among the popular people of earth to have strong friends for the
reason that nobody but a strong man will endure the public criticism
that so often comes to one who is the friend of a weak or unpopular
race. This, in the words of another, is one of the advantages enjoyed
sometimes by a disadvantaged race."
Naturally no account of Booker Washington's administration of the
great institution which he built would be complete without some
mention of Mrs. Washington's part in her husband's work. Aside from
her duties as wife, mother, and home maker--duties which any ordinary
woman would find quite exacting enough to absorb all her time,
thought, and strength particularly in view of the fact that a wide
hospitality is part of the rôle--Mrs. Washington, as director of
women's industries, is one of the half-dozen leading executives of the
institution. In addition to her many and varied family and official
duties at the Institute Mrs. Washington has always been a leader in
social service and club work among the women of her race throughout
the country, and has besides all this come to be a kind of mother
confessor, advisor, and guide to hundreds of young men and women. We
will conclude this chapter by quoting in large part an article written
by Mr. Scott and published some years ago in the _Ladies' Home
Journal_, which describes how and when Mrs. Washington entered her
husband's life and work and the part she played in his affairs:
"Even before the war closed there came to the South on the heels of
the army of emancipation an army of school teachers. They came to
perfect with the spelling-book and the reader the work that the
soldiers had begun with the sword. It was during this period in the
little straggling village of Macon, Miss., that a little girl, called
then Margaret Murray, but who is known now as Mrs. Booker T.
Washington, was born. When she grew old enough to count she found
herself one of a family of ten and, like nearly all children of Negro
parentage, at that time, very poor.
"In the grand army of teachers who went South in 1864 and 1865 were
many Quakers. Prevented by the tenets of their religion from entering
the army as soldiers these people were the more eager to do the not
less difficult and often dangerous work of teachers among the freedmen
after the war was over.
"One of the first memories of her childhood is of her father's death.
It was when she was seven years old. The next day she went to the
Quaker school teachers, a brother and sister, Sanders by name, and
never went back home to live.
"Thus at seven she became the arbiter of her own fate. The incident is
interesting in showing thus early a certain individuality and
independence of character which she has exhibited all through her
life. In the breaking or loosening of the family relations after the
death of her father she determined to bestow herself upon her Quaker
neighbors. The secret of it, of course, was that the child was
possessed even then with a passion for knowledge which has never since
deserted her. Rarely does a day pass that Mrs. Washington amid the
cares of her household, of the school, and of the many philanthropic
and social enterprises in which she takes a leading part, does not
devote half or three-quarters of an hour to downright study.
"And so it was that Margaret Murray became at seven a permanent part
of the Quaker household, and became to all intents and purposes, so
far as her habits of thought and religious attitude are concerned,
herself a Quaker.
"'And in those early days,' says Mrs. Washington, laughing, 'I learned
easily and quickly. It was only after I grew up that I began to grow
dull. I used to sit up late at night and get up early in the morning
to study my lessons. I was not always a good child, I am sorry to say,
and sometimes I would hide away under the house in order to read and
study.'...
"When Margaret Murray was fourteen years old the good Quaker teacher
said one day, 'Margaret, would thee like to teach?' That very day the
little girl borrowed a long skirt and went downtown to the office of
Judge Ames, and took her examination. It was not a severe examination.
Judge Ames had known Margaret all her life and he had known her
father, and in those days white people were more lenient with Negro
teachers than they are now. They did not expect so much of them. And
so, the next day, Margaret Murray stepped into the schoolroom where
she had been the day before a pupil and became a teacher....
"Then Margaret heard of the school at Nashville--Fisk University--and
she went there. She had a little money when she started to school, and
with that and what she was able to earn at the school and by teaching
during vacations she managed to work her way as--what was termed
rather contemptuously in those days--a 'half-rater.' It was not the
fashion at that time, in spite of the poverty of the colored people,
for students to work their way through school.
"In those days very little had been heard at Fisk of Tuskegee, of
Hampton, or of Booker T. Washington. Students who expected to be
teachers were looking forward to going to Texas. Texas has always been
more favorable to Negro education than other Southern States and has
always got the best of Negro public school teachers.
"But upon graduation day, June, 1889, Booker T. Washington was at
Fisk, and he sat opposite Margaret Murray at table. About that time it
was arranged that she should go to Texas, but, without knowing just
how it came about, she decided to go to Tuskegee and become what was
then called the Lady Principal of the school. Mrs. Washington has been
at Tuskegee ever since.
"Mrs. Washington's duties as the wife of the Principal of the Tuskegee
Institute are many and various. She has charge of all the industries
for girls. She gives much time to the extension work of the school,
which includes the 'Mothers' meetings' in the town of Tuskegee and the
'plantation settlement' nearby. Her most characteristic trait,
however, is a boundless sympathy which has made her a sort of Mother
Confessor to students and teachers of the Institute. All go to her
for comfort and advice.
