The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861

A History of the Education of the Colored People of the United Statesfrom the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War

By

C. G. Woodson. 

1919

PREFACE

About two years ago the author decided to set forth in a small volumethe leading facts of the development of Negro education, thinking thathe would have to deal largely with the movement since the Civil War. In looking over documents for material to furnish a background forrecent achievements in this field, he discovered that he would writea much more interesting book should he confine himself to theante-bellum period. In fact, the accounts of the successful strivingsof Negroes for enlightenment under most adverse circumstances readlike beautiful romances of a people in an heroic age. 

Interesting as is this phase of the history of the American Negro, ithas as a field of profitable research attracted only M. B. Goodwin, whopublished in the Special Report of the United States Commissionerof Education of 1871 an exhaustive _History of the Schools for theColored Population in the District of Columbia_. In that same documentwas included a survey of the _Legal Status of the Colored Populationin Respect to Schools and Education in the Different States_. Butalthough the author of the latter collected a mass of valuablematerial, his report is neither comprehensive nor thorough. Otherpublications touching this subject have dealt either with certainlocalities or special phases. 

Yet evident as may be the failure of scholars to treat this neglectedaspect of our history, the author of this dissertation is far frompresuming that he has exhausted the subject. With the hope of vitallyinteresting some young master mind in this large task, the undersignedhas endeavored to narrate in brief how benevolent teachers of bothraces strove to give the ante-bellum Negroes the education throughwhich many of them gained freedom in its highest and best sense. 

The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr. J. E. Moorland, International Secretary of the Young Men's ChristianAssociation, for valuable information concerning the Negroes of Ohio. 

C. G. Woodson. 

Washington, D. C. _June 11, 1919. _

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

 I. --Introduction

 II. --Religion with Letters

 III. --Education as a Right of Man

 IV. --Actual Education

 V. --Better Beginnings

 VI. --Educating the Urban Negro

 VII. --The Reaction

 VIII. --Religion without Letters

 IX. --Learning in Spite of Opposition

 X. --Educating Negroes Transplanted to Free Soil

 XI. --Higher Education

 XII. --Vocational Training

 XIII. --Education at Public Expense

 Appendix: Documents

 Bibliography

 Index

The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861

 * * * * *

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Brought from the African wilds to constitute the laboring class ofa pioneering society in the new world, the heathen slaves had to betrained to meet the needs of their environment. It required littleargument to convince intelligent masters that slaves who had someconception of modern civilization and understood the language of theirowners would be more valuable than rude men with whom one could notcommunicate. The questions, however, as to exactly what kind oftraining these Negroes should have, and how far it should go, were tothe white race then as much a matter of perplexity as they are now. Yet, believing that slaves could not be enlightened without developingin them a longing for liberty, not a few masters maintained that themore brutish the bondmen the more pliant they become for purposes ofexploitation. It was this class of slaveholders that finally won themajority of southerners to their way of thinking and determined thatNegroes should not be educated. 

The history of the education of the ante-bellum Negroes, therefore, falls into two periods. The first extends from the time of theintroduction of slavery to the climax of the insurrectionary movementabout 1835, when the majority of the people in this country answeredin the affirmative the question whether or not it was prudent toeducate their slaves. Then followed the second period, when theindustrial revolution changed slavery from a patriarchal to aneconomic institution, and when intelligent Negroes, encouraged byabolitionists, made so many attempts to organize servile insurrectionsthat the pendulum began to swing the other way. By this time mostsouthern white people reached the conclusion that it was impossibleto cultivate the minds of Negroes without arousing overmuchself-assertion. 

The early advocates of the education of Negroes were of three classes:first, masters who desired to increase the economic efficiency oftheir labor supply; second, sympathetic persons who wished to help theoppressed; and third, zealous missionaries who, believing that themessage of divine love came equally to all, taught slaves the Englishlanguage that they might learn the principles of the Christianreligion. Through the kindness of the first class, slaves had theirbest chance for mental improvement. Each slaveholder dealt with thesituation to suit himself, regardless of public opinion. Later, when measures were passed to prohibit the education of slaves, somemasters, always a law unto themselves, continued to teach theirNegroes in defiance of the hostile legislation. Sympathetic personswere not able to accomplish much because they were usually reformers, who not only did not own slaves, but dwelt in practically freesettlements far from the plantations on which the bondmen lived. 

The Spanish and French missionaries, the first to face this problem, set an example which influenced the education of the Negroesthroughout America. Some of these early heralds of Catholicismmanifested more interest in the Indians than in the Negroes, andadvocated the enslavement of the Africans rather than that of the RedMen. But being anxious to see the Negroes enlightened and brought intothe Church, they courageously directed their attention to the teachingof their slaves, provided for the instruction of the numerousmixed-breed offspring, and granted freedmen the educational privilegesof the highest classes. Put to shame by this noble example of theCatholics, the English colonists had to find a way to overcome theobjections of those who, granting that the enlightenment of the slavesmight not lead to servile insurrection, nevertheless feared that theirconversion might work manumission. To meet this exigency thecolonists secured, through legislation by their assemblies and formaldeclarations of the Bishop of London, the abrogation of the law thata Christian could not be held as a slave. Then allowed access to thebondmen, the missionaries of the Church of England, sent out by theSociety for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen in ForeignParts, undertook to educate the slaves for the purpose of extensiveproselyting. 

Contemporaneous with these early workers of the Established Church ofEngland were the liberal Puritans, who directed their attention to theconversion of the slaves long before this sect advocated abolition. Many of this connection justified slavery as established by theprecedent of the Hebrews, but they felt that persons held to serviceshould be instructed as were the servants of the household of Abraham. The progress of the cause was impeded, however, by the bigoted classof Puritans, who did not think well of the policy of incorporatingundesirable persons into the Church so closely connected then with thestate. The first settlers of the American colonies to offer Negroesthe same educational and religious privileges they provided forpersons of their own race, were the Quakers. Believing in thebrotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God, they taught the coloredpeople to read their own "instruction in the book of the law that theymight be wise unto salvation. "

Encouraging as was the aspect of things after these early efforts, thecontemporary complaints about the neglect to instruct the slaves showthat the cause lacked something to make the movement general. Thencame the days when the struggle for the rights of man was arousing thecivilized world. After 1760 the nascent social doctrine found responseamong the American colonists. They looked with opened eyes at theNegroes. A new day then dawned for the dark-skinned race. Men likePatrick Henry and James Otis, who demanded liberty for themselves, could not but concede that slaves were entitled at least to freedom ofbody. The frequent acts of manumission and emancipation which followedupon this change in attitude toward persons of color, turned looseupon society a large number of men whose chief needs were educationand training in the duties of citizenship. To enlighten these freedmenschools, missions, and churches were established by benevolent andreligious workers. These colaborers included at this time the Baptistsand Methodists who, thanks to the spirit of toleration incident to theRevolution, were allowed access to Negroes bond and free. 

With all of these new opportunities Negroes exhibited a rapidmental development. Intelligent colored men proved to be useful andtrustworthy servants; they became much better laborers and artisans, and many of them showed administrative ability adequate to themanagement of business establishments and large plantations. Moreover, better rudimentary education served many ambitious persons of color asa stepping-stone to higher attainments. Negroes learned to appreciateand write poetry and contributed something to mathematics, science, and philosophy. Furthermore, having disproved the theories oftheir mental inferiority, some of the race, in conformity with thesuggestion of Cotton Mather, were employed to teach white children. 

Observing these evidences of a general uplift of the Negroes, certaineducators advocated the establishment of special colored schools. Thefounding of these institutions, however, must not be understood as amovement to separate the children of the races on account of casteprejudice. The dual system resulted from an effort to meet the needspeculiar to a people just emerging from bondage. It was easily seenthat their education should no longer be dominated by religion. Keeping the past of the Negroes in mind, their friends tried to unitethe benefits of practical and cultural education. The teachers ofcolored schools offered courses in the industries along with advancedwork in literature, mathematics, and science. Girls who specialized insewing took lessons in French. 

So startling were the rapid strides made by the colored people intheir mental development after the revolutionary era that certainsoutherners who had not seriously objected to the enlightenment of theNegroes began to favor the half reactionary policy of educating themonly on the condition that they should be colonized. The colonizationmovement, however, was supported also by some white men who, seeingthe educational progress of the colored people during the period ofbetter beginnings, felt that they should be given an opportunity tobe transplanted to a free country where they might develop withoutrestriction. 

