Booker T. Washington

In this connection I have never been able to understand how the slaves throughout the South, completely ignorant as were the masses so far as books or newspapers were concerned, were able to keep themselves so accurately and completely…

The Negro boy has obstacles, discouragements, and temptations to battle with that are little known to those not situated as he is.

I have great faith in the power and influence of facts.

This tenderness and sympathy on the part of those held in bondage was a result of their kindly and generous nature.

I do not know how many have noticed it, but I think that it will be found to be true that there are few instances, either in slavery or freedom, in which a member of my race has been known to betray a specific trust.

As a rule, not only did the members of my race entertain no feelings of bitterness against the whites before and during the war, but there are many instances of Negroes tenderly caring for their former masters and mistresses who for some…

I never saw a man who so completely lost sight of himself.

I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race.

Having once got its tentacles fastened on to the economic and social life of the Republic, it was no easy matter for the country to relieve itself of the institution.

When persons ask me in these days how, in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in the future of my race in this country, I remind them of the wilderness through which and out of which…

Before the end of the year, I think I began learning that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.

The temptation often is to run each individual through a certain educational mould, regardless of the condition of the subject or the end to be accomplished.