The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-30

master on his first introduction to
civilization"
The more your slave knows the
more useful he can be to you; but
the more british the bondman the
more plant he Is for purposes Of ex-
ploitation. Enlightenment gives power,
hut 1t breeds the longing for liberty.
It was not sweet charity that posed
the problem of negro education in
early Gays. There were slaves In
America many years before the kill
ing of one by his master-or rather
owner. for he was a chattel-was
called murder. The idea became
pretty generally established that Il
was safe and prudent to educate
slaves. 1t worked well with the mass.
but the holder spirits. led by the more
intelligent and self-assertive Of their
race, organized servile instructions
that caused reaction to a belief that
education Of slaves was a weapon
Likely to be turned against the mas
ters. Even In the North. In the first
four decades of the nineteenth cen-
tury, there was considerable appre-
hension. as the influx OF fugitive
slaves and freedmen increased. of
possible results of invasion by "un-
desirables." a Understandable lmmi-
grafton. In the early years Of Amer
lean slavery, therefore. the advocates
OF education for the negro were either
masters who desired to increase the
efficiency OF their labor supply, SYM
pathetic persons who wished to help
the oppressed. or jealous missionaries
who taught slaves the English Ian
guage that they might learn the prin-
ciples of the Christian religion: and
In a general sense the three motives
persisted up to the time of the civil
war. Subsequently the North opened
Its public schools to the colored chill
dren on an equal footing with the
white; and "it was the liberated ne
gro themselves who during the Re-
construction gave the Southern
States their first effective system OF
free public schools"
Or. Woodson tantalizes with con-
stan references To people and events Of
which the reader would like to he more
fully informed. The Rev. Josiah Hen
son. for example. Is mentioned only
twice. and then in n most casual way;
as an exemplar of the "ante-bellum"
thinking negro he deserves a liberal
allowance Of pace. Although he lived
until 1881. Father" Henson. as he
was called. was born in the eighteenth
century. probably June Is. 1897. This
pure blooded negro, native of Mary
land. was brought up in slavery and
supplied a model for Mrs. Stoves
Uncle Tom As a young man ne
preached to his fellow slaves. and
once took his masters people" over
into Kentucky. 10 prevent their being
attached by the planters creditors.
lie had a master named st. Glare.
whose young daughter probably sug-
sested the little" Eva % the story.
Henson had paid $500 toward the price
Of his freedom, but was taken to New
orleans TO he sold by his masters
son.. The white man being stricken
with fever. the black man nursed him
and took him back home. Finally
Josiah escaped: he and his wife and
children. made their way c~ross-country
through swanips and all TO Cincin-
natl. and at last got to Canada.
Father" Henson was prominent in
a colored community there. In 1912
or so he learned to read and write.
He met Mrs. Stowe and told his story
20 her. In 1858 he published his auto
biography. with ar introduction by
Mrs. Stowe. In 1850. 1852 and 1876 he
went to England. . lecturing and
preaching, and. as the books of refer
ence note with pious care. he was
entertained at Windsor Castle by
Queen Victoria. Henson may he read
with more entertainment and not "a
bit less profit than Woodson.
OF the colonization movement the
author writes more freely and more
connectedly han OF other parts of the
history. The idea of segregation or
colonization was of early origin and
found footing both North and South.
In 1874 Jefferson was a member OF a
committee appointed by the State Leg
islature that reported a plan providing
for the instruction of slaves in agri-
culture and the handicrafts to prepare
them for liberation and colonization
under the supervision of the home
Government until they could take care
OF themselves" Most Southerners
conditioned their theoretical conces-
sion Of the negro's right tn education
with the practical assertion that when
educated he should he separated from
his fellows. Some who had %scruples
against compulsory .Xpatriation To
Africa favored colonization in some
remote part of the United States
which meant anything west of the
A~lleghantes.
In the North kind hearted citizens
who had been enthusiastically in favor
of "uplift' for the refugees. while not
rclinquishing their belief in the Negroes
right TO advancement. began to believe
that IL would he better for all m
cerned II the negroes once so blessed
were to he assisted to n happy home OF
their own beyond the seas
In the nineteenth century slaves
who had In the eighteenth been priced
high because Of their intelligence came
To be considered more dangerous thar
useful. The invention VI the spinning
jenny. the team engine. the power
loom. the wool comhing machine and
the cotton gin brought an economic
revolution. The demand for cotton
fibre caused extension of the planta-
ton system. Planters who believed
that instruction killed contentedness In
slaves, having no intention of chang
ing their condition. kept them ignoran,
with intent to preserve he negroes
acquiescence in their position.
Abolitionist agitation excited thu
more active minded Of the negroes
The story of Toussaint rOuvcrture
and the talk OF the rights of man tnat
followed after the French Revolution
were disturbing influences. About
Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston and
New Orleans insurrectionary ideas