Timorous southerners, however, soon had other reasons for theiruncharitable attitude. During the first quarter of the nineteenthcentury two effective forces were rapidly increasing the number ofreactionaries who by public opinion gradually prohibited the educationof the colored people in all places except certain urban communitieswhere progressive Negroes had been sufficiently enlightened to providetheir own school facilities. The first of these forces was theworldwide industrial movement. It so revolutionized spinning andweaving that the resulting increased demand for cotton fiber gave riseto the plantation system of the South, which required a larger numberof slaves. Becoming too numerous to be considered as included in thebody politic as conceived by Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone, the slaves were generally doomed to live without any enlightenmentwhatever. Thereafter rich planters not only thought it unwise toeducate men thus destined to live on a plane with beasts, butconsidered it more profitable to work a slave to death during sevenyears and buy another in his stead than to teach and humanize him witha view to increasing his efficiency. 

The other force conducive to reaction was the circulation throughintelligent Negroes of antislavery accounts of the wrongs to coloredpeople and the well portrayed exploits of Toussaint L'Ouverture. Furthermore, refugees from Haiti settled in Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, and New Orleans, where they gave Negroes a first-handstory of how black men of the West Indies had righted their wrongs. Atthe same time certain abolitionists and not a few slaveholders werepraising, in the presence of slaves, the bloody methods of theFrench Revolution. When this enlightenment became productive ofsuch disorders that slaveholders lived in eternal dread of servileinsurrection, Southern States adopted the thoroughly reactionarypolicy of making the education of Negroes impossible. 

The prohibitive legislation extended over a period of more than acentury, beginning with the act of South Carolina in 1740. But withthe exception of the action of this State and that of Georgia theimportant measures which actually proscribed the teaching of Negroeswere enacted during the first four decades of the nineteenth century. The States attacked the problem in various ways. Colored people beyonda certain number were not allowed to assemble for social or religiouspurposes, unless in the presence of certain "discreet" white men;slaves were deprived of the helpful contact of free persons of colorby driving them out of some Southern States; masters who had employedtheir favorite blacks in positions which required a knowledge ofbookkeeping, printing, and the like, were commanded by law todiscontinue that custom; and private and public teachers wereprohibited from assisting Negroes to acquire knowledge in any mannerwhatever. 

The majority of the people of the South had by this time come to theconclusion that, as intellectual elevation unfits men for servitudeand renders it impossible to retain them in this condition, it shouldbe interdicted. In other words, the more you cultivate the minds ofslaves, the more unserviceable you make them; you give them a higherrelish for those privileges which they cannot attain and turn what youintend for a blessing into a curse. If they are to remain in slaverythey should be kept in the lowest state of ignorance and degradation, and the nearer you bring them to the condition of brutes the betterchance they have to retain their apathy. It had thus been brought topass that the measures enacted to prevent the education of Negroes hadnot only forbidden association with their fellows for mutual help andclosed up most colored schools in the South, but had in several Statesmade it a crime for a Negro to teach his own children. 

The contrast of conditions at the close of this period with thoseof former days is striking. Most slaves who were once counted asvaluable, on account of their ability to read and write the Englishlanguage, were thereafter considered unfit for service in theSouth and branded as objects of suspicion. Moreover, when within ageneration or so the Negroes began to retrograde because they had beendeprived of every elevating influence, the white people of the Southresorted to their old habit of answering their critics with the boldassertion that the effort to enlighten the blacks would prove futileon account of their mental inferiority. The apathy which thesebondmen, inured to hardships, consequently developed was referred toas adequate evidence that they were content with their lot, andthat any effort to teach them to know their real condition would beproductive of mischief both to the slaves and their masters. 

The reactionary movement, however, was not confined to the South. Theincreased migration of fugitives and free Negroes to the asylum ofNorthern States, caused certain communities of that section to feelthat they were about to be overrun by undesirable persons who couldnot be easily assimilated. The subsequent anti-abolition riots in theNorth made it difficult for friends of the Negroes to raise funds toeducate them. Free persons of color were not allowed to open schoolsin some places, teachers of Negroes were driven from their stations, and colored schoolhouses were burned. 

Ashamed to play the role of a Christian clergy guarding silence on theindispensable duty of saving the souls of the colored people, certainof the most influential southern ministers hit upon the scheme ofteaching illiterate Negroes the principles of Christianity by memorytraining or the teaching of religion without letters. This the clergywere wont to call religious instruction. The word instruction, however, as used in various documents, is rather confusing. Before thereactionary period all instruction of the colored people included theteaching of the rudiments of education as a means to convey Christianthought. But with the exception of a few Christians the southernersthereafter used the word instruction to signify the mere memorizing ofprinciples from the most simplified books. The sections of the Southin which the word instruction was not used in this restricted sensewere mainly the settlements of Quakers and Catholics who, in defianceof the law, persisted in teaching Negroes to read and write. Yet itwas not uncommon to find others who, after having unsuccessfully usedtheir influence against the enactment of these reactionary laws, boldly defied them by instructing the Negroes of their communities. Often opponents to this custom winked at it as an indulgence to theclerical profession. Many Scotch-Irish of the Appalachian Mountainsand liberal Methodists and Baptists of the Western slave States didnot materially change their attitude toward the enlightenment of thecolored people during the reactionary period. The Negroes amongthese people continued to study books and hear religious instructionconveyed to maturing minds. 

Yet little as seemed this enlightenment by means of verbalinstruction, some slaveholders became sufficiently inhuman to objectto it on the grounds that the teaching of religion would lead to theteaching of letters. In fact, by 1835 certain parts of the Southreached the third stage in the development of the education of theNegroes. At first they were taught the common branches to enable themto understand the principles of Christianity; next the colored peopleas an enlightened class became such a menace to southern institutionsthat it was deemed unwise to allow them any instruction beyond thatof memory training; and finally, when it was discovered that manyambitious blacks were still learning to stir up their fellows, it wasdecreed that they should not receive any instruction at all. Reducedthus to the plane of beasts, where they remained for generations, Negroes developed bad traits which since their emancipation have beenremoved only with great difficulty. 

Dark as the future of the Negro students seemed, all hope was not yetgone. Certain white men in every southern community made it possiblefor many of them to learn in spite of opposition. Slaveholders werenot long in discovering that a thorough execution of the law wasimpossible when Negroes were following practically all the higherpursuits of labor in the South. Masters who had children known to beteaching slaves protected their benevolent sons and daughters from therigors of the law. Preachers, on finding out that the effort at verbaleducation could not convey Christian truths to an undeveloped mind, overcame the opposition in their localities and taught the coloredpeople as before. Negroes themselves, regarding learning as forbiddenfruit, stole away to secret places at night to study under thedirection of friends. Some learned by intuition without having had theguidance of an instructor. The fact is that these drastic laws werenot passed to restrain "discreet" southerners from doing whatever theydesired for the betterment of their Negroes. The aim was to cut offtheir communication with northern teachers and abolitionists, whoseactivity had caused the South to believe that if such precaution werenot taken these agents would teach their slaves principles subversiveof southern institutions. Thereafter the documents which mention theteaching of Negroes to read and write seldom even state that thesouthern white teacher was so much as censured for his benevolence. In the rare cases of arrest of such instructors they were usuallyacquitted after receiving a reprimand. 

With this winking at the teaching of Negroes in defiance of the law abetter day for their education brightened certain parts of theSouth about the middle of the nineteenth century. Believing that anenlightened laboring class might stop the decline of that section, some slaveholders changed their attitude toward the elevation ofthe colored people. Certain others came to think that the policy ofkeeping Negroes in ignorance to prevent servile insurrections wasunwise. It was observed that the most loyal and subordinate slaveswere those who could read the Bible and learn the truth forthemselves. Private teachers of colored persons, therefore, were oftenleft undisturbed, little effort was made to break up the Negroes'secret schools in different parts, and many influential white men tookit upon themselves to instruct the blacks who were anxious to learn. 

Other Negroes who had no such opportunities were then finding a way ofescape through the philanthropy of those abolitionists who colonizedsome freedmen and fugitives in the Northwest Territory and promotedthe migration of others to the East. These Negroes were oftenfortunate. Many of them settled where they could take up land and hadaccess to schools and churches conducted by the best white peopleof the country. This migration, however, made matters worse for theNegroes who were left in the South. As only the most enlightenedblacks left the slave States, the bondmen and the indigent freepersons of color were thereby deprived of helpful contact. Thepreponderance of intelligent Negroes, therefore, was by 1840 on theside of the North. Thereafter the actual education of the coloredpeople was largely confined to eastern cities and northern communitiesof transplanted freedmen. The pioneers of these groups organizedchurches and established and maintained a number of successfulelementary schools. 

In addition to providing for rudimentary instruction, the free Negroesof the North helped their friends to make possible what we now callhigher education. During the second quarter of the nineteenth centurythe advanced training of the colored people was almost prohibited bythe refusals of academies and colleges to admit persons of Africanblood. In consequence of these conditions, the long-put-forth effortsto found Negro colleges began to be crowned with success before theCivil War. Institutions of the North admitted Negroes later forvarious reasons. Some colleges endeavored to prepare them for servicein Liberia, while others, proclaiming their conversion to the doctrineof democratic education, opened their doors to all. 

