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Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington Books

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Up from Slavery

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A Will to Be Free

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“I think that no man who lives a merely negative religious life can ever know real spiritual joy. There are many people who pride themselves on the things they do not do. The negative Christian always suggests a lamp-post to me. The negative Christian says he is going to heaven because he does not lie. Neither does the lamp-post. The negative Christian does not steal. Neither does the lamp-post steal. He does not cheat, he does nothing of which he is ashamed: he is therefore blameless. The lamp-post has never done any one of these things. I do not want the Tuskegee students to be lamp-posts in their religious life, but I want them to turn their beliefs into energy that shall work into every detail of their lives.”

ReligionSinChristianityPerfectionMoralsLamppost
Author:Booker T. Washington
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“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 have always been made sad when I have heard members of any race claiming rights and privileges, or certain badges of distinction, on the ground simply that they were members of this or that race, regardless of their own individual worth or attainments. I have been made to feel sad for such persons because I am conscious of the fact that mere connection with what is known as a superior race will not permanently carry an individual forward unless he has individual worth, and mere connection with what is regarded as an inferior race will not finally hold an individual back if he possesses intrinsic, individual merit. Every persecuted individual and race should get much consolation out of the great human law, which is universal and eternal, that merit, no matter under what skin found, is, in the long run, recognized and rewarded. This I have said here, not to call attention to myself as an individual, but to the race to which I am proud to belong.”

CharacterMerit
Book:Up from Slavery
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“From his example in this respect, I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I learned that assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong, and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak. It is now long ago that I learned this lesson from General Armstrong, and resolved that I would permit no man, no matter what his color might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”

HistoryMoralsBiographyUp From Slavery
Author:Booker T. Washington
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“I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave, though I remember on several occasions I went as far as the schoolhouse door with one of my young mistresses to carry her books. 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.”

Value Of EducationAmerican Slavery
Book:Up from Slavery
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“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. I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race. No one section of our country was wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years by the General Government. 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.”

American Slavery
Book:Up from Slavery
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“Of my father I know even less than of my mother. I do not even know his name. I have heard reports to the effect that he was a white man who lived on one of the near-by plantations. Whoever he was, I never heard of his taking the least interest in me or providing in any way for my rearing. But I do not find especial fault with him. He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at that time.”

ForgivingAmerican Slavery
Book:Up from Slavery: An Autobiography
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“Had (I) been a member of a more popular race, I should have been inclined to yield to the temptation of depending upon my ancestry and my colour to do that for me which I should do for myself. Years ago I resolved that because I had no ancestry myself I would leave a record of which my children would be proud, and which might encourage them to still higher effort”

ShouldYearsChildrenHas BeensStillsMightWould BeEffortRaceRecordsProudHigherMembersYears AgoShould HaveTemptationMy ChildrenColourYieldBe ProudShould Have BeenAncestry
Book:100$ REWARD ON MY HEAD – Powerful & Unflinching Memoirs Of Former Slaves: 28 Narratives in One Volume: With Hundreds of Documented Testimonies & True Life Stories: Memoirs of Frederick Douglass, Underground Railroad, 12 Years a Slave, Incidents in Life of a Slave Girl, Narrative of Sojourner Truth...
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“Men may make laws to hinder and fetter the ballot, but men cannot make laws that will bind or retard the growth of manhood.”

MenMayLawGrowthManhoodBallotsHinderFettersRetard
Book:Progress of a race: or, The remarkable advancement of the American Negro from the bondage of slavery, ignorance and poverty to the freedom of citizenship, intelligence, affluence, honor and trust
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“Progress, progress is the law of nature; under God it shall be our eternal guiding star.”

LawStarsProgressEternalLaws Of NatureGuiding Stars
Book:Progress of a race: or, The remarkable advancement of the American Negro from the bondage of slavery, ignorance and poverty to the freedom of citizenship, intelligence, affluence, honor and trust
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“To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbor, I would say 'Cast down your bucket where you are.'”

