the school owns farm lands to the number of 2,460 acres.

After the school had been in session three months, Miss Olivia A. Davidson, a graduate of the Hampton Institute and later a graduate of the Framingham, Mass., Normal School, was employed as an assistant teacher.

Miss Davidson was teaching among her people near Memphis, Tennessee, in 1879, when the yellow fever drove her away. She went to Hampton, entered the senior class and graduated the following spring. She did not go to Hampton, however, until her application to return to Memphis to help nurse the yellow fever patients had been refused by the authorities there. Through friends she was able to enter the Normal School at Framingham, Massachusetts, and graduated in the summer of 1881; and, when an assistant at Tuskegee was called for, she accepted the work. Her enthusiasm had won the admiration of her schoolmates, and from them she received much assistance for the school at Tuskegee in after years.

The success of the school, especially during the first half dozen years of its existence, was due more to Miss Davidson than any one else. During the organization of the school and in all matters of discipline she was the one to bring order out of every difficulty. When the last effort had apparently been exhausted and it seemed that things must stop, she was the one to find a way out. Not only was this true at the school, but when a campaign for money had ended unsuccessfully, she would hie away North and money was sure to be found.

Our hardest struggle began after we had made the first payment on the farm. We not only had to secure the money within a few months with which to repay Gen. Marshall’s loan, but had to get the means with which to meet future payments, and also to erect a building on the farm. Miss Davidson went among the white and colored families in Tuskegee and told them our plans and needs, and there were few of either race who did not contribute either something in cash or something that could be turned into cash at the many festivals and fairs which were held for the purpose of raising money to help the school. In many cases the white ladies in Tuskegee contributed chickens or cakes that were sold for the benefit of our new enterprise. I do not believe that there was a single Negro family or scarcely an individual in Tuskegee or its vicinity that did not contribute something in money or in kind to the school. These contributions were most gladly made and often at a great sacrifice.

Perhaps I might as well say right here that one of the principal things which made it easy to start such a school as now exists near the town of Tuskegee was the fact that Tuskegee is inhabited by some of the most cultured and liberal white people to be found in any portion of the South. I have been into a good many Southern towns, but I think I have never seen one where the general average of culture and intelligence is so high as that of the people of Tuskegee. We have in this town and its surroundings a good example of the friendly relations that exist between the two races when both races are enlightened and educated. Not only are the white people above the average, but the same is true of the general intelligence and acquirements of the colored people.

The leading colored citizen in Tuskegee is Mr. Lewis Adams, to whom the honor should largely be given for securing the location of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in the town. Mr. Adams is not only an intelligent and successful business man, but is one who combines with his business enterprise rare common sense and discretion. In the most trying periods of the growth of the Tuskegee Institute I have always found Mr. Adams a man on whom I could rely for the wisest advice. He enjoys the highest respect and confidence of the citizens of both races, and it is largely through his power and influence that the two races live together in harmony and peace in the town.

After we had raised all the money we could in Tuskegee for the purpose of paying for the farm and putting up the new building, Miss Davidson went to Boston, where she had many friends and acquaintances, and after some months of hard work she secured enough money with which to complete the payment on the farm and return Gen. Marshall’s loan. In addition she secured means to complete the payment on our first building, Porter Hall. Our first building was named after Mr. H. A. Porter, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who was instrumental in assisting us to secure the largest gifts for its erection.

All the while the farm was being paid for we were holding school daily in the old church and shanty. The latter at least was well ventilated. There was one thickness of boards above and around us, and this was full of large cracks. Part of the windows had no sashes and were closed with rough wooden shutters that opened upward by leather hinges. Other windows had sashes but little glass in them. Through all these openings the hot sun or cold wind and rain came pouring in upon us. Many a time a storm would leave scarcely a dry spot in either of the two rooms into which the shanty was divided to make room for separate classes. These rooms were small, but into them large classes of thirty or forty had to be crowded for recitations. More than once I remember that when Miss Davidson and I were hearing recitations and the rain would begin pouring down, one of the larger pupils would very kindly cease his lessons and come and hold an umbrella over us so that we could hear the recitations. I also remember that at our boarding place on several occasions when it rained while we were eating our meals our good landlady would kindly get an umbrella and hold it over us while we were eating.

During the summer of 1882, at the end of our first year’s work, I was married to Miss Fannie N. Smith, of Malden, West Virginia, and we began housekeeping in Tuskegee early in the fall. This made a home for our teachers who had now been increased to four in number. She was also a graduate of the Hampton Institute. After earnest and constant work in the interest of the school, together with her housekeeping duties, she passed away in May, 1884. One child, Portia M. Washington, was born during our marriage. From the first she most earnestly devoted her thought and time to the work of the school, and was completely one with me in every interest and ambition. She passed away, however, before she had an opportunity of seeing what the school was designed to be.

The following account of her death is taken from the Alumni Journal, published at the time at Hampton:

“The numerous friends of Mr. B. T. Washington will be pained to learn of the death of his beloved wife, Mrs. Fannie (Smith) Washington, class of ’82, which occurred at Tuskegee, Alabama, Sunday, May 4th.

“Her death is indeed a serious bereavement to Mr. Washington, whose acquaintance and regard for the deceased had begun in their childhood. Their happy union had done much to lighten the arduous duties devolving upon him in the management of his school. To his friends he had several times expressed the great comfort his family life was to him.

“We know that all our readers will join us in extending to him the warmest sympathy in this sad hour.

