school each Friday afternoon, and the Commandant all of the young
men every Saturday evening, at which times talks, both instructive
and corrective, are given. No student is excused from these
meetings except by special permission.
Students who sign a contract to work a specified time at some trade
or other work must be released from their contract before
application for an excuse from school will be considered. Any
student leaving without a written excuse will not be allowed to
return, and students under contract will not only be dismissed, but
will forfeit whatever cash there may be to their credit in the
school treasury. Students must settle their accounts before
leaving.
Remittances in payment of bills should be made to the Principal or
Treasurer (and not to the student) by post-office money-order,
registered letter, or check.
Students are not allowed to retain firearms in their possession.
The Commandant of Cadets will retain and give receipts for any
brought.
Low or profane language will subject students to severe discipline.
Students are liable to reprimand, confinement, or other punishment.
Letter-writing is subject to regulation, and all mail- and
express-packages are inspected and contents noted. Students are
urged to write their parents at least once a week.
Wardrobes and rooms of students are subject to inspection and
regulation by proper officers at all times, and regular and
thorough inspection of same are made from time to time.
I was admitted in due course of time.
I reached Tuskegee on the 5th of September, 1896, and after purchasing
books, etc., my "cash assets," $12, were about exhausted. I could not
enter as a day-school student, as I did not have the money to do so. In
the night-school I found a chance which I gladly embraced. As I had
desired, I was assigned to the wheelwright division for two years,
signing a formal contract to that effect. I spent the whole of each day
in the shop, attended industrial or theory classes two afternoons in
each week, besides taking mechanical drawing (as all trades students are
required to do), and attended evening classes.
I applied myself as earnestly as I possibly could, and lost no time in
getting right down to business. So well had I done that, that when a
call reached the school during the spring of 1897 for a competent
blacksmith, I was sent to do the work. I was excused from school on
April 15th of that year and went to Shorter's, Ala., a settlement about
eighteen miles from Tuskegee. I remained there until October.
[Illustration: STUDENTS AT WORK IN THE HARNESS-SHOP.]
In a way, I regarded that period somewhat as a vacation period, as I did
not lose much time from my classes. The surroundings were pleasant and
profitable, and I had a chance to enter into the life of the people and
help them a great deal. While there I earned enough money to send for my
brother and enter him in Tuskegee, that he might have the same chance I
was enjoying to get an education. I wanted my brother to enter the
blacksmith-shop, as I saw visions of a blacksmithing and wheelwrighting
business to be owned and conducted by Lomax Brothers some time in the
future. I also provided clothing out of what I had earned for both my
brother and myself.
At close of the school term in 1898 I was able to secure employment at
Uniontown, Ala., with Messrs. J. L. Dykes and Company, doing a general
wheelwrighting and blacksmithing business--the largest business of its
kind in the town. I remained at Uniontown, working for the firm until
October, when I again returned to Tuskegee. The sum per day I received
was a most flattering tribute to Tuskegee's ability to take a stiff
country lad like myself, and turn him, in a few months, into a workman
commanding decent wages.
What this means to the masses of the students who go to Tuskegee the
general public can have no idea. It is a great thing for a boy who never
earned more than the merest pittance a day to go to a school where he
can secure an education by working for it, and at the same time be
fitted to earn wages, as many of them do, three and even five times as
high as before going there. This accounts, in a large measure I am sure,
for the fact that so large a number refuse to remain and go through the
full courses of academic study.
Many of them, finding themselves able in a few months to earn sums far
beyond any previous hope, decide to take advantage at once of this
increased earning capacity; but since the work is so well graded, no boy
can get his trade without getting, at the same time, academic
instruction, and instruction in those character-forming things all about
the student at Tuskegee.
I began the new term with $50, which sum was to my credit in the school
treasury, having been earned by my labor.
