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 in parental directions, involving systematic regulations for bathing, eating, sleeping, the use of the tooth brush and care of health. In performing these duties, especially in collecting money in the early years, I have often met with many discouragements, but I early resolved to let nothing cause me to despair completely.
The first time I went North to secure money for the Tuskegee Institute I remember that on my way I called to see one of the secretaries of an organization which for years had been deeply interested in the education of our people in the South. I supposed, of course, that I should receive a most cordial and encouraging reception at his hands. To my surprise he received me most coldly and proceeded to tell me in the most discouraging tones possible that I had made a mistake by coming North to secure aid for our school, and he advised me to take the first train South. He said that I could not possibly succeed in securing any funds for Tuskegee. In fact, he told me very frankly that I would not secure enough money to pay my traveling expenses. I confess that this bucket of cold water thrown upon me at a time when I needed encouraging and sympathetic words more than anything else, rather tended to take the heart out of me, but I determined not to give up, but to keep pressing forward, until I had thoroughly demonstrated whether or not it was possible for me to secure funds in the North. I will not prolong this story except to say that within a period of four years after I was so coldly received by this secretary, he introduced me where I was to speak at a large public meeting in New York City in the interest of Tuskegee; and, in introducing me to the large audience, he used the most flattering language and praised me without stint for the successful work that I was engaged in doing. I do not know whether he remembered, while he was introducing me, that I was the young man he had discouraged only four years before.
I shall never forget my first experience in speaking before a Northern audience. Before I went North Gen. Armstrong had talked to me a good deal about what to say and how to say it. I shall always remember one of his injunctions, which was, “Give them an idea for every word.” When I first went into the North to get money I began work in one or two of the small towns in the Western part of Massachusetts. As I remember it, the first town that I reached was Northampton. As I expected to remain in the town several days, my first effort was to find a colored family with whom I could board, but as very few colored families lived in that town I found this not an easy job. It did not once occur to me that I could find accommodation at any of the hotels in Northampton.
As an indication of Gen. Armstrong’s deep interest and helpful influence in the establishment and progress of this institution, I insert a letter of recommendation he gave me to be used among people in the North. These letters were always given most freely and the General was constantly in search of opportunities to serve the school:
“Hampton, Va., Oct. 26, 1891.
“This is to introduce Mr. Booker T. Washington, the head of the Tuskegee, Alabama, Colored Normal and Industrial School.
“It is a noble, notable work; the best product of Negro enterprise of the century. I make this statement advisedly. I beg a hearing for Mr. Washington, he is a true ‘Moses.’
“As much as any man in the land, he is securing to the whole country the moral results which the Civil War meant to produce.
“Tuskegee is the bright spot in the Black Belt of the South. It is a proof that the Negro can raise the Negro.