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Progress and Achievements of the Colored People / Containing the Story of the Wonderful Advancement of the Colored Americans—the Most Marvelous in the History of Nations—Their Past Accomplishments, Together With Their Present-day Opportunities and a Glimpse Into the Future for Further Developments—the Dawn of a Triumphant Era. A Handbook for Self-improvement Which Leads to Greater Success cover

Progress and Achievements of the Colored People / Containing the Story of the Wonderful Advancement of the Colored Americans—the Most Marvelous in the History of Nations—Their Past Accomplishments, Together With Their Present-day Opportunities and a Glimpse Into the Future for Further Developments—the Dawn of a Triumphant Era. A Handbook for Self-improvement Which Leads to Greater Success

Chapter 88: SUCCESS THROUGH SELF HELP
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About This Book

The text surveys the social, educational, economic, and moral advancement of Colored Americans since emancipation, combining narrative chapters on leadership, labor, business, religion, health, and physical training with a detailed compendium of institutions. It presents statistics and government-sourced reports, profiles of schools and agencies (more than three hundred institutions described) and numerous photographs and portraits (over sixty illustrations), and offers practical advice on self-improvement, professional development, and community organization. Chapters address education, vocational and professional training, entrepreneurship, public employment, and civic life, aiming to document achievements and to guide further progress.

The Story of a Rising Race Told in Pictures
PHOTOGRAPHED FROM LIFE
Special Collection C MANUAL TRAINING
HOME SCIENCE
HOSPITAL PRACTICE
DENTAL SURGERY

PROFESSION OF DENTAL SURGERY

Students practicing in the Dental Infirmary, prior to taking their degree. Howard University, Washington, D. C.

ACCURACY OF MIND AND HAND

Drafting Class of young men receiving a course in mechanical drawing, qualifying them for making working plans of machinery, vehicles, buildings, etc. Hampton Institute.

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FOR WOMEN

Developing talent and taste in the art of millinery, an industry for women. A class at Spellman’s Seminary, Atlanta, Ga.

UNIVERSITY GIRLS

A class of ornamental workers at Wiley University, Texas.

LEARNING TO BE HOME MAKERS

A cooking class, canning fruit at Hampton Institute. The girls are learning the art of becoming good housewives.

AN ARTISTIC AND USEFUL VOCATION

A class receiving instructions in the art of dressmaking in the training school at Hampton Institute.

LEARNING INDUSTRY AND THRIFT

Dressmaking in the Spellman Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia. The young women are fast becoming experts in their work.

FUTURE HOME MAKERS

The science of poultry dressing as taught at Hampton Institute.

A MODERN SANITARY DAIRY

Agricultural students receiving their training in milking at the dairy farm of Hampton Institute.

MODERN SURGERY

Dr. W. A. Warfield, Negro surgeon, operating. Freedmen’s Hospital, Washington, D. C.

OPERATING ROOM—LATEST EQUIPMENT

Douglass Hospital Philadelphia, Pa.

NURSING THE LITTLE ONES BACK TO HEALTH

Children’s Ward L., Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School, Philadelphia. “Suffer Little Children to Come Unto Me, for Such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

MINISTERING TO THE SICK

Private ward with trained nurse in attendance. Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School, Philadelphia, Pa.

STUDENTS IN THE ART OF HEALING

A class of trained nurses preparing for their life’s work. Tuskegee Institute.

NURSES’ TRAINING SCHOOL

A class of nurses at study. Frederick Douglass Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.

You are put upon the initiative, and find out new ways of doing old things which is what makes civilization progress, and you have the door of opportunity invitingly open to you always. You have only to open your eyes to see opportunity within your grasp. You are associated with the management of the Overground Railroad.

SUCCESS THROUGH SELF HELP

The opportunities afforded by the Overground Railroad, in the way of obtaining information, can not be overestimated. It is, practically, a school of instruction that may be attended by any one, and who may follow the bent of his desires afterward.

There are two classes of people who may avail themselves of the educational process undertaken by the dissemination of information through the medium of the Overground Railroad: The man who is aided in his life work, and the man who must help himself. It is of the man who must help himself, of the “self-help” man, that there is more to be said of than the other. He represents the bone, sinew and brains of the nation.

When a man or woman succeeds in reaching a high position through his or her own efforts, or in attaining a point from which the work of a lifetime begins, and in the direction of success, the pride of attainment is justifiable.

There are many who have the strength of purpose and the will power to utilize the forces of mind and body within them, and develop themselves with the aid of that power.

Their examples are an illustration of a higher education that really educates.

The man or woman who sits with folded hands waiting for someone to help him, or for something to turn up or come his way, so that he can seize upon it without trouble or labor, is too far gone in uselessness in the present age to be worth trying to lift up.

We are all interdependent in this world of business, but must not imagine that because we must live with and do business with others, that we can depend solely upon those others. Every man must stand upon his own ability and exertions.

The men who do this succeed through self-help, self-reliance, self-knowledge, and self-sufficiency. The greatest men in history are those who worked themselves up from humble surroundings and against tremendous odds. It is always the brain that conceives the thought, and the strong arm that executes the mandates of the thought. Where the physical arm is not strong enough, the brain quickly conceives a method of supplying the difficulty.

It was the boast of the philosopher Archimedes that he could move the world if he could find a fulcrum for his lever. The modern man is so far advanced that he finds a fulcrum for his lever, and if he does not move the earth, he moves a large part of it.

If we take the pains to look about us, we shall find every avenue of human endeavor occupied by self-made men. These men originated in the most humble surroundings, but lifted themselves up through the sheer force of their own energy of character and vital force backed by persistence.

The history of the world has pages about the men who sprang up from humble sources and amid the greatest difficulties. They overcame them somehow, some say by the aid of Providence, but we know that it was through innate courage, brains, energy and persistence.

Every man may raise himself up by his own efforts, indeed, the man who uses another as his ladder will soon find himself leaning on a broken reed, and amount to very little in this world of struggle and competition.

Who knows better what a man can do than the man himself? There are always hidden sources of strength in every man, and he alone is able to bring them into use. Remember one point in this age of competition: Learn how to do things, and then set about doing them of your own accord. The man who waits to be pushed ahead seldom finds any pushers. This is the wisdom of experience, and will not bear argument, so true it is.