The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1888-06-16
TOUGALOO SCHOOL.
s. ID. LEE,
7. w. PEEpLEs,
G. w. CARLISLE.

From letter of Mr.. w. r. Stevens
to the Globe-Democrat describing a
visit to Tougaloo colored school, we
extract the following:
Tougaloo, before the war, was one
Of the famous plantations of Mississippi
II consisted of over 2000 acres, and its
owner had as many slaves as there are
now students in the university. lie
was batchclor, and with his retainers
and dusky serfs, lived like a baron.
The time came when the old bachelors
heart was touched. lie woocd and
won Oh condition. Perhaps the con-
dition was intended to be insurnount-
able, and the young lady never expect
ed to fulfill her part of the contract.
However that may be, when the lord
of Tougaloo offered his heart and his
cotton bales, the f.ir one said he might
hope possibly, when he had built the
finest house in Mississippi for her.
Not a bit daunted by the terms the
bachelor went back to Tougaloo. The
profits on that years crop and the pros
pectivc profits OH the next year went
into lumber and mortar and nails. No
body remembers how many "likely
hands from the quarters of Tougaloo
were sent to the slave pens of Jackson
before the finishing touches were put
to this spacious mansion. At last the
cage was ready, and the master went
for the bird only to be told that she
had changed her mind. lie returned
to his old way ofliving. The mansion
stood untenanted. The only use it was
put to was the storage of cotton. The
parlors with their ceiling % feet high,
answered admirably for that.
When the war was over the bachelor
owner had gone and the title rested In
the State of Mississippi. For $4,000
the American Missionary Association
acquired 500 acres of the estate, includ-
ing the mansion, the great house, built
from the profits of slave labor first
occupied for the education of ex-slaves
and their children.
A MISSISSIPPI MYSTERY.
Nowhere in the South is the negro
so totally nonentive in politics as in
Mississippi, and yet nowhere in the
South is there colored institution so
heartily commended as is Tougaloo
University by the white Mississippians
This seems odd, hardly credible. Tou-
galoo is not a State institution. Miss
issippi has system of instruction in
cluding normal school and other de-
partments for colorcd youth. And
yet every Legislature makes an appro-
priation for Tougaloo. The institu-
TONS management report the use made
of the money and the Governor APP
points Board of Visitors. This is
the extent of State supervision, and
still Mississippi continues to make BIZ
ennially an appropriation fofethe Uni
versity. The last Legislature cut down
the amount somewhat, but IT was
chcese-paring body and cut some of
the white institutions worse than il did
Tougal0O.
Perhaps stronger evidence of cs-
TEEN in which this university is held
by white Mississipians is The social con-
sideraiions bestowed on those connect
ed with the institution. The predju-
dice which ostracises "nigger teach
or" and which is so pronounced in
most communities where there Is
colored institution, is rarely observable
here. On the Board Of Visitors are
men of the highest standing. To visit
Tougaloo Is not to lose caste In Jack
son society, but is altogether \ proper
thing to do.