Booker T. Washington to Charles W. Chesnutt, 26 March 1907
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March 26 1907.
Mr. Charles. W. Chesnutt,
1005 Williamson Bldg., Cleveland, O.
Dear Mr. Chesnutt-
I am greatly obliged to you for your kind favor of March 23d with pr[?]omise of contribution of $25 toward the Douglass Memorial Fund.1 You can send the money to me at any time that suits your convenience.
I have the pleasure to[?] send you under separate cover today a copy of my Life of Frederick Douglass which I hope you will find the time to glance through.2
Yours very truly Booker T. Washington H.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. Frederick Douglass (1817–1895) purchased a house he called Cedar Hill in Anacostia, a neighborhood in Washington, DC, in 1877 and lived there until his death. After his death, his widow, Helen Pitts Douglass (1838–1903), took out a mortgage to become the sole owner of the home and, in 1900, founded the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association in an effort to pay off the loan. Booker T. Washington was actively involved in the effort to fundraise for the Association in 1907–1908. [back]
2. Booker T. Washington's Frederick Douglass: A Biography (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906) was actually published in February of 1907. [back]
