WORKING WITH THE HANDS
MR. WASHINGTON IN HIS OFFICE AT TUSKEGEE
WORKING
WITH THE HANDS
BEING A SEQUEL TO "UP FROM SLAVERY"
COVERING THE AUTHOR'S
EXPERIENCES IN INDUSTRIAL
TRAINING AT TUSKEGEE
By
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
Illustrated from photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston
NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1904
Copyright, 1904, by
Doubleday, Page & Company
Published, May, 1904
INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL
SUBSCRIPTION EDITION
There are few subjects that are more important to the people of all sections of the country than emphasising the value of labour with the hands. It has an especial interest for the people who dwell in small towns and in country districts. It has an interest for the farmer, the mechanic, and for the woman who is engaged in domestic work, as well as for those whose occupations are more in the direction of mental work alone. How to dignify all forms of hand-labour, and to make it attractive instead of repulsive, is a question that vitally concerns every family. It is my earnest desire that what I have said in the following pages may reach that class of people in our country, especially those who are struggling with the hands to reach a higher and more useful plane of life. It is my further wish that many youths who may read what I have said may have their ambition quickened and their courage strengthened for the battle of life.
For several years, I have been receiving requests, from many parts of the United States and from foreign countries as well, for some detailed information concerning the value of industrial training and the methods employed to develop it. This little volume is the result, in part, of an attempt to answer these queries. Two proved facts need emphasis here:
First: Mere hand training, without thorough moral, religious, and mental education, counts for very little. The hands, the head, and the heart together should be so correlated that one may be made to help the others. At the Tuskegee Institute we find constantly that we can make our industrial work assist in the academic training, and vice versa.
Second: The effort to make an industry profitable should not be the aim of first importance. The teaching should be most emphasised. Our policy at Tuskegee is to make an industry pay its way if possible, but at the same time not to sacrifice the training to mere economic gain. Those who undertake such an endeavour, with the expectation to getting much money out of an industry, will find themselves disappointed, unless they realise that the institution must be, all the time, working upon new material. At Tuskegee, for example, when a student is trained to the point of efficiency where he can construct a first-class wagon, we do not keep him there to build more vehicles, but send him out into the world to exert his trained influence and capabilities in lifting others to his level; and we begin our work with the raw material all over again.
I shall be more than repaid if these chapters serve the purpose of helping forward the cause of education, even though their aid be remote and indirect.
Booker T. Washington.
July 22, 1904,
South Weymouth, Mass.