 Chapter 10 of A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Tina Ding. A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington by W. C. Jackson. Chapter 10. Making Speeches. Frederick Douglass and Booker Washington rank as the greatest orators the Negro race has ever produced. This is a high place to occupy for the race has produced many remarkable speakers. Douglass was the great spokesman for the race just before the Civil War and during the troublesome days of Reconstruction. Washington began his career just at the time that Douglass ended his. Douglass was a very eloquent man, perhaps more eloquent at times than Washington. On the other hand, Washington was a better educated man than Douglass and probably had a more lasting influence upon his generation. Booker Washington made thousands of speeches in his life. He spoke to white and black in the north and in the south in Europe as well as in America. He spoke in churches, at school commencements, at conventions, at educational and religious meetings, at county fairs and to every kind and condition of people. He spoke before kings and presidents. He spoke to the lowliest men of his own race in the heart of the black belt in Alabama. It is a wonderful thing to be an orator to speak to men and women in such a way that they will be helped and inspired and made happier and more useful. When Washington was at Hampton, he began to learn the art of speaking. You remember how he organized a debating society which met for the 20 minutes they had between supper and time to begin work. You remember how he spoke and spoke at these meetings doing his best to learn how to express himself well. One of his teachers, Miss Mackie, knew of his ambition to become a good speaker and she gave him a great deal of help teaching him how to stand, how to pronounce his words and how to control his voice and gestures. By much hard work, he came to be the best speaker among the boys at Hampton. You will recall too how General Armstrong invited him to deliver the alumni address in 1879 and what a big success he made of that. All this time, he was speaking at Sunday schools, at churches, at educational meetings and everywhere he had an opportunity. His trip north with General Armstrong gave him much valuable experience. The first speech that he made that attracted the attention of all the people was at the National Education Association in Madison, Wisconsin. The most important thing he said in this speech was that the whole future of the Negro rested largely upon the question as to whether or not he should make himself through his skill, intelligence and character of such undeniable value to the community in which he lived that the community could not dispense with his presence. He said that anyone who learned to do something better than anybody else learned to do a common thing in an uncommon manner had solved his problem regardless of the color of his skin. He also said that the two races ought to be brought closer together and cultivate the most cordial and friendly relations rather than become bitter toward each other. But the greatest speech of Washington's life was the Atlanta speech. In the year 1895, the people of Georgia determined to hold a great cotton state's exposition in Atlanta which would set forth the progress of the South since the Civil War. In order to make the exposition a great success, it was necessary to have the financial assistance of Congress. So a committee was appointed to go to Washington to confer with a committee from Congress. Booker Washington was appointed on this Georgia committee and his speech in Washington before the Congressional Committee was one of unusual force. Many said it was the best speech made. Congress gave the assistance asked. When the authorities came to plan the exposition in detail, they decided to have a Negro division. The Negroes were asked to take part and they gladly agreed to do so. They built one of the best buildings on the grounds. This building was planned by a Negro architect and was erected entirely by Negro labor. It contained exhibits prepared all together by Negroes. It was one of the most interesting parts of the entire exposition. When the exposition was formally opened in September 1895, Booker Washington was invited to make an address as a representative of the Negro race. James Creelman, a noted newspaper man, the correspondent of the New York world, heard that speech and he wrote to the world about it. This is what he wrote. Mrs. Thompson, one of the other speakers on the program had hardly taken her seat and all eyes would turn on a tall, towny Negro sitting in the front row of the platform. It was Professor Booker T. Washington, president of the Tuskegee, Alabama Normal and Industrial Institute, who must rank from this time forth as the foremost men of his race in America. Gilmore's band played the star-spangled banner and the audience cheered. The tune changed to Dixie and the audience roared with thrill hee-ees. Again, the music changed, this time to Yankee Doodle and the clamor lessened. All this time, the eyes of the thousands present looked straight at the Negro orator. A strange thing was to happen. A black man was to speak for his people none to interrupt him. As Professor Washington strolled to the edge of the stage, the low descending sun shot fiery rays through the windows into his face. A great shout greeted him. He turned his head to avoid the blinding light and moved about the platform for relief. Then he turned his wonderful countenance to the sun without a blink of the eyelids and began to talk. There was a remarkable figure, tall, bony, straight as a suit chief, high forehead, straight nose, heavy jaws, and strong, determined mouth with big white teeth, piercing eyes, and a commending manner. The sinews stood out on his bronze neck and his muscular right arm swung high in the air with a lead pencil grasps in the clinched brown fist. His big feet were planted squarely with the heels together and the toes turned out. His voice rang out clear and true and he paused impressively as he made each point. Within 10 minutes, the multitude was in an uproar of enthusiasm. Handkerchiefs were waved, canes were flourished, hats were tossed in the air. The furious women of Georgia stood up and cheered. It was as if the orator had bewitched them. And when he held his dusky hand high above his head with the fingers stretched wide apart and set to the white people of the south on behalf of his race, in all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. The great wave of sound dashed itself against the walls and the whole audience was on its feet in a delirium of applause. I have heard the great orators of many countries but not even Glaston himself could have pleaded a cause with more consummate power than did this angular negro standing in a nimbus of sunshine surrounding by the men who once fought to keep his race in bondage. The roar might swell ever so high but the expression of his earnest face never changed. A ragged ebony giant squatted on the floor in one of the aisles watched the orator with burning eyes and tremulous face until the supreme burst of applause came and then the tears ran down his face. Most of the negroes in the audience were crying perhaps without knowing just why. At the close of the speech Governor Bullock brushed across the stage and seized the orator's hand. Another shout greeted this demonstration and for a few minutes the two men stood facing each other hand in hand. It was a wonderful speech. It contained much good advice both to the whites and to the negroes. It was fair to both. As Clark Howell, editor of the Atlanta Constitution said it was a platform upon which both races black and white could stand with full justice to each other. In the speech he told the following story a ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal water water we die of thirst. The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back cast down your buckets where you are. A second time the signal water water send us water ran up from the distressed vessel and was answered cast down your buckets where you are. And a third and the fourth signal for water was answered cast down your buckets where you are. The captain of the distressed vessel at last heeding the injunction cast down his bucket and it came up full of fresh sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River. Washington then appealed to his own people to cast down their buckets where they are by making friends with their white neighbors in every manly way by training themselves where they were in agriculture in mechanics in commerce instead of trying to batter their condition by immigration. And finally to the white southern people he appealed to cast down their buckets where they were by using and training the Negroes whom they knew rather than seeking to import laborers whom they did not know. Frederick Douglass had died only a few months before this great speech was made. At once from all parts of the country came the statement here is the man who will take the place of Douglass as leader of the Negro race. And from that time on Booker Washington was the accepted leader of his people in this country. He was immediately called upon to speak in all parts of the country. He was offered big sums of money to lecture. One speaker's bureau offered him $50,000 a year. He refused all these offers of money saying that he must give his time to Tuskegee and to the interest of his people rather than try to make money for himself. Another of his great speeches was made at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1896. Harvard University, the oldest and most famous university in America conferred the honorary degree of Master of Arts upon Mr. Washington in 1896. This was the first time in the history of America that a college or university of such high standing had ever conferred an honorary degree