BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: THE MAN
Booker Washington at home, with his wife and children, his garden, his
chickens, his pigs, his horses and cows, is far more interesting than
Washington the orator, the writer, the teacher, the traveler, the
college principal.
No man ever loved his home more than Washington. He had to be away from
it much of the time. He was away at least half of each year. This was a
great hardship to him, and just as often as was possible he got away
from his exacting duties and returned to Tuskegee to find rest and quiet
and comfort and joy with his own family.
He was an early riser, when at home, getting up always at 6 o’clock. His
first morning task was to gather the fresh eggs. He was very fond of
chickens and always kept a number of them. “I begin my day,” he says,
“by seeing how many eggs I can find, or how many little chicks there are
that are just beginning to creep through the shells.... I like to find
the new eggs myself, and I am selfish enough to permit no one else to do
this....”[37]
He was very fond of animals of all kinds, but the pig was his favorite.
He always kept a number of the very finest breeds of Berkshires and
Poland Chinas. After gathering the fresh eggs, his next job was feeding
the pigs. After that came a visit to the cows. He always kept a good
garden, too, and a part of the early morning was given to working in it.
He had a very peculiar custom or idea about his garden work. He always
worked barefooted. He said that there was something in the soil that
gave one strength and health and power,—but you had to get it by direct
contact with the soil.
After this early morning round of work was done, he mounted his horse
for an hour’s ride. He usually rode over the college farm and thoroughly
inspected it; then to the dairy, and all over the college grounds, to
see that everything was going as it should.
After breakfast, he went to his office and gave his attention to the
day’s mail, which averaged daily about 125 incoming and 800 outgoing
letters. Later in the day he would visit classrooms, inspect the
building that was going on, go to the great dining hall at dinner, go to
the shops, talk to the students and to the members of the faculty as he
met them. Just before supper he would call for his horse again and go
off for an hour’s ride or for a hunt. Sometimes he would walk rather
than ride. While on these walks, he would often run for a couple of
miles at top speed. After supper, there was usually a meeting of some
kind,—a committee or faculty meeting, or conference with a delegation of
visitors. Chapel exercises, devotional in character, came at 8:30. And
after that, very frequently, there was an inspection of the dormitories.
He had three children, Portia, Booker, and Davidson. One of his greatest
pleasures was to take the children for a long walk on Sunday afternoons.
They would tramp for miles through the fields and woods, gathering
flowers or nuts or berries. They studied the trees, the flowers, and the
birds. They waded in the streams, ran footraces, and played games.
Every night after supper he would romp and play with the children. He
would roll on the floor, let the children ride on his back, play all
sorts of jolly games, or he would tell stories. He was an excellent
story-teller, and it was always a treat to hear the wonderful tales he
could tell.
Washington was married three times. His first wife, as stated in a
previous chapter, was Fannie M. Smith, of Malden, who died in 1884,
leaving a daughter, Portia. The second marriage was to Olivia Davidson,
who had been a teacher at Tuskegee from its beginning. She had been of
wonderful assistance to Washington in the early days of Tuskegee. She
was the mother of the two boys, Booker, Jr., and Davidson. His third
marriage was to Margaret Murray, of Mississippi, a graduate of Fisk
University and for several years a teacher at Tuskegee. This marriage
occurred in 1892. Mrs. Washington has had a very useful and
distinguished career. No woman of her race has helped her people so much
in recent years. She will be remembered not merely as the wife of Booker
Washington, but for her own remarkable service to her people.
[Illustration:
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY
]
Washington was a man of unusual personal appearance. From the
description that James Creelman gave of him on the occasion of his
famous speech in Atlanta, it can readily be seen that he was a man of
commanding and striking personality. Wherever he went he attracted
attention.
He was an untiring worker. He went at tremendous speed all the time. He
could do as much, as a rule, as three or four ordinary men. He kept a
stenographer with him all the time. As he went about the grounds he
would dictate suggestions and ideas for changes and improvements. He
would often awaken his stenographer at night to dictate a letter or a
speech or a statement for the papers. In this way he never overlooked an
important thought or idea that occurred to him, and his ideas were
always taken down while fresh and vivid in his mind. He often confounded
his faculty by his tremendous energy. He would call them in and lay out
enough work for them to keep busy for a week and, then, almost before
they could get started, demand results. He could work so fast himself
and do so much, he never realized that it took other people longer to
finish a task.
He had a very active mind. He could think quickly. He was also a good
judge of men and knew the worth of a man almost at sight. When any
subject was presented to him, he would arrive at conclusions quickly and
accurately.
