THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Principal of 'Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School, Tuskegee, Alabama /i5eh) Jlotfe: REPRINTED FROM THE WORLD'S WORK OF AUGUST, 1903 Copyright, 190J, by Doubleday, Page & Company, with Additions Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/successfultrainiOOwash PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE GROUNDS OF THE TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE * t THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO THE RESULTS OF SUCH TEACHING AS IS GIVEN AT TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE — SCHOOLS FOUNDED ON THE TUSKEGEE IDEA BV BOOKER T. WASHINGTON PRINCIPAL OP TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, TUSKEGEE, ALABAMA Photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston T he Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute at Tuskegee, Alabama, was started in i88i , in a little shanty, with one teacher and thirty students. Since then the total number of students who have been wholly or partly through the course — that is, who have been enrolled and have remained long enough to be helped in any degree — is about 6,000. This statement is based upon the reports made to me by Mr. R. C. Bedford, one of the school officers, who spends a very large portion of each year in visiting and corresponding with our graduates and ex-students at their places of labor. The enrolment to date for the present school year is 1,892 — 1,487 students enrolled in the regular Normal and Industrial depart- ments, and the rest attending night-schools in the town of Tuskegee and in the nearby village of Greenwood (both under the super- vision of the school), and studying at the Children’s House, or practice school, the kindergarten and the afternoon cooking class in the town of Tuskegee. Thousands of adults, moreover, are reached and helped each year through the Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference, with its various local Conferences which meet annually through the Mothers’ Weekly Meetings and the plantation settlement work conducted by Mrs. Washington. In addition. Farmers’ Extension Leaflets are edited at the Tuskegee Institute and scattered broadly throughout the entire South. From the first, the school has sought to find out the occupation by which the people chiefly earn their living, or are likely to earn it in the future, and then to train men and women alike to be of service in these occu- pations. In the main, those who go out (1) follow the industry they have learned, (2) teach in a public or private school or teach part of the year and farm or labor the rest, (3) follow housekeeping or other domestic service, or (4) enter a profes- sion or the Government service or become merchants. Among the teachers are many who instruct in farming or in some indus- try; the professional men are largely phy- THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO THE TUSKEGEE FACULTY COUNCIL Reading from left to right : i, R. R. Taylor; 2, R. M. Atwell, Farm Manager; 3, Commandant-Major Ramsey; 4, Chaplain Edgar J. Penney; 5, M. T. Driver, Business Agent; 6, Wm. Mayberry, Head of Boarding Department; 7, Geo. W. Carver, Instructor in Agriculture; 8, Miss Jane E. Clark, Lady Principal; q. Emmet J. Scott, Private Secretary; 10, Booker T. Washington; ii, Warren Logan, Treasurer; 12, John H. Washington, Superintendent of Industries sicians; and the professional women are a dozen former students in idleness. They mostly trained nurses. are busy in schoolroom, field, shop, home or After diligent investigation, I cannot find church. They are busy because they have UK. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Principal of the Tuskegee Institute THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY AT TUSKEGEE Built by students placed themselves in demand by learning to do that which the world wants done, and because they have learned the disgrace of idleness and the sweetness of labor. One of the greatest embarrassments that con- fronts our schools at the present time is our inability to supplv any large proportion of the demands that are constantly coming to us from the people of both races, North and South, for our students. But aside from their skill, what has made Tuskegee men and women succeed is the spirit of unselfishness and a willingness to sacrifice themselves for others instilled into them at Tuskegee. In STUDENT CORPS MARCHING TO CHAPEL THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO THE STUDENTS DIGGING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR THE C. P. HUNTINGTON MEMORIAL BUILDING many cases, while building up a school in a community, they work for months without any fixed salary or promise of salary, because they have learned that helping some one else is the secret of all happiness. Owing to the demand for those trained at Tuskegee, it is difficult tc keep any large proportion of students in the school until they graduate. For this reason it is not so easy to show the results of the work in concrete form as it would be if a larger number of the students finished. But the fact indicates that the school is achieving its purpose in preparing its students to do what the world wants done. Some years ago a young man named STUDENTS BUILDING THE NEW GIRLS’ DORMITORY THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO ROAD-MENDING UNDER THE DIRECTION OF A TEACHER Williams came to Tuskegee from Mobile, Alabama. Before coming he had nearly completed the public-school course of study at Mobile and had been earning about fifty cents a day at various kinds of unskilled labor. He came to extend his studies in academic branches, with the object of com- bining this with the trade of brick-masonry. To take the full course in brick-masonry, including mechanical drawing and so on, he should have remained three years. He remained for six months only. During this time he got some rough knowledge of brick- masonry and advanced somewhat in his academic studies. When he returned to Mobile it soon became known that the young STACKING HAY ON ONE OF THE TUSKEGEE FARMS THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO r BREAKING GROUND FOR A NEW ROAD man had been working at brick-masonry. At once he was dubbed a full-fledged brick- mason. As there was unusual activity in building in Mobile just then, instead of having to seek odd jobs, he found himself sought after, and he soon saw that, notwithstanding his rather crude knowledge of the trade, he could earn one dollar and fifty cents per day and have more work offered him than he could do. When the three months’ vacation expired, Williams debated whether he ought to return to Tuskegee to finish his course or remain at home and try to purchase a home for his widowed mother. And seeing an opportunity