APPRECIATION.
In building up an institution such as we have done at Snow Hill, no one
man is entitled to all the credit. On the contrary, it is impossible to
name all to whom credit is due. We can only speak of those who have been
closely allied with us and whose work has been prominent in the building
of the institution. Perhaps of these, the Trustees come first. We could
never have gone on with the work from year to year without their aid and
assistance.
Without Mr. R. O. Simpson there could not have been any Snow Hill
Institute. We might have built a similar school elsewhere, but we could
not have built it at Snow Hill. Mr. Simpson gave the first site for the
school and from the start has been one of our best friends. He stood for
Negro Education when it was unpopular for him to do so. He allied
himself with this cause, at the risk of being ostracised by other white
people. Because of his firm stand, most of the white people in this
section have been won over to his way of thinking, and now there is
scarcely if any opposition hereabouts to the Snow Hill Institute.
Mr. R. O. Simpson is one of the noblest men that I have ever met, North
or South. He is absolutely free from all racial and petty prejudice that
we so often find in the average man of today. I feel safe in saying
that he is living at least fifty years ahead of his time. The things
that he stands for and have been fighting for, for thirty years, are
coming more and more to pass, and although it seems hard for the present
generation to accept them, they must be accepted if we would make the
world safe for Democracy. He is a true patriot, a true democrat, and a
zealous Christian gentleman. Mr. Simpson has a family of five children,
three sons and two daughters, all of whom possess his spirit to a large
degree.
I first met Rev. R. C. Bedford at Tuskegee while I was there in school.
I loved him from the first time I saw him and I feel that this was
because of his deep and sincere interest in our people. Until I met Mr.
Bedford, I had always distrusted the white man and thought it was
impossible for any white man to be free from race prejudice. After my
graduation at Tuskegee, as I said before, I returned to Snow Hill and
seeing that Mr. Bedford and Mr. Simpson had something in common,
arranged to have Mr. Bedford come to Snow Hill and meet Mr. Simpson.
Their meeting resembled that of Jonathan and David, and I believe their
friendship was equally great. It continued until Mr. Bedford's death.
Mr. Bedford was one man who understood what it was to build up an
institution from nothing. He knew the hardships one had to undergo to
meet bills when there was no money appropriated for these bills. He knew
what it was to make brick without straw. Ofttimes when the burden was
heavy and the yoke rough, it was the encouraging words from Mr. Bedford
that gave me strength and courage to continue. While his particular
mission was to look after the Tuskegee schools, he loved every good work
and would always lend a hand to a good cause. He was thoroughly imbued
with the Christ-spirit.
I cannot express in words the great debt of gratitude that I owe the
immortal Booker T. Washington, for I owe all to him. It was he who
changed my view of life. He changed me from the visionary to the
substantial, from the shadow to the substance, from the artificial to
the real, and from words to deeds. Dr. Washington became a trustee of
Snow Hill Institute from its beginning and remained as such until his
death. He made three visits to Snow Hill, the last being November 18th,
1914. Dr. Washington always did what he could to help us in our work. He
seemed to appreciate the efforts that we were putting forth to uplift
our people. He could sympathize with us; he could understand that an
institution that had no permanent support, but had to depend upon the
efforts of one man to raise money, could not be perfect, and many things
were not as well as they should be. Dr. Washington could sympathize with
us because he knew what it was. He had borne the burden in the heat of
the day. But I find that persons who have done nothing themselves, but
have lived as parasites most of their days, are much more critical than
Dr. Washington ever could be. Sometimes I am asked to what I attribute
Dr. Washington's success in life. My answer to this question has always
been the same: to his spirit and simplicity. He possessed in a very
large degree, the spirit and simplicity of the Master. He never struck
back. He always sought to do good to those who would do evil to him. He
was meek and lowly of heart, and I know that he has found rest for his
soul.
There are other trustees who have played a prominent part in the
development of the work here, among whom may be mentioned Mr. James H.
Post, Rev. Henry Wilder Foote, Prof. William Howell Reed and Mr. William
H. Baldwin, 3rd. The trustees are now taking a more active part in the
work than ever before. This is their bounden duty, because the school is
theirs, not mine.
Next to the Trustees, the officers and teachers have played a prominent
part in the work here. My classmate, Henry A. Barnes, has been treasurer
of the school for twenty-three years, which period of service is, in
itself, a tribute to his faithfulness. Mr. Barnes not only does the work
of treasurer, but is also Acting Principal during my absence from the
school, and under him the work of the school continues with little or no
interruption while I am away. What Mr. Barnes has been to the Financial
Department, Mr. R. A. Daly has been to our Industries. I consider Mr.
