Category Archives: Uncategorized
March 17, 2015 · 8:47 am
“I believe that it is impossible for a person to live a high life, a noble life in the future world, who does not live a high life in this world…And so, I want you to get the idea that each day brings to you a serious responsibility. You should try to get as much out of the twenty-four hours in each day as is possible for an individual to get out of twenty-four hours. Learn to get out of each day, out of the twelve hours of each day, just as much as possible every for one to get. Learn to get out of every hour, every year as much as it is possible for you to get. You have only one life to live; remember you pass through this life but once, and if you fail, you fail, perhaps, for all time. You should consider closely the serious obligation you have upon you to live properly through a day, through a year, and you should try to get everything that is best out of that day, out of that year.” -Booker T. Washington, “A Sunday Evening Talk”
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
In perhaps one of the earliest Sunday evening talks the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University gave at the onset of the New Year in 1901-for this talk was given on February 17, 1901-Booker T. Washington speaks not so much to resolutions but the “serious responsibility” and the “serious obligation” to live a life of consistency “each day.” (Character is nothing but Consistency. It is neither one’s highest moment nor one’s lowest moment. Character is one’s most Consistent moment.) And there is no more telltale sign for objectively assessing, counting, chronicling or journaling the consistency of one’s character than to evaluate what one does hourly, daily, monthly and yearly. For a new year is but a new day, and there are 365 of these. Moreover, the years accumulated into the respective time one receives in a singular life hopefully will constitute a life well lived, which is why Mr. Washington describes the use of one’s time as “serious.” The years spent in a well-lived life are often found in how the days, hours and months of one’s life were spent. And such was the life of Booker T. Washington who Tuskegee University honors in this the centennial year of his passing (1915-2015).
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 16, 2015 · 8:48 am
“When I left school at the end of my first year, I owed the institution sixteen dollars that I had not been able to work it out. It was my greatest ambition during the summer to save money enough with which to pay this debt. I felt that this was a debt of honour, and that I could hardly bring myself to the point of even trying to enter school again till it was paid. I economized in every way that I could think of-did my own washing, and went without necessary garments-but still I found my summer vacation ending and I did not have the sixteen dollars”– Booker T. Washington _Up from Slavery_ (1901)
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
One not only finds lessons in Mr. Washington’s management of a university, his stewardship and cultivation of transformative gifts and donations, his passion as an educator or his affectionate love for his wife and children, one also learns from his life as a student. And here is one lesson that students can learn from the founding principal and president of Tuskegee Institute (University): “It was my greatest ambition during the summer to save money enough with which to pay this debt. I felt that this was a debt of honour, and that I could hardly bring myself to the point of even trying to enter school again till it was paid” To be sure, the price of a university education-particularly an education received from an university as eminent as Tuskegee-is costly. Yet, it is equally costly to have no such education. All the same, Mr. Washington knew what all graduates of post-baccalaureate and graduate institutions either know or comes quickly to know: Education costs and paying for your education is a responsibility for all who desires one. We learn the following from his own experiences at Hampton Institute. First, “I owed the institution sixteen dollars that I had not been able to work it out.” Much like a creditor, an institution is not always able to “work it out” for students. When it does so largely though discounting the tuition bill it does so to its own detriment and opens itself to other criticisms from many of the same students as to why the institution is often unable to provide other services. Second, “It was my greatest ambition during the summer to save money enough with which to pay this debt.” He knew that a tuition bill would be there when he returned to school in fall. In spite of his obvious poverty as a formerly enslaved person, he did not expect that he would be able to “work it out”. Rather, he worked and “saved”. Whether an internship, summer research program or any other noteworthy summer endeavor, each student should bear in mind that fall is coming and any unpaid tuition bill will await them. Third, “I felt that this was a debt of honour, and that I could hardly bring myself to the point of even trying to enter school again till it was paid.” Honor is nothing but integrity. Hear again: “Integrity is the greatest 9-Letter word.” Mr. Washington would not allow his words to be inconsistent with his works for he had received an education at the expense of the institution that paid the salaries of the professors who educated him. This was a transaction. He received the education and in turn he owed the institution its money so that it might continue to pay his professors to educate others. Last, he “economized in every way that I could think of.” The founding principal and president did not frivolously spend his summer monies knowing full well he owed on his tuition bill. Rather he “economized.” He counted the cost and did his best to make it right. In the end, Mr. Washington did secure sufficient monies. He did not give up. He was resourceful, and he went on to not only graduate from Hampton Institute but to go on to lead from 1881 to 1915 what remains one of the finest institutions in the nation-Tuskegee University-“the pride of the swift growing south.'”
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 13, 2015 · 8:50 am
“My dear Mr. Fortune: […] There is no need why every colored man who graduates at college should go to teaching or preaching. If we do not through the instrumentality of the stronger brain in the race, lay hold of the business and industrial openings in the South during the next 10 years these opportunities will pass beyond our recall.” -Booker T. Washington, March 1, 1899
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
While, in hindsight, one may argue that Mr. Washington’s platform lent itself to “accommodationist” thinking-though several scholars and historians have revisited and reinterpreted this view of Mr. Washington-the thrust of his assertion that many students have resigned themselves “to teaching or preaching” has strong reverberations for the present. It was untrue then and remains so now, that the highest service one can render to mankind must come in the form of “teaching and preaching.” To be sure the nobility and servanthood associated with these two worthy professions are admirable. All the same, what Mr. Washington recognized then is what most university and college graduates have come to recognize now: Calling (vocation) is not Confined to a single Category. And Certainly, in this the Centennial year’s Celebration Commemorating the 100 years since the passing of the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University, Booker T. Washington, we clearly Can Confirm the Calling of one of the great educators in any Century.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 12, 2015 · 8:53 am
“I have often said to you that one of the best things that education can do for an individual is to teach that individual to get hold of what he wants, rather than to teach him how to commit to memory a number of facts in history or a number of names in geography. I wish you to feel that we can give you here orderliness of mind-I mean a trained mind-that will enable you to find dates in history or to put your finger on names in geography when you want them. I wish to give you an education that will enable you to construct rules in grammar and arithmetic for your-selves. That is the highest kind of training. But, after all, this kind of thing is not the end of education. What, then, do we mean by education? I would say that education is meant to give us an idea of truth. Whatever we get out of text books, whatever we get out of industry, whatever we get here and there from any sources, if we do not get the idea of truth at the end, we do not get education. I do not care how much you get out of history, or geography, or algebra, or literature, I do not care how much you have got out of all your text books:-unless you have got truth, you have failed in your purpose to be educated. Unless you get the idea of truth so pure that you cannot be false in anything, your education is a failure.”– Booker T. Washington, “A Sunday Evening Talk”
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Of the many truths the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University proffered in his many speeches, writings and correspondence, the following is perhaps the single most profound and difficult one to grasp: “Unless you get the idea of truth so pure that you cannot be false in anything, your education is a failure.” Now it may appear to the naysayer that Mr. Washington makes a rather prideful or arrogant assertion but C.S. Lewis’s idea that “perfect humility dispenses with modesty” rejects such an accusation. (“Humility” is the greatest 8-letter word and “Fearless” is the second greatest 8-letter word in succession with good reason.) To be clear, there is no man or woman who will have not had error or failure at some point in their vocational path or journey. Yet, Mr. Washington’s conception of “education” encompasses those who have erred and failed because a “truth so pure that you cannot be false in anything” permits a single man or woman to ascertain valuable and truthful lessons whether through triumph or tragedy. For this man or woman-the truly educated man or woman-never experiences “falsity [or failure] in anything” because he or she lives, learns and then leads others to wrest the valuable water of “knowledge”-the second greatest 9-letter word-from any dampening circumstance. Moreover, these men and women proceed undauntedly, unflinchingly and unwaveringly day-to-day, month-to-month and year-to-year to continuous and ongoing “success”-one of the greatest 7-letter words-without ever experiencing real “falsity” or “failure” in the truest sense of the words. For never can a man or woman who possesses and applies the sort of education Mr. Washington established at Tuskegee University can ever rightly be called “false” or a “failure” because a truly educated man or woman ultimately views success and failure rightly according to the greatest 8-letter words: “Humility” and “Fearless,” which again are the greatest 8-letter words in succession.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 11, 2015 · 9:31 am
“To [George Augustus Gates]…If you take the position of President of Fisk, and later on you feel that I can be of real service as a trustee, I shall be willing to think favorably in that direction. I do not think well to act, however, in the matter now. Serving as a trustee of Fisk will not take so much of my time as in the case of the other institutions for the reason that I am already pretty well acquainted with the Fisk plant and also with the methods and policy of the institution, and I take for granted that a large part of the meeting will be held in New York. As I stated to you in my verbal conversation, in case you take the position, in my humble way I will stand back of you and support you in every way possible, and Dr. Frissell I am sure will do for the same thing. Both of us feel that there ought to be at least one strong central institution in the South for the higher education of the Negro, and that all things considered, Fisk is by far the best institution to be strengthened and supported in a way as to make it serve this purpose. Yours very truly.”
