New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-04-30
A DAY AT TUSKEGEE.
Contrast Scith Hampton-The Negro
Under Negro Teaching.

visitor for the first tine 70 Booker Washington's
school VIII be struck by the contrast Il presents
TO its prototype. much as by siTnilar!ties II
has distinct Individuality partly due to differ
ence in situation, partly TO the fact that here
the negro character IS less under white innu-
ence. Some observer might say that these diff
ferences We're defects. indicating a departure
from the highest example set for negro improve
Inent. Properly considered, they are hopeful
signs. They show what the negro can DO under
negro leadership. and his very mistakes stamp
the result as his own work. the genuine express
sion Of his own personality, not a servile copy
Of a model. however perfect The Hampton
graduate IS the product Of training under white
teachers. Tuskegee carries the evolution a step
further. and shows the negro under the exclu-
sive teaching Of his own race.
These Alabama hills ore not adapted to the
easy creation OF q beautiful institution. They
are sandy, rough. far from fertile, and even
az this season Of the year-which may be an
exceptional one-they are dry ana dusty No
such lawns and shade trees and graceful shrub
berry flourish by Hampton Roads here
possible. The buildings. built almost entirely
by student labor show some roughness of con-
Fcruction. though the later buildings witness
10 a great Improvement in design and execu-
ton Farm barns ere crude and simple. Some
Of the farm lands are recently cleared. and
stumps Btill stand among the crops Nothing
IS done for show. Here We see work being car
ried on under conditions not greatly different
from those which must confront the graduated
farmer. blacksmith or carpenter when he IN
back among his own people
On the whole. this is an advantage 70 the stu
dents. Booker Washington tells them that II
they can learn to DO profitable farming on the
Tuskegee Hills they can co it anywhere, and in
the struggle to get land and become prosperous
the average negro is not going 10 get the pick
OF the fertile farms. II he can raise good crops
OF cotton and corn where they did not grow he
fore. he will not only he establishing his own
independence but comforting benefit on the
nation. which Will establish his rights beyond
possibility Of attack. Tuskegee is evidently
teaching him to do this and TO DO Il in his own
peculiar way, for the negro habits and tastes
ere everywhere manifest.
Here too experiments are being carried on
which promise great benefit to the whole cotton
country. Professor Carver, the head Of the
Agricultural Department. q graduate Of the
Iowa Agricultural College. has been working to
produce a long staple upland cotton. The Agri-
cultural Department at Washington has been
engaged IN the same work with entirely differ
ent hyhridizations. Professor Carver, by cross
inC sea island and short staple upland cottons.
has succeeded in producing fibre, not merely
longer than anything hitherto grown in this
region, but considerably longer than the sea
island staple. He is now experimenting to fix
his types before sending out any seed, and, Il
his hybrids fulfil their promise, he viii add
thousands Of dollars to the value of the cotton
crop.
The anniversary exercises Of the agricultural
ana Industrial departments this morning were
as sane and practical as Booker Washington
himself. There were no essays on the good the
true and the beautiful. On the platform were
oFc sly fpatb ffvhl
and various other products of student industry. |
one young man demonstrated the value of deep |
r1ioughfng and illustrated his talk by plants In !
Jars differently treated Another brought for
ward crooks and pans and a churn and went
Through the processes of butte-Inaking. Of course
OF several points anticipating the results Of his
operations. Stil another showed that he was
competent tailor by actually taking the meas
urenlent fo- suit OF clothes. II young
women illustrated the operations OF max
ing hat from the roll OF wire to the
finished niiIliner's product. and another ex-
hfbited her knowledge OF broom making. An
embryo painter showed his skin the model
house and convinced his audience that he could
with taste and care use proper methods at every
stage to perform any task incident 10 his trade,
while a blacksmith told how the ironing of the
carriage had been done. And that blacksmith
was Interesting. He evidently felt that there was
nothing IN the world quite 50 We'll NOIlu NO4iA6
as ironing canopy top surrey.
What the students here can DO IN academic
work we had no chance to see. as their exer-
cises are held at a diffeEant time Perhaps
neither the academic nor industrial class is as
perfectly trained as at Hampton. but all these
people are clearly receiving what OF ell things
they and those Of their race with whom they are
TO come in contact most need, the power to make
good use OF the negro's present opportunity in
the trades which at the South have not been
greatly invaded by white men, and in agricUlt-
IRE, which OF all things best suits his habits
and environment.
The hlarity Of the students manifested IN
their school cheers is IN sharp contrast with any
thing seen at Hampton. Possibly this is q nat
Ural outcropping OF negro spirits, though such
spirits are by means repressed at Hampton.
More probably it springs from the negros nat
ural desire 10 bs like white folks. and is an ini-
ration ot the boisterousness Of white schoolboyS
which is much IN fashion in the academies and
colleges that these colored youths know about.
in some Other respects ambitions Of this sort
noticeable. Tie teachers, most OF whom are i'm
bued with the Hampton spirit OF making the
most OF negro traits as the hrmest foundation
OF negro civilization, seek TO carry out that idea
here. but the tasS must be more difficult owing
10 the larger amount OF raw material to be
dealt with and the number of students who
able e remain for oaly partial course II is not
10 he expected uncsr such circumstances that
they would show thesame seriousness and com
plete realization OF heir true mission which
characterizes the studsnts at Hampton. More
over the academic teachers, being chiefly gradu-
Rtes OF literary colleges, inevitably represent the
conventional views OF American white ciViliZa-
ton. and that OF course han its effect in modifying
the evolution OF peculiar mgro civilization. The
natural desire Of the students is 10 get away
from everything associated with slavery DAYS.
They show a reluctance extensively TO sing the
distinctly negro melodies which white music
lovers prize AID prefer 70 hut classical music
on their programmes. In some Of these respects
TIE negro IN his own environment has not found