An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called AfricansChild, Lydia Maria
History
An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans
Child, Lydia Maria
Antislavery movements -- United States; Slavery -- United States
The planters are resolved to drive the free blacks away; and it is
another evil of the Colonization Society that their funds and their
influence co-operate with them in this project. They do not indeed
thrust the free negroes off, at the point of the bayonet; but they make
their _laws_ and _customs_ so very unequal and oppressive, that the poor
fellows are surrounded by raging fires on every side, and must leap
into the Atlantic for safety. In slave ethics I suppose this is called
"_moral_ force." If the slave population is left to its own natural
increase, the crisis will soon come; for labor will be so very cheap
that slavery will not be for the interest of the whites. Why should we
retard this crisis?
In the next place, many of the Colonizationists (I do not suppose it
applies to all) are averse to giving the blacks a good education; and
they are not friendly to the establishment of schools and colleges for
that purpose. Now I would ask any candid person why colored children
should _not_ be educated? Some say, it will raise them above their
situation; I answer, it will raise them _in_ their situation--not
_above_ it. When a High School for white girls was first talked of in
this city, several of the wealthy class objected to it; because, said
they, "if everybody is educated, we shall have no servants." This
argument is based on selfishness, and therefore cannot stand. If carried
into operation, the welfare of many would be sacrificed to the
convenience of a few. We might as well protest against the sunlight,
for the benefit of lamp-oil merchants. Of all monopolies, a monopoly of
_knowledge_ is the worst. Let it be as active as the ocean--as free as
the wind--as universal as the sunbeams! Lord Brougham said very
wisely, "If the higher classes are afraid of being left in the rear,
they likewise must hasten onward."
With our firm belief in the natural inferiority of negroes, it is
strange we should be so much afraid that knowledge will elevate them
quite too high for our convenience. In the march of improvement, we are
several centuries in advance; and if, with this obstacle at the very
beginning, they can outstrip us, why then, in the name of justice, let
them go ahead! Nay, give them three cheers as they pass. If any nation,
or any class of men, can obtain intellectual pre-eminence, it is a sure
sign they deserve it; and by this republican rule the condition of the
world will be regulated as surely as the waters find their level.
Besides, like all selfish policy, this is not _true_ policy. The more
useful knowledge a person has, the better he fulfils his duties in _any_
station; and there is no kind of knowledge, high or low, which may not
be brought into _use_.
But it has been said, that information will make the blacks
discontented; because, if ever so learned, they will not be allowed to
sit at the white man's table, or marry the white man's daughter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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