upon a Negro. Washington says this honor was the greatest surprise of his life. At the time the ceremony of conferring this degree took place, he made a speech that won great applause from the audience. It is very interesting to read Washington's own account of his experiences. People often ask me, he says, if I feel nervous before speaking or else suggest that since I speak so often they suppose I get used to it. In answer to this question, I have to say that I always suffer intensely from nervousness before speaking. More than once, just before I was to make an important address, this nervous strain has been so great that I have resolved never again to speak in public. I not only feel nervous before speaking, but after I have finished, I usually feel a sense of regret because it seems to me as if I had left out of my address the best thing that I had meant to say. Nothing tends to throw me off my balance so quickly when I'm speaking as to have someone leave the room. To prevent this, I make up my mind as a rule that I will try to make my address so interesting will try to state so many interesting facts one after another that no one will leave. Washington made it a rule never to say anything to a Northern audience that he would not say to a Southern audience. He also made it a rule never to say to a Negro audience anything that he would not say to a white audience in this honest and fair way he kept close to the truth and at the same time never offended fair-minded people of either race. He was a capital storyteller but he did not make a practice of telling jokes and funny stories in his speeches just to make people laugh. He always had a serious purpose in his stories. He had two or three stories that he told frequently because they were so full of meaning. This was one of them. One day he was going along the road and he met Aunt Caroline with a basket on her head. He said, Good morning, Aunt Caroline. Where are you going this morning? And she replied, Lord Blaster, Mr. Washington, I've done been where I see are going. And so he would then say some of the braces of the earth have done been where they was ear-going but the Negro race is not one of them. Its future lies before it. Another of his stories was about a good old Negro who accompanied Washington on one of his tours. At a certain city they found that they had several hours before the train left so this old man decided to stroll about to see the town. Presently he looked at his watch and found that it was just about time for his train to leave and he was some distance from the station. He rushed to a hack stand and called out to the first driver he came to who happened to be a white man. Hurry up and take me to the station. I's gotta get the 432 train. To which the white driver replied, I ain't never drove a nigger in my hack yet and I ain't going to begin now. You can get a nigger driver to take you down. To this the old colored man replied with perfect good nature. All right, my friend, we won't have no misunderstanding or trouble. I'll tell you how we will settle it. You just hop in on dear back seat and do dear riding and I'll sit in front and do dear driving. In this way they reached the station on good terms and the old man caught his train. Like this old Negro, Washington always devoted his energies to catching the train and it made little difference to him whether he sat on the front or back seat. Two other speeches of Washington attracted wide attention. One of these was delivered in Boston in 1897 at the time of the dedication of a monument to Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw was the colonel of the famous Negro regiment of soldiers from Massachusetts in the Civil War. It was in this regiment that Sergeant William H. Carney served. The man who triumphantly carried the flag in the great battle of Fort Wagner and exclaimed after the fight, the old flag never touched the ground. Colonel Shaw lost his life in the battle of Fort Wagner while leading his Negro regiment. The people of Boston erected a monument to his memory and Washington's speech at its dedication was one of the greatest he ever made. One other speech was delivered in Chicago in 1898 at a great peace celebration following the close of the Spanish-American War. There was an enormous crowd, the largest he ever spoke to, Washington says. There were 16,000 people present. President McKinley was there together with several cabinet members and other distinguished guests. The president was sitting in a box at the right of the stage, says Washington. When I addressed him, I turned to the box and as I finished the sentence thanking him for his generosity, the whole audience rose and cheered again and again, waving hats and handkerchiefs and canes until the president arose in the box and bowed his acknowledgments. At that, the enthusiasm broke out again and the demonstration was almost indescribable. The demands for him to speak were so great that it was impossible for him to meet them all. He often spoke three or four times a day. He was away from Tuskegee making speeches a large part of his time. He made extended tours by special train all over the states of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. On these tours he spoke to thousands and thousands of people. Everywhere he went, all the people, white and black, hurt him gladly. The good that this man did through his oratory cannot be overestimated. End of Chapter 10. Chapter 11 of A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by D. Randall. A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington by W. C. Jackson. Success as Educational Leader Booker Washington spent his life in the education of the Negro. Negroes of ability in his day usually became preachers or they entered politics. The Negro preacher had rendered a greater service to his people perhaps than anyone else. Before 1865, the ministry was practically the only place where Negro leadership could find expression. It was much the same way for many years after the Civil War. However, after emancipation, there is an opportunity for leadership in politics and a great many Negroes of ability entered this field, many of them holding offices. Washington was urged by some of his friends to enter the ministry. Others urged him to study law and enter politics. Undoubtedly, he could have made a great success in either of these fields of work. But from the very beginning of his education, he had a strong conviction that his life must be spent in helping to educate his people. He felt that education was the greatest need of his race. Before the war, it had been against the law for a slave to be taught from books. At the close of the war, then there were no schools, no teachers and no books. The whole race could neither read nor write. The whole race had had no training of any kind except in agriculture. It is true a few, but a very few had had a little training in certain trades such as bricklaying, blacksmithing and carpentry. The race therefore, through no fault of its own, was very ignorant. It had never had an opportunity, but now that the opportunity had come with emancipation, the entire race was eager to learn. Old men and old women, as well as boys and girls, began with great zeal to learn to read and write. The race started to school. It was determined to get an education, and it was to help in this great work that Washington early determined to devote his life. Just after the war, there was much confusion and doubt about the best plan to follow in educating the Negro. The Freedmen's Bureau brought a large number of teachers from the north to assist in the task, and much valuable work was done in the Negro schools by these teachers. The different southern states also began to make provision for the Negro's education by organizing schools, building schoolhouses, and making provision for training teachers. There was much difference of opinion as to just what should be taught the Negro. As a rule, the plan followed was to teach him just what had been taught in the white schools. This meant that he would study reading, writing, arithmetic and grammar, and later Latin, Greek, mathematics and literature. So much of this kind of teaching was done, and it was so poorly done, and it was so poorly adapted to the needs of the Negro at the time that a great many people began to doubt the wisdom of trying to educate the Negro at all. But Washington insisted that the mistake was made in the kind of education they were trying to give him. In answer to the question, does it pay to educate the Negro? Washington often told the story of what had taken place in Macon County, Alabama, the county in which Tuskegee is located. In that county, he and Mr. H. H. Rogers decided to build with the cooperation of the people themselves a system of excellent schools and try out as thoroughly as possible the question of the effect of education upon the Negro under favorable conditions. They put up good schoolhouses, secured good teachers, taught practical subjects and ran the schools for eight or nine months in the year. What was the result? In a short time, people began to come from all parts of the state and outside the state to buy land or to work within reach of these excellent schools. Land advanced in price. Desirable citizens flocked in. Homes were improved. Good roads were built. Better farms appeared. Crime diminished. The sheriff said that he practically had no further use for the jail. Cordial relations existed between the white and Negro people. In every way, Macon County came to be a better place to live in. The race problem was solved in that county. People were happy and prosperous. They were living clean, wholesome, contented lives. The whole problem of living was in a large measure solved. And it was all due to education of the people and education of the right kind. What was good for Macon County, Alabama would be good for every county in