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THE FUTURE OF
THE AMERICAN NEGRO
Booker T. Washington
Boston
Small, Maynard & Company
1900
_Copyright, 1899,
By Small, Maynard & Company_
(_Incorporated_)
_Entered at Stationers' Hall_
_First Edition (2,000 copies), November, 1899_
_Second Edition (2,000 copies), February, 1900_
_Press of
George H. Ellis, Boston, U.S.A._
[Illustration: Booker T. Washington.]
PREFACE.
_In giving this volume to the public, I deem it fair to say that I
have yielded to the oft-repeated requests that I put in some more
definite and permanent form the ideas regarding the Negro and his
future which I have expressed many times on the public platform and
through the public press and magazines._
_I make grateful acknowledgment to the "Atlantic Monthly" and
"Appleton's Popular Science Monthly" for their kindness in granting
permission for the use of some part of articles which I have at
various times contributed to their columns._
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE,
TUSKEGEE, ALA., October 1, 1899.
CONTENTS.
Chapter I. Page 3
First appearance of Negroes in America--Rapid
increase--Conditions during Civil War--During the reconstruction.
Chapter II. Page 16
Responsibility of the whole country for the Negro--Progress in
the past--Same methods of education do not fit all cases--Proved
in the case of the Southern Negro--Illustrations--Lack of
money--Comparison between outlay for schools North and
South--Duty of North to South.
Chapter III. Page 42
Decadence of Southern plantation--Demoralization of Negroes
natural--No home life before the war--Too much classical
education at the start--Lack of practical training--
Illustrations--The well-trained slaves now dead--Former
plantations as industrial schools--The decayed plantation built
up by a former slave--Misunderstanding of industrial education.
Chapter IV. Page 67
The Negroes' proper use of education--Hayti, Santo Domingo, and
Liberia as illustrations of the lack of practical training--
Present necessity for union of all forces to further
the cause of industrial education--Industrial education not
opposed to the higher education--Results of practical training so
far--Little or no prejudice against capable Negroes in business
in the South--The Negro at first shunned labor as degrading--
Hampton and Tuskegee aim to remove this feeling--The South
does not oppose industrial education for the Negroes--
Address to Tuskegee students setting forth the necessity
of steadfastness of purpose.
Chapter V. Page 106
The author's early life--At Hampton--The inception of the
Tuskegee School in 1881--Its growth--Scope--Size at
present--Expenses--Purposes--Methods--Building of the
chapel--Work of the graduates--Similar schools beginning
throughout the South--Tuskegee Negro Conference--The Workers'
Conference--Tuskegee as a trainer of teachers.
Chapter VI. Page 127
The Negro race in politics--Its patriotic zeal in 1776--In
1814--In the Civil War--In the Spanish War--Politics attempted
too soon after freedom--Poor leaders--Two parties in the South,
the blacks' and the whites'--Not necessarily opposed in
interests--The Negro should give up no rights--The same tests for
the restriction of the franchise should be applied alike to both
blacks and whites--This is not the case--Education and the
franchise--The whites must help the blacks to pure votes--Rioting
and lynching only to be stopped by mutual confidence.
Chapter VII. Page 157
Difficulty of fusion--Africa impossible as a refuge because
already completely claimed by other nations--Comparison of Negro
race with white--Physical condition of the Negro--Present lack of
ability to organize--Weaknesses--Ability to work--Trustworthiness
Desire to rise--Obstructions put in the way of Negroes'
advancement--Results of oppression--Necessity for encouragement
and self-respect--Comparison of Negroes' position and that
of the Jews--Lynching--Non-interference of the North--
Increase of lynching--Statistics of numbers, races, places,
causes of violence--Uselessness of lynching in preventing
crime--Fairness in carrying out the laws--Increase of crime among
the Negroes--Reason for it--Responsibility of both races.
Chapter VIII. Page 200
Population--Emigration to the North--Morality North and
South--Dangers: 1. incendiary advice; 2. mob violence; 3.
discouragement; 4. newspaper exaggeration; 5. lack of education;
6. bad legislation--Negroes must identify with best interests of
the South--Unwise missionary work--Wise missionary work--
Opportunity for industrial education--The good standing of
business-educated Negroes in the South--Religion and
morality--Justice and appreciation coming for the Negro
race as it proves itself worthy.
