As I dipped buckets into the partially frozen
duck pond on a 27 degree Sunday at Booker T.
Washington National Monument, I began once
again to empathize with Booker T. Washington
and his plight as a slave for the first nine years
of his life in Franklin County, Virginia. Booker
T. Washington, along with millions of enslaved
people, spent many winter days, weeks, and
months, working for his owners without pay while
wearing minimal clothing and surviving in basic
shelters. These people were barely fed; as Booker
described in his autobiography Up From Slavery,
“It was a piece of bread here and a scrap of meat
there. It was a cup of milk at one time and some
potatoes at another.” How many calories were
burned as these slaves worked in labor-intensive
jobs such as harvesting tobacco?
Each January, we focus on our goals and
resolutions for the New Year. Some of these
goals might be counting calories to lose weight,
or working out to have a better figure to fit into a
swimsuit by this summer. Maybe some of us set
a goal to save money for a trip. What was it like
to be a slave and never be able to set goals for
yourself, such as a much needed vacation? As
an enslaved person, what type of goals could you
set for yourself or your children if you didn’t know
from minute- to-minute whether you or your family
members might be sold away never to be seen
again?
Following Dr. Washington’s example, it might
be good for us to try to focus on
the “brighter side of life.” Booker
T. Washington gave character
building speeches as an adult at
his school, Tuskegee Institute,
of which he became principal in
1881. These speeches focused on
goals for the students who were
freed at the end of the Civil War
and attended Tuskegee to gain an
education. He spoke to them each
Sunday in the school’s chapel.
One Sunday, Washington said to
his students, “I want you to go out
from this institution so trained
and so developed that you will be
constantly looking for the bright
encouraging things in life.” Isn’t that
something we can all focus on? He
also talked about helping others in
another of his speeches. “I want you
to go out into the world, not to have
an easy time, but to make sacrifices
and to help somebody else…If you
want to be happy…do something for
somebody else.”
Dr. Booker T. Washington
was internationally known as a
principal, an orator, and an advisor
to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt,
William McKinley, and William
Howard Taft. Washington became
known throughout the country
because of his school, Tuskegee
Institute, and a speech he made at
the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition
on September 18, 1895. In this
speech, he said we should all work
together for mutual progress and to
“cast down your bucket where you
are” for society to move forward as
a country, together, undivided.
Maybe as we all work towards
our goals, we can focus on some
of the goals that Dr. Booker T.
Washington focused on for himself
and his students. Let’s focus on
that “brighter side of life.” As I
continue to “cast my bucket” down
into the duck pond at Booker T.
Washington National Monument,
I will continue to focus on those
not so unattainable goals that Dr.
Washington set back in the late
19th century. As each of you look
for ways to “cast down your bucket,”
might I suggest volunteering at a
nearby National Park like Booker T.
Washington National Monument?!
Casting Down
the Bucket
By Park Ranger Betsy Haynes
Discover Smith Mountain Lake
Summer 2013
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