The lives of the Carusi, the slave miners of Sicily From “The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe”, 1912 "The Negro is not the man farthest down. The condition of the colored farmer in the most backward parts of the Southern States in America, even where he has the least education and the least encouragement, is incomparably better than the condition and opportunities of the agricultural population in Sicily." Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States