Simkins describes her education at Benedict College, an institution established by northerners who came to the South following the Civil War in order to educate freed African Americans. Benedict College included primary through post-secondary education and Simkins attended the school all the way through 1921, when she earned her bachelor's degree. Here, Simkins focuses on the racial makeup of the faculty and their general lack of paternalism. In addition, although Benedict was a private school, Simkins explains that no one was turned away for inability to pay and she recalls adults who had come to learn to read and write in her classes.