“A bright little girl, not a year old, is left to sustain with her father a loss which she can never know.”

CHAPTER VII.

THE STRUGGLES AND SUCCESS OF THE WORKERS AT TUSKEGEE FROM 1882 TO 1884.

Soon after securing possession of the farm we set about putting it into a condition so that a crop of some kind might be secured from it during the next year. At the close of school hours each afternoon, I would call for volunteers to take their axes and go into the woods to assist in clearing up the grounds. The students were most anxious to give their service in this way, and very soon a large acreage was put into condition for cultivation. We had no horse or mule with which to begin the cultivation of the farm. Mr. George W. Campbell, however, the president of the Board of Trustees, very kindly gave us a horse which was well along in years. This was the first animal that the school ever possessed. On the farm there was an old building that had formerly been used as a stable, another that had been used as a chicken coop, and still a third that had been used as a kitchen during ante-bellum days. All of these three buildings or shanties were duly repaired and made to do service as class-rooms, dormitories, etc.

We had our first services in Porter Hall on Thanksgiving Day, 1882. Rev. R. C. Bedford, who was then pastor of the Congregational Church in Montgomery, and who has since been one of our trustees and warmest friends, preached the Thanksgiving sermon. This was the first Thanksgiving service I think that was ever held in the town of Tuskegee; and a joyous one it was to the people.

By the middle of the second year’s work the existence of the school had begun to be advertised pretty thoroughly through the state of Alabama and even in some of the adjoining states. This brought to us an increasing number of students, and the problem as to what to do with them was becoming a serious one. We put the girls who did not live in town on the third floor of Porter Hall to sleep. The boys we scattered around in whatever places we were able to secure. In order to secure a dining room, kitchen and laundry, to be used by the boarding department, our young men volunteered to dig out the basement under Porter Hall, which was soon bricked up and made to answer its purpose very well. Old students, however, who to-day return to Tuskegee and see the large new dining room, kitchen, and laundry run by steam, are very much interested in noting the change and contrast.

Sometimes during the winter of the second year of the school, we were compelled to put large numbers of young men in shanties or huts to sleep, where there was almost no protection from rain and cold weather. Often during the very cold nights I have gone into the rooms of these students at midnight to see how they were getting along, and have found them sitting up by the fire, with blankets wrapped about them, as the only method of keeping warm. One morning, when I asked at the opening exercises how many had been frost-bitten during the cold weather, not less than ten hands went up. The teachers were not surprised at this. Still, notwithstanding these inconveniences and hardships, I think I never heard a complaint from the lips of a single student. They always seemed filled with gratitude for the opportunity to go to school under any circumstances.

Very early in the history of the school we made it a rule that no student, however well off he might be, was to be permitted to remain unless he did some work, in addition to taking studies in the academic department. At first quite a number of students and a large number of parents did not like this rule; in fact, during the first three or four years, a large proportion of the students brought either verbal or written messages from their parents that they wanted their children taught books, but did not want them taught work. Notwithstanding these protests, we still stuck to our rule. As the years went on and as the students and parents began to see and appreciate the value of our industrial teaching, these protests grew less frequent and less strong. It is a sufficient explanation to say in regard to this matter that it has been ten years since a single objection has been raised by parents or students against anyone’s taking part in our industrial work. In fact, there is a positive enthusiasm among parents and students over our industrial work, and we are compelled to refuse admission to hundreds every year who wish to prepare themselves to take up industrial pursuits. If we had the room and the means we could give industrial training to a much larger number of students than are now receiving it. The main burden of the letters which now come from parents is that each wants his daughter or son taught some industry or trade in connection with the academic branches. I also remember, during the early history of this institution, that students coming here who had to pass through the larger cities, or pass in the vicinity of other institutions, had the finger of scorn pointed at them because they were going to a school where it was understood that one had to labor. At the present time, however, this feeling is so completely changed that there is almost no portion of the South where there is any objection brought against industrial education of the Negro on the part of the colored people themselves. On the other hand, the feeling in favor of it is strong and most enthusiastic.

Almost from the first I determined to have the students do practically all the work of putting up the buildings and carrying on the various departments of the institution. Many of our best friends, however, doubted the practicability of this, but I insisted that it could be done. I held that while the students at first might make very poor bricks and do poor brick-masonry, the lesson of self-help would be more valuable to them in the long run than if they were put into a building which had been wholly the creation of the generosity of some one else. By the end of the third year the number of students had increased from 30, with which we began, to 169; most of them, however, coming from nearby counties and other sections of Alabama.

In February, 1883, the State Legislature of Alabama increased the state appropriation for the school from two to three thousand dollars annually, on recommendation of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Hon. H. Clay Armstrong. The Committee on Education reported the bill unanimously to the House and the Governor recommended its passage. As some of the members were not acquainted with the character of the school they raised objection to this increase at a time when, by defalcation of the state treasurer, reported only the day before, the state had lost a quarter of a million dollars. The Speaker of the House, Hon. W. F. Foster, a member from Tuskegee, and an ex-Confederate soldier, left the chair, and in an eloquent and effective speech in praise of the work of the school at Tuskegee, urged the passage of the bill. On conclusion of Col. Foster’s speech the bill passed by a large majority vote. Col. Foster not only interested himself in the passage of the first bill which gave support from the state to this institution, but has been one of the warmest and most helpful friends from that time until the present.

