frugal, and thrifty. Booker T. Washington stands for these things. He
advises and counsels and leads toward these goals. Hear him and heed
his words."
At the invitation of Superintendent Gwinn the colored school children
of New Orleans were given a half-holiday to hear Dr. Washington. He
addressed them in an arena seating more than five thousand people,
which was given for the occasion by its white owner.
To one of these Louisiana audiences Mr. Washington said: "Both races
in the South suffer at the hands of public opinion by reason of the
fact that the outside world hears of our difficulties, of crimes,
mobs, and lynchings, but it does not hear of or know about the
evidences of racial friendship and good-will which exist in the
majority of communities in Louisiana and other Southern States where
black and white people live together in such large numbers. Lynchings
are widely reported by telegraph. The quiet, effective work of devoted
white people in the South for Negro uplift is not generally or widely
reported. The best white citizenship must take charge of the mob and
not have the mob take charge of civilization. There is enough wisdom,
patience, forbearance, and common sense in the South for white people
and black people to live together in peace for all time."
In short, Booker Washington met race prejudice just as he did all
other difficulties, as an obstacle to be surmounted rather than as an
injustice to be railed at and denounced regardless of the
consequences.
CHAPTER SIX
GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE
One secret of Booker Washington's leadership was that he always had
his ear to the ground and his feet on the ground. Some one has said
that "a practical idealist is a man who keeps his feet on the ground
even though his head is in the clouds." Booker Washington was that
kind of an idealist. He kept in constant and intimate touch with the
masses of his people, particularly with those on the soil. Like the
giant in the fable who doubled his strength every time he touched the
ground, Booker Washington seemed to renew his strength every time he
came in contact with the plain people of his race, particularly the
farmers. No matter how pressed and driven by multifarious affairs, he
could always find time for a rambling talk, apparently quite at
random, with an old, uneducated, ante-bellum black farmer. Sometimes
he would halt the entire business of a national convention in order to
hear the comment of some simple but shrewd old character. He had a
profound respect for the wisdom of simple people who lived at close
grips with the realities of life.
At the 1914 meeting of the National Negro Business League at Muskogee,
Okla., a Mr. Jake ----, who had started as an ignorant orphan boy,
delighted Mr. Washington's heart when he testified: "When I first
started out I lived in a chicken house, 12 × 14 feet; now I own a
ten-room residence, comfortably furnished, and in a settlement where
we have a good school, a good church, and plenty of amusement,
including ten children."
After the laughter and applause had subsided Mr. Washington asked: "Do
you think there is the same kind of an opening out here in Oklahoma
for other and younger men of our race to do as you have done and to
succeed equally as well?"
To which Mr. Jake replied: "... I think I have succeeded with little
or no education, and it stands to reason that some of the graduates
from these industrial and agricultural schools ought to be able to do
better than I have done."
Which was, of course, just the answer Mr. Washington hoped he would
make.
Mr. Washington's instinct for keeping close to the plain people was
perhaps best illustrated by his tours through the far Southern States
for the improvement of the living conditions of his people, the tours
to which allusion has several times been made. His insistence upon
cleanliness, neatness, and paint became so well known that his
approach to a community frequently caused frantic cleaning up of
yards, mending of gates, and painting of houses. These sudden converts
to paint sometimes found out from which side the great man was to
approach their house and painted only that side and the front.
[Illustration: Mr. Washington in characteristic pose addressing an
audience.]
[Illustration: Mr. Washington silhouetted against the crowd upon one
of his educational tours.]
[Illustration: Mr. Washington in typical pose speaking to an audience
at Shreveport, La.]
When he spoke to his people on these trips he had the faculty of
becoming one of them. He described their daily lives in their own
language. He told them how much land they owned, how much of it was
mortgaged, how much and what they raised, and in fact every vital
economic and social fact about their lives and the conditions about
them. He praised them for what was creditable, censured and bantered
them for what was bad, and told them what conditions should be and how
they could make them so.