"The 'mothers' meetings' grew out of the first Tuskegee Negro
Conference held at Tuskegee in February, 1892. Mrs. Washington, as she
sat in the first meeting of Negro farmers and heard what they had to
say, was impressed with the fact that history was repeating itself.
Here again, as in the early days of the woman's suffrage movement,
women had no place worth mentioning in the important concerns of life
outside the household. While there were many women present at this
first conference, they did not seem to realize that they had any
interest in the practical affairs that were being discussed by their
sons and husbands. While her husband was trying to give these farmers
new ideas, new hopes, new aspirations, the thought came to Mrs.
Washington that the Tuskegee village was the place for her to begin a
work which should eventually include all the women of the county and
of the neighboring counties. The country colored women crowd into the
villages of the South on Saturday, seeking to vary the monotony of
their hard and cheerless lives. Mrs. Washington determined to get hold
of these women and utilize the time spent in town to some good
purpose. Accordingly, the first mothers' meeting was organized in the
upper story of an old store which then stood on the main street of the
village. The stairs were so rickety that the women were almost afraid
to ascend them. It answered the purpose temporarily, however, and
there was no rent to pay. How to get the women to the meeting was,
for a time, a question. For fear of opposition Mrs. Washington took no
one into her confidence except the man who let her have the room. She
sent a small boy through the streets with the instruction to go to
every colored woman loitering about the streets and say: 'There is a
woman upstairs who has something for you.' Mrs. Washington says: 'That
first meeting I can never forget. The women came, and each one, as she
entered, looked at me and seemed to say, 'Where is it?' We talked it
all over, the needs of our women of the country, the best way of
helping each other, and there and then began the first mothers'
meeting which now has in its membership two hundred and twenty-nine
women.'...
"Mrs. Washington asked some of the teachers at Tuskegee to begin to
help these people (the people of the country districts surrounding the
school). At first they went to the plantation (selected for the
purpose) on Sundays only. Mrs. Washington selected what seemed to be
the most promising cabin and asked the woman who lived there if she
could come to that house the next Sunday and hold a meeting. When the
party went down early the next Sunday morning a stout new broom was
taken along. Making the woman a present of the broom, it was suggested
that all take a hand in cleaning the house a little before the people
should begin to come. The woman took the broom and swept half of the
room, when Mrs. Washington volunteered to finish the job.
"She had not gone far along on her half before the woman was saying:
'Oh, Mis' Washington, lemme take de brom an' do mah half ovah.' Mrs.
Washington says: 'I have always thought that that one unconscious
lesson in thoroughness was the foundation of our work on that
plantation.'...
"Not the least of the duties which fall to Mrs. Washington is that of
caring for the distinguished people who visit the Tuskegee Institute.
The Tuskegee rule that everything must be in readiness for the
inspection of visitors, as much so in the kitchen as in any other
department of the school, prevails in her home also.
"An interesting part of this home life is the Sunday morning
breakfast. The teachers have slept later than usual, and, through the
year, when Mr. Washington is at home, they are invited in groups of
three and four to share this morning meal. In this way he keeps in
personal touch with each of his teachers; he knows what they are
doing; he hears their complaints, if they have any; he counsels with
them; they 'get together.'
"Mrs. Washington's labors for the good of her people are not confined
to the school. She is (has been) president of the Southern Federation
of Colored Women's Clubs, editor of the official organ of the National
Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, of which she is also an officer.
She is a frequent contributor to the newspapers and magazines. (Mrs.
Washington has since served two terms as president of the National
Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.)
"Mr. Washington's own estimate of his wife's helpfulness to him may
be gathered from his tribute in his widely read autobiography, 'Up
from Slavery': 'She is completely one with me in the work directly
connected with the school, relieving me of many burdens and
perplexities.'"
CHAPTER TWELVE
WASHINGTON: THE MAN
Just as in the first chapter we sought to show the man in the making,
so in this last chapter we shall seek to picture him as he became in
the full fruition of his life. In the fully developed man of the last
decade of his life we find the same traits and qualities which began
to show themselves in those early years of constant struggle and
frequent privation. There is the same intense mental and physical
activity; the same readiness to fight against any odds in a good
cause; the same modesty, frankness, open-mindedness, and passion for
service.
