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diff --git a/75144-0.txt b/75144-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1b360a --- /dev/null +++ b/75144-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3781 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75144 *** + + + + + + A BOYS’ LIFE OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + + +[Illustration: + + SYMBOLIC GROUP ERECTED AT TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE (1922). +] + + + + + A BOYS’ LIFE + OF + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + + + BY + W. C. JACKSON + + Vice President of the North Carolina College for Women, Greensboro, and + Professor of History + + + NEW YORK + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + 1922 + + All rights reserved + + + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + COPYRIGHT, 1922, + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + + + Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1922 + + + + + PREFACE + + +The single aim in telling the story that follows is to interest boys in +the life of Booker T. Washington. + +This man’s life was of such singular and vital importance in the history +of his own race and in the history of our country that it ought to be +familiar to all the youth of the land, and to the negro youth +especially, since it is the greatest inspiration to the latter to be +found in the annals of American history. + +There has been no attempt to be original or exhaustive in the treatment. +While a great mass of material has been consulted, it should be frankly +stated that the story follows very closely the material found in +Washington’s “Up from Slavery” and “My Larger Education” and Scott and +Stowe’s “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization.” + +The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Doubleday, Page +and Company for permission to use extensive quotations from these books. + +If some boy by reading this book is inspired to higher ambition and +encouraged to nobler effort, the author will feel that the book is fully +justified. + + + + + FOREWORD + + +This is the story of Booker T. Washington. It is the story of a boy who +was born a slave and who in manhood became the leader of ten million +people; who was born in poverty and ignorance and became the greatest +orator and teacher of the negro race; who was born of an ignorant and +backward race and became the friend of the greatest and best men of all +races of all the world. + +He was a brave man. He had courage and backbone. He was not afraid. He +had courage to fight for what he believed to be the right. + +He was an energetic man. There was not a lazy bone in him. No man ever +lived a more strenuous life than he did. He loved his work; and few +other men ever did so much work in a lifetime. + +He was just and fair-minded. He could see right for the white man as +well as for the negro. He never intentionally did any one, white or +black, an injustice. + +He was an honest man; honest in his thinking as well as in his business; +honest, frank, and open in his speeches and his writings. He looked +facts squarely in the face. + +He was a wise man. He had intelligence. He had good judgment. He knew +the right thing to do and to say, and he did it and said it. + +He was a modest man. He did not boast or brag. He did not try to get +money or office or high position. He was content to do his work as an +honest man. + +He was a patriotic man. He loved his country and believed this to be the +greatest nation in the world; and he was ready to give his life for it +if necessary. + +He had will power. He made up his mind about things, and, when he had +made a decision, he could not be discouraged nor turned aside. He would +see his plans through, and he would stand by his convictions to the +last. + +He had self-control. He did not lose his temper or his tongue. He kept +himself in hand. He did not lose his head or waste his time and thought +and effort on useless and needless things. + +He was a great lover of animals. He loved the pigs and the chickens, the +horses and the dogs, the birds and the fishes, and every living thing. + +Above all he loved folks. He loved the people of all races. He was a +friend not only to the black man but likewise a friend to the red man, +the yellow, the brown, and the white. + +He loved his race. He was not ashamed of it. He was proud of its +history; of its great achievements in the past. He had an abounding +confidence in its future. He believed that in the days that lie ahead +the negro race is to play a wonderful part. + +It is well worth while to know about this man. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. EARLY CHILDHOOD 1 + II. BOYHOOD DAYS 9 + III. PLANNING FOR AN EDUCATION 14 + IV. SCHOOL DAYS AT HAMPTON 22 + V. BEGINNING LIFE IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD 33 + VI. BACK AT HAMPTON 40 + VII. BUILDING A GREAT SCHOOL 45 + VIII. STRENUOUS DAYS 56 + IX. RAISING MONEY FOR TUSKEGEE 67 + X. MAKING SPEECHES 76 + XI. SUCCESS AS EDUCATIONAL LEADER 88 + XII. LEADING HIS PEOPLE 105 + XIII. POLITICAL EXPERIENCES 112 + XIV. VISITS TO EUROPE 118 + XV. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: THE MAN 129 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + SYMBOLIC GROUP ERECTED AT TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE (1922) _Frontispiece_ + + FOUNDER’S DAY DRILL AT TUSKEGEE 6 + + CABINETMAKING AT TUSKEGEE 23 + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AS A HAMPTON GRADUATE (1875) 24 + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON’S CLASS (1875) AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE 31 + + TUSKEGEE’S FIRST GROUP OF BUILDINGS 51 + + A SUNDAY AFTERNOON BAND CONCERT ON THE CAMPUS 58 + + AUTOMOBILE AND BUGGY TRIMMING AT TUSKEGEE 61 + + CLASS IN PHYSICAL TRAINING AT TUSKEGEE 65 + + WHITE HALL; CHAPEL; TATUM HALL, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE 69 + + JOHN A. ANDREW MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE 72 + + CLASS IN PHOTOGRAPHY, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE 74 + + CHEMISTRY CLASS, TUSKEGEE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT 89 + + TRUCK GARDENING, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE 92 + + DOMESTIC SCIENCE CLASS AT TUSKEGEE 95 + + THE STUDENTS’ BAND OF A RURAL SCHOOL 99 + + TAILORING DIVISION, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE 101 + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, FIRST PRINCIPAL OF TUSKEGEE + INSTITUTE 119 + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY 132 + + ROBERT RUSSA MOTON, SUCCESSOR TO BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AT + TUSKEGEE 139 + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HIS GRANDCHILDREN 141 + + + + + A BOYS’ LIFE OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + + + + + CHAPTER I + EARLY CHILDHOOD + + +No state in the Union has a more interesting history than Virginia. It +is the oldest of the states. It was at Jamestown in 1607 that the first +permanent English settlement was made in America. Before the Revolution, +it shared with Massachusetts the honor of being the leading colony. +During the time of the Revolution, it furnished some of America’s +greatest leaders—Washington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson. After +the Revolution, it became known as the “Mother of Presidents.” Most of +the battles of the Civil War were fought on its soil, and its capital +was the capital of the Confederacy. Lee and Jackson, the two greatest +leaders of the Confederacy, were Virginians. + +It was in this state that slavery in North America began. We must +remember, however, that slavery had been in existence a long, long time. +The ancient Hebrews, we are told in the Old Testament, practiced this +evil custom. So did all the nations about Palestine. The Greeks and the +Romans also kept slaves. We must not think of the people that were +enslaved by the Hebrews and Greeks and Romans as negroes. They were of +all races. Whenever one people conquered another, it mattered not of +what race, the conquerors made their captives slaves. This often +resulted in the most cultured and highly educated people being made +slaves. This was especially the case when the Romans captured Greeks. + +Later on in the history of Europe, during the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, the enslavement of negroes became very general, so that, by +the time North America began to be settled by the people from Europe, +negro slaves were bought and sold throughout the principal European +countries and their colonies. + +So it came about that, in Virginia, negro slavery was introduced into +the United States. It was in 1619 that a Dutch ship, after a cruise in +the West Indies, landed at Jamestown, and while there, engaging in trade +with the inhabitants, sold them nineteen negroes. These were the first +slaves sold in North America, and it was from this beginning that the +system grew up in the country. + +In Virginia too we had the first big plantations. Tobacco was the most +important crop in the early history of the colony. The planters could +sell tobacco at a great profit in England. Negro slaves could cultivate +tobacco very successfully. The planters, therefore, bought slaves to +raise tobacco, and they sold the tobacco and bought more slaves to raise +more tobacco. The planters bought many hundreds of acres of land and +many slaves to cultivate them. As you know, the slaves lived in cabins. +These cabins were little houses, usually built of logs, and the cracks +were daubed with mud. The cabin usually had one door, one window, and a +dirt floor only. These cabins were all close together, not very far from +the “big house,” and were known as the “quarters.” + +The slaves did all the work on the plantation. Most of them worked in +the fields. Some worked about the barn and in the garden. One drove the +master’s carriage and took care of the horses. Another was the butler in +the “big house.” Some of the small boys and girls also worked in the +“big house,” serving their young masters and mistresses. And, of course, +one of the negro women was the plantation cook. + +On just such a plantation down in Franklin County, Virginia, Booker T. +Washington was born. His mother was the cook on the plantation of a Mr. +Burroughs who lived near a little crossroads post office, southwest of +Lynchburg, called Hales’ Ford. There, in a little one-room cabin, Booker +was born on April 5, 1856. The cabin had no glass windows. It had only +one door, and it had a dirt floor. There were large cracks that let in +the cold. In the middle of the floor there was a large opening in the +ground in which sweet potatoes were stored. Sometimes as they put the +potatoes in or took them out, Booker got one or two and roasted them. +All of the cooking was done over the open fire in this cabin, for they +had no stove. It was a very uncomfortable place in which to live. + +The boy lived a hard life. He says: “I cannot remember a single instance +during my childhood or early boyhood when our entire family sat down to +the table together, and God’s blessing was asked, and the family ate a +meal in a civilized manner. It was a piece of bread here, and a scrap of +meat there. It was a cup of milk at one time and some potatoes at +another.”[1] + +One day, when he was about five years old, he saw his young mistress and +some visitors out in the yard eating ginger cakes. He said he never saw +anything in his life that looked so good to him as those cakes did; and +he thought that, if he ever got free, the height of his ambition would +be to buy all the ginger cakes he wanted, just like those the young +ladies were eating. + +He had to sleep on a pallet. He never slept in a bed until after he was +set free. The first pair of shoes he ever had was made of leather, but +the soles were of wood, and they were very uncomfortable and made a +great noise when he walked. He never thought of wearing anything on his +head. But the worst thing about his dress in those early days was having +to wear a flax shirt. These shirts were made of the roughest and +coarsest part of the flax, and they were very uncomfortable. When new, +they scratched severely. After they were worn awhile and “broken in,” +they were fairly comfortable. His brother John often “broke in” Booker’s +shirts for him, a very kind and generous thing to do. + +He had no time to play when he was a boy. When he was a grown man, he +was asked what games he played when he was a boy, and he answered that +he had never played at all. He had to work so hard that no time was left +for play. Even when he was a very small boy, he had to sweep the yards, +carry water to the hands in the fields, help around the “big house,” and +carry in wood. Going to mill was the worst job he had. A farm hand would +put a sack of corn on a horse, put him on top of the sack, and send him +off. It was a long way to the mill. Almost every time he was sent, the +sack of corn would work to one side and then fall off. It was too heavy +for him to put back; so he would have to wait until some one came along +to help him. He sat and cried until some one came. It was often dark +when he got home. He was terribly frightened when he was alone at night, +for he was told that there were deserting soldiers in the woods, and +that when they found little negro boys the first thing they would do +would be to cut off their ears. Of course this was not true, but he +thought it was. + +Do you suppose this little boy had any chance to go to school? This is +what he says: “I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave, though I +remember on several occasions I went as far as the schoolhouse door with +one of my young mistresses to carry her books. The picture of several +boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression +upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study +in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.”[2] This +is the same boy who came to be the greatest educator of his race; the +head of the greatest negro school in the world. + +[Illustration: + + FOUNDER’S DAY DRILL AT TUSKEGEE +] + +It must be remembered that the conditions under which Booker lived in +these early years of his life were not restricted entirely to the +negroes. Many of the white people were poor also, and many white boys +wore flax shirts and shoes with wooden soles. Just after the Civil War, +especially, all the white people of the South had a very hard time. +White boys as well as negro boys had no time for play. Nor did they have +an opportunity to go to school. In those days many white boys who were +eager for an education had such difficulties to face as those which +loomed up before Booker Washington. + +By and by, when Booker was about nine years of age, there came a +thrilling day. For four long years the great war had been going on. +Often he had heard his mother singing freedom songs. He remembered being +awakened one morning and saw his mother by his bed and heard her praying +that Lincoln might be successful, and that her little boy might some day +be free. He had seen some of the soldiers in their uniforms, home on +furlough. He remembered when they brought home the body of “Marse Billy” +and buried him amidst the bitter weeping of the slaves, who loved him as +their friend, for he had often begged for them when they were about to +be punished. While they vaguely knew and felt that the success of +Lincoln meant freedom, and the success of the others meant slavery, they +were still loyal and true to their masters. By means of the “grape vine +telegraph,” that is, by passing news along quickly from one plantation +to another, the slaves had kept pretty well informed of the progress of +the war, and when Lee surrendered at Appomattox, the slaves knew it very +soon. + +One night word came to the “quarters” that something very unusual would +happen at the “big house” the next day. There was much excitement. +Nobody slept that night. Early next morning some one came to the +quarters and told the negroes that they were all wanted at the house. +Booker’s mother called her children, and they with all the other slaves +marched up to the house. All the members of the family were on the +porch. They were very quiet and seemed sad and depressed. There was +present a stranger, a man who wore a uniform. He stood up and read a +paper—“The Emancipation Proclamation.” Then the master explained that +the negroes were now free. He told them that they could go wherever they +desired. He also told them that they could live where they were if they +wanted to, and they would be taken care of; but if they preferred, they +could go to any other place. Booker’s mother leaned over her children +and kissed them while the tears streamed down her face. Her prayers had +been answered. Her children were free. + + + + + CHAPTER II + BOYHOOD DAYS + + +When the slaves were set free, one of the first things that many of them +did was to change their names. Most of the slaves had only one name. As +free people they felt that they should have the same sort of names as +other free people; so they began to add a last name, and usually an +initial. If a man had been called “Tom” all his life, he was now called +“Tom L. Johnson.” The “L” stood for nothing. It was simply a part of his +“entitles,” as Washington says. Another thing they did was to leave +their old home place. They could not realize that they were really free +unless they tested the matter by going away from the place of their +servitude. + +Booker Washington’s stepfather had left Virginia during the war and had +gone to West Virginia. Just as soon as the war was over, he sent for his +wife and children to come to him in West Virginia. + +He lived at Malden, five miles from Charleston, the capital of the +state. It was several hundred miles from the old home in Virginia, but +the family determined to go. They bundled up their goods and put them in +a cart, the children walking. They traveled the entire distance in this +way. They would stop by the roadside to do their cooking and to camp at +night. + +One night they stopped near an empty cabin. They decided to spend the +night in the cabin. They went in and built a fire and spread a pallet on +the floor. Suddenly a big black snake rolled down out of the chimney and +on to the pallet. You can imagine that they did not care to stay longer +in that house. They got outside at once and made a camp. + +After several weeks, they completed their journey, and the family +reached the town of Malden. Salt was mined there, and Booker’s +stepfather worked in the salt furnaces. Small as he was, Booker had to +begin this work too. It was very hard work, and it was terrible that +this child should be compelled to do it. But it was just like Booker to +turn the situation to an advantage. The first thing he ever did in the +way of reading was to learn the figure “18,” which was the number put on +the barrels of salt made by his father. Booker was anxious to learn to +read; but he had no one to teach him. His own mother could not even +teach him his letters. She bought him an old Webster’s “blue-back” +speller, and he began his first study in this book. + +About this time a private school was established in the community. +Booker was greatly excited over this, for he had an overwhelming desire +to go to school. He was a good worker, however, and was earning money; +so his father said “no,” and he could not go. Booker was terribly +disappointed. He went on with his work with a heavy heart, but he never +missed a chance to urge his stepfather to let him go to school. Finally, +his father agreed to let him go for a part of the day, provided he would +get up early each morning and work until nine o’clock and then work two +hours after school was out. + +It was a glorious day for him when he found himself going to school. +However, he soon encountered two great difficulties. One was that he did +not have a hat. He had never worn a hat or cap in his life. Since all +the other boys had them, he felt that he must have one. So he went home +and told his mother about the situation. She explained to him that she +had no money with which to buy a “store” hat, but she got two old pieces +of “homespun” or jeans, and sewed them together for a cap. The next day +Booker proudly walked to school with one difficulty solved. + +Listen to his own story of his second difficulty: “My second difficulty +was with regard to my name, or rather a name. From the time I could +remember anything I had been called simply ‘Booker.’ Before going to +school it had never occurred to me that it was needful or appropriate to +have an additional name. + +“When I heard the school roll called, I noticed that all the children +had at least two names, and some of them indulged in what seemed to me +the extravagance of having three. I was in deep perplexity, because I +knew that the teacher would demand of me at least two names, and I had +only one. By the time the occasion came for the enrolling of my name, an +idea occurred to me which I thought would make me equal to the +situation; and so, when the teacher asked me what my full name was, I +calmly told him ‘Booker Washington,’ as if I had been called by that +name all my life; and by that name I have since been known. + +“Later in my life I found that my mother had given me the name of +‘Booker Taliaferro’ (pronounced Tol-li-ver) soon after I was born, but +in some way that part of my name seemed to disappear, and for a long +while was forgotten, but as soon as I found out about it, I revived it +and made my full name ‘Booker Taliaferro Washington.’ I think there are +not many men in our country who have had the privilege of naming +themselves in the way that I have.”[3] + +Booker was not permitted to go to school very long. His stepfather put +him back to work but he went to school at night for a while. Here he +learned how valuable the nighttime was, and he afterwards used it a +great deal in teaching others. + +Near Malden was a coal mine. This business became prosperous, and Booker +was sent to work in the coal mines. He hated this work worse than any he +ever did. The work was very dirty. It was pitch dark in the mines. It +was also very dangerous, for they used dynamite to blast out the coal. +His work was a mile from the entrance of the mine. Furthermore, there +were many big rats in the place. Because there were many large chambers +to the mine and he never could learn all of them, he often got lost. +Then his light would go out, and sometimes he would have to wait for +hours for some one to come to his aid. This was terrible work for a boy +only ten or twelve years of age. + + + + + CHAPTER III + PLANNING FOR AN EDUCATION + + +Later in life Washington said: “There was never a time in my youth, no +matter how dark and discouraging the days might be, when one resolve did +not continually remain with me, and that was to secure an education at +any cost.”