THE SECOND DECADE - YOUTH FROM 1878-1898 - 10-20 YEARS OF AGE:

THE UNITED STATES IN THE DECADES 1870-1890 WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY COUNTRY. GRANT, HAMES, ARTHUR AND GROVER CLEVELAND WERE PRESIDENTS. JAMES G. BLAINE WAS AN ASPIRANT WHO BARELY MISSED THE HIGHEST OFFICE. THE COUNTRY WAS RECKLESS AND PROSPEROUS, SQUANDERING ITS SEEMINGLY ENDLESS RESOURCES, TYING EAST AND WEST WITH RAILWAYS, EXPLOITING IRON AND COAL AND OIL, AND MAKING FORTUNES FOR A NEW AND RUTHLESS CASTE OF BUSINESS MEN WHO WERE CASHING IN ON THE COST OF CIVIL WAR.

THE RESULTS OF THIS I COULD EASILY SEE IN MY TOWN. I GREW UP IN THE MIDST OF DEFINITE IDEAS AS TO WEALTH AND POVERTY; WORK AND CHARITY. WEALTH WAS THE RESULT OF WORK AND SAVING, AND THE RICH RIGHTLY INHERITED THE EARTH. THE POOR, ON THE WHOLE, WERE TO BE BLAMED. THEY WERE LAZY OR UNFORTUNATE; AND IF UNFORTUNATE THEIR FORTUNES COULD EASILY BE MENDED WITH CARE. THERE WERE DIFFERENCES OF WEALTH IN GREAT BARRINGTON; THERE WERE MILLS AND MILL-OWNERS; THERE WERE GERMAN AND IRISH FACTORY HANDS; THERE WERE THE MODERATELY RICH AND MUCH SQUALOR AND POVERTY. SINGULARLY ENOUGH I KNEW THE MILL OWNERS AND THEIR CHILDREN MUCH BETTER THAN I KNEW THE WORKERS. WE MET IN SCHOOL AND MY HOME WAS ALWAYS APART FROM THE FACTORY HANDS. YET I WAS NO FLUNKY FOR THE RICH. MY PEOPLE ALWAYS HAD A CERTAIN SINGULAR INDEPENDENCE. THEY WERE BY OCCUPATION SMALL FARMERS, AND LATER SERVANTS, LABORERS, BARBERS AND WAITERS. THEY EARNED THEIR WAY. I EARLY CAME TO UNDERSTAND THAT TO BE "ON THE TOWN", THE RECIPIENT OF PUBLIC CHARITY WAS THE DEPTH NOT ONLY OF MISFORTUNE BUT OF A CERTAIN GUILT. I PRESUME SOME OF MY FOLK SANK TO THAT, BUT NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE. WE EARNED OUR WAY IN PART AND IN PART RE-

CEIVED SOME THOUGHTFULLY VEILED CHARITY. I HAVE A LITTLE POST CARD DATED 1883 IN WHICH MISE SMITH, SEPTEMBER 19, WRITES "WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE YOU COME CERTAINLY NEXT SATURDAY AS YOU DID LAST WEEK TO DO SOME SPLITTING FOR US." THIS WAS A MATTER OF SPLITTING UP KINDLING FOR TWO MAIDEN LADIES WHICH I DID OFTEN ON CONTRACT. MY FIRST REGULAR WORK BEGAN THE NEXT YEAT IN CONNECTION WITH MY SCHOOLING. I WENT EARLY OF MORNINGS AND FILLED ONE OR TWO OF THE SO-CALLED "BASE-BURNING" STOVES WITH COAL, SO THAT THEY WOULD BURN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, IN THE MILLINERY SHOP OF MADAME L'HOMMEDIEN. I RECEIVED TWENTY-FIVE CENTS A WEEK, CASH, WHICH REPRESENTED THE BEGINNING OF ARLUENCE. FROM THEN ON, ALL THROUGH MY HIGH SCHOOL COURSE, I WORKED AFTER SCHOOL AND ON SATURDAYS; MOWING LAWNS, DOING ERRANDS; AND FOR A FEW MONTHS, THROUGH THE GOOD WILL OF JOHNNY MORGAN, ROSE TO BE LOCAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN.

FOR TWO OR MORE YEARS I SENT WEEKLY LETTERS TO A COLORED WEEKLY, THE NEW YORK AGE; AND BEFORE THE A AND P STORES DEALT IN GROCERIES AND SIMPLY WERE SELLING TEA, I WAS ONE OF THEIR LOCAL AGENTS. THUS IN ALL SORTS OF LITTLE WAYS I MANAGED TO EARN SOME MONEY AND NEVER ASKED NOR THOUGHT OF GIFTS, SAVE IN ONE CASE: MY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, HOSMER, AFTERWARD PRESIDENT OF OAHU COLLEGE, HAWAII, SUGGESTED QUITE AS A MATTER OF FACT THAT I OUGHT TO TAKE THE COLLEGE PREPARATORY COURSE WHICH INVOLVED LATIN AND GREEK. I DID NOT THEN REALIZE THAT HOSMER WAS QUIETLY OPENING COLLEGE DOORS TO ME, FOR IN THOSE DAYS THEY WERE BARRED WITH ANCIENT TONGUES. THIS MEANT A CONSIDERABLE EXPENDITURE FOR BOOKS, MORE THAN MY FOLK COULD AFFORD, BUT THE WIFE OF ONE OF THE MILL OWNERS OR RATHER I OUGHT TO DESCRIBE HER AS THE MOTHER OF ONE OF MY PLAYMATES, AFTER SOME HESITATION OFFERED TO FURNISH ALL THE NECESSARY SCHOOL BOOKS; AND

THIS BECAME MY ONE CHARITY.

THE OTHER CLASS OF RICH FOLK WITH WHOM I CAME IN CONTACT WERE SUMMER BOARDERS WHO MADE YEARLY INCURSIONS FROM NEW YORK. I THINK I WAS MOST IMPRESSED BY THEIR CLOTHES. THEY WERE VERY SPLENDID. OUTSIDE OF THAT THERE WAS LITTLE REASON SO FAR AS I COULD SEE TO ENVY THEM. THE CHILDREN WERE NOT VERY STRONG AND RATHER TOO WELL-DRESSED TO HAVE A GOOD TIME PLAYING. THERE WERE NO REAL SLUMS IN THE TOWN; AND LITTLE CRIME. THE ONE EXCESS WAS DRUNKENNESS AND THERE MY MOTHER QUIETLY TOOK A FIRM STAND. I WAS NEVER TO ENTER A SALOON. I NEVER DID. I DONNED A MURPHY BLUE RIBBON. AND YET PERHAPS THE ONE SOLACE THAT THIS PLEASANT BUT RATHER DRAB LITTLE TOWN HAD AGAINST THE MONOTONY OF LIFE WAS LIQUOR, AND POOR GOT DRUNK MORE OR LESS REGULARLY. I HAVE SEEN ONE OF THE MILL OWNERS STAGGERING HOME, AND MY VERY RESPECTABLE UNCLE WHO OWNED A BARBER-SHOP, USED TO COME HOME NOW AND THEN WALKING EXCEEDINGLY STRAIGHT.

IN ONE RESPECT MY TRAINING IN THIS TOWN HAD SINGULAR AND RATHER MOMENTOUS RESULTS. IT WAS NOT GOOD FROM IN NEW ENGLAND NOR IN GREAT BARRINGTON TO EXPRESS ONESELF VOLUBLY, TO GIVE WAY TO EXCITEMENT; PEOPLE HELD THEMSELVES PROPERLY IN. THEY WERE SPARING EVEN OF THEIR GREETINGS. THERE WAS ONLY ON THE STREET A CURT "GOOD MORNING" TO THOSE WHOM YOU PERSONALLY KNEW AND NO GREETINGS AT ALL FROM OTHERS WHOM OF COURSE YOU ALSO KNEW. THE RESULT WAS THAT I WAS EARLY THROWN IN UPON MYSELF. I FOUND IT DIFFICULT AND EVEN UNNECESSARY TO APPROACH OTHER PEOPLE AND BY THAT SAME TOKEN MY OWN INNER LIFE PERHAPS GREW THE MORE RICH; BUT THE HABIT OF REPRESSION OFTEN RETURNED TO PLAGUE ME IN AFTER YEARS FOR SO EARLY A HABIT COULD NOT EASILY BE UNLEARNED. THE NEGROES IN THE SOUTH, WHEN I CAME TO KNOW THEM,

G

COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY I DID NOT NATURALLY GREET EVERYONE I PASSED ON THE STREET.

I ENTERED THE HIGH SCHOOL AT THE AGE OF TWELVE AND WAS GRADUATED AT THE AGE OF SIXTEEN IN 1884. I HAD DURING THAT TIME SOME LITTLE CHANCE TO TRAVEL AND TO GET LITTLE GLIMPSES OF THE WORLD. I WAS SENT, FOR INSTANCE, BY MY MOTHER ACROSS THE STATE TO SEE MY GRANDMOTHER AND GRANDFATHER IN NEW BEDFORD. I WROTE BACK ABOUT THIS IN 1883: "THE HOUSE IS WHITE WITH GREEN BLINDS. THE YARD IS FULL OF FLOWERS. GRANDMA IS ABOUT MY COLOR AND TALLERTHAN I THOUGHT. I LIKE HER VERY MUCH. GRANDPA IS SHORT AND RATHER THICK SET. I LIKE HIM BETTER THAN I WAS AFRAID I WOULD. HE SAYS VERY LITTLE BUT SPEAKS CIVILLY WHEN I SAY ANYTHING TO HIM. GRANDMA SAYS BY AND BY HE WILL TALK MORE." GRANDFATHER WAS A GENTLEMAN, PRECISE AND AUSTERE. HE RESENTED THE WORLD. AFTERWARD I KNEW WHY FROM LITTLE HAPPENINGS IN SCHOOL AND TOWN. I WAS BEGINNING TO REALIZE "RACE".

