Charles W. Chesnutt to Booker T. Washington, 21 March 1903
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CHAS. W. CHESNUTT
1005 WILLIAMSON BUILDING.
CLEVELAND, O.
3/24.not answ'd—You may care to note—no answer really needed—EJS1 March 21, 1903. Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Ala. My dear Mr. Washington:-
Replying to your letter of recent date asking me for a photograph of my house or picture of my home, I regret to say that I have never had a good one, and have not been able to find the one that I have; nor is the weather at present favorable to securing a good one. I am not particularly proud of my home as a house; in fact, I outgrew it years ago in some respects; and it does not show up well in a photograph unless the trees near it are in leaf.2 If you care for it later on, I can have a photograph made.
I have seen many favorable comments on your Brooklyn speech.3 It was a fine, noble and dignified effort, which demanded all that could be asked for the race. There have been a number of commendatory editorials in our local papers concerning your work, since your recent visit here.4 I hope the good seed sown may result in larger fruition than was immediately apparent.
Sincerely yours, Chas. W. ChesnuttCorrespondent: 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. Emmett Jay Scott (1873–1957), a Black journalist from Texas, became Booker T. Washington's personal secretary in 1897 and was his influential advisor until Washington's death in 1913. He served at the Tuskegee Institute until 1917, and later at Howard University (1919–1939). During World War I, he was Special Assistant for Negro Affairs under Secretary of War Newton D. Baker (1871–1937). His notes on Chesnutt's letters often steered Washington's attention to specific letters; his direct correspondence with Chesnutt spanned over three decades. [back]
2. After relocating to Cleveland in 1884, Chesnutt's family lived in a series of rental houses (on Wilcutt Avenue, Ashland Avenue, and Florence Street), and then built a home to Chesnutt's plans at 64 Brenton Street, where they lived from May 1889 until May 1904. At that time, he purchased the house at 9719 Lamont Avenue, which continued to be owned by the Chesnutt family after his death in 1932 (see Helen Chesnutt, Charles Waddell Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952], 37–39, 48 and 184–185). [back]
3. Booker T. Washington delivered a speech on February 22, 1903, under the auspieces of the Brooklyn Academy of Arts and Sciences as part of the celebration of George Washington's birthday, suggesting that "a conference of representative Northern and Southern men be held to consider the negro problem." See Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1903: 1–2. [back]
4. Booker T. Washington visited Ohio in November of 1902 and spoke in Cleveland on the 20th at Adelbert College (formerly Western Reserve College, later Case Western Reserve University); see Cleveland Gazette, November 15, 1902: 6. [back]
