Mr.
Adams was a mechanic, and had learned the trades of shoemaking,
harness-making, and tinsmithing during the days of slavery. He
had never been to school a day in his life, but in some way he
had learned to read and write while a slave. From the first,
these two men saw clearly what my plan of education was,
sympathized with me, and supported me in every effort. In the
days which were darkest financially for the school, Mr. Campbell
was never appealed to when he was not willing to extend all the
aid in his power. I do not know two men, one an ex-slaveholder,
one an ex-slave, whose advice and judgment I would feel more like
following in everything which concerns the life and development
of the school at Tuskegee than those of these two men.
I have always felt that Mr. Adams, in a large degree, derived his
unusual power of mind from the training given his hands in the
process of mastering well three trades during the days of
slavery. If one goes to-day into any Southern town, and asks for
the leading and most reliable coloured man in the community, I
believe that in five cases out of ten he will be directed to a
Negro who learned a trade during the days of slavery.
On the morning that the school opened, thirty students reported
for admission.
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