Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

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Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 164 few Negro men and women in the world who were making a mark, and that there was a chance for more." Booker Washington's interest in the lives of his students, as in all things else, showed his combination of breadth of view and attention to what less-thorough persons would have considered trivial details. When, for instance, in 1913 Tuskegee was visited by one of the very infrequent snowstorms which occur so far South, he himself went from building to building to see that they were properly heated and to many of the rooms, particularly of the poorer students, to make sure that they had sufficient bedclothes. During the last three winters of his life he had a confidential agent make an early morning tour of all the dormitories to make sure that they were so heated that the students might dress in comfort on getting up in the morning. Also when the weather was unusually cold he would make sure that the boys who drove the teams that hauled Page 227 wood and other supplies were provided with gloves and warm clothing. One cold night he sent for Mr. Palmer, the Registrar of the school, and said to him: "I wish you would seek out the poor worthy students and see that it is made possible for them to secure proper shoes and warm clothing. Some of the most deserving of them will often actually suffer before they will ask for assistance. We'll look out for the expense some way." He was, in fact, as insistent that the students should have comforts as he was that they should not have luxuries. His attention to details and the comfort of the students was well illustrated in the close watch he kept over the dining-rooms and kitchens which he inspected every day he was on the grounds. Tomkins dining-hall is the largest building on the Institute grounds and is one of the largest dining-halls in America. It can seat over two thousand persons at one time. Adjoining this hall is a spacious dining-room for the teachers as well as extensive kitchens and a bakery. Underneath it is a great assembly hall which seats twenty-five hundred. Mr. Washington would usually appear before breakfast to assure himself at first hand that the stewards, matrons, and cooks were giving the students warm, nourishing, and appetizing food upon which to begin the day's work on the farm and in the shops and classrooms. Nothing made him more indignant than to find the coffee served lukewarm and the cereal watery or the eggs stale. For such derelictions the guilty party was promptly located and admonition or discharge 24.03.2006
Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 165 24.03.2006 followed speedily. Probably in nothing was his instinct for putting Page 228 first things first better shown than in his insistence upon proper food, properly prepared and served for both students and teachers. He once said to his students, as previously quoted, "See to it that a certain ceremony, a certain importance, be attached to the partaking of food, etc. . . ." To carry out this idea each table in this great hall has a centrepiece of ferns, mosses, or flowers gathered from the woods by the student selected by his or her companions to decorate the table for that week. Boys and girls sit together at the tables. On Sundays and holidays first and second prizes are given for the tables most artistically decorated. Frequently these prizes take the form of some coveted delicacy in the way of food. Each day when at the Institute Mr. Washington would walk through the dining-hall during the noon meal and criticise these centrepieces, and things generally. He would point out that a certain decoration was too gaudy and profuse and had in it inharmonious colors. He would then remove the unnecessary parts and the discordant colors and point to the improved effect. He would next stop at a table with nothing in the way of decoration except a few scrawny flowers stuck carelessly into a vase. Picking up the meagre display he would say, "The boy or girl who did this is guilty of something far worse than bad taste, and that is laziness!" At the next table he would have a word of praise for the simple and artistic effect which they had produced with a centrepiece of wood mosses and red berries. These comments would be interspersed with an occasional admonition Page 229 to this boy or that girl for a slovenly manner of eating, or an inquiry of a newcomer as to where he had come from and whether he thought he was going to be happy in his new surroundings. An oft-repeated cause of merriment was his habit of stopping in the middle of the hall, calling for attention, and then asking the students if they were getting enough of various articles which he would name, such as sweet potatoes, corn, and blackberries. Cutting red tape was one of his special delights. Sometimes he would discover, for instance, that certain vegetables were not being served because the steward had objected to the price charged by the Farm Department. He would immediately order these vegetables served and tell the protesting steward that he could fight it out with the Farm Department while the students were enjoying the vegetables. From the
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Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

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