[n.b. - page numbers refer to printed text. Available at https://archive.org/details/blackmansburden0000will ] CHAPTER X In the midst of all this political flurry the Utica Nor- mal and Industrial Institute grew year by year, fostered by the kind feeling of both the local white people and the colored people, who gave their money annually to help its growth. If there is a white man in Utica who has not contributed to the expenses of the Institute, I do not know him. While this work was going on it dawned on me that still further activities should be commenced in that com- munity,—that is, that we should help the people in gen- eral to rise with the school. This was a difficult matter, for people who are completely down are sometimes quick to resent any suggestion of that fact, even when a way is made to help them up. This is just the condition we had to meet, but by organized methods we in time suc- ceeded. One of our most profitable means of reaching the peo- ple was by organizing the teachers, of whom there were several at this time, into what we called a “‘Teachers’ Extension Movement.’’ The various members of this organization were assigned a given locality in which to work, entirely apart from their school duties. They were to do all in their power to show the people in that locality how to better their condition,—that is, they were to buy a few acres of land, to have chickens and pigs and a mule, 130 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN to pay for their little homes, to plant fruit trees and shade trees, and to build a comfortable little house of two, three, or four rooms to take the place of the old one- room cabin. The amount of work these teachers succeeded in doing was something astonishing. They labored with the peo- ple incessantly, in season and out of season, and oc- casionally they would have the entire faculty visit the different working-places and there make demonstrations, deliver addresses, and help in a general way toward spreading knowledge. These meetings have continued until the present time. As an example of the direct and simple manner in which it is possible to teach the masses of the people, I recall an experience of my own. One night, after having delivered an address to the people of the Bear Creek com- munity, I went home to pass the night with one of them. The next morning at breakfast there was only salt pork and bread before us, with sugar and coffee. It was a dry meal, and the fact that it was an average breakfast made it no more palatable. I was sitting near a window, —a hole in the wall,—and I noticed that blackberry vines laden with ripe, luscious berries were hanging over the window. I reached out, picked a few, put them into a saucer, put some sugar on them, and proceeded to eat. Soon the whole family were eating berries. Such almost unconscious lessons as this have gone on until a large part of the fruit and berries that used to go to waste is now preserved and used the year round. One other way of helping the people has been through our Negro Farmers’ Conference, which meets annually THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 131 at the institution. At these conferences Negro farmers gather from all over the state of Mississippi and discuss their business, their troubles, their joys and sorrows, their progress or failure. They always end by “resolut- ing” a little——making determinations to better their con- dition. The following sketch taken from the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, February, 1905, will give a fairly clear idea of the object of these conferences: “A recent conference of Negro farmers and educators at the Mississippi institution put its conclusions into reso- lutions that are worth printing for the good sense and: serious thought that is in them, as follows: “*Resolved: That it is the sense of this Conference that unless the Negro is something apart from the rest of humanity, he must follow the beaten path of history by making the soil the source of all prosperity, the basis of his temporal existence. We believe that the race that owns a due proportion of the soil and has improved it after the manner of modern civilization will receive the respect and encouragement of mankind. We, therefore, urge our people to struggle by every honest means to buy Jand, to build good modern houses, to dignify them, to pay taxes upon them, and never mortgage them. We urge also that every man see to it that his poll tax is paid. “ ‘Resolved: That we give more attention to the build- ing up of the public schools, for it is to these schools we are to look for the education of the masses of our people. We urge that better schoolhouses be constructed in every county, that a higher grade of teachers be installed in those schools, and that the people tax themselves to secure proper schoolhouses and better teachers. We think it wise that committees in the different states go before the 132 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN legislatures to try to induce them to introduce instruction in agriculture in the public school curriculum. [Such instruction is now given in the public schools of this state.] We urge the parents to make more and more sac- rifices for the education of their children. We believe it would be wise and right, since our race needs wise