Booker T. Washington, Builder of a CivilizationScott, Emmett J. (Emmett Jay)
History
Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization
Scott, Emmett J. (Emmett Jay)
African Americans -- Biography; Educators -- United States -- Biography; Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915
commend themselves to me, then I will consent to become a trustee.'
And I remember how well--some of the older teachers and perhaps some
of the older students will recall--that upon one day, when we were
least expecting it, he stopped his private car off here at Chehaw and
appeared here upon our grounds, and some of us will recall how he went
into every department of the institution, how he went into the
classrooms, how he went through the shops, how he went through the
farm, how he went through the dining-room; I remember how he went to
each table, and took pieces of bread from the table and broke them and
examined the bread to see how well it was cooked, and even tasted some
of it as he went into the kitchen. He wanted to be sure how we were
doing things here at Tuskegee. Then after he had made this visit of
examination for himself, after he had studied our financial condition,
then after a number of months had passed by, he consented to permit us
to use his name as one of our Trustees, and from the beginning to the
end we never had such a trustee. He was one who devoted himself night
and day, winter and summer, in season and out of season, to the
interests of this institution. Now, having spoken this word, you can
understand the thoughts and the feelings of some of us on this
occasion as we think of the services of this great and good man.
"It is one of the privileges of people who are not always classed
among the popular people of earth to have strong friends for the
reason that nobody but a strong man will endure the public criticism
that so often comes to one who is the friend of a weak or unpopular
race. This, in the words of another, is one of the advantages enjoyed
sometimes by a disadvantaged race."
Naturally no account of Booker Washington's administration of the
great institution which he built would be complete without some
mention of Mrs. Washington's part in her husband's work. Aside from
her duties as wife, mother, and home maker--duties which any ordinary
woman would find quite exacting enough to absorb all her time,
thought, and strength particularly in view of the fact that a wide
hospitality is part of the role--Mrs. Washington, as director of
women's industries, is one of the half-dozen leading executives of the
institution. In addition to her many and varied family and official
duties at the Institute Mrs. Washington has always been a leader in
social service and club work among the women of her race throughout
the country, and has besides all this come to be a kind of mother
confessor, advisor, and guide to hundreds of young men and women. We
will conclude this chapter by quoting in large part an article written
by Mr. Scott and published some years ago in the _Ladies' Home
Journal_, which describes how and when Mrs. Washington entered her
husband's life and work and the part she played in his affairs:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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