No more interesting or suggestive study could be undertaken than that, of tracing the progress of the colored teachers of a race so recently emancipated, as they have advanced in literary, mental and moral fitness for a work thrust upon them by the exigencies of the situation. Reference to the tables of statistics compiled by the Commissioner of Education for 1895-6 shows how well the race is meeting the demand for teachers in its schools, everywhere in the South kept separate from the public schools for white children. For the year above mentioned there were employed 26,499 colored teachers, who had under their care 1,429,713 pupils. For the same year there were in the various Normal Schools for colored people 4,672 students, 966 of whom were graduated; 826 were graduated from high schools and 161 from college courses, making in all 1,953 graduates from courses of study considered sufficient in extent to fit more or less thoroughly for the work of teaching; not to mention the even greater numbers who engage in teaching before having completed any higher course of training. So much as to mere numbers. Now, in general, as to the advancement being made by schools of this class. Without exception, the reports of school officers give credit for constantly increasing excellency and proficiency of both schools and teachers, and certain it is, that the public appreciation and esteem is shown by an increasing patronage and a more substantial provision for the improvement and support of the schools. In particular, while it is not always safe to draw sweeping conclusions from facts gathered within a limited area of observation, it may yet be confidently asserted, that what is true of the schools and teachers of any fairly representative city or community in the South, is likely to be measurably true wherever similar conditions and opportunities prevail. My own direct experience and observation have had to do with the colored schools and teachers of a single city of sixty to eighty thousand people, nearly one-half colored, and the counties and towns adjacent. These I have followed very closely for over twenty-five years. I can testify positively that there has been a steady raising of the standards of qualifications and proficiency with regard both to intellectual and moral attainments among the teachers of colored schools, and in this I shall be borne out by the testimony of superintendents and school officers, as well as by all observing people of these communities. In many cases teachers and schools of this class have attained an enviable reputation and are often mentioned as models of excellence in many ways.