the country. Washington's ideas of education were very simple. He had studied carefully the needs of his people. What he wanted was a system of education that would help people directly and immediately, that will enable them to make better crops, build better homes, wear better clothes, eat better food, live cleaner and poorer and happier lives. He wanted his people to learn to live and he believed the school was the place to learn that lesson. He wanted the children to study practical things, the things they needed. He thought therefore that the school ought to be very closely related to life. His idea was that that school was best, which turned out students who could earn their own living at once, who had the ability to take care of themselves in whatever environment they happened to be and who had genuine character. My experience has taught me, he says, that the surest way to success in education and in any other line for that matter is to stick close to the common and familiar things, things that concern the greater part of the people, the greater part of the time. It was this belief in the close relation between school and life that caused him to have his students at the beginning of the building of Tuskegee, cut down the trees, plant the crops, make the bricks, build the buildings, cook the food, care for the dormitories, look after the livestock and do everything that was to be done about the place. He wanted his students to learn to do well all these tasks that they would face in later life and he also wanted them to learn that it was a perfectly honorable and dignified and sensible thing to labor, to work, to do anything that was honest and useful. Perhaps there is no better way of understanding Washington's ideas of education and just what he was striving to do at Tuskegee than to describe the commencement exercises at this school. On the platform before the audience is a miniature engine to which steam has been piped, a miniature frame house in course of construction and a piece of brick wall in process of erection. A young man in jumpers comes on the platform, starts the engine and blows the whistle, whereupon young men and women come hurrying from all directions and each turns to his or her appointed tasks. A young carpenter completes the little house, a young mason finishes the laying of the brick wall, a young farmer leads for for cow and milks her in full view of the audience, a sturdy blacksmith shoes a horse and after this patient educated animal has been shot, he is turned over to a representative of the veterinary division to have his teeth viled. At the same time on the opposite side of the platform, one of the girl's students is having a dress fitted by one of her classmates who is a dressmaker. She at length walks proudly from the platform in her completed new gown while the young dressmaker looks anxiously after to make sure that it hangs right behind. Other girls are doing washing and airing with the drudgery removed in accordance with advanced Tuskegee methods. Still others are hard at work on hats, mats and dresses while boys from the tailoring department sit cross-legged working on suits and uniforms. In the background are arranged the finest specimens which scientific agriculture has produced on the farm and mechanical skill has turned out in the shop. The pumpkin, potatoes, corn, cotton and other agricultural products predominate because agriculture is the chief industry at Tuskegee just as it is among the Negro people of the South. This form of commencement exercise is one of Booker Washington's contributions to education which has been widely copied by schools for whites as well as blacks. That it appeals to his own people is eloquently attested by the people themselves who come in ever greater numbers as the commencement days recur. At three o'clock in the morning of this great day vehicles of every description each loaded to capacity with men, women and children began to roll in in an unbroken line which sometimes extends along the road for three miles. Some of the teachers at times objected to turning a large area of the Institute grounds into a hitching post station for the horses and mules of this great multitude. But to all such objections Mr. Washington replied, this place belongs to the people and not to us. Less than a third of these eight or nine thousand people are able to crowd into the chapel to see the actual graduation exercises but all can see the graduation procession as it marches through the grounds to the chapel and all are shown through the shops and over the farm and through the special agricultural exhibits and even through the offices including that of the principal. It is significant of the respect in which people hold the Institute and in which they held Booker Washington that in all these years there has never been on these occasions a single instance of drunkenness or disorderly conduct. One of our students in his commencement oration last May gave a description of how he planted and raised an acre of cabbages piled high upon the platform by his side were some of the largest and finest cabbages I have ever seen. He told how and where he had obtained the seed. He described his method of preparing and enriching the soil of working the land and harvesting the crop and he summed up by giving the cost of the whole operation. In the course of his account this comparatively simple operation this student had made use of much that he had learned in composition, grammar, mathematics, chemistry and agriculture. He had not merely woven into his narrative all these various elements that I have referred to but he had given the audience which was made up largely of colored farmers from the surrounding country some useful and practical information in regard to a subject which they understood and were interested in. I wish that anyone who does not believe it possible to make a subject like cabbages interesting in a commencement oration could have heard the hearty cheers which greeted the speaker when at the close of his speech he held up one of the largest cabbages on the platform for the audience to look at and admire. As a matter of fact there is just as much that is interesting, strange, mysterious and wonderful just as much to be learned that is edifying, broadening and refining in a cabbage as there is in the page of Latin. There is however this distinction. It will make very little difference to the world where the one Negro boy more or less learns to construe a page of Latin. On the other hand as soon as one Negro boy has been taught to apply thought and study and ideas to the growing of cabbages he has started a process which if it goes on and continues will eventually transform the whole face of things as they exist in the South today. It can be rarely seen from these two accounts just what kind of education Washington believed in and tried to give his students at Tuskegee. It was quite different from most of the training that had been given the Negro after the war. In those early days of freedom many of the Negroes seem to have the idea that the bigger the book and the harder the words in it the better the education was that they secured. Some of them thought too that they were not educated unless they studied Latin and Greek and higher mathematics and other similar subjects. Booker Washington did not mean that history literature and foreign languages should not be studied and had no value. What he was emphasizing was the fact that boys and girls should first get a clear idea of things about them. Then they would be able better to understand and appreciate such subjects as history and literature. One other feature of the kind of education that Tuskegee stands for ought to be mentioned and that is the extension work. This work has become a very large part of the Institute. The extension work is not so much a matter of teaching of education in the usual sense as it is an effort to give direct and practical help to people outside the college walls. Most of this extension work has been done in Macon and adjoining counties. From the first month of his school Washington began to go into the country roundabout and mingle with his people. He went to their homes, their churches, their schools. He saw their poor farms, their lean stock, their dilapidated houses, their lack of the comforts and necessities of good living. The homes, the churches, the school houses were in bad condition. Washington had the greatest sympathy for these people knowing why they were in poverty and ignorance and he had a great desire to help them. And it is through this extension work that these people are helped. The Institute sends its workers throughout the surrounding country to show the farmers improved farm machinery, better methods of farming, better breeds of livestock of all kinds, better methods of daring and better ways of preparing food, keeping house and caring for the children. They insist on improving the school buildings, the churches and the homes. As a result of this work, there are now in Macon County a number of neat new school houses with a teacher's house alongside each school, several acres of land adjoining and a good church close by. Thus clean, pleasant and thoroughly happy communities are created. In such communities, there is the smallest amount of crime and there is the largest amount of prosperity and contentment and enjoyment. All the graduates of Tuskegee are enthusiasts for education and community builders. Wherever they go, they stand for the best in life. They are devoted to Tuskegee and its spirit and its ideals. It is this devotion which makes them industrious and capable and law abiding and helpful in every possible way in the communities in which they live. Hundreds of small schools have been established all over the South by these graduates, patterned on Tuskegee. It is impossible to overestimate the good they have done. Tuskegee has grown to be