The Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama
BOOKERT. W A S H I N G T O N . Principal; W A R R E N LOGAN, Treasurer,
EMMET r J. SCO IT, Secretary
Ic is a school where a boy or girl can work his or her way
at very small cost. The annual expenses of a student are considerably lower than at many institutions.
Students are
given an opportunity of learning a trade while getting a grammar and high school education. They are paid for their labor
in the various departments and divisions of the school. This
is credited on their board and incidental expenses, thereby
greatly lessening their expenses. Every student is given an
opportunity to work out a portion of his or her expenses.
-
:
JTHE EDUCATIONAL PLANT
Consists of 2,350 acres of land and 111 buildings. A corps
of 193 teachers :are employed. These teachers have been trained
m the. best schools of the country.
The institution conducts both a Day and Night Sch6oL The
Day School is intended for those students who are able to pay
all or a greater portion of their expenses in cash. Such students attend school three days each week and are at their work
or trade three days.
Applicants for admission to the Day
School must be at least 14 years of age and able to pass the
examination for the B Preparatory Class, the equivalent to the
5th Grade.
The Night School is intended for students who wish to work
their way. Such students attend school for about two hours
six nights in the week, and are at their work or trade every
day. Applicants for admission to the Night School must be
sixteen years of age, at least. Those who wish to enter the
Night School must be able to pass an examination for the C
Preparatory Class, a class lower than the requirement for admission to the Day School.
No other institution in the country offers to colored young
men and women so many advantages as does The Tuskegee
Institute.
'
Each applicant for admission to the school must exhibit at
least two recommendations in testimony of the applicant's good
character.
.
.
Tuition is free to all students. An entrance fee of $10.00
must be paid in advance. The charge for board is $10.00 per
month. The cost of books, according to the class, range from
$2.50 to ?6.75 for the term. :
Young men are required to become members of the Cadet organization of the Institute. Student officers instruct and discipline the young men under the supervision of three teacher
officers. Each young woman is requested to have a blue uniform dress.
The school maintains a band of fifty-two pieces, composed
altogether of student young men. .A regular course is offered
in Band and Orchestra training.
Fo'otball, Baseball, Basketball, and other forms of athletics
are indulged in throughout the school year.
FORTY (40) DISTINCT TRADES AND INDUSTRIES ARE
TAUGHT AT THE TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE
These industries are divided among the young men and
women. They include farming, truck gardening, fruit-growing, ca-re and management of horses and mules, dairy husbandry,
dairying, swine raising, beef production and slaughtering, canning, veterinary science, architectural and mechanical drawing, blacksmithing, brickmasonry, plastering and tile-setting,
carpentry, electrical engineering", founding, harness-making,
carriage-trimming, machine shop practice, plumbing and
steam-fitting, paintiiiR, printing, wood-turning, and saw-milling, steam eng-ineerins, shuemakin^, tinsmithing, tailoring,
wheclwrighting, greenhouse work, road-building, 'and landscape
gardening, bookkeeping and accounting, nurse training, dressmaking, millinery, ladies' tailoring, cooking, laundering, soap- .
making, basketry, broom-making, mattress-making', and upholstering.
The institution cannot supply the demand for trained young
men and women in any of the industries named above.
The school has graduated 2,050 young men and women.
Training has been given to 15,000 young men and women who
did not remain long enough to complete a full course. Of
these, 9,000 have each received as much as two years training. The average earning capacity of these persons since
leaving the school has increased (>00 per cent. The average
earnings of persons trained at Tuskegee Institute is $700.00 a
year. The average earnings of the average man and woman
is about S?300.00 a year. Many of them are liir^e property owners and persons of considerable wealth.
THE PHELPS HALL BiULB TRAINING SCHOOL
connected with Tuskegee Institute, lays special emphasis upon
the training of men and women for service in the rural districts. The teaching is wholly undenominational.
Students
are given to know and understand the doctrines and organiation of their denomination without any attempt to oppose or
change their views on the subject.
One hundred students have graduated from this department;
many of them are now actively employed in ministerial work.
Courses are arranged not only for candidates for the ministry,
but for Sunday School Workers, Social Workers, and all or any
who must in any way deal with problems of religious, moral,
and social advancement.
Applicants for admission must be members in good stand"
inff of some church and should bring a letter to that effect
KruBtt cheir paator or other authority.
