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THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK
THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK
——— BOOKER T. WASHINGTON PRINCIPAL OF TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE ——— WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DR. J. L. M. C U R R Y Commissioner Peabody and Slater Funds ——— COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTO-ENGRAVINGS ORIGINAL PEN DRAWINGS BY FRANK BEARD W. H. FERGUSON COMPANY, 230-232 East Fifth Street, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 1900 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1900 By BOOKER T. WASHINGTON In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. ——— Sold only by
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INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
I HAVE cheerfully consented to prefix a few words introductory to this autobiography. While I have encouraged its publication, not a sentence has been submitted to my examination. From my intimate acquaintance with the subject, because of my connection with the Peabody and the Slater Education Funds, I am sure the volume has such a strong claim upon the people that no commendation is needed. The life of Booker T. Washington cannot be written. Incidents of birth, parentage, schooling, early strug
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CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD.
CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD.
Many requests have been made of me to write something of the story of my life. Until recently I have never given much consideration to these requests, for the reason that I have never thought that I had done enough in the world to warrant anything in the way of an autobiography; and I hope that my life work, by reason of my present age, lies more in the future than in the past. My daughter, Portia, said to me, not long ago: “Papa, do you know that you have never told me much about your early lif
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CHAPTER II. BOYHOOD IN WEST VIRGINIA.
CHAPTER II. BOYHOOD IN WEST VIRGINIA.
We began life in West Virginia in a little shanty, and lived in it for several years. My step-father soon obtained work for my brother John and myself in the salt furnaces and coal mines, and we worked alternately in them until about the year 1871. Soon after we reached West Virginia a school teacher, Mr. William Davis, came into the community, and the colored people induced him to open a school. My step-father was not able to spare me from work, so that I could attend this school, when it was f
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CHAPTER III. LIFE AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
CHAPTER III. LIFE AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
After my mother and brother John had secured me a few extra garments, with what I could provide for myself, I started for Hampton about the first of October, 1872. How long I was on this journey I have at this time no very definite idea. Part of the way I went by railroad and part in a stage and part on foot. I remember that, when I got as far as Richmond, Virginia, I was completely out of money and knew not a single person in the city. Besides, I had never been in a city before. I think it was
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CHAPTER IV. HOW THE FIRST SIX YEARS AFTER GRADUATION FROM HAMPTON WERE SPENT.
CHAPTER IV. HOW THE FIRST SIX YEARS AFTER GRADUATION FROM HAMPTON WERE SPENT.
In the fall of 1875 I returned to Malden and was elected as the teacher in the school at Malden, the first school that I ever attended. I taught this school for three years. The thing that I recall most pleasantly in connection with my teaching was the fact that I induced several of my pupils to go to Hampton and most of them have become strong and useful men. One of them Dr. Samuel E. Courtney, is now a successful physician in Boston and a member of the Boston Board of Education. While teaching
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CHAPTER V. THE BEGINNING OF THE WORK AT TUSKEGEE.
CHAPTER V. THE BEGINNING OF THE WORK AT TUSKEGEE.
Before starting for Tuskegee I found it almost impossible to find the town on any map, and had difficulty in learning its exact location. I reached Tuskegee about the middle of June, 1881. I found it to be a town of some 2,000 inhabitants, about half of whom were Negroes, and located in what is commonly called the “Black Belt,” that is, the section of the South where the Negro race largely outnumbers the white population. The county in which Tuskegee is located is named Macon. Of Tuskegee and Ma
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CHAPTER VI. THE FIRST YEAR AT TUSKEGEE.
CHAPTER VI. THE FIRST YEAR AT TUSKEGEE.
After the school had been in session in the old church and little shanty for several months, I began to see the necessity of having a permanent location for the institution, where we could have the students not only in their class rooms, but get hold of them in their home life, and teach them how to take care of their bodies in the matter of bathing, care of the teeth, and in general cleanliness. We also felt that we must not only teach the students how to prepare their food but how to serve and
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CHAPTER VII. THE STRUGGLES AND SUCCESS OF THE WORKERS AT TUSKEGEE FROM 1882 TO 1884.
CHAPTER VII. THE STRUGGLES AND SUCCESS OF THE WORKERS AT TUSKEGEE FROM 1882 TO 1884.