One of the many illustrations of this intense activity was shown in a
trip he made to Atlanta, Ga., three or four years before he died. Even
at this time his strength had begun to wane. In accordance with his
unfailing practice he got up at six o'clock in the morning, and after
visiting his poultry and his beloved pigs, mounted his horse and rode
over farms and grounds inspecting crops and buildings and what-not
until eight o'clock, when he went to his office and attacked his huge
morning's mail. After dictating for an hour or more he left his office
just in time to catch a train which brought him to Atlanta at two
o'clock in the afternoon. At the station he shook hands with four
hundred people who had gathered to meet him. As he went along the
streets to the Government Building he shook hands with many others who
recognized him in passing. At the Government Building he shook hands
with another large group assembled there to meet him. After the dinner
tendered him by some of the leading individuals and associations among
the Negroes of the city he posed for his photograph with a group of
those at the dinner. He then made a tour of the city by motor, during
which he visited three or four schools for Negroes and at each made a
half-hour speech into which, as always, he threw all the force and
energy there was in him.
After supper that evening he addressed twelve hundred people in the
Auditorium Armory, speaking for an hour and a half. From the armory he
went to a banquet given in his honor where he gave a twenty-minute
talk. He did not get to bed until one o'clock. Four hours later he
took a return train which brought him back to the school by
ten-thirty. He went at once to his office and to work, working until
late in the afternoon when he called for his horse and took his usual
ride before supper. After supper he presided at a meeting of the
Executive Council and after the Council meeting he attended the Chapel
exercises. After these exercises were over at ten o'clock he made an
inspection on foot of various parts of the buildings and grounds
before going to bed. By just such excessive overwork did he constantly
undermine and finally break down his almost superhuman strength and
powers of endurance. This he did with an obstinate persistence in
spite of wise and increasingly urgent warnings from physicians,
friends, and associates. Where his own health was concerned he
obdurately refused to listen to reason. It would almost seem as though
he had deliberately chosen to put forth herculean efforts until he
dropped from sheer exhaustion rather than to work with moderation for
a longer span of life.
Booker Washington was a man who thought, lived, and acted on a very
high plane. He was, in other words, an idealist, but unlike too many
idealists he was sternly practical. His mind worked with the rapidity
of flashes of lightning, particularly when he was aroused. This led
him at times to feel and show impatience in dealing with slower-minded
people, particularly his subordinates. He was often stirred to
righteous indignation by injustice, but always kept his temper under
control. He had a lucid mind which reasoned from cause to effect with
machine-like accuracy. His intuitions were amazingly keen and
accurate. In other words, his subconscious reasoning powers were very
highly developed. Consequently his judgments of men and events were
almost infallible. Although practically devoid of personal vanity, he
was a very proud and independent man, and one who could not brook
dictation from any one or bear to be under obligation to any one. He
had the tenacity of a bulldog. His capacity for incessant work and his
unswerving pursuit of a purpose once formed, were a constant marvel to
those who surrounded him. While he was without conceit or vanity he
had almost unlimited self-confidence. While it cannot be said that he
overrated his own abilities, neither can it be said that he underrated
them. His sympathies were easily aroused and he was abnormally
sensitive, but he never allowed his emotions to get the better of his
judgment. He forgave easily and always tried to find excuses for
people who wronged, insulted, or injured him. In repartee he could
hold his own with any one and enjoyed nothing more than a duel of wits
either with an individual or an audience.
Less than a month before he died, when he was wasted by disease and
suffering almost constant pain, he received this letter of appeal from
Madame Helena Paderewski:
_New York, October 26, 1915._
MY DEAR MR. WASHINGTON: I am writing you a very personal
letter on a subject that is close to my heart, and I know
the message it carries will find a response in your generous
sympathy. It is with great pleasure that I recall our
meeting, some years ago, and I have watched the success of
your work among your people with sincere satisfaction, for I
have always been an advocate of the principles for which you
stand, the uplift of the colored race.
It is because I know you have ever directed your broad
influence toward the most worthy causes that I am asking you
in the name of the starving babies and their helpless
mothers, to tell your people that we need them in our work
of sending food and medicines to Poland. We need, my dear
sir, even the smallest contribution that your beloved
followers may offer, and I beg of you to make an appeal to
your people. Tell them, for they may not all know as well
as you, yourself, that it was a Pole--Kosciusko--who, in
addition to fighting for American liberty, gave that which
he needed himself to help the colored race. As you will
recall, after refusing the grant of land offered him in
recognition of his services in the War of the Revolution, he
returned to Poland, not wishing to accept a reward for doing
what he considered a sublime duty to those in need. Later,
after eight years, when he again visited America, he was
given a pension as General in the American Army. With the
back pay during his absence, the sum amounted to about
$15,000. Although poor himself, he felt deep compassion for
the neglected colored children and, with the money given
him, he established the first school in America devoted
exclusively to the education of the colored youth.
I am sure you know the story in all its details, but I
desire the colored people of America to know that to-day the
descendants of the man who--unasked--aided them--plead for a
crust of bread, a spoonful of milk for their hungry
children. Tell them this and God will bless and prosper you
in your telling and them in their giving. Do not think that
small amounts are useless--five cents may save a life. I am
sending Mr. Paderewski's appeal, but conditions, to-day, are
worse now than when it was written. Will you help Poland?
