I found that about half of the class did not know just what
was to be found out from the measurements. If Mr. Smith will
go to the new Laundry Building, in case he has not done so,
he will find an opportunity to teach the same lessons in
connection with a real building. I hope you will make this
suggestion to him. Nothing takes the place of reality
wherever we can get something real.
[Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal.
Previous to this he had written Mr. Lee the following letter relative
to the general problem of the teaching efficiency in his department:
_November 24, 1914._
_Mr. Lee, Director Academic Department:_
When you return, I want to urge that you give careful but
serious attention to the following suggestions:
First, I am convinced that we must arrange to give more
systematic and constant attention to the individual teachers
in your department in the way of seeing that they follow
your wishes and policy regarding the dovetailing of the
academic work into the industrial work.
I am quite convinced that the matter is taken up in rather a
spasmodic way; that is, so long as you are on hand and can
give the matter personal attention, it is followed, but when
you cease to give personal attention to it or are away,
matters go back to the old rut, or nearly so.
In some way we must all get together and help you to
organize your department so that this will not be true.
There are two elements of weakness in the academic work:
First, I very much fear that we take into it every year too
many green teachers, who know nothing about your methods.
This pulls the whole tone of the academic work down before
you can train them into your methods. I am quite sure that
though you might not get teachers who have had so much book
training, that it would be worth your considering to employ
a larger number of Hampton graduates or Tuskegee graduates,
who have had in a measure the methods which you believe in
instilled into them.
In my opinion, the time has come when you must consider
seriously the getting rid of, or shifting, some of your
older teachers. You have teachers in your department who
have been here a good many years, and experience proves that
they do not adapt themselves readily and systematically to
your methods. I think it would be far better for the school
to find employment for them outside of the Academic
Department, or to let them take some clerical work in your
department, than for them to occupy positions of importance
and influence, which they are not filling satisfactorily and
where they have an influence in hurting the character of the
whole teaching.
All these matters I hope you will consider very carefully.
I am sure that the time has come when definite and serious
action is needed.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal.
First and last on these apparently aimless strolls with a stenographer
he visited not only the classrooms and shops but every corner of the
great institution. He would return to his office with a notebook full
of memoranda of matters to be followed up or changed, and of people to
be commended or censured for their efficient or inefficient handling
of this, that, or the other piece of work. Once after writing a series
of letters calling attention to ragged tablecloths, unclean napkins,
and uncleanliness in other forms in kitchens, bakery, and dining-rooms
without the desired result, he personally took charge of the
situation, organized a squad of workers, put things in proper
condition, and then insisted that they be kept in such condition.
His passion to utilize every fraction of time to its maximum advantage
led him even to smuggle a stenographer into the formal annual
exercises of the Bible Training School so that he might during the
exercises clandestinely dictate notes for the head of the Bible school
as to those features in which the program was weak, failed "to get
across," did not hold the interest of the people, seemed to be over
their heads, or whatever might be his diagnosis of the difficulty. He
was not interested in the program for and of itself, but was keenly
interested in its effect upon the people. If it interested and helped
them, it was a good program; if it did not, it was a poor program and
no amount of learning or technical perfection could redeem it. He
sometimes reduced his more scholarly teachers to the verge of despair
by his insistence that there should be nothing on the program at any
exercise to which the public was invited which the every-day man and
woman could not understand and appreciate.
In opening the chapter we mentioned Booker Washington's faculty for
giving attention to apparently trivial details without losing sight of
his large policies and purposes. This was part of his habit of taking
nothing for granted. He never assumed that people would do or had done
what they should do or should have done any more than he assumed they
would not or had not done what they should. He neither trusted nor
distrusted them. He kept himself constantly informed. Every person
employed by the institution from the most important department heads
down to the men who removed ashes and garbage were under the
stimulating apprehension that his eye might be upon them at any
moment. He harassed his subordinates by continually asking them if
this or that matter had been attended to. He would sometimes ask three
different people to do the same thing. This resulted in wasted effort
on somebody's part, but it always accomplished the result, which was
all that interested him. He took nothing for granted himself and he
insisted that his subordinates take nothing for granted. He was a task
master and a "driver" but he taxed himself more heavily and drove
himself harder than he did any one else. Like other strong men, he had
the weaknesses of his strength, and probably his most serious
weakness was driving himself and his subordinates beyond his and their
strength.
His eye was daily upon every part of the great machine which he had
built up through an exhaustive system of daily reports. These reports
were placed on his desk each morning when at the Institute and mailed
to him each morning when away. They showed him the number of students
in the hospital with the name, diagnosis, and progress of each case.
From the poultry yard came reports giving the number of eggs in the
incubators, the number hatched since the day before, the number of
chickens which had died, the number of eggs and chickens sold, etc.
