Black-belt diamonds; gems from the speeches, addresses, and talks to students of Booker T. Washington ... |
 | I. |
| II. |
 | III. | Part III. |
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| VI. |
| VII. |
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III. Part III.
The False and the True
The progress along material lines is marked,
yet the greatest lesson that we have learned
during the last two decades is that the race
must begin at the bottom, not at the top, that
its foundation must be in truth and not in pretence.
We have learned that our salvation
does not lie in the direction of mere political
agitation or in hating the Southern white man,
but that we are to find a safe and permanent
place in American life by first emphasizing the
cardinal virtues of home, industry, education,
and peace with our next-door neighbor, whether
he is white or black.
Hampton Institute Anniversary, '98.
Faithful in Small Things
If you are at the head of a stable or barn,
plan day by day how best to provide for your
master of these humble positions, you will find
that the higher calls will soon come to you.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
Works for Dishonesty
I claim that any training that increases the
wants of the individual, especially as that
training is applied to a people whose condition
is that of the masses of the South, any
education that increases wants without increasing
abilities to supply these increased wants, is
a mistake; and whenever it is done, whether
among black people or among white people,
you will find unhappiness, unrest, or, too often,
dishonesty. Our New Citizen.
Never Wore Neckties
There are a million and a half black men
in the South who have never worn a necktie,
but send them to school and educate them and
they will want neckties, cuffs, and, instead of
the bare floors in their little log-cabins, they
will want carpet in neat frame houses.
Negroes and Mortgages.
Relations with General Armstrong
I account it one of the privileges of my life
that for ten or twelve years I have had the opportunity
of being closely and intimately connected
Armstrong]; and in being connected with that
man, one was always sure that he was being
touched by the best and highest type of
Christian manhood in any country.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
Bad Associations
Some of the ways in which young men and
women are likely to go astray, especially when
they go off to school, is in yielding to the
temptation to spend their time with persons
who have mean and low dispositions, persons
with whom you would be ashamed to have
your parents know that you kept company.
Avoid that. Be sure that the young man or
woman with whom you associate is a person
who is able to raise you up, make you stronger
in every way. Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
The Curse of the Race
Sentimental Christianity, which banks
everything in the future and nothing in the
present, is the curse of the race. Education.
"Higher Criticism"
Colored people are not much on your
"higher criticism" down South, but they believe
in hell,—real hell-fire; and if you once
make a colored man believe that he will be
will never touch another drop. Moreover, the
Negro believes what he reads, and takes the
most that he can see in print for gospel truth.
Put temperance tracts and primers into the
hands of colored people and you will soon see
temperance spread all over the South.
The Negro's Beliefs.
Expecting too Much
You cannot expect a race to renounce at
once the teaching of centuries, without guidance
and leadership. Progress of the Negro.
Healing Power
Now, if all our graduates, wherever they
go, carry with them this healing power, this
power that will cure merely by letting people
come in contact with them, even in the slightest
manner, if they catch something of the
Christ-like spirit, we can have a heaven, as it
were, on earth. I do not believe in waiting
for heaven to take place in the hereafter. If
we imitate the life of Christ as nearly as possible,
heaven will come about more and more
here on earth. Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
Easy to be a Hero
On the battle field, when surrounded and
cheered by pomp, excitement, and admiration
martial music and the hope of future reward,
it is comparatively easy to be a hero, to do
heroic deeds. Heroes in Common Life.
Slavery Degraded Labor
There are several reasons why the South
should give special attention to the matter of
industrial education. Slavery taught both the
white man and the Negro to dread labor,—to
look upon it as something to be escaped, something
fit only for poor people and slaves.
Industrial Education in the South.
Non-Essentials
To hold our own, we have no time to spend
fretting over non-essentials.
Industrial Education.
