If the institution had been officered by white persons, and had failed, it would have injured the cause of Negro education; but I knew that the failure of our institution, officered by Negroes, would not only mean the loss of a school, but would cause people, in a large degree, to lose faith in the ability of the entire race.

The receipt of this draft for ten thousand dollars, under all these circumstances, partially lifted a burden that had been pressing down upon me for days.
From the beginning of our work to the present I have always had the feeling, and lose no opportunity to impress our teachers with the same idea, that the school will always be supported in proportion as the inside of the institution is kept clean and pure and wholesome.
The first time I ever saw the late Collis P.Huntington, the great railroad man, he gave me two dollars for our school.

The last time I saw him, which was a few months before he died, he gave me fifty thousand dollars toward our endowment fund.

Between these two gifts there were others of generous proportions which came every year from both Mr.and Mrs.Huntington.
Some people may say that it was Tuskegee's good luck that brought to us this gift of fifty thousand dollars.

No, it was not luck.