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60-718: The National Negro Business League ( NNBL ) was an American organization founded in Boston in 1900 by Booker T. Washington to promote the interests of African-American businesses . The mission and main goal of the National Negro Business League was "to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro." It was recognized as "composed of negro men and women who have achieved success along business lines". It grew rapidly with 320 chapters in 1905 and more than 600 chapters in 34 states in 1915. In 1966,

120-515: A white man who resided on a neighboring plantation. The man played no financial or emotional role in Washington's life. From his earliest years, Washington was known simply as "Booker", with no middle or surname, in the practice of the time. His mother, her relatives and his siblings struggled with the demands of slavery. He later wrote: I cannot remember a single instance during my childhood or early boyhood when our entire family sat down to

180-918: A boycott. Booker T. Washington felt that there was a need for African Americans to build an economic network and allow that to be a catalyst for change and social improvement. Also, extant press releases indicate that "the League organized the National Negro Business Service to 'help . . the Negro business men of the country solve their merchandising and advertising problems,' promoted advertising in Negro newspapers and magazines, and 'influenced . . . national advertisers to use Negro publications in reaching this importantly valuable group of people with its tremendous purchasing power.'" The organization inspired Robert R. Church Sr. to open Solvent Savings Bank in Memphis, Tennessee in 1906. In 1927,

240-450: A cashier), N. B. Smith, Arthur H. Parker, and Thomas W. Walker. The board of directors included Reverend J. I. Jackson, F. S. Hayzel, and Reverend J. Q. A. Wilhite. Pettiford was the leader of the efforts to establish the bank but wished to continue his position in the church and not be bank president. However, the directors told him that it was necessary for the community's confidence in the bank that he be its president and he reluctantly took

300-620: A dominant role in black politics, winning wide support in the black community of the South and among more liberal whites. Washington wrote an autobiography, Up from Slavery , in 1901, which became a major text. In that year, he dined with Theodore Roosevelt at the White House , which was the first time a black person publicly met the president on equal terms. After an illness, he died in Tuskegee, Alabama on November 14, 1915. Washington

360-415: A former plantation to be developed as the permanent site of the campus. Under his direction, his students literally built their own school: making bricks, constructing classrooms, barns and outbuildings; and growing their own crops and raising livestock; both for learning and to provide for most of the basic necessities. Both men and women had to learn trades as well as academics. The Tuskegee faculty used all

420-622: A major part of the photography industry. These individuals and many other wealthy men and women funded his causes, including Hampton and Tuskegee institutes. He also gave lectures to raise money for the school. On January 23, 1906, he lectured at Carnegie Hall in New York in the Tuskegee Institute Silver Anniversary Lecture . He spoke along with prominent orators of the day, including Mark Twain , Joseph Hodges Choate , and Robert Curtis Ogden ; it

480-546: A respected Black journalist, Ralph Waldo Tyler was elected as the first National Organizer of the NNBL. Tyler's role was to travel throughout the Southern United States and document the state of negro businesses and encourage enrollment in the NNBL. After the death of Booker T. Washington in 1915, the League was headed by his successor at Tuskegee, Robert Russa Moton . Albon L. Holsey, an executive at Tuskegee,

540-463: A school established in Virginia to educate freedmen and their descendants, where he also worked as a janitor to pay for his studies. Washington arrived to campus with very little money; and his entrance exam was to clean a room. Upon graduating from Hampton at age 19, Washington briefly returned home to West Virginia. He later attended Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C. in 1878. In 1881,

600-481: A stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper—the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After the reading we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this

660-911: The 1896 Republican National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri and supported William McKinley . In 1895 he wrote Divinity in Wedlock about Christian marriage. In 1899 he was a predominant delegate at the annual meeting of the National Afro-American Council in Chicago led by Alexander Walters . In the late 1890s, Pettiford and other pastors petitioned the city to form the first public high school for African Americans in Birmingham called Industrial High School . The school opened in September 1900 with Arthur H. Parker principal in

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720-481: The Emancipation Proclamation as U.S. troops occupied their region. Booker was thrilled by the formal day of their emancipation in early 1865: As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted later into the night. Most of the verses of the plantation songs had some reference to freedom.... [S]ome man who seemed to be