The advocates of higher education, however, met with no littleopposition. The concentration in northern communities of the crudefugitives driven from the South necessitated a readjustment of things. The training of Negroes in any manner whatever was then very unpopularin many parts of the North. When prejudice, however, lost some of itssting, the friends of the colored people did more than ever fortheir education. But in view of the changed conditions most of thesephilanthropists concluded that the Negroes were very much in needof practical education. Educators first attempted to provide suchtraining by offering classical and vocational courses in what theycalled the "manual labor schools. " When these failed to meet theemergency they advocated actual vocational training. To make this newsystem extensive the Negroes freely coöperated with their benefactors, sharing no small part of the real burden. They were at the same timepaying taxes to support public schools which they could not attend. 

This very condition was what enabled the abolitionists to see thatthey had erred in advocating the establishment of separate schools forNegroes. At first the segregation of pupils of African blood was, asstated above, intended as a special provision to bring the coloredyouth into contact with sympathetic teachers, who knew the needs oftheir students. When the public schools, however, developed at theexpense of the state into a desirable system better equipped thanprivate institutions, the antislavery organizations in many NorthernStates began to demand that the Negroes be admitted to the publicschools. After extensive discussion certain States of New Englandfinally decided the question in the affirmative, experiencing no greatinconvenience from the change. In most other States of the North, however, separate schools for Negroes did not cease to exist untilafter the Civil War. It was the liberated Negroes themselves who, during the Reconstruction, gave the Southern States their firsteffective system of free public schools. 

CHAPTER II

RELIGION WITH LETTERS

The first real educators to take up the work of enlightening AmericanNegroes were clergymen interested in the propagation of the gospelamong the heathen of the new world. Addressing themselves to thistask, the missionaries easily discovered that their first duty was toeducate these crude elements to enable them not only to read the truthfor themselves, but to appreciate the supremacy of the Christianreligion. After some opposition slaves were given the opportunity totake over the Christian civilization largely because of the adversecriticism[1] which the apostles to the lowly heaped upon the planterswho neglected the improvement of their Negroes. Made then a device forbringing the blacks into the Church, their education was at first toomuch dominated by the teaching of religion. 

[Footnote 1: Bourne, _Spain in America_, p. 241; and _The Penn. Mag. Of History_, xii. , 265. ]

Many early advocates of slavery favored the enlightenment of theAfricans. That it was an advantage to the Negroes to be brought withinthe light of the gospel was a common argument in favor of the slavetrade. [1] When the German Protestants from Salsburg had scruples aboutenslaving men, they were assured by a message from home stating thatif they took slaves in faith and with the intention of conductingthem to Christ, the action would not be a sin, but might prove abenediction. [2] This was about the attitude of Spain. The missionarymovement seemed so important to the king of that country that he atfirst allowed only Christian slaves to be brought to America, hopingthat such persons might serve as apostles to the Indians. [3] TheSpaniards adopted a different policy, however, when they ceased theirwild search for an "El Dorado" and became permanently attached to thecommunity. They soon made settlements and opened mines whichthey thought required the introduction of slavery. Thus becomingcommercialized, these colonists experienced a greed which, disregarding the consequences of the future, urged the importationof all classes of slaves to meet the demand for cheap labor. [4] Thisrequest was granted by the King of Spain, but the masters of suchbondmen were expressly ordered to have them indoctrinated in theprinciples of Christianity. It was the failure of certain Spaniards tolive up to these regulations that caused the liberal-minded Jesuit, Alphonso Sandoval, to register the first protest against slavery inAmerica. [5] In later years the change in the attitude of the Spaniardstoward this problem was noted. In Mexico the ayuntamientos were underthe most rigid responsibility to see that free children born of slavesreceived the best education that could be given them. They had toplace them "for that purpose at the public schools and other places ofinstruction wherein they" might "become useful to society. "[6]

[Footnote 1: Proslavery Argument; and Lecky, _History of England_, vol. Ii. , p. 17. ]

[Footnote 2: Faust, _German Element in United States_, vol. I. , pp. 242-43. ]

[Footnote 3: Bancroft, _History of United States_, vol. I. , p. 124. ]

[Footnote 4: Herrera, _Historia General_, dec. Iv. , libro ii. ; dec. V. , libro ii. ; dec. Vii. , libro iv. ]

[Footnote 5: Bourne, _Spain in America_, p. 241. ]

[Footnote 6: _Special Report U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 389. ]

In the French settlements of America the instruction of the Negroesdid not early become a difficult problem. There were not many Negroesamong the French. Their methods of colonization did not require manyslaves. Nevertheless, whenever the French missionary came into contactwith Negroes he considered it his duty to enlighten the unfortunatesand lead them to God. As early as 1634 Paul Le Jeune, a Jesuitmissionary in Canada, rejoiced that he had again become a realpreceptor in that he was teaching a little Negro the alphabet. LeJeune hoped to baptize his pupil as soon as he learned sufficient tounderstand the Christian doctrine. [1] Moreover, evidence of a generalinterest in the improvement of Negroes appeared in the Code Noir whichmade it incumbent upon masters to enlighten their slaves that theymight grasp the principles of the Christian religion. [2] To carryout this mandate slaves were sometimes called together with whitesettlers. The meeting was usually opened with prayer and the readingof some pious book, after which the French children were turned overto one catechist, and the slaves and Indians to another. If a largenumber of slaves were found in the community their special instructionwas provided for in meetings of their own. [3]

[Footnote 1: _Jesuit Relations_, vol. V. , p. 63. ]

[Footnote 2: Code Noir, p. 107. ]

[Footnote 3: _Jesuit Relations_, vol. V. , p. 62. ]

After 1716, when Jesuits were taking over slaves in larger numbers, and especially after 1726, when Law's Company was importing many tomeet the demand for laborers in Louisiana, we read of more instancesof the instruction of Negroes by French Catholics. [1] Writing aboutthis task in 1730, Le Petit spoke of being "settled to the instructionof the boarders, the girls who live without, and the Negro women. "[2]In 1738 he said, "I instruct in Christian morals the slaves of ourresidence, who are Negroes, and as many others as I can get from theirmasters. "[3] Years later François Philibert Watrum, seeing that someJesuits had on their estates one hundred and thirty slaves, inquiredwhy the instruction of the Indian and Negro serfs of the French didnot give these missionaries sufficient to do. [4] Hoping to enablethe slaves to elevate themselves, certain inhabitants of the Frenchcolonies requested of their king a decree protecting their title toproperty in such bondmen as they might send to France to be confirmedin their instruction and in the exercise of their religion, and tohave them learn some art or trade from which the colonies mightreceive some benefit by their return from the mother country. 

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , vol. Lxvii. , pp. 259 and 343. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , vol. Lxviii. , p. 201. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , vol. Lxix. , p. 31. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , vol. Lxx. , p. 245. ]

The education of Negroes was facilitated among the French and Spanishby their liberal attitude toward their slaves. Many of them wererespected for their worth and given some of the privileges offreemen. Estevanecito, an enlightened slave sent by Niza, the Spanishadventurer, to explore Arizona, was a favored servant of thisclass. [1] The Latin custom of miscegenation proved to be a still moreimportant factor in the education of Negroes in the colonies. As theFrench and Spanish came to America for the purpose of exploitation, leaving their wives behind, many of them, by cohabiting with andmarrying colored women, gave rise to an element of mixed breeds. Thiswas especially true of the Spanish settlements. They had more personsof this class than any other colonies in America. The Latins, incontradistinction to the English, generally liberated their mulattooffspring and sometimes recognized them as their equals. Such Negroesconstituted a class of persons who, although they could not aspire tothe best in the colony, had a decided advantage over other inhabitantsof color. They often lived in luxury, and, of course, had a fewsocial privileges. The Code Noir granted freedmen the same rights, privileges, and immunities as those enjoyed by persons born free, withthe view that the accomplishment of acquired liberty should have onthe former the same effect that the happiness of natural libertycaused in other subjects. [2] As these mixed breeds were later lost, soto speak, among the Latins, it is almost impossible to determine whattheir circumstances were, and what advantages of education they had. 

