Category: Biographies
Author’s Reasons for Writing Autobiography--Ancestry--Mother--Author’s Early Recollections and Impressions of Her--Father--Who He Was--When and Where Author Was Born--A Description of the Cabin Where Born--Dress of the Author in Early Childhood--The “Tow Shirt"--Early Services...
So much has been said and written concerning the address which I delivered at the opening of the Atlanta Exposition in September, 1895, that it may not be out of place for me to...
30. CHAPTER VIII.From 1884 to 1894, while comparatively little was heard of the school in the public press, yet that was a period of constant and solid growth. In 1884 the enrollment was 169. In...
44. CHAPTER XXII.My work at Tuskegee has always been of a three fold nature. First, the executive work of the institution proper; second, the securing of money with which to carry on the institu...
36. CHAPTER XIV.In the spring of 1897 I received a letter from Hon. Edward Atkinson, of Boston, inviting me to deliver an address at the dedication of the Robert Gould Shaw monument in Boston....
40. CHAPTER XVIII.In the spring of 1899 a rather notable meeting was held in Boston, in the afternoon, at the Hollis Street Theatre. This meeting was gotten up in the interest of the Tuskegee Ins...
29. CHAPTER VII.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 sc...
37. CHAPTER XV.Immediately after the close of the Spanish-American war the Tuskegee Institute started a movement to bring a number of Cuban and Porto Rican students to Tuskegee, for the purpos...
34. CHAPTER XII.One of the most helpful things accomplished during the year 1896 was an exhibit of the industrial products of the Tuskegee Institute made in New York City, Boston and Philadelph...
41. CHAPTER XIX.Early in August we sailed for America from Southampton, and had a very pleasant voyage on the magnificent ocean Steamer “St. Louis.” On the voyage I was called upon to speak aga...
39. CHAPTER XVII.Tuesday, February 23, 1892, was a day memorable in the lives and fortunes of the great bulk of the Negro population in the “Black Belt” of the South. It was a strange and altoge...
33. CHAPTER XI.While the Atlanta Exposition was in progress, the State Constitutional Convention of South Carolina was in session, having been convened for the specific purpose of passing a la...
38. CHAPTER XVI.Soon after starting the Tuskegee Institute I earnestly desired to have the President of the United States visit it. The chance of securing such a visit seemed to be so unattaina...
43. CHAPTER XXI.The reader has doubtless noted that much space has been occupied in this volume in detailing the history of the Tuskegee Institute, and to the casual reader this may have appear...
42. CHAPTER XX.Having, through nearly twenty years of incessant toil, succeeded in securing for Tuskegee the annual expenses for running the school and the money with which to purchase its pre...
31. CHAPTER IX.In the spring of 1895 I was rather pleasantly surprised by receiving an invitation from the Fisk University Lecture Bureau, in Nashville, Tennessee, to deliver a lecture before...
23. CHAPTER I.Many requests have been made of me to write something of the story of my life. Until recently I have never given much consideration to these requests, for the reason that I have...
24. CHAPTER II.We began life in West Virginia in a little shanty, and lived in it for several years. My step-father soon obtained work for my brother John and myself in the salt furnaces and c...
25. CHAPTER III.After my mother and brother John had secured me a few extra garments, with what I could provide for myself, I started for Hampton about the first of October, 1872. How long I wa...
28. CHAPTER VI.After the school had been in session in the old church and little shanty for several months, I began to see the necessity of having a permanent location for the institution, whe...
26. CHAPTER IV.In the fall of 1875 I returned to Malden and was elected as the teacher in the school at Malden, the first school that I ever attended. I taught this school for three years. The...
35. CHAPTER XIII.Soon after the election of Major McKinley to the office of President in 1896, the Washington Post, to the surprise of nearly everybody, came out with a strong editorial urging t...
27. CHAPTER V.Before starting for Tuskegee I found it almost impossible to find the town on any map, and had difficulty in learning its exact location. I reached Tuskegee about the middle of...
22. CHAPTER XXII.The Nature of the Author’s Work at Tuskegee--The Discouragements Met with in the Early Years--Author’s First Experience at Speaking to Northern Audiences--General Armstrong’s Ad...
7. CHAPTER VII.The Putting the Farm in Order for the Raising of a Crop--The Students Volunteer to Assist in Clearing the Land--Mr. Campbell Gives the School Its First Horse--Old Buildings Put...