In reference to the passage of the bill for an increased appropriation for the school, Rev. R. C. Bedford, at that time residing in Montgomery as pastor of the Congregational Church, wrote to Gen. Armstrong as follows:

“Gen. S. C. Armstrong, Dear Sir:—

“A short time ago I made a trip to Tuskegee, Ala., for the purpose of visiting the State Normal School for colored people located there, four of whose five teachers, together with the wife of the Principal, were once pupils of yours at Hampton Institute. I attended the session of the school for two days and was exceedingly pleased with the enthusiastic spirit of both teachers and pupils. One of the encouraging features of the school is the warm interest it has inspired in many of the leading white citizens of Tuskegee. Mr. G. W. Campbell and Mr. Wm. B. Swanson are among the oldest and most respected citizens of Macon County. They with Mr. Lewis Adams, a prominent colored man, constitute the State Board of Commissioners for the school. Col. Bowen, Mr. Varner, and Col. W. F. Foster, speaker of the present Legislature, all citizens of Tuskegee and familiar with the school, are among its warmest friends. A short time ago, in conversation with Hon. H. Clay Armstrong, our State Superintendent of Education, I learned that he was so much pleased with the work of Mr. Washington and his associates as to recommend to the Committee on Education to report a bill giving $1,000 per year additional to the school. I was present during the debate on the bill. So interested was Col. Foster in its passage that he left the speaker’s chair, and upon the floor of the House, in an eloquent and effective speech, urged that it pass. He sat down, and by a vote of 59 to 18, the bill was passed; and it is now a law.

“With this example before us, we need have no fear as to what the colored people can do if, like Mr. Washington and his associates, they will take hold to win.”

In April, 1883, the school enjoyed a pleasant visit from Gen. J. F. B. Marshall, the treasurer of Hampton Institute and the one who had been generous enough to lend us $500 with which to make the first payment on the farm. Gen. Marshall’s visit gave us the greatest hope and encouragement. He wrote while at the school to the Southern Workman, a paper published at Hampton Institute, as follows, concerning his visit:

“A few days’ rest from office duties being enjoined upon me recently, I determined to pay a visit to the Tuskegee school, in which the faculty and teachers of Hampton Institute naturally feel a special interest.

“The Tuskegee farm contains 140 acres and the boys are at work clearing a field for sugar cane, which grows well here. They also raise cotton, sweet potatoes, peaches, etc. To enable them to train the students properly they must have them board at the school. A building is very much needed for the accommodation of 100 young men. Mr. Washington says that it will cost $8,000, if student labor can be made available in its construction. For this purpose he proposes to build of brick made on the farm, which has excellent clay. The young men are impatient to set to work on their building.

“Tuskegee is one of the very old towns in the state, an attractive place of about 2500 inhabitants, having several colleges and academies of high repute for the white youth of both sexes. I was glad to find a very strong temperance sentiment here. There were only two bars in town and they pay a license of about $900 a year each. No better location could have been chosen.

“The leading white citizens of the place appreciate the importance of Mr. Washington’s work, and speak of him in high terms. He has evidently won the esteem and confidence of all. Mr. Foster, the present speaker of the House, in the State Legislature, lives here, and rendered valuable aid in getting the increased appropriation of the state for Mr. Washington, of whom he spoke to me in high praise.

“I am reminded by everything I see here of our own beginning and methods at Hampton. I found on my arrival at the school, which is about a mile from the village center, a handsome frame building of two stories with a mansard roof. Though not yet finished it is occupied as a school building and is very conveniently planned for the purpose, reminding me of the Academic Hall at Hampton. The primary school on the Normal School grounds bears the same relation to it as a practice school that the Butler does to the Hampton Institute. It has 250 on the roll. They are stored away in what was the stable, close as crayons in a Waltham box. Let us hope they will all make their mark.

“All six teachers of the Normal and Training Schools are colored; and to their race belongs all credit for the work accomplished here and of the judicious use of the funds which the friends of the school, through the efforts of Mr. Washington and Miss Davidson, have contributed.

“The experiment, thus far so successful, is one of deep interest to all who have the welfare of the race at heart, and should not be suffered to fail for want of means for its completion. It is vital to the success of this school that the students should all be brought under the training and supervision of the teachers by being boarded and lodged on the premises. Our experience at Hampton has shown us the necessity of this. I know of no more worthy object or one conducive to more important results than this school enterprise, and I trust the friends of Negro advancement and education will not suffer it to languish or be hampered for funds. They may rest assured that these may be wisely expended and most worthily bestowed.

“My three days’ visit to Tuskegee was eminently satisfactory and has inspired me with new hope for the future of the race.”

The next event in the history of the school was the celebration of its second anniversary, combined with the dedication of Porter Hall, whose corner-stone had been laid the year before. The dedication address was delivered by Rev. Geo. L. Chaney of Atlanta, now of Boston, one of the Trustees of the school; and eloquent speeches were also made by Rev. Morgan Calloway, the associate in Emory College of its president, Dr. Atticus G. Haygood, author of “Our Brother in Black.” Rev. Mr. Owens, of Mobile, also made an interesting address.

During the following summer a small frame cottage with four rooms was put up to hold sixteen young men, and three board shanties near the grounds were rented containing accommodations for about thirty-six additional students. In September a boarding department was opened for both sexes, and as many young men as could be provided for gladly availed themselves of the privilege of working out about half of their board at the school.

