Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

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Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 118 reflection that people will easier pardon ignorance than pretense. "At a certain point during the dinner each guest is expected, it seems, to get the eye of the King and then rise and drink to the health of the King. When he rises he makes a bow to the King and the King returns the bow. Nothing is said by either the King or the guest. I think practically all the invited guests except myself went through this performance. It seemed to me a very fitting way of expressing respect for the King, as the head of a nation and as a man, and now that I know something about it, I think if I had another chance I could do myself credit in that regard. "During the dinner I had the privilege of meeting a very interesting old gentleman, now some eighty years of age, the uncle of the King, Prince----, who spoke good English. I had a very interesting conversation with him, Page 158 and since returning to America I have had some correspondence with him. "As I have already said, the Queen Mother of England was at this time in Copenhagen, and as I afterward learned, her sister, the Queen Mother of Russia, was also there. As both of these were in mourning on account of the recent death of King Edward, they did not appear at this dinner. I was reminded of their presence, however, when as I was leaving the King's palace after my interview in the morning, one of the marshals presented me with two autograph books, with the request that I inscribe my name in them. One of the books, as I afterward learned, belonged to the Queen Mother of England; the other belonged to the Queen Mother of Russia. A mere catalogue of the principal organizations which Booker T. Washington founded for the purpose of helping his people to help themselves tells a story of constructive achievement more impressive than any amount of abstract eulogy. The following is a list of such organizations given in chronological order with a few words of description for the purpose of identifying each: In 1884 he founded the Teachers' Institute, consisting of summer courses, conferences, and exhibits having as their main purpose the extension of the advantages of Tuskegee Institute to the country school teachers of the surrounding country. The work of this Institute is described in the chapter: "Washington, the Educator." 24.03.2006
Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 119 In 1891 he established the Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference. He decided that the school should not only help Page 159 directly its own students, but should reach out and help the students' parents and the older people generally in the country districts of the State. He started by inviting the farmers and their wives in the immediate locality to spend a day at the school for the frank discussion of their material and spiritual condition to the end that the school might learn how it could best help them to help themselves. From this simple beginning the Conference has grown until it now consists of delegates from every Southern State, besides hundreds of teachers and principals of Negro schools, Northern men and women, publicists and philanthropists, newspaper and magazine writers, Southern white men and Southern white women, all interested in helping the simple black folk in their strivings to "quit libin' in de ashes," as one of them fervently expressed it. At one of these conferences an old preacher from a country district concluded an earnest prayer for the deliverance of his people from the bondage of ignorance with this startling sentence: "And now, O Lord, put dy foot down in our hearts and lif' us up!" The year following Mr. Washington established a hospital in Greenwood village, the hamlet adjoining the Institute grounds where live most of the teachers, officers, and employees. It was at first hardly more than a dispensary, but when the Institute acquired a Resident Physician two small buildings were set aside as hospitals for men and women, respectively. Later a five-thousanddollar building was given which served as the hospital until, in 1913, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Mason, of Boston, presented Tuskegee Page 160 with a fifty-thousand-dollar splendidly equipped modern hospital, in memory of her grandfather, John A. Andrew, the War Governor of Massachusetts. While these hospitals, from the first humble dispensary to the fine hospital of to-day, were of course primarily for the Institute they were in true Tuskegee fashion thrown open to all who needed them. And since the town of Tuskegee has no hospital they have always been freely used by outside colored people. Mr. Washington, himself, on his riding and hunting trips would from time to time find sick people whom he would have brought to the hospital for care. 24.03.2006
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Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

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