[3] "Oberlin College" in Ohio was the first opening its doors to the Negro in 1836. [4] "I am not so old as some of my young friends may suspect, but I am too old to go into the business of 'carrying coals to Newcastle.' * * * * The colored citizen of the U. S. has already graduated with respectable standing from a course of 250 years in the University of the old-time type of Manual labor. The South of to-day is what we see it largely because the colored men and women at least during the past 250 years, have not been lazy 'cumberers of the ground,' but the grand army of laborers that has wrestled with nature and led these 16 States out of the woods thus far on the highroad to material prosperity. It is not especially necessary that the 2,000,000 of our colored children and youth in the southern common schools should be warned against laziness, and what has always and everywhere come of that since the foundation of the world." The Rev. A. D. Mayo, M. A., LL. D. Address before State Teachers' Association (Colored) Birmingham, Ala. [5] I owe Mr. Anderson an apology for omitting this references to his book on the delivery of this address. It was prepared while its author was in a foreign land; but had passed entirely from his memory in the preparation of this address. Transcriber's Notes: Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. The following misprints have been corrected: "responsibilitles" corrected to "responsibilities" (page 6) "imconvenience" corrected to "inconvenience" (page 9) "legslation" corrected to "legislation" (page 10) "poeple" corrected to "people" (page 10) "expectional" corrected to "exceptional" (page 18) Other than the corrections listed above, printer's spelling and hyphenation usage have been retained. An unmatched quotation mark has been left as presented in the original text ("Hic haec, hoc," is going to prove the ruin of the Negro" says the Rev. Steele, an erudite Southern Savan.).