It has been a matter of deep interest to me to note the number of
people who have come to shake hands with me after an address, who say
that this is the first time they have ever called a Negro "Mister."
When speaking directly in the interests of the Tuskegee Institute,
I usually arrange, some time in advance, a series of meetings in
important centres. This takes me before churches, Sunday-schools,
Christian Endeavour Societies, and men's and women's clubs. When
doing this I sometimes speak before as many as four organizations in a
single day.
Three years ago, at the suggestion of Mr. Morris K. Jessup, of New
York, and Dr. J.L.M. Curry, the general agent of the fund, the
trustees of the John F. Slater Fund voted a sum of money to be used in
paying the expenses of Mrs. Washington and myself while holding a
series of meetings among the coloured people in the large centres of
Negro population, especially in the large cities of the ex-
slaveholding states. Each year during the last three years we have
devoted some weeks to this work. The plan that we have followed has
been for me to speak in the morning to the ministers, teachers, and
professional men. In the afternoon Mrs. Washington would speak to the
women alone, and in the evening I spoke to a large mass-meeting.
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