Thirty states were
represented at our first meeting. Out of this national meeting
grew state and local business leagues.
In addition to looking after the executive side of the work at
Tuskegee, and raising the greater part of the money for the
support of the school, I cannot seem to escape the duty of
answering at least a part of the calls which come to me unsought
to address Southern white audiences and audiences of my own race,
as well as frequent gatherings in the North. As to how much of my
time is spent in this way, the following clipping from a Buffalo
(N.Y.) paper will tell. This has reference to an occasion when I
spoke before the National Educational Association in that city.
Booker T. Washington, the foremost educator among the coloured
people of the world, was a very busy man from the time he arrived
in the city the other night from the West and registered at the
Iroquois. He had hardly removed the stains of travel when it was
time to partake of supper. Then he held a public levee in the
parlours of the Iroquois until eight o'clock. During that time he
was greeted by over two hundred eminent teachers and educators
from all parts of the United States. Shortly after eight o'clock
he was driven in a carriage to Music Hall, and in one hour and a
half he made two ringing addresses, to as many as five thousand
people, on Negro education.
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