be of assistance to the girls who come to us. I was better able to
outline my course of study. The thing that pleased me greatly, however,
both at Chautauqua and at Boston, was the fact that my former Tuskegee
training was commented on so favorably, as having been planned along
properly comprehensive lines.
No part of the Tuskegee Institute work is more valuable than that of the
domestic training. It is the policy of the institution to give special
attention to the training of girls in all that pertains to dress,
health, physical culture, and general housekeeping.
The girls are constantly under the strict and watchful care of the dean
of the woman's department, Miss Jane E. Clark, a graduate of Oberlin
College, a woman of liberal attainments and culture, and an example to
them in all that makes for the development of character; of Mrs. Booker
T. Washington, the director of industries for girls, and of the women
teachers, a body in every way representative of the qualities the girls
are besought to seek to attain. A corps of matrons, four in number,
specially assist the dean of the woman's department and keep in close
individual touch with the girls.
My own connection with the girls is in the cooking classes, as I have
indicated, and in the Parker Model Home and the Practise Cottage. The
Parker Model Home is the home of the young women who each year reach the
Senior class. Eight large, conveniently arranged rooms are set apart for
them, and they are taught things by having to do them. The class, as a
whole, is required to do actual work in the line of general
housekeeping, cooking and serving food, and laundering.
In order to give practical demonstration in housekeeping and to develop
the sense of responsibility in the work, a four-room house has been set
aside, in which the Senior girls "keep house." Four girls at a time live
in this house and have the entire care of it. They do all the work that
pertains to ordinary housekeeping, from the Monday morning's washing to
the Saturday's preparation for Sunday. They are also charged with the
responsibility of purchasing the food supplies which they consume. Three
dollars are allowed as the weekly expenditure for food. In view of the
low prices that obtain for provisions here, four girls can live
comfortably on this small allowance and have variety and plenty, and at
the same time very wholesome food. Thus the lesson of economy is taught
in the most effective way. The girls learn to appreciate the purchasing
power of money, a kind of training which boarding-students, who have
so much done for them, do not get. They acquire the habit of evolving
their own plans, of exercising unhampered their own tastes. Regularity,
system, exactness, neatness, and the feeling of responsibility, are all
developed in this way.
[Illustration: A MODEL DINING-ROOM.
From the department where table-service is taught.]
In both the Parker Model Home and the Practise Cottage I have charge,
with my assistant, of the oversight of what is done in the direction of
providing food, cooking it, serving it, etc.
Twenty-one classes a week are now taught; the preparatory classes one
hour per week, and the normal classes two to three hours per week. The
girls are required to work in groups, to wear white aprons, caps, and
sleeves, and to bring to the classes towels and holders. Each girl
brings her own blank books and keeps, through the year, a full report of
each lesson given.
Most of the girls who come to us know absolutely nothing of cooking and
housekeeping. They are, as a rule, like most beginners, more anxious to
make cakes, candies, pies, etc., than to make bread, to care for
utensils, and learn the practical things most necessary. Improvement
soon follows, however.
We do some outside "extension work," in addition to what has been
enumerated: a cooking class in the town of Tuskegee for those unable to
attend the school at all, and classes for the children at the Children's
House, the model training-school of the institution, where they are
given understandable lessons in cooking and housekeeping. A bedroom, a
dining-room, a bathroom, and a kitchen are also provided in connection
with the Children's House.
I am happy in the thought that I have a part in this fundamental,
home-building part of the instruction being given the girls who come
from thirty-six States and territories of the Union, and from Cuba and
Porto Rico and other foreign countries, to attend this famous school, of
which I am myself a graduate.
When the girls are fitted to make better homes, a better people are the
result. To have some part in this work was a fond wish while a student,
and is a prized privilege now that I have the opportunity to render some
slight service in return for all that Tuskegee has done for me.