During the summer of 1899 I was again offered work at Uniontown by
Messrs. J. L. Dykes and Company. I remained with them only two months,
however. Afterward I worked at the McKinley Brothers' Wagon Factory at
Demopolis, Ala.; as a journeyman workman at Tuskegee, in the Institute's
Wheelwrighting Shop, and with the Nack Carriage Company at Mobile, Ala.,
the largest shop of its kind in that city and one of the largest in the
whole South, a firm doing strictly high-grade work. In all of these
positions I have every reason to believe that I gave full and complete
satisfaction. While with the last-named company I won the personal favor
and interest of the manager and continued to study. He recommended that
I add to my Tuskegee training by taking the correspondence course of the
Technical School for Carriage Draftsmen and Mechanics, New York. I
remained with this firm until I was offered a position by Mr. R. R.
Taylor, the present director of mechanical industries of the Tuskegee
Institute, three years ago. I was greatly pleased and flattered when I
was called to take charge of the division in which I had received my own
instruction. Since being at Tuskegee I have continued to study, and am
satisfied that I have well used my opportunities.
This division over which I preside is located on the first floor of the
Trades Building. It is well fitted for work in general wheelwrighting
and repairing.
Included in the equipment are ten woodworkers' benches 32 inches high,
42 inches wide, and 8 feet long. Each bench is divided into two parts,
making it possible for two persons to work at the same bench without
interference. The benches have three drawers and one closet on each
side, in which tools used by the students are kept.
Each pupil is provided with the following tools: One coach-maker's vise,
one 26-inch No. 6 cross-cut saw, one 12-inch back saw, one set of
planes, one set of chisels, one set of auger-bits, one set of
gimlet-bits, one ratchet-brace, one coach-maker's drawing-knife, one
spoke-shave, one thumb-gauge, one try-square, one bevel, one hammer, and
one mallet. Other tools are kept in reserve by the instructor and are
used only when needed.
The division is constantly building new work, such as wagons, drays,
horse- and hand-carts, wheelbarrows, buggies, and road-carts. The work
of repairing vehicles and farm implements for the school, and a large
amount of repairing for the locality, is done by my students. The course
is as follows:
_The First Year._--Care of shop, names and care of tools, general
measurements; elementary work with saw, plane, drawing-knife,
chisel, and spoke-shave; practise in the making and application of
joints, i. e., splices, mortises, tenons, and miters; kinds of wood
used and how to select; practise-work on parts of wagons and
bodies; Industrial Classes and Mechanical Drawing during the year.
_The Second Year._--Pattern-making, working by patterns,
practise-work on parts of wagons continued; making wheelbarrows and
hand-carts, repairing wagons; practise in wheel-building;
construction of wagons, carts, and drays; practise on parts of
buggies and wagons; industrial classes and Mechanical Drawing
during the year.
_The Third Year._--Building wheels; general repairs on buggies and
wagons continued; practise-work on parts of buggies, phaetons,
farm- and business-wagons; shop economics, estimates, bills of
material; industrial classes and Mechanical Drawing during the
year.
The student in wheelwrighting receives instruction in wood-turning;
the course is the same as that given to students in carpentry.
I was married late last summer, 1904, and am now living at Tuskegee as a
member of the Faculty of the school I entered as a raw recruit.
XIII
THE STORY OF A BLACKSMITH
BY JUBIE B. BRAGG
Both my mother and father were compelled to work in the field as
farmers. They had four children, all now living, of whom I am the
eldest. I was born in Twiggs County, Ga., February 17, 1876, but in 1881
the family moved to Macon, Ga., where they lived until 1886. The
cruelest possible blow befell us when both mother and father died in
April of that year, within ten days of each other.
