material from the ,google ,print project47 ,,twenty-,,five ,,years ,,in ,,the ,,black ,,belt ,illustration3 ,,william ,j4 ,,edwards ,twenty-,five ,years in the ,black ,belt ,,by ,,william ,j4 ,,edwards ,,illustrated ,,the ,,cornhill ,,company ,,boston ,copyright1 #aiah by ,,the ,,cornhill ,,company ,,to ,,my ,,loving ,,wife ,,who ,,encouraged ,,me ,,in ,,all ,,my ,,early ,,struggles ,,and ,,aided ,,me ,,in ,,all ,,my ,,achievements ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page #a4 ,,childhood ,,days #a #b4 ,,shadows #g #c4 ,a ,,ray ,,of ,,light #ac #d4 ,,life ,,at ,,tuskegee #ah #e4 ,,reconnoitering #bf #f4 ,,founding ,,the ,,snow ,,hill ,,school #ce #g4 ,,small ,,beginnings #cg #h4 ,,campaigning ,,for ,,funds ,,in ,,the ,,north #dc #i4 ,,results #di #aj4 ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,jeanes ,,fund #ed #aa4 ,,appreciation #ef #ab4 ,,graduates ,,and ,,ex-,,students #fc #ac4 ,,the ,,solution ,,of ,,the ,,negro ,,problem #gg #ad4 ,,the ,,greatest ,,menace ,,of ,,the ,,south #hf #ae4 ,,the ,,negro ,,exodus #id #af4 ,,the ,,negro ,,and ,,the ,,public ,,schools ,,of ,,the ,,south #ajj #ag4 ,,where ,,lies ,,the ,,negro',s ,,opportunity8 #ajd #ah4 ,,school ,,problems ,,of ,a ,,tuskegee ,,graduate #aji #ai4 ,,benefits ,,wrought ,,by ,,hardships #aae #bj4 ,,the ,,negro ,,and ,,the ,,world ,,war #abj ,,appendix #abg ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,william ,j4 ,,edwards ,frontispiece ,,uncle ,,charles ,,lee ,,and ,,his ,,home ,,in ,,the ,,black ,,belt ,facing ,page #cb ,,first ,,trustees ,,of ,,snow ,,hill ,,and ,,two ,,of ,,their ,,wives #cf ,,partial ,,view ,,of ,,snow ,,hill ,,institute #dh ,a ,,new ,,type ,,of ,,home ,,in ,,the ,,black ,,belt #eb ,,typical ,,log ,,cabin ,,in ,,the ,,black ,,belt #fj ,,home ,,of ,a ,,snow ,,hill ,,graduate #fj ,,graduates ,,of ,,snow ,,hill ,,institute #gb ,,teachers ,,of ,,snow ,,hill ,,institute #ajj ,,preface ,in bringing this book before the public1 it is my hope that the friends of the ,snow ,hill ,school and all who are interested in ,negro ,education may become more familiar with the problems and difficulties that confront those who labor for the future of a race4 ,i have had to endure endless hardships during these twenty-five years1 in order that thousands of poor negro youths might receive an industrial education1--boys and girls who might have gone into that demoralized class that is a disgrace to any people and that these friends may continue their interest in not only ,snow ,hill but all the schools of the ,south that are seeking to make better citizens of our people4 ,i also hope that the interest may be sustained until the ,state and ,nation realize that it is profitable to educate the black child as well as the white4 ,to me1 these have been twenty-five years of self denial1 of self sacrifice1 of deprivation1 even of suffering1 but when ,i think of the results1 ,i am still encouraged to go on2 when ,i think of the work that ,mr4 ,mc,duffie is doing at ,laurinburg1 ,n4 ,c41 ,brown at ,richmond1 ,ala41 ,knight at ,evergreen1 ,ala41 ,mitchell at ,w4 ,butler1 ,ala41 ,carmichael at ,perdue ,hill1 ,ala41 ,brister at ,selma1 ,ala41 and hundreds of others1 ,i feel that the sacrifice has not been in vain1 so ,i continue believing that after all the great heart of the ,american people is on the right side4 ,i think that to-day1 the ,negro faces the dawn1--not the twilight1--the morning1--not the evening4 ,in my passionate desire to hasten that time and with the crying needs of my race at heart1 ,i choose this opportunity for making an appeal in their behalf4 ,lord1 and what shall this man do8 7,john #ba47 ,man is a relative being and should be thus considered4 ,the status of my brother then will always serve as a standard of value by which my own conduct can be measured2 by his standard mine may become either high or low1 broad or narrow1 deep or shallow4 ,this is the theory that underlies all humanitarian work4 ,this is the great dynamic force of the ,christian life4 ,no question is being asked by the ,american people more earnestly today than this one3 ,lord1 ,what shall this man1 the ,negro1 do1--this black man upon whom centuries of ignorance have left their marks8 ,he has made a faithful slave1 a courageous soldier1 and when trained and educated1 an industrious and law-abiding citizen1 yet he is troubled on every side4 ,what shall he do8 ,uneducated1 undisciplined1 untrained1 he is often ferocious or dangerous2 he makes a criminal of the lowest type for he is the product of ignorance4 ,crime has increased in proportion as educational privileges have been withdrawn4 ,this brings the ,negro face to face with a most dangerous criminal force4 ,what shall this man do8 ,it is true that the white man is further up on the ladder of civilization than the ,negro1 but the ,negro desires to climb and has made rapid strides1 according to his chances4 ,christ's answer to ,peter was1 ,what is that to thee1 follow thou ,me4 ,john's future welfare evidently depended upon ,peter's ability to follow ,christ4 ,so the future work and welfare of the ,negro in the ,black-,belt of the ,south depend largely upon the ,christian work of the southern white man4 ,the ,negro needs justice and mercy from the courts of the land and asks for equal rights in educational opportunities4 ,we admit that there is a difference between the white man and the ,negro1 but the difference is not as great as was the difference between ,christ and ,his disciples4 ,we admit that the white man is above the ,negro1 but not so high as was ,christ above ,his disciples4 ,the very fact that ,christ was superior to ,his disciples served to ,him as a reason why ,he should minister unto them4 ,the superiority of the white man to his black brother can only be shown by the white man's willingness to minister unto him4 ,lord1 what shall this black man do8 ,many great problems confront the people of the rural ,south1 namely1 this ,negro ,problem and the problem of sufficient labor supply4 ,in a practical way ,i wish to consider the relation of the ,negro to the labor problem of the rural ,south4 ,it is a fact that today many of the best farms of the ,south have been turned into pastures because of the lack of labor2 other farms have been sold1 and still others are growing up in weeds because there is no one to till them4 ,this condition obtains in a very marked degree in almost every southern state4 ,certainly in most of the ,agricultural ,sections4 ,before investigating the cause of this condition1 men of influence and power have hastened to proclaim through the press and otherwise1 that the responsibility rests upon the ,negro4 ,they say that the ,negro is lazy1 worthless1 criminal and will not work and therefore they are compelled to have immigrants to work these fields4 ,that there are lazy1 worthless and criminal ,negroes1 we do not deny1 but we do deny that as a race they are such4 ,the facts are these3 first1 the ,south1 unlike other sections of the country1 has not had thousands of immigrants to come into her borders year after year to do her work1 but has depended solely upon the increase in her native population for this purpose4 ,this increase has not kept pace with the marvellous growth and development of that section1 hence1 the cry for labor4 ,second1 scarcity of labor in that section is due in part1 to ignorance and a false idea of real freedom4 ,men with such ideas do not work long in any one place1 but rove from section to section and work enough to keep themselves living4 ,this labor is not only unprofitable to the individual1 but is not satisfactory to the employers4 ,third1 the labor trouble in the rural ,south is due mostly to the way in which the landlords and merchants treat their tenants and customers4 ,the great mass of ,negroes in the ,south either rent the lands or work them on shares4 ,this rent varies according to the kind of crops that are made4 ,if the tenant makes a good crop this year1 he must expect to pay more rent the next year1 or his farm will be rented to another at higher figures4 ,of course1 the ,negroes are ignorant and are unable to keep their own accounts4 ,sometimes these ,negro farmers pay as much as #ej1 #ge and #ajj on the goods and provisions which they consume during the year4 ,this method of renting lands and selling goods according to the condition of the crops1 is repeated year after year4 ,i know ignorant farmers who have been working under these conditions for twenty-five and thirty years1 who have never been able to get more than #ae or #bj in any one year during this period4 ,these are not worthless and shiftless ,negroes1 but persons who work hard from ,monday morning until ,saturday night4 ,as a rule1 they are on their farms at sunrise1 and remain there until sunset4 ,they have their dinners brought to them in the fields4 ,i have seen small families grow into large ones under these conditions4 ,i have also seen infants grow to manhood under same4 ,now1 these people who have been working in this way for twenty-five and thirty years are becoming discouraged4 ,when you ask them why they do not ditch1 fertilize1 and improve their farms1 their answer is1 that if they do this1 the next year they will either have to pay more rent or hunt another home for themselves4 ,it seems to be the policy of the landlords and the merchants of the rural ,south to keep their tenants and customers in debt4 ,it is this abominable method of the landlords and tenants of the rural ,south more than anything else1 that has caused many of the best farming lands there to be turned into pastures1 others to be sold at sheriff sale1 and still others to be growing up in weeds4 ,another menace is loss of fertility of the soil4 ,the problem is1 how can we stop these people from leaving the country for the cities and other places of public works and again reclaim these waste fields8 ,it was once thought that the places of these ,negroes could be supplied by immigrants from foreign countries1 but this hope is now almost abandoned4 ,in fact1 the few immigrants who have gone into that section have1 in many instances1 been oppressed almost as much as the ,negroes1 many have gone to other parts of the country or have returned to their homes4 ,so we find ourselves face to face with large and fertile agricultural areas in the ,south with no labor to till them4 ,the remedy of these evils lies in the ,negro himself4 ,he is best suited to the work1 best adapted to the climate1 and understands the southern white man better than anyone else4 ,furthermore1 he knows the white man2 knows his disposition and inclinations1 and therefore1 knows what is so called his place4 ,he feels that justice is wanting in the courts of the ,south and he therefore tries to avoid all troubles4 ,most of all1 he prays for a chance to work and educate his children4 ,he labors and waits thus patiently because he has faith in the ,american people4 ,he believes that ere long the righteous indignation of this people will be aroused and like the great wave of prohibition1 will sweep this country from center to circumference1 and then every man will be awarded according to his several abilities4 ,these waste places can be reclaimed and the guttered hills made to blossom1 only by giving the ,negro a common education combined with religious1 moral and industrial training and the opportunity to at least own his home1 if not the land he cultivates4 ,the ,negro must be taught to believe that the farmer can become prosperous and independent2 that he can own his home and educate his children in the country4 ,if he can1 and he can be taught these things1 in less than ten years1 every available farm in the rural ,south will be occupied4 ,,william ,j4 ,,edwards4 ,,twenty-,,five ,,years ,,in ,,the ,,black ,,belt ,,chapter #a4 ,,childhood ,,days4 ,all that ,i know of my ancestors was told to me by my people4 ,i learned from my grandfather on my mother's side that the family came to ,alabama from ,south ,carolina4 ,he told me that his mother was owned by the ,wrumphs who lived in ,south ,carolina1 but his father belonged to another family4 ,for some cause1 the ,wrumphs decided to move from ,south ,carolina to ,alabama2 this caused his mother and father to be separated1 as his father remained in ,south ,carolina4 ,the new home was near the village of ,snow ,hill4 ,this must have been in the ,thirties when my grandfather was quite a little child4 ,he had no hope of ever seeing his father again1 but his father worked at nights and in that way earned enough money to purchase his freedom from his master4 ,so after four or five years he succeeded in buying his own freedom from his master and started out for ,alabama4 ,when he arrived at ,snow ,hill1 he found his family1 and ,mr4 ,wrumphs at once hired him as a driver4 ,he remained with his family until his death1 which occurred during the war4 ,at his death one of his sons1 ,george1 was appointed to take his place as driver4 ,as ,i now remember1 my grandfather told me that his mother's name was ,phoebe and that she lived until the close of the war4 ,my grandfather married a woman by the name of ,rachael and she belonged to a family by the name of ,sigh4 ,his wife's mother came directly from ,africa and spoke the ,african language4 ,it is said that when she became angry no one could understand what she said4 ,her owner allowed her to do much as she pleased4 ,my grandfather had ten children1 my mother being the oldest girl4 ,she married my father during the war and1 as nearly as ,i can remember1 he told me that it was in #ahfd4 ,three children were born to them and ,i was the youngest2 there was a girl and another boy4 ,i know little of my father's people1 excepting that he repeatedly told me that they came from ,south ,carolina4 ,so it is1 that while ,i can trace my ancestry back to my great-grandparents on my mother's side1 ,i can learn nothing beyond my grandparents on my father's side4 ,my grandfather was a local preacher and could read quite well4 ,just how he obtained this knowledge1 ,i have never been able to learn4 ,he had the confidence and respect of the best white and colored people in the community and sometimes he would journey eight or ten miles to preach4 ,many times at these meetings there were nearly as many whites as colored people in the audience4 ,he was indeed a grand old man4 ,his name was ,james and his father's name was ,michael4 ,so after freedom he took the name of ,james ,carmichael4 ,one of the saddest things about slavery was the separation of families4 ,very often ,i come across men who tell me that they were sold from ,virginia1 ,south ,carolina or ,north ,carolina1 and that they had large families in those states4 ,since their emancipation1 many of these have returned to their former states in search of their families1 and while some have succeeded in finding them1 there are those who have not been able to find any trace of their families and have come back again to die4 ,sometimes we hear people attempt to apologize for slavery1 but slavery at its best was hard and cruel4 ,often the old slaves tell me of their bitter experience4 ,even today1 there are everywhere in the ,south many ex-slaves who lived their best days before and during the civil war4 ,many of these men and women found themselves alone at the close of the war1 having been sold away from their families while they were slaves4 ,i was born at ,snow ,hill1 ,wilcox ,county1 ,alabama1 ,september #abth1 #ahfi1 three-quarters of a mile east of where ,snow ,hill ,institute now stands4 ,my mother died ,september #ith1 #ahgj1 at which time ,i lacked three days of being one year old4 ,from all ,i can learn my mother was very religious4 ,she was a great praying woman and almost at every meeting held in the neighborhood she would be called upon to pray4 ,in fact1 she was sent for miles around to pray at these meetings4 ,my mother's death left my father with three children1 ,i being the youngest4 ,he succeeded in getting his mother1 who was cooking for her white people in ,selma1 ,alabama1 to come and take us in charge4 ,my name was ,ulyses ,grant ,edwards1 but my grandmother1 who had been with white people since emancipation1 changed my name to ,william4 ,i afterward added to this my grandfather's name of ,james4 ,my father went away to work and ,i remained with my grandmother4 ,we lived about one mile from the quarter1--that is1 the collection of slaves' cabins4 ,we had about three acres of ground cleared around our cabin and my grandmother and ,i farmed4 ,i do not know how old ,i was when ,i began working1 for ,i have been a farm hand ever since ,i could remember anything4 ,we usually made one bale of cotton each year and about twenty-five or thirty bushels of corn4 ,sometimes my grandfather would do our plowing and at other times1--as we had no stock1--my grandmother and ,i worked out for others to get our plowing done4 ,in the summer time it was the custom for little ,negro boys to wear only one garment1 a shirt4 ,sometimes1 however1 my grandmother would be unable to get one for me and in that case she would take a crocus sack or corn sack and put two holes in it for my arms and one for my head4 ,in putting on a sack shirt for the first time the sensation was extremely irritating4 ,it seemed as if a thousand pins were sticking me all at once1 but after a few days it would become all right and ,i could wear it comfortably4 ,for several summers this was my only garment4 ,sometimes we would raise a pig during the summer to kill in the winter and sometimes we had a cow to milk4 ,at such times we had plenty to eat1 but at other times we had neither a pig nor a cow and then we had hard times in the way of getting something to eat4 ,some days our only diet was corn-bread and corn coffee4 ,when ,i was old enough1 ,i was sent to school for two or three months each winter4 ,here again ,i had a hard time1 as we usually carried our dinner in a little tin bucket4 ,sometimes ,i had nothing but bread and when recess came for dinner1 ,i went away by myself and ate my bread and drank water4 ,as long as ,i could keep out of the way of the other children1 no one was the wiser and ,i did not mind it1 but some of the children began to watch me and in that way found that ,i had nothing but bread1 and when they told the others1 they would laugh and make fun of me4 ,this would make me feel badly and sometimes ,i cried1 but ,i did not stop school for this4 ,my one desire was to learn to read the ,bible for my old grandmother1 who like my mother1 was very religious4 ,at last ,i was able to read the ,bible for her4 ,she would listen for hours and too1 she would sing such songs as1 ,roll1 ,jordan ,roll4 ,saturdays were mill days and ,i had to take the corn on my shoulder and go to the mill1 which was four or five miles away4 ,it always took me from four to five hours to make this trip1 as ,i had to stop by the way several times to rest4 ,by this time my brother and sister were large enough to do good work on the farm4 ,my grandfather and grandmother for whom they were working1 now desired to take them wholly from my old grandmother4 ,the ,justice of the ,peace said that the children might decide the matter4 ,my brother chose to go to my grandfather's but my sister came back home with the grandmother who had reared us from infants4 ,of course1 ,i did not go to court1 because they all knew that there was no chance of my leaving my grandmother4 ,in the early spring of #ahhj while on one of my trips to the mill the thought dawned upon me that my grandmother was very old and must soon die4 ,i cried all the way to the mill and back4 ,i could not see how ,i would live after she was gone4 ,i did not tell anybody why ,i was crying4 ,on a ,june night1 she became severely ill and died4 ,all she said to us during her illness was3 ,children1 ,i have been waiting for this hour a long time4 ,after the death of my grandmother1 her daughter ,marina ,rivers1 who was herself a widow and well on in years1 came to live with us that year4 ,i soon learned to love her as ,i had my grandmother and never once thought of leaving her for my mother's people4 ,we gathered the crop that fall and when all was over1 my father1 whom ,i had not seen for five or six years1 came to carry my sister and myself to ,selma1 where he was staying4 ,the thought of going to the city filled me with joy and the time to go could not come too soon for me4 ,,chapter #b4 ,,shadows4 ,we arrived in ,selma several days before ,christmas4 ,here everything was strange to me1 as ,i had never been in a city before4 ,i did not know any one and it was not long before ,i was crying to return to ,snow ,hill4 ,my father gave me to understand then1 that ,selma was my home now and that ,i should not be permitted to return to ,snow ,hill4 ,he said that he was going to put me in school when the ,new ,year came1 but when the time came nothing was said about school4 ,he gave us little care and often we were in need of food and clothes4 ,after spending a few weeks doing nothing1 ,i went out one day to hunt for work and succeeded in getting a job at the compress1 where they reduced the size of a bale of cotton by one-half and clipped the tires4 ,my job was to straighten out the bent tires4 ,i got twenty-five cents a day for this4 ,that week ,i made one dollar and fifty cents4 ,this was the most money ,i had ever had4 ,i spent almost all of it for provisions and that night my sister cooked a great supper4 ,finally1 my father said that he would save my wages for me1 but if he did he has it still1 as ,i never have seen any that he collected4 ,i had not been in ,selma long before ,i was taken ill4 ,that misfortune changed my whole life4 ,i had no medical attendance and suffered greatly4 ,sometimes ,i prayed and sometimes ,i cried4 ,the news reached ,snow ,hill that ,i was sick and not being cared for4 ,as soon as she could1 my aunt ,rina came to ,selma for me and carried me home4 ,on my return to ,snow ,hill ,i was sick and emaciated1 but few people welcomed me4 ,many tried to discourage my aunt for bringing me back4 ,they gave me about three months to live4 ,i was glad to be at home again and had the consolation of knowing that should ,i die ,i would be buried in the old burying ground4 ,i was unable at the time to do any work on the farm1 so ,i was put to the task of raising chickens4 ,i took personal interest in the little chicks4 ,i had a name for each one of them4 ,i would follow them around the yard and see them work for their food4 ,when ,i was weary of this ,i would go to an old deserted cabin nearby1 taking a few old books and the ,bible2 there unmolested ,i would spend hours at a time reading the ,bible and pondering over the books4 ,one of the books was an old ,davies' ,practical ,arithmetic4 ,nothing gave me more pleasure than working out new sums for the first time4 ,i kept up this practice until ,i had read the ,new ,testament through several times and had worked every problem in the arithmetic4 ,in addition to this ,i would gather up wood and carry it home for the people to cook with4 ,my aunt and her daughter were very poor and had to work each day for what they could get to eat4 ,it pained me because ,i could not go out and work for something to eat as ,i had done in ,selma4 ,i never ate a full meal although my aunt and her daughter insisted upon my doing so2 ,i felt that ,i had no right to eat up what they had worked so hard to get1 while ,i was doing nothing that was worth while4 ,my aunt's daughter had a son who was one month older than ,i2 he was well grown for his age and always was the picture of health4 ,we all lived in a one-room cabin and there were three beds in it1 besides it was the kitchen and dining-room as well4 ,my aunt and her daughter wanted me to sleep at nights with their boy1 but he objected1 so ,i would not force myself upon him4 ,i asked them to give me one or two old quilts and ,i would spread these upon the floor of the cabin at night for my bed4 ,i would get up early and roll them up and store them away in some dark corner of the cabin until the next night4 ,i slept in this manner for several years4 ,after ,i had been at home for several months and my condition did not improve1 my aunt went about begging people for nickels and dimes to take me to the local physician4 ,i think she raised about three dollars in this way and succeeded in getting a doctor to treat me1 but he gave my aunt to understand that she had to pay cash for each treatment4 ,i shall never forget one ,sunday when a great many of the neighbors came to our home1 they began telling my aunt what they would do with me if they were in her place4 ,at the time ,i was in the back-yard watching the chicks4 ,some one said that she should send me to the poorhouse1 others said that she had done so much for me1 it was time that some of my other people should take me and share in the burden1 while others said that ,i should be driven away and go wherever ,i could find shelter4 ,i was so offended at hearing this that ,i hobbled down the hill and there under a pine tree1 which now stands1 ,i prayed for an hour or more for ,god to let me die4 ,after this prayer ,i lay down1 folded my arms and closed my eyes1 to see if my prayer would be answered4 ,after waiting for awhile ,i finally decided to get up and ,i felt better then than ,i had felt for several months4 ,i have made many prayers since then1 but never since have ,i prayed to die4 ,none of the solicitations and advices from our good friends could change my aunt's attitude towards me4 ,in fact1 she was more determined now than ever to care for me4 ,the next year she rented a little patch and worked it as best she could and that fall she cleared a little money4 ,as the local physician had done me no good1 she took me to ,dr4 ,george ,keyser who lived in the town of ,richmond1 eight or ten miles away4 ,dr4 ,keyser had the reputation of being the best physician in that section of the state and people would come for twenty-five and thirty miles around to be treated by him4 ,but we had also heard that he was a man who would not treat any one without having his money down4 ,as ,i remember1 my aunt paid him five dollars on the first visit and each time after that she would send whatever she could get4 ,i used to borrow a mule from one of the neighbors to ride to see him4 ,sometimes when my medicine gave out and ,i had to go without any money1 ,i would pray to ,god the whole distance that he might soften the doctor's heart so that he would let me have my medicine4 ,i don't know whether my prayers were needed or not1 but ,i do know that the doctor always treated me kindly and finally he told me that ,i could be treated whenever my medicine gave out1 money or no money4 ,he treated me in this way until the early fall of '#hd when he told my aunt that ,i needed an operation and she must try and get me a place to stay nearby so that he could see me daily4 ,after looking around she found on the doctor's place an old fellow-servant1 that is1 an old lady who belonged to the same man my aunt did in slavery time4 ,her name was ,lucy ,george2 she was near the age of my aunt1 and had never been married4 ,they were indeed glad to meet and she readily consented to take me to her little cabin where she lived alone4 ,the doctor visited his plantation two or three times a week and usually came to see me4 ,he operated on me twice during my stay there4 ,in #ahhh the subject of this sketch1 ,w4 ,j4 ,edwards1 was sent to me by his aunt1 ,rina ,rivers1 for medical treatment4 ,he had been sick for several months from scrofula and it had affected the bone of his left arm 7hinneras7 near the elbow joint1 and the heel bone 7os calcis7 of his left foot4 ,it was with much difficulty and pain that he walked at all4 ,the boy was kind1 courteous and polite to every one1 white and colored1 and all sympathized with him in his great affliction1 and manifested their sympathy in a very substantial way1 by sending him many good things to eat4 ,this enabled me to build up his general health4 ,i had to remove the dead bone 7necrosed bone7 from his arm