The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-08-16
Education of the Negro.
An. ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT IIAYGOOD.--
a MORAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND IN
DUSTRIAI4 NECESSITY.

+ DUsTRIAL NECESSITY.
MoNTEAGLE, Tenn, Aug. AT the
assembly of the Southern Sunday-schoo
Association here to-day the Rev. DR.. At
ticus e. Haygood. president Of Emory Col
lege, Ga. i'll his capacity as general agent
of the John +. Slater Fund delivered
by special request the following address
on the Education Of the Negro:
do not propose to discuss the question
of the relative capacity of the two races
my theme is Il very different one. Besides
am not prepared to discuss that ques-
ton | do not know any man who is pre-
pared to discuss it. Neither race is suf-
iciently educated to furnish a gauge of its
possibilities. AS to the negro, nobody
knows even approximately what he can
do ; his experiment has just begun. Until
recently he had no chance to-day he has
Il small chance Till the Gospel and com
mon sense have conquered the preindices
OF us of the white race he will not have
the best conditions for showing what he
can do. Considering what small chance
he has had and the short time in which he
has been allowed to learn, his achieve
ments seem to me to be most remarkable.
But on this point | know very well that,
4 as iisfEtiaWlfen feeling enters unto judy
ment, those who know the least from
personal Investigation will make the most
dogmatic assertions and the most vehement
/ denialS.
The proposition that am here to adj
vocate is this, and this only The negro in
the United States OngJt to be educated.
The first reason offer is III the fact of
his humanity. lie ought to be educated
because he is a man. At this point | say
nothing to those who deny the essential
| unity OF the human race. | speak to
those who do believe III that essential
unity For one | believe in the essential
unity of the race, and | believe in the
| brotherhood of the human race. | be-
lieve, therefore, in all brotherly help and
service. wherever and however | find any
| human being. For the very same reasons
that | believe in sending the gospel and
4 the Christian civilization that goes with it
to China. believe in giving Christian ed
| ucatlOn to the negroes in America and,
/ lest by some possibility there should be
| some misrepresentation as to the truth
| hold, let me say | believe in giving the
| opportunities Of Christian education to
the negroes for the same reasons that |
believe in giving the opportunities of
| Christian education to the white people.
that is, because they are alike human be-
ings, and by natural, God-given right,
should have the best opportunity Gods
providence allows them for becoming all
| that they are capable of becoming. So
long as believe i'll Jesus Christ and His
Gospel | cannot stand upon any lower
platform than this.
THE NEGROES CAPACITY FOR LEARNING.
How much he can learn, of what devel-
opment he is capable, we of to-day do not
know otr children will not know, for the
elevation of Il race implies the education
Of generations. But individuals of the
negro race have done enough in the matter
of advanced education hundreds of thou
sands Of them have done enough in the
matter Of elementary education to put to
flight utterly the theories and arguments
that a generation ago we of the white
race, with few exceptions, accepted as the
final orthodox philosophy on this subject.
AS q practical proposition | would say
that every child in this country, white and
black, should have, from his parents Oh
from the Government, an equal chance for
elementary education. / believe in what
Americans mean by the common school,
There should be schools enough to give to
every child the rudiments of learning if
you please, the three RS" And these
schools should be good enough to teach the
rudimentS thoroughly. Such schools there
must be, il the children of the Republic
are to be educated if they are to be eff
ticient, if they are to reach the case, they
must be backed by Government. To ac-
complsh this end wisely, justly, efficiently,
there must be a fair and equitable dis
tribution of the school funds, without dis
tinction Of race. Irejoice that every State
in this Union-with perhaps one exception
docs now i'll principle at least use its
school funds without distinction of race,
SO that i'll the opportunities of elementary
education there may he justice to both
races.
What comes after this universal ele
mentary education? The answer is simple
and to me obvious whatever individual
capacity, aided by the benevolence of good
men and likewise enterprise of the Church,
makes possible. Give them all. white and
black, the keys of knowledge, and then let
them unlock as many doors as they can |
pity the coward who is afraid to give q hui |
man being this chance. Little danger
is there that any race will rise too high,
that any individual of any race will learn
too much truth. There is no danger more
remote than the danger OF over-education
there is no danger more imminent than
the danger OF lmder-education and false
education. And there is. no part OF the
world that at this time, has greater need
to concern itself with the social and polit
ical and moral perils that lurk in wide
spread ignorance than our own Well-be
loved and fair sunny South of the year
1888
PRACTICAL PoLICYi OF TIE CASE.
With not q few persons Of good business
faculty and shrewd worldly wisdom it often
happens that al argument ON the plane of
policy goes much further than an argu
ment on the higher plane OF truth and
right. They are prone to forget that there
is no wise policy that is against right, and
that While God reigns there cannot be.
off tn q n ont q n
The negro is here and here to stay. He is
a citizen armed with that Jhunderbolt of
political power the ballot. That it was
given to him unwisely and without condi-
tions that would develop in him a wise
conscience as to the use of it; that as d
rule he is unfit to be a voter-all this l I'M
derstand fairly WE'LL But this is not the
subject to discuss at this time. lie is a
citizen he is a voter. In some States he
is in the majority ; in every Southern State
he IS tremendous pOWer-a power
whether he uses it OF designing white men
use it. 1t is about time to consider facts.
His citizenship is q fact and his presence
here is a fact. There are now at least
seven millions of negroes in this country
nearly all of them are in the Southern
States. They increase rapidly and steadily
faster than the white race increases.
The increase in the total population of the
CHlbeu otdGeS lIOll 1OlU To 1SoU WIS 81 per
cent; the increase of the white popula-
ton, aided largely by foreign immigration,
was 1852 per cent; the increase of the
negro population, unaided by foreign i'm
migration. was Bats per cent Some
writers OF name and position have en-
deavored to break the force of these
startling figures by calling in question the
accuracy OF the census tables and by seek
ing, in the comparisons Of the longer
periods, us from 1860 to 1880, to prove a
smaller percentage of increase. If they
want the best test for comp; rison let them
Try ten decades instead of two sets of two.
One hundred years ago there were in this
country 100, 600 negroes now there are =
100000 That is they have multiplied ten
times in century. How many will there
be in 1893?
THE ILLITERATE VOTE.
A man who does not KNOW that voters
ought to be able to read and write does
not know enough to be argued with. The
illitefate vote of our Southern States is
simply appalling, and this illiterate vote is
increasing. From 1870 to 1880 there was
an increase of illiterate votes in the
Southern States Of nearly -two hundred
thousand. Figures may not be interesting
toamiXed audience but they are sometimes
ina, t,.+i