THE HISTORY OF TUSKEGEE FROM 1884 TO 1894.
From 1884 to 1894, while comparatively little was heard of the school in
the public press, yet that was a period of constant and solid growth. In
1884 the enrollment was 169. In 1894 the enrollment had increased to
712, and 54 officers and teachers were employed. Besides the growth in
the number of students and instructors, there had also been quite an
increase in the number of buildings, and in every way the students were
made more comfortable in their surroundings. By 1893 we had upon the
school grounds 30 buildings of various kinds and sizes, practically all
built by the labor of the students.
Between 1884 and 1894, I think, the hardest work was done in securing
money. Regularly, during this period, we were compelled, on account of
lack of accommodations, to refuse many students, but very often they
would come to us under such circumstances that, though lacking in
accommodations, we could not have the heart to turn them away,
especially after they had traveled long distances, as was true in many
cases. Students seemed willing to put up with almost any kind of
accommodations if they were given a chance to secure an education.
During this period either Miss Davidson or myself, or sometimes both of
us, spent a great deal of time in the North getting funds with which to
meet our ever increasing demands. This, of course, was the hardest and
most trying part of the work. Beginning early in the morning the day was
spent in seeing individuals at their homes or in their offices; and, in
the evening and sometimes during the day, too, addresses were delivered
before churches, Sunday Schools, or other organizations. On many
occasions I have spoken as many as five times at different churches on
the same Sabbath.
The large increase in the number of students tempted us often to put up
buildings for which we had no money. In the early days of the
institution by far the larger proportion of the buildings were begun on
faith. I remember at one time we began a building which cost in the end
about $8,000, and we had only $200 in cash with which to pay for it;
nevertheless the building was completed after a hard struggle and is now
in constant use.
I remember at one time we were very much in need of money with which to
meet pressing obligations. I borrowed $400 from a friend with the
understanding that the money
[Illustration: BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF THE GROUNDS OF THE TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND
INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.]
must be returned within thirty days. On the morning of the day that the
thirty days expired we were without the $400 with which to repay the
loan and were of course very much depressed in consequence. The mail,
however, came in at about eleven o’clock and brought a check from a
friend for exactly $400. I could give a number of other such instances
illustrating how we were relieved from embarrassing circumstances in
ways that have always seemed to me to have been providential. Although
the institution has had occasion many times to give promissory notes in
order to meet its obligations, there has never been a single instance
when any of its notes have gone to protest, and its credit and general
financial standing have always been good with the commercial world. I
have felt deeply obligated to the white and colored citizens of Tuskegee
for their kindness in helping the school financially when it did not
have money to meet its obligations. We have never applied to an
individual or to either of the banks in Tuskegee for aid that we did not
get it when the banks or individuals were able to aid us. The banks have
been more than kind, often seemingly inconveniencing themselves in order
to be of service to our institution. In the earlier days of the
institution, when we had little in the way of income, on several
occasions I have started to the depot, when I had to make a journey
away from Tuskegee, with no money in my pocket, but felt perfectly sure
of meeting a friend in the town of Tuskegee from whom I could get money,
and I have never been disappointed in this respect.
In 1883 we received our first donation of $500 from the Peabody Fund
through Dr. J. L. M. Curry, the General Agent. At that time Dr. Curry
formed his first acquaintance with Tuskegee; and, as I have stated
elsewhere, from then until now he has been one of our warmest and most
helpful friends. The amount received from the Peabody Fund has since
been increased until it now amounts to twelve or fifteen hundred dollars
each year.
In connection with this appropriation from the Peabody Fund it may be
interesting to relate a conversation which took place between Dr. Curry
and one of the State officers at Montgomery, Alabama. The State officer
in question was telling Dr. Curry that there were several other schools
in the state that needed help more than Tuskegee did; and that, because
Tuskegee, through the efforts of its teachers, was receiving money from
the North and elsewhere which other schools were not getting, he thought
we were not entitled to help from the Peabody Fund. Dr. Curry promptly
replied that because we were making an extra effort to get funds which
other schools were not getting was the strongest reason why we should
be helped; in other words, he told the officer plainly that we were
trying to help ourselves and for that reason he wanted us helped from
the Peabody Fund.
