CL

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

ALBERT H CHILDS
YALE '61
MEMORIAL COLLECTION

Ta

William H. Holtzclaw
Principal, Utica Normal and Injlustrial Institute

THE
BLACK MAN'S
BURDEN

WILLIAM H. HOLTZCLAW
Principal of The Utica Normal and Industrial Institute for the Training
of Colored Young Men and Young Women
Utica Institute, Mississippi
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
Principal of the Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama

Illustrated by Portraits and Views

NEW YORK
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1915

COPYRIGHT, I9IS, BY
WILLIAM H. HOLTZCLAW

This volume is dedicated to my mother, Addie, whose
affection and foresight inspired me in my youth with a
desire to get an education, and to my wife, Mary Ella,
whose patience and fidelity have supported me in my
ambition to be of service to my race.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
William H. Holtzclaw  Frontispiece OPPOSITE PAGB
Booker T. Washington  .38
Emmett J. Scott  cq
Mrs. William H. Holtzclaw  64
Charles Banks  72
Principal Holtzclaw and the Farmers Felling the Trees Used
in the Construction of the First Schoolhouse at Utica . 97
Old Log Cabin Where the Utica Normal and Industrial Insti
tute Had Its Birth  104
Ginn Memorial Hall  113
Utica Institute Swineherd  120
A Group of Teachers in the Utica Normal and Industrial In
stitute Who Were Trained at the Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute  132
Students Marching to Chapel for Services on Sunday Morning 142
A Scene Showing Farmers Coming from Assembly Hall at
One of Our Farmers' Conferences  150
Booker T. Washing^ton Hall, Erected by Student Labor. In
the Upper Right-hand Corner, the First Schoolhouse Used
by Principal Holtzclaw at Utica  170

6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
OPPOSITE PAOB
Executive Council of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute i86
Corene Haney, Offering Her Mother's Only Cow for Her
Entrance Fee and Schooling at the Utica Normal and
Industrial Institute  192
Young Men Making Furniture in the Cabinet Division . . 204
Faculty of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute . . 214
Principal Holtzclaw and His Family  227

introduction
Among the students who entered Tuskegee Institute
in the fall of 1890 was a young man from Roanoke,
Alabama. Like most of the students who came to us in
those early days, he was very poor, and in order to make
his way he found it necessary to enter the night school.
This meant that he was compelled to work during the
day in order that he could have the privilege of going
to school for a few hours at night while he was slowly
accumulating a fund sufficient to permit him to enter
the day school later on.
Like most of the students of that day, too, he had had
little preparation before entering Tuskegee and he was
therefore compelled to begin at the very bottom and
work his way up. He had not been in school very long,
however, before he succeeded in attracting the attention
of his teachers by the earnestness which he displayed,
both in the work to which he was assigned during the
day and in his studies in the class room at night. We
were soon convinced, therefore, that we had found in
him the sort of material we wanted in our students.
From that time to the present I have watched that
young man grow in strength and in usefulness, until
to-day I do not know a single graduate of Tuskegee who
has more completely carried out in his life the spirit

8 INTRODUCTION
which the school has sought to instill in its students, nor
do I know one who is doing a more useful or more suc
cessful work for his race and for the community in which
he lives.
This book is the story of that young man's life, as
far as he has been able to tell it for himself.
Books of this kind have a value which is not confined
to the information which they give. To those who are
interested in learning, not merely of the condition, but
something of the spirit of Negro education in the rural
industrial high schools of the South, a personal narra
tive such as this is more valuable than any amount of
statistics. Such books serve to give an insight, such as
no mere formal statement or report could give, into the
actual conditions under which education is carried on
in the South to-day, showing something of its difficulties
and mistakes, as well as its successes. But these are also
books of inspiration. They show what pluck and pa
tience and understanding can do, in the face of many
difficulties and discouragements, to establish schools that
will not only instruct, but will direct and inspire the
masses of our people in their efforts for better things.
Although this book is the record of the experiences
of a single individual, it is mainly the story of a school.
It is a story of progress, for fortunately many of the
difficulties which have surrounded Negro education in
the remote and distant rural districts in the South are
growing less. There is a better spirit everywhere. All
through the South there is a growing interest, among
the white people as well as colored, in the effort to make
the Negro rural school something more than a mere

INTRODUCTION 9
name; something more than a mere object in the land
scape. To a very considerable extent the rural Negro school
is getting to be the center of Negro rural life ; to a very
considerable extent the teachers in the rural districts are
coming to be the recognized leaders in the community.
More and more the rural school is beginning to connect
itself with the practical interests of every-day life in the
community. Girls are learning to read and write, but
they are also learning to work and sew; boys are learn
ing to use arithmetic, but they are also learning to plow
and to plant.
This result has been largely brought about through
the influence, direct and indirect, of such schools as the
one described in this volume. These schools, at any rate,
have laid the ground and prepared the way for the work
that is now just beginning.
They have done this by showing the masses of the
Negro people what education, real education, is, and by
showing the white people that, in any effort to make him
self a more useful and more law abiding citizen, educa
tion is just as important and just as necessary to the black
boy as to the white.
It is in this sense that I can say of the book that Mr.
Holtzclaw has written that it is the story, not merely of
the life of an individual, or of a school, but it is at the
same time a very important chapter in the history of
Negro education.
' Booker T. Washington.
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.

PREFACE
In presenting this book to the public, I do so with
many misgivings. Several times during the past five or
six years I have written short sketches of my life for
various newspapers and for such magazines as the Sat
urday Evening Post and World's Work. I have pub
lished also, from time to time, in our own school paper.
Southern Notes, articles touching upon my work as a
teacher here at Utica and elsewhere in the South.
The sketches that make up this volume have been read
with more or less interest by my friends, but I had not
thought of ever pubHshing them in book form until about
two years ago, when the Rev. Henry E. Cobb, of New
York City, a friend of mine for many years, read one of
them and was so much impressed with it that he vn-ote
to me, urging me to publish the sketches, or to put them,
at least, into more permanent form. Since that time I
have received a great many letters from my friends in
various parts of the cotmtry repeating Dr. Cobb's sug
gestion. As the work in which I am engaged, and to which I
am devoting my life, belongs to the public, — at least,
I have always hked to think so, — I feel that I should
accede to their wishes.
There is another reason for the publication of this

12 PREFACE
book. I know that whatever I am able to tell about my
own life is typical; it is the story of many others like
myself who have struggled to get an education and to be
of use in the world, but whose efforts will never be
known. It is because I want the world to know some
thing of these unknown and, perhaps, less fortunate
young men of my race that I have tried, as best I could,
to tell my story here. It is necessary that the two races
in this cotmtry should know each other intimately, if they
are to live together ; and that, in substance, is why I have
written this book.
In the preparation of this narrative I am indebted to
Dr. Robert K Park, of the University of Chicago; to
Mr. H. M. Rideout, of Harvard University, and to Pro
fessor John Chilton Scammel, of the University of North
Carolina.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN

CHAPTER I
I have some recollection of the house in which I was
born, and of the great plantation which belonged, in the
days of slavery, to one of those traditional Southern
planters about whom we have read so much. I have seen
the windowless house in which I first saw the light, — the
light that scantily streamed through the cracks in the
wall. It was a little cabin, fourteen feet by sixteen feet,
made of split pine poles, with only dirt for a floor.
It was in this cabin, near Roanoke, Randolph County,
Alabama, that my mother was left alone one Saturday
night. My father had gone away to secure food for her,
and when he returned, Sunday morning, I was there to
greet him. My mother and I were completely alone at
the time of my birth.
I have always felt that I have an advantage over most
men of my race in that I was born on a day of rest. It
was the first piece of good fortune that came to me, and
I want to be grateful for it.
This was in the closing days of Reconstruction, when
there were stirring times in nearly every part of the coun
try, but of course I do not remember much about what
happened then. I recall, however, some things that oc
curred four or five years later when, although the South

14 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
had been legally reconstructed, the law had not changed
the sentiments of the people very much.
I distinctly remember that there were no colored
school-teachers at that time and, in my own locality,
there were no Northern white teachers. The few colored
schools that existed at all were taught by Southern white
men and women. Before I was old enough to attend
school myself I used to go along now and then with the
others, and I remember that one of these Southem white
teachers took a great liking to me and, passing our house
one day on his way home, predicted to my mother that
I would some day be a lawyer. I did not know what
that meant then, but I got the impression that it meant I
was going to be something great, and I did not forget it.
Almost as soon as the Negro pupils got as far as
"baker," and certainly when they got as far as "abase
ment," in the old blue-back speller they were made as
sistant teachers, and in a short while, relieving the white
teachers, they became the only teachers we had. When
I was seven years old there was not a white teacher in
our community. The colored teachers were doing pretty
good work, but the best of them had advanced only
about as far as the fourth grade. There is one thing,
however, that they had learned to perfection, and that
was the use of the rod, and of this kind of education I
got my full share every day. My great trouble was that
if I got a whipping at school, I was likely to get another
one when I reached home.
This was not always the case, however. One year it
had been agreed that I should study nothing but arith
metic, and before I had been at school many days I had

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 15
undoubtedly reached the limit of my teacher's ability in
that l»ranch. For several days I had no less(ms. At
length, oiie day, without warning, he jumped at me like
a fierce tig«r, and with a hickory switch, which he had
previously roasted in the fire, he beat me to the flow and
continued to flog me until some grown p<q>ils interfered.
^Tien I started h<«ie that aftemoon I became exhausted
and sat down on a log on the roadside, iroai whidi I
was not able to rise on account of the lacerated condition
of my flesh. My father fouind me after daric and carried
me home. That was tiie only time that I can now recall
e\"er having seen my father v«ry angry. He wanted to
whip Aat school-teaclier, but my mother's advice pre
vailed, and I was sent haxk to school as soon as I could
\\?alk. Those early e^qteriences made me vow tlMit if eA'er
I got to be a school-teadier I would not whq> tlie little
<mes and let the big <»es go free.
My father, — ^who, like my motiier, had bem a slave, —
was a >^ung and tne^terioiced man v^ien he married.
My motlier, however, had been married twice before and
she was the niotiier of three diildren. Her first mar
riage was performed in slavery time by the ^nqde act
of jun^ng bade and forth over a broom in the presoice
of Iter master and mistress. In the course of lime as
more diildren, induding mysdf, came along; until there
were six of us, my father found it very diflicult to ke^
the wolf from the door.
My mother he^[ted htm by cooking for tiie landlord's
fiunily, v^ile my father A\-oriced <m the plantaticm. Onr
landlord,— one of those Southern j^anters, now cran-
iiKMily referred to as a "gwationan of tiie Old Soutii," —

i6 . THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
like many others of his class, had had his fortune, con
sisting largely of slaves, swept away by the ravages of
the Civil War. The result was that, although he had a
large amount of land left, he was nevertheless a poor
man. The agreement between him and Father, which
was nothing more than a verbal contract between them,
provided that he was to furnish land, mules, feed, seed, —
in fact, everything but labor, — and it further provided
that he was to help do the work and receive as his
share three-fourths of all that the land produced, while
we were to receive the other one-fourth.
Although he agreed to help, he seldom did any man
ual labor. He was in the fields every day, however,
going from place to place among the various Negroes
that were serving under contracts similar to ours. At
one time my father ventured, in the most modest way,
to call his attention to the fact that he was doing no
work, but he very kindly, yet firmly, explained that he
was doing more work in a day without a tool in his hand
than my father was doing in a month. He tried to make
my father understand this. I do not know whether my
father understood it or not, but I could not.
We never prepared our land for cultivation, but simply
planted the seeds on the hard ground in March and April
and covered them with a turn plow ; then we cultivated
the crop for two months. Naturally, the returns were
small. When the crop was divided in the fall of the year
three loads of corn were thrown into the white man's
crib and one into ours ; but when it came to dividing the
cotton, which was done up into bales weighing five hun
dred pounds each and which sold for seventeen cents a

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 17
pound, every bale went to the white man. He was at
great pains to explain to my father each year that we
ate ours during the year.
I remember how puzzled I used to be in trying to con
ceive how it was possible for people to eat a crop, —
especially cotton out of which cloth is made, — before it
was produced. In later years, however, and many times
since then, I have seen whole crops eaten two or three
years before they were planted.
Our landlord furnished us food from his smoke-house
from March to July, and from September to December.
This food consisted of corn meal, out of which we made
corn-pone by mixing it with water and salt, and smoked
sides of meat, from hogs that we raised. All the rest
of the time we had to find something to do away from
the plantation in order to keep supplied with bread and
clothes, which were scanty enough. The land was poor
and would hardly have produced enough to support all
the people that lived on it, even if it had been under bet
ter cultivation.
Each year the landlord would "run" us, and he would
charge from twenty-five to two hundred per cent, for
the advances, according to the time of the year. No
wonder we ate our crops up.
The method of obtaining food and provisions on this
plantation was interesting. The landlord owned the store,
— one large room about forty feet by sixty feet, which
he kept well supplied with flour, meat, meal, and tobacco.
This store was usually open only on Saturdays, when all
the Negroes from the plantation would come up and pass
the day at the store, which was a sort of "social center."

i8 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Meantime their rations for the following week were
being issued. For an unmarried male laborer the usual
ration was a pound of meat, a peck of meal, three pounds
of flour, and a plug of tobacco.
I remember hearing the men complain very often that
they were charged for rations that they did not get, and
I remember that at one time a lawsuit arose between the
landlord and a Negro on the plantation who could neither
read nor write. When the trial came off at the store the
landlord presented his books to show that the Negro had
obtained certain rations during the year. The Negro
denied having received such rations, and as proof he
presented his "book," which consisted of a stick, one
yard long, trimmed in hexagon fashion and filled with
notches, each notch representing some purchase and in
some ingenious way the time of the purchase. After
the jury had examined the white man's books they began
an examination of the Negro's stick, and the more he ex
plained his way of keeping books the more interested the
jurors became. When the trial was over, the Negro won
the case, the jurors having decided that he had kept his
books properly and that a mistake had been made by the
white bookkeeper.
My mother cooked for the "white folks," and, her
work being very exacting, she could not always get home
at night. At such times we children suffered an ex
cruciating kind of pain, — the pain of hunger. I can well
remember how at night we would often cry for food
until falling here and there on the floor we would sob
ourselves to sleep. Late at night, sometimes after mid
night, mother would reach home with a large pan of pot-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 19
liquor, or more often a variety of scraps from the "white
folks' " table (she might have brought more, but she was
not the kind of cook that slipped things out of the back
door) ; waking us all, she would place the pan on the
floor, or on her knees, and gathering around we would
eat to our satisfaction. There was neither knife, fork,
nor spoon, — nothing but the pan. We used our hands
and sometimes in our haste dived head foremost into the
pan, very much as pigs after swill. In the morning, when
mother had to return to her work before we children
awoke, she was accustomed to put the large pan on the
dirt floor in the middle of the cabin where we could find
it without difficulty. Sometimes, however, our pet pig
would come in and find it first, and would be already
helping himself before we could reach it. We never
made any serious objection to dividing with him, and I
do not recall that he showed any resentment about di
viding with us.
One day my brother and I were given a meal of pie
crust, which my mother had brought from the "white
folks' " table. As we were eating it. Old Buck, the fam
ily dog, who resembled an emaciated panther, stole one
of the crusts. We loved Old Buck, but we had to live,
and so my brother "lit onto" him and a royal battle took
place over that crust. As my brother was losing ground,
I joined in the struggle. We saved the crust, but not
until both of us had been scratched and bitten. I do not
know who needed the crust most, we or the dog, for
those were the days of hardships. Very often we would
go two or three days at a time without prepared food,
but we usually found our way into the potato patches.

20 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
and the chickens were not always safe where we passed,
for my brother occasionally, by accident, would step on
a little one, and of course we would then have to cook it
as a matter of economy. I recall that in that section of
Alabama where I Uved there is a kind of root called hog
potato, which grows abundantly in the swamps and
marshy places. I have never known it by any other
name. I used to spend hours every day in the swamps
about our house wading in the slush above my knees,
tuming up the mud in search of those potatoes. After
they were roasted they had a taste like that of the white
potato with which people in the Northern states are fa
miliar. By means of these potatoes, together with ber
ries and other wild fruits, we were able to keep body and
soul together during those dark days.
As I now remember it, my father's continuous effort
was to keep the wolf from the door. He presently quit
the big plantation and spent a year working on the West
ern railway of Alabama, at Loachapoka in Lee County,
about fifty miles from home. There were no railroads
or stage coaches to carry him to and from his work, so it
required two weeks to make the round trip, much of
which lay through immense forests where a narrow foot
path was the only passage. He would remain away from
home three months at a time, working for the handsome
sum of a dollar a day, out of which he boarded himself
and furnished his working-clothes. I remember how
mother and we children would sit in our dark little cabin
many nights looking for him to come at any moment,
and sometimes it would be nearly a week after we would
begin to look for him before he would come. I don't

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 21
think we ever had a letter from him ; we only knew that
the three months were up, and that it was time for him
to come to us.
He usually brought from forty to fifty dollars home,
but by the time we paid out of that amount what we
owed the white gentleman, on whose place we still lived,
for the advances obtained of him in my father's absence
there would not be much left for us.
The lack of food was not the only hardship we had to
endure. We found it very difficult to find clothes and
even shoes, which was very trying when the winters were
cold. I never wore a pair of shoes until I was fifteen,
and when I did begin to wear shoes I never wore them
until the weather was cold. In fact, I made it a rule
never to put on my new shoes until Christmas morning,
no matter how cold it was. Usually in the summertime
the only garment that we children wore was a simple
shirt. These shirts were not always made of shirting,
but were often of homespun, and when this material could
not be had a crocus sack, or something of the kind, was
used instead. I remember that the first suit of clothes
I owned I paid for myself with the money I had made
by splitting rails. It took me a good part of the fall sea
son to split the two thousand rails that were required to
get my little suit, but I succeeded in my undertaking, with
occasional help from my father in finishing the job. The
fact that I bought this suit with my own labor made me
think all the more of it.
Although the census taker of 1880 classed my parents
as illiterates, they had a very clear understanding of right
and wrong; in their own way they were moral teachers.

22 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
and they knew how to make their lessons impressive. By
no stretch of the imagination could either of them have
been classed with what was known at that time as an
ignorant Negro, though neither of them could read or
write. One day while I was alone in the "white folks' "
kitchen, where I had accompanied my mother to her daily
work, I spied a little round box on the shelf. It was a
box of matches such as I have not seen in twenty years.
Curious to see what a match-head was like, I pinched one
without removing it from the box. An explosion was
heard, and the box was blown off the shelf, to my con
sternation. With a switch my mother began to admin
ister to a rather tender part of my anatomy the treat
ment with which it was already familiar, explaining all
the while that I must learn to mind ray own business.
The white lady, with whom I was a favorite, interceded
for me, saying that I should not be whipped for a little
thing like that; it was most natural; I had reached the
age of investigation. My mother desisted, shaking her
head as she left the scene, saying she would "investigate"
me, and from time to time she did. So in matters of
conduct, at least, whether large or small, I had the ad
vantage of a loving but firm discipline.
In such matters of conduct, or of morality, if you
please, my mother was always teaching me some little
lesson. I remember that at one time, when I must have
been five or six years old, I was sent up to the "big
house" to borrow some meal from the "white folks" for
supper. On my way back, while climbing over an old-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 23
fashioned rail fence, I discovered, while pausing for a
few minutes on the top rail, a hen's nest full of eggs.
The bait was tempting. I was hungry and wanted the
eggs. I had never heard anybody say anything about
taking that which did not belong to you, but somehow I
felt that it was wrong to take those eggs. I knew they
belonged to the white lady up at the "big house." After
thinking the matter over for nearly a half hour, I de
cided to compromise by taking only a few of them, so I
got as many as my little pocket would hold and carried
them home. Sidling up to my mother in a rather sheep
ish fashion, I showed them to her and told her that I
had found them, which was the truth. I remember that
my mother was amused, but she kept her face turned
from me and proceeded to teach me another one of those
little lessons, which stayed by me and supported me in
after years.
She told me it was wrong to steal from the "white
folks," that "white folks" thought all Negroes would
steal, and that we must show them that we would not.
She said she knew I did not steal them, but that it would
look that way, and that I must show that I did not by
taking them right back to the white lady and giving them
to her. That was a great task. After having spent an
hour in going a distance of 300 yards, I reached the white
lady with the eggs and told her that I had found them.
I have always suspected that my mother had been there
and had seen the white lady before my arrival. At least,
that is the way it appears now, as I look back on it, for
the good lady, gave me an old-fashioned lecture about

24 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
stealing and told me that, whenever I wanted an3rthing
she had, I should come up and ask for it. Then she gave
me two of the eggs. I was quite young at that time, as I
have said before, but I was not too young to learn, and
that lesson and others like it remained with me.

CHAPTER II
When I was four years old I was put to work on the
farm, — that is, at such work as I could do, such as riding
a deaf and blind mule while my brother held the plow.
When I was six years old my four-year-old brother and
I had to go two miles through a lonely forest every
morning in order to carry my father's breakfast and
dinner to a sawmill, where he was hauling logs for sixty
cents a day. The white man, Frank Weathers, who em
ployed a large number of hands, both Negroes and whites,
was considered one of the best and most upright men in
that section of the country.
In those days there were no public schools in that part
of the country for the Negroes. Indeed, public schools
for whites were just beginning to be established. This
man set aside a little house in the neighborhood of the
sawmill, employed a teacher, and urged all the Negroes
to send their children to this school. Not a great many
of them, however, took advantage of his generosity, for
this was at the time when everybody seemed to think
that the Negro's only hope was in politics.
But my father and mother had great faith in, educa
tion, and they were determined that their children should
have that blessing of which they themselves had been
deprived. Soon, however, Mr. Weathers had cut all the timber

26 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
that he could get in that section, and he therefore moved
his mills to another district. This left us without a
school. But my father was not to be outdone. He called
a meeting of the men in that community, and they agreed
to build a schoolhouse themselves. They went to the
forest and cut pine poles about eight inches in diameter,
split them in halves, and carried them on their shoulders
to a nice shady spot, and there erected a little school-
house. The benches were made of the same material,
and there was no floor nor chimney. Some of the other
boys' trousers suffered when they sat on the new pine
benches, which exuded rosin, but I had an advantage of
them in this respect, for I wore only a shirt. In fact,
I never wore trousers until I got to be so large that the
white neighbors complained of my insufficient clothes.
Those benches, I distinctly remember, were constructed
for boys and girls larger than I was, and my feet were
always about fourteen inches above the ground. In this
manner I sat for hours at a time swinging my feet in an
effort to balance myself on the pine-pole bench. My feet
often swelled, so that when I did get on the ground to
recite I felt as if a thousand pins were sticking through
them, and it was very difficult for me to stand. For this
inability to stand I often got a good flogging, for I could
not convince the teacher that I was not trying to "make
believe." School lasted two months in the year, — through July
and August. The house was three miles from our home,
and we walked every day, my oldest sister carrying me
astride her neck when my legs gave out. Sometimes we
would have nothing more than an ear of roasted green

THE BLACK ALVN'S BURDEN 27
com in our baskets for dinner. Very often we had simply
wild persimmons, or ripe fruit picked from our land
lord's orcliard, or nuts and muscadines from die for
est. If we had meat, ten to one it was because "Old
Buck" had caught a 'possum or a hare the night before.
Many a night tlie dogs and I hunted all night in order to
catdi a 'possum for the next day's noon meal.
Although we were young, we were observant, and in
this way we learned some tilings in tliat scliool, — among
them, that tlie teacher, who was a married man, had
fallen in love with his assistant teacher. He was con
stantly "making eyes" at her. She evidently reciprocated
his affection, for at tlie end of the school year tliey eloped,
and there ^^•as a great stir in tlie community in conse
quence. The people met at tlie little sdioolhouse and
very nearly decided that they would have no more school.
but my fatlier was there and counselled them tliat we had
all suffered enough already from tlie affair and tliat we
ought not to punish ourselves further. I attended the
meeting myself with in>- tather and I remember tliat
my sympatliies were all with "]\Iiss Deely." True, she
had run away with the principal of tlie scliool and no
body knew where they w ere, but I could not see what
right anybody had to interfere with her love affairs, and
I ventured to tell my motlier so. Motlier did not argue
the question, but sat down and took me across her lap
and proceeded to correct my \ lews on tlie subject. Then
she put tlie matter to me in tlie fonii of a question. She
asked me how would I like to have some nice little lady
mn a\\-ay with my fatlier and leave me tliere for her to

28 THE BLACK MANS BURDEN
take care of. That settled it with me. Miss Deely was
forever afterward in the wrong.
At the end of the first school year there was a trying
time in our family. On this occasion the teacher ordered
all the pupils to appear dressed in white. We had no
white clothes, nor many of any other sort, for that mat
ter. Father and Mother discussed our predicament
nearly all one night Father said it was foolish to buy
dothes which could be used for that occasion only. But
my ever resourceful mother was still determined that her
children should look as weU on this important occasion
as any of our neighbors. However, when we went to bed
the night before the exhibition we still had no white
dothes and no doth from which to make them. Never-
thdess, when we awoke the next moming, all three of
us had beautiful white suits. It came about in this way:
my mother had a beautiful white Sunday petticoat, which
she had cut up and made into suits for us. As there is
just so much cloth in a petticoat and no more, the stuff
had to be cut close to cover all three of us children, and
as the petticoat had been worn several times and was,
therefore, likdy to tear, we had to be very careful how
we stooped in moving about the stage, lest there should
be a general splitting and tearing, with consequences that
we were afraid to imagine. At the exhibition the next
night we said our little pieces, and I suppose we looked
about as well as the others ; at least, we thought so, and
that was sufficient. One thing I am sure of, — there was
no motlier there who was prouder of her children
than ours. The thing that made her so pleased was the
fact that my speech made such an impression that our

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 29
white landlord lifted me off the stage when I had fin
ished speaking and gave me a quarter of a dollar.
If there happened to be a school in the winter time, I
had sometimes to go bare-footed and always with scant
clothing. Our landlady was very kind in such cases.
She would give me clothes that had already been worn by
her sons, and in turn I would bring broom straw, from
the sages, with which she made her brooms. In this way
I usually got enough clothes to keep me warm.
So, with my mother's encouragement, I went to school
in spite of my bare feet. Often the ground would be
frozen, and often there would be snow. My feet would
crack and bleed freely, but when I reached home Mother
would have a tub full of hot water ready to plunge me
into and thaw me out. Although this caused my feet and
legs to swell, it usually got me into shape for school the
next day.
I remember once, when I had helped "lay by" the
crops at home and was ready to enter the little one-month
school, it was decided that I could not go, because I had
no hat. My mother told me that if I could catch a 'coon
and cure the skin, she would make me a cap out of that
material. That night I went far into the forest with my
hounds, and finally located a 'coon. The 'coon was a
mighty fighter, and when he had driven off all my dogs
I saw that the only chance for me to get a cap was to
whip the 'coon myself, so together with the dogs I went
at him, and finally we conquered him. The next week I
went to school wearing my new 'coon-skin cap.
Exertions of this kind, from time to time, strength-

39 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
ened my will and ray body, and prepared me for more
trying tests which were to come later.
As I grew older it became more and more difficult for
me to go to school. When cotton first began to open, — ¦
early in the fall, — it brought a higher price than at any
other time of the year. At this time the landlord wanted
us all to stop school and pick cotton. But Mother wanted
rae to reraain in school, so, when the landlord came to the
quarters early in the raorning to stir up the cotton pickers,
she used to outgeneral hira by hiding me behind the skil
lets, ovens, and pots, throwing some old rags over me
until he was gone. Then she would slip rae off to school
through the back way. I can see her now with her hands
upon ray shoulder, shoving rae along through the woods
and underbrush, in a roundabout way, keeping rae all the
tirae out of sight of the great plantation until we reached
the point, a raile away from horae, where we carae to the
public road. There ray raother would bid me good-bye,
whereupon she would return to the plantation and try to
make up to the landlord for the work of us both in the
field as cotton pickers.
But when I became too large to be conveniently hidden
behind our few sraall pots I had to take my place on the
farra. When I was nine years old 'I began work as a
regullar field-hand. My mother now devised another plan
to keep me in school : I took turns with my brother at
the plow and in school j one day I plowed and he went to
school, tlie next day he plowed and I went to scliool ; what
he learned on his school day he taught me at night and I
did tlie same for him. In this way we each got a month
of schooling during the year, and with that month of

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 31
schooling we also acquired the habit of studying at home.
That we learned little enough may be seen from the fol
lowing incident: I was ordered to get a United States
history, and my father went to the store to get one, but
the storekeeper, not having one, sold him a "Biography
of Martin Luther" instead, without telling him the dif
ference, so I carried the book to school and studied it for
a long time, thinking that I was learning something about
the United States. My teacher had neglected to tell me
the name of the land I lived in.
It was hard enough for me to find a way to go to
school. When it was not one obstacle, it was another.
More than once I worked hard for eleven months in the
year without receiving a single penny. Then, in order
to enter school, I split rails at fifty cents a hundred dur
ing the month of December to get raoney with which to
buy clothes.
When I reached the age where ray school days were
for the time at an end I was hired out to a white raan for
wages, in order to help support the faraily. Seeing that
there was no chance for further schooling, I becarae
morose, disheartened, and pulled away from all social
life, except the monthly religious meetings at the little
cabin church. Nevertheless, I gathered all the books I
could find or borrow and hid them in the white man's
barn, where I spent every bit of my spare time in trying
to satisfy my desire for knowledge of the world of books.
In this manner I spent all my Sundays. It was during
this time that I came across the "Life of Ignatius San-
cho," who was an educated black West Indian. It was
the first thing in the way of a biography of a colored

32 THK BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
man that I had found, and I cannot express the inspira
tion I received frora learning for the first time that a
colored man could really raake history.
It was in 1880 that my father finally despaired of get
ting ahead by working on the share system, — that is, by
working crops for half of the profit. Encouraged by the
success of other Negroes around him and urged on by
the determination of my mother and the persistence of
us children, he determined to strike out for himself. His
idea was, first, to rent land, furnish his own stock and
farm implements, then after having paid for his stock,
to buy land. I remember that when he announced this
plan to us children we were so happy at the prospects of
owning a wagon and a pair of mules and having only
our father for boss that we shouted and leaped for joy.
Sure enough, he carried out his plans, — in part, at
least. He rented a farm of forty acres, for which he
paid annually three bales of cotton, worth one hundred
and fifty dollars. He bought a mule, a horse, and a yoke
of oxen, and so we started out for ourselves. The effort
brought about a transformation in the spirits of the whole
family. We all became better workers and for the first
time began to take an interest in our work. However,
before the crops were laid by, many troubles arose : one
of our oxen broke his neck, one mule was attacked with
some peculiar disease (I think they called it the "hooks"),
and the horse became so poor and thin that he could not
plow. I shall never forget that mule. His ailment was a
peculiar one; he could plow all day with ease, seemingly
in perfect health, but after he lay down for the night he

THE BLACK AL\N"S BURDEN 33
could not get up again. If we would hdp hira to his feet.
he would eat a good meal and work faithfully all day
long. Consequently, tlie first thing I heard in tlie morn
ing was my father's voice arousing me from sleep, say
ing. "Son, son. get up, day is breaking: let's g'o and lift
tlie old mule up," W'e also had to call in .i ndghbor each
morniug. Toward the end of the season old Jim began
to get so weak tliat it was difficult for him to do any
plowing, and before tlie crop w;vs laid by he gave out
entirely. At this juncture, not to be outdone, my brotlier
and I took the mule's place at the plow, widi my sister
at the plow-handles, and in tliis way we hdped to finisli
die crop after a fashion, so as to be ready to enter school
the first day it opened in August.
The faithful ox that was left to us was always on hand,
and it NA-as my duty to plow and haul with him. In order
to plow with an ox one has to put a half indi rope around
his head, and let it extend to the plow-handles, for use
as a line and bridle. That ox's head was so hard diat a
sore was cut into my hand, from jerking him for four
jears. and the scar is still there.
i\Iy father was without experience in sdf-direction
and management, ha\ ing always, up to that time, had a
white man to direct him. As a consequence, our effort
to do business for ourselves was not wholly successful.
I have already spoken of our trials during that tirst year.
Things went wdl during the early part of die second
ve:ir, and die crop \\-as laid by widi litde mishap, except
that my father, who plowed without shoes, stepped on the
stub of a cane, w hich, entering his foot, made hira usdess
as a fidd-hand for die greater part of the year. I recall

34 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
that Father carried a piece of cane two inches long in his
foot for more than a month, until he finally drew it to
the surface by the application of fat meat poultices. How
much better it would have been if he could have had a
modern surgeon who would have drawn the splinter in
two minutes. The crops were laid by, however, by the
first of August, and we entered the little school, where
we remained for one month. Our corn crop that year
was splendid. We gathered it and piled it in heaps in
the field one Friday and Saturday. On Sunday there was
a cloudburst, and all the corn was washed away by the
little creek that passed through the plantation. This was
a severe blow to us, one from which we were never
wholly able to recover.
However, we struggled on. The next year, just as we
were ready to gather our crop, a disease called the "slow
fever" broke out in our faraily. It was a great scourge,
and all the more serious because we were not able to
employ a physician and because my father was compelled
to be away from home during the day, working for food
to keep us alive. My brother Lewis was born in the
midst of this raging epidemic, and my mother was not
able to leave her bed to wait on those who were sick.
The only attention we got was that which neighbors
could give, during the little time that they could spare
from picking their own cotton. Although I never took to
my bed during the two months that we suffered, I was
almost as sick as any of the family. Mother had us put
in little beds that hovered round her bed, and she waited
on us the best she could until she was almost exhausted.
But, in spite of her efforts, Lola, my oldest sister, and

THE BIIACK MAN'S BURDEN 35
the most beloved member of the faniily, died. I dis
tinctiy remember that this so affected me that I did not
care to live any longer. The fact is, I wanted to join her,
for in my youthful mind I fdt that she was better off
than we were. It was after she had been buried and
after we had retumed from tiie littie cemetery, all of us
being StiU far from well, that I heard my father pray
his first prayer before the family altar. The calamity
w^s a great blow to him and brought about a change in
his life that lasted as long as he lived.
The fourth and last year that we tried to get on by our
own initiative we had several unique experiences. At
the end of that year, we came out so far in debt that,
after we had paid our creditors all the cotton we had
made, they came and took our cora and, finally, the vege
tables from our littie garden as well as the chickens and
the pig. I felt that we ought to fight and not to allow all
our substance to be taken from us, and I told my father
so, but he insisted Aat we must obey the law. My
mother, however, was a woman witili considerable fire
in her make^qt. When they came and entered tiie crib to
take tiie corn \ve children commenced to cry; then my
mother came out and with considerable warmth de
manded tiiat a certain amount of com be left there. She
said that was the law. I do not know how she knew
anything about the law, but I do know that the white
111.^11 who was getting the corn respected her knowledge
of the law and left there the amount of cora that she
demanded. Having succeeded thus far, she demanded
that he leave the chickens and \-^etables alone, and this
he also did. However, we were so completefy broken

36 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
up at this time that we applied to a white man for a
home on his place, — a home under the old system. My
father only lived a short while after that, and he was
never able again to lift himself from the condition of a
share tenant.
On the morning of Christmas Day, 1889, my father
seated himself on the roots of a large oak tree in the
yard just after breakfast, and, calling me to him, said :
"Son, you are nearing manhood, and you have no edu
cation. Besides, if you remain with me till you are
twenty-one, I will not be able to help you. For these
reasons, your mother and I have decided to set you free,
provided you will make us one promise, — that you will
educate yourself."
By that time Mother had corae up, and there we all
stood. My mother and I were crying, and I am not sure
that my father was not. I accepted the proposition and
hurried off across the forest, where about a mile away I
secured work with a white man, at thirty cents a day and
board. Although we usually took a week for Christmas,
that day my Christmas ended. I was very much excited.
It was difficult for me to restrain myself. I was free. I
was now to enjoy that longed-for opportunity of being
my own master. The white man for whom I worked
could neither read nor write. For that reason I feared to
let him see me with books lest he should resent it, but
nothing ever came of my apprehensions.
At the end of six months I ran across quite acciden
tally, — I will say providentially, — ^the Tuskegee Student,
a little paper published by the Tuskegee Normal and In-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 37
dustrial Institute, at Tuskegee, Alabama. In it there was
the following note :
"There is an opportunity for a few able-bodied young
men to make dieir way through sdiool, provided tiiey are
willing to work. Applications should be made to Booker
T. Washington, Principal."
I scribbled up some sort of application and addressed
it simply to "Booker T, Washington," with nothing dse
on the envdope. All die same, it reached him, and I was
admitted. Then came the question of dothes to wear to Tuskegee.
Up to that time I had worn only two garments at a time,
a cotton shirt and a pair of cotton trousers. I had never
worn an undergarment of any kind, and I had an idea
that sudi garments were only worn on Sundays to keep
tlie stardied top clothes from scratching. Now diat I
was about to be off for Tuskegee, I had not only to pro
vide myself with collars, cuff's, and at least one stiff-bos-
oiiicd shirt, but I had to learn to wear them. My white
neighbor gave me collars, shirts, and so on, second-hand,
and they were all too large by diree sizes. Imagine a boy
with a number thirteen neck drded by a number sixteen
collar about an indi and one-half too high for him, and
\'ou have a picture of me as I prepared to go away to
school. However, clodies was at this time one of my minor
troubles. I was still giving my wages to my mother to
help support die family. It was hard for me to forego
die continuance of this help, especially as the family had
grown so large by this time, and needed more money.

