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diff --git a/28087.txt b/28087.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ed2897 --- /dev/null +++ b/28087.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8036 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tuskegee & Its People: Their Ideals and +Achievements, by Various + +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: Tuskegee & Its People: Their Ideals and Achievements + +Author: Various + +Editor: Booker T. Washington + +Release Date: February 15, 2009 [EBook #28087] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TUSKEGEE & ITS PEOPLE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Meredith Bach, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + _Compliments of_ + + _BOOKER T. WASHINGTON_ + + _Principal Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute + Tuskegee Institute, Alabama_ + + + + + TUSKEGEE AND ITS PEOPLE + + + + +[Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.] + + + + + TUSKEGEE & ITS PEOPLE: THEIR IDEALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS + + + EDITED BY + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + + + + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + NEW YORK + 1906 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + + +_Published June, 1905_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +In a general way the reading public is fairly well acquainted with the +work of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, but there is +continued demand for definite information as to just what the graduates +of that institution are doing with their education. + +That inquiry is partly answered by this book. The scope of the Tuskegee +Institute work is outlined by the chapters contained in Part I, while +those of Part II evidence the fact that the graduates of the school are +grappling at first-hand with the conditions that environ the masses of +the Negro people. + +At the school, in addition to the regular Normal School course of +academic work, thirty-six industries are taught the young men and women. +These are: Agriculture; Basketry; Blacksmithing; Bee-keeping; +Brickmasonry; Plastering; Brick-making; Carpentry; Carriage Trimming; +Cooking; Dairying; Architectural, Freehand, and Mechanical Drawing; +Dressmaking; Electrical and Steam Engineering; Founding; Harness-making; +Housekeeping; Horticulture; Canning; Plain Sewing; Laundering; +Machinery; Mattress-making; Millinery; Nurse Training; Painting; +Sawmilling; Shoemaking; Printing; Stock-raising; Tailoring; Tinning; and +Wheelwrighting. + +Since the founding of the institution, July 4, 1881, seven hundred and +forty-six graduates have gone out from the institution, while more than +six thousand others who were not able to remain and complete the +academic course, and thereby secure a diploma, have been influenced for +good by it. + +The school has sought from the very beginning to make itself of +practical value to the Negro people and to the South as well. It has +taught those industries that are of the South, the occupations in which +our men and women find most ready employment, and unflinchingly has +refused to abandon its course; it has sought to influence its young men +and women to live unselfish, sacrificing lives; to put into practise the +lessons taught on every side that make for practical, helpful every-day +living. + +In the main those who go out from Tuskegee Institute, (1) follow the +industry they have been taught, (2) teach in a public or private school +or teach part of the year and farm or labor the rest, (3) follow +housekeeping or other domestic service, or (4) enter a profession or the +Government service, or become merchants. Among the teachers are many who +instruct in farming or some industry; the professional men are largely +physicians, and the professional women mostly trained nurses. Dr. +Washington, the Principal of the school, makes the unqualified +statement: "After diligent investigation, I can not find a dozen former +students in idleness. They are in shop, field, schoolroom, home, or the +church. They are busy because they have placed themselves in demand by +learning to do that which the world wants done, and because they have +learned the disgrace of idleness and the sweetness of labor." + +No attempt has here been made to represent all of the industries; no +attempt has especially been made to confine representation to those who +are working at manual labor. The public, or at least a part of it, +somewhat gratuitously, has reached the conclusion that Tuskegee +Institute is a "servant training school," or an employment agency. That +is a mistaken idea. + +The object of the school is to train men and women who will go out and +repeat the work done here, to teach what they have learned to others, +and to leaven the whole mass of the Negro people in the South with a +desire for the knowledge and profitable operation of those industries in +which they have in so large a measure the right of way. Tuskegee +students and graduates are never urged not to take such service, +especially not to refuse in preference to idleness, but it all involves +a simple, ordinary, economic principle. Capable men and women, skilled +in the industrial arts, are like those of all races--they seek the most +profitable employment. A blacksmith, a tailor, a brickmason, a +harness-maker, or other artisan, who can find work in shops and +factories, or independently, and make thirty to seventy-five dollars a +month, and even more, will not, simply because he is black, leave those +chances to accept service in private employment for fifteen dollars per +month, and less, and board himself. No school could covenant to train +servants for an indefinite tenure; it can at best only promise to train +leaders who shall go among the masses and lift them up; to train men and +women who shall in turn reach hundreds of others. + +Those who write the following chapters represent, in the main, this +class. They have written simply, with perfect frankness, have dealt with +the significant things of their lives, and have demonstrated, the +writer believes, that from humble origin black men and women may +confidently be counted upon, with proper encouragement, to win success. +The chapters are autobiographical, significantly optimistic, with just +pride in what has been done, and outlining, as did "Up from +Slavery"--which was commended as a proper model--experiences from +childhood, the school-life of the writer, and the results achieved in +the direction of putting into practise what was learned in school. +Through this symposium it is hoped that the public may learn, in the +best possible way, some of the finer results already accomplished by the +Tuskegee Institute. + + E. J. S. + + TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, ALABAMA, _April 1, 1905_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 + + By Booker T. Washington. + + + PART I + + THE SCHOOL AND ITS PURPOSES + + I.--PRESENT ACHIEVEMENTS AND GOVERNING IDEALS 19 + + By Emmett J. Scott, Mr. Washington's Executive Secretary. + + II.--RESOURCES AND MATERIAL EQUIPMENT 35 + + By Warren Logan, Treasurer of the School. + + III.--THE ACADEMIC AIMS 56 + + By Roscoe C. Bruce, Director of the Academic Department. + + IV.--WHAT GIRLS ARE TAUGHT, AND HOW 68 + + By Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Director of Industries for Girls. + + V.--HAMPTON INSTITUTE'S RELATION TO TUSKEGEE 87 + + By Robert R. Moton. + + + PART II + + AUTOBIOGRAPHIES BY GRADUATES OF THE SCHOOL + + I.--A COLLEGE PRESIDENT'S STORY 101 + + By Isaac Fisher, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. + + II.--A SCHOOL PRINCIPAL'S STORY 111 + + By William H. Holtzclaw, of Utica, Mississippi. + + III.--A LAWYER'S STORY 141 + + By George W. Lovejoy, of Mobile, Alabama. + + IV.--A SCHOOL TREASURER'S STORY 152 + + By Martin A. Menafee, of Denmark, South Carolina. + + V.--THE STORY OF A FARMER 164 + + By Frank Reid, of Dawkins, Alabama. + + VI.--THE STORY OF A CARPENTER 173 + + By Gabriel B. Miller, of Fort Valley, Georgia. + + VII.--COTTON-GROWING IN AFRICA 184 + + By John W. Robinson, of Lome, Togo, West Africa. + + VIII.--THE STORY OF A TEACHER OF COOKING 200 + + By Mary L. Dotson, of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. + + IX.--A WOMAN'S WORK 211 + + By Cornelia Bowen, of Waugh (Mt. Meigs), Alabama. + + X.--UPLIFTING OF THE SUBMERGED MASSES 224 + + By W. J. Edwards, of Snow Hill, Alabama. + + XI.--A DAIRYMAN'S STORY 253 + + By Lewis A. Smith, of Rockford, Illinois. + + XII.--THE STORY OF A WHEELWRIGHT 264 + + By Edward Lomax, of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. + + XIII.--THE STORY OF A BLACKSMITH 276 + + By Jubie B. Bragg, of Tallahassee, Florida. + + XIV.--A DRUGGIST'S STORY 285 + + By David L. Johnston, of Birmingham, Alabama. + + XV.--THE STORY OF A SUPERVISOR OF MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 299 + + By James M. Canty, of Institute P. O., West Virginia. + + XVI.--A NEGRO COMMUNITY BUILDER 317 + + By Russell C. Calhoun, of Eatonville, Florida. + + XVII.--THE EVOLUTION OF A SHOEMAKER 338 + + By Charles L. Marshall, of Cambria, Virginia. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FACING + PAGE + +BOOKER T. WASHINGTON _Frontispiece_ + +EMMETT J. SCOTT 20 + +Mr. Washington's Executive Secretary. + +THE COLLIS P. HUNTINGTON MEMORIAL BUILDING 26 + +WARREN LOGAN 36 + +Treasurer of the School + +THE OFFICE BUILDING IN PROCESS OF ERECTION 50 + +Student carpenters shown at work. + +ROSCOE C. BRUCE 56 + +Director of the Academic Department. + +A PORTION OF THE SCHOOL GROUNDS 64 + +ANOTHER PORTION OF THE SCHOOL GROUNDS 66 + +MRS. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON 68 + +Director of Industries for Girls. + +A CLASS IN MILLINERY 76 + +THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 94 + +Standing, left to right: P. C. Parks, Superintendent of Farm; +George W. Carver, Director, Agricultural Department; J. N. Calloway, +Land Extension; John H. Palmer, Registrar; Charles H. Gibson, +Resident Auditor; Edgar J. Penney, Chaplain. + +Seated, left to right: Lloyd G. Wheeler, Business Agent; Robert R. +Taylor, Director of Mechanical Industries; John H. Washington, +General Superintendent of Industries; Warren Logan, Treasurer; Booker +T. Washington, Principal; Miss Jane E. Clark, Dean of Woman's +Department; Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Director of Industries for +Girls; and Emmett J. Scott, Secretary to the Principal. + +The Director of the Academic Department, Roscoe C. Bruce, and the +Commandant of Cadets, Major J. B. Ramsey, also members of the +Executive Council, were absent when photograph was taken. + +THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY BUILDING 108 + +MORNING AT THE BARNS ON THE SCHOOL FARM 122 + +Teams of horses and cattle ready to start for the day's work. + +STUDENTS PRUNING PEACH-TREES 146 + +A SILO ON THE FARM 166 + +Students filling it with fodder corn, steam-power being used. + +A MODEL DINING-ROOM 208 + +From the department where table-service is taught. + +THE CULTURE OF BEES 220 + +Students at work in the apiary. + +IN THE DAIRY 254 + +Students using separators. + +STUDENTS AT WORK IN THE HARNESS SHOP 270 + +AT THE HOSPITAL 294 + +A corner in the boys' ward. + +IN THE TIN SHOP 300 + +STUDENTS CANNING FRUIT 308 + +STARTING A NEW BUILDING 314 + +Student masons laying the foundation in brick. + +GIRLS GARDENING 344 + + + + +TUSKEGEE AND ITS PEOPLE + + + + +GENERAL INTRODUCTION + +BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + + +Institutions, like individuals, are properly judged by their ideals, +their methods, and their achievements in the production of men and women +who are to do the world's work. + +One school is better than another in proportion as its system touches +the more pressing needs of the people it aims to serve, and provides the +more speedily and satisfactorily the elements that bring to them +honorable and enduring success in the struggle of life. Education of +some kind is the first essential of the young man, or young woman, who +would lay the foundation of a career. The choice of the school to which +one will go and the calling he will adopt must be influenced in a very +large measure by his environments, trend of ambition, natural capacity, +possible opportunities in the proposed calling, and the means at his +command. + +In the past twenty-four years thousands of the youth of this and other +lands have elected to come to the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial +Institute to secure what they deem the training that would offer them +the widest range of usefulness in the activities open to the masses of +the Negro people. Their hopes, fears, strength, weaknesses, struggles, +and triumphs can not fail to be of absorbing interest to the great body +of American people, more particularly to the student of educational +theories and their attendant results. + +When an institution has, like Tuskegee Institute, reached that stage in +its development that its system of instruction has aroused very general +discussion, and has given to the world of varied industry an army of +workers, numbering not less than 6,000, there is a natural curiosity on +the part of the public to learn all that is possible of such an +institution, and of the personality and methods of those administering +its affairs. They wish to ascertain the actual truth concerning its +resources and equipment; they want figures detailing the degree of +pecuniary productiveness and moral efficiency attained by those who have +received the prescribed training; and they are eager to hear the whole +story from the lips of both the instructors and the instructed as to how +the recorded results have been accomplished. + +In several volumes already published, bearing upon Tuskegee Institute +and what it stands for, an endeavor has been made to present a truthful +account of the Principal's early strivings and life-work; an honest +attempt has been made to analyze and impress the basic principles upon +which Tuskegee Institute was founded. It has been the aim to write a +history of individual yearnings for the light of knowledge that would +stir the inner consciousness of the humblest of the race and arouse him +to the vast possibilities that lie in the wake of solid character, +intelligent industry, and material acquisition. He has tried, with all +earnestness, to hold up the future of the American Negro in its most +attractive aspect, and to emphasize the virile philosophy that there is +a positive dignity in working with the hands, when that labor is +fortified by a developed brain and a consecrated heart. + +Though much has been said of the spirit and purpose of this center of +social and economic uplift in the famed Black Belt of the South, there +is still a wide-spread demand for a more specific recital of what is +being done here, by whom, under what conditions, and the concrete +evidences of the benefits that are growing out of the thrift, industry, +right thinking, and right living taught by our faculty. + +In response to this insistent call, Mr. Emmett J. Scott, Executive +Secretary of the Tuskegee Institute, presents to the public a further +contribution, Tuskegee and Its People: Their Ideals and Achievements, +with authentic accompanying autobiographies of a number of typical +students of the school. + +To this work Mr. Scott brings a peculiar fitness, unequaled by any other +person who might have been chosen to perform it. He is closely knit to +the Southland and her great masses by the common sympathy of nativity +and the mutuality of hopes. The South has always been his home, but he +has traveled so extensively and mingled so freely that he has acquired +most ample breadth of vision as regards men and things. + +For many years now Mr. Scott has served the school with rare fidelity +and zeal, and has been to the Principal not only a loyal assistant in +every phase of his manifold and frequently trying duties, but has proved +a valuable personal friend and counselor in matters of the most +delicate nature, exhibiting in emergencies a quality of judgment and +diplomatic calmness seldom found in men of even riper maturity and more +extended experience. + +As I stated in one of my books published several years ago, as far as +one individual can fill the place of another, Mr. Scott has acted in the +Principal's stead, seeing with the Principal's eyes and hearing with the +Principal's ears, counting no sacrifice too great to be made for +Tuskegee's well-being. He is in perfect accord with the fundamental +principles and practical policies through the persistent adherence to +which Tuskegee Institute has won its conspicuous place in the +educational world. + +The volume here presented has been edited by Mr. Scott with the utmost +care, he preferring to have the contributors understate rather than +overstate the results that have come from the labors of Tuskegee and its +people. It has been the Principal's pleasure and privilege to examine +and critically review the manuscript after its completion, and the +volume is so praiseworthy that it is given his cordial approval. The +task of editing he had expected to perform has been so well done that it +has only been necessary to review the manuscript after its preparation +for the publishers, and to forego the strict editorial revisioning +planned. The book is an accurate portrait of the Tuskegee of to-day, and +reasonably forecasts the hopes for the institution of to-morrow. It +tells with forceful directness and graphic precision the formative work +that is being done for this generation, and supplies a fulcrum upon +which there may justly rest a prophecy of greater things for the +generations that are to follow. + +A Tuskegee book, whatever its primary motive, is invariably expected to +deal broadly with the entire problem of the Negro and his relationships +of every kind. It must be more than a mere flesh-and-blood narrative, +descriptive of the material progress of the men and women the Institute +has produced and is producing. It must be a book free from ostentatious +pretension, breathing the atmosphere of the life of the earnest people +it describes. It must, of course, exhibit not only the achievements, but +also the ideals, the possibilities of the Tuskegee trained man and +woman. This, I feel, is adequately done in this volume. + +Tuskegee and Its People possesses ideals in thought, morals, and +action--and they are lofty. In these respects the symposium will not +prove a disappointment. This instinct for the ideal, however, lies not +in idly sighing for it, but is born of an abiding belief that worth is +intrinsic, and that applied common sense, practical knowledge, constancy +of effort, and mechanical skill will make a place for the patient +striver far more secure than the artificial niche into which some one +may thrust him. The masses who are most helpfully reached by the +Tuskegee Institute are coming to realize that education in its truest +sense is no longer to be regarded as an emotional impulse, a fetish made +up of loosely joined information, to be worshiped for its mere +possession, but as a practical means to a definite end. They are being +taught that mind-training is the logical helpmeet of hand-training, and +that both, supplemented and sweetened by heart-training, make the +high-souled, useful, productive, patriotic, law-loving, public-spirited +citizen, of whom any nation might well be proud. The outcome of such +education will be that, instead of the downtrodden child of ignorance, +shiftlessness, and moral weakness, we shall generate the thoroughly +rounded man of prudence, foresight, responsibility, and financial +independence. He will cease to be the gullible victim of the sharper who +plays upon vanity, credulity, and superstition, and learn to value only +that which is real and substantial. It is of the highest importance to +the Negro, who must make his way amid disadvantages and embarrassments +of the severest character, that he be made aware of the vast difference +between working and being worked. In carrying this inspiring message and +impressing these fundamental truths, the new Tuskegee book renders a +splendid service. + +Industrial training will be more potent for good to the race when its +relation to the other phases of essential education is more clearly +understood. There is afloat no end of discussion as to what is the +"proper kind of education for the Negro," and much of it is hurtful to +the cause it is designed to promote. The danger, at present, that most +seriously threatens the success of industrial training, is the +ill-advised insistence in certain quarters that this form of education +should be offered to the exclusion of all other branches of knowledge. +If the idea becomes fixed in the minds of the people that industrial +education means class education, that it should be offered the Negro +because he is a Negro, and that the Negro should be confined to this +sort of education, then I fear serious injury will be done the cause of +hand-training. It should be understood rather that at such institutions +as Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute, industrial education is not +emphasized because colored people are to receive it, but because the +ripest educational thought of the world approves it; because the +undeveloped material resources of the South make it peculiarly important +for both races; and because it should be given in a large measure to any +race, regardless of color, which is in the same stage of development as +the Negro. + +On the other hand, no one understanding the real needs of the race would +advocate that industrial education should be given to every Negro to the +exclusion of the professions and other branches of learning. It is +evident that a race so largely segregated as the Negro is, must have an +increasing number of its own professional men and women. There is, then, +a place and an increasing need for the Negro college as well as for the +industrial institute, and the two classes of schools should, and as a +matter of fact do, cooperate in the common purpose of elevating the +masses. There is nothing in hand-training to suggest that it is a +class-training. The best educational authorities in the world are +indorsing it as an essential feature in the education of both races, +and especially so when a very large proportion of the people in question +are compelled by dint of circumstances to earn their living in +manufactures and agricultural and mechanical pursuits in general. It so +happens that the bulk of our people are permanently to remain in the +South, and conditions beyond their control have attached them to the +soil; for a long time the status of the majority of them is likely to be +that of laborers. To make hard conditions easier, to raise common labor +from drudgery to dignity, and to adopt systems of training that will +meet the needs of the greatest number and prepare them for the better +things that intelligent effort will surely bring, form a task to which +the wisest of the race are addressing themselves with an eager +enthusiasm which refuses to be chilled by adverse criticism. + +Tuskegee emphasizes industrial training for the Negro, not with the +thought that the Negro should be confined to industrialism, the plow, or +the hoe, but because the undeveloped material resources of the South +offer at this time a field peculiarly advantageous to the worker skilled +in agriculture and the industries, and here are found the Negro's most +inviting opportunities for taking on the rudimentary elements that +ultimately make for a permanently progressive civilization. + +The Tuskegee Idea is that correct education begins at the bottom, and +expands naturally as the necessities of the people expand. As the race +grows in knowledge, experience, culture, taste, and wealth, its wants +are bound to become more and more diverse; and to satisfy these wants +there will be gradually developed within our own ranks--as has already +been true of the whites--a constantly increasing variety of professional +and business men and women. Their places in the economic world will be +assured and their prosperity guaranteed in proportion to the merit +displayed by them in their several callings, for about them will have +been established the solid bulwark of an industrial mass to which they +may safely look for support. The esthetic demands will be met as the +capacity of the race to procure them is enlarged through the processes +of sane intellectual advancement. In this cumulative way there will be +erected by the Negro, and for the Negro, a complete and indestructible +civilization that will be respected by all whose respect is worth the +having. There should be no limit placed upon the development of any +individual because of color, and let it be understood that no one kind +of training can safely be prescribed for any entire race. Care should be +taken that racial education be not one-sided for lack of adaptation to +personal fitness, nor unwieldy through sheer top-heaviness. Education, +to fulfil its mission for any people anywhere, should be symmetrical and +sensible. + +A mastery of the industries taught at Tuskegee presupposes and requires +no small degree of academic study, for competency in agriculture calls +for considerable knowledge of chemistry, and no mechanical pursuit can +be followed satisfactorily without some acquaintance with the "three +R's." Likewise, the individual of liberal academic or college +preparation possesses a stronger equipment for constructive work who has +trained his hands to supplement his brain. + +After all, the final test of the value of any system of education is +found in the record of its actual achievements. In Tuskegee and Its +People heads of the several departments have not only given a succinct +account of the history, resources, and current labors of the school, but +deal most happily with the governing ideals behind the institution, and +vindicate its claim to the approval of the world's thinkers and moving +forces. Besides treating rather elaborately the structural efficiency +of the work of the teachers, the editor has not neglected to emphasize +the spiritual and ethical virtues that spread over a wider range of +influence here and among our people throughout the Southland than those +familiar with the purely academic phases have adequately understood. + +Tuskegee's germ principle is to be found in its unboasted ideals, in the +things that of necessity can not be listed in catalogue or report, +rather than in its buildings, shops, farms, and what not. The school +dwells upon the saving power of land, and learning, and skill, and a +bank-account--not as finalities in themselves, but as tangible witnesses +to the Negro's capacity to compete with others. + +Perhaps the newest and most refreshing feature of the book is its vivid +pen-portraits of the young men and women who have gone out of Tuskegee +carrying into diversified lives the principles and precepts imbibed from +their parent school. The pictures are drawn by the originals themselves, +and they illustrate by honorable achievement the wholesome and +evangelizing influence of Tuskegee's preachments, and the far-reaching +effect of placing before them as teachers the highest example of what +the Negro of morals and manners may become. They tell their story at +first-hand, modestly and sincerely, and the foundations of inspiring +lives, laid in the Christian virtues and conscientious service of their +fellow men, foster a firm belief that the school is doing a work that +will live. + +These types of Tuskegee's graduates, picked out at random from hundreds +of equal scholarship and ability, represent distinctive channels of +activity, including the president of a leading college, principals and +teachers of thriving schools, a lawyer, a tinner, a school treasurer, +farmers, cotton-growers, master builders and contractors, a dairyman, +and a blacksmith. No element contributing to the racial uplift is +overlooked. The scenes of their labors are scattered over a vast area, +showing convincingly the diffusive character as well as the rich harvest +garnered through the Tuskegee Idea. These rough-hewn sketches of a +sturdy pioneer band in staking out a larger life and a wider horizon for +later generations are worthy of the most careful perusal. + +The immeasurable advancement of the Negro, manifested in character, +courage, and cash, vitalized by valiant service to the republic in +education, commerce, and religion, and crowned by an enlightened, +vigorously efficient, sensibly ambitious, and law-abiding citizenship, +is "confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ" that the gospel of +industry, as exemplified by Tuskegee and its helpers, has exerted a +leavening influence upon civilization wherever it has been brought +within the reach of those who are struggling toward the heights. Under +this new dispensation of mind, morals, and muscle, with the best whites +and best blacks in sympathetic cooperation, and justice meaning the same +to the weak as to the strong, the South will no longer be vexed by a +"race problem." Peace and prosperity for all will come with the strength +to rise above the baser self. Civic righteousness is the South's +speediest thoroughfare to economic greatness. + +A book that opens the inner chambers of a people's heart, and sheds a +light that may guide the footsteps of both races along the upward way, +should meet with a hearty welcome at the hands of all lovers of +mankind. + + + + +_PART I_ + +_THE SCHOOL AND ITS PURPOSES_ + + + + +I + +PRESENT ACHIEVEMENTS AND GOVERNING IDEALS + +BY EMMETT J. SCOTT + + +So much has been said about Tuskegee Institute as a training-school in +which to prepare young colored men and women for earning a living in the +world of trade and business, that the ideals and spirit behind all this +training are to a very large extent lost sight of. + +Tuskegee, with its hundreds of acres of farm-land under intelligent +cultivation, with its ever-increasing number of well-appointed buildings +and its equipment, and the many things on the grounds included in the +name of handicrafts, is always in the public eye, and continually +appeals to the interest of those who are deeply concerned in the +well-being and progress of the Negro people. + +Yet behind all of these more tangible manifestations of work, skill, and +achievement, there is an unseen, persistent groping after the higher +ideals of life and living. No one can remain long on the grounds as an +intelligent observer of all that is to be here seen and felt, without +recognizing that the things that are not written in the catalogue and +not a part of the daily program of activities are real, vital, and of +far-reaching importance. + +Principal Booker T. Washington and the men and women who have helped him +to build Tuskegee Institute are constantly looking beyond the present to +a future filled with the evidences of a better living for all those who +have felt the transforming spirit of the hidden forces at work. + +How the perspective widens and deepens! Far, far beyond the confines of +the Tuskegee Institute community the light of this new life is seen and +felt and has its salutary effect. The stagnant life of centuries has +awakened, and is casting off its bonds. A new term, "intelligent +thrift," has come into its possession. Wherever this term has gone and +taken root, there has gone with it the thought that unless the idea make +for character, as well as for more cotton or corn, it is not of much +value. + +The Tuskegee Idea always asks one question, and that is, "What are you?" +and not, "What have you?" The man who does not rise superior to his +possessions does not measure up to the Tuskegee idea of manhood. + + +[Illustration: EMMETT J. SCOTT. + +Mr. Washington's Executive Secretary.] + + +In other words, character-building is the Alpha and Omega of all that +Tuskegee stands for. From the moment the new student comes on the +grounds until he leaves, he is appealed to in ways innumerable to regard +life as more than bread or meat, as more than mere mental equipment. +Cleanliness, decorum, promptness, truthfulness--these are old-fashioned +virtues, and are more properly taught in the home, but in Tuskegee they +mean everything. Tuskegee not only acts as a teacher, but assumes the +role of parent, and lays emphasis on the importance of these virtues +every moment of the time from the entrance of the student until +Commencement Day. The "cleanliness that is next to godliness" is one of +the Tuskegee ideals, and a student can scarcely commit a more serious +misdemeanor than to appear slovenly, either in dress or manners. The +facilities and requirements for bathing are quite as complete and +exacting as the equipments in the laboratories and recitation-rooms. The +result is that Tuskegee has the reputation of being one of the most +cleanly and sanitary institutions in the South. + +As for good manners, Lord Chesterfield himself would scarcely ask more +than is insisted upon by Tuskegee precision. A man must first be +conscious of being a gentleman before he can be recognized as such by +others, and a girl's good manners are only outward evidences of her +individual worth and passport to respectful treatment. Tuskegee +Institute, then, insists upon these things because they make for +character, and are a part of the ideals toward which all training tends. + +But how are all these things taught and enforced? The first requisite, +of course, is the character of the teachers and instructors themselves, +the men and women who are the embodiment of the ideals that Tuskegee +Institute stands for. While it can not be claimed that the best teachers +in the South are all at Tuskegee, it can be said that no other school +has so large a number of colored men and women who have had the +advantage of the highest industrial and intellectual, moral and +religious training. The teaching force is made up largely of graduates +from nearly every first-class educational institution in America. These +teachers have been carefully sought out and brought to Tuskegee, not +only for their teaching ability, but that the students may have the +benefit of the best examples before them of what the highest culture can +do for men and women of their own race. For the majority of our students +the perspective of life is narrow: many of them have never lived out of +the community in which they were born. That was their only world; their +ideals of life were shaped by their mean and narrow environments. They +have learned to believe, and act accordingly, that the best people are +all of one complexion, and the worst and poorest people are all of +another complexion. There is no such thing as creating a sentiment of +race pride in such people unless they have set before them living +examples of their own race in whom they can feel a sense of pride. + +It is scarcely too much to say that one of the best things about the +Tuskegee Institute is that it wins our young men and women from mean and +sordid environment and brings them in contact with teachers whose minds, +hearts, and lives have been enlarged and graced by the highest learning +in the best educational institutions of the country. The school teaches +no more important lesson than that of cultivating a sense of pride and +respect for colored men and women who deserve it because of their +character, education, and achievements. + +Pride of race, though not so written in the courses of study, is as much +a part of Tuskegee's work as agriculture, brick-making, millinery, or +any other trade, and quite as important. This may be called sentiment, +but it makes for race development quite as much as any of the material +things taught in the class-room or shop. To borrow a line from George +Eliot: + + + "Because our race has no great memories, + I will so live, it shall remember me + For deeds of such divine beneficence + As rivers have, that teach men what is good + By blessing them-- + And make their name, now but a badge of scorn, + A glorious banner floating in their midst, + Stirring the air they breathe with impulses + Of generous pride, exalting fellowship + Until it soars to magnanimity." + + +That self-respect demands race pride; that virtue is its own reward; +that character is the greatest thing in human life, are taught and +emphasized in other ways also. Dr. Washington has succeeded, to a +remarkable degree, in developing the Tuskegee Institute by insisting +that this institution must have nothing less than the best within and +without it, everywhere. What is not best is only temporary. Those who +have done most for the school have been made to feel that the character +of the work done here and the ideals striven for are deserving of the +best. The idea that "anything is good enough for a Negro school" has +never been allowed to have any part or exert any effect in Tuskegee's +expansion. + +For example, when Mr. Carnegie donated the money for a library for +Tuskegee, a building was erected of classic outline--a noble structure +of artistic symmetry and beauty that must appeal to every one who has +any appreciation of architectural beauty. The Collis P. Huntington +Memorial Building, just completed, a gift of Mrs. C. P. Huntington, used +for the academic classes of the school, would be a credit and delight to +any municipality. There is everything about the exterior and interior +that must awaken a sense of pride in every pupil who enters its portals. +Its facilities are sensible and unostentatious, yet they meet every +requirement of the department. What is true of the new Academic Building +is likewise true of the various dormitories for girls and boys. The +cleanliness and the sanitation to be found at Tuskegee are in delightful +contrast to the poor environment to which many of the students have been +accustomed; especially is this contrast heightened when these same +students have, under competent direction, installed the plants which +yield these comforts. Thus it is that in dormitory, recitation-room, +shop, dining-hall, library, chapel, and landscape, the idea that only +the best is worth having and striving for is emphasized as an +object-lesson and principle with such insistence that it becomes an +actual part of a student's training and life. + +The student at Tuskegee is constantly being trained to look up and +forward. He learns how the idea of beauty can be actualized in home and +social life; how faithful performance of every duty means nobility of +character; how the value of achievement is determined by the motive +behind it. But besides these, the one aim, thought, or anxiety around +which all others revolve is the high honorableness of all kinds of work +intelligently done. + +In a section where those who work with their hands are marked off by the +inexorable line of caste from those who work with their brains or not at +all, this idea of making intelligent work more honorable than +intelligent idleness is of constructive value in race development. The +problem that the Tuskegee Institute is helping to solve is not only that +the colored people shall do their proportionate share of the work, but +that they shall do it in such a way that the benefits will remain with +those who do the work. Who can measure the transforming effect and +influence when it can be said that the "best mechanics" and the "best +agriculturists" in the South are Negroes? Certainly, if such a time ever +comes, there will be no such painful thing as a race problem, as Negroes +now see it and feel it. + + +[Illustration: THE COLLIS P. HUNTINGTON MEMORIAL BUILDING.] + + +This is one of Tuskegee's largest ideals; not that Tuskegee alone can +bring about a "consummation so devoutly to be wished," but it is +ambitious to be a potent factor in all the tendencies that make for such +a condition of life in the heart of the South. So important is this aim +and idea of Tuskegee, that it allows no criticism to affect, interfere, +or obscure its vision. Tuskegee says to the world that it is determined +not only to be a school, but an agent of civilization, a missionary for +a better life, that shall stand for a kindlier relationship between the +races. + +The school enthusiastically seeks to live up to the ideal of its +Principal, that education in the broadest and truest sense is designed +to influence individuals to help others; is designed, first, last, and +all the time, to transform and energize individuals into life-giving +agencies for the uplift of their fellows. Principal Washington's whole +educational creed, accepted by Tuskegee Institute teachers and students +alike, was recently declared in one of his familiar Sunday-evening +"talks" to the students of the institution. Said he: + +"Education in the broadest and truest sense will make an individual seek +to help all people, regardless of race, regardless of color, regardless +of condition. And you will find that the person who is most truly +educated is the one who is going to be kindest, and is going to act in +the gentlest manner toward persons who are unfortunate, toward the race +or the individual that is most despised. The highly educated person is +the one who is most considerate of those individuals who are less +fortunate. I hope when you go out from here and meet persons who are +afflicted by poverty, whether of mind or body, or persons who are +unfortunate in any way, that you will show your education by being just +as kind and considerate toward those persons as it is possible for you +to be. That is the way to test a person with education. You may see +ignorant persons, who perhaps think themselves educated, going about the +street, and when they meet an individual who is unfortunate--lame, or +with a defect of body, mind, or speech--are inclined to laugh at and +make sport of that individual. But the highly educated person, the one +who is really cultivated, is gentle and sympathetic to every one. +Education is meant to make us absolutely honest in dealing with our +fellows. I do not care how much arithmetic we have, or how many cities +we can locate; it is all useless unless we have an education that makes +us absolutely honest. Education is meant to make us give satisfaction, +and to get satisfaction out of giving it. It is meant to make us get +happiness out of service for our fellows. And until we get to the point +where we can get happiness and supreme satisfaction out of helping our +fellows, we are not truly educated.... Education is meant to make us +appreciate the things that are beautiful in nature. A person is never +educated until he is able to go into the swamps and woods and see +something that is beautiful in the trees and shrubs there--is able to +see something beautiful in the grass and flowers that surround him--is, +in short, able to see something beautiful, elevating, and inspiring in +everything that God has created. Not only should education enable us to +see beauty in these objects which God has put about us, but it is meant +to influence us to bring beautiful objects about us. I hope that each +one of you, after you graduate, will surround himself at home with what +is beautiful, inspiring, and elevating. I do not believe that any +person is educated so long as he lives in a dirty, miserable shanty. I +do not believe that any person is educated until he has learned to want +to live in a clean room made attractive with pictures and books, and +with such surroundings as are elevating. In a word, I wish to say again +that education is meant to give us that culture, that refinement, that +taste, which will make us deal truthfully and sympathetically with our +fellow men, and will make us see what is beautiful, elevating, and +inspiring in what God has created. I want you to bear in mind that your +text-books, with all their contents, are not an end, but a means to an +end--a means to help us get the highest, the best, the purest, and the +most beautiful things out of life." + +The Tuskegee trained boy or girl has set before him every hour in the +day, and every day in the year, the substantial educational ideals here +set forth. Books, valuable as they are, and nowhere more thoroughly +reckoned as such than here, are only a means to an end: this is the +gospel preached by the Tuskegee teacher. Life is the great, the eternal +thing; the serving of one's fellows, the ministering unto the needy of a +groping, developing people--this is the thing not forgotten, but ever +constantly enforced by precept and by example. + +The many old and time-worn frame buildings are being replaced by finely +built and imposing brick and stone structures; the tallow dip and +antiquated oil-lamp and gas-jet, as illuminators, have paled before the +more brilliant white light of electricity, installed by Tuskegee +students and operated by them. Patience and faith!--these are Tuskegee's +watchwords and her standard virtues. What can not be accomplished to-day +will certainly be accomplished to-morrow. + +So, in its larger outlook and household anxieties, Tuskegee Institute +teachers are confident that the things taught and enforced by example +and precept will justify their efforts in helping to make a dependent +people independent, a distracted people confident, and an humble people +to thrill with pride in itself and in its best men and women. Thus it is +that Tuskegee Institute has never been satisfied with being merely a +school, concerned wholly with its recitations and training in shop and +field. Every student who carries a diploma from these grounds is urged +not to hang that diploma on the wall as an ornament, as an evidence of +individual superiority, but to make it mean something constructive and +life-giving to every one in the community where he must live and work. + +The young men and women who are trained for mission work in foreign +countries are not more carefully trained in the spirit of consecration +than are these young men and women trained at Tuskegee for the work of +creating better economic and social conditions among their own people. +It is not necessary to state here what has already been accomplished in +many parts of the South by Tuskegee graduates. The selected examples set +forth in this book are evidence enough. It is sufficient to say that the +Tuskegee Institute is determined to become more and more a distinctive +influence among the regenerative agencies that are gradually bringing +order out of chaos, and justice, peace, and happiness out of the +wretched disorders of a painful past. It is easy to trace the influence +of such well-established institutions as Harvard and Yale in the +progressive life of the American people. The sons of Harvard and Yale +almost dominate civilization in America. In another sense, it is +possible for Tuskegee to have a like influence in the many things that +must be accomplished in the South, before love and justice shall +supplant race prejudice and race antagonism. + +This reaching out helpfully in all directions where help is needed is +the distinguishing feature of Tuskegee. This race-loving spirit gives it +a largeness of view and purpose that saves both its teachers and pupils +from being narrow and self-centered. Take from Tuskegee all this "vision +splendid," and it will at once shrink into common-place insignificance. +"Set your ideals high," says the distinguished man who here is Principal +as he was founder, "and in your efforts to reach them you become strong +for greater things." It is but truth to say that no institution in all +the land, whether for white or black education, stands for higher and +more generous ideals. + +Unless the young man who goes away from Tuskegee as blacksmith, +carpenter, printer, or as any other mechanic, is something more than +these, he has been incapable of perceiving and taking in the ideals that +go with these accomplishments. He has been taught over and over again to +"hitch his wagon to the stars," and if he fail to do so, the fault is in +himself, and not in Tuskegee. + +As between a poor doctor and a poor carpenter, there is but scant +choice. They are both failures and to be avoided. Honor in one is as +precious as in the other. Honor and efficiency--these, therefore, are +the ideal test of every son and daughter that passes out of these +grounds into the larger world of work and responsibility. + +What a terrible task it has been and still is to teach the lessons of +the upward spirit: "God's in His heaven, all's well with the world." +Hope is strength and discouragement is weakness. Everything that is +false and unjust and wrong is transitory. Those who are brave enough to +solve problems shall be more honored of mankind than those who create +problems which they make no effort to solve. + +There can be no liberty without intelligence, no independence without +industry, and no power for man, and no charm for woman, without +character. + +These are some of the ideals toward which all our teaching leads; +without these there would be no Tuskegee; with them, as its very life +and spirit and inspiration, Tuskegee shall lead into more ways of peace, +happiness, and power than we of this generation have yet dreamed of, or +realized. + + + + +II + +RESOURCES AND MATERIAL EQUIPMENT + +BY WARREN LOGAN + + +When the Alabama Legislature in 1881 passed an act to establish a Normal +School for colored people at Tuskegee and appropriated for it $2,000 +yearly, it made no provision whatever for land or buildings; these were +left to be provided for by the people who were to be benefited by the +school. Here was almost a case of being required to make bricks without +straw. But as matters have turned out, this neglect was the best thing +that could have happened to the school. First it gave opportunity for +the employment of those splendid qualities of pluck, self-help, and +perseverance which have distinguished Mr. Washington so preeminently in +the building of Tuskegee. Moreover, the State has contributed nothing to +the school in the way of land or buildings; it has not sought to control +the property of the institution, leaving it free to be managed by the +Board of Trustees. + +The school was opened on the 4th of July, 1881, in an old church +building in the town of Tuskegee, which lies nearly two miles from the +present school-grounds. Later in the same year the growth of the school +made it necessary to obtain additional room, which was found in a +dilapidated shanty standing near the church and which had been used as +the village schoolhouse since the war. These buildings were in such bad +condition that when it rained it was necessary for the teacher and +students to use umbrellas in order to protect themselves from the +elements while recitations were being conducted. + +Students who came from a distance boarded in families in the town, where +the conditions of living were very much like those in their own homes, +and these were far below proper standards. Mr. Washington, understanding +the great need for colored people to be trained in correct ways of +living as well as to be educated in books, determined to secure a +permanent location for the school, with buildings in which the students +might live under the care and influence of teachers day and night, +during the whole period of their connection with the school. + + +[Illustration: WARREN LOGAN. + +Treasurer of the School.] + + +It so happened at this time that there was an old farm of 100 acres in +the western part of the town of Tuskegee, well suited to be the site of +such a school, which could be had for $500. But where was the money to +be found to pay for it? Mr. Washington himself had no money, and the +people of the town, much interested as they were in the enterprise, were +wholly unable to give direct financial assistance. General J. F. B. +Marshall, then treasurer of the Hampton Institute in Virginia, was +appealed to for a loan of $200 with which to make the first payment. +This he gladly made, and the farm was secured. In a few months +sufficient money was raised from entertainments and subscriptions in the +North and South (one friend in Connecticut giving $300) to return the +loan of General Marshall and pay the balance due on the purchase of the +property. + +The land thus secured, preparations were at once begun to put up a +school building, toward the cost of which Mr. A. H. Porter, of Brooklyn, +N. Y., gave $500, the structure being named Porter Hall in recognition +of Mr. Porter's generosity. In this building, which has three stories +and a basement, all the operations of the school were for a time +conducted. In the basement were a kitchen, dining-room, laundry, and +commissary. The first story was devoted to academic and industrial +class-rooms; in the second was an assembly-room, where devotions and +public exercises for the whole school were held, while the third was +given up to dormitories. + +From this small beginning has grown the present extensive plant at +Tuskegee, comprising 2,300 acres of land, on which are located 123 +buildings of all kinds devoted to the uses of the institution. Some idea +of the impression which the size of the school makes upon one who sees +it for the first time may be gathered from the remark of a Northern +visitor, who, upon returning to his home from a trip through the South, +was asked by a friend if he had seen "Booker Washington's school." +"School?" he replied. "I have seen Booker Washington's city." + +About 150 acres constitute the present campus, the rest of the +school-lands being devoted to farms, truck-gardens, pastures, +brick-yards, etc. Running through the grounds proper and extending the +entire distance of the farms for two or three miles is a driveway, on +either side of which, and on roads leading from it, are located the +buildings of the Institute. These, for the most part, are brick +structures, and have been built by the students themselves under the +direction of their instructors in the various building trades. The plans +for these buildings have been drawn in the architectural-drawing +division of the Institute. While not as ornate as the buildings of some +other institutions, they are substantial and well adapted to the uses +for which they are intended. The newer buildings, constructed in the +last ten years, are more artistic and imposing, showing great +improvement in matters of architectural design and finish. Not only have +the students performed the building operations that entered into the +construction of these buildings, but they have also manufactured the +brick, and have prepared much of the wooden and other materials that +were used. We sometimes speak of a man as self-made, but I have never +known another great educational institution that could be so described. +Tuskegee, itself, is distinctively self-made. + +Porter Hall was completed and occupied in the spring of 1883. The +following year a brick building for girls was undertaken, and two years +later completed. This building, named Alabama Hall, is rectangular in +shape and four stories high. It contains a kitchen and dining-room, +reception-rooms, apartments of the Dean of the Woman's Department, and +sleeping-rooms. There was no special gift made for this building, the +money required for its erection being taken from the general funds of +the Institute as they could be spared. A wing added later gave more +space for dining-rooms and provided a number of sleeping-rooms. + +The money used in putting up the buildings at Tuskegee is made to do +double duty. In the first place, it provides the buildings for which it +was primarily given, and, in the second place, furnishes opportunities +for young men to learn the trades which are employed in their +construction. Following closely upon the completion of Alabama Hall, +there was begun another brick structure to be used as a dormitory for +young men. Olivia Davidson Hall bears the honored name of the school's +first and only Assistant Principal. Miss Davidson performed a +conspicuous part in establishing the school and placing its claim for +support before the public. This building is a four-story structure, and +the first of the school's buildings for which the plans were made by the +teacher of architectural drawing. The plans for all the buildings put up +by the Institute are now made in the division of architectural drawing +in charge of Mr. R. R. Taylor, a graduate of the Massachusetts +Institute of Technology, who is ably assisted by Mr. W. S. Pittman, a +graduate of Tuskegee and of the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia. + +The need for a building to house the mechanical industries which, until +1892, had been conducted in temporary frame buildings on different parts +of the grounds, led to the erection of Cassedy Hall, a three-story brick +building standing at the east entrance to the grounds. Cassedy Hall, +together with a smaller building devoted to a blacksmith shop and +foundry, was used for the purpose mentioned, until three years ago, when +all the industries for men were moved into the Slater-Armstrong Memorial +Trades Building, at the opposite end of the grounds. Through the +generosity of Mr. George F. Peabody, of New York, Cassedy Hall has since +been converted into a dormitory for young men, and serves admirably for +this purpose. + +Phelps Hall, which is the Bible Training School Building, is the gift of +two New York ladies who desired to do something to improve the Negro +ministry. The building is of wood and has three stories, containing a +lecture-hall, recitation-rooms, library, and sleeping-rooms for young +men. A broad veranda extends entirely around the building. Last year +there were enrolled fifty-six students for the course in Bible Training, +and among them were a number of ordained ministers who have regular +charges. Phelps Hall was dedicated in 1892, Dr. Lyman Abbott preaching +the dedicatory sermon and General Samuel C. Armstrong delivering an +address, which was among his last public utterances. + +In the next year Science Hall (now called Thrasher Hall, after the +lamented Max Bennett Thrasher) was built. This is a handsome three-story +building, with recitation-rooms and laboratories in the first two +stories, and sleeping-rooms for teachers and boys in the third story. +About this time a frame cottage with two stories and attic was built by +the school as a residence for Mr. Washington. This he occupied until the +gift of two Brooklyn friends enabled him to erect on his own lot, just +opposite the school-grounds, his present handsome brick residence, where +he dispenses a generous hospitality to the school's guests and to the +teachers of the Institute. The cottage which he vacated was afterward +utilized for a time as a library, but now is the home of Director Bruce +of the Academic Department. + +Alabama Hall, already mentioned, soon proved inadequate to meet the +needs of the Woman's Department. A long one-story frame building, having +the shape of a letter T, was then erected just in the rear of Alabama +Hall. It has been used for girls' sleeping-rooms until this year, when +it was taken down to make room for a park and playground for young +women. There were also successively built for the growing demands of +this department, and in the vicinity of the original girls' building, +Willow Cottage, Hamilton Cottage, Parker Memorial Home, Huntington Hall, +and only this last year Douglass Hall. Huntington Hall is the gift of +Mrs. Collis P. Huntington. In design, finish, and appointments it is one +of the best buildings owned by the school. + +Three years ago a wealthy but unostentatious gentleman, who would not +permit his name to be used in connection with his benefaction, gave the +school $25,000 for a building for girls, suggesting that the structure +should bear the name of some noted Negro. Douglass Hall was erected with +this money and named in honor of that great leader of the race, +Frederick Douglass. It is a two-story brick building, with a basement in +its central section, and contains 40 sleeping-rooms, a reception-room, +bathrooms, and a large assembly-room with a seating capacity or 450. In +this room the Dean of the Woman's Department holds meetings with the +girls on questions of health, morals, and manners. The building is +heated with steam and lighted by electricity. All in all, Douglass Hall +is the best of the buildings so far built by the Institute, and is a +fitting monument to the man whose name it bears. + +The Slater-Armstrong Memorial Agricultural Building was completed and +dedicated in 1897. Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture of the +United States, honored the school by his presence and an address on the +occasion of the formal opening of this building. It is a brick structure +of two-and-a-half stories, with recitation-rooms, laboratory, museums, +library, and an office for the use of the Department of Agriculture. In +addition to its appropriation of $3,000 for the general work of the +school, the State of Alabama makes an annual appropriation of $1,500 for +the maintenance of an Agricultural Experiment Station. The plots of the +Station and the school-farm are in close proximity to the Agricultural +Building, and on these the young men taking the course in Agriculture +put in practise the theories which they learn in the class-room. Many +important experiments have been undertaken by the Station, of +particular interest being those relating to soil building, the +hybridization of sea-island cotton with some of the common short-staple +varieties, fertilizer tests with potatoes, by which it has been shown +that it is possible to raise as much as 266 bushels per acre on light, +sandy soil such as that comprising the school-lands, while the average +yield in the same part of Alabama is not more than 40 bushels to the +acre. + +The next building of importance to be put up after the Agricultural +Building was the Chapel. Another gift from the two New York ladies who +gave the money for Phelps Hall made possible this magnificent structure, +admittedly one of the most imposing church edifices in the South. It is +built of brick, 1,200,000 bricks entering into its construction, all of +which were laid by student masons. It has stone trimmings, and in shape +is a cross, the nave with choir having a length of 154 feet, and the +distance through the transept being 106 feet. There are anterooms and a +study for the Chaplain of the Institute. Including the gallery the +seating capacity is 2,400. Here all gatherings of the school for +religious and other purposes are now held. The great Tuskegee Negro +Conference that assembles in February of each year holds its meetings +in the Chapel. Near the Chapel are the Barracks, two long, roughly +constructed one-story frame buildings, which are used as sleeping +quarters for young men until they can be better housed in permanent +buildings. + +Until 1900 the mechanical industries at Tuskegee were conducted in +Cassedy Hall and some adjoining frame buildings. In that year they were +moved into the commodious quarters which the then just completed +Slater-Armstrong Memorial Trades Building furnished. This building is +rectangular in shape, is built about a central court, and covers more +space than any other of the school buildings. In its outside dimensions +it is 283 feet by 315 feet. The front half of the building is two +stories high, the rear half one story. It is constructed of brick, with +a tin roof, and, like the other larger buildings at the Institute, has +steam heat and electric light. The money for this building came in part +from the J. W. and Belinda L. Randall Charities Fund of Boston and the +steadfast friend of the school, Mr. George Foster Peabody, of New York. +There is a tablet in the building bearing the following inscription: +"This tablet is erected in memory of the generosity of J. W. and +Belinda L. Randall, of Boston, Massachusetts, from whose estate $20,000 +were received toward the erection of the building." + +The various shops in this building are fairly well equipped with tools +and apparatus to do the work required of them and to teach the trades +pursued by the young men. Taking the Machine Division as an example, we +find it supplied with one 18-inch lathe, one 14-inch lathe, one 20-inch +planer, one 12-inch shaping-machine, one 20-inch drill-press, one +6-1/2-inch pipe-cutting and threading machine, one Brown and Sharpe +tool-grinder, one sensitive drill-press, and, of course, the customary +tools that go with these machines. The Electric-Lighting Plant is also +located in this building. Not only does this Division light the +buildings and grounds of the Institute, but it furnishes light to +individuals in the town of Tuskegee, which is, at present, without other +electric-lighting facilities. + +In 1895 the school suffered the loss by fire of its well-appointed barn, +together with some of its finest milch cows. This is the only serious +fire that has occurred in the history of the school--a record almost +unparalleled in an establishment so large. This fact has led to the +school being able to get insurance at a lower rate than is generally +given to educational institutions. It was not until 1900 that the school +fully recovered from the loss of its barn. In this year friends in +Brooklyn gave the money with which to rebuild the barn on a larger +scale. It was deemed wise not to put all the money into one building, +but to erect numbers of smaller ones and locate them so as to minimize +the fire risk. Accordingly, plans were made to build a hennery, +creamery, dairy-barn, horse-barn, carriage-house, tool-house, piggery, +silos, and slaughter-house. All these buildings were at once put up, and +are now giving effective service. At present the school owns 47 horses +and colts, 76 mules, 495 cows and calves, 601 pigs, and 977 fowls of +different kinds. These animals are all of good stock, some of them being +thoroughbreds, and are cared for by the students who work in the +Agricultural Department. + +Dorothy Hall, the building which accommodates the Girls' Industrial +Department, was built in 1901 on the side of the driveway opposite the +Boys' Trades Building. This building is the gift of the two New York +ladies who gave the Chapel and Phelps Hall. It serves its purpose +admirably, the rooms being large, well lighted, and airy. Here are +conducted all the trades taught to young women, including sewing, +dressmaking, millinery, laundering, cooking, housekeeping, +mattress-making, upholstering, broom-making, and basketry. As with the +boys' trades, there is a very fair equipment of accessories for proper +teaching. + +In point of time, the next important building provided was the Carnegie +Library, Mr. Carnegie giving $20,000 for the building and furnishings. +The structure is two stories high, with massive Corinthian columns on +the front. It contains, besides the library proper, a large +assembly-room, an historical room, study-rooms, and offices for the +Librarian. The building and the furniture are the product of student +labor. + +In 1901, with $2,000 given by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, of Boston, and $100 +contributed by graduates of the Institute as a nucleus, the Children's +House was built. This is a one-story frame building of good proportions, +in which the primary school of the town is taught. It is the +practise-school for students of the Institute who mean to teach. A +kindergarten has also been established. + +Mr. Rockefeller has given a dormitory for boys, which was completed and +occupied last year. The lack of adequate sleeping quarters for young +men, from which the school has suffered from the beginning, was very +materially supplied in Rockefeller Hall, which is a three-story brick +structure, furnishing accommodations for 150 students. This need for +dormitories has been still further met through the gift of three brick +cottages by Miss Julia Emery, an American now living in London. Two of +these buildings were finished last year, and young men are now living in +them. The third is nearing completion. All are two stories high, with a +hall running through the middle, and contain 40 rooms of good size. + +Until last year the offices of the Institute were scattered over the +grounds wherever room could be found. A New York friend, who does not +permit the use of his name, seeing the need of the school for a building +in which the offices might be concentrated, thus greatly increasing the +efficiency of its administrative work, gave $19,000 for this purpose. +The Office Building, completed in the latter part of 1903, is the result +of this benefaction. It is two-and-a-half stories high, and contains the +offices of the Principal, the Principal's Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, +Business Agent, Commandant, Registrar, and the Post-Office and Savings +Department. + + +[Illustration: THE OFFICE BUILDING IN PROCESS OF ERECTION. + +Student carpenters shown at work.] + + +The most pretentious building owned by the Institute is the Collis P. +Huntington Memorial Building, the new home of the Academic Department, +which is the gift of Mrs. Huntington as a memorial to her husband, who +was one of Tuskegee's stanchest supporters. It is built near the site of +the original building, Porter Hall, which it displaces as the center of +the academic work of the school. The outside dimensions are 183 feet by +103 feet. It is four stories in height. Besides recitation-rooms for all +the classes, it contains a gymnasium in the basement for young women, +and an assembly-room on the top floor capable of seating 800 persons. +The finishing is in yellow pine. The buildings of the Institute show a +steady progression in quality of workmanship, materials, and +architectural design and efficiency, from the rather rough, wooden +Porter Hall erected by hired workmen in 1882 to the stately Huntington +Hall built by students in 1904. + +Located at different points on the grounds and on lots detached are +cottages occupied as residences by teachers and officers of the +Institute. + +The furnishings for all the buildings, as well as the buildings +themselves, have been made by the students in the various shops, who at +the same time were learning trades and creating articles of use. + +The annual cost of conducting the institution is, in round numbers, +$150,000. This may seem high, but when certain facts in regard to the +work are borne in mind it will not appear exorbitant. In the first +place, there are really three schools at Tuskegee--a day-school, a +night-school, and a trade-school. Such a system makes necessary the +employment of a larger number of teachers than would be needed in a +purely academic institution holding only one session a day. Teachers in +the trade-school, with special technical training, can be obtained only +by paying them higher salaries than are paid to those who simply teach +in the class-rooms. + +Secondly, and principally, it is expensive to employ student labor to do +the work of the school. By the time students become fairly proficient in +their trades and reach the point where their services begin to be +profitable, their time at the institution has expired, and a new, +untrained set take their places, so that the school is constantly +working on new material or raw recruits. Then, too, Tuskegee is still in +the formative period of its growth as to buildings, laying-out and +improvement of grounds, and equipment of its various departments. When +the school's needs in these directions shall have been met, and the +Negro parent shall become able to pay a larger share of the cost of +educating his children, the expenses to the public of running the school +may be materially reduced. + +Money for the support of the school is derived principally from the +following sources, viz.: The State of Alabama, $4,500; the John F. +Slater Fund, $10,000; the General Education Board, $10,000; the Peabody +Fund, $1,500; the Institute's Endowment Fund, $40,000; contributions of +persons and charitable organizations, $84,000; a total of $150,000. The +individual contributions are, for the most part, small, and come from +persons of moderate means. Yet the institution annually receives some +large gifts toward its expenses from those who are blessed with wealth. + +Especial appeals are made by the institution for scholarships of $50 +each, in order to pay the tuition of students who provide for their +other expenses themselves largely by their work for the school, but who +are unable to contribute anything toward the item of teaching. These +scholarships are not turned over to the students, but are held by the +institution and assigned for their benefit, the aim being to do nothing +for students which they can do for themselves, and thus help to develop +in them a spirit of manly and womanly self-reliance. + +The majority of the large donations, aside from those for endowment, +have been for buildings and the purchase of additional farm-lands made +necessary by the enlargement of the school's agricultural work. + +What may be regarded as the greatest need of the institution is an +adequate endowment which will put it upon a permanent basis and make its +future certain. + +A gratifying beginning in the building up of an endowment has already +been made. It is a fact, still well remembered by the public, that Mr. +Andrew Carnegie has given to the endowment fund the princely sum of +$600,000. Before that time $400,000 had been collected from other +sources for the same purpose, the largest single contribution toward +this amount being $50,000 from the late Collis P. Huntington. + +As already stated, the income from the present endowment is $40,000, out +of which several annuities are paid. This is only a little more than +one-fourth of the amount that must be had each year to pay the expenses +of the school. It will require an endowment of at least $3,000,000 to +yield an income adequate to the present needs of the institution alone. + + + + +III + +THE ACADEMIC AIMS + +BY ROSCOE CONKLING BRUCE + + +The Negro needs industrial training in eminent degree, because the +capacity for continuous labor is a requisite of civilized living; +because, indeed, the very first step in social advance must be economic; +because the industrial monopoly with which slavery encompassed black men +has fallen shattered before the trumpet-blast of white labor and eager +competition; and, finally, because no instrument of moral education is +more effective upon the mass of mankind than cheerful and intelligent +work. These ideas powerfully voiced, together with an unusually +magnanimous attitude toward the white South, have set the man who toiled +doggedly up from slavery, upon a hill apart. These things are +distinctive of this man; they suggest his temper, his spirit, his point +of view; but they do not exhaust his interests. Similarly, the +distinctive feature of Tuskegee--adequate provision for industrial +training--sets it upon a hill apart, but by a whimsical perversity +this major feature is in some quarters assumed to be the whole school. A +moment's reflection shows such a view to be mistaken. + + +[Illustration: ROSCOE C. BRUCE. + +Director of the Academic Department.] + + +The very industries at Tuskegee presuppose a considerable range of +academic study. Tuskegee does not graduate hoe-hands or plowboys. +Agriculture is, of course, fundamental--fundamental in recognition of +the fact that the Negro population is mainly a farming population, and +of the truth that something must be done to stem the swelling tide which +each year sweeps thousands of black men and women and children from the +sunlit monotony of the plantation to the sunless iniquity of the slums, +from a drudgery that is not quite cheerless to a competition that is +altogether merciless. But the teaching of agriculture, even in its +elementary stages, presupposes a considerable amount of academic +preparation. To be sure, a flourishing garden may be made and managed by +bright-eyed tots just out of the kindergarten, but how can commercial +fertilizers be carefully analyzed by a boy who has made no study of +general chemistry? and how can a balanced ration be adjusted by an +illiterate person? Similarly, the girl in the laundry does not make soap +by rote, but by principle; and the girl in the dressmaking-shop does +not cut out her pattern by luck, or guess, or instinct, or rule of +thumb, but by geometry. And so the successful teaching of the industries +demands no mean amount of academic preparation. In this lies the +technical utility of Tuskegee's Academic Department. + +Then, too, a public service has been rendered by Hampton and Tuskegee in +showing that industrial training--the system in which the student learns +by doing and is paid for the commodities he produces--may be so managed +as to educate. Among the excellencies of industrial training, I would +state that the severe commercial test in which sentiment plays no part +is applied as consistently to the student's labor as is the force of +gravitation to a falling body. Here we must keep in mind the unavoidably +concrete nature of the product, whether satisfactory or not; the +discipline such training affords in organized endeavor; the stimulus it +offers to all the virtues of a drudgery which, though it repel an +unusually ardent and sensitive temperament, yet wears a precious jewel +in its head; and an exceptionally keen sense of responsibility, since on +occasion large amounts of money and the esteem of the school at large +and the lives of a student's fellows depend upon his circumspection and +skill. Such training educates. + +But that would indeed be a sorry program of education which blinked the +fact that the student must be rendered responsive to the nobler ideals +of the human race, that his eyes must be opened to the immanent values +of life. If a clear title to forty acres and a mule represents the +extreme upper limit of a black man's ambition, why call him a man? If a +bank-account represents the sum of his happiness, that happiness lacks +humanity. If you would educate for life, you must arouse spiritual +interests. "The life is more than meat, and the body than raiment." +Through history and literature the Tuskegee student is brought to +develop a criticism, an appreciation of life and the worthier ends of +human striving. To such a discipline, however elementary, the critic +will not, I take it, begrudge the name "education." + +And if the reader wavers in contemplating the problems of trudging +Negroes, remember that the type of Negro who is a menace to the +community is he who, in moments of leisure, responds to somewhat grosser +incentives than the poetry of Longfellow, the romance of Hawthorne, and +the philosophy of Emerson. I would reassure your idealism with this +counsel of prudence. + +Another question presses: Does the value of Tuskegee lie in the fact +that the school equips for happy lives merely as many persons as are +subjected to the immediate play of its influences; that its circle of +efficiency includes only as many as are enrolled in its various courses? +To that question every teacher in the school and the mass of graduates +and students would give an emphatic, a decisive, No! The real value of +the school lies in the service rendered to the people of the communities +where our young folks go to live and labor. Now, work in wood and iron, +however assiduously prosecuted, never erected in any human being's heart +a passion for social service; a finer material must be used, a material +finer than gold. And so the plan and deeper intent of Tuskegee Institute +are incapable of realization without the incentives supplied by history +and literature. + +Finally, there is a trade for which the academic studies, supplemented +by specific normal instruction, are the direct preparation--teaching +school. In the census year there were over 21,000 Negro school-teachers +in the United States, and in the decade 1890-1900 the ratio of increase +was more than twice as rapid as that of the Negro population; but, +nevertheless, there were in 1900 more than twice as many teachers in the +South per 10,000 white children as per 10,000 colored. But such data can +not even approximately indicate the relative amounts of teaching enjoyed +by these two classes of children, for the statistical method can not +express the incalculable disparity in teaching-efficiency. + +A friend of mine--a graduate of Brown University--was for several years +a member of a board which corrected the examination-papers of Negro +candidates for teachers' certificates in a certain Southern State where +the school facilities for the Negro population are exceptionally good; +but he confessed to me that repeatedly not a paper submitted deserved a +passing mark, but the board was "simply compelled to grant certificates +in order to provide teachers enough to go around." Nor is such a dearth +of black pedagogues in the least extraordinary. The mission of Tuskegee +Institute is largely to supply measurably well-equipped teachers for the +schools--teachers able and eager to teach gardening and carpentry as +well as grammar and arithmetic, teachers who seek to organize the social +life of their communities upon wholesome principles, tactfully +restraining grossness and unobtrusively proffering new and nobler +sources of enjoyment. And so the academic studies are wrought into the +essential scheme of Tuskegee's work. + +Let us inspect with some closeness the organization of the institution. +The student-body is fundamentally divided into day-students and +night-students. The night-students work in the industries, largely at +common labor, all day and every day, and go to school at night, thus +paying their current board bills, and accumulating such credits at the +Treasurer's office as will later defray their expenses in the +day-school. The day-school students are divided perpendicularly through +the classes into two sections, section No. 1 working in the industries +every other day for three days a week and attending academic classes the +remaining three days, while this situation is exactly reversed for +section No. 2. Thus every week-day half of each day-school class is in +the Academic Department, while the other half is in the Industrial. This +arrangement induces a wholesome rivalry between the students of the two +sections, and effects an equal distribution of the working force and +skill over every week-day. + +The day-school students consist, then, of two classes of persons: those +who, as night-students, have accumulated credits sufficient to pay their +way in the day-school, and those whose families are able to pay a +considerable part of their expenses. The earnings of a student in the +day-school can not be large enough to pay his current board bill, but +such a student is ordinarily enjoying the valuable advantage of working +at one of the more skilled trades. + +The night-school student, perhaps, because of greater maturity in years +and experience, may be relied upon to apply himself with the utmost +diligence to his academic studies; so, in much less than half the +time-allotment, he advances in his academic studies about half as fast +as the day-school student. This schedule did not spring full-fledged +from the seething brain of any theorist; it is no fatuous imitation of +the educational practise of some remote and presumptively dissimilar +institution; it has, so to say, elaborated itself in adjustment to the +actual needs of the particular situation. This provision boasts not of +novelty, but of utility; though not ideal, it is practicable. But the +central fact is that this Tuskegee Plan, while clearly securing ample +time for the teaching of the industries, makes possible no mean amount +of academic study. + +In order more clearly to exhibit the grounds of this proposition, I +shall refer in some slight detail to the course of study in English and +in Mathematics. + +Mathematics represents the group of academic studies which possess +direct technical value for the industries; moreover, it is a pretty good +index of the grades comprehended in the Academic Department. In the +lowest class in the day-school--there is one lower in the +night-school--the arithmetical tables are mastered, and fractions +introduced and developed with the use of liquid, dry, surface, and time +measures; whereas in the Senior class algebra is studied through +quadratics and plane geometry through the "area of polygons." That is to +say, the lowest day-school class is about equivalent to a fourth grade +in the North, and the Senior to the first or the second year (barring +the foreign languages) in a Northern high school. + + +[Illustration: A PORTION OF THE SCHOOL GROUNDS.] + + +Despite a much smaller time-allotment, our students, roughly speaking, +keep pace with Northern students because they are older and somewhat +more serious, because the course is shortened by the elimination of +uselessly perplexing topics in arithmetic like compound proportion and +cube root, but chiefly because the utility of mathematics is made vivid, +and vigorous interest aroused by its immediate application in class-room +and shop to problems arising in the industries. Our students are not +stuffed like sausages with rules and definitions, mathematical or other; +they ascend to general principles through the analysis of concrete +cases. + +English serves to represent the group of studies that exert a +liberalizing influence upon the student, that possess a cultural rather +than a technical value. From oral lessons in language in the lower +classes, the students advance to a modicum of technical grammar in the +middle of the course, and hence to the rhetoric of the Senior year. +Moreover, an unusually large amount of written composition is insisted +upon, the compositions being used not merely to discipline the student +in chaste feeling, consecutive thinking, and efficient expression, but +also to sharpen his powers of observation and to stimulate him to pick +out of his daily experience the elements that are significant. School +readers are used in the lower classes because the readers present +economically and compactly a whole gamut of literary styles and forms. +These readers are importantly supplemented and gradually superseded by +certain classics appropriate to the grades. The classic, whether +Robinson Crusoe, or Ivanhoe, Rip Van Winkle, the House of Seven Gables, +or The Merchant of Venice, presents an artistic whole, and permits the +students to acquire some sense of literary structure. The dominant +motive in literary instruction is, perhaps, esthetic, but I am convinced +that the ethical influence of this instruction at Tuskegee is profound +and abiding. + +However liberal the provisions of the academic curriculum, the value of +the department is finally determined by the devotion and ability of the +teachers. Universities and normal schools, and the seasoned staffs of +public-school systems--from these sources, whether in Massachusetts, +California, or Tennessee, Principal Washington has gathered a force of +academic teachers of rare ability and devotion. Eminent for personality +rather than for method, these teachers are no tyros in method. In such +hands the excellent features of the curriculum are raised to the N-th +power. + +Finally, academic and industrial teachers are animated with a sentiment +of solidarity, with an esprit de corps, which solves many a problem of +conflicting duty and jurisdiction, and which must impress the student +with the essential unity of Tuskegee's endeavor to equip men and women +for life. The crude, stumbling, sightless plantation-boy who lives in +the environment of Tuskegee for three or four years, departs with an +address, an alertness, a resourcefulness, and above all a spirit of +service, that announce the educated man. + + +[Illustration: ANOTHER PORTION OF THE SCHOOL GROUNDS.] + + + + +IV + +WHAT GIRLS ARE TAUGHT, AND HOW + +BY MRS. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + + +"We wants our baby gal, Mary Lou, to come up to Tuskegee to git +eddicated and learn seamstress; kase we doesn't want her to work lak we +is," says the farmer. "I wish to help you plant this new industry, +broom-making," writes Miss Susan B. Anthony, "because you are trying so +earnestly to teach your girls other means of livelihood besides sewing, +housework, and cooking." This is the problem we have been trying to +solve at Tuskegee for over twenty years: What handiwork can we give our +girls with their academic training that will better fit them to meet the +demand for skilled teachers in the various avenues of the industrial and +academic world now opening so rapidly to women? + + +[Illustration: MRS. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + +Director of Industries for Girls.] + + +Learning to sew, with the ultimate end of becoming a full-fledged +dressmaker, has been the height of ambition with the major part of our +girls when brought to the institution by their horny-handed fathers and +mothers fresh from the soil of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, or Florida. +After the last gripless hand-shake, with the tremulous, "Take care of +yourself, honey," the hard-working father and mother have turned their +faces homeward, visibly affected by the separation, but resolved to +shoulder the sacrifice of the daughter's much-needed help on the +plantation, which oftentimes is all that they are able to contribute +toward her education. + +Not infrequently the girl has begun in the lowest class in night-school. +Her parents send her articles of clothing now and then on Christmas; but +the largest contributions to her wardrobe come from the boxes and +barrels sent to the institution by Northern friends. She has remained in +school during the summer vacation, and within two years has entered +day-school with enough to her credit to finish her education. When the +happy parents return to see their daughter graduated, after six or seven +long years, their faces are radiant because of their realized hopes. +When they see their white-robed daughter transformed from the girl they +brought here clad in the homespun of the old days, and receiving her +certificate, the tears come unchecked, and the moving lips no doubt form +a whispered prayer. + +In a recent class there was graduated a young woman of twenty-five. She +came to the school in her eighteenth year from the "piney woods" of +Alabama. She entered the lowest preparatory class in night-school and +was assigned to work in the laundry. She was earnest and faithful in +work and study. She passed on from class to class, remaining at school +to work during the vacation. After two years in the laundry she was +given an opportunity to learn plain sewing in that division. She was +promoted to the Dressmaking Division at the end of the year, and +received her certificate at the close of two years, after working every +day and attending night-school. She spent the last two years of her +school life in the Millinery Division, and received her certificate from +that division with one from the Academic Department on her graduation. +During these two years she taught the sewing-classes in the night-school +of the town of Tuskegee. At the outset she bought the materials used +with $1, left over from the sales of the previous year. From this small +nest-egg as a starter, seventeen girls were supplied with work. But so +efficient and frugal was the young teacher that she sold articles, +bought supplies for her class, and ended the year with $3.45 in the +treasury. + +This is just a leaf from the history of one girl. Of the 520 girls +entering the institution during this year (1903-'04), 458 have remained +for the full scholastic year. About 50 per cent came from country +districts all over the United States. A large majority of them asked to +enter the Dressmaking Division to learn that trade; but, after the field +of industries was opened to their view, they were scattered about in the +different divisions, a very large per cent still leaning to the side of +dressmaking and millinery. + +Taking into account the number of girls working their way through at +their trades by day and attending night-school, they were distributed as +follows: Horticulture, 4; training-kitchen, 13; housekeeping, 38; +dining-room, 29; hospital, 20; kitchen-gardening, 8; poultry-raising, 7; +tailoring, 14; dairying, 10; printing, 6; broom-making, 26; +mattress-making, 18; upholstering, 18; laundering, 54; plain sewing, 72; +millinery, 51; dressmaking, 69. All the girls were required to take +cooking twice a week and 209 of the girls in the normal classes took +basketry. + +As the trades were the great attraction in the school curriculum, it was +deemed necessary to separate the school into two divisions, that +students might have an opportunity to receive instruction equally in the +Academic and Industrial Departments. This year this scheme worked +successfully by an arrangement that placed one division in the Academic +Department on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while the other was at +work, and the other division in the Trades Department on Thursdays, +Fridays, and Saturdays, while the other was in school, and so on +regularly. + +Girl life at Tuskegee is strenuous. Though study and work are constantly +to the fore, character is effectively developed with brain and muscle, +and the well-earned recreation-hour comes just frequently enough to lend +the highest source of pleasure. Though the girl usually comes with a +hazy conception of what the days in school will really mean for the +ripening of those powers that she earnestly intends to use for the best +development of herself, there is always a spirit of learning, that she +may be of service to others. That is what counts in the school-days of +the average girl in her struggle for more light. + +The girl, coming a stranger from her home in the city or country, is +lost in a crowd of girls new to dormitory life. New surroundings and new +conditions are everywhere. New emotions, new purposes, new resolutions +chase one another in her thoughts, and she becomes a stranger to herself +only to find her bearings first in her own room. Here Maine and +California, far-away Washington and Central America, meet on common +ground. Alabama and Georgia alone feel kinship from geographical +propinquity. + +Beds, one double and one single, chairs, a table, mirror, bookcase, +wardrobe, wash-stand, and screen, all manufactured on the grounds, +compose the simple furniture of the room. But a few pictures, a strip of +carpet before each bed, a bright table-covering, soon give the room the +appearance of home, and the untried life has begun. The duty-list +assigns to each girl her work, and perhaps the first lessons in order +and system will be fairly instituted. + +How many and varied are the associations that cluster about the life of +the girl in her room, that refuge from a day of discouragement in +schoolroom or workshop, and a haven of peace during the quiet hours of +the Sabbath! Roommate meets roommate, quick to resent and as quick to +forgive--and the petty strife and envy suppressed at birth only serve +to discipline them for the coming days. + +Up with the rising bell at five, the duties of the room are almost +finished when the girl leaves her beds to air while she takes her six +o'clock breakfast. Social amenities, the niceties of table-training, and +the tricks of speech that betray the sectional birthright, proclaim to +the ever-observant table-mates the status of each newcomer, and she +rises or falls in estimation just so far as her metal rings true. Thus +another element enters into her life, one that will prove a potent force +in balancing character; for the frankly expressed criticisms of +schoolmates play no small part in the development of students. + +If a girl be one of the forty-five waitresses on the eighty-nine tables +of the dining-room, she eats her breakfast as the other students march +out, then finishes her room-duties and is ready for work at ten minutes +of seven wherever she happens to be assigned. If she is a dishwasher, +she does that work, waits for inspection of the table that she has set, +finishes her room-duty, and is admitted into her work division at half +past seven. + +Gardening and greenhouse work are becoming so attractive through the +Nature-Study classes of the Academic Department that there are constant +applications for transfers from the sewing divisions to this outside +work. Equipped in an overall gingham apron and sunbonnet of the same +material, the girl begins her duties, and no prouder girl can be found +than she who takes her first basket of early spring vegetables to the +Teachers' Home. + +If the day is to be spent with the whole agricultural force of girls +picking strawberries for the tables of the Boarding Department and the +local market, the stage takes the group out to the patch two miles back +on the farm--and that is happiness unalloyed for the schoolgirl. When +she correlates her outing with her school work on the day following, +there is seen nature at first-hand in the class-room. + +If other classmates have been working in the Plain-Sewing Division +turning out cotton underwear and plain articles of clothing to supply +the demand of the Salesroom of the institution, the lesson in English +has a natural, practical bearing, arising from the fact that one hour +has been spent with the theory class of the workroom studying the warp +and woof of the materials used, perhaps the sixth or seventh lesson in a +series on cotton, introduced to the class first in its native heath. +Correlation comes in wherever it may, and the association of ideas +obtained in class-room and workroom is closely joined. + +The large class of the Dressmaking Division, spending the day from seven +until half past five making the blue uniform dresses, filling orders for +tailor-made dresses in silk and cloth, measuring, drafting, cutting, and +fitting, has many a representative in the schoolroom the succeeding day; +and still more is the lesson varied by the practical illustrations in +Mathematics or the recital of the experiences of the day in the English +classes. + +The girl in the millinery work, shaping forms, trimming hats, blending +colors, drawing designs, studying textiles and fabrics for analysis in +her theory classes twice during her three days of work, finds added +inspiration for her three days of class-room study. If she is in the +Senior class, she specializes in geometry on her school-days and +mechanical drawing on her work-days. When our girl has finished her +course in drawing and begins one of the uniform hats worn by the +hundreds of girls, she ranks among the first milliners of the land in +the estimation of the beginners. She completes hat after hat, drapes +them until the number meets the requirement, and then comes her own +creation, a pattern hat, undersized of course, but a real dress hat and +a thing of beauty. It usually finds its way to the old home for her +mother and neighbors to admire. The commendation that comes back to the +school is worth its weight in gold. + + +[Illustration: A CLASS IN MILLINERY.] + + +But there are backward learners. Some there are who excel in embroidery, +crocheting, making ties and other fancy articles, but who have no +aptitude for shaping and trimming hats. They plod on, and win at last. +Then there is the girl whose parents wish her to open a millinery +establishment in their town. She tries, but finally agrees with her +long-suffering instructor that she would succeed at mattress-making and +upholstering instead. + +The work in the Mattress Division begins with sheet, pillow-case, +table-linen, and comforter-making for the endless demands of the lodging +division of the boys and girls. Pulling shucks for the mattress is the +next step in advance, and when shucks are covered by the cotton layers +in the making, they prove an excellent substitute for the hair filling +of a more expensive manufacture, and they have an advantage in the +matter of cleanliness. Covering screen frames made in the Carpentry +Division for the numerous rooms, caning couches, rockers, and stools, +help add to the variety of work in the division. The girl is not +awarded her certificate until she has completed the round of work, +including the fashioning of a bedroom suite from barrels finally covered +with neat-figured denim. The semiweekly theory classes are not unlike +those of the plain-sewing division, and the girl is as proud of her +achievement with needle, hammer, and saw as if she were an adept in +lighter work. + +When the machinery was introduced for Broom-making, the girls looked +askance at the appliances. But when the broom-corn was delivered from +the farm, and the pioneer girl broom-maker began threshing of the seed +in the cleaner, an interest was evinced that has increased with the +knowledge that the work, study, or manufacture (call it what you will) +is very productive, especially in the confines of the girls' +broom-factory at Tuskegee Institute. The poultry-yard bought the seeds +threshed off the broom-stalks; the hundreds of old handles collected +cost nothing, and when the wiring, stitching, and clipping were finished +and the girl saw the first broom turned out, there was triumph in the +fact that the industry was the most inexpensive and still the most +productive of credit of all the girls' industries under the roof of +Dorothy Hall. The evolution from the flag-straw broom used in cabins of +the South to the ones now completed and labeled, creates the sensation +of the girl-world in the trades school. The wonders brought out in the +theory class in connection with broom-making were marvelous. +Broom-making has come to remain with our other girls' industries. + +Work in the Laundry presents another aspect to the onlooker, and he +doubtless decides on the spur of the moment that all is drudgery here. +Girls are then assorting countless pieces received on Mondays from +students and teachers. They are placing the assorted articles in cages +in the basement. Two boys are filling three washers with bed-linen, and +in another apartment two girls are weighing and measuring materials to +make more soap to add to the boxes standing in the soap-room. Girls +up-stairs in the wash-room are busy rubbing at the tubs. Some girls are +starching, and others are sending baskets down on the elevator for girls +below to hang in the drying-room. Others are in the assorting-room +putting away clothes-bags into numerous boxes. The ironing-room farther +on is filled with busy workers. Days come during every week when time is +spent in the study of laundry chemistry. Rust and mildew stains and +scorching are some of the problems of the Laundry, and they find +solution. Soap, starch, water, and bluing have their composite qualities +and are analyzed, and no more interesting correlation is there than that +of the laundry with the class-room. + +Although each Tuskegee girl is expected to become proficient in one +trade at least, all are required to attend the cooking classes. Girls +belonging to certain classes are scattered in the various divisions, +each busily engaged at her chosen trade. At the ringing of the bells in +each division at stated hours, classes form and pass to the +training-kitchen for their lesson in cooking. Both night-school and +day-school girls report every day until every girl has received her +lesson weekly. The normal classes have theory and practise one hour +each, the preparatory girls one hour weekly for their trades. + +This is true also of girls in the normal classes. They spend one hour in +basketry study, making in all three hours away from their individual +trades each week. Theory is combined with practise, and many a fanciful +thought is woven in with the reed and raffia of the Indian baskets, +African purses, belts, and pine-needle work-baskets. The shuck hats and +foot-mats are so foreign in design that one often wonders how it were +possible to utilize the same material in so widely different purposes. +But our girl is progressive, and not a few instances have occurred when +one has been informed of the presence of a Tuskegee student in a remote +country district, by the inevitable shuck hat prettily designed and worn +by an utter stranger. So remunerative has been the work that many have +earned money enough from the sales of these hats to purchase books for +the school year and pay their entrance fees. + +Few girls work at typesetting. Those learning the trade are in the Boys' +Trades Building. The same is true of the girl tailors, who are as +capable workers in the trade as the boys. The majority of these girls +are in night-school, and of late years have not earned much for their +work. In former years the greater body of the students were working +their way through school, and by their labor would earn enough to +complete their education in the Academic Department and the Industrial +as well. Last year the pay schedule was reduced, and many appeals for +assistance came from those battling their way through. A young girl +whose monthly statement warned her that she owed the school $15, at the +end of the school year wrote the following: + + + "DEAR MRS. WASHINGTON: I write to inform you of the enormous sum + that I owe on my board bill. I am not satisfied, because I want to + earn something in life, but it seems that means and opportunity + will not permit me. I can't help from crying when I think how + anxious and willing my people are to help me to be something, and + yet they are unable to help me. + + "My mother has struggled to bring up eight of us, and now is to the + point where she can give me no more help, and that leaves me alone + to be something by myself. I am anxious to enter day-school so I + may finish my course of study and my trade, and at last let my + mother see me a good, noble woman, who will take care of her. + + "I will thank you very much for your kindness, if you will look + into my board bill and help me as soon, and as much, as possible. + Yours gratefully." + + +As the day girls have put in so many hours of work recently under the +new system, it eliminates the necessity of so many night-school girls +being paid for their work. It is to the interest of the school and its +day-students that fewer work their way through school, and the time has +come to teach this fact. The boy or girl for a time will stagger in the +attempt to gain education, but will be all the more able, later, to +reach the desired goal. + +All girls are taught housekeeping incidentally in the care of their +rooms; but the number assigned to the regular division yearly are +instructed in all branches of home industry. The course covering two +years is mapped out thoroughly, and when the girls reach the Senior +class, all have their turn at housekeeping in the Practise Cottage of +four rooms. No girl is graduated from the school without the finishing +touch of the little home. Marketing, the planning of meals, +table-setting, the care of table- and bed-linen, dusting, sweeping, and +everything else pertaining to a well-kept house, are taught by the +teacher in domestic science who is in charge of the training-kitchen +where the senior girls received their first lessons in cookery. The +young housekeepers have reached the stage of efficiency when they may +prepare a meal for a distinguished guest. + +A red-letter day in the history of the cottage came when a warm-hearted +and much-beloved trustee of the institution expressed a wish to dine +with the girls during one of his visits to the institution. The flowers +that graced the small table on this day were brought by the +distinguished visitor, who came from a stroll in the "piney" woods. The +girls, apprehensive of their success in preparing the dinner for one +with so cultured a palate, felt visibly relieved on the disappearance of +the roast, the vegetables, and the dessert. The corn bread was voted the +best ever eaten, and the dinner, as a whole, a delicious preparation. If +ever, in the years to come, any of the four forgets the kindly heart +that made all forget station or condition, "the right hand will forget +its cunning." + +Days pass all too quickly in work and study. After the supper at six, +the girls in the normal classes go to their rooms or the Carnegie +Library for study, the girls in the preparatory classes go to the +study-hour, and those who have been working at the trades during the day +spend two hours in night-school covering half as much ground as those in +day-school, and consequently spend a longer period in school. At the +ringing of the bell at half past eight all the girls form in line to +pass to the Chapel for prayers. + +School and work over for the day, every girl seems to lose her +personality in her blue braided uniform, with her red tie and turnover +on week-day evenings at Chapel, and her white ribbon on Sundays when she +passes the platform as she marches by out of the Chapel to her room. Her +carriage at least identifies her class-standing, and one may easily +note the difference in the manner of her who has newly arrived and +another who has been in school with the advantages of several years. + +Friday afternoons mark an hour for lectures, girls' clubs, and circle +entertainments. Saturday evenings are spent optionally. Time for class +gymnastics or sewing or swimming is always spent pleasantly on schedule +time during the week. Our girl attends the Christian Endeavor Sunday +mornings at nine, Chapel at eleven, Sunday-school at one, and, after +dinner is out of the way, spends the enforced quiet hour in her room +from three until four o'clock reading. The band concert on the lawn +calls all to listen, some walking, some sitting on the seats on the +green, but all presenting a picturesque appearance in the blue skirts +and white waists of the spring season. + +Thus the days and weeks pass, mingled with the sorrows and joys of +school-life, its encouragements and disappointments. The months and +seasons come and go, and, before one is scarcely aware of the fact, the +Commencement Week is here and the hundreds of young people whose lives +have come in touch with one another pass on to their homes. Some go out +as helpful workers, giving useful service to others; many will return +to complete the course begun, but all, we hope, will give out the light +that will not fail. Some are workers with ten talents, some with five, +some with one; but all, we trust, will be using them for the upbuilding +of the kingdom here on earth. + + + + +V + +HAMPTON INSTITUTE'S RELATION TO TUSKEGEE + +BY ROBERT R. MOTON + + +In his eloquent address in May, 1903, at the memorial services of +General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Founder, and for twenty-five years +Principal, of Hampton Institute, Dr. Booker T. Washington said: "A few +nights ago, while I was driving through the woods in Alabama, I +discerned in the distance a large, bright fire. Driving to it, I soon +found out that by the glow of this fire several busy hands were building +a nice frame cottage, to replace a log cabin that had been the abode of +the family for a quarter of a century. That fire was lighted by General +Armstrong years ago. What does it matter that it was twenty-five years +passing through Hampton to Tuskegee and through the Tuskegee Conference +to that lonely spot in those lonely woods! It was doing its work very +effectually all the same, and will continue to do it through the years +to come." + +The relations existing between Tuskegee Institute and Hampton Institute +are much like those existing between a son and the father who has +watched the growth and development of his child through the formative +transition periods of his youth, and looks with pride upon him as he +stands forth in the full bloom of manhood, enumerating successes already +achieved, with large promise of greater and more far-reaching +achievements for the immediate future. The child never reaches the point +where he does not seek the approval and blessing of the parent, or where +he refuses to accept advice and assistance if needed. + +In the early days of Tuskegee Mr. Washington turned naturally and +properly to Hampton for anything that was needed, as he so beautifully +and repeatedly testifies in his autobiography, Up from Slavery. For a +long time the men and women who helped him were from Hampton, more than +fifty such having been there. + +While there is a large number of Hampton graduates in the Industrial +Departments of Tuskegee, the teaching force, especially in the Academic +Department, represents a dozen or more of the best colleges and +universities in this country. The same may be said of Hampton. + +Up to about eight or ten years ago we at Hampton spoke of Tuskegee as a +small Hampton, but "small" no longer describes Tuskegee, and I doubt +seriously if _large Hampton_ would be altogether proper. + +While Tuskegee was founded on the Hampton plan, and has consistently +followed that plan as far as possible, and while these two great +"Industrial Universities" are very much alike in spirit and purpose, +they are, on the other hand, very dissimilar in external appearance as +well as in internal conduct. Each sends out into the benighted districts +of the South, and Hampton also into the Indian country of the West, +hundreds of men and women who are living influences of civilization and +Christianity in their deepest and most far-reaching sense, adding much +to the solution of the perplexing questions with which the nation has to +deal. + +The conditions surrounding the two schools have necessitated certain +differences in their evolution. The personnel of the two institutions is +different. Hampton has always been governed and controlled by white +people, and its teachers have come from the best families of the North. +Tuskegee was founded by a Negro, and its teachers and officers have come +from the best types of the American Negro and from the best schools +opened to them. Hampton deals with a different class of student +material, including the Indian, who is almost as different in traits and +characteristics from the Negro as he is in feature and origin. These +are, in a sense, external differences which must of necessity affect the +character and internal machinery of the two institutions. + +This is no reflection upon either school, for each is unique and +complete in its way, and any marked ethnic change in the management of +either would be unfortunate. Hampton is a magnificent illustration of +Anglo-Saxon ideas in modern education. Tuskegee, on the other hand, is +the best demonstration of Negro achievement along distinctly altruistic +lines. In its successful work for the elevation and civilization of the +children of the freedmen, it is also the most convincing evidence of the +Negroes' ability to work together with mutual regard and mutual +helpfulness. When Tuskegee was started there was a serious question as +to whether Negroes could in any large measure combine for business or +educational purposes. The only cooperative institutions that had been +successful among them were the Church and, perhaps, the secret +societies. + +In material development, in the rapid and steadily improving accession +of student material, in enlarging powers for greater usefulness, in +influence upon the educational methods of the country and the civilized +world, and in the sympathy and respect it has gained for the Negro +through the writings and speeches of its Founder and Principal, the +Tuskegee Institute has without doubt passed beyond the expectations of +those who were most sanguine about its future. + +The Tuskegee torch, from the Hampton fire started so many years ago by +General Armstrong, has spread and is spreading light to thousands of +homes and communities throughout the South, and is the greatest pride +and glory of Hampton Institute, and a constant source of inspiration and +encouragement to the devoted men and women who have always made +Hampton's work possible. + +At the conclusion of an address in a Northern city in the interest of +Hampton, in which I had quoted Dr. Curry's saying that, "if Hampton had +done nothing more than to give us Booker Washington, its history would +be immortality," a New England lady of apparently good circumstances and +well informed, in the kindness of her heart, took me to task for +distorting my facts in saying that Tuskegee had grown out of Hampton. +She was sure that it was just the other way--that Hampton was an +offshoot of Tuskegee. She certainly could not have paid a higher tribute +to Hampton, and likewise to Tuskegee. + +For the past few years Mr. Washington's deserved popularity and +prominence have brought Tuskegee conspicuously and constantly before the +public. This has in no sense been a disadvantage to Hampton, but has +been a distinct gain in enabling Hampton to point to the foremost man of +the Negro race, and to the largest and most interesting and in many ways +the best-managed institution of the race, as the best and most +conspicuous product of the peculiar kind of education for which Hampton +stands. + +While Tuskegee is, perhaps, in many respects, better known than Hampton, +its antecedent, Hampton, is without doubt much better known and more +highly thought of because of the existence of Tuskegee. + +Tuskegee in its present state of development would be one of the marvels +of the age, even if the personality of its Principal were left out of +consideration. + +Two thousand Negroes who are scarcely a generation removed from +bondage, being trained, disciplined, controlled by 200 or more of the +same racial type; 2,000 Negroes being educated, morally, industrially, +intellectually; an industrial university with 100 large buildings well +equipped and beautifully laid-off grounds, with a hum and bustle of +industry, scientifically and practically conducted by a race considered +as representing the lowest ethnic type, upsetting the theories of many +well-meaning people who believe the Negroes incapable of maintaining +themselves in this civilization, incapable of uniting in any successful +endeavor without being under the direct personal control of the dominant +Aryan--this is one of the greatest achievements of the race during its +years of freedom. + +Hampton, though a dozen years older, the pioneer in industrial +education, equally well equipped, quite as well conducted, doing as +great a work in the elevation of the races it represents, and holding +just as important a place in the scheme of modern education, is not so +interesting or so wonderful, because its conception and execution are +the product of Aryan thought and Aryan ingenuity. New ideas, new +discoveries, new inventions and organizations, new methods and new +institutions, have been conspicuous among the white race for a thousand +years. General Armstrong's wisdom and foresight were truly wonderful, as +indeed are also those of his worthy successor, Dr. H. B. Frissell, under +whose direction the school's influence and usefulness have steadily +increased, and along lines that General Armstrong would approve; but had +Hampton been founded and brought to its present state of proficiency by +a Negro, and its dominating force been of the African race, it would be +a more wonderful and interesting institution. In other words, the white +race has long since passed its experimental period. It now is the +standard of measurement for all other races. The Negro's achievements, +then, are considered largely with reference to the impression which they +make upon the race of whose civilization and government he is a part. + + +[Illustration: THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.] + + +Tuskegee, therefore, stands out more prominently than Hampton as an +exponent of industrial education, and has been more severely questioned +because of the imagined disloyalty in a Negro's aggressive attitude for +this particular kind of education for his race. There are people of both +races who, while they do not on the whole oppose Hampton and Tuskegee in +their educational methods, are honestly afraid that, because of the +growing importance and influence of these two schools and others of a +similar kind, the idea will be thoroughly established that the Negro +needs only and is capable only of the narrowest sort of industrial +training--such as is represented by the "rule-of-thumb carpenter" and +the "one-suspender mule-driver," who work by rule and rote rather than +by principle and method, not in the slightest degree comprehending the +science underlying the work in which they are engaged, whose +mathematical knowledge is bounded by "the distance between two corn or +cotton rows." + +To fix such an idea in the minds of the people of this country--which is +not likely to be done--would, no doubt, be disastrous to us for +generations to come, and make it much more easy than it is now to +deprive the Negro of the civil and political rights which are guaranteed +by the Constitution. It would, without question, defeat the objects for +which Hampton and Tuskegee have persistently stood, and for which they +have ever worked and are still very successfully working. + +No one familiar with the curricula of these two schools would for a +moment raise such a question. General Armstrong saw, as few people did, +the moral and intellectual value of industrial training aside from its +merely economic importance. He founded a school on an entirely different +basis from any that had been known before--the basis of +character-building through practical education, industrial training, and +self-help. + +During the thirty-six years of its history, Hampton has sent into the +world about 1,200 graduates and 5,000 undergraduates, many of whom have +taken with them the spark that has started many other Hamptons, large +and small, among the Negroes of the South and the Indians of the West. +Hampton's success, and indeed the success of any institution, depends +not so much upon the scholastic attainments of its pupils as upon the +work that those who have received its instruction accomplish. Hampton +glories, and justly, in the loyalty of its graduates and in the +faithfulness with which they have inculcated and exemplified the +traditions and principles for which it stands. Hampton glories in +Tuskegee, because Tuskegee has started in so many communities the spark +of true life and real civilization; in the impetus and inspiration it +has given, so beautiful and so perfect a consummation of the prophetic +vision of Hampton's founder. + +Can the relations between the two institutions be better stated than in +the words of their two founders? After a visit to Tuskegee, General +Armstrong said: "The Tuskegee school is a wonderful work and Mr. +Washington is a remarkable man. He has carried out the idea of training +the head, hand, and heart in a wonderfully complete and perfect way. +This school is very much like the one at Hampton, and any one can +recognize the similarity, but he has made many improvements. It is not +merely an imitation. It is the Hampton Idea adapted and worked into a +most sensible and efficient application to the needs of the Alabama +Negroes." In the same memorial address at General Armstrong's funeral +from which I quoted at the beginning of this paper, Mr. Washington said, +"The rose I place on his grave is _his_ work at Tuskegee." + +Hampton and Tuskegee, striving along common lines for common ends, +intimate in relationship, interdependent, each frankly criticizing and +freely advising, each profiting by the failures of the other, each +benefiting by the successes of the other, are both working as best they +may toward that "far-off divine event to which the whole creation +moves." + + + + +_PART II_ + +_AUTOBIOGRAPHIES BY GRADUATES OF THE SCHOOL_ + + + + +I + +A COLLEGE PRESIDENT'S STORY + +BY ISAAC FISHER + + +I was born January 18, 1877, on a plantation called Perry's place, in +East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, and was the sixteenth and last child of +my parents. My early childhood was uneventful, save during the year +1882, when, by reason of the breaking of the Mississippi River levee +near my home, I was compelled, together with my parents, to live six +months in the plantation cotton-gin, fed by the Federal Government and +by the determination never to live so close to the "Big Muddy" again; +and during 1886, in which year my mother died. + +Up to this latter year my life had been nothing more than that of the +average Negro boy on a cotton-farm. While I had been too young to feel +the burden of farm-life toil, I had not been spared a realization of the +narrowness and the dwarfing tendencies of the lives which the Negro +farmers and their families were living, and, in my heart, I cursed the +farm and all its environs as being in verity an inferno on earth. A +broader knowledge of the causes which operated to produce the cheerless +life against which my child-nature rebelled, and a clearer insight into +the possibilities of rural life, have altered this early impression; and +to-day I find myself thinking some thoughts relative to the life lived +near to nature's heart which are not at all complimentary to the bustle +and selfishness of city life. + +The death of my mother furnished the opportunity to leave the farm and +go to a city; and I took advantage of this, going to Vicksburg, Miss., +to live with an older sister. I had always desired to go to school, and +had spent four terms of six months each in the country school near my +home; but for some reason, which I can not now remember, I attended the +city school in Vicksburg but one year, after which I was employed as a +cake-baker's assistant and bread-wagon driver. A short time before this +I was a house-boy in the city. I was, at the time of my employment in +the bakery, an omnivorous reader of the newspapers, and, in fact, of all +kinds of literature; but my hours of labor at both places were so long +and incessant that I found it almost impossible to do any reading during +my employment at either place. + +Finally I saw and took advantage of an opportunity to secure employment +with the drug firm of W. H. Jones & Brother; and I count my work in this +store, and with these gentlemen as employers, as the turning-point in my +life, because there my work demanded some intelligence above the +average. I had some chance to study, and in addition, when it was found +by these white men that I loved to read, all magazines, newspapers, and +drug journals, not needed by the firm and the physicians whose offices +were with them, were given to me. I never make any mention of my life in +Vicksburg without mentioning, in particular, Mr. W. H. Jones; for not +only was he a kind and considerate employer, but I learned from his +actions that a white man could be kind and interested in a Negro--a fact +which no amount of reasoning could have driven into my stubborn +understanding previous to that time. + +There came a time when I learned that at the Tuskegee Institute, in +Alabama, any poor Negro boy who was willing to work could pay for all +his education in labor. To hear was to act. I wrote to Mr. Washington, +asking if my information was correct. The affirmative answer came at +once. It was the middle of August, and school began in September, but I +determined to be present at the opening of the school year. I was then a +boy wearing short trousers, but I immediately set about preparing to +deliver a "lecture" to help raise funds for my trip. With a knowledge of +the subject, and an assurance which I have never since assumed, I spoke +to a large audience in Vicksburg on the question, Will America Absorb +the Negro? I settled the question then and there to my own satisfaction, +even if I did not convince the nation that my affirmative conclusion was +rational. The "lecture" netted me my fare to Tuskegee, with a few +dollars over, and brought me from Rev. O. P. Ross, pastor of the African +Methodist Episcopal Church in Vicksburg, the offer of a scholarship at +Wilberforce College at the expense of his church. I respectfully +declined the offer, feeling that I did not want to bind myself to any +particular denomination by accepting so great a gift; but I have always +felt very kindly toward that church ever since. + +My first glimpse of Mr. Washington was had in the depot in 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 work 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 capable treasurer of +the Tuskegee Institute, Mr. Warren Logan, came back and told us that our +interlocutor was none other than the President of the school to which we +were going. + +Arriving at Tuskegee, I found what it meant to be in a school without a +penny, without assurance of help from the outside, and wholly dependent +upon one's own resources and labor; and I found further that in the +severe, trying process through which Mr. John H. Washington, +superintendent of industries, brother of Mr. Booker T. Washington, and +familiarly though very respectfully known to the students as "old man +John," put all students who offered to work for their education, only +the fittest, and the fittest of the fit at that, survived. + +I was assigned work with the resident physician, a very efficient woman +doctor from Philadelphia; and I have a recollection, by no means dim, +that when this good woman made her monthly report to the treasurer, she +could write, "Health Department to Isaac Fisher, Dr., $12.50--value +received." Every morning before breakfast it was my duty to go to the +rooms of six hundred young men to see if any were ill, have those who +were, carried to the hospital, report all such to four departments, take +meals to those confined in the hospital, attend to all their wants, keep +their building heated and supplied with fuel, and-- But space will not +permit the full catalogue of duties. At the end of such a day's work I +would attend the night-school during its session of two hours. + +Desiring to learn a trade, I asked permission to enter the +printing-office for the next year. This was not granted until it was +found that I would not leave the school during the summer, but would +remain and work until the beginning of the next school year. +Accordingly, when my second year began I entered the printing-office as +an apprentice. During that year I suffered actual want and privation in +the matter of shoes and clothes; but later came under the notice of Mrs. +Booker T. Washington, who made arrangements by which I could procure +some of the second-hand clothes and shoes sent from the North to the +school for just such cases. At the end of this year my health, as a +result of my work in the office, was so poor that the resident physician +recommended my removal therefrom. To the surprise of Mr. J. H. +Washington, I asked to be transferred to the farm; and I think I proved +while working on the school-farm that I was sincere when I said that I +would work wherever I was placed. + +It was during this summer that Mr. Booker T. Washington showed me that I +had come favorably under his notice. At one of the weekly +prayer-meetings, conducted by the chaplain, Mr. Penney, and at which Mr. +Washington was present, I made some remarks relative to the agnosticism +of the late Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. The following day Mr. Washington +sent for me, inquired my age and class in the school, and then said some +very kind things about the talk which I had made in the prayer-meeting, +and made me a conditional promise of his friendship, which, despite my +oft-proven unworthiness, he has ever since given me in unstinted +measure. After that second year my hardships as a "work-student" were +practically over. + +In my third year I entered the day-school, working one day in every week +and every other Saturday, and going to school the remainder of the time. +While the school made compulsory the earning of some money on the part +of all students, it set no maximum limit on the amounts to be earned. I +elected to earn as much as I could under the circumstances, earning, by +reason of the many odd jobs which I did, often as much as $20 per month, +going to school every day in the meantime. The average amount usually +earned is $5 and $6 per month. At one time I worked eight days per month +on the farm, sent notes of the school to 127 Negro newspapers, cleaned +one laboratory every day, played in both the brass band and the +orchestra, blew the bugle for the battalion, and taught two classes in +the night-school, for each of which duties I received pay; and even +though I broke down under the accumulated strain soon after my +graduation, I carried my point and completed the course of study as I +had planned. + + +[Illustration: THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY BUILDING.] + + +In my fourth year I won the Trinity Church (Boston) Prize of $25 for +oratory; and in my senior year won the Loughridge Book Prize for +scholarship, and also the valedictory of my class, graduating in 1898. + +I was immediately sent to the Schofield School, a Quaker institution for +Negroes in Aiken, S. C., to organize farmers' conferences on the order +of those conducted by the Tuskegee Institute, and to serve as a teacher +in the school. After one year's service in that position Mr. Washington +asked me to accept the position of Assistant Northern Financial Agent +for Tuskegee. I accepted, and remained two years in New England, helping +to interest friends in my _alma mater_. At my own request I was +transferred from the Northern work to the South, being assigned this +time to the Negro Conference work in Alabama. Before beginning this work +I was married to a Tuskegee girl, Miss Sallie McCann. + +Within a few months a principal was needed for the Swayne Public School +of Montgomery, Ala., and this in the middle of the school year. Mr. +Washington recommended me for the work, and I was elected to the +position. At the close of the term I went to New York to study the +public-school system of that city as far as possible. While there I was +reelected principal of the Swayne School, and a notice of the election +reached me one morning. Three hours later I received a letter from the +secretary of the University of Arkansas (white) informing me that my +name had been presented to the board of trustees of that institution, +and I had been elected to the presidency of the State Branch Normal +College at Pine Bluff, Ark. I was not a candidate for the position, but +seeing in it an opportunity for greater usefulness, I accepted the +position in my twenty-fifth year, and have just been reelected to serve +a third term as president of the school. The Branch Normal College was +established in 1875 as one of the Land Grant colleges, and has a +property valuation of $100,000. + +Over my desk hangs a picture of the Principal of Tuskegee; and in my +desk are views of the institution which he has built. But these may be +removed. In the book of my memory and in the secret chambers of my heart +I have enshrined the two names which, with God and the parents now on +the other side of the Great Divide, have shaped and given direction to +my whole life--Tuskegee and Booker T. Washington. + + + + +II + +A SCHOOL PRINCIPAL'S STORY + +BY WILLIAM H. HOLTZCLAW + + +I was born in Randolph County, Ala., near the little town of Roanoke. +The house in which I first saw the light--or that part of it which +streamed through the cracks, for there were no windows--was a little log +cabin 12 by 16 feet. I know very little of my ancestry, except that my +mother was the daughter of her mother's master, born in the days of +slavery, and up to 1864 herself the slave of her half-brother. She was +born in the State of Georgia. My father was born in Elmore County, Ala. +He never knew his father, but remembered his mother and eleven brothers. +My mother was married twice before she married my father. She married +first at the age of fifteen. I am the fifth of fifteen children, and my +father's oldest child. Neither my father nor my mother could read or +write; mother could get a little out of some pages of the Bible by +spelling each word as she came to it. + +My early years were spent on a farm. When only four years old I was put +to such work as I could do--such as riding a deaf and blind mule, while +my brother plowed him in order to make him go forward, for he cared +nothing for assault from the rear. We worked for a white man for +one-fourth of the crop. He furnished the stock, land, and seeds, and we +did the work, although he was supposed to help. He furnished money to +"run" us at fifteen to a hundred per cent, according to the time of the +year. He grew wealthier; we grew, if possible, poorer. Before I was +fifteen years old I instinctively felt the injustice of the scheme. When +the crop was divided he got three loads of corn to our one, and somehow +he always got all the cotton: never did a single bale come to us. + +Those were hard times for us; for it must be remembered that this was in +the days of reconstruction and the Ku-Klux-Klan, and if to this be added +the fact that my father, a young and inexperienced man, had started out +with a family of six on his hands, some idea of the situation may be +had. I can recall having been without food many a day, and the pangs of +hunger drove me almost to desperation. But mother and father would come +late at night from a day of depressing toil and excruciating inward +pain, the result of their inability to relieve our suffering, and pacify +us for the night with such things as they had been able to get. When I +awoke the next morning they were gone again on a food mission. + +Hunger would sometimes nearly drive us mad. My brother and I were given +a meal of pie-crusts from the white folks' table one day, and as we ate +them, Old Buck, the family dog, who resembled an emaciated panther, +stole one of the crusts. It was our dinner. We loved Old Buck, but we +had to live first; so my brother lit on him, and a battle royal took +place over that crust. Brother was losing ground, so I joined in, and, +coming up from the rear, we conquered and saved the crust, but not till +both of us were well scratched and bitten. + +I was put to school at the age of six. Both mother and father were +determined that their children should be educated. School lasted two +months in the year--July and August. The schoolhouse was three miles +from our house, but we walked every day, my oldest sister carrying me +astride her neck when I gave out. Sometimes we had an ear of roasted +green corn in our basket for dinner, or a roasted sweet potato, but more +often simply persimmons, or fruit and nuts picked from our landlord's +orchard and from the forest. + +When cotton began to open, in the latter part of August, the landlord +wanted us to stop school and pick cotton, and I can distinctly remember +how my mother used to outgeneral him by slipping me off to school +through the woods, following me through the swamps and dark places, with +her hand on my back, shoving me on till I was well on the way, and then +returning to try to do as much in the field that day as she and I +together would be expected to do. When the landlord came to the quarters +early to look for me, my mother would hide me behind the cook-pot and +other vessels. When I was a little older I had to play my part on the +farm. Mother now worked another scheme. I took turns with my brother at +school and at the plow. What he learned at school on his school-day was +taught to me at night, and vice versa. In this way we got a month of +schooling each during the year, and got the habit of home study. + +Our family was increasing rapidly, and to keep the children even roughly +clothed and fed was about all that could be done under the +circumstances. When the school exhibition took place and every girl was +expected to have a white dress and every boy a pair of white +pantaloons, my mother was often put to her trumps to get these things. +Father would not trouble himself about them, as he said they were +useless. But the teacher said they were necessary, and his word was law +and gospel with most parents in our community. An exhibition was near at +hand and three of us had no white pantaloons. Mother manipulated every +scheme, but no cloth yet to make them! Finally the day arrived, but not +till mother solved the problem by getting up before dawn that morning +and making three pairs of white pantaloons for us out of her Sunday +petticoat. Mother was of a determined disposition, and seldom failed to +solve a domestic problem. We looked about as well as other people's +children in that exhibition--at least we thought we did, and that was +sufficient. But it must be remembered that there is just so much cloth, +and no more, in a petticoat. So our suits were necessarily made tight. I +had to be careful how I got around on the stage. + +I usually had different teachers every year, as one teacher seldom cared +to stay at a place for more than a session. I well remember the +disadvantages of this custom. One teacher would have me in a Third +Reader and fractions, another in Fifth Reader and addition. When I +reached the point where the teacher ordered me to get a United States +History, the book-store did not have one, but sold me a biography of +Martin Luther instead, which I studied for some time, thinking that I +was learning something about the United States. I did not know what the +United States was or was like, although I had studied geography and knew +something about South America and Africa; and my teacher did not tell +me. My teacher at this time was a good man, but that was all. Many of my +teachers knew very little, but I thought they knew everything, and that +was sufficient, for their teaching was wholesome. I remember one or two, +however, whose work, under the circumstances, would be hard to match +even now. + +As soon as I was old enough I was hired out for wages, to help support +the family. My school opportunities were now almost gone, and for this +reason, together with a desire for more excitement, I began to grow +restless on the farm. I grew morose. I pulled myself loose from all +public functions, ceased to attend any public meetings, save regular +monthly church meetings, and betook me to the woods, where I read +everything I could get. It was during this time that accidentally, I +may say providentially, I got hold of a book containing the life of +Ignacius Sancho; and I have never read anything that has given me more +inspiration. I wish every Negro boy in the land might read it. I read +and worked, and helped to support the family. I had vowed that as soon +as I was twenty-one I would leave for some school and there stay until I +was educated. I was already a little in advance of the young people in +my community, so I spent my long winter evenings teaching a little +night-school to which the young people of the neighborhood came. + +All my life up to this time my father had been working as a tenant. He +now determined to strike out for himself--buy stock and rent land. The +mule he bought soon became hopelessly lame in the back. It was a +peculiar sort of illness. Once upon his feet, he could work all day +without difficulty, but when he lay down at night he had to be helped up +the following morning. During that entire season the first thing I heard +each morning was the voice of my father, "Children, children, get up! +let's go and help up the old mule." A neighbor also was called in each +morning to help. Toward the end of the season the school opened. We were +so anxious to enter, that we determined to help the old mule. My +brother and I hitched ourselves to the plow, and sister did the plowing. +Early each morning we plowed in this way, and soon finished the crop and +entered the little school. + +My father and some others had built a little school out of pine poles +which they had cut, and hauled to the spot on their shoulders. The +teacher, a married man, easily won all his pupils, but I could never +forgive him for winning and finally eloping with his pretty assistant +teacher. + +Christmas eve, 1889, I went to bed a boy. Just after breakfast the next +morning I became a man--my own man. "Sandy Claw" did not come that +night, although I had hung up my stocking, and I was feeling bad about +it. After breakfast my father called me out into the yard, where we +seated ourselves on the protruding roots of a large oak-tree, and there +he set me free. + +"Son," said he, "you are nearing manhood, and you have no education; +besides, if you remain with me I will not be able to help you when you +are twenty-one. We've decided to make you free, if you'll make us one +promise--that you will educate yourself." + +By that time my mother had joined the party. I cried, I know not why, +and my mother cried; even my father could not conceal his emotion. I +accepted the proposal immediately, and although we usually took +Christmas till New Year's day, my Christmas that year was then at an +end. Manhood had dawned upon me that morning. I tried to be calm, but +inwardly I was like a fish out of water. + +I struck out to find work, that I might make money to go to school. One +mile across the forest brought me to a man who hired me, and promised me +$9.25 a month for nine months. + +At the end of six months I came across the Tuskegee Student, published +at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. I read every line in +it. On the first page was a note: "There is an opportunity for a limited +number of able-bodied young men to enter the Tuskegee Normal and +Industrial Institute and work their way through, provided application is +made at once. Booker T. Washington, Principal." + +Work their way through! I had never heard of such a thing before. +Neither had I heard of Tuskegee. I sent in my application. I did not +know how to address a letter, and so only put "Booker T. Washington" on +the envelope. Somehow he received it and gave me permission to come. + +There ensued a general scramble to get ready to go by the opening of +school. I broke off relations with my employer by compromising for a +suit of clothes and $8 in money. My chum, a man of about forty years of +age, seeing the struggle I was making to get off, offered to help me, or +rather to show me how to get the money easily by stealing a few chickens +and selling them. It was a tempting bait, but against all the previous +teachings of my mother. He argued, and my mother, who was not there, +also argued within me. I could not consent. My friend pitied me and +offered to do the job himself. + +To get a supply of clothes to take to Tuskegee was the question. Up to +that time I had never worn an undershirt, or a pair of drawers, or a +stiff-bosom shirt, or a stiff collar. All these I had not only to get, +but had to learn to wear them. My shirts and collars were bought +second-hand from a white neighbor and were all too large by three +numbers. + +The last day of September, 1890, I left for Tuskegee. When I reached +there, although I was a young man, I could not tell what county I lived +in, in answer to Mr. Washington's question. I was admitted, after some +hesitancy on the part of Principal Washington, and sent to the farm to +work for one year in the daytime and to attend school at night. + +I was dazed at the splendor of Tuskegee. There was Armstrong Hall, the +most imposing brick structure I had ever seen. Then came Alabama Hall, +where the girls lived. How wonderful! I could hardly believe that I was +not dreaming, and I was almost afraid I should awake. When I went to bed +that night I got between two sheets--something I had not been accustomed +to do. About twelve o'clock an officer came in, threw the cover off me, +and asked some questions about nightshirts, comb and brush, and +tooth-brush, with all of which I was but meagerly acquainted. He made me +get up, pull off my socks, necktie, collar, and shirt, and told me I +would rest better without them. I didn't believe him, but I obeyed. + +The next morning I saw more activity among Negroes than I had ever seen +before in my life. Not only was everybody at work, but every soul seemed +to be in earnest. I heard the ringing of the anvil, the click of +machinery, the music of the carpenters' hammers. Before my eyes was a +pair of big fat mules drawing a piece of new and improved farm +machinery, which literally gutted the earth as the mules moved. Here was +a herd of cattle, there a herd of swine; here thumped the mighty +steam-engine that propelled the machine which delivered up its many +thousand of brick daily; there was another machine, equally powerful, +turning out thousands of feet of pine lumber every day. Then there were +the class-rooms, with their dignified teachers and worthy-looking young +men and women. Amid it all moved that wonderful figure, Booker T. +Washington. + +I began at once a new existence. I made a vow that I would educate +myself there, or I would die and be buried in the school cemetery. When +Mr. Washington stood at the altar in the first service which I attended +and uttered a fervent prayer asking for guidance, and for spiritual and +financial strength to carry on that great work, I felt that the Lord +would surely answer his prayer. Since then I have traveled practically +all over this country, and in one foreign country, without once seeing +anything that made so deep an impression on me. + + +[Illustration: MORNING AT THE BARNS ON THE SCHOOL FARM. + +Teams of horses and cattle ready to start for the day's work.] + + +Simultaneously with this opportunity for self-education came many real +hardships--to say nothing of imaginary hardships--which nearly resulted +disastrously to my health. I was poorly clad for the extraordinary +winter then setting in. I had only one undershirt and one pair of +drawers. I could not, of course, put these articles in the laundry, and +therefore had to pull them off on Saturday nights, wash them, and get +them dry enough to wear by breakfast on Sunday morning. It followed that +many Sunday mornings found me sitting at the table wearing damp +underwear. I could do no better, without leaving school, and this I was +determined not to do. I was earnest in my work, and was promoted from a +common laborer to be a hostler in charge of all boys dealing with +horses, and then to the much-sought position of special assistant to the +farm manager. + +I was beginning to see the mistakes of my former life, the time I had +lost, and now applied myself diligently. I carried a book with me +everywhere I went, and not a second of time would I lose. While driving +my mules with a load of wood, I would read until I reached the place of +unloading. Mr. Washington took note of this, and upon one occasion, +while admonishing the students to make good use of their time, said: +"There is a young man on the grounds who will be heard from some day +because of his intense application to study and diligence in his work." +I listened. I knew he was speaking of me, and the fact that I was to be +"heard from" later made me double my resolutions. + +In September, 1891, I had to my credit in the treasury of the +institution $100, and I was now ready to enter the day-school, to +measure arms with the more fortunate students. But, alas! sickness +overtook me, and when I emerged from the hospital, after about two +months' sickness, my doctor's bill was exactly $100. My accumulated +credit went to pay it. + +This was the penalty for making the transit from a lower to a higher +civilization. When I went without undergarments at home, my health was +saved because of uniformity of habit. Now it was injured because I could +wear them this week, but might not be able to do so the +next--irregularity of habit. Then, too, Tuskegee gave me such +living-rooms as I had never lived in, or hoped to. I had lived in log +houses, which are self-ventilating. Now I had either overventilated or +failed to ventilate my room. It is a difficult matter to make the +transit from a lower to a higher civilization. There are many obstacles, +and many have fallen by the way. + +I went home to recuperate, but returned to Tuskegee in a few weeks, and +as I had no money I was again permitted to enter the night-school and +work during the day. This time I took up the printers' trade. Here I +broke over the conventional rule of acting "devil" six months, and began +setting type after one month in the office. In six months I was one of +the school's regular compositors; and in one term I had sufficient +credit with the treasurer to enter the day-school. + +But I was not yet to enter. A letter came from my father, saying, "If +you wish to see me again alive, I think it would be well to come at +once." I went. My father died a few days after I got home, June 27, +1893. + +All hope of future schooling seemed now at an end. My only concern was +to do the best I could with the exceedingly heavy load now left on my +hands. I pulled off my school-clothes, went to the field, and finished +the crop father had left. There was a heavy debt, and I began to teach +school to pay this debt. Of course I knew very little, but I taught what +I knew--and, I suppose, some things I didn't know. + +I think even now that I did the people some good. I had not learned much +at Tuskegee in books, but I had learned much from Mr. Washington's +Sunday evening talks in the chapel. I had listened carefully to him and +had treasured up in my heart what he had said from time to time. Now I +was teaching it to others. I felt I was to this little community what +Mr. Washington was to Tuskegee. So I made the people whitewash their +fences and fix up their houses and premises generally. They were very +poor, and when the school closed they could not pay me. I told them I +would take corn, peas, potatoes, sirup, pork, shucks, cotton-seed--in +fact, anything with which they wished to pay me. + +Wagons were secured and loaded, and for several days all sorts of +provisions were hauled to my mother's house and stored away for winter. +I went to the house of one good widow, who said: + +"'Fesser, I ain't got nothin' to pay you wid but dis 'ere house-cat, and +he's a good'n. I owes you twenty-five cents, and I wants to pay it. You +done my little gal good--more'n any teacher ever did. She ain't stop' +washin' her face yit when she gits up in de mornin'." + +"Very well," I said, "I'll take the cat with thanks and call the debt +square." + +Another said: "'Fesser, I heard you was coming, and I hid all my meat +in de smoke-house, and says: 'I'll tell him I ain't got none;' but when +I seed you coming I tole de chillen to go open de smoke-house. Anybody +who do my chillens as much good as you, can get every bit de meat I +got." From that woman I got fifty pounds of meat. + +Another good woman wanted me to take her only pair of scissors, and when +I refused to do so, she put them into my coat-pocket, saying the man who +taught her child so much must be paid. + +For three years I taught school with one personal object in view--the +support of my mother and her family. Mother was not satisfied with this; +she wanted me educated. Finally she married again, for no higher reason +than to permit me, and the other children growing up, to go to school. +My hope for an education was again renewed, and I went back to Tuskegee. + +Nearly everybody had forgotten that I had ever been there. +Notwithstanding I had been out nearly three terms, I had kept pace with +my class, making one class each year, the same as if I had been in +school. Upon a very critical examination, in which I averaged +ninety-three for all subjects, I entered the B Middle class in the +day-school. + +Financially I was very little better off than when I left, but I had +learned how to manipulate things in such a way as to make it possible to +remain in school. I knew a trade at which I could easily make a dollar a +day in credit, and I could teach during the vacation. Things went +smoothly for one year. Then my brother came, and I had to support him in +part. Just about the time I was getting myself adjusted to this, my +sister came. I knew I should have to support her almost wholly, so I +felt like giving up under such a triple burden; but I held on. I had to +deny myself many of the pleasures of school life in order to make two +ends meet. I had to wear two pairs of pantaloons and one pair of +drawers; and I remember one Sunday, while the school was enjoying a good +sermon by a great bishop, I was in the shop melting some glue, with +which I glued patches on my only pair of pantaloons, which had reached a +condition where thread would no longer hold the patches on. I will not +tell what happened when the patches had been on for a few days. + +But amid all these conflicting affairs of my school-days ran an immense +amount of pleasure, more than I had ever known before. I was gradually +coming to see things as they are in the affairs of men. I thought then, +and I still think, that no sacrifice was too great when there was such +a golden opportunity. To sit and listen to one Sunday evening talk by +Principal Washington was worth all the trouble one had to undergo for a +year. + +Two years before I graduated I began to inquire what I was made +for--what calling should I follow? It was hard to decide. Mr. +Washington's teaching had impressed me that I should do something to +help those less fortunate than myself, and that in the very darkest +place I could find. My father had called me to his death-bed and said to +me: "Son, I want you to become a teacher of your people. I have done +what I could in that direction. The people need your services." I +recalled how in his last moments I had promised him I would carry out +his wishes. There was nothing else left for me to do but to go into +those dark places. But there was the rub; and every Sunday evening Mr. +Washington thundered that same theme: "Go into the darkest places, the +places where you are most needed, and there give your life with little +thought of self." I knew about those dark places. I had been born in one +of them. I had been spending my vacations teaching in them. + +Once, while teaching in the State of Georgia, I boarded with a family +where there were fifteen besides myself, all sleeping, eating, and +cooking in the same room. There were three young women in the family. +When bedtime came I had to go out of doors and amuse myself with the +stars till all the women were in bed; then they would extinguish the +hearth-light by putting some ashes on it and let me come in and go to +bed. I had to keep my head under the cover the next morning while they +got up and dressed. I used to sleep with my nose near a crack in the +wall in order to get fresh air. One little girl in the family, while +saying her prayers one night, begged the Lord to let the angels come +down and stay with them that night. Her little brother promptly +interrupted her by saying that she ought to have sense enough to know +that there was no room in that bed for angels, as there were already +five persons in it. I was used to the country and its worst conditions. +I prayed over the matter till finally I gave myself, heart and mind, to +whatever place should call me. + +During my last year at Tuskegee I was made a substitute salaried teacher +in the night-school. My financial burdens were now lifted and my school +life became one great pleasure. Toward the end of my Senior year I +decided to try for the Trinity Prize of $25 for the best original +oration. I remembered what Mr. Washington had so often said: that a man +usually gets out of a thing what he puts into it. I determined to put +$100 worth of effort into this contest. I was awarded the prize. + +A place was offered to me at Tuskegee as academic teacher, but I +declined it. I had settled in my mind that I would go to the State of +Mississippi, which I had found by two years of investigation was the +place where my services were most needed. I could not go to Mississippi +at once. I had not money to pay my way, so I accepted a position with my +friend, William J. Edwards, at his school in Snow Hill, Ala., where I +worked for four years, never losing sight of my Mississippi object. +While at Snow Hill I married Miss Mary Ella Patterson, a Tuskegee +graduate of the Class of '95. We put our earnings together and built us +a comfortable little home. One child, William Sidney, was born to us, +but lived only six months. + +It took me just two years to convince my wife that there was any wisdom +or judgment in leaving our little home and going to Mississippi, where +neither of us was known. But finally she gave herself, soul and body, to +my way of thinking. + +The way was now clear for me to make the start. Just before I left for +Mississippi, one of my old teachers from Tuskegee visited me. He +inquired about my going to Mississippi, and when I explained the scheme +to him, he said jestingly, "You know there is no God in Mississippi." I +simply replied that then I would take "the one that Alabama had" with +me. + +I could not take my wife, for she was under the care of a physician at +that time. I decided to leave nearly all my ready cash with her. I did +not take quite enough for my railroad fare, for I had expected to sell +my wife's bicycle when I reached Selma, the nearest town, and thus +secure enough money to finish my trip. But when I got to Selma the wheel +would not sell, so I boarded the train without money enough to reach +Utica, the place in Mississippi to which I was bound. + +I had not got far into the State of Mississippi when my purse was empty. +I stopped off at a little town, late at night, where there were no +boarding-houses, and no one would admit me to a private house to sleep. +I wandered about until I came upon an old guano-house, and crawled into +this and slept until the break of day. Then I crawled out, pulled myself +together, jumped astride my bicycle, and made my way toward Utica, +through a wild and unfrequented part of Mississippi. But before I could +reach Utica my wheel broke down, whereupon I put it upon my shoulder, +rolled up my trousers, and continued the journey to Utica. I soon met a +young man who relieved me of my burden by trading me his brass watch for +the wheel and giving me $2 to boot. + +I had previously got myself elected principal of the little county +school, which, if I could pass the State examination, would pay me a +little salary, which would be a great help to me while I worked up the +Industrial and Normal School which I had come to build. Much depended on +my ability to pass the examination. Tuskegee's reputation was at +stake--my own reputation was at stake; for, if I failed, the people +would certainly lose confidence in me, and make it impossible for me to +accomplish my purpose. + +I was out of money, and this was the only way I could see to get any for +a long time. If I failed, my wife--who was still in Alabama, and who +believed in my ability to do anything--would perhaps lose respect for +me, and, most of all, the failure to pass the examination might upset +all my plans and blast all my hopes. I confess I went to that +examination with a sort of anxious determination. I did not, however, +find it half so difficult as I had expected. I soon succeeded in +obtaining the necessary license to teach in the public schools of the +State. + +The little schoolhouse where the school had been heretofore was so much +out of repair that we could not risk having pupils under its roof. I had +hoped to open in the church, but the good deacons would not permit this. +So the few pupils who came the first day were gathered together under an +oak-tree, and there were taught. After some time a temporary cabin was +fixed up, and in this we taught the entire winter. The cabin was +practically no protection against the rain, and less against the winter +winds. The wind literally came through from all directions--from the +sides, ends, above, and beneath. + +We soon had the floor stopped up with clay. This brought about another +disadvantage: when it began to rain through the roof, the water would +collect on the floor until it was two or three inches deep. Two young +women were helping me to teach. They often amused me by trying to +maintain their dignity and keep out of the water at the same time. They +would stand upon stools and fire questions at their pupils, who were +standing in the water below while answering them. On such days as this +I usually wore my overcoat and rubber shoes. I would then stand in the +water and teach with as much indifference as possible. We bored holes in +the floor to let the water out, but it usually came through the roof +faster than it could escape. There was much suffering at this time on +the part of both teachers and students, but it was all a joy and +pleasure to me, for I felt that I had found my life-work. + +I was a stranger to the people, and they had very little confidence in +me. Some of them questioned my motives in every direction. At the first +meeting of the patrons for the purpose of raising money, seventy-five +cents were collected and were turned over to me to hold. In a couple of +days some one demanded that the collection be taken out of my hands. I +quietly turned it over to them. Then they got up a scramble as to which +one should hold it. They settled the quarrel by selecting a white man in +the town of Utica, in whom all of them had confidence. I then went out +canvassing and got $10, which I promptly turned over. Immediately they +wanted to turn it back to me to hold, together with what the white man +had. They never again questioned my sincerity. + +My wife, who was still in Alabama, kept writing me to let her join me. +Explanations would do no good. She laid aside all the comforts of home +life and came to live in a hovel. We rented a little room, bought a +skillet and a frying-pan, a bed and two chairs, and set up housekeeping. +I did the cooking, for my wife was a city girl and did not know how to +cook on the open fireplace. We never contrasted our condition in +Mississippi with that in Alabama; we simply made the best of what we +had. + +At first there was difficulty in securing land for a location, and many +of the patrons began to feel that nothing would be accomplished. To +offset this idea I purchased lumber for a building, had it put in the +churchyard, and cut up ready for framing. The enthusiasm had to be kept +up. Land was soon bought and the building started. Everybody felt now +that something was going to be done. At the end of the first year's work +I was able to make to the trustees a creditable report, from which the +following is taken: + + + As soon as we secured a cabin to teach in, the young people came in + great numbers. We soon had an attendance of 200. One teacher after + another was employed to assist, until seven teachers were daily at + work. After three months in our temporary quarters conditions were + very trying. There was no money to pay teachers or to meet the + grocery bills for teachers' board. The winter was well on, and the + structure in which we were located was little protection against + it. The rain easily came through the roof, and water was often two + inches deep on certain parts of the floor. Several teachers and + students were suffering with pneumonia or kindred disorders, as a + result of all this exposure. I confess that during this dark period + only a carefully planned system and much determination prevented + despair. + + During all this time I was trying to secure the interest of the + people. I went from door to door, explaining our efforts; then I + made a tour of the churches; after riding or walking five or ten + miles at night I would return, and then teach the next day. After a + protracted struggle of this kind, and after visiting almost + everybody for many miles, I found that I had secured about $600. + This greatly relieved us. Forty acres of land were purchased, and a + part of the lumber for a good, comfortable building was put upon + the grounds. Some of our trustees in New York city and Boston now + came to our assistance, and with this, and contributions from a few + other friends, we were able to get through the year. Although it + was a great struggle, I found in it some pleasure. To know that + you were doing the work that the world needs, and must have done, + is a pleasure even under trying difficulties. + + Starting last October without a cent, in the open air, we have + succeeded in establishing a regularly organized institution + incorporated under the laws of the State of Mississippi, with 225 + students and seven teachers, and with property valued at $4,000. + Forty acres of good farm-land about a mile from town have been + secured. A model crop is now growing on this farm. We have erected + a building--a two-story frame--at a cost of something over $2,000. + + I hope you will not get, from what I have said, an idea that I am + measuring the success of my efforts by material advancement. I am + not. There are forces which our labors have set to work here, the + results of which can not be measured in facts and figures. One year + ago religious services were held once a month, at which time the + day was spent in singing, praying, and shouting. The way some of + the people lived for the next twenty-nine days would shock a + sensitive individual to read about it. Young people would gamble + with the dice, etc., in a most despicable way, within a short + distance of the church, during services; others would discharge + revolvers at the church door during services; ignorance, + superstition, vice, and immorality were everywhere present, + notwithstanding the handful of determined Christian men and women + who were trying to overcome these evil tendencies. I do not + maintain that these evils have been crushed out. They have not. But + what I do maintain is that the general current has been checked. + The revolution is on; and if we continue the work here, as we + surely will, these evil tendencies will soon be crushed out. + + +During this year the people themselves furnished $1,000 toward the +support of the school. They have never before spent a tenth as much for +education. The second year eleven teachers were employed and 400 +students were admitted. The cost of operations was $10,000, all of which +was raised during the year. We are now entering into our third term. +Fifteen teachers have been employed, and the expenses of operation will +be about $15,000, all of which I must raise by direct effort. Our +property, all deeded to a board of trustees, is valued at $10,000. + +I can not feel that I have accomplished much here in Mississippi, +because I see all around me so much to be done--so much that I can not +touch because of lack of means. But, being in the work to stay, I may, +in the end, contribute my share to the betterment of man. If I have +suffered much to build up this work, I can not feel that it is a +sacrifice. It is a colossal opportunity. The greater the sacrifice, the +more extensive the opportunity. Whatever may have been accomplished +already is certainly due more to my wife's superior judgment than to my +own activity. Whatever I have been able to do myself here in Mississippi +for my people has been due, first, to the teachings of my mother, and, +second, to the all-important life-example and matchless teachings of +Booker T. Washington. + + + + +III + +A LAWYER'S STORY + +BY GEORGE W. LOVEJOY + + +I can give no accurate date as to my birth, as my mother was a slave and +thus it was not recorded, but I think I was born in the month of +February, 1859. I was born in Coosa, one of the middle counties of +Alabama. + +I am the third child and the second son of eleven children, seven of +whom are still living. + +My father I do not remember, as he died when I was very young, but I +most vividly remember my stepfather, the only father I ever knew. + +Childhood to me was not that long season of "painless play" of which +Whittier so beautifully sings, but I do remember that I was early +impressed that my feet must have been made for the express purpose of +treading "the mills of toil." When seven years of age my stepfather put +a hoe in my little hands and bade me go and help my mother weed the +cotton-patch, and from that day to the present time I have been +constant in my application to some form of labor. + +When my mind reverts to that early period of my life I become my own +photographer and get various pictures of myself, either as picking, +hoeing, or planting cotton, of pulling fodder or splitting rails, for +these were the things I did from childhood to manhood. + +My stepfather had been the foreman, or "driver," for his master when he +was a slave, and I am persuaded to believe that he must have been an +excellent one, for I can not remember in all my life when a day's work +had been so full, so complete, so well done, that he would not press for +a little more the next day. + +Mortgaging of crops was then in vogue, as it is to-day, and my mind +revolts when I think of how my young life and the lives of my mother, +sisters, and brothers were burdened with the constant grind of trying to +eke out a living and, if possible, get even a little ahead. + +Some years, when conditions had been favorable, we were able to clear +ourselves of debt and begin anew. But, seemingly, this prosperity was +not for us, for these years of plenty were almost invariably followed by +one or two less fruitful ones that came and "swallowed up the whole," +leaving us as forlorn and as wretchedly poor as we were before. This +failure of the crops because of drouths unduly long, wet seasons, the +ravages of worms, caterpillars, and other uncontrollable circumstances, +not only meant that the whole of that year's labor was to bring no +tangible rewards, but that much property accumulated in more prosperous +times was to be dissipated as well. I can recall repeated instances when +all of my stepfather's live stock was taken for debt under this crushing +system. And thus it was that my stepfather, and my mother, and the rest +of the farmers for miles around existed! + +During all these years my brothers, sisters, and myself were growing up +in ignorance. Until I was ten years old I had never heard of a school +for colored children. Even after the privilege of attending school two +months of the year--July and August--had been accorded me, I am certain +that the instruction received was of that kind that hinders more than it +helps. Year after year the course of study would be repeated. Perhaps +this repetition was necessary for more than one reason: + +First, ten months' vacation does not tend to firmly impress upon one's +mind the knowledge acquired in two. + +Second, the teachers themselves had such limited knowledge that two +months were ample time in which to exhaust their store of knowledge, +and, as examinations were so easy, it was not imperative that they do +more than "keep school." + +I remember quite distinctly that when I did go to school we used the +proverbial Webster's blue-back speller. The majority of the pupils began +with the "A, B, C," the alphabet, and went as far as "horseback," while +apt pupils might be able to reach "compressibility." And so for years we +went from "A" to "compressibility" on "horseback." + +In those days the three "R's" were not confounded. Only one of them was +given to us, and that in broken doses, for I reached manhood without +being able to write a single word or to work a problem in mathematics. + +Neither my mother nor stepfather could read or write a line; not a book, +newspaper, or magazine was ever seen in our home. It was most unusual to +see a colored man or woman who could either read or write. + +When a mere boy I inwardly protested against this manner of +bringing-up. I determined to make my life more useful, to make it better +than it was. But how long these years were! However, the day came when I +was twenty-one, and I began to create a "life" for myself. + +I immediately went to work doing farm labor, and saved my earnings until +I had twenty-five or thirty dollars ahead. I then decided to go to +school somewhere and to learn something. I found my first opportunity in +Montgomery, Ala. I went there in November, 1883, and entered the Swayne +School. + +Everything was new and strange to me. I had never seen so large a +schoolhouse before. I was dazed, bewildered. There I was, a great, grown +man, in the class with little children, who looked upon me as a +curiosity, something to be wondered at. I, too, looked at them with +amazement, for it seemed next to impossible for young boys and girls to +know as much as they seemed to know. + +I can not say that I was heartily received by the pupils. I was awkward, +and I discovered that the city children did not find me pleasingly +companionable. + +It is probable that at this point I should have grown discouraged and +given up had I not met that great and good man, Rev. Robert C. Bedford, +who is now, as he has been for many years, secretary of the board of +trustees of the Tuskegee Institute, and who travels among and reports +upon the work of Tuskegee graduates and former students, but who was at +that time pastor of the First Congregational Church in Montgomery. I +regularly attended his church and the Sunday-school connected therewith, +and received such help and encouragement from him as but few men can +impart to others. + +It was he who first told me of Tuskegee and advised me to enter there. I +felt that this advice, if heeded, would work for my good. I was admitted +to Tuskegee for the session beginning September, 1884, three years after +the school had been opened. + +When I entered Tuskegee I was filled with loathing for all forms of +manual labor. I had been a slave to toil all my life and had resolved +that, if it were possible for a colored man to make a living by doing +something besides farming, splitting rails, or picking and hoeing +cotton, I would be one of that number. I was compelled at the school, +however, like the others, to work at some industry. I did some work on +the farm and was one of the school's "boss" janitors. + + +[Illustration: STUDENTS PRUNING PEACH-TREES.] + + +Though I had no real inclination to learn a trade or to perform any kind +of manual toil, I did desire to be useful, and throughout my whole +school life at Tuskegee I had visions of myself seated in an office +pondering over Blackstone, Kent, and Storey, with a "shingle" on the +outside announcing my profession to all passers-by. + +After spending some time in Tuskegee and diligently applying myself, I +was much gratified to find that I was able to pass the State examination +for a second-grade certificate, and to teach, during the vacation +period, the very school in which I had so long before learned to spell +"horseback" and "compressibility." + +I spent four years in the Tuskegee Institute, graduating with the class +of 1888. + +Before graduating, I divulged to Mr. Washington my long-cherished +ambition, and was somewhat chagrined to find that he did not think much +of my dreams. He apparently sympathized with this larger vision, but +seemed to think I ought to have more education. I suspect he was right. +However, I was determined to make an effort to realize my ambitions. I +insisted that he must help me to find a place to read law. After a +while it was decided that I should begin in the office of Mr. William M. +Reid, of Portsmouth, Va. + +With this end in view, I taught in the State of Alabama from May, 1888, +until April, 1889. I then left for Portsmouth. + +Though I had worked for eleven months, I had but $1.25 when I reached +Portsmouth. My salary had been meager, I had paid every cent I owed the +school, and had met the many obligations necessary to living in a +decently comfortable manner. + +I found Mr. Reid to be an intelligent, studious, hard-working young man, +with a fairly good practise, and in that hour of uncertainty and +embarrassment he proved himself to be "the friend in need." With his aid +I was not long in finding work by which I earned enough to pay my board +and buy books to help me in my study of law at night. + +I worked during the daytime at the United States Navy-Yard in +Portsmouth, receiving $1.25 per day. I had never before earned so much +money. I was able not only to meet my regular bills but to save +something, and soon began to collect a law library. I worked at the +Navy-Yard for three years. It was my privilege to work upon the +second-class battleship Texas, and upon the steel-protected cruiser +Raleigh, both of which rendered admirable service in the +Spanish-American War. + +In the spring of 1892 I felt that I had sufficient knowledge of law to +begin practising. I left Virginia and returned to Alabama. The tug of +war had now begun. I found it exceedingly difficult to get examined. +After trying for five months, I succeeded in getting a lawyer, a Mr. +Thompson, of Macon County, Ala., to recommend me to the chancery court +of that county for examination. I was examined in open court before all +the practising attorneys of that bar, and was given license to practise +law in the State of Alabama. + +I was elated, overjoyed--my dream was nearing its realization! + +I selected Mobile, Ala., a city of about fifty thousand inhabitants, as +my field of labor. I opened my office on September 8, 1892, and have +practised law there from that time to the present date. Though I have +met many obstacles and have had many difficulties to surmount, I have +never had to close my office, or seek other employment to make a living. +I have done well. + +I have experienced no embarrassment because of prejudice. The judges and +juries have discussed cases with me in the same manner that they would +with any other lawyer at the bar. I have even had a few white clients. + +To get the confidence of my own people is the hardest problem I have had +to solve, for I find that men are still sometimes without honor in their +own country. + +I am daily confronted with many petty difficulties. I sometimes find +that even a religious difference will come between me and a probable +client. Some think I should be a Baptist, others would have me a +Methodist, and others still suggest that I should embrace the Catholic +faith. I should also belong to every secret society in the city, and +attend every public gathering no matter what the hour, whether it be +called at high noon or at dawn of day. + +Despite these things to be expected of a people but forty years free, +and used to white judges, and juries, and lawyers, and unused to dealing +with one of their own, I feel that I am still winning my way. It is my +desire to help my fellow men, and in return receive an appreciable +share of their help. + +After practising my profession for nearly two years, I was married to +Miss Sarah E. Ogden, who was at that time a student at the Tuskegee +Institute. We have been happily married for ten years and have been +blessed with six children, only three of whom, I am sorry to state, are +living. + +I feel that I can not close this short sketch without paying a closing +tribute to my _alma mater_--Tuskegee. Those lessons of thrift, industry, +and integrity dwelt upon by Principal Washington and his coworkers, I +shall never forget. My heart thrills and its pulses beat whenever I +think of what it has meant to me to come in contact with the quickening +influences of that school. + +I lift up my voice and call her blessed, my Tuskegee! + + + + +IV + +A SCHOOL TREASURER'S STORY + +BY MARTIN A. MENAFEE + + +I was born on a plantation in Lee County, Ala., and, as my parents were +very poor, I was placed in the field and did not see the inside of a +schoolroom until I was twelve years old. I then had a chance to attend a +three months' school for six months, or for two years, as we usually +called it. Before this I had had one of my shoulders dislocated through +an accident and have been able to use but one arm since. + +At this period I made up my mind to secure an education, and a gentleman +who was teaching school at my home took me to an Alabama college, +thinking that he could perhaps get me in school there. I told the +president of the college that I wanted an education, and offered him my +services in return for such opportunities as he would open to me, but +seeing my condition, he soon concluded that I could render but little in +the way of services. I pleaded with him for a trial, but he refused me +admittance, albeit in a very nice and polite manner. + +I returned home, then at Oakbowery, Ala. Very soon after my return I +heard of the Tuskegee Institute, and I think it was in July of that year +when I made up my mind that I would start for this school, which was +about forty miles from where I lived. After walking to Auburn, Ala., +twelve miles, I waited for the train and, as she glided up, I walked in +and took my seat. Before I left home I knew some walking would be +necessary, and preferred doing it at the beginning of the journey. I was +admitted on my arrival, after some parleying, and was promptly assigned +to work in the brick-yard. After I had been there for two days I found +that the sun had no pity on, or patience with, me; it seemed to blister +me through and through. I finally concluded that the sun, together with +the brick-yard, was blasting the hopes I had entertained and the +determination I had fostered, of securing an education. I tried to get +my work changed, but the Director of Industries did not see it as I did, +and would not do it. + +The next thing that I settled upon for relief was to get sick, but a +day's trial of that showed that would not work. I decided that I would +return home, where I was sure I would at least find no brick-yard to +harass or disturb. My stay at the school was just about seven or eight +days. I would like to add just here, however, that I am very glad that I +was put on the brick-yard, as it certainly left in me the spirit of work +after I got over that first affliction of heat. + +Very soon after I had returned home I received a letter from one of the +teachers of Talladega College, a Miss S. J. Elder, who met me when I was +there seeking entrance, asking me to go to Jenifer, Ala., and attend a +school there conducted by two white ladies; she said she would "foot" +all of my bills. This greatly relieved me, and I considered it a great +thing. Very soon thereafter I had my clothes ready, and was at Jenifer. +I was there for one year, but Tuskegee was constantly on my mind; in +fact, I had made up my mind to give it a second trial. + +On October 29, 1894, I again went to Tuskegee and asked for admission. I +was admitted with the understanding that I should stand up in the Chapel +and make a public acknowledgment of the wrong I had done in leaving the +school without permission. This seemed like a great humiliation, as I +could hardly talk to one person, to say nothing of the thousand +students and teachers then there, as I stammered so much. Mr. Washington +seemed to understand the situation and was kind enough to help me out by +asking questions. + +I was given work on the farm, and started out again with renewed vigor +and determination to complete a course of study. The farm manager, Mr. +C. W. Greene, was very kind to me and gave me work that I could do. +After I had been on the farm about two weeks he placed me at the gates +to keep out the cows and hogs that might be tempted to walk in on the +school-lawns. This work I enjoyed, and very soon established an "office" +under a tree near the gate. I held this position and kept this "office" +for two years. + +I was then taken from there and placed in Mr. Greene's office to help +him. It was at Tuskegee that I first saw a typewriter and shorthand +writing. I made up my mind that I would be a stenographer and +typewriter, and thought that if I could learn this, that would be as +high up as I cared to go in life. I borrowed a book on shorthand, not +being able to purchase one, and began the study without a teacher. Very +soon I realized that I had learned a little, and my ambition grew. I +wanted a typewriter. + +I got up enough courage to go to the Rev. R. C. Bedford, who often +visited the school, and who was one of my best friends, and, in fact, is +largely responsible for my being able to stay at Tuskegee as long as I +did, and told him I wanted a typewriter; I repeatedly told him that my +success in life largely depended upon my securing it. Mr. Bedford said +he would see what could be done, and, in a very short time, he came from +the North and brought the machine. When he informed me that he had +brought it, it did seem that I could not stay on the grounds. I felt +then that I had all that was necessary to make me a stenographer, and +very soon declared myself a member of the stenographic world. + +I advanced very well in these new studies and was given some work to do +in the offices. The regular school stenographers helped me all they +could. + +The saddest experience I ever had in connection with the Tuskegee +Institute was at the end of my second summer. I was very anxious to +remain in the employ of the school, as my people were very poor and I +did not care to be home on them unless I could become a full field hand, +and I felt that the school had much work that I could do. I appealed to +the Director more than once to let me remain, but he replied each time +that the work department was closed; that he could not take any more, +and furthermore, that it was best that I return home. Mr. Bedford +encouraged me all he could and told me that I might find something to +do; that I should launch out for myself. I went to Opelika, and Mr. +Bedford was on the same train. He and I were in Opelika together for +about a half day. He was on his way to Beloit, Wis., his home, and I was +on my way home to Oakbowery. About thirty minutes before it was time for +my train to leave, I noticed a man who was very busy superintending the +hauling of some lumber. This man asked my name, what I could do, and +where I was from. For a moment I hesitated to tell him, but finally did. +I found that he was the principal of the colored city school at Opelika, +Professor J. R. Savage. Mr. Savage proved to be a true friend. He gave +me work at once in the Summer Normal School he was conducting. I went to +my home that evening, rejoicing that I had found work. When I returned +to Opelika Mr. Savage asked me to take charge of the business department +of the Summer Normal and teach shorthand and typewriting. I worked with +him in this way for three summers, my vacation periods, with much +success. We worked well together and in perfect harmony. + +At the opening of each school year at Tuskegee I would be among the +first to get there to begin my studies. I found that, in order to remain +at Tuskegee, students had to have a real purpose. I had one, and I think +so impressed the Faculty before leaving there. + +I did not have all smooth sailing, and, at times, I would all but give +up. + +I was at Tuskegee for six years, and I recall those years with much +pleasure and satisfaction. During my stay there I made many friends, and +I can not refrain from mentioning the Rev. R. C. Bedford, who has helped +me in so many ways; Mr. Warren Logan, the Treasurer of the school; Mrs. +F. B. Thornton, the Matron, who took me as her son, and my dear friend, +the farm manager, Mr. C. W. Greene. Many others were also very kind to +me. + +I completed my course of study in 1900. By this time Mr. Bedford had +secured a position for me at Denmark, S. C., as stenographer to the +principal, Miss Elizabeth E. Wright, a Tuskegee graduate. I did not hold +this position very long before it was decided in a meeting of the board +of trustees to have me act as the school's treasurer. On being asked to +take this place, I answered that I would do my best. I have now been +here since the fall of the year of my graduation. I like the work +immensely. + +A word about the school: It is known as the Voorhees Industrial School, +and is located in the midst of an overshadowing Negro population. It has +just completed the seventh year of its existence. Miss Wright, the +principal, founded it on faith. She is a delightfully spiritual woman, +and was at first greatly opposed in her efforts by both the black and +white people of this section. She persevered, however, and all the +people are now her friends. Her work here has been but little short of +marvelous. The pride of the grounds is a splendidly arranged Central +Building, which cost $3,000. It contains offices, class-rooms, and a +chapel that will seat 600 persons. A large building for girls, costing +$4,000, has also been erected. A Tuskegee graduate drew the plans for +both of these buildings. A barn which cost $800 we have also been able +to complete, and are now using. + +In our Faculty, in addition to Miss Wright, who is of the Class of 1904, +Tuskegee Institute, we have six other Tuskegee graduates: a farm +superintendent, a carpenter, a teacher of drawing, a principal of the +primary department, a sewing and cooking teacher, a millinery teacher +and industrial helper, and a treasurer and bookkeeper, myself. + +The day- and boarding-pupils number 300. + +Voorhees is one of the sixteen larger "offshoots" of Tuskegee Institute, +manned and controlled by Tuskegee graduates. It is a chartered State +institution, and has on its board of trustees white and colored persons, +Northern and Southern. One of its very best and most helpful supporters +and friends is a Southern white man who has helped it in ways +innumerable, and has backed it when the courage of all of us has all but +faltered. + +By precept and example the school is helping the black masses of rural +South Carolina to help themselves. The work we do is far different from +that done by any other school in the State; we provide the way for our +students, as at Tuskegee, because of their poverty, to work on the farm +and in the shops during the day and attend school at night. Without this +help most of them would be without any chance to attend school. Our +students are learning to dignify labor. None have yet graduated, as our +school is young and most of those who come to us can not read or write a +word. They are wofully ignorant, but so willing to learn, so earnest, +and so persevering. + +During the last school year, 1903-'04, we received from all sources +$18,310.43. This will give some idea as to the scope and importance of +our work, and of my work in disbursing this large sum as the treasurer +of the school. + +Our present property valuation is $25,000, and consists of 300 acres of +land, 3 large buildings, a large barn, a schoolhouse for primary +children, 4 cottages, an industrial building, 10 mules, 6 horses, 30 +cows, 3 wagons, 3 buggies, etc., all free from indebtedness of any +character. We stay out of debt; that for which we can not pay we do +without. + +We afford instruction in the following industries: Farming in its +various branches, shoemaking, carpentry, cooking, sewing, housekeeping, +laundering, millinery in a small way, printing, and blacksmithing. + +The training received at Tuskegee has been of so much help to me since +leaving there. I made up my mind after graduation that I would urge my +parents and relatives to cease paying five and six bales of cotton each +year for rent, and instead take the same amount of cotton and buy a +place of their own. I am glad to say, through my efforts in this regard, +they have been placed on a tract of 160 acres of good land, and it is +practically paid for, they paying four bales of cotton a year. They are +doing well and are making something for themselves. This project seemed +a little strange to them for the first two years, but they are now used +to it. + +"He that hath a trade," saith Franklin, "hath an estate, and he that +hath a calling, hath a place and honor." Since being out in the world I +have learned not to wait for a higher position or a better salary, and +have steadily sought to enlarge the ones I have had. I have tried to +fill such positions as I have had as they were never filled before, by +doing better work, by being more prompt, by being more thorough, more +polite, and, in fact, I have filled them so completely that no one else +could slip in by me. I have always laid great stress on work as a means +of developing power; I am called by some of my friends a fanatic on this +subject. My experience at Tuskegee taught me that our racial salvation +is to come through hard, earnest, intelligent, sincere work. I owe a +world of gratitude to the Tuskegee Institute for the training I received +there and for the great work it is doing for the Negro people. + +I repeat, if I accomplish anything in life that is worth while, it will +be due wholly to the Tuskegee Institute, to its officers and teachers. +No true graduate of Tuskegee ever forgets the lessons learned there. I +am sure I shall not. + + + + +V + +THE STORY OF A FARMER + +BY FRANK REID + + +I am glad to be able to give some facts regarding what my brother Dow +and I have been able to do since leaving the Tuskegee Institute. + +We did not graduate, I am sorry to say, but the lessons given us have +not been forgotten. These lessons started us on the way to our present +success. I do not use the word "success" boastfully, but because it +really states a fact: we have done much more than we ever hoped to do, +and have been the means of contributing in some slight measure toward +the uplifting of the immediate community about us. + +We are located at a place called Dawkins, not more than twelve miles +from the Tuskegee Institute, and immediately within its sphere of +influence. + +Our mother and father were born within a few miles of where we now live. +Both of our parents, at the time I write, are living, and are each +about sixty-five years of age; they were, for twenty-five years each, +slaves. Neither can read or write. My brother and I each spent about +three years at Tuskegee, and, in addition, he attended school for two +years at Talladega College. + +I had a very thorough course in carpentry, and my brother worked on the +Institute farm. We married two sisters, Susie and Lillie Hendon. Shortly +after my marriage my beloved wife Susie died, leaving me with one child. +My brother's wife still lives; they have three children. + +Until ten years ago we, with our father, were renters, all of us working +together. But the Sunday evening talks at Tuskegee by Principal +Washington, and his urgent insistence, at all times, that Tuskegee +graduates and students should try to own land, led us to desire to +improve our condition. We were large renters, however; for twenty-three +years our father and his relatives had leased and "worked" a tract of +1,100 acres of land, having leased it for ten years at a time. We still +lease this tract, and, in addition, rent an additional 480 acres in the +same way, ten years at a time. We subrent tracts of this total of 1,580 +acres to thirty tenants, charging one and one-half bales of cotton for +each one-horse farm. We pay twenty-three bales for the rent of the +1,580 acres. My brother and I run a sixteen-horse farm, doing much of +the work ourselves and paying wages to those who work for us. A number +of others also work for us on "halves"--that is, we provide the land, +furnish the seeds, tools, mules, feed the mules, and equally divide +whatever is raised. This is largely done in all the country districts of +the South. + +About ten years ago we bought in our own right our first land, 320 +acres. Since that time we have acquired by purchase another tract +containing 285 acres. The first tract we paid for in two years; the +other is also paid for. The total of 605 acres, I am glad to say, is +without incumbrance of any kind. + +The following statements may give some idea as to what we have been able +to do since leaving Tuskegee: + +During the year 1904 alone, we paid out $5,000, covering debts on land, +fertilizers, and money borrowed with which to carry our thirty tenants. + +We own sixteen mules and horses, fourteen head of cattle, thirty hogs, +and have absolutely no indebtedness of any character. + +My brother Dow lives in a good three-room house. My father and I live in +a good six-room house, with a large, airy hall, and kitchen; it cost +us to build, $1,500. + + +[Illustration: A SILO ON THE FARM. + +Students filling it with fodder corn, steam-power being used.] + + +We conduct a large general store, with everything carried in a country +store of this kind. The colored Odd Fellows use the hall above our store +for their meetings. + +The Government post-office is located in our store, and here all of the +surrounding community come for their mail. + +Our store does a large yearly business averaging about $5,000. + +We have a steam-gin and grist-mill. We gin about 500 bales of cotton a +season for ourselves and others living near; of the 150 bales got from +the land owned and rented by us, 100 are ours, the other 50 belong to +our tenants. + +We raise large quantities of corn, potatoes, and peas, in addition to +our cotton crop. + +We are now trying to purchase the 480 acres we have been so long +renting. + +The church and the schoolhouse are on four acres of land immediately +adjoining ours. The church is roomy, well-seated, ceiled and painted, in +striking contrast with most of those in the country districts of the +South. The schoolhouse has two rooms, and is but partially ceiled, +though it is nicely weather-boarded. The school is regularly conducted +for five months each year, and part of the time has two teachers. Mr. J. +C. Calloway, a Tuskegee graduate, Class of '96, is principal of the +school. We are cooperating with Mr. Calloway in an effort to supplement +the school funds and secure an additional two months. We helped pay for +the land, and gave a part of the money toward the schoolhouse, and have +done all possible to help, keeping in mind Principal Washington's +oft-repeated statement that "it is upon the country public schools that +the masses of the race are dependent for an education." + +My brother and I, with our father, it will be noted, own and rent 2,185 +acres of land, but we try to help our tenants in every possible way, +and, when they desire it, subrent to them such tracts as they desire for +ten years, or less. We have established a blacksmith-shop on our land, +and do all our own work and most of that of the whole community. Rev. +Robert C. Bedford, secretary of the board of trustees, Tuskegee +Institute, some time ago visited us, as he does most of the Tuskegee +graduates and former students. He is apprised of the correctness of the +statements set forth above. He wrote the following much-appreciated +compliment to a friend regarding our homes and ourselves: "The homes of +the Reid brothers are very nicely furnished throughout. Everything is +well kept and very orderly. The bedspreads are strikingly white, and the +rooms--though I called when not expected--were in the very best of +order." + +This further statement may not be amiss: Under the guidance of the +Tuskegee influences, the annual Tuskegee Negro Conferences, the visits +of Tuskegee teachers, etc., the importance of land-buying was early +brought to our attention, but because of the crude and inexperienced +laborers about us, we found that we could, with advantage to all, rent +large tracts of land, subrent to others, and in this way pay no rent +ourselves, as these subrenters did that for us. We could in this way +also escape paying taxes, insurance, and other expenses that naturally +follow. We could, as many white farmers do, hire wage hands at from +$7.50 to $10 a month, with "rations," or arrange to have them work on +"halves," as I have already described. + +But at last we yielded to the constant pounding received at Tuskegee +whenever we would go over, that we ought to own land for ourselves; and +then, too, it occurred to me that we might not always have the same +whole-souled man to deal with, and that terms might be made much harder. +My brother and father agreed, and we set about to purchase the first 320 +acres. As I feared, rental values have increased; formerly we rented the +1,100 acres for three bales of cotton; now we give sixteen bales for the +same land. + +My brother, our father, and I have worked together from the beginning. +We have had no disputes or differences; we have worked on the basis of a +common property interest. + +We have encouraged the people of our community as much as possible to +secure homes, buy lands, live decently, and be somebody. The following +are some typical examples of thrift and industry in the community about +us: + +Turner Moore owns 210 acres of land adjoining ours. He was born near +where he lives and was over twenty-five years a slave. He has 11 mules +and horses and raised 65 bales of cotton last year. His property is all +paid for. His brother, Moses Moore, also has 65 acres, all paid for, and +Reuben Moore, a nephew, owns 212 acres, all paid for. Their farms join. + +James Whitlow, father-in-law of Mr. J. C. Calloway, the teacher referred +to, owns 1,137 acres in one body, only about two miles from our place. +It is all paid for, and the deeds are all recorded at the Macon County +Courthouse. He was born right where he now lives, and was twelve years +old when freed. + +Mr. Whitlow rents a gin, but will own one of his own this year. He also +carries on a store. He has 20 tenants, who will raise over 100 bales of +cotton this year together. He has raised over 30 himself. He has 20 +mules, 3 horses, 30 head of cattle, and about 75 hogs. He does not owe a +nickel. His taxes are $60 per year. He has a very good four-room house, +besides a kitchen. + +Mr. Whitlow has fourteen children, ten boys and four girls, who go to +school on our place. He himself can not read or write, but he helps the +school and church. + +J. C. Calloway was born near us. He graduated from Tuskegee, and has +continued to work near his old home. He married James Whitlow's +daughter. He has a very good two-room frame house. Mr. Whitlow gave them +40 acres of land, and he is trying to buy an additional 100 acres. He +raised 17 bales of cotton this year and 150 bushels of corn. He has 4 +horses and mules and 7 head of cattle, besides hogs, chickens, etc. He +is very highly thought of in his school work, and is successful as a +farmer. + +I believe we are doing well. Our community is rated high, and I shall +never fail to praise Tuskegee for starting us in the way we are going. + + + + +VI + +THE STORY OF A CARPENTER + +BY GABRIEL B. MILLER + + +The plantation on which I was born in 1875 is located near Pleasant +Hill, Ga. At that time Pleasant Hill was twenty miles from any railroad, +and I did not see a railroad train till I was twelve years of age. + +I lived on a plantation on which more than two hundred men and women +worked for the owner. The children had no especial educational +opportunities. Few of them were even permitted to attend the makeshift +public school located near. For six months only, of the twelve years my +father lived on that plantation, did I attend any school, and that a +small one taught by a Southern white woman who had owned my father. When +I was twelve years of age my father moved from the plantation on which +he had been working "on shares" and rented land which he and his family +cultivated. Soon there were thirteen children in his family, of which +number I was the second. + +In December, 1892, I drove a wagon with two bales of cotton to a little +Georgia town. While waiting for the wagon preceding me to move off the +scales on which the cotton was weighed, I heard a colored man, who had +heard of Tuskegee Institute, telling of its advantages, and he quite +glowingly recounted the glories of the place as they had been related to +him. As he proceeded he informed those gathered about him that at this +school a boy could work his way if perchance he could reach the +institution. I got nearer to him and heard and treasured every word he +said. Especially did I remember his statement that he had been informed +that some of the boys graduating from there had not paid a single cent +in cash for their education, having worked it all out. + +When I reached home that night I told my father of what I had heard. For +three successive years our crops had failed and my father was more than +$500 in debt. The prospect of interesting him in any project that meant +the expenditure of money was discouraging, but an eager desire to secure +an education led me to make him a proposition, viz.: that he should +permit me during the next year, 1893, to have full and complete charge +of the farm, and if I succeeded in settling all of his indebtedness I +was to be released to attend school at Tuskegee, provided I could secure +admittance, whether he cleared any money or not. This proposition my +father readily agreed to. He sympathized with my ambitions, but the +heavy burden of carrying a large family with short-crop returns dwarfed +whatever good intentions he might have. + +On the first of January, 1893, those of the family who could work joined +me in starting early and working late during the whole of the year. We +ran a two-horse farm. From that year's work we gathered 25 bales of +cotton, 800 bushels of corn, 300 bushels of cow-peas, 250 gallons of +sugar-cane sirup, 5 wagon-loads of pumpkins, a great amount of hay and +fodder, and picked at night for neighbors about us, white and black, 25 +bales of cotton. We had rented two mules and the wagon used that year, +but now at the close bought two younger, stronger mules and a new wagon +and paid cash for the whole outfit. We settled our indebtedness with +everybody, and my father, who had earnestly worked under my supervision +along with the others, was very, very happy. Of course, we had a very +small balance left--not enough to be of any service to me in keeping me +in school except I should be allowed to help myself by working. After +"laying the crops by" I made home-made baskets during the summer and +sold them, realizing about $16. In one year I had accomplished a task my +father thought impossible of accomplishment. He religiously kept his +word, and was as enthusiastic about my getting off to school as I was. + +I had now learned more of the Tuskegee Institute, and was impatient to +reach there. Others, too, became eager and enthusiastic, and so when I +started, January 19, 1894, it was a red-letter event in our little +community. I left home with only the $16 I had saved from the sale of my +baskets. The next morning after reaching Tuskegee I was piloted to the +Principal's office and my recommendations requested. I was puzzled. I +did not know what was wanted. I had not followed the usual routine and +written for permission to enter as students are required to do, but had +gone ahead, thinking the presentation of myself all that would be +necessary. I had no recommendations, but mustered courage enough to ask +for a trial before being refused. My request was granted, and I became a +student--proud event in my life!