[Footnote 1: Bancroft, _Arizona and New Mexico_, pp. 27-32. ]

[Footnote 2: The Code Noir obliged every planter to have his Negroesinstructed and baptized. It allowed the slave for instruction, worship, and rest not only every Sunday, but every festival usuallyobserved by the Roman Catholic Church. It did not permit any market tobe held on Sundays or holidays. It prohibited, under severe penalties, all masters and managers from corrupting their female slaves. It didnot allow the Negro husband, wife, or infant children to be soldseparately. It forbade them the use of torture, or immoderate andinhuman punishments. It obliged the owners to maintain their old anddecrepit slaves. If the Negroes were not fed and clothed as the lawprescribed, or if they were in any way cruelly treated, they mightapply to the Procureur, who was obliged by his office to protect them. See Code Noir, pp. 99-100. ]

The Spanish and French were doing so much more than the English toenlighten their slaves that certain teachers and missionaries in theBritish colonies endeavored more than ever to arouse their countrymento discharge their duty to those they held in bondage. These reformershoped to do this by holding up to the members of the Anglican Churchthe praiseworthy example of the Catholics whom the British had foryears denounced as enemies of Christ. The criticism had its effect. But to prosecute this work extensively the English had to overcomethe difficulty found in the observance of the unwritten law thatno Christian could be held a slave. Now, if the teaching of slavesenabled them to be converted and their Christianization led tomanumission, the colonists had either to let the institution graduallypass away or close all avenues of information to the minds of theirNegroes. The necessity of choosing either of these alternativeswas obviated by the enactment of provincial statutes and formaldeclarations by the Bishop of London to the effect that conversion didnot work manumission. [1] After the solution of this problem Englishmissionaries urged more vigorously upon the colonies the duty ofinstructing the slaves. Among the active churchmen working for thiscause were Rev. Morgan Goodwyn and Bishops Fleetwood, Lowth, andSanderson. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 352. ]

[Footnote 2: On observing that laws had been passed in Virginia toprevent slaves from attending the meetings of Quakers for purposes ofbeing instructed, Morgan Goodwyn registered a most earnest protest. Hefelt that prompt attention should be given to the instruction of theslaves to prevent the Church from falling into discredit, and toobviate the causes for blasphemy on the part of the enemies of theChurch who would not fail to point out that ministers sent to theremotest parts had failed to convert the heathen. Therefore, hepreached in Westminster Abbey in 1685 a sermon "to stir up andprovoke" his "Majesty's subjects abroad, and even at home, to useendeavors for the propagation of Christianity among their domesticslaves and vassals. " He referred to the spreading of mammonism andirreligion by which efforts to instruct and Christianize the heathenwere paralyzed. He deplored the fact that the slaves who were thesubjects of such instruction became the victims of still greatercruelty, while the missionaries who endeavored to enlighten them wereneglected and even persecuted by the masters. They considered theinstruction of the Negroes an impracticable and needless work ofpopish superstition, and a policy subversive of the interests ofslaveholders. Bishop Sanderson found it necessary to oppose thispolicy of Virginia which had met the denunciation of Goodwyn. Instrongly emphasizing this duty of masters, Bishop Fleetwood moved thehearts of many planters of North Carolina to allow missionaries accessto their slaves. Many of them were thereafter instructed and baptized. See Goodwyn, _The Negroes and Indians' Advocate_; Hart, _History Toldby Contemporaries_, vol. I. , No. 86; _Special Rep. U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 363; _An Account of the Endeavors of the Soc. _, etc. , p. 14. ]

Complaints from men of this type led to systematic efforts toenlighten the blacks. The first successful scheme for this purposecame from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in ForeignParts. It was organized by the members of the Established Church inLondon in 1701[1] to do missionary work among Indians and Negroes. To convert the heathen they sent out not only ministers butschoolmasters. They were required to instruct the children, to teachthem to read the Scriptures and other poems and useful books, toground them thoroughly in the Church catechism, and to repeat "morningand evening prayers and graces composed for their use at home. "[2]

[Footnote 1: Pascoe, _Classified Digest of the Records of the Societyfor the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts_, p. 24. ]

[Footnote 2: Dalcho, _An Historical Account of the ProtestantEpiscopal Church in South Carolina_, p. 39; _Special Rep. U. S. Com. OfEd. _, 1871, p. 362. ]

The first active schoolmaster of this class was Rev. Samuel Thomas ofGoose Creek Parish in South Carolina. He took up this work there in1695, and in 1705 could count among his communicants twenty Negroes, who with several others "well understanding the English tongue" couldread and write. [1] Rev. Mr. Thomas said: "I have here presumed to givean account of one thousand slaves so far as they know of it and aredesirous of Christian knowledge and seem willing to prepare themselvesfor it, in learning to read, for which they redeem the time from theirlabor. Many of them can read the Bible distinctly, and great numbersof them were learning when I left the province. "[2] But not only hadthis worker enlightened many Negroes in his parish, but had enlistedin the work several ladies, among whom was Mrs. Haig Edwards. The Rev. Mr. Taylor, already interested in the cause, hoped that other mastersand mistresses would follow the example of Mrs. Edwards. [3]

[Footnote 1: Meriwether, _Education in South Carolina_, p. 123]. 

[Footnote 2: _Special Rep. U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 362. ]

[Footnote 3: _An Account of the Endeavors Used by the Society for thePropagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts_, pp. 13-14. ]

Through the efforts of the same society another school was opened inNew York City in 1704 under Elias Neau. [1] This benefactor is commonlyknown as the first to begin such an institution for the education ofNegroes; but the school in Goose Creek Parish, South Carolina, wasin operation at least nine years earlier. At first Neau called theNegroes together after their daily toil was over and taught them athis house. By 1708 he was instructing thus as many as two hundred. Neau's school owes its importance to the fact that not long after itsbeginning certain Negroes who organized themselves to kill off theirmasters were accredited as students of this institution. For thisreason it was immediately closed. [2] When upon investigating thecauses of the insurrection, however, it was discovered that only oneperson connected with the institution had taken part in the struggle, the officials of the colony permitted Neau to continue his work andextended him their protection. After having been of invaluable serviceto the Negroes of New York this school was closed in 1722 by thedeath of its founder. The work of Neau, however, was taken up by Mr. Huddlestone. Rev. Mr. Wetmore entered the field in 1726. Later thereappeared Rev. Mr. Colgan and Noxon, both of whom did much to promotethe cause. In 1732 came Rev. Mr. Charlton who toiled in this fielduntil 1747 when he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Auchmutty. He had thecoöperation of Mr. Hildreth, the assistant of his predecessor. Muchhelp was obtained from Rev. Mr. Barclay who, at the death of Mr. Veseyin 1764, became the rector of the parish supporting the school. [3]

[Footnote 1: _An Account of the Endeavors Used by the Society for thePropagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts_, pp. 6-12. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 9. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 362. ]

The results obtained in the English colonies during the early periodshow that the agitation for the enlightenment of the Negroes spreadnot only wherever these unfortunates were found, but claimed theattention of the benevolent far away. Bishop Wilson of Sodor and Man, active in the cause during the first half of the eighteenth century, availed himself of the opportunity to aid those missionaries whowere laboring in the colonies for the instruction of the Indiansand Negroes. In 1740 he published a pamphlet written in 1699 on the_Principles and Duties of Christianity in their Direct Bearing on theUplift of the Heathen_. To teach by example he further aided thismovement by giving fifty pounds for the education of colored childrenin Talbot County, Maryland. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, 1871, p. 364. ]

After some opposition this work began to progress somewhat inVirginia. [1] The first school established in that colony was forIndians and Negroes. [2] In the course of time the custom of teachingthe latter had legal sanction there. On binding out a "bastard orpauper child black or white, " churchwardens specifically requiredthat he should be taught "to read, write, and calculate as well as tofollow some profitable form of labor. "[3] Other Negroes also had anopportunity to learn. Reports of an increase in the number of coloredcommunicants came from Accomac County where four or five hundredfamilies were instructing their slaves at home, and had their childrencatechized on Sunday. Unusual interest in the cause at Lambeth, in thesame colony, is attested by an interesting document, setting forthin 1724 a proposition for "_Encouraging the Christian Education ofIndian, Negro, and Mulatto Children_. " The author declares it to bethe duty of masters and mistresses of America to endeavor to educateand instruct their heathen slaves in the Christian faith, andmentioned the fact that this work had been "earnestly recommended byhis Majesty's instructions. " To encourage the movement it was proposedthat "every Indian, Negro and Mulatto child that should be baptizedand afterward brought into the Church and publicly catechized by theminister, and should before the fourteenth year of his or her agegive a distinct account of the creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the TenCommandments, " should receive from the minister a certificate whichwould entitle such children to exemption from paying all levies untilthe age of eighteen. [4] The neighboring colony of North Carolinaalso was moved by these efforts despite some difficulties which themissionaries there encountered. [5]

[Footnote 1: Meade, _Old Families and Churches in Virginia_, p. 264;Plumer, _Thoughts on the Religious Instruction of Negroes_, pp. 11-12. ]

[Footnote 2: Monroe, _Cyclopaedia of Education_, vol. Iv. , p. 406. ]

[Footnote 3: Russell, _The Free Negro in Virginia_, in J. H. U. Studies, Series xxxi. , No. 3, p. 107. ]

[Footnote 4: Meade, _Old Families and Churches in Virginia_, pp. 264-65. ]

[Footnote 5: Ashe, _History of North Carolina_, pp. 389-90. ]

