Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 114
"The first time I ever met Mr. Rogers was in this manner: about fifteen years
ago a large meeting was held in Madison Square Garden concert hall, to obtain
funds for the Tuskegee Institute. Mr. Rogers attended the meeting, but came so
late that, as the auditorium was crowded, he could not get a seat. He stood in the
back part of the hall, however, and listened to the speaking.
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"The next morning I received a telegram from him asking me to call at his
office. When I entered he remarked that he had been present at the meeting the
night previous, and expected the 'hat to be passed,' but as that was not done he
wanted to 'chip in' something. Thereupon he handed me ten one-thousand-dollar
bills for the Tuskegee Institute. In doing this he imposed only one condition,
that the gift should be mentioned to no one. Later on, however, when I told him
that I did not care to take so large a sum of money without some one knowing it,
he consented that I tell one or two of our Trustees about the source of the gift. I
cannot now recall the number of times that he has helped us, but in doing so he
always insisted that his name be never used. He seemed to enjoy making gifts in
currency."
In an article published in McClure's Magazine in May, 1902, Rear-Admiral
Robley D. Evans thus describes the occasion on which he presented Booker
Washington to Prince Henry of Prussia: "The first request made by Prince
Henry, after being received in New York, was that I should arrange to give him
some of the old Southern melodies, if possible, sung by Negroes; that he was
passionately fond of them, and had been all his life--not the ragtime songs, but
the old Negro melodies. Several times during his trip I endeavored to carry out
his wishes, with more or less success; but finally, at the Waldorf-Astoria, the
Hampton singers presented themselves in one of the reception rooms and gave
him a recital of Indian and Negro melodies. He was charmed. And while I was
talking to
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him, just after a Sioux Indian had sung a lullaby, he suddenly turned and said:
'Isn't that Booker T. Washington over there?' I recognized Washington and
replied that it was, and he said: 'Evans, would you mind presenting him to me? I
know how some of your people feel about Washington, but I have always had
great sympathy with the African race, and I want to meet the man I regard as the
24.03.2006