Similarly daily reports came from the swine herd, the dairy herd, and
all the other groups of live stock.
He received also each morning a report from the savings department
giving the number of new depositors, the amounts of money deposited
and withdrawn, and the condition of the bank at the close of the
previous day. There was, too, a list of the requisitions approved by
the Business Committee the previous day giving articles, prices,
divisions, or departments in which each was to be used and totals for
different classes of requisitions.
[Illustration: Mr. Washington was a great believer in the sweet
potato. He personally supervised the work of preparing for sweet
potato planting.]
The Boarding Department head would report just what had been served
the students at the three meals of the day before. In running over
these menus he would give a contemptuous snort if he came upon any
instance of what he called "feeding the students out of the barrel."
By this he meant buying food which could as well or better have been
raised on the Institute farms. He objected to this practice not
only because it was more expensive, but because it eliminated the work
of raising, preparing, and serving the foods which he regarded as a
valuable exercise in civilization. He also insisted that everything
raised on the farms should in one way or another be used by the
students. Besides serving to the students every variety of Southern
vegetable from the Institute's extensive truck gardens, he always
insisted that their own corn be ground into meal and that they make
their own preserves out of their own peaches, blackberries, and other
fruits. In other words, he made the community feed itself just as far
as possible. And this he did quite as much because of the knowledge of
the processes of right living which it imparted as for the money which
it saved.
The Treasurer also submitted a daily report of contributions and other
receipts of the previous day with the name and address of each
contributor. Mr. Washington arranged to receive and look over these
daily reports even when travelling. Hence, in a sense, he was never
absent. Only very rarely and under most unusual circumstances did he
cut this means of daily contact with the multifold activities of the
institution.
Although a task master, a driver, and a relentless critic, he was just
in his dealings with his subordinates and his students, very
appreciative of kindness or thoughtfulness, and generous in his
approbation of tasks well done. Three of the younger children of
officers of the school, while out walking with one of their teachers,
discovered a fire in the woods near the Institute one day. After
notifying the men working nearby, the children hurried home and wrote
Mr. Washington a letter telling him about the fire. They had heard him
warn people against the danger of forest fires and of the great harm
they did. This letter the three children excitedly took to the
Principal's home themselves, as it was on Sunday. He was not in, but
the first letter he dictated on arriving at his office the next
morning was this:
_March 24, 1915._
_Miss Beatrice Taylor, Miss Louise Logan, Miss Lenora
Scott:_
I have received your kind and thoughtful letter of yesterday
regarding the forest fire and am very grateful to you for
the information which it contains. It is very kind and
thoughtful of you to write me. I shall pass your letter to
Mr. Bridgeforth, the Head of the Department, and ask him to
look after the matter.
[Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal.
In the fall of the same year he addressed this letter of appreciation
to Mr. Bridgeforth, director of the Agricultural Department, mentioned
in the note of the children:
_Principal's Office,_
_Tuskegee Institute, Alabama_
_October 4, 1915._
_Mr. G.R. Bridgeforth, Director of Agricultural Department:_
I have been spending a considerable portion of each day in
inspecting the farm, and I want to congratulate you and all
of your assistants on account of the fine sweet potato crop
which has been produced. It is certainly the finest crop
produced in the history of the school.
You deserve equal commendation, especially in view of the
season you have had to contend with, in connection with the
fine hay crop, the pea crop, and the peanut crop.
I wish you would let the members of your force know how I
feel regarding their work.
I believe if the farm goes on under present conditions, that
at the end of the year it will very much please the Trustees
to note the results accomplished especially so far as the
Budget is concerned.
[Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal.
His quick mind and his keen sense of humor would sometimes lead him to
make fun in a kindly way of his slower colleagues. The members of the
Executive Council and the Faculty sometimes felt he treated them
rather too much as if he were the teacher and they the pupils. His
frequent humorous sallies and stories exasperated some of the more
serious-minded members of his staff very much as Lincoln's sallies and
stories exasperated some of the members of his Cabinet, particularly
Secretary Stanton. This sense of humor was undoubtedly with Booker
Washington as with Abraham Lincoln one of the great safety valves
without which he could not have carried his heavy burden as long as he
did.
Among other things he always insisted that the human element be put
into the work of the institution and kept in it. He would reprimand a
subordinate just as sharply for failure to be human as for a specific
neglect of duty. He was particularly insistent that all letters to the
parents of the students should be intimate and friendly rather than
formal and stereotyped. He believed that nothing would more quickly or
more surely kill the effectiveness of the school than the application
of cut-and-dried theories and formulas to the handling of the students
and their problems. He never lost sight of the fact that the most
perfect educational machine becomes worthless if the soul goes out of
it.
