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 or 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.
Chapter III. The Struggle For An Education
One day, while at work in the coal-mine, I happened to overhear
two miners talking about a great school for coloured people
somewhere in Virginia.
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