“After I got so that I could read a little, I used to take a great deal of satisfaction in the lives of men who had risen by their own efforts from poverty to success. It is a great thing for a boy to be able to read books of that kind. It not only inspires him with the desire to do something and make something of his life, but it teaches him that success depends upon his ability to do something useful, to perform some kind of service that the world wants.” – Booker T. Washington, My Larger Education (1901)

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson 

The great scholar, literary critic and ‘Narnia’ chronicler, C. S. Lewis, remarks about the value of books upon a young boy or girl’s imagination: “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” Here again, what one consistently reads, one consistently becomes; Just imagine what one might become when one reads about the lives of great men and women from the time of one’s youth even into one’s mature years. This is what the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University recommends, and it is a recommendation that we would do well to not only just follow, but continuously follow.

First, the world needs verifiable, authentic and organic heroes, not simply scripted and fictional ones. Men and women whose lives are grounded in believable and relatable life experiences that one can readily identify with provides great grounds for hope for those who have similar experiences. Second, one can learn from the mistakes made in the lived lives of others. It is simply not true that one must repeat the mistakes of others. (Instead, you read and learn from them.) The triumphant records of men and women that also record both their foibles and follies are useful for persons of any century to learn, discern and comprehend that what happened before may very well occur again.

Third, the lived lives of men and women who are no longer amongst us are permanent, indelible and fixed records that will remain ever unchanged. (One may repeatedly interpret and re-interpret their deeds done but there will be no adding or taking away from them.) And this final thought is one that certainly motivated men and women of the class of Booker T. Washington and should motivate us as well.

For Booker T. Washington knew that one has but one life to live, and there would be no do over. When future chroniclers composed the narrative of his life, he wanted to be certain that it contributed to making someone else’s “destiny brighter” not “darker.” The founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University did not simply write correspondence, books and speeches worth reading; he lived a life worth reading not only in his generation but also in the many future generations to come.

https://cic.edu/research/hiring-and-supporting-a-pioneering-president/

Booker T. Washington among Honorees.

https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-building-national-garden-american-heroes/

A Wonder

Ps 71:7

7 I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.

KJV

Though believers may face very open and conspicuous (fortuitous and unfortuitous) happenings as they pursue God’s purposes for their lives, we should not quickly dismiss such happenings as signs of uncertainty and God’s displeasure with them, for more often than not these men and women are being made “a wonder unto many.”

Such was the case with Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Peter, Paul (and even the Lord) who were all subject to circumstances that did not always conform to what their contemporaries believed to be God’s will for their lives. Yet the author of this psalm–King David–was perhaps the most notable wonder of all. Here was a man who having been anointed king while yet a teenager—in addition to his later slaying of the giant Goliath—experienced many contradictions (triumphs and disappointments) throughout his life that made him a “wonder to many.”

Shortly after triumphing over Goliath, he was persecuted by the once favored King Saul; Though he stumbled in committing adultery with Bathsheba, and lost the child of their union, they were immediately restored with Solomon. When he committed sin by numbering the people, he willingly offered himself and his household as a substitute for the sufferings; As a result, the angel of the LORD’s hand was stayed and David was allowed to sacrifice burnt offerings instead. In the end, these apparent contradictions (and many others) were not intended to demonstrate that men and women should live lives free from imperfection (or perceived imperfection in the case of the Saviour’s crucifixition, for the Savior’s death was for the salvation of men) but to demonstrate His enduring love and mercy to them that love Him:

1 Timothy 4:9 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”

NOT FOR PRICE NOR REWARD

Isaiah 45:13

13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.

KJV

Commentary by Brian Johnson, Ph.D.

Replete in biblical history is the Lord’s raising up of men and women up in [His] righteousness to advance His purposes. And one of their most glaring characteristics is that they did so “not for price, nor reward.”

To be sure, the man or woman who advances God’s purposes will forever be blessed in return, for the Lord is never “unrighteous to forget works and labours of love.” Yet and still, the heart’s motive of such men and women is to seek God’s glory, not their own.

And Isaiah speaks here of Cyrus, a type of Christ, who was raised up to commission the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple and to deliver God’s people from the Babylonians. And we should all consider this. Cyrus though prophesied by God through Isaiah did not know God.

Further, we should note Andrew Johnson’s commentary, “The Medes and Persians came together as an alliance. Darius the Mede was put in place as King over Babylon. But the Persian King was Cyrus.” Although Cyrus was not a member of God’s own people, and his achievements often unheralded, were it not for Cyrus, the treasures of the temple would not have been restored, cedars from Lebanon would not have been provided and the work of Ezra and others would not have been initiated. And he did so, not for price, nor reward:

Psalm 115:1 “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for they mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.”

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”-Acts 17:11

God has always placed a remnant of the “noble” who would not be swayed by the passing opinions of the day-from prophetical, personal, professional or political-in social media or public commentary: “[For] they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.” Imagine how often commentary from pundits and-would be prophets alike-are promoted as promise without an objective and eternal standard against which to weigh their opinions against. All the same, scripture does not forbid public utterances. The apostle Paul urged the brothers that we “despise not prophesying…but to prove all things.” 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 (So how does one prove opinions and views in a society where we are encouraged to live with so many varying pronouncements of truth?) Centuries earlier, Isaiah the prophet answers this quite profoundly in Isaiah 8:20: “To the law and the testimony. If they speak not according to His word there is no light in them.”

The Christians of Berea were not as those of Thessalonica who took every opinion of proverbial prophet, priest or politician as truth. Rather, they went to the “law and the testimony” to see “if these things were so.” The admonition in this passage is to become studious not withstanding the celebrity, popularity or prominence of the position or the person behind the position. For God first spoke through His word then wrote through Moses, exhibited His power in Elijah then personified in Christ His grace and truth for the manifestation of all things in “spirit and truth.”

