Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 142
relation to the State and his political fortunes, Booker Washington saw that
there was a great economic empire that needed to be conquered. He saw an
emancipated race chained to the soil by the Mortgage Crop System, and other
devices, and he said, 'You must own your own land, you must own your own
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farms'--and forthwith there was a second emancipation. He saw the industrial
trades and skilled labor pass from our race into other hands. He said, 'The hands
as well as the heads must be educated,' and forthwith the educational system of
America was revolutionized. He saw the money earned by the hard toil of black
men passing into other men's pockets. He said, 'The only way to save this
money is to go into business--sell as well as buy.' He saw that if the colored race
was to become economically self-sufficient, it must engage in every form of
human activity. Himself a successful business man as shown by Tuskegee's
millions, he has led his race to economic freedom."
Later Mr. Lewis said: "Just as in Boston three-quarters of a century ago began
the movement for Emancipation from Slavery, so fifteen years ago
appropriately began the movement for our economical independence. . . . In
1900 there was one league with 50 members, and a few businesses represented.
To-day I am told there are 600 leagues, nearly 40,000 members, who represent
every branch and variety of business, trade and finance. When one realizes that
business rules the world, the possibility of such an organization seems almost
unlimited in its power to help the race along other lines of progress."
Such a tribute from one of the most rarely and genuinely talented members of
"The Talented Tenth" was indeed a triumph for Booker T. Washington and his
policies. In fact, it may fairly be said that this event marked the end of the
honest opposition from this element
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of the Negro race--the end of the honest opposition of a group or section of the
race in distinction from the of course inevitable opposition of individuals here
and there.
One of the features of this 1915 meeting was a summary of the economic
progress of the race since the organization of the league fifteen years before.
This summary brought out the following facts:
24.03.2006