38 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Nevertheless, the desire for education overcame all these
scruples. But there' was still another subtle influence working
against me. All the older neighbors counselled me not to
go to Tuskegee. They said it was nothing but an old
Baptist school where they fed you on bread, — corn bread,
— and worked you to death. They said that boys who
had no money and had to work their way through would
be looked down on by the more fortunate; that Booker
T. Washington was an infidel; and, lastly, that I had
enough education anyway. I could teach school, and
what else was there for me to do ?
This appeal to my ignorance and my vanity was hard
to overcome. Nevertheless, I decided to go and spend
three months, by which time I expected to get all that
Tuskegee had for me, and return.
The first day of October, 1890, therefore found me at
Tuskegee. I presented myself at Mr. Washington's of
fice for my entrance examination. I was now a young
man, but I could not tell in answer to his questions in
what country I lived, nor what state, nor what county.
I knew that I was from Roanoke, and to me Roanoke
was the whole thing. Mr. Washington put his hands
over his mouth and laughed a little, then he sent me to
his wife (she was Miss Murray at that time) for further
examination. I remember one question she asked me,—
"What are the parts of speech?" I had never studied
written language, so I answered, according to my knowl
edge, that the parts of speech were lips, teeth, tongue,
and throat. My final examination was on the fartti,
where I was sent to strip fodder from some sorghum

w^m

Booker T. Washington
Principal, TusTcegee Normal and Industrial Institute; President, National Negro
Business League

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 39
cane. Here I was rauch like the proverbial rabbit in the
briar-patch, — I could easily make a hundred per cent. I
stripped the cane so clean that it shone.
Accordingly, I was admitted as a regular work stu
dent, working one year on the farm in the day time and
attending school at night. The first night when I went
to bed in Tuskegee I found myself between two sheets,
something I had not been accustomed to. During the
night an officer came in and asked me sorae questions
about night-shirts, comb, brush, and tooth brush, with
all of which I was but slightly familiar. He made me
get up, pull off ray shirt, collar, tie, and hose, and he told
me I would rest better without them. I thought he was
playing a college trick on me, but I obeyed. I could not
see the reason for wearing one shirt in the day time and
a different one at night.
Before I left horae we had some peculiar ideas about
what a "college" (as we called all boarding-schools at that
time) was like. We all thought it was composed of one
immense building with, say, four stories, and that the
first year you were at school you were placed on the first
floor, and promoted from floor to floor until you reached
the top floor, when you would have finished school. Ex
ceptionally bright students might skip a floor.
Well, it so happened that when I reached Tuskegee I
was placed to begin with in the attic, and there was great
rejoicing at home when I sent back the intelligence that
I was on the highest floor. It was a confirmation of
what the old folks at home had said, — I already knew
enough without going to school.
My education began at Tuskegee the first moming the

40 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
sun rose upon me there. When I walked out upon the
campus I took a cursory view of the situation, and was
startled at what I saw. There, before my eyes, was a
huge pair of mules drawing a machine plow, which to
me at that time was a mystery. To my right, a little dis
tance, was a brick machine making bricks nearly as fast
as I could count. To the rear was the sawmill, with its
throbbing steam-engine, turning out thousands of feet of
lumber daily.
There were girls cultivating the flowers and picking
berries, and boys erecting huge brick buildings, while
others, suspended high in the air, were painting buildings.
Some were hitching horses and driving carriages, while
others were milking cows and making cheese. Then
there were great fields of beef cattle, and other fields of
young growing horses and mules. I wandered around
among these things until I came to the blacksraith shop.
There I found some boys studying drawing, and others
hammering iron, each one with an intense earnestness
that I had never seen before in young men.
Close by was the machine shop where molten iron was
being fashioned into various articles, from plow-shares
to steam-engines.
Out on the parade grounds was a host of young men
dressed in beautiful blue uniforras as spotless as a min
ister's robe, marching to and fro about the campus to the
exquisite music of a brass band.
All these groups of boys and girls that I saw were pre
sided over by a man or a woman, whom I afterward
learned was an instructor, and the complete, almost ab
ject, obedience accorded by the students was some-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 41
thing that interested me greatly. The truth was that I
saw so many things there that day that I was bewildered,
but as I looked about me it gradually dawned on me that
I had at last found the looked-for opportunity.
Simultaneously with this opportunity for self-educa
tion came many real hardships, — ^to say nothing of imag
inary ones, — which nearly ruined my health. I was
poorly clad, and the winter then setting in was unusually
cold. I had only one undershirt and one pair of drawers.
I could not, of course, put these articles in the laundry,
and, therefore, I had to pull them off on Saturday nights,
wash them in my roora, and get them dry enough to wear
to breakfast Sunday morning. Consequently many Sun
day mornings found me sitting at the breakfast table
wearing damp underwear. I could do no better without
leaving school, and this I was determined not to do. For
tunately, I had a sraall tough frarae that it was difficult
to shake. Then, too, the life that I had lived, back in
the country, had taught rae to rely on myself in times
of difficulty.
I now recall circumstances that assure me that it was
only my determination that kept me at Tuskegee and
enabled me to enjoy its opportunities. My hardest task,
after all, was to ignore the advice of my student friends,
who were always saying to me : "You ought to go horae.
This work is too hard for you. This old school is work
ing you to death; this fare of cow peas and bread and
molasses will kill you. What you need is nourishing
food." These arguments were hard to controvert, especially
when there was truth in them, for Tuskegee was poor,

42 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
and had difficulty in feeding her students in those days.
But I could see no virtue in the argument so long as the
very students that were advising me were themselves fac
ing the same hardships.
I struggled on, and was at length proraoted from the
position of a common laborer to that of a hostler in
charge of all the boys dealing with horses, and then to
the much-sought position of special assistant to the farm
manager. *

CHAPTER III
But my most vivid recollections are of Dr. Washing
ton as he appeared to me in those days. He was at that
time a young raan, about thirty-five years old. He was
not in any way striking in appearance, but there was a
peculiarity about him that I could not understand then,
nor can I understand it now. I was for a time his office
boy, and I tried hard to understand him, so as to be able
to please him. After considerable time in his office I
learned to know his ways pretty well. At any rate, when
I was ready to leave the office to go into other depart
ments of the school he seeraed really grieved.
Tuskegee was a crude place at that tirae, corapared to
what it has become since. There were no local tele
phones, so that when a raessage was to be delivered from
one part of the campus to another, sometiraes a distance
of a quarter of a mile, it had to be sent by the office boy.
Mr. Washington used to remark at tiraes, where I feel
sure he thought I could hear hira, that I was the only boy
he had found who could deliver a raessage quickly enough
for him. This was one of his raethods of encouraging
boys, and it certainly did encourage rae ; for when I car
ried a message, after hearing a remark like that from
Mr. Washington, I always ran the whole distance to ray
destination and back.
One thing about Mr. Washington that impressed me

44 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
was his regularity. He was as regular as the clock. He
appeared at his office in the morning exactly at eight
o'clock, remained until twelve, very often took part in an
Executive Council meeting until one, and then went to
lunch. At two o'clock he would again be in his office and
would invariably reraain there until half-past four, when
he would leave and tramp across the plantation; some
times he would run for a mile or two, as fast as he could
go, for exercise. When he returned he would go to his
library and there would pass the time until six, when he
would go to dinner. After dinner he played with the
children for a while and then returned to his library until
8 :40. He would then go to Chapel for evening prayers
with the whole student body. This prayer service was
one that Mr. Washington seldom ever missed and he al
ways appeared on the rostrum exactly on the minute.
Mr. Washington had a grasp of the details of the work
of Tuskegee that seemed almost incredible. I remember
one evening that I was startled to hear my narae, to
gether with that of one of my friends, called out by Mr.
Washington from the chapel platform. He simply said,
"William Holtzclaw and Charles Washington may rise."
I was so weak in my knees that I could scarcely stand,
but I knew nothing else to do but to rise at the command
of that voice. After we stood up and the whole school
was looking at us, Mr. Washington simply said : "These
young men may pass out of the Chapel and go and pick
up the tools they worked with to-day." We had been
ditching and when the work-bell rang had left our tools
where we were working, when they should have been
carried to the tool-house.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 45
If the water main, or water pipe, had a defect in it so
that it was leaking anywhere on the grounds, Mr. Wash
ington was almost sure to see that something was wrong
and to call the matter to the attention of the Superin
tendent of Industries.
If he came into the dining-room while the students
were eating their meals, he would notice such sraall de
tails as a student's pouring out more molasses on his
plate than he could eat and would stop in the dining-
room, send for the matron, have some bread brought to
the student, and wait until that student had eaten all the
molasses he had poured on his plate.
If one walked about the campus at night, he would be
sure to meet Mr. Washington almost anywhere on the
grounds. For instance, he might be found in the kitchen
at two o'clock in the morning examining the method of
preparing the students' breakfast. He seldom seemed to
me to take sufficient rest for an average man.
One thing that impressed me very much in regard to
Mr. Washington's character was the way he could con
centrate his mind on a subject. It seemed that when he
was thinking about one thing everything else left him.
He was often completely oblivious of his surroundings.
One night he came to my room and, calling me, told me
to go to the bam and get him a horse and buggy at once;
he went so far as to tell me that some legal matters had
to be attended to. This was about ten o'clock. In a few
minutes I had the horse and buggy at his door and drove
him down to the town of Tuskegee, a mile away, to the
office of a lawyer. After about an hour he came out of
the office to the buggy, where I was holding the horse.

46 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
and told me he would not have finished his business with
the lawyer for a couple of hours, and if I cared to, I
could leave the horse and buggy there and walk back to
school, and he would bring them when he came. This
I did, while he proceeded with his conference with the
lawyer. At two o'dock in the moming he knocked again
on my door and, handing rae a half dollar, asked if I
would not go back down town and get the horse and
buggy, as he had corae away and forgotten them.
More than once when Dr. Washington would be dic
tating some very important letter to his stenographer he
would stop for a few minutes to think seriously about
some phase of the matter under consideration, when he
would become so oblivious of what was going on that
he would forget the existence of the stenographer, and
would ring for me, his office boy, and tell me to send in
the very stenographer that was then before hira.
In matters of dress Mr. Washington was exceedingly
scrupulous. He never wore any superfluous clothes,
never used a cane in walking, nor did he cumber himself
with anything that could with decency be dispensed with,
but he would never wear any garment that was not im
maculately clean. He changed his clothes often, and was
always very careful to keep his top clothes pressed prop
erly. We students all loved him. We would do an)rthing for
him. As an illustration of our confidence in Mr. Wash
ington, I recall that in 1898, when I was a member of
the senior class, the chaplain of the 9th Cavalry, then
preparing to go to the Spanish-American war in Cuba,
came by the school to get recruits. This chaplain, —

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 47
with the rank of captain, I believe, — addressed the young
men in the chapel on the subject of joining the 9th Cav
alry, and he asked Mr. Washington to say a few words.
Mr. Washington, of course, was too wise to advise any
of the young men to go to war, but he spoke of patriot
ism and of duty to one's country in a general way, and
left the impression that it would be a good thing for those
who felt like doing so to join the 9th Cavalry. When
the meeting was over, however, a great raany of us were
confused. We could not decide within ourselves whether
Mr. Washington really meant for us to go to war or not,
so we called a meeting and discussed among ourselves
whether or not Mr. Washington wished us to go to war,
and every boy in the house seemed to be of one mind,
and that was that Mr. Washington really meant what he
had said in his talk, and that if he desired us to go and
join the 9th Cavalry, we were all ready to go. For my
self, I was already convinced that Mr. Washington de
sired that some of us should go, and so I was ready to go
and did go to the recruiting office in the town the next
day and offered myself as a recruit, but I had been in the
school eight years and my health was so poor that I could
not pass the exaraination; therefore I did not have the
pleasure of joining the 9th Cavalry. It was raore a de
sire to please Mr. Washington, however, than patriotism
that caused me to try to join. So anxious was I to do
what I thought was Mr. Washington's wish that after I
had graduated, a few months later, I went to Whites-
burg, Ga., and raised a company of my own in the hope
of getting it through to Cuba, but before it was drilled
into shape the war came to a close.

48 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
This all goes to show what a grip Mr. Washington
had on his students, and he had the same influence over
the young woraen that he had over the young men. He
was always kind and considerate. If he scolded you and
you took offence at it, he would laugh at you. I have
seen him administer some severe verbal punishments to
students, but I never saw him in all my stay at Tuskegee
become angry with any of the students, though I have
often seen him try to make students believe that he was
angry. I have come in contact with Mr. Washington con
stantly since those years, even until the present time, and
I have seen very little change in him. His character, as
it manifested itself in those days, reraains the same, so ^
far as I am able to see. If he becomes excited at any
time, it is always when other people are quiet, and when
other people are excited Mr. Washington is always quiet.
Taken all in all, I have never seen another raan who im
pressed me in the same way that Mr. Washington does.
Tuskegee was not so large as it is now, and one man,
Mr. C. W. Green, had charge of the farm, brick-yard,
truck gardening, stock raising, and several other sirailar
departments. For this work he required several fore
men, who were appointed from among the young men
that showed ability to lead the other boys. He had some
peculiar ways of testing the boys. I remember that his
final trial in my case was to sound my honesty in regard
to money matters.
One day he went away from the school hurriedly and
while leaving he told me to get his .trousers and have
them pressed for him by the time he returned. When I

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 49
went to get them I found they had a large wad of money
in the pocket. I took it out carefully, counted it, and
buried it in the ground in a secluded spot.
When Mr. Green returned one of the first things he
wanted to know was about the money. I led hira to the
lonely spot and dug it up and gave it to him. His remark
was : "I guess you will do. There is a place I have in
mind for you." The next day he suggested to Mr. Wash
ington that he take me out of school and make me fore
man on the farm, to begin with a salary of thirty dollars
a month and to have one meal daily with the teachers. If
I succeeded in the work, I was to have further promo
tion, both in salary and in the distinction of having my
three meals with the teachers, thus virtually becoming a
member of the faculty.
As I was still in the preparatory grades, it was with
reluctance that Mr. Washington agreed to this proposi
tion, but I was notified of the plan. After having con
sidered it for a week, I respectfully declined to accept the
offer, and I went into the Printing Office, to begin a four-
year-study of that trade.
I wanted to learn what was in books. I was fond of
reading and of study, and printing was and still is very
interesting to me. I carried a book with me everywhere
I went, so as not to lose a second of my time. While
driving my mules, with a load of wood, I would read
until I had reached the place of unloading. Mr. Wash
ington took note of this and on one occasion, while ad
monishing the students to make good use of their time,
he said: "There is a young man on the grounds who
will be heard frora sorae day, because of his intense ap-

so THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
plication to study and diligence in his work." Frpm some
of the circumstances I knew that he was speaking of rae.
The fact that I might be "heard from" later made: me
double ray resolutions.
In September, 1891, I had one hundred dollars to my
credit in the treasury of the Institution, so that I was
now ready to enter the day school, to measure arms with
the more fortunate students. But sickness overtook rae,
and when I emerged from the hospital after about two
months of illness my doctor's bill was a hundred dollars
and ray accumulated credit went to pay it.
This was the penalty that I had to pay for trying to
make too rapidly the transit from a lower. to a higher
civilization. When. I lived without undergarments, at
home my health was conserved, because of the uniformity
of my habits. At college it had been injured because I
could wear proper garments one week, but might not be
able to do so the next. Moreover, Tuskegee gave me
such living rooms as I had never, lived in before, as
hitherto I had lived in log houses, which are self-ventilat-;
ing. Now I had either too much ventilation or none at
all. Whenever I hear people talk about the high death-
rate of colored people, I cannot help recalling ray. own
experiences, not ohly in the circumstances just stated;
but in hundreds of others, from the time I can remembet'i
until within a few years ago. As our people emerge
from a lower to a higher civilization there is bound to be
more or less falling by the. wayside. ' It is not an easy
matter' to live for years in a house that. has no windows,
—in which the only light comes through the cracks or

Secretary, Tuskegee

Emmett J. Scott
(See page 22S)
Normal and Industrial Institute;
Negro Business League

Secretary, National

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 51
the open door even in the winter time, in rain and in
storm, — then suddenly to find oneself the occupant of a
well-built house, with glass windows and other comforts,
and trying to adjust oneself readily to these new condi
tions. I have known people, who had been poor all their days,
to become suddenly the possessors of what to them was
wealth. They would move into a good house, the first
they had ever lived in, and in less than two years several
members of the family would die, and everybody would
say that the good house had killed them.
I used to wonder how it was that a good house could
kill black folks and never affect the whites. The truth
is, as I afterward learned, that when people who have
always been accustomed to wear inexpensive clothes find
themselves in a position to buy woolen underwear they
very often wear the woolen underwear alternately with
cotton, which of course will be disastrous to any man,
whether he be black or white. This is only one of the
thousand reasons why the black people in passing from a
lower to a higher civilization show such a high death-
rate. After my illness I went home to recuperate, but I re
turned to Tuskegee within a few weeks. As I had no
money, I was again permitted to enter the night school
and work during the day. This time, as I have said, I
took up the printer's trade. Here I broke the conven
tional rule of acting "devil" for six months, and began
setting type after having been one month in the office.
Within six months I was one of the school's regular

52 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
compositors, and within one term I had sufficient credit
with the treasurer to enter the day school.
But I was not yet to enter. A letter came from my
father, saying, "If you wish to see me again alive, I think
it will be well to come at once." I went, and my father
died in a few days after I reached horae, — ^June 27, 1893.
All hope of future schooling seemed now at an end. My
only thought was to do the best I could with the heavy
load left on my hands. I pulled off my school clothes,
went to the field, and finished the crop Father had
started. He had left a heavy debt, so I began to teach
school in order to pay it.
Of course I knew little, but I taught what I did know
— and I suppose some things that I did not. I think,
even now, that I did the people in that community some
good. I made them whitewash their fences and clean up
their houses and premises generally, just as I had been
taught to do at Tuskegee. The white people, to whom
belonged the huts in which the Negroes lived, were rauch
pleased at the way I taught the people to iraprove their
surroundings, and when I was ready to go they made me
a flattering offer to remain.
This was a very poor coraraunity. There was no
schoolhouse except a little abandoned log cabin, which
was given by a white man on condition that we fix it up.
I could not get many people interested at first, so I took
the boys whom I could interest, together with a few of
the girls. We made mortar of mud with which we
stopped the cracks until the house was air tight, and we
also made a mud ceiling. There were no windows nor

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 53
shutters. It was not a governraent school, but had to
be paid for by those who sent their children.
I taught three months and received in cash one dollar,
but the produce I received was soraething wonderful. I
told them I would take corn, peas, potatoes, molasses,
pork, shucks, cottonseed, — in fact, anything with which
they wished to pay me. Wagons were secured and
loaded; for several days all sorts of provisions were
hauled to my mother's house and stored away for winter.
Not all the patrons, however, were willing to pay.
Sorae would dodge me when they saw me coming with
my wagons to get some produce. At one tirae when I
drove up to a gate and called for the man of the house
the little girl who had been one of ray pupils came to the
door and said: "Come on. Professor; Papa is under the
bed. He said, 'Tell him I am not in.' " Before I got in,
however, I heard the mother say: "Corae out from
under there, ol' man, and give this teacher sorae satisfac
tion for what he has done for your children." And by
the tirae I got in the house he was standing up as straight
as a Sioux chief. Suffice it to say, I got two fine sides
of meat from that house and a barrel of molasses. Once
you get a colored man upon his feet, there is no telling
what you can get out of him.
I called at another woman's house to make a collection.
She met me at the gate and said : " 'Fore God, 'Fessor,
I ain't got a thing that I can give you. I ain't got noth
ing here but the cat you see behind me. If you want
him, you can have him." She was eager to pay, so I
accepted the cat and allowed her one dollar for it, and I
turned it loose before I got out of sight. At another

54 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
house where I went for a collection the good woman
looked all over the house to see what she could find to
give me. There was nothing of value but a pair of scis
sors. She took them and forced them into my pocket
against my protest, saying that I must have something
for the work I had done for her children. In this way
I taught school for three years, and so managed to sup
port my mother and her family.
During the winter of 1893-4 I taught in Whitesburg,
Georgia, a little village on the C. R. C. railroad, between
Atlanta and Carrolton, Ga. Here I found the Negroes
still a power in Georgia politics. The Hon. Bob Sewall,
the man with whom I boarded, was the boss Negro poli
tician of that congressional district, a district that after
ward became known as Congressman Adams's district.
In political conventions I have seen him have every white
man in attendance, including some eminent lawyers,
fought to a standstill, — "beaten to a frazzle," so to speak.
Gradually, these white Republicans grew weary of his
domination, and they began a systematic effort to elimi
nate the Negro from the party, or, to state it in another
way, they began an attempt to set up a white wing to
the party. To make the matter plain, I had been ap
pointed "secretary" to the Hon. Bob, and was in reality
at the head of the Republican party in that district. For
Uncle Bob, as I called him, could read and write with
difficulty, but he was a good speaker. I wrote all his
letters and newspaper articles, and composed all his
speeches. It always amazed rae to see how much natural
power he displayed in delivering those compositions.
But the white Republicans kept after Uncle Bob's scalp.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 55
At length, he came to me one day and said, "Sec, some
thing must be done. Those fellows are going to beat rae
unless something can be done." I told him I would take
the matter in hand. Our first move was to begin the fight
through the columns of the local Deraocratic papers, for
there was no Republican paper.
The first article, which called forth applause and cora
raent from seventeen Democratic papers, . was signed
"Clodknocker." In it I appealed to the black Republicans
to cut loose from the half-hearted white Republicans, and
I showed that those who called themselves the "White
Wing" were in reality only a white feather in the wing
of a Republican blackbird, as the party was nine-tenths
black. I then asked what constituted a true Republican. In
answer I quoted from General Grant's "Memoirs" and
showed clearly, from General Grant's definition of a Re
publican, that there was not a single white man in Carroll
County who could be called a Republican. That article
killed the white wing of the Republican party in that
county as dead as a doornail, for when the general con
vention raet three weeks later only one white Republican
was there. The last time I heard of Carroll County that
white wing was still dead, but the black wing was also
gone. Up to this time all this tirade in the papers had been
accredited to Uncle Bob, but it now leaked out that I was
the culprit, and I at once became popular, an honor to
which I had never aspired. There now came showers of
letters and invitations to write articles for county papers
or to address political meetings of many kinds. I had

56 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
offers of money for my influence in the campaign that
elected a Democratic governor, Atkinson, but I never ac
cepted a single dollar from any one for such service,
though I wrote articles and delivered nuraerous addresses.
All this, however, was a sort of pastime to me. I was
all the while teaching school and trying to improve ray
meager education by study. My aspiration was to be the
leading teacher in that county, for the man who held that
honor could not have raade the third grade, in an honest
exaraination, to save himself ; nevertheless, he held a first
grade certificate.
Because of my efforts to insure honesty in the exam
inations I incurred the displeasure of the leading teachers
in one county in which I taught. To obtain a third grade
license in that county, all that was necessary was to pay
the president of the teachers' "Passing Club" five dollars,
and you got the license; ten dollars, and you got the
second grade ; fifteen dollars, and you got the first grade.
It was because of my efforts to expose these methods
that I lost my popularity with the teachers.
"How could these people w*rite grade papers ?" was the
question, and for its answer the good old superintendent
of education in that county would have given a great deal.
The examinations were taken under the inspection of
hiraself and three other persons, all with nothing to do
but to see that each raan took a fair exaraination. I have
seen teachers come into the examination room with tablet
and pencil, who, being under suspicion, would be placed
in seats of honor in the center of the room, where they
would remain all day, sleeping fully half the time. They
would not write more than two pages during the two

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 57
days that the exaraination lasted; yet, when the papers
would be graded, they would receive the first grade, and
what is more, their papers would be excellent. How was
it done? Easily enough. The principal of the city
school at the county seat was president of the "Passing
Club." When the white superintendent would send to
Atlanta for a tablet of some special color to be used in
the examinations, the president of the club would find
out where he obtained them, and would proceed to get
sorae of the sarae kind and hide them over at his house.
After the exaraination would be over, the superintendent
would gather up the tablets and lock them in a room of
the Court House that was provided for that purpose.
Within ten days he and his coraraissioners would raeet,
unlock the door, and examine and grade the tablets.
Meanwhile, the president of the club and his aids would
have reraoved the original tablets by night, and would
have placed in their stead the others all prepared by ex
perts. What could the superintendent do but give first
grade to those persons whose papers apparently deserved
it? Having secured the aid of a few teachers and minis
ters, I commenced a crusade against these frauds, and
when I left Georgia the practice in Carroll County was
nearly stopped.
But my mother still wished me to be educated. At
length, she married again, for no higher reason than to
permit rae and the other children, who were growing up,
to go to school. My hopes for an education were now
again renewed, and I began to get ready to go back to

58 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Tuskegee, where nearly everybody had forgotten my ex
istence. Like other politicians, however, I was without money.
I went to Governor Atkinson, then Democratic Governor
of Georgia, to borrow a few dollars until school should
close. He knew rae well by reputation, and although he
was himself a poor man, he readily gave me the money
as a gift, and also a little kindly lecture on the advisa
bility of staying out of politics. The good Governor died
shortly after that, but I have ever since followed his
advice.

CHAPTER IV
Things went smoothly for a while, now that I was
back at Tuskegee. Then my brother came, and I had to
help support him. As soon as I had adjusted myself to
this situation a letter came from my thirteen-year-old
sister, who was then hired out to a hotel as chamberraaid.
The letter read : "I cannot araount to anything if I stay
here. I want to be something. Will you help me?"
There was no alternative, so I sent for her at once.
Knowing that I should have to support her almost wholly,
I was alraost in despair.
At one time I had only one pair of trousers, and they
had been worn until they were threadbare. I had patched
them so often and so long that the patches refused to
hold, therefore it was necessary to devise some other way
to mend them. Being a printer and bookbinder, I knew
the properties of printers' glue, and so I used to do my
patching on Sunday at the printing office while the others
were attending the services. I remeraber that on one
occasion while Bishop Derrick was preaching one of his
raost powerful serraons in the chapel I was patching my
trousers in the printing office, and by the tirae he had
finished his sermon I had finished my trousers. His text
was : "Remeraber the Sabbath to keep it holy." I was
eager to do this, but I found it difficult to reconcile the
Holy Sabbath with holey trousers. These patches looked

6o THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
well, while they lasted, but the ingredients in the glue
further injured the cloth so that within a few days the
patches began to fall off, one by one, taking more cloth
with them. In my erabarrassraent, I went to one of the
teachers, from whom I thought I could get some sym
pathy and perhaps a pair of trousers ; but I got neither.
What I did get was a dignified lecture on independence
and self-reliance. After that I made up my mind that
I would go naked before I would ask for another gar
ment. Mrs. Washington came to my rescue and pro
vided me with a fine second-hand Prince Albert suit,
which she had found among the second-hand clothes sent
to the school by kind friends to meet just such emer
gencies. My fellow-students, both boys and girls, made
all sorts of faces at me when I appeared in my new suit,
calling me "Preacher," "Reverend," "Doc," and other
similar names. This did not lessen my gratitude to Mrs.
Washington, for the Prince Albert suit enabled rae to
remain in school.
Shortly afterward I was made a substitute teacher in
the night school at Tuskegee at eight dollars a month,
and my pecuniary burdens came to an end.
Toward the end of my senior year I decided to com
pete for the Trinity prize of twenty-five dollars, which
was offered for the best original oration. Remembering
Mr. Washington's constant advice that a man gets out of
a thing just what he puts into it, I tried to put one hun
dred dollars' worth into my oration. Fortunately, no
other contestant put in quite so much.
During this my last year at school I received many
offers of work as a teacher in other schools. Tuskegee

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 6i
also offered me a place as a teacher in its academic de
partment, but my mind was made up. In the first place,
I had from childhood wished to be a lawyer, but my
father, in his lifetime, as well as my mother, was op
posed to my studying for that profession. Father wished
me to be a teacher, and just before his death he called me
to his bedside and repeated his wish, — that I lay aside
the thought of studying law and becorae a teacher of ray
people. He had some very peculiar ideas about lawyers.
With him the name was synonymous with "liar."
If anything more than his wishes had been needed to
change my ideas regarding the study of law, it would
have been found in my career at Tuskegee, which cer
tainly does not encourage the study of law, although it
may not directly discourage it. Mr. Washington's con
stant advice to us in his Sunday evening talks was that
after leaving school we should go into one of the reraote
rural districts, where we were raost needed, and teach.
For eight years I had listened to this kind of teaching
and this, added to my father's wishes, made it seem that
there was nothing else for me to do but to find one of
those backwoods places and render it whatever service
I could. Mr. Washington's arguments were often reinforced
by stories from his own experiences. Here is one that
I remember :
He once called upon a woman soraewhere in Massa
chusetts to solicit a contribution for Tuskegee. The
woraan, who was poor herself, went into a corner of the
house and pulled from a hiding-place a few pennies,
which she gave him. Meantime she explained that she

62 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
was poor, and really had no money to give to charity;
but she was so eager that the struggling boys and girls at
Tuskegee should have a chance to educate themselves that
she refused to use matches in her house, and used strips
of paper instead, for lighting her lamps. In this way she
saved her match money for the aid of Tuskegee. This
so impressed me that I felt bound to try to be worthy of
such generosity.
So I refused all positions that were offered to rae and
determined to go to Mississippi, which to my mind was
the darkest section of the South for a colored man. I
had no money, for the prize money that I had won in the
oratorical contest had to be used to defray the expenses
of my mother, who came to see me graduated. While I
was debating as to what I should do, or rather how I
could get away from Tuskegee, Mr. William J. Edwards,
who had graduated at Tuskegee five years before, crossed
my path. I told him of my plans to go to Mississippi,
and to try to do what he was doing in the southem part
of Alabama, where he had founded an industrial school,
then five years old.
He showed great interest in my project and invited me
to take a position at Snow Hill and remain there until
such time as I should be in a position to carry out my
plans in Mississippi. I accepted a position as a printer
in that school. The school had no printing office, but a
good friend of his had given to it a little press. I knew
the printer's trade, so I set up the press and got ready for
work. But there was no type/ I organized the teachers,
— eight in all, — into a publishing company and induced
each one of them to contribute a dollar out of their small

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 63
wages. Mr. R. O. Simpson, — 3. Southern planter of con
siderable means, who had always been interested in the
school, and who had, in fact, helped Mr. Edwards to
found it, — came by one day and examined my little press.
Then he said, "Despise not small beginnings," and gave
me a ten-dollar bill. Putting this with what I had ob
tained from the teachers, I bought eighteen dollars' worth
of type, and so began the trade of printing at Snow Hill.
The printing shop actually made raoney. Nearly all
the white merchants in the towns in the neighborhood of
Snow Hill sent in their work, and I raade fair profits.
At the end of that year I received a letter from Mr.
Washington, who was then in Europe, telling me that he
had recoramended me to an English sjmdicate to take
charge of a training school in the island of Montserrat,
which, I believe, is one of the Leeward Islands, in the
West Indies. I felt that I ought to accept this position
because the work was purely missionary.
In a few weeks I was on ray way to Montserrat, but
when I reached New York City to embark I received a
cable from Mr. Sturgis, of Birmingham, England, telling
me that he had been informed that the island had been
destroyed by a tomado, and that perhaps there were no
inhabitants left. I found myself in New York for the
first time, practically without money, for it was here that
I was to get the funds with which to finish the trip.
Mr. Washington, who happened to be in New York at
the time, looked rae up and lent rae my fare back to
Tuskegee, where I was to await further information. I
remained there over a month, but no word carae from
England. Upon Mr. Washington's advice that it was

64 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
time to find something else to do, I determined to try my
fortune in Mississippi. However, I was a stranger, and
could make no headway. AU the public schools had been
taken up, so that I could not get a school to teach, and I
got for a few weeks the jolj of handling cotton at a
warehouse. Then I tried hotel work, but I found that
altogether distasteful to me.
As there seemed nothing else to do, I deterrained to
make a situation for myself. Purchasing a set of sewing-
machine tools, I set out as a traveling clock repairer, but
I had never repaired a clock in my life, so that the first
two or three clocks that I attempted to fix were left not
much better off than they were when I found thera. After
a while, however, I was able to do good work, and I
made from five to ten dollars a week. Still the work, as
well as the results, was too uncertain for me.
At length, I wrote to Mr. Edwards again and told him
the exact situation, and that I would like to come back to
Snow Hill.
I received an immediate reply frora hira, with money
for railroad fare, telling me that he had no opening for
me at the time but would be glad to have me come back
and wait until he could find something for me to do. I
was at Snow Hill but a short time before he placed me
in the responsible position of financial agent for the In
stitution. At the end of that year I went again to Mississippi,
but failed in my undertaking, as I had done before. Then
the trustees of Snow Hill elected me treasurer of the
school, and raised my salary to twenty-five dollars a
month. By this time I began to think that perhaps I had

Mrs. William H. Holtzclaw

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
better settle down. My convictions on this point were so
pleasantly satisfied that after a year I was married to
Miss Mary Ella Patterson, a Tuskegee graduate, who
was at the head of the Women's Departraent of the Snow
Hill school.
We decided that we would like to build a home, so Mr.
Edwards borrowed the money for us with which to build
it. We were to pay him back each month out of our
twenty-five dollars, and he was thus to pay the persons
from whom he borrowed the money, — some Northern
friends whom I do not know. It looked now as if we
had settled down for good, yet in my own mind I was
not settled. I knew that sorae day I would go to Missis
sippi, though I confess it seemed now as if the trip had
been postponed indefinitely.
In the course of time we had a very dear, addition to
our family, a little son, whom we named Williara Syd
ney, for my brother and myself. The birth of this little
boy brought into our family great happiness, — happiness
such as only those can know who have had a similar ex
perience, but after six months he was taken frora us by
an attack of pneumonia. I had no more interest in our
home after that ; in fact, I felt better away from it, and I
think my wife felt the same way.
I had been for two years trying to persuade her to
think as I did about the Mississippi venture, but she
would not be convinced. After the death of our child,
however, she was willing that I should make the venture
again. One year later I went to Mr. Edwards and told
him that I had decided to go to Mississippi for the last
time, and that I did not intend ever to return to Snow

66 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Hill again. I had returned so raany tiraes that it had
becorae a joke, and everybody looked for me back the
next week. The fact is, the last time I had returned it
had taken almost all the courage out of me. This tirae I
burned the bridges behind rae.
Three tiraes I had failed to carry out what I had taken
on myself as a duty; now I felt like a coward.
About that time somebody sent me a copy of Orison
Swett Marden's book, "Pushing to the Front." I read it
immediately. Up to that time it was Mr. Marden's raas-
terpiece. No one can read the book without catching
some of its inspiration. It not only aroused me, but
seemed also to condemn me ; every chapter I read seemed
to say, "You are a coward not to stick to what you know
to be your duty."
At length, when I had finished the book I threw it
down, stood up, and resolved that I would go to Missis
sippi, and that nothing but death should ever again corae
between me and the fulfilment of my purpose.

