Year: 1875

The Question OF Consol1dat1on.-Viewso Of the


Colored Citizens.


DR.. G. B. Purvis, in behalf of meeting Of
colered citizens recently held asking for the re-
turn to the old system Of q government Of the
colcred schools by Q separate Board of Trustees,
has submitted written argument to the District
Commissioner on the subject.


In behalf Of the cOlored schools they ask a re-
consideration Of action placing these schools
under the control Of the trustees Of public schools
by which act they are not benefited but their use.
fulness is impaired; also, because they believe
the consolidation Of the school boards to be
the results Of an injurious Interpretation
Of the Law. When the order consolidating
objection, thinking perhaps, It was the intention
to give to this District a Republican form of gov
eminent and recognize the rights Of ali citizens
in common, and compel every child admitted TO
the public schools to attend the nearest one But
when It was heralded throughout the country that
such was to be the school system, remarkable
haste was made to disabuse the public through
the press of the country OF the impression that the
Commissioners Of the D.Strict intended to recog-
nze that the eolored citizen MSs as much OF cit
1Zen as the whites, together wlLIs the recent
opinion OF the law officer, in which he says: In
ny my opinion the h power to purchase real estate
vested in the Commissioners IN respect to school
sites nor do trustees public schools possess that
authority" has awakened US to the realizing
sense that II we expect to have


OUR SCHOOLS


p-ogress in the future as In the past that the same
lnCueQCe
them TO the perfectioo they are should not be
taken from them ROW. To establish and maintain
these schools has required constant care on the
part Of the cOlored people and their friends, who
have met with persistent opposition, yet they
have succeeded in placing them upon footing
unequslled by any similar schools in the country.
The order consolidating the TWO school boards
and the opinion Of the law oficer naturally tends
TO cripple these schools, by denying them the ne
passed law requiring the trustees 70 establish
and maintain schools for colored children, out Of
the taxes collected for school purposes; but this
law was absolutely ignored, and II became neces-
sary for Congress to pass another, creating q
special board of trustees for colored schools to be
appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. Ts
this board the local authorities were to


PAY PRO RATA PORTION


Of the EchooI taxes for the maintenance of
colored schools, but at the very commencement
the Board was met with opposition from the
local government which refused TO pay over the
certain amount due the colored schools. The
Law was virtually construed to mean that only
such pro rata portion was due the schools as was
necessary to pay teachers, and that the trustees
for colored schools had no right to buy sites aud
erect buildings. In view Of the NANTES: purpose
of the local authorities to embsrrass and cripple
these schools, II became necessary for the colored
people to appeal again to Congress, which in
July, 1866, passed an explanatory ast explicitly
setting forth that the local government Should
the entire funds raised by taxation for school pur
poses, and that the board had the right to pur-
chase sites and erect necessary buildings. To
show more clearly that It was


THE INTENTION OF CONGRESS


to have these schools maintained and secured 10
the colored people beyond peradventure, when q
bill had slipped through Congress during the
hurry Of legislation consolidating the two boards
and placing them under the control Of Trustees
of Public Schools, It was vetoed by President
Andrew johnson when his attention was called
to it by the colored citizens, and 1t the only
veto Of his sustained by Congress For tnirteen
years have these schools grown under the pro
lection Of Congress- To-day they are again in
jeopardy by the recent opinion Of the law oficer
OF the District There are Today betwe IN four
and five thousand cOlOred children without school
accommodations in the District. In view Of this
tact and the opinion OF your law otncer, they ask
the Commissioners to rebabiltsse the board OF
trustees Of the coored schools as to carry out the
law Of ofOongress passed March Sd, 1870, creating
said board, and clothing them with power to make
all necessary arrangements for the


EDUCATION OF THE coLoRED CHILDREN


They state that it is not their desire to keep up
Indefinitely separate schools; they would not
continue them an hour II they could do other
wise, and are in hopes that the time Is not far
age to recognize the absolute equality Of ali cit
Zens. In asking to be rehabilitsted with former
powers they are prompted from q conviction that
and they submit as legal argument the recent
opinion Of the law officer, who seems to be very
TositiVe in bis opinion that neither the commits.
any power under the law TO purchase school IA
eihtieS for colored children. They concur In the
legal view Of the law ofhcer and hold that there
Is but one body that has the legal right to make
the necessary provision for these schools and that
ls the trustees for colored schools; and refer to
sectons zoe Sos 3O9 S14 SIS and SIG Of the consoI
idsted statutes Of the District. They hold that
the law authorizing the consolidation of certain
onees uoes not apply to the board of trustees of
SoiSieo sSn31s crested BY special act Of Con-
gIess. fuItheI, mat 70 exercise that right and
permanently abolish the board WouId he IN az.
sumo the responsibility Of denying four thonsand
public schools, N0oAVn ~ Inc