.
MR. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY.
THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
PRINCIPAL OF TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
DR. J. L. M. CURRY
Commissioner Peabody and Slater Funds
COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTO-ENGRAVINGS ORIGINAL PEN DRAWINGS BY
FRANK BEARD
W. H. FERGUSON COMPANY,
230-232 East Fifth Street,
CINCINNATI, - OHIO.
1900
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1900 By BOOKER T. WASHINGTON In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
Sold only by Subscription, and not to be had in book stores. Any one desiring a copy should address the Publishers
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
HON. FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
DR. J. L. M. CURRY, WASHINGTON, D. C.
INTRODUCTION.
HAVE cheerfully consented to prefix a few words introductory to this auto- biography. While I have encouraged its publication, not a sentence has been * submitted to my examination. From my inti- mate acquaintance with the subject, because of my connection with the Peabody and the Slater Education Funds, I am sure the volume has such a strong claim upon the people that no com- mendation is needed.
The life of Booker T. Washington cannot be written. Incidents of birth, parentage, schooling, early struggles, later triumphs, may be detailed with accuracy, but the life has been so incorpo- rated, transfused, into such a multitude of other lives, — broadening views, exalting ideals, mold- ing character, — that no human being can know its deep and beneficent influence, and no pen can describe it. Few living Americans have made a deeper impression on public opinion, softened or removed so many prejudices, or awakened greater hopefulness in relation to the solution of a problem, encompassed with a thousand diffi- culties and perplexing the minds of philanthro- pists and statesmen. His personality is unique,
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INTRODUCTION.
his work has been exceptional, his circle of friendships has constantly widened; his race, through his utterances and labors, has felt an upward tendency, and he himself has been an example of what worth and energy can accom- plish and a stimulus to every one of both races, aspiring to a better life and to doing good for others.
It has been said with truth that the race problem requires the patient and wise co-oper- ation of the North and the South, of the white people and the Negroes. It is encouraging to see how one true, wise, prudent, courageous man can contribute far more than many men to the comprehension and settlement of questions which perplex the highest capabilities. Great eras have often revolved around an individual; and, so, in this country, it is singular that, contrary to what pessimists have predicted, a colored man, born a slave, freed by the results of the War, is accom- plishing so much toward thorough pacification and good citizenship.
While Mr. Washington has achieved wonders, in his own recognition as a leader and by his thoughtful addresses, his largest work has been the founding and the building up of the Normal and Industrial Institute, at Tuskegee, Alabama. That institution illustrates what can be accom- plished under the supervision, control, and teach-
INTRODUCTION.
1
ing of the colored people, and it stands conspic- uous for industrial training, for intelligent, productive labor, for increased usefulness in agriculture and mechanics, for self-respect and self-support, and for the purification of home-life. A late Circular of the Trustees of Hampton Institute makes the startling statement that “six millions of our Negroes are now living in one- room cabins.” Under such conditions morality and progress are impossible. If the estimate be approximately correct, it enforces the wisdom of Mr. Washington in his earnest crusade against “the one-room cabin”, and is an honorable tribute to the revolution wrought through his students in the communities where they have settled. Every student at Tuskegee, in the proportion of the impression produced by the Principal, becomes a better husband, a better wife, a better citizen, a better man or woman. A series of useful books on the “Great Educators” has been published in England and the United States. While Washington cannot, in learning and phi- losophy, be ranked with Herbart, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Hopkins, Wayland, Harris, he may be truly classed among those who have wrought grandest results on mind and character.
J. L. M. CURRY.
Washington, D. C., Nov. 16, 1899.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD,
Author’s Reasons for Writing Autobiography — Ancestry- — Mother — Author’s Early Recollections and Impressions of Her — Rather — Who He Was — When and Where Author Was Born — A Description of the Cabin Where Born — Dress of the Author in Early Childhood — The “Tow Shirt” — Early Services of Author at Holding Horses and Going to the Mill — Name of Author’s Owner — His Treatment of His Slaves — Author First Hears of the War from the Slaves in the “Quarters” — He Assembles with His Mother at the “Big House” and Hears Freedom to the Slaves Announced — Removal of Author’s Family to West Virginia — Incidents of the Journey — Of Whom the Family Consisted at That Time.
CHAPTER IL
BOYHOOD IN WEST VIRGINIA.
Beginning Life in West Virginia — Author Sees a Negro Reading a Newspaper in Malden which Kindles His First Ambition — He Learns His Letters while Working in Coal Mines and Salt Furnaces — Attends His First School — Author Gives Himself a Surname — He Turns Forward the Hands of the Clock to Enable Him to Get to School on Time — Author Learns of Sunday School from an Old Man and Becomes a Reg- ular Attendant — Some Experiences in the Coal Mines — Author Goes to Live with the Family of Gen. Lewis Ruffner — He Runs Away, but Returns — Some Experi-
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CONTENTS.
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ences as a Market Boy while Working for Mrs. Ruff- ner — Mr,s. Ruffner, Author’s Estimate of Her — Author Hears of the Hampton Institute while Work- ing in the Coal Mines and Resolves to go There — Joins the Baptist Church in Malden Before Leaving for Hampton— Still a Member of This Church.
CHAPTER III.
LIFE AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
Author Starts for Hampton in 1872 — The Journey — How Made — Sleeping Under Sidewalk in Richmond — Unloads Pig Iron from a Vessel in Richmond and Thereby Earns Money Enough to Continue the Journey to Hampton — Arrives at Hampton — Sees Miss Mary F. Mackie, the Lady Principal — Undergoes a “Sweeping Examination’’ and is Admitted as a Student — Author Sees Gen. Armstrong for the First Time — First and Last Impressions of Him — Hampton Institute when Author First Entered It — His Connection with the Debating Societies — His Destitute Condition at Hamp- ton— After Two Years at Hampton, Author Spends Vacation at Home in Malden — Death of His Mother — He is Graduated at Hampton in 1875 — Some Helpful Friends at Hampton, Misses Nathalie Lord and Eliz- abeth Brewer — Goes as a Waiter to Saratoga Springs.
CHAPTER IV.
HOW THE FIRST SIX YEARS AFTER GRADUATION FROM HAMPTON WERE SPENT.
Author Begins Teaching at Malden — Encourages His Pupils to go to Hampton — Helps His Brother John to Enter Hampton — Enters Wayland Seminary, Wash- ington, D. C., and Spends a Year There — Stumps the State of West Virginia in the Interest of the Removal of the State Capital — Studies Law for a Short Time — Invited by Gen. Armstrong to Deliver the Graduate’s Address — Asked to Return to Hampton by Gen. Arm- strong as a Special Student and to Take Charge of
CONTENTS.
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Night School— -Accepts — The “Plucky Class” — In Charge of Indian Boys at Hampton — The Call from Tuskegee for Some One to Start a Normal School — Gen. Armstrong Recommends the Author — Author Accepts and Proceeds to Tuskegee.
CHAPTER V.
THE BEGINNING OF THE WORK AT TUSKEGEE.
Author’s Difficulty in Locating the Town of Tuske- gee Before Starting Thither — Description and Some Early History of Tuskegee by Maj. W. W. Screws — Author’s Meeting with Mr. Lewis Adams, Who First Advanced the Idea of a Normal School at Tuskegee — How Mr. Adams Secured the First Appropriation Through Hons. A. L. Brooks and W. F. Foster — The Opening of the Normal School, July 4, 1881 — The House in which the School Was Started.
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST YEAR AT TUSKEGEE.
The Necessity for a Permanent Location for the School Early Seen by the Author — Objections of the Early Students to Manual Labor — Gen. Marshall, Treasurer at Hampton, Lends $500 with which the Present Site of Tuskegee Was Purchased-— The Com- ing of Miss Olivia A. Davidson and Her Valuable Serv- ice to the School in Its Early Struggles — The Struggle for Money — Generosity of Both White and Colored Citizens of Tuskegee Towards the Institute — Miss Davidson Goes to Boston in the Interest of the School and Secures Money for the Erection of Porter Hall — More About the Shanty in which the School Was Started and Taught for the First Year — Author is Married to Miss Fannie N. Smith of Malden — Birth of Daughter Portia, and the Mother’s Early Death.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
THE STRUGGLES AND SUCCESS OF THE WORKERS AT TUSKEGEE FROM 1882 TO 1884.
The Putting the Farm in Order for the Raising of a Crop — The Students Volunteer to Assist in Clearing the Land — Mr. Campbell Gives the School Its First Horse — Old Buildings Put in Use — First Service in Porter Hall, Sermon by Rev. R. C. Bedford — Knowl- edge of the School Spreads and Brings Increase of Students — Hardships and Discomforts Undergone by the Young Men During the Second Winter of the School — The Rule that All Students Should do Some Work in Connection with Studies — Early Objections of Parents and Students to This Rule — Objections Now Passed Away — Early Determination of Author to Have Students do All the Work of Putting up Build- ings and Carrying on Departments — The Legislature of Alabama Increases the Appropriation to the School from $2,000 to $3,000 — The Work of Hon. W. F. Foster in Securing This Increase — The Letter of Rev. R. C. Bedford to Gen. Armstrong in Regard to the Increase of Appropriation and the Work of Tuskegee - — Gen. J. F. B. Marshall, Treasurer of Hampton Insti- tute, Visits Tuskegee and Writes a Letter to the “Southern Workman” in Regard to the Work There— The Celebration of the Second Anniversary of Tuske- gee— The Building of Cottages at Tuskegee — The Coming of Mr. Warren Logan to the School and His Valuable Services Ever Since — Mr. J. H. Washington Accepts a Position in the School — His Efficient Serv- ices as Superintendent of Industries — The Finance Committee, the Principal’s Cabinet — The Trustees of the Slater Fund Through Rev. R. C. Bedford, Donate $1,100 to the School — Slater Fund Annual Appropri- ation Now Increased to $1 1,000 — Gen. Armstrong Invites Author to Accompany Him and Speak in the Interest of Tuskegee at a Series of Meetings which He (Gen. Armstrong) Proposed to Hold in Phila- delphia, New York, Boston and Other Cities — Author Accepts and Meetings Result Largely in Favor of
CONTENTS.
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Tuskegee — Miss Mary F. Mackie, Lady Principal at Hampton, Visits Tuskegee and Writes an Encourag- ing Letter to a Friend — Commencement at Tuskegee in May, 1884 — Author Invited to Address National Educational Association at Madison, Wisconsin — Author’s First Opportunity of Presenting the Work at Tuskegee to Such a Large Audience of National Char- acter— Extracts from the Address — Good Impression Made by This Address Brings Many Invitations to Speak.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE HISTORY OF TUSKEGEE FROM 1884 TO 1894.
Growth in Number of Students, Teachers and Officers, and Buildings during the Early Years of This Period — Hard Work of Raising Money with which to Meet the Increasing Demands — Some Providential Ways Whereby the School Was Helped Out of Tight Places Financially — Financial Assistance Rendered the School by the Citizens and Banks of Tuskegee — First Donation from the Peabody Fund — Dr. Curry Reasons That the School That Makes Extra Effort to Secure Funds is the School to be Helped — Some Sta- tistics in Regard to the Money Raised for Tuskegee during This Period — Our Financial Embarrassment during the Fourth Year — Gen. Armstrong Comes to Our Relief by Lending Us Nearly all the Money He Possessed— -Author’s Fourth Annual Report, Extracts —Generosity of Gen. J. F. B. Marshall Enables Tus- kegee to Start a Sawmill — The Opening of the Night School — The Advantages it Affords Needy Students — Full Description of the Seventh Commencement or Anniversary of the School Indicating its Growth to that Time — Tuskegee ’s Daily Program in Force in 1886 — The Death of Mrs. Olivia Davidson Washing- ton— An Estimate of Her Character and Worth to Tuskegee by Rev. R. C. Bedford — Further Growth of the School in Number of Students — The Visit of the Hon. Frederick Douglass to Tuskegee — His Views in Regard to Industrial Education and Other Matters 2
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CONTENTS.
Affecting the Negro Race — His Letter to Mrs. Harriett Beecher Stowe in 1853, Pleading for an Industrial College for Negroes — Author’s Marriage to Miss Maggie James Murray — Her Interest in and Labors Towards the Advancement of the Work at Tuskegee.
CHAPTER IX.
INVITED TO DELIVER LECTURE AT FISK UNI- VERSITY.
Author Invited to Deliver Lecture at Fisk Univers- ity Under Auspices of the Fisk Lecture Bureau — Full Description of the Occasion, an Excellent Synopsis of Lecture Published in Nashville Daily Papers — Lecture Caused Much Newspaper Comment — Account of the Lecture by the Nashville Daily American — Memphis Commercial Appeal, in an Editorial, Uses the Pub- lished Accounts of This Lecture as a Basis for an Argu- ment for More Industrial Training for the White Race — The Editorial.
CHAPTER X.
THE SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE COTTON STATES’ EXPOSITION, AND INCIDENTS CON- NECTED THEREWITH.
Invitation to Accompany a Committee of Atlanta Gentlemen to Washington to Intercede for a Con- gressional Appropriation for the Cotton States’ Exposi- tion— The Author Among Others Speaks before the Committee on Appropriations — Arguments Set Forth by Him in Favor of an Appropriation — Appropriation Granted — The Negro Building at the Atlanta or Cot- ton States’ Exposition and the Success of the Negro Exhibit under Chief Commissioner, I. Garland Penn— The Exhibit of the Tuskegee Institute — Author Invited by the Board of Directors to Deliver an Address at the Public Exercises on the Opening Day — He Feels the Weight of this Responsibility — An Account of the Author’s Feelings as the Time Drew Near for the
CONTENTS.
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Opening of the Exposition — He Leaves Tuskegee for Atlanta, Accompanied by Mrs. Washington and His Daughter Portia and the Two Boys, Baker and David- son— Incidents of the Day before the Time for the Opening Exercises at the Exposition — At the Exercises Author is Introduced to the Audience by Ex- Governor Bullock, Who Presided on that Occasion — Author’s Speech in Full — Author Invited by D. C. Gilman of Johns Hopkins University to be one of the Judges of Awards in the Department of Education in Atlanta — An Account of the Reception of His Speech Written by James Creelman, Correspondent to the New York World — Hon. Clark Howell, Editor of the Atlanta Constitution, Writes Concerning the Speech to the New York World — Some Samples of What the Press of the Country Had to Say in Regard to this Speech — His Letter in Full — In a Few Hours After the Speech Author Begins Receiving Messages of Congratulation — He Returns to Tuskegee the Next Day, at Every Station on the Route Meeting Crowds of People Anxi- ous to Shake Hands with Him — Hon. Grover Cleve- land, then President of the United States, Writes Author a Letter in Regard to the Atlanta Speech — Author Receives Many Flattering Offers from Lec- ture Bureaus to Deliver Lectures but Refuses Them All — He Continues His Labors in Behalf of Tuskegee.
CHAPTER XI.
AN APPEAL FOR JUSTICE.
Author Writes an Open Letter to Senator Tillman during the Meeting of a Constitutional Convention in South Carolina — He Sets Forth the Negro’s Claim upon the Whites for Justice and Fair Play — He Urges the Whites to Help and Not to Hinder the Progress of the Negroes — He Pleads for Negro Education— The Letter in Full — Is Asked by an Atlanta Paper to Write a Letter on the Benefits of the Atlanta Exposi- tion of 1895 — Complies in an Interesting Letter which Outlines the Benefits of the Exposition Alike to
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CONTENTS.
Negroes, Southern Whites, and to the Country Gener- ally— This Letter in Full — Author Continues His Campaign of Speech Making in the North during the Winter of 1895-6 — Speaks at Carnegie Hall, New York, Appearing with Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage and Others, President Grover Cleveland Presiding — Some Extracts from the Speech Delivered on this Occasion — Returning to Tuskegee to be Present at the Annual Meeting of the Tuskegee Negro Farmer’s Conference — In March, 1896, Speaks Before the Bethel Literary Society of Washington, D. C.— Answers Some Criti- cisms by Colored Newspapers of His Atlanta Speech.
CHAPTER XII.
HONORED BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
Tuskegee Institute, in Connection with Hampton, Makes an Industrial Exhibit in New York, Boston and Philadelphia — Academic Work at Tuskegee, Its Thoroughness — The Great Surprise of the Author’s Life — An Account of Commencement at Harvard in June, 1896 — The Degree of Master of Arts Conferred Upon Author — Takes Lunch with President Eliot Along with Gen. Miles, Dr. Savage and Others Receiving Honorary Degrees — Speaks at the Alumni Dinner — A Notable Address — The Address in Full — Thos. J. Calloway’s Letter to the Colored American Concerning this Event-— Some Newspaper Comments — Speaks to a Large Audience at the Meeting of the National Christian Endeavor Convention, Washington, D. C. — The Following Evening Addresses the National Educational Association at Buffalo, New York, Where 20,000 Teachers Were Present — Some Newspaper Accounts of this Address — Visits North Carolina in October, 1896, and Speaks to the Colored People at a Fair in Durham — While in Durham Invited to Address Students of Trinity College, White — Warmly Received and Heartily Cheered by Students.
CONTENTS.
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CHAPTER XIII.
URGED FOR A CABINET POSITION.
The Washington Post and Other Papers Urge the Appointment of the Author in the Cabinet of President McKinley — Some Extracts From Articles Urging Such Appointment — In the Midst of this Discussion Author Declares He Would Not Accept a Political Position That Would Compel Him to Turn Aside From the Work at Tuskegee — He Speaks in Washington in March, 1897— He Urges Negroes to Cease Depending Too Much on Office Getting, and Give More Attention to Industrial and Business Enterprises — Certain Crit- icisms of Author Answered.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SHAW MONUMENT SPEECH, THE VISIT OF SEC- RETARY JAMES WILSON, AND THE LETTER TO THE LOUISIANA CONVENTION.
Author Invited to Make an Address at the Dedica- tion in Boston of a Monument to Col. Robert Gould Shaw and Regiment — He Accepts and Delivered the Address — The Speech in Full — Impressions of this Speech as Told by the Boston Transcript and Other Papers — The Thrilling Incident of Sergeant Carney, the Color-Bearer for the Old Fifty- Fourth Massachu- setts During the Dedicatory Exercises — The Visit of Secretary of Agriculture, Hon. James Wilson, and Other Prominent Statesmen and Educators at the Ded- ication of the Agricultural Building — Something of the Agricultural Department at Tuskegee — An Open Let- ter to the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention — In this Letter Author Pleads that More of a Chris- tian Spirit Should Animate the Races in their Dealings with each Other — That Negroes be not Treated as Aliens — That if Ballot Restrictions be Necessary, any Law Passed on the Subject Ought to Apply Alike to Whites and Blacks — That in the Same Degree the Ballot Box is Closed to the Negro, the Public Schools
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CONTENTS.
be Opened to Him — The Letter in Full — Author’s Position Endorsed by the Leading Democratic Papers in New Orleans — Author Delivers an Address Before the Regents of the University of New York in June, 1898.
