certain ceremony, a certain importance, be attached to the partaking
of food, etc...." To carry out this idea each table in this great hall
has a centrepiece of ferns, mosses, or flowers gathered from the woods
by the student selected by his or her companions to decorate the table
for that week. Boys and girls sit together at the tables. On Sundays
and holidays first and second prizes are given for the tables most
artistically decorated. Frequently these prizes take the form of some
coveted delicacy in the way of food. Each day when at the Institute
Mr. Washington would walk through the dining-hall during the noon meal
and criticise these centrepieces, and things generally. He would point
out that a certain decoration was too gaudy and profuse and had in it
inharmonious colors. He would then remove the unnecessary parts and
the discordant colors and point to the improved effect. He would next
stop at a table with nothing in the way of decoration except a few
scrawny flowers stuck carelessly into a vase. Picking up the meagre
display he would say, "The boy or girl who did this is guilty of
something far worse than bad taste, and that is laziness!" At the next
table he would have a word of praise for the simple and artistic
effect which they had produced with a centrepiece of wood mosses and
red berries. These comments would be interspersed with an occasional
admonition to this boy or that girl for a slovenly manner of eating,
or an inquiry of a newcomer as to where he had come from and whether
he thought he was going to be happy in his new surroundings. An
oft-repeated cause of merriment was his habit of stopping in the
middle of the hall, calling for attention, and then asking the
students if they were getting enough of various articles which he
would name, such as sweet potatoes, corn, and blackberries. Cutting
red tape was one of his special delights. Sometimes he would discover,
for instance, that certain vegetables were not being served because
the steward had objected to the price charged by the Farm Department.
He would immediately order these vegetables served and tell the
protesting steward that he could fight it out with the Farm Department
while the students were enjoying the vegetables. From the dining-room
he would finally disappear into the kitchens in his never-ceasing
campaign for cleanliness. Over and over again would he repeat to
students, teachers, and employees alike that the public would excuse
them for what they lacked in the way of buildings, equipment, and even
knowledge, but they would never be excused for shiftlessness, filth,
litter, or disorder.
One of the opportunities which he most highly prized and one of his
most effective means of influencing the whole body of students was
through his Sunday evening talks in the Chapel. Over two thousand
students, teachers, teachers' families, and townspeople would crowd
into the Chapel to hear these talks. They were stenographically
reported and published in the school paper. In this way he influenced
not only the undergraduates, but a large number of graduates and
others who subscribed to the paper largely for the purpose of
following these talks. We here quote from a previously unpublished
(except in the school paper) collection of these talks, delivered
during the school term of 1913-14, under the title of "What Parents
Would Like to Hear Concerning Students While at School." The first
talk was called, "For Old and New Students." In it he said in part: "I
suspect that each one of your parents would like to know that you are
learning to read your Bible; not only to read it because you have to,
but to read it every day in the year because you have learned to love
the Bible; because you have learned day by day to make its teachings a
part of you.... Each one of you, in beginning your school year, should
have a Bible, and you should make that Bible a part of your school
life, a part of your very nature, and always, no matter how busy the
day may be, no matter how many mistakes, no matter how many failures
you make in other directions, do not fail to find a few minutes to
study or read your Bible.
"The greatest people in the world, those who are most learned; those
who bear the burdens and responsibilities of the world, are persons
who are not ashamed to let the world know not only that they believe
in the Bible, but that they read it."
And this was the advice of a man who never preached what he did not
practise and who only a few years before had been denounced by many of
the preachers of his own race as a Godless man, building up a Godless
school!
A little further on he said: "In many cases you have come from homes
where there was no regular time for getting up in the morning, no
regular time for eating your meals, and no regular time for going to
bed.
"Now the basis of civilization is system, order, regularity. A race or
an individual which has no fixed habits, no fixed place of abode, no
time for going to bed, for getting up in the morning, for going to
work; no arrangement, order, or system in all the ordinary business of
life, such a race and such an individual are lacking in self-control,
lacking in some of the fundamentals of civilization....