Through the constant efforts in the North and South of myself and Miss
Davidson, the financial report for the first two years of the school
showed that the receipts amounted to $11,679.69. The rapid increase in
the growth of the school and in the confidence of the people may be
shown by the fact that, during the third year of the existence of the
school, the receipts nearly doubled themselves as compared with the
second year; we received the third year the sum of $10,482.78, which was
nearly as much as we received during the two previous years. By far the
larger proportion of this amount came in small sums; very often amounts
came from individuals that were as small as 50 cents. One of the things
that constantly touched and encouraged us during the early years of the
school was the deep interest manifested in its success by the old and
ignorant colored people in and near the town of Tuskegee. They never
seemed to tire in their interest and efforts. They were constantly
trying to do something to help forward the institution. Whenever they
had a few chickens or eggs, for example, to spare, they would bring
them in and make a present of them to the school.
The income of the institution for the fifth year amounted to $20,162.13;
for the ninth year, $30,326; for the eleventh year, $61,023.28; for the
fourteenth year, $79,836.50.
At the end of the third year we were able to report that the school
owned property unencumbered by debt that was valued at $30,000. During
the third year Alabama Hall, to which I have already referred, was
completed at a cost of $10,000.
The report for the fourth year of the school’s history shows that we
received from all sources $11,146.07. During that year we got into a
very tight place financially and hardly knew which way to turn for
relief. In the midst of our perplexity, I went to Gen. Armstrong and he
very kindly loaned the school money to help it out of its embarrassment,
although I afterwards learned that it was nearly all of the money that
he possessed in cash.
In my fourth annual report to the Trustees I used the following words:
“Greater attention has been given to the industrial department this year
than ever before. Three things are accomplished by the industrial
system: (1) The student is enabled to pay a part of his expenses of
board, books, etc., in labor; (2) He learns how to work; (3) He is
taught the dignity of labor. In all the industrial branches the students
do the actual work under the direction of competent instructors.” I have
not had occasion to change in any great degree the foregoing sentences
as representing the purpose for which Tuskegee stands.
During the fifth year of our work we were able also to add a saw mill,
through the generosity of Gen. J. F. B. Marshall, to whom I have already
referred. The addition of this saw mill enabled us to saw a large part
of the lumber used by the institution.
In order to give many worthy students an opportunity to secure an
education by working at some trade or industry during the day and
studying at night, we opened in the fall of 1883 our first night school.
The night school was opened with one teacher and one student. From this
small beginning the night school has increased, until at this writing
there are four hundred and fifty students. By working in the day and
going to school at night, the night students earn money with which to
pay their expenses the next year in day school, and if they bring a good
supply of clothing they can earn enough, together with what they earn
during vacation, to keep them in school two or three years after they
enter day school.
