The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-03-20
THE NUMEROUS POSSIBILITIES
THAT LINE THE PATHWAY or THE
COLORED RACE.
A Talk with n. H.. Biackshcnr, Prin-
cipai of the Prairie View
Normal school.

f. L. Blackshear, principal Of the Prairie
view Normal school for colorcd students,
was in the city yesterday.
Mr.. Backshear may he regarded as
the Booker T. Washington of Texas. lie is
strong believer In the Industrial educa
tion OF The colored race and in discussing
this subject with a reporter for The Post
he said:
There are neglected portions OF the field
OF industrial education as applied especial
ly TO the coloTed race in the South In
every Southern city there is a need of an
industrial school to prepare colored boys
ana girls for useful, industrial and com
mercial occupations. Trained, intelligent
cooks OF upright. moral character. VINO
could prepare food with taste and economy
could be intrusted to do buying, marketing
and keep accounts and who thus could re-
lieve the lady of the house of a great deal
Of responsibility, such cooks could find
ready constant employment, respect and
protection in good homes at wages from
30 TO 100 per cent In excess OF current
wages to unframed help.
Color and race would be no bar to the
trained, Intelligent, refined sick nurse. A
large number Of culored women can find
profitable employment In this line. Those
colored women at present engaged in sick
nursing are mainly the ey-slsVe women,
who were trained In slavery days.
1T has been objected that colored fe-
males in service have neither respect nor
protection, but In reply TO this IL can
| tIuthfuily be said that colored women OF
character who really command respect and
desire to live deeently are respected. And
| u Is q fact thai any colored woman VINO
really wants protection in living an honest
| life can get It by proper appeals to respect
able people
AS a goyerness who could do primary
| teaching IN the nursery and at the same
! time act ms nurse and make herself gem
orally useful in way that need not imply
any sort OF social equality, the trained,
! intelligent colored female might find u
useful sphere.
"As AT expert scamstrcss and millinor
or as hair dresser. colored women can
find remuneradve employment
SIKH, trustw0rthincss and good moral
character will do much to smooth the
pathway of the negro woman and make Ler
( self supporting and respected in all the IN
| dustrial aVocations. Color and race, per Sc.
are not the chief barriers to the prosper
ty of the race.
"Coored women OF the right sort may
even aspire to be housckeepers to man
age or assist in the practical business man
agement Of affairs In the homes OF the
wealthy while the lady of the house buscs
herself with social functions and her other
numerous responsibilities.
The field for colored men is equally
broad II they viii open thoir eyes and Inn
prove their opportunities.
The greatest barrier to the success of
colored men in Industrial pursuits mas
! not been so much their inability to work
as it has been untrustworthiness. They
have not, MS a rule. stuck to the bush,
, but have put pleasure and personal whtms
and convenlences above business inter-
/ ests. The Colored man still has the up
: portuuitly to make himself indispensable in
he South. lie Is the only man who can
at all times and anywhere and everywhere
, in tropical and sub-tropica climates get
down to and keep up In a hot climate
sweat producing labor. that requires DOW.
, or, skill and speed. He Is the only tropica
a race that can compare in size and physique
t and physical force with the white man
The white capitalist Will find negro laho
n necessary to the carrying of his enter
4 prises in hot climates,
AS trained cooks as trained intelligon
, hostlers who understand the horse In
Q health and In disease and could be truste,
o TO their care as trained gardeners anC
florists as buffers footmen and Wallets N
sick nurses for men. as dairymen as
s foremen or farms employing negro labor
i as mechanics of every grade or descrip
tion the black man has an open door Il
n material prosperity.
There is complaint that race prelude,
). closes many even manual occupations :,
the hlack man. But, even il this Ia So
S sun II is wisdom to possess well and hol,
by strlctest attention to what employee
require the avocntlons that are opsn /,
), VS. mere IS no other TO get wider onrnr
tunlty. IL / would have strength r.
= make hour bread tomorrow, l must On
sn9 pread OF today, even IL It is corn bread
= and not enough at that.
would urge colored men overvvhor
e 10 hold what they have by doing mos
e carefully their duty. s mus
rms does not mean that all nerrof
9 are 10 ne manual laborers. though IL ia
: nv tnat most negroes land most whit
Il mem must and will engage IN ;nd,s,ri'
= pursuits III i"uusul'
$ But 1t does mean that the best sr,
= port OF the professional classes of an
0 race Is given when there Is prosperitv ,
d tne masses We have. we should bal
;. ano VIII continue to need. ministers. do,
L tors. dentists. lawyers and edI,ors ny ~
o II the masses remain unsliIled and w
tIalneu what support Will there be for
it professional class and what hone will mo,
e DC Tor the progress of the race. for il
u nor Few professional negroes that dete,
nine that condition of the race ana /,
80 status in public sentiment bur n is 81
r. condition of the masses. The bIac,s rs1
l. must have what white people have. n ovs,
p many, an intelligent, thrifty midd
It class But some negroes expect the vino
T. race, by some unexplained. unparaIleIe
y process to evolve from the Ignorance
Y prejudice, OF slavery into race 10 )
IS composed wholly or mainly Of theologlan
{. poets orators, statesmen, editors and nh
n losophers. y"
II There may be way across lots n
n perfect civilization but mankind has n,
yet found Il. ~
Straight is the gate and narrow is N
way that leads TO life said the grnatc
/. Teacher and what is true of indivldue,
g is true OF races.
Prairie View State normal school
'' helping the colored people of Texas to
n wise solution of present difficulties ~
d carpenter shop. the sewing room ~
. blacksmith shop, the farm. the laundr,
4 tpartially equinped1 the garden. the herf
q OF cattle, tho drove OF hogs and the daiT
= tparually euuipped) give the stulen,
I practical training, These students 20 a,
q and become the teachers OF the race an
y carry with them 20 give TO others Inc val
n uanle Industrial knowledge and skill saine
q at Prairie View
y "a little leaven leaveneth the Who'll
lump VIM
THE legislature In session has bao
| a ell rod -