CHAPTER V
It was no easy matter for rae to leave Snow Hill,
where I had made so many friends, chief araong them
being Professor Edwards, principal of the school, and
his good wife, Susie. Of all the friends I have made in
ray lifetime no one has been a better one than Mr. Ed
wards; not only did he prove himself a friend during
the four years I passed with him, but he had been a friend
to me even before then and he has been ever since. We
have always counselled together, and even at this day
whenever any important raatters affecting either of us
arise, each is sure to call on the other for suggestions
and advice.
During those years Mr. Edwards, being older and
raore experienced than I was, was a guide to rae. I took
note of all he did and I think I often patterned my own
work after his. Therefore, instead of my settling down
and making Snow Hill my horae because of ray four
years' pleasant stay there, contact with Mr. Edwards
stimulated my desire to work in an even darker field, if
that were possible, than Snow Hill. Day after day I saw
him struggling to build up an institution in one of the
most neglected sections of Alabama. I saw him often
when he was without decent clothes or sufficient food ; yet
he was happy. I saw him year by year going forward.

68 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
not by leaps and bounds, but at a snail's pace, yet with a
determination that could not be overcome.
I saw the condition of the community about him, and
witnessed the splendid fight he was making against tre
mendous odds; and I entered heart and soul into the
work he was doing. One of the ways in which I sought
to help him to enlighten the community was by editing
and publishing a weekly paper, making it pay for itself.
I even went so far as to try to make it a daily paper by
reducing its size, but this last venture only lasted two
weeks. So far as I know, however, it was the only daily
paper ever published by a Negro in Alabama.
On Sundays, I went out into the surrounding country
and organized the people into what I called "The Black
Belt Improveraent Society." This society grew to be a
perraanent factor in our work. Under its auspices an
annual fair was held at the school. It also maintained a
savings department which, during my last year there,
when all savings were returned to the members, suc
ceeded in declaring an annual dividend of thirty-seven
per cent. This organization was afterward renewed in
Mississippi, and later I shall tell something of its results.
All this contact with the people of the surrounding
country had bound me closely to them, so that, I repeat,
it was difficult for me to get away.
My wife had been ill for some time, so when I was
ready to leave it was not possible to take her along with
me, therefore it was agreed that she should remain be
hind and that I should go alone.
What little money I had I left with her. I took with'
me not quite enough to pay my railroad fare, for I ex-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 69
pected to seU my wife's bicycle when I reached Selma,
the next town, and thus secure the balance of ray fare to
Utica, Mississippi, for which I was bound. But I could
not sell the bicycle, so there I was with the raachine on
my hands and not enough money to pay my fare.
However, I proceeded. on my way in the direction of
Utica with what money I had, paying fifty cents for the
bicycle to travel in the express car. My ticket carried
me about two hundred and fifty miles. When my money
gave out I found myself in a strange and unfrequented
section of Mississippi. I got astride my bicycle and rode
until I came to a town called Qevdand. There I put up
for the night in the waiting-room of the little station.
Late in the night when the station agent was ready to
close up he told me I would have to get out. I knew
nobody, and there did not seem to be any place where I
could pass the night, so I went out into the neighboring
woods and fell asleep, with my head on my bicycle for a
pillow. I prayed that night before I went to sleep that I might
be guided in a dream, which should tell me whether to
proceed or what to do. This was in October, and during
the night there was a heavy frost. About three o'clock in
the morning I awoke to find my hair and clothes covered
with frost, and I had not dreamed a thing.
Without having had any instruction or guidance as to
what I should do, it seemed to me that the best thing to
do first would be to shake off the frost, and see if I could
not get a little warrath into ray bones. Then I wandered
about the town, knocking at one door and then another,
trying to find sorae one who would be kind enough to

70 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
take me in. But every one was convinced that I was a
trarap, and therefore would not admit me. As a matter
of fact, I suppose I was a tramp, but that did not seem
to me a good reason at that time for shutting the door on
me. Every householder I succeeded in arousing would
send me to the next one, until, after a while, one told me
that I would find an old fertilizer house down the rail
road where I might stay. I found the house and occu
pied it for a time. At dawn I jumped astride my bicycle
and battled my way southward through the cane brakes,
swamps, and marshes of Boliver County toward Utica.
Boliver County is the fourth county southward frora
Memphis on the east side of the Mississippi River, right
in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. It is noted as a cot
ton raising county. The lands are very largely owned
by the whites, in tracts of a hundred to several thousand
acres, but there are several well-to-do Negroes in the
county, and have been ever since soon after the Negroes
were set free. It was of this county in the early days of
reconstruction that the late Senator, B. K. Bruce, was
sheriff. It was from this county also that he was later
sent to Washington as United States Senator from Mis
sissippi. Another thing of interest about this county is
the fact that the Negro town of Mound Bayou is located
here. This town is situated on the Y. & M. V. railroad,
about halfway between Memphis and Vicksburg, and is
generally spoken of as the largest and most progressive
purely Negro settlement in the country.
When I set out for Mississippi I had it in my mind
that probably I should attempt to start a school at Mound
Bayou or somewhere in Boliver County. I first stopped

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 71
two miles south of Mound Bayou at a little deserted vil
lage called Renova. Here I found about a hundred
empty houses, two churches, and a hotel. There were
eight or ten houses occupied by Negroes. The empty
houses had forraerly been occupied by saw-raill laborers,
but the mill had been moved and the laborers had moved
with it. These houses were all for sale, together with
several hundred acres of land in their neighborhood.
The land agent who had charge of these sales, and who
evidently expected to build another Mound Bayou there,
was a graduate, as he told rae, of Fisk University. I
tried to raake a deal with hira and start a school there, but
for some reason the more I talked about purchasing the
land, the more he distrusted rae, until at length he grew
so suspicious that we could not transact any business at
all. I could not convince him that a man that was not a
college graduate could build a school. Seeing my ina
bility to work with hira, I went to Meraphis to talk the
matter over with the gentleman who owned the land and
the houses, but before I reached Memphis the land agent
at Renova had coraraunicated in sorae way with the Mera
phis gentleman, and had undoubtedly made him believe
that I was a tramp, and so I could not get a conference
with him, after having reached there. I then went down
to Mound Bayou, where I was received raost cordially
by Mr. I. T. Montgoraery, founder and chief factor of
the town. He seeraed to be very much interested in ray
plans, and after he had shown rae about the town we had
a conference about the feasibility of my project.
He asked rae some searching questions, among thera
how and where I expected to get the money to establish

•72. THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
my enterprise. This was a question I could not answer,
and for this reason Mr. Montgomery did not see any
wisdom in encouraging me to make an effort at Mound
Bayou. However, he was careful not to discourage me.
I remember that he bade me go on, and keep ih touch
with him, and in the meantime he handed me some leaf
lets containing a description of how he had founded
Mound Bayou. I read this description with a great deal
of interest, and it gave me courage and hope, which I
needed very much at that time. I remember that one of
the leaflets contained something like the following state
ment as to how Mr. Montgomery had founded Mound
Bayou :
"On a summer morning in July, 1887, the fast express
dropped me at a cross-road sawmill. I was accompanied
by a civil engineer, with whom I had spent the day pre
vious in the trackless forest northwest of the town of
Shaw. It was not yet day when we disembarked from
the train. We went a short distance to the quarter mill
and were generously treated to a hearty breakfast.
"Immediately afterward we started to tramp north
ward on the line of railway. After a walk of nearly
three miles my companion paused and said, 'Here is the
land.' "I gazed north and south along the railway right of
way, which cut a wide path, something like the street of
a great city, through the forest and jungle. On either
side were impassable barriers of cane, which stood
twenty-five feet high, interwoven with briars and thickly
studded with mighty trees, sorae of which were one hun
dred and fifty feet in height.

Charles Banks
iSee page 226)

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 73
"I traraped up and down, looking for a place of en
trance. Finally I found a hunter's trail which had been
kept open by wild beasts and wandering cattle. This led
along the bank of the bayou from which the locality de
rived its name. A mile farther along this path came out
to the railway again. We, however, turned farther north
and found the woods soraewhat more open. As the fall
ing shadows rerainded us that the day was nearly done we
stood upon the spot now occupied by the town."

Now, that section of Mississippi through which I was
travelling was wild and little frequented. I was told by
the people along the route that I was likely to meet bears
and panthers, wild cats and catamounts. As I had no
means of defense, all I could do was to ride in a hurry,
and that I did, though not so fast as to escape being at
tacked by a wild cat about dusk one evening.
Before I left that section my wheel broke down. Then
I had to put it on my shoulders, roll up my trousers, and
proceed to my destination afoot. I remeraber walking
once all day without water, not having found a single
place where I could get any that was fit to drink. At
length when it was nearly night I came to an old church
where there was a cistern about thirty feet deep, with
sparkling water at the bottom. I went to this wdl and
looked in. There was no bucket with which to get the
water, but there was a rope, so I tied my hat to the rope,
put a stone into it, and let it down. When the hat was
full of water it pulled loose frora the rope and reraained
in the well.
I was so famished for water that I attempted to go

74 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
down into the weU, to get both the water and the hat. I
put a pole down, then went down on it, and after having
obtained my hat and a drink, I started up the pole again,
but found it was so sleek that I could not climb it. There
I was in the bottom of a well, many miles from any
house, with dark approaching. I was desperate and made
many frantic efforts to get out, but could not until an
other traveller came along, who, like myself, was looking
for water. He was a white farmer, living in the neigh
borhood. He yelled down to know what I was doing
there, and when I told him he let down a rope, and said :
"Catch hold there and I will pull you out, though most
'niggers' ain't worth it." After he had got me out, how
ever, and I had thanked him profusely, he carried me on
to his house, took me into the kitchen, and gave rae a sub
stantial meal of molasses and bread. I don't know when
I have so appreciated a meal.
In my travels I had an opportunity to see and examine
at first hand that section of the country known as the
Delta, through which I passed. I talked with its people,
both white and black, and tried to get their point of view
in regard to the Negro. Starting at Memphis, I passed
through all that interesting territory along the Y. & M.
V. railroad, by way of Tunica, Merigold, Mound Bayou,
Renova, Shaw, and Leland. I then travelled over what
was then known as the "Loop," a branch of the Y. & M.
V. railroad lying along the east bank of the Mississippi
River. Here I had an opportunity to observe the coun
ties of Issaquena, Sharkey, Washington, Tunica, Cohoma,
and some others. They were all largely populated with
Negroes, sorae of them, notably Issaquena, having about

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 75
twenty-five Negroes to one white. I then left the rail
road and travelled in a southerly direction through a for
est of canebrakes, such as I had never seen before, until
I reached the village of Dockery, on the Sunflower river,
about thirty-five miles east of Rosedale. After having
passed a while there in making observations I went to
Ruleville in Sunflower county, still farther east, where I
reached the railroad again. I then tramped along the
railroad frora there to Indianola, thence to Greenwood, a
junction on another branch of the Y. & M. V. and the
Southern Railway in Mississippi. All along this journey
I interviewed many classes of people, and learned many
interesting facts. For instance, I called to see a wealthy
white planter at Minter City, and when I drove into his
great plantation, — with its mansion on the river bank
and several hundred Negro cabins, all whitewashed, in
the background, — it gave rae a feeling that I was going
into a city. When I tramped up to his gate I was told
that I would find him at the store about a hundred yards
away. I walked down to the store and the planter met
rae at the door, shook ray hand, and I sat down by the
fire in the rear of the store. I began the interview at
once. First I told him my plans candidly, and asked his
advice. He hstened carefully to all that I had to say,
then he said, talking deliberately :
"I believe you are about to engage in a good work,
and I would like to see the Negro educated, but, candidly,
I do not think that the kind of school you would like to
start would do any good in the Delta. I really think it
would do harm. What I want here is Negroes who can
make cotton, and they don't need education to help them'

76 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
make cotton. I could not use educated Negroes on my
place, but since you have asked me for advice, I will tell
you candidly that here in the Delta is no place to start a
school. Such a school as you speak of is needed, but not
here. I have read about the great work of Booker Wash-
ing^ton, and I believe you are headed in the same direc
tion, but you cannot succeed here. I advise you to go
out of the Delta into the hill country farther east and
establish your school, — in a place where Negroes own
their own lands, or, at least, where they are renters and
are more independent. In case you do that, I will become
a contributor to your school, and I will take bright
Negroes from my plantation and send them to your
school to be educated." Here I ventured to put in a
word, and began by saying, "But they will be educated."
But before I had finished the sentence he interrupted, "I
hope you will keep them there or send them somewhere
else when they are educated."
Then he offered me a ten-dollar bill for the trouble I
had taken in coming to see him.
One thing that interested rae about all these talks was
that the majority of the planters I interviewed in the
Delta seemed to be afraid of the results of Negro edu
cation. I found a few who seemed to be a little afraid of
the Negro in general, and a great raany who doubted the
wisdom of Negro education. These were high-grade
men whom I interviewed, — ^men of culture and wealth.
But I also talked to sorae of the common people; for
instance, at Greenwood I had a conversation with a rail
road section foreman. It was late on a Saturday even
ing and I wanted to go to a little town called Parsons,

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 77
the terrainus of the Y. & M. V. railroad, and twelve
railes north of Greenwood. The last train of the day had
gone, and no other train was going in that direction be
fore Monday morning. I had an engagement to address
an audience there on Simday at twelve o'clock. I went
to the railroad section foreman's shanty, where he was
changing his clothes and taking a shave, and asked him
if he would not let rae have his hand-car to go the twelve
miles. He seemed to realize my predicament and de
cided to accoraraodate me, provided I could get his
laborers to pull the car that distance. I was elated over
the prospects of making the trip on the hand-car. Just
then he began questioning rae about my business, and
when I told him frankly what I was doing in Mississippi
he became very suspicious, and I noticed that his face
became flushed, while he was still shaving. He turned
toward me, with the razor in his hand and his face still
flushed, and, with a few oaths, he began to accuse me
of being a railroad detective, all of which I denied in a
hurry. Then he stopped and said, "If I thought you
were, I would proceed to use this on your neck instead
of mine." I found it necessary to close the interview
imraediately, and I did not wait until the hand-car was
ready to go.
I then called, outside of the town, at the home of a
very wealthy planter and politician, whose father had
been a senator of the United States and perhaps one of
the strongest men Mississippi has ever produced. I had
previously arranged for the interview, which proved to
be the most interesting one that I had on this trip. So
far as I could see, he was a bachelor who lived out on

78 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
his plantation in a splendid modern house. Here he was
surrounded by a host of Negroes ; several of the women
ministered to his wants about the house. His very man
ner showed that he was lord of the situation. It was a
hot day and I was struck by the fact that he met me at
the door clad in only two thin garments and he carried
a large palmetto fan in his hand. He paid very little at
tention to me, but one could not fail to observe that he
was a gentleman of the old school, although he was not
an old man. He was a great talker, and he gave me very
little opportunity to reply to him. He began by saying
that he had very little faith in the Negro's becoming any
thing but a laborer. He referred to the Negroes on his
plantation and told how much he valued them as la
borers ; then he began to speak of the Negro's morality,
or rather, his lack of morality ; for he said that they had
none. On this subject he had a great deal to say, and he
wound up by saying that there were no Negro women
who were chaste, and that the morality of Negro
men need not be discussed. Here I ventured to suggest
to him that perhaps his knowledge of Negro women was
limited to the women of his own plantation or to those
of his neighbors' plantations, or, perhaps, to the woraen
that one would usually see on the streets of a city. He
was quick to see the point, and after a moment's thought
he seemed to realize that he had been rather broad in his
statement, and, as if to raake amends, he said: "I did
not mean to say that there may not be some good Negro
women, — somewhere. For instance, I think a woman
like Booker Washington's wife is aU right." He said that
Negroes in general were dishonest and untrustworthy;

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 79
but he added that he was acquainted with one who could
be trusted anywhere at any time. While he didn't be
lieve in Negro education, he seemed to be willing to give
it a trial, and he thought that this ought to be the attitude
of all white men, but he said candidly that the Delta was
not the place for a school for Negroes. All in all, that
was a pleasant interview that I had, — with a raan of
great intelligence, stropg convictions, and undoubted sin
cerity. I say this, in spite of the fact that I found it ira
possible to agree with him during the interview.
I have.often been asked why I did not start my school
in the Delta of Mississippi. What I have said here will
in some degree serve as an answer. You cannot build a
school that will be useful unless the people are in sym
pathy with your efforts. Another reason was that I in
tended from the first that my school should be a board
ing-school, and for that reason I thought that it ought
to be on high land, out from the Delta, so that it would
not suffer frora overflows caused by the breaking of
levees. And, too, there was a minor consideration that
had a great deal of influence with me. I had been born
and reared in a hill country, and did not know that such
level tracts of land existed until I saw the Delta lands.
To a raan born and reared in a raountainous country
there is something about the dead level of the Delta
country that is very depressing. It certainly depressed
rae. It even worried rae to ride my bicycle on the dead
level miles after miles. I wanted some hills to climb,
and then I thought, — ^perhaps foolishly, — that I would
teach ray children to sing, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee."
I did not see how I could put any sense into that stanza

8o THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
that says, "I love thy rocks and riUs, thy woods and
templed hiUs." I knew that some of these children had
never seen a rock or a rill. They had seen the woods,
it is true, but not the templed hills.
Speaking further of interviews, when I left Green
wood I made my way in a southerly direction until I
carae within ten miles of the I. C. R. R. Here I had my
first interview with one of the lords of the hills. He was
a fine type of the old-fashioned white man, lived in the
same old brick mansion that his father had occupied on
a plantation where slaves went to and fro forty years
before ; and, to make it more interesting, several of these
former slaves still lived on the plantation, which was
literally dotted with their descendants. The plantation
was in a high state of cultivation, the work being done
by Negroes as tenant farmers. The land owner's name
was Cameron, — a man who had been asked to allow his
name to go before the voters as a candidate for governor
of Mississippi, but this, I think, he refused to do because
of failing health. What interested me especially about
this man and his surroundings was the tremendous in
fluence that he wielded over the Negroes living on his
plantation. Once while we were looking at the retreat
ing mass of men and mules as they were leaving the man
sion on their way to the fields for the day's work, he
began talking of them in a reminiscent fashion. He said :
"Thirty or forty years ago when Negroes were voters
here in Mississippi it was ray custom on election day to
march them up to the polls just as you see them march
ing to the fields; and they voted as I told them to vote.
It used to be a saying that whoever the Cameron Negroes

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 8i
voted for in this section was sure of election. They will
do anything I say do. If I were to tell them to lynch
you at this minute, in less than a half hour you would be
hung up to a tree."
Here I ventured to suggest that where people possess
such a spirit it might not be a good place to start a school.
He did not seem to catch the point, but continued his
reminiscences, saying : "Some years ago there was a little
strip of a Negro tramp around here, who in a fit of anger
killed one of my best Negroes. I was completely exas
perated, and told the Negroes to take the boy down back
of the field and lynch him." Here he hesitated to go
further, but I was eager to hear the story corapleted and
I asked, "Did they lynch hira?" He simply remarked,
"Well, I have not seen hira since," and so I could not
get him to discuss the raatter any further.
I had a most satisfactory conversation with this man, —
the most satisfactory that I had at all. He not only be
lieved in Negro education, but also in education for all
men. He had a quaint way of putting this belief by say
ing that education and nothing else could make the Negro
any worse than he was; but beneath all he showed that,
he thought all people should be educated. He invited
me to build a school on his plantation, offered me a splen
did tract of eight acres for a site as a gift, and said, "If
you wish to fight, I will help you in the battle." He then
took me in his buggy and carried me to his quarters and
introduced rae to all the Negroes. One of them, H. T.
Pinquite, whose ancestors had been slaves on the Cam
eron plantation, proved to be an interesting figure. He
was renting a large section of the plantation and sub-

82 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
renting it to other Negroes. I think he was operating
about forty plows. It was with this man and his wife
that I passed about a week. Since that time I have had
the pleasure of teaching three of their children. Mr.
Cameron seemed to be in earnest about the building of
the school near his plantation, and I was seriously con
sidering the matter myself ; therefore I cannot say what
might have taken place had Mr. Cameron not died soon
after I left.
Before I reached Utica my bicycle became an increas
ing burden. I met a young Negro boy who wanted to
trade for it, and he offered me his Ingersoll watch and
two dollars in cash, which I promptly accepted. Thus I
entered Utica with a dollar watch and two dollars in
raoney, a condition in which I should not have found
myself but for this bargain. I was met by the head
deacon of the Baptist Church, A. C. Carter, who took
me three railes out into the country to his house and very
carefully explained that he could keep me only one week.
Deacon Carter was an influential man in the community.
Not only was he a deacon of the Baptist Church, which
had about four hundred members, but he was respected
by everybody, white and black alike. What he said in
the community carried a great deal of weight. I was
told, and I afterward believed, that it was he, together
with Oliver Broom and Tom Williams, who usually
made and unmade both the preachers and the teachers
in their community. Indeed, these three men had been
singled out by the county authorities, headed by the
County School Superintendent, and had been designated
Trustees of the Negro Public School; therefore, the pub-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 83
lie school had been entrusted to them. They made ar
rangements for me to board at the home of a young
school-mistress, who agreed to board me for two dollars
a week, but stipulated that I was to pay every Saturday.
Fortunately, I had two dollars for the first week, so I
began boarding.
I went down town the next day to make the acquain
tance of the white people and to see how they fdt about
the matter of a new teacher in their community. In
order to get a financial standing in the community, I first
visited the bank to deposit my two dollars. The banker
looked at me rather curiously when I asked hira a few
questions about deposits and withdrawals. He naturally
hesitated about taking my small deposit, especially when
I told him I would have to draw it at the end of the week.
However, after questioning me considerably, he accepted
the deposit and gave me a check book.
At the end of that week I gave my landlady a check
for two dollars, whereupon she protested that it was not
necessary to pay until the end of the month. I insisted
on her taking at least $1.75 of it, but she would only do
so on condition that thereafter I should pay her at the
end of the month. I realize that I did not treat my land
lady fairly, but at the time I only considered the fact
that it was necessary for me to establish my credit. I
was safe for four more weeks, although that was my last
penny, and from that time until the present I have never
had any trouble in getting all the credit I wanted in
Utica. My first effort to ascertain the sentiment of the white
people was made on the same day that I opened the bank

84 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
account. I called on Col. J. B. Chapman, a leading white
citizen and the only attorney of the place. I told him
all about my plans and asked his opinion. I have not for
gotten his reply; it was about the sarae opinion you will
hear in the average Southern community. What he said
was about as follows:
"Well, if you can do an)i;hing to iraprove the 'niggers,'
every decent white raan in this town will be glad to see
you do it. I know some 'niggers' can improve, like old
Tom Williaras and Alf . Carter, but you will never do any
thing with sorae of these young 'niggers,' and it is a waste
of time to try. If you start out here and do as a 'nigger'
did last year, — he came here and collected money from
the people, saying he was going to start a school, and
then absconded with the money, — there is no telling what
will happen to you. But if you are making an honest
effort to make the 'nigger' better, you will find the best
white people of this town and of this state supporting
you." He assured me that he favored my plans as I outlined
them. I tried to get him to become a member of the
trustee board, but he declined on the ground of not know
ing anything about that kind of work. However, he said
he would help me in every way he could, and from that
time to the time of his death Colonel Chapman was true
to his word and to the work that I was doing. He be
came so interested in the school that if he saw one of the
boys in town in the least disorderly he would promptly
report it to me. He did this on several occasions.
Another man, whora I met in those early years, was a
young planter, whose father and grandfather had been

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 85
large slave-owners. He was the Hon. Alexander Yates,
at that time postmaster of the town. I explained my
plans to him, and he evinced raore than usual interest
from the very first, telling me, just as Mr. Chapman had
done, about the man who had preceded me. He warned
rae against a possible recurrence of that sort of thing,
and ended by saying that if I raeant business I could
depend on him for help. This was certainly encouraging
to a man who had just drawn a check for the last cent
he had in the world.
Mr. Yates became more and more interested in the
school as the years went by, and many are the acts of
kindness which he has shown us during these years of its
existence. I have asked hira for many favors, and never
yet have I been refused. During this time I have bor
rowed from him, — in emergency cases, — many hundred
dollars, and often without one cent of interest, nor has
he ever required anything more than my personal note,
which was usually no more than a promise to pay when
I was able.
Among other persons that I consulted were the Curry
Brothers, Z. Wardlaw and Corapany, Miraras and New
man, and Kdley-Simmons and Company, and from them
all I received a great deal of encouragement, as I shall
show later. In the meanwhile Deacon Carter had been
busy among the white officials, and he had succeeded in
getting me an audience with the town councilors. At
this meeting I put my plans before the officials, who
evinced considerable interest in thera and expressed the
opinion that the plan was a good one, if it could be car
ried out. They were themselves at that time just estab-

86 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
lishing a separate school district for the white youth of
Utica, and something had to be done for the few colored
children who lived within the corporate limits; so they
quickly agreed to make my project a part of the separate
school district and to pay me twenty dollars a month for
teaching the Negro pupils of the town.
This much settled, I went to the county seat, where
I had some difficulty in securing an audience with the
Superintendent of Education. Upon my second visit,
however, he received me cordially, and listened atten
tively to my plan as I unfolded it to him. He was per-
• fectly willing that I should teach the public school of
Utica, but as he could only pay twp teachers a given
amount, and as I was compelled to have four, that left
nothing for my own services. However, I accepted the
proposition, took the examination, received the necessary
license, and opened the public school the first Monday in
November, 1902. While teaching this public school I
continued to agitate the question of an independent
school, and I went from door to door and frora church
to church among both white and colored people, getting
contributions and pledges of whatever amounts they
could give.

CHAPTER VI
By September, 1903, everybody seeraed to conclude
that the school project would be a failure, and enthusi
asra was fast dying out. This was due in a large meas
ure to the fact that we found it impossible to buy a tract
of land anywhere near Utica upon which to start a
school. First of all, the majority of land owners doubt
ed the wisdom of selling any part of their land for a
Negro school ; and, in the second place, we had no money
with which to buy land; which was not very important,
however, as it does not always require ready money to
buy land in the South.
In the meantirae I had organized the colored people
into an educational association, of which I was president.
We had our meetings every Monday night, and as many
caU raeetings during the week as we found necessary.
But, as I have said, enthusiasm was dying out. The peo
ple were beginning to feel that I was a humbug; that I
had collected all the money I could and would soon be
gone. So they decided to elect a treasurer into whose
hands I was to place all the money I collected.
Up to this time I had collected only seventy-five cents.
I welcomed this move to elect a treasurer, and promptly
turned the seventy-five cents over to him. If I remem
ber correctly, the Rev. Elssex Gary was elected treasurer.
No sooner had I turned over the money to Mr. Gary than

88 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
some one objected to his leaving the house with it, say
ing that it would never be seen again. Mr. Gary becarae
indignant and resigned on the spot, and it looked as if
I was going to get the seventy-five cents back. It would
have been given to me, perhaps, but for the fact that
some fellow started a general disturbance, — ^probably
Dan Griffin, though I do not remember now.
Mr. Gary was the local minister of the Colored Meth
odist Episcopal Church, the membership of which con
sisted of two dozen men and woraen, who had been per
suaded that there was sorae way of getting to Heaven
outside of the Baptist Church. Mr. Gary seeraed to take
hiraself very seriously and he was respected by all who
knew him, so far as I could see. But it seems as if he
had been treasurer of a secret society, and that while he
was treasurer the society "went dead," so to speak, and
when the money was counted the men and women were
not satisfied with Mr. Gary's accounting. His friends
maintained that he had been strictly honest, but a few
persons whom he considered his enemies always con
tended that he had not given a proper accounting of the
funds. Dan Griffin was a young recruit to the Baptist Church,
and his feelings toward the Methodist people were none
too good. He was intent on running the Church, the
school, and all the societies on a high plane. Some years
before he joined the Church he had been a man of the
world, pure and simple, and had been considered some
what rough in his character. Now that he was a Chris
tian he was as willing to fight for the Church and for
righteousness as he had been wiUing to work for the evil

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 89
forces. This, I suppose, accounts for his raising a rough-
house when he felt that the wrong raan had been elected
treasurer. However, we had to have a treasurer, so another ballot
was taken, and it was decided that no raan in the house
could be trusted with the raoney. By way of coraproraise
sorae one then suggested that Mr. W. J. Ferguson, a
white man and the president of the Bank of Utica, should
be elected treasurer, which was done. When Mr. Fer
guson was notified the next day he considered it the
biggest joke of the season. He accepted, however, and
began acting as the treasurer of the new organization.
Now that we had a treasurer we were ready to go
forward, though not very far with only seventy-five
cents. The majority of the people were beginning to
abandon the project and things were looking decidedly
gloomy. Something extraordinary had to be done. In
order to revive their spirits, and to show them that I
meant business, I went to E. H. Curry Brothers and
asked for a loan of a few hundred dollars with which
to provide lumber for a schoolhouse. They not only
granted the loan, but also took it upon themselves to
provide a couple of carloads of lumber at reasonable
prices, without any security whatever except the word of
a few colored men whom they knew.
I think that by this tirae I had convinced thera of the
possibility of my project. But when the lumber arrived
we had no land upon which to place it, so by permission
we stacked it up in the little churchyard. Enthusiasm
revived now, even among the white people, and a good
woraan in the town soon agreed to sell us twenty acres

90 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
of land. We bought this land without paying a cent of
money; we simply promised to pay within three years,
and we began the erection of the first schoolhouse that
the colored people of that section of the state had ever
built. Before all this took place, however, I had to spend
three weeks explaining to the Methodist people and the
Sanctified Folks why I had put the lumber in the Baptist
churchyard. I at length convinced them I was not
going to build a Baptist school, but a school for all the
people. The Sanctified Folks, sometimes called "Spot or
Wrinkle Folks," was the name of a new religious sect,
or, at least, it was new in Mississippi. It was headed by
the saintly leader, C. P. Jones, with headquarters at
Jackson, the capital of the state, and it had for its motto,
"Absolute perfection in every member." It was, and is
to this day, a forceful, domineering religion. It was
sweeping everything before it in our neighborhood.
First, because it was new, and Negroes will accept any
thing new; and, second, because it was a religion that
was fundamentally correct and that appealed to the hearts
of those who erabraced it and of many who did not. But
the Baptist people, who had been dominating the com
munity during all the years that the Negroes had been
free, were fighting this new religion with all their might.
Their arguments were interesting. At some points the
two denominations came almost together in their beliefs,
and in some others they were wide apart; for instance,
the Baptist had a doctrine stated in these words, "Once
in Christ and never out," while the Sanctified people

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 91
had a doctrine which made it plain that the man who was
born of God cannot sin. One would think that the be
lievers in these two religions could have agreed, but they
did not. The trouble was that the Sanctified leader was
too rauch in earnest for the Baptist folks. He preached
that "Men should live absolutely pure lives, without spot
or wrinkle." The Baptist people said that while they
would like to see this done, it was impossible, and that
the only being that could live absolutely without sin in
this sinful world was an angel. Some amusing incidents
occurred. A great raany members of the Baptist and
Methodist Churches left and went to the Sanctified
Church, and at length the Methodist preacher himself
became Sanctified, but failed to carry his congregation
with him. There is no doubt that the Sanctified people
were in earnest about the saving of souls as well as about
making men better. Their sermons were full of power
and very convincing. They had no church-house in
which to worship, but at first they were allowed to use
the Methodist and Baptist churches. They were soon
put out of these, however, and then they began to hold
meetings in the open air. I remember that one of their
methods was to require each member that joined them
to renounce himself or herself and publicly confess all
previous sin. These confessions caused a good deal of
turmoil whenever they were made, and the people that
made them were so much in earnest that very often they
told secrets that carried them to the divorce courts and
to prison, broke up families, and caused a general read
justment. I was told that the year before I came to Utica, when

