Booker T. Washington Autograph Letter Signed.

WASHINGTON, Booker T.

Item Number: 134192

Autograph letter signed and entirely in the hand of Booker T. Washington. Dated July 19, 1896, the letter reads, “My dear Mrs. Holder: – I thank you sincerely for your kind letter. I was very glad to meet you and Mr. Holder and have a short conversation with him. What Harvard did was a great surprise to me I assure you, but it will give me new strength and courage for the work, and it [is] a satisfaction to have in addition such words from you… your Sincerely Booker T. Washington.” Accompanied by a typed letter signed by Margaret Murray Washington, “Mrs. Booker T. Washington” on The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute letterhead to Arthur D. Little, thanking for him for sending a Christmas gift to “the poor colored children here in the South”, noting that “it has gone a long ways towards brightening the lives of many of them.” For his contributions to American society, Washington was granted an honorary master’s degree from Harvard University in 1896, followed by an honorary doctorate from Dartmouth College. Both letters are in near fine condition.

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African American community and of the contemporary black elite. Washington was from the last generation of black American leaders born into slavery and became the leading voice of the former slaves and their descendants. They were newly oppressed in the South by disenfranchisement and the Jim Crow discriminatory laws enacted in the post-Reconstruction Southern states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Washington was a key proponent of African-American businesses and one of the founders of the National Negro Business League. His base was the Tuskegee Institute, a normal school, later a historically black college in Tuskegee, Alabama at which he served as principal. Washington had the ear of the powerful in the America of his day, including presidents. His mastery of the American political system in the later 19th century allowed him to manipulate the media, raise money, develop strategy, network, distribute funds, and reward a cadre of supporters.