True, they had sung those same verses before, but they had been careful to explain that the “freedom” in these songs referred to the next world, and had no connection with life in this world.
From his autobiography, explaining the historical interpretation and hidden meanings within the songs sung by enslaved people.
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More from Booker T. Washington
The more I come into contact with wealthy people, the more I believe that they are growing in the direction of looking upon their money simply as an instrument which God has placed in their hand for doing good with.
By it a race must rise or fall, succeed or fail, and in the last analysis mere sentiment counts for little.
How shall we make the mansion on yon Beacon Street feel and see the need of the spirits in the lowliest cabin in Alabama cotton-fields or Louisiana sugar-bottoms?
We try to keep constantly in mind the fact that the worth of the school is to be judged by its graduates.