Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 170
from under the control of the little people of your acquaintance. If you will do
this, gradually you will find yourself better fitted for life; you will find yourself
happier and better fitted to render service. . . ."
In a talk on "The Power of Persistence," he said: "Always keep your eye on the
student who seems to be dull, who is slow in his studies, who has to repeat his
class, but who keeps plodding along doggedly, determinedly, until he has
finished the course of study.
"Keep your eye on that student after he has gone out into the world. He has
learned to endure, he has learned to stick to his job in season and out of season. .
. ."
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In a talk on "Standing Still," he said: "People say of us that, as a race, we are not
capable of going very far, not capable of making steady, persistent progress. We
go a little way and there we stop, stand still, and stagnate. . . . Now one of the
things which this school aims to do for you and through you is to change, as far
as possible, the reputation of our people in so far as they are regarded as
unprogressive, lacking in initiative and in ability to go forward unwaveringly."
The concluding talk of this series, and perhaps the strongest of them all, was
entitled, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." In it he said: "I believe if you could get down
into the deep, dark corners of your own hearts, and if you could get deep down
into the hearts of your parents, you could find there, in both cases, a misgiving,
a sense of danger, never clearly expressed but always present, a fear that some
time, somewhere, trouble was in store for you and for them.
"This is so far true, in some cases of which I know, that if parents should some
day learn that their children were in trouble they would not be surprised,
because they have expected it, looked forward to it, and feared it; because they
have known and suspected all along that you had never thoroughly learned to
control yourself when dealing with other people's property. . . ."
Later on he added: "This disposition to pilfer was, to a large extent, a part of the
history of slavery. It was rare when colored people who belonged to a white
family where they served as cooks, butlers, or in some other form
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