one of the greatest schools in the country and the greatest of all schools for the Negroes. It has grown from 100 acres and three little buildings to a plant of 2100 acres and 111 buildings. Instead of one teacher with 30 pupils, there are now more than 200 teachers and 1500 students. The institution has a large endowment and it owns 20,000 acres of land given it by the United States government. It keeps a large dairy herd, runs a large farm, a poultry farm and keeps a large number of pigs, horses and sheep. Every phase of education is taught but the main work is industrial, carpentry, brick masonry, basket making, metalworking, drafting, auto mechanics, blacksmithing, telegraphy, farming, daring, lumbering, building, cooking, sewing, nursing, housekeeping. All these and a large number of other callings are taught. It is through such training as this that Washington believed that the Negroes in largest numbers would first get their best start in life. Life is strenuous in this school. Here is an outline of the daily work. 5 a.m. Rising Bell, 5.50 a.m. Warning Breakfast Bell, 6 a.m. Breakfast Bell, 6.20 a.m. Breakfast Over, 6.20 to 6.50 a.m. Rooms Cleaned, 6.50 a.m. Work Bell, 7.30 a.m. Morning Study Hour, 8.20 a.m. Morning School Bell, 8.25 a.m. Inspection of Young Men's Stress and Ranks, 8.40 a.m. Devotional Exercises in Chapel, 8.55 a.m. Five Minutes with the Daily News, 9 a.m. Classwork Begins, 12 p.m. Classwork Ends, 12.15 p.m. Dinner, 1 p.m. Work Bell, 1.30 p.m. Classwork Begins, 3.30 p.m. Classwork 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 Hour, 8.45 p.m. Evening Study Hour Closes, 9.20 p.m. Warning Bell, 9.30 p.m. Retiring Bell, Washington has done more for the education of the Negro than any other one man, white or black. His work at Tuskegee, his great educational campaigns, and his speeches and writings have combined to make his accomplishments of supreme value. Not only has he done this for the Negro, but his work has helped the cause of education for the white people very greatly. All education in the South was backward. Like his great teacher, General Armstrong, Washington realized that in their progress, the two races were bound together in the South, and that they must grow or step backward together. It is impossible for the Negro to make his best progress, unless the white man does so at the same time. And of course, this works both ways. Because he believed this, Washington was anxious for school conditions for white people to change, just as well as the school conditions for Negroes. Besides, he wanted all the people to have the advantages of education. He did not hate anybody, and consequently did not want anybody to be deprived of the best there was in life. He did not want anybody, white or black, to fail to have his best opportunity. So he worked for the advancement of the cause of the white schools as well as the black, and his services to the white schools were great. The future of Negro education is very bright. Schools and colleges are being built every year. Better teachers are being prepared. Children are going to school in larger numbers than ever before, and their work is more a satisfactory. Every year, the states appropriate more and more money for Negro education. The Negro is now able to pay a large part of the cost of his own education, and he is very willingly doing so. The Negro is determined to get an education. When he gets it, he will be a better citizen. And the better the citizens of a country are, the better life is in every way, and the more completely are all our problems solved. End of Chapter 11. Chapter 12 of a Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org recording by D. Randall. A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington by W. C. Jackson. Leading his people. Immediately following Washington's Great Speech in Atlanta in 1895, there came the statement from all parts of the country. Here is the new leader of the Negro race. During the last years of slavery and the Civil War, and on for years after the war, Frederick Douglass, as has been said, was the acknowledged leader of the Negro in the United States. Douglass had died in the early part of the year 1895. It seemed that this man, Washington, had been raised up to take his place. The Atlanta speech continued to be a topic of discussion throughout the country, and coupled with this discussion was invariably the statement that here was the new leader of the race. Washington says that he was at a great loss to know what people meant when they referred to him as the leader of his people. Of course, this leadership was not a thing that he had sought. The people thrust this duty upon him, and of course, no man has a right to shun or dodge responsibility that is thus bestowed. He was not in doubt long as to what it meant to be a leader. One of the first things that happened was the large number of invitations that came to him to deliver addresses. These requests came from all parts of the country and from all sorts of organizations. A very large number of these invitations he was compelled to refuse. However, when he felt he could serve his institution and his people, he always accepted. He represented the Negro at the unveiling of the monument of R. G. Shaw in Boston and at the Peace Convention in Chicago in 1898, at which time President McKinley spoke. He attended most of the large religious gatherings of his people throughout the country and spoke before them. Almost immediately there began to pour in on him a perfect flood of letters from all parts of the country, from white and black, high and low, rich and poor, asking a thousand different questions. Now it would be a letter from a railroad president asking about some problem of dealing with his employees. Now from a schoolman asking about the segregation of their races in schools. Again from a legislator asking advice on some legislation. But principally the letters came from his own people asking all sorts of questions about a multitude of things. One man wanted Washington to use his influence to secure the adoption of a flag for the Negro race. Another wanted his backing for a patent medicine that would take the curl out of the Negro's hair. Another wanted to know if the Negro race was dying out. Another, if the race was being blended with the white race. Another, if he thought the Negro was being treated right politically. Perhaps the most remarkable request, however, was from a woman who wanted him to find her husband who had deserted her some years before. And in order that he might be easily identified, she describes him. This is the height of him, five to six, light eyes, dark hair, unwavered, shave and a soprano voice, his age 58, his name, Steve. To all these letters he replied in the fullest and frankest and kindest way. Whenever there was race friction in the South, he was invariably called upon either to go in person or to send a message. For example, when the Atlanta rise occurred in 1906, Washington was in the North. He took the first train south. He went among his own people in Atlanta first and then he went to the white people, to the governor, the mayor, the leading citizens, ministers and merchants. Largely through his wise counsel and efforts, order was restored and plans were made for the future. As a spokesman for his people, he wrote constantly for the press. Such papers as the Montgomery Advertiser, the Atlanta Constitution, the New Orleans Picayune, the Louisville Courier Journal, the Chicago Inter-Ocean, and the Boston and New York papers gladly published his articles. He also contributed frequent articles to the weekly journals such as the Outlook and to the monthly magazines such as the Century Magazine. He carried this phase of his leadership even further than the current press and that he made some notable contributions to the historical literature of his race. The first book he wrote was Up from Slavery. This is one of the greatest pieces of literature published in America. Honorable Walter H. Page, late ambassador to Great Britain said, The only books that I have read a second time or ever cared to read in the whole list of literature relating to the Negro are Uncle Remus and Up from Slavery, for these are the great literature of the subject. Believing the accomplishments of the race should be better known to his own people, Washington determined to write a history of the Negro. The story of the Negro, the rise of the race from slavery, was the title of the book he wrote, setting forth the wonderful progress of his people. Other books by him were My Larger Education, Learning with the Hands, about eleven titles in all. These books are of high literary merit and in no other way perhaps did Washington so definitely place himself as a leader of his people as in the realm of authorship. These books, in addition to their literary value, were of great benefit to the white race as well as to his own race in getting before all the people a proper estimate of the real accomplishments of the Negro. One of the most important phases of his leadership of the Negro was in the organization of the National Negro Business League. It was one of Washington's strongest beliefs that the Negro must prove himself able to exist and prosper in business matters. The race, individually and collectively, must demonstrate its ability to take care of itself in all phases of industrial life. Another of his important principles was that the Negro should emphasize his opportunities rather than his drawbacks. As he went about the country, he noted the wonderful progress made by the Negro in all lines of business. He felt that it would be a great inspiration to those who had achieved success or leadership to know each other and a still greater encouragement to all the people if they knew the real progress being made. Acting upon these ideas, he called a meeting of representatives of a large number of businesses to be held