CHAPTER XV.
CUBAN EDUCATION AND THE CHICAGO PEACE JUBILEE ADDRESS.
The Movement at Tuskegee for the Education of Cubans and Porto Ricans — The Trustees of the John F. Slater Fund Enables Author and Mrs. Washington to Lecture in the Cities of the South — These Lectures were Plain Talks to the Colored People about the Financial, Physical, Mental and Moral Needs — The Peace Celebrations in the United States after the Span- ish-American War — The Author Invited to Speak at the Chicago Peace Jubilee — Accepts and Speaks October 16, 1898 — Many Prominent People Present, Including President McKinley, Cabinet Officers, Heroes of the Late War, and Others — Names of Other Speakers — Author’s Speech in Full on this Occasion — What the Chicago Times- Herald had to say in Regard to this Speech — President McKinley Listened to this Speech and Bowed His Appreciation — Some Criticisms in the South of Portions of this Speech — Criticisms Replied to by Author in a Letter to the Birmingham (Ala.) Age-Herald — Author’s Policy in Speech Making — The Need of Greater Charity of the Races Towards Each Other.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE VISIT OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM McKINLEY TO TUSKEGEE.
Author’s Early Desire to Have the President of the United States Visit Tuskegee — After Years of Work and Struggle, Author is More than ever Determined to Secure a Visit from the President — President McKin-
CONTENTS.
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ley’s Coming to Atlanta Gives Author Opportunity to Invite Him to Tuskegee— For this Purpose Author goes to Washington and Sees the President — He Goes a Second Time to Washington Accompanied by Mr. Chas. W. Hare of Tuskegee — Dr. J. L. M. Curry, Without Author’s Knowledge Urges the President to Visit Tuskegee Institute — During His Second Visit to Washington Author Secures a Definite Promise from the President to Visit Tuskegee — President McKinley in Conversation with Author Exhibits Great Interest in the Welfare of the Negro — Other Prominent Men with the President’s Party — Great Crowds at Tuskegee on the Day of the President’s Visit — How the Day was Spent — The Parade — Exercises and Speech-making in the Chapel — The President’s Address — Extracts from Address of Secretary of the Navy, John D. Long— Postmaster-General Smith’s Closing Remarks — White and Colored Citizens of Tuskegee Show Great Interest in the President’s Visit — They Assist Materially in Giving the President a Becoming Reception — The President’s Opinion of the Visit Told in His Letter to Author — The Letter in Full.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE TUSKEGEE NEGRO CONFERENCE.
How the Conference Movement was Started — The First Invitations that were Sent Out — The Financial Condition of the Negroes in the Black Belt — The Mort- gage System — The Large Number that Came to the First Conference a Surprise to Author — Author States in His Opening Address His Plans of Conducting the Conference — The Method of Ascertaining the Condi- tion of the People in the Various Communities — Things Discussed — Others Present Besides Negro Farmers of the Black Belt — Newspaper Representa- tives Present — The Declarations of the First Confer- ence— The Number of Conferences Already Held — The Attendance at the Conferences — Similar Conferences in Other States — Local Conferences — The Spirit of the
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CONTENTS.
Earlier Conferences as Compared with the Later Ones — What These Conferences have Taught the People — Some Extracts from Talks or Reports at the Confer- ences Made by Black Belt Negroes — The Workers’ Conference — Of Whom Composed — The Subjects Dis- cussed in Workers' Conferences.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A VACATION IN EUROPE.
Author Appears with Dr. W. E. B. DuBois and Paul Laurence Dunbar Before a Representative Audience at Hollis St. Theatre, Boston — He Speaks Before the Birm- ingham Lyceum, Birmingham, Ala. — Kind Friends in Boston Arrange to Have Author and Mrs. Washington Spend a Vacation in Europe — They Sail for Europe in May, Landing at Antwerp — Visit the Rural Districts in Belgium and Holland and Look Into the Dairy Sys- tems— From Holland Back to Antwerp and thence to Brussels — From Brussels to Paris, Remaining there Six Weeks — The Stay in Paris — Attentions from the American Ambassador — Author Addressed the Uni- versity Club — The Stay in Paris a Restful One — From Paris to London — The Stay in England Full of Social Functions — Author Speaks at Essex Hall on the Race Problem — The American Ambassador, Hon. Joseph H. Choate, Presides, and Hon. James Bryce also Speaks — Reception to Author and Wife in Connection with this Meeting by Rev. Brooke Hereford and Wife — Other Receptions — Editorial in the London Daily Chronicle in Regard to Author and His Work — The Most Restful and Interesting Part of the Vacation in England — Several Cities in England Visited — Author Writes Letters to the American Press, and Makes a Study of Africa While in London — In Letter Written While in London he Argues Against American Negroes Emigrating to Africa — Some Reasons for His Position • — A Letter to the American Press on Lynching — A Strong Appeal Against this Evil — Facts and Figures Presented Showing that Lynching Does Not Lessen Crime, and is Not Inflicted for Any One Crime.
CONTENTS.
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CHAPTER XIX.
THE WEST VIRGINIA AND OTHER RECEPTIONS AFTER EUROPEAN TRIP.
The Return from Europe — A Communication from W. Herman Smith, Mayor of Charleston, West Virginia — An Invitation to Visit Charleston, Signed by the Governor, ex-Governor, and Many of the Most Promi- nent Citizens — The Invitation Accepted — The Recep- tion at Charleston — Receptions to Author by the Citi- zens of Atlanta, Montgomery and New Orleans — The Industrial Convention at Huntsville, Ala. — Author Invited to Address that Convention— His Address on that Occasion — The Address of ex-Governor MacCorkle — The Influence of that Address and of the Huntsville Convention — The Movement for an Annual Conference in Montgomery to Afford Opportunities for Generous and Liberal Discussions of the Race Question — Its Fit- ness Discussed.
CHAPTER XX.
THE MOVEMENT FOR A PERMANENT ENDOWMENT.
How the Money for Carrying on the Work at Tuske- gee Was Being Raised during Eighteen Years — The Need of an Endowment Fund — The Grant of 25,000 Acres of Land by Congress — The Organized Effort to Secure Endowment Fund — The Meeting for this Pur- pose in Madison Square Garden — Ex- President Grover Cleveland Interested in the Movement — Prominent People Present at This Meeting — President Cleveland’s Encouraging Letter Stating His Inability to be Pres- ent— Hon. Carl Schurz Presides at This Meeting — Address of Mr. Walter H. Page — Mr. W. H. Baldwin, Jr., Speaks — Extracts from This Address — The Finan- cial Condition of the Institute Stated — The Author Speaks at This Meeting — Dr. Rainsford’s Remarks — Some Immediate Results of This Meeting — The Gift of Mr. C. P. Huntington and Others Towards the Endow- ment.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXI.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK OF THE TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE.
The Building Up of the Institute, the Author’s Life Work — A History of the Institute Unavoidable in His Autobiography — The Land Owned by the Institute — The Buildings — The Brickyard — The Present Valua- tion of the Property — The Agricultural Department of the Institute — Its Director — The Agricultural Experiment Station — Some of Prof. Carver’s Experi- ments-— The Home Farm — The Marshall Farm — The Mechanical Department — A Description of the Slater- Armstrong Memorial Trades Building — The Trades Taught — The Department of Domestic Sciences, Mrs. Booker T. Washington Directress — What the Depart- ment Embraces — The Nurse Training Division — Facil- ities for Instruction in Connection with the School’s Hospital — The Course of Study, what it Embraces — The Division of Music- — The Course in Piano Forte — Vocal Music — Musical Organizations at the Institute — The Band and Orchestra — The Bible Training Department — Phelps Hall — Objects of This Depart- ment— The Academic Department — The Course of Study — Students in This Department — The Day School — -The Night School — The Chapel of the Institute — A Description of It.
CHAPTER XXII.
LOOKING BACKWARD.
The Nature of the Author’s Work at Tuskegee — The Discouragements Met with in the Early Years — Auth- or’s First Experience at Speaking to Northern Audi- ences— General Armstrong’s Advice and Helpfulness — His Interest in the Work at Tuskegee — His Last Visit to Tuskegee— His Reception by Teachers and Students — Author’s First Public Address in the North — Author’s Campaign of Speech-making in the South
CONTENTS.
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to His Own People — His First Opportunity to Speak to a Large Audience of White People in the South — Some Incidents and the Results of this Speech as Told by the Christian World — Author’s Rule About Engage- ments of a Public Nature — The Difficulty in the Early Years in Getting Interviews with Prominent People — The Difficulty to Secure Opportunities to Speak in Churches in the Beginning — Some Reasons Why This Was So — The First Legacy Received by the School — Later Legacies — Some of Author’s Experiences with Benefactors — Some Interesting and Lucky Experi- ences of Author While Collecting Money — An Article in the “Outlook” on the Ministry — Criticism and Cen- sure— Bishop D. A. Payne Corroborates Author’s Posi- tion— Credit Given T. Thomas Fortune and E. J. Scott, Author’s Private Secretary — The Financial Policy of Tuskegee at Present Contrasted with That of the Early Years — The System of Book-keeping at Tus- kegee— $1,000,000 Raised — How to Succeed in Any Undertaking — The Kind of People the World Needs — Hard Work the Author’s Synonym of “Luck” and the Price of All Success.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE.
Booker T. Washington and Family Frontispiece
Hon. Frederick Douglass 3
Dr. J. L. M. Curry 4
Mr. Washington and Two of his Distinguished Friends and Supporters— Pres. William McKinley, Gov. J. F. Johnston, 27 The House in Virginia where Booker T. Washington was born, 28 - Little Booker and his Mother Praying to be Delivered from
Slavery. (Original Illustration . ) 31
Little Booker a Favorite with his Master— Is Allowed to Peep
into the Parlor of the Big House 33
The House in which Booker T. Washington’s Family Lived in West Virginia, at the Time he Left for Hampton Institute. 41 The Cabin in Old Virginia where Booker T. Washington
Lived when a Boy 42
“This fired my ambition to learn to read as nothing had done
before.” (Original Illustration.) 44
“Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation.” (Original
Illustration.) 46
“Booker Starting for Hampton Institute.” (Original Illustra- tion.) 56
Booker T. Washington Rehearsing his Graduating Oration
at Hampton. (Original Illustration.) 60
Teachers at Tuskegee Institute — Warren Logan, Lewis
Adams, and John H. Washington 65
A Brilliant Trio of Colored Americans — E. J. Scott, Edgar
Webber, T. Thomas Fortune 66
A Group of Mr. Washington’s Warm Friends and Supporters — Rev. R. C. Bedford, Ex-Pres. Grover Cleveland, Gov.
G. W. Atkinson 83
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
25
PAGE.
Distinguished Americans who have Introduced Mr. Washing- ton on Public Occasions — Ex-Governor Bullock, Hon. Joseph A. Choate, William Harper, Pres, of Chicago University. . . 84
Olivia Davidson Hall at Tuskegee Institute 91
Cassidy Industrial Hall— Erected by Students, Tuskegee Nor- mal and Industrial Institute 92
Booker T. Washington’s Residence, Tuskegee, Ala 113
Faculty Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute — Eighty-
eight Teachers 114
Bird’s-eye View of the Grounds of the Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute 117
Printing-press Room — They do Their Own Printing at Tuske- gee Institute 201
Paint Shop— Students at Work 202
President Eliot Conferring Honorary Degree upon Mr. Wash- ington at Harvard University, June 24, 1896. (Original
Illustration. ) 206
Senior Class in Psychology, Tuskegee Institute 219
Brickmaking at the Tuskegee Brickyard 220
A Corner in a Millinery Room, Tuskegee Normal and Indus- trial Institute 225
Girls at Tuskegee Learning Dairying 226
Mrs. Olivia Davidson Washington 255
Girls at Tuskegee Engaged in Floriculture 256
Mr. Washington Making a Speech at the Chicago Peace Jubi- lee, October 19, 1898. (Original Illustration.) 262
Laundry Building at Tuskegee Institute 273
Porter Hall — First Building Erected of Tuskegee Institute. . .274 Bird’s-eye View of the Grounds and Review Stand at Tuske- gee, December 16, 1898, when President McKinley and
Party Visited the Institute 279
Waiting for the Procession to Pass at the Time of President
McKinley’s Visit to Tuskegee 280
Shoe Shop, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute 285
Cooking at Tuskegee Institute 286
26
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Young Women at Work in the Sewing Room, Tuskegee Insti-
tute 287
Girls at Tuskegee Engaged in Horticulture 288
Mathematical Float, December 16, 1898, at Tuskegee Normal
and Industrial Institute 297
Student Carpenters at Work on the Trade’s Building 298
Agricultural Building at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute 307
Blacksmith Shop — Built by Students 308
Dressmaking at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. . .309
Bee Culture at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute 310
Tuskegee Negro Conference, February 22, 1899— Negro Farm- ers Coming Out of the Dining Hall 319
Tailoring Division, Tuskegee Institute .320
Reception Given Booker T. Washington after his return from
Europe, by Gov. G. W. Atkinson at Charleston, W. Va 346
President McKinley and Party Watching the Parade .407
Science Hall — Erected by Students at Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute 408
A View of the Machine Shop-Students at Work 377
Harness Making and Carriage Dressing at Tuskegee Institute. 3 78
The New Chapel — Built by Students 387
Alabama Hall, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute 388
Float — Representing Tinning Department, Passed in Parade on the Occasion of President McKinley’s Visit to the Tuske- gee Institute 389
Bird’s-eye View of Some of the Floats at the Tuskegee Insti- tute, December 16, 1898 39°
MR. WASHINGTON AND TWO OF HIS DISTINGUISHED FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS.
♦
THE HOUSE IN VIRGINIA WHERE BOOKER T. WASHINGTON WAS BORN. (STILL STANDING.)
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD.
Many requests have been made of me to write something of the story of my life. Until re- cently I have never given much consideration to these requests, for the reason that I have never thought that I had done enough in the world to warrant anything in the way of an autobiography; and I hope that my life work, by reason of my present age, lies more in the future than in the past. My daughter, Portia, said to me, not long ago: “Papa, do you know that you have never told me much about your early life, and your children want to know more about you.” Then it came upon me as never before that I ought to put something about my life in writing for the sake of my family, if for no other reason .
I will not trouble those who read these lines * with any lengthy historical research concerning my ancestry, for I know nothing of my ancestry beyond my mother. My mother was a slave on a plantation near Hale’s Ford, in Franklin County,
I am indebted to and beg to thank Mr. E. Webber for valuable assistance rendered in connection with the preparation of this publication. Booker T. Washington.
29
30 THE story of my life and work,
Virginia, and she was, as I now remember it, the cook for her owners as well as for a large part of the slaves on the plantation. The first time that I got a knowledge of the fact that my mother and I were slaves, was by being awakened by my mother early one morning, while I was sleeping in a bed of rags, on a clay floor of our little cabin. She was kneeling over me, fervently praying as was her custom to do, that some day she and her children might be free. The name of my mother was Jane. She, to me, will always re- main the noblest embodiment of womanhood with whom I have come in contact. She was wholly ignorant, as far as books were concerned, and, I presume, never had a book in her hands for two minutes at a time. But the lessons in virtue and thrift which she instilled into me during the short period of my life that she lived will never leave me. Some people blame the Negro for not being more honest, as judged by the Anglo- Saxon’s standard of honesty; but I can recall many times when, after all was dark and still, in the late hours of the night, when her children had been without sufficient food during the day, my mother would awaken us, and we would find that she had gotten from somewhere something in the way of eggs or chickens and had cooked them during the night for us. These eggs and chickens were gotten without my master’s permission or
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
31
32 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
knowledge. Perhaps, by some code of ethics, this would be classed as stealing, but deep down in my heart I can never decide that my mother, under such circumstances, was guilty of theft. Had she acted thus as a free woman she would have been a thief, but not so, in my opinion, as a slave. After our freedom no one was stricter than my mother in teaching and observing the highest rules of integrity.
Who my father was, or is, I have never been able to learn with any degree of certainty. I only know that he was a white man.
As nearly as I can get at the facts, I was born in the year 1858 or 1859. Atthe time Icameinto the world no careful registry of births of people of my complexion was kept. My birth place was near Hale’s Ford, in Franklin County, Virginia. It was about as near to Nowhere as any locality gets to be, so far as I can learn, Hale’s Ford, I think, was a town with one house and a post- office, and my birth place was on a large planta- tion several miles distant from it.
I remember very distinctly the appearance of the cabin in which I was born and lived until freedom came. It was a small log cabin about 12x16 feet, and without windows. There was no floor, except a dirt one. There was a large opening in the center of the floor, where sweet potatoes were kept for my master’s family dur-
LITTLE BOOKER, A FAVORITE WITH HIS MASTER, IS ALLOWED TO PEEP INTO THE PARLOR OF THE “BIGH HOUSE.”
34 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
ing the winter. In this cabin my mother did the cooking, the greater part of the time, for my master’s family. Our bed, or “pallet,” as we called it, was made every night on the dirt floor. Our bed clothing consisted of a few rags gathered here and there.
One thing I remember more vividly than any other in connection with the days when I was a slave was my dress, or, rather, my lack of dress.
The years that the war* was in progress be- tween the States were especially trying to the slaves, so far as clothing was concerned. The Southern white people found it extremely hard to get clothing for themselves during that war, and, of course, the slaves underwent no little suffering in this respect. The only garment that I remem- ber receiving from my owners during the war was a “tow shirt.” When I did not wear this shirt I was positively without any garment. In Virginia, the tow shirt was quite an institution during slavery. This shirt was made of the refuse flax that grew in that part of Virginia, and it was a veritable instrument of torture. It was stiff and coarse. Until it had been worn for about six' weeks it made one feel as if a thousand needle points were pricking his flesh. I suppose I was about six years old when I was given one of these shirts to wear. After repeated trials the
*The War of the Rebellion, 1860-65.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON,
35
torture was more than my childish flesh could en- dure and I gave it up in despair. To this day the sight of a new shirt revives the recollection of the tortures of my first new shirt. In the midst of my despair, in connection with this garment, my brother John, who was about two years older than I, did me a kindness which I shall never for- get. He volunteered to wear my new shirt for me until it was “broken in.” After he had worn it for several weeks I ventured to wear it myself, but not without pain.