Will you do it now?
Please reply to Hotel Gotham.
Yours in work for humanity,
[Signed] HELENA PADEREWSKI.
_Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama._
In spite of disease, pain, and weakness--in spite of the fact that he
must have realized that his remaining time for his own chosen work had
narrowed down to a matter of weeks--he instantly responded to this
appeal. Immediately he sent Madame Paderewski's letter to the Negro
press of the entire country with this explanatory note:
MADAME PADEREWSKI'S APPEAL FOR POLISH VICTIMS
Madame Helena Paderewski, wife of the famous pianist, has
addressed a letter to Dr. Booker T. Washington, of the
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, making an appeal
for the Polish victims of the European War. The letter is
sent to the press with the thought that there may be those
among the Negro people who may feel disposed to respond to
Madame Paderewski's appeal.
An organization known as the Polish Victims' Relief Fund has
been organized, with headquarters in Aeolian Building, 35
West Forty-Second Street, New York City. Madame Paderewski's
letter follows, etc.
Immediately after Mr. Washington's death Mrs. Washington received the
following note from Madame Paderewski:
_New York, November 15, 1916._
_Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama._
MY DEAR MRS. WASHINGTON: It was with a feeling of personal
loss that I read this morning of the death of Dr.
Washington. I have always admired his courage and wonderful
ability, and his passing at this time brings a double
sorrow, for in this morning's mail I received a copy of the
_Tuskegee Student_ containing my letter and appeal to Dr.
Washington. I wish it had been possible for me to have
thanked him for what he has done, but I am sure that the
Heavenly Father will bless this and the many other good
works with which he was connected.
I desire you to know how much I appreciate the kindness of
Dr. Washington and how highly I esteemed him. Please accept
my deep sympathy and believe me,
Very sincerely yours,
[Signed] HELENA PADEREWSKI.
Although apparently indifferent to the treatment he received from
those about him Booker Washington was in reality, as has been said,
unusually sensitive. No matter what his engagements he always insisted
upon being at home with his wife and children on Thanksgiving Day and
on Christmas. One Christmas, about ten years ago, it so happened that
no Christmas presents were provided for him. The children gave
presents to one another and to their mother and she to them, but
through oversight there were no presents for Mr. Washington. Mrs.
Washington says that after the presents had been opened her husband
drew her aside and said in broken tones: "Maggie, they've not given me
a single Christmas present!" From then on Mrs. Washington saw to it
that the children remembered their father at Christmas.
In Birmingham, Ala., about three years before his death, he and his
secretary entered an office building one day to call on one of the
Tuskegee Trustees whose office was on the top floor. When they looked
for an elevator they were referred by the hall man to the elevator for
colored people. On this elevator was a sign reading, "For Negroes and
Freight." His secretary expected him to comment on this, but he said
nothing and seemed hardly to notice it. That evening, in addressing
a great audience of both races in one of the big theatres of the city,
he was urging the Negroes to look upon their Southern white neighbors
as their friends and to turn to them for advice when he said very
slowly and distinctly: "I visited, this morning, a building which had
on the elevator for colored people a sign reading, 'For Negroes and
Freight.' Now, my friends, that is mighty discouraging to the colored
man!" At this not only the colored people, but the white people sprang
to their feet and shouted, many of them, "You're right, Doctor!"
"That's mean!" "That's not fair!" and other such expressions.
[Illustration: Mr. Washington feeding his chickens with green stuffs
raised in his own garden.]
[Illustration: Mr. Washington in his onion patch.]
[Illustration: Mr. Washington sorting in his lettuce bed.]
Every morning before breakfast when at home Mr. Washington would visit
his chickens, pigs, and cows. He said of finding the newly laid eggs:
"I like to find the new eggs each morning myself, and am selfish
enough to permit no one else to do this in my place. As with growing
plants, there is a sense of freshness and newness and restfulness in
connection with the finding and handling of newly laid eggs that is
delightful to me. Both the realization and the anticipation are most
pleasing. I begin the day by seeing how many eggs I can find or how
many little chicks there are that are just beginning to creep through
the shells. I am deeply interested in the different kinds of fowls,
and always grow a number of different breeds at my own home."
But none of the animals interested him and aroused his enthusiasm as
did the pigs. He always kept on his own place some choice specimens of
Berkshires and Poland Chinas at whose shrine he worshipped each
morning. Also he always insisted that the swine herd of the Institute
be kept recruited up to full strength and in fact considerably beyond
full strength in the opinion of the Agricultural Director who in vain
protested that it was not profitable to keep so large a herd. It would
be interesting to know whether the great economic importance of the
pig to his race was at the bottom of Booker Washington's fondness for
the animal.