– Booker T. Washington, “October 7, 1909”
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Booker T. Washington, founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University, had not only ascended to the posts of both professor and president in his long and stellar academic career, but had also served as board of trustees member. (Among other institutions, he had served on the board of trustees at Howard University during the tenure of President Wilbur Patterson Thirkield.) All the same, Mr. Washington had not only been routinely and regularly approached to assume presidential posts at other institutions, requested to speak at other institutions and selected for awards and honors at other institutions, he was often conferred with to take on posts of “stewardship” in the capacity of a board of trustee member. President George Augusta Gates, who would eventually be named as president of Fisk University, was ultimately successful in securing the services of Booker T. Washington as a trustee member. (This would be the modern-day equivalent of securing the appointment of one of the most well-placed, wealthiest and most influential African Americans in the world.) Unsurprisingly, Booker T. Washington’s appointment to Fisk’s board of trustees during the Gates administration coincided with Fisk’s eventual $1M endowment, which was reached in 1920. To be clear, Fisk University was preeminent before Washington’s arrival to its board of trustees for it had produced stellar alumni-perhaps none so well regarded as W.E.B. Du Bois as well as his wife Margaret Murray Washington. Nevertheless, as he had done with respect to all of his professional achievements as a professor and president, a man of “integrity” and “knowledge”–the first and second greatest 9-letter words–the man Booker would not sit idly by in his capacity as a Fisk board of trustees member and not utilize his “influence,” the third greatest 9-letter word, to help make a great institution become still greater. And his able and “influential” service in the capacity of a board of trustee member is yet one of the many proud reasons why Tuskegee University celebrates in this the centennial year since his passing (1915-2015), Booker T. Washington-a man who did not just write words worth reading but lived a life full of works worth reading.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 10, 2015 · 10:02 am
“When I speak of humbleness and simplicity, I do not mean that it is necessary for us to lose sight of what the world calls manhood and womanhood; that it is necessary to be cringing and unmanly; but you will find, in the long run, that the people who have the greatest influence in the world are the humble and simple ones.”-“The Virtue of Simplicity: A Sunday Evening Talk,” Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Generally speaking, the smartest, wealthiest, strongest, most beautiful and most talented among a community of his and her fellows would hardly ever pronounce it. (For he or she already knows it.) And therein lies the “influence” generally found in the “humble and simple ones”-that Washington describes. In one of his earlier writings, Professor Cornel West writes the following: “To be humble is to be so sure of one’s self and one’s mission that one can forego calling excessive attention to one’s self and status.” Knowing with complete certainty one’s self and status is akin to knowing one’s name. Unless one is patently-even absurdly-insecure, a person would never enter into quarrels about his or her own name. On the other hand, the sense of absolute certainty that accompanies the sense of knowing one’s name and identity reeks of humility, sincerity and simplicity; Such a posture leads to the greatest influence among men and women because arrogance tends to repel and humility tends to invite. And men and women of humility and simplicity always invite others into their ever expanding circles–thus gaining influence that has no boundaries. And for the very reasons the founding principal and president suggests above, “Humility” and “fearless” are the first and second greatest 8-letter words in succession.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 9, 2015 · 8:52 am
“The more we talked with the students who were then coming to us from several parts of the state, the more we found that the chief ambition among a large proportion of them was to get an education so that they would not have to work any longer with their hands. This is illustrated by a story told of a coloured man in Alabama, who, one hot day in July, while he was at work in a cotton field, suddenly stopped, and, looking toward the skies, said: ‘O Lawd, de cotton am so grassy, de work am so hard, and the sun am so hot dat I b’lieve did darky am called to preach!” -Booker T. Washington “Up From Slavery” (1901)
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
In hindsight, it would be all too easy to take issue with Mr. Washington’s late 19th and early 20th century preoccupation with working “with the hands,” or his use of dialect to illustrate a noteworthy principle; however, if we were to suspend judgment we might find an important ideal revolving around notions of “calling,” “vocation,” and the requisite work required for success within a designated “field.” Though stated broadly and not ascribed to the entirety of the ministerial profession, Mr. Washington’s statement that some students elected not to continue working “with their hands”-opting instead to pursue ministry-has profound reverberations for the present. To be sure, many students elected to change their pursuit of one profession to another for a variety of reasons-including seeking congruence with their latent talent, skills and desires. All the same, there are many instances where a student may have not simply had the wherewithal to continue his or her labors due to the proverbial “price of the ticket.” And this is clearly Mr. Washington’s concern in this passage. One simply cannot expect to achieve enduring success in any endeavor or profession without first putting in the requisite work that is often designed to harden and prepare for subsequent experiences in the profession. For demonstrating a proven ability to overcome difficult circumstances-and preferably more than one-is infinitely more impactful than merely communicating the stories of others who have overcome.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 6, 2015 · 8:48 am
“I hope, for instance, that a large proportion of you-in fact all of you-will make it a practice to give something yearly to this institution. If you cannot give but twenty-five cents, fifty cents, or a dollar a year, I hope you will put it down as a thing that you will not forget, to give something to this institution every year. We want to show to our friends who have done so much for us, who have supported this school so generously, how much interest we take in the institution that has given us so nearly all that we possess. I hope that every senior, in particular, will keep this in mind. I am glad to say that we have many graduates who send us such sums, even if small, and one graduate who for the last eight or ten years has sent us ten dollars annually.”-“Sunday Evening Talk,” Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
When potential donors inquire with an institution concerning its alumni giving participation, the percentage of total alumni giving–not the amount of alumni giving is the foremost consideration. Even if a single alumnus gives $1M per year, the following questions are immediately begged: What is the giving and interest level of the thousands of remaining alumni that the institution has graduated? Was this a single aberration? Is alumni giving limited to the eminently successful alumni? or does it extend to and envelope small to great-all of whom are recipients of Tuskegee Institute (University) baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate degrees? And interest level goes well beyond public professions of love for one’s alma mater “our nourishing mother,” but the expression of this love in tangible gifts and donations. Mr. Washington, founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University, understood this well when he spoke the following to students who would become future alumni during one of his Sunday evening talks: “We want to show to our friends…how much interest we take in the institution that has given us so nearly all that we possess.” Although the sons and daughters of Booker and Mother Tuskegee are the institution’s most precious value claim to the world-in fact, they are its most precious commodity-the gifts of those interested, including alumni, in the advancement of the institution are what established-and continues to establish-Tuskegee Institute (University’s) reputation as one of the finest campuses and strongest academic destinations in the nation and the world. Friend-raising and fundraising begins at home. And if those who are most intimately familiar with and profess support or love for the institution will not give to it, why would a stranger who is not familiar with and professes no support or love for the institution give to it? Thus consistent giving whether small or great, regularly (monthly or annually), from 100% of graduated students or as Mr. Washington pronounced, “all of you,” is the clearest indicator of alumni strength. In this the centennial year since the passing of Booker T. Washington (1915-2015) let’s begin for some, and continue for others, to give annually to Tuskegee University even “25 cents, 50 cents, a dollar a year, or [as] one graduate who for the last eight or ten years has sent us ten dollars annually.”