and heel many times4 ,he always stood the operation patiently and manifested so great a desire to get well1 ,i kept him near me a long time and patiently watched his case4 ,after four years' treatment his heel cured up nicely1 and he was enabled to walk very well1 and the following fall he picked cotton4 ,with prudence1 care and close application to cotton picking1 he saved money enough to very nearly pay his medical account1 and his fare to ,booker ,washington's ,school at ,tuskegee1 ,alabama4 ,the work of this pupil of ,booker ,washington1--carried on under adverse circumstances1--is worthy of emulation4 ,he has1 and is now1 doing much good work for his race4 ,he has won the confidence and esteem of all the white and colored citizens of this section of the country4 ,he is a remarkable man1 a great benefactor to his race1 and it affords me great pleasure to testify as to his history and character4 ,mr4 ,r4 ,o4 ,simpson1 on whose plantation he lived and who aided him materially1--is one of the ,trustees of his ,institute4 ,,george ,w4 ,,keyser1 ,m4 ,d4 ,richmond1 ,dallas ,county1 ,alabama4 ,,chapter #c4 ,a ,,ray ,,of ,,light4 ,for three months after my first operation ,i could not walk4 ,my aunt would come from ,snow ,hill once a week to bring my rations and to see how ,i was getting along4 ,i always cried when she went home4 ,during my first month's stay on the doctor's place1 ,aunt ,lucy ,george with whom ,i lived1 was at home most of the time1 but when the cotton season came on1 she had to go to the doctor's field1 which was a mile away1 to pick cotton4 ,this left me alone for five days in the week4 ,aunt ,lucy would get up early and prepare her breakfast1 take her lunch to the field with her1 and would not return until night4 ,she would also leave me something to eat1 and ,i could crawl about the house and get such other things as ,i needed4 ,the first few days that ,i was alone were the most miserable days of my life4 ,i tried to walk1 but fainted once or twice at these attempts1 so ,i had to be contented with crawling4 ,soon1 however1 ,i began crawling about the yard4 ,i found several red ants' nests within about twenty or twenty-five yards of the house1 and soon made friends of the ants4 ,i would crawl from nest to nest and watch them do their work4 ,i became so interested in them that ,i would spend the whole day watching and following them about the yard4 ,i would be anxious for the nights to pass that ,i might return to them the next day4 ,i found that the ants worked by classes4 ,one class would bring out the dirt1 another would go out in search of food1 another would take away the dead1 another would over look those that worked1 and still another class1 though few in numbers1 would come out and look around and then return4 ,these had much larger heads than the average4 ,some few1 however1 with great heads1 would come out once or twice a day4 ,i never learned what their business was1 as they did not seem to do much of anything4 ,they very seldom went more than a few inches from the nests4 ,i noticed1 too1 that those that went in search of food and failed to get it1 would come back to the nests and stand around and consult with the guards and then would return4 ,they did this several times4 ,sometimes they would go away and get into the weeds and rest awhile4 ,however1 when they saw others coming1 they would start out again4 ,sometimes1 after making several trips without success1 ,i would give them crumbs of bread1 and they would hasten away to their nests4 ,they never hesitated when they had food1 but would run right in4 ,this was great fun for me1 and ,i spent most of the remainder of my time in this manner4 ,this was during the fall of '#hd4 ,by the first week in ,december ,i had recovered sufficiently to be able to walk very well with a stick and could do a little work4 ,i then returned to ,snow ,hill with my aunt1 and1 though ,i was anxious to return home1 ,i hated very much to leave my little friends4 ,i got home in time to make toy wagons for my ,christmas money4 ,the following year1 although far from being well1 ,i could do a little work on my aunt's farm4 ,i ought not to call it a farm1 because it was only a few acres which she rented from one of the tenants on ,mr4 ,simpson's plantation4 ,the habit of sub-renting was very prevalent on this plantation4 ,a tenant with one mule would rent twenty-five acres1 if he had two mules he would rent fifty acres4 ,now in order to get work done on his farm1 he would sub-rent four or five acres1 to some one who would do this work for him4 ,it was in this way that my aunt could get land to work4 ,we usually made on these few acres about twenty bushels of corn and sometimes a half a bale or a whole bale of cotton4 ,having to work for our plowing and to pay the rent of the land1 we had but little chance to do much work for ourselves4 ,we very seldom had enough to eat4 ,some days we would work from the rising of the sun until dark without anything but water4 ,then my aunt would go out among the neighbors in the evening and borrow a little corn meal or get a little on condition that she would work to pay for it the next day4 ,while my aunt would go to hunt for the bread ,i would go out and beg for some milk from some of our friends4 ,i would always add water to my milk to make it go a long way4 ,this bread and half-water-and-milk constituted our supper for many nights4 ,in spite of these hard times ,i always found time to study my books4 ,sometimes ,i borrowed books from the boys and girls who had them4 ,we were too poor to buy oil so ,i would go to the woods and get a kind of pine that we called light-wood4 ,this would make an excellent light and ,i could study some nights until twelve o'clock4 ,when the blackberries1 peaches1 apples and plums were ripe1 we fared better1 as these grew wild and we could have a plenty of them to eat4 ,as the season came for the corn to mature1 we would sometimes make a meal of green corn4 ,when the corn became too hard for us to use in this way1 we used to make a grater out of an old piece of tin and would grate the corn and make meal of it in this way until it was hard enough to go to the mill4 ,when the cotton picking season came on we could pick cotton for the neighbors and in that way could have a plenty to eat4 ,they paid fifty cents a hundred pounds for picking cotton4 ,i sometimes picked two hundred pounds a day1 but by picking at night1 ,i occasionally got almost three hundred4 ,we children thought it great fun to go into the swamps at night to pick cotton4 ,we would go at seven o'clock in the evening and spend the whole night in the cotton fields4 ,when we got sleepy we would lie down in the cotton row with our cotton sacks under our heads4 ,we would sleep a few hours and get up and begin picking again4 ,in the swamps at night the owls and frogs made plenty of music for us4 ,such was my life for several years4 ,during all these years the one thing uppermost in my mind was the desire to attend some school1 but ,i could not see how ,i would ever be able to do so4 ,i had heard much of ,talladega ,college1 the school at ,normal and the state school at ,montgomery1 but board at these schools was from seven to eight dollars per month and this had to be paid in cash4 ,this1 of course1 would keep me out1 as ,i could never see how ,i could get so much money4 ,it was during the month of ,august '#hg that ,i first heard of ,tuskegee4 ,there was a revival meeting going on at one of the churches at ,snow ,hill4 ,i was determined to visit this meeting4 ,i did not have suitable clothes1 neither did ,i have any shoes1 so my people told me that ,i would not be able to attend church4 ,i had not been to church in seven years1 and ,i was very anxious to hear some preaching4 ,notices were sent out that on a ,wednesday night a ,presiding ,elder would speak4 ,this man had the reputation of being a great preacher4 ,all of our people prepared early1 and went to church4 ,when ,i thought the services had begun1 ,i too went4 ,though ,i was far from being well1 ,i did not have much trouble in reaching there4 ,i did not go in1 however1 but went around to the rear of the church4 ,the building was a large1 box-like cottage1 and contained many cracks4 ,one could hear as well on the outside as on the inside4 ,i stood directly behind the pulpit and heard all that the preacher said4 ,at the close of his sermon he spoke of the school at ,tuskegee1 where1 he said1 poor boys and girls could go without money and without price1 and work for an education4 ,from that night ,i decided to go to ,tuskegee4 ,before the meeting closed1 ,i returned home1 and when the others got there1 ,i was in my place fast asleep4 ,i wrote ,mr4 ,washington the next day1 and he sent me a catalogue immediately4 ,,chapter #d4 ,,life ,,at ,,tuskegee4 ,in the fall of '#hg ,i told my aunt that ,i wanted to go to ,tuskegee the next year1 and that in addition to her little farm1 ,i wanted to rent an acre of land and work it for that purpose4 ,she encouraged me in this idea and said that she wished so much that she could do something for me that was worth while1 but she was poor and could do but little1 as she was now well advanced in years4 ,she said1 however1 that she would help me to work my patch4 ,about this time ,i learned that my brother ,washington1 who had been away for a number of years1 was living at ,hazen1 ,alabama1 about fifty miles northeast of ,snow ,hill4 ,he was working in the bridge-gang on a railroad and was making good money4 ,i learned also that my father and sister had died several years before4 ,now as there were but two of us1 and ,i was cripple1 ,i thought that ,i would write my brother and get him to help me go to ,tuskegee4 ,so ,i started out for ,hazen and reached there after two days' journey on foot4 ,my brother did not seem to care for me and gave me no encouragement whatever4 ,this was a sore disappointment to me and ,i did not remain there more than a few days4 ,i returned to ,snow ,hill very much discouraged1 but the warmth with which my old aunt greeted and welcomed me back home1 helped me much4 ,soon we were all busy getting ready to plant our little farms4 ,that year there were four of us still living in the one room log cabin1 my aunt1 her daughter1 her grandson and myself4 ,each of us had a little farm4 ,about mid-summer when our provisions had given out1 my aunt's daughter and her son mortgaged their crops for something to eat1 and wanted that we should do the same1 but ,i would not agree to do so4 ,this1 of course1 made it hard for me to get anything to eat4 ,my cousin and her son were perfectly willing that their mother and grandmother should share in their provisions1 but would see to it that ,i got none4 ,i did not think hard of them for this1 because ,i felt that ,i had no right to what they had4 ,i continued to live on water and bread1 and sometimes ,i would get a little milk from the neighbors as ,i had formerly done4 ,i asked them1 however1 if ,i might have the water in which they boiled their vegetables whenever they had a boiled dinner4 ,we called this water pot liquor4 ,of course1 they readily consented to this and sometimes ,i would get enough of this liquor to last me two or three days4 ,in fact1 ,i was poorly nourished all the time4 ,about this time someone came through the county selling clocks1 on condition that we pay for them later in the fall4 ,i objected to this but the other members of the family over-ruled my objections and the clock was bought on the condition stated above4 ,the clock cost #ab and each of us agreed to pay #c4jj each4 ,when the time came to pay for this clock no one had any money1 and so ,i paid what ,i had saved to prepare myself for ,tuskegee4 ,i thought now that ,i would never get to that school as ,i had spent most of my money in paying for a worthless clock4 ,however1 ,i picked cotton day and night for almost two weeks1 and succeeded in making all the money back which ,i had spent for the clock4 ,i was now able to finish paying ,dr4 ,keyser and get a few clothes and start for ,tuskegee4 ,for a long time the people in the quarter did not believe that ,i was going1 and many tried to discourage me4 ,had it not been for my aunt's encouraging words and sincere efforts1 ,i believe that ,i could not have overcome the efforts of others to keep me from going4 ,when1 however1 they all found that ,i was determined to go1 they all became my friends and each would give me a nickel or a dime to help me off4 ,the night before ,i left for ,tuskegee1 one of the neighbors told me that while he did not have anything to give me1 he had a contract to get a cord of wood to the woodyard for the train by six o'clock the next morning and if ,i would take his team and haul it1 he would give me one dollar for my services4 ,i agreed to do it and at two o'clock the next morning ,i was at his home hitching up the team to haul the wood4 ,i had to go about two miles for the wood and there was a very heavy frost that morning4 ,by five o'clock ,i had hauled the wood and had the team back to my neighbor's home waiting for my dollar4 ,i thought this to be the coldest morning that ,i had ever experienced up to that time4 ,i then got my few things together and was off for school4 ,i reached ,tuskegee the first day of '#hi4 ,i found things there very strange indeed4 ,hundreds of students were going to and fro4 ,some were playing football1 others were having band practice1 and still others were going around doing nothing1 as the first day of the ,new ,year was a holiday4 ,i was placed with a crowd of boys from ,pensacola1 ,fla4 ,i learned afterwards that they were the roughest boys in school4 ,they made it very unpleasant for me1 so much so that ,i decided to return home4 ,in going back to the office ,i met ,mr4 ,washington for the first time4 ,he wanted to know why ,i was not satisfied1 and after ,i told him my troubles1 he said that he would remedy them4 ,i was deeply impressed with him and from that day to this1 ,i loved him as a father4 ,he changed my room and ,i found a crowd of very congenial boys4 ,the next ordeal through which ,i was to pass1 was going into the dining-room and using knives and forks1 but ,i avoided all humiliation by simply watching4 ,i have made it a rule of my life to never be the first to try new things1 nor the last to lay old ones aside4 ,after supper1 ,i was worried about sleeping4 ,i had heard the boys talking about night shirts and ,i knew ,i had none2 in fact1 ,i did not know their purpose4 ,so when time came to retire1 one of the boys in my room who had several1 gave me one1 then ,i was undecided just whether it was to go over my day shirt or over my undershirt1 but ,i did not want to ask how it should be worn1 so ,i decided to sit up until some one had gone to bed and by watching him ,i knew ,i would learn just how to use mine4 ,in this way ,i came through all right4 ,the habit of using the tooth-brush was not so hard4 ,the next day the regular routine work of the school began and ,i was given my examination4 ,i took examination for the ,b-,middle class4 ,this is the second year normal4 ,miss ,annie ,c4 ,hawley of ,portland1 ,maine1 who was then a teacher there1 gave me the examination4 ,i made the class in all of the subjects except grammar4 ,of this subject ,i knew absolutely nothing4 ,i did not know what a sentence was4 ,i could not tell the subject from the predicate1 so ,i was put back two years into what is called the ,a-,prep4 class4 ,after my examination ,i was assigned to my work4 ,i was placed in the tin shop1 which was then being placed as one of the industries1 under ,mr4 ,lewis ,adams4 ,i was the first student to work in this shop1 but it did not take two days to learn that ,i could never be a tinsmith4 ,next ,i was assigned to the printing office1 but here too ,i found that ,i could never become a printer2 so finally1 ,i was put on the farm and there ,i remained during my whole stay at ,tuskegee4 ,the farm manager at that time1 ,mr4 ,c4 ,w4 ,green1 had charge of the brick-yard1 poultry1 dairy1 landscape gardening1 horticulture1 as well as the general farm and truck-farm4 ,i worked some in all of these departments and enjoyed my work immensely4 ,i considered the work in the brick-yard as being the hardest of all and that was the only work which ,i could not do without suffering great pain because of my physical condition4 ,still ,i was willing to endure suffering if by so doing ,i could obtain an education4 ,i did not go to night school because ,i was given extra work1 such as keeping the clocks on the campus regulated and making fires in the girls' buildings1 and too1 they had a system of electric bells which were used for the passing of classes1 and ,i kept these in order4 ,in this way ,i worked enough each month to pay my board and stay in day school4 ,of course1 ,i did not have1 or get any money for my work1 but ,i did not worry about that4 ,miss ,maggie ,murray 7afterwards ,mrs4 ,washington7 kept me well supplied with clothes from the supply of second hand garments which came to the school from northern friends4 ,the remainder of the time that ,i was at ,tuskegee was spent in practically the same way that ,i have already described4 ,many of the students would complain about the food1 but the fact that ,i was getting three regular meals a day was enough for me4 ,and too1 ,i was now sleeping in a bed1 something that ,i seldom had done4 ,when burning bricks they would pay students cash for working at night1 and it was by this work that ,i got a little money now and then4 ,it usually takes from seven to eight days to burn a kiln of brick and sometimes ,i would work every night until the kiln had been burned4 ,the one thing that made the deepest impression on me while at ,tuskegee was ,mr4 ,washington's ,sunday evening talks to the students4 ,he used to tell us that after getting our education we should return to our homes and there help the people4 ,he said that the people were supporting ,tuskegee in order that we might be able to help the masses of our people4 ,i could understand every word he said1 and too1 ,i felt always that he was talking directly to me4 ,these talks of ,dr4 ,washington's changed the course of my whole life and they are responsible for my being at the ,snow ,hill ,school today4 ,it was when ,i reached the senior class that ,i came in personal touch with ,dr4 ,washington1 as he taught that class in two or three subjects4 ,here ,i could study him as ,i was never able to do before4 ,he had a thorough grasp upon all subjects he taught and would accept nothing but the same from his students4 ,as the time was nearing for my graduation1 ,i was deeply worried about my ,commencement suit4 ,all of the other members of the class were sending home for their suits or for the money with which to get them1 but ,i knew that my aunt was not able to help me1 so ,i was at a loss to know where ,i should get mine4 ,finally1 ,i decided to write to ,mr4 ,r4 ,o4 ,simpson of ,furman1 ,alabama1 the man on whose plantation ,i was reared1 and ask him to loan me fifteen dollars4 ,i prayed during the entire time it took me to write the letter and when ,i had sealed it ,i prayed over it again4 ,in two days' time ,i had an answer with the fifteen dollars4 ,so all of my troubles and worries were banished and ,i proceeded to get ready for ,commencement4 ,i graduated second1 with a class of twenty1 on ,may #ag1 #ahic4 ,our class motto was ,deeds ,not ,words4 ,the morning of ,may #ahth found me packing my few clothes in an old trunk which one of the young men had given me1 and getting ready to return to ,snow ,hill4 ,all the while ,i was thinking of what ,i could do to live up to this new training which ,i had received at ,tuskegee1 and above all1 how could ,i make good our class motto3 ,deeds ,not ,words4 ,although it has been now well nigh #be years since my graduation1 those words still ring in my ears3 ,deeds ,not ,words4 ,i should like so to live that when the summons come for me to join ,dr4 ,washington in the ,great ,beyond1 these words might be written as an epitaph on my tomb3 ,,deeds ,,not ,,words4 ,,chapter #e4 ,,reconnoitering4 ,when ,i returned from ,tuskegee on the #aith of ,may1 #ahic1 ,i found my old aunt1 her daughter and her grandson still living in the one-room log cabin in which ,i had left them four and a half years before4 ,their condition was much the same as when ,i left them4 ,my first work was to build another end1 a log pen1 to the one room cabin2 this gave us two rooms1 something we never had before4 ,as it was too late for me to pitch a crop1 ,i worked with them until their crop was clean of weeds and then ,i went from farm to farm in the neighborhood1 helping all the farmers that ,i could4 ,the only pay ,i received was three meals a day wherever ,i worked4 ,i usually worked from one to three days on each farm4 ,all the while ,i was making a close study of the people's condition4 ,i continued working in this way until ,i was convinced that ,i had a thorough knowledge of their condition4 ,i then ventured to carry the investigation into other sections of ,wilcox ,county and the adjoining counties4 ,i visited most of the places in the counties of ,monroe1 ,butler1 ,dallas and ,lowndes4 ,these constitute most of the ,black ,belt counties of the ,state4 ,i made the entire journey on foot4 ,it was a bright beautiful morning in ,july when ,i started from my home1 a log cabin4 ,more than two hundred ,negroes were in the nearby fields plowing corn1 hoeing cotton and singing those beautiful songs often referred to as plantation melodies3 ,i am going to roll in my ,jesus' arms1 ,o1 ,freedom1 and ,before ,i'd be a ,slave1 ,i'd be carried to my ,grave4 ,with the beautiful fields of corn and cotton outstretched before me1 and the shimmering brook like a silver thread twining its way through the golden meadows1 and then through verdant fields1 giving water to thousands of creatures as it passed1 ,i felt that the earth was truly clothed in ,his beauty and the fulness of ,his glory4 ,but ,i had scarcely gone beyond the limits of the field when ,i came to a thick undergrowth of pines4 ,here we saw old pieces of timber and two posts4 ,this marks the old cotton-gin house1 said ,uncle ,jim1 my companion1 and then his countenance grew sad2 after a sigh1 he said3 ,i have seen many a ,negro whipped within an inch of his life at these posts4 ,i have seen them whipped so badly that they had to be carried away in wagons4 ,many never did recover4 ,from this our road led first up-hill1 then down1 and finally through a stretch of woods until we reached ,carlowville4 ,this was once the most aristocratic village of the ,southern part of ,dallas ,county4 ,perhaps no one who owned less than a hundred slaves was able to secure a home within its borders4 ,here still are to be seen stately mansions and among the names of the owners are those of ,lyde1 ,lee1 ,wrumph1 ,bibb1 ,youngblood and ,reynolds4 ,many of these mansions have been partly rebuilt and remodeled to conform to modern styles of architecture1 while others have been deserted and are now fast decaying4 ,usually the original families have sold out or many have died out4 ,in ,carlowville stands the largest white church in ,dallas or ,wilcox ,counties4 ,it has a seating capacity of #a1jjj1 excluding the balcony1 which during slavery was used exclusively for the ,negroes of the families attending4 ,our stay in ,carlowville was necessarily short1 as the evening sun was low and the nearest place for lodging was two miles ahead4 ,before reaching this place we came to a large one-room log cabin1 #cj by #cf feet on the road-side1 with a double door and three holes for windows cut in the sides4 ,there was no chimney nor anything to show that the room could be heated in cold weather4 ,this was the ,hopewell ,baptist ,church4 ,here five hundred members congregated one ,sunday in each month and spent the entire day in eating1 shouting1 and praising ,god for ,his goodness toward the children of men4 ,here also the three months' school was taught during the winter4 ,a few hundred yards beyond this church brought us to the home of a ,deacon ,jones4 ,he was living in the house occupied by the overseer of the plantation during slavery4 ,it was customary for ,deacon ,jones to care for strangers who chanced to come into the community1 especially for the preachers and teachers4 ,so here we found rest4 ,at supper ,deacon ,jones told of the many preachers he had entertained and their fondness for chicken4 ,after supper ,i spent some time in trying to find out the real condition of the people in this section4 ,mr4 ,jones told me how for ten years he had been trying to buy some land1 and had been kept from it more than once1 but that he was still hopeful of getting the right deeds for the land for which he had paid4 ,he also told of many families who had recently moved into this community4 ,these newcomers had made a good start for the year and had promising crops1 but they were compelled to mortgage their growing crops in order to get advances for the year4 ,when asked of the schools1 he said that there were more than five hundred children of school age in his township1 but not more than two hundred of these had attended school the previous winter1 and most of these for a period not longer than six weeks4 ,he also said that the people were very indifferent as to the necessity of schoolhouses and churches4 ,quite a few who cleared a little money the previous year had spent it all in buying whiskey1 in gambling1 in buying cheap jewelry1 and for other useless articles4 ,after spending two hours in such talk1 ,i retired for the evening4 ,thus ended the first day of my search for first-hand information4 ,instead of going farther northward1 we turned our course westward for the town of ,tilden1 which is only eight miles west of ,snow ,hill4 ,the road from ,carlowville to ,tilden is somewhat hilly1 but a very pleasant one1 and for miles the large oak trees formed an almost perfect arch4 ,on reaching ,tilden we learned that there would be a union meeting of two churches that night4 ,i decided that this would give me an opportunity to study the religious life of these people for myself4 ,the members of churches number one and number two assembled at their respective places at eight o'clock4 ,the members of church number two had a short praise service and formed a line of procession to march to church number one4 ,all the women of the congregation had their heads bound in pieces of white cloth1 and they sang peculiar songs as they marched4 ,when the members of church number two were within a few hundred yards of the church number one1 the singing then alternated1 and finally1 when the members of church number two came to church number one1 they marched around this church three times before entering it4 ,after entering the church1 six sermons were preached to the two congregations by six different ministers1 and at least three of these could not read a word in the ,bible4 ,each minister occupied at least one hour4 ,their texts were as often taken from ,webster's blue-back speller as from the ,bible1 and sometimes this would be held upside down4 ,it was about two o'clock in the morning when the services were concluded4 ,here1 again1 we found no school-houses1 and the three months' school had been taught in one of the little churches4 ,the next day we started for ,camden1 a distance of sixteen miles4 ,this section between ,tilden and ,camden is perhaps the most fertile section of land in the ,state of ,alabama4 ,taking a southwest course from ,tilden1 ,i crossed into ,wilcox ,county again1 where ,i saw acres of corn and miles of cotton1 all being cultivated by ,negroes4 ,the evening was far advanced when we reached ,camden1 but having been there before1 we had no difficulty in securing lodging4 ,camden is the seat of ,wilcox ,county1 and has a population of about three thousand4 ,the most costly buildings of the town were the courthouse and jail1 and these occupied the most conspicuous places4 ,here great crowds of ,negroes would gather on ,saturdays to spend