I cannot better indicate the constant growth of the school than by
giving a description of our seventh anniversary, which took place May
31, 1888. There were more than 2,000 people present, in spite of rain
that came in showers. During the morning, from 9:30 to 12, the regular
work of the entire school was carried on in the various departments,
which were open for inspection. In addition to the regular work,
products of the shops and farm were exhibited. The course of study then
extended over four years, with two preparatory classes. It included the
English branches for the literary part, with instruction in one or more
of the following industries throughout: Blacksmithing, carpentry,
brick-masonry, brick making, plastering, farming, stock, poultry and
bee-raising, saw-milling, wheelwrighting, printing, mattress and cabinet
making, sewing, cutting and fitting, washing and ironing, cooking, and
general housekeeping. From these various departments the following
articles were exhibited: At the blacksmith and wheelwright shop were
seen two one-horse wagons, plow stock, small tools, express wagon body,
wheelbarrow, spring wagon seat and various other articles. In the
carpenter shop there were wardrobes, a center and a leaf table, wash
stands, book cases, bedsteads, wash boards, picture frames, chairs,
paneling, moulding, laths, etc. In the printing office there was an
exhibit of the general work of the office,--such as blanks, checks,
catalogues, promissory notes, diploma blanks, minutes of associations
and conventions, annual reports, bill and letter heads, envelopes,
circulars, handbills, invitations, business cards, certificates, etc.,
with samples of the two monthly papers which were then printed at the
institution, the “Southern Letter” and “The Gleaner.” From the farm and
poultry yard, there were vegetables, hogs, cattle, chickens, turkeys,
guineas, geese, a peacock, eggs, bees and honey. Mattress and chair
making were features that had been added to the industries that year and
were especially satisfactory. The mattresses exhibited compared
favorably with those made anywhere. In the laundry there was a
tastefully arranged exhibit of laundried bedding, dresses, collars and
cuffs, shirts, ladies’ and gentlemen’s underwear, table linen and
towels. The sewing room showed samples of all kinds of ladies’,
gentlemen’s and children’s clothing, with laces, mats, tidies, etc. At
the brickyard there was a kiln of 120,000 bricks ready for burning.
About the saw mill there were stacks of its products. The cooking class
had a tempting display of its work in cakes, jellies, bread, yeast,
meats and a roast pig.
Among the first things seen by a visitor coming to the school from any
direction was a large new brick building--Armstrong Hall. This building
was almost entirely the product of student labor, under the supervision
of Mr. Brown, instructor in carpentry at that time, who also planned the
building. The school then had three large and comfortable buildings.
Porter Hall contained recitation rooms, offices, library and reading
room, chapel and dormitories for boys, with the school laundry in the
basement. Alabama Hall, with a large frame annex built that year, was
used for girls’ dormitories, and contained, in addition, teachers’ and
students’ parlors and dining rooms and kitchen. Armstrong Hall contained
young men’s dormitories, reading and sitting rooms, bath room, printing
office and two recitation rooms. In addition, there were several
cottages on the grounds, while a new one and a large barn, the latter to
cost, perhaps $2,000, were in process of erection.
In the early years of the school, the anniversary exercises were held in
the school chapel, which was the small chapel in Porter Hall, but from
year to year the influx of patrons and friends from far and near had so
increased that the chapel would no longer hold a fifth of them. That
year the vast audience of 2,000, including the 400 students, was
assembled in a rude pavilion built of rough timber and partly covered by
the wide spreading branches of some mulberry trees. Here, after
partaking of a substantial dinner furnished by the school and friends,
students and visitors assembled. A long procession was formed of
students, teachers and graduates, which marched from Alabama Hall to the
pavilion to music furnished by the school band, and there the exercises
of the seventh anniversary were held.
There were ten members of the graduating class of that year as follows:
Andrew J. Wilborn, Valedictorian, Tuskegee, Ala.; Letitia B. Adams,
Tuskegee, Ala.; Caroline Smith, Tuskegee, Ala.; Shadrach R. Marshall,
Talbotton, Ga.; Philip P. Wright, LaFayette, Ala.; William H. Clark,
Brunswick, Ga.; Eugenia Lyman, Opelika, Ala.; Sarah L. Hunt,
Salutatorian, Sparta, Ga.; George W. Lovejoy, Olustee Creek, Ala.;
Nicholas E. Abercrombie, Montgomery, Ala.
The total enrollment for the year was 400. The school farm then
contained 540 acres of farm and timber land. The saw mill had furnished
most of the lumber for the buildings and other carpenter work done that
year, and for that purpose saw logs had been cut from the school land.
The school property was then worth about $80,000. The income for the
year had been $26,755.73. This amount about covered the expenses.
