Up from Slavery: An AutobiographyWashington, Booker T.
History
Up from Slavery: An Autobiography
Washington, Booker T.
African Americans -- Biography; Educators -- United States -- Biography; Tuskegee Institute; Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915
The morning of December 16th brought to the little city of Tuskegee
such a crowd as it had never seen before. With the President came Mrs.
McKinley and all of the Cabinet officers but one; and most of them
brought their wives or some members of their families. Several
prominent generals came, including General Shafter and General Joseph
Wheeler, who were recently returned from the Spanish-American war.
There was also a host of newspaper correspondents. The Alabama
Legislature was in session in Montgomery at this time. This body passed
a resolution to adjourn for the purpose of visiting Tuskegee. Just
before the arrival of the President’s party the Legislature arrived,
headed by the governor and other state officials.
The citizens of Tuskegee had decorated the town from the station to the
school in a generous manner. In order to economize in the matter of
time, we arranged to have the whole school pass in review before the
President. Each student carried a stalk of sugar-cane with some open
bolls of cotton fastened to the end of it. Following the students the
work of all departments of the school passed in review, displayed on
“floats” drawn by horses, mules, and oxen. On these floats we tried to
exhibit not only the present work of the school, but to show the
contrasts between the old methods of doing things and the new. As an
example, we showed the old method of dairying in contrast with the
improved methods, the old methods of tilling the soil in contrast with
the new, the old methods of cooking and housekeeping in contrast with
the new. These floats consumed an hour and a half of time in passing.
In his address in our large, new chapel, which the students had
recently completed, the President said, among other things:—
To meet you under such pleasant auspices and to have the opportunity of
a personal observation of your work is indeed most gratifying. The
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute is ideal in its conception,
and has already a large and growing reputation in the country, and is
not unknown abroad. I congratulate all who are associated in this
undertaking for the good work which it is doing in the education of its
students to lead lives of honour and usefulness, thus exalting the race
for which it was established.
Nowhere, I think, could a more delightful location have been chosen for
this unique educational experiment, which has attracted the attention
and won the support even of conservative philanthropists in all
sections of the country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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