OAK HILL INDUSTRIAL ACADEMY
"It is said that the Athenians erected a statue to Æsop, (564 B. C.), who was born a slave; or as Phaedrus phrases it:
"They placed the slave upon an eternal pedestal,"
"Sir, for what the enfranchised slaves did for the cause of constitutional liberty in this country, the American people should imitate the Athenians and, by training the slave for usefulness, place him upon an eternal pedestal. Their conduct has been beyond all praise.
"They have been patient and docile; they have been loyal to their masters, to the country, and to those with whom they are associated; but, as I said before, no other people ever endured patiently such injustice and wrong. Despotism makes nihilists; tyranny makes socialists and communists; and injustice is the great manufacturer of dynamite. The thief robs himself; the adulterer pollutes himself; and the murderer inflicts a deeper wound upon himself than that which slays his victim.
"If my voice can reach this proscribed and unfortunate class, I appeal to them to continue, as they have begun, to endure to the end; and thus to commend themselves to the favorable judgment of mankind; and to rely for their safety upon the ultimate appeal to the conscience of the human race."—John J. Ingalls, U. S. Senate, 1890.