Including the ten mentioned above, the school then had forty-two
graduates. During the year previous all the graduates had been engaged
in teaching for some part of the year. All the members of that year’s
class were Christians. They went out as teachers of various kinds in the
state of Alabama. The young women had a knowledge of washing, ironing,
cooking, sewing and general housekeeping in addition to their
intellectual attainments. One of the six young men was a shoemaker, one
a carpenter, one had considerable knowledge of the printer’s trade and
one was an excellent plasterer. The annual address at that commencement
was delivered by Hon. John R. Lynch, of Mississippi, and for eloquence,
practical thought and helpful information could hardly have been
surpassed. There was a number of Tuskegee’s best white citizens present,
while the colored citizens came out en masse to witness the exercises
that launched into life three youths from their own town. Montgomery was
represented by one of her military companies, the “Capital City Guards,”
and 124 of her best citizens, for whose accommodation special trains
were sent out.
In order to emphasize the fact that people at Tuskegee during its early
history were not idle, I give the daily program which was in effect in
January, 1886: 5 a. m., rising bell; 5:50 a. m., warning breakfast bell;
6 a. m., breakfast bell; 6:20 a. m., breakfast over; 6:20 to 6:50 a. m.,
rooms are cleaned; 6:50, work bell; 7:30, morning study hour; 8:20,
morning school bell; 8:25, inspection of young men’s toilet in ranks;
8:40, devotional exercises in chapel; 8:55, “5 minutes” with the daily
news; 9 a. m., class work begins; 12, class work closes; 12:15 p. m.,
dinner; 1 p. m., work bell; 1:30 p. m., class work begins; 3:30 p. m.,
class work ends; 5:30 p. m., bell to “knock off” work; 6 p. m., supper;
7:10 p. m., evening prayers; 7:30 p. m., evening study hours; 8:45 p.m.,
evening study hour closes; 9:20 p. m., warning retiring bell; 9:30 p.
m., retiring bell.
Although the period of the school’s history about which I have written
in this chapter was one of constant and substantial growth, it
nevertheless was during this period that the school sustained a great
loss, as well as I a great personal bereavement, in the death of my
beloved and faithful wife, Olivia Davidson Washington. In May, 1889,
after four years of married life, she succumbed to the overtaxing duties
of mother and assistant principal of the school and passed away. Her
remains were laid to rest amid the tears of teachers and students. “Her
words of caution, advice, sympathy and encouragement were given with a
judgment that rarely made an error. Her life was so full of deeds,
lessons and suggestions that she will live on to bless and help the
institution which she helped found as long as it is a seat of
learning.”
Two wide-awake boys, Baker Taliaferro and Ernest Davidson, were born to
us, who were then too young to know their loss. They are now 12 and 10
years of age respectively; and they, with my daughter Portia, are a
source of much comfort and joy to me at present.
Miss Davidson came to the school almost from the very beginning, she
being the next person to come after myself. I have spoken in other
places of the great assistance she was in helping to build up the school
in its early days. As an estimate of her worth and character, I beg to
quote the words of the Rev. R. C. Bedford, a friend who knew her worth
and her great help to me and to Tuskegee. Commenting upon her death Mr.
Bedford said:
“Olivia Davidson was born in Virginia, June 11, 1854. When only a little
child she went with her parents to Ohio, where she grew up and received
the education afforded by the common schools of that state. At an early
age she went to Mississippi and there spent five years as a teacher on
the large plantations. In 1878 she came north to her native state, and,
that she might more thoroughly fit herself for the work of a teacher,
she entered the Hampton Institute, from which, in one year, she
graduated with great honor. Her friend, Mrs. Hemenway, of Boston,
greatly desiring that she should prosecute her studies still further,
at her request, she entered the Framingham, (Mass.) Normal School, from
which she graduated in two years. In August following her graduation she
came to Tuskegee, Ala., to act as assistant to Prof. Washington, in the
State Normal School of which he had been made principal in the July
previous. From the very first it became evident that she had found her
field of labor for life. Everything tended to inspire her to this end.
