The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.4, page 318, Aug. 1897, U. of Illinois Press

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The BOOKER T. WAS HINGTON Papers The Introduction to Progress of a Race Tuskegee, Ala. August 8, ~ 897 The Progress of a Generation in the history of the Negro is the most fascinating study modern times possesses. Springing from the darkest depths of slavery and sorrowful ignorance to the heights of manhood and power almost at one bound, the Negro furnishes an unparalleled example of possibility. In the pages following, the authors have performed a duty at once difficult and needful that of following the rise of the Negro through the different stages of his career. It is a task that merits respect, commands attention, and is, unhappily, too seldom attempted. The task of a biographer of a people is too frequently a thankless one. In sifting out the conflicting elements which present themselves for his consideration he is apt to injure tradition. In using material which he thinks best he is likely to upset preconceived ideas of theorists. His work must be the result of careful thinking and an astonishing amount of finesse and diplomacy. The historian of the Negro race has all this and more too. He must, in addition to the other duties which devolve upon him in his work, be able to prophesy and foresee the days to come. For the progress of the Negro is far from completed—it is yet in its incipient stage and the eyes of the prophet must discern whither the road leads, upward or downward. The unprecedented leap the Negro made when freed from the oppressing withes of bondage is more than deserving of a high place in history. It can never be chronicled. The world needs to know of what mettle these people are built. It needs to understand the vast possibility of a race, so much despised and so thoroughly able to prove without blare and flourish of trumpet its ability to hold its own and compete, after only thirty years of life, with those of centuries of lineage. The dawn of new life is again gleaming behind the horizon. After the words were spoken which pronounced the Negro' free, he hesitated a minute, then sprang towards the highest place at once. It was not many days before he was heard from in all positions, in all walks of life; he was in high government positions, his name was on the most exclusive professional roles, yet the common horde lingered in surprised helplessness, wondering what next. Such a state of affairs, 318