their earnings of the week for a fine breakfast or dinner on the following ,sunday1 or for useless trivialities4 ,on ,saturday evenings1 on the roads leading to and from ,camden1 as from other towns1 could be seen groups of ,negroes gambling here and there1 and buying and selling whiskey4 ,as the county had voted against licensing whiskey-selling1 this was a violation of the law1 and often the commission merchant1 a ,negro1 was imprisoned for the offense1 while those who supplied him went free4 ,in ,camden ,i found one ,negro school-house2 this was a box-like cottage1 #bj by #af feet1 and was supposed to seat more than one hundred students4 ,this school1 like those taught in the churches1 was opened only three months in the year4 ,after a two days' stay in ,camden1 ,i next visited ,miller's ,ferry on the ,alabama ,river1 twelve miles west of ,camden4 ,the road from ,camden is one of the best roads in the ,state1 and for miles and miles one could see nothing but cotton and corn4 ,at ,miller's ,ferry a ,negro school-house of ample proportions had been built on ,judge ,henderson's plantation4 ,here the school ran several months in the year1 and the colored people in the community were prosperous and showed a remarkable degree of intelligence4 ,their church was as attractive as their school-house4 ,judge ,henderson was for twelve years ,probate ,judge of ,wilcox ,county4 ,he proved to be one of the best judges this county has ever had1 and even unto this day he is admired by all1 both white and black1 rich and poor1 for his honesty1 integrity1 and high sense of justice4 ,from ,judge ,henderson's place we traveled southward to ,rockwest1 a distance of more than fifteen miles4 ,during this journey hundreds of ,negroes were seen at work in the corn and cotton fields4 ,these people were almost wholly ignorant1 as they had neither schools nor teachers1 and their ministers were almost wholly illiterate4 ,at ,rockwest ,i found a very intelligent colored man1 ,mr4 ,darrington1 who had attended school at ,selma for a few years4 ,he owned his home and ran a small grocery4 ,he told of the hardships with which he had to contend in building up his business1 and of the almost hopeless condition of the ,negroes about there4 ,he said that they usually made money each year1 but that they did not know how to keep it4 ,the merchants would induce them to buy buggies1 machines1 clocks1 etc41 but would never encourage them to buy homes4 ,we were very much pleased with the reception which ,mr4 ,darrington gave us1 and felt very much like putting into practice our ,state motto1 ,here ,we ,rest1 at his home1 but our objective point for the day was ,fatama1 sixteen miles away4 ,illustration3 ,,uncle ,,charles ,,lee ,,and ,,his ,,home ,,in ,,the ,,black ,,belt ,on our journey that afternoon we saw hundreds of ,negro one-room log cabins4 ,some of these were located in the dense swamps and some on the hills1 while others were miles away from the public road4 ,most of these people had never seen a locomotive4 ,we reached ,fatama about seven o'clock that night1 and here for the first time we were compelled to divide our crowd in order to get a night's lodging4 ,each of us had to spend the night in a one-room cabin4 ,it was my privilege to spend the night with ,uncle ,jake1 a jovial old man1 a local celebrity4 ,after telling him of our weary journey1 he immediately made preparation for me to retire4 ,this was done by cutting off my bed from the remainder of the cabin by hanging up a sheet on a screen4 ,while somewhat inconvenient1 my rest that night was pleasant1 and the next morning found me very much refreshed and ready for another day's journey4 ,our company assembled at ,uncle ,jake's for breakfast1 after which we started for ,pineapple4 ,we found the condition of the ,negroes between ,fatama and ,pineapple much the same as that of those we had seen the previous day4 ,no school-house was to be seen1 but occasionally we would see a church at the cross-roads4 ,we reached ,pineapple late in the afternoon4 ,from ,pineapple we went to ,greenville1 and from ,greenville to ,fort ,deposit1 and from ,fort ,deposit we returned to ,snow ,hill1 after having traveled a distance of #aeg miles and visiting four counties4 ,in three of these counties there was a colored population of #db1haj between the ages of five and twenty years1 and a white population of #g1fjh of the same ages4 ,the ,negro school population of ,wilcox and the seven adjoining counties was #aa1fbc4 ,speaking of public schools in the sense that educators use the term1 the colored people in this section had none4 ,of course1 there were so-called public schools here and there1 running from three to five months in the year and paying the teachers from #g4ej to #ah per month4 ,our trip through this section revealed the following facts3 7#a7 ,that while many opportunities were denied our people1 they abused many privileges2 7#b7 that there was a colored population1 in this section visited1 of more than #bjj1jjj and a school population of #he1dii2 7#c7 that the people were ignorant and superstitious2 7#d7 that the teachers and preachers for the most part1 were of the same condition2 7#e7 that there were no public or private libraries and reading-rooms to which they had access2 7#f7 that1 strictly speaking1 there were no public schools and only one private one4 ,now1 what can be expected of any people in such a condition8 ,can the blind lead the blind8 ,they could not in the days of old1 and it is not likely that they can now4 ,,chapter #f4 ,,founding ,,the ,,snow ,,hill ,,school4 ,after this trip through the ,black ,belt ,i was more convinced than ever before of the great need of an ,industrial ,school in the very midst of these people2 a school that would correct the erroneous ideas the people held of education2 a school that would put most stress upon the things which the people were most likely to have to do with through life2 a school that would endeavor to make education practical rather than theoretical2 a school that would train men and women to be good workers1 good leaders1 good husbands1 good wives1 and finally train them to be fit citizens of the ,state and proper subjects for the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,with this idea the ,snow ,hill ,normal and ,industrial ,institute was started twenty-five years ago in an old dilapidated one-room log cabin with one teacher and three students1 with no ,state appropriation1 and without any church or society responsible for one dollar of its expenses4 ,aside from this unfortunate state of affairs1 the condition of the people was miserable4 ,this was due partly to poor crops and partly to bad management on their part4 ,in many instances the tenants were not only unable to pay their debts1 but were also unable to pay their rents4 ,in a few cases the landlords had to provide at their own expense provisions for their tenants4 ,this was simply another way of establishing soup-houses on the plantations4 ,the idea of buying land was foreign to all of them1 and there were not more than twenty acres of land owned by the colored people in this whole neighborhood4 ,the churches and schools were practically closed1 while crime and immorality were rampant4 ,the carrying of men and women to the chain-gang was a frequent occurrence4 ,these people believed that the end of education was to free their children from manual labor4 ,they were much opposed to industrial education4 ,when the school was started1 many of the parents came to school and forbade our working their children1 stating as their objection that their children had been working all their lives and that they did not mean to send them to school to learn to work4 ,not only did they forbid our having their children work1 but many took their children out of school rather than allow them to do so4 ,a good deal of this opposition was kept up by illiterate preachers and incompetent teachers1 who had not had any particular training for their profession4 ,in fact1 ninety-eight per cent of them had attended no school4 ,we continued1 however1 to keep the ,industrial ,plank in our platform1 and year after year some industry was added until we now have fourteen industries in constant operation4 ,agriculture is the foremost and basic industry of the institution4 ,we do this because we are in a farming section and ninety-five per cent of the people depend upon agriculture for a livelihood4 ,illustration3 ,,first ,,trustees ,,of ,,snow ,,hill ,,and ,,two ,,of ,,their ,,wives ,,chapter #g4 ,,small ,,beginnings4 ,the early years of the school were indeed trying ones4 ,there are however in all communities persons whose hearts are in the right place4 ,i found it so in this case1 for while there were many who opposed the industrial idea1 there were those who stood for it and held up our arms4 ,i refer to that noble class of old colored men who always seek for truth4 ,the men who stood so loyally by me in the founding of the school were ,messrs4 ,frank ,warren1 ,willis ,mc,cants1 ,ellis ,johnson1 ,john ,thomas1 ,isaac ,johnson1 ,tom ,johnson and ,p4 ,j4 ,gaines4 ,these men and their wives were ready at every call4 ,they gave suppers1 fairs and picnics as well as other entertainments to raise money for the school4 ,not only would they help in the raising of money1 but they would come to the school and work for days without thinking of any pay for their work4 ,when we got ready to put up a new building1 we would have what we called a house-raising and would invite all the men in the neighborhood to come out and help us4 ,on these days the wives of these men would compete with each other to see who could bring out the best basket4 ,at the end of the first school year it was clearly seen that we needed two assistant teachers2 but the question that puzzled us was1 where could they work4 ,we had only one room and none of us had the money to buy the lumber needed4 ,but there was a saw-mill near by and finally ,i sought work at this mill with the understanding that ,i would take my pay in lumber if the people would agree to feed me4 ,this they readily consented to do4 ,so ,i worked during ,may1 ,june1 ,july and ,august at the saw-mill and took my wages in lumber4 ,this enabled us to get sufficient material to erect two of the rooms of our present ,training ,building4 ,the following ,october we opened school with three teachers and #aej students4 ,these two teachers had graduated at ,tuskegee with me in '#ic4 ,they were ,misses ,ophelia ,clopton and ,rosa ,bradford4 ,they spent four years in the work here and we never had two teachers who did more for the old people in the community and who were loved more by them4 ,in the fall of '#ie ,mr4 ,barnes1 who was also a member of the class of '#ic1 joined us1 and has been connected with the school since then except for two years which he spent in ,boston4 ,in the fall of '#if another one of our class-mates1 ,julius ,webster1 a carpenter1 joined in our work here4 ,we now had five teachers1 all of ,tuskegee and all class-mates4 ,i can never forget these old people and these early teachers1 for we all shared our many sorrows and our few joys4 ,no work was too hard for us and no sacrifice was too great4 ,another ,tuskegee student was with us almost from the beginning4 ,while ,mr4 ,rivers did not graduate from the ,academic ,department at ,tuskegee1 he finished his trade1 ,agriculture1 there4 ,mr4 ,rivers has had charge of our farm off and on since '#ie4 ,i should say to his credit that he is in charge today and last year he made the best crop the school has ever made4 ,thus far1 ,i have spoken of the assistance given me by the colored people and teachers1 but no chapter about the founding of ,snow ,hill ,institute would be complete without a mention of ,mr4 ,r4 ,o4 ,simpson1 the white man on whose plantation ,i was reared4 ,mr4 ,simpson must have known me from my birth4 ,i well remember that in '#gh and '#gi he used to stop by to see my old grandmother when riding over his plantation4 ,i think that my grandmother prepared meals for him on some of these visits to the plantation4 ,i also remember that after the death of grandmother1 when ,i was sick and living with my aunt ,rina1 some days he would see me lying on the roadside and would toss me a coin4 ,on my return from ,tuskegee ,i found ,mr4 ,simpson deeply interested in the welfare of my people2 in fact1 it seemed as if he was looking for some one to start an industrial school upon his place4 ,we had many talks together4 ,when he found out that ,i had returned to cast my lot with my people1 he seemed highly pleased and said that he would give a few acres for the school if ,i thought ,i could use it to advantage4 ,i decided that this was my opportunity and told him that ,i could4 ,he first gave seven acres1 and then thirty-three1 and finally sixty more1 making in all one hundred acres that he gave the school4 ,in later years we bought one-half of his plantation1 making in all nearly two thousand acres4 ,while all of the white people in ,snow ,hill have been friendly towards the work1 ,i have found ,mr4 ,simpson and his entire family to be our particular friends and ,i have yet to go to them for a favor and be refused4 ,one of the cardinal points in ,dr4 ,washington's ,sunday evening talks to the students and teachers at ,tuskegee was that they should buy homes of their own4 ,i felt that the best way to teach the people to get a home was for me to own one myself4 ,i thought that it would be useless for me to talk to them about buying homes as long as ,i did not have one for myself1 so ,i secured a home4 ,after the school was thoroughly planted and ,i had bought and paid for my home1 we began to encourage the people to buy homes4 ,this was done through several agencies1 the ,negro ,farmers ,conference1 the ,workers ,conference and the ,black-,belt ,improvement ,society4 ,the aim of this ,society is clearly set forth in its constitution1 a part of which is as follows3 7#a7 ,this society shall be known as the ,black ,belt ,improvement ,society4 ,its object shall be the general uplift of the people of the ,black ,belt of ,alabama2 to make them better morally1 mentally1 spiritually1 and financially4 7#b7 ,it shall further be the object of the ,black ,belt ,improvement ,society as far as possible1 to eliminate the credit system from our social fabric2 to stimulate in all members the desire to raise1 as far as possible1 all their food supplies at home1 and pay cash for whatever may be purchased at the stores4 7#c7 ,to bring about a system of co-operation in the purchase of what supplies cannot be raised at home wherever it can be done to advantage4 7#d7 ,to discuss topics of interest to the communities in which the various societies may be organized1 and topics relating to the general welfare of the race1 and especially to farmers4 7#e7 ,to teach the people to practice the strictest economy1 and especially to obtain and diffuse such information among farmers as shall lead to the improvement and diversification of crops1 in order to create in farmers a desire for homes and better home conditions1 and to stimulate a love for labor in both old and young4 ,each local organization may offer small prizes for the cleanest and best-kept house1 the best pea-patch1 and the best ear of corn1 etc4 7#f7 ,to aid each other in sickness and in death2 for this purpose a fee of ten cents will be collected from each member every month and held sacred to be used for no other purpose whatever4 7#g7 ,it shall be one of the great objects of this society to stimulate its members to acquire homes1 and urge those who already possess homes to improve and beautify them4 7#h7 ,to urge our members to purchase only the things that are absolutely necessary4 7#i7 ,to exert our every effort to obliterate those evils which tend to destroy our character and our homes1 such as intemperance1 gambling1 and social impurity4 7#aj7 ,to refrain from spending money and time foolishly or in unprofitable ways2 to take an interest in the care of our highways1 in the paying of our taxes and the education of our children2 to plant shade trees1 repair our yard fences1 and in general1 as far as possible1 bring our home life up to the highest standard of civilization4 ,this ,society has standing committees on ,government1 on ,education1 on ,business1 on ,housekeeping1 on ,labor1 and on ,farming4 ,the chairman of each of these committees holds monthly meetings in the various communities1 at which time various topics pertaining to the welfare and uplift of the people are discussed4 ,as a result of these meetings the people return to their homes with new inspiration4 ,the meetings are doing good in the communities where they are being held1 and our sincere hope is that such meetings may be extended4 ,it is the aim of the school and of its several organizations1 to reach the ills that most retard the ,negroes of the rural ,south4 ,the articles of our simple constitution go to the very bottom of the conditions4 ,thus it will be seen that the work of the class-room is only a small part of what we are trying to do for the uplift of the ,negro people in the ,black ,belt4 ,,chapter #h4 ,,campaigning ,,for ,,funds ,,in ,,the ,,north4 ,the matter of raising money for undenominational schools in the ,south is no easy task1 and right here ,i ought to state just why ,i preferred to have such a school4 ,our people in the rural ,south are mostly ,baptists and ,methodists1 and of course the denominations have their schools1 located in certain cities4 ,while no one is barred from these schools1 it is a fact that undue influence is exerted upon the pupils to make them become members of the church that supports the school4 ,this is not only true of the ,methodist and ,baptist schools1 but is also true of all denominational schools in the ,south4 ,i did not like that and our people do not like to have any one influence their children to join churches other than the one of their choice4 ,we may shut our eyes to this truth1 but the fact remains that ,methodists do not want their children to be persuaded to join some other church1 neither do the ,baptists want theirs taken away from them4 ,now1 ,i wanted that my school should be free from such isms4 ,i wanted a school for all the ,negroes1 thoroughly religious in its spirit1 but entirely undenominational4 ,for twenty-five years now we have adhered strictly to this policy4 ,many times when all was dark and there seemed to be no way1 some of these denominations would come and offer me the money to run the work1 provided ,i would accept their faith4 ,but this ,i have never done1 ,i had rather that the work should die than to sell my principle for money4 ,i repeat that raising money for such a school is a hard task4 ,i have never been particularly interested as to the choice of the church that my students make1 but ,i have been profoundly interested in their finding salvation4 ,a great many people to whom ,i appeal for aid from time to time1 tell me that they give all their alms through their church4 ,but in spite of all this1 ,i feel that the kind of schools most needed for our people1 should be broad and not narrow1 deep and not shallow4 ,after winning the approval of the people in the community1 both black and white1 and getting whatever help ,i could from them1 my thoughts turned towards the ,north for means to run the work4 ,my first attempt was in ,march1 '#ig4 ,i got as far as ,washington1 ,d4 ,c41 and saw the ,inauguration of ,president ,mc,kinley1 and then ,i returned home4 ,the following ,june ,dr4 ,washington wrote me to come to ,tuskegee so as to accompany the ,tuskegee ,quartet ,north that summer4 ,it must not be understood that ,i was one of the singers2 that was not my good fortune4 ,i was to tell what ,tuskegee had done for me and was to show in turn what ,i was trying to do for my people4 ,dr4 ,washington reasoned in this way ,i would have a chance to meet some of the best people of the country and thereby gain support for my work4 ,there was to be no collection taken for ,snow ,hill1 but those who became interested would often come up after the meetings and give me something for my work4 ,we left ,tuskegee about the first of ,july4 ,we spent most of the month of ,july in the southeastern part of ,massachusetts1 known as the ,cape and ,south ,shore4 ,we had meetings at most of the churches and resorts in that section4 ,dr4 ,washington himself met us at the most prominent places4 ,in ,august we came to ,boston and from there went up the ,north ,shore4 ,this was my first visit to ,boston and it was here that ,i met ,miss ,susan ,d4 ,messinger and her brother ,william ,s4 ,messinger4 ,their home was at #ha ,walnut ,avenue1 ,roxbury1 ,mass4 ,miss ,messinger had been an abolitionist4 ,both she and her brother were deeply interested in the welfare of my people4 ,they listened attentively to my story and from that day became my best friends4 ,although ,i have been going ,north now for twenty years1 ,i have never met such welcome as was shown me at their home4 ,i think ,i have never met such ,christ-like people anywhere4 ,it was largely through ,miss ,messinger's appeals in the ,transcript that the people of ,boston and ,new ,england learned of our work at the ,snow ,hill ,institute4 ,through her appeals from time to time1 we raised much money for our school4 ,i cannot1 in words1 express the valuable aid these people gave us in our work4 ,sometimes when ,i had worked hard all day with poor results1 ,i would go to their home in the evening discouraged and low-spirited1 but would always find there a hearty welcome and a word of cheer4 ,i would always leave with new zeal and fresh courage4 ,their home has been to me a home now for twenty years and although they are now dead1 ,i never go to ,boston but that ,i find time to go out to ,mt4 ,auburn and put a fresh flower on their graves4 ,the old home is lonely now1 but the ,messinger spirit still abides there in the person of ,mr4 ,reed1 their nephew4 ,i still receive from him the hearty welcome and support that they used to give in days of old4 ,another friend whom ,i met that summer was ,mrs4 ,j4 ,s4 ,howe of ,brookline 7now ,mrs4 ,herman ,f4 ,vickery74 ,she became interested in our work through ,miss ,messinger and from that time to this her interest has steadily grown4 ,had it not been for the encouragement and aid received from the ,messingers and ,mrs4 ,howe on this trip1 ,i am sure that ,i should have given up the struggle4 ,after leaving ,boston1 the ,tuskegee singers went up the ,north ,shore and on to the ,isles of ,shoals4 ,there we had a very good meeting1 and as ,mr4 ,washington could not be present1 ,i was the principal speaker4 ,the people were greatly interested in what ,i said and although we took up a good collection for ,tuskegee1 my private collection was equally large4 ,this the leader of the quartet did not like4 ,it was the duty of this man who was a teacher at ,tuskegee1 to speak as well as myself1 but for some reason he did not like to do it and would always shirk it when he could4 ,but after this meeting he cut off my support and when we reached ,portsmouth1 he told me that ,i was dividing the interest and that he could not use me further on that trip4 ,of course1 what little money ,i had been getting ,i had sent to the school1 so ,i was almost penniless when he turned me off4 ,i ought to say1 however1 that he gave me my fare back to ,boston4 ,i reached ,boston that night about eight o'clock with no money and nowhere to go1 but finally1 ,i went to the place where we had stopped when the quartet was in ,boston and ,i found ,r4 ,w4 ,taylor1 who at the time was financial agent in the ,north for ,tuskegee4 ,he saw that ,i was discouraged and insisted that ,i tell him why ,i had come back to ,boston4 ,when he had learned the facts he told his landlady to provide lodging and board for me at his expense until ,i could do better4 ,it was some time before ,dr4 ,washington found out that ,i was not with the quartet1 and as soon as he knew it1 he wrote me to meet him at ,lake ,mohonk1 ,n4 ,y4 ,when the leader of the quartet found out that ,i was to be at ,lake ,mohonk1 he tried to interfere so as to prohibit my going there1 but when ,dr4 ,washington said a thing1 it had to be done1 and ,i went to ,lake ,mohonk and ,i met the quartet again2 also ,dr4 ,washington4 ,we had a great meeting at ,lake ,mohonk and after the meeting ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,s4 ,p4 ,avery1 who were guests there1 gave me #bjj4 ,from here we returned ,south and reached ,tuskegee about the first of ,september4 ,from there ,i returned to ,snow ,hill4 ,my trip ,north during the summer of '#ih was very much saddened by the illness and death of my aunt ,rina ,rivers1 whom ,i had learned to love as a mother1 and to whom ,i always feel that ,i owe my life1 for had it not been for the care she gave me during my sickness1 ,i could not have stood the ordeal4 ,her death came while ,i was in ,boston and without sufficient funds to take me either to her bed-side or to her funeral4 ,this incident in my life has always been a cause for deep sorrow and as the years go by ,i feel it more keenly4 ,i had always hoped that she could have lived until ,i could make her life happy1 but this pleasure has been forever denied me4 ,however she left behind four daughters and many grandchildren and ,i have tried to be unusually kind to them because of my great love for their mother and grandmother4 ,again this was a hard year because of the ,spanish ,war and the consequent excitement4 ,i returned to ,snow ,hill early in the fall1 cast down1 but not destroyed4 ,i had to adjust myself to the loss of my best earthly friend4 ,in the meantime1 our enrollment was constantly increasing and new teachers and industries were being added from year to year4 ,my campaign in the ,north during the summer of #ahii was made alone1 just as the previous one had been4 ,i got much needed experience during this summer4 ,in this house-to-house campaign for money1 one must expect many rebuffs1 but on the other hand one meets some of the finest people that have ever lived4 ,i find1 however1 that as ,i grow older the strain is harder4 ,i don't think that ,i am a very successful money raiser4 ,however1 on ,april #eth1 #aijf1 at the #beth anniversary of ,tuskegee1 ,i delivered an address that interested ,mr4 ,andrew ,carnegie and he gave the ,snow ,hill ,institute ten thousand dollars4 7,see ,appendix47 ,illustration3 ,,partial ,,view ,,of ,,snow ,,hill ,,institute ,,chapter #i4 ,,results4 ,in the preceding chapters ,i have tried in a plain and practical way to tell the story of my life and struggle for twenty-five years4 ,i now purpose to tell some results of this effort4 ,we started our work with no land1 no building1 and no assurance of any support from any source4 ,in fact1 we rented an old log cabin in which to begin our work4 ,on the first day of opening1 we had one teacher1 three pupils and fifty cents in money1 a pretty small capital with which to build a ,normal and ,industrial ,institute4 ,as ,i now look back on this early adventure of mine1 ,i am amazed at the undertaking4 ,although penniless and almost without a place to rest my head1 ,i had an abundance of hope and great faith in ,god4 ,these have always been my greatest assets in this work4 ,the people in the community were equally poor2 not more than ten acres of land were owned by the colored people within a radius of ten miles1 and there was even a mortgage on these ten acres4 ,the homes of the people consisted chiefly of one-room and two-room log cabins4 ,there was not a single glass window to be found4 ,i remember that shortly after the founding of the school a ,negro built a house and fitted it up with glass windows and people would go ten miles to see it4 ,the economic condition of the people was deplorable4 ,they all carried heavy mortgages from year to year4 ,these mortgages ranged all the way from #ajj to #aejj4 ,the people were thoroughly discouraged1 and seemingly had lost all hopes4 ,everywhere in their religious services1 they sang