My parents were intelligent, and though they had had no opportunities
for securing an education, yet they were able to teach their children
the alphabet and how to spell a few simple words. My first lessons were
in Webster's blue-back speller, so when I started to school at six years
of age I was not the dullest boy beginning at the same place, because of
the instruction I had received. I first went to a Miss Mary Tom, who
taught in St. Paul's Church in East Macon. I went there but one school
session. I was next sent to a Miss Carr, who taught in the basement of
the Presbyterian church on Washington Avenue, West Macon. To her, also,
I only went one term. I was next started in Lewis' High School, now
known as Ballard's Normal School, but was soon compelled to cease going
there because of the death of both parents, as already mentioned, in
April of that same term.
I was now but ten years of age. My aunt took charge of me and of the
other children. I was immediately "hired out" to a family named Horton,
for my victuals and clothing. I worked for this family about six months,
all of whom were kind to me, especially Mr. Horton, Jr., who at this
time had charge of an ice-house. Each day I carried his meals to him and
could confidently count upon receiving from him a nickel (five cents),
which was forthwith invested in candy as I returned. It was a real
pleasure to meet and make myself known to Mr. Horton, Jr., the young man
who had been so kind to me in Birmingham, Ala., in 1901, after my
graduation from Tuskegee. He was apparently glad to see me, and
especially to learn that I had been attending the Tuskegee Institute.
After leaving the Horton family I went to work in a grocery store, that
of a Mrs. Machold, from whom I received $4 a month for my services. I
only remained with her a short while.
The work I liked best of all, however, was that with the shoe firm of
Bearden and Brantley. I had my Sundays, and was off from work at six
o'clock each week-day--a great change from my former employment.
When I was twelve years of age I went to visit an uncle who lived in
Baldwin County, Ga. I had gone to remain two weeks; as a matter of fact
I was with him three years. I worked on the farm every day while with
him, and went to school about two months each year. In this short time I
was only able to review the lessons I had already had. After returning
to Macon, a number of young men who had been to Tuskegee persuaded me to
consider going there to school. The most strenuous opposition came from
my own relatives. After many conversations about the matter I had
finally to go against their will. They honestly felt that such reading
and writing as I could do was quite enough education for me, or for any
other Negro boy.
I reached the school, after being properly admitted, on the 11th of
September, 1893, and registered as a student in the night-school, as I
had no money, and could pay in cash for no part of my expenses. I was
assigned, after examination, to the A Preparatory class. I was assigned
work at the barns, fed cows, milked, and rendered such other service as
was required by the instructor.
Soon after reaching Tuskegee and after I had begun "working out" my
expenses, I learned that the officers of the school were contemplating a
new scheme whereby all of the students in the night-school would work
one-half of each day, go to school one-half of each day, and pay $4 a
month in cash into the school treasury. Mrs. Washington, the "guardian
angel" of the student body at Tuskegee called me and several other
students into conference and asked us to frankly state how the new
schedule would affect us, what we thought of the plan, how much money we
were able to pay, etc. Out of the whole number only four declared they
were able to pay the $4 a month; the larger number, like myself, were
utterly unable to pay anything in cash, being dependent absolutely upon
our ability to cover our expenses by work in some of the industrial
divisions. It was finally decided to forego this contemplated
arrangement, and I, and the majority of others situated like myself,
were made very happy. My whole future hinged on this decision, as I
should have been compelled to leave school if it had been put in
operation. I remained at the school during the summer of 1894, the
school very kindly arranging each summer to keep a large number of
students and providing work for them. It was to me an advantage to
remain. I had no money for railroad fare, and I was sure of securing a
trade, wheelwrighting, at the beginning of the next term. I had desired
to go into the blacksmith-shop, but it was so crowded that there was no
reasonable assurance that I should be able to secure entrance thereto.
At the beginning of the fall term, 1894, I entered the wheelwright-shop,
at the same time, of course, carrying my academic work; I had been
successively each year promoted to the next higher class. I not only
worked all of that school year in the wheelwrighting-shop, but remained
the summer of 1895.
Shortly after the new school year began, my instructor, Mr. M. T.