This favorable attitude toward the people of color, and the successfulwork among them, caused the opponents of this policy to speak outboldly against their enlightenment. Some asserted that the Negroeswere such stubborn creatures that there could be no such close dealingwith them, and that even when converted they became saucier thanpious. Others maintained that these bondmen were so ignorant andindocile, so far gone in their wickedness, so confirmed in theirhabit of evil ways, that it was vain to undertake to teach them suchknowledge. Less cruel slaveholders had thought of getting out of thedifficulty by the excuse that the instruction of Negroes required moretime and labor than masters could well spare from their business. Thenthere were others who frankly confessed that, being an ignorant andunlearned people themselves, they could not teach others. [1]

[Footnote 1: For a summary of this argument see Meade, _Four Sermonsof Reverend Bacon_, pp. 81-97; also, _A Letter to an American Planterfrom his Friend in London_, p. 5. ]

Seeing that many leading planters had been influenced by those opposedto the enlightenment of Negroes, Bishop Gibson of London issued anappeal in behalf of the bondmen, addressing the clergy and laymen intwo letters[1] published in London in 1727. In one he exhorted mastersand mistresses of families to encourage and promote the instruction oftheir Negroes in the Christian faith. In the other epistle he directedthe missionaries of the colonies to give to this work whateverassistance they could. Writing to the slaveholders, he took theposition that considering the greatness of the profit from the laborof the slaves it might be hoped that all masters, those especially whowere possessed of considerable numbers, should be at some expense inproviding for the instruction of those poor creatures. He thoughtthat others who did not own so many should share in the expense ofmaintaining for them a common teacher. 

[Footnote 1: _An Account of the Endeavors Used by the Society for thePropagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts_, pp. 16, 21, and 32; andDalcho, _An Historical Account_, etc. , pp. 104 et seq. ]

Equally censorious of these neglectful masters was Reverend ThomasBacon, the rector of the Parish Church in Talbot County, Maryland. In 1749 he set forth his protest in four sermons on "the great andindispensable duty of all Christian masters to bring up their slavesin the knowledge and fear of God. "[1] Contending that slavesshould enjoy rights like those of servants in the household of thepatriarchs, Bacon insisted that next to one's children and brethrenby blood, one's servants, and especially one's slaves, stood in thenearest relation to him, and that in return for their drudgery themaster owed it to his bondmen to have them enlightened. He believedthat the reading and explaining of the Holy Scriptures should be madea stated duty. In the course of time the place of catechist in eachfamily might be supplied out of the intelligent slaves by choosingsuch among them as were best taught to instruct the rest. [2] He was ofthe opinion, too, that were some of the slaves taught to read, werethey sent to school for that purpose when young, were they giventhe New Testament and other good books to be read at night to theirfellow-servants, such a course would vastly increase their knowledgeof God and direct their minds to a serious thought of futurity. [3]

[Footnote 1: Meade, _Sermons of Thomas Bacon_, pp. 31 et seq. ]

[Footnote 2: Meade, _Sermons of Thomas Bacon_, pp. 116 _et seq. _]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, p. 118. ]

With almost equal zeal did Bishops Williams and Butler plead the samecause. [1] They deplored the fact that because of their dark skinsNegro slaves were treated as a species different from the rest ofmankind. Denouncing the more cruel treatment of slaves as cattle, unfit for mental and moral improvement, these churchmen asserted thatthe highest property possible to be acquired in servants could notcancel the obligation to take care of the religious instruction ofthose who "despicable as they are in the eyes of man are neverthelessthe creatures of God. "[2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 363. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 363. ]

On account of these appeals made during the seventeenth and eighteenthcenturies a larger number of slaves of the English colonies werethereafter treated as human beings capable of mental, moral, andspiritual development. Some masters began to provide for theimprovement of these unfortunates, not because they loved them, butbecause instruction would make them more useful to the community. Amuch more effective policy of Negro education was brought forward in1741 by Bishop Secker. [1] He suggested the employment of young Negroesprudently chosen to teach their countrymen. To carry out such a planhe had already sent a missionary to Africa. Besides instructingNegroes at his post of duty, this apostle sent three African nativesto England where they were educated for the work. [2] It was doubtlessthe sentiment of these leaders that caused Dr. Brearcroft to allude tothis project in a discourse before the Society for the Propagation ofthe Gospel in Foreign Parts in 1741. [3]

[Footnote 1: Secker, _Works_, vol. V. , p. 88. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , vol. Vi. , p. 467. ]

[Footnote 3: _An Account of the Endeavors Used by the Society for thePropagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts_, p. 6. ]

This organization hit upon the plan of purchasing two Negroes namedHarry and Andrew, and of qualifying them by thorough instruction inthe principles of Christianity and the fundamentals of education, toserve as schoolmasters to their people. Under the direction of Rev. Mr. Garden, the missionary who had directed the training of theseyoung men, a building costing about three hundred and eight pounds waserected in Charleston, South Carolina. In the school which opened inthis building in 1744 Harry and Andrew served as teachers. [1] In thebeginning the school had about sixty young students, and had a verygood daily attendance for a number of years. The directors of theinstitution planned to send out annually between thirty and fortyyouths "well instructed in religion and capable of reading theirBibles to carry home and diffuse the same knowledge to their fellowslaves. "[2] It is highly probable that after 1740 this school wasattended only by free persons of color. Because the progress of Negroeducation had been rather rapid, South Carolina enacted that year alaw prohibiting any person from teaching or causing a slave to betaught, or from employing or using a slave as a scribe in any mannerof writing. 

[Footnote 1: Meriwether, _Education in South Carolina_, p. 123;McCrady, _South Carolina_, etc. , p. 246; Dalcho, _An HistoricalAccount of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina_, pp. 156, 157, 164. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , pp. 157 and 164. ]

In 1764 the Charleston school was closed for reasons which it isdifficult to determine. From one source we learn that one of theteachers died, and the other having turned out profligate, noinstructors could be found to continue the work. It does not seem thatthe sentiment against the education of free Negroes had by that timebecome sufficiently strong to cause the school to be discontinued. [1]It is evident, however, that with the assistance of influentialpersons of different communities the instruction of slaves continuedin that colony. Writing about the middle of the eighteenth century, Eliza Lucas, a lady of South Carolina, who afterward married JusticePinckney, mentions a parcel of little Negroes whom she had undertakento teach to read. [2]

[Footnote 1: _An Account of the Endeavors Used by the Society for thePropagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts_, p. 15. ]

[Footnote 2: Bourne, _Spain in America_, p. 241. ]

The work of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in ForeignParts was also effective in communities of the North in which theestablished Church of England had some standing. In 1751 Reverend HughNeill, once a Presbyterian minister of New Jersey, became a missionaryof this organization to the Negroes of Pennsylvania. He worked amongthem fifteen years. Dr. Smith, Provost of the College of Philadelphia, devoted a part of his time to the work, and at the death of Neill in1766 enlisted as a regular missionary of the Society. [1] It seems, however, that prior to the eighteenth century not much had been doneto enlighten the slaves of that colony, although free persons ofcolor had been instructed. Rev. Mr. Wayman, another missionary toPennsylvania about the middle of the eighteenth century, asserted that"neither" was "there anywhere care taken for the instruction of Negroslaves, " the duty to whom he had "pressed upon masters with littleeffect. "[2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 362. ]

[Footnote 2: Wickersham, _History of Education in Pennsylvania_, p. 248. ]

To meet this need the Society set the example of maintainingcatechetical lectures for Negroes in St. Peter's and Christ Church ofPhiladelphia, during the incumbency of Dr. Jennings from 1742 to 1762. William Sturgeon, a student of Yale, selected to do this work, wassent to London for ordination and placed in charge in 1747. [1] In thisposition Rev. Mr. Sturgeon remained nineteen years, rendering suchsatisfactory services in the teaching of Negroes that he deserves tobe recorded as one of the first benefactors of the Negro race. 

