Wilmington daily gazette., 1874-06-03
Mixed Schools In the South.

~ The discussion of the civil rights Dlil pIligs
before Congress question when especianS
concerns the future of the black mep ~ s w.
South. The del ate upon the suhJect oi lilly
SCHOOLS" has, of course, produceu glea5s ~ nnt
CIV of opinions The Southern people 90 hos
appear to deny the right of the black ci,izens
to have as good and thorough an educa'loh as
the whites can obtain. In all the ihpoi 'ans o.,
cities of The South-eyen in those Wnete .nu
amount of taxes paid by coored people Is wy
small-provison has been mnde Tor !he euu
cation of the negroes. The states which were
once the sternest and most uncomprohllsinH
advocates of system for keeping ine nes.o
In degraded condition are now DONG inuon
to insure the elevation. A school svpelimn,,u,n
dent who visited cOlored school IN aicl-
mond three years ago. found an ollcei
who had served on Gen. Lee S stan throuHniou'
| the war teaching the young negro ana li'sI,h
ces Of the employment of ladies whose lati'rIa
| and husbands had been slave holders VINO arc
| now teaching the young negroes ate Wy nn
| means rare: 1t is also noticeable mat even
l where The negroes have had complete poiitica,
| control, they have not, of n rule, cndeaVoiru
| to establish mixed schools, nor have they ca
mored for them. In Petersburg va Wheic
the colored schools have been remarkap,y
good, the black voters have not been heaiu 10
express discomfort because the whites nave
l had their own exclusive schools. Nor nave
| there been any complaints of injustice rom
| such cities as New Orleans, SaNannah, Ch"i :
les on, Louisville Baltimore, Memphis, W Woi
from the many towns OF lesser SIZE. oo,'e ,'' ",
i the largest and finest buildings in one or TWO
1 of those cities are devoted to coi0red schools
/ supported, too, by the Statc-not by pilVate
munhcence. go.
The testimony of the majority of the state
| Superintendents of Education throughout tht
| South-testimony taken by careful ana com
: | netpnt Obseryers-is that If mixed schools ar,
insisted upon the common school system Wi
pe seriously injured if not altogether destroy
| ed In those commonwealths where tn
| Democrats have the upper hand, they woul'
| at once withdraw the appropriations ana VI,
!, negroes, who as q rule are not wen 10 q
: enough TO send their children 10 prlvat
schools, and who could only avail themselve
| of the few founded by Northern charity woul
get but little education. In the States wieI
the negroes control matters the whlt
children would suffer. Injustice to one rae
or the other would pretty surely follow an a
tempt to enforce Il mixed schoolsystem,and
q | The remote agricultural districts of the Soul
10 there would be serious trouble and TOT
check to all educational progress. 1t may
: | affirmed that those who know the negro Dts
| and who are working most zealously in his u
half in the South are utterly opposed 10
l movement in favor of mixed schools.
Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Geore
"a | and North Carolina are all States Conservati
:, in politics. Three of them are now taking
!" lead in education in the South. All CT ih'
ID have done much for negro Schools and The
st. have been no invidious distinctions made IN a
case. Education in those States is fairly {
ts of the sphere of politics, and has been admit
- by the parties there in power TO be 80. No
bilious man in any Southern State would W
- ture to oppose public free schools for white
black. ii would ruin him politically. l
negroes themselves realize that with the adv
of an arbitraymixed school system their chan
are, for the present, at an end. They, pers
ally, would be far better oil if Congress CO
content itself with simply recommending
the Southern people whatever it honestly
lieves to be right, instead of legislating on
educational question, and creating turmoil
chaos where something like steady progress
been. after many years of striving with prej'
ces, ut last secured.-Neu York Times.