Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-19
Honors Bestowed Upon Him by Both
North and South.
HE ATLANTA EXPOSITION SPEECH
Received by Queen Victoria at
Windsor Castle.
IN BOTH VIRG INIAS

peen bestowed upon that educational leader
OF his race. number of instances are
shown In the course of the pages of Wash
ington's recently published autobiography.
up From Slavery" In chapter IL he
writes:
1t is a pleasure for me TO add that in
all my contact with the white people OF
the south 1 have never received single
personal insult, The white people in ard
near Tuskegee, to an especial degree
seem to count it privilege to show me all
the respect within their power. and often
go out of their way to do this. Not very
long ago l was making a journey between
Dallas, Texas, and Houston. In some way
l. became known in advance that was
the train. At nearly every station at which
this train stopped numbers of white people.
including in most cases the officials of
the town, came aboard and introduced
themselves and thanked me heartily for
the work that l was trying to do for the
south.
A Trying Trip.
ION another occasion when 1 was making
trip from Augusta. Ca. to Atlanta. being
rather tired from much travel, rode in a
Pullman sleeper. When / went into the
car, found there two ladies from Boston
whom l knew well. These good ladies were
perfectly ignorant, II seems, of the customs
of the south, and in the goodness of their
hearts, insisted that l take a. seat with
them in their section. After some hesita-
ton l consented. j had been there but a
Few minutes when one of them, without
my knowledge, ordered supper to be served
to the three of us. This embarrassed me
still further. The was full of southern
white men, most of whom had their eyes
on our party. When / found that supper
had been ordered, 1 tried to contrive some
excuse that would permit me to leave the
section, but the ladies insisted that / must
eat with them. l finally settled back in
my seat with sigh. and said to myself, 1
am in for il now, sure
ITO add further to the embarrassment of
the situation, soon after the supper was
placed on the table one of the ladies re-
membered that she had in her satchel a
special kind of tea which she wished served,
and as she felt sure the porter did not know
how to brew it properly she insisted upon
getting up and preparing and serving it
herself At last the meal was over; and it
seemed the longest one that L had ever
eaten. When we were through / decided to
get myself out of the embarrassing situa-
ton and go into the smoking room, where
most of the men were by that time, to see
how the land lay. In the meantime, however,
it had become in some way known through
out the car who l was. When | went into
the smoking room l was never more sur
prised in my life than when each man,
nearly every one of them a citizen of
Georgia, came up and introduced himself
to me and thanked me earnestly for the
work / was trying to do for the whole
south. This was not fattery, because each
one of these individuals knew that he had
nothing to gain by trying to flatter me-"
A Short Talk to a White Audience.
Mr.. Washington later in the book tells
of his desire to speak directly to repre-
sentative white audience. an opportunity
for which came in 1888 when the interna-
tional meeting of Christian Workers was
hold at Atlanta. He was invited to address
the gathering, and being then in Boston
made hurried trip to and from that city,
remaining in Atlanta one hour for the pur-
pose of delivering ffve-minute talk His
address delivered before audience
of about 1000, mostly northern and south
ern whites. He said of this: What 1 said
seemed to be received with favor and en-
thusiasm. The Atlanta papers the next
day commented in friendly terms on my
address. l felt that / had in some degree
accomplished my object-that of getting
hearing from the dominant class in the
south"
The Tuskegee leader became somewhat
closely identified with the Atlanta exposi-
tion of 1895, being invited by citizens of
Atlanta in the spring of that year to &C
company a committee from that city to
Washington to appear before Congress to
urge government help for the exposition.
The Atlanta committee was com
posed Of about twenty-five of the
most prominent and influential peo-
Pile of Georgia. all being white but
Washington and Bishops Gaines and Grant.
w dSnlngtOn delivered an d0uTeSS DeIOTe
the congressional committee. He says: Il
spoke for fifteen or twenty minutes and was
surprised at the close to receive the hearty
congratulations of the Georgia committee
and the members of Congress present"
At the Atlanta Exposition.
Washington was offered the charge of
the negro exhibit at the exposition, but
was obliged to decline. He was on the
jury of awards to pass upon the education
al eYhibjf O motion of Thomas
Nelson Page was made the secretary of
that division of the jurors.
One of the most notable events in WASH
ington's life was the address that he deliv-
cred on the opening day of the exposition.
One of the New York newspaper correspond
ents present described that speech the
most significant feature of the day. In his
account he said:
when Booker T. Washington stood on
the platform of the auditorium with his
whole face Lit up with the fire of prophecy,
Clark Howell, the successor of Henry
Grady, said to me That mans speech is !
the beginning of a moral revolution in |
America. 1t is the first time that negro |
has made speech in the south on any |
important occasion before an audience COM
posed of white men and women. 1t cleo |
trified the audience and the response was |
as IL 1t had come. from the throat of a whirl- |
wind. = At the close of the speech Gov
ernor Bullock rushed across the stage and /
seized the orators hand. Another shout |
greeted this demonstration and for few |
minutes the two men stood facing each |
other, hand in hand
In Europe.
In the spring of 1899 Mr.. Washington |
and his wife went to Europe for several |
months, the expenses of his journey being |
paid by Boston friends In Europe the trav- |
elers were received at all points with high |
est honors. In Paris Mr.. Washington was |
a guest Of the University Club of that city |
at a banquet attended. among others, by |
ex-President Harrison and Archbishop Ire |
land. Ambassador Porter presided. In Eng /
land the negro travellers were received with |
exceptional distinction, Washington deliver |
ing number Of addresses and being enter |
tained at the residences of some of the /
most distinguished members Of English So /
ciety. He says In this connection:
Through the kindness of Lady Aberdeen /
my wife and were enabled to go with /
party of those who were attending the in
ternational congress of women, then in ses- |
sion in London. to see Queen Victoria at /
Windsor Castle, where afterward We were |
all the guests of her majesty at tea"
While in Paris an invitation was received |
from the common council of Charleston
w. Va, to visit that city to deliver an ad- /
dress upon his return to America The in 4
vitation urged him to accept in order that /