Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the SouthFortune, Timothy Thomas
History
Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the South
Fortune, Timothy Thomas
African Americans -- Southern States; Southern States -- Economic conditions; United States -- Race relations
One of the most interesting departments is located also in
the "Stone Building"--the sewing-room. In it are nearly a
score, perhaps more, of cheerful, busy girls. The rapid
ticking of the machine is heard, and the merry laugh
followed by gentle whispers gives life to the room. These
young girls are the future wives and mothers; and the large
majority of them will be married to poor men. In the
kitchen, the laundry, and the sewing-room, they are
acquiring a knowledge and habits of industry that will save
their husbands' pennies, and thus keep them from living from
hand to mouth, making an everlasting struggle to save their
nose from the grindstone. In the schoolroom, they are
gathering up those intellectual treasures, which will make
them in a double sense helpmeets unto their husbands.
Standing in the carpenter and paint shops, and in the saw
mill, and seeing Negro youths engaged in the most delicate
kind of work, learning valuable and useful trades, I could
not help from feeling that this is an excellent institution,
and that I would like to have my boys spend three years
here, from fourteen to seventeen, grow strong in the love
for work, and educated to feel the dignity of labor, and
get a trade: then if they have the capacity and desire to
qualify for a "top round in the ladder," for leadership in
the "world's broad field of battle," it will be time enough
to think of Harvard and Yale and Edinburgh, or perhaps
similar African institutions.
Mr. George H. Corliss, of Rhode Island, presented to the
school in 1879 a sixty-horse power Corliss engine. Soon
after Mr. C.P. Huntington, of the Missouri & Pacific R.R.,
gave a saw mill, and as a result of these gifts large
industrial operations were begun. The saw mill is certainly
an extensive enterprise. Logs are brought up from the
Carolinas, and boards are sawn out, and in the turning
department fancy fixtures are made for houses, piazzas, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account