Driver, was selected to take charge of the school's elaborate exhibit at
the Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta, Ga., at the
opening of which Principal Washington had spoken so effectively and
powerfully for the Negro people of the country. I had made such
substantial progress that Mr. J. H. Washington, then serving as director
of mechanical industries, notified me that I had been selected to manage
the shop during Mr. Driver's six months' absence.
I was not very much inclined to take the responsibility, but at Tuskegee
polite notification of selection to do a thing is a command. I accepted
the work and did my very best. There were about twenty young men in the
shop when I took charge, some older, some younger than I, but most of
whom had been there longer than I had. I had no serious complaints as to
the quality of work turned out by me during the instructor's absence.
I now had to my credit more than enough money to carry me through the
remaining two years. The next year I entered the day-school. I had
become in most respects a new person. I had gone to Tuskegee
country-bred, raw, ignorant. The school's transforming influence I was
able to note in my carriage, and, of course, in my conversation, in my
care for neatness and order, and in the ideals I was forming and trying
to live up to. During the summer I returned home for the first time. I
worked at my trade during the vacation and earned enough money to buy
clothing and other necessaries. I did not return to school until
December 28, 1897, as I needed the money I was earning at my trade. I
had never earned in money more than the small amounts referred to in the
first part of this paper, and so was delighted with my earning capacity.
I then sought work in the blacksmithing-shop, the shop I had first
desired to enter, so that I might become a first-class blacksmith in
addition to having a working knowledge of wheelwrighting. After
completing the school term I went to Montgomery, Ala., and worked as a
wheelwright and blacksmith. This outside experience was most helpful to
me. My last school year was that of 1899-1900. I was very happy to
receive, along with my academic diploma, a certificate also from the
blacksmithing division. I was now fitted to begin my life in the great
outside world.
My first work was as instructor in blacksmithing and wheelwrighting in
the Hungerford Industrial School at Eatonville, Fla. I then secured work
at my trades in Birmingham until August, 1901, when three of us who had
been classmates at Tuskegee decided to form a partnership and conduct on
a large scale a general blacksmithing and wheelwrighting business. I
was deputed to select the place where we should locate. After
interviewing a number of persons, Anniston, Ala., was suggested, and I
decided to go there to personally investigate conditions. After getting
there and going about the town, I agreed that at Anniston we should find
a place that would properly support our business. There was no place
vacant that we could rent, so after some further consideration we
decided to purchase a place. This we were fortunate enough to do, and
came into possession of a building for our shop, 50 by 60 feet. We met
all obligations after opening the shop and secured the most flattering
support. Our work met the most exacting requirements, and I was very
much disinclined to accept an offer which reached me from Mr. Nathan B.
Young, who had had charge of the academic work at Tuskegee during a part
of my stay there. Mr. Young, however, represented that I could render
much more effective racial service by reaching a large number of
persons, young men, daily. After much hesitation I went to the Florida
State Normal and Industrial School, to which Mr. Young had been called
as President, as instructor in blacksmithing and wheelwrighting, where I
have since been employed. I have done well, and am proud that I can say
so.
Of my stay at Tuskegee, what shall I say? It was all in all to me. The
lessons in shop and class-room, the lessons not at all catalogued that
go into character-forming--all of these I found most helpful and
invaluable, in making me a man who "thinks and feels." I should be
tempted to eulogy should I try to tell how much I owe to Dr. Washington,
to his teachers, and to all of the influences that assist the student at
Tuskegee.
XIV
A DRUGGIST'S STORY
BY DAVID L. JOHNSTON
Shortly after the smoke had cleared away from the battle-fields of the
Civil War, I was ushered into the world in a one-room log cabin in
Alabama, county of Macon, and near the little town of Tuskegee,
afterward made famous by virtue of the fact that there was established
near it, by Booker T. Washington, July 4, 1881, the Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute. That I have the honor of being an alumnus of that
school is one of the best things of which I can boast.