780-664: The Jim Crow segregation and the disenfranchisement of Black voters in the South. Furthermore, he supported racial uplift , but secretly also supported court challenges to segregation and to restrictions on voter registration. Black activists in the North, led by W. E. B. Du Bois , disagreed with him and opted to set up the NAACP to work for political change. After his death in 1915, he came under heavy criticism for accommodating white supremacy , despite his claims that his long-term goal

840-1075: The National Negro Bar Association , the National Association of Negro Insurance Men , the National Negro Retail Merchants' Association , the National Association of Negro Real Estate Dealers , and the National Negro Finance Corporation . The National Negro Bankers Association was organized at a meeting of the League in 1906 by Birmingham's William R. Pettiford . Booker T. Washington Ernest Davidson Washington Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915)

900-499: The Spanish–American War , President William McKinley and most of his cabinet visited Booker Washington. By his death in 1915, Tuskegee had grown to encompass more than 100 well equipped buildings, roughly 1,500 students, 200 faculty members teaching 38 trades and professions, and an endowment of approximately $ 2 million (~$ 43.6 million in 2023). Washington helped develop other schools and colleges. In 1891 he lobbied

960-682: The Baptist religion and on August 3, 1868 he was baptized by Rev. Ezekiel Horton in Salisbury, North Carolina . He took the place of clerk at the Pleasant Grove church and on July 4, 1869 he married Mary Jane Farley, daughter of Joseph Farley, but she died on March 8, 1870. He remarried to Jennie Powell on July 24, 1873, but she died September 5, 1874. He married a third time on November 23, 1880 to Della Boyd, daughter of Richard and Caroline Boyd of Selma, Alabama. They had at least three children,

1020-806: The Cameron Building and held its first graduation at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 1904. In September 1902, he led the local organization for relief of the victims of the Shiloh Baptist Church stampede that killed over 100 people during a speech given by Booker T. Washington He was again an Alabama delegate-at-large to the 1908 Republican National Convention in Chicago. He received an honorary master of arts from Shaw University in June, 1912. He

1080-568: The Christian Aid Society to help sick members and bury its dead. He was a member of the Birmingham Negro Business League and the city's Inter-Denominational Ministers' Alliance. He was constantly active in Birmingham and Alabama politics and he worked particularly closely with Reverend T. W. Walker of the cities Shiloh Baptist Church on a number of civil rights and anti- Jim Crow causes. Pettiford

1140-544: The Hampton Institute president Samuel C. Armstrong recommended Washington, then age 25, to become the first leader of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (later Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University), the new normal school (teachers' college) in Alabama . The new school opened on July 4, 1881, initially using a room donated by Butler Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church . The next year, Washington purchased

1200-520: The Hampton Institute. Washington and Smith were married in the summer of 1882, a year after he became principal there. They had one child, Portia M. Washington , born in 1883. Fannie died in May 1884. In 1885, the widower Washington married again, to Olivia A. Davidson (1854–1889). Born free in Virginia to a free woman of color and a father who had been freed from slavery, she moved with her family to

1260-500: The League was renamed and reincorporated in Washington D.C. as the National Business League , which remains in operation. The National Negro Business League (NNBL) was established in Boston, Massachusetts in 1900 by Booker T. Washington . The effort was supported by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie . The organization was formally incorporated in 1901 in New York , and established 320 chapters across

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1320-917: The Robert Brown Elliot School of Technology in Birmingham, the first school of its kind for blacks in the US By 1887, he was a leader in the Baptist Church in Alabama: he was president of the Ministerial Association in Birmingham, a member of the board of trustees at Selma University, and president of the Negro American Publishing Company affiliated with the Birmingham Negro American Journal . In 1889, he

1380-532: The United States. The League included Negro small- business owners, doctors, farmers, other professionals, and craftsmen. Its goal was to allow business to put economic development at the forefront of getting African-American equality in the United States. Business was the main concern, but civil rights came next. In 1905 the Nashville, Tennessee, chapter protested segregation in local transit with

1440-671: The West Virginia legislature to locate the newly authorized West Virginia Colored Institute (today West Virginia State University ) in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia near Charleston. He visited the campus often and spoke at its first commencement exercise. Washington was a dominant figure of the African-American community, then still overwhelmingly based in the South, from 1890 to his death in 1915. His Atlanta Address of 1895 received national attention. He

