Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 103
known that his approach to a community frequently caused frantic cleaning up
of yards, mending of gates, and painting of houses. These sudden converts to
paint sometimes found out from which side the great man was to approach their
house and painted only that side and the front.
24.03.2006
Mr. Washington in characteristic pose addressing an audience
Mr. Washington silhouetted against the crowd upon one of his educational
tours.
Mr. Washington in typical pose speaking to an audience at Shreveport, La.
Page 137
When he spoke to his people on these trips he had the faculty of becoming one
of them. He described their daily lives in their own language. He told them how
much land they owned, how much of it was mortgaged, how much and what
they raised, and in fact every vital economic and social fact about their lives and
the conditions about them. He praised them for what was creditable, censured
and bantered them for what was bad, and told them what conditions should be
and how they could make them so.
He made these tours through Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and portions of Alabama and Georgia.