The people were poor; they were numerous; they were anxious, and aside
from an act of the Legislature establishing a school, it had, literally,
to be created. The story of her success has often been told and in this
brief tribute cannot be repeated.
“August 11, 1885, Miss Davidson was married to Prof. B. T. Washington,
and although she at once took upon herself the cares of a very busy home
life, she still retained a most important relation to the school, which
no amount of warning from her friends could persuade her to drop. Her
marriage with Mr. Washington proved a most happy one, and rarely has it
been the lot of two individuals to be so thoroughly united in their life
work. The coming of little Baker into the home was an occasion of great
rejoicing, and the birth of another son just a few months before his
mother’s death only served to double the joy.
“It was my privilege to meet Mrs. Washington at Tuskegee when the
school had been in operation but little more than a year and, as one of
the trustees of the school, I have had an intimate knowledge of her work
ever since. It would require more than human pen to tell how deep was
her love for the school and how thoroughly her life was consecrated to
it. Every grain of sand on all those beautiful grounds and every beam
and brick in the walls must have felt the inspiration of her love. No
more touching story could be told than that of her earnest efforts to
raise money from the people about Tuskegee and of her toilsome walks in
Boston, as from house to house, and with an eloquence that was rarely
refused, she sought funds to provide shelter for the hundreds of
students that were flocking to the school. Her character made her
especially adapted to all parts of the work in which she was engaged,
and the stamp of her influence on the higher life of the school no time
can ever efface. Among a people who make much show of religion, but
often with too little of its spirit, hers was religion indeed, but with
so little of show as sometimes to make her life a mystery to those who
did not really know her. The blind and the poor, and above all the aged,
can tell of her religion as they recall the happy Thanksgiving and
Christmas times when they have sat at her table and her own hands have
ministered to their wants, and when in sickness she has visited them
and relieved their sufferings. No woman ever had a truer husband or more
devoted friends; and the memory of their kindness will rest, as a
precious legacy, upon the school and upon all who loved her as long as
time shall last.”
While speaking of the financial growth of the school I must not neglect
to indicate the growth at the same time in students. As I have stated,
the school opened with one teacher and 30 students. By the end of the
first year we had three teachers, including Miss Davidson, Mr. John
Caldwell and myself. For the third session there were 169 students and
10 teachers. For the fifth year there were 279 students and 18 teachers.
For the eighth year there were 399 students and 25 teachers. For the
tenth year there were 730 students and 30 teachers. For the fourteenth
year, ending in June, 1895, there were 1,013 students and 63 teachers.
In the spring of 1892, at our annual commencement, we had the pleasure
and the honor of a visit from Hon. Frederick Douglass, who delivered the
annual address to the graduating class of that year. This was Mr.
Douglass’ first visit to the far South, and there was a large crowd of
people from far and near to listen to the words of that grand old man.
The speech was fully up to the high standard of excellence, eloquence
and wisdom for which that venerable gentleman was noted.
Mr. Douglass had the same idea concerning the importance and value of
industrial education that I have tried to emphasize. He also held the
same views as I do in regard to the emigration of the Negro to Africa,
and was opposed to the scheme of diffusion and dissemination of the
Negro throughout the North and Northwest, believing as I do that the
Southern section of the country where the Negro now resides is the best
place for him. In fact, the more I have studied the life of Mr. Douglass
the more I have been surprised to find his far-reaching and generous
grasp of the whole condition and needs of the Negro race. Years before
Hampton or Tuskegee undertook industrial education, in reply to a
request for advice by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe as to how she could
best use a certain sum of money which had been or was about to be placed
in her hands, Mr. Douglass wrote her in part as follows:
ROCHESTER, March 8, 1853.
MY DEAR MRS. STOWE:
You kindly informed me when at your house a fortnight ago, that you
designed to do something which should permanently contribute to the
improvement and elevation of the free colored people in the United
States. You especially expressed an interest in such of this class
as had become free by their own exertions, and desired most of all
to be of service to them. In what manner and by what means you can
assist this class most successfully, is the subject upon which you
have done me the honor to ask my opinion.
