BOOKER T. WASHINGTON CRITICIZES SOUTHERN WOMEN’S COOKING
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WASHINGTON, BOOKER T.
Notes for a Speech given before the
Birmingham Lyceum, March 30, 1899.
Single leaf of Tuskegee letterhead, with the
verso covered with Washington’s notes. The first seven words or phrases are written in
pencil, with the remainder in ink; some staining and discoloration, but entirely legible.
Tuskegee, 1899
[3,000/4,000]
The original manuscript notes for a portion of a very unusual speech by Washington, who
writes: “Preachers and Teachers,” “For [?] wants,” “ raising cotton,” “will to work,” “Nothing
about food,” “away from Farming,” “Cooking,” “Caters;” and then he begins: “It has been
surprising to me how the Negro’s education has been overlooked in the very matters that [‘he’
crossed out and ‘any’ added] individual should know most about. Let us take the matter of
intelligent, cleanly, healthy cooking. Here is something that directly concerns the whole race,
three times a day, every day in the year, Cooking not only concerns directly the whole colored
race in the state, but the health and happiness of the white race, for all of you will agree with
me that a large proportion of . . .” Here the manuscript breaks off. But the remainder of the
speech as it was delivered continues thus: “you depend on the Negro for the preparation of your
food. How often has my heart been made to sink as I have gone through the South and into
the homes of the people and found that women who could converse intelligently on Grecian his-
tory, who had studied Geometry, could analyze the most complex sentences in grammar and yet
know nothing of the construction and proper proportion of the poorly and still more poorly
served corn bread and fat meat that they and their families were eating three times a day. It is
little trouble to find girls who can locate Pekin or the desert of Sahara on the artificial globe, but
it is hard to find girls who can find on the dinner table the proper place for the carving knife
and fork, or the meat and vegetable.” It is rare to find Washington on the subject of food prepa-
ration, let alone so critical of the young ladies of the South.