this song3 ,you may have all the world1 but give me ,jesus4 ,the white man was taking them at their word and giving them all of ,jesus1 but none of the world4 ,so disheartened were the people that when ,mr4 ,simpson offered to give us the first seven acres of land for the school1 many tried to prevail with him not to do so1 saying that they did not want any land4 ,but as ,i have said1 you can always find in any place a few of our people whose hearts are in the right place2 it was so in this instance2 a few of the old men were very stanch friends1--they stood by me in this fight and we won4 ,such was the condition of the people here twenty-five years ago4 ,now how changed are these conditions8 ,from the rented log cabin the school has grown until we have at present1 to be exact1 #aidj acres of land and twenty-four buildings1 counting large and small4 ,it enrolls each year between three and four hundred students1 teaches fourteen trades1 putting most stress on agriculture4 ,the entire property is valued upwards of #abe1jjj and is deeded to a ,board of ,trustees4 ,but the worth of an institution is not judged by houses and land1 but by its ability to serve the people among whom it is located4 ,it has never been our end to acquire houses1 land and industries1 these we have used as means of enabling us to accomplish our end1 which was and still is to seek and to save that which was lost4 ,for twenty-five years then we have been here1 seeking lost boys1 lost girls1 lost men and lost women4 ,we have tolled our bells that they might hear1 and preached the gospel of work in order that they might understand2 we have used the church1 the ,sunday-,school1 ,bible classes and other religious societies that they might feel2 the class-rooms that they might know2 the shops and farms that they might handle and do4 ,and so all of our material acquisitions have been used to drive home one great end2 social service1 better men and better women4 ,now how well we have accomplished this end may be seen from the following3 ,counting those who have finished the course of study and others who have remained at the school long enough to catch its spirit and be influenced by its teaching1 we have sent out into various parts of the ,south more than a thousand young men and women who are today leading useful and helpful lives4 ,they are farmers1 blacksmiths1 wheelwrights1 carpenters1 housekeepers1 dressmakers1 printers1 railway postal clerks1 letter carriers1 teachers1 preachers1 domestic servants1 insurance agents1 doctors1 expressmen1 contractors1 timber-inspectors1 college students4 ,in fact1 they are to be found in every vocation known to the ,south4 ,many of these young people have bought farms and homes of their own1 have erected neat and comfortable cottages2 have influenced their neighbors to buy land1 to build better homes1 better churches and better school-houses4 ,they have also been instrumental in securing a higher type of teachers and preachers4 ,they make a special effort always to cultivate a friendly relation between the two races4 ,in this particular they have been remarkably successful4 ,i shall speak more directly about their work under the chapter on ,graduates4 ,perhaps ,i can in no way better show the effects of the school upon the immediate community than by referring to an address given by me and quoted in the appendix of this book4 ,it is the custom at ,tuskegee to have each class reassemble at the school twenty years after graduation4 ,some one of the class is chosen by the school1 to represent the class and is placed on the ,commencement program4 ,it fell my lot to represent my class on this occasion4 ,of course at the anniversary of each class1 that class is expected to make a donation to the school4 ,although this had been the custom for several years1 the class donations very seldom amounted to more than #ajj4 ,sometimes they were as small as #be4jj or less4 ,somehow ,i have always felt that the graduates of ,tuskegee owed that institution a debt of gratitude which they can never pay1 and thought that they should make the class anniversaries mean something more substantial to the school than they had meant4 ,so long before our time came1 ,i wrote the members of my class telling them that it should be our aim to give ,tuskegee #ajjj at our ,anniversary4 ,they readily agreed with me and the class set itself to the task of raising the #ajjj4 ,this was done because we felt that the time had come for the graduates to give more substantial aid to their ,alma-,mater1 and as a stimulus to those who are to follow4 ,i think in a small way it has served that purpose1 because these class anniversary donations have never been less than #ejj since that date4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,newer ,,type ,,of ,,home ,,in ,,the ,,black ,,belt ,i think of all the talks ,i have ever made1 none have given me the real joy that this one gave4 ,i feel that this was true for the reason that this was a giving talk rather than a receiving one4 ,the address is also given in the appendix4 ,,chapter #aj4 ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,jeanes ,,fund4 ,in the fall of #aijb ,i received a letter from ,dr4 ,washington requesting me to speak at a meeting in ,philadelphia in the interest of ,tuskegee4 ,miss ,cornelia ,bowen1 also a graduate of ,tuskegee1 was asked to speak at the same meeting4 ,we both accepted4 ,during my stay in the city ,mr4 ,henry ,c4 ,davis1 a trustee of ,tuskegee at the time1 gave me a letter of introduction to ,miss ,anna ,t4 ,jeanes1 a wealthy woman who seldom gave to schools as large as ,tuskegee and ,hampton1 but who would1 in all probability1 be interested in my school4 ,in going to ,miss ,jeanes's home on ,arch ,street ,i had many apprehensions but ,i found her very cordial and deeply interested in the welfare of my people4 ,i told her of my struggle to get an education and how1 after finishing at ,tuskegee ,i had returned to my home in ,alabama4 ,i described the condition of the public schools in the rural districts4 ,she gave keen interest to this part of my story4 ,finally1 she asked me if ,i was aiming to build a large school such as ,tuskegee or ,hampton4 ,i told her that ,i had no such idea2 that ,i only wanted to build a school that could properly care for three or four hundred students1 and try as best ,i could to help the little schools throughout that section4 ,when ,i returned to ,snow ,hill ,i found a check from her for five thousand dollars for the work at ,snow ,hill4 ,each year after this ,miss ,jeanes gave me from #cjj to #bjjj for the work at ,snow ,hill4 ,finally1 in the fall of #aijf when she had moved to the home in ,germantown which she had established for the aged1 ,i called to see her4 ,she was then ill and although the nurse said that ,i could not see her1 after my card had been taken to her1 she sent for me4 ,she was quite feeble1 but said to me3 ,i have been deeply interested in what thee has been telling me all these years about the little schools4 ,i would give largely to them if thee thinks that thee could get ,dr4 ,washington or ,dr4 ,frissell to come to see me4 ,i am sure she was thinking of the large experience of those men4 ,she said also that she thought if she would make such a gift as she contemplated1 it might induce other great philanthropists to do as much4 ,at my suggestion ,dr4 ,washington visited ,miss ,jeanes who gave #aa1jjj each to ,dr4 ,washington and ,dr4 ,frissell to be used as they thought best for the small schools4 ,i am positive that the ,jeanes ,fund originated in this way1 and ,i am proud of the part that ,i had in this affair and that so many ,negro children can be helped by the fund that is destined to do so much for the elevation of our people in this country4 ,,chapter #aa4 ,,appreciation4 ,in building up an institution such as we have done at ,snow ,hill1 no one man is entitled to all the credit4 ,on the contrary1 it is impossible to name all to whom credit is due4 ,we can only speak of those who have been closely allied with us and whose work has been prominent in the building of the institution4 ,perhaps of these1 the ,trustees come first4 ,we could never have gone on with the work from year to year without their aid and assistance4 ,without ,mr4 ,r4 ,o4 ,simpson there could not have been any ,snow ,hill ,institute4 ,we might have built a similar school elsewhere1 but we could not have built it at ,snow ,hill4 ,mr4 ,simpson gave the first site for the school and from the start has been one of our best friends4 ,he stood for ,negro ,education when it was unpopular for him to do so4 ,he allied himself with this cause1 at the risk of being ostracised by other white people4 ,because of his firm stand1 most of the white people in this section have been won over to his way of thinking1 and now there is scarcely if any opposition hereabouts to the ,snow ,hill ,institute4 ,mr4 ,r4 ,o4 ,simpson is one of the noblest men that ,i have ever met1 ,north or ,south4 ,he is absolutely free from all racial and petty prejudice that we so often find in the average man of today4 ,i feel safe in saying that he is living at least fifty years ahead of his time4 ,the things that he stands for and have been fighting for1 for thirty years1 are coming more and more to pass1 and although it seems hard for the present generation to accept them1 they must be accepted if we would make the world safe for ,democracy4 ,he is a true patriot1 a true democrat1 and a zealous ,christian gentleman4 ,mr4 ,simpson has a family of five children1 three sons and two daughters1 all of whom possess his spirit to a large degree4 ,i first met ,rev4 ,r4 ,c4 ,bedford at ,tuskegee while ,i was there in school4 ,i loved him from the first time ,i saw him and ,i feel that this was because of his deep and sincere interest in our people4 ,until ,i met ,mr4 ,bedford1 ,i had always distrusted the white man and thought it was impossible for any white man to be free from race prejudice4 ,after my graduation at ,tuskegee1 as ,i said before1 ,i returned to ,snow ,hill and seeing that ,mr4 ,bedford and ,mr4 ,simpson had something in common1 arranged to have ,mr4 ,bedford come to ,snow ,hill and meet ,mr4 ,simpson4 ,their meeting resembled that of ,jonathan and ,david1 and ,i believe their friendship was equally great4 ,it continued until ,mr4 ,bedford's death4 ,mr4 ,bedford was one man who understood what it was to build up an institution from nothing4 ,he knew the hardships one had to undergo to meet bills when there was no money appropriated for these bills4 ,he knew what it was to make brick without straw4 ,ofttimes when the burden was heavy and the yoke rough1 it was the encouraging words from ,mr4 ,bedford that gave me strength and courage to continue4 ,while his particular mission was to look after the ,tuskegee schools1 he loved every good work and would always lend a hand to a good cause4 ,he was thoroughly imbued with the ,christ-spirit4 ,i cannot express in words the great debt of gratitude that ,i owe the immortal ,booker ,t4 ,washington1 for ,i owe all to him4 ,it was he who changed my view of life4 ,he changed me from the visionary to the substantial1 from the shadow to the substance1 from the artificial to the real1 and from words to deeds4 ,dr4 ,washington became a trustee of ,snow ,hill ,institute from its beginning and remained as such until his death4 ,he made three visits to ,snow ,hill1 the last being ,november #ahth1 #aiad4 ,dr4 ,washington always did what he could to help us in our work4 ,he seemed to appreciate the efforts that we were putting forth to uplift our people4 ,he could sympathize with us2 he could understand that an institution that had no permanent support1 but had to depend upon the efforts of one man to raise money1 could not be perfect1 and many things were not as well as they should be4 ,dr4 ,washington could sympathize with us because he knew what it was4 ,he had borne the burden in the heat of the day4 ,but ,i find that persons who have done nothing themselves1 but have lived as parasites most of their days1 are much more critical than ,dr4 ,washington ever could be4 ,sometimes ,i am asked to what ,i attribute ,dr4 ,washington's success in life4 ,my answer to this question has always been the same3 to his spirit and simplicity4 ,he possessed in a very large degree1 the spirit and simplicity of the ,master4 ,he never struck back4 ,he always sought to do good to those who would do evil to him4 ,he was meek and lowly of heart1 and ,i know that he has found rest for his soul4 ,there are other trustees who have played a prominent part in the development of the work here1 among whom may be mentioned ,mr4 ,james ,h4 ,post1 ,rev4 ,henry ,wilder ,foote1 ,prof4 ,william ,howell ,reed and ,mr4 ,william ,h4 ,baldwin1 #crd4 ,the trustees are now taking a more active part in the work than ever before4 ,this is their bounden duty1 because the school is theirs1 not mine4 ,next to the ,trustees1 the officers and teachers have played a prominent part in the work here4 ,my classmate1 ,henry ,a4 ,barnes1 has been treasurer of the school for twenty-three years1 which period of service is1 in itself1 a tribute to his faithfulness4 ,mr4 ,barnes not only does the work of treasurer1 but is also ,acting ,principal during my absence from the school1 and under him the work of the school continues with little or no interruption while ,i am away4 ,what ,mr4 ,barnes has been to the ,financial ,department1 ,mr4 ,r4 ,a4 ,daly has been to our ,industries4 ,i consider ,mr4 ,daly the best ,industrial man that we can have4 ,the ,academic ,department has been developed under the management of ,messrs4 ,whitehead and ,handy1 and it stands well in comparison with that of other similar schools in the ,state4 ,i cannot overestimate the value of the conscientious work done by my secretaries during all these years4 ,miss ,rebecca ,savage 7now ,mrs4 ,r4 ,v4 ,cooke7 served in this capacity for fourteen years and ,miss ,o4 ,h4 ,williamson has served one way or another for five years4 ,much of the office work and responsibility fall upon the secretaries and this responsibility they have borne without complaint4 ,sometimes we have been compelled to work night and day1 but they have always been willing to serve4 ,not only have the officers been willing to serve1 but the rank and file of our teachers have shown the same spirit of willingness from year to year4 ,sometimes they would get their pay promptly and at other times they would have to wait for months1 but always they have been willing to do what they could to cheer and help me in the darkest hour of the struggle4 ,i believe that the spirit of the officers and teachers of ,snow ,hill ,institute is3 ,not to be ministered unto1 but to minister4 ,aside from ,trustees1 officers and teachers1 there is that great cloud of witnesses which no man can number1 who have helped by their aid1 their words of cheer and their presence from time to time4 ,these are in all parts of the country1 but principally in the ,north and ,east4 ,how shall we thank them for what they have been to us8 ,we cannot do it by words1 because there are no words that could adequately express our deep sense of gratitude to this host of friends4 ,we must1 therefore1 be contented to show them by our acts and deeds that we are ever mindful of their help and that each day we are striving more and more to make ourselves and our work worthy of their aid and encouragement4 ,among this cloud of witnesses are some of the best people that ,god has ever made4 ,they deem it a privilege to give and to help the lowly4 ,illustration3 ,,typical ,,log ,,cabin ,,in ,,the ,,black ,,belt ,illustration3 ,,home ,,of ,a ,,snow ,,hill ,,graduate ,in speaking of our debt of gratitude to the forces that have helped in building up our work here1 we must not overlook the press4 ,there are certain great papers in this country that have been fearless in their advocacy of right and justice to the ,negro1 and have always opened their columns to any cause that has for its end the uplift of the lowly4 ,among these may be mentioned especially ,the ,new ,york ,evening ,post1 ,the ,boston ,transcript1 ,the ,springfield ,republican1 ,the ,hartford ,courant1 and in the ,south ,the ,montgomery ,advertiser4 ,one also receives much aid and encouragement from those who are in similar work4 ,it has been my good fortune to meet in the ,north from time to time with those who have similar work as mine4 ,in this way ,i have met most of the ,principals of ,southern ,schools4 ,perhaps ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,holtzclaw of ,utica1 ,mississippi1 comes first in this class4 ,this is true1 because ,i have known him the longest4 ,i first met him in ,tuskegee in the early nineties1 when we both were in school there4 ,his life was similar to mine1 as we both had a very hard time in trying to get an education4 ,i became interested in him there and when he finished ,i took him to work with me at ,snow ,hill4 ,it was at ,snow ,hill that he met and married ,miss ,mary ,ella ,patterson1 one of our teachers4 ,they remained with us at ,snow ,hill four years4 ,both ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,holtzclaw have always seemed more like my relatives than like friends4 ,some of ,mr4 ,holtzclaw's best teachers today are graduates of ,snow ,hill ,institute4 ,i have always been deeply interested in the welfare of ,utica for it is in reality an outgrowth of ,snow ,hill4 ,other ,principals whom ,i meet occasionally1 are ,president ,battle of ,okolona1 ,mississippi1 where a number of our graduates have worked4 ,i have found ,mr4 ,battle interested in the general cause of ,negro ,education1 and too1 we found in our case that the cause is the same4 ,i have had occasion to ask ,mr4 ,battle just how our graduates measure up with his other teachers1 and he tells me that ,snow ,hill graduates are among his best helpers4 ,by this ,i know that in deeds1 not words1 we are making good4 ,another most interesting character whom ,i always meet on my tours ,north is ,mr4 ,frank ,p4 ,chisholm1 ,financial ,secretary of ,tuskegee ,institute4 ,i have been knowing ,mr4 ,chisholm for a great many years4 ,we have attended the ,summer ,school at ,harvard several summers together and it has been both a pleasure and benefit to me to be associated with him in this way4 ,although working directly for ,tuskegee1 he has always been willing to speak a word for ,snow ,hill wherever the opportunity presented itself4 ,i have obtained many suggestions from ,mr4 ,chisholm which have been very beneficial to me in my work here4 ,i consider ,mr4 ,chisholm a representative type of the new ,negro of to-day4 ,he is a brilliant scholar1 a clear thinker1 and is doing a very effective work for ,tuskegee4 ,others with whom ,i come in contact on such trips are ,principal ,hunt of ,fort ,valley1 ,ga42 ,principal ,minafee of ,denmark1 ,s4 ,c42 ,principal ,long of ,christianburg1 ,va4 ,these young men and many others are doing a greater work than they know1 and all possess in a smaller or larger degree the spirit of dear old ,tuskegee4 ,they are all preaching the gospel of ,service4 ,,chapter #ab4 ,,graduates ,,and ,,ex-,,students4 ,prof4 ,bagley in his ,classroom ,management1 page #bbe1 has the following to say in ,testing ,results3 ,the ultimate test of efficiency of efforts is the result of effort4 ,unhappily this test is seldom applied to the work of teaching4 ,we judge the teacher by the process rather than by the product1 and we introduce a number of extraneous criteria to hide the absence of a real criterion4 ,we watch the way in which he conducts a recitation1 how many slips he makes in his diction and syntax1 inspect his personal appearance1 ask of what school he is a graduate and how many degrees he possesses1 inquire into his moral character1 determine his church membership1 and judge him to be a good or a poor teacher according to our findings4 ,all of these queries may have their place in the estimation of any teacher's worth1 but they do not strike the most salient1 the most vital1 point at issue4 ,that point is simply this3 ,does he 'make good' in results8 ,does he do the thing that he sets out to do1 and does he do it well8 ,i agree wholly with ,prof4 ,bagley in this particular and on these grounds we are willing to stand or fall by the results of our graduates4 ,speaking of our graduates and ex-students1 ,i wish to point to the life and work of a few written by their own hands because in these particular cases ,i can testify to the truth of every word they say1 having known them from early childhood4 ,their record follows and they speak for themselves3 ,i was born in ,snow ,hill1 ,wilcox ,county1 ,alabama1 about #cj years ago4 ,i was the #adth child of a family of #ag4 ,my father was a very prosperous farmer and believed in educating his children4 ,each year he would send them by twos off to schools1 such as ,talladega1 ,tuskegee and ,normal1 ,alabama4 ,some of the older children1 however1 did not take advantage of the great opportunity they had4 ,he spent his money lavishly on them and about the time ,i was large enough to go off to school1 he was not as prosperous4 ,as soon as ,i was old enough he kept me in the public and sometimes private schools1 both summer and winter4 ,yet1 he had promised to send the remainder of us off to school4 ,fortunately for us1 however1 ,snow ,hill ,institute had been established by ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,edwards1 and my father being very much impressed with ,mr4 ,edwards and his teachers1 consulted him about entering three children1 ,i being the youngest4 ,mr4 ,edwards kindly consented and we were at once put in school there4 ,i was also fond of music and after learning that ,snow ,hill ,institute had such an efficient music teacher1 ,i was very much pleased to attend school there4 ,so in the year of #aijj ,i entered4 ,i was enabled to develop my musical talent to the extent that ,i was selected to play for my home church1 and that inspired other students to attend ,snow ,hill ,institute4 ,during my first year in school there ,i was undecided as to just what ,i was going to follow as a trade4 ,i worked awhile in the sewing room then in the laundry--was also interested in cooking and took special lessons in cooking under ,miss ,mabry4 ,in fact1 ,i studied cooking the first two years4 ,finally1 in my senior year1 ,miss ,c4 ,v4 ,johnson1 then ,secretary to ,mr4 ,edwards1 asked me to clean the offices of mornings for her and work with her on my work days4 ,i began this work and would watch her using the typewriter so much until ,i fully decided that ,i wanted to make an efficient secretary for someone1 and began working to that end4 ,on my work days she would have me copying letters with ink4 ,i would be careful not to make a mistake4 ,during the time ,i was working in the office1 ,mr4 ,edwards would often send me on errands and tell me to see how quickly ,i could go and come4 ,he seemed to have been very much impressed with my work as a student in both the ,academic and ,industrial departments4 ,there were several prize contests given my class by different teachers1 and ,i won each prize4 ,this was in the ,academic department4 ,there were twelve members in the class4 ,mr4 ,edwards had the members of my class to write some friends of the school for scholarships 7this being the request of the friends7 and of the two persons that received favorable answers1 ,i was one4 ,during the whole time ,i was in school ,i did not receive one demerit1 or a black mark4 ,our teachers seemed perfect1 and it was a pleasure for me to try to please them4 ,in the year #aijc ,i graduated from the institution with a splendid grasp of all that the school stood for and in favor with all of my teachers and friends4 ,mr4 ,edwards1 knowing my ability to do things as ,i was instructed1 employed me to work in his office as clerk4 ,i then put forth more strenuous efforts to do efficient work and would try to improve myself along that particular line of work4 ,so in the summer of #aije ,i attended school at ,cheyney1 ,pa41 taking a special course in ,english1 typewriting and shorthand4 ,i did my best to give satisfaction in my work4 ,in the year #aiji ,i was made ,private ,secretary to ,mr4 ,edwards and a member of the ,executive ,council4 ,i still had a desire to make further improvement1 and in the summer of #aiaa1 ,i attended ,comer's ,commercial ,college in ,boston1 ,mass41 trying to become more efficient in the work that was assigned to my hands4 ,principal ,edwards would have to be away from the school most of the time soliciting means to carry on the work1 but ,i tried to not leave a stone unturned in accomplishing the work he left behind4 ,snow ,hill ,institute succeeded in inculcating into my life a love for work1 and ,i am not satisfied unless ,i have some work to do4 ,i worked for ,mr4 ,edwards untiringly until ,october1 #aiag4 ,i was married1 however1 in ,july1 #aiag4 ,i have often wondered where my lot would have been cast had there been no ,snow ,hill ,institute4 ,i was born of ex-slave parents on the ,calhoun plantation in ,dallas ,county1 ,alabama4 ,i am not quite sure of the exact date of my birth1 but at any rate1 as nearly as ,i have been able to learn1 ,i was born near the village called ,richmond1 in the month of ,may1 #ahhc4 ,my life had its beginning under the most difficult circumstances4 ,this was so1 however1 not because of any wilful neglect on the part of my parents1 but as ex-slaves they naturally knew but little as to the providing for the maintenance of their family and home4 ,i was born in a one-room log cabin about #ad x #ae feet square4 ,in this cabin ,i lived with my mother1 father and the other eight sisters and brothers until providentially ,i found an opportunity to enter school at ,snow ,hill ,institute1 ,snow ,hill1 ,alabama4 ,i went to ,snow ,hill in the year of #ahif1 and there remained for eight years receiving instruction at the hand of a loyal band of self-sacrificing teachers1 who not only taught me how to read1 write and to cipher1 but in addition they taught me lessons of thrift and industry which have proven to be the main saving point in my life4 ,i completed the prescribed course of study at the ,snow ,hill ,institute in #aijd and returned home as ,i had resolved to do1 before entering school there1 for the purpose of helping the people of my home community4 ,the ,street ,manual ,training ,school 7,incorporated7 at ,richmond1 ,dallas ,county1 ,alabama1 was started in #aijd with one teacher1 fifteen pupils and no money4 ,since that time it has grown to the point where it now has thirty acres of land1 four buildings1 and an enrollment of three hundred pupils4 ,the entire property is valued at fifteen thousand dollars 7#ae1jjj7 and deeded to a board of ,trustees4 ,among the members of this board are3 ,mr4 ,j4 ,d4 ,alison1 ,president1 ,mrs4 ,edwin ,d4 ,mead1 the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,emmanuel ,m4 ,brown1 ,mr4 ,wm4 ,d4 ,brigham1 ,mr4 ,walter ,powers1 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,lambert1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,edwards1 ,mrs4 ,francis ,carr and ,mr4 ,henry ,a4 ,barnes4 ,this school is training some three hundred ,negro children between the ages of six and eighteen years in the practical arts necessary to enable them to make an earnest1 comfortable living4 ,there is no attempt made to teach them foreign languages1 either dead or living2 but they are well grounded in the ,english language4 ,they do not study higher mathematics1 but they learn simple arithmetic4 ,they spend no time on psychology1 economics1 sociology1 or logic2 their time is taken up trying to raise crops1 to manage a small farm1 to cook and to sew4 ,,sketch ,,of ,,my ,,life4 ,i was born in ,snow ,hill1 ,wilcox ,county1 ,alabama1 ,december #bdth1 #ahhc4 ,my parents were ,emanuel and ,emma ,mc,duffie4 ,i was brought up under the most adverse conditions4 ,my father died about six months before my birth1 thus leaving my mother with the care of seven children4 ,as ,i had