WHEN I GRADUATED FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL WE ALL THIRTEEN HAD ORATIONS AND MINE WAS ON WENDELL PHILLIPS. HE HAD DIED IN FEBRUARY AND I SPOKE IN JUNE, FIRED BY NEW KNOWLEDGE OF HIS SORT OF MAN. THEN THERE CAME IN MY LIFE THE FIRST GREAT CHANGE. MY MOTHER DIED AND IT WAS DECIDED THAT I WAS TOO YOUNG TO GO TO COLLEGE. I SUSPECT THAT MONEY MATTERS HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT. AT ANY RATE INSTEAD OF BEING ABLE TO GO TO HARVARD AS I HAD FONDLY HOPED IN THE FALL OF 1884, I WAS GIVEN A JOB AND PROMISED THAT THE NEXT FALL I SHOULD BEGIN MY COLLEGE WORK.

THE JOB BROUGHT ME IN CURIOUS TOUCH WITH THE WORLD. THERE HAD BEEN A GREAT UNCLE OF MINE, TOM BURGHARDT, WHOSE TOMBSTONE I HAD SEEN ORTEN IN THE TOWN GRAVE YARD. MY FAMILY USED TO SAY IN UNDER-

H

TONES THAT THE MONEY OF TOM BURGHARDT HELPED TO BUILD THE PACIFIC RAILWAYS AND THAT IT CAME IN THIS WISE: NEARLY ALL HIS LIFE TOM BURGHARDT WAS A SERVANT IN THE KELLOG FAMILY, ONLY THE KELLOGS USUALLY FORGOT TO PAY HIM; BUT FINALLY THEY DID GIVE HIM A HANDSOME BURIAL. THEN MARK HOPKINS MARRIED A KELLOG DAUGHTER AND MADE MIL-LIONS IN RAILWAYS. HIS WIDOW CAME BACK TO GREAT BARRINGTON AND PLANNED A MANSION OUT OF THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE GRANITE WHICH FORMED OUR HILLS. A HOST OF WORKMEN, MASONS, STONE-CUTTERS AND CARPENTERS WERE ASSEMBLED, AND IN THE SUMMER OF 1883 I WAS MADE TIME-KEEPER FOR THE CONTRACTORS WHO CARRIED ON THIS JOB. I RECEIVED THE FABULOUS WAGE OF A DOLLAR A DAY.

IT WAS A MOST INTERESTING EXPERIENCE AND HAD BITS OF ROMANCE. THERE WAS A COLORED STEWARD OF MRS. HOPKINS, HANDSOME, TRUSTED, AND WELL-PAID; THERE CAME AN ENGLISH ARCHITECT TO DIRECT THE WIDOW'S HOUSE AND WEALTH, AND THE COLORED STEWARD COMMITTED SUICIDE WHEN THE ARCHITECT MARRIED THE WIDOW; AT THE DEATH OF THE WIDOW, THE HOPKIN'S PASSED MILLIONS INTO FOREIGN HANDS, BUT IN THE MEANTIME THE FABRICATION AND GROWTH OF THIS MARVELOUS PALACE, BEAUTIFUL BEYOND ANYTHING THAT GREAT BARRINGTON HAD SEEN, WENT SLOWLY AND MAJESTICALLY ON, AND ALWAYS I COULD SIT AND WATCH IT GROW AND HANDLE DELEGATED POWERS IN DISMISSING WORKMEN AND REWARDING THEM.

FINALLY IN THE FALL OF 1885 THERE CAME A PROPOSAL WHICH MADE ALL MY COUSINS AND AUNTS RAISE THEIR EYE BROWS. I WAS TO HAVE A SCHOLARSHIP TO GO SOUTH TO FISK UNIVERSITY. THE SOUTH HAD AN UN-HOLY NAME IN MY VILLAGE AND THE FAMILY WAS NOT AT ALL SURE THAT I OUGHT TO GO. BUT, OF COURSE, I NEVER HESITATED. HERE WAS ADVENTURE. I STARTED OUT AND WENT INTO TENNESSEE AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN TO BE

A SOPHOMORE AT FISK UNIVERSITY. IT WAS TO ME AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE. I WAS THRILLED TO BE FOR THE FIRST TIME AMONG SO MANY PEOPLE OF MY OWN COLOR OR RATHER OF SUCH VARIOUS AND SUCH EXTRAORDINARY COLORS WHICH I HAD NOT DREAMED OF BEFORE BUT WHO IT SEEMED WERE BOUND TO ME BY NEW AND EXCITING TIES. I HAD NEVER SEEN SUCH BEAUTIFUL GIRLS IN MY LIFE OR MEN WHO GAVE THEMSELVES SUCH AIRS.

THE THREE YEARS HERE WERE YEARS OF GROWTH AND STRENGTH AND EXPANDING AMBITION. I LEARNED NEW THINGS ABOUT THE WORLD. I MET AND KNEW THE RACE PROBLEM. I CAME IN CONTACT FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH A SORT OF VIOLENCE THAT I HAD NEVER REALIZED IN NEW ENGLAND. I REMEMBER GOING DOWN AND LOOKING WIDE-EYED AT THE DOOR OF A PUBLIC BUILDING, FILLED WITH BUCK SHOT WHERE THE EDITOR OF THE LEADING DAILY PAPER HAD BEEN PUBLICLY MURDERED THE DAY BEFORE. I WAS AS-TONISHED TO FIND MANY OF MY FELLOW STUDENTS CARRYING FIRE ARMS AND TO HEAR THEIR STORIES OF ADVENTURE. THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF SEX WAS UNBELIEVABLE AND BOTH ATTRACTED AND REPELLED ME. ABOVE ALL I WANTED TO KNOW THE SOUTH AND MY NEW-DISCOVERED RACE.

I SUDDENLY DETERMINED THAT I WAS GOING OUT TO TEACH DURING THE SUMMER VACATIONS. IT WAS NOT NECESSARY. MY SCHOLARSHIP WOULD HAVE SUPPORTED ME; BUT IT WAS ADVENTURE, KNOWLEDGE, KNIGHT-ERRANTRY.

I WALKED OUT INTO EAST TENNESSEE TEN OR MORE MILES A DAY UNTIL AT LAST IN A LITTLE VALLEY I FOUND A PLACE WHERE THEY HAD HAD A NEGRO PUBLIC SCHOOL ONLY ONCE SINCE THE CIVIL WAR; AND THERE FOR TWO SUCCESSIVE TERMS DURING THE SUMMER I TAUGHT AT 28 AND 30 A MONTH; PAID SPECIFICALLY IN PROMISES AND EVENTUALLY IN CASH THREE OR FOUR MONTHS LATER.

I BEGAN MY WRITING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING AT FISK. I WROTE AN

["ARTICLE WHICH THE CENTURY MAGAZINE SAID; \"WE SHALL BE GLAD TO\nPRINT THE NEW NEGRO IF WE MAY TAKE OUR TIME; AND WE ARE AFRAID\nWE SHALL HAVE TO TAKE A GREAT DEAL.\" THEY DID. THEY HAVEN'T\nPRINTED IT YET; BUT THE LETTER HEARTENED ME NO END. FOR THREE\nYEARS I WAS ON THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE FISK HERALD; AS EDITOR-\nIN-CHIEF THE LAST YEAR; CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALS, ESSAYS AND ONE\nNOVEL. I BECAME A CONSIDERABLE ORATOR AND FOR A LONG TIME THE OLD-\NER STUDENTS OF FISK TOOK DEEP JOY IN REMEMBERING THE DEBATE, WHERE\nIN THE MIDST OF AN IMPASSIONED PERIOD I FORGOT MY LINES. THE PER-\nSISTENCE, HOWEVER, WHICH I HAD LEARNED IN NEW ENGLAND STOOD ME\nNOW IN GOOD STEAD. I TOOK TO PLANNING MY LIFE. BECAUSE MY FIRST\nCOLLEGE CHOICE HAD BEEN HARVARD, TO HARVARD, I WOULD GO. THE IN-\ITERLUDE AT FISK DID NOT TURN ME FROM IT. WHEN I HEARD THAT HARVARD,\nSEEKING TO SHED ITS NEW ENGLAND PROVINCIALISM, WAS OFFERING SCHOLAR-\nSHIPS IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE COUNTRY, I IMMEDIATELY WROTE AND TO\nTHE ASTONISHMENT OF TEACHERS AND FELLOW STUDENTS, NOT TO MENTION\nMYSELF, RECEIVED PRICE GREENLEAF AID OF $300. I GRADUATED FROM\nFISK IN 1888 AND TOOK AS MY SUBJECT \"BISMARCK.\" IT SHOWED MY ALREADY\nGROWING INTEREST IN THE WIDER WORLD. I KNEW OF THE GREAT JUBILEE\nOF QUEEN VICTORIA, OF THE AFTERMATH OF THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR AND\nTHE TRIUMPH OF THE MADHI IN KARTOUM. I HAD FOLLOWED THE FORTUNES\nOF GLADSTONE AND SALISBURY AND WAS FILLED WITH ENTHUSIASM AT THE\nRISE OF THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE UNDER BISMARCK. SO I TALKED OF\nBISMARCK AND THEN TURNED BACK TO THE NORTH. WITH ME WENT MY BOOKS;\nALWAY I HAVE HAD BOOKS; IN MY LITTLE HOME OFF THE STREET OF MY\nBIRTH, WHERE WITH MY WIDOWED MOTHER AND A MARRIED COUSIN I SPENT\nMY HIGH SCHOOL YEARS, I COLLECTED A HANDFUL OF BOOKS WHICH HAD BEEN\nFLOATING ABOUT THE HOUSE - \"OPIE ON LYING,\" A FOURTH READER AND OTHERS;"]

MY GRANDMOTHER ADDED A SHAKESPEARE. I BOUGHT A GORGEOUS MACAULEY'S ENGLAND IN GREEN AND GOLD. THEN CAME MY HIGH SCHOOL TEXTS. AT FISK I HAD MORE BOOKS THAN ANY OTHER STUDENT AND I LUGGED THEM ALL TO HARVARD. NOW THEY ARE ALL ABOUT ME AS I WRITE, 4000 BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS IN ALL, OLD FRIENDS AND STRANGERS, WITH SMILES AND TEARS, PROPHECIES AND LIES; TRUCK THAT CLOTHES AND PRICELESS JEWELS.

