Booker T. Washington: “I confess that I have no confidence in the preaching of a minister whose home is in the condition of the one I have…”

Even the most ignorant members of my race on the remote plantations felt in their hearts, with a certainty that admitted of no doubt, that the freedom of the slaves would be the one great result of the war, if the Northern armies conquered.

I think that the presentation of facts, on a high, dignified plane, is all the begging that most rich people care for.

Having once got its tentacles fastened on to the economic and social life of the Republic, it was no easy matter for the country to relieve itself of the institution.

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.