...I assert, then, that _poverty_, _ignorance_, and _degradation_
are the combined evils; or in other words, these constitute the
social disease of the free colored people in the United States.
To deliver them from this triple malady is to improve and elevate
them, by which I mean simply to put them on an equal footing with
their white fellow-countrymen in the sacred right to “_Life_,
_Liberty_ and the pursuit of happiness.” I am for no fancied or
artificial elevation, but only ask fair play. How shall this be
obtained? I answer, first, not by establishing for our use high
schools and colleges. Such institutions are, in my judgment, beyond
our immediate occasions and are not adapted to our present most
pressing wants. High schools and colleges are excellent
institutions, and will in due season be greatly subservient to our
progress; but they are the result, as well as they are the demand,
of a point of progress which we as a people have not yet attained.
Accustomed as we have been to the rougher and harder modes of
living, and of gaining a livelihood, we cannot and we ought not to
hope that in a single leap from our low condition we can reach that
of _Ministers_, _Lawyers_, _Doctors_, _Editors_, _Merchants_, etc.
These will doubtless be attained by us; but this will only be when
we have patiently and laboriously, and I may add, successfully,
mastered and passed through the intermediate gradations of
agriculture and the mechanic arts. Besides, there are (and perhaps
there is a better reason for my views of the case) numerous
institutions of learning in this country, already thrown open to
colored youth. To my thinking, there are quite as many facilities
now afforded to the colored people as they can spare the time, from
the sterner duties of life, to judiciously appropriate. In their
present condition of poverty they cannot spare their sons and
daughters two or three years at boarding-schools or colleges, to
say nothing of finding the means to sustain them while at such
institutions. I take it, therefore, that we are well provided for
in this respect; and that it may be fairly inferred from the fact,
that the facilities for our education, so far as schools and
colleges in the Free States are concerned, will increase quite in
proportion with our future wants. Colleges have been opened to
colored youth in this country during the last dozen years. Yet few,
comparatively, have acquired a classical education; and even this
few have found themselves educated far above a living condition,
there being no methods by which they could turn their learning to
account. Several of this latter class have entered the ministry;
but you need not be told that an educated people is needed to
sustain an educated ministry. There must be a certain amount of
cultivation among the people, to sustain such a ministry. At
present we have not that cultivation amongst us; and, therefore, we
value in the preacher strong lungs rather than high learning. I do
not say that educated ministers are not needed amongst us, far from
it. I wish there were more of them; but to increase their number
is _not_ the largest benefit you can bestow upon us.
We have two or three colored lawyers in this country; and I rejoice
in the fact; for it affords very gratifying evidence of our
progress. Yet it must be confessed that, in point of success, our
lawyers are as great failures as our ministers. White people will
not employ them to the obvious embarrassment of their causes; the
blacks, taking their cue from the whites, have not sufficient
confidence in their abilities to employ them. Hence educated
colored men, among the colored people, are at a very great
discount. It would seem that education and emigration go together
with us, for as soon as a man rises amongst us, capable, by his
genius and learning, to do us great service, just so soon he finds
that he can serve himself better by going elsewhere. In proof of
this, I might instance the Russwurms, the Garnets, the Wards, the
Crummells, and others, all men of superior ability and attainments,
and capable of removing mountains of prejudice against their race,
by their simple presence in the country; but these gentlemen,
finding themselves embarrassed here by the peculiar disadvantages
to which I have referred, disadvantages in part growing out of
their education, being repelled by ignorance on one hand, and
prejudice on the other, and having no taste to continue a contest
against such odds, have sought more congenial climes, where they
can live more peaceable and quiet lives. I regret their election,
but I cannot blame them; for with an equal amount of education and
the hard lot which was theirs, I might follow their example.