He made these tours through Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and portions of Alabama and
Georgia.
Besides these State tours he would, whenever he could take the time,
shoot out into the country surrounding Tuskegee Institute to encourage
and promote the efforts of his neighbors of his own race. In July,
1911, accompanied by some guests and members of his faculty, he made
such a visit to Mt. Olive, a village on the east of Tuskegee. The
party was first taken to the village church where they found a teeming
congregation to greet them. Here Mr. Washington was introduced by the
principal of the "Washington School" who said that since Mr.
Washington's visit eighteen months ago the colored people had
purchased forty-one lots, built several new houses, whitewashed or
painted the old ones, and increased their gardens to such an extent
that few, if any, had still to buy their vegetables.
Mr. Washington opened his talk by saying: "It is an inspiration
simply to drive through and see your pleasant houses surrounded by
flowers and gardens and all that goes to make life happy." He then
appealed to the women to make their homes as attractive on the inside
as the gardens had made them on the outside. He told them the best
receipt for keeping the men and the children at home and out of
mischief was to make the homes so attractive that they would not want
to go away. Then, as always, before he closed he put in his warnings
and injunctions to the derelict: "Paint your houses; if you can't
paint them, whitewash them. Put the men to work in their spare hours
repairing fences, gates, and windows. Get together in your church, as
you have in your school-work, settle on a pastor and get him to live
in your community. Pay him in order that he may live here and become a
part of your community."
On another such trip through the southwestern part of Macon County,
the county in which Tuskegee is located, he was once accompanied by
Judge Robert H. Terrell, the Negro Judge of the District of Columbia;
the Hon. Whitefield McKinlay, the Negro Collector of Customs for the
District of Columbia; George L. Knox, owner and editor of the
Indianapolis _Freeman_, a Negro newspaper; W.T.B. Williams, agent for
the Anna T. Jeanes Fund and the Slater Board; Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones
of the United States Census Bureau, and Lord Eustace Percy, one of the
Secretaries of the British Embassy at Washington.
[Illustration: A party of friends who accompanied Dr. Washington on
one of his educational tours through the State of Mississippi. In the
party are Charles Banks, a leading Negro banker and business man of
Mississippi; Bishop E. Cottrell; and on Dr. Washington's right, Robert
R. Moton, his successor in the work at Tuskegee Institute.]
One can well imagine with what pride the simple black farmers of Macon
County displayed their products and their live stock to these
distinguished representatives of both races headed by their own great
neighbor and leader. At Mt. Andrew, one of the communities visited,
the Farmers' Improvement Club had prepared an exhibit consisting of
the best specimens of vegetables, fruits, and meats raised in the
community. A report stated that the Negro people of the town owned
over two hundred head of live stock and had over thirty houses which
were either whitewashed or painted. When called upon for remarks, Mr.
Washington expressed himself as greatly encouraged by what he had seen
and said in conclusion, "Here in Macon County you have good land that
will grow abundant crops. You have also a good citizenship, and hence
there is every opportunity for you to make your community a heaven
upon earth."
Booker Washington was always emphasizing the necessity of better
conditions right here and now instead of in a distant future or in
heaven. He was constantly combating the tendency in his people--a
tendency common to all people but naturally particularly strong in
those having a heritage of slavery--to substitute the anticipated
bliss of a future life for effective efforts to improve the conditions
of this present life. He was always telling them to put their energies
into societies for the preservation of health and improvement of
living conditions, instead of into the too numerous and popular sick
benefit and death benefit organizations.
At the next stop of the party Mr. Washington was introduced to the
assembled townspeople by a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, who was
one of their leading citizens and most successful farmers. In this
talk he urged the people to get more land and keep it and to grow
something besides cotton. He said they should not lean upon others and
should not go to town on Saturdays to "draw upon" the merchants, but
should stay at home and "draw every day from their own soil corn,
peas, beans, and hogs." He urged the men to give their wives more time
to work around the house and to raise vegetables. (This, of course,
instead of requiring them to work in the fields with the men as is so
common.) He urged especially that they take their wives into their
confidence and make them their partners as well as their companions.
