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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Washington, Booker T. (1856-1915) Needs and progress of the Negro

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04297.02 Author/Creator: Washington, Booker T. (1856-1915) Place Written: New Haven, Connecticut Type: Printed document Date: 25 October 1915 Pagination: 8 p. ; 15.8 x 9 cm. Order a Copy

Printed leaflet of an address delivered by Washington at the annual meeting of the American Missionary Association. First page contains the New York address of the Missionary Association and a photograph of Washington. Text indicates that this is only part of Washington's presentation. Contents discuss race relations in America. Outlines the vast growth in academic opportunities for African-Americans since the Civil War, but stresses that much work still has to be done in funding schools for blacks: "There is sometimes much talk of the inferiority of the Negro. In practice, however, the idea appears to be that he is a sort of superman. He is expected, with about one-fifth or one-tenth of what the whites receive for their education, to make as much progress as they are making." Contains some marks in red pen. Previously contained within GLC04297.01.

Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915
Goff, Lyman B., 1841-1927
Thornton, Almira, 1842-1921

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