The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.4, page 37, Sept. 1895, U. of Illinois Press

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SEPTEMBER · I 895 exposition building, but the exposition company would not allow them to do what was not asked of others. It paid for this building as for others. But it let the contract for the building to negroes and they employed negro workmen, so that the negro building stands as an example of negro skill and work. This building is in the southeastern corner of the park at the main entrance from the railway terminal station. It covers es,ooo square feet. It is ~76 feet long by ~ ~o feet wide. It has a central tower and four corner pavilions, and the pediment over the main entrance is decorated with relief work, representing the past and the present conditions of the negro. The one side of the pediment represents the slave mammy, with the one room log cabin, the rake, and the basket in 1865. On the other side is the face of Frederick Douglass, a true representative of the growth and intelligence of the colored man. Near the relief of Douglass are the comfortable residence, the stone church, and symbols of the race's progress in science, art, and literature, all representative of the new negro in 1895. The well-fed mule and the plow occupy the center of the grouping, representing the negro's property and industry. There is no building at the fair which attracts more attention than this one built by negroes and for the exhibition of the products of negro labor. The largest exhibits in the building are from schools and colleges, but there are many individual exhibits and one of them is a painting marked ''30 equals 453.'' It was painted by a negro, Mr. Freeman, of Washington, and it represents two boys at work at a blackboard. One is a white boy and the other is a colored boy. They both have the same figures before them and are subtracting 30 from 453. The colored boy has put down the result and has a look of triumph on his face. The white boy has a puzzled expression as he looks at the result and still sees the statement that ''30 equals 453.'' But the result is the colored boy by his side, who represents thirty years of emancipation for his race, while the white boy represents 453 years of emancipation for his race. The two races stand equal before the law and in their work here at the exposition, as the two boys stand equal in their work at the blackboard. It is not a striking picture, except in the story it tells, but it is well executed and it attracts much attention from whites and blacks for the conception and the story told. In the central square 37