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diff --git a/31055.txt b/31055.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..22fe135 --- /dev/null +++ b/31055.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4461 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty-Five Years in the Black Belt, by +William James Edwards + +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: Twenty-Five Years in the Black Belt + +Author: William James Edwards + +Release Date: January 23, 2010 [EBook #31055] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK BELT *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE BLACK BELT + + + +[Illustration: WILLIAM J. EDWARDS] + + + + Twenty-Five Years + in the Black Belt + + BY + WILLIAM J. EDWARDS + + ILLUSTRATED + + THE CORNHILL COMPANY + BOSTON + + + + Copyright, 1918 + by + THE CORNHILL COMPANY + + + + TO MY LOVING WIFE WHO ENCOURAGED ME IN ALL MY + EARLY STRUGGLES AND AIDED ME IN + ALL MY ACHIEVEMENTS + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + 1. CHILDHOOD DAYS 1 + + 2. SHADOWS 7 + + 3. A RAY OF LIGHT 13 + + 4. LIFE AT TUSKEGEE 18 + + 5. RECONNOITERING 26 + + 6. FOUNDING THE SNOW HILL SCHOOL 35 + + 7. SMALL BEGINNINGS 37 + + 8. CAMPAIGNING FOR FUNDS IN THE NORTH 43 + + 9. RESULTS 49 + +10. ORIGIN OF THE JEANES FUND 54 + +11. APPRECIATION 56 + +12. GRADUATES AND EX-STUDENTS 63 + +13. THE SOLUTION OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM 77 + +14. THE GREATEST MENACE OF THE SOUTH 86 + +15. THE NEGRO EXODUS 94 + +16. THE NEGRO AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE SOUTH 100 + +17. WHERE LIES THE NEGRO'S OPPORTUNITY? 104 + +18. SCHOOL PROBLEMS OF A TUSKEGEE GRADUATE 109 + +19. BENEFITS WROUGHT BY HARDSHIPS 115 + +20. THE NEGRO AND THE WORLD WAR 120 + + APPENDIX 127 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +WILLIAM J. EDWARDS _Frontispiece_ + +UNCLE CHARLES LEE AND HIS HOME IN THE BLACK BELT _Facing Page_ 32 + +FIRST TRUSTEES OF SNOW HILL AND TWO OF THEIR WIVES " " 36 + +PARTIAL VIEW OF SNOW HILL INSTITUTE " " 48 + +A NEW TYPE OF HOME IN THE BLACK BELT " " 52 + +TYPICAL LOG CABIN IN THE BLACK BELT " " 60 + +HOME OF A SNOW HILL GRADUATE " " 60 + +GRADUATES OF SNOW HILL INSTITUTE " " 72 + +TEACHERS OF SNOW HILL INSTITUTE " " 100 + + + + +PREFACE + + +In bringing this book before the public, it is my hope that the friends +of the Snow Hill School and all who are interested in Negro Education +may become more familiar with the problems and difficulties that +confront those who labor for the future of a race. I have had to endure +endless hardships during these twenty-five years, in order that +thousands of poor negro youths might receive an industrial +education,--boys and girls who might have gone into that demoralized +class that is a disgrace to any people and that these friends may +continue their interest in not only Snow Hill but all the schools of the +South that are seeking to make better citizens of our people. I also +hope that the interest may be sustained until the State and Nation +realize that it is profitable to educate the black child as well as the +white. + +To me, these have been twenty-five years of self denial, of self +sacrifice, of deprivation, even of suffering, but when I think of the +results, I am still encouraged to go on; when I think of the work that +Mr. McDuffie is doing at Laurinburg, N. C., Brown at Richmond, Ala., +Knight at Evergreen, Ala., Mitchell at W. Butler, Ala., Carmichael at +Perdue Hill, Ala., Brister at Selma, Ala., and hundreds of others, I +feel that the sacrifice has not been in vain, so I continue believing +that after all the great heart of the American people is on the right +side. I think that to-day, the Negro faces the dawn,--not the +twilight,--the morning,--not the evening. + +In my passionate desire to hasten that time and with the crying needs of +my race at heart, I choose this opportunity for making an appeal in +their behalf. + +"Lord, and what shall this man do?" (John 21.) + +Man is a relative being and should be thus considered. The status of my +brother then will always serve as a standard of value by which my own +conduct can be measured; by his standard mine may become either high or +low, broad or narrow, deep or shallow. This is the theory that underlies +all humanitarian work. This is the great dynamic force of the Christian +life. + +No question is being asked by the American people more earnestly today +than this one: "Lord, What shall this man, the Negro, do,--this black +man upon whom centuries of ignorance have left their marks?" He has made +a faithful slave, a courageous soldier, and when trained and educated, +an industrious and law-abiding citizen, yet he is troubled on every +side. What shall he do? Uneducated, undisciplined, untrained, he is +often ferocious or dangerous; he makes a criminal of the lowest type for +he is the product of ignorance. + +Crime has increased in proportion as educational privileges have been +withdrawn. This brings the Negro face to face with a most dangerous +criminal force. What shall this man do? It is true that the white man is +further up on the ladder of civilization than the Negro, but the Negro +desires to climb and has made rapid strides, according to his chances. + +Christ's answer to Peter was, "What is that to thee, follow thou Me." +John's future welfare evidently depended upon Peter's ability to follow +Christ. So the future work and welfare of the Negro in the Black-Belt of +the South depend largely upon the Christian work of the southern white +man. The Negro needs justice and mercy from the courts of the land and +asks for equal rights in educational opportunities. + +We admit that there is a difference between the white man and the Negro, +but the difference is not as great as was the difference between Christ +and His disciples. We admit that the white man is above the Negro, but +not so high as was Christ above His disciples. The very fact that Christ +was superior to His disciples served to Him as a reason why He should +minister unto them. The superiority of the white man to his black +brother can only be shown by the white man's willingness to minister +unto him. Lord, what shall this black man do? + +Many great problems confront the people of the rural South, namely, this +Negro Problem and the problem of sufficient labor supply. In a practical +way I wish to consider the relation of the Negro to the labor problem of +the rural South. It is a fact that today many of the best farms of the +South have been turned into pastures because of the lack of labor; other +farms have been sold, and still others are growing up in weeds because +there is no one to till them. This condition obtains in a very marked +degree in almost every southern state. Certainly in most of the +Agricultural Sections. + +Before investigating the cause of this condition, men of influence and +power have hastened to proclaim through the press and otherwise, that +the responsibility rests upon the Negro. They say that the Negro is +lazy, worthless, criminal and will not work and therefore they are +compelled to have immigrants to work these fields. That there are lazy, +worthless and criminal Negroes, we do not deny, but we do deny that as a +race they are such. + +The facts are these: first, the South, unlike other sections of the +country, has not had thousands of immigrants to come into her borders +year after year to do her work, but has depended solely upon the +increase in her native population for this purpose. This increase has +not kept pace with the marvellous growth and development of that +section, hence, the cry for labor. Second, scarcity of labor in that +section is due in part, to ignorance and a false idea of real freedom. +Men with such ideas do not work long in any one place, but rove from +section to section and work enough to keep themselves living. This labor +is not only unprofitable to the individual, but is not satisfactory to +the employers. Third, the labor trouble in the rural South is due mostly +to the way in which the landlords and merchants treat their tenants and +customers. + +The great mass of Negroes in the South either rent the lands or work +them on shares. This rent varies according to the kind of crops that are +made. If the tenant makes a good crop this year, he must expect to pay +more rent the next year, or his farm will be rented to another at higher +figures. Of course, the Negroes are ignorant and are unable to keep +their own accounts. Sometimes these Negro farmers pay as much as 50%, +75% and 100% on the goods and provisions which they consume during the +year. + +This method of renting lands and selling goods according to the +condition of the crops, is repeated year after year. I know ignorant +farmers who have been working under these conditions for twenty-five and +thirty years, who have never been able to get more than $15 or $20 in +any one year during this period. These are not worthless and shiftless +Negroes, but persons who work hard from Monday morning until Saturday +night. As a rule, they are on their farms at sunrise, and remain there +until sunset. They have their dinners brought to them in the fields. I +have seen small families grow into large ones under these conditions. I +have also seen infants grow to manhood under same. Now, these people who +have been working in this way for twenty-five and thirty years are +becoming discouraged. When you ask them why they do not ditch, +fertilize, and improve their farms, their answer is, that if they do +this, the next year they will either have to pay more rent or hunt +another home for themselves. + +It seems to be the policy of the landlords and the merchants of the +rural South to keep their tenants and customers in debt. It is this +abominable method of the landlords and tenants of the rural South more +than anything else, that has caused many of the best farming lands there +to be turned into pastures, others to be sold at sheriff sale, and still +others to be growing up in weeds. Another menace is loss of fertility of +the soil. + +The problem is, how can we stop these people from leaving the country +for the cities and other places of public works and again reclaim these +waste fields? It was once thought that the places of these Negroes could +be supplied by immigrants from foreign countries, but this hope is now +almost abandoned. In fact, the few immigrants who have gone into that +section have, in many instances, been oppressed almost as much as the +Negroes, many have gone to other parts of the country or have returned +to their homes. So we find ourselves face to face with large and fertile +agricultural areas in the South with no labor to till them. + +The remedy of these evils lies in the Negro himself. He is best suited +to the work, best adapted to the climate, and understands the southern +white man better than anyone else. Furthermore, he knows the white man; +knows his disposition and inclinations, and therefore, knows what is so +called his place. He feels that justice is wanting in the courts of the +South and he therefore tries to avoid all troubles. Most of all, he +prays for a chance to work and educate his children. He labors and waits +thus patiently because he has faith in the American people. He believes +that ere long the righteous indignation of this people will be aroused +and like the great wave of prohibition, will sweep this country from +center to circumference, and then every man will be awarded according to +his several abilities. + +These waste places can be reclaimed and the guttered hills made to +blossom, only by giving the Negro a common education combined with +religious, moral and industrial training and the opportunity to at +least own his home, if not the land he cultivates. The Negro must be +taught to believe that the farmer can become prosperous and independent; +that he can own his home and educate his children in the country. If he +can, and he can be taught these things, in less than ten years, every +available farm in the rural South will be occupied. + +WILLIAM J. EDWARDS. + + + + +TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE BLACK BELT + + + + +CHAPTER 1. + +CHILDHOOD DAYS. + + +All that I know of my ancestors was told to me by my people. I learned +from my grandfather on my mother's side that the family came to Alabama +from South Carolina. He told me that his mother was owned by the Wrumphs +who lived in South Carolina, but his father belonged to another family. +For some cause, the Wrumphs decided to move from South Carolina to +Alabama; this caused his mother and father to be separated, as his +father remained in South Carolina. The new home was near the village of +Snow Hill. This must have been in the Thirties when my grandfather was +quite a little child. He had no hope of ever seeing his father again, +but his father worked at nights and in that way earned enough money to +purchase his freedom from his master. So after four or five years he +succeeded in buying his own freedom from his master and started out for +Alabama. When he arrived at Snow Hill, he found his family, and Mr. +Wrumphs at once hired him as a driver. He remained with his family until +his death, which occurred during the war. At his death one of his sons, +George, was appointed to take his place as driver. + +As I now remember, my grandfather told me that his mother's name was +Phoebe and that she lived until the close of the war. My grandfather +married a woman by the name of Rachael and she belonged to a family by +the name of Sigh. His wife's mother came directly from Africa and spoke +the African language. It is said that when she became angry no one could +understand what she said. Her owner allowed her to do much as she +pleased. + +My grandfather had ten children, my mother being the oldest girl. She +married my father during the war and, as nearly as I can remember, he +told me that it was in 1864. Three children were born to them and I was +the youngest; there was a girl and another boy. + +I know little of my father's people, excepting that he repeatedly told +me that they came from South Carolina. So it is, that while I can trace +my ancestry back to my great-grandparents on my mother's side, I can +learn nothing beyond my grandparents on my father's side. My grandfather +was a local preacher and could read quite well. Just how he obtained +this knowledge, I have never been able to learn. He had the confidence +and respect of the best white and colored people in the community and +sometimes he would journey eight or ten miles to preach. Many times at +these meetings there were nearly as many whites as colored people in the +audience. He was indeed a grand old man. His name was James and his +father's name was Michael. So after freedom he took the name of James +Carmichael. + +One of the saddest things about slavery was the separation of families. +Very often I come across men who tell me that they were sold from +Virginia, South Carolina or North Carolina, and that they had large +families in those states. Since their emancipation, many of these have +returned to their former states in search of their families, and while +some have succeeded in finding them, there are those who have not been +able to find any trace of their families and have come back again to +die. + +Sometimes we hear people attempt to apologize for slavery, but slavery +at its best was hard and cruel. Often the old slaves tell me of their +bitter experience. Even today, there are everywhere in the South many +ex-slaves who lived their best days before and during the civil war. +Many of these men and women found themselves alone at the close of the +war, having been sold away from their families while they were slaves. + +I was born at Snow Hill, Wilcox County, Alabama, September 12th, 1869, +three-quarters of a mile east of where Snow Hill Institute now stands. +My mother died September 9th, 1870, at which time I lacked three days of +being one year old. From all I can learn my mother was very religious. +She was a great praying woman and almost at every meeting held in the +neighborhood she would be called upon to pray. In fact, she was sent for +miles around to pray at these meetings. My mother's death left my father +with three children, I being the youngest. He succeeded in getting his +mother, who was cooking for her white people in Selma, Alabama, to come +and take us in charge. My name was Ulyses Grant Edwards, but my +grandmother, who had been with white people since emancipation, changed +my name to William. I afterward added to this my grandfather's name of +James. + +My father went away to work and I remained with my grandmother. We lived +about one mile from the "quarter,"--that is, the collection of slaves' +cabins. We had about three acres of ground cleared around our cabin and +my grandmother and I farmed. I do not know how old I was when I began +working, for I have been a farm hand ever since I could remember +anything. We usually made one bale of cotton each year and about +twenty-five or thirty bushels of corn. Sometimes my grandfather would do +our plowing and at other times,--as we had no stock,--my grandmother and +I worked out for others to get our plowing done. + +In the summer time it was the custom for little Negro boys to wear only +one garment, a shirt. Sometimes, however, my grandmother would be unable +to get one for me and in that case she would take a crocus sack or corn +sack and put two holes in it for my arms and one for my head. In putting +on a sack shirt for the first time the sensation was extremely +irritating. It seemed as if a thousand pins were sticking me all at +once, but after a few days it would become all right and I could wear it +comfortably. For several summers this was my only garment. + +Sometimes we would raise a pig during the summer to kill in the winter +and sometimes we had a cow to milk. At such times we had plenty to eat, +but at other times we had neither a pig nor a cow and then we had hard +times in the way of getting something to eat. Some days our only diet +was corn-bread and corn coffee. + +When I was old enough, I was sent to school for two or three months each +winter. Here again I had a hard time, as we usually carried our dinner +in a little tin bucket. Sometimes I had nothing but bread and when +recess came for dinner, I went away by myself and ate my bread and drank +water. As long as I could keep out of the way of the other children, no +one was the wiser and I did not mind it, but some of the children began +to watch me and in that way found that I had nothing but bread, and when +they told the others, they would laugh and make fun of me. This would +make me feel badly and sometimes I cried, but I did not stop school for +this. My one desire was to learn to read the Bible for my old +grandmother, who like my mother, was very religious. At last I was able +to read the Bible for her. She would listen for hours and too, she would +sing such songs as, "Roll, Jordan Roll." + +Saturdays were mill days and I had to take the corn on my shoulder and +go to the mill, which was four or five miles away. It always took me +from four to five hours to make this trip, as I had to stop by the way +several times to rest. + +By this time my brother and sister were large enough to do good work on +the farm. My grandfather and grandmother for whom they were working, now +desired to take them wholly from my old grandmother. The Justice of the +Peace said that the children might decide the matter. My brother chose +to go to my grandfather's but my sister came back home with the +grandmother who had reared us from infants. Of course, I did not go to +court, because they all knew that there was no chance of my leaving my +grandmother. + +In the early spring of 1880 while on one of my trips to the mill the +thought dawned upon me that my grandmother was very old and must soon +die. I cried all the way to the mill and back. I could not see how I +would live after she was gone. I did not tell anybody why I was crying. +On a June night, she became severely ill and died. All she said to us +during her illness was: "Children, I have been waiting for this hour a +long time." + +After the death of my grandmother, her daughter Marina Rivers, who was +herself a widow and well on in years, came to live with us that year. I +soon learned to love her as I had my grandmother and never once thought +of leaving her for my mother's people. We gathered the crop that fall +and when all was over, my father, whom I had not seen for five or six +years, came to carry my sister and myself to Selma, where he was +staying. The thought of going to the city filled me with joy and the +time to go could not come too soon for me. + + + + +CHAPTER 2. + +SHADOWS. + + +We arrived in Selma several days before Christmas. Here everything was +strange to me, as I had never been in a city before. I did not know any +one and it was not long before I was crying to return to Snow Hill. My +father gave me to understand then, that Selma was my home now and that I +should not be permitted to return to Snow Hill. He said that he was +going to put me in school when the New Year came, but when the time came +nothing was said about school. He gave us little care and often we were +in need of food and clothes. + +After spending a few weeks doing nothing, I went out one day to hunt for +work and succeeded in getting a job at the compress, where they reduced +the size of a bale of cotton by one-half and clipped the tires. My job +was to straighten out the bent tires. I got twenty-five cents a day for +this. That week I made one dollar and fifty cents. This was the most +money I had ever had. I spent almost all of it for provisions and that +night my sister cooked a great supper. Finally, my father said that he +would save my wages for me, but if he did he has it still, as I never +have seen any that he collected. + +I had not been in Selma long before I was taken ill. That misfortune +changed my whole life. I had no medical attendance and suffered +greatly. Sometimes I prayed and sometimes I cried. The news reached Snow +Hill that I was sick and not being cared for. As soon as she could, my +aunt Rina came to Selma for me and carried me home. + +On my return to Snow Hill I was sick and emaciated, but few people +welcomed me. Many tried to discourage my aunt for bringing me back. They +gave me about three months to live. I was glad to be at home again and +had the consolation of knowing that should I die I would be buried in +the old burying ground. + +I was unable at the time to do any work on the farm, so I was put to the +task of raising chickens. I took personal interest in the little chicks. +I had a name for each one of them. I would follow them around the yard +and see them work for their food. When I was weary of this I would go to +an old deserted cabin nearby, taking a few old books and the Bible; +there unmolested I would spend hours at a time reading the Bible and +pondering over the books. One of the books was an old Davies' Practical +Arithmetic. Nothing gave me more pleasure than working out new sums for +the first time. I kept up this practice until I had read the New +Testament through several times and had worked every problem in the +arithmetic. In addition to this I would gather up wood and carry it home +for the people to cook with. + +My aunt and her daughter were very poor and had to work each day for +what they could get to eat. It pained me because I could not go out and +work for something to eat as I had done in Selma. I never ate a full +meal although my aunt and her daughter insisted upon my doing so; I felt +that I had no right to eat up what they had worked so hard to get, while +I was doing nothing that was worth while. My aunt's daughter had a son +who was one month older than I; he was well grown for his age and always +was the picture of health. We all lived in a one-room cabin and there +were three beds in it, besides it was the kitchen and dining-room as +well. My aunt and her daughter wanted me to sleep at nights with their +boy, but he objected, so I would not force myself upon him. I asked them +to give me one or two old quilts and I would spread these upon the floor +of the cabin at night for my bed. I would get up early and roll them up +and store them away in some dark corner of the cabin until the next +night. I slept in this manner for several years. + +After I had been at home for several months and my condition did not +improve, my aunt went about begging people for nickels and dimes to take +me to the local physician. I think she raised about three dollars in +this way and succeeded in getting a doctor to treat me, but he gave my +aunt to understand that she had to pay cash for each treatment. + +I shall never forget one Sunday when a great many of the neighbors came +to our home, they began telling my aunt what they would do with me if +they were in her place. At the time I was in the back-yard watching the +chicks. Some one said that she should send me to the poorhouse, others +said that she had done so much for me, it was time that some of my other +people should take me and share in the burden, while others said that I +should be driven away and go wherever I could find shelter. I was so +offended at hearing this that I hobbled down the hill and there under a +pine tree, which now stands, I prayed for an hour or more for God to let +me die. After this prayer I lay down, folded my arms and closed my eyes, +to see if my prayer would be answered. After waiting for awhile I +finally decided to get up and I felt better then than I had felt for +several months. I have made many prayers since then, but never since +have I prayed to die. + +None of the solicitations and advices from our good friends could change +my aunt's attitude towards me. In fact, she was more determined now than +ever to care for me. The next year she rented a little patch and worked +it as best she could and that fall she cleared a little money. As the +local physician had done me no good, she took me to Dr. George Keyser +who lived in the town of Richmond, eight or ten miles away. Dr. Keyser +had the reputation of being the best physician in that section of the +state and people would come for twenty-five and thirty miles around to +be treated by him. But we had also heard that he was a man who would not +treat any one without having his money down. As I remember, my aunt paid +him