1500-458: The activities to teach the students basic skills to take back to their mostly rural black communities throughout the South. The main goal was not to produce farmers and tradesmen, but teachers of farming and trades who could teach in the new lower schools and colleges for blacks across the South. The school expanded over the decades, adding programs and departments, to become the present-day Tuskegee University. The Oaks, "a large comfortable home,"

1560-582: The assistance of white leaders who helped train employees and finance the bank. One example was the aid the Steiner Brothers gave which helped the bank persist through the economic panic of 1893 . He also believed in the relationship between financial and spiritual success, and in 1895 wrote a book entitled God's Revenue System about this idea. In 1906, Pettiford organized the National Negro Banking Association at

1620-596: The bank merged with Fraternal Savings Bank and Trust. It closed in 1929. In 1907 the group's Executive Committee included J. B. Bell of Houston, Texas; 2. S. E. Courtney, M.D. of Boston, Massachusetts; W. L. Taylor of Richmond, Virginia; T. Thomas Fortune of New York City, Chairman; N. T. Velar of Brinton, Pennsylvania; J. C. Jackson of Lexington, Kentucky; M. M. Lewey of Pensacola, Florida; E. P. Booze of Colorado Springs, Colorado; S. A. Furniss M.D. of Indianapolis, Indiana; John E. Bush of Little Rock, Arkansas; and James C. Napier of Nashville, Tennessee. In May 1913,

1680-416: The construction and operation of more than 5,000 schools and related resources for the education of blacks throughout the South in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The local schools were a source of communal pride; African-American families gave labor, land and money to them, to give their children more chances in an environment of poverty and segregation. A major part of Washington's legacy,

1740-551: The convention of the National Negro Business League , where he was a prominent member. In 1910, Percy Bond organized another bank to service the African-American community in Birmingham, and the two clashed at the 1910 League convention in New York City. The bank continued its success and by 1913, the bank's assets were over $ 540,000 (equivalent to $ 12.2 million in 2023) and it had branches across

1800-542: The curriculum and the facilities on the campus, he became a prominent national leader among African Americans, with considerable influence with wealthy white philanthropists and politicians. Washington expressed his vision for his race through the school. He believed that by providing needed skills to society, African Americans would play their part, leading to acceptance by white Americans. He believed that blacks would eventually gain full participation in society by acting as responsible, reliable American citizens. Shortly after

1860-518: The early 21st century. Washington was married three times. In his autobiography Up from Slavery , he gave all three of his wives credit for their contributions at Tuskegee. His first wife Fannie N. Smith was from Malden, West Virginia , the same Kanawha River Valley town where Washington had lived from age nine to sixteen. He maintained ties there all his life, and Smith was a student of his when he taught in Malden. He helped her gain entrance into

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1920-659: The free state of Ohio, where she attended common schools. Davidson later studied at Hampton Institute and went North to study at the Massachusetts State Normal School at Framingham . She taught in Mississippi and Tennessee before going to Tuskegee to work as a teacher. Washington recruited Davidson to Tuskegee, and promoted her to vice-principal. They had two sons, Booker T. Washington Jr. and Ernest Davidson Washington, before she died in 1889. William R. Pettiford William Reuben Pettiford

1980-486: The late twentieth century that interpreted his actions positively. Booker was born into slavery to Jane, an enslaved African-American woman on the plantation of James Burroughs in southwest Virginia, near Hale's Ford in Franklin County . He never knew the day, month, and year of his birth (although evidence emerged after his death that he was born on April 5, 1856). Nor did he ever know his father, said to be

2040-543: The model rural schools continued to be constructed into the 1930s, with matching funds for communities from the Rosenwald Fund . Washington also contributed to the Progressive Era by forming the National Negro Business League. It encouraged entrepreneurship among black businessmen, establishing a national network. His autobiography, Up from Slavery , first published in 1901, is still widely read in

2100-471: The nineteenth-century American political system to manipulate the media, raise money, develop strategy, network, distribute funds, and reward a cadre of supporters. Because of his influential leadership, the timespan of his activity, from 1880 to 1915, has been called the Age of Booker T. Washington. Washington called for Black progress through education and entrepreneurship, rather than trying to challenge directly

