I knew that in the case of white people beginning such an enterprise it would be taken for granted that they were going to succeed, but in our case I felt that people would be surprised if we succeeded.
Washington contrasts the societal expectations for white-led institutions with the skepticism faced by Black-led initiatives like Tuskegee.
Share
More from Booker T. Washington
How shall we make the mansion on yon Beacon Street feel and see the need of the spirits in the lowliest cabin in Alabama cotton-fields or Louisiana sugar-bottoms?
By it a race must rise or fall, succeed or fail, and in the last analysis mere sentiment counts for little.
In the economy of God there is but one standard by which an individual can succeed—there is but one for a race.
Despite superficial and temporary signs which might lead one to entertain a contrary opinion, there was never a time when I felt more hopeful for the race than I do at the present.