Booker T. Washington: “I believe that we are at our best in country life--in agricultural life--and too often at our worst in city life.”

I cannot remember having slept in a bed until after our family was declared free by the Emancipation Proclamation.

No one section of our country was wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years by the General Government.

The whole machinery of slavery was so constructed as to cause labour, as a rule, to be looked upon as a badge of degradation, of inferiority.

I do not know how many have noticed it, but I think that it will be found to be true that there are few instances, either in slavery or freedom, in which a member of my race has been known to betray a specific trust.