2160-588: The oldest of which was Carry Bell Pettiford born September 22, 1882. On December 3, 1869 he moved to Selma, Alabama where he took work as a farm hand and teacher. He entered the State Normal School at Marion, Alabama where he studied for seven years, teaching and farming in his spare time to fund his education. He took a principalship at a school in Uniontown, Alabama from which he resigned in 1877 to focus on finishing his schooling. In 1878, he

2220-501: The pastorate of a church at Union Springs, Alabama . In late February 1883 he moved to Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In Birmingham, he was a very successful fundraiser for the church, and succeeded in building a new church building costing $ 25,000 and growing the size of the congregation. In 1887, together with A. L. Scott, Samuel Roebuck, George Turner, J. H. Thompson, Sandy Goodloe, D. A. Williams, A. T. Walker, R. C. O. Benjamin , and J. T. Jones he incorporated

2280-606: The race. Du Bois labeled Washington, "the Great Accommodator." Washington responded that confrontation could lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks, and that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way to overcome racism in the long run. While promoting moderation, Washington contributed secretly and substantially to mounting legal challenges activist African Americans launched against segregation and disenfranchisement of blacks. In his public role, he believed he could achieve more by skillful accommodation to

2340-509: The rest of his life. Booker loved books: The Negro worshipped books. We wanted books, more books. The larger the books were the better we like[d] them. We thought the mere possession and the mere handling and the mere worship of books was going, in some inexplicable way, to make great and strong and useful men of our race. Washington worked in salt furnaces and coal mines in West Virginia for several years to earn money. At age 16, he made his way east -- mostly on foot -- to Hampton Institute ,

2400-468: The role on a year to year basis. Four years after the bank was formed he finally resigned as pastor and turned to bank president full time, although he continued to insist that he was still a preacher and he continued to preach. He even held the pastorate at Tabernacle Baptist Church for a short period during his presidency. Pettiford's leadership took influence from his friend, Booker T. Washington , emphasizing self-help and racial solidarity while cultivating

2460-430: The social realities of the age of segregation . Washington's work on education helped him enlist both the moral and substantial financial support of many major white philanthropists . He became a friend of such self-made men as Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers ; Sears, Roebuck and Company President Julius Rosenwald ; and George Eastman , inventor of roll film, founder of Eastman Kodak , and developer of

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2520-411: The table together, and God's blessing was asked, and the family ate a meal in a civilized manner. On the plantation in Virginia, and even later, meals were gotten to the children very much as dumb animals get theirs. It was a piece of bread here and a scrap of meat there. It was a cup of milk at one time and some potatoes at another. When he was nine, Booker and his family in Virginia gained freedom under

2580-483: The white-dominated state legislatures consistently underfunded black schools in their segregated system. To address those needs, in the 20th century, Washington enlisted his philanthropic network to create matching funds programs to stimulate construction of numerous rural public schools for black children in the South. Working especially with Julius Rosenwald from Chicago, Washington had Tuskegee architects develop model school designs. The Rosenwald Fund helped support

2640-503: Was a key proponent of African-American businesses and one of the founders of the National Negro Business League . Washington mobilized a nationwide coalition of middle-class blacks, church leaders, and white philanthropists and politicians, with the goal of building the community's economic strength and pride by focusing on self-help and education. Washington had the ear of the powerful in the America of his day, including presidents. He used

2700-413: Was a popular spokesman for African-American citizens. Representing the last generation of black leaders born into slavery, Washington was generally perceived as a supporter of education for freedmen and their descendants in the post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow-era South. He stressed basic education and training in manual and domestic labor trades because he thought these represented the skills needed in what

2760-585: Was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite . Born into slavery on April 5, 1856, in Hale's Ford, Virginia, Washington was freed when U.S. troops reached the area during the Civil War . As a young man, Booker T. Washington worked his way through Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute and attended college at Wayland Seminary . In 1881, he

2820-399: Was asked for a surname for registration. He chose the family name of Washington. Still later he learned from his mother that she had originally given him the name "Booker Taliaferro " at the time of his birth, but his second name was not used by the master. Upon learning of his original name, Washington immediately readopted it as his own, and became known as Booker Taliaferro Washington for

2880-501: Was born in Granville County, North Carolina on January 20, 1847 to William and Matilda Pettiford. His parents were free blacks and owned a farm. William worked on the farm and had lessons on the weekends where he learned to read. About the age of ten, his parents sold their farm and moved to Person County, North Carolina , where Pettiford was able to get a tutor and more formal lessons. On July 4, 1868, Pettiford converted to

