On March 12, 1911, Booker T. Washington was in Des Moines, Iowa, delivering several sermons and speeches on the same day. He spoke to standing-room-only crowds at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Plymouth Church, Foster’s Opera House, and a gathering of four African American churches.2 Booker T. was the talk of the town. Later that day Washington was in the lobby of the hotel where he was staying when a white woman mistook him for hotel staff. She asked him for a glass of water, and instead of correcting her or identifying himself, he obliged. He got a glass of water, handed it to her, and asked,
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