The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1898-03-01
NEGRO FREEMEN.
VIA ONE OF THEIR RACE sAYS
ABOUT THEM.

Prof. Booker II. Washington, the
head of the colored industrial college
at Tuskcgee, Ala, has just contributed
a most interesting and significant az
ticlc to the Independent, and it is
worthy of note that he does not find
the negro improved after more than
thirty years Of freedom. On the con-
trary, he finds the race, taking it as a
whole, less respectable aud less efficient
than it was under slavery. There arc
cases in which colored men have ac-
CURED a snowy and more or less useful
education, but the masses of the rolor-
ed people have not advanced in an,
important respect. 81 would be tho
last to apologize for the cur. C of slave
ry," says Mr.. Washington, "but l am
simply stating the Iacts. Before the
war if q Southern white nan wanted a
house or bridge built he consulted n
negro mechanic about the plan. If he
wanted a sui. of clothes or a pair
OF shoes, 1t Tas to The negro tailor
or shoemaker that he talked. Every
large slave pla ltatlon in the South was,
in a limited sense, all industrial school.
~ e'SSS P'oilupiobo tilClC "tIC SCOlC Go
OF JOuhg colored men and ONE who
were constantly being trained, not only
as commo farmers, but as carpenters
blacksmlths, wheelwr'ghls, plaslercrs,
D!lckm sons, engineers, bridge build
ers, cooks, ~dressmakers, housekecpers
more in one county than now in tn,
whole city of Atlanta"
The object of main Importance is
IN Prof. Westinghouse opinion, to make
the negro a potent factor III our eco
nomlc cquaiion-not to teach him l.atir
and Greek, which avail nothing in tn,
struggle for existence, but to prcpar,
him for usefulness and self-supportipg
in actual life. "One of the saddles
sights | ever saw" he says "was tn,
placing of a $500 rosewood piano in
country school in the South that wa
situated in the midst of the black belt
Am | arguing against the teaching of in
strumental music to the negroes in tina
community? Not at all, only / SHOULD
have deferred those music lesson
abodt twenty five years. . Iii
the black belt community where thi
piano wen ton iifths of the pcopl,
owned no land, many lived in rente,
one-room cabins, many were in deb
for food supplies, many nortgagct
their crops for the food on which I,
live, and no one had a bank account
Sensible people will agree with Prof
Washington when he asserts that villa,
these negro children chiefly needle,
was practical instructions, which the,
could turn to good account in tn,
trades and occupations open to them
Good COOKS, good carpenters, masons
Dlacksmiths, seamstresses, farmers
washerwomen, &c., are in dcmant
everywhere. Who wants coloret
youths who can translate Virgil ant
play the "Mailen's Prayer" upon tn,
piano?
Prof. Washington is right. Tn,
negro is not bettercd by a shabby smat
tering of the classics and by Jus
enough knowledge of the highe
branches to make him impudrnt anC
disconnected. He can do nothing will
his halfway education after he receive,
1t. TIC same is true of the whites, o.
of ninety-nine out of a hundred O
them, who emerge from the publ,
schools with learning which they car
not make useful to themselves or an,
boiy else, and wricl, represents onl, ;
wasteful and improper expenditure O.
the public funds. But it Is especial,
true of the negroes, for they are only
on the Threshold of their social evolu,
ton, and they need, above all other
things, the ground work of material
prosperity. They get this at the
Tuskegee institute and they become
useful ard respected members of the
community. Prof. Washington is an
honor and q credit to his race-the
w%orthiesI, the wisest, and the most
potent leader they have ever had
washington Post.