This experience of a whole race beginning to go to school for the first time, presents one of the most interesting studies that has ever occurred in connection with the development of any race.
From his autobiography, Washington reflects on the historical significance of an entire race beginning its formal education after emancipation.
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In order to defend and protect the women and children who were left on the plantations when the white males went to war, the slaves would have laid down their lives.
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.