five dollars on the first visit and each time after that she would +send whatever she could get. I used to borrow a mule from one of the +neighbors to ride to see him. Sometimes when my medicine gave out and I +had to go without any money, I would pray to God the whole distance that +he might soften the doctor's heart so that he would let me have my +medicine. I don't know whether my prayers were needed or not, but I do +know that the doctor always treated me kindly and finally he told me +that I could be treated whenever my medicine gave out, money or no +money. He treated me in this way until the early fall of '84 when he +told my aunt that I needed an operation and she must try and get me a +place to stay nearby so that he could see me daily. After looking around +she found on the doctor's place an old fellow-servant, that is, an old +lady who belonged to the same man my aunt did in slavery time. Her name +was Lucy George; she was near the age of my aunt, and had never been +married. They were indeed glad to meet and she readily consented to take +me to her little cabin where she lived alone. The doctor visited his +plantation two or three times a week and usually came to see me. He +operated on me twice during my stay there. + + "In 1888 the subject of this sketch, W. J. Edwards, was sent to me + by his aunt, Rina Rivers, for medical treatment. He had been sick + for several months from scrofula and it had affected the bone of + his left arm (hinneras) near the elbow joint, and the heel bone (os + calcis) of his left foot. It was with much difficulty and pain that + he walked at all. + + The boy was kind, courteous and polite to every one, white and + colored, and all sympathized with him in his great affliction, and + manifested their sympathy in a very substantial way, by sending him + many good things to eat. This enabled me to build up his general + health. + + I had to remove the dead bone (necrosed bone) from his arm and heel + many times. He always stood the operation patiently and manifested + so great a desire to get well, I kept him near me a long time and + patiently watched his case. + + After four years' treatment his heel cured up nicely, and he was + enabled to walk very well, and the following fall he picked cotton. + With prudence, care and close application to cotton picking, he + saved money enough to very nearly pay his medical account, and his + fare to Booker Washington's School at Tuskegee, Alabama. + + The work of this pupil of Booker Washington,--carried on under + adverse circumstances,--is worthy of emulation. He has, and is + now, doing much good work for his race. He has won the confidence + and esteem of all the white and colored citizens of this section of + the country. He is a remarkable man, a great benefactor to his + race, and it affords me great pleasure to testify as to his history + and character. Mr. R. O. Simpson, on whose plantation he lived and + who aided him materially,--is one of the Trustees of his + Institute." + + GEORGE W. KEYSER, M. D. + + Richmond, Dallas County, Alabama. + + + + +CHAPTER 3. + +A RAY OF LIGHT. + + +For three months after my first operation I could not walk. My aunt +would come from Snow Hill once a week to bring my rations and to see how +I was getting along. I always cried when she went home. + +During my first month's stay on the doctor's place, "Aunt Lucy" George +with whom I lived, was at home most of the time, but when the cotton +season came on, she had to go to the doctor's field, which was a mile +away, to pick cotton. This left me alone for five days in the week. +"Aunt Lucy" would get up early and prepare her breakfast, take her lunch +to the field with her, and would not return until night. She would also +leave me something to eat, and I could crawl about the house and get +such other things as I needed. + +The first few days that I was alone were the most miserable days of my +life. I tried to walk, but fainted once or twice at these attempts, so I +had to be contented with crawling. Soon, however, I began crawling about +the yard. I found several red ants' nests within about twenty or +twenty-five yards of the house, and soon made friends of the ants. I +would crawl from nest to nest and watch them do their work. I became so +interested in them that I would spend the whole day watching and +following them about the yard. I would be anxious for the nights to pass +that I might return to them the next day. + +I found that the ants worked by classes. One class would bring out the +dirt, another would go out in search of food, another would take away +the dead, another would over look those that worked, and still another +class, though few in numbers, would come out and look around and then +return. These had much larger heads than the average. Some few, however, +with great heads, would come out once or twice a day. I never learned +what their business was, as they did not seem to do much of anything. +They very seldom went more than a few inches from the nests. I noticed, +too, that those that went in search of food and failed to get it, would +come back to the nests and stand around and consult with the guards and +then would return. They did this several times. Sometimes they would go +away and get into the weeds and rest awhile. However, when they saw +others coming, they would start out again. Sometimes, after making +several trips without success, I would give them crumbs of bread, and +they would hasten away to their nests. They never hesitated when they +had food, but would run right in. This was great fun for me, and I spent +most of the remainder of my time in this manner. + +This was during the fall of '84. By the first week in December I had +recovered sufficiently to be able to walk very well with a stick and +could do a little work. I then returned to Snow Hill with my aunt, and, +though I was anxious to return home, I hated very much to leave my +little friends. I got home in time to make toy wagons for my Christmas +money. + +The following year, although far from being well, I could do a little +work on my aunt's farm. I ought not to call it a farm, because it was +only a few acres which she rented from one of the tenants on Mr. +Simpson's plantation. The habit of sub-renting was very prevalent on +this plantation. A tenant with one mule would rent twenty-five acres, if +he had two mules he would rent fifty acres. Now in order to get work +done on his farm, he would sub-rent four or five acres, to some one who +would do this work for him. It was in this way that my aunt could get +land to work. We usually made on these few acres about twenty bushels of +corn and sometimes a half a bale or a whole bale of cotton. + +Having to work for our plowing and to pay the rent of the land, we had +but little chance to do much work for ourselves. We very seldom had +enough to eat. Some days we would work from the rising of the sun until +dark without anything but water. Then my aunt would go out among the +neighbors in the evening and borrow a little corn meal or get a little +on condition that she would work to pay for it the next day. While my +aunt would go to hunt for the bread I would go out and beg for some milk +from some of our friends. I would always add water to my milk to make it +go a long way. This bread and half-water-and-milk constituted our supper +for many nights. + +In spite of these hard times I always found time to study my books. +Sometimes I borrowed books from the boys and girls who had them. We were +too poor to buy oil so I would go to the woods and get a kind of pine +that we called light-wood. This would make an excellent light and I +could study some nights until twelve o'clock. When the blackberries, +peaches, apples and plums were ripe, we fared better, as these grew wild +and we could have a plenty of them to eat. As the season came for the +corn to mature, we would sometimes make a meal of green corn. When the +corn became too hard for us to use in this way, we used to make a grater +out of an old piece of tin and would grate the corn and make meal of it +in this way until it was hard enough to go to the mill. + +When the cotton picking season came on we could pick cotton for the +neighbors and in that way could have a plenty to eat. They paid fifty +cents a hundred pounds for picking cotton. I sometimes picked two +hundred pounds a day, but by picking at night, I occasionally got almost +three hundred. We children thought it great fun to go into the swamps at +night to pick cotton. We would go at seven o'clock in the evening and +spend the whole night in the cotton fields. When we got sleepy we would +lie down in the cotton row with our cotton sacks under our heads. We +would sleep a few hours and get up and begin picking again. In the +swamps at night the owls and frogs made plenty of music for us. Such was +my life for several years. + +During all these years the one thing uppermost in my mind was the desire +to attend some school, but I could not see how I would ever be able to +do so. I had heard much of Talladega College, the school at Normal and +the state school at Montgomery, but board at these schools was from +seven to eight dollars per month and this had to be paid in cash. This, +of course, would keep me out, as I could never see how I could get so +much money. + +It was during the month of August '87 that I first heard of Tuskegee. +There was a revival meeting going on at one of the churches at Snow +Hill. I was determined to visit this meeting. I did not have suitable +clothes, neither did I have any shoes, so my people told me that I would +not be able to attend church. + +I had not been to church in seven years, and I was very anxious to hear +some preaching. Notices were sent out that on a Wednesday night a +Presiding Elder would speak. This man had the reputation of being a +great preacher. All of our people prepared early, and went to church. +When I thought the services had begun, I too went. Though I was far from +being well, I did not have much trouble in reaching there. I did not go +in, however, but went around to the rear of the church. The building was +a large, box-like cottage, and contained many cracks. One could hear as +well on the outside as on the inside. I stood directly behind the pulpit +and heard all that the preacher said. + +At the close of his sermon he spoke of the school at Tuskegee, where, he +said, poor boys and girls could go without money and without price, and +work for an education. From that night I decided to go to Tuskegee. +Before the meeting closed, I returned home, and when the others got +there, I was in my place fast asleep. I wrote Mr. Washington the next +day, and he sent me a catalogue immediately. + + + + +CHAPTER 4. + +LIFE AT TUSKEGEE. + + +In the fall of '87 I told my aunt that I wanted to go to Tuskegee the +next year, and that in addition to her little farm, I wanted to rent an +acre of land and work it for that purpose. She encouraged me in this +idea and said that she wished so much that she could do something for me +that was worth while, but she was poor and could do but little, as she +was now well advanced in years. She said, however, that she would help +me to work my patch. + +About this time I learned that my brother Washington, who had been away +for a number of years, was living at Hazen, Alabama, about fifty miles +northeast of Snow Hill. He was working in the bridge-gang on a railroad +and was making good money. I learned also that my father and sister had +died several years before. Now as there were but two of us, and I was +cripple, I thought that I would write my brother and get him to help me +go to Tuskegee. So I started out for Hazen and reached there after two +days' journey on foot. My brother did not seem to care for me and gave +me no encouragement whatever. This was a sore disappointment to me and I +did not remain there more than a few days. I returned to Snow Hill very +much discouraged, but the warmth with which my old aunt greeted and +welcomed me back home, helped me much. + +Soon we were all busy getting ready to plant our little farms. That year +there were four of us still living in the one room log cabin, my aunt, +her daughter, her grandson and myself. Each of us had a little farm. +About mid-summer when our provisions had given out, my aunt's daughter +and her son mortgaged their crops for something to eat, and wanted that +we should do the same, but I would not agree to do so. This, of course, +made it hard for me to get anything to eat. My cousin and her son were +perfectly willing that their mother and grandmother should share in +their provisions, but would see to it that I got none. I did not think +hard of them for this, because I felt that I had no right to what they +had. I continued to live on water and bread, and sometimes I would get a +little milk from the neighbors as I had formerly done. I asked them, +however, if I might have the water in which they boiled their vegetables +whenever they had a boiled dinner. We called this water "pot liquor." Of +course, they readily consented to this and sometimes I would get enough +of this liquor to last me two or three days. In fact, I was poorly +nourished all the time. + +About this time someone came through the county selling clocks, on +condition that we pay for them later in the fall. I objected to this but +the other members of the family over-ruled my objections and the clock +was bought on the condition stated above. The clock cost $12 and each of +us agreed to pay $3.00 each. When the time came to pay for this clock no +one had any money, and so I paid what I had saved to prepare myself for +Tuskegee. I thought now that I would never get to that school as I had +spent most of my money in paying for a worthless clock. However, I +picked cotton day and night for almost two weeks, and succeeded in +making all the money back which I had spent for the clock. I was now +able to finish paying Dr. Keyser and get a few clothes and start for +Tuskegee. For a long time the people in the quarter did not believe that +I was going, and many tried to discourage me. Had it not been for my +aunt's encouraging words and sincere efforts, I believe that I could not +have overcome the efforts of others to keep me from going. When, +however, they all found that I was determined to go, they all became my +friends and each would give me a nickel or a dime to help me off. + +The night before I left for Tuskegee, one of the neighbors told me that +while he did not have anything to give me, he had a contract to get a +cord of wood to the woodyard for the train by six o'clock the next +morning and if I would take his team and haul it, he would give me one +dollar for my services. I agreed to do it and at two o'clock the next +morning I was at his home hitching up the team to haul the wood. I had +to go about two miles for the wood and there was a very heavy frost that +morning. By five o'clock I had hauled the wood and had the team back to +my neighbor's home waiting for my dollar. I thought this to be the +coldest morning that I had ever experienced up to that time. I then got +my few things together and was off for school. + +I reached Tuskegee the first day of '89. I found things there very +strange indeed. Hundreds of students were going to and fro. Some were +playing football, others were having band practice, and still others +were going around doing nothing, as the first day of the New Year was a +holiday. I was placed with a crowd of boys from Pensacola, Fla. I +learned afterwards that they were the roughest boys in school. They made +it very unpleasant for me, so much so that I decided to return home. In +going back to the office I met Mr. Washington for the first time. He +wanted to know why I was not satisfied, and after I told him my +troubles, he said that he would remedy them. I was deeply impressed with +him and from that day to this, I loved him as a father. He changed my +room and I found a crowd of very congenial boys. + +The next ordeal through which I was to pass, was going into the +dining-room and using knives and forks, but I avoided all humiliation by +simply watching. I have made it a rule of my life to never be the first +to try new things, nor the last to lay old ones aside. + +After supper, I was worried about sleeping. I had heard the boys talking +about night shirts and I knew I had none; in fact, I did not know their +purpose. So when time came to retire, one of the boys in my room who had +several, gave me one, then I was undecided just whether it was to go +over my day shirt or over my undershirt, but I did not want to ask how +it should be worn, so I decided to sit up until some one had gone to bed +and by watching him I knew I would learn just how to use mine. In this +way I came through all right. The habit of using the tooth-brush was not +so hard. + +The next day the regular routine work of the school began and I was +given my examination. I took examination for the B-Middle class. This is +the second year normal. Miss Annie C. Hawley of Portland, Maine, who was +then a teacher there, gave me the examination. I made the class in all +of the subjects except grammar. Of this subject I knew absolutely +nothing. I did not know what a sentence was. I could not tell the +subject from the predicate, so I was put back two years into what is +called the A-Prep. class. + +After my examination I was assigned to my work. I was placed in the tin +shop, which was then being placed as one of the industries, under Mr. +Lewis Adams. I was the first student to work in this shop, but it did +not take two days to learn that I could never be a tinsmith. Next I was +assigned to the printing office, but here too I found that I could never +become a printer; so finally, I was put on the farm and there I remained +during my whole stay at Tuskegee. The farm manager at that time, Mr. C. W. +Green, had charge of the brick-yard, poultry, dairy, landscape gardening, +horticulture, as well as the general farm and truck-farm. I worked some +in all of these departments and enjoyed my work immensely. I considered +the work in the brick-yard as being the hardest of all and that was the +only work which I could not do without suffering great pain because of +my physical condition. Still I was willing to endure suffering if by so +doing I could obtain an education. + +I did not go to night school because I was given extra work, such as +keeping the clocks on the campus regulated and making fires in the +girls' buildings, and too, they had a system of electric bells which +were used for the passing of classes, and I kept these in order. In this +way I worked enough each month to pay my board and stay in day school. +Of course, I did not have, or get any money for my work, but I did not +worry about that. Miss Maggie Murray (afterwards Mrs. Washington) kept +me well supplied with clothes from the supply of second hand garments +which came to the school from northern friends. + +The remainder of the time that I was at Tuskegee was spent in +practically the same way that I have already described. Many of the +students would complain about the food, but the fact that I was getting +three regular meals a day was enough for me. And too, I was now sleeping +in a bed, something that I seldom had done. + +When burning bricks they would pay students cash for working at night, +and it was by this work that I got a little money now and then. It +usually takes from seven to eight days to burn a kiln of brick and +sometimes I would work every night until the kiln had been burned. + +The one thing that made the deepest impression on me while at Tuskegee +was Mr. Washington's Sunday evening talks to the students. He used to +tell us that after getting our education we should return to our homes +and there help the people. He said that the people were supporting +Tuskegee in order that we might be able to help the masses of our +people. I could understand every word he said, and too, I felt always +that he was talking directly to me. These talks of Dr. Washington's +changed the course of my whole life and they are responsible for my +being at the Snow Hill School today. + +It was when I reached the senior class that I came in personal touch +with Dr. Washington, as he taught that class in two or three subjects. +Here I could study him as I was never able to do before. He had a +thorough grasp upon all subjects he taught and would accept nothing but +the same from his students. + +As the time was nearing for my graduation, I was deeply worried about my +Commencement suit. All of the other members of the class were sending +home for their suits or for the money with which to get them, but I knew +that my aunt was not able to help me, so I was at a loss to know where I +should get mine. Finally, I decided to write to Mr. R. O. Simpson of +Furman, Alabama, the man on whose plantation I was reared, and ask him +to loan me fifteen dollars. I prayed during the entire time it took me +to write the letter and when I had sealed it I prayed over it again. In +two days' time I had an answer with the fifteen dollars. So all of my +troubles and worries were banished and I proceeded to get ready for +Commencement. I graduated second, with a class of twenty, on May 17, +1893. Our class motto was "Deeds Not Words." + +The morning of May 18th found me packing my few clothes in an old trunk +which one of the young men had given me, and getting ready to return to +Snow Hill. All the while I was thinking of what I could do to live up to +this new training which I had received at Tuskegee, and above all, how +could I make good our class motto: "Deeds Not Words." Although it has +been now well nigh 25 years since my graduation, those words still ring +in my ears: "Deeds Not Words." I should like so to live that when the +summons come for me to join Dr. Washington in the Great Beyond, these +words might be written as an epitaph on my tomb: + +"DEEDS NOT WORDS." + + + + +CHAPTER 5. + +RECONNOITERING. + + +When I returned from Tuskegee on the 19th of May, 1893, I found my old +aunt, her daughter and her grandson still living in the one-room log +cabin in which I had left them four and a half years before. Their +condition was much the same as when I left them. My first work was to +build another end, a log pen, to the one room cabin; this gave us two +rooms, something we never had before. As it was too late for me to pitch +a crop, I worked with them until their crop was clean of weeds and then +I went from farm to farm in the neighborhood, helping all the farmers +that I could. The only pay I received was three meals a day wherever I +worked. I usually worked from one to three days on each farm. All the +while I was making a close study of the people's condition. I continued +working in this way until I was convinced that I had a thorough +knowledge of their condition. I then ventured to carry the investigation +into other sections of Wilcox County and the adjoining counties. I +visited most of the places in the counties of Monroe, Butler, Dallas and +Lowndes. These constitute most of the Black Belt counties of the State. +I made the entire journey on foot. + +It was a bright beautiful morning in July when I started from my home, +a log cabin. More than two hundred Negroes were in the nearby fields +plowing corn, hoeing cotton and singing those beautiful songs often +referred to as plantation melodies: "I am going to roll in my Jesus' +arms," "O, Freedom," and "Before I'd be a Slave, I'd be carried to my +Grave." 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 stately mansions and among +the names of the owners are those of Lyde, Lee, Wrumph, Bibb, Youngblood +and Reynolds. 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 the original +families have sold out or many 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 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 Hopewell Baptist Church. Here +five hundred 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. 