Booker T. Washington: “The ones we want are the ones who are going to think of such things as these without being told.”

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.

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

From any point of view, I had rather be what I am, a member of the Negro race, than be able to claim membership with the most favoured of any other race.

I can scarcely imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on a new flax shirt for the first time.