work. I very much hope that the larger part of the students who go out
from Tuskegee will choose the country districts for their place of
work, rather than the large cities. For one thing, you will find that
the larger places are much better supplied with workers and helpers
than is true of the towns, and especially of the country districts.
The cities are better supplied with churches and schools, with
everything that tends to uplift people; and they are at the same time
much more prolific of those agencies which tend to pull people down.
Notwithstanding this latter fact, the greater portion, by far, of those
who need help live in the country districts. I think a census report
will show that eighty per cent. of our people are to be found in the
country and small towns. I advise you, then, to go into the country and
the towns, rather than into the cities.
Then, as to the manner of work. You must make up your minds in the
first place, as I have said before, that you are going to make some
sacrifice, that you are going to live your lives in an unselfish way,
in order that you may help some one. Go out with a spirit that will not
allow you to become discouraged when you have opposition, when you meet
with obstacles to be overcome. You must go with a determination that
you are going to succeed in whatever undertaking you have entered upon.
I do not attempt to give you specific advice as to the kind of work you
shall do, but I should say that in a general way I believe that you
can accomplish more good--and perhaps this will hold good for the next
fifty years here in the South--by taking a country school for your
nucleus. Take a three months school, and gradually impress upon the
people of the community the need of having a longer school. Get them to
add one month to three months, and then another month, until they get
to the point where they will have six, seven or eight months of school
in a year. Then get them to where they will see the importance of
building a decent school-house--getting out of the one-room log cabin
school-house--and of having suitable apparatus for instruction.
There are two things you must fix your mind on: the building of a
suitable school-house and the arousing in the people, at the same time,
a spirit that will make them support your efforts. In order to do this
you must go into the country with the idea of staying there for some
time at least. Plant yourself in the community, and by economical
living, year by year, manage to buy land for yourself, on which to
build a nice and comfortable home. You will find that the longer you
stay there the more the people will give you their confidence, and the
more they will respect and love you.
I find that many of our graduates have done excellent work by having a
farm in connection with their schools. This is true, also, of many who
did not remain here to graduate. I have in mind such a man. He has been
teaching school in one of the counties of this State for seven or eight
years. He has lengthened the school year to eight months. He has a nice
cottage with four rooms in it, and a beautiful farm of forty acres.
This man is carrying out the "Tuskegee idea."
There will be some of you who can spend your life to better advantage
by devoting it to farming than to any other industry. I speak of
farming particularly, because I believe that to be the great foundation
upon which we must build for the future. I believe that we are coming
to the point where we are going to be recognized for our worth in the
proportion that we secure an agricultural foundation. Throughout the
South we can give ourselves in a free, open way to getting hold of
property and building homes, in a way that we cannot do in any other
industry. In farming, as in teaching, no matter where you go, remember
to go with the "Tuskegee spirit."
I want the boys to go out and do as Mr. N. E. Henry is doing; I want
the girls to go out and do as Miss Anna Davis and Miss Lizzie Wright
are doing. I want you to go out into the country districts and build
up schools. I would not advise you to be too ambitious at first. Be
willing to begin with a small salary and work your way up gradually. I
have in mind one young man who began teaching school for five dollars a
month; another who began teaching in the open air under a tree.
Then, too, I want you to go out in a spirit of liberality toward the
white people with whom you come in contact. That is an important
matter. When I say this I do not mean that you shall go lowering your
manhood or your dignity. Go in a manly way, in a straightforward and
honourable way, and then you will show the white people that you are
not of a belittling race, that the prejudice which so many people
possess cannot come among you and those with whom you work. If you can
extend a helping hand to a white person, feel just as happy in doing so
as in helping a black person.
In the sight of God there is no colour line, and we want to cultivate a
spirit that will make us forget that there is such a line anywhere. We
want to be larger and broader than the people who would oppress us on
account of our colour.
No one ever loses anything by being a gentleman or a lady. No person
ever lost anything by being broad. Remember that if we are kind and
useful, if we are moral, if we go out and practise these traits, no
matter what people say about us, they cannot pull us down. But, on
the other hand, if we are without the spirit of usefulness, if we are
without morality, without liberality, without economy and property,
without all those qualities which go to make a people and a nation
great and strong, no matter what we may say about ourselves and what
other people may say about us, we are losing ground. Nobody can give us
those qualities merely by praising us and talking well about us; and
when we possess them, nobody can take them from us by speaking ill of
us.
End of Project Gutenberg's Character Building, by Booker T. Washington