in Boston in August 1900. Here was organized the National Negro Business League. Washington was made president and continued to hold this office until his death in 1915. The organization brought together from year to year all the representative Negro businessmen of the country. They made reports of their progress and planned for future advancement. The league has been a wonderful factor in the development of the business life of the Negro. Several other organizations such as the Negro Press Association, the Negro Bar Association, the Negro Funeral Directors Association and others have grown out of this league. It was through this league as perhaps through no other agency that the Negro learned of his own great wealth, of his success in banking, in manufacturing, in merchandise, in the undertaking business and in a large number of other industries. It gave him a wonderful pride in the accomplishments of his race. He knew that the Negro was proving to the world that he possessed all the elements necessary for handling any phase of his economic life. He could take care of himself in the business world. Washington did a great deal for the Negro farmer. It has already been pointed out how he served the people of his county and how the extension work of the institute was used to help the farmer. In addition to this, he organized the Tuskegee Negro Conference. In the beginning this was a sort of agricultural experience meeting on a large scale. The good farmers from all the surrounding country were brought in and each was asked to relate his successful experience. Every phase of farm life was covered. Every person present was profited by the experience and the success of his neighbor. This conference has greatly brought in in scope and has grown to be of large proportions and great influence. Washington was truly the Moses of his people as Andrew Carnegie has said. He led them with great wisdom in their thought and their conduct. He was their spokesman, their interpreter. He guided them to higher and better things. He made the white man and the Negro know each other better and understand each other better. He lessened the friction between the races and increased the goodwill. He brought encouragement and inspiration to his own race and gained the sympathy and cooperation of the white race. Everywhere he opposed ignorance and prejudice and injustice in any form. Because of his wisdom and tact as a leader, not only the Negro, but the entire nation was helped. End of Chapter 12. Chapter 13 of a Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Dave Fixen A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington by W. C. Jackson Chapter 13 Political Experiences Most of the Negroes who gained any prominence or influence in the years just after the Civil War entered politics. Bruce and Rebels had been United States Senators, Elliot and Smalls and a dozen others had been Congressmen. Pinchback, Lynch, Langston, Gibbs and Greener had been sent for diplomatic service to foreign countries and others had held high state offices and a multitude of Negroes had been county and city officials of various kinds. Everybody expected Washington to accept some kind of political position but he steadfastly refused. Time after time, men of his own race and white men urged him to run for office or accept an appointment by the President to high office. This he absolutely refused to do. He said that his service, whatever it was worth, would be given not in politics but in education. He believed that entirely too much emphasis had been placed on holding office by the Negro just after the war. He was more concerned about whether or not his people could have the opportunity to earn an honest living than he was about getting some political job. He was often misunderstood about his ideas on holding office and the whole question of the part the Negro should take in politics. For he was concerned that there were other things far more important at that time to the Negro than the matter of voting. There was one phase of politics, however, that Washington did keep in close touch with. This can be best explained by giving some of his correspondence. Theodore Roosevelt immediately after taking the oath of office as President of the United States in Buffalo after the death of President McKinley wrote Mr. Washington the following note Buffalo, New York September 14, 1901 Dear Mr. Washington I write you at once to say that to my deep regret my visit south must now be given up. When are you coming north? I must see you as soon as possible. The question of possible appointments in the south exactly on the lines of our last conversation together. I hope my visit to Tuskegee is merely deferred for a short season. Faithfully yours signed Theodore Roosevelt Booker T. Washington Esquire Tuskegee, Alabama In response to the above note Mr. Washington went to the White House and discussed with the President possible future appointments in the south Immediately following this conference with the President there was a vacant judgeship in Alabama which gave the President an opportunity to carry out his ideas about southern appointments. He called upon Washington for advice and Washington being unable to go himself at the time sent his secretary Emmett J. Scott to Washington as his representative Largely upon the recommendation of Washington Judge George Jones was appointed to this position This was an event of great significance indeed when Republican President of the United States appointed a Southern Democrat to office It was done in accordance with the ideas of both the President and Washington that only men of the highest fitness regardless of color or party should receive appointment From this time on Washington was one of the President's chief advisors in southern appointments President Roosevelt of course appointed many Negroes also He believed that when Negroes possessed the proper qualifications for office they should have a share in them Washington did not try to get very many Negroes appointed but he did try to get the very best Negro when one was appointed In other words he was trying to improve the quality rather than increase the quantity of Negro office holders After one of Washington's speeches with special emphasis on this idea President Roosevelt sent him the following letter My dear Washington that is excellent and you have put epigrammatically just what I am doing that is though I have rather reduced the quantity I have done my best to raise the quality of Negro appointments with high regards sincerely yours Theodore Roosevelt In his demonstrations of President Roosevelt and President Taft Washington was constantly called into conference and rendered a lasting service to his own race and to the people of the country in giving wise counsel not only about politics but about a great many things pertaining to the welfare of his people Washington was often criticized very severely by members of his own race for his position with reference to voting His ideas on this question were stated in the following quotation I am often asked to express myself more freely than I do upon the political condition and the political future of my race My own belief is although I have never before said so in so many words that the time will come when the Negro in the South will be accorded all the political rights which his ability, character and material possessions and the opportunity to freely exercise such political rights will not come in any large degree through outside or artificial forcing but will be accorded to the Negro by the Southern white people themselves and that they will protect him in the exercise of these rights just as soon as the South gets over the feeling that it's being forced by foreigners or aliens to do something which it does not want to do I believe that the change in the direction we have indicated is going to begin Again he says I contend that in relation to his vote the Negro should more and more consider the interests of the community in which he lives rather than seek alone to please someone who lives a thousand miles away from him and his interests While he believed theoretically in universal free suffrage he very frankly admitted that the peculiar conditions existing in the South made it necessary to put restrictions upon the ballot he was opposed however to any discriminations in the law and he urged with all his power that the Negro be given good educational and business advantages so that he might fit himself for the full responsibilities and duties of life Washington himself never had any trouble about voting he always registered and always voted and no one ever raised an objection to his doing so End of Chapter 13 Chapter 14 of A Boy's Life Booker T. Washington This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Paul Bryan Stewart A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington by W. C. Jackson Chapter 14 Visits to Europe Washington was a great traveller He was away from home at least half of each year and often more than that He travelled principally in the North making speeches and interviewing people who might help Tuskegee While on these trips he did most of his reading and writing He was very fond of newspapers and magazines When he started on a long journey he surrounded himself with a large number of papers and magazines and books which he thoroughly enjoyed History was his favourite field of reading outside of newspapers and magazines He was especially fond of biography of reading about real men men of action and thought and great talents Much of his greatest inspiration as a boy came from reading the lives of great men Lincoln was his greatest hero He said that he had read practically every recorded word of Lincoln's Washington also did much of his writing on these trips He kept us stenographer with him all the time and when he was not reading he was usually dictating a speech or a letter or