Up from Slavery: An Autobiography
Tuskegee. On this second visit Mr. Charles W. Hare, a prominent white
citizen of Tuskegee, kindly volunteered to accompany me, to reenforce
my invitation with one from the white people of Tuskegee and the
vicinity.
Just previous to my going to Washington the second time, the country
had been excited, and the coloured people greatly depressed, because of
several severe race riots which had occurred at different points in the
South. As soon as I saw the President, I perceived that his heart was
greatly burdened by reason of these race disturbances. Although there
were many people waiting to see him, he detained me for some time,
discussing the condition and prospects of the race. He remarked several
times that he was determined to show his interest and faith in the
race, not merely in words, but by acts. When I told him that I thought
that at that time scarcely anything would go farther in giving hope and
encouragement to the race than the fact that the President of the
Nation would be willing to travel one hundred and forty miles out of
his way to spend a day at a Negro institution, he seemed deeply
impressed.
While I was with the President, a white citizen of Atlanta, a Democrat
and an ex-slaveholder, came into the room, and the President asked his
opinion as to the wisdom of his going to Tuskegee. Without hesitation
the Atlanta man replied that it was the proper thing for him to do.
This opinion was reenforced by that friend of the race, Dr. J.L.M.
Curry. The President promised that he would visit our school on the
16th of December.
When it became known that the President was going to visit our school,
the white citizens of the town of Tuskegee—a mile distant from the
school—were as much pleased as were our students and teachers. The
white people of this town, including both men and women, began
arranging to decorate the town, and to form themselves into committees
for the purpose of cooperating with the officers of our school in order
that the distinguished visitor might have a fitting reception. I think
I never realized before this how much the white people of Tuskegee and
vicinity thought of our institution. During the days when we were
preparing for the President’s reception, dozens of these people came to
me and said that, while they did not want to push themselves into
prominence, if there was anything they could do to help, or to relieve
me personally, I had but to intimate it and they would be only too glad
to assist. In fact, the thing that touched me almost as deeply as the
visit of the President itself was the deep pride which all classes of
citizens in Alabama seemed to take in our work.
The morning of December 16th brought to the little city of Tuskegee
such a crowd as it had never seen before. With the President came Mrs.
McKinley and all of the Cabinet officers but one; and most of them
brought their wives or some members of their families. Several
prominent generals came, including General Shafter and General Joseph
Wheeler, who were recently returned from the Spanish-American war.
There was also a host of newspaper correspondents. The Alabama
Legislature was in session in Montgomery at this time. This body passed
a resolution to adjourn for the purpose of visiting Tuskegee. Just
before the arrival of the President’s party the Legislature arrived,
headed by the governor and other state officials.
The citizens of Tuskegee had decorated the town from the station to the
school in a generous manner. In order to economize in the matter of
time, we arranged to have the whole school pass in review before the
President. Each student carried a stalk of sugar-cane with some open
bolls of cotton fastened to the end of it. Following the students the
work of all departments of the school passed in review, displayed on
“floats” drawn by horses, mules, and oxen. On these floats we tried to
exhibit not only the present work of the school, but to show the
contrasts between the old methods of doing things and the new. As an
example, we showed the old method of dairying in contrast with the
improved methods, the old methods of tilling the soil in contrast with
the new, the old methods of cooking and housekeeping in contrast with
the new. These floats consumed an hour and a half of time in passing.
In his address in our large, new chapel, which the students had
recently completed, the President said, among other things:—
To meet you under such pleasant auspices and to have the opportunity of
a personal observation of your work is indeed most gratifying. The
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute is ideal in its conception,
and has already a large and growing reputation in the country, and is
not unknown abroad. I congratulate all who are associated in this
undertaking for the good work which it is doing in the education of its
students to lead lives of honour and usefulness, thus exalting the race
for which it was established.
Nowhere, I think, could a more delightful location have been chosen for
this unique educational experiment, which has attracted the attention
and won the support even of conservative philanthropists in all
sections of the country.
To speak of Tuskegee without paying special tribute to Booker T.
Washington’s genius and perseverance would be impossible. The inception
of this noble enterprise was his, and he deserves high credit for it.
His was the enthusiasm and enterprise which made its steady progress
possible and established in the institution its present high standard
of accomplishment. He has won a worthy reputation as one of the great
leaders of his race, widely known and much respected at home and abroad
as an accomplished educator, a great orator, and a true philanthropist.