--of the famous Tuskegee Normal and +Industrial Institute. + +I had always wanted to be a carpenter; as long ago as I can remember +this was my ambition, but when carried to the office of the director of +industries he refused to assign me to work there, as that division was +filled, but assigned me instead to the sawmilling division. I was not +angry, of course. I was too glad to be at Tuskegee; but I was bitterly +disappointed, especially after I had seen the carpenter shop, some of +the work of the young men, and the imposing buildings on which they had +been and were working. I was promised the first vacancy, and that +temporarily eased my sorrow. A vacancy did not occur for one and a half +years. In the meantime I had become reconciled, and had worked as +earnestly as I could to please the instructor in sawmilling. I tried to +learn all there was to learn in that division, and at the end of that +period could adjust and run proficiently every machine in the sawmilling +division. The school cut then, as it does now, most of the lumber used +in the carpentry division, and efficient students were needed and +desired. My instructor was so well pleased with my progress that he +recommended, over my protest, to the director of industries, my +retention in the division. + +I had kept so busily after the director during those eighteen months to +allow me to enter the shop that he could not well refuse to grant my +request when a vacancy occurred. I was admitted to the carpenter shop. + +For five years I was an apprentice, doing work of every kind. I also +took mechanical drawing along with carpentry. When I graduated in 1900 I +received not only a diploma from the academic department, but a +certificate from the carpentry division as well. I had improved every +opportunity, and had a fair knowledge of architectural as well as of +mechanical drawing. This latter instruction I had made a place for along +with my other studies. + +Maj. J. B. Ramsey, the Commandant, had been so well pleased with my +general deportment that for years I was commissioned by him to command, +as captain, one of the companies of the Tuskegee Institute battalion of +cadets. This had pleased and encouraged me very much indeed. + +To my surprise, three months before my graduation I was asked to remain +in the employ of the Tuskegee Institute as one of the assistant teachers +in the carpentry division. I had contracted, however, to do some work at +Montgomery, Ala., and I could not accept the place offered. I spent +about four months working at my trade in Montgomery, and was again +reminded of the offer made me at Tuskegee. I returned to Tuskegee, but +did not remain long, as the Executive Council of the Institute +recommended me, when application was made for a competent man to take +charge of the carpentry division of the Fort Valley High and Industrial +School, Fort Valley, Ga. The terms offered were satisfactory and I +accepted the position. + +I began work here November 9, 1900, in a shop 30 feet by 60 feet. No +tools and no work-benches were provided, only a lot of inexperienced +boys to whom I was expected to teach carpentry. I owned a chest of +tools, and these I used until the school could secure some. I proceeded +at once to make work benches, and my boys had their first lessons in +carpentry in providing these. Quite often visitors who come to see us +ask if these benches were not made at some factory, they are so well +made. We next proceeded to fit out a drawing-room, as I intended that my +boys should work--as I had been compelled to do from the very beginning +at Tuskegee--from drawings. Everything I had done there had to be +carefully worked out in advance, and, knowing the value of that kind of +thing, I did not want these boys to have anything less than the kind of +instruction I had had. We made tables and desks for the drawing-room; +next we ceiled and finished twelve rooms in the main school building +that had long been left unfinished. All of the work pleased the +authorities of the school, I have reason to know. Near the close of my +first term at Fort Valley it was decided to erect a dormitory building +for girls. I was asked to submit plans and specifications. My training +as a carpenter at Tuskegee had fitted me for just that kind of thing, +and I set about designing a building that would meet the requirements of +the young women attending Fort Valley. + +My plans were finally accepted, and I thought to go on with the erection +of the building during the summer, as had been planned; but one or two +of the building committee began to object, urging that I was too young, +that I had not had enough experience, and that a building of that +quality should be erected by a builder of proved reputation. After much +delay I was permitted to proceed. I began with ten "green" boys, and +they, under my direction as I worked side by side with them, did all of +the work except the hanging of the window-sashes, doors, etc. I had +outside help in doing this part of the finishing. The building is a real +pride to all of us here. It is 36 feet by 78 feet, 2-1/2 stories high, +has 22 sleeping-rooms, a splendidly arranged dining-room, 36 feet by 36 +feet, and cost $3,200. No one, hereabouts at least, now doubts that I +can build anything I say I can. I am glad that so soon after beginning +the work here I was able to prove the claims of my Tuskegee instructors +as to my fitness for the position for which they had recommended me. + +Unfortunately, before I had completed the dormitory for girls, a fire +destroyed our main school building with the contents. This fire left us +without class-rooms. We took refuge in the Carpenter Shop, and held +classes there until money was secured with which to build a +training-school for the lower grades. This latter building I also put up +entirely with student labor. It contains three large rooms, each 25 feet +by 30 feet. The appointments in every way accord with approved hygienic +laws. Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Executive Secretary of the General Education +Board, spoke complimentarily of the building when he saw it, as one of +the few in the State he had seen that met all the requirements of a +class-room. We were able to build it for $1,600. + +Even during the construction of the training-school I was drawing the +plans for a large brick building to replace the one burned. My plans +were submitted to friends of the work in the North, and by the time we +had finished the training-school we had money enough to begin the +brickwork on the new building. By April, 1903, the brickwork was +complete, and as we had no additional money we were compelled to allow +the building to stand until June, 1904, at which time we were able to +resume. + +My boys did all of the woodwork, did the hod-carrying, and most of the +unskilled labor. The building cost $8,000, and is 86 feet 8 inches by 52 +feet 8 inches in its dimensions, is 2-1/2 stories high, and has a deckle +roof with dormer windows. The chapel is on the first floor, 6 +recitation-rooms on the second floor, and 13 sleeping-rooms for boys on +the one-half third-story floor. A basement for storage purposes, 25 feet +by 50 feet, is a great convenience. + +Of the many contractors and builders who have visited our school-grounds +none have failed to speak in praise of the design, the workmanship, the +strength, and the relative relation to each other of the school +buildings with regard to future additions. + +I need not add that this has been very pleasing to me. I was married +December 9, 1904, at Atlanta, Ga., to Miss Mary E. Hobbs. + +To me Tuskegee has been all in all, and I still remember with gratitude +the man who, in my hearing, spoke so glowingly of the school as I +weighed my cotton in the little Georgia town away back in December, +1892. + + + + +VII + +COTTON-GROWING IN AFRICA + +BY JOHN W. ROBINSON + + +As all autobiographical sketches begin, so do I begin this one. I was +born in Bennettsville, S. C., in 1873. Neither of my parents could write +their names; but my father could read a little, and taught me the +alphabet. + +My paternal grandfather was a slave of some intelligence. He was a +competent carpenter, had charge of his master's saw- and grist-mills, +and kept the accounts of the two mills. His master, who was a member of +the State Legislature, was very kind to him. He allowed him a portion of +the savings from these industries he was controlling, and even promised +him his freedom. The latter he delayed so long that my grandfather ran +away. He succeeded in reaching Charleston, S. C. He had secured a ticket +and was about to take passage for Canada, when he was captured and +returned to his master's home. His master was attending the General +Assembly of the State of South Carolina, and it became the overseer's +duty to punish the returned fugitive. My grandfather never recovered +from the effects of the brutal punishment meted out to him for daring to +desire freedom in his own right. + +My father was the oldest boy and the second child in a family of five. +He was a farmer and a cobbler. At the age of twenty-seven he was married +to my mother. + +I suppose the history of my mother's life would be monotonous and dull +to many ears, but I remember that I never grew tired of hearing her +relate its somber happenings. She often told us how her grandmother +could relate the thrilling story of her capture on African soil and of +being brought to America, of the horrors of the passage, and of much +else that I shall always remember. + +After their marriage my parents began farming in Bennettsville, +Marlborough County, S. C., the place where I was born. I remember most +vividly that two-roomed log cabin where my parents' ten children were +born-- + + + "Low and little, and black and old, + With children as many as it could hold." + + +However, my father soon began working for wages, and received $10 per +month and the proverbial "rations"--three pounds of meat and a peck of +meal per week. What a financier he must have been, for from that mean +sum he managed to save $50 or $75 each year, and I still cherish the +memory of how fondly I felt those crisp green-backs once a year. He +brought them home every Christmas and allowed each member of the family +to feel them--yes, even caress them. + +When I was about nine years of age I entered the public school of the +community, which was in session about four months in a year, opening +late in the fall and going through the winter. My parents were so +delighted and gratified at the progress I made that I was occasionally +privileged to spend one month in the subscription school conducted near +by during the summer. + +When I was fourteen years of age a great sorrow visited our home. My +mother died. I often wonder if any one can realize what it means to lose +a mother without having suffered that bereavement. My father did not +marry again. + +About this time the authorities opened a school nearer us than the one I +had been attending, but the teachers were usually very incompetent and +my progress was seriously hindered. + +The absorbing desire of my life had been to some day graduate from some +institution of learning, but I found myself at eighteen years of age far +from the goal of my ambition. I became alarmed. I realized what it would +mean to grow to manhood in ignorance; I also knew that there were seven +children younger than I to be cared for. I seriously thought the matter +over. I finally broached it to my father, and he consented that I should +try to make a way for myself. + +I rented a small farm, trusting that by cultivating it I would be able +to clear enough money to begin my education. I began wrong, for I had in +advance mortgaged my crop. I began with $75, but when the year closed I +had only $10. However, my aspirations were not to be daunted; I was +resolved on going to school. + +With this $10 I purchased the necessary books, paid my entrance fee, and +entered the village graded school. I was poorly clad, and much of the +time was without food, but I felt that I could not even ask my father +for assistance because of his responsibility in caring for the younger +children. I was constant, however, in my endeavor to find work, and +finally a companion and I succeeded in getting an old farmhouse about +three miles from the village in which to live. In a measure this suited +me, for I loved the country. + +The house was an old, dilapidated one, and I do not see now how we stood +that first severe winter; but though I was in rags and my food was often +roasted potatoes or peas with a little salt, I did not miss a single +day's schooling that year, and great was my joy and satisfaction when, +at the end of the year, I stood at the head of my class. + +During this time I had done such work in the surrounding neighborhood as +could be obtained. My Saturdays and afternoons were spent in splitting +rails, chopping wood, driving garden palings, and doing any other work +that would enable me to exist. Although I had stinted myself and had +often gone without food, at the end of the year I was $12 in debt. But +this was not sufficient to make me despair. + +When vacation came I immediately sought work, and though I was diligent +in my application to it when I had obtained it, steady employment was +not to be had. My wages were never more than fifty cents a day, but I +often received less. For two years I lived in this way. At the +expiration of that time I decided that it would benefit me to enter a +higher institution of learning. I knew that this would mean that I must +have more remunerative employment. + +By some means my attention was directed to the orange industry of +Florida, and in the summer of 1894 I regretfully left my companions and +relatives, went to Deland, Fla., and secured the desired work. The +winter proved to be an unusually cold one, and the orange industry was +greatly hindered; therefore I was soon out of employment, and at the +season of the year when I most needed it. I was not long idle, however, +for the very cause of my loss of work opened another avenue; I was kept +busy chopping wood. Though I went to Florida penniless, at the end of +six months I had saved $60. + +It was at Deland that I learned of the magnificent opportunities +afforded earnest young men and women at Tuskegee Institute. I at once +made application to become a student. That morning I did not know that +such a school existed; that night, while I slept, the Southern Railway +was bearing my letter of application to Mr. Washington. My anxiety +almost reached fever-heat during those few intervening days that I +waited for an answer, and my joy was boundless when it came, setting +forth the requirements for admittance. I sent a portion of the money I +had saved to my father. With the rest I bought some necessary clothing, +and left Deland far behind for Tuskegee. + +I shall always remember how little and insignificant I felt when I +entered the school-grounds and was told that all those buildings and all +those acres of ground were a part of the Tuskegee Institute. I had read +of it in the circular of information which was sent me when I applied +for admission, but the realization was, to me, almost overpowering. +After paying my entrance fee and purchasing my school-books I had $15 +left. Thus I began what has proved to be a "new life." + +Fifteen dollars were, of course, an inadequate sum with which to pay my +expenses through the day-school, and so I was permitted to enter the +night-school, as so many others as poor as I had done. This means that I +was given an opportunity to work at some industry during the day and +attend classes at night. I was not only receiving training at an +industry, being provided with food, shelter, and fuel, and receiving +instruction at night, but I was earning enough over my board to be +placed to my credit in the school's treasury to help pay my board when I +should enter the day-school. + +My first term was spent at work on Marshall Farm, where the greater +part of the school's farming was at that time done. + +When I entered Tuskegee I had no thought of preparing myself for +returning to farm life. Even the word "farm" brought to my mind visions +of dull, hard work and drudgery without comforts. I had not been at the +Tuskegee Institute long, however, before I was led to know that +"agriculture" is the very highest of all industrial callings. I had +never known that agriculture had so many subdivisions, that soils could +be analyzed and treated, that rotation of crops enriched the soil, that +a certain crop planted season after season on the same soil made it +poor, because it was ridding it of some life-giving chemical. To me +soils simply "wore out." But through lectures and practical experiments +my agricultural horizon began to expand, and a sense of the beauty of +the industry grew upon me. + +It was to me a marvelous thing to go into the dairy and take milk but +recently milked, pour it into the Sharpless Separator, set the machine +in motion, and behold a stream of rich, sweet cream flow from one avenue +of escape, while a foamy jet of milk passed from another. There, too, I +learned cheese-making and butter-making. + +My school life was filled with difficulties because of financial +embarrassments. I was one of the competitors in the first Trinity Church +(Boston) Prize Contest, founded at the school by Dr. E. Winchester +Donald, successor of Phillips Brooks, and rector of Trinity until his +death, and I remember that I was greatly discomfited because the socks I +wore had no feet in them, and my shoes had that afternoon been sewed +with thread blackened with soot. + +However, I was the successful contestant, the first winner of the prize +of $25. The next day I provided myself with new shoes and socks. I also +received my diploma that same year, 1897, within two days of receiving +the prize, and was very happy to receive it and the diploma at the same +time. + +Two summers and one winter after graduating I taught school at Mamie, +Ala. When I was not teaching I worked on the farm of the family with +which I boarded. For this work I received very little pay, but I had +been taught at Tuskegee that it was better to work for nothing than to +be idle--a Booker T. Washington precept. + +The second winter I was first assistant in the Ozark city school, Ozark, +Ala., and was offered the principalship for the next term, but I +declined in order to further pursue postgraduate studies in agriculture +at Tuskegee. I remained there for six months. I then went West, to +Rockford, Ill., to do practical work in that section for the purpose of +strengthening and improving the theory and practise already learned. + +It was harvesting season and I soon secured work. I put all my energy +into the work of the rugged Western farm and succeeded admirably in +following the threshing-machine, in husking corn, and in doing the other +farm labors common to Western fall and winter seasons. My first four +months were spent on the farm of a widow. After the harvesting was over +she offered me the farm, with its implements, barns, horses, and dairy +herd, if I would remain and pay her certain percentages of the profits, +but I told her that I was only a student in search of knowledge. + +The next spring I secured work with a very progressive Irishman. He was +a farmer, as well as secretary and treasurer of a modern creamery and +butter factory. This work I preferred, because it was along my chosen +line, and of a very high grade. + +For one year I worked in this establishment, and was not absent from +duty even one day. My employer once said to me that he had heard and +also read that Negroes were lazy, shiftless, and untrustworthy. He had +not come into contact with enough Negroes to draw his own conclusions, +so he asked me if there were more like me. I told him that I did not +consider myself an exception, but that I had had the advantages of +superior training at Tuskegee. He did not know before that I was a +Tuskegee graduate. He seemed surprised to know that a graduate would +work as a common farm-hand. He said he had found no white ones who +would. I then explained to him that I was seeking a comprehensive +knowledge of farming conditions North and South. I value that year on +those Western farms next to my training at Tuskegee. + +I was planning to return to the South and start a farm of my own, when I +was asked by Mr. Washington to join a company of Tuskegee young men who +were wanted to go to Africa for the purpose of experimenting in +cotton-growing under the German Government. It was a call I could not +resist. Here was a chance for the largest possible usefulness. Here I +could have a part in a monumental undertaking, and I gladly agreed to +go. The wages offered were flattering, and all expenses in connection +with the trip were borne by the Kolonial Komittee of the German +Government. The Executive Council of the Institute selected Shepherd L. +Harris, Allen L. Burks, and myself, all graduates of the school, and Mr. +James N. Calloway, a member of the Faculty, who had had charge of the +school's largest farm, and who was selected to head the expedition. We +sailed from New York on November 3, 1900, and reached Togo by way of +Hamburg on December 31, 1900. Later five additional Tuskegee students +joined us, but of the original party I am the only one left. A report of +the beginnings of our work was published after two years, with elaborate +illustrations to commemorate what we had been able to accomplish. +Samples of the cotton made into hose and various other articles were +distributed among those interested in the success of the experiment. +That report may be secured from the Kolonial-Wirtschaftliches Komittee, +Berlin, Germany. + +Not long since I sent to Principal Washington a summary of the work we +have been trying to do. He regularly insists that Tuskegee graduates +shall send him reports of what they are doing, and my letter to him was +in response to that request. We keep in touch with Tuskegee and its +work after leaving the institution through a correspondence prized by +every graduate of the school. The summary I include here, as it may be +of interest to the reader: + + + At the outset it was very difficult to excite any interest at all + in our work on the part of the natives. For some reason they + mistrust every proposition made them by a foreigner, and in the + beginning they would not even accept the gift of cotton-seeds from + us. They claimed that if they should accept our seeds we would come + again and claim our own with usury. Many of the Europeans here said + that the natives would never become interested in the movement. But + we worked on, and now already in the farming districts are hundreds + of native cotton farms. Now they no longer mistrust us, but they + come and ask for cotton-seeds, and a conservative estimate places + the incoming native harvest near the thousand-bale mark. Of course + the native methods are very irrational. They cultivate their cotton + altogether as a secondary crop. But we are content, at the + beginning, to let them cultivate in their own way. + + We find distributed through the colony not less than three distinct + species of cotton, with some hybrids and varieties; but none of + these are indigenous, and, having been left in a neglected state + for centuries, are consequently not far removed from nature and are + not so remunerative when put under even the best culture. The seeds + imported from America are not able to survive the greatly changed + conditions of climate. Here is our greatest obstacle. Our course + was plain. If we did not have a plant that exactly suited us, we + had to make it. + + The production of a commercial plant is very important. Our present + domestic seeds will yield about four hundred pounds of seed-cotton + per acre, and the character of the fruit and the arrangement upon + the stalk make it very expensive to harvest. Besides, the stalk + grows too much to a tree and is not prolific proportionately, and + the quality of the lint is equal to American "middling." We are + trying to develop a plant that will yield 1,000 pounds of + seed-cotton to the acre, with a lint equal in quality to fully good + "middling" or to Allen's 1-7/8-inch staple. + + Now suppose we succeed in making this plant as I have above + outlined; the 4,000 acres under cultivation would then at least + produce 2,000 bales of seed-cotton where they now produce but 1,000 + bales. We can see how greatly the annual income of the natives will + be increased. Such a plant is forthcoming. + + Through selection and crossing of American and native cottons we + have obtained a new variety, which is satisfactory in every primary + respect. It is more hardy than the average American plant and + fifty per cent more productive than the average native plant. A + sample of the lint of this new, would-be variety was submitted to + the Chamber of Commerce in Berlin, and it was pronounced good in + every way, and brought in January, 1904, about twenty cents a + pound. + + There is one feature that I would like to speak about before I have + done with the subject, because I know it will please you. In one of + the letters you wrote me some time ago you advised me to "labor + earnestly, quietly, and soberly, discharging my duty in the way + that would eventually make me one of the most influential persons + in the community." Being faithful in small things is one of the + fundamental principles of Tuskegee, and is what I am able to do + without even striving. It has become natural for me to be faithful, + it matters not how small or insignificant the service. I find + myself to-day possessing much influence in the work in which I am + now engaged. + + In order to make secure the work begun and to insure a normal and + well-balanced progress for the future, it was recommended to + institute, along with the present undertaking, what I am pleased to + call "A Cotton-School and Plant-Breeding Station." At this school + are gathered young men from all over the colony, who come for a + two-years' course in modern methods of farming. The boys are to be + taught some of the simple rules and practises of agriculture. The + boys are 45 in number, representing the most intelligent classes; + the station consists of 250 acres of land, 8 oxen, 2 asses, 1 + horse, farm implements, cotton-gin, press, etc. Such an institution + appeared to me necessary to the healthy progress of the + undertaking. There will soon be in operation 3 ginning- and + pressing-stations run by steam-power, besides a dozen or more + hand-gins. This, I believe, tells the whole story. My health is + very good. I hope you will write me often, because your letters are + always so interesting and helpful. + + +That my life has been as useful and successful as it has is due to the +training and inspiration received at Tuskegee Institute, perhaps not so +much to the agricultural department, for I did not finish that course, +but to the general awakening and stimulating influence which permeates +and is a part of the training of Tuskegee students. + +And now while I write, and daily as I work, I am prompted on to better +and stronger efforts because of the Tuskegee in embryo that looms before +me. And as I think, and work, and write, I am gratified because of the +assurance that I am only one of that increasing host whose loyal hearts +and useful lives shall make Tuskegee live forever. + + + + +VIII + +THE STORY OF A TEACHER OF COOKING + +BY MARY L. DOTSON + + +I graduated with the Class of 1900, Tuskegee Institute. It was the +culmination of an event to which my mother and I had long looked +forward. + +I was born in 1879, in a small country village in the southwestern part +of Alabama. My mother was the exceptional colored woman of our +community. She was a dressmaker and tailoress and had all the work she +could do. She owned her own home, a quite comfortable one, and earned +continuously from her work a tidy sum of money. + +I have always counted myself fortunate to have had such a home and such +a mother. Very few of the colored people about us owned their own homes; +the village school was a poor makeshift, and it was in session only two +to four months in a year--that is, when some one could be secured to +teach it for the very small salary paid. Both my father and mother had +great respect for educationally equipped people, and desired that their +children should have the opportunity to secure educational advantages. +They tried in every possible way to interest the people in their own +welfare, at least to the extent of supplementing the meager +public-school fund, so as to provide decent educational facilities for +the children. This effort failed. My mother had a room added to her +home, and in it conducted, with my sister's help, a school for the +children of the community. Two of my sisters had been sent away to +school, one to Selma and the other to Talladega. In addition to the +school conducted at our home, my mother was able to get the cooperation +of some of the people in other parts of the county, and two other +schools were started. These schools were afterward taken up, and have +since become helpful factors in the life of the people. + +My first lessons were given in the home, and my mother always claimed +that I learned quite rapidly. As soon as I was old enough she also made +me take lessons in sewing. Sewing made no appeal to me, however, but +cooking did, and whenever possible I would steal away to my +grandmother's to cook with her. Most of the time I was only permitted to +wash dishes, but after a while I was permitted to help with her +cooking. Soon I was able to make cakes for my father's store. He was +always very proud that his "little" daughter was able to replenish his +stock when it was exhausted. + +At eight years of age I was sent to Meridian, Miss., to stay with an +older sister and attend school. The advantages there were far superior +to those provided for me at my home. After remaining two years at +Meridian I went to Memphis, again in search of better school facilities. +I have said that even at my age I had a fondness for cooking. At Memphis +I had my first cooking lesson, this lesson being given along with the +eighth grade work of the public school. I was delighted, but my aunt +refused to allow me to practise in the home, however, and so all the +practise I got was at school. + +While in Memphis, a Tuskegee Institute graduate came there to teach in +the colored public schools. Though we had lived in Alabama, we had not, +until that time, heard of the Tuskegee Institute. The loyalty of that +graduate to the school, the stories of the opportunities provided, and +all, delighted my mother, my aunt, and myself, and it was decided that I +should be sent there. + +I entered the Tuskegee Institute in December, 1894, and was assigned, +after examination, to the Junior class, the first class of the normal +department. I remained at Tuskegee during the following summer and +worked in the students' dining-room as a waitress. The next year I was +compelled to enter the night-school so as to help lighten my mother's +burden. I knew nothing of the science of foods; nothing at all, at that +time, of anything that indicated that cooking is a real science. None +but girls of the Senior class were then permitted to take cooking +lessons, but I was often able to provide some excuse for visiting the +very small and incompletely furnished room used for that purpose. I +picked up much useful information in that way. + +When I reached the A Middle class, next to the Senior class, the young +women of that class were permitted to take cooking lessons. + +Now I was to learn cooking. I had long desired the opportunity, and the +chance had come at last. The study of foods was among the first lessons +brought to my attention. While anxious to know all that was to be +taught, I could never see the reasons for knowing. I wanted to cook +food, and that, with me, was the end. + +I began to study chemistry in the academic department, and when it was +applied in my cooking lessons my eyes were opened. I now saw much that I +had not dreamed of. A cooking teacher, a noted expert from Wisconsin, +came to the school about that time and lectured not only to the cooking +classes, but to the young women teachers, and to the married women of +the Institute families. I was especially detailed to work with her, and +was put to working out a diet for the students' boarding department. +This instruction, with that of my regular instructor, convinced me that +here was a real profession. I continued until the end of my school days +to carry, along with all of my academic work, progressive work in +cooking. + +I had made such progress that when I came to graduate, Mrs. Washington, +who is in charge of the industries for girls, offered me a vacancy in +the cooking division. I did not feel that I was adequate to the +requirements of the place, and so remarked to Mrs. Washington and my +instructor. They recommended that I spend the summer at the Chautauqua +Summer School, New York. I prepared to go immediately following the +Tuskegee commencement exercises. A scholarship was secured for me. +Domestic science teachers of proved efficiency are in charge there. They +were pleased with what I had already been able to accomplish. My work +was with the classes taking courses in chemistry, physiology, +bacteriology, management of classes, and cooking demonstration. + +At the end of the summer I felt stronger than ever, and returned to +Tuskegee in the fall with real enthusiasm. I first began my work in the +little room in which I had been taught. Another academic class of girls +had now been admitted to the cooking classes, the three upper ones. + +When Dorothy Hall, the building in which all of the industries for girls +are located, was completed, my division was given a suite of rooms, an +assistant was provided, and the work broadened and made more useful than +ever. Under this division we now have a model kitchen, a regular kitchen +in which the practise-cooking of the girls is done, two dining-rooms, a +model bedroom, a model sitting-room, and a bathroom. + +Principal Washington has insisted from year to year that, since cooking +is so fundamental, every young woman, in the day-school at least, shall +take lessons in cooking. For the current school year, 1904-'05, 458 +young women are receiving instruction. + +The course covers, in its entirety, four years, but is so comprehensive +that even one and two years fit young women for the cooking of ordinary +foods. Each of these girls is required to attend upon the outlined +catalogue course of instruction, and in addition, from time to time, +upon lectures bearing upon the several subjects comprehended under +domestic science. The furnishing of the rooms is simple, but ample; the +furniture, in the main, being made by the young women in the +upholstering division. It has been widely praised by all who have seen +it. + +After teaching for two years, I requested leave of absence for one year +so as to attend the Domestic-Science School of the Young Women's +Christian Association, Boston. This additional study, of course, helped +me very much. My studies were of foods, of the home, the teaching of +demonstration and settlement classes, etc. Much other useful information +also came my way. + +When I returned to Tuskegee the next year I felt more able than ever to +be of assistance to the girls who come to us. I was better able to +outline my course of study. The thing that pleased me greatly, however, +both at Chautauqua and at Boston, was the fact that my former Tuskegee +training was commented on so favorably, as having been planned along +properly comprehensive lines. + +No part of the Tuskegee Institute work is more valuable than that of the +domestic training. It is the policy of the institution to give special +attention to the training of girls in all that pertains to dress, +health, physical culture, and general housekeeping. + +The girls are constantly under the strict and watchful care of the dean +of the woman's department, Miss Jane E. Clark, a graduate of Oberlin +College, a woman of liberal attainments and culture, and an example to +them in all that makes for the development of character; of Mrs. Booker +T. Washington, the director of industries for girls, and of the women +teachers, a body in every way representative of the qualities the girls +are besought to seek to attain. A corps of matrons, four in number, +specially assist the dean of the woman's department and keep in close +individual touch with the girls. + +My own connection with the girls is in the cooking classes, as I have +indicated, and in the Parker Model Home and the Practise Cottage. The +Parker Model Home is the home of the young women who each year reach the +Senior class. Eight large, conveniently arranged rooms are set apart for +them, and they are taught things by having to do them. The class, as a +whole, is required to do actual work in the line of general +housekeeping, cooking and serving food, and laundering. + +In order to give practical demonstration in housekeeping and to develop +the sense of responsibility in the work, a four-room house has been set +aside, in which the Senior girls "keep house." Four girls at a time live +in this house and have the entire care of it. They do all the work that +pertains to ordinary housekeeping, from the Monday morning's washing to +the Saturday's preparation for Sunday. They are also charged with the +responsibility of purchasing the food supplies which they consume. Three +dollars are allowed as the weekly expenditure for food. In view of the +low prices that obtain for provisions here, four girls can live +comfortably on this small allowance and have variety and plenty, and at +the same time very wholesome food. Thus the lesson of economy is taught +in the most effective way. The girls learn to appreciate the purchasing +power of money, a kind of training which boarding-students, who have +so much done for them, do not get. They acquire the habit of evolving +their own plans, of exercising unhampered their own tastes. Regularity, +system, exactness, neatness, and the feeling of responsibility, are all +developed in this way. + + +[Illustration: A MODEL DINING-ROOM. + +From the department where table-service is taught.] + + +In both the Parker Model Home and the Practise Cottage I have charge, +with my assistant, of the oversight of what is done in the direction of +providing food, cooking it, serving it, etc. + +Twenty-one classes a week are now taught; the preparatory classes one +hour per week, and the normal classes two to three hours per week. The +girls are required to work in groups, to wear white aprons, caps, and +sleeves, and to bring to the classes towels and holders. Each girl +brings her own blank books and keeps, through the year, a full report of +each lesson given. + +Most of the girls who come to us know absolutely nothing of cooking and +housekeeping. They are, as a rule, like most beginners, more anxious to +make cakes, candies, pies, etc., than to make bread, to care for +utensils, and learn the practical things most necessary. Improvement +soon follows, however. + +We do some outside "extension work," in addition to what has been +enumerated: a cooking class in the town of Tuskegee for those unable to +attend the school at all, and classes for the children at the Children's +House, the model training-school of the institution, where they are +given understandable lessons in cooking and housekeeping. A bedroom, a +dining-room, a bathroom, and a kitchen are also provided in connection +with the Children's House. + +I am happy in the thought that I have a part in this fundamental, +home-building part of the instruction being given the girls who come +from thirty-six States and territories of the Union, and from Cuba and +Porto Rico and other foreign countries, to attend this famous school, of +which I am myself a graduate. + +When the girls are fitted to make better homes, a better people are the +result. To have some part in this work was a fond wish while a student, +and is a prized privilege now that I have the opportunity to render some +slight service in return for all that Tuskegee has done for me. + + + + +IX + +A WOMAN'S WORK + +BY CORNELIA BOWEN + + +Of myself and the work I have done there is not a great deal to say. I +was born at Tuskegee, Ala., on a part of the very ground now occupied by +the famous Tuskegee Institute. The building first used by the school as +an industrial building for girls was the house in which I was born. That +old building (and two others, as well) is carefully preserved by the +institution as an old landmark, and never do I go to Tuskegee that I do +not search it out among the more imposing and pretentious buildings +which have come during the later years of the school's history. This +building and the two other small ones were on the property when it was +acquired by Principal Washington. + +My mother lived the greater part of her life at this place as the slave +of Colonel William Bowen, who owned the plot of ground upon which the +Tuskegee Institute now stands. The birthplace of my mother was +Baltimore, Md. She was taught to read by her master's daughter in +Baltimore, and was never forbidden to read by those who owned her in +Alabama. + +When a child, I could never understand why she read so well and could +not write. I was very sorry at times that she could read and was not +like other children's mothers whom I knew. She always knew when I did +not get my lessons, and often the hours of play that were dear to me +were taken away until my reading lesson was learned. Sundays, with my +sisters gathered about her knees, we would sit for hours listening as +mother would read church hymns for us. These days were days of freedom, +as I do not remember, and know nothing of, those of slavery. My mother +always refrained from telling her children frightful stories of the +awful sufferings of the slave days. She occupied the position of +seamstress and house-servant in her mistress's home, and was never +allowed to mingle with plantation slaves. + +My first teacher was a good-hearted Southern white woman, who knew my +mother well and lived in the town of Tuskegee. + +She taught me to read from McGuffey's First Reader. I often read my +lessons by looking at the pictures, for I did not know one word from +another--so far as the letters were concerned. She detected one day, +however, that I was looking out into the street and at the same time +reading what I supposed to be the lesson. From that time on she devoted +herself to teaching me so that I should know letters, and that I should +read properly. She always claimed that I was an apt pupil. At any rate, +at a very early age I was able to both read and write. As I grew older I +was sent with my sisters to the public schools of Tuskegee. It was +always my ambition, it is not immodest to say, to excel in whatever I +undertook. That which brought tears to my eyes quicker than any other +one thing was to have some member of my class recite a better lesson, or +"turn me down"--that is, go up ahead of me in the class. + +Having been brought up in the Methodist Sunday-school, I later joined +the Methodist Church. Mr. Lewis Adams, a Trustee of the Tuskegee +Institute, was then Superintendent of the Methodist Sunday-school. He +was very desirous that the young boys and girls of the Sunday-school +should take an active part in the work. I was given a class of girls to +teach much older than myself. They tried to disgust me at times by +paying no attention to my teaching. I was not to be discouraged, +although I cried many times because of their conduct. My own sister, who +was a member of the class, also rebelled because I was younger than she; +she thought that she should be teaching me instead of having it +otherwise. It was the common opinion of the girls that even if I could +read better than any of them, they were older and should be shown the +preference. I owe much of my interest in the study of the Bible to my +mother and to Mr. Lewis Adams, the faithful worker and Sunday-school +Superintendent. Mr. Adams was in those early days as he is now, the +leader of the colored people of the town of Tuskegee in all that went to +make for the uplifting of his people. I can pay no better tribute to him +than to quote what Principal Washington himself says in his monumental +autobiography, Up from Slavery: + + + In the midst of the difficulties which I encountered in getting the + little school started, and since then through a period of nineteen + years, there are two men among all the many friends of the school + in Tuskegee upon whom I have depended constantly for advice and + guidance; and the success of the undertaking is largely due to + these men, from whom I have never sought anything in vain. I + mention them simply as types. One is a white man and an + ex-slaveholder, Mr. George W. Campbell; the other is a black man + and an ex-slave, Mr. Lewis Adams. These were the men who wrote to + General Armstrong for a teacher. + + Mr. Campbell is a merchant and banker, and had had little + experience in dealing with matters pertaining to education. Mr. + Adams was a mechanic, and had learned the trades of shoemaking, + harness-making, and tinsmithing during the days of slavery. He had + never been to school a day in his life, but in some way he had + learned to read and write while a slave. From the first, these two + men saw clearly what my plan of education was, sympathized with me, + and supported me in every effort. In the days which were darkest + financially for the school, Mr. Campbell was never appealed to when + he was not willing to extend all the aid in his power. I do not + know two men--one an ex-slaveholder, one an ex-slave--whose advice + and judgment I would feel more like following in everything which + concerns the life and development of the school at Tuskegee than + those of these two men. + + I have always felt that Mr. Adams, in a large degree, derived his + unusual powers of mind from the training given his hands in the + process of mastering well three trades during the days of slavery. + + +I did not graduate from the public schools as children do nowadays in +the cities. Mr. Booker T. Washington's coming to Tuskegee and the +establishment of the Tuskegee Normal School put an end to the +public-school work on "Zion Hill," where the Tuskegee public school for +colored children was located. I was one of the first of the students +examined for entrance in the school. Mr. Washington gave the examination +in arithmetic, grammar, and history. I never knew what a sentence was, +nor that it had a subject and a predicate before he said so. I doubted +very seriously the existence of such terms as these new ones mentioned +by him. I thought I knew grammar, and I did, so far as I had been +taught, but I had no insight into its real meaning and use. Mr. +Washington decided after my examination that I would make a good Junior +pupil. It was all new to me and I could not understand all of the new +words, even though simple they were, used by him. He himself took charge +of our classes, and I have always been very proud that I can say that he +was my teacher. He was most particular in regard to spelling and the +right use of verbs. As a history teacher he was the best I have had the +privilege of studying under. I have often said that if he could teach +the classes in the beginning of history and grammar, and give talks on +spelling at Tuskegee as he did when I was a pupil there, many who finish +at Tuskegee would be thankful in the years to come. However, he can not +do this until he is relieved of the great burden of raising funds for +the school. + +The industrial departments at Tuskegee were not, of course, so elaborate +and so many while I was a pupil there. My four years at Tuskegee were +given wholly to class-room work. To my class, that graduated in +1885--the first one to graduate, we proudly boast--three Peabody medals +were awarded for excellence in scholarship. Our diplomas were also +graded. We took an examination for the medals, as there were ten in the +graduating class. I was awarded one of the medals. The Class of '85 had +high ideals and always regretted that any member should receive a +second-grade diploma. I was very thankful to learn after two weeks' +waiting that, in the opinion of the Faculty, I was worthy of a +first-grade diploma. + +After graduating, I was employed as the principal of the +training-school--now known as the "Children's House"--of the Tuskegee +Institute. Feeling that I could be of more service to my people, and +could better teach in the outside world the principles for which +Tuskegee stands, I resigned my work at Tuskegee, after several terms, +for a broader field of usefulness. + +A call reached Mr. Washington in 1888 for a teacher to begin a work in +the vicinity of Mt. Meigs, Ala., similar to the work done at Tuskegee, +but, of course, on a smaller scale. Mr. E. N. Pierce, of Plainville, +Conn., had resolved to do something in the way of providing better +school facilities for the colored people living on a large plantation, +into the possession of which he had come. Mr. Washington answered the +call while in Boston, and telegraphed me that he thought me the proper +person to take charge of and carry on the settlement work Mr. Pierce and +his friends had in mind. + +I found at Mt. Meigs, after studiously investigating conditions, that +the outlook for support was far from hopeful. Not one person in the +whole community owned a foot of land, and heavy crop mortgages were the +burden of every farmer. It became evident at once that pioneer work was +very much needed. Homes were neglected, and the sacredness of family +life was unknown to most of the people. The prospect was a gloomy one. + +The little Baptist church in which the older people gathered for worship +two Sundays in each month badly needed repairing. + +I began first of all to connect myself with the Sunday-school, and +taught there every Sunday. I organized a large class of the older people +and encouraged them in every way to attend the Sunday-school every +Sunday with the children. None of these mothers or fathers could read or +write. + +I taught them Scripture verses by repeating verse after verse till they +were able to recite them for me. I also sought to teach them to read, +and quite a large number can read now because of the opportunities +provided by my Sunday-school class. I have kept this class of older +people together, and it is one of the most active ones of all. We have +studied together many other things aside from the Sunday-school lessons, +and it has been necessary to do so, because the people have none of the +opportunities provided for those who live in the towns and cities. I was +early much encouraged to note that my efforts were appreciated by the +people. + +I was often called upon to act as arbiter in all kinds of difficult and +unpleasant disputes involving family relations and other differences +among the people. Many and many a time did I take the place of the +minister and speak to the people when he could not be present. + +To teach the people self-help, the surest sign of progress, we decided +to plan for a main school building which should mark the center of our +activities. This building we were able to erect at a cost of $2,000, and +it is a satisfaction to the people of the community that they alone paid +every cent of the cost, not one penny coming from the outside. The +struggle was a long one, a hard one, with bad crops and other hard +conditions interfering with our plans. + +This building is a two-story one, well ventilated, roomy, and +accommodates 300 pupils. From the first we have sought to follow in the +footsteps of the parent institution, and have had the industries taught; +agriculture was introduced at once. + +A large Trades Building was soon erected and teachers from Tuskegee +secured to help in the work. Blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, carpentry, +painting, and agriculture have been provided for the young men, and +cooking, laundering, housekeeping, and sewing for the young women. + +The following buildings we now have in addition to those named: a +dormitory for girls, a blacksmithing-shop, and a teachers' home. More +than 4,000 pupils have come under the influence of the school. + + +[Illustration: THE CULTURE OF BEES. + +Students at work in the apiary.] + + +I have continuously, for seventeen years, with the exception of a short +period, been in charge of the school; during the absence referred to I +was studying in New York city, and afterward, through the generosity of +a friend, was able to spend one year in Queen Margaret's College, +Glasgow, Scotland. + +I am pleased with the progress the people have made. Many now own their +own homes, and eight and ten persons are no longer content to sleep in +one-room log cabins, as was only too true during the earlier years of my +work. I have regularly had "mothers' meetings," and these have raised +the home life of the people to a higher standard. I know what I am +saying when I state that sacred family ties are respected and +appreciated as never before in this immediate