The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-23
OF GREAT CONSEQUENCE.
Is THE hFRo-AMERIChN MIsEDU-
C1TED?
Thirty thousand Teachers ana Preachers and
Professional Men Made since the war.

There arc SO many sides to n race problem
nearly 800 years old, only thtrty-two years Of
which has been worked out under conditions of
freedom, that n reasonable amount of conscrva-
tism should govern all those who undertake to
discuss any phase OF It. Tho Afro-American
problem Ia such n one. Slavery was a hard
school. but in many respects freedom is n harder
one. Slavery destroys entirely tho self-depend-
oncc and reliance OF the slave; and when he has
had 255 years of slave education and only thirty
two Of free education to Offset II, II Is not easy to
determine Just what is best for him to prepare
him for the responsibilities of manhood and citi-
zenship.
When slavery was abolished tho 1000, 900
people who came out of the house of bondage
possessed, in the main. no bool; education what
ever. They were equally destitute of moral and
spiritual education. They possessed no self
reliance. They were poor In head and heart and
purse. They were compelled to begin at tho
bottom and build from the ground up in all tho
essentials that make for character and worth.
They had no leaders. no teachers, to guide them
out of the shadows into the sunlight of freedom.
II they had been left to their own devices they
would have gone to pieces they would havo
justified the doleful predictions Of those who
insisted that they were destitute OF the common
attributes OF human kind. But they were not
left to their own devices. Tho friends who had
fought their battles when they were slaves re-
manned constant to them when they were turned
loose upon the land with freedom as their sole
stock in trade. As the flower of Northern man.
hood had poured out its life's blood on the bat
tlefield to save the Union and crush the slave
power through four years Of war, making DESC
late thousands upon thousands of homes, 80 in
the wake OF the vanishing Northern army there
followed an army OF Northern women, and a
few men. imbued with the finest missionary
spirit that pypr actuatnd human heinua who
planted schools and seminarics and colleges on
the ruins of the war, and began the completion
of the work where their brothers and fathers
and husbands had left 1t Off at Appomattox
Court House. when
The war drums throbb'd no longer. and tho battle.
flags were furl'd.
In the Parliament of man. the Federation OF the
world.
without the work of these Northern women
in the schoolhouses and the churches and the
homes OF the freedmen, the sacrifices of their
male relatives in the war would have been in
vain. The brave soldier laid the foundation
when he achieved the freedom of the blacks; his
sister built upon the foundation n superstruc-
turc OF mental and moral training which will
abide and influence the destinies Of tho repub-
lie as long as the Afro-American shall remain
an indivisiblo factor of our national life. The
public school systems of the Southern States owe
their origin TO the devoted efforts and sacrifices
of the Northern men and women who flocked
into the South when the war closed, and who re-
manned there AS long as their services were
needed. And the colleges and seminaries scat
tered all over the South, devoted to the higher
education of the manumitted slave. were
founded and fostcred by tho same devoted
spirits. They will stand through the ages as
imperishablc monuments, living witnesses that
seltishncss is not always the controlling iniu-
cnce in the conduct of mankind. The vast vol
ume of energy and wealth lavishcd by the
North upon the education of tho freedmen OF
the South was "A service to humanity and to the
republic which can yield no return to the bene-
factors save tho satisfaction Of having done
their duty.
These observations naturally lead up to an
article published in Dirie, Il popular monthly
published at Atlanta. in May, and an editorial
in the same spirit in the April number. on tho
subject of Afro-American education. The views
set forth in the article published in May are so
hostile in spirit and calculated to do SO much
damage to the educational work being done in
cans in the Southern States rs to call for. a
broader and more generous consideration of the
follows:
There are in the Southern States nearly 100 en-.
dowed schools and colleges devoted to negro educa:
ton. These institutions r present an Investment of
nearly $4,000, ooo. and arr maintained al an annual
Most OF these colleges have been in operation for
the past twenty years. some OF them FOR the past
taat at least nifty ofthsse schools have graduated a
class every year for the past twenty years. and TO es.
aged thirty members each. This very conservative es-
timate Indicates that the negro colleges have grad
It Is time tina, the phila9,hr9pists look about
penditure. Let them investigate. Let them follow
the history OF negro graduates and learn the empti::
the prosp rous, useful negroes, everywhere in the
c Land, They hey, viii \. i oD,o, long w. and Ia,, sSrr cIsI s1 for ,h the
will discover that ninety nine out OF every one hun.
youth to lives Of Industry and economy. ii" l"
We recommend. therefore. to the generous men
OF their philanthropy before devoting further sums
to the support OF negro colleges. We believe that
results warrant n reform In the course OF study now In
practice at these institutions. 1t would he an un.
were Converted into industrial training Schools.
There are two or three institutions OF this character
truth to say that they are OF greater material benent
to the race than the combined influence OF all the col
leges in the land.
This is a sweeping arrangement of these schools
of higher learning as they are conducted to-day
and unrescrvcd condemnation OF their work dur
ing tho past twenty years, by II hostile critic,
who having eyes secs not and having ears hears
not. Are the statements OF fact and Of opinion
100000 represents tho money that Northern
philanthropisis have invested IN lands and build
ings for the higher education of the Afro-Amer-
lean; the ~ .OOO. 900 per annum necessary to
maintain them is derived from the same sources.
nmally $75, 900 for this higher education. Most
OF them maintain one agricultural college; none
q them maintain even high schools although
cities of the South. The Afro.Americans OF so
important a city as Atlanta, for instance, have
no high schools. but they have three colleges,
one theological seminary and one female semi.
nary supported by Northern philanthropy; tho
same is true OF Nashville and New Orleans, each
OF which has three such colleges. They are fed
by the public schools, of course. and absorb all
the best and brightest of tho pupils graduating
from them. They have no high schools. SO thoy
naturally flock into the colleges and seminaries.
What becomes of the graduates of these
schools OF higher education : Have the time and
money expended during the past twenty years
been wasted . Uirie would have us believe as
much, and, further, that the college honors Sc
cured are entirely empty, and that by conpar;;
ison with the dear old creature. hat in hand and
bowling and ~scraping to :" NASSAU Jeems," OF the
days of slavery. the, bcncfciaries Of this educa-
ton have made no IMPRESSION on the NE OF the
and cannot be traced, but We refuse to believe
anything Of the sort, because each and every one
of the assumptions Is false.
Suppose these schools have graduated 30,