Evening star., 1902-02-22
Negroes in the South Now
Have Better Homes.
COMFORT AND LUXURY
A CONTRAST TO THE CAIRNS OF
OTHER DAYS.
The Story Of Two Ex-Slaves and Their
Rise in the
World.

Written for The Evening Star by Booker L. wash
ingtOn, Principal Of the Tuskegee Institute
history of the Tuskegee Normal and Indus
trial Institute 1 spent a good deal of time
travelling through the black belt Of the
south among the members of my race One
of the things that impressed me most yivid=
ly was the wretchedness of the houses In
which the people lived. 1t was seldom that
l could find decent house in which to eat
meal or spend the night. On one occa-
sion recall when passing through a cotton
raising district, friend and l stopped
at cabin for dinner. When We sat down
to the table there were five of us; on the
ia BILE there was but one fork for five of
us to OF course, there was little
embarrassing hesitation. In the opposite
corner of the cabin l noted there was a
cheap organ, for which the family had
paid SGD on the installment plan. More
than once had to go the outside of the
house at night and wait tile the family
had gone to bed before l could retire.
had to do this because there was but one
room in the house. In the morning l had
to make my toilet in the yard as there
was no provision for any wash bowl or
ba sin in the house.
The object of this article is not to de-
scribe the bad conditions that existed at
that time but to call attention to the i'm
provement in the home life our people have
made within the last twenty years or more
l do not believe that 1t is possible for
any one to Judge very thoroughly of the
life of any individual or race unless he
gets into the homes. How l recall that in
my own case, l have completely misjudged
the real worth of individuals because 1
was led to pass my opinion upon them be-
cause their dress was coarse or their Ian
guage broken or their faces uninviting. 1t
has only been when L have seen the evi-
dence of culture convenience. thoughtful
nd flar,n fIfcyN1n ,1,;I
homes of such people that l have been
made to see the mistake of judging people
outside of their homes.
Domestic Improvement.
So. with regard to the negro. IL one
wants to get an idea Of the progress that
the race has made within a few years he
should not pass Judgment until he has had
an opportunity to get into the homes of the
race To see the better side of the home
life of the negro is not an easy thing for
a stranger or for member of another race
to do. During the last three years I have
spent considerable time in travelling through
the south During this time l have seen
my people in the fields. in the shops, in
schools in colleges, in churches. in prisons
and IN their homes, but in no place have I
noted such evidence of progress as in their
homes. Behind the development of nearly
every home there was a history in many
cases, both romantic and pathetic. a history
of struggle or self-sa crifice, of failure. and
then final success.
Let me tell in brief the story of one OF
these homes found in Mississippi 1 found
myself one night not long ago. a guest In
a home in Mississippi of a member of nv
race. There were in 1t seven rooms. The
parlor, the kitchen, the dining room and
path and bed rooms were as clean sweet
comfortable. conveniently arranged and
attractive as one would expect to find in
Massachusetts, On the table of the dining
room were to be found the daily paper,
weekly paper and several magazines; many
Of the books on the shelves of the library
walls were not Of the cheap flashy charac-
ter, but had been selected with taste and
care. I saw little about this house except
the color Of the occupants to remind me
was from kitchen to parlor a delicacy,
sweetness and refinement that made one
feel that life was worth the living An
other thing that pleased me as much as
what I saw was the pride with which each
me mber Of the family referred to his own
race and the faith all exhibited in the sue
cess Of the race. I neither heard nor saw
anything that led me to believe that any
member OF the family was ashamed Of his
people or wanted to discard the race to
which Providence had assigned him for
another race. Many people, I think, have
the feeling that the average negro is con-
tinually seeking to get away from his own
people, forgetting that every sensible negro
has as much pride in his own as is true Of
other races. AS the negro becomes edu-
Gated. the more he finds comfort and satis-
faction in the company Of educated men,
bers Of his own people.
A Family History.
But I promised to tell the story Of this
family. Both father and mother had been
slaves. and they were not ashamed of
that. In some way both of them learned
to read and write a little during slavery.
The father was one of the most faithful
and trusted of his masters slaves. When
Abraham hncoln's proclamation was is
sued the father and mother became free
and found themselves. Of course, compelled
to begin life with nothing, so far as the
material part of life was concerned. They
decided to make their new home near that
of their former master, and always re-
tained his good will and received from him
much good advice that proved to be USE
full in times Of adversely.
The chief desire Of the hearts Of these
two ex-slaves had been from the time they
were married to some day own at least q
little shanty that they could call their own.
In order to secure the first few acres Of
land. the sacrifices which this family told
me about, in their own way. was most in
teresting. The mother told me that after
blowing or hoeing cotton in the field day
after day by the side of her husband. she
that she often went barefooted for a good
part of the winter months. The father told
me that after he had secured few acres
of land he would work in the cotton field
all day, and then. by moonlight or lamp
light he built with his own tired hands the
first little One-room cabin; how, q few
years later, he had saved q little by get
ting out shingles at night for SALE he was
able to put glass windows in the cabin,
and how, still later. he had added a second
room to the cabin, and then a third and
fourth until the house had grown into this
now comfortable house of seven rooms He
told how, during much Of the time that he
and his wife were making this struggle to
secure a home. they had to mortgage their
crop for the food upon which to live and
pay rate of interest for their loans that
averaged 15 per cent. Not the least In
tefesting part of the story that / heard
from the lips Of these two now happy ex-
slaves was the manner In which tfley had
contrived to educate their children, a boy
and girl. and 1t was through the efforts
Of these two children that many of the
convenienoes and refining influences had
been added to the house.
Inquiry on the outside of this house
among white and colored people brought
out the fact that this man was q regular
taxpayer. had q comfortable little bank ac-
count and that he had the respect and con-
fdence Of both races.
Encouraging Features.
The most encouraging thing in connec-
ton with the home getting effort Of the
negro now going on is that one EN- And In
almost every town a.n4 city in the country.
WI 4