Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899: Volume LV, No. 3, July 1899Various
Religion
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899: Volume LV, No. 3, July 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Manifestly there is but one honorable way of dealing with the blacks,
and that is to treat them with absolute justice. Upon this point we
are in entire agreement with Mr. Booker T. Washington. If a black man
is excluded from the suffrage on account of his ignorance, let the
equally ignorant white man be equally excluded. We have great faith in
the educative effect of justice, and a firm administration of law. It
would at once raise the self-respect of the negro to know that what
was law for the white man was law for him, and _vice versa_; and
self-respect is a sure ground for further advance. In the matter of
education, we hold that education for the colored race should be
almost wholly of a practical kind. We go further, and say that the
education given to white children everywhere might with great
advantage be much more practical than it is. The proper education for
any individual is that which will tend to make him more efficient,
successful, and self-sufficing in the position which he is called to
occupy. This principle, far from implying a stationary condition of
the individual, is precisely the one which provides best for his
advancement. It is the man who is thoroughly competent for the work he
has at any given moment to do who passes beyond that work to something
better. The misery of existing systems of education is that to so
large extent they educate for a hypothetical position beyond that for
which an immediate preparation is necessary. The result is that the
schools unload upon the community year by year a levy of adventurous
youths who at once begin to live by their wits in no very creditable
sense, and who constitute a distinct menace to the stability of
society.
We would therefore urge most earnestly upon all who take an interest
in the education of the colored race to keep in view above all things
the importance and necessity of fitting the negro to take an active
part in the practical industries of the country, and above all in
agriculture. An education directed mainly to this end would do far
more to develop his intelligence than one of a more abstract and
ambitious character and would furnish a far better foundation for
success in life. Far from tying the negro down to manual occupations,
it would prepare the way for his eventual participation in all
occupations. But occupation for occupation, where is there one that
can reasonably be rated higher than the intelligent and successful
cultivation of the soil? If the negro problem can not be solved by
common sense and common honesty it can not be solved at all. Before
giving it up as insoluble we should make full proof of these homely
specifics. We have long been proclaiming that the negro is a man and a
brother; let us therefore treat him as such, and if we find out
anything that is particularly good for his moral and intellectual
improvement, let us try a little of it ourselves. It surely will not
do us any harm.
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