The colored American., 1903-03-07
The WIZARDS WORK.
Continued from first page

sided over his 400 students as one "to
the manner born" When he had fin
ished the term, and without waiting to
see whether d scheme then being
formed tC defeat his reelection would
succeed, he went to the City of New
York, secured employment for the day
and studied the public school system
of that city at night. Very soon he
was notified of his reelection to the
principalship of the Swayne School,
but before he had time to reply he re-
ceived a letter from the Secretary of
the University of Arkansas, the State
School fer whites, notifying him that
he had been elected President of the
Branch Normal at Pine Bluff, the only
State institution for Negroes in Ar
kansas, succeeding man who had
held the position for twenty-seven
years, who held the degrees of Master
of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy, and
who had once been state Superintend-
ent of education in Arkansas. The
salary offered was such that if the new
man accepted the place he would in
point of remuneration, rank many men
who had grown gray at the head of
large colleges and universities for Ne
grCes. Mr.. Fisher accepted the work
at once. and came South to enter upon
his duties; but not before ne had re-
ceiVed letters from Pine Bluff, telling
him it would be the Sheerest folly for
him to accept the position. 1t was
characteristic of the man that every
objection as tC the eXpediency of his
taking the work had been gone over
by him, and he had formulated plans
to surmount every obstacle which
might arise. With dogged determfna-
tion, not usual in so young a man, he
went to Pine Bluff and with every
thing against him, (hiS age, youthful
appearance, lack OF academic degrees,
and the fact of his being a graduate
of Tuskegee), save his board of trus-
tees, and the Governor of the State,
who were determined to see fair play,
this youth in appearance began his
work on the first of last September.
The opposition to the new man devel-
oped before he had a chance to be
tried, and threatened the permanence
of the institution; and there were not
wanting those who cOunSelled a stu
dent revolt. The hoy" kept his mouth
shut, and when four upper class men
attempted tC disrupt the school, Mr..
Fisher justified the remarks of the
superintendent of schools in Montgom-
cry to the effect that he (Fisher) was
dlsciDlinarian of the highest order.
The school was called together and
told that certain principles, already
enunciated by him, and which were re-
sponsible for the delinquency would
be upheld. if the principal had to eX-
pei the whole school as a body. This
put a ouietus upon, the would-be lead
erS, and caused a reVulSion of feeling
in Mr.. Fishers favor. His defense
against the unprincipled assaults made
upon him had been SO dignified and
plucky that the conservative elements,
that mainstay of all communities, raj
lied to his support; and in addition
the white press took up his cause
The first indication that Mr.. Fisher
was getting the situation we'll in hand
was contained in an editorial in the
Pine Bluff Daily Commercial (white) ,
as follows:
An unusually interesting lecture
course has just been outlined for the
students of the Branch Normal Col
lege. by Principal Isaac Fisher, the
new head of the school. Since he has
been in charge of the institution, his
Friday afternoon talks have become
quite a feature of the school exer
cises; and so we'll have these i'm
nrOmptu addresses seemed to be taken
by the school that he has prepared e
more formal set of lectures to be de-
livered every other Friday on subjects
and with dates as follows:
The latest word in Education-Have