The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-07-19
SUMNER SCHOOL.
For the COlOred Teachers Of this
Section.

For the CoIored Teachers Of this
Section.
The Summer school for colored
teachers of the counties of Anderson
Abbeville, Newberry, Edgefeld and
Greenwood, convened Tuesday morn
ing, July 18th, in Ferguson and Will
liams College at Abbeville, S. G.
Unusual interest was manifested by
the teachers, eighty of whom were en-
rolled the first day. Rev. E. w. VIII
liams and Mrs. E. V. G.. Williams, as.
sisted by Miss jamie B. Weston OF
Charleston, S. G., constitute the 1acul'
ty of the school.
There is every evidence of pleasant
and profitabls session. The schoolco'' =
tinues one month.
The following is the opening address
of Rev. E. w. Williams, Principal OF
the school
Ladies and gentlemen and fellow
teachers of Western South Carolina:
Iregard it high privilege as well
as an honor to meet you on an occa'
sion like this.
have no words by which rightly
to express my high appreciation of the
WAYS of God that have made it posi-.
BILE for US to meet in this Summer
school. Neither have / any language
sufficiently strong and impressive to
give you an adequate and just idea OF
the value and Importance of this hlgh
privilege TO us as race.
We have only to lift up our eyes and
see the circumstances and conditions
under which we find ourselves, If we
would know how fully and rightly to
value and appreciate the blessing that
is conferred upon US in being called to.
gether in this Institute to be instruct
ed as teachers of our race.
"a force is measured by the resist
ance which it is able to overcome, and
the overcoming Of resistance lntensl-
~ fies. force"
May I not apprehend that this. body
of eolored teachers here assembled is
the force that is to resist ignorance
and crime which are making such
wonderful inroads upon the race In
all parts of our land?
May I not apprehend that this NIGH
ty force by overcoming these evils is to
be intensified until ignorance and
crime shall be banished from our bord-
ers as race? .
1t behooves US now to inquire dilli-
gently as to what is our mission here,
what is the kind and character of the
work we have in hand? 1t goes with
out the saying, that, because of the
peculiar circumstances and conditions
that surround US, the obligations and
responsibilities that rest upon US as
great race and people in this country,
with destinies and proclivities that are
essentially our own, the time has
come when we as teachers of this race
must lay more seriously to heart the
vastness of the work that God has laid
upon US to perform. 1t has fallen to
our lot to be the moulders of the life
and character of the Negro race in this
country and especially in this south
land. Never did a more solemn and
important obligation rest upon any
people. The Negro race in the South
and throughout the country is to be
what we the teachers and leaders OF
the people make it, and our mission
here is to determine upon that Standard
to the height of which we propose to
lift the people and the race.
AS long as it remains true that edu-
cation is the bulwark of the nation,
lust 80 long will it be true that the
kind and character Of the education
given must be watched.
We must see that it is tempered by
christianity and infused with virtue
and sound morality.
Else the nations strength become al
so it's weakness and its destruction.
Need I tell you fellow teachers OF
Western South Carolina that there are
very potent evidences that not only
we as race, but the nation of which
we form a part is greatly at fault
along these lines? The demand of
the day is not only for an education
but for an education that educates,
saves and remodels the man or the
woman into higher and nobler
being.
The demand of the hour is that all
the people shall be so educated that
the nation itself shall be lifted into a
more exalted sphere and into reverent
devotion to God and the honor of his
cause. There is a wall and q cry
coming up from all parts of our land
and indeed the world over, that edu-
cation is failing to meet the end for
which it was designed.
People having had great educational
advantages and who are educated &C.
cording to the popular idea of educa-
ton are perfect failures when it comes
to the practical issues of life.
Hundreds and thousands who can
boast of what is commonly called
education are total failures in the
great race of life they fill the prison
houses of our land.
Only today read the following from
the pen of Booker It. Washington re-
ferring to the Negro race he says:
"There is too much crime among US.
The figures for given period show that
in the United States, 30per cent of the
crime is committed by Negroes, while
we constitute only about II per cent Of
the population.
This proposition holds good not only
in the South, but also in Northern
States and cities. No race that is so
largely ignorant and so recently out of
slavery could perhaps show better
record, but we must first face these
plain facts"
1t becomes our duty as teachers to
seek the remedy for this great evil es-
pecially as it is having such a deadly
effect upoh our race throug hout the
south.
What now is the remedy? 1t is
very clear that our system of education
i ;e onA mat hp