I WAS ALREADY GETTING MY MIND POLITICALLY CLEAR. I QUOTE FROM A SPEECH I MADE IN 1887:

"TODAY THE DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES ARE VIRTUALLY WITHOUT PRINCIPLES. IN SPITE OF THE VAST NUMBER OF VITAL- LY IMPORTANT ISSUES BEFORE THE COUNTRY, THERE IS NOT ONE IN REGARD TO WHICH THEY ARE NOT ON THE FENCE. THE ELECTIONS ARE DISGRACEFUL SCRAMBLES FOR OFFICE, AND THE MOST UNBLUSH- ING BRIBERY IS CARRIED ON AT THE POLES. THIS BY OUR VOTES WE NEGROES ARE AIDING AND ABETTING.

"HAVING COME FORTH FROM A PERSONAL SLAVERY, WE HAVE VOLUN- TARILY THROWN OURSELVES INTO POLITICAL SERFDOM. INSTEAD OF ASKING A MAN HIS CONVICTION ON THE BLAII BILL, THE TARIFF, LYNCH LAW, OR CIVIL RIGHTS, YOU ASK HIS PARTY, AND IF HE'S GOT REPUBLICAN PASTED ACROSS HIS FOREHEAD, THE LEGAL REP- RESENTATIVES OF SEVEN MILLIONS OF HUMAN BEINGS WILL VOTE FOR HIM, BE HE TOM, DICK, OR THE DEVIL."

THIS AMONG NEGROES WAS RANK HERESY IN 1887.

THIRD DECADE - EDUCATION FROM 1888-1898 - 20-30 YEARS OF AGE: THIS DECADE COVERS THE YEARS OF MY EDUCATION AT HARVARD AND AT BERLIN, AND THE BEGINNING OF MY TEACHING CAREER. THE MEMBERS OF THE FISK GLEE CLUB WENT TO LAKE MINNETONKA, A RESORT IN MINNESOTA, FOR THE SUMMER, 1888, WITH THE IDEA OF WORKING IN THE DINING ROOM AND GIVING CONCERTS. I WAS TO ACT AS THEIR BUSINESS MANAGER. DURING COLLEGE I HAD DEVELOPED RATHER AS THE EXECUTIVE AND PLANNER, the natural secretary of affairs rather than a president and chairman. THE ONLY DIFFICULTY ABOUT THE MINNESOTA EXCURSION WAS THAT I HAD NEVER WORKED IN A HOTEL IN MY LIFE; I COULD NOT WAIT ON TABLE AND

THEREFORE BECAME ONE OF THE BUS BOYS. IT WAS SO UNUSUAL A PAG-
EANT TO WATCH THE DINING ROOM, THAT I MADE NO TIPS AND FOR A LONG
TIME HAD DIFFICULTY IN GETTING ENOUGH TO EAT, NOT REALIZING THAT
IN THAT DAY SERVANTS IN GREAT HOTELS WERE NOT SYSTEMATICALLY FED
BUT FORAGED FOR FOOD IN DEVIOUS WAYS. AFTER THE SEASON, I WENT ON
AHEAD AND SUCCEEDED IN MAKING ENGAGEMENTS FOR A RESPECTABLE NUMBER
OF CONCERTS FOR THE STUDENTS WHO FOLLOWED ME DOWN ALL THE WAY TO
CHICAGO, WHILE I WENT ON TO HARVARD TO ENTER THE JUNIOR CLASS IN
THE FALL OF 1888.

THE HARVARD OF 1888 WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY AGGREGATION OF GREAT
MEN. NOT OFTEN SINCE THAT DAY, HAVE SO MANY DISTINGUISHED TEACHERS
BEEN TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE AND AT ONE TIME IN AMERICA. THERE WAS
WILLIAM JAMES THE PSYCHOLOGIST; PALMER IN ETHICS; ROYCE AND SANTAKA
IN PHILOSOPHY; SHALER IN GEOLOGY AND HART IN HISTORY. THERE WERE
FRANCIS CHILD, CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, WITH GOODWIN, JUSTIN WINSOR,
AND JOHN TROWBRIDGE, TAUSSIG AND KITTRIDGE. THE PRESIDENT WAS THE
COLD, PRECISE BUT EXCEEDINGLY EFFICIENT WILLIAM ELIOT, AND OLIVER
WENDELL HOLMES AND JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL WERE STILL ALIVE AND EMERI-
TI.

BY EXTRAORDINARY GOOD FORTUNE I WAS THROWN INTO DIRECT CONTACT
WITH MANY OF THESE MEN. I WAS REPEATEDLY A GUEST IN THE HOUSE OF
WILLIAM JAMES; HE WAS MY FRIEND AND GUIDE TO CLEAR THINKING; I
WAS A MEMBER OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL CLUB AND TALKED WITH ROYCE AND
PALMER; I SAT IN AN UPPER ROOM AND READ KANT'S CRITIQUE WITH SAN-
TYANA; I BECAME ONE OF HART'S FAVORITE PUPILS AND WAS AFTERWARDS
GUIDED BY HIM THROUGH MY GRADUATE COURSE AND STARTED ON MY WORK IN
GERMANY.

IT WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY FOR A YOUNG MAN AND A YOUNG

NEGRO, AND I THINK I REALIZED IT. I FORMED CAREFUL HABITS OF
WORK RATHER DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF MOST OF THE OTHER STUDENTS.
I BURNED NO MIDNIGHT OIL. I DID MY STUDYING IN THE DAY TIME
AND HAD MY DAY PARCELLED OUT ALMOST TO THE MINUTE. I SPENT A GREAT
DEAL OF TIME IN THE LIBRARY AND DID MY ASSIGNMENTS WITH PERSISTENT
THOROUGHNESS AND WITH AN INTERESTING PRE-VISION OF THE KIND OF
WORK I WANTED TO DO LATER. I HAVE BEFORE ME A THEME WHICH I WROTE
OCTOBER 3, 1890 FOR BARRETT WENDELL, THEN THE GREAT PUNDIT OF HARV-
ARD ENGLISH. I SAID: "SPURRED BY MY CIRCUMSTANCES, I HAVE ALWAYS
BEEN GIVEN TO SYSTEMATICALLY PLANNING MY FUTURE, NOT INDEED WITHOUT
MANY MISTAKES AND FREQUENT ALTERATIONS, BUT ALWAYS WITH WHAT I NOW
CONCEIVE TO HAVE BEEN A STRANGELY EARLY AND DEEP APPRECIATION OF
THE FACT THAT TO LIVE IS A SERIOUS THING. I DETERMINED WHILE IN THE
HIGH SCHOOL TO GO TO COLLEGE - PARTLY BECAUSE OTHER MEN WENT, PART-
LY BECAUSE I FORESAW THAT SUCH DISCIPLINE WOULD BEST FIT ME FOR
LIFE. I FIRST WENT TO FISK UNIVERSITY IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. MY
SOUTHERN EXPERIENCE HAS IN MANY WAYS PROVED INVALUABLE. I NEXT
CAME TO HARVARD AND AM HERE YET. I BELIEVE FOOLISHLY PERHAPS BUT
SINCERELY THAT I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY TO THE WORLD, AND I HAVE
TAKEN ENGLISH 12 IN ORDER TO SAY IT WELL." BARRETT WENDELL RATHER
LIKED THAT LAST SENTENCE. HE READ IT OUT TO THE CLASS.

I TRIED TO TAKE CULTURE OUT INTO THE COLORED COMMUNITY OF
BOSTON. I LECTURES, RECITED AND ONCE ACTUALLY GAVE THE "BIRDS OF
ARISTOPHANES" IN A COLORED CHURCH ON A THANKSGIVING NIGHT, ACTING
AS MANAGER, ADVERTISING AGENT AND STAGE DIRECTOR, AND TAKING THE
PART OF "PLAUSIBLE". THE MATTER OF MEETING MY COLLEGE EXPENSES PRE-
SENTED SOME DIFFICULTIES. I HAD BEEN ADMITTED TO JUNIOR STANDING
AND HAD SCHOLARSHIPS FOR $300 FOR BOTH UNDERGRADUATE YEARS; BUT

THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH. ONE YEAR, AFTER CAREFUL CALCULATION, I FOUND
THAT I NEEDED $50 MORE AND NOTED WITH INTEREST THAT ₮ THE BOYLSTON
PRIZES IN ORATORY PAID FROM $50 TO $100. I HAD TO HAVE ONE OF THE
PRIZES IN ORDER TO MAKE ENDS MEET FOR THE YEAR, AND I GOT IT. A
COLORED CLASSMATE, CLEMENT MORGAN, GOT FIRST PRIZE AND HE AND I
MADE A TOUR OF THE SUMMER RESORTS OF NEW ENGLAND. WE GAVE READINGS
IN HOTELS, PARLORS AND CHURCHES AND IN THIS WAY DID MUCH TOWARD
MAKING OUR EXPENSES. IN MY SENIOR YEAR MY GRANDFATHER DIED AND
LEFT A SMALL SUM.

IN 1890, I TOOK MY BACHELOR'S DEGREE FROM HARVARD AND WAS ONE
OF THE SIX COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS, TAKING AS MY SUBJECT, "JEFFERSON
DAVIS". ON THE PLATFORM OF SANDERS THEATRE WAS PRESIDENT ELIOT, THE
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS AND THE EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW YORK.

THE NEW YORK NATION SAID JULY 3, 1890 THAT I HANDLED MY SUBJECT
"WITH ABSOLUTE GOOD TASTE, GREAT MODERATION, AND ALMOST CONTEMPT-
UOUS FARMNESS."

