From the transcript of Senator Tim Scott’s speech:

My grandfather’s 99th birthday would have been tomorrow. Growing up, he had to cross the street if a white person was coming. He suffered the indignity of being forced out of school as a third grader to pick cotton, and never learned to read or write.

Yet, he lived to see his grandson become the first African American to be elected to both the United States House and Senate.

Our family went from Cotton to Congress in one lifetime. And that’s why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.

There are millions of families like mine across this nation…full of potential seeking to live the American Dream.