The entrance fee is
810.00 which must be paid in cash. Each student spends a
part of hia time in labor for the school, by which service he
earns his board, room and laundry. The cost of books is about
$3.00 each year.
The course of stuuy covers a period of three years. The
course includes History, Interpretation, Preaching, Christian
Service, and Christian Doctrine.
NURSE TRAINING
Offers a moat lucrative field to young colored women. A
three years' course of study is offered in Nurse Training at
The Tuskegee Institute. The new John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital offers exceptional advantages to young women
taking the course. Every kind of disease, except contagious
ones, is Created in this hospital. It is fully equipped and modern in tvery detail.
Nearly a hundrpd young women and men have graduated
from this department since its organization in 1894. The
graduates are employed in different parts of the country, but
the South affords especial advantages to colored trained nurses.
Information regarding any feature of the work of the school,
or requirements for admission, will be furnished in detail by
BOQKER T. WASHINGTON, Principal
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama
THE TUSKEGEE STUDENT
Devoted to the Interest of Students and Graduates of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
VOLUME XX VII
TUSKEGEE, ALABAMA, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1915
NUMBER 18
Address of Principal Booker T. Washington
Before The National Negro Business League, Symphony HaSI
Boston, Massachusetts, Wednesday Night
August 18, 1915
.At the beginning- 01 my annual .address as President, to this the sixteenth meeting- of the National Negro
Business League, let me emphasize, in
so far as mere human words can, the
deep depth of gratitude, which all of
us owe to our Secretary, Mr. Emmett
J. Scott, for thr continued success of
this organization. In a large measure,
it is the hard work, the loyalty, unselfishness, and resourcefulness of Mr.
Scott which make and keep this League
the power for .food that it is. Nor
should I overlook tin' steadfastness and
helpful interest and generosity of all
the members of the Executive Committee, as well as the several officers.
In this catalog-lie there should not be
omitted the name of our active and
devoted
National Organizer, Mr.
Charles H. Moore. The loyalty and
activity of many of the Local Leagues
is a matter of constant surprise and
gratification.
The difficult and practical work which
has been done by the Boston Local
League, together with the Cambridge
League, and the citizens of Boston as a
whole, to make this meeting' a success,
is also cause for congratulations and
deep gratitude.
I wish now again, as in other years
to thank the Colored Press throughout
the country for its more than liberal
and constant support of the work of
this League. We of the Negro Race
and of the White Race little know of
the self-sacrificing and patriotic work
that is constantly being done by the
Negro Press. .
This National Negro Business League
was organized in the City of Boston fifteen years ago with a mere handful
of men. The League during the fifteen
years of its life has grown in power,
! influence, and in usefulness, until,
11
Gither, through its local leagues or indi^dual members, it reaches practically
t
every part of the country in which
there are any considerable number of
colored people. After fifteen years of
testing useful service and growth, it is
fitting that we should return to Boston,
the place which gave us birth.
From the first, this National Negro
Business League has clung strictly to
the object for which it was founded.
It was not founded to take the place of
other organizations; nor was this
league as a league, ever intended to
go into business as an organization or
to become a close, hide-bound concern,
with grips and signs and pass words.
We have such organizations and they
are doing their work well, but the central purpose of this National Negro
Business League has been, from the
first to foster, to spread, and to create
industrial, business and commercial enterprises among our people in every
part of the country. How well we have
succeeded, I shall let the facts tell the
story later on.
Since our last annual meeting, there
have been happenings that are of peculiar interest to our race. Among these
has been the observance of a National
Health Week which was promoted very
largely by this Business League, acting in co-operation with the Virginia
Organization Society. Health Week was
perhaps more generally observed by all
classes of our people in the South and
in the North than has ever been true
of any similar movement in the history of the race. Until ten years ago,
the death-rate among our people was
alarming, but the importance of good
health and long life has been called to
the attention of the race in so many
ways during the last ten years that the
death-rate has already been reduced by
four per cent in certain parts of the
country. It is the wish of many that
the Health Week be observed again
this year.
. Since our last meeting the United
States Supreme Court has rendered a
decision in the Oklahoma case which is
of far-reaching value and importance
to our race. The main value of this
decision, rendered by a Southern Supreme Court Justice and an ex-Confederate soldier and ex-slave-holder,
consists in the fact that it makes plain
the idea, once and for all by the Supreme Court of the land, that neither
color nor race can debar a man in this
country from full citizenship.