The Head Cook
Not long since, when in Chicago, I noticed
in one of the fashionable restaurants a well-dressed,
fine-looking man, who seemed to be
the proprietor. I asked who he was, and was
told that he was the "chef," as he is called,—
the head cook. Of course, I was astonished
to see a man dressed in such a stylish manner,
and presenting such an air of culture, filling the
position of chief cook in a restaurant, but I
remembered then, more forcibly than ever, that
into dignified labor.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
What the Negro may Own
There is a custom that prevents a black
man in some parts of our country from sleeping
in a hotel, or eating in a restaurant, or riding
in a first-class car. The average black man has
the opportunity only to be denied this privilege
about twice a year; but, thank God! there is
no law or custom that prevents him from occupying
the most convenient, comfortable, and
attractive residence, and sleeping in the most
luxurious bed, and dining at the best table in
the country for three hundred and sixty-five
days in the year. Prejudice and the Negro.
Reciprocity
Two nations or races are good friends in
proportion as the one has something by way of
trade that the other wants.
Taking Advantage of our Disadvantages.
Time the Sovereign Healer
That which was three hundred years being
woven into the warp and woof of our democratic
institutions could not be effaced by a
single battle, magnificent as was that battle;
slave, yea, North and South, to a body of
death, could not be blotted out by four years
of war, could not be atoned for by shot and
sword, nor blood and tears.
Shaw Monument Unveiling (Boston).
Must be Retrained
The black man must be given the training
necessary to offset the influence of slavery.
Our New Citizen.
What will the Student Do?
The question that should come to each one
of you with a force that no other question does,
is: "Are you going to act in a way to deserve
the interest your parents have for you? How
are you going to deport yourself? Are you
going to disappoint your parents, or are you
going to fulfil their highest expectations? Are
you going to fill their hearts with sorrow and
disappointment or with joy and gladness, make
them feel that their lives are worth living, because
of the life you are trying to live?
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
Church-Membership
Belonging to the church does not, in many
cases, mean all that is implied, and is no reason
why the bulk of our people are not just as
people to be found in Africa or Japan.
Congregational Club.
Peculiar Religious Notions
My people have peculiar notions about religion.
An old brother came into meeting one
night and said: "I have had a bad time since
I was here a week ago. I have been sometimes
up and sometimes down, I have gnawed
hard bones and swallowed bitter pills, and I
believe I have broken all the Commandments;
but, thank the Lord, I have n't yet lost my
religion." The Rise of the Negro.
Improved Material Condition
The material condition of the colored man
must be improved before he can be elevated to
a sense of his responsibilities as an individual.
Development of the Negro.
Religion and Worldly Substance
We might as well settle down to the uncompromising
fact that our people will grow in
proportion as we teach them that the way to
have the most of Jesus and in a permanent
form is to mix with their religion some land,
cotton, and corn, a house with two or three
rooms, and a little bank account. With these
foundation for growth upon which we can build
for all time. Foundation and Growth.
A Useful Citizen
A person must be able to earn his living
before he can be of much benefit to himself
and the community in which he lives.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
Lessons from a Centennial
The lessons to be gleaned from an occasion
like this are so many and varied that one hardly
knows where to begin or where to end,—lessons
of congratulation for what has been, lessons of
sober, earnest thought for what is, lessons of
hope and courage for what is to be.
Centennial of the A. M. E. Zion Church in New York.
Common-Sense Ideas
If you wish to help the South, help educate
strong, unselfish leaders, well grounded in industry
and religion, and in common-sense
ideas of life.
Educational Meeting (Manchester, N.H.).
Self-Respect in Ownership
A man never begins to have self-respect until
he owns a home. If he owns his house he
the fences are kept up.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
Preparing to Die
The trouble with us is that we are always
preparing to die. You meet a white man early
Monday morning and ask him what he is preparing
to do, and he will tell you that he is
preparing to start business. You ask a colored
man at the same time, and he will tell you that
he is preparing to die.
Talks to Tuskegee Townspeople.
Strength and Weakness
Individually the Negro is strong, organically
he is weak. Industrial Education.
