CHAPTER X
MAKING SPEECHES
Frederick Douglass and Booker Washington rank as the greatest orators the negro race has ever produced. This is a high place to occupy, for the race has produced many remarkable speakers.
Douglass was the great spokesman for the race just before the Civil War and during the troublesome days of reconstruction. Washington began his career just at the time that Douglass ended his. Douglass was a very eloquent man; perhaps more eloquent at times than Washington. On the other hand, Washington was a better educated man than Douglass and probably had a more lasting influence upon his generation.
Booker Washington made thousands of speeches in his life. He spoke to white and black; in the North and in the South; in Europe as well as in America. He spoke in churches; at school commencements; at conventions; at educational and religious meetings; at county fairs; and to every kind and condition of people. He spoke before kings and presidents; he spoke to the lowliest men of his own race in the heart of the black belt in Alabama. It is a wonderful thing to be an orator; to speak to men and women in such a way that they will be helped and inspired and made happier and more useful.
When Washington was at Hampton, he began to learn the art of speaking. You remember how he organized a debating society which met for the twenty minutes they had between supper and time to begin work. You remember how he spoke and spoke at these meetings, doing his best to learn how to express himself well. One of his teachers, Miss Mackie, knew of his ambition to become a good speaker, and she gave him a great deal of help, teaching him how to stand, how to pronounce his words, and how to control his voice and gestures. By much hard work he came to be the best speaker among the boys at Hampton.
You will recall, too, how General Armstrong invited him to deliver the alumni address in 1879, and what a big success he made of that. All this time he was speaking at Sunday schools, at churches, at educational meetings, and everywhere he had an opportunity. His trip North with General Armstrong gave him much valuable experience.
The first speech that he made that attracted the attention of all the people was at the National Education Association, in Madison, Wis. The most important thing he said in this speech was that the “whole future of the negro rested largely upon the question as to whether or not he should make himself, through his skill, intelligence, and character, of such undeniable value to the community in which he lived that the community could not dispense with his presence.” He said that any one who “learned to do something better than anybody else—learned to do a common thing in an uncommon manner—had solved his problem, regardless of the color of his skin.”[[18]] He also said that the two races ought to be brought closer together and cultivate the most cordial and friendly relations, rather than become bitter toward each other.
But the greatest speech of Washington’s life was the Atlanta speech. In the year 1895 the people of Georgia determined to hold a great Cotton States Exposition, in Atlanta, which would set forth the progress of the South since the Civil War. In order to make the exposition a great success it was necessary to have the financial assistance of Congress. So a committee was appointed to go to Washington to confer with a committee from Congress. Booker Washington was appointed on this Georgia committee; and his speech in Washington before the Congressional committee was one of unusual force. Many said it was the best speech made. Congress gave the assistance asked.
When the authorities came to plan the exposition in detail, they decided to have a Negro Division. The negroes were asked to take part, and they gladly agreed to do so. They built one of the best buildings on the grounds. This building was planned by a negro architect and was erected entirely by negro labor. It contained exhibits prepared altogether by negroes. It was one of the most interesting parts of the entire exposition.
When the exposition was formally opened in September, 1895, Booker Washington was invited to make an address as a representative of the negro race. James Creelman, a noted newspaper man, the correspondent of the New York World, heard that speech, and he wrote to the World about it. This is what he wrote: