The Tulsa star. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1913-1921, 1915-04-17
AFRO-AMER|CAN CULL|NCS

There died in Montgomery a short
time ago a Scotchman who did
noble work in the education OF the
Negro race in Alabama and his pass
Ing has made a vacancy that will not
be easy to fill. His name was w. Il.
Paterson; his fame was purely local,
for he did not make the big noise. and
because he was white man conduct.
ing Negro school he did not get the
notoriety that has been such a factor
in the upbuilding of the noted Negro
educators OF the South.
Professor Paterson drifted in Ala.
bama about 1870, looking for work. lie
was homeless and friendless, afflicted
with an incurable deafness that made
social intercourse an impossibility
with him. He had tramped from New
York to Omaha and then back East
looking for work, but could find none.
Py trade he was a gardener. His
forebears before him had been gar
deners on the estate OF Scotch
Laird Albemarle. or some such name,
and he had learned their trade. lie
got a Job at Marion, on plantation.
digging bitches and doing ordinary
farm work along with the Negroes,
and this proximity taught him the
exact condition of the Negro's intel
ligence and educational advancement.
Out OF II came Negro school that
grew until II became a state normal
with large patronage. The planta-
tion owner for whom he worked took
a fancy to him and helped him on
with the first school. and with this en-.
ccuragement he built up an establish.
ment that was too large for Marion.
The Scotch gardener had his eye on
the state capital, and he made his
plans to move his school there.
When It became known in Mont
gomery that a white man was going
to move a Negro school to that CITY,
mass meeting of the citizens was
held and speeches were made. as Pro-
fessor Paterson often afterward said
they almost tarred and feathered
him" This latter was in a figurative
sense only. Nothing daunted. the
schoolmaster moved his school to
Montgomery, and went quietly about
his business. He conducted an order
ly institutions; he taught the Negroes
domestic science. manual training
trades, the dignity OF labor, the value
OF keeping in the place the white
people OF the South said the Negro
must keep. There was no social equal
ity Of the races there, and never ir
the more than forty years OF the life
OF the school under Professor Pater
son was there so much as an intima
tlon that he taught such or practicec
II. The Negroes had great and grave
reverence for him, that was almos
patriarchal in its simplicity.
Montgomery quieted down after th'
school was settled, and In few years
began to look upon II as an asset anC
on Professor Paterson as public
benefactor. Year by year he increased
the membership OF his school. and II
order to make It self-sustaining and L
make It possible for the students L
pay their way through, he placed then
in the homes OF Montgomery as serv
ants, fixing the school hours so tina
they could do their domestic worl
and carry on their studies too. Hi
training made itself felt for the serv
ants in Montgomery. and they wer'
IN demand. Montgomery is now full
OF them, and they all command higl
wages because they can earn them
That in itself is tribute enough 70
the school and for the memory of thi
good man.
OF the thousands that went througl
this school, some we're found to pos