Soon after my shirt experience, when the win- ter had grown quite cold, I received my first pair of shoes. These shoes had wooden bottoms, and the tops consisted of a coarse kind of leather covering, and I have never felt so proud since of a pair of shoes.
As soon as I was old enough I performed what, to me, was important service, in holding the horses and riding behind the white women of the household on their long horseback rides, which were very common in those days. At one time, while holding the horses and assisting quite a party of visiting ladies to mount their horses, I remember that, just before the visitors rode away a tempting plate of ginger cakes was brought out and handed around to the visitors. This, I think, was the first time that I had ever seen any ginger cakes, and a very deep impres-
36 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
sion was made upon my childish mind. I re- member I said to myself that if I could ever get to the point where I could eat ginger cakes as I saw those ladies eating them the height of my ambition would be reached.
When I grew to be still larger and stronger the duty of going to the mill was intrusted to me ; that is, a large sack containing three or four bushels of corn was thrown across the back of a horse and I would ride away to the mill, which was often three or four miles distant, wait at the mill until the corn was turned into meal, and then bring it home. More than once, while perform- ing this service, the corn or meal got uneven- ly balanced on the back of the horse and fell off into the road, carrying me with it. This left me in a very awkward and unfortunate position. I, of course, was unable, with my small strength, to lift the corn or meal upon the horse’s back, and, therefore would have to wait, often for hours, until someone happened to be passing along the road strong enough to replace the burden for me.
My owner’s name was Jones Burroughs, and I am quite sure he was above the average in the treatment of his slaves. That is, except in a few cases they were not cruelly whipped. Although I was born a slave, I was too young to experience much of its hardships. The thing in connection with slavery that has left the deepest impression
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
37
on me was the instance of seeing a grown man, my uncle, tied to a tree early one morning, strip- ped naked and someone whipping him with a cowhide. As each blow touched his back the cry, “Pray, master! Pray, master! ” came from his lips, and made an impression upon my boyish heart that I shall carry with me to my grave.
When I was still quite a child, I could hear the slaves in our “quarters” whispering in subdued tones that something unusual — the war — was about to take place, and that it meant their free- dom. These whispered conferences continued, especially at night, until the war actually began.
While there was not a single slave on our plan- tation that could read a line, in some way we were kept informed of the progress of the war almost as accurately as the most intelligent per- son. The “grapevine” telegraph was in constant use. When Lee surrendered all of the planta- tion people knew it, although all of them acted as if they were in ignorance of the fact that anything unusual had taken place.
Early one morning, just after the close of the war, word was sent around to the slave cabins that all the slaves must go to the “big house,” the master’s house; and in company with my mother and a large number of other slaves, including my sister Amanda and brother John, I went to the “big house,” and stood by the
88 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
side of my mother, and listened to the reading of some papers and a little speech made by the one who read the papers. This was the first public address I had ever heard, and I need not add that it was the most effective one to which it had ever been my privilege to listen. After the read- ing of the paper and the speech, my mother leaned over and whispered, “Now, my children, we are free.” This act was hailed with joy by all the slaves, but it threw a tremendous respon- sibility upon my mother, as well as upon the other slaves. A large portion of the former slaves hired themselves to their owners, while others sought new employment; but, before the begin- ning of the new life, most of the ex-slaves left the plantation for a few days at least, so as to get the “hang” of the new life, and to be sure that they were free. My mother’s husband, my stepfather, had in some way wandered into West Virginia during the war, and had secured employment in the salt furnace near Malden, in Kanawha coun* ty. Soon after freedom was declared he sought out my mother and sent a wagon to bring her and her children to West Virginia. After many days of slow, tiresome traveling over the mountains, during which we suffered much, we finally reached Malden, and my mother and her husband were united after a long enforced separation.
The trip from Franklin county to Malder^
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. 39
West Virginia, was the first one that had taken me out of the county where I was born, and, of course, it was quite an event, especially to the children of the family, although the parting from the old homestead was to my mother a very seri- ous affair. All of our household and other goods were packed into a small wagon drawn by two horses or mules. I cannot recall how many days it took us to make this trip, but it seems to me, as I recall it now, that we were a least ten days. Of course we had to sleep in the wagon, or what was more often true, on the ground. The chil- dren walked a great portion of the distance.
One night we camped near an abandoned log cabin, and my mother decided that, instead of cooking our frugal meal in the open air, as she had been accustomed to do on the trip, she would build a fire in this cabin and we should both cook and sleep in it during the night. When we had gotten the fire well started, to the consternation of all of us, a large and frightful looking snake came down the chimney. This, of course, did away with all idea of our sheltering ourselves in the cabin for the night, and we slept out in the open air, as we had done on previous occasions.
Since I have grown to manhood it has been my privilege to pass over much of the same road traveled on this first trip to West Virginia, but my recent journeys have been made in well-ap-
40 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
pointed steam cars. At the time I first traveled through that part of Virginia and West Virginia there was no railroad, and if there had been we did not have the money to pay our passage.
At the close of the war our family consisted of my mother, step-father, my brother John and sister Amanda. My brother John is director of the mechanical department of the Tuskegee Institute, and my sister, now Mrs. Amanda John- son, lives in Malden, West Virginia. Soon after we moved to West Virginia my mother took into our family, notwithstanding our own poverty, a young orphan boy who has always remained a part of our family. We gave him the name of James B. Washington. He, now grown to man- hood, holds an important position at the Tuske- gee Institute.
While I have not had the privilege of return- ing to the old homestead in Franklin county, Virginia, since I left there as a child immediately after the war, I have kept in more or less corres- pondence with members of the Burroughs family, and they seem to take the deepest interest in the progress of our work at Tuskegee.
THE HOUSE IN WHICH BOOKER T. WASHINGTON’S FAMILY LIVED IN WEST VIRGINIA AT THE TIME HE
LEFT FOR HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
THE CABIN IN OLD VIRGINIA WHERE BOOKER T. WASHINGTON LIVED WHEN A SMALL BOY.
CHAPTER II.
BOYHOOD IN WEST VIRGINIA.
We began life in West Virginia in a little shanty, and lived in it for several years. My step-father soon obtained work for my brother John and myself in the salt furnaces and coal mines, and we worked alternately in them until about the year 1871. Soon after we reached West Virginia a school teacher, Mr. William Davis, came into the community, and the col- ored people induced him to open a school. My step-father was not able to spare me from work, so that I could attend this school, when it was first opened, and this proved a sore disappoint- ment to me. I remember that soon after going to Malden, West Virginia, I saw a young colored man among a large number of colored people, reading a newspaper, and this fired my ambition to learn to read as nothing had done before. I said to myself, if I could ever reach the point where I could read as this man was doing, the acme of my ambition would be reached. Although I could not attend the school, I remember that, in some way, my mother secured a book for me, and although she could not read herself, she tried in every way possible to help me to do so.
43
44
THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
45
In some way, I cannot now recall how, I learned my letters while working in the salt furnace and coal mines. As time went on, after considerable persuasion on my part, my step-father consented to permit me to attend the public school half of the day, provided I would get up very early in the morning and perform as much work as possi- ble before school time. This permission brought , me great joy. By four o’clock in the morning I was up and at my work, which continued until nearly nine o’clock. The first day I entered school, it seems to me, was the happiest day that I have ever known. The first embarrassment I experienced at school was in the matter of find- ing a name for myself. I had always been called “Booker,” and had not known that one had use for more than one name. Some of the slaves took the sirnames of their owners, but after free- dom there was a prejudice against doing this, and a large part of the colored people gave themselves new names. When the teacher called the roll, I noticed that he called each pupil by two names, that is a given name and a sirname. When he came to me he asked for my full name, and I told him to put me down as “-Booker Washington,” and that name I have borne ever since. It is not every school boy who has the privilege of choosing his own name. In intro- ducing me to an audience in Essex Hall, Lon-
READING OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. THE SMALL LAD WITH SLOUCH HAT, AND
STICK IN RIGHT HAND IS BOOKER.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
47
don, during my visit to Europe, in the summer of 1899, Honorable Joseph H. Choate, the Amer- ican Ambassador, said that I was one of the few Americans that had had the opportunity of choosing his own name, and in exercising the rare privilege I had very naturally chosen the best name there was in the list.
My step-father seemed to be over careful that I should continue my work in the salt furnace until nine o’clock each day. This practice made me late at school, and often caused me to miss my lessons. To overcome this I resorted to a practice of which I am not now very proud, and it is one of the few things I did as a child of which I am now ashamed. There was a large clock in the salt furnace that kept the time for hundreds of workmen connected with the salt furnace and coal mine. But, as I found myself continually late at school, and after missing some of my les- sons, I yielded to the temptation to move forward the hands on the dial of the clock so as to give enough time to permit me to get to school in time. This went on for several days, until the manager found the time so unreliable that the clock was locked up in a case.
It was in Malden that I first found out what a Sunday school meant. I remember that I was playing marbles one Sunday morning in the road with a number of other boys, and an old colored
48
THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
man passed by on his way to Sunday school. He spoke a little harshly to us about playing marbles on Sunday, and asked why we did not go to Sunday school. He explained in a few broken though plain words what a Sunday school meant and what benefit we would get from it by going. His words impressed me so that I put away my marbles and followed him to Sunday school, and thereafter was in regular attendance. I remem- ber that, some years afterwards, I became one of the teachers in this Sunday school and finally be- came its superintendent.
Every barrel of salt that was packed in the mines had to be marked in some way by the manager, and by watching the letters or the figures that were put on the salt barrels, and by hard study in school, I soon learned to read.
My step-father was not able, however, to per- v mit me to continue in school long, even for a half day at the time. I was soon taken out of school and put to work in the coal mine. As a child I recall now the fright which, going a long distance under the mountain into a dark and damp coal mine, gave me. It seemed to me that the distance from the opening of the mine to the place where I had to work was at least a mile and a half. Although I had to leave school I did not give up my search for knowledge. I took my book into the coal mine, and during the spare minutes I
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
49
tried to read by the light of the little lamp which hung on my cap. Not long after I began to work in the mines my mother hired some one to teach me at night, but often, after walking a con- siderable distance for a night’s lesson, I found that my teacher knew but little more than I did. This, however, was not the case with Mr. William Davis, my first teacher.
After working in the coal mine for some time, my mother secured a position for me as house boy in the family of General Lewis Ruffner. I went to live with this family with a good many fears and doubts. General Ruffner’s wife, Mrs. Viola Ruffner, had the reputation of being very strict and hard to please, and most of the boys who had been employed by her had remained only a short time with her. After remaining with Mrs. Ruffner a while, I grew weary of her exact manner of having things done, and, without giving her any notice, I ran away and hired my- self to a steamboat captain who was plying a boat between Malden and Cincinnati. Mrs. Ruffner was a New England woman, with all the New En- gland ideas about order, cleanliness and truth. The boat captain hired me as a waiter, but before the boat had proceeded many miles towards Cincin- nati he found that I knew too little about waiting on the table to be of any service, so he discharged me before I had been on his boat for many hours.
4
i
50 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
In some way, however, I persuaded him to take me to Cincinnati and return me to Malden. As soon as I returned home, I returned to Mrs. Ruffner, acknowledged my sins, and secured my old posi- tion again. After I had lived with Mrs. Ruffner for a while she permitted me to attend school for a few hours in the afternoons during three months, on the condition that I should work faith- fully during the forenoon. She paid me, or rather my step-father, six dollars per month and board for my work. When I could not get the opportunity to attend school in the afternoon I resorted to my old habit of having some one teach me at night, although I had to walk a good distance after my work was done in order to do this.
While living with Mrs. Ruffner I got some very valuable experience in another direction, that of marketing and selling vegetables. Mrs. Ruff- ner was very fond of raising grapes and vege- tables, and, although I was quite a boy, she en- trusted me with the responsibility of selling a large portion of these products. I became very fond of this work. I remember that I used to go to the houses of the miners and prevail upon them to buy these things. I think at first Mrs. Ruff- ner doubted whether or not I would be honest in these transactions, but as time went on and she found the cash from these sales constantly in-
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
51
creasing, her confidence grew in me, and before I left her service she willingly trusted me with any- thing in her possession. I always made it a special point to return to her at the end of each campaign as a salesman every cent that I had re- ceived and to let her see how much vegetables or fruit was brought back unsold.
At one time I remember that, when I passed by an acquaintance of mine when I had a large basket of peaches for sale, he took the liberty of walking up to me and taking one of the ripest and most tempting peaches. Although he was a man and I was but a boy, I gave him to under- stand in the most forceful manner that I would not permit it. He seemed greatly surprised that I would not let him take one peach. He tried to explain to me that no one would miss it and that I would be none the worse off for his taking it. When he could not bring me to his way of think- ing he tried to frighten me by force into yielding, but I had my way, and I am sure that this man respected me all the more for being honest with other people’s property. I told him that if the peaches were mine I would gladly let him have one; but under no circumstances could I consent to let him take without a protest that which was entrusted to me by others. It happened very often that as I would pass through the streets with a large basket of grapes or other fruit,
52 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
many of the larger boys tried by begging and then by force to dispossess me of a portion of what had been given me to sell, but I think there was no instance when I yielded. From my earliest childhood I have always had it im- planted in me that it never pays to be dishonest, and that reward, at some time, in some manner, for the performance of conscientious duty, will always come, and in this I have never been disap- pointed.
In all, I must have spent about four years in the employ of Mrs. Ruffner; and I here repeat what I have said more than once, that aside from the training I got at the Hampton Institute under General Armstrong, Mrs. Ruffner gave me the most valuable part of my education. Her habit of requiring everything about her to be clean, neat and orderly, gave me an education in these respects that has been most valuable to me in the work that I have since tried to accomplish. At first I thought that her idea of strict honesty and punctu- ality in everything meant unkindness, but I soon learned to understand her and she to understand me, and she has from the first time that I knew her until this day proven one of the best friends I ever possessed.
One day, while I was at work in the coal mine, I heard some men talking about a school in Vir- ginia, where they said that black boys and girls
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. 53
were permitted to enter, and where poor students were given an opportunity of working for their board, if they had not money with which to pay for it. As soon as I heard of this institution, I made up my mind to go there. After I had lived with Mrs. Ruffner about four years I decided to go to the Hampton Institute, in Virginia, the school of which I had heard. I had no definite idea about where the Hampton Institute was, or how long the journey was. Some time before starting for Hampton, I remember, I joined the little Baptist church, in Malden, of which I am still a member.
Of my ancestry I know almost nothing. While in slave quarters, and even later, I heard whis- pered conversations among the colored people of the tortures which the slaves, including, no doubt, my ancestors on my mother’s side, suffered in the middle passage of the slave ship while being con- veyed from Africa to America. I have been unsuccessful in securing information that would throw any accurate light upon the history of my family beyond my mother. She, I remem- ber, had a half-brother and a half-sister. In the days of slavery, not very much attention was given to family history and family records — that is, black family records. My mother, I suppose, attracted the attention of a purchaser who was afterward my owner and hers. Her addition to
54
THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
the slave family attracted about as much atten- tion as the purchase of a new horse or cow. Of my father I know even less than of my mother. I only know that he was a white man, but who- ever he was, I never heard of his taking the least interest in me, or providing in any way for my rearing. But I do not find especial fault with him. He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the nation unhappily had en- grafted upon it at that time.
CHAPTER III.
LIFE AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
After my mother and brother John had secured me a few extra garments, with what I could provide for myself, I started for Hampton about the first of October, 1872. How long I was on this journey I have at this time no very definite idea. Part of the way I went by rail- road and part in a stage and part on foot. I remember that, when I got as far as Richmond, Virginia, I was completely out of money and knew not a single person in the city. Besides, I had never been in a city before. I think it was about nine o’clock at night that I reached Rich- mond. I was hungry, tired and dirty, and had no where to go. I wandered about the streets until about midnight, when I felt completely exhausted.
By chance I came to a street that had a plank sidewalk, and I crept under this sidewalk and spent the night. The next morning I felt very much rested, but was still quite hungry, as it had been some time since I had a good meal. When I awoke, I noticed some ships not far from where I had spent the night. I went to one of these
vessels and asked the captain to permit me to
55
56
THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
BOOKER STARTING FOR HAMPTON INSTITUTE-
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
57
work for him, so that I could earn some money to get some food. The captain very kindly gave me work, which was that of helping to unload pig iron from the vessel. In my rather weak and hungry condition I found this very hard work, but I stuck to it, and was given enough money to buy a little food. My work seemed to have pleased the master of the vessel so much that he furnished me with work for several days, but I continued to sleep under the sidewalk each night, for I was very anxious to save enough money to pay my passage to Hampton.
After working on this vessel for some days I started again for Hampton and arrived there in a day or two, with a surplus of fifty cents in my pocket. I did not let any one know how forlorn my condition was. I feared that if I did, I would be rejected as one that was altogether too unpromising. The first person I saw after reaching the Hampton Institute was Miss Mary F. Mackie, the Lady Principal. After she had asked me a good many searching questions, with a good deal of doubt and hesitation in her man- ner, I was assigned to a room. She remarked at the same time that it would be decided later whether I could be admitted as a student. I shall not soon forget the impression that the sight of a good, clean, comfortable room and bed made upon me, for I had not slept in a bed since
58 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
I left my home in West Virginia. Within a few hours I presented myself again before Miss Mackie to hear my fate, but she still seemed to be undecided. Instead of telling me whether or not I could remain, I remember, she showed me a large recitation room and told me to sweep, I felt at once that the sweeping of that room would decide my case. I knew I could sweep, for Mrs. Ruffner had taught me that art well. I think that I must have swept that room over as many as three times and dusted it the same number of times. After awhile she came into the room and rubbed her handkerchief over the tables and benches to see if I had left any dust, but not a particle could she find. She re- marked with a smile, “I guess we will try you as a student.” At that moment I think I was the happiest individual that ever entered the Hamp- ton Institute.