[4] + +This was the thought that was in his mind as he toiled from day to day +in the dark and dirty coal mine. He had never heard of any school except +the little one he had attended for a short time in Malden. But he was +sure that somewhere and in some way he would find a place that would +give him what he so much desired. + +One day, while digging away in the mine, he heard a miner say something +to another about a big school for negroes. He was greatly excited and on +his hands and feet he crept through the dark, as close to the two men as +he dared, and listened. They kept on talking and Booker heard a +conversation something like this: “I wish my boy could go to that school +over in Virginia,” said one miner. “They say it is the best school +anywhere in the country.” + +“What school are you talking about?” said the other. + +“The one at a place called Hampton, over in Virginia,” was the reply. + +“Well, suppose there is a good school there; negro boys can’t go to it, +can they?” was asked. + +“Yes, they can,” said the other. “It is a school just for negro boys and +girls, and they teach the boys and girls something besides books, too. +They are taught some useful trades so that they can go out and make a +good living and be independent and have pleasant work to do.” + +“Well,” said the other miner, “that sounds pretty good, but nobody but +rich folks can afford such a school as that; so I don’t see where it is +going to help us any.” + +“There is where you are mistaken again,” was the answer, “for poor boys +and girls can go to this school. That is what I have heard. They say +that they give the boys and girls different kinds of work to do, so that +they can pay their own way through school.” + +Booker heard no more. He returned to his work very greatly excited. That +certainly was the place for him. He then and there made up his mind that +he would go to that school no matter what happened. He did not know +where the place was, but he determined that he would find it. From that +day on, one thought was in his mind—to go to Hampton. + +He wanted to quit work in the mines, because the work was so dangerous, +and because he was not making enough money. A few days after he heard +the conversation about Hampton, he heard that Mrs. Ruffner wanted a +servant. She was the wife of General Lewis Ruffner, the owner of the +salt furnaces and the coal mines. The lady, Mrs. Viola Ruffner, was said +to be very strict with her servants, and consequently no servant would +stay with her long at a time. + +When Booker heard that she was looking for another servant, he decided +to apply for the place. He was terribly frightened when he went into her +presence; and he was surprised to find her very kind and considerate. +She employed him, giving him five dollars a month. She became very fond +of this boy, who worked so hard and so well and tried to do the work so +as to please her. She showed her interest in his ambition to get an +education, by letting him off a part of the day to study, and by +encouraging him to go to the night school. + +Washington says also that he learned from Mrs. Ruffner many valuable +lessons in cleanliness, promptness, and order. He says: “Even to this +day, I never see bits of paper scattered around a house or in the street +that I do not want to pick them up at once. I never see a filthy yard +that I do not want to clean it, a paling off a fence that I do not want +to put it on, an unpainted or unwhitewashed house that I do not want to +paint or whitewash it; or a button off one’s clothes, or a grease spot +on them or on a floor, that I do not want to call attention to it.”[5] + +It was while working for Mrs. Ruffner that he started his first +“library.” He got an old drygoods box, knocked out one side of it, +nailed it up against the wall, arranged some shelves, and then put into +it every book that he could lay his hands on. + +But Booker was restless. He wanted to get started to school. He had not +saved much money, for he had not been working for himself very long, but +he determined to start with what little money he had. + +What did his determination mean? Look at your map and you will see that +Hampton is about five hundred miles from Malden. Booker was a boy of +sixteen years. He did not know a soul beyond the borders of his own +community. He had but a few dollars. His mother was not well, and he +doubted very much whether he would ever see her alive again. But he must +go and learn, and his good mother, noble and brave as she was, +encouraged her boy and helped him to get away. + +All the people in the community were much interested in his going. While +they had never had a chance, they wanted to encourage this boy who was +so determined to get an education. Some of them would give him a nickel, +some a quarter, and others a handkerchief to show their desire to help +him. By and by the day for his departure came. He put his few dollars in +his pocket, picked up the little satchel containing his few clothes, +said good-by to the neighbors, kissed his weeping mother good-by, and +turned his face towards Hampton. + +There was no through train in those days, and he had to travel by +stagecoach as well as by train. He had no idea, when he started, how +costly it was to travel, and he had not gone far before he realized that +he did not have enough money to take him to Hampton. So he walked much +of the way. He would ask for a ride with passers-by, and in this way +made fairly good progress. + +Early in his journey he had a new and trying experience. He had been +riding, together with a number of white passengers, all day in the +stagecoach. At nightfall they stopped at a house which was called a +hotel, and all the passengers went in and were given rooms. When Booker +went in and asked for a room, he was told that they could not take him, +that they did not take negroes. He had not intended to offend. He +himself says it was simply the first time that he realized that the +color of his skin made a difference. He was so intent upon getting to +Hampton, he never thought of getting angry. He simply walked about all +night, as it was rather cold, and went on his journey next morning. + +Let him tell his own story of another incident of this famous journey. +“By walking,” he says, “begging rides both in wagons and in the cars, in +some way, after a number of days, I reached the city of Richmond, Va., +about eighty-two miles from Hampton. When I reached there, tired, +hungry, and dirty, it was late in the night. I had never been in a large +city, and this was rather to add to my misery. When I reached Richmond, +I was completely out of money. I had not a single acquaintance in that +place, and being unused to city ways, I did not know where to go. + +“I applied at several places for lodging, but they all wanted money, and +that was what I did not have. Knowing nothing else better to do I walked +the streets. In doing so, I passed by many places and foodstands where +fried chicken and half-moon apple pies were piled high and made to +present a most tempting appearance. At that time it seemed to me that I +would have promised all that I expected to possess in the future to have +gotten hold of one of those chicken legs or one of those pies. But I +could not get either of these, nor anything else to eat. + +“I must have walked till after midnight. At last I became exhausted and +I could walk no longer. I was tired. I was hungry. I was everything but +discouraged. Just about the time when I reached extreme physical +exhaustion, I came upon a portion of the street where the board sidewalk +was considerably elevated. I waited for a few minutes, till I was sure +that no passer-by could see me, and then crept under the sidewalk, and +lay for the night upon the ground with my satchel for a pillow.”[6] + +When he awoke in the morning, he found that he was near a large ship +which was unloading a cargo of pig iron. He went directly to the ship, +told the captain his situation, and asked for work in order that he +might earn money with which to buy some food. The captain gave him work +and was so well pleased with him that he gave him employment for several +days. Washington was anxious to get enough money to take him to Hampton +as soon as possible. So in order to save as much of his wages as +possible, he continued to sleep under the sidewalk where he slept the +first night he arrived. + +Many years after that, he was given a great reception in Richmond, at a +place near this spot, and Washington says that his mind was more upon +that sidewalk that night than it was upon the great reception given him +by the two thousand people present. + +After a few days of work in unloading the vessel, he felt that he had +enough money to take him to Hampton; so he continued his journey. +Several days later he reached Hampton, with just exactly fifty cents. + +What a wonderful journey it had been! And now at its end, as the big +buildings of the school came into view, he had a thrill that more than +repaid him for all the hardships of his trip. He was supremely happy, +for he had reached the end of his rainbow and had found his great +treasure. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + SCHOOL DAYS AT HAMPTON + + +At the close of the Civil War one of the most important needs of the +country was to provide some kind of education for the negroes. They had +never had any schools. If they were to become good citizens, they must +have the proper training. A great many good men in the North and in the +South recognized this fact, and set to work to establish schools. Among +these men was General Samuel C. Armstrong. The General’s parents had +been missionaries to Hawaii. He had been educated in the United States, +had entered the army as soon as the war began, and had made such a +brilliant record as a soldier that, when the war was over, he had risen +to the rank of general. + +He had seen a great deal of the negro as a soldier during the war. He +knew about the conditions in the South, and he felt that the greatest +service he could render would be to give his life to the cause of +education. He went to work at once, and, through the aid of a number of +Southern men, he established a school for negro boys and girls at +Hampton, Virginia, and called it Hampton Institute. + +His main purpose was to give negro boys and girls an opportunity to +learn some useful trade. He believed that people must first learn to +make a good living before they could make much progress in any other +direction. He wanted the negroes to have good food and good clothes and +good homes. He wanted them to be able to earn these things. Likewise, he +wanted them to be good farmers, good carpenters, good brick masons, good +mechanics, and good workmen in all kinds of trades. He wanted these +trades taught in the schools. Then, as the race progressed, he wished to +have the higher branches of study given, such as Latin, mathematics, and +literature. + +[Illustration: + + CABINETMAKING AT TUSKEGEE +] + +[Illustration: + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AS A HAMPTON GRADUATE (1875) +] + +Thus was begun one of the greatest schools in America. Every negro boy +knows about Hampton. Thousands of the best negroes in the country were +trained there. General Armstrong was president of the school and did a +wonderful work. He seemed to inspire every student who entered to become +a good and useful citizen. Too much cannot be said in praise of him and +the great school he founded. + +It was here that Booker arrived in the fall of 1872, with a little +satchel of clothes, fifty cents in his pocket, a happy heart, and a +determination to succeed. + +Just as soon as he was able to get an interview, he went to the head +teacher, Mary F. Mackie, and told her that he wanted to enter school. +She stared at him. He was dirty after his long and hard journey. His +clothes were soiled. He realized at once that he was making a bad +impression, and it was not his fault. Miss Mackie would not say whether +she would admit him or not. She made him wait. He was worried. All he +wanted was a chance to show her that he meant business. Then a very +interesting thing happened. Booker Washington tells the story himself. +He called it his examination. + +“After some time had passed,” he says, “the head teacher said: ‘The +adjoining recitation room needs sweeping. Take the broom and sweep it.’ + +“It occurred to me at once that here was my chance. Never did I receive +an order with more delight. I knew that I could sweep, for Mrs. Ruffner +had thoroughly taught me how to do that when I lived with her. + +“I swept the recitation room three times. Then I got a dusting-cloth and +I dusted it four times. All the woodwork around the walls, every bench, +table, and desk, I went over four times with my dusting-cloth. Besides, +every piece of furniture had been moved and every closet and corner in +the room had been thoroughly cleaned. I had the feeling that in a large +measure my future depended upon the impression I made upon the teacher +in the cleaning of that room. + +“When I was through, I rapped on the door, and reported to the teacher. +She was a ‘Yankee’ woman who knew just where to look for dirt. She went +into the room and inspected the floor and closets; then she took her +handkerchief and rubbed it on the woodwork about the walls, and over the +table and benches. When she was unable to find one bit of dirt on the +floor, or a particle of dust on any of the furniture, she quietly +remarked, ‘I guess you will do to enter this institution.’ + +“I was one of the happiest souls on earth. The sweeping of that room was +my college examination, and never did any youth pass an entrance +examination into Harvard or Yale that gave him more genuine +satisfaction. I have passed several examinations since then, but I have +always felt that this one was the best one I ever passed.”[7] + +As a result of his sweeping the room, he was permitted to enter his +classes and was also given a job as janitor, and his college career +began. It was a new, strange life. He sat down at a table, which had a +cloth on it, to eat his meals. He slept in a bed that had sheets on it. +These sheets gave him trouble. The first night he slept under both of +them. He didn’t think that was right, so the next night he slept on top +of both of them. The third night he watched his roommates,—there were +seven of them in the same room,—and he saw how the thing was done. After +that, he did as the others did and slept between the sheets. + +“I sometimes feel,” he says, “that almost the most valuable lesson I got +at Hampton Institute was in the use and value of a bath. I learned +there, for the first time, some of its value was not only in keeping the +body healthy, but in inspiring selfrespect and promoting virtue. In all +my travels in the South and elsewhere since leaving Hampton Institute, I +have always in some way sought my daily bath. To get it sometimes when I +have been the guest of my own people in a single-roomed cabin has not +been easy to do except by slipping away to some stream in the woods. I +have always tried to teach my people that some provision for bathing +should be a part of every house.”[8] + +For some time he had only one pair of socks. He had a time of it with +these socks. When they were too soiled to wear, he would wash them out +at night, hang them by the fire and dry them out, and put them on the +next morning. He also had a hard time with his clothes. They had +inspection every morning. The students were lined up, and General +Armstrong passed along the lines and carefully examined every one. If a +button was off, or if the clothes were torn or soiled in any way, the +General would see it. Booker had a hard time keeping his clothes in such +a condition that they would pass muster. + +His work as janitor was very hard. He often had to work late at night, +for he had many rooms to clean. He always got up at four o’clock in the +morning to build his fires and do some of his studying. He had a hard +time working and making expenses too. He usually borrowed his books from +other students. He soon got some more clothing from the barrels of +clothing sent to the school by people from the North. Board was ten +dollars a month, part of which he could pay by his work as janitor, but +a part of it he was supposed to pay in cash, and he had no cash. His +work was so satisfactory, however, that in a short while he was told +that his work would pay all of his board. S. Griffitts Morgan, of New +Bedford, Massachusetts, paid his tuition. At the end of the year he owed +the college only sixteen dollars. + +When the college closed at the end of the term, all the students went +home. Booker could not go. It was too far, and he had no money. He +wanted to get away and get a job, so that he could pay the sixteen +dollars he owed. He had an extra secondhand coat; so he decided to sell +that to get money to go away on. He cleaned and pressed the coat, and +then let it be known that it was for sale. After a while a man came to +see it. He looked at it and asked the price. Booker told him three +dollars. The man said, “Well, I think I will take it. I will tell you +what I will do. I will pay you five cents cash, and the rest as soon as +I can get it.” How do you suppose Booker felt about that? + +He finally got a job as a waiter in a restaurant at Fortress Monroe. +They did not pay him enough for him to save anything. One day when he +was cleaning up the place, he found a nice, crisp ten-dollar bill under +a table. He was very happy. Now he could pay back the money he owed at +Hampton. However, he thought he ought to tell the proprietor about +finding the ten dollars. He did so, and the proprietor coolly took the +ten-dollar bill, saying that, since the place belonged to him, +everything that was found in it naturally belonged to him. + +After vacation was over, he returned to Hampton and was told that he +could have as long to pay the sixteen dollars as he wanted, and that he +could have a job as janitor again. So, his second year passed much the +same as the first. He devoted much of his time this year and the next to +the debating societies. He says that he never missed a single meeting +while he was at Hampton. He also organized a new society. He had twenty +minutes every night after supper before work began. Most of the +students, he observed, wasted this time. He proposed that good use be +made of this period in reading and speaking, and he organized a society +for that purpose. He says that no time he spent in college was more +valuable than this. + +After the close of his second year, he went home to Malden to spend his +vacation. His brother John had sent him some money, and he had earned +some extra money. So he had enough to take him home. Everybody was +delighted to see him, but most of all, his mother. All the neighbors +insisted on his visiting them and taking a meal with them and telling +all about his college days. He also spoke at Sunday schools, at the day +school, and at churches, telling about his life at Hampton. + +This was all very nice, but he wanted some work, so that he could earn +enough to take him back to Hampton in the fall. He was unable to find +any work because the salt furnaces and the coal mines were closed. One +day he went further than usual looking for something to do but without +success. On his way home he became so tired that he went into a deserted +cabin by the road to spend the night. About three o’clock some one woke +him up. It was his brother John, who told him that their mother had just +died. + +This was a terrible shock to Booker. He had had no idea his mother was +so ill. He had always wanted to be with her and care for her. He had +looked forward to the time when he might make enough money for her to +live in comfort. He loved her very dearly, and her death was the hardest +blow he had ever received. + +It was not long after this that he got some work and saved enough money +to take him back to Hampton. During his third year at college he worked +harder than ever. He was still working as janitor, but every single +minute he had after his work was done he spent on his studies. College +boys in those days did not have time to play football, baseball, and +tennis. They did not have time to go on picnics or have dances. + +[Illustration: + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON’S CLASS (1875) AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE + + Washington is the second from the left in the front row. Miss Mary + Mackie is the first on the left in the row of women. General + Armstrong is standing directly behind Miss Mackie. +] + +The highest honor at Hampton was to be selected as commencement speaker. +This honor Booker was anxious to win. He worked very hard for it, and, +when commencement day came in June, 1875, he sat on the platform among +the honor men of his class as one of the orators. He was given his +diploma, and his college days were over. + +He had done a good job. He had done the kind of work that makes real +men. He had trained his mind and his hands. He had built character. He +was not ashamed. He could hold his head up and look the world in the +face. He had learned to help himself. He was independent and had gained +self-confidence and self-control. He knew little of Latin, but he knew +much of labor. He knew no Greek, but he knew how to dig. He knew the +soil. He knew people. He was ready for the great work that lay before +him. + + + + + CHAPTER V + BEGINNING LIFE IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD + + +General Armstrong handed Washington his diploma in June, 1875, and he +walked forth from the college walls a very proud and happy boy. He had a +right to be. No boy had ever striven harder for an education. For three +years, day and night, he had worked, as few people ever had. But he had +enjoyed it. Don’t get the idea that Washington was discouraged or that +he was unhappy, for he was not. He got an immense amount of genuine +satisfaction and pleasure out of his school days. His teachers were good +to him, and he was devoted to them. His classmates were always kind to +him and helpful and thoughtful. Everybody was his friend. No boy ever +left Hampton with more warm friends, was more beloved by students and +faculty, than Booker Washington. And these friendships were truly worth +winning, because they were greater and better than anything else in the +world. + +One of the fine things about Washington was his independence. He knew +how to take care of himself. He knew he could make his own way in the +world. He was unusually robust, because he had always taken good care of +himself. With health, with an education, and with an overwhelming desire +to help his people, he left Hampton and started his life in the outside +world. + +Washington left Hampton in exactly the same financial condition as when +he entered. He had a diploma in his pocket but no money. However, he was +not ashamed of work, if it was honorable, and he was not afraid of any +amount of it. Along with some other Hampton boys, he was offered a job +in a summer hotel in Connecticut. + +When he began his new work, he had an embarrassing experience. The head +waiter, somehow, got the idea that he had done this kind of work before. +He sent him to serve at a table where several rich