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 whiskey, 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. + +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 +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 number one and number two assembled at their respective places +at eight o'clock. The members of church number two had a short praise +service and formed a line of procession to march to church number one. +All the women of the congregation had their heads bound in pieces of +white cloth, and they sang peculiar songs as they marched. When the +members of church number two were within a few hundred yards of the +church number one, the singing then alternated, and finally, when the +members of church number two came to church number one, they marched +around this church three times before entering it. + +After entering the church, 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 school-houses, 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. The +most costly buildings of the town were the courthouse 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 whiskey. As the county had voted against +licensing whiskey-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 school-house; 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 opened only three +months in the year. + +After a two days' stay in Camden, I next visited Miller's Ferry 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 school-house of ample proportions had been +built on Judge Henderson's plantation. Here the school ran several +months in the year, and the colored people in the community were +prosperous and showed a remarkable degree of intelligence. Their church +was as attractive as their school-house. + +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 Rockwest, 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 Rockwest I found a +very intelligent colored man, Mr. Darrington, who had attended school at +Selma 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 practice our State motto, "Here We +Rest," at his home, but our objective point for the day was Fatama, +sixteen miles away. + + +[Illustration: UNCLE CHARLES LEE AND HIS HOME IN THE BLACK BELT] + + +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 school-house +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 was 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. The Negro school population of Wilcox and the +seven adjoining counties was 11,623. Speaking of public schools in the +sense that educators use the term, the colored people in this section +had none. Of course, there were 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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 6. + +FOUNDING THE SNOW HILL SCHOOL. + + +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 +twenty-five years ago in an old dilapidated one-room log cabin with one +teacher and three students, with 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 +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. These people believed that the end +of education was to free their children from manual labor. + +They were much opposed to industrial education. When the school was +started, many of the parents came to school and forbade our "working" +their children, stating as their objection that their children had been +working all their lives and that 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 +allow them to do so. A good deal of this opposition was kept up by +illiterate preachers and incompetent teachers, 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 industry +was added until we now have fourteen 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 depend upon agriculture for a livelihood. + + +[Illustration: FIRST TRUSTEES OF SNOW HILL AND TWO OF THEIR WIVES] + + + + +CHAPTER 7. + +SMALL BEGINNINGS. + + +The early years of the school were indeed trying ones. There are however +in all communities persons whose hearts are in the right place. I found +it so in this case, for while there were many who opposed the industrial +idea, there were those who stood for it and held up our arms. I refer to +that noble class of old colored men who always seek for truth. The men +who stood so loyally by me in the founding of the school were Messrs. +Frank Warren, Willis McCants, Ellis Johnson, John Thomas, Isaac Johnson, +Tom Johnson and P. J. Gaines. These men and their wives were ready at +every call. They gave suppers, fairs and picnics as well as other +entertainments to raise money for the school. Not only would they help +in the raising of money, but they would come to the school and work for +days without thinking of any pay for their work. When we got ready to +put up a new building, we would have what we called a house-raising and +would invite all the men in the neighborhood to come out and help us. On +these days the wives of these men would compete with each other to see +who could bring out the best basket. + +At the end of the first school year it was clearly seen that we needed +two assistant teachers; but the question that puzzled us was, where +could they work. We had only one room and none of us had the money to +buy the lumber needed. But there was a saw-mill near by and finally I +sought work at this mill with the understanding that I would take my pay +in lumber if the people would agree to feed me. This they readily +consented to do. So I worked during May, June, July and August at the +saw-mill and took my wages in lumber. This enabled us to get sufficient +material to erect two of the rooms of our present Training Building. The +following October we opened school with three teachers and 150 students. +These two teachers had graduated at Tuskegee with me in '93. They were +Misses Ophelia Clopton and Rosa Bradford. They spent four years in the +work here and we never had two teachers who did more for the old people +in the community and who were loved more by them. + +In the fall of '95 Mr. Barnes, who was also a member of the class of +'93, joined us, and has been connected with the school since then except +for two years which he spent in Boston. + +In the fall of '96 another one of our class-mates, Julius Webster, a +carpenter, joined in our work here. We now had five teachers, all of +Tuskegee and all class-mates. I can never forget these old people and +these early teachers, for we all shared our many sorrows and our few +joys. No work was too hard for us and no sacrifice was too great. + +Another Tuskegee student was with us almost from the beginning. While +Mr. Rivers did not graduate from the Academic Department at Tuskegee, he +finished his trade, Agriculture, there. Mr. Rivers has had charge of +our farm off and on since '95. I should say to his credit that he is in +charge today and last year he made the best crop the school has ever +made. + +Thus far, I have spoken of the assistance given me by the colored people +and teachers, but no chapter about the founding of Snow Hill Institute +would be complete without a mention of Mr. R. O. Simpson, the white man +on whose plantation I was reared. Mr. Simpson must have known me from my +birth. I well remember that in '78 and '79 he used to stop by to see my +old grandmother when riding over his plantation. I think that my +grandmother prepared meals for him on some of these visits to the +plantation. I also remember that after the death of grandmother, when I +was sick and living with my aunt Rina, some days he would see me lying +on the roadside and would toss me a coin. + +On my return from Tuskegee I found Mr. Simpson deeply interested in the +welfare of my people; in fact, it seemed as if he was looking for some +one to start an industrial school upon his place. We had many talks +together. When he found out that I had returned to cast my lot with my +people, he seemed highly pleased and said that he would give a few acres +for the school if I thought I could use it to advantage. I decided that +this was my opportunity and told him that I could. He first gave seven +acres, and then thirty-three, and finally sixty more, making in all one +hundred acres that he gave the school. In later years we bought one-half +of his plantation, making in all nearly two thousand acres. While all of +the white people in Snow Hill have been friendly towards the work, I +have found Mr. Simpson and his entire family to be our particular +friends and I have yet to go to them for a favor and be refused. + +One of the cardinal points in Dr. Washington's Sunday evening talks to +the students and teachers at Tuskegee was that they should buy homes of +their own. I felt that the best way to teach the people to get a home +was for me to own one myself. I thought that it would be useless for me +to talk to them about buying homes as long as I did not have one for +myself, so I secured a home. + +After the school was thoroughly planted and I had bought and paid for my +home, we began to encourage the people to buy homes. This was done +through several agencies, the Negro Farmers Conference, the Workers +Conference and the Black-Belt Improvement Society. 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 further be the object of the Black Belt Improvement Society +as far as possible, to 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 co-operation in the purchase of what +supplies cannot 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 practice 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 standard of +civilization. + +This Society has standing committees on Government, on Education, on +Business, on Housekeeping, on Labor, and on Farming. The chairman of +each of these 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. The meetings are +doing good in the communities where they are being held, and our sincere +hope is that such meetings may be extended. It is the aim of the school +and of its several organizations, to reach the ills that most retard the +Negroes of the rural South. The articles of our simple constitution go +to the very bottom of the conditions. + +Thus it will be seen that the work of 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. + + + + +CHAPTER 8. + +CAMPAIGNING FOR FUNDS IN THE NORTH. + + +The matter of raising money for undenominational schools in the South is +no easy task, and right here I ought to state just why I preferred to +have such a school. Our people in the rural South are mostly Baptists +and Methodists, and of course the denominations have their schools, +located in certain cities. While no one is barred from these schools, it +is a fact that undue influence is exerted upon the pupils to make them +become members of the church that supports the school. This is not only +true of the Methodist and Baptist schools, but is also true of all +denominational schools in the South. I did not like that and our people +do not like to have any one influence their children to join churches +other than the one of their choice. We may shut our eyes to this truth, +but the fact remains that Methodists do not want their children to be +persuaded to join some other church, neither do the Baptists want theirs +taken away from them. + +Now, I wanted that my school should be free from such "isms." I wanted a +school for all the Negroes, thoroughly religious in its spirit, but +entirely undenominational. For twenty-five years now we have adhered +strictly to this policy. Many times when all was dark and there seemed +to be no way, some of these denominations would come and offer me the +money to run the work, provided I would accept their faith. But this I +have never done, I had rather that the work should die than to sell my +principle for money. I repeat that raising money for such a school is a +hard task. I have never been particularly interested as to the choice of +the church that my students make, but I have been profoundly interested +in their finding salvation. + +A great many people to whom I appeal for aid from time to time, tell me +that they give all their alms through their church. But in spite of all +this, I feel that the kind of schools most needed for our people, should +be broad and not narrow, deep and not shallow. + +After winning the approval of the people in the community, both black +and white, and getting whatever help I could from them, my thoughts +turned towards the North for means to run the work. My first attempt was +in March, '97. I got as far as Washington, D. C., and saw the +Inauguration of President McKinley, and then I returned home. + +The following June Dr. Washington wrote me to come to Tuskegee so as to +accompany the Tuskegee Quartet North that summer. It must not be +understood that I was one of the singers; that was not my good fortune. +I was to tell what Tuskegee had done for me and was to show in turn what +I was trying to do for my people. Dr. Washington reasoned in this way I +would have a chance to meet some of the best people of the country and +thereby gain support for my work. There was to be no collection taken +for Snow Hill, but those who became interested would often come up +after the meetings and give me something for my work. + +We left Tuskegee about the first of July. We spent most of the month of +July in the southeastern part of Massachusetts, known as the Cape and +South Shore. We had meetings at most of the churches and resorts in that +section. Dr. Washington himself met us at the most prominent places. + +In August we came to Boston and from there went up the North Shore. This +was my first visit to Boston and it was here that I met Miss Susan D. +Messinger and her brother William S. Messinger. Their home was at 81 +Walnut Avenue, Roxbury, Mass. Miss Messinger had been an abolitionist. +Both she and her brother were deeply interested in the welfare of my +people. They listened attentively to my story and from that day became +my best friends. + +Although I have been going North now for twenty years, I have never met +such welcome as was shown me at their home. I think I have never met +such Christ-like people anywhere. It was largely through Miss +Messinger's appeals in the "Transcript" that the people of Boston and +New England learned of our work at the Snow Hill Institute. Through her +appeals from time to time, we raised much money for our school. I +cannot, in words, express the valuable aid these people gave us in our +work. Sometimes when I had worked hard all day with poor results, I +would go to their home in the evening discouraged and low-spirited, but +would always find there a hearty welcome and a word of cheer. I would +always leave with new zeal and fresh courage. Their home has been to me +a home now for twenty years and although they are now dead, I never go +to Boston but that I find time to go out to Mt. Auburn and put a fresh +flower on their graves. The old home is lonely now, but the Messinger +spirit still abides there in the person of Mr. Reed, their nephew. I +still receive from him the hearty welcome and support that they used to +give in days of old. + +Another friend whom I met that summer was Mrs. J. S. Howe of Brookline +(now Mrs. Herman F. Vickery). She became interested in our work through +Miss Messinger and from that time to this her interest has steadily +grown. Had it not been for the encouragement and aid received from the +Messingers and Mrs. Howe on this trip, I am sure that I should have +given up the struggle. + +After leaving Boston, the Tuskegee singers went up the North Shore and +on to the Isles of Shoals. There we had a very good meeting, and as Mr. +Washington could not be present, I was the principal speaker. The people +were greatly interested in what I said and although we took up a good +collection for Tuskegee, my private collection was equally large. This +the leader of the quartet did not like. It was the duty of this man who +was a teacher at Tuskegee, to speak as well as myself, but for some +reason he did not like to do it and would always shirk it when he could. +But after this meeting he cut off my support and when we reached +Portsmouth, he told me that I was dividing the interest and that he +could not use me further on that trip. Of course, what little money I +had been getting I had sent to the school, so I was almost penniless +when he turned me off. I ought to say, however, that he gave me my fare +back to Boston. I reached Boston that night about eight o'clock with no +money and nowhere to go, but finally, I went to the place where we had +stopped when the quartet was in Boston and I found R. W. Taylor, who at +the time was financial agent in the North for Tuskegee. He saw that I +was discouraged and insisted that I tell him why I had come back to +Boston. When he had learned the facts he told his landlady to provide +lodging and board for me at his expense until I could do better. + +It was some time before Dr. Washington found out that I was not with the +quartet, and as soon as he knew it, he wrote me to meet him at Lake +Mohonk, N. Y. When the leader of the quartet found out that I was to be +at Lake Mohonk, he tried to interfere so as to prohibit my going there, +but when Dr. Washington said a thing, it had to be done, and I went to +Lake Mohonk and I met the quartet again; also Dr. Washington. We had a +great meeting at Lake Mohonk and after the meeting Mr. and Mrs. S. P. +Avery, who were guests there, gave me $200. From here we returned South +and reached Tuskegee about the first of September. From there I returned +to Snow Hill. + +My trip North during the summer of '98 was very much saddened by the +illness and death of my aunt Rina Rivers, whom I had learned to love as +a mother, and to whom I always feel that I owe my life, for had it not +been for the care she gave me during my sickness, I could not have stood +the ordeal. Her death came while I was in Boston and without sufficient +funds to take me either to her bed-side or to her funeral. This incident +in my life has always been a cause for deep sorrow and as the years go +by I feel it more keenly. I had always hoped that she could have lived +until I could make her life happy, but this pleasure has been forever +denied me. However she left behind four daughters and many grandchildren +and I have tried to be unusually kind to them because of my great love +for their mother and grandmother. Again this was a hard year because of +the Spanish War and the consequent excitement. + +I returned to Snow Hill early in the fall, cast down, but not destroyed. +I had to adjust myself to the loss of my best earthly friend. In the +meantime, our enrollment was constantly increasing and new teachers and +industries were being added from year to year. + +My campaign in the North during the summer of 1899 was made alone, just +as the previous one had been. I got much needed experience during this +summer. + +In this house-to-house campaign for money, one must expect many rebuffs, +but on the other hand one meets some of the finest people that have ever +lived. I find, however, that as I grow older the strain is harder. I +don't think that I am a very successful money raiser. However, on April +5th, 1906, at the 25th anniversary of Tuskegee, I delivered an address +that interested Mr. Andrew Carnegie and he gave the Snow Hill Institute +ten thousand dollars. (See Appendix.) + + +[Illustration: PARTIAL VIEW OF SNOW HILL INSTITUTE] + + + + +CHAPTER 9. + +RESULTS. + + +In the preceding chapters I have tried in a plain and practical way to +tell the story of my life and struggle for twenty-five years. I now +purpose to tell some results of this effort. + +We started our work with no land, no building, and no assurance of any +support from any source. In fact, we rented an old log cabin in which to +begin our work. On the first day of opening, we had one teacher, three +pupils and fifty cents in money, a pretty small capital with which to +build a Normal and Industrial Institute. As I now look back on this +early adventure of mine, I am amazed at the undertaking. Although +penniless and almost without a place to rest my head, I had an abundance +of hope and great faith in God. These have always been my greatest +assets in this work. The people in the community were equally poor; not +more than ten acres of land were owned by the colored people within a +radius of ten miles, and there was even a mortgage on these ten acres. +The homes of the people consisted chiefly of one-room and two-room log +cabins. There was not a single glass window to be found. I remember that +shortly after the founding of the school a Negro built a house and +fitted it up with glass windows and people would go ten miles to see +it. + +The economic condition of the people was deplorable. They all carried +heavy mortgages from year to year. These mortgages ranged all the way +from $100 to $1500. The people were thoroughly discouraged, and +seemingly had lost all hopes. Everywhere in their religious services, +they sang this song: "You may have all the world, but give me Jesus." +The white man was taking them at their word and giving them all of +Jesus, but none of the world. So disheartened were the people that when +Mr. Simpson offered to give us the first seven acres of land for the +school, many tried to prevail with him not to do so, saying that they +did not want any land. But as I have said, you can always find in any +place a few of our people whose hearts are in the right place; it was so +in this instance; a few of the old men were very stanch friends,--they +stood by me in this fight and we won. Such was the condition of the +people here twenty-five years ago. + +Now how changed are these conditions? From the rented log cabin the +school has grown until we have at present, to be exact, 1940 acres of +land and twenty-four buildings, counting large and small. It enrolls +each year between three and four hundred students, teaches fourteen +trades, putting most stress on agriculture. The entire property is +valued upwards of $125,000 and is deeded to a Board of Trustees. + +But the worth of an institution is not judged by houses and land, but by +its ability to serve the people among whom it is located. It has never +been our end to acquire houses, land and industries, these we have used +as means of enabling us to accomplish our end, which was and still is +to seek and to save that which was lost. For twenty-five years then we +have been here, seeking lost boys, lost girls, lost men and lost women. +We have tolled our bells that they might hear, and preached the gospel +of work in order that they might understand; we have used the church, +the Sunday-School, Bible classes and other religious societies that they +might feel; the class-rooms that they might know; the shops and farms +that they might handle and do. And so all of our material acquisitions +have been used to drive home one great end; social service, better men +and better women. + +Now how well we have accomplished this end may be seen from the +following: Counting those who have finished the course of study and +others who have remained at the school long enough to catch its spirit +and be influenced by its teaching, we have sent out into various parts +of the South more than a thousand young men and women who are today +leading useful and helpful lives. They are farmers, blacksmiths, +wheelwrights, carpenters, housekeepers, dressmakers, printers, railway +postal clerks, letter carriers, teachers, preachers, domestic servants, +insurance agents, doctors, expressmen, contractors, timber-inspectors, +college students. In fact, they are to be found in every vocation known +to the South. Many of these young people have bought farms and homes of +their own, have erected neat and comfortable cottages; have influenced +their neighbors to buy land, to build better homes, better churches and +better school-houses. They have also been instrumental in securing a +higher type of teachers and preachers. They make a special effort +always to cultivate a friendly relation between the two races. In this +particular they have been remarkably successful. I shall speak more +directly about their work under the chapter on Graduates. + +Perhaps I can in no way better show the effects of the school upon the +immediate community than by referring to an address given by me and +quoted in the appendix of this book. + +It is the custom at Tuskegee to have each class reassemble at the school +twenty years after graduation. Some one of the class is chosen by the +school, to represent the class and is placed on the Commencement +program. It fell my lot to represent my class on this occasion. + +Of course at the anniversary of each class, that class is expected to +make a donation to the school. Although this had been the custom for +several years, the class donations very seldom amounted to more than +$100. Sometimes they were as small as $25.00 or less. Somehow I have +always felt that the graduates of Tuskegee owed that institution a debt +of gratitude which they can never pay, and thought that they should make +the class anniversaries mean something more substantial to the school +than they had meant. So long before our time came, I wrote the members +of my class telling them that it should be our aim to give Tuskegee +$1000 at our Anniversary. They readily agreed with me and the class set +itself to the task of raising the $1000. This was done because we felt +that the time had come for the graduates to give more substantial aid to +their Alma-Mater, and as a stimulus to those who are to follow. I think +in a small way it has served that purpose, because these class +anniversary donations have never been less than $500 since that date. + + +[Illustration: A NEWER TYPE OF HOME IN THE BLACK BELT] + + +I think of all the talks I have ever made, none have given me the real +joy that this one gave. I feel that this was true for the reason that +this was a giving talk rather than a receiving one. The address is also +given in the appendix. + + + + +CHAPTER 10. + +ORIGIN OF THE JEANES FUND. + + +In the fall of 1902 I received a letter from Dr. Washington requesting +me to speak at a meeting in Philadelphia in the interest of Tuskegee. +Miss Cornelia Bowen, also a graduate of Tuskegee, was asked to speak at +the same meeting. We both accepted. During my stay in the city Mr. Henry +C. Davis, a trustee of Tuskegee at the time, gave me a letter of +introduction to Miss Anna T. Jeanes, a wealthy woman who seldom gave to +schools as large as Tuskegee and Hampton, but who would, in all +probability, be interested in my school. + +In going to Miss Jeanes's home on Arch Street I had many apprehensions +but I found her very cordial and deeply interested in the welfare of my +people. I told her of my struggle to get an education and how, after +finishing at Tuskegee I had returned to my home in Alabama. I described +the condition of the public schools in the rural districts. She gave +keen interest to this part of my story. Finally, she asked me if I was +aiming to build a large school such as Tuskegee or Hampton. I told her +that I had no such idea; that I only wanted to build a school that could +properly care for three or four hundred students, and try as best I +could to help the little schools throughout that section. When I +returned to Snow Hill I found a check from her for five thousand dollars +for the work at Snow Hill. + +Each year after this Miss Jeanes gave me from $300 to $2000 for the work +at Snow Hill. Finally, in the fall of 1906 when she had moved to the +home in Germantown which she had established for the aged, I called to +see her. She was then ill and although the nurse said that I could not +see her, after my card had been taken to her, she sent for me. She was +quite feeble, but said to me: "I have been deeply interested in what +thee has been telling me all these years about the little schools. I +would give largely to them if thee thinks that thee could get Dr. +Washington or Dr. Frissell to come to see me." I am sure she was +thinking of the large experience of those men. She said also that she +thought if she would make such a gift as she contemplated, it might +induce other great philanthropists to do as much. + +At my suggestion Dr. Washington visited Miss Jeanes who gave $11,000 +each to Dr. Washington and Dr. Frissell to be used as they thought best +for the small schools. + +I am positive that the Jeanes Fund originated in this way, and I am +proud of the part that I had in this affair and that so many Negro +children can be helped by the fund that is destined to do so much for +the elevation of our people in this country. + + + + +CHAPTER 11. + +APPRECIATION. + + +In building up an institution such as we have done at Snow Hill, no one +man is entitled to all the credit. On the contrary, it is impossible to +name all to whom credit is due. We can only speak of those who have been +closely allied with us and whose work has been prominent in the building +of the institution. Perhaps of