Booker T. Washington: “An institution grows stronger and more useful each year, or weaker and less useful.”

I knew that if we failed it would injure the whole race.

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.

No one section of our country was wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years by the General Government.

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.