The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-12-15
SUNDAY. DECEMBER Is. 1901.
FDIJCATINd THE NEGRO.

In estimating the results Oh "a" 49, 49,.
made to educate the negroes We No.
look at the subject broadtS' y" - b,s
what the negro has gained. what nc i'..'
LOST and what he might have saaheu IN
dar he,tcr systems. We must try 10 sec
what he would have been mao i'o1 "a.
attempt been made to educate hiih' az"
what he may be if the attempt is aoaH-
doned. Only thus can we OBTAIN d eo'
rect view of the whole propteW.
Slavery is generally charged TO maze
hnen a great crime against the negro
The negro has for generation oeeii
taught this. and most of those VINO write
for publication speak of it thus anu no
doubt with sincerity. Even some OF tne
best informed writer's and speakers di-
ways speak as II the negroes were an
enlightened people whom slavery had de-
based Such characterization. however
natural from a sentimental Stanopoiho.
confounds the motive with the result ano
only tends to befog the truth
As a matter of fact, speaking phllo-
sophcaIly. slavery. whatever 1t may nave
been so far as the whites are concerned.
was, If not the means. at least the ave
nue. through which the negro race has
attained the greatest good that has come
to II since the dawn Of authentic history.
Two hundred years of slavery under the
southern whites have brought large
Scction Of the negro race to higher
Hained elsewhere.
Slavery is a thing OF the past, and we
gre glad of it. for it was anything but 4
blessing TO the South. But whatever the
evil effects upon the whites, it was, as
Mir. Page points out, a blessing to the
negro race. The negro received through
this means instruction and training that
-, -<I, ?,eS
the negro population Of the United States
shall succeed in making themselves good
and useful citizens, men and women Of
manners an6 morals. it will be through
such training as their ancestors had from
their white masters We do not deny
that in some cases the negro slave was
treated much as a beast of burden. but
this was certainly not the rule. In the
majority Of cases he was treated as 4
member of the family, and was taught,
first Of ALL obedience and good manners
We boast of our independence, and inde-
pendence is a thing to be admired, but
obedience lies at the basis of character
and at the basis of civilized government,
The chosen people of God were kept in
bondage for q time that they might learn
this great lesson of obedience, and sub
sequertly the Ter Comma ndments were
delivered to their great leader and were
made binding upon the people of Israel,
net simply because the observance OF
these commandments was necessary to
their government and to organized socie-
~. but. more than all. that the people
might be educated in the true spirit Of
obedience. To this day the descendants
of Jacob are noted for their respect and
obedience to the law. If this was neces-
sary in the chosen people Of God, the
greatest representatives of that day and
generation of the white race, how much
more necessary to Africans. who have
been brought here from a savage state.
The Southern slaves, and especially the
and mistress; We're taught to be ODE
dicnt. to be faithful, to be industrious, to
be polite, to be moral. TO be true.
These lessons We're far more important.
as subsequent events have shown, than
book learning. But instructors in the
family were not merely master and mis-
tress. The cider servants, who were
trained in the household, themselves be-
came teachers of the young under the
guidance of the "dei majores,' and they
were worthy instructors in morals and
manners. The negro men and women
who were reared in the refined families
OF the South were themselves mon and
women Of faultless manners, and when
you found an old-time Virginia butler you
found an oldtime Virginia gentleman, so
Tar, at least. as his outward department
went. 1t is not too much to say that the
old mammies of the household were in
structors of the white children, also
and never failed to correct them when
they were guilty OF disobedience or q
breach of manners. Some time ago a
newspaper man of the city of Birm;ns-
ham met old black nanny on the
street and showed her some polite atten-
ton. The old woman was quick to rec
pgnize the Southern gentleman, and
asked the man if he had not been raised
by niger NANNY The man proud
~ confessed the fact. BLESS 20 heart,
honey" exclaimed the old woman, you
amt forgot Your raising
But all that is past and gone. The ne
groes of the South have. in large meas
ure, been deprived of their white instruc-
tors and are thrown upon their own re-
sources. The negro children OF tie dag
receive their instruction from negro par
cnts who have not HAD the advantage Of
the instruction which the slaves had. and
It is n sad fact but none the less q fact,
that the negro children OF to-day are
lacking in Tic spirit OF obedience, lacking
II the polite manners and gooii behavior
that tho negro children OF ante-helluus
days had. It is this sort of education
that the negro needs, and we know of no
may OF giving it to him eNcep: through
the public schools. We do believe, how
ever that liberal appropriations should