Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-08-31


of business, Christian influence, and
spirit Of seh-help that seemed to have
awakened every faculty within me, and
caused me for the first time to realize
what il meant to be o man instead of
piece OF property.
while there / resolved that, when
l had finished my course of training,
| would 60 into the far South. into the
black belt Of the South, and give my
life to providing the same kind of |
opportunity for self-reliance and self
awakening that had found provided
for me at Hampton. My work began
at Tuskegee, Ala, In 1881, in small
shanty and church, with one teacher
and 80 students, without dollars |
worth Of property. The spirit Of work
and of industrial thrift, with aid from
the State and generosity from the
North, mas enabled US to develop an
institution Of a thousand students,
gathered from 26 States, with 81 in
structors and 3s buildings.
II am sometimes asked what is the
object ofall this outlay of energy and
money, To. that l would answer that
the needs Of the 10, 600, 900 coiored peo-
Pile in the South may be roughly said
to be food, clothing, shelter, education,
relations. These 10, 900, 900 people can
not be reached by any direct agency,
but thoy can be reached by sending out
among them strong selected young men
and women, with the proper training Of
the head and hand and heart, who will
| live among these masses and show
| them how to lift themselves up. The
\ problem that puskegee Institute keeps
| before itself ,is how to prepare these
| leaders. -
The first time / went, to Tuskegee /
happened TO ride for half day through
the State of Georgia in the same seat
| in the car with a man whose converse
tion showed him to be one of the class
| to whom the. designation "unrecon-
structed" has sometimes been applied.
An officer in the Confederate army, he
had accepted the situation at the close
of the war, but now, after 30 years,
although he spoke of existing oondi
tions without bitterness, he spoke of
them with little or no sympathy. l
had some doubt how he would COM
ment on my errand, when told him
that I was on my way to attend the
Negro Conference at Tuskegee.
Imagine my surprise when he ex-
claimed: Going to Tuskegee, are
| vOuy u Sb6 DOUhbT UuSb
let me tell you there's man that's
got the right idea of things He's
teaching the negroes to work. wish
the South had Thousand Booker
Washingtons This man, learned
afterward, when was In Atlanta, was
one of the most prominent and SUCCESS
full business men of that city.
The second day of my stay at Tuske-
, gee, as | came out of the rude build
ings where the conference had been
held, young colored man waiting at
the door acoosted me- SIS not this
Mr.. - he said, land at the
Worlds Fair were you not in charge
Of such an exhibit?' naming one Of
, the educational exhibits | said was
i the man. "Don't you remember me?''
, he added, telling me where he had
/ been working at the time. did re.
! member him perfectly, and asked how
t he happened to be SO far removed from
Chicago.
at was like this, he said. mex
year l went to the Atlanta Exposition
3 While there ] heard Mr.. Washington
speak, and learned about his schoo
q where negro boys could learn trade
4 / had always been at a disadvantage
i because did not know how to do an.
q kind of work really we'll. So l cam
!, here and began to learn carpentering
Q l have the trade nearly learned now
a and when graduate from here / shal
o know how to really work"
n Soon after beginning my long ca
J, ride from Tuskegee back to the Mort
n l stepped into the mail car on the trai
y to post some letters. The envelopes
s had used bore the imprint of Tuskege
10 Institute in the corner. As / handle
them to the postal clerk, he glanced a
If the printing in the corner and eS
IA claimed: II say, that Booker Wash
}, ington is a wonderful man, isn't he
d ] never saw him, but he's teachin
II those people there to work. Then
ID went on to tell me about young CO
a. ored man whom he had known who ha
e. gone to Tuskegee and learned harness
IL making, and then come home to set U
le business for himself. This man tol
ID me later that he had never been farth'
a north than Louisville.
ID 1t seemed to me as il here was O
8. interesting coincidence of unsougl
he testimony, and all tending to show no
In consistently Tuskegee teaches gosp
ed of work. Industrial training GO
ut hand in hand there. with mental ar
". moral teaching, in earnest effort
n, help the thousand young negro men al
he women there and make their liv
10. count for the most possible for ther
ne selves and their race.
ne Amy one who has heard Mr.. Was
X. ington speak at any length to audienc
ire of his own race knows how earnest
at he advocates industrial education
". the negro. As might be expected, the
III we find at Tuskegee practical hal
nd training. Tho advantage is, twofol
for The students not only learn to wor
/ but in doing so many are enabled
nd work out all or part of the expens
;on which otherwise in many cases wou
The have prevented them from remain
pc. at the school.
by, OF the 30 buildings at Tuskegee,
lad but the first three, and these are amo
re, the smallest ones, have been built
/ the students. Several of the largest
too these buildings are of brick, and {
ely educational process begins in t
ing institutes own brickyard, where
It class of muscular young men are ms
dry ing bricks under the direction of
de- capable instructor, and in making tn
no learn the trade which they expect
led follow in after life This yard
so only makes all the bricks the instit,
to uses, but many thousand more to
ted sold each year for use in the surroul
ght ing country. III.
hus heard Mr.. Washington tell to
tile audience Of l, 500 negroes, in CHAR
was ton, s. O., a characteristic story
me the beginning of this briclSya
and AFTER 1 had been teaching, a while
e." Tuskegee, he said, 81 began to 4
ina that l was partly throwing away
ing, time teaching the students only boo