baby was born in the slave quarters on a Virginia plantation. This was
not a surprising event and nobody except the mother paid it any
attention. Even the father of the child ignored it. For some years
the boy "just growed," after the manner of Topsy. Nobody helped him.
But the boy differed in one way from his thoughtless little playmates.
There was a mysterious something in him that drove him eagerly to avail
himself of any opportunity for self-improvement that came along. If
the opportunity, as generally happened, _failed_ to "come along," he
went after it with all his might and main.

He devoted his life unreservedly to the service of his coloured
brethren, and through his own bitter experience he knew full well the
best way in which to help them.


From "Up From Slavery," by Booker T. Washington. Doubleday, Page &
Co., 1901.

I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am
not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any
rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time. As
nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near a crossroads
post-office called Hale's Ford and the year was 1858 or 1859. I do not
know the month or the day. The earliest impressions I can now recall
are of the plantation and the slave quarters, the latter being the part
of the plantation where the slaves had their cabins.

My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate,
and discouraging surroundings. This was so, however, not because my
owners were especially cruel, for they were not, as compared with many