these, the Trustees come first. We could +never have gone on with the work from year to year without their aid and +assistance. + +Without Mr. R. O. Simpson there could not have been any Snow Hill +Institute. We might have built a similar school elsewhere, but we could +not have built it at Snow Hill. Mr. Simpson gave the first site for the +school and from the start has been one of our best friends. He stood for +Negro Education when it was unpopular for him to do so. He allied +himself with this cause, at the risk of being ostracised by other white +people. Because of his firm stand, most of the white people in this +section have been won over to his way of thinking, and now there is +scarcely if any opposition hereabouts to the Snow Hill Institute. + +Mr. R. O. Simpson is one of the noblest men that I have ever met, North +or South. He is absolutely free from all racial and petty prejudice that +we so often find in the average man of today. I feel safe in saying +that he is living at least fifty years ahead of his time. The things +that he stands for and have been fighting for, for thirty years, are +coming more and more to pass, and although it seems hard for the present +generation to accept them, they must be accepted if we would make the +world safe for Democracy. He is a true patriot, a true democrat, and a +zealous Christian gentleman. Mr. Simpson has a family of five children, +three sons and two daughters, all of whom possess his spirit to a large +degree. + +I first met Rev. R. C. Bedford at Tuskegee while I was there in school. +I loved him from the first time I saw him and I feel that this was +because of his deep and sincere interest in our people. Until I met Mr. +Bedford, I had always distrusted the white man and thought it was +impossible for any white man to be free from race prejudice. After my +graduation at Tuskegee, as I said before, I returned to Snow Hill and +seeing that Mr. Bedford and Mr. Simpson had something in common, +arranged to have Mr. Bedford come to Snow Hill and meet Mr. Simpson. +Their meeting resembled that of Jonathan and David, and I believe their +friendship was equally great. It continued until Mr. Bedford's death. +Mr. Bedford was one man who understood what it was to build up an +institution from nothing. He knew the hardships one had to undergo to +meet bills when there was no money appropriated for these bills. He knew +what it was to make brick without straw. Ofttimes when the burden was +heavy and the yoke rough, it was the encouraging words from Mr. Bedford +that gave me strength and courage to continue. While his particular +mission was to look after the Tuskegee schools, he loved every good work +and would always lend a hand to a good cause. He was thoroughly imbued +with the Christ-spirit. + +I cannot express in words the great debt of gratitude that I owe the +immortal Booker T. Washington, for I owe all to him. It was he who +changed my view of life. He changed me from the visionary to the +substantial, from the shadow to the substance, from the artificial to +the real, and from words to deeds. Dr. Washington became a trustee of +Snow Hill Institute from its beginning and remained as such until his +death. He made three visits to Snow Hill, the last being November 18th, +1914. Dr. Washington always did what he could to help us in our work. He +seemed to appreciate the efforts that we were putting forth to uplift +our people. He could sympathize with us; he could understand that an +institution that had no permanent support, but had to depend upon the +efforts of one man to raise money, could not be perfect, and many things +were not as well as they should be. Dr. Washington could sympathize with +us because he knew what it was. He had borne the burden in the heat of +the day. But I find that persons who have done nothing themselves, but +have lived as parasites most of their days, are much more critical than +Dr. Washington ever could be. Sometimes I am asked to what I attribute +Dr. Washington's success in life. My answer to this question has always +been the same: to his spirit and simplicity. He possessed in a very +large degree, the spirit and simplicity of the Master. He never struck +back. He always sought to do good to those who would do evil to him. He +was meek and lowly of heart, and I know that he has found rest for his +soul. + +There are other trustees who have played a prominent part in the +development of the work here, among whom may be mentioned Mr. James H. +Post, Rev. Henry Wilder Foote, Prof. William Howell Reed and Mr. William +H. Baldwin, 3rd. The trustees are now taking a more active part in the +work than ever before. This is their bounden duty, because the school is +theirs, not mine. + +Next to the Trustees, the officers and teachers have played a prominent +part in the work here. My classmate, Henry A. Barnes, has been treasurer +of the school for twenty-three years, which period of service is, in +itself, a tribute to his faithfulness. Mr. Barnes not only does the work +of treasurer, but is also Acting Principal during my absence from the +school, and under him the work of the school continues with little or no +interruption while I am away. What Mr. Barnes has been to the Financial +Department, Mr. R. A. Daly has been to our Industries. I consider Mr. +Daly the best Industrial man that we can have. + +The Academic Department has been developed under the management of +Messrs. Whitehead and Handy, and it stands well in comparison with that +of other similar schools in the State. + +I cannot overestimate the value of the conscientious work done by my +secretaries during all these years. Miss Rebecca Savage (now Mrs. R. V. +Cooke) served in this capacity for fourteen years and Miss O. H. +Williamson has served one way or another for five years. Much of the +office work and responsibility fall upon the secretaries and this +responsibility they have borne without complaint. Sometimes we have been +compelled to work night and day, but they have always been willing to +serve. Not only have the officers been willing to serve, but the rank +and file of our teachers have shown the same spirit of willingness from +year to year. Sometimes they would get their pay promptly and at other +times they would have to wait for months, but always they have been +willing to do what they could to cheer and help me in the darkest hour +of the struggle. I believe that the spirit of the officers and teachers +of Snow Hill Institute is: "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister." + +Aside from Trustees, officers and teachers, there is that great cloud of +witnesses which no man can number, who have helped by their aid, their +words of cheer and their presence from time to time. These are in all +parts of the country, but principally in the North and East. How shall +we thank them for what they have been to us? We cannot do it by words, +because there are no words that could adequately express our deep sense +of gratitude to this host of friends. We must, therefore, be contented +to show them by our acts and deeds that we are ever mindful of their +help and that each day we are striving more and more to make ourselves +and our work worthy of their aid and encouragement. Among this cloud of +witnesses are some of the best people that God has ever made. They deem +it a privilege to give and to help the lowly. + + +[Illustration: TYPICAL LOG CABIN IN THE BLACK BELT] + +[Illustration: HOME OF A SNOW HILL GRADUATE] + + +In speaking of our debt of gratitude to the forces that have helped in +building up our work here, we must not overlook the press. There are +certain great papers in this country that have been fearless in their +advocacy of right and justice to the Negro, and have always opened their +columns to any cause that has for its end the uplift of the lowly. Among +these may be mentioned especially _The New York Evening Post_, _The +Boston Transcript_, _The Springfield Republican_, _The Hartford +Courant_, and in the South _The Montgomery Advertiser_. + +One also receives much aid and encouragement from those who are in +similar work. It has been my good fortune to meet in the North from time +to time with those who have similar work as mine. In this way I have met +most of the Principals of Southern Schools. Perhaps Mr. W. H. Holtzclaw +of Utica, Mississippi, comes first in this class. This is true, because +I have known him the longest. I first met him in Tuskegee in the early +nineties, when we both were in school there. His life was similar to +mine, as we both had a very hard time in trying to get an education. I +became interested in him there and when he finished I took him to work +with me at Snow Hill. It was at Snow Hill that he met and married Miss +Mary Ella Patterson, one of our teachers. They remained with us at Snow +Hill four years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Holtzclaw have always seemed more +like my relatives than like friends. Some of Mr. Holtzclaw's best +teachers today are graduates of Snow Hill Institute. I have always been +deeply interested in the welfare of Utica for it is in reality an +outgrowth of Snow Hill. + +Other Principals whom I meet occasionally, are President Battle of +Okolona, Mississippi, where a number of our graduates have worked. I +have found Mr. Battle interested in the general cause of Negro +Education, and too, we found in our case that the cause is the same. I +have had occasion to ask Mr. Battle just how our graduates measure up +with his other teachers, and he tells me that Snow Hill graduates are +among his best helpers. By this I know that in deeds, not words, we are +making good. + +Another most interesting character whom I always meet on my tours North +is Mr. Frank P. Chisholm, Financial Secretary of Tuskegee Institute. I +have been knowing Mr. Chisholm for a great many years. We have attended +the Summer School at Harvard several summers together and it has been +both a pleasure and benefit to me to be associated with him in this way. +Although working directly for Tuskegee, he has always been willing to +speak a word for Snow Hill wherever the opportunity presented itself. I +have obtained many suggestions from Mr. Chisholm which have been very +beneficial to me in my work here. I consider Mr. Chisholm a +representative type of the new Negro of to-day. He is a brilliant +scholar, a clear thinker, and is doing a very effective work for +Tuskegee. + +Others with whom I come in contact on such trips are Principal Hunt of +Fort Valley, Ga.; Principal Minafee of Denmark, S. C.; Principal Long of +Christianburg, Va. These young men and many others are doing a greater +work than they know, and all possess in a smaller or larger degree the +spirit of dear old Tuskegee. They are all preaching the gospel of +Service. + + + + +CHAPTER 12. + +GRADUATES AND EX-STUDENTS. + + +Prof. Bagley in his "Classroom Management," page 225, has the following +to say in "Testing Results": + +"The ultimate test of efficiency of efforts is the result of effort. +Unhappily this test is seldom applied to the work of teaching. We judge +the teacher by the process rather than by the product, and we introduce +a number of extraneous criteria to hide the absence of a real criterion. +We watch the way in which he conducts a recitation, how many slips he +makes in his diction and syntax, inspect his personal appearance, ask of +what school he is a graduate and how many degrees he possesses, inquire +into his moral character, determine his church membership, and judge him +to be a good or a poor teacher according to our findings. All of these +queries may have their place in the estimation of any teacher's worth, +but they do not strike the most salient, the most vital, point at issue. +That point is simply this: Does he 'make good' in results? Does he do +the thing that he sets out to do, and does he do it well?" + +I agree wholly with Prof. Bagley in this particular and on these grounds +we are willing to stand or fall by the results of our graduates. + +Speaking of our graduates and ex-students, I wish to point to the life +and work of a few written by their own hands because in these particular +cases I can testify to the truth of every word they say, having known +them from early childhood. Their record follows and they speak for +themselves: + +"I was born in Snow Hill, Wilcox County, Alabama, about 30 years ago. I +was the 14th child of a family of 17. My father was a very prosperous +farmer and believed in educating his children. Each year he would send +them by twos off to schools, such as Talladega, Tuskegee and Normal, +Alabama. Some of the older children, however, did not take advantage of +the great opportunity they had. He spent his money lavishly on them and +about the time I was large enough to go off to school, he was not as +prosperous. As soon as I was old enough he kept me in the public and +sometimes private schools, both summer and winter. Yet, he had promised +to send the remainder of us off to school. Fortunately for us, however, +Snow Hill Institute had been established by Mr. W. J. Edwards, and my +father being very much impressed with Mr. Edwards and his teachers, +consulted him about entering three children, I being the youngest. Mr. +Edwards kindly consented and we were at once put in school there. I was +also fond of music and after learning that Snow Hill Institute had such +an efficient music teacher, I was very much pleased to attend school +there. So in the year of 1900 I entered. I was enabled to develop my +musical talent to the extent that I was selected to play for my home +church, and that inspired other students to attend Snow Hill Institute. + +"During my first year in school there I was undecided as to just what I +was going to follow as a trade. I worked awhile in the sewing room then +in the laundry--was also interested in cooking and took special lessons +in cooking under Miss Mabry. In fact, I studied cooking the first two +years. Finally, in my senior year, Miss C. V. Johnson, then Secretary to +Mr. Edwards, asked me to clean the offices of mornings for her and work +with her on my work days. I began this work and would watch her using +the typewriter so much until I fully decided that I wanted to make an +efficient secretary for someone, and began working to that end. On my +work days she would have me copying letters with ink. I would be careful +not to make a mistake. During the time I was working in the office, Mr. +Edwards would often send me on errands and tell me to see how quickly I +could go and come. He seemed to have been very much impressed with my +work as a student in both the Academic and Industrial departments. There +were several prize contests given my class by different teachers, and I +won each prize. This was in the Academic department. There were twelve +members in the class. Mr. Edwards had the members of my class to write +some friends of the school for scholarships (this being the request of +the friends) and of the two persons that received favorable answers, I +was one. During the whole time I was in school I did not receive one +demerit, or a black mark. Our teachers seemed perfect, and it was a +pleasure for me to try to please them. + +"In the year 1903 I graduated from the institution with a splendid grasp +of all that the school stood for and in favor with all of my teachers +and friends. Mr. Edwards, knowing my ability to do things as I was +instructed, employed me to work in his office as clerk. I then put forth +more strenuous efforts to do efficient work and would try to improve +myself along that particular line of work. So in the summer of 1905 I +attended school at Cheyney, Pa., taking a special course in English, +typewriting and shorthand. I did my best to give satisfaction in my +work. + +"In the year 1909 I was made Private Secretary to Mr. Edwards and a +member of the Executive Council. I still had a desire to make further +improvement, and in the summer of 1911, I attended Comer's Commercial +College in Boston, Mass., trying to become more efficient in the work +that was assigned to my hands. Principal Edwards would have to be away +from the school most of the time soliciting means to carry on the work, +but I tried to not leave a stone unturned in accomplishing the work he +left behind. Snow Hill Institute succeeded in inculcating into my life a +love for work, and I am not satisfied unless I have some work to do. + +"I worked for Mr. Edwards untiringly until October, 1917. I was married, +however, in July, 1917. I have often wondered where my lot would have +been cast had there been no Snow Hill Institute." + +"I was born of ex-slave parents on the Calhoun plantation in Dallas +County, Alabama. I am not quite sure of the exact date of my birth, but +at any rate, as nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near the +village called Richmond, in the month of May, 1883. My life had its +beginning under the most difficult circumstances. This was so, however, +not because of any wilful neglect on the part of my parents, but as +ex-slaves they naturally knew but little as to the providing for the +maintenance of their family and home. I was born in a one-room log cabin +about 14 x 15 feet square. In this cabin I lived with my mother, father +and the other eight sisters and brothers until providentially I found an +opportunity to enter school at Snow Hill Institute, Snow Hill, Alabama. + +"I went to Snow Hill in the year of 1896, and there remained for eight +years receiving instruction at the hand of a loyal band of +self-sacrificing teachers, who not only taught me how to read, write and +to cipher, but in addition they taught me lessons of thrift and industry +which have proven to be the main saving point in my life. + +"I completed the prescribed course of study at the Snow Hill Institute +in 1904 and returned home as I had resolved to do, before entering +school there, for the purpose of helping the people of my home +community. + +"The Street Manual Training School (Incorporated) at Richmond, Dallas +County, Alabama, was started in 1904 with one teacher, fifteen pupils +and no money. Since that time it has grown to the point where it now has +thirty acres of land, four buildings, and an enrollment of three hundred +pupils. The entire property is valued at fifteen thousand dollars +($15,000) and deeded to a board of Trustees. Among the members of this +board are: Mr. J. D. Alison, President, Mrs. Edwin D. Mead, the Rev. Mr. +Emmanuel M. Brown, Mr. Wm. D. Brigham, Mr. Walter Powers, Mr. Edwin W. +Lambert, Mr. W. J. Edwards, Mrs. Francis Carr and Mr. Henry A. Barnes. + +"This school is training some three hundred Negro children between the +ages of six and eighteen years in the practical arts necessary to enable +them to make an earnest, comfortable living. There is no attempt made to +teach them foreign languages, either dead or living; but they are well +grounded in the English language. They do not study higher mathematics, +but they learn simple arithmetic. They spend no time on psychology, +economics, sociology, or logic; their time is taken up trying to raise +crops, to manage a small farm, to cook and to sew." + + +SKETCH OF MY LIFE. + +"I was born in Snow Hill, Wilcox County, Alabama, December 24th, 1883. +My parents were Emanuel and Emma McDuffie. I was brought up under the +most adverse conditions. My father died about six months before my +birth, thus leaving my mother with the care of seven children. As I had +never seen my father, I was often referred to by the other children of +the community, as the son of "none." In July, 1893, my mother died and +the burden of caring for the children then fell upon my old grandmother, +who was known throughout the community as "Aunt" Polly. In order to help +secure food and clothing for myself and the rest of the family, I was +compelled to plow an ox on a farm and as we usually made from four to +five bales of cotton and 40 and 50 bushels of corn each year, she was +looked upon as a great farmer. When I was fifteen years of age, my +grandmother was called to her heavenly rest, thus leaving a house full +of children to shift for themselves. After her death I became interested +in education and immediately applied for admittance to Snow Hill Normal +and Industrial Institute, which had recently been established. I was +admitted as a work student, working all day and attending school about +two hours and a half at night. Until I entered Snow Hill Institute, I +had a very vague idea about life as it pertained to the Negro. In fact, +up until that time, I was of the opinion that the Negro had no business +being anything; but after entering the school and being surrounded by a +different atmosphere and seeing what had already been accomplished by +Mr. Edwards, I soon realized that the Negro had as much right to life +and liberty as any other man. + +"While it was great joy for me to be in school, I was woefully +unprepared to remain there. Really, I am unable to tell the many +obstacles that confronted me while in school. But one of my many +difficulties was to get sufficient clothing, for when I entered, I had +on all that I possessed and day after day I wore what I had until +finally they got beyond mending. The teachers at Snow Hill were just as +they are now, extremely hard against dirt and filth. As I only had one +suit of underwear and as we were compelled to change at least once a +week, I could plainly see that my condition was becoming more alarming +each day. So I would go down to the spring at night, wash that suit and +dry it the best I could by the heater that was in my room. Quite often +I would go for days wearing damp or wet underwear, which has caused both +pain and doctor bills in after years. Finally, Mr. Edwards relieved me +of this situation when he sent me to the sales-room to get a pair of +second-hand trousers and another suit of underwear. My trousers didn't +begin to fit, for they were both too large and too long, but I wore them +with pleasure because I went to Snow Hill in search of an education and +I was willing to make any sacrifice to obtain my desire. Through all of +my troubles I never became discouraged, because I felt that some day I +would be prepared to be of service to my people. + +"Of all things that gave me inspiration while in school, Mr. Edwards's +own Christian life which he lived before us day after day had more to do +with keeping me there than anything else. His courage and perseverance +under difficulties, which we all could see, were noble lessons to me. In +his Sunday evening talks in the chapel, he would plead with us to shape +our lives for work among those who were less fortunate than we. One +Sunday evening, he made a powerful and vivid appeal, admonishing the +students to go out, when they had finished their education, and start +their life's work among the lowly in the rural districts. He spoke these +words many times during the term. In fact, so often did he repeat them +that the very thoughts of them inspired me and I soon learned to love +the cause of humanity as well and as dearly as did Mr. Edwards himself. +Soon after completing my course in May, 1904, a call came from the Black +Belt of North Carolina for a man to go to Laurinburg and build up an +Industrial school there. After talking the matter over with Mr. Edwards, +I decided to go. + +"I reached the town of Laurinburg September 15, 1904. When I got there I +found that the people had been so often deceived and hoodwinked by +political demagogues and supposed race leaders, that they had no +confidence in any one. But I made a start and opened school in an old +public school building with seven students and fifteen cents in cash. As +the people had no confidence in me, it was hard for me to increase my +enrollment, but I continued to labor with them on the streets and in the +churches until I gradually won their respect. Then we started the +erection of a new school building and from that day until now, both +white and black have taken the deepest interest in the work and we now +have the absolute confidence of all the people. + +"The work has constantly grown from year to year and results have been +obtained. From one teacher, seven students and fifteen cents in cash, +thirteen years ago, the institution now has fourteen teachers, upwards +of four hundred students from all over North Carolina, Virginia, South +Carolina and Georgia, and counting land, livestock, five large and three +small buildings, it has a property valuation of $30,000 all free of +debt. Each year our teachers are selected from some of the best schools +of the South; such as Tuskegee Institute, Shaw University, Snow Hill +Institute, Claflin University, Benedict College, etc. Eight industries +are taught, consisting of farming, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, +sewing, laundering, printing, domestic science and home nursing. + +"We are kept in immediate need of money for current and building +expenses, but we are going on accomplishing results with what we have at +hand. Boys and girls are being sent out each year to work among their +fellows. These young men and women are reaching the masses and as a +result, the moral tone of the people is being aroused to the +contemplation of higher ideals and they are at last becoming serious as +to the sober side of life. Excursions, parties and a good time generally +are slowly but surely being relegated to the rear. Our farmers are +studying how to become better farmers and in all walks of life, we are +improving in workshop and the various industries. + +"Verily, the school room is doing much in awakening the dormant energies +of the Negro for good. In fact, the school's influence is helping the +people generally. Where there were ignorance and indifference, now we +have a fair measure of intelligence and thrift. The people are buying +homes and property, and in many ways showing signs of aspiration. + +"We have also organized a farmers' conference and it is gratifying +indeed to see how hundreds of farmers, with their wives and children, +turn out seeking information, demonstration and co-operation. I have +been thus enabled to help my people here in North Carolina by giving +them the new truth and the new light and pointing them on to a better +way." + +Waverley Turner Carmichael was born at Snow Hill, Ala., in 1888, and was +reared on the farm as all country negro boys are. All of his education +was obtained at the