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 5, 2015 · 8:59 am
“Mr. J.B. Washington: You have been connected with the office now five or six years, and should know how to perform, at least common duties around the office. If you do not know it is your own fault. I entrusted to you the mailing of the Advertisers which were purchased at quite an outlay, and I find that the whole expenses, and work in connection with this work, are to a large extent, thrown away by reason of the fact that the papers were not properly wrapped. I did not suppose it was necessary to go into each detail and tell you how to wrap these papers. They have been wrapped, I find, with no idea of making the marked article conspicuous, and at least half of the person whom the papers will go will not see the article owing to your carelessness. It seems to me just that a part of the expense connected with purchasing these papers should be charged to your personal account.” – “February 27, 1895,” Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
It is amazing to continuously read the administrative and management philosophy that Mr. Booker T. Washington demonstrated in his correspondence and writings from 1881-1915-his 34-year long tenure as founding principal and president of Tuskegee Institute (University). For this man’s philosophy was truly without respect for persons and such persons included his very own brother-his younger adopted brother-Mr. James B. Washington. Washington Baseball Field at Tuskegee University was named after James B. Washington who came to Tuskegee from Hampton Institute in 1890. He is affectionately referred to as the “Father of Athletics at Tuskegee.” Washington, the adopted brother of Booker T. Washington, organized the first Tuskegee baseball team in 1892. In the present communiqué, Mr. Washington’s remonstrations directed towards this employee, his very own brother were premised upon the following: “You have been connected with the office now five or six years, and should know how to perform, at least common duties around the office.” If an employee has been at an institution for less than a year, one year or possibly two, one may readily concede a person’s relative unfamiliarity about the unit they have been given the charge over or have inherited from a predecessor. (The very best leaders do not rely upon such concessions for they immediately assume the charge over their unit and/or organization without regard to their longevity in the post.) All the same, Mr. James B. Washington had now possessed the charge of the unit he was leading for a full “five or six years,” and the expertise required for leading his unit ought to have been either been acquired by diligent acquisition or pursuit, or he might have relinquished his post and simply acknowledged before his employer-his older brother-Booker T. Washington that he did not possess the requisite talent, skillset or ability to do what the institution needed from him in his present capacity. (If it were a matter of lack of institutional support for what he had needed, he might have communicated this as well.) Notwithstanding, it is not an admission of weakness or non-strength to concede that one cannot do what is expected of him or her. Rather, such admission is the surest sign of both professional maturity and vocational integrity, and might possibly lead such an employee to a better position, within the institution or otherwise, more properly aligned to his or her skill sets and capabilities. We know that Mr. James B. Washington ably served alongside his brother Booker, and well after the passing of the university’s first president. Nevertheless, for the post he held in the capacity described above, Mr. James B. Washington’s efforts did not meet with the expectations of his employer-his older brother, the founding principal and president of Tuskegee Institute (University), Booker T. Washington.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 4, 2015 · 9:33 am
“Mr. J.H. Washington, Supt. of Ind. Not later than this week I wish you to go over the whole subject of the wages of students and recommend whatever reduction you think should take place. I wish a reduction of not less than one-third to be made. Small boys whose work can be of almost no service need special attention.”“September 4, 1894,” -Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
The fiscal management of student financial assistance or aid was not beyond the managerial scope of the founding principal and president of Tuskegee Institute (University). For many institutions, net tuition revenue received from students-not the headcount of students visibly present-is the principal driver of an institution’s annual budget. In addition to federal and state aid in the form of grants and loans-and a host of other resources that students may receive including scholarships or personal resources, Institutions provide a number of options to assist students in the form of institutional scholarships, which are often “discounts”, alumni scholarships, donor scholarships and work-study. All the same, a university’s ability to provide on-going and continuous improvements to its technology, infrastructure and services available to students is partially contingent upon the monies these students pay in tuition billing to attend and secure a baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate degree. (Deep discounting or mis-managed discounting of tuition bills often leads to discounting the quality of the student experience at the institution. And this did not occur on the first president of Tuskegee University’s watch.) Mr. Washington requested a full review “over the whole subject of the wages of students” and he “recommend[ed] whatever reduction you think should take place.” It is well known that the early Tuskegee Institute students received monies in the form of wages to help pay their tuition bills so that they could remain enrolled. (Even the founding principal and president found work as a janitor at Hampton Institute to remain enrolled.) An institution has both a moral and civic duty to help her students but it also has a fiscal duty to itself. Moreover, this review also included the discounting of “[s]mall boys whose work can be of almost no service need[ed] special attention”. Presumably, there were “small boys” who were receiving “wages” from the institution-or in 21st Century nomenclature, “financial aid”-that did not demonstrate a reciprocal benefit for the institution. Perhaps they signed up for a responsibility that they did not perform? Perhaps they underperformed because they could not lift the bales of hay? Perhaps they underperformed because they could not lift the well-known bricks that Tuskegee Institute students were known throughout the region for? All the same, Mr. Washington requested a review of their work to determine whether the aid given to them in wages is the appropriate use of institutional monies. For the milk of Mother Tuskegee is available for all of her children, yet the institutional responsibility to steward her resources while simultaneously replenishing them is what will ensure that the milk continues to flow.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 3, 2015 · 9:38 am
“I believe that one always does himself and his audience an injustice when he speaks merely for the sake of speaking. I do not believe that one should speak unless, deep down in his heart, he feels convinced that he has a message to deliver.” -Booker T. Washington _Up from Slavery_ (1901)
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
It is a wise and prudent man or woman indeed who does not readily accept-or seek-any and every invitation to speak. Although such restraint is uncommon, Mr. Washington’s recommendation is one that would serve us well to follow. For the best speakers-whether teacher, professor, lecturer or any number of itinerant persons-are those whose words proceed from the works that support them. Mr. Washington was known locally, regionally, nationally and globally for his oratorical prowess and was largely regarded as such for the work he was doing at Tuskegee University. And this work was no mere job for the founding Principal and President of Tuskegee University, but his life’s purpose “deep down in his heart.” When he spoke, men and women could feel the force of someone who was not pretentious but purposeful. And he was able to do so because he spoke concerning those things he was doing or had done. He did not theorize about how to lead an institution. He led one. He did not simply ask of those within his charge to persevere, endure and overcome. He himself had done these things. He did not simply speak about the “race problem” affecting newly freed and formerly enslaved men and women but was engaged in a work to solve this problem in a manner consistent with his beliefs. And all of these things were visible, tangible and remain so nearly 100 years since his passing (1915-2015). Audiences know immediately whether one has done or is doing the things that he or she speaks which is why one should never offer words without accompanying works.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
March 2, 2015 · 8:48 am
“We frequently hear the word ‘lucky’ used with reference to a man’s life. Two boys start out in the world at the same time, having the same amount of education. When twenty years have passed, we find one of them wealthy and independent; we find him a successful professional man with an assured reputation, or perhaps at the head of a large commercial establishment employing many men, or perhaps a farmer owning and cultivating hundreds of acres of land. We find the second boy, grown now to be a man, working for perhaps a dollar or a dollar and a half a day, and living from hand to mouth in a rented house. When we remember that the boys started out in life equal-handed, we may be tempted to remark that the first boy has been fortunate, that fortune has smiled on him; and that the second has been unfortunate. There is no such nonsense as that. When the first boy saw a thing that he knew he ought to do, he did it; and he kept rising from one position to another until he became independent. The second boy was an eye-servant who was afraid that he would do more than he was paid to do-he was afraid that he would give fifty cents’ worth of labour for twenty-five cents […]The first boy did a dollar’s worth of work for fifty cents. He was always ready to be at the store before time; and then, when the bell rang to stop work, he would go to his employer and ask him if there was not something more that ought to be done that night before he went home. It was this quality in the first boy that made him valuable and caused him to rise. Why should we call him ‘fortunate’ or ‘lucky’? I think it would be much more suitable to say of him: ‘He is responsible.” – “Individual Responsibility: A Sunday Evening Talk,”-Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