92 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
the Sanctified people first made their appearance, the tur
moil was even greater than it was after I came. A story
is told of a local minister who was officiating one night
at a service when a sister offered herself for membership.
The local minister asked her to tell all her previous sins,
and she began to tell things that startled the audience.
On and on she went with her story, involving men and
women until everybody was tense with excitement; then
she came to a point in the narrative where she evidently
thought she ought to stop, but the minister, who by this
time was happy, shouted to her to go on with the story
and tell it all. Then she hesitatingly began to relate some
incidents in her life which involved the minister hiraself,
and he then said, "Take her out, brethren, she is crazy."
After that new members were not required to tell more
of their experience than they felt like telling. There is
no doubt, however, that the Sanctified Church during the
past twelve years has done more to develop good char
acter and Christian spirit in this community than any
other church. Its leader and founder, the Rev. C. P.
Jones, whom I have already mentioned, is a strong and
forceful character. He is an earnest minister of the
Gospel, truly a man of God, and he has many lieuten
ants who are just as earnest, if not so forceful. The de
nomination is rapidly spreading throughout the South.
I now started out on foot, went from house to house
araong both white and colored people soliciting their
aid, and received it in a degree that enabled me to pay
for the lumber and land within three months. Mean
time, I had opened school in the open air, for I had been
unable to get permission to teach in the little church.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 93
School opened the first Monday in Noveraber, 1902. It
is a custora of the public schools in Mississippi to have
three Negro trustees, at least one of whom is to be on
hand at the opening day to install the new teacher.
One of them certainly was on hand the raorning we
opened school. He sang, I read the Bible, and he offered
a long and solemn prayer. At its close he atterapted to
lead the children in the Lord's prayer, and he got as far
as the daily bread, but, although he struggled desper
ately, he could not get any further. Thereupon he de
liberately went back and started afresh, but when he came
to the daily bread he stopped again. The children, who
had been suppressing their amusement, now burst out
in a hearty laugh, whereupon Miss Lee, who was my
first assistant, took up the prayer and finished it for
him. Then he stood up and began a lecture on good
manners, which was directed apparently at the students,
but in reality at rae, for he seemed to blame me for the
students' laughter, although he had not yet put me offi
cially in charge. Nevertheless, he turned them over to
me in a few minutes and school was opened.
These were dreary times, indeed, with raany hard
ships, with many difficulties that were mere annoyances.
We were still teaching in the open air, out under the big
trees amidst the shrubbery. This would have made a
very good schoolhouse but for its size. In such a school-
house one could get along very well, if he could keep his
pupils close enough to him, but the chances are, as I have
found, that they will put bugs down one another's collars,
and while you are hearing one class the other children
will chase one another about. Their buoyant spirits will

94 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
not permit them to keep quiet while they are in the open.
It is pretty hard to hear a class reciting and at the same
time to witness a boxing-match, but those who teach in
the open air must be prepared for such performances.
These annoyances were accentuated by the fact that some
of my pupils were forty years old while others were six.
After a while we moved into an abandoned house, which
we used for a schoolhouse, but it was little better than
teaching out of doors. When it rained the water not
only came through the top, but through the sides as well.
During cold winter rains I had to teach while standing
with my overcoat on and with arctic rubbers to protect
myself against pneumonia. During those rainy days
Miss Lee would get up on a bench and stand there all
day to keep her feet out of the water and would have
an umbrella stretched over her to keep from getting wet
from above. The little fellows would be standing in the
water below like little ducks. They stood these condi
tions exceedingly well. Many of them were not pro
tected with overshoes or any shoes, but they came to
school each day just as if they had been properly clad.
It is impossible to describe the hardships that we suf
fered during that winter, which was severe for the South.
As the winter came on and grew more and more severe
a great many of the children were taken with pneumonia,
la grippe, and similar ailments. I wished, in the interest
of health, to abandon the school for a few weeks until
better weather ; but neither pupils, nor teachers, nor par
ents would listen to this, and so the school continued un
der these circumstances until the new schoolhouse was
ready for use. It is needless to say that some of the

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 95
pupils never survived those conditions ; in fact, the strange
thing is that any of us did.
During this time I would teach during the day, and
at night would go to some appointed place frora five to
fifteen miles away in the country, speak to the people,
stir up enthusiasm for education, and bring back a little
collection to help carry forward the new school. Sorae
times this collection would be twenty-five cents and some
times as much as three dollars. On Thanksgiving Day
we held a Thanksgiving service, the first that had ever
been held araong the colored people in Utica. It took
nearly half the day to explain to them what was meant
by Thanksgiving Day, but once they understood it, they
contributed freely from their little savings, to the amount
of thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents.
During all this tirae I had been bitterly opposed by
the colored Baptist minister, whose word was law to
every colored man and woraan in the community. He
had fought me from every point of vantage ; I had made
one attempt to reconcile hira, but he would not hear rae ;
then I had simply let him alone. After a while he came
within a hundred yards of the school in which I was
teaching and sent for me to come to him, saying that he
wished to talk with me. I went down to the road where
he was, we sat down on the ground, and this, as near as
I can remeraber, was the substance of his remarks :
"Brother Holtzclaw, I have come to talk with you on
the matter of your efforts here. I have watched you
constantly and have done everything in my power to in
jure you. I have tried to block your progress, and I have
tried to break you up because I thought you were a hum-

96 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
bug. I simply did not like your face when I first saw
you, but I have seen my mistake, and I have come humbly
to beg your pardon. I would have come as far as the
schoolhouse, but I did not feel worthy to put my foot
on the ground until I should confess my sins, and I want
to beg you to forgive rae. I proraise you that in the
future I shall help you push forward that which I now
see to be a great work. Let us pray."
He got down on his knees and prayed such a prayer
as I have not heard since. Then he called on rae to
pray, and there we were by ourselves down on the road
side. Meanwhile, a Negro passed by on a mule and went up
town and told everybody that the Baptist preacher had
"Professor" Holtzclaw down on his knees in the road
praying over him, or doing something, he could not tell
what. The news went abroad at once, and a great many
people came up to see what had really happened. I think
there was a mild suspicion that I had conjured the
preacher. This was, perhaps, due to his sudden conver
sion, when it becarae known.
Meanwhile, we got up out of the road and shook
hands. After it was all over I found rayself adrairing
the raan, and I could see the sarae admiration for me
in his face. Since that time we have been warm friends.
No minister has done more by word or act to make the
work at Utica a success than this sarae Baptist preacher.
This story is worth telling because it is one of many
like instances that took place in the beginning; and be
cause it reveals the cause of the failure of many an en
terprise in various communities. If you cannot get on

Principal Holtzclaw and the farmers felling the trees
used in the construction of the first
schoolhouse at Utica

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 97
with the colored preachers in a place, your chances of
success are slim in that community.
The work on the new schoolhouse was progressing.
Strange to say, all the lumber that I have spoken of,
which was provided by the Curry Brothers, was finishing
material. It contained no framing. All the work that
had been done up to this time was finishing work; we
had not yet bought the material for the foundation. As
we had no money with which to buy it, we felled some
trees in the forest, which came to us as a sort of con
tribution. Colored people do not regard trees as private
property in the far South, — at least, they did not use to
do so, — and it was not difficult for us to obtain the gift
of those whom we consulted. I led the farmers into the
woods where we felled the trees, then we placed them
on the wagons, hauled them to a near-by saw-mill, and
had them cut into lumber on shares. In this way we
succeeded in getting enough framing to finish the first
building. Despite the start we had made, however, I was fully
aware of the weakness of our organization, and so I be
gan to strengthen it by forming a more extensive organi
zation on a legal basis. It was then that I obtained the
services of the Hon. Paul D. Rattcliff, a reputable at
torney of Raymond, the county seat of Hinds County;
and he drew all the plans of the organization according
to my wishes and as nearly like those of Hampton and
Tuskegee as we could. We obtained a charter from the
State of Mississippi, and elected a new board of trustees.
This body consisted of some of the Negroes already
serving as trustees, together with some influential white

98 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
men in the community and sorae white men and women
in the North and West, whose consent to serve on the
board I had previously obtained.
The wisdom of having a mixed board of Northern and
Southern white men and of Negroes has been amply
justified. These trustees were not siraply figureheads,
but were raen and women deeply interested in the prog
ress of the colored race and of the South in general. Not
long after this organization was formed sorae of the trus
tees began to visit the school, coming from as far away
as Wisconsin and California, in order to familiarize
themselves with our effort. The Southern white raen
who were chosen were of the highest type of progressive
citizens, and were not only interested in the school as a
school, but would have been just as rauch interested in
any other effort that had for its object the betterment of
the condition of the whole people. These Northern and
Southern whites have met the Negro trustees annually
at the institution, and all the raeetings have been of the
most harmonious sort. They have investigated the school
and all its conditions, and have remedied matters very
often as they could not otherwise have been remedied.
The majority of the trustees pass a whole day at the
school once a year; and the Chairraan of the Board, Dr.
Henry E. Cobb, of New York City, usually perforras
the annual duty of presenting diplomas to the graduates.
After twelve years of contact with these men from va
rious parts of the country, I am convinced that the best
sort of an organization for this kind of Southern work
is an organization composed of Southern white men,
Southern Negroes, and Northern white men. In such

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 99
an organization the corporation gets the benefit of the
various points of view, and under such, circumstances
there is little reason why it should not keep itself in line
with all that is best for itself and for everybody con
cemed. As I have said before, our Board of Trustees,
— to whom all our property is deeded, and who control
and direct the destiny of this work, — is made up of in
terested individuals from various parts of the country.
The personnel of the Board as it now stands is as fol
lows: The Northern and Western whites are: Messrs.
Henry E. Cobb, of New York City; Francis B. Sears,
of Boston; W. J. Schieffelin, of New York City; George
L. Paine, of New Haven, Conn. ; John H. Storer, of
Boston ; Miss Fidelia Jewett, of San Francisco, and Miss
E. M. Perkins, of Cleveland, Ohio. The Southem whites
are : Bishop Theodore D. Bratton, of Jackson, Miss. ;
Messrs. R. W. Millsap, of Jackson, Miss. ; W. J. Fer
guson, of Utica, Miss. ; D. C. Simmons, of Utica, Miss.,
and Z. Wardlaw, of Utica, Miss. The Southern Negroes
are : Messrs. Emmet J. Scott, of Tuskegee, Ala. ; Charles
Banks, of Mound Bayou; L. K. Atwood, of Jackson,
Miss. ; and W. H. Holtzclaw, Dan Lee, Pies McCadney,
Harrison Flanders, and Isaiah Marshall, of Utica, Miss.

CHAPTER VII
So far, in describing the methods by which the school
was started, I have spoken principally of my own ef
forts, but it would not be just to omit the loyal raen, —
A. C. Carter, Tom Williams, Henry Sampson, Dan Lee,
Dan Griffin, Aaron Caldwell, Isaiah Marshall, Pies Mc
Cadney, Essex Gary, Zed McNeal, S. W. Harris, Harri
son Flanders, and others, — who met with me every Mon
day night, without fail, rain or shine, for four long
years in our effort to keep up the enthusiasm and thus
raise the money with which to carry on the school. These
men were all farmers. All except two were tenant farm
ers, — ^that is, they hved on and cultivated the lands be
longing as a rule to non-resident white men. They are
known in the South as prosperous farmers. Such farm
ers are usually those who rent large plantations for which
they pay from one to twenty bales of cotton, worth $50
a bale, as an annual rental. Then they sub-rent to less
progressive farmers, charging them a little more in pro
portion than they paid themselves, and in this way se
curing for themselves some financial benefit for the risk
and the responsibility that they assuraed. Besides, they
usually cultivated with their own hands a certain portion
of land for which they in reality paid no rent. They
were unassuming, hardworking, honest individuals. They
and their families made up the bulk of those who were

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN loi
found in the church and at Sunday school on Sundays,
and they were in every way the leaders of the com
munity. This class of persons is interesting, if for no
other reason than because they no longer exist as a class
in this community. At that time, however, I believe
this class was the rule and not the exception. I do not
mean that they were all always the good men that they
should have been, or even up to the standard of the men
whose names I have mentioned. On some plantations
conditions were bad. I have in mind now one of these
influential men who had charge of a plantation south
west of the town of Utica. If all that was said of him
was true, he was far from being a good man. I visited
that plantation several tiraes, and I was struck with the
fact that, although he was an unraarried raan, there were
six woraen farraers who were eraployed by him and who
lived in the same house with hira at the headquarters of
the plantation. More than once when I inquired what
kind of a man he was the reply would be that he had no
wife of his own and that he had Httle respect for the
wife of any one else. Nevertheless, he was boss of the
situation there, and had great influence with the owner
of that plantation, who was a raerchant in the town.
This Negro usuaUy carae to town every Saturday and
brought with him between ten and twenty men, women,
and children from the plantation. They would all usually
make some purchases before they went back, but hardly
one of them could buy a penny's worth until this raan's
narae was attached to the bargain. I found that it was
best to have little to do with this class of farmers, and I
cultivated the friendship and good- will of better men.

I02 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
The women, too, should not be forgotten, — ^that is, the
wives of the good men I have spoken of and of others
like them.
Our methods in building up our enterprise were sira
ple: we had subscription lists printed, and every person
kept one and placed thereon the name of any person who
wished to become interested in the upbuilding of the
school. Then we gave festivals, sociables, and various
other entertainments, to which everybody in the cora
munity contributed fried chicken, baked chicken, baked
pigs, turkeys, and other edibles. These things were sold
to the young people and indeed to any one that could
be induced to buy. It is surprising how much small
change could be brought together in this way.
Mothers sent in their mites. The following letter
from one of them was received at a critical time :
"dear fessor Please cept dis i8 cents it is all I has I
saved it out n my washin dis week god will bless yo will
send some more next week"
Similar letters accompanied baskets of eggs and other
home products, and all breathed the fervent hope that I
might succeed, that their children might have a chance
to go to school in a good "school 'ouse."
Suffice it to say that within six months after we started
in the open air we had a new schoolhouse almost com
pleted. Up to this time the excitement occasioned by
the building of a new and strange sort of school in the
hitherto sleepy community had spread so rapidly that
young people had been attracted from every direction;
hence, although we started with twenty pupils, we now
found ourselves with two hundred and twenty-five, one

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 103
hundred and fifteen more than had ever before been
known to attend school in that place. It is a fact that
this extra one hundred and fifteen pupils were not resi
dent pupils. They had come from a great distance and
were finding lodging with friends in cabins here and
there, wherever they could; and this proved exceedingly
unsatisfactory, so much so that I readily saw that if the
school was to be a permanent success, it would have to
provide sorae method of taking care of those pupils who
came from a distance, — ^that is, that we should have to
set up a boarding department.
In the first place, I myself had had no regular board
ing-place. My wife was still in Alabama, and I was re
ceiving from her daily letters in which she begged per
raission to join me. I had asked her not to come, because
I felt that the conditions would be intolerable for her.
Still, she continued writing rae to let her come, even
after I had told her the exact conditions, — namely, that
I was teaching out of doors, and that ray living quarters
were not much better. Her answer came by return mail.
She said it did not matter what the conditions were, or
what the hardships might be in the future, she preferred
to come on and live with me and share thera. There was
nothing for me to do but consent, so she soon joined me.
As soon as she reached Utica we decided that it would
be best to set up houseke'eping, and use our own home as
a temporary boarding-place for the school. We rented
a little rarashackled log cabin, located in the raiddle of a
cotton plantation near the school. It had one room and a
loft above made by laying some loose boards upon the
joists. In this room my wife and I lived. I improvised

I04 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
a kitchen at the back of the room with a stick-and-dirt
chimney. We bought two chairs, a bedstead, two knives,
two forks, two plates, and a frying-pan, and Mary, my
wife, made a bedtick of crocus sacks and filled it with hay
from the fields. This constituted our household goods;
and with the exception of this bedtick fiUed with hay frora
the field there was nothing else in the house. But I was
not to enjoy even this comfort long, for within a week
two students came who wanted to board with us and go
to school. We got another bedtick, filled it with hay,
and put it up in the loft. The young man and I used that
part of the house, while my wife and the young woman
lived below. These were our first boarding-students.
The conditions were trying : the winter was cold, there
was not covering enough, and I had no money with which
to buy more. But my wife and I were used to hardships
of this kind, and so was the young woraan, but the young
raan could not hold out.
My wife was born and reared in Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
so she was a city girl, and after the fashion of city girls
she had always been accustomed to using a cooking-stove
in preparing her meals, and she did not know how to
cook at the open fireplace with a frying-pan. The conse
quence was that the task fell to me, and my wife tells me
even now that she has never had a meal since then that
has tasted so good as did those that I prepared in the
frying-pan. It is impossible to describe accurately the conditions
through which we passed in order to get the school firmly
established. Even after we had more room and fifty
girls and boys as boarders it was almost, if not quite, as

Old log cabin where the Utica Normal and Indus
trial Institute had its birth. This house was used
as the first dormitory and was occupied by Prin
cipal and Mrs. Holtzclaw and their only child.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 105
difficult to make them comfortable, with our scanty
means, as it had been that first winter. At one tirae, in
fact, the young woraen determined to revolt, — to "strike,"
as it were. They carae to my office and said that they
could not stand any longer the condition under which
they were living, and that they would have to give up the
effort to get an education. It was very cold; there was
not enough fuel to go around, and not enough bedding.
They were actually suffering for covering. I agreed
with them that it was hard, but I asked them to corae to
the little chapel that night, proraising that they should all
have honorable dismissal from the school, if they so de
sired. We went to the chapel two hours earlier than usual,
at 7 o'clock. After prayers I gave them a little talk in
which I told them something of my own experience at
school and of Booker Washington's having slept under a
bridge when a boy; then I cal' 1 on them to reraember
their future before taking the step that they were about
to take. When I had finished talking I was surprised to
see that there were fifteen or twenty girls crying hysteri
cally. They all came and shook hands with me before
they left the chapel, and they declared they would never
leave school of their own volition.
It was then 8 o'clock, and it was snowing. There
would be rauch suffering that night, yet I did not know
what I could possibly do to make the students corafort
able. When I went down frora the chapel and opened
ray mail I was surprised to find that a friend in New
York City had sent me a check for fifty dollars, with the
wish that I should spend it for the corafort of the stu-

io6 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
dents. I took ten of the boys and set out for town, but
when we got there the stores were all closed and the
people gone to bed. I went down and woke up one of
the merchants, told him the conditions, and got him to
dress himself; then he came to the store and sold me
fifty quilts. These were carried back and laid over the
sleeping girls in twenty-five beds. Those girls ^lept warm
that night, even though they did not know why. Some
of thera declare, even to this day, that they got warraed
up in the chapel during my talk and stayed warm the
remainder of the night.
Our difficulties were not all of this material sort. We
had to adjust ourselves to the conditions that existed in
the community, and that was a difficult task. It is so
easy to be misunderstood by both whites and blacks. For
instance, one of my first plans in the early years was to
drill the boys in military tactics, both as a matter of
physical training and as a matter of discipline. The ma
jority of the boys had to work in the fields during the
day, so I devised a plan of drilling them one or two hours
at night out in the open fields. They drilled with their
old shot guns and fired a blank volley now and then. It
was not long before a committee of colored men called on
me and advised me to stop drilling the boys. They said
that the white people were becoming excited and were
freely saying that I had corae into the state to bring about
a return of '76. I did not know just what was raeant by
'76, as I was a baby in '76, but, in obedience to their
wishes, I stopped drilling for the tirae, and it was several
years before we resumed this practice. Drilling (with-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 107
out guns) is now a part of the daily routine, and nobody
thinks 'anything about it.
There are many stories told in Utica about the Recon
struction period of 1876. I have heard many of them
from the lips of old residents, both white and colored,
and, from all that I can glean, the trouble seems to have
had its origin in the determination of the white people at
that period to rid themselves of Negro domination and to
reinstate themselves politically. The principal point of
hostilities was about twenty miles from here, in the vi
cinity of Clinton, where took place what were known at
that time as the "Clinton Riots," — riots in which the
whites and the Negroes clashed, and in which several
lives were lost. I had read of these riots, but the stories
told by raen who had seen thera, — especially by one
man who acknowledged that he had taken part in them, —
were exceedingly interesting. The activity of the white
people in Copiah county also, a few railes south of Utica,
— which, it will be reraembered, called forth at that time
an investigation by a committee sent from Washington
by the United States Governraent, — caused the Negroes
to be subdued and stripped of political power. Although
Utica was not the storm center of all this trouble, being
between the two main points, it was drawn into the diffi
culty. Suffice it to say that when the trouble was all over,
and peace and order were again restored, it seems that
the Negroes had been shown "their place." Ever since
that time the good white people of Utica and of all the
other sections of the South have been working to keep
harmony between the races. Here at Utica, therefore,
the white people naturally looked with suspicion upon any

io8 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
stranger that came into their community and seemed to
be preparing for future trouble. Therefore, when the
news came to me that they objected to my drilling the
boys, I stopped at once. I did not wish to antagonize
them in any way, but on the other hand I wanted to
cultivate their friendship, so that we could all work to
gether for a raore peaceable community.
In this connection, let me tell of our first effort to have
public exercises in the church at night. The people had
warned rae that it was a dangerous thing to attempt and
had threatened not to let their children attend the exer
cises. But I created so much interest and enthusiasm
among the young people while I was making my prepara
tions that on the night when the exercises took place
there were more people, both white and black, in at
tendance than had ever before been in the church.
The church building was located deep in the forest,
and it was not lighted, except by two or three smoky
lamps that hung frora the rafters. We charged ten cents
admittance, which two of the deacons were to collect at
the door. As soon as it was dark some one fired off a
pistol. Women and children screamed and men sought
places of safety. The deacons at the door were knocked
down and run over, and all the people that the house
could hold came in free of charge. Those who could not
get in proceeded to break the windows, and one or two
young fellows were on the roof ripping off the boards so
that they could look through.
In the midst of all this confusion it was, of course,
impossible for us to proceed with our concert. I made
an effort to call the crowd to order, but only succeeded in

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 109
producing more confusion. About this time a note was
passed up to the stage. It read as follows : "If you do
not proceed with that concert, we will show you how we
do business in Utica." I did not know just what the note
meant, but I was just as much disturbed as if I did. One
of the deacons atterapted to interpret its raeaning for me,
and he said it meant that if I refused to go forward with
the concert, I would be shot. It was impossible, how
ever, to proceed, and no one was shot. My next atterapt
to give a concert was in a new building which was still
not quite finished. We had completed the second story,
but nothing had been done to the interior of the first
story, and in order to get to the second story we had to
use a ladder, as a stairway had not been constructed. So
many people went up this ladder into the building that the
floor on which they were seated began to give way.
While we were down on our knees at prayer I happened
to cast my eyes over the audience and I saw that the floor
had given way in the center, it seemed to me, at least a
foot. Something had to be done immediately, otherwise
it would only be a matter of a few rainutes before the
floor would break through and many lives would prob
ably be lost. I tiptoed out and went down-stairs and
asked several colored men who were standing here and
there to help me saw sorae timbers to brace the floor.
No one of them would help, simply giving as their rea
son : "It's Sunday. We can't work on Sunday." A few
hours after that I saw one of those same men, a meraber
of the church, buying "Blind Tiger" whiskey not fifty
yards from the house.
I succeeded, however, with the assistance of Dan Lee,

iiio THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
the leading colored carpenter of the coraraunity, in prop
ping up the floor and preventing a catastrophe. It was
done so quietly that Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, of Tougaloo Uni
versity, who was delivering a sermon, never knew what
was going on down-stairs, nor did the audience know.

CHAPTER VIII
While I am relating the story of the struggles of what
is now the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute, I must
not fail to mention one of its earliest friends, the late
President of the Board of Trustees, the Rev. R. C. Bed
ford, of Beloit, Wisconsin. In fact, Mr. Bedford's in
terest in the work at Utica dates back to a period before
its founding, for when I told him, a year before I went
to Utica, that I expected to settle there, he promptly
came down from Illinois, went to Utica, and made an ex
amination of the conditions there before he would perrait
rae to undertake work in Mississippi.
Soon after I had begun work at Utica he paid rae a
visit and passed several days with rae, assisting, suggest
ing, and advising as to the best way to proceed. Ever
after that until his death he made from one to two visits
to Utica annually, always bringing with hira raany help
ful suggestions in regard to the work. I have met few
men who have been as much interested in the develop
ment of the Negro, and of all the people in the South, as
Mr. Bedford was. Time alone can tell the value of what
this man did for us. In those early days, when we were
confronted at times ahnost with starvation and when
things seemed hopeless, it was the constant letter that
carae frora Mr. Bedford that brightened our pathway.

112 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
strengthened our hearts, and made it possible for us to
stand firm.
His faith in the possibilities of the work at Utica was
always strong, and he was one of the few persons that
I have met whose belief that we would succeed anything
like approached ray own. He was a true friend of the
Negro. The work grew day by day. While its influence was
spreading the task of maintaining the school was becora
ing even more burdensome. Outside assistance had to be
found, and I went to Boston and New York. I had al
ready been in correspondence with Mrs. Mary Clement
Leavitt, who had become somewhat interested in the
work. I had also interested Mr. John Wells Morss, a
Boston attorney, who sent me his check for ten dollars, —
the first outside assistance that I received for my work,
and it carae at a tirae when I was nearly ready to give up.
It may be that this one gift saved the situation.
When I reached Boston I had three dollars left from
my long trip. I used one dollar and a quarter of that
to pay for a small room for a week, — for a room that
was not heated, in which there was scant furniture, and
I was not accustomed to the Northern climate. With the
rest of the money I purchased a meal ticket ; by this time
I was absolutely without a cent. The next day I called
on Mrs. Leavitt, told her my story, and she, becoming
greatly interested, did what she could for me.
She had just returned from a trip around the world,
and she had thus had the opportunity to corae in contact
with various races of raen. This trip had stiraulated her
interest in huraanity as a whole, so she often said, and

Ginn Memorial Hall, Academic building, nearing completion.
The work on this building is being performed
wholly by student labor

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 113
had inspired her with a keen desire to help the colored
people of her own country. She accordingly entered en
thusiastically into my plans and sought to devise ways
to help me.
From that day until eight years later, when she passed
away, she was my constant friend and helper. She had
been a school-teacher in Boston for many years, and had
in this way become acquainted with a great many people.
Besides that, in her public work in the Women's Chris
tian Temperance Union she had come into close touch
with many of the best women of the country.
The largest single donation that has ever come to the
Institution came from the estate of the late Mr. F. B.
Ginn, of the well known publishing corapany of Boston
of that narae, in 1907. Mr. Ginn, in his boyhood days,
had been a pupil of Mrs. Leavitt, and when she called on
him for a contribution, or rather put me in touch with
him, he promptly subscribed $500 toward the purchase
of a large plantation, which we now own. A few months
later, although he was in good health, he seemed to have
a premonition of what was to come and wrote me a letter
asking if I would rather take $300 then or wait and take
$500 when I had raised the $25,000 for the purchase of
the plantation. I proraptly replied that I preferred to
wait for the $500. Meantime, before I had raised the
$25,000, Mr. Ginn had passed away, but in his will he
did not forget what he considered his obligation to the
work at Utica.
This is one instance of the many that took place during
that first week in which Mrs. Leavitt introduced me to
sorae of her friends in Boston.

114 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
The week was passing; my raeal ticket had been
punched until there were few meals left, and I had begun
to fear that I should have to give up the room. I called
on business man after business man in Boston, but was
turned away, frequently with scant consideration.
At length my earnest prayers were answered, and by
the merest accident I called to see Mr. Edwin D. Mead,
who seemed to me to be one of the really great men of
New England. He listened attentively to my story and
read Dr. Washington's letter, one from the governor of
Mississippi, another from the raayor and other friends
at Utica, and still another frora Mr. W. J. Edwards, with
whora I had previously worked in Snow HUl, Alabama.
After he had read these letters carefully and had ques
tioned me closely he invited me to lunqh the next day at
the Twentieth Century Club.
I enjoyed that luncheon for several reasons, — one was
that ray raeal ticket had been punched for the last time
the night before. There I met a number of prominent
men, among them Dr. Charles F. Dole, who has evei*
since shown a lively interest in the Utica School. I ad
dressed the Twentieth Century Club for five minutes and
received many congratulations, and the next morning I
received frora Dr. Dole a contribution of seven dollars
and fifty cents, which was sent with his cordial good
wishes. Since that time Dr. Dole, Mr. Mead, and others
whom I was fortunate enough to meet at the Club have
been constant friends and supporters of my work.
Meanwhile, the school was not prospering at horae.
There was such dissension araong the local supporters
that it seemed as if the project would be broken up in

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 115
spite of all I could do. To check this, I decided to hurry
back before there had been time to raake the trip North
worth while.
Just when I had nowhere to turn for help I received
a check for one hundred dollars from the John F. Slater
Fund of New York. It was the first hundred dollars
I had ever received, and it seemed a tremendously big
sum. I hardly knew what to do with it. The workers
for whom it was intended would not accept it, and I
thought it too much money to put into one schoolhouse at
one time, so I began to devise a number of wonderful
things to accompUsh with so large a sum. Stern facts,
however, showed that it would not go very far toward
the completion of the building, but it did go far enough
to avert an impending disaster and to save the Institution
to do its share in bringing about the results for which
we are all working in the South.
In spite of all difficulties the school was growing both
in influence and reputation among the local white people.
This is shown by the following editorial, which appeared
in the Utica News, a paper edited by one of the leading
yotmg white men in the town :
"There is in our community, just outside of the corpo
rate limits of the town, a movement which I feel we do
not fuUy comprehend. It is an industrial school, —
founded by William H. Holtzclaw and his wife, two
Negroes from Booker T. Washington's school, who seem
destined to do work here among us for the good of all the
people, — a school that is of more significance than we at
the present time realize."
I frequently made use of the newspapers to put the in-

ii6 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
terests of the school before the people of both races in
the community, and in all these communications I sought
to make clear that the Utica Normal and Industrial In
stitute was a sincere effort to improve the condition of
the masses of my own people in the community. I knew
that the best white people were perfectly sincere in the
belief that many of them held that education was not a
thing that did the Negro any good. I knew, also, that
the best people in the community, if they were moved by
no higher purpose than their own interests and the in
terests of the white race, would support any effort that
they were convinced was really for the good of my race.
For that reason, I took every means I could to advertise
among the white as well as the colored people the prac
tical results of our work. I did this to convince the cora
munity that education did actually make better and more
efficient men and women of the Negroes; that a Negro
was, or could be, a real asset to the community, that he
could become an efficient, law-abiding citizen, preventing
disorder and promoting peace between the races.

