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

"It will keep you in touch with your homes, and it always pays to keep under the home influence, no matter how humble that home may be, no matter how much poverty there may be about it, no matter how much ignorance there may be in it—it always pays to keep in close touch with your homes. I want you to do this, not only for your own sake, but more for the sake of your parents, for the sake of those who are trying to keep you at this institution. You can make them feel your appreciation in no better way than by writing them regularly in the manner that I have tried to urge you to do. It will encourage them. It will make them feel that it pays to make the sacrifice for you."

These practical talks on the value of small things are enforced by a corp of inspectors, whose practised eyes are quick to detect the soiled collar, the loose button, the unpolished boot, when the forces assemble for meals and for chapel, and the personal appearance of every student is carefully scrutinised. Nothing is more humiliating to a Tuskegee boy or girl than to be taken out of line as the body marches out of chapel.

It requires care and thought to make a hasty toilet after a ten-hour day on the farm or in the shops, and be ready for supper on the stroke of the bell. And a student late to meals goes without that meal unless he has a good excuse. But out of such a system arises a pride in personal appearance, and a spirit of self-respect that goes far toward making useful men and women. It must be remembered, too, that much of the raw material which is taken in hand at Tuskegee has not had the advantages of any system and order at home, even in the primary qualities of personal cleanliness and neatness.

It sounds like the discipline of a man-of-war to say that one loose or missing button on the clothing of any one of a thousand boys is almost instantly noted and recorded, but the students themselves are proud of the fact that it is seldom that one of them must be called out of line by an inspector. They have responded to the test set for them, and they never forget it. They feel a personal sorrow that the epithet "shiftless" has been used to characterise their race, and they realise that it must be lived down in small things as well as great.

There is a student police force at Tuskegee, the members of which are uniformed and allowed to carry policemen's short "clubs" on their night rounds. A visitor, who was on his way to my house, to dine, met at the gate a young man in uniform, apparently on guard, who saluted with his raised stick. My guest expressed some surprise, saying:

"I did not know that you had to guard against the hostility of the Southern white people of this region. It is shocking to know that race antagonism can be so violent and unreasonable."

I replied: "I have no better friends than the white people of Tuskegee, and there is no need for a body guard, I assure you. That alarming young man was simply a student policeman who saluted you as he is required to do all teachers and visitors. He is allowed to carry a stick, not because he will ever need to use it, but because it is a badge of his authority, an emblem of the responsibility of his position. The officers of our cadet corps carry swords for the same reasons."

The boy policeman and his club typify the worth of little things, indirectly furnishing a help toward the complex structure of character. The young man in uniform, trudging on his night rounds about the school grounds, feels himself more of a man if he is equipped for a man's work. It adds to his self-respect, and it helps him to feel that his duty is an important one.

The Savings Bank Department of the school, which is part of the regularly authorised banking department of the institution, has been, in addition to its education in business methods, a great aid in teaching the students the value of little things. Early in the present year, there were to the credit of the students in the savings fund deposits of more than $14,000. This was largely made up of small accounts. The depositors are allowed to have checkbooks, and to draw on their accounts checks in as small amounts as twenty-five cents. As a result they do not carry their available cash around in their pockets, but hasten to the bank with it, and settle nearly all transactions among themselves by check.

This impresses on their minds the value of saving, for the bank account is in itself a strong incentive. These deposits come from various sources. The work done by the students in the various industrial departments is not paid for in cash, but its value is credited to their accounts with the school for the board, lodging, laundry, etc., furnished them. Their work amounted last year to a cash value of more than $90,000.