riven in a carriage to Music Hall, and in
one hour and a half he made two ringing addresses, to as many as five
thousand people, on Negro education. Then Mr. Washington was taken in
charge by a delegation of coloured citizens, headed by the Rev. Mr.
Watkins, and hustled off to a small informal reception, arranged in
honour of the visitor by the people of his race.

Nor can I, in addition to making these addresses, escape the duty
of calling the attention of the South and of the country in general,
through the medium of the press, to matters that pertain to the
interests of both races. This, for example, I have done in regard to
the evil habit of lynching. When the Louisiana State Constitutional
Convention was in session, I wrote an open letter to that body pleading
for justice for the race. In all such efforts I have received warm and
hearty support from the Southern newspapers, as well as from those in
all other parts of the country.

Despite superficial and temporary signs which might lead one to
entertain a contrary opinion, there was never a time when I felt more
hopeful for the race than I do at the present. The great human law that
in the end recognizes and rewards merit is everlasting and universal.
The outside world does not know, neither can it appreciate, the struggle
that is constantly going on in the hearts of both the Southern white
people and their former slaves to free themselves from racial prejudice;
and while both races are thus struggling they should have the sympathy,
the support, and the forbearance of the rest of the world.

As I write the closing words of this autobiography I find myself--not
by design--in the city of Richmond, Virginia: the city which only a
few decades ago was the capital of the Southern Confederacy, and where,
about twenty-five years ago, because of my poverty I slept night after
night under a sidewalk.

This time I am in Richmond as the guest of the coloured people of the
city; and came at their request to deliver an address last night to both
races in the Academy of Music, the largest and finest audience room in
the city. This was the first time that the coloured people had ever
been permitted to use this hall. The day before I came, the City Council
passed a vote to attend the meeting in a body to hear me speak. The
state Legislature, including the House of Delegates and the Senate, also
passed a unanimous vote to attend in a body. In the presence of hundreds
of colo