Booker T. Washington

True, they had sung those same verses before, but they had been careful to explain that the “freedom” in these songs referred to the next world, and had no connection with life in this world.

Now they gradually threw off the mask, and were not afraid to let it be known that the “freedom” in their songs meant freedom of the body in this world.

I was supremely happy in the opportunity of being able to assist somebody else.

In a few hours the great questions with which the Anglo-Saxon race had been grappling for centuries had been thrown upon these people to be solved.

Besides, deep down in their hearts there was a strange and peculiar attachment to “old Marster” and “old Missus,” and to their children, which they found it hard to think of breaking off.

I determined, when quite a small child, that, if I accomplished nothing else in life, I would in some way get enough education to enable me to read common books and newspapers.

As soon as it was learned that he was not an American Negro, all the signs of indignation disappeared.

Few people who were not right in the midst of the scenes can form any exact idea of the intense desire which the people of my race showed for an education.

These night lessons were so welcome that I think I learned more at night than the other children did during the day.

It is seldom that anything is permanently gained by holding back a fact.

When they saw that I was not afraid or ashamed to work, they began to assist with more enthusiasm.

If one goes to-day into any Southern town, and asks for the leading and most reliable coloured man in the community, I believe that in five cases out of ten he will be directed to a Negro who learned a trade during the days of slavery.