Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-01
HIGH SCHOOL DEFENDED
DIR. RICHARDSON REPLIES TO RE
CENT CRITICISM.
Says Record of M Street School is Ref
utation-Jimcrowism and
the Colored Race.


trustee of the pubic schools of the District
of Columbia before the creation of the
present board OF education recently dis
cussed before the Bethel Literary Society.
composed of representative colored Gil
.ens, the Status of the Colored Schools in
the District OF Columbia at the Metro
poiitan A. NJ. E. Church last evening. There
were present men of the professions. sew
erai educators and others, all interested In
the conditions growing out of the recent re-
port of the director of nigh schools re-
fecting on the management of the M Street
High School, and the character of the work
accomplished. which the board of educa-
ton, on a proper showing, had expunged
from the records.
After an introductory as to the reasons
for and purposes of system in educational
affairs. DR.. Richardson. quoting from DR..
Eliot of Harvard. chat democratic educa-
ton may be made more universally Access
Stble. presented the history of the educa-
tional movement in the District from 1865
TO 1900. He outlined two separate systems
of education one for the white and one for
the colored population, each managed and
controlled by representatives of the respec-
tive races, and stated that the investigation
instituted in 1898 and 1900 was for the pur-
pose of ascertaining whether the conduct
of the white schools was productive of
high results under the direction of Super
intendent Powell. He declared that it may
be readily seen that the manifest intention
of the Senate committee was to deal with
the white schools entirely, to change the
law with reference to them, leaving the
cOlored schools to maintain their own super
vision, work out their own individual prob
lens, and demonstrate their equality, at
least with the whites as far educational
concerns were considered
Designated as Jimcrowism.
sI;ncro1yfsp,' r1,nc romnapt and rears
its hideous bulk in our educational sys-
tem-.jimcrowism,' which widens the breach
and heightens and solidifieS the barriers
which stand between us and the rest of the
community; which crystalizes the most ma
lignant types of prejudice, prescribes the
field in which genius shall operate, and de-
MES to us the opportunities and results OF
competition on account OF color.
I'm the report of the board of education,
said Dr. Richardson, lit is presumed that
the director of high schools would express
his opinion upon structural and vital edti-
cational points only upon a thorough anaiy-
sis and Just application of all the facts OBJ
tainable. and not upon hearsay or conclu-
siCns growing out of information falling
short of positive knowledge. This the
beard of education has a perfect right to
expect. and will. no doubt, in the future
demand
In the report of the conduct of the NJ
Street High School the director assumes
supposed conditions as facts. when, on the
contrary, they are only the phantaSmo-
goria of a dyspeptic dream unreal and de-
lusive as moonlight simmer on frozen
lake. He seems to be the self-constituted
interpreter of the divine purpose concern
ing the development and possibilities OF the
African species of the genus homo. EKcep-
tional and isolated cases are adduced TO
prove our incompetency, while the pest
products of our educational efforts are
hidden.
I'm this regard his total ignorance of
true conditions among colored people. over
whose higher education he is permitted TO
preside. is strikingly and woefuliy mani
fest The fact is that very large ma
iority of the people at the NJ Street High
School are compelled to work early and
late in order to enable them to attend
school, and the director should know this.
Record Of the School.
.The record of the NJ Street High School,"
said DR.. Richardson, being represented at
Harvard Yale Brown Cornell. Oberlin.
Western Reserve and Howard universities
by students who have gone from the In
struction of the teachers who are now
dubbed as incompetent. is a sufficient refu-
tation of the truth OF the charge, ana
these pupils stand foremost in their reSpec-
tive colleges. Master French Tyson. Hugh
Francis, Alfred Jackson and Miss Queen
and Samuel Compton, each of whom en-
tered colleges of the highest reputation ana
all without conditions, show work done
somewhere Z
The paper was discussed by Rev. o. w. j.
Scott Mr.. Shelby J. Davidson Rev. W. v.
Tunnell. Attorney James A. Cobb, Prot.
John H. Love and Mr.. John Lane There
was unanimity Of sentiment that ths
matter should be taken up.