The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.9, page 324, Aug. 1907, U. of Illinois Press

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The BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Papers tant, in my opinion, for the civilization, for the happiness, for the health of the Southern white people that that colored nurse shall be intelligent, that she shall be clean, that she shall be morally fit to come in contact with that pure and innocent child. In nine-tenths of our Southern communities there is peace and harmony, good will and friendship; but when one goes outside of the Southern states, when one goes into the North, into Europe as ~ have done, and reads the dispatches that come from the South, it is always one thing lynchings. And you never hear of any other news from the South except lynchings. Those people naturally get the idea, other people get the idea, through this unusual punishment, that we are living in a state of turmoil, at daggers points throughout the South, whereas, as a matter of fact, as you go through the average Southern Community you will find a feeling of mutual confidence, a feeling of friendship existing between the races— each race interested in the progress of the other. And for that reason alone, if for no other, higher consideration, I believe we owe it to ourselves to bring about such a public sentiment as will get rid of this unusual and barbarous method of punishing criminals. And in the case of my race I believe you will find that many of our criminals and you will find that this crime is usually committed by wandering colored people who have no homes, no bank accounts, no trades, no permanent abiding place; in many cases, they are halfwitted, and this condition has been emphasized by the use of bad whiskey those people read the newspapers, they hear in public discussion about these crimes and many of them, by reason of the mere publicity of this unusual punishment, are led to atttempt these assaults, when if the individuals were punished in an orderly sober quiet method, they would never hear of them. And I believe for these reasons, and for many more, that we of both races should insist that we are gaining nothing in any community by ever condoning what is termed mob or lynch law. In my opinion, one of the reasons why many of the best and brightest Southern men have not taken hold and helped in the directions that I have tried to emphasize, as they would like to have done, has been the scare, the bug-bear of what is called ''social equality.'' 324