As he grew older, he exhibited a certain amount of absentmindedness,
due, perhaps, to concentration of mind. He would meet his best friends
on the street and not speak to them. He was so preoccupied by his
thinking that he simply did not recognize folks when he met them.
Washington was a proud and independent man. Many people thought he was
conceited. He was far too great a man for that. He was not vain and he
was not ashamed of himself or his race. He held his head high. He could
not be cowed. He had great self-confidence. He knew his abilities and
powers and thought it his duty to appraise them properly. This he did in
a very intelligent and sensible way. But he was not boastful; in fact,
he was very humble. Many of the things which he said and did that were
often taken for personal vanity and boastfulness were not personal at
all but were evidences of his pride in his race.
Washington had great sympathy for the unfortunate. He was constantly
bringing up in faculty meeting the case of some poor negro who was in
distress,—who couldn’t pay the rent, was without food or clothes, or was
in hard luck in some way. He insisted that these people be helped
regardless of how they came to be in their unfortunate condition.
Scarcely a day passed that he did not give aid to some one who needed
it.
There was an old, crack-brained preacher who would come to the Institute
and speak by the hour right outside the office, but Washington would not
let him be disturbed and always gave him a little contribution.
There was another old negro who had great ability in getting
contributions from Washington. “One day, when Washington was driving
down the main street of Tuskegee behind a pair of fast and spirited
horses, this old man rushed out into the street and stopped him as
though he had a matter of the greatest urgency to impart to him. When
Mr. Washington had with difficulty reined his horses and asked him what
he wanted, the old man said breathlessly, ‘I’se got a tirkey for yo’
Thanksgivin’!’
“‘How much does it weigh?’ inquired Mr. Washington.
“‘Twelve to fifteen poun’.’
“After thanking the old man warmly, Mr. Washington started to drive on,
when the old fellow added, ‘I jest wants to borrow a dollar for to
fatten yo’ tirkey for you!’
“With a laugh, Mr. Washington handed the old man a dollar, and drove on.
He never could be made to feel that by these spontaneous generosities he
was encouraging thriftlessness and mendicancy. He was incorrigible in
his unscientific open-handedness with the poor, begging older members of
his race.”[38]
“Old man Harry Varner was the night watchman of the school in its early
days, and a man upon whom Mr. Washington very much depended. He lived in
a cabin opposite the school grounds. After hearing many talks about the
importance of living in a real house instead of a one- or two-room
cabin, old Uncle Harry finally decided that he must have a real house.
Accordingly he came to his employer, told him his feeling in the matter,
and laid before him his meagre savings, which he had determined to spend
for a real house. Mr. Washington went with him to select the lot and
added enough out of his own pocket to the scant savings to enable the
old man to buy a cow and a pig and a garden plot as well as the house.
From then on, for weeks, he and old Uncle Harry would have long and
mysterious conferences over the planning of that little four-room
cottage. It is doubtful if Mr. Washington ever devoted more time or
thought to planning any of the great buildings of the Institute. No
potentate was ever half as proud of his palace as Uncle Harry of his
four-room cottage, when it was finally finished and painted and stood
forth in all its glory to be admired of all men. And Booker Washington
was scarcely less proud than Uncle Harry.
“With Uncle Harry Varner, ‘Old man’ Brannum, the original cook of the
school, and Lewis Adams, of the town of Tuskegee, whom Mr. Washington
mentions in ‘Up from Slavery,’ as one of his chief advisers, all
unlettered-before-the-war negroes, his relationship was always
particularly intimate. These three old men enjoyed the confidence of the
white people of the town of Tuskegee to an unusual extent and often
acted as ambassadors of good will between the head of the school and his
white neighbors, when from time to time the latter showed a disposition
to look askance at the rapidly growing institution on the hill beyond
the town.
“Another intimate friend of Mr. Washington’s was Charles L. Diggs, known
affectionately on the school grounds as ‘Old man’ Diggs. The old man had
been body servant to a Union officer in the Civil War, and after the war
had been carried to Boston, where he became the butler in a fashionable
Back Bay family. When Mr. Washington first visited Boston, as an humble
and obscure young negro school-teacher, pleading for his struggling
school, he met Diggs, and Diggs succeeded in interesting his employers
in the sincere and earnest young teacher. When, years afterward, the
Institute had grown to the dignity of needing stewards, Mr. Washington
employed his old friend as steward of the Teachers’ Home. In all the
years thereafter hardly a day passed when Mr. Washington was at the
school without having some kind of powwow with ‘Old man’ Diggs regarding
some matter affecting the interests of the school.
