FIRST EDITION OF THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO, 1899, INSCRIBED BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON, Booker T. The Future of the American Negro. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1899. Octavo, original gilt-stamped burgundy cloth, top edge gilt, uncut.

First edition of Booker T. Washington's first major work, inscribed by him to the prominent Connecticut financier then serving as the state's Lt. Governor, "To Mr. Lyman A. Mills, With kind wishes of Booker T. Washington. Sept. 30, 1900," with frontispiece portrait of Washington, in original bright gilt cloth.

Founder of Tuskegee Institute and a leading African-American voice at the turn of the century, "Booker T. Washington told his people that they would survive the dark present and, as far as possible, he showed them how to do so" (Norell, Up from History, 441). Issued not long after his 1895 "Atlanta Compromise Speech," Future of the American Negro appeared at the height of a decade that "was for Washington the most influential period of his life… To most of his students and faculty at Tuskegee, and to millions of poor blacks nationwide, he was a self-made and beneficent, if stern, Moses leading them out of slavery and into the promised land… He strategically chose not to force the issue [of racism] in the face of the overwhelming white hostility that was the reality of American race relations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this sense, he did what he had to do to assure the survival of himself and the people for whom he spoke" (ANB).

The first of Washington's major works, Future of the American Negro precedes his autobiographies and draws from public speeches and articles printed in Atlantic Monthly and other publications. Washington's second clothbound book, this follows the publication of a 15-page inspirational work, Daily Resolves (1896), and a collection of passages from speeches, Black Belt Diamonds (1898). First edition, with matching dates on title page and copyright page, and "Press of George H. Ellis, Boston, U.S.A." on copyright page. Frontispiece portrait of Washington with facsimile signature beneath. Blockson 2901. Washington's inscription is dated the same year he founded the National Negro Business League (NNBL)—"an integral part of what became known as the 'Tuskegee Machine'" (Records of the National Negro Business League). Looking to expand opportunities for black businesses with the NNBL, Washington often drew on his contacts with Andrew Carnegie and other prominent figures such as this copy's recipient, Lyman Allen Mills, a leading businessman and financier then serving as the Lt. Governor of his home state of Connecticut. Washington dated his inscription to Mills only weeks after the NNBL held its first convention in Boston.

Interior generally fresh and crisp, mere trace of edge-wear, faint soiling to bright gilt-stamped cloth. A nearly fine inscribed copy with a notable provenance.