In 1883 Mr. Warren Logan, a graduate of the Hampton Institute, who had received special training in book-keeping under Gen. Marshall at Hampton, came to Tuskegee as a teacher. He had not been here long, however, before it was clearly seen that he could serve the school effectively in another capacity as well as a class room teacher, and he was soon given the position of Treasurer and book-keeper in addition to his duties as a class room teacher. Mr. Logan has now been connected with the school 16 years, and has been its treasurer during 13 years of this time. In addition to the position of treasurer, he fills the position of Acting Principal in the absence of the Principal. All of these various and delicate as well as responsible duties he has performed with great ability and satisfaction.

Mr. J. H. Washington, my brother, came to the school from West Virginia in 1885 and took the position of Business Agent. He was afterwards made Superintendent of Industries and has held that position ever since. In the meantime the school has grown, and his duties as well as those of Mr. Logan have broadened and increased in responsibility. Both he and Mr. Logan, during the absence of the Principal, are in a large measure the mainstay and dependence of the institution for counsel and wise direction.

These two men, Mr. Logan and my brother John, have been from the beginning very important forces in the school management. As Treasurer and Superintendent of Industries respectively their responsibilities are heavy, and how much credit they deserve will never be fully known till the necessity arises some day to fill their places. They, with James N. Calloway, a graduate of Fisk University, who is the manager of Marshall Farm, Mr. G. W. Carver, Director of the Agricultural Department, and Mr. M. T. Driver, Business Agent, constitute the Finance Committee of the Institute, a sort of cabinet for the Principal.

In September, 1883, a very pleasant surprise came to the workers in the form of $1,100, secured through Rev. R. C. Bedford from the Trustees of the Slater Fund. I might add right here that the interest of the Trustees of the Slater Fund, now under the control of Dr. J. L. M. Curry, Special Agent, has continued from that time until this, so that the institution now receives $11,000 from the Slater Fund instead of $1,100 at the beginning. With this impetus, a carpenter shop was built and started, a windmill set up to pump water into the school building, a sewing machine bought for the girls’ industrial room, mules and wagons for the farm, and the farm manager’s salary was also paid for nine months.

All during the summer, as was true of the previous one, Miss Davidson and myself had been earnestly presenting our cause at the North with so much encouragement that the work on the new building, called Alabama Hall, was vigorously pushed during the fall and winter. In February, 1884, about three years after the school was opened, $5,000 had been secured towards the erection of Alabama Hall, which eventually cost about $10,000.

In March, 1884, Gen. Armstrong did one of those generous things which he was noted for all through his life. In fact, from the beginning of Tuskegee’s life until Gen. Armstrong’s death, he seemed to take as much interest in the work of Tuskegee as in the Hampton Institute, and I am glad to say the same generous spirit is constantly shown by the successor of Gen. Armstrong, Dr. Frissell. I received a letter from Gen. Armstrong stating that he had decided to hold a number of public meetings in such cities as Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, and wished me to accompany him and speak in the interest of Tuskegee. These meetings were advertised to be in the interest of Hampton and Tuskegee jointly, but in reality they turned out to be meetings in the interest of Tuskegee, so generous was Gen. Armstrong in his words and actions at these meetings. The special object aimed at in these meetings was to secure money with which to complete Alabama Hall.

I quote from an address made at one of these meetings by myself: “Our young men have already made two kilns of bricks and will make all required for the needed building, Alabama Hall. From the first we have carried out the plan at Tuskegee of asking help for nothing that we could do for ourselves. Nothing has been bought that the students can produce. The boys have done the painting, made the bricks, the chairs, tables and desks, have built a stable and are now moving the carpenter shop. The girls do the entire housekeeping, including the washing, ironing and mending of the boys’ clothing. Besides, they make garments to sell, and give some attention to flower gardening.”

In due time, however, by hard work, the remainder of the money, $10,000 in all, necessary to complete Alabama Hall, was secured in the North, and not a little was gotten from friends in and about Tuskegee, especially through the holding of festivals, etc.

In April, 1884, we received a visit from the Lady Principal, Miss Mary F. Mackie, of the Hampton Institute, who was the first one to receive me when I went to Hampton as a student. I will say here that, from the visit of Gen. Marshall up to the present time, we have received constant visits and encouragement from the officers and teachers of the Hampton Institute. Miss Mackie, writing to a friend at Hampton, said:

“The wish constantly on my lips or in my heart, since I reached here last evening, is that you could see this school. I am sure you would feel, as I do, that the dial of time must have turned back twelve years in its course. In many respects it is more like the Hampton I first knew than the one of today is; I was particularly struck with the plantation melodies which Mr. Washington called for at the close of the evening prayers; there is more of the real wail in their music than I ever heard elsewhere. The teachers here laugh over their exact imitation of the alma mater; even the night school feature has sprouted; to be sure it only numbers two students, but it is on the same plan as ours. Do you know that Mr.—— has lately given them 440 acres of land, making their farm now 580 acres?”

The June number of the Southern Letter, a little paper published by the Institute, contained the following account of commencement, which took place May 29, 1884: “Many visitors were present, white and colored. The great interest was in the development of the department of industrial training, which now includes the farm, the Slater carpenter shop and blacksmith shop, the printing office, the girls’ industrial room, and the brick yard, where the students were making brick for Alabama Hall. The morning exercises, were, as usual, inspection, recitations and review of the current news, and the speaker of the afternoon was Prof. R. T. Greener, of Washington, who delivered a very practical and eloquent address. Reporters were present from Montgomery and Tuskegee.”

