New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-06-07
The CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.


The Mixed Sch0oh 4ueettOn-Aetter IRON
Hon. Thomas w. Conway to the Wash. |
ington National Republican.
1 beg leave to express, through the col.
ferent from those of such of your contempt
raries as think the adoption of the civil
rights bill twill practically destroy the pub
lie school system in large portion of the
Union," and from the opinion of Rev. DR..
Jeter, of Virginia, who, in one Of the Bap-
fist meetings recently held in this city said
"that if the mixed school provision of the
bill became law the educational interests
of the South would be totally ruined" and
from the belief expressed by the Rev. DR..
Sears, agent of the Peabody fund, at the
same meeting, to thu effect ''that the pas.
sage of the bill would destroy the free
school system Of the South, )" and ''that
of education in the South would resign
| their positions, in despair of a successful
GROWING OF their efforts, however strenu
ous" DR.. Sears is said to have arrived at
his conclusions from conversations with
men OF all parties in the South. And Sen
| ator BrowLlow, of Tennessee, is said to
have declared that if the civil rights bill
| in, ''the whole fabric of free schools in his
State will fall to the ground, as it will
| deserve to do" and then, we are told that
| the experience of teachers of judgment
| warrants the opinion that the mixed schools
| feature of the bill will work disastrously.
| In Congress several members have ex
pressed the same apprehension and Opin-
| ions; and there can be no doubt of the
| existence of very strong belief in the
| minds of many intelligent men, friends of
| public education, that it the mixed school
| feature is allowed to remain and become
the law Of the land, it will do more harm
| than good.
/ 10 foy I'D
BILE, the view of this matter which is enter
| tanned by those who are opposed to this
| feature of the bill.
| Recently this element has had most to
| say on this question. l speak for mixed
schools, and l speak from an experience
which, if possessed by DIR. Jeter, or DR..
Sears, or Senator Brownlow, might have
taken of the question by either of them. If
we find that already in the largest city in
| the South, where the opposition press had
| worked upon the public mind to such de-
gree that every possible effort had been
| put forth to destroy the free schools On
account of the admission of blacks into
| them; if there, and under these circum-
stances, the free schools were not destroy
| ed, then we have an argument weightier
! than the mere conjectures to which l have
alluded
In New Orleans, and in the entire State
| of Louisiana, there have been mixed schools
for several years. During the time that |
was State superintendent of public eGuca-
| ton in that State namely, from June, 1868:
| till little more than year ago, the pub
lie schools have been, and they are now,
| conducted under the provisions of State
constitution which attaches very heavy
penalties to the act of refusal Of a colored
child into any public school.
Every possible effort was put forth to
| 81; nf no ifrYfl en-
odious that no superintendent or teachers
| or school boards could make it operate. In
New Orleans, when l publicly proclaimed
| the free schools open as we'll to the black
as to the white children, the pupils of the
latter class were advised to take their books
and leave the schools. In some instances
the advice was needed. went one day to
see the fruit of my work, and l must con
TESS that, for d day or two, l was panied at
the scene enacted before my eyes. There. on
one hand. came the colored pupils to enjoy
their rights, and on the other, the white
scholars, who had already been in their
seats, seeing the former approach and en-
ter the building, seized their books and
| rushed for the street, as much excited as II
they were flying from an approaching army.
And there stood the teachers, as pale as
ghosts, wondering to themselves whether
| their school was not ruined and their voca-
ton gone. And the neighbors, black and
white, stood half bewildered and half
frightened. For the moment one would
suppose that the affair would end in blood
shed, but it did not. And, mind you, all
the newspapers in the city. except the RE-
PUBLICAN, advised the white psople not to
send their children to the public schools;
and not that alone, they also advised them
to break down the system under which they
were conducted. This they expected could
be done by combined effort.
l 9TH; hat hrinn rul n
school system was left untried, and the
scene which l have just pictured of the
blacks entering and the whites leaving
school building, was one OF many similar
results of the public excitement created at
the time by the newspapers conducted by
the enemies of the school system.
had fully concluded to put the system
of mixed schools to a thorough, practical
test, and did. The white pupils all left,
as said, and the schoolhouse was virtually
in the hands of the colored pupils. This
was the picture one day. What will you
think when tell you that before reached
my office that day, the children OF both
races who, on the school question, seemed
like deadly enemies, were, many OF them,
Joined in circle, playing on the green,
under the shade of the wide spreading
live oak. In few days went back to see
how the school was progressing, and, to my
surprise, found nearly all the former pupils
returned to their places; and that school,
like all the schools in the city, reported at
the close of that year larger attendance
than at any time since the close of the war.
The children were simply as kind to each
| other in the school rooms as in the streets
and elsewhere A year ego | visited the
| same school, and saw therein about as
MANY colored children as whites, with not
a SIM gle indication of any ill-feeling what
, ever.
All that is wanted in this matter of civil
| rights is to let the foes of the measure SIM
ply understand thai we mean it. Do this,
and as in the case Of the enemies OF tree
schools in Louisiana, they will be quiet.
As in the case of the abolition OF slavery,
many who promised all sorts of evil If the
thing was done, now acknowledge their
, error; SO in this matter of civil rights, many
, who now express alarm at the prospect
ahead will soon seek to be knoW n as friends
of the measure.
, We were told if we emancipated the
, slaves they would turn about AID either
murder their masters or roam over the
country as vagabonds. Those who told us
| so were mistaken. We were told that the
sun and moon would turn into blood If we
} gave the freedmen the right to go into
) | court like men. Here was another mistake.
= And we were promised death and destruc-
| | ton if we gave the freedmen the right to
f | vote and hold Office; but thus lar this pre-
dictiOn has failed, for certainly our poor
-. colored friends have not abused their
rights in these respects any more than their
white fellow. citizens under like circum,
= stances. And now we are told that the