This man was formerly a slave-holder, and at first he was not inclined to encourage the education of the Negro, but he stated to me frankly, in his letter, that he now believes that Tuskegee and similar institutions are doing the work that the Negro most needs to have done.
He recounts a former slave-holder's change of heart regarding Negro education, recognizing its importance.
Share
More from Booker T. Washington
We try to keep constantly in mind the fact that the worth of the school is to be judged by its graduates.
By it a race must rise or fall, succeed or fail, and in the last analysis mere sentiment counts for little.
If my life in the past has meant anything in the lifting up of my people and the bringing about of better relations between your race and mine, I assure you from this day it will mean doubly more.
Wherever our graduates go, the changes which soon begin to appear in the buying of land, improving homes, saving money, in education, and in high moral characters are remarkable.