Peace, Peace
Jer 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
KJV

In our attempts to utter words that will heal the hurts of others let us not do so by saying, “Peace, peace; when there is no peace;” For in so doing, we may often find ourselves (intentionally or unintentionally) discovered as menpleasers who deceive the people for self preservation and not speakers of truth. (And such was the case with Hananiah and the prophets that dwelled in Judah during the time when the Babylonian armies came to lay siege upon Judah and carry many back to Babylon). These men declared, “Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon,” when God through the prophet Jeremiah declared, “And now have I given all these lands unto the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him […]”

To be sure, the God of all loving-kindness and mercy would later inform the people through Jeremiah, “That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” Yet and still, this would by no means occur until the people experienced a period of difficulty, and in this the would-be prophets of God greatly erred in their pronouncements of peace that could only “have healed the hurt of the daughter of my [God’s] people slightly.” For according to God’s design, it would not be “peace, peace” that would heal the hurt of His people, but “no peace.” And in suggesting otherwise these prophets were discovered to be something worse than false prophets, but deceivers. For no matter how plausible the intention, all words that are communicated in opposition to God’s word, His truth and His purposes is a lie:

[Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD’s house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place. Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people; The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him.]
KJV Jeremiah 28:6

Bran Johnson Ph.D.

“You cannot hope to succeed if you keep bad company. As far as possible try to form the habit of spending your nights at home.” – Booker T. Washington, “A Sunday Evening Talk: On Influencing by Example”

The adage that one is known by the company he or she keeps is an oft-expressed one, but the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University, Booker T. Washington, extends the adage even further both in the aforementioned passage and in another commonly quoted passage: “Associate yourself with people of good quality. It is better to be alone than in bad company.” Moreover, his additional suggestion to “try to form the habit of spending your nights at home” is a very practical one worth noting. Insofar as it is possible to discern from his autobiography, correspondence, letters, speeches-and more importantly his accomplishments-the man, Booker Washington, apparently did little else but read, write, work and stay at home with his family. And while it is easy to regard Tuskegee (Institute) University’s founding principal with an overwhelming sense of awe, one can begin to appreciate and understand him in view of his own self-discipline and self-sacrifice. (Everyone suffers but few suffer voluntarily. Yet, if one learns how to suffer, one will learn how to succeed.) One need not be reminded that everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, but how one spends those hours is what ultimately distinguishes men and women. (One would simply be amazed at how much more time can be committed to a meaningful mission or a purposeful project if time is not spent in (un)meaningful and (un)purposeful ones that do not result in progress.) Clearly, recreation, fun and leisure have their place but not if these things come at the expense of sustainable success. (Mr. Washington suggests that it is even better when one’s recreation, fun and leisure become part and parcel of one’s work.) For when an individual can transform his or her home into an extension of their workshop, they have the benefit of continuing, doubling and multiplying their labors when others have ceased from theirs.

We are pleased to announce Warner Pacific University has entered a teach-out partnership with Jessup University. This partnership is aimed at serving students impacted by the changes at the Multnomah Campus and providing them with opportunities to complete their academic programs at Warner Pacific starting this fall 2025.

We are committed to ensuring academic excellence and student success throughout this transition. Both Jessup and Warner Pacific will work closely with students to facilitate a smooth transition and minimize any impact on their academic progress.
We are looking forward to this partnership and welcoming students from Jessup to the Warner Pacific community. #withpurpose

Partnership with Jessup University

African American CCCU presidents (Fresno Pacific, Houghton, Roberts Wesleyan and Warner Pacific) with Dr. Esau McCauulley, Wheaton College, at the CCCU President’s Conference in Washington, DC #cccu

1 Kings 18:21

21 And Eli’jah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Ba’al, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.

KJV

Seldom will one receive confirmation from others about a God-given calling to fulfill a purpose for people for your life without some tangible sign or demonstration. (Even the man of God, Elijah, experienced the same.) For before the fire of the Lord fell upon Elijah’s burnt sacrifices in his competition with Baal’s prophets, “the people did not answer him a word.”

Oft in fear of supporting a losing cause, the prevailing wisdom of the day or outright fears, persons first desire the confirmation of the majority. All the same, such confirmations of calling here within our own time need not be equally miraculous for persons to observe observable works that have been wrought beyond mere words. Yet and still, whosoever would desire to have others to sign on or confirm a God-given calling to fulfill a God-given purpose that has been assigned to you and no other, let this man or woman be prepared to show forth evidence, wonders and (words congruent with works) that demonstrate to all involved (including one’s opponents) that what he or she says is so:

“And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Eli’jah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that thou, O LORD, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.” 1 Kings 18:38-39

Mark 5:15
15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
KJV

Whether one concedes it or not, the overwhelming weight of scripture repeatedly describes persons who were once tormented by unclean spirits and devils. And the man from Gadarenes demonstrates much. For his physical condition reveals much about the condition of a mind (soul) where such activity occurs:

This man spent his days lamenting over the past within a place of remberance (not of one memory but several); he was rebellious and independent, and therefore was not (nor could be) subject to the rule or leadership of another; he cut himself with stones (used for condemning) in repeated acts of self-condemnation; and finally, he was tormented by fear. He was even made to fear the mercy and grace that would be found in our Lord and Savior Christ.

These acts symbolized a variety of unclean conditions, and it is no surprise why these spirits implored our Lord to send them into pigs (animals that symbolize uncleanness). Most importantly, this is why the man’s final condition (a right mind) was all the more glorious to all who observed. This new believer in Jesus Christ would not only be renewed in spirit, but in mind also. And having been renewed he was now summoned to serve, summoned to “publish” (Mark 5:20).

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”-2 Timothy 1:7

“I realize fully, and have always said so on every proper occasion, that there are two lines of work to be accomplished. One is in the direction of agitation, calling attention to wrongs and the condemnation of these wrongs. Along with this there should go efforts in the direction of education, moral and religious teaching and helping of the race to strengthen itself in material and financial directions. There is a wide field in all this for every man of the race who wants to give service.”-Booker T. Washington, “To Nicholas Chiles,” November 17, 1906 [Tuskegee, Alabama]

Unlike his very public disagreements with men such as W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter—often through public speeches, competing editorials or tacit subterfuge—Booker T. Washington felt comfortable enough to maintain correspondence with Nicholas Chiles. Though he possessed views, in some cases, similar to both Du Bois and Trotter, Washington writes about Chiles: “I always enjoy writing you because I find you are a man with whom one can discuss matters, and even disagree, without personalities and abuse entering in.” (To be able to disagree with one’s opponents without slander or attempt to harm and injure reputation is something contemporary leaders and followers alike would do well to remember in our age of social media and internet access.)

