New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-10-09

3 -" "'"' ibi" tDe iuInDering BUSINESS ans
that he had stirred up mighty interes,
among the people and got them to build tina,
school-house. also said that in noun.
tain school of sixty pupils, taught by one O.
our students, twenty-seven were in the first
reader, twenty-four in the second, three 10
geography, none in grammar, and 81. in
arithmetic; that most OF the teachers are
poorly qualified for their work, and that one
great want OF the mountain counties is a
good high school in each county-seat for the
education of teachers. These things were
said not to excite prejudice against the peo-
pie of Kentucky, hut to awaken sympathy
and interes, III their behalf; and, if poe stle,
To move some young men 10 ioin us in this
most needy, and, in some respects, inviting
field Of labor. dill not intimate that those
formerly Shareholders were now opposed to
general education or the education of the
colored people. But, on the contrary. said
that new era was dawning upon the South,
that all classes were becoming interested in
the edn'ation Of all. | admitted that for
proof that the ma jority Of the white porula-
ton are interested in the education Of the
Col"rcd. must depend on their words rather
than their deeds for hitherto no provision
had been made for them by the State. While
in the cities they Were aided, in the country
they were not. But the law prohibits the
appropriation Of any part Of the public school
fund 10 their education, and withholds its
portion of the school fund from any school
district whirh admits colored pupils. / cx-
pressed my opinion that the majority of the
white people Of Kentucky were not willing
that the colored people should share equally
with them in the public school fund. Ny
reasons for this opinion were that had fire.
Iuently heard that statement made both pub
licly and privately; and, especially, that
bill introduced into the Legislature last win
ter, and received with general favor, and
defeated, as ] am credibly informed, BY the
opposition Of one man, provided for the es-
Enlistment Of coiored schools 10y special
tax upon the colored people, with their own
consent, but proposed no appropriation from
the general fund.
That portion Of my speech which pertained
TO the education Of the races, or non
proscriptiye schools, was doubtless most
offensive, and would be objected to by large
majority Of the white people of the South.
and by very many at the North. Yet, in
my estimation, it was the most important
subject referred to in my speech, and is des
tined to occupy very important place in the
Discussions of several years to come.
1t is perfectly manifest that ia the rural
districts, it will be impossible to maintain
two systems OF schools so as 10 give school
advantages to all the children of the State.
In neighborhoods where there are but few
colored children, and there are hundreds Of
have no school privileges. unless they are
admitted with the white children. So, if the
colorel greatly predominant, the whites will
be destitute. If the white and colored are
about equal, the two schools will be very
small, and, to maintain them efficiently, will
cost more than is provided by any system of
free schools in the country. An effort to
maintain two systems of schools in the farm
ing portions Of our richest and most populous
States would probably prove a failure. This
difficulty is hardly felt in the cities where
both races are numerous, but in the country
there can never be an efficient system of
common schools if the races are to be sepa-
rated. The bill introduced into our I.cgis-
lature last winter proposed to furnish one
colOred school for every county in which there
were one thousand colored people. But
such school would be Of little use il the
country.
But the chief evils Of proscriptivc schools
are moro radical and more important. They
are connected with q system of usages which
must exert a very decided influence upon
both races. Colored women, as servants,
ride in the ladies' cars if travelling on their
own account, though intelligent and we'll
dressed and refined, they must go into the
smoking car. As servants, colored people
are good enough, nice enough, and agreeable
enough to live in our houses, TO keep our
restaurants, to control our barber-shops, and
swarm in our hotels but colored clergymen,
lawyers, colored Congressman, colored col
lege professors, colored graduates must not
sit at our tables, cannot be accommodated
at our hotels, except with the servants; can
not eat at our restaurants nor shave in our
barber-shops. And these distinctions are
carried into theaters, concert halls, churches,
and cemeteries. 1t is perfectly easy aud
natural for Southern white people to treat
negroes as servants f; they are used to it but
to treat them as freemen, having equal rights
and responsibilities with themselves, seems
difficult and awkward. If it is important to
reconcile the colored people to this state of
things, to make them acquiesce in the idea
that they are an inferior race, fit for servants,
but not fit to mingle with white people as
equals if it is desirable to destroy their self
respect, their independence of character and
every manly quality, by all means exclude
them from the white schools that if the best
development Of the white race is promoted
by being taught to regard themselves as su-
perior to another portion Of the human fam
lily; if the domineering manner and spirit
need to be cultivated, this is an additional
reason for separate schools. For all these