After I had been at the Hampton Institute a day or two I saw General Armstrong, the Princi- pal, and he made an impression upon me of being the most perfect specimen of man, physically, mentally and spiritually, that I had ever seen, and I have never had occasion to change my first im- pression. In fact, as the years went by and as I came to know him better, the feeling grew. I have never seen a man in whom I had such con- fidence. It never occurred to me that it was pos-
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
59
sible for him to fail in anything that he undertook to accomplish. I have sometimes thought that the best part of my education at Hampton was obtained by being permitted to look upon General Armstrong day by day. He was a man who could not endure for a minute hypocrisy or want of truth in any one. This moral lesson he impressed upon every one who came in contact with him.
After I had succeeded in passing my “sweeping examination,” I was assigned by Miss Mackie to the position of assistant janitor. This position, with the exception of working on the farm for awhile, I held during the time I was a student at Hampton. I took care of four or five class rooms ; that is, I swept and dusted them and built the fires when needed. A great portion of the time I had to rise at four o’clock in the morning in order to do my work and find time to prepare my lessons.
Everything was very crude at Hampton when I first went there. There were about two hund- red students. There was but one substantial building, together with some old government bar- racks. There were no table cloths on the meal tables, and that which was called tea or coffee was served to us in yellow bowls. Corn bread was our chief food. Once a week we got a taste of white bread.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON REHEARSING HIS GRADUATING ORATION AT HAMPTON. HIS FIRST SPEECH.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
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While taking the regular literary and industrial courses at Hampton, next to my regular studies I was most fond of the debating societies, of which there were two or three. The first subject that I debated in public was whether or not the execution of Maj. Andre was justifiable. After I had been at Hampton a few months I helped to organize the “After Supper Club.” I noticed that the students usually had about twenty minutes after tea when no special duty called them ; so, about twenty-five of us agreed to come together each evening and spend those twenty minutes in the discussion of some important sub- ject. These meetings were a constant source of delight and were most valuable in preparing us for public speaking.
While at Hampton my best friends did not know how badly off I was for clothing during a large part of the time, but I did not fret about that. I always had the feeling that if I could get knowledge in my head the matter of clothing would take care of itself afterwards. At one time I was reduced to a single ragged pair of cheap socks. These socks I had to wash over night and put them on the next morning.
After I had remained at Hampton for two years I went back to West Virginia to spend my four months of vacation. Soon after my return to Malden my mother, who was never strong,
62 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
died. I do not remember how old I was at this time, but I do remember that it was during my vacation from Hampton. I had been without work for some time and had been off several miles looking for work. On returning home at night I was very tired and stopped in the boiler- room of one of the engines used to pump salt water into the salt furnace near my home. I was so tired that I soon fell asleep. About two or three o’clock in the morning some one, my brother John, I think, found me and told me that our mother was dead. It has always been a source of indescribable pain to me that I was not present when she passed away, but the lessons of truth, honor and thrift which she implanted in me while she lived have remained with me, and I consider them among my most precious possessions. She seemed never to tire of planning ways for me and the other children to get an education and to make true men and women of us, although she herself was without education. This was the severest trial I had ever experienced, because she always sympathized with me deeply in every effort that I made to secure an education. My sister Amanda was too young to know how to take care of the house, and my step-father was too poor to hire anyone. Sometimes we had food cooked for our meals and sometimes we had not. During the whole of the summer, after the death
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
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of my mother, I do not think there was a time when the whole family sat down to a meal to- gether. By working for Mrs. Ruffner and oth- ers, and by the aid of my brother John, I obtained money enough to return to Hampton in the fall, and graduated in the regular course in the summer of 1875.
Aside from Gen. Armstrong, Gen. Marshall and Miss Mackie, the persons who made the deepest impression upon me at Hampton were Miss Nathalie Lord and Miss Elizabeth Brewer, two teachers from New England. I am espec- ially indebted to these two for being helped in my spiritual life and led to love and understand the Bible. Largely by reason of their teaching, I find that a day rarely, if ever, passes when I am at home, that I do not read the Bible. Miss Lord was the teacher of reading, and she kindly con- sented to give me many extra lessons in elocution. These lessons I have since found most valuable to me.
Life at Hampton was a constant revelation to me; it was constantly taking me into a new world. The matter of having meals at regular hours, of eating on a tablecloth, using a napkin, the use of the bath-tub and of the tooth-brush, as well as the use of sheets upon the bed, were all new to me.
I sometimes feel that the most valuable lesson
64 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
I learned at the Hampton Institute was in the use of the bath. I learned there for the first time some of its value, not only keeping the body healthy, but in inspiring self-respect and promoting virtue. In all my travels in the South and elsewhere, since leaving Hampton, 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 always been easy to do, except by slipping away to some stream in the woods. I have always tried to teach my people that some pro- vision for bathing should be a part of every house.
After finishing the course at Hampton, I went to Saratoga Springs, in New York, and was a waiter during the summer at the United States Hotel, the same hotel at which I have several times since been a guest upon the invitation of friends.
Warren Lor, an
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Warren Logan, Treasurer. TEACHERS AT TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE.
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A BRILLIANT TRIO OF COLORED AMERICANS. ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORTERS OF MR. WASHINGTON.
CHAPTER IV.
HOW THE FIRST SIX YEARS AFTER GRADUATION FROM HAMPTON WERE SPENT.
In the fall of 1875 I returned to Malden and was elected as the teacher in the school at Malden, the first school that I ever attended. I taught this school for three years. The thing that I recall most pleasantly in connection with my teaching was the fact that I induced several of my pupils to go to Hampton and most of them have become strong and useful men. One of them Dr. Samuel E. Courtney, is now a successful physician in Boston and a member of the Boston Board of Education. While teaching I insisted that each pupil should come to school clean, should have his or her hands and face washed and hair combed and should keep the buttons on his or her clothing.
I not only taught school in the day, but for a great portion of the time taught night school. In addition to this I had two Sunday schools, one at a place called Snow Hill, about two miles from Malden, in the morning, and another in Malden in the afternoon. The average attend- ance in my day school, was I think, between 80
$8 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
and 90. As I had no assistant teacher it was a very difficult task to keep all the pupils inter- ested and to see that they made progress in their studies. I had few unpleasant experiences, how- ever, in connection with my teaching. Most of the parents, notwithstanding the fact that they and many of the children knew me as a boy, seemed to have the greatest confidence in me and respect for me and did everything in their power to make the work pleasant and agreeable.
One thing that gave me a great deal of satis- faction and pleasure in teaching this school was the conducting of a debating society which met weekly and was largely attended both by the young and older people. It was in this debating society and the societies of a similar character at Hampton that I began to cultivate whatever tal- ent I may have for public speaking. While in Malden, our debating society would very often arrange for debates with other similar organiza- tions in Charleston and elsewhere.
Soon after I began teaching, I resolved to induce my brother John to attend the Hampton Institute. He had been good enough to work for the family while I was being educated, and besides had helped me in all the ways he could, by working in the coal mines while I had been away. Within a few months he started for Hamp- ton and by his own efforts and my aid he went
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
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through the institution. After both of us had gotten through Hampton we sent our adopted brother James there, and had the satisfaction of having him educated under Gen. Armstrong.
In 1878 I went to Wayland Seminary, in Washington, and spent a year in study there. Rev. Dr. King was President of Wayland Seminary while I was a student there. Not- withstanding I was there but a short time, the high Christian character of Dr. King made a lasting impression upon me. The deep religious spirit which pervaded the atmosphere at Way- land made an impression upon me which I trust will always remain.
Soon after my year at Wayland had expired, I was invited by a committee of gentlemen in Charleston, West Virginia, to stump the state of West Virginia in the interest of having the capital of the state moved from Wheeling, West Virginia, to Charleston. For some time there had been quite an agitation in the state on the question of the permanent location of the capital. A law was passed by the legislature providing that three cities might be voted for; these were, I think, Charleston, Parkersburg and Martinsburg. It was a three-cornered contest and great energy was shown by each city. After about three months of campaigning the voters declared in favor of Charleston as the permanent capital by
70
THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
a large majority. I went into a large number of the counties of West Virginia and had the satis- faction of feeling that my efforts counted for something in winning success for Charleston, which is only five miles from my old home, Malden.
The speaking in connection with the removal of the capital rather fired the slumbering ambition which I had had for some time to become a lawyer, and after this campaign was over I began in earnest to study law, in fact read Blackstone and several elementary law books preparatory to the profession of the law. A good deal of my reading of the law was done under the kind direction of the Hon. Romes H. Freer, a white man who was then a prosperous lawyer in Char- leston and who has since become a member of Congress. But notwithstanding my ambition to become a lawyer, I always had an unexplainable feeling that I was to do something else, and that I never would have the opportunity to practice law. As I analyze at the present time the feel- ing that seemed to possess me then, I was im- pressed with the idea that to confine myself to the practice of law would be going contrary to my teaching at Hampton, and would limit me to a much smaller sphere of usefulness than was open to me if I followed the work of educating my people after the manner in which I had been
BOOKER T, WASHINGTON.
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taught at Hampton. The course of events, how- ever, very soon placed me where I found an opportunity to begin my life’s work.
My work in connection with the removal of the capital had not long been over when I re- ceived an invitation from Gen. Armstrong, very much to my surprise, to return to Hampton and deliver the graduates’ address at the next commencement. I chose as the subject of this address, “The Force that Wins.” Everyone seemed greatly pleased with what I said. After the address I was still further surprised by being asked by Gen. Armstrong to return to the Hamp- ton Institute and take a position, partly as a teacher and partly as a post-graduate student. This I gladly consented to do. Gen. Armstrong had decided to start a night class at Hampton for students who wanted to work all day and study for two hours at night. He asked me to organize and teach this class. At first there were only about a half dozen students but the number soon grew to about thirty. The night class at Hampton has since grown to the point where it now numbers six or seven hundred. It seems to me that the teaching of this class was almost the most satis- factory work I ever did. The students who com- posed the class worked during the day for ten hours in the saw mill, on the farm, or in the laundry. They were a most earnest set. I soon
72 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
gave them the name of the “Plucky Class.” Several of the members of this “Plucky Class” now fill prominent and useful positions. While I was teaching I was given lessons in advanced subjects by Dr. H. B. Frissell, who was then chaplain, but who is now the honored and suc- cessful successor of Gen. Armstrong, as well as by others.
About the time the night class was organized at Hampton, Indians for the first time were per- mitted to enter the institution. The second year that I worked at Hampton, in connection with other duties, I was placed in charge of the Indian boys, who at that time numbered about seventy- five, I think. I lived in their cottage with them and looked after all their wants. I grew to like the Indians very much and placed great faith in them. My daily experience with them convinced me that the main thing that any oppressed people needed was a chance of the right kind and they would cease to be savages.
At the end of my second year at Hampton as a teacher, in 1881, there came a call from the little town of Tuskegee, Alabama, to Gen. Arm- strong for some one to organize and become the Principal of a Normal School, which the people wanted to start in that town. The letter to Gen. Armstrong was written on behalf of the colored people of the town of Tuskegee by Mr. Geo. W.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
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Campbell, one of the foremost white citizens of Tuskegee. Mr. Campbell is still the president of the Board of Trustees of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, and has from the first been one of its warmest and most steadfast friends. When Mr. Campbell wrote to Gen. Armstrong he had in mind the securing of a white man to take the principalship of the school. Gen. Arm- strong replied that-he knew of no suitable white man for the position, but that he could recom- mend a colored man. Mr. Campbell wrote in reply that a competent colored man would be acceptable. Gen. Armstrong asked me to give up my work at Hampton and go to Tuskegee in answer to this call. I decided to undertake the work, and after spending a few days at my old home in Malden, West Virginia, I proceeded to the town of Tuskegee, Alabama*
I wish to add here that, in later years, I do not envy the white boy as I once did. I have learned that success is to be measured, not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Looked at from this standpoint, I almost reach the conclusion that often the negro boy’s birth and connection with an unpopular race are an advantage, so far as real life is concerned. With few exceptions, the negro youth must work harder and perform his tasks
74 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race.
From any point of view, I had rather be what I am, a member of the Negro race, than to be able to claim membership with the most favored of any other race. I have always been made sad when I have heard members of my race claiming rights and privileges, or certain badges of dis- tinction, on the ground simply that they were members of this or that race, regardless of their own individual worth or attainments.
CHAPTER V.
THE BEGINNING OF THE WORK AT TUSKEGEE.
Before starting for Tuskegee I found it almost impossible to find the town on any map, and had difficulty in learning its exact location. I reached Tuskegee about the middle of June, 1 88 1. I found it to be a town of some 2,000 inhabitants, about half of whom were Negroes, and located in what is commonly called the “Black Belt,” that is, the section of the South where the Negro race largely outnumbers the white population. The county in which Tuske- gee is located is named Macon. Of Tuskegee and Macon County I prefer to quote the words of Maj. W. W. Screws, the editor of the “Mont- gomery (Alabama) Daily Advertiser,” who vis- ited Tuskegee in 1898, seventeen years after the Tuskegee Institute was founded. Maj. Screws says :
“Just at this time there is probably no place in the United States, of similar size, so well known to the people of the country, as this lovely little city. It has always possessed merits which brought it conspicuously before Alabamians, for in every locality in this and many Southern
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States, are noble men and women who received their educational training here,
“Thomas S. Woodward was one of the earliest white settlers in Macon County, and was one of the commissioners appointed to lay off the site for the court house. He built the first house in the new town, which they called Tuskekee, a corruption of the old Indian name, Tuskigi, which is said by Dr. Gatschet to be a contrac- tion of Taskialgi (warriors). The old Indian town stood in the fork of the Coosa and was the home, part of the time, of the famous half- breed statesman, Alexander McGillivray. The name passed in its present form to the county seat of the new county.
“Tuskegee was settled by men who were well to do in a material point of view. They owned rich lands on the creeks and streams and in the prairie section of the county. This point is on a high, dry ridge, and from time immemorial has been noted for its healthfulness. Here came those who wished to build homes for their fam- ilies, to have congenial company and to give their children educational advantages. They did not desire the projectors of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad to put the town on its route, because of the interruption it was feared would be occasioned to the schools. From the very beginning of its existence, education has
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been the main feature of Tuskegee, and through its schools and colleges a population gathered here which has never been excelled in point of refinement, politeness and all the gentle ameni- ties which tend to make life comfortable.
“The town of Tuskegee was first settled about 1830. James Dent built the first house. The town was first laid out in 1833. Mr. G. W. Campbell came to the county with his father from Montgomery in 1835, and at that time perhaps 150 people were in and about what now comprises Tuskegee’s territorial limits. There was no court house building, and court sessions were held in a small log house with a dirt floor. When court was not in session the building was used as a school house. The Creek Indians were in great numbers in the neighborhood, but they were friendly and peaceful, and in 1836 commenced to move to their far Western home, going overland to Montgomery, where they took steamer for New Orleans. Tuskegee is one of the model towns in the way of good order.
“Among the white settlers here are Dr. W. J. Gautier, and Messrs. G. W. Campbell, J. W. Bil- bro, J. O. A. Adams and W. H. Wright. They have a perfect wealth of interesting reminiscence connected with the early days of all East Ala- bama. Although they have passed the three score years, they are hale, healthy men, engaged in
78 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
business, and set a splendid example of energy and active life to the younger generation. The firm of Campbell & Wright has been in existence, pos- sibly, longer than any other in Alabama.
“ The Montgomery and West Point Railroad is about five miles distant from Tuskegee, the near- est station being Chehaw. From there to Tuske- gee, until about twenty years ago, the usual mode of conveyance for passengers and baggage was stage coach and omnibus, while all goods were transported by wagon. It was a tiresome, troublesome and expensive method. This diffi- culty has been overcome through the Tuskegee Railroad which now connects the two points.
“ The population of Macon County before i860, was largely heavy landed proprietors. They suf- fered immensely by the results of the war from disorganized labor, and reverses stripped them of much of their property. The county is almost exclusively agricultural, and the average yield year by year, of corn, cotton, peas, potatoes and other things grown on well regulated farms, is fairly good.”
When I reached Tuskegee, I found that Mr. Lewis Adams, a colored man of great intelligence and thrift, who was born a slave near Tuskegee, had first started the movement to have some kind of Normal School in Tuskegee for the education of colored youth. At the time he conceived this
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idea Hon. W. F. Foster and Hon. A. L. Brooks, both white Democrats, were members of the Alabama Legislature, and Mr. Adams so inter- ested them in the movement that they prom- ised to use their influence in the Legislature to secure an annual appropriation of $2,000 toward the expenses of a Normal School, provided one could be properly organized and started. Messrs. Foster and Brooks were successful in their efforts to secure the appropriation, which was limited in its use to helping to pay teachers. A Board of three Commissioners was appointed to control the expenditure of this $2,000. When the school was first started this board consisted of Mr. Geo. W. Campbell, Mr. M. B. Swanson and Mr. Lewis Adams. After the death of Mr. Swanson, Mr. C. W. Hare was elected in his stead.
When I reached Tuskegee, the only thing that had been done toward the starting of a school was the securing of the $2,000. There was no land, building, or apparatus. I opened the school, however, on the 4th of July, 1881, in an old church and a little shanty that was almost ready to fall down from decay. On the first day there was an attendance of thirty students, mainly those who had been engaged in teaching in the public schools of that vicinity. I remember that, during the first months I taught in this little
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shanty, it was in such a dilapidated condition that, whenever it rained, one of the larger pupils would very kindly cease his lessons and hold the umbrella over me while I heard the recitations. But these little buildings, as inadequate as they were, were most gladly furnished by the colored people, who from the first day that I went to Tuskegee to the present time have done every- thing within their power to further the interests of the school.
One curious thing that happened in connection with the students was, as additional pupils began to come in, some of them had been attending schools taught by some of those who came to the Tuskegee school, and, in several cases, it hap- pened that former pupils entered higher classes than their former teachers.
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST YEAR AT TUSKEGEE.
After the school had been in session in the old church and little shanty for several months, I began to see the necessity of having a permanent location for the institution, where we could have the students not only in their class rooms, but get hold of them in their home life, and teach them how to take care of their bodies in the matter of bathing, care of the teeth, and in general cleanli- ness. We also felt that we must not only teach the students how to prepare their food but how to serve and eat it properly. So long as we only had the students a few hours in the class room during the day we could give attention to none of these important matters, which our students had not had an opportunity of learning before leaving their homes. Few of the students who came during the first year were able to remain during the nine months’ session for lack of money, so we felt the necessity of having industries where the students could pay a part of their board in cash. It was rather noticeable that, not- withstanding the poverty of most of the students who came to us in the earlier months of the in-
81
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stitution, most of them had the idea of getting an education in order that they might find some method of living without manual labor ; that is, they had the feeling that to work with the hands was not conducive to being of the highest type of lady or gentleman. This feeling we wanted to change as fast as possible by teaching students the dignity, beauty and civilizing power of intelligent labor.