All the same, in the aforementioned passage, Washington outlines two lines of work that might be defined in more contemporary nomenclature as “protest” and “reform/uplift”.  While the work of Du Bois, Trotter and many contemporary and historical African Americans community leaders exist in the tradition of “agitation,” “calling attention,” and “condemnation,” (and their efforts more heralded, celebrated and popularized) Washington here describes that there are others who are deeply invested in a different work: “education, moral, and religious teaching.” It is clear that work of those who exist in the tradition of a W.E.B. Du Bois is a viable one, but make no mistake, in this letter, he invokes his own work at Tuskegee and others such as Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune Cookman University, who viewed theirs as equally valuable (and perhaps even moreso.) 

First, the work of both Washington and Bethune remain visible to this very day owing to the institutions they founded. (Though valuable, often the work of protest and agitation has not fashioned long standing institution building in a vein similar to these universities or the economic development African American citizens in Tuskegee, AL , Tulsa, OK or the city of Durham, NC-the latter two affectionately referred to as “Black Wall Street” in their heyday.) Moreso, though this aspect of their religious and faith convictions are often wittingly or unwittingly muted and ignored, Washington and Bethune were persons of deep and abiding faith, and though this has often been dismissed as mere “heavenly preoccupation” and they did their best to walk wisely concerning their views, Washington and Bethune also believed it to have a very pragmatic quality for both here and now (not simply the time to come): the moral and ethical development of the African American community.

(Like Washington and Bethune, there have always been African American leaders with deep and abiding faith, which went above and beyond political expediency and when one views their words and works comparatively and historically there would be much to ascertain concerning the reasons for their triumphs.) Cornel West’s (1994) _Race Matters_ alludes to this historical dynamic thusly: “THERE has not been a time in the history of black people in this country when the quantity of politicians and intellectuals was so great, yet the quality of both groups has been so low.” Whatsoever gains that are to ever be had through the efforts of both of these “lines of work,” the latter had most certainly be involved if it is to be kept, harnessed and continued.

“[…] After the man was shot his son brought him to my house for help and advice, (and you can easily understand that the people in and about Tuskegee come to me for help and advice in all their troubles). I got out of bed and went out and explained to the man and his son that personally I would do anything I could for them but I could not take the wounded man into the school and endanger the lives of students entrusted to my care to the fury of some drunken white men. Neither did I for the same reason feel that it was the right thing to take him into my own house. For as much as I love the colored people in that section, I can not feel that I am in duty bound to shelter them in all their personal troubles any more than you would feel called to do the same thing in Washington. I explained my position fully to the man and his son, and they agreed with me as to the wisdom of my course. And I now state what I have not to any one before. I helped them to a place of safety and paid the money out of my own pocket for the comfort and treatment of the man while he was sick. Today I have no warmer friends than this man and his son. They have nothing but the warmest feelings of gratitude for me and are continually in one way or another expressing this feeling. I do not care to publish to the world what I do and should not mention this except for this false representation. I simply chose to help and relieve this man in my own way rather than in the way some man a thousand miles away would have had me do it.” – Booker T. Washington, “To Francis James Grimke,” November 27, 1895

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson

A man of Booker T. Washington’s eminence, position and stature was often criticized on a great many matters from persons who perhaps had his interest-or their own-at heart, but were wholly removed from the facts. Often in the case of leadership-particularly in the leadership of a vast organization such as Tuskegee Institute (University)-one must exercise tremendous restraint in responding to erroneous opinions, ill-informed recommendations or ill-advised suggestions. However, Mr. Washington’s response to what he perceived was a “false representation” of his character was another matter altogether. During the difficult period of “Jim Crow,” many persons-white and black-held opinions about how the Tuskegee Principal should respond and react to racial atrocities as described in his letter to Grimke. In the present circumstance, Mr. Washington is responding to a letter from Grimke wherein the writer indicated that someone-“whose name [he had] forgotten”-relayed the circumstances of this event during a Bethel literary society meeting in Atlanta and that the founding Principal “refused to allow him to be brought in or the physician to attend him.” To Grimke’s credit, he went on to inform Mr. Washington that he felt it his “duty to apprise [him] of what was said.” All the same, aside from Mr. Washington’s detailed correspondence communicating the circumstances aright to Mr. Grimke, he went on to provide additional facts concerning his activities that were intentionally not designed for public consumption or publication. It would be remiss to think or believe that Mr. Washington’s advocacy of industrial education or internal uplift and reform, was free from sympathetic interest to the political matters of his day. Rather, Mr. Washington’s approach-as sound approaches often are-was marked by tact, sagacity and, most importantly, prudence. For Mr. Washington’s true audience was not political constituents who suggested what ought be done but the father and the son who were the beneficiaries of what needed to be done.

Exciting News: The renovation of our beloved Otto F. Linn Library has officially concluded, and the keys have been turned over to Warner Pacific University. Our first $3.2M Title V grant in 2023 provided some resources for this.

Our Library staff, along with the Center for Academic Success and Achievement (CASA) team, are all geared up and ready to move in. We can’t wait to welcome you all back and provide you with an even better space to study, research, and relax.
Stay tuned for more updates and information on the grand reopening and ribbon cutting in spring!

#withpurpose #wpuknights

All Men Have Not Faith

2 Thess 3:2

And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

KJV

There’s really no way to get around what the apostle suggests in this verse: All men have not faith. While it would be grand indeed if every exhortation to “believe God” were returned with “I believe,” were the typical exchange between men and women (both believing and unbelieving) that we encounter on a daily basis, this is usually not the case. For faith requires submission, patience, humility, perseverance and complete adherence to God’s way of doing things in spite of its perceived absurdity. Sadly enough, most men believe in the exact opposite. Instead of submission, they believe in force. In place of patience, they believe in haste. In lieu of humility—self-assertion and pride—and for perseverance, they believe in taking the path of least resistance. And above all things, for (perceived) expediency’s sake, most will not follow God’s way of doing things with promises of succeeding results because of fear of ostracism, men, and a variety of other factors. This is why such men are described as unreasonable and wicked. For to place one’s faith in any other course of action than that which proceeds from God’s word and Himself is not only unreasonable and wicked, but foolish:

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”-Psalm 14:1

“Careers fill your pockets, but callings fulfill you as a person and you can link your career with a calling to fulfill great purposes.” Dr. Brian Johnson, Ph.D., President, Warner Pacific University

Available NOW for #EdUp Subscribers!