CHAPTER I.
In this volume I shall not attempt to give the origin and history of
the Negro race either in Africa or in America. My attempt is to deal
only with conditions that now exist and bear a relation to the Negro
in America and that are likely to exist in the future. In discussing
the Negro, it is always to be borne in mind that, unlike all the other
inhabitants of America, he came here without his own consent; in fact,
was compelled to leave his own country and become a part of another
through physical force. It should also be borne in mind, in our
efforts to change and improve the present condition of the Negro, that
we are dealing with a race which had little necessity to labour in its
native country. After being brought to America, the Negroes were
forced to labour for about 250 years under circumstances which were
calculated not to inspire them with love and respect for labour. This
constitutes a part of the reason why I insist that it is necessary to
emphasise the matter of industrial education as a means of giving the
black man the foundation of a civilisation upon which he will grow and
prosper. When I speak of industrial education, however, I wish it
always understood that I mean, as did General Armstrong, the founder
of the Hampton Institute, for thorough academic and religious training
to go side by side with industrial training. Mere training of the hand
without the culture of brain and heart would mean little.
The first slaves were brought into this country by the Dutch in 1619,
and were landed at Jamestown, Virginia. The first cargo consisted of
twenty. The census taken in 1890 shows that these twenty slaves had
increased to 7,638,360. About 6,353,341 of this number were residing
in the Southern States, and 1,283,029 were scattered throughout the
Northern and Western States. I think I am pretty safe in predicting
that the census to be taken in 1900 will show that there are not far
from ten millions of people of African descent in the United States.
The great majority of these, of course, reside in the Southern States.
The problem is how to make these millions of Negroes self-supporting,
intelligent, economical and valuable citizens, as well as how to bring
about proper relations between them and the white citizens among whom
they live. This is the question upon which I shall try to throw some
light in the chapters which follow.
When the Negroes were first brought to America, they were owned by
white people in all sections of this country, as is well known,--in
the New England, the Middle, and in the Southern States. It was soon
found, however, that slave labour was not remunerative in the Northern
States, and for that reason by far the greater proportion of the
slaves were held in the Southern States, where their labour in raising
cotton, rice, and sugar-cane was more productive. The growth of the
slave population in America was constant and rapid. Beginning, as I
have stated, with fourteen, in 1619, the number increased at such a
rate that the total number of Negroes in America in 1800 was
1,001,463. This number increased by 1860 to 3,950,000. A few people
predicted that freedom would result disastrously to the Negro, as far
as numerical increase was concerned; but so far the census figures
have failed to bear out this prediction. On the other hand, the census
of 1890 shows that the Negro population had increased from 3,950,000
in 1860 to 7,638,260 twenty-five years after the war. It is my opinion
that the rate of increase in the future will be still greater than it
has been from the close of the war of the Rebellion up to the present
time, for the reason that the very sudden changes which took place in
the life of the Negro, because of having his freedom, plunged him into
many excesses that were detrimental to his physical well-being. Of
course, freedom found him unprepared in clothing, in shelter and in
knowledge of how to care for his body. During slavery the slave mother
had little control of her own children, and did not therefore have the
practice and experience of rearing children in a suitable manner. Now
that the Negro is being taught in thousands of schools how to take
care of his body, and in thousands of homes mothers are learning how
to control their children, I believe that the rate of increase, as I
have stated, will be still greater than it has been in the past. In
too many cases the Negro had the idea that freedom meant merely
license to do as he pleased, to work or not to work; but this
erroneous idea is more and more disappearing, by reason of the
education in the right direction which the Negro is constantly
receiving.