an article for a magazine A large part of his greatest book Up From Slavery was written while he was on the train or waiting at stations between trains It is remarkable that he should be able to accomplish so much under such circumstances for travelling was hard work He often had to get up in the middle of the night to catch a train and then ride all day often without pullman accommodations He said that he had slept in three different beds in one night so broken was his rest and so often did he have to change trains in order to keep engagements and undoubtedly it was this hard travelling that helped to break down his great strength and make him aware about In 1899 he made a speech in Boston and some of his friends noticed that he was extremely tired He remained in Boston several days One day during his stay a friend asked him if he had ever been to Europe He replied that he had not He was asked very casually whether he thought he would enjoy a trip to Europe He said that he certainly would but he did not ever expect to have such a pleasure A day or two later some of his friends came to him and told him they had a little surprise for him that they had made arrangements for him and his wife to go to Europe in the summer and spend several months on a vacation Washington was very greatly surprised He thanked his friends very cordially for their interest but told him that he could not afford to take the trip Whereupon they told him that all the money for the expenses and that it would not cost him a cent He thanked them again very sincerely but told them he could not think of leaving his work that long The money had to be raised for Tuskegee and they had to stay right on the job to get it Then they told him that a group of his friends had already raised enough money to keep Tuskegee going until he got back He then gave another excuse He was afraid people would say he was stuck up He had made some success in the world He was trying to show off and play the big man His friends told him that sensible people would not think such a thing and that he need not bother about the people who had no sense Washington thought too that he had no right to quit work so long He had worked all his life There was a world of work yet he had to do to go off on a vacation a several months when there was so much to be done when other people were at work seemed wrong to him But he realized finally that a reasonable amount of rest when one is tired means more and better work in the long run So it came about that on May 10th, 1899 Washington and his wife went aboard the ship for Iceland in York Harbour and sailed for Europe It was a wonderful experience for Washington In the first place as he went aboard the ship there was a message from two of his friends telling them they had decided to give him the money to build a magnificent new building at Tuskegee and that was a good send off Washington was a bit uneasy about how people would treat him aboard ship He knew what unfortunate experiences some members of his race had had in times past But the captain received him cordially and everybody on the ship was exceedingly courteous to him and his wife in every way Washington was on his way to Europe It seemed to him like a dream Again and again he had thought of Europe much as he did of heaven a goodly place but far away It never even occurred to him that he would ever go to Europe and now he was on his way He was like a schoolboy He was happy over the prospect of a wonderful trip He did not get seasick on the voyage as most of the passengers did The weather was fine and he had a glorious voyage But he did not know how tired and worn out he was until he relaxed About the second day he began to sleep and he says that from then on until they landed he slept at least 15 hours every day He continued the habit of long hours devoted to sleep all the time he was gone and it was one of the means by which he restored his depleted strength After a fine voyage of 10 days they landed at Antwerp a famous old city of Belgium Here they spent a few quiet days finding it extremely interesting to observe the people with their dress and manners and customs different from anything they had ever seen before Then they went on a delightful journey through the picturesque country of Holland Washington always interested in farming and especially dairy farming was greatly delighted on this trip On every hand were the wonderful farms of the Dutch He had never seen such intensive cultivation of land Every foot of ground was used Vegetables were grown in boxes one above another on the back porches or houses so precious was the skier's land 10 or 12 acres was a good big farm Coming from a country where land was so abundant and cheap and so extravagantly wasted and so carelessly cultivated Beautiful farms were a delight to him and the herds of fine-holstein cattled pleased him immensely He loved cows and they seemed to be the finest herds he had ever seen in his life Out of Holland and back into the historic and now heroic Belgium the party went Going to Waterloo the famous battlefield of Napoleon's defeat and to other places of interest and from here to Paris the gayest and brightest of all the cities of Europe the capital of France While in Paris Washington met a number of distinguished Americans He made two or three important speeches and was given a reception by the American Ambassador at Paris He met ex-Pierre Zanat Harrison General Horace Porter our Ambassador Justices Fuller and Harlan of the United States Supreme Court and other distinguished men all of whom were most cordial and friendly The American whom he found most interesting in Paris however was a negro Henry O'Tanner Tanner is an artist, a painter He is the son of the beloved Bishop Tanner and was born in America He showed marked talent for painting in his youth When he grew up he determined to go to the greatest city in the world for art He went to Paris and became so successful in his work that he has continued to live there He has several paintings in the Louvre the greatest and most exclusive art gallery in the world A picture cannot be put in the Louvre unless it is recognized and accepted as a great work of art Washington spent much time with Tanner and was greatly pleased to see what Mark's success had been won by this American negro He took it as proof of his contention that when a negro proves himself really worthy he will be recognized and honored He enjoyed the esteem in regard of all his associates regardless of race and they esteemed him because of his worth and not because of his color From Paris the Washington's went to London Here they visited many places of historical interest The British Museum Westminster Abbey St Paul's and the House of Commons They met many interesting people The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland Joseph H. Chote American Ambassador England Stanley, the great African explorer with whom Washington conversed at length They were also received by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle It had been a wonderful trip Washington had learned many lessons from the old world He had seen and talked with men who helped him in the better understanding of his own great task He had had a wonderfully good time He was thoroughly rested a new man and his work again upon his return with great vigor and enthusiasm Washington made two other trips to Europe during his lifetime The second was largely like the first a trip for recreation and pleasure and rest But the third trip was undertaken with a serious purpose He wanted to see how the poor people of Europe lived and how their living conditions compared with those with a working man in the United States He was particularly anxious to see how conditions there compared with those affecting the Negro population of the South He also wanted to see whether or not he could find anything in Europe that would justify the system of education he had established at Tuskegee So this time he left the usual highways of travel and went far into the interior visiting the peasant in his hut in the remotest regions of the country the minor toiling underground the laborer in the quarry and the poor man at his work was in wherever he could be found He visited farms in the remotest parts of Poland, Austria and Italy He went to the sulfur mines in Campo Franco At Catania he saw the great harvest in the men bare-legged treading the wine presses they did in Bible times In the very remote part of Poland, away up in the mountains he stopped at a little thatched roof cottage Desiring to see how the place looked on the inside he knocked at the door In response, a man opened the door and Washington said something to him in English thinking of course that the man would not understand but he would be able to see inside the hut To his utter astonishment the man answered him in English Upon further conversation he found that this man had once delivered in Detroit, Michigan When he was in the mines at Campo Franco Sicily, he by chance met a man who had once worked in the mines near Moldon, West Virginia where Washington himself had worked when a boy The world is not such a big place after all As a result of his observations of conditions in Europe Washington came to the conclusion that the Negro in the South is, generally speaking in far better condition than the peasant of Europe He also noted that wherever conditions were fairly good where the natives owned the land and had developed reasonably good farming conditions there was no immigration from that region to America But where conditions were bad where farms were not well kept where people were not permitted or encouraged to own their own homes from such sections there was always much immigration to America In other words, good local conditions land ownership, good schools and so on tended to make the people happy, contented and desirous of remaining where they were In this fact, he