The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-03-07

] ored pupils There, was 40 law to pre.
vent 1t but 1t did not seem best to
7 antagonize preyailing continent at
tnar tpe. Ten Years later, when the
great Triumph Of emancipation, and
! the downfall OF the !Confederacy paved
the way, coiored students were ad.
1 mftted on equal terms, and they con.
tinued to attend freely for nearly forty
years. s,.,~ -. =, - r : -
+, Iwentj to Berea at some personal
sacrifice, for two reasons: I'd Be
cause believed in placing character
| above race, and thought that the OBJ.
! 1ect-1esson Of the two races united In
educat!opai pursuits, without scandal
or collision; would be OF large moral
value. to the nation; and a(2) because
! 1T seemed to me that the largest hope
for new SOUTH lay in afrording
educational opportunities to the peo.
! pie OF the Southern mountains-peo-
ple who owned land, but did not own
| slaves. =; = r = - - -, - Z, II
| 3 At the time Of my accession the
school had long been without effective
management; and the white Students
had largely fallen OFF. 1t was my I'M
mediate endeavor to increase the at
tendance OF white students The de-
lcfine OF prejudice was measured by,
this increase of white students. until
the proportion between white and col.
Ored students was about the same as
between white and colored people in
the State at lavge. - -. t.. .. 3.
And here must be 9ivulged the fact
that in disseminating the services of
an employee of the college, who i'm
mediately began work for an institu.
ton which has posed as q rival, we
made bitter and INSCRIPTIONS en-
envy. This enemy accused myself and
the faculty of q. desire to "freeze OUT"
the colored students, stirred UP the
suspicious of the colored people, and
even placed emissarfes on the trains
| to d1ssu81e colored students from at
tending Berea. 1t is from thi soErce
that Mr.. Garrison draws some of. his
ne&sinformation. D. It is true that
through the activity of our enemy the
number of colored students diminished
for time, but the number had been
steadily increasing for some years. and
there were nearly 200 colo"ed students
out Of q total Of some 900 when the
new law went into effect. There was
| never tine when our colored stu
dents were more happy, and in all
ways promising, than when the law
| came.
Thls law was resisted to the utmost.
All other mixed" schools in the South
mad been, one by one, given up. Two
| years before, when similar law was
passed In Tennessee, we were able to
stifie the proposition in the Kentucky
! legislature .--..---- .. ~.
- But at last the bill was introduced.
and could not be stifed. Our trustees
and FACULTY entered upon their solemn
| protest, over their individual sigma
/ tuies, which took to the State capt!
tcI 80
l>could make. But the State was con.
trolled, not by it's mountain end, or
by its educational and commercial
forces, but by set of unworthy poll
tlc1ans. Some of the best men in the
Legislature came to me by night, ex-
pressing their disgust at the law, but
explaining that they could only man.
oeuYer to keep 1t from coming to q
vote, but that If it did come.to a vote,
they must vote for it, on pain of ever
tasting retirement from politics.!
When> enacted the law had to- be
| opeyed, for 1T laid penalt es upon stu.
I dents as, vel ! d. as teaGhersa Mr., Gar
rlson suggests that we might have
kept the coloTed students in Berea, and
sent away the white, This was care
Iully considered, and these facts ap-
peared: such a separation would des
troy the mixed" feature Of the school
and be a yielding to the spirit OF caste
as much as the other. The white stu
dents were more numerous they had
not worked for the law, and they con-
st1tuted very precious element in
the South Wh:ch must be taken care
or, and there was no other school
winch could receive them and meet
their peculiar needs On the. other
hand, the colored students could find
favorable conditions in other schools
and II a new establishment should he.
come necessary more advantageous
location could be found nearer the cen.
ire or the colored population.
MI. Garrison fears we shall not give
the colored people their equal share Of
our funds and possessions. Here we
are between two fires. Many of our.
donors, like DR.. Pearsons, fear we
snail wrong the mountaineers by Civ
ing too much to the colored.
remit me to quote q few nara
graphs from my remarks at the Bos
ton luncheon -----
After listening to all counsels, our
trustees decided that the only course IS
TO waive our rights, turn the other
cheek, and undertake the extra bur.
den OF q separate provision for our col
oTed students. We expect to have this
law set aside blythe courts, but 1T now
seems likely to be upon technical
grounds, which will invite endless
controversy. The simple fact is that
our region Is controlled by the solid
south and this solid South cannot now
Understand our position. The better |
ooutherners are SO scandalized by it,
and the fanatical elements are so we'll |
able to harass us, law or no law, that !
we must 'stoop to conquer,/ and wait |
for the slower processes of enlighten.
ment.
But, mark you, we expect to con. |
QllGT Sfill ILL.,