At that time there was not a single member of my race anywhere near us who could read, and I was too timid to approach any of the white people.

In some way, within a few weeks, I mastered the greater portion of the alphabet.

In all my efforts to learn to read my mother shared fully my ambition, and sympathized with me and aided me in every way that she could.

Though she was totally ignorant, she had high ambitions for her children, and a large fund of good, hard, common sense, which seemed to enable her to meet and master every situation.

If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.
In the midst of my struggles and longing for an education, a young coloured boy who had learned to read in the state of Ohio came to Malden.