Soon after securing possession of the farm we set about putting it into a condition so that a crop of some kind might be secured from it during the next year. At the close of school hours each afternoon, I would call for volunteers to take their axes and go into the woods to assist in clearing up the grounds. The students were most anxious to give their service in this way, and very soon a large acreage was put into condition for cultivation. We had no horse or mule with which to begin the culti
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CHAPTER VIII. THE HISTORY OF TUSKEGEE FROM 1884 TO 1894.
CHAPTER VIII. 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 scho
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CHAPTER IX. INVITED TO DELIVER A LECTURE AT FISK UNIVERSITY.
CHAPTER IX. INVITED TO DELIVER A LECTURE AT FISK UNIVERSITY.
In the spring of 1895 I was rather pleasantly surprised by receiving an invitation from the Fisk University Lecture Bureau, in Nashville, Tennessee, to deliver a lecture before this Bureau. Mr. Edgar Webber was the president and presided at the meeting when I spoke. This was among the first addresses which I had delivered in the South that was fully reported by the Southern press. A full description of the meeting was given by the Nashville Daily American and the Nashville Banner, and papers thr
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CHAPTER X. THE SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE COTTON STATES’ EXPOSITION, AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
CHAPTER X. THE SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE COTTON STATES’ EXPOSITION, AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
So much has been said and written concerning the address which I delivered at the opening of the Atlanta Exposition in September, 1895, that it may not be out of place for me to explain in some detail how and why I received the invitation to deliver this address. In the spring of 1895 I received a telegram at Tuskegee from prominent citizens in Atlanta asking me to accompany a committee composed of Atlanta people,—all white, I think, except Bishop Gaines and Bishop Grant,—to Washington to appear
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CHAPTER XI. AN APPEAL FOR JUSTICE.
CHAPTER XI. AN APPEAL FOR JUSTICE.
While the Atlanta Exposition was in progress, the State Constitutional Convention of South Carolina was in session, having been convened for the specific purpose of passing a law that would result in disfranchising the greater proportion of the Negro voters. While this Convention was in session, I addressed an open letter to Senator Benj. Tillman of South Carolina, which read as follows: “I am no politician. I never made a political speech, and do not know as I ever shall make one, so it is not
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CHAPTER XII. HONORED BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
CHAPTER XII. HONORED BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
One of the most helpful things accomplished during the year 1896 was an exhibit of the industrial products of the Tuskegee Institute made in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, in connection with a similar exhibit from the Hampton Institute. The Armstrong Association in New York City was instrumental in bringing about this exhibit. A large number of people who had no idea of the extent of our industrial work had an opportunity at these exhibits to see for themselves just what was being done
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CHAPTER XIII. URGED FOR A CABINET POSITION.
CHAPTER XIII. URGED FOR A CABINET POSITION.
Soon after the election of Major McKinley to the office of President in 1896, the Washington Post, to the surprise of nearly everybody, came out with a strong editorial urging the President-Elect to give me a place in his cabinet. The name of the late Hon. B. K. Bruce was also suggested in the same connection. This editorial created quite a journalistic discussion which extended to all parts of the country. I give a few extracts from newspapers that may indicate the character of this discussion.
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CHAPTER XIV. THE SHAW MONUMENT SPEECH, THE VISIT OF SECRETARY JAMES WILSON, AND THE LETTER TO THE LOUISIANA CONVENTION.
CHAPTER XIV. THE SHAW MONUMENT SPEECH, THE VISIT OF SECRETARY JAMES WILSON, AND THE LETTER TO THE LOUISIANA CONVENTION.
In the spring of 1897 I received a letter from Hon. Edward Atkinson, of Boston, inviting me to deliver an address at the dedication of the Robert Gould Shaw monument in Boston. I take it for granted that my readers already know all about the history and achievements of Robert Gould Shaw. The monument dedicated to his memory stands on the historic Boston Commons, facing Beacon Street, and is said to be the most perfect piece of art of the kind in this country. The meeting in connection with the d
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CHAPTER XV. CUBAN EDUCATION AND THE CHICAGO PEACE JUBILEE ADDRESS.
CHAPTER XV. CUBAN EDUCATION AND THE CHICAGO PEACE JUBILEE ADDRESS.