Join host Joe Sallustio, EdD & cohost Mark Wheeler, VP of Partnership Development, EducationDynamics to discover how mission-aligned leadership is reshaping higher education’s future in our latest #EdUp episode.

EdUp Subscribers get early access to learn about:

Balancing faith-based mission & diversity
Managing small institution resources
Building federal grant partnerships
Creating purpose-driven programs

& much more!

https://lnkd.in/eHPgXuzK

“My dear Mr. Washington, Your letter received and read with great care. Your letter encourages me greatly. I am determined to raise chickens regardless of difficulties, I mean just that. I only sent you the report for your information, and not as a complaint. I thought you would be glad, or rather that it was my duty to keep you posted in detail. I want you to know that I am not sitting down permitting such a condition to exist without trying to remedy it. I fully appreciate the fact that we have a fine plant here for which I am extremely grateful. And without taking more of your time, will say in closing that you shall have chickens. Very Truly G.W. Carver, “To Booker T. Washington, From George Washington Carver,” May 4, 1909

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson

It is quite difficult for us to fully comprehend both the far-reaching “breadth” and richly textured “depth” contained in the personal correspondence between not only two of the great personages in the intellectual and educational history of Tuskegee (Institute) University but two of the great personages in all of African American, American and global intellectual and educational history-Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. Mr. Carver’s response above was in reply to Mr. Washington’s letter of May 2, 1909 wherein the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University expressed the following:

“I have received your letter bearing upon the poultry yard, also your report of the analysis of the eggs… I think if everybody will simply stop thinking and talking about difficulties and what prevents success and go to talking about working in the direction of getting chickens and at the same time be determined to get them regardless of difficulties that you will succeed.”

George Washington Carver, a man of similar “integrity” and “knowledge”-the first and second greatest 9-letter words-would in no wise permit anyone, including Booker T. Washington, to interpret his “report” as mere “complaint.” To the contrary, he disabused Mr. Washington of any inclination that he was simply “sitting down permitting such a condition to exist without trying to remedy it.” Serving as both a professor and steward of the university’s resources, Mr. Carver remarked that the intent of his report was to provide the president with “information.” (What Washington may have construed as Carver’s “paralysis of analysis,” Carver viewed as “climbing the speculative ladder of reason [before] leaping out into the darkness of faith.”)

All the same, Mr. Carver goes on to state in the most exacting fashion: “I am determined to raise chickens regardless of difficulties, I mean just that.” And herein lies the sum whole of the matter concerning the “raising of chickens” for both President Washington and Professor Carver: They both wanted results without regard to difficulties. For both men, whose records of accomplishment would be difficult-not impossible-to surpass, “success” and “results” were the chief assets in the late 19th and early 20th Century. (And it remains so here in the 21st Century.) These men operated according to their functions.

Their foremost priority was to develop the moral, ethical, fiscal, intellectual and knowledge-based educational prowess at Tuskegee University that would come to be recognized both nationally and internationally as the “Tuskegee Machine.”

“W.E.B. Du Bois in African American Intellectual and Christian History,” at George Fox University live here:

“After I got so that I could read a little, I used to take a great deal of satisfaction in the lives of men who had risen by their own efforts from poverty to success. It is a great thing for a boy to be able to read books of that kind. It not only inspires him with the desire to do something and make something of his life, but it teaches him that success depends upon his ability to do something useful, to perform some kind of service that the world wants.” – Booker T. Washington, My Larger Education (1901)

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson 

The great scholar, literary critic and ‘Narnia’ chronicler, C. S. Lewis, remarks about the value of books upon a young boy or girl’s imagination: “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” Here again, what one consistently reads, one consistently becomes; Just imagine what one might become when one reads about the lives of great men and women from the time of one’s youth even into one’s mature years. This is what the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University recommends, and it is a recommendation that we would do well to not only just follow, but continuously follow. First, the world needs verifiable, authentic and organic heroes, not simply scripted and fictional ones. Men and women whose lives are grounded in believable and relatable life experiences that one can readily identify with provides great grounds for hope for those who have similar experiences. Second, one can learn from the mistakes made in the lived lives of others. It is simply not true that one must repeat the mistakes of others. (Instead, you read and learn from them.) The triumphant records of men and women that also record both their foibles and follies are useful for persons of any century to learn, discern and comprehend that what happened before may very well occur again. Third, the lived lives of men and women who are no longer amongst us are permanent, indelible and fixed records that will remain ever unchanged. (One may repeatedly interpret and re-interpret their deeds done but there will be no adding or taking away from them.) And this final thought is one that certainly motivated men and women of the class of Booker T. Washington and should motivate us as well. For Booker T. Washington knew that one has but one life to live, and there would be no do over. When future chroniclers composed the narrative of his life, he wanted to be certain that it contributed to making someone else’s “destiny brighter” not “darker.” The founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University did not simply write correspondence, books and speeches worth reading; he lived a life worth reading not only in his generation but also in the many future generations to come.