He assured them that if they took their wives into partnership they
would accumulate more and get along better in every way.
There was no advice given by him more constantly or insistently in
speaking to the plain people of his race, whether in country or city,
than this injunction to the men to take their wives into their
confidence and make them their partners. He recognized that the home
was the basis of all progress and civilization for his race, as well
as all other races, and that the wife and mother is primarily the
conservator of the home.
One of the stops of the trip was at a little hamlet called Damascus.
Here, in characteristic fashion, he told the people how much richer
they were in soil and all natural advantages than were the inhabitants
of the original Damascus in the Holy Land. He then argued that having
these great natural advantages, much was to be expected of them, etc.
Like all great preachers, teachers, and leaders of men he seized upon
the names, incidents, and conditions immediately about him and from
them drew lessons of fundamental import and universal application.
The efforts of the Negro farmers on these trips to get a word of
approval from their great leader were often pathetic. One old man had
a good breed of pigs of which he was particularly proud. He contrived
to be found feeding them beside the road just as the great man and his
party were passing. The simple ruse succeeded. Mr. Washington and his
companions stopped and every one admired the proud and excited old
man's pigs. And then after the pigs had been duly admired, he led them
to a rough plank table upon which he had displayed in tremulous
anticipation of this dramatic moment a huge pumpkin, some perfectly
developed ears of corn, and a lusty cabbage. After these objects had
also been admired the old man decoyed the party into the little
whitewashed cottage where his wife had her hour of triumph in
displaying her jars of preserves, pickles, cans of vegetables, dried
fruits, and syrup together with quilts and other needlework all
carefully arranged for this hoped-for inspection.
The basic teaching of all these tours was: "Make your own little
heaven right here and now. Do it by putting business methods into your
farming, by growing things in your garden the year around, by building
and keeping attractive and comfortable homes for your children so they
will stay at home and not go to the cities, by keeping your bodies and
your surroundings clean, by staying in one place, by getting a good
teacher and a good preacher, by building a good school and church, by
letting your wife be your partner in all you do, by keeping out of
debt, by cultivating friendly relations with your neighbors both white
and black."
Mr. Washington was constantly bringing up in the Tuskegee faculty
meetings cases of distress among the colored people of the county,
which he had personally discovered while off hunting or riding, and
planning ways and means to relieve them. Apparently it never occurred
to him that technically, at least, the fate of these poor persons was
not his affair nor that of his school. At one such meeting he told of
having come upon while hunting a tumbledown cabin in the woods, within
it a half-paralyzed old Negro obviously unable to care for his simple
wants. Mr. Washington had stopped, built a fire in his stove, and
otherwise made him comfortable temporarily, but some provision for the
old man's care must be made at once. One of the teachers knew about
the old man and stated that he had such an ugly temper that he had
driven off his wife, son, and daughter who had until recently lived
with him and taken care of him. The young teacher seemed to feel that
the old man had brought his troubles upon his own head and so deserved
little sympathy. Mr. Washington would not for a moment agree to this.
He replied that if the old fellow was so unfortunate as to have a bad
temper as well as his physical infirmities that was no reason why he
should be allowed to suffer privation. He delegated one of the
teachers to look up the old man's family at once and see if they
could be prevailed upon to support him and to report at the next
meeting what had been arranged. In the meantime he would send some one
out to the cabin daily to take him food and attend to his wants.
At another faculty meeting he brought up the plight of an old woman
who was about to be evicted from her little shack on the outskirts of
the town because of her inability to pay the nominal rent which she
was charged. He arranged to have her rent paid out of a sum of money
which he always had included in the school budget for the relief of
such cases. In such ways he was constantly impressing upon his
associates the idea that was ever a mainspring of his own
life--namely, that it was always and everywhere the duty of the more
fortunate to help the less fortunate.