I WAS GRADUATED JUST AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TERM OF PRESIDENT HARRISON, WHEN THE TRUSTS WERE DOMINATING INDUSTRY AND THE MCKINLEY TARIFF MAKING THAT DOMINATION EASIER. THE UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE INDUSTRIAL NORTH AND THE NEW SOUTH WAS BEING PERFECTED AND IN 1890 THE SERIES OF DISFRANCHISING LAWS WERE PASSED BY THE SOUTHERN STATES DESTINED IN THE NEXT SIX YEARS TO MAKE VOTING BY SOUTHERN NEGROES PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE,

ALREADY I HAD RECEIVED MORE EDUCATION THAN MOST YOUNG WHITE MEN
HAVING BEEN CONTINUOUSLY IN SCHOOL FROM THE AGE OF SIX TO THE AGE OF
TWENTY-TWO. BUT I DID NOT YET FEEL PREPARED. I FELT THAT TO COPE
WITH THE NEW AND EXTRAORDINARY SITUATION THEN BUILDING IN THE UNITED
STATES, I NEEDED TO GO FURTHER AND THAT AS A MATTER OF FACT I HAD

SAYING THAT HIS BOARD HAD NO PRESENT PLANS FOR SUCH SCHOLARSHIPS.

THAT REALLY AROUSED ME. I PROCEEDED TO GET LETTERS FROM EVERY PERSON I KNEW IN THE HARVARD YARD AND PLACES OUTSIDE AND LITERALLY DELUGED THE UNFORTUNATE CHAIRMAN OF THE SLATER FUND. HE WROTE AGAIN IN APOLOGETIC MOOD AND SAID THAT HE WAS SORRY THE PLAN HAD BEEN GIVEN UP; THAT HE RECOGNIZED THAT HERE WAS A CANDIDATE WHO MIGHT OTHERWISE HAVE BEEN GIVEN ATTENTION.

IT HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE THAT MOST OF MY SMALL SUCCESSES HAVE BEEN DUE TO STEPS THAT I HAVE TAKEN AFTER ALL HOPE WAS LOST. I SAT DOWN AND PROCEEDED TO WRITE MR. HAYES A LETTER THAT COULD BE DESCRIBED AS NOTHING LESS THAN IMPUDENT AND ACCUSING HIM OF BAD FAITH. HE WAS UNDOUBTEDLY AROUSED. HE APOLOGIZED TO ME, RE-ASSESSED HIS GOOD FAITH AND PROMISED TO TAKE UP THE MATTER THE NEXT YEAR WITH THE BOARD. THEREUPON THE NEXT YEAR I PROCEEDED TO WRITE THE BOARD: "AT THE CLOSE OF THE LAST ACADEMIC YEAR AT HARVARD, I RECEIVED THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS, AND WAS RE-APPOINTED TO MY FELLOWSHIP FOR THE YEAR 1891-2. I HAVE SPENT MOST OF THE YEAR IN THE PREPARATION OF MY DOCTOR'S THESIS ON THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE TRADE IN AMERICA.

I PREPARED A PRELIMINARY PAPER ON THIS SUBJECT AND READ IT BEFORE THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION AT ITS ANNUAL MEETING AT WASHINGTON DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. THE PAPER WILL SHORTLY BE PUBLISHED IN THEIR PROCEEDINGS AND A PRELIMINARY REPORT OF IT MAY BE SEEN IN THE _INDEPENDENT_ OF JANUARY 7, 1892, ALSO IN THE _CONGREGATIONALIST_ OF ABOUT THE SAME DATE. THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE LARGER THESIS WAS COMPLETED 28 MARCH, AND IT WILL BE FINISHED MAY 1; I HOPE, EVENTUALLY IT WILL BE PUBLISHED. besides THIS I HAVE ON HAND A NUMBER OF GENERAL STUDIES. PROPERLY FINISHED MY EDUCATION A CAREFUL TRAINING IN AN EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY FOR AT LEAST A YEAR IS IN MY

MIND AND THE MINDS OF MY PROFESSORS, ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE. I
THEREFORE DESIRE, RESPECTFULLY, TO LAY THESE SUGGESTIONS BEFORE
YOU: FIRST, THAT THE BOARD GRANT ME AID TO STUDY AT LEAST A YEAR
ABROAD UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF HARVARD
OR OTHER REPUTABLE AUSPICES. SECOND, IF THIS BE NOT PRACTICABLE,
THAT THE BOARD LOAN A SUFFICIENT SUM FOR THIS PURPOSE."

I DID NOT BELIEVE THAT I WAS GOING TO GET AN APPOINTMENT,
BUT I DID THINK THAT POSSIBLY THROUGH THE INFLUENCE OF THE PEOPLE
WHO THUS KNEW ABOUT MY WORK, I MIGHT SOMEHOW BORROW OR BEG ENOUGH
TO GET TO EUROPE. TO MY SURPRISE, I WAS GIVEN A FELLOWSHIP OF $750,
HALF GRANT AND HALF REPAYABLE LOAN, TO STUDY ABROAD; WITH THE PROM-
ISE THAT IT MIGHT BE RENEWED FOR A SECOND YEAR. I REMEMBER GOING
DOWN TO NEW YORK AND TALKING WITH PRESIDENT HAYES IN THE OLD ASTOR
HOUSE, AND THEN GOING OUT WALKING ON AIR. I SAW AN ESPECIALLY DE-
LECTABLE SHIRT IN A SHOP WINDOW. I WENT IN AND ASKED ABOUT IT.
IT COST THREE DOLLARS, WHICH WAS ABOUT FOUR TIMES AS MUCH AS I HAD
EVER PAID FOR A SHIRT IN MY LIFE, BUT I BOUGHT IT. I SAILED IN THE
SUMMER OF 1892 ON A DUTCH BOAT, THE OLD AMSTERDAM, LANDING IN HOLL-
AND. I WROTE GAYLY "HOLLAND IS AN EXTREMELY NEAT AND WELL-ORDERED
MUD PUDDLE SITUATED AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THE ENGLISH, FRENCH AND
GERMAN LANGUAGES."

MY FIRST MEMORY OF IT IS INEXTRICABLY INTERWOVEN WITH THE
SMELL OF CLOVER AND THE SIGHT OF BLACK AND WHITE COWS. IT WAS AFTER
A TWO WEEKS' SEA VOYAGE, PLEASANT TO BE SURE, FASCINATING AS THE
CHANGING, CHANGELESS SEA EVER IS, BUT TWO WEEKS. I LINGERED A BIT
IN ROTTERDAM AND AMSTERDAM, AND MADE THE NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN
JOURNEY UP THE RHINE AND THEN STOPPED FOR THE SUMMER AT EISNACH.
I WROTE BACK A FEW MONTHS LATER TO HERR OBERPFARRER AND, AND

18

MRS. MARBAUCK "I WAS DELIGHTED TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN AND FOR A MOMENT A GREAT WAVE OF MEMORY SWEPT OVER ME AND I RE-LIVED THE DEAR OLD DAYS AT YOUR HOME, WITH FRANK AND THE KEIMS, AND DIE DORA AND FRAULEIN BERTHA "UNGEZOGEN". WHERE ARE THEY ALL NOW - I SHOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM THEM."

IN THE FALL I WENT UP TO BERLIN. I WROTE IN MY DIARY: "THE FACT IS THAT AFTER SOME YEARS SPENT IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES, I, GOD, AND OTHER FOLK HAVE RENDERED IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO STUDY HERE. WHEREOF I AM GLAD. NOW IT HAS CHANCED THAT TO ME EUROPE HAS EVER BEEN SURROUNDED WITH A CERTAIN VEIL OF MYSTERY AND FANCY; A TRIM-MING OF HISTORY AND FAIRY TALES, OF CULTURE AND CROWNS, HAD ALWAYS MADE IT A BIT DIFFICULT FOR ME TO REALIZE THE EXISTENCE OF A HARD DRY GOD UNDERNEATH IT ALL. I TAKE IT THAT WE AMERICANS ARE VERY FORTUNATE IN HAVING A GREAT SEA BETWEEN US AND THIS OTHER WORLD."

I WENT TO REGISTER IN THE UNIVERSITY AND THE STORY WHICH I SET DOWN OF IT AT THE TIME IS PERHAPS WORTH REPEATING. IN GROUPS OF ONE HUNDRED WE WENT INTO A ROOM. "IT WAS A LARGE ROOM, WITH HIGH CEILING, AND A ROW OF FOUR WINDOWS ON ONE SIDE, IN THE DEEP RECESSES OF WHICH STOOD BUSTS OF BERLIN'S FAMOUS PROFESSORS. THE CENTRE OF THE ROOM WAS OCCUPIED BY CHAIRS, IN WHICH THE STUDENTS SEATED THEMSELVES; AT THE UPPER END WAS A LONG TABLE ABOUT WHICH PERHAPS A DOZEN OFFICIALS WERE GROUPED. NEAR THE LEFT END WAS THE PRESENT YEAR'S RECTOR MAGNIFICOUS, THE WIDELY FAMOUS RUDOLF VIRCHOW, DOCTOR OF MEDICINE, LAWS AND PHILOSOPHY, CITY COUNCILLOR AND MEMBER OF THE REICHSTAG. HE WAS A MEEK AND CALM LOOKING LITTLE MAN, WHITE-HAIRED AND WHITE-BEARDED, WITH A KINDLY FACE AND PLEASANT VOICE. AT SMALLER TABLES RANGED BEFORE THE WINDOWS, WERE THE DEANS

OF THE VARIOUS FACULTIES. THE METHOD OF PROCEDURE WAS THOROUGHLY, AND, I THINK I MAY SAY, PAINFULLY, GERMAN. FIRST THE CHIEF SECRETARY AT THE SIDE OF THE MAGNIFICENT RECTOR WAS INVESTED WITH THE PILE OF GYMNASIUM DIPLOMAS AND PASSPORTS WHICH WE HAD SURRENDERED IN THE ANTE-ROOM. THEN HE SLOWLY READ OUT THE NAMES, AND AS A STUDENT HEARD HIS NAME HE DISENTANGLED HIMSELF AND APPROACHED THE TABLE, RECOGNIZING WITH SOME DIFFICULTY MY GERMANICIZED NAME I PRESENTED MYSELF WITH SOME TREPIDATION AT THE BAR. THE STIFF SECRETARY (IT WAS THE THING THEN TO BE STIFF IN GERMANY) WITH MY HELP MORE CLEARLY DECIPHERED MY NAME, ASCERTAINED UNDER WHICH FACULTY I WISHED TO STUDY, FIRMLY DECLINED TO EXAMINE ANY OF MY SHEEPSKINS, AND PASSED ME OVER TO THE RECTOR; RECTOR VIRCHOW SMILED BENIGNantly, MADE SOME REMARK AS TO MY FACULTY, AND AFTER FILLING OUT THE BLANKS WITH SOME REMARKABLY POOR WRITING, PRESENTED ME WITH A LARGE 24 BY 18 INCH SHEET OF PAPER: THIS STATED THAT A CERTAIN GUILELMUS, TWO I'S, HAD IN THE GENERAL GOODNESS OF HIS HEART ENDOWED THE PRESENT MR. VIRCHOW WITH VARIOUS POWERS; AMONG THESE WAS THAT OF MAKING ME (WHO WAS DESCRIBED WITH SOME INFELICITY OF PHRASE AS A "MOST ORNAMENTED YOUNG MAN") A LEGAL AND LICENSED BERLIN STUDENT. NEITHER THEN NOR LATER WOULD BERLIN TAKE THE SLIGHTEST RECOGNITION OF MY AMERICAN DEGREES.