"If you take advantage of all these opportunities, if your minds are
so disposed that you can welcome and make the most of these
advantages, these habits of order and system will soon be so fixed, so
ingrained, so thoroughly a part of you that you will no longer
tolerate disorder anywhere, that you will not be willing to endure the
old slovenly habits which so many of you brought with you when you
came here."
And later, in speaking of the haphazard, slipshod, irregular meal, he
said: "Instead of bringing the family together it has put them wider
apart. A house in which the family table is a mere lunch-counter is
not and cannot be a home."
And just before concluding this talk he said: "Now what is true of
this school is true of the world at large. This is a little world of
itself. It is a small sample of civilization, an experiment station,
so to speak, in which we are trying to prepare you to live in a manner
a little more orderly, a little more efficient, and a little more
civilized than you have lived heretofore. If you are not able to live
and succeed here, you will not be able to live and succeed in the
world outside. If we do not want you here, if we cannot get on with
you here, it will mean that the world outside will not want you, will
not be able to get on with you."
Probably no educator ever kept more constantly before his own mind and
before the minds of his students and teachers that the purpose of
education is preparation for right living than did Booker Washington.
Everything that did not make for this end he eliminated, regardless of
customs and traditions, everything which did make for this end he
included, equally regardless of customs and traditions.
In a talk called, "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother," the second of
this series, he made this rather touching statement: "Many of your
parents are poor. Not only that, but many of them are ignorant, at
least, so far as books are concerned. Notwithstanding all this, in
every case they have done something for you. It may have been, in many
cases I know that it has been, a very little, but out of their poverty
and out of their ignorance they have done something. They have made it
possible, in the majority of cases, for you to come here, and no
matter how poor they are, no matter how ignorant they are, their
ambition is largely centred in you."
This is one of the many statements which show that Booker Washington
had no illusions as to the ignorance and poverty of the rank and file
of his people, and yet with this full knowledge and realization he
never became discouraged.
In another of these talks, on "The Importance of Simplicity," he said:
"In many cases young men in cities do not own anything in the world
except what they are carrying around on their backs. They have a few
collars and a few cuffs, some bright-colored socks and neckties, and
that is all; nothing would be left of the man if you were to bury
these things. A few collars and cuffs, neckties, and a few pieces of
cheap jewelry--that is all there is of such men."
Later in the same talk he said: "Short, simple, direct sentences
indicate education, indicate culture, indicate common sense. Some
people think the way for them to show their education is by using big
words, elaborate sentences, and by discussing subjects which nobody on
earth can understand.
"Whenever you hear a man using words or talking on a subject that you
can't understand, you can be very sure that the man does not
understand himself what he is trying to talk about. If a man is
talking about any subject, literary or what not, of which he is really
master, he will be so direct, so simple, so perfectly clear and
intelligible in the discussion of that subject that the most humble
person can understand what he is saying."
In a talk on "Being Polite," he said: "It is often difficult, I might
better say, it is always difficult, for persons to have genuine
politeness in their hearts when they live in a country that is
inhabited by different races. Here in the South, and throughout this
country, for that matter, we come into contact with persons of another
race, persons of another color. It takes some effort, some training,
and often some determination to say, in dealing with a person of
another race, of another color, I will be polite; I will be kind; I
will be considerate."
In a talk on "Being Economical," he said: "You will help yourself and
help this school if you will say to yourself constantly: 'This is my
home; this property does not belong exclusively to the Trustees, but
it is mine; I am a trustee, every student is a trustee of this
institution. How can I make every dollar go as far as possible? How
can I help cut down expenses here?'" And later on, "I want you to get
into the habit of saying: 'This institution belongs to me, belongs to
my race; every dollar that is spent here is spent for my benefit and
for the benefit of my race; every cent that is wasted here is my loss
and the loss of all the generations that come after me.'"