The founders and promoters of the
League fully recognize the fact that it
cannot meet all the needs of the race,
nor satisfy all its ambition. We fully
and frankly recognize the fact that there
is need for the particular and distinct
work to be done by the religious, the
I regret to note that the number of
educational, the political, the literary, lynehing's, during the first six months
the secret, and the fraternal bodies, as of the calendar year, has increased as
well as those that deal with the civil compared with the same period a year
ago. While the number of black peorights of our people.
All of these have their place and -with ple lynched is smaller; the number of
none of them would we seek to inter- white people lynched is larger. The infere; but the history of civilization, crease in the total number lynched
throughout the world, shows that with- should not discourage but should make
out economic and commercial success us renew our energies and double our
there can be no lasting or commanding determination to blot out the crime of
success in other fields of endeavor. lynching'• from our civilization, "whethThis League then has for one of its ob- er the man be a white man or a black
jects, not the tearing- down or weaken- man. And I here repeat that which I
ing of other organizations, but rather said in Louisiana a few weeks ago.
We must have in this country, law adto give them strength and stability.
2
THE TUSKEGEE STUDENT, SEPTEMBER 4, 1915
ministered by the court and not Tby the
mob. Along with the blotting out of
lynchings there should go that other
relic of barbarism. H refer to public
hangings.
In all these matters I am pleading
not in the interest of the Negro or the
White man, but • in the interest of a
more strong and perfect civilization.
It is seldom that it is ever so true
that, in the space of one generation,
so many evidences of real progress in
the fundamental things of life can be
seen. Perhaps the changes in Japan a^"
the nearest akin to it.
Since the League met in Boston fifteen years ago, great changes have taken place among our people in property
getting and in' the promotion of industrial and business enterprises. . These
changes have taken place not solely because of the work of the League, but
this and similar organizations have
had much to do with bringing abor
this progress. Let me be more specific.
We have not the figures covering all
the Negro's wealth, but the Federal
Census Bureau has just released a document which gives the value of the Negro's farm property alone as $1,142,000,000. From 1900 to 1910, the Negro's farm property increased 128 per
per cent. In 1863 we had as a race
2000 small business enterprises of one
kind and another. At the present
time, the Negro owns and operates
.about 43,000 concerns, with an annual
turn-over of about one billion dollars.
Within fifty years we have made
enough progress in business to warrant
the operation of over 50 banks. With
all that I have said, we are still a poor
race as compared with many others;
but I have given these figures to indicate the direction in which we are traveling. During the last six years we
have experienced as a race not a few
business failures, including the closingof several banks. We must not let
these failures discourage us. We must
remember that it is with a race, as it is
with an individual, ths^" it is only
through seeming failure, as well as
success, that we finally gain tiiat experience and confidence which are necessary to permanent success. With
all that I have said, we should remember that we have but scratched the surface of industrial and business success.
Our future is before us, not behind
us. We are a new race in a comparatively new country. Let any who may
be inclined toward pessimism or discord consider with me fcr a few moments the opportunities that are before
us. It is always of more value to consider our advantages rather than our
disadvantages. In considering one's
opportunities it is worth while not to
overlook the size of our race.
There are only 14 nations in the
world whose population exceeds the
number of Negroes in the United
States. Norway has a population of
only 2,400,000; Denmark, 2,700,000;
Bulgaria, 4,000,000; Chile, 4,000,000;
Canada, 7,000,000, and Argentina,
9,000,000.
When we contemplate
these figures, and then remember that
we, in the United States alone are 10,000,000 Negroes, we can get some idea
of the opportunities that are right
about us.
Let me be more specific in pointing
the way to these opportunities. If you
would .ask where you are to begin, I
would answer, begin where you are.
As a rule the gold mine which we seek
in a far-off country is right at our door.
Over a million of our poeple live in
the Northern and Western States. In
these States at the present time, our
people operate about 4000 business enterprises. There are opportunities in
the North and West for 8000 business
enterprises, or double the present number. In the Southern States, where
the great bulk of our people live, we
have about 40,000 business concerns.
There should be within the next few
years 20,000 more business concerns.
In all this, we should never forget that
the ownership and cultivation of the
soil constitute the foundation for great
wealth and usefulness among our people. I have already indicated that we
operate about 800,000 farms. Within
the next decade let .us try to double the
number. To indicate a little more the
direction in -which we should seek opportunities : There are now 4000 truck
farms operated by us, we ought to increase this number to 8000. We ought
never to forget that in the ownership
and cultivation of the soil in a very
large measure we must lay the foundation for one's success.
