Booker T. Washington: “A man cannot have moral character unless he has something to wear, and something to eat three hundred and sixty-five…”

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

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.

I repeat my belief that the world is growing in the direction of giving.

Ever since I have been old enough to think for myself, I have entertained the idea that, notwithstanding the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the black man got nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did.