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Charles W. Chesnutt to Booker T. Washington, 1902

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  CHAS. W. CHESNUTT. 1005 WILLIAMSON BUILDING, CLEVELAND, O. [ca. 1902]1 get this 223 CaCl 2 Dear Mr. Washington:-

The title of the book of which I spoke is

"The Negro in Africa & America"

by

Joseph Alexander Tillinghast

Published by

The Macmillan Company

for

The American Economic Ass'n.2

Don't miss it.

Yours, C. W. Chesnutt.



Correspondent: Booker T. Washington (1856–1913), one of the most well-known Black activists of the early 20th century, was born into slavery in Virginia. In 1881, he became the president of what would become the Tuskegee Institute, advocating widely as a speaker and writer for technical education for Blacks, whose entry into American industry and business leadership he believed to be the road to equality. His political power was significant, but because he frequently argued for compromise with White Southerners, including on voting rights, he was also criticized by other Black activists, especially by W. E. B. Du Bois.



1. The date [ca. 1902] is conjecture by an archivist, but this brief letter must have been written after the May 1902 publication of Tillinghast's book. [back]

2. The Negro in Africa and America, by Joseph Alexander Tillinghast (ca.1870–1944), was published as the May 1902 issue of the Publications of the American Economic Association (Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 403–637). [back]