never seen my father1 ,i was often referred to by the other children of the community1 as the son of none4 ,in ,july1 #ahic1 my mother died and the burden of caring for the children then fell upon my old grandmother1 who was known throughout the community as ,aunt ,polly4 ,in order to help secure food and clothing for myself and the rest of the family1 ,i was compelled to plow an ox on a farm and as we usually made from four to five bales of cotton and #dj and #ej bushels of corn each year1 she was looked upon as a great farmer4 ,when ,i was fifteen years of age1 my grandmother was called to her heavenly rest1 thus leaving a house full of children to shift for themselves4 ,after her death ,i became interested in education and immediately applied for admittance to ,snow ,hill ,normal and ,industrial ,institute1 which had recently been established4 ,i was admitted as a work student1 working all day and attending school about two hours and a half at night4 ,until ,i entered ,snow ,hill ,institute1 ,i had a very vague idea about life as it pertained to the ,negro4 ,in fact1 up until that time1 ,i was of the opinion that the ,negro had no business being anything2 but after entering the school and being surrounded by a different atmosphere and seeing what had already been accomplished by ,mr4 ,edwards1 ,i soon realized that the ,negro had as much right to life and liberty as any other man4 ,while it was great joy for me to be in school1 ,i was woefully unprepared to remain there4 ,really1 ,i am unable to tell the many obstacles that confronted me while in school4 ,but one of my many difficulties was to get sufficient clothing1 for when ,i entered1 ,i had on all that ,i possessed and day after day ,i wore what ,i had until finally they got beyond mending4 ,the teachers at ,snow ,hill were just as they are now1 extremely hard against dirt and filth4 ,as ,i only had one suit of underwear and as we were compelled to change at least once a week1 ,i could plainly see that my condition was becoming more alarming each day4 ,so ,i would go down to the spring at night1 wash that suit and dry it the best ,i could by the heater that was in my room4 ,quite often ,i would go for days wearing damp or wet underwear1 which has caused both pain and doctor bills in after years4 ,finally1 ,mr4 ,edwards relieved me of this situation when he sent me to the sales-room to get a pair of second-hand trousers and another suit of underwear4 ,my trousers didn't begin to fit1 for they were both too large and too long1 but ,i wore them with pleasure because ,i went to ,snow ,hill in search of an education and ,i was willing to make any sacrifice to obtain my desire4 ,through all of my troubles ,i never became discouraged1 because ,i felt that some day ,i would be prepared to be of service to my people4 ,of all things that gave me inspiration while in school1 ,mr4 ,edwards's own ,christian life which he lived before us day after day had more to do with keeping me there than anything else4 ,his courage and perseverance under difficulties1 which we all could see1 were noble lessons to me4 ,in his ,sunday evening talks in the chapel1 he would plead with us to shape our lives for work among those who were less fortunate than we4 ,one ,sunday evening1 he made a powerful and vivid appeal1 admonishing the students to go out1 when they had finished their education1 and start their life's work among the lowly in the rural districts4 ,he spoke these words many times during the term4 ,in fact1 so often did he repeat them that the very thoughts of them inspired me and ,i soon learned to love the cause of humanity as well and as dearly as did ,mr4 ,edwards himself4 ,soon after completing my course in ,may1 #aijd1 a call came from the ,black ,belt of ,north ,carolina for a man to go to ,laurinburg and build up an ,industrial school there4 ,after talking the matter over with ,mr4 ,edwards1 ,i decided to go4 ,i reached the town of ,laurinburg ,september #ae1 #aijd4 ,when ,i got there ,i found that the people had been so often deceived and hoodwinked by political demagogues and supposed race leaders1 that they had no confidence in any one4 ,but ,i made a start and opened school in an old public school building with seven students and fifteen cents in cash4 ,as the people had no confidence in me1 it was hard for me to increase my enrollment1 but ,i continued to labor with them on the streets and in the churches until ,i gradually won their respect4 ,then we started the erection of a new school building and from that day until now1 both white and black have taken the deepest interest in the work and we now have the absolute confidence of all the people4 ,the work has constantly grown from year to year and results have been obtained4 ,from one teacher1 seven students and fifteen cents in cash1 thirteen years ago1 the institution now has fourteen teachers1 upwards of four hundred students from all over ,north ,carolina1 ,virginia1 ,south ,carolina and ,georgia1 and counting land1 livestock1 five large and three small buildings1 it has a property valuation of #cj1jjj all free of debt4 ,each year our teachers are selected from some of the best schools of the ,south2 such as ,tuskegee ,institute1 ,shaw ,university1 ,snow ,hill ,institute1 ,claflin ,university1 ,benedict ,college1 etc4 ,eight industries are taught1 consisting of farming1 blacksmithing1 wheelwrighting1 sewing1 laundering1 printing1 domestic science and home nursing4 ,we are kept in immediate need of money for current and building expenses1 but we are going on accomplishing results with what we have at hand4 ,boys and girls are being sent out each year to work among their fellows4 ,these young men and women are reaching the masses and as a result1 the moral tone of the people is being aroused to the contemplation of higher ideals and they are at last becoming serious as to the sober side of life4 ,excursions1 parties and a good time generally are slowly but surely being relegated to the rear4 ,our farmers are studying how to become better farmers and in all walks of life1 we are improving in workshop and the various industries4 ,verily1 the school room is doing much in awakening the dormant energies of the ,negro for good4 ,in fact1 the school's influence is helping the people generally4 ,where there were ignorance and indifference1 now we have a fair measure of intelligence and thrift4 ,the people are buying homes and property1 and in many ways showing signs of aspiration4 ,we have also organized a farmers' conference and it is gratifying indeed to see how hundreds of farmers1 with their wives and children1 turn out seeking information1 demonstration and co-operation4 ,i have been thus enabled to help my people here in ,north ,carolina by giving them the new truth and the new light and pointing them on to a better way4 ,waverley ,turner ,carmichael was born at ,snow ,hill1 ,ala41 in #ahhh1 and was reared on the farm as all country negro boys are4 ,all of his education was obtained at the ,snow ,hill ,institute except for six weeks he spent in the ,harvard ,summer ,school last year4 ,illustration3 ,,graduates ,,of ,,snow ,,hill ,,institute ,,emmanuel ,,mcduffie4 ,principal ,laurinburg ,normal and ,industrial ,institute1 ,laurinburg1 ,n4 ,c4 ,,john ,w4 ,,brister1 who established a prize at ,snow ,hill ,institute4 ,,rev4 ,,emmanuel ,m4 ,,brown of ,street ,manual ,training ,school1 ,richmond1 ,alabama4 ,,waverley ,,turner ,,carmichael1 ,poet of ,snow ,hill4 ,i had been deeply impressed with the poems which he had been writing for several years1 but as ,i was no judge of poems1 ,i thought ,i would give him a chance to bring his poems before those who could judge1 so ,i received for him a free scholarship at the ,summer ,school at ,harvard4 ,he read his poems to the class on several occasions and ,i had the opportunity of hearing him several times4 ,they had a deep impression upon the class1 so much so that his professor wrote the introduction to his book in the following words3-- ,when ,waverley ,carmichael1 as a student in my summer class at ,harvard1 brought me one day a modest sheaf of his poems1 ,i felt that in him a race had become or at least was becoming articulate4 ,we have had1 it is true1 sympathetic portrayals of ,negro life and feeling from without2 we have had also the poems of ,dunbar1 significant of the high capabilities of the ,negro as he advances far along the way of civilization and culture4 ,the note which is sounded in this little volume is of another sort4 ,these humble and often imperfect utterances have sprung up spontaneously from the soul of a primitive and untutored folk4 ,the rich emotion1 the individual humor1 the simple wisdom1 the naive faith which are its birthright1 have here for the first time found voice4 ,it is sufficient to say of ,waverley ,carmichael that he is a full blooded southern ,negro1 that until last summer he has never been away from his native ,alabama1 that he has had but the most limited advantages of education1 and that he has shared the portion of his race in hardship1 poverty and toil4 ,he does not know why he wrote these poems4 ,it is an amazing thing that he should have done so--a freak1 we may call it1 of the wind of genius1 which bloweth where it listeth and singles out one in ten thousand to find a fitting speech for the dumb thought and feeling of the rest4 ,but we need not base the claim of ,carmichael to the attention of the public merely on considerations of this sort4 ,his work speaks for itself4 ,it is original and sincere4 ,it follows no traditions and suffers no affectation4 ,it is artless1 yet it reaches the goal of art4 ,the rhythms1 especially of some of the religious pieces1 are of a kind which is beyond the reach of effort4 ,he has rightly called them melodies4 ,occasionally there is1 it seems to me1 a touch of something higher1 as in the haunting refrain of the lyric ,winter is ,coming4 ,de yaller leafs are falling fas' ,fur summer days is been and pas' ,the air is blowin' mighty cold1 ,like it done in days of old4 ,but this is rare4 ,oftenest the characteristic note is humor1 or tender melancholy relieved by a philosophy of cheer and courage1 and the poetic virtue is that of simple truth4 ,we are reminded of no poet so strongly as of ,burns4 ,what ,waverley ,carmichael may accomplish in the future ,i do not know4 ,but certainly in this volume he has entitled himself to the gratitude of his own race and to the sympathetic appreciation of all who have its interests and those of true poetry at heart4 ,,james ,,holly ,,hanford4 ,mr4 ,william ,stanley ,braithwaite speaking of his poems had the following to say3 ,many have claimed the mantle of ,paul ,laurence ,dunbar1 but only upon the shoulders of ,waverley ,turner ,carmichael has it fallen1 and he wears it with becoming grace and fitness4 ,for this poet1 a veritable child of ,negro folk1 gives expression to its spirit in need and language more akin to the ante-bellum 'spirituel' than any writer ,i know4 ,like those 'black and unknown bards' he sings because he must1 with all their fervid imaginativeness1 symbolizations1 poignant strains of pathos and philosophic humor4 ,mr4 ,braithwaite is the best known ,negro critic of poetry in the world today4 ,as for me who has always lived in the ,south and know the ,southern ,negro through and through1 ,i feel and believe that ,carmichael has interpreted ,negro life as never before4 ,we hope and pray that ,carmichael will live through this great ordeal and come back to us and continue his work of interpreting ,negro life4 ,there are hundreds of other graduates and ex-students who have won distinction in other fields and are doing equally as well as those who have been mentioned here4 ,we have their record at the school1 and any one can have them for the asking4 ,i only wish to mention in a brief way two other graduates because they have established a first and second prize at ,snow ,hill4 ,they are ,john ,w4 ,brister and ,edmond ,j4 ,o',neal4 ,several years ago the late ,misses ,collins 7,ellen and ,marguerite7 of ,new ,york1 two of the most sainted women whom ,i ever met1 established an annual prize at the school known as the ,sumner ,peace ,prize1 of #ae4jj4 ,but at their death this prize would have stopped unless some one had taken it up4 ,both ,mr4 ,brister and ,mr4 ,o',neal had won these prizes several times while they were in school4 ,so at the death of the ,misses ,collins they came forward and said that they would be responsible for the prize each year on condition that the school make a first and second prize instead of one1 ,mr4 ,brister giving #aj4jj in gold for the first prize and ,mr4 ,o',neal giving #e4jj in gold for the second4 ,this they have done for several years1 and they constantly assure me that it will be kept up during their lifetime4 ,this shows that our graduates are carrying with them the spirit of ,christ1 ,freely receive1 freely give4 ,,chapter #ac4 ,,the ,,solution ,,of ,,the ,,negro ,,problem4 ,all prophecies pertaining thus far to the solution of the ,negro ,problem have failed4 ,men in all parts of the country are becoming alarmed over the situation and are asking1 whither are we drifting8 ,and yet although everyone admits that there is a ,negro problem1 few are agreed as to the exact nature of the problem1 and still fewer are agreed as to what the final answer should be4 ,generally speaking1 the ,negro problem consists of twelve millions of people of ,african descent living in this country1 mostly in the ,southern states1 and forming one-third of the population of this section and one-eighth of the entire population of the ,united ,states4 ,notwithstanding the fact that we are far from an agreement as to the answer to this problem1 we are all agreed that the solution must be sought in the answers to the following questions3 ,what is to be the economic1 the political1 the civil1 and the social status of the ,negro in this country8 ,it is true that there are criminals in the ,negro race for whom no legal form of punishment is too severe4 ,it is also true that the better and best classes of ,negroes are daily being insulted in the streets1 on the street-cars1 on the railroads1 at the ticket offices1 at the baggage rooms1 the express offices1 and in fact1 in all places pertaining to public travel4 ,they are persecuted1 despised1 rejected1 and discriminated against before every court in the ,south4 ,since the ,negro is now being lynched as readily for his sins of omission as he is for his sins of commission1 it is quite necessary for him when traveling in the ,south1 to keep constantly in telegraphic communication with the agent at the station ahead as to the movement of the mob4 ,in addition to this1 the ,negro is subjected to many other forms of persecution and discrimination in almost every walk of life4 ,these things go to make up what we call the ,negro problem4 ,the ,white ,man's ,solution4 ,a large majority of the white men in the ,south believe that this problem is to be solved by the ,negro learning his place and keeping in it4 ,though they do not say just what this place is1 they purpose to teach it to the ,negro by disfranchisement1 by limiting his education1 by discrimination on the streets and on the railroads1 by barring him from public parks1 public libraries1 and public amusements of any kind1 by insulting replies to courteous questions1 by conviction for trivial offences1 and1 finally1 by judge lynch and the shot gun4 ,this class is called the rabble4 ,there is another class of white men in the ,south1 though fewer in number1 who deprecate all such views and actions 7as advanced by this first class74 ,they believe that the ,negro should have equal legal rights1 but that he should be denied equal political and educational rights4 ,they believe the ,bible to be the panacea for all the ills of the ,negro4 ,to bear out their contention1 they often revert to the time when1 they say1 there was no race problem4 ,this1 they say1 was during slavery1 when the master taught his slaves the beneficent influence of the ,holy ,bible4 ,they are now appealing to the white men of the ,south to return to this practice4 ,in this class would fall a large number of politicians1 statesmen1 educators1 and ministers4 ,this is called the conservative class4 ,there is still a third class of white men in the ,south1 who believe that the ,negro is a man1 nothing more and nothing less4 ,they believe that under similar circumstances the ,negro will act as other races do4 ,they contend that the ,negro should have equal rights in every respect2 they believe that worthy ,negroes like worthy white men1 should vote1 and that ignorant and vicious ,negroes like ignorant and vicious white men1 should not2 that the school money should be divided equally among the children of the state regardless of race1 color or previous conditions2 that the ,negro should be given justice in all of the courts2 that the criminal and lawless ,negro1 like the criminal and lawless white man1 should be punished to the full extent of the law4 ,they believe that a strict adherence to this view will result in the final solution of the problem4 ,there are1 however1 so few who feel in this way1 and they are so widely scattered1 that they can hardly be called a class4 ,the other classes of white people consider them insane and accuse them of advocating social equality4 ,they are given no voice in the government and their wishes are disregarded as readily as those of the ,negro4 ,they are sometimes persecuted1 ostracised1 and harmed in every conceivable way4 ,this class is increasing and the two other classes decreasing4 ,the ,negro's ,method of ,solution4 ,there are three classes of ,negroes in the ,south1 but only one desires a solution of the problem and that is class number two1 of those ,i shall mention4 ,class number one is composed chiefly of the illiterate and superstitious ,negroes4 ,they usually work on the railroads1 on the steamboats1 in the large saw-mills1 and on the farms for wages4 ,they have no homes and do not want any2 but float from place to place4 ,this class is contented to be let alone1 but is quick to resent an insult1 and will shoot almost as readily as the white man1 and make no attempt to choose their victims4 ,among this class are to be found the whiskey seller1 the drunkard1 the gambler1 and the criminal of the lowest type4 ,it is the low1 degraded and depraved criminals of this class who stir up and incite race hatred1 which always results in race riots4 ,they do not attend church or any other religious meeting4 ,the better class of ,negroes are as anxious to get rid of these as the white man4 ,the second class is composed of the renters of farms1 the owners of farms1 of homes1 of preachers1 teachers1 students1 professional and business men4 ,they believe that the ,negro should be educated in the trades as well as in the professions2 that they should own homes1 pay their taxes and perform their civic duties like all other citizens and that they should possess all of the rights and privileges that are delegated to them by the ,constitution of the ,united ,states4 ,they believe in the purity of the state and in the sanctity of the home4 ,they are enduring1 self-sacrificing1 patient1 and long suffering1 and desire the good of all4 ,it is this class that always assists in quelling race riots and is constantly seeking the co-operation of the best class of white people in order that the relation between the races may be of the most cordial nature4 ,it is this class also who do not lose their heads though innocent members of the race be murdered by the mob4 ,though this class is rapidly increasing1 it is still far inferior in number to the first class4 ,the third class is composed chiefly of the ante-bellum ,negroes4 ,they are well advanced in age and are contented with their present lot4 ,many of them have waited for years for the forty acres and mule and having been disappointed in their expectation1 they have lost all hopes4 ,they are fast losing sight on the things of this world and gaining sight on the things of the world to come4 ,ofttimes1 they sing1 ,you may have all this world1 but give me ,jesus4 ,they are perfectly harmless and have no earthly ambition4 ,this is what the white man here calls a good ,negro2 for him they act as pall-bearers when he dies and for him they weep when he is gone4 ,in many instances they erect monuments to his memory4 ,fallacy of the ,master and the ,bible ,remedy4 ,since the recent riots that have occurred in ,georgia1 ,north ,carolina1 ,tennessee1 ,arkansas and other ,southern ,states1 many white ministers and other prominent citizens of the ,south have been advocating a return to the master and ,bible theory of slavery days1 when1 they say1 there was no race problem4 ,but every student of history knows that at the same time the master was carrying the ,bible to his slaves this country was struggling with one of the greatest race problems that the world has ever witnessed and the slavery phase of this problem was settled by one of the bloodiest wars in the annals of history4 ,furthermore1 the student of history knows that the master carried the lash more often to the slave's back than the ,bible to the slave's heart2 that the lash kept the slave in subjection4 ,if the relation between the races now seems most strained and the solution of the problem seems farther away than ever1 we must be candid and seek the cause of failure in the methods that we have been using4 ,in the past1 the white man's idea of the solution has been contrary to the ,negro's idea4 ,the white man has been trying to circumscribe the ,negro's sphere1 at the same time1 the ,negro has been trying to know the truth which would make him free2 yet1 both claim to be trying to solve the same problem4 ,before a satisfactory solution of the problem can be had1 it will be necessary for the best white people and the best class of ,negroes to get together and agree as to what the solution must be4 ,is it to consist of the ,negro knowing his place and staying in it1 or is it to consist of the ,negro knowing the truth and being free8 ,which shall it be8 ,unless they can agree as to the answer there can be no satisfactory solution4 ,in a democratic form of government having one language1 one history1 one literature1 one religion1 one ,bible1 and one ,god1 there can be only one man who is the sum total of these1 only one man who is the typically good democratic citizen1 and this man will be known by his accomplishments and not by the color of his skin4 ,if we should have two types1 two men1 then we must have two governments1 two languages1 two histories1 two literatures1 two religions1 two ,bibles1 and two ,gods4 ,if the shiftless1 ignorant1 superstitious1 and criminal class of ,negroes is increasing1 it is because the ruling class of white men have been limiting his education1 disfranchising him1 and in other ways trying to doom him to serfdom4 ,the great race riot in ,atlanta was simply the culmination of the ten months' campaigning of race hatred4 ,men who are now writing resolutions and sound and sane editorials1 were then rivaling each other in their abuse of the ,negro4 ,the nominee for governor seemingly1 was to be given to the one who could prove himself the greatest enemy of the ,negro4 ,it is a divine and immutable law that if we sow the wind we will reap the whirlwind4 ,only ,one ,road to the ,solution4 ,lynchings and mobs will not solve the problem1 for it has been proven that such actions beget crimes4 ,depriving him of educational advantages and disfranchising him1 will not suffice1 for on the one hand this method produces ignorant ,negroes1 and on the other hand it increases in the white man the belief that the ,negro has no rights which a white man is bound to respect4 ,these two states of mind in the last analysis will always produce crime4 ,the master and ,bible theory will not solve it1 because the criminal and lawless ,negro does not attend church4 ,there is but one true solution and that lies in compulsory education for all the children of the state with religious1 moral and industrial training4 ,if the ,south is sincere in its efforts to help the ,negro1 or even if the ministers and other citizens who are now filling the daily press with suggestions as to the practical solution of this problem are sincere1 they will advocate the enacting of compulsory educational laws and see to it that all children between the ages of six and fourteen are kept in school4 ,they will also advocate a more equitable division of the school fund between the races4 ,the great factor in the solution of this problem is education and the ,negro schools are the hope of the race4 ,the ,attitude of the ,north ,towards ,this ,problem4 ,just now1 the attitude of the ,north towards this problem is that of an onlooker and well wisher4 ,for a number of years the ,south has been saying to the ,north1 ,hands off1 we understand the ,negro and we can solve our own problem4 ,the ,north1 seemingly1 has heeded this injunction and the press and politicians of the ,north1 barring a few1 have been inclined to take sides with the so-called conservative class of white men of the ,south4 ,the philanthropist of the ,north1 however1 while being a friend to the white ,south has been none the less a friend to the black ,south1 and has kept constantly aiding ,negro education and it is the schools thus supported that are doing the most effective work in the uplifting of the race4 ,it was the wise guidance1 judicious and calm leadership of the men in these schools that saved the day at ,atlanta4 ,all of these schools have the record of their graduates and ex-students opened to the public for inspection4 ,and an impartial inspection of these records will show that these students and graduates have made since leaving school1 according to their circumstances1 as creditable a mark as the graduates and ex-students from any of our ,northern schools4 ,these schools do not give college training4 ,in these perilous times when the race is passing through such trying ordeals1 and when the souls of men are being tried1 ,i trust that our friends will not forsake us4 ,our industrial schools and colleges and the better element of the race1 need their sympathy1 encouragement1 and assistance now as never before4 ,my prayer is for a double portion of their spirit and an increased amount of their assistance4 ,the recent race troubles should not discourage us or our friends4 ,in fact1 we should be encouraged1 for during these troubles the better element of the race has been severely tried and they have stood the test4 ,everywhere their advice has been for moderation1 patience1 and forbearance4 ,it is true1 we are troubled on every side1 yet not distressed2 we are perplexed1 but not in despair2 persecuted1 but not forsaken2 cast down1 but not destroyed4 ,our records will show that we have been faithful over a few things1 may we not retain the faith and trust of friends8 ,,chapter #ad4 ,,the ,,greatest ,,menace ,,of ,,the ,,south4 ,in every age there are great and pressing problems to be solved1--problems whose solution will have seemingly1 a far reaching and lasting effect upon the economic life of the country concerned4 ,it was the case in this country from its very beginning and the same condition obtains today1 although each section of the country has its own peculiar problems the true ,american citizen recognizes the fact that the success of one section in solving its problems will be beneficial to the entire nation4 ,perhaps1 no section of this country has been confronted with more difficult problems than the ,south4 ,i therefore1 wish to present what ,i consider to be the greatest menace of this section1 not as a prophet foretelling future events1 but humbly expressing my views of the situation after careful study4 ,if you were to ask the average white man of the ,south today what is the greatest menace to this section1 his answer1 undoubtedly1 would be1 the ,negro and ,negro domination4 ,at least this would be the answer of the politician4 ,that he would take this view1 is