region. + +The emotional church life of the people no longer prevails hereabouts, +and the minister preaches forty minutes, instead of two hours as +formerly. + +Many farmers are out of debt, and a mortgage upon a man's crop is as +disreputable as a saloon. + +The Mt. Meigs Institute is the first school of its kind in Alabama to +demonstrate the fact that a school planted among the people in the rural +districts of the South will make for intelligent, honest, thrifty +citizenship. The success of this work made possible the establishment of +many similar schools that have been planted in Alabama and other parts +of the South. + +Of the young men and women who have attended my school I can not speak +too highly. Sixty have graduated, and fifty-seven of the number are +still living. Not only they, but many who could not afford to stay and +graduate, are at work in an effort to help their less fortunate +brethren. Thirty-six of my graduates have taken academic or trade +courses in other schools, twenty-one of them at Tuskegee Institute. Ten +have graduated from Tuskegee, or from other schools. Thirty-eight of +them have learned trades, and all of them are at work and prosperous. +They include dressmakers, cooks, housekeepers, laundresses, carpenters, +blacksmiths, wheelwrights, painters, etc. Several are successful +farmers, and one of the girls is a large cotton-planter and general +farmer. Two are successful merchants in Birmingham, Ala.; one is a +prominent minister, having also taken a course at the Virginia Union +Seminary, Richmond, Va.; one is in charge of an orphan asylum, and +several are teachers; one taught with me for seven years after having +also graduated from Tuskegee. Thirty have married, fifteen have bought +homes, one has property valued at $7,000, others have property ranging +in value from $800 to $2,000. Of the sixty, only four have failed to +maintain their moral character. + +Six teachers are now employed; we really need another. About 30 boarding +pupils are regularly enrolled, with 250 pupils in daily attendance from +near-by homes. + +The school is conducted just as economically as it well can be; the +annual expense is about $2,000, of which sum I have insisted that the +people themselves shall annually meet one-half. + +If I have been of any service to my people, I owe it all to Mr. +Washington and to one of the noblest women that ever lived, Mrs. Booker +T. Washington, nee Davidson, both of whom indelibly impressed upon me +while attending the Tuskegee Institute those lessons which led me to +want to spend myself in the helping of my people. + + + + +X + +UPLIFTING THE SUBMERGED MASSES + +BY W. J. EDWARDS + + +I was born in Snow Hill, Wilcox County, Ala., in the year 1870. My +mother died when I was twelve months old. About five or six years after +this, perhaps, my father went away from Snow Hill; the next I heard he +was dead. Thus at the age of six I was left without father or mother. I +was then placed in the care of my old grandmother, who did all that was +in her power to send me to the school located near us. Often for weeks I +would go to school without anything but bread to eat. Occasionally she +could secure a little piece of meat. + +I well remember one morning, when I had started to school and she had +given me all the meat that we had in the house, how it worried me that +she should have nothing left for herself but bread. Worrying over our +cramped condition, I resolved that what she did for me should not be +thrown away. I longed for the time when I could repay her for all she +had done for me. + +At the age of twelve it pleased the Almighty God to take from me my +grandmother, my only dependence. I was now left to fight the battle of +life alone. I need not tell of the hard times and sufferings that I +experienced until I entered school at the Tuskegee Institute. But +knowing that I was without parents, and being sick most of the time, my +hardships can be imagined. + +Through a minister I heard of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial +Institute in the early part of 1888, and so favorably was it recommended +that I decided I would rent two acres of land and raise a crop, and take +the proceeds and go to Tuskegee the following fall. After paying my +rents and other small debts I had $20 left with which to buy my clothes +and start for Tuskegee, which I did, starting on the 27th of December, +1888, and arriving at Tuskegee on the first day of January, 1889, with +$10. I had walked most of the way. I was at Tuskegee for four and +one-half years. I managed to stay there for that length of time by +working one day in the week and every other Saturday during the term and +all of the vacations. + +During my Senior year I was helped by Mr. R. O. Simpson, the owner of +the plantation on which I was reared. I had trouble that year in +deciding just what I should do after graduation. It had been my +conviction that I must be a lawyer or a minister. In contemplating the +idea of becoming a lawyer, however, I could not see wherein I could +carry out the Tuskegee Idea of uplifting the masses. The ministerial +profession was very little better, since the work of the minister in our +section of the country must be limited almost wholly to one +denomination. So I finally decided to try to plant an institution +similar to the Tuskegee School, an undenominational one, in a section of +Alabama where such work should be needed. I chose, as my field of labor, +Snow Hill, the place from which I had gone to enter school at Tuskegee. + +The school is now known as the Snow Hill Normal and Industrial +Institute, and is located in the very center of the "Black Belt" of the +State of Alabama. This is a much-used term; it is not applicable, +however, to every Southern State, neither does it apply to every county +in any one State. It is only to certain counties in certain States to +which it may properly be applied. Wilcox and the seven adjoining +counties constitute one of these sections in Alabama. The latest census +shows that these eight counties have a colored population of 201,539, +and a white population of 69,915. + +Alabama has sixty-seven counties, with a total colored population of +827,307. Thus it will be seen that one-eighth of the counties contain +one-fourth of the entire colored population. Because the colored people +outnumber the white people in such great proportion, this is called the +"Black Belt" of the State. These counties lie in the valley of the +Alabama River, and constitute the most fertile section of the State. + +During the early settlement of the State, white men coming into these +fertile counties not only would settle as much land as a family of four +or five in number could cultivate, but as much as they were able to buy +Negroes to cultivate. Quite a few families with only five or six in +number would have land enough to work from 100 to 1,000 Negroes. One can +see from this how a few white families would, as they often did, own a +whole county. Now the Negro is not migratory in his nature; having been +brought to these counties during slavery, he has remained here in +freedom. He is not, therefore, primarily responsible for his being here +in such great numbers. These white families settled in little villages +seven or eight miles apart. The distances between were made up of their +plantations, on which were thousands of slaves. Only a few Negroes were +employed as domestics in comparison with the great numbers who worked on +plantations. It was only these few who, in learning to serve the white +man, properly got a glimpse of real home life. The masses had absolutely +no idea of such a life; nothing was done that would lead them to secure +any such knowledge. + +Since their emancipation the masses of these people have had neither +competent preachers nor teachers; consequently most of them have +remained hopelessly ignorant even until this day. One hearing the great +condemnation heaped upon the Negro in these sections for his failure to +measure up to the standards of true citizenship and to proper standards +of life would get the idea that the proud Anglo-Saxon has spent a great +deal of time in trying to teach him the fundamental principles that +underlie life; but this is not the case. There are exceptions to all +rules, however, and here and there one may find noble and patriotic +white men laboring for the uplift of fallen humanity without regard to +race, color, or previous condition. + +During the summer of 1893, after returning from Tuskegee, being anxious +to learn more of the real condition of our people in the "Black Belt," I +visited most of the places in Wilcox County and a few places in the +counties of Monroe, Butler, Dallas, and Lowndes, making the entire +journey on foot. + +It was a bright and beautiful morning in June when I started from my +home, a log cabin. More than two hundred Negroes were in the near-by +fields plowing corn, hoeing cotton, and singing those beautiful songs +often referred to as plantation melodies. Notably, I am Going to Roll in +my Jesus' Arms; O Freedom! Before I'd be a Slave I'd be Carried to My +Grave, etc., may be mentioned. With the beautiful fields of corn and +cotton outstretched before me, and the shimmering brook like a silver +thread twining its way through the golden meadows, and then through +verdant fields, giving water to thousands of creatures as it passed, I +felt that the earth was truly clothed in His beauty and the fulness of +His glory. + +But I had scarcely gone beyond the limits of the field when I came to a +thick undergrowth of pines. Here we saw old pieces of timber and two +posts. + +"This marks the old cotton-gin house," said Uncle Jim, my companion, and +then his countenance grew sad; after a sigh he said: "I have seen many a +Negro whipped within an inch of his life at these posts. I have seen +them whipped so badly that they had to be carried away in wagons. Many +never did recover." + +From this our road led first up-hill, then down, and finally through a +stretch of woods until we reached Carlowville. This was once the most +aristocratic village of the southern part of Dallas County. Perhaps no +one who owned less than a hundred slaves was able to secure a home +within its borders. Here still are to be seen the stately mansions of +the Lydes, the Lees, the Wrumphs, the Bibbses, the Youngbloods, and the +Reynoldses. Many of these mansions have been partly rebuilt and +remodeled to conform to modern styles of architecture, while others have +been deserted and are now fast decaying. Usually these mansions are +occupied by others than the original families. The original families +have sold out or have died out. + +In Carlowville stands the largest white church in Dallas or Wilcox +Counties. It has a seating capacity of 1,000, excluding the balcony, +which, during slavery, was used exclusively for the Negroes of the +families attending. + +Our stay in Carlowville was necessarily short, as the evening sun was +low and the nearest place for lodging was two miles ahead. Before +reaching this place we came to a large one-room log cabin, 30 feet by 36 +feet, on the road-side, with a double door and three holes for windows +cut in the sides. There was no chimney nor anything to show that the +room could be heated in cold weather. This was the Hope-well Baptist +Church. Here 500 members congregated one Sunday in each month and spent +the entire day in eating, shouting, and "praising God for His goodness +toward the children of men." Here also the three months' school was +taught during the winter. A few hundred yards beyond this church brought +us to the home of a Deacon Jones. + +He was living in the house occupied by the overseer of the plantation +during slavery. It was customary for Deacon Jones to care for strangers +who chanced to come into the community, especially for the preachers and +teachers. So here we found rest. + +His family consisted of himself, his wife, and six children--two boys +and four girls. Mrs. Jones was noted for her ability to prepare food +well, and in a short while invited us to a delicious supper of fried +chicken, fried ham, some very fine home-made sugar-cane sirup, and an +abundance of milk and butter. At supper Deacon Jones told of the many +preachers he had entertained and their fondness for chicken. + +After supper I spent some time in trying to find out the real condition +of the people in this section. Mr. Jones told me how, for ten years, he +had been trying to buy some land, and had been kept from it more than +once, but that he was still hopeful of getting the right deeds for the +land for which he had paid. He also told of many families who had +recently moved into this community. These newcomers had made a good +start for the year and had promising crops, but they were compelled to +mortgage their growing crops in order to get "advances" for the year. + +When asked of the schools, he said that there were more than five +hundred children of school age in his township, but not more than two +hundred of these had attended school the previous winter, and most of +these for a period not longer than six weeks. He also said that the +people were very indifferent as to the necessity of schoolhouses and +churches. Quite a few who cleared a little money the previous year had +spent it all in buying whisky, in gambling, in buying cheap jewelry, and +for other useless articles. After spending two hours in such talk I +retired for the evening. Thus ended the first day of my search for +first-hand information. + +We had a fine night's rest. Mr. Jones was up at early dawn to feed his +horses and cattle, and before the sun was up he was out on his farm. +Mrs. Jones and one of the daughters were left to prepare breakfast, and +soon they, too, were ready to join the others on the farm. We took +advantage of this early rising and were soon off on our journey. + +Instead of going farther northward, we turned our course westward for +the town of Tilden, which is only eight miles west of Snow Hill. The +road from Carlowville to Tilden is somewhat hilly, but a very pleasant +one, and for miles the large oak-trees formed an almost perfect arch. + +On reaching Tilden we learned that there would be a union meeting of two +of the churches that night. I decided that this would give me an +opportunity to study the religious life of these people for myself. The +members of churches No. 1 and No. 2 assembled at their respective places +at eight o'clock. The members of church No. 2 had a short +praise-service, and formed a line of procession to march to church No. +1. All the women of the congregation had their heads bound in pieces of +white cloth, and they sang their peculiar songs as they marched. When +the members of church No. 2 were within a few hundred yards of church +No. 1, the singing then alternated, and finally, when the members of +church No. 2 came to church No. 1, they marched around this church three +times before entering it. After entering, six sermons were preached to +the two congregations by six different ministers, and at least three of +these could not read a word in the Bible. Each minister occupied at +least one hour. Their texts were as often taken from Webster's blue-back +speller as from the Bible, and sometimes this would be held upside down. +It was about two o'clock in the morning when the services were +concluded. + +Here, again, we found no schoolhouses, and the three months' school had +been taught in one of the little churches. + +The next day we started for Camden, a distance of sixteen miles. This +section between Tilden and Camden is perhaps the most fertile section of +land in the State of Alabama. Taking a southwest course from Tilden, I +crossed into Wilcox County again, where I saw acres of corn and miles of +cotton, all being cultivated by Negroes. + +The evening was far advanced when we reached Camden, but having been +there before, we had no difficulty in securing lodging. Camden is the +seat of Wilcox County, and has a population of about three thousand +inhabitants. + +The most costly buildings of the town were the court-house and jail, and +these occupied the most conspicuous places. + +Here great crowds of Negroes would gather on Saturdays to spend their +earnings of the week for a fine breakfast or dinner on the following +Sunday, or for useless trivialities. + +On Saturday evenings, on the roads leading to and from Camden, as from +other towns, could be seen groups of Negroes gambling here and there, +and buying and selling whisky. As the county had voted against licensing +whisky-selling, this was a violation of the law, and often the +commission merchant, a Negro, was imprisoned for the offense, while +those who supplied him went free. + +In Camden I found one Negro schoolhouse; this was a box-like cottage, 20 +by 16 feet, and was supposed to seat more than one hundred students. +This school, like those taught in the churches, was open only three +months in the year. + +After a two days' stay in Camden I next visited Miller's Ferry; this is +on the Alabama River, twelve miles west of Camden. The road from Camden +is one of the best roads in the State, and for miles and miles one could +see nothing but cotton and corn. + +At Miller's Ferry a Negro schoolhouse of ample proportions had been +built on Judge Henderson's plantation. Here the school ran seven months +in the year, and the colored people in the community were prosperous and +showed a remarkable degree of intelligence. Their church was equally as +attractive as their schoolhouse. + +Judge Henderson was for twelve years Probate Judge of Wilcox County. He +proved to be one of the best judges this county has ever had, and even +unto this day he is admired by all, both white and black, rich and poor, +for his honesty, integrity, and high sense of justice. From Judge +Henderson's place we traveled southward to Rock-west, a distance of more +than fifteen miles. During this journey hundreds of Negroes were seen at +work in the corn- and cotton-fields. These people were almost wholly +ignorant, as they had neither schools nor teachers, and their ministers +were almost wholly illiterate. + +At Rock-west I found a very intelligent colored man who had attended +school at Selma, Ala., for a few years. He owned his home and ran a +small grocery. He told of the hardships with which he had to contend in +building up his business, and of the almost hopeless condition of the +Negroes about there. He said that they usually made money each year, but +that they did not know how to keep it. The merchants would induce them +to buy buggies, machines, clocks, etc., but would never encourage them +to buy homes. We were very much pleased with the reception which Mr. +Darrington gave us, and felt very much like putting into practise our +State motto, "Here We Rest," at his home, but our objective point for +the day was Fatama, sixteen miles away. + +On our journey that afternoon we saw hundreds of Negro one-room log +cabins. Some of these were located in the dense swamps and some on the +hills, while others were miles away from the public road. Most of these +people had never seen a locomotive. We reached Fatama about seven +o'clock that night, and here for the first time we were compelled to +divide our crowd in order to get a night's lodging. Each of us had to +spend the night in a one-room cabin. It was my privilege to spend the +night with Uncle Jake, a jovial old man, a local celebrity. After +telling him of our weary journey, he immediately made preparation for me +to retire. This was done by cutting off my bed from the remainder of the +cabin by hanging up a sheet on a screen. While somewhat inconvenient, my +rest that night was pleasant, and the next morning found me very much +refreshed and ready for another day's journey. Our company assembled at +Uncle Jake's for breakfast, after which we started for Pineapple. + +We found the condition of the Negroes between Fatama and Pineapple much +the same as that of those we had seen the previous day. No schoolhouse +was to be seen, but occasionally we would see a church at the +cross-roads. We reached Pineapple late in the afternoon. + +From Pineapple we went to Greenville, and from Greenville to Fort +Deposit, and from Fort Deposit we returned to Snow Hill, after having +traveled a distance of 157 miles and visiting four counties. + +In three of these counties there is a colored population of 42,810 +between the ages of five and twenty years, and a white population of +7,608 of the same ages. In fact, the Negro school population of Wilcox +and the seven adjoining counties is as follows: Wilcox, 11,623; Dallas, +18,292; Lowndes, 13,044; Monroe, 5,615; Butler, 5,924; Marengo, 12,362; +Clark, 6,898; Perry, 10,723; making a total of 85,499. Speaking of +public schools in the sense that educators use the term, the colored +people in this section have none. Of course, there are so-called public +schools here and there, running from three to five months in the year +and paying the teachers from $7.50 to $18 per month; but the teachers +are incompetent, and the schools are usually in the hands of those not +too much interested in the cause of education. Many of these trustees do +not visit the schools once in ten years, and they know absolutely +nothing of the methods of discipline even used by the teachers. + +Our trip through this section revealed the following facts: (1) That +while many opportunities were denied our people, they abused many +privileges; (2) that there was a colored population, in this section +visited, of more than 200,000, and a school population of 85,499; (3) +that the people were ignorant and superstitious; (4) that the teachers +and preachers for the most part were of the same condition; (5) that +there were no public or private libraries and reading-rooms to which +they had access; (6) that, strictly speaking, there were no public +schools and only one private one. Now what can be expected of any people +in such a condition? Can the blind lead the blind? They could not in the +days of old, and it is not likely that they can now. + +After this trip through the "Black Belt" I was more convinced than ever +before of the great need of an industrial school in the very midst of +these people; a school that would correct the erroneous ideas the people +held of education; a school that would put most stress upon the things +which the people were most likely to have to do with through life; a +school that would endeavor to make education practical rather than +theoretical; a school that would train men and women to be good workers, +good leaders, good husbands, good wives, and finally train them to be +fit citizens of the State, and proper subjects for the kingdom of God. + +With this idea the Snow Hill Normal and Industrial Institute was started +ten years ago in an old, dilapidated, one-room log cabin with one +teacher, three students, and no State appropriation, and without any +church or society responsible for one dollar of its expenses. Aside +from this unfortunate state of affairs, the condition of the people was +most miserable. This was due partly to poor crops and partly to bad +management on their part. + +In many instances the tenants were not only unable to pay their debts, +but were also unable to pay their rents. In a few cases the landlords +had to provide, at their own expense, provisions for their tenants. This +was simply another way of establishing soup-houses on the plantations. +The idea of buying land was foreign to all of them, and there were not +more than twenty acres of land owned by the colored people in this whole +neighborhood. The churches and schools were practically closed, while +crime and immorality were rampant. The carrying of men and women to the +chain-gang was a frequent occurrence. Aside from all this, these people +believed that the end of education was to free their children from +manual labor rather than prepare them for more and better work. They +were very much opposed to industrial education. When the school was +started, many of the parents came to the school and forbade our +"working" their children, stating as their objection that their children +had been working all their lives, and they did not mean to send them to +school to learn to work. Not only did they forbid our having their +children work, but many took their children out of school rather than +have them do so. A good deal of this opposition was kept up by +illiterate preachers and incompetent teachers, here and there, who had +not had any particular training for their profession. In fact, +ninety-eight per cent of them had attended no school. We continued, +however, to keep the "industrial plank" in our platform, and year after +year some additional industry was added until we now have thirteen +industries in constant operation. Agriculture is the foremost and basic +industry of the institution. We do this because we are in a farming +section and ninety-five per cent of the people in this section depend +upon some form of agriculture for a livelihood. How changed are the +conditions now as regards our work! From the little one-room log cabin, +the school has grown so that it now owns 100 acres of land, 14 +buildings, counting large and small, with property valued at $37,000. +From three students, it has grown so that we now have a school with more +than four hundred students annually in attendance, representing more +than a dozen Alabama counties and seven States. It has also grown from +one to twenty teachers and officers. Including the class that graduated +last term, thirty-seven have finished the course. All are living but +one. No charge of criminal wrong-doing has been brought against even one +of them. One of the young women is married to the head teacher, another +to the superintendent of industries, and seven other graduates are +employed in responsible positions by the school. One of these has taken +a special course at Harvard University, three have taken additional +courses at Tuskegee, one is in charge of the woman's department of a +large school in Mississippi, two have founded schools of their own, one +at Tilden, Ala., the other at Greensboro, Ala. All have remained in the +country among the masses whom they are helping to uplift, and most of +them in Wilcox County, the county in which the school is located. Of the +thirty-seven graduates, twenty-seven own their own homes. Aside from the +graduates, about five hundred others have been under the influence of +the school for a longer or shorter period; many of these are making +exceptionally good records. + +The growth on the part of the people has kept corresponding pace with +the growth of the institution. The farmers, who ten years ago depended +wholly on the landlords for food supplies, have grown to be independent, +raising most of their own supplies. They are rapidly passing from the +renters' class to the owners' class; they are possessing themselves of +the soil. This may be seen from the fact that ten years ago they owned +in this county but twenty acres of land; to-day they own 4,000 acres of +land. Many of the most prosperous farmers have opened bank-accounts. The +people no longer oppose industrial education; they now refuse to send +their children to any school where they can not secure some industrial +education. + +For our part we find it wholly impossible to accommodate all who come to +us from time to time to take the trades' instruction. The churches +hereabout have been revived, new and better schoolhouses have been +built, and the county school terms extended in many cases from two and +three to five and six months; competent teachers and preachers, both +intellectually and morally, have been employed. Crime and immorality are +being uprooted, and virtue and civic righteousness are being planted in +their stead. The commercial and economic conditions have improved in +every way, and there was never a more cordial relation existing between +the races in this section than now. With these things true, the one-room +log cabin can not survive, and is rapidly giving way to houses having +three, four, and, in some places, six and seven rooms. + +After having been here at Snow Hill for a few years, we felt that while +we were helping the children in the class-room, something should be done +to help the parents; so we organized what we call the Snow Hill Negro +Conference, on January 13, 1897. This conference is modeled after the +famous Tuskegee Negro Conferences, and meets once a year. At this +conference the farmers from this and the adjoining counties come +together. There were 500 at our last conference. The school is almost +wholly given up to farmers on Conference day. Here we listen to +educational, religious, moral, and financial reports from many sections. +Those who have succeeded, tell the others how they have done so, and +those who have not succeeded tell how they are trying to succeed. From +these annual meetings the farmers get new ideas, new information, and +take fresh courage; they return to their farms more determined to +succeed than ever before. When we commenced these meetings the reports +were discouraging, and from many sections the condition of the race +thereabout seemed hopeless. Many said that in the same section they +could not buy land at any price. There were only twenty acres of land +reported at the first conference. At the last one, reports showed that +the people had purchased more than four thousand acres since the +beginning of these conferences seven years ago. At our first meeting the +reports showed that the one-room log-cabin home was the rule; at our +last meeting it had become the exception. These conferences have tried +all along to induce the people to raise more of their own food-supplies. +We also waged a ceaseless war upon the one-room log-cabin home, which +has resulted in almost annihilating them. This war shall never cease +until there is not a one-room log cabin left in all this section. The +one-room log cabin is a pestilent menace to decent living. + +Following the farmers' conference, we have the workers' conference +during vacation. This conference is chiefly composed of teachers and +preachers, and represents an idea got from Tuskegee. In this conference +we get a clear idea of what the teachers and preachers are doing, the +methods they are pursuing, and the results being achieved. The teachers +are encouraged to make education less theoretical and more practical; +the preachers are urged to preach to our people less of the dying +religion and more of the living religion. While they are encouraged to +build better schoolhouses and churches, they are also reminded of the +fact that these are not the ends, but only the means to an end; that +they are only of value in proportion as they can be used to build up a +hopeful and noble life in the communities where they are located. +However much the material side may be held up to them, they are told +that in the last analysis the spiritual is always the end. The reports +at our last Workers' Conference were most encouraging. Wherever the +intelligent teacher and preacher have gone, the condition of the people +has been improved. To my mind this demonstrates most clearly that the +great need of our people is intelligent leaders, and it is this that we +ask for; it is this for which Snow Hill is striving. While much good is +being accomplished through the Workers' Conference, the "Black Belt +Improvement Society," which I have organized, deals more directly with +the people in our immediate neighborhood. The aim of this society is +clearly set forth in its constitution, a part of which is as follows: + + + 1. This society shall be known as the Black Belt Improvement + Society. Its object shall be the general uplift of the people of + the Black Belt of Alabama; to make them better morally, mentally, + spiritually, and financially. + + 2. It shall be the object of the Black Belt Improvement Society to, + as far as possible, eliminate the credit system from our social + fabric; to stimulate in all members the desire to raise, as far as + possible, all their food supplies at home, and pay cash for + whatever may be purchased at the stores. + + 3. To bring about a system of cooperation in the purchase of what + supplies can not be raised at home wherever it can be done to + advantage. + + 4. To discuss topics of interest to the communities in which the + various societies may be organized, and topics relating to the + general welfare of the race, and especially to farmers. + + 5. To teach the people to practise the strictest economy, and + especially to obtain and diffuse such information among farmers as + shall lead to the improvement and diversification of crops, in + order to create in farmers a desire for homes and better home + conditions, and to stimulate a love for labor in both old and + young. Each local organization may offer small prizes for the + cleanest and best-kept house, the best pea-patch, and the best ear + of corn, etc. + + 6. To aid each other in sickness and in death; for this purpose a + fee of ten cents will be collected from each member every month and + held sacred, to be used for no other purpose whatever. + + 7. It shall be one of the great objects of this society to + stimulate its members to acquire homes, and urge those who already + possess homes to improve and beautify them. + + 8. To urge our members to purchase only the things that are + absolutely necessary. + + 9. To exert our every effort to obliterate those evils which tend + to destroy our character and our homes, such as intemperance, + gambling, and social impurity. + + 10. To refrain from spending money and time foolishly or in + unprofitable ways; to take an interest in the care of our highways, + in the paying of our taxes, and the education of our children; to + plant shade trees, repair our yard fences, and in general, as far + as possible, bring our home life up to the highest standards of + civilization. + + +This society has several standing committees, as follows: on government, +on education, on business, on housekeeping, on labor, and on farming. +The chairman of these respective committees holds monthly meetings in +the various communities, at which time various topics pertaining to the +welfare and uplift of the people are discussed. As a result of these +meetings the people return to their homes with new inspiration. These +meetings are doing good in the communities where they are being held, +and our sincere hope is that such meetings may be extended. The ills +that most retard the Negroes of the rural South are sought to be reached +by the school and by the several organizations which have been organized +by it. These articles of the simple constitution go to the very bottom +of the conditions. + +If one would again take the trip which I made in the summer of 1893, he +would find that two-thirds of the land lying between Snow Hill and +Carlowville, a distance of seven miles, is now owned and controlled +entirely by Negroes. In Carlowville, instead of the old one-room-cabin +church, there is a beautiful church with glass windows. An acre of land +has been bought, and a neat and comfortable schoolhouse with glass +windows has been erected, and a graduate of my school is the teacher. +Many families in that section are now owning homes. A great revolution +is also taking place in Tilden. John Thomas, one of our graduates, Class +of '01, has gone into this place, induced the people to buy thirty acres +of land, on which they have erected a splendid building having two +rooms, and the school is being conducted seven months in the year. Many +farmers in this section are now owning homes, some of them owning as +much as 400 acres of land. This improvement is steadily going on in all +sections where the influence of our school has reached. + +Thus it will be seen that the work in the class-room is only a small +part of what we are trying to do for the uplift of the Negro people in +the Black Belt. + +In order that this good work may be pushed more rapidly, it is necessary +that we give some time to this particular movement. This can only be +done by our having here a strong and healthy institution with an +endowment sufficiently large to relieve us of our great financial +burden. An adequate endowment would meet this need. While we are anxious +to raise an endowment fund, our burden could be partially relieved by +the school securing possession of a large plantation in the neighborhood +which is now, and has been for three years, offered to us. This +plantation contains between three thousand and four thousand acres of +land, and can be bought for $30,000, and would afford us unbounded +opportunity for the extension of the agricultural features of our work, +which would enable us to raise more, if not all, of our food supplies. + +I have tried as simply as possible in this article to state the real +condition of the people in the Black Belt section of this State, and to +tell how we are trying to cope with these conditions. Our constant +feeling is that there is so much to be done, and that so little has been +accomplished. + +In closing: The inspiration derived at Tuskegee; the instruction given +in shop, and field, and class-room; the guiding hand of its illustrious +Principal--all of these have had their impress upon me and have urged me +to dedicate myself unreservedly to these people, among whom I was +reared, among whom I shall continue to labor, among whom I shall at the +last be buried. + + + + +XI + +A DAIRYMAN'S STORY + +BY LEWIS A. SMITH + + +In any attempt to write a story of my life and work, the "work" feature +must predominate. + +I was born March 27, 1877, at Louisville, Ky. My father and mother were +slaves of old Georgia stock. My father, after freedom, was for a time +permitted to attend Howard University, Washington, D. C. He was a +candy-maker. My mother attended Atlanta University. + +In 1878 my parents left Atlanta, where my two brothers were born, and +located in Louisville. Leaving Louisville in 1881, the family moved to +Chicago, Ill., where I lived until I entered Tuskegee Institute, of +which my mother and I had heard much. + +After reaching Chicago, my parents established a confectionery store. My +earlier days were mostly spent behind the counter in the store, not as a +clerk helping to earn profits, but in an endeavor to make profits +disappear. I was much in love with the nice things we had for sale. + +An unfortunate family "incident" in 1882 resulted in placing my two +brothers and me in the custody of my mother. Our childhood pleasures +were marred by this affair. Although I was too young to fully understand +the situation, I realized that I lacked the pleasures that other +children had; I realized the absence of that paternal care and affection +that other children enjoyed--the home was not complete. I can not recall +my childhood with any special pleasure. + +I entered the public schools of Chicago when I was seven years of age. I +made a very good record in my studies, attested by the fact that I made +two grades the first year, and one grade with excellent marks each +succeeding year thereafter. My deportment was not exemplary. I can +remember occasions when I was severely reprimanded for being absent from +school without an excuse, having gone fishing, or bathing in Lake +Michigan, or skating in the parks in winter. + + +[Illustration: IN THE DAIRY. + +Students using separators.] + + +That was before the compulsory school law went into effect, or at least +before it affected me. I was not, however, a bad boy. I was neither +rough nor tough; I had no bad habits other than smoking corn-silk +cigarettes, and I soon stopped that as the novelty of the thing wore +off. My young mind and body required recreation. Unlike the children of +the South, who had three months of school and nine months of play or +work in the fields, I had nine months of school and three months of +play. I thought the ratio was in the wrong proportion. But as I grew +older I became more settled and more interested in my studies. + +Although during the greater portion of my school life in Chicago I was +the sole Negro pupil in my classes, yet I do not remember a single +occasion when prejudice was leveled at me by teacher or schoolmate. + +Early, after throwing off my wildness, I realized the need and the +advantage of possessing an education, and, having such excellent +facilities at hand, determined to become educated, and diligently +pursued that object. Just as I was about to enter the eighth grade, +however, I had to give up going to school, and go to work. + +I secured employment with a wood-engraving firm as general office- and +errand-boy. My wages were $2.50 a week. About fifty cents of this sum I +spent each week for car-fare and incidentals. As I lived three miles +from my work it would have been necessary for me to spend my whole +allowance for car-fare had I not stolen rides on railroad trains. I +often wonder now how I could have jumped on and off swift-moving trains, +day after day, without receiving some serious injury. Surely Providence +must have protected me in my endeavor to save my scanty earnings. My +clothing did not cost much, as I was the "happy" recipient of the +cast-off clothes of the older members of the family. + +My work was agreeable and my employer was generously sympathetic. +Realizing that wood-engraving and illustrating would offer remunerative +employment, I sought to learn the trade, but was told that I would have +to serve an apprenticeship of six months without pay; that precluded all +hope of learning that trade. + +Manhood approached before I was prepared to do anything. I did not earn +much in my youth, and could not expect to earn much in manhood without +preparation. I then resolved to enter school again, but the expense of a +thorough course was an apparently insurmountable obstacle. I had been +unable to save much from my meager allowance. I had heard of the +Tuskegee Institute and of the opportunities there offered to poor young +men and women. I decided to enter that school. A friend helped me to +purchase an excursion ticket to Atlanta, Ga., where was being held the +Cotton-States and International Exposition. I left Chicago in November, +and after two days spent in Atlanta with relatives and in seeing the +sights, I exchanged my return coupon for a ticket to Tuskegee. + +I arrived at Chehaw, the station where passengers transfer for Tuskegee, +and taking passage in a wagonette, a crude substitute for our modern +means of interurban transit--the little train was not running on that +day--we drove through a picturesque country abounding in woods, vales, +and cultivated fields, occasionally coming across landmarks of +antebellum days. Here one was really in communion with Nature, so +different it was from the massive specimens of architecture, the clatter +of horses on the cobblestone pavement, the rattle of elevated trains, +and the activity of commercial life of the Western metropolis from which +I had come. As we reached high elevations glimpses of the institution +came into view. + +Tuskegee was a surprise to me; it surpassed my fondest hope. The +majestic buildings, the monuments to the fidelity and building skill of +past classes, the well-designed landscape architecture, made me feel +that I had at last found the place where I could be prepared for real +life. I received a cordial welcome from the teachers; also from the +students, especially from those connected with the religious and +literary organizations, of which there are quite a number. + +When asked the industry I wished to learn, I chose that of agriculture. +Like hundreds of boys confined to city environment, I had a craving for +Nature, a fondness for live stock, and for all that I should come in +contact with while taking that course. I worked during the daytime the +first year and attended school at night, thereby acquiring experience +and accumulating a credit to apply to my board when I should enter the +day-school. Soon after entering the agricultural department I had made +such progress that I was placed in charge of the hotbeds and grew +vegetables all winter. It was a marvelous accomplishment with me, for I +could not have grown them even in the summer before I entered that +department. The care of the various seeds used on the farm was also in +my charge. + +This privilege afforded me opportunities for seed-testing and for +observing plant development; it was all very instructive. While +attending the academic classes at night, the daytime was devoted +entirely to study in the various divisions of the agricultural +department. + +At the expiration of my first year as a night-school student, I entered +day-school, devoting about equal time to academic and agricultural +classes, and a small portion of the time to the study of music, being a +member of the Institute brass band, and in my last year a member of the +orchestra. + +During my second summer's vacation I went into the southern part of +Montgomery County, Ala., in search of a school to teach. There was no +schoolhouse, no school fund, nor any appropriation available except for +a three months' term during the winter. After further canvass I was +permitted to open a school in the little church at Strata, Ala. The +large attendance of pupils and their eagerness to learn won my sympathy +and I would gladly have planted a sprig of Tuskegee there had I not had +strong inclinations for a commercial life. I conducted a class in +agriculture for the benefit of the farmers. I believe it was helpful to +them. My spare time was spent in going through the country noting the +waste of the land and the lack of enterprise among the owners and +tenants, due in large measure, I am sure, to the mortgage system and the +deep ignorance of the people. Most of the evenings I spent listening to +the terrible stories of slavery days from the lips of those who had +passed through them. + +In the midst of this service I received a telegram announcing the death +of my mother. I was too far from home to return in time to see the last +of her, even if I had had the means to do so. I was in grief; I had +sustained a great loss; she was my all, my mother. + +I returned to Tuskegee and graduated with the Class of '98. + +I am grateful to Tuskegee Institute, to the genius of Mr. Washington, +for the opportunities I had to acquire an education; to the members of +the Faculty for their assistance, and to my father, who gave me much of +material aid and encouragement. + +After graduating, I spent two months at special work in the school +dairy; then, with the assistance of my father, I secured a position with +the Forest City Creamery Company of Rockford, Ill. Entering this +company's employ about the 15th of August, 1898, I have been employed +ever since at the same place. + +The Forest City Creamery is one of the largest butter-making concerns +in the United States, averaging twenty thousand pounds of butter per +day. We make two grades of butter, known as process, or renovated, and +creamery butter. There are employed at this plant about seventy-five +persons. + +My work consists in what is known to the trade as "starter-making" and +preparing the flavor for the butter. The work is bacteriological, +propagating a species of bacteria which produces the pleasant aroma and +flavor of good butter. It requires not only an understanding of +bacteriology, but skilled workmanship and earnest attention to details. +The secret processes of this company are known to a close group only, of +which I am one. My work here has been entirely successful and +satisfactory to my employers, if I may judge from a highly complimentary +interview with one of the officers of the company regarding my work, +published in one of the leading daily newspapers of Rockford, and the +fact that I am now receiving double my initial wages. + +I have a record not surpassed by any other employee of this company. +Between June 24, 1901, following a wedding-trip to Tuskegee, and August +15, 1904, when we visited the St. Louis Exposition, I have worked each +day at the Creamery, including Sundays and holidays, my work requiring +that I do so. These 1,155 consecutive days of labor were made possible +by a total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors and tobacco. My +success here can be credited to the efficient training I received at +Tuskegee. + +"It is not well for man to live alone." Following this injunction I have +taken unto myself a helpmeet, who is all that the word implies, loving, +economical, and well trained in domestic arts. Shortly after our +marriage we began paying for a home of eleven rooms located in a good +residence portion of the city. The lower part of the house, containing +six rooms, we occupy, and have comfortably furnished; the up-stairs +portion, containing five rooms, we rent to a family of white people; the +rent we receive equals the interest on the investment. + +We have one child, a little girl two years old, who furnishes sunshine +to an already happy home. + +Our house is surrounded by a lawn with shade- and fruit-trees, and many +flower-beds. The back yard contains a garden with berry plants, a +well-built and well-arranged poultry-house, a yard containing a flock of +pure-bred fowls, the nucleus of a future enterprise, and a barn with a +good horse, a buggy, etc., for our pleasure and convenience. + +My ambition when leaving school was first to endeavor to become +independent financially, so that I might enjoy my old age; then, if it +were possible, to gain that independence early in life by economy, by +earning for myself what I earn for my employer; to try to make it +possible for the Negro farmer to sell his produce to the Negro gin, the +Negro cotton-mill, or creamery, as the case might be; my idea being, by +this community of interest, to help the Negro people about me to help +themselves and their fellows. I believe, in the words of the motto of +the Class of '98--my class--that "we rise upon the structure we +ourselves have builded." I have tried to live with this thought ever +before me. + + + + +XII + +THE STORY OF A WHEELWRIGHT + +BY EDWARD LOMAX + + +I was born in the small town of Demopolis, in the western part of the +State of Alabama, January 17, 1877. My uncle was a wheelwright, and I, +at an early age, was led to desire to become an artisan such as my uncle +was. I interceded with him and became the "handy boy" around the shop in +which he worked, and picked up much useful information; but there was +nothing progressive or directly helpful in the work I was permitted to +do. I also did some little work in blacksmithing while in the shop. + +What to me was a fortunate circumstance was the meeting with a chance +acquaintance who was returning from Tuskegee Institute for his vacation. +This young man told me most glowing stories of the Tuskegee Institute. +He was so enthusiastic that he imparted much of his enthusiasm to me. He +himself was taking instruction in the wheelwrighting division, and could +give at first-hand the information I most desired. The whole Tuskegee +plan was outlined to me: how I could learn my trade, and at the same +time get book instruction; how I could earn by labor enough to carry me +through school while securing to myself the advantages mentioned. I had +had to learn by seeing others do, and it was now pointed out to me how I +could "learn by doing," and that was the thing I wanted. I had been used +to being kept from the use of tools and everything that would really +help me to learn wheelwrighting; the only chances I ever had being to +"knock about" the shop, occasionally having some worthless job, with +cast-off tools to work with, entrusted to me. + +The upshot of it was that I decided to go to Tuskegee, and carefully +saved as much of my wages of $2.50 per week as I possibly could, so as +to purchase clothing, books, and those incidentals insisted upon by the +school that each student must have. I wrote to the school, and received +a letter from Principal Washington admitting me should I find myself +able to meet the requirements stated as follows: + + + No person will be admitted to the school as a student who can not + pass the examination for the C Preparatory class. To enter this + class one must be able to read, write, and understand addition, + subtraction, multiplication, and division. Applicants for + admission must be of good moral character and must bring at least + two letters of recommendation as to their moral character from + reliable persons of their communities. + + _The Day-School._--The Day-School is intended for those who are + able to pay all or the greater part of their expenses in cash. + Students attending the Day-School are required to work one day in + each week and every other Saturday. + + They must also be fourteen years of age, of good physique, and able + to pass the examination for the C Preparatory class, as stated + above. + + _The Night-School._--The requirements for entering the Night-School + are the same as for entering the Day-School, with the additional + requisites: Applicants must be fully sixteen years of age instead + of fourteen, and physically able to perform an adult's labor. + Cripples are under no circumstances admitted to this department. + + The Night-School is designed for young men and women who earnestly + desire to educate themselves, but who are too poor to pay even the + small charge made in the Day-School. Students will not be admitted + to the Night-School who are known to be able to enter the + Day-School; and when a student has fraudulently gained admission, + upon discovery of the deception, must either enter the Day-School + or leave the institution. + + Trades are assigned as nearly as possible in accordance with the + students' desires. In assigning young men and women to a trade, + their mental ability and intelligence to grasp it, and physical + ability to perform the duties required, are all carefully + considered. At the beginning of the school year it often happens + that certain of the industries are quickly filled; and when this + happens, applicants for this particular industry are assigned to + some other division until a vacancy occurs. + + +The school authorities also sent me a card notifying me as to the +school's requirements in the way of discipline. These seemed to me to be +rather overexacting, but I resolved to try to live up to them if I +should be admitted. Among these were the following: + + + The rules governing the school are aimed to be those which best + promote the welfare and happiness of all. + + Each student is required to have a Bible. + + Regular habits of rest and recreation are required. + + No student is allowed to leave the grounds without permission. + + Male students when permitted to leave the grounds must wear the + regulation cap. + + No young woman is permitted to leave the grounds of the institution + unless accompanied by a teacher. + + The Institute has adequate facilities for bathing, and all + students are required to bathe at stated periods. Bath-houses for + young men and young women, with swimming-pools and shower-bath + appointments, afford every facility in this regard. + + The use of intoxicating drinks and the use of tobacco are strictly + forbidden. + + Dice-playing and card-playing are strictly prohibited. + + Students are liable to be dropped for inability to master their + studies, irregularity of attendance, or for failure to comply with + the regulations of the school after due notice. + + The demeriting system has been adopted by the school as the + principal method of discipline for misconduct: 33-1/3 demerit marks + constitute a "warning," and upon receiving three warnings a student + is liable to suspension or expulsion, according as the Executive + Council may determine. + + All non-resident students are expected to board on the + school-grounds, unless there is some good reason for a contrary + arrangement. + + Students are not registered for a shorter period than one month; + those who leave before the end of a month are charged for a full + month's board. + + When students desire to leave the school they are required to have + parents or guardian write directly to the Principal for permission + to do so. + + The Dean of the Woman's Department meets all the young women of the + school each Friday afternoon, and the Commandant all of the young + men every Saturday evening, at which times talks, both instructive + and corrective, are given. No student is excused from these + meetings except by special permission. + + Students who sign a contract to work a specified time at some trade + or other work must be released from their contract before + application for an excuse from school will be considered. Any + student leaving without a written excuse will not be allowed to + return, and students under contract will not only be dismissed, but + will forfeit whatever cash there may be to their credit in the + school treasury. Students must settle their accounts before + leaving. + + Remittances in payment of bills should be made to the Principal or + Treasurer (and not to the student) by post-office money-order, + registered letter, or check. + + Students are not allowed to retain firearms in their possession. + The Commandant of Cadets will retain and give receipts for any + brought. + + Low or profane language will subject students to severe discipline. + Students are liable to reprimand, confinement, or other punishment. + + Letter-writing is subject to regulation, and all mail- and + express-packages are inspected and contents noted. Students are + urged to write their parents at least once a week. + + Wardrobes and rooms of students are subject to inspection and + regulation by proper officers at all times, and regular and + thorough inspection of same are made from time to time. + + +I was admitted in due course of time. + +I reached Tuskegee on the 5th of September, 1896, and after purchasing +books, etc., my "cash assets," $12, were about exhausted. I could not +enter as a day-school student, as I did not have the money to do so. In +the night-school I found a chance which I gladly embraced. As I had +desired, I was assigned to the wheelwright division for two years, +signing a formal contract to that effect. I spent the whole of each day +in the shop, attended industrial or theory classes two afternoons in +each week, besides taking mechanical drawing (as all trades students are +required to do), and attended evening classes. + +I applied myself as earnestly as I possibly could, and lost no time in +getting right down to business. So well had I done that, that when a +call reached the school during the spring of 1897 for a competent +blacksmith, I was sent to do the work. I was excused from school on +April 15th of that year and went to Shorter's, Ala., a settlement about +eighteen miles from Tuskegee. I remained there until October. + + +[Illustration: STUDENTS AT WORK IN THE HARNESS-SHOP.] + + +In a way, I regarded that period somewhat as a vacation period, as I did +not lose much time from my classes. The surroundings were pleasant and +profitable, and I had a chance to enter into the life of the people and +help them a great deal. While there I earned enough money to send for my +brother and enter him in Tuskegee, that he might have the same chance I +was enjoying to get an education. I wanted my brother to enter the +blacksmith-shop, as I saw visions of a blacksmithing and wheelwrighting +business to be owned and conducted by Lomax Brothers some time in the +future. I also provided clothing out of what I had earned for both my +brother and myself. + +At close of the school term in 1898 I was able to secure employment at +Uniontown, Ala., with Messrs. J. L. Dykes and Company, doing a general +wheelwrighting and blacksmithing business--the largest business of its +kind in the town. I remained at Uniontown, working for the firm until +October, when I again returned to Tuskegee. The sum per day I received +was a most flattering tribute to Tuskegee's ability to take a stiff +country lad like myself, and turn him, in a few months, into a workman +commanding decent wages. + +What this means to the masses of the students who go to Tuskegee the +general public can have no idea. It is a great thing for a boy who never +earned more than the merest pittance a day to go to a school where he +can secure an education by working for it, and at the same time be +fitted to earn wages, as many of them do, three and even five times as +high as before going there. This accounts, in a large measure I am sure, +for the fact that so large a number refuse to remain and go through the +full courses of academic study. + +Many of them, finding themselves able in a few months to earn sums far +beyond any previous hope, decide to take advantage at once of this +increased earning capacity; but since the work is so well graded, no boy +can get his trade without getting, at the same time, academic +instruction, and instruction in those character-forming things all about +the student at Tuskegee. + +I began the new term with $50, which sum was to my credit in the school +treasury, having been earned by my labor. + +During the summer of 1899 I was again offered work at Uniontown by +Messrs. J. L. Dykes and Company. I remained with them only two months, +however. Afterward I worked at the McKinley Brothers' Wagon Factory at +Demopolis, Ala.; as a journeyman workman at Tuskegee, in the Institute's +Wheelwrighting Shop, and with the Nack Carriage Company at Mobile, Ala., +the largest shop of its kind in that city and one of the largest in the +whole South, a firm doing strictly high-grade work. In all of these +positions I have every reason to believe that I gave full and complete +satisfaction. While with the last-named company I won the personal favor +and interest of the manager and continued to study. He recommended that +I add to my Tuskegee training by taking the correspondence course of the +Technical School for Carriage Draftsmen and Mechanics, New York. I +remained with this firm until I was offered a position by Mr. R. R. +Taylor, the present director of mechanical industries of the Tuskegee +Institute, three years ago. I was greatly pleased and flattered when I +was called to take charge of the division in which I had received my own +instruction. Since being at Tuskegee I have continued to study, and am +satisfied that I have well used my opportunities. + +This division over which I preside is located on the first floor of the +Trades Building. It is well fitted for work in general wheelwrighting +and repairing. + +Included in the equipment are ten woodworkers' benches 32 inches high, +42 inches wide, and 8 feet long. Each bench is divided into two parts, +making it possible for two persons to work at the same bench without +interference. The benches have three drawers and one closet on each +side, in which tools used by the students are kept. + +Each pupil is provided with the following tools: One coach-maker's vise, +one 26-inch No. 6 cross-cut saw, one 12-inch back saw, one set of +planes, one set of chisels, one set of auger-bits, one set of +gimlet-bits, one ratchet-brace, one coach-maker's drawing-knife, one +spoke-shave, one thumb-gauge, one try-square, one bevel, one hammer, and +one mallet. Other tools are kept in reserve by the instructor and are +used only when needed. + +The division is constantly building new work, such as wagons, drays, +horse- and hand-carts, wheelbarrows, buggies, and road-carts. The work +of repairing vehicles and farm implements for the school, and a large +amount of repairing for the locality, is done by my students. The course +is as follows: + + + _The First Year._--Care of shop, names and care of tools, general + measurements; elementary work with saw, plane, drawing-knife, + chisel, and spoke-shave; practise in the making and application of + joints, i. e., splices, mortises, tenons, and miters; kinds of wood + used and how to select; practise-work on parts of wagons and + bodies; Industrial Classes and Mechanical Drawing during the year. + + _The Second Year._--Pattern-making, working by patterns, + practise-work on parts of wagons continued; making wheelbarrows and + hand-carts, repairing wagons; practise in wheel-building; + construction of wagons, carts, and drays; practise on parts of + buggies and wagons; industrial classes and Mechanical Drawing + during the year. + + _The Third Year._--Building wheels; general repairs on buggies and + wagons continued; practise-work on parts of buggies, phaetons, + farm- and business-wagons; shop economics, estimates, bills of + material; industrial classes and Mechanical Drawing during the + year. + + The student in wheelwrighting receives instruction in wood-turning; + the course is the same as that given to students in carpentry. + + +I was married late last summer, 1904, and am now living at Tuskegee as a +member of the Faculty of the school I entered as a raw recruit. + + + + +XIII + +THE STORY OF A BLACKSMITH + +BY JUBIE B. BRAGG + + +Both my mother and father were compelled to work in the field as +farmers. They had four children, all now living, of whom I am the +eldest. I was born in Twiggs County, Ga., February 17, 1876, but in 1881 +the family moved to Macon, Ga., where they lived until 1886. The +cruelest possible blow befell us when both mother and father died in +April of that year, within ten days of each other. + +My parents were intelligent, and though they had had no opportunities +for securing an education, yet they were able to teach their children +the alphabet and how to spell a few simple words. My first lessons were +in Webster's blue-back speller, so when I started to school at six years +of age I was not the dullest boy beginning at the same place, because of +the instruction I had received. I first went to a Miss Mary Tom, who +taught in St. Paul's Church in East Macon. I went there but one school +session. I was next sent to a Miss Carr, who taught in the basement of +the Presbyterian church on Washington Avenue, West Macon. To her, also, +I only went one term. I was next started in Lewis' High School, now +known as Ballard's Normal School, but was soon compelled to cease going +there because of the death of both parents, as already mentioned, in +April of that same term. + +I was now but ten years of age. My aunt took charge of me and of the +other children. I was immediately "hired out" to a family named Horton, +for my victuals and clothing. I worked for this family about six months, +all of whom were kind to me, especially Mr. Horton, Jr., who at this +time had charge of an ice-house. Each day I carried his meals to him and +could confidently count upon receiving from him a nickel (five cents), +which was forthwith invested in candy as I returned. It was a real +pleasure to meet and make myself known to Mr. Horton, Jr., the young man +who had been so kind to me in Birmingham, Ala., in 1901, after my +graduation from Tuskegee. He was apparently glad to see me, and +especially to learn that I had been attending the Tuskegee Institute. +After leaving the Horton family I went to work in a grocery store, that +of a Mrs. Machold, from whom I received $4 a month for my services. I +only remained with her a short while. + +The work I liked best of all, however, was that with the shoe firm of +Bearden and Brantley. I had my Sundays, and was off from work at six +o'clock each week-day--a great change from my former employment. + +When I was twelve years of age I went to visit an uncle who lived in +Baldwin County, Ga. I had gone to remain two weeks; as a matter of fact +I was with him three years. I worked on the farm every day while with +him, and went to school about two months each year. In this short time I +was only able to review the lessons I had already had. After returning +to Macon, a number of young men who had been to Tuskegee persuaded me to +consider going there to school. The most strenuous opposition came from +my own relatives. After many conversations about the matter I had +finally to go against their will. They honestly felt that such reading +and writing as I could do was quite enough education for me, or for any +other Negro boy. + +I reached the school, after being properly admitted, on the 11th of +September, 1893, and registered as a student in the night-school, as I +had no money, and could pay in cash for no part of my expenses. I was +assigned, after examination, to the A Preparatory class. I was assigned +work at the barns, fed cows, milked, and rendered such other service as +was required by the instructor. + +Soon after reaching Tuskegee and after I had begun "working out" my +expenses, I learned that the officers of the school were contemplating a +new scheme whereby all of the students in the night-school would work +one-half of each day, go to school one-half of each day, and pay $4 a +month in cash into the school treasury. Mrs. Washington, the "guardian +angel" of the student body at Tuskegee called me and several other +students into conference and asked us to frankly state how the new +schedule would affect us, what we thought of the plan, how much money we +were able to pay, etc. Out of the whole number only four declared they +were able to pay the $4 a month; the larger number, like myself, were +utterly unable to pay anything in cash, being dependent absolutely upon +our ability to cover our expenses by work in some of the industrial +divisions. It was finally decided to forego this contemplated +arrangement, and I, and the majority of others situated like myself, +were made very happy. My whole future hinged on this decision, as I +should have been compelled to leave school if it had been put in +operation. I remained at the school during the summer of 1894, the +school very kindly arranging each summer to keep a large number of +students and providing work for them. It was to me an advantage to +remain. I had no money for railroad fare, and I was sure of securing a +trade, wheelwrighting, at the beginning of the next term. I had desired +to go into the blacksmith-shop, but it was so crowded that there was no +reasonable assurance that I should be able to secure entrance thereto. + +At the beginning of the fall term, 1894, I entered the wheelwright-shop, +at the same time, of course, carrying my academic work; I had been +successively each year promoted to the next higher class. I not only +worked all of that school year in the wheelwrighting-shop, but remained +the summer of 1895. + +Shortly after the new school year began, my instructor, Mr. M. T. +Driver, was selected to take charge of the school's elaborate exhibit at +the Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta, Ga., at the +opening of which Principal Washington had spoken so effectively and +powerfully for the Negro people of the country. I had made such +substantial progress that Mr. J. H. Washington, then serving as director +of mechanical industries, notified me that I had been selected to manage +the shop during Mr. Driver's six months' absence. + +I was not very much inclined to take the responsibility, but at Tuskegee +polite notification of selection to do a thing is a command. I accepted +the work and did my very best. There were about twenty young men in the +shop when I took charge, some older, some younger than I, but most of +whom had been there longer than I had. I had no serious complaints as to +the quality of work turned out by me during the instructor's absence. + +I now had to my credit more than enough money to carry me through the +remaining two years. The next year I entered the day-school. I had +become in most respects a new person. I had gone to Tuskegee +country-bred, raw, ignorant. The school's transforming influence I was +able to note in my carriage, and, of course, in my conversation, in my +care for neatness and order, and in the ideals I was forming and trying +to live up to. During the summer I returned home for the first time. I +worked at my trade during the vacation and earned enough money to buy +clothing and other necessaries. I did not return to school until +December 28, 1897, as I needed the money I was earning at my trade. I +had never earned in money more than the small amounts referred to in the +first part of this paper, and so was delighted with my earning capacity. + +I then sought work in the blacksmithing-shop, the shop I had first +desired to enter, so that I might become a first-class blacksmith in +addition to having a working knowledge of wheelwrighting. After +completing the school term I went to Montgomery, Ala., and worked as a +wheelwright and blacksmith. This outside experience was most helpful to +me. My last school year was that of 1899-1900. I was very happy to +receive, along with my academic diploma, a certificate also from the +blacksmithing division. I was now fitted to begin my life in the great +outside world. + +My first work was as instructor in blacksmithing and wheelwrighting in +the Hungerford Industrial School at Eatonville, Fla. I then secured work +at my trades in Birmingham until August, 1901, when three of us who had +been classmates at Tuskegee decided to form a partnership and conduct on +a large scale a general blacksmithing and wheelwrighting business. I +was deputed to select the place where we should locate. After +interviewing a number of persons, Anniston, Ala., was suggested, and I +decided to go there to personally investigate conditions. After getting +there and going about the town, I agreed that at Anniston we should find +a place that would properly support our business. There was no place +vacant that we could rent, so after some further consideration we +decided to purchase a place. This we were fortunate enough to do, and +came into possession of a building for our shop, 50 by 60 feet. We met +all obligations after opening the shop and secured the most flattering +support. Our work met the most exacting requirements, and I was very +much disinclined to accept an offer which reached me from Mr. Nathan B. +Young, who had had charge of the academic work at Tuskegee during a part +of my stay there. Mr. Young, however, represented that I could render +much more effective racial service by reaching a large number of +persons, young men, daily. After much hesitation I went to the Florida +State Normal and Industrial School, to which Mr. Young had been called +as President, as instructor in blacksmithing and wheelwrighting, where I +have since been employed. I have done well, and am proud that I can say +so. + +Of my stay at Tuskegee, what shall I say? It was all in all to me. The +lessons in shop and class-room, the lessons not at all catalogued that +go into character-forming--all of these I found most helpful and +invaluable, in making me a man who "thinks and feels." I should be +tempted to eulogy should I try to tell how much I owe to Dr. Washington, +to his teachers, and to all of the influences that assist the student at +Tuskegee. + + + + +XIV + +A DRUGGIST'S STORY + +BY DAVID L. JOHNSTON + + +Shortly after the smoke had cleared away from the battle-fields of the +Civil War, I was ushered into the world in a one-room log cabin in +Alabama, county of Macon, and near the little town of Tuskegee, +afterward made famous by virtue of the fact that there was established +near it, by Booker T. Washington, July 4, 1881, the Tuskegee Normal and +Industrial Institute. That I have the honor of being an alumnus of that +school is one of the best things of which I can boast. + +Because I have said that I was born in a one-room log cabin, the reader +will readily imagine that my parentage was humble. My mother and father +both have gone to the Great Beyond. I bless and revere their memory, for +two more noble souls never lived, hampered as they were by slavery and +its terrible environments. + +My parents continued to live in the one-room cabin until three other +children, making nine in all, had come to them. Another room was added +about this time. The biting poverty of it all led my father, with his +family, to move to one of the famous cotton plantations of Dallas +County, Ala. I seem to recall taking an interest in the world about me +quite early. Especially do I recall, as one of my earliest +recollections, the death of Garfield, so cruelly slain by the madman +Guiteau. My father was greatly distressed, I remember, by his death. + +For five successive years my life was spent working each year on the +farms for and with my aged father and other members of the family, and +spending the time, when not so employed, in near-by public schools, +which at that time, as is true in large part now, were conducted only +about three months in each year. After having acquired a slight +knowledge of mathematics, it was a great pleasure to me to go up each +fall to the market at Selma, Ala., with my father, to dispose of the +products of the farm. On one occasion there was an apparent interest +manifested in me by one of the commission merchants, a white man. He +persuaded me to return to Selma, after I had accompanied my father home, +and to accept a position with him as office-boy. I returned as agreed, +to find either that his promise was a stroke to induce my father to +trade with him, or that my stay at home had been too extended--although +it was only for three or four days. The position, meanwhile, he said, +had been filled by another. Thus, I found myself, a raw country lad, +twenty-seven miles from home, without employment and among strangers. +Next morning, without the knowledge of my parents, I applied for +admittance as a student to the Knox Academy at Selma, and without +recommendations, which were immediately demanded of me. I was turned +away, but not discouraged, for the next morning, accompanied by a white +friend of my father, I again applied and was admitted on his +recommendation. An examination entitled me to begin with the fifth-grade +class. + +I also secured employment at this white man's home. The money thus +received paid for my board. By doing odd jobs I managed to make +sufficient money to pay for lodging with a good family. I was thus +enabled to spend the fall of 1883 and the spring of 1884 in school, to +my very great benefit. I was compelled to return home, however, before +the term ended, because my father's health completely failed him, to +take charge of the farm, as I was the senior male child in the family +at that time. My juvenile mind had been awakened by this short school +experience in Selma, and from that time forth I had a thirst for more +knowledge. + +I was absorbed by this longing, but I took up the various other duties +which fell to my lot, with the earnest purpose of doing my very best. As +a result, with the aid of other members of the family I succeeded in +turning over to my invalid father, the succeeding fall, eleven bales of +cotton and other farm products in like proportion. My father's health +having completely failed, and because of a constantly increasing desire +for more knowledge, I conceived the idea of returning to our old home +near Tuskegee again. + +January, 1885, found us again living in close proximity to the old log +cabin in which I was born. Not four years before the Tuskegee Normal and +Industrial Institute had been established. The height of my ambition was +to be enrolled as a student there, but not having sufficient money to +care for the family and remain in school at the same time, and since the +term for that year was half spent, I sought employment for the remaining +winter months, doing such odd jobs in and around the little town as I +could find to do. When spring came, having a fair knowledge of farming, +I found ready employment with the planters of that community. With an +ambition to enter school the coming fall, I then and there began to +study every possible method of economy, and when summer had passed and +school-time had come again, with the aid of a younger brother I had +cared for the family, and had to my credit my first savings of $85. + +Now began the most memorable and the most pleasant days in my life. On +the 15th day of September, 1885, I matriculated as a student at +Tuskegee, and, after what was then considered a rigid examination, +succeeded in entering the Junior class, the lowest class of the normal +grade. There was yet before me the task of caring for an aged father and +mother. That task I considered a sacred duty, and, with my limited +savings in hand, made such purchases as would best give them ordinary +comforts through the winter months, and on the 22d day of the same +month, after having made such expenditures as I thought necessary, I +found that my little pile had been reduced from $85 to $14.50, with +which sum I paid my tuition and board at the normal school. + +I was permitted by the school authorities to work on the school farm the +entire term. On the 26th day of May, when the school closed, there yet +remained to my credit a sufficient amount to purchase a ticket to +Birmingham, and thence out to Pratt City, a near-by suburb. At Pratt +City I learned to dig coal, and at the end of every month they paid me +in gold. These shining pieces were precious possessions. For four +successive summers, in order to get sufficient money to care for my +mother and father and make my way in school, I went to Pratt City and +worked in the mines, at the furnaces, on the railroads, and around the +coke-ovens, enduring hardships which language can hardly describe. But +it all paid. The summer of 1888 was a trying one, but when the time came +for me to leave for school I had saved $200. + +On the 30th day of May, 1889, a new epoch in my life began. I was +ushered into the busy world as a graduate of Tuskegee, being in a class +of twenty-two. I had looked forward to this event with pride and was +very happy. + +So imbued was I with the pleasant thought that I was a graduate of +Tuskegee, that I little thought of the great responsibilities that +awaited me, but when my more sober thought came I realized that I was +going from most pleasant surroundings not to return the next year; that +I was going out not to return and meet indulgent and persuasive +teachers, loving classmates, and devoted friends. I then realized the +full meaning of the phrase we had selected that year as our class motto, +"Finished, yet just begun." Finished I had at Tuskegee, but I had to +begin work and life in the great busy world, with confidence alone as an +asset. The Commencement exercises on this particular occasion were most +impressive to me, made so in part, I suspect, because I was to be the +happy recipient of a coveted diploma. The Commencement speaker was the +late Joseph C. Price,[1] of North Carolina, and he was at his best. + +Knowing no other field more inviting, I returned to Pratt City, where I +had worked successfully. On the 6th of June, 1889, I alighted from the +cars, and after spending a few days visiting relatives and friends, +applied at No. Four (4) Slope for a set of checks to dig coal. The +checks were readily given me because of my previous record as a miner. +After working there during the summer months, and with the same success +as had attended me previously, I had secured sufficient money to +straighten out my little financial affairs and move my parents and a +widowed sister with six small children from Tuskegee to Pratt City, +where I had decided permanently to live. + +About this time Pratt City was made, by act of the Alabama Legislature, +a separate and independent school district, and I had the honor of being +elected to the principalship of the Negro school. There I had my first +experience as a teacher. I put my whole soul into the work. I had before +me the example of the Tuskegee teachers, and the lessons so thoroughly +taught there. That I must serve my fellows earnestly and unselfishly was +never forgotten. + +So pleased was the Board of Education with my work that my salary was +soon advanced to $110 per month. This salary was somewhat extraordinary, +but Pratt City, Birmingham, Ensley, etc., are in one of the richest +mining sections in the world, and the money earned by blacks and whites +is greatly in excess of that earned in other parts of the State. I held +this position for four years, teaching eight and nine months in the +year, and spending the remaining three or four months of the time +working in the mines. + +After a time my physical system had begun so completely to run down, +that I was reluctantly compelled to resign the position of teacher. In +the meantime I had purchased a home at Pratt City. Leaving my parents +there, I went to Milldale, Ala., to take up new work that offered a +change of climate. I returned every fifteen or thirty days, however, to +look after the needs of my parents. The entire expense of caring for +them, my sister and her children, was quite $60 a month. My work at +Milldale made good returns. I was with the Standard Coal Company, and +after I had been there fifteen months I had to my credit $1,000, an +amount I had long striven to save. + +During this time my mother was stricken with fever, and after lingering +three months (one of which I spent at her bedside) she died. Our little +home was cast in deep sorrow. I returned to Milldale and resumed work +there. After two years had expired I had to my credit, I am glad to say, +$1,460. With this sum in hand I concluded I would take a course in +pharmacy. On October 15, 1894, I entered the Meharry Medical College at +Nashville, Tenn., the dean of which is that prince of gentlemen and +father of Negro physicians, Dr. George W. Hubbard. I completed the +course February 4, 1896, graduating at the head of the class with a +general average of 94-1/4 per cent. + +I had pleasant associations while there with many of my former Tuskegee +class- and school-mates, among them being Dr. A. H. Kenniebrew, now of +Jacksonville, Ill., and for a while Resident Physician of the Tuskegee +Institute; Dr. T. N. Harris, of Mobile, Ala., and Dr. A. T. Braxton, of +Columbia, Tenn. Each of these is succeeding at the places named most +satisfactorily as physicians. At Meharry it was our constant pleasure to +refer to our training at Tuskegee, and to acknowledge how indelibly the +lessons learned there had been stamped upon our minds and hearts. While +there I had the opportunity to compare the instruction received at +Tuskegee--that of the academic department--with that of the other +institutions of learning in this and even other countries. At Meharry +one is thrown in direct contact with educated men and women from the +leading Negro colleges of this country, and with many from English +institutions of note. After careful investigation I found that the +Tuskegee-trained student, at all times, was among the very best there. +At Tuskegee I still consider that one of the greatest lessons taught is +that of "learning to learn." + + +[Illustration: AT THE HOSPITAL. + +A corner in the boys' ward.] + + +At the close of my first year at Meharry I returned to Birmingham, and +after a conference with Drs. A. M. Brown and J. B. Kye, colored +graduates in medicine and pharmacy, and Mr. George F. Martin, we decided +to open a drug-store to be located in Birmingham. About May 7, 1895, the +doors of the People's Drug Company were opened to the public, with the +above-named gentlemen and myself as the stockholders and owners. Here I +invested my first money of consequence in a business enterprise, putting +in the greater part of the money to open the business, which invoiced +$1,600 or more in about five months after the opening. After affairs +were in good running order I left, and returned to Milldale to resume +work with the Standard Coal Company. During the spring and summer of +that year I realized about $500 from my mining operations. + +In the fall of 1895 I returned to Meharry to complete the course already +begun. During that fall and winter the business was encouragingly +successful under the management of Dr. Kye, aided by Drs. Brown and +Mason; for about that time Dr. U. G. Mason, another colored physician, +had bought Mr. Martin's interest in the company and had become a partner +in the concern. My instructions to the management were to turn over to +my father my share of the net proceeds of the business while I was away. +My share of the profits kept the family going. My stay at Meharry this +last term was most pleasant. I had been promoted to the dignified +position of assistant to Dr. W. M. Savier, who was, and is, Dean of the +Pharmaceutical Department of the institution. + +When I had completed my course I returned to Alabama to begin my work as +a pharmacist, and about April 1, 1896, successfully passed the required +State examination and was admitted to the practise of pharmacy. I took +the examination in Selma, the beautiful little city on the Alabama River +where, thirteen years before, I had had my desire for knowledge and +better opportunities awakened. I sold my interest in the People's Drug +Company at a sacrifice, and immediately opened business on "my own hook" +at 34 South Twentieth Street, Birmingham, Ala. In order to begin +business with some assurance of success, I organized another company, +and had associated with me in this new enterprise (the Union Drug +Company) Rev. T. W. Walker, Rev. J. Q. A. Wilhite, and Mr. C. L. +Montgomery--all responsible and enterprising citizens of Birmingham. + +By hard and diligent work the business proved a success, and from time +to time I bought out the interests of the persons named, and accepted as +a partner a well-known physician and surgeon, Dr. George H. Wilkerson. +Dr. Wilkerson's connection with the business caused it rapidly to +increase in volume. When more help was required, as soon it was, we +secured the services of Mr. Jimmie James, a young pharmacist who is with +me until now. After a period of pleasant business association, Dr. +Wilkerson's interests in Mobile, his former home, demanded his presence +there. I purchased his interest in the Union Drug Company, and the name +was changed to the Union Drug Store. We had but recently located in our +own neat little quarters at No. 101 South Twentieth Street, a one-story +brick structure, at which place I continued to do business, supported by +Drs. W. L. Council and J. B. Goin, who sent their prescriptions to my +store, until February 8, 1904. In January, 1904, I secured a lot at No. +601 South Eighteenth Street, Birmingham, and personally erected there a +two-story frame building, which I now occupy. + +During my short business career since graduation from the medical +school, I sought out a partner for life, and was fortunate to win the +hand of Miss Pearl L. Strawbridge, of Selma, Ala., who had come to +Birmingham to make her home with her brother, Mr. H. Strawbridge, who +now holds the honored position of secretary and general manager of one +of the largest fraternal insurance concerns in the country owned and +controlled by Negroes. Two children, a girl and a boy, have been added +to our family since the marriage. + +Whatever I have done, or whatever I may do, that will deserve favorable +comment, I largely attribute to the fact that I was a student at +Tuskegee, and came under the personal care and instruction and guidance +of its distinguished Founder and Principal, Dr. Booker T. Washington, +and that I have striven, from the first day until now, to put into +practise the lessons taught me by him and his excellent body of +teachers. At Tuskegee we were taught the truism, "If you can not find a +way, make one." I hope I am not immodest in saying that I think I have, +in some degree, done this. + + +[1] Said to be one of the most eloquent speakers of the Negro people. He +died in the prime of life. He was President of Livingston College, which +is mainly supported by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and +has a large membership among the colored people. + + + + +XV + +THE STORY OF A SUPERVISOR OF MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES + +BY JAMES M. CANTY + + +I was born December 23, 1863, in Marietta, Cobb County, Ga. My parents, +James and Adella Canty, were slaves. I am the eldest of two brothers and +three sisters, who are all living. My father died in the fall of 1895. +Since that time, because of circumstances and inclinations, it has been +my lot to look after the welfare of my mother, who is still living in +Marietta, Ga., a place of about four thousand inhabitants. + +At an early age I entered the public school at my home. My father, +however, soon put me to work, so that I grew up quite ignorant of books. +He was a carpenter and butcher, and fairly skilled in working iron. For +a number of years he kept a meat-market. At the age of sixteen I was +doing the principal part of the butchering. Some years later, when +father was appointed street "boss" of the town, I worked as one of the +street laborers. When he changed his occupation from street "boss" to +farmer, mine likewise changed. The rule was, a change from one +occupation to another, working day by day without attention to mental +growth, and having no thought of the future, till I was persuaded to +join several other boys who had decided to form themselves into a +night-class for purposes of self-improvement. + +About this time, in compliance with my father's desire, and to my +delight, I entered a carriage factory as an apprentice. It was while +working there that I received a newspaper from a girl student at +Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. The paper contained a long +descriptive article, with cuts of buildings, class-rooms, teachers, and +students. The student who had sent the paper was from my home, and with +it came a letter from her stating that she had spoken to Mr. Washington +in my interest, and that if I would come to Tuskegee I would be given a +chance to get an education. I shall never forget the impression made +upon my mind by that newspaper article and the young woman's letter. + + +[Illustration: IN THE TIN-SHOP.] + + +My father was consulted, and advised against my going away to school, +saying: "You can continue night-school here at home and at the same time +learn a trade. I never went to school a day in my life." Well, I knew +that my father, nevertheless, could read and write a little and do some +figuring, and that he at one time came within a few votes of being +elected to the State Legislature of Georgia. Contrary to his advice, I +concluded to go to Tuskegee. Looking back now, and connecting the +present with the day on which my decision was made, I think that time +and events have vindicated the wisdom of my decision. + +After giving my employer two weeks' notice of my intention to give up my +work, I hastened to arrange my affairs, fearing that procrastination +might allow some event to change my mind and thus alter the whole course +of my life. Two weeks after giving notice to my employer, I started for +Tuskegee. I bought a ticket to Atlanta, where I spent the night. The +next morning I went to the station and asked for a ticket to Tuskegee. +The agent, on looking over his guide-books, said to me: "There is no +such place as Tuskegee in the guide-books." I walked away from the +window, thinking that, after all, Tuskegee was some place that existed +only on paper. + +Not wishing to give it up, I turned and approached the agent again. He +got out maps and guides, and finally found Tuskegee, but said he could +not sell me a ticket to that place as it was not on a railroad, and that +the best thing for me to do was to purchase a ticket to Chehaw, Ala. So +my ticket read, From Atlanta to Chehaw. On turning to leave the +ticket-agent, I inquired how I could get to Tuskegee from Chehaw. He +replied that he did not know. But I got there, going from Chehaw over a +narrow-gauge road. The engine that pulled the one coach composing the +train was named the "Klu-Klux," a thing I had heard of but had not +understood. That there should be many new things to me in the world was +not to be wondered at, when it was known that I had never before been +out of the county in which I was born except on three occasions, when my +trips extended only to adjoining counties. + +It was in the month of March, 1886, while passing through the town of +Tuskegee, that I beheld for the first time, standing at a distance, the +institution that has, in my opinion, done more than any other one agency +to elevate the Negroes of the South. About eight o'clock P. M. I arrived +on the campus and was assigned to a room by the commandant, through the +officer of the day.[2] For about thirty minutes I was alone in the +room, the student body being at devotional exercises--the Tuskegee +Institute holding its daily devotions at night, instead of in the +morning like most schools. This is done on account of the day- and +night-school system, it being impossible to get all the students of the +school together except at night after the night-school session. + +While sitting and thinking of home, of the past, and of the future, I +took out my pocketbook and counted $7.50. Not one cent more had I, and +as I looked at the money with the thought that $7.50 represented the +entire savings of my life up to that time, gloom and despondency almost +overcame me. + +The next morning I went to the Principal's office. From there I went to +be examined, and then again to see the Principal. Mr. Washington +explained that board was charged for at $8 per month, and that my books +would be sold to me at cost. He informed me further that if I entered +night-school I would be able to work out my board and accumulate each +month a balance to be used in paying my expenses when I entered +day-school. I was made to understand that this offer was on condition +that my work and conduct be in every way satisfactory. As the amount of +money I had did not justify me in entering day-school, I matriculated as +a night-school student. The blacksmith-shop being short of students, I +was assigned to this division of industry. + +During the remaining part of the year, and the following summer, I +worked in the shop ten hours each day, except Sundays, and devoted about +two hours and a half at night to study and recitations. It is no easy +task, during warm weather in Alabama, for one to work ten hours a day +and spend two and a half hours at night studying in a room lighted by +several large lamps suspended from the ceiling. Yet this is what +hundreds of poor boys and girls have done at Tuskegee. Hundreds still +attend the night-school, but electric lights have taken the place of the +large oil-lamps. Tuskegee is now more modern than it was when I was a +student there. Barrels and boxes are no longer used in the raw state for +furniture, as was largely the case at that time. Day-students were +required to work one school-day each week and every other Saturday. I +was a student nearly five years, counting the time when I was a +night-student. + +After I entered day-school it was necessary that I should work not only +on my regular work-days and two Saturdays each month, but whenever +there was work to be done and I could find time in which to do it. +During my entire life at Tuskegee I worked every Saturday except three. + +I was not long at Tuskegee before an indescribable force began to have +its influence upon me. Whatever this power may be called, it was both +refining and energizing. People who know the school and have been there +and know of its influence, call this force "the Tuskegee spirit." This +spirit, to the student possessing a spark of manhood, is irresistible. +The change in a student at Tuskegee is not sudden, nor is it wrought by +any one element. Things that may seem small when taken separately, are +invaluable when considered in the aggregate. + +At Tuskegee one's attention is constantly called to little things. It +was a habit of mine, I regret to say, to give little or no thought to my +hat being on my head when I was in any of the boys' dormitories, or when +passing through the halls of the buildings containing the class-rooms. +My attention was finally called to this habit by one of the lady +teachers. Passing me one day in the hall, she said: "Canty, you have a +habit of wearing your hat through the halls. It is a very bad habit." +When I entered Tuskegee I had not worn a night-shirt since I was a +child. Here it was soon impressed upon me that sleeping in a night-shirt +was a sign of cleanliness, of civilization. If there is any place where +cleanliness is regarded and practised as one of God's first laws, that +place is Tuskegee. + +One day Mr. Washington sent for me to come to his office. I received the +message with fear and trembling. I had, before this time, had but one +opportunity to speak to Mr. Washington, and then only for a few minutes +upon the day following my arrival. On my way to the office I wondered if +any rule of the institution had been violated by me. Though I had been +there only three or four weeks, I knew a request for a student to report +at the Principal's office meant that he was to be given notice of +imminent punishment, or consulted upon some matter of vital interest. + +When I entered the office, Mr. Washington asked me to write to two or +three worthy young men at my home and inquire if they desired a chance +to work their way through school. Several days had passed when I +received an answer from one of the young men to whom I wrote. It so +happened that on the day the letter was received I met Mr. Washington +on his way to his office, and said, "Mr. Washington [drawing the letter +from my pocket], I have received a letter from--" Here my first sentence +was cut short by Mr. Washington forcibly gesticulating and saying, "Come +to the office; come to the office and see me there." That one lecture on +business methods impressed me in a way that a chapter of this length +could not have done. + +One day I closed a door with considerable force, which attracted the +attention of one of the teachers. The teacher, in my presence, again +opened the door and gently closed it, noiselessly and without a word. I +have never since forgotten the proper way in which to open and close +doors. Little details are big essentials in the rounding out of +character. They show the influence of the "Tuskegee spirit." But, after +all, this spirit would not be so irresistible in its influence for good +if the teachers and officers of the institution were not the embodiment +and living example of it. Here, as elsewhere and everywhere, example is +more potent than precept. + +Every institution has policies peculiarly its own. It is necessary that +every teacher and officer support that policy to make it effective. +Each instructor has a distinct individuality that becomes a part of the +student, in smaller or greater degree, and at the same time gives force +and strength to the policies of the institution. Though I felt the +influence of every one of the thirty-odd teachers then at Tuskegee, the +individuality of some of these made a very great impression on me. I +remember Mr. W. D. Wilson as a very quiet and effective disciplinarian. +Mr. Warren Logan, the treasurer, has the ability to teach the student +the value of a dollar by making him sacrifice almost beyond the point of +endurance. At the same time, with a smile and a cheerful disposition, he +would make the student feel that his burden was light. Through the +kindness and special interest manifested in me by Mr. M. T. Driver, who +was in charge of wheelwrighting and blacksmithing, I made rapid progress +at my trade. Miss Adella H. Hunt, who has since become the wife of +Treasurer Logan, was then a teacher who had the faculty of touching a +responsive chord in a student. Mrs. Booker T. Washington, then Miss +Margaret J. Murray, impressed me very much. Strong and resourceful in +dealing with students, she always won the best that was in them. My +student-days were almost at an end when she came to Tuskegee. + + +[Illustration: STUDENTS CANNING FRUIT.] + + +I shall ever feel grateful to Mr. J. H. Washington for the encouragement +he gave me. Being superintendent of industries, he was then, as he is +now, in constant touch with every male student. He is a believer in, and +a firm advocate of, steady, thorough, earnest work, and is quick to see, +appreciate, and encourage the smallest degree of ability shown by any +student. No time seemed too valuable for him to give in trying to +advance a student in his work. I might add here that the teachers here +named are, with two exceptions, among the pioneers in the building of +the school. + +Mr. Booker T. Washington's personality is the great thing at Tuskegee, +and every student who goes there feels the strength of the man's rugged +individuality. "Mr. B. T." is an affectionate term used by the students, +but it springs from an indescribable, spontaneous feeling of love and +veneration. His Sunday evening talks to the students are to me like the +Book of Proverbs, always timely, encouraging, and applicable to the +affairs of every-day life. It is from these family talks that the +students learn, as they never have before, the beauty that lies in real, +every-day Christianity, and in living a real and simple life. It is +from these talks that the students learn so much of the great heart and +center of the institution. Mr. Washington still delivers Sunday evening +talks when at school, and they are published in the school's weekly +paper, The Tuskegee Student. Graduates throughout the country eagerly +read these talks with the same interest and pleasure with which they +listened to them while in school. + +Mr. Washington taught then, as he teaches now, psychology to the Senior +class. The student has not become intimately acquainted with Mr. +Washington until he becomes a Senior. It is here that the members of the +Senior class talk of their past and future lives and receive the +outpourings of a great but simple soul. Mr. Washington's long and +frequent absences from the school are no less regretted by the teachers +than by the students. + +Soon after entering school I began to think of what I should do after +graduating. My inclination led me to feel that success would be found +along mercantile lines. In spite of this I applied myself zealously to +my trade. During my last two years in school I did what teaching in +blacksmithing my literary work permitted, the school being without an +instructor in this industry for a short while. There was then no course +in engineering or in machinery, so I did all the pipe-work and kept the +machinery of the school in repair. In this way I learned something of +machinery without an instructor. With some pride I recall the fact that +I "ironed" the first farm-wagons, the first two-seated spring-wagon, and +the first buggy made at Tuskegee. I also "piped" the school's first +bathroom for girls. + +In May of my Senior year I was very much surprised to receive a note +from Principal Booker T. Washington intimating that he desired me to +connect myself with the school the following year. Later he stated the +nature of the work he wanted me to do. I accepted the offer he made me. +I was asked to teach in the night-school and instruct in the +blacksmith-shop one-half of each week-day. + +A few days after graduation I visited my home with the intention of +spending the summer there. I was there about three weeks, when I +received a letter from Mr. John H. Washington requesting my return to +Tuskegee the next week, if I could so arrange. He at that time was both +superintendent of industries and commandant. On my return he informed me +that the Principal had decided that since his duties as superintendent +of industries were so important, he was to be relieved of all others, +and that in lieu of instructing in the blacksmith-shop, I was to be +offered the work as commandant. + +At once I set about getting the boys' rooms in order for the opening of +school. During the two previous years, even while a student, I had +virtually been acting as commandant, since no one man could carry double +responsibilities such as Mr. J. H. Washington had been carrying. I was +appointed commandant, and placed in charge of the night-school for a +year. I then resigned, looking forward to following my old-time +inclination of engaging in some mercantile business. I knew that I could +accumulate means for this purpose sooner by working at my trade, as I +received two dollars per day working as a blacksmith during vacation +seasons at Birmingham, Ala. + +My first marriage occurred in 1891, my wife being Miss Sarah J. Harris. +We were classmates at Tuskegee four years, and graduated together. She +died in 1894 at Institute, W. Va. Our long association and acquaintance +made us understand each other even before we were married. Having become +a Christian before myself, she had much to do with my conversion while I +was a student. She was a great help to me in many ways, and through her +economy I was able to begin the purchase of my first property. Portia, +the oldest and only child now living of the three children born to us, +is in the Little Girls' Home at Knoxville College, Tenn. In 1897 I was +married to Miss Florence Lovett, a graduate of Storer College, Harpers +Ferry, W. Va. She shares my burdens, and is in every way a part of +whatever success I am able to achieve. Four children have been born to +us. + +After resigning my position as commandant and head of the night-school +at Tuskegee, I spent a few weeks visiting relatives, and then returned +to Marietta. Here I worked at my trade in a carriage-shop, where a great +deal of machine-work was done for two furniture factories and a +planing-mill. Much of my time was spent in repairing machinery and +making bits and knives for the factories. + +While at home I tried to make myself a part of the people in a helpful +way. I lived with my parents about two miles from the town. On my +father's farm was a church, the ground for which had been given by my +father. I was elected superintendent of the Sunday-school of this +church, and filled this position as long as I remained there. Soon +after the Sunday-school was started it occurred to me that the young +people of the community could be greatly helped by a literary society. +With the aid of others I organized a society and was elected its +president. We met every Friday night at the house of some member. It was +the custom to meet at different places, so that the long distances +necessary to walk would be equally shared by all. Even by this +arrangement some had to walk three and four miles, but the pleasure and +benefit derived from attending the society repaid us for the trouble. + +After I had been at my home about a year, I received a letter from Mr. +Booker T. Washington requesting that I write to Mr. J. Edwin Campbell, +Principal of the West Virginia Colored Institute, then located near +Farm, W. Va. Enclosed with Mr. Washington's letter was one Mr. Campbell +had written, asking that a Tuskegee graduate be named to take the +position of Superintendent of Mechanics. This title has since been +changed to Superintendent of Mechanical Industries. On January 3, 1893, +I arrived at the West Virginia Colored Institute and entered upon my +duties, and have held the position ever since. + + +[Illustration: STARTING A NEW BUILDING. + +Student masons laying the foundation in brick.] + + +In the early summer of 1898 Mr. J. H. Hill, who was then principal, +resigned to accept a Lieutenancy in a company of United States +Volunteers. During the interim following the resignation of Mr. Hill and +the appointment of Mr. J. McHenry Jones, the present principal, I was +placed in charge of the school by the Board of Regents. Mr. Jones was +elected principal September 21, 1898. + +Until the fall of 1898 my duties were many and varied, as I had no +assistance in carrying on the industrial work of the school. I taught +blacksmithing, carpentering, and mechanical drawing. Besides this, I +have had to put the sewerage system into the institution, and the +heating apparatus into several of the school buildings. Still, a part of +my time in 1894 was devoted to teaching in the literary department. My +work now, while as exacting as ever, is more along the line of +superintending the mechanical industries and in teaching mechanical +drawing. + +The school has grown, since my coming here, from 3 teachers and 30 +students to a faculty of 18 teachers and 187 students. There are 6 +instructors in the mechanical department for boys. We give instruction +in carpentry, printing, blacksmithing, brick masonry, plastering, +wheelwrighting, and mechanical drawing. These industries are housed in a +building--the "A. B. White Trades Building"--that cost $35,000. + +In concluding this sketch, I repeat with emphasis what I said in the +beginning: Whatever my accomplishments may be, the credit is due to +Tuskegee. I do not wish in life to be regarded as a man of chance +possibilities, but rather as one who has consistently persevered in all +of his struggles. Tuskegee teaches nothing with greater force than that +success lies in that direction. Principal Washington, among other +things, has taught that it is necessary to get property and have a +bank-account. I have complied with that teaching. I own a farm of 100 +acres within one-eighth of a mile of the school. My first property, +which I still own, consists of a one-acre lot and a seven-room house. It +gives me pleasure to contribute annually $10 to Tuskegee, although this +but inadequately expresses my gratitude to the institution to which I +owe so much. + + +[2] The West Point system is followed in training the young men. Except +that there are no guns, a complete battalion organization exists. + + + + +XVI + +A NEGRO COMMUNITY BUILDER + +BY RUSSELL C. CALHOUN + + +I have been asked to here set forth incidents of my life as I remember +them, especially as they relate to my life at Tuskegee and my work since +leaving there. Though there have been quite a number of events in my +life, it is somewhat difficult for me to give them in the way they are +now desired, as it never occurred to me that they would be worth +repeating. + +Concerning my ancestry, it is impossible for me to give anything beyond +my maternal grandfather, who was about three-fourths Indian. My +recollections of him go back to the time when I was about six or seven +years of age. My mother, having more children than she could really care +for, decided to allow one of my brothers, who was perhaps a year and a +half younger than I, and myself, to live with him and his second wife. + +My grandfather was quite seventy-five years of age when we went to live +with him, and was too feeble to work. He was supported from the +poor-house, which gave him a peck of meal, 2-1/2 pounds of bacon, 1 +pound of coffee, 1 pound of brown sugar, and once a month 25 cents' +worth of flour. That, together with the little his wife could earn from +place to place, constituted the "rations" of all of us for a week. + +Of my birth no record was kept, my mother having been a slave. All I +have been able to learn of the date of my birth is what my mother +remembers connected with the close of slavery. In trying to ascertain +from her when I was born, she said, "You was born some time just after +Christmas, in the month of January, the third year after the surrender." + +My mother had twelve children. I was the eighth child and the second one +born after slavery. All except two of the children were born in the same +one-room log cabin with a dirt floor, in the town of Paulding, Jasper +County, Miss. My mother did the cooking for her master's family and the +plantation help, did all of the milking, and was also washer-woman. + +In the summer of 1896 I again visited Paulding, just after graduating +from Tuskegee. I had to go there to move my aged mother to more +comfortable quarters. She was quite ill, and died soon after I reached +Florida with her. When I went to Paulding I measured the house in which +I was born, and found it to be 9 feet wide, 17 feet long, 7 feet high, +with no windows, with but one door, and a dirt chimney. The furnishing +as I remember it was composed of a chair, a stool, a table, and my +mother's bed, which was constructed in one corner of the house. The bed +was made by putting a post in the ground and nailing two pieces of wood +to the wall from this post, then by putting in a floor, making something +like a box to hold the bedding. The children slept in a similarly +constructed place, except that the mattress was on the ground and was +filled with straw. Our bedding, for the most part, was what wearing +apparel we possessed thrown over us at night. Outside the house was a +long bench, which was kept for the accommodation of visitors. + +A peculiar incident in our home life happened one Sunday morning in +March--one Easter Sunday. All of the smaller children were seated on the +floor eating their breakfasts from pans and skillets, when a big black +snake, without any regard for the children, went into a hole by the +fireplace. When one of my older brothers undertook to find him and +opened this hole, he found, instead of one, four black snakes that had +been wintering in the side of the house. + +There was no church or school for us in that whole section. A white man, +a Doctor Cotton, to whom I was afterward given until I should become +twenty-one years of age, sent his boys to a school which required that +they walk eight miles to it and return each day. + +When I was perhaps eight years of age I remember that my mother and all +of the children went to Spring Hill to a camp-meeting; that was the +first service at which I had heard a minister. They had a Sunday-school, +and I was put into a class. The teacher gave us leaflets and asked us to +read where we found the big letter "A." This was the first and only +letter that I knew for many years. This camp-meeting was held once a +year, though at times there would be prayer-meetings among the different +families on the plantation. + +My mother, being a hard-working woman and knowing the value of keeping +children busy, compelled every one of us to work in some way around the +house or on the farm. I know of no lesson which she taught me and which +has been of more value to me than that of "doing with your might what +your hands find to do." It was a rule of her household that we should +not go to bed without having water in the house. The water had to be +brought from a spring a mile and a half away. I remember clearly how one +night one of my brothers and myself tried to deceive her; how we secured +some not overclear water from a hole near-by our home, and how she +pitched it out and sent us the whole distance to the spring. Although +this was many years ago, I now see, more and more, what it means to go +all the way to the real spring, and I thank her memory for the lesson. + +When I was about ten years of age the same Doctor Cotton of whom I have +spoken came to my grandmother's to hire one of the boys to mind the +bars, as the teams were hauling corn to the barn and the drivers did not +want to put them up each time. I was delighted to be the chosen one of +the two. My first chance to earn money was thus offered. + +I stayed there every day from sunrise to sunset for a little more than +three weeks, and it was a happy day when Doctor Cotton requested all +hands to come up and be paid off. I do not know what the rest received; +though I had boarded from the scanty fare before mentioned at my +grandmother's home, he gave me fifteen cents, paying me in three +nickels. I had never had any money in my hands before, and for fear I +might lose it I put it in my pocket and held the pocket with both hands, +and ran for more than two miles, carrying it home. One nickel of the +three was given me for my share. + +Seemingly this Doctor Cotton was very much impressed with the way I had +performed my duty at the bars, for in the next few weeks he again +visited my grandmother. I was quite anxious to know what his frequent +visits meant, and was very much delighted, as well as surprised, when it +was told me, one morning when it was very cold, and I had on only two +pieces of clothing made of some very coarse material resembling canvas, +that I was to live with Doctor Cotton until reaching manhood, and was to +eat at his house. He told me in my grandmother's presence that if I +would stay with him until I was twenty-one years of age I would receive +a horse, a bridle and saddle, a suit of clothes, and $10, in addition to +my "keep." This was such an apparently big offer that my grandmother's +and my heart leaped for joy. + +When I had lived with him for a few days he had given me the first pair +of shoes, of the copper-toe variety, I ever wore. + +I have never forgotten my first day's stay at this new home. My whole +object that first day was to eat everything in sight. At my own home I +slept on the dirt floor; at this new home I slept in the attic, my bed +being a pile of cotton-seed with a quilt for covering. My duty at this +new home was to attend to the horses, to bring the cows from the +pasture, sweep the yard, wait on the table, nurse two children, etc. I +stayed at this place for two and one-half years, and as my knowledge of +things increased my duties became more and more exacting. + +During this whole time, and for two years before, I had not seen or +heard from my mother. I was twenty miles from any railroad, and had +never seen or heard of a railroad train. We lived on the public road +between Paulding and Enterprise, and by some means I heard that my +mother had gone to the "railroad." Though I had never been away on my +own resources, I resolved to do better than I was doing. I remember very +well that it was Monday morning when one of the doctor's daughters said +to me, "Russell, you go down to 'Vina's house, tell her to come and +scour for me; come by the store and get a package of soda; then come +through the field and drive the turkeys home." Providence never favored +any one more than it did me on that day. I went by the store and told +them to do up the soda, I went by and told 'Vina that she was wanted, +but I did not drive the turkeys home. + +I started out in search of my mother, and after walking more than half +the distance I overtook an ox-team, and the driver allowed me to ride a +part of the way. I reached the railroad town about night, and standing +there was a freight train of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. + +I was never so frightened in all my life as when the whistle blew and +this object moved away. I remember asking the driver of the ox-team +where the thing's eyes were, and where the horses were that pulled it. + +The doctor, suspecting that I had gone to Enterprise in search of my +mother, made plans to capture me and have me returned, but all of this +failed. By good fortune I found my brother, who was married and living +in this town; here again I became a nurse, having to care for his two +children. + +Afterward I went to live with a white family which was very kind to me. +The young man who carried me to his house as a nurse put into my hands, +after I had been there some months, the first spelling-book I had ever +had; saying to me that if I would stay with them for two years, he would +at the end of that time send me to school. I stayed at this place for +some months, when my mother came from somewhere, I know not where, and +with five of the boys we joined ourselves together to work on a +plantation on "halves." We worked very hard that year. + +Our food was furnished by the owner of the plantation. On many of those +long, cold days, for all day, we had only a "pone" of corn bread. At the +close of the year, after the owner had taken his half, and on account of +bad management on the part of an older brother who had charge of +affairs, my mother and her younger children received nothing for the +year's work, and this, notwithstanding the fact that we made five and +one-half bales of cotton and a large quantity of corn and peas. I +received as my "salary" for the year's work one shirt worth thirty cents +and a pair of suspenders worth about fifteen cents. I resolved to run +away again. This trip was made at night, on foot, over newly laid +railroad-ties, for a distance of seventeen miles. + +I reached Meridian, Miss., at a late hour of the night, and took refuge +in a shed used for the storing of railroad iron. The next morning I +overheard two colored men, who were on their way to get meat ready for +the town-market two miles away, talking. I joined these men, and sought +employment along with them, but they soon learned that I knew nothing of +"butchering." However, the owner of the pen, who had a large garden, +gave me a trial, and I remained with him for three years. + +After I was there a little more than a year my work was to plant and +care for the small seeds. This man, Mr. Nady Sims, was a good man, and I +had no cause for leaving him except that of wishing to get a place to +earn more money, that I might help care for my mother and her smaller +children. + +I went next to a brick-yard, where I received fifty cents per day. There +were three boys at each "table," and we had to "off-bear" 5,500 bricks, +the task for each day. This was indeed hard work. + +Drifting into hotel work, I soon acquired the habit of most of those who +are engaged in such work: I spent all I earned for fine clothes. + +During my stay on the vegetable farm I boarded at the home of one of the +young men previously referred to, whose sister, Mary Clinton, who has +since become my wife and devoted assistant, one day heard a woman say +she knew of a school in Alabama where boys and girls could work for +their education, and that she was going to send her boy to that school. +This thought remained in her mind for some months, and she decided to go +to Tuskegee, though her brothers and sisters discouraged the idea, +feeling, as they said, that if she went to this unknown place her whole +life would be a failure. + +She reached Tuskegee in September, 1885, at a time when there was but +one building. She worked in many places while there, including the +laundry, the teachers' dining-room, the sewing division, with Principal +Washington's family, as well as with the families of other teachers. On +account of poor health, especially because of throat trouble, she was +compelled to return home at the end of five years without graduating. + +No sooner had she reached home again than she began a crusade for +Tuskegee. I was then twenty-one years of age, had never had a day's +schooling, and could read but very little. I proposed marriage to Miss +Clinton as soon as she returned, but she replied: "You do not know +anything except about hotel work. I have been to Tuskegee and see the +need of your knowing something. I also need to know more than I do. I +can easily marry some one who knows more than you do, but if you will go +to school I will assist you in any way that I can." This proposition I +accepted, and on September 2, 1890, I reached Tuskegee and began my +first day in school. + +I had some knowledge of carpentry, and was for that reason assigned to +the carpenter-shop for work during the day; I attended school at night. + +There were ninety-three young men and women in the class when I entered +school; of that number only two, in addition to myself, remained through +the entire course. I can never forget my examination by Miss Maggie J. +Murray, now Mrs. Booker T. Washington. There were quite three hundred +new students in the chapel of Porter Hall, one of the oldest buildings +of the institution, taking examinations at the same time. + +She gave me two slips of paper, a pencil, and the questions, and said to +me: "Write the answers to these questions." She went about other duties, +and after about three hours returned to me for my papers; then for the +first time in my life I learned the meaning of geography and arithmetic. +The slips of paper mentioned asked questions on those subjects. I had +not put anything on the paper. She asked me if I knew of any large +cities; if I had ever crossed a river or seen a hill; if I knew the name +of the railroad over which I had come to reach Tuskegee. + +I was able to answer each of these questions very readily; and she said, +"Calhoun, that is geography." + +She assigned me to one of the lowest classes in the night-school. I +bought books which cost $1.70, and had fifty-two cents left. I soon +spent the fifty cents. + +For seven months during my first year's stay my only possession was +represented by a two-cent stamp. I had had many "good friends" before +going to Tuskegee, and debated long as to which of them I should devote +the two-cent stamp, trusting to receive some financial aid. Finally I +decided on one of these "good friends." I used the stamp, and have not +heard from him from that day to this. + +While carpentry was my special trade, I found the opportunity to get +information as to the other industries on the grounds. All of this +supplemental study has proved most helpful to me in my present work. + +Most persons who enter school for the first time, and especially +industrial schools, get wrong impressions at the start. Notwithstanding +the fact that I was a young man who had "knocked about" the world quite +a little, I thought I had made a mistake in entering school, and did not +begin to see that I had done properly until I had been there for eight +or nine months. I asked for an excuse to leave school early in the first +term; it was denied me. I tried to sell my trunk for $7, so that I might +run away. I had a penchant for running away from disagreeable +surroundings. I was offered $6, but for the sake of the difference of $1 +I decided to remain. + +I do not hesitate to say that each day I live in my heart I most +heartily thank the good friends who have made it possible for Tuskegee +to be; I am also most grateful that I was able to reach it and receive +the training which I received there. I did nothing great while at +Tuskegee, but I remember with pride that I gave no trouble in any way +during my sojourn. + +I used my spare hours making picture-frames, repairing window-shades, +making flower-stands and flower-boxes, and working flower-gardens for +the various Faculty families. The money received I saved until the end +of the school term. At the end of each term there were always a large +number of students who cared nothing for their books, and all but gave +them away. Looking three months ahead, I bought these books and sold +them to new students who entered the following year. + +One year alone I cleared $40 in this way. The second-hand book business +among the students began from this effort on my part to add to my little +pile of cash money. + +Having completed the course with a class of thirty-one members, May 26, +1896, I started straight for my home, Meridian, Miss. + +For six years, as a student, I had been at Tuskegee and under its +influences; now I had only my conscience to dictate to me and to keep me +straight. Feeling that I could not do much good at Meridian, I started +for Texas, having had a position promised me. + +I reached Mobile, Ala., while en route, and heard that Miss Mary +Clinton, previously mentioned, was in Tampa, Fla. Feeling that she still +had some interest in me, I again decided to go to her for advice. + +I reached the city of Tampa with but a small sum in my pocket. The town +was undergoing a "boom," and I was certain that it would not be long +before I would be earning something, but, to my disappointment, I found +about thirty men looking for every job in sight. After much wearying +search I became thoroughly convinced that Tampa was too large a city not +to give me something to do besides "looking up into the air." Finally, +one rainy morning I secured work at a freight-house. + +It was my lot to go first up the wet, steep, and slippery gang-plank. +Not being used to such a task, I fell, the truck with 350 pounds +narrowly escaping me. I got up and made a second attempt to carry my +load, and with success. I had been there two months when the agent +wanted some new shelves built in the storehouse. He told one of his +employees to go for a carpenter. He replied, "This man Calhoun can do +any such work you want done." The agent had me get my tools and do the +work. A few days afterward he wanted a first-class cook to prepare and +serve a special Christmas dinner. The same employee told him, "Calhoun +can do it." + +The motto of my class was, "We Conquer by Labor." + +On April 29, 1897, both Miss Clinton and myself were called to a school +in South Carolina, and in a simple way, with $50 saved, we married and +boarded the train for our new field of labor. After giving up our work +and reaching Sanford, 125 miles away, we received a letter asking us to +defer our coming until the following October. + +This was a very, very sad disappointment and trial to us. It was two +weeks before the State examinations would be held. We prepared as best +we could, and as a result of the examination we were sent to Eatonville, +Fla., to take charge of the public school there. Eatonville is a Negro +town with colored officers, a colored postmaster, and colored merchants. +There is not a single white person living within the incorporated city; +it promises to be a unique community. It is situated near the center of +Orange county, six miles from Orlando, the county seat, and is two miles +from the Seaboard Air-Line Railroad, and one and one-half miles from the +Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. + +It was said by the late Bishop H. B. Whipple, of Wisconsin--whose winter +home for a number of years was a half mile from this place--who had +helped the people of this community, and who was a constant helper and +adviser to my wife and me in our work until his death, that you might +travel the whole State over and not find a more healthy place. We were +here but a few days when we decided that this was the place for us to +begin putting into practise the lessons taught us at Tuskegee. We felt +that we wanted to do something toward helping our people. We decided to +cast our lot permanently at Eatonville. + +Our first "industrial" service was done with the aid of the school +children: we cleaned the street of tin cans and other rubbish. + +We found the lessons in economy which we had received at Tuskegee very +valuable to us at this trying time. We felt that if we would properly +impress the lessons most needed we should own a home, a cow, some +chickens, a horse, and a garden; we felt that there should be tangible +ownership on the part of the people of some of these things, at any +rate. + +These things we started to get as soon as possible. We wanted to teach +the people by example. + +After talking in a general way for some days of the value of industrial +education, coupled with that of intelligent class-room instruction, Mrs. +Calhoun succeeded in getting four girls to come to her home for sewing +lessons. That was the first step. + +Incidentally, we heard of the philanthropic instincts of a gentleman, +Mr. E. C. Hungerford, living at Chester, Conn., who had conditionally +offered to another school twenty acres of land, and whose offer was not +met. I wrote to him asking if he would give us the land. He replied that +he would be glad to give us forty acres if we would use it for school +purposes. + +On February 24, 1899, having the deed in hand, a board of trustees was +selected, and, with the aid of nine men who cleared one and one-half +acres of land while their wives furnished the dinner, we started what is +now the Robert C. Hungerford Industrial School. The new school now owns +280 acres of land secured as follows: From Mr. and Mrs. E. C. +Hungerford, 160 acres; from Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Cleavland, 40 acres; from +Mrs. Nancy B. Hungerford, 40 acres; by purchase, an additional 40 acres. + +The school has two dormitories, Booker T. Washington Hall, the J. W. +Alfred Cluett Memorial Hall, and six other buildings used for shops, +barn, and dining-room. The total value of the property, clear of all +indebtedness, is $22,445. We teach the boys blacksmithing, +wheelwrighting, carpentry, agriculture, stock-raising, poultry-raising, +and truck-gardening; the girls receive instruction in dressmaking, plain +sewing, cooking, laundering, millinery, basketry, and housekeeping. We +give no industry at the expense of the literary work. + +The academic department covers a useful course of the English branches. +The moral, religious, industrial, and financial influence of the school +upon the community, as well as upon the students who have attended, who +come from many counties in the State, has grown steadily as the years +have come and gone. The school has at present forty-five young people in +the boarding department, including seven teachers, three of whom have +come from Tuskegee; a large enrolment of students from the immediate +community and from the surrounding territory. + +I have not said very much regarding the difficulties, the struggles, to +plant this work, but I am glad to say that from the beginning we have +had the friendliest support and advice from all the white people of this +section, officials and citizens alike. + +I owe much of my success in the work here to the cheerful and freely +given counsel at all times of Hon. W. L. Palmer, Representative in the +State Legislature, and to the members of the Board of Public Instruction +of this (Orange) county. + +The colored people have had little to give in cash, but have been most +liberal in their contributions of labor. They have been willing to help +themselves. + +My constant, my most earnest desire is to prove myself worthy of my +opportunities, that I may continue to be a worthy representative of +Tuskegee. I feel that I owe all that I am, all that I can hope to be, to +the training of my mother, to the constant help and counsel of my wife, +and to Tuskegee, my Tuskegee, from which I have received so many lessons +that have been of incalculable help to me. I look back to my lessons in +carpentry, as well as to all the others, with gratitude for the +thoroughness insisted upon in all directions. I was rescued from a life +of aimlessness, and put in the way of doing something of good for my +fellows. + + + + +XVII + +THE EVOLUTION OF A SHOEMAKER + +BY CHARLES L. MARSHALL + + +I was born in the town of Henderson, State of Kentucky, January 1, 1867. +My father and mother were both slaves. My father rendered service during +the Civil War as a Union soldier. + +As early as I can remember there was in Henderson a public free school +for colored children. In 1872 there came to our town a young man from +Louisville, Ky., John K. Mason by name, to take charge of the school. +How he secured his education I never learned, but that he devoted his +life to the uplift of his race is everywhere in that section clearly in +evidence. Unfortunately, I was not permitted as a boy to go to school, +but became a factory lad instead; for, almost before I was old enough to +begin my education, I was put to work in a tobacco factory, and there I +remained. From childhood to manhood I think I spent, all told, not more +than three years in school. + +Somehow I had a faint idea of the value of education, and manifested a +desire for learning by securing the services of a young man, whose +country-school term had expired, to give me lessons at night when not +otherwise engaged. He was quite a "society" man, so that my +school-nights were few in number. + +While my father did not provide for my education, he was himself an +industrious man and provided that I should not be idle. Each year, when +the tobacco season was over, I had regular employment in a cooper-shop +with my father, and I learned to make barrels and hogsheads. This trade +I found to be quite valuable, for before I was twenty-one years of age I +was able to demand wages of two dollars a day as a cooper. + +Quite incidentally I heard of the work being done at Tuskegee by +Principal Booker T. Washington and the opportunity offered there to get +an education. I at once applied for admission. I received a letter from +the Principal admitting me to school in the autumn of 1889, when I was +twenty-two years of age. I did not enter the school, however, until +1890. I registered as a night-school student and asked to be assigned to +the carpenter-shop, as that seemed more in line with coopering. This +division was so crowded that I was forced to take shoemaking instead. At +this trade I worked two years and attended night-school. At the end of +this period I resolved to go to North Alabama and work in the coal-mines +to get money for clothing, books, and to help me along with my expenses +when the money earned at Tuskegee should run out. Realizing that every +dollar in my school life would count, I decided to live most cheaply, +even cooking for myself. In the end, following this method, I had more +money with which to return to school. I worked all day and returned to +work again the same night, that I might not lose the prize of education, +the pursuit of which I kept daily before me. + +Somewhere I heard this quotation, "If anybody else can, I can, too." +With this sentiment I continued to push ahead, until in May, 1895, I +completed the course of study with the first honor of my class. + +During my stay at Tuskegee I made such a record in the shoemaking-shop +that my instructor was anxious to have me take an assistant's place with +him. This I refused, preferring to start a career in Texas, of which I +had heard such glowing accounts. In the months of June, July, and a +part of August, 1895, I was employed with others making the shoes which +constituted a part of Tuskegee's Industrial Exhibit at the Atlanta +Exposition. At the solicitation of a number of persons living at +Mineola, Tex., I decided, even before graduation, to begin my life-work +at that place. Reaching Mineola, I found a fight on hand between the +teacher of the colored school and the patrons of the school. Immediately +on learning this fact I withdrew from the contest, notwithstanding the +fact that my cash earnings were almost exhausted and those who had +invited me there seemed unable to guarantee me the position. An incident +occurred at Mineola which I shall never forget. It was the second +meeting with Prof. H. T. Kealing, then president of Paul Quinn College, +Waco, Tex., but now editor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church +Review, an ambitious magazine publication of the great African Methodist +Episcopal Church. The occasion was a Quarterly Conference of the African +Methodist Episcopal Church at Mineola, and Professor Kealing was there +to deliver a lecture. Our first meeting was at Tuskegee while I was a +student there during my Senior year. In that far-away country I was very +glad to see some one I knew, and after the meeting I was not long in +making myself known to Professor Kealing. He heard my story, praised the +stand I had taken, and expressed regrets that he was not able to offer +me a place in Paul Quinn College. He suggested that I take a letter of +introduction to Dr. I. B. Scott, then president of Wiley University, +Marshall, Tex., but now a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the +first colored man to be elected to the episcopacy of that great church. + +At Wiley I was kindly received by Bishop Scott, and entered into a +contract with him to teach shoemaking for my board and the proceeds of +the shop. I entered into the spirit of Wiley with such earnestness that +at the close of my first month I was made a salaried teacher at $35 a +month, and before the session was half gone my salary had been raised to +$40. I completed the year's work with perfect satisfaction to all +concerned. What I enjoyed most of all during my year at Wiley was the +esteem and personal friendship of Bishop Scott. His letters addressed to +me upon the eve of my resignation, the esteem he placed on my work while +in the employ of the University, and his entreaties that I should not +tender my resignation so embarrassed me that for a time I was unable to +tell what I should do. I felt I owed it to Tuskegee to go wherever +Principal Washington thought my services were most desired. On two +occasions since I left there Bishop Scott has taken occasion to voice +his approval of my conduct while at Wiley: once before the East +Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in October, +1902, to my students, when he came to visit me at the Christiansburg +Institute. + +About the first of May, 1896, I received a telegram from Principal +Washington requesting me to allow him to present my name to the Board of +Managers of the Christiansburg Industrial Institute for the +principalship then vacant. I agreed, and was elected to the place. +Before entering upon the duties of my new position at Christiansburg I +made a visit to Tuskegee, for the purpose of gaining information as to +the scope of my work and as to how I should best proceed. + +After spending nearly two months at Tuskegee, I made my way to my new +field of labor in Virginia, reaching Christiansburg the 15th of July, +1896. The appearance of things at Christiansburg did not come up to my +expectations, nor was my reception in accordance with what I had +expected. Under the conditions which then existed, one of more +experience than I had would have expected just about such a reception as +I received. The people seemed almost crazed that a Tuskegee graduate +should be planning to engraft the Tuskegee Idea in that section--and +this, too, in spite of Hampton. In my effort to carry out the plans +sanctioned by Dr. Washington, I soon realized I was facing opposition +well-nigh insurmountable. This was due to their misunderstanding of Dr. +Washington, and of what Tuskegee really stands for. As far as possible, +I gathered around me men and women who, like myself, were thoroughly +imbued with the Tuskegee Idea, and together we pushed ahead with our +plans. + +From the first I was given to understand that the desire of the Board +was that there should be at Christiansburg a school similar to Hampton +and Tuskegee; though smaller, it should be no less perfect in what it +was designed to do. To reach this end the school had to undergo the +change from a distinctly literary school to one with both literary and +industrial branches; from a regular, ordinary school to one with a +boarding department. My plans met the approval of all concerned, yet +there was little idea on my part as to the amount of money and labor +necessary to put them into operation. The course of study was rearranged +to suit the new conditions, and five industries were installed. A +circular setting forth the purposes of the school was published and +scattered abroad. We then thought that this was nearing the end of the +great task, when in reality we had hardly begun. + + +[Illustration: GIRLS GARDENING.] + + +The Board of Managers did not oppose the boarding department, yet they +did not sanction it to the extent of supporting it. + +I had confidence in my plans and was willing to start alone. This step +was far more perplexing than I had at first imagined. As the time drew +near for the opening of school, I was aware that for the boarding +department I had to find a suitable house and procure necessary +furniture. In the basement of the school building was some lumber which +had been used for a platform. With the assistance of one of the teachers +this stage-lumber was converted into five bedsteads and three small +tables. I succeeded in getting one of the merchants to credit us for +several lamps. With this furniture, several stools, an equal number of +dry-goods boxes, and a few kitchen utensils, the boarding department of +the institution was started. Notwithstanding the scanty arrangement, I +am glad to say that for the most part there was but little or no +complaint. + +Sufficient money was appropriated by the Board of Managers to provide +for the purchase of necessary working tools for the added industrial +classes. + +I kept our friends in the North reminded of our need of additional land. +The industrial-school idea with a department of agriculture was not +succeeding well on a half-acre of ground. After two years of patient +toil this question of land was recognized as a necessity, and +accordingly two friends undertook to solicit subscriptions to the amount +of $5,000 with which to purchase a farm of 100 acres, two horses, a set +of harness, a wagon, and a plow. By this time spring was well on and we +were planning to make a crop. In a runaway one of the school horses was +badly injured. The purchase of the farm, etc., had about exhausted our +Northern resources and the school was in debt. To my credit in the Bank +of Christiansburg was a small sum of money, with which I purchased a +horse. The crop that year was fairly successful. + +Before taking possession of the farm, it was understood that instead of +the proceeds of the farm going toward maintaining or paying teachers' +salaries, the money should go toward building up the soil, which was +well run down, and that we should devote all possible effort in the +direction of restoring the soil to its once high state of fertilization. +Owning this farm, we had the "Big House" where the master once lived, +and several of the slave cabins, which still remain, where the slaves +resided. Hundreds of slaves, I have been told, tilled this soil in the +days long ago, when its productive power was greater than that of any +estate in this whole section. + +It is a remarkable and significant fact that where the master once lived +is a recitation building for colored boys and girls, and where the +slaves once huddled around the flickering light of a pine-knot young +Negro students are quartered daily, preparing for the duties of the +morrow. + +In building up the school to its present position, five persons, almost +from the very beginning, have figured most prominently, viz.: E. A. Long +and his wife, Miss Willie Mae Griffin, the writer and his wife--all +Tuskegee graduates. It is needless that I remark here that the burdens +borne by the men have been in no sense heavier than those borne by these +faithful women. The road along which we have traveled has not been, by +any means, a smooth one. We all had been toilers at Tuskegee and knew +well how to face the duties of life. This was decidedly in our favor. I +was the oldest of the company and perhaps had seen more of hardship than +the others; it therefore fell to my lot to give courage to the others +when hope was all but gone. + +Some time previous to our taking possession of the farm, some of the +occupants had sown about half an acre in a kind of radish commonly known +hereabout as "pig radish." It must be remembered that each year, after +the eight months' academic work was over, we received no money from any +source whatever. Paying the salaries of teachers who were to leave for +the summer and meeting other demands of the institution always exhausted +the school's treasury before the summer season began. With a "cropping" +season of four months ahead, no money, no source from which any could be +expected, the nice tender "pig radish," year after year, became our +food-supply for the early part of the summer at least. Thus, while +pushing the operations of the farm, rebuilding the soil by means of +turning under green crops, fertilizers, etc., "pig-radish" greens, +western side meat, and corn-meal constituted our chief diet. Beef came +to us as a luxury twice a week. The work was divided so that E. A. Long, +our treasurer, was gardener, I was farmer, our wives and Miss Griffin +were matrons and cooks. The 4th of July, 1900, found the work of the +farm in such a prosperous condition that it was decided to celebrate the +event with a cake and some ice-cream, for by this time we owned a cow. + +One peculiar thing happened about the time we purchased this farm. We +were teaching a graded school which we were eager to turn into a +boarding institution. The pupils and patrons were in perfect accord with +the faculty, but as soon as the fact became known that we had purchased +a large tract of land and would endeavor to build a boarding and +industrial school thereon, the members of the faculty at once became +objects of scorn to almost the entire colored population. There were at +that time enrolled in the school 240 children. Within less than a month +more than 100 had dropped out. When school closed in May there were only +60 children attending. + +We went about our duties, however, without complaint. While we worked, +Nature also worked for us. Vegetation flourished wherever seed were +sown; the trees bore a harvest of apples such as I have not seen since, +and all went well. + +As I look back over those years of trial, of privation, of sacrifice, I +find they were conditions precedent to laying an enduring foundation. +Our hope has been to establish a school where poor but earnest boys and +girls can secure an education. It was through our efforts, first of all, +that we were able to prove to the supporters of the school that such an +institution could live and grow and do great and lasting good for those +it is designed to help. Year by year the school has grown. Year by year +the people of the community realize the sincerity of my teachers and +give them hearty support. Patience, toil, trust in God, and enterprise +are the elements which are fast putting this work on its feet. + +Every person who visits the school sees earnestness manifested on farm, +in shop, in class, about the grounds, everywhere, and goes away a +sincere friend. Not alone do we have our visitor's friendship, but he +tells the simple story to others and the number of friends increases. + +Mr. R. C. Bedford, of Beloit, Wis., after visiting the school in +January, 1905, took occasion to address a gentleman in the North who had +interested himself in raising funds for the school, in the following +language: "I have not visited the school for three years. Great changes +have taken place since then. The good there being accomplished is simply +immeasurable. Mr. Marshall and Mr. Long work together in such perfect +harmony as to constitute a force of singular directness and power. I +think the work is carried on most economically, and such a clear and +full account of all expenditures is given to the public that you must +have the utmost confidence of all your friends." + +A few years ago it was difficult for our Treasurer to raise $1,875. The +raising of funds for institutions is always difficult, but it is not as +hard now to raise $6,000 to $8,000 as it was to raise $1,875 a few years +ago. + +Mr. E. A. Long, our treasurer, whose faithful assistance I have had in +every effort to develop the school, was with me, embarrassed by a debt +of the boarding department of more than $600. This condition grew, in a +large measure, out of the fact that we attempted to supply students' +work on the farm to pay their expenses, and the proceeds of the farm +were expended as far as possible in the direction of building up the +soil. In the fall of 1902 the board of managers assumed the +responsibility of the boarding department, paid all indebtedness, and +to-day the school is operated on a cash basis. + +During four years there have been contributed toward this work +$43,528.77. We have added to the original plant one $10,000 dormitory, a +cottage costing $750, a barn at a cost of $2,000, and a shop building +valued at $1,000. Much has been spent in the way of repairs. We have +$1,000 invested in live stock, and more than $300 worth of farming +implements. In each of the industrial departments fairly good equipment +can be found. We have grown from a half acre of ground to more than 100 +acres; from 2 horses to 43 head of live stock; from a printing-press +weighing 75 pounds to one weighing 2,500 pounds. Agriculture, carpentry, +printing, shoemaking, laundering, cooking, sewing, and basketry are +carried on successfully. The farm produces large crops of cereals, +vegetables, fruits, and raises a large share of the meat used by the +school. All the flour for the past three years came from the wheat +produced on the farm. + +The growth of the school has commended itself favorably to those who +have had occasion to investigate its claims. A committee appointed to +look into the condition of the school some time ago made the following +statement: "In conclusion, your committee would say that it feels that +Messrs. Marshall and Long and their wives have made many sacrifices for +the good of the school and have shown a true missionary spirit in +carrying on the work, and their ideals and purposes are in accord with +the very best. They have borne an awkward and heavy burden in financing +the school, and your committee feels that if released from this care +their teaching-work will be much improved and become very valuable in +building up the school." + +In addition to the cultivation of the home-farm of 100 acres, the +increased amount of stock makes it necessary to rent an adjacent pasture +of 80 acres, the property of two of our teachers. + +I have made an effort to supplement the knowledge acquired at Tuskegee +through a school of correspondence and through the Chautauqua Reading +Circle with some degree of success. + +The success of this school, in a very large measure, is due to the +consecrated effort of the members of the Friends' Freedmen's Association +of Philadelphia and the board of managers of the institution. From the +time I entered upon the work to the present, Principal Washington has +also been a constant source of help and encouragement. Five hundred +dollars given by him in the spring of 1903 was the first money toward +the erection of our new dormitory. A combination woodworking-machine is +also a result of his interest. + +We have on hand an endowment fund of several thousand dollars which we +are anxious to increase. Definite plans have been made for the erection +of two new buildings. When the plans thus far mapped out are completed, +the plant, now worth $30,000, will easily have a valuation of $75,000. + + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tuskegee & Its People: Their Ideals +and Achievements, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TUSKEGEE & ITS PEOPLE *** + +***** This file should be named 28087.txt or 28087.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/8/28087/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Meredith Bach, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +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. 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