people were seated. +Washington was very awkward and confused, and the people scolded him +soundly. It frightened him so that he went away and would not return to +the table, leaving the guests without anything to eat. + +For this offense, the head waiter reduced him from his position as +waiter and put him to washing dishes. Thereupon, he made up his mind +that he would learn to do this job well. So successful was he that the +head waiter soon put him back at serving, and he made one of the best +waiters in the hotel. + +When his summer’s work was done, Washington returned to his old home at +Malden. Soon after his arrival, he was chosen to teach the school there. +He accepted the place and began the work at once. He taught this school +for two years, and it is doubtful if he ever did better work in his life +than during these two years. + +All his life the idea had been in Washington’s mind that he must help +his people. This was what he wanted most to do. This was why he wanted +an education. Many people want an education for selfish reasons, such +as, to make money for themselves, to have an easy time or to get honors +for themselves, but this was never true of Booker Washington. His great +desire was to help his people. He looked about him and saw how poor and +helpless and ignorant they were, and his heart was touched. He wanted to +do something that would make his people better and happier. + +Now he had his first chance. He went at his work with great joy. He +opened his school at eight o’clock in the morning, and he usually quit +work about ten o’clock at night. He taught the children reading, +writing, geography and arithmetic, but he taught them something else +too. He made them comb their hair. He made them keep their hands and +faces clean. He taught them to keep their clothing clean. He taught them +to use a toothbrush, and to know the value of a bath. + +He organized a debating society for the men and boys. He opened a night +school so that those who worked and could not go to school during the +day could go at night. He established a reading room. He taught several +boys privately in order to get them ready to enter Hampton. He taught in +two Sunday schools. In fact, he did more to make his community a good, +clean, happy community than anybody had ever done before. + +One of the good things he did was to help his brother John who had +helped him so much while he was at Hampton and now wanted to go to +school himself. What a joy it was to Booker to be able to do something +for this kind and generous brother! John did go to Hampton, as did +another brother, James, who was an adopted child; and both helped +Washington loyally in later years at Tuskegee. + +After teaching two years at Malden, Washington decided to go to school +again. This time he went to Washington, D. C., and entered Wayland +Seminary, where he remained eight months. He did not care so much for +his work here. It was very different from the work at Hampton. The +students were all well dressed. They did not have to work as they did at +Hampton. They had plenty of money, and their studies were different. +They did not have trades, industries, agricultural work, or dairying, or +anything of that kind. They had Latin and Greek and literature and +higher mathematics and other studies of a similar kind. Washington felt +that he did not get the benefit that he did at Hampton. + +Nor did he like Washington any better than he liked this school. He saw +too much extravagance to suit him. Too many people were trying to get +something for nothing. Too many of them were trying to get jobs with the +Federal Government that would be easy work and high pay. Many of the +negroes seemed to think it was the business of the Federal Government to +support them. Washington did not think this was right. He thought all +men should do good, honest work, and that, if they didn’t, they would +sooner or later find trouble. He was glad to get away, for he felt that +the life that most of the negroes lived at that time in Washington was +most unsatisfactory. + +At the end of the eight months, he returned to Malden again. At this +time there was a big campaign on in West Virginia to remove the capital, +which was located at Wheeling. It was far up in the northern part of the +state. Many of the people wanted another city to be chosen. The +legislature selected three cities to be voted upon by the people and +Charleston was one of these. Malden, you remember, was five miles from +Charleston. Just after he returned from Washington, Booker was greatly +pleased to receive an invitation from a committee of white men to come +to Charleston and then go on a speaking tour in behalf of that city. He +accepted the invitation, and for three months he went about the state +speaking for Charleston as the capital. When the election was held, +Charleston won; and no small part of the credit was due to the brilliant +speeches made by the young negro teacher of Malden. + +He made such a reputation as a speaker in this campaign that everybody +took it for granted that he would now study law and enter politics. A +well-known judge tried to persuade him to do this and offered to teach +him law. This was very flattering, and for a while Washington considered +it. But all the time he had the feeling that there was something else he +must do. He felt that he could succeed in law and politics, but he also +felt that it would be selfish; that he would be doing something largely +to benefit himself only. + +Most of the negro men in politics, at that time, were vicious and +ignorant. Of course there were many exceptions; but, as a general thing, +the negro who was in politics during that period was uneducated and +often dishonest. Washington tells of passing a crowd of men one day as +they were at work on a building. He heard the men saying to one of the +others, “Hurry up, Gov.,” and “Hurry, Governor.” He paid no attention at +first but finally made inquiry and found that the negro spoken to had at +one time been the lieutenant governor of the state. + +Washington felt that the greatest thing he could do was to engage in the +kind of work that would help his own people most. He did not want to +preach. He thought there were too many preachers already. He had the +belief that the most important thing to do was to engage in the kind of +work that would fit men of his own race to be good preachers, good +teachers, and good citizens. + +In the midst of these thoughts, and before he had definitely made up his +mind as to his career, he received a letter from General Armstrong, +inviting him to deliver the “postgraduate” address at Hampton at +commencement, 1879. This honor brought Washington great joy. He accepted +the invitation and chose as his subject, “The Force That Wins.” He +worked hard for three months on his speech. It made a great impression +on all who heard it, and he was acclaimed one of the real orators of his +race. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + BACK AT HAMPTON + + +There is an old saying that “opportunity knocks but once” upon our door. +This is not true. Opportunities will certainly continue to come to us. +The important thing is to be ready for them when they come. We never +know what incident may turn out to be our greatest opportunity. If we +will do our best to meet every situation that confronts us, we may be +sure that there will be plenty of opportunities for us. It is the boy +that does not do his best on all occasions that loses out. So +Washington, when invited to speak at Hampton commencement, worked hard +for three months preparing that speech. When the time came, he did his +very best. Then he forgot the matter and went home. Just a few days +after he got home, he had a great surprise. There came a letter to him +from General Armstrong. It said, “We need you here at Hampton. We want +you to come and help us run the school.” + +That was a very happy moment in the life of Washington. He thought more +of General Armstrong than of any other man in the world. To be asked by +this man to come and work for him made Washington an exceedingly happy +man. He immediately wrote that he would accept the position. Some weeks +later he reached Hampton, ready to enter upon his new duties. + +His job was a rather peculiar one. The Indians in the United States, who +had been put upon certain territories out West, after being taken from +their land in the South and Southwest, had no system of education and +were entirely without schools of any kind. + +General Armstrong wanted to help them. He said he believed that they +could be educated, and he wanted to try it. The Government of the United +States gave its consent and agreed to cooperate with him. + +They brought from the West to Hampton about one hundred Indian boys to +be educated. These boys were very ignorant; Booker Washington says that +they were almost wild. + +Washington’s task was to live in the same building with these Indian +boys and look after them—to be a sort of “house father” to them. + +He had a hard job. The Indians are a very proud people. They felt +themselves superior to the white race, as well as to the black race. +They had a special dislike for the negro because he had been a slave, +and the Indians would not be slaves; they preferred death to slavery. + +These boys were not only very ignorant, but it was very hard to make +them understand, as they did not know the English language well. +Furthermore, everybody expected them to fail. + +We usually do just about what people expect of us. If they think we are +going to succeed, it helps us to succeed. If they think we are going to +fail, it makes attainment of success harder for us. Booker Washington +said: “I will succeed. I will show these people that these Indians can +be educated.” So for an entire year he worked with them. He soon won +their confidence and respect. That they all liked him was evident, for +they did everything they could to satisfy him and please him. He found +them ready to work hard and intelligent enough to be taught. They +learned the different kinds of trades just about as well as the negroes +did. At the end of the year everybody was willing to admit that +Washington had made a success of teaching the Indians. Ever since then +Indians have been going to Hampton, and many of them are students there +to-day. + +Washington says his hardest task was to get them to give up some of +their old habits and customs. They did not want to part with their long +hair; they did not want to quit wearing blankets or quit smoking. +However, since these customs were not customs at Hampton, they all +agreed to do as the others did there. + +Now came another very important work for Washington. After he had worked +with the Indians for a year, General Armstrong said, “I have another +hard job for you.” + +“Show it to me,” Washington replied. + +A great many people who did not have any money were trying to enter +Hampton; they were as poor as Washington was when he entered. General +Armstrong did not want to turn them away. He finally determined that he +would arrange it so these people could work all day at some trade or +other line of work and thus pay their living expenses and have something +left over to go into the treasurer’s office to their account. They had +to work ten hours a day to do this. Then they went to school two hours +at night. After a year or two they would have enough money saved up from +their work to enable them to enter the day school. This plan proved to +be a very fine one, and many of the best students from Hampton began in +the night school. + +It was this night school that General Armstrong wanted Washington to +teach. He took charge of it and made a great success of it. There were +about twelve in the class to begin with. The boys worked in the sawmill +in the daytime, and the girls in the laundry. They were such good +workers that he named them the “Plucky Class.” After a boy or a girl had +been in this class long enough to show that he or she meant business and +was going to stick to the job, Washington would give a certificate that +read as follows: + +“This is to certify that James Smith is a member of the Plucky Class of +the Hampton Institute and is in good and regular standing.”[9] + +The students were very proud of these certificates. It was not long +before everybody at Hampton was talking about the “Plucky Class.” In a +little while there were twenty-five in the group. The number kept on +growing the next year, and in a few years the class had several hundred +members. It is a big part of Hampton and Tuskegee to-day, for Washington +used the same idea at Tuskegee. + +Washington had a way of succeeding in everything he undertook. This was +because he determined to succeed and worked so hard and so well that +success was certain. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + BUILDING A GREAT SCHOOL + + +At Hampton the chapel exercises were at night. Here they sang the +beautiful old negro melodies and listened to a talk by General +Armstrong, or some other good speaker. One Sunday night in May, 1881, +after the regular exercises, General Armstrong, who had a way of taking +the students into his confidence as well as keeping them informed of +matters of interest to the race, announced that he had received a very +interesting letter. He then told them that the Legislature of Alabama at +its last session had set aside some money for the establishment of a +negro normal school, and that they were looking for a man to be the head +of this school and that he had been asked to recommend such a man. Of +course they wanted a white man. However, the next day General Armstrong +sent for Booker Washington and said: “Washington, you heard the +announcement last night about the men in Alabama who want a man to be +the head of their school. I have decided that you are the man for them. +Will you take the place if it is offered to you?” + +This was surely a great surprise, but Booker Washington was always +ready. He said: “I think I can fill the place, and I am willing to try.” + +General Armstrong wrote at once about Washington. The next Sunday night, +during the chapel exercises, a telegram was handed to General Armstrong. +It was from the committee in Alabama. He opened it, and read it to the +audience. It said: “Booker Washington will suit us. Send him at +once.”[10] + +Washington prepared to go at once to his new field. After finishing his +work at Hampton, he paid a visit to his old home at Malden, and a couple +of weeks later, early in June, he arrived at Tuskegee, Alabama, to begin +his new task. + +Tuskegee at this time was a quiet little town of about two thousand +inhabitants. It is on a small branch railroad, five miles from the main +line, which runs from Atlanta, Georgia, to Montgomery, Alabama. The town +is about fifty miles from Montgomery. It is right in the heart of what +is known as the “Black Belt” in the South. A large and typical +population lived round about. The town was the county seat of Macon +County, in which lived a large number of negro farmers, all living very +much as the negro family lived in the South at that time. The white +people and the negroes were about equal in population in the town and +lived in cordial and friendly relations. + +Booker Washington had a great surprise awaiting him when he reached +Tuskegee. He thought that this school that he was to be the head of was +already in existence and naturally looked about to find the schoolhouse, +of course expecting to see a nice building. Imagine his surprise when he +found that there was as yet no school at all and absolutely no building, +no sign of a school whatsoever. He was to start this school himself from +the very beginning. The legislature had simply set aside two thousand +dollars a year to be used only for paying salaries, and no provision had +been made for building and grounds. + +Was Booker Washington discouraged? Not for a single minute did he sit +down and whine and complain and say that he might as well give up. He +went right out into the town, looked up some of the leading men of both +races, and told them that he was going to start something; that he was +going to open a school. And the men, a little amazed at first, caught +his enthusiasm and said: “Good for you. We are with you. You can count +on us. We will help.” + +His first effort was to find a house to use as a school building, and he +finally secured a little shanty that stood near the A. M. E. Church. It +was agreed that he could use this building for meetings of any kind, and +that he could teach in the shanty. After consulting again with his +friends, he announced that on July 4, 1881, the Tuskegee Institute would +open. + +Now that he had a place in which to begin work, his next job was to get +students for his school. He began to visit around in the country, making +talks in the churches at the regular service or at Sunday school and at +preaching services in schoolhouses and other places. He visited in the +homes of the people, and everywhere he told them of his school plans. + +In this way he came to know the people just as they lived, and they +learned how sympathetic Washington was, and how he was trying to help +them. Most of those he visited he found living in one- or two-room +houses, with fat pork and corn bread as their principal food. But they +always treated him kindly and entertained him the best they could. One +thing that distressed him was the discovery that many of these people +had been persuaded to buy such things as costly sewing machines and +organs, when they didn’t have enough to eat and to wear. At one place +where he took dinner there were four in the family, and when they sat +down at the table, he found that there was but one fork for all five of +them. + +Their lives were filled with much drudgery and hard work and almost no +opportunities for improvement. It was nearly impossible for them to make +a living, much less save any money. Their schools, if they had any at +all, had very short terms and were taught by teachers who knew very +little more than the children. It was a discouraging situation to any +one except a man like Booker Washington. “These are my people,” he said. +“They need help. They need education and the kind of education that will +give them cleaner and happier homes, healthier bodies, better schools, +and better life in every way. I am going to help them.” + +The school opened on July 4, 1881, with thirty students. Washington was +the only teacher. A large number of students wanted to enter, but he +decided not to admit any under fifteen years of age. Some of these +students were boys, and some were girls; some were grown men and women. +Most of them had been teachers. None of them was very well prepared, +however, for they had been very poorly taught. But the teacher found all +of them eager to learn and ready to work. + +Soon there were more students calling for admission. Within six weeks +there were fifty students. It was necessary to have a new teacher, and +the person secured for this work was Olivia Davidson, who afterwards +became Booker Washington’s second wife. + +She was a great help to him, and she agreed with him that they must do +something for the students besides merely teaching them books. +Washington says that they wanted to teach them how to be clean; how to +take care of their teeth and clothing; what and how to eat; and how to +make a living. + +All these pupils lived on the farm, as did nearly all the people of the +South. Washington wanted to so teach them that they would continue to +live among their own people and their lives would be happier and better +in every way. He did not want them to get a false idea about education. +Many of them had the wrong impression already. They thought that getting +an education consisted in reading big books and then of being able to +earn a living without work. Both of these ideas were wrong. He wanted to +teach them something that would make them useful and happy and +prosperous on the land in their native state. + +He certainly could not do this while teaching in a little old shanty +with one room that was in such bad condition that one of the pupils had +to hold an umbrella over the teacher when it rained. He had this same +experience at his boarding house, where his landlady often held an +umbrella over him while he ate his breakfast. + +About three months after the opening of his school, a small farm about +one mile from town was offered for sale. Washington went out and looked +it over and came to the conclusion that it was just the place for the +kind of school that he intended to build. But the price was $500, and he +didn’t have a dollar. The owner said: “Pay me $250 cash, and I will give +you one year to pay the other.” Washington borrowed $250 and closed the +deal. + +He decided to move the school at once to the new home. On this farm were +four buildings. The “big house” had been burned, but there was left +standing a little cabin, formerly used as a dining room, an old kitchen, +a stable, and a henhouse. Booker Washington and his growing school moved +into these four buildings. + +[Illustration: + + TUSKEGEE’S FIRST GROUP OF BUILDINGS +] + +The buildings were thoroughly cleaned and worked over and put in as good +condition as possible. Washington says, “I recall one morning, when I +told an old colored man who lived near, and who sometimes helped me, +that our school had grown so large that it would be necessary for us to +use the henhouse for school purposes, and that I wanted him to help me +give it a thorough cleaning out the next day, he replied, in a most +earnest manner, ‘What do you mean, boss? You sholy ain’t going to clean +out the henhouse in the daytime!’”[11] + +Do you know what a “chopping bee” is? Well, the students of Tuskegee +didn’t know until Booker Washington taught them. After they had been in +their new quarters for several weeks, Washington walked in one day and +said: “To-morrow we are going to have a ‘chopping bee.’ Now all of you +that have an axe bring it to school with you. Those of you who do not +have one, let me know, and I’ll get one for you. We will dismiss school +early and go to the ‘bee.’”