saw a great lesson for his own people He believed that the South is the home of the Negro that here it is possible for him to do his best He was therefore tremendously anxious for the Negroes to learn how to cultivate the soil to the best advantage to buy land, to build schools to establish churches and in every way to become real citizens of the country where they were Washington wrote an interesting book describing what he saw and learned on this trip it is called The Man Fathers Down As stated before, he pointed out that there were many, many people farther down than the American Negro that compared to most of the people of Europe he ought to be exceedingly thankful that his condition is as good as it is Of course he did not mean by this that conditions with the Negro were what they ought to be but that the Negro should be thankful for the progress that he had made that he should take courage to do other things The most interesting experience of this trip to Europe was his visit to the king and queen of Denmark at Copenhagen On his first visit to the palace he was received by the king Washington was much impressed by the king's cordiality and simplicity by his knowledge of America and by his acquaintance even with the work Washington was doing at Tuskegee At the close of the interview the king invited him to dine at the palace that night Now the invitation of a king is the same as a command and one is always expected to accept Of course Washington was delighted to accept this invitation and Washington spent the rest of the day proceeding the dinner hour visiting the country people near Copenhagen He was late getting home and was terrified when he realised that he might be late for dinner To keep the king and queen waiting would be a terrible offence He dressed as rapidly as he could but in his haste he pulled his necktie to pieces the only one he had fit for the occasion He pinned it together the best he could and put it on but he says that he was in great distress throughout the dinner at least the tie came to pieces again He reached the palace just in time for the dinner He was taken directly to the king who led him to where the queen was standing and presented him to her She was very cordial and gracious She spoke English perfectly and was again surprised to find that she too was thoroughly familiar with affairs in the United States and that she also knew about Tuskegee There was a very distinguished group of people present The dinner was given in the magnificent summer palace and everything was truly royal in its elegance and splendour Washington says as I ate my food for the first time in my life out of gold dishes I could not but recall the time when as a slave boy I ate my syrup from a tin cup End of Chapter 14 Chapter 15 of A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by D. Randall A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington by W. C. Jackson Booker T. Washington The Man Booker Washington at home with his wife and children his garden, his chickens his pigs, his horses and cows is far more interesting than Washington the orator, the writer the teacher, the traveler the college principal No man ever loved his home more than Washington He had to be away from it much of the time He was away at least half of each year This was a great hardship to him and just as often as was possible he got away from his exacting duties and returned to Tuskegee to find rest and quiet and comfort and joy with his own family He was an early riser when at home getting up always at six o'clock His first morning task was to gather the fresh eggs He was very fond of chickens and always kept a number of them I began my day he says by seeing how many eggs I can find or how many little chicks there are that are just beginning to creep through the shells I like to find the new eggs myself and I am selfish enough to permit no one else to do this He was very fond of animals of all kinds but the pig was his favorite He always kept a number of the very finest breeds of Berkshires and Poland, China After gathering the fresh eggs his next job was feeding the pigs After that came a visit to the cows He always kept a good garden too and a part of the early morning was given to working in it He had a very peculiar custom or idea about his garden work He always worked barefooted He said that there was something in the soil that gave one strength and health and power but you had to get it by direct contact with the soil After this early morning round of work was done he mounted his horse for an hour's ride He usually rode over the college farm and thoroughly expected it then to the dairy and all over the college grounds to see that everything was going as it should After breakfast he went to his office and gave his attention to the day's mail which averaged daily about 125 incoming and 800 outgoing letters Later in the day he would visit classrooms inspect the building that was going on go to the great dining hall at dinner go to the shops talk to the students and to the members of the faculty as he met them Just before supper he would call for his horse again and go off for an hour's ride or for a hunt Sometimes he would walk rather than ride While on these walks he would often run for a couple of miles at top speed After supper there was usually a meeting of some kind a committee or faculty meeting a delegation of visitors chapel exercises devotional and character came at 8.30 and after that very frequently there was an inspection of the dormitories He had three children Porsche Booker and Davidson One of his greatest pleasures was to take the children for a long walk on Sunday afternoons They would trap for miles the fields and woods gathering flowers or nuts or berries They studied the trees the flowers and the birds They waited in the streams ran foot races and played games Every night after supper he would rump and play with the children He would roll on the floor let the children ride on his back play all sorts of jolly games or he would tell stories He was an excellent storyteller and it was always a treat to hear the wonderful tales he could tell Washington was married three times His first wife as stated in a previous chapter was Fanny M. Smith of Maitin who died in 1884 leaving a daughter Porsche The second marriage was to Olivia Davidson who had been a teacher at Tuskegee from its beginning She had been of wonderful assistance to Washington in early days of Tuskegee She was the mother of the two boys Booker Jr. and Davidson His third marriage was to Margaret Murray of Mississippi a graduate of Fisk University and for several years a teacher at Tuskegee This marriage occurred in 1892 Mrs. Washington has had a very useful and distinguished career No woman of her race has helped her people so much in recent years She will be remembered not merely as the wife of Booker Washington but for her own remarkable service to her people Washington was a man of unusual personal appearance From the description that James Creeman gave of him on the occasion of his famous speech in Atlanta it can readily be seen that he was a man of commanding and striking personality Wherever he went he attracted attention He was an untowering worker He went at tremendous speed all the time He could do as much as a rule as three or four ordinary men He kept a stenographer with him all the time As he went about the ground he would dictate suggestions and ideas for changes and improvements He would often awaken his stenographer at night to dictate a letter or a speech or a statement for the papers In this way he never overlooked an important thought or idea that occurred to him and his ideas were always taken down while fresh and vivid in his mind He often confounded his faculty and his tremendous energy He would call them in and lay out enough work for them to keep busy for a week and then almost before they could get started demand results He could work so fast himself and do so much He never realized that it took other people longer to finish a task He had a very active mind He could think quickly He was also a good judge of men and knew the worth of a man Any subject was presented to him He would arrive at conclusions quickly and accurately As he grew older he exhibited a certain amount of absent-mindedness due perhaps to concentration of mind He would meet his best friends on the street and not speak to them He was so preoccupied by his thinking that he simply did not recognize folks when he met them Washington was a proud and independent man He thought he was conceited He was far too great a man for that He was not vain and he was not ashamed of himself or his race He held his head high He could not be cowled He had great self-confidence He knew his abilities and powers and thought it his duty to appraise them properly This he did in a very intelligent and sensible way But he was not boastful In fact he was very humble The things which he said and did that were often taken for personal vanity and boastfulness were not personal at all but were evidences of his pride and his race Washington had great sympathy for the unfortunate He was constantly bringing up in faculty meeting the case of some poor Negro who was in distress who couldn't pay the rent was without food or clothes or was in hard luck in some way He insisted that these people help regardless of how they came to be in their unfortunate condition Scarcely a day passed that he did not give aid to someone who needed it There was an old crack brain preacher who would come to the institute and speak by the hour right outside the office But Washington would not let him be disturbed and always gave him a little contribution There was another old Negro who had great ability in getting donations from Washington One day when Washington was driving down the main street of Tuskegee behind a pair of fast and spirited horses this old man rushed out into the street and stopped him