What Tuskegee Students Learn
Have you grown to the point where you can
unflinchingly stand up for the right, for that
which is honorable, honest, truthful, whether
it makes you popular or unpopular? Have you
grown to the point where absolutely and unreservedly
you make truth and honor your
standard of thinking and speaking? If you have
reached this point in your moral development,
you have reached the highest point for which
Tuskegee was founded, for which you come
here. Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
Lack of Preparation
Unused to self-government, unused to the
responsibility of controlling our own earnings,
our expenditures, or even our own children, it
could not be expected that we should be able
to take care of ourselves in all respects for several
generations. Century Club (Indianapolis).
What we never Reach
None of us ever get to the point where we
do not have some one to serve, where there is
not somebody above us.
Address to Graduating Class.
The Honest Foundation
If you get into the habit of putting in hard
and conscientious work, doing a little duty well,
no matter how insignificant; if you get into
the habit of doing well whatever falls to your
hands, whether in the light or in the dark,—you
will find that you are going to lay a foundation
for success. Elements of Success in Life.
"The Faithful Servant"
How vexing and discouraging it is to a man
to be compelled every morning to say to A or
B, "Do this at nine o'clock, that at twelve, and
the other at five o'clock;" but how helpful it
is to have a person with whom you come in
of his employer.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
From Slavery to Freedom
When we consider what it meant to have four
millions of people slaves to-day and freemen
to-morrow, the wonder is that the race has not
suffered more physically than it has.
Physical Condition of the Negro.
Home Influence
I Think there is no more serious or important
time in a young person's life than when he
leaves home for the first time to enter school,
or any line of business, and I think I can judge
pretty accurately what a person is going to
amount to by the way he acts during the first
one or two years that he is absent from home.
You will find, usually, that if a young man or
woman is able to stand up against temptations,
is able to practise the lessons that his father
and mother have taught him, during the first
one or two years that he is away from their
guidance and instruction, as a rule, that person
will hold up well, will not only keep what his
father and mother have taught him, but will
add to it the strength and instruction he has
gotten from them, and will gain help and inspiration
as he goes on, and instead of falling
and useful citizen, not only able to help his
parents, but the community in which he lives.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
What the Negro can Have
There is a custom that sometimes prevents a
black man from having the privilege of being
invited once or twice a year to sit on a jury in
a hot, ill-ventilated court-room; but there is
no custom, thank God! that prevents him from
having the best strawberry farm, the best Jersey
cow dairy, or producing the best milk or butter
to be had in his county. Prejudice and the Negro.
Negro Laborer Crustworthy
As compared with Italian and Irish labor,
the Negro is far more teachable and trustworthy.
Industrial Education in the South.
The Christ-like Workers
Let no generation of Negroes ever prove
ungrateful to those Christ-like workers, the
band of noble and heroic Northern men and
women who have devoted the best years of
their lives to the building up of our schools
and colleges in the South, and at a time when
to have engaged in such work meant for them
complete social ostracism and risk of life, but
rather let us build with our earnest and unselfish
shall tell succeeding generations from whence
we started. Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
General Armstrong's Personality
To a race just emerging from slavery, with
all of its demoralizing entanglements, the pure,
unselfish life, the emphatic personality of
General Armstrong, was an object lesson in
the highest form of human living.
Memorial to General Armstrong.
"The Wages of Sin"
If we would live happily, live honored and
useful lives, modelled after our perfect leader,
Christ, we must conform to law, learn that
there is no possible escape from punishment
that follows the breaking of law.
Sowing and Reaping.
Their Moses
Seven millions of my people saw that
they had in General Armstrong a savior, a
Moses, under whose leadership there could be
no back steps. Memorial to General Armstrong.
The Most Patient Race
To right his wrongs, the Russian appeals to
dynamite, Americans to rebellion, the Irish to
agitation, the Indian to his tomahawk; but the
and law-abiding, depends for the righting of
his wrongs upon 'his songs, his midnight
prayers, and his inherent faith in the justice of
his cause. Century Club (Indianapolis).
"Lincoln, the Emancipator"
I Would call Lincoln the emancipator of
America,—the liberator of the white man
North, the white man South, the one who in
unshackling the chain from the Negro has
turned loose the enslaved forces of Nature,
and has knit all sections of our country
together by the indissoluble bonds of commerce.