[12] + +Next day everybody had an axe, and all of them were wondering what sort +of game a “chopping bee” was. They had never been to one, and they were +much excited over it. + +Soon after dinner Washington got his axe and threw it on his shoulder +and told the boys to come on. They eagerly followed. He led them out to +the woods and began cutting down a tree, and told them to do the same +thing. They did so. Washington, swinging his axe faster and better than +any of them, led the crowd, though all of them were doing their best. +And as they just kept on at this, it presently dawned on them that a +“chopping bee,” after all, was nothing but plain cutting down trees and +clearing land. Some of the students became angry. They said they did not +come to school to do that kind of work; they came to study books. But +they looked at Washington, who was an educated man, and they saw that he +was not ashamed to do this kind of work. After a time they began to see +what Washington’s purpose was, and they quit complaining and gladly +helped with all their might to get this needful work done. + +There was another way in which Washington secured the assistance of +others to build up his school. He had no way of going about over the +country except by walking. He did not have a horse or a mule, and he +could not cover much territory by walking. So he would watch for some +old negro with a mule and wagon and go to him and tell him all about his +plans. Then he would say: “Now, Uncle, don’t you want to help in this +good work? Well, come around early Saturday morning with your mule and +wagon and take me out in the country, where I can see the people and +tell them about our school,”[13] and the old man would be there on time. + +So, with the cordial coöperation of the students and friends in the +town, the school was making progress. Land was being cleared, and the +buildings and grounds were being improved. Washington was spreading the +fame of his school throughout the country and every one was becoming +interested. + +But that debt of five hundred dollars for the land on which the school +was being built had not been paid. Where was the money coming from? That +was the hard question. Miss Davidson started the plan of having suppers +or “festivals.” She would go about town and get friends to donate a +chicken or a cake or a pie for a supper. In this way a good sum was +raised. Washington wrote to his friends, explained the situation, and +asked for contributions. He asked the negroes as well as the white +people in town to give, and they did. Washington says that sometimes +they would give five cents, or twenty-five cents, or a quilt or some +sugar cane. “I recall one old colored woman,” he says, “who was about +seventy years of age,—she hobbled into the room where I was, leaning on +a cane. She was clad in rags, but they were clean. She said: ‘Mr. +Washington, God knows I spent de bes’ days of my life in slavery. God +knows I’s ignorant and poor; but I know what you and Miss Davidson is +tryin’ to do. I knows you is tryin’ to make better men and women for de +colored race. I ain’t got no money, but I wants you to take dese six +eggs, what I’s been savin’ up, and I wants you to put dese eggs into de +eddication of dose boys and gals.’”[14] Washington says that he has +received many gifts for Tuskegee, but none that affected him more deeply +than this one. + +Needless to say, by the end of the year the five hundred dollars had +been raised and the debt paid. + +Thus ended the first year of the history of Tuskegee. If you go there +now and see the many fine buildings, the broad acres, the hundreds of +students, and everything that goes to make up a great and wonderful +college, it would be very hard to realize that it started off with one +little shanty with a leaky roof, one teacher, and thirty students. From +this simple and humble, but very earnest beginning, Tuskegee grew by +leaps and bounds until it came to be the most remarkable negro school in +the South. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + STRENUOUS DAYS + + +As Booker Washington began the second year of his school, he met a new +obstacle. That was nothing unusual for him, however. He was usually +facing a hard job. He spent his life working on difficult tasks, and he +never found one that he did not finish with satisfaction. He tackled +this problem at once and with confidence. + +There were two parts to it. In the first place, although he had a fine +farm of five hundred acres all paid for, he had no buildings, except +that old kitchen, stable, and henhouse, in which to house his students. +When school opened in the fall of 1882, there were about one hundred and +fifty students present. These three or four little old shacks would not +take care of that crowd. What was he to do? This was his first +difficulty. + +His other problem was this. His school was just outside the town of +Tuskegee. It adjoined the town. A great many people in Tuskegee thought +that this school ought not to be built. Many were opposed to Booker +Washington. Many were opposed to educating negroes, and they believed +that negroes went to school simply to get out of work, and that an +educated negro was “sorry” and troublesome. Then there were some who +said: “This man means well, but he is just a negro, and, of course, he +can’t succeed.” Then, there were others who said: “This man Washington +is all right. I believe in him and trust him. He is doing a good thing. +He is going to succeed. I am counting on him.” So, his second job was to +win the friendship and good will of all the people in the town and round +about and not to disappoint those who believed in him. He worked out +these two problems together, as we shall see from what happened. + +The very first thing needed by the students after all was not a building +but something to eat. So the first move Washington made was to start the +students to work on the farm in raising a crop. Every day, after the +students had studied and recited their lessons, they would go to the +fields and work. We have already learned how they found out what a +“chopping bee” was. Now they were working in the fields where they had +previously cut down the trees. Some of them did not like this work at +first. They said: “We did not come to school to do work like this. We +have had enough of this at home.” But Washington kept right on, working +hard himself and showing his students that he was not ashamed to do hard +work with his hands. + +The next thing in order was a building—a good building, large and +comfortable and useful. He began to make plans for it. He knew he had to +have it, and, although he really did not have any money at all in hand, +he went right ahead and planned a fine building to cost six thousand +dollars. He did not know where he would get the money, but he had a firm +belief that in some way the money would be secured. + +[Illustration: + + A SUNDAY AFTERNOON BAND CONCERT ON THE CAMPUS +] + +When it was learned that he expected to put up this building, a man who +lived near Tuskegee and who owned a sawmill came to Washington and said +to him: “I have been watching you. I know what kind of a man you are. +You will keep your word, and you will pay your debts. I see that you +need some help. I just want to say that I will furnish you all the +lumber you need for this building at once, and you can pay just whenever +you are able.” Washington explained that, while he hoped to be able to +raise the money to pay for the building, he had not yet secured any of +it. The man replied: “That’s all right. Your credit is good with me; I +will trust you.” + +We can see from this incident how well he was succeeding in making +friends with his neighbors. + +As soon as he had raised a part of the money, he let the man put the +material on the ground. Then the building was begun, and again the +students did all the work. They first digged the foundations, and some +of them became so disgusted with this work that they left the place +altogether. Washington was sorry that they left, but he said that any +one who was too proud to work with his hands and help out at a time like +this did not belong in his school. However, most of the students +remained and were perfectly willing to do the work. Rapid progress was +made, the foundations were finished, and they were ready for the laying +of the corner stone. + +The laying of the corner stone of this building is an important event in +the history of the education of the negro. There was a great crowd +present. Washington, his teachers, his students and their parents, and a +large number of other negroes were there. There were present, also, a +large number of white people,—the mayor of the town, the councilmen, the +sheriff and all the other county officers, and all the prominent +business and professional men of the community. + +In a way this ceremony marks an epoch in Negro history in America. Just +seventeen years before, it was against the law for a negro to be taught +books at all in Alabama. Just seventeen years before, the negroes were +slaves,—for this was in 1882 and in the “Black Belt,” in the very heart +of the South. That this large group of white men should gather with the +negroes for the purpose of dedicating a building to negro education +shows what wonderful change of sentiment had taken place. It shows also +how thoroughly Booker Washington had won the confidence of all the +people among whom he was working. + +All his students were from Alabama. Most of them were from the country. +He knew that most of them would spend their lives on the farm or in +occupations of some kind. He wanted them to be practical; to know how to +do well the things they would surely be compelled to do. So he +determined from the very beginning that his students should learn how to +do practical things as well as learn from books. He had them clear the +land for the school; he had them farm the cleared lands; he had them do +the cooking; he had them make the brick and build the buildings of the +school. He says that his idea was to teach the students the best methods +of labor and how to derive the greatest benefit from their work. He +wanted them to learn new ways of work,—how to use steam, water, and +electricity. He also wanted to teach them that work was dignified and +honorable and that no man should be ashamed to do any kind of honest +work. + +[Illustration: + + AUTOMOBILE AND BUGGY TRIMMING AT TUSKEGEE +] + +He followed this plan till his death, and nearly every one of the many +buildings that stood at Tuskegee when he died was built entirely by the +students themselves. + +They planned to build this first large building—“Porter Hall” they +called it—of brick; so they went out to make the brick right there. The +students did not like this work. It was hard and it was dirty. However, +they went at it and, after several trials, found some brick clay. + +They molded the brick, built the kiln, fired it, and waited. When the +burning was done, they found that they had made a complete failure. None +of the brick could be used. At once they built another kiln. This also +turned out to be a failure. Some of them were discouraged at this, and +said: “Let’s quit.” But others said: “We must succeed.” So a third kiln +was built. This kiln seemed to be burning splendidly when suddenly, on +the last night, it fell. + +This was surely discouraging, but Washington was not to be stopped by +failure. He was now without a dollar to continue this work. He happened +to think, however, of a watch he owned. He took the watch to Montgomery, +Alabama, near by, pawned it for fifteen dollars, came home, called the +workers together once more, built another kiln, and this time the kiln +was a success. + +Later, when he went back to get his watch, it was gone; but he never +regretted losing it in such a good cause. + +Now that he was successful in making bricks, the work progressed on the +buildings, and soon Porter Hall was finished, and other buildings were +started. + +There were two other things Washington wanted for his school. One was a +place for his students to board, and the other, a place for them to +room. Washington said that he had nothing but the students and their +appetites to begin a boarding department with. However, they got busy, +dug a large amount of earth from beneath Porter Hall, and opened this +basement up for a dining room. They had no dishes, no knives and forks +to speak of, at first; they had poor arrangements of every kind. And +they had bad luck. Something went wrong almost every day at first. They +would spill the soup, burn the meat, or leave the salt out of the bread. +Meals were served with no sort of regularity. + +Washington says that one morning he was at the dining room when +everything went wrong. The breakfast was a failure. One of the girls who +failed to get any breakfast went to the well to get a drink of water, +and found the well rope broken. Washington heard her say: “You can’t +even get water to drink at this school.”[15] He says that remark came +nearer discouraging him than anything that ever happened to him. + +He may have been discouraged, but he kept on, and in a little while +things were coming out all right. And to-day, one of the greatest sights +at Tuskegee is the great dining hall with its white tablecloths, +napkins, and vases of flowers, with elegant meals served in excellent +style and order and on time. + +The next thing was rooms for the boarders. Students were coming from a +distance. There was no place for them at the school. Besides, Washington +wanted them at the school so that he could help them learn best how to +keep their rooms and live as folks ought to live. They used the cabins +first for sleeping quarters, but they had almost no furniture. They made +mattresses of pine needles. Their bedclothes were so scant the first +winter that several were frostbitten. + +Soon a good house was built, however, for all the students, and now they +began to live as people ought. Among other things, Washington insisted +that they use toothbrushes. He said that perhaps no one thing meant more +in the real training of the negro than the proper use of this article. +He went from room to room himself to see whether the students had them. +“We found one room,” he says, “that contained three girls who had +recently arrived at the school. When I asked them if they had +toothbrushes, one of the girls replied, pointing to a brush, ‘Yes, sir, +that is our brush. We bought it together yesterday.’ It did not take +them long to learn a different lesson.”[16] + +In many ways, he was able to help these students learn the proper ways +of living—how to sleep properly, how to care for their bodies, and how +to take care of their clothes. + +This second year of the school was truly a strenuous one in clearing +land, raising a crop, making bricks, building Porter Hall, starting a +boarding department and a rooming department. Everybody had been busy +doing good work, and everybody was happy. They were making a great +beginning. + +[Illustration: + + CLASS IN PHYSICAL TRAINING AT TUSKEGEE +] + +A very important event of this year was the marriage of Washington to +Fannie M. Smith. They had known each other back in Malden, and, as soon +as Washington’s work was well begun, they were married. She lived only +two years after her marriage, dying in 1884, and leaving a daughter, +Portia M. Washington. Several years later Washington married Olivia +Davidson, the teacher who had been associated with him in the school +almost from the first, and who had done so much to help him in getting +the school started. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + RAISING MONEY FOR TUSKEGEE + + +Tuskegee grew rapidly and steadily. Students began to pour in from all +parts of the country. Girls were coming as well as boys. It was +absolutely necessary to find some place for these students to live and +carry on their school work. Tuskegee Institute had no money. You will +remember that the Legislature of Alabama appropriated two thousand +dollars a year for the payment of teachers, but gave nothing for +buildings or land or equipment. So if new buildings were to be erected, +it meant that the money would have to be raised by some other means. +This was not a church school, and it could not, therefore, appeal to any +religious denomination for help. There was only one way to secure funds +for its development and growth and that was by going out and asking +people directly for aid. + +Washington did not like to do this, but, recognizing the necessity for +it, he went bravely ahead. And perhaps no man was ever more successful +in this work than he was. President Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard +University, had to raise money in the same way for Harvard. He was so +successful that it was said of him, “When he goes to rich men they just +throw up their hands and say, ‘Don’t shoot! How much do you want?’” And +President Eliot said that Washington could beat him raising money. + +Before Washington’s death in 1915, it required from $250,000 to $300,000 +a year to run Tuskegee. That is a big sum of money. A very large part of +it had to be raised by personal solicitation. And it had to be raised +almost entirely in the North. This meant that Washington had to spend a +large part of his time away from Tuskegee, traveling over the country, +making speeches, and talking to individual men. It was hard work, and it +took a great deal of strength and effort as well as time. He had many +remarkable experiences. He met many great and good people, who were glad +to help him. He had an opportunity to tell them about his school and +about his people in the South; and an opportunity to hear this +remarkable man was given to many people. + +This is the way he was led to undertake this work. When the girls began +coming to school, they had to have a dormitory. The boys had been +staying in the attic of Porter Hall, living in the shanty, or boarding +in town. But this would not do for the girls. They must have different +accommodations. The boys ought to have, but the girls _must_ have better +surroundings. So they proceeded to plan a dormitory. They did not have +any money with which to build a house. It was just like starting Porter +Hall. But they said they could at least plan the kind of building they +would build if they had the money. They made plans for a building that +would cost ten thousand dollars, and named it Alabama Hall. But that +Alabama Hall was on paper only and in the minds of folks; so they could +not use it very well. + +[Illustration: + + WHITE HALL (Girls’ dormitory), CHAPEL (rear), TATUM HALL (right), + TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE +] + +Then an interesting thing happened. Have you noticed how often something +interesting turned up with Washington? Perhaps there is a good reason +for it. “Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a +result of hard work,” Washington himself has said. It was not just an +accident after all that these good things were happening. It was because +Washington by his work and his good sense had made lasting impressions +upon people who were in positions to give him help. + +This is what happened. While thinking about how he could get the ten +thousand dollars for Alabama Hall, he received a letter from General +Armstrong, asking if he would agree to go with him on a tour of the +North; if so, to come to Hampton at once. Washington was delighted and +accepted the invitation. To his great surprise he found that General +Armstrong had planned to take a quartette of singers from Hampton and go +himself with Washington on a tour of the North in the interests of +Tuskegee. Washington thought the trip was planned for Hampton, of +course, and, when he found that General Armstrong had been so unselfish +as to plan it for him, he was overcome with gratitude. + +They had a great trip. General Armstrong had Washington do most of the +speaking. “Give them an idea for every word,” he said to Washington as +they started. And Washington did. It was on this trip that Washington +first introduced Tuskegee to the people of the North, and that the +people first got acquainted with Washington. When he returned from this +trip, he was able to begin work on Alabama Hall, and it was soon +completed and paid for. From this time on Washington went North a great +deal to speak publicly and to talk privately to men about the needs of +Tuskegee. + +He met a great many rich men. He had many interesting experiences with +them. He did not “beg” from them. He says he always followed two simple +rules in this work: first, to do his full duty in presenting the needs +of the school, and, second, not to worry about the results. He found +these rich men unlike what he had expected. He said they were among the +best and kindest and most generous people in the world. While he +sometimes received discourteous treatment, as a rule he was gladly +received and treated with great respect, and help was gladly given. + +Three of the rich men who helped Washington a great deal were: Collis P. +Huntington, the great railroad builder; H. H. Rogers, of the Standard +Oil Company; and Andrew Carnegie, the philanthropist, who had made a +fortune in the steel industry. Washington says that the first time he +interviewed Mr. Huntington he received a donation of two dollars. Two +dollars from a multi-millionaire! But the last donation he received from +Mr. Huntington was a check for fifty thousand dollars. And between the +two gifts there had been gifts of many thousands. Mr. Rogers also gave +many thousands of dollars and helped particularly in the great extension +work of the college. + +[Illustration: + + JOHN A. ANDREW MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE +] + +The most liberal giver was Andrew Carnegie. As soon as Carnegie heard of +the work that Washington was doing, he sent for him to come to New York +City. The result was that Carnegie gave him fifteen thousand dollars +with which to build a library. Washington and his coworkers spent a +great deal of time working out the plans for this building. All the work +was done by the students of Tuskegee. When it was completed, Carnegie +was amazed that such a beautiful and useful building had been built for +that sum of money. It convinced him that these people could be trusted +to spend money wisely. He therefore determined to give a large sum to +the school. Thus it happened, in 1903, that the President of the Board +of Trustees of Tuskegee received the following letter: + + + NEW YORK, _April 17, 1903_. + + My dear Mr. Baldwin: + + I have instructed Mr. Franks, Secretary, to deliver to you as Trustee + of Tuskegee $600,000 of 5 per cent U. S. Steel Co. bonds to complete + the Endowment Fund as per circular. + + One condition only—the revenue of one hundred and fifty thousand of + these bonds is to be subject to Booker Washington’s order to be used + by him first for his wants, and those of his family during his life or + the life of his widow. If any surplus is left he can use it for + Tuskegee. I wish that great and good man to be free from pecuniary + cares that he may devote himself wholly to his great mission. + + To me he seems one of the foremost of living men, because his work is + unique,—the Modern Moses, who leads his race and lifts it through + Education to ever better and higher things than a land overflowing + with milk and honey. History is to know two Washingtons,—one white, + the other black, both fathers of their people. I am satisfied that the + serious race question of the South is to be solved wisely only by + following Booker Washington’s policy, which he seems to have been + especially born—a slave among slaves—to establish, and, even in his + own day, greatly to advance. + + So glad to be able to assist this good work in which you and others + are engaged. + + Yours truly, + (Signed) Andrew Carnegie. + + To Mr. William H. Baldwin, Jr., + New York City, N. Y.