The demands for him to speak were so great that it was impossible for him to meet them all. He often spoke three and four times a day. He was away from Tuskegee, making speeches, a large part of his time. He made extended tours, by special train, all over the states of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. On these tours he spoke to thousands and thousands of people. Everywhere he went all the people, white and black, heard him gladly. The good that this man did through his oratory cannot be overestimated. CHAPTER XI SUCCESS AS EDUCATIONAL LEADER Booker Washington spent his life in the education of the negro. Negroes of ability in his day usually became preachers or they entered politics. The negro preacher had rendered a greater service to his people, perhaps, than any one else. Before 1865, the ministry was practically the only place where negro leadership could find expression. It was much the same way for many years after the Civil War. However, after emancipation, there was an opportunity for leadership in politics, and a great many negroes of ability entered this field, many of them holding offices. Washington was urged by some of his friends to enter the ministry. Others urged him to study law and enter politics. Undoubtedly he could have made a great success in either of these fields of work. But from the very beginning of his education, he had a strong conviction that his life must be spent in helping to educate his people. He felt that education was the greatest need of his race. Before the war, it had been against the law for a slave to be taught from books. At the close of the war, then, there were no schools, no teachers, and no books. The whole race could neither read nor write. The whole race had had no training of any kind except in agriculture. It is true a few, but a very few, had had a little training in certain trades such as bricklaying, blacksmithing, and carpentry. The race, therefore, through no fault of its own, was very ignorant. It had never had an opportunity. [Illustration: CHEMISTRY CLASS, TUSKEGEE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT ] But now that the opportunity had come with emancipation, the entire race was eager to learn. Old men and old women, as well as boys and girls, began with great zeal to learn to read and write. The race started to school. It was determined to get an education, and it was to help in this great work that Washington early determined to devote his life.