During the four years that the Civil War lasted, the greater
proportion of the Negroes remained in the South, and worked faithfully
for the support of their masters' families, who, as a general rule,
were away in the war. The self-control which the Negro exhibited
during the war marks, it seems to me, one of the most important
chapters in the history of the race. Notwithstanding he knew that his
master was away from home, fighting a battle which, if successful,
would result in his continued enslavement, yet he worked faithfully
for the support of the master's family. If the Negro had yielded to
the temptation and suggestion to use the torch or dagger in an attempt
to destroy his master's property and family, the result would have
been that the war would have been ended quickly; for the master would
have returned from the battlefield to protect and defend his property
and family. But the Negro to the last was faithful to the trust that
had been thrust upon him, and during the four years of war in which
the male members of the family were absent from their homes there is
not a single instance recorded where he in any way attempted to
outrage the family of the master or in any way to injure his property.
Not only is this true, but all through the years of preparation for
the war and during the war itself the Negro showed himself to be an
uncompromising friend to the Union. In fact, of all the charges
brought against him, there is scarcely a single instance where one has
been charged with being a traitor to his country. This has been true
whether he has been in a state of slavery or in a state of freedom.
From 1865 to 1876 constituted what perhaps may be termed the days of
Reconstruction. This was the period when the Southern States which had
withdrawn from the Union were making an effort to reinstate themselves
and to establish a permanent system of State government. At the close
of the war both the Southern white man and the Negro found themselves
in the midst of poverty. The ex-master returned from the war to find
his slave property gone, his farms and other industries in a state of
collapse, and the whole industrial or economic system upon which he
had depended for years entirely disorganised. As we review calmly and
dispassionately the period of reconstruction, we must use a great deal
of sympathy and generosity. The weak point, to my mind, in the
reconstruction era was that no strong force was brought to bear in
the direction of preparing the Negro to become an intelligent,
reliable citizen and voter. The main effort seems to have been in the
direction of controlling his vote for the time being, regardless of
future interests. I hardly believe that any race of people with
similar preparation and similar surroundings would have acted more
wisely or very differently from the way the Negro acted during the
period of reconstruction.
Without experience, without preparation, and in most cases without
ordinary intelligence, he was encouraged to leave the field and shop
and enter politics. That under such circumstances he should have made
mistakes is very natural. I do not believe that the Negro was so much
at fault for entering so largely into politics, and for the mistakes
that were made in too many cases, as were the unscrupulous white
leaders who got the Negro's confidence and controlled his vote to
further their own ends, regardless, in many cases, of the permanent
welfare of the Negro. I have always considered it unfortunate that the
Southern white man did not make more of an effort during the period of
reconstruction to get the confidence and sympathy of the Negro, and
thus have been able to keep him in close touch and sympathy in
politics. It was also unfortunate that the Negro was so completely
alienated from the Southern white man in all political matters. I
think it would have been better for all concerned if, immediately
after the close of the war, an educational and property qualification
for the exercise of the franchise had been prescribed that would have
applied fairly and squarely to both races, and, also, if, in educating
the Negro, greater stress had been put upon training him along the
lines of industry for which his services were in the greatest demand
in the South. In a word, too much stress was placed upon the mere
matter of voting and holding political office rather than upon the
preparation for the highest citizenship. In saying what I have, I do
not mean to convey the impression that the whole period of
reconstruction was barren of fruitful results. While it is not a very
encouraging chapter in the history of our country, I believe that this
period did serve to point out many weak points in our effort to
elevate the Negro, and that we are now taking advantage of the
mistakes that were made. The period of reconstruction served at least
to show the world that with proper preparation and with a sufficient
foundation the Negro possesses the elements out of which men of the
highest character and usefulness can be developed. I might name
several characters who were brought before the world by reason of the
reconstruction period. I give one as an example of others: Hon.
Blanche K. Bruce, who had been a slave, but who held many honourable
positions in the State of Mississippi, including an election to the
United States Senate, where he served a full term; later he was twice
appointed Register of the United States Treasury. In all these
positions Mr. Bruce gave the greatest satisfaction, and not a single
whisper of dishonesty or incompetency has ever been heard against him.
During the period of his public life he was brought into active and
daily contact with Northern and Southern white people, all of whom
speak of him in the highest measure of respect and confidence.
What the Negro wants and what the country wants to do is to take
advantage of all the lessons that were taught during the days of
reconstruction, and apply these lessons bravely, honestly, in laying
the foundation upon which the Negro can stand in the future and make
himself a useful, honourable, and desirable citizen, whether he has
his residence in the North, the South, or the West.