The Future of the American NegroWashington, Booker T.
History
The Future of the American Negro
Washington, Booker T.
African Americans
A few individuals here
and there have it, a few communities have it; but the race as a
mass must get it.
"You recall that story of Abraham Lincoln, how, when he was
postmaster at a small village, he had left on his hands $1.50
which the government did not call for. Carefully wrapping up this
money in a handkerchief, he kept it for ten years. Finally, one
day, the government agent called for this amount; and it was
promptly handed over to him by Abraham Lincoln, who told him
that during all those ten years he had never touched a cent of
that money. He made it a principle of his life never to use other
people's money. That trait of his character helped him along to
the Presidency. The race wants to get a reputation for being
strictly honest in all its dealings and transactions,--honest in
handling money, honest in all its dealings with its fellow-men.
"And then we want to get a reputation for being thoughtful. This
I want to emphasise more than anything else. We want to get a
reputation for doing things without being told to do them every
time. If you have work to do, think about it so constantly,
investigate and read about it so thoroughly, that you will always
be finding ways and means of improving that work. The average
person going to work becomes a regular machine, never giving the
matter of improving the methods of his work a thought. He is
never at his work before the appointed time, and is sure to stop
the minute the hour is up. The world is looking for the person
who is thoughtful, who will say at the close of work hours: 'Is
there not something else I can do for you? Can I not stay a
little later, and help you?'
"Moreover, it is with a race as it is with an individual: it must
respect itself if it would win the respect of others. There must
be a certain amount of unity about a race, there must be a great
amount of pride about a race, there must be a great deal of faith
on the part of a race in itself. An individual cannot succeed
unless he has about him a certain amount of pride,--enough pride
to make him aspire to the highest and best things in life. An
individual cannot succeed unless that individual has a great
amount of faith in himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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