In general, I found the relations between the two races pleasant.

For example, the largest, and I think at that time the only hardware store in the town was owned and operated jointly by a coloured man and a white man.

This copartnership continued until the death of the white partner.
I found that about a year previous to my going to Tuskegee some of the coloured people who had heard something of the work of education being done at Hampton had applied to the state Legislature, through their representatives, for a small appropriation to be used in starting a normal school in Tuskegee.

This request the Legislature had complied with to the extent of granting an annual appropriation of two thousand dollars.

I soon learned, however, that this money could be used only for the payment of the salaries of the instructors, and that there was no provision for securing land, buildings, or apparatus.