Snow Hill Institute except for six weeks he spent in +the Harvard Summer School last year. + + +[Illustration: GRADUATES OF SNOW HILL INSTITUTE + +EMMANUEL MCDUFFIE. Principal Laurinburg Normal and Industrial +Institute, Laurinburg, N. C. + +JOHN W. BRISTER, who established a prize at Snow Hill Institute. + +REV. EMMANUEL M. BROWN of Street Manual Training School, +Richmond, Alabama. + +WAVERLEY TURNER CARMICHAEL, Poet of Snow Hill.] + + +I had been deeply impressed with the poems which he had been writing for +several years, but as I was no judge of poems, I thought I would give +him a chance to bring his poems before those who could judge, so I +received for him a free scholarship at the Summer School at Harvard. He +read his poems to the class on several occasions and I had the +opportunity of hearing him several times. They had a deep impression +upon the class, so much so that his professor wrote the introduction to +his book in the following words:-- + +"When Waverley Carmichael, as a student in my summer class at Harvard, +brought me one day a modest sheaf of his poems, I felt that in him a +race had become or at least was becoming articulate. We have had, it is +true, sympathetic portrayals of Negro life and feeling from without; we +have had also the poems of Dunbar, significant of the high capabilities +of the Negro as he advances far along the way of civilization and +culture. The note which is sounded in this little volume is of another +sort. These humble and often imperfect utterances have sprung up +spontaneously from the soul of a primitive and untutored folk. The rich +emotion, the individual humor, the simple wisdom, the naive faith which +are its birthright, have here for the first time found voice. It is +sufficient to say of Waverley Carmichael that he is a full blooded +southern Negro, that until last summer he has never been away from his +native Alabama, that he has had but the most limited advantages of +education, and that he has shared the portion of his race in hardship, +poverty and toil. He does not know why he wrote these poems. It is an +amazing thing that he should have done so--a freak, we may call it, of +the wind of genius, which bloweth where it listeth and singles out one +in ten thousand to find a fitting speech for the dumb thought and +feeling of the rest. + +But we need not base the claim of Carmichael to the attention of the +public merely on considerations of this sort. His work speaks for +itself. It is original and sincere. It follows no traditions and suffers +no affectation. It is artless, yet it reaches the goal of art. The +rhythms, especially of some of the religious pieces, are of a kind which +is beyond the reach of effort. He has rightly called them melodies. +Occasionally there is, it seems to me, a touch of something higher, as +in the haunting refrain of the lyric "Winter is Coming." + + De yaller leafs are falling fas' + Fur summer days is been and pas' + The air is blowin' mighty cold, + Like it done in days of old. + +But this is rare. Oftenest the characteristic note is humor, or tender +melancholy relieved by a philosophy of cheer and courage, and the poetic +virtue is that of simple truth. We are reminded of no poet so strongly +as of Burns. + +What Waverley Carmichael may accomplish in the future I do not know. But +certainly in this volume he has entitled himself to the gratitude of his +own race and to the sympathetic appreciation of all who have its +interests and those of true poetry at heart." + + JAMES HOLLY HANFORD. + + +Mr. William Stanley Braithwaite speaking of his poems had the following +to say: + +"Many have claimed the mantle of Paul Laurence Dunbar, but only upon the +shoulders of Waverley Turner Carmichael has it fallen, and he wears it +with becoming grace and fitness. For this poet, a veritable child of +Negro folk, gives expression to its spirit in need and language more +akin to the ante-bellum 'spirituel' than any writer I know. Like those +'black and unknown bards' he sings because he must, with all their +fervid imaginativeness, symbolizations, poignant strains of pathos and +philosophic humor." + +Mr. Braithwaite is the best known Negro critic of poetry in the world +today. + +As for me who has always lived in the South and know the Southern Negro +through and through, I feel and believe that Carmichael has interpreted +Negro life as never before. + +We hope and pray that Carmichael will live through this great ordeal and +come back to us and continue his work of interpreting Negro life. + +There are hundreds of other graduates and ex-students who have won +distinction in other fields and are doing equally as well as those who +have been mentioned here. We have their record at the school, and any +one can have them for the asking. I only wish to mention in a brief way +two other graduates because they have established a first and second +prize at Snow Hill. They are John W. Brister and Edmond J. O'Neal. + +Several years ago the late Misses Collins (Ellen and Marguerite) of New +York, two of the most sainted women whom I ever met, established an +annual prize at the school known as the Sumner Peace Prize, of $15.00. +But at their death this prize would have stopped unless some one had +taken it up. Both Mr. Brister and Mr. O'Neal had won these prizes +several times while they were in school. So at the death of the Misses +Collins they came forward and said that they would be responsible for +the prize each year on condition that the school make a first and second +prize instead of one, Mr. Brister giving $10.00 in gold for the first +prize and Mr. O'Neal giving $5.00 in gold for the second. This they have +done for several years, and they constantly assure me that it will be +kept up during their lifetime. This shows that our graduates are +carrying with them the spirit of Christ, "Freely receive, freely give." + + + + +CHAPTER 13. + +THE SOLUTION OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM. + + +All prophecies pertaining thus far to the solution of the Negro Problem +have failed. Men in all parts of the country are becoming alarmed over +the situation and are asking, "whither are we drifting?" And yet +although everyone admits that there is a Negro problem, few are agreed +as to the exact nature of the problem, and still fewer are agreed as to +what the final answer should be. + +Generally speaking, the Negro problem consists of twelve millions of +people of African descent living in this country, mostly in the Southern +states, and forming one-third of the population of this section and +one-eighth of the entire population of the United States. +Notwithstanding the fact that we are far from an agreement as to the +answer to this problem, we are all agreed that the solution must be +sought in the answers to the following questions: What is to be the +economic, the political, the civil, and the social status of the Negro +in this country? + +It is true that there are criminals in the Negro race for whom no legal +form of punishment is too severe. It is also true that the better and +best classes of Negroes are daily being insulted in the streets, on the +street-cars, on the railroads, at the ticket offices, at the baggage +rooms, the express offices, and in fact, in all places pertaining to +public travel. They are persecuted, despised, rejected, and +discriminated against before every court in the South. Since the Negro +is now being lynched as readily for his sins of omission as he is for +his sins of commission, it is quite necessary for him when traveling in +the South, to keep constantly in telegraphic communication with the +agent at the station ahead as to the movement of the mob. In addition to +this, the Negro is subjected to many other forms of persecution and +discrimination in almost every walk of life. These things go to make up +what we call the Negro problem. + + +_The White Man's Solution._ + +A large majority of the white men in the South believe that this problem +is to be solved by the Negro "learning his place" and keeping in it. +Though they do not say just what this place is, they purpose to teach it +to the Negro by disfranchisement, by limiting his education, by +discrimination on the streets and on the railroads, by barring him from +public parks, public libraries, and public amusements of any kind, by +insulting replies to courteous questions, by conviction for trivial +offences, and, finally, by judge lynch and the shot gun. This class is +called the rabble. + +There is another class of white men in the South, though fewer in +number, who deprecate all such views and actions (as advanced by this +first class). They believe that the Negro should have equal legal +rights, but that he should be denied equal political and educational +rights. They believe the Bible to be the panacea for all the ills of the +Negro. To bear out their contention, they often revert to the time when, +they say, there was no race problem. This, they say, was during slavery, +when the master taught his slaves the beneficent influence of the Holy +Bible. They are now appealing to the white men of the South to return to +this practice. In this class would fall a large number of politicians, +statesmen, educators, and ministers. This is called the conservative +class. + +There is still a third class of white men in the South, who believe that +the Negro is a man, nothing more and nothing less. They believe that +under similar circumstances the Negro will act as other races do. They +contend that the Negro should have equal rights in every respect; they +believe that worthy Negroes like worthy white men, should vote, and that +ignorant and vicious Negroes like ignorant and vicious white men, should +not; that the school money should be divided equally among the children +of the state regardless of race, color or previous conditions; that the +Negro should be given justice in all of the courts; that the criminal +and lawless Negro, like the criminal and lawless white man, should be +punished to the full extent of the law. They believe that a strict +adherence to this view will result in the final solution of the problem. +There are, however, so few who feel in this way, and they are so widely +scattered, that they can hardly be called a class. The other classes of +white people consider them insane and accuse them of advocating social +equality. They are given no voice in the government and their wishes are +disregarded as readily as those of the Negro. They are sometimes +persecuted, ostracised, and harmed in every conceivable way. This class +is increasing and the two other classes decreasing. + + +_The Negro's Method of Solution._ + +There are three classes of Negroes in the South, but only one desires a +solution of the problem and that is class number two, of those I shall +mention. Class number one is composed chiefly of the illiterate and +superstitious Negroes. They usually work on the railroads, on the +steamboats, in the large saw-mills, and on the farms for wages. They +have no homes and do not want any; but float from place to place. This +class is contented to be let alone, but is quick to resent an insult, +and will shoot almost as readily as the white man, and make no attempt +to choose their victims. Among this class are to be found the whiskey +seller, the drunkard, the gambler, and the criminal of the lowest type. +It is the low, degraded and depraved criminals of this class who stir up +and incite race hatred, which always results in race riots. They do not +attend church or any other religious meeting. The better class of +Negroes are as anxious to get rid of these as the white man. + +The second class is composed of the renters of farms, the owners of +farms, of homes, of preachers, teachers, students, professional and +business men. They believe that the Negro should be educated in the +trades as well as in the professions; that they should own homes, pay +their taxes and perform their civic duties like all other citizens and +that they should possess all of the rights and privileges that are +delegated to them by the Constitution of the United States. They believe +in the purity of the state and in the sanctity of the home. They are +enduring, self-sacrificing, patient, and long suffering, and desire the +good of all. It is this class that always assists in quelling race riots +and is constantly seeking the co-operation of the best class of white +people in order that the relation between the races may be of the most +cordial nature. It is this class also who do not lose their heads though +innocent members of the race be murdered by the mob. Though this class +is rapidly increasing, it is still far inferior in number to the first +class. + +The third class is composed chiefly of the ante-bellum Negroes. They are +well advanced in age and are contented with their present lot. Many of +them have waited for years for the forty acres and mule and having been +disappointed in their expectation, they have lost all hopes. They are +fast losing sight on the things of this world and gaining sight on the +things of the world to come. Ofttimes, they sing, "You may have all this +world, but give me Jesus." They are perfectly harmless and have no +earthly ambition. This is what the white man here calls a good Negro; +for him they act as pall-bearers when he dies and for him they weep when +he is gone. In many instances they erect monuments to his memory. + + +_Fallacy of the Master and the Bible Remedy._ + +Since the recent riots that have occurred in Georgia, North Carolina, +Tennessee, Arkansas and other Southern States, many white ministers and +other prominent citizens of the South have been advocating a return to +the master and Bible theory of slavery days, when, they say, there was +no race problem. But every student of history knows that at the same +time the master was carrying the Bible to his slaves this country was +struggling with one of the greatest race problems that the world has +ever witnessed and the slavery phase of this problem was settled by one +of the bloodiest wars in the annals of history. Furthermore, the student +of history knows that the master carried the lash more often to the +slave's back than the Bible to the slave's heart; that the lash kept the +slave in subjection. + +If the relation between the races now seems most strained and the +solution of the problem seems farther away than ever, we must be candid +and seek the cause of failure in the methods that we have been using. In +the past, the white man's idea of the solution has been contrary to the +Negro's idea. The white man has been trying to circumscribe the Negro's +sphere, at the same time, the Negro has been trying to know the truth +which would make him free; yet, both claim to be trying to solve the +same problem. Before a satisfactory solution of the problem can be had, +it will be necessary for the best white people and the best class of +Negroes to get together and agree as to what the solution must be. Is it +to consist of the Negro knowing his place and staying in it, or is it to +consist of the Negro knowing the truth and being free? Which shall it +be? Unless they can agree as to the answer there can be no satisfactory +solution. + +In a democratic form of government having one language, one history, +one literature, one religion, one Bible, and one God, there can be only +one man who is the sum total of these, only one man who is the typically +good democratic citizen, and this man will be known by his +accomplishments and not by the color of his skin. If we should have two +types, two men, then we must have two governments, two languages, two +histories, two literatures, two religions, two Bibles, and two Gods. + +If the shiftless, ignorant, superstitious, and criminal class of Negroes +is increasing, it is because the ruling class of white men have been +limiting his education, disfranchising him, and in other ways trying to +doom him to serfdom. The great race riot in Atlanta was simply the +culmination of the ten months' campaigning of race hatred. Men who are +now writing resolutions and sound and sane editorials, were then +rivaling each other in their abuse of the Negro. The nominee for +governor seemingly, was to be given to the one who could prove himself +the greatest enemy of the Negro. It is a divine and immutable law that +if we sow the wind we will reap the whirlwind. + + +_Only One Road to the Solution._ + +Lynchings and mobs will not solve the problem, for it has been proven +that such actions beget crimes. Depriving him of educational advantages +and disfranchising him, will not suffice, for on the one hand this +method produces ignorant Negroes, and on the other hand it increases in +the white man the belief that the Negro has no rights which a white man +is bound to respect. These two states of mind in the last analysis will +always produce crime. The master and Bible theory will not solve it, +because the criminal and lawless Negro does not attend church. There is +but one true solution and that lies in compulsory education for all the +children of the state with religious, moral and industrial training. If +the South is sincere in its efforts to help the Negro, or even if the +ministers and other citizens who are now filling the daily press with +suggestions as to the practical solution of this problem are sincere, +they will advocate the enacting of compulsory educational laws and see +to it that all children between the ages of six and fourteen are kept in +school. They will also advocate a more equitable division of the school +fund between the races. The great factor in the solution of this problem +is education and the Negro schools are the hope of the race. + + +_The Attitude of the North Towards This Problem._ + +Just now, the attitude of the North towards this problem is that of an +onlooker and well wisher. For a number of years the South has been +saying to the North, "Hands off, we understand the Negro and we can +solve our own problem." The North, seemingly, has heeded this injunction +and the press and politicians of the North, barring a few, have been +inclined to take sides with the so-called conservative class of white +men of the South. + +The philanthropist of the North, however, while being a friend to the +white South has been none the less a friend to the black South, and has +kept constantly aiding Negro education and it is the schools thus +supported that are doing the most effective work in the uplifting of the +race. It was the wise guidance, judicious and calm leadership of the men +in these schools that saved the day at Atlanta. All of these schools +have the record of their graduates and ex-students opened to the public +for inspection. And an impartial inspection of these records will show +that these students and graduates have made since leaving school, +according to their circumstances, as creditable a mark as the graduates +and ex-students from any of our Northern schools. These schools do not +give college training. + +In these perilous times when the race is passing through such trying +ordeals, and when the souls of men are being tried, I trust that our +friends will not forsake us. Our industrial schools and colleges and the +better element of the race, need their sympathy, encouragement, and +assistance now as never before. My prayer is for a double portion of +their spirit and an increased amount of their assistance. + +The recent race troubles should not discourage us or our friends. In +fact, we should be encouraged, for during these troubles the better +element of the race has been severely tried and they have stood the +test. Everywhere their advice has been for moderation, patience, and +forbearance. It is true, we are troubled on every side, yet not +distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not +forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. Our records will show that we +have been faithful over a few things, may we not retain the faith and +trust of friends? + + + + +CHAPTER 14. + +THE GREATEST MENACE OF THE SOUTH. + + +In every age there are great and pressing problems to be +solved,--problems whose solution will have seemingly, a far reaching and +lasting effect upon the economic life of the country concerned. It was +the case in this country from its very beginning and the same condition +obtains today, although each section of the country has its own peculiar +problems the true American citizen recognizes the fact that the success +of one section in solving its problems will be beneficial to the entire +nation. + +Perhaps, no section of this country has been confronted with more +difficult problems than the South. I therefore, wish to present what I +consider to be the greatest menace of this section, not as a prophet +foretelling future events, but humbly expressing my views of the +situation after careful study. + +If you were to ask the average white man of the South today what is the +greatest menace to this section, his answer, undoubtedly, would be, the +Negro and Negro domination. At least this would be the answer of the +politician. That he would take this view, is shown by the great amount +of legislation that has been enacted, aiming either directly or +indirectly to retard the Negro's progress. I do not believe that there +has been one piece of legislation enacted in the South within the last +thirty years for the express purpose of promoting the Negro's welfare. +This does not mean, however, that the entire white South is against the +Negro or that it means to oppose his advancement. There are thousands of +white men and women throughout the length and breadth of the South, who +are today, laboring almost incessantly for the advancement of the Negro. +To these, we owe a great debt of gratitude, and to these should be given +much credit for what has been accomplished. This class of white +southerns are not, as a rule, politicians and it is seldom, if ever, +they are elected to office. When we speak of the average southern white +man then, we have particular reference to the great horde of office +seekers and politicians that infest the entire south-land. It is this +class that will tell you that Negro domination is the greatest menace to +the South. + +Now, Negro domination may be a menace to the South, but it is certainly +not the greatest. Neither is the extermination of our forests to be +greatly feared. There are organizations and societies on foot in all +parts of the South for the conservation of our forests. + +Southern citizenship is suffering much from child labor, but even this, +although being a great danger to our future development and prosperity, +cannot rightly be classed as our greatest menace. The one thing today, +in which we stand in greatest danger, is the loss of the fertility of +the soil. If we should lose this, as we are gradually doing, then all is +lost. If we should save it, then all other things will be added. Our +great need is the conservation and preservation of the soil. + +The increased crops which we have in the South occasionally, are not due +to improved methods of farming, but to increased acreage. Thousands of +acres of new land are added each year and our increase in farm +production is due to the strength of these fresh lands. There is not +much more woodland to be taken in as new farm lands, for this source has +been well nigh exhausted. We must then, within a few years, expect a +gradual reduction in the farm production of the South. Already the old +farm lands that have been in cultivation for the past fifty or +fifty-five years are practically worn out. I have seen in my day where +forty acres of land twenty or twenty-five years ago would produce from +twenty to twenty-five bales of cotton each year, and from 800 to 1000 +bushels of corn. Now, these forty acres will not produce more than eight +or nine bales of cotton and hardly enough corn to feed two horses. In +fact, one small family cannot obtain a decent support from the land +which twenty years ago supported three families in abundance. This farm +is not on the hill-side, neither has it been worn away by erosion. It is +situated in the lowlands, in the black prairie, and is considered the +best farm on a large plantation. This condition obtains in all parts of +the South today. This constant deterioration of land, this gradual +reduction of crops year after year, if kept up for the next fifty years, +will surely prove disastrous to the South. + +Practically, all the land in the black belt of the South is cultivated +by Negroes and the farm production has decreased so rapidly during the +last ten or fifteen years that the average Negro farmer hardly makes +sufficient to pay his rent and buy the few necessaries of life. Of +course, here and there where a tenant has been lucky enough to get hold +of some new land, he makes a good crop, but after three or four years of +cultivation, his crop begins to decrease and this decrease is kept up at +a certain ratio as long as he keeps the land. Instead of improving, the +tenant's condition becomes worse each year until he finds it impossible +to support his family on the farm. Farm after farm is being abandoned or +given up to the care of the old men and women. Already, most of these +are too old and feeble to do effective work. + +Now, the chief cause of these farms becoming less productive, is the +failure on the part of the farmers to add something to the land after +they have gathered their crops. They seem to think that the land +contains an inexhaustible supply of plant food. Another cause of this +deficiency of the soil is the failure of the farmer to rotate his crop. +There are farms being cultivated in the South today where the same piece +of land has been planted in cotton every year for forty or fifty years. +Forty years ago, I am told by reliable authority, that this same land +would yield from one bale to one and a half per acre. And today it will +take from four to six acres to produce one bale. + +Still another cause for the deterioration of the soil is erosion. There +is practically no effort put forth on the tenant's part to prevent his +farm from washing away. The hill-side and other rolling lands are not +terraced and after being in use four or five years, practically all of +these lands are washed away and as farm lands they are entirely +abandoned. Not only are the hillside lands unprotected from the beating +rains and flowing streams, but the bottom or