The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-05-03


those States some sort of system would be
maintained for the benefit of the negroes
or at least money would Ostensibly BE-
raised for the purpose. AS to this being
the practical result, there is no difference o.
opinion among men acquainted with the
state Of the case in these States. Every
body knows it, black and white; and, there
fore, the blacks do not desire mixed schools
and the real friends of universal education
do not desire it whatever may be their po
litical theories. There are now more than
a million and half of children, white and
black, in the public schools OF the fifteen
ex-slave States. What would be the subse-
quent reputation of any statesman who
would aid in passing a law, the only practi-
cal effect of which would be to turn these
school children out of doors
| But what of the great future Are we
forever to 60 on thus There is no need
| for us to solve social and economical prob
lens for unborn generations We have our
hands full with the present. Do not let us
spoil our work from the fear of setting bad
precedents Our children will be sufficiently
progressive. The pref udices which disturb
us now will run their natural course and.
SO far as they are merely prejudices, will
end. The tidal wave which may be omni-
potent in its pride, sinks exhausted on the
bosom Of the deep. PROFESSIONALLY the
tendency of mankind is toward the oblitera-
ton Of race distinctions, and it is seen in
the brightest centers of civilization, as well
as among the lately secluded peoples of the
East. Some of the most cultivated Cauca-
slams have declared their preference for a
notified society-Or as an eloquent orator
expressed it, for ga rainbow of colOrs on
the social sky" And in the most polished
courts of Europe, not only has the Turk,
Iny,
received the highest social recognition, but
the same has been accorded to the despised
African.
Hence, in arguing for the policy advoca-
ted in this paper, it is not done in ignorance
OF the race at large, or with any eX-
pectatiOn that we can anchor here. Still
less is there a disposition to deny to the
negro equality before the law or equal means
OF Improvement with the whites. Nor is
there Opposition to disparage the intellect
Of the negro, or to discourage him in his
aspirations. Those who have chosen to trace
back the Ethiopian race into the remote
past, know that it too has had it's heroic age
in which it led the CIVILIZATION of the world
And those who have studied the remote
causes out of which have grown the diver
sites in the human race, and the influences
which gradually depress or elevate amy par
tlcular race or class of men, know that there
is nothing in either history or the present
condition of the African race to preclude
the idea, that in the great future it may
possibly Though not probably attain an
equal rank in all respects with the foremost
OF the other races.
But the fullest admission of such facts
and possibilities as these do not affect the
truth of the declaration, that at least dur
ing the present generation the attempt to
mix the white and colored races in the
schools of fifteen States OF this Union, is not
only as impossible as to equalize socially
the Brahmins and Pariahs of Hindoostan.
but, if forcibly pressed, would defeat the
general education of both races.
The true policy in this matter is to cult
vate with the negroes the pride of race: to
teach them that no promotion is real, which
does not come from merit and achievements.
and that while the contention for equality
Of rights is ennObling, every form Of social
presumption is contemplate and debasing
The history of the Jewish people from the |
until now illustrates the peculiar
power of race segregation, and also it's harm
lessness. And the peculiarites Of the negro
mind and character fit the race for a special |
of rare interest. Is it too much |
to hope that profound thinkers may vet re-
buke the vulgar spirit of miscegenaton in
all its forms, and evolve a scheme for pre-
serving and improving the separate races of
man in their purity!