Booker T. Washington: “They unconsciously had imbibed the feeling that manual labour was not the proper thing for them.”

I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race.

When they saw that I was not afraid or ashamed to work, they began to assist with more enthusiasm.

But taking place at the time it did, and for the reason that it did, no one could ever make me believe that my mother was guilty of thieving.

When freedom came, the slaves were almost as well fitted to begin life anew as the master, except in the matter of book-learning and ownership of property.