IX
A WOMAN'S WORK
BY CORNELIA BOWEN
Of myself and the work I have done there is not a great deal to say. I
was born at Tuskegee, Ala., on a part of the very ground now occupied by
the famous Tuskegee Institute. The building first used by the school as
an industrial building for girls was the house in which I was born. That
old building (and two others, as well) is carefully preserved by the
institution as an old landmark, and never do I go to Tuskegee that I do
not search it out among the more imposing and pretentious buildings
which have come during the later years of the school's history. This
building and the two other small ones were on the property when it was
acquired by Principal Washington.
My mother lived the greater part of her life at this place as the slave
of Colonel William Bowen, who owned the plot of ground upon which the
Tuskegee Institute now stands. The birthplace of my mother was
Baltimore, Md. She was taught to read by her master's daughter in
Baltimore, and was never forbidden to read by those who owned her in
Alabama.
When a child, I could never understand why she read so well and could
not write. I was very sorry at times that she could read and was not
like other children's mothers whom I knew. She always knew when I did
not get my lessons, and often the hours of play that were dear to me
were taken away until my reading lesson was learned. Sundays, with my
sisters gathered about her knees, we would sit for hours listening as
mother would read church hymns for us. These days were days of freedom,
as I do not remember, and know nothing of, those of slavery. My mother
always refrained from telling her children frightful stories of the
awful sufferings of the slave days. She occupied the position of
seamstress and house-servant in her mistress's home, and was never
allowed to mingle with plantation slaves.
My first teacher was a good-hearted Southern white woman, who knew my
mother well and lived in the town of Tuskegee.
She taught me to read from McGuffey's First Reader. I often read my
lessons by looking at the pictures, for I did not know one word from
another--so far as the letters were concerned. She detected one day,
however, that I was looking out into the street and at the same time
reading what I supposed to be the lesson. From that time on she devoted
herself to teaching me so that I should know letters, and that I should
read properly. She always claimed that I was an apt pupil. At any rate,
at a very early age I was able to both read and write. As I grew older I
was sent with my sisters to the public schools of Tuskegee. It was
always my ambition, it is not immodest to say, to excel in whatever I
undertook. That which brought tears to my eyes quicker than any other
one thing was to have some member of my class recite a better lesson, or
"turn me down"--that is, go up ahead of me in the class.
Having been brought up in the Methodist Sunday-school, I later joined
the Methodist Church. Mr. Lewis Adams, a Trustee of the Tuskegee
Institute, was then Superintendent of the Methodist Sunday-school. He
was very desirous that the young boys and girls of the Sunday-school
should take an active part in the work. I was given a class of girls to
teach much older than myself. They tried to disgust me at times by
paying no attention to my teaching. I was not to be discouraged,
although I cried many times because of their conduct. My own sister, who
was a member of the class, also rebelled because I was younger than she;
she thought that she should be teaching me instead of having it
otherwise. It was the common opinion of the girls that even if I could
read better than any of them, they were older and should be shown the
preference. I owe much of my interest in the study of the Bible to my
mother and to Mr. Lewis Adams, the faithful worker and Sunday-school
Superintendent. Mr. Adams was in those early days as he is now, the
leader of the colored people of the town of Tuskegee in all that went to
make for the uplifting of his people. I can pay no better tribute to him
than to quote what Principal Washington himself says in his monumental
autobiography, Up from Slavery:
In the midst of the difficulties which I encountered in getting the
little school started, and since then through a period of nineteen
years, there are two men among all the many friends of the school
in Tuskegee upon whom I have depended constantly for advice and
guidance; and the success of the undertaking is largely due to
these men, from whom I have never sought anything in vain. I
mention them simply as types. One is a white man and an
ex-slaveholder, Mr. George W. Campbell; the other is a black man
and an ex-slave, Mr. Lewis Adams. These were the men who wrote to
General Armstrong for a teacher.
Mr. Campbell is a merchant and banker, and had had little
experience in dealing with matters pertaining to education. Mr.