[17] + + +One other name must be mentioned, and that is Julius Rosenwald of +Chicago. Mr. Rosenwald not only gave large sums himself—and is still +giving enormous amounts not only to Tuskegee but to the cause of negro +education throughout the South—but frequently left his own business and +helped to raise money among his friends for Tuskegee. + +[Illustration: + + CLASS IN PHOTOGRAPHY, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE +] + +There were many large gifts from many men and women, all of whom cannot +be mentioned here of course, but most of the money that was given to +Tuskegee came in small amounts from a large number of people,—from +churches, Sunday schools, missionary societies, and other organizations; +from preachers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, farmers—from every class of +people came gifts, sometimes large and sometimes small. All the +graduates of Tuskegee were loyal and gave something, however small the +amount might be. The Alabama Legislature gave more and more as the +school grew. The Slater Fund and the Peabody Fund also began to make +annual contributions to the school. + +It was through all these channels that the money came pouring into +Tuskegee in such amounts that it was possible for it to grow and develop +in a remarkable way. Building after building went up. New students came. +New equipment was purchased. Additional faculty members were secured. +And the school grew in size and usefulness and in favor in the eyes of +the people. + + + + + CHAPTER X + MAKING SPEECHES + + +Frederick Douglass and Booker Washington rank as the greatest orators +the negro race has ever produced. This is a high place to occupy, for +the race has produced many remarkable speakers. + +Douglass was the great spokesman for the race just before the Civil War +and during the troublesome days of reconstruction. Washington began his +career just at the time that Douglass ended his. Douglass was a very +eloquent man; perhaps more eloquent at times than Washington. On the +other hand, Washington was a better educated man than Douglass and +probably had a more lasting influence upon his generation. + +Booker Washington made thousands of speeches in his life. He spoke to +white and black; in the North and in the South; in Europe as well as in +America. He spoke in churches; at school commencements; at conventions; +at educational and religious meetings; at county fairs; and to every +kind and condition of people. He spoke before kings and presidents; he +spoke to the lowliest men of his own race in the heart of the black belt +in Alabama. It is a wonderful thing to be an orator; to speak to men and +women in such a way that they will be helped and inspired and made +happier and more useful. + +When Washington was at Hampton, he began to learn the art of speaking. +You remember how he organized a debating society which met for the +twenty minutes they had between supper and time to begin work. You +remember how he spoke and spoke at these meetings, doing his best to +learn how to express himself well. One of his teachers, Miss Mackie, +knew of his ambition to become a good speaker, and she gave him a great +deal of help, teaching him how to stand, how to pronounce his words, and +how to control his voice and gestures. By much hard work he came to be +the best speaker among the boys at Hampton. + +You will recall, too, how General Armstrong invited him to deliver the +alumni address in 1879, and what a big success he made of that. All this +time he was speaking at Sunday schools, at churches, at educational +meetings, and everywhere he had an opportunity. His trip North with +General Armstrong gave him much valuable experience. + +The first speech that he made that attracted the attention of all the +people was at the National Education Association, in Madison, Wis. The +most important thing he said in this speech was that the “whole future +of the negro rested largely upon the question as to whether or not he +should make himself, through his skill, intelligence, and character, of +such undeniable value to the community in which he lived that the +community could not dispense with his presence.” He said that any one +who “learned to do something better than anybody else—learned to do a +common thing in an uncommon manner—had solved his problem, regardless of +the color of his skin.”[18] He also said that the two races ought to be +brought closer together and cultivate the most cordial and friendly +relations, rather than become bitter toward each other. + +But the greatest speech of Washington’s life was the Atlanta speech. In +the year 1895 the people of Georgia determined to hold a great Cotton +States Exposition, in Atlanta, which would set forth the progress of the +South since the Civil War. In order to make the exposition a great +success it was necessary to have the financial assistance of Congress. +So a committee was appointed to go to Washington to confer with a +committee from Congress. Booker Washington was appointed on this Georgia +committee; and his speech in Washington before the Congressional +committee was one of unusual force. Many said it was the best speech +made. Congress gave the assistance asked. + +When the authorities came to plan the exposition in detail, they decided +to have a Negro Division. The negroes were asked to take part, and they +gladly agreed to do so. They built one of the best buildings on the +grounds. This building was planned by a negro architect and was erected +entirely by negro labor. It contained exhibits prepared altogether by +negroes. It was one of the most interesting parts of the entire +exposition. + +When the exposition was formally opened in September, 1895, Booker +Washington was invited to make an address as a representative of the +negro race. James Creelman, a noted newspaper man, the correspondent of +the New York _World_, heard that speech, and he wrote to the _World_ +about it. This is what he wrote: + + + “Mrs. Thompson, one of the other speakers on the program, had hardly + taken her seat, when all eyes were turned on a tall, tawny negro, + sitting in the front row of the platform. It was Professor Booker T. + Washington, President of the Tuskegee (Alabama) Normal and Industrial + Institute, who must rank from this time forth as the foremost man of + his race in America. Gilmore’s Band played the ‘Star-spangled Banner,’ + and the audience cheered. The tune changed to ‘Dixie’ and the audience + roared with shrill ‘hi-yi’s.’ Again the music changed, this time to + ‘Yankee Doodle,’ and the clamor lessened. + + “All this time the eyes of the thousands present looked straight at + the negro orator. A strange thing was to happen. A black man was to + speak for his people, with none to interrupt him. As Professor + Washington strode to the edge of the stage, the low, descending sun + shot fiery rays through the windows into his face. A great shout + greeted him. He turned his head to avoid the blinding light, and moved + about the platform for relief. Then he turned his wonderful + countenance to the sun without a blink of the eyelids, and began to + talk. + + “There was a remarkable figure; tall, bony, straight as a Sioux chief, + high forehead, straight nose, heavy jaws, and strong, determined + mouth, with big white teeth, piercing eyes, and a commanding manner. + The sinews stood out on his bronzed neck, and his muscular right arm + swung high in the air, with a lead pencil grasped in the clinched + brown fist. His big feet were planted squarely, with the heels + together and the toes turned out. His voice rang out clear and true, + and he paused impressively as he made each point. Within ten minutes + the multitude was in an uproar of enthusiasm—handkerchiefs were waved, + canes were flourished, hats were tossed in the air. The fairest women + of Georgia stood up and cheered. It was as if the orator had bewitched + them. + + “And when he held his dusky hand high above his head, with the fingers + stretched wide apart, and said to the white people of the South, on + behalf of his race, ‘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,’ the great wave of sound dashed itself against the + walls, and the whole audience was on its feet in a delirium of + applause. + + “I have heard the great orators of many countries, but not even + Gladstone himself could have pleaded a cause with more consummate + power than did this angular negro, standing in a nimbus of sunshine, + surrounded by the men who once fought to keep his race in bondage. The + roar might swell ever so high, but the expression of his earnest face + never changed. + + “A ragged, ebony giant, squatted on the floor in one of the aisles, + watched the orator with burning eyes and tremulous face until the + supreme burst of applause came, and then the tears ran down his face. + Most of the negroes in the audience were crying, perhaps without + knowing just why. + + “At the close of the speech Governor Bulloch rushed across the stage + and seized the orator’s hand. Another shout greeted this + demonstration, and for a few minutes the two men stood facing each + other, hand in hand.”[19] + + +It was a wonderful speech. It contained much good advice both to the +whites and to the negroes. It was fair to both. As Clark Howell, editor +of the _Atlanta Constitution_, said, “It was a platform upon which both +races, black and white, could stand with full justice to each +other.”[20] In the speech he told the following story: “A ship lost at +sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of +the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: ‘Water, water; we die of +thirst.’ The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back, ‘Cast +down your buckets where you are.’ A second time the signal, ‘Water, +water, send us water,’ ran up from the distressed vessel, and was +answered, ‘Cast down your buckets where you are.’ And a third and a +fourth signal for water was answered, ‘Cast down your buckets where you +are.’ The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the +injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, +sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River.” Washington then +appealed to his own people to “cast down their buckets where they were,” +by making friends with their white neighbors in every manly way, by +training themselves where they were in agriculture, in mechanics, in +commerce, instead of trying to better their condition by immigration. +And, finally, to the white Southern people, he appealed to “cast down +their buckets where they were,” by using and training the negroes whom +they knew rather than seeking to import laborers whom they did not +know.[21] + +Frederick Douglass had died only a few months before this great speech +was made. At once from all parts of the country came the statement, +“Here is the man who will take the place of Douglass as leader of the +negro race.” And from that time on, Booker Washington was the accepted +leader of his people in this country. + +He was immediately called upon to speak in all parts of the country. He +was offered big sums of money to lecture. One speaker’s bureau offered +him fifty thousand dollars a year. He refused all these offers of money, +saying that he must give his time to Tuskegee and to the interests of +his people, rather than try to make money for himself. + +Another of his great speeches was made at Cambridge, Mass., in 1896. +Harvard University, the oldest and most famous university in America, +conferred the honorary degree of master of arts upon Mr. Washington in +1896. This was the first time in the history of America that a college +or university of such high standing had ever conferred an honorary +degree upon a negro. Washington says this honor was the greatest +surprise of his life. At the time the ceremony of conferring this degree +took place, he made a speech that won great applause from the audience. + +It is very interesting to read Washington’s own account of his +experiences. “People often ask me,” he says, “if I feel nervous before +speaking, or else suggest that, since I speak so often, they suppose I +get used to it. In answer to this question I have to say that I always +suffer intensely from nervousness before speaking. More than once, just +before I was to make an important address, this nervous strain has been +so great that I have resolved never again to speak in public. I not only +feel nervous before speaking, but after I have finished I usually feel a +sense of regret, because it seems to me as if I had left out of my +address the best thing that I had meant to say.... Nothing tends to +throw me off my balance so quickly, when I am speaking, as to have some +one leave the room. To prevent this, I make up my mind, as a rule, that +I will try to make my address so interesting, will try to state so many +interesting facts one after another, that no one will leave.”[22] + +Washington made it a rule never to say anything to a Northern audience +that he would not say to a Southern audience. He also made it a rule +never to say to a negro audience anything that he would not say to a +white audience. In this honest and fair way he kept close to the truth, +and at the same time never offended fair-minded people of either race. + +He was a capital story-teller, but he did not make a practice of telling +jokes and funny stories in his speeches, just to make people laugh. He +always had a serious purpose in his stories. He had two or three stories +that he told frequently, because they were so full of meaning. This was +one of them: One day he was going along the road, and he met old Aunt +Caroline, with a basket on her head. He said, “Good morning, Aunt +Caroline. Where are you going this morning?” And she replied, “Lor’ +bless yer, Mister Washington, I dun bin where I’s er goin.” “And so,” he +would then say, “some of the races of the earth have done been where +they was er goin’. But the negro race is not one of them. Its future +lies before it.”[23] + +Another of his stories was about a good old negro who accompanied +Washington on one of his tours. At a certain city they found that they +had several hours before the train left; so this old man decided to +stroll about to see the town. Presently, he looked at his watch and +found that it was just about time for his train to leave, and he was +some distance from the station. He rushed to a hack stand, and called +out to the first driver he came to, who happened to be a white man, +“Hurry up, and take me to the station; I’s gotta get the 4:32 train.” To +which the white driver replied, “I ain’t never drove a nigger in my hack +yit, an’ I ain’t goin’ ter begin now. You can git a nigger driver ter +take ye down.”[24] + +To this the old colored man replied with perfect good nature, “All +right, my friend, we won’t have no misunderstanding or trouble; I’ll +tell you how we will settle it; you jest hop in on der back seat an’ do +der ridin’ an’ I’ll set in front an’ do der drivin’.” In this way they +reached the station on good terms, and the old man caught his train. +Like this old negro, Washington always devoted his energies to catching +the train, and it made little difference to him whether he sat on the +front or back seat. + +Two other speeches of Washington attracted wide attention. One of these +was delivered in Boston in 1897, at the time of the dedication of a +monument to Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw was the Colonel of the famous negro +regiment of soldiers from Massachusetts in the Civil War. It was in this +regiment that Sergeant William H. Carney served,—the man who +triumphantly carried the flag in the great battle of Fort Wagner, and +exclaimed after the fight, “The old flag never touched the ground!” +Colonel Shaw lost his life in the battle of Fort Wagner, while leading +his negro regiment. The people of Boston erected a monument to his +memory, and Washington’s speech at its dedication was one of the +greatest he ever made. + +One other speech was delivered in Chicago in 1898 at a great Peace +Celebration, following the close of the Spanish-American War. There was +an enormous crowd—the largest he ever spoke to, Washington says. There +were sixteen thousand people present. President McKinley was there, +together with several cabinet members and other distinguished guests. +“The President was sitting in a box at the right of the stage,” says +Washington. “When I addressed him I turned to the box, and as I finished +the sentence thanking him for his generosity, the whole audience rose +and cheered again and again, waving hats and handkerchiefs and canes, +until the President arose in the box, and bowed his acknowledgments. At +that the enthusiasm broke out again, and the demonstration was almost +indescribable.”[25] + +The demands for him to speak were so great that it was impossible for +him to meet them all. He often spoke three and four times a day. He was +away from Tuskegee, making speeches, a large part of his time. He made +extended tours, by special train, all over the states of Virginia, North +Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and +Tennessee. On these tours he spoke to thousands and thousands of people. +Everywhere he went all the people, white and black, heard him gladly. +The good that this man did through his oratory cannot be overestimated. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + SUCCESS AS EDUCATIONAL LEADER + + +Booker Washington spent his life in the education of the negro. Negroes +of ability in his day usually became preachers or they entered politics. +The negro preacher had rendered a greater service to his people, +perhaps, than any one else. Before 1865, the ministry was practically +the only place where negro leadership could find expression. It was much +the same way for many years after the Civil War. However, after +emancipation, there was an opportunity for leadership in politics, and a +great many negroes of ability entered this field, many of them holding +offices. + +Washington was urged by some of his friends to enter the ministry. +Others urged him to study law and enter politics. Undoubtedly he could +have made a great success in either of these fields of work. But from +the very beginning of his education, he had a strong conviction that his +life must be spent in helping to educate his people. + +He felt that education was the greatest need of his race. Before the +war, it had been against the law for a slave to be taught from books. At +the close of the war, then, there were no schools, no teachers, and no +books. The whole race could neither read nor write. The whole race had +had no training of any kind except in agriculture. It is true a few, but +a very few, had had a little training in certain trades such as +bricklaying, blacksmithing, and carpentry. The race, therefore, through +no fault of its own, was very ignorant. It had never had an opportunity. + +[Illustration: + + CHEMISTRY CLASS, TUSKEGEE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT +] + +But now that the opportunity had come with emancipation, the entire race +was eager to learn. Old men and old women, as well as boys and girls, +began with great zeal to learn to read and write. The race started to +school. It was determined to get an education, and it was to help in +this great work that Washington early determined to devote his life. + +Just after the war there was much confusion and doubt about the best +plan to follow in educating the negro. The Freedmen’s Bureau brought a +large number of teachers from the North to assist in the task, and much +valuable work was done in the negro schools by these teachers. The +different Southern states also began to make provision for the negro’s +education, by organizing schools, building schoolhouses, and making +provision for training teachers. + +There was much difference of opinion as to just what should be taught +the negro. As a rule, the plan followed was to teach him just what had +been taught in the white schools. This meant that he would study +reading, writing, arithmetic and grammar, and later, Latin, Greek, +mathematics and literature. + +So much of this kind of teaching was done, and it was so poorly done, +and it was so poorly adapted to the needs of the negro at the time, that +a great many people began to doubt the wisdom of trying to educate the +negro at all. But Washington insisted that the mistake was made in the +kind of education they were trying to give him. In answer to the +question, “Does it pay to educate the negro?” Washington often told the +story of what had taken place in Macon County, Alabama, the county in +which Tuskegee is located. In that county, he and Mr. H. H. Rogers +decided to build, with the coöperation of the people themselves, a +system of excellent schools, and try out as thoroughly as possible the +question of the effect of education upon the negro, under favorable +conditions. They put up good schoolhouses, secured good teachers, taught +practical subjects, and ran the schools for eight or nine months in the +year. + +What was the result? In a short time people began to come from all parts +of the state and outside the state to buy land or to work within reach +of these excellent schools. Land advanced in price. Desirable citizens +flocked in. Homes were improved. Good roads were built. Better farms +appeared. Crime diminished. The sheriff said that he practically had no +further use for the jail. Cordial relations existed between the white +and negro people. In every way Macon County came to be a better place to +live in. The race problem was solved in that county. People were happy +and prosperous. They were living clean, wholesome, contented lives. The +whole problem of living was, in a large measure, solved. And it was all +due to education of the people, and education of the right kind. What +was good for Macon County, Alabama, would be good for every county in +the country. + +Washington’s ideas of education were very simple. He had studied +carefully the needs of his people. What he wanted was a system of +education that would help people directly and immediately; that would +enable them to make better crops; build better homes; wear better +clothes; eat better food; live cleaner and purer and happier lives. He +wanted his people to learn to live; and he believed the school was the +place to learn that lesson. + +[Illustration: + + TRUCK GARDENING, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE +] + +He wanted the children to study practical things; the things they +needed. He thought, therefore, that the school ought to be very closely +related to life. His idea was that that school was best which turned out +students who could earn their own living at once; who had the ability to +take care of themselves in whatever environment they happened to be; and +who had genuine character. “My experience has taught me,” he says, “that +the surest way to success in education, and in any other line for that +matter, is to stick close to the common and familiar things—things that +concern the greater part of the people the greater part of the +time.”