Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 213
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He said, 'I will study the institution at Tuskegee, I will go there and look it over
and after I have found out what your methods are, what you are driving at--if
your methods and objects commend themselves to me, then I will consent to
become a trustee.' And I remember how well --some of the older teachers and
perhaps some of the older students will recall--that upon one day, when we were
least expecting it, he stopped his private car off here at Chehaw and appeared
here upon our grounds, and some of us will recall how he went into every
department of the institution, how he went into the classrooms, how he went
through the shops, how he went through the farm, how he went through the
dining-room; I remember how he went to each table, and took pieces of bread
from the table and broke them and examined the bread to see how well it was
cooked, and even tasted some of it as he went into the kitchen. He wanted to be
sure how we were doing things here at Tuskegee. Then after he had made this
visit of examination for himself, after he had studied our financial condition,
then after a number of months had passed by, he consented to permit us to use
his name as one of our Trustees, and from the beginning to the end we never
had such a trustee. He was one who devoted himself night and day, winter and
summer, in season and out of season, to the interests of this institution. Now,
having spoken this word, you can understand the thoughts and the feelings of
some of us on this occasion as we think of the services of this great and good
man.
"It is one of the privileges of people who are not always
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classed among the popular people of earth to have strong friends for the reason
that nobody but a strong man will endure the public criticism that so often
comes to one who is the friend of a weak or unpopular race. This, in the words
of another, is one of the advantages enjoyed sometimes by a disadvantaged
race."
Naturally no account of Booker Washington's administration of the great
institution which he built would be complete without some mention of Mrs.
Washington's part in her husband's work. Aside from her duties as wife, mother,
and home maker--duties which any ordinary woman would find quite exacting
enough to absorb all her time, thought, and strength particularly in view of the
fact that a wide hospitality is part of the rÔle--Mrs. Washington, as director of
24.03.2006