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 241. ]

Antedating this movement in Pennsylvania were the efforts of ReverendDr. Thomas Bray. In 1696 he was sent to Maryland by the Bishop ofLondon on an ecclesiastical mission to do what he could toward theconversion of adult Negroes and the education of their children. [1]Bray's most influential supporter was M. D'Alone, the privatesecretary of King William. D'Alone gave for the maintenance of thecause a fund, the proceeds of which were first used for the employmentof colored catechists, and later for the support of the Thomas BrayMission after the catechists had failed to give satisfaction. At thedeath of this missionary the task was taken up by certain followersof the good man, known as the "Associates of Doctor Bray. "[2] Theyextended their work beyond the confines of Maryland. In 1760 twoschools for the education of Negroes were maintained in Philadelphiaby these benefactors. It was the aid obtained from the Dr. Bray fundthat enabled the abolitionists to establish in that city a permanentschool which continued for almost a hundred years. [3] About the closeof the French and Indian War, Rev. Mr. Stewart, a missionary in NorthCarolina, found there a school for the education of Indians and freeNegroes, conducted by Dr. Bray's Associates. The example of these menappealing to him as a wise policy, he directed to it the attention ofthe clergy at home. [4]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 252; Smyth, _Works of Franklin_, vol. Iv. , p. 23; and vol. V. , p. 431. ]

[Footnote 2: Smyth, _Works of Franklin_, vol. V. , p. 431. ]

[Footnote 3: Wickersham, _History of Education in Pennsylvania_, p. 249. ]

[Footnote 4: Bassett, _Slavery and Servitude in North Carolina_, JohnsHopkins University Studies, vol. Xv. , p. 226. ]

Not many slaves were found among the Puritans, but the number sufficedto bring the question of their instruction before these colonistsalmost as prominently as we have observed it was brought in the caseof the members of the Established Church of England. Despite the factthat the Puritans developed from the Calvinists, believers in thedoctrine of election which swept away all class distinction, this sectdid not, like the Quakers, attack slavery as an institution. Yet ifthe Quakers were the first of the Protestants to protest against thebuying and selling of souls, New England divines were among the firstto devote attention to the mental, moral, and spiritual development ofNegroes. [1] In 1675 John Eliot objected to the Indian slave trade, notbecause of the social degradation, but for the reason that he desiredthat his countrymen "should follow Christ his Designe in this matterto promote the free passage of Religion" among them. He furthersaid: "For to sell Souls for Money seemeth to me to be dangerousMerchandise, to sell away from all Means of Grace whom Christ hathprovided Means of Grace for you is the Way for us to be active indestroying their Souls when they are highly obliged to seek theirConversion and Salvation. " Eliot bore it grievously that the souls ofthe slaves were "exposed by their Masters to a destroying Ignorancemeerly for the Fear of thereby losing the Benefit of theirVassalage. "[2]

[Footnote 1: _Pennsylvania Magazine of History_, vol. Xiii. , p. 265. ]

[Footnote 2: Locke, _Anti-slavery Before 1808_, p. 15; Mather, _Lifeof John Eliot_, p. 14; _New Plymouth Colony Records_, vol. X. , p. 452. ]

Further interest in the work was manifested by Cotton Mather. Heshowed his liberality in his professions published in 1693 in a set of_Rules for the Society of Negroes_, intended to present the claims ofthe despised race to the benefits of religious instruction. [1] Matherbelieved that servants were in a sense like one's children, and thattheir masters should train and furnish them with Bibles and otherreligious books for which they should be given time to read. Hemaintained that servants should be admitted to the religious exercisesof the family and was willing to employ such of them as were competentto teach his children lessons of piety. Coming directly to the issueof the day, Mather deplored the fact that the several plantationswhich lived upon the labor of their Negroes were guilty of the"prodigious Wickedness of deriding, neglecting, and opposing alldue Means of bringing the poor Negroes unto God. " He hoped thatthe masters, of whom God would one day require the souls of slavescommitted to their care, would see to it that like Abraham they havecatechised servants. They were not to imagine that the "Almighty Godmade so many thousands reasonable Creatures for nothing but only toserve the Lusts of Epicures, or the Gains of Mammonists. "[2]

[Footnote 1: Locke, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 15. ]

[Footnote 2: Meade, _Sermons of Thomas Bacon_, p. 137 _et seq_. ]

The sentiment of the clergy of this epoch was more directly expressedby Richard Baxter, the noted Nonconformist, in his "Directions toMasters in Foreign Plantations, " incorporated as rules into the_Christian Directory_. [1] Baxter believed in natural liberty andthe equality of man, and justified slavery only on the ground of"necessitated consent" or captivity in lawful war. For these reasonshe felt that they that buy slaves and "use them as Beasts for theirmeer Commodity, and betray, or destroy or neglect their Souls arefitter to be called incarnate Devils than Christians, though they beno Christians whom they so abuse. "[2] His aim here, however, is not toabolish the institution of slavery but to enlighten the Africans andbring them into the Church. [3] Exactly what effect Baxter had on thismovement cannot be accurately figured out. The fact, however, that hiscreed was extensively adhered to by the Protestant colonists amongwhom his works were widely read, leads us to think that he influencedsome masters to change their attitude toward their slaves. 

[Footnote 1: Baxter, _Practical Works_, vol. I. , p. 438. ]

[Footnote 2: Baxter, _Practical Works_, vol. I. , p. 438-40. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 440. ]

The next Puritan of prominence who enlisted among the helpers of theAfrican slaves was Chief Justice Sewall, of Massachusetts. In 1701he stirred his section by publishing his _Selling of Joseph_, adistinctly anti-slavery pamphlet, based on the natural and inalienableright of every man to be free. [1] The appearance of this publicationmarked an epoch in the history of the Negroes. It was the first directattack on slavery in New England. The Puritan clergy had formerlywinked at the continuation of the institution, provided the masterswere willing to give the slaves religious instruction. In the _Sellingof Joseph_ Sewall had little to say about their mental and moralimprovement, but in the _Athenian Oracle_, which expressed hissentiments so well that he had it republished in 1705, [2] he met moredirectly the problem of elevating the Negro race. Taking up thisquestion, Sewall said: "There's yet less doubt that those who are ofAge to answer for themselves would soon learn the Principles of ourFaith, and might be taught the Obligation of the Vow they made inBaptism, and there's little Doubt but Abraham instructed his HeathenServants who were of Age to learn, the Nature of Circumcision beforehe circumcised them; nor can we conclude much less from God's ownnoble Testimony of him, 'I know him that he will command his Childrenand his Household, and they shall keep the Way of the Lord. '"[3]Sewall believed that the emancipation of the slaves should be promotedto encourage Negroes to become Christians. He could not understandhow any Christian could hinder or discourage them from learning theprinciples of the Christian religion and embracing the faith. 

[Footnote 1: Moore, _Notes on Slavery in Massachusetts_, p. 91. ]

[Footnote 2: Moore, _Notes on Slavery in Massachusetts_, p. 92; Locke, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 31. ]

[Footnote 3: Moore, _Notes on Slavery_, etc. , p. 91; _The AthenianOracle_, vol. Ii. , pp. 460 _et seq_. ]

This interest shown in the Negro race was in no sense general amongthe Puritans of that day. Many of their sect could not favor suchproselyting, [1] which, according to their system of government, would have meant the extension to the slaves of social and politicalprivileges. It was not until the French provided that masters shouldtake their slaves to church and have them indoctrinated in theCatholic faith, that the proposition was seriously considered by manyof the Puritans. They, like the Anglicans, felt sufficient compunctionof conscience to take steps to Christianize the slaves, lest theCatholics, whom they had derided as undesirable churchmen, should putthe Protestants to shame. [2] The publication of the Code Noir probablyinfluenced the instructions sent out from England to his Majesty'sgovernors requiring them "with the assistance of our council to findout the best means to facilitate and encourage the conversion ofNegroes and Indians to the Christian Religion. " Everly subsequentlymentions in his diary the passing of a resolution by the Council Boardat Windsor or Whitehall, recommending that the blacks in plantationsbe baptized, and meting out severe censure to those who opposed thispolicy. [3]

[Footnote 1: Moore, _Notes on Slavery_, etc. , p. 79. ]

[Footnote 2: This good example of the Catholics was in later yearsoften referred to by Bishop Porteus. _Works of Bishop Porteus_, vol. Vi, pp. 168, 173, 177, 178, 401; Moore, _Notes on Slavery_, etc. , p. 96. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 96. ]

More effective than the efforts of other sects in the enlightenment ofthe Negroes was the work of the Quakers, despite the fact that theywere not free to extend their operations throughout the colonies. Justas the colored people are indebted to the Quakers for registering in1688 the first protest against slavery in Protestant America, so arethey indebted to this denomination for the earliest permanent andwell-developed schools devoted to the education of their race. As theQuakers believed in the freedom of the will, human brotherhood, and equality before God, they did not, like the Puritans, finddifficulties in solving the problem of enlightening the Negroes. While certain Puritans were afraid that conversion might lead to thedestruction of caste and the incorporation of undesirable persons intothe "Body Politick, " the Quakers proceeded on the principle that allmen are brethren and, being equal before God, should be consideredequal before the law. On account of unduly emphasizing the relation ofman to God the Puritans "atrophied their social humanitarian instinct"and developed into a race of self-conscious saints. Believing in humannature and laying stress upon the relation between man and man theQuakers became the friends of all humanity. 