shown by the great amount of legislation that has been enacted1 aiming either directly or indirectly to retard the ,negro's progress4 ,i do not believe that there has been one piece of legislation enacted in the ,south within the last thirty years for the express purpose of promoting the ,negro's welfare4 ,this does not mean1 however1 that the entire white ,south is against the ,negro or that it means to oppose his advancement4 ,there are thousands of white men and women throughout the length and breadth of the ,south1 who are today1 laboring almost incessantly for the advancement of the ,negro4 ,to these1 we owe a great debt of gratitude1 and to these should be given much credit for what has been accomplished4 ,this class of white southerns are not1 as a rule1 politicians and it is seldom1 if ever1 they are elected to office4 ,when we speak of the average southern white man then1 we have particular reference to the great horde of office seekers and politicians that infest the entire south-land4 ,it is this class that will tell you that ,negro domination is the greatest menace to the ,south4 ,now1 ,negro domination may be a menace to the ,south1 but it is certainly not the greatest4 ,neither is the extermination of our forests to be greatly feared4 ,there are organizations and societies on foot in all parts of the ,south for the conservation of our forests4 ,southern citizenship is suffering much from child labor1 but even this1 although being a great danger to our future development and prosperity1 cannot rightly be classed as our greatest menace4 ,the one thing today1 in which we stand in greatest danger1 is the loss of the fertility of the soil4 ,if we should lose this1 as we are gradually doing1 then all is lost4 ,if we should save it1 then all other things will be added4 ,our great need is the conservation and preservation of the soil4 ,the increased crops which we have in the ,south occasionally1 are not due to improved methods of farming1 but to increased acreage4 ,thousands of acres of new land are added each year and our increase in farm production is due to the strength of these fresh lands4 ,there is not much more woodland to be taken in as new farm lands1 for this source has been well nigh exhausted4 ,we must then1 within a few years1 expect a gradual reduction in the farm production of the ,south4 ,already the old farm lands that have been in cultivation for the past fifty or fifty-five years are practically worn out4 ,i have seen in my day where forty acres of land twenty or twenty-five years ago would produce from twenty to twenty-five bales of cotton each year1 and from #hjj to #ajjj bushels of corn4 ,now1 these forty acres will not produce more than eight or nine bales of cotton and hardly enough corn to feed two horses4 ,in fact1 one small family cannot obtain a decent support from the land which twenty years ago supported three families in abundance4 ,this farm is not on the hill-side1 neither has it been worn away by erosion4 ,it is situated in the lowlands1 in the black prairie1 and is considered the best farm on a large plantation4 ,this condition obtains in all parts of the ,south today4 ,this constant deterioration of land1 this gradual reduction of crops year after year1 if kept up for the next fifty years1 will surely prove disastrous to the ,south4 ,practically1 all the land in the black belt of the ,south is cultivated by ,negroes and the farm production has decreased so rapidly during the last ten or fifteen years that the average ,negro farmer hardly makes sufficient to pay his rent and buy the few necessaries of life4 ,of course1 here and there where a tenant has been lucky enough to get hold of some new land1 he makes a good crop1 but after three or four years of cultivation1 his crop begins to decrease and this decrease is kept up at a certain ratio as long as he keeps the land4 ,instead of improving1 the tenant's condition becomes worse each year until he finds it impossible to support his family on the farm4 ,farm after farm is being abandoned or given up to the care of the old men and women4 ,already1 most of these are too old and feeble to do effective work4 ,now1 the chief cause of these farms becoming less productive1 is the failure on the part of the farmers to add something to the land after they have gathered their crops4 ,they seem to think that the land contains an inexhaustible supply of plant food4 ,another cause of this deficiency of the soil is the failure of the farmer to rotate his crop4 ,there are farms being cultivated in the ,south today where the same piece of land has been planted in cotton every year for forty or fifty years4 ,forty years ago1 ,i am told by reliable authority1 that this same land would yield from one bale to one and a half per acre4 ,and today it will take from four to six acres to produce one bale4 ,still another cause for the deterioration of the soil is erosion4 ,there is practically no effort put forth on the tenant's part to prevent his farm from washing away4 ,the hill-side and other rolling lands are not terraced and after being in use four or five years1 practically all of these lands are washed away and as farm lands they are entirely abandoned4 ,not only are the hillside lands unprotected from the beating rains and flowing streams1 but the bottom or lowlands are not properly drained1 and the sand washed down from the hill1 the chaff and raft from previous rains soon fill the ditches and creeks and almost any ordinary rain will cause an overflow of these streams4 ,under these conditions an average crop is impossible even in the best of years4 ,at present1 the ,south does not produce one-half of the foodstuff that it consumes and if the present condition of things continue for the next fifty years1 this section of the country will be on the verge of starvation and famines will be a frequent occurrence4 ,of course1 ,negro starvation will come first1 but white man starvation will surely follow4 ,i believe1 therefore1 that ,i am justified in saying that there is even more danger in ,negro starvation than there is in ,negro domination4 ,i have noticed in this country that the sins of the races are contagious4 ,if the ,negro in a community be lazy1 indifferent1 and careless about his farm1 the white man in the community will soon fall into the same habit4 ,on the other hand1 if the white man is smart1 industrious1 energetic and persevering in his general makeup1 the ,negro will soon fall into line2 so after all1 whatever helps one race in the ,south will help the other and whatever degrades one race in the ,south1 sooner or later will degrade the other4 ,but you may reply to this assertion by saying that the ,negro can go to the city and make an independent living for himself and family1 but you forget that all real wealth must come from the soil and that the city cannot prosper unless the country is prosperous4 ,when the country fails1 the city feels the effect2 when the country weeps1 the city moans2 when agriculture dies1 all die4 ,such are the conditions which face us today4 ,now for the remedy4 ,it is worth while to remember that there are ten essential elements of plant food4 ,if the supply of any one of the elements fails1 the crop will fail4 ,these ten elements are carbon and oxygen taken into the leaves of the plant from the air as carbon dioxide1 hydrogen1 a constituent of water absorbed through the plant roots2 nitrogen1 taken from the soil by all plants also secured from the air by legumes4 ,the other elements are phosphorus1 potassium1 magnesium1 calcium1 iron and sulphur1 all of which are secured from the soil4 ,the soil nitrogen is contained in the organic matter or humus1 and to maintain the supply of nitrogen1 we should keep the soil well stored with organic matter1 making liberal use of clover or other legumes which have power to secure nitrogen from the inexhaustible supply in the air4 ,it is interesting to note that one of the ablest chemists in this country1 ,prof4 ,e4 ,w4 ,clark of the ,u4 ,s4 ,geological ,survey1 has said that an acre of ground seven inches deep contains sufficient iron to produce one hundred bushels of corn every year for #bjj1jjj years1 sufficient calcium to produce one hundred bushels of corn or one bale of cotton each year for #ee1jjj years1 enough magnesium to produce such a crop #g1jjj years1 enough sulphur for #aj1jjj years and potassium for #b1fjj years1 but only enough phosphorus for #acj years4 ,the nitrogen resting upon the surface of an acre of ground is sufficient to produce one hundred bushels of corn or a bale of cotton for #gjj1jjj years2 but only enough in the plowed soil to produce fifty such crops4 ,in other words1 there are enough of eight of the elements of plant food in the ordinary soil to produce #ajj bushels of corn per acre or a bale of cotton per acre for each year for #b1fjj years2 but only enough of the other two1 phosphorus and nitrogen1 to produce such crops for forty or fifty years4 ,let us grant that most of our farm lands in the ,south have been in cultivation for fifty or seventy-five years1 and in many instances for one hundred years1 it is readily seen that practically all of the phosphorus and nitrogen in the plowed soil have been exhausted4 ,is it any wonder then that we are having such poor crops8 ,the wonder is that our crops have kept up so well4 ,unless a radical change is made in our mode of farming1 we must expect less and less crops each year until we have no crops1 or such little that we can hardly pay the rent4 ,to improve and again make fertile our soils1 we must restore to them the phosphorus and nitrogen which have been used up in the seventy-five or more crops that we have gathered from them4 ,this is a herculean task but this is what confronts us and ,i for one1 believe we can accomplish it4 ,by the proper rotation of crops1 including oats1 clover1 cowpeas1 as well as cotton and corn1 and a liberal use of barn-yard manure and cotton seed fertilizer1 all of the necessary elements of plant food can be restored to our worn out soil4 ,but the proper use of these require much painstaken study4 ,the black as well as the white should give this matter serious consideration4 ,the landlords and the tenants should co-operate in this great work4 ,the merchants and bankers must lend their aid and influence1 preachers and teachers should be pioneers in this movement to save our common country4 ,our agricultural colleges should imprint their courses of study in something more than their annual catalogues4 ,they should be imprinted in the minds and hearts of their students1 and especially those who are to do farm work4 ,thus far1 but very little general good has been accomplished by these schools4 ,the reason is that the farmers1 those who till the soil1 have not had access to these schools and those who attend are not the farming class1 and do not take to farming as their life's work4 ,the man who works the soil must be taught how to farm4 ,we have in this state nine purely agricultural schools1 each of which is a white institution4 ,it is true that some agricultural training is given for ,negroes at ,normal1 ,montgomery and ,tuskegee1 but these are not purely agricultural schools and the great mass of ,negro farmers cannot hope to attend them4 ,if the ,negro is to remain the farming class in the ,black ,belt of the ,south1 then he must be taught at least the rudiments of the modern methods of improved farming4 ,he must have agricultural schools and must be encouraged to attend them4 ,the loss of the fertility of the soil is the greatest menace of the ,south4 ,how can we regain this lost fertility1 is the greatest question of the hour4 ,,chapter #ae4 ,,the ,,negro ,,exodus4 ,the ,negro has remained in the ,south almost as a solid mass since his emancipation4 ,this1 in itself shows that he loves the ,south1 and if he is now migrating to the ,east1 ,north and ,west by the hundreds and thousands1 there must be a cause for it4 ,we should do our best to find out these causes and at least suggest the remedy1 if we cannot accomplish it4 ,the time has come for plain speaking on the part of us all4 ,it will do us no good to try to hide the facts1 because truth crushed to earth will rise again4 ,in the first place1 the ,negro in this country is oppressed4 ,this oppression is greatest where the ,negro population is greatest4 ,the ,negro population happens to be greater in the ,south than in the ,north1 therefore1 he is more oppressed in the ,south than in the ,north4 ,take the counties in our own state4 ,some are known as white counties and others as black counties4 ,in the white counties the ,negro is given better educational opportunities than in the black counties4 ,i have in mind one ,black ,belt county where the white child is given fifteen dollars a year for his education and the ,negro child thirty cents a year4 ,see the late ,dr4 ,booker ,t4 ,washington's article1 ,is the ,negro ,having a ,fair ,chance8 ,now these facts are generally known throughout this ,state by both white and black4 ,and we all know that this is unjust4 ,it is oppression4 ,this oppression shows itself in many other ways4 ,take for example the railroads running through the rural sections of the ,south4 ,there are many flag stations where hundreds of our people get off and on train4 ,the railroads have at these little stops a platform about six feet square1 only one coach stops at this point2 the ,negro women1 girls and boys are compelled to get off and on the train sometimes in water and in the ditches because there are no provisions made for them otherwise4 ,again1 take the matter of the franchise4 ,we all agree that ignorant ,negroes should not be entrusted with this power1 but we all feel that where a ,negro has been smart and industrious in getting an education and property and pays his taxes1 he should be represented4 ,taxation without representation is just as unjust today as it was in #aggf4 ,it is just as unfair for the ,negro as it is to the white man1 and we all1 both white and black1 know this4 ,we may shut our eyes to this great truth1 as sometimes we do1 but it is unjust just the same4 ,take the matter of the courts4 ,there is no justice unless the ,negro has a case against another ,negro4 ,when he has a case against a white man you can tell what the decision will be just as soon as you know the nature of the case1 unless some strong white man will come to the ,negro's rescue4 ,this1 too1 is generally known1 and the ,negro does not expect justice4 ,none of us have forgotten the recent campaign of ,mr4 ,underwood and ,mr4 ,hobson for ,united ,states ,senator from this ,state4 ,mr4 ,underwood's supporters attacked ,mr4 ,hobson because he defended the ,negro soldiers when he was ,representative1 and ,mr4 ,hobson's supporters attacked ,mr4 ,underwood because they said that he had a ,negro secretary in ,washington4 ,any politician who dares defend a ,negro1 however just the cause may be1 is doomed to political death4 ,this is another fact which we all know4 ,as yet1 there has been no concerted actions on the part of the white people to stop mob violence4 ,i know a few plantations1 however1 where the owners will not allow their ,negroes to be arrested unless the officer first consults them1 and these ,negroes idolize these white men as gods1 and so far not one of these ,negroes has gone ,north4 ,i repeat that there are out-croppings of these oppressions everywhere in this country1 but they show themselves most where the ,negroes are in largest numbers4 ,all of these sorrows the ,negro has endured with patience and long suffering1 and they may be all classed as the secondary cause of this great exodus4 ,the primary cause is economics4 ,the storms and floods destroy crops in the ,black ,belt section4 ,these people are hungry1 they are naked1 they have no corn and had no cotton2 so they are without food and clothes4 ,what else can they do but go away in search of work8 ,there are a great many wealthy white men here and there throughout the ,black ,belt section4 ,they have large plantations which need the ditches cleared and new ones made to properly drain their farms4 ,they could have given much work to these destitute people2 but what have they done8 ,nothing4 ,they say that it is a pity for the ,negro to go away in such large numbers1 and so it is1 but that will not stop them4 ,they have it in their power to stop them by making the ,negro's economic condition better here4 ,the ,south must do more than make cotton and corn2 it must begin to manufacture some of the things that it uses4 ,why should we send our raw material to the ,north to be manufactured8 ,practically all the furniture we use comes from the ,north and they get the timber from us4 ,the ,south must be both a manufacturing as well as a farming section1 if it would hold its own with the other sections of this great country4 ,the capitalists of the ,south must turn loose their money if this section would come into its own4 ,thus far1 the average white man of the ,south has been interested in the ,negro from a selfish point of view4 ,he must now become interested in him from a humanitarian point of view4 ,he must be interested in his educational1 moral and religious welfare4 ,we know that we have many ignorant1 vicious1 and criminal ,negroes1 which are a disgrace to any people1 but they are ignorant because they have not had a chance4 ,why ,i know one county in this ,state today with #aj1jjj ,negro children of school age and only #d1jjj of these are in school1 according to the report of the ,superintendent of ,education4 ,we cannot expect ignorant people to act like intelligent ones1 and no amount of abuse will make them better4 ,we know that our race is weak and that the white race is strong4 ,we know also that our race is sick and that the white race is well or whole4 ,now1 how should the strong treat the weak8 ,how should the whole treat the sick8 ,would a strong man say1 here is a weak man with a heavy burden1 therefore1 ,i will put more upon him8 ,would a well man say1 here is a sick man1 therefore1 ,i shall give him less medical treatment8 ,then why do you say1 here is the ignorant ,negro1 therefore let us give him less educational opportunities than we give the white man8 ,if the white man would be logical in this particular1 he would say in the courts1 because he is ignorant let us make his punishment less severe2 because he is weak1 let us protect him1 because he is ignorant1 let us give him greater educational opportunities4 ,but this has not been done4 ,there has not been one dollar increase in the ,negro public school fund in the rural districts in twenty years2 if anything1 it is less today than it was twenty years ago4 ,sometimes we hear it said that the white man of the ,south knows the ,negro better than anybody else1 but the average white man of the ,south only knows the ignorant1 vicious and criminal class of ,negroes better than anybody else4 ,he knows little of the best class of ,negroes4 ,i am glad to say1 however1 that there are a few ,southern white men who know the better class and know them intimately and are doing what they can to better the ,negro's condition4 ,i would to ,god that the number of these few could be increased a hundred fold4 ,we used to deride the ,north for giving the ,negro a chance to spend a dollar while withholding from him the opportunity to make one4 ,but in the ,providence of ,god all this has been changed by the great war in ,europe1 which has created a labor scarcity in the ,north1 ,east and ,west1 and the ,negro is now being given a chance to make a dollar there as well as spend one4 ,the white man of the ,north is due no special credit for this1 the credit belongs to ,god4 ,he is the ,righteous ,judge of all the earth and in the end ,he will do right4 ,we will hear many tales of the sufferings of these people who go from this section4 ,many will die and some will come back1 but still some will never return4 ,you remember the fate of the ,pilgrims1 and the early colonists who first came to this country4 ,you also know the fate of the men in the world war2 many must die that some be saved4 ,it behooves us of the ,south who remain here1 both white and black1 to re-dedicate ourselves to unselfish service and try more and more each day of our lives to live up to the great principle laid down in the memorable ,atlanta speech by the immortal ,booker ,t4 ,washington when he said3 ,in all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers1 yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress4 ,,chapter #af4 ,,the ,,negro ,,and ,,the ,,public ,,schools ,,of ,,the ,,south4 ,too much praise cannot be given to the ,general ,education ,board1 ,dr4 ,dillard and ,mr4 ,rosenwald1 and others for what they have done and are doing to improve ,negro public schools of the ,south1 for in the last analysis it is there where the great masses of ,negro children must be educated4 ,we have in the ,south1 as every one knows1 a dual system of public schools1 one for the whites and one for the ,negroes4 ,this accounts in part for our poor schools for both white and colored4 ,such a system is expensive and1 of course1 the ,negro gets the worst of the bargain4 ,this is not surprising to him2 he expects it in all such cases4 ,he has been taught to expect only a half loaf where others get a whole one1 but in some cases he gets practically nothing from the ,state for education4 ,for an instance1 ,i know four or five ,negro public schools in the ,black ,belt that get #cg4jj for the school term of four months4 ,it would be hard to figure out how a teacher can live in these days on #i4be per month4 ,but1 as ,i have said1 the agencies that ,i have mentioned above have done much and are doing more to improve these conditions4 ,illustration3 ,,teachers ,,of ,,snow ,,hill ,,institute ,they endeavor to work with or through the ,state and county officials wherever it can be done4 ,this ,i think is perfectly right and proper because the ,state must in the end direct the education of its subjects4 ,but where this cannot be done1 ,i think provision should be made for the thousands who are now being neglected4 ,ever since ,i succeeded in getting the late ,miss ,anna ,t4 ,jeanes of ,philadelphia to give so largely towards the ,negro public schools of the ,south1 ,i have been thinking how this work could be carried on in harmony with the ,state and county officials4 ,the ,general ,education ,board1 ,dr4 ,dillard and ,mr4 ,rosenwald have gone a long way towards solving this problem4 ,at the present time every ,southern ,state has a ,superintendent of ,education and a ,county ,superintendent4 ,these officers are elected by the people 7white people1 of course74 ,recently1 however1 there have been two other offices created1 ,state ,supervisor of ,education for the ,negro and ,county ,supervisor4 ,these officers are selected and not elected4 ,i think the offices came about as a result of the efforts of the ,general ,education ,board and ,dr4 ,dillard1 and ,i think that the ,state ,supervisors of ,education are selected largely through them4 ,thus far all of the ,state ,supervisors for ,negro schools have been white men1 and they in turn have been given the power to select the ,county ,supervisor for the ,negro schools1 all of which are colored4 ,these white men are not always able to get the most efficient persons for such work because ,i know of a few ,county ,supervisors here and there who are not competent to do the work that has been intrusted to them4 ,now as the ,negro has nothing to say as to who should be his ,state or ,county ,superintendent of ,education1 it seems that in the matter of his ,state and ,county ,supervisors he should have a word4 7,i think it is right and proper that the great funds for ,negro education should be spent through the ,state and county officials wherever it can be done47 ,the ,state ,superintendent ought to be given the power to select the most competent ,negro educator to be ,state ,supervisor of ,negro ,schools1 and the ,county ,superintendent ought to be given the same4 ,furthermore1 as each ,state has a ,negro ,education ,association which meets once a year1 ,i think this ,association should recommend to the ,state ,superintendent of ,education a number of persons from whom he may select the ,state ,supervisor4 ,in each county we have an organization1 which is known as the ,county ,teacher ,institute4 ,this organization could recommend two or more persons to the ,county ,superintendent from whom he might select the ,county ,supervisor4 ,i feel and think in this way because in order to really help the people one must go amongst them and know of their hardships1 struggles1 desires1 sorrows1 and their joys1 must talk with them1 eat and sleep with them and know their hearts4 ,it would be asking too much of the ,southern white man to do this4 ,we know that in order to save the world ,god gave ,his only begotten ,son1 ,jesus ,christ1 who came to earth in the likeness of man1 to save man4 ,perhaps ,he might have sent an ,archangel or an ,angel1 but this work of redemption could only be done by ,his sending a person who was a man1 just like the men ,he was to save1 and so it is with all great work of reformation and evolution4 ,in order to help the people we must become like them4 ,in ,christ becoming like man is what we call the humiliation of the ,incarnation1 and in that lies the great secret of redemption and reformation4 ,again1 ,i feel that this is a day of democracy1 and that the ,negro should be given a voice in the government of his schools4 ,if this democracy1 of which we are hearing so much1 is for the white man alone1 then ,i think that the ,negro should know it1 and if it is for all people he should know that4 ,the white man owes it to the ,negro to make this matter plain4 ,,chapter #ag4 ,,where ,,lies ,,the ,,negro',s ,,opportunity8 ,the liberation and enfranchisement of four million of slaves in this country fifty years ago brought into the body politic a situation that has ever since been a bone of contention4 ,because of their ignorance1 most of these people were without the slightest idea of the proper use1 or the power1 of the ballot1 and but few could properly exercise this new and high prerogative4 ,as long as the federal troops remained in the ,south and supervised and controlled the elections1 these newly-made citizens retained their rights1 but when1 during ,president ,hayes' administration1 the troops were withdrawn1 the ,south immediately set to work to remedy this condition4 ,starting with ,mississippi in #ahij1 state after state disfranchised the ,negro4 ,other discriminating laws have been enacted setting apart ,jim ,crow apartments for the ,negro on all public carriers1 establishing ,jim ,crow schools1 and1 in fact1 segregating the two races in all public places wherever it is possible4 ,this action on the part of the ,south brought forth a storm of criticism from the ,north4 ,the ,north accused the ,south of treating the ,negro unjustly and taking from him his constitutional rights4 ,the ,south answered the ,north1 not by claiming its policy towards the ,negro to be right1 but by accusing the ,north of hypocrisy2 but both sections agree that the ,negro should be made as useful as his capacities will permit1 and that he should seek the place where this usefulness can be best secured4 ,this long and constant agitation has led thoughtful students of the race problem to ask the question3 ,are the conditions in the ,south more conducive to the social efficiency of the ,negro than those offered to him in the ,north8 ,this is a vital question and a just answer to it will have a far-reaching and lasting effect upon the future welfare of the ,negro race in this country4 ,by social efficiency we mean that degree of development of the individual that will enable him to render the most effective service to himself1 his family and to society4 ,as has been defined1 all will agree that social efficiency is the chief end of life4 ,in the ,north the ,negro lives mostly in the large cities1 while in the ,south he lives mostly in the rural