as though he had a matter of the greatest urgency to impart to him When Mr. Washington had with difficulty reigned his horses and asked him what he wanted the old man said breathlessly I's got a turkey for your Thanksgiving How much does it weigh? inquired Mr. Washington 12 to 15 pound After thanking the old man warmly Mr. Washington started to drive on when the old fellow added I just want to borrow a dollar for to fatten your turkey for you With the laugh Mr. Washington handed the old man a dollar and drove on He never could be made to feel that by these bontaneous generosity he was encouraging and mendicancy He was incorrigible in his unscientific open-handedness with support begging older members of his race Old man Harry Varner was the night watchman of the school in its early days and a man upon whom Mr. Washington very much depended He lived in the cabin opposite the school grounds After hearing many talks about the importance of living in a real house instead of a one or two room cabin Old Uncle Harry finally decided that he must have a real house Accordingly he came to his employer told him his filling in the matter and laid before him his meager savings which he had determined to spend for a real house Mr. Washington went with him to select the lot and added enough out of his own pocket to the scat savings to enable the old man to buy a cow and a pig and a garden plot as well as the house From then on for weeks he and Old Uncle Harry would have long and mysterious conferences over the planning of that little four room cottage It is doubtful if Mr. Washington ever devoted more time or thought to planning any of the great buildings of the institute No potentate was ever half as proud of his palace as Uncle Harry of his four room cottage when it was finally finished and painted and stood forth in all its glory as a great married of all men and Booker Washington was scarcely less proud than Uncle Harry With Uncle Harry Varner Old Man Branham the original cook of the school and Lewis Adams of the town of Tuskegee whom Mr. Washington mentions and up from slavery as one of his chief advisors all unlettered before the war Negroes his relationship was always particularly intimate These three old men enjoyed the presence of the white people of the town of Tuskegee to an unusual extent and often acted as ambassadors of goodwill between the head of the school and his white neighbors went from time to time the latter showed a disposition to look a scans at the rapidly coring institution on the hill beyond the town Another intimate friend of Mr. Washington was Charles L. Diggs known affectionately on the school grounds of Diggs The old man had been body servant to a union officer in the Civil War and after the war had been carried to Boston where he became the butler in a fashionable back bay family When Mr. Washington first visited Boston as an humble and obscure young Negro school teacher pleading for his struggling school he met Diggs and Diggs succeeded in interesting his employers and earnest young teacher When years afterward the institute had grown to the dignity of needing stewards Mr. Washington employed his old friend as steward of the teacher's home and all the years thereafter hardly a day passed when Mr. Washington was at the school without having some kind of powwow with old man Diggs regarding some matter affecting the interests of the school To the despair of his family he had to go out of his way to find for long old people whom he could be friend He sent provisions weekly to an humble old black couple from whom he had bought a track of land for the school He did the same for old Unherriot and her deaf, dumb and lame son Except that to them he provided fuel as well On any particularly cold day he would send one or more students over to Unherriot to find out if she and her poor helpless son were comfortable Also every Sunday afternoon to the joy of this pathetic couple a particularly appetizing Sunday dinner unfailingly made its appearance and these were only a few of the pensioners and semi-pensioners whom Booker Washington accumulated as he went about his kindly way Washington had the capacity of making friends He had the gift of friendship His white friends were as numerous were those of his own race His close friendship with such men as William H. Baldwin Jr H. H. Rogers and others has already been mentioned It would be unfair to him and to them to leave the impression that their relations were merely those of benefactor and beggar They were friends as man to man Washington and Roosevelt were friends in the same way It would be unfair still to leave the impression that Washington's friends were rich men only and men in the north only This was not the case Perhaps his strongest friends were in the south many of whom were not in the public eye He himself records the fact that few men in his entire career were of such genuine help to him as Captain Howard conductor on the W and A railroad He did not have an enemy in his own town of Tuskegee All through the south were men whom Washington counted his former personal friends Among his own people he was no less fortunate in his friendships He knew and loved Moten and Scott and Banks and Carver and Fortune and Scarborough and a great host of others All of these were his most loyal and devoted friends But none of these were really any closer to him than old man Diggs or Rufus Heron or many a lowly man of Macon County There was such sincerity and such a genuineness about this man that all true men were drawn to him Washington had a king's sense of humor This is the reason he was always so even tempered He kept perfect control of himself at all times and it was largely his sense of humor that enabled him to do so He saw the ridiculous side of things He could tell perfectly side splitting stories particularly about his own people These stories were always clean and full of stingy and always had some point to them He was thoroughly good-natured and everyone in his presence felt refreshed and happy by reason of having come in contact with him He had a strong sense of justice He believed the problems of the white race as well as those of the black race must be settled on a basis of justice if they were ever to be settled right The fact that he constantly spoke and were dealing toward the white race showed that there was no color boundary to this great attribute of his character He was now quarrelsome He did not hate He did not lose his temper when he saw injustice being done to his people However, he never did condone such injustice He was ever ready to denounce it He labored unceasingly to bring about a mutual understanding between the two races and to inspire in his own race the principles which he saw with such clear vision He said that the Negro ought to put more time on improving his opportunities than crying over his disadvantages He believed that the first and most important thing was for the Negro to become well prepared for the ballot and by and by he would get it He argued that the Negroes should work and save and study and conduct themselves in the proper way and that in course of time recognition would come to them Sooner or later the right the just thing would prevail and the important thing for the Negro was to know he was right Washington had the courage to denounce those members of his own race particularly some of the ministers who did not live as they should This was a bold thing to do and brought much criticism upon him but in the long run it was a great service to his race throughout the whole country In spite of the fact that Washington was a man of unusual health and strength his hard work and the great responsibilities he carried began finally to tell on him but he kept on He had wonderful willpower and he would drive himself to his work from day to day when other men would have taken to their beds He could not admit to himself that he was losing strength in his work In the early fall of 1915 he went north to deliver an address before the National Council of Congregational Churches held in New Haven, Connecticut Although he had not been entirely well for some time no one had any idea that he was seriously ill Shortly after the address in New Haven he collapsed His friends in New York City had him removed to St. Luke's The physicians made a careful examination and frankly told him that he was critically ill and could live but a few hours When he learned that he must die he insisted on starting for home at once The doctors told him that he could not go that it would mean certain death that he could not live through the journey His reply was I was born in the south I have lived and labored in the south and I expect to die and be buried in the south Arrangements were hurriedly made for the journey to Tuskegee No one believed that he would reach there alive One of the doctors had said that it was uncanny to see a man up and about who ought by all the laws of nature to be dead When they reached the railway station in New York a rolling chair had been provided for Washington but he refused to use it and walked to the train leaning on the arms of his friends As the train pulled out and headed for his beloved south land his spirits began to revive and he seemed much stronger He was determined to beat death in this race As they journeyed on he would ask the names of the stations When he was told that they were passing Gringsboro a triumphant look came into his eyes Charlotte, Greenville, Atlanta he was winning Finally they came to Chihau the little station five miles from Tuskegee the junction point of the railroad from Tuskegee to the main line A few more minutes and he saw the familiar and much loved scenes of his own Tuskegee He had won But his victory was a short one For when the sun came up on the next morning the 14th day of November 1915 Booker Washington was dead End of Chapter 15 End of a boy's life P. Washington by W. C. Jackson