Booker T. Washington: “And, unless we have this ability, we will find, sooner or later, that instead of going forward we are going backward.”

As soon as it was learned that he was not an American Negro, all the signs of indignation disappeared.

I can scarcely imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on a new flax shirt for the first time.

I was supremely happy in the opportunity of being able to assist somebody else.

The picture of several dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.