PLZ HELP I WILL GIVE BRAINLIEST IF CORRECT AND IM GIVING AWAY MY LAST 22 POINTS "Up From Slavery: An Autobiography" By: Booker T. Washington Chapter XVII: "Last Words" More than once I have been asked what was the greatest surprise that ever came to me. I have little hesitation in answering that question. It was the following letter, which came to me one Sunday morning when I was sitting on the veranda of my home at Tuskegee, surrounded by my wife and three children: Harvard University, Cambridge, May 28, 1896. President Booker T. Washington, My Dear Sir: Harvard University desired to confer on you at the approaching Commencement an honorary degree; but it is our custom to confer degrees only on gentlemen who are present. Our Commencement occurs this year on June 24, and your presence would be desirable from about noon till about five o'clock in the afternoon. Would it be possible for you to be in Cambridge on that day? Believe me, with great regard, Very truly yours, Charles W. Eliot. This was a recognition that had never in the slightest manner entered into my mind, and it was hard for me to realize that I was to be honoured by a degree from the oldest and most renowned university in America. As I sat upon my veranda, with this letter in my hand, tears came into my eyes. My whole former life—my life as a slave on the plantation, my work in the coal-mine, the times when I was without food and clothing, when I made my bed under a sidewalk, my struggles for an education, the trying days I had had at Tuskegee, days when I did not know where to turn for a dollar to continue the work there, the ostracism and sometimes oppression of my race,—all this passed before me and nearly overcame me. I had never sought or cared for what the world calls fame. I have always looked upon fame as something to be used in accomplishing good. I have often said to my friends that if I can use whatever prominence may have come to me as an instrument with which to do good, I am content to have it. I care for it only as a means to be used for doing good... Among the speakers after [the Harvard] dinner were President Eliot, Governor Roger Wolcott, General Miles, Dr. Minot J. Savage, the Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, and myself. When I was called upon, I said, among other things:—It would in some measure relieve my embarrassment if I could, even in a slight degree, feel myself worthy of the great honour which you do me today. Why you have called me from the Black Belt of the South, from among my humble people, to share in the honours of this occasion, is not for me to explain; and yet it may not be inappropriate for me to suggest that it seems to me that one of the most vital questions that touch our American life is how to bring the strong, wealthy, and learned into helpful touch with the poorest, most ignorant, and humblest, and at the same time make one appreciate the vitalizing, strengthening influence of the other. How shall we make the mansion on yon Beacon Street feel and see the need of the spirits in the lowliest cabin in Alabama cotton-fields or Louisiana sugar-bottoms? This problem Harvard University is solving, not by bringing itself down, but by bringing the masses up. Works Cited Washington, Booker T. "Up From Slavery, An Autobiography." Doubleday, 1901. 1. What does he believe is the purpose of fame? Please write at least one full sentence.

2. What part of the text illustrates his modesty? Please use a direct quote from the work.

3. What have you learned about the life of Mr. Washington? Include his "former life" as well as his family and his honors, in at least two sentences.

4. What does he believe is one of the "vital questions" of American life? Please write at least one full sentence.

5. What are some obstacles he recognized? Please write at least one full sentence.