In the spring of 1884 I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation from the President of the National Educational Association, Hon. Thos. W. Bicknall, of Boston, asking me to deliver an address before that body at its next meeting during the summer. The Association assembled at Madison, Wisconsin, and I think I am safe in saying that there were at least five thousand teachers present, representing every portion of the United States. This was the first opportunity I had had of presenting the work of the school to any large audience, especially of a national character. It was rather late in the evening before my time to speak came. Several speakers had preceded me, and one especially had proven himself to be rather tedious and tiresome by his long and rather unprepared address, but this did not discourage me. I determined to make the best address that I possibly could, although I was beset by fear and trembling. The many kind words, however, which I received after my address assured me that in some measure my effort had not been a failure. Among other things I said:

“I repeat that any work looking toward the permanent improvement of the Negro in the South, must have for one of its aims the fitting of him to live friendly and peaceably with his white neighbors, both socially and politically. In spite of all talk of exodus the Negro’s home is permanently in the South, for coming to the bread and meat side of the question the white man needs the Negro and the Negro needs the white man. His home being permanently in the South, it is our duty to help him prepare himself to live there, an independent, educated citizen. In order that there may be the broadest development of the colored man and that he may have an unbounded field in which to labor, the two races South must be brought to have faith in each other. The teachings of the Negro, in various ways, for the last twenty years, have tended too much to array him against his white brother rather than to put the races in co-operation with each other. Thus Massachusetts supports the Republican party because the Republican party supports Massachusetts with a protective tariff; but the Negro supports the Republican party simply because Massachusetts does. When the colored man is educated up to the point of seeing that Alabama and Massachusetts are a long way apart and the conditions of life in them very different, and that if free trade enables my white brother across the street to buy his plows at a cheaper rate it will enable me to do the same thing, he will act in a different way. More than once I have noticed that when the whites were in favor of prohibition, the blacks, led even by sober, upright ministers, voted against prohibition, simply because the whites were in favor of it, and for this reason the blacks said that they knew it was a ‘democratic trick.’ If the whites vote to lay a tax to build a school house it is a signal for the blacks to oppose the measure, simply because the whites favor it. I venture the assertion that the sooner the colored man, South, learns that one political party is not composed altogether of angels and the other altogether of devils, and that all his enemies do not live in his own town or neighborhood and all his friends in some other distant section of the country, the sooner will his educational advantages be enhanced many fold. But matters are gradually changing in this respect. The black man is beginning to find out that there are those even among the Southern whites who desire his elevation. The Negro’s new faith in the white man is being reciprocated in proportion as the Negro is rightly educated. The white brother is beginning to learn by degrees that all Negroes are not liars and chicken thieves.

“Now in regard to what I have said about the relations of the two races, there should be no unmanly cowering or stooping to satisfy unreasonable whims of Southern white men; but it is charity and wisdom to keep in mind the two hundred years of schooling in prejudice against the Negro which the ex-slaveholders are called on to conquer. A certain class of whites object to the general education of the colored man on the ground that when he is educated he ceased to do manual labor, and there is no avoiding the fact that much aid is withheld from Negro education in the South by the states on these grounds. Just here the great mission of Industrial Education, coupled with the mental, comes in. It kills two birds with one stone, viz., it secures the co-operation of the whites and does the best possible thing for the black man.”

After this address I began receiving invitations from a good many portions of the country to deliver addresses on the subject of educating the Negro. At the present time these applications have increased to such an extent, and they come in such large numbers, that, if I were to try to answer even one-third of the calls that come to me from all parts of the United States as well as other countries, to speak, I would scarcely spend a single day at Tuskegee.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE HISTORY OF TUSKEGEE FROM 1884 TO 1894.

Between 1884 and 1894, I think, the hardest work was done in securing money. Regularly, during this period, we were compelled, on account of lack of accommodations, to refuse many students, but very often they would come to us under such circumstances that, though lacking in accommodations, we could not have the heart to turn them away, especially after they had traveled long distances, as was true in many cases. Students seemed willing to put up with almost any kind of accommodations if they were given a chance to secure an education.

During this period either Miss Davidson or myself, or sometimes both of us, spent a great deal of time in the North getting funds with which to meet our ever increasing demands. This, of course, was the hardest and most trying part of the work. Beginning early in the morning the day was spent in seeing individuals at their homes or in their offices; and, in the evening and sometimes during the day, too, addresses were delivered before churches, Sunday Schools, or other organizations. On many occasions I have spoken as many as five times at different churches on the same Sabbath.

The large increase in the number of students tempted us often to put up buildings for which we had no money. In the early days of the institution by far the larger proportion of the buildings were begun on faith. I remember at one time we began a building which cost in the end about $8,000, and we had only $200 in cash with which to pay for it; nevertheless the building was completed after a hard struggle and is now in constant use.

