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CHAPTER XIV 


I have referred to the fear that the colored people 
generally felt about moving to and fro among our white 
fellow-citizens in this section of the country. Our stu- 
dent body shared fully this sentiment. For instance: one 
night, just after we had come to the new plantation, a 
lamp exploded in a room occupied by some of the girls. 
There was much commotion among the students and the 
girls screamed at the top of their voices. When I reached 
the scene and inquired regarding the trouble, the girls 
said that a white man was breaking into the house. I 
began to feel around in the dark and, sure enough, there 
was a real white man. When I found him he said yes, 
he had been trying to break into the house to put out the 
exploded lamp, which he had seen from the road as he 
was passing, but later had settled down to enjoy the ex- 
citement he had created. 

This fear of the whites was shown on another oc- 
casion. In the fall of 1908 Dr. Booker T. Washington 
and a party of thirty of the leading colored men from 
various parts of the country made a tour through Mis- 
sissippi. 

On learning that Dr. Washington was going to visit 
the state, I extended him a most cordial invitation to visit 
Utica. As soon as he accepted the invitation, I promptly 
issued a circular announcing that he would speak in the 


168 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 


Institute chapel on a certain date. The excitement 
throughout the community immediately became intense. 
I could not understand it, so I called my trustees to- 
gether, as was my custom, to consult as to Dr. Washing- 
ton’s visit. 

For the first time in the history of the school, I had to 
send out three invitations before I could get a meeting. 
The fact is, I had to go out and almost compel them to 
come in. Once they were assembled, I put the matter of 
Dr. Washington’s visit before them, and they promptly 
advised me that it would be a very unwise thing to have 
him come to Utica; in fact, they thought it would be a 
dangerous thing, that Dr. Washington could never pass 
safely through the streets of Utica. They delivered fiery 
addresses, for which many of the members have always 
been noted, and ended up by voting almost to a man (I 
think there were two exceptions) that we ask Dr. Wash- 
ington not to come to Utica,—for his good and for ours. 

I then asked them to answer two questions for me: 
one, what were their objections to Dr. Washington’s 
coming to Utica, and the other, what real harm could 
come to him if he did visit Utica. To these questions I 
could not get a single answer; they would only shake 
their heads and shrug their shoulders. Some of them 
finally notified me, as they left the meeting, that I might 
have him come if I wanted to, but that they would not 
attend the meeting. 

Although I did not want to take any risks with Dr. 
Washington, I was determined to have him visit Utica. 
Having been deserted by the colored people, I now turned 
my attention to the white. I went down into the village, 


THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 169 


cornered one of my good white friends, one of the lead- 
ing business men of the place, and asked him for his 
candid opinion and whatever advice he might give as to 
Dr. Washington’s visit. 

He was very deliberate, and said: “Holtzclaw, I want 
to see Booker and hear him speak, and I am going to hear 
him while he is in this state, if I have to travel two hun- 
dred miles, but I really would not advise you to have him 
come, if you have the least idea that there is any danger. 
We are just now experiencing the hardships caused by 
the money panic of a year or so ago, and we don’t know 
but that some crazy, drunken fellow, having heard so 
many things about Washington, might attempt to do 
violence to him; and that would disturb the friendly re- 
lations between the races here which everybody has been 
working so hard to cement. Then, too, Booker might 
say something in his address that would cause trouble 
for you after he is gone. I repeat, therefore, that for 
complete safety I believe it would be better not to have 
him come.” 

I said to him: “But I have already invited him, and, 
to tell you the truth, I would rather abandon my school 
than withdraw that invitation. I do not care to live in 
a place where Dr. Washington cannot come with perfect 
safety. Besides, he is already on his way and will be 
in Memphis to-morrow.” 

My friend replied: “Well, I think you had better let 
him come under those circumstances, but I do hope he 
will be as wise in his utterances as he is credited with 
being.” 

I confess things were looking cloudy, but I had lost 


170 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 


none of my determination, although I certainly had no 
intention of subjecting Dr. Washington to any danger. 
I thanked this gentleman for his advice, then called on 
another leading white man. After getting him back in 
his office behind closed doors, I put the subject before 
him. He seemed greatly surprised that I even thought 
of such a thing as Dr. Washington’s being injured in 
Utica, and said: “Let him come right ahead. He will 
be as safe in Utica as he would be in New York;” and so 
I made my rounds of the leading men of the city. 

