The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.4, page 71, Nov. 1895, U. of Illinois Press

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N 0 v E M B E R · I 8 9 5 An Open Letter to Benjamin Ryan Tiliman~ Tuskegee, Ala. tca. Nov. 4, 1895] tDear Sir:] I am no politician. I never made a political speech, and do not know as I ever shall make one, so it is not ore a political subject that I address you. I was born a slave; you a freeman. I am but an humble member of an unfortunate race; you are a member of the greatest legislative body on earth, and of the great, intelligent Caucasian race. The difference between us is great, yet I do not believe you will scorn the appeal I make to you in behalf of the 6so,ooo of my race in your State, who are to-day suppliants at your feet, and whose destiny and progress for the next century you hold largely in your hands. I have been told that you are brave and generous, and one too great to harm the weak and dependent; that you represent the chivaIry of the South, which has claimed no higher praise than that of protectors of the defenseless. I address you because I believe that you and those associated with you in convention have been misunderstood in the following, from the pen of Mr. James Creelman, in the New York World: ''An appalling fact that may not be obvious at a first glance is that the course proposed means the end of negro education and negro progress in South Carolina. This is openly admitted by Senator Tillman and his friends.'' It has been said that the truest test of the civilization of a race is the desire of the race to assist the unfortunate. Judged by this standard, the Southern States as a whole have reason to feel proud of what they have done in helping in the education of the negro. I cannot believe that on the eve of the twentieth century, when there is more enlightenment, more generosity, more progress, more self-sacrifice, more love for humanity than ever existed in any other stage of the world's history when our memories are pregnant with the scenes that took place in Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge but a few days ago, where brave men who wore the blue and the gray clasped forgiving hands and pledged that henceforth the interests of one should be the interests of all while the hearts of the whole South are centered upon the great city of Atlanta, where Southern people are demonstrating to the world in a most practical way that 7 I