“To the despair of his family Booker Washington seemed to go out of his
way to find forlorn old people whom he could befriend. He sent
provisions weekly to an humble old black couple from whom he had bought
a tract of land for the school. He did the same for old Aunt Harriet and
her deaf, dumb, and lame son, except that to them he provided fuel as
well. On any particularly cold day, he would send one or more students
over to Aunt Harriet’s to find out if she and her poor helpless son were
comfortable. Also every Sunday afternoon, to the joy of this pathetic
couple, a particularly appetizing Sunday dinner unfailingly made its
appearance. And these were only a few of the pensioners and
semipensioners whom Booker Washington accumulated as he went about his
kindly way.”[39]
Washington had the capacity of making friends. He had the gift of
friendship. His white friends were as numerous and staunch as were those
of his own race. His close friendship with such men as William H.
Baldwin, Jr., H. H. Rogers, and others has already been mentioned. It
would be unfair to him and to them to leave the impression that their
relations were merely those of benefactor and beggar. They were friends
as man to man. Washington and Roosevelt were friends in the same way.
It would be unfairer still to leave the impression that Washington’s
friends were rich men only and men in the North only. This was not the
case. Perhaps his strongest friends were in the South, many of whom were
not in the public eye. He himself records the fact that few men in his
entire career were of such genuine help to him as Captain Howard,
conductor on the W. & A. Railroad. He did not have an enemy in his own
town of Tuskegee. All through the South were men whom Washington counted
among his warmest personal friends.
[Illustration:
ROBERT RUSSA MOTON, SUCCESSOR TO BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AT TUSKEGEE
]
Among his own people, he was no less fortunate in his friendships. He
knew and loved Moton and Scott and Banks and Carver and Fortune and
Scarborough, and a great host of others. All these were his most loyal
and devoted friends. But none of these were really any closer to him
than “Old man” Diggs or Rufus Herron or many a lowly man of Macon
County. There was such sincerity, such a genuineness about this man that
all true men were drawn to him.
Washington had a keen sense of humor. This is the reason he was always
so even-tempered. He kept perfect control of himself at all times, and
it was largely his sense of humor that enabled him to do so. He saw the
ridiculous side of things. He could tell perfectly side-splitting
stories, particularly about his own people. These stories were always
clean and without a sting, and always had some point to them. He was
thoroughly good-natured, and every one in his presence felt refreshed
and happy by reason of having come in contact with him.
He had a strong sense of justice. He believed the problems of the white
race as well as those of the black race must be settled on a basis of
justice, if they were ever to be settled right. The fact that he
constantly spoke of justice and fair dealing toward the white race
showed that there was no color boundary to this great attribute of his
character. He was not quarrelsome; he did not hate; he did not lose his
temper when he saw injustice being done to his people. However, he never
did condone such injustice; he was ever ready to denounce it. He labored
unceasingly to bring about a mutual understanding between the two races
and to inspire in his own race those principles which he saw with such
clear vision. He said that the negro ought to put more time on improving
his opportunities than crying over his disadvantages. He believed that
the first and most important thing was for the negro to become well
prepared for the ballot, and by and by he would get it. He argued that
the negroes should work and save and study and conduct themselves in the
proper way, and that in course of time recognition would come to them.
Sooner or later, the right, the just thing, would prevail, and the
important thing for the negro was to know he was right.
[Illustration:
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HIS GRANDCHILDREN
]
Washington had the courage to denounce those members of his own race,
particularly some of the ministers, who did not live as they should.
This was a bold thing to do and brought much criticism upon him, but, in
the long run, it was a great service to his race and to the whole
country.
In spite of the fact that Washington was a man of unusual health and
strength, his hard work and the great responsibilities he carried began
finally to tell on him. But he kept on. He had wonderful will power, and
he would drive himself to his work from day to day, when other men would
have taken to their beds. He could not admit to himself that he was
losing strength. Right up to the last, he did an enormous amount of
work.
In the early fall of 1915, he went North to deliver an address before
the National Council of Congregational Churches, held in New Haven,
Connecticut. Although he had not been entirely well for some time, no
one had any idea that he was seriously ill. Shortly after the address in
New Haven, he collapsed. His friends in New York City had him removed to
St. Luke’s Hospital there.
The physicians made a careful examination and frankly told him that he
was critically ill and could live but a few hours. When he learned that
he must die, he insisted on starting for home at once. The doctors told
him that he could not go; that it would mean certain death; that he
could not live through the journey. His reply was: “I was born in the
South, I have lived and labored in the South, and I expect to die and be
buried in the South.”
