Emmett J. Scott to Charles W. Chesnutt, February 7, 1906
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February 7, 1906.
Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt,
1005 Williamson Building,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Dear Mr. Chesnutt:
Dr. Washington1 is not here just now, but I am quite sure that he will want to comply with the suggestion submitted in yours of February 5th.2 We shall see that the article is forthcoming at an early date.3
Trusting this will be satisfactory for the present, and with cordial regards, I am
Faithfully yours, SecretaryCorrespondent: 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.
1. 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 principal 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.[back]
2. See Emmett Scott's letter of February 10, 1906. Booker T. Washington sent the article with his March 9, 1906, letter.[back]
3. Booker T. Washington's short essay "The Negro Rural School" was written as a contribution to the single-issue Hathaway Brown Magazine that was part of the fundraising efforts of the Hathaway Brown School, a private girls school in Cleveland, Ohio. Chesnutt also contributed a piece—the short story "The Prophet Peter."[back]