At the onset of receiving an entering incoming freshmen class into a university, one becomes awed and buoyed by the extraordinary sense of possibility that each student has in his or her future. Whether they were 4.0 student or 2.8 students in high school, the beginning of freshman year matriculation is a unique opportunity in their lives to start anew and afresh. And Mr. Washington, founding principal and president of Tuskegee Institute (University), provides an example of two young boys who possessed the same opportunities, but had very different outcomes 20 years later. It is all too easy to pass off Mr. Washington’s telling as some moralizing tale designed to motivate his students during one of his Sunday evening talks. Yet, we must be inclined to think that either Mr. Washington himself experienced this so-called tale directly-his autobiographical narrative Up from Slavery (1901) suggests as much-or he observed this in the lives of two of his students in his 34-year long tenure at the helm of Tuskegee University. Washington’s telling of such a tale might also raise the ire and suspicion of those who might argue the following:”It is roundly unfair for Mr. Washington to ascribe lacking personal responsibility to the woes of the second boy’s life because he doesn’t know what happened to him.” Notwithstanding any such dismissals, what Mr. Washington seeks to convey in this talk was the sense of a very real distinction between two young men who approached life matters-whether in the classroom or beyond-quite differently. The first young man was likely accused of being too punctual, too exact or just plain too serious. He often heard the now common proverbial expression: “It doesn’t take all of that.” And in spite of all attempts to justify the many failures of the second boy, all such attempts are undergirded with a profound sense of irony. (The very individuals who defend or make excuse for the second lad will also not hire him nor give him any responsibility regarding that, which is their own.) Wholly consistent with his reputation for being frank, honest and giving ‘straight talk,” Mr. Washington would not allow any such misgivings about his impressions of the success-or relative lack thereof-of the two boys described here. For Mr. Washington believed that “it does take all of that” to reach any desirable outcome, and one will be subject to the envy and criticism of others while doing it. Yet, enduring the sort of suffering experienced by the first boy is far better than experiencing the suffering of the second. We all experience one form of suffering or another, and if one learns how to suffer-to truly know how to suffer well in the thing that is good-one will learn how to succeed.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 27, 2015 · 8:48 am
“Dear Taylor: This letter may be somewhat of a surprise to you, but I hope you can see your way clear to accede to our request. After deliberating for a good deal of time over the matter, we have determined to put some one of our graduates in the field in the North to collect money for the school; interest and instruct the people about our work, and we have settled on the conclusion that we can get no better person to represent us than yourself.” -Booker T. Washington, June 9th 1893
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“Dear Friend: your letter of recent date was the greatest surprise imaginable. I have thoroughly considered the offer made to me and have decided to off-set my ideas of going to school next term, so as to comply with your request. As you know Alma-Mater means nourishing Mother. From an intellectual stand-point I consider Tuskegee my mother-so I am perfectly willing to act in the capacity of a child.” -R.W.Taylor June 14th 1893
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Aside from her students, there is no more important constituent group for Mother Tuskegee than her students (alumni) who have graduated from Tuskegee Institute (University). And this correspondence between Booker T. Washington and Robert Wesley Taylor illustrates the strong ties and affinity within the Tuskegee University Family. Note, the Founding Principal “deliberated for a good deal of time” when considering who among “the Sons and Daughters of Booker and Mother Tuskegee” would best represent the institution. Among the many shining arrows in their quiver, Robert Wesley Taylor was preeminent among the family’s best and brightest. Although familial relations dictate equal filial love among siblings, when parents have a need it is not unusual for the strongest, most diligent, most generous and most capable son or daughter to respond. This describes the character of Mr. Taylor. Hearkening to the true spirit of Alma Mater, he regarded Tuskegee as his “intellectual nourishing mother.” For Mother Tuskegee had nourished his nascent personal, intellectual, social and spiritual appetite with the milk of George Washington Carver and Robert R. Taylor among countless numbers of eminent professors, scholars and staff members who are still nourishing students today. Mr. Taylor did not stop at child-like professions of love for his mother. He exhibited the attitude of a full-grown son who responded with a ready reply when he was called. And “while children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children,” a child does well when he or she has left home to help restore the nourishing ability of his or her mother so that mother is able to continue nurturing many, many more sons and daughters for years to come. And in this the centennial year since the passing of Booker T. Washington (1915-2015), there is no greater time than the present for the sons and daughters (and supporters) of Mother Tuskegee to support both the tradition and trajectory of Tuskegee University.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 26, 2015 · 9:40 am
“…I have tried to pursue the policy of acting in a business-like prompt way especially when we are able to pay. I wish you would take up all these small accounts that are overdue and settle them. It is doubly necessary that an institution that depends for its living on begging money should keep a good business reputation. It is much more necessary than for an institution doing a strictly commercial business. It does not take long for a rumor to get circulated in any community to the effect that we are not businesslike and this hurts us in getting funds. For all these reasons it is very necessary that all the matters I am referring to in this letter be carefully, systematically and promptly attended to in your office. Some of the letters regarding the bills that I refer to I enclose.” -Booker T. Washington, “February 13, 1915”
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
As the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University, Booker T. Washington, repeatedly demonstrated during his 34-year long administration, the stewardship of one’s existing resources goes hand-in-hand with the petitioning of additional resources. And Mr. Washington here again describes, in what would be the last year of his life, an important philanthropic consideration between a non-profit institution like Tuskegee University-and similarly situated higher education institutions-as opposed to a for-profit “commercial business.” A non-profit institution seeks to serve a higher and greater good, and while profit and revenue are supremely important drivers in such institutions, its focus upon an area of societal need such as higher education makes profit generation only one of several considerations unlike “commercial business”. And this is why non-profit institutions rely upon philanthropic (fundraising) gifts to help support their efforts to serve the larger good. (In the case of Mother Tuskegee, the education and the comprehensive development of her students is the highest and larger good.) Notwithstanding, such a noble aim does not exempt a non-profit institution from “keep[ing] a good business reputation” particularly when it continuously seeks “funds” to support its mission and vision-its tradition and trajectory. Without respect to an institution’s noble ambitions, if it does not manage its existing resources in a manner that demonstrates that it can manage additional resources, it “hurt[s]” itself “in [the] getting [of] funds.” And Mr. Washington tells us precisely why it becomes “difficult” for others to give to it: “It does not take long for a rumor to get circulated in any community to the effect that we are not businesslike…” Moreover, if such a “rumor” is circulated in the kind of “community” that can actually provide a non-profit institution with major, transformational assistance in the pursuit of its noble aims then the hurt is extremely harmful. For no corporation, foundation, organization, entity or individual donor who has successfully stewarded its own fiscal resources will give them to another who has not successfully stewarded its own-however small or meager. These entities are also accountable to their own stakeholders, customers and constituents who rightly question where their gifts are directed, and stakeholder’s rest easier knowing that major gifts from entities they are vested in are going to non-profit institutions who will steward them appropriately. And Mr. Washington, who Tuskegee University celebrates in the centennial year since his passing (1915-2015), was the recipient of many such major, transformational gifts because he “carefully, systematically and promptly attend[ed]” to the stewardship of Mother Tuskegee’s resources from 1881-1915.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 26, 2015 · 5:35 am
February 25, 2015 · 8:50 am
“It seems appropriate during these closing days of the school year to re-emphasize, if possible, that for which the institution stands. We want to have every student get what we have-in our egotism, perhaps-called the “Tuskegee spirit”; that is, to get hold of the spirit of the institution, get hold of that for which it stands; and then spread that spirit just as widely as possible, and plant it just as deeply as it is possible to plant it.” “Last Words: A Sunday Evening Talk,” Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Upon the last Sunday evening talk given at the close of the academic year, Booker T. Washington encouraged his hearers to come to learn of, embrace and finally disseminate the “Tuskegee spirit.” (There is something different about Tuskegee University.) It cannot be singularly explained by the eminence of its founding principal and president. It cannot be explained by the eminence of George Washington Carver. It cannot be explained by the aura associated with the “Tuskegee Airmen” whose feats are now known and respected worldwide. One simply cannot come upon the campus of Tuskegee University and not immediately be confronted with an overwhelming sense of the past meeting the present in deeply profound ways. For the “Tuskegee spirit” is what bounds not only its students and alumni but also its faculty, staff, administrators and presidents. It is a living, breathing pride in its beginnings, its present and its future-a future that is interwoven within the lives of every individual that has come upon the grounds of this sacred land. The “Tuskegee spirit” is none other than the spirit of a people-a great people embodying the very best and brightest in any and every tradition the world has ever known.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 24, 2015 · 8:55 am
Phillips Brooks gave expression to the sentiment: “One generation gathers the material, and the next generation builds the palaces.” As I understand it, he wished to inculcate the idea that one generation lays the foundation for succeeding generations. -Booker T. Washington, Future of the American Negro (1899)
