Booker T. Washington: “The ambition to secure an education was most praiseworthy and encouraging.”

Until that question was asked it had never occurred to me that there was no period of my life that was devoted to play.

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

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

When freedom came, the slaves were almost as well fitted to begin life anew as the master, except in the matter of book-learning and ownership of property.