The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-07-23
THE NEGRO.
DECLARES coLoRED RACE IS
KEPT "lN SORT, OF PEoNAGE BY
LAW"-cATHQLIC BOARD RE-
VIEWS CONDITIONS AND URGES
THAT BETTER OPPORTUNITIES
BE FURNISHED.

6. :. =. -
"The United States owes to the
colored people of this country fair
opportunities in legislation, in educa-
ton and in religion which they have
never received declares statement
issued by the Catholic Board for
Mission Work Among the Colored
People, New York.
The statement, which reviews the
history Of the colored people in the
United States since their emancipa-
tion, points; out that they ihave been
kept in "a sort of peonage by law
courts and legislation" that their
social system has been hampered by
race prejudice, sectional hatred and
political intrigue and that their
religion consists chiefly in "hymn sing
ing, Bible reading and the making of
extempore prayers" with no attention
to the deeper and more substantial
truths of well-balanced faith
The statement points out that
Protestant denominations claim
total of about 40 per cent of the negro
population of the United States and
have an additional IS per cent made
up of occasional attendants and
members of Protestant families. Thus,
seyenty-fve per cent of the whole
race in the United States are called
and call themselves Protestants of
some sect or another.
AS regards the work done by
Protestant denominations among the
colored people. while high tribute
is paid to the zeal and earnest sacrifice
that has made 1t edifying and truthful,
it is pointed out that the missionaries
were not preachers, but mostly teach
ers trained in the atmosphere Of the
camp meetings of the COS, where con-
vert making was a sentimental emo
ton aroused at revivals. Teaching
school by day and making converts by
night, the sum total of religion they
left consisted in hymn singing, Bible
reading and the making of extempore
prayers. The result has been that,
in a religious sense, the colored peo-
pie have been left in condition but
little removed from that in which they
found themselves at the end of the
Civil War. Due largely to the failure
of the Catholics of the United States
to pay sufficient attention to these
people, few of them have ever been
brought in contact with even the
truths of the Apostles Greed, the
Sacramento or the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass.
In education the colored child has
been sadly neglected. According to
the last report of the y. S. Commits
sioner of Education, South Carolina
had SCI per cent of it's negro children
in school, Georgia 55.4 per cent,
Florida ST. per cent, Alabama 493
per cent and Louisiana 81 per cent.
The figures show that about one-half
of the colored children are not in
school at all.
1t is further pointed, out that while
the u. s. Commissioner of Education
reports for 1915 showed that New
York expended for the education of
each child S52.15, New Jersey s61.89
and North Dakota $685., the figures
for the southern states of South
Carolina with $3.50, North Carolina
with $12.31 and Mississippi with $3.50,
are illustrative Of the regard of public
sentiment in communities where the
majority of the colored people reside,
concerning educational affairs.