to make two dollars a day at his trade he decided not to return. SUGAR-CANE MILL ON THE MARSHALL FARM AT TUSKEGEE THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO AGRICULTURAL STUDENTS WORKING IN THE EXPERIMENT PATCH As in hundreds of other cases, the Mobile man had unusual natural ability, and was able to get out of his six months at Tuskegee a mental, spiritual and bodily awakening that fixed his purpose in life. Not only this, but he got such a start in his trade that by close studv and observation he was able to improve from month to month in the scope and quality of his work, and within a few months he ceased to work for other people by the day and began to take small contracts. At the present time ]\Ir. Williams is one of the most substantial colored citizens of Mobile He owns his home and is a reliable CUTTING SUGAR-CANE ON THE MARSHALL FARM THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO A CORNER IN THE TUSKEGEE REPAIR SHOP and successful contractor, doing important work for both races. In addition to being a successful brick-mason and contractor, he owns and ojierates a dairy business, and his patrons are not confined by any means to the members of the Negro race. The value, then, of the work of schools, where the trade or economic element enters so largely as it does at Tuskegee, cannot be judged in any large degree by the nuiviber of students who finish the full course and receive diplomas. What is true of the course in brick-masonry is true in a larger or smaller degree of all the other thirty-seven industrial divisions of the school. Another example. Crawford D. Menafee ' m t&tliiBBay ■- . Bggi 1 . \iA ^11 HE- IBf fli 1 j| WOOD-WORKING IN THE CARPENTER SHOP THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO SHOEIXG A HORSE IN THE BLACKSMITH SHOP came to Tuskegee about 1890 and began taking tlie agricultural and academic courses. He was considerably advanced in age before coming, and as a result he entered one of the lower classes. As he had no money to pay any portion of his expenses, he was given permission to enter the night-school, which meant that he was to work on the farm ten hours a day, receiving, meanwhile, lessons in the principles of farming and in academic branches two hours at night. He was never classed as a very bright student, and in the purely literary studies made such slow progress that he dropped out before completing the STUDENTS WORKING IN THE PAINT SHOP THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO A CORNER IN THE SHOE SHOP full course, either agricultural or academic. In fact, he lacked two years of finishing, after repeating several classes. It was noted, however, while he was in school, that, notwith- standing his dulness in his theoretical work, he manifested unusual enthusiasm and special ability in practical farm work. His ability was so marked that he was asked to take a place of responsibility as assistant to one of the school’s farm managers. It soon became evident that he possessed extraordinary executive ability. He read constantl}' every- thing of value that he could secure upon agriculture, and soon began to show signs of considerable intellectual growth and the possession of a really systematic mind. Mr. MAKING AND UPHOLSTERING BARREL FURNITURE THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO THE TAILOR SHOP Menafee was soon promoted to a higher posi- tion at Tuskegee. A few years later there came a call for some one to introduce theoretical and practical agriculture into the State Normal College for colored people at Tallahassee. Mr. Menafee was recommended. The students had no wish to learn agriculture. They were opposed to it in any form. By tact and patience Mr. Menafee gradually won the students by show'- ing the importance of the subject to them and to the race. The result is this: Mr. Menafee has had charge of the agricultural department of the Florida school for three years, and has made theoretical and practical farming so effective that it is now one of the A CLASS IN DRESSMAKING THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO 1 II Ml 1 IH P V/' WHERE THE STUDENTS PRINT THE SCHOOL PAPER most popular branches in the school. Not only do the young men cultivate a large acreage each year, but a number of girls also receive instruction in gardening, dairying and poultry raising. In a word, the whole spirit of the school regarding agriculture has been revolutionized, and the depart- ment has been placed upon an effective and practical foundation. There are hundreds of cases almost similar to that of Mr. Menafee and the Mobile brick-mason. These represent a class of students who have imbibed the spirit of the school as well as its methods, and are doing far-reaching service, though they are not enrolled on our list of graduates. From the first at Tuskegee we have tried to give special attention to all forms of agricul- THE CLASS IN MECHANICAL DRAWING THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO MATTRESS MAKING AT TUSKEGEE tural training, because we believe that the Negro, like any other race in the same stage of development, is better off when owning and cultivating the soil. I do not believe that the black man’s education should be confined wholly to industrial training, nor do I advocate anything for the Negro that I would not emphasize for the Jews, Germans or Japanese were they in the same relative state of civilization. The results of our agricultural work in the past have not been as apparent as they will be in the future, for the reason that in order to get under shelter we have been com^pelled THE CI^SS IN COOKING AND HOUSEWORK AT MISS DAVIS’S SCHOOL AT THE RUSSELL FARM OF THE THOMPSON PLANTATION THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO SCHOOL ROOM AT MISS ANNIE DAVIS’S SCHOOL at Tuskegee to emphasize the building trades. The task of erecting nearly seventy buildings in which to house about seventeen hundred people has not been easy. Still, what are some of the results of our lessons in farming ? A few weeks ago I took a drive through a certain section of Macon County, Alabama. My drive extended a distance of perhaps eight miles, and during this time I drove through or near the farms of A. H. Adams, Thomas Courrier, Frank McCay, Nathaniel Harris, Thomas Anderson, John Smith and THE STUDENTS AT MISS DAVIS’S SCHOOL THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO ^ i V . THE CARPENTER SHOP AT THE SNOW HILL INSTITUTE Dennis Upshaw. These seven men had attended the Tuskegee Institute for a longer or shorter period, and each had already paid for his farm or was buying it. In three of these cases the men had studied in the Phelps Hall Bible Training School in the morning and had taken the agricultural course in the afternoon. When I visited their farms I saw the men actually at work, and it was most encouraging and interesting to note the air of cleanliness and system about their farms and homes. In every case these men were not confining them- selves to the raising of cotton, but had learned to diversify their crops. All were active in church and Sunday-school work, and were using their influence to get others to buy CLASS IN PLAIN SEWING AT THE SNOW HILL INSTITUTE, SNOW HILL, ALABAMA THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO STUDENTS PICKING THE SCHOOL COTTON CROP AT MOUNT MEIGS INSTITUTE, ALABAMA homes. The largest farmer among them was Mr. Upshaw. He began farming with practically nothing. At the present time he owns one hundred and fifteen acres of land, which is cultivated by himself and family. On this land is a neat, attractive house, a bam and outbuildings, and a small sugar house for boiling syrup from the cane which he raises for his own consump- tion. His home and farm are models for other farmers. He raises not only cotton, but also corn and oats, vegetables, fmit, live stock and fowls. He has a particularly fine peach orchard. Mr. and Mrs. Upshaw AN OUTDOOR CLASS IN LAUNDERING AT THE MOUNT MEIGS INSTITUTE THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO are leaders in the county Farmers’ Institute. Mrs. Upshaw is also a member of the Mothers’ Meeting which assembles regularly at Tus- kegee town. While Mr. Upshaw’s present house is better than the average farmhouse in that section, still, when I last visited this farm, I found lumber on the ground to be used in erecting a new and larger house. Hundreds of such examples could be cited. I have given these seven examples largely for the reason that people who know absolutely nothing about the subject often make the statement that when a Negro gets any degree of education he will not work — especially as a farmer. As a rule, people who make these sweeping assertions against the Negro are blinded by prejudice. The judg- ment of any man, black or white, that is con- trolled by race prejudice is not to be trusted. With one exception, I did not know of the farming operations of these men before taking the drive referred to, but I was not in the least surprised at what I saw because my years of experience have brought nie into constant contact with Tuskegee men and women all over the South, and wherever I have met them I have found that they had in some degree raised the level of life about them. Last January, when in Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, 1 met by chance a young man who had taken a ])artial course in our nurse-training department. I asked him if he were reflecting credit upon the Tuskegee Institute? With- out a word he pulled out a bank book and asked me to inspect it. I found a creditable sum to his credit. Before I was through inspecting the first bank book, he handed me a second which contained another amount to his credit at another bank. I found in the same city that Mrs. Barre, one of our graduates, is one of the leading trained nurses of that city. Nearly three years ago three of our gradu- ates went to Africa under the leadership of one of our teachers, Mr. J. N. Calloway, to introduce cotton raising among the natives under the auspices of the German Govern- ment. At the end of the second year the German officials were so pleased that they employed three other students. At the end of the fourth year the experiment was suc- cessful to the extent that a hundred bales of cotton have been shipped from the colony of Togo, Africa, to Berlin. Only a few months ago the German officials were kind enough to send me several pairs of hose made from cotton raised by our students. Since starting this experiment, we have received applications from both English and Belgian cotton-raising companies that wish to secure Tuskegee men to introduce cotton- raising in their African possessions. The Porto Rican Government makes an annual appropriation for the purpose of maintaining eighteen students at Tuskegee in order that they may learn our methods. The Haytian Government has recently arranged to send a number of young men here mainly with the view of their being trained in farming. Besides, we have students present from the West Indies, Africa and several South American countries. iVnother branch of agriculture to which we have for a number of years given special attention is dairying. We have demands from Southern white people for more trained dairymen than we have thus far been able to turn out. In 1898 L. A. Smith finished the course of training in dairying and in academic branches, after making his way through by working in the day and attending school at night during a great portion of his stay. Soon after Smith graduated we had a call for a well-trained dairyman from the Forest City Creamery Company, of Rockford, Illinois. Smith was recommended. He has been holding an important position in the creamery for five years, and has several times been promoted and received an increase of salary. Smith has paid for a neat and comfortable home where he and his wife reside. He has the confidence and respect of the entire community. In this connection, I might say that in taking up this work he looked so young and inexperienced that his ability was some- what doubted, but it did not take him long to prove that he was fully equal to the occasion. The proprietor unhesitatingly said that he was one of the most proficient and valuable men that he had in his employ, and that he had placed him in a very important and trying place, that of making cultures for butter — that is, the development and use of the particular germs which have to do with the fine flavor of butter. This is a secret department in which no one except the employees operating it and the proprietor are permitted to enter. Mr. Smith also did THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO some very important chemical work in con- nection with a lawsuit which was supposed to involve the manufacture of spurious butter. In Montgomery County, Alabama, for a number of years, Mr. M. N. Scott, a Southern white man, has operated the largest and most successful dair}’ farm in his section. Mr. Scott has in his employ three Tuskegee men, with Scott Thomas in charge. Mr. Scott constantly tells us that those men trained at our school are the most efficient that he can secure. He keeps a standing order with Mr. George W. Carver, the instructor in dairying, to the effect that he will employ any one that Mr. Carver recommends. Not far from Mr. Scott’s dairy is a smaller one owned by Mr. E. J. Hughes, another white man. Some time ago Mr. Hughes secured Luther M. Jones, who had taken only a partial course in dairying at Tuskegee, to make butter and cheese for him. Such examples can be found in nearly every one of the Southern States. While referring to agricultural subjects, I ought