One might have removed from Hampton all the buildings, class-rooms, teachers, and industries, and given the men and women there the opportunity of coming into daily contact with General Armstrong, and that alone would have been a liberal education.
In his autobiography, Washington emphasizes the transformative power of personal example and mentorship, particularly from General Armstrong, over traditional educational structures.
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The hurtful influences of the institution were not by any means confined to the Negro.
Even the most ignorant members of my race on the remote plantations felt in their hearts, with a certainty that admitted of no doubt, that the freedom of the slaves would be the one great result of the war, if the Northern armies conquered.
He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at that time.