Far from the idea of getting rid of an undesirable element by merelydestroying the institution which supplied it, the Quakers endeavoredto teach the Negro to be a man capable of discharging the duties ofcitizenship. As early as 1672 their attention was directed to thisimportant matter by George Fox. [1] In 1679 he spoke out more boldly, entreating his sect to instruct and teach their Indians and Negroes"how that Christ, by the Grace of God, tasted death for every man. "[2]Other Quakers of prominence did not fail to drive home this thought. In 1693 George Keith, a leading Quaker of his day, came forward as apromoter of the religious training of the slaves as a preparation foremancipation. [3] William Penn advocated the emancipation of slaves, [4]that they might have every opportunity for improvement. In 1696 theQuakers, while protesting against the slave trade, denounced also thepolicy of neglecting their moral and spiritual welfare. [5] Thegrowing interest of this sect in the Negroes was shown later by thedevelopment in 1713 of a definite scheme for freeing and returningthem to Africa after having been educated and trained to serve asmissionaries on that continent. [6]

[Footnote 1: Quaker Pamphlet, p. 8; Moore, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 79. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 79. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, p. 376. ]

[Footnote 4: Rhodes, _History of the United States_, vol. I. , p. 6;Bancroft, _History of the United States_, vol. Ii. , p. 401. ]

[Footnote 5: Locke, _Anti-slavery_, p. 32. ]

[Footnote 6: _Ibid. _, p. 30. ]

The inevitable result of this liberal attitude toward the Negroeswas that the Quakers of those colonies where other settlers wereso neglectful of the enlightenment of the colored race, soon foundthemselves at war with the leaders of the time. In slaveholdingcommunities the Quakers were persecuted, not necessarily because theyadhered to a peculiar faith, not primarily because they had mannersand customs unacceptable to the colonists, but because in answeringthe call of duty to help all men they incurred the ill will of themasters who denounced them as undesirable persons, bringing intoAmerica spurious doctrines subversive of the institutions of thearistocratic settlements. 

Their experience in the colony of Virginia is a good example of howthis worked out. Seeing the unchristian attitude of the preachers inmost parts of that colony, the Quakers inquired of them, "Who made youministers of the Gospel to white people only, and not to the tawny andblacks also?"[1] To show the nakedness of the neglectful clergy theresome of this faith manifested such zeal in teaching and preaching tothe Negroes that their enemies demanded legislation to prevent themfrom gaining ascendancy over the minds of the slaves. Accordingly, tomake the colored people of that colony inaccessible to these workersit was deemed wise in 1672 to enact a law prohibiting members of thatsect from taking Negroes to their meetings. In 1678 the colony enactedanother measure excluding Quakers from the teaching profession byproviding that no person should be allowed to keep a school inVirginia unless he had taken the oath of allegiance and supremacy. [2]Of course, it was inconsistent with the spirit and creed of theQuakers to take this oath. 

[Footnote 1: Quaker Pamphlet, p. 9. ]

[Footnote 2: Hening, _Statutes at Large_, vol. I. , 532; ii. , 48, 165, 166, 180, 198, and 204. _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 391. ]

The settlers of North Carolina followed the same procedure to checkthe influence of Quakers, who spoke there in behalf of the man ofcolor as fearlessly as they had in Virginia. The apprehension of thedominating element was such that Governor Tryon had to be instructedto prohibit from teaching in that colony any person who had nota license from the Bishop of London. [1] Although this order wasseemingly intended to protect the faith and doctrine of the AnglicanChurch, rather than to prevent the education of Negroes, it operatedto lessen their chances for enlightenment, since missionaries fromthe Established Church did not reach all parts of the colony. [2] TheQuakers of North Carolina, however, had local schools and actuallytaught slaves. Some of these could read and write as early as 1731. Thereafter, household servants were generally given the rudiments ofan English education. 

[Footnote 1: Ashe, _History of North Carolina_, vol. I. , p. 389. Thesame instructions were given to Governor Francis Nicholson. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , pp. 389, 390. ]

It was in the settlements of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New Yorkthat the Quakers encountered less opposition in carrying out theirpolicy of cultivating the minds of colored people. Among these Friendsthe education of Negroes became the handmaiden of the emancipationmovement. While John Hepburn, William Burling, Elihu Coleman, andRalph Sandiford largely confined their attacks to the injustice ofkeeping slaves, Benjamin Lay was working for their improvement as aprerequisite of emancipation. [1] Lay entreated the Friends to "bringup the Negroes to some Learning, Reading and Writing and" to "endeavorto the utmost of their Power in the sweet love of Truth to instructand teach 'em the Principles of Truth and Religiousness, and learnsome Honest Trade or Imployment and then set them free. And, " says he, "all the time Friends are teaching of them let them know that theyintend to let them go free in a very reasonable Time; and that ourReligious Principles will not allow of such Severity, as to keep themin everlasting Bondage and Slavery. "[2]

[Footnote 1: Locke, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 31. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 32. ]

The struggle of the Northern Quakers to enlighten the colored peoplehad important local results. A strong moral force operated in theminds of most of this sect to impel them to follow the example ofcertain leaders who emancipated their slaves. [1] Efforts in thisdirection were redoubled about the middle of the eighteenth centurywhen Anthony Benezet, [2] addressing himself with unwonted zeal to theuplift of these unfortunates, obtained the assistance of Clarkson andothers, who solidified the antislavery sentiment of the Quakers andinfluenced them to give their time and means to the more effectiveeducation of the blacks. After this period the Quakers were alsoconcerned with the improvement of the colored people's condition inother settlements. [3]

[Footnote 1: Dr. DuBois gives a good account of these efforts in his_Suppression of the African Slave Trade_. ]

[Footnote 2: Benezet was a French Protestant. Persecuted on account oftheir religion, his parents moved from France to England and later toPhiladelphia. He became a teacher in that city in 1742. Thirteen yearslater he was teaching a school established for the education of thedaughters of the most distinguished families in Philadelphia. He wasthen using his own spelling-book, primer, and grammar, some of thefirst text-books published in America. Known to persecution himself, Benezet always sympathized with the oppressed. Accordingly, heconnected himself with the Quakers, who at that time had beforethem the double task of fighting for religious equality and theamelioration of the condition of the Negroes. Becoming interested inthe welfare of the colored race, Benezet first attacked the slavetrade, so exposing it in his speeches and writings that Clarksonentered the field as an earnest advocate of the suppression of theiniquitous traffic. See Benezet, _Observations_, p. 30, and the_African Repository_, vol. Iv. , p. 61. ]

[Footnote 3: Quaker Pamphlet, p. 31. ]

What the other sects did for the enlightenment of Negroes during thisperiod, was not of much importance. As the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists did not proselyte extensively in this country prior tothe middle of the eighteenth century, these denominations had littleto do with Negro education before the liberalism and spirit oftoleration, developed during the revolutionary era, made it possiblefor these sects to reach the people. The Methodists, however, confinedat first largely to the South, where most of the slaves were found, had to take up this problem earlier. Something looking like an attemptto elevate the Negroes came from Wesley's contemporary, GeorgeWhitefield, [1] who, strange to say, was regarded by the Negro raceas its enemy for having favored the introduction of slavery. He wasprimarily interested in the conversion of the colored people. Withoutdenying that "liberty is sweet to those who are born free, " headvocated the importation of slaves into Georgia "to bring them withinthe reach of those means of grace which would make them partake of aliberty far more precious than the freedom of body. "[2] While on avisit to this country in 1740 he purchased a large tract of land atNazareth, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of founding a school for theeducation of Negroes. [3] Deciding later to go south, he sold the siteto the Moravian brethren who had undertaken to establish a missionfor Negroes at Bethlehem in 1738. [4] Some writers have accepted thestatement that Whitefield commenced the erection of a schoolhouse atNazareth; others maintain that he failed to accomplish anything. [5] Bethat as it may, accessible facts are sufficient to show that, unwiseas was his policy of importing slaves, his intention was to improvetheir condition. It was because of this sentiment in Georgia in 1747, when slavery was finally introduced there, that the people throughtheir representatives in convention recommended that masters shouldeducate their young slaves, and do whatever they could to makereligious impressions upon the minds of the aged. This favorableattitude of early Methodists toward Negroes caused them to considerthe new churchmen their friends and made it easy for this sect toproselyte the race. 

