Booker T. Washington: “And, unless we have this ability, we will find, sooner or later, that instead of going forward we are going backward.”

I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery.

Ever since I have been old enough to think for myself, I have entertained the idea that, notwithstanding the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the black man got nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did.

The picture of several dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.

As soon as it was learned that he was not an American Negro, all the signs of indignation disappeared.