We were so grateful to the Tigard Church of God welcoming Warner Pacific University’s 8th President Brian Johnson to speak. #ChurchOfGod#WPU#wpuknights#withpurpose

Please view his sermon from Sunday, November 10, 2024 titled, “It is [Too] Light a Thing: (To Be This or That)” based on Isaiah 49:6

His sermon begins at the 52:16 minute mark:

https://www.facebook.com/100064867051236/videos/8627147860710624

“You cannot hope to succeed if you keep bad company. As far as possible try to form the habit of spending your nights at home.” – Booker T. Washington, “A Sunday Evening Talk: On Influencing by Example”

Spending Your Nights At Home

It has always been a deep honor and privilege to honor the men and women who have served in presidencies before me. (Few have inhabited and experienced such spaces and understand the tremendous call and responsibility to such an office. And therein is a special kinship.) Today it was my honor to celebrate Dr. Marshall Christensen, 5th President (1981-1996) of Warner Pacific University on his 83rd birthday. Psalm 115:1 👏🏾🙌🏾👑👑

TITLES

“I do not say you should not use them, should not possess them, should not crave them, but do not make the mistake of feeling that titles are going to help you, unless you have got strength aside from the title. No amount of titles will put brains into a person’s head if the brains are not there before.” – Booker T. Washington, “A Sunday Evening Talk,” January 10, 1909

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson

Hear this again and again: Positional and titular authority is the lowest form of authority. If a man or woman cannot nor does not command the respect of his supervisors, peers, colleagues and subordinates independent of a position or title, this man or woman is no greater than the man or woman who has no such position and title. Positions change, and the only permanence one can possess is that found in one’s own person in back of the position.

This is why the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University constantly impressed upon his students the need to constantly improve their own persons. Note the following: It is but half the task to secure the title or position. The most significant half is what one does with the title or position. (One must not only plan how to get the position or title, but what to do with the position and title when one gets it.) And the attention paid to one’s own person helps towards this end. Aside from acquiring credentials and competence, the comprehensive development of one’s character is a third facet that can never be taken from the person in back of a position. (Character is not your highest moment or your lowest moment. Character is your most consistent moment.)

More importantly, Character, like documentable Credentials and demonstrative Competence, is easily transferable from position to position, unit to unit or organization-to-organization. This also explains why the singular, solitary focus upon a position and title (as opposed to the development of one’s own person) is unwise. For the man or woman who has “strength aside from the title” and who has “brains” in their “heads” will always possess these attributes without regards to a position or a title. (And they will always be desired and in demand.) And the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University who we celebrated in the centennial year since his passing (1915-2015) was not only such a man, but he also offered these wise “words” and set forth the accompanying “works” in his 34-year long presidency at the helm of Tuskegee (Institute) University (1881-1915).

“I used to picture the way that I would act under such circumstances; how I would begin at the bottom and keep rising until I reached the highest round of success.” – Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery (1901)

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson

Robert Hedrick’s translation of Xenophon’s Cyrus The Great: The Arts of Leadership and War captures a rather profound and startling idea about the power of both the mind and imagination in one’s youth. This is particularly evidenced in Mr. Washington’s autobiographical telling of the time spent in his youth thinking of his future. Hedrick translates Cyrus as follows: “I created an empire in my thoughts long before I began to win an empire in reality.”

The founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University, Booker T. Washington, tells of not having many flesh-and-blood examples of “success” due to both his poverty and enslavement. Yet, while his “hands” might have been bound, his “heart” and his “head” were certainly not. Though he might have seen but dimly into what his future held, he “used to picture the way [he] would act under such circumstances.” (Note, one can hardly go where one cannot see one’s self beforehand going. And one can hardly do what one cannot see one’s self beforehand doing.) “Vision” is the greatest 6-letter word, and “leader” is the second greatest 6-letter word in this writer’s opinion. And Mr. Washington possessed “vision” enough for himself-without regard to what others might have seen-to see himself as a “leader,” which he later realized for some 34 years at the helm of Tuskegee (Institute) University.

“Associate yourself with people of good quality. It is better to be alone than in bad company.”-Booker T. Washington

The adage that one is known by the company he or she keeps is an oft-expressed one, but the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University, Booker T. Washington, extends the adage even further both in the aforementioned passage and in another commonly quoted passage: “You cannot hope to succeed if you keep bad company. As far as possible try to form the habit of spending your nights at home.” – Booker T. Washington, “A Sunday Evening Talk: On Influencing by Example.” Moreover, his additional suggestion to “try to form the habit of spending your nights at home” is a very practical one worth noting. Insofar as it is possible to discern from his autobiography, correspondence, letters, speeches-and more importantly his accomplishments-the man, Booker Washington, apparently did little else but read, write, work and stay at home with his family. And while it is easy to regard Tuskegee (Institute) University’s founding principal with an overwhelming sense of awe, one can begin to appreciate and understand him in view of his own self-discipline and self-sacrifice. (Everyone suffers but few suffer voluntarily. Yet, if one learns how to suffer, one will learn how to succeed.) One need not be reminded that everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, but how one spends those hours is what ultimately distinguishes men and women. (One would simply be amazed at how much more time can be committed to a meaningful mission or a purposeful project if time is not spent in (un)meaningful and (un)purposeful ones that do not result in progress.) Clearly, recreation, fun and leisure have their place but not if these things come at the expense of sustainable success. (Mr. Washington suggests that it is even better when one’s recreation, fun and leisure become part and parcel of one’s work.) For when an individual can transform his or her home into an extension of their workshop, they have the benefit of continuing, doubling and multiplying their labors when others have ceased from theirs.

“I have been a slave once in my life-a slave in body. But I long since resolved that no inducement and no influence would ever make me a slave in soul, in my love for humanity, and in my search for truth.” – Booker T. Washington, (1907) The Negro in the South

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson 

In a little-known, yet most noteworthy moment in the history of both American and African American literary history, Booker T. Washington jointly published the book _The Negro In the South (1907)_ . It contains 2 essays from himself and 2 other essays from none other than W.E.B. Du Bois. (And this was not their first co-publication. This would be the second book containing these two stalwarts in American and African American educational and intellectual history.) All the same, in the first of Mr. Washington’s two essays, he makes the distinction between being a “slave in body” versus being a “slave in soul.” Note the following concerning the remarks of the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University: He made a strategic, calculated set of decisions to ensure that his outward circumstance would not determine his future circumstances. (And these decisions revolved around a “love for humanity” and a “search for truth”, which will always place the “lover” and “seeker” of such beyond the pale of those whose pursuits are self-interested, selfish and slavishly fearful in their pursuit of truth.)

