The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.9, page 255, Apr. 1907, U. of Illinois Press

The page presentation framework of the Booker T. Washington papers is designed to provide researchers worldwide with searchable access to the thousands of pages comprising the fourteen volumes, most of which are out of print. Adapted from the National Academy Press's Open Book framework, this framework allows searching down to the page level, provides sorting of search results chronologically, enables easy navigation across multiple volumes, and allows page-by-page local printing (via PDF) of every page.

[ Top of Page ]

[ Home ]

[ Contact Us ]

[ Help ]

OCRed data provided for searching only.
APRIL · 1907 my race is for individuals to grow embittered. An embittered man loses power for usefulness, whether he is black or whether he is white. As I speak to the educated men and women of my race, I always say to them, I pray God that they may never grow bitter toward any man or toward any race; that they shall always keep a beautiful, sweet and Christian spirit. My friends, the feeling of mutual confidence, the feeling of friendship and of sympathy that was planted in the hearts of the young white man and the young colored man, of the old colored man and the old white man of this Southland fifty years ago, must remain there, and you and I, who have honored them and are honoring their traditions, should not dare to uproot what they have planted. Let us, as we go out into the world, cultivate that feeling of friendship and trust; and let us not dig up the rose bush of friendship which was planted during, the days of slavery. If you want to know how to solve the race problem, place your hands upon your hearts and then with a prayer to God, ask Him how you today, were you placed in the position that the black man occupies, how you would desire the white man to treat you, and whenever you have answered that question in the sight of God and man, this problem in a large degree will have been solved. (Long continued applause.) PD Con. 956 BOW Papers DLC. Stenographically reported. Occasional asterisks, indicating omitted passages, have beers deleted. Reprinted in E. Davidson Washington, ea., Selected Speeches of Booker T. Wa.shin~ton {~.~rden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 193~), ~60-89. '(, . ~ ~ t John Andrew Rice (~862-~930), a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, was president of the Columbia, S.C., College for Women from 1894 to Moo, and later served pastorates in Montgomery, New Orleans, Fort Worth, St. Louis, and other cities. From 1909 to 1907 he was pastor in Montgomery, Ala. BOW considered Rice among, the few liberal southern clergymen on the race question. To Charles Wadclell Chesnutt ''Tuskegee, Ala.] April 3, 1907 Dear Mr. Chesnutt: This letter is my receipt and acknowledgment of the twenty-five dollars sent by you as a contribution toward the 255