It has been mentioned that Mr. Washington is the first of his
race to receive an honorary degree from a New England university.
This, in itself, is a distinction. But the degree was not
conferred because Mr. Washington is a coloured man, or because he
was born in slavery, but because he has shown, by his work for
the elevation of the people of the Black Belt of the South, a
genius and a broad humanity which count for greatness in any man,
whether his skin be white or black.
Another Boston paper said:--
It is Harvard which, first among New England colleges, confers an
honorary degree upon a black man. No one who has followed the
history of Tuskegee and its work can fail to admire the courage,
persistence, and splendid common sense of Booker T. Washington.
Well may Harvard honour the ex-slave, the value of whose
services, alike to his race and country, only the future can
estimate.
The correspondent of the New York Times wrote:--
All the speeches were enthusiastically received, but the coloured
man carried off the oratorical honours, and the applause which
broke out when he had finished was vociferous and long-continued.
Soon after I began work at Tuskegee I formed a resolution, in the
secret of my heart, that I would try to build up a school that
would be of so much service to the country that the President of
the United States would one day come to see it.
Pages:
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312