Immediately after the close of the Spanish-American war the Tuskegee Institute started a movement to bring a number of Cuban and Porto Rican students to Tuskegee, for the purpose of receiving training. The idea was pretty generally endorsed, and within a reasonably short time enough funds were donated by individuals throughout the country to provide for the education of ten students from Cuba and Porto Rico. These students are now at Tuskegee taking the regular courses of training and are making
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CHAPTER XVI. THE VISIT OF PRESIDENT WM. McKINLEY TO TUSKEGEE.
CHAPTER XVI. THE VISIT OF PRESIDENT WM. McKINLEY TO TUSKEGEE.
Soon after starting the Tuskegee Institute I earnestly desired to have the President of the United States visit it. The chance of securing such a visit seemed to be so unattainable that I dared not mention it to my nearest friend; still, I resolved that such a visit should be made. The more I thought of it, the more I became convinced that there was but one way to secure the attention and the interest of the President of the United States, and that was by making the institution so useful to the
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CHAPTER XVII. THE TUSKEGEE NEGRO CONFERENCE.
CHAPTER XVII. THE TUSKEGEE NEGRO CONFERENCE.
Tuesday, February 23, 1892, was a day memorable in the lives and fortunes of the great bulk of the Negro population in the “Black Belt” of the South. It was a strange and altogether new movement in which the Negro was called upon to participate. From the time I first began working at Tuskegee I began to study closely not only the young people but the condition, the weak points and the strong points, of the older people. I was very often surprised to see how much common sense and wisdom these old
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CHAPTER XVIII. A VACATION IN EUROPE.
CHAPTER XVIII. A VACATION IN EUROPE.
In the spring of 1899 a rather notable meeting was held in Boston, in the afternoon, at the Hollis Street Theatre. This meeting was gotten up in the interest of the Tuskegee Institute, by friends of the institution, in Boston for the purpose of raising money for the school. It was presided over by Bishop Lawrence, bishop of Massachusetts. I invited to speak with me at this meeting Dr. W. E. B. DuBois and Mr. Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dr. DuBois read an original story and Mr. Dunbar recited from his
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CHAPTER XIX. THE WEST VIRGINIA AND OTHER RECEPTIONS AFTER EUROPEAN TRIP.
CHAPTER XIX. THE WEST VIRGINIA AND OTHER RECEPTIONS AFTER EUROPEAN TRIP.
Early in August we sailed for America from Southampton, and had a very pleasant voyage on the magnificent ocean Steamer “St. Louis.” On the voyage I was called upon to speak again to the passengers, and made many friends for our cause. While in Europe I received the following invitation: “ Charleston, W. Va. , May 16, 1899. “ Prof. B. T. Washington , “Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama. “ Dear Sir: —Many of the best citizens of West Virginia have united in liberal expressions of admiration an
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CHAPTER XX. THE MOVEMENT FOR A PERMANENT ENDOWMENT
CHAPTER XX. THE MOVEMENT FOR A PERMANENT ENDOWMENT
Having, through nearly twenty years of incessant toil, succeeded in securing for Tuskegee the annual expenses for running the school and the money with which to purchase its present plant and equipment, valued at about $300,000, it has been for several years clearly seen by the trustees and myself that the thing needed to secure Tuskegee in the future was a permanent endowment fund. Not only is an endowment fund necessary as an assurance that the work of Tuskegee shall go on in the future, but i
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CHAPTER XXI. A DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK OF THE TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE.
CHAPTER XXI. A DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK OF THE TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE.
The reader has doubtless noted that much space has been occupied in this volume in detailing the history of the Tuskegee Institute, and to the casual reader this may have appeared out of place in an autobiography. When it is borne in mind, however, that the whole of my time, thought and energy, for the past eighteen years, have been devoted to the building up of this Institute, it will be conceded that in any autobiography of mine, a history of the Tuskegee Institute is unavoidable and necessary
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CHAPTER XXII. LOOKING BACKWARD.
CHAPTER XXII. LOOKING BACKWARD.
My work at Tuskegee has always been of a three fold nature. First, the executive work of the institution proper; second, the securing of money with which to carry on the institution; and, third, the education through the public press and through public addresses of the white people North and South as to the condition and needs of the race. On the grounds, in addition to the ordinary task involved in educating and disciplining over a thousand students, is added the responsibility of training them
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