Daly the best Industrial man that we can have.
The Academic Department has been developed under the management of
Messrs. Whitehead and Handy, and it stands well in comparison with that
of other similar schools in the State.
I cannot overestimate the value of the conscientious work done by my
secretaries during all these years. Miss Rebecca Savage (now Mrs. R. V.
Cooke) served in this capacity for fourteen years and Miss O. H.
Williamson has served one way or another for five years. Much of the
office work and responsibility fall upon the secretaries and this
responsibility they have borne without complaint. Sometimes we have been
compelled to work night and day, but they have always been willing to
serve. Not only have the officers been willing to serve, but the rank
and file of our teachers have shown the same spirit of willingness from
year to year. Sometimes they would get their pay promptly and at other
times they would have to wait for months, but always they have been
willing to do what they could to cheer and help me in the darkest hour
of the struggle. I believe that the spirit of the officers and teachers
of Snow Hill Institute is: "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister."
Aside from Trustees, officers and teachers, there is that great cloud of
witnesses which no man can number, who have helped by their aid, their
words of cheer and their presence from time to time. These are in all
parts of the country, but principally in the North and East. How shall
we thank them for what they have been to us? We cannot do it by words,
because there are no words that could adequately express our deep sense
of gratitude to this host of friends. We must, therefore, be contented
to show them by our acts and deeds that we are ever mindful of their
help and that each day we are striving more and more to make ourselves
and our work worthy of their aid and encouragement. Among this cloud of
witnesses are some of the best people that God has ever made. They deem
it a privilege to give and to help the lowly.
[Illustration: TYPICAL LOG CABIN IN THE BLACK BELT]
[Illustration: HOME OF A SNOW HILL GRADUATE]
In speaking of our debt of gratitude to the forces that have helped in
building up our work here, we must not overlook the press. There are
certain great papers in this country that have been fearless in their
advocacy of right and justice to the Negro, and have always opened their
columns to any cause that has for its end the uplift of the lowly. Among
these may be mentioned especially _The New York Evening Post_, _The
Boston Transcript_, _The Springfield Republican_, _The Hartford
Courant_, and in the South _The Montgomery Advertiser_.
One also receives much aid and encouragement from those who are in
similar work. It has been my good fortune to meet in the North from time
to time with those who have similar work as mine. In this way I have met
most of the Principals of Southern Schools. Perhaps Mr. W. H. Holtzclaw
of Utica, Mississippi, comes first in this class. This is true, because
I have known him the longest. I first met him in Tuskegee in the early
nineties, when we both were in school there. His life was similar to
mine, as we both had a very hard time in trying to get an education. I
became interested in him there and when he finished I took him to work
with me at Snow Hill. It was at Snow Hill that he met and married Miss
Mary Ella Patterson, one of our teachers. They remained with us at Snow
Hill four years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Holtzclaw have always seemed more
like my relatives than like friends. Some of Mr. Holtzclaw's best
teachers today are graduates of Snow Hill Institute. I have always been
deeply interested in the welfare of Utica for it is in reality an
outgrowth of Snow Hill.
Other Principals whom I meet occasionally, are President Battle of
Okolona, Mississippi, where a number of our graduates have worked. I
have found Mr. Battle interested in the general cause of Negro
Education, and too, we found in our case that the cause is the same. I
have had occasion to ask Mr. Battle just how our graduates measure up
with his other teachers, and he tells me that Snow Hill graduates are
among his best helpers. By this I know that in deeds, not words, we are
making good.
Another most interesting character whom I always meet on my tours North
is Mr. Frank P. Chisholm, Financial Secretary of Tuskegee Institute. I
have been knowing Mr. Chisholm for a great many years. We have attended
the Summer School at Harvard several summers together and it has been
both a pleasure and benefit to me to be associated with him in this way.
Although working directly for Tuskegee, he has always been willing to
speak a word for Snow Hill wherever the opportunity presented itself. I
have obtained many suggestions from Mr. Chisholm which have been very
beneficial to me in my work here. I consider Mr. Chisholm a
representative type of the new Negro of to-day. He is a brilliant
scholar, a clear thinker, and is doing a very effective work for
Tuskegee.
Others with whom I come in contact on such trips are Principal Hunt of
Fort Valley, Ga.; Principal Minafee of Denmark, S. C.; Principal Long of
Christianburg, Va. These young men and many others are doing a greater
work than they know, and all possess in a smaller or larger degree the
spirit of dear old Tuskegee. They are all preaching the gospel of
Service.