Character Building / Being Addresses Delivered on Sunday Evenings to the Students of Tuskegee Institute

CHARACTER BUILDING
BEING ADDRESSES DELIVERED ON SUNDAY EVENINGS TO THE STUDENTS OF TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1902
Copyright, 1902, by Booker T. Washington Published June, 1902
————— Printed by Manhattan Press, New York, U. S. A.
TO THE OFFICERS AND TEACHERS OF The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute WHO HAVE UNSELFISHLY AND LOYALLY STOOD BY AND SUPPORTED ME IN MY EFFORTS TO BUILD THIS INSTITUTION
Mr. Washington's habit has for many years been to deliver a practical, straightforward address to the students of Tuskegee Institute on Sunday evening. These addresses have had much to do with the building up of the character of his race, for they are very forcible explanations of character building. The speaker has put into them his whole moral earnestness, his broad common-sense and, in many places, his eloquence. Many of Mr. Washington's friends have said that some of these addresses are the best of his utterances.
They have an additional interest because they show him at his work and give an inside view of the school.
This volume is made up of selections from these addresses chosen by Mr. Washington himself.
A number of years ago, when the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute was quite small, with only a few dozen students and two or three teachers, I began the practice of giving what were called Sunday Evening Talks to the students and teachers. These addresses were always delivered in a conversational tone and much in the same manner that I would speak to my own children around my fireside. As the institution gradually grew from year to year, friends suggested that these addresses ought to be preserved, and for that reason during the past few years they have been stenographically reported. For the purpose of this book they have been somewhat revised; and I am greatly indebted to my secretary, Mr. Emmett J. Scott, and to Mr. Max Bennett Thrasher, for assisting me in the revision and in putting them into proper shape for publication; and to Mr. T. Thomas Fortune for suggesting that these addresses be published in book form.