First, a lover of humanity is unafraid to come to learn to love others because he or she has first come to love himself. One can hardly come to love others if one does not possess a deep love for one’s self, and this includes learning to love both the learned and the ignorant. For a man or woman who ascended to leadership, as Mr. Washington had done, not only encountered both but had been both during his long ascent ‘Up From Slavery’. Second, the seeker of truth seeks after that which is right without regard to where this truth leads. Leo Tolstoy eloquently suggests the following about such a principle: “If you wish to know the truth, first of all free yourself from all considerations of self-interest.” Whether the truth Mr. Washington discovered was for the benefit or detriment to himself or not-“integrity” is the single greatest 9-letter word-this pursuit is without question what led to 34 years of ongoing, consistent and enduring success for Tuskegee (Institute) University. For unbroken, undivided and unwavering consistency and wholeness is perhaps the closest description of both “truth” and Mr. Washington’s presidency that served and will continue to serve generations of “humanity.”

Warner Pacific University ranked #4 in Top Performers for Social Mobility in the West Region:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-colleges-west/social-mobility

We are most fortunate to announce our second consecutive multi-million federal award: Warner Pacific has been awarded, for the second consecutive year, a five-year, multi-million dollar grant from the US Department of Education. This Hawkins Program grant aims to increase, and retain, the numberRead more here: https://www.warnerpacific.edu/warner-pacific-university-awarded-second-multi-million-dollar-grant/

Personal and Confidential
[To William Howard Taft]
“My dear Mr. President: In considering the matter of the new judge for the Northern District of Alabama, I hope you will bear in mind the interests of the Negro. The United States Courts have been, as it were, kind of “cities of refuge” for the colored people. I mean that in these courts they have been always sure of securing justice in cases that properly come under the jurisdiction of such courts by reason of the fact that the judges have been such broad and liberal men that the juries have represented a class of people who would see that a fair verdict was rendered.

Not only this, but in the United States Courts in the South Negroes have heretofore been place on the grand jury and petit jury and in this way they gotten recognition that they have not gotten in any other case. This matter, as small as it is, has gone to make them feel that they were citizens and has encouraged them not a little. With few exceptions, where narrow minded men have been made judges they have gradually used their influence in some way to keep Negroes off the juries and have made them feel that they had few rights in these courts.-

Please do not take the time to answer this letter.”  – Yours very truly, Booker T. Washington, “May 6, 1909”

After “integrity,” and “knowledge,” “influence” is the third greatest 9-letter word. And in this letter to the 27th President of the United States of America, William Howard Taft, Booker T. Washington once again demonstrates that the range of his “influence” extended to the very highest levels of American government. In earlier correspondence, President Taft, who succeeded President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909, made it crystal clear that the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University would still be expected to play a similar major role in advising the President of the United States as he had done with President Roosevelt. (The correspondence reveals that Roosevelt not only recommended Washington’s pivotal role in consulting on major affairs but also Taft readily assented.) All the same, we learn in the letter to President Taft three very important considerations about the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University and his “influence.”

First, we learn, contrary to popular opinion, he used his “influence” to address issues that concerned one of his most important constituents: African Americans. Here again, one would be remiss to think that Mr. Washington did not advocate on issues of importance. Rather, he moved “in a rather quiet way” as he indicated in a previous communiqué. (The loudest communication is not necessarily the most effective communication, and Mr. Washington’s direct correspondence with the President of the United States is effective communication.) Second, the “influence” of Mr. Washington’s correspondence was certain in that it was marked “personal and confidential.” This was not one of many letters that the President of the United State or any man or woman situated at the helm of a large organization receives that may or may not come to his attention or was handled through an intermediary. It is clear that Mr. Washington’s letters would be read by the President himself. So much so that Mr. Washington did not even need a reply: “Please do not take the time to answer this letter.” Third and last, Mr. Washington’s “influential” advocacy was owing to sound, sober and logical reasoning. His letter thoughtfully and dispassionately articulates the potential success for President Taft in following his suggestion based upon both past and present successes in similar matters. (No doubt Mr. Washington was likely part of such decisions during the Roosevelt Administration.) All three of these reasons-along with many, many more-are why Tuskegee University celebrates the “influence” of Booker T. Washington in this the centennial year (1915-2015) since his passing.

“Some years ago, in an effort to bring our rhetorical and commencement exercises into a little closer touch with real things, we tried the experiment at Tuskegee of having students write papers on some subject of which they had first-hand knowledge. As a matter of fact, I believe that Tuskegee was the first institution that attempted to reform its commencement exercises in this particular direction.” – Booker T. Washington, My Larger Education (1911)

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson 

What might now be considered as painstakingly obvious-the idea that an educated man or woman should be well-versed in having “first-hand knowledge”-Tuskegee University was a visionary institution in the education of her students under the leadership of its founding principal and president, Booker T. Washington. For the characteristic of possessing “first-hand knowledge” is the hallmark of the thoroughly educated man or woman based upon the following reasons: First, these young men and women will be not easily deceived and misled as they enter into their chosen field of study. Having already experienced in some measure-whether in matters great or small-the activities that will be required of them, they are knowledgeable and prepared to not only deal abstractly but practically. Second, they learn to discern second-hand knowledge (or worst hearsay) as men and women of intelligence. (Only the unintelligible rely upon knowledge that they have not vetted “first-hand” or experienced.) The mark of intelligence is but an extension of one’s integrity, the greatest 9-letter word, and if a man or woman would rely upon second-hand and/or piecemeal information in the employment of their duties in their chosen field of endeavor, they put their own work and reputation at risk through no other’s fault but their own. Third and last, “first-hand knowledge” separates one from peers and colleagues who have not undertaken the requisite work and suffering (endurance) necessary for gaining this knowledge. (Hear again, if one learns how to suffer and is willing to suffer well, one will learn how to succeed.) These men and women undertook to do what others were unwilling to do, afraid to do or simply too lethargic to do. The founder’s oft-repeated two most important qualities, “faith” and “hard work”, are both necessary but the latter-the second greatest 4-letter word-is what gives men and women the grand opportunity to separate themselves on the field of “first-hand knowledge.” (These men and women work while others talk.) You will not learn what you will not work to learn, and in this the centennial anniversary of Tuskegee University’s Booker T. Washington’s passing (1915-2015), we celebrate both the legacy and the institution of higher learning he “worked” for 34 years (1881-1915) to establish.