Adams was a mechanic, and had learned the trades of shoemaking,
harness-making, and tinsmithing during the days of slavery. He had
never been to school a day in his life, but in some way he had
learned to read and write while a slave. From the first, these two
men saw clearly what my plan of education was, sympathized with me,
and supported me in every effort. In the days which were darkest
financially for the school, Mr. Campbell was never appealed to when
he was not willing to extend all the aid in his power. I do not
know two men--one an ex-slaveholder, one an ex-slave--whose advice
and judgment I would feel more like following in everything which
concerns the life and development of the school at Tuskegee than
those of these two men.
I have always felt that Mr. Adams, in a large degree, derived his
unusual powers of mind from the training given his hands in the
process of mastering well three trades during the days of slavery.
I did not graduate from the public schools as children do nowadays in
the cities. Mr. Booker T. Washington's coming to Tuskegee and the
establishment of the Tuskegee Normal School put an end to the
public-school work on "Zion Hill," where the Tuskegee public school for
colored children was located. I was one of the first of the students
examined for entrance in the school. Mr. Washington gave the examination
in arithmetic, grammar, and history. I never knew what a sentence was,
nor that it had a subject and a predicate before he said so. I doubted
very seriously the existence of such terms as these new ones mentioned
by him. I thought I knew grammar, and I did, so far as I had been
taught, but I had no insight into its real meaning and use. Mr.
Washington decided after my examination that I would make a good Junior
pupil. It was all new to me and I could not understand all of the new
words, even though simple they were, used by him. He himself took charge
of our classes, and I have always been very proud that I can say that he
was my teacher. He was most particular in regard to spelling and the
right use of verbs. As a history teacher he was the best I have had the
privilege of studying under. I have often said that if he could teach
the classes in the beginning of history and grammar, and give talks on
spelling at Tuskegee as he did when I was a pupil there, many who finish
at Tuskegee would be thankful in the years to come. However, he can not
do this until he is relieved of the great burden of raising funds for
the school.
The industrial departments at Tuskegee were not, of course, so elaborate
and so many while I was a pupil there. My four years at Tuskegee were
given wholly to class-room work. To my class, that graduated in
1885--the first one to graduate, we proudly boast--three Peabody medals
were awarded for excellence in scholarship. Our diplomas were also
graded. We took an examination for the medals, as there were ten in the
graduating class. I was awarded one of the medals. The Class of '85 had
high ideals and always regretted that any member should receive a
second-grade diploma. I was very thankful to learn after two weeks'
waiting that, in the opinion of the Faculty, I was worthy of a
first-grade diploma.
After graduating, I was employed as the principal of the
training-school--now known as the "Children's House"--of the Tuskegee
Institute. Feeling that I could be of more service to my people, and
could better teach in the outside world the principles for which
Tuskegee stands, I resigned my work at Tuskegee, after several terms,
for a broader field of usefulness.
A call reached Mr. Washington in 1888 for a teacher to begin a work in
the vicinity of Mt. Meigs, Ala., similar to the work done at Tuskegee,
but, of course, on a smaller scale. Mr. E. N. Pierce, of Plainville,
Conn., had resolved to do something in the way of providing better
school facilities for the colored people living on a large plantation,
into the possession of which he had come. Mr. Washington answered the
call while in Boston, and telegraphed me that he thought me the proper
person to take charge of and carry on the settlement work Mr. Pierce and
his friends had in mind.
I found at Mt. Meigs, after studiously investigating conditions, that
the outlook for support was far from hopeful. Not one person in the
whole community owned a foot of land, and heavy crop mortgages were the
burden of every farmer. It became evident at once that pioneer work was
very much needed. Homes were neglected, and the sacredness of family
life was unknown to most of the people. The prospect was a gloomy one.
The little Baptist church in which the older people gathered for worship
two Sundays in each month badly needed repairing.