I remember at one time we were very much in need of money with which to meet pressing obligations. I borrowed $400 from a friend with the understanding that the money

must be returned within thirty days. On the morning of the day that the thirty days expired we were without the $400 with which to repay the loan and were of course very much depressed in consequence. The mail, however, came in at about eleven o’clock and brought a check from a friend for exactly $400. I could give a number of other such instances illustrating how we were relieved from embarrassing circumstances in ways that have always seemed to me to have been providential. Although the institution has had occasion many times to give promissory notes in order to meet its obligations, there has never been a single instance when any of its notes have gone to protest, and its credit and general financial standing have always been good with the commercial world. I have felt deeply obligated to the white and colored citizens of Tuskegee for their kindness in helping the school financially when it did not have money to meet its obligations. We have never applied to an individual or to either of the banks in Tuskegee for aid that we did not get it when the banks or individuals were able to aid us. The banks have been more than kind, often seemingly inconveniencing themselves in order to be of service to our institution. In the earlier days of the institution, when we had little in the way of income, on several occasions I have started to the depot, when I had to make a journey away from Tuskegee, with no money in my pocket, but felt perfectly sure of meeting a friend in the town of Tuskegee from whom I could get money, and I have never been disappointed in this respect.

In 1883 we received our first donation of $500 from the Peabody Fund through Dr. J. L. M. Curry, the General Agent. At that time Dr. Curry formed his first acquaintance with Tuskegee; and, as I have stated elsewhere, from then until now he has been one of our warmest and most helpful friends. The amount received from the Peabody Fund has since been increased until it now amounts to twelve or fifteen hundred dollars each year.

In connection with this appropriation from the Peabody Fund it may be interesting to relate a conversation which took place between Dr. Curry and one of the State officers at Montgomery, Alabama. The State officer in question was telling Dr. Curry that there were several other schools in the state that needed help more than Tuskegee did; and that, because Tuskegee, through the efforts of its teachers, was receiving money from the North and elsewhere which other schools were not getting, he thought we were not entitled to help from the Peabody Fund. Dr. Curry promptly replied that because we were making an extra effort to get funds which other schools were not getting was the strongest reason why we should be helped; in other words, he told the officer plainly that we were trying to help ourselves and for that reason he wanted us helped from the Peabody Fund.

Through the constant efforts in the North and South of myself and Miss Davidson, the financial report for the first two years of the school showed that the receipts amounted to $11,679.69. The rapid increase in the growth of the school and in the confidence of the people may be shown by the fact that, during the third year of the existence of the school, the receipts nearly doubled themselves as compared with the second year; we received the third year the sum of $10,482.78, which was nearly as much as we received during the two previous years. By far the larger proportion of this amount came in small sums; very often amounts came from individuals that were as small as 50 cents. One of the things that constantly touched and encouraged us during the early years of the school was the deep interest manifested in its success by the old and ignorant colored people in and near the town of Tuskegee. They never seemed to tire in their interest and efforts. They were constantly trying to do something to help forward the institution. Whenever they had a few chickens or eggs, for example, to spare, they would bring them in and make a present of them to the school.

The income of the institution for the fifth year amounted to $20,162.13; for the ninth year, $30,326; for the eleventh year, $61,023.28; for the fourteenth year, $79,836.50.

At the end of the third year we were able to report that the school owned property unencumbered by debt that was valued at $30,000. During the third year Alabama Hall, to which I have already referred, was completed at a cost of $10,000.

The report for the fourth year of the school’s history shows that we received from all sources $11,146.07. During that year we got into a very tight place financially and hardly knew which way to turn for relief. In the midst of our perplexity, I went to Gen. Armstrong and he very kindly loaned the school money to help it out of its embarrassment, although I afterwards learned that it was nearly all of the money that he possessed in cash.

In my fourth annual report to the Trustees I used the following words: “Greater attention has been given to the industrial department this year than ever before. Three things are accomplished by the industrial system: (1) The student is enabled to pay a part of his expenses of board, books, etc., in labor; (2) He learns how to work; (3) He is taught the dignity of labor. In all the industrial branches the students do the actual work under the direction of competent instructors.” I have not had occasion to change in any great degree the foregoing sentences as representing the purpose for which Tuskegee stands.

During the fifth year of our work we were able also to add a saw mill, through the generosity of Gen. J. F. B. Marshall, to whom I have already referred. The addition of this saw mill enabled us to saw a large part of the lumber used by the institution.

In order to give many worthy students an opportunity to secure an education by working at some trade or industry during the day and studying at night, we opened in the fall of 1883 our first night school. The night school was opened with one teacher and one student. From this small beginning the night school has increased, until at this writing there are four hundred and fifty students. By working in the day and going to school at night, the night students earn money with which to pay their expenses the next year in day school, and if they bring a good supply of clothing they can earn enough, together with what they earn during vacation, to keep them in school two or three years after they enter day school.