After a few months had passed by, I wrote Gen. J. F. B. Marshall, at that time treasurer of the Hampton Institute, and put our condition before him, telling him that there was an abandoned farm about a mile from the town of Tuskegee in the market which I could secure at a very cheap price for our institution. As I had absolutely no money with which to make the first payment on the farm, I summoned the courage to ask Gen. Marshall to lend me $500 with which to make the first payment. To my surprise a letter came back in a few days enclosing a check for $500. A contract was made for the purchase of the farm, which at that time consisted of 100 acres. Subsequent purchases and gifts of adjacent lands have increased the number of acres at this place to 700, and this is the present site of the Tuskegee Institute. This has again been enlarged from time to time by purchases and gifts of land not adjacent until at present
Rev. R.C.Redford
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DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS WHO HAVE INTRODUCED MR. WASHINGTON ON PUBLIC OCCASIONS.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
85
the school owns farm lands to the number of 2,460 acres.
After the school had been in session three months, Miss Olivia A. Davidson, a graduate of the Hampton Institute and later a graduate of the Framingham, Mass., Normal School, was employed as an assistant teacher.
Miss Davidson was teaching among her people near Memphis, Tennessee, in 1879, when the yellow fever drove her away. She went to Hampton, entered the senior class and graduated the follow*., ing spring. She did not go to Hampton, how- ever, until her application to return to Memphis to help nurse the yellow fever patients had been refused by the authorities there. Through friends she was able to enter the Normal School at Fram- ingham, Massachusetts, and graduated in the summer of 1881; and, when an assistant at Tus- kegee was called for, she accepted the work. Her enthusiasm had won the admiration of her schoolmates, and from them she received much assistance for the school at Tuskegee in after years.
The success of the school, especially during the first half dozen years of its existence, was due more to Miss Davidson than any one else. Dur- ing the organization of the school and in all mat- ters of discipline she was the one to bring order out of every difficulty. When the last effort had
86 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
$
apparently been exhausted and it seemed that things must stop, she was the one to find a way out. Not only was this true at the school, but when a campaign for money had ended unsuccessfully, she would hie away North and money was sure to be found.
Our hardest struggle began after we had made the first payment on the farm. We not only had to secure the money within a few months with which to repay Gen. Marshall’s loan, but had to get the means with which to meet future pay- ments, and also to erect a building on the farm. Miss Davidson went among the white and col- ored families in Tuskegee and told them our plans and needs, and there were few of either race who did not contribute either something in cash or something that could be turned into cash at the many festivals and fairs which were held for the purpose of raising money to help the school. In many cases the white ladies in Tuskegee contrib- uted chickens or cakes that were sold for the benefit of our new enterprise. I do not believe that there was a single Negro family or scarcely an individual in Tuskegee or its vicinity that did not contribute something in money or in kind to the school. These contributions were most gladly made and often at a great sacrifice.
Perhaps I might as well say right here that one of the principal things which made it easy to start
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such a school as now exists near the town of Tus- kegee was the fact that Tuskegee is inhabited by some of the most cultured and liberal white peo- ple to be found in any portion of the South. I have been into a good many Southern towns, but I think I have never seen one where the general average of culture and intelligence is so high as that of the people of Tuskegee. We have in this town and its surroundings a good example of the friendly relations that exist between the two races when both races are enlightened and educated. Not only are the white people above the average, but the same is true of the general intelligence and acquirements of the colored people.
The leading colored citizen in Tuskegee is Mr. Lewis Adams, to whom the honor should largely be given for securing the location of the Tuske- gee Normal and Industrial Institute in the town. Mr. Adams is not only an intelligent and success- ful business man, but is one who combines with his business enterprise rare common sense and discretion. In the most trying periods of the growth of the Tuskegee Institute I have always found Mr. Adams a man on whom I could rely for the wisest advice. He enjoys the highest respect and confidence of the citizens of both races, and it is largely through his power and influence that the two races live together in har- mony and peace in the town.
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After we had raised all the money we could in Tuskegee for the purpose of paying for the farm and putting up the new building, Miss Davidson went to Boston, where she had many friends and acquaintances, and after some months of hard work she secured enough money with which to complete the payment on the farm and return Gen. Marshall’s loan. In addition she secured means to complete the payment on our first building, Porter Hall. Our first building was named after Mr. H. A. Porter, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who was instrumental in assisting us to secure the largest gifts for its erection.
All the while the farm was being paid for we were holding school daily in the old church and shanty. The latter at least was well ventilated. There was one thickness of boards above and around us, and this was full of large cracks. Part of the windows had no sashes and were closed with rough wooden shutters that opened upward by leather hinges. Other windows had sashes but little glass in them. Through all these open- ings the hot sun or cold wind and rain came pour- ing in upon us. Many a time a storm would leave scarcely a dry spot in either of the two rooms into which the shanty was divided to make room for separate classes. These rooms were small, but into them large classes of thirty or forty had to be crowded for recitations. More
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than once I remember that when Miss Davidson and I were hearing recitations and the rain would begin pouring down, one of the larger pupils would very kindly cease his lessons and come and hold an umbrella over us so that we could hear the recitations. I also remember that at our boarding place on several occasions when it rained while we were eating our meals our good landlady would kindly get an umbrella and hold it over us while we were eating.
During the summer of 1882, at the end of our first year’s work, I was married to Miss Fannie N. Smith, of Malden, West Virginia, and we be- gan housekeeping in Tuskegee early in the fall. This made a home for our teachers who had now been increased to four in number. She was also a graduate of the Hampton Institute. After ear- nest and constant work in the interest of the school, together with her housekeeping duties, she passed away in May, 1884. One child, Por- tia M. Washington, was born during our mar- riage. From the first she most earnestly de- voted her thought and time to the work of the school, and was completely one with me in every interest and ambition. She passed away, how- ever, before she had an opportunity of seeing what the school was designed to be.
The following account of her death is taken
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THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
from the Alumni Journal, published at the time at Hampton :
“The numerous friends of Mr. B. T. Washing- ton will be pained to learn of the death of his beloved wife, Mrs. Fannie (Smith) Washington, class of ’82, which occurred at Tuskegee, Ala- bama, Sunday, May 4th.
“ Her death is indeed a serious bereavement to Mr. Washington, whose acquaintance and regard for the deceased had begun in their childhood. Their happy union had done much to lighten the arduous duties devolving upon him in the man- agement of his school. To his friends he had several times expressed the great comfort his family life was to him.
“We know that all our readers will join us in extending to him the warmest sympathy in this sad hour.
“ A bright little girl, not a year old, is left to sustain with her father a loss which she can never know.”
OLIVIA DAVIDSON HALL, TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.
CASSEDY INDUSTRIAL HALL, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE. ERECTED BY STUDENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
THE STRUGGLES AND SUCCESS OF THE WORKERS AT TUSKEGEE FROM 1882 TO 1884.
Soon after securing possession of the farm we set about putting it into a condition so that a crop of some kind might be secured from it during the next year. At the close of school hours each afternoon, I would call for volunteers to take their axes and go into the woods to assist in clearing up the grounds. The students were most anxious to give their service in this way, and very soon a large acreage was put into condition for cultivation. We had no horse or mule with which to begin the cultivation of the farm. Mr. George W. Campbell, however, the president of the Board of Trustees, very kindly gave us a horse which was well along in years. This was the first animal that the school ever possessed. On the farm there was an old build- ing that had formerly been used as a stable, another that had been used as a chicken coop, and still a third that had been used as a kitchen during ante-bellum days. All of these three buildings or shanties were duly repaired and made to do service as class-rooms, dormitories, etc.
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We had our first services in Porter Hall on Thanksgiving Day, 1882. Rev. R. C. Bedford, who was then pastor of the Congregational Church in Montgomery, and who has since been one of our trustees and warmest friends, preached the Thanksgiving sermon. This was the first Thanksgiving service I think that was ever held in the town of Tuskegee; and a joyous one it was to the people.
By the middle of the second year’s work the existence of the school had begun to be adver- tised pretty thoroughly through the state of Alabama and even in some of the adjoining states. This brought to us an increasing num- ber of students, and the problem as to what to do with them was becoming a serious one. We put the girls who did not live in town on the third floor of Porter Hall to sleep. The boys we scattered around in whatever places we were able to secure. In order to secure a dining room, kitchen and laundry, to be used by the boarding department, our young men volunteered to dig out the basement under Porter Hall, which was soon bricked up and made to answer its purpose very well. Old students, however, who to-day return to Tuskegee and see the large new dining room, kitchen, and laundry run by steam, are very much interested in noting the change and contrast.
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Sometimes during the winter of the second year of the school, we were compelled to put large numbers of young men in shanties or huts to sleep, where there was almost no protection from rain and cold weather. Often during the very cold nights I have gone into the rooms of these students at midnight to see how they were getting along, and have found them sitting up by the fire, with blankets wrapped about them, as the only method of keeping warm. One morn- ing, when I asked at the opening exercises how many had been frost-bitten during the cold weather, not less than ten hands went up. The teachers were not surprised at this. Still, not- withstanding these inconveniences and hardships, I think I never heard a complaint from the lips of a single student. They always seemed filled with gratitude for the opportunity to go to school under any circumstances.
Very early in the history of the school we made it a rule that no student, however well off he might be, was to be permitted to remain unless he did some work, in addition to taking studies in the academic department. At first quite a number of students and a large number of parents did not like this rule; in fact, during the first three or four years, a large proportion of the students brought either verbal or written mes- sages from their parents that they wanted their
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children taught books, but did not want them taught work. Notwithstanding these protests, we still stuck to our rule. As the years went on and as the students and parents began to see and appreciate the value of our industrial teaching, these protests grew less frequent and less strong. It is a sufficient explanation to say in regard to this matter that it has been ten years since a single objection has been raised by parents or students against anyone’s taking part in our indus- trial work. In fact, there is a positive enthusiasm among parents and students over our industrial work, and we are compelled to refuse admission to hundreds every year who wish to prepare themselves to take up industrial pursuits. If we had the room and the means we could give indus- trial training to a much larger number of students than are now receiving it. The main burden of the letters which now come from parents is that each wants his daughter or son taught some in- dustry or trade in connection with the academic branches. I also remember, during the early history of this institution, that students coming here who had to pass through the larger cities, or pass in the vicinity of other institutions, had the finger of scorn pointed at them because they were going to a school where it was understood that one had to labor. At the present time, how- ever, this feeling is so completely changed that
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there is almost no portion of the South where there is any objection brought against industrial education of the Negro on the part of the colored people themselves. On the other hand, the feel- ing in favor of it is strong and most enthusiastic.
Almost from the first I determined to have the students do practically all the work of putting up the buildings and carrying on the various de- partments of the institution. Many of our best friends, however, doubted the practicability of this, but I insisted that it could be done. I held that while the students at first might make very poor bricks and do poor brick-masonry, the lesson of self-help would be more valuable to them in the long run than if they were put into a build- ing which had- been wholly the creation of the generosity of some one else. By the end of the third year the number of students had increased from 30, with which we began, to 169; most of them, however, coming from nearby counties and other sections of Alabama.
In February, 1883, the State Legislature of Alabama increased the state appropriation for the school from two to three thousand dollars annually, on recommendation of the State Super- intendent of Public Instruction, Hon. H. Clay Armstrong. The Committee on Education re- ported the bill unanimously to the House and the Governor recommended its passage. As some
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of the members were not acquainted with the character of the school they raised objection to this increase at a time when, by defalcation of the state treasurer, reported only the day before, the state had lost a quarter of a million dollars. The Speaker of the House, Hon. W. F. Foster, a member from Tuskegee, and an ex-Confederate soldier, left the chair, and in an eloquent and effective speech in praise of the work of the school at Tuskegee, urged the passage of the bill. On conclusion of Col. Foster’s speech the bill passed by a large majority vote. Col. Foster not only interested himself in the passage of the first bill which gave support from the state to this institution, but has been one of the warmest and most helpful friends from that time- until the present.
In reference to the passage of the bill for an increased appropriation for the school, Rev. R. C. Bedford, at that time residing in Montgomery as pastor of the Congregational Church, wrote to Gen. Armstrong as follows:
“Gen. S. C. Armstrong, Dear Sir: —
“A short time ago I made a trip to Tuskegee, Ala., for the purpose of visiting the State Nor- mal School for colored people located there, four of whose five teachers, together with the wife of the Principal, were once pupils of yours at Hampton Institute. I attended the session of the
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school for two days and was exceedingly pleased with the enthusiastic spirit of both teachers and pupils. One of the encouraging features of the school is the warm interest it has inspired in many of the leading white citizens of Tuskegee. Mr. G. W. Campbell and Mr. Wm. B. Swanson are among the oldest and most respected citizens of Macon County. They with Mr. Lewis Adams, a prominent colored man, constitute the State Board of Commissioners for the school. Col. Bowen, Mr. Varner, and Col. W. F. Foster, speaker of the present Legislature, all citizens of Tuskegee and familiar with the school, are among its warmest friends. A short time ago, in con- versation with Hon. H. Clay Armstrong, our State Superintendent of Education, I learned that he was so much pleased with the work of Mr. Washington and his associates as to recommend to the Committee on Education to report a bill giving $1,000 per year additional to the school. I was present during the debate on the bill. So interested was Col. Foster in its passage that he left the speaker’s chair, and upon the floor of the House, in an eloquent and effective speech, urged that it pass. He sat down, and by a vote of 59 to 18, the bill was passed; and it is now a law.
“With this example before us, we need have no fear as to what the colored people can do if,
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like Mr. Washington and his associates, they will take hold to win.”
In April, 1883, the school enjoyed a pleasant visit from Gen. J. F. B. Marshall, the treasurer of Hampton Institute and the one who had been generous enough to lend us $500 with which to make the first payment on the farm. Gen. Mar- shall’s visit gave us the greatest hope and encour- agement. He wrote while at the school to the Southern Workman, a paper published at Hamp- ton Institute, as follows, concerning his visit:
“A few days’ rest from office duties being en- joined upon me recently, I determined to pay a visit to the Tuskegee school, in which the faculty and teachers of Hampton Institute naturally feel a special interest.
“The Tuskegee farm contains 140 acres and the boys are at work clearing a field for sugar cane, which grows well here. They also raise cotton, sweet potatoes, peaches, etc. To enable them to train the students properly they must have them board at the school. A building is very much needed for the accommodation of 100 young men. Mr. Washington says that it will cost $8,000, if student labor can be made avail- able in its construction. For this purpose he proposes to build of brick made on the farm, which has excellent clay. The young men are impatient to set to work on their building.
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“Tuskegee is one of the very old towns in the state, an attractive place of about 2500 inhabi- tants, having several colleges and academies of high repute for the white youth of both sexes. I was glad to find a very strong temperance senti- ment here. There were only two bars in town and they pay a license of about $900 a year each. No better location could have been chosen.
“The leading white citizens of the place appre- ciate the importance of Mr. Washington’s work, and speak of him in high terms. He has evident- ly won the esteem and confidence of all. Mr. Foster, the present speaker of the House, in the State Legislature, lives here, and rendered valu- able aid in getting the increased appropriation of the state for Mr. Washington, of whom he spoke to me in high praise.
“I am reminded by everything I see here of our own beginning and methods at Hampton. I found on my arrival at the school, which is about a mile from the village center, a handsome frame building of two stories with a mansard roof. Though not yet finished it is occupied as a school building and is very conveniently planned for the purpose, reminding me of the Academic Hall at Hampton. The primary school on the Normal School grounds bears the same relation to it as a practice school that the Butler does to the Hamp- ton Institute. It has 250 on the roll. They are
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stored away in what was the stable, close as crayons in a Waltham box. Let us hope they will all make their mark.
“All six teachers of the Normal and Training Schools are colored; and to their race belongs all - credit for the work accomplished here and of the judicious use of the funds which the friends of the school, through the efforts of Mr. Washington and Miss Davidson, have contributed.
“ The experiment, thus far so successful, is one of deep interest to all who have the welfare of the race at heart, and should not be suffered to fail for want of means for its completion. It is vital to the success of this school that the students should all be brought under the training and supervision of the teachers by being boarded and lodged on the premises. Our experience at Hampton has shown us the necessity of this. I know of no more worthy object or one conducive to more important results than this school enter- prise, and I trust the friends of Negro advance- ment and education will not suffer it to languish or be hampered for funds. They may rest assured that these may be wisely expended and most worthily bestowed.
“My three days’ visit to Tuskegee was emi- nently satisfactory and has inspired me with new hope for the future of the race.”
The next event in the history of the school was
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the celebration of its second anniversary, com- bined with the dedication of Porter Hall, whose corner-stone had been laid the year before. The dedication address was delivered by Rev. Geo. L. Chaney of Atlanta, now of Boston, one of the Trustees of the school; and eloquent speeches were also made by Rev. Morgan Calloway, the associate in Emory College of its president, Dr. Atticus G. Haygood, author of “ Our Brother in Black/’ Rev. Mr. Owens, of Mobile, also made an interesting address.
During the following summer a small frame cottage with four rooms was put up to hold six- teen young men, and three board shanties near the grounds were rented containing accommoda- tions for about thirty-six additional students. In September a boarding department was opened for both sexes, and as many young men as could be provided for gladly availed themselves of the privilege of working out about half of their board at the school.
In 1883 Mr. Warren Logan, a graduate of the Hampton Institute, who had received special training in book-keeping under Gen. Marshall at Hampton, came to Tuskegee as a teacher. He had not been here long, however, before it was clearly seen that he could serve the school ef- fectively in another capacity as well as a class
room teacher, and he was soon given the position
7
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of Treasurer and book-keeper in addition to his duties as a class room teacher. Mr. Logan has now been connected with the school 1 6 years, and has been its treasurer during 13 years of this time. In addition to the position of treasurer, he fills the position of Acting Principal in the absence of the Principal. All of these various and deli- cate as well as responsible duties he has per- formed with great ability and satisfaction.
Mr. J. H. Washington, my brother, came to the school from West Virginia in 1885 and took the position of Business Agent. He was after- wards made Superintendent of Industries and has held that position ever since. In the meantime the school has grown, and his duties as well as those of Mr. Logan have broadened and increased in responsibility. Both he and Mr. Logan, dur- ing the absence of the Principal, are in a large measure the mainstay and dependence of the in- stitution for counsel and wise direction.
