The peculiar fascination which the South held over my imagination and my limited capital decided me in favor of Atlanta University so about the last of September I bade farewell to the friends and scenes of my boyhood and boarded a train for the South.

Johnson recalls a formative turning point: choosing Atlanta University and physically leaving his childhood world for the post-Reconstruction South. The sentence juxtaposes “fascination” (romantic, imaginative pull) with “limited capital” (material constraint), suggesting that aspiration and economics jointly shape life trajectories. His departure “about the last of September” and the concrete image of boarding a train emphasize migration as both a personal rite of passage and a broader historical pattern for educated African Americans seeking opportunity and purpose. The quote frames the South not merely as a region but as an idea—charged with promise, risk, and identity-making—whose allure helps propel him into the experiences that would inform his later cultural and political work.