The Emancipator.
A Message to Harvard
If through me, an humble representative,
eight millions of my people might be permitted
to send a message to Harvard,—
Harvard, that offered up on death's altar
Shaw and a score of others, that we might
have a free and united country,—that message
would be: "Tell them that the sacrifice was
not in vain."
Alumni Dinner (Harvard University).
"Bursting up"
We are crawling up, working up, yea,
bursting up, often through oppression, unjust
them all we are coming up, and with the
proper habits, intelligence, and property.
Alumni Dinner (Harvard University).
Upright Character
You may fill your heads with knowledge or
skilfully train your hands, but unless it is based
upon high, upright character, upon a true
heart, it will amount to nothing. You will be
no better than the most ignorant.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
The Negro and the Mule
I don't know how it is, but wherever there
are black men there are mules. Indeed, in
Alabama, the population consists mostly of
black men and mules, in some counties.
Educational Meeting (Detroit).
Civil Rights
Property, brains, and character will settle
the question of civil rights.
Development of the Negro.
Lack of Purpose
Another element which shows itself in the
present stage of the civilization of the Negro is
his lack of ability to form a purpose and stick
to it through a course of years, if need be,
encouragement, till the end is accomplished.
The same, I think, would be true of any race
with the Negro's history. Industrial Education.
A Hard-Working Race
As is true of any race, we have a class
about bar-rooms and street corners, but the
rank and file of the Negro race works from
year to year. Whether the call for labor
comes from the cotton-fields of Mississippi, the
rice-swamps of the Carolinas, or the sugar-bottoms
of Louisiana, the Negro answers that
call. Home Missionary Meeting.
In the Black Belt
It is my firm belief that the great masses in
the black belts of the South stand most in
need, at this time, of that character of education
which will lead them along material lines.
When they have acquired this, there will come
the urgent necessity for the higher training
which will fit them for the duties of the
highest citizenship.
Educational Meeting (St. Paul).
Way to Test a Man's Sincerity
It is not very hard to find a person who will
speak good and kind words and be unselfish when
preaching a sermon before a great audience;
is to notice his treatment of those who come
into daily contact with him, how he speaks to
his companions, when his voice is not heard
by the public. Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
The Heroic and Grand
Those who think there is no opportunity for
them to live grandly, yea, heroically, no matter
how lowly their calling, no matter how humble
their surroundings, make a common but very
serious error. Heroes in Common Life.
Hold Fast to Opportunities
We should not permit our grievances to
overshadow our opportunities.
Atlanta Speech.
An Honest Ballot
The Negro does not object to an educational
or property test, but let the law be so clear
that no one clothed with state authority will be
tempted to perjure and degrade himself by
putting one interpretation on it for the white
man and another for the black man.
Constitutional Convention (Louisiana).
Sick and Diseased
We are constantly surrounded by persons
who are sick and diseased because of their
wickedness, people who are given to yielding
in the race of life, unworthy of living
because of some unfortunate condition, because
of the many mistakes they are making. There
are those who want to be made whole again and
rid of their ignorance. There are others who
want to be helped because of their poverty, because
of want and misery. We can very often
do much toward healing these persons merely
by visiting them and speaking kindly and
cheerfully to them. We can cure them very
largely of their infirmities by merely giving up
something they crave, by merely presenting a
bunch of flowers at their sick-room. We can
help heal them by sending them an encouraging
note or letter, or making inquiry as to
their condition. There are thousands of ways
in which we can heal persons.
Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks.
A Self-Supporting Race
It is very seldom you see a black hand in
any part of this country reached forth for alms.
Our Needs.
An Ideal Condition
With the masses of the white people and
the colored people in the country and towns
well educated, the black man owning stores,
operating factories, owning bank stocks, loaning
white people money, manufacturing goods
interests with those of the white man,
there will be no more lynchings in the South
than in the North. The South and Lynch-Law.
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