The Hon. John D. Long, the Secretary of the Navy, said in part:—
I cannot make a speech to-day. My heart is too full—full of hope,
admiration, and pride for my countrymen of both sections and both
colours. I am filled with gratitude and admiration for your work, and
from this time forward I shall have absolute confidence in your
progress and in the solution of the problem in which you are engaged.
The problem, I say, has been solved. A picture has been presented
to-day which should be put upon canvas with the pictures of Washington
and Lincoln, and transmitted to future time and generations—a picture
which the press of the country should spread broadcast over the land, a
most dramatic picture, and that picture is this: The President of the
United States standing on this platform; on one side the Governor of
Alabama, on the other, completing the trinity, a representative of a
race only a few years ago in bondage, the coloured President of the
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute.
God bless the President under whose majesty such a scene as that is
presented to the American people. God bless the state of Alabama, which
is showing that it can deal with this problem for itself. God bless the
orator, philanthropist, and disciple of the Great Master—who, if he
were on earth, would be doing the same work—Booker T. Washington.
Postmaster General Smith closed the address which he made with these
words:—
We have witnessed many spectacles within the last few days. We have
seen the magnificent grandeur and the magnificent achievements of one
of the great metropolitan cities of the South. We have seen heroes of
the war pass by in procession. We have seen floral parades. But I am
sure my colleagues will agree with me in saying that we have witnessed
no spectacle more impressive and more encouraging, more inspiring for
our future, than that which we have witnessed here this morning.
Some days after the President returned to Washington I received the
letter which follows:—
Executive Mansion, Washington, Dec. 23, 1899.
Dear Sir: By this mail I take pleasure in sending you engrossed copies
of the souvenir of the visit of the President to your institution.
These sheets bear the autographs of the President and the members of
the Cabinet who accompanied him on the trip. Let me take this
opportunity of congratulating you most heartily and sincerely upon the
great success of the exercises provided for and entertainment furnished
us under your auspices during our visit to Tuskegee. Every feature of
the programme was perfectly executed and was viewed or participated in
with the heartiest satisfaction by every visitor present. The unique
exhibition which you gave of your pupils engaged in their industrial
vocations was not only artistic but thoroughly impressive. The tribute
paid by the President and his Cabinet to your work was none too high,
and forms a most encouraging augury, I think, for the future prosperity
of your institution. I cannot close without assuring you that the
modesty shown by yourself in the exercises was most favourably
commented upon by all the members of our party.
With best wishes for the continued advance of your most useful and
patriotic undertaking, kind personal regards, and the compliments of
the season, believe me, always,
Very sincerely yours,
John Addison Porter,
Secretary to the President.
To President Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute, Tuskegee, Ala.
Twenty years have now passed since I made the first humble effort at
Tuskegee, in a broken-down shanty and an old hen-house, without owning
a dollar’s worth of property, and with but one teacher and thirty
students. At the present time the institution owns twenty-three hundred
acres of land, one thousand of which are under cultivation each year,
entirely by student labour. There are now upon the grounds, counting
large and small, sixty-six buildings; and all except four of these have
been almost wholly erected by the labour of our students. While the
students are at work upon the land and in erecting buildings, they are
taught, by competent instructors, the latest methods of agriculture and
the trades connected with building.
There are in constant operation at the school, in connection with
thorough academic and religious training, thirty industrial
departments. All of these teach industries at which our men and women
can find immediate employment as soon as they leave the institution.
The only difficulty now is that the demand for our graduates from both
white and black people in the South is so great that we cannot supply
more than one-half the persons for whom applications come to us.
Neither have we the buildings nor the money for current expenses to
enable us to admit to the school more than one-half the young men and
women who apply to us for admission.
In our industrial teaching we keep three things in mind: first, that
the student shall be so educated that he shall be enabled to meet
conditions as they exist now, in the part of the South where he
lives—in a word, to be able to do the thing which the world wants done;
second, that every student who graduates from the school shall have
enough skill, coupled with intelligence and moral character, to enable
him to make a living for himself and others; third, to send every
graduate out feeling and knowing that labour is dignified and
beautiful—to make each one love labour instead of trying to escape it.
In addition to the agricultural training which we give to young men,
and the training given to our girls in all the usual domestic
employments, we now train a number of girls in agriculture each year.
These girls are taught gardening, fruit-growing, dairying, bee-culture,
and poultry-raising.
While the institution is in no sense denominational, we have a
department known as the Phelps Hall Bible Training School, in which a
number of students are prepared for the ministry and other forms of
Christian work, especially work in the country districts. What is