to add that, beginning three years ago, we now give the opportunity to a class of our women to learn gardening, fruit-growing, dairying, poultry raising and bee-keeping. As yet there has not been enough time in which to judge of the value of this new feature of the school. From the first the work of this institution has been closely related to the public school system of the South, for it must be clear to all that in the last analysis we must depend upon public schools for the general education of the masses, and it is most important that the larger institutions for the education of the Negro keep in close and sympa- thetic touch with the school officials of the Southern States. Another way that we assist the public school system of the South is by sending out men and women who become the teachers of teachers. One of the best examples of this is the case of Isaac Fisher, a poor young man who came to Tuskegee a number of years ago and worked his way through, so far as his board was concerned. Two years ago Mr. Fisher, on my recommendation, was elected by the State officials of the State of Arkansas to the imjjortant position of Principal of the Branch Normal College of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which is the main institution for training colored teachers for the public schools of that commonwealth. Mr. Fisher has associated with him a rather large force of teachers, two of whom are also Tuskegee graduates. In the school are students a large proportion of whom will become not only ])ublic school teachers in the usual sense, but, having been trained by Mr. FLsher in the industries, will also introduce them gradually into their teaching. There is hardly a single Southern State where our men and women are not found in some of the larger schools for teacher training. While students at Tuskegee, our men and women are instructed constantly in methods of building schoolhouses and prolonging the school term. It is safe to say that outside the larger Southern cities and towns in the rural districts one will find nine-tenths of the schools wholly unfit for use, and rarely is the public school session longer than five months. In most cases it is not more than four. These conditions exist largeh^ because of the poverty of the States. One of the problems of our teachers is to show the people how through private effort they can build schoolhouses and prolong the school term. Milton Calloway left Tuskegee three years ago. While here, in addition to taking the normal course, he learned the trade of tinsmithing. When he returned to his home at Union Springs, Bullock County, Alabama, he secured a school some distance in the country. The term of the school was so short that Calloway found he could not live all the year by teaching during the three or four months of the session. Now the term is six months. Calloway’s trade came to his rescue. Soon after he began teaching he made an arrangement with a white man in the town by which he was to work in his shop on Saturdays and during his vacation months. By following this plan, the school is gradually being put upon its feet largely by reason of the fact that l\Ir. Calloway is teaching the people how to save their money, improve the schoolhouse, prolong the school term and buy homes. Moses P. Simmons, another one of our graduates in an adjoining county, has lengthened the term of the public school by teaching the children to grow vegetables, which have been disposed of for school purposes. During the last session of our Negro THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO Conference in February, one delegate from Coneculi County, Alabama, described how the people had nearly doubled the length of the school term by each family agreeing to plant an extra half acre which was designated as the “school half acre.” A number of Tuskegee men and women have put on foot some such scheme as this. For the sake of information, I asked one of the officials of the Tuskegee Institute to take our nearest large city, Montgomery, Alabama, to obtain the name of every student there who had received a diploma or certificate from Tuskegee, or who had remained long enough to be in any degree influenced by its teaching, and to report to me exactly what he found after making a personal inspection. Here are a few of his reports : “Perry, J. W., class of 1889, lives near the city. Is farming. He controls 150 acres, owns five head of cattle, and teaches school six months in the year. ■' Davis, Joseph, who has been away from Tuskegee three years, I found at work on a four-story building in process of erection on Commerce Street. He was getting $2. 50 a day. At work on the same job were William Fuller at $3.60 a day and H. T. Wheat at $2. 50. Last summer Fuller received S4.00 a day for four months at Troy, Alabama. “Moten, Pierce, is at work as drug clerk in the drug store of Doctor A. C. Dungee, at the comer of Court and Washington streets. He graduated from Tuskegee in 1902. While at the school he worked in the hospital, and much of the time had charge of the drug room. He is studying medicine, and has already spent a session at Meharry Medical College, Xashville, Tennessee. “Campbell, Mrs. Berry X. (Miss Bowen), gradu- ated in the class of 1887, and her home has been in Montgomery most of the time since then, although her work at times takes her away from the city. She is a trained nurse of excellent reputation and wide experience, and has been frequently employed at Hill’s Infirmary. When I inquired for her she was taking care of a private case. She owns two good houses on Union Street and on High Street, both of which I saw. She also owns a vacant lot.” There were only three whose records were found to be uncertain or unsatisfactory. The same kind of investigation will reveal almost similar conditions existing in a greater or less degree in other Southern cities. Now let me show their life in smaller towns : one containing between four and five thousand inhabitants. Some time ago Mr. Bedford, one of our trustees, made a personal investiga- tion in Eufaula, Alabama. I quote directly from Mr. Bedford as to what he found: ■'Sidney Murphy, graduated in 1887. He went at once to Eufaula. For three years he taught and farmed in the country. He was then made principal of the colored public schools of the city. He still holds this position, and is now serving his thirteenth year. He has a nice home in the city, three houses that he rents, and some vacant lots. “John Jordan, 1901, a graduate in hamess- making, opened a shop in Eufaula, September, 1901, He reached Eufaula with S16 and a very few tools. He paid S7 license, 83.50 in advance for a month’s rent, and had 85. 