The Story of My Life and Work

by Booker T. Washington

he cannot run away. To own property is to own character.” Another farmer from Macon County said: “The nigger race ain’t such a bugaboo as you think. The trouble with our people is we don’t understand ourselves; we don’t have self-reliance and self-government. Eight years ago I didn’t have even a meat skin, now I have got eighty acres of land and five mules, all paid for. You must be a man. Say sink or swim, I’m coming on top; if you don’t you won’t amount to anything. Some of our race is so shiftless that if their own mother should rise from the grave after twenty years, and come into the house and say, ‘Son, give me a cup of coffee, I’ve been walking all night,’ he couldn’t do it. You make a mortgage and then you get everything you want, not everything you need. I had a start once before, and I got a couple of old horses and a buggy and I rid around too much and I got down. Then I promised the Lord if he would forgive me and help me to start again I would do better. Now I work from Monday to Saturday. A heap of our people don’t like that part of the Bible which says ‘six days thou shalt work.’ When a colored man dies the merchant makes more than on any other day, because you have all got to dress up, hire buggies, and ride around and go to the funeral. I don’t want anybody’s foot on my neck. I don’t go and say, ‘Mas’r Joe, please sir, I wants a little flour or I wants a little coffee for my old lady,’ but when I want anything I just go and get it. You must not sit down and trust God; if you do you’ll starve. Get up and go to work and trust God and you’ll get rich.”

Then Father Mitchell, who is a colored minister, said: “Now, keep quiet; we’s gettin’ along slowly. I wish our neighborhood was like dat brother’s as jest spoke. You give me a good lick for a young man, Mr. President; but, sir, if we had twenty men like you we’d get happy ’fore we enter heaven. We make a heap of corn and potatoes.” “How about morals?” asked some one. “Well, now, I’ll tell you about dat. I’d thank my Redeemer to send me some morals down to my neighborhood. I am putting up a big Baptist Church down on the Sam road, an’ I hope I’ll be able to do my people some good.”

At the time of the organization of the Annual Negro Farmers’ Conference, it was decided to make a special effort to secure the attendance of the representatives of the various educational, religious and philanthropic institutions in the South for the elevation of the Negro. This attempt was quite successful, so much so that in addition to the regular delegates at the Negro Conference quite a large number of educators and others began assembling to witness the proceedings of the Negro Conference. During the session of the Conference it was determined to organize what is known as the “Worker’s Conference,” composed of educators, etc., interested in the elevation of the Negro. It was decided to ask the members of the Worker’s Conference to be present and witness the proceedings of the regular Negro Conference in order that they might get information at first hand as to the condition and needs of the colored people. The following day the Worker’s Conference was called and based its proceedings in a large measure upon the lessons learned the previous day at the Farmers’ Conference. The Worker’s Conference has now been in existence many years and is a very important and far-reaching institution; in fact, it is the only organization that brings together annually the various officers and teachers connected with the large religious and educational enterprises in the South. We have had regularly present at the Worker’s Conference representatives from such institutions as the Hampton Institute, Atlanta University, Clark University, Atlanta Baptist College, Gammon Theological Seminary, Spelman Seminary, Morris Brown College, Fisk University, Central Tennessee College, Straight University, Talladega College, Tougaloo University, Lincoln University, Selma University, and many others which I have not space to mention; in fact, I think every educational institution of any importance for the Negro has been represented at one or more of these Worker’s Conferences. Besides these, we often have present the secretaries of the various religious organizations doing work in the South.

The subjects discussed in these Worker’s Conferences are of a wide range. At the last Conference the time was occupied in a discussion of how the various educational institutions in the South could serve to bring about more satisfactory relations between the two races in the South. The discussion was free, open and most helpful. In fact, it is well understood that in all of these gatherings at Tuskegee there is the utmost frankness and liberality allowed as to opinion and discussion. The Worker’s Conferences are growing in numbers and interest and have now become a permanent part of the educational machinery of the South.

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 own poems. The theatre was filled with representatives of the most cultured and wealthy men and women in Boston, and was said to be the most successful meeting of the kind that had been held for a good while. An admission was charged at the door and a generous sum was raised for the school. This was the first time that Mr. Dunbar had appeared in Boston and his readings produced a most favorable effect. The same was true of Dr. DuBois.

During this same year I received an invitation which surprised me somewhat. It was an invitation from the secretary of the Birmingham, Alabama, Lyceum, a white literary organization, composed of the best and most cultured people in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, inviting me to address the Lyceum. I accepted this invitation to deliver an address before the organization on the 30th of March. There was some adverse criticism and some protests through the newspapers, and otherwise, on the part of a certain element of white people in Birmingham; in fact, some effort was made to prevent white ladies from attending, but I was surprised and gratified when I appeared before the audience to find the room filled with representatives of the best ladies and gentlemen of Birmingham, and I have never spoken before any organization where my words were more heartily and more kindly received than was true on this occasion. I give one or two short extracts from Birmingham newspapers which indicate how my address was received. This was the first time that I had ever received an invitation to address a white literary organization in the South, although during the winter of the same year I had delivered an address before the National Farmer’s Association, which met at Fort Worth, Texas.

Immediately after the public meeting held in Boston in the Hollis Street Theatre, some friends of mine in Boston noted that I seemed to be rather worn out as a result of nearly eighteen years of continuous work, without any vacation during the winter or summer. Without our knowledge, they quietly started a movement to raise a certain sum of money to be used in sending Mrs. Washington and myself to Europe, where we could rest for two or three months. This plan was a very great surprise to us, and it seemed difficult for us to make up our minds to leave the school for so long a time, but these friends insisted that we owed it to the work and to ourselves to take the vacation. The result was that we sailed for Europe on the 10th of May and remained abroad until the 5th of August. We had a very pleasant and delightful trip across the ocean and made many friends on the voyage. I was called upon to speak on the steamer going and had a large and interesting audience. After a voyage of ten days we landed at Antwerp, Belgium, and remained there a short while. We then took a trip through the country in company with some New York friends, whose acquaintance we made on the voyage. In Holland we traveled on the canal boats, which gave us an opportunity of seeing the inner life of the country people, and also the agricultural life of the people.

I was especially anxious to study the agricultural and dairy systems, with a view to utilizing the information in our work at Tuskegee. The thorough cultivation of the soil, for which this country is noted, made a deep impression upon me. There are few other countries, if any in the world, where the soil is so thoroughly cultivated as in Holland. The dairy interests there present an interesting and valuable field for study. While in Holland we visited The Hague, where the International Peace Congress was in session, and were shown many courtesies by the American members of the Peace Conference. After remaining for some time in Holland we returned to Antwerp and spent some time there, and afterwards proceeded to Brussels, where we had a pleasant stay. From Brussels we went to Paris, where we remained nearly six weeks. In Paris we received much kind attention from General Horace Porter, the American Ambassador, and his wife, as well as from other American and French people. Soon after reaching Paris I received an invitation to deliver an address before the American University Club, an organization composed mainly of American college men residing in Paris. The American Ambassador, Gen. Horace Porter, presided at this meeting, and in addition to myself the speakers were Ex-president Benjamin Harrison and Archbishop Ireland. I was also invited to deliver an address the following Sunday in the American chapel, which I did. Mrs. Washington and I attended a reception given by the American Ambassador, where we met many prominent people.