AFTERWARDS I WAS INSCRIBED IN THE PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY AND FINALLY SHOOK HANDS WITH THE GREAT VIRCHOW. I HAD AGAIN AT BERLIN AS AT HARVARD, UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY. ALTHOUGH A FOREIGNER, I WAS ADMITTED MY FIRST SEMESTER TO TWO SEMesters UNDER SCHMOLLER AND WAGNER, BOTH OF THEM THE MOST DISTINGUISHED MEN IN THEIR LINE; AND RECEIVED EVENTUALLY FROM BOTH OF THEM PLEASANT TESTIMONY ON MY WORK. MY WORK WAS IN ECONOMICS, HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY. I SAT UNDER

Tretische

THE VOICE OF THE FIRE-EATING, SWIFT-SPEAKING, MASSIVE VON SCHMOLLER AND HEARD HIM ASSERT THE GENERAL INFERIORITY OF MULATTOES AND MIXED RACES; I HEARD SERING AND WEBER; I WROTE ON AMERICAN AGRICULTURE FOR SCHMOLLER AND DISCUSSED SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN EUROPE OVER WITH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS.

BUT MORE ESPECIALLY I TRAVELLED; LIVING CHEAPLY, I SAVED GOOD SUMS FOR THE NUMEROUS VACATIONS. I WENT TO THE HANSA CITIES; I MADE THE CELEBRATED HARTZROSE UP TO THE BROCKEN IN THE SPRING.

One
# CHRISTMAS VACATION I ASSENT IN MAKING A TRIP THROUGH SOUTH GERMANY ALONG WITH A GERMAN-AMERICAN AND AN ENGLISHMAN. WE VISITED WEIMAR, FRANKFORT, HEIDELBERG AND MANNHEIM. DURING CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS WE STOPPED IN A LITTLE GERMAN DORF IN THE RHEINPFALZ,

WHERE I HAD AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY OF STUDYING THE PEASANT LIFE CLOSELY AND COMPARING IT WITH COUNTRY LIFE IN THE SOUTH. WE VISITED PERHAPS TWENTY DIFFERENT FAMILIES, TALKED, ATE AND DRANK WITH THEM; LISTENED TO THEIR GOSSIP, HISTORY, ATTENDED THEIR ASSEMBLIES, &C. WE THEN WENT TO STRASSBURG, STUTTGART, ULM, MUNCHEN, NÜRBURG, PRAGUE AND DRESDEN. IN THOSE PLACES WE STAYED FROM ONE TO FIVE DAYS FOLLOWING OUR BAEDEKERS CLOSELY AND PAYING MUCH ATTENTION TO THE MÜCHEN AND DRESDEN ART GALLERIES. THE WHOLE TRIP COST ABOUT $80.

FP
# LATER I WENT DOWN TO ITALY; TO GENOA, ROME AND NAPLES AND OVER TO VENICE AND VIENNA AND PUDAEST; UP TO KRAKAU WHERE THE FATHER OF A FELLOW STUDENT WAS THE HEAD OF POLISH LIBRARY. I LEARNED OF THE RACE PROBLEMS OF THE POLES. THEN BY BRESLAU I CAME BACK TO BERLIN. BY THAT TIME I KNEW MY GERMANY WELL, I HAD BEEN WITH A FEW OF COMPANY OF THE LOWER NOBILITY, THE "GELENT" THE ARTISTS, BUSINESS MEN AND MEMBERS OF THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY. I SAW THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE RENEWED ON TEMPLEHOFER FELD. I WATCHED WILHELM II ALMOST.

DAILY.

I HAVE A CURIOUS DOCUMENT OF A BIRTHDAY WHICH CAME IN BERLIN
IN 1893. "TODAY I AM A QUARTER OF A CENTURY OLD. IT SEEMS SO
STRANGE - MY BOYHOOD AND YOUTH ARE BUT MEMORIES NOW AND I AM A
FULL GROWN MAN. I WONDER WHAT THE NEXT QUARTER OF A CENTURY WILL
BRING ME - IF IT WILL BE AS RICH IN WORK AND HAPPINESS AS THE PAST -
AS AWFULLY FULL OF FULFILLED PLANS... THESE TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF
MINE HAVE BEEN RICH IN PERSONAL HISTORY. I REMEMBER SCHOOL DAYS,
THE BROOK BY SUMNERS HOUSE, THE ATTIC ROOMS WHERE WE LIVED, THE
LITTLE STOVE THAT USED TO FALL DOWN AND THE WINDOW I PROUDLY CALLED
A BAY-WINDOW. I REMEMBER LITTLE SORROWS OF LIFE WHEN I FOUND NO
COMPANIONS TO PLAY WITH AND BURIED MYSELF IN MAKING GREAT PLANS
FOR A TOY I COULD PLAY WITH ALONE. I REMEMBER THE GATE WHERE I
LOCKED INTO THE GREAT TOWN - WONDERFUL WORLD TO ME THEN."

I RETURNED TO THE UNITED STATES BY WAY OF PARIS WHERE I STAYED
AS LONG AS POSSIBLE AND THEN HAVING REDUCED MYSELF ALMOST TO THE
LAST CENT, TOOK PASSAGE TO THE UNITED STATES IN STEERAGE. IT WAS
BY NO MEANS A PLEASANT TRIP, BUT PERHAPS IT WAS GOOD INTRODUCTION
TO THE NEW LIFE; BECAUSE NOW AT LAST AT TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF AGE
AND AFTER TWENTY YEARS OF STUDY I WAS COMING HOME TO LOOK FOR A
JOB AND BEGIN WORK. I NEED NOT DWELL ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF LANDING
THAT JOB. IT WAS A DISTURBED WORLD IN WHICH I LANDED; 1892
SAW THE HIGH TIDE OF LYNCHING IN THE UNITED STATES; 235 PERSONS
BEING SLAUGHTERED IN THAT ONE YEAR. CLEVELAND HAD ENTERED HIS
SECOND TERM IN 1893 AND THE CHICAGO EXPOSITION HAD TAKEN PLACE.
THE DREYFUS CASE HAD OPENED IN ENGLAND WITH HIS CONVICTION AND IM-
PRISONMENT, AND HE WAS DESTINED FOR TWELVE YEARS TO SUFFER MARTYR-
DOM. THE WAR BETWEEN CHINA AND JAPAN BROKE OUT THE YEAR OF MY RE-

TURN, AND NICHOLAS, I WAS RULING IN RUSSIA.

I RECEIVED EVENTUALLY THREE OFFERS OF WORK. ON AUGUST 17, THE CHAIR OF "CLASSICS" AT WILBERFORCE, WITH A SALARY OF $800 WAS OFFERED, WHICH I IMMEDIATELY ACCEPTED WITH GRATITUDE. A LITTLE LATER THERE CAME AN OFFER OF A POSITION AT LINCOLN INSTITUTE, IN MISSOURI AT 1050; BUT I STUCK TO MY PROMISE; AND FINALLY AUGUST 25 I RECEIVED THIS TELEGRAM "CAN GIVE MATHEMATICS IF TERMS SUIT. WILL YOU ACCEPT. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON." IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SPECULATE JUST WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF I HAD ACCEPTED THE LAST OFFER, INSTEAD OF THE FIRST.

WILBERFORCE WAS A SMALL COLORED COLLEGE ATTACHED TO A NORMAL SCHOOL WHICH WAS SUPPORTED BY THE STATE. THE AFRICAN METHODIST CHURCH WAS NOT RAISING ENOUGH FUNDS TO RUN THE COLLEGE AND THERE WERE ENORMOUS DIFFICULTIES IN CHURCH AND SECULAR POLITICS. INTO THIS SITUATION I LANDED WITH THE CANE AND GLOVES OF MY GERMAN STUDENT DAYS; WITH A STRUT AND RATHER INFLATED IDEAS OF WHAT AN UNIVERSITY OUGHT TO BE; WITH INDEFATIGABLE ENERGY BUT WITH A TERRIBLE PLAINNESS OF SPEECH AND LOGICAL DIRECTNESS OF CONCLUSION THAT WAS CONTINUALLY GETTING ME INTO DIFFICULTY. WHEN, IN VERY SUDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING, THE STUDENT LEADER OF A WEEKLY PRAVER MEETING ANNOUNCED THAT PROFESSOR DU BOIS WHO HAD DROPPED IN QUITE CASUALLY TO LOOK RELIGION OVER, " WOULD LEAD US IN PRAYER", I SIMPLY RESPONDED: "NO, HE WON'T"; AND AS A RESULT NEARLY LOST MY JOB. IT TOOK A GREAT DEAL OF EXPLAINING TO THE BOARD OF ORTHODOX BISHOPS WHY A PROFESSOR IN WILBERFORCE SHOULD NOT BE ABLE PUBLICLY TO ADD-RESS THE LORD ON ANY AND ALL OCCASIONS; BUT I WAS SAVED BY THE FACT THAT I KNEW MY SUBJECTS AND WAS WILLING TO DO ENDLESS WORK.