I cannot better indicate the constant growth of the school than by giving a description of our seventh anniversary, which took place May 31, 1888. There were more than 2,000 people present, in spite of rain that came in showers. During the morning, from 9:30 to 12, the regular work of the entire school was carried on in the various departments, which were open for inspection. In addition to the regular work, products of the shops and farm were exhibited. The course of study then extended over four years, with two preparatory classes. It included the English branches for the literary part, with instruction in one or more of the following industries throughout: Blacksmithing, carpentry, brick-masonry, brick making, plastering, farming, stock, poultry and bee-raising, saw-milling, wheelwrighting, printing, mattress and cabinet making, sewing, cutting and fitting, washing and ironing, cooking, and general housekeeping. From these various departments the following articles were exhibited: At the blacksmith and wheelwright shop were seen two one-horse wagons, plow stock, small tools, express wagon body, wheelbarrow, spring wagon seat and various other articles. In the carpenter shop there were wardrobes, a center and a leaf table, wash stands, book cases, bedsteads, wash boards, picture frames, chairs, paneling, moulding, laths, etc. In the printing office there was an exhibit of the general work of the office,—such as blanks, checks, catalogues, promissory notes, diploma blanks, minutes of associations and conventions, annual reports, bill and letter heads, envelopes, circulars, handbills, invitations, business cards, certificates, etc., with samples of the two monthly papers which were then printed at the institution, the “Southern Letter” and “The Gleaner.” From the farm and poultry yard, there were vegetables, hogs, cattle, chickens, turkeys, guineas, geese, a peacock, eggs, bees and honey. Mattress and chair making were features that had been added to the industries that year and were especially satisfactory. The mattresses exhibited compared favorably with those made anywhere. In the laundry there was a tastefully arranged exhibit of laundried bedding, dresses, collars and cuffs, shirts, ladies’ and gentlemen’s underwear, table linen and towels. The sewing room showed samples of all kinds of ladies’, gentlemen’s and children’s clothing, with laces, mats, tidies, etc. At the brickyard there was a kiln of 120,000 bricks ready for burning. About the saw mill there were stacks of its products. The cooking class had a tempting display of its work in cakes, jellies, bread, yeast, meats and a roast pig.

Among the first things seen by a visitor coming to the school from any direction was a large new brick building—Armstrong Hall. This building was almost entirely the product of student labor, under the supervision of Mr. Brown, instructor in carpentry at that time, who also planned the building. The school then had three large and comfortable buildings. Porter Hall contained recitation rooms, offices, library and reading room, chapel and dormitories for boys, with the school laundry in the basement. Alabama Hall, with a large frame annex built that year, was used for girls’ dormitories, and contained, in addition, teachers’ and students’ parlors and dining rooms and kitchen. Armstrong Hall contained young men’s dormitories, reading and sitting rooms, bath room, printing office and two recitation rooms. In addition, there were several cottages on the grounds, while a new one and a large barn, the latter to cost, perhaps $2,000, were in process of erection.

In the early years of the school, the anniversary exercises were held in the school chapel, which was the small chapel in Porter Hall, but from year to year the influx of patrons and friends from far and near had so increased that the chapel would no longer hold a fifth of them. That year the vast audience of 2,000, including the 400 students, was assembled in a rude pavilion built of rough timber and partly covered by the wide spreading branches of some mulberry trees. Here, after partaking of a substantial dinner furnished by the school and friends, students and visitors assembled. A long procession was formed of students, teachers and graduates, which marched from Alabama Hall to the pavilion to music furnished by the school band, and there the exercises of the seventh anniversary were held.

There were ten members of the graduating class of that year as follows: Andrew J. Wilborn, Valedictorian, Tuskegee, Ala.; Letitia B. Adams, Tuskegee, Ala.; Caroline Smith, Tuskegee, Ala.; Shadrach R. Marshall, Talbotton, Ga.; Philip P. Wright, LaFayette, Ala.; William H. Clark, Brunswick, Ga.; Eugenia Lyman, Opelika, Ala.; Sarah L. Hunt, Salutatorian, Sparta, Ga.; George W. Lovejoy, Olustee Creek, Ala.; Nicholas E. Abercrombie, Montgomery, Ala.

The total enrollment for the year was 400. The school farm then contained 540 acres of farm and timber land. The saw mill had furnished most of the lumber for the buildings and other carpenter work done that year, and for that purpose saw logs had been cut from the school land. The school property was then worth about $80,000. The income for the year had been $26,755.73. This amount about covered the expenses. Including the ten mentioned above, the school then had forty-two graduates. During the year previous all the graduates had been engaged in teaching for some part of the year. All the members of that year’s class were Christians. They went out as teachers of various kinds in the state of Alabama. The young women had a knowledge of washing, ironing, cooking, sewing and general housekeeping in addition to their intellectual attainments. One of the six young men was a shoemaker, one a carpenter, one had considerable knowledge of the printer’s trade and one was an excellent plasterer. The annual address at that commencement was delivered by Hon. John R. Lynch, of Mississippi, and for eloquence, practical thought and helpful information could hardly have been surpassed. There was a number of Tuskegee’s best white citizens present, while the colored citizens came out en masse to witness the exercises that launched into life three youths from their own town. Montgomery was represented by one of her military companies, the “Capital City Guards,” and 124 of her best citizens, for whose accommodation special trains were sent out.

In order to emphasize the fact that people at Tuskegee during its early history were not idle, I give the daily program which was in effect in January, 1886: 5 a. m., rising bell; 5:50 a. m., warning breakfast bell; 6 a. m., breakfast bell; 6:20 a. m., breakfast over; 6:20 to 6:50 a. m., rooms are cleaned; 6:50, work bell; 7:30, morning study hour; 8:20, morning school bell; 8:25, inspection of young men’s toilet in ranks; 8:40, devotional exercises in chapel; 8:55, “5 minutes” with the daily news; 9 a. m., class work begins; 12, class work closes; 12:15 p. m., dinner; 1 p. m., work bell; 1:30 p. m., class work begins; 3:30 p. m., class work ends; 5:30 p. m., bell to “knock off” work; 6 p. m., supper; 7:10 p. m., evening prayers; 7:30 p. m., evening study hours; 8:45 p.m., evening study hour closes; 9:20 p. m., warning retiring bell; 9:30 p. m., retiring bell.