“We can fill your heads with knowledge, and we can train your hands to work with skill, but unless all this training of head and hand is based upon high, upright character, upon a true heart, it will amount to nothing. You will be no better off than the most ignorant.”-Booker T. Washington, A Sunday Evening Talk

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson

In this writer’s opinion, “integrity” is the greatest 9-letter word, “knowledge” is the second greatest, and “ignorance” is-by far-the worst and most dangerous. And the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University, Booker T. Washington, gives on this Sunday evening talk his oft-repeated conception of “heart-head-hands” to help his students avoid the dread of becoming “no better off than the most ignorant.” One can easily seek the help of professors to develop one’s “head”. (These men and women have as their primary purpose to fill the “heads” of students with “knowledge”.) Likewise, professors are able to help make a student’s “hands”-or their work-“skill”[ful]. (Through repeated instruction and correction a student will either become skillful at their work or they will receive failing grades.) Yet, the matter of the “heart,” Mr. Washington suggests, is one matter where students must begin and complete this work largely alone. (Let no man or woman ever presume to become an expert on the subject of another’s heart.)

Of all subject matters, it is the one that is deeply personal and unique to the individual. Whereas both the competencies of the “head” and the credentials of the “hands” lie in full view, the character of the “heart” is always hidden from view. Yet, without it, all else “will amount to nothing.” For Mr. Washington’s complete configuration of Heart-Head-Hands in education is akin to the strength necessary to shoot arrows a great distance even as [the] University has shot forth [its] sons and daughters…into rewarding and meaningful careers of service for over 133 years. The heart is the unseen and invisible strength that determines how far one can bend the bow to make the arrow go.

We’re grateful for President Brian Johnson of Warner Pacific University for his dedicated service on The Alliance’s Board of Trustees!

Dr. Johnson’s leadership extends far beyond his campus. He’s a champion for education on a national scale, serving on the board of All Hands Raised and as an evaluator for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). His commitment to diversity and inclusion is evident in his role as an Executive Committee member for the American Council of Education and a mentor for the HBCU Executive Leadership Institute. Learn more about President Johnson here: https://intersectionoffaithandlearning.com/about/

“You cannot hope to succeed if you keep bad company. As far as possible try to form the habit of spending your nights at home.” – Booker T. Washington, “A Sunday Evening Talk: On Influencing by Example”

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson 

The adage that one is known by the company he or she keeps is an oft-expressed one, but the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University, Booker T. Washington, extends the adage even further both in the aforementioned passage and in another commonly quoted passage: “Associate yourself with people of good quality. It is better to be alone than in bad company.” Moreover, his additional suggestion to “try to form the habit of spending your nights at home” is a very practical one worth noting. Insofar as it is possible to discern from his autobiography, correspondence, letters, speeches-and more importantly his accomplishments-the man, Booker Washington, apparently did little else but read, write, work and stay at home with his family. And while it is easy to regard Tuskegee (Institute) University’s founding principal with an overwhelming sense of awe, one can begin to appreciate and understand him in view of his own self-discipline and self-sacrifice. (Everyone suffers but few suffer voluntarily. Yet, if one learns how to suffer, one will learn how to succeed.) One need not be reminded that everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, but how one spends those hours is what ultimately distinguishes men and women. (One would simply be amazed at how much more time can be committed to a meaningful mission or a purposeful project if time is not spent in (un)meaningful and (un)purposeful ones that do not result in progress.) Clearly, recreation, fun and leisure have their place but not if these things come at the expense of sustainable success. (Mr. Washington suggests that it is even better when one’s recreation, fun and leisure become part and parcel of one’s work.) For when an individual can transform his or her home into an extension of their workshop, they have the benefit of continuing, doubling and multiplying their labors when others have ceased from theirs.

My dear Dr. Grimke: You cannot realize how much satisfaction your kind words of congratulation bring to me. I know that no utterance comes from your lips that are not sincere. The reception given my words at Atlanta has been a revelation to me. I had no idea that a Southern audience would treat a black man’s utterances in the way that it did. The heart of the whole South now seems to be turned in a different direction. You can easily see that I had rather a difficult task. First I wanted to be very sure to state the exact truth and of not compromising the race. Then there were some things that I felt should be said to the colored people and some others to the white people; and aside from these considerations I wanted to so deport myself as not to make such an impression as would prevent a similar opportunity being offered to some other colored man in the south.” – September 24, 1895, Booker T. Washington

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson 

In the days and weeks following Booker T. Washington’s “Atlanta Exposition Address (1895),” he received several commendations and congratulatory messages from a host of well wishers for this now historic address. In addition to remarks received from Francis James Grimke who was instrumental in the founding of the NAACP, W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois-his noted rival-remarked, “My Dear Mr. Washington: Let me heartily congratulate you upon your phenomenal success at Atlanta-it was a word fitly spoken.”

In deed and in truth, the founding principal and president of Tuskegee Institute (University) “had rather a difficult task” in delivering such an address that has profound reverberations, even in this present century. Mr. Washington’s detractors-including many who praised him in private-decried against the address calling it the “Atlanta Compromise” because of its emphasis upon industrial education and developing economic independence for African-Americans as opposed to pressing for social justice during that volatile period.

Yet, what many failed to appreciate then about Washington-and fail to appreciate now about men and women in leadership situated similar to Washington-is that such men and women have multiple constituencies and audiences to appeal to. In 1895, in the Deep South, where Mr. Washington had spent 15 years building an institution of higher learning for formerly enslaved African-Americans, he needed to be especially keen, prudent and cautious about enflaming the fires of lynching, unprovoked beatings and murder, and the burning down of his facilities during a dark and infamous period in American history that is all too well documented.

(For this man, unlike many of his detractors was in a position of leadership over students whose parents entrusted them to him, and if the institution were burned to the ground with several casualties because he spoke what others thought he should speak, one need only have a rudimentary historical imagination to understand the consequences of this.) On the other hand, he could hardly deny that the racial atrocities and social injustices committed against African-Americans solely based upon their ancestry and skin color could go unnoticed or unspoken on such a prominent platform. Thus, he-like most persons who have ever successfully led or spoken to diverse and multiple constituencies-followed a three-prong approach in his address:

1. “First [he] wanted to be very sure to state the exact truth…” (One will never go awry in speaking a plain statement of facts to audiences without regard to how such facts are received. As J.K. Miller wrote: “It is not the truth that people cannot handle. It is the consequences that stem from that truth.”)