or country districts4 ,both the ,north and the ,south will admit this fact2 the opportunities offered in the ,north then must be largely the opportunities such as large cities can offer1 those in the ,south must be largely such as country districts can offer4 ,but before further considering this question let us note for a moment the opportunities offered in the ,south and those offered in the ,north4 ,it is true that1 in the ,south1 the ,negro is disfranchised4 ,it is also true that he suffers many other injustices in that section1 but on the other hand he has a wide field of labor4 ,first of all he has almost an unlimited opportunity to farm4 ,he is better adapted to farm work in that section than either the native white man or the foreigner4 ,he stands the heat better and can do more work under a burning ,southern sun4 ,in railroad construction the ,negro is preferred4 ,the coal of the ,south is dug by ,negro labor1 the iron ore is picked from the bowels of the earth by his brawny muscles4 ,the ,negro finds work at the foundries1 the great pipe furnaces1 the rolling mills1 car factories and other industries in the mineral districts4 ,he is eagerly sought for the sawmills1 the turpentine orchard1 and in fact for almost every industry of the ,south4 ,though the white man in the ,south is beginning to enter the field of industry1 he has not entered to the extent that the ,negro's place is1 in the least1 in jeopardy4 ,such are the opportunities offered the ,negro in the ,south1 though he is largely deprived of political and social rights4 ,these facts are admitted by both the ,north and the ,south4 ,now what are the opportunities offered him in the ,north8 ,first of all1 the ,negro is a free man in a political sense4 ,he has the same right to vote that other citizens have and1 too1 he can vote according to the dictates of his own conscience4 ,president ,roosevelt in his speech at ,tuskegee in #aije1 said that the colored people had opportunities for economic development in the ,south that are not offered to them elsewhere4 ,in the large cities of the ,north1 where the ,negro mostly lives1 the chances for good health and the purchase of a home are not so good4 ,the man with little means1 such as the ,negro usually is1 must live in either filthy streets or back alleys1 where the air is foul and the environments are permeated with disease germs4 ,for the lack of fresh air1 pure food and proper exercise1 his children are mere weaklings instead of strong and robust boys and girls4 ,dr4 ,robert ,b4 ,bean of ,ann ,arbor1 in his essay on ,the ,training of the ,negro in ,century ,magazine of ,october1 #aijf1 said that in the large cities the ,negro is being forced by competition into the most degraded and least remunerative occupations2 that such occupations make them helpless to combat the blight of squalor and disease which are inevitable in these cities1 and therefore many of them are being destroyed by them4 ,mr4 ,baker says3 ,one of the questions ,i asked of ,negroes whom ,i met both ,north and ,south was this3 ',what is your chief cause of complaint8' ,in the ,south the first answer nearly always referred to the ,jim ,crow cars or the ,jim ,crow railroad stations2 after that1 the complaint was of political disfranchisement1 the difficulty of getting justice in the courts1 the lack of good school facilities1 and in some localities1 of the danger of actual physical violence4 ,but in the ,north the first answer invariably referred to working conditions4 ',the ,negro isn't given a fair opportunity to get employment4 ,he is discriminated against because he is colored4' ,these conditions instead of promoting the social efficiency of the ,negro1 tend to degrade and demoralize him4 ,the argument that the deprivation of the ,negro's political and social rights in the ,south tends to crush his ambition1 warp his aspirations and distort his judgment1 is unsound1 because his self-reliance1 ambition and independence in the ,south can be traced partly to this very deprivation4 ,by it he has been forced to establish his own schools1 his own churches1 educate his own children and train his own ministers4 ,all of these make for self-reliance and independence and are therefore conducive to his social efficiency4 ,,chapter #ah4 ,,school ,,problems ,,of ,a ,,tuskegee ,,graduate4 ,two distinct problems face the ,tuskegee graduate who goes forth as a leader of his people3 the problem of extending education to the masses of our people and the problem of so adjusting the people to their actual conditions that the two races will be able to live and work together in harmony and helpfulness4 ,it may as well be admitted at the outset that the public schools in the rural districts of the lower ,south are not working toward this end4 ,the condition of the public schools for our people in the ,black ,belt section of this state is disheartening4 ,as unreasonable as it may seem1 it is a fact that as the ,negro population increases1 in this section1 the appropriation for ,negro schools decreases4 ,in many places the schools have been abolished altogether4 ,from almost every nook and corner of the ,south there comes a cry that the ,negro as a laborer is unsatisfactory4 ,it is said that he is inefficient1 unreliable1 indolent1 lazy1 in short1 that he is unfit to do the work the ,south wants done4 ,less than two decades ago it was just the opposite4 ,then1 it was said that the ,negro was unfit for everything else except work4 ,how inconsistent6 ,we admit that there is a labor problem in the ,south1 but we deny that it is due wholly to the inefficiency of the ,negro as a laborer4 ,in the first place1 the natural increase of the population of the ,south has not kept pace with the marvelous growth and development of her industries4 ,this in itself would explain a scarcity of labor4 ,furthermore1 it should be remembered that the most industrious1 the most frugal1 and the most thrifty ,negroes of the ,south are rapidly changing from the wage hands1 to contract hands1 and the day laborers1 to the renters of their own farms1 while thousands of ,negroes in different parts of the ,south are establishing independent business enterprises for themselves4 ,the ,south cannot hire that class of ,negroes from their work4 ,this1 again has a tendency to make labor scarce4 ,added to this is the fact that thousands of ,negroes are moving into the cities4 ,some are going into other states seeking on the one hand better educational opportunities for their children1 and on the other hand1 protection from mobs and lynchers4 ,this again has a depressing effect upon labor4 ,while these underlying causes seem sufficient to account for the present labor troubles of the ,south1 we must admit that there are entirely too many ,negroes1 particularly among those who work as wage-hands1 contract-hands1 and day laborers1 who are ignorant and superstitious1 too many who are gamblers and drunkards4 ,naturally1 their work is not satisfactory4 ,but they are not wholly to blame since they have had neither adequate educational opportunities1 nor the proper home training4 ,if they lack character1 it is largely because they lack training4 ,this is1 as ,i understand it1 what the ,president means when he says that ignorance is the most costly crop that any community can produce4 ,graduates from ,tuskegee1 a few years ago1 received from our illustrious ,principal the injunction1 ,go ye into all parts of the ,south and change these conditions4 ,i will now try to give an account of my stewardship4 ,i hail from ,snow ,hill1 which is located in the heart of the ,black ,belt of this ,state1 in a section where the colored people outnumber the white seven to one1 and in the center of a colored population of more than #bjj1jjj4 ,when we started work there twenty-five years ago the people as a whole were poor1 ignorant1 superstitious and greatly in debt4 ,they had no special love for industrial training and not much general love for any kind of education4 ,the so-called public schools were then running three months in the year and paying the teachers nine and ten dollars per month4 ,we started work in a dilapidated one-room log cabin with three students and fifty cents in money4 ,there was no state appropriation1 neither was any church or society responsible for one dollar of its expenses4 ,today we have an institution of more than four hundred students and twenty-two teachers and officers4 ,we have #aidj acres of land1 twenty-four buildings1 counting large and small1 and fourteen industries in constant operation4 ,being in a farming section1 however1 we are putting more stress upon agriculture4 ,it is the aim of our institution to teach the beauty and dignity of all labor and inculcate a love for the soil and for agricultural life4 ,in spite of the denial of political rights and of the poor educational opportunities1 and many other unjust discriminations1 the ,south1 just now1 is the best place in this country for the ,negro1 and especially the agricultural section4 ,we might as well recognize this fact and teach our people to act accordingly4 ,again1 we aim to train leaders for the masses of our people2 for this purpose we need young men and young women imbued with the spirit of sacrifice and service who will go into these rural sections and teach our people how to live1 how not to die2 teach them how to live economically1 to pay their debts1 to buy land1 to build better homes1 better schools1 better churches1 and above all1 how to lead pure and upright lives and become useful and helpful citizens in the community in which they live4 ,finally1 we aim to train a high class of domestic servants4 ,there need be no fear or uneasiness for we have an abundance of material for each class4 ,but the worth of an institution is not determined by the acquisition of houses and land1 neither by the bare statement of its aims1 but by its actual power to serve the practical1 daily needs of the community in which it exists4 ,as a result of our twenty-five years' work at ,snow ,hill1 we have about one thousand graduates and ex-students who have either finished the full or partial course at the institution and are now out in the world doing creditable work as teachers1 farmers1 mechanics1 and domestic workers4 ,over fifty per cent of our students have bought homes since leaving school4 ,many have houses with five and six rooms4 ,wherever a ,snow ,hill student teaches the school term is lengthened and the people are encouraged to buy land1 build better homes1 better school-houses and better churches4 ,the people have not only been helped by our students and graduates1 but they have been helped directly through our ,negro conference and ,black ,belt ,improvement ,society4 ,twenty-five years ago the people in the neighborhood of the school did not own more than ten acres of land1 while today they own more than twenty thousand acres4 ,twenty-five years ago the one-room log cabin was the rule1 today it is the exception4 ,twenty-five years ago the majority of the farmers were in heavy debt and mortgaged their crops1 today many of the farmers now have bank accounts1 while a few years ago they did not know what a bank account was4 ,throughout the community they are building better homes1 better churches1 better school-houses1 and the relation between the races is cordial4 ,just a word about our ,black ,belt ,improvement ,society4 ,this organization has ten degrees of membership and any one of good moral standing desiring to better his condition1 can become a member of the first degree4 ,a member of the second degree1 however1 must own a little property1 at least three chickens1 and a pig4 ,a member of the third degree must own a cow1 of the fourth degree he must own an acre of land1 a member of the fifth degree must have erected on that acre a house having at least three rooms1 a member of the sixth degree must own twenty acres of land1 of the seventh degree must own forty acres of land1 and of the eighth degree must own sixty acres1 etc41 until they reach the tenth degree4 ,then we have an annual fair at which prizes are given to those who have excelled in any of the agricultural products1 or those who have had the best gardens1 or who have kept the best house during the year4 ,a special prize is given to the party who has bought the most land during the year4 ,this society has several committees4 ,it has a committee on education4 ,this committee holds meetings in the various communities to arouse in the people an interest in education4 ,it encourages them to build better school-houses1 to extend the school term and it keeps their children in school4 ,it is the duty of the committee on labor to gather together those of our race who still work as contract-hands1 wage-hands1 day-laborers1 and domestic servants1 and impress upon them the necessity of rendering the best service1 tell them that the race is judged more by what they do than what we do1 and how great their responsibility is4 ,the farming committee is always active1 trying to create in the people a real love for agricultural life1 trying to show them that the opportunities which the country offers us are superior to those offered in the cities4 ,other committees are the committee on good government1 committee on business1 and committee on good roads4 ,the influence for good this society is exerting throughout the section can hardly be estimated4 ,such is the nature of the work we are doing at ,snow ,hill4 ,,chapter #ai4 ,,benefits ,,wrought ,,by ,,hardships4 ,the word ,offence is a general and somewhat indefinite term4 ,as defined by the various dictionaries1 it means an attack1 an assault1 aggression1 injustice1 oppression1 transgression of a law1 misdemeanor1 trespass1 crime and persecution4 ,in all of these definitions there is implied an act considered as disagreeable if not harmful to the recipient4 ,of the various nations of the earth1 those that are most powerful and that have accomplished most good are those which have endured and have survived the most offences4 ,they have grown by reason of the obstacles which they have overcome4 ,it is singular1 yet it is true1 that offences have never destroyed a nation4 ,those nations which have been destroyed have been destroyed not by attack from without1 but by their own internal weakness4 ,societies that are accomplishing the most good for the uplift of humanity today are those against whom the most offences have been committed4 ,take the ,christian ,church1 the greatest of all societies4 ,who can enumerate the offences which have been committed against the church8 ,herod tried to behead it1 but could not2 ,pilate tried to crucify it1 but instead sanctified it2 ,paul persecuted it and it redeemed him2 poor drunken and debauched ,nero poured forth the fury of his wrath against it in every conceivable1 wicked way4 ,he deliberately set fire to the city of ,rome and accused the ,christians of the deed4 ,he gave feasts in his garden and the bodies of the ,christians were burned as torches in the evenings4 ,their groans and agonies constituted the music for their dance and carousal4 ,other ,christians were fed to half-starved lions4 ,but through it all the church has become more powerful and more glorious than before2 while ,nero's name will forever be a stench to the nations of the earth4 ,in this particular case the prophecy of ,christ ,that offences must need be but woe unto the man by whom the offence cometh is fulfilled4 ,as with the church1 so with all other societies and institutions that are doing good in the community1 they endure their offences4 ,the history of the growth and rise of the various races will show that they1 too1 have had their bitter as well as their sweet4 ,in fact1 they have fought for every inch of territory which they now possess4 ,let us consider some of the benefits which have been derived from our hardships4 ,that the enslavement of my people was a serious offence there is no doubt4 ,i should be the last one to apologize for slavery2 but1 after all1 we brought more out of slavery than we carried into it4 ,we went into it heathens1 with no language1 and no ,god2 we came out ,american citizens1 speaking the proud ,anglo-,saxon tongue1 and serving the ,god of all the earth4 ,under the leadership of old ,richard ,allen and other noted colored divines1 the ,negro church was set up under a bush harbor1 but today they own church property in this country valued at more than #bf1jjj1jjj4 ,as a result of the educational offences committed against the ,negro1 today he has #ce1jjj ,negro teachers and more than seventeen million dollars' worth of school property in this country4 ,the ,negro has been disfranchised1 but he is more capable of the ballot today than ever before4 ,though the disfranchisement of the ,negro has wrought great harm to our ,democratic form of government1 it has increased in the ,negro the spirit of patience1 self-reliance1 self-sacrifice1 and1 in fact1 it has enhanced in him all of those virtues which make for true manhood and womanhood4 ,in the business world there has been less offence committed against the ,negro than in any other way4 ,what little there has been was rather slight and it has been only in recent years that the ,negro has began to detect it1 and establish business of his own4 ,he has not so many stores as he has schools1 nor so many shops as he has churches1 yet the reports of the ,negro ,national ,business ,league1 which recently met in ,atlanta1 will show that he is making rapid progress in the business world4 ,all great men as well as races and nations suffered their offences4 ,washington1 ,lincoln and ,grant were great because they had to endure hardships4 ,robert ,small1 ,frederick ,douglas and ,booker ,washington are great because they were slaves4 ,the ,negro of the ,south was emancipated #ej years ago without education1 without money1 without clothes1 without food1 without even a place to rest his head1 and1 in many instances1 without a name4 ,his greatest possession was ignorance4 ,if1 during slavery1 he was taught many useful and helpful lessons1 during slavery1 also1 he was denied the opportunity of exercising and developing the greatest requisite of independence1 self-reliance4 ,he was a new-born babe1 as a ship in mid-ocean without a rudder4 ,it was nothing more than natural for him at times to drift1 at times to wander1 and still at other times to steer in the wrong direction4 ,consequently1 he made many mistakes1 some of them serious4 ,he made mistakes in religion1 mistakes in economics1 and mistakes in politics1 but to my mind his greatest mistake was made in the matter of education4 ,until the year '#ie the masses of our people in the ,black-,belt section of the ,south believed that the end of education was to free one from manual labor1 especially from the labor of the farm4 ,they furthermore believed that it was the end of education to take the people from the country to the cities and otherwise fit them for only three callings1 namely1 of teacher1 of preacher1 and of politician4 ,this conception of education was entertained not only by the masses1 but many of our schools and colleges encouraged the same view4 ,just at this period1 when the relation between the races seemed most strained1 there loomed on the horizon the ,booker ,washington idea1 ,that the kind of education most needed by our people was that which would dignify1 beautify1 and make attractive and desirable country life and at the same time fit our people for high and useful citizenship4 ,mr4 ,washington further contended that any education which did not manifest itself in the practical daily life of the people was not worthy of the name4 ,this idea of ,mr4 ,washington was indeed timely1 but1 like all other great movements for reform1 it was not accomplished without obstacles1 but in the face of many dangers and difficulties4 ,but the dawn of a new day is breaking and industrialism seems to be the spirit of the age4 ,the very fact that the ,negro was not allowed to attend the white man's school in the ,south gave the ,negro a ,tuskegee4 ,the fact that no white educator was willing to bear the black man's burden gave him a ,booker ,washington4 ,for similar reasons the ,negro has been forced to build his own libraries1 his own theatres1 his own hotels1 and to establish many other business enterprises4 ,hardships1 trials1 persecution1 and offences are a primary necessity in life4 ,we ought not1 therefore1 complain of them2 our trials have made us what we are4 ,this is pre-eminently a progressive age4 ,the world no longer stands still4 ,we are either going forward or backward1 rising or falling2 there is no such thing as standing still4 ,those phases of our human activities that are standing still are dying4 ,this forward movement is not accomplished without obstacles1 and what is true of politics and business is equally true of individuals4 ,the greatest strength comes from overcoming--from resistance and struggle4 ,,chapter #bj4 ,,the ,,negro ,,and ,,the ,,world ,,war4 ,no book written in the year #aiah would be complete without a word about this awful conflagration which is now sweeping over the earth4 ,one sometimes thinks that the end is near and that the world is being destroyed4 ,we know that everything that has been invented to advance civilization is now being used to destroy it4 ,our one consolation is that however imperfect we may have been as a nation1 we know that our cause is just and because of this we believe that in the end we will and must win4 ,the right has always been more powerful than the wrong1 even more powerful than might and it will prove true in this case4 ,i am being constantly asked by white men in both the ,north and ,south1 ,how does the ,negro regard this war and what about his willingness to share in its responsibilities4 ,i have only one answer for such questions3 ,the ,negro now knows but one word ',loyalty4' ,he is no alien1 he owes no allegiance to any other country1 there is no hyphen to his name1 he is all ,american1 he is willing to fight and die1 that the world might be made safe for democracy4 ,he only asks that he may share in this democracy4 ,already there are practically #bjj1jjj ,negroes who have been called to the colors and thousands of others are expected to be called4 ,i hear of but few if any slackers among them1 while thousands of slackers of other races are being rounded up by the police in various cities throughout the country4 ,the #bjj1jjj ,negro soldiers who are now at the front and in the camps have gone with as brave hearts as any ,american citizen4 ,they say1 ,silver and gold1 have ,i but little1 but ,i give my life to ,uncle ,sam1 it is all that ,i can do4 ,the ,negro is not only furnishing men to the ,national ,army1 but he is doing his part to support the boys at the front4 ,he has bought ,liberty ,bonds to the fullest extent4 ,many of his business organizations1 societies and lodges have bought large blocks of these bonds4 ,on ,sunday morning1 ,june #adth1 ,dr4 ,cortland ,l4 ,myers of ,tremont ,temple1 ,boston1 in his sermon told of an incident of an old colored woman who had worked hard and saved up three hundred dollars in order that she might not at the end be buried in the paupers' field1 but when she read that the ,united ,states wanted money1 took all she had and carried it to the bank to the agent4 ,when the agent gave her the ,liberty ,bond and told her that she would get four per cent on her money1 she was utterly surprised and said1 ,lord1 ,boss1 ,i thought ,i was giving this money to ,uncle ,sam4 ,this woman had only three hundred dollars1 but she gave all4 ,you remember what ,christ said about those who were contributing to a great cause on one occasion4 ,many made large gifts1 but one poor woman came up and gave a penny which was all she had4 ,christ on commenting on this to his ,disciples said that she had given more than all1 because she had given all she had4 ,many incidents of this kind may be cited as proof of the ,negroes' loyalty in this struggle4 ,not only in the ,liberty ,loan drive1 but in the ,red ,cross and ,war ,savings ,stamp drives1 the ,negro is doing his part4 ,there are ,negro agents all over the ,south who are educating our people up to what the ,government at ,washington wants4 ,such schools as ,snow ,hill1 ,laurinburg1 ,denmark1 ,utica1 ,okalona and ,calhoun and many others are serving as bureaus of information for this war work among the ,negroes4 ,nor is this all4 ,the ,negro is doing his part in the various industries of the country4 ,i have heard of many strikes and walk-outs since we entered the war1 but not once have a group of ,negroes struck4 ,in some places where a few are working with the unions1 the unions have forced them out at the risk of their lives1 but where he is free1 nowhere in this country has the ,negro struck during the war4 ,he is doing his bit on the farm4 ,everywhere the ,negro farmers1 man1 woman and child1 believe that they can help win the war by making a good crop and they are at work on the farm trying to do this1 so you see that the ,negro in every way is in the war to a finish4 ,these are answers to questions asked me by the white man both ,north and ,south as to the attitude of the ,negro toward this world's war4 ,but on the other hand the ,negro soldiers and civilians are not asleep and they too are asking such questions as these3-- ,are we to share in the democracy for which we are giving our lives8 ,when the world is made safe for democracy1 will the entire country be made safe for it8 ,will my father1 mother1 sister and brother be allowed to share in this democracy8 ,will lynchings and burnings at the stake cease8 ,will the white man who makes the laws allow these laws to take their course8 ,will they allow us or give us a fair trial before their courts1 which have only white men as jurors8 ,will they cease taxing us without representation8 ,will they give us an equal part of the money spent for education8 7,in many places in the ,black ,belt the ,negro child receives thirty cents a year for education1 while the white child receives fifteen dollars47 ,will the ,negro be given any work that he is capable of doing and not be denied it on account of his color8 ,will it be possible for a ,negro travelling from ,alabama to ,california or ,massachusetts1 to find a place to sleep at night8 ,will the baggage masters and the conductors of the ,south ever treat the ,negro passengers with courtesy and respect and finally will the white man in the ,south after making the laws for the qualifications of voters1 allow a ,negro to vote if he measures up to these qualifications8 ,the ,negro does not care what these qualifications may be4 ,he only wants a fair chance in case he measures up to them4 ,the ,negro only seeks equal rights and justice before all the courts of the land4 ,he expects this because of his teachings4 ,he was brought to this country against his will1 even against his protest4 ,he has been given the white man's language1 his history1 his literature1 his ,bible and even his ,god4 ,his aspirations1 inspirations and desires have been brought about as a result of these and if they are wrong1 the white man is to blame4 ,the ,negro has been taught to believe that ,god is no respecter of persons and therefore his subjects should not be4 ,he thought that if he did what other men did he would obtain the same results4 ,now evidently the ,negro is a man4 ,he loves as other men do1 he lives as others do1 he dies as others die1 he has joy and sorrow as others do1 even hates as others do1 laughs and cries as others4 ,he must therefore1 be a man as man is the only being which possesses these faculties4 ,then he asks for a man's chance and the world will never be right until this is given him4 ,the world will never be safe for democracy until all the races of the earth are allowed to share in it4 ,in answer to all of the foregoing questions asked me by both the white and black1 ,i have said that things will be better for the ,negro after the war4 ,i have said that it was impossible for the world to be made safe for democracy unless every