For fear that they would not talk to me as freely as 
they would among themselves, I sought the services of 
one of my best white friends and asked him if he would 
not look over the town and the neighboring country and 
give me his frank opinion as to Dr. Washington’s visit. 
He complied as hurriedly as possible, and when he had 
finished he told me that there was not the slightest dan- 
ger in the proposed trip; that every man and woman with 
whom he had talked were ready and eager to see Dr. 
Washington ; that I should have him come without doubt. 

So I determined to let the matter go through. I went 
to the city marshal and told him of the apprehension of 
the colored people, and asked for his best protection of 
Dr. Washington. After laughing heartily at me, he as- 
sured me that he would be on hand and that nothing in 
the world would happen to him. He seemed greatly as- 
tonished that I should feel any doubt. 

I then boarded a train and met Dr. Washington in 
Memphis, where I went over the whole matter with his 
private secretary, Mr. Emmett J. Scott, and Mr. Charles 
Banks, cashier of the Bank of Mound Bayou and the 


THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 171 


leader of the party in Mississippi. On we came to Utica, 
reaching there at 8 o’clock in the morning. To my sur- 
prise, Utica had more people in it that day than I have 
ever seen there before or since. For several hundred 
yards the railroad track was lined with people. The 
white ladies themselves had come down and lined up on 
each side of the railroad to see Dr. Washington as he 
emerged from the train. 

There were several fine-looking men on the train,— 
bishops, elders, doctors, and what not,—so one or the 
other was frequently pointed out as Dr. Washington by 
the people in the crowd. One of them would say: “There 
he is now. No, there is he over there with the big hat 
on.” At length, Dr. Washington stepped from the train, 
almost the most unpretentious-looking man in the crowd. 
The city marshal was right on hand. Dr. Washington 
bowed to the ladies and to all the crowd, and amid their 
cheers he stepped briskly toward his carriage, with the 
marshal on one side and me on the other. 

I was careful to stay by his side, because I had said to 
the colored people when they were in their highest pitch 
of excitement that when he came I would be right by his 
side, and if any harm came, I would meet it first; I 
would see to that. 

One of those same colored men that had said he would 
not be out that day at all was there, and was so excited 
that he jumped into the carriage while it was going and 
shook hands with Dr. Washington. Amidst all this ex- 
citement, Dr. Washington was perfectly placid, and ap- 
parently not the least disturbed. All the way to the 
school the road banks were lined with people, and when 


172 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 


we went into the chapel where he was to speak, nearly all 
the leading white people were among the auditors. Our 
chapel could not hold a tenth of the people that tried to 
enter. 

Dr. Washington had scarcely begun his address before 
he captured his entire audience, white and black. They 
forgot all about their troubles, and I think they experi- 
enced brotherly feeling there that day such as they had 
never felt before. The magic of his personality and the 
power of his oratory completely won the hearts of all 
the people present. 

One can scarcely realize the good that this visit ac- 
complished, though hundreds of people were disappointed 
that they could not enter the building to hear him speak. 
So keen was their disappointment that a hurried message 
was sent to me from the white people of the town, asking 
if they might not erect a platform at the station and 
have him speak for ten minutes before he left. This was 
in order to give the white people a better opportunity to 
hear him. We were all very sorry that Dr. Washington’s 
train schedule would not permit him to accept their invi- 
tation. 

I have never seen in all my stay in Utica any stranger 
come into the town who received so much attention as 
Dr. Washington did; and it is the fervent hope of all that 
he may find it possible to come to Utica again. 

In his address Dr. Washington made the same impres- 
sion upon the minds of the leading white people who 
heard him speak that he always makes wherever he 
speaks,—that is, that he is a wise, conservative, trust- 
worthy leader. One of the foremost white men of Utica 


THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 173 


said to me the next day: “Holtzclaw, I am glad that 
you had Booker Washington come here. I have heard 
of him for twenty-five years, but this is the first time I 
have had an opportunity to hear an address by him. If 
we had enough men in this country like Booker Wash- 
ington, we would be soon rid of many of the ills that 
beset us.”