2. Second, “there were some things that I felt should be said to the colored people and some others to the white people;”(It is a poor, paltry and partial speaker or leader indeed who makes one-dimensional arguments and directs messages of truth to one racial, socioeconomic, ethnic or cultural group or another.) The greatest speakers and leaders transcend such categorizations and will inevitably share truth that falls wherever it may.

3. Third, “aside from these considerations [he] wanted to so deport [himself] as not to make such an impression as would prevent a similar opportunity being offered to some other colored man in the south.”

Make no mistake, one’s words and actions in leadership always set precedents for those who come afterward. While one’s conscience and sense of “speaking one’s mind” may lead one to offer a torrent of remarks without regard to one’s constituency, the prudent leader exercises restraint for he or she knows that his words and leadership impacts someone other than himself. And this final regard is the hallmark of Booker T. Washington’s leadership at the helm of Tuskegee Institute (University). Possessing real and actual responsibility with respect to others deepens one’s commitment and capacity for serving others and lessens one’s commitment and capacity for serving one’s self.

“…I not only learned that it was not a disgrace to labour, but learned to love labour, not alone for its financial value, but for labour’s own sake and for the independence and self-reliance which the ability to do something which the world wants done brings.” – Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (1901)

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson 

While any man or woman who has acquired any measure of success in their chosen field of endeavor has learned that they must labour (work), the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University extends this notion further. Booker T. Washington suggests that one must “learn to love labour (work)”, and he provides three attendant fruits beyond “financial value’ for those who have “learned to love labour (work).”

First, those who love to work have learned the intrinsic value of the work itself-“for labour’s own sake.” The discovery of one’s passion often comes through the repeated doing and subsequent mastery of a particular task in a particular field that eventually leads to an intrinsic joy in doing what one may eventually become successful doing. Some people learn to love what they do well but this comes only after one actually tries to do something. (The “passion” to do something often leads to “success” and can lead to an individual’s eventual coming to understand their personal sense of “calling.”)

Second, “independence” and “self-reliance” is also a result of “learning to love labour (work).” Knowledge obtained in the wise doing (labour) of any task-wisdom is but knowledge applied-is transferrable to any environment. Such a man or woman possesses that which cannot ever be taken from him or her. (Knowledge is the chief asset in an rapidly changing 21st century politically, economic and increasingly pluralistic society and herein is the basis of their “independence” and “self-reliance”.) While these men or woman certainly do not become an island to themselves, they know “how,” “what,” “when,” “where” and “who” to seek additional knowledge from to complement their own. (These men and women can readily identify what “knowledge,” the second greatest 9-letter word, looks like because they have it themselves.)

Lastly, the “love of labour” has perhaps the most important fruit: “the ability to do something which the world wants done…” All of our work (labour) means little if it does not result in service to others. Better still, when this work serves not only those in the present generation but in subsequent generations, such work has the opportunity to stand rank and file with men and women like Booker T. Washington whose work at Tuskegee University in the centennial year of his passing (1915-2015) is still “something which the world wants” and that the world needs.

INFLUENCE

Personal and Confidential

[To William Howard Taft]

“My dear Mr. President: In considering the matter of the new judge for the Northern District of Alabama, I hope you will bear in mind the interests of the Negro. The United States Courts have been, as it were, kind of “cities of refuge” for the colored people. I mean that in these courts they have been always sure of securing justice in cases that properly come under the jurisdiction of such courts by reason of the fact that the judges have been such broad and liberal men that the juries have represented a class of people who would see that a fair verdict was rendered.

Not only this, but in the United States Courts in the South Negroes have heretofore been place on the grand jury and petit jury and in this way they gotten recognition that they have not gotten in any other case. This matter, as small as it is, has gone to make them feel that they were citizens and has encouraged them not a little. With few exceptions, where narrow minded men have been made judges they have gradually used their influence in some way to keep Negroes off the juries and have made them feel that they had few rights in these courts.

Please do not take the time to answer this letter. – Yours very truly, Booker T. Washington, “May 6, 1909”

Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson

After “integrity,” and “knowledge,” “influence” is the third greatest 9-letter word. And in this letter to the 27th President of the United States of America, William Howard Taft, Booker T. Washington once again demonstrates that the range of his “influence” extended to the very highest levels of American government. In earlier correspondence, President Taft, who succeeded President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909, made it crystal clear that the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University would still be expected to play a similar major role in advising the President of the United States as he had done with President Roosevelt. (The correspondence reveals that Roosevelt not only recommended Washington’s pivotal role in consulting on major affairs but also Taft readily assented.) All the same, we learn in the letter to President Taft three very important considerations about the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University and his “influence.” First, we learn, contrary to popular opinion, he used his “influence” to address issues that concerned one of his most important constituents: African Americans. Here again, one would be remiss to think that Mr. Washington did not advocate on issues of importance. Rather, he moved “in a rather quiet way” as he indicated in a previous communiqué. (The loudest communication is not necessarily the most effective communication, and Mr. Washington’s direct correspondence with the President of the United States is effective communication.) Second, the “influence” of Mr. Washington’s correspondence was certain in that it was marked “personal and confidential.” This was not one of many letters that the President of the United State or any man or woman situated at the helm of a large organization receives that may or may not come to his attention or was handled through an intermediary. It is clear that Mr. Washington’s letters would be read by the President himself. So much so that Mr. Washington did not even need a reply: “Please do not take the time to answer this letter.” Third and last, Mr. Washington’s “influential” advocacy was owing to sound, sober and logical reasoning. His letter thoughtfully and dispassionately articulates the potential success for President Taft in following his suggestion based upon both past and present successes in similar matters. (No doubt Mr. Washington was likely part of such decisions during the Roosevelt Administration.) All three of these reasons-along with many, many more-are why Tuskegee University celebrates the “influence” of Booker T. Washington in this the centennial year (1915-2015) since his passing.