CHAPTER IX
During the first suraraer after the school was organ
ized I determined to take a quartet of young men singers
on a tour as a means of interesting more people in our
efforts. We travelled through the Catskills and the Adi
rondacks, along the North Shore of Massachusetts, as far
north as Bar Harbor, Maine, and also in the White
Mountains, and we met with several interesting adven
tures. One night, quite late in August, we found our
selves at a place not far from Fabyan, N. H., where it
was not possible to get shelter for the night. We stayed
about the little railroad station until it was locked and
we were turned out of doors. It was very cold consider
ing it was a summer night, so cold that we did not dare
lie down on the ground for any length of time, so we
walked back and forth on the railroad to keep warm.
Late in the night, however, the boys became so tired that
they dropped here and there upon the ground and went
to sleep. The next morning Mr. William A. Harris, one
of ray teachers, who had charge of the quartet, found
he had contracted a severe cold. He never recovered
from that exposure, and now lies in the little cemetery
near Utica. As for me, I walked the entire night. I did
not dare stop. I suppose I walked many miles back and
forth on the railroad tracks before day.
In Georgetown, New York, I was surprised to receive

ii8 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
an invitation from the proprietor of one of the leading
suraraer hotels to address his guests in the parlor after
dinner. He was careful to explain that his guests were
largely Southern people, and I accepted the invitation
with some reluctance, as I had never before addressed
an exclusively Southern audience in a Northern state.
I appeared promptly at 8 o'clock P. M., and spoke for
about an hour. Never before had I experienced such a
reception as I experienced that night, and I was sur
prised to see when I had finished my plea for my race
that several of my audience were visibly affected.
A lady, evidently of much culture, came up and, be
tween sobs, said : "I want you to know I am a Southem
woman. My father owned slaves. I know all about your
people ; I know their faults and their virtues. I approve
of all that you have said in your wonderful address. I
believe you are the right man for your great task in
Mississippi." She then broke down completely, and her husband
came up and took her by the arm. As he carried her
away, still weeping, he winked his eye at me in a rather
significant way, and said to her in a low voice : "Come
on, dear ; the 'niggers' will come through all right. When
you get back down in Mississippi your cook will change
your tune." I was thoroughly surprised when I learned
for the first tirae that I was talking to Mississippians.
While I was on this tour I received a letter frora Miss
Fidelia Jewett, of San Francisco, and a correspondence
was then begun that has never ceased. She became inter
ested in my work and visited the institution the following
year. We had not finished the first building when she

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 119
came, accompanied by her friend, Miss Martin, one of
the professors of Leland Stanford University. Although
we had no place to take care of guests at that time, we
prepared a little rough-hewn table, provided with still
rougher food, in the dirt-floor cabin. The ladies made
themselves comfortable and seemed happy. They became
so much interested in all that we were trying to do that
Miss Jewett resolved to erect a building for us in mem
ory of her mother. This building is known as the Mary
K. Jewett Memorial Hall, and is one of our most sub
stantial buildings.
As the work developed I saw that what was most
needed among the people was the training and develop
ment that Dr. Washington was giving to the people of
Alabama, — industrial education. So I turned ray atten
tion toward starting that departraent. As we had no
apparatus, nor shops, nor raoney, I decided to go to New
York and see what could be done. The first person I
called on was Dr. Henry E. Cobb, minister of the West
End Collegiate Church. I entered his office and ap
proached him, with no little hesitation, but his cordiality
surprised me. I laid my plans carefully before him and
he agreed to consider thera and to let rae hear frora hira.
Some weeks later, after he had corresponded with Mr.
Edwards, Dr. Washington, and others, he concluded that
he would help me. He invited me to corae before one of
his Wednesday evening prayer meetings and tell my story
to his congregation, who showed surprising interest in my
address. After the services a large nuraber of the people
carae forward, shook my hand, and many of them left a
dollar in my palm. At one tirae the hand-shaking was

I20 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
so lively that I had to use both hands, and I went away
the next morning with $250.
Dr. Cobb and the merabers of his church, who felt
that it would be desirable for the students to learn the
printer's trade, gave us a little press and two or three
cases of type, while a lady gave some apparatus to start
a sewing-room, and thus we had two industries. An
other person gave fifty dollars for some farm tools, and
I took part of the money that had been collected that
night to buy tools for the beginning of a blacksmith shop.
The result was that in less than two months we had these
new enterprises running, and they have been doing busi
ness ever since. They have grown until some of them
are in a position to enable the students to learn valuable
trades. Other industries were added from time to time until
there were twenty-two on the grounds, — practical and
scientific agriculture, stock raising, poultry raising, car
pentering, building and general wood-working, black
smithing, broom-making, painting, saw-milling and gen
eral lumber manufacturing, printing, bookbinding, steam
engineering, electrical engineering, brick masonry, shoe-
making, tailoring, plain sewing, dressmaking, miUinery,
laundering, and general housekeeping.
Everybody was kept very busy, but a great deal of the
work was imperfectly performed, and our lack of funds
made it impossible for us to employ as many instructors
as we needed. One teacher sometimes performed what
should have been the duties of a half-dozen teachers.
This in itself made it impossible for the work to be done
in an3rthing like the best possible way, and the teachers

Utica Institute swine herd. Large boar near center weighed 840 pounds and took first prize and champion
ship at State Fair in 19 13

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 121
themselves were not always thoroughly trained, so it
happened that, although everybody, both teachers and
students, were in earnest, the teaching of trades was very
often carried on in a most haphazard way. Soraetiraes
a teacher had to be placed in charge of sorae division
about which he or she knew alraost nothing, and had to
gain sufficient experience day by day to teach the pupils
that carae under him or her. The whole thing was an
experiment, but because of the earnestness and sincerity
of the workers there was a perceptible improvement frora
day to day. But it did not raatter how hard we worked
or how earnest we were, we could never reach anything
like perfection, and even now after twelve years of work
we find ourselves struggling toward better work in all
departments but still a very long way from accomplishing
such splendid results as have been accomplished by Hamp
ton, Tuskegee, and similar institutions. From time to
time, however, changes have been raade in the working
forces, both in the acaderaic and industrial divisions, and
better, stronger, and more experienced teachers have been
found and added until the work now turned out is far
superior to what it used to be, although we all feel that it
is still far inferior to what it should be; but there is solace
in the fact that gradual improvement has been made.
As the school grew in influence and in efficiency I be
gan to see more and raore the wisdora of Dr. Washing
ton, not only in the kind of instruction he was giving the
young Negro raen and women who attended his school,
but also in the influence that he sought to exercise upon
the community, as a whole, white and black. In order to
understand the significance, for example, of a school like

122 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
our own, it is necessary to understand the conditions
under which it grew up. In the first place, it was estab
lished in the black belt section of the state, on the line
between two counties, Copiah and Hinds. In Hinds
County, the county in which the capital is located, there
were at that time about 52,000 inhabitants, of whom
40,000 were Negroes. Of these 40,000 more than 13,000
could neither read nor write a single word. Copiah is
what we call a hill county, and contained about two Ne
groes to one white person.
Of the 12,000 whites in Hinds County 7,000 lived in
the seven towns, thus leaving but 5,000 whites scattered
over a county the extent of whose territory is nearly that
of the state of Rhode Island, while a great raajority of
the Negroes lived in the country districts. In the irarae
diate vicinity of Utica the Negroes outnurabered the
whites seven to one. Outside the towns, notwithstanding
this preponderance of Negroes, careful investigation re
vealed less than half a dozen comfortable Negro school-
houses. Why was this so ? It seems to rae that it is ex
plained by the fact that the colored people were so lacking
in leadership that if they attempted to build without out
side aid it took them two or three years to coraplete a
comfortable building. Before this tirae had elapsed all in
terest was usually gone. There was no enthusiasm, and
still less 'cash, so the work stopped, and the house stood
incomplete, — a monument to lost enthusiasm and lack of
leadership. Show me a good school building in Missis
sippi's rural districts, and there I will show you an un
selfish young man or woman who has sacrificed time and
strength to make such a building possible. There must

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 123
first be leaders in the rural districts before there can be
schools with proper buildings.
I have suggested that one cause of the poor condition
of schools was the poverty of the Negroes themselves as
a whole. I use this word poverty advisedly, for I con
sider him poor indeed who has never learned how to
make proper use of his earnings. Negroes in this sec
tion of the country make quite as much money as, if not
more per capita than, is made by a sirailar class of farm
ers anywhere else in the country ; but the greater part of
this money is spent foolishly. This is the rule, though
there are splendid exceptions. I have put emphasis on the
fact that we must have leaders in every community be
fore we can have proper schools because I know the kind
of jealousies and the bickerings that arise wherever en
terprises are undertaken. I know that there are usually
two or more factions which it is difficult to get to work
in harmony. In order to bring about harmony and in
duce tearawork while raising funds among the people to
establish and maintain a school community, there must
be a leader whose opportunities have been at least a
little better than those of the average man, and who
has the confidence of all factions. Then, too, whatever
raoney is furnished by the state for the building of
schools in rural districts is disbursed through the county
officers who are given great latitude with the funds. The
amount that any given coraraunity can obtain for a Negro
school depends, to some extent at least, on the ability of
the teacher in that coraraunity or on an intelligent board
of trustees who can irapress their needs as well as the
justice of their cause upon these county officers. For

124 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
instance, there is a law on the statute books of this state
to the effect that each county is entitled to an agricul
tural high school, but few counties, so far, have taken
advantage of building such schools for Negroes. When
our schools can send sincere, progressive men into the
various counties, men who understand and can get in
touch with the white officials and press their cause, agri
cultural schools will become as common for Negroes in
Mississippi as they now are for whites.
The raatter of local taxation, however, is very irapor
tant in any discussion of uplifting rural Negroes, I ara
fully aware of the state's duty to educate its citizens of
all colors, but I also know that Negroes should learn how
to tax themselves in order to build up their own com
munity. And in order to accomplish this they need lead
ers. Dr. Booker T. Washington has fuUy demonstrated
this fact in Macon County, Alabama, the county in which
Tuskegee Institute is located. Gradually he has sent out
into that county a stream of earnest, consecrated men and
women who have gone right to the heart of the people
and have turned into proper channels large sums of
money that formerly went for candy, cheap jewelry, and
tobacco. The result is, as I am told, that $5,000 a year
is contributed now by the Negroes of Macon County,
over and above what may be received from the state or
any other source. Therefore our greatest effort in all
these rural districts should be to teach the people how to
use their own earnings for their betterment, — to use them
for the substantial and not the ornamental things of life,
— to teach them to depend upon themselves, to find in
their own comraunities and about their own doors a

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 125
raeans of progress and betterraent, and not to look to
any outside source whatever. These leaders must smite
the rock and let the people drink of the waters that wiU
flow freely. Why should people look to any other section
of the country for the means of educating and uplifting
themsdves when they raay have it here at their own doors
simply by trying? From the beginning it has been our
object to send out from this institution young raen and
woraen who will take the lead wherever they may locate.
Our aim has been to teach them that, instead of constantly
appealing for funds frora everywhere else except at horae,
they should seek to raake of every raan with whora they
come into contact a sort of home missionary, — one who
will not only be interested in the raaking of his own lo
cality but who will gradually begin to look out upon the
world to see if there is not soraething he can do toward
helping someone else.
Speaking of conditions, the political situation must be
considered, because it certainly has its bearing upon the
progress of any undertaking of the colored man in the
South. When the Hon. James K. Vardaman, who up to
that tirae had been an ordinary newspaper editor in the
Delta of Mississippi, was before the people asking them
to elect him Governor of the state, he made the Negro
question his principal issue, and went from one end of the
state to the other delivering addresses that inflamed the
passions of the whites against the Negroes. Taking for
his text very often sorae real or supposed crime of some
ignorant, degraded Negro and putting it before the people
in a way to arouse in them a deep hatred of all Negroes,
Mr. Vardaman did a great deal to bring abput strained

126 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
relations between the races, — at least, until he was better
understood. Recently I heard him deliver an address in which he
grew most eloquent while speaking of the natural advan
tages of Mississippi, and the applause was vociferous.
But when he suddenly shifted to the dangers of woman
suffrage because of the presence of large numbers of
Negro woraen in the South there was a painful silence
(quickly broken by an "Uncle Jim's" story), and an in
telligent white gentleman, standing near rae at the edge
of the crowd, remarked to one of his friends : "See, he
is eloquent when he is sincere; but when he gets on the
Negro question he becomes tiresome." One of Missis
sippi's leading white citizens, turning to a Negro school
teacher who was standing near by and looking somewhat
dejected, said : "Cheer up, old man. There's plenty roora
in this country for us all, — especiaUy in Mississippi. The
substantial people of the South pay no attention to such
stuff as this."
I remember Mr. Vardaman was quoted almost daily
in the papers as saying that God Almighty created the
Negro a menial, a servant of servants, a hewer of wood
and a drawer of water, and that he would be this until
the end of time; it was, therefore, the duty of the white
man to use every effort to keep him in his place. It stmck
me as strange that the voters did not see in this assertion
that Mr. Vardaman was flatly contradicting himself. He
boldly declared that if he was elected Govemor he would
use aU his power to prevent lynching, yet he created the
impression that as a private citizen he would join a raob
to lynch a Negro, under certain conditions. After he was

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 127
elected Governor he proceeded to do just as he said,-^
prevent lynchings. But many citizens, araong thera sorae
of his friends, refused to give him credit for this service,
classing his acts with those of a man who would set his
own house on fire in the rear in order that he might come
around in front and show his neighbors how he could
put the fire out.
Mr. Vardaman not only sought to show by every pos
sible means that the education of the Negro was detri
mental to the white man, but also that it spoUed the
Negro and made him useless. He abolished the only Nor
mal school for Negroes that the state possessed, claiming
that the white people paid the taxes and that their money
should not b.e spent to educate the Negro.
In all this, however, he was not entirely unopposed,
for there was a large contingent of the best white people
throughout the state who knew that he was wrong and
who did not hesitate to tell him so. Among thera was the
Hon. Alfred Holt Stone, of Greenville, Mississippi. Let
rae quote his words used in the heat of the carapaign:
"The public school education of the Negro is raeager
enough, in all conscience." Speaking of the taxes paid,
he continued: "In the form of direct taxes, it [the
Negro's tax] may not be large, but no fair-minded man
can deny that indirectly the Negro pays as great a tax as
any agricultural class in America. We have the sura of
$139,706 paid by the Negroes in four counties of this
state alone. The araount expended on Negro education
in the entire state, — sixty-six counties, I believe, — 'J
placed at about $400,000." Defending the use that dy
Negro makes of his education, he said : "What woulrie.

128 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Delta planter do, if he could not pick up a Negro who
could read and write whenever he wanted him?"
But the hardest blows, perhaps, were delivered upon
the Vardaman following by the late Bishop Charles B.
Galloway, who not only believed in fair play for all men
but had the courage of his convictions. He never rushed
into political conflicts except when he was fired by the
wish to see justice done to the weakest and the humblest,
to defend the defensdess, or to cause righteousness to
prevail. When he did speak he had the advantage of
great learning, accurate information, and much prestige,
all of which compelled men of every political faith to
stand still and listen to the truths which he .propounded.
I say he had an advantage because many of those who
opposed hira were conspicuously lacking in the qualities
that he possessed.
When Negro education was being assailed raost vig
orously the Bishop defended it in many great utterances,
from one of which I take the following extract :
"I have studied, with no small degree of pains, the
records of the graduates of most of the leading colored
institutions of learning in this country, and I ara grati
fied with the result. I have been unable to find a single
graduate from any representative Christian institution
that has been convicted of any infamous crime. Educa
tion elevates all people, and I deny, with all the emphasis
I of my being, the charge that education does not elevate
b'and make better the black man."
us* While this political turmoil was going on the Utica
impstitute was established. It succeeded, mainly, I sup-
to Ijse, because it had no politics of its own.

CHAPTER X
In the raidst of all this political flurry the Utica Nor
mal and Industrial Institute grew year by year, fostered
by the kind feeling of both the local white people and the
colored people, who gave their raoney annually to help its
growth. If there is a white man in Utica who has not
contributed to the expenses of the Institute, I do not
know him.
While this work was going on it dawned on rae that
still further activities should he coraraenced in that cora
munity, — that is, that we should help the people in gen
eral to rise with the school. This was a difficult raatter,
for people who are corapletely down are soraetimes quick
to resent any suggestion of that fact, even when a way
is made to help thera up. This is just the condition we
had to meet, but by organized raethods we in tirae suc
ceeded. One of our raost profitable raeans of reaching the peo
ple was by organizing the teachers, of whora there were
several at this tirae, into what we called a "Teachers'
Extension Movement." The various members of this
organization were assigned a given locality in which to
work, entirely apart from their school duties. They were
to do all in their power to show the people in that locality
how to better their condition, — that is, they were to buy
a few acres of land, to have chickens and pigs and a raule.

I30 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
to pay for their little homes, to plant fruit trees and shade
trees, and to buUd a comfortable little house of two,
three, or four rooms to take the place of the old one-
room cabin.
The amount of work these teachers succeeded in doing
was something astonishing. They labored with the peo
ple incessantly, in season and out of season, and oc
casionally they would have the entire faculty visit the
different working-places and there make demonstrations,
deliver addresses, and help in a general way toward
spreading knowledge. These meetings have continued
until the present time.
As an example of the direct and simple manner in
which it is possible to teach the masses of the people, I
recall an experience of my own. One night, after having
delivered an address to the people of the Bear Creek com
munity, I went home to pass the night with one of them.
The next morning at breakfast there was only salt pork
and bread before us, with sugar and coffee. It was a
dry meal, and the fact that it was an average breakfast
made it no more palatable. I was sitting near a window,
— a hole in the wall, — and I noticed that blackberry vines
laden with ripe, luscious- berries were hanging over the
window. I reached out, picked a few, put them into a
saucer, put some sugar on them, and proceeded to eat.
Soon the whole family were eating berries.
Such almost unconscious lessons as this have gone on
until a large part of the fruit and berries that used to go
to waste is now preserved and used the year round.
One other way of helping the people has been through
our Negro Farmers' Conference, which meets annually

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 131
at the institution. At these conferences Negro farmers
gather from all over the state of Mississippi and discuss
their business, their troubles, their joys and sorrows,
their progress or failure. They always end by "resolut-
ing" a little, — making determinations to better their con
dition. The following sketch taken frora the Springfield
(Mass.) Republican, February, 1905, will give a fairly
clear idea of the object of these conferences :
"A recent conference of Negro farmers and educators
at the Mississippi institution put its conclusions into reso
lutions that are worth printing for the good sense and
serious thought that is in them, as follows :
" 'Resolved : That it is the sense of this Conference
that unless the Negro is something apart from the rest
of humanity, he must follow the beaten path of history
by raaking the soil the source of all prosperity, the basis
of his teraporal existence. We believe that the race that
owns a due proportion of the soil and has improved it
after the manner of modern civilization will receive the
respect and encourageraent of mankind. We, therefore,
urge our people to struggle by every honest means to buy
land, to build good raodern houses, to dignify them, to
pay taxes upon them, and never mortgage them. We
urge also that every man see to it that his poll tax is paid.
" 'Resolved : That we give raore attention to the build
ing up of the public schools, for it is to these schools we
are to look for the education of the masses of our people.
We urge that better schoolhouses be constructed in every
county, that a higher grade of teachers be installed in
those schools, and that the people tax themselves to secure
proper schoolhouses and better teachers. We think it
wise that committees in the different states go before the

132 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
legislatures to try to induce them to introduce instruction
in agriculture in the public school curriculum. [Such
instruction is now given in the public schools of this
state.] We urge the parents to make more and more sac
rifices for the education of their children. We believe
it would be wise and right, since our race, needs wise and
true leaders, to put a good proportion of the brightest
youths in the best colleges with a view to training them
for leadership. We urge our people to give more atten
tion to the industrial education of their sons and daugh
ters. We wish to declare our faith in the efficacy of
industrial education, as taught here at the Utica Normal
and Industrial Institute, under William H. Holtzclaw,
and at Tuskegee, Alabaraa, under the leadership of Dr.
Booker T. Washington. We believe that the individual
who has been taught to love and dignify coraraon toil and
is honest and respectable will be sure to live a useful and
helpful life.
" 'It is evident that in this country we are destined to
pass many years side by side with the white and other
races, if not to live here for all time. It is further evi
dent that we shall be useful, prosperous, and happy in
proportion to our ability to find a way to live in peace
and harmony with our neighbors of the other race. This
can be done by practicing the highest virtues as we under
stand them. In this matter, it will not hurt us to act
toward our neighbors after the example of the lowly
Nazarine, even though the world laughs and calls us
cowards. " 'We are grateful to the executive of this state, to pub
Hc sentiment, and to the officers of certain counties for
the tremendous efforts they have put forth to crush out
the outrages perpetrated against Negroes in these coun-

A group of teachers in the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute who were trained at the
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 133
ties. In this way they have won a victory that the world
should applaud. It is our own belief thet ministers,
teachers, and other public servants can serve the best
interests of the South by exerting their influence to keep
the masses of our people away from the cities. Nowhere
in the world is there such an opportunity for us as is
offered on the plantations of the South.
" 'Were we perraitted, we would urge the Southern
planters to furnish their laborers better houses, giving
them humane treatment, general encourageraent, and pro
tection against outrages.
" 'We urge with all our souls that no Negro allow the
acquisition of a little learning or of wealth to raake hira
pompous, so as to delight his eneraies and disgust his
friends. We should remain sober, with a deep sense of
imperfection, diligent in every pursuit, with simplicity in
manners.' "When counsels so wise are put in practice, whites and
blacks will be good neighbors."

Year by year these conferences have grown and have
developed in iraportance, and have formed the basis of
our general extension work.
The resolutions adopted at the Conference reflected
more the sentiment of the leaders of the Conference, — the
preachers, teachers, lawyers, and doctors in attendance,
— ^than they did the sentiments of those with whom we
have to deal. These leaders, however, are raen who have
come up from the soil and who are acquainted with every
feature of the situation. It is very clear, therefore, that
when they essay to speak for the benefit of the farmers
it is nearly the same thing as if the farraers spoke thera-

134 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
selves. For instance, when one of these leaders began
to deliver an address before the assembled farmers, ac
cording to the custom of the conference, moans and
groans of approval could be heard throughout the audi
ence, increasing raore and more as the speaker proceeded
to give an account of what he had experienced on the
farm. These conferences are not held for the purpose of
hearing a recitation of stories or of giving leaders an
opportunity to display their oratorical powers, but they
are held for the serious purpose of helping the farmers
becorae better and more progressive, and of giving the
leaders an opportunity to hear the farmers' stories and
to familiarize themselves with the conditions so as to be
in a position to help in the general progress of the com
munity. For example, I recall that Dr. Proctor, a Negro
physician of Vicksburg, delivered a most helpful address
on the prevention and the cure of the disease known as
the hookworm, while Dr. Harrison, a druggist from the
same town, delivered an address on what medicine could
be obtained from any ordinary drug-store for the pre
vention and the cure of the diseases of Jiorses. Another
physician talked to the people about how to prevent tu
berculosis and how to treat those already suffering with
tubercular symptoms. Prof. George W. Carver, head of
the department of Agricultural Research at Tuskegee,
spent two hours before the assembled farmers, with a
sweet potato in his hand, about which he delivered a most
effective lecture. When he had finished, the farmers
came up and shook his hands, and many were the re
marks they raade about that potato. I remember hearing

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 135
one old farraer say, " 'Fessor Carver, I been eatin' and
makin' 'tatoes sixty years an' I never knowed till yet that
there was so much in a 'tatoe." After these conferences
the assembled farraers go away feeling encouraged, raore
interested in their horae life, and better fitted to be at the
head of farailies ; in other words, they feel that they are
becoraing citizens.

CHAPTER XI
Another way in which we helped the people was
through the organization of our Black Belt Iraprovement
Society. Our people are grieat lovers of societies, so
rauch so that a raan who does not belong to one is hardly
counted. I was not a raember of any society until I or
ganized the Black Belt Improveraent Society at Utica, —
a society sirailar to the organization that I had originally
established in Snow Hill, Alabama. ,
As soon as the doors were opened the colored people
flocked in, until almost everybody in the community had
been initiated and had "ridden the goat." But this so
ciety had a serious purpose, for its object was to help the
colored people who were at the very bottom of the pit of
mental darkness by showing thera how to make a start
and build themselves up graduaUy to the status of prop
erty-owning citizens. The following extracts, taken from
its constitution and by-laws, will give some insight as to
how it proposed to accomplish its object :
"There shall be ten degrees in this society.
"(i) Members of the first degree shall be those who
have and show a desire to better their condition.
"(2) Members of the second degree shall be regularly
employed at some occupation.
"(3) Members of the third degree shall be required to
own at least one cow, one mule, or a horse.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 137
"(4) Members of the fourth degree shall possess twelve
chickens, two pigs, and a cow, together with an
orderly house.
"(5) Members of the fifth degree shall be required to
own live stock and to have purchased land and to
be striving to pay for it.
"(6) Members of the sixth degree shall be required to
own at least one acre of land and have erected
upon it a neat and corafortable dwelling house.
"(7) Merabers of the seventh degree shall own forty
acres of land.
"(8) Members of the eighth degree shall own one hun
dred acres of land.
"(9) Members of the ninth degree shall own five hun
dred acres of land.
"(10) Members of the tenth degree shall own one thou
sand acres of land and shall possess such other
qualifications as the central society may require."
"Any raeraber who is educating a son or daughter in
some institution may be permitted to hold the fourth
degree, regardless of the other qualifications mentioned.
"No member is in good standing so long as there is a
mortgage on any of his substance."
The following stenographic report, made of Mr. Buck
Davis at a recent conference of farmers, will shed some
light as to the effect that this new organization has had
upon the progress of the people in the coraraunity :
"Five years ago, while riding along one evening, I hap
pened to meet Mr. Holtzclaw. He stopped me and asked
me what did I owe, or whether or not I was in debt. In
them tiraes I did not think it was anybody's business how

138 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
much I owed. I think Mr. Holtzclaw saw how I felt
about it, for he said : 'The reason I ask you is, I want
to show you how to get out of debt.' As I wanted to get
out of debt, I then told him I owed $60.60. I had been
working as a share tenant for thirty years and had been
making big cotton crops every year most of that time,
but it had taken all that I made every year to pay my
debts and still they was not paid. Mr. Holtzclaw told me
that the Black Belt Improveraent Company would show
me how to get out. I then let them take charge of my
affairs. It was not long before I was able to go and
hand over to the merchant all the money I owed him.
He did not want to take the money at first; said he did
not care whether his good customers paid him or not, just
so they kept on paying. I stuck to the Black Belt Im
provement Company and attended the farmers' confer
ences, listening to others tell how they got out! So I
worked on, under the direction of the Black Belt Im
provement Society, until now I am on foot and have got
started. I feel a little above owing a man now. I feel
independent. I was in debt thirty years; now I do not
owe any man. I have bought a lot of land on which I
have paid $10 and I owe $15 more. Also, I have bought
a ten-acre farm plot and have paid $50 on it. I mean to
build me a house on the first lot and keep the other for
farming. I have dug every nickel I possess out of the
ground. I am a raember of the Black Belt Improvement
Company and a friend to the Utica Institute and I know
Mr. Holtzclaw has helped me to become what I am."
This society has grown rapidly; in recent years it has
been incorporated by the state of Mississippi, and it is no
longer called the Black Belt Improveraent Society, but

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 139
The Black Belt Improvement Company, capitalized at
$30,000, and it has in its possession several hundred acres
of valuable lands, which it is regularly selling to the col
ored people in the vicinity of the school in sraall tracts
upon easy payments.
As the school is situated five railes frora the town and
has no magistrate within easy reach, the Black Belt Im
provement Company established a Community Court of
Justice, wholly independent of the state or local courts.
This court attends to all the misdemeanors that happen
within the Utica Institute colony outside of the school
proper. It has grown until it has corae to be recognized
by all the residents as the tribunal before which they
must come, if they disobey the established customs of the
community. For instance, one day a resident was accused
of having stolen some com frora his neighbor's crib. His
case was proraptly called on a Saturday afternoon during
the rest hour, and the whole Utica colony, — raen, women,
and children, — turned out. I was in the judge's seat, as
they have always honored me with that "office." "Law
yers" were appointed on both sides, and the case was
thoroughly thrashed out. I charged the jury (we have
but five jurymen), who withdrew and after a while re
turned a sealed verdict. When it was opened it read
somewhat like this :
"We, the jury, find according to the evidence that the
defendant, when he left the neighbor's crib, did have
something under his coat like a sack of corn, but we the
jury are imable to say that every lurap a man has under
his coat is of necessity a sack of corn. We, therefore,
recommend that the man be discharged with the cost of

I40 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
court and warned that hereafter when he leaves a neigh
bor's crib he should carry his coat on his arm, so that the
world can see that he has no corn."
The man was dismissed, and so far as I know no more
com has been reported stolen in the Utica colony.
Another case in point was a man who had been re
ported for whipping his wife. After all the evidence was
in, and the "lawyers" had raade their arguraents, the
"jury" retired and disagreed. I asked the parties to the
controversy if they would be willing to abide by the de
cision of the "judge," and when they proraptly agreed to
do so I ordered the man to stand still and let his wife
strike him thirty-nine tiraes. This she proceeded to do,
and the court adjourned, and no case of wife-beating has
come under my notice since.
These happenings served in the early years to break
the monotony and dispel gloom, and at the same tirae
they taught valuable lessons and created a spirit of gen
eral progress in the right direction. By these raethods, —
the extension work, the conferences, and the Black Belt
Improvement Society, — ^we have been enabled to get a
firm grip on the people, not only in the immediate vicinity
' of the school, but throughout the two counties in which
we labor, and even farther still.
In those early days the community was very different
from what it is now. The Negroes were constantly
"crossing one another's paths," so to speak, so that there
were every week somewhere in the neighborhood some
quarrels to be adjusted. These misunderstandings be
tween neighbors were usually thrashed out in the courts,
very often entailing considerable expense on one or the

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 141
other of the parties, and soraetiraes on both. Once we
had succeeded in getting all the people of the coraraunity
to agree to accept the decision of our local court in all
these small matters, it was an easy raatter to keep thera
out of the state and county courts, and in this way to
save thera a great deal of money, — to say nothing of time.
In all these years not one meraber of the coramunity has
failed to keep his pledge to abide by the decision of the
local court.
At this stage of our work various newspapers and
magazines were beginning to take interest in our efforts,
and they endorsed frora tirae to time, either in editorials
or in articles, the effort we were making. Collier's
Weekly at this time published a strong editorial describ
ing the work in detail as its reporter had gleaned the story
on our grounds. Soon after this editorial was published
I received a large number of letters frora various parts
of the country offering assistance, both moral and finan
cial. In this way our efforts were brought, more and
more, to public notice.
During that same year the Nat ches Democrat, — a white
Democratic paper published at Natchez, Mississippi, — '
published in full the story of its own representative. The
story gives a pretty clear idea of the situation at this time,
and is as follows :
"Quietly, and without the blowing of a trumpet, Wil
liam H. Holtzclaw, of the Utica Normal and Industrial
Institute, located at Utica, Mississippi, is doing a remark
able work for the uplift of his people in that community.

142 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
From a humble beginning, a few years ago, under the
shade of an old oak tree, the Utica Normal and Indus
trial Institute has assumed mararaoth proportions. At
present (March, 1908) it has on its farm of 1500 acres
fourteen buildings, large and small, where more than 400
students are taught the various trades and are given an
English education by its faculty of twenty-two teachers.
But the good of the school cannot be measured by build
ings and land alone. Its influence upon the people of that
coraraunity is so reraarkable and the possibilities for
greater work in the future are so encouraging that the
careful observer is corapelled to make a mental reserva
tion in favor of the future of the Negro race.
"Under the example set by the school authorities, the
men of the coraraunity seek to have more comfortable
homes for their families; the young men, who used to
shoot dice within a stone's throw of the little house used
for holding monthly church services, have taken on a
more serious air, are less boisterous, and are at least care
ful of their morals. As a direct result of the industrial
propaganda, they are content to stay on the farms and
thus win competence for themselves and their families
instead of flocking to the cities, and the Negroes of the
coraraunity themselves contribute on an average of fifteen
hundred dollars a year to the support of the institution,
thus learning the glorious lesson of self-help.
"The greater part of the funds necessary to maintain
the Institution annually comes from the North, but the
white people of the imraediate community lend their
financial aid and moral support to an astonishing degree.
This statement is verified by the names of Bishop Charles
B. Galloway, Mr. W. J. Ferguson, President of the Bank

Students marching to chapel for services on Sunday morning

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 143
of Utica, and other leading Mississippi white men. This
work is destined to be a factor in the developraent of the
Negro in this state, and by his work and from his public
speeches William H. Holtzclaw proves that in raatters
affecting his race he will make a leader safe and sane."

CHAPTER XII
In February, 1906, the Tuskegee Institute celebrated
its twenty-fifth anniversary, and Dr. Washington invited
a number of his former graduates to return and deliver
addresses. I was one of the speakers, and found rayself
on a prograra containing the naraes of Bishop Galloway
and Andrew Carnegie.
This marked what we may call a tuming point in
Utica's history. By this time we had outgrown our ex
isting buildings, and it had dawned upon us that if the
progress already made by the Institute was to be con
tinued, we would be compelled to have more land in order
that we might grow. I had an option on a tract of good
land adjoining our present site, at a price of $18,000. It
belonged to one of our fellow-townsmen, who assured me
that as soon as I was able to raise the money he was
ready to make the deal. Several of oiir friends had
pledged small sums until about $5,000 had been pledged.
It was then that I received a letter from Mr. Carnegie's
secretary, announcing that he would contribute five thou
sand dollars to a twenty-five-thousand-dollar endowment
fund, or the sarae proportion of any smaller amount that
was raised for the same purpose.
This brought happiness to the entire Institution, and
every one felt that in due time we would be able to raise
the remaining amount. Mr. Ferguson, our treasurer.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN I45
who was also president of the Bank of Utica, was so
sure that we could raise the balance that he proraptly sent
for rae and told me to go ahead with the purchase of the
land, that he would make a donation and pay the reraain
ing sura.
I now sent for my attorney, a young white raan, Mr.
Paul D. Ratcliff, who has been connected with the school
frora the first, and who has transacted all its legal busi
ness. We had a conference with the owner of the land,
made the trade, and set the day for payment. Promptly
on that day the attorney returned, ready to secure the
needed raoney frora the bank and pay for the land. He
was surprised and shocked when the gentleraan handed
hira an unsealed note, addressed to rae, which read:
"Dear Sir: In regard to the land proposition, I have
decided not to sell." This surprised us all, — including
the lawyer, who realized that we should have tied the
owner by making a deposit when the bargain was origi
nally made. We tried to reason with the owner of the
land, but he would not budge.
Sorae of ray friends suggested that I should sue hira,
which of course could have been done with possible
success, but ray attorney strongly advised against such a
course, saying it was better to lose the land and wait for
other opportunities than to incur the ill-will of my white
friends. This wise counsel I followed and the raatter
was dropped. But we were all the while outgrowing the
existing plant.
Finding it irapossible to get raore land, we now settled
down to do the best we could with what we had ; and our
efforts to help the people never ceased. Our Annual

146 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Farraers' Conferences were growing in influence and in
helpfulness. The following report of the conference
held the twelfth of February, 1907, will give some idea
of how the conferences were carried out:
The third annual conference of the Utica Normal and
Industrial Institute was hdd in the chapel of Mississippi
Hall, February 12. The stories of the farmers, told in
their simple way, indicated that progress is bdng made
in a very satisfactory manner. We give bdow some ex
tracts which may prove interesting.
Mr. Henry Stubblefield said: "I have been farming
for seventeen years. I have been renting for sixteen
years, and have paid more than $3,000 rent. After this
Institution was started here, I began to attend these con
ferences and I began to believe that I could get a home
and pay for it. I bought 129 acres, and I have paid $500,
and will pay the rest as soon as I raake the cotton."
Mr. Frank Wallace said : "I started out working for
wages, then on shares, then I rented land. I saw I was
paying enough rent to buy land, so I bought. It took rae
five years to pay for it, and I had to disfurnish myself
to do it, but now I own 120 acres. I tell you, if you want
anything you've got to work hard and let pleasure alone
till you get it."
Mr. Wallace was a little black man, considerably under
the average size, with every appearance of being of unal
loyed African descent. The entire audience manifested
much interest in his story, at the end of which many ques
tions were asked. Among them was one by a minister,
away back in the audience, who seeraed to doubt the truth

' THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 147
of Mr. Wallace's statements. But before Mr. Wallace
could answer the question another minister who happened
to be presiding promptly asked the questioner to take his
seat, saying : "I believe that man is telling the truth. I
have paid $5,000 myself for rent in the sarae tirae."
As the questions were flying thick and fast about the
house an aged woraan arose to make a statement, and
everybody becarae quiet. She began by saying, "Did you
say you have bought that land and paid for it, and you'se
a real black raan too ?" Mr. Wallace bowed his head like
an African chief, then she groaned exultingly, and said,
"I sho' is glad to see you doing soraething, 'cause they
always says down ray way that you can't do anything
'cepten' you half white."
Mr. Frank Lewis said: "I have been farming for
forty years. I don't know how much I have paid for
rent. I tried to buy a house, but I fell through after I
had nearly paid for it. If I had taken the advice of my
wife, I would not have lost it. I had decided never to
try no more, but after coming to this conference, I have
determined to try again."
Mr. Harrison Flanders said : "I was a slave, and was
let loose after the war with nothing but an old raother to
care for. When I decided to buy a home I went right at
it and paid for it in five years. When I got ready to buy
I did not have any money, but I had a good many friends
among the white people, and one of them stood by me
while I worked to pay for the land. I don't see any
reason why any Negro should not buy a home in this
country, unless he is too trifling to make the friendship
of the white people, and too lazy to work. I have a good

148 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN,
little home and am educating my children. I wouldn't
live in this country now widiout a home. I would go
where I could get one."
At the close of Mr. Flanders' reraarks questions were
again in order, and as usual some very searching and
personal questions were asked. I remeraber one of them
was asked by a woraan. She said, "Brother, you said
you didn't have a cent when you started, and paid for
your hundred acres of land in five years?" Upon re
ceiving an affirmative answer, she remarked, "And did
you get it all honest ?" This threw the audience into con
vulsions of laughter, because the majority of them knew
Mr. Flanders and knew how serious he would take such
questions, for he tries to be a very straightforward man
in all his business relations.
Mr. George Beechamp said: "I have been farming
for twenty years, but I have never thought of buying a
home. I have cattle, hogs, horses, but no home. This
is my first time to come to this conference. I am going
home and start out at once to buy me a home. After
hearing how these other brethren have done it, I fed that
I can do it, too."
A voice was heard in some part of the house at this
juncture, saying: "Mr. President, I want to say that
that brother need not let the stories he is hearing here
fool him. It takes a long sight longer to buy a home
and pay for it than it does to tell about it after you get it.
I want to tell you, brother, it took me fifteen years to pay
for my home, and during that time I had to undergo all
sorts of hardships ; getting a home and getting it paid for
means to get up before day and stay up late at night; it

