In this connection I have never been able to understand how the slaves throughout the South, completely ignorant as were the masses so far as books or newspapers were concerned, were able to keep themselves so accurately and completely informed about the great National questions that were agitating the country.
Washington expresses his wonder at how enslaved people, despite lacking formal education and access to media, remained well-informed about national political issues.
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More from Booker T. Washington
The hurtful influences of the institution were not by any means confined to the Negro.
These discussions showed that they understood the situation, and that they kept themselves informed of events by what was termed the “grape-vine” telegraph.
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 persons ask me in these days how, in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in the future of my race in this country, I remind them of the wilderness through which and out of which…