Washington's address
yesterday was one of the most notable speeches, both as to
character and as to the warmth of its reception, ever delivered
to a Southern audience. The address was a revelation. The whole
speech is a platform upon which blacks and whites can stand with
full justice to each other."
The Boston Transcript said editorially: "The speech of Booker T.
Washington at the Atlanta Exposition, this week, seems to have
dwarfed all the other proceedings and the Exposition itself. The
sensation that it has caused in the press has never been
equalled."
I very soon began receiving all kinds of propositions from
lecture bureaus, and editors of magazines and papers, to take the
lecture platform, and to write articles. One lecture bureau
offered me fifty thousand dollars, or two hundred dollars a night
and expenses, if I would place my services at its disposal for a
given period. To all these communications I replied that my
life-work was at Tuskegee; and that whenever I spoke it must be
in the interests of Tuskegee school and my race, and that I would
enter into no arrangements that seemed to place a mere commercial
value upon my services.
Some days after its delivery I sent a copy of my address to the
President of the United States, the Hon.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241