14         MEMORIAL ADDRESS

ion, about Mr. Washington, was his intense
earnestness in seeking to have white men under-
stand black men, and to have black men understand
white men. And I thank God that as his sense of
things faded he had the deserved privilege of know-
ing that his labors had not been in vain; that large-
ly through his efforts during the past twenty years
there exists in our country today a better under-
standing between the races, a growing feeling of
respect for the rights of each other, a finer spirit
of mutual helpfulness.
           HE LOVED THE SOUTHLAND
  Booker Washington loved his native Southland.
When the light of the eternal morning gilded his
brow and bathed his sturdy form in its radiance,
courageously he prepared for the long journey
which was to bring to an end his earthly career.
He wished to bear out his oft-repeated statement
that he had been born in the South; had lived and
labored in the South; and wished to die and be
buried in the South. It could be said of him, as it
was said of Abraham Lincoln: "Whether he rose
or fell; whether he stood in that giant-like repose
that distinguished him among his fellow-men, or
exercised those unequaled powers which made him
a foremost figure of the world, he always felt the
tender and invisible chord that chained him to his
native rock. In whatever field he stood he felt the
benign and sobering influence of his early recollec-




			

OHS Archives/Library Pamphlet Collection

Memorial Address [on Booker T. Washington] Delivered by Emmett J. Scott, Secretary, at 17th Annual Session

J.