Booker T. Washington: “These night lessons were so welcome that I think I learned more at night than the other children did during the day.”

I have never seen one who did not want to be free, or one who would return to slavery.

I cannot remember having slept in a bed until after our family was declared free by the Emancipation Proclamation.

Having once got its tentacles fastened on to the economic and social life of the Republic, it was no easy matter for the country to relieve itself of the institution.

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.