Description:

Booker T. Washington
Tuskegee, AL, May 16, 1903
Booker T. Washington TLS to Kansas Senator re: "the matter of race relations"
TLS

A typed letter signed "Booker T. Washington" as Principal of the Tuskegee Institute, addressed to Kansas Senator Joseph R. Burton. 1p, measuring 8.75" x 11", Tuskegee, AL, dated May 16, 1903. Within, Washington forwards Burton a series of printed material on "the matter of race relations", and recommends Virginia's Hampton Institute for information related to black-owned property. Exhibits scattered handling marks to outside margins, with flattened letter folds and minor edge wear present. Overall, very good.

In full:

"Replying to your letter of some days ago I beg to say that the Hampton Institute can send you direct information as to the amount of taxable property held by the Negroes of Virginia and surrounding states.
Under separate cover today I am sending you a batch of printed matter, including my address before the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences last February, which will set forth quite at length my own views in the matter of race relations, etc. I very much hope from some of these pamphlets you will be able to get serviceable information. In this connection I would also suggest my books, 'The Future of the American Negro' and 'Up from Slavery,' which perhaps you have already read."

Born into slavery in Hale's Ford, Virginia, Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was freed when U.S. troops reached the area during the Civil War. As a young man, he showed considerable academic promise, and worked his way through college. By 1881, the 25-year-old Washington was appointed head of what would become one of the most important historically Black colleges in the United States, Alabama's Tuskegee Institute. Under his 34-year-long tenure at Tuskegee, the teacher's college raised a huge endowment and produced thousands of highly qualified Black instructors.

Joseph Ralph Burton (1852-1923) was a lawyer and United States Senator from the state of Kansas. He served in the Kansas House of Representatives throughout the 1880s and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1901, but was later convicted of accepting bribes in 1905. He appealed twice to the Supreme Court although the judgment was ultimately upheld and he resigned from office, making Burton the first Senator to be convicted of a crime.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.75" x 11"
  • Medium: TLS

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