While he was sometimes severe with his more prosperous and better
educated associates he was always considerate and thoughtful of the
ignorant, the old, and the weak. He was never too busy to delight the
heart of a white-haired old man who had been the original cook of the
school by listening to his stories about the early days, or to discuss
with another old man his experiences in the Civil War. He would never
betray the least impatience in listening to these old men tell him the
same story for the five hundredth time. Although the real usefulness
of both these old fellows had long passed he never showed them by word
or deed that he did not regard them as useful and valuable members of
his staff.
Another old character to whom he invariably showed kindness and
patience was a crack-brained old itinerant preacher who kept up an
endless stream of unintelligible pious jargon. This old fellow would
harangue the air for hours at a time right outside the Principal's
busy office, but he would never allow him to be stopped or sent away
and always sent or gave him a small contribution at the conclusion of
his tirades, if indeed they could be said to have any conclusion.
Booker Washington had a weakness for the picturesque ne'er-do-wells of
his race. One such old fellow, who lived near Tuskegee and who had
always displayed great ingenuity in extracting money from him, one
day, when he was driving down the main street of Tuskegee behind a
pair of fast and spirited horses, 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 in 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' turkey for you!"
With a laugh Mr. Washington handed the old man the 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.
At the time of the Tuskegee teachers' annual picnic, usually held in
May, many of these old colored people would attend uninvited and armed
with huge empty baskets. Mr. Washington always greeted them like
honored guests and allowed them to carry off provisions enough to feed
large families for days. He would also introduce them to the officers
and teachers of the school and to any invited guests who might be
present.
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 Dr. 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 of it than Uncle Harry.
With Uncle Harry Varner, Old Man Brannum, the original cook of the
school to whom reference has already been made, 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 Negro
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 his 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 semi-pensioners whom Booker Washington accumulated
as he went about his kindly way.
One means of keeping in touch with the masses of his people which he
never neglected was through attending the annual National Negro
Baptist Conventions. At these great gatherings he came in touch with
the religious leaders of two million Negroes. Notwithstanding the fact
that he practically collapsed at the annual meeting of the National
Negro Business League held in Boston in August, 1915, and had to be
nursed for some weeks following before he was even strong enough to
return to Tuskegee, he insisted in spite of the admonitions of
physicians and the pleadings of friends, family, and colleagues, in
keeping his engagement to speak before this great convention in
Chicago in September. To all protests he replied, "It would do me more
harm to stay away than to go." With these words, and rallying the
rapidly waning dregs of his once great strength he went and made an
address which ranks with the most powerful he ever delivered to his
people. A threatened split in the Baptist denomination in part
accounted for his insistence upon attending this convention. In this
address, delivered only two months before he died of sheer exhaustion,
and the last he made before any great body of his own people, he said
in part:
"My only excuse for accepting your invitation to appear before you in
these annual gatherings is that I am deeply interested in all that
this National Baptist Convention stands for. It is in my opinion the
largest and most representative body of colored people anywhere in the
world.... I believe most profoundly in the work of this convention
because it represents the common masses of all our people, those who
are the foundation of our success as a race. I believe in you because
you do not pretend to represent the classes but the masses of our
people. I am here, too, because the Baptist Church among our people
throughout the country is affording them an opportunity to get lessons
in self-government in a degree that is true of few other
organizations.
"You who control this great convention have before you a great
opportunity and along with this opportunity a tremendous
responsibility. It is given to you, as to all men, to pursue one of
two courses, and that is, to be big leaders or little leaders. You can
construct or you can destroy. The time is now at hand when in each
individual church organization and each district association and each
State convention and in this great national convention, the little man
must give way and let the big, broad, generous man take his place.
Nothing is ever gained in business, in education, or in religious work
by being little, narrow, or jealous in our sympathies and activities."