The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-05
CHARACTER FORMING AT TUsKEGEE
FUNDAMENTAL wAsH1NGToN,s woRKTRA ABE
ARE THOROUGHLY LEARNED-THE BR1cKYARD PROBATION
Correspondence New York Post

Correspondence New York Post.
| Tuskegee, Ala.--It may seem little
like putting the cart before the horse to
reserve, in this record OF impressions Of
Tuskegee, the consideration of the school
| itself till after the activities growing
out of the school have been discussed; but
| this is probably the order in which the
subjects would naturally group theln-
selves in the mind OF any transient Wis
| itOr.
! The school is complete little town,
with streets, business offices, stores, fac
| tories, shops, a pOstOff1ce, a church, a
printing establishment, from which peri
odicals are issued, brickyard, dairy
plant, several educational buildings of
the ordinary sort, considerable group Of
| dwellings, and a population numbering
from 1900 to 1,4OO souls, according to the
season. The first impression made upon
| the visitor from an ordinary community
Is the absence Of white faces, for this
whole populace is colored, the hues
ranging from almost coal black to that
| indescribable tint Of the sixteenth degree
! Of mixed blood. There are two or three
| children at the school whom no eye ex-
| cept one long trained by life in southern
community could distinguish from eau
| casians, but the bulk of the pupils have
| skins of various shades of brown, the
| darker predominating. The second thing
| that would strike the visitor is the at
| mosphere of cheerfulness and good nature
which pervades the entire community.
| The pupils have been taught to salute
their elders Of either race politely, which
is not rema rkable in itself; but it is
pleasant to see that these salutations, as
| well as the amenities of intercourse be-
tween the young people themselves, are
not merely perfunctory. There is genu-
inc glow of good cheer everywhere. Go
| down to the brickyard, and you will find
| that even the boys whose duty it is to run
a heavily laden iron barrow UP hill at
double quick, make their task lighter by
putting little sport into it, without in
| terfering with its precision.
This brickyard, by the way, illustrates
a fundamental theory Of Booker Washing
toms on the subject Of negro education.
He is a sturdy believer IN the survival of
the flttest: and in multitude of poor
boys seeking the rudiments of an educa-
ton the 1ttest are those who are willing
to make the heaviest sacrifices for what
they want. When a penniless, friendless,
but earnest-appearing negro lad comes to
Tuskegee, perhaps having tramped all the
way from the place which in conventional
language he calls his home, Mr.. Washing
ton will go to almost any length for the
sake Of giving him chance. The great
test Is the brickyard. A tougher place to
work in it would be hard to find. Whether
the education seeker digs clay out of the
bank, or feeds it and the other ingredients
into the mixer or works all day with a
bent back at removing tie soft brick
from the mould. or loads his barrow and
hurries it off to the drying shed, or stokes
the fires, or what not, his job is one whose
monotony tries the patience, while its
muscular exertion tires the body. "A
boy who has not abundant stamina, both
physical and moral, soon finds out his
lack and makes it known. One boy will
stay two or three days, and then perhaps
run away rather than face the humiliation
of confession: another will stay fort
| night and then throw up his hands; put
the boy who STAYS the season out has
surely proved his grit. There is stuff In
him worth saving and making something
of. His days wages have meanwhile
paid for his .'keep" and tuition, and his
studies have been confined to the even
ings after ten hours of toll, and have
progressed in proportion partly to MS
mental receptivity and partly to his abil-
ity to keep awake. He then chooses
trade, which may be blacksmithlng, OF
carpentry, or brick-masonry, or any othe1
towards which his taste especially leans
and is promoted to the shop or YARD
iwhere this industry is taught. Here ne
is taught from the very ground up, the
regime being as strict as that enforced by
any labor union with its apprentices.
4 At this point, moreover, Mr.. Washing
ton shows again his knowledge Of the ne
gro. The brickyard having differentiated
the novitiate from the great mass OF MS
race by proving his persistence Tor an
idea through great difficulties, his new
field of labor compels him to differentlate
himself again by laying out his work
in advance, on paper, and with accuracy.
After he has learned the elementary pro-
cess, for instance, Of spreading mortar
with trowel and piling brick upon br1ck,
he is not trusted to build even pier Tor
a woodshed until he has made drawings TO
show the number of brick he will need,
the lines to be followed and the amount
of mortar he will have to mix. He is al
lowed to do nothing at all by guess. Max
ing thing do or taking chances on it's
looming out somehow" are shifty devices
unknown to the Tuskegee philosophy OF
education.
While the boy is mastering his trade,
he continues his studies in the night
school. Although work in the shops is
far less severe than work in the brick
yard, ten hours of it every day lay a
considerable tax upon him, and his schol-
astic studies are. pursued under rather
trying conditions. All this goes, Of course,
to form and solidify character, which is
really the fundamental purpose of all the
work done at Tuskegee. Within the limits
Of, the present article it would be i'm
practicable to treat this subject in as
full detail as could be wished, and we
must pass to the next point which impress
ses the observer; that is, the absence OF
)mecha meal devices for doing what cam be
done with the hands.
! The curse of our Indian school system
and Of most of the negro institutions
have seen Is the labor saving machine. A
negro girl going back to her cottage In
the black belt, like the Indian girl re
turning to her tepee on the reservation
l has absolutely no use for the sort OF
training which she gets in the average
school. After she has passed some years
in huge laundry, feeding soiled gar
ments into a steam cylinder, regulating
the draughts Of the coal furnace which
keeps the boiler going, turning the crank
Of an ironing machine, and that sort Of
thing, she is as ignorant as babe unborn
of what is awaiting her in the home which
she will some day be expected to make fol
husband Of her own race. 1T is great