J. L. M. Curry

“ To realize what has been accomplished is difficult, at best—impossible, unless we estimate sufficiently the obstacles and compare the facilities of to-day with the ignorance and bondage of a generation ago, when some statutes made it an indictable offence to teach a slave or free person of color. Comparisons with densely populated sections are misleading, for in the South the sparseness and poverty of the population are almost a preventive of good schools. ”

“ The negroes must rely very largely upon the public schools for their education, and so they should. They are, and will continue to be, the most efficient factors for uplifting the race. The States, at immense sacrifice, with impartial liberality, have taxed themselves for a population which contributes very little to the State revenues, and nothing could be done more prejudicial to the educational interests of the colored people than to indulge in any hostility or indifference to, or neglect of, these free schools. ”

“ Common schools in all governments have been a slow growth, reluctantly conceded, grudgingly supported, and perfected after many experiments and failures and with heavy pecuniary cost. Within a few years after emancipation, free and universal education has been provided for the negro, without cost to himself, and chiefly by the self-imposed taxes of those who, a few years before, claimed his labor and time without direct wage or pecuniary compensation. ”

“ The emergence of a nation from barbarism to a general diffusion of intelligence and property, to health in the social and civil relations; the development of an inferior race into a high degree of enlightenment; the overthrow of customs and institutions which, however indefensible, have their seat in tradition and a course of long observance; the working out satisfactorily of political, sociological, and ethical problems—are all necessarily slow, requiring patient and intelligent study of the teachings of history and the careful application of something more than mere empirical methods. ”

“ The knowledge is needful, also, for a comprehension of the future possible scope and kind of education to be given to the Afro-American race. In the field of education we shall be unwise not to reckon with such forces as custom, physical constitution, heredity, racial characteristics and possibilities, and not to remember that these and other causes may determine the limitations under which we must act. ”

“ The annual State school revenue is apportioned impartially among white and black children, so much per capita to each child. In the rural districts the colored people are dependent chiefly upon the State apportionment, which is by law devoted mainly to the payment of teachers’ salaries. Hence, the school-houses and other conveniences in the country for the negroes are inferior, but in the cities the appropriation for schools is general and is allotted to white and colored, according to the needs of each. ”

“ The proclamation of emancipation, January 1, 1863, gave freedom to all slaves reached by the armies, increased the refugees, and awakened a fervor of religious and philanthropic enthusiasm for meeting the physical, moral, and intellectual wants of those suddenly thrown upon charity. ”

“ Civilization, freedom, a pure religion, are not the speedy outcome of revolutions and cataclysms any more than has been the structure of the earth. They are the slow evolution of orderly and creative causes, the result of law and preordained principles. ”

“ The schools for colored children are maintained on an average 89.2 days in a year, and for white children 98.6, but the preponderance of the white over the black race, in towns and cities, helps in part to explain the difference. While the colored population supplies less than its due proportion of pupils to the public schools, and the regularity of attendance is less than with the white, yet the difference in length of school term in schools for white and schools for black children is trifling. In the same grades the wages of teachers are about the same. ”

“ Even where education had not previously been a part of the functions of certain organizations, the imperative need of the liberated left no option as to duty. With the assistance of the Baptist Free Mission Society and of the Baptist Home Mission Society, schools were established in Alexandria as early as January 1, 1862, and were multiplied through succeeding years. After Appomattox, the Baptist Home Mission Society was formally and deliberately committed to the education of the blacks, giving itself largely to the training of teachers and preachers. ”

“ Soon after organization the Trustees expressed very strongly their judgment that the scholars should be “trained in some manual occupation, simultaneously with their mental and moral instruction,” and aid was confined to such institutions as gave “instruction in trades and other manual occupations,” that the pupils might obtain an intelligent mastery of the indispensable elements of industrial success. So repeated have been similar declarations on the part of the Trustees and the General Agents that manual training, or education in industries, may be regarded as an unalterable policy ”

“ The Friends have some well conducted schools, notably the Schofield in Aiken, South Carolina. They have sustained over 100 schools and have spent $1,004,129. In the mission work of the Roman Catholic Church among the negroes, school work and church work are so blended that it has been very difficult to make a clear separation. Schools exist in Baltimore, Washington, and all the Southern States, but with how many teachers and pupils and at what cost the Report of the Commission for 1893 does not show. ”

“ To the general survey of the educational field and comparative exhibits of the position of the United States and other enlightened countries, have been added discussions by specialists, and papers on the various phases of educational life, produced by the incorporation of diverse races into our national life or citizenship. ”

“ The Bureau of Education furnishes the following suggestive table:
In 1890–91 there were 79,962 white teachers and 24,150 colored. To the enrollment in common schools should be added 30,000 colored children, who are in normal or secondary 30schools. The amount expended for education of negroes is not stated separately, but Dr. W. T. Harris estimates that there must have been nearly $75,000,000 expended by the Southern States, in addition to what has been contributed by missionary and philanthropic sources. ”

“ Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain, possibly Russia, will soon have such footholds in Africa as, whatever else may occur, will tend to the development of century-paralyzed resources.
What other superior races have done, and are doing, for the government and uplifting of the inferior races, which, from treaty or conquest, have been placed under their responsible jurisdiction, may help in the solution of our problem. ”

“ State systems, besides, have a continuous life and are founded on the just principle that property is taxable for the maintenance of general education. The Fund now acts exclusively with State systems, and continues support to the negroes more efficiently through such agencies.
XI. Congress, by land grants since 1860, has furnished to the Southern States substantial aid in the work of Agricultural and Mechanical education. On March 2, 1867, the Bureau of Education was established for the collection and diffusion of information. ”

“ State authorities would have more power and general influence than individuals, or denominational or private corporations. They represent the whole people, are held to a strict accountability, protect “from the charge of sectarianism and from the liability of being overreached by interested parties.” ”

“ The Annual Reports and Circulars of Information contain a vast mass of facts and studies in reference to the colored people, and a digest and collaboration of them would give the most complete history that could be prepared. ”

“ These papers are designed to furnish information to those who are concerned in the administration of schools, and also to those who by their official stations are called upon to act or to advise in respect to the care of such institutions.
The Trustees believe that the experimental period in the education of the blacks is drawing to a close. Certain principles that were doubted thirty years ago now appear to be generally recognized as sound. In the next thirty years better systems will undoubtedly prevail, and the aid of the separate States is likely to be more and more freely bestowed. ”

“ Education “was carried on vigorously during the year,” a better feeling prevailing, and 150,000 freedmen and children “occupied earnestly in the study of books.” The taxes, which had been levied for schools in Louisiana, under the administration of T. W. Conway, had been discontinued, but $500,000 were asked for schools and asylums. In 1867, the Government appointed Generals Steedman and Fullerton as Inspectors, and from General Howard’s vehement reply to their report—which the War Department declines to permit an inspection of—it appears that their criticisms were decidedly unfavorable. ”

“ The present generation, near as it is to the genesis of the work, cannot appreciate its magnitude, nor the greatness of the victory which has been achieved, without a knowledge of the facts which this recital gives in connected order. ”

“ Of 96, with a population between 25,000 and 100,000, 17 are in the South. The urban population is comparatively small, and agriculture is the chief occupation. Of 858,000 negroes in Georgia, 130,000 are in cities and towns, and 728,000 in the country; in Mississippi, urban colored population, 42,000, rural, 700,000; in South Carolina, urban, 74,000, rural, 615,000; in North Carolina, urban, 66,000, against 498,000 rural ”

“ Great Britain, in the administration of her large and widely remote colonial dependencies with their different races; but our problem has peculiar difficulties which have not confronted other governments, and therefore demands the best powers of philanthropist, sociologist, and statesman. ”

“ The amount of property listed for taxation in North Carolina in 1891 was, by white citizens, $234,109,568; by colored citizens, $8,018,446. To an inquiry for official data, the auditor of the State of Virginia 29says: “The taxes collected in 1891 from white citizens were $2,991,646.24, and from the colored, $163,175.67. The amount paid for public schools for whites, $588,564.87; for negroes, $309,364.15. Add $15,000 for Colored Normal and $80,000 for colored lunatic asylum. ”

“ Near 200 students have been graduated. The School of Mechanic Arts in Central Tennessee College, under the management of Professor Sedgwick, has a fine outfit, and has turned out telescopes and other instruments, which command a ready and remunerative market in this and other countries. ”

“ The Bureau was attached to the War Department and was at first limited in duration to one year, but was afterwards prolonged. General O. O. Howard was appointed Commissioner, with assistants. He says he was invested with “almost unlimited authority” and that the act and orders gave “great scope and liberty of action.” ”

“ The schools are parochial “with an element of industrial training,” and are located in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama, but the “Reports” do not give the number of teachers and scholars. ”

“ The report mentions fifteen schools,—three in North Carolina, four in South Carolina, three in Arkansas, and one in each of the States of Texas, Mississippi, Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. $1,280,000 have been spent. “In the high schools and parochial schools, we have (May, 1893) 10,520 students who are being daily moulded under Presbyterian educational influence.” ”

“ These taxes were to be sufficient to defray expense and cost of establishing, furnishing, and conducting the schools for the period of one year. When the tax list and schedules should be placed in the hands of the Parish Provost Marshal, he was to collect and pay over within thirty days to the School Board. Schools previously established were transferred to this Board; others were opened, and in December, 1864, they reported under their supervision 95 schools, 162 teachers, and 9,571 scholars. ”

“ Since the first appropriation, near fifty different institutions have been aided, in sums ranging from $500 to $5,000. As required by the Founder, neither principal nor income is expended for land or buildings. For a few years aid was given in buying machinery or apparatus, but now the income is applied almost exclusively to paying the salaries of teachers engaged in the normal or industrial work. ”