10. CHAPTER X.Invitation to Accompany a Committee of Atlanta Gentlemen to Washington to Intercede for a Congressional Appropriation for the Cotton States’ Exposition--The Author Among Others...
8. CHAPTER VIII.Growth in Number of Students, Teachers and Officers, and Buildings during the Early Years of This Period--Hard Work of Raising Money with which to Meet the Increasing Demands--S...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.Author Appears with Dr. W. E. B. DuBois and Paul Laurence Dunbar Before a Representative Audience at Hollis St. Theatre, Boston--He Speaks Before the Birmingham Lyceum, Birmingh...
14. CHAPTER XIV.Author Invited to Make an Address at the Dedication in Boston of a Monument to Col. Robert Gould Shaw and Regiment--He Accepts and Delivered the Address--The Speech in Full--Imp...
16. CHAPTER XVI.Author’s Early Desire to Have the President of the United States Visit Tuskegee--After Years of Work and Struggle, Author is More than ever Determined to Secure a Visit from the...
11. CHAPTER XI.Author Writes an Open Letter to Senator Tillman during the Meeting of a Constitutional Convention in South Carolina--He Sets Forth the Negro’s Claim upon the Whites for Justice...
15. CHAPTER XV.The Movement at Tuskegee for the Education of Cubans and Porto Ricans--The Trustees of the John F. Slater Fund Enables Author and Mrs. Washington to Lecture in the Cities of the...
12. CHAPTER XII.Tuskegee Institute, in Connection with Hampton, Makes an Industrial Exhibit in New York, Boston and Philadelphia--Academic Work at Tuskegee, Its Thoroughness--The Great Surprise...
21. CHAPTER XXI.The Building Up of the Institute, the Author’s Life Work--A History of the Institute Unavoidable in His Autobiography--The Land Owned by the Institute--The Buildings--The Bricky...
2. CHAPTER II.Beginning Life in West Virginia--Author Sees a Negro Reading a Newspaper in Malden which Kindles His First Ambition--He Learns His Letters while Working in Coal Mines and Salt F...
17. CHAPTER XVII.How the Conference Movement was Started--The First Invitations that were Sent Out--The Financial Condition of the Negroes in the Black Belt--The Mortgage System--The Large Numbe...
6. CHAPTER VI.The Necessity for a Permanent Location for the School Early Seen by the Author--Objections of the Early Students to Manual Labor--Gen. Marshall, Treasurer at Hampton, Lends $500...
20. CHAPTER XX.How the Money for Carrying on the Work at Tuskegee Was Being Raised during Eighteen Years--The Need of an Endowment Fund--The Grant of 25,000 Acres of Land by Congress--The Orga...
3. CHAPTER III.Author Starts for Hampton in 1872--The Journey--How Made--Sleeping Under Sidewalk in Richmond--Unloads Pig Iron from a Vessel in Richmond and Thereby Earns Money Enough to Conti...
4. CHAPTER IV.Author Begins Teaching at Malden--Encourages His Pupils to go to Hampton--Helps His Brother John to Enter Hampton--Enters Wayland Seminary, Washington, D. C., and Spends a Year...
19. CHAPTER XIX.The Return from Europe--A Communication from W. Herman Smith, Mayor of Charleston, West Virginia--An Invitation to Visit Charleston, Signed by the Governor, ex-Governor, and Man...
1. CHAPTER I.Author’s Reasons for Writing Autobiography--Ancestry--Mother--Author’s Early Recollections and Impressions of Her--Father--Who He Was--When and Where Author Was Born--A Descript...
13. CHAPTER XIII.The Washington Post and Other Papers Urge the Appointment of the Author in the Cabinet of President McKinley--Some Extracts From Articles Urging Such Appointment--In the Midst o...
5. CHAPTER V.Author’s Difficulty in Locating the Town of Tuskegee Before Starting Thither--Description and Some Early History of Tuskegee by Maj. W. W. Screws--Author’s Meeting with Mr. Lewi...
9. CHAPTER IX.Author Invited to Deliver Lecture at Fisk University Under Auspices of the Fisk Lecture Bureau--Full Description of the Occasion, an Excellent Synopsis of Lecture Published in N...