There is little reason to hope that any considerable number of the
free colored people will ever be induced to leave this country,
even if such a thing were desirable. The black man (unlike the
Indian) loves civilization. He does not make very great progress in
civilization himself, but he likes to be in the midst of it, and
prefers to share its most galling evils, to encountering barbarism.
Then the love of country, the dread of isolation, the lack of
adventurous spirit, and the thought of seeming to desert their
“brethren in bonds,” are a powerful check upon all schemes of
colonization, which look to the removal of the colored people,
without the slaves. The truth is, dear madam, we are here, and here
we are likely to remain. Individuals emigrate--nations never. We
have grown up with this republic, and see nothing in her character,
or even in the character of the American people, as yet, which
compels the belief that we must leave the United States. If, then,
we are to remain here, the question for the wise and good is
precisely that which you have submitted to me--namely: What can be
done to improve the condition of the free people of color in the
United States? The plan which I humbly submit in answer to this
inquiry (and the hope that it may find favor with you, and with the
many friends of humanity who honor, love and co-operate with you)
is the establishment in Rochester, N. Y., or in some other part of
the United States equally favorable to such an enterprise, of an
INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE in which shall be taught several important
branches of the mechanic arts. This college shall be open to
colored youth. I shall pass over the details of such an institution
as I propose.... Never having had a day’s schooling in my life, I
may not be expected to map out the details of a plan so
comprehensive as that involved in the idea of a college. I repeat,
then, that I leave the organization and administration of the
institution to the superior wisdom of yourself and the friends who
second your noble efforts. The argument in favor of an Industrial
College (a college to be conducted by the best men, and the best
workmen which the mechanic arts can afford; a college where colored
youth can be instructed to use their hands, as well as their heads;
where they can be put in possession of the means of getting a
living wherever their lot in after life may be cast among civilized
or uncivilized men; whether they choose to stay here, or prefer to
return to the land of their fathers) is briefly this: Prejudice
against the free colored people in the United States has shown
itself nowhere so invincible as among mechanics. The farmer and the
professional man cherish no feeling so bitter as that cherished by
these. The latter would starve us out of the country entirely. At
this moment I can more easily get my son into a lawyer’s office to
study law than I can in a blacksmith’s shop to blow the bellows and
to wield the sledge-hammer. Denied the means of learning useful
trades, we are pressed into the narrowest limits to obtain a
livelihood. In times past we have been the hewers of wood and
drawers of water for American society, and we once enjoyed a
monopoly in menial employments, but this is so no longer. Even
these employments are rapidly passing away out of our hands. The
fact is, (every day begins with the lesson, and ends with the
lesson) that colored men must learn trades; must find new
employments; new modes of usefulness to society, or that they must
decay under the pressing wants to which their condition is rapidly
bringing them.
We must become mechanics; we must build as well as live in houses;
we must make as well as use furniture; we must construct bridges as
well as pass over them; before we can properly live or be respected
by our fellow-men. We need mechanics as well as ministers. We need
workers in iron, clay, and leather. We have orators, authors, and
other professional men, but these reach only a certain class, and
get respect for our race in certain select circles. To live here as
we ought we must fasten ourselves to our countrymen through their
every-day, cardinal wants. We must not only be able to black boots,
but to make them. At present we are in the Northern states, unknown
as mechanics. We give no proof of genius or skill at the county,
state or national fairs. We are unknown at any of the great
exhibitions of the industry of our fellow citizens, and being
unknown, we are unconsidered.
Wishing you, dear madam, renewed health, a pleasant passage and
safe return to your native land, I am, most truly, your gratified
friend,
FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
In October, 1893, I was married to Miss Maggie James Murray, who is a
graduate of Fisk University, and who came to Tuskegee in 1889 as a
teacher. She has proven in every way herself to be equally interested in
the advancement of Tuskegee as myself, and fully bears her share of the
responsibilities and labor, giving especial attention to the development
of the girls and to work among the women through her mothers’ meetings
in various parts of Alabama and elsewhere.