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 149
means you have got to hide yourself on Sunday to keep
folks from seeing your rags while they are going to
church with their fine slick clothes on ; it raeans that you
have got to see the mouths of your wife and daughters
stuck out day by day, while they accuse you of mistreat
ing them ; it means that your neighbors wfU put the devil
in your children's heads every time your back is turned ;
it means that you must eat corn bread and salt raeat
mixed with cowpeas, and leave off sugar and coffee, and
rice, and biscuit, and a whole lot of other things. Breth-
eren, I am telling you what I knows, and if you ain't pre
pared to stand these things, you better stay like you is."
Dtiring all the time that this little speech was being
made there were groans of "Yes, Lord," "Tell it,
brother," "That sho' am the Gospel truth," and the house
was in an uproar. It seemed that the sentiment was go
ing in the wrong direction; one man stood up and said,
"If that is the case, I believe I'll stay like I is." The pre
siding officer, seeing that only one side of the question
had been discussed, and fearing that a wrong irapression
would be created, asked the raan that had spoken so
plainly : "Did you raean to say that you ate corn bread
and salt pork during all these years that you have been
buying your place?" Whereupon the man quickly re
plied: "I didn't say anything about salt pork; I said I
et salt meat and corn bread ; and I didn't have salt meat
all the time, and what coffee I had I made it out of brand,
and I sweetened it with molasses I made; and that is
what these others got to do, if they get any land paid
for." The President suggested to hira that times were
different now from what they used to be, whereupon he

I50 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
retorted, "Times don't never get no different with a man
that ain't got nothing."
The President then asked him to tell how he got on
after he had succeeded in buying a home and getting a
start. "That's a horse of another color," he replied.
"You feels mighty good when you gets in your buggy on
Sundays with two black mares hitched to it, and drive
along putting dust over those same folks that used to
laugh at you and try to make your wife and children be
lieve you didn't have any sense; and you feel mighty
good, bretheren, when you can go to church and take a
trunk of rations along, and spread the table for your
neighbors and hear the preacher say, 'I am going to take
dinner with that brother,' and you can put a dollar in the
collection for the heathen in Africa. It is all good when
you get to it, but it's raighty bad along the way, and none
but the pure in heart can get there."
Mr. Fair said : "I am a farmer; I make lots of cotton.
I have made two attempts to buy land, but faUed both
times. I have not lost heart; I am going to try again."
Mr. Dan Lee said : "I started out with one cow, one
hog, and one dog. I rented a mule for $50 a year. I
bought one hundred acres of land, and worked and
trusted in the Lord, believing that He would bring me
out raore than conqueror if I trusted in Him, and He did.
Since these annual conferences began I bought 120 acres
more. I have a good home and have educated one son
and a daughter. I love to work because I can see what
is going with my labor."
Mr. Rivers said: "I paid nineteen bales of cotton, —
$950, — a year for rent for ten years. I had no idea of

A scene showing farmers coming from Assembly Hall at one of our farmers' conferences

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 151
buying land or getting a home until I heard Mr. Holtz-
claw's talk in the first conference here. I just waked up
that day. I went away from that conference with a de
termination to get a home. Since then I have bought
sixty acres of land, put it under cultivation, and I now
have something to live for. I can do twice as much work
as I used to do, and I enjoy it. If it had not been for
these conferences, my eyes might have remained closed to
the end of my life."
The President as usual had addressed the conference
at its opening, and at its close Prof. L. J. Rowan, .presi
dent of the State Agricultural College, spoke to the farm
ers and urged them to possess the land they cultivated.
Many short but helpful addresses were delivered during
the session by persons engaged in various professions.
While we were working to better the condition of our
people, it is fair to say that in many parts of our section
of the country other agencies, — coraposed of white raen,
religious raen, and scholars, — were doing what they could
to improve conditions. The following extract, taken
from a report of a grand jury composed of white men
and published broadcast, will be of interest :
"We find that the disgraceful vice of white raen living
with Negro women in unlawful cohabitation has grown
to an alarming extent and threatens our commonwealth
with a mongrd race which will be a menace to our coun
try. We find that the various officers of the law, through
out the county, and especially the mayor of the city of
 , who especially neglects his duty in this respect,
have apparentiy ignored the existence of this vice. Espe-

152 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
cially have we found this to be the case within the city of
 , where we find in raany instances black women
have been fined by the mayor small sums and their white
paramours shielded, or let go free, or their names with
held for fear of exposing them. We condemn this with
out terms, and we earnestly recommend that white men
who have Negro women concubines be dealt with to the
fullest extent till the vice is broken up, or such undesir
able citizens find it raore congenial to seek other places.
We find that the city of  • — is honeycombed with
white gentlemen who have their Negro concubines, with
whom, they reside after night, but because of insufficient
evidence to secure a conviction, we have passed up sev
eral instances for the consideration of the next grand
jury." Anyone caring to investigate wUl find, I believe, that
such cases as are here attacked by this eamest grand jury
are growing less year by year, being at the present time in
many places fully eighty-five per cent, less than they were
formerly. I doubt if this vice was ever as bad anywhere
as this zealous grand jury seemed to think it was. Vari
ous grand juries and other public servants have from
time to tirae attacked not only this crirae, but also other
forms of evil that exist between the races, and a great
deal has been done to eradicate such vices.
But the main thing that is so rapidly obliterating these
crimes against society is the education of the Negro
woman, — I raean that true education that is bringing her
into the consciousness of the beauty and iraportance of
the highest Christian womanhood. To the properly edu-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 153
cated Negro woman crimes against society are as repug
nant as they should be.
As a matter of fact, there are economic conditions at
the bottom of many of the criraes against society. Pov
erty and crime sometiraes go hand in hand. I have no
doubt that conditions in the little cities of the South
would be very different to-day, had it not been for the
tendency that has been manifesting itself for several
years on the part of the Negroes to leave the country dis
tricts and crowd themselves into the cities. This move
ment has often taxed the abUity of the cities to maintain
order and to furnish sufficient labor of a congenial sort
to induce continued exertion. For this reason the new
comers have often had to resort to gambling and other
more serious offences in order to make a living at all.
This condition of affairs brought about a dependent class
of men and woraen, — raen and women who had an ever
increasing aversion to work of any sort. Thus many
crimes that should have been dying a natural death se
cured a new lease on life. And when raen once learn to
disrespect, in even the least degree, one class of woraen
they find it increasingly difficult to respect any class of
woraen. But, sorae one retorts, the horaes of Southern
white raen have always been open to all woraen that
wanted work to do, but they have constantly refused this
work, showing that they are not imraune from suspicion
on account of poverty. These persons hold that not only
will the Negro women on the streets refuse to work in
the homes of white raen for wages, but that even the
educated Negro women refuse to work, — that is, they

154 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
prefer to do nothing. For instance, Mr. A. H. Jennings
writes in the New York Evening Fast:
"I note with pleasure the gleam of light cast across the
gloomy prospect of a warring Europe by your prediction
that a horde of foreign women, forced by their destitu
tion abroad, will come to this country to accept domestic
service. If the dreadful event of this multitude of
women being impoverished, destitute, and widowed must
come to pass, and they corae here looking for horaes and
work, raany can find a hearty welcome in Virginia and
throughout the South.
"The Negroes who do the household work of the South
are yearly becoraing raore inefficient, raore trifling, raore
exacting. In 'old tiraes,' even after the war, the darkies
were trained, but that training has vanished now. It is
practically irapossible to secure a trained cook or house
maid now; we are forced to accept such service as a
worthless servant class can give, or do the work ourselves.
An honest white woman, willing to work, whether
trained well or not, can find a good home and fair wages
at two out of three doors at which she may knock in
Virginia." Mr. Jennings' view as given herewith may be taken as
t)qpical, but I believe he is not able to read the heart of
the Negro maid who refuses to work in his home. Many
girls from this institution have gone into the homes of
some of the best white people in this section of the coun
try as well as in the Northern states. They have served
as maids, cooks, and general house girls, and in every
case but one that I have investigated they have given
satisfaction. In the few cases where they have not re-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 155
mained in the homes as long as I thought they should
I have asked them to write me frankly why they could
not stay in a place that seeraed to me to be so desirable.
Invariably I have received two replies: one, that, al
though the people for whom they worked were kind and
considerate, they have found it necessary to seek other
employment where better wages could be had, the average
wage of the housemaid in the South being, I believe,
somewhere between six and ten dollars a month; the
other, that they did not receive sufficient protection and
that their only hope was to seek another occupation.
I believe this last reason is the raore iraportant, — for
them and for all the rest of us. Respectable Negroes wUl
trust their daughters in the future in the homes of only
such white men as they can trust to protect them.
To resume : This grand jury about which I was speak
ing was composed of earnest men, and the South is full
of men and women of both races who are determined that
this section shall be rid of such evils as I have described.
Wonderful changes have taken place in the past few
years. Sentiment has changed so greatly that in many
parts of the South to-day white raen who would stoop to
things that used to be condoned would now becorae out
casts from their own people and would be hated by the
Negroes. If Negro woraen find that they will be treated
with_the respect that is due them as women, and that they
wiU receive living wages, I believe more of them will
do the domestic work of the South, and that no great
number of European women wUl be needed here.
When the evils that exist between the races are elim
inated better relations will take their place, notwithstand-

iS6 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
ing the fact that there may continue to be spasmodic
eruptions. And this is true, in spite of the fact that the
good that is going on day by day is not given half the
prominence in the newspapers and periodicals that is
given to the evil.
I have in raind now the tragedy that took place at
Harriston, in Jefferson County, a few months ago. Two
Negro youths, probably crazed with cocaine and other
drugs, ran amuck in the city, taking the lives of several
prominent white men before they theraselves were killed,
— to say nothing of causing the death of several other
Negroes. Several papers in various parts of the country
almost magnified this incident into a race riot, when, as
a matter of fact, no stretch of the imagination could
magnify it into any such thing. The citizens of the little
town simply protected themsdves against two drug-crazed
youths, — ignorant youths who had never had an oppor
tunity to go to school. Such incidents should not be mag
nified and called race riots, for everybody knows that a
race riot would be a very different thing; besides, any
thing like a serious race riot in any part of the South is
such a remote possibility that even a suggestion of it is
altogether out of place.
In this connection, I do not wish to say that the lynch
ing spirit was not at all present in the Harriston affair,
but from all that I could learn from eye-witnesses the
facts are substantially as I have stated them here. The
fact is that lynching has gone on so long in many parts
of our country that it is somewhat difficult to draw at
this time a sharp line marking off distinctly the point
where the lynching spirit stops and the spirit of legal

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 157
procedure commences. You cannot tell what the most
peaceable community will do at any moraent under cer
tain conditions. After careful study of the whole situa
tion, however, I am convinced that in spirit, at least, the
lynching habit has become a sort of institution. I have
come in contact with men, who, although they regret the
stigma that lynchings bring upon their coramunity, never
theless feel that no great harm has been done to society
by a lynching, and in every instance where a crime has
been committed beyond doubt by the person lynched many
people feel that that person got no more than he deserved.
Negroes, however, are opposed to lynching in nearly
every instance for any crime whatsoever. Nevertheless,
some ignorant Negroes in a few instances have followed
the example of the white people in regard to lynching.
During a great deal of the time that this "race riot"
was being discussed in the newspapers, quietiy and with
out the blowing of trumpets a number of white and col
ored people were meeting in the courthouse in a town in
an opposite county and discussing the problems concern
ing both races, trying to devise ways and means by which
their difficulties might be overcorae.
I had the pleasure of taking part in two of these meet
ings. I delivered an address in which I discussed as
thoroughly as I could the whole race situation as it ex
ists here in Mississippi, and tried to point out remedies
for sorae of our difficulties. The white people who were
present were so rauch irapressed with my remarks that I
was invited to deliver another address in the courthouse
on the same subject. Addresses were delivered by three
of the leading white ministers who lived in the town,

158 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
and the meeting tumed out in the end to be a sort of love
feast. The spirit of good-will was in the air, so to speak.
Various coraraittees were appointed to consult the offi
cials in order to arrange for other meetings and to keep
alive the spirit of brotherly love ; and I have every reason
to believe that these meetings have done a great deal to
strengthen the friendship of one race for the other in
this section.
At the same time that the trouble in Harriston oc
curred another agency, — The Southem Sociological Con
gress, — was holding raeetings in the capital of the state
and seeking to find remedies for the South's racial diffi
culties. Three or four columns of various daily papers
were taken up with discussions of the "race riot" at Har
riston, while three to five lines in a few of the daily
papers were given to the efforts to prevent just such oc
currences. But quiet work is going on throughout the
South, in spite of the absence of any notoriety, and it is
bound to bear fruit in the end.

CHAPTER XIII
Our work and influence were increasing every year,
and in our present quarters we were beginning to feel
cramped in many ways. Mr. Ferguson, president of the
Bank of Utica and treasurer of our Board of Trustees,
opened up negotiations with a wealthy white planter who
owned a plantation five miles south of the town, consist
ing of 1,500 acres, — property that was to be bought for
about fifteen dollars an acre. It was iraproved land and
contained sorae of the best soil in that section. Just as
the trade was alraost settled it becarae noised about that
sorae of the white people living in that iraraediate ndgh-
borhood began to feel that the school was better off where
it was, and that it raight prove a bad addition to their
side of the village. About that time I received through
the mail an ultimatum signed by possibly one hundred
and fifty white men, not one of whom I knew. The ulti
matum, short and to the point, was as follows :
"W. H. Holtzclaw, Utica, Miss. :
"We, the undersigned, deraand that you do not build
a school or college near this coraraunity."
As no addresses were given, I could make no reply.
Inasmuch as the trade had been practically corapleted.

i6o THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
with the exception of paying the raoney, I had a meeting
of my local board to see what should be done. When I
read the ultimatura to thera they stampeded, and of the
nine seven voted to call off the trade. I had always been
guided largely by what they said, but in this case I be
lieved that they were wrong. However, I meant to go
slowly. I consulted Mr. Ferguson and ray other white
friends, and they suggested that I should go and see
some of the men that had signed the ultimatum. I called
on one or two of them, — those that I thought were the
leaders, — and asked them what were their objections to
our having the land. They said the plantation was so
situated that they thought that if the present owner was
going to get rid of it, they ought to have it themselves;
and that they had determined to buy it.
In deference to their wishes, I agreed that if they
wished to buy it, I would have nothing more to do with
it. They were getting together for the purpose of pur
chasing it, but before they could make their cirrange-
ments the financial panic of 1906 carae on and they aban
doned the idea of buying the plantation. The way then
seeraed clear for me to purchase the place, and the owner
was urging the trade with all his might.
I did not have sufficient money at the time to raake the
purchase, but ray friend, Mr. Ferguson, president of the
bank of the town, had agreed to furnish me any amount
of money necessary to secure the property, at reasonable
interest. But the purchase money, including the appar
atus to be bought with the plantation, amounted to about
$25,000, while I had only a few thousand dollars, which
friends had contributed for the other trade that had

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN i6i
failed, and which they had allowed rae to hold, pending
some solution of the land problem.
Meantirae, although many of the white people who
lived only a raile away frora the plantation had assured
me that as they did not care to buy under the present
financial conditions they were perfectly willing that I
should buy, the colored people throughout the community
had worked theraselves up to a high pitch of excitement.
They declared that the white people would never allow us
to buy that plantation. But the white men on the local
Board of Trustees were ready to accept the responsibility,
and were urging rae to go forward.
This was a case, however, where I felt it necessary to
go slowly, as my white friends all advised me to do.
Five of the colored trustees owned land by this tirae, and
had it paid for. In order to borrow sufficient raoney
from the bank to carry out the purchase, we thought that
it might be necessary to give sorae kind of security, so
that loyal band of Trustees, finally convinced that I was
going forward, agreed in one of our raeetings that each
man should mortgage his plantation. I shall never forget
the enthusiasm with which they raade their offers.
I carefully explained to thera that if I should fail
ultiraately. to raise the raoney necessary to finish paying
for the plantation, each of them would lose his property
and would again be at the bottom. But their faith never
wavered. They still pleaded for the opportunity to mort
gage their little plantations and horaes that the trade
might be put through. I reported this to the bank, which
promptly refused to accept the collateral, agreeing to let
me have the money all the same.

i62 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Among those earnest farmer-trustees was one, Harri
son Flanders, who owned a little plantation very near the
edge of town. He had several sons to be educated and
was eager for the school to be properly established. So
eager was he that he offered, if we could not get raore
land, to sell us half of his own little plantation, to be
added to the little that we already had and in this way
make room for the growing school. Everybody felt that
this was so supreme a sacrifice that none of us could
afford to accept it, even though he urged it with all his
heart. Excitement in regard to the purchase of the plantation
ran high, and meetings were being held among the col
ored people in which they thoroughly discussed the matter
and appointed coraraittees to warn me not to go forward
with the purchase. It is difficult for one not acquainted
with the situation to understand the state of panic that
possessed the colored people at this time. All the day
before the tirae for concluding the bargain my friends
caUed upon me and urged me not to go down to the
plantation the next day, saying that if I did so the
chances were that I should never get back alive. To save
me, I could not conscientiously share their feeling in the
matter. On the moming of the day when I was to go down and
finish the trade and make the first payment, while I was
at the breakfast table, a Negro raan came down the pub
lic road on horseback, at full speed, jumped off at my gate,
and ran in, without taking time to hitch his horse. He
said he had something to tell me, and that he did not want
to tdl it in the presence of my wife. I urged him to sit

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 163
down at the table and say what he had to say, as I pre
ferred for my wife to hear anything he had to tell. I
had guessed what was on his mind. He said that he had
been asked by one of my white friends to come and warn
me not to go down that road that afternoon; that if I
did so, they believed my life would be in danger. The
good man was greatly frightened and was panting like an
overheated ox. My wife dropped her knife and fork and
turned pale, — that is, as pale as she could. I thanked the
man for his kindness, and refused to discuss the matter
any further. He left, and I went to my office as usual,
transacted a day's work, and at half-past four got astride
my little pony and made off to the plantation to complete
the trade, while my wife stood on the veranda and
watched me out of sight.
I did not retum until ten o'clock that night, and she
tells me those hours were some of the most anxious of
her whole life. Every person that passed along the road
she expected to be someone riding up to tell her that I
had been assassinated.
I had to go to the plantation alone. No man, not even
the old reliable trustees, would agree to accompany me.
My teachers, mosdy woraen, were all afraid. Several of
them had packed their trunks and were ready to go home,
and one had actually bought a ticket. When I reached
the plantation the raan was there ready to close the trade,
and raany of the white people that the Negroes thought
were ready to do violence to me were only there to see
that their neighbor, who was selling his plantation, came
through all right. They greeted me pleasantly. Indeed,
I have never met men who were more gentlemanly than

i64 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
they were. Not one sign of ill-will did I see. When the
trade was finished I retumed home alone. My friends
were greatly surprised when I told them the next day
that I did not even have a pocketknife with me. They
thought surely I would have armed myself. The bank
promptly paid the money, lending me $10,000 on my per
sonal note, — the same bank that five years before had
refused, and with good reason, because they did not know
me, to lend me $300 to purchase forty acres.
The task now before us was to pay for that land and
raove over onto it the few temporary structures that we
had built at the original site. Therefore I left the school
in charge of Mr. D. W. L. Davis, Superintendent of In
dustries, ray raost trusted lieutenant, and made a cam
paign for funds.
From September to the 23d of December I worked in
various states as I had never done before. On December
23d I returned, lacking seventeen thousand dollars, in
spite of the fact that the twenty-five thousand dollars was
to be paid Deceraber 26. I think the bankers themselves
began to feel a little uneasy, and perhaps began to doubt
my ability to raise the money in time. The night I
reached home I was so worn out that I was unable to get
about and was confined to my room. About eleven
o'clock that night the president and the cashier of the
bank called on me to see how I had succeeded on my
money-raising trip. When I told them that I still lacked
$17,000 of having sufficient raoney I was surprised that
they showed no signs of displeasure, but rather seeraed to
be pleased that I had got together $8,000, and after a
short conversation they assured me that if the $25,000

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 165
was not ready at the proper tirae, I need not be uneasy :
the bank would carry it as long as I desired.
I could not feel quite discouraged, though I must con-
¦ fess I was alraost disheartened at this time, but the atti
tude of the bankers strengthened me, and I telegraphed
to sorae, of the subscribers asking if, under the circura
stances, they would not allow us the use of their pledges,
even if I had not quite raet the conditions.
On Christmas Day, at eight o'clock in the morning, I
received a message from one of the subscribers in which
he said he did not care to change the original plans. Two
hours later I received another telegrara from him in
whioh he said he had changed his mind, and that he was
mailing a check for the araount of his pledge. Then I
began to feel encouraged. Twenty rainutes later I re
ceived another telegram from a lady in Boston who said
that although she was on her sick bed, from which she
never expected to rise (she was 96 years old), she was
writing rae perhaps the last check she would ever write,
— for five hundred doUars, — ^and that I raight expect it
in due time. My dejected spirits were now rising by
leaps and bounds.
Two hours later a fourth telegram came, this tirae
frora Mrs. Leavitt, saying she had been notified that a
legacy had been left as an endowraent, — to be used in the
purchase of the land.
I now needed but fifteen hundred dollars raore. I
called the teachers and students together in the chapel
and told thera the situation, whereupon the teachers rose
in a body and said they would contribute one month's sal
ary each toward the balance. The students ran to their

i66 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
rooms, got out their Christmas money, which consisted
of about twenty-five cents apiece, and contributed from
one to five cents each. Our assistant treasurer, Mr.
Smith, counted it all up and found that still about thir
teen hundred dollars was need«i.
The mail came then, and I went down to open it.
There was that thirteen hundred, contributed by several
dozen different individuals, with a few dollars over. So
I was ready to "take Christmas," even though raine
lasted only one-fourth of a day.

CHAPTER XIV
I have referred to the fear that the colored people
generally felt about moving to and fro among our white
fellow-citizens in this section of the country. Our stu
dent body shared fully this sentiment. For instance : one
night, just after we had come to the new plantation, a
lamp exploded in a room occupied by some of the girls.
There was much commotion among the students and the
girls screamed at the top of their voices. When I reached
the scene and inquired regarding the trouble, the girls
said that a white man was breaking into the house. I
began to feel around in, the dark and, sure enough, there
was a real white raan. When I found hira he said yes,
he had been trying to break into the house to put out the
exploded larap, which he had seen frora the road as he
was passing, but later had settled down to enjoy the ex
citement he had created.
This fear of the whites was shown on another oc
casion. In the fall of 1908 Dr. Booker T. Washington
and a party of thirty of the leading colored men frora
various parts of the country made a tour through Mis
sissippi. On learning that Dr. Washington was going to visit
the state, I extended him a raost cordial invitation to visit
Utica. As soon as he accepted the invitation, I promptly
issued a drcular announcing that he would speak in the

i68 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Institute chapel on a certain date. The excitement
throughout the community immediately became intense.
I could not understand it, so I called my trustees to
gether, as was my custom, to consult as to Dr. Washing
ton's visit.
For the first time in the history of the school, I had to
send out three invitations before I could get a meeting.
The fact is, I had to go out and almost compel them to
come in. Once they were assembled, I put the matter of
Dr. Washington's visit before thera, and they promptly
advised rae that it would be a very unwise thing to have
him come to Utica; in fact, they thought it would be a
dangerous thing, that Dr. Washington could never pass
safely through the streets of Utica. They delivered fiery
addresses, for which many of the raembers have always
been noted, and ended up by voting almost to a man (I
think there were two exceptions) that we ask Dr. Wash
ington not to corae to Utica, — for his good and for ours.
I then asked thera to answer two questions for me:
one, what were their objections to Dr. Washington's
coming to Utica, and the other, what real harm could
come to him if he did visit Utica. To these questions I
could not get a single answer; they would only shake
their heads and shrug their shoulders. Some of them
finally notified me, as they left the meeting, that I might
have him come if I wanted to, but that they would not
attend the meeting.
Although I did not want to take any risks with Dr.
Washington, I was determined to have him visit Utica.
Having been deserted by the colored people, I now tumed
my attention to the white. I went down into the village,

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 169
cornered one of my good white friends, one of the lead
ing business men of the place, and asked him for his
candid opinion and whatever advice he raight give as to
Dr. Washington's visit.
He was very deliberate, and said : "Holtzclaw, I want
to see Booker and hear him speak, and I am going to hear
him while he is in this state, if I have to travel two hun
dred miles, but I really would not advise you to have hira
corae, if you have the least idea that there is any danger.
We are just now experiencing the hardships caused by
the raoney panic of a year or so ago, and we don't know
but that some crazy, drunken fellow, having heard so
many things about Washington, might attempt to do
violence to him; and that would disturb the friendly re
lations between the races here which everybody has been
working so hard to cement. Then, too, Booker might
say something in his address that would cause trouble
for you after he is gone. I repeat, therefore, that for
complete safety I believe it would be better not to have
him come."
I said to him : "But I have already invited him, and,
to tell you the truth, I would rather abandon my school
than withdraw that invitation. I do not care to live in
a place where Dr. Washington cannot come with perfect
safety. Besides, he is already on his way and will be
in Memphis to-morrow."
My friend replied : "WeU, I think you had better let
him come under those circumstances, but I do hope he
will be as wise in his utterances as he is credited with
being." I confess things were looking cloudy, but I had lost

I70 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
none of my determination, although I certainly had no
intention of subjecting Dr. Washington to any danger.
I thanked this gentleman for his advice, then called on
another leading white man. After getting hira back in
his office behind closed doors, I put the subject before
him. He seemed greatly surprised that I even thought
of such a thing as Dr. Washington's being injured in
Utica, and said: "Let him come right ahead. He will
be as safe in Utica as he would be in New York ;" and so
I made my rounds of the leading men of the city.
For fear that they would not talk to me as freely as
they would among themselves, I sought the services of
one of my best white friends and asked hira if he would
not look over the town and the neighboring country and
give me his frank opinion as to Dr. Washington's visit.
He complied as hurriedly as possible, and when he had
finished he told me that there was not the slightest dan
ger in the proposed trip ; that every man and woman with
whom he had talked were ready and eager to see Dr.
Washington ; that I should have him come without doubt.
So I determined to let the matter go through. I went
to the city marshal and told him of the apprehension of
the colored people, and asked for his best protection of
Dr. Washington. After laughing heartily at me, he as
sured me that he would be on hand and that nothing in
the world would happen to him. He seemed greatly as
tonished that I should feel any doubt.
I then boarded a train and met Dr. Washington in
Memphis, where I went over the whole matter with his
private secretary, Mr. Emmett J. Scott, and Mr. Charles
Banks, cashier of the Bank of Mound Bayou and the

Booker T. Washington Hall, erected by student labor. In the upper right-hand corner the first school-
house used by Principal Holtzclaw at Utica

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 171
leader of the party in Mississippi. On we came to Utica,
reaching there at 8 o'dock in the moming. To my sur
prise, Utica had more people in it that day than I have
ever seen there before or since. For several hundred
yards the raUroad track was lined with people. The
white ladies themselves had corae down and lined up on
each side of the railroad to see Dr. Washington as he
emerged from the train.
There were several fine-looking raen on the train, —
bishops, elders, doctors, and what not, — so one or the
other was frequently pointed out as Dr. Washington by
the people in the crowd. One of them would say : "There
he is now. No, there is he over there with the big hat
on." At length. Dr. Washington stepped from the train,
almost the most unpretentious-looking man in the crowd.
The city marshal was right on hand. Dr. Washington
bowed to the ladies and to all the crowd, and amid their
cheers he stepped briskly toward his carriage, with the
marshal on one side and me on the other.
I was careful to stay by his side, because I had said to
the colored people when they were in their highest pitch
of excitement that when he came I would be right by his
side, and if any harm came, I would meet it first; I
would see to that.
One of those same colored raen that had said he would
not be out that day at all was there, and was so excited
that he jumped into the carriage while it was going and
shook hands with Dr. Washington. Amidst all this ex
citement. Dr. Washington was perfectly placid, and ap
parently not the least disturbed. All the way to the
school the road banks were lined with people,' and when

172 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
we went into the chapel where he was to speak, nearly aU
the leading white people were among the auditors. Our
chapel could not hold a tenth of the people that tried to
enter. Dr. Washington had scarcely begun his address before
he captured his entire audience, white and black. They
forgot all about their troubles, and I think they experi
enced brotherly feeling there that day such as they had
never felt before. The magic of his personality and the
power of his oratory completely won the hearts of all
the people present.
One can scarcely realize the good that this visit ac
complished, though hundreds of people were disappointed
that they could not enter the buUding to hear him speak.
So keen was their disappointment that a hurried message
was sent to me from the white people of the town, asking
if they might not erect a platform at the station and
have him speak for ten minutes before he left. This was
in order to give the white people a better opportunity to
hear him. We were all very sorry that Dr. Washington's
train schedule would not permit him to accept their invi
tation. I have never seen in all my stay in Utica any stranger
come into the town who received so much attention as
Dr. Washington did ; and it is the fervent hope of aU that
he may find it possible to come to Utica again.
In his address Dr. Washington made the same irapres
sion upon the rainds of the leading white people who
heard him speak that he always makes wherever he
speaks, — that is, that he is a wise, conservative, trust
worthy leader. One of the foremost white men of Utica

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 173
said to me the next day: "Holtzclaw, I am glad that
you had Booker Washington come here. I have heard
of him for twenty-five years, but this is the first time I
have had an opportunity to hear an address by him. If
we had enough men in this country like Booker Wash
ington, we would be soon rid of many of the ills that
beset us."

CHAPTER XV
I have tried to find out what raade the colored people
so afraid of the white people, but I have not been able to
determine the cause, ^specially as the white people, as a
rule, have always acted most kindly toward the colored
people, so far as I could see. I am sure, however, that
much of their fear was the result of rumors of what
were known as White Caps. This was an organization
of white people located principally in Lincoln county, a
county on the southern border of our own, who were
daily, or rather nightly, terrorizing the more respectable
Negroes of that county, causing many of them to aban
don the homes they had paid for and leave the county
without any compensation for their property or any pro
tection for their lives. Not only were these White Caps
ojperating in Lincoln county, but ihey occasionally en
gaged in depredations in other counties. A body of such
men were seen passing through our own town during this
period. What their object was I have never been able
to determine, as they passed through quietly and did not
molest anybody. It is clear, then, that the Negroes of
our locality were not so much afraid of the white people
that they came in contact with as they were afraid that
some action on their part might inflame the white people
and cause them to form a White Cap organization. So
far as I could see, then and even since then, this fear of

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN, 175
the white people in our locality was wholly without
foundation. StiU, I sympathized with the fear, because
I knew of the Lincoln county White Cap organization.
Governor Vardaman himself and many other white peo
ple in the state recognized the danger of allowing an or
ganization of lawless men to terrorize the Negro popula
tion, and so took steps to crush out the White Caps, and
this they succeeded in doing. If I remember correctly,
the Federal authorities also took part in cmshing out this
organization, and as a result of these efforts many mem
bers of the White Cap bands were arrested and prose
cuted ; sorae were sent to the penitentiary for long periods
and others got off with heavy fines. The result was that
we have heard no more of White Capping in any part of
Mississippi. On the particular occasion of Dr. Washington's visit,
however, the fears seem to have been caused by vague
newspaper rumors of many things that were happening
somewhere in the state. In fact, there were one or two
papers in the state, — notably, one previously owned by
Governor (now United States Senator) Vardaman, —
that advised the white people not to attend Dr. Washing
ton's lecture in the capital city ; but the white people paid
no attention to the advice and attended the lecture in
large numbers, so large, in fact, that the strain upon the
Coliseum in which he spoke proved too great and the gal
lery that contained the greater number of the leading
white people came down with a crash just after Dr.
Washington had finished his talk. Several people were
injured, one man having several bones broken. Among
the most prominent of those injured was the late Bishop

176 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Charles B. Galloway, a friend of Dr. Washington and
his race, and indeed d friend of everybody.
One of our methods that has done a great deal of good
has been to publish in our little paper, the Utica News,
a monthly letter to the farmers, — a letter in which we try
to keep them abreast of the times and to help them in
various ways.
The following letter, which was written at a time when
the Mexican boll-weevil seemed destined to destroy the
cotton crops of the South, will serve to give an idea of
how we sought to help the farmers during these difficult
times :
"This is the time of year when every farmer who
expects to succeed raust begin to raove and make every
hour count. In some sections farraers seera to be dazed
on account of the appearance of the dreaded boll-weevil.
This is unnecessary. There is no need to pull up stock
and branch and go to other sections, for it seems certain
that the boll-weevil will continue until the entire cotton
section has been visited. The sensible man will stand
his ground and raake the best of the situation. It has
Bfeen conclusively proven by experiments raade by the
Agricultural Departraent at Washington that cotton can
be raised in spite of the boll-weevil. There are sorae
regulations, however, that must be observed.
"In the first place, the land on which you expect to
plant cotton must be thoroughly prepared and the cotton
raust be planted two or three weeks earlier than you have
been accustoraed to plant, and nothing but the best and
earliest varieties should be planted. Then the crop raust
be worked at shorter intervals than you have been accus
tomed to work it, — that is, it must be pushed rapidly up

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 177
to maturity. Meantime, you must not depend upon your
cotton crop entirely. Plant plenty of corn, make not only
what you need for your own use, but have sorae for sale.
Have all the vegetables and potatoes that you can use.
Have sorae hogs, some chickens, in other words, live at
home. The man who lives at home does not care much
about boll-weevils.
"You will find it greatly to your advantage in making
this crop to chop down all your hedges, chop around the
ends of the rows, burn up the brush, dig up and burn the
stumps and give the cotton a fair chance. The main point
is, however, that you must begin to work now, not wait
several days later. If the boll-weevil scare succeeds
in making you do what you should have been doing all
the time, it will be a blessing in disguise.
"One thing we must all remember, in connection with
this year, and that is that we cannot hope to go to the
raerchants and buy things on credit, as we have been
doing. We should buy those things, and those things
only, that we are corapelled to have. Fewer clothes
should be worn ; one or two pairs of shoes less ; the extra
Sunday hats and fancy calicoes should be left off. Let
us buy only those things that are absolutely necessary
for this year. If you will follow these suggestions, I
believe you will have nothing to regret at the end of this
year.
"William H. Holtzclaw."
In order to understand the significance of such a letter
as this, one must know something about the boll-weevil
pest. This little insect, which made its way over from
Mexico into the United States by way of Texas, almost
paralyzes the cotton industry wherever it goes. Nothing

178 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
has happened to the South since the Civil War that has
so affected the people economically as this insect has
done. In its ravages, it may be compared with the gypsy
moth of New England, except that it exists largely upon
the fruit of the cotton stalk, and unless the cotton pro
ducer follows those improved raethods of cultivation that
have been worked out by experts of the United States
government and other agencies, the chances are that he
will produce no cotton at all. Ever since the Civil War
the Negroes of the Mississippi cotton belt have produced
one crop annually, and that was cotton. There has been
very little diversification. Up to the tirae the boll-weevil
made its appearance they not only did not know how to
produce any other crops besides cotton, but the majority
of them cared little or nothing about other crops. After
the coming of the boll-weevil the raan who formerly pro
duced thirty bales of cotton found that he could produce
only five or six, on the same land. The white planters
who owned large tracts of land, on which cotton had
been planted for thirty years, found that these lands now
planted in the old way would in many cases hardly pro
duce sufficient cotton to pay the rent. Hence, they were
unable to borrow money under such conditions from the
local banks to "furnish" the Negroes and keep them try
ing to make cotton. In a majority of cases, as soon as
the Negro could not get "furnished," he lost confidence
in his landlord, and in his heart at least began to dass
him with what is usually called "po' white trash" ; and as
soon as an agent from some more favored section of the
country (I mean a section where the boll- weevil had not
gone) came seeking labor the Negroes were ready to

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN i79
join him and run from the boll-weevil, not realizing seem
ingly that the pest was gradually making its way to all
the sections where cotton grew. I have seen as many as
a hundred wagons, each loaded with a separate family,
passing through our locality from somewhere south of
us, going northward to escape the depredations of the
boll-weevil. Such people only needed to be taught to
stand firm and work out their own salvation. In the
vicinity of this institution few people have gone away to
escape the weevil. They have reraained here, planted
their crops, and worked under the direction of the school;
and as a result they are gradually leaming how to pro
duce cotton in spite of the boU-weevil. After five years
of fighting this pest, we are about to conquer, the results
being that, whereas we produced about one-tenth of a
crop when the boll-weevil made its first appearance, at
the present tirae this locality is producing fully two-
thirds of the normal crop.
Meantime, our farraers' conferences were still doing
their work annually. At these conferences I always de
livered an address to the fanners asserabled, which, with
the resolutions, was published not only in our own paper,
but also in raany daily papers throughout the state of
Mississippi. The following extracts, which were taken
from the Jackson Daily News, will give some idea of
how I sought to help the farmers :
"February 12. — The Mississippi Negro Farmers' Con
ference met in the main auditorium of the Utica Normal
and Industrial Institute to-day at ten o'clock A. M.
After preliminary exercises Prof. William H. Holtzclaw,

i8o THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
president of the conference, addressed the audience. The
following remarks from his address were heartily re
ceived :
" 'Ladies and Gentiemen : We have come together in
this our sixth annual conference further to consider ways
and means to better the condition of the Negro farmers
of this state, and to hear, from your own lips, of the
progress you have made since last we met. Constituting
as we do so nearly two-thirds of the population of the
state of Mississippi, our conduct is bound to have a tre
mendous bearing upon the character of this coraraon
wealth. " 'In this connection, I want to call your attention to
the amount of crime set down to the credit of the Negroes
of this state. I have recently seen a statement to the
effect that 1,400 Negroes out of a miUion were in the
chain gangs of this state during the past year. Now I
think you will agree with me that, even after aUowing
ample latitude for too ready apprehension and conviction
and all unfairness that raay enter trials, the amount of
crirainality is entirely too great. We must do something
to change these conditions. I feel that if we set our
faces sufficiently hard against crime it will grow con
tinually less. We must show the criminal that there is
no place in our society for hira, that we will tolerate him
under no circumstances. We are all eager to see the day
when lynchings will be as negligible a quantity in Missis
sippi as in Massachusetts.
" 'We can help to bring about this condition by our
absolute refusal to tolerate crime in any sense araong us.
There is not a state in the Union, in my opinion, that
offers greater advantages to its Negro population than
Mississippi. There is plenty of land for sale all over the

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN i8i
state at reasonable prices. Here is a great opportunity
for us to plant ourselves firmly in the soil and make use
ful citizens. Let us strain ourselves to more than fulfill
the duties of citizenship.
" 'To complain of obstacles is one thing and to sur
mount them is another. Our salvation here in the South
is very largely a matter of Christian intelligence, thrift,
industry, and morality. We must possess these or we
must ultimately fail.
" 'I realize that we have many things to hinder us, but
nothing has yet arisen to prevent us from being truthful,
honest, upright, energetic, and moral men. Nothing has
so far arisen to prevent our acquiring horaes and develop
ing them in the highest sense. I feel, therefore, that just
so long as these things are not prevented, nothing can
stay our progress, if, indeed, there be any that wish to
accomplish this ignoble end.' "

CHAPTER XVI
Just after this conference had closed Dr. Henry E.
Cobb, of New York City, one of our leading trustees,
requested rae to give a full stateraent of what had been
accomplished up to that tirae, April, 1909; and I wrote
him the following letter, which I take the liberty to give
here, because it sums up well the work that we had suc
ceeded in doing during the first six years of our labors :
"My DEAR Dr. Cobb : In reply to your letter of recent
date asking for a stateraent of the work of this Institu
tion, permit rae to say that although we started here in a
wilderness six years ago, with absolutely no capital, with
no immediate friends, strangers amidst strange surround
ings, our motives questioned on the one hand, and our
ability to accomplish our object on the other, with noth
ing but hope founded on faith, w^ have gone steadily for
ward in the building up of an industrial educational In
stitute similar to Hampton and Tuskegee, until to-day
our institution is among the most successful in this sec
tion of the South.
"In all our departments, — industrial, academic. Bibli
cal, night and day school, — we have enrolled five hundred
students this year, and have employed twenty-five teach
ers and officers. Our teachers have been educated at
sorae of the best schools in the country. North and South.
Although we are careful not to neglect the academic
work, our school is distinctly industrial, and among the

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 183
industries agriculture takes first rank. Domestic science,
I believe, comes second. When I tell you that ninety-five
per cent, of my people in the state of Mississippi are en
gaged in some form of agriculture you will readily under
stand why we are careful to give accurate training in this
particular subject. Other industries taught are carpentry,
whedwrighting, blacksmithing, sawmilling, and general
lumber manufacturing, brick laying and plastering,
broommaking, printing and bookbinding, dairying, stock-
raising, poultry raising, sewing and dressmaking, miUi
nery, cooking, electrical engineering, laundering, and gen
eral housekeeping. Sorae of these industries, — the saw
mill, for instance, — are well equipped and are raore than
self-supporting, while the raajority of thera raust still
corae under the 'infant industry' class.
"On the grounds proper there are three large buildings
and eleven sraall ones ; out on the plantation there is one
large building surrounded by thirty cottages, farra-
houses, barns, and so on. The farra proper, including
tiraber lands, consists of one thousand five hundred and
ten acres. The entire property is valued at seventy-five
thousand dollars, and I am happy to say that there is not
one cent encumbrance on a single dollar's worth of the
property. "But our labors have not been confined to the building
of a material Institution. We have built our Institution,
as it were, in the hearts of the people. We have changed
the condition of things so materially that it is difficult to
describe the changes that have taken place. Six years
ago the ownership of homes by my people was almost
wholly unknown; it was difficult to find a Negro that
had a home of his own with more than two rooms, re
gardless of the size of his family. To-day Negroes in

i84 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
the neighborhood own more than three thousand acres
of land, and raany of thera have erected corafortable cot
tages with from three to five rooms, having some pictures
on the walls and some books on the shelves as well as
sorae flowers in the yard.
"You will better appreciate the value of the changes
when I tell you that six years ago sorae of the people
were so vicious that all idea of evening services at the
various churches had to be abandoned by the older people
in order to keep their sons and daughters out of prisons
and chain gangs. When a gathering was attempted at
night it usually resulted in a free-for-all fight, in which
revolvers and razors were used indiscriminately, to the
injury of sorae of the congregation and the imprisonment
of others.
"It is gratifying to note that all this has nearly passed
away at Utica. In practically all the churches the ser
vices are orderly and are held night or day, at the will
of the worshipers. No 'blind tiger' whiskey is sold about
the churches now; and many of the congregations com
pare favorably with audiences I have seen in raore en
lightened sections of the country.
"Six years ago there were raen and women living to
gether as man and wife and rearing children, without the
serablance of a legal tie, but I ara glad to say that public
sentiment has so changed that it has compelled the dis
continuance of these illegal and degrading practices. AU
the persons living together illegally were raade to raarry
by due forms of law, or leave town, and they are now
happier. The former state of things could not exist here
now. Not only would the colored people themselves re
fuse to tolerate it, but the white officers of the law would
not permit it.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 185
"All this measures, though very inaccurately, the work
we have helped to accomplish during these six years, out
side of what raight be expected of an ordinary school.
Now, just a word about how we have done it.
"We organized ourselves into what we called 'exten
sion workers,' then we divided the local territory into as
many divisions as there were teachers in the faculty,
assigning a given division to each worker. All the tirae
that was not spent in the actual work of the school was
spent among the people. Once a month the teachers
would meet in our chapel and compare notes, and once
a year all the people in the various divisions were brought
together for a conference and for general instructions;
we learned of them, and they learned of us. The work
has been enlarged until this year the whole county of
Hinds, a section of territory equal to the state of Rhode
Island, is under the practical moral charge of the twenty-
five teachers of our school. We shall further enlarge the
scope of the work from year to year.
"The results of this extension work have impressed
every one of our friends that has visited the school.
When Dr. G. S. Dickerman, of New Haven, Conn., sec
retary of the John F. Slater Fund Trustees, visited us
about a year ago, his parting remark to me at the little
station was : 'What impresses me most about your work
is, not what you have done at the school, but what you
have done in this community.'
"Dr. Bradley Gilman, of Boston, formerly for raany
years pastor of the Church of the Unity at Springfield,
Mass., who paid us a visit last October at the tirae Dr.
Booker T. Washington was here, has written rae the fol
lowing letter:
" 'My dear Mr. Holtzclaw : Among many incidents

i86 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
of my recent trip through the South with Dr. Washington
nothing is raore firmly or agreeably stamped upon my
raeraory than is my visit to your school at Utica. What
I saw there gave me every assurance of your success.
What I said to you there I repeat now: namely, that
such good work and results as you show at Utica, — you
being a graduate of Tuskegee, — is a veritable guarantee
of the wisdom and worth of the Tuskegee method.
" 'I hope that you will go on with great courage and
that you will find araple support for your work, which
richly deserves support. The solution of the Negro prob
lem by true education is the only solution, and my visit
to the South made me more hopeful of results than I
was before.'
"It may also interest you to note what Dr. Washington
himself thinks of my efforts. He says :
" 'It was my privilege to visit Utica, Mississippi, and
to see something of the work of the Utica Normal and
Industrial Institute, of which Mr. William H. Holtzclaw
is Principal, in October, 1908. I cannot speak too cor
dially of the effective way in which Mr. Holtzclaw and
his co-workers are attacking the problems presented to
them. The school is located in a section where it has an
opportunity to do effective work among the Negro people.
" 'Mr. Holtzclaw is deserving of the encouragement
and support of all who may becorae interested in the work
he is doing at Utica.'
"William Holtzclaw, "Principal."
It has always been my policy to keep the school out of
debt and the property unencumbered. At the end of the

Executive Council of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute. —
Left to right, top row: Miss C. J. Lee, Assistant Dean; D. W. L. Davis,
Superintendent of Industries; P. Brooks Peters, Dean, Academic Department.
Second row: Foster G. Smith, Private Secretary to the Principal; William
H. Holtzclaw^ Principal; F. Lawrence Anderson, Treasurer. Bottom row:
Mrs. Mary E. Holtzclaw, Superintendent of Girls' Industries; Miss Addie
Hendley, Dean, Girls' Division

.THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 187
school year, if I did not have quite sufficient funds to
meet all our obligations, I have appealed to Negro friends
and then to the whites, and have resorted to many devices
for raising money among my own people, in order to keep
the Institution out of debt.

CHAPTER XVII
Some time ago, accorapanied by more than a dozen
of my co-workers, I went into the country to learn what
was the condition of the Negroes in that section, and
found myself in the midst of a progressive colony of
them, — a colony that owned altogether about five thou
sand acres. And this is in the state whose former Gov
emor declared publicly that the Negroes were going
backward, and that they were incapable of assimUating
the white man's civilization.
Just before I reached the colony I stopped at a store
owned by a white man. Only one white man, the pro
prietor, was at the store, and he was sitting on the gal
lery, chatting with about twenty Negroes. WhUe get
ting some refreshments I found out that the relation be
tween the races was of the most cordial sort. And when
I reached the Negro colony and talked with them, I
found that they all spoke in the highest terms of their
white neighbors.
To ride up and down seven miles of territory owned
by Negroes, to look into their beaming faces, and to re
ceive their warm handshake is a satisfaction that no one
can know who has not lived araong and grown up with
the people. The success of this particular community is
due to a Negro teacher who settled here some years ago.
Some of the Negroes own as much as seven hundred

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 189
acres of land, and are replacing the old one-room cabin
with neat, modem cottages. The model for these little
homes is the one occupied by the teacher himself. At his
house we had supper, which was prepared directly from
his gardens, barnyards, and fields, the cooking and prep
aration of the food being all that the most fastidious
could desire. After more than twenty persons had par
taken of this hospitality there seemed to be enough for
twenty more. Where people live on the products of their
own fields, gardens, and barnyards, food is seldom scarce.
Near by were school buildings, which had been erected
by this Negro teacher, with the assistance of his neigh
bors. Everything was apparently neat and trim. The
test of a school, however, is its backyard, so I withdrew
frora the crowd and went on a tour of inspection. Every
thing was in excellent condition; even the horse lot and
cow bam were clean and sanitary.
In addition to the school, there was a little store, a place
where the teacher supplied the neighbors when they did
not have time to go to the white man's large store up the
road. Into his school this teacher is trying to introduce
what we call "industrial features," such as cooking and
sewing, and sorae of the good neighbors are like they
used to be at Utica, — they "don't want their children
taught to work for white folks."
Valuable work is bdng done through the indirect in
fluence of our school by sorae of its graduates.
A few years ago there appeared at my office three little
girls, with their brother, all knocking for admittance.
Presently their father appeared. He had brought them
through the country. All covered with dust, he ap-

190 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
proached and asked if I would arrange some way where
by his children could help to educate themselves; he
had a large family and found it practically impossible to
send them all to school unless they could work to pay at
least a part of their expenses. He was a local preacher,
and was what you would caU a "good liver" as a farmer.
I admitted the four young people, with the understand
ing that he would pay what he could and that I would
permit them to work out the remainder. After five years
of work and study at this Institution, they all four were
ready to be graduated when one of them died. The other
two girls, Ada and Minnie, with their brother, Fred
Morrison, returned to their home at Leamed, and began
"coramunity work," as they had seen it carried on here.
They had, the last time I visited them, the best school
community to be found in their county. The County
Superintendent of that county states that it is the first
model school for Negroes ever constructed in his county.
What is more, these young people, together with their
father, so worked on the hearts and minds of their little
community that they succeeded in inducing the people
themselves, together with their white neighbors, to raise
sufficient funds to build this schoolhouse without outside
assistance. It is a splendid rural schoolhouse, with three good
rooms, two of them used for teaching the ordinary day
pupils and the third for teaching cooking and sewing, the
"domestic arts." In it they have a cook stove, a sewing-
machine, and some other simple apparatus. Outside the
boys are taught trucking and farming on a little plot of
land belonging to the school. The two young women do

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 191
the inside work, together with the academic teaching,
while the brother teaches the boys farming and black
smithing. He has a portable blacksmith shop, which he
hiraself erected on a little one-horse wagon. After he
has used this shop for a given nuraber of days each week
at the little school at Learned he then travels through the
country as an agent of the Jeanes Fund, visiting all the
Negro schools in the county, teaching them blacksraithing
and farming, trying to imbue them with the idea of
progress so that they may succeed in their school com
munity just as he has done in his. It is this kind of work,
done by the young men and women whom we shall be
able to send out frora time to tirae frora various schools,
that will bring about the salvation of our people in the
rural districts.
One other incident will, perhaps, eraphasize the point.
One day I was walking out to our plantation along a lone
some country road when I was overtaken by a farm
wagon the occupants of which were a raan and his wife
and his mother-in-law. Upon their invitation, I got up
to ride with them. The wife, a more than ordinarily in
telligent woraan, started the conversation.
" 'Fessor," she said, "this is ray old man. Ever since
I heard that lecture of yours down yonder at Zion, two
years ago, we's been a-living better. My old man was
not there, but I went home and told him how you said
we could live, and we started out to live that way. We
began raising all sorts of vegetables, and chickens and
eggs, so that we now have plenty of everything to eat at
home and something to sell every week. The flour you
see on this wagon right now is bought with some chickens

192 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
and eggs I have just sold. Me and the old man makes
the crops and Mamma raises the chickens and gathers
up the eggs. I sho' is glad you spoke there that day.
Everybody in that neighborhood is living better; they
all has chickens and eggs."
This shows, at least, that opinion is changing among
the masses of the people. They are leaming to move up
ward and forward, to measure themselves by higher
standards, and to hope for better things. To bring about
this condition is the first step, — the pioneer work.
But our greatest work is among those who come to us
as students. For instance, a girl came to school not long
ago who did not have a change of dothes nor a cent of
money. She brought her mother's only mUch cow, which
she offered in payment for her schooling. The cow really
did not seem to be worth the feed that was necessary to
bring her to the point of usefulness, but in order to en
courage the young woman we accepted the cow and al
lowed her to proceed with her education, working as she
went. This young woman is typical of many who enter the
Institution under adverse circumstances and afterward
becorae useful in the communities to which they return.
I have in mind a young woman who entered the Institu
tion several years ago, simply because she had nowhere
else to go ; she had no father and she had been abandoned
by her mother. She finished the course of study and has
since proved to be one of the most energetic workers that
we have sent out.
At the present time she is engaged as a teacher, in the
charge of girls, in the Robert Hungerford Industrial

Corene Haney, offering her mother's only cow for her
entrance fee and schooling at the Utica
Normal and Industrial Institute

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 193
School, Eatonville, Florida. The following paper writ
ten by her at the time of her graduation will be of interest
because of the light it sheds upon the whole subject :
"Memory carries rae back six years ago, when I was
but a little ragged, illiterate girl, roaraing the fields and
public roads of Utica, with no idea of ever becoming a
boarding-student of any institution. Being a poor girl,
without a father's aid, I had to struggle very hard for a
living. Mother had to work away from home the greater
part of the time, hence I received little or no fireside
training. "The church services were liraited, — ^preaching once a
month, and Sunday school every Sunday. Very often,
however, I could not attend these services, because of my
mother's absence, bad weather, or a long distance which
rendered it unsafe for me to go alone.
"Fortunately, most of ray associates were school girls,
and my being so far behind them inspired rae to want
an education.
"My opportunity for obtaining an education in those
early days was indeed meager. The rural school, three or
four miles frora home, made it impossible for me to at
tend school in the winter, for at that time only a few
months were taught, and those in the heart of the winter.
I was too small at the time to walk such a distance in bad
weather, and when I became large enough to attend
school, regardless of weather, I had to work for my sup
port. Mother, having other children to support, was not
able to aid me in any way toward getting an education.
What little opportunity I had for learning, therefore,
came from what my older sister taught me in odd mo
ments. I remeraber quite well that the first books I ever

194 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
owned were given to me by a white lady for sweeping
her yard. They were too high for rae at the tirae; how
ever, by my sister's help, I raanaged to get sorae benefit
frora thera.
"The year 1902 was ray last year on the horae farm; it
was the hardest and most discouraging year of my life.
Just as I was about to give up all, Mr. Holtzclaw carae
to Utica and took charge of the St. Peter's public school,
which was the beginning of the Utica Normal and In
dustrial Institute. I first started as a day student. A few
weeks afterwards the principal, having an occasion to go
North, offered me the great opportunity of staying with
his wife while he was away. She, seeing my condition,
became interested in me at once, and when the tirae came
for me to return home she offered me an opportunity to
educate myself, providing I would do whatever was as
signed to me to do with all my heart. I eagerly grasped
the opportunity, for I was indeed anxious for an educa
tion. "In the beginning, my work seemed hard on account
of my not knowing how to do it properly. I knew little
or nothing about house work, therefore I became discour
aged. But, my teachers being kind and patient with rae,
and by my taking in and carrying out the lessons taught
me from day to day, it was not long before I found
pleasure in doing my work, and it has resulted in good
for me.
"To-day my raind in retrospect sees those days I
thought so dark. Behind rae is a struggle of six years;
before me a world of duties. I do not regret a moment
of ray tirae spent at Utica. I am proud of the Institution
and what it has done for me. Had it not been for our
noble Principal, who left his comfortable home to come

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 19S
to this most needy section, I would stiU be groping in
utter darkness. By making the best of my time and tal
ent I have been able to receive certificates from four dif
ferent departments of the Institution, which means that
I can do the work intelligently.
"My future life shall be devoted to ray people, to whom
in a small way I shall be what Utica has been to me.
"I fiind no words to express my gratitude to the Utica
Institute. It has been to me what Lincoln was to the
slaves. He freed their bodies, and his life teaches us true
freedom of the soul. Utica Institute has freed my body,
for I am no more confined to one line of work, but I can,
with intelligence, cook, wash, iron, sew, and keep house.
It has freed ray soul by giving rae a moral education.
"I am ever grateful to our Principal for that whole
some instruction he has given me year after year. Dear
to ray raeraory are those words that feU from his lips
once upon a time as I sat under the oak : 'No raan has
within him the power to keep another permanently down.
With a strong and healthy body, will power and deter
mination, all obstacles can be trampled under foot as one
moves towards the goal.' I am indebted to him for the
everlasting principles of right which he taught and for
the foundation of success which he tried so earnestly to
irapress upon rae.
"Theodosia Skelton."
While this educational work was progressing we were
still carrying on the local work to the best of our ability,
extending the scope of the Institution and trying to make
it more and more substantial. We had begun the erec
tion of the largest building we had ever attempted, —
Booker T. Washington Hall, — ^but just as it was about

196 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
two-thirds completed, June 9, 1910, we were visited by a
severe cyclone that completely destroyed this building
together with several others. As it was just after the
closing of school, the buildings had been vacated and no
lives were lost.
But we were left practically without shelter. When
the storm occurred it was about bedtime, and two min
isters had come to spend the night with me. They had
just retired, both sleeping in the sarae room. When the
storm was at its height I heard buildings falling, and our
house was shaking so violently that I thought I had better
go in and see how my guests were faring. I found them
both down on their knees praying. One of them, how
ever, got up at intervals, looked out of the window to see
how the storm was progressing, and then kneeled again
to pray. Before the storm had ceased, one of the teach
ers c^me to my window, and knocking excitedly, said that
several of the buUdings had been destroyed. I knew be
fore he told me what had happened, but I did not have
the courage to face the desolation, and when he assured
me that no lives had been lost I directed him to go back to
his room and remain until moming.
By daybreak I had made my plans for rebuilding, —
plans that extended over two years of work.
Going to work vigorously, I made a strenuous cam
paign, and as a result, aided as I was by many of my
friends both at home and in the East, I succeeded in rais
ing within ninety days fourteen thousand dollars. While
I was busy raising this money Mr. D. W. L. Davis, our
faithful and efficient superintendent of industries, was
on the spot, and he superintended all the building and

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 197
repairing. He succeeded so well with the work that when
the trustees met four months later to inspect the work
we were doing they felt constrained to give Mr. Davis
special commendation. The Institute owes a great deal
to the devoted teachers that have been connected with
the school from time to time.
At one time, in the early history of the school, while I
was away from home trying to raise funds, I received
this note from one of the teachers, — a woraan: "Dtear
Principal: I regret to have to bother you, but I am
actually almost barefooted and cannot go from one build
ing to another. If you can send me enough money to
get a pair of shoes, I wUl not bother you again soon."
Mr. D. W. L. Davis, an expert blacksmith, stuck by
his post from year to year, on a salary so small that when
he was called to neighboring towns on Saturdays to do
horseshoeing he used to bring back, as a result of his
work, raore than half the araount of his monthly wages.
This money he turned into the school's treasury. With
out such devoted helpers as these were the school could
not have gone forward, — indeed, could scarcely have
continued to exist.
While speaking of those who have helped me I must
not forget the service of my good wife, Mary Ella, with
out whose help I should most certainly have lost heart
and failed.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in a city, and having
gone from there whUe yet a girl to Tuskegee Institute,
where she reraained until after she was grown, she never
knew anything about country life until she began work
at Snow Hill, Alabama, the same school in which I

198 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
worked for four years. I was greatly impressed even
then with the way in which she adapted herself to coun
try life, but it was after we had married and had entered
upon our work at Utica that I began to understand her
character, her willingness to make sacrifices in order that
good might be accomplished. In all these years that I
have lived and worked with her I have corae to know
that there are few sacrifices she would not raake, if by so
doing she could further the interests of our people.
For instance : in the early history of this school, when
we were just starting the school and were both strangers,
it became often necessary for me to leave her for three
and four months at a time, — a stranger araong strangers,
— but she always bore it with a fortitude that nothing
seemed ever to disturb, except when I told her, as I often
did, that she seemed to be happier when I was away from
home than when I was there.
As the work has grown from year to year greater re
sponsibilities have attached to it, but these responsibUi
ties, untU within recent years, have always devolved upon
her shoulders in my absence, and even now those whom
I leave in charge of the school when I am away depend
very largely upon her judgment in matters pertaining to
the best interests of the school.
From the very first she has been a teacher in the Insti
tution, having had charge for the past few years of the
girls' industries as director. She has her office in the
girls' buUding and maintains regular office hours the year
round, where all girls have free access to her when neces
sary. This has lifted from me all along a great burden,
for no problems ever arise among the girls that caimot

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 199
be settled without ray taking a greater part than a mere
consultation with ray wife.
Although I ara given raost of the credit for the work
that has been done here, it is but fair to say that the
greater portion of this credit should go to Mary Ella, for
it seeras to me that she has been truly the power behind
the throne, and sometimes all around the throne.
There are many other consecrated workers connected
with this Institution that might be raentioned. There
are two at least that must be mentioned, the Misses Clara
J. and Mary Lee, first cousins, the two young woraen who
were with me when I first opened a public school in this
section of the country and who have been with me ever
since, honored teachers and efficient workers. The latter
is now Mrs. Harris, but she is still actively engaged in
the work, being the widow of WiUiam H. Harris, who
was mentioned in a former chapter as having sacrificed
his life in the interest of this work in its early history.

CHAPTER XVIII
For many years the Southern people, living in one of
the richest sections of our country, did not develop their
agricultural interests as the farmers in the raiddle West
and other sections have done, but in recent years the
entire South has been waking up in this respect; all at
once it has seemed to realize what it has been losing;
consequently it is now showing an interest in the develop
ment of its agricultural resources that is hardly equalled
anywhere else in the country. But the greater part of
the interest thus far shown has been largely for the bene
fit of white farmers. Especially has this been true of
whatever funds have been expended in the interest of
agricultural education. So far as I have been able to
determine there has been no particular disposition to
deprive the Negro of any agricultural rights and priv
ileges, but the deprivation came through n^lect. The
legislators and public servants in various places seemed
all at once to realize how much the South has been losing
by not giving sufficient attention to agriculture, and they
began to try to remedy the evil all at one stroke. In these
rapid improvements the interest of the Negro is too often
entirely overlooked. For instance, at a recent meeting
of the legislature of Mississippi a law was enacted mak
ing it possible to establish agricultural high schools in
every county in the state, but for whites only. This law

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 201
was unconstitutional, as under the reconstruction consti
tution white and colored men were to receive like treat
ment. I thought that older and more experienced men in
the state should take the lead in such matters, but no one
came forward.
Meantime, the schools for whites only were being es
tablished here and there in various counties, and all the
people, both white and black, were being taxed for their
support. I had watched all this very carefully and had
been trying to find sorae way by which this neglect of the
Negro could be brought to the attention of the proper
authorities; but as the white people of my own county
had not attempted to establish such a school, I had no
direct way of reaching the matter.
At length, in one of the counties a Negro refused to
pay his taxes. A suit was brought and the case soon
reached the Supreme Court of the state, where the school
law was declared unconstitutional ; so those counties that
had established schools had to cease operations. Then
the legislature met again, and the air was full of ruraors
to the effect that a way would be found within the law
to continue the establishraent of these white schools with
out raaking similar provision for Negroes. But the ma
jority of the white people of the state did not sympathize
with these ruraors.
With a sincere wish to see the white schools continued,
but with a still stronger desire to see the Negro youth of
the state enjoy the same privilege, on January i, 1910, I
addressed the following open letter, in conjunction with
and with the approval of leading white and colored men,
to the legislature on the subject :

202 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
"To the Hon. C. E. Franklin and the Honnorable
General Assembly, of the state of Mississippi, Jackson,
Mississippi. "Sirs : At the raeeting of the last general assembly a
bill introduced by Senator Franklin, establishing Agri
cultural High Schools in the state of Mississippi, was
introduced and favorably passed upon.
"It was afterward discovered that this bill inadver
tently made provision for the establishment of agricul
tural schools for whites only. The right-thinking masses
of the people immediately concluded that this was an
oversight which was not intended by the author or sanc
tioned by public opinion. As soon, therefore, as the mat
ter could be brought before the suprerae court, the law
was declared unconstitutional, in accordance with the will
of the white people. Naturally, the black people of the
state rejoiced at this finding, for it proved conclusively
the opinion for which the better class of white people, as
well as the better class of Negroes, have contended for
many years : namely, that there is no desire on the part
of the better class of white people in the state of Missis
sippi to lift themselves up by casting the Negroes down.
"But we now have further proof (although further
proof is unnecessary) in the new agricultural bill, which
I learn from the Jackson Daily News is now in the hands
of Senator Franklin, for introduction.
"We might as well look raatters squarely in the face,
and speak the truth without reserve. It is the opinion
in sections outside; of the state of Mississippi that the
Negroes in this state do not get a square deal frora their
white fellow-citizens. That, being excluded frora the
ballot, and having no direct representation at the capital,
and being, therefore, compelled to take whatever is given

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 203
them, they are, as a matter of fact, deprived of much that
they by right ought to have. When I say this opinion is
pretty general I speak from experience, — experience
gained from personal contact with individuals in many
of..the states from Mississippi to Maine.
"I think I raay venture the assertion that the feeling is
not so general among leading Negroes in Mississippi as
it is among members of your own race in other states.
But whatever raay be the facts in the case, this new agri
cultural bill should be enough to remove any doubt from
all sincere seekers after the truth. For although no
Negro, perhaps, has had any influence whatever upon any
one who has had to do with the making of the present
bill, its provisions, nevertheless, are such as to convince
any right-thinking Negro that the best white people of
this state have his interests at heart, as well as their own.
"When the raasses of the Negroes of this state were
deprived of the ballot, and representation, there were
many honest men and woraen who felt that this was a
direct blow at the Negroes' liberty, and some even ven
tured to think that it was an effort to re-enslave them, in
spite of the fact that the statesraen of that day fought
hard to convince the public that they bore no ill-will
toward the black men, and would not re-enslave them if
they could.
"Mississippi was not allowed, at this time, the benefit
of the doubt as to her intentions, as she stood before the
bar of public opinion; but was held to be guilty of an
effort to re-enslave, as it were, until she should prove
herself innocent. But notwithstanding many indiscre
tions of certain types of politicians, I think you will agree
with me that this bill which, I understand, is brought into
being by some of the best people of Mississippi, and

204 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
which is to be introduced by Senator Franklin, himself
one of the bravest of leaders, should be final proof that
Mississippi is seeking the good of all her people, black as
well as white, poor as well as rich.
"But what if, after being introduced, such a bill should
fail to pass the Legislature? I do not think I speak
rashly when I say that the failure to enact such a measure
as provided, simply because it provides agricultural edu
cation for all the people alike, would be almost a calam
ity. For many years thereafter we should stand con
demned before the bar of public opinion. It is for these
reasons that I have ventured to address you on behalf of
the Negroes of this state, to humbly beg your influence
toward the enactment of this agricultural high school bill.
"Mississippi's great treasures are all buried beneath her
rich soil; with a million Negroes, untrained in the very
methods which this bill seeks to provide, it would be im
possible for her white citizens to extract this great treas
ure so long as they tried to carry this load of Negro
ignorance. It would be a veritable millstone about their
necks, — a miUstone that must remain until it has been,
loosed by such a measure as is now before us.
"I believe you will find it easy to excuse the liberty I
may seem to assume in thus addressing you, when you
remember that this means of petition is the only way my
race has of raaking its wants known to you. The laws
are made by you, my race having absolutely no voice in
either the making or the administration of, them. We
cannot appeal frora them, but must accept them, whatever
we may think of them. It is for this reason that I appeal
for your support of this latest raeasure which has for its
object the enlightenraent of a miUion black citizens who
are virtually at your mercy.

Young men making furniture in the cabinet divisio

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 205
"Although we are not represented in your general as
sembly, we are with you in every act, in every scheme
you may devise for the enlightenraent of our farmer
classes, and for the developraent of our state. Believing
firmly as I do in your interest in aU the people of the
state of Mississippi, and believing that the interests of
both whites and blacks are conserved in this bill, I again
summon the courage to beg your support for the bill as
lastly drawn. "Very sincerely yours,
"Wm. H. Holtzclaw,
"Principal the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute,
Utica, Miss."
I do not know what effect this letter had, or indeed
whether it had any effect at all, but I do know that a bill
was passed within a few days authorizing the establish
ment of agricultural high schools in every county in the
state for both Negroes and whites. In such efforts as
this letter to the Legislature represents I have not worked
alone but in cooperation with many of the good white
people who have been interested in ray race and also with
many of the leading Negroes of the state, nearly all of
whom are anxious about the progress of the Negro farm
ers of the state.
So far as I know, very littie progress has been made
toward establishing such schools as I have just men
tioned for colored people, but that is not the fault of the
law. One other incident I may raention that will show how
I have tried to help in other directions is in connection

2o6 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
with the lynching evU. These efforts took various forms,
one of them being the following letter, which I wrote to
the Governor of the state at a time when lynching had
grown to such an extent in various parts of the South
that a mob of young Negroes had caught the spirit and
had lynched one of our own race in the Mississippi Delta.
The strange thing about it, so the papers reported, was
that certain white people applauded these Negroes while
they did the lynching. I felt this disgrace upon our state
so keenly that I submitted the following letter to the
Governor :
"In these trying days for my race, when so many of
thera are being put to death without the serablance of a
trial and when our state is listed so prorainently among
the states that have recently suffered from the evils of
lynch law, it is difficult for one deeply interested in it
and in all that pertains to its progress, and that of the
South generally, not to raise a voice of protest.
"News comes to us of persons lynched to the extent of
one a day for ten days, and to make it worse, eight lynch
ings happened on the same day.
"I am greatly interested in this question, because it is
altogether likely that the lynching spirit which has hith
erto been shown by whites only may take hold on the
Negroes after a while and manifest itself in ways that
will shock this nation.
"It is the spirit of lawlessness. The same spirit that
swings up a poor, ignorant, degraded Negro in the South
and riddles his body with bullets is the identical spirit
that dynamites a house in other sections, and occasionally
assassinates a high official. It is anarchy, under present

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 207
conditions in disguise, and anarchy is chaos. Committing
more crimes cannot be a cure for crime.
"I appeal to you, ray dear Governor, — not on behalf of
those who have suffered so directly frora raob violence,
but on behalf of the law-abiding Negroes who by sug
gestion may in the end be led to follow this deplorable
example of murder to satisfy some real or fancied injury,
— I appeal to you to use your great influence to check
mob violence amongst us.
"Dispatches tell us that only the other day a raob of
Negroes lynched one of their own race in Merigold, while
they were applauded by white raen. It does not need a
prophet to tell where such actions will ultimately lead. It
is an easy step from lynching a Negro while being ap
plauded by white raen to raurdering a white man while
being applauded by Negroes.
"I take the same position in regard to this lynching by
Negroes in Shelby that I take in regard to all lynchings,
— that it is absolutely unjustifiable under all circum
stances, is a relic of barbarism, and ought not to be tol
erated in a civilized country. It is vain for civilized raen
to try to justify so barbarous a practice as that of taking
human life without some process of law.
"Here in the South white raen raake the laws, they in
terpret the laws, and they should enforce the law to the
last letter, not override it. All the raachinery of the gov
ernraent is in their hands ; they can destroy or defend, and
the bldck man can say nothing but look on, and it mat
ters not what may be his opinion of the white man's sense
of justice. Every time you make a law and fail to abide
by it so long as it is on the statute books you have done
just that much to undermine the structure of civilized
government.

2o8 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
"People who resort to mob violence as a cure for any
evil overlook the fact that ignorance is at the bottom of
every crime that provokes the mob spirit. A few hun
dreds of us, realizing that fact, are working day and night
to wipe out ignorance and, consequently, crime from
among us.
"We deplore the existence of crirae among our people,
but we have faith that it can be overcome by intelligent
training in industry, morality, and Christianity. When
every Negro is engaged in sorae useful and congenial
occupation, crirae will be reduced to the rainiraum. I
beseech you, therefore, to open the schoolhouse door to
every Negro child, as rauch for the sake of the future
of your own people as for mine. If you will lend your
great influence to the work of helping us to better the
condition of our people, I pledge you the hearty efforts of
ten thousand educated Negroes in this state who will see
to it (so far as they can) that crime is wiped out and
that there shall neither be excuse nor occasion for the
mob. "I was born in the South ; have lived here and rendered
whatever service I could toward its development and
progress. I am deeply interested in all that pertains to
its welfare. I would not speak or write a single word
save for the purpose of helping it forward, and I am
writing you this letter because I know that your influence
in this state and throughout the country is great, and I
feel that a word from you at this tirae would count tre
mendously in the direction of peace and prosperity in our
beloved Southland.
"William H. Holtzclaw, "Utica, Miss."

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 209
It is probably not generally known outside of Missis
sippi that we have a class of white people here who are
as much opposed to lynching and other forms of evil as
are the people in any other state in the Union. The fol
lowing letter, which I received frora the Governor of
Mississippi, is to the point in this connection :
"Mr. W. H. Holtzclaw,
"Utica, Mississippi:
"I am in receipt of your letter of the 6th instant in
reference to enforcement of law and opposition to lynch
law and all forms of crime. In all of this you have my
most hearty concurrence. I have done, and will continue
to do, everything in my power to contribute to the en
forcement of law, and to the punishraent of all who'
offend. I do not know where the eight lynchings occurred
of which you write, nor had I before heard of the lynch
ing of a Negro by Negroes at Merigold. I should be
glad to receive some data on this point, and will bring
that and all other lynchings in this state to the attention
of the courts, with the view of having the offenders pun
ished. I have everywhere said, when speaking of the
subject, that the people are in a sad condition when they
look upon laws as something to use when it suits them
and to defy or evade when it does not suit them, for laws
of every kind should be equally and impartially enforced
against every offender, and all should receive equal pro
tection of the laws. I have heard of the industrial work
in which you are engaged, and am glad to know that you
are also stressing the strict enforcement and observance
of law. "Yours truly,
"E. F. Noel,
"Govemor."

2IO THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
I may add here that this determination on the part of
Governor Noel is typical of nearly every govemor that
Mississippi has had in the past twenty years or more.
The white people who wish to see their state rid of this
evil welcorae help, if it has weight, even when it comes
from Negroes.
I sent the Governor clippings from various papers
teUing of the Merigold lynching, and received the foUow
ing letter :
"Mr. W. H. Holtzclaw, Principal,
"Utica, Miss.
"Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of the 19th inst.
I will take up the matter with the officers and do what
I can toward vindicating the law in regard to each of the
cases you have mentioned, and I intended doing it before
I heard from you as to the Chunkey case. I have no in
formation in regard to the other case, except through
you. "E. F. Noel,
"Governor."
In my efforts to help the people I have always had the
encouragement of the best white people, not only in Utica
but wherever I have been. It is the impression in many
places that white people are not interested in the educa
tion of the Negro. This may be true in some respects,
but it is not true enough to be made a sweeping state
ment ; for I have observed that the white man in Missis
sippi wants to see education count for something tangible,
and whenever he can see that education means something
to his home, to his coramunity, and to the progress of his

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 211
state as well as to the Negro, he is usually found lending
assistance to that sort of education.
For instance, one day I was booked to deliver an ad
dress to the colored people at the little town of St. Elmo,
in Claiborne county, Mississippi, — a county which has
all its public schools corae together annually for public
exhibition, graduation exercises, and so on. The meet
ings are convened at different points in the county each
year, and this year it was to be at St. Elmo. When my
train rolled up to the station early in the moming I was
greatly surprised to see that the congregation up to that
time was coraposed of the white people almost entirely,
and what is more, these white people were very busy pre
paring the stage on which the Negro students were that
day to receive their certificates of graduation. They
were not only building a spacious stage with the lumber
that they had furnished, but were decorating that stage
with various decorations, including red, white, and blue,
and with a profusion of United States flags, which hung
like a crimson cloud in the distance.
I ventured to ask one white man why was all this in
terest being manifested by the white people when the
Negroes themselves seemed so disinterested. The answer
was that the white people gained quite as much from
these general gatherings as the Negroes, and for that
reason the various towns were eager to have the gather
ings. Whenever education, educators, and educational
processes can produce something that white men want,
they favor the education of the Negro just exactly as
other men do.

CHAPTER XIX
The founding and maintaining of an industrial and
literary institution as a center of influence in a neglected
section of the country has been my aim ever since I left
school. It seems fitting, therefore, that some summary
of the results of my efforts should be given here.
In the New York Independent of February 22, 1912,
Mr. William Pickens, Professor of Latin in Talladega
College, has an article entitled "Utica," which seems to
me to serve so well as a summary that I feel justified in
giving herewith liberal extracts from it. Mr. Pickens
says: "A thing happened in Jackson in the latter part of
April, 191 1, which caused the people of that city and of
many other parts of the State to run their fingers over
the map in search of Utica. This incident leads back
through a chain of recollections to the first causes which
made it possible, — first the incident and then the ante
cedent history.
"A Negro club in Jackson decided to promote an ora
torical contest among the various Negro institutions of
the State. The contest was held in Jackson last April,
and there were offered a first, a second, and a third prize.
There were representatives from the various colleges, —
Jackson College, Alcorn College, Tougaloo University,

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 213
Rust University, and others, — and among them was rep
resented only one 'Normal and Industrial Institute,' that
of Utica. After the Utica orator had spoken, the insti
tute band struck up a lively air araid the wildest applause.
But, band or no band, the audience was thundering its
verdict in favor of the clear superiority of that Utica ora
tion. The judges agreed with the audience, and the rep
resentative of the Normal and Industrial Institute was
awarded the first prize and a fitly inscribed gold medal.
And what is more, this Utica orator is a little, ordinary-
looking, country black girl.
"On the following week I was on my way to deliver
the commencement address at this Institute, and, hearing
in Meridian of the contest, I made the very natural re
mark that it would be hard for a judge to vote against
one girl if she did at all well. But doubt vanished from
my mind when I heard the oration itself repeated at the
Commencement exercises. It was clear, convincing, and
in both rhetoric and matter it was of the superior sort,
and was delivered with the naturalness, the enthusiasm,
and the spontaneity which characterize the birth of
thought and dispel all doubt as to its originality.
"The faith, the enthusiasm, and the pluck which car
ried this little Black Belt heroine to success is character
istic of the work of which she is the imraediate product.
Eight years ago, Williara H. Holtzclaw, a graduate of
Tuskegee, after three repeated failures to found a school,
being aroused to a fourth effort by the words of sorae
book as the Scotchman was encouraged by the persever
ance of a spider, finally succeeded in starting a 'normal
and industrial' school with one teacher and twenty pupils,
one mile from Utica, — just thirty mUes frora Major
Vardaman and scarcely a longer distance from Congress-

214 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
man Williams. He has now raore teachers than he had
pupils at first, and the nuraber of pupils has more than
squared itself. The Negro population of this section
greatly preponderates.
"At the original site of the school only one hundred
acres of land could be purchased, which soon proved to
be very inadequate for the school's development. With
characteristic pluck the principal decided to move the
school to a site where land could be bought. This was
six miles from the original site, five miles beyond the
town in another direction. In the suraraer of 1910 the
frame buildings were torn down, raoved, and put together
again on the new site, and students and teachers have put
so much work into laying off and beautifying the new
location that the stranger would not take it for less than
one year old. In recognition of such pluck, friends in the
North furnished $25,000 to purchase 1,600 acres of land.
It was a great task to accomplish so large a raoving in
one summer, and the difficulty was increased by having
the largest dormitory blown to the ground when it was
about two-thirds reconstructed on the new site.
"I wish to call attention to the fact that this is the
work of young Negroes. These twenty-five teachers, in
charge of nearly 500 students, are practically boys and
girls' themselves, recent graduates of Tuskegee, of Amer
ican Missionary Association schools, and of various
smaller schools. The young Negroes are ordinarily re
garded as an appalling problem for the South, but when
they are seen in a magnificently useful work such as this
at Utica one gets the idea that if the problem is given
opportunity and time it will solve itself. The new life
brought by the invasion of these young educated Negroes
has so vitalized the coraraunity that the Negro farraers

Faculty of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute

I Mr. David W. L. Davis
2 Mr. Lemuel E. Bynum
3 Mr. William A. Bender
4 Mr. F. Lawrence Anderson
5 Mr. Preston B. Peters
6 Mrs. F. L. Anderson
7 Mrs. P. B. Peters

8 Miss Clara J. Lee
9 Miss Reba Lathan
10 Mrs. Mary L. Harris
II Miss Lizzie Johnson
12 Miss Lucile L. Clopton
13 Miss Lillian Frazier
14 Mrs. A. J. Shootes
IS Mr. Albert J. Shootes

16 Miss Mabel Clopton
17 Miss Theodosia Skelton
18 Mr. John W. Matthews
19 Miss Mamie R. Wong
20 Miss Ada B. Alston
21 Mr. Foster G. Smith
22 Mr. William Holmes
23 Mr. Lewis Patterson

24 Mr. William H. Holtzclaw
25 Mrs. William H. Holtzclaw
26 Mr. S. P. Weathersby
27 Mr. Charles M. Gettis
28 Miss Katherine G. McBeth
29 Mr. George Davis

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 215
have acquired thousands of acres of land in the last half
dozen years.
"Another usual representation is that between the
young Negro and the white South there is an especially
bitter antagonism. I doubt the truth of that as a general
stateraent, but, if it be the rule anywhere else, it is cer
tainly contradicted at Utica, Miss. I have seen many
Negro schools of this class and similarly situated in the
South, but I have never seen one in the success of which
the white people of the coraraunity were more interested.
Many white citizens in the town of Utica are contributors
to this Negro school, some of them offering annual prizes
to stimulate industry, scholarship, and manhood araong
the students. One business raan gives annually a gold
watch and chain worth $65 as a prize, with no other con
dition than that the faculty shall vote it to 'the most
manly young man of the school.' That is a thing to con
template : a white man in the state of Mississippi, — where
the idea of the Negro's being a raan has for a decade
been most vigorously and most eloquently attacked, — ^that
. a white man in such a coraraunity is offering a valuable
prize to call young black raen to manhood. And this
man's name is not printed by the newspapers nor his
deed advertised ; unless we go all the way to Mississippi
and talk to black folk there, we should not learn that such
a man exists in that state. On April 26 two young white
men, scarcely out of their twenties, as members of the
trustee board of this independent Negro school, were
seated with the Negro trustees and farmers, giving and
taking counsel as to the best means of advancing the in
terests of the institution — and soraewhere else in Missis
sippi the newspapers were advertising a white man be
cause he had said that Negro education is a mistake.

2i6 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Why does the newspaper do this ? The probable explana
tion reminds me of a bit of history I have learned about
the famous Senator of a Southern State who has made
much money and acquired much notoriety by his attacks
upon the Negro, especially in the North. He was once
asked by a Negro friend of his, who was raised with him
from childhood and whom the white man evidently
loved: 'Senator, how is it that you are so affectionate
and so kind to me personally and yet say such awful
things about my people ?' The chuckling big Senator, in
true antebellum fashion, slapped his Negro friend on the
back and said: 'Boy, there's money in it; the Yankees
like to hear it, boy. There's money in it.' And then he
related how hard he had to work in his senatorial capacity
to earn $8,000 a year, but how one spectacular anti-Negro
speech, delivered for a few weeks through the North,
would bring him $25,000 and no end of publicity.
"It encourages the heart of a raan to see the strong
and ambitious Black Belt children that attend this school.
Their commenceraent program .was odd, but interesting.
They delivered orations and exhibited various manual
arts from the sarae platform, many of the latter taking
place simultaneously, to the great entertainment of the
audience. Two girls made a hat from start to finish;
another cut out from the bolt of calico, sewed, and fin
ished a girl's waist, while the audience looked on; iron
was forged and welded, a horse was brought onto the
platform and neatly and quickly shod by two boys,
clothes were washed and a 'farmer's dinner' was cooked ;
a chicken was killed and cooked 'scientifically,' as the
young woman explained who perforraed that part, and
then four big farmers and their wives were called to take
seats at a table on the platform, to show how to serve a

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 217
dinner, and that chicken and the rest of the food was just
as scientifically eaten. One little black girl, who was
helping to cook this dinner, like a true farmer's wife,
led the whole vast congregation in plantation songs while
she worked. She led in the solo parts, and while the audi
ence repeated the chorus she deftly kneaded dough or cut
the biscuits or opened the steaming oven. A race that can
smile at adversities and season its simple dinners with a
song will be 'mighty hard' to kUl. Their literary per
formances were encouraging to see ; often crude, but al
ways prophetic.
"These Black Belt children are of strong bodies and
quick intellects. They are ambitious of attainraent, proud
of their opportunities, and exceedingly proud of their
Negro teachers. I learned from one young man how
narrowly he escaped receiving this year's prize for 'the
most manly young man' and what a confident determina
tion he has to merit it next year.
"A conviction has taken me, after much observation of
the kind, that Negro students under Negro teachers, espe
cially teachers of the younger generation, seem in all their
performances, both physical and intellectual, to display an
exhilarating freedora of body and soul. There was a
naturalness and spontaneity in all that these boys and
girls did.
"With what enthusiasra the impartial historian of the
future will scan the records of these pioneer efforts of
young black men! When he comes across an exaraple
like this one at Utica he will fairly gloat over the raa
terial. The personal sacrifice which many of these young
builders have suffered simply cannot be told. The ma
terial rewards for Negro educational work in the South
are exceedingly poor. But this poverty serves one good

2i8 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
purpose ; it weeds out all save those who do the work for
love and who find life in the work itself."
In the foregoing article Mr. Pickens has shown how
Utica Institute, — which has been struggling along quietly,
though earnestly, for a dozen years, — is constantly being
brought to the attention of the people of Mississippi by
the ability of some of its students in some sort of contest.
Very recently another incident occurred which brought
the school to the attention of the people of Mississippi,
both white and black, in a way that it had never been
before. It was the occasion of the State Fair in No
vember, 1913. For the first time the Fair raanageraent,
all white business raen, decided that they would set aside
two of the ten days of the Fair to be known as Negro
days, and that Negroes should be given an opportunity to
show the public what they were doing in Mississippi along
agricultural and mechanical lines, as well as educational.
They especially appealed to the Negro schools of the state
to demonstrate their worth. All the leading schools of
the state took part and put on excellent exhibits.
Utica again was brought to the front by the character
of its exhibit and by the work of its students in connec
tion with the Fair. It had on the fair grounds the largest
and most comprehensive exhibit of any colored school,
and it won all the first prizes offered to schools, — money,
medals, badges, — and all the second prizes except one,
which went to the State Agricultural and Mechanical Col
lege. A dramatic contest between pupils of the various
schools was also a feature of the week. This was won by

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 219
the Utica Institute. And in the oratorical contest, which
was held at the sarae time, Utica won the second prize.
The stock raisers of the state were very much sur
prised to find that the pigs exhibited by the Utica Insti
tute were superior to all the others, — ^the largest one on
exhibition, weighing 840 pounds, took first prize and
championship. The chickens, ducks, geese, and other live
stock from the Institute all took first prizes.
The following extract from the Jackson Daily News,
written by one of its reporters, will give a clear idea of
the exhibit with which this Institution made such an im
pression on the minds of the people :
"The exhibits of chief interest (in the Negro division)
of course are those of their schools; that from the Utica
Normal school with its 560 students, alraost all of whora
are largely self-supporting, is a revelation. This school
was established ten years ago by President Holtzclaw,
and has been maintained wholly by his efforts and by the
gifts of the people. It is run at an annual cost of about
$30,000 and each year is better training the young men
and women for their place in life.
" 'Book learning' of course counts there for its full
value, but it is in the practical work of the farm and home
that they excel.
"Educated in the Tuskegee school of Booker Washing
ton, President Holtzclaw is certainly a worthy disciple of
his teacher, and is striving to do here what he can toward
building up another Tuskegee Institute; and he is suc
ceeding marvelously well. The products shown here were
all grown on the school farra, and this year they put up
2,100 gallons of fruits and vegetables, 500 of whicli were

220 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
in this exhibit. Six thousand pounds of com and 4,000
pounds of sweet potatoes were used in building these
front walls and in making the display, and miles and
miles of pea-vine hay was brought up to add to the ex
hibit. "Vegetables, fruits, and so on, are raised here of the
best quality, and among other products of the place is the
excellent broom corn. On the place they have a broom
factory, making their handles and likewise the brooms
there, which are of excellent quality.
"Well-made shoes, excellent garments of every style,
beautifully designed fancy work, and all the dainties
known to the most exacting palate are displayed here,
with furniture of the best grade, all raade by the students
of our native woods.
"There is shown a bed, which the boys raade ; a raat-
tress, which the girls made ; and they had raised the cot
ton with which it was stuffed and the geese from which
they had picked the feathers that filled the pillows; and
the sheets, comforts, and quilts all were made right there
by the girls ; thus deraonstrating to the students that they
can make their things at home, if they desire."
My present life is that of a teacher who finds very
little time to teach, as it takes nearly all my time and
thought to raise the forty thousand dollars annually that
is required to carry on the work of the Utica Normal
and Industrial Institute. I have to be away from the
school in search of fimds a little more than a third of
each year.
When I ara at the school I rise in the moming at 6
o'clock (or seven, according to the time I retire), and,
unless there is urgent work to be done at the office, I go

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 221
on horseback to aU the different departments ; then I go
for a long ride over the plantation, to see the boys at
their work. I retum to breakfast at 8 o'clock, and at
8 :40 I am in my office, where I remain until noon. After
one hour for luncheon I retum to the office, where I
wrestle with various problems until 4. Then I have din
ner and recreation, and play with Mary and the children.
At 7 p. ii. I again retum to the office for work and study
until 8 :40, when I go to the chapel and lead the prayer
service, which closes the day's work for all the school.
It is then my habit to read until ten or eleven o'clock.
In connection with this schedule, I teach two classes
during each day, and teach a general lesson by means of
an address to the whole student body every Sunday
evening. My favorite recreation is horseback riding. I have
never learned to play any games. Poverty made it im
possible for me to do so while I was at school, and I
have never had time since. There is just one exception,
— croquet, — which I learned to play when I was a boy.
And I ara proud of knowing how to play that game; I
shall never forget C. N. Findlay, my good old Alabama
teacher, who had the good judgment to teach his pupils
to play as well as to teach them their "a-b-c's."
We have a habit-forming routine at the school, which
resolves itself into the following schedule :
The rising bell rings 5 :io a. m. ; 5 :50, the first break
fast bell; 6, the breakfast bell; twenty-five minutes for
breakfast; 6:25 to 6:45, preparation for daily inspection
of rooras; 6:50, work bell rings; 7:25, raorning study
hour; 8:20, school bell rings; 8:25, young men inspected

222 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
on battalion grounds as to their toilet ; 8 :40, morning de
votion; 8:55, current news period; 9:20, classroom work
begins; 12, all work closes; 12:10, dinner; 1:00 p. m.,
work bell rings ; i :30, class work begins ; 3 :30, class
work ends ; 5 :30, bell rings to stop work ; 6, supper ; 6 :30,
study hour; 7, night school begins (for those who work
in the day and go to school at night) ; 8 :40, evening de
votion ; 9 :2o, first retiring bell ; 9 :30, retiring bell.
This schedule is varied on Sundays, so as to have both
Sunday school and preaching services in the morning,
leaving the aftemoon open for those who wish to go into
the country to do missionary work.
Of ray school life at Tuskegee I have said little for
want of space. It would be easy to write a whole book
on Tuskegee, covering the eight years that I passed there.
And the data that I have given regarding the founding of
the Utica Norraal and Industrial Institute will serve as a
sort of history of the Institute, inadequate though it is.
Many changes have taken place since the Institute was
started in Mississippi. About six hundred young men
and young woraen have been educated and sent into vari
ous parts of the state, and a large nuraber of them are
engaged in teaching in the rural schools, where I think
they can do the raost good at this time.
A very small per cent, of them are engaged in various
kinds of domestic service, both in the North and South.
Progress has been made, also, in every part of Missis^
sippi and the South. Negroes have advanced steadily in
various industrial organizations, building schools and
churches, improving their home life, buying property,
and in many other ways making themselves substantial

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 223
citizens of the state. The whole state, white as well as
black, has made tremendous progress during the past
twelve years. Let me relate this little incident to show
something of the progress that has been made in one par-
ticiUar instance.
Some years ago, on a frosty morning, I was standing
at the depot of Jackson, the capital of the state, and I
saw an emaciated horse trying to draw a cart through
Capitol Street, the main street of the city. The mud was
so deep and slushy in the middle of the street that the
horse went down until only the top of his back and the
end of his nose could be seen. A number of Negro men
got around hira to pull him out; but before they suc
ceeded he was dead. That was on the raain street; the
sarae street to-day is one of the most beautiful streets I
have ever seen in any town, substantially paved, as are
all the other principal streets in the dty. This will give
some slight idea of the progress that has been made there.
At that time Jackson had a population of seven thou
sand people. Now it has a population of approximately
thirty thousand, and the Negroes of that town paid taxes
last year on nearly a million dollars' worth of property.
I have raentioned these facts because without them
there is danger that my readers would think that I have
exaggerated the facts in regard to the progress that has
been made by the colored people in the vicinity of Utica,
and especially the progress that has been made in estab
lishing an Institution which started in the open air, with
no means or influence, and has reached a commanding
place in the educational world in a few years, with
twenty-five teachers, five hundred students, seventeen

224 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
hundred acres of land, and buildings, apparatus, and
property valued at more than a hundred and sixty thou
sand doUars.
In what I have said about my work I trust I have not
taken too much credit to mysdf, for I attribute all that I
have been able to accomplish to the good fortune that
has attended me from the day of my birth. In the first
place, in the choice of my mother, I consider that I was
one of the most sensible babies ever bom; and in the
choice of my father, there was surely no mistake. Then,
as I have said before, I was early under the influence of
some of the best white people I ever knew, — white people
who took an interest in me and helped rae in many ways.
I can never forget "Miss Roberson" (Mrs. Andy Robin
son), the white lady who in my youth gave me such en
couragement and direction as even my mother, because of
lack of education, was unable to give. Later, when I was
nearly a young raan, I carae under the influence of that
matchless teacher, Booker T. Washington, and also of
Warren Logan, "the gentleman of Tuskegee," whose
character cannot be surpassed ; and when I began my first
work as a teacher at Snow Hill, Alabama, after I had
finished my course at Tuskegee, I was again blessed by
coming in direct personal contact with one of Alabama's
greatest white men, Mr. Ransom O. Simpson, of Fur
man, Alabama, — a man who is devoting his declining
years to the development of The Snow Hill Institute for
the colored race, to bettering the condition of the Ne
groes on his extensive lands, many of whora were his
former slaves; and then my real fortune came when I
raarried the greatest and most lovable woraan I ever saw.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 225
When I came to Mississippi I fell directly in with such
great white men as the Hon. A. H. Longino, who was
then Govemor of the State, and the late Bishop Charles
B. Galloway, who, taken at his full value, was perhaps
the greatest man Mississippi has produced. Then there
were such good men and sympathetic fellow-citizens as
Major R. W. MiUsaps and Bishop Theodore Dubois
Bratton, — men who enjoy the reputation of living many
years ahead of their time when it coraes to questions af
fecting the South. I have already spoken of Mr. Fergu
son, Mr. Yates, and others (like the Simmons brothers),
my fellow-citizens here at home without whose assistance
I could hardly have accoraplished what I have. I should
also mention such consecrated men as Prof. J. B. Leh
man, who, although a Northern man, is in close sympathy
with all that is Southern, and who has done and is still
doing, as President of the Southern Christian Institute
at Edwards, Miss., a tdling work for Negro boys and
girls of the South. And there are hundreds of other
noble white men, — like Doctors Hamlin and Holmes,
Dean and President, respectively, of Tougaloo Univer
sity, and still others, in and out of Mississippi, — who
have stood by rae in all ray efforts.
I ought to mention the Christian white women of Utica
and the surrounding country, some of whom, even though
not wealthy, contributed as much as one hundred dollars
at a time. When in the early years we were trying to
establish a boarding department, these Christian women
contributed wash pans, dippers, water buckets, brooms,
quilts, and many other useful things to help us forward.

226 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
I have never felt that I have been able to give them any
just and adequate returns for their generosity.
I have already mentioned my great friend, Mr. Bed
ford, than whom I have never met a greater man nor one
more consecrated to the cause of a race other than his
own. Among the many colored men who have helped rae is
the little band of Negro farraers who gathered with rae
for the first tirae, ten years ago, and who have raet my
every call since that time. Then there is Mr. Emmett J.
Scott, Private Secretary to Dr. Washington, of whom
some one wrote, "The man who made Booker Washing
ton." That happy phrase is none too strong to indicate
the character of Mr. Scott. There is no doubt that he
stands high up in the list of the South's leading charac
ters. He has watched my every move and helped me
when he found an opportunity; and Mr. Charles Banks,
capitalist and leader of the Negro colony of Mound
Bayou, is ever ready to do something for Utica, as he is
for every other good cause.
Then there are Elder Charles P. Jones, of Jackson,
better known by his followers as "the raan of God," who
has helped as a sort of spiritual adviser, his lieutenant
Elder W. S. Pleasant, L. K. Atwood, and many others
too numerous to raention. All these, to say nothing of
the noble and self-sacrificing young teachers who have
been connected with the work frora time to time, have
hdped me and made it possible for me to buUd this In
stitution. Now when we add to this my opportunity to
come into contact with sorae of the best people of the

I William H. Holtzclaw
2 Mary E. Holtzclaw
3 Alice Marie

Principal Holtzclaw and His Family
4 Jerry Herbert
5 Robert Fulton
6 Addie, mother of Mr. Holtzclaw

7 Ernest, youngest brother
8 Adeline
9 Flora Garfield, a niece

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 227
Northem states I think it will be agreed that, in raany
respects, I have been very fortunate.
But this is not all. I have a family that is a perpetual
source of enjoyment when I can be at horae with them.
My eldest son, Robert Fulton, now eleven years old, rises
in the moming when I rise, at six o'clock, and follows me
to the office, where he takes charge of the telephone ex
change until breakfast, at eight, unless he is sooner re
lieved by the regular "hello girl"; then he pounds off
letters on the typewriter with more intelligence than one
would expect of a boy of his years, or climbs upon the
third story of the new building, where he pursues his
trade of carpentry. Jerry Herbert, nine years old, gives
me pleasure by his antics with the horses and pigs, for
which he has a special liking. Then there is Alice Marie,
seven, as sedate as you please, quiet and studious, with a
love for music and cooking. I must not leave out Ella
Adeline, five, who always manages to get into my arms
first. And last, and also least, and youngest, is "Bill," —
William Henry, Jr., — three years old. All these add to
the sum total of my happiness, and raake life worth
rauch raore than the living.
If anything else were needed to raake the life of a
Black' Belt school-teacher one of pleasure, it would be
found in his interest in the student body. I like to watch
a girl, who enters school so crude as to seem alraost de
formed, pass from one stage to another from year to
year, until after a while she stands forth on Commence
ment Day literally transformed in soul and body, — a new
creature, because of the new atmosphere in which she has
been perraitted to live. Or I like to watch the boy who

228 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
comes to school with all his possessions tied up in a ban
danna handkerchief, and many of the petty sins of his lo
cality still tied up in his head. One of these I now have
in mind. He had a dedded disposition to take unto him
self the things that belongeth to other men. One night
he broke into the Comraissary and took two dozen boxes
of salmon. Being overtaken by the fleet-footed night
guard, he was hauled into my office the next day, and
when I asked him what county he was from he could
not tell rae; nor could he tell the name of any officer
except the sheriff.
Despite the vigorous criticism of the Faculty, the Ex
ecutive Council refused to expel this young man. Plainly,
neither he nor the world could be made better by his
expulsion. Imagine the joy of one's heart when several
years later such a young man stands before an immense
audience, erect as a Sioux chief, and proclaims hiraself
redeemed. All these things have added greatly to my
happiness ; so rauch so that I feel like saying to all these
young Negro men and women seeking happiness and use
fulness at the same time: "Go into the Black Belt of
the South, out into the rural districts, and wrestle with
her problems. It will prove gymnastics for your body,
exercise for your mind, and balm for your spirit."
However, I do not wish to leave the impression that
my life has been one round of pleasure. It has not — far
from it. I have certainly had my troubles. But always
the object before me has loomed so large as to eclipse all
minor difficulties. When in traveling in strange and dis
tant cities I have found the hotels "crowded," I have
slept in parks and railway stations, and if my body suf-

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 229
fered, my soul was so aflame with the fire of enthusiasm
that it never flagged nor held aught against my fellow
men. When I have had to ride on the open cars for three
consecutive days and nights, with no rest and with only
such food as might be sold by the sandwich man through
the window at way stations, I have suffered little because
I have had no time to think of personal ills. My mind
was fixed on the cause for which I live and work. I have
no time to sing minor notes. I have determined that the
tune of my life shall be played on major keys.
When I was at school I had considerable reputation as .
a debater, — ^never having lost in a public debate during
my career as a student. And when I won the Trinity
Church Prize, — the most coveted prize awarded at Tuske
gee, — I chose for my subject, "Education as Related to
Prosperity." Since that time I have retained such abiUties as I had
because I have had many occasions to exercise them. I
have had to speak in public. I have been called upon to
be the Commencement speaker at many of the leading
schools in this and other states. At the raoment I am
writing these closing words I have before me nine such
invitations, only two of which I can accept on account
of conflicting dates. I never speak just to be speaking.
I only speak when I see an opportunity to accomplish
some good.
Only a few weeks ago I delivered an address at Union,
Mississippi, where a small race riot had just been "pulled
off." I was surprised, when I reached the little church
where I spoke, to see so many white people present.
When I rose to speak they came close to the speaker's

230 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
stand, and there was on their faces anything but a pleas
ant look. I soon thawed thera out, however, and when I
had finished they carae to me in large numbers and shook
my hand. One of them said : "We came here to raise
 to-day, but your speech has taken it all out of us.
We really feel ashamed of ourselves." The colored
brethren set a good table, and the whites had a good old-
fashioned dinner, and all went off well.
I am writing these last paragraphs in Natchez, where
I have come to deliver the Commencement address at the
city school, with its twelve hundred students, and ara
now in the beautiful home of Professor Brumfidd, the
prindpal. I have just finished my address, and Professor
Brumfidd tells me it was exceedingly good. I spoke be
fore a representative audience of white and colored citi
zens in the same hall where Booker T. Washington was
entertained upon his last visit to the city, and at the con
clusion of my address one of the leading white lawyers
of Natchez, together with other white citizens, came up,
shook my hand cordially, and said: "I want to tell you
how I value your address. It was one of the best ad
dresses I have ever heard. This doctrine you preach
should be preached all over the South. Blacks and whites
alike would be much benefited by it."
And now I must speedily bring this narrative to a
close, for I have about overtaken myself. I should sura
up, however, that my readers may have a comprehensive
view of the whole story.
The Utica Norraal and Industrial Institute, which I
have by great stmggle brought to its present standing.

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN 231
annually enrolls about five hundred students and employs
thirty teachers and officers; besides, through its many
kinds of extension work, it reaches and influences an
nually about thirty thousand souls. It now owns seven
teen hundred acres of land, and operates twenty indus
tries, together with its literary work; and its buUdings
and property are valued at one hundred and sixty thou
sand dollars. It also has its own electric light plant and
its water works. Our endowraent at the present time is
thirty-two thousand and five hundred dollars.
We have never been able, for lack of room and current
funds, to accommodate more than half of the students
that annually clamor at our doors for admittance. As
soon as we can secure an endowment fund of, say, five
hundred thousand doUars, we shall be in a position to
overcome some of the present handicaps and make the
work far raore useful.
I see more dearly than ever before the great task that
is before me, and I propose to continue the struggle. It
is an appalling task: a state with more than a million
Negroes to be educated, with half a million children of
school age, thirty-five per cent, of whom at the present
time attend no school at all (only thirty-six per cent, in
average attendance), a state whose dual school system
makes it impossible to fumish more than a mere pittance
for the education of each individual child, — ^yet these
children must be educated, must be unfettered, set free.
That freedom for which Christian raen and women.
North and South, have worked and prayed so long must
be realized in the lives of these young people.

232 THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
This, then, is my task, the war that I must wage; and
I propose to stay on the firing line and fight the good
fight of faith. THE END.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 01282 6195
 a

iiteii^®':