2940-702: Was built on campus for Washington and his family. They moved into the house in 1900. Washington lived there until his death in 1915. His widow, Margaret, lived at The Oaks until her death in 1925. In 1896 when Washington reviewed the study conducted by George Washington Carver about the infection plaguing the soybean crop he invited Carver to head the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee, where they became close friends. Carver later autographed commemorative stamps issued in 1940 in Washington's honor. Washington led Tuskegee for more than 30 years after becoming its leader. As he developed it, adding to both

3000-763: Was consulted on race issues, and was awarded honorary degrees from Harvard University in 1896 and Dartmouth College in 1901. Late in his career, Washington was criticized by civil rights leader and NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois and his supporters opposed the Atlanta Address as the "Atlanta Compromise", because it suggested that African Americans should work for, and submit to, white political rule. Du Bois insisted on full civil rights, due process of law, and increased political representation for African Americans which, he believed, could only be achieved through activism and higher education for African Americans. He believed that "the talented tenth " would lead

3060-720: Was elected a teacher at the Selma Institute (later Selma University ) and given the opportunity to study theology under then president, W. H. Woodsmall. On March 6, 1879 he was licensed to preach at the Baptist Church in Marion, Alabama and in November 1879 he was made general financial agent by the board at the State Baptist Convention in Opelika, Alabama . In 1880, he resigned from these positions to accept

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3120-753: Was executive secretary of the League. Other leaders in 1922-23 were John L. Webb, treasurer (succeeding Charles H. Anderson), and Charles Clinton Spaulding , head of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Durham, North Carolina. Affiliated professional organizations included: the National Negro Bankers Association , the National Negro Press Association , the National Association of Negro Funeral Directors ,

3180-661: Was in a delegation to meet with President Benjamin Harrison to discuss needs of Republicans in Alabama and advocate for greater inclusion of blacks in Republican politics. He was a attendee of the 1889 American National Baptist Convention in Indianapolis where William J. Simmons led the push to provide aid for blacks fleeing violence in the South and moving to the North. In 1896 he was an Alabama at-large delegate to

3240-482: Was inspired by the apparent need and by the success of William Washington Browne 's Saving Bank of the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers of Richmond, Virginia to establish a local bank for the community. The Alabama Penny Savings Company opened on October 15, 1890 due to the efforts of Pettiford, Peter F. Clarke (who became the bank's vice-president), B. H. Hudson Sr. (who worked as

3300-416: Was named as the first leader of the new Tuskegee Institute in Alabama , an institute for black higher education . He expanded the college, enlisting students in construction of buildings. Work at the college was considered fundamental to students' larger education. He attained national prominence for his Atlanta Address of 1895 , which attracted the attention of politicians and the public. Washington played

3360-408: Was still a rural economy. Throughout the final twenty years of his life, he maintained his standing through a nationwide network of supporters including black educators, ministers, editors, and businessmen, especially those who supported his views on social and educational issues for blacks. He also gained access to top national white leaders in politics, philanthropy and education, raised large sums,

3420-411: Was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see. After emancipation Jane took her family to the free state of West Virginia to join her husband, Washington Ferguson, who had escaped from slavery during the war and settled there. The illiterate boy Booker began painstakingly to teach himself to read and attended school for the first time. At school, Booker

3480-727: Was the spiritual leader of the Alabama Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia . In 1904, together with Rev. C. O. Boothe, Pettiford held theological classes in the basement of the church to educate future ministers. These classes became what is today known as the Birmingham-Easonian Baptist Bible College . At the Sixteenth Street church, Pettiford established

3540-482: Was the start of a capital campaign to raise $ 1,800,000 (~$ 45.8 million in 2023) for the school. The schools which Washington supported were founded primarily to produce teachers, as education was critical for the black community following emancipation. Freedmen strongly supported literacy and education as the keys to their future. When graduates returned to their largely impoverished rural southern communities, they still found few schools and educational resources, as

3600-422: Was to end the disenfranchisement of African Americans, the vast majority of whom still lived in the South. Decades after Washington's death in 1915, the civil rights movement of the 1950s took a more active and progressive approach, which was also based on new grassroots organizations based in the South. Washington's legacy has been controversial in the civil rights community. However, a revisionist view appeared in

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