Tuskegee Institute junior class in farm management. U.S. Department of Agriculture file by George W. Ackerman

One of the books I’m currently reading is Booker T. Washington’s autobiography Up From Slavery written in 1901.  I read two passages in the book that discuss his intriguing views on the toothbrush.  As a dental hygienist, I found the passages quite interesting and just needed to share.  Below are the two passages prefaced with a little context.  I then conclude with a few personal takeaways.

Context for the first passage.  

At this point in his life, Booker T. is back in his hometown of Malden, West Virginia where he is teaching for the first time.  He had a strong passion for education, but he was also a strong advocate of extreme cleanliness.  This was a habit he learned from his mentors that he then passed on to his students.

Passage #1

“I gave special attention to teaching them the proper use of the tooth-brush and the bath. In all my teaching I have watched carefully the influence of the tooth-brush, and I am convinced that there are few single agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching.”

Context for the second passage.  

He is now teaching at the famous Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, which was the first school of higher learning for black Americans.  General Samuel Armstrong (who served in the Union army) was one of Booker T.’s biggest mentors.  General Armstrong was the founder and first principal of the Hampton Institute in Virginia where Booker T. attended school and trained to be a teacher.

Passage #2

“Another thing that has been insisted upon at the school is the use of the tooth-brush. “The gospel of the tooth-brush,” as General Armstrong used to call it, is part of our creed at Tuskegee. No student is permitted to retain who does not keep and use a tooth-brush. 

Several times, in recent years, students have come to us who brought with them almost no other article except a tooth-brush. They had heard from the lips of other students about our insisting upon the use of this, and so, to make a good impression, they brought at least a tooth-brush with them. 

I remember that one morning, not long ago, I went with the lady principal on her usual morning tour of inspection of the girls’ rooms. We found one room that contained three girls who had recently arrived at the school. When I asked them if they had tooth-brushes, one of the girls replied, pointing to a brush: “Yes, sir. That is our brush. We bought it together, yesterday.” It did not take them long to learn a different lesson. 

It has been interesting to note the effect that the use of the tooth-brush has had in bringing about a higher degree of civilization among the students. With few exceptions, I have noticed that, if we can get a student to the point where, when the first or second tooth-brush disappears, he of his own motion buys another, I have not been disappointed in the future of that individual.”

What can we learn from this story?  Probably quite a bit, but here are my two main takeaways.

• Toothbrushes are an amazing tool that we very much take for granted in today’s world.  They are cheap to produce.  They are abundant.  And they are often given away without much thought.  But don’t let that blind us.  The monetary price of something does not always correlate with the impact that that something has on our lives.  The sticker price of a toothbrush may be very low, but its value to human flourishing is quite high.
• Like daily tooth brushing, most success in life comes from taking small, consistent, daily actions over a long period of time.  And this positive habit formation doesn’t just keep us brushing, it reorients our inner compass towards other good habits (e.g reading, studying, etc.).  As a famous quote often attributed to Aristotle states, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”  

The next time you hand out a free toothbrush, take a second to think about Booker T. Washington.  Your act is not trivial.  Your simple act is moving our civilization forward.  

Mark Frias, RDH