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Any institutional or organizational leader would be remiss–no fool hearted–if he or she did not first look to, then build upon and, finally, greatly improve upon the foundation of the past–particularly when that foundation is as solid and substantive as that which is found here at Tuskegee (Institute) University. (And this writer believes that the founding principal and president of Tuskegee, Booker T. Washington, was prescient enough to know that his was a foundation that any man or woman could build “palaces upon.”) Preparation, planning, purpose and performance are the hallmarks of sound management practices in any leadership and management paradigm, and a leader must not only prepare and plan on how to ascend to institutional leadership, but what to do with it once he or she gets it. One certain way of doing this is to return to the founder’s “foundation.” Booker T. Washington laid a rock-solid foundation based upon personal and organizational “integrity,” the greatest 9-letter word. In perusing through some 34 years of this man’s letters and correspondence, one finds that “integrity” is the most consistent and persistent attribute permeating within each writing or speech. Whether writing or speaking to persons small or great, he installed a vision on the basis of being truthful, honest and earnest in all his dealings, and such attributes appealed to both external and internal constituents alike-particularly when seeking major, transformational gifts like Booker T. Washington secured. (The best institutional leaders and organizations are “transparent,” “consistent,” “communicative,” and “collaborative”.) What the man, Booker Washington, spoke, wrote and did concerning Tuskegee University in one arena was consistent with what he spoke, wrote and did concerning Tuskegee University in another arena, thus forming an unbroken chain of integrity on which he built the foundation of Tuskegee. This integrity extended not only to the world-renowned bricks of Tuskegee’s oldest buildings, but also to the foundational philosophy of Tuskegee University and its founder.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 23, 2015 · 8:47 am
“My own experience convinces me that the easiest way to get money for any good work is to show that you are willing and able to perform the work for which the money is given.” -Booker T. Washington, My Larger Education (1911)
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Hear this repeatedly. Booker T. Washington, founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University is world-renowned for his many signal accomplishments during his 34-year tenure. However, none were more significant to the mission and vision-the tradition and trajectory-of Tuskegee University than his accomplishments as a fundraiser. (The man Booker T. Washington was not merely a great President and fundraiser for a historically black university such as Tuskegee University. He exhibited the two greatest 9-letter words: integrity and knowledge.) Arguably, his documented successes recording his fundraising activities involving his direct leadership and involvement are comparable to the greatest presidents in the history of all American higher education. Among the many letters documenting how he accomplished this-including but not limited to–good business practices, speeches, writings, selecting competent personnel, personal and professional ethics, fiscal management and utilizing in the late 19th Century what we now term, “tuition discounting” or “work study” to assist deserving students who worked in exchange for these “scholarships,” he offers an additional stratagem for his success: “My own experience convinces me that the easiest way to get money for any good work is to show that you are willing and able to perform the work for which the money is given.” Note the simplicity of Mr. Washington’s suggestion: Properly and effectively utilize the money for the purposes for which they were given. “Stewardship”-one of the greatest 11-words-is quite indispensable in fundraising. Booker T. Washington understood then what many are coming to understand now in 21st Century Philanthropic studies. Wealthy organizations, donors and corporations were made wealthy in part due to stewardship and contrary to popular-and often uninformed-sentiment about the work of university presidents and the work of fundraising, persons and entities are not required to give solely because they are asked. As successful stewards of their own resources and their own stakeholders themselves, they GIVE to what is GOOD. Further, those that give, first earned it to give it. For they have already learned the very principles of success, one of the greatest 7-letter words, that the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University suggests here. These persons and organizations are successful and they give to organizations that will utilize these resources to contribute to the institution’s own on-going, continuous success and improvement. And in this the centennial year (1915-2015) since the passing of Booker T. Washington, there is no better university to give to than Tuskegee University and her students-the sons and daughters of Mother Tuskegee and the sons and daughters of Booker.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 20, 2015 · 9:07 am
“My position in respect to the students and the public is peculiar, and I must see that everyone does the highest service in benefitting the students, and must get rid of any obstacle that prevents this result.” “March 26, 1895,” -Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
There is no clearer statement that ought to mark both the mission and vision, the tradition and trajectory, of any institution of higher learning-especially as evidenced here from the founding principal and president of Tuskegee Institute (University)-than one that has its first and foremost focus upon STUDENTS. Student success, student engagement, (parent)-student satisfaction within a university environment is akin to a business’s focus being squarely upon its customers. (Who would offer a different focus for where an institution of higher learning’s resources should be otherwise directed?) Any alternative suggestion flies squarely in the face of the work and function of a university and reveals far more about the individual who offers an alternative suggestion as opposed to the mission and vision of an institution. At many American institutions-except for the most exceptionally endowed ones-the institution’s primary revenue stream derives from the net tuition revenue received from its students. To be sure, faculty research and philanthropic giving also provide additional streams of revenue, but even here these opportunities are largely premised upon the business of educating students in a living-learning environment. For where there are no students, there is no university, and where there is no university there is no purpose. A university’s mission is to educate her students, and Mother Tuskegee is committed to educating her students-the sons and daughters of Booker.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 20, 2015 · 2:21 am
February 20, 2015 · 2:17 am
February 20, 2015 · 2:11 am
February 19, 2015 · 8:55 am
“I have often said to you that one of the best things that education can do for an individual is to teach that individual to get hold of what he wants, rather than to teach him how to commit to memory a number of facts in history or a number of names in geography. I wish you to feel that we can give you here orderliness of mind-I mean a trained mind-that will enable you to find dates in history or to put your finger on names in geography when you want them. I wish to give you an education that will enable you to construct rules in grammar and arithmetic for your-selves. That is the highest kind of training. But, after all, this kind of thing is not the end of education. What, then, do we mean by education? I would say that education is meant to give us an idea of truth. Whatever we get out of text books, whatever we get out of industry, whatever we get here and there from any sources, if we do not get the idea of truth at the end, we do not get education. I do not care how much you get out of history, or geography, or algebra, or literature, I do not care how much you have got out of all your text books:-unless you have got truth, you have failed in your purpose to be educated. Unless you get the idea of truth so pure that you cannot be false in anything, your education is a failure.”– Booker T. Washington, “A Sunday Evening Talk”
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Of the many truths the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University proffered in his many speeches, writings and correspondence, the following is perhaps the single most profound and difficult one to grasp: “Unless you get the idea of truth so pure that you cannot be false in anything, your education is a failure.” Now it may appear to the naysayer that Mr. Washington makes a rather prideful or arrogant assertion but C.S. Lewis’s idea that “perfect humility dispenses with modesty” rejects such an accusation. (“Humility” is the greatest 8-letter word and “Fearless” is the second greatest 8-letter word in succession with good reason.) To be clear, there is no man or woman who will have not had error or failure at some point in their vocational path or journey. Yet, Mr. Washington’s conception of “education” encompasses those who have erred and failed because a “truth so pure that you cannot be false in anything” permits a single man or woman to ascertain valuable and truthful lessons whether through triumph or tragedy. For this man or woman-the truly educated man or woman-never experiences “falsity [or failure] in anything” because he or she lives, learns and then leads others to wrest the valuable water of “knowledge”-the second greatest 9-letter word-from any dampening circumstance. Moreover, these men and women proceed undauntedly, unflinchingly and unwaveringly day-to-day, month-to-month and year-to-year to continuous and ongoing “success”-one of the greatest 7-letter words-without ever experiencing real “falsity” or “failure” in the truest sense of the words. For never can a man or woman who possesses and applies the sort of education Mr. Washington established at Tuskegee University can ever rightly be called “false” or a “failure” because a truly educated man or woman ultimately views success and failure rightly according to the greatest 8-letter words: “Humility” and “Fearless,” which again are the greatest 8-letter words in succession.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 18, 2015 · 11:01 am
“[To Gilchrist Stewart]…I will tell you in a word what we want in the position that you are now attempting to fill. We want a man who puts his whole soul in the work-who gives it his thought night and day-who can teach the theory of dairying in the class room, and who is not afraid after his teaching to put on his dairy suit and go into the stable and remain with the students while they are milking, and then go into the creamery and take hold in a whole souled way and show the students who to do their work. We want a man who is so much in love with the work that he thinks it is just as important for him to remain with students while they are milking and separating the milk as it is for the academic teacher to remain with his class while they are reciting arithmetic. We want a person whose soul is so deeply in love with his work that it is a pleasure for him to co-operate and obey orders, who looks so closely after every detail of his work that matters will not get so out of order that others will have to be constantly calling his attention to defects and to whom orders will not have to be continually repeated by the farm director or myself. We want one who is continually planning for the improvement and perfection of his work. This is what we want in this position and we can accept nothing less.”-“November 9, 1897,” Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Esteemed author and educator, Parker Palmer, writes the following regarding finding one’s purpose and passion in connection with one’s work: “It is not easy work rejoining soul and role.” And the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University, Booker T. Washington thoroughly outlines in this letter to Mr. Gilchrist Stewart the kind of employee he sought to assist him in his work at Tuskegee. Expounding upon his conception of “heart (calling), head (competence) and hands (capable),” Mr. Washington wanted someone to “take hold in a whole souled way,” and “whose soul is deeply in love with his work.”
While Mr. Washington’s passage needs no additional commentary, and one might argue that he offers a 19th century notion of work, we are able to glean two important lessons for the 21st century from his remarks to Mr. Stewart. First, he wanted someone “who gives [work] his thought night and day.” Now, there are a great many employees whose work ends as soon as the bell rings, yet there are some who give constant thought and deliberation to how their work might be improved and made better. To be sure, work-life balance dictates prudence in these matters. Notwithstanding, the student, scholar, professor, staff member and administrator who is constantly turning about in their head how to make things better will likely become the person who surpasses those whose work is done at the close of the class period or the business day. (For this man or woman is working while others are talking or sleeping, and when they become successful, it is only a surprise to those who do not know the supreme value of works as opposed to words.) Second, Mr. Washington wanted someone “who looks so closely after every detail of his work…whom orders will not have to be continually repeated…[and] one who is continually planning for the improvement and perfection of his work.” Herein lies the (3) chief descriptors of any successful man or woman at their craft: 1. They look closely after the details. Contrary to popular opinion, “it does take all of that” to become a man or woman whose work transcends any boundary. Attention to the most minute of details is a characteristic of excellence that is oft-times avoided because it is perceived as additional work 2. They do not need to be told repeatedly what to do. If a supervisor must spend his or her time repeatedly issuing the same instructions and expectations to those within their charge, then they might rightly do the work themselves. On the other hand, if a supervisor can issue a general set of expectations and instructions and never return to the person except when absolutely necessary it enables the supervisor to attend to their own duties and not the duties of others. 3. They are continually planning for improvement and perfection in their work. Note, one will never arrive at perfection which is precisely why an institution and its employees must be in a constant state of “continuous improvement.” It is a poor employee or organization that rests upon past successes or achievement. The best employees and organizations work constantly to achieve and do MORE and MORE. Success-true success-begets more success and, most importantly, continued success. (Success is the 3rd greatest 7-letter word after “purpose” and “passion.”) Every successful man or woman wants to work in a culture of success. And such success is both the tradition and trajectory of Tuskegee (Institute) University.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 17, 2015 · 8:54 am
Dear Gen’l [Armstrong]: Soon after our conversation in Phila.[delphia] I arrived here and found a letter announcing that the Misses Mason had given us $7000. Faith [Washington italics] and hard work [Washington italics] I find will accomplish anything. Yours &c” -B.T. Washington, November 26, 1885
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
We all tend to misconstrue notions of the importance of “faith” and “hard work.” For some, “faith” is the single most important attribute-absent any personal diligence, integrity, work and sacrifice-all of which are critical to achievement and accomplishment. And, for others, “hard work” is the all-encompassing personal quality that is sufficient for all things achieved in life. However, Mr. Washington suggests that both are required, and our daily lives suggest the same. There are a great many pursuits that we have diligently “worked hard” towards that have simply not yielded expected results. And there are those pursuits where “faith” exercised towards an expressed desire was all that one could do under the circumstances, and it produced unexpected success. (And such “faith” was more times than not unmerited.) All the same, the two qualities listed here in Mr. Washington’s letter-“faith” and “hard work”-are the highest ideals in daily accomplishment leading towards long-term success. For our words of sincere desire (faith) must always work together with our works of sincere effort (hard work) because when daily difficulties push the one, the other stands ready to push back.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 16, 2015 · 1:23 pm
February 16, 2015 · 9:01 am
“In the early days of freedom, when education was a new thing, the boy who went away to school had a very natural human ambition to be able to come back home in order to delight and astonish the old folks with the new and strange things that he had learned. If he could speak a few words in some strange tongue that his parents had never heard before, or read a few sentences out of a book with strange and mysterious characters, he was able to make them very proud and happy. There was a constant temptation therefore for schools and teachers to keep everything connected with education in a sort of twilight realm of the mysterious and supernatural. Quite unconsciously they created in the minds of their pupils the impression that a boy or a girl who had passed through certain educational forms and ceremonies had been initiated into some sort of secret knowledge that was inaccessible to the rest of the world. Connected with this was the notion that because a man had passed through these educational forms and ceremonies he had somehow become a sort of superior being set apart from the rest of the world […]“-Booker T. Washington, _My Larger Education__(1911)
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
While the term “esoteric” is not entirely pejorative-it can mean that members within a certain profession or group understand and converse sharing many of the same assumptions or terminology-it is sometimes used to denote exclusivity meaning that information and knowledge is understood by a chosen few. In the present passage, the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University speaks to this latter formulation. Here he laments that often education-the act of teaching and learning-resembles the closing off of knowledge from others as opposed to its wide dissemination among many. Mr. Washington’s idea is that such knowledge ought to have relevancy and application for others beyond the sole possessor of this knowledge. Imagine that. The idea of education should not be exclusive to a limited few but should enlighten and have impact upon others in beneficial ways. Thus, not only are the recipients all the better for having received this knowledge but also the giver of this knowledge is made better. For this man or woman has completed the complete cycle of education. First you learn, master and apply for yourself. (It is is a poor teacher whose words do not resemble his or her works.) Then you proceed to teach others. And such an education can be found at many institutions of higher learning including Tuskegee Institute (University).
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 13, 2015 · 8:51 am
“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: “I created an empire in my thoughts long before 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.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 12, 2015 · 9:22 am
February 12, 2015 · 9:06 am
“In my contact with people I find that, as a rule, it is only the little, narrow people who live for themselves, who never read good books, who do not travel, who never open up their souls in a way to permit them to come into contact with other souls-with the great outside world. No man whose vision is bounded by colour can come into contact with what is highest and best in the world.” -Booker T. Washington, (1901) Up From Slavery
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Try as we might, there is really no way to get around what the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University suggests about parochial (narrow-minded), unlearned and partisan persons whose experiences and perspectives are limited to one race or another. “Breadth” and “Depth” is the greatest 5 and 7-Letter combination, and Booker T. Washington suggests that the most well-read men and women are also the most well-bred men and women-born again through the breadth and depth found in books. Now, “vision”-the greatest 6-letter word and perhaps the greatest in all of the English language-requires applicability that is neither “bounded” or constrained “by colour”. Men and women like Booker T. Washington, Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King, Jr.-even Cyrus “the Great,” the greatest historical leader this writer has read and studied-whose “vision” out of necessity could not be bound by a kind of narrowness and provincialism based upon color. These men and women needed, relied upon and facilitated a host of persons and organizations to unite to support a common vision ranging from Tuskegee University to the Civil Rights Movement. Moreover, “leader,” in this writer’s opinion, is the second greatest 6-letter word, and a leader must articulate a “vision” so broad and deep that its applicability reaches far and wide and it’s dissemination not only cannot be confined but will increase and multiply. Everyone without respect of color can connect to such vision and cultivating such vision comes through both reading and reading well. (Hear this again, what one consistently reads, one will consistently become.) And if a man or woman (or Tuskegee University student) would ever seek to become a “visionary leader,” then they need read no further than Tuskegee University’s founding principal and president-the man, Booker T. Washington.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 11, 2015 · 8:48 am
“It seems to me that there never was a time in the history of the country when those interested in education should the more earnestly consider to what extent the mere acquiring of the ability to read and write, the mere acquisition of a knowledge of literature and science, makes men producers, lovers of labour, independent, honest, unselfish, and, above all, good. Call education by what name you please, if it fails to bring about these results among the masses, it falls short of its highest end…How I wish that from the most cultured and highly endowed university in the great North to the humblest log cabin school-house in Alabama, we could burn, as it were, into the hearts and heads of all that usefulness, that service to our brother, is the supreme end of education.”-Booker T. Washington, (1899) The Future of the American Negro
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Cornel West suggests the following about the “quantity” of educated persons in the present generation as opposed to the “quality” of the past generation in his best-selling work, (1994) Race Matters: “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…How do we account for the absence of the Frederick Douglasses, Sojourner Truths, Martin Luther King, Jrs., Malcolm Xs, and Fannie Lou Hamers in our time?” And perhaps the answer to Professor West’s rhetorical query resides in what the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University wrote in the above passage: “…usefulness, that service to our brother, is the supreme end of education.” (Here again, Washington’s Tuskegee idea was not one based solely upon the work of one’s “hands”. Rather, the complete configuration of his conception of education-as ought be for all of education-was that of Heart (Character)-Head (Competence)-Hands (Capable). And once again, the little-discussed and deeply personal notion of the individual “heart” in modern education from which the “service” of the head and hands flow is likely why the “quality…has been so low.” The heart (character) is the seat of all an individual’s ambitions, ideas, motives and foci, and if the heart is not rooted in the idea of genuine and authentic service to mankind without respect to color, then the number of degrees, the name of the universities or the notoriety of the career matters little. And this is precisely why the “education”-not simply degree-received at Tuskegee University revolves around the university’s motto: Knowledge-Leadership-Service.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 10, 2015 · 8:55 am
“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.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 9, 2015 · 10:21 am
February 9, 2015 · 9:47 am
“Mrs. Rumbley: When I made arrangements with you to return this year and take the present work, of course I did not mean that you would be retained in the position throughout the year regardless of the way you perform the service. When I said to you a few days ago that no change would be made to interfere with your plans it was on the supposition that you would do the work properly. When you returned from Mrs. Adams’ I had a conversation with you in which I told you plainly that the teachers department went more smoothly while you were away, because Miss Jones gave more personal attention to the work. You seemed to see the point and promised to make it go more smoothly. Since then you have not given the attention to the work that I thought you would. For example, you are almost never present to overlook and see to the preparation of breakfast…Your work needs to be systematized. This can be done by making a study of what will please the teachers. The teachers do not complain of the quality but it is the way the food is prepared. I still think that you can make a success of your work but in order to do this you must become interested. In order to make it a success I shall do all in my power to help you in any reasonable way. Yours.”
-Booker T. Washington, [Tuskegee, Ala.] October 10th 1888
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
In addition to his other more externally visible tasks of speaking, writing and advancing and developing the institution, Mr. Washington was also responsible for the internal management of personnel. And this rather lengthy excerpt taken from Mr. Washington’s correspondence to an employee at Tuskegee Institute, who served in the capacity as a cook, is an example of strong yet supportive management of personnel. First, he makes it plain that retention “in the position” was not “regardless of the way you perform the service,” and that the underlining premise of the employee’s appointment was “that you would do the work properly.” (Positions and appointments are rarely perpetual but are contingent upon performance.) Second, Mr. Washington had a direct and honest conversation regarding his assessment of the work. (He did not avoid being earnest with the employee for Mr. Washington was managing a major institutional enterprise comprised of many interchangeable functions. The function-not feelings-is of paramount importance in the successful management of an organization.) Third, he provided an example of what was not being done properly. (It was neither rumor, second-hand observation nor innuendo but a tangible and objective example that could be readily observed.) Fourth, he provided a recommendation to the employee. He recommends that the work should be “systematized” and that a “study” of the employee’s constituents-namely the teachers-would reveal a possible way for solving the problem. (It is important for managers to not simply point to the problem but to provide a solution as well. And what better recommendation than to go to the constituency group who roundly described the services performed as a problem.) Lastly, he provides a final word of encouragement and a willingness to provide additional help. (Though the very best leaders do not avoid tough conversations about performance, it is imperative to provide a sense of hope, help and encouragement to employees who instead of retreating may actually re-double their efforts to set the matter aright.) In the end, Mr. Washington’s correspondence provides an insight into leadership that is rarely seen because of its sensitive nature but is absolutely necessary for managing an outcomes oriented organization in the 19th, 20th or 21st Century.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 7, 2015 · 8:56 pm
February 7, 2015 · 2:00 pm
February 6, 2015 · 8:48 am
“[I] stuck to my old line of argument, urging the education of the hand, the head and the heart.” – Booker T. Washington, “My Larger Education,” (1911)
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
While there is significant historic disagreement with Mr. Washington’s philosophical orientation toward ‘vocational’ education, what is often omitted in such discussions is his overarching sense of the term “vocation”. The word is derived from its Latin origin, ‘vocare,’ and it means “to call”. Between the 16th to 19th centuries, ‘vocation’ within a given profession was commonly understood as “calling”. “Vocation” or “Calling” is inclusive of much more than work involving the “the education of the hand,” which undoubtedly was a Washingtonian emphasis in the late 19th and early 20th Century. Notwithstanding, a “heart” enflamed with a personal sense of passion and integrity toward one’s work, a “head” filled with the requisite knowledge for one’s field and, lastly, “hands” that are ready and willing to translate both “heart” and “head” into practical experience within a specified field are the sum whole of Mr. Washington’s notion of “heart,” “head” and “hands”. Thus, Heart (Character) + Head (Competence) + Hands (Capability) = (W)holistic Calling.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 5, 2015 · 9:02 am
“In order to be successful in any kind of undertaking, I think the main thing is for one to grow to the point where he completely forgets himself; that is, to lose himself in a great cause. In proportion as one loses himself in the way, in the same degree does he get the highest happiness out of his work.” -Booker T. Washington, “Up From Slavery,” 1901
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
One can find no greater joy than to serve a cause higher than one’s self-particularly when the cause is associated with one’s work. And it would be very difficult to find a historic figure whose life and work better embodies this notion than Booker T. Washington and the work of building Tuskegee Institute (University). Consider the circumstances of his arrival in Tuskegee from Hampton Institute. An abandoned hen house served as his first classroom; His students possessed varying levels of literacy, and above all, he had few resources to purchase additional property for the institute’s growth-pawning his own watch in repayment of an early loan. And while he might have easily thought of himself and abandoned the entire enterprise, he did precisely the opposite. Mr. Washington “completely [forgot] himself” to serve a “great cause.” Serving a cause greater than personal preference often leads to the kind of success that benefits not only a singular person but both people and purposes. For careers fill pockets; Careers linked to callings fulfill people; and fulfilled people achieve great purposes.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 4, 2015 · 8:55 am
“[Mr. Hutt][…] I do not think that you are doing yourself justice here and I hope you will excuse me if I speak to you rather plainly. I very much hope that you will be able to remain here until the end of the year with credit to yourself and profit to the school. The main trouble is that you do not push ahead; you wait too much for somebody to direct and lead you. You ought to see, it seems to be me, the difference between your work and that of Mr. Taylor, who has had about the same course of training as yourself. Mr. Taylor is constantly leading in his work, working in season and out of season. Instead of having someone to lead him he is constantly making suggestions as to what should be done […] You may think that I speak to you very plainly; but it is a good deal better to speak to you this way now than wait until the end of the term and say to you that we do not wish your services longer. I hope very much that we can keep you in the employ of the school, and shall do so if your prove worthy, but certainly if you do not, you cannot expect to be re-employed next term […] I do hope that between now and that time you will put your department in shape to be inspected, but in order for you to do yourself justice it is going to require hard and constant work on your part, and you will have to apply yourself in a way that you have never done before.” – “February 3, 1894,” Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
The “Tuskegee Machine” was no mere designation describing Booker T. Washington’s and Tuskegee University’s political and economic strength across the nation. Instead, it also referred to the systemic administrative and management philosophy of its founding principal and president, and his insistence upon the effectiveness and efficiency of every function within the organization. And this letter to Mr. Will Eugene Hutt is no exception. First, Mr. Washington-as he does so in all of his writings and speeches-“speaks…plainly.” All too often hearers attribute rudeness to plain speech, frankness and honesty when hearing truths that are unpleasant to the recipient. Second, Mr. Washington did not take the road most often travelled in leadership. Such leadership avoids difficult discussions and makes decisions in the dark. Mr. Washington might have easily hid his concerns-wait him out-and grant this employee no opportunity to correct the deficiencies within his department. What one expects, one must inspect, and it is clear that Mr. Washington was not sitting on the mountain top of “Tuskegee Machine.” Rather, he was a very real participant in the affairs of Tuskegee Institute (University) to make the pointed suggestions he offers to Mr. Hutt. Third, he provides an example of an employee who does not wait to be “push[ed] ahead” or “for somebody to direct and lead” them. To the contrary, Mr. Taylor, another employee in the same rank and class, was value-added to Mr. Washington. He took initiative “constantly making suggestions as to what should be done.” (One could rightly criticize Mr. Washington if he did not point to any employees who fulfilled his expectation but instead he provided an example to Mr. Hutt-one of his peers and colleagues-to demonstrate that the expectations he had for employees could not only be received but also achieved.) Lastly, he reminded Mr. Hutt that he had not exercised his right to remove him but instead was speaking plainly and frankly to encourage him, perhaps even to motivate him. And he did so with the understanding that Mr. Hutt might have never had such expectations, for he completed his correspondence with a parting admonition that “it is going to require hard and constant work on your part, and you will have to apply yourself in a way that you have never done before.” Perhaps Mr. Hutt had never had such a supervisor provide such clear expectations? Perhaps Mr. Hutt’s previous supervisors merely discussed his poor performance with others as opposed to Mr. Hutt directly? Perhaps Mr. Hutt responded and eventually became one of the greatest employees in the annals of Tuskegee Institute (University)? Whatever Mr. Hutt’s response might have been, it is clear that he fully understood Mr. Washington’s expectations of him, which is what real leadership looks like: Transparent, Consistent, Communicative and Collaborative.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 3, 2015 · 10:15 am
“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. 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.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
February 2, 2015 · 8:42 am
“I remember one young man in particular who graduated from Yale University and afterward took a post-graduate course at Harvard, and who began his career by delivering a series of lectures on “The Mistakes of Booker T. Washington.” It was not long, however, before he found that he could not live continuously on my mistakes. Then he discovered that in all his long schooling he had not fitted himself to perform any kind of useful and productive labour. After he had failed in several other directions he appealed to me, and I tried to find something for him to do. It is pretty hard, however, to help a young man who has started wrong.” -Booker T. Washington, (1911) My Larger Education
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. offers the following concerning men and women whose actions are similar to the young man described in Booker T. Washington’s aforementioned passage: “Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way – and the fools know it.” And the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University provides several important lessons about both the young man-as well as all men and women of his ilk-who seek to establish their name and reputation on the basis of disparaging the name and reputation of others-particularly those whose accomplishments they will only be brought in close proximity to only upon the basis of “controversy.” First, Mr. Washington never ever mentions this young man’s name. While this unidentified young man knew full well that persons might give him a hearing-not upon the basis of his own person and accomplishments-but based upon the person and accomplishments of his topic, “The Mistakes of Booker T. Washington,” identifying or responding to this young man provided not a single, solitary benefit to Mr. Washington and Tuskegee. Second, Mr. Washington understood that the young man’s premises were flawed from the onset, and it is the clearest telltale example of Mr. Washington’s oft-repeated phrase, “Let examples answer.” To be sure, the actions of no man or woman are all “good” or all “bad.” (This is naïve, simplistic and child-like thinking.) Yet, in the face of the clear, overwhelming and documentable evidence that testify to the good that Mr. Washington had done locally, regionally and nationally, this young man titled his lecture series according to what he perceived were the mistakes of Mr. Washington. Here again, what one consistently reads and hears, one will consistently become. And this young man ought to have taken heed to how and to what he was hearing for it ultimately led to what he had become. (For this young man’s attempt to categorize and confine a man of Booker T. Washington eminence and accomplishments to a series of perceived mistakes that his limited training, limited knowledge and limited life experience identified did nothing but demonstrate his failure to understand the significance of the (2) greatest 9-letter words and the single, most dangerous 9-letter word: 1. “Integrity” 2. “Knowledge” 3. “Ignorance;”) Finally, we should consider Mr. Washington’s demonstration of another one of his famous aphorisms: “I let no man drag me down so low as to make me hate him.” The very same young man who sought to disparage and defame Mr. Washington later sought him for assistance, and Mr. Washington “tried to find something for him to do.” (This dynamic needs no additional commentary.) Yet what is deserving of additional commentary is that this young man might have spent his time and work writing, lecturing and building his own legacy and life worth reading as opposed to seeking to denigrate another’s whose legacy and life of building Tuskegee (Institute) University spanned 34 years (1881-1915) and remains and is read to this very day in this the centennial year since his passing (1915-2015).
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
January 30, 2015 · 8:58 am
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.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
January 29, 2015 · 8:47 am
[To Booker T. Washington, From George Washington Carver]
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, 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 one may view as the “paralysis of analysis,” another may view as “climbing the speculative ladder [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-not their feelings. Their foremost priority was to develop the fiscal, intellectual and knowledge-based educational prowess at Tuskegee University that would come to be recognized both nationally and internationally as the “Tuskegee Machine.” In this, the centennial year since the passing of Booker T. Washington (1915-2015), we reflect upon both the words and works of these Tuskegee luminaries as they remind us of what made Tuskegee (Institute) University great. A mission and a vision, a “tradition” and a “trajectory,” led by one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known, Booker Taliaferro Washington.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
January 28, 2015 · 9:14 am
[To George Washington Carver]…I can see no reason why we cannot get some results from the geese and ducks. With the large number of geese and ducks on hand we ought to have two or three hundred young ones of each kind, but as it is we have almost nothing. Certainly we are not being troubled with the sore head, neither should there be any trouble about the eggs of the geese and ducks. I think what is most needed is for you to make an earnest effort to master the incubators so as to get some young fowls out of the eggs. Nobody in the South has such an excellent chance to show what can be done in raising poultry as you have right now at Tuskegee, and I hope that you can bring about results. The weather is unusually cool, and I am sure that you can with safety use the incubators up until the 20th or 25th of June.
You will remember that it was at your request that we stopped buying eggs from a distance. A good many people have the idea that we are not able to put in practice what is taught in the classroom in the agricultural teaching. Here is an excellent chance for you to show that you cannot only give instruction in the class room in poultry-raising, but you can actually get results in the poultry yard…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. Yours truly, -Booker T. Washington, May 2, 1909
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Even world-renowned Tuskegee (Institute) University professor, George Washington Carver, was not beyond the founding principal and president’s reach when it came to his preoccupation with “success” and “results.” And Mr. Washington offered the following prescription for the age-old malady of explaining why something could not be done: “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.” Although the above excerpt is taken from a rather lengthy correspondence from Washington to Carver, Mr. Washington essentially encourages Professor Carver to spend less time reporting, explaining and contemplating the reasons why the “geese” and “ducks” are not producing sufficient offspring. Rather, he wrote the following to Professor Carver: “I confess that the report does not interest me over-much. What I want you to do is to devise some means by which you can get fowls. These reports which simply discuss matters pro and con do not help your getting of young fowl.” To be sure, contemplation and analysis has its place. (This is especially evidenced in the extraordinary accomplishments of Professor Carver, which were largely done here on the campus of Tuskegee.) Notwithstanding, there is a great deal to learn from Washington’s administrative suggestion, which is akin to Andrew Jackson’s adage: “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.” The professor-turned-president (Washington) offered this proverbial piece of administrative wisdom to the professor (Carver) who elected to remain a professor after rebuffing several overtures from Washington to join administration through their long tenure working together. In the end, we now are able to celebrate in this the centennial year since the passing of Booker T. Washington (1915-2015)-not one or the other but both the accomplishments of President Washington and Professor Carver here at Tuskegee University.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
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January 27, 2015 · 9:22 am
“A person never gains anything in real power, in real lasting influence except as he remains always himself, always natural, always simple-and whenever he departs from that attitude, yielding to the temptation to imitate somebody else, of something else, to be that which he is not, in that same degree he loses his influence, he loses his power, and his strength.”-Booker T. Washington, “A SundayEvening Talk, “January 10, 1909
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests in his essay, “The American Scholar,” the following concerning individuals and their originality: “Is it not the chief disgrace in the world…not to yield that peculiar fruit which each man was created to bear [?]” And the founding principal and president of Tuskegee University, Booker T. Washington, reminds students about this all too forgotten principle in one of hisSunday evening talks. In sum, Washington and Emerson both bid students the following: Be Organic. Like fruit and trees, individuals come in all sizes and shapes. Moreover, they all serve different purposes. Still further, individuals have been born in different soils of environment, culture, creed and ethnicity for the singular purpose of fulfilling the distinct function they were each designed to fulfill in the earth. Each person is designed “to yield that peculiar fruit which each man [or woman] was created to bear.” And when a person, like a particular tree that was designed to produce a particular “fruit,” “departs” from its central purpose in life, “in that same degree he loses his influence, he loses his power, and his strength.” Any student, like any fruit-bearing tree, that is not developed or cultivated to produce that which he or she alone can produce cannot fulfill their “purpose” and tap into the requisite “passion” to succeed in their given career or still better “calling.” And Tuskegee University students-and all students situated anywhere in this increasingly global and knowledge-based economy-need look no further than the example of Booker Taliaferro Washington who Tuskegee University celebrates in this the centennial year since his passing (1915-2015). For this man’s life and work embodied and continues to embody the greatest 7-letter words in succession: Purpose, Passion and Calling.
January 26, 2015 · 8:43 am
“I do not say you should not use them, should not posses 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 person is a third facet that can never be taken from the person in back of a position. More importantly, these facets are easily transferrable from position to position, unit to unit or organization-to-organization, which is 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 celebrate 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).
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
January 25, 2015 · 11:20 am
January 25, 2015 · 11:19 am
January 23, 2015 · 9:41 am
Dear Mr. Logan: War now seems sure. Buy nothing except absolute necessities. Live on the farms in every way as far as you can. Yours sincerely. “April 5, 1898,” -Booker T. Washington
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Abigail Adams wrote the following: “Great necessities call forth great leaders.” And the founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University, Booker T. Washington was such a leader. Mr. Washington’s communications to his modern-day equivalent of a chief financial officer, Mr. Warren Logan, was likely in reference to America’s 3-month long war in 1898 with Spain. As evidenced in an earlier letter, Booker T. Washington’s far-reaching political connections into the halls of government, provided him a tip on the impending war, and Mr. Washington took immediate action to respond. Like a good leader, he prepared and planned, erring on the side of caution and prudence. He did not know that the war would last only 3 months, but prepared as if it would last for 3 years. He cut spending, and he urged Mr. Logan to rely upon Tuskegee University’s own resources-its own farms-“in every way as far as you can.” For Mr. Washington well understood that “great leaders” in times of “great necessities” focus upon “absolute necessities.”
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
January 22, 2015 · 10:19 am
“I have great faith in the power and influence of facts.” -Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery (1901)
Presidential Commentary by Dr. Brian Johnson
Men and women who possess leadership responsibilities beyond their own persons would be hard pressed to find any better ally or supporter than facts. And men and women of the ilk of Booker T. Washington, founding principal and president of Tuskegee (Institute) University, marshaled both favorable or unfavorable facts to similar ends. It is simply not true that one should keep one’s eyes open to favorable facts while closing one’s eyes to unfavorable facts. Mr. Washington’s penchant for earnestness, frankness and directness in his communications to donors and external constituencies always commingled both favorable and unfavorable facts. As to favorable facts, one ought always communicate what the organization does well in a clear, documentable and evidentiary fashion. (An outcomes-oriented organization need not rely upon fables when facts are present.) On the other hand, communicating unfavorable facts is equally important. Whether one concedes it or not, everyone knows when something “is not right.” A plain statement and admission of an organization’s current environment is one of the clearest telltale signs of organizational integrity. (Hear again, “integrity” is the single greatest 9-letter word.) For Mr. Washington did not merely state that all things were always favorable. (Why would anyone seek outside help if all things, as they currently exist, are favorable? Any petition for aid immediately pronounces the opposite. For no one asks for help when there is no need for it.) Instead, he oft-times made a plain statement of the organization’s current environment while positively projecting its target environment. In this regard all successful outside entities have empathy towards such an organization because a right understanding of one’s current environment with a view towards its target environment necessitates a commingling of both facts that are favorable and unfavorable.
Brian L. Johnson, Ph.D.
7th President, Tuskegee University
#TrustTheTuskegeeTrajectory #TrustTheTuskegeeTradition
