal accommodations is all bosh. I +pay the same money, but I cannot have a chair or a lavatory, and +rarely a through car. I must crawl out at all times of night, and in +all kinds of weather, in order to catch another dirty 'Jim Crow' coach +to make my connections. I do not ask to ride with white people. I do +ask for equal accommodations for the same money."</p> + +<p>Booker Washington was of course obliged to travel in the South almost +constantly and to a great extent at night. He nearly always travelled +on a Pullman car, and so when not an interstate passenger usually +"violated" the law of whatever State he happened to be passing +through. The conductors, brakemen, and other trainmen, as a rule, +treated him with great respect and consideration and oftentimes +offered him a compartment in place of the berth which he had +purchased.</p> + +<p>Pullman cars in the South are not as a rule open to members of the +Negro race. It is only under more or less unusual conditions that a +black man is able to secure Pullman accommodations. Dr. Washington, +however, was generally treated with marked consideration whenever he +applied for Pullman car reservations. He was sometimes criticised, not +only by members of his own race, but by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> unthinking of the white +race who accused him of thus seeking "social equality" with the white +passengers.</p> + +<p>The work he was compelled to do, however, in constantly travelling +from place to place, and dictating letters while travelling, made it +necessary that he conserve his strength as much as possible. He never +believed that he was defying Southern traditions in seeking the +comfort essential to his work.</p> + +<p>Upon one occasion Dr. Washington went to Houston, Texas, and was +invited by the Secretary of the Cotton Exchange, in the name of the +Exchange, to speak to the members of the leading business +organizations of Houston, upon the floor of the Cotton Exchange Bank. +He was introduced by the secretary, who desired to give Dr. Washington +the opportunity to put before representative Southern white men the +thoughts and ideas of a representative colored man as to how the two +races might live together in the South on terms of mutual helpfulness. +Such was the impression he made upon the whites that when Dr. +Washington's secretary applied for Pullman accommodations for him, +returning East, they were not only ungrudgingly but even eagerly +granted. In those days it was unheard of for a colored man to travel +as a passenger in a Pullman car in Texas.</p> + +<p>The injustices mentioned and all others connected with railway +passenger service for Negroes Booker Washington sought in +characteristic fashion to mitigate by instituting, through the agency +of the National Negro Business League, what are known as Railroad +Days. On these days each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> year colored patrons of railroads lay before +the responsible officials the respects in which they believe they are +unfairly treated and request certain definite changes. Although +started only a few years ago these Railroad Days have already +accomplished a number of the improvements desired in various +localities.</p> + +<p>As an aid to the committees appointed in the various communities Mr. +Washington sent out a letter addressed to these committees which was +published in the Negro papers. This letter advised that all protests +on Railroad Days give: first, "a statement of present conditions," +second, "a statement of conditions desired." There followed a sample +detailed statement of the present conditions about which there is +usually cause for complaint accompanied by a similar statement of the +conditions desired.</p> + +<p>It was then suggested that these specific recommendations be followed +by these general requests:</p> + +<p>"1. The same class and quality of accommodations for colored +passengers as are provided for the most favored class of travellers.</p> + +<p>"2. Such regulations as will protect colored passengers from the +rudeness and insults of employees of the railroad.</p> + +<p>"3. Some definite authority to whom these matters may be referred, +where friction arises, and who will, in good faith, investigate and +adjust them."</p> + +<p>The letter concluded with this advice:</p> + +<p>"All those who are going to act on the suggestions to make a united +effort to bring about better railroad and other travelling facilities +should not omit to remind our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> people that they have a duty to perform +as well as the railroads.</p> + +<p>"First, our people should try to keep themselves clean and presentable +when travelling, and they should do their duty in trying to keep +waiting-rooms and railroad coaches clean.</p> + +<p>"Second, it should be borne in mind that little or nothing will be +accomplished by merely talking about white people who are in charge of +railroads, etc. The only way to get any results is to go to the people +and talk to them and not about them."</p> + +<p>Compare this definite, reasonable, and effective form of protest with +the bitter, vague, and futile outcry against the "Jim Crow" car which +is frequently heard.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington sent a marked copy of the <i>Century Magazine</i> +containing the article, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" to the +head of every railroad in the South calling attention to the portion +relating to unfair treatment in passenger service for his people. In +response he received letters which in almost every case were friendly +and in many cases showed an active desire to coöperate in the +improvement of the conditions complained of. Mr. Washington published +extracts from these letters in the Negro press prior to his Railroad +Day proposal in order to show that the railroad officials were for the +most part at least willing to give a respectful hearing to the +complaints of their Negro patrons if properly approached. President +Stevens of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company wrote that he had had +one hundred copies of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> article distributed among the officials and +employees of his road. Mr. J.M. Parker, Receiver and General Manager +of the Arkansas, Louisiana & Gulf Railway Company, wrote: "I have your +favor with enclosure.... I shall take pleasure in reading this +article, and from glancing through it I am inclined to think that the +statement that the Negro is not getting a square deal in the way of +transportation facilities is well founded." Mr. William J. Black, +Passenger Traffic Manager of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway +System, wrote in part: "You will, no doubt, be pleased to learn that +the Santa Fé has already provided equipment for colored travel in +conformity with the plan outlined in your article." From all or most +of the Southern railways came letters of the general tenor of those +quoted, and thus was the way prepared for the successful inauguration +of the Railroad Days.</p> + +<p>Constantly as he labored for the rights of his people he never sought +to obtain for them any special privileges. Unlike most leaders of +groups, classes, or races of people he never sought any exclusive or +special advantages for his followers. He did not want the Negro to +receive any favors by reason of his race any more than he wanted him +to be discriminated against on that account. He wanted all human +beings, Negroes among the rest, to receive their deserts as +individuals regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, or any +other consideration which has nothing to do with the individual's +merits. One of his favorite figures was that "one cannot hold another +in a ditch without himself staying in the ditch." There is not a +single right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> for which he contended for his people which if won would +not directly or indirectly benefit all other people. Were they in all +the States admitted to the franchise on equal terms with white +citizens what Mr. Washington termed the "encouragement of vice and +ignorance among white citizens" would cease.</p> + +<p>Were the lynching of Negroes stopped the lynching of white men would +also cease. Both the innocent black man and the innocent white man +would feel a greater sense of security while the guilty black man as +well as the guilty white man would be less secure. Were the Negroes +given their full share of public education the whites would gain not +only more reliable and intelligent Negro labor, but would be largely +freed so far as Negroes are concerned from the menace of the crimes of +violence which are committed almost exclusively by ignorant persons. +Finally, were Negro travellers given equal accommodations and +treatment for equal rates on all the Southern railways the volume of +Negro travel would more rapidly increase, thus increasing the +prosperity of the railways and their shareholders which would in turn +promote the prosperity of the entire South.</p> + +<p>True to his policy of always placing the emphasis upon those things +which are encouraging instead of upon those things which are +discouraging, Mr. Washington concluded the already much-quoted +article, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" with these observations: +"Notwithstanding all the defects in our system of dealing with him, +the Negro in this country owns more property, lives in better houses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> +is in a larger measure encouraged in business, wears better clothes, +eats better food, has more schoolhouses and churches, and more +teachers and ministers, than any similar group of Negroes anywhere in +the world."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_FIVE" id="CHAPTER_FIVE"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 5"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">FIVE</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">MEETING RACE PREJUDICE</span></h3> + + +<p><br />ALTHOUGH intensely human and consumingly interested in humanity—both +in the mass and as individuals, whether of his own race or any +other—Booker Washington thought and acted to an uncommon degree on +the impersonal plane. This characteristic was perhaps most strikingly +illustrated in his attitude toward race prejudice. When, many years +ago, he had charge of the Indian students at Hampton, and had occasion +to travel with them, he found they were free to occupy in the hotels +any rooms they could pay for, whereas he must either go without or +take a room in the servants' quarters. He regarded these experiences +as interesting illustrations of the illogical nature of race +prejudice. The occupants of these hotels did not resent mingling with +members of a backward race whose skin happened to be red, but they did +object to mingling on the same terms with members of another backward +race whose skin happened to be black. It apparently never entered his +head to regard this discrimination with bitterness or as a personal +rebuff. One could not, however, make a greater mistake than to assume +from this impersonal attitude that he condoned race prejudice, or in +any sense stood as an apologist for it. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> dispel any such idea one +has only to recall his speech at the Peace Jubilee in Chicago after +the Spanish War, from which we have already quoted, and in which he +characterized racial prejudice as "a cancer gnawing at the heart of +the Republic, that shall one day prove as dangerous as an attack from +an army without or within."</p> + +<p>Very early in his career Washington worked out for himself a perfectly +definite line of conduct in the matter of social mingling with white +people. In the South he scrupulously observed the local customs and +avoided offending the prejudices of the Southerners in so far as was +possible without unduly handicapping his work. For instance, in his +constant travelling throughout the South he not only violated their +customs, but oftentimes their laws, in using sleeping cars, but this +he was obliged to do because he could spare neither the time to travel +by day nor the strength and energy to sit up all night. This +particular Southern prejudice and the laws predicated upon it he was +hence forced to violate, but he did so as a physical necessity to the +accomplishment of his work and not in any sense as a defiance of +custom or law. While in the South he observed Southern customs and +bowed to Southern prejudices, but he declined to be bound by such +customs, laws, and prejudices when in other parts of this country or +the world. Except in the South he allowed himself whatever degree of +social intercourse with the whites seemed best calculated to +accomplish his immediate object and his ultimate aims. He never +accepted purely social invitations from white persons. He always +claimed that he could best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> satisfy his social desires among his own +people. He believed that the question of so-called "social equality" +between the races was too academic and meaningless to be worthy of +serious discussion.</p> + +<p>Probably he never made a more well-considered or illuminating +statement of his personal attitude toward social intercourse with the +dominant race than in a letter to the late Edgar Gardiner Murphy, a +Southerner "of light and leading," author of "The Present South," "The +Basis of Ascendancy," and other notable books on the relations between +the races. Mr. Murphy, as a Southerner, became alarmed at the attacks +upon Booker Washington by certain Southern newspapers and public men +because of his appearance at so-called social functions in the North. +Mr. Murphy, rightly regarding the retention of the favorable opinion +of representative Southern whites as essential to the success of +Washington's work, very naturally feared any course of action which +seemed to threaten the continuance of that favorable opinion. In +response to a letter in which Mr. Murphy expressed these fears and +asked for an opportunity to discuss the situation with him Mr. +Washington replied as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">[<i>Personal</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Sir</span>: I have received your kind letter, for which I +thank you very much. I was very much disappointed that I did +not have an opportunity of meeting you, as I had planned the +other day, so as not to be so hurried in talking with you as +I usually am. I shall be very glad, however, the very first +time I can find another spare hour<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> when in New York (Mr. +Murphy was then living in New York City) to have you talk +with me fully and frankly about the matters that are in your +mind.</p> + +<p>However we may differ in our view regarding certain matters, +there is no man in the country whose frankness, earnestness, +and sincere disinterestedness I respect more than yours, and +whatever you say always has great weight with me.</p> + +<p>Your letter emphasizes the tremendous difficulty of the work +at the South. In most cases, and in most countries where a +large section of the people are down, and are to be helped +up, those attempting to do the work have before them a +straight, simple problem of elevating the unfortunate people +without the entanglement of racial prejudice to be grappled +with. I think I do not exaggerate when I say that perhaps a +third or half of the thought and energy of those engaged in +the elevation of the colored people is given in the +direction of trying to do the thing or not doing the thing +which would enhance racial prejudice. This feature of the +situation I believe very few people at the North or at the +South appreciate. What is true of the Negro educator is true +in a smaller degree of the white educator at the South. I am +constantly trying, as best I can, to study the situation as +it is right here on the ground, and I may be mistaken, but +aside from the wild and demagogical talk on the part of a +few I am unable to discover much or any change in the +attitude of the best white people toward the best colored +people. So far as my own individual experience and +observation are concerned, I am treated about the same as I +have always been. I was in Athens, Georgia, a few days ago, +to deliver ah address before the colored people at the State +Fair, and the meeting was attended by the best class of +whites and the best class of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> colored people, who seemed to +be pleased over what I said.</p> + +<p>Mr. Blank, a Southern Congressman, just now is making a good +deal of noise, but you will recall that Mr. Blank spoke just +as bitterly against me before Mr. Roosevelt became President +as he has since. I do not want to permit myself to be +misled, but I repeat that I cannot see or feel that any +great alienation has taken place between the two classes of +people that you refer to.</p> + +<p>For the sake of argument I want to grant for the moment a +thing which I have never done before, even in a private +letter, and which is very distasteful to me, and that is, +that I am the leader of the colored people. Do you think it +will ever be possible for one man to be set up as the leader +of ten millions of people, meaning a population nearly twice +as large as that of the Dominion of Canada and nearly equal +to that of the Republic of Mexico, without the actions of +that individual being carefully watched and commented upon, +and what he does being exaggerated either in one direction +or the other? Again, if I am the leader and therefore the +mouthpiece for ten millions of colored people, is it +possible for such a leader to avoid coming into contact with +the representatives of the ruling classes of white people +upon many occasions; and is it not to be expected that when +questions that are racial and national and international in +their character are to be discussed, that such a +representative of the Negro race would be sought out both by +individuals and by conventions? If, as you kindly suggest, I +am the leader, I hardly see how such notoriety and +prominence as will naturally come can be wholly or in any +large degree avoided.</p> + +<p>Judging by some of the criticisms that have appeared +recently, mainly from the class of people to whom I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> +referred, it seems to me that some of the white people at +the South are making an attempt to control my actions when I +am in the North and in Europe. Heretofore, no man has been +more careful to regard the feelings of the Southern people +in actions and words than I have been, and this policy I +shall continue to pursue, but I have never attempted to hide +or to minimize the fact that when I am out of the South I do +not conform to the same customs and rules that I do in the +South. I say I have not attempted to hide it because +everything that I have done in this respect was published +four years ago in my book, "Up from Slavery," which has been +read widely throughout the South, and I did not hear a word +of adverse criticism passed upon what I had done. For +fifteen years I have been doing at the North just what I +have been doing during the past year. I have never attended +a purely social function given by white people anywhere in +the country. Nearly every week I receive invitations to +weddings of rich people, but these I always refuse. Mrs. +Washington almost never accompanies me on any occasion where +there can be the least sign of purely social intercourse. +Whenever I meet white people in the North at their offices, +in their parlors, or at their dinner tables, or at banquets, +it is with me purely a matter of business, either in the +interest of our institution or in the interest of my race; +no other thought ever enters my mind. For me to say now, +after fifteen years of creating interest in my race and in +this institution in that manner, that I must stop, would +simply mean that I must cease to get money in a large +measure for this institution. In meeting the people in this +way I am simply doing what the head of practically every +school, black and white, in the South is constantly doing. +For purely social pleasure I have always found all my +ambitions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> satisfied among my own people, and you will find +that in proportion as the colored race becomes educated and +prosperous, in the same proportion is this true of all +colored people.</p> + +<p>I said a minute ago that I had tried to be careful in regard +to the feelings of the Southern people. It has been urged +upon me time and time again to employ a number of white +teachers at this institution. I have not done so and do not +intend to do so, largely for the reason that they would be +constantly mingling with each other at the table. For thirty +years and more, in every one of our Southern States, white +and colored people have sat down to the table three times a +day nearly throughout the year, and I have heard very little +criticism passed upon them. This kind of thing, however, at +Tuskegee I have always tried to avoid so far as our regular +teaching force is concerned. But I repeat, if I begin to +yield in the performance of my duty when out of the South in +one respect, I do not know where the end will be. It is very +difficult for you, or any other person who is not in my +place, to understand the difficulty and embarrassment that I +am confronted with. You have no idea how many invitations of +various kinds I am constantly refusing or trying to get away +from because I want to avoid embarrassing situations. For +example, over a year ago Mr. S—— invited me to go to +Stockbridge, Massachusetts, near Lenox, to deliver an +address on General Armstrong's life and work. When I reached +Stockbridge an hour or so before the time of delivering the +address, I found that Mr. S——, who had invited me, had +also invited five or six other gentlemen to meet me at +luncheon. The luncheon I knew nothing about until I reached +the town. Under such circumstances I am at a loss to know +how I could have avoided accepting the invitation. A few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> +days afterward I filled a long-standing invitation to +lecture at Amherst College. I reached the town a few hours +before dinner and found that a number of people, including +several college presidents, had been invited to meet me at +dinner. Taking still another case: over a year ago I +promised a colored club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that I +would be their guest at a banquet in October. The banquet +was held on the third of the month, and when I reached +Cambridge I found that in addition to the members of the +colored club, the Mayor of the city and a number of Harvard +professors, including President Eliot, had been invited; and +I could go on and state case after case. Of course, if I +wanted to make a martyr of myself and draw especial +attention to me and to the institution, I could easily do so +by simply writing whenever I receive an invitation to a +dinner or banquet that I could not accept on account of the +color of my skin.</p> + +<p>Six years ago at the Peace Jubilee in Chicago, where I spoke +at a meeting at which President McKinley was present, I took +both luncheon and dinner in the same dining-room with +President McKinley and was the guest of the same club that +he was a guest of. There were Southern men present, and the +fact that I was present and spoke was widely heralded +throughout the South, and so far as I know not a word of +adverse comment was made. For nearly fifteen years the +addresses which I have been constantly making at dinners and +banquets in the North have been published throughout the +South, and no adverse comment has been made regarding my +presence on these occasions.</p> + +<p>Practically all of the invitations to functions that are of +even a semi-social character are urged upon me by Northern +people, and very often after I have refused to accept +invitations pressure is brought to bear on special<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> friends +of mine in order to get me to accept. Notwithstanding all +this, where I accept one invitation I refuse ten; in fact, +you have no idea how many invitations to dinner I refuse +while I am in the North. I not only do so for the reason +that I do not care to excite undue criticism, but for the +further reason that if I were to accept any large proportion +of such invitations I would have little time left for my +legitimate work. In many cases the invitations come from +people who do not give money but simply want to secure a +notoriety or satisfy curiosity.</p> + +<p>I have stated the case as I see it, and with a view of +having you think over these matters by the time that we +meet.</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>.</p></div> + +<p>There were two particularly notable occasions upon which Mr. +Washington unwittingly stirred the prejudices of the South. The first +was when in 1901 he dined with President Roosevelt and his family at +the White House; the second, when four years later he dined with Mr. +John Wanamaker and his daughter at a hotel in Saratoga, New York.</p> + +<p>The truth of his dining at the White House, of which so many imaginary +versions have been given, was this: having received so many +expressions of approval from all sections of the country on his +appointment of ex-Governor Jones to a Federal judgeship in Alabama, +which appointment was made, as described in a previous chapter, on the +recommendation of Booker Washington and Grover Cleveland, President +Roosevelt asked him to come to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> White House and discuss with him +some further appointments and other matters of mutual interest.</p> + +<p>On arriving in Washington he went to the home of his friend, +Whitefield McKinlay, a colored man with whom he usually stopped when +in the Capital. The next morning he went to the White House by +appointment for an interview with the President. Since they did not +have time to finish their discussion, the President, in accordance +with the course he had often followed with others under similar +circumstances, invited Washington to come to dinner so that they might +finish their discussion in the evening without loss of time.</p> + +<p>In response to this oral invitation he went to the White House at the +appointed time, dined with the President and his family and two other +guests, and after dinner discussed with the President chiefly the +character of individual colored office holders or applicants for +office and, as says Colonel Roosevelt, "the desirability in specific +cases, notably in all offices having to do with the administration of +justice, of getting high-minded and fearless white men into +office—men whom we could be sure would affirmatively protect the +law-abiding Negro's right to life, liberty, and property just exactly +as they protected the rights of law-abiding white men." Also they +discussed the public service of the South so far as the +representatives of the Federal Administration were concerned—the +subject upon which President Roosevelt had wished to consult him. The +next day the bare fact that he had dined with the President was +obscurely announced by the Wash<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span>ington papers as a routine item of +White House news. Some days later, however, an enterprising +correspondent for a Southern paper lifted this unpretentious item from +oblivion and sent it to his paper to be blazoned forth in a front-page +headline. For days and weeks thereafter the Southern press fairly +shrieked with the news of this quiet dinner. The very papers which had +most loudly praised the President for his appointment of a Southern +Democrat to a Federal judgeship now execrated him for inviting to dine +with him the man upon whose recommendation he had made this +appointment.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington was also roundly abused for his "presumption" in daring +to dine at the White House. This was a little illogical in view of the +well-known fact that an invitation to the White House is a summons +rather than an invitation in the ordinary sense. Neither President +Roosevelt nor Mr. Washington issued any statements by way of +explanation or apology. While it was, of course, farthest from the +wishes of either to offend the sensibilities of the South, neither +one—the many statements to the contrary, notwithstanding—ever +indicated subsequently any regret or admitted that the incident was a +mistake.</p> + +<p>During the furore over this incident both the President and Mr. +Washington received many threats against their lives. The President +had the Secret Service to protect him, while Mr. Washington had no +such reliance. His co-workers surrounded him with such precautions as +they could, and his secretary accumulated during this period enough +threatening letters to fill a desk drawer. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> not discovered +until some years after that one of these threats had been followed by +the visit to Tuskegee of a hired assassin. A strange Negro was hurt in +jumping off the train before it reached the Tuskegee Institute +station. There being no hospital for Negroes in the town of Tuskegee +he was taken to the hospital of the Institute, where he was cared for +and nursed for several weeks before he was able to leave. Mr. +Washington was absent in the North during all of this time. Many +months later this Negro confessed that he had come to Tuskegee in the +pay of a group of white men in Louisiana for the purpose of +assassinating Booker Washington. He said that he became so ashamed of +himself while being cared for by the doctors and nurses employed by +the very man he had come to murder that he left as soon as he was able +to do so instead of waiting to carry out his purpose on the return of +his victim, as he had originally planned to do.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington, with all his philosophy and capacity for rising +above the personal, was probably more deeply pained by this affair +than any other in his whole career. His pain was, however, almost +solely on Mr. Roosevelt's account. He felt keenly hurt and chagrined +that Mr. Roosevelt, whom he so intensely admired, and who was doing so +much, not only for his own race but for the whole South as he +believed, should suffer all this abuse and even vilification on his +account. President Roosevelt evidently realized something of how he +felt, for in a letter to him written at this time he added this +postscript: "By the way, don't worry about <i>me</i>; it will all come +right in time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> and if I have helped by ever so little 'the ascent of +man' I am more than satisfied."</p> + +<p>Probably no single public event ever gave Booker Washington greater +pleasure than Colonel Roosevelt's triumphant election to the +Presidency in 1904. The day after the election he wrote the President +the following letter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">[<i>Personal</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,</i><br /> +<i>November 10, 1904</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. President</span>: I cannot find words in which to +express my feeling regarding the tremendous outcome of +Tuesday's election. I know that you feel the sacred and +almost divine confidence imposed. In my opinion, no human +being in America since Washington, perhaps, has been so +honored and vindicated. The result shows that the great +heart of the American people beats true and is in the +direction of fair play for all, regardless of race or color. +Nothing has ever occurred which has given me more faith in +all races or shows more plainly that they will respond to +high ideals when properly appealed to.</p> + +<p>I know that you will not misunderstand me when I say I share +somewhat the feeling of triumph and added responsibility +that must animate your soul at the present time because of +the personal abuse heaped upon you on account of myself. The +great victory and vindication does not make me feel boastful +or vainglorious, but, on the other hand, very humble, and +gives me more faith in humanity and makes me more determined +to work harder in the interest of all our people of both +races regardless of race or color. I shall urge our people +everywhere to manifest their gratitude by showing a spirit +of meekness and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> added usefulness. The election shows to +what a great height you have already lifted the character of +American citizenship. Before you leave the White House I am +sure that the whole South will understand you and love you.</p> + +<p>God keep you and bless you.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours most sincerely,</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>.</p> + +<p><i>To President Theodore Roosevelt, White House, Washington</i></p> +</div> + +<p>President Roosevelt expressed great appreciation of this letter and +said that Mr. Washington had taken the election in just the way he +would have wished him to take it.</p> + +<p>About two years later Mr. Washington wrote President Roosevelt another +letter which throws light upon the relations between the two men as +well as upon the incongruous phases of racial prejudice:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,</i><br /> +<i>June 19, 1906.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. President</span>: It will interest you to know that the +Cox family, over whom such a disturbance was made in +connection with the Indianola, Miss., post-office, have +started a bank in that same town which direct and reliable +information convinces me is in a prosperous condition. The +bank has the confidence of both races. It is a curious +circumstance that while objection was made to this black +family being at the head of the post-office no objection is +made to this black man being president of a bank in the same +town.</p> + +<p>A letter just received from a reliable banker in Mississippi +contains the following sentences:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now, with reference to Mr. W.W. Cox, of Indianola, Miss., I +beg to advise that no man of color is as highly regarded and +respected by the white people of his town and county as he. +It is true that he organized and is cashier of the Delta +Penny Savings Bank, domiciled there. I visited Indianola +during the spring of 1905 and was very much surprised to +note the esteem in which he was held by the bankers and +business men (white) of that place. He is a good, clean man +and above the average in intelligence, and knows how to +handle the typical Southern white man. In the last statement +furnished by his bank to the State Auditor, his bank showed +total resources of $46,000. He owns and lives in one of the +best resident houses in Indianola, regardless of race, and +located in a part of the town where other colored men seem +to be not desired. The whites adjacent to him seem to be his +friends. He has a large plantation near the town, worth +$35,000 or $40,000. He is a director in Mr. Pettiford's bank +at Birmingham, Ala., and I think is vice-president of the +same. He also owns stock in the bank of Mound Bayou."</p> + +<p class="center">Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>.</p> + +<p><i>To President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>In August, 1905, Booker Washington spoke one Sunday morning before a +large audience in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. After his address Mr. John +Wanamaker and his daughter were among those who came forward to greet +him. They also invited him to dine with them at the United States +Hotel that afternoon. Mr. Wanamaker had been particularly interested +in Booker Washington<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> and his work for many years. Mr. Washington +accepted this invitation without the least thought of reawakening the +clamor caused by the Roosevelt dinner. The dinner itself passed off +quietly, pleasantly, and without particular event. It was not until he +took up the papers at his little hotel in New York the next morning +that he found that he had again stirred up a hornet's nest similar to +that of four years before. The denunciation was if anything more +violent; for, as many of his assailants said, he should have profited +by the protests of four years before. In an editorial entitled, +"Booker Washington's Saratoga Performance" a Southern newspaper said: +"Since the fateful day when Booker T. Washington sat down to the +dinner table in the White House with President Roosevelt he has done +many things to hurt the cause of which he is regarded as the foremost +man.... Leaving out of the question the lack of delicacy and +self-respect manifested by Wanamaker and his family, blame must rest +upon Washington, because he knows how deep and impassable is the gulf +between whites and blacks in the South when the social situation is +involved. He deliberately flaunts all this in the face of the Southern +people among whom he is living and among whom his work has to be +carried on. He could have given no harder knock to his institution +than he gave when he marched into that Saratoga dinner room with a +white woman and her father."</p> + +<p>These sentiments were expressed editorially by another Southern paper: +"Wanamaker is unworthy to shine the shoes of Booker Washington. He is +not in Washington's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> class. If the truly smart set of Saratoga was +shocked that Booker should have been caught in this man's company and +as his guest we are not surprised. But still Booker Washington could +not eat dinner with the most ordinary white man in this section. He +wouldn't dare intimate that he sought such social recognition among +whites here"; and in conclusion this editorial said: "The South only +pities the daughter that she should have allowed herself to be used by +a father whose sensibilities and ideas of the proprieties are so +dulled by his asinine qualities that he could not see the harm in it."</p> + +<p>This vituperation of Mr. Wanamaker, and the scoring him for his part +in the affair even more than Washington, recalls an incident which Mr. +Washington himself relates in his book entitled, "My Larger +Education." When he was making a trip through Florida, a few weeks +after his dinner with President Roosevelt, at a little station near +Gainesville, "A white man got aboard the train," he says, "whose dress +and manner indicated that he was from the class of small farmers in +that part of the country. He shook hands with me very cordially, and +said: 'I am mighty glad to see you. I have heard about you and I have +been wanting to meet you for a long while.'</p> + +<p>"I was naturally pleased at this cordial reception, but I was +surprised when, after looking me over, he remarked: 'Say, you are a +great man. You are the greatest man in this country.'</p> + +<p>"I protested mildly, but he insisted, shaking his head<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> and repeating, +'Yes, sir, the greatest man in this country.' Finally I asked him what +he had against President Roosevelt, telling him at the same time that, +in my opinion, the President of the United States was the greatest man +in the country.</p> + +<p>"'Huh! Roosevelt?' he replied, with considerable emphasis in his +voice, 'I used to think that Roosevelt was a great man until he ate +dinner with you. That settled him for me.'"</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington goes on to say: "This remark of a Florida farmer is but +one of the many experiences which have taught me something of the +curious nature of this thing that we call prejudice—social prejudice, +race prejudice, and all the rest. I have come to the conclusion that +these prejudices are something that it does not pay to disturb. It is +best to 'let sleeping dogs lie.' All sections of the United States, +like all other parts of the world, have their own peculiar customs and +prejudices. For that reason it is the part of common sense to respect +them. When one goes to European countries, or into the Far West, or +into India or China, he meets certain customs and certain prejudices +which he is bound to respect and, to a certain extent, comply with. +The same holds good regarding conditions in the North and in the +South. In the South it is not the custom for colored and white people +to be entertained at the same hotel; it is not the custom for black +and white children to attend the same school. In most parts of the +North a different custom prevails. I have never stopped to question or +quarrel with the customs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> of the people in the part of the country in +which I found myself."</p> + +<p>And so he acted in the case of the Wanamaker dinner. He accepted Mr. +Wanamaker's invitation because he was in the North and his host was a +Northerner. In so doing he felt that he was not violating any +generally accepted custom or universally entertained prejudice of the +part of the country in which he found himself. Had the inconceivable +occurred, and had a Southerner invited him to dine in the South, under +conditions in all other respects identical, he would not have +accepted. He would not have been willing to incur the resentment of +the South even had his host been willing to defy local prejudices by +inviting him. On the other hand, he felt that the attitude of those +who would seek to control him in matters of social custom when he was +not in the South or among Southerners was unfair and unreasonable.</p> + +<p>An incident which occurred while he was stopping at the English Hotel +in Indianapolis in 1903 furnished copy for the more or less +sensational press of the country. This hotel does not as a rule accept +Negroes as guests, but Mr. Washington was always a welcome visitor +there just as he was at many other hotels where less-favored members +of his race were excluded. He never patronized this hotel or any other +for the purpose of asserting his rights, but merely to obtain the +comforts and the seclusion so essential to a man who always worked up +to the limits of even his great strength and usually a little beyond +such limits. It is, indeed, quite possible that he might have lived +longer had he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> been free to stop at hotels in the South instead of +undergoing the constant wear and tear of being entertained in the +private homes of the all-too-kind hosts of his own race. All public +men and lecturers, in a large way of business, learn early in their +careers that they must decline practically all proffers of private +hospitality if they are to preserve their health.</p> + +<p>On this occasion the white chambermaid assigned to care for the room +he occupied refused to perform her duties so far as his room was +concerned on the ground, as she stated, that she "would not clean up +after a nigger." For this refusal to do her work the management +discharged her. The Springfield <i>Republican</i> of that date thus +describes what followed: "A hotel at Houston, Texas, immediately +offered her a place there, which she accepted, but as matters are now +going she is more likely to retire from the business as a grand lady +living on an independent income. Her name is upon all tongues in the +Southland, and the newspapers print long and complimentary accounts of +her life and the one great deed that has made her famous. Citizens and +communities vie with each other in contributing money.... Captain John +W. Johnson of Sheffield, Ala., is organizing a general subscription +fund from that and neighboring towns. A meeting at Houston, Texas, +raised $500 for her in the name of a 'self-respecting girl.' The +Houston <i>Chronicle</i> is conducting another popular subscription. +Contributions are coming into it from all parts of Texas. Citizens of +New Orleans have raised $1,000. About twoscore Southern towns and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> a +dozen cities so far figure in the contributions. The movement extends +to Indianapolis, where a gold watch has been contributed." The +hysterical lauding of this "heroine" was subsequently wet blanketed by +the discovery that she had cared for Mr. Washington's room for the +first day or two of his stay without protest, and by the further +discovery that her second or third husband had recently obtained a +divorce from her.</p> + +<p>It is only fair to add that many of the leading citizens of the South +strongly deprecated the sensational magnifying of this trivial +incident by a certain section of the Southern press. Mr. Washington +declined to make any comment for publication during or after this +petty tumult.</p> + +<p>In spite of the three events described, and others of a like nature +that might be mentioned, no Negro was ever so liked, respected, +admired, and eulogized by the Southern whites as Booker Washington. +The day following his great speech before the Cotton States Exposition +in Atlanta in 1895 when he went out upon the streets of the city he +was so besieged by white citizens from the highest to the lowest, who +wanted to shake his hand and congratulate him, that he was fairly +driven in self-defense to remain indoors. Not many years after that it +had become a commonplace for him to be an honored guest on important +public occasions throughout the South. On occasions too numerous even +to note in passing he was welcomed, and introduced to great audiences, +by Southern Governors, Mayors, and other high officials, as well as by +eminent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> private citizens. Such recognition came partly as a +spontaneous tribute to the great work he was doing and partly because +of his constantly reiterated assurance that the Negro was not seeking +either political domination over the white man or social intercourse +with him. He reasoned that the more Southern whites he could convince +that his people were not seeking what is known as social equality or +political dominance, the less race friction there would be.</p> + +<p>It has already been mentioned that at the opening of the first Negro +agricultural fair in Albany, Georgia, in the fall of 1914, the Mayor +of the city and several members of the City Council sat on the +platform during the exercises and listened to his speech with most +spontaneous and obvious approval. In this part of Georgia the Negroes +outnumber the whites by at least six to one. The afternoon of the same +day the Mayor invited Booker Washington and his party to come to the +city hall and confer with himself, the other city officials, and a +group of prominent private citizens on the relations between the races +in that city and locality. At this conference there was a friendly, +easy interchange of ideas interspersed with jokes and laughter, but +all the time Mr. Washington was leading them step by step to see that +by giving the Negroes proper educational opportunities they were +helping themselves as well as the Negroes. Mr. Stowe, who was present +at this conference, noticed to his surprise that some of the arguments +advanced by Dr. Washington, which seemed to him to be almost worn-out +truisms, although freshly and strongly ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span>pressed, were seized upon by +his auditors as new and original ideas. When he made this observation +to Mr. Washington after the meeting he said that several other +Northerners had under similar circumstances made the same observation +and then he added: "I only wish that it were possible for me to spend +several months of each year talking with just such groups of +representative Southern men. They are always responsive, eager to +understand what we are driving at, and sympathetic when they do +understand. The necessity for raising money has forced us to devote +the bulk of our time to educating the Northern public to the needs of +the situation to the neglect of our Southern white neighbors right +here about us."</p> + +<p>It was an interesting illustration of the illogical workings of race +prejudice that this man to whom the city fathers from the Mayor down +gave up practically their entire day—this man to whom the city hall +was thrown open and at whose feet sat the leading citizens as well as +the officials of the city, could not have found shelter in any hotel +in town. This man whom the officials and other leading citizens +delighted to honor arrived at night on a Pullman sleeping car in +violation of the law of the State; and, after all possible honor had +been paid him, save allowing him to enter a hotel, departed the next +night by a Pullman sleeper in violation of the law!</p> + +<p>This constant "law-breaker" was welcomed and introduced to audiences +by Governor Blanchard of Louisiana at Shreveport, La.; by Governor +Candler at Atlanta,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> Ga.; by Governor Donaghey at Little Rock, Ark.; +by Governor McCorkle of West Virginia, and successively by Governors +Jelks and O'Neil of his own State of Alabama. Still other Southern +Governors spoke from the same platform with him at congresses, +conventions, and meetings of various descriptions.</p> + +<p>Next to South Carolina and Georgia, perhaps no State in the Union has +shown as much hostility to the progress of the Negro as Mississippi. +In 1908, in response to the urgent appeals of Charles Banks, the Negro +banker and dominating force of the Negro town of Mound Bayou, Mr. +Washington agreed to make a tour through Mississippi such as he had +made three years before through Arkansas and what were then Oklahoma +and Indian Territories. At Jackson, Miss., the management of the State +Fair Association offered the local committee of Negroes the great +Liberal Arts Building for Mr. Washington's address. In the audience +were not less than five thousand persons, among them several hundred +white citizens. Among the whites who sat on the platform were Governor +Noel, Lieutenant-Governor Manship, Bishop Charles B. Galloway of the +Methodist Episcopal Church South, Mr. Milsaps, the richest citizen of +the State; the postmaster of Jackson, the United States Marshal, Hon. +Edgar S. Wilson, and a considerable number of other prominent white +citizens.</p> + +<p>At Natchez, a few nights later, the audience literally filled every +available space in the Grand Opera House and overflowed into the +adjoining streets. This audience was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> in many respects the most +remarkable that the city had ever seen. The entire orchestra was given +over to the white citizens of Natchez and Adams County, and still +there was not room to accommodate them, for they were packed in the +rear and stood three and four deep in the aisles. The colored people +were crowded into the balcony and the galleries. When Booker +Washington arose to speak, he was greeted by a perfect whirlwind of +applause and cheering. He was visibly affected by the reception given +him by whites as well as blacks.</p> + +<p>When he finished speaking a large delegation headed by the Mayor of +the city made their way to the platform, welcomed him to the city, +thanked him for his address, and stated that his influence for good in +the city and county could not be estimated.</p> + +<p>Mr. J.T. Harahan, of the Illinois Central Railroad, provided the +Pullman tourist car in which Mr. Washington and his party toured the +State. It was estimated that from sixty to eighty thousand people saw +and heard him during his seven days' trip. On the conclusion of the +tour one paper said, "No more popular man ever came into the State, +white or black, and no man ever spoke to larger audiences than he did. +He is the only speaker who ever filled the Jackson, Miss., Coliseum."</p> + +<p>Only six months before his death Booker Washington made a similar tour +through Louisiana. Louisiana has always been reputed to be in the same +category as Mississippi in opposing Negro progress. To some of his +audiences Mr. Washington said that he and his party of twenty-five<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> +colored men had felt before they started very much like the little +girl who was about to go on a trip to Louisiana with her parents. The +night before they started she said her prayer as usual:</p> + +<p class="cpoem"> +"<i>Now I lay me down to sleep<br /> +I pray the Lord my soul to keep.<br /> +If I should die before I wake,<br /> +I pray the Lord my soul to take.</i>"<br /> +</p> + +<p>With a deep sigh she then added, "Good-bye, Lord, for two weeks. We +are going down to Louisiana."</p> + +<p>In introducing Mr. Washington to a great audience in New Orleans, made +up of both races, Mayor Berhman said, turning to Booker Washington:</p> + +<p>"The work you are doing for the uplift of your people means untold +good to the great State of Louisiana and to the whole country. Nowhere +has your race greater opportunities than in Louisiana. If the people +of the Negro race will follow your teachings, they will help +materially to bring about a condition that will mean much for +Louisiana, the South, and the nation."</p> + +<p>At Shreveport former Governor N.C. Blanchard, in introducing Dr. +Washington to an audience of over 10,000 white and colored citizens, +said: "I am glad to see this goodly attendance of white people, +representative white people at that, for his Honor, the Mayor, is +here, and with him are members and officials of the city government +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> other prominent citizens of our community. They are here to give +encouragement to Mr. Washington, to hold up his hands, for they know +that he is leading his people along right lines—lines tending to +promote better feeling and better understanding between the two +races....</p> + +<p>"Our country needs to have white and black people, sober, honest, +frugal, and thrifty. Booker T. Washington stands for these things. He +advises and counsels and leads toward these goals. Hear him and heed +his words."</p> + +<p>At the invitation of Superintendent Gwinn the colored school children +of New Orleans were given a half-holiday to hear Dr. Washington. He +addressed them in an arena seating more than five thousand people, +which was given for the occasion by its white owner.</p> + +<p>To one of these Louisiana audiences Mr. Washington said: "Both races +in the South suffer at the hands of public opinion by reason of the +fact that the outside world hears of our difficulties, of crimes, +mobs, and lynchings, but it does not hear of or know about the +evidences of racial friendship and good-will which exist in the +majority of communities in Louisiana and other Southern States where +black and white people live together in such large numbers. Lynchings +are widely reported by telegraph. The quiet, effective work of devoted +white people in the South for Negro uplift is not generally or widely +reported. The best white citizenship must take charge of the mob and +not have the mob take charge of civilization. There is enough wisdom, +patience, forbearance, and common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> sense in the South for white people +and black people to live together in peace for all time."</p> + +<p>In short, Booker Washington met race prejudice just as he did all +other difficulties, as an obstacle to be surmounted rather than as an +injustice to be railed at and denounced regardless of the +consequences.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_SIX" id="CHAPTER_SIX"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 6"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">SIX</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE</span></h3> + + +<p><br />ONE secret of Booker Washington's leadership was that he always had +his ear to the ground and his feet on the ground. Some one has said +that "a practical idealist is a man who keeps his feet on the ground +even though his head is in the clouds." Booker Washington was that +kind of an idealist. He kept in constant and intimate touch with the +masses of his people, particularly with those on the soil. Like the +giant in the fable who doubled his strength every time he touched the +ground, Booker Washington seemed to renew his strength every time he +came in contact with the plain people of his race, particularly the +farmers. No matter how pressed and driven by multifarious affairs, he +could always find time for a rambling talk, apparently quite at +random, with an old, uneducated, ante-bellum black farmer. Sometimes +he would halt the entire business of a national convention in order to +hear the comment of some simple but shrewd old character. He had a +profound respect for the wisdom of simple people who lived at close +grips with the realities of life.</p> + +<p>At the 1914 meeting of the National Negro Business League at Muskogee, +Okla., a Mr. Jake ——, who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> started as an ignorant orphan boy, +delighted Mr. Washington's heart when he testified: "When I first +started out I lived in a chicken house, 12 × 14 feet; now I own a +ten-room residence, comfortably furnished, and in a settlement where +we have a good school, a good church, and plenty of amusement, +including ten children."</p> + +<p>After the laughter and applause had subsided Mr. Washington asked: "Do +you think there is the same kind of an opening out here in Oklahoma +for other and younger men of our race to do as you have done and to +succeed equally as well?"</p> + +<p>To which Mr. Jake replied: "... I think I have succeeded with little +or no education, and it stands to reason that some of the graduates +from these industrial and agricultural schools ought to be able to do +better than I have done."</p> + +<p>Which was, of course, just the answer Mr. Washington hoped he would +make.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington's instinct for keeping close to the plain people was +perhaps best illustrated by his tours through the far Southern States +for the improvement of the living conditions of his people, the tours +to which allusion has several times been made. His insistence upon +cleanliness, neatness, and paint became so well known that his +approach to a community frequently caused frantic cleaning up of +yards, mending of gates, and painting of houses. These sudden converts +to paint sometimes found out from which side the great man was to +approach their house and painted only that side and the front.<br /><br /></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="photos"> +<tr> + <td class="center"><img src="images/booker03.jpg" width="200" height="350" alt="Addressing an audience" title="Addressing an audience" /></td> + <td class="center"><img src="images/booker04.jpg" width="200" height="350" alt="Silhouetted against the crowd" title="Silhouetted against the crowd" /></td> + <td class="center"><img src="images/booker05.jpg" width="200" height="350" alt="Speaking to an audience" title="Speaking to an audience" /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" style="vertical-align: top"><b>Mr. Washington in characteristic pose addressing an +audience.</b></td> + <td class="center"><b>Mr. Washington silhouetted against the crowd upon one +of his educational tours.</b></td> + <td class="center"><b>Mr. Washington in typical pose speaking to an audience +at Shreveport, La.</b></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> +When he spoke to his people on these trips he had the faculty of +becoming one of them. He described their daily lives in their own +language. He told them how much land they owned, how much of it was +mortgaged, how much and what they raised, and in fact every vital +economic and social fact about their lives and the conditions about +them. He praised them for what was creditable, censured and bantered +them for what was bad, and told them what conditions should be and how +they could make them so.</p> + +<p>He made these tours through Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, +South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and portions of Alabama and +Georgia.</p> + +<p>Besides these State tours he would, whenever he could take the time, +shoot out into the country surrounding Tuskegee Institute to encourage +and promote the efforts of his neighbors of his own race. In July, +1911, accompanied by some guests and members of his faculty, he made +such a visit to Mt. Olive, a village on the east of Tuskegee. The +party was first taken to the village church where they found a teeming +congregation to greet them. Here Mr. Washington was introduced by the +principal of the "Washington School" who said that since Mr. +Washington's visit eighteen months ago the colored people had +purchased forty-one lots, built several new houses, whitewashed or +painted the old ones, and increased their gardens to such an extent +that few, if any, had still to buy their vegetables.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington opened his talk by saying: "It is an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> inspiration +simply to drive through and see your pleasant houses surrounded by +flowers and gardens and all that goes to make life happy." He then +appealed to the women to make their homes as attractive on the inside +as the gardens had made them on the outside. He told them the best +receipt for keeping the men and the children at home and out of +mischief was to make the homes so attractive that they would not want +to go away. Then, as always, before he closed he put in his warnings +and injunctions to the derelict: "Paint your houses; if you can't +paint them, whitewash them. Put the men to work in their spare hours +repairing fences, gates, and windows. Get together in your church, as +you have in your school-work, settle on a pastor and get him to live +in your community. Pay him in order that he may live here and become a +part of your community."</p> + +<p>On another such trip through the southwestern part of Macon County, +the county in which Tuskegee is located, he was once accompanied by +Judge Robert H. Terrell, the Negro Judge of the District of Columbia; +the Hon. Whitefield McKinlay, the Negro Collector of Customs for the +District of Columbia; George L. Knox, owner and editor of the +Indianapolis <i>Freeman</i>, a Negro newspaper; W.T.B. Williams, agent for +the Anna T. Jeanes Fund and the Slater Board; Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones +of the United States Census Bureau, and Lord Eustace Percy, one of the +Secretaries of the British Embassy at Washington.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/friends.jpg" width="500" height="317" alt="A party of friends" title="A party of friends" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">A party of friends who accompanied Dr. Washington on +one of his educational tours through the State of Mississippi. In the +party are Charles Banks, a leading Negro banker and business man of +Mississippi; Bishop E. Cottrell; and on Dr. Washington's right, Robert +R. Moton, his successor in the work at Tuskegee Institute.</p> + +<p><br />One can well imagine with what pride the simple black farmers of Macon +County displayed their products and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> their live stock to these +distinguished representatives of both races headed by their own great +neighbor and leader. At Mt. Andrew, one of the communities visited, +the Farmers' Improvement Club had prepared an exhibit consisting of +the best specimens of vegetables, fruits, and meats raised in the +community. A report stated that the Negro people of the town owned +over two hundred head of live stock and had over thirty houses which +were either whitewashed or painted. When called upon for remarks, Mr. +Washington expressed himself as greatly encouraged by what he had seen +and said in conclusion, "Here in Macon County you have good land that +will grow abundant crops. You have also a good citizenship, and hence +there is every opportunity for you to make your community a heaven +upon earth."</p> + +<p>Booker Washington was always emphasizing the necessity of better +conditions right here and now instead of in a distant future or in +heaven. He was constantly combating the tendency in his people—a +tendency common to all people but naturally particularly strong in +those having a heritage of slavery—to substitute the anticipated +bliss of a future life for effective efforts to improve the conditions +of this present life. He was always telling them to put their energies +into societies for the preservation of health and improvement of +living conditions, instead of into the too numerous and popular sick +benefit and death benefit organizations.</p> + +<p>At the next stop of the party Mr. Washington was introduced to the +assembled townspeople by a graduate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> of Tuskegee Institute, who was +one of their leading citizens and most successful farmers. In this +talk he urged the people to get more land and keep it and to grow +something besides cotton. He said they should not lean upon others and +should not go to town on Saturdays to "draw upon" the merchants, but +should stay at home and "draw every day from their own soil corn, +peas, beans, and hogs." He urged the men to give their wives more time +to work around the house and to raise vegetables. (This, of course, +instead of requiring them to work in the fields with the men as is so +common.) He urged especially that they take their wives into their +confidence and make them their partners as well as their companions. +He assured them that if they took their wives into partnership they +would accumulate more and get along better in every way.</p> + +<p>There was no advice given by him more constantly or insistently in +speaking to the plain people of his race, whether in country or city, +than this injunction to the men to take their wives into their +confidence and make them their partners. He recognized that the home +was the basis of all progress and civilization for his race, as well +as all other races, and that the wife and mother is primarily the +conservator of the home.</p> + +<p>One of the stops of the trip was at a little hamlet called Damascus. +Here, in characteristic fashion, he told the people how much richer +they were in soil and all natural advantages than were the inhabitants +of the original Damascus in the Holy Land. He then argued that having +these great natural advantages, much was to be expected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> of them, etc. +Like all great preachers, teachers, and leaders of men he seized upon +the names, incidents, and conditions immediately about him and from +them drew lessons of fundamental import and universal application.</p> + +<p>The efforts of the Negro farmers on these trips to get a word of +approval from their great leader were often pathetic. One old man had +a good breed of pigs of which he was particularly proud. He contrived +to be found feeding them beside the road just as the great man and his +party were passing. The simple ruse succeeded. Mr. Washington and his +companions stopped and every one admired the proud and excited old +man's pigs. And then after the pigs had been duly admired, he led them +to a rough plank table upon which he had displayed in tremulous +anticipation of this dramatic moment a huge pumpkin, some perfectly +developed ears of corn, and a lusty cabbage. After these objects had +also been admired the old man decoyed the party into the little +whitewashed cottage where his wife had her hour of triumph in +displaying her jars of preserves, pickles, cans of vegetables, dried +fruits, and syrup together with quilts and other needlework all +carefully arranged for this hoped-for inspection.</p> + +<p>The basic teaching of all these tours was: "Make your own little +heaven right here and now. Do it by putting business methods into your +farming, by growing things in your garden the year around, by building +and keeping attractive and comfortable homes for your children so they +will stay at home and not go to the cities, by keeping your bodies and +your surroundings clean, by staying in one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> place, by getting a good +teacher and a good preacher, by building a good school and church, by +letting your wife be your partner in all you do, by keeping out of +debt, by cultivating friendly relations with your neighbors both white +and black."</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington was constantly bringing up in the Tuskegee faculty +meetings cases of distress among the colored people of the county, +which he had personally discovered while off hunting or riding, and +planning ways and means to relieve them. Apparently it never occurred +to him that technically, at least, the fate of these poor persons was +not his affair nor that of his school. At one such meeting he told of +having come upon while hunting a tumbledown cabin in the woods, within +it a half-paralyzed old Negro obviously unable to care for his simple +wants. Mr. Washington had stopped, built a fire in his stove, and +otherwise made him comfortable temporarily, but some provision for the +old man's care must be made at once. One of the teachers knew about +the old man and stated that he had such an ugly temper that he had +driven off his wife, son, and daughter who had until recently lived +with him and taken care of him. The young teacher seemed to feel that +the old man had brought his troubles upon his own head and so deserved +little sympathy. Mr. Washington would not for a moment agree to this. +He replied that if the old fellow was so unfortunate as to have a bad +temper as well as his physical infirmities that was no reason why he +should be allowed to suffer privation. He delegated one of the +teachers to look up the old man's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> family at once and see if they +could be prevailed upon to support him and to report at the next +meeting what had been arranged. In the meantime he would send some one +out to the cabin daily to take him food and attend to his wants.</p> + +<p>At another faculty meeting he brought up the plight of an old woman +who was about to be evicted from her little shack on the outskirts of +the town because of her inability to pay the nominal rent which she +was charged. He arranged to have her rent paid out of a sum of money +which he always had included in the school budget for the relief of +such cases. In such ways he was constantly impressing upon his +associates the idea that was ever a mainspring of his own +life—namely, that it was always and everywhere the duty of the more +fortunate to help the less fortunate.</p> + +<p>While he was sometimes severe with his more prosperous and better +educated associates he was always considerate and thoughtful of the +ignorant, the old, and the weak. He was never too busy to delight the +heart of a white-haired old man who had been the original cook of the +school by listening to his stories about the early days, or to discuss +with another old man his experiences in the Civil War. He would never +betray the least impatience in listening to these old men tell him the +same story for the five hundredth time. Although the real usefulness +of both these old fellows had long passed he never showed them by word +or deed that he did not regard them as useful and valuable members of +his staff.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span></p> + +<p>Another old character to whom he invariably showed kindness and +patience was a crack-brained old itinerant preacher who kept up an +endless stream of unintelligible pious jargon. This old fellow would +harangue the air for hours at a time right outside the Principal's +busy office, but he would never allow him to be stopped or sent away +and always sent or gave him a small contribution at the conclusion of +his tirades, if indeed they could be said to have any conclusion.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington had a weakness for the picturesque ne'er-do-wells of +his race. One such old fellow, who lived near Tuskegee and who had +always displayed great ingenuity in extracting money from him, one +day, when he was driving down the main street of Tuskegee behind a +pair of fast and spirited horses, rushed out into the street and +stopped him as though he had a matter of the greatest urgency to +impart to him. When Mr. Washington had with difficulty reined in his +horses and asked him what he wanted the old man said breathlessly, +"I'se got a tirkey for yo' Thanksgivin'!"</p> + +<p>"How much does it weigh?" inquired Mr. Washington.</p> + +<p>"Twelve to fifteen poun'."</p> + +<p>After thanking the old man warmly, Mr. Washington started to drive on +when the old fellow added, "I jest wants to borrow a dollar for to +fatten yo' turkey for you!"</p> + +<p>With a laugh Mr. Washington handed the old man the dollar and drove +on. He never could be made to feel that by these spontaneous +generosities he was encouraging<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> thriftlessness and mendicancy. He was +incorrigible in his unscientific open-handedness with the poor, +begging older members of his race.</p> + +<p>At the time of the Tuskegee teachers' annual picnic, usually held in +May, many of these old colored people would attend uninvited and armed +with huge empty baskets. Mr. Washington always greeted them like +honored guests and allowed them to carry off provisions enough to feed +large families for days. He would also introduce them to the officers +and teachers of the school and to any invited guests who might be +present.</p> + +<p>Old man Harry Varner was the night watchman of the school in its early +days and a man upon whom Mr. Washington very much depended. He lived +in a cabin opposite the school grounds. After hearing many talks about +the importance of living in a real house instead of a one or two room +cabin, old Uncle Harry finally decided that he must have a real house. +Accordingly he came to his employer, told him his feeling in the +matter, and laid before him his meagre savings, which he had +determined to spend for a real house. Mr. Washington went with him to +select the lot and added enough out of his own pocket to the scant +savings to enable the old man to buy a cow and a pig and a garden plot +as well as the house. From then on for weeks he and old Uncle Harry +would have long and mysterious conferences over the planning of that +little four-room cottage. It is doubtful if Dr. Washington ever +devoted more time or thought to planning any of the great buildings of +the Institute. No potentate was ever half as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> proud of his palace as +Uncle Harry of his four-room cottage when it was finally finished and +painted and stood forth in all its glory to be admired of all men. And +Booker Washington was scarcely less proud of it than Uncle Harry.</p> + +<p>With Uncle Harry Varner, Old Man Brannum, the original cook of the +school to whom reference has already been made, and Lewis Adams of the +town of Tuskegee, whom Mr. Washington mentions in "Up from Slavery" as +one of his chief advisers, all unlettered-before-the-war Negroes, his +relationship was always particularly intimate. These three old men +enjoyed the confidence of the white people of the town of Tuskegee to +an unusual extent and often acted as ambassadors of good-will between +the head of the school and his white neighbors when from time to time +the latter showed a disposition to look askance at the rapidly growing +institution on the hill beyond the town.</p> + +<p>Another intimate friend of Mr. Washington's was Charles L. Diggs, +known affectionately on the school grounds as "Old Man Diggs." The old +man had been body servant to a Union officer in the Civil War and +after the war had been carried to Boston, where he became the butler +in a fashionable Back Bay family. When Mr. Washington first visited +Boston, as an humble and obscure young Negro school teacher pleading +for his struggling school, he met Diggs, and Diggs succeeded in +interesting his employers in the sincere and earnest young Negro +teacher. When years afterward the Institute had grown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> to the dignity +of needing stewards, Mr. Washington employed his old friend as steward +of the Teachers' Home. In all the years thereafter hardly a day passed +when Mr. Washington was at the school without his having some kind of +powwow with Old Man Diggs regarding some matter affecting the +interests of the school.</p> + +<p>To the despair of his family Booker Washington seemed to go out of his +way to find forlorn old people whom he could befriend. He sent +provisions weekly to an humble old black couple from whom he had +bought a tract of land for the school. He did the same for old Aunt +Harriet and her deaf, dumb, and lame son, except that to them he +provided fuel as well. On any particularly cold day he would send one +or more students over to Aunt Harriet's to find out if she and her +poor helpless son were comfortable. Also every Sunday afternoon, to +the joy of this pathetic couple, a particularly appetizing Sunday +dinner unfailingly made its appearance. And these were only a few of +the pensioners and semi-pensioners whom Booker Washington accumulated +as he went about his kindly way.</p> + +<p>One means of keeping in touch with the masses of his people which he +never neglected was through attending the annual National Negro +Baptist Conventions. At these great gatherings he came in touch with +the religious leaders of two million Negroes. Notwithstanding the fact +that he practically collapsed at the annual meeting of the National +Negro Business League held in Boston in August, 1915, and had to be +nursed for some weeks fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span>lowing before he was even strong enough to +return to Tuskegee, he insisted in spite of the admonitions of +physicians and the pleadings of friends, family, and colleagues, in +keeping his engagement to speak before this great convention in +Chicago in September. To all protests he replied, "It would do me more +harm to stay away than to go." With these words, and rallying the +rapidly waning dregs of his once great strength he went and made an +address which ranks with the most powerful he ever delivered to his +people. A threatened split in the Baptist denomination in part +accounted for his insistence upon attending this convention. In this +address, delivered only two months before he died of sheer exhaustion, +and the last he made before any great body of his own people, he said +in part:</p> + +<p>"My only excuse for accepting your invitation to appear before you in +these annual gatherings is that I am deeply interested in all that +this National Baptist Convention stands for. It is in my opinion the +largest and most representative body of colored people anywhere in the +world.... I believe most profoundly in the work of this convention +because it represents the common masses of all our people, those who +are the foundation of our success as a race. I believe in you because +you do not pretend to represent the classes but the masses of our +people. I am here, too, because the Baptist Church among our people +throughout the country is affording them an opportunity to get lessons +in self-government in a degree that is true of few other +organizations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span></p> + +<p>"You who control this great convention have before you a great +opportunity and along with this opportunity a tremendous +responsibility. It is given to you, as to all men, to pursue one of +two courses, and that is, to be big leaders or little leaders. You can +construct or you can destroy. The time is now at hand when in each +individual church organization and each district association and each +State convention and in this great national convention, the little man +must give way and let the big, broad, generous man take his place. +Nothing is ever gained in business, in education, or in religious work +by being little, narrow, or jealous in our sympathies and activities."</p> + +<p>Two days later, after he had left the convention and returned home, +Mr. Washington received word that the convention had split, contending +leaders holding out for what they termed principles. Immediately on +the receipt of this report he dispatched the following telegram to the +leaders of the two opposing factions:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>I earnestly beg and urge that each convention remain in +session until all differences are composed. In the event +this cannot be done I hope each convention will empower a +small committee or authorize some one to appoint committees +that may have power in settling present difficulties so that +next year there may be but one convention. It is easier now +to bring about reconciliation than it will be later. It will +be a calamity to the Baptist Church and to our race for the +present split to continue. It will soon spread to all the +Baptist churches in all the States. I would urge that each +side manifest a broad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> liberal spirit and be willing to +sacrifice something for the good of the cause. Millions of +our humble people throughout the country are depending upon +our leaders to settle their difficulties in a Christian +spirit and they should not be disappointed. If I may be used +at any time in any way my services are at your command. Have +sent a similar telegram to Dr. ——.</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p>Unhappily he did not have the satisfaction of bringing the two +factions together before he died, but until the last he continued his +efforts in this direction.</p> + +<p>Largely because of his intimate knowledge of the plain people Booker +Washington appealed to the great of the earth. In his books, "Up from +Slavery," "The Story of My Life and Work," and "My Larger Education," +he tells of taking tea with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, of his +association with Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft, of his +introduction to Prince Henry of Prussia, of his dining with the King +and Queen of Denmark, and of his long friendships with William H. +Baldwin, Jr., Robert C. Ogden, Henry H. Rogers, John D. Rockefeller, +and Andrew Carnegie. He was of value and interest to such people +largely because of his closeness to his own people. His power to +interest such people was largely because he was so close to the rank +and file of his own people.</p> + +<p>After the death of Henry H. Rogers, Mr. Washington said of him in an +interview published at the time in the New York <i>Evening Post</i>: "The +more experiences I have of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> the world, the more I am convinced that +the only proper and the only safe way to judge any one is at first +hand and by your actual experience. It seems to me that, outside of +the immediate members of my family, I knew the late Henry H. Rogers +during the last fifteen years as well as I could know any one. Of all +the men that I have ever known intimately, no matter what their +station in life, Mr. Rogers always impressed me as being among the +kindest and gentlest. That was the impression he made upon me the +first time I ever met him, and during the fifteen years that I knew +him that impression was deepened every time I met him." (And this was +Booker Washington's impression of the second greatest figure in the +building up of the huge, world-powerful corporation whose methods +during its period of rapid expansion had at that time been only +recently described in <i>McClure's Magazine</i> by Ida M. Tarbell.) "I am +sure that the members of his family will forgive me for telling, now +that he has laid down his great work and gone to rest, some things +about him which I feel that the public should know but which he always +forbade me to mention while he lived.</p> + +<p>"The first time I ever met Mr. Rogers was in this manner: about +fifteen years ago a large meeting was held in Madison Square Garden +concert hall, to obtain funds for the Tuskegee Institute. Mr. Rogers +attended the meeting, but came so late that, as the auditorium was +crowded, he could not get a seat. He stood in the back part of the +hall, however, and listened to the speaking.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span></p> + +<p>"The next morning I received a telegram from him asking me to call at +his office. When I entered he remarked that he had been present at the +meeting the night previous, and expected the 'hat to be passed,' but +as that was not done he wanted to 'chip in' something. Thereupon he +handed me ten one-thousand-dollar bills for the Tuskegee Institute. In +doing this he imposed only one condition, that the gift should be +mentioned to no one. Later on, however, when I told him that I did not +care to take so large a sum of money without some one knowing it, he +consented that I tell one or two of our Trustees about the source of +the gift. I cannot now recall the number of times that he has helped +us, but in doing so he always insisted that his name be never used. He +seemed to enjoy making gifts in currency."</p> + +<p>In an article published in <i>McClure's Magazine</i> in May, 1902, +Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans thus describes the occasion on which he +presented Booker Washington to Prince Henry of Prussia: "The first +request made by Prince Henry, after being received in New York, was +that I should arrange to give him some of the old Southern melodies, +if possible, sung by Negroes; that he was passionately fond of them, +and had been all his life—not the ragtime songs, but the old Negro +melodies. Several times during his trip I endeavored to carry out his +wishes, with more or less success; but finally, at the +Waldorf-Astoria, the Hampton singers presented themselves in one of +the reception rooms and gave him a recital of Indian and Negro +melodies. He was charmed. And while I was talking to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> him, just after +a Sioux Indian had sung a lullaby, he suddenly turned and said: 'Isn't +that Booker T. Washington over there?' I recognized Washington and +replied that it was, and he said: 'Evans, would you mind presenting +him to me? I know how some of your people feel about Washington, but I +have always had great sympathy with the African race, and I want to +meet the man I regard as the leader of that race.' So I went at once +to Washington and told him that the Prince wished him to be presented, +and took him, myself, and presented him to the Prince. Booker +Washington sat down and talked with him for fully ten minutes, and it +was a most interesting conversation, one of the most interesting I +ever heard in my life. The ease with which Washington conducted +himself was very striking, and I only accounted for it afterward when +I remembered that he had dined with the Queen of England two or three +times, so that this was not a new thing for him. Indeed, Booker +Washington's manner was easier than that of almost any other man I saw +meet the Prince in this country. The Prince afterward referred to +President Roosevelt's action in regard to Booker Washington, and +applauded it very highly."</p> + +<p>In 1911 Mr. Washington visited Denmark with the particular purpose of +observing the world-famed agricultural methods of that country. While +in Copenhagen he was presented to the King and Queen. This experience +he described on his return to this country in an article published in +the New York <i>Age</i>, the well-known Negro paper, in December of the +same year. The portion of the article de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span>scribing his meeting with the +King and Queen reads as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"Soon after I entered, the Chamberlain went in and presently +returned to tell me the King would be ready to see me in +about five minutes. At the end of the five minutes exactly +the door was opened and I found myself in the King's +chamber. I had expected to see a gorgeously fitted +apartment, something to compare with what I had seen +elsewhere in the palace. Imagine my surprise when I found +practically nothing in the room except the King, himself. +There was not a chair, a sofa, or, so far as I can recall, a +single thing in the way of furniture—nothing except the +King and his sword. I was surprised again, considering the +formality by which he was surrounded, by the familiar and +kindly manner in which the King received me, and by his +excellent English. Both of us remained standing during the +whole interview, which must have lasted twenty minutes. I +say we remained standing, because, even had etiquette +permitted it we could not have done anything else because +there was nothing in the room for either of us to sit upon.</p> + +<p>"I had been warned by the American Minister and Mr. Cavling, +however, as to what might be the result of this interview. +Among other things in regard to which I had been carefully +instructed by the American Minister was I must never turn my +back upon the King, that I must not lead off in any +conversation, that I must let the King suggest the subjects +to be discussed, and not take the initiative in raising any +question for discussion. I tried to follow Minister Egan's +instructions in this regard as well as I could, but I fear I +was not wholly successful.</p> + +<p>"I had not been talking with the King many minutes be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span>fore I +found that he was perfectly familiar with the work of the +Tuskegee school, that he had read much that I had written, +and was well acquainted with all that I was trying to do for +the Negroes in the South. He referred to the fact that +Denmark was interested in the colored people in their own +colony in the Danish West Indies, and that both he and the +Queen were anxious that something be done for the colored +people in the Danish possessions similar to what we were +doing at Tuskegee. He added that he hoped at some time I +would find it possible to visit the Danish West Indian +Islands.</p> + +<p>"As I have said, I had been warned as to what might be the +result of this visit to the King and that I had best be +careful how I made my plans for the evening. As the +interview was closing, the King took me by the hand and +said, 'The Queen would be pleased to have you dine at the +palace to-night,' at the same time naming the hour.</p> + +<p>"The Minister had told me that this was his way of +commanding persons to dine, and that an invitation given +must be obeyed. Of course I was delighted to accept the +invitation, though I feared it would wreck my plans for +seeing the country people. The King was so kind and put me +so at my ease in his presence that I fear I forgot Minister +Eagan's warning not to turn my back upon him, and I must +confess that I got out of the room in about the same way I +usually go out of the room when I have had an audience with +President Taft.</p> + +<p>"Leaving the King and the palace, I found out on the street +quite a group of newspaper people, most of them representing +American papers, who were very anxious to know, in the usual +American fashion, just what took place during the interview, +how long I was with the King, what we talked about, and what +not. They were especially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> anxious to know if I had been +invited to the palace for dinner."</p> +</div> + +<p>And further on he thus describes the dinner:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"The dinner was not at the palace where I was received in +the morning, but at the summer palace several miles out of +Copenhagen. When I reached the hotel from the country it +soon dawned upon me that I was in great danger of being +late. To keep a King and Queen and their guests waiting on +one for dinner would of course be an outrageous offense. I +dressed as hastily as I was able, but just as I was putting +on the finishing touches to my costume my white tie bursted. +I was in a predicament from which for a moment I saw no +means of rescuing myself. I did not have time to get another +tie, and of course I could not wear the black one. As well +as I could, however, I put the white tie about my neck, +fastened it with a pin, and earnestly prayed that it might +remain in decent position until the dinner was over. +Nevertheless, I trembled all through the dinner for fear +that my tie might go back on me.</p> + +<p>"I succeeded in reaching the summer palace about ten minutes +before the time to go into the dining-room. Here again I was +met by the King's Chamberlain by whom I was conveyed through +a series of rooms and, finally, into the presence of the +King, who, after some conversation, led me where the Queen +was standing and presented me to her. The Queen received me +graciously and even cordially. She spoke English perfectly, +and seemed perfectly familiar with my work. I had, however, +a sneaking idea that Minister Egan was responsible for a +good deal of the familiarity which both the King and Queen +seemed to exhibit regarding Tuskegee.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span></p> + +<p>"As I entered the reception-room there were about twenty or +twenty-five people who were to be entertained at dinner. I +will not attempt to describe the elegance, not to say +splendor, of everything in connection with the dinner. As I +ate food for the first time in my life out of gold dishes, I +could not but recall the time when as a slave boy I ate my +syrup from a tin plate.</p> + +<p>"I think I got through the dinner pretty well by following +my usual custom, namely, of watching other people to see +just what they did and what they did not do. There was one +place, however, where I confess I made a failure. It is +customary at the King's table, as is true at other functions +in many portions of Europe, I understand, to drink a silent +toast to the King. This was so new and strange to me that I +decided that, since I did not understand the custom, the +best thing was to frankly confess my ignorance. I reassured +myself with the reflection that people will easier pardon +ignorance than pretense.</p> + +<p>"At a certain point during the dinner each guest is +expected, it seems, to get the eye of the King and then rise +and drink to the health of the King. When he rises he makes +a bow to the King and the King returns the bow. Nothing is +said by either the King or the guest. I think practically +all the invited guests except myself went through this +performance. It seemed to me a very fitting way of +expressing respect for the King, as the head of a nation and +as a man, and now that I know something about it, I think if +I had another chance I could do myself credit in that +regard.</p> + +<p>"During the dinner I had the privilege of meeting a very +interesting old gentleman, now some eighty years of age, the +uncle of the King, Prince ——, who spoke good English. I +had a very interesting conversation with him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> and since +returning to America I have had some correspondence with +him.</p> + +<p>"As I have already said, the Queen Mother of England was at +this time in Copenhagen, and as I afterward learned, her +sister, the Queen Mother of Russia, was also there. As both +of these were in mourning on account of the recent death of +King Edward, they did not appear at this dinner. I was +reminded of their presence, however, when as I was leaving +the King's palace after my interview in the morning, one of +the marshals presented me with two autograph books, with the +request that I inscribe my name in them. One of the books, +as I afterward learned, belonged to the Queen Mother of +England; the other belonged to the Queen Mother of Russia."</p> +</div> + +<p>A mere catalogue of the principal organizations which Booker T. +Washington founded for the purpose of helping his people to help +themselves tells a story of constructive achievement more impressive +than any amount of abstract eulogy.</p> + +<p>The following is a list of such organizations given in chronological +order with a few words of description for the purpose of identifying +each:</p> + +<p>In 1884 he founded the Teachers' Institute, consisting of summer +courses, conferences, and exhibits having as their main purpose the +extension of the advantages of Tuskegee Institute to the country +school teachers of the surrounding country. The work of this Institute +is described in the chapter: "<a href="#CHAPTER_THREE">Washington, the Educator</a>."</p> + +<p>In 1891 he established the Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference. He +decided that the school should not only help<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> directly its own +students, but should reach out and help the students' parents and the +older people generally in the country districts of the State. He +started by inviting the farmers and their wives in the immediate +locality to spend a day at the school for the frank discussion of +their material and spiritual condition to the end that the school +might learn how it could best help them to help themselves. From this +simple beginning the Conference has grown until it now consists of +delegates from every Southern State, besides hundreds of teachers and +principals of Negro schools, Northern men and women, publicists and +philanthropists, newspaper and magazine writers, Southern white men +and Southern white women, all interested in helping the simple black +folk in their strivings to "quit libin' in de ashes," as one of them +fervently expressed it. At one of these conferences an old preacher +from a country district concluded an earnest prayer for the +deliverance of his people from the bondage of ignorance with this +startling sentence: "And now, O Lord, put dy foot down in our hearts +and lif' us up!"</p> + +<p>The year following Mr. Washington established a hospital in Greenwood +village, the hamlet adjoining the Institute grounds where live most of +the teachers, officers, and employees. It was at first hardly more +than a dispensary, but when the Institute acquired a Resident +Physician two small buildings were set aside as hospitals for men and +women, respectively. Later a five-thousand-dollar building was given +which served as the hospital until, in 1913, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Mason, +of Boston, presented Tuskegee<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> with a fifty-thousand-dollar splendidly +equipped modern hospital, in memory of her grandfather, John A. +Andrew, the War Governor of Massachusetts. While these hospitals, from +the first humble dispensary to the fine hospital of to-day, were of +course primarily for the Institute they were in true Tuskegee fashion +thrown open to all who needed them. And since the town of Tuskegee has +no hospital they have always been freely used by outside colored +people. Mr. Washington, himself, on his riding and hunting trips would +from time to time find sick people whom he would have brought to the +hospital for care.</p> + +<p>The next year, 1893, he started the Minister's Night School. This is +conducted by the Phelps Hall Bible Training School of the Institute. +Here country ministers with large families and small means are given +night courses in all the subjects likely to be of service to them from +"Biblical criticism" to the "planting and cultivating of crops."</p> + +<p>The year following Mrs. Washington began the Tuskegee Town Mothers' +Meetings. Both she and Mr. Washington had long been distressed at +seeing the women and young girls loafing about the streets of the town +of Tuskegee when they came to town with their husbands and fathers on +Saturday afternoons. Now, instead of loafing about the streets these +women attend the Mothers' Meetings where Mrs. Washington and the +various women teachers give them practical talks on all manner of +housekeeping and family-raising problems from the making of preserves +to proper parental care.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span></p> + +<p>In 1895 the Building and Loan Association was established. The +Institute's chief accountant is its president, and the Institute's +treasurer its secretary and treasurer. This Association has enabled +many scores of people to secure their own homes who without its aid +could not have done so.</p> + +<p>The next year the Town Night School was started. This school has as +its purpose giving instruction to the boys and girls who have +positions in the town which make it impossible for them to attend the +Institute, and to the servants in the white families. This school has +become one of the best and strongest forces in the life of the +community. As an outgrowth of it came later the Town Library and +Reading Room, for which Mr. Washington personally provided the room. +There is now in this school a cooking class for girls and several +industrial classes for boys. At the same time Mr. Washington +established a Farmers' Institute which is described in the chapter +"<a href="#CHAPTER_SEVEN">Washington and the Negro Farmer</a>."</p> + +<p>In 1898 he started a County Fair to spur the ambition of the Negro +farmers of the county. This Negro County Fair under his guidance grew +and flourished from year to year. The whites maintained a separate +County Fair. Finally the two fairs were combined, and now one of the +most flourishing County Fairs in all the South is conducted, both +races supporting it by making exhibits, and sharing in the success and +profits of the enterprise, as well as in its general management.</p> + +<p>In 1900 he organized the National Negro Business<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> League, as described +in the chapter, "<a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHT">Washington and the Negro Business Man</a>."</p> + +<p>Two years later he established the Greenwood Village Improvement +Association for the little community which has grown up around the +school. Taxes are collected from the property holders as well as the +renters for the upkeep of the roads, bridges, and fences, and a park +in the centre of the village, which was introduced in emulation of the +typical New England village. Just as in New England, also, this +central park, or "green," is surrounded by a number of churches. An +elective Board of Control presides over this village, settles +disputes, and keeps the community in good repair morally and +spiritually, as well as physically. On the Monday immediately +following the close of a regular school term a town meeting is held at +which reports are read and discussed covering every phase of the life +of the community. Mr. Washington particularly enjoyed presiding at +these meetings because they demonstrated what the people of his race +could accomplish under a favorable and stimulating environment. He +always contrived to have the meetings followed by simple refreshments +and a social hour.</p> + +<p>In 1904 he started the Rural School Improvement Campaign and the +Farmers' Short Course at the Institute, both of which are described in +the chapter, "<a href="#CHAPTER_THREE">Washington, the Educator</a>." In the same year he started a +systematic effort to improve the conditions in the jails and the chain +gangs and for the rehabilitation of released prisoners.</p> + +<p>The next year he founded a weekly farm paper, a cir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span>culating library, +and a Ministers' Institute. The year after, 1906, the Jesup +Agricultural Wagon—the agricultural school on wheels, which is +described in the chapter, "<a href="#CHAPTER_THREE">Washington, the Educator</a>"—was started. In +1907 the farmers' coöperative demonstration work, which has also been +mentioned, was inaugurated. In 1910 the rural improvement speaking +tours began. And finally, in 1914, he established "Baldwin Farms," the +farming community for the graduates of the agricultural department of +Tuskegee, which also has been previously described.</p> + +<p>These, then, are some of the tangible means which Booker Washington +developed during a period of thirty years for keeping in touch with +his people and for keeping his people in touch with one another and +with all the things which go to make up wholesome and useful living.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_SEVEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVEN"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 7"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">SEVEN</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO FARMER</span></h3> + + +<p><br />BOOKER T. WASHINGTON was a great believer in the experience meeting, +and the Tuskegee Negro Conference, which he started in 1891, is +nothing more nor less than an agricultural experience meeting. He +placed his faith in the persuasive power of example—in the contagion +of successful achievement. He once said: "One farm bought, one house +built, one home sweetly and intelligently kept, one man who is the +largest taxpayer or has the largest bank account, one school or church +maintained, one factory running successfully, one truck garden +profitably cultivated, one patient cured by a Negro doctor, one sermon +well preached, one office well filled, one life cleanly lived—these +will tell more in our favor than all the abstract eloquence that can +be summoned to plead our cause. Our pathway must be up through the +soil, up through swamps, up through forests, up through the streams, +the rocks, up through commerce, education, and religion."</p> + +<p>Nothing delighted Mr. Washington more than the successful Negro +farmers who had started in life without money, friends, influence, or +education—with literally nothing but their hands. At one of the +Tuskegee confer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span>ences not many years ago his keen eyes spotted such a +man in the audience and he called to him in his straight from the +shoulder manner: "Get up and tell us what you have been doing as a +farmer."</p> + +<p>A tall, finely built, elderly man, looking almost like a Nubian giant, +arose in his place, his face wreathed in smiles, and showing his white +teeth as he spoke: "Doctor, I done 'tended one o' yore conferences +here 'bout ten year ago. I heard you say dat a man ain't wurth nuthin' +as a man or a citizen 'less he owns his home, 'least one mule, and has +a bank account, an' so I made up my mind dat I warn't wuth nuthin', +an' so I went home an' talked de whole matter over wid de ol' woman. +We decided dat we would make a start, an' now I's proud to tell you +dat I's not only got a bank account, but I's got two bank accounts, +an' heah's de bank books (proudly holding on high two grimy bank +books); I also own two hun'ed acres of land an' all de land is paid +for. I also own two mules, an' bofe dem mules is paid for. I also own +some other property, an' de ole woman an' me an' de chilluns lives in +a good house an' de house is paid for. All dis come 'bout from my +comin' to dis heah conference."</p> + +<p>Another old fellow, when called upon to tell what he had accomplished, +dexterously evaded the direct inquiry for some minutes, and when Mr. +Washington finally succeeded in pinning him down, said: "All I's got +to say, Doctah Washington, is dat dis heah conference dun woke me up +an' I'll be back heah next year wid a report jist like dese oder +fellers."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Washington was a great believer in his favorite animal, the pig, +as a mortgage lifter and general aid to prosperity. At one of the +conferences, after he had paid a particularly warm eulogy to the +economic importance of the pig, an old woman got up and said: "Mr. +Washington, you is got befo' you now Sister Nelson of Tallapoosa +County, Alabama. All I has I owes to dis conference and one little +puppy dog."</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington challenged: "How's that?"</p> + +<p>The old woman continued: "I got a little pig from dat little puppy dog +an' I got my prosperity from dat pig!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington and the whole company in amazement hung upon the old +woman's words as she continued: "It was dis way: Dat little puppy dog +when she growed up had some little puppies herself. One day one o' my +fren's come by an' as' me for one o' dem puppies. I tol' him 'No,' I +would not gib him dat puppy, but dat he had a little pig an' I would +'change a puppy for a pig. I had heard you tell ober heah so much +'bout hogs an' pigs dat I thought dis was a good chance to get +started. He give me de pig an' I give him de puppy. In de course o' +time dat little pig dun bring me in some mo' pigs. I sol' some an' +kep' some. I had to feed de pig, so I had begun savin'. I den begun to +find out dat I could git on wid less den I had ben gettin' on wid, an' +so I kep' on savin' an' kep' on raisin' pigs 'til I was able to supply +most o' my neighbors wid pigs, an' den I got me a cow, an den I begun +to supply my neighbors wid milk, an' den I started me a little garden. +Den I sol' my neighbors greens an' onions, an' so I went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> on fum time +to time 'til I dun paid for de lot an' de house in which I lib, an' I +keeps my pigs about me an' keeps my garden goin', an' dat's why I says +all I is I owes to dat little puppy dog an' to dis heah conference."</p> + +<p>At these conferences the most elementary subjects are discussed. +Booker Washington would tell and have told to these farmers matters +which one would naturally assume any farmers, however ignorant, must +already know. He never tried to deceive himself as to the woful +ignorance of the Negro masses, and still he was never discouraged, but +always said ignorance was not a hopeless handicap because it could be +overcome by education. While he frankly although sadly acknowledged +the lamentable ignorance of the rank and file of his race, +particularly those on the soil and dependent for education upon the +short-term, ill-equipped, and poorly taught rural Negro school, he as +stoutly denied and constantly disproved the assertion that these +ignorant masses were not capable of profiting by education. He +earnestly strove and signally succeeded in attracting to these great +annual agricultural conferences the most pathetically ignorant of the +Negro farmers as well as the leading scientific agriculturists of the +race. But he always insisted that the meetings be conducted for the +benefit of the ignorant and not in the interests of the learned.</p> + +<p>He would, for instance, tell the attendants at the conferences what to +plant and when to plant it, and what live stock to keep and how to +keep it. He would have printed and distributed among them a "Farmer's +Calendar"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> which gave the months in which the various standard +vegetables should be planted and what crops should be used in +rotation. He constantly insisted that the Experiment Station at +Tuskegee Institute, supported by the State of Alabama, should not be +used for scientific experiments of interest only to experts, but +should deal with the fundamental problems with which the Negro farmers +of Alabama were daily confronted. The titles of some of the Experiment +Station Bulletins selected at random suggest the homely and practical +nature of the information disseminated. Half a dozen of them read as +follows: "Possibilities of the Sweet Potato in Macon County, Alabama," +"How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human +Consumption," "How to Raise Pigs with Little Money," "When, What, and +How to Can and Preserve Fruits and Vegetables in the Home," "Some +Possibilities of the Cowpea in Macon County, Alabama," "A New and +Prolific Variety of Cotton." And all of these bulletins, so many of +which deal with the problems of the home, are written by an old +bachelor of pure African descent, without a drop of white blood, who +in himself refutes two popular fallacies: the one that bachelors +cannot be skilled in domestic affairs, and the other, that +pure-blooded Africans cannot achieve intellectual distinction. This +man is George W. Carver, who is not only the most eminent agricultural +scientist of his race in this country, but one of the most eminent of +any race. His work is so well known in scientific circles in his field +throughout the world that when leading European scien<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span>tists visit this +country, particularly the Southern States, they not infrequently go +out of their way to look him up. They are usually very much surprised +to find their eminent fellow-scientist a black man.</p> + +<p>The last of these conferences over which Booker Washington presided +was held at Tuskegee, January 20 and 21, 1915. A woman, the wife of a +Negro farmer, was testifying when she said: "Our menfolks is foun' out +dat they can't eat cotton." As the outburst of laughter which greeted +this remark died down, Mr. Washington said in his incisive way: "What +do you mean?" The woman replied: "I mean dat we womenfolks been +tellin' our menfolks all de time dat they should raise mo to eat."</p> + +<p>She then displayed specimens of canned fruits and told how she had put +up enough of them to supply her family until summer. She told of +having sold thirty-six turkeys and of selling two and three dozen eggs +each week, with plenty left over for her family. She said that she and +her husband had raised and sold hogs, and still had for their own use +more than enough pork to last them until the next hog-killing time.</p> + +<p>"How often do you eat chicken?" asked Dr. Washington.