and true leaders, to put a good proportion of the brightest youths in the best colleges with a view to training them for leadership. We urge our people to give more atten- tion to the industrial education of their sons and daugh- ters. We wish to declare our faith in the efficacy of industrial education, as taught here at the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute, under William H. Holtzclaw, and at Tuskegee, Alabama, under the leadership of Dr. Booker T. Washington. We believe that the individual who has been taught to love and dignify common toil and is honest and respectable will be sure to live a useful and helpful life. “Tt is evident that in this country we are destined to pass many years side by side with the white and other races, if not to live here for all time. It is further evi- dent that we shall be useful, prosperous, and happy in proportion to our ability to find a way to live in peace and harmony with our neighbors of the other race. This can be done by practicing the highest virtues as we under- stand them. In this matter, it will not hurt us to act toward our neighbors after the example of the lowly Nazarine, even though the world laughs and calls us cowards. “ ‘We are grateful to the executive of this state, to pub- lic sentiment, and to the officers of certain counties for the tremendous efforts they have put forth to crush out the outrages perpetrated against Negroes in these coun- were trained at the he W and Industrial Institute ormsl and Tndustrial Institute N gece Norina Tusk of teaehers in the Utica A group THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN pay ties. In this way they have won a victory that the world should applaud. It is our own belief that ministers, teachers, and other public servants can serve the best interests of the South by exerting their influence to keep the masses of our people away from the cities. Nowhere in the world is there such an opportunity for us as 1s offered on the plantations of the South. “Were we permitted, we would urge the Southern planters to furnish their laborers better houses, giving them humane treatment, general encouragement, and pro- tection against outrages. “We urge with all our souls that no Negro allow the acquisition of a little learning or of wealth to make him pompous, so as to delight his enemies and disgust his friends. We should remain sober, with a deep sense of imperfection, diligent in every pursuit, with simplicity in manners.’ “When counsels so wise are put in practice, whites and blacks will be good neighbors.” Year by year these conferences have grown and have developed in importance, and have formed the basis of our general extension work. The resolutions adopted at the Conference reflected more the sentiment of the leaders of the Conference,—the preachers, teachers, lawyers, and doctors in attendance, —than they did the sentiments of those with whom we have to deal. These leaders, however, are men who have come up from the soil and who are acquainted with every feature of the situation. It is very clear, therefore, that when they essay to speak for the benefit of the farmers it is nearly the same thing as if the farmers spoke them- 134 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN selves. For instance, when one of these leaders began to deliver an address before the assembled farmers, ac- cording to the custom of the conference, moans and groans of approval could be heard throughout the audi- ence, increasing more and more as the speaker proceeded to give an account of what he had experienced on the farm. These conferences are not held for the purpose of hearing a recitation of stories or of giving leaders an opportunity to display their oratorical powers, but they are held for the serious purpose of helping the farmers become better and more progressive, and of giving the leaders an opportunity to hear the farmers’ stories and to familiarize themselves with the conditions so as to be in a position to help in the general progress of the com- munity. For example, I recall that Dr. Proctor, a Negro physician of Vicksburg, delivered a most helpful address | on the prevention and the cure of the disease known as the hookworm, while Dr. Harrison, a druggist from the same town, delivered an address on what medicine could be obtained from any ordinary drug-store for the pre- vention and the cure of the diseases of horses. Another physician talked to the people about how to prevent tu- berculosis and how to treat those already suffering with tubercular symptoms. Prof. George W. Carver, head of the department of Agricultural Research at Tuskegee, spent two hours before the assembled farmers, with a sweet potato in his hand, about which he delivered a most effective lecture. When he had finished, the farmers came up and shook his hands, and many were the re- marks they made about that potato. I remember hearing J THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN ‘135 one old farmer say, ‘‘’Fessor Carver, I been eatin’ and makin’ ’tatoes sixty years an’ I never knowed till yet that there was so much in a ’tatoe.” After these conferences the assembled farmers go away feeling encouraged, more interested in their home life, and better fitted to be at the head of families; in other words, they feel that they are becoming citizens.