Arrangements were hurriedly made for the journey to Tuskegee. No one
believed that he would reach there alive. One of the doctors had said
that it was “uncanny to see a man up and about who ought, by all the
laws of nature, to be dead.” When they reached the railway station in
New York a rolling chair had been provided for Washington, but he
refused to use it and walked to the train leaning on the arms of his
friends.
As the train pulled out and headed for his beloved Southland, his
spirits began to revive, and he seemed much stronger. He was determined
to beat death in this race. As they journeyed on, he would ask the names
of the stations. When he was told that they were passing Greensboro, a
triumphant look came into his eyes. Charlotte, Greenville, Atlanta—he
was winning! Finally they came to Chehaw, the little station five miles
from Tuskegee, the junction point of the railroad from Tuskegee to the
main line.
A few more minutes, and he saw the familiar and much loved scenes of his
own Tuskegee.
He had won!
But his victory was a short one. For when the sun came up on the next
morning, the fourteenth day of November, 1915, Booker Washington was
dead.
INDEX
Alabama Hall, 69–70.
Alabama Legislature, 45, 75.
Armstrong, Gen. S. C., accompanies Washington on tour, 70;
founder of Hampton, 23–24;
invites Washington as commencement speaker, 32, 77;
sends Washington to Tuskegee, 45;
sketch of, 22.
_Atlanta Constitution_, 81.
Atlanta Speech, 79–81.
Baldwin, William H. Jr., President of Board of Trustees, Tuskegee
Institute, 73, 138.
Belgium, Washington’s visit to, 122.
Books, written by Washington, 108.
Buildings, first at Tuskegee, 50–51, 58.
Bulloch, Gov., of Ga., 81.
Business League, National Negro, 109.
Cabbages, an oration on, 96.
Cabin, description of a, 3.
Capital, campaign for removal, W. Va., 37.
Carnegie, Andrew, 71, 73, 111.
Carney, Sergeant William H., 85.
Chicago Peace Convention, 106.
“Chopping bee,” 52.
Coal mine, 12–13.
Coat, sale of, 28.
Commencement exercises at Tuskegee, 93–95.
Copenhagen, Washington’s visit to, 127.
Corner stone, first building at Tuskegee, 59–60.
Cotton States Exposition, 78.
Creelman, James, 79.
Davidson, Olivia, 49, 66.
Denmark, Washington’s visit to, 127.
Douglass, Frederick, 76, 82, 105.
Education of negro, effect of, 90–91;
future of, 104;
negro education after Civil War, 22;
Washington’s idea of, 91–93, 98, 103.
Eliot, President C. W., 67.
“Emancipation Proclamation,” 8.
“Entitles,” 9.
Europe, Washington’s trips to, 119–128.
Extension work of Tuskegee, 100.
Farm, purchase of, 50–51.
“Festivals,” 54.
Freedmen’s Bureau, 90.
Gifts to Tuskegee, 54, 74–75.
Hales’ Ford, Washington’s birthplace, 3.
Hampton Institute, 15, 17, 20, 22–23, 26–27, 29–30, 32, 34.
Harvard University, 82.
Holland, Washington’s visit to, 122.
Howard, Captain, conductor on the W. and A. R. R., 139.
Howell, Clark, editor of _Atlanta Constitution_, 81.
Huntington, Collis P., 71.
Indians, at Hampton Institute, 41–42.
Jamestown, 1–2.
Jones, Judge George, 114.
“Learning with the Hands,” 108.
“Library,” Washington’s first, 17.
Library, Carnegie, 72.
Lincoln, President, 7, 118.
London, Washington’s visit to, 124.
Mackie, Mary F., 24, 77.
McKinley, President, 106, 113.
Macon County, Ala., 46, 48, 90.
Madison, Wis., speech at, 77.
Malden, W. Va., 9–10, 12, 14, 17, 29, 34, 37, 126.
“Man Farthest Down,” 127.
Marriages, Washington’s, 65, 131–132.
Master of Arts degree, 82.
Morgan, S. Griffitts, 28.
Mother, Washington’s, 3, 10, 30.
Moton, R. R., successor to Washington, 139.
Murray, Margaret, 132.
“My Larger Education,” 108.
Name, Washington’s change of, 9.
National Council of Congregational Churches, 142.
Negro, 15, 18, 22, 37, 41, 56, 59–60, 77–78, 80, 82, 85, 106, 108–110,
126.
