The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1909-08-19
CELEBRATION.
OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
OF FRBEDOM :
Is Advocated by: Washington IN
Speech to the: National Negro
Business league at. =, ~
Louisville.

Louisville, KY, Aug. ia sketch
OF what the American Negro has done
since his emancipation in 1858 and
suggestion that the hftieth anniver.
sary or that emaH4i patton be cele-
brated in 1913 wes& the features ,of
DR.. Booker T. ~WaAHin gton's address
before the NATIONAL Negro Business
League at It's tehtl& annual meeting
In this city tonighM 49,. 81, ,
when the league began work, -
ana the speaker 'fpere were few
drug stores owned&br controlled by
DlacK people. Now we have nearly
200. A few years4ago> there were
only about half q do8en Negro banks
in the country, new there are ATT
Dry goods stores, grocery stores and
Industrial enterprises to the number
of over 10000 have sprung up in all
parts Of the country.
No Land Fifty. Years Ago.
"A little more than fifty years ago
when the Negro WAS made free he
owned no acres of }tfand Now he has
an acreage of almestt.as large as New
England. Then he had almost no
homes, now he has 100000 homes.
Then he had few farms, now he has
100000 farms. Then he had no In
surance, now he has several thou
sand. When the American Negro
was made free only about 3 per cent.
could read and WRITE, now 81 per
cent. can both read and write. Then
he had few churches, now he has
26, 900 churches.
Our work ia not yet done. The
years that are to come are tor bring
us. In my opinion, even a larger de-
gree OF success and encouragement.
And the greater part of this progress
has taken place in : the southern
states, right in. the midstrof the peo-.
pie who once, owned our bodies. Here,
let me add, this graWth' could not
have taken plate nntiA wlga mad in earls
of sthasee aouthefn 1aas not. "a
ffew white men w o Nave believed IN
us and stood by.itls, stimulated and
encouraged u.s." =" \
Racial Optimism Needed.it
The need Of racial optimism was
impressed by Washington who qaot-
ed that the, North American Negro
was 100 yards ahead Of his brother in
any other part of the world. He
pointed out that though the senti-
ment~ had been abroad after emanci-
patton that the race could not care
for itself it has never as a race since
called upon the government for main
tenance.
But we must remember that in
the South especially, hitherto we have
had pretty free field, but in the flu
ture we must prepare for comDeti-
t1on-compet1tion in the field, in the
shop, in the store, in the Kitchen.
And to hold what we have and gain
more this competition must be met,
not by race prejudice but by superior
usefulness"
He said that he considered the
most important event of recent years
to have been the election by white
men, "Not from Massachusetts and
New York, but from Georgia and Al
ALBANIA that the man with black skin
for equal service should have equal
pay with the man of white skim" re-
ferrlng to the recent strike of white
tiremen In Georgia.
Washington closed with call for
a proper observance Of the f1ftieth an
| n1versary Of Emancipation and a tri-
butte to the work performed by EN-
NETT J. Scott, a black man and sec
rotary to Washington himself, who
acted as member Of the United
Estates Commission to Liberia this
year.
| we. cannot separate morality
from business was the educators fl,
nal word to the thousands Of his PEG,
pie who had listened to the address,.