Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 121
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League, as described in the chapter, "Washington and the Negro Business Man."
Two years later he established the Greenwood Village Improvement
Association for the little community which has grown up around the school.
Taxes are collected from the property holders as well as the renters for the
upkeep of the roads, bridges, and fences, and a park in the centre of the village,
which was introduced in emulation of the typical New England village. Just as
in New England, also, this central park, or "green," is surrounded by a number
of churches. An elective Board of Control presides over this village, settles
disputes, and keeps the community in good repair morally and spiritually, as
well as physically. On the Monday immediately following the close of a regular
school term a town meeting is held at which reports are read and discussed
covering every phase of the life of the community. Mr. Washington particularly
enjoyed presiding at these meetings because they demonstrated what the people
of his race could accomplish under a favorable and stimulating environment. He
always contrived to have the meetings followed by simple refreshments and a
social hour.
In 1904 he started the Rural School Improvement Campaign and the Farmers'
Short Course at the Institute, both of which are described in the chapter,
"Washington, the Educator." In the same year he started a systematic effort to
improve the conditions in the jails and the chain gangs and for the rehabilitation
of released prisoners.
The next year he founded a weekly farm paper, a
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circulating library, and a Ministers' Institute. The year after, 1906, the Jesup
Agricultural Wagon--the agricultural school on wheels, which is described in
the chapter, "Washington, the Educator"--was started. In 1907 the farmers'
coÖperative demonstration work, which has also been mentioned, was
inaugurated. In 1910 the rural improvement speaking tours began. And finally,
in 1914, he established "Baldwin Farms," the farming community for the
graduates of the agricultural department of Tuskegee, which also has been
previously described.
These, then, are some of the tangible means which Booker Washington
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