The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1910-06-23

| NiAJ IAC ldClS NC SIdICu LnaC we
may know where we are.
| "A few weeks ago, an ante-bellum
Negro preacher Of South Carolina.
aflstocratic, dignifed, polished and
consercreated, sat about my table
and told my children where he got
his training in Christianity and man
hers. 1t was In the home Of a South
Carolina Christian white man and
woman, who at that time owned him;
and in many respects, to be truth
itul, he showed that better lob had
Deen wrought in his training. than
IN that of some OF the young people
Oh my race today. There are no
more slaves and slave holders
fhank God, but isn't the interest
and method employed in the train
ing OF this South Carolina Negro and
! likewise in John Odum referred to
IN your editorial columns Of Thurs
DAY, worth preserving and pursuing {?
is mt after all, the white family. in
4 which the Negro woman of my race
WORKS, IN whose carriage the man
or my race sits, interested in the
FAMILY and house and home Of that
man and woman Of my race? 1t was
SO with the family who owned my
mother in Virginia and to this day
ner chlldren can not and do not
forget them. If that one line Of
christian and missionary activity
was pursued in general, as it is true
IN specific cases right here in At
lanta-What revolution we should
have in the next ten years.
"2nd. More schools, and hence
better equipment, better paid and
larger corps Of efficient and conse-
Grated teachers will help the situa-
tlon. Atlanta Is not without her
schools for colored people, but COM
pared with Indianapolis, St. Louis,
Louisville, Richmond and other
cities into whose schools I have gone
IN my travels, we, in Greater At
lanta, have just begun to partially
meet the demands Of our Negro pop-
ulation. What we are doing Is good,
so far as 1t goes; for some, Of the
pest and most usefal Negroes in
thls Ms city have nlhaatlAno more, tsainins
than our public schools afford. This
/ ought to be a tremendous 1ustifi-
cation of what is being done and an
incentive to do more. The one
trouble is, the extent and scope of
the system is inadequate as applied
10 the needs Of our people.
approximately there are 10000
Negroes in Greater Atlanta. Easily
three out of every five or $4,000 are
under Il years Of age. There are
actually as given by the State school
commissioner from 5000 to 10000
colored children Of school age be-
tween five and eighteen years of age
Ihere are only Ats Negro children
enrolled In the public schools Of the
city, using less than ten buildings.
| only six Of which are owned by the
city, and Of the rented ones some
of them have only two rooms, The
actual enrolment would be consider
ably less, except for the fact that. 7
thlhk, there are two sessions a day
IN 81 out Of the 63 rooms, the first
| from $50 to 1900 with one set Of
pupils, and the second, with another
set, from 1890 to 400, both sets
taught by the same teacher.
with easily from five to 5000
| Negro children receiving no educat-
lonal training, and very little relig-
ious training, the wonder is that con-
d1t1ons are not worse than they are.
surely, our hustling and busy At
lanta has not stopped to think about
| ~
too busy with other things. s.--We
shall SOW to the wind Of neglect to
reap d whirlwind Of menace and
crime with such conditions contin-
ued
In Indianapolis, if l am correctly
informed, with not near as large
Negro population as we have, there
are 2,7OO Negro children in the pub
Tic schools, with nine brick buildings
owned by the city, one set Of pupils
to teacher a day, a high school, and
an industrial department to the en-
tire school system for girls and boys.
In one room, | found Negro girls In
the public schools making dresses,
and the teacher told me that seven
| teen out Of the nineteen girls in the
| class at that hour, made the dresses
they wore. At another school they
were making shoes, taught by one Of
the best shoemakerS in the city: at
another school they were tailoring;
at another they were making chairs
and picture frames, ETC.; at still an
other, there was squad out on a
thrce-four rths-Of-an-acre field, actual
~ making truck garden, and | was
told they sold the vegetables in the
afternoon from door to door. At an
other school, girls were taught clean
lineSs in cooking, the very thing we
need, and Of the like Of such work
going on in the training Of Negro
youth in that city it would require
a column to tell.
Atlanta has not enough room tc
3"comodate those in school but for
two half day sessions In each OF 81