New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-09-18
The HS"ohiyn Board Of Educa-
ton.

'''H Nssg't|.NN'3 a. W. .tlfltu iNtN he
thci. regular meeting on Tuesday. the %
instant. The petition from the coiored reo-
Pie "t BROOKLYN Tor the abolition oC dist.nc-
Tons founded on color. in oar public schools.
elsewhere printed, wa, presented and read
; by Mr. stewart. the secretary. ItwaS signed
10y one hundred and scvcuty-ihrcr citizens
aud l;tlc less than one hundred other SO,
natures are IN the office al the N4.iog1r Non
I 't'', having been sent in too late To be
attached t" the petition. M. Libby, from
whom support Of the petition vas looked for.
+ led Oft:
/ He said he had it in his mind To- make some
/ remarks, hut the petition seemed 10 him to
I speak the simple truth, right. and Justice in
the case. ltwas signed b. one hundred and
seventy respectable men, and whoever
would look nj it, would find it hor, the i'm.
/ press OF intelligence among that class of
society. equal, he should say, to any class ia
the community. apprehend, he continued,
that II that petition had
FIVE THOUSAND VOTES EFnINp u.
/ it would be received hy this Board in a dl,-
terent spirit from other petitions offered here
| apprehend, sir, that then the colored man
would receive his rights in this community
and other communities. | can see no good
reason why he should not now hut | can
see great injustice in denying this petition to
this people ut this time There are Senators
Of state, Representatives of State. Governors
OF state, Mayors of cities, and Congress
men-pcrhaps nv friend on the right (Ken-
sellal sat near onc-b>hOpS and priests who
are colorrd men, and not long since [ saw il
stated in paper that the Prime Minister OF
England had invited To breakfast a COMPANY
from this country that not long since were
slaves, who had gone over there for the pur-
pose OF raising funds to erect college at
| ,.ttiIN Al, 81
are represented by Mayors and Aldermen
are worthy to sit by the side of white chill
dren in the public schools OF BROOKLYN. IL
seems to me that the opposition that see
in tins Board is but a repetition of what we
saw years ago, whilst We know the world has
marched on IN progress for the past ten years
| Imagine the time will come when this pref
udcc will all pass away, because behind it
there Is large party %! voters who will in
Sist on ii being abolished In conjunction
with that petition | ask the adoption Of the
following resolution
Rrsoirca, That the prayer of the petitioners
be granted, and that hereafter Colored
school No. | be designated aS Grammar
school No. Sc, and tulored school No. , rs
PRIMARY school No. :, tolnrcd school No
) as Primary School No ., aud Colorei
school No. / rs Primary school No e.
MIR. Garrett Bergen seconded The resolu
ton, and i'll doing 80 he said | hope for, and
will press, its passage. | fully concur with
all that has been said by Mr.. Libby on thi,
subject, and | see no intent in his idea to
rcvOlntiOnzc the public schools of tho city
OF Brooklyn. We only get on II iorting with
THE CONSTITUTION o. THE UNITED STATES,
There is no man in this board that will
question the right of Il Colorcd child To- apply
for, demand, and obtain admittancc into an,
sob an - gt,
here who have always voted against it, and
yet, in the school Of which they are the local
committee there are more Colorcd children
than in any school in the city save one. II
is ridiculous TO continue this opposition
they can 90 III ana you cannot help II. There
is no intention of abolishinG the colOrcd
schools, but the intention is To abolish the
name of colorcd." 1t WAS proposed some
time ago to call the schools by name after
men they might have called theirs after
Douglass, and very properly, for he ia the
leader of the race, and then what would have
become Of your distinctions? believe It
would be "A bad thing To abolish cOlOred
schools bat it i, not bad thing, it is II
good thing to abolish the name - Colorrd
school"
After much animated discussion, the PED
ton was referred 10 the committee on teach
crs aud attendants.
The Hon. Thomas kcnsela admitted that
the cOlored people had right to what they
asked for but he did not think it would
prove to work to their comfort and advantage
nor to the advancement of the irce-schoOi
system of this city. The Democratic element
generally, but in an indirect way, strongly
opposed the petition, aud ut the same time
protested to DC in favor OF what was right
Every member declared the right of cOlOrcd
citizens 10 send their children to any of the
puhlir schnnls and JpninI tIt. Of nm
member OF the board to prevent it. This the
Democrats thought was enough. But that i,
not the point. Though We may send to No
II, vet there exist COlOrcd schools No. /
No. 2, No. 3, and No. t." Wipe out thai
distinction or else give the nationality Of
the other public schools "a - Dutch school
No. !, ;" Irish school SO. ." White
school No. 3d. and so on, through all the
ramilicatiOns Of color, natDnalitics and con
ditions. The changes asked for by the pcti
TONERS need not disturb the schools nov
known by the board a. cOlOrcl schools, aud
by the Irish boys a. "niggar schools" in the
least. 1t VIII only remove tho official curse
that prejudice put upon them in the harbar
Gus days Of slavery. Not that cOlOred Amer
leans are any more ashamed OF their color
than Irish Americans are, but that they do
not wish their physical peculiarities officially
poked at them to the qualification Of then
pecuiarites pOked at him
Some Of the members Of the board trcd 10
make the impression that the petition va
not the popular sentiment Of the cOlored
people, but that 1t originated in a corner, and
was political net 10 catch blacEj.sds IA fOr
the white Republican 10 feast on nj the polls
1t i. not 80 The petition was drawn up b.
Mr.. Rufus J.. Perry, who was requested T.
do 20 by the clergy Of the city III thcT TegU-
lar weekly meeting. IT vas signed by every
colOred pastor in the city, and copies Of Il
were taken TO three Of the largest colored
churches in this city, and there approved
even on the Lords day. The signatures Of
white citizens 10 the petition were received
only TO prevent on a new dodge By the
board-lhat "thcy should now get an express
sion from the white folks" We can give the
board another petition with one thousand
Smon-pure negro signatures Il they wish,
before the time Of their next meeting. But
that is not the trouble. Like Pharaoh II old,
they hate TO - let my people co. National
HOHt05.