There was a further feeling that a knowledge, however little, of the Greek and Latin languages would make one a very superior human being, something bordering almost on the supernatural.
Washington notes a prevalent belief that even a minimal understanding of classical languages conferred an almost supernatural superiority.
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More from Booker T. Washington
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.
In this connection I have never been able to understand how the slaves throughout the South, completely ignorant as were the masses so far as books or newspapers were concerned, were able to keep themselves so accurately and completely…
I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race.