In a talk on "The Use of Time," he said: "You hear people speaking
sometimes about 'killing time.' No civilized man should be allowed to
kill time any more than he should be allowed to destroy any of the
other natural resources. When you find a man engaged in 'killing time'
you will find a man who is disobeying one of the most fundamental laws
of civilization. A man who habitually devotes himself to 'killing
time' is a dangerous citizen and the law against vagrancy is aimed
against him."
In a talk on "Being All Right, But," he said: "You frequently hear it
said of certain persons in one connection or another that 'they are
all right, except,' or 'they are all right, but.' You are thinking,
perhaps, of employing some one for this or that important service and
among others the question is asked: 'What kind of disposition has this
one or that one?' Very often you receive an answer something like
this: 'They are all right, but----' That 'but' carries with it a lot
of things. There are too many people in the world who are 'all right,
but.' We want to get rid of just as many of these 'buts' as we can."
And in concluding the same talk he said: "Think big thoughts, think
about big questions, read big books, and, most of all, get into
contact with the big people of your acquaintance and get out from
under the control of the little people of your acquaintance. If you
will do this, gradually you will find yourself better fitted for life;
you will find yourself happier and better fitted to render
service...."
In a talk on "The Power of Persistence," he said: "Always keep your
eye on the student who seems to be dull, who is slow in his studies,
who has to repeat his class, but who keeps plodding along doggedly,
determinedly, until he has finished the course of study.
"Keep your eye on that student after he has gone out into the world.
He has learned to endure, he has learned to stick to his job in season
and out of season...."
In a talk on "Standing Still," he said: "People say of us that, as a
race, we are not capable of going very far, not capable of making
steady, persistent progress. We go a little way and there we stop,
stand still, and stagnate.... Now one of the things which this school
aims to do for you and through you is to change, as far as possible,
the reputation of our people in so far as they are regarded as
unprogressive, lacking in initiative and in ability to go forward
unwaveringly."
The concluding talk of this series, and perhaps the strongest of them
all, was entitled, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." In it he said: "I believe
if you could get down into the deep, dark corners of your own hearts,
and if you could get deep down into the hearts of your parents, you
could find there, in both cases, a misgiving, a sense of danger, never
clearly expressed but always present, a fear that some time,
somewhere, trouble was in store for you and for them.
"This is so far true, in some cases of which I know, that if parents
should some day learn that their children were in trouble they would
not be surprised, because they have expected it, looked forward to it,
and feared it; because they have known and suspected all along that
you had never thoroughly learned to control yourself when dealing with
other people's property...."
Later on he added: "This disposition to pilfer was, to a large extent,
a part of the history of slavery. It was rare when colored people who
belonged to a white family where they served as cooks, butlers, or in
some other form of household service, did not feel that everything
belonging to the white family belonged equally to them. Thus, when
freedom came, it was difficult to get the colored cook to feel that
she was a mere employee, that in the wages she received by the week or
month she was being paid for her services for cooking. It was very
hard to get her away from the customs and practises of slavery,
especially when receiving very small wages.
"In many cases boys and girls have seen or have known that their
mothers kept up this practice of pilfering from persons for whom they
cooked. They have seen it going on day after day and year after year
in their own homes and have observed that employers seem to expect it,
wink at it, at any rate, put up with it. While they know, as their
parents know, that it is wrong, they have nevertheless come to feel
that it is one of the ways in which black folk and white folk get on
together; one of the indirect ways, in other words, in which black
people have learned to recompense themselves for disadvantages which
they suffer in other directions."
In conclusion he said: "Each one of you can do something toward
solving the race problem, for example, by making, each for himself, a
reputation for honesty in the community in which you live. If in the
part of the country where you now live members of our race have a
reputation for carelessness, looseness in regard to the ownership of
property, you can help to solve the race problem, and make life here
in the South more comfortable for every other member of the race if
you will win for yourself a reputation for downright honesty and
integrity in all your dealings with your neighbors, whether they be
white or black."
