Rice County Hospitality in the Face of Racism

For 11‑year‑old Arthur Roberts, shining boots and running errands was simply a way to earn a little pocket money. His parents, who managed Northfield’s Archer House in 1900, were preparing for an overnight guest of uncommon stature on Jan. 17.

Booker T. Washington—the famed Black orator and educator who was born into slavery, gained his freedom after the Civil War, put himself through school, became a teacher, and later founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama—was coming to town at the invitation of Carleton College students.

In Up From Slavery (1901), Washington wrote candidly about the many indignities he endured solely because of the color of his skin—especially the struggle to secure a hotel room for the night. Even after he became nationally known, hotel proprietors continued turning him away.

So it was on the day he was to speak in Northfield. Traveling from Duluth, Washington had an afternoon layover in St. Paul, where he was scheduled to be honored at the Hotel Ryan by the city’s Commercial Club. Instead, without explanation, the hotel refused him and his party. The Archer House, by contrast, welcomed its esteemed guest with pride that same evening.

Washington’s address at the Congregational Church drew a full house. The Northfield News reported that every seat was filled, with nearly 100 people standing throughout his two‑hour lecture, “The Negro Problem of the South.”

Praise for Washington poured in from across town, including from the Carleton student newspaper: “How completely has this great man overcome race prejudice! …Not one [person] left until the hearty applause subsided.”

Years later, Arthur Roberts remembered not the lecture, but the privilege of shining Booker T. Washington’s shoes.

–Jeff Sauve, Northfield, Minn.