I was also painfully conscious of the fact that, while I must be true to my own race in my utterances, I had it in my power to make such an ill-timed address as would result in preventing any similar invitation being extended to a black man again for years to come.
Washington describes the heavy burden of responsibility he felt to represent his race effectively without jeopardizing future opportunities for Black speakers.
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More from Booker T. Washington
If my life in the past has meant anything in the lifting up of my people and the bringing about of better relations between your race and mine, I assure you from this day it will mean doubly more.
This country demands that every race shall measure itself by the American standard.
This problem Harvard University is solving, not by bringing itself down, but by bringing the masses up.
What is equally important, they are exhibiting a degree of common sense and self-control which is causing better relations to exist between the races, and is causing the Southern white man to learn to believe in the value of educating the…