Booker T. Washington: “We want to send each one of you out from here, not as a negative force, but as a strong, positive, helpful force in the…”

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.

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 knew that if we failed it would injure the whole race.

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.