CONTINUED PROGRESS--POPULARITY AS A SPEAKER
While the now great institution at Tuskegee continued to grow and to
increase in popularity both with the North and the South, there seemed
to be no reason for departure in any measure from the course marked out
by General Armstrong. The number as well as the need of the negroes was
so great that preparatory classes, similar to those which had succeeded
so well at Hampton, were arranged for, and candidates eagerly came
forward for admission--young people whose mettle was sufficiently well
tested by their having to get through a long, hard day's work before
they could enjoy the privilege and luxury of some hours of teaching in
the night school. This kind of service has grown, and at the present
time there are probably not far short of 500 pupils in its classes. Of
course many advance from this stage to get admitted to the day school of
the Institute.
All along Booker Washington has been subjected to the temptation to
excel in public speaking, but he has indulged in this only so far as the
practice would advance his work. He began to make his mark when he gave
an address before the Educational Association at Madison, the capital of
Wisconsin, and the seat of a university. Whenever he spoke the founder
of Tuskegee Institute was recognised as a gifted, natural orator; and
his most famous address, and one which was destined to have most
far-reaching consequences, while it added to the popularity of the man
and his work, was one which he gave in the autumn of 1895 at a Cotton
States Exhibition, which was also to some extent international.
This great show was held at Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, a great
railway centre, and a place of much trade and manufacture. It has also a
university for coloured students. The crowded assembly on such an
occasion was largely representative of the most influential people among
the whites both in the North and the South, as well as those of the
negro race. It was an exciting time, and quidnuncs of all parties were
eagerly anticipating what the dark-skinned professor would say. Of
course the note he struck was one which tended to the doing away of
racial differences. All along Booker Washington has been honest in his
convictions and in his manner of giving utterance to them. Where wrong
is seen to exist he is brave enough to speak of it. He has even been so
honestly outspoken in regard to the shortcomings of his own people as to
earn their resentment, until it was found that what was said was true,
and was no symptom of want of sympathy. Those who listened to the
address at Atlanta would be impressed with his profound sympathy with
his own coloured race, with the high value he set upon their possible
achievements, and with his passionate representations of the interests
which the white and coloured race had in common, each being thus
dependent on the other. The address was the chief thing which took place
in connection with the Exhibition, and Booker Washington received an
autograph letter from President Cleveland thanking him for having said
what he did. A few passages from _The World's_ account of what actually
occurred may best enable us to realise the scene:--
"While President Cleveland was waiting at Grey Gables to send the
electric spark that started the machinery of the Atlanta Exposition, a
negro Moses stood before a great audience of white people and delivered
an oration that marks a new epoch in the history of the South.... When
Professor Booker T. Washington ... stood on the platform of the
auditorium, with the sun shining over the heads of his auditors into his
eyes, and his whole face lit up with the fire of prophecy, Clark Howell,
the successor of Henry Grady, said to me, 'That man's speech is the
beginning of a moral revolution in America. It is the first time that a
negro has made a speech in the South on any important occasion before an
audience composed of white men and women.' It electrified the audience,
and the response was as if it had come from the throat of a
whirlwind.... All this time the eyes of the thousands present looked
straight at the negro orator. A strange thing was to happen. A black man
was to speak for his people, and with none to interrupt him. As
Professor Washington strode to the edge of the stage, the low,
descending sun shot fiery rays through the windows into his face. A
great shout greeted him. He turned his head to avoid the blinding light,
and moved about the platform for relief. Then he turned his wonderful
countenance without a blink of the eyelids and began to speak. There was
a remarkable figure--tall, bony, straight as a Sioux chief, high
forehead, straight nose, heavy jaws, and strong, determined mouth, with
big, white teeth, piercing eyes and a commanding manner. The sinews
stood out on his bronzed neck, and his muscular right arm swung high in
the air, with a lead pencil grasped in the clenched fist. His big feet
were planted squarely, with the heels together and the toes turned out.
