Emmett J. Scott to Charles W. Chesnutt, 2 May 1923
| 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 |
| page number, repeated letterhead, etc. | page number or repeated letterhead |
| supplied text | [supplied text] |
| archivist note | archivist note |
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER
THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY1
WASHINGTON, D. C.
FOUNDED BY GENERAL O. O. HOWARD
J. STANLEY DURKEE, A. M., PH. D., D. D.PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY EMMETT J. SCOTT, A. M., LL. D. SECRETARY-TREASURER May 2nd 1923 Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt, 1106 Williamson Building, Cleveland, Ohio. Dear Mr. Chesnutt:
It gives me very great pleasure to send you herewith formal receipt covering your first payment of one hundred ($100) dollars towards your pledge of one hundred ($100) dollars for the Endowment Fund of the School of Medicine of The Howard University.2
Your support and encouragement in this enterprise are of tremendous help to us.
Thanking you for your kind co-operation in this effort, I am,
Sincerely yours, Emmett J. Scott Secretary-Treasurer. Enclosure. RPBCorrespondent: 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. A private university in Washington, D.C., Howard University was founded in 1867 as one of the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) by Oliver Otis Howard (1930–1909), the commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau from 1865 to 1874. Chesnutt visited Howard University on his first trip to Washington, in 1879 (Charles W. Chesnutt, The Journals of Charles W. Chesnutt, ed. Richard Brodhead, [Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993], 116). His son-in-law Edward Williams (1871–1929) was head librarian at Howard from 1916 to his death in 1929; his son-in-law John G. Slade (1890–1976) attended Howard medical school, and his grandson Charles Waddell Chesnutt Williams (1909–1939) earned a B.A. and law degree from Howard.[back]
2. Howard University's School of Medicine opened in 1868 as the Medical Department. In the 1910s and 1920s, it was one of only two accredited Black medical schools. The Medical Endowment Fund Campaign concluded on July 1, 1923 having raised $286,000 from the public and $250,000 in matching funds from the federal General Education Board. As treasurer, Emmett J. Scott oversaw the fundraising. Chesnutt's son-in-law John G. Slade entered Howard Medical School in 1924, the year he married Chesnutt's youngest daughter, Dorothy.[back]