50 for board and other ex- penses. He curtained off a little space in his shop for a bedroom, and with an oil stove cooked his own meals. In this way he saved up S50, but lost it in the failure of the bank of Eufaula. He has gone right on with his business, and now has one of the best shops in the city. He has established the People’s Library, which now has more than 600 volumes in it. He has a reading-room and literary society over which he presides, and is superintendent of the A. M. E. Sunday-school.” After having spent several years at the school, during which they worked upon the school farm, Frank and Dow L. Reid left Tuskegee at the completion of the B Middle Class. Frank, the older brother, left in the year 1888, and Dow in the year 1891. Before coming to Tuskegee these young men had lived upon a rented farm with their father, but on returning home they decided to buy a farm of their own. They entered into an agreement to purchase a farm of 320 acres, four miles from the old homestead, and with little or no money, but with a determination to succeed, they began to cultivate the land. They agreed to pay $5.50 per acre for the place, and regardless of the fact that they had little money at the time they bought the farm, within a few years the whole amount of $1,760 was paid. In addition to this farm, the Reid brothers, as they are styled for miles around, have bought another farm of 225 acres at $10 per acre. This farm is about two miles away from the first place mentioned. When the last payment upon this last pur- chase is made in the fall, after crops have been gathered and marketed, it will make a total of $4,010 made and paid for land alone by these young men since the younger one left Tuskegee some twelve years ago. The stock and farming implements on these farms are far superior to those seen upon most of the plantations. On the farm of THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO 320 acres are seventeen fine horses and mules, all large and in good condition; there are thirty well-bred cows and fifty fine, healthy- looking hogs, besides a large number of chickens and guineas, which furnish plenty of eggs for the families’ use. The farming implements, including plows, mowers, rakes, harrows, etc., are of the latest improved Deering make. The four double wagons, the single top buggy, the road wagon and go-cart are all in good order and are kept under cover when not in use. Not infrequently do we find farmers in the South who, when the crop is made, leave the plows, the mower, the rake, and in fact all the farming implements, standing out in the field in all the weather during the winter months. A visitor to the Reid brothers’ plantation, however, will not find this to be true with regard to their farm machinery. Each piece of machinery on this plantation has a place under a shed built for the purpose, and is kept there when not in use. There are eight dwelling houses — a four- room frame building in which the young men and their families live, and seven log cabins in which the farmhands live with their families. The first is rather old and uncomely in appear- ance from the outside, but the interior is more pleasing. The bedrooms are large and clean, each having sufficient windows • and doors to permit of necessary ventilation during the sleeping hours. The dining-room is well kept, and the whole interior of the house presents a neat, tidy and attractive appearance. This house is to be replaced by a larger one, to be built during the winter. A large cotton gin, with an eighty-tooth saw, is owned and operated by these young men. Last year, besides ginning the 125 bales of cotton raised upon their own planta- tion, they ginned the cotton raised by nearly all the other farmers in the neighborhood. The post-office at Dawkins was formerly about four miles from its present location, but since the Reid brothers settled where they now are and the community built up so rapidly the post-office was removed to their ])lace and the plantation was named Dawkins. The post-office is located in the general merchandise store of the Reids, and Mr. Frank Reid is postmaster. There was neither a church nor a school- house in the community when these young men went to Dawkins. They purchased four acres of land nearby and donated it for the purpose and assisted in building a com- fortable church, which has been used both as a church and a schoolhouse. Preaching serv- ices are held regularly in the church and a flourishing school is now being taught from seven to nine months each year. Last year there were more than one hundred boys and girls registered. Mr. J. N. Calloway, who graduated from the Tuskegee Institute in 1892, is principal of the school and has one assistant teacher. A new two-room schoolhouse is now being built through the efforts of Mr. Calloway and will be completed at the time of the opening of the school the latter part of next October. I am often asked to what extent we are able to supply domestic servants directly from this institution. I always answer, “ Not to any large extent, notwithstanding that women are trained here in ever5'thing relating to work in the home.” When a woman finishes one of our courses she is in demand at once at a salary three or four times as large as that paid in the average home. Aside from this, we are helping more in the direction of preparing workers in the home by sending out in the different portions of the country strong leaders who will go into local communi- ties and teach these lessons, than we would be by trying to send a cook directly into each family who applies to us. The latter would be a never-ending process. Miss Annie Canty, for example, teaches cooking and other industries in the public schools of Columbus, Georgia. There is a little leaven that we hope will gradually help leaven the whole lump. Largely through the influence of our graduates, cooking and other industries are being taught in many of the public schools of the South. Another young woman. Miss Mary L. McCrary, is doing the same thing in the Industrial College for colored people in Oklahoma. Not a few of our men have become mer- chants, and in all cases they are patronized by both races and have high commercial rating. Two of the best examples of this class are Mr. A. J. Wilbom, who is a successful mer- chant in the town of Tuskegee, and Mr. A. J. Wood, Benton, Alabama. One of the questions that I am most fre- quently asked is, to what extent are Tuskegee graduates able to reproduce the work of the parent institution? Just as the Tuskegee THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO Institute is an outgrowth of the Hampton Institute, so other smaller schools have grown out of the Tuskegee Institute in various parts of the country. There are at present sixteen schools of some size that have grown directly out of the Tuskegee Institute or have been reorganized by Tuskegee men and w^omen. In all cases these schools have growm to the point where