Mr. Washington once said, "In all my teaching I have watched carefully
the influence of the toothbrush, and I am convinced that there are few
single agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching." He made
periodic tours of the students' rooms to find out what students if any
were without toothbrushes. The possession and use of a toothbrush is
one of the entrance requirements for Tuskegee. In this connection he
used to tell with a chuckle the reply of the girl who in answer to his
question as to whose toothbrush he found on the washstand said, "That
is ours," referring to her roommate and herself.
In his tours of inspection of the students' rooms he would also
inquire how many nightgowns they owned. He insisted that every student
should have at least two nightgowns. He was constantly impressing upon
the students that decent, respectable people do not sleep in the
garments in which they work during the day. In fact, he preached the
gospel of the nightgown and the toothbrush as insistently as he did
the gospel of work and simplicity.
He constantly insisted that the welfare of the students should be at
all times the dominant consideration in the conduct of the
institution. When the teachers would sometimes complain that their
welfare was not sufficiently considered he would remind them that the
Institute was being conducted for the benefit of the students and
that teachers were not required except for the benefit of the
students. That the students should be happy was almost a mania with
him. He was constantly sending for officers and teachers to inquire as
to whether the students seemed happy.
[Illustration: The cosmopolitan character of the Tuskegee student body
is shown by the fact that during the past year students have come from
the foreign countries or colonies of foreign countries indicated by
the various flags shown in this picture.]
To the delight of the students he would occasionally call a
mass-meeting where he would call upon them one by one to get up and
tell him of anything that was wrong, of anything that was keeping them
from being as happy as he wanted them to be. It was understood that
everything that a student said in such a meeting would be regarded as
a confidence and that nothing that he said would be used against him.
The teachers sometimes protested against the unbridled criticism which
Mr. Washington permitted in these meetings. He, however, continued
them without modification, and while many of the students' complaints
were grossly exaggerated their statements nevertheless led to reforms
in some important particulars. The meetings undoubtedly added greatly
to the contentment and happiness of the student body.
He was always trying to protect the poorer students against the danger
of being embarrassed or humiliated by the more fortunate ones. In this
connection he was constantly resisting the importunities of students
and teachers who wanted to charge admission fees to this or that game
or entertainment. When the occasion really demanded and justified an
admission fee he would make secret arrangements with the management to
have the poorer students admitted at his personal expense.
His willingness to hear the students' grievances was a characteristic
not always appreciated by the officers and teachers. He was a firm
believer in the right of petition either for a group or an individual.
No matter how pressed and driven he was with business no student or
group of students, and no teacher or group of teachers, was too humble
or obscure in the school's life to win a personal hearing. He would
without hesitation reopen and painstakingly review a case, already
decided by the Executive Council, if he thought there was the
slightest chance that an injustice had been done. He insisted upon
giving the accused not only "a square deal," but the benefit of every
doubt. On the other hand, when there was no reasonable doubt of guilt
no one could be more stern and unrelenting than he in meting out
justice.
Mr. Washington always encouraged and helped every ambitious student
who came to Tuskegee to develop his capacities to the utmost no matter
whether they were large or small. Years ago a student, William Sidney
Pittman, showed a particular aptitude for carpentry and draftsmanship.
After working his way through Tuskegee he was very anxious to take a
course in architecture. Mr. Washington arranged to have the Institute
advance him the money for a three years' course at the Drexel
Institute of Philadelphia, on the understanding that he would return
to Tuskegee as a teacher after his graduation and from his earnings
pay back to the school all that had been advanced for his training at
Drexel. Pittman's record at Drexel was wholly satisfactory. He
returned to Tuskegee and repaid his loan in accordance with the
agreement. He has since won the competitive award for the design of
the Negro Building at the Jamestown Exposition, has built a large
number of public and semi-public buildings throughout the South,
including the Carnegie Library at Houston, Texas; a Pythian Temple at
Dallas, Texas, where he lives, for the Negro members of the Knights of
Pythias; the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Building at Tuskegee, and a
number of Young Men's Christian Association buildings for colored men.