I began first of all to connect myself with the Sunday-school, and
taught there every Sunday. I organized a large class of the older people
and encouraged them in every way to attend the Sunday-school every
Sunday with the children. None of these mothers or fathers could read or
write.
I taught them Scripture verses by repeating verse after verse till they
were able to recite them for me. I also sought to teach them to read,
and quite a large number can read now because of the opportunities
provided by my Sunday-school class. I have kept this class of older
people together, and it is one of the most active ones of all. We have
studied together many other things aside from the Sunday-school lessons,
and it has been necessary to do so, because the people have none of the
opportunities provided for those who live in the towns and cities. I was
early much encouraged to note that my efforts were appreciated by the
people.
I was often called upon to act as arbiter in all kinds of difficult and
unpleasant disputes involving family relations and other differences
among the people. Many and many a time did I take the place of the
minister and speak to the people when he could not be present.
To teach the people self-help, the surest sign of progress, we decided
to plan for a main school building which should mark the center of our
activities. This building we were able to erect at a cost of $2,000, and
it is a satisfaction to the people of the community that they alone paid
every cent of the cost, not one penny coming from the outside. The
struggle was a long one, a hard one, with bad crops and other hard
conditions interfering with our plans.
This building is a two-story one, well ventilated, roomy, and
accommodates 300 pupils. From the first we have sought to follow in the
footsteps of the parent institution, and have had the industries taught;
agriculture was introduced at once.
A large Trades Building was soon erected and teachers from Tuskegee
secured to help in the work. Blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, carpentry,
painting, and agriculture have been provided for the young men, and
cooking, laundering, housekeeping, and sewing for the young women.
The following buildings we now have in addition to those named: a
dormitory for girls, a blacksmithing-shop, and a teachers' home. More
than 4,000 pupils have come under the influence of the school.
[Illustration: THE CULTURE OF BEES.
Students at work in the apiary.]
I have continuously, for seventeen years, with the exception of a short
period, been in charge of the school; during the absence referred to I
was studying in New York city, and afterward, through the generosity of
a friend, was able to spend one year in Queen Margaret's College,
Glasgow, Scotland.
I am pleased with the progress the people have made. Many now own their
own homes, and eight and ten persons are no longer content to sleep in
one-room log cabins, as was only too true during the earlier years of my
work. I have regularly had "mothers' meetings," and these have raised
the home life of the people to a higher standard. I know what I am
saying when I state that sacred family ties are respected and
appreciated as never before in this immediate region.
The emotional church life of the people no longer prevails hereabouts,
and the minister preaches forty minutes, instead of two hours as
formerly.
Many farmers are out of debt, and a mortgage upon a man's crop is as
disreputable as a saloon.
The Mt. Meigs Institute is the first school of its kind in Alabama to
demonstrate the fact that a school planted among the people in the rural
districts of the South will make for intelligent, honest, thrifty
citizenship. The success of this work made possible the establishment of
many similar schools that have been planted in Alabama and other parts
of the South.
Of the young men and women who have attended my school I can not speak
too highly. Sixty have graduated, and fifty-seven of the number are
still living. Not only they, but many who could not afford to stay and
graduate, are at work in an effort to help their less fortunate
brethren. Thirty-six of my graduates have taken academic or trade
courses in other schools, twenty-one of them at Tuskegee Institute. Ten
have graduated from Tuskegee, or from other schools. Thirty-eight of
them have learned trades, and all of them are at work and prosperous.
They include dressmakers, cooks, housekeepers, laundresses, carpenters,
blacksmiths, wheelwrights, painters, etc. Several are successful
farmers, and one of the girls is a large cotton-planter and general
farmer. Two are successful merchants in Birmingham, Ala.; one is a
prominent minister, having also taken a course at the Virginia Union
Seminary, Richmond, Va.; one is in charge of an orphan asylum, and
several are teachers; one taught with me for seven years after having
also graduated from Tuskegee. Thirty have married, fifteen have bought
homes, one has property valued at $7,000, others have property ranging
in value from $800 to $2,000. Of the sixty, only four have failed to
maintain their moral character.
