Before the building was completed we passed through some very
trying seasons. More than once our hearts were made to bleed, as
it were, because bills were falling due that we did not have the
money to meet. Perhaps no one who has not gone through the
experience, month after month, of trying to erect buildings and
provide equipment for a school when no one knew where the money
was to come from, can properly appreciate the difficulties under
which we laboured. During the first years at Tuskegee I recall
that night after night I would roll and toss on my bed, without
sleep, because of the anxiety and uncertainty which we were in
regarding money. I knew that, in a large degree, we were trying
an experiment--that of testing whether or not it was possible for
Negroes to build up and control the affairs of a large education
institution. I knew that if we failed it would injure the whole
race. I knew that the presumption was against us. I knew that in
the case of white people beginning such an enterprise it would be
taken for granted that they were going to succeed, but in our
case I felt that people would be surprised if we succeeded. All
this made a burden which pressed down on us, sometimes, it
seemed, at the rate of a thousand pounds to the square inch.
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