Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 125
Raise Pigs with Little Money," "When, What, and How to Can and Preserve
Fruits and Vegetables in the Home," "Some Possibilities of the Cowpea in
Macon County, Alabama," "A New and Prolific Variety of Cotton." And all of
these bulletins, so many of which deal with the problems of the home, are
written by an old bachelor of pure African descent, without a drop of white
blood, who in himself refutes two popular fallacies: the one that bachelors
cannot be skilled in domestic affairs, and the other, that pure-blooded Africans
cannot achieve intellectual distinction. This man is George W. Carver, who is
not only the most eminent agricultural scientist of his race in this country, but
one of the most eminent of any race. His work is so well known in scientific
circles in his field throughout the world that when leading European scientists
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visit this country, particularly the Southern States, they not infrequently go out
of their way to look him up. They are usually very much surprised to find their
eminent fellow-scientist a black man.
The last of these conferences over which Booker Washington presided was held
at Tuskegee, January 20 and 21, 1915. A woman, the wife of a Negro farmer,
was testifying when she said: "Our menfolks is foun' out dat they can't eat
cotton." As the outburst of laughter which greeted this remark died down, Mr.
Washington said in his incisive way: "What do you mean?" The woman replied:
"I mean dat we womenfolks been tellin' our menfolks all de time dat they should
raise mo to eat."
She then displayed specimens of canned fruits and told how she had put up
enough of them to supply her family until summer. She told of having sold
thirty-six turkeys and of selling two and three dozen eggs each week, with
plenty left over for her family. She said that she and her husband had raised and
sold hogs, and still had for their own use more than enough pork to last them
until the next hog-killing time.
"How often do you eat chicken?" asked Dr. Washington.
"We can eat chicken every day if we want it," she replied.
When she had finished Mr. Washington explained that all this had been done on
178 acres of the poorest land in Macon County.
In his opening address at this conference Mr. Washington denounced "petty
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