These two men, Mr. Logan and my brother John, have been from the beginning very impor- tant forces in the school management. As Treasurer and Superintendent of Industries re- spectively their responsibilities are heavy, and how much credit they deserve will never be fully known till the necessity arises some day to fill their places. They, with James N. Calloway, a gradu- ate of Fisk University, who is the manager of
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Marshall Farm, Mr. G. W. Carver, Director of the Agricultural Department, and Mr. M. T. Driver, Business Agent, constitute the Finance Committee of the Institute, a sort of cabinet for the Principal.
In September, 1883, a very pleasant surprise came to the workers in the form of $1,100, se- cured through Rev. R. C. Bedford from the Trus- tees of the Slater Fund. I might add right here that the interest of the Trustees of the Slater Fund, now under the control of Dr. J. L. M. Curry ? Special Agent, has continued from that time until this, so that the institution now receives $11,000 from the Slater Fund instead of $1,100 at the be- ginning. With this impetus, a carpenter shop was built and started, a windmill set up to pump water into the school building, a sewing machine bought for the girls’ industrial room, mules and wagons for the farm, and the farm manager’s salary was also paid for nine months.
All during the summer, as was true of the previous one, Miss Davidson and myself had been earnestly presenting our cause at the North with so much encouragement that the work on the new building, called Alabama Flail, was vigorously pushed during the fall and winter. In February, 1884, about three years after the school was opened, $5,000 had been secured towards the
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erection of Alabama Hall, which eventually cost about $10,000.
In March, 1884, Gen. Armstrong did one of those generous things which he was noted for all through his life. In fact, from the beginning of Tuskegee’s life until Gen. Armstrong’s death, he seemed to take as much interest in the work of Tuskegee as in the Hampton Institute, and I am glad to say the same generous spirit is con- stantly shown by the successor of Gen. Armstrong, Dr. Frissell. I received a letter from Gen. Arm- strong stating that he had decided to hold a num- ber of public meetings in such cities as Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, and wished me to accompany him and speak in the interest of Tuskegee. These meetings were advertised to be in the interest of Hampton and Tuskegee jointly, but in reality they turned out to be meet- ings in the interest of Tuskegee, so generous was Gen. Armstrong in his words and actions at these meetings. The special object aimed at in these meetings was to secure money with which to complete Alabama Hall.
I quote from an address made at one of these meetings by myself: “Our young men have already made two kilns of bricks and will make all required for the needed building, Alabama Hall. From the first we have carried out the plan at Tuskegee of asking help for nothing that we
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could do for ourselves. Nothing has been bought that the students can produce. The boys have done the painting, made the bricks, the chairs, tables and desks, have built a stable and are now moving the carpenter shop. The girls do the entire housekeeping, including the washing, iron- ing and mending of the boys’ clothing. Besides, they make garments to sell, and give some atten- tion to flower gardening/’
In due time, however, by hard work, the re- mainder of the money, $10,000 in all, necessary to complete Alabama Hall, was secured in the North, and not a little was gotten from friends in and about Tuskegee, especially through the holding of festivals, etc.
In April, 1884, we received a visit from the Lady Principal, Miss Mary F. Mackie, of the Hampton Institute, who was the first one to re- ceive me when I went to Hampton as a student. I will say here that, from the visit of Gen. Marshall up to the present time, we have received constant visits and encouragement from the officers and teachers of the Hampton Institute. Miss Mackie, writing to a friend at Hampton, said:
“The wish constantly on my lips or in my heart, since I reached here last evening, is that you could see this school. I am sure you would feel, as I do, that the dial of time must have
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turned back twelve years in its course. In many respects it is more like the Hampton I first knew than the one of today is ; I was particularly struck with the plantation melodies which Mr. Wash- ington called for at the close of the evening prayers; there is more of the real wail in their music than I ever heard elsewhere. The teachers here laugh over their exact imitation of the alma mater; even the night school feature has sprouted; to be sure it only numbers two students, but it is on the same plan as ours. Do you know that Mr.
— has lately given them 440 acres of land,
making their farm now 580 acres?”
The June number of the Southern Letter, a little paper published by the Institute, contained the following account of commencement, which took place May 29, 1884: “Many visitors were present, white and colored. The great interest was in the development of the department of in- dustrial training, which now includes the farm, the Slater carpenter shop and blacksmith shop, the printing office, the girls’ industrial room, and the brick yard, where the students were making brick for Alabama Hall. The morning exercises, were, as usual, inspection, recitations and review of the current news, and the speaker of the after- noon was Prof. R. T. Greener, of Washington, who delivered a very practical and eloquent ad-
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dress. Reporters were present from Montgomery and Tuskegee.”
In the spring of 1884 I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation from the Presi- dent of the National Educational Association, Hon. Thos. W. Bicknall, of Boston, asking me to deliver an address before that body at its next meeting during the summer. The Association assembled at Madison, Wisconsin, and I think I am safe in saying that there were at least five thousand teachers present, representing every portion of the United States. This was the first opportunity I had had of presenting the work of the school to any large audience, especially of a national character. It was rather late in the evening before my time to speak came. Several speakers had preceded me, and one especially had proven himself to be rather tedious and tiresome by his long and rather unprepared address, but this did not discourage me. I determined to make the best address that I possibly could, although I was beset by fear and trembling. The many kind words, however, which I received after my address assured me that in some measure my effort had not been a failure. Among other things I said:
“I repeat that any work looking toward the permanent improvement of the Negro in the South, must have for one of its aims the fitting of
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him to live friendly and peaceably with his white neighbors, both socially and politically. In spite of all talk of exodus the Negro’s home is per- manently in the South, for coming to the bread and meat side of the question the white man needs the Negro and the Negro needs the white man. His home being permanently in the South, it is our duty to help him prepare himself to live there, an independent, educated citizen. In order that there may be the broadest development of the colored man and that he may have an un- bounded field in which to labor, the two races South must be brought to have faith in each other. The teachings of the Negro, in various ways, for the last twenty years, have tended too much to array him against his white brother rather than to put the races in co-operation with each other. Thus Massachussetts supports the Re- publican party because the Republican party sup- ports Massachusetts with a protective tariff; but the Negro supports the Republican party simply because Massachusetts does. When the colored man is educated up to the point of seeing that Alabama and Massachusetts are a long way apart and the conditions of life in them very different, and that if free trade enables my white brother across the street to buy his plows at a cheaper rate it will enable me to do the same thing, he will act in a different way. More than once I
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have noticed that when the whites were in favor of prohibition, the blacks, led even by sober, up- right ministers, voted against prohibition, simply because the whites were in favor of it, and for this reason the blacks said that they knew it was a ‘democratic trick.’ If the whites vote to lay a tax to build a school house it is a signal for the blacks to oppose the measure, simply because the whites favor it. I venture the assertion that the sooner the colored man, South, learns that one political party is not composed altogether of angels and the other altogether of devils, and that all his enemies do not live in his own town or neighborhood and all his friends in some other distant section of the country, the sooner will his educational advantages be enhanced many fold. But matters are gradually changing in this re- spect. The black man is beginning to find out that there are those even among the Southern whites who desire his elevation. The Negro’s new faith in the white man is being reciprocated in proportion as the Negro is rightly educated. The white brother is beginning to learn by de- grees that all Negroes are not liars and chicken thieves.
“Now in regard to what I have said about the relations of the two races, there should be no un- manly cowering or stooping to satisfy unreason- able whims of Southern white men; but it is
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charity and wisdom to keep in mind the two hundred years of schooling in prejudice against the Negro which the ex-slaveholders are called on to conquer. A certain class of whites object to the general education of the colored man on the ground that when he is educated he ceased to do manual labor, and there is no avoiding the fact that much aid is withheld from Negro education in the South by the states on these grounds. Just here the great mission of Industrial Educa- tion, coupled with the mental, comes in. It kills two birds with one stone, viz., it secures the co- operation of the whites and does the best possible thing for the black man.”
After this address I began receiving invitations from a good many portions of the country to de- liver addresses on the subject of educating the Negro. At the present time these applications have increased to such an extent, and they come in such large numbers, that, if I were to try to answer even one-third of the calls that come to me from all parts of the United States as well as other countries, to speak, I would scarcely spend a single day at Tuskegee.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON’S RESIDENCE, TUSKEGEE, ALABAMA.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE HISTORY OF TUSKEGEE FROM 1884 TO 1894.
From 1884 to 1894, while comparatively little was heard of the school in the public press, yet that was a period of constant and solid growth. In 1884 the enrollment was 169. In 1894 the enrollment had increased to 712, and 54 officers and teachers were employed. Besides the growth in the number of students and instruct- ors, there had also been quite an increase in the number of buildings, and in every way the students were made more comfortable in their surroundings. By 1893 we had upon the school grounds 30 buildings of various kinds and sizes, practically all built by the labor of the students.
Between 1884 and 1894, I think, the hardest work was done in securing money. Regularly, during this period, we were compelled, on account of lack of accommodations, to refuse many students, but very often they would come to us under such circumstances that, though lacking in accommodations, we could not have the heart to turn them away, especially after they had traveled long distances, as was true in
many cases. Students seemed willing to put up
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with almost any kind of accommodations if they were given a chance to secure an education.
During this period either Miss Davidson or myself, or sometimes both of us, spent a great deal of time in the North getting funds with which to meet our ever increasing demands. This, of course, was the hardest and most trying part of the work. Beginning early in the morn- ing the day was spent in seeing individuals at their homes or in their offices; and, in the even- ing and sometimes during the day, too, addresses were delivered before churches, Sunday Schools, or other organizations. On many occasions I have spoken as many as five times at different churches on the same Sabbath.
The large increase in the number of students tempted us often to put up buildings for which we had no money. In the early days of the institution by far the larger proportion of the buildings were begun on faith. I remember at one time we began a building which cost in the end about $8,000, and we had only $200 in cash with which to pay for it; nevertheless the build- ing was completed after a hard struggle and is now in constant use.
I remember at one time we were very much in need of money with which to meet pressing obligations. I borrowed $400 from a friend with the understanding that the money
RDS-EYE VIEW OF TOE GROUNDS OF THE TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.
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THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
must be returned within thirty days. On the morning of the day that the thirty days expired we were without the $400 with which to repay the loan and were of course very much depressed in consequence. The mail, however, came in at about eleven o’clock and brought a check from a friend for exactly $400. I could give a number of other such instances illustrating how we were relieved from embarrassing circumstances in ways that have always seemed to me to have been providential. Although the institution has had occasion many times to give promissor}? notes in order to meet its obligations, there has never been a single instance when any of its notes have gone to protest, and its credit and general financial standing have always been good with the commer- cial world. I have felt deeply obligated to the white and colored citizens of Tuskegee for their kindness in helping the school financially when it did not have money to meet its obligations. We have never applied to an individual or to either of the banks in Tuskegee for aid that we did not get it when the banks or individuals were able to aid us. The banks have been more than kind, often seemingly inconveniencing themselves in order to be of service to our institution. In the earlier days of the institution, when we had little in the way of income, on several occasions I have started to the depot, when I had to make a jour-
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ney away from Tuskegee, with no money in my pocket, but felt perfectly sure of meeting a friend in the town of Tuskegee from whom I could get money, and I have never been disappointed in this respect.
In 1883 we received our first donation of $500 from the Peabody Fund through Dr. J. L. M. Curry, the General Agent. At that time Dr. Curry formed his first acquaintance with Tuske- gee; and, as I have stated elsewhere, from then until now he has been one of our warmest and most helpful friends. The amount received from the Peabody Fund has since been increased until it now amounts to twelve or fifteen hundred dollars each year.
In connection with this appropriation from the Peabody Fund it may be interesting to relate a conversation which took place between Dr. Curry and one of the State officers at Montgomery, Al- abama. The State officer in question was telling Dr. Curry that there were several other schools in the state that needed help more than Tuske- gee did; and that, because Tuskegee, through the efforts of its teachers, was receiving money from the North and elsewhere which other schools were not getting, he thought we were not entitled to help from the Peabody Fund. Dr. Curry promptly replied that because we were making an extra effort to get funds which other
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schools were not getting was the strongest reason why we should be helped; in other words, he told the officer plainly that we were trying to help ourselves and for that reason he wanted us helped from the Peabody Fund.
Through the constant efforts in the North and South of myself and Miss Davidson, the financial report for the first two years of the school showed that the receipts amounted to $11,679.69. The rapid increase in the growth of the school and in the confidence of the people may be shown by the fact that, during the third year of the existence of the school, the receipts nearly doubled them- selves as compared with the second year; we re- ceived the third year the sum of $10,482.78, which was nearly as much as we received during the two previous years. By far the larger pro- portion of this amount came in small sums; very often amounts came from individuals that were as small as 50 cents. One of the things that con- stantly touched and encouraged us during the early years of the school was the deep interest manifested in its success by the old and ignorant colored people in and near the town of Tuskegee. They never seemed to tire in their interest and efforts. They were constantly trying to do some- thing to help forward the institution. Whenever they had a few chickens or eggs, for example, to
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121
spare, they would bring them in and make a pres- ent of them to the school.
The income of the institution for the fifth year amounted to $20,162.13; for the ninth year, $30,326; for the eleventh year, $61,023.28; for the fourteenth year, $79,836.50.
At the end of the third year we were able to report that the school owned property unencum- bered by debt that was valued at $30,000. Dur- ing the third year Alabama Hall, to which I have already referred, was completed at a cost of $10,000.
The report for the fourth year of the school’s history shows that we received from all sources $11,146.07. During that year we got into a very tight place financially and hardly knew which way to turn for relief. In the midst of our per- plexity, I went to Gen. Armstrong and he very kindly loaned the school money to help it out of its embarrassment, although I afterwards learned that it was nearly all of the money that he pos- sessed in cash.
In my fourth annual report to the Trustees I used the following words : “ Greater attention has been given to the industrial department this year than ever before. Three things are accomplished by the industrial system: (1) The student is enabled to pay a part of his expenses of board,
books, etc., in labor; (2) He learns how to work ;
8
122 THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK,
(3) He is taught the dignity of labor. In all the industrial branches the students do the actual work under the direction of competent instruc- tors.” I have not had occasion to change in any great degree the foregoing sentences as represent- ing the purpose for which Tuskegee stands.
During the fifth year of our work we were able also to add a saw mill, through the generosity of Gen. J. F. B. Marshall, to whom I have already referred. The addition of this saw mill enabled us to saw a large part of the lumber used by the institution.
In order to give many worthy students an op- portunity to secure an education by working at some trade or industry during the day and study- ing at night, we opened in the fall of 1883 our our first night school. The night school was opened with one teacher and one student. From this small beginning the night school has increased, until at this writing there are four hun- dred and fifty students. By working in the day and going to school at night, the night students earn money with which to pay their expenses the next year in day school, and if they bring a good supply of clothing they can earn enough, together with what they earn during vacation, to keep them in school two or three years after they en- ter day school.
I cannot better indicate the constant growth
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of the school than by giving a description of our seventh anniversary, which took place May 31, 1888. There were more than 2,000 people pres- ent, in spite of rain that came in showers. Dur- ing the morning, from 9:30 to 12, the regular work of the entire school was carried on in the various departments, which were open for inspec- tion. In addition to the regular work, products of the shops and farm were exhibited. The course of study then extended over four years, with two preparatory classes. It included the English branches for the literary part, with in- struction in one or more of the following indus- tries throughout : Blacksmithing, carpentry, brick- masonry, brick making, plastering, farming, stock, poultry and bee-raising, saw-milling, wheelwright- ing, printing, mattress and cabinet making, sewing, cutting and fitting, washing and ironing, cooking, and general housekeeping. From these various departments the following articles were exhibited : At the blacksmith and wheelwright shop were seen two one-horse wagons, plow stock, small tools, express wagon body, wheelbarrow, spring wagon seat and various other articles. In the carpenter shop there were wardrobes, a center and a leaf table, wash stands, book cases, bedsteads, wash boards, picture frames, chairs, paneling, moulding, laths, etc. In the printing office there was an exhibit of the general work of the office, — such
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as blanks, checks, catalogues, promissory notes, diploma blanks, minutes of associations and con- ventions, annual reports, bill and letter heads, en- velopes, circulars, handbills, invitations, business cards, certificates, etc., with samples of the two monthly papers which were then printed at the institution, the “ Southern Letter ” and “ The Gleaner.” From the farm and poultry yard, there were vegetables, hogs, cattle, chickens, turkeys, guineas, geese, a peacock, eggs, bees and honey. Mattress and chair making were features that had been added to the industries that year and were especially satisfactory. The mattresses exhibited compared favorably with those made anywhere. In the laundry there was a tastefully arranged exhibit of laundried bedding, dresses, collars and cuffs, shirts, ladies’ and gen- tlemen’s underwear, table linen and towels. The sewing room showed samples of all kinds of ladies’, gentlemen’s and children’s clothing, with laces, mats, tidies, etc. At the brickyard there was a kiln of 120,000 bricks ready for burning. About the saw mill there were stacks of its products. The cooking class had a tempting display of its work in cakes, jellies, bread, yeast, meats and a roast pig.
Among the first things seen by a visitor com- ing to the school from any direction was a large new brick building — Armstrong Hall. This build-
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ing was almost entirely the product of student labor, under the supervision of Mr. Brown, in- structor in carpentry at that time, who also planned the building. The school then had three large and comfortable buildings. Porter Hall contained recitation rooms, offices, library and reading room, chapel and dormitories for boys, with the school laundry in the basement. Ala- bama Hall, with a large frame annex built that year, was used for girls’ dormitories, and con- tained, in addition, teachers’ and students’ parlors and dining rooms and kitchen. Armstrong Hall contained young men’s dormitories, reading and sitting rooms, bath room, printing office and two recitation rooms. In addition, there were several cottages on the grounds, while a new one and a large barn, the latter to cost, perhaps $2,000, were in process of erection.
In the early years of the school, the anniver- sary exercises were held in the school chapel, which was the small chapel in Porter Hall, but from year to year the influx of patrons and friends from far and near had so increased that the chapel would no longer hold a fifth of them. That year the vast audience of 2,000, including the 400 students, was assembled in a rude pavil- ion built of rough timber and partly covered by the wide spreading branches of some mulberry trees. Here, after partaking of a substantial din-
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ner furnished by the school and friends, students and visitors assembled. A long procession was formed of students, teachers and graduates, which marched from Alabama Hall to the pavilion to music furnished by the school band, and there the exercises of the seventh anniversary were held.
