The colored American., 1900-05-26
the long run rates every Individual and
every race al tr,Ia NORTH


For number of years 1 have tried to
advocate the advantages of industrial train
| ing for the negro, because it starts the
race Off on real, sure foundation, and not
upon false and deceptive one
Last year, when in England, I observed
m birmingham, London and elsewhere, in
the large polytechnic schools, that thou
| sands of men and women were being
trained in the trades that cover work in
the earth, in metal, wood, tin, leather cloth,
food preparation and whatnot
| When 1 asked why do you give this man
or this woman training in this or that in
| dustry, the answer came that when these
students come to us we ask in each case
what are the prevailing occupations OF the
| people in the community where the stu
| dent lives. In word, it is found our what
| the student can find to do in his immediate
| community, not what he ought to find to
| do, not what the instructors might de-
sire him to do, but what the economic and
other conditions prevailing in his neghbor-
hood will actually permit him to do.
With this knowledge obtained the stu
dent was trained, for example in leather
because at his home that was the prevailing
| industry; that was the occupation at which
he could find immediate and profitable en-
ployment. The same logical and common
sense principle should be applied to our
own race. For example, the great bulk of
our people live directly indirectly by
work in the soil. This gives us tremen-
dous advantage in the way of a foundation.
Agriculture as n Basis.
From the beginning of time agriculture
has constituted the main foundation upon
| which all races have grown useful AMI
strong.
In the present condition Of our race it is
4 grave error to take a negro boy from a
farming community and educate him in
about everything in heaven and earth, edu-
tie him into sympathy with everything
that has hearing the life of the
community to which he should return, and
out of sympathy with most that concerns
agricultural life. The result of this pro-
cess is that in too many cases the boy thus
trained fails to return to his fathers farm.
but takes up his abode in the city and falls.
IN too many cases. into the temptation of
trying to live by his wits without h onest
productive employment. And, my friends |
II there is one thing at the present time
that should give us more serious concern
than another, it is the large idle class of
our people that linger about the sidewalks
bar rooms and denS of sin and misery of
our large cities.
Every influential man and woman should |
make it a part of his duty to reach the in
dividuals of this class and eithes see that
they find employment in the cities or are
scattered to the four winds of the earth |
m agricultural communities where they car
make an honorable living and where their
services are needed. |
If it he suggested that the white boy
s not always thus dealt with, my answer |
s: NV friends. the white man is three |
thousand years ahead Of us, and this fact |
we might as we'll face now as we'll as
'ater, and that at stage of his de- |
velopment either in Europe or America. he |
has gone through every stage of develop |
ment that I now advocate for our race
No race can be lifted till its mind is awak- |
ened and strengthened. BY the side of in |
dustrial training should always go mental |
and moral training: But the mere push |
ing Of abstract knowledge into the head |
means little. We want more than the |
Dur knowledge must be harnessed to the |
things of real life.
Would Not Confine Negro to Indus
trial Life.
Again, ii is asked, would you limit or
circumscribe the mental development Of
the negro boy? Emphatically I answer
with hundred "Noes." I would encourage
the negro to secure all the mental strength,
all the mental culture, whether CLEANED |
from science, mathematics, history, Ian
guage or literature, that his pocket book
and circumstances will enable him to pay
for, but I repeat with all the emphasis of
my soul that the negro's education should
be so directed and controlled for years to
come that the greatest proportion Of the
rental strength of the masses will be
brought to bear upon the everyday prac-
sical affairs of life. upon something that is
needed to be done and something that they
re permitted to do in the community where
hey reside.
When it comes to the professional class
which our race needs and must have J
would say, give them that training which
will best fit them to perform in the most
successful manner the service which the
race demands. But would you conflne the
negro to industrial life, to agriculture, lor