I
prepared myself as best I could for the address, but as the
eighteenth of September drew nearer, the heavier my heart became,
and the more I feared that my effort would prove a failure and a
disappointment.
The invitation had come at a time when I was very busy with my
school work, as it was the beginning of our school year. After
preparing my address, I went through it, as I usually do with
those utterances which I consider particularly important, with
Mrs. Washington, and she approved of what I intended to say. On
the sixteenth of September, the day before I was to start for
Atlanta, so many of the Tuskegee teachers expressed a desire to
hear my address that I consented to read it to them in a body.
When I had done so, and had heard their criticisms and comments,
I felt somewhat relieved, since they seemed to think well of what
I had to say.
On the morning of September 17, together with Mrs. Washington and
my three children, I started for Atlanta. I felt a good deal as I
suppose a man feels when he is on his way to the gallows. In
passing through the town of Tuskegee I met a white farmer who
lived some distance out in the country. In a jesting manner this
man said: "Washington, you have spoken before the Northern white
people, the Negroes in the South, and to us country white people
in the South; but Atlanta, to-morrow, you will have before you
the Northern whites, the Southern whites, and the Negroes all
together.
Pages:
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229