Later in
my life I found that my mother had given me the name of "Booker
Taliaferro" soon after I was born, but in some way that part of my
name seemed to disappear and for a long while was forgotten, but as
soon as I found out about it I revived it, and made my full name
"Booker Taliaferro Washington." I think there are not many men in our
country who have had the privilege of naming themselves in the way
that I have.
More than once I have tried to picture myself in the position of a
boy or man with an honoured and distinguished ancestry which I could
trace back through a period of hundreds of years, and who had not only
inherited a name, but fortune and a proud family homestead; and yet I
have sometimes had the feeling that if I had inherited these, and had
been a member of a more popular race, I should have been inclined to
yield to the temptation of depending upon my ancestry and my colour to
do that for me which I should do for myself. Years ago I resolved
that because I had no ancestry myself I would leave a record of which
my children would be proud, and which might encourage them to still
higher effort.
The world should not pass judgment upon the Negro, and especially
the Negro youth, too quickly or too harshly. The Negro boy has
obstacles, discouragements, and temptations to battle with that are
little know to those not situated as he is.
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