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
While I was in charge of the Indian boys at Hampton, I had one or two
experiences which illustrate the curious workings of caste in America.
One of the Indian boys was taken ill, and it became my duty to take him
to Washington, deliver him over to the Secretary of the Interior, and
get a receipt for him, in order that he might be returned to his
Western reservation. At that time I was rather ignorant of the ways of
the world. During my journey to Washington, on a steamboat, when the
bell rang for dinner, I was careful to wait and not enter the dining
room until after the greater part of the passengers had finished their
meal. Then, with my charge, I went to the dining saloon. The man in
charge politely informed me that the Indian could be served, but that I
could not. I never could understand how he knew just where to draw the
colour line, since the Indian and I were of about the same complexion.
The steward, however, seemed to be an expert in this manner. I had been
directed by the authorities at Hampton to stop at a certain hotel in
Washington with my charge, but when I went to this hotel the clerk
stated that he would be glad to receive the Indian into the house, but
said that he could not accommodate me.
An illustration of something of this same feeling came under my
observation afterward. I happened to find myself in a town in which so
much excitement and indignation were being expressed that it seemed
likely for a time that there would be a lynching. The occasion of the
trouble was that a dark-skinned man had stopped at the local hotel.
Investigation, however, developed the fact that this individual was a
citizen of Morocco, and that while travelling in this country he spoke
the English language. As soon as it was learned that he was not an
American Negro, all the signs of indignation disappeared. The man who
was the innocent cause of the excitement, though, found it prudent
after that not to speak English.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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