Because I have said that I was born in a one-room log cabin, the reader
will readily imagine that my parentage was humble. My mother and father
both have gone to the Great Beyond. I bless and revere their memory, for
two more noble souls never lived, hampered as they were by slavery and
its terrible environments.
My parents continued to live in the one-room cabin until three other
children, making nine in all, had come to them. Another room was added
about this time. The biting poverty of it all led my father, with his
family, to move to one of the famous cotton plantations of Dallas
County, Ala. I seem to recall taking an interest in the world about me
quite early. Especially do I recall, as one of my earliest
recollections, the death of Garfield, so cruelly slain by the madman
Guiteau. My father was greatly distressed, I remember, by his death.
For five successive years my life was spent working each year on the
farms for and with my aged father and other members of the family, and
spending the time, when not so employed, in near-by public schools,
which at that time, as is true in large part now, were conducted only
about three months in each year. After having acquired a slight
knowledge of mathematics, it was a great pleasure to me to go up each
fall to the market at Selma, Ala., with my father, to dispose of the
products of the farm. On one occasion there was an apparent interest
manifested in me by one of the commission merchants, a white man. He
persuaded me to return to Selma, after I had accompanied my father home,
and to accept a position with him as office-boy. I returned as agreed,
to find either that his promise was a stroke to induce my father to
trade with him, or that my stay at home had been too extended--although
it was only for three or four days. The position, meanwhile, he said,
had been filled by another. Thus, I found myself, a raw country lad,
twenty-seven miles from home, without employment and among strangers.
Next morning, without the knowledge of my parents, I applied for
admittance as a student to the Knox Academy at Selma, and without
recommendations, which were immediately demanded of me. I was turned
away, but not discouraged, for the next morning, accompanied by a white
friend of my father, I again applied and was admitted on his
recommendation. An examination entitled me to begin with the fifth-grade
class.
I also secured employment at this white man's home. The money thus
received paid for my board. By doing odd jobs I managed to make
sufficient money to pay for lodging with a good family. I was thus
enabled to spend the fall of 1883 and the spring of 1884 in school, to
my very great benefit. I was compelled to return home, however, before
the term ended, because my father's health completely failed him, to
take charge of the farm, as I was the senior male child in the family
at that time. My juvenile mind had been awakened by this short school
experience in Selma, and from that time forth I had a thirst for more
knowledge.
I was absorbed by this longing, but I took up the various other duties
which fell to my lot, with the earnest purpose of doing my very best. As
a result, with the aid of other members of the family I succeeded in
turning over to my invalid father, the succeeding fall, eleven bales of
cotton and other farm products in like proportion. My father's health
having completely failed, and because of a constantly increasing desire
for more knowledge, I conceived the idea of returning to our old home
near Tuskegee again.
January, 1885, found us again living in close proximity to the old log
cabin in which I was born. Not four years before the Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute had been established. The height of my ambition was
to be enrolled as a student there, but not having sufficient money to
care for the family and remain in school at the same time, and since the
term for that year was half spent, I sought employment for the remaining
winter months, doing such odd jobs in and around the little town as I
could find to do. When spring came, having a fair knowledge of farming,
I found ready employment with the planters of that community. With an
ambition to enter school the coming fall, I then and there began to
study every possible method of economy, and when summer had passed and
school-time had come again, with the aid of a younger brother I had
cared for the family, and had to my credit my first savings of $85.
Now began the most memorable and the most pleasant days in my life. On
the 15th day of September, 1885, I matriculated as a student at
Tuskegee, and, after what was then considered a rigid examination,
succeeded in entering the Junior class, the lowest class of the normal
grade. There was yet before me the task of caring for an aged father and
mother. That task I considered a sacred duty, and, with my limited
savings in hand, made such purchases as would best give them ordinary
comforts through the winter months, and on the 22d day of the same
month, after having made such expenditures as I thought necessary, I
found that my little pile had been reduced from $85 to $14.50, with
which sum I paid my tuition and board at the normal school.