Emmett J. Scott to Charles W. Chesnutt, 12 October 1906
| Textual Feature | Appearance |
|---|---|
| alterations to base text (additions or deletions) | added or deleted text |
| passage deleted with a strikethrough mark | |
| passage deleted by overwritten added text | Deleted text Added text |
| position of added text (if not added inline) | [right margin] text added in right margin; [above line] text added above the line |
| proofreading mark | ‸ |
| page number, repeated letterhead, etc. | page number or repeated letterhead |
| supplied text | [supplied text] |
| archivist note | archivist note |
October 12, 1906.
Mr. Chas.
W.
Chestnut,
1105 Williamson Building, Cleveland, O.
Dear Mr. Chestnut:-
In the absence of Dr. Washington, I am writing to acknowledge your letter of the ninth,1 which has just been forwarded here, from the Manhattan Hotel, New York City.2
Dr. Washington plans to return to Tuskegee3 early next week, and I shall call your letter to his attention.
Yours truly, Emmett J Scott Secretary. J.4Correspondent: 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. Emmett J. Scott is referring to Chesnutt's letter from October 9, 1906, to which Booker T. Washington replied on October 29, 1906, after his return from the East Coast to Tuskegee in mid-October. [back]
2. The Hotel Manhattan (or Manhattan Hotel), opened in 1896 and demolished in the 1960s, was located at the northwest corner of Madison Avenue and 42nd Street near Grand Central Station in Manhattan. It was Booker T. Washington's preferred residence when in New York. [back]
3. The Tuskegee Institute (now University), in Tuskegee, Alabama, evolved from the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers, founded in 1881, with Booker T. Washington as its first president. It became a leading educational institution for Blacks in the South, emphasizing teacher training and industrial education. Chesnutt, who had himself been the principal of a Black normal school in the early 1880s, first visited Tuskegee in February 1901, and remained well-informed about and personally connected with the institution all his life. [back]
4. Jeremiah Frank Armstrong (1877–1946), known by his middle name, was the first Black student to graduate from Cornell College 1900. He was chief assistant to Emmett J. Scott (1873–1957), Booker T. Washington's personal secretary and main advisor, from 1903 to 1908. He left to attend medical school and in 1912 began to practice as a physician in Chicago. [back]
