GO DOWN, MOSES
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go!"
The recording of this song is dedicated to the memory of
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
FOUNDER OF TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, ALABAMA, WHERE COLORED STUDENTS
ARE TAUGHT BY THE MORE ADVANCED OF THEIR OWN RACE AND WHERE LOVE
OF THE LAND AND PRIDE IN ITS DEVELOPMENT LINK THE NEGRO WITH THE
PROGRESS OF THE SOUTH.
MANY years ago a colored lad, ragged and worn, arrived at Hampton, having struggled thither on foot five hundred miles, sleeping in the open, begging rides from passing wagons and earning his food by labor on the way. He had no money nor could he meet all the qualifications for admission to the institute, but so earnest was his plea for an education and so convincing his eagerness to work, that the teacher, leaving the room, bade the waiting boy dust and put it in order. Immaculate cleanliness awaited the master when he returned. Into the simple task the boy had thrown his whole determination. His character had been tested, and Booker Washington was admitted.
His life became an embodiment of Armstrong's ringing motto: "Dare to do the impossible!" Who, indeed, could have foreseen that a dilapidated little church, which some thirty years ago barely housed thirty Negro students, could become through the consecrated effort and executive ability of one colored man the great Tuskegee Institute, comprising to-day over a hundred fine buildings covering many acres of ground, where a thousand and more pupils are annually taught.
Among the trustees of Tuskegee are some of the most important white men in the United States. Throughout the world Booker Washington became known as one of the greatest exponents of industrial education; high tributes here and abroad were awarded him and honorary degrees were conferred upon him by Harvard and Dartmouth colleges.
The sixteen thousand colored men and women who have been directly benefited by Tuskegee, and also the many members of the National Negro Business League founded by Washington — these bear vital testimony to the practical, constructive and adaptive genius of the author of "Up from Slavery." Teacher in the highest sense, orator and patriot, Booker Washington was a prophet among his own people and one of the great leaders of mankind.
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