they have been chartered under the laws of the State. The Yoorhees Industrial School at Den- mark, South Carolina, for example, was founded by Elizabeth E. Wright, class of 1894. It is now in its seventh year. Miss Wright w'as greatly opposed at first by both the white and colored people, but she perse- '^ered until now all are her friends. She has 300 acres of land, all paid for. A large central building has been erected at a cost of $3,000. This contains offices, classrooms, and a chapel that wall seat 600. This building is paid for, and a girls’ dormitory to cost $4,000, for which the money is in the treasury, is in pro- cess of erection. The plans for both of these buildings were drawn by a Tuskegee student. A barn to cost $800 is nearly completed, and there are several other small buildings. Miss Wright is assisted by three Tuskegee graduates, one as the farm superintendent, one as treasurer and bookkeeper, and the other as carpenter and teacher of drawing. The day and boarding students number more than 300. Farming in its various branches is the principal w'ork of the students, but they are also taught shoemaking, carpentry, cook- ing, sewing, housekeeping, and laundrying, while printing and blacksmithing are soon to follow. The school spent $9,000 last year in current expenses, I)uilding expenses and the purchase of land.* One of our graduates, Mr. Wm. V. Cham- bliss, has charge of the farming operations of the Southern Improvement Company, an organization that controls 4,000 acres of land, and has settled in it, up to the present time, some forty Negro families; and the number is increasing each year. These families are being given the opportunity, through their labor and the guidance of Mr. Chambliss, to buy their homes. ]\Ir. Chambliss does not use the hoe himself, for he finds it more economical to spend his time in other direc- tions. When the world wants cotton or com, it cares little whether the man uses his pen or his hoe. What it desires are results. Some men have the ability to produce fifty times as much cotton with the pen as with the hoe. I want to show one example, at least, that will show how our students succeed when working directly under others. The letter which follows is to the point : “Prof. Booker T. Washington. Dear Sir: The students from your school who have been at work here during the vacation expect to return to Tuskegee to-morrorv, and we want to say to you that these boys have demonstrated to our company the wonderful benefit of your teaching. These young men have taken hold of their work in a steady and businesslike way, and have worked uncomplainingly during the severe heat of the past summer. We would like, if it is possible, to induce a number of your students to purchase their homes about our works in North Birmingham and become regular workmen in our different shops. We have a letter before us now, written by one of your students, John Davis, which would reflect credit on the masters of Yale or Harvard. Please accept our best wishes for the success of the grand work you have undertaken. “Dimmick Pipe Works Company, “Birmingham, Alabama.” Perhaps the best example of a Tuskegee graduate who is using his knowledge of stock raising in a practical way is that of William Johnson Shoals, Clear Creek, Indian Territory. Shoals owns and operates his own stock farm, which is one of the largest in the Territory, and has been successful from the first. The following letter will indicate one of the ways in which we are able to assist the public school system from time to time; “Ethelville, Alabama, June, 1903. Professor B. T. Washington; “I am very anxious to afford the colored teachers of this county the best instruction possible, and so I write to ask if you cannot send us one of your teachers to conduct a normal institute to be held at Carrollton June 29th to July 4th — a teacher whom you can recommend. I am sorry to say the county has no money it can spend on this matter. “Yours truly, “W. H. Storey, “County Superintendent of Education.” In addition to the extracts from the report of an official of the Tuskegee Institute who made a visit to Montgomery, Alabama, and reported on the work being done there by Tuskegee students published on page 3749, the following may also be cited: ♦It was impossible to publish this article in The World’s Work in its entirety. All of the matter omitted from The World *5 Work is published in this pamphlet be^nning at this poin^. THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO Thomas, Julia, learned sewing and dress- making at Tuskegee. She lives with her brother on South Ripley Street, working at her trade, and has all the work she can do. Thomas, Mrs. Wm. (Novella Smart), is the wife of a man employed in J. \V. Adams’s store. They have a good home on South Ripley Street the attractiveness of which attests her good qualities as a housekeeper. Prior, D. B., is a letter carrier from the Montgomery post-office. He has been em- ployed here only one year. He owns property in Pike County, Alabama. Before coming to Montgomer}" he taught school at Troy, Alabama. He also farmed in connec- tion with his school-teaching. Lyons, William, has been employed for the last two or three years by the ^Montgomery Carriage Company, one of the largest firms of Montgomery. Perdue, Augustus C., has an excellent reputation as a carpenter and contractor in Montgomery. I found him at work on the inside of a fine house on South Perry Street, and at another time I found him overseeing a contract on a large house at Highland Park, a fashionable suburb of IMontgomery. He has a good home on Jeff Davis Avenue and owns considerable other property. Turner, Russell, I found chopping cotton on a plantation four miles out of the city. This man was at Tuskegee for only a short time, and that several years ago, but he said that he felt that his wffiole life had been influenced for good by even the brief time that he was at the school. He lives with his mother, who owns forty acres of land, on which they have recently put up a neat three-room frame house, and, his father being dead, he has the care and management of the place. Jones, Luther M., a young man, is working at the Hughes Dairy, and is reported by the managers as giving satisfaction. Other Tuskegee students are desired by the management. Pope, Robert, has been employed by one of the largest wholesale drug houses in IMont- gomery for eight years, ever since the firm was established. He has a good house, worth at a very moderate estimate $1,500, and has just bought and paid for a vacant lot worth $450. At the store where he is em- ployed he was recommended to me as “a thoroughly satisfactory and responsible man.” Wyman, Henry, has been employed in the Montgomery post-office for ten years as canceling or distributing clerk. He has re- cently opened