His voice rang out clear and true, and he paused impressively as he made
each point. Within ten minutes the multitude was in an uproar of
enthusiasm--handkerchiefs were waved, canes were flourished, hats were
tossed in the air. The fairest women in Georgia stood up and cheered. It
was as if the orator had bewitched them. And when he held his dusky hand
high above his head, with the fingers stretched wide apart, and said to
the white people of the South on behalf of his race, 'In all things that
are purely social we can be separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand
in all things essential to mutual progress,' the great wave of applause
dashed itself against the walls, and the whole audience was on its feet
in a delirium of applause, and I thought that moment of the night when
Henry Grady stood among the curling wreaths of tobacco smoke in
Delmonico's banquet-hall and said, 'I am a Cavalier among
Roundheads.'... A ragged, ebony giant, squatted on the floor in one of
the aisles, watched the orator with burning eyes and tremulous face
until the supreme hour of applause came, and then the tears ran down
his face. Most of the negroes in the audience were crying, perhaps
without knowing just why."
Another notable occasion occurred in the year of Queen Victoria's
Diamond Jubilee, when Booker Washington spoke at Boston in connection
with the dedication of a monument erected to the memory of Colonel
Robert Gould Shaw--1837-1863--who was killed at Fort Wagner while in
command of the first coloured regiment which had been mustered to serve
with the Northern Army. A Boston paper said:--
"The scene was full of historic beauty and deep significance. Rows and
rows of people who are rarely seen at any public function, whole
families of those who are certain to be out of town on a holiday,
crowded the place to overflowing. The city was at her birthright _fête_
in the persons of hundreds of her best citizens, men and women whose
names and lives stand for the virtues that make for honourable, civic
pride."
Some other similar scenes might be referred to; but in a general way
Booker Washington does not value opportunities for platform service
unless they tend to advance the cause of his great work at Tuskegee. Nor
can this be wondered at when it is found that such service alone
necessitates his being away from home during six months in each year. He
married Miss Davidson, to whose efforts the Institute owed so much in
its early days--in 1885; but this second Mrs Washington died about four
years later, leaving two sons. The third wife of the Principal--married
in 1893--was a Miss Murray, who was trained at Fisk University.
The later developments of the work in its many departments at Tuskegee
can best be realised by reference to certain recent numbers of the
Institute's monthly paper, the _Southern Letter_.
We find that the school post-office is now recognised as part of the
postal system of the country, and is responsible to the Government. A
savings bank has been founded on the grounds to encourage thrift habits
by receiving savings from teachers, students and coloured people living
in the vicinity. This year a kindergarten teacher was to carry on a
class in the new training school buildings. Last year (1901) agriculture
was made a special feature; 4000 peach trees were planted, making a
total of 5000 of this kind on the farm. "The students are not only
taught how to plant and care for these trees, but are taught the
principles of fruit-growing in all respects at the same time." There are
fourteen young women in this division, and, like the others, they divide
their time between the college classes and the farm:--
"They are ranked in their labour as they are in their recitations in the
class-rooms. In the dairy they are not only getting instruction in
theory, but are actually assisting in the care and use of the utensils,
in which 120 gallons of milk are handled, twelve gallons of cream are
ripened, and fifty pounds of butter are made each day. They are also
making a comprehensive study of milk and its constituents, weeds and
their harmful effects upon dairy products, general sanitation of dairy
barns, the drawing of plans, etc. In the poultry division the young
women put theory into practice by having individual responsibilities in
the care of over 300 fowls. In this way they get actual experience in
the sanitation of poultry houses, the care of runs and all the
apparatus used, egg-testing, the use of insecticides, and the prevention
and cure of fowl diseases. The increasing interest in fruit-growing all
over the South makes it easy to interest the young women in
horticulture. The school orchard of 5000 trees makes it possible to lay
great stress on the practical side of fruit growing. Special attention
is given to the quality and quantity of peaches, pears, apples and
plums, figs, grapes and strawberries that can be grown in a home
orchard. In the division of floriculture and landscape gardening a study
of our common-door yards and the laying out and beautifying of same is
required. The young women assist in the care of the school grounds by
helping to trim and shape beds and borders and take care of shrubbery
and flowers. One of the things the young women are very proud of is
their market garden. They have helped to plan, and have done all the
work in it this year (1901) except the ploughing. They have planned,
laid out, prepared and planted their seed beds. They have also planned
and constructed a cold frame-house, doing all the carpentry work
themselves. They are required to keep an itemised account of the
expenses incurred in raising and amounts realised from the sale of all
vegetables. Although the young women have only been in this department
two years, many good reports have come to us from communities where they
have carried their improved ideas of these various lines of agriculture.
