The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-24
NEGRO CONVENTION
 BEGINS SESSIONS Phillips, Abercrombie and Gun
 nells Speak LARGE CROWD PRESENT  Alabama Negro Teachers Associ"'ion VIII Continue Sessions Today III Shiloh Baptist Church-Booker
 T. Washington to Attend
LARGE CROWD PRESENT

l Prof ]. R. E. Lee, president or 'ne l Alabama Negro State Teachers asso- 1 citation, called to order the twenty-hii.i' | annual session last night in St. Joiih church, Twenty fifth street and iniru avenue.
 The association has brought to the oitv over 800 negro teachers from all nsrts of the state. Some of the most noted negro educators will be III a'- tendance during the session. ineiuolnS pr. Booker T. Washington or lusNe. rea institute. Prof. Il. T. keaing oi Nashville. Tenn, editor of the A. M. r'' Church Review: Prof. Charles h. Al
 bert of Bloomfield Pa, pr. d. H. Dii-
 lard. president of the Jeanes poaru' NV" orleans. and ". T. B. Williams, agent
 For the Slater board. Hampton, Na'
 St Johns church was not large
 enough to hold the crowd last night
 and many were unable to get inside the
 church. President Lee presided an"
 music was furnished by St. Jonn ,
 choir and the opening prayer was naoe
 bv the Rev. Dr. c. L. Fisher Of the sixteenth Street Baptist church. Addresses of welcome were made oy
 Rev, J, W. Jackson for the teachers'
 Attorney E. A Brown, for the citlzehs'
 Rev, w, B, Johnson, for the ministers
 and pr. J. H. Phillips. superintehoehe
 of the schools of Birmingham Harry c Gunnels, state superintend-
 cnt of education, was the next speaA- CT. VI am glad that Professor Lee explained that we were given specinc instruction not to have set speeches'
 he said. '.I come to bring no message of advice to the negro teachers oi l Alabama. It appears to me that the negro teachers and negro people nave
 been advised beyond endurance am | a friend to the negro. l am friend to negro education. I believe that the naoro ought to have all kinds of ed- ucation. I am friend in every pos sihle way. come tonight not with
 words of advice but to sound the note
 of encoura cement The negro Is er;--- ing to realize In Alabama just as the white people have learned long ago that the place where the child is kept
 six hours a day for five days a week ought to be a little better than the harn where the horse Is kept Some
 sood work has been done among the regro teachers of the state. For the year ending September 80 last the number of first grade certificates in- creased Il per cent; the second grade,
 43 per cent.
 'NThe negro Is in the south, and he is here to stay. The negro must know that for a few hundred years he is to depend
 on the white man, and he must equip
 himself for white mans service Teach your children that all kinds of labor is honorable. Teach him that if is just as honorable to work on the
 farm as in the city. I am now wearing suit of clothes which was made at the Agricultural and Mechanical college at Normal, Ala
 Dr. John W. Abercrombie, president of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, delivered an address. He was given an ova ton.
 ''I suppose l was invited here tonight to deliver an address because I have all
 ways been known as a friend to the edu- cator,'' he said He who says the ne
 gro race has not made progress in this country closes his eyes to facts and for gets history.
 "Eduoatfon is mans natural right as much as air, food and water are his nat urai right. and education should be mans
 universal privilege. To that end l be- lIcve every parent who is not inclined to
 do so should be compelled to send his | children to school.
 We hear a deal in this country about
 the race problem, and there is a race problem: and what is that problem? To teach two races to live fin peace and | happiness on the same soil. We must | teach our people to live in peace. har- mony and prosperity. This Is the opinion of the greatest negro in the world. Book CT T. Washington. I believe for many years the best kind of education for your race is the education in which the industrial education predominates, and
 yet the literary part is not lost sight
 of. Let the races ever live in peace, hap
 piness and prosperity
 1 S,Iperintendent R. B, Blunt of Wash inston county, c. F. Vigor. assistant su-
 perintendent Of Mobile public schools.
 were presented and made short ad-
 dresses as was Prof Charles H. Albert | of Bloomburs, Pa.
 Prof. R. B. Hudson of Selma responded
 to the addresses
 The session today will be held at Shiloh Baptist church, Avenue G and Nineteenth streets, commencing at 9:3o O clock.