A landless race is like a ship without
a rudder. Emphasizing again our opportunities, especially as connected with
the soil, we now have, for example, 122
poultry raisers. The number should be
dairymen. The number should be increased to 2000.
At present there are far too many of
our people living in the cities in a
hand-to-mouth way, dependent on some
one else for an uncertain job. Aside
from what tile soil offers, there are
other opporfc-M'ties in busi^es'i. For
example we .low own and operate 75
bakeries. The number can be increased
to 500. From 32 bnckmakers the: number can be increased to 300'J. From
200 sawmills we can increa^ the number to 1000. From 50 furniLury factories, the number can be increased to
300. Where we now have 9000 drygoods stores and gro^-iry merchants,
we should have in the ne^ir future 15,000.
Where we now have 700 drug stores,
we should have 3000. Where we now
have 700 real estate dealers, we should
have 3000. Where we now have 1000
millinery stores, we should have 5000.
Where we now have 150 plumbers, we
should h;ive 600. Where we have 400
tailor.s we .should have 2000. Where
we now have 59 architects we should
have 400. We now have 3000 contractors and buildery, we should have
5000. Where; w<* now have 51 banks,
we should have 500.
Few people are aware of the fact
that we now have in our race after only
fifty years of freedom, 55 book stores,
18 department stores, 14 five-and-tencent stores, 20 jewelry stores, 790
junk dealers, 13 warehouses and cold
storage plants, 152 wholesale merchants,
200 laundries, 350 livery stables, 953
undertakers, 400 photographers, 10 opticians, 75 hair goods manufacturers,
111 old-rag dealers. 12 buyers and
shippers of live stock.
With our race as it has been and always will be with all races without
economic and business foundation, it is
hardly possible to have educational and
religious growth or political freedom,
We can learn some mighty serious
lessons just now from conditions in Liberia and Hayti. For years both in
Liberia and Hayti, literary education
and politics have been emphasized, but
while doing this the people have failed
to apply themselves to the development
of the soil, mines and forests. The W'
suit is that, from an economic point of
view, those two republics have become
dependent upon other nations and ra^
ees. In both republics the control ol
increased to 1600. We now have 200 finances is in the hands of other na-
THE TUSKEGEE STUDENT, SEPTEMBER 4, 191§
tions, this being true not withstanding
the fact that the two countries have
natural resources greater than other
countries similar in size.
The first lesson the educated man
:
In the United States there is no hope must master is that of learning how to
Set a dunce down with a book,
for us, except in an increasing degree learn.
•
we teach our young people to apply and he makes dog's ears on the corners
their education to develop the natural of its leaves. Turn an uneducated man
in a library and he is like an ant
resources and to promote human activ- loose
•
!
in
a
treasure
house
of
jewels.
You
beities in the communities •where we
gin
to
be
educated
when
you
are
first
live. Mere abstract, unused education
taught
how
to
learn.
A
lifetime
is
all
means little for a race or individual.
too
short
for
training,
and
there
are
An ounce of application is worth a ton
"finishing
schools"
neither
for
young
of abstraction. We must not be afraid
ladies
nor
old
gentlemen.
From
all
we
to nay the price for success in business
can
guess,
the
life
beyond
is
also
a
-the price of sleepless nights, the price
school
where
wisdom
speaks
to
every
of toil when others rest, the price of
teacheable
spirit
in
the
words
of
planning today for tomorrow, this year
the
angel,
"Behold,
I
have
set
before
for next year. .If someone else enthee
an
open
door,
and
no
man
can
dures the hardships, does the thinking,
shut it." A man may well be content
and'pays the salaries, someone else will
in some present ignorance if he knows
reap the harvest and enjoy the reward.
how to find out what he needs to know
To accomplish what I have indicated, as each necessity arises.
we must have a united race, men who
Another quality which marks the
are big enough and broad enough to educated man is that of order and proforget and overlook personal and local portion. The wheels of his mind go
differences and each willing- to place forward; they do not merely go round
upon the altar all that he holds for the and round. He knows how to get at
benefit of the race and our country.
his tools. A mind full of disorderly
Sometimes it is suggested that some and unrelated information is like a
of us are over optimistic concerning the workshop full of tools whose owner is
present conditions and future of oui never able to lay his hand upon the one
race. In part answer, it might be he wants. What is the use of a walkstated that one on the inside of a house ing encyclopedia with no index?