MenNextWhiteRaceDoorsLandConditionsDependsImportanceRelationCastsNeighborFriendlyWhere You AreSouthernUnderestimateWhite ManBucketsCultivatingForeign LandsNext Door Neighbors
Book:The Booker T. Washington Reader
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“...those who are guilty of such sweeping criticisms [of the rich] do not know how many people would be made poor, and how much sufering would result, if wealthy people were to part all at once with any large proportion of their wealth in a way to disorganize and cripple great business enterprises.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWayMadeWould BeWealthPoorResultsKnow HowRichCriticismGuiltyProportionEnterpriseWealthySweepingCripplesGreat Business
Book:100$ REWARD ON MY HEAD – Powerful & Unflinching Memoirs Of Former Slaves: 28 Narratives in One Volume: With Hundreds of Documented Testimonies & True Life Stories: Memoirs of Frederick Douglass, Underground Railroad, 12 Years a Slave, Incidents in Life of a Slave Girl, Narrative of Sojourner Truth...
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“The longer I live and the more I study the question, the more I am convinced that it is not so much the problem of what you will do with Negro, as what the Negro will do with you and your 'civilization'.”

ProblemStudyCivilizationConvinced
Book:Black-belt Diamonds: Gems from the Speeches, Addresses, and Talks to Students of Booker T. Washington ...
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“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

IfsWantLifeInspirationalMotivationalInspiringWorryPositiveEntrepreneurCharityCustomersAfrican AmericanLiftsHealthcarePhilanthropyLiftingInsperationalTrust YourselfVolunteerismPhilanthropicCommunity ServiceInspirational Customer ServiceInspiring Customer ServiceInspirational ServiceGreat ResponsibilityBest ServiceCool MotivationalArt Of LovingLift You UpLifting OthersMotivate EmployeesLift Me UpServing The CommunityAmazing Inspirational
Author:Booker T. Washington
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“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”

LifeInspirationalTryingSuccessBlackFreedomHistoryPositionSucceedDeterminationOvercomingObstaclesAfrican AmericanAmerican HistoryI Have LearnedSuccess In LifeGraduationKey To SuccessBlack HistorySuccess And FailureOvercoming AdversityStudent SuccessInspirational RunningSuccesDetermination And SuccessBest SuccessTrack And FieldBlack History MonthMeasure Of SuccessAfrican American WomenKeep RunningAchieved SuccessInspirational RunnerWill To SucceedPosition Of PowerBlack History Month InspirationalTrack RunningAfrican American HistoryTrack RunnersAchievement And SuccessSucceeding In LifeReaching SuccessInspirational AchievementBlack History InspirationalSuccess Is Not MeasuredInspirational TrackMotivational AchievementSuccess Is MeasuredTrying To SucceedAfrican American InspirationalAfrican American History MonthSuccess Is Measured ByDetermination To SucceedBlack MotivationalAmerican Success
Book:An Autobiography: The Story of My Life and Work, the Original Brought Up-to-date with Over Half a Hundred Full Page Photo and Halftone Engravings and Drawings by Frank Beard
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“Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”

InspirationalHardSuccessResultsEffortHard WorkWork OutProductivityUpliftingHardworkHardworkingPlannersAchieving SuccessMotivational WorkAchieved SuccessHardwork And DeterminationWork RelatedHard Work SuccessHard Work Comes SuccessEffort And Hard WorkHard Work And SuccessFamous Hard WorkingPerseverance And Hard WorkHard Work And PersistenceResults Of Hard Work
Book:Up from Slavery
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“There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.”

WayTwoSuccessBlackStrengthPositiveDiversityWeaknessEncouragementSocial JusticeAfrican AmericanPresidentialPushingInner StrengthPullingTwo WaysStrength And WeaknessPushing Ourselves
Book:Address of Booker T. Washington, Principal of the Tuskegee Normal & Industrial Institute: Before the National Educational Association, St. Louis, Missouri, June 30, 1904
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