New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-01-02
Negro Education.


| skilled, intelligent labor, and the materia
from which such supply is to be create,
must be drawn from the ranks Of the eX
| slaves.
| South of Mason and Dixoa's limo there ar
to-day few men who are not ready to assen
20 such a proposition as this, and who, fur
thermore, are not so rapidly outgrewing thei
old prejudices as TO desire TO see the educa
ton of the freedmen advanced by every rea
sonable means. As a matter of fact, thC
large majority of the better class of Southern
whites arc so entirely converted to these
views as to make unnecessary the fear of any
permanent organized opposition on theil
part, and to give fair opportunity for testing
the capacity of the negro to receive such
mental training as is needed to fit him fol
citizenship in its best and broadest sense.
Undenably it is this last-named aspect OF
the question which presents most difficulty
and is calling most loudly for attention o!
Northern economists and piilanlhropists.
That the average negro is capable of receiv-
ing an average education is to many minds
very far from an ascertained 'act; and, even
granting such capacity, the isoblem remains
OF how such education ma, .tcss be given,
in the present chaotic StateJf Southern So
ciety.
Now there is but one source from which
we can draw authentic information and trust
worthy opinion upon this matter; and that
source is the testimony given by those pio-
neers who, from one motive or another, have
since the emancipation of the blacks devoted
themselves to obtaining practical solution
OF this complicated question. The men and
women who went down from the North, and
through the trying years following upon the
war made common cause with the freedmen.
have surely earned hearing from their fell
lowmen and women, and may offer their wit
ness without fear of being called fanatical or
unbalanced. The romance of slavery died
out long ago. The negro whom we meet to-
day is not idealized by the glamour of any
sentiment, but must stand to be judged, even
by his best friends, with an equal judgment
to that which is meted to other men; and
the reports of the various schools for colored
people which have been established in the
Southern States offer to the Northern public
as fair statement Of tho needs and posi-
billties of the African race as it is in the
power of facts and figures to give.
One Of the largest and most thorough of
these schools-that established at Hampton,
Virginia, in l86S-has published this year
two official reports, presented respectively to
tbs Legislatures of North Carolina and Yir-
ginia, which cover very satisfactorily the
ground under discussion. Gen. Armstrong,
the Principal Of the Hampton Normal and
Agricultural Institute, has had valuable
experience among the freedmen; and the
school, which owed it's existence IN the first
instance to Northern energy and philan-
thropy, shows remarkably successful record.
Its officers have adopted manual labor sys-
tenn, which has so far worked admirably; for
the students go out from their many-sided
training ready for the varied work which lies
hnfp hor ha 1oh cr hio1,f I,a,, G.
is paid for by the institution, and they are
thus to some extent assisted in defraying
their own expenses; but it is not intended
that the school should be self-supporting, for
education is RICH .ly COZ sidered of moro inn
pOrtance than production, and the best edu-
cation Of tho present day is confessedly not
that which directly pays for itself. The sys-
tenn seems to be peculiarly advantageous for
the race; for, while the vanity which is one
of their prominent weaknesses is fostered by
show a..Ai clos ~:-.l sa.~i1 i'm
terests are forwarded only by a training which
takes into account the fact that they are in
the main to form the working class of the
South.
The eagerness of the younger freedmen to
take advantage Of the opportunity offered
them is demonstrated by the rapid increase
in the applications for admission, the thirty
students who began with the first year having
multiplied themselves into two hundred and
thirteen for the present term, number
which, according to the report from which
we quote, "could easily have been raised to
two hundred and sevcnty-fye had the DOR
mitories afforded sufficient accommodation
for such rapid growth" The teachers in the
school have no hesitation in saying that they
consider the ability of the average negro to
learn, under the usual conditions, all that
is set before him, to be indisputablc. "Where
he does not learn" says the Principal, sit
is simpl, because lie will not :" and such in
disposition is apparently very rare, for most
of the graduates of Hampton are able to ex-
hill. an immediate return for the education
they have received, and on leaving the school
utilize their attainments in practical and
satisfactory manner. The State of Virginia
has bestowed one-third Of the land scrip at
her disposal upon Hampton, in its capacity
as an agricultural college, and this public
acknowledgment of the usefulness of the
school ought to stand it in good stead with
it's Northern friends, to whom it is still
obliged to look for the funds necessary to
complete system of buildings destined to be
the finest south Of Washington.
The value of such an institution as this to
the whole Southern people seems to be be-
You'd doubt; for it is practically settling,
III SiAo PCAooA VI CNClJ III Scli'io ipl
the two vexed questions of the ability Of the
negro to receive education and the possibility
of supplying the Southern market with skilled
labor from native sources. The history OF
the school from its establishment is worthy
ofcareful examination for it represents not
alone the success of individual effort, but
what is of far greater Importance, the success
Of a principle, and the benefits which will
arise from the following up Of such effort as
is here indicated are likely to affect the life
of the whole nation.
1t seems like beginning at the top. as
Eerodotus says the Egyptians did in building
their pyramids, to establish o complete sys
tenn Of normal schools and colleges, like those
at Hampton, Nashville, Atlanta, Macon, Mo
bile, and New Orleans, before perfccting
primary system; but the first necessity o
education is teachers. Congress will do wei
to provide for public schools in the South b,
the sale ofpublic lands but the teachers 0
the negro everywhere must first receive thei
| e;.cation in these higher institutions, ant
except ~ they are thus provided, it will b,
| hard to secure them. These colleges mus
be sustained by Northern aid, and we feel N
little fr ono which, like this at Hampton
teaches its pupils that the negro, when b
| learns to read and cipher, is not too mucl
like white man to work with his hands,
N. =. Independent.
Children Bought in Italy for th,