I saw more clearly than ever the wisdom of the system which General Armstrong had inaugurated at Hampton.

To take the children of such people as I had been among for a month, and each day give them a few hours of mere book education, I felt would be almost a waste of time.
After consultation with the citizens of Tuskegee, I set July 4, 1881, as the day for the opening of the school in the little shanty and church which had been secured for its accommodation.

The white people, as well as the coloured, were greatly interested in the starting of the new school, and the opening day was looked forward to with much earnest discussion.

There were not a few white people in the vicinity of Tuskegee who looked with some disfavour upon the project.

They questioned its value to the coloured people, and had a fear that it might result in bringing about trouble between the races.