Another of his great speeches was made at Cambridge, Mass., in 1896. Harvard University, the oldest and most famous university in America, conferred the honorary degree of master of arts upon Mr. Washington in 1896. This was the first time in the history of America that a college or university of such high standing had ever conferred an honorary degree upon a negro. Washington says this honor was the greatest surprise of his life. At the time the ceremony of conferring this degree took place, he made a speech that won great applause from the audience.
It is very interesting to read Washington’s own account of his experiences. “People often ask me,” he says, “if I feel nervous before speaking, or else suggest that, since I speak so often, they suppose I get used to it. In answer to this question I have to say that I always suffer intensely from nervousness before speaking. More than once, just before I was to make an important address, this nervous strain has been so great that I have resolved never again to speak in public. I not only feel nervous before speaking, but after I have finished I usually feel a sense of regret, because it seems to me as if I had left out of my address the best thing that I had meant to say.... Nothing tends to throw me off my balance so quickly, when I am speaking, as to have some one leave the room. To prevent this, I make up my mind, as a rule, that I will try to make my address so interesting, will try to state so many interesting facts one after another, that no one will leave.”[[22]]
Washington made it a rule never to say anything to a Northern audience that he would not say to a Southern audience. He also made it a rule never to say to a negro audience anything that he would not say to a white audience. In this honest and fair way he kept close to the truth, and at the same time never offended fair-minded people of either race.
He was a capital story-teller, but he did not make a practice of telling jokes and funny stories in his speeches, just to make people laugh. He always had a serious purpose in his stories. He had two or three stories that he told frequently, because they were so full of meaning. This was one of them: One day he was going along the road, and he met old Aunt Caroline, with a basket on her head. He said, “Good morning, Aunt Caroline. Where are you going this morning?” And she replied, “Lor’ bless yer, Mister Washington, I dun bin where I’s er goin.” “And so,” he would then say, “some of the races of the earth have done been where they was er goin’. But the negro race is not one of them. Its future lies before it.”[[23]]
Another of his stories was about a good old negro who accompanied Washington on one of his tours. At a certain city they found that they had several hours before the train left; so this old man decided to stroll about to see the town. Presently, he looked at his watch and found that it was just about time for his train to leave, and he was some distance from the station. He rushed to a hack stand, and called out to the first driver he came to, who happened to be a white man, “Hurry up, and take me to the station; I’s gotta get the 4:32 train.” To which the white driver replied, “I ain’t never drove a nigger in my hack yit, an’ I ain’t goin’ ter begin now. You can git a nigger driver ter take ye down.”[[24]]
To this the old colored man replied with perfect good nature, “All right, my friend, we won’t have no misunderstanding or trouble; I’ll tell you how we will settle it; you jest hop in on der back seat an’ do der ridin’ an’ I’ll set in front an’ do der drivin’.” In this way they reached the station on good terms, and the old man caught his train. Like this old negro, Washington always devoted his energies to catching the train, and it made little difference to him whether he sat on the front or back seat.
Two other speeches of Washington attracted wide attention. One of these was delivered in Boston in 1897, at the time of the dedication of a monument to Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw was the Colonel of the famous negro regiment of soldiers from Massachusetts in the Civil War. It was in this regiment that Sergeant William H. Carney served,—the man who triumphantly carried the flag in the great battle of Fort Wagner, and exclaimed after the fight, “The old flag never touched the ground!” Colonel Shaw lost his life in the battle of Fort Wagner, while leading his negro regiment. The people of Boston erected a monument to his memory, and Washington’s speech at its dedication was one of the greatest he ever made.
One other speech was delivered in Chicago in 1898 at a great Peace Celebration, following the close of the Spanish-American War. There was an enormous crowd—the largest he ever spoke to, Washington says. There were sixteen thousand people present. President McKinley was there, together with several cabinet members and other distinguished guests. “The President was sitting in a box at the right of the stage,” says Washington. “When I addressed him I turned to the box, and as I finished the sentence thanking him for his generosity, the whole audience rose and cheered again and again, waving hats and handkerchiefs and canes, until the President arose in the box, and bowed his acknowledgments. At that the enthusiasm broke out again, and the demonstration was almost indescribable.”[[25]]
The demands for him to speak were so great that it was impossible for him to meet them all. He often spoke three and four times a day. He was away from Tuskegee, making speeches, a large part of his time. He made extended tours, by special train, all over the states of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. On these tours he spoke to thousands and thousands of people. Everywhere he went all the people, white and black, heard him gladly. The good that this man did through his oratory cannot be overestimated.