MY PROGRAM FOR THE DAY AT WILBERFORCE LOOKED ALMOST AS LONG AS A WEEK'S PROGRAM NOW. I TAUGHT LATIN, GREEK, GERMAN AND ENGLISH AND WANTED TO ADD SOCIOLOGY, BUT THE COLLEGE REFUSED. I HAD CHARGE OF SOME OF THE MOST UNPLEASANT DUTIES OF DISCIPLINE AND HAD OUTSIDE WORK IN INVESTIGATION. BUT I MET AND MADE MANY FRIENDS: CHARLES YOUNG, NOT LONG GRADUATED FROM WEST POINT WAS ONE; CHARLES BURROUGHS WAS A STUDENT IN MY CLASSES; PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR CAME OVER FROM DAYTON AND READ TO US. I HAD KNOWN HIS WORK BUT WAS ABTONISHED TO FIND THAT HE WAS A NEGRO. AND NOT LEAST I MET THE SLENDER QUIET AND DARK-EYED GIRL WHO BECAME MRS. DU BOIS IN 1886. HER FATHER WAS CHEF IN THE LEADING HOTEL OF CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, AND HER DEAD MOTHER A NATIVE OF ALSACE.

WE YOUNGER TEACHERS HAD A HARD TEAM FIGHT, AND AT LAST I KNEW I WAS WHIPPED AND THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO STAY AT WILBERFORCE. IT HAD A FINE TRADITION, A STRATEGIC POSITION AND A LARGE CONSTITUENCY; BUT ITS RELIGION WAS NARROW DOGMA; ITS FINANCES CRAMPED; ITS POLICIES TOO INTERTWINED WITH INTRIGUE AND WORSE; AND ITS FUTURE IN GRAVE DOUBT. WHEN, THEREFORE, A TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT CAME FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, ONE YEAR AS "ASSISTANT INSTRUCTOR" FOR $600, I ACCEPTED FORTHWITH IN THE FALL OF 1896, TWO YEAR ABYSSINIA OVERTHREW ITALY AND ENGLAND SUDDENLY SEEING BLACK NATIONS IN THE ASCENDENCY THREW HER ARMY BACK INTO THE SUDAN AND RECAPTURED KHARTOUM. THE NEXT YEAR, THE FREE SILVER CONTROVERSY OF BRYAN AND MCKINLEY BURST AND PRESIDENT BUMSTEAD OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY ASKED ME TO COME THERE AND TAKE CHARGE OF THE WORK IN SOCIOLOGY, AND OF THE NEW CONFERENCES WHICH THEY WERE INAUGURATING ON THE NEGRO PROBLEM.

FOURTH DECADE - SOCIAL RESEARCH - 1898-1908 - 30 YEARS OF AGE:

THIS FOURTH DECADE WAS THE REAL BEGINNING OF MY LIFE WORK. MY EDUCATION WAS FINISHED AND I HAD HAD MY WANDERINGS. THE TWO YEARS AT WILBERFORCE WAS MY UNEASY APPRENTICESHIP, AND WITH MY ADVENTURE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA BEGAN A PLANNED CAREER WHICH HAD AN UNUSUAL MEASURE OF SUCCESS, AND THEN WAS IN THE END PUSHED LARGE-LY ASIDE BY FORCES WHICH, IF NOT ENTIRELY BEYOND MY CONTROL, WERE YET OF TREMENDOUS WEIGHT. R MY VISION WAS CLEAR. THE NEGRO PROBLEM WAS IN MY MIND THEN A MATTER OF SYSTEMATIC INVESTIGATION AND INTELLIGENCE. THE WORLD WAS THINKING WRONG ABOUT RACES BECAUSE IT DID NOT KNOW. THE ULTIMATE EVIL WAS STUPIDITY. THE CURE FOR IT WAS KNOWLEDGE BASED ON SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION. THE OPPORTUNITY OPENED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA WAS JUST EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED. I HAD WANTED TO TEACH SOCIAL SCIENCE AT WILBERFORCE OUTSIDE OF MY OVERLOADED PROGRAM, BUT THEY DID NOT WANT ME TO. AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA I IGNORED THE PITIFUL STIPEND. IT MADE NO DIFFERENCE TO ME THAT I WAS PUT DOWN AS AN "ASSISTANT" INSTRUCTOR AND EVEN AT THAT, MY NAME NEVER ACTUALLY GOT INTO THE CATALOGUE; IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT I DID NO INSTRUCTING SAVE ONCE TO PILLOT A PACK OF IDIOTSG THROUGH THE NEGRO SLUMS. TP THE FACT WAS THAT THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA AT THAT TIME HAD A THEORY; AND THE THEORY WAS THAT THIS GREAT, RICH AND FAMOUS MUNICIPALITY WAS GOING TO THE DOGS BECAUSE OF THE CRIME AND VENALITY OF ITS NEGRO CITIZENS WHO LIVED LARGELY CENTERED IN THE SLUM AT THE LOWER END OF THE SEVENTH WARD. PHILADELPHIA WANTED TO PROVE THIS BY FIGURES AND I WAS THE MAN TO DO IT. OF THIS THOUGHT AND PLAN I NEITHER KNEW NOR CARED. I SAW HERE A CHANCE TO STUDY AN HISTORICAL GROUP OF BLACK FOLK AND TO SHOW EXACTLY WHAT THEIR PLACE WAS IN THE COMMUNITY. I DID IT DE-

SPITE EXTRAORDINARY DIFFICULTIES BOTH WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE GROUP. WHITES SAID, WHY STUDY THE OBVIOUS? BLACKS SAID, ARE WE ANIMALS TO BE DISSECTED AND BY AN UNKNOWN NEGRO AT THAT? I MADE A STUDY OF THE HILSDELPHIA NEGRO SO THOROUGHLY THAT IT HAS WITHSTOOD THE CRITICISM OF FORTY YEARS. IT WAS AS COMPLETE A SCIENTIFIC ANSWER AS COULD HAVE THEN BEEN GIVEN, SHOWING THE NEGRO GROUP AS A SYMPTOM NOT A CAUSE; AS A STRIVING, PALPITATING GROUP AND NOT AN INERT, SICK BODY OF CRIME; AS A LONG HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT AND NOT A TRANSIENT OCCURRENCE.

AT THE END OF THAT STUDY I ANNOUNCED WITH A CERTAIN PRIDE MY PLAN OF STUDYING THE NEGRO PROBLEM. WITH THIS PROGRAM CLEARLY IN MIND I CAME TO ATLANTA UNIVERSITY. THERE WAS AT THE LAST MOMENT A CURIOUS LITTLE HITCH BASED ON THAT MATTER OF EXTEMPORANEOUS PUBLIC PRAYER. DR. BUMSTEAD AND I COMPROMISED ON USE OF THE EPISCOPAL PRAYER BOOK AND THEN LATER I USED TO ADD CERTAIN PRAYERS OF MY OWN COMPOSING. I AM NOT SURE THAT THEY WERE ORTHODOX OR REACHED HEAVEN BUT THEY CERTAINLY REACHED MY AUDIENCE. WITHOUT THOUGHT OR CONSULTATION I RATHER PREEMPTORILY CHANGED THE PLANS OF THE FIRST TWO ATLANTA CONFERENCES. THEY HAD BEEN CONCEIVED AS CONFERENCES ON CITY PROBLEMS, CONTRASTING WITH THE INCREASINGLY POPULAR CONFERENCES ON RURAL PROBLEMS HELD AT TUSKEGEE. BUT I WAS NOT THINKING OF MERE CONFERENCES. I WAS THINKING OF A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR STUDYING a HUMAN GROUP AND IF I COULD HAVE CARRIED IT OUT AS COMPLETELY AS I CONCEIVED IT, THE AMERICAN NEGRO WOULD HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE IN THIS COUNTRY AN UNFORGETTABLE BODY OF WORK.

SOCIAL SCIENTISTS WERE THEN THINKING IN TERMS OF THEORY AND VAST AND ETERNAL LAWS; BUT I HAD A CONCRETE GROUP OF LIVING BEINGS.

A MIDST OF WORK IN THE SOUTH WAS IMPOSSIBLE.

I TRIED NEVERTHELESS TO KEEP MY MOUNTING INDIGNATION WITHIN BOUNDS. TOGETHER WITH OTHER BLACK ATLANTANS I BEGAN SENDING MEMORIALS TO THE LEGISLATURE ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS: ONE IN 1899 WHEN WE SAID "RACE ANTAGONISM AND HATRED HAVE GONE TOO FAR IN THIS STATE; LET US STOP HERE; LET US INSIST THAT WE GO NO FURTHER; LET US COUNTENANCE NO MEASURE OR MOVEMENT CALCULATED TO INCREASE THAT DEEP AND TERRIBLE SENSE OF WRONG UNDER WHICH SO MANY TODAY LABOR. MAY THE TWENTIETH CENTURY OF THE PRINCE OF PEACE DAWN UPON AN ERA OF GENEROUS SYMPATHY AND FORBEARANCE BETWEEN THESE TWO GREAT RACES IN GEORGIA, AND NOT UPON A SEASON OF ADDED INJUSTICE AND ANTIPATHY."