Six teachers are now employed; we really need another. About 30 boarding
pupils are regularly enrolled, with 250 pupils in daily attendance from
near-by homes.
The school is conducted just as economically as it well can be; the
annual expense is about $2,000, of which sum I have insisted that the
people themselves shall annually meet one-half.
If I have been of any service to my people, I owe it all to Mr.
Washington and to one of the noblest women that ever lived, Mrs. Booker
T. Washington, née Davidson, both of whom indelibly impressed upon me
while attending the Tuskegee Institute those lessons which led me to
want to spend myself in the helping of my people.
X
UPLIFTING THE SUBMERGED MASSES
BY W. J. EDWARDS
I was born in Snow Hill, Wilcox County, Ala., in the year 1870. My
mother died when I was twelve months old. About five or six years after
this, perhaps, my father went away from Snow Hill; the next I heard he
was dead. Thus at the age of six I was left without father or mother. I
was then placed in the care of my old grandmother, who did all that was
in her power to send me to the school located near us. Often for weeks I
would go to school without anything but bread to eat. Occasionally she
could secure a little piece of meat.
I well remember one morning, when I had started to school and she had
given me all the meat that we had in the house, how it worried me that
she should have nothing left for herself but bread. Worrying over our
cramped condition, I resolved that what she did for me should not be
thrown away. I longed for the time when I could repay her for all she
had done for me.
At the age of twelve it pleased the Almighty God to take from me my
grandmother, my only dependence. I was now left to fight the battle of
life alone. I need not tell of the hard times and sufferings that I
experienced until I entered school at the Tuskegee Institute. But
knowing that I was without parents, and being sick most of the time, my
hardships can be imagined.
Through a minister I heard of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute in the early part of 1888, and so favorably was it recommended
that I decided I would rent two acres of land and raise a crop, and take
the proceeds and go to Tuskegee the following fall. After paying my
rents and other small debts I had $20 left with which to buy my clothes
and start for Tuskegee, which I did, starting on the 27th of December,
1888, and arriving at Tuskegee on the first day of January, 1889, with
$10. I had walked most of the way. I was at Tuskegee for four and
one-half years. I managed to stay there for that length of time by
working one day in the week and every other Saturday during the term and
all of the vacations.
During my Senior year I was helped by Mr. R. O. Simpson, the owner of
the plantation on which I was reared. I had trouble that year in
deciding just what I should do after graduation. It had been my
conviction that I must be a lawyer or a minister. In contemplating the
idea of becoming a lawyer, however, I could not see wherein I could
carry out the Tuskegee Idea of uplifting the masses. The ministerial
profession was very little better, since the work of the minister in our
section of the country must be limited almost wholly to one
denomination. So I finally decided to try to plant an institution
similar to the Tuskegee School, an undenominational one, in a section of
Alabama where such work should be needed. I chose, as my field of labor,
Snow Hill, the place from which I had gone to enter school at Tuskegee.
The school is now known as the Snow Hill Normal and Industrial
Institute, and is located in the very center of the "Black Belt" of the
State of Alabama. This is a much-used term; it is not applicable,
however, to every Southern State, neither does it apply to every county
in any one State. It is only to certain counties in certain States to
which it may properly be applied. Wilcox and the seven adjoining
counties constitute one of these sections in Alabama. The latest census
shows that these eight counties have a colored population of 201,539,
and a white population of 69,915.
Alabama has sixty-seven counties, with a total colored population of
827,307. Thus it will be seen that one-eighth of the counties contain
one-fourth of the entire colored population. Because the colored people
outnumber the white people in such great proportion, this is called the
"Black Belt" of the State. These counties lie in the valley of the
Alabama River, and constitute the most fertile section of the State.