</p> + +<p>"We can eat chicken every day if we want it," she replied.</p> + +<p>When she had finished Mr. Washington explained that all this had been +done on 178 acres of the poorest land in Macon County.</p> + +<p>In his opening address at this conference Mr. Washington denounced +"petty thieving, pistol-toting, crap-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span>shooting, the patronizing of +'blind tigers,' and unnecessary lawsuits" as some of the weights and +encumbrances which are keeping the Negro from running well the race +which is set before him.</p> + +<p>These are some of the basic questions which Booker Washington placed +before the conference for discussion:</p> + +<p>"How and why am I so hard hit by the present hard times?"</p> + +<p>"What am I doing to meet present conditions?"</p> + +<p>"How may I, after all, get some real benefit from present +difficulties?"</p> + +<p>The most spectacular feature of the exercises was the parade. It +extended for almost a mile and included a score or more of floats, +hundreds of men and women in appropriate costumes, and dozens of +horses, mules, and other live stock.</p> + +<p>There were a large number of colored preachers in attendance who +showed that they had adopted the Washington slogan of trying to make a +heaven on earth and whose testimony showed that they were now giving +as much time to soil salvation as to soul salvation. One of them told +of a flourishing Pig Club which he had organized among his +parishioners after reading Mr. Washington's open letter, "Pigs and +Education; Pigs and Debts," the circulating of which will be later +described.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/oldwoman.jpg" width="309" height="400" alt="Old woman" title="Old woman" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">This old woman was a regular attendant at the Tuskegee +Negro Conference and idolizingly watched Mr. Washington during the +whole four hours that he would preside over one of the Conference +sessions.</p> + +<p><br />After the awarding of prizes for the best floats the declarations of +the conference were read by Major R.R. Moton of Hampton Institute, who +then little realized that before the year was out he was to be chosen +to suc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span>ceed the leader of his race as the Principal of Tuskegee +Institute.</p> + +<p>The following were the especially significant paragraphs of these +declarations:</p> + +<p>"It is found that for every dollar's worth of cotton we grow, we raise +only forty-nine cents' worth of all other crops. An investigation has +shown that there are 20,000 farms of Negroes on which there are no +cattle of any kind; 270,000 on which there are no hogs; 200,000 on +which no poultry is raised; 140,000 on which no corn is grown; on +750,000 farms of Negroes no oats are grown; on 550,000 farms no sweet +potatoes are grown, and on 320,000 farms of Negroes there are no +gardens of any sort. These hundreds of thousands of farms without +cattle, grain, or gardens are for the most part operated by tenants. +In their behalf, the Tuskegee Negro Conference respectfully requests +of the planters, bankers, and other representatives of the financial +interests of the South that more opportunities be given Negro tenants +on plantations to grow crops other than cotton."</p> + +<p>After the regular conference the usual Conference of Workers was held. +This conference is composed of people such as heads of schools and +colleges, preachers, teachers, and persons generally holding +responsible positions of leadership in their respective communities. +These leaders discuss the larger community problems in distinction +from individual problems. At this gathering, for instance, the +principal of the County High School at Cottage Grove, Ala., explained +how through diversified farming the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> parents of his students had been +able to live while holding their cotton for higher prices.</p> + +<p>Some of the principals of schools told how they had accepted cotton as +payment of tuition for some of their students. Others had taken in +payment barrels of syrup, sacks of corn, and hogs. All the schools +reported cutting expenses, by reduction of their dietary, the salaries +of teachers, or some other forms of retrenchment, meaning sacrifice +for students or teachers, or both, that the work of education might +continue and weather the hard times. In concluding the conference +Booker Washington explained the terms of the recently enacted Smith +Lever Act for Federal aid in the extension of agricultural education +throughout the rural districts of the country. Thus ended the +twentieth session of the great Tuskegee Negro Conference and the last +session presided over by the Founder of the Conference. It was most +appropriate that this, his last conference, should have so unanimously +and effectively applied one of the leading tenets of Booker +Washington's teaching—namely, the winning of lasting profit from the +experiences of adversity.</p> + +<p>As well as these annual Farmers' Conferences there are held at +Tuskegee monthly meetings for the farmers from the locality where they +display their products, tell of their successes and failures, and +compare notes on their experiences all under the expert leadership, +guidance, and advice of the staff of the agricultural department of +the Institute. Every month, or oftener, there is an agricultural +exhibit in which the best products of the various crops such as +pota<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span>toes, corn, and cotton are displayed, and the methods used in +their production explained by figures and graphic charts.</p> + +<p>As early as 1895 Booker Washington started a campaign to get his +people to raise more pigs. This campaign he revived at intervals, and +for the last time in the fall of 1914, when the whole country and +particularly the South was suffering from the first acute depression +caused by the European War. In the Southern States this depression +was, of course, especially acute because the European market for +cotton was for the time being cut off. As one of the means to aid his +people in this trying time he sent the following letter to the entire +press of the South of both races:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">"PIGS AND EDUCATION; PIGS AND DEBTS"</p> + +<p><i>To the Editor:</i></p> + +<p>Our race is in constant search of means with which to +provide better homes, schools, colleges, and churches, and +with which to pay debts. This is especially true during the +hard financial conditions obtaining on account of the +European War. All of this cannot be done at once, but great +progress can be made by a good strong pull together in a +simple, direct manner. How?</p> + +<p>There are 1,400,000 colored families who live on farms or in +villages, or small towns. Of this number, at the present +time, 700,000 have no pigs. I want to ask that each family +raise at least one pig this fall. Where one or more pigs are +already owned, I want to ask that each family raise one +additional pig this fall.</p> + +<p>As soon as possible, I want to ask that this plan be +followed by the organization of a Pig Club in every +com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span>munity where one does not already exist. I want to ask +that the matter be taken up at once through families, +schools, churches, and societies, Farmers' Institutes, +Business Leagues, etc.</p> + +<p>The average pig is valued at about $5. If each family adds +only one pig, in a few months at the present price for hogs, +$10 would be added to the wealth of the owner, and +$14,000,000 to the wealth of the colored people. If each +family adds two pigs, it would have in a few months $20 more +wealth, and $28,000,000 would be added with which to promote +the welfare of the race during the money stringency created +by the European War.</p> + +<p>Let us not put it off, but organize Pig Clubs everywhere. +Give each boy and girl an opportunity to own and grow at +least one pig.</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>,<br /> +Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.</p> +</div> + +<p>This letter was not only printed by most of the white papers as well +as all of the Negro papers, but it was widely endorsed editorially in +the white as well as the black press. Many of the newspapers for +whites urged that the white farmers also follow the suggestion. The +granges and farmers' institutes of both races took up the appeal and +urged it upon their members. There can be no doubt that through the +publication of this one brief letter, sent out at just the right +psychological moment, Booker Washington materially aided the Southern +farmers of both races to tide over a serious crisis and materially +increased the economic wealth of the entire South. As he well knew, +the people were desperate and panicky and hence ready to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> follow +almost any lead. In any ordinary state of the public mind such a +letter could have produced nothing like such an influence. This well +illustrated Booker Washington's accurate knowledge of and feeling for +the psychology of the public which enabled him almost without +exception to speak or remain silent at the right times.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington was not only interested in black farmers but white +farmers. He always emphasized the responsibility of the farmer as the +builder of the foundations of society. He was constantly inviting the +white farmers of the surrounding country to visit the school and see +what was being done on the school farms and by the Experiment Station. +And the white farmers availed themselves freely of this opportunity +and profited by it. The school's veterinarian is probably the only one +in the county, and this division was established very largely for the +purpose of bringing the school and the community—both white and +black—into closer relation. In dealing with farmers, even more +perhaps than with other classes of people, Washington would appeal to +their pride and even to their vanity. He was fond of telling them that +they were the salt of the earth. One of his favorite stories was about +the farmer who keeps his best potatoes for himself and his family and +sends the speckled ones to town; keeps his tender young chickens and +sends the old tough ones to town; keeps his rich milk and sends his +skimmed milk to town. While there may never have been quite such a +farmer the story had its element of truth, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> helped to make the +farmer appreciate his good fortune and his importance in the scheme of +things.</p> + +<p>In 1910, when the last Federal Census was taken, 503 Negro farm owners +in Macon County, Booker Washington's home county, owned 61,689 acres, +or an average of more than one hundred and twenty-two and one-half +acres of land per man. This is probably the largest amount of land +owned by the Negroes of any county in the United States. Certainly +this was true at that time. The better class of Negro farmers has +greatly increased during the past thirty years until at present from +90 to 95 per cent. of the 3,800 Negro farmers in the county operate +their own farms either as cash tenants or owners. The increase in the +number of Negroes owning or operating farms has been an important +factor in securing a better quality and variety of food. They have +diversified their crops and raised a larger amount of their own food +supplies, particularly meat and vegetables, and they have produced +more milk, butter, and eggs. It will be seen that Booker Washington's +voice when he reiterated over and over again, "The man who owns the +land will own much else besides," did not fall upon deaf ears.</p> + +<p>When Booker Washington came to Macon County and founded Tuskegee +Institute, in 1881, the soil was worn out, and cotton, the chief crop, +was selling for an almost constantly lowering price. Although there +were few counties with a lower yield of cotton per acre, one-quarter +of a bale, over 42 per cent. of the tilled land of the county was +devoted exclusively to this crop. Very little machinery<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> was used in +the farming, the antique scooter plow and hoe being the main reliance. +The soil was rarely tilled more than three or four inches deep. There +was, in fact, a superstition among whites as well as blacks that deep +plowing was injurious to the soil. Two-horse teams were seldom used. +Sub-soiling, fall plowing, fallowing, and rotation of crops were +little known and less practised. The county was producing per capita +per year only about five pounds of butter, four dozen eggs, and less +than three chickens.</p> + +<p>The Negroes were with few exceptions shiftless and improvident +plantation laborers and renters. Of the almost 13,000 Negroes in the +county not more than fifty or sixty owned land. They lived almost +exclusively in one-room cabins. Sometimes in addition to the immediate +family there were relatives and friends living and sleeping in this +one room. The common diet of these Negroes was fat pork, corn bread, +and molasses. Many meals consisted of corn bread mixed with salt +water. This, then, was the raw material with which Booker Washington +had to work and from which has been developed, largely through his +influence, one of the most prosperous agricultural counties in the +South—a county which has been heralded in the press as feeding itself +because of the great abundance and variety of its products. In 1910 +the per capita production for the county was: 40 gallons of milk, 11 +pounds of butter, 7 dozen eggs, and 5 chickens. It must, of course, do +more than this before it will actually feed itself.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington was constantly drumming it into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> consciousness of +the Negro farmer that as long as he remained ignorant and improvident +he was sure to be exploited and imposed upon. He used to illustrate +this by the story of the ignorant Negro who after paying a white man +fifty cents a week for six months on a five-dollar loan cheerfully +remarked: "Dat Mr. —— sho is one fine gen'lman, cause he never has +ast me fo' one cent ob dat principal." It may be surmised that this +type of money lender is not enthusiastic over Negro education.</p> + +<p>It is significant of the importance which Booker Washington attached +to agriculture that the first great Federal official whom he invited +to visit the school was the National Secretary of Agriculture. In 1897 +he got the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture in President +McKinley's Cabinet, to visit Tuskegee and attend the dedication of the +school's first agricultural building.</p> + +<p>Secretary Wilson arrived at night accompanied by Dr. J.L.M. Curry, a +Southerner, a leader of the educational thought of the South, and the +secretary of the John F. Slater Fund Board. The students lined up on +either side of the main thoroughfare through the school grounds with +back of them a great gathering of the farmers from the surrounding +territory and many from a distance. Each one of this great throng was +given a pine torch and all these torches were simultaneously lighted +as Secretary Wilson entered the school grounds. The Secretary and +Doctor Curry, preceded by the Institute Band, rode between these two +great masses of cheering people and flaming torches.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span></p> + +<p>The next day the dedication exercises were held on a specially +constructed platform piled high with the finest specimens of every +product known to that section of the South. On this platform, with the +Secretary and Doctor Curry, were the State Commissioner of Agriculture +and several other high State officials and many other prominent white +citizens. This was the formal launching of the Agricultural Department +of the school. George W. Carver, the full-blooded African and eminent +agricultural scientist, of whom mention has already been made, had +recently been placed in charge of this department. He had come from +the Agricultural Department of Iowa State College, of which Secretary +Wilson had been the head.</p> + +<p>The annual budget of this department alone is now nearly fifty +thousand dollars a year, and more than a thousand acres of land are +cultivated under the supervision of the agricultural staff. The modest +building which Secretary Wilson helped to dedicate has long since been +outgrown and the department is now housed in a large, impressive brick +building known as the Millbank Agricultural Building.</p> + +<p>Under the provisions of the Smith-Lever Act, passed by Congress in +1914 for the purpose of aiding the States in Agricultural Extension +Work, Booker Washington secured for Tuskegee a portion of the funds +allotted to the State of Alabama for such work. With the aid of these +funds Agricultural Extension Schools have been organized. These +schools are conducted in coöperation with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> Agricultural Department +of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the farm demonstration work +of the United States Department of Agriculture. They are really a two +days' Short Course in Agriculture carried out to the farmers on their +own farms. These schools have the advantage over the Short Course +given to the farmers on the Institute grounds in that they have the +farmers' problems right before them, to be diagnosed and remedies +applied at once. Through such schools farm instruction is being +carried to the Negroes of every Black Belt County of Alabama.</p> + +<p>T.M. Campbell of the Tuskegee Institute, the District Agent in charge +of these Extension Schools for the Negro Farmers of Alabama, reports +that among the subjects taught the men are home gardening, seed +selection, repair of farm tools, the growing of legumes as soil +builders and cover crops, best methods of fighting the boll-weevil, +poultry raising, hog raising, corn raising, and pasture making. The +women are instructed in sewing, cooking, washing and ironing, serving +meals, making beds, and methods for destroying household pests and for +the preservation of health. At all the meetings the names and +addresses of those present are taken for the purpose of following them +up by correspondence from the district agent's office, so that the +benefits of the instruction shall not be lost from one year to +another. The slogan for these Alabama schools is: "Alabama Must Feed +Herself." Practically all the black farmers have shown a pathetic +eagerness to learn and the white farmers and the white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> demonstration +agents everywhere have heartily coöperated. Churches, schoolhouses, +and courthouses have been placed at the district agent's disposal for +the Extension School session. One of the most hopeful features of the +experiment has been the great interest in this new and better farming +aroused among the boys and girls—an interest which the ordinary rural +school sadly fails even in attempting to arouse. All told throughout +the State 3,872 colored people attended these schools the first year. +The sessions were usually opened by a prayer offered by one of the +rural preachers. In one such prayer the preacher said among other +things: "O Lord, have mercy on dis removable school; may it purmernate +dis whole lan' an' country!" At another meeting, after the workers had +finished a session, some of the leading colored farmers were called on +to speak. One of them opened his remarks with the words: "I ain't no +speaker, but I jes wan' a tell you how much I done been steamilated by +dis my only two days in school!"</p> + +<p>A report of one of these schools held recently at Monroeville, Ala., +reads: "Only subjects with which the rural people are directly +concerned are introduced and stressed by the instructors, such as +pasture making, necessary equipment for a one and two horse farm, care +of farm tools, crop rotation, hog raising, care of the cow, seed +selection, diversified farming, how to make homemade furniture, +fighting the fly, and child welfare.</p> + +<p>"The home economics teacher attracted the attention of all the colored +farmers and also the white visitors by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> constructing out of dry goods +boxes an attractive and substantial dresser and washstand, completing +the same before the audience, even to the staining, varnishing, +hanging the mirrors and attaching the draperies." One paper, in +estimating the value of these Movable Agricultural Schools said: +"Given ten years of good practical agricultural instruction of the +kind that was imparted to the Negro farmers, their wives and children, +for the past three weeks in Wilcox, Perry, and Lowndes counties, there +is no reason why every Negro farmer in the State should not only help +'Alabama feed herself,' but so increase the yield of its marketable +products that the State will be able to export millions of dollars' +worth of food and foodstuffs each year."</p> + +<p>These Extension Schools are advertised by posters just like a country +circus, except that the language is less grandiloquent. On the +following page is a typical announcement presented in heavy black type +on yellow paper.</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<div class="adbox"> +<p class="center"><b>Co-operative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>STATE OF ALABAMA</b></p> + +<h1><span class="gesperrt">FARMERS ATTENTION!</span></h1> + +<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt"><b>AN EXTENSION SCHOOL</b></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="sm"><b>OF</b></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt"><b>AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS</b></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="sm"><b>FOR</b></span></p> + +<p class="center"><b>COLORED FARMERS, BOYS, GIRLS, AND WOMEN</b></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="sm"><b>WILL BE HELD IN PERRY COUNTY AT</b></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt"><b>MARION, FEBRUARY 8-9</b></span></p> + +<p class="center"><b>MORNING STAR COMMUNITY, FEBRUARY 11-12</b></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt"><i><b>COME AND BRING YOUR FAMILY!</b></i></span></p> + +<p class="center"><b>THE PROGRAM OF THE SCHOOL WILL EMBRACE THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS AND MANY +OTHERS.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>—FOR MEN AND BOYS—</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Diversified Farming for the South, "A Ray of Hope to the Man with the +Hoe."</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>How to Make the Cotton Farm Fertile—Every Farmer Must Feed Himself.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Care and Treatment of Live Stock—"To Thee, my Master, I offer my +prayer; feed me, water and care for me, and when the day's work is +done, provide me with shelter."—From the Horses' Prayer.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Cotton Growing under Boll Weevil Conditions—Looks like Billie Boll +Weevil is here to stay.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Waste caused by weeds, stumps and skips.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Corn—Seed testing.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Dairying and Its Possibilities in Alabama.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Sweet Potatoes—How to grow and save them.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>—FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS—</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>"Home Made Home."—A Home should be more than a place in which to eat +and sleep.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>The Health of the Family—Much responsibility rests on the Mother.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Child Welfare—Every 4th Negro baby dies before it is One Year Old. +Fifty per cent of the diseases of Negro children under One Year can be +prevented.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>The Care of the Girls and Boys on the Farm—Make them your partners in +the business of Home Making.</b></p> + +<p class="hang"><b>Demonstration in Cookery—Too few of our women and girls know how to +cook.</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>A FREE PICTURE SHOW WILL BE GIVEN ONE NIGHT AT EVERY MEETING PLACE</b></p> + +<p><b>This Extension School is being held under the auspices of the +Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and +the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. The subjects will be discussed by +experts from the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute.</b></p> + +<p class="right"> +<b>T.M. CAMPBELL, District Demonstration Agent,<br /> +Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.</b><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p><br />Thus did Booker Washington in the very year of his death, with the aid +of the National Government, launch the last of his many means for +helping the people whose welfare lay ever nearest his heart—the Negro +farmers. These Extension Schools are literally "going out 'into the +by-ways and hedges'" carrying to those who most need it Booker +Washington's gospel of better farming.</p> + +<p>One of the great secrets of Mr. Washington's success was his unerring +instinct for putting first things first. In nothing that he did was +this trait better illustrated than in the unceasing emphasis which he +placed upon the fun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span>damental importance of agriculture. He never +forgot that over 80 per cent. of his people drew their living directly +from the soil. He never ceased to impress upon the business and +professional men of his race that their success was dependent upon the +success of the farmers; and upon the farmers that unless they +succeeded the business and professional men could not succeed. In +short, he made Tuskegee first and foremost an agricultural school +because the Negro race is first and foremost an agricultural race.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHT" id="CHAPTER_EIGHT"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 8"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">EIGHT</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO<br /> +BUSINESS MAN</span></h3> + + +<p><br />IN 1900 Booker Washington founded the National Negro Business League. +He was president of this league from its foundation until his death.</p> + +<p>During the winter of 1900, after reviewing the situation at length +with his friend T. Thomas Fortune, the Nestor of Negro journalism, and +at that time the dominant influence in the New York <i>Age</i>, who was +spending the winter at Tuskegee, with Mr. Scott and others of his +friends, he came to the conclusion that the time had come to bring the +business men and women of his race together in a great national +organization, with local branches throughout the country. He decided +that such an organization might be a powerful agency in creating the +race consciousness and race pride for which he was ever striving. All +the then-existing organizations, other than the sick and death benefit +societies and the purely social organizations, had as their main +purpose the assertion of the civil and political rights of the Negro. +There was no organization calculated to focus the attention of the +Negroes on what they were doing and could do for themselves in +distinction from what was being done for them and to them. All the +existing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span> associations laid their chief emphasis upon the rights of +the Negro rather than his duties. Mr. Washington held that without in +any degree sacrificing their just demands for civil and political +rights a more wholesome and constructive attitude could be developed +by stressing the duties and the opportunities of the race. He believed +it would be helpful to emphasize in an organized way what they had +done and could do in the way of business achievement in spite of race +prejudice rather than what they had not done and could not do because +of racial discrimination. He believed they needed to have brought home +to them not how many of them had been held down, but how many of them +had come up and surmounted obstacles and difficulties. He believed +that they should have it impressed upon them that the application of +business methods would bring rewards to a black man just as to a white +man.</p> + +<p>The first meeting of the National Negro Business League was held in +Boston, August 23 and 24, 1900. After these sessions Booker Washington +made the following statement of the purpose in calling the meeting and +the results obtained:</p> + +<p>"As I have travelled through the country from time to time I have been +constantly surprised to note the number of colored men and women, +often in small towns and remote districts, who are engaged in various +lines of business. In many cases the business was very humble, but +nevertheless it was sufficient to indicate the opportunities of the +race in this direction. My observation in this regard led me to +believe that the time had come for the bringing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span>gether of the +leading and most successful colored men and women throughout the +country who are engaged in business. After consultation with men and +women in various parts of the country it was determined to call a +meeting in the city of Boston to organize the National Negro Business +League. This meeting was held during the 23d and 24th of August, and +it was generally believed that it was one of the most successful and +helpful meetings that has ever been held among our people. The meeting +was called with two objects in view: first, to bring the men and women +engaged in business together, in order that they might get acquainted +with each other and get information and inspiration from each other; +secondly, to form plans for an annual meeting and the organization of +local business leagues that should extend throughout the country. Both +of these objects, I think, have been admirably accomplished. I think +there has never been a time in the history of the race when all feel +so much encouraged in relation to their business opportunities as now. +The promoters of this organization appreciate very keenly that the +race cannot depend upon mere material growth alone for its ultimate +success, but they do feel that material prosperity will greatly hasten +their recognition in other directions."</p> + +<p>The spirit and purpose of this first national convention of Negro +business men may be gathered by this quotation from the speech of J.H. +Lewis, a merchant tailor, and perhaps the most successful business man +of the race at the time: "But what hope has the Negro to succeed in +business?" said Mr. Lewis. "If you can make a better article<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span> than +anybody else, and sell it cheaper than anybody else, you can command +the markets of the world. Produce something that somebody else wants, +whether it be a shoe string or a savings bank, and the purchaser or +patron will not trouble himself to ask who the seller is. This same +great economic law runs through every line of industry, whether it be +farming, manufacturing, mercantile or professional pursuits. Recognize +this fundamental law of trade; add to it tact, good manners, a +resolute will, a tireless capacity for hard work, and you will succeed +in business. I have found in my own experience of thirty years in +business that success and its conditions lie around us, regardless of +race or color. I believe that it is possible for any man with the +proper stuff in him to make a success in business wherever he may be. +The best and only capital necessary to begin with is simply honesty, +industry, and common sense."</p> + +<p>The Boston <i>Herald</i> of August 24, 1900, said of this gathering: "The +national convention of colored business men began its sessions in this +city yesterday in a businesslike and hopeful manner. This is not a +political gathering. It is not a race gathering in the sense of one +met to air sentimental grievances that spring from race +oppositions.... President Washington believes that the security and +progress of the colored people in this land depend upon their +development of a moral worth commanding respect and an industrial +capacity that will make them both useful and independent. He +apprehends that these qualities cannot be bestowed as a gift of +benevolence, but must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span> acquired by individual energy and struggle. +'As I have noted,' he says, 'the condition of our people in nearly +every part of our country, I have always been encouraged by the fact +that almost without exception, whether in the North or in the South, +wherever I have seen a black man who was succeeding in his business, +who was a taxpayer, and who possessed intelligence and high character, +that individual was treated with the highest respect by the members of +the white race. In proportion as we can multiply those examples, North +and South, will our problem be solved.' That is the great lesson that +the members of the colored race have to learn. It will aid in +extending this knowledge for those colored business men who have +attained a measurable degree of success in life to meet for mutual +encouragement and helpfulness."</p> + +<p>Just fifteen years later, in August, 1915, Booker Washington presided +over the last session of the league held during his lifetime. This +meeting also was held in Boston. There attended it seven hundred +delegates from thirty different States. Mr. Washington in his annual +address as president summed up what had been accomplished by the race +during the fifteen-year interval and projected what they should strive +for in the future. He also took occasion publicly to thank his +foremost colleagues in developing the work of the league, particularly +Mr. Scott, the secretary of the league. Undoubtedly he fully realized +that it was his farewell meeting. He practically collapsed before the +sessions were over. In less than three months he was dead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span></p> + +<p>Among other things he said in this speech: "Since the league met in +Boston fifteen years ago, great changes have taken place among our +people in property-getting and in the promotion of industrial and +business enterprises. These changes have taken place not solely +because of the work of the league, but this and similar organizations +have had much to do with bringing about this progress. Let me be more +specific.... In 1863 we had as a race 2,000 small business enterprises +of one kind and another. At the present time, the Negro owns and +operates about 43,000 concerns, with an annual turnover of about one +billion dollars. Within fifty years we have made enough progress in +business to warrant the operation of over fifty banks. With all I have +said, we are still a poor race, as compared with many others; but I +have given these figures to indicate the direction in which we are +travelling."</p> + +<p>Later he said: "A landless race is like a ship without a rudder. +Emphasizing again our opportunities, especially as connected with the +soil, we now have, for example, 122 poultry raisers; the number should +be increased to 1,500. We now have 200 dairymen; the number should be +increased to 2,000.... We now own and operate 75 bakeries; the number +can be increased to 500. From 32 brickmakers the number can be +increased to 3,000. From 200 sawmills we can increase the number to +1,000."</p> + +<p>And so he continued giving the present achievement and future goal for +many more industries. After giving these estimates he said: "With our +race, as it has been and al<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span>ways will be with all races, without +economic and business foundation, it is hardly possible to have +educational and religious growth or political freedom.</p> + +<p>"We can learn some mighty serious lessons just now from conditions in +Liberia and Hayti. For years, both in Liberia and Hayti, literary +education and politics have been emphasized, but while doing this the +people have failed to apply themselves to the development of the soil, +mines, and forests. The result is that, from an economic point of +view, those two republics have become dependent upon other nations and +races. In both republics the control of finances is in the hands of +other nations, this being true notwithstanding the fact that the two +countries have natural resources greater than other countries similar +in size.... Mere abstract, unused education means little for a race or +individual. An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction. We +must not be afraid to pay the price of success in business—the price +of sleepless nights, the price of toil when others rest, the price of +planning to-day for to-morrow, this year for next year. If some one +else endures the hardships, does the thinking, and pays the salaries, +some one else will reap the harvest and enjoy the reward."</p> + +<p>Just before his closing words he said: "No matter how poor you are, +how black you are, or how obscure your present work and position, I +want each one to remember that there is a chance for him, and the more +difficulties he has to overcome the greater will be his success."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span></p> + +<p>Perhaps the most significant speech at this conference, next to that +of Booker T. Washington, was that of William Henry Lewis who is +probably the foremost lawyer of the Negro race in America. Mr. Lewis +is a graduate of Harvard where he distinguished himself on the +football field as well as in the classroom. After graduation from the +Harvard Law School he served with distinction in the Massachusetts +Legislature, was appointed Assistant United States District Attorney +for the Boston district by President Roosevelt, and became Assistant +Attorney-General of the United States under President Taft.</p> + +<p>In opening his speech Mr. Lewis said: "I do not know why my +fellow-citizens have chosen me for this honor, except to heap coals of +fire upon my head. Fifteen years ago I was not with you. I was one of +the critics, one of the scoffers, one of those who asked, 'What is it +all about?' 'What does it amount to?' You have lived to confute my +judgment, and shame my sneers, and I am now making generous +acknowledgment of my error. I claim no merit in doing this, except +that I can look backward as far as your great leader can look forward. +Booker Washington has always been from fifteen to twenty years ahead +of any other leader of his race.... While most of us were agonizing +over the Negro's relation to the State and his political fortunes, +Booker Washington saw that there was a great economic empire that +needed to be conquered. He saw an emancipated race chained to the soil +by the Mortgage Crop System, and other devices, and he said, 'You must +own your own land, you must own your own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> farms'—and forthwith there +was a second emancipation. He saw the industrial trades and skilled +labor pass from our race into other hands. He said, 'The hands as well +as the heads must be educated,' and forthwith the educational system +of America was revolutionized. He saw the money earned by the hard +toil of black men passing into other men's pockets. He said, 'The only +way to save this money is to go into business—sell as well as buy.' +He saw that if the colored race was to become economically +self-sufficient, it must engage in every form of human activity. +Himself a successful business man as shown by Tuskegee's millions, he +has led his race to economic freedom."</p> + +<p>Later Mr. Lewis said: "Just as in Boston three-quarters of a century +ago began the movement for Emancipation from Slavery, so fifteen years +ago appropriately began the movement for our economical +independence.... In 1900 there was one league with 50 members, and a +few businesses represented. To-day I am told there are 600 leagues, +nearly 40,000 members, who represent every branch and variety of +business, trade and finance. When one realizes that business rules the +world, the possibility of such an organization seems almost unlimited +in its power to help the race along other lines of progress."</p> + +<p>Such a tribute from one of the most rarely and genuinely talented +members of "The Talented Tenth" was indeed a triumph for Booker T. +Washington and his policies. In fact, it may fairly be said that this +event marked the end of the honest opposition from this element<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span> of +the Negro race—the end of the honest opposition of a group or section +of the race in distinction from the of course inevitable opposition of +individuals here and there.</p> + +<p>One of the features of this 1915 meeting was a summary of the economic +progress of the race since the organization of the league fifteen +years before. This summary brought out the following facts:</p> + +<p>In 1900, when the National Negro Business League was organized, there +were about 20,000 Negro business enterprises; now there are 45,000.</p> + +<p>In 1900 there were two Negro banks; now there are 51.</p> + +<p>In 1900 Negroes were running 250 drug stores; now they have 695.</p> + +<p>In 1900 there were 450 undertaking businesses operated by Negroes; now +there are about 1,000.</p> + +<p>In 1900 there were 149 Negro merchants engaged in wholesale +businesses; now there are 240.</p> + +<p>In 1900 there were 10,000 Negro retail merchants; now there are +25,000.</p> + +<p>In the fifteen years since the National Negro Business League was +organized, farm property owned by Negroes has made a remarkable +increase. From 1900 to 1910, the value of domestic animals owned by +Negro farmers increased from $85,216,337 to $177,273,785, or 107 per +cent.; poultry from $3,788,792 to $5,113,756, or 35 per cent.; +implements and machinery from $18,586,225 to $36,861,418, or 98 per +cent.; land and buildings from $69,636,420 to $273,501,665, or 293 per +cent. In ten years the total<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span> value of farm property owned by Negroes +increased from $177,404,688 to $492,892,218, or 177 per cent.</p> + +<p>It is significant of the standing and catholicity of this convention +that the Governor of Massachusetts, Hon. David F. Walsh, and Dr. John +E. White, a leading white Southern clergyman, both spoke at the +opening meeting at Symphony Hall.</p> + +<p>The National League is made up of more than 600 local leagues which +influence in a direct and practical way almost every community in the +United States with any considerable number of Negro inhabitants. These +local leagues are all chartered, guided, and supervised by the +national organization and with them all the Secretary, Mr. Scott, +keeps in touch. From time to time he issues pamphlets setting forth +methods of organization, activities that can be undertaken, and +subjects that may be discussed under the head of "Some things that it +is possible for a local league to do to be of service to the town or +city in which it is located" are the following:</p> + +<p>"(1) To keep a list of the young men and women who are intelligent, +trained, and qualified to fill responsible places as clerks, +accountants, salesmen, janitors, porters, etc.; in this way a league +can do much in getting suitable occupations for as many as are +competent, especially so in Northern States.</p> + +<p>"(2) In protecting the community against fraudulent schemes, as false +stock companies, that are gotten up solely for the purpose of +defrauding colored people.</p> + +<p>"(3) In fostering an interest in civic affairs, such as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> sanitation, +clean yards, cultivating pride in making attractive in appearance the +home districts of our people, and in other ways showing an interest in +everything that may make up a better community life."</p> + +<p>In the same pamphlet under the head of "Suggested Subjects for +Discussion" comes the following list:</p> + +<p>1. How to unify the colored people in the business interests of the +community.</p> + +<p>2. What the professional men, ministers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, +etc., can do to assist the business men and women.</p> + +<p>3. What the business men can do to assist the professional men.</p> + +<p>4. Patronizing Negro business enterprises.</p> + +<p>5. What new business can be established in the community.</p> + +<p>6. How can the business enterprises already established be improved?</p> + +<p>7. How to secure additional country trade.</p> + +<p>8. If a bank does not exist, can one be established and supported?</p> + +<p>9. If a millinery establishment does not exist, can one be established +and supported, etc.?</p> + +<p>10. If a shoe store or gents' furnishing store does not exist, can one +be established and supported?</p> + +<p>11. If a drug-store does not exist, can one be established and +supported?</p> + +<p>In another such pamphlet monthly meetings between the grocers and the +clubwomen are suggested. Such meet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span>ings would have as their object the +fixing of uniform and mutually satisfactory prices and service. It is +also recommended that Negro insurance agents constitute themselves +unofficial health inspectors for their sections of the town. In this +capacity they would report to the public health committee of the local +league all instances of badly ventilated homes or schools, +mosquito-breeding spots, accumulations of rubbish and filth, or any +other conditions menacing the health of the colored citizens. The +suggestion is made that where possible reading-rooms and bureaus of +information be opened in connection with the offices of Negro +newspapers and that such rooms place the colored papers from all +sections of the country at the disposal of the patrons after the +editor has finished with them. That several small shopkeepers club +together and employ one expert bookkeeper is another idea offered. It +is also proposed that small retailers get together for the purpose of +purchasing jointly such commodities as can be advantageously secured +in this manner. It is finally urged that a committee be appointed each +year to make a social survey of the Negro population. This study would +show what progress had been made during the year in all lines of +endeavor and at the same time furnish a directory of all the business +and social activities of the Negroes of the community. It is pointed +out that the sale of advertising space in its pages would alone more +than pay for such a directory.</p> + +<p>It will be noted that these business leagues, like all other +organizations founded or moulded by Booker Wash<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span>ington, do not stick +to their lasts in any narrow sense. Mr. Washington never lost sight of +the fact that the fundamental concern of all human beings was living, +and that farming, business, education, recreation, or what not, were +only important in so far as they made the whole of life better worth +living. The means employed never obscured his vision of the aim sought +as is so frequently and unhappily the case with lesser men.</p> + +<p>Just as at the agricultural conferences, so at these business +gatherings, Booker Washington used the methods employed by the +revivalist at the experience meeting. By so doing he accomplished the +double purpose of encouraging the successful by the tribute of public +recognition and spurring on the less successful and the unsuccessful +to go and do likewise. Also by means of men and women telling their +fellows in open meeting how they achieved their success the race is, +as it were, revealed to itself. It was, for instance, through a +meeting of the National Negro Business League that it came to light +that the man who raises the most potatoes in the United States, and +who is commonly known as the Potato King of the West, is a Negro—J.G. +Groves of Edwardsville, Kan. Groves' story at one of the annual +meetings attracted so much attention that an account of his life later +appeared in an illustrated special article in the <i>American Magazine</i>. +It was also discovered through a league meeting that Scott Bond, +another colored man, was probably the most successful farmer in the +State of Arkansas. After he had told his story at the meeting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> of the +National League held in New York in 1910 he was pursued by cameramen +and interviewers for days and weeks and his story was spread all over +the United States. At the Chicago meeting of 1912 Watt Terry, a modest +and even shrinking colored man of Brockton, Mass., unfolded a +remarkable story of success in spite of the hardest and must untoward +circumstances. So unbelievable seemed this man's story that the +Executive Committee took up with him personally the facts of his +recital, and later the Secretary of the League, in response to a +demand, had to vouch for his statements in open meeting. To clinch the +matter still further Mr. Washington wrote to the Secretary of the +Young Men's Christian Association in Brockton, who replied that +Terry's story had, if anything, been understated rather than +overstated. Booker Washington himself told Watt Terry's story in the +pages of the <i>Independent</i> for March 27, 1913. Here it is: "... Mr. +Terry is a modest-appearing young man about thirty years of age. When +he landed at Brockton some twelve years ago he had, according to his +own story, a capital of just twelve cents. He found work at first as a +coachman. After a time he obtained what he thought was a better +position as janitor in the Young Men's Christian Association Building. +Some of the members of the association succeeded in getting him a +position as a railway porter.</p> + +<p>"'Somehow or other,' said Terry, 'I did not care for that sort of +work, and after a few months gave it up. I made up my mind that I +would rather work at a trade, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> tried to get work in one of the +shoe factories in Brockton. As I did not know the trade and there was +a good deal of competition for the places open to apprentices it +looked rather hopeless at first. Finally, I got the foreman to say he +would give me a chance, provided I was willing to work for two weeks +without pay. I accepted that offer and made up my mind to make the +most of those two weeks.'</p> + +<p>"At the end of the two weeks Terry had done so well that he was given +a position in which he earned $7 a week. By sticking close to his job +and making the most of his opportunities he was gradually promoted +until he earned first $10, then $15, $18, and finally $25 a week.</p> + +<p>"'I had some difficulties at first,' said Terry. 'The other men did +not like me at first and showed it. However, I stuck to the job, kept +on smiling, and it was not long before I was on just as good terms +with the men in the shop as I cared to be. As I did not have much +opportunity to spend my money, I found it easier to save.'</p> + +<p>"When Terry reached the point where he was earning $25 a week his wife +was earning $9 as matron in the Brockton railway station, and they +both saved their money. Meanwhile Terry had begun to buy and sell real +estate in a small way. One day he sold a house and lot upon which he +cleared as commission $100.</p> + +<p>"'That seemed to settle the question of my future,' said Mr. Terry. 'I +decided to go into the real estate business.'</p> + +<p>"He added that at the present time his gross income<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span> from his houses +was between $6,000 and $7,000 per month. Altogether, including several +store buildings and two apartment houses containing fifty-four suites +of rooms, Mr. Terry owns 222 buildings in Brockton. One of these +buildings is leased by the United States Government for the use of the +post-office; another is rented for a public library and reading-room +by the city.</p> + +<p>"I should not, perhaps, have dared to make this statement if I had not +confirmed the truth of Mr. Terry's statement by independent inquiry. +In a recent letter from Secretary White, of the Brockton Young Men's +Christian Association, he says: 'Some weeks ago I wrote you relative +to our mutual friend (Watt Terry's) business, but now I want to +enclose a clipping from the tax list which you will see is positive +evidence that the time the taxes were recorded he was carrying well on +to $300,000 and I know that his purchase of $120,000 occurred since +that time. It is certainly a most wonderful development within a few +years.'</p> + +<p>"I ought to add that during all the time that Mr. Terry has been in +Brockton he has been connected with the Young Men's Christian +Association, and not long ago he contributed $1,000 toward the support +of that institution.</p> + +<p>"Many persons will, perhaps, feel that money which is acquired in this +rapid way is likely to do the person who obtains it as much harm as it +does good. I confess that it seems to me that the same amount of money +acquired more slowly would mean more to the man who gained it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span> On the +whole, however, the Negro race has not reached the point where it has +been troubled by the number of its millionaires. And if getting slowly +and laboriously is a good discipline, the Negro has almost a surplus +of that kind of blessing. I ought to add, also, in justice to Mr. +Terry, that from all I can learn, his rapid rise has neither injured +his character nor destroyed his good sense. I suspect that the effort +to keep all those houses rented and the effort to pay interest on his +mortgages has had a tendency to make him humble."</p> + +<p>Although Watt Terry's success is, of course, phenomenal he is only one +of the many notably successful Negro business men who have told their +stories at meetings of the National Negro Business League. Neither is +Mr. Terry the only Negro who has made a big success in real estate. At +the meeting of the league already described, held in Boston in 1915, +Mr. Washington introduced Philip A. Payton, Jr., of New York City; +E.C. Brown, of Philadelphia, Pa.; and Watt Terry, of Brockton, Mass.; +as the three largest real estate operators of the Negro race. Philip +A. Payton, Jr., was the pioneer in opening the Harlem district in New +York City to settlement by Negroes, who had formerly been excluded +from all decent portions of the city and obliged to live on San Juan +Hill and in other sections of unsavory reputation. E.C. Brown made +money in real estate in Newport News and Norfolk, Va., and headed +movements for the establishment of Negro banks in both of these +cities. Afterward he moved to Philadelphia, where he has opened a +bank, and also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span> conducts a real estate business on Broad Street—the +only Negro, it is said, who conducts a large business enterprise on +this important thoroughfare. At the same meeting it was brought out +that a Negro by the name of Phillip J. Allston was chemist for the +Potter Chemical Company, having risen from bottle-washer to that +responsible post. The story of J.S. Trower, caterer, of Philadelphia, +showed that he was frequently engaged for the most important functions +in the city and had been regularly employed by the Cramps Company, +shipbuilders, to take charge of the catering in connection with the +ceremonies accompanying the launching of new ships for the Navy. Mrs. +Bell Davis of Indianapolis, Ind., has become equally successful as a +caterer. When the National Negro Business League met in Indianapolis +it was she who served the annual banquet. Booker Washington took the +greatest satisfaction in disclosing her achievements to the Negro +people who had previously known little or nothing about her. He thus +introduced her at a meeting of the League, "Mrs. Bell Davis, a widow, +the celebrated caterer of Indianapolis, Ind., who has served banquets +and receptions in honor of Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the +United States, who owns a stock of Haviland china, linen, and +silverware valued at thousands of dollars, all unencumbered, furnishes +another illustration of what heights can be attained in the commercial +world by strenuous effort and making use of every little opportunity +which presents itself. Mrs. Davis' humble beginnings, hardships +encountered, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> success achieved would make three chapters of a most +interesting biography."</p> + +<p>Among the men spoken of by Booker Washington at the Philadelphia +meeting of the Business League was Heman E. Perry, the founder of the +first and only old line legal reserve life insurance company operated +by and for Negroes. In his efforts to raise the $100,000 initial +capital required by the law of his State—Georgia—Mr. Perry had +tramped all over the United States at least three times. Finally, +having tried every conceivable source without securing the required +amount, he returned to all the subscribers of capital stock the money +they had paid in plus 4 per cent. interest. This action so inspired +the confidence of the subscribers that almost without exception they +not only returned the money, but subscribed for additional stock with +the result that the initial capital stock was oversubscribed. When +examined by the State Insurance Department three years after it opened +business this company was found to have a gross income of almost +$77,000 and admitted assets of almost $160,000. Each subsequent +examination by the State Department has showed a healthy growth, low +mortality, good judgment in the selection of risks, prompt payment of +claims, careful management, and a sound financial condition. By means +of this company, known as the Standard Life Insurance Company, life +insurance may be had by any Negro under the same conditions, with the +same degree of security, and at the same rates as a white man.</p> + +<p>Among the other notably successful Negro business<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span> men who have told +their stories at meetings of the league are the following: Victor H. +Tulane, of Montgomery, Ala., whose story of small beginnings and +present success stirred his fellows at a meeting of the league. Mr. +Tulane entered the grocery business twenty-five years ago, a business +that any ambitious man of his race may enter, requiring small capital +but unlimited patience and close attention to business. He now owns +considerable property, and is a factor in all matters that concern his +race in Montgomery, being regarded by white and colored citizens alike +as Montgomery's first colored citizen. Mr. Tulane says: "Twenty-five +years ago I was a renter; to-day I am landlord of not a few tenants. +Twenty-five years ago my stock represented less than a hundred +dollars; at the present time it values several thousands. Twenty-five +years ago I had but one helper—a small boy; to-day I employ on an +average of seven assistants the year round, excluding my wife and +self. Twenty-five years ago I bought lard in five-pound quantities; +to-day I purchase by the barrel. Twenty-five years ago I bought salt +in ten-cent quantities; at present I buy it in ton lots. Twenty-three +years ago I was unable to secure credit to the amount of three +dollars, but since that period the very house that then refused me has +credited me at one time with several hundred times this amount, and +to-day it is not, how much do you owe?—but, how much do you want? +Twenty years ago my business barely required the service of one horse +and wagon; at present it demands the use of several. Twenty years ago +I did an annual business of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span> something less than a thousand dollars; +during several years since that time the value of my business has +exceeded $40,000 per year." It is Mr. Tulane's boast that he has not +been denied credit during his business career except the one time +mentioned above, and that he has never been threatened or sued in +connection with the collection of a debt.</p> + +<p>Another man's story that came out at the meeting of the National Negro +Business League is the story of Charles H. Anderson, a wholesale and +retail fish and oyster dealer. He conducts a fish, oyster, and game +business in Jacksonville, Fla., which supplies the largest hotels and +many of Jacksonville's richest white families. He is also interested +in a fish and oyster packing business on the Florida coast, and is the +cashier of the colored bank at Jacksonville. A speaker at the league +meeting held in the John Wanamaker store, Philadelphia, in August, +1913, referred to Mr. Anderson as follows: "The first time I saw this +gentleman was fourteen years ago, when he was standing up behind a +white sheet that had a round hole cut in it, bravely negotiating his +head and face as a target; he was working for a man who was running +one of those games known as: +'Every-time-you-hit-the-nigger's-head-you-get-a-fine-cigar!' +(Uproarious laughter.) There I found him fourteen years ago, posing as +a target, and for the magnificent sum of five cents anybody could have +secured the privilege of throwing three balls at his face. (Prolonged +laughter and applause as Mr. Anderson stepped forward and was +introduced to Hon. John Wanamaker, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span> warmly shook his hand.) To-day +this young man is one of the most competent and one of the most +prosperous business men of our race, regardless of section, North, +South, East, or West. (Hearty applause.) Recently he was offered +$18,000 for one piece of property which he owns in Jacksonville, Fla., +and if he would sell out to me to-day all of his real estate and other +holdings and equities, I would be willing to give him my check for +$75,000."</p> + +<p>Others are: Edward C. Berry of Athens, Ohio, who owns and operates a +family hotel in which he does a business of $25,000 to $35,000 a year; +J. Walter Hodge of Indianapolis, Ind., who, inspired by the recitals +at the Business League meetings, gave up his job as a Pullman car +porter, after he had saved some money, and is now the owner of a large +real estate business; Thomas H. Hayes who, starting as a day laborer +for the Southern Railway, now controls probably the largest +undertaking establishment in Memphis, Tenn.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most remarkable story of business success ever told before +a meeting of the league was that of J. H. Blodgett of Jacksonville, +Fla. Mr. Blodgett told his story at the sessions of the league held in +Philadelphia in 1913 at the Academy of Music. By request he in part +repeated it at the meeting held in the Wanamaker Store the following +day. Mr. Blodgett is an ex-slave. He has had no education whatever +except what he has picked up in his long and successful struggle with +life's sternest realities. We will give his story in his own language. +Bear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span> in mind that this is the language, as taken down verbatim by a +stenographer at the time, of a totally unschooled ex-slave. He said: +"Now I want to say I went to Jacksonville nineteen years ago with the +magnificent sum of a dollar and ten cents in my pocket. (Laughter.) I +also had an extra suit of underclothing in a paper bag; that was all +the baggage I had as a boarder. (Laughter.) I was also arrested as a +tramp for having on a straw hat in the winter time. (Hearty laughter.) +And I say all this especially to you young men who are present here +to-night, for so many of our young men seem to think that they can't +start or succeed in business unless somebody shoves them off the bank +into the water of opportunity and makes them swim for themselves; I +simply want to say this to you young men, I started with $1.10 and one +extra suit of underclothing in a paper bag—(laughter)—and to-day I +pay more taxes than any Negro in Florida. (Prolonged applause.) I have +had all sorts of struggles and difficulties to contend with, but you +can't get away from it—if you get anything in this United States of +America now, you have got to work for it. (Hearty applause.) The white +people all over this country have 'weaned the Negro.' (Laughter and +applause.) Dr. Washington has been going all over this country +boasting about what you could do and what our race has done, and the +white man is just quietly and gently and in every way telling us: 'Go +thou and do what Dr. Washington said you could do.' (Prolonged +laughter and applause.)</p> + +<p>"When I began, I commenced working for a railroad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span> company; I had a +splendid job—washing cars for a dollar and five cents a day; I got +$8.40 from the railroad every eight days. After working for a month +and a half I saved enough money to send back and bring my wife from +Charleston, South Carolina, to Jacksonville. Both of us went to work; +we opened a little boarding-house; she ran that, and when my $1.05 a +day enabled me to save as much as one hundred dollars, I quit that job +and began to hustle for myself. I told the white man I was working +under: 'You don't know that a Negro with $100 in cash is a rare thing +among my people. I'm going to strike out and see what I can do by +myself.' I made up my mind that if all of the big Negroes that I had +heard of, read about, and talked with, if they could get honor and +recognition by having brains, money, and ability, there was nothing +the matter with me and my poor little wife to prevent us from getting +up, too; so I went to work and determined to work day and night, if +need be, to get some money, and other things necessary to succeed in +life. I wanted money because I had seen and suffered so many +humiliations put on the man who does not have money. (Applause.)</p> + +<p>"The first time I saw this distinguished gentleman (pointing to Dr. +Booker T. Washington) I was laying brick in Jacksonville, Fla., at +$1.25 a day, and he drove by in company with Mr. James W. Johnson, Mr. +J. Rosamond Johnson, and another gentleman. I had always loved the big +men of my race; even as a little boy I delighted to hear of what they +had achieved, and when I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span> heard that the great Booker T. Washington +was in town, I quit my job for that day, went to the place where he +spoke, walked up close, and was hoping somebody would do me the honor +of introducing me. But I found the gentlemen who had him in charge +were introducing him to nobody but the big Negroes, and the big +Negroes were shaking hands with him and completely monopolizing Booker +T. Washington. (Prolonged laughter.) I did not like to be rude and +therefore did not push through the crowd and shake hands with him +anyway, as I felt like doing. I was nothing but a poor brick-layer, +nobody would introduce me, but I heard his grand speech, was richly +benefited and inspired by all he said, and when I went away I made a +solemn vow to myself. I said: 'If God be with me, I mean to so work +and conduct myself so that some day I shall deserve to shake hands +with Booker T. Washington.' (Hearty applause.) Now let me tell you the +sequel of the story. Away down in Florida, in my humble home in +Jacksonville, there is a room named 'Booker T. Washington.' +(Applause.) I have set apart and dedicated a portion of my home in +honor of this distinguished gentleman and leader of our race. +(Applause.) He is the first human being on earth I have ever permitted +to sleep in it, and his good wife is the first woman and second person +I have ever permitted to sleep in that room. (Prolonged laughter and +applause.) We love him in the South, both Negro and white man! (Hearty +applause.) Booker T. Washington's name is a monument of strength +because he is teaching the Negro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span> to use his hands and head in order +to be useful in the community and to achieve success. (Applause.)</p> + +<p>"I have been sick this summer and just got back from +Saratoga—(prolonged applause)—of course all men who get rich go to +Saratoga. (Laughter and applause.) While there I met some folks, and +in the course of my remarks I had occasion to remind them that Dr. +Booker T. Washington, while an earnest advocate of industrial +training, is not an enemy or opposed to higher education. There was a +man from the British West Indies who began to speak on the subject of +the Negro; he began to orate around, began to tell how the Negro must +expect to rise in the world; oh! he made a magnificent speech going to +show that there was nothing in the world like higher education for the +Negro; he even said that the Negro race would never amount to anything +and get its rights until every one of us had secured a college +education. (Laughter.) Why, you ought to have been there and heard him +orate; he took us all through Greek, Roman, ancient, and medieval +history; across the Alps and all around the Egyptian pyramids—(hearty +laughter)—and even cited the Druids of old to testify to the grandeur +and necessity of higher education for the Negro. After he got through +orating I said to him: 'Brother, I was down to a meeting of Negroes in +the State of Florida—at the State Business League, and I saw sitting +on one bench eleven (11) Negro men whose combined wealth would amount +to more than one million dollars, and not one of them ever saw the +inside of a college.' (Prolonged applause, mingled with laughter.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span> +And I said to him further than that: 'If any of you gentlemen who +claim to be educated in the British West Indies, and all you gentlemen +who hail from Beloit College (wherever it is)—if you can fool any one +of those eleven Negroes out of one dime, I will give you ten dollars!' +(Laughter and applause.) Yes, sir, without much education these men +own their own homes and dozens of homes in which other people live; +they are self-sustaining and independent, and can write their names to +checks away up in the thousands of dollars; they live in neat, +comfortable, well-appointed homes and enjoy the respect and esteem of +their neighbors—black as well as white. 'Now, sir,' I turned to him +and asked him, 'will you kindly tell me what is your occupation in +life and what you have been able to accomplish with all this higher +education you have been talking about?' I found out that he was a +waiter in the United States Hotel. (Laughter.) I said to him further: +'My brother, I don't claim to be an educated man, but live in a villa +of my own; I own considerable real estate, and my dear little wife +rides around in our own $5,500 Packard automobile, all paid for.' +(Prolonged applause and laughter.)</p> + +<p>"I am somewhat of a carpenter and builder; I went to work, bought some +ground while it was cheap and at a time when everything in +Jacksonville was at low tide; there were plenty of sick Yankees whose +investments had depreciated and I invested what money I had in some +land. I would build a house, then sell it; buy more land, build +another house and sell that; after a while I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span> was able to build three +houses and sell two, build two and sell one and so +on—(applause)—until pretty soon I found myself in the real estate +business, buying land and building and selling houses. In this way I +have gone on building my own houses until now I have plenty to support +myself and that dear little red-headed woman who has a seat somewhere +in this beautiful audience. (Laughter and applause.) She doesn't have +to keep a boarding-house any more; she is on the retired list. +(Laughter and applause.) We have made enough to keep from doing that."</p> + +<p>At this point Dr. Washington asked, "How many houses do you own?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Blodgett replied: "I have been selling houses pretty rapidly +during the last few years, but I have built—and right here I want to +say that while my subject is 'Building and Contracting' I have never +built a house for anybody but myself. I build my own property. I have +built since the fire we had in Jacksonville in 1902 two hundred and +eight houses of my own. (Prolonged applause.) I have sold a good many +of them. When I realized that I was beginning to get old and not in +such good physical condition as I used to be, I was afraid I might get +afflicted with tuberculosis, or appendicitis, or some of these other +high-sounding diseases the doctors now talk about—(laughter)—and so +I thought it best to convert some of my estate into another form that +could be more easily handled by my better half when I had gone to +inhabit my mansion in the skies. (Laughter.) So I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span> have begun to sell +off some of my property and get out of debt. I now have one hundred +and twenty-one houses, the rents from which amount to a little over +twenty-five hundred dollars a month. (Prolonged applause.) I have +invested my money in recent years in what I call 'grip-sack' +securities, so that if there should be any little unpleasantness among +the races, I can go to my safe and grab that grip-sack. (Prolonged +laughter and applause.) You see if there should ever be any friction +or trouble, I can grab my grip-sack, jump into a powerful machine, and +come up here around Philadelphia, 'The City of Brotherly Love' or over +here in Canada, and I can sit down at my leisure and read in the +papers what they are doing down there. (Prolonged laughter.)</p> + +<p>"Dr. Washington has been in my home in Jacksonville; I have now had +the honor of not only shaking hands with him, but of having him as my +special guest. I know I am going to make one break here now, I'm going +to say something that my little modest wife may not like me to say, +but I hope she will excuse just this one time—(laughter)—for +everybody knows that I ain't very bright anyhow—not really +responsible. (Prolonged laughter.) I want to say this, not in a +boasting way—I live in the best home of any Negro in this country I +have so far seen. (Hearty applause.) I live in a home—we call it +'Blodgett Villa'; we have flowers and lawns and vines and shrubbery, a +nice greenhouse and all those things that go to make up for higher +civilization. I surrounded myself with all these things to show that +the Negro has the same taste,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span> the same yearning for higher +civilization that the white man has whenever he has the money to +afford it. (Applause.) You know they have been saying all these years +that the Negro is coarse and vicious, that he is kin to the +monkey—(laughter)—and that we do not appreciate those things that +make for higher civilization such as flowers, hothouses, neatly kept +houses and lawns, automobiles, and such things, so I went and got +them. (Applause.) When you step inside of Mrs. Blodgett's home there +you will find art and music and literature, and if you can find +anything in there that does not tend toward the higher civilization, +you have my promise and consent to throw it outdoors. (Laughter and +applause.)...</p> + +<p>"I remember when I was a drayman on the streets of Jacksonville; I was +a great big man, even heavier than I am now: I wore a pair of +magnificent feet appropriate to my size, and when I drove along +everybody whistled and called me 'Old Big One.' Since that time I have +graduated from a drayman to what the program calls me: a 'Builder and +Contractor,' and when they see me now riding through the streets of +Jacksonville in my $5,500 Packard automobile, if one of those Negroes +should call me 'Old Big One,' I would put him in jail. (Laughter and +applause.) I am interested in business with white men, and I tell you +when a Negro gets to the point where he makes cash deposits in a white +man's bank—say $5,000 this week, $2,000 next week, and so on, they +will begin to discover you, honor and respect you. If you deposit +$2,000 this week, the bank president will know about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span> it, and when it +gets to the place that you have got in the bank $25,000, why this man +even (pointing to an ebony black man in the audience) will have become +a bright mulatto!"</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most unique and impressive session of the National Negro +Business League was that held at the invitation of John Wanamaker in +his great department store in Philadelphia in 1913. One of the most +interesting talks at this meeting was that of Charles Banks of Mound +Bayou, Miss. Mr. Banks has been referred to in an earlier chapter. He +has often been called the J. Pierpont Morgan of his race. He said in +part: "I live in the little town of Mound Bayou, Miss., that was +founded by Isaiah T. Montgomery, an ex-slave of Jefferson Davis, the +President of the Southern Confederacy. Mr. Montgomery, the ex-slave in +question, is present at this meeting. We live in what is called the +'Black Belt of Mississippi' and our plantations embrace some of the +richest and most fertile land that can be found in the entire 'Delta.' +In some parts of the 'Delta' the Negro population outnumbers the white +population in a ratio of five to one. In the town in which I live +(Mound Bayou) we outnumber the white population in a ratio of five to +nothing. (Laughter and applause.)</p> + +<p>"Instead of whining and lamenting our lot, and bemoaning the racial +prejudice which exists in our section of the country, we are taking +advantage of some of the opposition and the tendency to segregate us +and we are trying to show, through the leadership of this ex-slave of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span> +Jefferson Davis, that it is possible for us to build up a Negro +community, a town owned and controlled by Negroes right there under +his direct supervision. And as a result, on the Yazoo and Mound Bayou +Branch of the Yazoo Central Railroad, we have one of the best-governed +and most prosperous towns on the whole line. We have something like +thirty to forty thousand acres of land in that rich and fertile +country owned and controlled exclusively by Negro men and women. We +have there the little town of Mound Bayou, which it is our privilege +to represent, and so far as its management or government is concerned, +we have control of everything. There we have a Negro Depot Agent, a +Negro Express Agent, a Negro Postmaster, a Negro Mayor, a Board of +Negro Aldermen and City Councilmen, and every other official of the +city administration is a full-fledged Negro. In that town I am the +banker, and I pass for a Negro." (Laughter and applause followed this +sally, as the speaker is the blackest of full-blooded Africans.)</p> + +<p>In concluding his address of welcome on this occasion Mr. Wanamaker +said: "I do hope that meetings like this will come often and be held +in every large city in the North. In exhibiting to the world the +successful business men and women of your race, your league is doing +exactly what every good merchant legitimately does, that is—you are +showing your goods. (Laughter.) And you are delivering the goods. +(Prolonged applause.) Your league is making an 'Annual Report' as it +were; it is making a 'Yearly Inventory' of what your race has on hand, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span> though this large hall has been the scene of many delightful +occasions (mainly connected with this business) your coming here +to-day is the first meeting of its kind. (Applause.) I believe that +this meeting ought to be put down as historical, and should serve as a +set-off—in striking contrast to the stoning of William Lloyd +Garrison, in the streets of Philadelphia, scarcely more than fifty +years ago. (Prolonged applause.) This meeting will simply help to +balance your account. (Applause.) The world is moving on, and it is a +glorious thing to-day to find that, instead of stepping +backward—contrary to the predictions of some—you are making such +splendid strides forward under the fine leadership of Dr. Booker T. +Washington—(applause)—as evidenced in this Business League +Convention.</p> + +<p>"In closing I want not only to pay just tribute to what you have +achieved in music, in education, and religious life, but I think it +fitting, on this occasion, and I have planned to show you a fine +painting from the brush of the greatest artist of your race—the son +of Bishop Tanner. I have seen his handiwork in some of the art +galleries of the first rank in Europe. For the most part his paintings +are religious in conception, and the peculiar beauty of them is that +they deal with the heart, even as they are fine expressions of art. +(Applause.) Before you leave I have planned to show you several other +pictures of real merit that members of your race have produced. +(Applause.)</p> + +<p>"And oh—when I consider all these things, and when I gazed upon this +vast and beautiful audience a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span> minutes ago, as you were singing so +fervently our national anthem, 'America,' as I looked over the sea of +earnest, intelligent faces, I wondered how on earth we could sing that +song for a hundred years or more—I wondered how it was possible to +keep a race like yours enslaved while, for years and years, the people +of this nation sang that last line of that song, 'Let freedom +ring!!!'" (Prolonged applause, tumultuous cheering, and the waving of +countless handkerchiefs as Mr. Wanamaker resumed his seat.)</p> + +<p>Aside from having the successful colored men and women tell one +another and their less-successful fellows how they had achieved their +success at these sessions of the league, Booker Washington also +arranged to have one or more prominent white men speak. His reason for +this, aside from the obvious one of helping to foster friendly feeling +between the races, was, it may safely be hazarded, to impress upon his +people that white people succeed by the possession and the application +of the same qualities which bring success to colored people. At the +Chicago meeting of the league in 1912 Julius Rosenwald spoke—Julius +Rosenwald, the Jewish philanthropist who has done and is doing so much +to help the Negro. It was he who offered $25,000 to any city in the +United States which would raise $75,000 for a Young Men's Christian +Association Building for colored men. It is he also who is helping +Tuskegee in the building of rural schoolhouses as was explained in the +<a href="#CHAPTER_THREE">third chapter</a>. He is one of Tuskegee's trustees.</p> + +<p>The late Robert C. Ogden, the New York manager of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span> Wanamaker +business, addressed the convention of 1905 in New York. He was a man +whom Booker Washington delighted to hold up to his people as an +example of what a man could accomplish through his own unaided +efforts. He had begun his business career at a salary of $5 a week, +and from that as his starting-point he had risen to be the New York +head of the greatest department store business in the country. He was +for twenty-five years President of the Board of Trustees of Hampton, a +member of the Tuskegee Board, and the originator and host of the +annual educational pilgrimages which gave leading Northerners a first +hand and intelligent insight into the dire need of education for the +masses of the people both white and black throughout the South. Much +of the educational activity in the South to-day may be traced to the +early Ogden educational pilgrimages.</p> + +<p>Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the New York meeting in 1910. He had just +returned from Africa. He said later that nothing connected with his +homecoming had touched him so deeply as the ovation given him by +these, his fellow-citizens of African descent. Among other white men +who have spoken before the league are Henry Clews, the banker; Dr. +H.B. Frissell, the Principal of Hampton Institute, and Dr. J.H. +Dillard, president of the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation of Negro Rural +Schools.</p> + +<p>One of Mr. Washington's many methods for inspiring his people to +strive for business efficiency and success was to excite their +imaginations by holding up before them the achievements of such men as +John Wanamaker, Robert<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span> C. Ogden, William H. Baldwin, Jr., Henry H. +Rogers, Julius Rosenwald, the Rockefellers, and Andrew Carnegie.</p> + +<p>Out of the National Negro Business League have developed the following +organizations which are affiliated with it:</p> + +<ul> +<li>The National Negro Funeral Directors' Association,</li> +<li>The National Negro Press Association,</li> +<li>The National Negro Bar Association,</li> +<li>The National Negro Retail Merchants' Association,</li> +<li>The National Association of Negro Insurance Men.</li> +</ul> + + +<p>Booker Washington was able to speak with assurance and authority to +the business men of his race because he practised what he preached. +The business methods which he employed in conducting the business, in +distinction from the educational affairs, of Tuskegee Institute, +compare favorably with those of the best-managed industrial +corporations. He may even have appeared to be over-insistent upon +business accuracy, system, and efficiency, so anxious was he to belie +the popular notion that Negroes must of necessity, because they are +Negroes, be slipshod and unsystematic. In refutation of this familiar +accusation he built up an institution almost as large as Harvard +University which runs like clockwork without a single white man or +woman having any part in its actual administration. Tuskegee itself is +the most notable example of its founder's method of argument. No +person knowing the facts about Tuskegee can ever again honestly say +that Negroes are always and necessarily slipshod and unsystematic in +their business methods.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_NINE" id="CHAPTER_NINE"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 9"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">NINE</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">BOOKER WASHINGTON AMONG HIS STUDENTS</span></h3> + + +<p><br />IN SPITE of his absorption in guiding the destinies of his race Booker +Washington never lost interest in individuals however humble or in +their individual affairs however small. This was strikingly shown in +his relations to his students. He never wearied in his efforts to help +in the solution of the life problems of the hundreds of raw boys and +girls who each year flocked to Tuskegee and to Booker Washington with +little but hope and ambition upon which to build their careers. With +many of these newcomers he not infrequently had his initial talk +before they knew who he was. This was made easy by his simple and +unassuming manner, which was the exact opposite to what these +unsophisticated youths expected in a great man. One of the graduates +of Tuskegee in the book, "Tuskegee and Its People," thus describes his +first meeting with Booker Washington. His experience was almost +identical with that of many another entering student. He says:</p> + +<p>"My first glimpse of Mr. Washington was had in the depot at +Montgomery, Ala., where a friend and I, on our way to Tuskegee, had +changed cars for the Tuskegee train. Two gentlemen came into the +waiting-room where we were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span> seated, one a man of splendid appearance +and address, the other a most ordinary appearing individual, we +thought. The latter, addressing us, inquired our destination. Upon +being told that we were going to Tuskegee, he remarked that he had +heard that Tuskegee was a very hard place—a place where students were +given too much to do, and where the food was very simple and coarse. +He was afraid we would not stay there three months. We assured him +that we were not afraid of hard work, and meant to finish the course +of study at Tuskegee at all hazards. He then left us. Very soon after +the gentleman who had so favorably impressed us, and whom we afterward +found to be the treasurer of the Tuskegee Institute, Mr. Warren Logan, +came back and told us our interlocutor was none other than the +Principal of the school to which we were going."</p> + +<p>Booker Washington was always keenly interested to get at the reasons +which had impelled the new students to come, and they would naturally +state these reasons more freely to a friendly unknown person than they +would to the Principal of the school. As previously mentioned, Booker +Washington always kept his ear to the ground. These raw boys and girls +brought him fresh and frank messages as to how the people were +thinking and feeling about Tuskegee and those things for which it +stands.</p> + +<p>Some time after Mr. Washington's death the students of the Senior +Class were asked to write brief themes describing their first +impressions of him. In one of these themes the boy writer says, "His +general attitude did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span> bear out my idea of how a great man should +appear. I expected to see him with a diamond ring and riding in an +automobile on a pleasure trip, which most great men do. He was quiet, +not overdressed, nor yet self-conscious of the position he held and +the influence he wielded among the people. He seemed to me a man of +great thoughts, yet not realizing his greatness." Another boy writes: +"One of my first questions after arriving at Tuskegee, September 9, +1912, and registering as a student was to ask, where is Mr. +Washington? I was told that he hardly ever stayed here but was often +in the North. Two weeks later he came, and my first opportunity to see +him was one day on the street. I was so enthused over him that I went +to my room and wrote a letter home trying to describe him.</p> + +<p>"The following Sunday night he lectured in the Chapel. His title was, +'Have a Place to Put Everything and Put Everything in That Place.' In +his talk he said: 'There are many people who have no system about +their work nor home. Often you visit persons' homes and every member +of the family is looking for the broom. The same is true of a match +when the time comes to light the lamp.'</p> + +<p>"That talk was the most impressive one that I ever heard before or +since. From that talk I have reaped more benefit than any other. It +was the talk that I took in and began practising. I first started in +my room having a place to put everything and putting everything in +that place. After getting my room systematized I then began putting +this talk in practise at my work, etc...."</p> + +<p>The next quotation is from the paper of a native African<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span> boy. He +says: "My first impression, or, at least, the first time I heard the +name of Booker T. Washington, was about the year 1902. I was then a +young boy, just arrived in one of the Native Training Institutions +existing in South Africa. These schools train young native boys +primarily to become teachers in their communities. As a native African +I had just acquired the elementary use of the English language, when +the following incident took place: One, a native teacher from the +upper part of the country, was announced and that he was to give a +lecture to the 'Boys' Saturday Evening Society.'</p> + +<p>"The meeting assembled, and I at once heard that the lecture was about +a boy—Booker T. Washington—who obtained an education through his +struggles.... I did not hear or understand more. But it is strange to +say that this name was pinned in the bottom of my heart....</p> + +<p>"It was during the coronation of King George V of England that I saw +this name. I had now finished that school and was teaching. It was +printed in a native paper that Booker T. Washington, an American +Negro, made an excellent speech. I cannot, however, say the exact +words of the editor, which were in greatest praise of that man, nor do +I recall the circumstances under which Mr. Washington had spoken.</p> + +<p>"When I wanted to come to school in this country I made up my mind to +find the school—as I found later he was principal of one—where this +man was leader; and so I came to Tuskegee Institute. I found the +editor had well described the man's character and disposition."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span></p> + +<p>Still another boy writes: "I first saw Dr. Washington at the +Appalachian Exposition held at Knoxville, Tenn., in 1912. It was Negro +Day and there were thousands of Negroes out to hear Dr. Washington +speak.... At times he would make the people laugh and then again he +would have a few crying. When I saw the tears in the eyes of his +listeners, I looked at Dr. Washington and thought of him with awe +because he was so highly honored. I thought of him with admiration +because he could speak so well, and I thought of him with pride +because he was a Negro.... His speech made me feel as if there were +really a few Negro men and women in the world who were making a mark, +and that there was a chance for more."</p> + +<p>Booker Washington's interest in the lives of his students, as in all +things else, showed his combination of breadth of view and attention +to what less-thorough persons would have considered trivial details. +When, for instance, in 1913 Tuskegee was visited by one of the very +infrequent snowstorms which occur so far South, he himself went from +building to building to see that they were properly heated and to many +of the rooms, particularly of the poorer students, to make sure that +they had sufficient bed-clothes. During the last three winters of his +life he had a confidential agent make an early morning tour of all the +dormitories to make sure that they were so heated that the students +might dress in comfort on getting up in the morning.</p> + +<p>Also when the weather was unusually cold he would make sure that the +boys who drove the teams that hauled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span> wood and other supplies were +provided with gloves and warm clothing. One cold night he sent for Mr. +Palmer, the Registrar of the school, and said to him: "I wish you +would seek out the poor worthy students and see that it is made +possible for them to secure proper shoes and warm clothing. Some of +the most deserving of them will often actually suffer before they will +ask for assistance. We'll look out for the expense some way." He was, +in fact, as insistent that the students should have comforts as he was +that they should not have luxuries.</p> + +<p>His attention to details and the comfort of the students was well +illustrated in the close watch he kept over the dining-rooms and +kitchens which he inspected every day he was on the grounds. Tomkins +dining-hall is the largest building on the Institute grounds and is +one of the largest dining-halls in America. It can seat over two +thousand persons at one time. Adjoining this hall is a spacious +dining-room for the teachers as well as extensive kitchens and a +bakery. Underneath it is a great assembly hall which seats twenty-five +hundred. Mr. Washington would usually appear before breakfast to +assure himself at first hand that the stewards, matrons, and cooks +were giving the students warm, nourishing, and appetizing food upon +which to begin the day's work on the farm and in the shops and +classrooms. Nothing made him more indignant than to find the coffee +served lukewarm and the cereal watery or the eggs stale. For such +derelictions the guilty party was promptly located and admonition or +discharge followed speedily. Probably in nothing was his instinct for +putting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span> first things first better shown than in his insistence upon +proper food, properly prepared and served for both students and +teachers.</p> + +<p>He once said to his students, as previously quoted, "See to it that a +certain ceremony, a certain importance, be attached to the partaking +of food, etc...." To carry out this idea each table in this great hall +has a centrepiece of ferns, mosses, or flowers gathered from the woods +by the student selected by his or her companions to decorate the table +for that week. Boys and girls sit together at the tables. On Sundays +and holidays first and second prizes are given for the tables most +artistically decorated. Frequently these prizes take the form of some +coveted delicacy in the way of food. Each day when at the Institute +Mr. Washington would walk through the dining-hall during the noon meal +and criticise these centrepieces, and things generally. He would point +out that a certain decoration was too gaudy and profuse and had in it +inharmonious colors. He would then remove the unnecessary parts and +the discordant colors and point to the improved effect. He would next +stop at a table with nothing in the way of decoration except a few +scrawny flowers stuck carelessly into a vase. Picking up the meagre +display he would say, "The boy or girl who did this is guilty of +something far worse than bad taste, and that is laziness!" At the next +table he would have a word of praise for the simple and artistic +effect which they had produced with a centrepiece of wood mosses and +red berries. These comments would be interspersed with an occasional +admonition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span> to this boy or that girl for a slovenly manner of eating, +or an inquiry of a newcomer as to where he had come from and whether +he thought he was going to be happy in his new surroundings. An +oft-repeated cause of merriment was his habit of stopping in the +middle of the hall, calling for attention, and then asking the +students if they were getting enough of various articles which he +would name, such as sweet potatoes, corn, and blackberries. Cutting +red tape was one of his special delights. Sometimes he would discover, +for instance, that certain vegetables were not being served because +the steward had objected to the price charged by the Farm Department. +He would immediately order these vegetables served and tell the +protesting steward that he could fight it out with the Farm Department +while the students were enjoying the vegetables. From the dining-room +he would finally disappear into the kitchens in his never-ceasing +campaign for cleanliness. Over and over again would he repeat to +students, teachers, and employees alike that the public would excuse +them for what they lacked in the way of buildings, equipment, and even +knowledge, but they would never be excused for shiftlessness, filth, +litter, or disorder.</p> + +<p>One of the opportunities which he most highly prized and one of his +most effective means of influencing the whole body of students was +through his Sunday evening talks in the Chapel. Over two thousand +students, teachers, teachers' families, and townspeople would crowd +into the Chapel to hear these talks. They were stenographically +reported and published in the school paper. In this way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span> he influenced +not only the undergraduates, but a large number of graduates and +others who subscribed to the paper largely for the purpose of +following these talks. We here quote from a previously unpublished +(except in the school paper) collection of these talks, delivered +during the school term of 1913-14, under the title of "What Parents +Would Like to Hear Concerning Students While at School." The first +talk was called, "For Old and New Students." In it he said in part: "I +suspect that each one of your parents would like to know that you are +learning to read your Bible; not only to read it because you have to, +but to read it every day in the year because you have learned to love +the Bible; because you have learned day by day to make its teachings a +part of you.... Each one of you, in beginning your school year, should +have a Bible, and you should make that Bible a part of your school +life, a part of your very nature, and always, no matter how busy the +day may be, no matter how many mistakes, no matter how many failures +you make in other directions, do not fail to find a few minutes to +study or read your Bible.</p> + +<p>"The greatest people in the world, those who are most learned; those +who bear the burdens and responsibilities of the world, are persons +who are not ashamed to let the world know not only that they believe +in the Bible, but that they read it."</p> + +<p>And this was the advice of a man who never preached what he did not +practise and who only a few years before had been denounced by many of +the preachers of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span> his own race as a Godless man, building up a Godless +school!</p> + +<p>A little further on he said: "In many cases you have come from homes +where there was no regular time for getting up in the morning, no +regular time for eating your meals, and no regular time for going to +bed.</p> + +<p>"Now the basis of civilization is system, order, regularity. A race or +an individual which has no fixed habits, no fixed place of abode, no +time for going to bed, for getting up in the morning, for going to +work; no arrangement, order, or system in all the ordinary business of +life, such a race and such an individual are lacking in self-control, +lacking in some of the fundamentals of civilization....</p> + +<p>"If you take advantage of all these opportunities, if your minds are +so disposed that you can welcome and make the most of these +advantages, these habits of order and system will soon be so fixed, so +ingrained, so thoroughly a part of you that you will no longer +tolerate disorder anywhere, that you will not be willing to endure the +old slovenly habits which so many of you brought with you when you +came here."</p> + +<p>And later, in speaking of the haphazard, slipshod, irregular meal, he +said: "Instead of bringing the family together it has put them wider +apart. A house in which the family table is a mere lunch-counter is +not and cannot be a home."</p> + +<p>And just before concluding this talk he said: "Now what is true of +this school is true of the world at large. This is a little world of +itself. It is a small sample of civiliza<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span>tion, an experiment station, +so to speak, in which we are trying to prepare you to live in a manner +a little more orderly, a little more efficient, and a little more +civilized than you have lived heretofore. If you are not able to live +and succeed here, you will not be able to live and succeed in the +world outside. If we do not want you here, if we cannot get on with +you here, it will mean that the world outside will not want you, will +not be able to get on with you."</p> + +<p>Probably no educator ever kept more constantly before his own mind and +before the minds of his students and teachers that the purpose of +education is preparation for right living than did Booker Washington. +Everything that did not make for this end he eliminated, regardless of +customs and traditions, everything which did make for this end he +included, equally regardless of customs and traditions.</p> + +<p>In a talk called, "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother," the second of +this series, he made this rather touching statement: "Many of your +parents are poor. Not only that, but many of them are ignorant, at +least, so far as books are concerned. Notwithstanding all this, in +every case they have done something for you. It may have been, in many +cases I know that it has been, a very little, but out of their poverty +and out of their ignorance they have done something. They have made it +possible, in the majority of cases, for you to come here, and no +matter how poor they are, no matter how ignorant they are, their +ambition is largely centred in you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span></p> + +<p>This is one of the many statements which show that Booker Washington +had no illusions as to the ignorance and poverty of the rank and file +of his people, and yet with this full knowledge and realization he +never became discouraged.</p> + +<p>In another of these talks, on "The Importance of Simplicity," he said: +"In many cases young men in cities do not own anything in the world +except what they are carrying around on their backs. They have a few +collars and a few cuffs, some bright-colored socks and neckties, and +that is all; nothing would be left of the man if you were to bury +these things. A few collars and cuffs, neckties, and a few pieces of +cheap jewelry—that is all there is of such men."</p> + +<p>Later in the same talk he said: "Short, simple, direct sentences +indicate education, indicate culture, indicate common sense. Some +people think the way for them to show their education is by using big +words, elaborate sentences, and by discussing subjects which nobody on +earth can understand.</p> + +<p>"Whenever you hear a man using words or talking on a subject that you +can't understand, you can be very sure that the man does not +understand himself what he is trying to talk about. If a man is +talking about any subject, literary or what not, of which he is really +master, he will be so direct, so simple, so perfectly clear and +intelligible in the discussion of that subject that the most humble +person can understand what he is saying."</p> + +<p>In a talk on "Being Polite," he said: "It is often dif<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span>ficult, I might +better say, it is always difficult, for persons to have genuine +politeness in their hearts when they live in a country that is +inhabited by different races. Here in the South, and throughout this +country, for that matter, we come into contact with persons of another +race, persons of another color. It takes some effort, some training, +and often some determination to say, in dealing with a person of +another race, of another color, I will be polite; I will be kind; I +will be considerate."</p> + +<p>In a talk on "Being Economical," he said: "You will help yourself and +help this school if you will say to yourself constantly: 'This is my +home; this property does not belong exclusively to the Trustees, but +it is mine; I am a trustee, every student is a trustee of this +institution. How can I make every dollar go as far as possible? How +can I help cut down expenses here?'" And later on, "I want you to get +into the habit of saying: 'This institution belongs to me, belongs to +my race; every dollar that is spent here is spent for my benefit and +for the benefit of my race; every cent that is wasted here is my loss +and the loss of all the generations that come after me.'"</p> + +<p>In a talk on "The Use of Time," he said: "You hear people speaking +sometimes about 'killing time.' No civilized man should be allowed to +kill time any more than he should be allowed to destroy any of the +other natural resources. When you find a man engaged in 'killing time' +you will find a man who is disobeying one of the most fundamental laws +of civilization. A man who habitually devotes himself to 'killing +time' is a dangerous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span> citizen and the law against vagrancy is aimed +against him."</p> + +<p>In a talk on "Being All Right, But," he said: "You frequently hear it +said of certain persons in one connection or another that 'they are +all right, except,' or 'they are all right, but.' You are thinking, +perhaps, of employing some one for this or that important service and +among others the question is asked: 'What kind of disposition has this +one or that one?' Very often you receive an answer something like +this: 'They are all right, but——' That 'but' carries with it a lot +of things. There are too many people in the world who are 'all right, +but.' We want to get rid of just as many of these 'buts' as we can." +And in concluding the same talk he said: "Think big thoughts, think +about big questions, read big books, and, most of all, get into +contact with the big people of your acquaintance and get out from +under the control of the little people of your acquaintance. If you +will do this, gradually you will find yourself better fitted for life; +you will find yourself happier and better fitted to render +service...."</p> + +<p>In a talk on "The Power of Persistence," he said: "Always keep your +eye on the student who seems to be dull, who is slow in his studies, +who has to repeat his class, but who keeps plodding along doggedly, +determinedly, until he has finished the course of study.</p> + +<p>"Keep your eye on that student after he has gone out into the world. +He has learned to endure, he has learned to stick to his job in season +and out of season...."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span></p> + +<p>In a talk on "Standing Still," he said: "People say of us that, as a +race, we are not capable of going very far, not capable of making +steady, persistent progress. We go a little way and there we stop, +stand still, and stagnate.... Now one of the things which this school +aims to do for you and through you is to change, as far as possible, +the reputation of our people in so far as they are regarded as +unprogressive, lacking in initiative and in ability to go forward +unwaveringly."</p> + +<p>The concluding talk of this series, and perhaps the strongest of them +all, was entitled, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." In it he said: "I believe +if you could get down into the deep, dark corners of your own hearts, +and if you could get deep down into the hearts of your parents, you +could find there, in both cases, a misgiving, a sense of danger, never +clearly expressed but always present, a fear that some time, +somewhere, trouble was in store for you and for them.</p> + +<p>"This is so far true, in some cases of which I know, that if parents +should some day learn that their children were in trouble they would +not be surprised, because they have expected it, looked forward to it, +and feared it; because they have known and suspected all along that +you had never thoroughly learned to control yourself when dealing with +other people's property...."</p> + +<p>Later on he added: "This disposition to pilfer was, to a large extent, +a part of the history of slavery. It was rare when colored people who +belonged to a white family where they served as cooks, butlers, or in +some other form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span> of household service, did not feel that everything +belonging to the white family belonged equally to them. Thus, when +freedom came, it was difficult to get the colored cook to feel that +she was a mere employee, that in the wages she received by the week or +month she was being paid for her services for cooking. It was very +hard to get her away from the customs and practises of slavery, +especially when receiving very small wages.</p> + +<p>"In many cases boys and girls have seen or have known that their +mothers kept up this practice of pilfering from persons for whom they +cooked. They have seen it going on day after day and year after year +in their own homes and have observed that employers seem to expect it, +wink at it, at any rate, put up with it. While they know, as their +parents know, that it is wrong, they have nevertheless come to feel +that it is one of the ways in which black folk and white folk get on +together; one of the indirect ways, in other words, in which black +people have learned to recompense themselves for disadvantages which +they suffer in other directions."</p> + +<p>In conclusion he said: "Each one of you can do something toward +solving the race problem, for example, by making, each for himself, a +reputation for honesty in the community in which you live. If in the +part of the country where you now live members of our race have a +reputation for carelessness, looseness in regard to the ownership of +property, you can help to solve the race problem, and make life here +in the South more comfortable for every other member of the race if +you will win for your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span>self a reputation for downright honesty and +integrity in all your dealings with your neighbors, whether they be +white or black."</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington once said, "In all my teaching I have watched carefully +the influence of the toothbrush, and I am convinced that there are few +single agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching." He made +periodic tours of the students' rooms to find out what students if any +were without toothbrushes. The possession and use of a toothbrush is +one of the entrance requirements for Tuskegee. In this connection he +used to tell with a chuckle the reply of the girl who in answer to his +question as to whose toothbrush he found on the washstand said, "That +is ours," referring to her roommate and herself.</p> + +<p>In his tours of inspection of the students' rooms he would also +inquire how many nightgowns they owned. He insisted that every student +should have at least two nightgowns. He was constantly impressing upon +the students that decent, respectable people do not sleep in the +garments in which they work during the day. In fact, he preached the +gospel of the nightgown and the toothbrush as insistently as he did +the gospel of work and simplicity.