county in the ,south is made safe for it4 ,i have gone as far as to cite a recent occurrence in ,camden1 ,wilcox ,county1 ,alabama1 where more than one hundred and forty ,negroes were sent to the cantonments and ,i was asked to be one of the speakers on the occasion4 ,the white people there gave the ,negroes a great banquet and in my remarks after thanking them for their hospitality1 ,i said ,that it would be foolish and cowardly on my part to stand here in your presence and say that as a race we have no grievances1 for we have them1 but this is no time to air them4 ,when the house is on fire it is no time for family quarrels1 but the thing to do is to put the fire out and then we can adjust the quarrels after4 ,today our ,national house is on fire and it is the duty of every man1 both white and black1 rich and poor1 great and small1 to rise in his might and put the fire out and when the fire is out1 we will see you about these grievances4 ,i went a step further and told that already the war had brought some good results as this was the most democratic day that this little city had ever seen4 ,before the war1 two expressions were commonly used by the white man and the ,negro4 ,the ,negro's expression was this3--,i haven't any country1 and the white man's expression was3--,this is a white man's country4 ,now both of these classes are saying1 ,this is our country4 ,i further said that we should win this war1 because democracy was right and autocracy is wrong1 and if we lose1 and ,god forbid that we should1 the fault will not be in democracy1 but it will be due to the fact that we are not practicing what we preach4 ,at the close of my remarks many of the white citizens1 including the judge1 the sheriff1 lawyers and other prominent men came forward and congratulated me on what ,i had said and some said that the white people of ,camden needed more of such plain talk4 ,i took these signs to mean that better things were coming for the ,negro of the ,south after the war1 but ,i must admit that when ,i read in the evening papers of ,june #bgth that ,senator ,john ,sharp ,williams of ,mississippi had practically defeated the bill for women suffrage1 because he said that he favored the vote for white women only and that the bill in its present form would not be allowed in his state--,i must confess that this action almost took away all of my hopes especially after there was no one to rise and rebut his argument4 ,there was no one in the ,united ,states ,senate to speak for democracy for all the people4 ,now ,i think that just such spirit as this exhibited by that great ,senator from ,mississippi is at the foundation of this world's war and until that spirit is crushed1 ,i fear that this war will continue4 ,for of a truth1 ,god is no respecter of persons4 ,now ,i have given my answers to both the ,negro and the white man4 ,what is the answer of the white man8 ,are we fighting for democracy for all the people1 or are we fighting for democracy for the white man only8 ,this question has never been answered by the white man1 but it must be answered after this great war4 ,,appendix ,address ,delivered by ,mr4 ,edwards on the ,twentieth ,anniversary of ,his ,graduation from ,tuskegee4 ,two decades ago1 twenty members constituting the class of '#ic1 received their commission from the illustrious ,principal of this great institution on yonder hill1 to go ye into all parts of the ,south and teach and preach ,tuskegee's gospel4 ,this gospel was then as it is now1 a gospel of service4 ,now after the lapse of twenty years we have assembled here to review the efforts of past years4 ,although twenty years are not long enough in which to record the life's work of a class1 it is sufficiently long to indicate the direction in which this work is tending4 ,so we come today1 not so much to tell what we have accomplished as to tell what we are doing to renew our allegiance to our ,alma ,mater1 and to assure its ,principal and members of the ,faculty that our motto1 ,deeds ,not ,words1 is still our guiding star4 ,four of our number have passed to the great beyond4 ,we must therefore wait a later and greater day to hear their record read or told4 ,of the remaining sixteen1 we have lost all communication with two1 and it would be mere speculation for us to say what these two are doing4 ,we can only hope1 and do most fervently pray1 that wherever they are they have with them the deep and abiding spirit of ,tuskegee1 and this we believe they have4 ,this leaves then only fourteen live1 vigorous and active members with which we are concerned4 ,all of these1 except one1 have been engaged more or less in teaching4 ,they are located as follows3 ,two in ,normal ,school at ,snow ,hill1 ,alabama2 one at the head of a large ,industrial ,school at ,topeka1 ,kansas2 three in ,birmingham1 ,alabama2 one teaching in ,miles ,memorial ,college2 one in ,government ,service2 one doing settlement work2 two are in ,asheville1 ,n4 ,c41 where they are engaged in teaching and doing settlement work respectively2 another teaching in ,dothan1 ,alabama2 two in ,montgomery1 one of these teaching and the other doing settlement work2 one in ,selma1 ,alabama1 farming and doing extension work2 one at the head of a prosperous ,industrial ,school at ,china1 ,alabama1 and one teaching in ,georgia4 ,all have been remarkably successful and they have touched and made better the lives of more than five thousand souls4 ,while losing their lives for others1 they have saved their own somewhat1 materially4 ,having been out on the tempestuous sea of life for twenty years amidst both storms and calms1 it may not be out of place for us to speak a word of warning or make a few suggestions to those who are to set sail today1 and to those who hope to go to sea at a later date4 ,this1 then1 is our message4 ,first of all1 it is necessary for you to know where the work of the world is to be done4 ,on one occasion during ,christ's sojourn on earth1 ,he took a few of ,his disciples with ,him upon the mountain and there transfigured ,himself4 ,he clothed ,himself in heavenly beauty and splendor2 ,he arrayed ,himself in ,his ,godlike power4 ,these men were so overjoyed at this manifestation of ,his glory and power1 that old ,peter1 impulsive as he was1 spoke out and said3 ',lord1 it is good for us to be here1 if it be ,thy will1 let us build here three tabernacles1 one for ,thee1 one for ,moses1 and one for ,elias4' ,the place was so glorious that they wanted to abide there4 ,but at the same time the multitude was waiting at the foot of the mountain1 hungering and desiring to be fed2 naked and desiring to be clothed2 sick1 and desiring to be healed4 ,the work of ,jesus ,christ and ,his disciples was not on the transfigured mountain1 but at the foot among the masses4 ,so as they came down from the mountain1 there met ,him a man whose son was a lunatic1 desiring that the ,master might heal him4 ,so on occasions like this when ,dr4 ,washington takes us upon the mountain and reveals to us ,tuskegee in all of her beauty and splendor1 we are likely1 in such a state of ecstasy1 to cry out saying1 ,principal ,washington1 it is good for us to be here1 and let us build three tabernacles2 one for thee1 one for ,armstrong1 and one for ,douglas4 ,but my friends1 we cannot abide here4 ,we must go down to the foot of the mountain among the masses4 ,we must go out into the rural districts for there it is that the people are a hungry and thirsty crowd1 and there it is that the harvest is great1 but the laborers are few1 and there it is the work of the world must be done4 ,another suggestion is1 that as you go out to work1 you will find that for the most part ,negro society is built upon a false basis4 ,instead of being built upon the sound basis of merit and character1 it is built upon display2 instead of being built upon substance1 it is built upon shadow4 ,we need young men and women who have confidence in themselves2 confidence in the race1 and abiding faith in ,god4 ,we need young men and women who are more interested in the opportunity to make a dollar than in the privilege to spend one4 ,we need young men and women who are imbued with the spirit of sacrifice and service1 whose mission is1 ',not to be ministered unto1 but to minister4' ,we need young men and women with a purpose4 ,to illustrate what we mean by a purpose1 we take the action of ,grant during the late ,civil ,war4 ,when ,winfield ,scott and ,mc,clellan had practically failed with the army of the ,potomac and things were looking very dark for the ,union forces1 ,lieutenant ,u4 ,s4 ,grant was placed in command of all the ,union forces4 ,from the date of his command1 his purpose was3 ',on to ,richmond4' ,day after day his command was3 ',on to ,richmond4' ,when they had rivers to ford and mountains to climb1 his command was3 ',on to ,richmond4' ,at times thousands were laid low by the ravage of disease1 but his command was3 ',on to ,richmond4' ,when the cannon of his enemy roared like thunder and bullets like lightning struck his men down by the tens of thousands1 his command was3 ',on to ,richmond4' ,he received letters and telegrams by the thousands saying3 ',my ,god1 ,general1 are you going to kill all of our husbands1 all of our sons1 our brothers8 ,are you going to make all of the ,north a land of widows and orphans8' ,his reply was3 ',on to ,richmond4' ,when rivers of blood were before him1 flames of fire swept over his forces1 his command was3 ',on to ,richmond4' ,and the command never ceased until ,lee surrendered his sword to ,grant at ,appomattox ,court ,house4 ,we repeat1 that for the work that lies before us1 we need young men and women with a purpose4 ,a third warning is1 that we must not mistake the aim and end of education4 ,you will find somewhere in the ,bible a sentence like this3 ',and the word was made flesh and it dwelled among us4' ,the word had been spoken by ,abraham2 ,moses thundered it from ,mt4 ,sinai's ragged brow2 ,ezekiel preached it2 ,david sang it2 ,solomon proclaimed it2 ,jeremiah prophesied it2 ,elijah saw it in the whirlwind2 ,moses saw it in the burning bush1 and ,isaiah saw it and in amazement cried3 ',who is this that cometh from ,edom with dyed garments from ,bazroh8 this that is glorious in his apparel1 traveling in the greatness of ,his strength8' ,but my friends1 none of this would do4 ,speaking the word would not atone2 hearing it would not redeem2 and seeing it would not save4 ,the word had to be made flesh and blood in the person of ,jesus ,christ1 the ,son of ,god1 and then come down on earth and live1 move1 and dwell among us4 ,as with the word1 so with education4 ,you have been here a number of years trying to obtain it4 ,you have heard education from your teachers2 you have heard it in the class-rooms2 you have heard it from the platform2 you have heard it in the ,sunday-,school2 you have gleaned it from your text-books2 you have sung it2 you have prayed it2 you have spoken it2 you have walked it2 you have assumed it4 ,but none of these will suffice4 ,education1 in order to be real1 must be applied2 in order to be effective1 it must be digested and assimilated4 ,it must become a part of your flesh and blood2 it must transform you into a new creature and then go out and move1 live and dwell among us4 ,and now a final word for the class of '#ic4 ,what of its loyalty to ,tuskegee1 our ,alma ,mater8 ,it is true that at times our purposes and aims have been misunderstood and misconstructed2 at times your attitude towards us has been misinterpreted1 but not once have we doubted your love4 ,we hope that you have never mistrusted ours4 ,it is true that at times we are troubled on every side1 yet not distressed2 we are perplexed1 but not in dispair2 persecuted1 but not forsaken2 cast down1 but not destroyed4 ,through all of this1 our love and loyalty to dear old ,tuskegee has never wavered1 and now as a token of this love and loyalty1 ,i hand to ,dr4 ,washington as a ,memorial ,scholarship for the class of '#ic1 a check for one thousand dollars4 ,i think that this act pleased ,dr4 ,washington more than anything that had ever been done by the class of '#ic4 ,we all were proud of this because we wanted ,dr4 ,washington to see that we had not forgotten what he had done for us4 ,we wanted to do this during his lifetime1 and this we succeeded in doing4 ,an address before the ,alabama ,state ,teachers' ,association1 held in ,montgomery1 ,ala41 the subject being3 ,school ,building ,under ,difficulties4 ,there is no work pertaining to the welfare of our race that is of more importance than that of the teacher1 and no class of people has a harder task to perform than the earnest and conscientious ,negro teacher of today4 ,the problems that come before the large educational associations of this and other countries1 are problems dealing largely with the child1 such as the treatment of backward children1 treating of abnormal children1 care of the blind1 of the deaf1 special treatment for incorrigibles1 the feeble minded1 and many other kinds of mental and physical defectives4 ,other problems that demand the attention of such meetings1 are problems dealing with the teacher1 his preparation and qualification for the various grades of our schools1 for instance1 preparation of the teacher for the elementary school1 for the secondary school1 and for colleges and universities4 ,these associations also give much time to such subjects as ,the ,relation of ,education to ,real ,life2 ,the ,defects of our ,present ,school ,system2 and how these defects may be remedied4 ,in other words1 how can the school better fit the student to take his place in the social and economic life of today8 ,i repeat1 these are the problems which largely consume the time of these educational meetings4 ,they are vital and far-reaching1 and demand the closest attention of our wisest and best educators4 ,they are not racial2 not sectional2 not even national1 but are universal in their scope and teachers in all parts of the world must contend with them4 ,the average ,negro teacher of the ,south today must assume his share of the burden of these problems along with other teachers1 whether he wills it or not4 ,in addition to this he has to deal with the serious problem of his bread and butter4 ,this makes the burden of the ,negro teacher of a two-fold nature1 and in this respect he is at a disadvantage of the average ,american teacher4 ,he has not as yet been able to live up to the ,biblical injunction1 ',take no thought for your life1 what ye shall eat1 or what ye shall drink1 nor yet for your body1 what ye shall put on4' ,no teacher can do his best so long as there is doubt and uncertainty about his daily bread4 ,the ,negro student who finishes at one of our higher institutions of learning today1 and goes forth to teach1 does not find everything to his liking4 ,he soon learns that there has been no voice before him crying in the wilderness saying3 ',prepare ye the way of the teacher1 make straight in the desert a highway for our educator4' ,he learns here for the first time that in addition to the ordinary educational problems1 it is for him to exalt every valley1 make low every hill and mountain1 make the crooked straight1 and the rough places plain4 ,he finds no way prepared1 he must make one2 he finds no school-house ready1 he must build one2 he finds no people anxiously awaiting him1 he must persuade them4 ,in many cases the ,negro teacher who is imbued with the spirit of sacrifice and service can truly say as did the ,master1 ',the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests1 but the teacher who would redeem a poverty stricken and ignorant people1 has not where to lay his head4' ,the purpose of the ,snow ,hill ,institute is to prepare young men and young women to go into communities where they propose to work and influence the people to stop living in rented one-room log cabins1 buy land1 and build dwelling houses having at least four rooms1 and thus improve the home life of the people4 ,second1 to influence the people to build better school-houses and lengthen the school terms and thus by arousing educational interest1 assist in bringing about the needed reform that is so essential to economic and upright living2 and finally to promote good character building4 ,to some extent the purpose is being realized1 for more than one thousand different students who have been more or less benefited by having spent a year or more under its guidance1 are leading sober and useful lives4 ,two hundred fifteen have either been granted certificates or diplomas1 and are engaged as follows3 ,fifty are teachers1 twenty-five are housekeepers1 three of the teachers have founded schools of their own1 one at ,laurinburg1 ,n4 ,c41 one at ,west ,butler1 ,alabama1 and one at ,richmond1 ,alabama4 ,though the majority of the ex-students are located in the ,black ,belt of ,alabama and are engaged principally in farming1 a large number of them are found in the following states3 ,mississippi1 ,louisiana1 ,georgia1 ,florida1 and the ,carolinas4 ,,appendix ,,address ,,delivered ,,by ,,mr4 ,,edwards ,,in ,,bessemer1 ,,alabama ,,the ,,signs ,,of ,,times ,it was customary in ancient times for nations to build walls around their cities to protect them from the enemy4 ,war was the rule1 and peace the exception4 ,nations therefore spent most of their time in preparing for war1 as they believed that their advancement depended largely upon their conquest4 ,watchmen would be placed here and there on the walls to keep a sharp look-out for the enemy and when detected1 would warn the inhabitants of his approach4 ,as a result of these warlike times and military activities1 some of the world's greatest generals were produced during that period4 ,undoubtedly1 conditions here mentioned1 existed because of the poor methods of transportation and communication that were uncertain during that day1 for since the advent of the steam-engine1 telegraph1 telephone1 the automobile1 and other means of rapid transit1 national lines of demarcation have been becoming less distinct4 ,as nations communed with nations and understood each other better1 they found less causes for differences and less need of watchmen on the walls4 ,we cannot help but believe that with a better knowledge of each race by the other and on the part of each a better understanding of the great and common end of life1 which is to serve and uplift1 that racial strife and conflict will cease and ere long this old world will become the kingdom of our ,god4 ,but these are not ancient times and things that were are not now4 ,the cities of the plain are no longer separated1 for the walls have been demolished and instead of the watchmen we have the teacher1 the preacher and the politician to tell us the signs of the times4 ,this is1 pre-eminently1 a progressive age2 an age of going forth2 an age in which things move4 ,with the new and varied inventions of the #aith and #bjth ,centuries1 old customs and conditions are rapidly passing away and those nations1 races1 and individuals who cannot adjust themselves to these new conditions must be left behind4 ,just now grave and serious problems confront the ,american ,people and this1 in itself1 is a proof of our going forth4 ,we must not deprecate them1 we must not shirk them1 they are ours1 we must face them manfully1 must shoulder them and stand up and walk4 ,these problems are the mothers of progress and instead of trying to turn from them or to dodge them1 we should rejoice because we live at a time when we can help in the solution of such complex problems1 whose results will have such far reaching and lasting effect upon the social and economic life of the ,american ,people4 ,this country is one and inseparable and whatever is beneficial to the white man is beneficial to the black man also4 ,the negro cannot hope at the present to play a very important part in the solution of great questions4 ,at our best the part we must play can only be secondary4 ,first1 because our business operations have not brought us into intimate relation to these questions and we do not fully comprehend their meaning4 ,second1 we can do but little because these questions are political in their nature and must be settled by the ballot4 ,the ,negro in this section has been disfranchised and therefore he cannot play at that game4 ,our being thus handicapped and prohibited from assisting in the solution of these great problems1 is no reason why we should say there is nothing we can do4 ,if you cannot cross the ocean ,and the heathen lands explore ,you can find the heathen nearer2 ,you can help them at your door4 ,there are some problems1 however1 that are within our reach1 upon the solution of which depends our future welfare in this country4 ,they are1 inefficiency1 vagrancy1 and crime4 ,for a long time we have been hearing of the inefficiency of the ,negro teacher1 the inefficiency of the ,negro preacher1 but all the while it was said that he was a good worker2 that he was only fitted to do manual labor4 ,the cry has gone out and is rapidly spreading to the effect that the ,negro is worthless2 that there is inefficiency in the pulpit1 inefficiency in the school-room1 and now inefficiency on the farm4 ,inefficiency everywhere4 ,our race has lost many places of trust and honor because of this cry4 ,i know personal cases where ,negro men have been replaced by white men because1 they say1 the black men were inefficient4 ,this is as much true in ,new ,york as it is in ,alabama4 ,as the supply of efficient men increases1 the demand for inefficient men will decrease and sooner or later there will be no room for the inefficient man4 ,he will be idle1 cannot get any work to do4 ,he will be added to the vagrant class4 ,already this class is too large among us2 strong able-bodied men walking about with no home and nothing to do4 ,this is a dangerous class4 ,of course1 unless the vagrant gets some work to do he will starve or have to leave the country2 but this man does not do either4 ,he becomes a parasite and lives of the honest toil of others4 ,sometimes he lives out of the white man's kitchen1 because his sweetheart is the cook2 sometimes because his old mother is a wash woman1 and sometimes because his sister is a nurse4 ,this is the class1 my white friends1 that gives you trouble1 this is the class that gives us trouble1 this is the class that will give trouble to any community and we are as anxious as you are to rid ourselves of this body of death4 ,now the best class of ,negroes and the best class of white people are agreed as to the fact that this dangerous class must be gotten rid of1 but they differ as to methods4 ,the ,negro believes mostly in the preventive method1 the white man mostly in the cure method4 ,the ,negro says a good school in every community will prevent1 the white man says a good jail in every county will cure4 ,the ,negro says teach the law1 the white man says enforce the law4 ,the ,negro cries for a state reformatory for the boys and girls of his race1 the white man cries for the penitentiary for them4 ,now1 this is not a very great difference after all and we should get together by each asking for the best schools to prevent these evils and then when the evils are committed1 asking for the strictest law for their punishment4 ,as for my part1 it is not a question in my mind as to the cause of this increasing class among my people4 ,it is plain to me that ignorance is the cause of inefficiency1 inefficiency the cause of vagrancy1 and vagrancy the cause of crime4 ,we must1 therefore1 seek the remedy in the removal of the cause4 ,if ignorance be the mother of inefficiency1 inefficiency the mother of vagrancy1 and vagrancy the mother of crime1 it is plain that the removal of ignorance will stop the others4 ,this can only be done by education and civic righteousness4 ,i wish here to emphasize the fact that education is the source of all we have and the spring of all our future joys4 ,our religion1 our morality1 and that which is highest and best in our social and civic life1 all come from education4 ,therefore1 it is the primary factor in the elevation of all races4 ,our education should be of a threefold nature1 viz43 ,literary1 ,industrial and ,religious4 ,no limit should be placed upon the ,negro's literary qualification4 ,a race so largely segregated as ours1 needs its own teachers1 preachers1 lawyers1 doctors1 pharmacists1 and other professional and business men1 and therefore they should be given the highest and best education that is obtainable4 ,if our preachers and teachers are inefficient1 it is because they are improperly educated4 ,if the churches are growing cold and dying and the schools accomplishing but very little good1 it is because religion is not being made practical and education not being made to apply to our every day life4 ,such an end can only be accomplished through well and systematically trained teachers and preachers4 ,better teachers and better preachers will go a long way towards the alleviation of our ills4 ,if we would secure the kind of education here referred to1 we must be willing to pay for it2 we must make a sacrifice1 we must care less about forms and fashions and more about the higher things of life4 ,we must see less evils in the dollar and more good4 ,we must not only have a good education1 but we must have good industrial training4 ,this is a scientific as well as a literary age4 ,a scientific age is always an age of inventions and with new inventions comes the demand for men qualified to manage large interests and complicated machinery4 ,this demand can only be supplied by industrially trained men and women4 ,this must be done in our industrial schools4 ,our hands should be as truly trained to work as our minds to think1 and any education that teaches otherwise1 is not worthy of the name4 ,i know that in some sections my people are prejudiced towards industrial schools1 but this is foolish in the extreme4 ,if we are to hold our own in this country1 it must be by our ability to do work and to do it in the most acceptable manner4 ,we are in a farming section and ,i believe that we should therefore strive to be the best farmers in the world4 ,let us make a specialty of all the trades that are related in anyway to agriculture2 endeavor to become the best stock raisers1 the best truck gardeners1 the best cooks1 the best wash women1 the best housekeepers1 the best dress makers1 the best blacksmiths1 and in fact1 the best in all that pertains to country life4 ,let us get hold of the lands we cultivate as far as possible and build better homes and keep our homes clean4 ,but you say that we do not need industrial training4 ,let us see4 ,many years ago ,henry ,clay1 in order to encourage home industry1 introduced a bill in the ,kentucky ,legislature to the effect that the people of that state should use nothing save what could be produced in the state4 ,suppose today the white man of this country should say that the ,negro must use only the things which he could make1 what would be his condition8 ,could we cook with proper utensils8 ,could we eat with knives and forks8 ,could we dress as we do now8 ,practically everything we wear or use was made by the white man and were he to institute such actions we would be helpless to provide for ourselves4 ,in our quest for knowledge1 we must not overlook the education of the heart4 ,our religion should be made practical4 ,it must be real and not visionary4 ,no other will suffice4 ,our religion must consist more in deeds and less in words4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,passages in italics are indicated by underscore4 ,the following misprints have been corrected3 #baj corrected to #abj 7,table of ,contents7 ,tuskeegee corrected to ,tuskegee 7page #dg7 phosporus corrected to phosphorus7page #ia7 ,some quotes are opened with marks but are not closed4 ,obvious errors have been silently closed1 while those requiring interpretation have been left open4 ,other than the corrections listed above1 printer's inconsistencies in spelling1 punctuation1 and hyphenation usage have been retained4