Twentieth century Negro literature : $b or, A cyclopedia of thought on the vital topics relating to the American Negro
History
Twentieth century Negro literature : $b or, A cyclopedia of thought on the vital topics relating to the American Negro
African Americans -- History
There are few institutions in the South where industrial training is
given upon a large and systematic scale, and the graduates from these
institutions have not had time to make themselves felt to any very
large extent upon the life of the rank and file of the people. But
what are the indications? As I write, I have before me a record of
graduates, which is carefully compiled each year. Of the hundreds who
have been trained at the Tuskegee Institute, less than five per cent
have failed because of the any moral weakness. These graduates, as
well as hundreds of other students who could not remain to finish the
course, are now at work in the schoolroom, in the field, in the shop,
in the home, or as teachers of industry, or in some way they are
making their education felt in the lifting up of the colored people.
Wherever these graduates go, they not only help their own race, but,
in nearly every case, they win the respect and confidence of the white
people.
Not long ago I sent a number of letters to white men, in all the
Southern states, asking, among others, this question: "Judged by
actual observation in your community, what is the effect of education
upon the Negro?" In asking this question, I was careful to explain
that by education I did not mean a mere smattering, but a thorough
education of the head, heart and hand. I received about three hundred
replies, and there was only one who said that education did not help
the Negro. Most of the others were emphatic in stating that education
made the Negro a better citizen. In all the record of crime in the
South, there are very few instances where a black man, who has been
thoroughly educated in the respects I have mentioned, has been ever
charged with the crime of assaulting a woman. In fact, I do not know
of a single instance of this kind, whether the man was educated in an
industrial school or in a college.
The following extracts from a letter written by a Southern white man
to the Daily Advertiser, of Montgomery, Alabama, contain most valuable
testimony. The letter refers to convicts in Alabama, most of whom are
colored:
"I was conversing not long ago with the warden of one of our mining
prisons, containing about 500 convicts. The warden is a practical man,
who has been in charge of prisoners for more than fifteen years, and
has no theories of any kind to support. I remarked to him that I
wanted some information as to the effect of manual training in
preventing criminality, and asked him to state what per cent of the
prisoners under his charge had received any manual training, besides
the acquaintance with the crudest agricultural labor. He replied:
'Perhaps about one per cent.' He added: 'No; much less than that. We
have here at present only one mechanic; that is, there is one man who
claims to be a house painter.'
"'Have you any shoemakers?'
"'Never have had a shoemaker.'
"'Have you any tailors?'
"'Never have had a tailor.'
"'Any printers?'
"'Never have had a printer.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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