[26] + +It was this belief in the close relation between school and life that +caused him to have his students, at the beginning of the building of +Tuskegee, cut down the trees, plant the crops, make the bricks, build +the buildings, cook the food, care for the dormitories, look after the +live stock, and do everything that was to be done about the place. He +wanted his students to learn to do well all these tasks that they would +face in later life. And he also wanted them to learn that it was a +perfectly honorable and dignified and sensible thing to labor, to work, +to do anything that was honest and useful. + +Perhaps there is no better way of understanding Washington’s ideas of +education and just what he was striving to do at Tuskegee than to +describe the commencement exercises at this school. + +“On the platform before the audience is a miniature engine to which +steam has been piped, a miniature frame house in course of construction, +and a piece of brick wall in process of erection. A young man in jumpers +comes on the platform, starts the engine and blows the whistle. +Whereupon young men and women come hurrying from all directions, and +each turns to his or her appointed task. A young carpenter completes the +little house, a young mason finishes the laying of the brick wall, a +young farmer leads forth a cow and milks her in full view of the +audience, a sturdy blacksmith shoes a horse, and, after this patient, +educative animal has been shod, he is turned over to a representative of +the veterinary division to have his teeth filed. At the same time, on +the opposite side of the platform one of the girl students is having a +dress fitted by one of her classmates, who is a dressmaker. She at +length walks proudly from the platform in her completed new gown, while +the young dressmaker looks anxiously after to make sure that it ‘hangs +right behind.’ Other girls are doing washing and ironing with the +drudgery removed in accordance with advanced Tuskegee methods. Still +others are hard at work on hats, mats, and dresses, while boys from the +tailoring department sit cross-legged working on suits and uniforms. In +the background are arranged the finest specimens which scientific +agriculture has produced on the farm and mechanical skill has turned out +in the shop. The pumpkin, potatoes, corn, cotton, and other agricultural +products predominate, because agriculture is the chief industry at +Tuskegee, just as it is among the negro people of the South. + +[Illustration: + + DOMESTIC SCIENCE CLASS AT TUSKEGEE +] + +“This form of commencement exercise is one of Booker Washington’s +contributions to education which has been widely copied by schools for +whites as well as blacks. That it appeals to his own people is +eloquently attested by the people themselves, who come in ever-greater +numbers as the commencement days recur. At three o’clock in the morning +of this great day, vehicles of every description, each loaded to +capacity with men, women, and children, begin to roll in, in an unbroken +line which sometimes extends along the road for three miles. Some of the +teachers at times objected to turning a large area of the Institute +grounds into a hitching-post station for the horses and mules of this +great multitude, but to all such objections Mr. Washington replied, +‘This place belongs to the people and not to us.’ Less than a third of +these eight or nine thousand people are able to crowd into the chapel to +see the actual graduation exercises; but all can see the graduation +procession as it marches through the grounds to the chapel, and all are +shown through the shops and over the farm and through the special +agricultural exhibits, and even through the offices, including that of +the principal. It is significant of the respect in which people hold the +Institute, and in which they held Booker Washington, that in all these +years there has never been on these occasions a single instance of +drunkenness or disorderly conduct.”[27] + +“One of our students in his commencement oration last May gave a +description of how he planted and raised an acre of cabbages. Piled high +upon the platform by his side were some of the largest and finest +cabbages I have ever seen. He told how and where he had obtained the +seed; he described his method of preparing and enriching the soil, of +working the land, and harvesting the crop; and he summed up by giving +the cost of the whole operation. In the course of his account of this +comparatively simple operation, this student had made use of much that +he had learned in composition, grammar, mathematics, chemistry, and +agriculture. He had not merely woven into his narrative all these +various elements that I have referred to, but he had given the audience +(which was made up largely of colored farmers from the surrounding +country) some useful and practical information in regard to a subject +which they understood and were interested in. I wish that any one who +does not believe it possible to make a subject like cabbages interesting +in a commencement oration could have heard the hearty cheers which +greeted the speaker when, at the close of his speech, he held up one of +the largest cabbages on the platform for the audience to look at and +admire. As a matter of fact there is just as much that is interesting, +strange, mysterious and wonderful; just as much to be learned that is +edifying, broadening, and refining in a cabbage as there is in a page of +Latin. There is, however, this distinction; it will make very little +difference to the world whether one negro boy, more or less, learns to +construe a page of Latin. On the other hand, as soon as one negro boy +has been taught to apply thought and study and ideas to the growing of +cabbages, he has started a process which, if it goes on and continues, +will eventually transform the whole face of things as they exist in the +South to-day.”[28] + +It can be readily seen from these two accounts just what kind of +education Washington believed in and tried to give his students at +Tuskegee. It was quite different from most of the training that had been +given the negro after the war. In those early days of freedom, many of +the negroes seemed to have the idea that the bigger the book and the +harder the words in it, the better the education was that they secured. +Some of them thought, too, that they were not educated unless they +studied Latin and Greek and higher mathematics, and other similar +subjects. Booker Washington did not mean that history, literature, and +foreign languages should not be studied and had no value. What he was +emphasizing was the fact that boys and girls should first get a clear +idea of things about them. Then they would be able better to understand +and appreciate such subjects as history and literature. + +One other feature of the kind of education that Tuskegee stands for +ought to be mentioned, and that is the extension work. This work has +become a very large part of the Institute. The extension work is not so +much a matter of teaching, of education in the usual sense, as it is an +effort to give direct and practical help to people outside the college +walls. Most of this extension work has been done in Macon and adjoining +counties. From the first month of his school, Washington began to go +into the country round about and mingle with his people. He went to +their homes, their churches, their schools. He saw their poor farms, +their lean stock, their dilapidated houses, their lack of the comforts +and necessities of good living. The homes, the churches, the +schoolhouses were in bad condition. Washington had the greatest sympathy +for these people, knowing why they were in poverty and ignorance, and he +had a great desire to help them. And it is through this extension work +that these people are helped. + +[Illustration: + + The students’ band of this rural school is instructed by a band + student of Tuskegee Institute. +] + +The Institute sends its workers throughout the surrounding country to +show the farmers improved farm machinery, better methods of farming, +better breeds of live stock of all kinds, better methods of dairying, +and better ways of preparing food, keeping house, and caring for the +children. They insist on improving the school buildings, the churches, +and the homes. As a result of this work, there are now in Macon County a +number of neat new schoolhouses, with a teacher’s house alongside each +school, several acres of land adjoining, and a good church close by. +Thus clean, pleasant, and thoroughly happy communities are created. In +such communities there is the smallest amount of crime, and there is the +largest amount of prosperity and contentment and enjoyment. + +All the graduates of Tuskegee are enthusiasts for education and +community builders. Wherever they go, they stand for the best in life. +They are devoted to Tuskegee and its spirit and its ideals. It is this +devotion which makes them industrious and capable and law-abiding and +helpful in every possible way in the communities in which they live. +Hundreds of small schools have been established all over the South by +these graduates, patterned on Tuskegee. It is impossible to overestimate +the good they have done. + +[Illustration: + + TAILORING DIVISION, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE +] + +Tuskegee has grown to be one of the greatest schools in the country, and +the greatest of all schools for the negroes. It has grown from 100 acres +and three little buildings to a plant of 2100 acres and 111 buildings. +Instead of one teacher with 30 pupils there are now more than 200 +teachers and 1500 students. The institution has a large endowment, and +it owns 20,000 acres of land given it by the United States Government. +It keeps a large dairy herd, runs a large farm, a poultry farm, and +keeps a large number of pigs, horses and sheep. Every phase of education +is taught, but the main work is industrial,—carpentry, brick masonry, +basket making, metal working, draughting, auto-mechanics, blacksmithing, +telegraphy, farming, dairying, lumbering, building, cooking, sewing, +nursing, housekeeping—all these and a large number of other callings are +taught. It is through such training as this that Washington believed +that the negroes, in largest numbers, would first get their best start +in life. + +Life is strenuous in this school. Here is an outline of the daily work: +“5 A.M., rising bell; 5:50 A.M., warning breakfast bell; 6:00 A.M., +breakfast bell; 6:20 A.M., breakfast over; 6:20–6:50 A.M., rooms +cleaned; 6:50 A.M., work bell; 7:30 A.M., morning study hour; 8:20 A.M., +morning school bell; 8:25 A.M., inspection of young men’s dress in +ranks; 8:40 A.M., devotional exercises in chapel; 8:55 A.M., ‘five +minutes with the daily news’; 9:00 A.M., class work begins; 12:00 M., +class work ends; 12:15 P.M., dinner; 1:00 P.M., work bell; 1:30 P.M., +class work begins; 3:30 P.M., class work ends; 5:30 P.M., bell to ‘knock +off’ work; 6:00 P.M., supper; 7:10 P.M., evening prayers; 7:30 P.M., +evening study hour: 8:45 P.M., evening study hour closes; 9:20 P.M., +warning bell; 9:30 P.M., retiring bell.”[29] + +Washington has done more for the education of the negro than any other +one man, white or black. His work at Tuskegee, his great educational +campaigns, and his speeches and writings have combined to make his +accomplishments of supreme value. Not only has he done this for the +negro, but his work has helped the cause of education for the white +people very greatly. All education in the South was backward. Like his +great teacher, General Armstrong, Washington realized that in their +progress the two races were bound together in the South, and that they +must grow or step backward together. It is impossible for the negro to +make his best progress unless the white man does so at the same time. +And of course this works both ways. Because he believed this, Washington +was anxious for school conditions for white people to change just as +well as the school conditions for negroes. Besides, he wanted all the +people to have the advantages of education. He did not hate anybody, and +consequently did not want anybody to be deprived of the best there was +in life. He did not want anybody, white or black, to fail to have his +best opportunity. So he worked for the advancement of the cause of the +white schools as well as the black, and his services to the white +schools were great. + +The future of negro education is very bright. Schools and colleges are +being built every year. Better teachers are being prepared. Children are +going to school in larger numbers than ever before, and their work is +more satisfactory. + +Every year the states appropriate more and more money for negro +education. The negro is now able to pay a large part of the cost of his +own education, and he is very willingly doing so. + +The negro is determined to get an education. When he gets it, he will be +a better citizen. And the better the citizens of a country are, the +better life is in every way, and the more completely are all our +problems solved. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + LEADING HIS PEOPLE + + +Immediately following Washington’s great speech in Atlanta in 1895, +there came the statement from all parts of the country, “Here is the new +leader of the negro race.” During the last years of slavery, and the +Civil War, and on for years after the war, Frederick Douglass, as has +been said, was the acknowledged leader of the negro in the United +States. Douglass had died in the early part of the year 1895. It seemed +that this man Washington had been raised up to take his place. The +Atlanta speech continued to be a topic of discussion throughout the +country, and coupled with this discussion was invariably the statement +that here was the new leader of the race. + +Washington says that he was at a great loss to know what people meant +when they referred to him as the leader of his people. Of course, this +leadership was not a thing that he had sought. The people thrust this +duty upon him, and of course no man has a right to shun or dodge +responsibility that is thus bestowed. + +He was not in doubt long as to what it meant to be a leader. One of the +first things that happened was the large number of invitations that came +to him to deliver addresses. These requests came from all parts of the +country and from all sorts of organizations. A very large number of +these invitations he was compelled to refuse. However, when he felt he +could serve his institution and his people, he always accepted. He +represented the Negro at the unveiling of the monument of R. G. Shaw, in +Boston; and at the Peace Convention in Chicago in 1898, at which time +President McKinley spoke. He attended most of the large religious +gatherings of his people throughout the country, and spoke before them. +Almost immediately there began to pour in on him a perfect flood of +letters from all parts of the country, from white and black, high and +low, rich and poor, asking a thousand different questions. Now it would +be a letter from a railroad president asking about some problem of +dealing with his employees; now from a school man asking about the +segregation of the races in schools. Again, from a legislator, asking +advice on some legislation; but principally the letters came from his +own people, asking all sorts of questions about a multitude of things. +One man wanted Washington to use his influence to secure the adoption of +a flag for the negro race; another wanted his backing for a patent +medicine that would take the curl out of the negro’s hair. Another +wanted to know if the negro race was dying out; another, if the race was +being blended with the white race; another, if he thought the negro was +being treated right politically. Perhaps the most remarkable request, +however, was from a woman, who wanted him to find her husband who had +deserted her some years before. And in order that he might be easily +identified she describes him: “This is the hith of him 5–6 light eyes +dark hair unwave shave and a Suprano Voice his age 58 his name +Steve.”[30] + +To all of these letters he replied in the fullest and frankest and +kindest way. + +Whenever there was race friction in the South, he was invariably called +upon either to go in person or to send a message. For example, when the +Atlanta riots occurred in 1906, Washington was in the North. He took the +first train South. He went among his own people in Atlanta first, and +then he went to the white people—to the Governor, the Mayor, the leading +citizens, ministers and merchants. Largely through his wise counsel and +efforts order was restored, and plans were made for the future. + +As a spokesman for his people he wrote constantly for the press. Such +papers as the _Montgomery Advertiser_, the _Atlanta Constitution_, the +_New Orleans Picayune_, the Louisville _Courier Journal_, the Chicago +_Inter-Ocean_, and the Boston and New York papers gladly published his +articles. He also contributed frequent articles to the weekly journals, +such as _The Outlook_, and to the monthly magazines, such as _The +Century Magazine_. + +He carried this phase of his leadership even further than the current +press, in that he made some notable contributions to the historical +literature of his race. The first book he wrote was “Up from Slavery.” +This is one of the greatest pieces of literature published in America. +The Hon. Walter H. Page, late Ambassador to Great Britain, said: “The +only books that I have read a second time or ever cared to read in the +whole list (of literature relating to the negro) are ‘Uncle Remus,’ and +‘Up from Slavery,’ for these are the great literature of the +subject.”[31] + +Believing the accomplishments of the race should be better known to his +own people, Washington determined to write a history of the Negro. “The +Story of the Negro—the Rise of the Race from Slavery” was the title of +the book he wrote, setting forth the wonderful progress of his people. + +Other books by him were, “My Larger Education,” “Learning with the +Hands,”—about eleven titles in all. These books are of high literary +merit, and in no other way, perhaps, did Washington so definitely place +himself as a leader of his people as in the realm of authorship. These +books, in addition to their literary value, were of great benefit to the +white race as well as to his own race, in getting before all the people +a proper estimate of the real accomplishments of the negro. + +One of the most important phases of his leadership of the negro was in +the organization of the _National Negro Business League_. It was one of +Washington’s strongest beliefs that the negro must prove himself able to +exist and prosper in business matters. The race—individually and +collectively—must demonstrate its ability to take care of itself in all +phases of industrial life. Another of his important principles was that +the negro should emphasize his opportunities rather than his drawbacks. +As he went about the country, he noted the wonderful progress made by +the negro in all lines of business. He felt that it would be a great +inspiration to those who had achieved success or leadership to know each +other, and a still greater encouragement to all the people if they knew +the real progress being made. Acting upon these ideas, he called a +meeting of representatives of a large number of businesses to be held in +Boston, in August, 1900. Here was organized the _National Negro Business +League_. Washington was made president and continued to hold this office +until his death in 1915. + +The organization brought together from year to year all the +representative negro business men of the country. They made reports of +their progress and planned for future advancement. The league has been a +wonderful factor in the development of the business life of the negro. +Several other organizations, such as the Negro Press Association, the +Negro Bar Association, the Negro Funeral Directors’ Association, and +others have grown out of this league. It was through this league, as +perhaps through no other agency, that the negro learned of his own great +wealth, of his success in banking, in manufacturing, in merchandise, in +the undertaking business, and in a large number of other industries. It +gave him a wonderful pride in the accomplishments of his race. He knew +that the negro was proving to the world that he possessed all the +elements necessary for handling any phase of his economic life. He could +take care of himself in the business world. + +Washington did a great deal for the negro farmer. It has already been +pointed out how he served the people of his county, and how the +extension work of the Institute was used to help the farmer. In addition +to this he organized the Tuskegee Negro Conference. In the beginning, +this was a sort of agricultural experience meeting on a large scale. The +good farmers from all the surrounding country were brought in, and each +was asked to relate his successful experience. Every phase of farm life +was covered. Every person present was profited by the experience and the +success of his neighbor. This conference has greatly broadened in scope +and has grown to be of large proportions and great influence. + +Washington was truly the Moses of his people, as Andrew Carnegie had +said. He led them with great wisdom in their thought and their conduct. +He was their spokesman, their interpreter. He guided them to higher and +better things. He made the white man and the negro know each other +better and understand each other better. He lessened the friction +between the races and increased the good will. He brought encouragement +and inspiration to his own race and gained the sympathy and coöperation +of the white race. Everywhere he opposed ignorance and prejudice and +injustice in any form. Because of his wisdom and tact as a leader, not +only the negro but the entire nation was helped. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + POLITICAL EXPERIENCES + + +Most of the negroes who gained any prominence or influence in the years +just after the Civil War entered politics. Bruce and Revels had been +United States Senators; Elliott and Smalls and a dozen others had been +Congressmen; Pinchback, Lynch, Langston, Gibbs, and Greener had been +sent for diplomatic service to foreign countries, and others had held +high State offices; and a multitude of negroes had been county and city +officials of various kinds. + +Everybody expected Washington to accept some kind of political position, +but he steadfastly refused. Time after time, men of his own race and +white men urged him to run for office, or accept an appointment by the +President to high office. This he absolutely refused to do. He said that +his service, whatever it was worth, would be given, not in politics but +in education. He believed that entirely too much emphasis had been +placed on holding office by the negro, just after the war. He was more +concerned about whether or not his people could have the opportunity to +earn an honest living than he was about getting some political job. + +He was often misunderstood about his ideas on holding office and the +whole question of the part the negro should take in politics; for he was +convinced that there were other things far more important at that time +to the negro than the matter of voting. + +There was one phase of politics, however, that Washington did keep in +close touch with. This can be best explained by giving some of his +correspondence. + +“Theodore Roosevelt, immediately after taking the oath of office as +President of the United States, in Buffalo, after the death of President +McKinley, wrote Mr. Washington the following note: + + + BUFFALO, N. Y. + _September 14, 1901_. + + Dear Mr. Washington: + + I write you at once to say that to my deep regret my visit South must + now be given up. + + When are you coming North? I must see you as soon as possible. I want + to talk over the question of possible appointments in the South + exactly on the lines of our last conversation together. + + I hope my visit to Tuskegee is merely deferred for a short season. + + Faithfully yours, + (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. + + Booker T. Washington, Esq. + Tuskegee, Ala. + + +“In response to the above note Mr. Washington went to the White House +and discussed with the President ‘possible future appointments in the +South.’”[32] + +Immediately following this conference with the President, there was a +vacant judgeship in Alabama which gave the President an opportunity to +carry out his ideas about Southern appointments. He called upon +Washington for advice, and Washington, being unable to go himself at the +time, sent his secretary, Emmett J. Scott, to Washington as his +representative. Largely upon the recommendation of Washington, Judge +George Jones, a Democrat, was appointed to this position. This was an +event of great significance indeed, when a Republican President of the +United States appointed a Southern Democrat to office. It was done in +accordance with the ideas of both the President and Washington,—that +only men of the highest fitness, regardless of color or party, should +receive appointment. + +From this time on, Washington was one of the President’s chief advisers +in Southern appointments. + +President Roosevelt, of course, appointed many negroes also. He believed +that, when negroes possessed the proper qualifications for offices, they +should have a share in them. Washington did not try to get very many +negroes appointed, but he did try to get the very best negro when one +was appointed. In other words, he was trying to improve the quality +rather than increase the quantity of negro officeholders. After one of +Washington’s speeches, in which he laid special emphasis on this idea, +President Roosevelt sent him the following letter: + + + My dear Washington: + + That is excellent; and you have put epigrammatically just what I am + doing—that is, though I have rather reduced the quantity, I have done + my best to raise the quality of Negro appointments. + + With high regards, + Sincerely yours, + Theodore Roosevelt.[33] + + +Throughout the administrations of President Roosevelt and President +Taft, Washington was constantly called into conference and rendered a +lasting service to his own race and to the people of the country in +giving wise counsel, not only about politics but about a great many +things pertaining to the welfare of his people. + +Washington was often criticized very severely by members of his own race +for his position with reference to voting. His ideas on this question +are well stated in the following quotation: + +“I am often asked to express myself more freely than I do upon the +political condition and the political future of my race.... My own +belief is, although I have never before said so in so many words, that +the time will come when the negro in the South will be accorded all the +political rights which his ability, character, and material possessions +entitle him to. I think, though, that the opportunity to freely exercise +such political rights will not come in any large degree through outside +or artificial forcing, but will be accorded to the negro by the Southern +white people themselves, and that they will protect him in the exercise +of these rights. Just as soon as the South gets over the feeling that it +is being forced by ‘foreigners’ or ‘aliens’ to do something which it +does not want to do, I believe that the change in the direction that I +have indicated is going to begin.”[34] + +Again he says: “I contend that, in relation to his vote, the negro +should more and more consider the interests of the community in which he +lives, rather than seek alone to please some one who lives a thousand +miles from him and his interests.”[35] + +While he believed, theoretically, in universal, free suffrage, he very +frankly admitted that the peculiar conditions existing in the South made +it necessary to put restrictions upon the ballot. He was opposed, +however, to any discriminations in the law; and he urged with all his +power that the negro be given good educational and business advantages, +so that he might fit himself for the full responsibilities and duties of +life. + +Washington himself never had any trouble about voting. He always +registered and always voted, and no one ever raised an objection to his +doing so. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + VISITS TO EUROPE + + +Washington was a great traveler. He was away from his home at least half +of each year and often more than that. He traveled principally in the +North, making speeches and interviewing people who might help Tuskegee. +While on these trips, he did most of his reading and writing. He was +very fond of newspapers and magazines. When he started on a long +journey, he surrounded himself with a large number of papers and +magazines and books, which he thoroughly enjoyed. History was his +favorite field of reading outside of newspapers and magazines. He was +especially fond of biography—of reading about real men, men of action +and thought and great talents. Much of his greatest inspiration as a boy +came from reading the lives of great men. Lincoln was his greatest hero. +He said that he had read practically every recorded word of Lincoln’s. + +Washington also did much of his writing on these trips. He kept his +stenographer with him all the time, and, when he was not reading, he was +usually dictating a speech, or a letter, or an article for a magazine. A +large part of his greatest book, “Up from Slavery,” was written while he +was on the train or waiting at stations between trains. It is remarkable +that he should have been able to accomplish so much under such +circumstances, for traveling was hard work. He often had to get up in +the middle of the night to catch a train and then ride all day, often +without Pullman accommodations. He said that he had slept in three +different beds in one night, so broken was his rest and so often did he +have to change trains in order to keep engagements. Undoubtedly it was +this hard traveling that helped to break down his great strength and +wear him out. + +[Illustration: + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, FIRST PRINCIPAL OF TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE +] + +In 1899 he made a speech in Boston, and some of his friends noticed that +he seemed extremely tired. He remained in Boston several days. One day +during his stay a friend asked him if he had ever been to Europe. He +replied that he had not. He was asked very casually whether he thought +that he would enjoy a trip to Europe. He said that he certainly would, +but he did not ever expect to have such a pleasure. A day or two later +some of his friends came to him and told him they had a little surprise +for him, that they had made arrangements for him and his wife to go to +Europe in the summer and spend several months on a vacation. + +Washington was very greatly surprised. He thanked his friends very +cordially for their interest but told them that he could not afford to +take the trip. Whereupon they told him that all the money for the +expenses of the trip had already been raised, and that it would not cost +him a cent. He thanked them again very sincerely but told them he could +not think of leaving his work that long,—that money had to be raised for +Tuskegee, and that he had to stay right on the job to get it. Then they +told him that a group of his friends had already raised enough money to +keep Tuskegee going until he got back. He then gave another excuse. He +was afraid people would say that he was “stuck up”; that since he had +made some success in the world he was trying to show off and play the +big man. His friends told him that sensible people would not think such +a thing, and that he need not bother about the people who had no sense. +Washington thought, too, that he had no right to quit work so long. He +had worked all his life. There was a world of work yet he had to do. To +go off on a vacation of several months, when there was so much to be +done, and when other people were at work, seemed wrong to him. But he +realized finally that a reasonable amount of rest, when one is tired, +means more and better work in the long run. + +So it came about that, on May 10, 1899, Washington and his wife went +aboard the ship _Friesland_ in New York harbor and sailed for Europe. It +was a wonderful experience for Washington. In the first place, as he +went aboard the ship, he received a message from two of his friends +telling him that they had decided to give him the money to build a +magnificent new building at Tuskegee. That was a good “send-off.” +Washington was a bit uneasy about how people would treat him aboard +ship. He knew what unfortunate experiences some members of his race had +had in times past. But the captain received him cordially, and everybody +on board was exceedingly courteous to him and to his wife in every way. + +Washington on his way to Europe! It seemed to him like a dream. Again +and again he had thought of Europe,—much as he did of heaven,—a goodly +place, but far away. It had never even occurred to him that he would +ever go to Europe. And now he was on his way! He was like a schoolboy; +he was happy over the prospect of a wonderful trip. + +He did not get seasick on the voyage, as most of the passengers did. The +weather was fine, and he had a glorious voyage. But he did not know how +tired and worn out he was until he relaxed. About the second day he +began to sleep, and he says that from then on until they landed he slept +at least fifteen hours every day. He continued the habit of long hours +devoted to sleep all the time he was gone, and it was one of the means +by which he restored his depleted strength. + +After a fine voyage of ten days, they landed at Antwerp, a famous old +city of Belgium. Here they spent a few quiet days, finding it extremely +interesting to observe the people with their dress and manners and +customs, different from anything they had ever seen before. + +Then they went on a delightful journey through the picturesque country +of Holland. Washington, always interested in farming and especially +dairy farming, was greatly delighted on this trip. On every hand were +the wonderful farms of the Dutch. He had never seen such intensive +cultivation of land. Every foot of ground was used. Vegetables were +grown in boxes, one row above another, on the back porches of the +houses, so precious was the scarce land. Ten or twelve acres was a good +big farm. Coming from a country where land is so abundant and cheap and +so extravagantly wasted and so carelessly cultivated, these beautiful +farms were a delight to him. And the herds of fine Holstein cattle +pleased him immensely. He loved cows; and these seemed to be the finest +herds he had ever seen in his life. + +Out of Holland and back into the historic and now heroic Belgium, the +party went, going to Waterloo, the famous battlefield of Napoleon’s +defeat, and to other places of interest; and from here to Paris, the +gayest and brightest of all the cities of Europe, the capital of France. + +While in Paris, Washington met a number of distinguished Americans. He +made two or three important speeches and was given a reception by the +American ambassador at Paris. He met ex-President Harrison, General +Horace Porter, our ambassador, Justices Fuller and Harlan, of the United +States Supreme Court, and other distinguished men, all of whom were most +cordial and friendly. + +The American whom he found most interesting in Paris, however, was a +negro—Henry O. Tanner. Tanner is an artist, a painter. He is the son of +the beloved Bishop Tanner and was born in America. He showed marked +talent for painting in his youth. When he grew up, he determined to go +to the greatest city in the world for art. He went to Paris and became +so successful in his work that he has continued to live there. He has +several paintings in the Louvre, the greatest and most exclusive art +gallery in the world. A picture cannot be put in the Louvre unless it is +recognized and accepted as a great work of art. Washington spent much +time with Tanner and was greatly pleased to see what marked success had +been won by this American negro. He took it as proof of his contention +that, when a negro proves himself really worthy, he will be recognized +and honored, for Tanner enjoyed the esteem and regard of all his +associates, regardless of race. And they esteemed him because of his +worth, and not because of his color. + +From Paris the Washingtons went to London. Here they visited many places +of historic interest,—the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s, +and the House of Commons. They met many interesting people,—the Duke and +Duchess of Sutherland, Joseph H. Choate, American ambassador to England, +Henry M. Stanley, the great African explorer, with whom Washington +conversed at length. They were also received by Queen Victoria, at +Windsor Castle. + +It had been a wonderful trip. Washington had learned many lessons from +the Old World. He had seen and talked with men who helped him in the +better understanding of his own great task. He had had a wonderfully +good time. He was thoroughly rested—a new man. He plunged into his work +again upon his return with great vigor and enthusiasm. + +Washington made two other trips to Europe during his lifetime. The +second one was largely like the first—a trip for recreation and pleasure +and rest. But the third trip was undertaken with a serious purpose. He +wanted to see how the poor people of Europe lived, and how their living +conditions compared with those of the workingman in the United States. +He was particularly anxious to see how conditions there compared with +those affecting the negro population of the South. He also wanted to see +whether or not he could find anything in Europe that would justify the +system of education he had established at Tuskegee. So this time he left +the usual highways of travel and went far into the interior, visiting +the peasant in his hut, in the remotest regions of the country,—the +miner toiling underground, the laborer in the quarry, and the poor man +at his work whatever it was and wherever he could be found. He visited +the farms in the remote parts of Poland, Austria, and Italy. He went to +the sulphur mines in Campo Franco. At Catania he saw the grape harvest +and the men barelegged, treading the wine press as they did in Bible +times. + +In a very remote part of Poland, away up in the mountains, he stopped at +a little thatched-roof cottage. Desiring to see how the place looked on +the inside, he knocked at the door. In response a man opened the door, +and Washington said something to him in English, thinking, of course, +that the man would not understand, but that he would be able to see +inside the hut. To his utter astonishment, the man answered him in +English. Upon further conversation, he found that this man had once +lived in Detroit, Michigan. + +When he was in the mines at Campo Franco, Sicily, he by chance met a man +who had once worked in the mines near Malden, West Virginia, where +Washington himself had worked when a boy. The world is not such a big +place after all! + +As a result of his observations of conditions in Europe, Washington came +to the conclusion that the negro in the South is, generally speaking, in +far better condition than the peasant of Europe. He also noted that, +wherever conditions were fairly good, where the natives owned the land +and had developed reasonably good farming conditions, there was no +emigration from that region to America. But where conditions were bad, +where farms were not well kept, where the people were not permitted or +encouraged to own their own homes, from such sections there was always +much emigration to America. In other words, good local conditions, land +ownership, good schools, and so on, tended to make the people happy, +contented, and desirous of remaining where they were. In this fact he +saw a great lesson for his own people. He believed that the South is the +home of the negro, that here it is possible for him to do his best. He +was, therefore, tremendously anxious for the negroes to learn how to +cultivate the soil to the best possible advantage, to buy land, to build +schools, to establish churches, and in every way to become real citizens +of the country where they were. + +Washington wrote an interesting book describing all that he saw and +learned on this trip. It is called, “The Man Farthest Down.” As stated +before, he pointed out that there were many, many people “farther down” +than the American negro; that compared to most of the people of Europe, +he ought to be exceedingly thankful that his condition is as good as it +is. Of course he did not mean by this that conditions with the negro +were what they ought to be; but that the negro should be thankful for +the progress that he has made; that he should take courage, and go +forward to better things. + +The most interesting experience of this trip to Europe was his visit to +the King and Queen of Denmark, at Copenhagen. On his first visit to the +palace he was received by the King. Washington was much impressed by the +King’s cordiality and simplicity, by his knowledge of America, and by +his acquaintance even with the work Washington was doing at Tuskegee. At +the close of the interview, the King invited him to dine at the palace +that night. + +Now the invitation of a king is the same as a command, and one is always +expected to accept. Of course Washington was delighted to accept this +invitation. + +Washington spent the rest of the day preceding the dinner hour visiting +the country people near Copenhagen. He was late getting home, and he was +terrified when he realized that he might be late for dinner. To keep the +King and Queen waiting would be a terrible offense. He dressed as +rapidly as he could. But in his haste, he pulled his necktie to +pieces,—the only one he had fit for the occasion! He pinned it together +the best he could and put it on; but he says that he was in great +distress throughout the dinner lest the tie come to pieces again. + +He reached the palace just in time for the dinner. He was taken directly +to the King, who led him to where the Queen was standing, and presented +him to her. She was very cordial and gracious. She spoke English +perfectly; and Washington was again surprised to find that she, too, was +thoroughly familiar with affairs in the United States, and that she also +knew about Tuskegee. + +There was a very distinguished group of people present. The dinner was +given in the magnificent Summer Palace, and everything was truly royal +in its elegance and splendor. Washington says, “As I ate food for the +first time in my life out of gold dishes, I could not but recall the +time when as a slave boy I ate my syrup from a tin plate.”[36] + + + + + CHAPTER XV + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: THE MAN + + +Booker Washington at home, with his wife and children, his garden, his +chickens, his pigs, his horses and cows, is far more interesting than +Washington the orator, the writer, the teacher, the traveler, the +college principal. + +No man ever loved his home more than Washington. He had to be away from +it much of the time. He was away at least half of each year. This was a +great hardship to him, and just as often as was possible he got away +from his exacting duties and returned to Tuskegee to find rest and quiet +and comfort and joy with his own family. + +He was an early riser, when at home, getting up always at 6 o’clock. His +first morning task was to gather the fresh eggs. He was very fond of +chickens and always kept a number of them. “I begin my day,” he says, +“by seeing how many eggs I can find, or how many little chicks there are +that are just beginning to creep through the shells.... I like to find +the new eggs myself, and I am selfish enough to permit no one else to do +this....”[37] + +He was very fond of animals of all kinds, but the pig was his favorite. +He always kept a number of the very finest breeds of Berkshires and +Poland Chinas. After gathering the fresh eggs, his next job was feeding +the pigs. After that came a visit to the cows. He always kept a good +garden, too, and a part of the early morning was given to working in it. +He had a very peculiar custom or idea about his garden work. He always +worked barefooted. He said that there was something in the soil that +gave one strength and health and power,—but you had to get it by direct +contact with the soil. + +After this early morning round of work was done, he mounted his horse +for an hour’s ride. He usually rode over the college farm and thoroughly +inspected it; then to the dairy, and all over the college grounds, to +see that everything was going as it should. + +After breakfast, he went to his office and gave his attention to the +day’s mail, which averaged daily about 125 incoming and 800 outgoing +letters. Later in the day he would visit classrooms, inspect the +building that was going on, go to the great dining hall at dinner, go to +the shops, talk to the students and to the members of the faculty as he +met them. Just before supper he would call for his horse again and go +off for an hour’s ride or for a hunt. Sometimes he would walk rather +than ride. While on these walks, he would often run for a couple of +miles at top speed. After supper, there was usually a meeting of some +kind,—a committee or faculty meeting, or conference with a delegation of +visitors. Chapel exercises, devotional in character, came at 8:30. And +after that, very frequently, there was an inspection of the dormitories. + +He had three children, Portia, Booker, and Davidson. One of his greatest +pleasures was to take the children for a long walk on Sunday afternoons. +They would tramp for miles through the fields and woods, gathering +flowers or nuts or berries. They studied the trees, the flowers, and the +birds. They waded in the streams, ran footraces, and played games. + +Every night after supper he would romp and play with the children. He +would roll on the floor, let the children ride on his back, play all +sorts of jolly games, or he would tell stories. He was an excellent +story-teller, and it was always a treat to hear the wonderful tales he +could tell. + +Washington was married three times. His first wife, as stated in a +previous chapter, was Fannie M. Smith, of Malden, who died in 1884, +leaving a daughter, Portia. The second marriage was to Olivia Davidson, +who had been a teacher at Tuskegee from its beginning. She had been of +wonderful assistance to Washington in the early days of Tuskegee. She +was the mother of the two boys, Booker, Jr., and Davidson. His third +marriage was to Margaret Murray, of Mississippi, a graduate of Fisk +University and for several years a teacher at Tuskegee. This marriage +occurred in 1892. Mrs. Washington has had a very useful and +distinguished career. No woman of her race has helped her people so much +in recent years. She will be remembered not merely as the wife of Booker +Washington, but for her own remarkable service to her people. + +[Illustration: + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY +] + +Washington was a man of unusual personal appearance. From the +description that James Creelman gave of him on the occasion of his +famous speech in Atlanta, it can readily be seen that he was a man of +commanding and striking personality. Wherever he went he attracted +attention. + +He was an untiring worker. He went at tremendous speed all the time. He +could do as much, as a rule, as three or four ordinary men. He kept a +stenographer with him all the time. As he went about the grounds he +would dictate suggestions and ideas for changes and improvements. He +would often awaken his stenographer at night to dictate a letter or a +speech or a statement for the papers. In this way he never overlooked an +important thought or idea that occurred to him, and his ideas were +always taken down while fresh and vivid in his mind. He often confounded +his faculty by his tremendous energy. He would call them in and lay out +enough work for them to keep busy for a week and, then, almost before +they could get started, demand results. He could work so fast himself +and do so much, he never realized that it took other people longer to +finish a task. + +He had a very active mind. He could think quickly. He was also a good +judge of men and knew the worth of a man almost at sight. When any +subject was presented to him, he would arrive at conclusions quickly and +accurately. + +As he grew older, he exhibited a certain amount of absentmindedness, +due, perhaps, to concentration of mind. He would meet his best friends +on the street and not speak to them. He was so preoccupied by his +thinking that he simply did not recognize folks when he met them. + +Washington was a proud and independent man. Many people thought he was +conceited. He was far too great a man for that. He was not vain and he +was not ashamed of himself or his race. He held his head high. He could +not be cowed. He had great self-confidence. He knew his abilities and +powers and thought it his duty to appraise them properly. This he did in +a very intelligent and sensible way. But he was not boastful; in fact, +he was very humble. Many of the things which he said and did that were +often taken for personal vanity and boastfulness were not personal at +all but were evidences of his pride in his race. + +Washington had great sympathy for the unfortunate. He was constantly +bringing up in faculty meeting the case of some poor negro who was in +distress,—who couldn’t pay the rent, was without food or clothes, or was +in hard luck in some way. He insisted that these people be helped +regardless of how they came to be in their unfortunate condition. +Scarcely a day passed that he did not give aid to some one who needed +it. + +There was an old, crack-brained preacher who would come to the Institute +and speak by the hour right outside the office, but Washington would not +let him be disturbed and always gave him a little contribution. + +There was another old negro who had great ability in getting +contributions from Washington. “One day, when Washington was driving +down the main street of Tuskegee behind a pair of fast and spirited +horses, this old man rushed out into the street and stopped him as +though he had a matter of the greatest urgency to impart to him. When +Mr. Washington had with difficulty reined his horses and asked him what +he wanted, the old man said breathlessly, ‘I’se got a tirkey for yo’ +Thanksgivin’!’ + +“‘How much does it weigh?’ inquired Mr. Washington. + +“‘Twelve to fifteen poun’.’ + +“After thanking the old man warmly, Mr. Washington started to drive on, +when the old fellow added, ‘I jest wants to borrow a dollar for to +fatten yo’ tirkey for you!’ + +“With a laugh, Mr. Washington handed the old man a dollar, and drove on. +He never could be made to feel that by these spontaneous generosities he +was encouraging thriftlessness and mendicancy. He was incorrigible in +his unscientific open-handedness with the poor, begging older members of +his race.”[38] + +“Old man Harry Varner was the night watchman of the school in its early +days, and a man upon whom Mr. Washington very much depended. He lived in +a cabin opposite the school grounds. After hearing many talks about the +importance of living in a real house instead of a one- or two-room +cabin, old Uncle Harry finally decided that he must have a real house. +Accordingly he came to his employer, told him his feeling in the matter, +and laid before him his meagre savings, which he had determined to spend +for a real house. Mr. Washington went with him to select the lot and +added enough out of his own pocket to the scant savings to enable the +old man to buy a cow and a pig and a garden plot as well as the house. +From then on, for weeks, he and old Uncle Harry would have long and +mysterious conferences over the planning of that little four-room +cottage. It is doubtful if Mr. Washington ever devoted more time or +thought to planning any of the great buildings of the Institute. No +potentate was ever half as proud of his palace as Uncle Harry of his +four-room cottage, when it was finally finished and painted and stood +forth in all its glory to be admired of all men. And Booker Washington +was scarcely less proud than Uncle Harry. + +“With Uncle Harry Varner, ‘Old man’ Brannum, the original cook of the +school, and Lewis Adams, of the town of Tuskegee, whom Mr. Washington +mentions in ‘Up from Slavery,’ as one of his chief advisers, all +unlettered-before-the-war negroes, his relationship was always +particularly intimate. These three old men enjoyed the confidence of the +white people of the town of Tuskegee to an unusual extent and often +acted as ambassadors of good will between the head of the school and his +white neighbors, when from time to time the latter showed a disposition +to look askance at the rapidly growing institution on the hill beyond +the town. + +“Another intimate friend of Mr. Washington’s was Charles L. Diggs, known +affectionately on the school grounds as ‘Old man’ Diggs. The old man had +been body servant to a Union officer in the Civil War, and after the war +had been carried to Boston, where he became the butler in a fashionable +Back Bay family. When Mr. Washington first visited Boston, as an humble +and obscure young negro school-teacher, pleading for his struggling +school, he met Diggs, and Diggs succeeded in interesting his employers +in the sincere and earnest young teacher. When, years afterward, the +Institute had grown to the dignity of needing stewards, Mr. Washington +employed his old friend as steward of the Teachers’ Home. In all the +years thereafter hardly a day passed when Mr. Washington was at the +school without having some kind of powwow with ‘Old man’ Diggs regarding +some matter affecting the interests of the school. + +“To the despair of his family Booker Washington seemed to go out of his +way to find forlorn old people whom he could befriend. He sent +provisions weekly to an humble old black couple from whom he had bought +a tract of land for the school. He did the same for old Aunt Harriet and +her deaf, dumb, and lame son, except that to them he provided fuel as +well. On any particularly cold day, he would send one or more students +over to Aunt Harriet’s to find out if she and her poor helpless son were +comfortable. Also every Sunday afternoon, to the joy of this pathetic +couple, a particularly appetizing Sunday dinner unfailingly made its +appearance. And these were only a few of the pensioners and +semipensioners whom Booker Washington accumulated as he went about his +kindly way.”[39] + +Washington had the capacity of making friends. He had the gift of +friendship. His white friends were as numerous and staunch as were those +of his own race. His close friendship with such men as William H. +Baldwin, Jr., H. H. Rogers, and others has already been mentioned. It +would be unfair to him and to them to leave the impression that their +relations were merely those of benefactor and beggar. They were friends +as man to man. Washington and Roosevelt were friends in the same way. + +It would be unfairer still to leave the impression that Washington’s +friends were rich men only and men in the North only. This was not the +case. Perhaps his strongest friends were in the South, many of whom were +not in the public eye. He himself records the fact that few men in his +entire career were of such genuine help to him as Captain Howard, +conductor on the W. & A. Railroad. He did not have an enemy in his own +town of Tuskegee. All through the South were men whom Washington counted +among his warmest personal friends. + +[Illustration: + + ROBERT RUSSA MOTON, SUCCESSOR TO BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AT TUSKEGEE +] + +Among his own people, he was no less fortunate in his friendships. He +knew and loved Moton and Scott and Banks and Carver and Fortune and +Scarborough, and a great host of others. All these were his most loyal +and devoted friends. But none of these were really any closer to him +than “Old man” Diggs or Rufus Herron or many a lowly man of Macon +County. There was such sincerity, such a genuineness about this man that +all true men were drawn to him. + +Washington had a keen sense of humor. This is the reason he was always +so even-tempered. He kept perfect control of himself at all times, and +it was largely his sense of humor that enabled him to do so. He saw the +ridiculous side of things. He could tell perfectly side-splitting +stories, particularly about his own people. These stories were always +clean and without a sting, and always had some point to them. He was +thoroughly good-natured, and every one in his presence felt refreshed +and happy by reason of having come in contact with him. + +He had a strong sense of justice. He believed the problems of the white +race as well as those of the black race must be settled on a basis of +justice, if they were ever to be settled right. The fact that he +constantly spoke of justice and fair dealing toward the white race +showed that there was no color boundary to this great attribute of his +character. He was not quarrelsome; he did not hate; he did not lose his +temper when he saw injustice being done to his people. However, he never +did condone such injustice; he was ever ready to denounce it. He labored +unceasingly to bring about a mutual understanding between the two races +and to inspire in his own race those principles which he saw with such +clear vision. He said that the negro ought to put more time on improving +his opportunities than crying over his disadvantages. He believed that +the first and most important thing was for the negro to become well +prepared for the ballot, and by and by he would get it. He argued that +the negroes should work and save and study and conduct themselves in the +proper way, and that in course of time recognition would come to them. +Sooner or later, the right, the just thing, would prevail, and the +important thing for the negro was to know he was right. + +[Illustration: + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HIS GRANDCHILDREN +] + +Washington had the courage to denounce those members of his own race, +particularly some of the ministers, who did not live as they should. +This was a bold thing to do and brought much criticism upon him, but, in +the long run, it was a great service to his race and to the whole +country. + +In spite of the fact that Washington was a man of unusual health and +strength, his hard work and the great responsibilities he carried began +finally to tell on him. But he kept on. He had wonderful will power, and +he would drive himself to his work from day to day, when other men would +have taken to their beds. He could not admit to himself that he was +losing strength. Right up to the last, he did an enormous amount of +work. + +In the early fall of 1915, he went North to deliver an address before +the National Council of Congregational Churches, held in New Haven, +Connecticut. Although he had not been entirely well for some time, no +one had any idea that he was seriously ill. Shortly after the address in +New Haven, he collapsed. His friends in New York City had him removed to +St. Luke’s Hospital there. + +The physicians made a careful examination and frankly told him that he +was critically ill and could live but a few hours. When he learned that +he must die, he insisted on starting for home at once. The doctors told +him that he could not go; that it would mean certain death; that he +could not live through the journey. His reply was: “I was born in the +South, I have lived and labored in the South, and I expect to die and be +buried in the South.” + +Arrangements were hurriedly made for the journey to Tuskegee. No one +believed that he would reach there alive. One of the doctors had said +that it was “uncanny to see a man up and about who ought, by all the +laws of nature, to be dead.” When they reached the railway station in +New York a rolling chair had been provided for Washington, but he +refused to use it and walked to the train leaning on the arms of his +friends. + +As the train pulled out and headed for his beloved Southland, his +spirits began to revive, and he seemed much stronger. He was determined +to beat death in this race. As they journeyed on, he would ask the names +of the stations. When he was told that they were passing Greensboro, a +triumphant look came into his eyes. Charlotte, Greenville, Atlanta—he +was winning! Finally they came to Chehaw, the little station five miles +from Tuskegee, the junction point of the railroad from Tuskegee to the +main line. + +A few more minutes, and he saw the familiar and much loved scenes of his +own Tuskegee. + +He had won! + +But his victory was a short one. For when the sun came up on the next +morning, the fourteenth day of November, 1915, Booker Washington was +dead. + + + + + INDEX + + + Alabama Hall, 69–70. + + Alabama Legislature, 45, 75. + + Armstrong, Gen. S. C., accompanies Washington on tour, 70; + founder of Hampton, 23–24; + invites Washington as commencement speaker, 32, 77; + sends Washington to Tuskegee, 45; + sketch of, 22. + + _Atlanta Constitution_, 81. + + Atlanta Speech, 79–81. + + + Baldwin, William H. Jr., President of Board of Trustees, Tuskegee + Institute, 73, 138. + + Belgium, Washington’s visit to, 122. + + Books, written by Washington, 108. + + Buildings, first at Tuskegee, 50–51, 58. + + Bulloch, Gov., of Ga., 81. + + Business League, National Negro, 109. + + + Cabbages, an oration on, 96. + + Cabin, description of a, 3. + + Capital, campaign for removal, W. Va., 37. + + Carnegie, Andrew, 71, 73, 111. + + Carney, Sergeant William H., 85. + + Chicago Peace Convention, 106. + + “Chopping bee,” 52. + + Coal mine, 12–13. + + Coat, sale of, 28. + + Commencement exercises at Tuskegee, 93–95. + + Copenhagen, Washington’s visit to, 127. + + Corner stone, first building at Tuskegee, 59–60. + + Cotton States Exposition, 78. + + Creelman, James, 79. + + + Davidson, Olivia, 49, 66. + + Denmark, Washington’s visit to, 127. + + Douglass, Frederick, 76, 82, 105. + + + Education of negro, effect of, 90–91; + future of, 104; + negro education after Civil War, 22; + Washington’s idea of, 91–93, 98, 103. + + Eliot, President C. W., 67. + + “Emancipation Proclamation,” 8. + + “Entitles,” 9. + + Europe, Washington’s trips to, 119–128. + + Extension work of Tuskegee, 100. + + + Farm, purchase of, 50–51. + + “Festivals,” 54. + + Freedmen’s Bureau, 90. + + + Gifts to Tuskegee, 54, 74–75. + + + Hales’ Ford, Washington’s birthplace, 3. + + Hampton Institute, 15, 17, 20, 22–23, 26–27, 29–30, 32, 34. + + Harvard University, 82. + + Holland, Washington’s visit to, 122. + + Howard, Captain, conductor on the W. and A. R. R., 139. + + Howell, Clark, editor of _Atlanta Constitution_, 81. + + Huntington, Collis P., 71. + + + Indians, at Hampton Institute, 41–42. + + + Jamestown, 1–2. + + Jones, Judge George, 114. + + + “Learning with the Hands,” 108. + + “Library,” Washington’s first, 17. + + Library, Carnegie, 72. + + Lincoln, President, 7, 118. + + London, Washington’s visit to, 124. + + + Mackie, Mary F., 24, 77. + + McKinley, President, 106, 113. + + Macon County, Ala., 46, 48, 90. + + Madison, Wis., speech at, 77. + + Malden, W. Va., 9–10, 12, 14, 17, 29, 34, 37, 126. + + “Man Farthest Down,” 127. + + Marriages, Washington’s, 65, 131–132. + + Master of Arts degree, 82. + + Morgan, S. Griffitts, 28. + + Mother, Washington’s, 3, 10, 30. + + Moton, R. R., successor to Washington, 139. + + Murray, Margaret, 132. + + “My Larger Education,” 108. + + + Name, Washington’s change of, 9. + + National Council of Congregational Churches, 142. + + Negro, 15, 18, 22, 37, 41, 56, 59–60, 77–78, 80, 82, 85, 106, 108–110, + 126. + + Negro Bar Association, 110. + + Negro Business League, National, 109. + + Negro Funeral Directors’ Association, 110. + + Negro Press Association, 110. + + New Haven, Conn., 142. + + Newspapers, contributions to, 107. + + Night school, 35, 43. + + + Paris, Washington’s visit to, 123. + + Peabody Fund, 75. + + “Plucky Class,” 43. + + Politics, Washington’s interest in, 38. + + Porter Hall, 62, 68. + + + “Quarters,” 3. + + + Rogers, H. H., 71, 91, 138. + + Roosevelt, President, 113–115. + + Rosenwald, Julius, 74. + + Ruffner, General Lewis, 16. + + Ruffner, Mrs., 16–17. + + + School, first, taught by Washington, 34. + + Scott, Emmett J., 114. + + Shaw, Robert Gould, 85. + + Slater Fund, 75. + + Smith, Fannie M., 65. + + South, condition of, after the Civil War, 22. + + Stanley, Sir Henry M., 124. + + Story-teller, Washington as a, 84–85. + + Students, first, at Tuskegee, 49–50. + + Students’ work at Tuskegee, 61. + + + Taft, President, 115. + + Tanner, Henry O., 123. + + Tuskegee, town of, 46, 143. + + Tuskegee Institute: beginnings of, 46–47; + Carnegie Library at, 72; + character of students of, 49–50; + commencement exercises of, 93–94; + extension work of, 100; + first buildings of, 50–51; + first year of, 54–55; + growth of, 101; + laying corner stone of, 59–60; + negro conferences at, 110; + opening of, 49. + + + “Up from Slavery,” 108. + + + Vessel, unloading, in Richmond, 19. + + Virginia, 1, 14. + + + Washington, Booker T., Atlanta speech, 78–82; + birth, 3; + books by, 108; + character of, vii-viii, 134; + children of, 131; + coal mine experiences, 12; + commencement speaker, 32; + contributor to press, 108; + death of, 143; + early life of, 4–6; + education, his ideas of, 60–61, 91–93, 98, 103; + “examination” at Hampton, 25; + founds Tuskegee, 46–51; + home life, 129–134; + hotel waiter, employed as, 34; + janitor, works as, 26–27, 29; + journey to Hampton, 17–18; + last illness of, 142; + leader of race, 82, 105; + league, organizer of, 109; + life at Hampton, 27–30; + marriages of, 65, 131–132; + Master of Arts degree, 82; + names himself, 11–12; + orator, makes a reputation as, 70, 76, 82–86; + personal appearance, 80; + politics, takes an interest in, 112, 115–116; + raising money, 67; + service, his ideas of, 88–89; + Shaw Monument speech, 85; + story-teller, as a, 84–85; + teacher at Hampton, 40, 44; + teacher at Malden, 34; + trips to Europe, 119–128; + vacations, while a student, 29–30. + + Washington, Booker T. Jr., 131. + + Washington, Davidson, 131. + + Washington, John, 5, 35. + + Washington, Portia, 66. + + Wayland Seminary, 36. + + Wheeling, West Virginia, 37. + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 9. + +Footnote 2: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 6–7. + +Footnote 3: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 34–35. + +Footnote 4: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 37. + +Footnote 5: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 44. + +Footnote 6: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 48–49. + +Footnote 7: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 52–53. + +Footnote 8: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 58. + +Footnote 9: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 105. + +Footnote 10: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 107. + +Footnote 11: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 130. + +Footnote 12: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 6. + +Footnote 13: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 7. + +Footnote 14: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 132. + +Footnote 15: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 161. + +Footnote 16: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 175. + +Footnote 17: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + pp. 258–259. + +Footnote 18: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 202. + +Footnote 19: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 239–240. + +Footnote 20: + + _Ibid._, p. 226. + +Footnote 21: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 219. + +Footnote 22: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 242, 244. + +Footnote 23: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 30. + +Footnote 24: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + pp. 30–31. + +Footnote 25: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 255. + +Footnote 26: + + “My Larger Education,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 139. + +Footnote 27: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + pp. 57–59. + +Footnote 28: + + “My Larger Education,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 141–143. + +Footnote 29: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 314. + +Footnote 30: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 45. + +Footnote 31: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, Introduction, p. xx. + +Footnote 32: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 49. + +Footnote 33: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 56. + +Footnote 34: + + “Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 234. + +Footnote 35: + + _Ibid._, p. 202. + +Footnote 36: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 157. + +Footnote 37: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 307. + +Footnote 38: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + p. 144. + +Footnote 39: + + “Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe, + pp. 145–147. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + ● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last + chapter. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75144 *** |