On his return from trips he would write a personal letter about their
boy or girl to each parent whom he had met while away. After he had
addressed a meeting and was shaking hands with those who came forward
to meet him a man would say, as one once did, with embarrassed pride,
"I 'spec you know my boy--he's down to your school. He's a tall, black
boy an' wears a derby hat." When Mr. Washington got back to Tuskegee
he sent for "the tall, black boy" with the derby hat and wrote his
proud father all about him.
On his return from journeys he would write individual letters not only
to the parents of students and to his hosts and hostesses, but to each
and every person who had tried in any way to contribute to the
pleasure and success of his trip. On returning from the State
educational tours which we have described he would write personal
letters of thanks and appreciation not only to every member of the
general committee on arrangements which had managed his tour
throughout the State, but also to every member of the local committees
for the various towns and cities which he visited. He would also write
such a letter to the Governor or Mayor or whatever public official or
prominent citizen had introduced him. Usually on these tours school
children, or a group of women representing a local colored women's
club, would present him with flowers. He would in such cases insist
that the name of each child or each woman in the group be secured so
that he might on his return write to each one a personal letter of
thanks. Many such letters are now among the treasured possessions of
humble Negro homes throughout the country.
Recognizing that Tuskegee's chief claim to support from the public
must be found in the achievements of her graduates he built up the
Division of Records and Research to keep in constant touch with the
graduates and gather information about them and their work. By this
means he could find out in detail at a moment's notice what most of
the graduates were doing and in terms of statistics what all were
doing. Eighteen to twenty of them are building up or conducting
schools on the model of Tuskegee Institute in parts of the South where
they are most needed. With these he naturally sought to keep in
particularly close touch.
With funds provided for the purpose by one of the Tuskegee Trustees,
committees of Tuskegee officers and teachers are sent from time to
time to visit these schools established by Tuskegee graduates. They
act as friendly inspectors and advisers. The following is the plan of
report drafted for the guidance of these committees:
OBSERVATIONS
1. Physical.
(a) Cleanliness of premises.
(b) Keeping up repairs.
2. Teaching.
(a) Methods of instruction.
(b) Books used, etc., that is, are they up to date.
(c) To what extent correlation is being carried out.
(d) Visiting teachers might give some definite
demonstrations in methods, etc.
(e) Special meetings with the faculty should be held.
3. Financial.
(a) To what extent does the school keep up with its
accounts so that its receipts and expenditures
can be easily ascertained?
4. Community work.
(a) Extension activities carried on by the school,
(b) The efficiency of these activities.
5. Attendance.
(a) Number of students enrolled on date of visit.
(b) Number in attendance on date of visit.
(c) What efforts are being made to get the students
to enter at the beginning of the term and remain
throughout the year?
SUGGESTIONS
1. Before concluding its visit the committee should make, to
proper persons in the school, suggestions concerning the
improving of the teaching and of other things as may be
necessary.
2. If committee makes a second visit, see to what extent the
suggestions of the previous visit have been carried out.
REPORT
After each visit a written report by the committee covering
all of the above shall be sent to Principal Washington.
To all the graduates of the Institute Mr. Washington sent a circular
letter on the first of each year in which frequently he told them of
the progress that had been made by the school during the year in
improvements, number of students enrolled, etc., and asked them in
turn to answer a list of questions about their life and work, or
sometimes in such letters he merely wished them success and gave them
some practical advice. The 1913 letter which follows is an example of
the latter:
_Tuskegee Institute, Alabama,_
_January 1, 1913._
_Dear Mr. (or Miss) Blank:_
I take this opportunity to send you greetings, to inquire
how you are getting along, and to express the hope that in
every way you are prospering. If, however, you are having
discouragements, I trust that you are meeting them bravely.
If you have difficulties, or are laboring under
disadvantages, use them as stepping-stones to success.
I again call your attention to the importance of keeping in
touch with the Institute. Keeping your address on file with
us and sending a report of your work will assist in doing
this. I enclose herewith a blank for that purpose. Visits to
the school should also be made from time to time. You should
begin to prepare now to be here during the coming
commencement exercises in May in order that you may see what
is being done at the institution and to meet your former
classmates. Already the officers of the General Alumni
Association have begun preparations for your welcome.
I urge upon you the importance of keeping up the habit of
study and of reading good books and papers. The accompanying
circular on "How to Buy Books" gives valuable suggestions
about how to secure the best books cheaply. I take this
occasion to inform you that already we are making
preparations for our 1913 Summer School. It is hoped that
every graduate who is teaching will attend this or some
other good summer school.
