Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-03-14


all opportunities for education and intel
ligence were afforded the colored people.
TURNER HUNT
was of the same race and color as those
before him, and he considered this
should be day Of great rejoicing and
remembrance among the colered race of
Memphis. White and cOlored, and all
nationalities had aided in building this
school, and now that the eolOred people
had one of the keys of knowledge, they
should use it to open up the vast store
houses of education. He was an uned-
ucated man, but wished well to all
schools, and urged the children to avail
themselves OF all the opportunities af-
forded them for acquiring knowledge.
Get education in your heads, children,
he said, and no one can prevent you
having your civil rights anywhere. He
concluded with an appeal to the colored
pBrents to support the schools and send
their children to them.
MAYOR LoAGUE
spoke briefly next, and representing In
part the city government, said 1t afforded
him extraordinary pleasure TO congratu-
late the school-boaTd and citizens gen.
orally on the completion of school for
citizens Heretofore deprived of the
means Of education. He did not be-
lieve citizen could be found who did not
cheerfulIy pay his quota of schoel-tax,
and he impressed it upon the minds of
the children present, that the day would
be looked back to by them as one of the
happiest in their lives. II they would
be governed, controlled and advised by
their teachers, and be virtU6uA, honest
and good, they could aspire to anything
in the gift of the country.
REV. MIR. PHILLIPS
said the colored people were entering
upon new era. History showed that
without education there was barbarism,
and it was the duty of parents to appre-
ciate the blessings of knowledge. AS
long as the colored race was in ignor-
ance, in consequence of the neglect
and carelessness of parents, that race
would be hewers of wood and drawers
of water. AT the last city election,
there were places left vacant for colored
men, but being incompetent for want of
education, they were not put into them.
He urged the children to lay hold of
education. which would fit them to as
pire to the highest places, and make
them the peers Of any and every one.
SUPERINTENDENT PICKETT
believed this was the day spoken of
by the prophet, when he said:
"Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand
and become high among the nations of
the earth" It was indeed a proud
day for the colored people. The parents
stood at one end of line and the
teachers at the other, and to accom-.
plish satisfactory results both should
work together. There is no question of
inequality with the eolored people.
There was a clear field and an open
way, and equality was in reach of the
humbIest aspirant- To attain this was
the object of the Clay street school and
like buildings. The new edifice, he
said, was fiue, admirably arranged, and
all that, but that was not all that
was needed. Scholars must be pune
tual and regular. III an experience of
thirty years, he had known but one sue
cessful pupil and she was punctual. In
conclusion he said If pupil should be
for irregularity in attendance,
his seat should be vacated and any new
for admission would be as
signed to it. In this action he felt sure
the board of schOol-visitUrs would up
hold him.
Upon the conclusion Of the speeches,
under the direction Of Superintendent
Barnum,
A PROCESSION
was formed, which, headed by the Pole
Bearers Band, was made up of the city
officials and school visitors and other
followed by the Clay street |
scholars and those of the Chelsea coll |
1nh nI hrs n
perhaps two thousand persons. TheIoute
was down DeSOtO street, which was
packed on either side with the friends
and relative Of the children. Arrived |
at the building the children, five hun |
dred in num5er, filed into the rooms,
and the visiters from North Memphis |
passed through the building and the
yard and returned home.
THE CLAY-STREET sCHOoLHoUsE
is two-stOry brick, fronting on Clay
street, its dimensions being 64 by so. |
1t was begun ia May, 1873, by the con-
tractor, the late William Juniper, and |
but for the cholera and yellow-fever,
would have been fiDished Au-
gust 18th -euecg-dAg The cost of
structure, grounds and furniture is put at
SO, 900 by the chairman of the school |
board building committee, n. ]. Wig |
gin. The building presents handsome |
appearance and is arranged admirably |
for light and comfort. In the first |
story, the entrance being on Clay
street, are rooms l, 2, and 4, wide |
hall dividing the first two from the last. |
Each of these rooms has four windows, |
Is well ventilated, and heated by a stove. |
The seats for the scholars are Ofthe "Ex- !
pattern, double. COmmunicat- |
ing with each room is narrow closet, |
in which-for it is the width of |
the apartment and five feet |
Is ample arrangement for |
hats, cloaks, umbrellas, etc., not forget |
ting wash sink and towel rack. In |
the second story are rooms 5, 6, Z !
and s, and another for the princi- |
pal, cut off from the south end of the |
vide hall, and furnished with desks and |
seats. In all the rooms there are ac-
for five hundred children,
and by the halliday system, which has
been adopted, two hundred more can be /
THE CLOSE.
After the children were seated the
white and colored people present visited |
he several rooms, and thoroughly in
,pected the building with which one
and all expressed themselves highly |
pleased, and upon returning to the
street, at the instance of Judge Henry |
g. Smith, one and all, old and young,
white and black, joined in three rousing
cheers, the band playing an sp-
Dropriate air. The schools will open on
Monday at the usual hour. The follow
ng are the names and numbers of the
'ooms of the several teachers: CWhite)
j. II. Barnum, principal; Miss
Palm, class Z; the highest, s; Mrs.
). S. Bsrnum, class 3; Miss Clara
NewkiIk, class 2; Miss Murray,
lass l. (ColOred) Mrs. s. 81. Thomp-
ION, class s; Miss Davidson, class 6;
Miss Emma Owen, class 5; Miss Fannie
Claiborne, class 4.