In 1907 he married Mr. Washington's only daughter, Portia Marshall
Washington, after her graduation from Bradford Academy, Massachusetts.
He is now generally regarded as the foremost architect of his race.
Somewhat later Mr. Washington succeeded in securing some scholarships
which enabled promising Tuskegee graduates to take two years of
post-graduate work in teaching methods at the Teachers' College of
Columbia University. These scholarships were given by John Crosby
Brown, V. Everett Macy, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In each case
these students were required to return to Tuskegee as teachers for two
years--the same time as their course at Columbia. Dean Russell of the
Teachers' College has testified to the earnestness and high character
of these Tuskegee graduates.
As measured by the Tuskegee standard of success, which is service to
others, perhaps the most successful of all Tuskegee's graduates is
William H. Holtzclaw, the Principal of the Utica Normal and Industrial
Institute of Mississippi. There is no school that has better emulated
the best there is in Tuskegee Institute, and there is no graduate of
Tuskegee that has followed more faithfully and effectively in Booker
Washington's footsteps. Holtzclaw has told his own story in an
admirably written and most interesting book entitled, "The Black Man's
Burden." Starting in 1903 with a capital of seventy-five cents, no
land and no buildings in a little one-room, ramshackle log cabin,
which he did not own and in which he and his wife lived as well as
taught, Holtzclaw now has an annual enrollment of nearly five hundred
students and a faculty of thirty teachers. The school through its
varied forms of extension work influences yearly about thirty thousand
people. It owns seventeen hundred acres of land and conducts twenty
different industries aside from its academic work. The buildings and
property are valued at one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. It has
also its own electric light plant and water-works and an endowment of
over thirty-two thousand dollars. In concluding his book Mr. Holtzclaw
says: "I see more clearly than ever before the great task that is
before me, and I propose to continue the struggle. It is an appalling
task: a State with more than a million Negroes to be educated, with
half a million children of school age, 35 per cent. of whom at the
present time attend no school at all (only 36 per cent. in average
attendance), a State whose dual school system makes it impossible to
furnish more than a mere pittance for the education of each child--yet
these children must be educated, must be unfettered, set free. That
freedom for which Christian men and women, North and South, have
worked and prayed so long must be realized in the lives of these young
people. This, then, is my task, the war that I must wage; and I
propose to stay on the firing-line and fight the good fight of faith."
Another Tuskegee graduate in whom Mr. Washington was especially
interested is Isaac Fisher. Fisher has been awarded the following
prizes for his writings:
"What We've Learned About the Rum Question," $500; "German and
American Methods of Regulating Trusts," $400 (in order to write this
paper Mr. Fisher had to acquire a reading knowledge of German which he
did alone and unaided in a few months' time); "Ten of the Best Reasons
Why People Should Live in Missouri," $100; "A Plan to Give the South a
System of Highways Suited to Its Needs," $100; "The Most Practicable
Method of Beginning a Tariff Reduction," honorable mention. (Upon the
request of the chief examiner of the United States Tariff Board this
essay was sent to that body for its use.) Besides these, Mr. Fisher
has taken several minor prizes for compositions on various subjects.
It would be difficult to say, however, whether Booker Washington
showed greater interest in the most brilliant or the most backward
students. Certain it is that the most backward students won his
special attention and encouragement.
In the early days of the school there was a student by the name of
Jailous Perdue whom Mr. Washington constantly encouraged and in whom
he never lost faith in spite of his almost total failure to master his
classroom work. Monroe N. Work, the statistician of the Institute and
the editor of "The Negro Year Book," under the title "The Man Who
Failed," has thus told Perdue's story: