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While
I was making this Christmas visit I met an old coloured man who was one of
the numerous local preachers, who tried to convince me, from the experience
Adam had in the Garden of Eden, that God had cursed all labour, and that,
therefore, it was a sin for any man to work. For that reason this man sought
to do as little work as possible. He seemed at that time to be supremely
happy, because he was living, as he expressed it, through one week that was
free from sin.
In
the school we made a special effort to teach our students the meaning of
Christmas, and to give them lessons in its proper observance. In this we
have been successful to a degree that makes me feel safe in saying that the
season now has a new meaning, not only through all that immediate region,
but, in a measure, wherever our graduates have gone.
At
the present time one of the most satisfactory features of the Christmas and
Thanksgiving season at Tuskegee is the unselfish and beautiful way in which
our graduates and students spend their time in administering to the comfort
and happiness of others, especially the unfortunate. Not long ago some of
our young men spent a holiday in rebuilding a cabin for a helpless coloured
women who was about seventy-five years old. At another time I remember that
I made it known in chapel, one night, that a very poor student was suffering
from cold, because he needed a coat. The next morning two coats were sent to
my office for him.
I
have referred to the disposition on the part of the white people in the town
of Tuskegee and vicinity to help the school. From the first, I resolved to
make the school a real part of the community in which it was located. I was
determined that no one should have the feeling that it was a foreign
institution, dropped down in the midst of the people, for which they had no
responsibility and in which they had no interest. I noticed that the very
fact that they had been asking to contribute toward the purchase of the land
made them begin to feel as if it was going to be their school, to a large
degree. I noted that just in proportion as we made the white people feel
that the institution was a part of the life of the community, and that,
while we wanted to make friends in Boston, for example, we also wanted to
make white friends in Tuskegee, and that we wanted to make the school of
real service to all the people, their attitude toward the school became
favourable.
Perhaps
I might add right here, what I hope to demonstrate later, that, so far as I
know, the Tuskegee school at the present time has no warmer and more
enthusiastic friends anywhere than it has among the white citizens of
Tuskegee and throughout the state of Alabama and the entire South. From the
first, I have advised our people in the South to make friends in every
straightforward, manly way with their next-door neighbour, whether he be a
black man or a white man. I have also advised them, where no principle is at
stake, to consult the interests of their local communities, and to advise
with their friends in regard to their voting.
For
several months the work of securing the money with which to pay for the farm
went on without ceasing. At the end of three months enough was secured to
repay the loan of two hundred and fifty dollars to General Marshall, and
within two months more we had secured the entire five hundred dollars and
had received a deed of the one hundred acres of land. This gave us a great
deal of satisfaction. It was not only a source of satisfaction to secure a
permanent location for the school, but it was equally satisfactory to know
that the greater part of the money with which it was paid for had been
gotten from the white and coloured people in the town of Tuskegee. The most
of this money was obtained by holding festivals and concerts, and from small
individual donations.
Our
next effort was in the direction of increasing the cultivation of the land,
so as to secure some return from it, and at the same time give the students
training in agriculture. All the industries at Tuskegee have been started in
natural and logical order, growing out of the needs of a community
settlement. We began with farming, because we wanted something to eat.
Many
of the students, also, were able to remain in school but a few weeks at a
time, because they had so little money with which to pay their board. Thus
another object which made it desirable to get an industrial system started
was in order to make in available as a means of helping the students to earn
money enough so that they might be able to remain in school during the nine
months' session of the school year.
The
first animal that the school came into possession of was an old blind horse
given us by one of the white citizens of Tuskegee. Perhaps I may add here
that at the present time the school owns over two hundred horses, colts,
mules, cows, calves, and oxen, and about seven hundred hogs and pigs, as
well as a large number of sheep and goats.
The
school was constantly growing in numbers, so much so that, after we had got
the farm paid for, the cultivation of the land begun, and the old cabins
which we had found on the place somewhat repaired, we turned our attention
toward providing a large, substantial building. After having given a good
deal of thought to the subject, we finally had the plans drawn for a
building that was estimated to cost about six thousand dollars. This seemed
to us a tremendous sum, but we knew that the school must go backward or
forward, and that our work would mean little unless we could get hold of the
students in their home life.
One
incident which occurred about this time gave me a great deal of satisfaction
as well as surprise. When it became known in the town that we were
discussing the plans for a new, large building, a Southern white man who was
operating a sawmill not far from Tuskegee came to me and said that he would
gladly put all the lumber necessary to erect the building on the grounds,
with no other guarantee for payment than my word that it would be paid for
when we secured some money. I told the man frankly that at the time we did
not have in our hands one dollar of the money needed. Notwithstanding this,
he insisted on being allowed to put the lumber on the grounds. After we had
secured some portion of the money we permitted him to do this.
Miss
Davidson again began the work of securing in various ways small
contributions for the new building from the white and coloured people in and
near Tuskegee. I think I never saw a community of people so happy over
anything as were the coloured people over the prospect of this new building.
One day, when we were holding a meeting to secure funds for its erection, an
old, ante-bellum coloured man came a distance of twelve miles and brought in
his ox-cart a large hog. When the meeting was in progress, he rose in the
midst of the company and said that he had no money which he could give, but
he had raised two fine hogs, and that he had brought one of them as a
contribution toward the expenses of the building. He closed his announcement
by saying: "Any nigger that's got any love for his race, or any respect
for himself, will bring a hog to the next meeting." Quite a number of
men in the community also volunteered to give several days' work, each,
toward the erection of the building.
After
we had secured all the help that we could in Tuskegee, Miss Davidson decided
to go North for the purpose of securing additional funds. For weeks she
visited individuals and spoke in churches and before Sunday schools and
other organizations. She found this work quite trying, and often
embarrassing. The school was not known, but she was not long in winning her
way into the confidence of the best people in the North.
The
first gift from any Northern person was received from a New York lady whom
Miss Davidson met on the boat that was bringing her North. They fell into a
conversation, and the Northern lady became so much interested in the effort
being made at Tuskegee that before they parted Miss Davidson was handed a
check for fifty dollars. For some time before our marriage, and also after
it, Miss Davidson kept up the work of securing money in the North and in the
South by interesting people by personal visits and through correspondence.
At the same time she kept in close touch with the work at Tuskegee, as lady
principal and classroom teacher. In addition to this, she worked among the
older people in and near Tuskegee, and taught a Sunday school class in the
town. She was never very strong, but never seemed happy unless she was
giving all of her strength to the cause which she loved. Often, at night,
after spending the day in going from door to door trying to interest persons
in the work at Tuskegee, she would be so exhausted that she could not
undress herself. A lady upon whom she called, in Boston, afterward told me
that at one time when Miss Davidson called her to see and send up her card
the lady was detained a little before she could see Miss Davidson, and when
she entered the parlour she found Miss Davidson so exhausted that she had
fallen asleep.
While
putting up our first building, which was named Porter Hall, after Mr. A.H.
Porter, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who gave a generous sum toward its erection, the
need for money became acute. I had given one of our creditors a promise that
upon a certain day he should be paid four hundred dollars. On the morning of
that day we did not have a dollar. The mail arrived at the school at ten
o'clock, and in this mail there was a check sent by Miss Davidson for
exactly four hundred dollars. I could relate many instances of almost the
same character. This four hundred dollars was given by two ladies in Boston.
Two years later, when the work at Tuskegee had grown considerably, and when
we were in the midst of a season when we were so much in need of money that
the future looked doubtful and gloomy, the same two Boston ladies sent us
six thousand dollars. Words cannot describe our surprise, or the
encouragement that the gift brought to us. Perhaps I might add here that for
fourteen years these same friends have sent us six thousand dollars a year.
As
soon as the plans were drawn for the new building, the students began
digging out the earth where the foundations were to be laid, working after
the regular classes were over. They had not fully outgrown the idea that it
was hardly the proper thing for them to use their hands, since they had come
there, as one of them expressed it, "to be educated, and not to
work." Gradually, though, I noted with satisfaction that a sentiment in
favour of work was gaining ground. After a few weeks of hard work the
foundations were ready, and a day was appointed for the laying of the
corner-stone.
When
it is considered that the laying of this corner-stone took place in the
heart of the South, in the "Black Belt," in the centre of that
part of our country that was most devoted to slavery; that at that time
slavery had been abolished only about sixteen years; that only sixteen years
before no Negro could be taught from books without the teacher receiving the
condemnation of the law or of public sentiment--when all this is considered,
the scene that was witnessed on that spring day at Tuskegee was a remarkable
one. I believe there are few places in the world where it could have taken
place.
The
principal address was delivered by the Hon. Waddy Thompson, the
Superintendent of Education for the county. About the corner-stone were
gathered the teachers, the students, their parents and friends, the county
officials--who were white--and all the leading white men in that vicinity,
together with many of the black men and women whom the same white people but
a few years before had held a title to as property. The members of both
races were anxious to exercise the privilege of placing under the
corner-stone some momento.
Before
the building was completed we passed through some very trying seasons. More
than once our hearts were made to bleed, as it were, because bills were
falling due that we did not have the money to meet. Perhaps no one who has
not gone through the experience, month after month, of trying to erect
buildings and provide equipment for a school when no one knew where the
money was to come from, can properly appreciate the difficulties under which
we laboured. During the first years at Tuskegee I recall that night after
night I would roll and toss on my bed, without sleep, because of the anxiety
and uncertainty which we were in regarding money. I knew that, in a large
degree, we were trying an experiment--that of testing whether or not it was
possible for Negroes to build up and control the affairs of a large
education institution. I knew that if we failed it would injure the whole
race. I knew that the presumption was against us. I knew that in the case of
white people beginning such an enterprise it would be taken for granted that
they were going to succeed, but in our case I felt that people would be
surprised if we succeeded. All this made a burden which pressed down on us,
sometimes, it seemed, at the rate of a thousand pounds to the square inch.
In
all our difficulties and anxieties, however, I never went to a white or a
black person in the town of Tuskegee for any assistance that was in their
power to render, without being helped according to their means. More than a
dozen times, when bills figuring up into the hundreds of dollars were
falling due, I applied to the white men of Tuskegee for small loans, often
borrowing small amounts from as many as a half-dozen persons, to meet our
obligations. One thing I was determined to do from the first, and that was
to keep the credit of the school high; and this, I think I can say without
boasting, we have done all through these years.
I
shall always remember a bit of advice given me by Mr. George W. Campbell,
the white man to whom I have referred to as the one who induced General
Armstrong to send me to Tuskegee. Soon after I entered upon the work Mr.
Campbell said to me, in his fatherly way: "Washington, always remember
that credit is capital."
At
one time when we were in the greatest distress for money that we ever
experienced, I placed the situation frankly before General Armstrong.
Without hesitation he gave me his personal check for all the money which he
had saved for his own use. This was not the only time that General Armstrong
helped Tuskegee in this way. I do not think I have ever made this fact
public before.
During
the summer of 1882, at the end of the first year's work of the school, I was
married to Miss Fannie N. Smith, of Malden, W. Va. We began keeping house in
Tuskegee early in the fall. This made a home for our teachers, who now had
been increase to four in number. My wife was also a graduate of the Hampton
Institute. After earnest and constant work in the interests of the school,
together with her housekeeping duties, my wife passed away in May, 1884. One
child, Portia M. Washington, was born during our marriage.
From
the first, my wife most earnestly devoted her thoughts and time to the work
of the school, and was completely one with me in every interest and
ambition. She passed away, however, before she had an opportunity of seeing
what the school was designed to be.
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