One night in the
chapel, after the usual chapel exercises were over, General
Armstrong referred to the fact that he had received a letter from
some gentlemen in Alabama asking him to recommend some one to
take charge of what was to be a normal school for the coloured
people in the little town of Tuskegee in that state. These
gentlemen seemed to take it for granted that no coloured man
suitable for the position could be secured, and they were
expecting the General to recommend a white man for the place. The
next day General Armstrong sent for me to come to his office,
and, much to my surprise, asked me if I thought I could fill the
position in Alabama. I told him that I would be willing to try.
Accordingly, he wrote to the people who had applied to him for
the information, that he did not know of any white man to
suggest, but if they would be willing to take a coloured man, he
had one whom he could recommend. In this letter he gave them my
name.
Several days passed before anything more was heard about the
matter. Some time afterward, one Sunday evening during the chapel
exercises, a messenger came in and handed the general a telegram.
At the end of the exercises he read the telegram to the school.
In substance, these were its words: "Booker T.
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