lowlands are not properly +drained, and the sand washed down from the hill, the chaff and raft from +previous rains soon fill the ditches and creeks and almost any ordinary +rain will cause an overflow of these streams. + +Under these conditions an average crop is impossible even in the best of +years. At present, the South does not produce one-half of the foodstuff +that it consumes and if the present condition of things continue for the +next fifty years, this section of the country will be on the verge of +starvation and famines will be a frequent occurrence. Of course, Negro +starvation will come first, but white man starvation will surely follow. +I believe, therefore, that I am justified in saying that there is even +more danger in Negro starvation than there is in Negro domination. + +I have noticed in this country that the sins of the races are +contagious. If the Negro in a community be lazy, indifferent, and +careless about his farm, the white man in the community will soon fall +into the same habit. On the other hand, if the white man is smart, +industrious, energetic and persevering in his general makeup, the Negro +will soon fall into line; so after all, whatever helps one race in the +South will help the other and whatever degrades one race in the South, +sooner or later will degrade the other. But you may reply to this +assertion by saying that the Negro can go to the city and make an +independent living for himself and family, but you forget that all real +wealth must come from the soil and that the city cannot prosper unless +the country is prosperous. When the country fails, the city feels the +effect; when the country weeps, the city moans; when agriculture dies, +all die. Such are the conditions which face us today. Now for the +remedy. + +It is worth while to remember that there are ten essential elements of +plant food. If the supply of any one of the elements fails, the crop +will fail. These ten elements are carbon and oxygen taken into the +leaves of the plant from the air as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, a +constituent of water absorbed through the plant roots; nitrogen, taken +from the soil by all plants also secured from the air by legumes. The +other elements are phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and +sulphur, all of which are secured from the soil. The soil nitrogen is +contained in the organic matter or humus, and to maintain the supply of +nitrogen, we should keep the soil well stored with organic matter, +making liberal use of clover or other legumes which have power to secure +nitrogen from the inexhaustible supply in the air. + +It is interesting to note that one of the ablest chemists in this +country, Prof. E. W. Clark of the U. S. Geological Survey, has said that +an acre of ground seven inches deep contains sufficient iron to produce +one hundred bushels of corn every year for 200,000 years, sufficient +calcium to produce one hundred bushels of corn or one bale of cotton +each year for 55,000 years, enough magnesium to produce such a crop +7,000 years, enough sulphur for 10,000 years and potassium for 2,600 +years, but only enough phosphorus for 130 years. The nitrogen resting +upon the surface of an acre of ground is sufficient to produce one +hundred bushels of corn or a bale of cotton for 700,000 years; but only +enough in the plowed soil to produce fifty such crops. In other words, +there are enough of eight of the elements of plant food in the ordinary +soil to produce 100 bushels of corn per acre or a bale of cotton per +acre for each year for 2,600 years; but only enough of the other two, +phosphorus and nitrogen, to produce such crops for forty or fifty years. + +Let us grant that most of our farm lands in the South have been in +cultivation for fifty or seventy-five years, and in many instances for +one hundred years, it is readily seen that practically all of the +phosphorus and nitrogen in the plowed soil have been exhausted. Is it +any wonder then that we are having such poor crops? The wonder is that +our crops have kept up so well. Unless a radical change is made in our +mode of farming, we must expect less and less crops each year until we +have no crops, or such little that we can hardly pay the rent. + +To improve and again make fertile our soils, we must restore to them the +phosphorus and nitrogen which have been used up in the seventy-five or +more crops that we have gathered from them. This is a herculean task but +this is what confronts us and I for one, believe we can accomplish it. +By the proper rotation of crops, including oats, clover, cowpeas, as +well as cotton and corn, and a liberal use of barn-yard manure and +cotton seed fertilizer, all of the necessary elements of plant food can +be restored to our worn out soil. But the proper use of these require +much painstaken study. + +The black as well as the white should give this matter serious +consideration. The landlords and the tenants should co-operate in this +great work. The merchants and bankers must lend their aid and influence, +preachers and teachers should be pioneers in this movement to save our +common country. Our agricultural colleges should imprint their courses +of study in something more than their annual catalogues. They should be +imprinted in the minds and hearts of their students, and especially +those who are to do farm work. Thus far, but very little general good +has been accomplished by these schools. The reason is that the farmers, +those who till the soil, have not had access to these schools and those +who attend are not the farming class, and do not take to farming as +their life's work. The man who works the soil must be taught how to +farm. We have in this state nine purely agricultural schools, each of +which is a white institution. It is true that some agricultural training +is given for Negroes at Normal, Montgomery and Tuskegee, but these are +not purely agricultural schools and the great mass of Negro farmers +cannot hope to attend them. + +If the Negro is to remain the farming class in the Black Belt of the +South, then he must be taught at least the rudiments of the modern +methods of improved farming. He must have agricultural schools and must +be encouraged to attend them. The loss of the fertility of the soil is +the greatest menace of the South. How can we regain this lost fertility, +is the greatest question of the hour. + + + + +CHAPTER 15. + +THE NEGRO EXODUS. + + +The Negro has remained in the South almost as a solid mass since his +emancipation. This, in itself shows that he loves the South, and if he +is now migrating to the East, North and West by the hundreds and +thousands, there must be a cause for it. + +We should do our best to find out these causes and at least suggest the +remedy, if we cannot accomplish it. The time has come for plain speaking +on the part of us all. It will do us no good to try to hide the facts, +because "truth crushed to earth will rise again." + +In the first place, the Negro in this country is oppressed. This +oppression is greatest where the Negro population is greatest. The Negro +population happens to be greater in the South than in the North, +therefore, he is more oppressed in the South than in the North. + +Take the counties in our own state. Some are known as white counties and +others as black counties. In the white counties the Negro is given +better educational opportunities than in the black counties. I have in +mind one Black Belt county where the white child is given fifteen +dollars a year for his education and the Negro child thirty cents a +year. See the late Dr. Booker T. Washington's article, "Is the Negro +Having a Fair Chance?" Now these facts are generally known throughout +this State by both white and black. And we all know that this is unjust. +It is oppression. + +This oppression shows itself in many other ways. Take for example the +railroads running through the rural sections of the South. There are +many flag stations where hundreds of our people get off and on train. +The railroads have at these little stops a platform about six feet +square, only one coach stops at this point; the Negro women, girls and +boys are compelled to get off and on the train sometimes in water and in +the ditches because there are no provisions made for them otherwise. + +Again, take the matter of the franchise. We all agree that ignorant +Negroes should not be entrusted with this power, but we all feel that +where a Negro has been smart and industrious in getting an education and +property and pays his taxes, he should be represented. Taxation without +representation is just as unjust today as it was in 1776. It is just as +unfair for the Negro as it is to the white man, and we all, both white +and black, know this. We may shut our eyes to this great truth, as +sometimes we do, but it is unjust just the same. + +Take the matter of the courts. There is no justice unless the Negro has +a case against another Negro. When he has a case against a white man you +can tell what the decision will be just as soon as you know the nature +of the case, unless some strong white man will come to the Negro's +rescue. This, too, is generally known, and the Negro does not expect +justice. + +None of us have forgotten the recent campaign of Mr. Underwood and Mr. +Hobson for United States Senator from this State. Mr. Underwood's +supporters attacked Mr. Hobson because he defended the Negro soldiers +when he was Representative, and Mr. Hobson's supporters attacked Mr. +Underwood because they said that he had a Negro secretary in Washington. +Any politician who dares defend a Negro, however just the cause may be, +is doomed to political death. This is another fact which we all know. + +As yet, there has been no concerted actions on the part of the white +people to stop mob violence. I know a few plantations, however, where +the owners will not allow their Negroes to be arrested unless the +officer first consults them, and these Negroes idolize these white men +as gods, and so far not one of these Negroes has gone North. I repeat +that there are out-croppings of these oppressions everywhere in this +country, but they show themselves most where the Negroes are in largest +numbers. + +All of these sorrows the Negro has endured with patience and long +suffering, and they may be all classed as the secondary cause of this +great exodus. + +The primary cause is economics. The storms and floods destroy crops in +the Black Belt section. These people are hungry, they are naked, they +have no corn and had no cotton; so they are without food and clothes. +What else can they do but go away in search of work? There are a great +many wealthy white men here and there throughout the Black Belt section. +They have large plantations which need the ditches cleared and new ones +made to properly drain their farms. They could have given much work to +these destitute people; but what have they done? Nothing. They say that +it is a pity for the Negro to go away in such large numbers, and so it +is, but that will not stop them. They have it in their power to stop +them by making the Negro's economic condition better here. + +The South must do more than make cotton and corn; it must begin to +manufacture some of the things that it uses. Why should we send our raw +material to the North to be manufactured? Practically all the furniture +we use comes from the North and they get the timber from us. The South +must be both a manufacturing as well as a farming section, if it would +hold its own with the other sections of this great country. The +capitalists of the South must turn loose their money if this section +would come into its own. + +Thus far, the average white man of the South has been interested in the +Negro from a selfish point of view. He must now become interested in him +from a humanitarian point of view. He must be interested in his +educational, moral and religious welfare. We know that we have many +ignorant, vicious, and criminal Negroes, which are a disgrace to any +people, but they are ignorant because they have not had a chance. Why I +know one county in this State today with 10,000 Negro children of school +age and only 4,000 of these are in school, according to the report of +the Superintendent of Education. We cannot expect ignorant people to act +like intelligent ones, and no amount of abuse will make them better. + +We know that our race is weak and that the white race is strong. We know +also that our race is sick and that the white race is well or whole. +Now, how should the strong treat the weak? How should the whole treat +the sick? Would a strong man say, here is a weak man with a heavy +burden, therefore, I will put more upon him? Would a well man say, here +is a sick man, therefore, I shall give him less medical treatment? Then +why do you say, here is the ignorant Negro, therefore let us give him +less educational opportunities than we give the white man? If the white +man would be logical in this particular, he would say in the courts, +because he is ignorant let us make his punishment less severe; because +he is weak, let us protect him, because he is ignorant, let us give him +greater educational opportunities. But this has not been done. There has +not been one dollar increase in the Negro public school fund in the +rural districts in twenty years; if anything, it is less today than it +was twenty years ago. + +Sometimes we hear it said that the white man of the South knows the +Negro better than anybody else, but the average white man of the South +only knows the ignorant, vicious and criminal class of Negroes better +than anybody else. He knows little of the best class of Negroes. I am +glad to say, however, that there are a few Southern white men who know +the better class and know them intimately and are doing what they can to +better the Negro's condition. I would to God that the number of these +few could be increased a hundred fold. + +We used to deride the North for giving the Negro a chance to spend a +dollar while withholding from him the opportunity to make one. But in +the Providence of God all this has been changed by the great war in +Europe, which has created a labor scarcity in the North, East and West, +and the Negro is now being given a chance to make a dollar there as well +as spend one. The white man of the North is due no special credit for +this, the credit belongs to God. He is the Righteous Judge of all the +earth and in the end He will do right. + +We will hear many tales of the sufferings of these people who go from +this section. Many will die and some will come back, but still some will +never return. You remember the fate of the Pilgrims, and the early +colonists who first came to this country. You also know the fate of the +men in the world war; many must die that some be saved. It behooves us +of the South who remain here, both white and black, to re-dedicate +ourselves to unselfish service and try more and more each day of our +lives to live up to the great principle laid down in the memorable +Atlanta speech by the immortal Booker T. Washington when he said: "In +all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, +yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." + + + + +CHAPTER 16. + +THE NEGRO AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE SOUTH. + + +Too much praise cannot be given to the General Education Board, Dr. +Dillard and Mr. Rosenwald, and others for what they have done and are +doing to improve Negro public schools of the South, for in the last +analysis it is there where the great masses of Negro children must be +educated. + +We have in the South, as every one knows, a dual system of public +schools, one for the whites and one for the Negroes. This accounts in +part for our poor schools for both white and colored. Such a system is +expensive and, of course, the Negro gets the worst of the bargain. This +is not surprising to him; he expects it in all such cases. He has been +taught to expect only a half loaf where others get a whole one, but in +some cases he gets practically nothing from the State for education. For +an instance, I know four or five Negro public schools in the Black Belt +that get $37.00 for the school term of four months. It would be hard to +figure out how a teacher can live in these days on $9.25 per month. But, +as I have said, the agencies that I have mentioned above have done much +and are doing more to improve these conditions. + + +[Illustration: TEACHERS OF SNOW HILL INSTITUTE] + + +They endeavor to work with or through the State and county officials +wherever it can be done. This I think is perfectly right and proper +because the State must in the end direct the education of its subjects. +But where this cannot be done, I think provision should be made for the +thousands who are now being neglected. + +Ever since I succeeded in getting the late Miss Anna T. Jeanes of +Philadelphia to give so largely towards the Negro public schools of the +South, I have been thinking how this work could be carried on in harmony +with the State and county officials. The General Education Board, Dr. +Dillard and Mr. Rosenwald have gone a long way towards solving this +problem. + +At the present time every Southern State has a Superintendent of +Education and a County Superintendent. These officers are elected by the +people (white people, of course). Recently, however, there have been two +other offices created, State Supervisor of Education for the Negro and +County Supervisor. These officers are selected and not elected. I think +the offices came about as a result of the efforts of the General +Education Board and Dr. Dillard, and I think that the State Supervisors +of Education are selected largely through them. + +Thus far all of the State Supervisors for Negro schools have been white +men, and they in turn have been given the power to select the County +Supervisor for the Negro schools, all of which are colored. + +These white men are not always able to get the most efficient persons +for such work because I know of a few County Supervisors here and there +who are not competent to do the work that has been intrusted to them. + +Now as the Negro has nothing to say as to who should be his State or +County Superintendent of Education, it seems that in the matter of his +State and County Supervisors he should have a word. (I think it is right +and proper that the great funds for Negro education should be spent +through the State and county officials wherever it can be done.) + +The State Superintendent ought to be given the power to select the most +competent Negro educator to be State Supervisor of Negro Schools, and +the County Superintendent ought to be given the same. Furthermore, as +each State has a Negro Education Association which meets once a year, I +think this Association should recommend to the State Superintendent of +Education a number of persons from whom he may select the State +Supervisor. In each county we have an organization, which is known as +the County Teacher Institute. This organization could recommend two or +more persons to the County Superintendent from whom he might select the +County Supervisor. + +I feel and think in this way because in order to really help the people +one must go amongst them and know of their hardships, struggles, +desires, sorrows, and their joys, must talk with them, eat and sleep +with them and know their hearts. It would be asking too much of the +Southern white man to do this. + +We know that in order to save the world God gave His only begotten Son, +Jesus Christ, who came to earth in the likeness of man, to save man. +Perhaps He might have sent an Archangel or an Angel, but this work of +redemption could only be done by His sending a person who was a man, +just like the men He was to save, and so it is with all great work of +reformation and evolution. + +In order to help the people we must become like them. In Christ becoming +like man is what we call the humiliation of the Incarnation, and in that +lies the great secret of redemption and reformation. + +Again, I feel that this is a day of democracy, and that the Negro should +be given a voice in the government of his schools. If this democracy, of +which we are hearing so much, is for the white man alone, then I think +that the Negro should know it, and if it is for all people he should +know that. + +The white man owes it to the Negro to make this matter plain. + + + + +CHAPTER 17. + +WHERE LIES THE NEGRO'S OPPORTUNITY? + + +The liberation and enfranchisement of four million of slaves in this +country fifty years ago brought into the body politic a situation that +has ever since been a bone of contention. Because of their ignorance, +most of these people were without the slightest idea of the proper use, +or the power, of the ballot, and but few could properly exercise this +new and high prerogative. + +As long as the federal troops remained in the South and supervised and +controlled the elections, these newly-made citizens retained their +rights, but when, during President Hayes' administration, the troops +were withdrawn, the South immediately set to work to remedy this +condition. Starting with Mississippi in 1890, state after state +disfranchised the Negro. Other discriminating laws have been enacted +setting apart "Jim Crow" apartments for the Negro on all public +carriers, establishing "Jim Crow" schools, and, in fact, segregating the +two races in all public places wherever it is possible. + +This action on the part of the South brought forth a storm of criticism +from the North. The North accused the South of treating the Negro +unjustly and taking from him his constitutional rights. The South +answered the North, not by claiming its policy towards the Negro to be +right, but by accusing the North of hypocrisy; but both sections agree +that the Negro should be made as useful as his capacities will permit, +and that he should seek the place where this usefulness can be best +secured. + +This long and constant agitation has led thoughtful students of the race +problem to ask the question: + +Are the conditions in the South more conducive to the social efficiency +of the Negro than those offered to him in the North? This is a vital +question and a just answer to it will have a far-reaching and lasting +effect upon the future welfare of the Negro race in this country. By +social efficiency we mean that degree of development of the individual +that will enable him to render the most effective service to himself, +his family and to society. As has been defined, all will agree that +social efficiency is the chief end of life. + +In the North the Negro lives mostly in the large cities, while in the +South he lives mostly in the rural or country districts. Both the North +and the South will admit this fact; the opportunities offered in the +North then must be largely the opportunities such as large cities can +offer, those in the South must be largely such as country districts can +offer. + +But before further considering this question let us note for a moment +the opportunities offered in the South and those offered in the North. +It is true that, in the South, the Negro is disfranchised. It is also +true that he suffers many other injustices in that section, but on the +other hand he has a wide field of labor. + +First of all he has almost an unlimited opportunity to farm. He is +better adapted to farm work in that section than either the native +white man or the foreigner. He stands the heat better and can do more +work under a burning Southern sun. + +In railroad construction the Negro is preferred. The coal of the South +is dug by Negro labor, the iron ore is picked from the bowels of the +earth by his brawny muscles. The Negro finds work at the foundries, the +great pipe furnaces, the rolling mills, car factories and other +industries in the mineral districts. He is eagerly sought for the +sawmills, the turpentine orchard, and in fact for almost every industry +of the South. + +Though the white man in the South is beginning to enter the field of +industry, he has not entered to the extent that the Negro's place is, in +the least, in jeopardy. Such are the opportunities offered the Negro in +the South, though he is largely deprived of political and social rights. +These facts are admitted by both the North and the South. + +Now what are the opportunities offered him in the North? First of all, +the Negro is a free man in a political sense. He has the same right to +vote that other citizens have and, too, he can vote according to the +dictates of his own conscience. + +President Roosevelt in his speech at Tuskegee in 1905, said that the +colored people had opportunities for economic development in the South +that are not offered to them elsewhere. + +In the large cities of the North, where the Negro mostly lives, the +chances for good health and the purchase of a home are not so good. The +man with little means, such as the Negro usually is, must live in +either filthy streets or back alleys, where the air is foul and the +environments are permeated with disease germs. For the lack of fresh +air, pure food and proper exercise, his children are mere weaklings +instead of strong and robust boys and girls. + +Dr. Robert B. Bean of Ann Arbor, in his essay on "The Training of the +Negro" in _Century Magazine_ of October, 1906, said that in the large +cities the Negro is being forced by competition into the most degraded +and least remunerative occupations; that such occupations make them +helpless to combat the blight of squalor and disease which are +inevitable in these cities, and therefore many of them are being +destroyed by them. + +Mr. Baker says: + +"One of the questions I asked of Negroes whom I met both North and South +was this: + +"'What is your chief cause of complaint?' + +"In the South the first answer nearly always referred to the Jim Crow +cars or the Jim Crow railroad stations; after that, the complaint was of +political disfranchisement, the difficulty of getting justice in the +courts, the lack of good school facilities, and in some localities, of +the danger of actual physical violence. + +"But in the North the first answer invariably referred to working +conditions. + +"'The Negro isn't given a fair opportunity to get employment. He is +discriminated against because he is colored.'" + +These conditions instead of promoting the social efficiency of the +Negro, tend to degrade and demoralize