Booker T. Washington: “The soul that is within me no man can degrade.”

The hurtful influences of the institution were not by any means confined to the Negro.

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.

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.

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