On the afternoon of May 27, 1901, the clerk of the Alabama Constitutional Convention read out a letter to the delegates written by educator Booker T. Washington and signed by 23 other state black leaders. A couple of the delegates had objected to hearing it, as it was already past adjournment time, but Thomas W. Coleman, a Princeton-educated lawyer from the town of Eutaw, urged that they all stay and listen:
“The author of that communication is the most noted man of his race in the State, and perhaps in the South, and under the circumstances, as we are considering a question in which he and his race are vitally interested, I for one would be pleased to hear it read.