The educated man knows how to relooking out can often see more than
the one on the outside looking in. No late himself to companies and circumstances.
He
is
adaptable.
Education
one enjoys riding in a Pullman car so
is
a
matter
of
right
adjustment
to
life.
much as the one who has ridden in a
It
makes
good
sons
and
brothers,
fafreight car.
——^tttfMkfa^
————i
^P^^B^^^^^B ^b^H
.
.
»
*
^
fn^y
•'».*•
-p-
•
^r^
r
*fW
J
No matter how poor you are, how
black you are» or how obscure you'
present work and position, I want
each
one
to
remember
that
there
is
a
s
^ chance for him and the more difficulties
he has to overcome, the greater will be
:
j his success.
I Everywhere we should be proud of
i the .Negro race and loyal to the great
I human family of whatever color.
| Whenever we consider what is now
^ going on in Europe, where all the peoI Pie are of one color, and then compare
] ihese conditions with present condij ^ons and our task for our race, we
; ooght to thank our Creator that conI ^ions are so well with us and that we
I 've beneath the Stars and Stripes,
iff
,/
-
~W^
^^p
w
'
r
'
j Mr. H. H. Harris of "Urbana, Illinois,
I Graduate of Northwestern Universij^hag come to Tuskegee Institute to
^ ^y as insuructor in u^iryxiig*
-/
TTrt t4_
-kft
^rVA Q Q TI"nCT4'^»»"i^&-^"/f»^ "t»"i
6 '
^u
Jt
Jt
/HQT^^T'TY^ty
3
thers, neighbors, citizens. He who,
with slight opportunities in schools or
libraries has learned to fit with efficiency and without friction into all
companionships and conditions, has
high claims upon the title of an educated man.
A blight which often falls upon the
souls of men who have studied long
and perhaps bear learned titles is the
blight of a narrow and ungenial view of
life. They end at a barred window, and
not at an open door. Sympathy puts the
crown upon the head of the educated
man. He has a fellow-feeling for all
men, because his wide experience of
life has enabled him to understand
them. Mingled in this sympathetic attitude of the educated' man is humility
that grows out of knowledge. He stands
with Newton on the shore, aware of
the wide, unattempted sea. He knows
that the comer of knowledge where he
works, though but a corner, is yet re-
1lated to all learning and all places where
<athers are at work. He has seen theiories and opinions pass in the dawn of
1
better knowledge, and is not too insistent that his own. scheme of thought
shall suffice for other men and ages.
He keeps his mind sweet with humility
and faith, open to all the genial airs
of kindly fellowship that blow.
The educated man grows to that high
quality of wisdom which can only come
through the experience of life with others. "Wisdom is the principal thing/'
without which "knowledge puffeth
up." "But love buildeth up," the apostle hastens to add to that hard saying.
Man exists for personal relations, in
which his best powers have play and
his best joys are born. The educated
man is supremely practiced in high personal transactions with God and with
his fellowmen. In these relations his
individuality is not sacrificed, but
heightened. He becomes more himself
as he gives more to others. In the
thought of Christ—the man of no
schools but that school of sympathy and thought from which he graduated wdth the title of "The Son of
Man"—in the thought of Christ the
completely educated man is he who is
most successful in obedience to the
great commandments of love to God
and man.—The Congregationalist, Boston.
f
T
<
ATHLETIC BENEFIT
An entertainment under the auspices
of the Institute Athletic Association
was held in Tompkins Hall, Saturday
evening, August 28th. Following is the
program:
New Octette................. Melodies
Readings . . . . . . . . . Mr. William Dancer
Solo (vocal) . . . . . . . . . . . . Peach Jordan
Instrumental solo.......Miss Bradley
Reading..........Miss Trudie Woods
Solo ( v o c a l ) . . . . . . Miss Leona Hughes
Solo (vocal)........ Mr. John Anderson
Reading...............Torbert Pace
Senior Girls' Quartet
Mr, J. D. Stevenson, in charge of Athletics, was responsible for the entertainment, the purpose of which was to raise
money with which to help liquidate a
deficit from athletic games of last year.
The concert was well attended and the
several numbers were most acceptably
rendered.
•
L.