A YEAR OR SO LATER, I WROTE ANOTHER: "FROM EACH ACCORDING TO HIS ABILITY - TO EACH ACORDING TO HIS NEEDS, IS THE IDEAL OF MODERN SOCIETY, AND IN THE LIGHT OF THIS DICTUM, THERE IS NOT A BOY IN GEORGIA TODAY SO POOR OR SO BLACK AS NOT TO DESERVE FROM THE STATE FREE COMMON SCHOOL TRAINING." AND A THIRD, WHICH CAME OUT OF A BLACK MACON MASS MEETING: "POPULAR GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES IS NOT A FAILURE, BUT IT IS HAVING IN THESE DAYS A SEVERE AND CRITICAL TRIAL. ITS SUCCESS IN THE FUTURE DEPENDS UPON THE ABILITY OF GREAT m ASSES OF MEN TO RISE ABOVE PREJUDICE AND DO STRICT JUSTICE TO THEIR FELLOW-MEN. AND TODAY STRICT JUSTICE IN GEORGIA DEMANDS FREE COMMON SCHOOL TRAINING FOR EVERY SINGLE CHILD OF THE STATE."

WITH ALL THIS I STILL STUCK TO MY SCIENTIFIC WORK. I PREPARED IN 1900 AN EXHIBIT FOR THE PARIS EXPOSITION WHICH GAINED A GRAND PRIZE, AND A GOLD MEDAL FOR MYSELF. I ATTENDED AT THAT TIME A FIRST PAN-AFRICAN CONFERENCE WITH BISHOP WALTERS, ONE OF THE COLLENSOS AND SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR. I WAS ELECTED A MEMBER OF THE

GATHERED FOUR OR FIVE WELL EQUIPPED YOUNG STUDENTS, SOME TABULATING MACHINES AND A SMALL CORPS OF TRAVELING INVESTIGATORS, WE COULD AT A COST OF $10,000 TO $25,000 A YEAR, HAVE ABSOLUTELY RECONSTITUTED THE BASES OF FACT AND ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE AMERICAN NEGRO.

AS IT WAS, WITH LIMITED FUNDS AND AN INDIFFERENT PUBLIC, WE DID A JOB. WE PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING STUDIES:

1896 THE MORTALITY OF NEGROES, 51, pp.

1897 THE NEGRO IN CITIES, 86 pp.

1898 EFFORTS OF NEGROES FOR SOCIAL BETTERMENT, 66 pp.

1899 THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS, 77 pp.

1900 THE COLLEGE BRED NEGRO, 115 pp.

1901 THE NEGRO COMMON SCHOOL, 119 pp.

1902 THE NEGRO ARTISAN, 192 pp.

1903 THE NEGRO CHURCH, 212 pp.

1904 NEGRO CRIME, 63 pp.

1905 METHODS AND RESULTS OF TEN YEARS' STUDY AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE NEGRO, 72 pp.

TAKING NEW BREATH IN 1906 AND STARTING ON WHAT I PLANNED TO MAKE A RECURRING CYCLE OF STUDIES EXTENDING OVER A CENTURY, WE MADE THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATIONS:

1906 THE HEALTH AND PHYSIQUE OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO, 112 pp.

1907 ECONOMIC COOPERATION AMONG NEGRO AMERICANS, 184 pp.

1908 THE NEGRO AMERICAN FAMILY, 156 pp.

1909 EFFORTS FOR SOCIAL BETTERMENT AMONG NEGRO AMERICANS, 136 pp.

1910 THE COLLEGE BRED NEGRO AMERICAN, 104 pp.

1911 THE COMMON SCHOOL AND THE NEGRO AMERICAN, 140 pp.

1912 THE NEGRO-AMERICAN ARTISAN, 144 pp.

THERE WAS SOME IDEOLOGIC IN THIS SUCCESSION OF SUBJECTS. I
WAS TRYING TO INSERT A STUDY OF POLITICAL STATUS BUT AT THIS EVEN
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, HESKLED

AFTER I LEFT THE UNIVERSITY I PUBLISHED IN COLLABORATION WITH
MR. GRANVILLE DILL, WHO SUCCEDED ME IN THE CHAIR OF SOCIOLOGY IN
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, MORALS AND MANNERS AMONG NEGRO AMERICANS, 138
PP. THIS MADE A TOTAL OF 2172 PAGES, WHICH FORMED A CURRENT ENCY-
CLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO PROBLEMS.

WE BROUGHT TO ATLANTA FOR ATTENDANCE AT THE CONFERENCES AND
ADVICE IN OUR WORK MEN LIKE BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON GLAD-
DEN, FRANK B. SANBORN, FRANZ BOAZ, JANE ADDAMS AND FLORENCE KELLEY.

IN ADDITION TO THE ABOVE STUDIES THE CONFERENCE COOPERATED IN
THE FOLLOWING WORK:

1. ECONOMIC STUDIES OF THE NEGRO MADE BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR UNDER CARROLL D. WRIGHT (SEE BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR No. 10, 14, 22 AND 35.)

2. TWELFTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES (BULLETIN No. 8, "NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES).

3. INVESTIGATION BY THE AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION OF THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF NEGROES.

"THE STUDIES MENTIONED WERE WIDELY USED; THEY WERE IN ALL THE LARGE LIBRARIES OF THE WORLD INCLUDING THE BRITISH MUSEUM, THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, &c. THEY HAVE BEEN COMMENDED BY PERIODICALS LIKE THE OUTLOOK, THE NATION, THE LONDON TIMES, THE SPECTATOR, THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, AND THE UNITED STATES BULLETIN OF LABOR; THEY WERE FAVORABLY SPOKEN OF BY MEN LIKE G. STANLEY HALL, WALTER F. WILCOX, TALLCOT WILLIAMS, AND MOST OF THE TEACHERS OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY IN AMERICAN COLLEGES."

IT MUST BE REMEMBERED THAT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE STUDIES
LAY NOT SO MUCH IN WHAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH, AS
IN THE FACT, THAT AT THE TIME OF THEIR PUBLICATION ATLANTA UNIVER-

ever been said and almost nothing written. The years from 1899 to 1905 marked the culmination of the career of Booker T. Washington. In 1899 Mr. Washington, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and myself spoke on the stage platform at the Hollis Street Theatre, Boston, before a distinguished audience. Mr. Washington was not at his best and friends immediately raised a fund which sent him to Europe for a three month's rest. He was received with extraordinary honors: he had tea with the aged Queen Victoria but two years before her death; he was entertained by two dukes and other members of the aristocracy; he met James Bryce and Henry M. Stanley; he was received at the Peace Conference at the Hague and was greeted by many distinguished Americans, like ex-President Harrison, Archbishop Ireland and two justices of the Supreme Court. Only a few years before he had received an honorary degree from Harvard; in 1901, he received a LL.D. from Darmouth and that same year he dined with President Roosevelt to the consternation of the white South.

Returning to America he became during the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, from 1901 to 1912, the political referee in all federal appointments or action taken with reference to the Negro and in many regarding the White South. In 1903 Andrew Carnegie made the future of Tuskegee certain by a gift of $600,000. There was no question of Booker T. Washington's undisputed leadership of the ten million Negroes in American, a leadership recognized gladly by the whites and conceded by most of the Negroes.

But there were discrepancies and paradoxes in this leadership. It did not seem fair, for instance, that on the one hand Mr. Washington should cry political activities among Negroes and on the other hand dictate Negro political objectives from Tuskegee. At a time when Negro civil rights called for organized and aggressive defense he broke down that defense by advising acquiescence or at least no open agitation. During the period when laws

disfranchising the Negro were being passed in all the Southern states between 1890 and 1909, and when these were being supplemented by "Jim Crow" travel laws and other enactments making color caste legal, his public speeches while they did not entirely ignore this development, tended continually to emphasize the shortcomings of the Negro and were interpreted widely as putting the chief onus for his condition upon the Negro himself.

All this naturally aroused increasingly bitter opposition among *Negroes* and especially among the younger classes of educated *Negroes* who were beginning to emerge here and there especially from Northern institutions. This opposition began especially to become vocal in 1901 when two men, Monroe Trotter, Harvard 1895, and George Forbes, Amerherst 1895, began in Boston the publication of the weekly *Guardian*. The *Guardian* was bitter, satirical and personal; but it was well edited, it was earnest and it published facts. It attracted wide attention among colored people; it circulated *among them* all over the country; it was quoted and discussed. I did not wholly agree with the *Guardian* and only a few *Negroes* did, but they read it and they were influenced by it.

This beginning of organized opposition, together with other events led to the growth at Tuskegee of what I have called the Tuskegee Machine. It arose first quite naturally. Not only did presidents of the United States consult Booker Washington, but governors and congressmen; philanthropists conferred with him, scholars wrote to him. Tuskegee became a vast information bureau and center of advice. It was not merely passive in these matters, but guided by a young unobtrusive minor official, who was also intelligent, suave and farseeing, active efforts were made to concentrate influence at Tuskegee. After a time *also* no Negro institution *could* collect funds without the recommendation or acquiescence of *Mr.* Washington. Few political appointments were made anywhere in the United States without his consent. Even the careers of rising young colored men were very often

ions with regard to his attitude toward voting and education. William H. Lewis, a colored lawyer whom I had introduced to Mr. Washington, had charge of the meeting and the result was a disturbance magnified by the newspapers into a riot, which resulted in the arrest of Mr. Trotter. Eventually he served a term in jail.

Later I explained to George Foster Peabody in answer to a query my
own connection with and attitude toward this occurrence. "I did not arrive
in Boston until after the Zion Church disturbance. Before seeing the account
in the morning papers, I had had no inkling or suspicion in any way of the
matter. I did not know Mr. Washington was in Boston or intending to go
where I had lectured in the summer school.
there, as I had just left him at Tuskegee. I had had no correspondence
with Mr. Trotter for six months, save in regard to a boarding place. When
I arrived in Boston and heard of the meeting, I told Mr. Trotter and Mr.
Forbes in plain terms my decided disapproval of the unfortunate occurrence
and my conviction that it would do harm. Although I was unable at that
time to defend Mr. Washington's position as I once had, I nevertheless took
occasion to address a meeting of men at Mr. Trotter's home and remind them
of the vast difference between crit-

["ICISING MR. WASHINGTON'S POLICY AND ATTACKING HIM PERSONALLY.\n\nNEVERTHELESS, BROUGHT INTO CLOSE CONTACT WITH MR. TROTTER FOR THE\nFIRST TIME, MY ADMIRATION FOR HIS UNSELFISHNESS, PURITY OF HEART\nAND INDOMITABLE ENERGY, EVEN WHEN MISGUIDED, GREW.\"", "FINALLY WHEN MR. TROTTER WAS JAILED, MY INDIGNATION OVERFLOWED.\nI SENT OUT FROM ATLANTA IN JUNE, 1905 A CALL TO A FEW SELECTED\nPERSONS \"FOR ORGANIZED DETERMINATION AND AGGRESSIVE ACTION ON THE\nPART OF MEN WHO BELIEVE IN NEGRO FREEDOM AND GROWTH.\" I PROPOSED\nA CONFERENCE DURING THAT SUMMER \"TO OPPOSE FIRMLY PRESENT METHODS\nOF STRANGLING HONEST CRITICISM; TO ORGANIZE INTELLIGENT AND HONEST\nNEGROES, AND TO SUPPORT ORGANS OF NEWS AND PUBLIC OPINION.\" FIFTY-\NMINE MEN FROM SEVENTEEN DIFFERENT STATES SIGNED A CALL FOR A MEETING\nNEAR BUFFALO, NEW YORK, DURING THE WEEK OF JULY 9, 1905. I WENT TO\nBUFFALO AND HIRED A LITTLE HOTEL ON THE CANADA SIDE OF THE RIVER\nAT FORT ERIE AND WAITED FOR THE MEN TO ATTEND THE MEETING. IF\nSUFFICIENT MEN HAD NOT COME TO PAY FOR THE HOTEL, I SHOULD CERTAIN-\nLY HAVE BEEN IN BANKRUPTCY AND PERHAPS IN JAIL; BUT AS A MATTER OF\nFACT, TWENTY-NINE MEN, REPRESENTING FOURTEEN STATES, CAME. THE\n\"NIAGARA MOVEMENT\" WAS ORGANIZED JANUARY 31, 1906, AND WAS INCOR-\nPORATED IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: WITH THE FOLLOWING OBJECT:\n\"ITS PARTICULAR BUSINESS AND OBJECTS ARE TO ADVOCATE AND PROMOTE\nTHE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES:", "1. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND CRITICISM.", "2. UNFETTERED AND UNSUBSIDIZED PRESS.", "3. MANHOOD SUFFRAGE.", "4. THE ABOLITION OF ALL CASTE DISTINCTIONS BASED SIMPLY ON RACE\nAND COLOR.", "5. THE RECOGNITION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN BROTHERHOOD AS A\nPRACTICAL PRESENT CREED."]

RUN ON THE TICKET WITH MR. ROOSEVELT, AND FINALLY SUCCEEDED IN MAK-
ING WOODROW WILSON PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

IMMEDIATELY BISHOP WALTERS OF THE AFRICAN ZION CHURCH, WHO
HAD JOINED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN 1909, APPROACHED ME WITH THE
IDEA THAT MR. WILSON MIGHT BE *influenced* TO BE APPROACHABLE. I PROPOSED TO THROW THE
WEIGHT OF THE *CRISIS* AGAINST ROOSEVELT AND TAFT AND FOR WILSON.
BISHOP WALTERS WENT TO SEE HIM. HE SECURED FROM WOODROW WILSON A
CATEGORICAL EXPRESSION OVER HIS SIGNATURE "OF HIS EARNEST WISH
TO SEE JUSTICE DONE THE COLORED PEOPLE IN EVERY MATTER; AND NOT
MERE GRUDGING JUSTICE, BUT JUSTICE EXECUTED WITH LIBERALITY AND
CORDIAL GOOD FEELING." "I WANT TO ASSURE THEM THAT SHOULD I BECOME
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES THEY MAY COUNT UPON ME FOR ABSOLUTE
FAIR DEALING, FOR EVERYTHING BY WHICH I COULD ASSIST IN ADVANCING
THE INTERESTS OF THEIR RACE IN THE UNITED STATES."

IN THIS EFFORT TO DIVIDE THE NEGRO VOTE, WHICH WAS SUCCESSFUL
TO AN UNUSUAL DEGREE, WE WERE CRUELLY DISAPPOINTED WHEN THE DEMOCRAT-
IC CONGRESS MET. THERE CAME THE GREATEST FLOOD OF BILLS PROPOSING
DISCRIMINATORY LEGISLATION BOTH IN CONGRESS AND IN THE STATES, THAT
HAD EVER BEEN INTRODUCED SINCE THE CIVIL WAR. ONLY UNITED AND DE-
TERMINED EFFORT DEFEATED BILLS AGAINST INTERMARRIAGE AND FOR OTHER
DISCRIMINATIONS IN EIGHT STATES, AND MOST OF THE PROPOSED LEGISLAT-
ION IN CONGRESS WAS KEPT FROM THE STATUTE BOOKS. NEVERTHELESS THE
ADMINISTRATION CARRIED OUT A SEGREGATION OF COLORED CLERKS IN THE
VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS, WHICH WE HAD TO FIGHT FOR YEARS AND VESTIGES
OF WHICH REMAINESEVEN TODAY.

IN OTHER RESPECTS, OUR LINES WERE CAST IN DIFFICULT PLACES.
THE SOCIALISTS BEGAN TO RECOGNIZE THE COLOR LINE AND TO DISCRIM-

ITY OF US KNEW: NONE OF US HELD UNCOMPROMISING AND UNCHANGEABLE
VIEWS; IT WAS AFTER ALL A MATTER OF EMPHASIS; WE ALL BELIEVED
IN THRIFT; WE ALL WANTED THE NEGRO TO VOTE; WE ALL WANTED THE LAWS
ENFORCED; WE ALL WANTED assertion OF OUR ESSENTIAL MANHOOD; BUT
HOW TO GET THESE THINGS, - THERE OF COURSE WAS INFINITE DIVERGENCE
OF OPINION.

THE AMENIA CONFERENCE IN REALITY MARKED THE END OF AN ERA
AND THE BEGINNING. AS WE SAID IN OUR RESOLUTIONS: "THE AMENIA
CONFERENCE BELIEVES THAT ITS MEMBERS HAVE ARRIVED AT A VIRTUAL UN-
ANIMITY OF OPINION IN REGARD TO CERTAIN PRINCIPLES AND THAT A MORE
OR LESS DEFINITE RESULT MAY BE EXPECTED FROM ITS DELIBERATIONS."

IF THE WORLD HAD NOT GONE CRAZY DIRECTLY AFTER THE AMENIA
CONFERENCE AND INDEED AT THE VERY TIME OF ITS MEETING HAD NOT
BEEN MUCH MORE WIDELY INSANE THAN MOST OF US REALIZED, IT IS PROB-
ABLE THAT THE AFTERMATH OF THIS CONFERENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN EVEN
GREATER THAN WE CAN NOW SEE. WHILE WE WERE THERE, THE WORLD WAS
FIGHTING AND HAD FOUGHT TWO LONG YEARS. IN ANOTHER YEAR AMERICA
WAS DESTINED TO JOIN THE WAR AND THE NEGRO RACE WAS TO BE TORN
AND SHAKEN IN ITS VERY HEART BY NEW AND TREMENDOUS PROBLEMS.
THE OLD ORDER WAS GOING AND A NEW RACE SITUATION WAS TO BE DEVEL-
OPED.

OF ALL THIS THE AMENIA CONFERENCE WAS A SYMBOL. IT NOT ONLY
MARKED THE END OF THE OLD THINGS AND THE OLD THOUGHTS AND THE OLD
WAYS OF ATTACKING THE RACE PROBLEM, BUT IN ADDITION TO THIS WAS THE
BEGINNING OF THE NEW THINGS. PROBABLY ON ACCOUNT OF OUR MEETING,
THE NEGRO RACE WAS MORE UNITED AND MORE READY TO MEET THE PROBLEMS
OF THE WORLD THAN IT COULD POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN WITHOUT
**these** BEAUT-
IFUL DAYS OF UNDERSTANDING. IT WAS A "CLOSE RANKS," BEFORE THE

father brought both these boys to America and planned to give them the education of gentlemen. They were white enough in appearance to give no inkling of their African descent. They were entered in the private Episcopal school at Cheshire, Connecticut, which still exists and has trained many famous men. Dr. James Du Bois used often to visit his sons but somewhere about 1812 on his return from a visit, fell in a fit and died. He left no will and his estate descended to a cousin, Cornelius Du Bois. Whether or not this was the Cornelius who was one time treasurer of Vassar College I do not know. The name Cornelius runs in both branches of the family.

The boys were removed from school and bound out as apprentices; my grandfather to a shoemaker. Their connection with the white Du Bois family thus ceased suddenly and was never renewed. Alexander Du Bois thus started with a good common school and perhaps some high school training and with the instincts of a gentleman of his day. Naturally he passed through much inner turmoil. He became a rebel, bitter at his lot in life, resentful at being classed as a Negro and yet implacable in his attitude toward whites. He married early Sarah March Lewis in 1823 and then apparently set out to make his way in Haiti. There my father was born in 1825, and his elder sister Augusta a year earlier, either there or just as the family was leaving the United States. Evidently the situation in Haiti did not please my grandfather or perhaps the death of his young wife when she was scarcely thirty turned him back to America. Within a year he married Emily Basset who seems to have been the widow of a man named Jacklyn and lived in New Milford. Leonard Bacon a well-known Congregational clergyman performed his second marriage.

The following year Alexander began his career in the United States. He lived in New Haven, Springfield, Providence and finally in New Bedford. For sometime he was steward on the New York - New Haven boat and insisted on better treatment for his colored help. Later about 1848 he ran a grocery store

179

presented to me in order of seniority by the small brown Secretary of States with
his perfect poise and ease.

The President entered -- frock-coated with the star and ribbon of a Spanish
order on his breast. The American Minister introduced me and I said:

185

and at last in perhaps too labored reasoning and explanation. Then I have
led my reader to Africa as to the end and culmination of my meaning. Let me
pause here and in poetry, seek finally to say the unsaid rest; something of
such a nature that it can only be expressed in an attempt to rise from halting
prose to the more subtle clarity of verse and illusion.