I trust that wherever you are located you will do all that
you can for community uplift. Be active in church and
Sunday-school work, help to improve the public schools,
assist in bettering health conditions, help the people to
secure property, to buy homes and to improve them. In doing
all these things, you will be carrying out the Tuskegee
idea.
Very truly yours,
[Signed] BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal.
The questions were slightly varied from year to year. The following
were those sent out with the 1915 letter--the last to bear the
signature of the Institute's founder.
Please favor me by answering these questions and returning
the blank as soon as you receive it.
1. Your full name when at Tuskegee?
2. What year were you graduated from Tuskegee?
3. Your present home address?
4. If you are not at home, your temporary address for the
winter of 1915-1916?
5. If you have married, your wife's name before marriage?
Was she ever a student at Tuskegee?
Is she living?
6. Your present occupation? If in educational work, give
your position in the school.
7. How long have you followed it?
8. What are your average wages or earnings per day, week, or
month?
9. What other occupation have you?
10. Average wages per day, week, or month at this
occupation?
11. Kind and amount of property owned?
12. Tell us something of the work you are doing this year.
(We will also be pleased to receive testimonials from
white and colored persons concerning your work).
13. We especially wish to get in touch this year with as
many of our former students as possible. Please give
present addresses and occupations of all of these that
you can.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal.
_Tuskegee Institute, Alabama._
[Illustration: Mr. Washington had this picture especially posed to
show off to the best advantage a part of the Tuskegee dairy herd.]
As previously mentioned the relationship between Mr. Washington and
his Trustees was at all times particularly friendly and harmonious.
While they were always directors who directed instead of mere
figureheads, they nevertheless were broad enough and wise enough to
give the Principal a very free rein. Preëminent among the able and
devoted Trustees of Tuskegee was the late William H. Baldwin, Jr. In
order to commemorate his life and work the William H. Baldwin, Jr.,
Memorial Fund of $150,000 was raised by a committee of distinguished
men, with Oswald Garrison Villard of the New York _Evening Post_ as
chairman, among whom were Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, and
Charles W. Eliot, and placed at the disposal of the Tuskegee Trustees.
A bronze memorial tablet in memory of Mr. Baldwin was at the same time
placed on the Institute grounds. At the ceremony at which this tablet
was unveiled and this fund presented to the Trustees, Mr. Washington
said in part, in speaking of his relations with Mr. Baldwin and Mr.
Baldwin's relations to Tuskegee:
"Only those who are close to the business structure of the institution
could really understand what the coming into our work of a man like
William H. Baldwin meant to all of us. In the first place, it meant
the bringing into our work a certain degree of order, a certain
system, so far as the business side of the institution was concerned,
that had not hitherto existed. Then the coming of him into our
institution meant the bringing of new faith, meant the bringing of new
friends. I shall never forget my first impression. I shall never
forget my first experience in meeting Mr. Baldwin. At that time he was
the General Manager and one of the Vice-Presidents of the Southern
Railway, located then in its headquarters in the city of Washington. I
remember that, a number of days previous, I had gone to the city of
Boston and had asked his father if he would not give me a line of
introduction to his son, about whom I had already heard in Washington.
Mr. Baldwin's father readily gave me a line of introduction and I went
in a few days after that and sought out Mr. Baldwin in his Washington
office and he looked through this letter of introduction, read it
carefully, then he looked me over, up and down, and I asked him if he
would not become a trustee of this institution. After looking me over,
looking me up and down for a few seconds or a few minutes longer, he
said, 'No, I cannot become a trustee; I will not say I will become a
trustee because when I give my word to become a trustee it must mean
something.' He said, 'I will study the institution at Tuskegee, I
will go there and look it over and after I have found out what your
methods are, what you are driving at--if your methods and objects
commend themselves to me, then I will consent to become a trustee.'
And I remember how well--some of the older teachers and perhaps some
of the older students will recall--that upon one day, when we were
least expecting it, he stopped his private car off here at Chehaw and
appeared here upon our grounds, and some of us will recall how he went
into every department of the institution, how he went into the
classrooms, how he went through the shops, how he went through the
farm, how he went through the dining-room; I remember how he went to
each table, and took pieces of bread from the table and broke them and
examined the bread to see how well it was cooked, and even tasted some
of it as he went into the kitchen. He wanted to be sure how we were
doing things here at Tuskegee. Then after he had made this visit of
examination for himself, after he had studied our financial condition,
then after a number of months had passed by, he consented to permit us
to use his name as one of our Trustees, and from the beginning to the
end we never had such a trustee. He was one who devoted himself night
and day, winter and summer, in season and out of season, to the
interests of this institution. Now, having spoken this word, you can
understand the thoughts and the feelings of some of us on this
occasion as we think of the services of this great and good man.