him. The argument that the +deprivation of the Negro's political and social rights in the South +tends to crush his ambition, warp his aspirations and distort his +judgment, is unsound, because his self-reliance, ambition and +independence in the South can be traced partly to this very deprivation. +By it he has been forced to establish his own schools, his own churches, +educate his own children and train his own ministers. All of these make +for self-reliance and independence and are therefore conducive to his +social efficiency. + + + + +CHAPTER 18. + +SCHOOL PROBLEMS OF A TUSKEGEE GRADUATE. + + +"Two distinct problems face the Tuskegee graduate who goes forth as a +leader of his people: the problem of extending education to the masses +of our people and the problem of so adjusting the people to their actual +conditions that the two races will be able to live and work together in +harmony and helpfulness. + +It may as well be admitted at the outset that the public schools in the +rural districts of the lower South are not working toward this end. The +condition of the public schools for our people in the Black Belt section +of this state is disheartening. As unreasonable as it may seem, it is a +fact that as the Negro population increases, in this section, the +appropriation for Negro schools decreases. In many places the schools +have been abolished altogether. + +From almost every nook and corner of the South there comes a cry that +the Negro as a laborer is unsatisfactory. It is said that he is +inefficient, unreliable, indolent, lazy, in short, that he is unfit to +do the work the South wants done. Less than two decades ago it was just +the opposite. Then, it was said that the Negro was unfit for everything +else except work. How inconsistent! We admit that there is a labor +problem in the South, but we deny that it is due wholly to the +inefficiency of the Negro as a laborer. In the first place, the natural +increase of the population of the South has not kept pace with the +marvelous growth and development of her industries. This in itself would +explain a scarcity of labor. Furthermore, it should be remembered that +the most industrious, the most frugal, and the most thrifty Negroes of +the South are rapidly changing from the wage hands, to contract hands, +and the day laborers, to the renters of their own farms, while thousands +of Negroes in different parts of the South are establishing independent +business enterprises for themselves. The South cannot hire that class of +Negroes from their work. This, again has a tendency to make labor +scarce. Added to this is the fact that thousands of Negroes are moving +into the cities. Some are going into other states seeking on the one +hand better educational opportunities for their children, and on the +other hand, protection from mobs and lynchers. This again has a +depressing effect upon labor. + +While these underlying causes seem sufficient to account for the present +labor troubles of the South, we must admit that there are entirely too +many Negroes, particularly among those who work as wage-hands, +contract-hands, and day laborers, who are ignorant and superstitious, +too many who are gamblers and drunkards. Naturally, their work is not +satisfactory. But they are not wholly to blame since they have had +neither adequate educational opportunities, nor the proper home +training. If they lack character, it is largely because they lack +training. This is, as I understand it, what the President means when he +says that "ignorance is the most costly crop that any community can +produce." + +Graduates from Tuskegee, a few years ago, received from our illustrious +Principal the injunction, "Go ye into all parts of the South and change +these conditions." + +I will now try to give an account of my stewardship. I hail from Snow +Hill, which is located in the heart of the Black Belt of this State, in +a section where the colored people outnumber the white seven to one, and +in the center of a colored population of more than 200,000. When we +started work there twenty-five years ago the people as a whole were +poor, ignorant, superstitious and greatly in debt. They had no special +love for industrial training and not much general love for any kind of +education. The so-called public schools were then running three months +in the year and paying the teachers nine and ten dollars per month. We +started work in a dilapidated one-room log cabin with three students and +fifty cents in money. There was no state appropriation, neither was any +church or society responsible for one dollar of its expenses. + +Today we have an institution of more than four hundred students and +twenty-two teachers and officers. We have 1940 acres of land, +twenty-four buildings, counting large and small, and fourteen industries +in constant operation. Being in a farming section, however, we are +putting more stress upon agriculture. + +It is the aim of our institution to teach the beauty and dignity of all +labor and inculcate a love for the soil and for agricultural life. In +spite of the denial of political rights and of the poor educational +opportunities, and many other unjust discriminations, the South, just +now, is the best place in this country for the Negro, and especially the +agricultural section. We might as well recognize this fact and teach our +people to act accordingly. + +Again, we aim to train leaders for the masses of our people; for this +purpose we need young men and young women imbued with the spirit of +sacrifice and service who will go into these rural sections and teach +our people how to live, how not to die; teach them how to live +economically, to pay their debts, to buy land, to build better homes, +better schools, better churches, and above all, how to lead pure and +upright lives and become useful and helpful citizens in the community in +which they live. Finally, we aim to train a high class of domestic +servants. There need be no fear or uneasiness for we have an abundance +of material for each class. But the worth of an institution is not +determined by the acquisition of houses and land, neither by the bare +statement of its aims, but by its actual power to serve the practical, +daily needs of the community in which it exists. + +As a result of our twenty-five years' work at Snow Hill, we have about +one thousand graduates and ex-students who have either finished the full +or partial course at the institution and are now out in the world doing +creditable work as teachers, farmers, mechanics, and domestic workers. +Over fifty per cent of our students have bought homes since leaving +school. Many have houses with five and six rooms. Wherever a Snow Hill +student teaches the school term is lengthened and the people are +encouraged to buy land, build better homes, better school-houses and +better churches. + +The people have not only been helped by our students and graduates, but +they have been helped directly through our Negro conference and Black +Belt Improvement Society. + +Twenty-five years ago the people in the neighborhood of the school did +not own more than ten acres of land, while today they own more than +twenty thousand acres. Twenty-five years ago the one-room log cabin was +the rule, today it is the exception. Twenty-five years ago the majority +of the farmers were in heavy debt and mortgaged their crops, today many +of the farmers now have bank accounts, while a few years ago they did +not know what a bank account was. Throughout the community they are +building better homes, better churches, better school-houses, and the +relation between the races is cordial. + +Just a word about our Black Belt Improvement Society. This organization +has ten degrees of membership and any one of good moral standing +desiring to better his condition, can become a member of the first +degree. A member of the second degree, however, must own a little +property, at least three chickens, and a pig. A member of the third +degree must own a cow, of the fourth degree he must own an acre of land, +a member of the fifth degree must have erected on that acre a house +having at least three rooms, a member of the sixth degree must own +twenty acres of land, of the seventh degree must own forty acres of +land, and of the eighth degree must own sixty acres, etc., until they +reach the tenth degree. + +Then we have an annual fair at which prizes are given to those who have +excelled in any of the agricultural products, or those who have had the +best gardens, or who have kept the best house during the year. A special +prize is given to the party who has bought the most land during the +year. + +This society has several committees. It has a committee on education. +This committee holds meetings in the various communities to arouse in +the people an interest in education. It encourages them to build better +school-houses, to extend the school term and it keeps their children in +school. It is the duty of the committee on labor to gather together +those of our race who still work as contract-hands, wage-hands, +day-laborers, and domestic servants, and impress upon them the necessity +of rendering the best service, tell them that the race is judged more by +what they do than what we do, and how great their responsibility is. + +The farming committee is always active, trying to create in the people a +real love for agricultural life, trying to show them that the +opportunities which the country offers us are superior to those offered +in the cities. Other committees are the committee on good government, +committee on business, and committee on good roads. The influence for +good this society is exerting throughout the section can hardly be +estimated. Such is the nature of the work we are doing at Snow Hill. + + + + +CHAPTER 19. + +BENEFITS WROUGHT BY HARDSHIPS. + + +The word "Offence" is a general and somewhat indefinite term. As defined +by the various dictionaries, it means an attack, an assault, aggression, +injustice, oppression, transgression of a law, misdemeanor, trespass, +crime and persecution. In all of these definitions there is implied an +act considered as disagreeable if not harmful to the recipient. + +Of the various nations of the earth, those that are most powerful and +that have accomplished most good are those which have endured and have +survived the most offences. They have grown by reason of the obstacles +which they have overcome. It is singular, yet it is true, that offences +have never destroyed a nation. Those nations which have been destroyed +have been destroyed not by attack from without, but by their own +internal weakness. + +Societies that are accomplishing the most good for the uplift of +humanity today are those against whom the most offences have been +committed. Take the Christian Church, the greatest of all societies. Who +can enumerate the offences which have been committed against the church? +Herod tried to behead it, but could not; Pilate tried to crucify it, but +instead sanctified it; Paul persecuted it and it redeemed him; poor +drunken and debauched Nero poured forth the fury of his wrath against +it in every conceivable, wicked way. He deliberately set fire to the +city of Rome and accused the Christians of the deed. He gave feasts in +his garden and the bodies of the Christians were burned as torches in +the evenings. Their groans and agonies constituted the music for their +dance and carousal. Other Christians were fed to half-starved lions. But +through it all the church has become more powerful and more glorious +than before; while Nero's name will forever be a stench to the nations +of the earth. In this particular case the prophecy of Christ "That +offences must need be but woe unto the man by whom the offence cometh" +is fulfilled. As with the church, so with all other societies and +institutions that are doing good in the community, they endure their +offences. + +The history of the growth and rise of the various races will show that +they, too, have had their bitter as well as their sweet. In fact, they +have fought for every inch of territory which they now possess. + +Let us consider some of the benefits which have been derived from our +hardships. That the enslavement of my people was a serious offence there +is no doubt. I should be the last one to apologize for slavery; but, +after all, we brought more out of slavery than we carried into it. We +went into it heathens, with no language, and no God; we came out +American citizens, speaking the proud Anglo-Saxon tongue, and serving +the God of all the earth. + +Under the leadership of old Richard Allen and other noted colored +divines, the Negro church was set up under a bush harbor, but today they +own church property in this country valued at more than $26,000,000. As +a result of the educational offences committed against the Negro, today +he has 35,000 Negro teachers and more than seventeen million dollars' +worth of school property in this country. The Negro has been +disfranchised, but he is more capable of the ballot today than ever +before. Though the disfranchisement of the Negro has wrought great harm +to our Democratic form of government, it has increased in the Negro the +spirit of patience, self-reliance, self-sacrifice, and, in fact, it has +enhanced in him all of those virtues which make for true manhood and +womanhood. + +In the business world there has been less offence committed against the +Negro than in any other way. What little there has been was rather +slight and it has been only in recent years that the Negro has began to +detect it, and establish business of his own. He has not so many stores +as he has schools, nor so many shops as he has churches, yet the reports +of the Negro National Business League, which recently met in Atlanta, +will show that he is making rapid progress in the business world. + +All great men as well as races and nations suffered their offences. +Washington, Lincoln and Grant were great because they had to endure +hardships. Robert Small, Frederick Douglas and Booker Washington are +great because they were slaves. + +The Negro of the South was emancipated 50 years ago without education, +without money, without clothes, without food, without even a place to +rest his head, and, in many instances, without a name. His greatest +possession was ignorance. If, during slavery, he was taught many useful +and helpful lessons, during slavery, also, he was denied the opportunity +of exercising and developing the greatest requisite of independence, +self-reliance. He was a new-born babe, as a ship in mid-ocean without a +rudder. It was nothing more than natural for him at times to drift, at +times to wander, and still at other times to steer in the wrong +direction. + +Consequently, he made many mistakes, some of them serious. He made +mistakes in religion, mistakes in economics, and mistakes in politics, +but to my mind his greatest mistake was made in the matter of education. +Until the year '95 the masses of our people in the Black-Belt section of +the South believed that the end of education was to free one from manual +labor, especially from the labor of the farm. They furthermore believed +that it was the end of education to take the people from the country to +the cities and otherwise fit them for only three callings, namely, of +teacher, of preacher, and of politician. This conception of education +was entertained not only by the masses, but many of our schools and +colleges encouraged the same view. + +Just at this period, when the relation between the races seemed most +strained, there loomed on the horizon the Booker Washington idea, "That +the kind of education most needed by our people was that which would +dignify, beautify, and make attractive and desirable country life and at +the same time fit our people for high and useful citizenship." Mr. +Washington further contended that any education which did not manifest +itself in the practical daily life of the people was not worthy of the +name. + +This idea of Mr. Washington was indeed timely, but, like all other great +movements for reform, it was not accomplished without obstacles, but in +the face of many dangers and difficulties. But the dawn of a new day is +breaking and industrialism seems to be the spirit of the age. The very +fact that the Negro was not allowed to attend the white man's school in +the South gave the Negro a Tuskegee. The fact that no white educator was +willing to bear the black man's burden gave him a Booker Washington. For +similar reasons the Negro has been forced to build his own libraries, +his own theatres, his own hotels, and to establish many other business +enterprises. + +Hardships, trials, persecution, and offences are a primary necessity in +life. We ought not, therefore, complain of them; our trials have made us +what we are. + +This is pre-eminently a progressive age. The world no longer stands +still. We are either going forward or backward, rising or falling; there +is no such thing as standing still. Those phases of our human activities +that are standing still are dying. This forward movement is not +accomplished without obstacles, and what is true of politics and +business is equally true of individuals. The greatest strength comes +from overcoming--from resistance and struggle. + + + + +CHAPTER 20. + +THE NEGRO AND THE WORLD WAR. + + +No book written in the year 1918 would be complete without a word about +this awful conflagration which is now sweeping over the earth. + +One sometimes thinks that the end is near and that the world is being +destroyed. + +We know that everything that has been invented to advance civilization +is now being used to destroy it. Our one consolation is that however +imperfect we may have been as a nation, we know that our cause is just +and because of this we believe that in the end we will and must win. The +right has always been more powerful than the wrong, even more powerful +than might and it will prove true in this case. + +I am being constantly asked by white men in both the North and South, +"How does the Negro regard this war and what about his willingness to +share in its responsibilities." I have only one answer for such +questions: "The Negro now knows but one word 'Loyalty.' He is no alien, +he owes no allegiance to any other country, there is no hyphen to his +name, he is all American, he is willing to fight and die, that the world +might be made safe for democracy." He only asks that he may share in +this democracy. + +Already there are practically 200,000 Negroes who have been called to +the colors and thousands of others are expected to be called. I hear of +but few if any slackers among them, while thousands of slackers of other +races are being rounded up by the police in various cities throughout +the country. + +The 200,000 Negro soldiers who are now at the front and in the camps +have gone with as brave hearts as any American citizen. They say, +"Silver and gold, have I but little, but I give my life to Uncle Sam, it +is all that I can do." + +The Negro is not only furnishing men to the National Army, but he is +doing his part to support the boys at the front. He has bought Liberty +Bonds to the fullest extent. Many of his business organizations, +societies and lodges have bought large blocks of these bonds. + +On Sunday morning, June 14th, Dr. Cortland L. Myers of Tremont Temple, +Boston, in his sermon told of an incident of an old colored woman who +had worked hard and saved up three hundred dollars in order that she +might not at the end be buried in the paupers' field, but when she read +that the United States wanted money, took all she had and carried it to +the bank to the agent. When the agent gave her the Liberty Bond and told +her that she would get four per cent on her money, she was utterly +surprised and said, "Lord, Boss, I thought I was giving this money to +Uncle Sam." This woman had only three hundred dollars, but she gave all. + +You remember what Christ said about those who were contributing to a +great cause on one occasion. Many made large gifts, but one poor woman +came up and gave a penny which was all she had. Christ on commenting on +this to his Disciples said that she had given more than all, because she +had given all she had. Many incidents of this kind may be cited as proof +of the Negroes' loyalty in this struggle. + +Not only in the Liberty Loan drive, but in the Red Cross and War Savings +Stamp drives, the Negro is doing his part. There are Negro agents all +over the South who are educating our people up to what the Government at +Washington wants. Such schools as Snow Hill, Laurinburg, Denmark, Utica, +Okalona and Calhoun and many others are serving as bureaus of +information for this war work among the Negroes. + +Nor is this all. The Negro is doing his part in the various industries +of the country. I have heard of many strikes and walk-outs since we +entered the war, but not once have a group of Negroes struck. In some +places where a few are working with the unions, the unions have forced +them out at the risk of their lives, but where he is free, nowhere in +this country has the Negro struck during the war. + +He is doing his bit on the farm. Everywhere the Negro farmers, man, +woman and child, believe that they can help win the war by making a good +crop and they are at work on the farm trying to do this, so you see that +the Negro in every way is in the war to a finish. + +These are answers to questions asked me by the white man both North and +South as to the attitude of the Negro toward this world's war. + +But on the other hand the Negro soldiers and civilians are not asleep +and they too are asking such questions as these:-- + +"Are we to share in the democracy for which we are giving our lives? + +When the world is made safe for democracy, will the entire country be made + safe for it? + +Will my father, mother, sister and brother be allowed to share in this + democracy? + +Will lynchings and burnings at the stake cease? + +Will the white man who makes the laws allow these laws to take their + course? + +Will they allow us or give us a fair trial before their courts, which + have only white men as jurors? + +Will they cease taxing us without representation? + +Will they give us an equal part of the money spent for education? (In + many places in the Black Belt the Negro child receives thirty cents a + year for education, while the white child receives fifteen dollars.) + Will the Negro be given any work that he is capable of doing and not + be denied it on account of his color? + +Will it be possible for a Negro travelling from Alabama to California or + Massachusetts, to find a place to sleep at night? + +Will the baggage masters and the conductors of the South ever treat the + Negro passengers with courtesy and respect and finally will the white + man in the South after making the laws for the qualifications of + voters, allow a Negro to vote if he measures up to these + qualifications?" + +The Negro does not care what these qualifications may be. He only wants +a fair chance in case he measures up to them. + +The Negro only seeks equal rights and justice before all the courts of +the land. He expects this because of his teachings. He was brought to +this country against his will, even against his protest. He has been +given the white man's language, his history, his literature, his Bible +and even his God. His aspirations, inspirations and desires have been +brought about as a result of these and if they are wrong, the white man +is to blame. The Negro has been taught to believe that God is no +respecter of persons and therefore his subjects should not be. He +thought that if he did what other men did he would obtain the same +results. + +Now evidently the Negro is a man. He loves as other men do, he lives as +others do, he dies as others die, he has joy and sorrow as others do, +even hates as others do, laughs and cries as others. He must therefore, +be a man as man is the only being which possesses these faculties. Then +he asks for a man's chance and the world will never be right until this +is given him. The world will never be safe for democracy until all the +races of the earth are allowed to share in it. + +In answer to all of the foregoing questions asked me by both the white +and black, I have said that things will be better for the Negro after +the war. I have said that it was impossible for the world to be made +safe for democracy unless every county in the South is made safe for it. + +I have gone as far as to cite a recent occurrence in Camden, Wilcox +County, Alabama, where more than one hundred and forty Negroes were sent +to the cantonments and I was asked to be one of the speakers on the +occasion. The white people there gave the Negroes a great banquet and in +my remarks after thanking them for their hospitality, I said "That it +would be foolish and cowardly on my part to stand here in your presence +and say that as a race we have no grievances, for we have them, but this +is no time to air them. When the house is on fire it is no time for +family quarrels, but the thing to do is to put the fire out and then we +can adjust the quarrels after. + +"Today our National house is on fire and it is the duty of every man, +both white and black, rich and poor, great and small, to rise in his +might and put the fire out and when the fire is out, we will see you +about these grievances." + +I went a step further and told that "already the war had brought some +good results as this was the most democratic day that this little city +had ever seen." Before the war, two expressions were commonly used by the +white man and the Negro. The Negro's expression was this:--"I haven't +any country," and the white man's expression was:--"This is a white +man's country." Now both of these classes are saying, "This is our +country." I further said that "we should win this war, because democracy +was right and autocracy is wrong, and if we lose, and God forbid that we +should, the fault will not be in democracy, but it will be due to the +fact that we are not practicing what we preach." + +At the close of my remarks many of the white citizens, including the +judge, the sheriff, lawyers and other prominent men came forward and +congratulated me on what I had said and some said that the white people +of Camden needed more of such plain talk. I took these signs to mean +that better things were coming for the Negro of the South after the war, +but I must admit that when I read in the evening papers of June 27th +that Senator John Sharp Williams of Mississippi had practically defeated +the bill for women suffrage, because he said that he favored the vote +for white women only and that the bill in its present form would not be +allowed in his state--I must confess that this action almost took away +all of my hopes especially after there was no one to rise and rebut his +argument. There was no one in the United States Senate to speak for +democracy for all the people. Now I think that just such spirit as this +exhibited by that great Senator from Mississippi is at the foundation of +this world's war and until that spirit is crushed, I fear that this war +will continue. For of a truth, "God is no respecter of persons." + +Now I have given my answers to both the Negro and the white man. What is +the answer of the white man? + +Are we fighting for democracy for all the people, or are we fighting for +democracy for the white man only? + +This question has never been answered by the white man, but it must be +answered after this great war. + + + + +APPENDIX + +_Address Delivered by Mr. Edwards on the Twentieth Anniversary of His +Graduation from Tuskegee._ + + +"Two decades ago, twenty members constituting the class of '93, received +their commission from the illustrious Principal of this great +institution on yonder hill, to go ye into all parts of the South and +teach and preach Tuskegee's gospel. This gospel was then as it is now, a +gospel of service. Now after the lapse of twenty years we have assembled +here to review the efforts of past years. Although twenty years are not +long enough in which to record the life's work of a class, it is +sufficiently long to indicate the direction in which this work is +tending. + +"So we come today, not so much to tell what we have accomplished as to +tell what we are doing to renew our allegiance to our Alma Mater, and to +assure its Principal and members of the Faculty that our motto, "Deeds +Not Words," is still our guiding star. Four of our number have passed to +the great beyond. We must therefore wait a later and greater day to hear +their record read or told. Of the remaining sixteen, we have lost all +communication with two, and it would be mere speculation for us to say +what these two are doing. We can only hope, and do most fervently pray, +that wherever they are they have with them the deep and abiding spirit +of Tuskegee, and this we believe they have. This leaves then only +fourteen live, vigorous and active members with which we are concerned. +All of these, except one, have been engaged more or less in teaching. +They are located as follows: + +"Two in Normal School at Snow Hill, Alabama; one at the head of a large +Industrial School at Topeka, Kansas; three in Birmingham, Alabama; one +teaching in Miles Memorial College; one in Government Service; one doing +settlement work; two are in Asheville, N. C., where they are engaged in +teaching and doing settlement work respectively; another teaching in +Dothan, Alabama; two in Montgomery, one of these teaching and the other +doing settlement work; one in Selma, Alabama, farming and doing +extension work; one at the head of a prosperous Industrial School at +China, Alabama, and one teaching in Georgia. All have been remarkably +successful and they have touched and made better the lives of more than +five thousand souls. While losing their lives for others, they have +saved their own somewhat, materially. + +"Having been out on the tempestuous sea of life for twenty years amidst +both storms and calms, it may not be out of place for us to speak a word +of warning or make a few suggestions to those who are to set sail today, +and to those who hope to go to sea at a later date. This, then, is our +message. First of all, it is necessary for you to know where the work of +the world is to be done. + +"On one occasion during Christ's sojourn on earth, He took a few of His +disciples with Him upon the mountain and there transfigured Himself. He +clothed Himself in heavenly beauty and splendor; He arrayed Himself in +His Godlike power. These men were so overjoyed at this manifestation of +His glory and power, that old Peter, impulsive as he was, spoke out and +said: 'Lord, it is good for us to be here, if it be Thy will, let us +build here three tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for +Elias.' The place was so glorious that they wanted to abide there. But +at the same time the multitude was waiting at the foot of the mountain, +hungering and desiring to be fed; naked and desiring to be clothed; +sick, and desiring to be healed. The work of Jesus Christ and His +disciples was not on the transfigured mountain, but at the foot among +the masses. So as they came down from the mountain, there met Him a man +whose son was a lunatic, desiring that the Master might heal him. + +"So on occasions like this when Dr. Washington takes us upon the +mountain and reveals to us Tuskegee in all of her beauty and splendor, +we are likely, in such a state of ecstasy, to cry out saying, Principal +Washington, it is good for us to be here, and let us build three +tabernacles; one for thee, one for Armstrong, and one for Douglas. But +my friends, we cannot abide here. We must go down to the foot of the +mountain among the masses. We must go out into the rural districts for +there it is that the people are a hungry and thirsty crowd, and there it +is that the harvest is great, but the laborers are few, and there it is +the work of the world must be done. + +"Another suggestion is, that as you go out to work, you will find that +for the most part Negro society is built upon a false basis. Instead of +being built upon the sound basis of merit and character, it is built +upon display; instead of being built upon substance, it is built upon +shadow. + +"We need young men and women who have confidence in themselves; +confidence in the race, and abiding faith in God. We need young men and +women who are more interested in the opportunity to make a dollar than +in the privilege to spend one. We need young men and women who are +imbued with the spirit of sacrifice and service, whose mission is, 'Not +to be ministered unto, but to minister.' We need young men and women +with a purpose. + +"To illustrate what we mean by a purpose, we take the action of Grant +during the late Civil War. When Winfield Scott and McClellan had +practically failed with the army of the Potomac and things were looking +very dark for the Union forces, Lieutenant U. S. Grant was placed in +command of all the Union forces. From the date of his command, his +purpose was: 'On to Richmond.' Day after day his command was: 'On to +Richmond.' When they had rivers to ford and mountains to climb, his +command was: 'On to Richmond.' At times thousands were laid low by the +ravage of disease, but his command was: 'On to Richmond.' When the +cannon of his enemy roared like thunder and bullets like lightning +struck his men down by the tens of thousands, his command was: 'On to +Richmond.' He received letters and telegrams by the thousands saying: +'My God, General, are you going to kill all of our husbands, all of our +sons, our brothers? Are you going to make all of the North a land of +widows and orphans?' His reply was: 'On to Richmond.' When rivers of +blood were before him, flames of fire swept over his forces, his command +was: 'On to Richmond.' And the command never ceased until Lee +surrendered his sword to Grant at Appomattox Court House. We repeat, +that for the work that lies before us, we need young men and women with +a purpose. + +"A third warning is, that we must not mistake the aim and end of +education. You will find somewhere in the Bible a sentence like this: +'And the word was made flesh and it dwelled among us.' The word had been +spoken by Abraham; Moses thundered it from Mt. Sinai's ragged brow; +Ezekiel preached it; David sang it; Solomon proclaimed it; Jeremiah +prophesied it; Elijah saw it in the whirlwind; Moses saw it in the +burning bush, and Isaiah saw it and in amazement cried: 'Who is this +that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bazroh? this that is +glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?' +But my friends, none of this would do. Speaking the word would not +atone; hearing it would not redeem; and seeing it would not save. The +word had to be made flesh and blood in the person of Jesus Christ, the +Son of God, and then come down on earth and live, move, and dwell among +us. + +"As with the word, so with education. You have been here a number of +years trying to obtain it. You have heard education from your teachers; +you have heard it in the class-rooms; you have heard it from the +platform; you have heard it in the Sunday-School; you have gleaned it +from your text-books; you have sung it; you have prayed it; you have +spoken it; you have walked it; you have assumed it. But none of these +will suffice. Education, in order to be real, must be applied; in order +to be effective, it must be digested and assimilated. It must become a +part of your flesh and blood; it must transform you into a new creature +and then go out and move, live and dwell among us. + +"And now a final word for the class of '93. What of its loyalty to +Tuskegee, our Alma Mater? It is true that at times our purposes and aims +have been misunderstood and misconstructed; at times your attitude +towards us has been misinterpreted, but not once have we doubted your +love. We hope that you have never mistrusted ours. + +"It is true that at times we are troubled on every side, yet not +distressed; we are perplexed, but not in dispair; persecuted, but not +forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. Through all of this, our love +and loyalty to dear old Tuskegee has never wavered, and now as a token +of this love and loyalty, I hand to Dr. Washington as a Memorial +Scholarship for the class of '93, a check for one thousand dollars." + +I think that this act pleased Dr. Washington more than anything that had +ever been done by the class of '93. We all were proud of this because we +wanted Dr. Washington to see that we had not forgotten what he had done +for us. We wanted to do this during his lifetime, and this we succeeded +in doing. + +An address before the Alabama State Teachers' Association, held in +Montgomery, Ala., the subject being: + + +_"School Building Under Difficulties."_ + +"There is no work pertaining to the welfare of our race that is of more +importance than that of the teacher, and no class of people has a +harder task to perform than the earnest and conscientious Negro teacher +of today. + +"The problems that come before the large educational associations of +this and other countries, are problems dealing largely with the child, +such as the treatment of backward children, treating of abnormal +children, care of the blind, of the deaf, special treatment for +incorrigibles, the feeble minded, and many other kinds of mental and +physical defectives. + +"Other problems that demand the attention of such meetings, are problems +dealing with the teacher, his preparation and qualification for the +various grades of our schools, for instance, preparation of the teacher +for the elementary school, for the secondary school, and for colleges +and universities. These associations also give much time to such +subjects as The Relation of Education to Real Life; The Defects of our +Present School System; and how these defects may be remedied. In other +words, how can the school better fit the student to take his place in +the social and economic life of today? I repeat, these are the problems +which largely consume the time of these educational meetings. They are +vital and far-reaching, and demand the closest attention of our wisest +and best educators. They are not racial; not sectional; not even +national, but are universal in their scope and teachers in all parts of +the world must contend with them. + +"The average Negro teacher of the South today must assume his share of +the burden of these problems along with other teachers, whether he wills +it or not. In addition to this he has to deal with the serious problem +of his bread and butter. This makes the burden of the Negro teacher of a +two-fold nature, and in this respect he is at a disadvantage of the +average American teacher. He has not as yet been able to live up to the +Biblical injunction, 'Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, +or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.' No +teacher can do his best so long as there is doubt and uncertainty about +his daily bread. + +"The Negro student who finishes at one of our higher institutions of +learning today, and goes forth to teach, does not find everything to his +liking. He soon learns that there has been no voice before him crying in +the wilderness saying: 'Prepare ye the way of the teacher, make straight +in the desert a highway for our educator.' He learns here for the first +time that in addition to the ordinary educational problems, it is for +him to exalt every valley, make low every hill and mountain, make the +crooked straight, and the rough places plain. He finds no way prepared, +he must make one; he finds no school-house ready, he must build one; he +finds no people anxiously awaiting him, he must persuade them. In many +cases the Negro teacher who is imbued with the spirit of sacrifice and +service can truly say as did the Master, 'The foxes have holes and the +birds of the air have nests, but the teacher who would redeem a poverty +stricken and ignorant people, has not where to lay his head.' + +"The purpose of the Snow Hill Institute is to prepare young men and +young women to go into communities where they propose to work and +influence the people to stop living in rented one-room log cabins, buy +land, and build dwelling houses having at least four rooms, and thus +improve the home life of the people. Second, to influence the people to +build better school-houses and lengthen the school terms and thus by +arousing educational interest, assist in bringing about the needed +reform that is so essential to economic and upright living; and finally +to promote good character building. To some extent the purpose is being +realized, for more than one thousand different students who have been +more or less benefited by having spent a year or more under its +guidance, are leading sober and useful lives. Two hundred fifteen have +either been granted certificates or diplomas, and are engaged as +follows: Fifty are teachers, twenty-five are housekeepers, three of the +teachers have founded schools of their own, one at Laurinburg, N. C., +one at West Butler, Alabama, and one at Richmond, Alabama. + +"Though the majority of the ex-students are located in the Black Belt of +Alabama and are engaged principally in farming, a large number of them +are found in the following states: Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, +Florida, and the Carolinas." + + + + +APPENDIX + +ADDRESS DELIVERED BY MR. EDWARDS IN BESSEMER, ALABAMA + +"THE SIGNS OF TIMES" + + +It was customary in ancient times for nations to build walls around +their cities to protect them from the enemy. War was the rule, and peace +the exception. Nations therefore spent most of their time in preparing +for war, as they believed that their advancement depended largely upon +their conquest. Watchmen would be placed here and there on the walls to +keep a sharp look-out for the enemy and when detected, would warn the +inhabitants of his approach. As a result of these warlike times and +military activities, some of the world's greatest generals were produced +during that period. + +Undoubtedly, conditions here mentioned, existed because of the poor +methods of transportation and communication that were uncertain during +that day, for since the advent of the steam-engine, telegraph, +telephone, the automobile, and other means of rapid transit, national +lines of demarcation have been becoming less distinct. As nations +communed with nations and understood each other better, they found less +causes for differences and less need of watchmen on the walls. + +We cannot help but believe that with a better knowledge of each race by +the other and on the part of each a better understanding of the great +and common end of life, which is to serve and uplift, that racial strife +and conflict will cease and ere long this old world will become the +kingdom of our God. + +But these are not ancient times and things that were are not now. The +cities of the plain are no longer separated, for the walls have been +demolished and instead of the watchmen we have the teacher, the preacher +and the politician to tell us the signs of the times. + +This is, pre-eminently, a progressive age; an age of going forth; an age +in which things move. With the new and varied inventions of the 19th and +20th Centuries, old customs and conditions are rapidly passing away and +those nations, races, and individuals who cannot adjust themselves to +these new conditions must be left behind. Just now grave and serious +problems confront the American People and this, in itself, is a proof of +our going forth. We must not deprecate them, we must not shirk them, +they are ours, we must face them manfully, must shoulder them and stand +up and walk. These problems are the mothers of progress and instead of +trying to turn from them or to dodge them, we should rejoice because we +live at a time when we can help in the solution of such complex +problems, whose results will have such far reaching and lasting effect +upon the social and economic life of the American People. + +This country is one and inseparable and whatever is beneficial to the +white man is beneficial to the black man also. The negro cannot hope at +the present to play a very important part in the solution of great +questions. At our best the part we must play can only be secondary. +First, because our business operations have not brought us into intimate +relation to these questions and we do not fully comprehend their +meaning. Second, we can do but little because these questions are +political in their nature and must be settled by the ballot. The Negro +in this section has been disfranchised and therefore he cannot play at +that game. Our being thus handicapped and prohibited from assisting in +the solution of these great problems, is no reason why we should say +there is nothing we can do. + + "If you cannot cross the ocean + And the heathen lands explore + You can find the heathen nearer; + You can help them at your door." + +There are some problems, however, that are within our reach, upon the +solution of which depends our future welfare in this country. They are, +inefficiency, vagrancy, and crime. For a long time we have been hearing +of the inefficiency of the Negro teacher, the inefficiency of the Negro +preacher, but all the while it was said that he was a good worker; that +he was only fitted to do manual labor. The cry has gone out and is +rapidly spreading to the effect that the Negro is worthless; that there +is inefficiency in the pulpit, inefficiency in the school-room, and now +inefficiency on the farm. Inefficiency everywhere. Our race has lost +many places of trust and honor because of this cry. I know personal +cases where Negro men have been replaced by white men because, they say, +the black men were inefficient. This is as much true in New York as it +is in Alabama. As the supply of efficient men increases, the demand for +inefficient men will decrease and sooner or later there will be no room +for the inefficient man. He will be idle, cannot get any work to do. He +will be added to the vagrant class. Already this class is too large +among us; strong able-bodied men walking about with no home and nothing +to do. This is a dangerous class. Of course, unless the vagrant gets +some work to do he will starve or have to leave the country; but this +man does not do either. He becomes a parasite and lives of the honest +toil of others. Sometimes he lives out of the white man's kitchen, +because his sweetheart is the cook; sometimes because his old mother is +a wash woman, and sometimes because his sister is a nurse. This is the +class, my white friends, that gives you trouble, this is the class that +gives us trouble, this is the class that will give trouble to any +community and we are as anxious as you are to rid ourselves of this body +of death. + +Now the best class of Negroes and the best class of white people are +agreed as to the fact that this dangerous class must be gotten rid of, +but they differ as to methods. The Negro believes mostly in the +preventive method, the white man mostly in the cure method. The Negro +says a good school in every community will prevent, the white man says a +good jail in every county will cure. The Negro says teach the law, the +white man says enforce the law. The Negro cries for a state reformatory +for the boys and girls of his race, the white man cries for the +penitentiary for them. Now, this is not a very great difference after +all and we should get together by each asking for the best schools to +prevent these evils and then when the evils are committed, asking for +the strictest law for their punishment. As for my part, it is not a +question in my mind as to the cause of this increasing class among my +people. It is plain to me that ignorance is the cause of inefficiency, +inefficiency the cause of vagrancy, and vagrancy the cause of crime. We +must, therefore, seek the remedy in the removal of the cause. If +ignorance be the mother of inefficiency, inefficiency the mother of +vagrancy, and vagrancy the mother of crime, it is plain that the removal +of ignorance will stop the others. This can only be done by education +and civic righteousness. + +I wish here to emphasize the fact that education is the source of all we +have and the spring of all our future joys. Our religion, our morality, +and that which is highest and best in our social and civic life, all +come from education. Therefore, it is the primary factor in the +elevation of all races. + +Our education should be of a threefold nature, viz.: Literary, +Industrial and Religious. No limit should be placed upon the Negro's +literary qualification. A race so largely segregated as ours, needs its +own teachers, preachers, lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, and other +professional and business men, and therefore they should be given the +highest and best education that is obtainable. If our preachers and +teachers are inefficient, it is because they are improperly educated. +If the churches are growing cold and dying and the schools accomplishing +but very little good, it is because religion is not being made practical +and education not being made to apply to our every day life. Such an end +can only be accomplished through well and systematically trained +teachers and preachers. Better teachers and better preachers will go a +long way towards the alleviation of our ills. If we would secure the +kind of education here referred to, we must be willing to pay for it; we +must make a sacrifice, we must care less about forms and fashions and +more about the higher things of life. We must see less evils in the +dollar and more good. + +We must not only have a good education, but we must have good industrial +training. This is a scientific as well as a literary age. A scientific +age is always an age of inventions and with new inventions comes the +demand for men qualified to manage large interests and complicated +machinery. This demand can only be supplied by industrially trained men +and women. This must be done in our industrial schools. Our hands should +be as truly trained to work as our minds to think, and any education +that teaches otherwise, is not worthy of the name. + +I know that in some sections my people are prejudiced towards industrial +schools, but this is foolish in the extreme. If we are to hold our own +in this country, it must be by our ability to do work and to do it in +the most acceptable manner. We are in a farming section and I believe +that we should therefore strive to be the best farmers in the world. Let +us make a specialty of all the trades that are related in anyway to +agriculture; endeavor to become the best stock raisers, the best truck +gardeners, the best cooks, the best wash women, the best housekeepers, +the best dress makers, the best blacksmiths, and in fact, the best in +all that pertains to country life. + +Let us get hold of the lands we cultivate as far as possible and build +better homes and keep our homes clean. But you say that we do not need +industrial training. Let us see. Many years ago Henry Clay, in order to +encourage home industry, introduced a bill in the Kentucky Legislature +to the effect that the people of that state should use nothing save what +could be produced in the state. Suppose today the white man of this +country should say that the Negro must use only the things which he +could make, what would be his condition? Could we cook with proper +utensils? Could we eat with knives and forks? Could we dress as we do +now? Practically everything we wear or use was made by the white man and +were he to institute such actions we would be helpless to provide for +ourselves. + +In our quest for knowledge, we must not overlook the education of the +heart. Our religion should be made practical. It must be real and not +visionary. No other will suffice. Our religion must consist more in +deeds and less in words. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "210" corrected to "120" (Table of Contents) + "Tuskeegee" corrected to "Tuskegee" (page 47) + "phosporus" corrected to "phosphorus"(page 91) + +Some quotes are opened with marks but are not closed. Obvious errors +have been silently closed, while those requiring interpretation have +been left open. + +Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in +spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation usage have been retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty-Five Years in the Black Belt, by +William James Edwards + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK BELT *** + +***** This file should be named 31055.txt or 31055.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/5/31055/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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