The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.4, page 8, Sept. 1895, U. of Illinois Press

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The BOOKER T. WAS HINGTON Papers eminent was gratefully acknowledged. Speaking of the aid the exposition had received from women, he said: ''The advancement of the race and the adoption of truer ideals have enabled us to profit inestimably by that expanding force in our civilization- the genius of women. The part it plays here is large, and the use it has made of this opportunity will unquestionably conduce to the fuller recognition of woman's righteous claims and a fairer estimate of the value of her work. The way for women who must needs struggle with the world will be widened by the triumphs of feminine capacity and skill which are here arrayed.'' Next President Collier thanked the colored citizens for their cooperation, saying: ''They have accepted the responsibility of a department of their own, and have filled it with proofs of the progress they have made as freemen. They were employed largely in the preparation here, as they are in almost all our industries, and they will share largely in the honors and practical benefits of the exposition.'' In conclusion the speaker said: ''The work begun beneath the frown of adverse fortunes has reached its completion under the smile of heaven upon our common country. Elsewhere we see plenteous harvests, reviving commerce, restored confidence, industrial activity, capital busy in new enterprises, labor abundantly employed and reaping increased rewards, al] sections of the country welded together in the bonds of common interest and the ardor of a broad patriotism.'' Then Mrs. Joseph Thompson, who is the Mrs. Potter Palmer of Georgia and the head of the Woman's Department of the Exposition, stepped to the front of the platform, tall, slender, beautiful, her face covered with a white veil and her hands trembling with excitement as she laid her manuscript on the reading desk and addressed the audience in a voice which could not be heard ten feet away. PROF. WASHINGTON THE NEGRO MOSES Mrs. Thompson had scarcely taken her seat when all eyes were turned on a tall, tawny negro sitting in the front row on the platform. It was Prof. Booker T. Washington, President of the Tuskegee, Ala., Normal and Industrial Institute, who must rank from this time forth as the foremost man of his race in America. Gilmore's band played the Star Spangled Banner, and the audience cheered. The tune changed to Dixie and the audience roared with shrill hi-yi's. Again the music changed to Yankee Doodle and the clamor lessened. 8