There were ten members of the graduating class of that year as follows: Andrew J. Wil- born, Valedictorian, Tuskegee, Ala.; Letitia B. Adams, Tuskegee, Ala.; Caroline Smith, Tuske- gee, Ala.; Shadrach R. Marshall, Talbotton, Ga.; Philip P. Wright, LaFayette, Ala.; William H. Clark, Brunswick, Ga.; Eugenia Lyman, Opelika, Ala.; Sarah L. Hunt, Salutatorian, Sparta, Ga.; George W. Lovejoy, Olustee Creek, Ala.; Nich- olas E. Abercrombie, Montgomery, Ala.
The total enrollment for the year was 400. The school farm then contained 540 acres of farm and timber land. The saw mill had furnished most of the lumber for the buildings and other carpen- ter work done that year, and for that purpose saw logs had been cut from the school land. The school property was then worth about $80,000. The income for the year had been $26,7^5.73. This amount about covered the expenses. Includ- ing the ten mentioned above, the school then had forty-two graduates. During the year previous all the graduates had been engaged in teaching for some part of the year. All the members of
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that year’s class were Christians. They went out as teachers of various kinds in the state of Alabama. The young women had a knowledge of washing, ironing, cooking, sewing and gen- eral housekeeping in addition to their intellectual attainments. One of the six young men was a shoemaker, one a carpenter, one had considerable knowledge of the printer’s trade and one was an excellent plasterer. The annual address at that commencement was delivered by Hon. John R. Lynch, of Mississippi, and for eloquence, prac- tical thought and helpful information could hardly have been surpassed. There was a number of Tuskegee’s best white citizens present, while the colored citizens came out en masse to witness the exercises that launched into life three youths from their own town. Montgomery was represented by one of her military companies, the “Capital City Guards/’ and 124 of her best citizens, for whose accommodation special trains were sent out.
In order to emphasize the fact that people at Tuskegee during its early history were not idle, I give the daily program which was in effect in January, 1886: 5 a. m., rising bell; 5:50 a.m.,
warning breakfast bell; 6 a. m., breakfast bell; 6:20 a. m., breakfast over; 6:20 to 6:50 a. m., rooms are cleaned; 6:50, work bell; 7:30, morn- ing study hour; 8:20, morning school bell; 8:25,
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inspection of young men’s toilet in ranks; 8:40, devotional exercises in chapel; 8:55, “5 minutes” with the daily news: 9 a. m., class work be- gins; 12, class work closes; 12:15 p. m., din- ner; 1 p. m., work bell; 1:30 p. m., class work begins; 3:3 o p. m., class work ends; 5:30 p. m., bell to “knock off” work; 6 p. m., supper; 7:10 p. m., evening prayers; 7:30 p. m., evening study hours; 8:45 p. m., evening study hour closes; 9:20 p. m., warning retiring bell; 9:30 p. m., retir- ing bell.
Although the period of the school’s history about which I have written in this chapter was one of constant and substantial growth, it never- theless was during this period that the school sus- tained a great loss, as well as I a great personal bereavement, in the death of my beloved and faithful wife, Olivia Davidson Washington. In May, 1889, after four years of married life, she succumbed to the overtaxing duties of mother and assistant principal of the school and passed away. Her remains were laid to rest amid the tears of teachers and students. “Her words of caution, advice, sympathy and encouragement were given with a judgment that rarely made an error. Her life was so full of deeds, lessons and suggestions that she will live on to bless and help the institution which she helped found as long as it is a seat of learning.”
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Two wide-awake boys, Baker Taliaferro and Ernest Davidson, were born to us, who were then too young to know their loss. They are now 12 and io years of age respectively; and they, with my daughter Portia, are a source of much comfort and joy to me at present.
Miss Davidson came to the school almost from the very beginning, she being the next person to come after myself. I have spoken in other places of the great assistance she was in helping to build up the school in its early days. As an estimate of her worth and character, I beg to quote the words of the Rev. R. C. Bedford, a friend who knew her worth and her great help to me and to Tuskegee. Commenting upon her death Mr. Bedford said:
“Olivia Davidson was born in Virginia, June ii, 1854. When only a little child she went with her parents to Ohio, where she grew up and received the education afforded by the common schools of that state. At an early age she went to Mississippi and there spent five years as a teacher on the large plantations. In 1878 she came north to her native state, and, that she might more thoroughly fit herself for the work of a teacher, she entered the Hampton Institute, from which, in one year, she graduated with great honor. Her friend, Mrs. Hemenway, of Boston, greatly desiring that she should prose-
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cute her studies still further, at her request, she entered the Framingham, (Mass.) Normal School, from which she graduated in two years. In August following her graduation she came to Tuskegee, Ala., to act as assistant to Prof. Washington, in the State Normal School of which he had been made principal in the July previous. From the very first it became evident that she had found her field of labor for life. Everything tended to inspire her to this end. The people were poor; they were numerous; they were anxious, and aside from an act of the Legislature establishing a school, it had, literally, to be created. The story of her success has often been told and in this brief tribute cannot be repeated.
“August ii, 1885, Miss Davidson was married to Prof. B. T. Washington, and although she at once took upon herself the cares of a very busy home life, she still retained a most important relation to the school, which no amount of warn- ing from her friends could persuade her to drop. Her marriage with Mr. Washington proved a most happy one, and rarely has it been the lot of two individuals to be so thoroughly united in their life work. The coming of little Baker into the home was an occasion of great rejoicing, and the birth of another son just a few months before his mother’s death only served to double the joy.
“It was my privilege to meet Mrs. Washing-
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ton at Tuskegee when the school had been in operation but little more than a year and, as one of the trustees of the school, I have had an inti- mate knowledge of her work ever since. It would require more than human pen to tell how deep was her love for the school and how thoroughly her life was consecrated to it. Every grain of sand on all those beautiful grounds and every beam and brick in the walls must have felt the inspiration of her love. No more touching story could be told than that of her earnest efforts to raise money from the people about Tuskegee and of her toilsome walks in Boston, as from house to house, and with an eloquence that was rarely re- fused, she sought funds to provide shelter for the hundreds of students that were flocking to the school. Her character made her especially adapted to all parts of the work in which she was engaged, and the stamp of her influence on the higher life of the school no time can ever efface. Among a people who make much show of relig- ion, but often with too little of its spirit, hers was religion indeed, but with so little of show as sometimes to make her life a mystery to those who did not really know her. The blind and the poor, and above all the aged, can tell of her relig- ion as they recall the happy Thanksgiving and Christmas times when they have sat at her table and her own hands have ministered to their
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wants, and when in sickness she has visited them and relieved their sufferings. No woman ever had a truer husband or more devoted friends; and the memory of their kindness will rest, as a precious legacy, upon the school and upon all who loved her as long as time shall last.”
While speaking of the financial growth of the school I must not neglect to indicate the growth at the same time in students. As I have stated, the school opened with one teacher and 30 students. By the end of the first year we had three teachers, including Miss Davidson, Mr. John Caldwell and myself. For the third session there were 169 students and 10 teachers. For the fifth year there were 279 students and 18 teachers. For the eighth year there were 399 students and 25 teachers. For the tenth year there were 730 students and 30 teachers. For the fourteenth year, ending in June, 1895, there were 1,013 students and 63 teachers.
In the spring of 1892, at our annual commence- ment, we had the pleasure and the honor of a visit from Hon. Frederick Douglass, who deliv- ered the annual address to the graduating class of that year. This was Mr. Douglass’ first visit to the far South, and there was a large crowd of people from far and near to listen to the words of that grand old man. The speech was fully up to the high standard of excellence, eloquence and
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wisdom for which that venerable gentleman was noted.
Mr. Douglass had the same idea concerning the importance and value of industrial education that I have tried to emphasize. He also held the same views as I do in regard to the emigration of the Negro to Africa, and was opposed to the scheme of diffusion and dissemination of the Negro throughout the North and Northwest, believing as I do that the Southern section of the country where the Negro now resides is the best place for him. In fact, the more I have studied the life of Mr. Douglass the more I have been sur- prised to find his far-reaching and generous grasp of the whole condition and needs of the Negro race. Years before Hampton or Tuskegee under- took industrial education, in reply to a request for advice by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe as to how she could best use a certain sum of money which had been or was about to be placed in her hands, Mr. Douglass wrote her in part as follows:
Rochester, March 8, 1853. My Dear Mrs. Stowe:
You kindly informed me when at your house a fortnight ago, that you designed to do some- thing which should permanently contribute to the improvement and elevation of the free colored people in the United States. You especially ex- pressed an interest in such of this class as had become free by their own exertions, and desired
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most of all to be of service to them. In what manner and by what means you can assist this class most successfully, is the subject upon which you have done me the honor to ask my opinion.
. . . I assert, then, that poverty , ignorance ,
and degradation are the combined evils; or in other words, these constitute the social disease of the free colored people in the United States.
To deliver them from this triple malady is to improve and elevate them, by which I mean sim- ply to put them on an equal footing with their white fellow-countrymen in the sacred right to “ Life , Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” I am for no fancied or artificial elevation, but only ask fair play. How shall this be obtained? I answer, first, not by establishing for our use high schools and colleges. Such institutions are, in my judgment, beyond our immediate occasions and are not adapted to our present most press- ing wants. High schools and colleges are ex- cellent institutions, and will in due season be greatly subservient to our progress; but they are the result, as well as they are the demand, of a point of progress which we as a people have not yet attained. Accustomed as we have been to the rougher and harder modes of living, and of gaining a livelihood, we cannot and we ought not to hope that in a single leap from our low condi- tion we can reach that of Ministers, Lawyers , Doctors , Editors , Merchants , etc. These will doubtless be attained by us; but this will only be when we have patiently and laboriously, and I may add, successfully, mastered and passed through the intermediate gradations of agriculture and
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the mechanic arts. Besides, there are (and per- haps there is a better reason for my views of the case) numerous institutions of learning in this country, already thrown open to colored youth. To my thinking, there are quite as many facili- ties now afforded to the colored people as they can spare the time, from the sterner duties of life, to judiciously appropriate. In their present con- dition of poverty they cannot spare their sons and daughters two or three years at boarding- schools or colleges, to say nothing of finding the means to sustain them while at such institutions. I take it, therefore, that we are well provided for in this respect; and that it may be fairly inferred from the fact, that the facilities for our education, so far as schools and colleges in the Free States are concerned, will increase quite in proportion with our future wants. Colleges have been opened to colored youth in this country during the last dozen years. Yet few, comparatively, have acquired a classical education; and even this few have found themselves educated far above a living condition, there being no methods by which they could turn their learning to ac- count. Several of this latter class have entered the ministry; but you need not be told that an educated people is needed to sustain an educated ministry. There must be a certain amount of cultivation among the people, to sustain such a ministry. At present we have not that cultiva- tion amongst us; and, therefore, we value in the preacher strong lungs rather than high learning. I do not say that educated ministers are not needed amongst us, far from it. I wish there
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were more of them; but to increase their number is not the largest benefit you can bestow upon us.
We have two or three colored lawyers in this country; and I rejoice in the fact; for it affords very gratifying evidence of our progress. Yet it must be confessed that, in point of success, our lawyers are as great failures as our ministers. White people will not employ them to the obvious embarrassment of their causes; the blacks, taking their cue from the whites, have not sufficient confidence in their abilities to employ them. Hence educated colored men, among the colored people, are at a very great discount. It would seem that education and emigration go together with us, for as soon as a man rises amongst us, capable, by his genius and learning, to do us great service, just so soon he finds that he can serve himself better by going elsewhere. In proof of this, I might instance the Russwurms, the Garnets, the Wards, the Crummells, and others, all men of superior ability and attainments, and capable of removing mountains of prejudice against their race, by their simple presence in the country; but these gentlemen, finding themselves embarrassed here by the peculiar disadvantages to which I have referred, disadvantages in part growing out of their education, being repelled by ignorance on one hand, and prejudice ' on the other, and having no taste to continue a contest against such odds, have sought more congenial climes, where they can live more peaceable and quiet lives. I regret their election, but I cannot blame them; for with an equal amount of educa-
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tion and the hard lot which was theirs, I might follow their example.
There is little reason to hope that any consider- able number of the free colored people will ever be induced to leave this country, even if such a thing were desirable. The black man (unlike the In- dian) loves civilization. He does not make very great progress in civilization himself, but he likes to be in the midst of it, and prefers to share its most galling evils, to encountering barbarism. Then the love of country, the dread of isolation, the lack of adventurous spirit, and the thought of seeming to desert their “brethren in bonds,” are a powerful check upon all schemes of colonization, which look to the removal of the colored people, without the slaves. The truth is, dear madam, we are here, and here we are likely to remain. Individ- uals emigrate — nations never. We have grown up with this republic, and see nothing in her charac- ter, or even in the character of the American people, as yet, which compels the belief that we must leave the United States. If, then, we are to remain here, the question for the wise and good is precisely that which you have submitted to me — namely: What can be done to improve the condition of the free people of color in the United States? The plan which I humbly sub- mit in answer to this inquiry (and the hope that it may find favor with you, and with the many friends of humanity who honor, love and co-operate with you) is the establishment in Rochester, N. Y., or in some other part of the United States equally favorable to such an enterprise, of an INDUS- TRIAL COLLEGE in which shall be taught
9
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several important branches of the mechanic arts. This college shall be open to colored youth. I shall pass over the details of such an institution as I propose. . . . Never having had a day’s
schooling in my life, I may not be expected to map out the details of a plan so comprehensive as that involved in the idea of a college. I repeat, then, that I leave the organization and adminis- tration of the institution to the superior wisdom of yourself and the friends who second your noble efforts. The argument in favor of an Industrial College (a college to be conducted by the best men, and the best workmen which the mechanic arts can afford; a college where colored youth can be instructed to use their hands, as well as their heads; where they can be put in possession of the means of getting a living wherever their lot in after life may be cast among civilized or uncivilized men; whether they choose to stay here, or prefer to return to the land of their fathers) is briefly this: Prejudice against the free colored people in the United States has shown itself nowhere so invincible as among mechanics. The farmer and the professional man cherish no feeling so bitter as that cherished by these. The latter would starve us out of the country entirely. At this moment I can more easily get my son into a lawyer’s office to study law than I can in a blacksmith’s shop to blow the bellows and to wield the sledge-hammer. Denied the means of learning useful trades, we are pressed into the narrowest limits to obtain a livelihood. In times past we have been the hewers of wood and draw- ers of water for American society, and we once
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enjoyed a monopoly in menial employments, but this is so no longer. Even these employments are rapidly passing away out of out hands. The fact is, (every day begins with the lesson, and ends with the lesson) that colored men must learn trades; must find new employments; new modes of usefulness to society, or that they must decay under the pressing wants to which their condition is rapidly bringing them.
We must become mechanics; we must build as well as live in houses; we must make as well as use furniture; we must construct bridges as well as pass over them; before we can properly live or be respected by our fellow-men. We need mechanics as well as ministers. We need work- ers in iron, clay, and leather. We have orators, authors, and other professional men, but these reach only a certain class, and get respect for our race in certain select circles. To live here as we ought we must fasten ourselves to our country- men through their every-day, cardinal wants. We must not only be able to black boots, but to make them. At present we are in the Northern states, unknown as mechanics. We give no proof of genius or skill at the county, state or national fairs. We are unknown at any of the great exhibitions of the industry of our fellow citizens, and being unknown, we are unconsidered.
Wishing you, dear madam, renewed health, a pleasant passage and safe return to your native land, I am, most truly, your gratified friend,
Frederick Douglass.
In October, 1893, I was married to Miss Mag-
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gie James Murray, who is a graduate of Fisk University, and who came to Tuskegee in 1889 as a teacher. She has proven in every way her- self to be equally interested in the advancement of Tuskegee as myself, and fully bears her share of the responsibilities and labor, giving especial attention to the development of the girls and to work among the women through her mothers’ meetings in various parts of Alabama and else- where.
i
CHAPTER IX.
INVITED TO DELIVER A LECTURE AT FISK UNIVERSITY.
In the spring of 1895 I was rather pleasantly surprised by receiving an invitation from the Fisk University Lecture Bureau, in Nashville, Tennes- see, to deliver a lecture before this Bureau. Mr. Edgar Webber was the president and presided at the meeting when I spoke. This was among the first addresses which I had delivered in the South that was fully reported by the Southern press. A full description of the meeting was given by the Nashville Daily American and the Nashville Ban- ner, and papers throughout many portions of the South contained editorials based upon this address. It was also my first opportunity to speak before any large number of educated and representative colored people, and I accepted the invitation very reluctantly and went to Nashville with a good deal of fear and trembling, but my effort seemed to have met with the hearty approval of the greater portion of the audience.
As the address delivered at Fisk University on this occasion constitutes in a large measure the
basis for many of my other addresses and much
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of the work I have tried to do, I give in full what the Nashville American said:
“An intelligent and appreciative audience composed of prominent colored citizens, students and quite a large number of white people, crowded the beautiful and commodious Fisk memorial chapel last night to hear Prof. Booker T. Wash- ington lecture on ‘Industrial Education.’ The lecture was the first given under the auspices of the Student’s Lecture Bureau of Fisk University, and was in every way a complete success. Mr. Washington is a powerful and convincing speaker. His simplicity and utter unselfishness, both in speech and action are impressive. He speaks to the point. He does not waste words in painting beautiful pictures, but deals mostly with plain facts. Nevertheless, he is witty and caused his audience last night to laugh and applaud repeated- ly the jokes and striking points of his address.
“Booker T. Washington is doing a great work for his race and the South. He has the right views.
“Prof. Washington was introduced by Edgar Webber, President of the Lecture Bureau, and among other things he said:
CI am exceedingly anxious that every young man and woman should keep a hopeful and cheer- full spirit as to the future. Despite all of our dis- advantages and hardships, ever since our fore-
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fathers set foot upon the American soil as slaves, our pathway has been marked by progress. Think of it: We went into slavery pagans; we came out Christians. We went into slavery pieces of property; we came out American citizens. We went into slavery without a language; we came out speaking the proud Anglo-Saxon tongue. We went into slavery with slave chains clanking about our wrists; we came out with the American ballot in our hands.
u 1 1 believe that we are to reach our highest development largely along the lines of scientific and industrial education. For the last fifty years education has tended in one direction, the cement- ing of mind to matter.’
