I had
been told, while I had been in Atlanta, that while many white people
were going to be present to hear me speak, simply out of curiosity, and
that others who would be present would be in full sympathy with me,
there was a still larger element of the audience which would consist of
those who were going to be present for the purpose of hearing me make a
fool of myself, or, at least, of hearing me say some foolish thing, so
that they could say to the officials who had invited me to speak, "I
told you so!"
One of the trustees of the Tuskegee Institute, as well as my personal
friend, Mr. William H. Baldwin, Jr., was at the time General Manager of
the Southern Railroad, and happened to be in Atlanta on that day. He
was so nervous about the kind of reception that I would have, and the
effect that my speech would produce, that he could not persuade himself
to go into the building, but walked back and forth in the grounds
outside until the opening exercises were over. . . .
Governor Bullock introduced me with the words, "We have with us to-day
a representative of Negro enterprise and Negro civilization."
When I arose to speak there was considerable cheering, especially from
the coloured people.
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