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First Annual Address as President
Delivered at the First Meeting of the National Negro Business League, by Booker T. Washington, August 24, 1900
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I feel almost ashamed to occupy any portion of your valuable time in any
general remarks this morning. Whatever degree of success may attend this
meeting will be very largely due to the loyal and faithful work of the Local
Committee in the city of Boston, who have stood by for a number of days, and
for more nights, planning the work of this organization; and I am sure that you
join me in giving this Local Committee the most hearty thanks.
In the first place, the program which is before you is far from perfect. It
is, perhaps, far from satisfactory. It is not possible to have all the states
represented on the program. It is not even possible to have many important
organizations represented. It is not possible to have as many persons speak
from the platform, as the committee desired to have speak; but I am sure that
all of you will agree that in the first meeting it is hardly possible to have
that degree of acquaintance with the individual members of the convention which
would enable us to have the most perfect program.
I very much hope that each one who speaks will understand it is very necessary
that the address, the papers, be short; that they be just as compact as
possible. I hope also that there will be no restraint; that you will speak out
plainly and openly regardless of rhetoric, and regardless of mere grammatical
forms. There is a story to the effect that the Boston people never have a
public hearing of any bad grammar; that whenever a stranger comes to Boston
with some bad grammar attached to him, when he speaks the winds very softly and
gently waft his language out into the harbor and words return to the Boston
audience perfectly purified.
One object of this organization of business men and women, as I understand it,
is to bring together annually those of our race who are engaged in various
branches of business, from the humblest to the highest, for the purpose of
closer personal acquaintance, of receiving encouragement, inspiration, and
information from each other. The other object is to originate plans by which
local business organizations can be made to serve the best interest of the
race.
This organization does not overlook the fact that mere material possessions are
not, and should not be made, the chief end of life, but should be used as a
means of aiding us in securing our rightful place as citizens and of enlarging
our opportunities for securing that education and development which enhance our
usefulness and produce that tenderness and goodness of heart which will make us
live for the benefit of our fellow men and for the promotion of our country's
highest welfare.
I have faith in the timeliness of this organization. As I have noted the
conditions of our people in nearly every part of our country, I have always
been encouraged by the fact that , almost without exception, whether in the
North or in the South, wherever I have seen a black man who was succeeding in
business, who was a taxpayer, and who possessed intelligence and high
character, that individual was treated with the highest respect by the members
of the white race. In proportion as we can multiply these examples North and
South will our problem, be solved. Let every Negro strive to become the most
useful and indispensable man in his community. A useless, shiftless, idle
class is a menace and a danger to any community. When an individual produces
what the world wants, whether it is a product of hand, head, or the heart, the
world does not long stop to inquire what is the color of the skin of the
producer.
This meeting will prove a great encouragement to our people in all parts of the
country, bringing together, as it does, the men and women of our race who have
been most successful in life. The most humble black boy will be made to feel
that what you have done, he can do also.
We must not in any part of our country become discouraged, notwithstanding the
way often seems dark and desolate; we must maintain faith in ourselves and in
our country. No race ever got upon its feet without a struggle, without trials
and discouragement. The very struggles through which we often pass give us
strength and experience that in the end will prove helpful. Every individual
and every race that has succeeded has had to pay the price which nature demands
from all. We cannot get something for nothing. Every member of the race who
succeeds in business, however humble and simple that business may be, because
he has learned the important lessons of cleanliness, promptness, system,
honesty, and progressiveness, is contributing his share in smoothing the
pathway for this and succeeding generations. For the sake of emphasis, I
repeat that not one can long succeed unless he keep in mind the important
elements of cleanliness, promptness, system, honesty, and progressiveness.
In conclusion may I add that we shall succeed in our purpose in this
organization just in proportion as each individual member is able to forget
himself, to hide himself behind the great cause which has brought us together.
Let us not lay too much stress upon "point of order" and unless parliamentary
machinery , which often occupies valuable time and prevents the accomplishment
of the real purpose for which organizations are formed.
I want to congratulate you upon the fact that, thirty-five years after our
freedom, so large a body of representative business men and women of the race
have assembled in the city of Boston, a city dear to every Negro in all parts
of our land. I want to congratulate you that we find ourselves in the home of
Garrison Phillips, Shaw, George L. Stearns, and a host of others, and I believe
that on this sacred soil, guided and encouraged by the memory of those who have
lived and died for us, we shall form an organization which will prove potential
in the lifting up of the race in all parts of our country. no matter under
what conditions we may find ourselves surrounded, may we ever keep in mind that
the law which recognizes and rewards merit, no matter under what skin found, is
universal and eternal and can no more be nullified than we can stop the
life-giving influence of the daily sun.
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