Negro Bar Association, 110.
Negro Business League, National, 109.
Negro Funeral Directors’ Association, 110.
Negro Press Association, 110.
New Haven, Conn., 142.
Newspapers, contributions to, 107.
Night school, 35, 43.
Paris, Washington’s visit to, 123.
Peabody Fund, 75.
“Plucky Class,” 43.
Politics, Washington’s interest in, 38.
Porter Hall, 62, 68.
“Quarters,” 3.
Rogers, H. H., 71, 91, 138.
Roosevelt, President, 113–115.
Rosenwald, Julius, 74.
Ruffner, General Lewis, 16.
Ruffner, Mrs., 16–17.
School, first, taught by Washington, 34.
Scott, Emmett J., 114.
Shaw, Robert Gould, 85.
Slater Fund, 75.
Smith, Fannie M., 65.
South, condition of, after the Civil War, 22.
Stanley, Sir Henry M., 124.
Story-teller, Washington as a, 84–85.
Students, first, at Tuskegee, 49–50.
Students’ work at Tuskegee, 61.
Taft, President, 115.
Tanner, Henry O., 123.
Tuskegee, town of, 46, 143.
Tuskegee Institute: beginnings of, 46–47;
Carnegie Library at, 72;
character of students of, 49–50;
commencement exercises of, 93–94;
extension work of, 100;
first buildings of, 50–51;
first year of, 54–55;
growth of, 101;
laying corner stone of, 59–60;
negro conferences at, 110;
opening of, 49.
“Up from Slavery,” 108.
Vessel, unloading, in Richmond, 19.
Virginia, 1, 14.
Washington, Booker T., Atlanta speech, 78–82;
birth, 3;
books by, 108;
character of, vii-viii, 134;
children of, 131;
coal mine experiences, 12;
commencement speaker, 32;
contributor to press, 108;
death of, 143;
early life of, 4–6;
education, his ideas of, 60–61, 91–93, 98, 103;
“examination” at Hampton, 25;
founds Tuskegee, 46–51;
home life, 129–134;
hotel waiter, employed as, 34;
janitor, works as, 26–27, 29;
journey to Hampton, 17–18;
last illness of, 142;
leader of race, 82, 105;
league, organizer of, 109;
life at Hampton, 27–30;
marriages of, 65, 131–132;
Master of Arts degree, 82;
names himself, 11–12;
orator, makes a reputation as, 70, 76, 82–86;
personal appearance, 80;
politics, takes an interest in, 112, 115–116;
raising money, 67;
service, his ideas of, 88–89;
Shaw Monument speech, 85;
story-teller, as a, 84–85;
teacher at Hampton, 40, 44;
teacher at Malden, 34;
trips to Europe, 119–128;
vacations, while a student, 29–30.
Washington, Booker T. Jr., 131.
Washington, Davidson, 131.
Washington, John, 5, 35.
Washington, Portia, 66.
Wayland Seminary, 36.
Wheeling, West Virginia, 37.
-----
Footnote 1:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 9.
Footnote 2:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 6–7.
Footnote 3:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 34–35.
Footnote 4:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 37.
Footnote 5:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 44.
Footnote 6:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 48–49.
Footnote 7:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 52–53.
Footnote 8:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 58.
Footnote 9:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 105.
Footnote 10:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 107.
Footnote 11:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 130.
Footnote 12:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 6.
Footnote 13:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 7.
Footnote 14:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 132.
Footnote 15:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 161.
Footnote 16:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 175.
Footnote 17:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
pp. 258–259.
Footnote 18:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 202.
Footnote 19:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 239–240.
Footnote 20:
_Ibid._, p. 226.
Footnote 21:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 219.
Footnote 22:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 242, 244.
Footnote 23:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 30.
Footnote 24:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
pp. 30–31.
Footnote 25:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 255.
Footnote 26:
“My Larger Education,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 139.
Footnote 27:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
pp. 57–59.
Footnote 28:
“My Larger Education,” by Booker T. Washington, pp. 141–143.
Footnote 29:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 314.
Footnote 30:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 45.
Footnote 31:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, Introduction, p. xx.
Footnote 32:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 49.
Footnote 33:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 56.
Footnote 34:
“Up from Slavery,” by Booker T. Washington, p. 234.
Footnote 35:
_Ibid._, p. 202.
Footnote 36:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 157.
Footnote 37:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 307.
Footnote 38:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
p. 144.
Footnote 39:
“Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization,” by Scott and Stowe,
pp. 145–147.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last
chapter.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.