After the reading we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased.
Booker T. Washington
The Public Record
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite.
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On every side our lives touch those of others; their lives touch ours.
The more you do to make somebody else happy, the more happiness will you receive in turn.
While the students are at work upon the land and in erecting buildings, they are taught, by competent instructors, the latest methods of agriculture and the trades connected with building.
I had always regarded Europe, and London, and Paris, much as I regarded heaven.
Luxuries had always seemed to me to be something meant for white people, not for my race.
Most of the verses of the plantation songs had some reference to freedom.
I had not had the privilege of sitting down to a dining-table until I was quite well grown.
In my childhood I had suffered for want of a place to sleep, for lack of food, clothing, and shelter.
This is so to such an extent that Negroes in this country, who themselves or whose forefathers went through the school of slavery, are constantly returning to Africa as missionaries to enlighten those who remained in the fatherland.
In this age it is almost impossible for a man to live for himself alone.
I had been born and largely reared in the lowest depths of slavery, ignorance, and poverty.