To fully understand the need of this work, one must travel through the
country districts and towns of the Southern States."
A Tuskegee negro Conference is held annually, and this year (1902) it
assembled on February 19 and following day. Encouraging news from the
distance is continually coming to hand. Thus, two graduates will be
reported as getting on well in a town of Georgia. Then news comes to
hand (December 1901) that the Tuskegee stall at the Charleston
Exhibition attracted unusual attention. Even the Dark Continent itself
comes in for some share of attention; for "we hear very encouraging
reports from our students who went to West Africa to introduce the
raising of cotton under the auspices of the German Government." We find
Mrs Washington attending the meeting of the Coloured Women's Federation
of Clubs at Vicksburg early in 1902, and no doubt she carried some rays
of sunshine with her. The work, as a whole, is on a religious basis; and
this fact is emphasised by such an announcement as that at Tuskegee "the
Week of Prayer was observed with great profit and interest." It is
important also to learn that the Nurse Training Department at Tuskegee
is attracting more students than ever. It appears that both young men as
well as young women are trained for this service; and a letter from one
of the former, written in March 1902, from a town in Alabama, shows how
former students become pioneers in the great work of uplifting their own
race:--
"I am now at this place, and am Principal of a school which opened
December 9 last year. We have bought and paid for fifteen acres of land,
on which a two-storey building now stands. A part of the glass windows
needed we have been able to put in. We are now preparing to build a
dormitory on our grounds for our students next term. We shall be glad
to have you send anything you can in the way of reading matter. We are
trying to establish a library for the people of this community."
In some instances, as, for example, in Nashville, to which reference has
been made, negroes are becoming prosperous men of business. In his
monthly newspaper for February 1902, Booker Washington gave the picture
of a large house of business owned by a coloured trader, and remarked:--
"While there are not many coloured people perhaps, as yet, who own such
valuable pieces of property in the South, still there are many who are
very fast approaching the point Mr ---- has reached. Mr ---- is not only
a successful business man, having the respect and confidence of both
races in Nashville, but he and his wife are leaders in religious and
charitable work in the city of Nashville, and their home is a constant
resort for those who represent all that is best and purest in the life
of the negro race."
The following extract from a letter to Booker Washington from a white
gentleman in the South (December 16, 1901), shows in what light even
ex-planters themselves and their associates regard the work in
progress:--
"Being more and more impressed with the importance of the favourable
opportunity offered in this community for the educational uplift of your
people, I am again prompted to write you and more fully explain the
situation and the need of help to accomplish this important work. This
community is densely populated with negroes--more than ten to one white
person. The white people are moving to the towns. Thirty white persons
in less than two years--none coming in--and negroes occupying the
premises vacated. The few white people here are anxious to see the negro
educated up to a higher standard of citizenship in morality, thrift and
economy, as well as intellectual advancement. The negro school building
is under way, but they have not the means to finish it, and nothing with
which to furnish it, nor sufficient means to pay the teachers necessary
for the school. I know of no community where the needed funds would be
more appreciated or could possibly do more good for advancing the
negroes' interest along educational lines."
Thus, no one can foresee whereunto the ever-developing work at Tuskegee
may extend. The graduates, who are constantly going forth, become
teachers and leaders among their own people; but, large as it is, the
number trained is still too few.