“The speaker then said most people had the idea that industrial education was opposed to lit- „ erary training, opposed to the highest develop- ment. He wanted to correct this error. He would choose the college graduate as the subject to receive industrial education. The more mind the subject had, the more satisfactory would be the results in industrial education. It requires as strong a mind to build a Corliss engine as it did to write a Greek grammar. Without indus- trial education, the speaker feared they would be in danger of getting too many ‘smart men’ scat- tered through the South. A young colored man in a certain town had been pointed out to him as
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being exceedingly smart and he had heard of him as being very accomplished before. Upon in- quiry, however, he learned the young man ap- plied his knowledge and training to no earthly good. He was just a smart man, that was all.’
“Continuing, the speaker said: ‘As a race there are two things we must learn to do — one is to put brains into the common occupations of life, and the other is to dignify common labor. If we do not we cannot hold our own as a race. Ninety per cent, of any race on the globe earns its living at the common occupations of life, and the Negro can be no exception to this rule.’
“Prof. Washington then illustrated the import- ance of this by citing the fact that while twenty years ago every large and paying barber shop over the country was in the hands of black men, today in all the large cities you cannot find a single large or first class barber shop operated by colored men. The black men had had a monopoly of that industry, but had gone on from day to day in the same old monotonous way without improving anything about the industry. As a result the white man has taken it up, put brains into it, watched all the fine points, improved and progressed until his shop today was not known as a barber shop, but as a tonsorial parlor, and he was no longer called a barber but a tonsorial artist. Just so the old Negro man with his bucket
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of whitewash and his long pole and brush had given way to the white man, who had applied his knowledge of chemistry to mixing^ materials, his knowledge of physics to the blending of colors, and his knowledge of geometry to figuring and decorating the ceiling. But the white man was not called a white washer; he was called a house decorater. He had put brains into his work, had given dignity to it, and the old colored man with the long pole and bucket was a thing of the past. The old Negro woman and her wash tub were fast being supplanted by the white man with his steam laundry, washing over a hundred shirts an hour. The many colored men who had formerly earned a living by cutting the grass in the front yards and keeping the flower beds in trim were no competitors for the white man, who, bringing his knowledge of surveying and terracing and plotting land, and his knowledge of botany and blending colors into active play, had dignified and promoted the work. He was not called a grass cutter or a yard cleaner, but a florist or a land- scape gardener. The old black ‘mammy’ could never again enter the sick-room, where she was once known as a peerless nurse. She had given place to the tidy little white woman, with her neat white cap and apron, her knowledge of physiology, bandaging, principles of diseases and the administration of medicine, who had
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dignified, beautified and glorified the art of nursing and had turned it into a profession. Just so, too, the black cook was going out of date under the influence of the superior knowledge and art of cookery possessed by white ‘chefs,’ who were educated men and commanded large salaries.
“ ‘Now,’ said the speaker, ‘what are we going to do? Are we going to put brains into these common occupations? Are we going to apply the knowledge we gain at school? Are we go- ing to keep up with the world, or are we going to let these occupations, which mean our very life blood, slip from us? Education in itself is worthless; it is only as it is used that it is of value. A man might as well fill his head with so much cheap soup as with learning unless he is going to use his knowledge.’
“Prof. Washington said that he had been told that the young colored man is cramped, and that after he gets his education there were few chances to use it. He had little patience with such argument. The idea had been too prevalent that the educated colored man must either teach, preach, be a clerk or follow some profession. The educated colored man must, more and more, go to the farms, into the trades, start brickyards, saw-mills, factories, open coal mines; in short,
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apply their education to conquering the forces of nature.
“One trouble with the average Negro, said the speaker, was he was always hungry, and it was impossible to make progress along educa- tional, moral or religious lines while in that con- dition. It was a hard matter to make a Christian out of a hungry man. It had often been con- tended that the Negro needed no industrial education, because he already knew too well how to work. There never was a greater mistake, and the speaker compared, as an illustration, the white man with his up-to-date cultivator to the ‘one gallused’ Negro with his old plow, patched harness and stiff-jointed mule.
“The speaker was inclined to fear that the Negro race lay too much stress on their griev- ances and not enough on their opportunities. While many wrongs had been perpetrated on them in the South, still it was recognized by all intelligent colored people that the black man has far better opportunity to rise in his business in the South than in the North. While he might not be permitted to ride in the first-class car in the South, he was not allowed to help build that first- class car in the North. He could sooner conquer Southern prejudice than Northern competition. The speaker found that when it came to business, pure and simple, the black man in the South was
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put on the same footing with the white man, and here, said he, was the Negro’s great opportunity. The black man could always find a purchaser for his wares among the whites.
“Prof. Washington concluded with an appeal to his race to use the opportunities that are right about them and thus grow independent.
“He has made a lasting impression on the minds of all who heard him. If he continues his wonder- ful career he will be classed with Douglass as a benefactor to the Negro race.”
The Memphis Commercial-Appeal a few days after this address was delivered contained an edi- torial concerning it. I quote that in full because it is among the first editorials from a Southern newspaper concerning my addresses and the work at Tuskegee, and also because it shows that the ef- forts put forth at Tuskegee in behalf of industrial education for the Negro have had the effect of awakening not only the Negroes but even the Southern whites to the necessity of more educa- tion of this kind. The editorial is as follows:
“Prof. Booker T. Washington, a short time since, delivered an address before the students of Fisk University, in which he advocated industrial education for the Negro race. The address has received considerable attention and evoked many favorable comments, and the theme is one worthy of far more consideration than it has ever received
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in the South. Our interest in the matter, however, does not particularly concern its application to the Negro. We are chiefly interested for the Southern whites and the South itself. The South is just about to enter an era of industrial de- velopment that will be almost without parallel. Its progress will be all the more rapid because of the long delay that has allowed other fields to be exhausted before the vast wealth of our natural •resources began to be developed. The one great drawback to the development of the south has been the lack of skilled and educated labor, and in the great industrial awakening that is upon us the skill to manage and operate our mills and factories and convert our abundant crude material into finished products, must come from the North, unless something is done to educate our own people in the industrial arts. The opening of the eyes of the world to the vast natural wealth of the South will then simply mean that strangers will come in and dispossess our own people of their vintage and turn to their own account the opportunities we have never learned to employ. We must awake to the fact that we are face to face with a new civilization. The old order changeth giving place to the new. We must adjust ourselves to the changed conditions, or be left behind in the march of progress. We must catch the spirit of modern progress and achieve-
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ment or be rooted out by those that have. The great men of this generation are not statesmen, lawyers, orators or poets. The richest rewards of intellectual effort go to those who know how to bring the forces of nature to aid the processes of production; in the natural era that is now upon us this will be especially true of the South. The men who have the capacity for taking active and effective part in the development of our resources, for the management of mills and factories, for contributing skilled labor to the fashioning of crude material into finished product, these are the men who will reap the mighty harvest and the men who will possess and rule our country. The same is true of the farm as well as the fac- tory. The crude and unskilled methods of Southern agriculture must give way to more scientific tillage. If our own farmers cannot learn the lesson they must be displaced by those that know it.
“All the Southern States are doing much in the way of educating the people; but without disparaging the value of the learning obtained in our schools, how much of it goes to prepare the young for grappling with the conditions that sur- round them or will help to make them masters or successful workers in the great field of modern progress? Look at the vast wealth of unde- veloped resources that encompasses almost every
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Southern community. Look at the fertile fields or the worn lands still in bondage to ignorant labor and an ante-bellum agricultural system. Will a knowledge of grammar or of Greek convert our coal, our iron and our timber into wealth, or make our fields bountiful with the harvest? The plain truth is that much of the learning obtained in our schools is wasted erudition. The young are not only not educated with reference to the con- ditions of the age, but their minds are carefully and systematically trained in other directions. They see no triumphs of intellect except in politics or the ‘learned professions.’ Their imaginations are inflamed by stories of how men from humble beginnings became great statesmen, great orators and great lawyers. The result is that thousands miserably fail because their little book learn- ing has diverted them from occupations in which they might have achieved honorable success and even distinction. These men who might have become machinists become pettifogging lawyers, quack doctors or small-bore politicians. Indus- trial education is the great need of the South, because industrial skill and educated labor are to be the factors of its future progress, and these are to reap the richest rewards it will have to bestow. If our own children cannot be prepared to take their part in the great work, strangers will reap and enjoy the harvest.”
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I wish to add here that there are few instances of a member of my race betraying a specific trust. One of the best illustrations of this which I know of, is in the case of an ex-slave from Vir- ginia, whom I met not long ago in a little town in the state of Ohio. I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted to labor where and for whom he pleased. Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars. Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands. In talking to me about this, the man told me that he knew he did not have to pay the debt, but he had given his word to his master, and his word he had never broken. He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom till he had fulfilled his promise.
CHAPTER X.
THE SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE COTTON STATES’ EXPOSITION, AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
So much has been said and written concerning the address which I delivered at the opening of the Atlanta Exposition in September, 1895, that it may not be out of place for me to explain in some detail how and why I received the invitation to deliver this address.
In the spring of 1895 I received a telegram at Tuskegee from prominent citizens in Atlanta ask- ing me to accompany a committee composed of Atlanta people,— all white, I think, except Bishop Gaines and Bishop Grant, — to Washington to ap- pear before the Committee on Appropriations for the purpose of inducing Congress to make an ap- propriation to help forward the Exposition which the citizens of Atlanta were at that time planning to hold. I accepted this invitation and went to Washington with the committee. A number of the white people in the delegation spoke, among them the Mayor and other officials of Atlanta, and then Bishop Gaines and Bishop Grant were called upon. My name was last, I think, on the list of speakers. I had never before appeared
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before such a committee or made any address m the capitol of the Nation, and I had many misgiv- ings as to what I should say and the impression I would make. While I cannot recall my speech, I remember that I tried to impress upon the Com- mittee with all the earnestness and plainness of language that I could that if Congress wanted to help the South do something that would rid it of the race problem and make friends between the two races it should in every way encourage the material and intellectual growth of both races, and that the Atlanta Exposition would present an op- portunity for both races to show what they had done in the way of development since freedom, and would at the same time prove a great encour- agement to both races to make still greater prog- ress. I tried to emphasize the fact that political agitation alone would not save the Negro, that back of politics he must have industry, thrift, in- telligence and property ; that no race without these elements of strength could permanently succeed and gain the respect of its fellow citizens, and that the time had now come when Congress had an opportunity to do something for the Negro and the South that would prove of real and lasting benefit, and that I should be greatly disappointed if it did not take advantage of the opportunity. I spoke for fifteen or twenty minutes and was very much surprised at the close of my address
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to receive the hearty congratulations and thanks of all the members of the Atlanta delegation, as well as the members of the Committee on Appro- priations, I will not prolong the story, except to add that the Committee did pass the resolution unanimously, agreeing to report a bill to Con- gress in the interest of the Atlanta Exposition, Our work, however, did not end with making these addresses before the Committee. We remained in Washington several days. The Atlanta committee had meetings every day and the colored members were invited to these, and were given a free opportunity to express their views. Certain members of Congress were par- celed out to each member of the Atlanta com- mittee to see, and we spent some time in convinc- ing as many individual members of Congress as possible of the justness of Atlanta’s claim. We called in a body upon Speaker Thomas B. Reed. This was the first time I had ever had the pleasure of shaking hands with this great Amer- ican; since then I have come to know him well and am greatly indebted to him for many kind- nesses. After we had spent some time in Wash- ington in hard effort in the interest of the bill, it was called up in Congress and was passed with very little opposition. From the moment that the bill passed Congress the success of the Atlanta Exposition was assured.
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Soon after we made this trip to Washington, the directors of the Atlanta Exposition decided that it was the proper thing to give the colored people of the country every opportunity possible, to show, by a separate exhibit, to what progress, they had attained since their freedom. To this end the directors decided to erect a large and commodious building to be known as the Negro Building. This building in size, architectural beauty and general finish was fully equal to the other buildings on the grounds. It was entirely constructed by colored labor and was filled with the products of Negro skill, brains, and handicraft.
After it was decided to have a separate Negro exhibit it became quite a question as to the best manner of securing a representative and large exhibit from the race. I, in connection with prominent colored citizens of Georgia, was con- sulted on a good many occasions by the directors of the exposition. It was finally decided to appoint a Negro commissioner to represent each Southern State, who should have charge of col- lecting and installing the exhibit from his state. After these state commissioners were appointed, a meeting of them was called in Atlanta for the purpose of organization and forming plans to further the Negro exhibit. At the joint meeting of these State Commissioners, it was decided that a Chief Commissioner to have the general super-
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vision of all the exhibits should be selected. A good many people insisted that I should accept the position of Chief Commissioner. I declined to permit my name to be used for this purpose, because my duties at Tuskegee would not permit me to give the time and thought to it that the position demanded. I did, however, accept the position of Commissioner for the State of Ala- bama. After a good deal of discussion and some disagreement, Mr. I. Garland Penn, of Lynchburg, Virginia, was selected by the Commissioners and this choice was made unanimous. The success of the Negro exhibit was in a very large measure due to the energy and fidelity of Mr. Penn. No one who voted for him, I think, ever had reason to regret doing so. Most of the states, especially the Southern States, including the District of Columbia, had very creditable exhibits — exhibits that in many cases surprised not only the Negro race but the white people. I think the class of people who were most surprised when they went into the Negro Building were some of the South- ern white people who, while they had known the Negro as a field hand, as a servant, and seen him on the streets, had not been in any large degree into his homes and school-houses. At this Expo- sition, they had, I believe, the first general oppor- tunity to see for themselves the real progress that the Negro was making in the most vital things
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of life, and it was very interesting as well as sat- isfactory to hear their constant exclamations of surprise and gratification as they walked through the Negro Building.
The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute made a special effort to prepare a large and cred- itable exhibit, and in this the institution was most successful. The Tuskegee exhibit consisted of all forms of agricultural products, various articles made in the shops, such as two-horse wagons, one-horse wagons, single and double carriages, harness, shoes, tinware, products from the sewing rooms, laundry, printing office, and academic work, in fact all of the twenty-six industries in operation at Tuskegee were well and creditably represented. With the exception of the exhibit from the Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va., Tuskegee had the largest exhibit in the Negro Building.
As the day for the opening of the Exposition began to draw near the Board of Directors began to prepare their programme for the opening day. A great many suggestions were made as to the kind of exercises that should be held on that day and as to the names of the speakers to take part. As the discussion went on from day to day, Mr. I. Garland Penn was bold enough to suggesttothe Commissioners that, as the Negroes were taking such a prominent part in trying to make the Ex-
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position a success, it was due them that they should have some representation on the pro- gramme on the opening day. This suggestion by Mr. Penn was discussed for several days by the Board of Directors, none, however, seeming to have any great objection to it,— the only objec- tion being that they feared it might bring upon the Exposition hurtful criticism. The Board, however, finally voted to ask some Negro to de- liver an address at the opening of the Exposition. Several names were suggested, but in some man- ner, largely I think due to Mr. Penn, my name was selected by the Board, and in due time I received an official communication from the Pres- ident of the Exposition inviting me to deliver this address. It was the middle of August when I received this invitation. The Exposition was to open on the 18th of September. The papers throughout the country began at once discussing the action of the Board of Directors in inviting a Negro to speak, most of the newspaper com- ments, however, being favorable.
The delicacy and responsibility of my position in this matter can be appreciated when it is known that this was the first time in the history of the South that a Negro had been invited to take part on a programme with white Southern peo- ple on any important and national occasion. Our race should not neglect to give due credit to the
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courage that these Atlanta men displayed in ex- tending this invitation; but the directors had told the Negroes from the beginning that they would give them fullest and freest opportunity to repre- sent themselves in a creditable manner at every stage of the progress of the Exposition, and from the first day to the last this promise was kept.
The invitation to deliver this address came at a time when I am very busy every year prepar- ing for the opening of the new school year at Tuskegee, and this made it rather difficult for me to find time in which to concentrate my thoughts upon the proper preparation of an im- portant address, but the great reponsibility which had been entrusted to me weighed very heavily on me from day to day. I knew that what I said would be listened to by Southern white peo- ple, by people of my own race and by Northern white people. I was determined from the first not to say anything that would give undue offense to the South and thus prevent it from thus honoring another Negro in the future. And at the same time I was equally determined to be true to the North and to the interests of my own race. As the 18th of September drew nearer the heavier my heart became and the more I felt that my address would prove a disappointment and a failure. I prepared myself, however, as best I could. After preparing the address I went
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through it carefully, as I usually do with import- ant utterances, with Mrs. Washington, and she approved of what I intended to say. On the 16th of September, the day before I started for Atlan- ta, as several of the teachers had expressed a desire to hear my address, I consented to read it to them in a body. When I had done so and heard their criticisms I felt more encouraged, as most of them seemed to be very much pleased with it.
On the morning of September 17, 1895, to- gether with Mrs. Washington, Portia, Baker and Davidson, my children, I started for Atlanta. On the way to the depot from the school, in pass- ing through Tuskegee, I happened to meet a white farmer who lived some distance in the country, and he in a rather joking manner said to me, “Washington, you have spoken with success before Northern white audiences, and before Ne- groes in the South, but in Atlanta you will have to speak before Northern white people, Southern white people and Negroes altogether. I fear they have got you into a pretty tight place.” This farmer diagnosed the situation most accur- ately, but his words did not add to my comfort at that time. On the way to Atlanta I was con- stantly surprised by having both colored and white people come to the cars, stare at me and point me out and discuss in my hearing what
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was to take place the next day. In Atlanta we were met by a committee of colored citizens. The first thing I heard when I stepped from the cars in Atlanta was this remark by an old colored man near by: “That’s the man that’s gwine to make that big speech out at the Exposition to- morrow.” We were taken to our boarding place by the committee and remained there until the next morning. Atlanta was literally packed at that time with people from all parts of the coun- try, including many military and other organiza- tions. The afternoon papers contained in large head lines a forecast of the next day’s proceed- ings. All of this tended to add to the burden ffiat was pressing heavily upon me.
On the morning of the day that the Exposi- tion opened, a committee of colored citizens called at my boarding place to escort me to the point where I was to take my place in the proces- sion, which was to march to the Exposition grounds. In this same procession was Bishop W. J. Gaines, Rev. H. H. Proctor and other prominent colored citizens of Atlanta. What also added to the interest of this procession was the appearance of several colored military organiza- tions which marched in the same procession with the white organizations. It was very noticeable that in