a neat and well-fumished grocery store on the comer of Holt and Grady streets. Cummings, James, who learned the car- penter’s trade at Tuskegee, was reported to me as running a restaurant at present. Solomon, Francis, a carpenter, I was not able to find. He has been employed nearly ever since he left Tuskegee by A. C. Perdue, the contractor and carpenter already referred to in this paper. Colson, Buford, I found hard at work in a shoemaking shop, to which he had come directly from the Tuskegee school shop four months before. He is the fourth man this employer has had from Tuskegee. Two of these men are now back at the school at work in the shop, and the other has a shop of his own at Camp Hill, Alabama. When I asked the proprietor in regard to Colson’s character, he said, ‘‘He is as steady as a clock.” Campbell, Oran L., is working and earning $15 a week. He owns a home worth $1,000, two vacant lots, and a horse and bugg^q cows, pigs, etc. He has worked as a printer at the State Normal School. He is now a barber. Abercrombie, Nicholas E., graduated in the class of 1888. He received an appointment in the Montgomery post-office soon after, and has remained there ever since, through various administrations. His position is now that of a mailing clerk. This man’s wife, Estelle Lowrie, was also a Tuskegee student. Todd, F. S., is a rural mail carrier from the Montgomery post-office. He received his appointment about a year ago. He owns his home. Alexander, ]\Irs. Nathan (Annie Morgan), is the mistress and keeper of one of the finest Negro homes in Montgomery. It is a model of neatness, convenience and comfort. Her husband is United States Receiver of Public IMoneys. White, Israel, a carpenter, I found at work on a house. He has been away from school eight years, and has had steady work all the time. Meadows, Charles, carpenter, has been very steadily employed at his trade for some years. He has been recently employed on the Carnegie Library being erected at Montgomery. He owns his home. THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO Lamar, Bradley, a carpenter who has been away from the school three years, has been employed this spring with several other men from the school on a church at Highland I’ark. Thomas, Scott, I found in charge of Mr. M. C. Scott’s dairy. This establishment was milking 164 cows when I was there, with 96 more dry, and heifers in the pasture. Mr. Scott has had several men from the Tuskegee dairy school before this one. When I asked if they had given satisfaction, he said, “ Every man that the Tuskegee school has recom- mended to me has been thoroughly satis- factory.” In my presence at the time of the visit, he gave an order for two more men from the school as soon as the approaching vacation would set them at liberty. Pierce, Jimmie M., graduated in the class of 1898. She learned dressmaking and mil- linery at Tuskegee, and for the last five years lias been in charge of the millinery depart- ment of the store of J. W. Adams, Mont- gomery, where her work has not only given satisfaction to her employer, but has made her an excellent reputation in the city. Smith, Alice, graduated in the class of 1902 and came at once to work at her trade of millinery at the store of J. W. Adams, where she has been employed ever since. 1 saw both these young women at work. Chadwick, William, a house painter, I did not find, but a responsible carpenter of whom I inquired told me that he knew Chadwick to be reckoned a good workman, and that he had plenty of work. Another man of whom I inquired in regard to Chad- wick, said that he was a capable workman, but that he did not think he worked very steadily. Davis, Euphemia, who graduated in the nurse-training class of 1899, has been em- ployed very regularly in Montgomery since then, but at the time I inquired for her she was at work in an infirmary in Selma. She has worked as a nurse ever since she left Tuskegee. Vaughn, Ellen, graduated from the nurse training department at Tuskegee in 1900. When I called to see her she was not at work, but told me she had been almost constantly employed teaching or nursing since she had come from the school, and this statement was confirmed by others of whom I inquired. Sheppard, S. C., has been employed in the Montgomery post-office as a letter carrier for over ten years. I saw him at work on his route. He has an excellent home on Douglass Street. This man’s wife, Nellie Moore, was also a Tuskegee student, learning dress- making. Since her marriage she has con- tinued to work at her trade. When I called at her house she was at work and had three women working under her. The exquisite neatness of her house showed that she was a good housekeeper. Abercrombie, Ida M., graduated from the class of 1889, and since then has taught continuously in the city schools of Mont- gomery, being at present employed in the Day Street School. I visited her school, and am satisfied that she is an unusually com- petent teacher. Watkins, IMrs. I. S. (Celia MacDonald), graduated in the class of 1893. Her husband is a prosperous pharmacist, and they have an unusually good home on South Jackson Street. One has only to go into this house to see that Mrs. Watkins is a model house- keeper. In addition to Messrs. Sidney Murphy and John Jordan, referred to on page 3749 by Mr. Bedford in his report, the following may also be mentioned : W. D. Floyd, 1887, makes his headquarters at Eufaula and teaches seven miles out. James M. Chisholm of the tailoring depart- ment, 1896, has one of the best shops in Eufaula. He employs several men in the shop and a number of women and men on the outside. He has a beautiful home of his own. Jackson York, a former student, teaches near Eufaula and lives with his mother. Ellen Turner, a former student, teaches in the public schools of the city. Clara Fox, a former student, is as.sisting her mother in the care of her home. Eva Collins, a former student and assistant teacher at Tuskegee in the kindergarten school, is teaching near Eufaula. Maxie Smith is teaching near Eufaula. Beatrice Mitchell, a former student, is now Mrs. Walter Thomas. Her husband is a painter. They live in their own home. D. Jackson, a former student, is first assistant to Mr. IMurphy. He has a good home all paid for. There are now thirteen students at Tus- kegee from Eufaula, and much of the infiv-cnce which brought them here is due to the spirit THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF THE NEGRO of the graduates and former students living in the city. Seven graduates, five former students, are in Eufaula. Ada Fisher, 1897, taught at Eufaula and worked at her trade of tailoring till she married James 1 \I. Chisholm, who graduated from the tailoring department in 1896. Elmira Turner, 1898, was employed in the public schools with Mr. Murphy till her health