Up from Slavery (1901)

The book opens with

No race can prosper until it sees as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem

Their wordsNo race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top.

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Booker T. Washington did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
No race can prosper until it sees as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem

Their wordsNo race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top.
Our reading
Grievances should not be allowed to overshadow opportunities

Their wordsNor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.
Our reading
The races can be socially separate yet united in everything essential to mutual progress

Their wordsIn all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.
Our reading
There is no security for anyone except in the highest intelligence and development of all

Their wordsThere is no defence or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all.
Our reading
Agitating for social equality is folly; progress must come from constant struggle, not artificial forcing

Their wordsThe wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.
Our reading
No race with something to contribute to world markets stays ostracized for long

Their wordsNo race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized.
Our reading
Legal rights matter, but being prepared to exercise them matters far more

Their wordsIt is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercises of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera-house.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.