Booker T. Washington
American Social Reformer
1856-1915 A selection from
UP FROM SLAVERY
Narrated by Jeffrey Gilbert
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Soon after my return to my home in
West Virginia, where I had planned to continue teaching, I was
surprised to receive a letter from General Armstrong,
asking me to return to Hampton partly as a teacher and partly to
pursue some supplementary studies. About this time an experiment
was being tried for the first time,
by General Armstrong, of education Indians at Hampton. Few
people then had any confidence in the ability of the Indians to
receive education and to profit by it. General Armstrong was
anxious to try the experiment systematically on a large scale. He
secured from the reservations in the Western states over one
hundred Indians, the greater proportion of whom
were young men. The special work
which the General desired me to do was be a sort of "house
father" to the Indian young men—that is, I was to live in the
building with them and have the charge of their discipline,
clothing, rooms, and so on. This was a very tempting offer, but I
had become so much absorbed in my work in West Virginia that I
dreaded to give it up. However, I tore myself away from it. I did
not know how to refuse to perform any service that General
Armstrong desired of me.
On going to Hampton, I took up my residence in a building with
about seventy-five Indian youths. I was the only person in the
building who was not a member of their race. At first I had a
good deal of doubt about my ability to succeed. I knew that the
average Indian felt himself above the white man, and, of course,
he felt himself far above the Negro, largely on account of the
fact of the Negro having submitted to slavery—a thing which the
Indian would never do. The Indians, in the Indian Territory,
owned a large number of slaves during the days of slavery. Aside
from this, there was a general feeling that the attempt to
education and civilize the red men at Hampton would be a failure.
All this made me proceed very cautiously, for I felt keenly the
great responsibility. But I was determined to succeed. It was not
long before I had the complete confidence of the Indians, and not
only this, but I think I am safe in saying that I had their love
and respect. I found that they were like any other human
beings; that they responded to kind treatment and resented
ill-treatment. They were continually planning to do something
that would add to my happiness and comfort. The things that they
disliked most, I think, were to have their long hair cut, to give
up wearing their blankets, and to cease smoking; but no white
American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized
until he wears the white man's clothes, eats the white man's
food, speaks the white man's language, and professes the white
man's religion.
When the difficulty of learning the English language was
subtracted, I found that in the matter of learning trades and in
mastering academic studies there was little difference between
the coloured and Indian students. It was a constant delight to me
to note the interest which the coloured students took in trying
to help the Indians in every way possible. There were a few of
the coloured students who felt that the Indians ought not to be
admitted to Hampton, but these were in the minority. Whenever
they were asked to do so, the Negro students gladly took the
Indians as room-mates, in order that they might teach them to
speak English and to acquire civilized habits.
I have often wondered if there was a white institution in this
country whose students would have welcomed the incoming of more
than a hundred companions of another race in the cordial way that
these black students at Hampton welcomed the red ones. How often
I have wanted to say to white students that they lift themselves
up in proportion as they help to lift others, and the more
unfortunate the race, and the lower in the scale of civilization,
the more does one raise one's self by giving the assistance.
In one part of the country, where the law demands the separation
of the races on the railroad trains, I saw at one time a rather
amusing instance which showed how difficult it sometimes is to
know where the black begins and the white ends.
There was a man who was well known in his community as a Negro,
but who was so white that even an expert would have hard work to
classify him as a black man. This man was riding in the part of
the train set aside for the coloured passengers. When the train
conductor reached him, he showed at once that he was perplexed.
If the man was a Negro, the conductor did not want to send him to
the white people's coach; at the same time, if he was a white
man, the conductor did not want to insult him by asking him if he
was a Negro. The official looked him over carefully, examining
his hair, eyes, nose, and hands, but still seemed puzzled.
Finally, to solve the difficulty, he stooped over and peeped at
the man's feet. When I saw the conductor examining the feet of
the man in question, I said to myself, "That will settle it;" and
so it did, for the trainman promptly decided that the passenger
was a Negro, and let him remain where he was. I congratulated
myself that my race was fortunate in not losing one of its
members.
My experience has been that the time to test a true gentleman is
to observe him when he is in contact with individuals of a race
that is less fortunate than his own. This is illustrated in no
better way than by observing the conduct of the old-school type
of Southern gentleman when he is in contact with his former
slaves or their descendants.
An example of what I mean is shown in a story told of George
Washington, who, meeting a coloured man in the road once, who
politely lifted his hat, lifted his own in return. Some of his
white friends who saw the incident criticised Washington for his
action. In reply to their criticism George Washington said: "Do
you suppose that I am going to permit a poor, ignorant, coloured
man to be more polite than I am?"
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. More information about Booker T. Washington from Wikipedia
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