</p> + +<p>He constantly insisted that the welfare of the students should be at +all times the dominant consideration in the conduct of the +institution. When the teachers would sometimes complain that their +welfare was not sufficiently considered he would remind them that the +Institute was being conducted for the benefit of the students and +that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span> teachers were not required except for the benefit of the +students. That the students should be happy was almost a mania with +him. He was constantly sending for officers and teachers to inquire as +to whether the students seemed happy.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/flags.jpg" width="500" height="282" alt="flags" title="flags" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">The cosmopolitan character of the Tuskegee student body +is shown by the fact that during the past year students have come from +the foreign countries or colonies of foreign countries indicated by +the various flags shown in this picture.</p> + +<p><br />To the delight of the students he would occasionally call a +mass-meeting where he would call upon them one by one to get up and +tell him of anything that was wrong, of anything that was keeping them +from being as happy as he wanted them to be. It was understood that +everything that a student said in such a meeting would be regarded as +a confidence and that nothing that he said would be used against him. +The teachers sometimes protested against the unbridled criticism which +Mr. Washington permitted in these meetings. He, however, continued +them without modification, and while many of the students' complaints +were grossly exaggerated their statements nevertheless led to reforms +in some important particulars. The meetings undoubtedly added greatly +to the contentment and happiness of the student body.</p> + +<p>He was always trying to protect the poorer students against the danger +of being embarrassed or humiliated by the more fortunate ones. In this +connection he was constantly resisting the importunities of students +and teachers who wanted to charge admission fees to this or that game +or entertainment. When the occasion really demanded and justified an +admission fee he would make secret arrangements with the management to +have the poorer students admitted at his personal expense.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span></p> + +<p>His willingness to hear the students' grievances was a characteristic +not always appreciated by the officers and teachers. He was a firm +believer in the right of petition either for a group or an individual. +No matter how pressed and driven he was with business no student or +group of students, and no teacher or group of teachers, was too humble +or obscure in the school's life to win a personal hearing. He would +without hesitation reopen and painstakingly review a case, already +decided by the Executive Council, if he thought there was the +slightest chance that an injustice had been done. He insisted upon +giving the accused not only "a square deal," but the benefit of every +doubt. On the other hand, when there was no reasonable doubt of guilt +no one could be more stern and unrelenting than he in meting out +justice.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington always encouraged and helped every ambitious student +who came to Tuskegee to develop his capacities to the utmost no matter +whether they were large or small. Years ago a student, William Sidney +Pittman, showed a particular aptitude for carpentry and draftsmanship. +After working his way through Tuskegee he was very anxious to take a +course in architecture. Mr. Washington arranged to have the Institute +advance him the money for a three years' course at the Drexel +Institute of Philadelphia, on the understanding that he would return +to Tuskegee as a teacher after his graduation and from his earnings +pay back to the school all that had been advanced for his training at +Drexel. Pittman's record at Drexel was wholly satisfactory. He +returned to Tuske<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span>gee and repaid his loan in accordance with the +agreement. He has since won the competitive award for the design of +the Negro Building at the Jamestown Exposition, has built a large +number of public and semi-public buildings throughout the South, +including the Carnegie Library at Houston, Texas; a Pythian Temple at +Dallas, Texas, where he lives, for the Negro members of the Knights of +Pythias; the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Building at Tuskegee, and a +number of Young Men's Christian Association buildings for colored men. +In 1907 he married Mr. Washington's only daughter, Portia Marshall +Washington, after her graduation from Bradford Academy, Massachusetts. +He is now generally regarded as the foremost architect of his race.</p> + +<p>Somewhat later Mr. Washington succeeded in securing some scholarships +which enabled promising Tuskegee graduates to take two years of +post-graduate work in teaching methods at the Teachers' College of +Columbia University. These scholarships were given by John Crosby +Brown, V. Everett Macy, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In each case +these students were required to return to Tuskegee as teachers for two +years—the same time as their course at Columbia. Dean Russell of the +Teachers' College has testified to the earnestness and high character +of these Tuskegee graduates.</p> + +<p>As measured by the Tuskegee standard of success, which is service to +others, perhaps the most successful of all Tuskegee's graduates is +William H. Holtzclaw, the Principal of the Utica Normal and Industrial +Institute of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span> Mississippi. There is no school that has better emulated +the best there is in Tuskegee Institute, and there is no graduate of +Tuskegee that has followed more faithfully and effectively in Booker +Washington's footsteps. Holtzclaw has told his own story in an +admirably written and most interesting book entitled, "The Black Man's +Burden." Starting in 1903 with a capital of seventy-five cents, no +land and no buildings in a little one-room, ramshackle log cabin, +which he did not own and in which he and his wife lived as well as +taught, Holtzclaw now has an annual enrollment of nearly five hundred +students and a faculty of thirty teachers. The school through its +varied forms of extension work influences yearly about thirty thousand +people. It owns seventeen hundred acres of land and conducts twenty +different industries aside from its academic work. The buildings and +property are valued at one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. It has +also its own electric light plant and water-works and an endowment of +over thirty-two thousand dollars. In concluding his book Mr. Holtzclaw +says: "I see more clearly than ever before the great task that is +before me, and I propose to continue the struggle. It is an appalling +task: a State with more than a million Negroes to be educated, with +half a million children of school age, 35 per cent. of whom at the +present time attend no school at all (only 36 per cent. in average +attendance), a State whose dual school system makes it impossible to +furnish more than a mere pittance for the education of each child—yet +these children must be educated, must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span> unfettered, set free. That +freedom for which Christian men and women, North and South, have +worked and prayed so long must be realized in the lives of these young +people. This, then, is my task, the war that I must wage; and I +propose to stay on the firing-line and fight the good fight of faith."</p> + +<p>Another Tuskegee graduate in whom Mr. Washington was especially +interested is Isaac Fisher. Fisher has been awarded the following +prizes for his writings:</p> + +<p>"What We've Learned About the Rum Question," $500; "German and +American Methods of Regulating Trusts," $400 (in order to write this +paper Mr. Fisher had to acquire a reading knowledge of German which he +did alone and unaided in a few months' time); "Ten of the Best Reasons +Why People Should Live in Missouri," $100; "A Plan to Give the South a +System of Highways Suited to Its Needs," $100; "The Most Practicable +Method of Beginning a Tariff Reduction," honorable mention. (Upon the +request of the chief examiner of the United States Tariff Board this +essay was sent to that body for its use.) Besides these, Mr. Fisher +has taken several minor prizes for compositions on various subjects.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to say, however, whether Booker Washington +showed greater interest in the most brilliant or the most backward +students. Certain it is that the most backward students won his +special attention and encouragement.</p> + +<p>In the early days of the school there was a student by the name of +Jailous Perdue whom Mr. Washington con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span>stantly encouraged and in whom +he never lost faith in spite of his almost total failure to master his +classroom work. Monroe N. Work, the statistician of the Institute and +the editor of "The Negro Year Book," under the title "The Man Who +Failed," has thus told Perdue's story:</p> + +<p>"Back in the days when the cooking for students at Tuskegee was done +out of doors in pots and the principal entrance requirement was a +'desire to make something of himself' a young man, Jailous Perdue, +came to Tuskegee to get an education. He was financially poor and +intellectually dull. Examinations he could not pass. After struggling +along for several years and accumulating a lot of examination +failures, he decided to quit school, go out to work and help educate +his sisters. Although he had failed in his literary subjects, he had +nevertheless got an education in how to use his hands. He had learned +to be a carpenter. Out in the world he went and began to work at his +trade. As soon as he had earned a little money he placed three of his +sisters in school at Tuskegee, and with the help of his brother +Augustus, who had graduated some time before, supported two of them +there for three years and one for four years.</p> + +<p>"In the meantime he had succeeded at his trade and gone into business +for himself at Montgomery, Ala., as a contractor and builder. Here +also he was successful and did thousands of dollars' worth of work. No +job was too small nor too large for him to make a bid on. If he did +not have a contract of his own he was not above working for some other +contractor, and as a result he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span> always busy. He has superintended +the construction of some of the largest buildings in Montgomery. Among +the buildings the erection of which he has superintended are the +Exchange Hotel, at a cost of $150,000; the First Baptist Church, at a +cost of $175,000; the First National Bank Building, at a cost of +$350,000; and the Bell Building, at a cost of $450,000. Perdue also +assisted as foreman or assistant foreman in erecting many of the +important buildings at Tuskegee Institute, such as the Principal's +house, the chapel, the library, Rockefeller Hall, the Academic +Building, and the Millbank Agricultural Building.</p> + +<p>"It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Perdue has accumulated +property or that he owns a good home in Montgomery, for in these +progressive days every black man in the South with any foresight is +investing some part of his earnings in property. The most interesting +and somewhat remarkable thing about the career of Perdue and the +greatest measure of his success is that twenty-three years after he +had left Tuskegee a literary failure he was asked to come back and +become a member of the faculty as an instructor in carpentry. Thus it +was that the man who failed succeeded and returned to the scene of his +failure a success. Perdue was constantly encouraged by Mr. Washington. +He came under the type of those who were not brilliant, but who were +always in his opinion worthy of help and encouragement."</p> + +<p>Washington A. Tate was even duller in books than Perdue. During his +early years at Tuskegee he seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span> unable to grasp the most +rudimentary information. His native dullness was made unpleasant and +aggressive by a combative disposition. He was constantly trying to +prove to his exasperated teachers that he knew what he did not know. +He was almost twenty-five years of age when he reached the Institute +and entered the lowest primary grade. He had the greatest difficulty +in passing any examinations and never succeeded in passing all that +were required. Motions were constantly made and passed in faculty +meetings to drop Tate, and were as constantly vetoed by Mr. Washington +on the plea of giving him one more chance. Finally when Tate's time to +graduate came the teachers in a body protested against giving him a +diploma. Mr. Washington argued that a man who had made all the +sacrifices Tate had made at his age to stay in school, a man who had +worked early and late in fair weather and foul for the school, a man +who had stuck to his task in the face of repeated failures and +discouragements, had in him something better than the mere ability to +pass examinations. Through Mr. Washington's intercession for him Tate +got his diploma. The next day Mr. Washington had him employed to take +charge of the school's piggery. Because of his hard, conscientious, +and effective work in this capacity he was afterward recommended to +the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington as the +proper man to take charge of the United States demonstration work in +Macon County, Ala. Tate proved to be one of the Government's most +successful demonstration agents. He is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span> now farming successfully on +his own account in an adjoining county.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington, as previously pointed out, saw very much more +clearly than most educators that education's only purpose and sole +justification lies in preparation for right living. A man who has +passed all manner of examinations may not be prepared to live rightly +and hence may not justly claim to be educated. A man who has failed to +pass examinations may be prepared for right living and hence may +justly be called an educated man. In other words, Booker Washington +realized that education was primarily a matter of the development of +character and only secondarily a matter of the acquisition of +information.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_TEN" id="CHAPTER_TEN"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 10"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">TEN</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">RAISING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS A YEAR</span></h3> + + +<p><br />DURING recent years the expenses of Tuskegee Institute have run to +between $250,000 and $300,000 a year. Of this sum Booker Washington +had to raise over $100,000 annually aside from the large sums +constantly demanded for new equipment such as the great central +heating and power plant which was installed in 1915 at a cost of more +than $245,000.</p> + +<p>At the ceremonies commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the +founding of Tuskegee Institute President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard +was one of the speakers. He said that one of his "first impressions of +Tuskegee Institute," after just a glimpse, was "that the oldest and +now largest American Institution of learning was more than 200 years +arriving at the possession of much less land, fewer buildings, and a +smaller quick capital than Tuskegee had come to possess in twenty-five +years. That's just a fact," he said, "Harvard University was not as +rich after living two hundred years among the people of Massachusetts +as Tuskegee is to-day, after having lived twenty-five years among the +people of Alabama. And that's the first impression that I have +received here.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/anniversary.jpg" width="500" height="282" alt="25th anniversary" title="25th anniversary" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">In 1906, the Tuskegee Institute celebrated its 25th +anniversary. In the group above appear such well-known American +characters as Dr. William J. Schieffelin, New York; Dr. H.B. Frissell, +Hampton Institute, Va.; J.G. Phelps Stokes, philanthropist, New York; +Isaac N. Seligman, banker, New York; Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of the +<i>Outlook</i>; Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Secretary General Education Board; +William G. Willcox, now President of the New York Board of Education; +Robert C. Ogden, philanthropist, New York; Andrew Carnegie, and Miss +Clara Spence of the Spence School, with numbers of their friends.</p> + +<p><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span>"This evening I have received another impression from your Principal. +He said that the great need of Tuskegee, to-day, was a considerable +sum of money, which could be used at the discretion of the Trustees, +to fill gaps, to make improvements, and to enlarge and strengthen the +different branches of the institution. Now I should not find it +possible to state in more precise terms the present needs of Harvard +University. The needs of these two institutions, situated, to be sure, +in very different communities, and founded on very different dates, +are precisely the same." This comparison is the more striking when we +realize that President Eliot had at the time been at the head of +Harvard University for thirty years, five years longer than Tuskegee +had been in existence—President Eliot of whom it was said, "When he +goes to rich men they just throw up their hands and say, 'Don't shoot! +How much do you want?'"</p> + +<p>The magnitude of Booker Washington's financial task is indicated in +his last annual report which he made to his Trustees in 1915. He +reported:</p> + +<p>"As of May 31st, we have received from all sources for current +expenses $268,825.17; for buildings and improvements, $28,919.47; for +endowment, $28,102.09; from undesignated legacies, $53,858.10, making +the total receipts for the purposes named for the year $379,704.83.</p> + +<p>"The gifts to the Endowment Fund for the year amounting to $28,102.09 +now make the Fund stand at $1,970,214.17.</p> + +<p>"The budget recommended for your consideration for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span> the new year calls +for an expenditure for current expenses, repairs, renewals, and +equipment of $291,567.92...."</p> + +<p>Later in the report he said: "Notwithstanding the depressed financial +condition of a large part of the country, I feel it would be a great +mistake for us in any degree to slacken our efforts to keep the school +before the public or to get funds. I believe, as Dr. H.B. Frissell, +Principal of the Hampton Institute, has often expressed it, that a +large part of the mission of both Hampton and Tuskegee is to keep the +cause of Negro education before the country, and that the benefits +coming from such efforts of publicity do not confine themselves alone +to Hampton and Tuskegee, but benefit all the schools in the South. +With this end in view, I very much hope that the Trustees may see +their way clear to encourage and help us as far as possible in holding +a number of large public meetings during the coming year." These were +brave words for a dying man. Five months later he died of sheer +exhaustion shortly after addressing one of these "large public +meetings." They also show the breadth of his conception of his task. +You will note that he points out that such publicity as he urges, +"benefits all the schools in the South"—not merely the schools for +Negroes, but "all the schools." It never occurred to him to limit his +sense of responsibility to his own school nor even to the schools for +his own race. As previously mentioned he would sometimes devote an +entire public address to an appeal for more and better schools for the +poor whites of the South.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington's money-raising efforts consumed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span> two-thirds of his +time and perhaps even more of his strength and energy. He planned +these money-raising campaigns just as carefully as a good general +plans a military campaign. His last big money-raising campaign was +conducted during June, 1915. He and the Trustees of the Institute had +been engaged for two or three years in the effort to raise the money +to complete the cost of the central power and heating plant, but +nearly $100,000 of the $245,000 needed had not been raised. This +burden bore heavily upon him. At last, with the approval of the +Trustees, he decided to make one last herculean effort not only to +raise this huge sum, but in addition, the money necessary to end the +school year free of debt. For this purpose he formulated a plan of +campaign by which five representatives of the school should cover the +chief centres of population throughout the Northern and Middle Western +States. This was the outline of the territorial assignments of the +collectors:</p> + +<p>Frank P. Chisholm: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode +Island, Connecticut—important centre—Boston.</p> + +<p>Charles W. Wood: New York east of Syracuse, and Binghamton—important +centre—New York City.</p> + +<p>Jesse O. Thomas: New York west of Syracuse and Binghamton, +Pennsylvania—important centre—Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>John D. Stevenson: Illinois, Wisconsin—important centre—Chicago.</p> + +<p>Clarence A. Powell: Michigan, Ohio—important centres—Detroit and +Cleveland.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span></p> + +<p>Each representative carried letters of introduction to leading men and +women in the various centres throughout his territory. All these +letters were personally signed by Mr. Washington. At the close of each +day each collector telegraphed Mr. Washington at Tuskegee giving the +amount of subscriptions and pledges he had secured that day. The next +morning Mr. Washington wired each collector, stating the total amount +of gifts and pledges secured by all five collectors. When the Trustees +met in New York City, on the last Thursday of June, 1915, all but four +or five thousand dollars of the over $245,000 had been raised.</p> + +<p>The Trustees themselves made up the difference by increasing by this +amount their own subscriptions. Thus was successfully concluded the +last great and difficult task which Booker Washington was to be +permitted to perform.</p> + +<p>Of the hundreds of invitations to speak here, there, and everywhere +which kept pouring in upon him certain ones he definitely accepted +because of the money-raising opportunities either direct or indirect +which they offered; others of less promise he tentatively accepted to +fall back upon in case the more desirable ones for any reason +miscarried. Chautauqua engagements he considered only where they +provided an opportunity for direct appeal for contributions for the +work, or at least the chance to distribute printed matter. Chautauqua +bureaus offering him as much as half the gate receipts above $500 in +addition to a guarantee of $300 a night he turned down out of hand if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span> +they did not include one or both of these opportunities. No matter how +much money they offered he would never accept such propositions unless +they carried with them some opportunity to make a direct appeal for +his work. It was sometimes suggested to him that he might receive +these fees personally and then turn them over to the school. This he +declined to do because he was unwilling to give even the appearance of +capitalizing his reputation and oratorical gifts for his personal +enrichment. Booker Washington was not one of those simple-hearted +individuals who are guided solely by what they deem inherently right. +He always strove to avoid the appearance of evil as well as the evil +itself; and, with one unhappy exception, he always succeeded. He fully +realized that his conduct was under constant scrutiny by enemies in +both races eager to find some pretext to drag him down. So circumspect +was he in his behavior that once only between the time he became a +national character in 1895 until his death twenty years later did his +critics succeed in distorting any deed of his into the semblance of +misconduct. The very nature of the charge in this one instance was +sufficient refutation for any person acquainted in even the slightest +degree with the man's life, work, or character.</p> + +<p>The press as well as the platform he constantly used to keep his work +before the public for money-raising purposes. He had as good a "nose +for a story" as the best of reporters, and every story that came his +way was sure to find its way into print. No matter how driven with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span> +pressing matters nor how tired he never denied himself to "the +newspaper boys." He believed that the more prominence, the more +"limelight," he could secure the better, provided he used it for the +promotion of his work. Thus he presented the apparent anomaly of being +at the same time one of the most modest and unassuming of men and also +one of the greatest advertisers of his day.</p> + +<p>As well as the general press of both races he constantly used the +school press for money-raising purposes. The school paper which +circulates among donors and prospective donors as well as among the +students, teachers, and graduates carries in each issue brief +statements of some immediate and pressing needs and the money required +to satisfy them. These needs are set forth in the following manner:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">"WHAT $1,700 WILL DO"</p> + +<p>"For a long while an important part of our extension work +and publicity work has been greatly hindered and hampered +because of the lack of a new and up-to-date printing press.</p> + +<p>"One thousand and seven hundred dollars will supply us with +this long-felt need and greatly add to the value and +influence of our work."</p> + +<p class="center">"WHAT $3,000 WILL DO"</p> + +<p>"One of our very greatest and most practical needs is a well +but simply equipped Canning Factory. Three thousand dollars +would help us to properly equip the Canning Factory we +already have at Tuskegee. The factory will help not only in +preserving large quantities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span> of vegetables, fruits, berries, +etc., during the summer, but at the same time could be used +as a means of teaching large numbers of our girls a useful +industry, and, more than that, the products could be used to +sustain the institution during the winter months.</p> + +<p>"We could not only use everything that might be put up in +cans here at the school in feeding the students and +teachers, but there is an increasing demand among the +merchants of the South, in the large cities, for anything we +can produce on the school grounds.</p> + +<p>"We very much wish that some friend might see his way clear +to give $3,000 with which to properly equip this factory."</p> +</div> + +<p>The need for a new laundry building with equipment, a foundry, and a +veterinary hospital were similarly presented. The funds to meet each +of these needs were received as a result of these appeals, and a new +list of needs is now being advertised.</p> + +<p>In concluding his annual report each year Mr. Washington would +summarize the immediate needs of the institution. In his last report +he thus stated them:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>1. $50 a year for annual scholarships for tuition for one +student, the student himself providing for his own board and +other personal expenses in labor and cash.</p> + +<p>2. $1,200 for permanent scholarships.</p> + +<p>3. Money for operating expenses in any amounts, however +small.</p> + +<p>4. $2,000 each for four teachers' cottages.</p> + +<p>5. $40,000 for a building for religious purposes.</p> + +<p>6. $16,000 to complete the Boys' Trades Building.</p> + +<p>7. $50,000 for a Boys' Dormitory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span></p> + +<p>8. $50,000 for a Girls' Dormitory.</p> + +<p>9. An addition to our Endowment Fund of at least $3,000,000.</p> +</div> + +<p>A few months later, as he lay dying in a New York hospital, the +following letter was received for him at Tuskegee. It was at once +forwarded and passed him on his last journey to his home in the South. +He never saw it. The donor, a Northern friend who withholds his name, +has renewed the offer to the Trustees and they have accepted it.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>November 8, 1915.</i></p> + +<p><i>Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Washington</span>: I have read your annual report and also +your treasurer's report, and make you the following +proposition: If you will raise enough money to pay all of +your debts up to May 1, 1916, and add two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars to your endowment fund, I will give you the +sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your +building fund, to be used in building the items such as Nos. +4, 6, 7, 8, and the "Barnes, etc.," mentioned under the head +of "Special Needs," and for objects of similar character. +The above does not include item No. 5, "Building for +religious purposes," as I am not interested in that sort of +work. I shall be glad to know whether this proposition +interests you.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="right">—— ——.</p> +</div> + +<p>The interest of this giver was first <i>aroused</i> by his reading "Up from +Slavery" when it appeared in book form in 1901. As soon as he had read +the book he sent Dr. Wash<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span>ington a check for $10,000 for his work +which he has renewed each year since until he made the above offer. +"Up from Slavery" has brought more money to Tuskegee than all the +other books, articles, speeches, and circulars written by Mr. +Washington himself and the many others who have written or spoken +about him and his work. Among its larger immediate results, aside from +awakening the interest of the anonymous giver already mentioned, was +its similar effect upon the late H.H. Rogers, Vice-President and +active head at the time of the Standard Oil Company, and upon Andrew +Carnegie. Mr. Rogers became so much interested that he not only gave +large sums for the general needs of Tuskegee but eventually financed a +large part of the rural school extension work, which has been +described in earlier chapters, and which is now so important a part of +the school's activities. Under Booker Washington's inspiration and +guidance, too, Mr. Rogers later combined railroad building with race +building. In building his Virginia railroad he undertook a +wide-reaching work in agricultural education among the Negro farmers +living within carting distance of his road. Booker Washington had +demonstrated to his satisfaction that by increasing at the same time +their wants and their ability to gratify their wants he would be +building up business for his railroad.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the publication in 1901 of "Up from Slavery," Frank N. +Doubleday, of Doubleday, Page & Co., the publishers of the book, in +playing golf with Mr. Carnegie mentioned Booker Washington and told +him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span> something of his life. Mr. Carnegie was interested and wanted to +know more. Mr. Doubleday gave him a copy of "Up from Slavery." After +reading the book he immediately got into communication with the +author, told him of his interest in his life and work, and of his +desire to help him. The result was that Mr. Carnegie agreed to pay for +the construction and equipment of a library to be built by the +students. Booker Washington, his Executive Council, and the school's +architect, spent hours and hours of time in scrutinizing every detail +to bring the cost down to the smallest possible figure consistent with +an adequate result. The final cost to Mr. Carnegie was only $15,000. +Mr. Carnegie was amazed that so large, convenient, and dignified a +building could be built at so small a cost. Over and over again both +to Mr. Washington and to friends of the school he expressed his +surprise and pleasure at the result obtained by this relatively small +expenditure. After that there was no doubt he would do more for the +school. It was simply a question of how much more and what form it +would take. In 1903 the following letter was received by the late +William H. Baldwin, Jr., in his capacity as president of the Tuskegee +Board of Trustees.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center"><i>Andrew Carnegie</i><br /> +<i>2 East 91st Street, New York</i></p> + +<p class="right"><i>New York, April 17, 1903.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. Baldwin</span>: I have instructed Mr. Franks, +Secretary, to deliver to you as Trustee of Tuskegee<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span> +$600,000 of 5 per cent. U.S. Steel Company bonds to complete +the Endowment Fund as per circular.</p> + +<p>One condition only—the revenue of one hundred and fifty +thousand of these bonds is to be subject to Booker +Washington's order to be used by him first for his wants and +those of his family during his life or the life of his +widow—if any surplus is left he can use it for Tuskegee. I +wish that great and good man to be free from pecuniary cares +that he may devote himself wholly to his great Mission.</p> + +<p>To me he seems one of the foremost of living men because his +work is unique. The Modern Moses, who leads his race and +lifts it through Education to even better and higher things +than a land overflowing with milk and honey—History is to +know two Washingtons, one white, the other black, both +Fathers of their people. I am satisfied that the serious +race question of the South is to be solved wisely only by +following Booker Washington's policy which he seems to have +been specially born—a slave among slaves—to establish, and +even in his own day, greatly to advance.</p> + +<p>So glad to be able to assist this good work in which you and +others are engaged.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours truly,</p> + +<p class="right">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Andrew Carnegie</span>.</p> + +<p><i>To Mr. Wm. H. Baldwin, Jr., New York City, N.Y.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>This great gift delighted Booker Washington not only for what it meant +directly to his work, but because it so strikingly illustrated a truth +which he had long and insistently impressed upon his staff and his +students: namely, that if every dollar contributed were made to do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span> +the work of two, more dollars would be forthcoming from the same +source.</p> + +<p>The two events upon which Booker Washington's popular fame chiefly +rests are his speech before the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, +Ga., in 1895, and the publication of "Up from Slavery" five years +later. Since "Up from Slavery" played so great a part in aiding its +author to secure funds for his work it seems appropriate to give here +some account of how it came to be written, how it was written, and how +it was received.</p> + +<p>In the year 1900 the editors of the <i>Outlook</i> decided to illustrate in +the concrete the opportunities of America by getting some of the +Americans of greatest achievement to tell how they had risen by their +own efforts from the very depths of untoward circumstances. For this +purpose they selected Jacob A. Riis and Booker T. Washington. After +much hesitancy on his part and urgency on theirs Booker Washington +finally agreed to write the story of his life for serial publication +in the <i>Outlook</i>. His hesitancy was due merely to the fact that he +could not believe that the events of his life would be of any interest +to the public. So convinced was he in this belief that he had the +greatest difficulty in starting to write even after he had agreed to +do so. Finally, after a particularly urgent letter from the editors, +he stole some hours from his absorbing and exacting duties at Tuskegee +to write the first chapter. After these efforts had been typewritten +by his stenographer they produced only three and one-half pages—an +amount of copy discouragingly inadequate for the first installment. +He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span> mailed the material, however, with a line of apology for its +inadequacy and promising to send more the next day. On receipt of this +scant initial copy the editors wrote him a letter of congratulation +and approval which greatly encouraged him, in spite of his heavy and +unrelenting administrative duties, to push ahead with new courage. +Notwithstanding, however, the best intentions on the part of the +writer and the most patiently insistent reminders on the part of the +editors there were many and wide gaps in the supposedly consecutive +series of chapters before the story was finally finished. Much of the +story he dragged from his tired brain, and jotted down on odds and +ends of paper on trains, while waiting in railway stations, in hotels, +and in ten and fifteen minute intervals snatched from overburdened +days in his office. The fact that it was a physical impossibility to +give adequate time and attention to so important a piece of work +distressed him and made him feel even more apologetic about the +product.</p> + +<p>The enthusiastic reception of his story by the editors and later by +the public was accordingly particularly surprising and gratifying to +him. After its serial publication he was soon almost overwhelmed with +congratulatory letters and laudatory reviews. Julian Ralph in the New +York <i>Mail</i> and <i>Express</i> wrote in part:</p> + +<p>"It does not matter if the reader feels a prejudice against the Negro, +or if he be a Negrophile, or if he has never cared one way or the +other whether the Negro does or does not exist. Whatever be his +feelings, 'Up from Slavery' is as remarkable as the most important +book ever written by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span> an American. That book is 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' +Booker Washington's story is its echo and its antithesis. 'Uncle Tom's +Cabin' was the wail of a fettered, hope-forsaken race. 'Up from +Slavery' is the triumphant cry of the same race, led by its Moses upon +a trail which leads to an intelligent use of the freedom that came to +it as an almost direct result of Mrs. Stowe's revolutionary novel. 'Up +from Slavery' and 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' are inseparably linked in the +history of our relations with our dark-skinned fellow-citizen. One +book begins precisely where the other left off."</p> + +<p>William Dean Howells in the <i>North American Review</i> said of it: "... +What strikes you first and last is his constant common sense. He has +lived heroic poetry, and he can, therefore, afford to talk simple +prose.... The mild might of his adroit, his subtle statesmanship (in +the highest sense it is not less than statesmanship, and involves a +more Philippine problem in our midst), is the only agency to which it +can yield...."</p> + +<p>Among the congratulatory letters came one from Athens, Greece, signed +"Bob Burdette, Mrs. Burdette, and the children" which greatly amused +and delighted Mr. Washington. It reads, paraphrasing the passage in +the book where he tells of the insistent stranger who unerringly seeks +him out when he tries to get a little quiet and rest on a train, "'Is +not this Booker T. Washington? We wish to introduce ourselves.' You +see, you can't escape it. We read that sentence, and shouted with +delight over it, in Damascus. I was going to write—'far-away +Damascus'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span>—but no place is far away now. Damascus is very near to +Tuskegee, in fact, only six or seven thousand years older, and not +more than fifty thousand years behind. It must have had a good start, +too, for Abraham went there or sent there to get that wise and tactful +'steward of his house,' Eliezir. But Damascus has always remained in +the same place, whereas Tuskegee has been marching on by leaps and +bounds. But you are a busy man—we have heard that, even in this land. +And I can see you reading this letter five lines at a time. No use +sitting next the window, piling your hand-baggage up in the seat, and +pulling your hat over your eyes, is there? No, for we come along just +the same, sit on the arm of the seat, touch your elbow, and—'Is not +this Booker T. Washington?' We have been travelling for a year. The +<i>Outlook</i> has followed us week by week. And week by week we have +reached out to clasp your hand, and have knelt to thank God for the +story of your life—for its inspiration, its hopefulness, its trust, +its fidelity to duty and purpose. Such a wonderful story, told in the +elegance of simplicity that only a great heart can feel and write. We +paused again and again to say 'God bless him.' And now we send you our +hand clasp and message—'God bless him and all of his.' There, now! +You may pile up your baggage a little higher—pull your hat down over +your eyes a little farther—and pretend to sleep a little harder. We +will leave you. But not in peace. More likely in pieces. For I see +other people, crowding in from the other car, with their glittering +eyes gimleted upon you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span></p> + +<p>Barret Wendell, Professor of English at Harvard University, wrote him: +"Will you allow me to express the pleasure which your book, 'Up from +Slavery,' has given me? For about twenty years a teacher of English, +and mostly of English composition, I have become perhaps a judge as to +matters of style. Certainly I have grown less and less patient of all +writing which is not simple and efficient; and more and more to +believe in a style which does its work with a simple, manly +distinctness. It is hard to remember when a book, casually taken up, +has proved, in this respect, so satisfactory as yours. No style could +be more simple, more unobtrusive; yet few styles which I know seem, to +me more laden—as distinguished from overburdened—with meaning. On +almost any of your pages you say as much again as most men would say +in the space; yet you say it so simply and easily that one has no +effort in reading. One is simply surprised at the quiet power which +can so make words do their work."</p> + +<p>Thus was received the simple narrative of his life up to this time as +hastily written down in odd moments snatched from his already +overcrowded days. In this country alone more than 110,000 copies of +the book have since been sold. It has been translated into French, +Spanish, German, Hindustani, and Braille.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington's philosophy as to money raising after a generation +of constant and successful experience was summed up in this statement +which he made in "Up from Slavery": "My experience in getting money +for Tuskegee has taught me to have no patience with those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span> people who +are always condemning the rich because they are rich, because they do +not give more to objects of charity. In the first place, those who are +guilty of such sweeping criticisms do not know how many people would +be made poor, and how much suffering would result, if wealthy people +were to part all at once with any large proportion of their wealth in +a way to disorganize and cripple great business enterprises. Then very +few people have any idea of the large number of applications for help +that rich people are constantly being flooded with. I know wealthy +people who receive as many as twenty calls a day for help. More than +once, when I have gone into offices of rich men, I have found half a +dozen persons waiting to see them, and all come for the same purpose, +that of securing money. And all these calls in person, to say nothing +of the applications received through the mails. Very few people have +any idea of the amount of money given away by persons who never permit +their names to be known. I have often heard persons condemned for not +giving away money, who, to my own knowledge, were giving away +thousands of dollars every year so quietly that the world knew nothing +about it.... Although it has been my privilege to be the medium +through which a good many hundred thousand dollars have been received +for the work at Tuskegee, I have always avoided what the world calls +'begging.' My experience and observation have convinced me that +persistent asking outright for money from the rich does not, as a +rule, secure help. I have usually proceeded on the principle that +persons who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span> possess sense enough to earn money have sense enough to +know how to give it away, and that the mere making known of the facts +regarding the work of the graduates has been more effective than +outright begging. I think that the presentation of facts, on a high, +dignified plane, is all the begging that most rich people care for."</p> + +<p>Although this favorable estimate of the money-giving rich was based +upon many years of successful experience it must not be supposed that +Booker Washington did not have his share of rebuffs and +discouragements. In fact, scarcely a day went by that he did not +receive some such disheartening rebuff as the following note from a +man who had for several years contributed a small sum each year to +Tuskegee Institute:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right">——, <i>May 10, 1913.</i></p> + +<p><i>Mr. Warren Logan, Treasurer, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, +Ala.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>: I enclose my check for ten dollars in reply to +President Washington's appeal of the 6th inst.</p> + +<p>I do not understand why such an appeal should be necessary +after the large gifts by Mr. Kennedy and others. The Indians +have received much less than the Negroes in money and care, +yet they beg less, and are more ready to imitate the whites +in being self-reliant. All over the North I find the Negroes +despised by the whites for their laziness and disposition to +be dependent.</p> + +<p class="center">Very truly,</p> + +<p class="right">—— ——.</p> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Washington's patient, circumstantial, and constructively +informative reply is characteristic of his method of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span> rejoinder. It +also illustrates his habit of placing his reliance on facts and not on +adjectives, and of so marshalling his facts that they fought his +battles for him. He replied thus:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,</i><br /> +<i>May 26, 1913.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Sir</span>: Our Treasurer has shown me your letter of May +10th, in which you inquire as to why it should be necessary +for Tuskegee to appeal to the public for additional funds, +also stating that the Indians receive much less than Negroes +in money and care.</p> + +<p>Under the circumstances, I thought you would not object to +my making the following report to you, covering the +inquiries suggested in your letter.</p> + +<p>The Indians from a financial standpoint are better off than +any other race or class of people in this country. The +265,863 Indians in the United States own 72,535,862 acres of +land, which is 273 acres for each Indian man, woman, and +child. If all the land in the country were apportioned among +the inhabitants there would be 20 acres per person. The +value of property and funds belonging to Indians is +$678,564,253, or $2,554 per capita, or about $10,000 per +family. The Negroes, but lately emancipated, are by contrast +poor and are struggling to rise.</p> + +<p>The Indians are carefully looked after by the United States +Government. In addition to the elaborately organized Indian +Bureau at Washington, there are six thousand (6,000) persons +in the Indian field service, to especially look after and +supervise them. There is one director, supervisor, or +teacher for each 44 Indians.</p> + +<p>Some of the things that the Government does for the Indians +are:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span></p> + +<p>(1) Look after the health of the Indians; for this purpose +there are in the field one Medical Supervisor, 100 regular +and 60 contract physicians, 54 nurses, and 88 field matrons.</p> + +<p>(2) Supervise their farming and stock raising. For the +24,489 Indians engaged in farming there are two general +supervisors, 48 expert farmers, that is, men with experience +and scientific knowledge, and 210 men in subordinate farming +positions.</p> + +<p>Over $7,000,000 have been spent in irrigating lands for +Indians. Congress in 1911 appropriated $1,300,000 for this +purpose. For the 890,000 Negro farmers in the South, the +United States Government maintains 34 Agricultural +Demonstration Agents.</p> + +<p>For the supervision of the 44,985 Indians engaged in stock +raising, the Government maintains 22 superintendents of live +stock. For the 700,000 Negro farmers engaged in live stock +raising there is only one Government expert working +especially among them.</p> + +<p>(3) A system of schools is maintained by the Government for +Indian children. For this purpose there are 223 day schools, +79 reservation boarding schools, and 35 boarding schools +away from reservations. In these schools in 1911 there were +24,500 pupils. For the support of these schools the United +States Government for 1912 appropriated $3,757,495. To +assist in teaching the 1,700,000 Negro children in the South +there was received in 1911 from the United States Government +$245,518.</p> + +<p>In general the Indians are not taxed for any purpose. On the +other hand, the Negroes are taxed the same as other persons +and in this way contribute a considerable amount for their +own education and the education of the whites. In this +connection, I call your attention to the enclosed pamphlet +"Public Taxation and Negro Schools."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span></p> + +<p>I enclose herewith copy of my Last Annual Report, giving +information as to the various activities of the Institution.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p>On October 25, 1915, a few weeks before he died, Mr. Washington +delivered an address before the delegates to the National Council of +Congregational Churches, in New Haven, Conn., in which he well +illustrated his belief already quoted, "that a large part of the +mission of both Hampton and Tuskegee is to keep the cause of Negro +education before the country." He said in part:</p> + +<p>"There is sometimes much talk about the inferiority of the Negro. In +practice, however, the idea appears to be that he is a sort of +super-man. He is expected with about one-fifth or one-tenth of what +the whites receive for their education to make as much progress as +they are making. Taking the Southern States as a whole, about $10.23 +per capita is spent in educating the average white boy or girl, and +the sum of $2.82 per capita in educating the average black child.</p> + +<p>"In order to furnish the Negro with educational facilities so that the +2,000,000 children of school age now out of school and the 1,000,000 +who are unable to read or write can have the proper chance in life <i>it +will be necessary to increase the $9,000,000 now being expended +annually for Negro public school education in the South</i> to about +$25,000,000 or $30,000,000 annually."</p> + +<p>And in conclusion he said: "At the present rate, it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span> taking not a +few days or a few years, but a century or more to get Negro education +on a plane at all similar to that on which the education of the whites +now is. To bring Negro education up where it ought to be will take the +combined and increased efforts of all the agencies now engaged in this +work. The North, the South, the religious associations, the +educational boards, white people and black people, all will have to +coöperate in a great effort for this common end."</p> + +<p>These were the last words he ever spoke at a great public meeting. +They show his acute realization of the immensity of the task to which +he literally gave his life, and his dread lest what had been +accomplished be over-estimated with a consequent slackening of effort.</p> + +<p>A very cordial friendship existed between Mr. Washington and his +Trustees. Every man among them was his selection and joined the Board +on his invitation. In the year 1912 they manifested their friendship +and interest in the most practical of ways by volunteering to raise a +guarantee fund of $50,000 a year for five years to help bridge the +ever-widening gap between the income of the school and its unavoidably +mounting expenses. To do this, aside from contributing handsomely +themselves, almost all went out and "begged" of their friends. Mr. +Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, for instance, after making his own +liberal personal contribution, and soliciting funds among his Chicago +friends, left his great and absorbing interests at a busy time of the +year to go to New York and devote a week's time to "begging" money for +Tus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span>kegee among his friends and acquaintances, Messrs. Low, Willcox, +Trumbull, Mason, and others also personally solicited funds. Many men +have gotten millionaires to give large sums of money, but how many men +have ever gotten millionaires both to give large sums and personally +to solicit large sums for a purely unselfish purpose?</p> + +<p>In his final report Booker Washington said of this guarantee fund: "It +is not possible to describe in words what a relief and help this +$50,000 guarantee fund has proven during the four years it has been in +existence.... We shall have to begin now to consider some method of +replacing these donations. The relief which has come to us because of +this guarantee fund has been marked and far reaching."</p> + +<p>The same qualities which enabled Booker Washington to get close to the +plain people helped him to win the confidence of the great givers. +Through his money-raising efforts he constantly added to his great +stock of knowledge of human nature. Also the same qualities of heart +and mind which enabled him to rise superior to the obstacles of race +prejudice helped him to bear without discouragement or bitterness the +many rebuffs of the money raiser. One cannot help speculating, +however, on the loss to Tuskegee, to the Negro race, and to the +general welfare, entailed by the necessity of his devoting two-thirds +of his time, strength, and resourcefulness merely to the raising of +money.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_ELEVEN" id="CHAPTER_ELEVEN"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 11"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">ELEVEN</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">MANAGING A GREAT INSTITUTION</span></h3> + + +<p><br />BOOKER WASHINGTON'S chief characteristic as an administrator was his +faculty for attention to minute details without losing sight of his +large purposes and ultimate ends. His grasp of every detail seems more +remarkable when one realizes the dimensions of his administrative +task. Besides leading his race in America, and to some extent +throughout the world, and raising between one hundred thousand and two +hundred thousand dollars each year, he administered an institution +whose property and endowment are valued at almost four million +dollars. Although the original property of the school was only a +hundred acres of land with three small buildings, it now owns +twenty-four hundred acres, with one hundred and eleven buildings, +large and small, in its immediate vicinity. In addition to these +twenty-four hundred acres of land the school now owns also about +twenty thousand acres, being the unsold balance of a grant of +twenty-five thousand acres of mineral land, made by the Federal +Government as an endowment to the Institute in 1899.</p> + +<p>The organization of the Institute ramifies throughout the entire +county in which it is located. It has a resident<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span> student population +of between fifteen hundred and two thousand boys and girls, with a +teaching force of about two hundred men and women. It enrolls in its +courses throughout the year from thirty-five hundred to four thousand +persons. The receipts of its post office exceed those of the entire +postal service of the Negro Republic of Liberia in Africa. In a given +year the revenues of Liberia were $301,238 and the expenditures +$314,000. In the same year the receipts from all sources of Tuskegee +Institute were $321,864.87 and its expenditures $341,141.58.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington so organized this great institution that it ran +smoothly and without apparent loss of momentum for the nine months out +of the twelve, during the greater part of which he was obliged to be +absent raising the funds with which to keep it going. The Institute is +in continuous session throughout the twelve months of the year. During +the summer months a summer school for teachers is conducted in place +of the academic department. For the purposes of this summer school all +or most of the trades and industries are kept in operation.</p> + +<p>The school is organized on this basis. There is, first, a Board of +Trustees which holds the property in trust and advises the principal +as to general policies, etc., and aids him in the raising of funds; +second, the principal, who has sole charge of all administrative +matters; third, an executive council, composed of the heads of +departments, with the principal as its chairman. The following +officers serve as members of this executive council: Principal, +treasurer, secretary, general superintendent of indus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span>tries, director +mechanical industries, director department of research and Experiment +Station, commandant, business agent, chief accountant, director +agricultural department, registrar, medical director, dean women's +department, director women's industries, chaplain, director extension +department, superintendent buildings and grounds, dean Phelps Hall +Bible Training School, director academic department.</p> + +<p>The position of general superintendent of industries is held by John +H. Washington, brother of Booker T. Washington. Mrs. Booker T. +Washington fills the position of director women's industries.</p> + +<p>After this executive council comes the faculty made up of the leading +teachers who have charge of the instruction in the various divisions +of the agricultural, industrial, and academic departments. This +faculty Mr. Washington in turn subdivided into a series of standing +and special committees having particular charge of certain phases of +the work such as repairs, cleanliness, etc. The committee on +cleanliness would, for instance, be expected to see that the boarding +department was insisting upon the proper use of knives and forks and +napkins—was serving the food hot and in proper dishes, and that the +kitchens were at all times ready for inspection and models of +cleanliness.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/humble.jpg" width="500" height="356" alt="Humble friends" title="Humble friends" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Some of Mr. Washington's humble friends. (<i>See <a href="#Page_136">page +136</a></i>)</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/soil.jpg" width="500" height="354" alt="Soil analysis" title="Soil analysis" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Soil analysis. The students are required to work out in +the laboratory the problems of the field and the shop.</p> + +<p><br />In the same way he constantly appointed committees to go into the +academic classes and see that they were correlating their work with +the trade work. The tendency to backslide is especially strong in an +institution which, like Tuskegee, is working out original problems.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span> +It is fatally easy for the teachers in both academic and industrial +classes to slip away from the correlative method, for which the +institution stands, back to the traditional routine. The correlative +method requires constant thought. As Mr. Washington well knew, the +average person only thinks under constant prodding. Hence, the +committees to do the prodding! It is so much easier to take one's +problems from the textbooks than to dig them up in the shops or on the +farm as to be practically irresistible unless one is being watched. +Then, in the shops it requires a constant effort to work the theory in +with the practice. If the instructors in the trades tended to become +mere unthinking mechanics a vigilant committee was at hand to keep +them true to their better lights. And if the committees themselves +ever became slack, the all-seeing eye of the principal soon detected +it and they in turn were "jacked up." Mr. Washington himself had a way +of leisurely strolling about day or night into shop, classroom, or +laboratory with a stenographer at his elbow. If he thus came upon a +recitation in which no illustrative material was used, that teacher +would receive within the next few hours a note such as this:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>December 8, 1914.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr</span>. ——: After a visit to your class yesterday, I want to +make this suggestion—that you get into close contact with +some of the teachers here like Mrs. Jones of the Children's +House, and Mrs. Ferguson, Head of the Division of Education, +and Mr. Whiting of the Division of Mathematics, who +understand our methods of teaching and try to learn our +methods.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span></p> + +<p>Your work yesterday was very far from satisfactory, <i>not +based upon a single human experience or human activity</i>.</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>, Principal.</p> +</div> + +<p>Three days before he had sent the following note to the head of the +academic department:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><i>Mr. Lee, Director of the Academic Department:</i></p> + +<p>I was very glad to see the wideawake class conducted by Mr. +Smith this morning. His methods are certainly good.</p> + +<p>On asking questions of the individual members of the class, +I found that about half of the class did not know just what +was to be found out from the measurements. If Mr. Smith will +go to the new Laundry Building, in case he has not done so, +he will find an opportunity to teach the same lessons in +connection with a real building. I hope you will make this +suggestion to him. Nothing takes the place of reality +wherever we can get something real.</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>, Principal.</p> +</div> + +<p>Previous to this he had written Mr. Lee the following letter relative +to the general problem of the teaching efficiency in his department:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>November 24, 1914.</i></p> + +<p><i>Mr. Lee, Director Academic Department:</i></p> + +<p>When you return, I want to urge that you give careful but +serious attention to the following suggestions:</p> + +<p>First, I am convinced that we must arrange to give more +systematic and constant attention to the individual teachers +in your department in the way of seeing that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span> follow +your wishes and policy regarding the dovetailing of the +academic work into the industrial work.</p> + +<p>I am quite convinced that the matter is taken up in rather a +spasmodic way; that is, so long as you are on hand and can +give the matter personal attention, it is followed, but when +you cease to give personal attention to it or are away, +matters go back to the old rut, or nearly so.</p> + +<p>In some way we must all get together and help you to +organize your department so that this will not be true.</p> + +<p>There are two elements of weakness in the academic work: +First, I very much fear that we take into it every year too +many green teachers, who know nothing about your methods. +This pulls the whole tone of the academic work down before +you can train them into your methods. I am quite sure that +though you might not get teachers who have had so much book +training, that it would be worth your considering to employ +a larger number of Hampton graduates or Tuskegee graduates, +who have had in a measure the methods which you believe in +instilled into them.</p> + +<p>In my opinion, the time has come when you must consider +seriously the getting rid of, or shifting, some of your +older teachers. You have teachers in your department who +have been here a good many years, and experience proves that +they do not adapt themselves readily and systematically to +your methods. I think it would be far better for the school +to find employment for them outside of the Academic +Department, or to let them take some clerical work in your +department, than for them to occupy positions of importance +and influence, which they are not filling satisfactorily and +where they have an influence in hurting the character of the +whole teaching.</p> + +<p>All these matters I hope you will consider very carefully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span> +I am sure that the time has come when definite and serious +action is needed.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>, Principal.</p> +</div> + +<p>First and last on these apparently aimless strolls with a stenographer +he visited not only the classrooms and shops but every corner of the +great institution. He would return to his office with a notebook full +of memoranda of matters to be followed up or changed, and of people to +be commended or censured for their efficient or inefficient handling +of this, that, or the other piece of work. Once after writing a series +of letters calling attention to ragged tablecloths, unclean napkins, +and uncleanliness in other forms in kitchens, bakery, and dining-rooms +without the desired result, he personally took charge of the +situation, organized a squad of workers, put things in proper +condition, and then insisted that they be kept in such condition.</p> + +<p>His passion to utilize every fraction of time to its maximum advantage +led him even to smuggle a stenographer into the formal annual +exercises of the Bible Training School so that he might during the +exercises clandestinely dictate notes for the head of the Bible school +as to those features in which the program was weak, failed "to get +across," did not hold the interest of the people, seemed to be over +their heads, or whatever might be his diagnosis of the difficulty. He +was not interested in the program for and of itself, but was keenly +interested in its effect upon the people. If it interested and helped +them, it was a good program; if it did not, it was a poor program and +no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span> amount of learning or technical perfection could redeem it. He +sometimes reduced his more scholarly teachers to the verge of despair +by his insistence that there should be nothing on the program at any +exercise to which the public was invited which the every-day man and +woman could not understand and appreciate.</p> + +<p>In opening the chapter we mentioned Booker Washington's faculty for +giving attention to apparently trivial details without losing sight of +his large policies and purposes. This was part of his habit of taking +nothing for granted. He never assumed that people would do or had done +what they should do or should have done any more than he assumed they +would not or had not done what they should. He neither trusted nor +distrusted them. He kept himself constantly informed. Every person +employed by the institution from the most important department heads +down to the men who removed ashes and garbage were under the +stimulating apprehension that his eye might be upon them at any +moment. He harassed his subordinates by continually asking them if +this or that matter had been attended to. He would sometimes ask three +different people to do the same thing. This resulted in wasted effort +on somebody's part, but it always accomplished the result, which was +all that interested him. He took nothing for granted himself and he +insisted that his subordinates take nothing for granted. He was a task +master and a "driver" but he taxed himself more heavily and drove +himself harder than he did any one else. Like other strong men, he had +the weaknesses of his strength, and probably his most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span> serious +weakness was driving himself and his subordinates beyond his and their +strength.</p> + +<p>His eye was daily upon every part of the great machine which he had +built up through an exhaustive system of daily reports. These reports +were placed on his desk each morning when at the Institute and mailed +to him each morning when away. They showed him the number of students +in the hospital with the name, diagnosis, and progress of each case. +From the poultry yard came reports giving the number of eggs in the +incubators, the number hatched since the day before, the number of +chickens which had died, the number of eggs and chickens sold, etc. +Similarly daily reports came from the swine herd, the dairy herd, and +all the other groups of live stock.</p> + +<p>He received also each morning a report from the savings department +giving the number of new depositors, the amounts of money deposited +and withdrawn, and the condition of the bank at the close of the +previous day. There was, too, a list of the requisitions approved by +the Business Committee the previous day giving articles, prices, +divisions, or departments in which each was to be used and totals for +different classes of requisitions.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/sweetpotato.jpg" width="500" height="316" alt="Sweet potato planting" title="Sweet potato planting" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Mr. Washington was a great believer in the sweet +potato. He personally supervised the work of preparing for sweet +potato planting.</p> + +<p><br />The Boarding Department head would report just what had been served +the students at the three meals of the day before. In running over +these menus he would give a contemptuous snort if he came upon any +instance of what he called "feeding the students out of the barrel." +By this he meant buying food which could as well or better have been +raised on the Institute farms. He objected to this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span> practice not +only because it was more expensive, but because it eliminated the work +of raising, preparing, and serving the foods which he regarded as a +valuable exercise in civilization. He also insisted that everything +raised on the farms should in one way or another be used by the +students. Besides serving to the students every variety of Southern +vegetable from the Institute's extensive truck gardens, he always +insisted that their own corn be ground into meal and that they make +their own preserves out of their own peaches, blackberries, and other +fruits. In other words, he made the community feed itself just as far +as possible. And this he did quite as much because of the knowledge of +the processes of right living which it imparted as for the money which +it saved.</p> + +<p>The Treasurer also submitted a daily report of contributions and other +receipts of the previous day with the name and address of each +contributor. Mr. Washington arranged to receive and look over these +daily reports even when travelling. Hence, in a sense, he was never +absent. Only very rarely and under most unusual circumstances did he +cut this means of daily contact with the multifold activities of the +institution.</p> + +<p>Although a task master, a driver, and a relentless critic, he was just +in his dealings with his subordinates and his students, very +appreciative of kindness or thoughtfulness, and generous in his +approbation of tasks well done. Three of the younger children of +officers of the school, while out walking with one of their teachers, +discovered a fire in the woods near the Institute one day. After +notifying the men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span> working nearby, the children hurried home and wrote +Mr. Washington a letter telling him about the fire. They had heard him +warn people against the danger of forest fires and of the great harm +they did. This letter the three children excitedly took to the +Principal's home themselves, as it was on Sunday. He was not in, but +the first letter he dictated on arriving at his office the next +morning was this:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>March 24, 1915.</i></p> + +<p><i>Miss Beatrice Taylor, Miss Louise Logan, Miss Lenora +Scott:</i></p> + +<p>I have received your kind and thoughtful letter of yesterday +regarding the forest fire and am very grateful to you for +the information which it contains. It is very kind and +thoughtful of you to write me. I shall pass your letter to +Mr. Bridgeforth, the Head of the Department, and ask him to +look after the matter.</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>, Principal.</p> +</div> + +<p>In the fall of the same year he addressed this letter of appreciation +to Mr. Bridgeforth, director of the Agricultural Department, mentioned +in the note of the children:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center"><i>Principal's Office,</i><br /> +<i>Tuskegee Institute, Alabama</i></p> + +<p class="right"><i>October 4, 1915.</i></p> + +<p><i>Mr. G.R. Bridgeforth, Director of Agricultural Department:</i></p> + +<p>I have been spending a considerable portion of each day in +inspecting the farm, and I want to congratulate you and all +of your assistants on account of the fine sweet potato crop +which has been produced. It is certainly the finest crop +produced in the history of the school.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span></p> + +<p>You deserve equal commendation, especially in view of the +season you have had to contend with, in connection with the +fine hay crop, the pea crop, and the peanut crop.</p> + +<p>I wish you would let the members of your force know how I +feel regarding their work.</p> + +<p>I believe if the farm goes on under present conditions, that +at the end of the year it will very much please the Trustees +to note the results accomplished especially so far as the +Budget is concerned.</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>, Principal.</p> +</div> + +<p>His quick mind and his keen sense of humor would sometimes lead him to +make fun in a kindly way of his slower colleagues. The members of the +Executive Council and the Faculty sometimes felt he treated them +rather too much as if he were the teacher and they the pupils. His +frequent humorous sallies and stories exasperated some of the more +serious-minded members of his staff very much as Lincoln's sallies and +stories exasperated some of the members of his Cabinet, particularly +Secretary Stanton. This sense of humor was undoubtedly with Booker +Washington as with Abraham Lincoln one of the great safety valves +without which he could not have carried his heavy burden as long as he +did.</p> + +<p>Among other things he always insisted that the human element be put +into the work of the institution and kept in it. He would reprimand a +subordinate just as sharply for failure to be human as for a specific +neglect of duty. He was particularly insistent that all letters to the +parents of the students should be intimate and friendly rather than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span> +formal and stereotyped. He believed that nothing would more quickly or +more surely kill the effectiveness of the school than the application +of cut-and-dried theories and formulas to the handling of the students +and their problems. He never lost sight of the fact that the most +perfect educational machine becomes worthless if the soul goes out of +it.</p> + +<p>On his return from trips he would write a personal letter about their +boy or girl to each parent whom he had met while away. After he had +addressed a meeting and was shaking hands with those who came forward +to meet him a man would say, as one once did, with embarrassed pride, +"I 'spec you know my boy—he's down to your school. He's a tall, black +boy an' wears a derby hat." When Mr. Washington got back to Tuskegee +he sent for "the tall, black boy" with the derby hat and wrote his +proud father all about him.</p> + +<p>On his return from journeys he would write individual letters not only +to the parents of students and to his hosts and hostesses, but to each +and every person who had tried in any way to contribute to the +pleasure and success of his trip. On returning from the State +educational tours which we have described he would write personal +letters of thanks and appreciation not only to every member of the +general committee on arrangements which had managed his tour +throughout the State, but also to every member of the local committees +for the various towns and cities which he visited. He would also write +such a letter to the Governor or Mayor or whatever public official or +prominent citizen had introduced him. Usually on these tours<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span> school +children, or a group of women representing a local colored women's +club, would present him with flowers. He would in such cases insist +that the name of each child or each woman in the group be secured so +that he might on his return write to each one a personal letter of +thanks. Many such letters are now among the treasured possessions of +humble Negro homes throughout the country.</p> + +<p>Recognizing that Tuskegee's chief claim to support from the public +must be found in the achievements of her graduates he built up the +Division of Records and Research to keep in constant touch with the +graduates and gather information about them and their work. By this +means he could find out in detail at a moment's notice what most of +the graduates were doing and in terms of statistics what all were +doing. Eighteen to twenty of them are building up or conducting +schools on the model of Tuskegee Institute in parts of the South where +they are most needed. With these he naturally sought to keep in +particularly close touch.</p> + +<p>With funds provided for the purpose by one of the Tuskegee Trustees, +committees of Tuskegee officers and teachers are sent from time to +time to visit these schools established by Tuskegee graduates. They +act as friendly inspectors and advisers. The following is the plan of +report drafted for the guidance of these committees:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">OBSERVATIONS</p> + +<p> +1. Physical.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(a) Cleanliness of premises.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(b) Keeping up repairs.</span><br /> +<br /> +2. Teaching.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(a) Methods of instruction.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(b) Books used, etc., that is, are they up to date.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(c) To what extent correlation is being carried out.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(d) Visiting teachers might give some definite demonstrations in methods, etc.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(e) Special meetings with the faculty should be held.</span><br /> +<br /> +3. Financial.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(a) To what extent does the school keep up with its accounts so that its receipts and</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">expenditures can be easily ascertained?</span><br /> +<br /> +4. Community work.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(a) Extension activities carried on by the school,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(b) The efficiency of these activities.</span><br /> +<br /> +5. Attendance.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(a) Number of students enrolled on date of visit.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(b) Number in attendance on date of visit.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(c) What efforts are being made to get the students to enter at the beginning of the term</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">and remain throughout the year?</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">SUGGESTIONS</p> + +<p>1. Before concluding its visit the committee should make, to +proper persons in the school, suggestions concerning the +improving of the teaching and of other things as may be +necessary.</p> + +<p>2. If committee makes a second visit, see to what extent the +suggestions of the previous visit have been carried out.</p> + +<p class="center">REPORT</p> + +<p>After each visit a written report by the committee covering +all of the above shall be sent to Principal Washington.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span></p> + +<p>To all the graduates of the Institute Mr. Washington sent a circular +letter on the first of each year in which frequently he told them of +the progress that had been made by the school during the year in +improvements, number of students enrolled, etc., and asked them in +turn to answer a list of questions about their life and work, or +sometimes in such letters he merely wished them success and gave them +some practical advice. The 1913 letter which follows is an example of +the latter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,</i><br /> +<i>January 1, 1913.</i></p> + +<p><i>Dear Mr. (or Miss) Blank:</i></p> + +<p>I take this opportunity to send you greetings, to inquire +how you are getting along, and to express the hope that in +every way you are prospering. If, however, you are having +discouragements, I trust that you are meeting them bravely. +If you have difficulties, or are laboring under +disadvantages, use them as stepping-stones to success.</p> + +<p>I again call your attention to the importance of keeping in +touch with the Institute. Keeping your address on file with +us and sending a report of your work will assist in doing +this. I enclose herewith a blank for that purpose. Visits to +the school should also be made from time to time. You should +begin to prepare now to be here during the coming +commencement exercises in May in order that you may see what +is being done at the institution and to meet your former +classmates. Already the officers of the General Alumni +Association have begun preparations for your welcome.</p> + +<p>I urge upon you the importance of keeping up the habit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span> of +study and of reading good books and papers. The accompanying +circular on "How to Buy Books" gives valuable suggestions +about how to secure the best books cheaply. I take this +occasion to inform you that already we are making +preparations for our 1913 Summer School. It is hoped that +every graduate who is teaching will attend this or some +other good summer school.</p> + +<p>I trust that wherever you are located you will do all that +you can for community uplift. Be active in church and +Sunday-school work, help to improve the public schools, +assist in bettering health conditions, help the people to +secure property, to buy homes and to improve them. In doing +all these things, you will be carrying out the Tuskegee +idea.</p> + +<p class="center">Very truly yours,</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>, Principal.</p> +</div> + +<p>The questions were slightly varied from year to year. The following +were those sent out with the 1915 letter—the last to bear the +signature of the Institute's founder.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Please favor me by answering these questions and returning +the blank as soon as you receive it.</p> + +<p>1. Your full name when at Tuskegee? ______________________________________</p> + +<p>2. What year were you graduated from Tuskegee? ____________________________</p> + +<p>3. Your present home address? __________________________________________</p> + +<p class="hang">4. If you are not at home, your temporary address for the winter<br /> +of 1915-1916? __________________________________________________</p> + +<p>5. If you have married, your wife's name before marriage? ______________________<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Was she ever a student at Tuskegee? _________________________________</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Is she living? ____________________________________________________</span></p> + +<p class="hang">6. Your present occupation? If in educational work, give<br /> +your position in the school. _________________________________________</p> + +<p>7. How long have you followed it? _______________________________________<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span></p> + +<p class="hang">8. What are your average wages or earnings per day, week, or<br /> +month? _______________________________________________________</p> + +<p>9. What other occupation have you? _____________________________________</p> + +<p>10. Average wages per day, week, or month at this +occupation? ________________</p> + +<p>11. Kind and amount of property owned? _________________________________</p> + +<p class="hang">12. Tell us something of the work you are doing this year. (We +will also be pleased to receive testimonials from white and +colored persons concerning your work).<br /> +_____________________________________________________________</p> + +<p class="hang">13. We especially wish to get in touch this year with as +many of our former students as possible. Please give present +addresses and occupations of all of these that you can.<br /> +_____________________________________________________________</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Booker T. Washington</span>, Principal.</p> + +<p><i>Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/dairy.jpg" width="500" height="318" alt="Dairy herd" title="Dairy herd" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Mr. Washington had this picture especially posed to +show off to the best advantage a part of the Tuskegee dairy herd.</p> + +<p><br />As previously mentioned the relationship between Mr. Washington and +his Trustees was at all times particularly friendly and harmonious. +While they were always directors who directed instead of mere +figureheads, they nevertheless were broad enough and wise enough to +give the Principal a very free rein. Preëminent among the able and +devoted Trustees of Tuskegee was the late William H. Baldwin, Jr. In +order to commemorate his life and work the William H. Baldwin, Jr., +Memorial Fund of $150,000 was raised by a committee of distinguished +men, with Oswald Garrison Villard of the New York <i>Evening Post</i> as +chairman, among whom were Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, and +Charles W. Eliot, and placed at the disposal of the Tuskegee Trustees. +A bronze memorial tablet in memory of Mr. Baldwin was at the same time +placed on the Institute grounds. At the ceremony at which this tablet +was unveiled and this fund presented to the Trustees, Mr. Washington +said in part, in speaking of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span> his relations with Mr. Baldwin and Mr. +Baldwin's relations to Tuskegee:</p> + +<p>"Only those who are close to the business structure of the institution +could really understand what the coming into our work of a man like +William H. Baldwin meant to all of us. In the first place, it meant +the bringing into our work a certain degree of order, a certain +system, so far as the business side of the institution was concerned, +that had not hitherto existed. Then the coming of him into our +institution meant the bringing of new faith, meant the bringing of new +friends. I shall never forget my first impression. I shall never +forget my first experience in meeting Mr. Baldwin. At that time he was +the General Manager and one of the Vice-Presidents of the Southern +Railway, located then in its headquarters in the city of Washington. I +remember that, a number of days previous, I had gone to the city of +Boston and had asked his father if he would not give me a line of +introduction to his son, about whom I had already heard in Washington. +Mr. Baldwin's father readily gave me a line of introduction and I went +in a few days after that and sought out Mr. Baldwin in his Washington +office and he looked through this letter of introduction, read it +carefully, then he looked me over, up and down, and I asked him if he +would not become a trustee of this institution. After looking me over, +looking me up and down for a few seconds or a few minutes longer, he +said, 'No, I cannot become a trustee; I will not say I will become a +trustee because when I give my word to become a trustee it must mean +something.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span> He said, 'I will study the institution at Tuskegee, I +will go there and look it over and after I have found out what your +methods are, what you are driving at—if your methods and objects +commend themselves to me, then I will consent to become a trustee.' +And I remember how well—some of the older teachers and perhaps some +of the older students will recall—that upon one day, when we were +least expecting it, he stopped his private car off here at Chehaw and +appeared here upon our grounds, and some of us will recall how he went +into every department of the institution, how he went into the +classrooms, how he went through the shops, how he went through the +farm, how he went through the dining-room; I remember how he went to +each table, and took pieces of bread from the table and broke them and +examined the bread to see how well it was cooked, and even tasted some +of it as he went into the kitchen. He wanted to be sure how we were +doing things here at Tuskegee. Then after he had made this visit of +examination for himself, after he had studied our financial condition, +then after a number of months had passed by, he consented to permit us +to use his name as one of our Trustees, and from the beginning to the +end we never had such a trustee. He was one who devoted himself night +and day, winter and summer, in season and out of season, to the +interests of this institution. Now, having spoken this word, you can +understand the thoughts and the feelings of some of us on this +occasion as we think of the services of this great and good man.</p> + +<p>"It is one of the privileges of people who are not always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span> classed +among the popular people of earth to have strong friends for the +reason that nobody but a strong man will endure the public criticism +that so often comes to one who is the friend of a weak or unpopular +race. This, in the words of another, is one of the advantages enjoyed +sometimes by a disadvantaged race."</p> + +<p>Naturally no account of Booker Washington's administration of the +great institution which he built would be complete without some +mention of Mrs. Washington's part in her husband's work. Aside from +her duties as wife, mother, and home maker—duties which any ordinary +woman would find quite exacting enough to absorb all her time, +thought, and strength particularly in view of the fact that a wide +hospitality is part of the rôle—Mrs. Washington, as director of +women's industries, is one of the half-dozen leading executives of the +institution. In addition to her many and varied family and official +duties at the Institute Mrs. Washington has always been a leader in +social service and club work among the women of her race throughout +the country, and has besides all this come to be a kind of mother +confessor, advisor, and guide to hundreds of young men and women. We +will conclude this chapter by quoting in large part an article written +by Mr. Scott and published some years ago in the <i>Ladies' Home +Journal</i>, which describes how and when Mrs. Washington entered her +husband's life and work and the part she played in his affairs:</p> + +<p>"Even before the war closed there came to the South on the heels of +the army of emancipation an army of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span> school teachers. They came to +perfect with the spelling-book and the reader the work that the +soldiers had begun with the sword. It was during this period in the +little straggling village of Macon, Miss., that a little girl, called +then Margaret Murray, but who is known now as Mrs. Booker T. +Washington, was born. When she grew old enough to count she found +herself one of a family of ten and, like nearly all children of Negro +parentage, at that time, very poor.</p> + +<p>"In the grand army of teachers who went South in 1864 and 1865 were +many Quakers. Prevented by the tenets of their religion from entering +the army as soldiers these people were the more eager to do the not +less difficult and often dangerous work of teachers among the freedmen +after the war was over.</p> + +<p>"One of the first memories of her childhood is of her father's death. +It was when she was seven years old. The next day she went to the +Quaker school teachers, a brother and sister, Sanders by name, and +never went back home to live.</p> + +<p>"Thus at seven she became the arbiter of her own fate. The incident is +interesting in showing thus early a certain individuality and +independence of character which she has exhibited all through her +life. In the breaking or loosening of the family relations after the +death of her father she determined to bestow herself upon her Quaker +neighbors. The secret of it, of course, was that the child was +possessed even then with a passion for knowledge which has never since +deserted her. Rarely does a day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span> pass that Mrs. Washington amid the +cares of her household, of the school, and of the many philanthropic +and social enterprises in which she takes a leading part, does not +devote half or three-quarters of an hour to downright study.</p> + +<p>"And so it was that Margaret Murray became at seven a permanent part +of the Quaker household, and became to all intents and purposes, so +far as her habits of thought and religious attitude are concerned, +herself a Quaker.</p> + +<p>"'And in those early days,' says Mrs. Washington, laughing, 'I learned +easily and quickly. It was only after I grew up that I began to grow +dull. I used to sit up late at night and get up early in the morning +to study my lessons. I was not always a good child, I am sorry to say, +and sometimes I would hide away under the house in order to read and +study.'...</p> + +<p>"When Margaret Murray was fourteen years old the good Quaker teacher +said one day, 'Margaret, would thee like to teach?' That very day the +little girl borrowed a long skirt and went downtown to the office of +Judge Ames, and took her examination. It was not a severe examination. +Judge Ames had known Margaret all her life and he had known her +father, and in those days white people were more lenient with Negro +teachers than they are now. They did not expect so much of them. And +so, the next day, Margaret Murray stepped into the schoolroom where +she had been the day before a pupil and became a teacher....</p> + +<p>"Then Margaret heard of the school at Nashville<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span>—Fisk University—and +she went there. She had a little money when she started to school, and +with that and what she was able to earn at the school and by teaching +during vacations she managed to work her way as—what was termed +rather contemptuously in those days—a 'half-rater.' It was not the +fashion at that time, in spite of the poverty of the colored people, +for students to work their way through school.</p> + +<p>"In those days very little had been heard at Fisk of Tuskegee, of +Hampton, or of Booker T. Washington. Students who expected to be +teachers were looking forward to going to Texas. Texas has always been +more favorable to Negro education than other Southern States and has +always got the best of Negro public school teachers.</p> + +<p>"But upon graduation day, June, 1889, Booker T. Washington was at +Fisk, and he sat opposite Margaret Murray at table. About that time it +was arranged that she should go to Texas, but, without knowing just +how it came about, she decided to go to Tuskegee and become what was +then called the Lady Principal of the school. Mrs. Washington has been +at Tuskegee ever since.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Washington's duties as the wife of the Principal of the Tuskegee +Institute are many and various. She has charge of all the industries +for girls. She gives much time to the extension work of the school, +which includes the 'Mothers' meetings' in the town of Tuskegee and the +'plantation settlement' nearby. Her most characteristic trait, +however, is a boundless sympathy which has made her a sort of Mother +Confessor to students and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span> teachers of the Institute. All go to her +for comfort and advice.</p> + +<p>"The 'mothers' meetings' grew out of the first Tuskegee Negro +Conference held at Tuskegee in February, 1892. Mrs. Washington, as she +sat in the first meeting of Negro farmers and heard what they had to +say, was impressed with the fact that history was repeating itself. +Here again, as in the early days of the woman's suffrage movement, +women had no place worth mentioning in the important concerns of life +outside the household. While there were many women present at this +first conference, they did not seem to realize that they had any +interest in the practical affairs that were being discussed by their +sons and husbands. While her husband was trying to give these farmers +new ideas, new hopes, new aspirations, the thought came to Mrs. +Washington that the Tuskegee village was the place for her to begin a +work which should eventually include all the women of the county and +of the neighboring counties. The country colored women crowd into the +villages of the South on Saturday, seeking to vary the monotony of +their hard and cheerless lives. Mrs. Washington determined to get hold +of these women and utilize the time spent in town to some good +purpose. Accordingly, the first mothers' meeting was organized in the +upper story of an old store which then stood on the main street of the +village. The stairs were so rickety that the women were almost afraid +to ascend them. It answered the purpose temporarily, however, and +there was no rent to pay. How to get the women to the meet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span>ing was, +for a time, a question. For fear of opposition Mrs. Washington took no +one into her confidence except the man who let her have the room. She +sent a small boy through the streets with the instruction to go to +every colored woman loitering about the streets and say: 'There is a +woman upstairs who has something for you.' Mrs. Washington says: 'That +first meeting I can never forget. The women came, and each one, as she +entered, looked at me and seemed to say, 'Where is it?' We talked it +all over, the needs of our women of the country, the best way of +helping each other, and there and then began the first mothers' +meeting which now has in its membership two hundred and twenty-nine +women.'...</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Washington asked some of the teachers at Tuskegee to begin to +help these people (the people of the country districts surrounding the +school). At first they went to the plantation (selected for the +purpose) on Sundays only. Mrs. Washington selected what seemed to be +the most promising cabin and asked the woman who lived there if she +could come to that house the next Sunday and hold a meeting. When the +party went down early the next Sunday morning a stout new broom was +taken along. Making the woman a present of the broom, it was suggested +that all take a hand in cleaning the house a little before the people +should begin to come. The woman took the broom and swept half of the +room, when Mrs. Washington volunteered to finish the job.</p> + +<p>"She had not gone far along on her half before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span> woman was saying: +'Oh, Mis' Washington, lemme take de brom an' do mah half ovah.' Mrs. +Washington says: 'I have always thought that that one unconscious +lesson in thoroughness was the foundation of our work on that +plantation.'...</p> + +<p>"Not the least of the duties which fall to Mrs. Washington is that of +caring for the distinguished people who visit the Tuskegee Institute. +The Tuskegee rule that everything must be in readiness for the +inspection of visitors, as much so in the kitchen as in any other +department of the school, prevails in her home also.</p> + +<p>"An interesting part of this home life is the Sunday morning +breakfast. The teachers have slept later than usual, and, through the +year, when Mr. Washington is at home, they are invited in groups of +three and four to share this morning meal. In this way he keeps in +personal touch with each of his teachers; he knows what they are +doing; he hears their complaints, if they have any; he counsels with +them; they 'get together.'</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Washington's labors for the good of her people are not confined +to the school. She is (has been) president of the Southern Federation +of Colored Women's Clubs, editor of the official organ of the National +Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, of which she is also an officer. +She is a frequent contributor to the newspapers and magazines. (Mrs. +Washington has since served two terms as president of the National +Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.)</p> + +<p>"Mr. Washington's own estimate of his wife's help<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span>fulness to him may +be gathered from his tribute in his widely read autobiography, 'Up +from Slavery': 'She is completely one with me in the work directly +connected with the school, relieving me of many burdens and +perplexities.'"</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_TWELVE" id="CHAPTER_TWELVE"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span></p> + +<table style="width: 100%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="chapter 12"> +<tr><td><span class="lg">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="lg">TWELVE</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><span class="gesperrt">WASHINGTON: THE MAN</span></h3> + + +<p><br />JUST as in the <a href="#CHAPTER_ONE">first chapter</a> we sought to show the man in the making, +so in this last chapter we shall seek to picture him as he became in +the full fruition of his life. In the fully developed man of the last +decade of his life we find the same traits and qualities which began +to show themselves in those early years of constant struggle and +frequent privation. There is the same intense mental and physical +activity; the same readiness to fight against any odds in a good +cause; the same modesty, frankness, open-mindedness, and passion for +service.</p> + +<p>One of the many illustrations of this intense activity was shown in a +trip he made to Atlanta, Ga., three or four years before he died. Even +at this time his strength had begun to wane. In accordance with his +unfailing practice he got up at six o'clock in the morning, and after +visiting his poultry and his beloved pigs, mounted his horse and rode +over farms and grounds inspecting crops and buildings and what-not +until eight o'clock, when he went to his office and attacked his huge +morning's mail. After dictating for an hour or more he left his office +just in time to catch a train which brought him to Atlanta at two +o'clock in the after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span>noon. At the station he shook hands with four +hundred people who had gathered to meet him. As he went along the +streets to the Government Building he shook hands with many others who +recognized him in passing. At the Government Building he shook hands +with another large group assembled there to meet him. After the dinner +tendered him by some of the leading individuals and associations among +the Negroes of the city he posed for his photograph with a group of +those at the dinner. He then made a tour of the city by motor, during +which he visited three or four schools for Negroes and at each made a +half-hour speech into which, as always, he threw all the force and +energy there was in him.</p> + +<p>After supper that evening he addressed twelve hundred people in the +Auditorium Armory, speaking for an hour and a half. From the armory he +went to a banquet given in his honor where he gave a twenty-minute +talk. He did not get to bed until one o'clock. Four hours later he +took a return train which brought him back to the school by +ten-thirty. He went at once to his office and to work, working until +late in the afternoon when he called for his horse and took his usual +ride before supper. After supper he presided at a meeting of the +Executive Council and after the Council meeting he attended the Chapel +exercises. After these exercises were over at ten o'clock he made an +inspection on foot of various parts of the buildings and grounds +before going to bed. By just such excessive overwork did he constantly +undermine and finally break down his almost superhuman strength and +powers of endurance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span> This he did with an obstinate persistence in +spite of wise and increasingly urgent warnings from physicians, +friends, and associates. Where his own health was concerned he +obdurately refused to listen to reason. It would almost seem as though +he had deliberately chosen to put forth herculean efforts until he +dropped from sheer exhaustion rather than to work with moderation for +a longer span of life.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington was a man who thought, lived, and acted on a very +high plane. He was, in other words, an idealist, but unlike too many +idealists he was sternly practical. His mind worked with the rapidity +of flashes of lightning, particularly when he was aroused. This led +him at times to feel and show impatience in dealing with slower-minded +people, particularly his subordinates. He was often stirred to +righteous indignation by injustice, but always kept his temper under +control. He had a lucid mind which reasoned from cause to effect with +machine-like accuracy. His intuitions were amazingly keen and +accurate. In other words, his subconscious reasoning powers were very +highly developed. Consequently his judgments of men and events were +almost infallible. Although practically devoid of personal vanity, he +was a very proud and independent man, and one who could not brook +dictation from any one or bear to be under obligation to any one. He +had the tenacity of a bulldog. His capacity for incessant work and his +unswerving pursuit of a purpose once formed, were a constant marvel to +those who surrounded him. While he was without conceit or vanity he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span> +had almost unlimited self-confidence. While it cannot be said that he +overrated his own abilities, neither can it be said that he underrated +them. His sympathies were easily aroused and he was abnormally +sensitive, but he never allowed his emotions to get the better of his +judgment. He forgave easily and always tried to find excuses for +people who wronged, insulted, or injured him. In repartee he could +hold his own with any one and enjoyed nothing more than a duel of wits +either with an individual or an audience.</p> + +<p>Less than a month before he died, when he was wasted by disease and +suffering almost constant pain, he received this letter of appeal from +Madame Helena Paderewski:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>New York, October 26, 1915.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mr. Washington</span>: I am writing you a very personal +letter on a subject that is close to my heart, and I know +the message it carries will find a response in your generous +sympathy. It is with great pleasure that I recall our +meeting, some years ago, and I have watched the success of +your work among your people with sincere satisfaction, for I +have always been an advocate of the principles for which you +stand, the uplift of the colored race.</p> + +<p>It is because I know you have ever directed your broad +influence toward the most worthy causes that I am asking you +in the name of the starving babies and their helpless +mothers, to tell your people that we need them in our work +of sending food and medicines to Poland. We need, my dear +sir, even the smallest contribution that your beloved +followers may offer, and I beg of you to make an appeal to +your people. Tell them, for they may not all know as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span> +as you, yourself, that it was a Pole—Kosciusko—who, in +addition to fighting for American liberty, gave that which +he needed himself to help the colored race. As you will +recall, after refusing the grant of land offered him in +recognition of his services in the War of the Revolution, he +returned to Poland, not wishing to accept a reward for doing +what he considered a sublime duty to those in need. Later, +after eight years, when he again visited America, he was +given a pension as General in the American Army. With the +back pay during his absence, the sum amounted to about +$15,000. Although poor himself, he felt deep compassion for +the neglected colored children and, with the money given +him, he established the first school in America devoted +exclusively to the education of the colored youth.</p> + +<p>I am sure you know the story in all its details, but I +desire the colored people of America to know that to-day the +descendants of the man who—unasked—aided them—plead for a +crust of bread, a spoonful of milk for their hungry +children. Tell them this and God will bless and prosper you +in your telling and them in their giving. Do not think that +small amounts are useless—five cents may save a life. I am +sending Mr. Paderewski's appeal, but conditions, to-day, are +worse now than when it was written. Will you help Poland? +Will you do it now?</p> + +<p>Please reply to Hotel Gotham.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours in work for humanity,</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Helena Paderewski</span>.</p> + +<p><i>Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>In spite of disease, pain, and weakness—in spite of the fact that he +must have realized that his remaining time for his own chosen work had +narrowed down to a matter of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span> weeks—he instantly responded to this +appeal. Immediately he sent Madame Paderewski's letter to the Negro +press of the entire country with this explanatory note:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">MADAME PADEREWSKI'S APPEAL FOR POLISH VICTIMS</p> + +<p>Madame Helena Paderewski, wife of the famous pianist, has +addressed a letter to Dr. Booker T. Washington, of the +Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, making an appeal +for the Polish victims of the European War. The letter is +sent to the press with the thought that there may be those +among the Negro people who may feel disposed to respond to +Madame Paderewski's appeal.</p> + +<p>An organization known as the Polish Victims' Relief Fund has +been organized, with headquarters in Aeolian Building, 35 +West Forty-Second Street, New York City. Madame Paderewski's +letter follows, etc.</p> +</div> + +<p>Immediately after Mr. Washington's death Mrs. Washington received the +following note from Madame Paderewski:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>New York, November 15, 1916.</i></p> + +<p><i>Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Mrs. Washington</span>: It was with a feeling of personal +loss that I read this morning of the death of Dr. +Washington. I have always admired his courage and wonderful +ability, and his passing at this time brings a double +sorrow, for in this morning's mail I received a copy of the +<i>Tuskegee Student</i> containing my letter and appeal to Dr. +Washington. I wish it had been possible for me to have +thanked him for what he has done, but I am sure that the +Heavenly Father will bless this and the many other good +works with which he was connected.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span></p> + +<p>I desire you to know how much I appreciate the kindness of +Dr. Washington and how highly I esteemed him. Please accept +my deep sympathy and believe me,</p> + +<p class="center">Very sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">Helena Paderewski</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p>Although apparently indifferent to the treatment he received from +those about him Booker Washington was in reality, as has been said, +unusually sensitive. No matter what his engagements he always insisted +upon being at home with his wife and children on Thanksgiving Day and +on Christmas. One Christmas, about ten years ago, it so happened that +no Christmas presents were provided for him. The children gave +presents to one another and to their mother and she to them, but +through oversight there were no presents for Mr. Washington. Mrs. +Washington says that after the presents had been opened her husband +drew her aside and said in broken tones: "Maggie, they've not given me +a single Christmas present!" From then on Mrs. Washington saw to it +that the children remembered their father at Christmas.</p> + +<p>In Birmingham, Ala., about three years before his death, he and his +secretary entered an office building one day to call on one of the +Tuskegee Trustees whose office was on the top floor. When they looked +for an elevator they were referred by the hall man to the elevator for +colored people. On this elevator was a sign reading, "For Negroes and +Freight." His secretary expected him to comment on this, but he said +nothing and seemed hardly to notice it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span> That evening, in addressing +a great audience of both races in one of the big theatres of the city, +he was urging the Negroes to look upon their Southern white neighbors +as their friends and to turn to them for advice when he said very +slowly and distinctly: "I visited, this morning, a building which had +on the elevator for colored people a sign reading, 'For Negroes and +Freight.' Now, my friends, that is mighty discouraging to the colored +man!" At this not only the colored people, but the white people sprang +to their feet and shouted, many of them, "You're right, Doctor!" +"That's mean!" "That's not fair!" and other such expressions.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/chickens.jpg" width="500" height="234" alt="Feeding chickens" title="Feeding chickens" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Mr. Washington feeding his chickens with green stuffs +raised in his own garden.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/onion.jpg" width="500" height="229" alt="Onioin patch" title="Onion patch" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Mr. Washington in his onion patch.</p> + +<p class="border" style="text-align: center"><br /> +<img src="images/lettuce.jpg" width="500" height="229" alt="Lettuce bed" title="Lettuce bed" /> +</p> + +<p class="caption">Mr. Washington sorting in his lettuce bed.</p> + +<p><br />Every morning before breakfast when at home Mr. Washington would visit +his chickens, pigs, and cows. He said of finding the newly laid eggs: +"I like to find the new eggs each morning myself, and am selfish +enough to permit no one else to do this in my place. As with growing +plants, there is a sense of freshness and newness and restfulness in +connection with the finding and handling of newly laid eggs that is +delightful to me. Both the realization and the anticipation are most +pleasing. I begin the day by seeing how many eggs I can find or how +many little chicks there are that are just beginning to creep through +the shells. I am deeply interested in the different kinds of fowls, +and always grow a number of different breeds at my own home."</p> + +<p>But none of the animals interested him and aroused his enthusiasm as +did the pigs. He always kept on his own place some choice specimens of +Berkshires and Poland<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">308</a></span> Chinas at whose shrine he worshipped each +morning. Also he always insisted that the swine herd of the Institute +be kept recruited up to full strength and in fact considerably beyond +full strength in the opinion of the Agricultural Director who in vain +protested that it was not profitable to keep so large a herd. It would +be interesting to know whether the great economic importance of the +pig to his race was at the bottom of Booker Washington's fondness for +the animal.</p> + +<p>After breakfast he mounted his horse and made a round of the Institute +farms, truck gardens, dormitories, and shops before going to his +office and attacking his huge correspondence. This correspondence, +both in its dimensions and catholicity, was typical of the man. His +daily incoming mail amounted to between 125 and 150 letters. The +outgoing ran to between 500 and 1,000 letters daily—in large part, of +course, "campaign letters,"—as he called them, letters seeking to +interest new friends in the work of the Institute, and others keeping +in touch with friends already interested, etc. His advice, opinion, or +comments were sought on every conceivable subject both by serious and +sensible men and women and by cranks of both races. Hundreds of the +humbler people of his own race were constantly applying to him for +information and advice as to whether it would be profitable to start +this or that business venture, or whether or not it would be possible +to establish a school in this or that community, and how they should +set about it.</p> + +<p>Booker Washington's sense of justice was unquench<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">309</a></span>able. While at +Coden-on-the-Bay, near Mobile, Ala., in September, 1915, snatching a +few days of rest and recreation as a palliative for the insidious +disease which was so soon to end his life, he was distressed by a +newspaper report of the killing of a number of Haitians by United +States Marines. He read the report in a Mobile paper late one +afternoon on his return from a fishing trip. He went to bed but could +not sleep. The misfortunes of the turbulent little black republic +seethed through his mind. Early in the morning, while his companions +were still sleeping, he awakened the inevitable stenographer and +dictated an article counselling patience in dealing with the +unfortunate little country. This article, dictated by a dying man on +the impulse of the moment, briefly recites the history of Haiti from +the period over a hundred years ago when the people of the island +wrested their liberty from France under the leadership of Toussaint +L'Ouverture, up to the present time. He then says in part:</p> + +<p>"Associated Press dispatches a few days ago stated that forty or fifty +Haitians had been killed on Haytian soil in one day by American +marines and a number of marines wounded. To every black man in the +United States this dispatch brought a feeling of disappointment and +sorrow. While, as I have stated, the United States, under the +circumstances, was compelled to take notice of conditions in Haiti and +is being compelled to control matters, largely because of the fault of +the Haitians, I had hoped that the United States would be patient in +dealing with the Haitian Government and people. The United States has +been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span> patient with Germany. It has been patient in the Philippines. It +has been exceedingly patient in dealing with Mexico. I hope this +country will be equally patient and more than patient in dealing with +Haiti—a weaker and more unfortunate country!</p> + +<p>"I very much wish that it might have been possible for the United +States to have taken a little more time in making known to the +Haitians the purposes we have in mind in taking over the control of +their custom houses and their governmental affairs. While everything +that we intend to do, and have in mind to do, is perfectly plain to +the officials of the United States, we must remember that all this is +not perfectly plain to the Haitians. It would have been worth while, +in my opinion, before attempting arbitrarily to force Haiti to sign +the treaty put before its officials, to have spent a little time and a +little patience in informing the Haitian people of the unselfish +benevolence of our intentions. They, in time, would have understood +why it is necessary to intervene in their affairs.</p> + +<p>"Another reason, in my opinion, why patience may be manifested in this +matter is that the treaty, even at the best, cannot be ratified by the +United States Senate until it meets in regular session in December, +unless the President calls it in special session earlier.</p> + +<p>"I confess that while I am unschooled in such matters, since reading +the treaty the Haitians have been told they must ratify, it seems to +me rather harsh and precipitate; one cannot be surprised that the +Haitians have hesitated to agree to all the conditions provided for in +this treaty.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span> No wonder they have hesitated when they have had so +little time in which to understand it, when the masses of the Haitian +people know little or nothing of what the treaty contemplates.</p> + +<p>"The way matters are now going, there is likely to be bitterness and +war. The United States, in the end, will conquer, will control, will +have its way, but it is one thing to conquer a people through love, +through unselfish interest in their welfare, and another thing to +conquer them through the bullet, through the shotgun. Shooting +civilization into the Haitians on their own soil will be an amazing +spectacle. Sending marines as diplomats and Mauser bullets as +messengers of destruction breed riot and anarchy, and are likely to +leave a legacy of age-long hatreds and regrets.</p> + +<p>"I also hope the United States will not pursue a mere negative policy +in Haiti, that is, a policy of controlling the customs and what-not, +without going further in progressive, constructive directions. In a +word, the United States now has an opportunity to do a big piece of +fine work for Haiti in the way of education, something the island has +never had. I hope some way will be provided by which a portion of the +revenues will be used in giving the people a thorough, up-to-date +system of common school, agricultural, and industrial education. Here +is an excellent opportunity for some of the young colored men and +women of the United States who have been educated in the best methods +of education in this country to go to Haiti and help their fellows. +Here is an opportunity for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span> some of the most promising Haitian boys +and girls to be sent to schools in the United States. Here is an +opportunity for us to use our influence and power in giving the +Haitians something they have never had, and that is education, real +education. At least 95 per cent. of the people, as I have said, are +unlettered and ignorant so far as books are concerned."</p> + +<p>Booker Washington's self-control was never more needed than on an +occasion at Tuskegee described by T. Thomas Fortune, the Negro author +and publicist. A Confederate veteran who had lost an arm fighting for +the Confederacy and who had served for a number of years in Congress +was on the program to speak at a Tuskegee meeting. This Confederate +veteran had a great liking for Mr. Washington and believed in his +ideas on the importance of industrial education for the colored +people. Mr. Fortune says:</p> + +<p>"John C. Dancy, a colored man, at that time Collector of Customs at +Wilmington, N.C., was to speak first, the Confederate veteran second, +and I was to follow the latter. Mr. Dancy is an unusually bright and +eloquent man. Mr. Dancy paid a glowing tribute to the New England men +and women who had built up the educational interest among the colored +people after the war, of which Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes are +lasting monuments. Mr. Dancy had plenty of applause from the great +concourse of countrymen, but his address made the white speaker +furious. When the former Congressman was called upon to speak he +showed plainly that he was agitated out of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">313</a></span> self-restraint. +Without any introductory remarks whatever, he said, as I remember it:</p> + +<p>"'I have written this address for you,' waving it at the audience, +'but I will not deliver it. I want to give you niggers a few words of +plain talk and advice. No such address as you have just listened to is +going to do you any good; it's going to spoil you. You had better not +listen to such speeches. You might just as well understand that this +is a white man's country, as far as the South is concerned, and we are +going to make you keep your place. Understand that. I have nothing +more to say to you.'</p> + +<p>"The audience was taken back as much by the bluntness of the remarks +as if they had been doused with cold water. Indignation was everywhere +visible on the countenances of the people. But Mr. Washington appeared +unruffled. On the contrary, his heavy jaw was hard set and his eyes +danced in a merry measure. It was a time to keep one's temper and +wits, and he did so, as usual. Without betraying any feeling in the +matter, and when everybody expected him to announce the next speaker, +he said:</p> + +<p>"'Ladies and Gentlemen: I am sure you will agree with me that we have +had enough eloquence for one occasion. We shall listen to the next +speaker at another occasion, when we are not so fagged out. We will +now rise, sing the doxology, and be dismissed.'</p> + +<p>"The audience did so, but it was the most funereal proceeding I had +ever witnessed upon such an occasion. Mr. Washington's imperturbable +good nature alone saved the day."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span></p> + +<p>Some time after President Roosevelt had begun to consult Booker +Washington on practically all his appointments and policies which +particularly affected the relations between the races, and after +several Southern white men had been given Federal appointments on Mr. +Washington's recommendation, the bitterness against him grew so +intense, especially among the "Talented Tenth" element of the Northern +Negroes, that he decided to meet a group of their leaders face to +face, and have it out. Accordingly, through Mr. Fortune, he arranged +to meet a number of these men at a dinner at Young's Hotel in Boston. +Mr. Fortune thus describes what took place:</p> + +<p>"At the proper time, when the coffee and cigars were served, I arose +and told the diners that Dr. Washington had desired to meet them at +the banquet table and at the proper time to have each one of them +express freely his opinion of the race question, and how best the race +could be served in the delicate crisis through which it was then +passing. Each of the speakers launched into a tirade against Dr. +Washington and his policies and methods, many of them in lofty flights +of speech they had learned at Harvard University. The atmosphere was +dense with discontent and denunciation.</p> + +<p>"The climax was reached when William H. Lewis, the famous Harvard +football coach, told Dr. Washington to go back South, and attend to +his work of educating the Negro and 'leave to us the matters political +affecting the race.' Every eye was upon Dr. Washington's face, but +none of them could read anything in it; it was as inscrutable as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span> +wooden Indian's. When every one of them had had his say, I called upon +Dr. Washington to respond to the speakers who had unburdened +themselves. Dr. Washington rose slowly, and with a slip of paper in +his hand, said:</p> + +<p>"'Gentlemen, I want to tell you about what we are doing at Tuskegee +Institute in the Black Belt of Alabama.'</p> + +<p>"For more than a half-hour he told them of the needs and the work +without once alluding to anything that had been said in heat and anger +by those to whom he spoke. He held them close to him by his simple +recital, with here and there a small blaze of eloquence, and then +thanking them for the candor with which they had spoken, sat down. +They were all disappointed, as they expected that he would attempt to +excuse himself for the things they had complained of."</p> + +<p>At the time of Mr. Washington's death, the same William H. Lewis, who +told him at this time to go back to the South and attend to his work +and "leave to us the matters political affecting the race," said of +him:</p> + +<p>"Words, like tears, are vain and idle things to express the great +anguish I feel at the untimely death of Booker Washington. He was my +friend who understood me and believed in me. I did not always believe +in him because I did not understand him. I first saw and heard him +when a junior at Amherst in the early 90's, when he spoke at Old John +Brown's church in Springfield, where I journeyed to hear him. I could +not then appreciate his love for the Southern people and his gospel of +work. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span> even doubted his loyalty to his race. When I came to Boston I +joined in with his most violent and bitterest critics. The one thing +that I am so thankful for is that I early saw the light and came to +appreciate and understand the great work of Booker T. Washington.</p> + +<p>"I have just finished reading an old letter from him, date, October 1, +1901, in which he said: 'The main point of this letter is to say I +believe that both you and I are going to be in a position in the +future to serve the race effectually, and while it is very probable +that we shall always differ as to detailed methods of lifting up the +race, it seems to me that if we agree in each doing our best to lift +it up the main point will have been gained, and I am sure that in our +anxiety to better the condition of the race there is no difference +between us, and I shall be delighted to work in hearty coöperation +with you.'</p> + +<p>"Since then, I have known him intimately and well. He was unselfish +and generous to a fault; he was modest yet masterful; he was quiet yet +intense; his common sense and sagacity seemed uncanny, such was his +knowledge of human nature. His was a great soul in which no bitterness +or littleness could even find a lurking place. His was the great heart +of Lincoln, with malice toward none and charity for all. He loved all +men and all men loved him.</p> + +<p>"My humble prayer is that his torch has lighted another among the dark +millions of America, to lead the race onward and upward."</p> + +<p>Booker Washington's insistence that the classrooms,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span> shops, and farms +were for the development of the students rather than the students for +their development was well illustrated by a remark he once made to +Bishop William Lawrence of Massachusetts when the Bishop was visiting +the Institute. In reply to Bishop Lawrence's question as to whether he +had chosen the best available land for his agricultural work, he said, +"No, sir, I chose pretty nearly the poorest land I could find. I chose +land on which men would have to spend all their energies to bring out +the life in the land. They work here under the hardest conditions. +When they go out to other lands—to their own lands, perhaps—they +won't find any worse land to till. If they find any better land the +difference will be all gain for them."</p> + +<p>Perhaps more remarkable than any or all of his achievements was the +fact that Booker Washington was a gentleman. It would be difficult to +find a man who better conformed to the exacting yet illusive +requirements of that term. He had not only the naturalness and the +goodness of heart which are the fundamentals, but he had also the +breeding and the polish which distinguish the finished gentleman from +the "rough diamond." This fact about Booker Washington has been well +described by Hamilton Wright Mabie in an article entitled: "Booker T. +Washington: Gentleman," in which he says in part:</p> + +<p>"Booker Washington became one of the foremost men in America; he was +heard on great occasions by great audiences with profound attention; +he was a writer and speaker of National position, the founder of a +college, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span> organizing leader of a race in ideas and industry. +These were notable achievements; but there was another achievement +which was in its way more notable. Without any advantages of birth or +station or training, a member of an ostracized race, with the doors of +social life closed in his face, Dr. Washington was a gentleman. I +recall two illustrations of this quality of nature, often lacking in +men of great ability and usefulness. The first was in Stafford House, +London, the residence of the Duke of Sutherland. The older Duke was +the lifelong friend of Queen Victoria; and once, when she was going to +Stafford House, she wrote the Duke that she was about to leave her +uninteresting house for his beautiful palace. Nothing could be more +stately than the great hall of Stafford House, with its two marble +stairways ascending to the galleries above; and when the Duchess of +Sutherland, standing on the dais from which the stairs ascended, +received her guests she reminded more than one of her guests of the +splendid picture drawn by Edmund Burke of Marie Antoinette moving like +a star through the palace of Versailles. On that evening Dr. +Washington was present. At one time in one of the rooms he happened to +be talking with the duchess and two other women of high rank, two of +them women of great beauty and stateliness. There were some people +present who were evidently very much impressed by their surroundings. +Booker Washington seemed to be absolutely unconscious of the splendor +of the house in which he was, or of the society in which for the +moment he found himself. Born in a hut without a door-sill, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">319</a></span> was at +ease in the most stately and beautiful private palace in London.</p> + +<p>"On another occasion there was to be a Tuskegee meeting at Bar Harbor. +The Casino had been beautifully decorated for a dance the night +before. The harbor was full of yachts, the tennis courts of +fine-looking young men and women; it was a picture of luxury tempered +with intelligence. Mr. Washington was looking out of the window. +Presently he turned to me and said, with a smile, 'And last Wednesday +morning I was eating breakfast in a shanty in Alabama; there were five +of us and we had one spoon!'"</p> + +<p>At the time of his stay in London, during which this reception at +Stafford House took place, he was given a luncheon by a group of +distinguished men to which Mr. Asquith, the Prime Minister, was +invited. In reply, Mr. Asquith sent this note:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S.W.</i><br /> +<i>26th September, 1910.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>: I much regret that my engagements do not allow me +to accept your invitation to be present at the luncheon +which it is proposed to give in honor of Mr. Booker T. +Washington. I feel sure, however, that he will be welcomed +with a cordiality which his persistent and successful labors +in the cause of the education of the American Negro deserve, +especially at the hands of English men, whose difficulties +in many parts of the Empire have been helped toward a +solution by the results of his work.</p> + +<p class="center">Yours faithfully,</p> + +<p class="right">[Signed] <span class="smcap">H.H. Asquith</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">320</a></span></p> + +<p>While at home, no matter how pressed and driven with work, Booker +Washington snatched an hour or so every day for hunting or riding. +This daily exercise became a fetich with him which he clung to with +unreasonable obstinacy. He would frequently set off upon these hunts +or rides in so exhausted a condition that obviously their only effect +could be worse exhaustion. His intense admiration for Theodore +Roosevelt probably had its influence, conscious or unconscious, in +strengthening his devotion to violent outdoor exercise.</p> + +<p>Whatever he was doing or wherever he was, his mind seemed constantly +at work along constructive lines. At the most unexpected times and +places he would suddenly call the inevitable stenographer and dictate +some idea for an article or address or some plan for the improvement +of Tuskegee or for the betterment of the whole race in this or that +particular. He would sometimes reduce his immediate subordinates to +the verge of despair by pouring out upon them in rapid succession +constructive suggestions each one of which meant hours, days, and even +weeks of time to work out, and then calling for the results of all +before even one could be fairly put into effect. This tendency became +particularly marked in his closing years when the consciousness of an +immense amount of work to be done and a short and constantly lessening +period in which to do it must have become an obsession and almost a +nightmare to him.</p> + +<p>He would sometimes wound the feelings of acquaintances and friends, +particularly his teachers, by passing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">321</a></span> them on the street and even +looking at them without recognition. This naturally was not +intentional, nor was it because his mind was wool-gathering, but +merely because he was thinking out some idea with which the people and +events immediately about him had for the moment no connection and were +consequently totally obliterated from his consciousness.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington's strength of will and determination were never better +shown than in the closing hours of his life. When he was told by his +doctors at St. Luke's Hospital, New York, whither he had been taken by +the New York trustees of the Institute after his final collapse, that +he had but a few hours to live, he insisted upon starting for home at +once. His physicians expostulated and warned him that in his condition +he could not reasonably expect to survive the journey. He insisted +that he must go and be true to his oft-repeated assertion, "I was born +in the South, I have lived and labored in the South, and I expect to +die and be buried in the South." This remark, when sent out in the +Associated Press dispatches announcing his death, touched the South as +nothing else could have. No Negro was ever eulogized in the Southern +press as he was. Long accounts of his career and death with +sympathetic and appreciative editorial comments appeared in most of +the Southern papers.</p> + +<p>One of the doctors who was called in to attend him at the time he was +taken to the hospital remarked that it was "uncanny to see a man up +and about who ought by all the laws of nature to be dead." In this +condition,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span> then, he set out upon the long journey from New York to +Tuskegee. When the party reached the Pennsylvania Station an invalid's +chair was awaiting him, but he declined to use it, and leaning on the +arms of his companions walked or rather tottered to his seat in the +train. As soon as the train began to move Southward a slight +invigoration of triumph seemed to come over him which increased as the +journey continued, until at its close he seemed stronger than when he +started. All along the way he would inquire at frequent intervals what +point they had reached. The reaching and passing of each important +station such as Greensboro, Charlotte, and Atlanta he would seem to +score up in his mind's eye as a new triumph. And when finally he +reached Chehaw, the little station five miles from Tuskegee, he was +fairly trembling with eager expectancy. As we have said, he reached +Tuskegee apparently stronger than when he left New York and strong +enough to enjoy the final triumph of his indomitable will over his +overworked and weakened body. The next morning, November 14, 1915, he +was dead.</p> + +<p>Of the myriads of tributes to Booker Washington by white men and black +both North and South, which were spoken from platforms and pulpits and +printed in newspapers and periodicals throughout the length and +breadth not only of America but the world, there are two which we feel +irresistibly compelled to use in concluding this chapter and book. One +is the tribute of a former student, Isaac Fisher, president of the +Tuskegee Alumni Association, speaking for the graduates at the +memorial exercises<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">323</a></span> held at Tuskegee on December 12, 1915; the other +is the tribute of one of his teachers, Clement Richardson, head of the +division of English, speaking in effect for the Tuskegee teachers in +an article published in the <i>Survey</i> of December 4, 1915.</p> + +<p>At this memorial meeting, after being introduced by Seth Low, Chairman +of the Board of Trustees, as the representative of the Tuskegee Alumni +Association, Mr. Fisher said:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Chairman: The greatest citizens of this nation have paused long +enough to pay tributes of honor to the memory of Dr. Washington; and +to-night some of the world's most distinguished citizens are present +to say their words of love for the departed chieftain whose body lies +in a grave just outside of those walls. In the presence of these great +men I do not see why you have asked me, one of the least of all, to +add my simple praise.</p> + +<p>"But I can say that no persons have sustained so great a loss as have +the members of the Tuskegee Alumni Association; and I come to bear +testimony to the depth and sincerity of their grief.</p> + +<p>"There is a story which has not yet been told, in connection with the +spread of industrial education in the South and throughout the entire +country. I must tell that story here before I can make clear just how +great is the Alumni's loss.</p> + +<p>"In telling of the spread of industrial education, during the past +twenty-five years, we seem not to know that the work has been +difficult and prosecuted at great sacrifice on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">324</a></span> the part of the +Tuskegee graduates who have sought to interpret Dr. Washington's +theory that economic fitness was the basis of racial growth in many +other directions.</p> + +<p>"The people did not take kindly to this form of education, believing +that it was the same old slavery from which we have emerged under a +new name; and the Tuskegee graduates have prosecuted their work in the +face of the misrepresentations, prejudice, opposition, and ridicule of +those of their own race who could or would not understand the spirit +of industrial education—a spirit broader and finer than the phrase +suggests. More than this: in the communities where they have worked it +has been the fashion to permit our graduates to do the difficult tasks +and carry all the burdens of leadership; but if there were any honors +to be bestowed, they were given to the graduates of other schools.</p> + +<p>"Being human and denied those honors and public marks of esteem which +always gladden the heart, these Tuskegee men and women have often +grown discouraged and have been tempted to lay down their work. But +like Daniel, when those gloomy hours came, they have turned their +faces toward Jerusalem, to Tuskegee, over which the great spirit of +Dr. Washington brooded and lived; and from this place he has sent back +to them whenever they have called, encouragement, counsel, and help.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes they have been so depressed that they have come to Tuskegee +just to see and talk with their prophet once more and to be baptized +again in his sweet and noble spirit. Many times we have seen them here +and wondered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">325</a></span> at their presence. They were here to receive comfort, +and to hear Mr. Washington say in his own convincing manner: 'It has +been my experience that if a man will do the right thing and go ahead, +everything will be all right at last.' And these men and women who +have sat at his feet and who trusted him have gone back to their work +with new and increasing strength.</p> + +<p>"But now Dr. Washington is gone, and the graduates of the school will +never again receive his counsel and encouragement, however gloomy +their paths may be. That is the measure of our loss.</p> + +<p>"And yet our Principal is not buried out yonder. It is his tired body +which is resting just beyond that wall; but he is not buried in that +grave. The real Dr. Washington is buried in the graduates who sat at +his feet and imbibed his spirit, and he lives in them.</p> + +<p>"King David, pondering over God's mercies and goodness to him, +thinking of how he had been taken from minding sheep and placed upon +the throne of Israel; and how God had guided and protected him and +made his name great in the earth, exclaimed reverently, one day, 'What +shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits unto me?' and he +answered his question, in part, by saying: 'I will pay my vows unto +the Lord now in the presence of all the people.'</p> + +<p>"If all our graduates could speak to-night, they would have me pay +their vows of gratitude for the opportunity to make blessed and +beautiful their lives, given by our great teacher; and they would have +me give public assurance of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">326</a></span> their fealty to the work for which Mr. +Washington gave his life.</p> + +<p>"And so, Mr. Chairman, in the name of the Alumni Association and in +the spirit of him whose body lies buried just beyond those walls, I +pledge you and the Trustees the loyalty of the Tuskegee graduates to +whatever work they are called in connection with the realization of +Dr. Washington's great purpose. I pledge you their support in the work +which you have come to Tuskegee to perform; because we are learning +self-government and wish to help prove to the world that we can pass +the succession to the Principalship here without revolution. By this +time to-morrow night another prophet will have been raised up to serve +in the room of the great founder of this school. I want you, Sir, and +the Board of Trustees to know that when the proclamation is made that +'The King is Dead!' our Alumni Association will be ready to reply: +'Long Live the King!' and we will faithfully, honestly, and loyally +support the person you elect to succeed our great father, whoever that +person may be.</p> + +<p>"In the furtherance of Dr. Washington's work, the graduates stand +ready to say:</p> + +<p class="cpoem"> +"'I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'er the mountain, or plain, or sea;</span><br /> +I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I'll be what you want me to be.'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>In the <i>Survey</i> article, after briefly describing the ups and downs of +Mr. Washington's long fight against a breaking constitution, Mr. +Richardson says:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">327</a></span></p> + +<p>"With such perpetual rallying power who could cope? A latent feeling +crept among many that he was immune to pain as he had been to insult +and abuse. You know he could steer on over an insult and never see it. +Some of us shook our heads and said, 'Why he is good for ten years +yet.' Seeing that he thus defied nerves and baffled pain, we hoped. It +was in the hour of hope that the last stroke came, and we felt that +pulling at the throat which we should have felt had he gone by sudden +accident.</p> + +<p>"How Tuskegee took Dr. Washington's death can probably best be +appreciated by an account of what his life meant among his teachers. +Officially he was a stern and exacting task master. A tireless worker +himself, he imposed heavy tasks upon others. In the home, however, he +had a genius for cheering by little kindnesses and by a thoughtful +word. Now he would send around a basket of vegetables from his garden, +now a cut of one of his pigs which he had killed and in which he took +great delight.</p> + +<p>"People who sent books and pictures to Tuskegee can hardly realize +what a double pleasure they were shipping: the pleasure they gave him +and others through him. He would have the boxes opened and books and +pictures brought in to his office. Then from all his heaps of +correspondence, from business engagements, from matters of national +importance, he would turn aside and go through these himself, culling +them out. He would sort a pile here for this family; one there for +another, according to what he considered would suit each. Many a time +one could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">328</a></span> scarcely find a place to step in his office for the +pictures and books. In all things he received, but to share.</p> + +<p>"Then he had a way of kicking organizations to pieces for a few +minutes. If some rural school had a creditable exhibit he would order +that the senior class, 150 strong, should be taken there, whether it +was one mile or ten miles away. He would order the class out to see +how some poor, illiterate farmer had raised a bumper crop of peas, +corn, sugar cane, and peanuts, how he surrounded himself with +conveniences, both inside and outside the home. Now he would declare a +half holiday; now he would allow the students to sleep a half-hour +later in the morning.</p> + +<p>"In the same way the teachers would get an outing once or twice a +year, sometimes at night, sometimes in the day. As the teachers are on +duty for both day and night school, and as the students usually rise +at 5:30 and breakfast at 6, these little breaks were windfalls. They +sent each one back to his labors with a smile. He knew the value of +change and the psychology of cheer. No wonder then that when death +closed his eyes both teachers and students went about heavy of limb +and with eyes that told too plainly what the heart felt.</p> + +<p>"Just as he touched the students and teachers with little thoughtful +deeds so he touched the town and State, both white and black. One +feature of his funeral illustrated how complete had been his triumph +over narrow prejudices. He was always talking about the white man up +the hollow, back in the woods. How many times have I heard him urge +picturesquely upon gatherings of teachers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">329</a></span> to 'win that old fellow +who, when you begin to talk Negro education and Negro schoolhouse, +scratches his head, leans to one side, and looks far away. That's the +man,' he would say, 'that you've got to convince that Negro education +is not a farce.'</p> + +<p>"Well, that man was at Booker T. Washington's funeral. He came there +on foot, on horseback, in buggies, in wagons. He was there in working +clothes, in slouched hat, with no collar.</p> + +<p>"During the service I chanced to stand near the end of the platform. +Pretty soon I felt a rough brushing against my elbow. As I turned I +saw a small white child, poorly clad, being thrust upon the end of the +flower-laden platform. Then followed an old white man, collarless, +wearing a dingy blue shirt and a coat somewhat tattered. After him +came two strapping fellows, apparently his sons. All grouped +themselves there and listened eagerly, freely spitting their tobacco +juice on the platform steps and on the floor.</p> + +<p>"How thankful would Dr. Washington have been for their presence. What +a triumph! Ten years ago those men would not stop at the school. They +cursed it, cursed the whole system and the man at the head of it. But +quietly, persistently, he had gone on with that everlasting doctrine +that service can win even the meanest heart, that an institution had +the right to survive in just so far as it dovetailed its life into the +life of all the people. Beautiful to behold, to remember forever; +there was no race and no class in the Tuskegee chapel on Wednesday +morning,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">330</a></span> November 17th; heart went out to heart that a common friend +had gone.</p> + +<p>"Broken as everybody is over the loss, no one is afraid. No panic as +to the future of the school disturbs the breasts of the 190 odd +teachers here. In the first place, poor as most of us are, we are +ready to suffer many a privation before we see the institution slip +back the slightest fraction of an inch. All these years it has been on +trial, on record. It has been a test, not of a mere school, but of a +race. A tacit pledge—not a word has thus far been spoken—has gone +out among us that it shall remain on record, that it shall stand here +as a breathing evidence that Negroes can bring things to pass.</p> + +<p>"Back of this is the unshaken faith in our Board of Trustees. I doubt +if such another board exists. It is made up of white men and black +men, of men of the North and men of the South. There is not a +figurehead among them. Though intensely engaged they go into the +details of the workings of the school, getting close to the inner +workings and to the lives of the teachers and students.</p> + +<p>"Finally, we are confident that the public will have a good deal to +say before Tuskegee is let die. The beaten path has been made to her +door. Her methods have not only been commended but adopted wholly or +in part both in this country and in other lands. Her use is +undisputed. She takes students almost literally out of the gutter, +puts them on their feet, and sends them out honest, peaceful, useful +citizens. This is the ideal for which Dr. Washing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">331</a></span>ton struggled, and +over which his life-cord snapped too soon.</p> + +<p>"For the same ideal the people at Tuskegee, though broken in spirit, +are willing to spend themselves; for they are confident that their +cause is just and that the world is with them."</p> + + +<p class="caption"><br />THE END</p> + +<hr class="med" /> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/endlogo.png" width="103" height="103" alt="logo" title="logo" /> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS<br /> +GARDEN CITY, N.Y.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This refers to a suggestion made by Mr. Washington in his +telegram recommending the appointment of Dr. W.D. Crum, a colored +physician, to a South Carolina vacancy, so that the President could +thereby announce at the same time the appointment of a first-grade +Southern white Democrat and a first-class colored man.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> From "Putting the Most Into Life," by Booker T. +Washington. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., Publishers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "Sowing and Reaping," by Booker T. Washington. L.C. Page +& Co., Boston, Publishers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> From "Putting the Most Into life," by Booker T. +Washington. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., Publishers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> There is a custom among the colored people, inherited +from the days of slavery, which is fortunately now drying out, to +celebrate Christmas for a period of a week or ten days by stopping +work and giving themselves over to a round of sprees.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKER T. 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Washington, by Emmett J. Scott and +Lyman Beecher Stowe + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Booker T. Washington + Builder of a Civilization + + +Author: Emmett J. Scott and Lyman Beecher Stowe + + + +Release Date: February 16, 2008 [eBook #24627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKER T. WASHINGTON*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Linda Cantoni, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 24627-h.htm or 24627-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/2/24627/24627-h/24627-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/2/24627/24627-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + Some illustrations have been moved so as not to break up the + flow of the text. + + + + + +BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + +Builder of a Civilization + +by + +EMMETT J. SCOTT and LYMAN BEECHER STOWE + +With a Preface by Theodore Roosevelt + + + + + + + +[Illustration: logo] + + +Illustrated from Photographs + + +Garden City New York +Doubleday, Page & Company +1918 + +Copyright, 1916, by +Doubleday, Page & Company +All rights reserved, including that of +translation into foreign languages, +including the Scandinavian + +Copyright, 1916, by the Outlook Publishing Co. + + + +[Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON] + + + + +FOREWORD + + +In the passing of a character so unique as Dr. Booker T. Washington, +many of us, his friends, were anxious that his biography should be +written by those best qualified to do so. It is therefore a source of +gratification to us of his own race to have an account of Dr. +Washington's career set forth in a form at once accurate and readable, +such as will inspire unborn generations of Negroes and others to love +and appreciate all mankind of whatever race or color. It is especially +gratifying that this biography has been prepared by the two people in +all America best fitted, by antecedents and by intimate acquaintance +and association with Dr. Washington, to undertake it. Mr. Lyman +Beecher Stowe is the grandson of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose "Uncle +Tom's Cabin" had a very direct influence on the abolition of slavery, +and Mr. Emmett J. Scott was Dr. Washington's loyal and trusted +secretary for eighteen years. + +ROBERT R. MOTON. +Principal Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. + +_Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _August 1, 1916._ + + + + +AUTHORS' PREFACE + + +This is not a biography in the ordinary sense. The exhaustive "Life +and Letters of Booker T. Washington" remains still to be compiled. In +this more modest work we have simply sought to present and interpret +the chief phases of the life of this man who rose from a slave boy to +be the leader of ten millions of people and to take his place for all +time among America's great men. In fact, we have not even touched upon +his childhood, early training, and education, because we felt the +story of those early struggles and privations had been ultimately well +told in his own words in "Up from Slavery." This autobiography, +however, published as it was fifteen years before his death, brings +the story of his life only to the threshold of his greatest +achievements. In this book we seek to give the full fruition of his +life's work. Each chapter is complete in itself. Each presents a +complete, although by no means exhaustive, picture of some phase of +his life. + +We take no small satisfaction in the fact that we were personally +selected by Booker Washington himself for this task. He considered us +qualified to produce what he wanted: namely, a record of his struggles +and achievements at once accurate and readable, put in permanent form +for the information of the public. He believed that such a record +could best be furnished by his confidential associate, working in +collaboration with a trained and experienced writer, sympathetically +interested in the welfare of the Negro race. This, then, is what we +have tried to do and the way we have tried to do it. + +We completed the first four chapters before Mr. Washington's death, +but he never read them. In fact, it was our wish, to which he agreed, +that he should not read what we had written until its publication in +book form. + +EMMETT J. SCOTT, +LYMAN BEECHER STOWE. + + + + +PREFACE + + +It is not hyperbole to say that Booker T. Washington was a great +American. For twenty years before his death he had been the most +useful, as well as the most distinguished, member of his race in the +world, and one of the most useful, as well as one of the most +distinguished, of American citizens of any race. + +Eminent though his services were to the people of his own color, the +white men of our Republic were almost as much indebted to him, both +directly and indirectly. They were indebted to him directly, because +of the work he did on behalf of industrial education for the Negro, +thus giving impetus to the work for the industrial education of the +White Man, which is, at least, as necessary; and, moreover, every +successful effort to turn the thoughts of the natural leaders of the +Negro race into the fields of business endeavor, of agricultural +effort, of every species of success in private life, is not only to +their advantage, but to the advantage of the White Man, as tending to +remove the friction and trouble that inevitably come throughout the +South at this time in any Negro district where the Negroes turn for +their advancement primarily to political life. + +The indirect indebtedness of the White Race to Booker T. Washington +is due to the simple fact that here in America we are all in the end +going up or down together; and therefore, in the long run, the man who +makes a substantial contribution toward uplifting any part of the +community has helped to uplift all of the community. Wherever in our +land the Negro remains uneducated, and liable to criminal suggestion, +it is absolutely certain that the whites will themselves tend to tread +the paths of barbarism; and wherever we find the colored people as a +whole engaged in successful work to better themselves, and respecting +both themselves and others, there we shall also find the tone of the +white community high. + +The patriotic white man with an interest in the welfare of this +country is almost as heavily indebted to Booker T. Washington as the +colored men themselves. + +If there is any lesson, more essential than any other, for this +country to learn, it is the lesson that the enjoyment of rights should +be made conditional upon the performance of duty. For one failure in +the history of our country which is due to the people not asserting +their rights, there are hundreds due to their not performing their +duties. This is just as true of the White Man as it is of the Colored +Man. But it is a lesson even more important to be taught the Colored +Man, because the Negro starts at the bottom of the ladder and will +never develop the strength to climb even a single rung if he follow +the lead of those who dwell only upon their rights and not upon their +duties. He has a hard road to travel anyhow. He is certain to be +treated with much injustice, and although he will encounter among +white men a number who wish to help him upward and onward, he will +encounter only too many who, if they do him no bodily harm, yet show a +brutal lack of consideration for him. Nevertheless his one safety lies +in steadily keeping in view that the law of service is the great law +of life, above all in this Republic, and that no man of color can +benefit either himself or the rest of his race, unless he proves by +his life his adherence to this law. Such a life is not easy for the +White Man, and it is very much less easy for the Black Man; but it is +even more important for the Black Man, and for the Black Man's people, +that he should lead it. + +As nearly as any man I have ever met, Booker T. Washington lived up to +Micah's verse, "What more doth the Lord require of thee than to do +Justice and love Mercy and walk humbly with thy God." He did justice +to every man. He did justice to those to whom it was a hard thing to +do justice. He showed mercy; and this meant that he showed mercy not +only to the poor, and to those beneath him, but that he showed mercy +by an understanding of the shortcomings of those who failed to do him +justice, and failed to do his race justice. He always understood and +acted upon the belief that the Black Man could not rise if he so acted +as to incur the enmity and hatred of the White Man; that it was of +prime importance to the well-being of the Black Man to earn the good +will of his white neighbor, and that the bulk of the Black Men who +dwell in the Southern States must realize that the White Men who are +their immediate physical neighbors are beyond all others those whose +good will and respect it is of vital consequence that the Black Men of +the South should secure. + +He was never led away, as the educated Negro so often is led away, +into the pursuit of fantastic visions; into the drawing up of plans +fit only for a world of two dimensions. He kept his high ideals, +always; but he never forgot for a moment that he was living in an +actual world of three dimensions, in a world of unpleasant facts, +where those unpleasant facts have to be faced; and he made the best +possible out of a bad situation from which there was no ideal best to +be obtained. And he walked humbly with his God. + +To a very extraordinary degree he combined humility and dignity; and I +think that the explanation of this extraordinary degree of success in +a very difficult combination was due to the fact that at the bottom +his humility was really the outward expression, not of a servile +attitude toward any man, but of the spiritual fact that in very truth +he walked humbly with his God. + +Nowhere was Booker T. Washington's wisdom shown better than in the +mixture of moderation and firmness with which he took precisely the +right position as to the part the Black Man should try to take in +politics. He put the whole case in a nutshell in the following +sentences: + +"In my opinion it is a fatal mistake to teach the young black man and +the young white man that the dominance of the white race in the South +rests upon any other basis than absolute justice to the weaker man. It +is a mistake to cultivate in the mind of any individual or group of +individuals the feeling and belief that their happiness rests upon the +misery of some one else, or their wealth upon the poverty of some one +else. I do not advocate that the Negro make politics or the holding of +office an important thing in his life. I do urge, in the interests of +fair play for everybody, that a Negro who prepares himself in +property, in intelligence, and in character to cast a ballot, and +desires to do so, should have the opportunity." + +In other words, while he did not believe that political activity +should play an important part among Negroes as a whole, he did believe +that in the interests of the White, as well as in the interests of the +Colored race, the upright, honest, intelligent Black Man or Colored +Man should be given the right to cast a ballot if he possessed the +qualities which, if possessed by a White Man, would make that White +Man a valuable addition to the suffrage-exercising class. + +No man, White or Black, was more keenly alive than Booker T. +Washington to the threat of the South, and to the whole country, and +especially to the Black Man himself, contained in the mass of +ignorant, propertyless, semi-vicious Black voters, wholly lacking in +the character which alone fits a race for self-government, who +nevertheless have been given the ballot in certain Southern States. + +In my many conversations and consultations with him it is, I believe, +not an exaggeration to say that one-half the time we were discussing +methods for keeping out of office, and out of all political power, the +ignorant, semi-criminal, shiftless Black Man who, when manipulated by +the able and unscrupulous politician, Black or White, is so dreadful a +menace to our political institutions. But he felt very strongly, and I +felt no less strongly, that one of the most efficient ways of warring +against this evil type was to show the Negro that, if he turned his +back on that type, and fitted himself to be a self-respecting citizen, +doing his part in sustaining the common burdens of good citizenship, +he would be freely accorded by his White neighbors the privileges and +rights of good citizenship. Surely there can be no objection to this. +Surely there can be no serious objection thus to keep open the door of +hope for the thoroughly decent, upright, self-respecting man, no +matter what his color. + +In the same way, while Booker T. Washington firmly believed that the +attention of the Colored race should be riveted, not on political +life, but on success sought in the fields of honest business endeavor, +he also felt, and I agreed with him, that it was to the interest of +both races that there should be appointments to office of Black Men +whose characters and abilities were such that if they were White Men +their appointments would be hailed as being well above the average, +and creditable from every standpoint. He also felt, and I agreed with +him, that it was essential that these appointments should be made +relatively most numerous in the North--for it is worse than useless to +preach virtue to others, unless the preachers themselves practise it; +which means that the Northern communities, which pride themselves on +possessing the proper attitude toward the Negro, should show this +attitude by their own acts within their own borders. + +I profited very much by my association with Booker T. Washington. I +owed him much along many different lines. I valued greatly his +friendship and respect; and when he died I mourned his loss as a +patriot and an American. + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +_Sagamore Hill,_ + _August 28, 1916._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +FOREWORD BY ROBERT R. MOTON v + +AUTHORS' PREFACE vii + +PREFACE BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT ix + +CHAPTER + + I. THE MAN AND HIS SCHOOL IN THE MAKING 3 + + II. LEADER OF HIS RACE 19 + + III. WASHINGTON: THE EDUCATOR 57 + + IV. THE RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO 82 + + V. MEETING RACE PREJUDICE 107 + + VI. GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 135 + + VII. BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO FARMER 164 + +VIII. BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO BUSINESS MAN 185 + + IX. BOOKER WASHINGTON AMONG HIS STUDENTS 222 + + X. RAISING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS A YEAR 248 + + XI. MANAGING A GREAT INSTITUTION 272 + + XII. WASHINGTON: THE MAN 300 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Booker T. Washington _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE + +Tuskegee in the making. Nothing delighted Mr. + Washington more than to see his students doing + the actual work of erecting the Tuskegee + Institute buildings 12 + +Tuskegee Institute students laying the foundation + for one of the four Emery buildings 14 + +"His influence, like that of his school, was at first + community wide, then county wide, then State + wide, and finally nation wide" 16 + +A study in black. Note the tensity of expression + with which the group is following his each and + every word 32 + +Showing some of the teams of farmers attending the + Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference 58 + +An academic class. A problem in brick masonry 62 + +Mr. Washington in characteristic pose addressing + an audience 136 + +Mr. Washington silhouetted against the crowd upon + one of his educational tours 136 + +Mr. Washington in typical pose speaking to an + audience 136 + +A party of friends who accompanied Dr. Washington + on one of his educational tours 138 + +This old woman was a regular attendant at the + Tuskegee Negro Conference 170 + +The cosmopolitan character of the Tuskegee student + body is shown by the fact that during the + past year students have come from the foreign + countries or colonies of foreign countries indicated + by the various flags shown in this picture 238 + +In 1906 the Tuskegee Institute celebrated its 25th + Anniversary. A group of well-known American + characters attended 248 + +Some of Mr. Washington's humble friends 274 + +Soil analysis. The students are required to work + out in the laboratory the problems of the field + and the shop 274 + +Mr. Washington was a great believer in the sweet + potato 280 + +Mr. Washington had this picture especially posed + to show off to the best advantage a part of the + Tuskegee dairy herd 290 + +Mr. Washington feeding his chickens with green + stuffs raised in his own garden 306 + +Mr. Washington in his onion patch 306 + +Mr. Washington sorting in his lettuce bed 306 + + + + +BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + +BUILDER OF A CIVILIZATION + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +THE MAN AND HIS SCHOOL IN THE MAKING + + +It came about that in the year 1880, in Macon County, Alabama, a +certain ex-Confederate colonel conceived the idea that if he could +secure the Negro vote he could beat his rival and win the seat he +coveted in the State Legislature. Accordingly, the colonel went to the +leading Negro in the town of Tuskegee and asked him what he could do +to secure the Negro vote, for Negroes then voted in Alabama without +restriction. This man, Lewis Adams by name, himself an ex-slave, +promptly replied that what his race most wanted was education and what +they most needed was industrial education, and that if he (the +colonel) would agree to work for the passage of a bill appropriating +money for the maintenance of an industrial school for Negroes, he +(Adams) would help to get for him the Negro vote and the election. +This bargain between an ex-slaveholder and an ex-slave was made and +faithfully observed on both sides, with the result that the following +year the Legislature of Alabama appropriated $2,000 a year for the +establishment of a normal and industrial school for Negroes in the +town of Tuskegee. On the recommendation of General Armstrong of +Hampton Institute a young colored man, Booker T. Washington, a recent +graduate of and teacher at the Institute, was called from there to +take charge of this landless, buildingless, teacherless, and +studentless institution of learning. + +This move turned out to be a fatal mistake in the political career of +the colonel. The appellation of "nigger lover" kept him ever after +firmly wedged in his political grave. Thus, by the same stroke, was +the career of an ex-slaveholder wrecked and that of an ex-slave made. +This political blunder of a local office-seeker gave to education one +of its great formative institutions, to the Negro race its greatest +leader, and to America one of its greatest citizens. + +One is tempted to feel that Booker T. Washington was always popular +and successful. On the contrary, for many years he had to fight his +way inch by inch against the bitterest opposition, not only of the +whites, but of his own race. At that time there was scarcely a Negro +leader of any prominence who was not either a politician or a +preacher. In the introduction to "Up from Slavery," Mr. Walter H. Page +says of his first experience many years ago with Booker Washington: "I +had occasion to write to him, and I addressed him as 'The Rev. Booker +T. Washington.' In his reply there was no mention of my addressing him +as a clergyman. But when I had occasion to write to him again, and +persisted in making him a preacher, his second letter brought a +postscript: 'I have no claim to Rev.' I knew most of the colored men +who at that time had become prominent as leaders of their race, but I +had not then known one who was neither a politician nor a preacher; +and I had not heard of the head of an important colored school who +was not a preacher. 'A new kind of man in the colored world,' I said +to myself--'a new kind of man surely if he looks upon his task as an +economic one instead of a theological one." + +And just because Booker Washington did look "upon his task as an +economic one instead of a theological one" he was at first regarded +with suspicion by most of the preachers of his race and by some openly +denounced as irreligious and the founder of an irreligious school. +Like so many men of greater opportunity in all ages and places, many +of these Negro ministers confounded theology and religion. Finding no +theology about Booker Washington or his school, they assumed there was +no religion. Some of them even went so far as to warn their +congregations from the pulpit to keep away from this Godless man and +his Godless school. To this formidable and at first almost universal +opposition from the leaders among his own people was added the more +natural opposition of the neighboring white men who assumed that he +was "spoiling the niggers" by education. A youth with a high collar, +loud necktie, checked suit, and patent-leather shoes, dangling a cane, +smoking a cigarette, and loitering impudently on a street corner was +their mental picture of an educated Negro. + +Among the original group of thirty students with whom Mr. Washington +started Tuskegee Institute on an old plantation equipped with a +kitchen, a stable, and a hen-house, was a now elderly man who to-day +has charge of the spacious and beautiful grounds of the Institute. He +was approaching middle age when he entered this original Tuskegee +class. The following is a paraphrase of his account of the early days +of the school: "After we'd been out on the plantation three or four +weeks Mr. Washington came into the schoolroom and said: 'To-morrow +we're going to have a chopping bee. All of you that have an axe, or +can borrow one, must bring it. I will try and provide those of you who +cannot furnish an axe. We will dismiss school early to-morrow +afternoon and start for the chopping bee.' So we came to school next +day with the axes, all of us that could get them; we were all excited +and eager for that chopping bee, and we were all discussing what it +would be like, because we had never been to one before. So in the +afternoon Mr. Washington said it was time for that chopping bee, so he +put his axe over his shoulder and led us to the woods and put us to +work cutting the trees and clearing the land. He went right in and +worked harder and faster and handled his axe better than any of us. +After a while we found that a chopping bee, as he called it, was no +different from just plain cutting down trees and clearing the land. +There wasn't anything new about that--we all had had all we wanted of +it. Some of the boys said they didn't come to school to cut down trees +and clear land, but they couldn't say they were too good for that kind +of work when Mr. Washington himself was at it harder than any of them. +So he kept with us for some days till everybody had his idea. Then he +went off to do something more important. + +"Now, in those days he used to go off every Saturday morning and he +wouldn't come back till Monday morning. He'd travel all round the +country drumming up students for the school and telling the people to +send their children. And on Sunday he'd get the preachers to let him +get up in their pulpits and tell the people about the school after +they had finished preaching. And the preachers would warn their people +against him and his school, because they said it wasn't Methodist, and +it wasn't Baptist, and it wasn't Presbyterian, and it wasn't +Episcopalian, and it wasn't Christian. And they told the people to +keep their children away from that Godless man and his school. But +when he came along and asked to speak to the people they had to leave +him, just as everybody always did--let him do just what he wanted to +do. And when they heard him, the people, they didn't pay no attention +to the preachers, they just sent their children as fast as ever they +could contrive it. + +"Now, in those days Mr. Washington didn't have a horse, nor a mule, +nor a wagon, and he wanted to cover more country on those trips than +he could afoot, so he'd just go out in the middle of the road and when +some old black man would come along driving his mule wagon he'd stop +him and talk with him, and tell him about the school and what it was +going to do for the black folks, and then he'd say: 'Now, Uncle, you +can help by bringing your wagon and mule round at nine o'clock +Saturday morning for me to go off round the country telling the people +about the school. Now, remember, Uncle Jake, please be here promptly +at nine,' and the old man would say, 'Yes, boss, I sure will be +here!' That was how he did it--when he needed anything he'd go out and +put his hand on it. First, he could put his hand on anything he wanted +round the town; then, he could put his hand on anything he wanted all +over the county; then he could put his hand on anything he wanted all +over the State; and then finally they do tell me he could put his hand +on anything he wanted away up to New York. + +"In those days, after we came to live here on the 'plantation,' I used +to take the wheelbarrow and go round to the office when Mr. Washington +opened up the mail in the morning, and if there was money in the mail +then I could go along to the town with the wheelbarrow and get +provisions, and if there was no money then there was no occasion to go +to town, and we'd just eat what we had left. Most of the white +storekeepers wouldn't give us credit, and they didn't want a 'nigger +school' here anyhow. Times have changed. Now those storekeepers get a +large proportion of their trade here at the Institute, and if there +should be any talk of moving, they'd just get up and fight to the last +to keep us here and keep our trade. + +"And in those days the Negro preachers, or the most of them, and the +white folks, or the most of them, were always trying to dispute with +Mr. Washington and quarrel with him, but he just kept his mouth shut +and went ahead. He kept pleasant and he wouldn't dispute with them, +nor argue with them, nor quarrel with them. When the white folks would +come round and tell him he was 'spoiling good niggers by education,' +he would just ask them to wait patiently and give him time to show +them what the right kind of education would do. And when the colored +preachers would come round and tell him he was no Christian, and his +school had no religion, he would ask them to just wait and see if the +boys and girls were any less Christian because of the education they +were getting. But whoever came along and whatever happened Mr. +Washington just kept his mouth shut and went ahead. + +"After two years of school I went out and rented some land and planted +cotton, and just about time to harvest my crop Mr. Washington sent for +me one Saturday and said: 'I need you. I want you to come back and +work for the school on the farm. I want you to start in Monday +morning.' When I told him about my cotton crop just ready to be picked +he said: 'Can't help that, we need you. You'll have to arrange with +your neighbors to harvest your crop for you.'" + +To the inquiry, "Well, did you come?" the old man replied, "Of course +I did. When Mr. Washington said come I came same as everybody did what +he told them. I got a neighbor to harvest my crop and I lost money on +it, but I came to work that Monday morning more than thirty years ago, +and I've been here ever since." + +The idea of not doing what Mr. Washington wanted him to do, or even +arguing the matter, was evidently inconceivable to this old man. He +had always obeyed Mr. Washington just as he had obeyed the laws of +nature by sleeping and eating. That is the kind of control which +Booker Washington always exercised over his fellow-workers. He +accepted their implicit obedience as naturally and simply as they gave +it. + +As Mr. Page also points out in the introduction to "Up from Slavery," +however humble Mr. Washington's origin may have been, what might be +termed his intellectual pedigree was of the highest and finest. He may +be called, in fact, the spiritual grandson of the great Dr. Mark +Hopkins of Williams College. Just as Samuel Armstrong was perhaps the +most receptive of Mark Hopkins' pupils, so Booker Washington became +the most receptive pupil of Samuel Armstrong. As says Mr. Page: "To +the formation of Mr. Washington's character, then, went the missionary +zeal of New England, influenced by one of the strongest personalities +in modern education, and the wide-reaching moral earnestness of +General Armstrong himself." In his autobiography Mr. Washington thus +describes General Armstrong's influence and the impression he made +upon him: "It has been my fortune to meet personally many of what are +called great characters, both in Europe and America, but I do not +hesitate to say that I never met any man who, in my estimation, was +the equal of General Armstrong. Fresh from the degrading influences of +the slave plantation and the coal mines, it was a rare privilege for +me to be permitted to come into direct contact with such a character +as General Armstrong. I shall always remember that the first time I +went into his presence he made the impression upon me of being a +perfect man; I was made to feel that there was something about him +that was superhuman. It was my privilege to know the General +personally from the time I entered Hampton till he died, and the more +I saw of him the greater he grew in my estimation. One might have +removed from Hampton all the buildings, classrooms, teachers, and +industries, and given the men and women there the opportunity of +coming into daily contact with General Armstrong, and that alone would +have been a liberal education. (This recalls President Garfield's +definition of a university when he said, 'my idea of a university is a +log with Mark Hopkins on one end and a boy on the other.') The older I +grow, the more I am convinced that there is no education which one can +get from books and costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be +gotten from contact with great men and women. Instead of studying +books so constantly, how I wish that our schools and colleges might +learn to study men and things!" + +When the young man imbued with these ideas and fresh from these +influences found himself responsible for the destinies of a +studentless, teacherless, buildingless, and landless school it is +significant how he went to work to supply these manifold deficiencies. +First, he found a place in which to open the school--a dilapidated +shanty church, the A.M.E. Zion Church for Negroes, in the town of +Tuskegee. Next he went about the surrounding countryside, found out +exactly under what conditions the people were living and what their +needs were, and advertised the school among the class of people whom +he wanted to have attend it. After returning from these experiences +he said: "I saw more clearly than ever the wisdom of the system which +General Armstrong had inaugurated at Hampton. To take the children of +such people as I had been among for a month, and each day give them a +few hours of mere book education, I felt would be almost a waste of +time." + +Six weeks after the school was opened, on July 4, 1881, in the shanty +Methodist Church with thirty students, Miss Olivia A. Davidson entered +the school, the enrollment of which had already grown to fifty, as +assistant teacher. She subsequently became Mrs. Washington. The school +then had students, a teacher, and a building such as it was, but it +had no land. It was succeeding in so far as teaching these eager and +knowledge hungry young people what could be learned from books, but +little more. Mr. Washington found that about 85 per cent. of the +Negroes of the Gulf States lived on the land and were dependent upon +agriculture for their livelihood. Hence, he reasoned that it was of +supreme importance to teach them how to live on the land to the best +advantage. In order to teach the students how to live on the land the +school itself must have land. About this time an old plantation near +the town of Tuskegee came upon the market. The school had no money. +Mr. Washington had no money, and the $2,000 a year from the State +Treasury could be used only for the payment of teachers. Accordingly +Mr. Washington personally borrowed the $250, from a personal friend, +necessary to secure title to the land, and moved the school from the +shanty church to the comparative comfort of four aged cabins +formerly used as the dining-room, kitchen, stable, and hen-house of +the plantation. + +[Illustration: Tuskegee in the making. Nothing delighted Mr. +Washington more than to see his students doing the actual work of +erecting the Tuskegee Institute buildings. A group of students raising +the roof on one of the buildings.] + +And as soon as they were established in their new quarters he +organized the "chopping bee" already described and cleared some of the +land so that it could be used for crops. He did not clear and plant +this land to give his students agricultural training. He did it for +the purpose that all land was originally cleared and planted--to get +food. He, of course, realized that the educational content of this +work was great--greater than any possible textbook exercises in the +classroom. He then and there began the long and difficult task of +teaching his people that physical work, and particularly farm work, if +rightly done was education, and that education was work. To secure the +acceptance of this truth by a race only recently emancipated from over +two hundred years of unrequited toil--a race that had always regarded +freedom from the necessity for work as an indication of +superiority--was not a hopeful task. To them education was the +antithesis of work. It was the magic elixir which emancipated all +those fortunate enough to drink of it from the necessity for work. + +He also began to emphasize at this time his familiar dictum that +learning to do the common things of life in an uncommon way was an +essential part of real education. Probably the reverse of this dictum, +namely, learning to do the uncommon things of life in a common +way--would have more nearly corresponded to the popular conception of +education among most Negroes and many whites. + +Mr. Washington later developed a brickyard where, after a series of +failures sufficient to convince any ordinary man of the hopelessness +of the enterprise, they finally succeeded in baking creditable bricks +which were used by the students in the construction of buildings for +the school. He did not start this brickyard for the purpose of +vocational training any more than he started the farm for agricultural +training. He started it because they needed bricks with which to +build buildings in which to live, just as he started the farm to raise +food upon which to live. He saw to it, however, that the brickyard was +used as an instrument of education and was never allowed to degenerate +into a mere brickyard and nothing more, just as he saw to it that the +farm was used as a means of education and was not allowed to +degenerate into a mere farm and nothing more. It was even more +difficult to persuade the students that the hard, heavy, dirty work of +the brickyard was education than it had been to persuade them that +farm work was education. Mr. Washington wasted no time in arguing this +point, however, but merely insisted that without bricks they could not +put up proper buildings, and that without buildings they could not +have such a school as they must have not only for themselves but for +their race. + +[Illustration: Tuskegee Institute students laying the foundation for +one of the four Emery buildings--boys' dormitories.] + +So this originally landless, buildingless, studentless, and +teacherless school came eventually to have all four of these obvious +requisites, but it still lacked a fundamental requirement for the +effective fulfillment of its purpose. It lacked a boarding department +where the students might learn to live. In his tours among the people +Mr. Washington had found the great majority in the plantation +districts living on fat pork and corn bread, and sleeping in +one-room cabins. They planted nothing but cotton, bought their food at +the nearest village or town market instead of raising it, and lived +under conditions where the fundamental laws of hygiene and decent +social intercourse were both unknown and impossible of application. +The young men and women from such homes must be taught how to live in +houses with more than one room, how to keep their persons and their +surroundings clean, how to sleep in a bed between sheets, how not only +to raise but to prepare, serve, and eat a healthful variety of proper +food at regular and stated intervals, to say nothing of a trade by +which to maintain themselves both during their course and after +graduation as well as the usual book learning of the ordinary school. +Obviously they could not be taught these things unless they lived day +and night on the school grounds instead of boarding about with people +whose standards of living were very little if at all higher than those +of their homes. Accordingly volunteers were called for, and the +students made an excavation under their new brick building which was +made into a basement kitchen and dining-room. As Mr. Washington says +in "Up from Slavery," "We had nothing but the students and their +appetites with which to begin a boarding department." As soon as this +boarding department was established it became possible to influence +directly the lives of the students during the entire twenty-four hours +of the day. From then on each student was required to have and to use +a toothbrush. Mr. Washington has since remarked that, in his opinion, +the toothbrush is the most potent single instrument of civilization. +Then, too, it was possible for him to begin to enforce this injunction +taken from one of his now well-known Sunday night talks, "Make a study +of the preparation of food. See to it that a certain ceremony, a +certain importance, be attached to the partaking of the food----" This +exhortation sounds so commonplace as to be scarcely noticed by the +average reader, but just put yourself in the place of one of these +boys or girls who came from a one-room cabin and realize what a +profoundly revolutionary, even sensational, injunction it is! To the +boy or girl who had snatched a morsel of food here, there, or anywhere +when prompted by the gnawings of hunger, who had never sat down to a +regular meal, who had never partaken of a meal placed upon a table +with or without ceremony--imagine what it meant to such a boy or girl +"to see to it that a certain ceremony, a certain importance, be +attached to the partaking of the food"--not on special occasions but +at each one of the three meals of each day! + +Finally it came about that this school which had started with a paltry +$2,000 a year, a great need, and the invincible determination of one +man, came to have land, buildings, teachers, students, and even a +boarding department. But in Mr. Washington's view there was still a +great fundamental lack in their work. They were doing nothing directly +to help those less fortunate than themselves--those about them who +could not come and enjoy the advantages of the school. Mr. Washington +held that as soon as an individual got hold of anything as useful +and desirable as education he should take immediate means to hand +it on to the greatest possible number of those who needed it. He had +no patience with those persons who would climb the tree of knowledge +and then pull the ladder up after them. + +[Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + +"His influence, like that of his school, was at first community wide, +then county wide, then state wide, and finally nation wide."] + +He and his teachers then began to go out on Sundays and give the +people homely talks on how to improve their living conditions. They +encouraged the farmers to come to the school farm and learn how to +grow a variety of crops to supplement the cotton crop which was their +sole reliance. They relieved the distress of individual families. Mrs. +Washington gathered together in an old loft the farmers' wives and +daughters who were in the habit of loafing about the village of +Tuskegee on Saturday afternoons and formed them into a woman's club +for the improvement of the living conditions in their homes and +communities. Mr. Washington and his teachers went right on to the +farms and into the homes, and into the churches and the schools, and +everywhere showed, for the most part by concrete object-lessons, how +they could make their farms more productive, their homes more +comfortable, their schools more useful, and their church services more +inspiring. All this was done not with an idea of starting an extension +department or a social service department, but merely because these +people needed help, and Mr. Washington knew that both teachers and +students would help themselves in helping them. Finally, chiefly +through the efforts of Mrs. Washington, a model country school was +established in the district adjoining the Institute's property. This +school is a farm home where the young teacher and his wife, both +graduates of Tuskegee, teach the boys and girls who come to them each +day how to live on a farm--teach them by practice and object-lesson as +well as by precept. They follow the ordinary country school +curriculum, but that is a small and relatively unimportant part of +what this school gives its pupils. Then, too, the teachers of Tuskegee +early started campaigns looking to the extending of the school terms +throughout Macon County and the adjoining counties from three to five +months, as was customary, to nine months. + +And this work of Tuskegee beyond its own borders grew as constantly in +volume and extent as the work within its borders, so that Tuskegee +soon became the vital force--the yeast that was raising the level of +life and well-being throughout, first, the town and neighborhood of +Tuskegee, then the County of Macon, then the surrounding counties and +the State of Alabama; and finally, in conjunction with its mother, +Hampton, and its children situated at strategic points throughout the +South, the entire Negro people of the South, and indirectly the whole +nation. + +And as the school grew, so grew the man whose life was its embodiment. +It is impossible to think of Booker Washington and Tuskegee +separately. Just as he typified Tuskegee, so Tuskegee typified him. +Just as he made the school, so the school made him. His influence, +like that of his school, was at first community wide, then county +wide, then State wide, and finally nation wide. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +LEADER OF HIS RACE + + +In 1895, fourteen years after the founding of Tuskegee Institute, +Booker T. Washington was selected to represent his race at the opening +of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. +On this occasion he mounted the platform, to make the first address +which any member of his race had ever made before any representative +body of Southern men and women, as an obscure but worthy young colored +man who had commended himself to a few thinking persons by building up +an excellent industrial school for his people. He came off that +platform amid scenes of almost hysterical enthusiasm and was +thenceforth proclaimed as the leader of his race, the Moses of his +people, and one of America's great men. + +In this epoch-making speech Booker Washington had presented a solution +of an apparently insoluble problem. He had offered a platform upon +which, as Clark Howell said in the Atlanta _Constitution_, "both +races, blacks and whites, could stand with full justice to each." In +the course of the speech he told this story: "A ship lost at sea for +many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the +unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: 'Water, water; we die of +thirst!' The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: 'Cast +down your bucket where you are.' A second time the signal, 'Water, +water, send us water!' ran up from the distressed vessel, and was +answered: 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' And a third and +fourth signal for water was answered, 'Cast down your bucket where you +are.' The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the +injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, +sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River." He then appealed +to his own people to "cast down their buckets where they were" by +making friends with their white neighbors in every manly way, by +training themselves where they were in agriculture, in mechanics, in +commerce, instead of trying to better their condition by migration. +And finally to the Southern white people he appealed "to cast down +their buckets where they were" by using and training the Negroes whom +they knew rather than seeking to import foreign laborers whom they did +not know. + +When he reached the crux and climax of the speech--the delicate matter +of the relations between the races, socially--he held up his right +hand with his fingers outstretched and said: "In all things that are +purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the +hand in all things essential to mutual progress." At this remark the +audience went wild! Ladies stood on their chairs and waved their +handkerchiefs, while men threw up their hats, danced, and catcalled. +An old ante-bellum Negro, who had been sitting crosslegged in one of +the aisles, wept tears of pride and joy as he swayed from side to +side. By this statement, with what had led up to it, Booker Washington +captured the allegiance of all really representative Southern whites, +and by consistently adhering to this position he, in an +ever-increasing degree, won and held their allegiance till the end. + +Frederick Douglass, the great leader of his race during the closing +days of slavery, during the War and the Reconstruction period, had +died only a few months before. Everywhere, by leading whites, as well +as blacks, Washington was acclaimed as the successor of Douglass--the +new leader of the Negro race. One of the first colored men so to +acclaim him was Emmett J. Scott, who was then editing a Negro +newspaper in Houston, Texas, and little realized that he was to become +the most intimate associate of the new leader. In an editorial Mr. +Scott said of this address: "Without resort to exaggeration, it is but +simple justice to call the address great. It was great! Great, in that +it exhibited the speaker's qualities of head and heart; great in that +he could and did discriminately recognize conditions as they affect +his people, and greater still in the absolute modesty, self-respect, +and dignity with which he presented a platform upon which, as Clark +Howell, of the Atlanta _Constitution_ says: 'both races, blacks and +whites, can stand with full justice to each.'" Perhaps the most +remarkable feature of Booker Washington's leadership was that from +that time on he never deviated one hair's breadth in word or deed from +the platform laid down in this brief address. + +It was not to be expected, however, that such a radically new note in +Negro leadership could be struck without some discord. As was +perfectly natural, some more or less prominent Negroes, whose mental +processes followed the lines of cleavage between the races engendered +by the embittering experiences of the Reconstruction period, looked +with suspicion upon a Negro leader who had won the approbation of the +South, of leading white citizens, press, and public. In the days of +slavery it was a frequent custom on large plantations to use one of +the slaves as a kind of stool pigeon to spy upon the others and report +their misdeeds. Naturally such persons were hated and despised and +looked upon as traitors to their race. Hence, it came about that the +praise of a white man was apt to throw suspicion upon the racial +loyalty of a black man. This habit of mind, like all mental habits, +long survived the system and circumstances which occasioned it. +Therefore, it was inevitable that the fact that the white press +throughout the South rang with his praises for days and weeks after +the sensationally enthusiastic reception of his speech at the +exposition should not be accepted as a desirable endorsement of the +new leader by at least a few of his own people. + +A more or less conspicuous colored preacher summed up this slight +undertow of dissent when he said: "I want to pay my respects next to a +colored man. He is a great man, too, but he isn't our Moses, as the +white people are pleased to call him. I allude to Booker T. +Washington. He has been with the white people so long that he has +learned to throw sop with the rest. He made a speech at Atlanta the +other day, and the newspapers of all the large cities praised it and +called it the greatest speech ever delivered by a colored man. When I +heard that, I said: 'There must be something wrong with it, or the +white people would not be praising it so.' I got the speech and read +it. Then I said, 'Ah, here it is,' and I read his words, 'the colored +people do not want social equality.' (This man's interpretation of +this sentence in the speech, "The wisest among my race understand that +the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, +and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will +come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather +than of artificial forcing.") I tell you that is a lie. We do want +social equality. Why, don't you want your manhood recognized? Then Mr. +Washington said that our emancipation and enfranchisement were +untimely and a mistake; that we were not ready for it. (Naturally, Mr. +Washington said no such thing.) What did he say that for but to tickle +the palates of the white people? Oh, yes, he was shrewd. He will get +many hundreds of dollars for his school by it." + +Let it not be thought that this attitude represented any large or +important body of opinion among the Negroes. The great majority both +of the leaders and the rank and file enthusiastically accepted both +the new leader and his new kind of leadership. The small minority, +however, holding the view of the preacher quoted, continued to cause +Booker Washington some annoyance, which, although continuously +lessening, persisted in some degree throughout his life. This +numerically small and individually unimportant element of the Negroes +in America would hardly warrant even passing mention except that the +always carping and sometimes bitter criticisms of these persons are +apt to confuse the well-wishers of the race who do not understand the +situation. + +The Negroes holding this point of view are sometimes pleased to refer +to themselves as the Talented Tenth. They are largely city dwellers +who have had more or less of what they term "higher education"--Latin, +Greek, Theology, and the like. A number of these persons make all or a +part of their living by publicly bewailing the wrongs and injustices +of their race and demanding their redress by immediate means. Mr. +Washington's emphasis upon the advantages of Negroes in America and +the debt of gratitude which they owe to the whites, who have helped +them to make more progress in fifty years than any other race ever +made in a like period, is naturally very annoying to this type of +person. In spite of their constant abuse of him Mr. Washington some +years ago agreed to confer with the leaders of this faction to see if +a program could not be devised through which all could work together +instead of at cross purposes. In spite of the fact that the chief +exponent of this group opened the first meeting with a bitter attack +upon Mr. Washington, such a program was adopted, to which, before the +conferences were over, all duly and amicably agreed to adhere. Some of +the more restless spirits among the leaders of the Talented Tenth +soon, however, broke their pledges, repudiated the whole arrangement, +and started in as before to denounce Mr. Washington and those who +thought and acted with him. + +After the Atlanta speech Mr. Washington's task was a dual one. While +the active head of his great and rapidly growing institution, he was +also the generally accepted leader of his race. It is with his +leadership of his race that we are concerned in this chapter. His +duties in this capacity were vast and ill defined, and his +responsibility exceedingly heavy. He said, himself, that when he first +came to be talked of as the leader of his race he was somewhat at a +loss to know what was expected of him in that capacity. His tasks in +this direction, however, were thrust upon him so thick and fast that +he had not long to remain in this state of mind. After the Atlanta +speech he was in almost daily contact with what was befalling his +people in all parts of the country and to some extent all over the +world. Through his press clipping service, supplemented by myriads of +letters and personal reports, practically every event of any +significance to his race came to his notice. When he heard of rioting, +lynching, or serious trouble in any community he sent a message of +advice, encouragement, or warning to the leading Negroes of the +locality and sometimes to the whites whom he knew to be interested in +the welfare of the Negroes. When the trouble was sufficiently serious +to warrant it he went in person to the scene. When he heard of a Negro +winning a prize at a county fair, or being placed in some position of +unusual trust and distinction, he wrote him a letter of +congratulation and learned the circumstances so that he might cite +the incident by way of encouragement to others. + +After the riots in Atlanta, Georgia, some years ago, when infuriated +white mobs foiled in their efforts to lynch a Negro murderer, burned, +killed, and laid waste right and left in the Negro section of the +town, Mr. Washington, who was in the North at the time, boarded the +first train for the city, arrived just after the bloody scenes, +gathered together his frightened people amid the smoking ruins of +their homes, soothed, calmed, and cheered them. He then went to the +leading city officials, secured from them a promise of succor for the +stricken people and protection against further attack. Next he went to +the Governor of the State, secured his sympathy and cooperation, and +with him organized a conference of leading State and city officials +and other representative men who there and then mapped out a program +tending to prevent the recurrence of such race riots--a program which +up to the present time has successfully fulfilled its purpose. It is +characteristic of Mr. Washington's methods that he turned this +disaster into an ultimate blessing for the very community that was +afflicted. + +Mr. Washington was the kind of leader who kept very close to the plain +people. He knew their every-day lives, their weaknesses, their +temptations. To use a slang phrase, he knew exactly what they "were up +against" whether they lived in country or city. Within a comparatively +short period before his death he addressed two audiences as widely +separated by distance and environment as the farmers gathered +together for the first Negro Fair of southwestern Georgia at Albany, +Georgia, and five thousand Negro residents of New York City assembled +in the Harlem Casino. He told those Georgia farmers how much land they +owned and to what extent it was mortgaged, how much land they leased, +how much cotton they raised, and how much of other crops they raised, +or, rather, did not raise; how many mules and hogs they owned, and how +they could with profit increase their ownership in mules and hogs; he +told them how many drug stores, grocery stores, and banks in the State +and county were owned by Negroes; and then, switching from the general +to the particular, he described the daily life of the ordinary, +easy-going tenant farmer of the locality. He pictured what he saw when +he came out of his unpainted house in the morning: that gate off the +hinges, that broken window-pane with an old coat stuck into it, that +cotton planted right up to the doors with no room left for a garden, +and no garden; and, worse than all, the uncomfortable knowledge of +debts concealed from the hard-working wife and mother. Then he +pictured what that same man's place might be and should become. + +It was once said of a certain eminent preacher that his logic was on +fire. It might be said of Booker Washington that his statistics were +on fire. He marshalled them in such a way that they were dynamic and +stirring instead of static and paralyzing, as we all know them to our +sorrow. It so happened that Mr. Washington had never before been in +southwestern Georgia. After his speech one old farmer was heard to +say as he shook his head: "I don't understan' it! Booker T. Washington +he ain't never ben here befo', yit he knows mo' 'bout dese parts an' +mo' 'bout us den what eny of us knows ourselves." This old man did not +know that one of Mr. Washington's most painstaking and efficient +assistants, Mr. Monroe N. Work, the editor of the _Negro Year Book_, +devoted much of his time to keeping his chief provided with this +startlingly accurate information about his people in every section of +the United States. + +On this occasion there were on the platform with Mr. Washington and +the officials of the fair the Mayor of Albany and members of the City +Council, while in the audience were several hundred whites on one side +of the centre aisle and twice as many blacks on the other. And Mr. +Washington would alternately address himself to his white and black +audience. He would, for instance, turn to the white men and tell them +that he had never known a particularly successful black man who could +not trace his original success to the aid or encouragement he had +received in one form or another from a white friend. He would tell +them that without their assistance his race could never have made more +progress in the last fifty years in this country than any similar +group of people had ever made in a like period of time. After he had +raised the white section of his audience to a high degree of +self-congratulatory complaisance he would suddenly shift the tenor of +his remarks and ask them why they should mar this splendid record by +discriminating against the weaker race in matters of education, by +destroying their confidence in the justice of the courts through mob +violence, and by the numerous small, mean ways in which race prejudice +shows itself and retards and discourages the upward struggle of a +weaker people. As he proceeded along these lines one could see the +self-congratulatory expression fade from the faces of his white +listeners. + +He would next turn to his own people and tell them of their phenomenal +progress since emancipation and of the great and essential part they +had played in the upbuilding of the South--left prostrate by the Civil +War. One could see their eager, upturned faces glow with pride and +self-satisfaction. But suddenly he would shift the tone of his +comments and tell them how sadly those of them who were indolent and +shiftless and unreliable and vicious were retarding the upward +struggles of the industrious and self-respecting majority and how they +were perpetuating the prejudice against the whole race. And as he +pictured this seamy side of the situation one could see the glow of +pride gradually wilt from the myriads of swarthy upturned faces. + +Hardly less successful than his use of statistics was his use of the +much-abused funny story. He never told a story, however good, for its +own sake. He told it only when it would most effectively drive home +whatever point he happened to be making. In this same speech he was +saying that a Negro who is lazy and unreliable and does nothing to +accumulate property or improve his earning capacity deserves no +consideration from whites or blacks and has no right to say that the +color line is drawn against him. By way of illustration he told this +story: "A shiftless Southern poor white asked a self-respecting old +black man for three cents with which to pay his ferry fare across a +river. The old black man replied: I's sorry not to commerdate yer, +boss, but der fac' is dat a man what ain't got three cents is jest as +bad off on one side ob der ribber as der udder.'" + +At another point in this speech he was telling his people not to be +discouraged because their race has less to point to than other races +in the way of past achievements. He said that after all it was the +future that was of vital concern and not the past, and that the future +was theirs to a peculiar degree because they were a young race. And to +illustrate their situation he told of meeting old Aunt Caroline one +evening striding along with a basket on her head. He said, "Where are +you going, Aunt Caroline?" And she replied: "Lor' bless yer, Mister +Washin'ton, I dun bin where I's er goin'." "And so," he concluded, +"some of the races of the earth have dun bin where dey was er goin'!" +but fortunately the Negro race was not among them. + +In making the point that, in spite of race prejudice, the handicaps to +which his people were subjected in the South were after all +superficial and did not interfere with their chance to work and earn a +living, he told the experience of an old Negro who was accompanying +him on one of his Southern educational tours. At a certain city they +were obliged to wait several hours between trains, so this old man +took advantage of the opportunity to stroll about and see the sights +of the place. After a while he pulled out his watch and found he had +barely time to get back to the station before the train was due to +leave. Accordingly he rushed to a hack stand and called out to the +first driver he came to, who happened to be a white man: "Hurry up an' +take me to the station, I's gotta get the 4:32 train!" To which the +white hack driver replied: "I ain't never drove a nigger in my hack +yit an' I ain't goin' ter begin now. You can git a nigger driver ter +take ye down!" + +To this the old colored man replied with perfect good nature: "All +right, my frien', we won't have no misunderstanding or trouble; I'll +tell you how we'll settle it: you jest hop in on der back seat an' do +der ridin' and I'll set in front an' do der drivin'." In this way they +reached the station amicably and the old man caught his train. Like +this old Negro, Mr. Washington always devoted his energies to catching +the train, and it made little difference to him whether he sat on the +front or the back seat. + +A few months later, to the five thousand people of his own race in the +Harlem Casino in New York City, he described their daily lives, their +problems, perplexities, and temptations in terms as homely, as +picturesque, and as vivid as he used in talking to the Georgia +farmers. He urged them, just as he did the farmers, to stop moving +about and to settle down--"to stop _staying_ here and there and +everywhere and begin to _live_ somewhere." He urged them to leave the +little mechanical job of window washing, or what not, and go into +business for themselves, even if they could only afford a few +newspapers or peanuts to start with. He told of a certain New York +street where he had found all the people on one side of a row of push +carts were selling something, while all the people on the other side +were buying something. Those that were selling were white people, +while those that were buying were colored people. That, he said, was a +color line they had drawn themselves. He reminded them of the high +cost of living, and by way of example he commented upon the expense of +having to buy so many shoes. He said: "Up here you not only have to +have good, expensive shoes, but you have to wear them all the time." +And then he reminded them how back in the country down South, before +they came to the city, they would buy a pair of shoes at Christmas and +after Christmas put them away in the "chist" and not take them out +again until "big meeting day," and then wear them only in the meeting +and not walking to and from the church. And as he concluded with the +words, "Under those conditions shoes last a long time," people all +over the audience were chuckling and nudging and winking at one +another as people will when characteristic incidents in their past +lives are graphically recalled to them. + +Then he described the almost innumerable temptations to spend money +which the city offers. Some of the store windows are so enticing that, +as he said, "the dollars almost jump out of your pockets as you go by +on the sidewalk." "Then you men working for rich men here in the city +smell the smoke of so many twenty-five-cent cigars that after a while +you feel as though you must smoke twenty-five-cent cigars. You don't +stop to think that when the grandfathers of those very men first came +from the country a hundred years ago they smoked two-for-five +cigars." Then he told of a family he had found living on the tenth +story of an electric-lighted, steam-heated apartment house with +elevator service, and this very family only two years before was +living in a two-room cabin in the Yazoo Valley on the Mississippi +bottoms. And he commented: "Now, that family's in danger. No people +can change as much and as fast as that without great danger!" + +[Illustration: A study in black. Note the tensity of expression with +which the group is following his each and every word.] + +Next he touched on the high rents and said: "You mothers know that +sooner or later you have to take in roomers to help pay that rent, and +after a while you take in Tom, Dick, or Harry, or anybody who's got +the money regardless of who or what they are, and you mothers know the +danger that spells for your daughters." (At this point he was +interrupted by a chorus of "amens" from women all over the great +hall.) He continued: "Now, you take the 'old man' aside an' tell him +straight, you're not going to have any more roomers hanging round your +house--that he's got to hustle for a better job or go into some little +business for himself, or move out into some little cottage in the +country, or do something to get rid of those Tom, Dick, and Harry +roomers." + +In short, in this speech Mr. Washington showed that he knew just as +intimately the lives of his people in the flats of Greater New York as +on the farms of southwestern Georgia. + +In spite of his grasp of details Mr. Washington never became so +immersed in them as to lose sight of his ultimate goal, and conversely +he never became so blinded by the vision of his ultimate goal as to +overlook details. The solution of the so-called Negro problem in +America, he felt, is to be found along these lines: As his people have +more and more opportunity for training and become better and better +trained they become more and more self-sufficient. They are developing +their own carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, farmers, merchants, and +bankers as well as lawyers, teachers, preachers, and physicians. These +trained people naturally, for the most part, serve their own race, and +to them the members of the race naturally turn for the service that +each is equipped to render. As they acquire wealth, education, and +cultivation, the persons possessing these advantages naturally +intermingle socially and build up a society from which the rough, +ignorant, and uncouth of their own race are as inevitably excluded as +are such persons from all polite social intercourse of whatever +people. These Negroes of education and cultivation no more desire to +force themselves into the society of the other race than do any +persons of real education and cultivation desire to go where they are +not wanted. As the race increases in wealth and culture it becomes +more and more easy and natural for its successful members to satisfy +their social desires and ambitions in their own society. Already in +the centres of Negro prosperity and culture it would be almost, if not +quite, as impossible for a white man to be received into the best +Negro society as it would for a Negro to be received into the best +white society. This growing independence and self-sufficiency in the +trades, the professions, and social intercourse leads inevitably, as +he pointed out, to a form of natural segregation based upon economic +needs and social preferences, and in conformity to the laws of nature, +which is a very different matter from the artificial and arbitrary +segregation forced upon unwilling people by the laws of men. Under +these conditions the disputes as to whether the best society of the +blacks is inferior or superior to the best society of the whites +becomes as academic and futile as would be similar contentions as to +whether the best society of Constantinople is inferior or superior to +that of Boston. + +While Negroes are more and more drawing apart from the whites into +their own section of the city, town, or county they nevertheless find +it a source of strength to live near the whites in order that they may +have the benefit of their aid in those matters in which the older and +stronger race excels. Nor is this an entirely one-sided advantage, as +there are not a few matters in which the Negroes have natural +advantages over the whites and hence may render them useful service. +Thus the two races, socially separated but economically +interdependent, may to mutual advantage live side by side. + +Some persons claim that any such plan of race adjustment, while +theoretically plausible and ideally desirable, is nevertheless +practically impossible. They contend that no so radically different +races have ever lived side by side in harmony and each aiding the +other. However that may be, there remains the fact that such a +harmonious and mutually helpful relationship between the two races +does already exist in the town of Tuskegee, throughout Macon County, +and in many other of the more progressive localities throughout the +South to-day. And at the same time, the lynchings and riots and other +manifestations of racial conflict are continuously if slowly growing +less frequent. Whatever may be the relative strength of the two +theories, the facts are lining up in support of the Booker Washington +prophecy at the Atlanta Exposition when he said: "In all things that +are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the +hand in all things essential to mutual progress." + +During the last twenty years of his life Mr. Washington came more and +more to be regarded as the representative and spokesman of his race, +and was invited to represent and speak for them at such national and +international gatherings as the annual conventions of the National +Negro Business League, of which he was the president and founder; the +great meeting in honor of the brotherhood of man, held in Boston in +1897; the Presbyterian rally for Home Missions, at which President +Grover Cleveland presided; the International Sunday-school Convention +held in Chicago in 1914; the meeting of the National Educational +Association in St. Louis in 1904; the Thanksgiving Peace Jubilee in +the Chicago Auditorium at the close of the war with Spain in 1898, +with President McKinley and his Cabinet in attendance; the +Commencement exercises at Harvard in 1896, when President Eliot +conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts; the International +Conference on the Negro, held at Tuskegee in 1912, with +representatives present from Europe, Africa, the West Indies, and +South America, as well as all sections of the United States. Dartmouth +College conferred his Doctorate upon him in 1901. + +At Harvard in 1896 President Eliot, with these words, conferred upon +Mr. Washington the first honorary degree ever conferred by a great +university upon an American Negro: "Teacher, wise helper of his race; +good servant of God and country." In his speech delivered at the +Alumni Dinner on the same day Mr. Washington brought this message to +Harvard: "If through me, an humble representative, seven millions of +my people in the South might be permitted to send a message to +Harvard--Harvard that offered up on death's altar young Shaw, and +Russell, and Lowell, and scores of others, that we might have a free +and united country--that message would be: 'Tell them that the +sacrifice was not in vain. Tell them that by the way of the shop, the +field, the skilled hand, habits of thrift and economy, by way of +industrial school and college, we are coming. We are crawling up, +working up, yea, bursting up. Often through oppression, unjust +discrimination, and prejudice, but through them all we are coming up, +and with proper habits, intelligence, and property, there is no power +on earth that can permanently stay our progress!'" + +The next year at the great meeting in honor of the brotherhood of man +held in Music Hall, Boston, which concluded with the unveiling of the +monument of Robert Gould Shaw, Booker Washington in concluding his +address turned to the one-armed color bearer of Colonel Shaw's +regiment and said: "To you, to the scarred and scattered remnants of +the Fifty-fourth, who with empty sleeve and wanting leg have honored +this occasion with your presence--to you, your commander is not dead. +Though Boston erected no monument, and history recorded no story, in +you and the loyal race which you represent Robert Gould Shaw will have +a monument which time cannot wear away." + +In his speech at the Peace Jubilee exercises after the war with Spain, +Mr. Washington said: "When you have gotten the full story of the +heroic conduct of the Negro in the Spanish-American War--heard it from +the lips of Northern soldiers and Southern soldiers, from +ex-abolitionist and ex-master--then decide within yourselves whether a +race that is thus willing to die for its country should not be given +the highest opportunity to live for its country." And again in the +same speech, after rehearsing the successes of American arms, he said: +"We have succeeded in every conflict, except the effort to conquer +ourselves in the blotting out of racial prejudices.... Until we thus +conquer ourselves, I make no empty statement when I say that we shall +have, especially in the Southern part of our country, a cancer gnawing +at the heart of the Republic that shall one day prove as dangerous as +an attack from an army without or within." Note this as the language +of a man on a great national occasion who has been accused of a +time-serving acquiescence in the injustices which his race suffers! + +In his address before the National Educational Association in St. +Louis, in 1904, he made the following remarks which are typical of +points he sought to emphasize when addressing audiences of white +people: "Let me free your minds, if I can, from possible fear and +apprehension in two directions: the Negro in this country does not +seek, as a race, to exercise political supremacy over the white man, +nor is social intermingling with any race considered by the Negro to +be one of the essentials to his progress. You may not know it, but my +people are as proud of their racial identity as you are of yours, and +in the degree that they become intelligent, racial pride increases. I +was never prouder of the fact that I am classed as a Negro than I am +to-day.... I can point you to groups of my people in nearly every part +of our country that in intelligence and high and unselfish purpose of +their school and church life, and in the purity and sweetness of their +home life and social intercourse, will compare favorably with the +races of the earth. You can never lift any large section of people by +continually calling attention to their weak points. A race, like a +child in school, needs encouragement as well as chastisement." + +In his address before the annual session of 1914 of the National Negro +Business League at Muskogee, Oklahoma, Mr. Washington made the +following remarks which are typical of his points of chief emphasis in +addressing his own people: "Let your success thoroughly eclipse your +shortcomings. We must give the world so much to think and talk about +that relates to our constructive work in the direction of progress +that people will forget and overlook our failures and shortcomings.... +One big, definite fact in the direction of achievement and +construction will go farther in securing rights and removing +prejudice than many printed pages of defense and explanation.... Let +us in the future spend less time talking about the part of the city +that we cannot live in, and more time in making that part of the city +that we can live in beautiful and attractive." + +It is characteristic of the kind of criticism to which Mr. Washington +was subjected that a certain element of the Negro press violently +denounced this comment as an indirect endorsement of the legal +segregation of Negroes. Probably the last article written by Mr. +Washington for any publication was the one published posthumously by +the _New Republic_, New York City, December 4, 1915, entitled, "My +View of Segregation Laws," in which he stated in no uncertain terms +his views on the segregation laws which were being passed in the +South. In concluding his article, he said: + +"Summarizing the matter in the large, segregation is ill-advised +because: + +1. It is unjust. + +2. It invites other unjust measures. + +3. It will not be productive of good, because practically every +thoughtful Negro resents its injustice and doubts its sincerity. Any +race adjustment based on injustice finally defeats itself. The Civil +War is the best illustration of what results where it is attempted to +make wrong right or seem to be right. + +4. It is unnecessary. + +5. It is inconsistent. The Negro is segregated from his white +neighbor, but white business men are not prevented from doing business +in Negro neighborhoods. + +6. There has been no case of segregation of Negroes in the United +States that has not widened the breach between the two races. Wherever +a form of segregation exists it will be found that it has been +administered in such a way as to embitter the Negro and harm more or +less the moral fibre of the white man. That the Negro does not express +this constant sense of wrong is no proof that he does not feel it. + +"It seems to me that the reasons given above, if carefully considered, +should serve to prevent further passage of such segregation ordinances +as have been adopted in Norfolk, Richmond, Louisville, Baltimore, and +one or two cities in South Carolina. + +"Finally, as I have said in another place, as white and black learn +daily to adjust, in a spirit of justice and fair play, these interests +which are individual and racial, and to see and feel the importance of +those fundamental interests which are common, so will both races grow +and prosper. In the long run, no individual and no race can succeed +which sets itself at war against the common good; for in the gain or +loss of one race all the rest have equal claim." + +In concluding his Muskogee speech he said: "If there are those who are +inclined to be discouraged concerning racial conditions in this +country we have but to turn our minds in the direction of the +deplorable conditions in Europe, growing largely out of racial +bitterness and friction. When we contrast what has taken place there +with the peaceful manner in which black people and white people are +living together in this country, notwithstanding now and then there +are evidences of injustice and friction, which should always be +condemned, we have the greatest cause for thanksgiving. Perhaps +nowhere else in the world can be found so many white people living +side by side with so many of dark skin in so much of peace and harmony +as in the United States." + +This concluding observation was particularly characteristic of him. +Somewhere, or somehow, he always turned to account all significant +events for weal or woe from the most trivial personal happenings to +the titanic world war. + +Like all great leaders, Booker Washington did the bulk of his work +quietly in his own office and not on dramatic historic occasions +before great audiences. He received every day, for instance, a huge +and varied mail which required not only industry to handle, but much +judgment, patience, and tact to dispose of wisely and adequately. We +will here mention and quote from a sheaf of letters taken at random +from his files which partially illustrate the range of his interests +and the variety of the calls which were constantly made upon him. + +A railroad official in Colorado asked his opinion on the question of +separate schools for white and black children apropos of a movement to +amend the State constitution so as to make possible such separate +schools. In his reply Mr. Washington said: "As a rule, colored people +in the Northern States are very much opposed to any plans for +separate schools, and I think their feelings in the matter deserve +consideration. The real objection to separate schools, from their +point of view, is that they do not like to feel that they are +compelled to go to one school rather than the other. It seems as if it +was taking away part of their freedom. This feeling is likely to be +all the stronger where the matter is made a subject of public +agitation. On the other hand, my experience is that if this matter is +left to the discretion of the school officials it usually settles +itself. As the colored people usually live pretty closely together, +there will naturally be schools in which colored students are in the +majority. In that case, the process of separation takes place +naturally and without the necessity of changing the constitution. If +you make it a constitutional question, the colored people are going to +be opposed to it. If you leave it simply an administrative question, +which it really is, the matter will very likely settle itself." + +We next find a courteous reply to the letter of some poor crank who +wanted to secure his backing for a preparation which he had concocted +for taking the curl out of Negroes' hair. Then comes a letter to a man +who wants to know whether it is true that the Negro race is dying out. +To him Mr. Washington quoted the United States census figures for +1910, which indicate an increase of 11-3/10 per cent. in the Negro +population for the decade. + +Next, we come upon a letter written to a man who is interested in an +effort of the Freedman's Aid Society to raise a half a million dollars +for Negro schools in the South. Since this letter so well describes +an important phase of Booker Washington's leadership we give it almost +in full. It was written in 1913 and runs thus: + +"I think the most interesting work that Tuskegee has done in recent +years is its work in rural schools in the country surrounding the +Institute. During the last five or six years forty-seven school +buildings have been erected in Macon County by colored people +themselves. At the same time the school term has been lengthened in +every part of the county from five to eight months. This work has been +done under the direction of a supervising teacher working in +connection with the extension department of the Institute. + +"Among other things that have been attempted to encourage the people +to improve their schools has been a model country school started in a +community called Rising Star, a few miles from the Institute. The +school at Rising Star is an example of the rural school that Tuskegee +is seeking to promote. It consists of a five-room frame house in which +the teachers--a Tuskegee graduate and his wife--not only teach, but +live. All the rooms are used by the school children. In the kitchen +they are taught to cook, in the dining-room to serve a meal, in the +bedroom to make the beds. In the garden they are taught how to raise +vegetables, poultry, pigs, and cows. They recite in the sitting-room +or on the veranda, and their lessons all deal with matters of their +own every-day life.... Instead of figuring how long it will take an +express train to reach the moon if it travelled at the rate of forty +miles an hour, the pupils figure out how much corn can be raised on +neighbor Smith's patch of land and how much farmer Jones' pig will +bring when slaughtered. + +"The pupils learn neatness and cleanliness by living in a decent home +during their school hours. They carry the lesson home, and the result +is seen in cleaner and better farmhouses. The model school has become +the pattern on which the farmers and their wives are improving their +homes...." + +Then comes a letter from a poor woman who wants him in the course of +his travels to look up her husband who abandoned her some years +before. For purposes of identification she says: "This is the hith of +him 5-6 light eyes dark hair unwave shave and a Suprano Voice his age +58 his name Steve...." Even though Mr. Washington did not agree to +spend his spare time looking for a disloyal husband with a soprano +voice, he sent the poor woman a kind reply and suggested some means of +tracing her recreant spouse. + +We come next upon a long letter written to a man who wishes to quote +for publication in a magazine Booker Washington's opinion on the +relation between crime and education. In the concluding paragraphs of +his reply Mr. Washington says: "In nine cases out of ten the crimes +which serve to unite and give an excuse for mob violence are committed +by men who are without property, without homes, and without education +except what they have picked up in the city slums, in prisons, or on +the chain gang. The South is spending too much money in giving the +Negro this kind of education that makes criminals and not enough on +the kind of schools that turn out farmers, carpenters, and +blacksmiths. Other things being equal, it is true not only in America, +in the South, but throughout the world, that there is the least crime +where there is the most education. This is true of the South and of +the Negro, just the same as it is true of every other race. +Particularly is it true that the individuals who commit crimes of +violence and crimes that are due to lack of self-control are +individuals who are, for the most part, ignorant. The decrease in +lynching in the Southern States is an index of the steady growth of +the South in wealth, in industry, in education, and in individual +liberty." + +Then comes a letter to an individual who desires to know what +proportion of the American Negroes can read and write now, and what +proportion could at the time of the Civil War. The reply again quotes +the 1910 census to the effect that 69.5 per cent. can now read and +write as compared with only 3 per cent. at the close of the war. The +letter also points out that the rate of illiteracy among American +Negroes is now lower than the rate for all the peoples of Russia, +Portugal, Brazil, and Venezuela, and almost as low as that of Spain. + +There follows a sheaf of correspondence in which Mr. Washington agreed +to speak at the unveiling of a tablet in Auburn, New York, to the +memory of "Aunt Harriet" Tubman Davis, the black woman, squat of +stature and seamed of face, who piloted three or four hundred slaves +from the land of bondage to the land of freedom. While there he also +agreed to speak at Auburn prison in response to the special request of +some of the prisoners. + +Then we find a courteous but firmly negative reply to a long-winded +bore who writes a six-page letter urging Mr. Washington to secure the +acceptance by the Negro race of a flag which he has designed as their +racial flag. + +After this follows a group of letters which passed between him and the +late Edgar Gardiner Murphy, author of "The Present South," "The Basis +of Ascendency," and other important books. In one of these letters Mr. +Washington agrees, as requested, to read the proofs of "The Basis of +Ascendency," and in another he thus characteristically comments upon +Mr. Murphy's fears that a pessimistic book on the status of the Negro +written by a supposed authority (a colored man) would do wide-reaching +harm: "Of course among a certain element it will have an influence for +harm, but human nature, as I observe it, is so constructed that it +does not take kindly to a description of a failure. It is hard to get +up enthusiasm in connection with a funeral procession. No man, in my +opinion, could write a history of the Southern Confederacy that would +be read generally because it failed. I am not saying, of course, that +the Negro race is a failure. Mr. ---- writes largely from that point of +view, hence there is no rallying point for the general reader." + +In reply to a Western university professor who had asked his opinion +of amalgamation as a solution of the race problem he wrote: "I have +never looked upon amalgamation as offering a solution of the so-called +race problem, and I know very few Negroes who favor it or even think +of it, for that matter. What those whom I have heard discuss the +matter do object to are laws which enable the father to escape his +responsibility, or prevent him from accepting and exercising it, when +he has children by colored women. I think this answers your question, +but since there seems to be some misunderstanding as to how colored +people feel about this subject, I might say in explanation of what I +have already said: The Negroes in America are, as you know, a mixed +race. If that is an advantage we have it; if it is a disadvantage, it +is still ours, and for the simple reason that the product of every +sort of racial mixture between the black man and any other race is +always a Negro and never a white man, Indian, or any other sort of +man. + +"The Negro in America is defined by the census as a person who is +classed as such in the community in which he or she resides. In other +words, the Negro in this country is not so much of a particular color +or particular racial stock as one who shares a particular condition. +It is the fact that they all share in this condition which creates a +cause of common sympathy and binds the members of the race together in +spite of all differences." + +To an embarrassing question put by the society editor of some paper +Mr. Washington replied by merely telling a funny story the application +of which to the impertinent inquiry was obvious. In another letter he +summed up his opinion of the much-mooted question of the franchise in +these two sentences: "There is no reason why every Negro who is not +fitted to vote should not be disfranchised. At the same time, there +is no good reason why every white man who is not fitted to vote should +not also be disfranchised." + +From the foregoing correspondence it will be seen that one of Booker +Washington's many roles was to act as a kind of plenipotentiary and +interpreter between his people and the dominant race. For this part he +was peculiarly fitted by his thorough understanding of and sympathy +for each race. + +Theodore Roosevelt, immediately after taking the oath of office as +President of the United States, in Buffalo after the death of +President McKinley, wrote Mr. Washington the following note: + + [_Copy_] + + _Executive Mansion_ + + _Washington_ + + _Buffalo, N.Y.,_ + _Sept. 14, 1901._ + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: + + I write you at once to say that to my deep regret my visit + South must now be given up. + + When are you coming North? I must see you as soon as + possible. I want to talk over the question of possible + appointments in the South exactly on the lines of our last + conversation together. + + I hope that my visit to Tuskegee is merely deferred for a + short season. + + Faithfully yours, + + (Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + _Booker T. Washington, Esq.,_ + _Tuskegee, Alabama._ + +This deferred visit finally took place in 1905, not long after Colonel +Roosevelt's triumphant election to the Presidency, when he came to +Tuskegee accompanied by his secretary, William Loeb, Jr.; Federal +Civil Service Commissioner, John McIlhenny; Collector of Revenue for +the Birmingham District, J.O. Thompson; Judge Thomas G. Jones of +Montgomery, and a fellow Rough Rider by the name of Greeneway. + +In response to the above note Mr. Washington went to the White House +and discussed with the President "possible future appointments in the +South" along the lines agreed upon between them in a conference which +they had had at a time when it had seemed possible that Mr. Roosevelt +might be given the Republican Presidential nomination of 1900, that +is, while Mr. Roosevelt was Governor of New York and a tentative +candidate for the nomination. + +Upon his return to Tuskegee after this talk with President Roosevelt, +Mr. Washington found that the judgeship for the Southern District of +Alabama had just become vacant through the death of the incumbent, +Judge Bruce. Here was an opportunity for the President to put into +practice in striking fashion the policy they had discussed--namely, to +appoint to Federal posts in the Southern States the best men available +and to reward and recognize conspicuous merit among Southern Democrats +and Southern Negroes as well as among Southern white Republicans. +Being unable at the moment to return to Washington, he sent his +secretary with the following letter: + + _Tuskegee, Alabama,_ + _October 2, 1901._ + + President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C. + + MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I send you the following information + through my secretary, Mr. Emmett J. Scott, whom you can + trust implicitly. + + Judge Bruce, the Judge of the Middle District of Alabama, + died yesterday. There is going to be a very hard scramble + for his place. I saw ex-governor T.G. Jones yesterday, as I + promised, and he is willing to accept the judgeship of the + Middle District of Alabama. I am more convinced now than + ever that he is the proper man for the place. He has until + recently been president of the Alabama State Bar + Association. He is a Gold Democrat, and is a clean, pure man + in every respect. He stood up in the Constitutional + Convention and elsewhere for a fair election law, opposed + lynching, and he has been outspoken for the education of + both races. He is head and shoulders above any of the other + persons who I think will apply for the position. + + Yours truly, + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + P.S.--I do not believe in all the South you could select a + better man through whom to emphasize your idea of the + character of a man to hold office than you can do through + ex-governor Jones. + + [_Copy_] + +Mr. Scott described what occurred on his delivery of this letter in +the following report to his chief: + + _Washington, D.C.,_ + _October 4, 1901._ + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: I called to see the President this + morning. I found him all cordiality and brimming over with + good will for you. That pleased me much! He had received the + telegram and had made an appointment for me. He read your + letter, inquired if I knew the contents, and then launched + into a discussion of it. Wanted to know if Governor Jones + supported Bryan in either campaign. I told him _no_. He + wanted to know how I knew. I told him of the letter wherein + he (Governor Jones) stated to you that he was without + political ambition because he had opposed Bryan, etc. Well, + he said he wanted to hear from you direct as to whether he + had or not, and asked me to write you to find out. I am now + awaiting that wire so as to call again on him. As soon as I + see him again I will wire you and write you as to what he + says. He is going to appoint Governor Jones. That was made + apparent. While I was waiting to see him Senator Chandler + with the Spanish Claims Commission called. They saw him + first. I heard the talk, however, which was mostly + felicitation. Incidentally, however, Senator Chandler said + that the Commission was afraid it would lose one of its + members because of the vacancy in Alabama, referring to Hon. + W.L. Chambers, who was present and who is a member of the + Commission. The President laughed heartily. Said the Senator + always sprung recommendations unexpectedly, and so forth and + so forth. He did not inquire as to any of the others--the + applicants--seemed interested only to find out about + Governor Jones.... There were many correspondents there at + the door, but I told them I was passing through to Buffalo, + but had stopped over to invite the President to include + Tuskegee in his itinerary when he goes South again.... Will + write again when I see the President again. + + Yours sincerely, + + (Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT. + +As soon as he had received Dr. Washington's telegram in reply, Mr. +Scott went again to the White House and wrote thus of his second call: + + [_Copy_] + + _Washington, D.C.,_ + _October 5, 1901._ + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: You have my telegram of to-day. I + sent it as soon as I had seen the President. I had a + three-hour wait to see him and it was tiresome, but I + "camped with them." When admitted to the general reception + room the President met me and was cordial and asked me to + wait awhile, till he could dismiss two delegations, then he + invited me into the office, or cabinet room, and read very + carefully the telegram received from you last night--Friday + night. His face was a study. He was greatly surprised to + learn that the Governor voted for Bryan, and walked about + considerably. At last he said, "Well, I guess I'll have to + appoint him, but I am awfully sorry he voted for Bryan." He + then asked me who Dr. Crum[1] is and I told him that he was + a clean representative character, and that he was favorably + considered by Harrison for the Charleston postmastership, + etc. He did not know him and asked me what place was + referred to. You had not discussed it with me, but I told + him you most likely referred to the place made vacant by the + death of Webster. He then called Mr. Cortelyou, Secretary, + into the office and asked him if he knew Crum. He said he + didn't but that he had heard of him and always favorably. + The President then asked Cortelyou what place a man named B. + was being considered for, and he said the place made vacant + by Webster's death. He then turned to me and said that he + was sorry, that he would certainly have considered the + matter if he had had your word earlier. He asked me to tell + you that if you wish Dr. Crum considered for any other place + that he will be glad to have you communicate with him. I + then asked him what I should tell you in the Governor Jones' + matter, and he said: "Tell Mr. Washington without using my + name that party will most likely be appointed--in fact I + will appoint him--only don't make it that strong by wire." + So I consider the matter closed. + + The colored brethren here are scared. They don't know what + to expect, and the word has passed, they say, that you are + the "Warwick" so far as they are concerned. I hope to find + you well in Chicago. + + Sincerely yours, + + (Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT. + +[Footnote 1: This refers to a suggestion made by Mr. Washington in his +telegram recommending the appointment of Dr. W.D. Crum, a colored +physician, to a South Carolina vacancy, so that the President could +thereby announce at the same time the appointment of a first-grade +Southern white Democrat and a first-class colored man.] + +This precedent-breaking appointment of a Southern Democrat by a +Republican President, made primarily on the recommendation of Booker +Washington and Grover Cleveland, was acclaimed with enthusiastic +approval by all Democrats everywhere, and in fact there was no +dissenting voice except from the officeholding Southern Republicans +who naturally resented this encroachment upon what they regarded as +their patronage rights. At first appreciation was almost universal of +the efforts of the Negro leader in helping a Republican President to +make this far-reaching change in the Federal officeholding traditions +of the South. Soon, however, some Southern newspapers began to +question the wisdom of allowing a Negro to have even an advisory voice +in political matters notwithstanding his advice had in this instance +been so acceptable to the South. This criticism grew so insistent that +Judge Jones found himself in an uncomfortable position because his +appointment had been made, in large part, on the recommendation of a +Negro. He tried to soften the situation by giving out a statement to +the effect that his endorsement by representative white men would +probably have assured his appointment even without the assistance of +Booker Washington. Later, however, the Judge expressed to Mr. Scott +privately, after listening with deep interest to the recital of all +the incidents connected with his appointment, his appreciation of what +Booker Washington had done for him. + +Aside from this appointment, Booker Washington had a voice in many +others, including those of Gen. R.D. Johnson as Receiver of Public +Moneys at Birmingham, Colonel Thomas R. Roulhac as United States +District Judge, and Judge Osceola Kyle of Alabama as United States +District Attorney in the Panama Canal Zone. During the administrations +of both Presidents Roosevelt and Taft hardly an office of consequence +was conferred upon a Negro without first consulting Mr. Washington. He +did not strive through his influence with Presidents Roosevelt and +Taft to increase the number of Negro appointees, but rather to raise +the personnel of Negro officeholders. During the period when his +advice was most constantly sought at the White House, Charles W. +Anderson was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Second +District of New York City; J.C. Napier of Nashville, Tenn., became +Register of the Treasury; William H. Lewis of Boston was appointed +successively Assistant United States District Attorney and Assistant +Attorney-General of the United States; Robert H. Terrell was given a +Municipal Judgeship of the District of Columbia; Whitefield McKinlay +was made Collector of the Port for the Georgetown District, District +of Columbia; Dr. W.D. Crum was appointed Collector of Customs for the +Port of Charleston, S.C.; Ralph W. Tyler, Auditor for the Navy +Department at Washington, D.C.; James A. Cobb, Special Assistant U.S. +Attorney in charge of the enforcement of the Pure Food Law for the +District of Columbia, and Charles A. Cottrell, Collector of Internal +Revenue for the District of Hawaii at Honolulu. In all these notably +excellent appointments Mr. Washington had a voice. + +In 1903, in commenting on a speech of Mr. Washington's in which he had +emphasized the importance of quality rather than quantity in Negro +appointments, President Roosevelt wrote him as follows: + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: That is excellent; and you have put + epigrammatically just what I am doing--that is, though I + have rather reduced the quantity I have done my best to + raise the quality of the Negro appointments. With high regard. + + Sincerely yours, + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +WASHINGTON: THE EDUCATOR + + +The Tuskegee Commencement exercises dramatize education. They enable +plain men and women to visualize in the concrete that vague word which +means so little to them in the abstract. More properly they dramatize +the identity between real education and actual life. On the platform +before the audience is a miniature engine to which steam has been +piped, a miniature frame house in course of construction, and a piece +of brick wall in process of erection. A young man in jumpers comes +onto the platform, starts the engine and blows the whistle, whereupon +young men and women come hurrying from all directions, and each turns +to his or her appointed task. A young carpenter completes the little +house, a young mason finishes the laying of the brick wall, a young +farmer leads forth a cow and milks her in full view of the audience, a +sturdy blacksmith shoes a horse, and after this patient, educative +animal has been shod he is turned over to a representative of the +veterinary division to have his teeth filed. At the same time on the +opposite side of the platform one of the girl students is having a +dress fitted by one of her classmates who is a dressmaker. She at +length walks proudly from the platform in her completed new gown, +while the young dressmaker looks anxiously after her to make sure that +it "hangs right behind." Other girls are doing washing and ironing +with the drudgery removed in accordance with advanced Tuskegee +methods. Still others are hard at work on hats, mats, and dresses, +while boys from the tailoring department sit crosslegged working on +suits and uniforms. In the background are arranged the finest +specimens which scientific agriculture has produced on the farm and +mechanical skill has turned out in the shops. The pumpkin, potatoes, +corn, cotton, and other agricultural products predominate, because +agriculture is the chief industry at Tuskegee just as it is among the +Negro people of the South. + +This form of commencement exercise is one of Booker Washington's +contributions to education which has been widely copied by schools for +whites as well as blacks. That it appeals to his own people is +eloquently attested by the people themselves who come in ever-greater +numbers as the commencement days recur. At three o'clock in the +morning of this great day vehicles of every description, each loaded +to capacity with men, women, and children, begin to roll in in an +unbroken line which sometimes extends along the road for three miles. +Some of the teachers at times objected to turning a large area of the +Institute grounds into a hitching-post station for the horses and +mules of this great multitude, but to all such objections Mr. +Washington replied, "This place belongs to the people and not to us." +Less than a third of these eight to nine thousand people are able +to crowd into the chapel to see the actual graduation exercises, but +all can see the graduation procession as it marches through the +grounds to the chapel and all are shown through the shops and over the +farm and through the special agricultural exhibits, and even through +the offices, including that of the principal. It is significant of the +respect in which the people hold the Institute, and in which they held +Booker Washington, that in all these years there has never been on +these occasions a single instance of drunkenness or disorderly +conduct. + +[Illustration: Showing some of the teams of farmers attending the +Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference.] + +In his annual report to the trustees for 1914 Mr. Washington said of +these commencement exercises: "One of the problems that constantly +confronts us is that of making the school of real service to these +people on this one day when they come in such large numbers. For many +of them it is the one day in the year when they go to school, and we +ought to find a way to make the day of additional value to them. I +very much hope that in the near future we shall find it possible to +erect some kind of a large pavilion which shall serve the purpose of +letting these thousands see something of our exercises and be helped +by them." + +The philosophy symbolized by such graduation exercises as we have +described may best be shown by quoting Mr. Washington's own words in +an article entitled, "Industrial Education and the Public Schools," +which was published in the _Annals of the American Academy of +Political and Social Science_ for September of the year 1913. In this +article Mr. Washington says: "If I were asked what I believe to be +the greatest advance which Negro education has made since emancipation +I should say that it has been in two directions: first, the change +which has taken place among the masses of the Negro people as to what +education really is; and, second, the change that has taken place +among the masses of the white people in the South toward Negro +education itself. + +"I can perhaps make clear what I mean by a little explanation: the +Negro learned in slavery to work but he did not learn to respect +labor. On the contrary, the Negro was constantly taught, directly and +indirectly during slavery times, that labor was a curse. It was the +curse of Canaan, he was told, that condemned the black man to be for +all time the slave and servant of the white man. It was the curse of +Canaan that made him for all time 'a hewer of wood and drawer of +water.' The consequence of this teaching was that, when emancipation +came, the Negro thought freedom must, in some way, mean freedom from +labor. + +"The Negro had also gained in slavery some general notions in regard +to education. He observed that the people who had education for the +most part belonged to the aristocracy, to the master class, while the +people who had little or no education were usually of the class known +as 'poor whites.' In this way education became associated in his mind +with leisure, with luxury, and freedom from the drudgery of work with +the hands.... + +"In order to make it possible to put Negro education on a sound and +rational basis it has been necessary to change the opinion of the +masses of the Negro people in regard to education and labor. It has +been necessary to make them see that education, which did not, +directly or indirectly, connect itself with the practical daily +interests of daily life could hardly be called education. It has been +necessary to make the masses of the Negroes see and realize the +necessity and importance of applying what they learned in school to +the common and ordinary things of life; to see that education, far +from being a means of escaping labor, is a means of raising up and +dignifying labor and thus indirectly a means of raising up and +dignifying the common and ordinary man. It has been necessary to teach +the masses of the people that the way to build up a race is to begin +at the bottom and not at the top, to lift the man furthest down, and +thus raise the whole structure of society above him. On the other +hand, it has been necessary to demonstrate to the white man in the +South that education does not 'spoil' the Negro, as it has been so +often predicted that it would. It was necessary to make him actually +see that education makes the Negro not an idler or spendthrift, but a +more industrious, thrifty, law-abiding, and useful citizen than he +otherwise would be." + +The commencement exercises which we have described are one of the +numerous means evolved by Booker Washington to guide the masses of his +own people, as well as the Southern whites, to a true conception of +the value and meaning of real education for the Negro. + +The correlation between the work of farm, shop, and classroom, first +applied by General Armstrong at Hampton, was developed on an even +larger scale by his one-time student, Booker Washington. The students +at Tuskegee are divided into two groups: the day students who work in +the classroom half the week and the other half on the farm and in the +shops, and the night students who work all day on the farm or in the +shops and then attend school at night. The day school students pay a +small fee in cash toward their expenses, while the night school +students not only pay no fee but by good and diligent work gradually +accumulate a credit at the school bank which, when it becomes +sufficiently large, enables them to become day school students. In +fact, the great majority of the day students have thus fought their +way in from the night school. But all students of both groups thus +receive in the course of a week a fairly even balance between theory +and practice. + +[Illustration: An academic class. A problem in brick masonry. Mr. +Washington always insisted upon correlation; that is, drawing the +problem from the various shops and laboratories.] + +In a corner of each of the shops, in which are carried on the forty or +more different trades, is a blackboard on which are worked out the +actual problems which arise in the course of the work. After school +hours one always finds in the shops a certain number of the teachers +from the Academic Department looking up problems for their classes for +the next day. A physics teacher may be found in the blacksmithing shop +digging up problems about the tractive strength of wires and the +expansion and contraction of metals under heat and cold. A teacher of +chemistry may be found in the kitchen of the cooking school unearthing +problems relating to the chemistry of food for her class the next +day. If, on the other hand, you go into a classroom you will find the +shop is brought into the classroom just as the classroom has been +brought into the shop. For instance, in a certain English class the +topic assigned for papers was "a model house" instead of "bravery" or +"the increase of crime in cities," or "the landing of the Pilgrims." +The boys of the class had prepared papers on the architecture and +construction of a model house, while the girls' papers were devoted to +its interior decoration and furnishing. One of the girls described a +meal for six which she had actually prepared and the six had actually +consumed. The meal cost seventy-five cents. The discussion and +criticism which followed each paper had all the zest which vitally +practical and near-at-hand questions always arouse. + +When the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational +Association met in Atlanta, Ga., in 1904, many of the delegates, after +adjournment, visited the Tuskegee Institute. Among these delegates was +Prof. Paul Monroe of the Department of History and Principles of +Education of the Teachers' College of Columbia University. In +recording his impressions of his visit, Professor Monroe says: "My +interest in Tuskegee and a few similar institutions is founded on the +fact that here I find illustrated the two most marked tendencies which +are being formulated in the most advanced educational thought, but are +being worked out slowly and with great difficulty. These tendencies +are: first, the endeavor to draw the subject matter of education, or +the 'stuff' of schoolroom work, directly from the life of the pupils; +and second, to relate the outcome of education to life's activities, +occupations, and duties of the pupil in such a way that the connection +is made directly and immediately between schoolroom work and the other +activities of the person being educated. This is the ideal at +Tuskegee, and, to a much greater extent than in any other institution +I know of, the practice; so that the institution is working along not +only the lines of practical endeavor, but of the most advanced +educational thought. To such an extent is this true that Tuskegee and +Hampton are of quite as great interest to the student of education on +account of the illumination they are giving to educational theory as +they are to those interested practically in the elevation of the Negro +people and in the solution of a serious social problem. May I give +just one illustration of a concrete nature coming under my observation +while at the school, that will indicate the difference between the +work of the school and that which was typical under old conditions, or +is yet typical where the newer ideas, as so well grasped by Mr. +Washington, are not accepted? In a class in English composition two +boys, among others, had placed their written work upon the board, one +having written upon 'Honor' in the most stilted language, with various +historical references which meant nothing to himself or to his +classmates--the whole paragraph evidently being drawn from some +outside source; the other wrote upon 'My Trade--Blacksmithing'--and +told in a simple and direct way of his day's work, the nature of the +general course of training, and the use he expected to make of his +training when completed. No better contrast could be found between the +old ideas of formal language work, dominated by books and cast into +forms not understood or at least not natural to the youth, and the +newer ideas of simplicity, directness, and forcefulness in presenting +the account of one's own experience. Not only was this contrast an +illustration of the ideal of the entire education offered at Tuskegee +in opposition to that of the old, formal, 'literary' education as +imposed upon the colored race, but it gave in a nutshell a concept of +the new education. This one experience drawn from the life of the boy +and related directly to his life's duration and circumstances was +education in the truest sense; the other was not save as Mr. +Washington made it so in its failure...." + +Among the delegates was also Mr. A.L. Rafter, the Assistant +Superintendent of Schools of Boston, who in speaking at Tuskegee said: +"What Tuskegee is doing for you we are going to take on home to the +North. You are doing what we are talking about." In general, these +foremost educational experts of the dominant race looked to Booker +Washington and Tuskegee for leadership instead of expecting him or his +school to follow them. + +Booker Washington not only practised at Tuskegee this close relation +between school life and real life--and it is being continued now that +he is gone--but preached it whenever and wherever opportunity offered. +Some years ago, in addressing himself to those of his own students who +expected to become teachers, he said on this subject among other +things: "... colored parents depend upon seeing the results of +education in ways not true of the white parent. It is important that +the colored teacher on this account give special attention to bringing +school life into closer touch with real life. Any education is to my +mind 'high' which enables the individual to do the very best work for +the people by whom he is surrounded. Any education is 'low' which does +not make for character and effective service. + +"The average teacher in the public schools is very likely to yield to +the temptation of thinking that he is educating an individual when he +is teaching him to reason out examples in arithmetic, to prove +propositions in geometry, and to recite pages of history. He conceives +this to be the end of education. Herein is the sad deficiency in many +teachers who are not able to use history, arithmetic, and geometry as +means to an end. They get the idea that the student who has mastered a +certain number of pages in a textbook is educated, forgetting that +textbooks are at best but tools, and in many cases ineffective tools, +for the development of man.... + +"The average parent cannot appreciate how many examples Johnny has +worked out that day, how many questions in history he has answered; +but when he says, 'Mother, I cannot go back to that school until all +the buttons are sewed on my coat,' the parent will at once become +conscious of school influence in the home. This will be the best kind +of advertisement. The button propaganda tends to make the teacher a +power in the community. A few lessons in applied chemistry will not +be amiss. Take grease spots, for example. The teacher who with tact +can teach his pupils to keep even threadbare clothes neatly brushed +and free from grease spots is extending the school influence into the +home and is adding immeasurably to the self-respect of the home."[2] + +[Footnote 2: From "Putting the Most Into Life," by Booker T. +Washington. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., Publishers.] + +The idea that education is a matter of personal habits of cleanliness, +industry, integrity, and right conduct while of course not original +with Booker Washington was perhaps further developed and more +effectively emphasized by him than by any other American educator. +Just as Matthew Arnold insisted that religion was a matter of conduct +rather than forms and dogmas so Booker Washington held that education +is a matter of character and not forms. He concluded one of his Sunday +night talks to his students with these words: "I want every Tuskegee +student as he finds his place in the surging industrial life about him +to give heed to the things which are 'honest and just and pure and of +good report,' for these things make for character, which is the only +thing worth fighting for...." In another of these talks he said: "A +student should not be satisfied with himself until he has grown to the +point where, when simply sweeping a room, he can go into the corners +and crevices and remove the hidden trash which, although it should be +left, would not be seen. It is not very hard to find people who will +thoroughly clean a room which is going to be occupied, or wash a dish +which is to be handled by strangers; but it is hard to find a person +who will do a thing right when the eyes of the world are not likely to +look upon what has been done. The cleaning of rooms and the washing of +dishes have much to do with forming characters."[3] + +[Footnote 3: "Sowing and Reaping," by Booker T. Washington. L.C. Page +& Co., Boston, Publishers.] + +This recalls Booker Washington's own experience when as a ragged and +penniless youth he applied for admission to Hampton and was given a +room to sweep by way of an entrance examination. Indeed, one of Booker +Washington's greatest sources of strength as a teacher lay in the fact +that his own life not only illustrated the truth of his assertions, +but illustrated it in a striking and dramatic manner. His life was, in +fact, an epitome of the hardships, struggles, and triumphs of the +successful members of his race from the days of slavery to the present +time. A great believer in the power of example he lived a life which +gave him that power in its highest degree. Because of his inherent +modesty and good taste he never referred to himself or his +achievements as examples to be emulated, and this merely further +enhanced their power. + +In concluding another Sunday night talk he said: "As a race we are +inclined, I fear, to make too much of the day of judgment. We have the +idea that in some far-off period there is going to be a great and +final day of judgment, when every individual will be called up, and +all his bad deeds will be read out before him and all his good deeds +made known. I believe that every day is a day of judgment, that we +reap our rewards daily, and that whenever we sin we are punished by +mental and physical anxiety and by a weakened character that separates +us from God. Every day is, I take it, a day of judgment, and as we +learn God's laws and grow into His likeness we shall find our reward +in this world in a life of usefulness and honor. To do this is to have +found the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of character and +righteousness and peace."[4] + +[Footnote 4: From "Putting the Most Into life," by Booker T. +Washington. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., Publishers.] + +To quote once more from these Sunday night talks, in another he said: +"There is, then, opportunity for the colored people to enrich the +material life of their adopted country by doing what their hands find +to do, minor duties though they be, so well that nobody of any race +can do them better. This is the aim that the Tuskegee student should +keep steadily before him. If he remembers that all service, however +lowly, is true service, an important step will have been taken in the +solution of what we term 'the race problem.'" + +As is shown by these quotations Booker Washington used these Sunday +night talks to crystalize, interpret, and summarize the meaning and +significance of the kind of education which Tuskegee gives. He, the +supreme head of the institution, reserved to himself this supremely +important task. The heads of the manifold trades are naturally and +properly concerned primarily with turning raw boys and girls into good +workmen and workwomen. The academic teachers in the school are +similarly interested in helping them as students to secure a mastery +of their several subjects. The military commandants are concerned with +their ability to drill, march, carry themselves properly, and take +proper care of their persons and rooms. The physician is interested in +their physical health and the chaplain in their religious training. +Important as are all these phases of Tuskegee's training and closely +as he watched each Mr. Washington realized that they might all be well +done and yet Tuskegee fail in its supreme purpose: namely, the making +of manly men and womanly women out of raw boys and girls. As he said +in one of the passages quoted, "character is the only thing worth +fighting for." Now, while the forming of character is the aim, and in +some appreciable degree the achievement, of every worth-while +educational institution, it is to a peculiar degree the aim and the +achievement of Tuskegee. The ten million Negroes in the United States +need trained leaders of their own race more than they need anything +else. Whatever else they should or should not have these leaders must +have character. Since Tuskegee is the largest of the educational +institutions for Negroes, with the man at its head who was commonly +recognized as the leader of leaders in his race, naturally the +heaviest responsibility in the training of these leaders fell, and +will continue to fall, upon Tuskegee. Consequently the task at +Tuskegee is not so much to educate so many thousands of young men and +women as to train as many leaders for the Negro people as can possibly +be done and done well within a given space of time. These Tuskegee +graduates lead by the power of example and not by agitation. One runs +a farm and achieves so much more success than his neighbors, through +his better methods, that they gradually adopt these methods and with +his help apply them to their own conditions. Another teaches a country +school and does it so much better than the average country school +teacher that his or her school comes to be regarded as a model to be +emulated by the other schools of the locality. When a Tuskegee girl +marries and settles in a community she keeps her house so much cleaner +and in every way more attractive than the rank and file of her +neighbors that gradually her house and her methods of housekeeping +become the standard for the neighborhood. There is, however, nothing +of the "holier than thou" or the complaisant about the true Tuskegee +graduate and neither is there anything monopolistic. They have had the +idea of service thoroughly drilled into their consciousness--the idea +that their advantages of education are, as it were, a trust which they +are to administer for the benefit of those who have not had such +advantages. + +Now such leaders as these must not only be provided if the so-called +race problem is to be solved, but they must be provided speedily. In +every community in which the black people are ignorant and vicious and +without trained leaders among themselves they are likely at any time +to come into conflict with the dominant race, and every such conflict +engenders bitterness on both sides and makes just so much more +difficult the final solution of the race problem. This is why Booker +Washington labored so incessantly to increase the quantity of +Tuskegee's output as well as to maintain the quality. He brought +Tuskegee to the point where it reached through all its courses +including its summer courses, short courses, and extension courses, +more than 4,000 people in a single year, not counting the well-nigh +innumerable hosts he counseled with on his State educational tours. In +short, Booker Washington's task at Tuskegee was not only to turn out +good leaders for his people, but to turn them out wholesale and as +fast as possible. He was, as it were, running a race with the powers +of ignorance, poverty, and vice. This in part accounted for the sense +of terrific pressure which one felt at Tuskegee, particularly when he +was present and personally driving forward his great educational +machine. This also may have accounted for the seeming lack of finesse +in small matters which occasionally annoyed critical visitors who did +not understand that the great institution was racing under the spur of +its indomitable master, and that just as in any race all but +essentials must be thrown aside. + +Long before the University of Wisconsin had, through its extension +courses, extended its opportunities in greater or less degree to the +citizens of the entire State, Booker Washington, through similar +means, had extended the advantages of Tuskegee throughout Macon County +in particular and the State of Alabama and neighboring States in +general. + +The extension work of Tuskegee began in a small way over twenty years +ago. It preceded even the work of the demonstration agents of the +United States Department of Agriculture. There was first only one man +who in his spare time went out among the farming people and tried to +arouse enthusiasm for better methods of farming, better schools, and +better homes. He was followed by a committee of three members of the +Tuskegee faculty, which committee still directs the work. One of the +first efforts of this committee was to get the farmers to adopt deep +plowing. There was not a two-horse plow to be found. There was a +strong prejudice against deep plowing which was thus expressed by a +Negro preacher farmer whom one of the committee tried to persuade: "We +don't want deep plowing. You're fixin' for us to have no soil. If we +plow deep it will all wash away and in a year or two we will have to +clear new ground." Not long after this a member of the committee with +a two-horse plow was practising what he had been preaching when a +white planter who was passing stopped and said: "See here, its none of +my business of course, but you're new here and I don't want to see you +fail. But if you plow your land deep like that you'll ruin it sure. I +know. I've been here." + +After a time, however, the committee persuaded a few colored farmers +to try deep plowing on a small scale as an experiment. One of the +first of these was a poor man who had had the hardest kind of a +struggle scraping a scant existence out of the soil for himself and +his large family. He was desperate and agreed to try the new method. +He got results the first year, moved on to better land and followed +instructions. In a few years he bought 500 acres of land, gave each of +his four sons 100 acres, and kept 100 acres for himself. Since then +father and sons alike have been prosperous and contented and have +added to their holdings. + +In short, these Negro farmers were no more eager to be reformed and +improved in their methods than are any normal people. There is a +shallow popular sentiment that unless people are eager for +enlightenment and gratefully receive what is offered them they should +be left unenlightened. Booker Washington never shared this sentiment. +His agent reported that in response to their appeals for the raising +of a better grade of cattle, hogs, and fowl the farmers replied that +the stock they had was good enough. One of their favorite comments +was, "When you eat an egg what difference does it make to you whether +that egg was laid by a full-blooded fowl or a mongrel?" Instead of +being discouraged or disgusted by this attitude on the part of the +people he merely regarded it as what was to be expected and set about +devising means to overcome it. As always he placed his chief reliance +upon the persuasive eloquence of the concrete. He decided to send +blooded stock and properly raised products around among the farmers so +that they might compare them with their inferior stock and products +and see the difference with their own eyes. This plan was later +carried out through the Jesup Wagon contributed by the late Morris K. +Jesup of New York. This wagon was a peripatetic farmers' school. It +took a concentrated essence of Tuskegees' agricultural department to +the farmers who could not or would not come to Tuskegee. + +The wagon was drawn by a well-bred and well-fed mule. A good breed of +cow was tied behind. Several chickens of good breeds, well-developed +ears of corn, stalks of cotton, bundles of oats and seeds, and garden +products, which ought at the time to be growing in the locality, +together with a proper plow, for deep plowing, were loaded upon the +wagon. The driver would pull up before a farmhouse, deliver his +message, and point out the strong points of his wagonload and would +finally request a strip of ground for cultivation. This request +granted he would harness the mule to the plow, break the ground deep, +make his rows, plant his seeds, and move on to the next locality. With +a carefully planned follow-up system he would return to each such plot +for cultivation and harvest, and, most important of all, to +demonstrate the truths he had sought to impress upon the people by +word of mouth. Where the first driver sent out was a general farmer, +the second would be, let us say, a dairyman, the third a truck +gardener, and finally a poultry raiser would go; usually a woman, +since in the South women, for the most part, handle this phase of +farming. These agents also distribute pamphlets prepared by the +Agricultural Research Department of Tuskegee on such subjects as +school gardening, twenty-one ways to cook cowpeas, improvement of +rural schools, how to fight insect pests, cotton growing, etc. The +constant emphasis upon practice by no means entails any neglect of +theory. + +Besides this work there is each January for two weeks at Tuskegee the +regular Farmers' Short Course. Many of the country schools adjourn for +this period so that both teachers and pupils may attend. In this +course not only teachers and pupils, but fathers and mothers, sons +and daughters sit side by side in the classrooms receiving instruction +in stock raising, canning, poultry raising, and farming in all its +branches. There are special courses for the women and girls in the +care of children and in housekeeping. The following breezy +announcement is taken from the prospectus of this course for the year +1914: + + "_A creation of the farmer, by the farmers and for the + farmer._" + + "It meets the crying needs of thousands of our boys and + girls, fathers and mothers. + + "_It's free to all--no examination nor entrance fee is + required._ + + "It started 7 years ago with 11 students; the second year we + had 17, the third year we had 70, the fourth year we had + 490, and last year we had nearly 2,000. It is the only thing + of its kind for the betterment of the colored farmers. It + lasts for only 12 days. It comes at a time when you would be + celebrating Christmas.[5] In previous years the farmers have + walked from 3 to 6 miles to attend; many have come on + horseback, in wagons, and in buggies. You who live so that + you cannot come in daily can secure board near the school + for $2.50 per week. We expect 2,000 to 2,500 to enter this + year." + +[Footnote 5: There is a custom among the colored people, inherited +from the days of slavery, which is fortunately now drying out, to +celebrate Christmas for a period of a week or ten days by stopping +work and giving themselves over to a round of sprees.] + +And then as a further stimulus to attend there comes: + + "_Prizes will be given as follows:_ + + "A prize of $5 will be given to the person who makes the + greatest progress on all subjects taught. + + "A prize of $2 will be given to the person who is the best + judge of livestock. + + "A prize of $1 will be given to the person who shows the + best knowledge of the use and application of manures and + fertilizers. And so on through a further list of one-dollar + prizes for all the major activities of the Course." + +It will be noted that there is nothing stilted or academic about this +announcement. + +Immediately following this Farmers' Short Course comes the Annual +Farmers' Conference which holds its session in January of each year. +To enforce the lessons in canning, stock raising, gardening, and all +the other branches of farming, exhibits of the best products in each +activity are displayed before the audience of farmers and their +families, who number in all about 2,000. These exhibits are made and +explained by the farmers themselves. The man, woman, or child who has +produced the exhibit comes to the platform and explains in his or her +own way just how it was done. In these explanations much human nature +is thrown in. An amazingly energetic and capable woman had explained +at one of these gatherings how she had paid off the mortgage on their +farm by the proceeds from her eggs, her kitchen garden, and her +preserving in her spare moments when she was not helping her husband +in the cotton field, washing and dressing her six children, or +cooking, mending, washing, and scrubbing for the household. + +In conclusion she said: + +"Now my ole man he's an' old-fashion farmer an' he don' kere fur dese +modern notions, an' so I don't git no help from him, an' that makes +it hard for me 'cause it ain't nat'ral for der woman to lead. If I +could only git him to move I'd be happier jest ter foller him." While +these explanations are going on the farmers in the audience are +naturally saying to themselves over and over again, "I could do that!" +or "Why couldn't I do that?" + +One of Mr. Washington's chief aims was to increase the wants of his +people and at the same time increase their ability to satisfy them. In +other words, he believed in fermenting in their minds what might be +termed an effective discontent with their circumstances. With this +purpose in view he addressed to them at these conferences such +questions as the following: + +"What kind of house do you live in?" + +"Do you own that house?" + +"What kind of schoolhouse have you?" + +"Do you send your children to school regularly?" + +"How many months does your school run?" + +"Do you keep your teacher in the community?" + +"What kind of church have you?" + +"Where does your pastor live?" + +"Are your church, school, and home fences whitewashed?" + +The farmers who were asked these questions would make an inward +resolve that they would do what they could to put themselves in a +position to answer the same questions more satisfactorily another +year. + +Another feature of the work of Tuskegee beyond its own borders is that +of the Rural School Extension Department. Mr. Julius Rosenwald of +Chicago, one of the trustees of Tuskegee, has offered, through this +department, during a stated period of time, to add $300 to every $300 +the Negroes in rural communities of the South raise for the building +of a new and modern schoolhouse. Under this plan ninety-two modern +rural school buildings have already been constructed. At the close of +the time set Mr. Rosenwald will probably renew his offer for a further +period. The social by-products of this campaign, in teaching the +Negroes of these communities how to disregard their denominational and +other feuds in working together for a high civic purpose of common +advantage to all, and the friendly interest in Negro education +awakened among their white neighbors, have been almost if not quite as +important as the new schools themselves. + +There is also at Tuskegee a summer school for teachers in which last +year were registered 437 teachers from fifteen Southern and several +other States. Most of these teachers elect such practical subjects as +canning, basket-making, broom-making, shuck and pine needlework or +some form of manual training, as well as the teacher-training courses. +One of these students, who was the supervisor of the Negro schools of +an entire county, when she returned from her summer school work +proceeded to vivify her dead schools by introducing the making of +wash-boards, trash baskets, baskets made of weeping-willow, and pine +needle work in its various forms. The registration soared at once, the +indifferent Negro parents became interested, and before long the +parents of white children complained to the county superintendent +that the colored children were being taught more than their children. + +There is at the present time being developed at Tuskegee a unique +experiment in the nature of what might be called a post-graduate +school in real life for the graduates of the agricultural department. +This consists in providing such graduates, who have no property of +their own, with a forty-acre farm, on an 1,800-acre tract about nine +miles from Tuskegee, known as Baldwin Farms, after the late Wm. H. +Baldwin, Jr., who was one of the ablest and most devoted supporters +and advisers of Booker Washington and Tuskegee. The land is held by +the Tuskegee Farm and Improvement Company which is conducted on a +business and not a charitable basis. The company sells the farms at an +average price of $15 an acre, and purchasers who move directly on to +the land are given ten years in which to pay for it, with the first +payment at the end of the first year. If there is no house on the land +the company will put up a $300 house so planned as to permit the +addition of rooms and improvements as rapidly as the purchaser is able +to pay for them; the cost to be added to the initial cost of the land. +When the graduate lacks the money and equipment necessary to plant, +raise, and harvest crops, for this, too, the company will advance a +reasonable sum, taking as security a mortgage on crops and equipment +until the loan has been paid off. This mortgage bears interest at 8 +per cent. while the interest on the mortgage on the land is not more +than 6 per cent. Through cooperative effort within this colony it is +proposed to develop such organizations as cooperative dairy, fruit +growing, poultry, and livestock associations and thus make it possible +for the members of the colony to make not only a comfortable living +but to lay by something. They will, of course, have also the great +advantage of the advice and guidance of the experts of the Institute. +Formerly the penniless Negro youth, who graduated even most creditably +from the agricultural department of Tuskegee, had before him nothing +better than a greater or less number of years of monotonous drudgery +as a mere farm or plantation laborer. Now, he may at once take up his +own farm at Baldwin and begin immediately to apply all he has learned +in carving out his own fortune and future. Thus did Booker Washington +plan to carry the benefits of classroom instruction directly into the +actual life problems of these graduates as well as to bring the +problems of actual life into the classroom. + +However much Mr. Washington may have seemed to eliminate +non-essentials in the pressure and haste of his wholesale educational +task he never neglected essentials, but among essentials he included +matters which might on the surface appear to be small and trifling. +For instance, he insisted upon good table manners, and no boy or girl +could spend any considerable time at Tuskegee without acquiring such +manners. Instead of a trivial detail he regarded good table manners as +an essential to self-respect and hence to the development of +character. In short, he was engaged not so much in conducting a school +as educating a race. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +THE RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO + + +Booker Washington was occasionally accused both by agitators in his +own race and by a certain type of Northern white men who pose as the +special champions of the "downtrodden" black man as encouraging a +policy of submission to injustice on the part of his people. He was, +for example, charged with tame acquiescence in the practical +disfranchisement of the Negro in a number of the Southern States. As a +matter of fact, when these disfranchising measures were under +consideration and before they were enacted, he in each case earnestly +pleaded with the legislators that whatever restrictions in the use of +the ballot they put upon the statute books should be applied with +absolute impartiality to both races. This he urged in fairness to the +white man as well as the black man. + +In an article entitled, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" published +in the _Century Magazine_ five years ago, Booker Washington said in +illustrating the evil consequences of discrimination in the +application of ballot regulations: "In a certain county of Virginia, +where the county board had charge of registering those who were to be +voters, a colored man, a graduate of Harvard University, who had long +been a resident of the county, a quiet, unassuming man, went before +the board to register. He was refused on the ground that he was not +intelligent enough to vote. Before this colored man left the room a +white man came in who was so intoxicated that he could scarcely tell +where he lived. This white man was registered, and by a board of +intelligent white men who had taken an oath to deal justly in +administering the law. + +"Will any one say that there is wisdom or statesmanship in such a +policy as that? In my opinion it is a fatal mistake to teach the young +black man and the young white man that the dominance of the white race +in the South rests upon any other basis than absolute justice to the +weaker man. It is a mistake to cultivate in the mind of any individual +or group of individuals the feeling and belief that their happiness +rests upon the misery of some one else, or that their intelligence is +measured by the ignorance of some one else; or their wealth by the +poverty of some one else. I do not advocate that the Negro make +politics or the holding of office an important thing in his life. I do +urge, in the interest of fair play for everybody, that a Negro who +prepares himself in property, in intelligence, and in character to +cast a ballot, and desires to do so, should have the opportunity." + +While Booker Washington did not believe that political activities +should play an important part among the Negroes as a whole he did +believe that the exceptional Negro who was particularly qualified for +holding public office should be given the opportunity just as he +believed in the higher academic education for the relatively small +minority capable of profiting by such an education. + +In concluding a letter in which he asks Booker Washington to recommend +a member of his race for a Federal office in Vicksburg, Miss., +President Roosevelt said: "The question of the political importance of +the colored man is really of no consequence. I do not care to consider +it, and you must not consider it. Give me the very best colored man +that you know of for the place, upon whose integrity and capacity we +can surely rely." + +The man, T.V. McAlister, whom Mr. Washington "gave" the President for +this office was of such character and reputation that the white +citizens of Vicksburg actually welcomed his appointment. Certainly +neither Vicksburg nor any other portion of Mississippi can be accused +of over-enthusiasm for conferring civil and political privileges upon +Negroes. + +Booker Washington's habit of never losing an opportunity to advance +constructively the interests of his people is well illustrated by the +following letter to President Roosevelt: + + [_Personal_] + + _March 20, 1904._ + + MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: It has occurred to me that there are + a number of ways in which the colored people of the United + States' could be of service in digging the Panama Canal, + and personally I should be glad to do anything in my power + in getting them interested if deemed practicable. + + First: I think they can stand the climate better or as well + as any other people from the United States. + + Second: I have thought that a reasonably satisfactory number + of them might be useful as common, or skilled, laborers. + + Third: That in the Health Department our well-trained nurses + and physicians might be found helpful. + + Fourth: If the United States should assume any + responsibility as to education, that many efficient colored + teachers from our industrial schools, and colleges, might + prove of great benefit. And, then, besides the presence of + these educated persons would, in my opinion, both by + character and example, aid in influencing the morality of + the darker-skinned people to be employed at the Isthmus. I + believe that these educated colored people could get closer + to the masses than white men. + + Yours truly, + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + _To President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C._ + +Nothing came of this suggestion except an acknowledgment and an +assurance that the matter would be considered. About two years ago, +however, when Doctor Washington and Surgeon-General Gorgas met on a +train the Surgeon-General said to Mr. Washington: "The biggest man at +the canal was the Negro," and he added that when they came to the +dedication of the canal at its formal opening some Negro should have a +place on the program. + +In recent years a certain section of the Republicans in the far +Southern States have tried to free themselves of the reputation of +being "nigger lovers" by vying with their Democratic rivals in seeking +to deprive Negroes of civic and political rights. Republicans of this +particular stripe are known colloquially as the "Lily Whites." In this +connection the following correspondence is of interest. + + [_Copy_] + + [_Personal_] + + _White House,_ + _Washington, March 21, 1904._ + + DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: By direction of the President I send + you herewith for your private information a copy of letter + from the President to Mr. ----, dated February 24, 1904. + Please return it to me when you have read it. + + Yours very truly, + + WM. LOEB, JR., + Secretary to the President. + + _Principal Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Normal and + Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama._ + +This was the letter enclosed: + + [_Copy_] + + [_Personal_] + + _White House,_ + _Washington, February 24, 1904._ + + MY DEAR MR. ----: I take it for granted that there is no + intention of making the Louisiana delegation all white. I + think it would be a mistake for my friends to take any such + attitude in any state where there is a considerable Negro + population. I think it is a great mistake from the + standpoint of the whites; and in an organization composed of + men whom I have especially favored it would put me in a + false light. As you know, I feel as strongly as any one can + that there must be nothing like "Negro domination." On the + other hand, I feel equally strongly that the Republicans + must consistently favor those comparatively few colored + people who by character and intelligence show themselves + entitled to such favor. To put a premium upon the possession + of such qualities among the blacks is not only to benefit + them, but to benefit the whites among whom they live. I very + earnestly hope that the Louisiana Republicans whom I have so + consistently favored will not by any action of theirs tend + to put me in a false position in such a matter as this. With + your entire approval, I have appointed one or two colored + men entitled by character and standing to go to the National + Convention. + + Sincerely yours, + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +In the year 1898 the success of the suffrage amendments in South +Carolina and Mississippi in excluding from the franchise more than +nine-tenths of their Negro inhabitants inspired an agitation in +Louisiana to cut off the Negro vote by similar means, and this +agitation came to a head in the Constitutional Convention of that +year. Mr. Washington, assisted by T. Thomas Fortune, the well-known +Negro editor, and Mr. Scott, his secretary, prepared an open letter +addressed to this convention which was taken to the convention by Mr. +Scott and placed in the hands of the suffrage committee as well as the +editors of the New Orleans _Times-Democrat_ and the _Picayune_, the +leading daily papers of the State. Extracts from the letter were sent +out by the local representative of the Associated Press and widely +published throughout the country. These New Orleans editors expressed +to Mr. Scott their approval of the letter and their substantial +agreement with its main features, and promised to publish it in full, +which they not only did, but accompanied it by editorial reviews. This +letter stated in part: + +"The Negro agrees with you that it is necessary to the salvation of +the South that restriction be put upon the ballot.... With the +sincerest sympathy with you in your efforts to find a way out of the +difficulty, I want to suggest that no State in the South can make a +law that will provide an opportunity or temptation for an ignorant +white man to vote and withhold the same opportunity from an ignorant +colored man, without injuring both men.... Any law controlling the +ballot, that is not absolutely just and fair to both races, will work +more permanent injury to the whites than to the blacks. + +"The Negro does not object to an educational or property test, but let +the law be so clear that no one clothed with state authority will be +tempted to perjure and degrade himself by putting one interpretation +upon it for the white man and another for the black man. Study the +history of the South, and you will find that where there has been the +most dishonesty in the matter of voting, there you will find to-day +the lowest moral condition of both races. First, there was the +temptation to act wrongly with the Negro's ballot. From this it was an +easy step to dishonesty with the white man's ballot, to the carrying +of concealed weapons, to the murder of a Negro, and then to the murder +of a white man and then to lynching. I entreat you not to pass such a +law as will prove an eternal millstone about the neck of your +children." + +Later in the same appeal he said: "I beg of you, further, that in the +degree that you close the ballot-box against the ignorant, that you +open the schoolhouse.... Let the very best educational opportunities +be provided for both races: and add to this the enactment of an +election law that shall be incapable of unjust discrimination, at the +same time providing that in proportion as the ignorant secure +education, property, and character, they will be given the right of +citizenship. Any other course will take from one half your citizens +interest in the State, and hope and ambition to become intelligent +producers and taxpayers--to become useful and virtuous citizens. Any +other course will tie the white citizens of Louisiana to a body of +death." + +The New Orleans _Times-Democrat_, in its editorial accompanying the +publication of this letter, said: "We have seen the corrupting +influence in our politics and our elections of making fraud an element +of our suffrage system. We are certainly not going to get away from +fraud by encouraging it, or making it a part of the suffrage system we +place in our new constitution." The same editorial further states that +impartiality in the use of the ballot can be given Negro and white man +not only "with the utmost safety," but "it would have a beneficial +effect upon the politics of the State." In fact, the press of both +North and South, both of the whites and the blacks, published this +letter with practically unanimous editorial endorsement, but in spite +of all this the leaders of the convention remained obdurate, the +immediate object was lost, and Louisiana followed the example of +Mississippi and South Carolina. No one realized, however, better than +Booker Washington that the effort was by no means in vain. Owing to +the general awakening of intelligent public opinion the convention +leaders were forced into the position of driving through the +discriminatory amendment not only in the face of the condemnation of +the better element throughout the country but even with the +disapproval of the better and leading citizens of their own State. + +Shortly afterward members of the Georgia Legislature, seeking +political preferment for themselves through the familiar means of +anti-Negro agitation, introduced a bill which aimed to discriminate +against the Negroes of Georgia by legislative enactment just as the +Negroes of Louisiana had been discriminated against by a +constitutional amendment. This time Mr. Washington went personally to +Atlanta and appealed directly to a number of the members of the +Legislature and to the editors of the leading papers in opposition to +this bill. In an interview published in the Atlanta _Constitution_ at +the time he said: + +"I cannot think that there is any large number of white people in the +South who are so ignorant or so poor that they cannot get education +and property enough to enable them to stand the test by the side of +the Negro in these respects. I do not believe that these white people +want it continually advertised to the world that some special law must +be passed by which they will seem to be given an unfair advantage over +the Negro by reason of their ignorance or their poverty. It is unfair +to blame the Negro for not preparing himself for citizenship by +acquiring intelligence, and then when he does get education and +property, to pass a law that can be so operated as to prevent him from +being a citizen, even though he may be a large taxpayer. The Southern +white people have reached the point where they can afford to be just +and generous; where there will be nothing to hide and nothing to +explain. It is an easy matter, requiring little thought, generosity or +statesmanship to push a weak man down when he is struggling to get up. +Any one can do that. Greatness, generosity, statesmanship are shown in +stimulating, encouraging every individual in the body politic to make +of himself the most useful, intelligent, and patriotic citizen +possible. Take from the Negro all incentive to make himself and his +children useful property-holding citizens, and can any one blame him +for becoming a beast capable of committing any crime?" + +This time the immediate object was attained. The Atlanta +_Constitution_ and other leading Georgia papers indorsed Booker +Washington's appeal and the Legislature voted down its anti-Negro +members. Be it said to the credit of the Georgia Legislature that it +has resisted several similar attempts to discriminate against the +Negro citizens of the State, and it was not till 1908, ten years after +the Louisiana law was passed, that Georgia finally passed a law +disfranchising Negro voters. + +Booker Washington has been accused of not protesting against the +lynching of Negroes. In the article published in the _Century +Magazine_ in 1912, from which we have previously quoted, he said on +this subject: "When he was Governor of Alabama, I heard Governor Jelks +say in a public speech that he knew of five cases during his +administration of innocent colored people having been lynched. If that +many innocent people were known to the governor to have been lynched, +it is safe to say that there were other innocent persons lynched whom +the governor did not know about. What is true of Alabama in this +respect is true of other states. In short, it is safe to say that a +large proportion of the colored persons lynched are innocent.... Not a +few cases have occurred where white people have blackened their faces +and committed a crime, knowing that some Negro would be suspected and +mobbed for it. In other cases it is known that where Negroes have +committed crimes, innocent men have been lynched and the guilty ones +have escaped and gone on committing more crimes. + +"Within the last twelve months there have been seventy-one cases of +lynching, nearly all of colored people. Only seventeen were charged +with the crime of rape. Perhaps they are wrong to do so, but colored +people do not feel that innocence offers them security against +lynching. They do feel, however, that the lynching habit tends to give +greater security to the criminal, white or black." + +Mr. Washington often pointed out how the lynching of blacks leads +inevitably to the lynching of whites and how the lynching of guilty +persons of either race inevitably leads to the lynching of innocent +persons of both races. + +Let it not be supposed that Booker Washington confined his +condemnation of lynching to the comparatively safe cover of the pages +of an eminently respectable Northern magazine. Some years ago when he +was on a speaking trip in the State of Florida two depraved Negroes in +Jacksonville committed an atrocious murder. The crime aroused such +intense race feeling that Mr. Washington's friends foresaw the +likelihood of a lynching and, fearing for his safety, urged him to +cancel his engagements in Jacksonville, where he was due to speak +before white as well as black audiences within a few days. This he +refused to do and insisted that because there was special racial +friction it was especially necessary that he should keep his +engagements in the city. While he was driving to the hall where he was +to address a white audience the automobile of one of his Negro escorts +was stopped by a crowd of excited white men who angrily demanded that +Booker Washington be handed over to them. When they found he was not +in the car they allowed it to pass on without molesting the Negro +occupant, who enjoyed to an unusual degree the confidence and respect +of both races in the city. What they would have done had they found +Booker Washington one may only conjecture. At about the same time the +Negro murderers were captured. The howls of the infuriated mob on its +way to the jail to lynch the accused murderers could be heard in the +distance from the hall where Mr. Washington spoke. Without referring +in any way to the event which was taking place at the time Mr. +Washington, to the alarm of his friends, launched into a fervid +denunciation of lynching and ended with an earnest and eloquent appeal +for better feeling between the races. Instead of his words breaking up +the meeting in a storm of anger and rioting, this audience composed of +Southern whites and colored people vigorously applauded his +sentiments. Undoubtedly they were applauding not so much the views +expressed as the courage shown in expressing them at that place and +under those circumstances. + +A somewhat similar experience occurred on a recent speaking tour which +he and a party were making through the State of Louisiana. He was +accompanied by a company of Negro leaders, including Major Moton of +Hampton, who has since become his successor as Principal of Tuskegee +Institute. They were in a portion of the State notorious for its +lynchings of Negroes. No one who has ever seen Major Moton, or knows +anything about him, would think of accusing him of timidity or +cowardice. But when they went before a white audience in this +particular district he urged Mr. Washington as a matter of common +prudence to "soft pedal" what he had to say about lynching. Just as in +Jacksonville Mr. Washington did just the opposite, and made his +denunciation particularly emphatic, and just as in Jacksonville there +was the same applause and apparent approval of his views. + +Booker Washington also protested that in the matter of public +education his people are not given a square deal in parts of the +South, particularly in the country districts. He continually +emphasized the relation between education and crime. Other things +being equal the more and the better the education provided the less +the number and seriousness of the crimes committed. Also he pointed +out that the neglect of Negro school facilities injures the white +citizens almost if not quite as much as the Negroes themselves. And +conversely that good school facilities for the colored children +benefit the whites almost as much as the Negroes. He also insisted +that quite aside from all moral and ethical considerations Negro +education pays in dollars and cents. As illustrating the relation +between Negro education and crime or rather lack of Negro education +and crime he related this incident in an article entitled, "Black and +White in the South" published in the _Outlook_ of March 14, 1914: "A +few weeks ago three of the most prominent white men in Mississippi +were shot and killed by two colored boys. Investigation brought to +light that the two boys were rough and crude, that they had never been +to school, hence that they were densely ignorant. While no one had +taught these boys the use of books, some one had taught them, as mere +children, the use of cocaine and whiskey. In a mad fit, when their +minds and bodies were filled with cheap whiskey and cocaine, these two +ignorant boys created a 'reign of murder,' in the course of which +three white men, four colored men, and one colored woman met death. As +soon as the shooting was over a crazed mob shot the two boys full of +bullet-holes and then burned their bodies in the public streets. + +"Now this is the kind of thing, more or less varied in form, that +takes place too often in our country. Why? The answer is simple: it is +dense ignorance on the part of the Negro and indifference arising out +of a lack of knowledge of conditions on the part of the white people." + +He then pointed out that the last enumeration in Mississippi, where +this crime was committed, indicated that 64 per cent. of the colored +children had had no schooling during the past year. That in Charleston +County, South Carolina, another backward State in Negro education, +there was expended on the public education of each white child $20.2; +for the colored child $3.12; in Abbeville County $11.17 for the white, +69 cents for the colored child. This 69 cents per capita expense was +incurred by maintaining a one-room school for two and one-half +months, with a teacher paid at the rate of $15 a month. In another +county the Negro school was in session but one month out of the +twelve. Throughout the State, outside the cities and large towns, the +school term for the colored children is from two to four months. Thus +200,000 colored children in South Carolina are given only three or +four months of schooling a year. "Under these conditions it would +require twenty-eight years for a child to complete the eight grades of +the public school.... But South Carolina is by no means the only State +that has these breeding spots for ignorance, crime, and filth which +the nation will sooner or later have to reckon with." + +In the article in the _Century Magazine_ from which quotations have +already been made Mr. Washington cites this statement made by W.N. +Sheats, former Superintendent of Education for the State of Florida, +in explanation of an analysis of the sources of the school fund of the +State: "A glance at the foregoing statistics indicates that the +section of the State designated as 'Middle Florida' is considerably +behind all the rest in all stages of educational progress. The usual +plea is that this is due to the intolerable burden of Negro education, +and a general discouragement and inactivity is ascribed to this cause. +The following figures are given to show that the education of the +Negroes of Middle Florida does not cost the white people of that +section one cent. Without discussing the American principle that it is +the duty of all property to educate every citizen as a means of +protection to the State, and with no reference to what taxes that +citizen may pay, it is the purpose of this paragraph to show that the +backwardness of education of the white people is in no degree due to +the presence of the Negro, but that the presence of the Negro has been +actually contributing to the sustenance of the white schools." + +Mr. Sheats then shows that the cost of the Negro schools was $19,467, +while the Negroes contributed to the school fund in direct taxes, +together with their proper proportion of the indirect taxes, $23,984. +He concludes: "If this is a fair calculation the schools for the +Negroes are not only no burden on the white citizens, but $4,525 for +Negro schools contributed from other sources was in some way diverted +to the white schools." + +Mr. Charles L. Coon, Superintendent of Schools at Wilson, N.C., is +quoted as demonstrating that had there been expended upon the Negro +schools the Negro's proportionate share of the receipts from indirect +taxes, as well as the direct taxes paid by them, $18,077 more in a +given year would have been expended on colored schools in Virginia, +$26,539 more in North Carolina, and $141,682 more in Georgia. These +figures would seem to show that in these States at least the Negro +schools are not only no burden upon the white taxpayers but that the +colored people do not get back in school facilities the equivalent of +all they themselves contribute in taxes. + +In the matter of passenger transportation facilities Booker Washington +protested that injustice is done his people by most of the railroads +of the South, not in providing separate accommodations for blacks and +whites, but in furnishing the Negroes with inferior accommodations +while charging them the same rates. This injustice causes, he +believes, more resentment and bitterness among his people than all the +other injustices to which they are subjected combined. The Negro or +"Jim Crow" compartment is usually half of the baggage car which is +usually inadequate for the traffic, badly lighted, badly ventilated, +and dirty. The newsdealer of the train uses this coach and increases +the congestion by spreading his wares over several seats. White men +frequently enter this compartment to buy papers and almost always +smoke in it, thus requiring the colored women to ride in what is +virtually a smoker. Aside from these matters the Negroes rarely have +through cars and no sleeping, parlor, or buffet cars, and frequently +no means of securing food on long journeys since many if not most of +the station restaurants refuse to serve them. + +In the _Century_ article Mr. Washington thus quoted the experience of +a sensible and conservative Negro friend of his from Austin, Texas--a +man of education and good reputation among both races in his native +city: "At one time," he said, in describing some of his travelling +experiences, "I got off at a station almost starved. I begged the +keeper of the restaurant to sell me a lunch in a paper and hand it out +of the window. He refused, and I had to travel a hundred miles farther +before I could get a sandwich. At another time I went to a station to +purchase my ticket. I was there thirty minutes before the ticket +office was opened. When it did finally open I at once appeared at the +window. While the ticket agent served the white people at one window, +I remained waiting at the other until the train pulled out. I was +compelled to jump aboard the train without my ticket and wire back to +get my trunk expressed. Considering the temper of the people, the +separate coach law may be the wisest plan for the South, but the +statement that the two races have equal accommodations is all bosh. I +pay the same money, but I cannot have a chair or a lavatory, and +rarely a through car. I must crawl out at all times of night, and in +all kinds of weather, in order to catch another dirty 'Jim Crow' coach +to make my connections. I do not ask to ride with white people. I do +ask for equal accommodations for the same money." + +Booker Washington was of course obliged to travel in the South almost +constantly and to a great extent at night. He nearly always travelled +on a Pullman car, and so when not an interstate passenger usually +"violated" the law of whatever State he happened to be passing +through. The conductors, brakemen, and other trainmen, as a rule, +treated him with great respect and consideration and oftentimes +offered him a compartment in place of the berth which he had +purchased. + +Pullman cars in the South are not as a rule open to members of the +Negro race. It is only under more or less unusual conditions that a +black man is able to secure Pullman accommodations. Dr. Washington, +however, was generally treated with marked consideration whenever he +applied for Pullman car reservations. He was sometimes criticised, not +only by members of his own race, but by the unthinking of the white +race who accused him of thus seeking "social equality" with the white +passengers. + +The work he was compelled to do, however, in constantly travelling +from place to place, and dictating letters while travelling, made it +necessary that he conserve his strength as much as possible. He never +believed that he was defying Southern traditions in seeking the +comfort essential to his work. + +Upon one occasion Dr. Washington went to Houston, Texas, and was +invited by the Secretary of the Cotton Exchange, in the name of the +Exchange, to speak to the members of the leading business +organizations of Houston, upon the floor of the Cotton Exchange Bank. +He was introduced by the secretary, who desired to give Dr. Washington +the opportunity to put before representative Southern white men the +thoughts and ideas of a representative colored man as to how the two +races might live together in the South on terms of mutual helpfulness. +Such was the impression he made upon the whites that when Dr. +Washington's secretary applied for Pullman accommodations for him, +returning East, they were not only ungrudgingly but even eagerly +granted. In those days it was unheard of for a colored man to travel +as a passenger in a Pullman car in Texas. + +The injustices mentioned and all others connected with railway +passenger service for Negroes Booker Washington sought in +characteristic fashion to mitigate by instituting, through the agency +of the National Negro Business League, what are known as Railroad +Days. On these days each year colored patrons of railroads lay before +the responsible officials the respects in which they believe they are +unfairly treated and request certain definite changes. Although +started only a few years ago these Railroad Days have already +accomplished a number of the improvements desired in various +localities. + +As an aid to the committees appointed in the various communities Mr. +Washington sent out a letter addressed to these committees which was +published in the Negro papers. This letter advised that all protests +on Railroad Days give: first, "a statement of present conditions," +second, "a statement of conditions desired." There followed a sample +detailed statement of the present conditions about which there is +usually cause for complaint accompanied by a similar statement of the +conditions desired. + +It was then suggested that these specific recommendations be followed +by these general requests: + +"1. The same class and quality of accommodations for colored +passengers as are provided for the most favored class of travellers. + +"2. Such regulations as will protect colored passengers from the +rudeness and insults of employees of the railroad. + +"3. Some definite authority to whom these matters may be referred, +where friction arises, and who will, in good faith, investigate and +adjust them." + +The letter concluded with this advice: + +"All those who are going to act on the suggestions to make a united +effort to bring about better railroad and other travelling facilities +should not omit to remind our people that they have a duty to perform +as well as the railroads. + +"First, our people should try to keep themselves clean and presentable +when travelling, and they should do their duty in trying to keep +waiting-rooms and railroad coaches clean. + +"Second, it should be borne in mind that little or nothing will be +accomplished by merely talking about white people who are in charge of +railroads, etc. The only way to get any results is to go to the people +and talk to them and not about them." + +Compare this definite, reasonable, and effective form of protest with +the bitter, vague, and futile outcry against the "Jim Crow" car which +is frequently heard. + +Booker Washington sent a marked copy of the _Century Magazine_ +containing the article, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" to the +head of every railroad in the South calling attention to the portion +relating to unfair treatment in passenger service for his people. In +response he received letters which in almost every case were friendly +and in many cases showed an active desire to cooperate in the +improvement of the conditions complained of. Mr. Washington published +extracts from these letters in the Negro press prior to his Railroad +Day proposal in order to show that the railroad officials were for the +most part at least willing to give a respectful hearing to the +complaints of their Negro patrons if properly approached. President +Stevens of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company wrote that he had had +one hundred copies of the article distributed among the officials and +employees of his road. Mr. J.M. Parker, Receiver and General Manager +of the Arkansas, Louisiana & Gulf Railway Company, wrote: "I have your +favor with enclosure.... I shall take pleasure in reading this +article, and from glancing through it I am inclined to think that the +statement that the Negro is not getting a square deal in the way of +transportation facilities is well founded." Mr. William J. Black, +Passenger Traffic Manager of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway +System, wrote in part: "You will, no doubt, be pleased to learn that +the Santa Fe has already provided equipment for colored travel in +conformity with the plan outlined in your article." From all or most +of the Southern railways came letters of the general tenor of those +quoted, and thus was the way prepared for the successful inauguration +of the Railroad Days. + +Constantly as he labored for the rights of his people he never sought +to obtain for them any special privileges. Unlike most leaders of +groups, classes, or races of people he never sought any exclusive or +special advantages for his followers. He did not want the Negro to +receive any favors by reason of his race any more than he wanted him +to be discriminated against on that account. He wanted all human +beings, Negroes among the rest, to receive their deserts as +individuals regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, or any +other consideration which has nothing to do with the individual's +merits. One of his favorite figures was that "one cannot hold another +in a ditch without himself staying in the ditch." There is not a +single right for which he contended for his people which if won would +not directly or indirectly benefit all other people. Were they in all +the States admitted to the franchise on equal terms with white +citizens what Mr. Washington termed the "encouragement of vice and +ignorance among white citizens" would cease. + +Were the lynching of Negroes stopped the lynching of white men would +also cease. Both the innocent black man and the innocent white man +would feel a greater sense of security while the guilty black man as +well as the guilty white man would be less secure. Were the Negroes +given their full share of public education the whites would gain not +only more reliable and intelligent Negro labor, but would be largely +freed so far as Negroes are concerned from the menace of the crimes of +violence which are committed almost exclusively by ignorant persons. +Finally, were Negro travellers given equal accommodations and +treatment for equal rates on all the Southern railways the volume of +Negro travel would more rapidly increase, thus increasing the +prosperity of the railways and their shareholders which would in turn +promote the prosperity of the entire South. + +True to his policy of always placing the emphasis upon those things +which are encouraging instead of upon those things which are +discouraging, Mr. Washington concluded the already much-quoted +article, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" with these observations: +"Notwithstanding all the defects in our system of dealing with him, +the Negro in this country owns more property, lives in better houses, +is in a larger measure encouraged in business, wears better clothes, +eats better food, has more schoolhouses and churches, and more +teachers and ministers, than any similar group of Negroes anywhere in +the world." + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +MEETING RACE PREJUDICE + + +Although intensely human and consumingly interested in humanity--both +in the mass and as individuals, whether of his own race or any +other--Booker Washington thought and acted to an uncommon degree on +the impersonal plane. This characteristic was perhaps most strikingly +illustrated in his attitude toward race prejudice. When, many years +ago, he had charge of the Indian students at Hampton, and had occasion +to travel with them, he found they were free to occupy in the hotels +any rooms they could pay for, whereas he must either go without or +take a room in the servants' quarters. He regarded these experiences +as interesting illustrations of the illogical nature of race +prejudice. The occupants of these hotels did not resent mingling with +members of a backward race whose skin happened to be red, but they did +object to mingling on the same terms with members of another backward +race whose skin happened to be black. It apparently never entered his +head to regard this discrimination with bitterness or as a personal +rebuff. One could not, however, make a greater mistake than to assume +from this impersonal attitude that he condoned race prejudice, or in +any sense stood as an apologist for it. To dispel any such idea one +has only to recall his speech at the Peace Jubilee in Chicago after +the Spanish War, from which we have already quoted, and in which he +characterized racial prejudice as "a cancer gnawing at the heart of +the Republic, that shall one day prove as dangerous as an attack from +an army without or within." + +Very early in his career Washington worked out for himself a perfectly +definite line of conduct in the matter of social mingling with white +people. In the South he scrupulously observed the local customs and +avoided offending the prejudices of the Southerners in so far as was +possible without unduly handicapping his work. For instance, in his +constant travelling throughout the South he not only violated their +customs, but oftentimes their laws, in using sleeping cars, but this +he was obliged to do because he could spare neither the time to travel +by day nor the strength and energy to sit up all night. This +particular Southern prejudice and the laws predicated upon it he was +hence forced to violate, but he did so as a physical necessity to the +accomplishment of his work and not in any sense as a defiance of +custom or law. While in the South he observed Southern customs and +bowed to Southern prejudices, but he declined to be bound by such +customs, laws, and prejudices when in other parts of this country or +the world. Except in the South he allowed himself whatever degree of +social intercourse with the whites seemed best calculated to +accomplish his immediate object and his ultimate aims. He never +accepted purely social invitations from white persons. He always +claimed that he could best satisfy his social desires among his own +people. He believed that the question of so-called "social equality" +between the races was too academic and meaningless to be worthy of +serious discussion. + +Probably he never made a more well-considered or illuminating +statement of his personal attitude toward social intercourse with the +dominant race than in a letter to the late Edgar Gardiner Murphy, a +Southerner "of light and leading," author of "The Present South," "The +Basis of Ascendancy," and other notable books on the relations between +the races. Mr. Murphy, as a Southerner, became alarmed at the attacks +upon Booker Washington by certain Southern newspapers and public men +because of his appearance at so-called social functions in the North. +Mr. Murphy, rightly regarding the retention of the favorable opinion +of representative Southern whites as essential to the success of +Washington's work, very naturally feared any course of action which +seemed to threaten the continuance of that favorable opinion. In +response to a letter in which Mr. Murphy expressed these fears and +asked for an opportunity to discuss the situation with him Mr. +Washington replied as follows: + + [_Personal_] + + MY DEAR SIR: I have received your kind letter, for which I + thank you very much. I was very much disappointed that I did + not have an opportunity of meeting you, as I had planned the + other day, so as not to be so hurried in talking with you as + I usually am. I shall be very glad, however, the very first + time I can find another spare hour when in New York (Mr. + Murphy was then living in New York City) to have you talk + with me fully and frankly about the matters that are in your + mind. + + However we may differ in our view regarding certain matters, + there is no man in the country whose frankness, earnestness, + and sincere disinterestedness I respect more than yours, and + whatever you say always has great weight with me. + + Your letter emphasizes the tremendous difficulty of the work + at the South. In most cases, and in most countries where a + large section of the people are down, and are to be helped + up, those attempting to do the work have before them a + straight, simple problem of elevating the unfortunate people + without the entanglement of racial prejudice to be grappled + with. I think I do not exaggerate when I say that perhaps a + third or half of the thought and energy of those engaged in + the elevation of the colored people is given in the + direction of trying to do the thing or not doing the thing + which would enhance racial prejudice. This feature of the + situation I believe very few people at the North or at the + South appreciate. What is true of the Negro educator is true + in a smaller degree of the white educator at the South. I am + constantly trying, as best I can, to study the situation as + it is right here on the ground, and I may be mistaken, but + aside from the wild and demagogical talk on the part of a + few I am unable to discover much or any change in the + attitude of the best white people toward the best colored + people. So far as my own individual experience and + observation are concerned, I am treated about the same as I + have always been. I was in Athens, Georgia, a few days ago, + to deliver ah address before the colored people at the State + Fair, and the meeting was attended by the best class of + whites and the best class of colored people, who seemed to + be pleased over what I said. + + Mr. Blank, a Southern Congressman, just now is making a good + deal of noise, but you will recall that Mr. Blank spoke just + as bitterly against me before Mr. Roosevelt became President + as he has since. I do not want to permit myself to be + misled, but I repeat that I cannot see or feel that any + great alienation has taken place between the two classes of + people that you refer to. + + For the sake of argument I want to grant for the moment a + thing which I have never done before, even in a private + letter, and which is very distasteful to me, and that is, + that I am the leader of the colored people. Do you think it + will ever be possible for one man to be set up as the leader + of ten millions of people, meaning a population nearly twice + as large as that of the Dominion of Canada and nearly equal + to that of the Republic of Mexico, without the actions of + that individual being carefully watched and commented upon, + and what he does being exaggerated either in one direction + or the other? Again, if I am the leader and therefore the + mouthpiece for ten millions of colored people, is it + possible for such a leader to avoid coming into contact with + the representatives of the ruling classes of white people + upon many occasions; and is it not to be expected that when + questions that are racial and national and international in + their character are to be discussed, that such a + representative of the Negro race would be sought out both by + individuals and by conventions? If, as you kindly suggest, I + am the leader, I hardly see how such notoriety and + prominence as will naturally come can be wholly or in any + large degree avoided. + + Judging by some of the criticisms that have appeared + recently, mainly from the class of people to whom I have + referred, it seems to me that some of the white people at + the South are making an attempt to control my actions when I + am in the North and in Europe. Heretofore, no man has been + more careful to regard the feelings of the Southern people + in actions and words than I have been, and this policy I + shall continue to pursue, but I have never attempted to hide + or to minimize the fact that when I am out of the South I do + not conform to the same customs and rules that I do in the + South. I say I have not attempted to hide it because + everything that I have done in this respect was published + four years ago in my book, "Up from Slavery," which has been + read widely throughout the South, and I did not hear a word + of adverse criticism passed upon what I had done. For + fifteen years I have been doing at the North just what I + have been doing during the past year. I have never attended + a purely social function given by white people anywhere in + the country. Nearly every week I receive invitations to + weddings of rich people, but these I always refuse. Mrs. + Washington almost never accompanies me on any occasion where + there can be the least sign of purely social intercourse. + Whenever I meet white people in the North at their offices, + in their parlors, or at their dinner tables, or at banquets, + it is with me purely a matter of business, either in the + interest of our institution or in the interest of my race; + no other thought ever enters my mind. For me to say now, + after fifteen years of creating interest in my race and in + this institution in that manner, that I must stop, would + simply mean that I must cease to get money in a large + measure for this institution. In meeting the people in this + way I am simply doing what the head of practically every + school, black and white, in the South is constantly doing. + For purely social pleasure I have always found all my + ambitions satisfied among my own people, and you will find + that in proportion as the colored race becomes educated and + prosperous, in the same proportion is this true of all + colored people. + + I said a minute ago that I had tried to be careful in regard + to the feelings of the Southern people. It has been urged + upon me time and time again to employ a number of white + teachers at this institution. I have not done so and do not + intend to do so, largely for the reason that they would be + constantly mingling with each other at the table. For thirty + years and more, in every one of our Southern States, white + and colored people have sat down to the table three times a + day nearly throughout the year, and I have heard very little + criticism passed upon them. This kind of thing, however, at + Tuskegee I have always tried to avoid so far as our regular + teaching force is concerned. But I repeat, if I begin to + yield in the performance of my duty when out of the South in + one respect, I do not know where the end will be. It is very + difficult for you, or any other person who is not in my + place, to understand the difficulty and embarrassment that I + am confronted with. You have no idea how many invitations of + various kinds I am constantly refusing or trying to get away + from because I want to avoid embarrassing situations. For + example, over a year ago Mr. S---- invited me to go to + Stockbridge, Massachusetts, near Lenox, to deliver an + address on General Armstrong's life and work. When I reached + Stockbridge an hour or so before the time of delivering the + address, I found that Mr. S----, who had invited me, had + also invited five or six other gentlemen to meet me at + luncheon. The luncheon I knew nothing about until I reached + the town. Under such circumstances I am at a loss to know + how I could have avoided accepting the invitation. A few + days afterward I filled a long-standing invitation to + lecture at Amherst College. I reached the town a few hours + before dinner and found that a number of people, including + several college presidents, had been invited to meet me at + dinner. Taking still another case: over a year ago I + promised a colored club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that I + would be their guest at a banquet in October. The banquet + was held on the third of the month, and when I reached + Cambridge I found that in addition to the members of the + colored club, the Mayor of the city and a number of Harvard + professors, including President Eliot, had been invited; and + I could go on and state case after case. Of course, if I + wanted to make a martyr of myself and draw especial + attention to me and to the institution, I could easily do so + by simply writing whenever I receive an invitation to a + dinner or banquet that I could not accept on account of the + color of my skin. + + Six years ago at the Peace Jubilee in Chicago, where I spoke + at a meeting at which President McKinley was present, I took + both luncheon and dinner in the same dining-room with + President McKinley and was the guest of the same club that + he was a guest of. There were Southern men present, and the + fact that I was present and spoke was widely heralded + throughout the South, and so far as I know not a word of + adverse comment was made. For nearly fifteen years the + addresses which I have been constantly making at dinners and + banquets in the North have been published throughout the + South, and no adverse comment has been made regarding my + presence on these occasions. + + Practically all of the invitations to functions that are of + even a semi-social character are urged upon me by Northern + people, and very often after I have refused to accept + invitations pressure is brought to bear on special friends + of mine in order to get me to accept. Notwithstanding all + this, where I accept one invitation I refuse ten; in fact, + you have no idea how many invitations to dinner I refuse + while I am in the North. I not only do so for the reason + that I do not care to excite undue criticism, but for the + further reason that if I were to accept any large proportion + of such invitations I would have little time left for my + legitimate work. In many cases the invitations come from + people who do not give money but simply want to secure a + notoriety or satisfy curiosity. + + I have stated the case as I see it, and with a view of + having you think over these matters by the time that we + meet. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + +There were two particularly notable occasions upon which Mr. +Washington unwittingly stirred the prejudices of the South. The first +was when in 1901 he dined with President Roosevelt and his family at +the White House; the second, when four years later he dined with Mr. +John Wanamaker and his daughter at a hotel in Saratoga, New York. + +The truth of his dining at the White House, of which so many imaginary +versions have been given, was this: having received so many +expressions of approval from all sections of the country on his +appointment of ex-Governor Jones to a Federal judgeship in Alabama, +which appointment was made, as described in a previous chapter, on the +recommendation of Booker Washington and Grover Cleveland, President +Roosevelt asked him to come to the White House and discuss with him +some further appointments and other matters of mutual interest. + +On arriving in Washington he went to the home of his friend, +Whitefield McKinlay, a colored man with whom he usually stopped when +in the Capital. The next morning he went to the White House by +appointment for an interview with the President. Since they did not +have time to finish their discussion, the President, in accordance +with the course he had often followed with others under similar +circumstances, invited Washington to come to dinner so that they might +finish their discussion in the evening without loss of time. + +In response to this oral invitation he went to the White House at the +appointed time, dined with the President and his family and two other +guests, and after dinner discussed with the President chiefly the +character of individual colored office holders or applicants for +office and, as says Colonel Roosevelt, "the desirability in specific +cases, notably in all offices having to do with the administration of +justice, of getting high-minded and fearless white men into +office--men whom we could be sure would affirmatively protect the +law-abiding Negro's right to life, liberty, and property just exactly +as they protected the rights of law-abiding white men." Also they +discussed the public service of the South so far as the +representatives of the Federal Administration were concerned--the +subject upon which President Roosevelt had wished to consult him. The +next day the bare fact that he had dined with the President was +obscurely announced by the Washington papers as a routine item of +White House news. Some days later, however, an enterprising +correspondent for a Southern paper lifted this unpretentious item from +oblivion and sent it to his paper to be blazoned forth in a front-page +headline. For days and weeks thereafter the Southern press fairly +shrieked with the news of this quiet dinner. The very papers which had +most loudly praised the President for his appointment of a Southern +Democrat to a Federal judgeship now execrated him for inviting to dine +with him the man upon whose recommendation he had made this +appointment. + +Mr. Washington was also roundly abused for his "presumption" in daring +to dine at the White House. This was a little illogical in view of the +well-known fact that an invitation to the White House is a summons +rather than an invitation in the ordinary sense. Neither President +Roosevelt nor Mr. Washington issued any statements by way of +explanation or apology. While it was, of course, farthest from the +wishes of either to offend the sensibilities of the South, neither +one--the many statements to the contrary, notwithstanding--ever +indicated subsequently any regret or admitted that the incident was a +mistake. + +During the furore over this incident both the President and Mr. +Washington received many threats against their lives. The President +had the Secret Service to protect him, while Mr. Washington had no +such reliance. His co-workers surrounded him with such precautions as +they could, and his secretary accumulated during this period enough +threatening letters to fill a desk drawer. It was not discovered +until some years after that one of these threats had been followed by +the visit to Tuskegee of a hired assassin. A strange Negro was hurt in +jumping off the train before it reached the Tuskegee Institute +station. There being no hospital for Negroes in the town of Tuskegee +he was taken to the hospital of the Institute, where he was cared for +and nursed for several weeks before he was able to leave. Mr. +Washington was absent in the North during all of this time. Many +months later this Negro confessed that he had come to Tuskegee in the +pay of a group of white men in Louisiana for the purpose of +assassinating Booker Washington. He said that he became so ashamed of +himself while being cared for by the doctors and nurses employed by +the very man he had come to murder that he left as soon as he was able +to do so instead of waiting to carry out his purpose on the return of +his victim, as he had originally planned to do. + +Booker Washington, with all his philosophy and capacity for rising +above the personal, was probably more deeply pained by this affair +than any other in his whole career. His pain was, however, almost +solely on Mr. Roosevelt's account. He felt keenly hurt and chagrined +that Mr. Roosevelt, whom he so intensely admired, and who was doing so +much, not only for his own race but for the whole South as he +believed, should suffer all this abuse and even vilification on his +account. President Roosevelt evidently realized something of how he +felt, for in a letter to him written at this time he added this +postscript: "By the way, don't worry about _me_; it will all come +right in time, and if I have helped by ever so little 'the ascent of +man' I am more than satisfied." + +Probably no single public event ever gave Booker Washington greater +pleasure than Colonel Roosevelt's triumphant election to the +Presidency in 1904. The day after the election he wrote the President +the following letter: + + [_Personal_] + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _November 10, 1904_. + + MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I cannot find words in which to + express my feeling regarding the tremendous outcome of + Tuesday's election. I know that you feel the sacred and + almost divine confidence imposed. In my opinion, no human + being in America since Washington, perhaps, has been so + honored and vindicated. The result shows that the great + heart of the American people beats true and is in the + direction of fair play for all, regardless of race or color. + Nothing has ever occurred which has given me more faith in + all races or shows more plainly that they will respond to + high ideals when properly appealed to. + + I know that you will not misunderstand me when I say I share + somewhat the feeling of triumph and added responsibility + that must animate your soul at the present time because of + the personal abuse heaped upon you on account of myself. The + great victory and vindication does not make me feel boastful + or vainglorious, but, on the other hand, very humble, and + gives me more faith in humanity and makes me more determined + to work harder in the interest of all our people of both + races regardless of race or color. I shall urge our people + everywhere to manifest their gratitude by showing a spirit + of meekness and added usefulness. The election shows to + what a great height you have already lifted the character of + American citizenship. Before you leave the White House I am + sure that the whole South will understand you and love you. + + God keep you and bless you. + + Yours most sincerely, + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + _To President Theodore Roosevelt, White House, Washington_ + +President Roosevelt expressed great appreciation of this letter and +said that Mr. Washington had taken the election in just the way he +would have wished him to take it. + +About two years later Mr. Washington wrote President Roosevelt another +letter which throws light upon the relations between the two men as +well as upon the incongruous phases of racial prejudice: + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _June 19, 1906._ + + MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: It will interest you to know that the + Cox family, over whom such a disturbance was made in + connection with the Indianola, Miss., post-office, have + started a bank in that same town which direct and reliable + information convinces me is in a prosperous condition. The + bank has the confidence of both races. It is a curious + circumstance that while objection was made to this black + family being at the head of the post-office no objection is + made to this black man being president of a bank in the same + town. + + A letter just received from a reliable banker in Mississippi + contains the following sentences: + + "Now, with reference to Mr. W.W. Cox, of Indianola, Miss., I + beg to advise that no man of color is as highly regarded and + respected by the white people of his town and county as he. + It is true that he organized and is cashier of the Delta + Penny Savings Bank, domiciled there. I visited Indianola + during the spring of 1905 and was very much surprised to + note the esteem in which he was held by the bankers and + business men (white) of that place. He is a good, clean man + and above the average in intelligence, and knows how to + handle the typical Southern white man. In the last statement + furnished by his bank to the State Auditor, his bank showed + total resources of $46,000. He owns and lives in one of the + best resident houses in Indianola, regardless of race, and + located in a part of the town where other colored men seem + to be not desired. The whites adjacent to him seem to be his + friends. He has a large plantation near the town, worth + $35,000 or $40,000. He is a director in Mr. Pettiford's bank + at Birmingham, Ala., and I think is vice-president of the + same. He also owns stock in the bank of Mound Bayou." + + Yours very truly, + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + _To President Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D.C._ + +In August, 1905, Booker Washington spoke one Sunday morning before a +large audience in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. After his address Mr. John +Wanamaker and his daughter were among those who came forward to greet +him. They also invited him to dine with them at the United States +Hotel that afternoon. Mr. Wanamaker had been particularly interested +in Booker Washington and his work for many years. Mr. Washington +accepted this invitation without the least thought of reawakening the +clamor caused by the Roosevelt dinner. The dinner itself passed off +quietly, pleasantly, and without particular event. It was not until he +took up the papers at his little hotel in New York the next morning +that he found that he had again stirred up a hornet's nest similar to +that of four years before. The denunciation was if anything more +violent; for, as many of his assailants said, he should have profited +by the protests of four years before. In an editorial entitled, +"Booker Washington's Saratoga Performance" a Southern newspaper said: +"Since the fateful day when Booker T. Washington sat down to the +dinner table in the White House with President Roosevelt he has done +many things to hurt the cause of which he is regarded as the foremost +man.... Leaving out of the question the lack of delicacy and +self-respect manifested by Wanamaker and his family, blame must rest +upon Washington, because he knows how deep and impassable is the gulf +between whites and blacks in the South when the social situation is +involved. He deliberately flaunts all this in the face of the Southern +people among whom he is living and among whom his work has to be +carried on. He could have given no harder knock to his institution +than he gave when he marched into that Saratoga dinner room with a +white woman and her father." + +These sentiments were expressed editorially by another Southern paper: +"Wanamaker is unworthy to shine the shoes of Booker Washington. He is +not in Washington's class. If the truly smart set of Saratoga was +shocked that Booker should have been caught in this man's company and +as his guest we are not surprised. But still Booker Washington could +not eat dinner with the most ordinary white man in this section. He +wouldn't dare intimate that he sought such social recognition among +whites here"; and in conclusion this editorial said: "The South only +pities the daughter that she should have allowed herself to be used by +a father whose sensibilities and ideas of the proprieties are so +dulled by his asinine qualities that he could not see the harm in it." + +This vituperation of Mr. Wanamaker, and the scoring him for his part +in the affair even more than Washington, recalls an incident which Mr. +Washington himself relates in his book entitled, "My Larger +Education." When he was making a trip through Florida, a few weeks +after his dinner with President Roosevelt, at a little station near +Gainesville, "A white man got aboard the train," he says, "whose dress +and manner indicated that he was from the class of small farmers in +that part of the country. He shook hands with me very cordially, and +said: 'I am mighty glad to see you. I have heard about you and I have +been wanting to meet you for a long while.' + +"I was naturally pleased at this cordial reception, but I was +surprised when, after looking me over, he remarked: 'Say, you are a +great man. You are the greatest man in this country.' + +"I protested mildly, but he insisted, shaking his head and repeating, +'Yes, sir, the greatest man in this country.' Finally I asked him what +he had against President Roosevelt, telling him at the same time that, +in my opinion, the President of the United States was the greatest man +in the country. + +"'Huh! Roosevelt?' he replied, with considerable emphasis in his +voice, 'I used to think that Roosevelt was a great man until he ate +dinner with you. That settled him for me.'" + +Mr. Washington goes on to say: "This remark of a Florida farmer is but +one of the many experiences which have taught me something of the +curious nature of this thing that we call prejudice--social prejudice, +race prejudice, and all the rest. I have come to the conclusion that +these prejudices are something that it does not pay to disturb. It is +best to 'let sleeping dogs lie.' All sections of the United States, +like all other parts of the world, have their own peculiar customs and +prejudices. For that reason it is the part of common sense to respect +them. When one goes to European countries, or into the Far West, or +into India or China, he meets certain customs and certain prejudices +which he is bound to respect and, to a certain extent, comply with. +The same holds good regarding conditions in the North and in the +South. In the South it is not the custom for colored and white people +to be entertained at the same hotel; it is not the custom for black +and white children to attend the same school. In most parts of the +North a different custom prevails. I have never stopped to question or +quarrel with the customs of the people in the part of the country in +which I found myself." + +And so he acted in the case of the Wanamaker dinner. He accepted Mr. +Wanamaker's invitation because he was in the North and his host was a +Northerner. In so doing he felt that he was not violating any +generally accepted custom or universally entertained prejudice of the +part of the country in which he found himself. Had the inconceivable +occurred, and had a Southerner invited him to dine in the South, under +conditions in all other respects identical, he would not have +accepted. He would not have been willing to incur the resentment of +the South even had his host been willing to defy local prejudices by +inviting him. On the other hand, he felt that the attitude of those +who would seek to control him in matters of social custom when he was +not in the South or among Southerners was unfair and unreasonable. + +An incident which occurred while he was stopping at the English Hotel +in Indianapolis in 1903 furnished copy for the more or less +sensational press of the country. This hotel does not as a rule accept +Negroes as guests, but Mr. Washington was always a welcome visitor +there just as he was at many other hotels where less-favored members +of his race were excluded. He never patronized this hotel or any other +for the purpose of asserting his rights, but merely to obtain the +comforts and the seclusion so essential to a man who always worked up +to the limits of even his great strength and usually a little beyond +such limits. It is, indeed, quite possible that he might have lived +longer had he been free to stop at hotels in the South instead of +undergoing the constant wear and tear of being entertained in the +private homes of the all-too-kind hosts of his own race. All public +men and lecturers, in a large way of business, learn early in their +careers that they must decline practically all proffers of private +hospitality if they are to preserve their health. + +On this occasion the white chambermaid assigned to care for the room +he occupied refused to perform her duties so far as his room was +concerned on the ground, as she stated, that she "would not clean up +after a nigger." For this refusal to do her work the management +discharged her. The Springfield _Republican_ of that date thus +describes what followed: "A hotel at Houston, Texas, immediately +offered her a place there, which she accepted, but as matters are now +going she is more likely to retire from the business as a grand lady +living on an independent income. Her name is upon all tongues in the +Southland, and the newspapers print long and complimentary accounts of +her life and the one great deed that has made her famous. Citizens and +communities vie with each other in contributing money.... Captain John +W. Johnson of Sheffield, Ala., is organizing a general subscription +fund from that and neighboring towns. A meeting at Houston, Texas, +raised $500 for her in the name of a 'self-respecting girl.' The +Houston _Chronicle_ is conducting another popular subscription. +Contributions are coming into it from all parts of Texas. Citizens of +New Orleans have raised $1,000. About twoscore Southern towns and a +dozen cities so far figure in the contributions. The movement extends +to Indianapolis, where a gold watch has been contributed." The +hysterical lauding of this "heroine" was subsequently wet blanketed by +the discovery that she had cared for Mr. Washington's room for the +first day or two of his stay without protest, and by the further +discovery that her second or third husband had recently obtained a +divorce from her. + +It is only fair to add that many of the leading citizens of the South +strongly deprecated the sensational magnifying of this trivial +incident by a certain section of the Southern press. Mr. Washington +declined to make any comment for publication during or after this +petty tumult. + +In spite of the three events described, and others of a like nature +that might be mentioned, no Negro was ever so liked, respected, +admired, and eulogized by the Southern whites as Booker Washington. +The day following his great speech before the Cotton States Exposition +in Atlanta in 1895 when he went out upon the streets of the city he +was so besieged by white citizens from the highest to the lowest, who +wanted to shake his hand and congratulate him, that he was fairly +driven in self-defense to remain indoors. Not many years after that it +had become a commonplace for him to be an honored guest on important +public occasions throughout the South. On occasions too numerous even +to note in passing he was welcomed, and introduced to great audiences, +by Southern Governors, Mayors, and other high officials, as well as by +eminent private citizens. Such recognition came partly as a +spontaneous tribute to the great work he was doing and partly because +of his constantly reiterated assurance that the Negro was not seeking +either political domination over the white man or social intercourse +with him. He reasoned that the more Southern whites he could convince +that his people were not seeking what is known as social equality or +political dominance, the less race friction there would be. + +It has already been mentioned that at the opening of the first Negro +agricultural fair in Albany, Georgia, in the fall of 1914, the Mayor +of the city and several members of the City Council sat on the +platform during the exercises and listened to his speech with most +spontaneous and obvious approval. In this part of Georgia the Negroes +outnumber the whites by at least six to one. The afternoon of the same +day the Mayor invited Booker Washington and his party to come to the +city hall and confer with himself, the other city officials, and a +group of prominent private citizens on the relations between the races +in that city and locality. At this conference there was a friendly, +easy interchange of ideas interspersed with jokes and laughter, but +all the time Mr. Washington was leading them step by step to see that +by giving the Negroes proper educational opportunities they were +helping themselves as well as the Negroes. Mr. Stowe, who was present +at this conference, noticed to his surprise that some of the arguments +advanced by Dr. Washington, which seemed to him to be almost worn-out +truisms, although freshly and strongly expressed, were seized upon by +his auditors as new and original ideas. When he made this observation +to Mr. Washington after the meeting he said that several other +Northerners had under similar circumstances made the same observation +and then he added: "I only wish that it were possible for me to spend +several months of each year talking with just such groups of +representative Southern men. They are always responsive, eager to +understand what we are driving at, and sympathetic when they do +understand. The necessity for raising money has forced us to devote +the bulk of our time to educating the Northern public to the needs of +the situation to the neglect of our Southern white neighbors right +here about us." + +It was an interesting illustration of the illogical workings of race +prejudice that this man to whom the city fathers from the Mayor down +gave up practically their entire day--this man to whom the city hall +was thrown open and at whose feet sat the leading citizens as well as +the officials of the city, could not have found shelter in any hotel +in town. This man whom the officials and other leading citizens +delighted to honor arrived at night on a Pullman sleeping car in +violation of the law of the State; and, after all possible honor had +been paid him, save allowing him to enter a hotel, departed the next +night by a Pullman sleeper in violation of the law! + +This constant "law-breaker" was welcomed and introduced to audiences +by Governor Blanchard of Louisiana at Shreveport, La.; by Governor +Candler at Atlanta, Ga.; by Governor Donaghey at Little Rock, Ark.; +by Governor McCorkle of West Virginia, and successively by Governors +Jelks and O'Neil of his own State of Alabama. Still other Southern +Governors spoke from the same platform with him at congresses, +conventions, and meetings of various descriptions. + +Next to South Carolina and Georgia, perhaps no State in the Union has +shown as much hostility to the progress of the Negro as Mississippi. +In 1908, in response to the urgent appeals of Charles Banks, the Negro +banker and dominating force of the Negro town of Mound Bayou, Mr. +Washington agreed to make a tour through Mississippi such as he had +made three years before through Arkansas and what were then Oklahoma +and Indian Territories. At Jackson, Miss., the management of the State +Fair Association offered the local committee of Negroes the great +Liberal Arts Building for Mr. Washington's address. In the audience +were not less than five thousand persons, among them several hundred +white citizens. Among the whites who sat on the platform were Governor +Noel, Lieutenant-Governor Manship, Bishop Charles B. Galloway of the +Methodist Episcopal Church South, Mr. Milsaps, the richest citizen of +the State; the postmaster of Jackson, the United States Marshal, Hon. +Edgar S. Wilson, and a considerable number of other prominent white +citizens. + +At Natchez, a few nights later, the audience literally filled every +available space in the Grand Opera House and overflowed into the +adjoining streets. This audience was in many respects the most +remarkable that the city had ever seen. The entire orchestra was given +over to the white citizens of Natchez and Adams County, and still +there was not room to accommodate them, for they were packed in the +rear and stood three and four deep in the aisles. The colored people +were crowded into the balcony and the galleries. When Booker +Washington arose to speak, he was greeted by a perfect whirlwind of +applause and cheering. He was visibly affected by the reception given +him by whites as well as blacks. + +When he finished speaking a large delegation headed by the Mayor of +the city made their way to the platform, welcomed him to the city, +thanked him for his address, and stated that his influence for good in +the city and county could not be estimated. + +Mr. J.T. Harahan, of the Illinois Central Railroad, provided the +Pullman tourist car in which Mr. Washington and his party toured the +State. It was estimated that from sixty to eighty thousand people saw +and heard him during his seven days' trip. On the conclusion of the +tour one paper said, "No more popular man ever came into the State, +white or black, and no man ever spoke to larger audiences than he did. +He is the only speaker who ever filled the Jackson, Miss., Coliseum." + +Only six months before his death Booker Washington made a similar tour +through Louisiana. Louisiana has always been reputed to be in the same +category as Mississippi in opposing Negro progress. To some of his +audiences Mr. Washington said that he and his party of twenty-five +colored men had felt before they started very much like the little +girl who was about to go on a trip to Louisiana with her parents. The +night before they started she said her prayer as usual: + + "_Now I lay me down to sleep + I pray the Lord my soul to keep. + If I should die before I wake, + I pray the Lord my soul to take._" + +With a deep sigh she then added, "Good-bye, Lord, for two weeks. We +are going down to Louisiana." + +In introducing Mr. Washington to a great audience in New Orleans, made +up of both races, Mayor Berhman said, turning to Booker Washington: + +"The work you are doing for the uplift of your people means untold +good to the great State of Louisiana and to the whole country. Nowhere +has your race greater opportunities than in Louisiana. If the people +of the Negro race will follow your teachings, they will help +materially to bring about a condition that will mean much for +Louisiana, the South, and the nation." + +At Shreveport former Governor N.C. Blanchard, in introducing Dr. +Washington to an audience of over 10,000 white and colored citizens, +said: "I am glad to see this goodly attendance of white people, +representative white people at that, for his Honor, the Mayor, is +here, and with him are members and officials of the city government +and other prominent citizens of our community. They are here to give +encouragement to Mr. Washington, to hold up his hands, for they know +that he is leading his people along right lines--lines tending to +promote better feeling and better understanding between the two +races.... + +"Our country needs to have white and black people, sober, honest, +frugal, and thrifty. Booker T. Washington stands for these things. He +advises and counsels and leads toward these goals. Hear him and heed +his words." + +At the invitation of Superintendent Gwinn the colored school children +of New Orleans were given a half-holiday to hear Dr. Washington. He +addressed them in an arena seating more than five thousand people, +which was given for the occasion by its white owner. + +To one of these Louisiana audiences Mr. Washington said: "Both races +in the South suffer at the hands of public opinion by reason of the +fact that the outside world hears of our difficulties, of crimes, +mobs, and lynchings, but it does not hear of or know about the +evidences of racial friendship and good-will which exist in the +majority of communities in Louisiana and other Southern States where +black and white people live together in such large numbers. Lynchings +are widely reported by telegraph. The quiet, effective work of devoted +white people in the South for Negro uplift is not generally or widely +reported. The best white citizenship must take charge of the mob and +not have the mob take charge of civilization. There is enough wisdom, +patience, forbearance, and common sense in the South for white people +and black people to live together in peace for all time." + +In short, Booker Washington met race prejudice just as he did all +other difficulties, as an obstacle to be surmounted rather than as an +injustice to be railed at and denounced regardless of the +consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE + + +One secret of Booker Washington's leadership was that he always had +his ear to the ground and his feet on the ground. Some one has said +that "a practical idealist is a man who keeps his feet on the ground +even though his head is in the clouds." Booker Washington was that +kind of an idealist. He kept in constant and intimate touch with the +masses of his people, particularly with those on the soil. Like the +giant in the fable who doubled his strength every time he touched the +ground, Booker Washington seemed to renew his strength every time he +came in contact with the plain people of his race, particularly the +farmers. No matter how pressed and driven by multifarious affairs, he +could always find time for a rambling talk, apparently quite at +random, with an old, uneducated, ante-bellum black farmer. Sometimes +he would halt the entire business of a national convention in order to +hear the comment of some simple but shrewd old character. He had a +profound respect for the wisdom of simple people who lived at close +grips with the realities of life. + +At the 1914 meeting of the National Negro Business League at Muskogee, +Okla., a Mr. Jake ----, who had started as an ignorant orphan boy, +delighted Mr. Washington's heart when he testified: "When I first +started out I lived in a chicken house, 12 x 14 feet; now I own a +ten-room residence, comfortably furnished, and in a settlement where +we have a good school, a good church, and plenty of amusement, +including ten children." + +After the laughter and applause had subsided Mr. Washington asked: "Do +you think there is the same kind of an opening out here in Oklahoma +for other and younger men of our race to do as you have done and to +succeed equally as well?" + +To which Mr. Jake replied: "... I think I have succeeded with little +or no education, and it stands to reason that some of the graduates +from these industrial and agricultural schools ought to be able to do +better than I have done." + +Which was, of course, just the answer Mr. Washington hoped he would +make. + +Mr. Washington's instinct for keeping close to the plain people was +perhaps best illustrated by his tours through the far Southern States +for the improvement of the living conditions of his people, the tours +to which allusion has several times been made. His insistence upon +cleanliness, neatness, and paint became so well known that his +approach to a community frequently caused frantic cleaning up of +yards, mending of gates, and painting of houses. These sudden converts +to paint sometimes found out from which side the great man was to +approach their house and painted only that side and the front. + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington in characteristic pose addressing an +audience.] + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington silhouetted against the crowd upon one +of his educational tours.] + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington in typical pose speaking to an audience +at Shreveport, La.] + +When he spoke to his people on these trips he had the faculty of +becoming one of them. He described their daily lives in their own +language. He told them how much land they owned, how much of it was +mortgaged, how much and what they raised, and in fact every vital +economic and social fact about their lives and the conditions about +them. He praised them for what was creditable, censured and bantered +them for what was bad, and told them what conditions should be and how +they could make them so. + +He made these tours through Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, +South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and portions of Alabama and +Georgia. + +Besides these State tours he would, whenever he could take the time, +shoot out into the country surrounding Tuskegee Institute to encourage +and promote the efforts of his neighbors of his own race. In July, +1911, accompanied by some guests and members of his faculty, he made +such a visit to Mt. Olive, a village on the east of Tuskegee. The +party was first taken to the village church where they found a teeming +congregation to greet them. Here Mr. Washington was introduced by the +principal of the "Washington School" who said that since Mr. +Washington's visit eighteen months ago the colored people had +purchased forty-one lots, built several new houses, whitewashed or +painted the old ones, and increased their gardens to such an extent +that few, if any, had still to buy their vegetables. + +Mr. Washington opened his talk by saying: "It is an inspiration +simply to drive through and see your pleasant houses surrounded by +flowers and gardens and all that goes to make life happy." He then +appealed to the women to make their homes as attractive on the inside +as the gardens had made them on the outside. He told them the best +receipt for keeping the men and the children at home and out of +mischief was to make the homes so attractive that they would not want +to go away. Then, as always, before he closed he put in his warnings +and injunctions to the derelict: "Paint your houses; if you can't +paint them, whitewash them. Put the men to work in their spare hours +repairing fences, gates, and windows. Get together in your church, as +you have in your school-work, settle on a pastor and get him to live +in your community. Pay him in order that he may live here and become a +part of your community." + +On another such trip through the southwestern part of Macon County, +the county in which Tuskegee is located, he was once accompanied by +Judge Robert H. Terrell, the Negro Judge of the District of Columbia; +the Hon. Whitefield McKinlay, the Negro Collector of Customs for the +District of Columbia; George L. Knox, owner and editor of the +Indianapolis _Freeman_, a Negro newspaper; W.T.B. Williams, agent for +the Anna T. Jeanes Fund and the Slater Board; Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones +of the United States Census Bureau, and Lord Eustace Percy, one of the +Secretaries of the British Embassy at Washington. + +[Illustration: A party of friends who accompanied Dr. Washington on +one of his educational tours through the State of Mississippi. In the +party are Charles Banks, a leading Negro banker and business man of +Mississippi; Bishop E. Cottrell; and on Dr. Washington's right, Robert +R. Moton, his successor in the work at Tuskegee Institute.] + +One can well imagine with what pride the simple black farmers of Macon +County displayed their products and their live stock to these +distinguished representatives of both races headed by their own great +neighbor and leader. At Mt. Andrew, one of the communities visited, +the Farmers' Improvement Club had prepared an exhibit consisting of +the best specimens of vegetables, fruits, and meats raised in the +community. A report stated that the Negro people of the town owned +over two hundred head of live stock and had over thirty houses which +were either whitewashed or painted. When called upon for remarks, Mr. +Washington expressed himself as greatly encouraged by what he had seen +and said in conclusion, "Here in Macon County you have good land that +will grow abundant crops. You have also a good citizenship, and hence +there is every opportunity for you to make your community a heaven +upon earth." + +Booker Washington was always emphasizing the necessity of better +conditions right here and now instead of in a distant future or in +heaven. He was constantly combating the tendency in his people--a +tendency common to all people but naturally particularly strong in +those having a heritage of slavery--to substitute the anticipated +bliss of a future life for effective efforts to improve the conditions +of this present life. He was always telling them to put their energies +into societies for the preservation of health and improvement of +living conditions, instead of into the too numerous and popular sick +benefit and death benefit organizations. + +At the next stop of the party Mr. Washington was introduced to the +assembled townspeople by a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, who was +one of their leading citizens and most successful farmers. In this +talk he urged the people to get more land and keep it and to grow +something besides cotton. He said they should not lean upon others and +should not go to town on Saturdays to "draw upon" the merchants, but +should stay at home and "draw every day from their own soil corn, +peas, beans, and hogs." He urged the men to give their wives more time +to work around the house and to raise vegetables. (This, of course, +instead of requiring them to work in the fields with the men as is so +common.) He urged especially that they take their wives into their +confidence and make them their partners as well as their companions. +He assured them that if they took their wives into partnership they +would accumulate more and get along better in every way. + +There was no advice given by him more constantly or insistently in +speaking to the plain people of his race, whether in country or city, +than this injunction to the men to take their wives into their +confidence and make them their partners. He recognized that the home +was the basis of all progress and civilization for his race, as well +as all other races, and that the wife and mother is primarily the +conservator of the home. + +One of the stops of the trip was at a little hamlet called Damascus. +Here, in characteristic fashion, he told the people how much richer +they were in soil and all natural advantages than were the inhabitants +of the original Damascus in the Holy Land. He then argued that having +these great natural advantages, much was to be expected of them, etc. +Like all great preachers, teachers, and leaders of men he seized upon +the names, incidents, and conditions immediately about him and from +them drew lessons of fundamental import and universal application. + +The efforts of the Negro farmers on these trips to get a word of +approval from their great leader were often pathetic. One old man had +a good breed of pigs of which he was particularly proud. He contrived +to be found feeding them beside the road just as the great man and his +party were passing. The simple ruse succeeded. Mr. Washington and his +companions stopped and every one admired the proud and excited old +man's pigs. And then after the pigs had been duly admired, he led them +to a rough plank table upon which he had displayed in tremulous +anticipation of this dramatic moment a huge pumpkin, some perfectly +developed ears of corn, and a lusty cabbage. After these objects had +also been admired the old man decoyed the party into the little +whitewashed cottage where his wife had her hour of triumph in +displaying her jars of preserves, pickles, cans of vegetables, dried +fruits, and syrup together with quilts and other needlework all +carefully arranged for this hoped-for inspection. + +The basic teaching of all these tours was: "Make your own little +heaven right here and now. Do it by putting business methods into your +farming, by growing things in your garden the year around, by building +and keeping attractive and comfortable homes for your children so they +will stay at home and not go to the cities, by keeping your bodies and +your surroundings clean, by staying in one place, by getting a good +teacher and a good preacher, by building a good school and church, by +letting your wife be your partner in all you do, by keeping out of +debt, by cultivating friendly relations with your neighbors both white +and black." + +Mr. Washington was constantly bringing up in the Tuskegee faculty +meetings cases of distress among the colored people of the county, +which he had personally discovered while off hunting or riding, and +planning ways and means to relieve them. Apparently it never occurred +to him that technically, at least, the fate of these poor persons was +not his affair nor that of his school. At one such meeting he told of +having come upon while hunting a tumbledown cabin in the woods, within +it a half-paralyzed old Negro obviously unable to care for his simple +wants. Mr. Washington had stopped, built a fire in his stove, and +otherwise made him comfortable temporarily, but some provision for the +old man's care must be made at once. One of the teachers knew about +the old man and stated that he had such an ugly temper that he had +driven off his wife, son, and daughter who had until recently lived +with him and taken care of him. The young teacher seemed to feel that +the old man had brought his troubles upon his own head and so deserved +little sympathy. Mr. Washington would not for a moment agree to this. +He replied that if the old fellow was so unfortunate as to have a bad +temper as well as his physical infirmities that was no reason why he +should be allowed to suffer privation. He delegated one of the +teachers to look up the old man's family at once and see if they +could be prevailed upon to support him and to report at the next +meeting what had been arranged. In the meantime he would send some one +out to the cabin daily to take him food and attend to his wants. + +At another faculty meeting he brought up the plight of an old woman +who was about to be evicted from her little shack on the outskirts of +the town because of her inability to pay the nominal rent which she +was charged. He arranged to have her rent paid out of a sum of money +which he always had included in the school budget for the relief of +such cases. In such ways he was constantly impressing upon his +associates the idea that was ever a mainspring of his own +life--namely, that it was always and everywhere the duty of the more +fortunate to help the less fortunate. + +While he was sometimes severe with his more prosperous and better +educated associates he was always considerate and thoughtful of the +ignorant, the old, and the weak. He was never too busy to delight the +heart of a white-haired old man who had been the original cook of the +school by listening to his stories about the early days, or to discuss +with another old man his experiences in the Civil War. He would never +betray the least impatience in listening to these old men tell him the +same story for the five hundredth time. Although the real usefulness +of both these old fellows had long passed he never showed them by word +or deed that he did not regard them as useful and valuable members of +his staff. + +Another old character to whom he invariably showed kindness and +patience was a crack-brained old itinerant preacher who kept up an +endless stream of unintelligible pious jargon. This old fellow would +harangue the air for hours at a time right outside the Principal's +busy office, but he would never allow him to be stopped or sent away +and always sent or gave him a small contribution at the conclusion of +his tirades, if indeed they could be said to have any conclusion. + +Booker Washington had a weakness for the picturesque ne'er-do-wells of +his race. One such old fellow, who lived near Tuskegee and who had +always displayed great ingenuity in extracting money from him, one +day, when he was driving down the main street of Tuskegee behind a +pair of fast and spirited horses, rushed out into the street and +stopped him as though he had a matter of the greatest urgency to +impart to him. When Mr. Washington had with difficulty reined in his +horses and asked him what he wanted the old man said breathlessly, +"I'se got a tirkey for yo' Thanksgivin'!" + +"How much does it weigh?" inquired Mr. Washington. + +"Twelve to fifteen poun'." + +After thanking the old man warmly, Mr. Washington started to drive on +when the old fellow added, "I jest wants to borrow a dollar for to +fatten yo' turkey for you!" + +With a laugh Mr. Washington handed the old man the dollar and drove +on. He never could be made to feel that by these spontaneous +generosities he was encouraging thriftlessness and mendicancy. He was +incorrigible in his unscientific open-handedness with the poor, +begging older members of his race. + +At the time of the Tuskegee teachers' annual picnic, usually held in +May, many of these old colored people would attend uninvited and armed +with huge empty baskets. Mr. Washington always greeted them like +honored guests and allowed them to carry off provisions enough to feed +large families for days. He would also introduce them to the officers +and teachers of the school and to any invited guests who might be +present. + +Old man Harry Varner was the night watchman of the school in its early +days and a man upon whom Mr. Washington very much depended. He lived +in a cabin opposite the school grounds. After hearing many talks about +the importance of living in a real house instead of a one or two room +cabin, old Uncle Harry finally decided that he must have a real house. +Accordingly he came to his employer, told him his feeling in the +matter, and laid before him his meagre savings, which he had +determined to spend for a real house. Mr. Washington went with him to +select the lot and added enough out of his own pocket to the scant +savings to enable the old man to buy a cow and a pig and a garden plot +as well as the house. From then on for weeks he and old Uncle Harry +would have long and mysterious conferences over the planning of that +little four-room cottage. It is doubtful if Dr. Washington ever +devoted more time or thought to planning any of the great buildings of +the Institute. No potentate was ever half as proud of his palace as +Uncle Harry of his four-room cottage when it was finally finished and +painted and stood forth in all its glory to be admired of all men. And +Booker Washington was scarcely less proud of it than Uncle Harry. + +With Uncle Harry Varner, Old Man Brannum, the original cook of the +school to whom reference has already been made, and Lewis Adams of the +town of Tuskegee, whom Mr. Washington mentions in "Up from Slavery" as +one of his chief advisers, all unlettered-before-the-war Negroes, his +relationship was always particularly intimate. These three old men +enjoyed the confidence of the white people of the town of Tuskegee to +an unusual extent and often acted as ambassadors of good-will between +the head of the school and his white neighbors when from time to time +the latter showed a disposition to look askance at the rapidly growing +institution on the hill beyond the town. + +Another intimate friend of Mr. Washington's was Charles L. Diggs, +known affectionately on the school grounds as "Old Man Diggs." The old +man had been body servant to a Union officer in the Civil War and +after the war had been carried to Boston, where he became the butler +in a fashionable Back Bay family. When Mr. Washington first visited +Boston, as an humble and obscure young Negro school teacher pleading +for his struggling school, he met Diggs, and Diggs succeeded in +interesting his employers in the sincere and earnest young Negro +teacher. When years afterward the Institute had grown to the dignity +of needing stewards, Mr. Washington employed his old friend as steward +of the Teachers' Home. In all the years thereafter hardly a day passed +when Mr. Washington was at the school without his having some kind of +powwow with Old Man Diggs regarding some matter affecting the +interests of the school. + +To the despair of his family Booker Washington seemed to go out of his +way to find forlorn old people whom he could befriend. He sent +provisions weekly to an humble old black couple from whom he had +bought a tract of land for the school. He did the same for old Aunt +Harriet and her deaf, dumb, and lame son, except that to them he +provided fuel as well. On any particularly cold day he would send one +or more students over to Aunt Harriet's to find out if she and her +poor helpless son were comfortable. Also every Sunday afternoon, to +the joy of this pathetic couple, a particularly appetizing Sunday +dinner unfailingly made its appearance. And these were only a few of +the pensioners and semi-pensioners whom Booker Washington accumulated +as he went about his kindly way. + +One means of keeping in touch with the masses of his people which he +never neglected was through attending the annual National Negro +Baptist Conventions. At these great gatherings he came in touch with +the religious leaders of two million Negroes. Notwithstanding the fact +that he practically collapsed at the annual meeting of the National +Negro Business League held in Boston in August, 1915, and had to be +nursed for some weeks following before he was even strong enough to +return to Tuskegee, he insisted in spite of the admonitions of +physicians and the pleadings of friends, family, and colleagues, in +keeping his engagement to speak before this great convention in +Chicago in September. To all protests he replied, "It would do me more +harm to stay away than to go." With these words, and rallying the +rapidly waning dregs of his once great strength he went and made an +address which ranks with the most powerful he ever delivered to his +people. A threatened split in the Baptist denomination in part +accounted for his insistence upon attending this convention. In this +address, delivered only two months before he died of sheer exhaustion, +and the last he made before any great body of his own people, he said +in part: + +"My only excuse for accepting your invitation to appear before you in +these annual gatherings is that I am deeply interested in all that +this National Baptist Convention stands for. It is in my opinion the +largest and most representative body of colored people anywhere in the +world.... I believe most profoundly in the work of this convention +because it represents the common masses of all our people, those who +are the foundation of our success as a race. I believe in you because +you do not pretend to represent the classes but the masses of our +people. I am here, too, because the Baptist Church among our people +throughout the country is affording them an opportunity to get lessons +in self-government in a degree that is true of few other +organizations. + +"You who control this great convention have before you a great +opportunity and along with this opportunity a tremendous +responsibility. It is given to you, as to all men, to pursue one of +two courses, and that is, to be big leaders or little leaders. You can +construct or you can destroy. The time is now at hand when in each +individual church organization and each district association and each +State convention and in this great national convention, the little man +must give way and let the big, broad, generous man take his place. +Nothing is ever gained in business, in education, or in religious work +by being little, narrow, or jealous in our sympathies and activities." + +Two days later, after he had left the convention and returned home, +Mr. Washington received word that the convention had split, contending +leaders holding out for what they termed principles. Immediately on +the receipt of this report he dispatched the following telegram to the +leaders of the two opposing factions: + + I earnestly beg and urge that each convention remain in + session until all differences are composed. In the event + this cannot be done I hope each convention will empower a + small committee or authorize some one to appoint committees + that may have power in settling present difficulties so that + next year there may be but one convention. It is easier now + to bring about reconciliation than it will be later. It will + be a calamity to the Baptist Church and to our race for the + present split to continue. It will soon spread to all the + Baptist churches in all the States. I would urge that each + side manifest a broad liberal spirit and be willing to + sacrifice something for the good of the cause. Millions of + our humble people throughout the country are depending upon + our leaders to settle their difficulties in a Christian + spirit and they should not be disappointed. If I may be used + at any time in any way my services are at your command. Have + sent a similar telegram to Dr. ----. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + +Unhappily he did not have the satisfaction of bringing the two +factions together before he died, but until the last he continued his +efforts in this direction. + +Largely because of his intimate knowledge of the plain people Booker +Washington appealed to the great of the earth. In his books, "Up from +Slavery," "The Story of My Life and Work," and "My Larger Education," +he tells of taking tea with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, of his +association with Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft, of his +introduction to Prince Henry of Prussia, of his dining with the King +and Queen of Denmark, and of his long friendships with William H. +Baldwin, Jr., Robert C. Ogden, Henry H. Rogers, John D. Rockefeller, +and Andrew Carnegie. He was of value and interest to such people +largely because of his closeness to his own people. His power to +interest such people was largely because he was so close to the rank +and file of his own people. + +After the death of Henry H. Rogers, Mr. Washington said of him in an +interview published at the time in the New York _Evening Post_: "The +more experiences I have of the world, the more I am convinced that +the only proper and the only safe way to judge any one is at first +hand and by your actual experience. It seems to me that, outside of +the immediate members of my family, I knew the late Henry H. Rogers +during the last fifteen years as well as I could know any one. Of all +the men that I have ever known intimately, no matter what their +station in life, Mr. Rogers always impressed me as being among the +kindest and gentlest. That was the impression he made upon me the +first time I ever met him, and during the fifteen years that I knew +him that impression was deepened every time I met him." (And this was +Booker Washington's impression of the second greatest figure in the +building up of the huge, world-powerful corporation whose methods +during its period of rapid expansion had at that time been only +recently described in _McClure's Magazine_ by Ida M. Tarbell.) "I am +sure that the members of his family will forgive me for telling, now +that he has laid down his great work and gone to rest, some things +about him which I feel that the public should know but which he always +forbade me to mention while he lived. + +"The first time I ever met Mr. Rogers was in this manner: about +fifteen years ago a large meeting was held in Madison Square Garden +concert hall, to obtain funds for the Tuskegee Institute. Mr. Rogers +attended the meeting, but came so late that, as the auditorium was +crowded, he could not get a seat. He stood in the back part of the +hall, however, and listened to the speaking. + +"The next morning I received a telegram from him asking me to call at +his office. When I entered he remarked that he had been present at the +meeting the night previous, and expected the 'hat to be passed,' but +as that was not done he wanted to 'chip in' something. Thereupon he +handed me ten one-thousand-dollar bills for the Tuskegee Institute. In +doing this he imposed only one condition, that the gift should be +mentioned to no one. Later on, however, when I told him that I did not +care to take so large a sum of money without some one knowing it, he +consented that I tell one or two of our Trustees about the source of +the gift. I cannot now recall the number of times that he has helped +us, but in doing so he always insisted that his name be never used. He +seemed to enjoy making gifts in currency." + +In an article published in _McClure's Magazine_ in May, 1902, +Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans thus describes the occasion on which he +presented Booker Washington to Prince Henry of Prussia: "The first +request made by Prince Henry, after being received in New York, was +that I should arrange to give him some of the old Southern melodies, +if possible, sung by Negroes; that he was passionately fond of them, +and had been all his life--not the ragtime songs, but the old Negro +melodies. Several times during his trip I endeavored to carry out his +wishes, with more or less success; but finally, at the Waldorf-Astoria, +the Hampton singers presented themselves in one of the reception rooms +and gave him a recital of Indian and Negro melodies. He was charmed. +And while I was talking to him, just after a Sioux Indian had sung a +lullaby, he suddenly turned and said: 'Isn't that Booker T. Washington +over there?' I recognized Washington and replied that it was, and he +said: 'Evans, would you mind presenting him to me? I know how some of +your people feel about Washington, but I have always had great +sympathy with the African race, and I want to meet the man I regard as +the leader of that race.' So I went at once to Washington and told him +that the Prince wished him to be presented, and took him, myself, and +presented him to the Prince. Booker Washington sat down and talked +with him for fully ten minutes, and it was a most interesting +conversation, one of the most interesting I ever heard in my life. The +ease with which Washington conducted himself was very striking, and I +only accounted for it afterward when I remembered that he had dined +with the Queen of England two or three times, so that this was not a +new thing for him. Indeed, Booker Washington's manner was easier than +that of almost any other man I saw meet the Prince in this country. +The Prince afterward referred to President Roosevelt's action in +regard to Booker Washington, and applauded it very highly." + +In 1911 Mr. Washington visited Denmark with the particular purpose of +observing the world-famed agricultural methods of that country. While +in Copenhagen he was presented to the King and Queen. This experience +he described on his return to this country in an article published in +the New York _Age_, the well-known Negro paper, in December of the +same year. The portion of the article describing his meeting with the +King and Queen reads as follows: + + "Soon after I entered, the Chamberlain went in and presently + returned to tell me the King would be ready to see me in + about five minutes. At the end of the five minutes exactly + the door was opened and I found myself in the King's + chamber. I had expected to see a gorgeously fitted + apartment, something to compare with what I had seen + elsewhere in the palace. Imagine my surprise when I found + practically nothing in the room except the King, himself. + There was not a chair, a sofa, or, so far as I can recall, a + single thing in the way of furniture--nothing except the + King and his sword. I was surprised again, considering the + formality by which he was surrounded, by the familiar and + kindly manner in which the King received me, and by his + excellent English. Both of us remained standing during the + whole interview, which must have lasted twenty minutes. I + say we remained standing, because, even had etiquette + permitted it we could not have done anything else because + there was nothing in the room for either of us to sit upon. + + "I had been warned by the American Minister and Mr. Cavling, + however, as to what might be the result of this interview. + Among other things in regard to which I had been carefully + instructed by the American Minister was I must never turn my + back upon the King, that I must not lead off in any + conversation, that I must let the King suggest the subjects + to be discussed, and not take the initiative in raising any + question for discussion. I tried to follow Minister Egan's + instructions in this regard as well as I could, but I fear I + was not wholly successful. + + "I had not been talking with the King many minutes before I + found that he was perfectly familiar with the work of the + Tuskegee school, that he had read much that I had written, + and was well acquainted with all that I was trying to do for + the Negroes in the South. He referred to the fact that + Denmark was interested in the colored people in their own + colony in the Danish West Indies, and that both he and the + Queen were anxious that something be done for the colored + people in the Danish possessions similar to what we were + doing at Tuskegee. He added that he hoped at some time I + would find it possible to visit the Danish West Indian + Islands. + + "As I have said, I had been warned as to what might be the + result of this visit to the King and that I had best be + careful how I made my plans for the evening. As the + interview was closing, the King took me by the hand and + said, 'The Queen would be pleased to have you dine at the + palace to-night,' at the same time naming the hour. + + "The Minister had told me that this was his way of + commanding persons to dine, and that an invitation given + must be obeyed. Of course I was delighted to accept the + invitation, though I feared it would wreck my plans for + seeing the country people. The King was so kind and put me + so at my ease in his presence that I fear I forgot Minister + Eagan's warning not to turn my back upon him, and I must + confess that I got out of the room in about the same way I + usually go out of the room when I have had an audience with + President Taft. + + "Leaving the King and the palace, I found out on the street + quite a group of newspaper people, most of them representing + American papers, who were very anxious to know, in the usual + American fashion, just what took place during the interview, + how long I was with the King, what we talked about, and what + not. They were especially anxious to know if I had been + invited to the palace for dinner." + +And further on he thus describes the dinner: + + "The dinner was not at the palace where I was received in + the morning, but at the summer palace several miles out of + Copenhagen. When I reached the hotel from the country it + soon dawned upon me that I was in great danger of being + late. To keep a King and Queen and their guests waiting on + one for dinner would of course be an outrageous offense. I + dressed as hastily as I was able, but just as I was putting + on the finishing touches to my costume my white tie bursted. + I was in a predicament from which for a moment I saw no + means of rescuing myself. I did not have time to get another + tie, and of course I could not wear the black one. As well + as I could, however, I put the white tie about my neck, + fastened it with a pin, and earnestly prayed that it might + remain in decent position until the dinner was over. + Nevertheless, I trembled all through the dinner for fear + that my tie might go back on me. + + "I succeeded in reaching the summer palace about ten minutes + before the time to go into the dining-room. Here again I was + met by the King's Chamberlain by whom I was conveyed through + a series of rooms and, finally, into the presence of the + King, who, after some conversation, led me where the Queen + was standing and presented me to her. The Queen received me + graciously and even cordially. She spoke English perfectly, + and seemed perfectly familiar with my work. I had, however, + a sneaking idea that Minister Egan was responsible for a + good deal of the familiarity which both the King and Queen + seemed to exhibit regarding Tuskegee. + + "As I entered the reception-room there were about twenty or + twenty-five people who were to be entertained at dinner. I + will not attempt to describe the elegance, not to say + splendor, of everything in connection with the dinner. As I + ate food for the first time in my life out of gold dishes, I + could not but recall the time when as a slave boy I ate my + syrup from a tin plate. + + "I think I got through the dinner pretty well by following + my usual custom, namely, of watching other people to see + just what they did and what they did not do. There was one + place, however, where I confess I made a failure. It is + customary at the King's table, as is true at other functions + in many portions of Europe, I understand, to drink a silent + toast to the King. This was so new and strange to me that I + decided that, since I did not understand the custom, the + best thing was to frankly confess my ignorance. I reassured + myself with the reflection that people will easier pardon + ignorance than pretense. + + "At a certain point during the dinner each guest is + expected, it seems, to get the eye of the King and then rise + and drink to the health of the King. When he rises he makes + a bow to the King and the King returns the bow. Nothing is + said by either the King or the guest. I think practically + all the invited guests except myself went through this + performance. It seemed to me a very fitting way of + expressing respect for the King, as the head of a nation and + as a man, and now that I know something about it, I think if + I had another chance I could do myself credit in that + regard. + + "During the dinner I had the privilege of meeting a very + interesting old gentleman, now some eighty years of age, the + uncle of the King, Prince ----, who spoke good English. I + had a very interesting conversation with him, and since + returning to America I have had some correspondence with + him. + + "As I have already said, the Queen Mother of England was at + this time in Copenhagen, and as I afterward learned, her + sister, the Queen Mother of Russia, was also there. As both + of these were in mourning on account of the recent death of + King Edward, they did not appear at this dinner. I was + reminded of their presence, however, when as I was leaving + the King's palace after my interview in the morning, one of + the marshals presented me with two autograph books, with the + request that I inscribe my name in them. One of the books, + as I afterward learned, belonged to the Queen Mother of + England; the other belonged to the Queen Mother of Russia." + +A mere catalogue of the principal organizations which Booker T. +Washington founded for the purpose of helping his people to help +themselves tells a story of constructive achievement more impressive +than any amount of abstract eulogy. + +The following is a list of such organizations given in chronological +order with a few words of description for the purpose of identifying +each: + +In 1884 he founded the Teachers' Institute, consisting of summer +courses, conferences, and exhibits having as their main purpose the +extension of the advantages of Tuskegee Institute to the country +school teachers of the surrounding country. The work of this Institute +is described in the chapter: "Washington, the Educator." + +In 1891 he established the Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference. He +decided that the school should not only help directly its own +students, but should reach out and help the students' parents and the +older people generally in the country districts of the State. He +started by inviting the farmers and their wives in the immediate +locality to spend a day at the school for the frank discussion of +their material and spiritual condition to the end that the school +might learn how it could best help them to help themselves. From this +simple beginning the Conference has grown until it now consists of +delegates from every Southern State, besides hundreds of teachers and +principals of Negro schools, Northern men and women, publicists and +philanthropists, newspaper and magazine writers, Southern white men +and Southern white women, all interested in helping the simple black +folk in their strivings to "quit libin' in de ashes," as one of them +fervently expressed it. At one of these conferences an old preacher +from a country district concluded an earnest prayer for the +deliverance of his people from the bondage of ignorance with this +startling sentence: "And now, O Lord, put dy foot down in our hearts +and lif' us up!" + +The year following Mr. Washington established a hospital in Greenwood +village, the hamlet adjoining the Institute grounds where live most of +the teachers, officers, and employees. It was at first hardly more +than a dispensary, but when the Institute acquired a Resident +Physician two small buildings were set aside as hospitals for men and +women, respectively. Later a five-thousand-dollar building was given +which served as the hospital until, in 1913, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Mason, +of Boston, presented Tuskegee with a fifty-thousand-dollar splendidly +equipped modern hospital, in memory of her grandfather, John A. +Andrew, the War Governor of Massachusetts. While these hospitals, from +the first humble dispensary to the fine hospital of to-day, were of +course primarily for the Institute they were in true Tuskegee fashion +thrown open to all who needed them. And since the town of Tuskegee has +no hospital they have always been freely used by outside colored +people. Mr. Washington, himself, on his riding and hunting trips would +from time to time find sick people whom he would have brought to the +hospital for care. + +The next year, 1893, he started the Minister's Night School. This is +conducted by the Phelps Hall Bible Training School of the Institute. +Here country ministers with large families and small means are given +night courses in all the subjects likely to be of service to them from +"Biblical criticism" to the "planting and cultivating of crops." + +The year following Mrs. Washington began the Tuskegee Town Mothers' +Meetings. Both she and Mr. Washington had long been distressed at +seeing the women and young girls loafing about the streets of the town +of Tuskegee when they came to town with their husbands and fathers on +Saturday afternoons. Now, instead of loafing about the streets these +women attend the Mothers' Meetings where Mrs. Washington and the +various women teachers give them practical talks on all manner of +housekeeping and family-raising problems from the making of preserves +to proper parental care. + +In 1895 the Building and Loan Association was established. The +Institute's chief accountant is its president, and the Institute's +treasurer its secretary and treasurer. This Association has enabled +many scores of people to secure their own homes who without its aid +could not have done so. + +The next year the Town Night School was started. This school has as +its purpose giving instruction to the boys and girls who have +positions in the town which make it impossible for them to attend the +Institute, and to the servants in the white families. This school has +become one of the best and strongest forces in the life of the +community. As an outgrowth of it came later the Town Library and +Reading Room, for which Mr. Washington personally provided the room. +There is now in this school a cooking class for girls and several +industrial classes for boys. At the same time Mr. Washington +established a Farmers' Institute which is described in the chapter +"Washington and the Negro Farmer." + +In 1898 he started a County Fair to spur the ambition of the Negro +farmers of the county. This Negro County Fair under his guidance grew +and flourished from year to year. The whites maintained a separate +County Fair. Finally the two fairs were combined, and now one of the +most flourishing County Fairs in all the South is conducted, both +races supporting it by making exhibits, and sharing in the success and +profits of the enterprise, as well as in its general management. + +In 1900 he organized the National Negro Business League, as described +in the chapter, "Washington and the Negro Business Man." + +Two years later he established the Greenwood Village Improvement +Association for the little community which has grown up around the +school. Taxes are collected from the property holders as well as the +renters for the upkeep of the roads, bridges, and fences, and a park +in the centre of the village, which was introduced in emulation of the +typical New England village. Just as in New England, also, this +central park, or "green," is surrounded by a number of churches. An +elective Board of Control presides over this village, settles +disputes, and keeps the community in good repair morally and +spiritually, as well as physically. On the Monday immediately +following the close of a regular school term a town meeting is held at +which reports are read and discussed covering every phase of the life +of the community. Mr. Washington particularly enjoyed presiding at +these meetings because they demonstrated what the people of his race +could accomplish under a favorable and stimulating environment. He +always contrived to have the meetings followed by simple refreshments +and a social hour. + +In 1904 he started the Rural School Improvement Campaign and the +Farmers' Short Course at the Institute, both of which are described in +the chapter, "Washington, the Educator." In the same year he started a +systematic effort to improve the conditions in the jails and the chain +gangs and for the rehabilitation of released prisoners. + +The next year he founded a weekly farm paper, a circulating library, +and a Ministers' Institute. The year after, 1906, the Jesup +Agricultural Wagon--the agricultural school on wheels, which is +described in the chapter, "Washington, the Educator"--was started. In +1907 the farmers' cooperative demonstration work, which has also been +mentioned, was inaugurated. In 1910 the rural improvement speaking +tours began. And finally, in 1914, he established "Baldwin Farms," the +farming community for the graduates of the agricultural department of +Tuskegee, which also has been previously described. + +These, then, are some of the tangible means which Booker Washington +developed during a period of thirty years for keeping in touch with +his people and for keeping his people in touch with one another and +with all the things which go to make up wholesome and useful living. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO FARMER + + +Booker T. Washington was a great believer in the experience meeting, +and the Tuskegee Negro Conference, which he started in 1891, is +nothing more nor less than an agricultural experience meeting. He +placed his faith in the persuasive power of example--in the contagion +of successful achievement. He once said: "One farm bought, one house +built, one home sweetly and intelligently kept, one man who is the +largest taxpayer or has the largest bank account, one school or church +maintained, one factory running successfully, one truck garden +profitably cultivated, one patient cured by a Negro doctor, one sermon +well preached, one office well filled, one life cleanly lived--these +will tell more in our favor than all the abstract eloquence that can +be summoned to plead our cause. Our pathway must be up through the +soil, up through swamps, up through forests, up through the streams, +the rocks, up through commerce, education, and religion." + +Nothing delighted Mr. Washington more than the successful Negro +farmers who had started in life without money, friends, influence, or +education--with literally nothing but their hands. At one of the +Tuskegee conferences not many years ago his keen eyes spotted such a +man in the audience and he called to him in his straight from the +shoulder manner: "Get up and tell us what you have been doing as a +farmer." + +A tall, finely built, elderly man, looking almost like a Nubian giant, +arose in his place, his face wreathed in smiles, and showing his white +teeth as he spoke: "Doctor, I done 'tended one o' yore conferences +here 'bout ten year ago. I heard you say dat a man ain't wurth nuthin' +as a man or a citizen 'less he owns his home, 'least one mule, and has +a bank account, an' so I made up my mind dat I warn't wuth nuthin', +an' so I went home an' talked de whole matter over wid de ol' woman. +We decided dat we would make a start, an' now I's proud to tell you +dat I's not only got a bank account, but I's got two bank accounts, +an' heah's de bank books (proudly holding on high two grimy bank +books); I also own two hun'ed acres of land an' all de land is paid +for. I also own two mules, an' bofe dem mules is paid for. I also own +some other property, an' de ole woman an' me an' de chilluns lives in +a good house an' de house is paid for. All dis come 'bout from my +comin' to dis heah conference." + +Another old fellow, when called upon to tell what he had accomplished, +dexterously evaded the direct inquiry for some minutes, and when Mr. +Washington finally succeeded in pinning him down, said: "All I's got +to say, Doctah Washington, is dat dis heah conference dun woke me up +an' I'll be back heah next year wid a report jist like dese oder +fellers." + +Mr. Washington was a great believer in his favorite animal, the pig, +as a mortgage lifter and general aid to prosperity. At one of the +conferences, after he had paid a particularly warm eulogy to the +economic importance of the pig, an old woman got up and said: "Mr. +Washington, you is got befo' you now Sister Nelson of Tallapoosa +County, Alabama. All I has I owes to dis conference and one little +puppy dog." + +Mr. Washington challenged: "How's that?" + +The old woman continued: "I got a little pig from dat little puppy dog +an' I got my prosperity from dat pig!" + +Mr. Washington and the whole company in amazement hung upon the old +woman's words as she continued: "It was dis way: Dat little puppy dog +when she growed up had some little puppies herself. One day one o' my +fren's come by an' as' me for one o' dem puppies. I tol' him 'No,' I +would not gib him dat puppy, but dat he had a little pig an' I would +'change a puppy for a pig. I had heard you tell ober heah so much +'bout hogs an' pigs dat I thought dis was a good chance to get +started. He give me de pig an' I give him de puppy. In de course o' +time dat little pig dun bring me in some mo' pigs. I sol' some an' +kep' some. I had to feed de pig, so I had begun savin'. I den begun to +find out dat I could git on wid less den I had ben gettin' on wid, an' +so I kep' on savin' an' kep' on raisin' pigs 'til I was able to supply +most o' my neighbors wid pigs, an' den I got me a cow, an den I begun +to supply my neighbors wid milk, an' den I started me a little garden. +Den I sol' my neighbors greens an' onions, an' so I went on fum time +to time 'til I dun paid for de lot an' de house in which I lib, an' I +keeps my pigs about me an' keeps my garden goin', an' dat's why I says +all I is I owes to dat little puppy dog an' to dis heah conference." + +At these conferences the most elementary subjects are discussed. +Booker Washington would tell and have told to these farmers matters +which one would naturally assume any farmers, however ignorant, must +already know. He never tried to deceive himself as to the woful +ignorance of the Negro masses, and still he was never discouraged, but +always said ignorance was not a hopeless handicap because it could be +overcome by education. While he frankly although sadly acknowledged +the lamentable ignorance of the rank and file of his race, +particularly those on the soil and dependent for education upon the +short-term, ill-equipped, and poorly taught rural Negro school, he as +stoutly denied and constantly disproved the assertion that these +ignorant masses were not capable of profiting by education. He +earnestly strove and signally succeeded in attracting to these great +annual agricultural conferences the most pathetically ignorant of the +Negro farmers as well as the leading scientific agriculturists of the +race. But he always insisted that the meetings be conducted for the +benefit of the ignorant and not in the interests of the learned. + +He would, for instance, tell the attendants at the conferences what to +plant and when to plant it, and what live stock to keep and how to +keep it. He would have printed and distributed among them a "Farmer's +Calendar" which gave the months in which the various standard +vegetables should be planted and what crops should be used in +rotation. He constantly insisted that the Experiment Station at +Tuskegee Institute, supported by the State of Alabama, should not be +used for scientific experiments of interest only to experts, but +should deal with the fundamental problems with which the Negro farmers +of Alabama were daily confronted. The titles of some of the Experiment +Station Bulletins selected at random suggest the homely and practical +nature of the information disseminated. Half a dozen of them read as +follows: "Possibilities of the Sweet Potato in Macon County, Alabama," +"How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human +Consumption," "How to Raise Pigs with Little Money," "When, What, and +How to Can and Preserve Fruits and Vegetables in the Home," "Some +Possibilities of the Cowpea in Macon County, Alabama," "A New and +Prolific Variety of Cotton." And all of these bulletins, so many of +which deal with the problems of the home, are written by an old +bachelor of pure African descent, without a drop of white blood, who +in himself refutes two popular fallacies: the one that bachelors +cannot be skilled in domestic affairs, and the other, that +pure-blooded Africans cannot achieve intellectual distinction. This +man is George W. Carver, who is not only the most eminent agricultural +scientist of his race in this country, but one of the most eminent of +any race. His work is so well known in scientific circles in his field +throughout the world that when leading European scientists visit this +country, particularly the Southern States, they not infrequently go +out of their way to look him up. They are usually very much surprised +to find their eminent fellow-scientist a black man. + +The last of these conferences over which Booker Washington presided +was held at Tuskegee, January 20 and 21, 1915. A woman, the wife of a +Negro farmer, was testifying when she said: "Our menfolks is foun' out +dat they can't eat cotton." As the outburst of laughter which greeted +this remark died down, Mr. Washington said in his incisive way: "What +do you mean?" The woman replied: "I mean dat we womenfolks been +tellin' our menfolks all de time dat they should raise mo to eat." + +She then displayed specimens of canned fruits and told how she had put +up enough of them to supply her family until summer. She told of +having sold thirty-six turkeys and of selling two and three dozen eggs +each week, with plenty left over for her family. She said that she and +her husband had raised and sold hogs, and still had for their own use +more than enough pork to last them until the next hog-killing time. + +"How often do you eat chicken?" asked Dr. Washington. + +"We can eat chicken every day if we want it," she replied. + +When she had finished Mr. Washington explained that all this had been +done on 178 acres of the poorest land in Macon County. + +In his opening address at this conference Mr. Washington denounced +"petty thieving, pistol-toting, crap-shooting, the patronizing of +'blind tigers,' and unnecessary lawsuits" as some of the weights and +encumbrances which are keeping the Negro from running well the race +which is set before him. + +These are some of the basic questions which Booker Washington placed +before the conference for discussion: + +"How and why am I so hard hit by the present hard times?" + +"What am I doing to meet present conditions?" + +"How may I, after all, get some real benefit from present +difficulties?" + +The most spectacular feature of the exercises was the parade. It +extended for almost a mile and included a score or more of floats, +hundreds of men and women in appropriate costumes, and dozens of +horses, mules, and other live stock. + +There were a large number of colored preachers in attendance who +showed that they had adopted the Washington slogan of trying to make a +heaven on earth and whose testimony showed that they were now giving +as much time to soil salvation as to soul salvation. One of them told +of a flourishing Pig Club which he had organized among his +parishioners after reading Mr. Washington's open letter, "Pigs and +Education; Pigs and Debts," the circulating of which will be later +described. + +[Illustration: This old woman was a regular attendant at the Tuskegee +Negro Conference and idolizingly watched Mr. Washington during the +whole four hours that he would preside over one of the Conference +sessions.] + +After the awarding of prizes for the best floats the declarations of +the conference were read by Major R.R. Moton of Hampton Institute, who +then little realized that before the year was out he was to be chosen +to succeed the leader of his race as the Principal of Tuskegee +Institute. + +The following were the especially significant paragraphs of these +declarations: + +"It is found that for every dollar's worth of cotton we grow, we raise +only forty-nine cents' worth of all other crops. An investigation has +shown that there are 20,000 farms of Negroes on which there are no +cattle of any kind; 270,000 on which there are no hogs; 200,000 on +which no poultry is raised; 140,000 on which no corn is grown; on +750,000 farms of Negroes no oats are grown; on 550,000 farms no sweet +potatoes are grown, and on 320,000 farms of Negroes there are no +gardens of any sort. These hundreds of thousands of farms without +cattle, grain, or gardens are for the most part operated by tenants. +In their behalf, the Tuskegee Negro Conference respectfully requests +of the planters, bankers, and other representatives of the financial +interests of the South that more opportunities be given Negro tenants +on plantations to grow crops other than cotton." + +After the regular conference the usual Conference of Workers was held. +This conference is composed of people such as heads of schools and +colleges, preachers, teachers, and persons generally holding +responsible positions of leadership in their respective communities. +These leaders discuss the larger community problems in distinction +from individual problems. At this gathering, for instance, the +principal of the County High School at Cottage Grove, Ala., explained +how through diversified farming the parents of his students had been +able to live while holding their cotton for higher prices. + +Some of the principals of schools told how they had accepted cotton as +payment of tuition for some of their students. Others had taken in +payment barrels of syrup, sacks of corn, and hogs. All the schools +reported cutting expenses, by reduction of their dietary, the salaries +of teachers, or some other forms of retrenchment, meaning sacrifice +for students or teachers, or both, that the work of education might +continue and weather the hard times. In concluding the conference +Booker Washington explained the terms of the recently enacted Smith +Lever Act for Federal aid in the extension of agricultural education +throughout the rural districts of the country. Thus ended the +twentieth session of the great Tuskegee Negro Conference and the last +session presided over by the Founder of the Conference. It was most +appropriate that this, his last conference, should have so unanimously +and effectively applied one of the leading tenets of Booker +Washington's teaching--namely, the winning of lasting profit from the +experiences of adversity. + +As well as these annual Farmers' Conferences there are held at +Tuskegee monthly meetings for the farmers from the locality where they +display their products, tell of their successes and failures, and +compare notes on their experiences all under the expert leadership, +guidance, and advice of the staff of the agricultural department of +the Institute. Every month, or oftener, there is an agricultural +exhibit in which the best products of the various crops such as +potatoes, corn, and cotton are displayed, and the methods used in +their production explained by figures and graphic charts. + +As early as 1895 Booker Washington started a campaign to get his +people to raise more pigs. This campaign he revived at intervals, and +for the last time in the fall of 1914, when the whole country and +particularly the South was suffering from the first acute depression +caused by the European War. In the Southern States this depression +was, of course, especially acute because the European market for +cotton was for the time being cut off. As one of the means to aid his +people in this trying time he sent the following letter to the entire +press of the South of both races: + + "PIGS AND EDUCATION; PIGS AND DEBTS" + + _To the Editor:_ + + Our race is in constant search of means with which to + provide better homes, schools, colleges, and churches, and + with which to pay debts. This is especially true during the + hard financial conditions obtaining on account of the + European War. All of this cannot be done at once, but great + progress can be made by a good strong pull together in a + simple, direct manner. How? + + There are 1,400,000 colored families who live on farms or in + villages, or small towns. Of this number, at the present + time, 700,000 have no pigs. I want to ask that each family + raise at least one pig this fall. Where one or more pigs are + already owned, I want to ask that each family raise one + additional pig this fall. + + As soon as possible, I want to ask that this plan be + followed by the organization of a Pig Club in every + community where one does not already exist. I want to ask + that the matter be taken up at once through families, + schools, churches, and societies, Farmers' Institutes, + Business Leagues, etc. + + The average pig is valued at about $5. If each family adds + only one pig, in a few months at the present price for hogs, + $10 would be added to the wealth of the owner, and + $14,000,000 to the wealth of the colored people. If each + family adds two pigs, it would have in a few months $20 more + wealth, and $28,000,000 would be added with which to promote + the welfare of the race during the money stringency created + by the European War. + + Let us not put it off, but organize Pig Clubs everywhere. + Give each boy and girl an opportunity to own and grow at + least one pig. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, + Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. + +This letter was not only printed by most of the white papers as well +as all of the Negro papers, but it was widely endorsed editorially in +the white as well as the black press. Many of the newspapers for +whites urged that the white farmers also follow the suggestion. The +granges and farmers' institutes of both races took up the appeal and +urged it upon their members. There can be no doubt that through the +publication of this one brief letter, sent out at just the right +psychological moment, Booker Washington materially aided the Southern +farmers of both races to tide over a serious crisis and materially +increased the economic wealth of the entire South. As he well knew, +the people were desperate and panicky and hence ready to follow +almost any lead. In any ordinary state of the public mind such a +letter could have produced nothing like such an influence. This well +illustrated Booker Washington's accurate knowledge of and feeling for +the psychology of the public which enabled him almost without +exception to speak or remain silent at the right times. + +Booker Washington was not only interested in black farmers but white +farmers. He always emphasized the responsibility of the farmer as the +builder of the foundations of society. He was constantly inviting the +white farmers of the surrounding country to visit the school and see +what was being done on the school farms and by the Experiment Station. +And the white farmers availed themselves freely of this opportunity +and profited by it. The school's veterinarian is probably the only one +in the county, and this division was established very largely for the +purpose of bringing the school and the community--both white and +black--into closer relation. In dealing with farmers, even more +perhaps than with other classes of people, Washington would appeal to +their pride and even to their vanity. He was fond of telling them that +they were the salt of the earth. One of his favorite stories was about +the farmer who keeps his best potatoes for himself and his family and +sends the speckled ones to town; keeps his tender young chickens and +sends the old tough ones to town; keeps his rich milk and sends his +skimmed milk to town. While there may never have been quite such a +farmer the story had its element of truth, and helped to make the +farmer appreciate his good fortune and his importance in the scheme of +things. + +In 1910, when the last Federal Census was taken, 503 Negro farm owners +in Macon County, Booker Washington's home county, owned 61,689 acres, +or an average of more than one hundred and twenty-two and one-half +acres of land per man. This is probably the largest amount of land +owned by the Negroes of any county in the United States. Certainly +this was true at that time. The better class of Negro farmers has +greatly increased during the past thirty years until at present from +90 to 95 per cent. of the 3,800 Negro farmers in the county operate +their own farms either as cash tenants or owners. The increase in the +number of Negroes owning or operating farms has been an important +factor in securing a better quality and variety of food. They have +diversified their crops and raised a larger amount of their own food +supplies, particularly meat and vegetables, and they have produced +more milk, butter, and eggs. It will be seen that Booker Washington's +voice when he reiterated over and over again, "The man who owns the +land will own much else besides," did not fall upon deaf ears. + +When Booker Washington came to Macon County and founded Tuskegee +Institute, in 1881, the soil was worn out, and cotton, the chief crop, +was selling for an almost constantly lowering price. Although there +were few counties with a lower yield of cotton per acre, one-quarter +of a bale, over 42 per cent. of the tilled land of the county was +devoted exclusively to this crop. Very little machinery was used in +the farming, the antique scooter plow and hoe being the main reliance. +The soil was rarely tilled more than three or four inches deep. There +was, in fact, a superstition among whites as well as blacks that deep +plowing was injurious to the soil. Two-horse teams were seldom used. +Sub-soiling, fall plowing, fallowing, and rotation of crops were +little known and less practised. The county was producing per capita +per year only about five pounds of butter, four dozen eggs, and less +than three chickens. + +The Negroes were with few exceptions shiftless and improvident +plantation laborers and renters. Of the almost 13,000 Negroes in the +county not more than fifty or sixty owned land. They lived almost +exclusively in one-room cabins. Sometimes in addition to the immediate +family there were relatives and friends living and sleeping in this +one room. The common diet of these Negroes was fat pork, corn bread, +and molasses. Many meals consisted of corn bread mixed with salt +water. This, then, was the raw material with which Booker Washington +had to work and from which has been developed, largely through his +influence, one of the most prosperous agricultural counties in the +South--a county which has been heralded in the press as feeding itself +because of the great abundance and variety of its products. In 1910 +the per capita production for the county was: 40 gallons of milk, 11 +pounds of butter, 7 dozen eggs, and 5 chickens. It must, of course, do +more than this before it will actually feed itself. + +Mr. Washington was constantly drumming it into the consciousness of +the Negro farmer that as long as he remained ignorant and improvident +he was sure to be exploited and imposed upon. He used to illustrate +this by the story of the ignorant Negro who after paying a white man +fifty cents a week for six months on a five-dollar loan cheerfully +remarked: "Dat Mr. ---- sho is one fine gen'lman, cause he never has +ast me fo' one cent ob dat principal." It may be surmised that this +type of money lender is not enthusiastic over Negro education. + +It is significant of the importance which Booker Washington attached +to agriculture that the first great Federal official whom he invited +to visit the school was the National Secretary of Agriculture. In 1897 +he got the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture in President +McKinley's Cabinet, to visit Tuskegee and attend the dedication of the +school's first agricultural building. + +Secretary Wilson arrived at night accompanied by Dr. J.L.M. Curry, a +Southerner, a leader of the educational thought of the South, and the +secretary of the John F. Slater Fund Board. The students lined up on +either side of the main thoroughfare through the school grounds with +back of them a great gathering of the farmers from the surrounding +territory and many from a distance. Each one of this great throng was +given a pine torch and all these torches were simultaneously lighted +as Secretary Wilson entered the school grounds. The Secretary and +Doctor Curry, preceded by the Institute Band, rode between these two +great masses of cheering people and flaming torches. + +The next day the dedication exercises were held on a specially +constructed platform piled high with the finest specimens of every +product known to that section of the South. On this platform, with the +Secretary and Doctor Curry, were the State Commissioner of Agriculture +and several other high State officials and many other prominent white +citizens. This was the formal launching of the Agricultural Department +of the school. George W. Carver, the full-blooded African and eminent +agricultural scientist, of whom mention has already been made, had +recently been placed in charge of this department. He had come from +the Agricultural Department of Iowa State College, of which Secretary +Wilson had been the head. + +The annual budget of this department alone is now nearly fifty +thousand dollars a year, and more than a thousand acres of land are +cultivated under the supervision of the agricultural staff. The modest +building which Secretary Wilson helped to dedicate has long since been +outgrown and the department is now housed in a large, impressive brick +building known as the Millbank Agricultural Building. + +Under the provisions of the Smith-Lever Act, passed by Congress in +1914 for the purpose of aiding the States in Agricultural Extension +Work, Booker Washington secured for Tuskegee a portion of the funds +allotted to the State of Alabama for such work. With the aid of these +funds Agricultural Extension Schools have been organized. These +schools are conducted in cooperation with the Agricultural Department +of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the farm demonstration work +of the United States Department of Agriculture. They are really a two +days' Short Course in Agriculture carried out to the farmers on their +own farms. These schools have the advantage over the Short Course +given to the farmers on the Institute grounds in that they have the +farmers' problems right before them, to be diagnosed and remedies +applied at once. Through such schools farm instruction is being +carried to the Negroes of every Black Belt County of Alabama. + +T.M. Campbell of the Tuskegee Institute, the District Agent in charge +of these Extension Schools for the Negro Farmers of Alabama, reports +that among the subjects taught the men are home gardening, seed +selection, repair of farm tools, the growing of legumes as soil +builders and cover crops, best methods of fighting the boll-weevil, +poultry raising, hog raising, corn raising, and pasture making. The +women are instructed in sewing, cooking, washing and ironing, serving +meals, making beds, and methods for destroying household pests and for +the preservation of health. At all the meetings the names and +addresses of those present are taken for the purpose of following them +up by correspondence from the district agent's office, so that the +benefits of the instruction shall not be lost from one year to +another. The slogan for these Alabama schools is: "Alabama Must Feed +Herself." Practically all the black farmers have shown a pathetic +eagerness to learn and the white farmers and the white demonstration +agents everywhere have heartily cooperated. Churches, schoolhouses, +and courthouses have been placed at the district agent's disposal for +the Extension School session. One of the most hopeful features of the +experiment has been the great interest in this new and better farming +aroused among the boys and girls--an interest which the ordinary rural +school sadly fails even in attempting to arouse. All told throughout +the State 3,872 colored people attended these schools the first year. +The sessions were usually opened by a prayer offered by one of the +rural preachers. In one such prayer the preacher said among other +things: "O Lord, have mercy on dis removable school; may it purmernate +dis whole lan' an' country!" At another meeting, after the workers had +finished a session, some of the leading colored farmers were called on +to speak. One of them opened his remarks with the words: "I ain't no +speaker, but I jes wan' a tell you how much I done been steamilated by +dis my only two days in school!" + +A report of one of these schools held recently at Monroeville, Ala., +reads: "Only subjects with which the rural people are directly +concerned are introduced and stressed by the instructors, such as +pasture making, necessary equipment for a one and two horse farm, care +of farm tools, crop rotation, hog raising, care of the cow, seed +selection, diversified farming, how to make homemade furniture, +fighting the fly, and child welfare. + +"The home economics teacher attracted the attention of all the colored +farmers and also the white visitors by constructing out of dry goods +boxes an attractive and substantial dresser and washstand, completing +the same before the audience, even to the staining, varnishing, +hanging the mirrors and attaching the draperies." One paper, in +estimating the value of these Movable Agricultural Schools said: +"Given ten years of good practical agricultural instruction of the +kind that was imparted to the Negro farmers, their wives and children, +for the past three weeks in Wilcox, Perry, and Lowndes counties, there +is no reason why every Negro farmer in the State should not only help +'Alabama feed herself,' but so increase the yield of its marketable +products that the State will be able to export millions of dollars' +worth of food and foodstuffs each year." + +These Extension Schools are advertised by posters just like a country +circus, except that the language is less grandiloquent. On the +following page is a typical announcement presented in heavy black type +on yellow paper. + +[Illustration: + +Co-operative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics + +STATE OF ALABAMA + +FARMERS ATTENTION! + +AN EXTENSION SCHOOL + +OF + +AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS + +FOR + +COLORED FARMERS, BOYS, GIRLS, AND WOMEN + +WILL BE HELD IN PERRY COUNTY AT + +MARION, FEBRUARY 8-9 + +MORNING STAR COMMUNITY, FEBRUARY 11-12 + +_COME AND BRING YOUR FAMILY!_ + +THE PROGRAM OF THE SCHOOL WILL EMBRACE THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS AND MANY +OTHERS. + +--FOR MEN AND BOYS-- + +Diversified Farming for the South, "A Ray of Hope to the Man with the +Hoe." + +How to Make the Cotton Farm Fertile--Every Farmer Must Feed Himself. + +Care and Treatment of Live Stock--"To Thee, my Master, I offer my +prayer; feed me, water and care for me, and when the day's work is +done, provide me with shelter."--From the Horses' Prayer. + +Cotton Growing under Boll Weevil Conditions--Looks like Billie Boll +Weevil is here to stay. + +Waste caused by weeds, stumps and skips. + +Corn--Seed testing. + +Dairying and Its Possibilities in Alabama. + +Sweet Potatoes--How to grow and save them. + +--FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS-- + +"Home Made Home."--A Home should be more than a place in which to eat +and sleep. + +The Health of the Family--Much responsibility rests on the Mother. + +Child Welfare--Every 4th Negro baby dies before it is One Year Old. +Fifty per cent of the diseases of Negro children under One Year can be +prevented. + +The Care of the Girls and Boys on the Farm--Make them your partners in +the business of Home Making. + +Demonstration in Cookery--Too few of our women and girls know how to +cook. + +A FREE PICTURE SHOW WILL BE GIVEN ONE NIGHT AT EVERY MEETING PLACE + +This Extension School is being held under the auspices of the +Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and +the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. The subjects will be discussed by +experts from the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. + +T.M. CAMPBELL, District Demonstration Agent, +Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.] + +Thus did Booker Washington in the very year of his death, with the aid +of the National Government, launch the last of his many means for +helping the people whose welfare lay ever nearest his heart--the Negro +farmers. These Extension Schools are literally "going out 'into the +by-ways and hedges'" carrying to those who most need it Booker +Washington's gospel of better farming. + +One of the great secrets of Mr. Washington's success was his unerring +instinct for putting first things first. In nothing that he did was +this trait better illustrated than in the unceasing emphasis which he +placed upon the fundamental importance of agriculture. He never +forgot that over 80 per cent. of his people drew their living directly +from the soil. He never ceased to impress upon the business and +professional men of his race that their success was dependent upon the +success of the farmers; and upon the farmers that unless they +succeeded the business and professional men could not succeed. In +short, he made Tuskegee first and foremost an agricultural school +because the Negro race is first and foremost an agricultural race. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +BOOKER WASHINGTON AND THE NEGRO BUSINESS MAN + + +In 1900 Booker Washington founded the National Negro Business League. +He was president of this league from its foundation until his death. + +During the winter of 1900, after reviewing the situation at length +with his friend T. Thomas Fortune, the Nestor of Negro journalism, and +at that time the dominant influence in the New York _Age_, who was +spending the winter at Tuskegee, with Mr. Scott and others of his +friends, he came to the conclusion that the time had come to bring the +business men and women of his race together in a great national +organization, with local branches throughout the country. He decided +that such an organization might be a powerful agency in creating the +race consciousness and race pride for which he was ever striving. All +the then-existing organizations, other than the sick and death benefit +societies and the purely social organizations, had as their main +purpose the assertion of the civil and political rights of the Negro. +There was no organization calculated to focus the attention of the +Negroes on what they were doing and could do for themselves in +distinction from what was being done for them and to them. All the +existing associations laid their chief emphasis upon the rights of +the Negro rather than his duties. Mr. Washington held that without in +any degree sacrificing their just demands for civil and political +rights a more wholesome and constructive attitude could be developed +by stressing the duties and the opportunities of the race. He believed +it would be helpful to emphasize in an organized way what they had +done and could do in the way of business achievement in spite of race +prejudice rather than what they had not done and could not do because +of racial discrimination. He believed they needed to have brought home +to them not how many of them had been held down, but how many of them +had come up and surmounted obstacles and difficulties. He believed +that they should have it impressed upon them that the application of +business methods would bring rewards to a black man just as to a white +man. + +The first meeting of the National Negro Business League was held in +Boston, August 23 and 24, 1900. After these sessions Booker Washington +made the following statement of the purpose in calling the meeting and +the results obtained: + +"As I have travelled through the country from time to time I have been +constantly surprised to note the number of colored men and women, +often in small towns and remote districts, who are engaged in various +lines of business. In many cases the business was very humble, but +nevertheless it was sufficient to indicate the opportunities of the +race in this direction. My observation in this regard led me to +believe that the time had come for the bringing together of the +leading and most successful colored men and women throughout the +country who are engaged in business. After consultation with men and +women in various parts of the country it was determined to call a +meeting in the city of Boston to organize the National Negro Business +League. This meeting was held during the 23d and 24th of August, and +it was generally believed that it was one of the most successful and +helpful meetings that has ever been held among our people. The meeting +was called with two objects in view: first, to bring the men and women +engaged in business together, in order that they might get acquainted +with each other and get information and inspiration from each other; +secondly, to form plans for an annual meeting and the organization of +local business leagues that should extend throughout the country. Both +of these objects, I think, have been admirably accomplished. I think +there has never been a time in the history of the race when all feel +so much encouraged in relation to their business opportunities as now. +The promoters of this organization appreciate very keenly that the +race cannot depend upon mere material growth alone for its ultimate +success, but they do feel that material prosperity will greatly hasten +their recognition in other directions." + +The spirit and purpose of this first national convention of Negro +business men may be gathered by this quotation from the speech of J.H. +Lewis, a merchant tailor, and perhaps the most successful business man +of the race at the time: "But what hope has the Negro to succeed in +business?" said Mr. Lewis. "If you can make a better article than +anybody else, and sell it cheaper than anybody else, you can command +the markets of the world. Produce something that somebody else wants, +whether it be a shoe string or a savings bank, and the purchaser or +patron will not trouble himself to ask who the seller is. This same +great economic law runs through every line of industry, whether it be +farming, manufacturing, mercantile or professional pursuits. Recognize +this fundamental law of trade; add to it tact, good manners, a +resolute will, a tireless capacity for hard work, and you will succeed +in business. I have found in my own experience of thirty years in +business that success and its conditions lie around us, regardless of +race or color. I believe that it is possible for any man with the +proper stuff in him to make a success in business wherever he may be. +The best and only capital necessary to begin with is simply honesty, +industry, and common sense." + +The Boston _Herald_ of August 24, 1900, said of this gathering: "The +national convention of colored business men began its sessions in this +city yesterday in a businesslike and hopeful manner. This is not a +political gathering. It is not a race gathering in the sense of one +met to air sentimental grievances that spring from race +oppositions.... President Washington believes that the security and +progress of the colored people in this land depend upon their +development of a moral worth commanding respect and an industrial +capacity that will make them both useful and independent. He +apprehends that these qualities cannot be bestowed as a gift of +benevolence, but must be acquired by individual energy and struggle. +'As I have noted,' he says, 'the condition of our people in nearly +every part of our country, I have always been encouraged by the fact +that almost without exception, whether in the North or in the South, +wherever I have seen a black man who was succeeding in his business, +who was a taxpayer, and who possessed intelligence and high character, +that individual was treated with the highest respect by the members of +the white race. In proportion as we can multiply those examples, North +and South, will our problem be solved.' That is the great lesson that +the members of the colored race have to learn. It will aid in +extending this knowledge for those colored business men who have +attained a measurable degree of success in life to meet for mutual +encouragement and helpfulness." + +Just fifteen years later, in August, 1915, Booker Washington presided +over the last session of the league held during his lifetime. This +meeting also was held in Boston. There attended it seven hundred +delegates from thirty different States. Mr. Washington in his annual +address as president summed up what had been accomplished by the race +during the fifteen-year interval and projected what they should strive +for in the future. He also took occasion publicly to thank his +foremost colleagues in developing the work of the league, particularly +Mr. Scott, the secretary of the league. Undoubtedly he fully realized +that it was his farewell meeting. He practically collapsed before the +sessions were over. In less than three months he was dead. + +Among other things he said in this speech: "Since the league met in +Boston fifteen years ago, great changes have taken place among our +people in property-getting and in the promotion of industrial and +business enterprises. These changes have taken place not solely +because of the work of the league, but this and similar organizations +have had much to do with bringing about this progress. Let me be more +specific.... In 1863 we had as a race 2,000 small business enterprises +of one kind and another. At the present time, the Negro owns and +operates about 43,000 concerns, with an annual turnover of about one +billion dollars. Within fifty years we have made enough progress in +business to warrant the operation of over fifty banks. With all I have +said, we are still a poor race, as compared with many others; but I +have given these figures to indicate the direction in which we are +travelling." + +Later he said: "A landless race is like a ship without a rudder. +Emphasizing again our opportunities, especially as connected with the +soil, we now have, for example, 122 poultry raisers; the number should +be increased to 1,500. We now have 200 dairymen; the number should be +increased to 2,000.... We now own and operate 75 bakeries; the number +can be increased to 500. From 32 brickmakers the number can be +increased to 3,000. From 200 sawmills we can increase the number to +1,000." + +And so he continued giving the present achievement and future goal for +many more industries. After giving these estimates he said: "With our +race, as it has been and always will be with all races, without +economic and business foundation, it is hardly possible to have +educational and religious growth or political freedom. + +"We can learn some mighty serious lessons just now from conditions in +Liberia and Hayti. For years, both in Liberia and Hayti, literary +education and politics have been emphasized, but while doing this the +people have failed to apply themselves to the development of the soil, +mines, and forests. The result is that, from an economic point of +view, those two republics have become dependent upon other nations and +races. In both republics the control of finances is in the hands of +other nations, this being true notwithstanding the fact that the two +countries have natural resources greater than other countries similar +in size.... Mere abstract, unused education means little for a race or +individual. An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction. We +must not be afraid to pay the price of success in business--the price +of sleepless nights, the price of toil when others rest, the price of +planning to-day for to-morrow, this year for next year. If some one +else endures the hardships, does the thinking, and pays the salaries, +some one else will reap the harvest and enjoy the reward." + +Just before his closing words he said: "No matter how poor you are, +how black you are, or how obscure your present work and position, I +want each one to remember that there is a chance for him, and the more +difficulties he has to overcome the greater will be his success." + +Perhaps the most significant speech at this conference, next to that +of Booker T. Washington, was that of William Henry Lewis who is +probably the foremost lawyer of the Negro race in America. Mr. Lewis +is a graduate of Harvard where he distinguished himself on the +football field as well as in the classroom. After graduation from the +Harvard Law School he served with distinction in the Massachusetts +Legislature, was appointed Assistant United States District Attorney +for the Boston district by President Roosevelt, and became Assistant +Attorney-General of the United States under President Taft. + +In opening his speech Mr. Lewis said: "I do not know why my +fellow-citizens have chosen me for this honor, except to heap coals of +fire upon my head. Fifteen years ago I was not with you. I was one of +the critics, one of the scoffers, one of those who asked, 'What is it +all about?' 'What does it amount to?' You have lived to confute my +judgment, and shame my sneers, and I am now making generous +acknowledgment of my error. I claim no merit in doing this, except +that I can look backward as far as your great leader can look forward. +Booker Washington has always been from fifteen to twenty years ahead +of any other leader of his race.... While most of us were agonizing +over the Negro's relation to the State and his political fortunes, +Booker Washington saw that there was a great economic empire that +needed to be conquered. He saw an emancipated race chained to the soil +by the Mortgage Crop System, and other devices, and he said, 'You must +own your own land, you must own your own farms'--and forthwith there +was a second emancipation. He saw the industrial trades and skilled +labor pass from our race into other hands. He said, 'The hands as well +as the heads must be educated,' and forthwith the educational system +of America was revolutionized. He saw the money earned by the hard +toil of black men passing into other men's pockets. He said, 'The only +way to save this money is to go into business--sell as well as buy.' +He saw that if the colored race was to become economically +self-sufficient, it must engage in every form of human activity. +Himself a successful business man as shown by Tuskegee's millions, he +has led his race to economic freedom." + +Later Mr. Lewis said: "Just as in Boston three-quarters of a century +ago began the movement for Emancipation from Slavery, so fifteen years +ago appropriately began the movement for our economical +independence.... In 1900 there was one league with 50 members, and a +few businesses represented. To-day I am told there are 600 leagues, +nearly 40,000 members, who represent every branch and variety of +business, trade and finance. When one realizes that business rules the +world, the possibility of such an organization seems almost unlimited +in its power to help the race along other lines of progress." + +Such a tribute from one of the most rarely and genuinely talented +members of "The Talented Tenth" was indeed a triumph for Booker T. +Washington and his policies. In fact, it may fairly be said that this +event marked the end of the honest opposition from this element of +the Negro race--the end of the honest opposition of a group or section +of the race in distinction from the of course inevitable opposition of +individuals here and there. + +One of the features of this 1915 meeting was a summary of the economic +progress of the race since the organization of the league fifteen +years before. This summary brought out the following facts: + +In 1900, when the National Negro Business League was organized, there +were about 20,000 Negro business enterprises; now there are 45,000. + +In 1900 there were two Negro banks; now there are 51. + +In 1900 Negroes were running 250 drug stores; now they have 695. + +In 1900 there were 450 undertaking businesses operated by Negroes; now +there are about 1,000. + +In 1900 there were 149 Negro merchants engaged in wholesale +businesses; now there are 240. + +In 1900 there were 10,000 Negro retail merchants; now there are +25,000. + +In the fifteen years since the National Negro Business League was +organized, farm property owned by Negroes has made a remarkable +increase. From 1900 to 1910, the value of domestic animals owned by +Negro farmers increased from $85,216,337 to $177,273,785, or 107 per +cent.; poultry from $3,788,792 to $5,113,756, or 35 per cent.; +implements and machinery from $18,586,225 to $36,861,418, or 98 per +cent.; land and buildings from $69,636,420 to $273,501,665, or 293 per +cent. In ten years the total value of farm property owned by Negroes +increased from $177,404,688 to $492,892,218, or 177 per cent. + +It is significant of the standing and catholicity of this convention +that the Governor of Massachusetts, Hon. David F. Walsh, and Dr. John +E. White, a leading white Southern clergyman, both spoke at the +opening meeting at Symphony Hall. + +The National League is made up of more than 600 local leagues which +influence in a direct and practical way almost every community in the +United States with any considerable number of Negro inhabitants. These +local leagues are all chartered, guided, and supervised by the +national organization and with them all the Secretary, Mr. Scott, +keeps in touch. From time to time he issues pamphlets setting forth +methods of organization, activities that can be undertaken, and +subjects that may be discussed under the head of "Some things that it +is possible for a local league to do to be of service to the town or +city in which it is located" are the following: + +"(1) To keep a list of the young men and women who are intelligent, +trained, and qualified to fill responsible places as clerks, +accountants, salesmen, janitors, porters, etc.; in this way a league +can do much in getting suitable occupations for as many as are +competent, especially so in Northern States. + +"(2) In protecting the community against fraudulent schemes, as false +stock companies, that are gotten up solely for the purpose of +defrauding colored people. + +"(3) In fostering an interest in civic affairs, such as sanitation, +clean yards, cultivating pride in making attractive in appearance the +home districts of our people, and in other ways showing an interest in +everything that may make up a better community life." + +In the same pamphlet under the head of "Suggested Subjects for +Discussion" comes the following list: + +1. How to unify the colored people in the business interests of the +community. + +2. What the professional men, ministers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, +etc., can do to assist the business men and women. + +3. What the business men can do to assist the professional men. + +4. Patronizing Negro business enterprises. + +5. What new business can be established in the community. + +6. How can the business enterprises already established be improved? + +7. How to secure additional country trade. + +8. If a bank does not exist, can one be established and supported? + +9. If a millinery establishment does not exist, can one be established +and supported, etc.? + +10. If a shoe store or gents' furnishing store does not exist, can one +be established and supported? + +11. If a drug-store does not exist, can one be established and +supported? + +In another such pamphlet monthly meetings between the grocers and the +clubwomen are suggested. Such meetings would have as their object the +fixing of uniform and mutually satisfactory prices and service. It is +also recommended that Negro insurance agents constitute themselves +unofficial health inspectors for their sections of the town. In this +capacity they would report to the public health committee of the local +league all instances of badly ventilated homes or schools, +mosquito-breeding spots, accumulations of rubbish and filth, or any +other conditions menacing the health of the colored citizens. The +suggestion is made that where possible reading-rooms and bureaus of +information be opened in connection with the offices of Negro +newspapers and that such rooms place the colored papers from all +sections of the country at the disposal of the patrons after the +editor has finished with them. That several small shopkeepers club +together and employ one expert bookkeeper is another idea offered. It +is also proposed that small retailers get together for the purpose of +purchasing jointly such commodities as can be advantageously secured +in this manner. It is finally urged that a committee be appointed each +year to make a social survey of the Negro population. This study would +show what progress had been made during the year in all lines of +endeavor and at the same time furnish a directory of all the business +and social activities of the Negroes of the community. It is pointed +out that the sale of advertising space in its pages would alone more +than pay for such a directory. + +It will be noted that these business leagues, like all other +organizations founded or moulded by Booker Washington, do not stick +to their lasts in any narrow sense. Mr. Washington never lost sight of +the fact that the fundamental concern of all human beings was living, +and that farming, business, education, recreation, or what not, were +only important in so far as they made the whole of life better worth +living. The means employed never obscured his vision of the aim sought +as is so frequently and unhappily the case with lesser men. + +Just as at the agricultural conferences, so at these business +gatherings, Booker Washington used the methods employed by the +revivalist at the experience meeting. By so doing he accomplished the +double purpose of encouraging the successful by the tribute of public +recognition and spurring on the less successful and the unsuccessful +to go and do likewise. Also by means of men and women telling their +fellows in open meeting how they achieved their success the race is, +as it were, revealed to itself. It was, for instance, through a +meeting of the National Negro Business League that it came to light +that the man who raises the most potatoes in the United States, and +who is commonly known as the Potato King of the West, is a Negro--J.G. +Groves of Edwardsville, Kan. Groves' story at one of the annual +meetings attracted so much attention that an account of his life later +appeared in an illustrated special article in the _American Magazine_. +It was also discovered through a league meeting that Scott Bond, +another colored man, was probably the most successful farmer in the +State of Arkansas. After he had told his story at the meeting of the +National League held in New York in 1910 he was pursued by cameramen +and interviewers for days and weeks and his story was spread all over +the United States. At the Chicago meeting of 1912 Watt Terry, a modest +and even shrinking colored man of Brockton, Mass., unfolded a +remarkable story of success in spite of the hardest and must untoward +circumstances. So unbelievable seemed this man's story that the +Executive Committee took up with him personally the facts of his +recital, and later the Secretary of the League, in response to a +demand, had to vouch for his statements in open meeting. To clinch the +matter still further Mr. Washington wrote to the Secretary of the +Young Men's Christian Association in Brockton, who replied that +Terry's story had, if anything, been understated rather than +overstated. Booker Washington himself told Watt Terry's story in the +pages of the _Independent_ for March 27, 1913. Here it is: "... Mr. +Terry is a modest-appearing young man about thirty years of age. When +he landed at Brockton some twelve years ago he had, according to his +own story, a capital of just twelve cents. He found work at first as a +coachman. After a time he obtained what he thought was a better +position as janitor in the Young Men's Christian Association Building. +Some of the members of the association succeeded in getting him a +position as a railway porter. + +"'Somehow or other,' said Terry, 'I did not care for that sort of +work, and after a few months gave it up. I made up my mind that I +would rather work at a trade, and tried to get work in one of the +shoe factories in Brockton. As I did not know the trade and there was +a good deal of competition for the places open to apprentices it +looked rather hopeless at first. Finally, I got the foreman to say he +would give me a chance, provided I was willing to work for two weeks +without pay. I accepted that offer and made up my mind to make the +most of those two weeks.' + +"At the end of the two weeks Terry had done so well that he was given +a position in which he earned $7 a week. By sticking close to his job +and making the most of his opportunities he was gradually promoted +until he earned first $10, then $15, $18, and finally $25 a week. + +"'I had some difficulties at first,' said Terry. 'The other men did +not like me at first and showed it. However, I stuck to the job, kept +on smiling, and it was not long before I was on just as good terms +with the men in the shop as I cared to be. As I did not have much +opportunity to spend my money, I found it easier to save.' + +"When Terry reached the point where he was earning $25 a week his wife +was earning $9 as matron in the Brockton railway station, and they +both saved their money. Meanwhile Terry had begun to buy and sell real +estate in a small way. One day he sold a house and lot upon which he +cleared as commission $100. + +"'That seemed to settle the question of my future,' said Mr. Terry. 'I +decided to go into the real estate business.' + +"He added that at the present time his gross income from his houses +was between $6,000 and $7,000 per month. Altogether, including several +store buildings and two apartment houses containing fifty-four suites +of rooms, Mr. Terry owns 222 buildings in Brockton. One of these +buildings is leased by the United States Government for the use of the +post-office; another is rented for a public library and reading-room +by the city. + +"I should not, perhaps, have dared to make this statement if I had not +confirmed the truth of Mr. Terry's statement by independent inquiry. +In a recent letter from Secretary White, of the Brockton Young Men's +Christian Association, he says: 'Some weeks ago I wrote you relative +to our mutual friend (Watt Terry's) business, but now I want to +enclose a clipping from the tax list which you will see is positive +evidence that the time the taxes were recorded he was carrying well on +to $300,000 and I know that his purchase of $120,000 occurred since +that time. It is certainly a most wonderful development within a few +years.' + +"I ought to add that during all the time that Mr. Terry has been in +Brockton he has been connected with the Young Men's Christian +Association, and not long ago he contributed $1,000 toward the support +of that institution. + +"Many persons will, perhaps, feel that money which is acquired in this +rapid way is likely to do the person who obtains it as much harm as it +does good. I confess that it seems to me that the same amount of money +acquired more slowly would mean more to the man who gained it. On the +whole, however, the Negro race has not reached the point where it has +been troubled by the number of its millionaires. And if getting slowly +and laboriously is a good discipline, the Negro has almost a surplus +of that kind of blessing. I ought to add, also, in justice to Mr. +Terry, that from all I can learn, his rapid rise has neither injured +his character nor destroyed his good sense. I suspect that the effort +to keep all those houses rented and the effort to pay interest on his +mortgages has had a tendency to make him humble." + +Although Watt Terry's success is, of course, phenomenal he is only one +of the many notably successful Negro business men who have told their +stories at meetings of the National Negro Business League. Neither is +Mr. Terry the only Negro who has made a big success in real estate. At +the meeting of the league already described, held in Boston in 1915, +Mr. Washington introduced Philip A. Payton, Jr., of New York City; +E.C. Brown, of Philadelphia, Pa.; and Watt Terry, of Brockton, Mass.; +as the three largest real estate operators of the Negro race. Philip +A. Payton, Jr., was the pioneer in opening the Harlem district in New +York City to settlement by Negroes, who had formerly been excluded +from all decent portions of the city and obliged to live on San Juan +Hill and in other sections of unsavory reputation. E.C. Brown made +money in real estate in Newport News and Norfolk, Va., and headed +movements for the establishment of Negro banks in both of these +cities. Afterward he moved to Philadelphia, where he has opened a +bank, and also conducts a real estate business on Broad Street--the +only Negro, it is said, who conducts a large business enterprise on +this important thoroughfare. At the same meeting it was brought out +that a Negro by the name of Phillip J. Allston was chemist for the +Potter Chemical Company, having risen from bottle-washer to that +responsible post. The story of J.S. Trower, caterer, of Philadelphia, +showed that he was frequently engaged for the most important functions +in the city and had been regularly employed by the Cramps Company, +shipbuilders, to take charge of the catering in connection with the +ceremonies accompanying the launching of new ships for the Navy. Mrs. +Bell Davis of Indianapolis, Ind., has become equally successful as a +caterer. When the National Negro Business League met in Indianapolis +it was she who served the annual banquet. Booker Washington took the +greatest satisfaction in disclosing her achievements to the Negro +people who had previously known little or nothing about her. He thus +introduced her at a meeting of the League, "Mrs. Bell Davis, a widow, +the celebrated caterer of Indianapolis, Ind., who has served banquets +and receptions in honor of Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the +United States, who owns a stock of Haviland china, linen, and +silverware valued at thousands of dollars, all unencumbered, furnishes +another illustration of what heights can be attained in the commercial +world by strenuous effort and making use of every little opportunity +which presents itself. Mrs. Davis' humble beginnings, hardships +encountered, and success achieved would make three chapters of a most +interesting biography." + +Among the men spoken of by Booker Washington at the Philadelphia +meeting of the Business League was Heman E. Perry, the founder of the +first and only old line legal reserve life insurance company operated +by and for Negroes. In his efforts to raise the $100,000 initial +capital required by the law of his State--Georgia--Mr. Perry had +tramped all over the United States at least three times. Finally, +having tried every conceivable source without securing the required +amount, he returned to all the subscribers of capital stock the money +they had paid in plus 4 per cent. interest. This action so inspired +the confidence of the subscribers that almost without exception they +not only returned the money, but subscribed for additional stock with +the result that the initial capital stock was oversubscribed. When +examined by the State Insurance Department three years after it opened +business this company was found to have a gross income of almost +$77,000 and admitted assets of almost $160,000. Each subsequent +examination by the State Department has showed a healthy growth, low +mortality, good judgment in the selection of risks, prompt payment of +claims, careful management, and a sound financial condition. By means +of this company, known as the Standard Life Insurance Company, life +insurance may be had by any Negro under the same conditions, with the +same degree of security, and at the same rates as a white man. + +Among the other notably successful Negro business men who have told +their stories at meetings of the league are the following: Victor H. +Tulane, of Montgomery, Ala., whose story of small beginnings and +present success stirred his fellows at a meeting of the league. Mr. +Tulane entered the grocery business twenty-five years ago, a business +that any ambitious man of his race may enter, requiring small capital +but unlimited patience and close attention to business. He now owns +considerable property, and is a factor in all matters that concern his +race in Montgomery, being regarded by white and colored citizens alike +as Montgomery's first colored citizen. Mr. Tulane says: "Twenty-five +years ago I was a renter; to-day I am landlord of not a few tenants. +Twenty-five years ago my stock represented less than a hundred +dollars; at the present time it values several thousands. Twenty-five +years ago I had but one helper--a small boy; to-day I employ on an +average of seven assistants the year round, excluding my wife and +self. Twenty-five years ago I bought lard in five-pound quantities; +to-day I purchase by the barrel. Twenty-five years ago I bought salt +in ten-cent quantities; at present I buy it in ton lots. Twenty-three +years ago I was unable to secure credit to the amount of three +dollars, but since that period the very house that then refused me has +credited me at one time with several hundred times this amount, and +to-day it is not, how much do you owe?--but, how much do you want? +Twenty years ago my business barely required the service of one horse +and wagon; at present it demands the use of several. Twenty years ago +I did an annual business of something less than a thousand dollars; +during several years since that time the value of my business has +exceeded $40,000 per year." It is Mr. Tulane's boast that he has not +been denied credit during his business career except the one time +mentioned above, and that he has never been threatened or sued in +connection with the collection of a debt. + +Another man's story that came out at the meeting of the National Negro +Business League is the story of Charles H. Anderson, a wholesale and +retail fish and oyster dealer. He conducts a fish, oyster, and game +business in Jacksonville, Fla., which supplies the largest hotels and many +of Jacksonville's richest white families. He is also interested in a fish +and oyster packing business on the Florida coast, and is the cashier of the +colored bank at Jacksonville. A speaker at the league meeting held in the +John Wanamaker store, Philadelphia, in August, 1913, referred to Mr. +Anderson as follows: "The first time I saw this gentleman was fourteen +years ago, when he was standing up behind a white sheet that had a round +hole cut in it, bravely negotiating his head and face as a target; he was +working for a man who was running one of those games known as: +'Every-time-you-hit-the-nigger's-head-you-get-a-fine-cigar!' +(Uproarious laughter.) There I found him fourteen years ago, posing as +a target, and for the magnificent sum of five cents anybody could have +secured the privilege of throwing three balls at his face. (Prolonged +laughter and applause as Mr. Anderson stepped forward and was +introduced to Hon. John Wanamaker, who warmly shook his hand.) To-day +this young man is one of the most competent and one of the most +prosperous business men of our race, regardless of section, North, +South, East, or West. (Hearty applause.) Recently he was offered +$18,000 for one piece of property which he owns in Jacksonville, Fla., +and if he would sell out to me to-day all of his real estate and other +holdings and equities, I would be willing to give him my check for +$75,000." + +Others are: Edward C. Berry of Athens, Ohio, who owns and operates a +family hotel in which he does a business of $25,000 to $35,000 a year; +J. Walter Hodge of Indianapolis, Ind., who, inspired by the recitals +at the Business League meetings, gave up his job as a Pullman car +porter, after he had saved some money, and is now the owner of a large +real estate business; Thomas H. Hayes who, starting as a day laborer +for the Southern Railway, now controls probably the largest +undertaking establishment in Memphis, Tenn. + +Perhaps the most remarkable story of business success ever told before +a meeting of the league was that of J. H. Blodgett of Jacksonville, +Fla. Mr. Blodgett told his story at the sessions of the league held in +Philadelphia in 1913 at the Academy of Music. By request he in part +repeated it at the meeting held in the Wanamaker Store the following +day. Mr. Blodgett is an ex-slave. He has had no education whatever +except what he has picked up in his long and successful struggle with +life's sternest realities. We will give his story in his own language. +Bear in mind that this is the language, as taken down verbatim by a +stenographer at the time, of a totally unschooled ex-slave. He said: +"Now I want to say I went to Jacksonville nineteen years ago with the +magnificent sum of a dollar and ten cents in my pocket. (Laughter.) I +also had an extra suit of underclothing in a paper bag; that was all +the baggage I had as a boarder. (Laughter.) I was also arrested as a +tramp for having on a straw hat in the winter time. (Hearty laughter.) +And I say all this especially to you young men who are present here +to-night, for so many of our young men seem to think that they can't +start or succeed in business unless somebody shoves them off the bank +into the water of opportunity and makes them swim for themselves; I +simply want to say this to you young men, I started with $1.10 and one +extra suit of underclothing in a paper bag--(laughter)--and to-day I +pay more taxes than any Negro in Florida. (Prolonged applause.) I have +had all sorts of struggles and difficulties to contend with, but you +can't get away from it--if you get anything in this United States of +America now, you have got to work for it. (Hearty applause.) The white +people all over this country have 'weaned the Negro.' (Laughter and +applause.) Dr. Washington has been going all over this country +boasting about what you could do and what our race has done, and the +white man is just quietly and gently and in every way telling us: 'Go +thou and do what Dr. Washington said you could do.' (Prolonged +laughter and applause.) + +"When I began, I commenced working for a railroad company; I had a +splendid job--washing cars for a dollar and five cents a day; I got +$8.40 from the railroad every eight days. After working for a month +and a half I saved enough money to send back and bring my wife from +Charleston, South Carolina, to Jacksonville. Both of us went to work; +we opened a little boarding-house; she ran that, and when my $1.05 a +day enabled me to save as much as one hundred dollars, I quit that job +and began to hustle for myself. I told the white man I was working +under: 'You don't know that a Negro with $100 in cash is a rare thing +among my people. I'm going to strike out and see what I can do by +myself.' I made up my mind that if all of the big Negroes that I had +heard of, read about, and talked with, if they could get honor and +recognition by having brains, money, and ability, there was nothing +the matter with me and my poor little wife to prevent us from getting +up, too; so I went to work and determined to work day and night, if +need be, to get some money, and other things necessary to succeed in +life. I wanted money because I had seen and suffered so many +humiliations put on the man who does not have money. (Applause.) + +"The first time I saw this distinguished gentleman (pointing to Dr. +Booker T. Washington) I was laying brick in Jacksonville, Fla., at +$1.25 a day, and he drove by in company with Mr. James W. Johnson, Mr. +J. Rosamond Johnson, and another gentleman. I had always loved the big +men of my race; even as a little boy I delighted to hear of what they +had achieved, and when I heard that the great Booker T. Washington +was in town, I quit my job for that day, went to the place where he +spoke, walked up close, and was hoping somebody would do me the honor +of introducing me. But I found the gentlemen who had him in charge +were introducing him to nobody but the big Negroes, and the big +Negroes were shaking hands with him and completely monopolizing Booker +T. Washington. (Prolonged laughter.) I did not like to be rude and +therefore did not push through the crowd and shake hands with him +anyway, as I felt like doing. I was nothing but a poor brick-layer, +nobody would introduce me, but I heard his grand speech, was richly +benefited and inspired by all he said, and when I went away I made a +solemn vow to myself. I said: 'If God be with me, I mean to so work +and conduct myself so that some day I shall deserve to shake hands +with Booker T. Washington.' (Hearty applause.) Now let me tell you the +sequel of the story. Away down in Florida, in my humble home in +Jacksonville, there is a room named 'Booker T. Washington.' +(Applause.) I have set apart and dedicated a portion of my home in +honor of this distinguished gentleman and leader of our race. +(Applause.) He is the first human being on earth I have ever permitted +to sleep in it, and his good wife is the first woman and second person +I have ever permitted to sleep in that room. (Prolonged laughter and +applause.) We love him in the South, both Negro and white man! (Hearty +applause.) Booker T. Washington's name is a monument of strength +because he is teaching the Negro to use his hands and head in order +to be useful in the community and to achieve success. (Applause.) + +"I have been sick this summer and just got back from +Saratoga--(prolonged applause)--of course all men who get rich go to +Saratoga. (Laughter and applause.) While there I met some folks, and +in the course of my remarks I had occasion to remind them that Dr. +Booker T. Washington, while an earnest advocate of industrial +training, is not an enemy or opposed to higher education. There was a +man from the British West Indies who began to speak on the subject of +the Negro; he began to orate around, began to tell how the Negro must +expect to rise in the world; oh! he made a magnificent speech going to +show that there was nothing in the world like higher education for the +Negro; he even said that the Negro race would never amount to anything +and get its rights until every one of us had secured a college +education. (Laughter.) Why, you ought to have been there and heard him +orate; he took us all through Greek, Roman, ancient, and medieval +history; across the Alps and all around the Egyptian pyramids--(hearty +laughter)--and even cited the Druids of old to testify to the grandeur +and necessity of higher education for the Negro. After he got through +orating I said to him: 'Brother, I was down to a meeting of Negroes in +the State of Florida--at the State Business League, and I saw sitting +on one bench eleven (11) Negro men whose combined wealth would amount +to more than one million dollars, and not one of them ever saw the +inside of a college.' (Prolonged applause, mingled with laughter.) +And I said to him further than that: 'If any of you gentlemen who +claim to be educated in the British West Indies, and all you gentlemen +who hail from Beloit College (wherever it is)--if you can fool any one +of those eleven Negroes out of one dime, I will give you ten dollars!' +(Laughter and applause.) Yes, sir, without much education these men +own their own homes and dozens of homes in which other people live; +they are self-sustaining and independent, and can write their names to +checks away up in the thousands of dollars; they live in neat, +comfortable, well-appointed homes and enjoy the respect and esteem of +their neighbors--black as well as white. 'Now, sir,' I turned to him +and asked him, 'will you kindly tell me what is your occupation in +life and what you have been able to accomplish with all this higher +education you have been talking about?' I found out that he was a +waiter in the United States Hotel. (Laughter.) I said to him further: +'My brother, I don't claim to be an educated man, but live in a villa +of my own; I own considerable real estate, and my dear little wife +rides around in our own $5,500 Packard automobile, all paid for.' +(Prolonged applause and laughter.) + +"I am somewhat of a carpenter and builder; I went to work, bought some +ground while it was cheap and at a time when everything in +Jacksonville was at low tide; there were plenty of sick Yankees whose +investments had depreciated and I invested what money I had in some +land. I would build a house, then sell it; buy more land, build +another house and sell that; after a while I was able to build three +houses and sell two, build two and sell one and so on--(applause)--until +pretty soon I found myself in the real estate business, buying land +and building and selling houses. In this way I have gone on building +my own houses until now I have plenty to support myself and that dear +little red-headed woman who has a seat somewhere in this beautiful +audience. (Laughter and applause.) She doesn't have to keep a +boarding-house any more; she is on the retired list. (Laughter and +applause.) We have made enough to keep from doing that." + +At this point Dr. Washington asked, "How many houses do you own?" + +Mr. Blodgett replied: "I have been selling houses pretty rapidly +during the last few years, but I have built--and right here I want to +say that while my subject is 'Building and Contracting' I have never +built a house for anybody but myself. I build my own property. I have +built since the fire we had in Jacksonville in 1902 two hundred and +eight houses of my own. (Prolonged applause.) I have sold a good many +of them. When I realized that I was beginning to get old and not in +such good physical condition as I used to be, I was afraid I might get +afflicted with tuberculosis, or appendicitis, or some of these other +high-sounding diseases the doctors now talk about--(laughter)--and so +I thought it best to convert some of my estate into another form that +could be more easily handled by my better half when I had gone to +inhabit my mansion in the skies. (Laughter.) So I have begun to sell +off some of my property and get out of debt. I now have one hundred +and twenty-one houses, the rents from which amount to a little over +twenty-five hundred dollars a month. (Prolonged applause.) I have +invested my money in recent years in what I call 'grip-sack' +securities, so that if there should be any little unpleasantness among +the races, I can go to my safe and grab that grip-sack. (Prolonged +laughter and applause.) You see if there should ever be any friction +or trouble, I can grab my grip-sack, jump into a powerful machine, and +come up here around Philadelphia, 'The City of Brotherly Love' or over +here in Canada, and I can sit down at my leisure and read in the +papers what they are doing down there. (Prolonged laughter.) + +"Dr. Washington has been in my home in Jacksonville; I have now had +the honor of not only shaking hands with him, but of having him as my +special guest. I know I am going to make one break here now, I'm going +to say something that my little modest wife may not like me to say, +but I hope she will excuse just this one time--(laughter)--for +everybody knows that I ain't very bright anyhow--not really +responsible. (Prolonged laughter.) I want to say this, not in a +boasting way--I live in the best home of any Negro in this country I +have so far seen. (Hearty applause.) I live in a home--we call it +'Blodgett Villa'; we have flowers and lawns and vines and shrubbery, a +nice greenhouse and all those things that go to make up for higher +civilization. I surrounded myself with all these things to show that +the Negro has the same taste, the same yearning for higher +civilization that the white man has whenever he has the money to +afford it. (Applause.) You know they have been saying all these years +that the Negro is coarse and vicious, that he is kin to the +monkey--(laughter)--and that we do not appreciate those things that +make for higher civilization such as flowers, hothouses, neatly kept +houses and lawns, automobiles, and such things, so I went and got +them. (Applause.) When you step inside of Mrs. Blodgett's home there +you will find art and music and literature, and if you can find +anything in there that does not tend toward the higher civilization, +you have my promise and consent to throw it outdoors. (Laughter and +applause.)... + +"I remember when I was a drayman on the streets of Jacksonville; I was +a great big man, even heavier than I am now: I wore a pair of +magnificent feet appropriate to my size, and when I drove along +everybody whistled and called me 'Old Big One.' Since that time I have +graduated from a drayman to what the program calls me: a 'Builder and +Contractor,' and when they see me now riding through the streets of +Jacksonville in my $5,500 Packard automobile, if one of those Negroes +should call me 'Old Big One,' I would put him in jail. (Laughter and +applause.) I am interested in business with white men, and I tell you +when a Negro gets to the point where he makes cash deposits in a white +man's bank--say $5,000 this week, $2,000 next week, and so on, they +will begin to discover you, honor and respect you. If you deposit +$2,000 this week, the bank president will know about it, and when it +gets to the place that you have got in the bank $25,000, why this man +even (pointing to an ebony black man in the audience) will have become +a bright mulatto!" + +Perhaps the most unique and impressive session of the National Negro +Business League was that held at the invitation of John Wanamaker in +his great department store in Philadelphia in 1913. One of the most +interesting talks at this meeting was that of Charles Banks of Mound +Bayou, Miss. Mr. Banks has been referred to in an earlier chapter. He +has often been called the J. Pierpont Morgan of his race. He said in +part: "I live in the little town of Mound Bayou, Miss., that was +founded by Isaiah T. Montgomery, an ex-slave of Jefferson Davis, the +President of the Southern Confederacy. Mr. Montgomery, the ex-slave in +question, is present at this meeting. We live in what is called the +'Black Belt of Mississippi' and our plantations embrace some of the +richest and most fertile land that can be found in the entire 'Delta.' +In some parts of the 'Delta' the Negro population outnumbers the white +population in a ratio of five to one. In the town in which I live +(Mound Bayou) we outnumber the white population in a ratio of five to +nothing. (Laughter and applause.) + +"Instead of whining and lamenting our lot, and bemoaning the racial +prejudice which exists in our section of the country, we are taking +advantage of some of the opposition and the tendency to segregate us +and we are trying to show, through the leadership of this ex-slave of +Jefferson Davis, that it is possible for us to build up a Negro +community, a town owned and controlled by Negroes right there under +his direct supervision. And as a result, on the Yazoo and Mound Bayou +Branch of the Yazoo Central Railroad, we have one of the best-governed +and most prosperous towns on the whole line. We have something like +thirty to forty thousand acres of land in that rich and fertile +country owned and controlled exclusively by Negro men and women. We +have there the little town of Mound Bayou, which it is our privilege +to represent, and so far as its management or government is concerned, +we have control of everything. There we have a Negro Depot Agent, a +Negro Express Agent, a Negro Postmaster, a Negro Mayor, a Board of +Negro Aldermen and City Councilmen, and every other official of the +city administration is a full-fledged Negro. In that town I am the +banker, and I pass for a Negro." (Laughter and applause followed this +sally, as the speaker is the blackest of full-blooded Africans.) + +In concluding his address of welcome on this occasion Mr. Wanamaker +said: "I do hope that meetings like this will come often and be held +in every large city in the North. In exhibiting to the world the +successful business men and women of your race, your league is doing +exactly what every good merchant legitimately does, that is--you are +showing your goods. (Laughter.) And you are delivering the goods. +(Prolonged applause.) Your league is making an 'Annual Report' as it +were; it is making a 'Yearly Inventory' of what your race has on hand, +and though this large hall has been the scene of many delightful +occasions (mainly connected with this business) your coming here +to-day is the first meeting of its kind. (Applause.) I believe that +this meeting ought to be put down as historical, and should serve as a +set-off--in striking contrast to the stoning of William Lloyd +Garrison, in the streets of Philadelphia, scarcely more than fifty +years ago. (Prolonged applause.) This meeting will simply help to +balance your account. (Applause.) The world is moving on, and it is a +glorious thing to-day to find that, instead of stepping +backward--contrary to the predictions of some--you are making such +splendid strides forward under the fine leadership of Dr. Booker T. +Washington--(applause)--as evidenced in this Business League +Convention. + +"In closing I want not only to pay just tribute to what you have +achieved in music, in education, and religious life, but I think it +fitting, on this occasion, and I have planned to show you a fine +painting from the brush of the greatest artist of your race--the son +of Bishop Tanner. I have seen his handiwork in some of the art +galleries of the first rank in Europe. For the most part his paintings +are religious in conception, and the peculiar beauty of them is that +they deal with the heart, even as they are fine expressions of art. +(Applause.) Before you leave I have planned to show you several other +pictures of real merit that members of your race have produced. +(Applause.) + +"And oh--when I consider all these things, and when I gazed upon this +vast and beautiful audience a few minutes ago, as you were singing so +fervently our national anthem, 'America,' as I looked over the sea of +earnest, intelligent faces, I wondered how on earth we could sing that +song for a hundred years or more--I wondered how it was possible to +keep a race like yours enslaved while, for years and years, the people +of this nation sang that last line of that song, 'Let freedom +ring!!!'" (Prolonged applause, tumultuous cheering, and the waving of +countless handkerchiefs as Mr. Wanamaker resumed his seat.) + +Aside from having the successful colored men and women tell one +another and their less-successful fellows how they had achieved their +success at these sessions of the league, Booker Washington also +arranged to have one or more prominent white men speak. His reason for +this, aside from the obvious one of helping to foster friendly feeling +between the races, was, it may safely be hazarded, to impress upon his +people that white people succeed by the possession and the application +of the same qualities which bring success to colored people. At the +Chicago meeting of the league in 1912 Julius Rosenwald spoke--Julius +Rosenwald, the Jewish philanthropist who has done and is doing so much +to help the Negro. It was he who offered $25,000 to any city in the +United States which would raise $75,000 for a Young Men's Christian +Association Building for colored men. It is he also who is helping +Tuskegee in the building of rural schoolhouses as was explained in the +third chapter. He is one of Tuskegee's trustees. + +The late Robert C. Ogden, the New York manager of the Wanamaker +business, addressed the convention of 1905 in New York. He was a man +whom Booker Washington delighted to hold up to his people as an +example of what a man could accomplish through his own unaided +efforts. He had begun his business career at a salary of $5 a week, +and from that as his starting-point he had risen to be the New York +head of the greatest department store business in the country. He was +for twenty-five years President of the Board of Trustees of Hampton, a +member of the Tuskegee Board, and the originator and host of the +annual educational pilgrimages which gave leading Northerners a first +hand and intelligent insight into the dire need of education for the +masses of the people both white and black throughout the South. Much +of the educational activity in the South to-day may be traced to the +early Ogden educational pilgrimages. + +Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the New York meeting in 1910. He had just +returned from Africa. He said later that nothing connected with his +homecoming had touched him so deeply as the ovation given him by +these, his fellow-citizens of African descent. Among other white men +who have spoken before the league are Henry Clews, the banker; Dr. +H.B. Frissell, the Principal of Hampton Institute, and Dr. J.H. +Dillard, president of the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation of Negro Rural +Schools. + +One of Mr. Washington's many methods for inspiring his people to +strive for business efficiency and success was to excite their +imaginations by holding up before them the achievements of such men as +John Wanamaker, Robert C. Ogden, William H. Baldwin, Jr., Henry H. +Rogers, Julius Rosenwald, the Rockefellers, and Andrew Carnegie. + +Out of the National Negro Business League have developed the following +organizations which are affiliated with it: + + The National Negro Funeral Directors' Association, + The National Negro Press Association, + The National Negro Bar Association, + The National Negro Retail Merchants' Association, + The National Association of Negro Insurance Men. + +Booker Washington was able to speak with assurance and authority to +the business men of his race because he practised what he preached. +The business methods which he employed in conducting the business, in +distinction from the educational affairs, of Tuskegee Institute, +compare favorably with those of the best-managed industrial +corporations. He may even have appeared to be over-insistent upon +business accuracy, system, and efficiency, so anxious was he to belie +the popular notion that Negroes must of necessity, because they are +Negroes, be slipshod and unsystematic. In refutation of this familiar +accusation he built up an institution almost as large as Harvard +University which runs like clockwork without a single white man or +woman having any part in its actual administration. Tuskegee itself is +the most notable example of its founder's method of argument. No +person knowing the facts about Tuskegee can ever again honestly say +that Negroes are always and necessarily slipshod and unsystematic in +their business methods. + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +BOOKER WASHINGTON AMONG HIS STUDENTS + + +In spite of his absorption in guiding the destinies of his race Booker +Washington never lost interest in individuals however humble or in +their individual affairs however small. This was strikingly shown in +his relations to his students. He never wearied in his efforts to help +in the solution of the life problems of the hundreds of raw boys and +girls who each year flocked to Tuskegee and to Booker Washington with +little but hope and ambition upon which to build their careers. With +many of these newcomers he not infrequently had his initial talk +before they knew who he was. This was made easy by his simple and +unassuming manner, which was the exact opposite to what these +unsophisticated youths expected in a great man. One of the graduates +of Tuskegee in the book, "Tuskegee and Its People," thus describes his +first meeting with Booker Washington. His experience was almost +identical with that of many another entering student. He says: + +"My first glimpse of Mr. Washington was had in the depot at +Montgomery, Ala., where a friend and I, on our way to Tuskegee, had +changed cars for the Tuskegee train. Two gentlemen came into the +waiting-room where we were seated, one a man of splendid appearance +and address, the other a most ordinary appearing individual, we +thought. The latter, addressing us, inquired our destination. Upon +being told that we were going to Tuskegee, he remarked that he had +heard that Tuskegee was a very hard place--a place where students were +given too much to do, and where the food was very simple and coarse. +He was afraid we would not stay there three months. We assured him +that we were not afraid of hard work, and meant to finish the course +of study at Tuskegee at all hazards. He then left us. Very soon after +the gentleman who had so favorably impressed us, and whom we afterward +found to be the treasurer of the Tuskegee Institute, Mr. Warren Logan, +came back and told us our interlocutor was none other than the +Principal of the school to which we were going." + +Booker Washington was always keenly interested to get at the reasons +which had impelled the new students to come, and they would naturally +state these reasons more freely to a friendly unknown person than they +would to the Principal of the school. As previously mentioned, Booker +Washington always kept his ear to the ground. These raw boys and girls +brought him fresh and frank messages as to how the people were +thinking and feeling about Tuskegee and those things for which it +stands. + +Some time after Mr. Washington's death the students of the Senior +Class were asked to write brief themes describing their first +impressions of him. In one of these themes the boy writer says, "His +general attitude did not bear out my idea of how a great man should +appear. I expected to see him with a diamond ring and riding in an +automobile on a pleasure trip, which most great men do. He was quiet, +not overdressed, nor yet self-conscious of the position he held and +the influence he wielded among the people. He seemed to me a man of +great thoughts, yet not realizing his greatness." Another boy writes: +"One of my first questions after arriving at Tuskegee, September 9, +1912, and registering as a student was to ask, where is Mr. +Washington? I was told that he hardly ever stayed here but was often +in the North. Two weeks later he came, and my first opportunity to see +him was one day on the street. I was so enthused over him that I went +to my room and wrote a letter home trying to describe him. + +"The following Sunday night he lectured in the Chapel. His title was, +'Have a Place to Put Everything and Put Everything in That Place.' In +his talk he said: 'There are many people who have no system about +their work nor home. Often you visit persons' homes and every member +of the family is looking for the broom. The same is true of a match +when the time comes to light the lamp.' + +"That talk was the most impressive one that I ever heard before or +since. From that talk I have reaped more benefit than any other. It +was the talk that I took in and began practising. I first started in +my room having a place to put everything and putting everything in +that place. After getting my room systematized I then began putting +this talk in practise at my work, etc...." + +The next quotation is from the paper of a native African boy. He +says: "My first impression, or, at least, the first time I heard the +name of Booker T. Washington, was about the year 1902. I was then a +young boy, just arrived in one of the Native Training Institutions +existing in South Africa. These schools train young native boys +primarily to become teachers in their communities. As a native African +I had just acquired the elementary use of the English language, when +the following incident took place: One, a native teacher from the +upper part of the country, was announced and that he was to give a +lecture to the 'Boys' Saturday Evening Society.' + +"The meeting assembled, and I at once heard that the lecture was about +a boy--Booker T. Washington--who obtained an education through his +struggles.... I did not hear or understand more. But it is strange to +say that this name was pinned in the bottom of my heart.... + +"It was during the coronation of King George V of England that I saw +this name. I had now finished that school and was teaching. It was +printed in a native paper that Booker T. Washington, an American +Negro, made an excellent speech. I cannot, however, say the exact +words of the editor, which were in greatest praise of that man, nor do +I recall the circumstances under which Mr. Washington had spoken. + +"When I wanted to come to school in this country I made up my mind to +find the school--as I found later he was principal of one--where this +man was leader; and so I came to Tuskegee Institute. I found the +editor had well described the man's character and disposition." + +Still another boy writes: "I first saw Dr. Washington at the +Appalachian Exposition held at Knoxville, Tenn., in 1912. It was Negro +Day and there were thousands of Negroes out to hear Dr. Washington +speak.... At times he would make the people laugh and then again he +would have a few crying. When I saw the tears in the eyes of his +listeners, I looked at Dr. Washington and thought of him with awe +because he was so highly honored. I thought of him with admiration +because he could speak so well, and I thought of him with pride +because he was a Negro.... His speech made me feel as if there were +really a few Negro men and women in the world who were making a mark, +and that there was a chance for more." + +Booker Washington's interest in the lives of his students, as in all +things else, showed his combination of breadth of view and attention +to what less-thorough persons would have considered trivial details. +When, for instance, in 1913 Tuskegee was visited by one of the very +infrequent snowstorms which occur so far South, he himself went from +building to building to see that they were properly heated and to many +of the rooms, particularly of the poorer students, to make sure that +they had sufficient bed-clothes. During the last three winters of his +life he had a confidential agent make an early morning tour of all the +dormitories to make sure that they were so heated that the students +might dress in comfort on getting up in the morning. + +Also when the weather was unusually cold he would make sure that the +boys who drove the teams that hauled wood and other supplies were +provided with gloves and warm clothing. One cold night he sent for Mr. +Palmer, the Registrar of the school, and said to him: "I wish you +would seek out the poor worthy students and see that it is made +possible for them to secure proper shoes and warm clothing. Some of +the most deserving of them will often actually suffer before they will +ask for assistance. We'll look out for the expense some way." He was, +in fact, as insistent that the students should have comforts as he was +that they should not have luxuries. + +His attention to details and the comfort of the students was well +illustrated in the close watch he kept over the dining-rooms and +kitchens which he inspected every day he was on the grounds. Tomkins +dining-hall is the largest building on the Institute grounds and is +one of the largest dining-halls in America. It can seat over two +thousand persons at one time. Adjoining this hall is a spacious +dining-room for the teachers as well as extensive kitchens and a +bakery. Underneath it is a great assembly hall which seats twenty-five +hundred. Mr. Washington would usually appear before breakfast to +assure himself at first hand that the stewards, matrons, and cooks +were giving the students warm, nourishing, and appetizing food upon +which to begin the day's work on the farm and in the shops and +classrooms. Nothing made him more indignant than to find the coffee +served lukewarm and the cereal watery or the eggs stale. For such +derelictions the guilty party was promptly located and admonition or +discharge followed speedily. Probably in nothing was his instinct for +putting first things first better shown than in his insistence upon +proper food, properly prepared and served for both students and +teachers. + +He once said to his students, as previously quoted, "See to it that a +certain ceremony, a certain importance, be attached to the partaking +of food, etc...." To carry out this idea each table in this great hall +has a centrepiece of ferns, mosses, or flowers gathered from the woods +by the student selected by his or her companions to decorate the table +for that week. Boys and girls sit together at the tables. On Sundays +and holidays first and second prizes are given for the tables most +artistically decorated. Frequently these prizes take the form of some +coveted delicacy in the way of food. Each day when at the Institute +Mr. Washington would walk through the dining-hall during the noon meal +and criticise these centrepieces, and things generally. He would point +out that a certain decoration was too gaudy and profuse and had in it +inharmonious colors. He would then remove the unnecessary parts and +the discordant colors and point to the improved effect. He would next +stop at a table with nothing in the way of decoration except a few +scrawny flowers stuck carelessly into a vase. Picking up the meagre +display he would say, "The boy or girl who did this is guilty of +something far worse than bad taste, and that is laziness!" At the next +table he would have a word of praise for the simple and artistic +effect which they had produced with a centrepiece of wood mosses and +red berries. These comments would be interspersed with an occasional +admonition to this boy or that girl for a slovenly manner of eating, +or an inquiry of a newcomer as to where he had come from and whether +he thought he was going to be happy in his new surroundings. An +oft-repeated cause of merriment was his habit of stopping in the +middle of the hall, calling for attention, and then asking the +students if they were getting enough of various articles which he +would name, such as sweet potatoes, corn, and blackberries. Cutting +red tape was one of his special delights. Sometimes he would discover, +for instance, that certain vegetables were not being served because +the steward had objected to the price charged by the Farm Department. +He would immediately order these vegetables served and tell the +protesting steward that he could fight it out with the Farm Department +while the students were enjoying the vegetables. From the dining-room +he would finally disappear into the kitchens in his never-ceasing +campaign for cleanliness. Over and over again would he repeat to +students, teachers, and employees alike that the public would excuse +them for what they lacked in the way of buildings, equipment, and even +knowledge, but they would never be excused for shiftlessness, filth, +litter, or disorder. + +One of the opportunities which he most highly prized and one of his +most effective means of influencing the whole body of students was +through his Sunday evening talks in the Chapel. Over two thousand +students, teachers, teachers' families, and townspeople would crowd +into the Chapel to hear these talks. They were stenographically +reported and published in the school paper. In this way he influenced +not only the undergraduates, but a large number of graduates and +others who subscribed to the paper largely for the purpose of +following these talks. We here quote from a previously unpublished +(except in the school paper) collection of these talks, delivered +during the school term of 1913-14, under the title of "What Parents +Would Like to Hear Concerning Students While at School." The first +talk was called, "For Old and New Students." In it he said in part: "I +suspect that each one of your parents would like to know that you are +learning to read your Bible; not only to read it because you have to, +but to read it every day in the year because you have learned to love +the Bible; because you have learned day by day to make its teachings a +part of you.... Each one of you, in beginning your school year, should +have a Bible, and you should make that Bible a part of your school +life, a part of your very nature, and always, no matter how busy the +day may be, no matter how many mistakes, no matter how many failures +you make in other directions, do not fail to find a few minutes to +study or read your Bible. + +"The greatest people in the world, those who are most learned; those +who bear the burdens and responsibilities of the world, are persons +who are not ashamed to let the world know not only that they believe +in the Bible, but that they read it." + +And this was the advice of a man who never preached what he did not +practise and who only a few years before had been denounced by many of +the preachers of his own race as a Godless man, building up a Godless +school! + +A little further on he said: "In many cases you have come from homes +where there was no regular time for getting up in the morning, no +regular time for eating your meals, and no regular time for going to +bed. + +"Now the basis of civilization is system, order, regularity. A race or +an individual which has no fixed habits, no fixed place of abode, no +time for going to bed, for getting up in the morning, for going to +work; no arrangement, order, or system in all the ordinary business of +life, such a race and such an individual are lacking in self-control, +lacking in some of the fundamentals of civilization.... + +"If you take advantage of all these opportunities, if your minds are +so disposed that you can welcome and make the most of these +advantages, these habits of order and system will soon be so fixed, so +ingrained, so thoroughly a part of you that you will no longer +tolerate disorder anywhere, that you will not be willing to endure the +old slovenly habits which so many of you brought with you when you +came here." + +And later, in speaking of the haphazard, slipshod, irregular meal, he +said: "Instead of bringing the family together it has put them wider +apart. A house in which the family table is a mere lunch-counter is +not and cannot be a home." + +And just before concluding this talk he said: "Now what is true of +this school is true of the world at large. This is a little world of +itself. It is a small sample of civilization, an experiment station, +so to speak, in which we are trying to prepare you to live in a manner +a little more orderly, a little more efficient, and a little more +civilized than you have lived heretofore. If you are not able to live +and succeed here, you will not be able to live and succeed in the +world outside. If we do not want you here, if we cannot get on with +you here, it will mean that the world outside will not want you, will +not be able to get on with you." + +Probably no educator ever kept more constantly before his own mind and +before the minds of his students and teachers that the purpose of +education is preparation for right living than did Booker Washington. +Everything that did not make for this end he eliminated, regardless of +customs and traditions, everything which did make for this end he +included, equally regardless of customs and traditions. + +In a talk called, "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother," the second of +this series, he made this rather touching statement: "Many of your +parents are poor. Not only that, but many of them are ignorant, at +least, so far as books are concerned. Notwithstanding all this, in +every case they have done something for you. It may have been, in many +cases I know that it has been, a very little, but out of their poverty +and out of their ignorance they have done something. They have made it +possible, in the majority of cases, for you to come here, and no +matter how poor they are, no matter how ignorant they are, their +ambition is largely centred in you." + +This is one of the many statements which show that Booker Washington +had no illusions as to the ignorance and poverty of the rank and file +of his people, and yet with this full knowledge and realization he +never became discouraged. + +In another of these talks, on "The Importance of Simplicity," he said: +"In many cases young men in cities do not own anything in the world +except what they are carrying around on their backs. They have a few +collars and a few cuffs, some bright-colored socks and neckties, and +that is all; nothing would be left of the man if you were to bury +these things. A few collars and cuffs, neckties, and a few pieces of +cheap jewelry--that is all there is of such men." + +Later in the same talk he said: "Short, simple, direct sentences +indicate education, indicate culture, indicate common sense. Some +people think the way for them to show their education is by using big +words, elaborate sentences, and by discussing subjects which nobody on +earth can understand. + +"Whenever you hear a man using words or talking on a subject that you +can't understand, you can be very sure that the man does not +understand himself what he is trying to talk about. If a man is +talking about any subject, literary or what not, of which he is really +master, he will be so direct, so simple, so perfectly clear and +intelligible in the discussion of that subject that the most humble +person can understand what he is saying." + +In a talk on "Being Polite," he said: "It is often difficult, I might +better say, it is always difficult, for persons to have genuine +politeness in their hearts when they live in a country that is +inhabited by different races. Here in the South, and throughout this +country, for that matter, we come into contact with persons of another +race, persons of another color. It takes some effort, some training, +and often some determination to say, in dealing with a person of +another race, of another color, I will be polite; I will be kind; I +will be considerate." + +In a talk on "Being Economical," he said: "You will help yourself and +help this school if you will say to yourself constantly: 'This is my +home; this property does not belong exclusively to the Trustees, but +it is mine; I am a trustee, every student is a trustee of this +institution. How can I make every dollar go as far as possible? How +can I help cut down expenses here?'" And later on, "I want you to get +into the habit of saying: 'This institution belongs to me, belongs to +my race; every dollar that is spent here is spent for my benefit and +for the benefit of my race; every cent that is wasted here is my loss +and the loss of all the generations that come after me.'" + +In a talk on "The Use of Time," he said: "You hear people speaking +sometimes about 'killing time.' No civilized man should be allowed to +kill time any more than he should be allowed to destroy any of the +other natural resources. When you find a man engaged in 'killing time' +you will find a man who is disobeying one of the most fundamental laws +of civilization. A man who habitually devotes himself to 'killing +time' is a dangerous citizen and the law against vagrancy is aimed +against him." + +In a talk on "Being All Right, But," he said: "You frequently hear it +said of certain persons in one connection or another that 'they are +all right, except,' or 'they are all right, but.' You are thinking, +perhaps, of employing some one for this or that important service and +among others the question is asked: 'What kind of disposition has this +one or that one?' Very often you receive an answer something like +this: 'They are all right, but----' That 'but' carries with it a lot +of things. There are too many people in the world who are 'all right, +but.' We want to get rid of just as many of these 'buts' as we can." +And in concluding the same talk he said: "Think big thoughts, think +about big questions, read big books, and, most of all, get into +contact with the big people of your acquaintance and get out from +under the control of the little people of your acquaintance. If you +will do this, gradually you will find yourself better fitted for life; +you will find yourself happier and better fitted to render +service...." + +In a talk on "The Power of Persistence," he said: "Always keep your +eye on the student who seems to be dull, who is slow in his studies, +who has to repeat his class, but who keeps plodding along doggedly, +determinedly, until he has finished the course of study. + +"Keep your eye on that student after he has gone out into the world. +He has learned to endure, he has learned to stick to his job in season +and out of season...." + +In a talk on "Standing Still," he said: "People say of us that, as a +race, we are not capable of going very far, not capable of making +steady, persistent progress. We go a little way and there we stop, +stand still, and stagnate.... Now one of the things which this school +aims to do for you and through you is to change, as far as possible, +the reputation of our people in so far as they are regarded as +unprogressive, lacking in initiative and in ability to go forward +unwaveringly." + +The concluding talk of this series, and perhaps the strongest of them +all, was entitled, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." In it he said: "I believe +if you could get down into the deep, dark corners of your own hearts, +and if you could get deep down into the hearts of your parents, you +could find there, in both cases, a misgiving, a sense of danger, never +clearly expressed but always present, a fear that some time, +somewhere, trouble was in store for you and for them. + +"This is so far true, in some cases of which I know, that if parents +should some day learn that their children were in trouble they would +not be surprised, because they have expected it, looked forward to it, +and feared it; because they have known and suspected all along that +you had never thoroughly learned to control yourself when dealing with +other people's property...." + +Later on he added: "This disposition to pilfer was, to a large extent, +a part of the history of slavery. It was rare when colored people who +belonged to a white family where they served as cooks, butlers, or in +some other form of household service, did not feel that everything +belonging to the white family belonged equally to them. Thus, when +freedom came, it was difficult to get the colored cook to feel that +she was a mere employee, that in the wages she received by the week or +month she was being paid for her services for cooking. It was very +hard to get her away from the customs and practises of slavery, +especially when receiving very small wages. + +"In many cases boys and girls have seen or have known that their +mothers kept up this practice of pilfering from persons for whom they +cooked. They have seen it going on day after day and year after year +in their own homes and have observed that employers seem to expect it, +wink at it, at any rate, put up with it. While they know, as their +parents know, that it is wrong, they have nevertheless come to feel +that it is one of the ways in which black folk and white folk get on +together; one of the indirect ways, in other words, in which black +people have learned to recompense themselves for disadvantages which +they suffer in other directions." + +In conclusion he said: "Each one of you can do something toward +solving the race problem, for example, by making, each for himself, a +reputation for honesty in the community in which you live. If in the +part of the country where you now live members of our race have a +reputation for carelessness, looseness in regard to the ownership of +property, you can help to solve the race problem, and make life here +in the South more comfortable for every other member of the race if +you will win for yourself a reputation for downright honesty and +integrity in all your dealings with your neighbors, whether they be +white or black." + +Mr. Washington once said, "In all my teaching I have watched carefully +the influence of the toothbrush, and I am convinced that there are few +single agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching." He made +periodic tours of the students' rooms to find out what students if any +were without toothbrushes. The possession and use of a toothbrush is +one of the entrance requirements for Tuskegee. In this connection he +used to tell with a chuckle the reply of the girl who in answer to his +question as to whose toothbrush he found on the washstand said, "That +is ours," referring to her roommate and herself. + +In his tours of inspection of the students' rooms he would also +inquire how many nightgowns they owned. He insisted that every student +should have at least two nightgowns. He was constantly impressing upon +the students that decent, respectable people do not sleep in the +garments in which they work during the day. In fact, he preached the +gospel of the nightgown and the toothbrush as insistently as he did +the gospel of work and simplicity. + +He constantly insisted that the welfare of the students should be at +all times the dominant consideration in the conduct of the +institution. When the teachers would sometimes complain that their +welfare was not sufficiently considered he would remind them that the +Institute was being conducted for the benefit of the students and +that teachers were not required except for the benefit of the +students. That the students should be happy was almost a mania with +him. He was constantly sending for officers and teachers to inquire as +to whether the students seemed happy. + +[Illustration: The cosmopolitan character of the Tuskegee student body +is shown by the fact that during the past year students have come from +the foreign countries or colonies of foreign countries indicated by +the various flags shown in this picture.] + +To the delight of the students he would occasionally call a +mass-meeting where he would call upon them one by one to get up and +tell him of anything that was wrong, of anything that was keeping them +from being as happy as he wanted them to be. It was understood that +everything that a student said in such a meeting would be regarded as +a confidence and that nothing that he said would be used against him. +The teachers sometimes protested against the unbridled criticism which +Mr. Washington permitted in these meetings. He, however, continued +them without modification, and while many of the students' complaints +were grossly exaggerated their statements nevertheless led to reforms +in some important particulars. The meetings undoubtedly added greatly +to the contentment and happiness of the student body. + +He was always trying to protect the poorer students against the danger +of being embarrassed or humiliated by the more fortunate ones. In this +connection he was constantly resisting the importunities of students +and teachers who wanted to charge admission fees to this or that game +or entertainment. When the occasion really demanded and justified an +admission fee he would make secret arrangements with the management to +have the poorer students admitted at his personal expense. + +His willingness to hear the students' grievances was a characteristic +not always appreciated by the officers and teachers. He was a firm +believer in the right of petition either for a group or an individual. +No matter how pressed and driven he was with business no student or +group of students, and no teacher or group of teachers, was too humble +or obscure in the school's life to win a personal hearing. He would +without hesitation reopen and painstakingly review a case, already +decided by the Executive Council, if he thought there was the +slightest chance that an injustice had been done. He insisted upon +giving the accused not only "a square deal," but the benefit of every +doubt. On the other hand, when there was no reasonable doubt of guilt +no one could be more stern and unrelenting than he in meting out +justice. + +Mr. Washington always encouraged and helped every ambitious student +who came to Tuskegee to develop his capacities to the utmost no matter +whether they were large or small. Years ago a student, William Sidney +Pittman, showed a particular aptitude for carpentry and draftsmanship. +After working his way through Tuskegee he was very anxious to take a +course in architecture. Mr. Washington arranged to have the Institute +advance him the money for a three years' course at the Drexel +Institute of Philadelphia, on the understanding that he would return +to Tuskegee as a teacher after his graduation and from his earnings +pay back to the school all that had been advanced for his training at +Drexel. Pittman's record at Drexel was wholly satisfactory. He +returned to Tuskegee and repaid his loan in accordance with the +agreement. He has since won the competitive award for the design of +the Negro Building at the Jamestown Exposition, has built a large +number of public and semi-public buildings throughout the South, +including the Carnegie Library at Houston, Texas; a Pythian Temple at +Dallas, Texas, where he lives, for the Negro members of the Knights of +Pythias; the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Building at Tuskegee, and a +number of Young Men's Christian Association buildings for colored men. +In 1907 he married Mr. Washington's only daughter, Portia Marshall +Washington, after her graduation from Bradford Academy, Massachusetts. +He is now generally regarded as the foremost architect of his race. + +Somewhat later Mr. Washington succeeded in securing some scholarships +which enabled promising Tuskegee graduates to take two years of +post-graduate work in teaching methods at the Teachers' College of +Columbia University. These scholarships were given by John Crosby +Brown, V. Everett Macy, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In each case +these students were required to return to Tuskegee as teachers for two +years--the same time as their course at Columbia. Dean Russell of the +Teachers' College has testified to the earnestness and high character +of these Tuskegee graduates. + +As measured by the Tuskegee standard of success, which is service to +others, perhaps the most successful of all Tuskegee's graduates is +William H. Holtzclaw, the Principal of the Utica Normal and Industrial +Institute of Mississippi. There is no school that has better emulated +the best there is in Tuskegee Institute, and there is no graduate of +Tuskegee that has followed more faithfully and effectively in Booker +Washington's footsteps. Holtzclaw has told his own story in an +admirably written and most interesting book entitled, "The Black Man's +Burden." Starting in 1903 with a capital of seventy-five cents, no +land and no buildings in a little one-room, ramshackle log cabin, +which he did not own and in which he and his wife lived as well as +taught, Holtzclaw now has an annual enrollment of nearly five hundred +students and a faculty of thirty teachers. The school through its +varied forms of extension work influences yearly about thirty thousand +people. It owns seventeen hundred acres of land and conducts twenty +different industries aside from its academic work. The buildings and +property are valued at one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. It has +also its own electric light plant and water-works and an endowment of +over thirty-two thousand dollars. In concluding his book Mr. Holtzclaw +says: "I see more clearly than ever before the great task that is +before me, and I propose to continue the struggle. It is an appalling +task: a State with more than a million Negroes to be educated, with +half a million children of school age, 35 per cent. of whom at the +present time attend no school at all (only 36 per cent. in average +attendance), a State whose dual school system makes it impossible to +furnish more than a mere pittance for the education of each child--yet +these children must be educated, must be unfettered, set free. That +freedom for which Christian men and women, North and South, have +worked and prayed so long must be realized in the lives of these young +people. This, then, is my task, the war that I must wage; and I +propose to stay on the firing-line and fight the good fight of faith." + +Another Tuskegee graduate in whom Mr. Washington was especially +interested is Isaac Fisher. Fisher has been awarded the following +prizes for his writings: + +"What We've Learned About the Rum Question," $500; "German and +American Methods of Regulating Trusts," $400 (in order to write this +paper Mr. Fisher had to acquire a reading knowledge of German which he +did alone and unaided in a few months' time); "Ten of the Best Reasons +Why People Should Live in Missouri," $100; "A Plan to Give the South a +System of Highways Suited to Its Needs," $100; "The Most Practicable +Method of Beginning a Tariff Reduction," honorable mention. (Upon the +request of the chief examiner of the United States Tariff Board this +essay was sent to that body for its use.) Besides these, Mr. Fisher +has taken several minor prizes for compositions on various subjects. + +It would be difficult to say, however, whether Booker Washington +showed greater interest in the most brilliant or the most backward +students. Certain it is that the most backward students won his +special attention and encouragement. + +In the early days of the school there was a student by the name of +Jailous Perdue whom Mr. Washington constantly encouraged and in whom +he never lost faith in spite of his almost total failure to master his +classroom work. Monroe N. Work, the statistician of the Institute and +the editor of "The Negro Year Book," under the title "The Man Who +Failed," has thus told Perdue's story: + +"Back in the days when the cooking for students at Tuskegee was done +out of doors in pots and the principal entrance requirement was a +'desire to make something of himself' a young man, Jailous Perdue, +came to Tuskegee to get an education. He was financially poor and +intellectually dull. Examinations he could not pass. After struggling +along for several years and accumulating a lot of examination +failures, he decided to quit school, go out to work and help educate +his sisters. Although he had failed in his literary subjects, he had +nevertheless got an education in how to use his hands. He had learned +to be a carpenter. Out in the world he went and began to work at his +trade. As soon as he had earned a little money he placed three of his +sisters in school at Tuskegee, and with the help of his brother +Augustus, who had graduated some time before, supported two of them +there for three years and one for four years. + +"In the meantime he had succeeded at his trade and gone into business +for himself at Montgomery, Ala., as a contractor and builder. Here +also he was successful and did thousands of dollars' worth of work. No +job was too small nor too large for him to make a bid on. If he did +not have a contract of his own he was not above working for some other +contractor, and as a result he was always busy. He has superintended +the construction of some of the largest buildings in Montgomery. Among +the buildings the erection of which he has superintended are the +Exchange Hotel, at a cost of $150,000; the First Baptist Church, at a +cost of $175,000; the First National Bank Building, at a cost of +$350,000; and the Bell Building, at a cost of $450,000. Perdue also +assisted as foreman or assistant foreman in erecting many of the +important buildings at Tuskegee Institute, such as the Principal's +house, the chapel, the library, Rockefeller Hall, the Academic +Building, and the Millbank Agricultural Building. + +"It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Perdue has accumulated +property or that he owns a good home in Montgomery, for in these +progressive days every black man in the South with any foresight is +investing some part of his earnings in property. The most interesting +and somewhat remarkable thing about the career of Perdue and the +greatest measure of his success is that twenty-three years after he +had left Tuskegee a literary failure he was asked to come back and +become a member of the faculty as an instructor in carpentry. Thus it +was that the man who failed succeeded and returned to the scene of his +failure a success. Perdue was constantly encouraged by Mr. Washington. +He came under the type of those who were not brilliant, but who were +always in his opinion worthy of help and encouragement." + +Washington A. Tate was even duller in books than Perdue. During his +early years at Tuskegee he seemed unable to grasp the most +rudimentary information. His native dullness was made unpleasant and +aggressive by a combative disposition. He was constantly trying to +prove to his exasperated teachers that he knew what he did not know. +He was almost twenty-five years of age when he reached the Institute +and entered the lowest primary grade. He had the greatest difficulty +in passing any examinations and never succeeded in passing all that +were required. Motions were constantly made and passed in faculty +meetings to drop Tate, and were as constantly vetoed by Mr. Washington +on the plea of giving him one more chance. Finally when Tate's time to +graduate came the teachers in a body protested against giving him a +diploma. Mr. Washington argued that a man who had made all the +sacrifices Tate had made at his age to stay in school, a man who had +worked early and late in fair weather and foul for the school, a man +who had stuck to his task in the face of repeated failures and +discouragements, had in him something better than the mere ability to +pass examinations. Through Mr. Washington's intercession for him Tate +got his diploma. The next day Mr. Washington had him employed to take +charge of the school's piggery. Because of his hard, conscientious, +and effective work in this capacity he was afterward recommended to +the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington as the +proper man to take charge of the United States demonstration work in +Macon County, Ala. Tate proved to be one of the Government's most +successful demonstration agents. He is now farming successfully on +his own account in an adjoining county. + +Booker Washington, as previously pointed out, saw very much more +clearly than most educators that education's only purpose and sole +justification lies in preparation for right living. A man who has +passed all manner of examinations may not be prepared to live rightly +and hence may not justly claim to be educated. A man who has failed to +pass examinations may be prepared for right living and hence may +justly be called an educated man. In other words, Booker Washington +realized that education was primarily a matter of the development of +character and only secondarily a matter of the acquisition of +information. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +RAISING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS A YEAR + + +During recent years the expenses of Tuskegee Institute have run to +between $250,000 and $300,000 a year. Of this sum Booker Washington +had to raise over $100,000 annually aside from the large sums +constantly demanded for new equipment such as the great central +heating and power plant which was installed in 1915 at a cost of more +than $245,000. + +At the ceremonies commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the +founding of Tuskegee Institute President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard +was one of the speakers. He said that one of his "first impressions of +Tuskegee Institute," after just a glimpse, was "that the oldest and +now largest American Institution of learning was more than 200 years +arriving at the possession of much less land, fewer buildings, and a +smaller quick capital than Tuskegee had come to possess in twenty-five +years. That's just a fact," he said, "Harvard University was not as +rich after living two hundred years among the people of Massachusetts +as Tuskegee is to-day, after having lived twenty-five years among the +people of Alabama. And that's the first impression that I have +received here. + +[Illustration: In 1906, the Tuskegee Institute celebrated its 25th +anniversary. In the group above appear such well-known American +characters as Dr. William J. Schieffelin, New York; Dr. H.B. Frissell, +Hampton Institute, Va.; J.G. Phelps Stokes, philanthropist, New York; +Isaac N. Seligman, banker, New York; Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of the +_Outlook_; Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Secretary General Education Board; +William G. Willcox, now President of the New York Board of Education; +Robert C. Ogden, philanthropist, New York; Andrew Carnegie, and Miss +Clara Spence of the Spence School, with numbers of their friends.] + +"This evening I have received another impression from your Principal. +He said that the great need of Tuskegee, to-day, was a considerable +sum of money, which could be used at the discretion of the Trustees, +to fill gaps, to make improvements, and to enlarge and strengthen the +different branches of the institution. Now I should not find it +possible to state in more precise terms the present needs of Harvard +University. The needs of these two institutions, situated, to be sure, +in very different communities, and founded on very different dates, +are precisely the same." This comparison is the more striking when we +realize that President Eliot had at the time been at the head of +Harvard University for thirty years, five years longer than Tuskegee +had been in existence--President Eliot of whom it was said, "When he +goes to rich men they just throw up their hands and say, 'Don't shoot! +How much do you want?'" + +The magnitude of Booker Washington's financial task is indicated in +his last annual report which he made to his Trustees in 1915. He +reported: + +"As of May 31st, we have received from all sources for current +expenses $268,825.17; for buildings and improvements, $28,919.47; for +endowment, $28,102.09; from undesignated legacies, $53,858.10, making +the total receipts for the purposes named for the year $379,704.83. + +"The gifts to the Endowment Fund for the year amounting to $28,102.09 +now make the Fund stand at $1,970,214.17. + +"The budget recommended for your consideration for the new year calls +for an expenditure for current expenses, repairs, renewals, and +equipment of $291,567.92...." + +Later in the report he said: "Notwithstanding the depressed financial +condition of a large part of the country, I feel it would be a great +mistake for us in any degree to slacken our efforts to keep the school +before the public or to get funds. I believe, as Dr. H.B. Frissell, +Principal of the Hampton Institute, has often expressed it, that a +large part of the mission of both Hampton and Tuskegee is to keep the +cause of Negro education before the country, and that the benefits +coming from such efforts of publicity do not confine themselves alone +to Hampton and Tuskegee, but benefit all the schools in the South. +With this end in view, I very much hope that the Trustees may see +their way clear to encourage and help us as far as possible in holding +a number of large public meetings during the coming year." These were +brave words for a dying man. Five months later he died of sheer +exhaustion shortly after addressing one of these "large public +meetings." They also show the breadth of his conception of his task. +You will note that he points out that such publicity as he urges, +"benefits all the schools in the South"--not merely the schools for +Negroes, but "all the schools." It never occurred to him to limit his +sense of responsibility to his own school nor even to the schools for +his own race. As previously mentioned he would sometimes devote an +entire public address to an appeal for more and better schools for the +poor whites of the South. + +Booker Washington's money-raising efforts consumed two-thirds of his +time and perhaps even more of his strength and energy. He planned +these money-raising campaigns just as carefully as a good general +plans a military campaign. His last big money-raising campaign was +conducted during June, 1915. He and the Trustees of the Institute had +been engaged for two or three years in the effort to raise the money +to complete the cost of the central power and heating plant, but +nearly $100,000 of the $245,000 needed had not been raised. This +burden bore heavily upon him. At last, with the approval of the +Trustees, he decided to make one last herculean effort not only to +raise this huge sum, but in addition, the money necessary to end the +school year free of debt. For this purpose he formulated a plan of +campaign by which five representatives of the school should cover the +chief centres of population throughout the Northern and Middle Western +States. This was the outline of the territorial assignments of the +collectors: + +Frank P. Chisholm: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode +Island, Connecticut--important centre--Boston. + +Charles W. Wood: New York east of Syracuse, and Binghamton--important +centre--New York City. + +Jesse O. Thomas: New York west of Syracuse and Binghamton, +Pennsylvania--important centre--Philadelphia. + +John D. Stevenson: Illinois, Wisconsin--important centre--Chicago. + +Clarence A. Powell: Michigan, Ohio--important centres--Detroit and +Cleveland. + +Each representative carried letters of introduction to leading men and +women in the various centres throughout his territory. All these +letters were personally signed by Mr. Washington. At the close of each +day each collector telegraphed Mr. Washington at Tuskegee giving the +amount of subscriptions and pledges he had secured that day. The next +morning Mr. Washington wired each collector, stating the total amount +of gifts and pledges secured by all five collectors. When the Trustees +met in New York City, on the last Thursday of June, 1915, all but four +or five thousand dollars of the over $245,000 had been raised. + +The Trustees themselves made up the difference by increasing by this +amount their own subscriptions. Thus was successfully concluded the +last great and difficult task which Booker Washington was to be +permitted to perform. + +Of the hundreds of invitations to speak here, there, and everywhere +which kept pouring in upon him certain ones he definitely accepted +because of the money-raising opportunities either direct or indirect +which they offered; others of less promise he tentatively accepted to +fall back upon in case the more desirable ones for any reason +miscarried. Chautauqua engagements he considered only where they +provided an opportunity for direct appeal for contributions for the +work, or at least the chance to distribute printed matter. Chautauqua +bureaus offering him as much as half the gate receipts above $500 in +addition to a guarantee of $300 a night he turned down out of hand if +they did not include one or both of these opportunities. No matter how +much money they offered he would never accept such propositions unless +they carried with them some opportunity to make a direct appeal for +his work. It was sometimes suggested to him that he might receive +these fees personally and then turn them over to the school. This he +declined to do because he was unwilling to give even the appearance of +capitalizing his reputation and oratorical gifts for his personal +enrichment. Booker Washington was not one of those simple-hearted +individuals who are guided solely by what they deem inherently right. +He always strove to avoid the appearance of evil as well as the evil +itself; and, with one unhappy exception, he always succeeded. He fully +realized that his conduct was under constant scrutiny by enemies in +both races eager to find some pretext to drag him down. So circumspect +was he in his behavior that once only between the time he became a +national character in 1895 until his death twenty years later did his +critics succeed in distorting any deed of his into the semblance of +misconduct. The very nature of the charge in this one instance was +sufficient refutation for any person acquainted in even the slightest +degree with the man's life, work, or character. + +The press as well as the platform he constantly used to keep his work +before the public for money-raising purposes. He had as good a "nose +for a story" as the best of reporters, and every story that came his +way was sure to find its way into print. No matter how driven with +pressing matters nor how tired he never denied himself to "the +newspaper boys." He believed that the more prominence, the more +"limelight," he could secure the better, provided he used it for the +promotion of his work. Thus he presented the apparent anomaly of being +at the same time one of the most modest and unassuming of men and also +one of the greatest advertisers of his day. + +As well as the general press of both races he constantly used the +school press for money-raising purposes. The school paper which +circulates among donors and prospective donors as well as among the +students, teachers, and graduates carries in each issue brief +statements of some immediate and pressing needs and the money required +to satisfy them. These needs are set forth in the following manner: + + "WHAT $1,700 WILL DO" + + "For a long while an important part of our extension work + and publicity work has been greatly hindered and hampered + because of the lack of a new and up-to-date printing press. + + "One thousand and seven hundred dollars will supply us with + this long-felt need and greatly add to the value and + influence of our work." + + "WHAT $3,000 WILL DO" + + "One of our very greatest and most practical needs is a well + but simply equipped Canning Factory. Three thousand dollars + would help us to properly equip the Canning Factory we + already have at Tuskegee. The factory will help not only in + preserving large quantities of vegetables, fruits, berries, + etc., during the summer, but at the same time could be used + as a means of teaching large numbers of our girls a useful + industry, and, more than that, the products could be used to + sustain the institution during the winter months. + + "We could not only use everything that might be put up in + cans here at the school in feeding the students and + teachers, but there is an increasing demand among the + merchants of the South, in the large cities, for anything we + can produce on the school grounds. + + "We very much wish that some friend might see his way clear + to give $3,000 with which to properly equip this factory." + +The need for a new laundry building with equipment, a foundry, and a +veterinary hospital were similarly presented. The funds to meet each +of these needs were received as a result of these appeals, and a new +list of needs is now being advertised. + +In concluding his annual report each year Mr. Washington would +summarize the immediate needs of the institution. In his last report +he thus stated them: + + 1. $50 a year for annual scholarships for tuition for one + student, the student himself providing for his own board and + other personal expenses in labor and cash. + + 2. $1,200 for permanent scholarships. + + 3. Money for operating expenses in any amounts, however + small. + + 4. $2,000 each for four teachers' cottages. + + 5. $40,000 for a building for religious purposes. + + 6. $16,000 to complete the Boys' Trades Building. + + 7. $50,000 for a Boys' Dormitory. + + 8. $50,000 for a Girls' Dormitory. + + 9. An addition to our Endowment Fund of at least $3,000,000. + +A few months later, as he lay dying in a New York hospital, the +following letter was received for him at Tuskegee. It was at once +forwarded and passed him on his last journey to his home in the South. +He never saw it. The donor, a Northern friend who withholds his name, +has renewed the offer to the Trustees and they have accepted it. + + _November 8, 1915._ + + _Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama._ + + DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: I have read your annual report and also + your treasurer's report, and make you the following + proposition: If you will raise enough money to pay all of + your debts up to May 1, 1916, and add two hundred and fifty + thousand dollars to your endowment fund, I will give you the + sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your + building fund, to be used in building the items such as Nos. + 4, 6, 7, 8, and the "Barnes, etc.," mentioned under the head + of "Special Needs," and for objects of similar character. + The above does not include item No. 5, "Building for + religious purposes," as I am not interested in that sort of + work. I shall be glad to know whether this proposition + interests you. + + Yours very truly, + + ---- ----. + +The interest of this giver was first _aroused_ by his reading "Up from +Slavery" when it appeared in book form in 1901. As soon as he had read +the book he sent Dr. Washington a check for $10,000 for his work +which he has renewed each year since until he made the above offer. +"Up from Slavery" has brought more money to Tuskegee than all the +other books, articles, speeches, and circulars written by Mr. +Washington himself and the many others who have written or spoken +about him and his work. Among its larger immediate results, aside from +awakening the interest of the anonymous giver already mentioned, was +its similar effect upon the late H.H. Rogers, Vice-President and +active head at the time of the Standard Oil Company, and upon Andrew +Carnegie. Mr. Rogers became so much interested that he not only gave +large sums for the general needs of Tuskegee but eventually financed a +large part of the rural school extension work, which has been +described in earlier chapters, and which is now so important a part of +the school's activities. Under Booker Washington's inspiration and +guidance, too, Mr. Rogers later combined railroad building with race +building. In building his Virginia railroad he undertook a +wide-reaching work in agricultural education among the Negro farmers +living within carting distance of his road. Booker Washington had +demonstrated to his satisfaction that by increasing at the same time +their wants and their ability to gratify their wants he would be +building up business for his railroad. + +Shortly after the publication in 1901 of "Up from Slavery," Frank N. +Doubleday, of Doubleday, Page & Co., the publishers of the book, in +playing golf with Mr. Carnegie mentioned Booker Washington and told +him something of his life. Mr. Carnegie was interested and wanted to +know more. Mr. Doubleday gave him a copy of "Up from Slavery." After +reading the book he immediately got into communication with the +author, told him of his interest in his life and work, and of his +desire to help him. The result was that Mr. Carnegie agreed to pay for +the construction and equipment of a library to be built by the +students. Booker Washington, his Executive Council, and the school's +architect, spent hours and hours of time in scrutinizing every detail +to bring the cost down to the smallest possible figure consistent with +an adequate result. The final cost to Mr. Carnegie was only $15,000. +Mr. Carnegie was amazed that so large, convenient, and dignified a +building could be built at so small a cost. Over and over again both +to Mr. Washington and to friends of the school he expressed his +surprise and pleasure at the result obtained by this relatively small +expenditure. After that there was no doubt he would do more for the +school. It was simply a question of how much more and what form it +would take. In 1903 the following letter was received by the late +William H. Baldwin, Jr., in his capacity as president of the Tuskegee +Board of Trustees. + + _Andrew Carnegie_ + _2 East 91st Street, New York_ + + _New York, April 17, 1903._ + + MY DEAR MR. BALDWIN: I have instructed Mr. Franks, + Secretary, to deliver to you as Trustee of Tuskegee + $600,000 of 5 per cent. U.S. Steel Company bonds to complete + the Endowment Fund as per circular. + + One condition only--the revenue of one hundred and fifty + thousand of these bonds is to be subject to Booker + Washington's order to be used by him first for his wants and + those of his family during his life or the life of his + widow--if any surplus is left he can use it for Tuskegee. I + wish that great and good man to be free from pecuniary cares + that he may devote himself wholly to his great Mission. + + To me he seems one of the foremost of living men because his + work is unique. The Modern Moses, who leads his race and + lifts it through Education to even better and higher things + than a land overflowing with milk and honey--History is to + know two Washingtons, one white, the other black, both + Fathers of their people. I am satisfied that the serious + race question of the South is to be solved wisely only by + following Booker Washington's policy which he seems to have + been specially born--a slave among slaves--to establish, and + even in his own day, greatly to advance. + + So glad to be able to assist this good work in which you and + others are engaged. + + Yours truly, + + (Signed) ANDREW CARNEGIE. + + _To Mr. Wm. H. Baldwin, Jr., New York City, N.Y._ + +This great gift delighted Booker Washington not only for what it meant +directly to his work, but because it so strikingly illustrated a truth +which he had long and insistently impressed upon his staff and his +students: namely, that if every dollar contributed were made to do +the work of two, more dollars would be forthcoming from the same +source. + +The two events upon which Booker Washington's popular fame chiefly +rests are his speech before the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, +Ga., in 1895, and the publication of "Up from Slavery" five years +later. Since "Up from Slavery" played so great a part in aiding its +author to secure funds for his work it seems appropriate to give here +some account of how it came to be written, how it was written, and how +it was received. + +In the year 1900 the editors of the _Outlook_ decided to illustrate in +the concrete the opportunities of America by getting some of the +Americans of greatest achievement to tell how they had risen by their +own efforts from the very depths of untoward circumstances. For this +purpose they selected Jacob A. Riis and Booker T. Washington. After +much hesitancy on his part and urgency on theirs Booker Washington +finally agreed to write the story of his life for serial publication +in the _Outlook_. His hesitancy was due merely to the fact that he +could not believe that the events of his life would be of any interest +to the public. So convinced was he in this belief that he had the +greatest difficulty in starting to write even after he had agreed to +do so. Finally, after a particularly urgent letter from the editors, +he stole some hours from his absorbing and exacting duties at Tuskegee +to write the first chapter. After these efforts had been typewritten +by his stenographer they produced only three and one-half pages--an +amount of copy discouragingly inadequate for the first installment. +He mailed the material, however, with a line of apology for its +inadequacy and promising to send more the next day. On receipt of this +scant initial copy the editors wrote him a letter of congratulation +and approval which greatly encouraged him, in spite of his heavy and +unrelenting administrative duties, to push ahead with new courage. +Notwithstanding, however, the best intentions on the part of the +writer and the most patiently insistent reminders on the part of the +editors there were many and wide gaps in the supposedly consecutive +series of chapters before the story was finally finished. Much of the +story he dragged from his tired brain, and jotted down on odds and +ends of paper on trains, while waiting in railway stations, in hotels, +and in ten and fifteen minute intervals snatched from overburdened +days in his office. The fact that it was a physical impossibility to +give adequate time and attention to so important a piece of work +distressed him and made him feel even more apologetic about the +product. + +The enthusiastic reception of his story by the editors and later by +the public was accordingly particularly surprising and gratifying to +him. After its serial publication he was soon almost overwhelmed with +congratulatory letters and laudatory reviews. Julian Ralph in the New +York _Mail_ and _Express_ wrote in part: + +"It does not matter if the reader feels a prejudice against the Negro, +or if he be a Negrophile, or if he has never cared one way or the +other whether the Negro does or does not exist. Whatever be his +feelings, 'Up from Slavery' is as remarkable as the most important +book ever written by an American. That book is 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' +Booker Washington's story is its echo and its antithesis. 'Uncle Tom's +Cabin' was the wail of a fettered, hope-forsaken race. 'Up from +Slavery' is the triumphant cry of the same race, led by its Moses upon +a trail which leads to an intelligent use of the freedom that came to +it as an almost direct result of Mrs. Stowe's revolutionary novel. 'Up +from Slavery' and 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' are inseparably linked in the +history of our relations with our dark-skinned fellow-citizen. One +book begins precisely where the other left off." + +William Dean Howells in the _North American Review_ said of it: "... +What strikes you first and last is his constant common sense. He has +lived heroic poetry, and he can, therefore, afford to talk simple +prose.... The mild might of his adroit, his subtle statesmanship (in +the highest sense it is not less than statesmanship, and involves a +more Philippine problem in our midst), is the only agency to which it +can yield...." + +Among the congratulatory letters came one from Athens, Greece, signed +"Bob Burdette, Mrs. Burdette, and the children" which greatly amused +and delighted Mr. Washington. It reads, paraphrasing the passage in +the book where he tells of the insistent stranger who unerringly seeks +him out when he tries to get a little quiet and rest on a train, "'Is +not this Booker T. Washington? We wish to introduce ourselves.' You +see, you can't escape it. We read that sentence, and shouted with +delight over it, in Damascus. I was going to write--'far-away +Damascus'--but no place is far away now. Damascus is very near to +Tuskegee, in fact, only six or seven thousand years older, and not +more than fifty thousand years behind. It must have had a good start, +too, for Abraham went there or sent there to get that wise and tactful +'steward of his house,' Eliezir. But Damascus has always remained in +the same place, whereas Tuskegee has been marching on by leaps and +bounds. But you are a busy man--we have heard that, even in this land. +And I can see you reading this letter five lines at a time. No use +sitting next the window, piling your hand-baggage up in the seat, and +pulling your hat over your eyes, is there? No, for we come along just +the same, sit on the arm of the seat, touch your elbow, and--'Is not +this Booker T. Washington?' We have been travelling for a year. The +_Outlook_ has followed us week by week. And week by week we have +reached out to clasp your hand, and have knelt to thank God for the +story of your life--for its inspiration, its hopefulness, its trust, +its fidelity to duty and purpose. Such a wonderful story, told in the +elegance of simplicity that only a great heart can feel and write. We +paused again and again to say 'God bless him.' And now we send you our +hand clasp and message--'God bless him and all of his.' There, now! +You may pile up your baggage a little higher--pull your hat down over +your eyes a little farther--and pretend to sleep a little harder. We +will leave you. But not in peace. More likely in pieces. For I see +other people, crowding in from the other car, with their glittering +eyes gimleted upon you." + +Barret Wendell, Professor of English at Harvard University, wrote him: +"Will you allow me to express the pleasure which your book, 'Up from +Slavery,' has given me? For about twenty years a teacher of English, +and mostly of English composition, I have become perhaps a judge as to +matters of style. Certainly I have grown less and less patient of all +writing which is not simple and efficient; and more and more to +believe in a style which does its work with a simple, manly +distinctness. It is hard to remember when a book, casually taken up, +has proved, in this respect, so satisfactory as yours. No style could +be more simple, more unobtrusive; yet few styles which I know seem, to +me more laden--as distinguished from overburdened--with meaning. On +almost any of your pages you say as much again as most men would say +in the space; yet you say it so simply and easily that one has no +effort in reading. One is simply surprised at the quiet power which +can so make words do their work." + +Thus was received the simple narrative of his life up to this time as +hastily written down in odd moments snatched from his already +overcrowded days. In this country alone more than 110,000 copies of +the book have since been sold. It has been translated into French, +Spanish, German, Hindustani, and Braille. + +Booker Washington's philosophy as to money raising after a generation +of constant and successful experience was summed up in this statement +which he made in "Up from Slavery": "My experience in getting money +for Tuskegee has taught me to have no patience with those people who +are always condemning the rich because they are rich, because they do +not give more to objects of charity. In the first place, those who are +guilty of such sweeping criticisms do not know how many people would +be made poor, and how much suffering would result, if wealthy people +were to part all at once with any large proportion of their wealth in +a way to disorganize and cripple great business enterprises. Then very +few people have any idea of the large number of applications for help +that rich people are constantly being flooded with. I know wealthy +people who receive as many as twenty calls a day for help. More than +once, when I have gone into offices of rich men, I have found half a +dozen persons waiting to see them, and all come for the same purpose, +that of securing money. And all these calls in person, to say nothing +of the applications received through the mails. Very few people have +any idea of the amount of money given away by persons who never permit +their names to be known. I have often heard persons condemned for not +giving away money, who, to my own knowledge, were giving away +thousands of dollars every year so quietly that the world knew nothing +about it.... Although it has been my privilege to be the medium +through which a good many hundred thousand dollars have been received +for the work at Tuskegee, I have always avoided what the world calls +'begging.' My experience and observation have convinced me that +persistent asking outright for money from the rich does not, as a +rule, secure help. I have usually proceeded on the principle that +persons who possess sense enough to earn money have sense enough to +know how to give it away, and that the mere making known of the facts +regarding the work of the graduates has been more effective than +outright begging. I think that the presentation of facts, on a high, +dignified plane, is all the begging that most rich people care for." + +Although this favorable estimate of the money-giving rich was based +upon many years of successful experience it must not be supposed that +Booker Washington did not have his share of rebuffs and +discouragements. In fact, scarcely a day went by that he did not +receive some such disheartening rebuff as the following note from a +man who had for several years contributed a small sum each year to +Tuskegee Institute: + + ----, _May 10, 1913._ + + _Mr. Warren Logan, Treasurer, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, + Ala._ + + DEAR SIR: I enclose my check for ten dollars in reply to + President Washington's appeal of the 6th inst. + + I do not understand why such an appeal should be necessary + after the large gifts by Mr. Kennedy and others. The Indians + have received much less than the Negroes in money and care, + yet they beg less, and are more ready to imitate the whites + in being self-reliant. All over the North I find the Negroes + despised by the whites for their laziness and disposition to + be dependent. + + Very truly, + + ---- ----. + +Mr. Washington's patient, circumstantial, and constructively +informative reply is characteristic of his method of rejoinder. It +also illustrates his habit of placing his reliance on facts and not on +adjectives, and of so marshalling his facts that they fought his +battles for him. He replied thus: + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _May 26, 1913._ + + MY DEAR SIR: Our Treasurer has shown me your letter of May + 10th, in which you inquire as to why it should be necessary + for Tuskegee to appeal to the public for additional funds, + also stating that the Indians receive much less than Negroes + in money and care. + + Under the circumstances, I thought you would not object to + my making the following report to you, covering the + inquiries suggested in your letter. + + The Indians from a financial standpoint are better off than + any other race or class of people in this country. The + 265,863 Indians in the United States own 72,535,862 acres of + land, which is 273 acres for each Indian man, woman, and + child. If all the land in the country were apportioned among + the inhabitants there would be 20 acres per person. The + value of property and funds belonging to Indians is + $678,564,253, or $2,554 per capita, or about $10,000 per + family. The Negroes, but lately emancipated, are by contrast + poor and are struggling to rise. + + The Indians are carefully looked after by the United States + Government. In addition to the elaborately organized Indian + Bureau at Washington, there are six thousand (6,000) persons + in the Indian field service, to especially look after and + supervise them. There is one director, supervisor, or + teacher for each 44 Indians. + + Some of the things that the Government does for the Indians + are: + + (1) Look after the health of the Indians; for this purpose + there are in the field one Medical Supervisor, 100 regular + and 60 contract physicians, 54 nurses, and 88 field matrons. + + (2) Supervise their farming and stock raising. For the + 24,489 Indians engaged in farming there are two general + supervisors, 48 expert farmers, that is, men with experience + and scientific knowledge, and 210 men in subordinate farming + positions. + + Over $7,000,000 have been spent in irrigating lands for + Indians. Congress in 1911 appropriated $1,300,000 for this + purpose. For the 890,000 Negro farmers in the South, the + United States Government maintains 34 Agricultural + Demonstration Agents. + + For the supervision of the 44,985 Indians engaged in stock + raising, the Government maintains 22 superintendents of live + stock. For the 700,000 Negro farmers engaged in live stock + raising there is only one Government expert working + especially among them. + + (3) A system of schools is maintained by the Government for + Indian children. For this purpose there are 223 day schools, + 79 reservation boarding schools, and 35 boarding schools + away from reservations. In these schools in 1911 there were + 24,500 pupils. For the support of these schools the United + States Government for 1912 appropriated $3,757,495. To + assist in teaching the 1,700,000 Negro children in the South + there was received in 1911 from the United States Government + $245,518. + + In general the Indians are not taxed for any purpose. On the + other hand, the Negroes are taxed the same as other persons + and in this way contribute a considerable amount for their + own education and the education of the whites. In this + connection, I call your attention to the enclosed pamphlet + "Public Taxation and Negro Schools." + + I enclose herewith copy of my Last Annual Report, giving + information as to the various activities of the Institution. + + Yours very truly, + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + +On October 25, 1915, a few weeks before he died, Mr. Washington +delivered an address before the delegates to the National Council of +Congregational Churches, in New Haven, Conn., in which he well +illustrated his belief already quoted, "that a large part of the +mission of both Hampton and Tuskegee is to keep the cause of Negro +education before the country." He said in part: + +"There is sometimes much talk about the inferiority of the Negro. In +practice, however, the idea appears to be that he is a sort of +super-man. He is expected with about one-fifth or one-tenth of what +the whites receive for their education to make as much progress as +they are making. Taking the Southern States as a whole, about $10.23 +per capita is spent in educating the average white boy or girl, and +the sum of $2.82 per capita in educating the average black child. + +"In order to furnish the Negro with educational facilities so that the +2,000,000 children of school age now out of school and the 1,000,000 +who are unable to read or write can have the proper chance in life _it +will be necessary to increase the $9,000,000 now being expended +annually for Negro public school education in the South_ to about +$25,000,000 or $30,000,000 annually." + +And in conclusion he said: "At the present rate, it is taking not a +few days or a few years, but a century or more to get Negro education +on a plane at all similar to that on which the education of the whites +now is. To bring Negro education up where it ought to be will take the +combined and increased efforts of all the agencies now engaged in this +work. The North, the South, the religious associations, the +educational boards, white people and black people, all will have to +cooperate in a great effort for this common end." + +These were the last words he ever spoke at a great public meeting. +They show his acute realization of the immensity of the task to which +he literally gave his life, and his dread lest what had been +accomplished be over-estimated with a consequent slackening of effort. + +A very cordial friendship existed between Mr. Washington and his +Trustees. Every man among them was his selection and joined the Board +on his invitation. In the year 1912 they manifested their friendship +and interest in the most practical of ways by volunteering to raise a +guarantee fund of $50,000 a year for five years to help bridge the +ever-widening gap between the income of the school and its unavoidably +mounting expenses. To do this, aside from contributing handsomely +themselves, almost all went out and "begged" of their friends. Mr. +Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, for instance, after making his own +liberal personal contribution, and soliciting funds among his Chicago +friends, left his great and absorbing interests at a busy time of the +year to go to New York and devote a week's time to "begging" money for +Tuskegee among his friends and acquaintances, Messrs. Low, Willcox, +Trumbull, Mason, and others also personally solicited funds. Many men +have gotten millionaires to give large sums of money, but how many men +have ever gotten millionaires both to give large sums and personally +to solicit large sums for a purely unselfish purpose? + +In his final report Booker Washington said of this guarantee fund: "It +is not possible to describe in words what a relief and help this +$50,000 guarantee fund has proven during the four years it has been in +existence.... We shall have to begin now to consider some method of +replacing these donations. The relief which has come to us because of +this guarantee fund has been marked and far reaching." + +The same qualities which enabled Booker Washington to get close to the +plain people helped him to win the confidence of the great givers. +Through his money-raising efforts he constantly added to his great +stock of knowledge of human nature. Also the same qualities of heart +and mind which enabled him to rise superior to the obstacles of race +prejudice helped him to bear without discouragement or bitterness the +many rebuffs of the money raiser. One cannot help speculating, +however, on the loss to Tuskegee, to the Negro race, and to the +general welfare, entailed by the necessity of his devoting two-thirds +of his time, strength, and resourcefulness merely to the raising of +money. + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +MANAGING A GREAT INSTITUTION + + +Booker Washington's chief characteristic as an administrator was his +faculty for attention to minute details without losing sight of his +large purposes and ultimate ends. His grasp of every detail seems more +remarkable when one realizes the dimensions of his administrative +task. Besides leading his race in America, and to some extent +throughout the world, and raising between one hundred thousand and two +hundred thousand dollars each year, he administered an institution +whose property and endowment are valued at almost four million +dollars. Although the original property of the school was only a +hundred acres of land with three small buildings, it now owns +twenty-four hundred acres, with one hundred and eleven buildings, +large and small, in its immediate vicinity. In addition to these +twenty-four hundred acres of land the school now owns also about +twenty thousand acres, being the unsold balance of a grant of +twenty-five thousand acres of mineral land, made by the Federal +Government as an endowment to the Institute in 1899. + +The organization of the Institute ramifies throughout the entire +county in which it is located. It has a resident student population +of between fifteen hundred and two thousand boys and girls, with a +teaching force of about two hundred men and women. It enrolls in its +courses throughout the year from thirty-five hundred to four thousand +persons. The receipts of its post office exceed those of the entire +postal service of the Negro Republic of Liberia in Africa. In a given +year the revenues of Liberia were $301,238 and the expenditures +$314,000. In the same year the receipts from all sources of Tuskegee +Institute were $321,864.87 and its expenditures $341,141.58. + +Booker Washington so organized this great institution that it ran +smoothly and without apparent loss of momentum for the nine months out +of the twelve, during the greater part of which he was obliged to be +absent raising the funds with which to keep it going. The Institute is +in continuous session throughout the twelve months of the year. During +the summer months a summer school for teachers is conducted in place +of the academic department. For the purposes of this summer school all +or most of the trades and industries are kept in operation. + +The school is organized on this basis. There is, first, a Board of +Trustees which holds the property in trust and advises the principal +as to general policies, etc., and aids him in the raising of funds; +second, the principal, who has sole charge of all administrative +matters; third, an executive council, composed of the heads of +departments, with the principal as its chairman. The following +officers serve as members of this executive council: Principal, +treasurer, secretary, general superintendent of industries, director +mechanical industries, director department of research and Experiment +Station, commandant, business agent, chief accountant, director +agricultural department, registrar, medical director, dean women's +department, director women's industries, chaplain, director extension +department, superintendent buildings and grounds, dean Phelps Hall +Bible Training School, director academic department. + +The position of general superintendent of industries is held by John +H. Washington, brother of Booker T. Washington. Mrs. Booker T. +Washington fills the position of director women's industries. + +After this executive council comes the faculty made up of the leading +teachers who have charge of the instruction in the various divisions +of the agricultural, industrial, and academic departments. This +faculty Mr. Washington in turn subdivided into a series of standing +and special committees having particular charge of certain phases of +the work such as repairs, cleanliness, etc. The committee on +cleanliness would, for instance, be expected to see that the boarding +department was insisting upon the proper use of knives and forks and +napkins--was serving the food hot and in proper dishes, and that the +kitchens were at all times ready for inspection and models of +cleanliness. + +[Illustration: Some of Mr. Washington's humble friends. (_See page +136_)] + +[Illustration: Soil analysis. The students are required to work out in +the laboratory the problems of the field and the shop.] + +In the same way he constantly appointed committees to go into the +academic classes and see that they were correlating their work with +the trade work. The tendency to backslide is especially strong in an +institution which, like Tuskegee, is working out original problems. +It is fatally easy for the teachers in both academic and industrial +classes to slip away from the correlative method, for which the +institution stands, back to the traditional routine. The correlative +method requires constant thought. As Mr. Washington well knew, the +average person only thinks under constant prodding. Hence, the +committees to do the prodding! It is so much easier to take one's +problems from the textbooks than to dig them up in the shops or on the +farm as to be practically irresistible unless one is being watched. +Then, in the shops it requires a constant effort to work the theory in +with the practice. If the instructors in the trades tended to become +mere unthinking mechanics a vigilant committee was at hand to keep +them true to their better lights. And if the committees themselves +ever became slack, the all-seeing eye of the principal soon detected +it and they in turn were "jacked up." Mr. Washington himself had a way +of leisurely strolling about day or night into shop, classroom, or +laboratory with a stenographer at his elbow. If he thus came upon a +recitation in which no illustrative material was used, that teacher +would receive within the next few hours a note such as this: + + _December 8, 1914._ + + MR. ----: After a visit to your class yesterday, I want to + make this suggestion--that you get into close contact with + some of the teachers here like Mrs. Jones of the Children's + House, and Mrs. Ferguson, Head of the Division of Education, + and Mr. Whiting of the Division of Mathematics, who + understand our methods of teaching and try to learn our + methods. + + Your work yesterday was very far from satisfactory, _not + based upon a single human experience or human activity_. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +Three days before he had sent the following note to the head of the +academic department: + + _Mr. Lee, Director of the Academic Department:_ + + I was very glad to see the wideawake class conducted by Mr. + Smith this morning. His methods are certainly good. + + On asking questions of the individual members of the class, + I found that about half of the class did not know just what + was to be found out from the measurements. If Mr. Smith will + go to the new Laundry Building, in case he has not done so, + he will find an opportunity to teach the same lessons in + connection with a real building. I hope you will make this + suggestion to him. Nothing takes the place of reality + wherever we can get something real. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +Previous to this he had written Mr. Lee the following letter relative +to the general problem of the teaching efficiency in his department: + + _November 24, 1914._ + + _Mr. Lee, Director Academic Department:_ + + When you return, I want to urge that you give careful but + serious attention to the following suggestions: + + First, I am convinced that we must arrange to give more + systematic and constant attention to the individual teachers + in your department in the way of seeing that they follow + your wishes and policy regarding the dovetailing of the + academic work into the industrial work. + + I am quite convinced that the matter is taken up in rather a + spasmodic way; that is, so long as you are on hand and can + give the matter personal attention, it is followed, but when + you cease to give personal attention to it or are away, + matters go back to the old rut, or nearly so. + + In some way we must all get together and help you to + organize your department so that this will not be true. + + There are two elements of weakness in the academic work: + First, I very much fear that we take into it every year too + many green teachers, who know nothing about your methods. + This pulls the whole tone of the academic work down before + you can train them into your methods. I am quite sure that + though you might not get teachers who have had so much book + training, that it would be worth your considering to employ + a larger number of Hampton graduates or Tuskegee graduates, + who have had in a measure the methods which you believe in + instilled into them. + + In my opinion, the time has come when you must consider + seriously the getting rid of, or shifting, some of your + older teachers. You have teachers in your department who + have been here a good many years, and experience proves that + they do not adapt themselves readily and systematically to + your methods. I think it would be far better for the school + to find employment for them outside of the Academic + Department, or to let them take some clerical work in your + department, than for them to occupy positions of importance + and influence, which they are not filling satisfactorily and + where they have an influence in hurting the character of the + whole teaching. + + All these matters I hope you will consider very carefully. + I am sure that the time has come when definite and serious + action is needed. + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +First and last on these apparently aimless strolls with a stenographer +he visited not only the classrooms and shops but every corner of the +great institution. He would return to his office with a notebook full +of memoranda of matters to be followed up or changed, and of people to +be commended or censured for their efficient or inefficient handling +of this, that, or the other piece of work. Once after writing a series +of letters calling attention to ragged tablecloths, unclean napkins, +and uncleanliness in other forms in kitchens, bakery, and dining-rooms +without the desired result, he personally took charge of the +situation, organized a squad of workers, put things in proper +condition, and then insisted that they be kept in such condition. + +His passion to utilize every fraction of time to its maximum advantage +led him even to smuggle a stenographer into the formal annual +exercises of the Bible Training School so that he might during the +exercises clandestinely dictate notes for the head of the Bible school +as to those features in which the program was weak, failed "to get +across," did not hold the interest of the people, seemed to be over +their heads, or whatever might be his diagnosis of the difficulty. He +was not interested in the program for and of itself, but was keenly +interested in its effect upon the people. If it interested and helped +them, it was a good program; if it did not, it was a poor program and +no amount of learning or technical perfection could redeem it. He +sometimes reduced his more scholarly teachers to the verge of despair +by his insistence that there should be nothing on the program at any +exercise to which the public was invited which the every-day man and +woman could not understand and appreciate. + +In opening the chapter we mentioned Booker Washington's faculty for +giving attention to apparently trivial details without losing sight of +his large policies and purposes. This was part of his habit of taking +nothing for granted. He never assumed that people would do or had done +what they should do or should have done any more than he assumed they +would not or had not done what they should. He neither trusted nor +distrusted them. He kept himself constantly informed. Every person +employed by the institution from the most important department heads +down to the men who removed ashes and garbage were under the +stimulating apprehension that his eye might be upon them at any +moment. He harassed his subordinates by continually asking them if +this or that matter had been attended to. He would sometimes ask three +different people to do the same thing. This resulted in wasted effort +on somebody's part, but it always accomplished the result, which was +all that interested him. He took nothing for granted himself and he +insisted that his subordinates take nothing for granted. He was a task +master and a "driver" but he taxed himself more heavily and drove +himself harder than he did any one else. Like other strong men, he had +the weaknesses of his strength, and probably his most serious +weakness was driving himself and his subordinates beyond his and their +strength. + +His eye was daily upon every part of the great machine which he had +built up through an exhaustive system of daily reports. These reports +were placed on his desk each morning when at the Institute and mailed +to him each morning when away. They showed him the number of students +in the hospital with the name, diagnosis, and progress of each case. +From the poultry yard came reports giving the number of eggs in the +incubators, the number hatched since the day before, the number of +chickens which had died, the number of eggs and chickens sold, etc. +Similarly daily reports came from the swine herd, the dairy herd, and +all the other groups of live stock. + +He received also each morning a report from the savings department +giving the number of new depositors, the amounts of money deposited +and withdrawn, and the condition of the bank at the close of the +previous day. There was, too, a list of the requisitions approved by +the Business Committee the previous day giving articles, prices, +divisions, or departments in which each was to be used and totals for +different classes of requisitions. + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington was a great believer in the sweet +potato. He personally supervised the work of preparing for sweet +potato planting.] + +The Boarding Department head would report just what had been served +the students at the three meals of the day before. In running over +these menus he would give a contemptuous snort if he came upon any +instance of what he called "feeding the students out of the barrel." +By this he meant buying food which could as well or better have been +raised on the Institute farms. He objected to this practice not +only because it was more expensive, but because it eliminated the work +of raising, preparing, and serving the foods which he regarded as a +valuable exercise in civilization. He also insisted that everything +raised on the farms should in one way or another be used by the +students. Besides serving to the students every variety of Southern +vegetable from the Institute's extensive truck gardens, he always +insisted that their own corn be ground into meal and that they make +their own preserves out of their own peaches, blackberries, and other +fruits. In other words, he made the community feed itself just as far +as possible. And this he did quite as much because of the knowledge of +the processes of right living which it imparted as for the money which +it saved. + +The Treasurer also submitted a daily report of contributions and other +receipts of the previous day with the name and address of each +contributor. Mr. Washington arranged to receive and look over these +daily reports even when travelling. Hence, in a sense, he was never +absent. Only very rarely and under most unusual circumstances did he +cut this means of daily contact with the multifold activities of the +institution. + +Although a task master, a driver, and a relentless critic, he was just +in his dealings with his subordinates and his students, very +appreciative of kindness or thoughtfulness, and generous in his +approbation of tasks well done. Three of the younger children of +officers of the school, while out walking with one of their teachers, +discovered a fire in the woods near the Institute one day. After +notifying the men working nearby, the children hurried home and wrote +Mr. Washington a letter telling him about the fire. They had heard him +warn people against the danger of forest fires and of the great harm +they did. This letter the three children excitedly took to the +Principal's home themselves, as it was on Sunday. He was not in, but +the first letter he dictated on arriving at his office the next +morning was this: + + _March 24, 1915._ + + _Miss Beatrice Taylor, Miss Louise Logan, Miss Lenora + Scott:_ + + I have received your kind and thoughtful letter of yesterday + regarding the forest fire and am very grateful to you for + the information which it contains. It is very kind and + thoughtful of you to write me. I shall pass your letter to + Mr. Bridgeforth, the Head of the Department, and ask him to + look after the matter. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +In the fall of the same year he addressed this letter of appreciation +to Mr. Bridgeforth, director of the Agricultural Department, mentioned +in the note of the children: + + _Principal's Office,_ + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama_ + + _October 4, 1915._ + + _Mr. G.R. Bridgeforth, Director of Agricultural Department:_ + + I have been spending a considerable portion of each day in + inspecting the farm, and I want to congratulate you and all + of your assistants on account of the fine sweet potato crop + which has been produced. It is certainly the finest crop + produced in the history of the school. + + You deserve equal commendation, especially in view of the + season you have had to contend with, in connection with the + fine hay crop, the pea crop, and the peanut crop. + + I wish you would let the members of your force know how I + feel regarding their work. + + I believe if the farm goes on under present conditions, that + at the end of the year it will very much please the Trustees + to note the results accomplished especially so far as the + Budget is concerned. + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +His quick mind and his keen sense of humor would sometimes lead him to +make fun in a kindly way of his slower colleagues. The members of the +Executive Council and the Faculty sometimes felt he treated them +rather too much as if he were the teacher and they the pupils. His +frequent humorous sallies and stories exasperated some of the more +serious-minded members of his staff very much as Lincoln's sallies and +stories exasperated some of the members of his Cabinet, particularly +Secretary Stanton. This sense of humor was undoubtedly with Booker +Washington as with Abraham Lincoln one of the great safety valves +without which he could not have carried his heavy burden as long as he +did. + +Among other things he always insisted that the human element be put +into the work of the institution and kept in it. He would reprimand a +subordinate just as sharply for failure to be human as for a specific +neglect of duty. He was particularly insistent that all letters to the +parents of the students should be intimate and friendly rather than +formal and stereotyped. He believed that nothing would more quickly or +more surely kill the effectiveness of the school than the application +of cut-and-dried theories and formulas to the handling of the students +and their problems. He never lost sight of the fact that the most +perfect educational machine becomes worthless if the soul goes out of +it. + +On his return from trips he would write a personal letter about their +boy or girl to each parent whom he had met while away. After he had +addressed a meeting and was shaking hands with those who came forward +to meet him a man would say, as one once did, with embarrassed pride, +"I 'spec you know my boy--he's down to your school. He's a tall, black +boy an' wears a derby hat." When Mr. Washington got back to Tuskegee +he sent for "the tall, black boy" with the derby hat and wrote his +proud father all about him. + +On his return from journeys he would write individual letters not only +to the parents of students and to his hosts and hostesses, but to each +and every person who had tried in any way to contribute to the +pleasure and success of his trip. On returning from the State +educational tours which we have described he would write personal +letters of thanks and appreciation not only to every member of the +general committee on arrangements which had managed his tour +throughout the State, but also to every member of the local committees +for the various towns and cities which he visited. He would also write +such a letter to the Governor or Mayor or whatever public official or +prominent citizen had introduced him. Usually on these tours school +children, or a group of women representing a local colored women's +club, would present him with flowers. He would in such cases insist +that the name of each child or each woman in the group be secured so +that he might on his return write to each one a personal letter of +thanks. Many such letters are now among the treasured possessions of +humble Negro homes throughout the country. + +Recognizing that Tuskegee's chief claim to support from the public +must be found in the achievements of her graduates he built up the +Division of Records and Research to keep in constant touch with the +graduates and gather information about them and their work. By this +means he could find out in detail at a moment's notice what most of +the graduates were doing and in terms of statistics what all were +doing. Eighteen to twenty of them are building up or conducting +schools on the model of Tuskegee Institute in parts of the South where +they are most needed. With these he naturally sought to keep in +particularly close touch. + +With funds provided for the purpose by one of the Tuskegee Trustees, +committees of Tuskegee officers and teachers are sent from time to +time to visit these schools established by Tuskegee graduates. They +act as friendly inspectors and advisers. The following is the plan of +report drafted for the guidance of these committees: + + OBSERVATIONS + + 1. Physical. + (a) Cleanliness of premises. + (b) Keeping up repairs. + + 2. Teaching. + (a) Methods of instruction. + (b) Books used, etc., that is, are they up to date. + (c) To what extent correlation is being carried out. + (d) Visiting teachers might give some definite + demonstrations in methods, etc. + (e) Special meetings with the faculty should be held. + + 3. Financial. + (a) To what extent does the school keep up with its + accounts so that its receipts and expenditures + can be easily ascertained? + + 4. Community work. + (a) Extension activities carried on by the school, + (b) The efficiency of these activities. + + 5. Attendance. + (a) Number of students enrolled on date of visit. + (b) Number in attendance on date of visit. + (c) What efforts are being made to get the students + to enter at the beginning of the term and remain + throughout the year? + + SUGGESTIONS + + 1. Before concluding its visit the committee should make, to + proper persons in the school, suggestions concerning the + improving of the teaching and of other things as may be + necessary. + + 2. If committee makes a second visit, see to what extent the + suggestions of the previous visit have been carried out. + + REPORT + + After each visit a written report by the committee covering + all of the above shall be sent to Principal Washington. + +To all the graduates of the Institute Mr. Washington sent a circular +letter on the first of each year in which frequently he told them of +the progress that had been made by the school during the year in +improvements, number of students enrolled, etc., and asked them in +turn to answer a list of questions about their life and work, or +sometimes in such letters he merely wished them success and gave them +some practical advice. The 1913 letter which follows is an example of +the latter: + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_ + _January 1, 1913._ + + _Dear Mr. (or Miss) Blank:_ + + I take this opportunity to send you greetings, to inquire + how you are getting along, and to express the hope that in + every way you are prospering. If, however, you are having + discouragements, I trust that you are meeting them bravely. + If you have difficulties, or are laboring under + disadvantages, use them as stepping-stones to success. + + I again call your attention to the importance of keeping in + touch with the Institute. Keeping your address on file with + us and sending a report of your work will assist in doing + this. I enclose herewith a blank for that purpose. Visits to + the school should also be made from time to time. You should + begin to prepare now to be here during the coming + commencement exercises in May in order that you may see what + is being done at the institution and to meet your former + classmates. Already the officers of the General Alumni + Association have begun preparations for your welcome. + + I urge upon you the importance of keeping up the habit of + study and of reading good books and papers. The accompanying + circular on "How to Buy Books" gives valuable suggestions + about how to secure the best books cheaply. I take this + occasion to inform you that already we are making + preparations for our 1913 Summer School. It is hoped that + every graduate who is teaching will attend this or some + other good summer school. + + I trust that wherever you are located you will do all that + you can for community uplift. Be active in church and + Sunday-school work, help to improve the public schools, + assist in bettering health conditions, help the people to + secure property, to buy homes and to improve them. In doing + all these things, you will be carrying out the Tuskegee + idea. + + Very truly yours, + + [Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + +The questions were slightly varied from year to year. The following +were those sent out with the 1915 letter--the last to bear the +signature of the Institute's founder. + + Please favor me by answering these questions and returning + the blank as soon as you receive it. + + 1. Your full name when at Tuskegee? + + 2. What year were you graduated from Tuskegee? + + 3. Your present home address? + + 4. If you are not at home, your temporary address for the + winter of 1915-1916? + + 5. If you have married, your wife's name before marriage? + Was she ever a student at Tuskegee? + Is she living? + + 6. Your present occupation? If in educational work, give + your position in the school. + + 7. How long have you followed it? + + 8. What are your average wages or earnings per day, week, or + month? + + 9. What other occupation have you? + + 10. Average wages per day, week, or month at this + occupation? + + 11. Kind and amount of property owned? + + 12. Tell us something of the work you are doing this year. + (We will also be pleased to receive testimonials from + white and colored persons concerning your work). + + 13. We especially wish to get in touch this year with as + many of our former students as possible. Please give + present addresses and occupations of all of these that + you can. + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal. + + _Tuskegee Institute, Alabama._ + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington had this picture especially posed to +show off to the best advantage a part of the Tuskegee dairy herd.] + +As previously mentioned the relationship between Mr. Washington and +his Trustees was at all times particularly friendly and harmonious. +While they were always directors who directed instead of mere +figureheads, they nevertheless were broad enough and wise enough to +give the Principal a very free rein. Preeminent among the able and +devoted Trustees of Tuskegee was the late William H. Baldwin, Jr. In +order to commemorate his life and work the William H. Baldwin, Jr., +Memorial Fund of $150,000 was raised by a committee of distinguished +men, with Oswald Garrison Villard of the New York _Evening Post_ as +chairman, among whom were Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, and +Charles W. Eliot, and placed at the disposal of the Tuskegee Trustees. +A bronze memorial tablet in memory of Mr. Baldwin was at the same time +placed on the Institute grounds. At the ceremony at which this tablet +was unveiled and this fund presented to the Trustees, Mr. Washington +said in part, in speaking of his relations with Mr. Baldwin and Mr. +Baldwin's relations to Tuskegee: + +"Only those who are close to the business structure of the institution +could really understand what the coming into our work of a man like +William H. Baldwin meant to all of us. In the first place, it meant +the bringing into our work a certain degree of order, a certain +system, so far as the business side of the institution was concerned, +that had not hitherto existed. Then the coming of him into our +institution meant the bringing of new faith, meant the bringing of new +friends. I shall never forget my first impression. I shall never +forget my first experience in meeting Mr. Baldwin. At that time he was +the General Manager and one of the Vice-Presidents of the Southern +Railway, located then in its headquarters in the city of Washington. I +remember that, a number of days previous, I had gone to the city of +Boston and had asked his father if he would not give me a line of +introduction to his son, about whom I had already heard in Washington. +Mr. Baldwin's father readily gave me a line of introduction and I went +in a few days after that and sought out Mr. Baldwin in his Washington +office and he looked through this letter of introduction, read it +carefully, then he looked me over, up and down, and I asked him if he +would not become a trustee of this institution. After looking me over, +looking me up and down for a few seconds or a few minutes longer, he +said, 'No, I cannot become a trustee; I will not say I will become a +trustee because when I give my word to become a trustee it must mean +something.' He said, 'I will study the institution at Tuskegee, I +will go there and look it over and after I have found out what your +methods are, what you are driving at--if your methods and objects +commend themselves to me, then I will consent to become a trustee.' +And I remember how well--some of the older teachers and perhaps some +of the older students will recall--that upon one day, when we were +least expecting it, he stopped his private car off here at Chehaw and +appeared here upon our grounds, and some of us will recall how he went +into every department of the institution, how he went into the +classrooms, how he went through the shops, how he went through the +farm, how he went through the dining-room; I remember how he went to +each table, and took pieces of bread from the table and broke them and +examined the bread to see how well it was cooked, and even tasted some +of it as he went into the kitchen. He wanted to be sure how we were +doing things here at Tuskegee. Then after he had made this visit of +examination for himself, after he had studied our financial condition, +then after a number of months had passed by, he consented to permit us +to use his name as one of our Trustees, and from the beginning to the +end we never had such a trustee. He was one who devoted himself night +and day, winter and summer, in season and out of season, to the +interests of this institution. Now, having spoken this word, you can +understand the thoughts and the feelings of some of us on this +occasion as we think of the services of this great and good man. + +"It is one of the privileges of people who are not always classed +among the popular people of earth to have strong friends for the +reason that nobody but a strong man will endure the public criticism +that so often comes to one who is the friend of a weak or unpopular +race. This, in the words of another, is one of the advantages enjoyed +sometimes by a disadvantaged race." + +Naturally no account of Booker Washington's administration of the +great institution which he built would be complete without some +mention of Mrs. Washington's part in her husband's work. Aside from +her duties as wife, mother, and home maker--duties which any ordinary +woman would find quite exacting enough to absorb all her time, +thought, and strength particularly in view of the fact that a wide +hospitality is part of the role--Mrs. Washington, as director of +women's industries, is one of the half-dozen leading executives of the +institution. In addition to her many and varied family and official +duties at the Institute Mrs. Washington has always been a leader in +social service and club work among the women of her race throughout +the country, and has besides all this come to be a kind of mother +confessor, advisor, and guide to hundreds of young men and women. We +will conclude this chapter by quoting in large part an article written +by Mr. Scott and published some years ago in the _Ladies' Home +Journal_, which describes how and when Mrs. Washington entered her +husband's life and work and the part she played in his affairs: + +"Even before the war closed there came to the South on the heels of +the army of emancipation an army of school teachers. They came to +perfect with the spelling-book and the reader the work that the +soldiers had begun with the sword. It was during this period in the +little straggling village of Macon, Miss., that a little girl, called +then Margaret Murray, but who is known now as Mrs. Booker T. +Washington, was born. When she grew old enough to count she found +herself one of a family of ten and, like nearly all children of Negro +parentage, at that time, very poor. + +"In the grand army of teachers who went South in 1864 and 1865 were +many Quakers. Prevented by the tenets of their religion from entering +the army as soldiers these people were the more eager to do the not +less difficult and often dangerous work of teachers among the freedmen +after the war was over. + +"One of the first memories of her childhood is of her father's death. +It was when she was seven years old. The next day she went to the +Quaker school teachers, a brother and sister, Sanders by name, and +never went back home to live. + +"Thus at seven she became the arbiter of her own fate. The incident is +interesting in showing thus early a certain individuality and +independence of character which she has exhibited all through her +life. In the breaking or loosening of the family relations after the +death of her father she determined to bestow herself upon her Quaker +neighbors. The secret of it, of course, was that the child was +possessed even then with a passion for knowledge which has never since +deserted her. Rarely does a day pass that Mrs. Washington amid the +cares of her household, of the school, and of the many philanthropic +and social enterprises in which she takes a leading part, does not +devote half or three-quarters of an hour to downright study. + +"And so it was that Margaret Murray became at seven a permanent part +of the Quaker household, and became to all intents and purposes, so +far as her habits of thought and religious attitude are concerned, +herself a Quaker. + +"'And in those early days,' says Mrs. Washington, laughing, 'I learned +easily and quickly. It was only after I grew up that I began to grow +dull. I used to sit up late at night and get up early in the morning +to study my lessons. I was not always a good child, I am sorry to say, +and sometimes I would hide away under the house in order to read and +study.'... + +"When Margaret Murray was fourteen years old the good Quaker teacher +said one day, 'Margaret, would thee like to teach?' That very day the +little girl borrowed a long skirt and went downtown to the office of +Judge Ames, and took her examination. It was not a severe examination. +Judge Ames had known Margaret all her life and he had known her +father, and in those days white people were more lenient with Negro +teachers than they are now. They did not expect so much of them. And +so, the next day, Margaret Murray stepped into the schoolroom where +she had been the day before a pupil and became a teacher.... + +"Then Margaret heard of the school at Nashville--Fisk University--and +she went there. She had a little money when she started to school, and +with that and what she was able to earn at the school and by teaching +during vacations she managed to work her way as--what was termed +rather contemptuously in those days--a 'half-rater.' It was not the +fashion at that time, in spite of the poverty of the colored people, +for students to work their way through school. + +"In those days very little had been heard at Fisk of Tuskegee, of +Hampton, or of Booker T. Washington. Students who expected to be +teachers were looking forward to going to Texas. Texas has always been +more favorable to Negro education than other Southern States and has +always got the best of Negro public school teachers. + +"But upon graduation day, June, 1889, Booker T. Washington was at +Fisk, and he sat opposite Margaret Murray at table. About that time it +was arranged that she should go to Texas, but, without knowing just +how it came about, she decided to go to Tuskegee and become what was +then called the Lady Principal of the school. Mrs. Washington has been +at Tuskegee ever since. + +"Mrs. Washington's duties as the wife of the Principal of the Tuskegee +Institute are many and various. She has charge of all the industries +for girls. She gives much time to the extension work of the school, +which includes the 'Mothers' meetings' in the town of Tuskegee and the +'plantation settlement' nearby. Her most characteristic trait, +however, is a boundless sympathy which has made her a sort of Mother +Confessor to students and teachers of the Institute. All go to her +for comfort and advice. + +"The 'mothers' meetings' grew out of the first Tuskegee Negro +Conference held at Tuskegee in February, 1892. Mrs. Washington, as she +sat in the first meeting of Negro farmers and heard what they had to +say, was impressed with the fact that history was repeating itself. +Here again, as in the early days of the woman's suffrage movement, +women had no place worth mentioning in the important concerns of life +outside the household. While there were many women present at this +first conference, they did not seem to realize that they had any +interest in the practical affairs that were being discussed by their +sons and husbands. While her husband was trying to give these farmers +new ideas, new hopes, new aspirations, the thought came to Mrs. +Washington that the Tuskegee village was the place for her to begin a +work which should eventually include all the women of the county and +of the neighboring counties. The country colored women crowd into the +villages of the South on Saturday, seeking to vary the monotony of +their hard and cheerless lives. Mrs. Washington determined to get hold +of these women and utilize the time spent in town to some good +purpose. Accordingly, the first mothers' meeting was organized in the +upper story of an old store which then stood on the main street of the +village. The stairs were so rickety that the women were almost afraid +to ascend them. It answered the purpose temporarily, however, and +there was no rent to pay. How to get the women to the meeting was, +for a time, a question. For fear of opposition Mrs. Washington took no +one into her confidence except the man who let her have the room. She +sent a small boy through the streets with the instruction to go to +every colored woman loitering about the streets and say: 'There is a +woman upstairs who has something for you.' Mrs. Washington says: 'That +first meeting I can never forget. The women came, and each one, as she +entered, looked at me and seemed to say, 'Where is it?' We talked it +all over, the needs of our women of the country, the best way of +helping each other, and there and then began the first mothers' +meeting which now has in its membership two hundred and twenty-nine +women.'... + +"Mrs. Washington asked some of the teachers at Tuskegee to begin to +help these people (the people of the country districts surrounding the +school). At first they went to the plantation (selected for the +purpose) on Sundays only. Mrs. Washington selected what seemed to be +the most promising cabin and asked the woman who lived there if she +could come to that house the next Sunday and hold a meeting. When the +party went down early the next Sunday morning a stout new broom was +taken along. Making the woman a present of the broom, it was suggested +that all take a hand in cleaning the house a little before the people +should begin to come. The woman took the broom and swept half of the +room, when Mrs. Washington volunteered to finish the job. + +"She had not gone far along on her half before the woman was saying: +'Oh, Mis' Washington, lemme take de brom an' do mah half ovah.' Mrs. +Washington says: 'I have always thought that that one unconscious +lesson in thoroughness was the foundation of our work on that +plantation.'... + +"Not the least of the duties which fall to Mrs. Washington is that of +caring for the distinguished people who visit the Tuskegee Institute. +The Tuskegee rule that everything must be in readiness for the +inspection of visitors, as much so in the kitchen as in any other +department of the school, prevails in her home also. + +"An interesting part of this home life is the Sunday morning +breakfast. The teachers have slept later than usual, and, through the +year, when Mr. Washington is at home, they are invited in groups of +three and four to share this morning meal. In this way he keeps in +personal touch with each of his teachers; he knows what they are +doing; he hears their complaints, if they have any; he counsels with +them; they 'get together.' + +"Mrs. Washington's labors for the good of her people are not confined +to the school. She is (has been) president of the Southern Federation +of Colored Women's Clubs, editor of the official organ of the National +Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, of which she is also an officer. +She is a frequent contributor to the newspapers and magazines. (Mrs. +Washington has since served two terms as president of the National +Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.) + +"Mr. Washington's own estimate of his wife's helpfulness to him may +be gathered from his tribute in his widely read autobiography, 'Up +from Slavery': 'She is completely one with me in the work directly +connected with the school, relieving me of many burdens and +perplexities.'" + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +WASHINGTON: THE MAN + + +Just as in the first chapter we sought to show the man in the making, +so in this last chapter we shall seek to picture him as he became in +the full fruition of his life. In the fully developed man of the last +decade of his life we find the same traits and qualities which began +to show themselves in those early years of constant struggle and +frequent privation. There is the same intense mental and physical +activity; the same readiness to fight against any odds in a good +cause; the same modesty, frankness, open-mindedness, and passion for +service. + +One of the many illustrations of this intense activity was shown in a +trip he made to Atlanta, Ga., three or four years before he died. Even +at this time his strength had begun to wane. In accordance with his +unfailing practice he got up at six o'clock in the morning, and after +visiting his poultry and his beloved pigs, mounted his horse and rode +over farms and grounds inspecting crops and buildings and what-not +until eight o'clock, when he went to his office and attacked his huge +morning's mail. After dictating for an hour or more he left his office +just in time to catch a train which brought him to Atlanta at two +o'clock in the afternoon. At the station he shook hands with four +hundred people who had gathered to meet him. As he went along the +streets to the Government Building he shook hands with many others who +recognized him in passing. At the Government Building he shook hands +with another large group assembled there to meet him. After the dinner +tendered him by some of the leading individuals and associations among +the Negroes of the city he posed for his photograph with a group of +those at the dinner. He then made a tour of the city by motor, during +which he visited three or four schools for Negroes and at each made a +half-hour speech into which, as always, he threw all the force and +energy there was in him. + +After supper that evening he addressed twelve hundred people in the +Auditorium Armory, speaking for an hour and a half. From the armory he +went to a banquet given in his honor where he gave a twenty-minute +talk. He did not get to bed until one o'clock. Four hours later he +took a return train which brought him back to the school by +ten-thirty. He went at once to his office and to work, working until +late in the afternoon when he called for his horse and took his usual +ride before supper. After supper he presided at a meeting of the +Executive Council and after the Council meeting he attended the Chapel +exercises. After these exercises were over at ten o'clock he made an +inspection on foot of various parts of the buildings and grounds +before going to bed. By just such excessive overwork did he constantly +undermine and finally break down his almost superhuman strength and +powers of endurance. This he did with an obstinate persistence in +spite of wise and increasingly urgent warnings from physicians, +friends, and associates. Where his own health was concerned he +obdurately refused to listen to reason. It would almost seem as though +he had deliberately chosen to put forth herculean efforts until he +dropped from sheer exhaustion rather than to work with moderation for +a longer span of life. + +Booker Washington was a man who thought, lived, and acted on a very +high plane. He was, in other words, an idealist, but unlike too many +idealists he was sternly practical. His mind worked with the rapidity +of flashes of lightning, particularly when he was aroused. This led +him at times to feel and show impatience in dealing with slower-minded +people, particularly his subordinates. He was often stirred to +righteous indignation by injustice, but always kept his temper under +control. He had a lucid mind which reasoned from cause to effect with +machine-like accuracy. His intuitions were amazingly keen and +accurate. In other words, his subconscious reasoning powers were very +highly developed. Consequently his judgments of men and events were +almost infallible. Although practically devoid of personal vanity, he +was a very proud and independent man, and one who could not brook +dictation from any one or bear to be under obligation to any one. He +had the tenacity of a bulldog. His capacity for incessant work and his +unswerving pursuit of a purpose once formed, were a constant marvel to +those who surrounded him. While he was without conceit or vanity he +had almost unlimited self-confidence. While it cannot be said that he +overrated his own abilities, neither can it be said that he underrated +them. His sympathies were easily aroused and he was abnormally +sensitive, but he never allowed his emotions to get the better of his +judgment. He forgave easily and always tried to find excuses for +people who wronged, insulted, or injured him. In repartee he could +hold his own with any one and enjoyed nothing more than a duel of wits +either with an individual or an audience. + +Less than a month before he died, when he was wasted by disease and +suffering almost constant pain, he received this letter of appeal from +Madame Helena Paderewski: + + _New York, October 26, 1915._ + + MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: I am writing you a very personal + letter on a subject that is close to my heart, and I know + the message it carries will find a response in your generous + sympathy. It is with great pleasure that I recall our + meeting, some years ago, and I have watched the success of + your work among your people with sincere satisfaction, for I + have always been an advocate of the principles for which you + stand, the uplift of the colored race. + + It is because I know you have ever directed your broad + influence toward the most worthy causes that I am asking you + in the name of the starving babies and their helpless + mothers, to tell your people that we need them in our work + of sending food and medicines to Poland. We need, my dear + sir, even the smallest contribution that your beloved + followers may offer, and I beg of you to make an appeal to + your people. Tell them, for they may not all know as well + as you, yourself, that it was a Pole--Kosciusko--who, in + addition to fighting for American liberty, gave that which + he needed himself to help the colored race. As you will + recall, after refusing the grant of land offered him in + recognition of his services in the War of the Revolution, he + returned to Poland, not wishing to accept a reward for doing + what he considered a sublime duty to those in need. Later, + after eight years, when he again visited America, he was + given a pension as General in the American Army. With the + back pay during his absence, the sum amounted to about + $15,000. Although poor himself, he felt deep compassion for + the neglected colored children and, with the money given + him, he established the first school in America devoted + exclusively to the education of the colored youth. + + I am sure you know the story in all its details, but I + desire the colored people of America to know that to-day the + descendants of the man who--unasked--aided them--plead for a + crust of bread, a spoonful of milk for their hungry + children. Tell them this and God will bless and prosper you + in your telling and them in their giving. Do not think that + small amounts are useless--five cents may save a life. I am + sending Mr. Paderewski's appeal, but conditions, to-day, are + worse now than when it was written. Will you help Poland? + Will you do it now? + + Please reply to Hotel Gotham. + + Yours in work for humanity, + + [Signed] HELENA PADEREWSKI. + + _Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama._ + +In spite of disease, pain, and weakness--in spite of the fact that he +must have realized that his remaining time for his own chosen work had +narrowed down to a matter of weeks--he instantly responded to this +appeal. Immediately he sent Madame Paderewski's letter to the Negro +press of the entire country with this explanatory note: + + MADAME PADEREWSKI'S APPEAL FOR POLISH VICTIMS + + Madame Helena Paderewski, wife of the famous pianist, has + addressed a letter to Dr. Booker T. Washington, of the + Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, making an appeal + for the Polish victims of the European War. The letter is + sent to the press with the thought that there may be those + among the Negro people who may feel disposed to respond to + Madame Paderewski's appeal. + + An organization known as the Polish Victims' Relief Fund has + been organized, with headquarters in Aeolian Building, 35 + West Forty-Second Street, New York City. Madame Paderewski's + letter follows, etc. + +Immediately after Mr. Washington's death Mrs. Washington received the +following note from Madame Paderewski: + + _New York, November 15, 1916._ + + _Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama._ + + MY DEAR MRS. WASHINGTON: It was with a feeling of personal + loss that I read this morning of the death of Dr. + Washington. I have always admired his courage and wonderful + ability, and his passing at this time brings a double + sorrow, for in this morning's mail I received a copy of the + _Tuskegee Student_ containing my letter and appeal to Dr. + Washington. I wish it had been possible for me to have + thanked him for what he has done, but I am sure that the + Heavenly Father will bless this and the many other good + works with which he was connected. + + I desire you to know how much I appreciate the kindness of + Dr. Washington and how highly I esteemed him. Please accept + my deep sympathy and believe me, + + Very sincerely yours, + + [Signed] HELENA PADEREWSKI. + +Although apparently indifferent to the treatment he received from +those about him Booker Washington was in reality, as has been said, +unusually sensitive. No matter what his engagements he always insisted +upon being at home with his wife and children on Thanksgiving Day and +on Christmas. One Christmas, about ten years ago, it so happened that +no Christmas presents were provided for him. The children gave +presents to one another and to their mother and she to them, but +through oversight there were no presents for Mr. Washington. Mrs. +Washington says that after the presents had been opened her husband +drew her aside and said in broken tones: "Maggie, they've not given me +a single Christmas present!" From then on Mrs. Washington saw to it +that the children remembered their father at Christmas. + +In Birmingham, Ala., about three years before his death, he and his +secretary entered an office building one day to call on one of the +Tuskegee Trustees whose office was on the top floor. When they looked +for an elevator they were referred by the hall man to the elevator for +colored people. On this elevator was a sign reading, "For Negroes and +Freight." His secretary expected him to comment on this, but he said +nothing and seemed hardly to notice it. That evening, in addressing +a great audience of both races in one of the big theatres of the city, +he was urging the Negroes to look upon their Southern white neighbors +as their friends and to turn to them for advice when he said very +slowly and distinctly: "I visited, this morning, a building which had +on the elevator for colored people a sign reading, 'For Negroes and +Freight.' Now, my friends, that is mighty discouraging to the colored +man!" At this not only the colored people, but the white people sprang +to their feet and shouted, many of them, "You're right, Doctor!" +"That's mean!" "That's not fair!" and other such expressions. + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington feeding his chickens with green stuffs +raised in his own garden.] + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington in his onion patch.] + +[Illustration: Mr. Washington sorting in his lettuce bed.] + +Every morning before breakfast when at home Mr. Washington would visit +his chickens, pigs, and cows. He said of finding the newly laid eggs: +"I like to find the new eggs each morning myself, and am selfish +enough to permit no one else to do this in my place. As with growing +plants, there is a sense of freshness and newness and restfulness in +connection with the finding and handling of newly laid eggs that is +delightful to me. Both the realization and the anticipation are most +pleasing. I begin the day by seeing how many eggs I can find or how +many little chicks there are that are just beginning to creep through +the shells. I am deeply interested in the different kinds of fowls, +and always grow a number of different breeds at my own home." + +But none of the animals interested him and aroused his enthusiasm as +did the pigs. He always kept on his own place some choice specimens of +Berkshires and Poland Chinas at whose shrine he worshipped each +morning. Also he always insisted that the swine herd of the Institute +be kept recruited up to full strength and in fact considerably beyond +full strength in the opinion of the Agricultural Director who in vain +protested that it was not profitable to keep so large a herd. It would +be interesting to know whether the great economic importance of the +pig to his race was at the bottom of Booker Washington's fondness for +the animal. + +After breakfast he mounted his horse and made a round of the Institute +farms, truck gardens, dormitories, and shops before going to his +office and attacking his huge correspondence. This correspondence, +both in its dimensions and catholicity, was typical of the man. His +daily incoming mail amounted to between 125 and 150 letters. The +outgoing ran to between 500 and 1,000 letters daily--in large part, of +course, "campaign letters,"--as he called them, letters seeking to +interest new friends in the work of the Institute, and others keeping +in touch with friends already interested, etc. His advice, opinion, or +comments were sought on every conceivable subject both by serious and +sensible men and women and by cranks of both races. Hundreds of the +humbler people of his own race were constantly applying to him for +information and advice as to whether it would be profitable to start +this or that business venture, or whether or not it would be possible +to establish a school in this or that community, and how they should +set about it. + +Booker Washington's sense of justice was unquenchable. While at +Coden-on-the-Bay, near Mobile, Ala., in September, 1915, snatching a +few days of rest and recreation as a palliative for the insidious +disease which was so soon to end his life, he was distressed by a +newspaper report of the killing of a number of Haitians by United +States Marines. He read the report in a Mobile paper late one +afternoon on his return from a fishing trip. He went to bed but could +not sleep. The misfortunes of the turbulent little black republic +seethed through his mind. Early in the morning, while his companions +were still sleeping, he awakened the inevitable stenographer and +dictated an article counselling patience in dealing with the +unfortunate little country. This article, dictated by a dying man on +the impulse of the moment, briefly recites the history of Haiti from +the period over a hundred years ago when the people of the island +wrested their liberty from France under the leadership of Toussaint +L'Ouverture, up to the present time. He then says in part: + +"Associated Press dispatches a few days ago stated that forty or fifty +Haitians had been killed on Haytian soil in one day by American +marines and a number of marines wounded. To every black man in the +United States this dispatch brought a feeling of disappointment and +sorrow. While, as I have stated, the United States, under the +circumstances, was compelled to take notice of conditions in Haiti and +is being compelled to control matters, largely because of the fault of +the Haitians, I had hoped that the United States would be patient in +dealing with the Haitian Government and people. The United States has +been patient with Germany. It has been patient in the Philippines. It +has been exceedingly patient in dealing with Mexico. I hope this +country will be equally patient and more than patient in dealing with +Haiti--a weaker and more unfortunate country! + +"I very much wish that it might have been possible for the United +States to have taken a little more time in making known to the +Haitians the purposes we have in mind in taking over the control of +their custom houses and their governmental affairs. While everything +that we intend to do, and have in mind to do, is perfectly plain to +the officials of the United States, we must remember that all this is +not perfectly plain to the Haitians. It would have been worth while, +in my opinion, before attempting arbitrarily to force Haiti to sign +the treaty put before its officials, to have spent a little time and a +little patience in informing the Haitian people of the unselfish +benevolence of our intentions. They, in time, would have understood +why it is necessary to intervene in their affairs. + +"Another reason, in my opinion, why patience may be manifested in this +matter is that the treaty, even at the best, cannot be ratified by the +United States Senate until it meets in regular session in December, +unless the President calls it in special session earlier. + +"I confess that while I am unschooled in such matters, since reading +the treaty the Haitians have been told they must ratify, it seems to +me rather harsh and precipitate; one cannot be surprised that the +Haitians have hesitated to agree to all the conditions provided for in +this treaty. No wonder they have hesitated when they have had so +little time in which to understand it, when the masses of the Haitian +people know little or nothing of what the treaty contemplates. + +"The way matters are now going, there is likely to be bitterness and +war. The United States, in the end, will conquer, will control, will +have its way, but it is one thing to conquer a people through love, +through unselfish interest in their welfare, and another thing to +conquer them through the bullet, through the shotgun. Shooting +civilization into the Haitians on their own soil will be an amazing +spectacle. Sending marines as diplomats and Mauser bullets as +messengers of destruction breed riot and anarchy, and are likely to +leave a legacy of age-long hatreds and regrets. + +"I also hope the United States will not pursue a mere negative policy +in Haiti, that is, a policy of controlling the customs and what-not, +without going further in progressive, constructive directions. In a +word, the United States now has an opportunity to do a big piece of +fine work for Haiti in the way of education, something the island has +never had. I hope some way will be provided by which a portion of the +revenues will be used in giving the people a thorough, up-to-date +system of common school, agricultural, and industrial education. Here +is an excellent opportunity for some of the young colored men and +women of the United States who have been educated in the best methods +of education in this country to go to Haiti and help their fellows. +Here is an opportunity for some of the most promising Haitian boys +and girls to be sent to schools in the United States. Here is an +opportunity for us to use our influence and power in giving the +Haitians something they have never had, and that is education, real +education. At least 95 per cent. of the people, as I have said, are +unlettered and ignorant so far as books are concerned." + +Booker Washington's self-control was never more needed than on an +occasion at Tuskegee described by T. Thomas Fortune, the Negro author +and publicist. A Confederate veteran who had lost an arm fighting for +the Confederacy and who had served for a number of years in Congress +was on the program to speak at a Tuskegee meeting. This Confederate +veteran had a great liking for Mr. Washington and believed in his +ideas on the importance of industrial education for the colored +people. Mr. Fortune says: + +"John C. Dancy, a colored man, at that time Collector of Customs at +Wilmington, N.C., was to speak first, the Confederate veteran second, +and I was to follow the latter. Mr. Dancy is an unusually bright and +eloquent man. Mr. Dancy paid a glowing tribute to the New England men +and women who had built up the educational interest among the colored +people after the war, of which Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes are +lasting monuments. Mr. Dancy had plenty of applause from the great +concourse of countrymen, but his address made the white speaker +furious. When the former Congressman was called upon to speak he +showed plainly that he was agitated out of his self-restraint. +Without any introductory remarks whatever, he said, as I remember it: + +"'I have written this address for you,' waving it at the audience, +'but I will not deliver it. I want to give you niggers a few words of +plain talk and advice. No such address as you have just listened to is +going to do you any good; it's going to spoil you. You had better not +listen to such speeches. You might just as well understand that this +is a white man's country, as far as the South is concerned, and we are +going to make you keep your place. Understand that. I have nothing +more to say to you.' + +"The audience was taken back as much by the bluntness of the remarks +as if they had been doused with cold water. Indignation was everywhere +visible on the countenances of the people. But Mr. Washington appeared +unruffled. On the contrary, his heavy jaw was hard set and his eyes +danced in a merry measure. It was a time to keep one's temper and +wits, and he did so, as usual. Without betraying any feeling in the +matter, and when everybody expected him to announce the next speaker, +he said: + +"'Ladies and Gentlemen: I am sure you will agree with me that we have +had enough eloquence for one occasion. We shall listen to the next +speaker at another occasion, when we are not so fagged out. We will +now rise, sing the doxology, and be dismissed.' + +"The audience did so, but it was the most funereal proceeding I had +ever witnessed upon such an occasion. Mr. Washington's imperturbable +good nature alone saved the day." + +Some time after President Roosevelt had begun to consult Booker +Washington on practically all his appointments and policies which +particularly affected the relations between the races, and after +several Southern white men had been given Federal appointments on Mr. +Washington's recommendation, the bitterness against him grew so +intense, especially among the "Talented Tenth" element of the Northern +Negroes, that he decided to meet a group of their leaders face to +face, and have it out. Accordingly, through Mr. Fortune, he arranged +to meet a number of these men at a dinner at Young's Hotel in Boston. +Mr. Fortune thus describes what took place: + +"At the proper time, when the coffee and cigars were served, I arose +and told the diners that Dr. Washington had desired to meet them at +the banquet table and at the proper time to have each one of them +express freely his opinion of the race question, and how best the race +could be served in the delicate crisis through which it was then +passing. Each of the speakers launched into a tirade against Dr. +Washington and his policies and methods, many of them in lofty flights +of speech they had learned at Harvard University. The atmosphere was +dense with discontent and denunciation. + +"The climax was reached when William H. Lewis, the famous Harvard +football coach, told Dr. Washington to go back South, and attend to +his work of educating the Negro and 'leave to us the matters political +affecting the race.' Every eye was upon Dr. Washington's face, but +none of them could read anything in it; it was as inscrutable as a +wooden Indian's. When every one of them had had his say, I called upon +Dr. Washington to respond to the speakers who had unburdened +themselves. Dr. Washington rose slowly, and with a slip of paper in +his hand, said: + +"'Gentlemen, I want to tell you about what we are doing at Tuskegee +Institute in the Black Belt of Alabama.' + +"For more than a half-hour he told them of the needs and the work +without once alluding to anything that had been said in heat and anger +by those to whom he spoke. He held them close to him by his simple +recital, with here and there a small blaze of eloquence, and then +thanking them for the candor with which they had spoken, sat down. +They were all disappointed, as they expected that he would attempt to +excuse himself for the things they had complained of." + +At the time of Mr. Washington's death, the same William H. Lewis, who +told him at this time to go back to the South and attend to his work +and "leave to us the matters political affecting the race," said of +him: + +"Words, like tears, are vain and idle things to express the great +anguish I feel at the untimely death of Booker Washington. He was my +friend who understood me and believed in me. I did not always believe +in him because I did not understand him. I first saw and heard him +when a junior at Amherst in the early 90's, when he spoke at Old John +Brown's church in Springfield, where I journeyed to hear him. I could +not then appreciate his love for the Southern people and his gospel of +work. I even doubted his loyalty to his race. When I came to Boston I +joined in with his most violent and bitterest critics. The one thing +that I am so thankful for is that I early saw the light and came to +appreciate and understand the great work of Booker T. Washington. + +"I have just finished reading an old letter from him, date, October 1, +1901, in which he said: 'The main point of this letter is to say I +believe that both you and I are going to be in a position in the +future to serve the race effectually, and while it is very probable +that we shall always differ as to detailed methods of lifting up the +race, it seems to me that if we agree in each doing our best to lift +it up the main point will have been gained, and I am sure that in our +anxiety to better the condition of the race there is no difference +between us, and I shall be delighted to work in hearty cooperation +with you.' + +"Since then, I have known him intimately and well. He was unselfish +and generous to a fault; he was modest yet masterful; he was quiet yet +intense; his common sense and sagacity seemed uncanny, such was his +knowledge of human nature. His was a great soul in which no bitterness +or littleness could even find a lurking place. His was the great heart +of Lincoln, with malice toward none and charity for all. He loved all +men and all men loved him. + +"My humble prayer is that his torch has lighted another among the dark +millions of America, to lead the race onward and upward." + +Booker Washington's insistence that the classrooms, shops, and farms +were for the development of the students rather than the students for +their development was well illustrated by a remark he once made to +Bishop William Lawrence of Massachusetts when the Bishop was visiting +the Institute. In reply to Bishop Lawrence's question as to whether he +had chosen the best available land for his agricultural work, he said, +"No, sir, I chose pretty nearly the poorest land I could find. I chose +land on which men would have to spend all their energies to bring out +the life in the land. They work here under the hardest conditions. +When they go out to other lands--to their own lands, perhaps--they +won't find any worse land to till. If they find any better land the +difference will be all gain for them." + +Perhaps more remarkable than any or all of his achievements was the +fact that Booker Washington was a gentleman. It would be difficult to +find a man who better conformed to the exacting yet illusive +requirements of that term. He had not only the naturalness and the +goodness of heart which are the fundamentals, but he had also the +breeding and the polish which distinguish the finished gentleman from +the "rough diamond." This fact about Booker Washington has been well +described by Hamilton Wright Mabie in an article entitled: "Booker T. +Washington: Gentleman," in which he says in part: + +"Booker Washington became one of the foremost men in America; he was +heard on great occasions by great audiences with profound attention; +he was a writer and speaker of National position, the founder of a +college, and the organizing leader of a race in ideas and industry. +These were notable achievements; but there was another achievement +which was in its way more notable. Without any advantages of birth or +station or training, a member of an ostracized race, with the doors of +social life closed in his face, Dr. Washington was a gentleman. I +recall two illustrations of this quality of nature, often lacking in +men of great ability and usefulness. The first was in Stafford House, +London, the residence of the Duke of Sutherland. The older Duke was +the lifelong friend of Queen Victoria; and once, when she was going to +Stafford House, she wrote the Duke that she was about to leave her +uninteresting house for his beautiful palace. Nothing could be more +stately than the great hall of Stafford House, with its two marble +stairways ascending to the galleries above; and when the Duchess of +Sutherland, standing on the dais from which the stairs ascended, +received her guests she reminded more than one of her guests of the +splendid picture drawn by Edmund Burke of Marie Antoinette moving like +a star through the palace of Versailles. On that evening Dr. +Washington was present. At one time in one of the rooms he happened to +be talking with the duchess and two other women of high rank, two of +them women of great beauty and stateliness. There were some people +present who were evidently very much impressed by their surroundings. +Booker Washington seemed to be absolutely unconscious of the splendor +of the house in which he was, or of the society in which for the +moment he found himself. Born in a hut without a door-sill, he was at +ease in the most stately and beautiful private palace in London. + +"On another occasion there was to be a Tuskegee meeting at Bar Harbor. +The Casino had been beautifully decorated for a dance the night +before. The harbor was full of yachts, the tennis courts of +fine-looking young men and women; it was a picture of luxury tempered +with intelligence. Mr. Washington was looking out of the window. +Presently he turned to me and said, with a smile, 'And last Wednesday +morning I was eating breakfast in a shanty in Alabama; there were five +of us and we had one spoon!'" + +At the time of his stay in London, during which this reception at +Stafford House took place, he was given a luncheon by a group of +distinguished men to which Mr. Asquith, the Prime Minister, was +invited. In reply, Mr. Asquith sent this note: + + _10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S.W._ + _26th September, 1910._ + + DEAR SIR: I much regret that my engagements do not allow me + to accept your invitation to be present at the luncheon + which it is proposed to give in honor of Mr. Booker T. + Washington. I feel sure, however, that he will be welcomed + with a cordiality which his persistent and successful labors + in the cause of the education of the American Negro deserve, + especially at the hands of English men, whose difficulties + in many parts of the Empire have been helped toward a + solution by the results of his work. + + Yours faithfully, + + [Signed] H.H. ASQUITH. + +While at home, no matter how pressed and driven with work, Booker +Washington snatched an hour or so every day for hunting or riding. +This daily exercise became a fetich with him which he clung to with +unreasonable obstinacy. He would frequently set off upon these hunts +or rides in so exhausted a condition that obviously their only effect +could be worse exhaustion. His intense admiration for Theodore +Roosevelt probably had its influence, conscious or unconscious, in +strengthening his devotion to violent outdoor exercise. + +Whatever he was doing or wherever he was, his mind seemed constantly +at work along constructive lines. At the most unexpected times and +places he would suddenly call the inevitable stenographer and dictate +some idea for an article or address or some plan for the improvement +of Tuskegee or for the betterment of the whole race in this or that +particular. He would sometimes reduce his immediate subordinates to +the verge of despair by pouring out upon them in rapid succession +constructive suggestions each one of which meant hours, days, and even +weeks of time to work out, and then calling for the results of all +before even one could be fairly put into effect. This tendency became +particularly marked in his closing years when the consciousness of an +immense amount of work to be done and a short and constantly lessening +period in which to do it must have become an obsession and almost a +nightmare to him. + +He would sometimes wound the feelings of acquaintances and friends, +particularly his teachers, by passing them on the street and even +looking at them without recognition. This naturally was not +intentional, nor was it because his mind was wool-gathering, but +merely because he was thinking out some idea with which the people and +events immediately about him had for the moment no connection and were +consequently totally obliterated from his consciousness. + +Mr. Washington's strength of will and determination were never better +shown than in the closing hours of his life. When he was told by his +doctors at St. Luke's Hospital, New York, whither he had been taken by +the New York trustees of the Institute after his final collapse, that +he had but a few hours to live, he insisted upon starting for home at +once. His physicians expostulated and warned him that in his condition +he could not reasonably expect to survive the journey. He insisted +that he must go and be true to his oft-repeated assertion, "I was born +in the South, I have lived and labored in the South, and I expect to +die and be buried in the South." This remark, when sent out in the +Associated Press dispatches announcing his death, touched the South as +nothing else could have. No Negro was ever eulogized in the Southern +press as he was. Long accounts of his career and death with +sympathetic and appreciative editorial comments appeared in most of +the Southern papers. + +One of the doctors who was called in to attend him at the time he was +taken to the hospital remarked that it was "uncanny to see a man up +and about who ought by all the laws of nature to be dead." In this +condition, then, he set out upon the long journey from New York to +Tuskegee. When the party reached the Pennsylvania Station an invalid's +chair was awaiting him, but he declined to use it, and leaning on the +arms of his companions walked or rather tottered to his seat in the +train. As soon as the train began to move Southward a slight +invigoration of triumph seemed to come over him which increased as the +journey continued, until at its close he seemed stronger than when he +started. All along the way he would inquire at frequent intervals what +point they had reached. The reaching and passing of each important +station such as Greensboro, Charlotte, and Atlanta he would seem to +score up in his mind's eye as a new triumph. And when finally he +reached Chehaw, the little station five miles from Tuskegee, he was +fairly trembling with eager expectancy. As we have said, he reached +Tuskegee apparently stronger than when he left New York and strong +enough to enjoy the final triumph of his indomitable will over his +overworked and weakened body. The next morning, November 14, 1915, he +was dead. + +Of the myriads of tributes to Booker Washington by white men and black +both North and South, which were spoken from platforms and pulpits and +printed in newspapers and periodicals throughout the length and +breadth not only of America but the world, there are two which we feel +irresistibly compelled to use in concluding this chapter and book. One +is the tribute of a former student, Isaac Fisher, president of the +Tuskegee Alumni Association, speaking for the graduates at the +memorial exercises held at Tuskegee on December 12, 1915; the other +is the tribute of one of his teachers, Clement Richardson, head of the +division of English, speaking in effect for the Tuskegee teachers in +an article published in the _Survey_ of December 4, 1915. + +At this memorial meeting, after being introduced by Seth Low, Chairman +of the Board of Trustees, as the representative of the Tuskegee Alumni +Association, Mr. Fisher said: + +"Mr. Chairman: The greatest citizens of this nation have paused long +enough to pay tributes of honor to the memory of Dr. Washington; and +to-night some of the world's most distinguished citizens are present +to say their words of love for the departed chieftain whose body lies +in a grave just outside of those walls. In the presence of these great +men I do not see why you have asked me, one of the least of all, to +add my simple praise. + +"But I can say that no persons have sustained so great a loss as have +the members of the Tuskegee Alumni Association; and I come to bear +testimony to the depth and sincerity of their grief. + +"There is a story which has not yet been told, in connection with the +spread of industrial education in the South and throughout the entire +country. I must tell that story here before I can make clear just how +great is the Alumni's loss. + +"In telling of the spread of industrial education, during the past +twenty-five years, we seem not to know that the work has been +difficult and prosecuted at great sacrifice on the part of the +Tuskegee graduates who have sought to interpret Dr. Washington's +theory that economic fitness was the basis of racial growth in many +other directions. + +"The people did not take kindly to this form of education, believing +that it was the same old slavery from which we have emerged under a +new name; and the Tuskegee graduates have prosecuted their work in the +face of the misrepresentations, prejudice, opposition, and ridicule of +those of their own race who could or would not understand the spirit +of industrial education--a spirit broader and finer than the phrase +suggests. More than this: in the communities where they have worked it +has been the fashion to permit our graduates to do the difficult tasks +and carry all the burdens of leadership; but if there were any honors +to be bestowed, they were given to the graduates of other schools. + +"Being human and denied those honors and public marks of esteem which +always gladden the heart, these Tuskegee men and women have often +grown discouraged and have been tempted to lay down their work. But +like Daniel, when those gloomy hours came, they have turned their +faces toward Jerusalem, to Tuskegee, over which the great spirit of +Dr. Washington brooded and lived; and from this place he has sent back +to them whenever they have called, encouragement, counsel, and help. + +"Sometimes they have been so depressed that they have come to Tuskegee +just to see and talk with their prophet once more and to be baptized +again in his sweet and noble spirit. Many times we have seen them here +and wondered at their presence. They were here to receive comfort, +and to hear Mr. Washington say in his own convincing manner: 'It has +been my experience that if a man will do the right thing and go ahead, +everything will be all right at last.' And these men and women who +have sat at his feet and who trusted him have gone back to their work +with new and increasing strength. + +"But now Dr. Washington is gone, and the graduates of the school will +never again receive his counsel and encouragement, however gloomy +their paths may be. That is the measure of our loss. + +"And yet our Principal is not buried out yonder. It is his tired body +which is resting just beyond that wall; but he is not buried in that +grave. The real Dr. Washington is buried in the graduates who sat at +his feet and imbibed his spirit, and he lives in them. + +"King David, pondering over God's mercies and goodness to him, +thinking of how he had been taken from minding sheep and placed upon +the throne of Israel; and how God had guided and protected him and +made his name great in the earth, exclaimed reverently, one day, 'What +shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits unto me?' and he +answered his question, in part, by saying: 'I will pay my vows unto +the Lord now in the presence of all the people.' + +"If all our graduates could speak to-night, they would have me pay +their vows of gratitude for the opportunity to make blessed and +beautiful their lives, given by our great teacher; and they would have +me give public assurance of their fealty to the work for which Mr. +Washington gave his life. + +"And so, Mr. Chairman, in the name of the Alumni Association and in +the spirit of him whose body lies buried just beyond those walls, I +pledge you and the Trustees the loyalty of the Tuskegee graduates to +whatever work they are called in connection with the realization of +Dr. Washington's great purpose. I pledge you their support in the work +which you have come to Tuskegee to perform; because we are learning +self-government and wish to help prove to the world that we can pass +the succession to the Principalship here without revolution. By this +time to-morrow night another prophet will have been raised up to serve +in the room of the great founder of this school. I want you, Sir, and +the Board of Trustees to know that when the proclamation is made that +'The King is Dead!' our Alumni Association will be ready to reply: +'Long Live the King!' and we will faithfully, honestly, and loyally +support the person you elect to succeed our great father, whoever that +person may be. + +"In the furtherance of Dr. Washington's work, the graduates stand +ready to say: + + "'I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, + O'er the mountain, or plain, or sea; + I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; + I'll be what you want me to be.'" + +In the _Survey_ article, after briefly describing the ups and downs of +Mr. Washington's long fight against a breaking constitution, Mr. +Richardson says: + +"With such perpetual rallying power who could cope? A latent feeling +crept among many that he was immune to pain as he had been to insult +and abuse. You know he could steer on over an insult and never see it. +Some of us shook our heads and said, 'Why he is good for ten years +yet.' Seeing that he thus defied nerves and baffled pain, we hoped. It +was in the hour of hope that the last stroke came, and we felt that +pulling at the throat which we should have felt had he gone by sudden +accident. + +"How Tuskegee took Dr. Washington's death can probably best be +appreciated by an account of what his life meant among his teachers. +Officially he was a stern and exacting task master. A tireless worker +himself, he imposed heavy tasks upon others. In the home, however, he +had a genius for cheering by little kindnesses and by a thoughtful +word. Now he would send around a basket of vegetables from his garden, +now a cut of one of his pigs which he had killed and in which he took +great delight. + +"People who sent books and pictures to Tuskegee can hardly realize +what a double pleasure they were shipping: the pleasure they gave him +and others through him. He would have the boxes opened and books and +pictures brought in to his office. Then from all his heaps of +correspondence, from business engagements, from matters of national +importance, he would turn aside and go through these himself, culling +them out. He would sort a pile here for this family; one there for +another, according to what he considered would suit each. Many a time +one could scarcely find a place to step in his office for the +pictures and books. In all things he received, but to share. + +"Then he had a way of kicking organizations to pieces for a few +minutes. If some rural school had a creditable exhibit he would order +that the senior class, 150 strong, should be taken there, whether it +was one mile or ten miles away. He would order the class out to see +how some poor, illiterate farmer had raised a bumper crop of peas, +corn, sugar cane, and peanuts, how he surrounded himself with +conveniences, both inside and outside the home. Now he would declare a +half holiday; now he would allow the students to sleep a half-hour +later in the morning. + +"In the same way the teachers would get an outing once or twice a +year, sometimes at night, sometimes in the day. As the teachers are on +duty for both day and night school, and as the students usually rise +at 5:30 and breakfast at 6, these little breaks were windfalls. They +sent each one back to his labors with a smile. He knew the value of +change and the psychology of cheer. No wonder then that when death +closed his eyes both teachers and students went about heavy of limb +and with eyes that told too plainly what the heart felt. + +"Just as he touched the students and teachers with little thoughtful +deeds so he touched the town and State, both white and black. One +feature of his funeral illustrated how complete had been his triumph +over narrow prejudices. He was always talking about the white man up +the hollow, back in the woods. How many times have I heard him urge +picturesquely upon gatherings of teachers to 'win that old fellow +who, when you begin to talk Negro education and Negro schoolhouse, +scratches his head, leans to one side, and looks far away. That's the +man,' he would say, 'that you've got to convince that Negro education +is not a farce.' + +"Well, that man was at Booker T. Washington's funeral. He came there +on foot, on horseback, in buggies, in wagons. He was there in working +clothes, in slouched hat, with no collar. + +"During the service I chanced to stand near the end of the platform. +Pretty soon I felt a rough brushing against my elbow. As I turned I +saw a small white child, poorly clad, being thrust upon the end of the +flower-laden platform. Then followed an old white man, collarless, +wearing a dingy blue shirt and a coat somewhat tattered. After him +came two strapping fellows, apparently his sons. All grouped +themselves there and listened eagerly, freely spitting their tobacco +juice on the platform steps and on the floor. + +"How thankful would Dr. Washington have been for their presence. What +a triumph! Ten years ago those men would not stop at the school. They +cursed it, cursed the whole system and the man at the head of it. But +quietly, persistently, he had gone on with that everlasting doctrine +that service can win even the meanest heart, that an institution had +the right to survive in just so far as it dovetailed its life into the +life of all the people. Beautiful to behold, to remember forever; +there was no race and no class in the Tuskegee chapel on Wednesday +morning, November 17th; heart went out to heart that a common friend +had gone. + +"Broken as everybody is over the loss, no one is afraid. No panic as +to the future of the school disturbs the breasts of the 190 odd +teachers here. In the first place, poor as most of us are, we are +ready to suffer many a privation before we see the institution slip +back the slightest fraction of an inch. All these years it has been on +trial, on record. It has been a test, not of a mere school, but of a +race. A tacit pledge--not a word has thus far been spoken--has gone +out among us that it shall remain on record, that it shall stand here +as a breathing evidence that Negroes can bring things to pass. + +"Back of this is the unshaken faith in our Board of Trustees. I doubt +if such another board exists. It is made up of white men and black +men, of men of the North and men of the South. There is not a +figurehead among them. Though intensely engaged they go into the +details of the workings of the school, getting close to the inner +workings and to the lives of the teachers and students. + +"Finally, we are confident that the public will have a good deal to +say before Tuskegee is let die. The beaten path has been made to her +door. Her methods have not only been commended but adopted wholly or +in part both in this country and in other lands. Her use is +undisputed. She takes students almost literally out of the gutter, +puts them on their feet, and sends them out honest, peaceful, useful +citizens. This is the ideal for which Dr. Washington struggled, and +over which his life-cord snapped too soon. + +"For the same ideal the people at Tuskegee, though broken in spirit, +are willing to spend themselves; for they are confident that their +cause is just and that the world is with them." + + +THE END + + +[Illustration] + +THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS +GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKER T. 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