failed, when she took a small school near the city. Paralee Jackson, 1898, teaches in one of the suburbs of Eufaula. She was two years in the nurse training department and is occa- sionally employed in nursing. The following institutions have grown out of the Tuskegee Institute and have been chartered under the laws of the various States where they are situated. Not only have they been founded by Tuskegee gradu- ates, but the officers and in many cases the entire faculty are composed of Tuskegee graduates. Some of the principal schools of this class are the following: Mt. Meigs Institute, Waugh, Alabama; Snow Hill Institute, Snow Hill, Alabama; Voorhees Industrial School, Denmark, South Carolina; East Tennessee Normal and Indus- trial Institute, Harriman, Tennessee; Robert Hungerford Industrial Institute, Eatonville, Florida; Topeka Educational and Industrial Institute, Topeka, Kansas; Allengreene Normal and Industrial Institute, Ruston, Louisiana; Utica Normal and Industrial Institute, Utica, Mississippi; Christiansburg Institute, Cambria, Virginia. It is a matter of the deepest regret that I have not space to describe in detail the history and growth of these schools. The story of struggle, sacrifice and hard work connected with the establishing of some of them is more akin to romance than reality. Snow Hill Institute, Snow Hill, Alabama, for illustration, was founded by William J. Edwards, of the class of 1893. This school is now in its tenth year, and was started in a one-room cabin. Soon after the school was established Honorable R. O. Simpson, a wealthy white resident of the community, was so impressed with its good effect upon the Negroes of the vicinity that he gave the school forty acres of land. This has been added to until the school now owns 160 acres, and property all told to the value of $30,000. Last year it expended $20,000 in its operations. It has about 200 boarding students, and 400 in all. The following trades are taught: Farming, carpentry, wheel wrighting, black- smithing, painting, brickmaking, printing, sewing, cooking, housekeeping. About twenty teachers and instructors are employed, nearly all graduates or former students of Tuskegee. Snow Hill has sent out twenty- five graduates. All are required to pass the state teachers’ examination before graduating. Six of them are teachers in the Institute. The school not only has the support and the sympathy of Mr. R. O. Simpson, but all the best white people in the county. A little more than a year ago one of our graduates, Mr. Charles P. Adams, established a small school at Ruston, Louisiana. At present the school owns twenty-five acres of land, on which a schoolhouse costing $1,200 has been built and paid for. The school term has been extended from three to eight months, with three teachers — all Tuskegee graduates — and no pupils. In connection with the classroom work the students are taught agriculture and housekeeping. All this has been done in a little more than one year with money and labor contributed by the people of both races in the community. In regard to Mr. Adams’s work. Honorable B. F. Thompson, the Mayor of Ruston, says ‘ ‘ Professor Adams deserves credit for what he has accomplished.” Honorable S. D. Pearce, the representative of the parish in the State Legislature, says, ‘‘The school is doing fine work for the education of the colored youth of this section of the State, and Professor Adams is making a vigorous struggle for its advancement.” Mr. W. E. Redwine, Super- intendent of Public Instruction for the parish, says, ‘‘Professor Adams is doing work in the right direction for the betterment of his race.” Mr. A. J. Bell, the editor of the local paper, says, ‘‘His work in this section has been productive of incalculable good.” As to the work of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute, Utica, Mississippi, I will let Mr. W. H. Holtzclaw, the principal, tell in his own words: ‘‘I came here from Snow Hill, Alabama, last October without a cent (I left my wife behind because of lack of means to bring her, and I walked part of the way through a wild and unfrequented part of this State), and started this work under a tree. Now we thp: successful training of the negro have two horses, forty acres of land, one cow and a calf, a farm planted and growing, more than 200 students, seven teachers, and a building going up. In all my efforts I have had the wise counsel and constant assist- ance of Mrs. Holtzclaw, without which I could not have made much progress.” Harriman Industrial Institute, Harriman, Tennessee, was established five years ago by J. W. Oveltrea, of the class of 1893. The school has thirty acres of land in the suburbs of Harriman. Mr. Oveltrea and his wife are both graduates of Tuskegee, and they have been aided in their work by Tuskegee grad- uates and students. The school has four buildings and about 100 students. Several trades are taught. The Robert Hungerford Institute, in Eaton- vHle, Florida, was founded by R. C. Calhoun, of the class of 1896. Eaton ville is about six miles from Orlando. Mr. Calhoun had nothing to begin with but the little public school. He has secured 200 acres of land, clear of debt, and a year ago dedicated Booker T. Washington Hall, a dormitory and classroom building, with chapel. This building cost $3,000; the plans for it were drawn by a Tuskegee graduate. The trades taught are farming, wheelwrighting, painting, carpentry, sewing, cooking and laundering. Miss Nathalie Lord, one of my early teachers at Hampton, is a trustee of this school. The school is now in its fourth year. It has forty boarding students and nearly one hundred day students. Mrs. Calhoun, who is her husband’s assistant, was a student at Tuskegee, as was also the man who has charge of the blacksmith and wheel- wright shops. In closing, I wish to add that I do not want my readers to get the impression that all of Tuskegee’s men and women have succeeded, because they have not. Some have failed miserably, much to our regret, but the per- centage of failures is so very small that they are more than overshadowed by the successes. My greatest regret is that I am compelled to leave out of this statement any detailed description of the influence of the Tuskegee Negro Conference, which has been the means of helping hundreds of our people to buy land, build dwelling houses, schoolhouses, and lengthening the school terms Despite all that I have said, the work has merely begun. I believe we have found the way. Our endeavor will be to continue to pursue it faithfully, actively, bravely, hon- estly. With sufficient means, such work as I have indicated could be greatly increased. , ,-X ' >-d ^'h -^- ■'^*5tf4? 1*' -.'- ! - -WJ- , *&r ■ "<«..,•■ ^ - -i-« -.- .s‘=¥;--Wy, .W-JStf’f 'I f-/ - i.iv ' '*'^ ■ .■' I ■f-^' $ i *>S.j •c. .. ii‘t-i:?%s?Xv^^ia 9 T'^ m t