Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 139
24.03.2006
be a shoe string or a savings bank, and the purchaser or patron will not trouble
himself to ask who the seller is. This same great economic law runs through
every line of industry, whether it be farming, manufacturing, mercantile or
professional pursuits. Recognize this fundamental law of trade; add to it tact,
good manners, a resolute will, a tireless capacity for hard work, and you will
succeed in business. I have found in my own experience of thirty years in
business that success and its conditions lie around us, regardless of race or
color. I believe that it is possible for any man with the proper stuff in him to
make a success in business wherever he may be. The best and only capital
necessary to begin with is simply honesty, industry, and common sense."
The Boston Herald of August 24, 1900, said of this gathering: "The national
convention of colored business men began its sessions in this city yesterday in a
businesslike and hopeful manner. This is not a political gathering. It is not a race
gathering in the sense of one met to air sentimental grievances that spring from
race oppositions. . . . President Washington believes that the security and
progress of the colored people in this land depend upon their development of a
moral worth commanding respect and an industrial capacity that will make them
both useful and independent. He apprehends that these qualities cannot be
bestowed as a gift of benevolence, but must be
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acquired by individual energy and struggle. 'As I have noted,' he says, 'the
condition of our people in nearly every part of our country, I have always been
encouraged by the fact that almost without exception, whether in the North or in
the South, wherever I have seen a black man who was succeeding in his
business, who was a taxpayer, and who possessed intelligence and high
character, that individual was treated with the highest respect by the members of
the white race. In proportion as we can multiply those examples, North and
South, will our problem be solved.' That is the great lesson that the members of
the colored race have to learn. It will aid in extending this knowledge for those
colored business men who have attained a measurable degree of success in life
to meet for mutual encouragement and helpfulness."
Just fifteen years later, in August, 1915, Booker Washington presided over the
last session of the league held during his lifetime. This meeting also was held in
Boston. There attended it seven hundred delegates from thirty different States.
Mr. Washington in his annual address as president summed up what had been
accomplished by the race during the fifteen-year interval and projected what