Although the period of the school’s history about which I have written in this chapter was one of constant and substantial growth, it nevertheless was during this period that the school sustained a great loss, as well as I a great personal bereavement, in the death of my beloved and faithful wife, Olivia Davidson Washington. In May, 1889, after four years of married life, she succumbed to the overtaxing duties of mother and assistant principal of the school and passed away. Her remains were laid to rest amid the tears of teachers and students. “Her words of caution, advice, sympathy and encouragement were given with a judgment that rarely made an error. Her life was so full of deeds, lessons and suggestions that she will live on to bless and help the institution which she helped found as long as it is a seat of learning.”

Two wide-awake boys, Baker Taliaferro and Ernest Davidson, were born to us, who were then too young to know their loss. They are now 12 and 10 years of age respectively; and they, with my daughter Portia, are a source of much comfort and joy to me at present.

Miss Davidson came to the school almost from the very beginning, she being the next person to come after myself. I have spoken in other places of the great assistance she was in helping to build up the school in its early days. As an estimate of her worth and character, I beg to quote the words of the Rev. R. C. Bedford, a friend who knew her worth and her great help to me and to Tuskegee. Commenting upon her death Mr. Bedford said:

“Olivia Davidson was born in Virginia, June 11, 1854. When only a little child she went with her parents to Ohio, where she grew up and received the education afforded by the common schools of that state. At an early age she went to Mississippi and there spent five years as a teacher on the large plantations. In 1878 she came north to her native state, and, that she might more thoroughly fit herself for the work of a teacher, she entered the Hampton Institute, from which, in one year, she graduated with great honor. Her friend, Mrs. Hemenway, of Boston, greatly desiring that she should prosecute her studies still further, at her request, she entered the Framingham, (Mass.) Normal School, from which she graduated in two years. In August following her graduation she came to Tuskegee, Ala., to act as assistant to Prof. Washington, in the State Normal School of which he had been made principal in the July previous. From the very first it became evident that she had found her field of labor for life. Everything tended to inspire her to this end. The people were poor; they were numerous; they were anxious, and aside from an act of the Legislature establishing a school, it had, literally, to be created. The story of her success has often been told and in this brief tribute cannot be repeated.

“August 11, 1885, Miss Davidson was married to Prof. B. T. Washington, and although she at once took upon herself the cares of a very busy home life, she still retained a most important relation to the school, which no amount of warning from her friends could persuade her to drop. Her marriage with Mr. Washington proved a most happy one, and rarely has it been the lot of two individuals to be so thoroughly united in their life work. The coming of little Baker into the home was an occasion of great rejoicing, and the birth of another son just a few months before his mother’s death only served to double the joy.

“It was my privilege to meet Mrs. Washington at Tuskegee when the school had been in operation but little more than a year and, as one of the trustees of the school, I have had an intimate knowledge of her work ever since. It would require more than human pen to tell how deep was her love for the school and how thoroughly her life was consecrated to it. Every grain of sand on all those beautiful grounds and every beam and brick in the walls must have felt the inspiration of her love. No more touching story could be told than that of her earnest efforts to raise money from the people about Tuskegee and of her toilsome walks in Boston, as from house to house, and with an eloquence that was rarely refused, she sought funds to provide shelter for the hundreds of students that were flocking to the school. Her character made her especially adapted to all parts of the work in which she was engaged, and the stamp of her influence on the higher life of the school no time can ever efface. Among a people who make much show of religion, but often with too little of its spirit, hers was religion indeed, but with so little of show as sometimes to make her life a mystery to those who did not really know her. The blind and the poor, and above all the aged, can tell of her religion as they recall the happy Thanksgiving and Christmas times when they have sat at her table and her own hands have ministered to their wants, and when in sickness she has visited them and relieved their sufferings. No woman ever had a truer husband or more devoted friends; and the memory of their kindness will rest, as a precious legacy, upon the school and upon all who loved her as long as time shall last.”

While speaking of the financial growth of the school I must not neglect to indicate the growth at the same time in students. As I have stated, the school opened with one teacher and 30 students. By the end of the first year we had three teachers, including Miss Davidson, Mr. John Caldwell and myself. For the third session there were 169 students and 10 teachers. For the fifth year there were 279 students and 18 teachers. For the eighth year there were 399 students and 25 teachers. For the tenth year there were 730 students and 30 teachers. For the fourteenth year, ending in June, 1895, there were 1,013 students and 63 teachers.

In the spring of 1892, at our annual commencement, we had the pleasure and the honor of a visit from Hon. Frederick Douglass, who delivered the annual address to the graduating class of that year. This was Mr. Douglass’ first visit to the far South, and there was a large crowd of people from far and near to listen to the words of that grand old man. The speech was fully up to the high standard of excellence, eloquence and wisdom for which that venerable gentleman was noted.

Mr. Douglass had the same idea concerning the importance and value of industrial education that I have tried to emphasize. He also held the same views as I do in regard to the emigration of the Negro to Africa, and was opposed to the scheme of diffusion and dissemination of the Negro throughout the North and Northwest, believing as I do that the Southern section of the country where the Negro now resides is the best place for him. In fact, the more I have studied the life of Mr. Douglass the more I have been surprised to find his far-reaching and generous grasp of the whole condition and needs of the Negro race. Years before Hampton or Tuskegee undertook industrial education, in reply to a request for advice by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe as to how she could best use a certain sum of money which had been or was about to be placed in her hands, Mr. Douglass wrote her in part as follows: