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326

Booker T. Washington

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:0.00 USD
Booker T. Washington

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Auction Date:2010 Apr 14 @ 10:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Unsigned handwritten manuscript, entitled “Much Ado About Nothing,” on the reverse of two pages of Methodist Episcopal Church letterhead, 7.5 x 10, no date, but circa June 1906. Washington writes, in full: “A set of Afroamericans got a provision in the Rail Road rate bill providing that accommodations in the Rail Road should be eaqual [sic] for all races, there was little difficulty in getting this into the bill. Another set [of] Afroamericans got into their heads that there should be no such provision in the bill and they ask their senator to take it out it was done, that was all. It was put into the bill because the senator thought the Afroamericans wanted [it] it was taken out because the senator thought the AfroAmericans wanted it out. that was all. there is no use for any hysteria or indulging in any [of] the usual Boston crazy business in connection with the matter. In our opinion it matters little whether the provision is in our [sic, or] out, so far as its affecting our interest. For example there is a law in the District of Columbia, the old Civil Rights bill, which forbids discrimination in hotels restaurants, theatres but every body knows that these laws amount to nothing.” Cloth matted and framed with a portrait of Washington, two engraved plaques bearing the text of the manuscript, another plaque of the manuscript’s background, and a three-dimensional metallic bust of Washington, to an overall size of 33.5 x 31.5. In fine condition, with intersecting folds and three vertical ink lines to second page of manuscript.

Here, Washington is referring to the Warner-Foraker Amendment to the Hepburn Railroad Rate Bill, a 1906 piece of legislation sponsored by Representative William P. Hepburn of Iowa. Designed to permit “equal” railroad passenger facilities for blacks, the legislation was, simply, continued segregation. Initially supported by Washington, who went so far as to hire a lobbyist to support the measure, he quickly became aware of the bill’s insensitive language and implied racial exclusion after “another set [of] Afroamericans got into their heads that there should be no such provision in the bill.” Upon opposing the measure, Washington concedes here that either way, the law would have done nothing to improve the lives of blacks in America, as such Civil Rights laws “amount to nothing.” Despite his dogged activism, the educator’s quest for equal rights would take nearly another 60 years before becoming a reality. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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