The sweeping of that room was my college examination, and never did any youth pass an examination for entrance into Harvard or Yale that gave him more genuine satisfaction.
In his autobiography, he describes the deep personal satisfaction he derived from passing a practical cleaning test to enter Hampton Institute.
Share
More from Booker T. Washington
This tenderness and sympathy on the part of those held in bondage was a result of their kindly and generous nature.
Despite this disappointment, however, I determined that I would learn something, anyway.
As soon as it was learned that he was not an American Negro, all the signs of indignation disappeared.
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.