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 374. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 374. ]

[Footnote 3: Turner, _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, p. 128. ]

[Footnote 4: Equally interested in the Negroes were the Moravians whosettled in the uplands of Pennsylvania and roamed over the hills ofthe Appalachian region as far south as Carolina. A painting of agroup of their converts prior to 1747 shows among others two Negroes, Johannes of South Carolina and Jupiter of New York. See Hamilton, _History of the Church known as the Moravian_, p. 80; Plumer, _Thoughts on the Religious Instruction of Negroes_, p. 3; Reichel, _The Moravians in North Carolina_, p. 139. ]

[Footnote 5: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1869, p. 374. ]

CHAPTER III

EDUCATION AS A RIGHT OF MAN

In addition to the mere diffusion of knowledge as a means to teachreligion there was a need of another factor to make the education ofthe Negroes thorough. This required force was supplied by the responseof the colonists to the nascent social doctrine of the eighteenthcentury. During the French and Indian War there were set to workcertain forces which hastened the social and political upheaval calledthe American Revolution. "Bigoted saints" of the more highly favoredsects condescended to grant the rising denominations toleration, the aristocratic elements of colonial society deigned to look morefavorably upon those of lower estate, and a large number of leadersbegan to think that the Negro should be educated and freed. Toacquaint themselves with the claims of the underman Americansthereafter prosecuted more seriously the study of Coke, Milton, Locke, and Blackstone. The last of these was then read more extensively inthe colonies than in Great Britain. Getting from these writers strangeideas of individual liberty and the social compact theory of man'smaking in a state of nature government deriving its power from theconsent of the governed, the colonists contended more boldly than everfor religious freedom, industrial liberty, and political equality. Given impetus by the diffusion of these ideas, the revolutionarymovement became productive of the spirit of universal benevolence. Hearing the contention for natural and inalienable rights, NathanielAppleton[1] and John Woolman, [2] were emboldened to carry thesetheories to their logical conclusion. They attacked not only theoppressors of the colonists but censured also those who denied theNegro race freedom of body and freedom of mind. When John Adams heardJames Otis basing his argument against the writs of assistance on theBritish constitution "founded in the laws of nature, " he "shuddered atthe doctrine taught and the consequences that might be derived fromsuch premises. "[3]

[Footnote 1: Locke, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 19, 20, 23. ]

[Footnote 2: _Works of John Woolman_ in two parts, pp. 58 and 73;Moore, _Notes on Slavery in Mass. _, p. 71. ]

[Footnote 3: Adams, _Works of John Adams_, vol. X. , p. 315; Moore, _Notes on Slavery in Mass. _, p. 71. ]

So effective was the attack on the institution of slavery and itsattendant evils that interest in the question leaped the boundariesof religious organizations and became the concern of fair-minded menthroughout the country. Not only did Northern men of the type of JohnAdams and James Otis express their opposition to this tyranny of men'sbodies and minds, but Laurens, Henry, Wythe, Mason, and Washingtonpointed out the injustice of such a policy. Accordingly we findarrayed against the aristocratic masters almost all the leaders of theAmerican Revolution. [1] They favored the policy, first, of suppressingthe slave trade, next of emancipating the Negroes in bondage, andfinally of educating them for a life of freedom. [2] While students ofgovernment were exposing the inconsistency of slaveholding among apeople contending for political liberty, and men like Samuel Webster, James Swan, and Samuel Hopkins attacked the institution on economicgrounds;[3] Jonathan Boucher, [4] Dr. Rush, [5] and Benjamin Franklin[6]were devising plans to educate slaves for freedom; and Isaac Tatem[7]and Anthony Benezet[8] were actually in the schoolroom endeavoring toenlighten their black brethren. 

[Footnote 1: Cobb, _Slavery_, etc. , p. 82. ]

[Footnote 2: Madison, _Works of_, vol. Iii. , p. 496; Smyth, _Works ofFranklin_, vol. V. , p. 431; Washington, _Works of Jefferson_, vol. Ix. , p. 163; Brissot de Warville, _New Travels_, vol. I. , p. 227;Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition Societies, 1794, 1795, 1797. ]

[Footnote 3: Webster, _A Sermon Preached before the HonorableCouncil_, etc. ; Webster, _Earnest Address to My Country on Slavery_;Swan, _A Dissuasion to Great Britain and the Colonies_; Hopkins, _Dialogue Concerning Slavery_. ]

[Footnote 4: Boucher, _A View of the Causes and Consequences of theAmerican Revolution_, p. 39. ]

[Footnote 5: Rush, _An Address to the Inhabitants of_, etc. , p. 16. ]

[Footnote 6: Smyth, _Works of Franklin_, vol. Iv. , p. 23; vol. V. , p. 431. ]

[Footnote 7: Wickersham, _History of Ed. In Pa_. , p. 249. ]

[Footnote 8: _Ibid_. , p. 250; _Special Report of the U. S. Com. OfEd_. , 1869, p. 375; _African Repository_, vol. Iv. , p. 61; Benezet, _Observations_; Benezet, _A Serious Address to the Rulers ofAmerica_. ]

The aim of these workers was not merely to enable the Negroes to takeover sufficient of Western civilization to become nominal Christians, not primarily to increase their economic efficiency, but to enlightenthem because they are men. To strengthen their position thesedefendants of the education of the blacks cited the customs of theGreeks and Romans, who enslaved not the minds and wills, but only thebodies of men. Nor did these benefactors fail to mention the cases ofancient slaves, who, having the advantages of education, became poets, teachers, and philosophers, instrumental in the diffusion of knowledgeamong the higher classes. There was still the idea of Cotton Mather, who was willing to treat his servants as part of the family, and toemploy such of them as were competent to teach his children lessons ofpiety. [1]

[Footnote 1: Meade, _Sermons of Thomas Bacon_, appendix. ]

The chief objection of these reformers to slavery was that its victimshad no opportunity for mental improvement. "Othello, " a free personof color, contributing to the _American Museum_ in 1788, made theinstitution responsible for the intellectual rudeness of the Negroeswho, though "naturally possessed of strong sagacity and lively parts, "were by law and custom prohibited from being instructed in any kindof learning. [1] He styled this policy an effort to bolster up aninstitution that extinguished the "divine spark of the slave, crushedthe bud of his genius, and kept him unacquainted with the world. " Dr. McLeod denounced slavery because it "debases a part of the human race"and tends "to destroy their intellectual powers. "[2] "The slave fromhis infancy, " continued he, "is obliged implicitly to obey the will ofanother. There is no circumstance which can stimulate him to exercisehis intellectual powers. " In his arraignment of this system Rev. DavidRice complained that it was in the power of the master to deprivethe slaves of all education, that they had not the opportunity forinstructing conversation, that it was put out of their power tolearn to read, and that their masters kept them from other means ofinformation. [3] Slavery, therefore, must be abolished because itinfringes upon the natural right of men to be enlightened. 

[Footnote 1: _The American Museum_, vol. Iv. , pp. 415 and 511. ]

[Footnote 2: McLeod, _Negro Slavery_, p. 16. ]

[Footnote 3: Rice, Speech in the Constitutional Convention ofKentucky, p. 5. ]

During this period religion as a factor in the educational progress ofthe Negroes was not eliminated. In fact, representative churchmen ofthe various sects still took the lead in advocating the enlightenmentof the colored people. These protagonists, however, ceased to claimthis boon merely as a divine right and demanded it as a socialprivilege. Some of the clergy then interested had not at firstseriously objected to the enslavement of the African race, believingthat the lot of these people would not be worse in this country wherethey might have an opportunity for enlightenment. But when this resultfailed to follow, and when the slavery of the Africans' bodies turnedout to be the slavery of their minds, the philanthropic and religiousproclaimed also the doctrine of enlightenment as a right of man. Desiring to see Negroes enjoy this privilege, Jonathan Boucher, [1] oneof the most influential of the colonial clergymen, urged his hearersat the celebration of the Peace of 1763 to improve and emancipatetheir slaves that they might "participate in the general joy. "With the hope of inducing men to discharge the same duty, BishopWarburton[2] boldly asserted a few years later that slaves are"rational creatures endowed with all our qualities except that ofcolor, and our brethren both by nature and grace. " John Woolman, [3] aQuaker minister, influenced by the philosophy of John Locke, began topreach that liberty is the right of all men, and that slaves, beingthe fellow-creatures of their masters, had a natural right to beelevated. 

[Footnote 1: Jonathan Boucher was a rector of the Established Churchin Maryland. Though not a promoter of the movement for the politicalrights of the colonists, Boucher was, however, so moved by the spiritof uplift of the downtrodden that he takes front rank among those who, in emphasizing the rights of servants, caused a decided change in theattitude of white men toward the improvement of Negroes. Boucher wasnot an immediate abolitionist. He abhorred slavery, however, to theextent that he asserted that if ever the colonies would be improved totheir utmost capacity, an essential part of that amelioration hadto be the abolition of slavery. His chief concern then was thecultivation of the minds in order to make amends for the drudgery totheir bodies. See Boucher, _Causes_, etc. , p. 39. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 363. ]

[Footnote 3: An influential minister of the Society of Friends and anextensive traveler through the colonies, Woolman had an opportunity todo much good in attacking the policy of those who kept their Negroesin deplorable ignorance, and in commending the good example of thosewho instructed their slaves in reading. In his _Considerations on theKeeping of Slaves_ he took occasion to praise the Friends of NorthCarolina for the unusual interest they manifested in the cause attheir meetings during his travels in that colony about the year 1760. With such workers as Woolman in the field it is little wonder thatQuakers thereafter treated slaves as brethren, alleviated theirburdens, enlightened their minds, emancipated and cared for them untilthey could provide for themselves. See _Works of John Woolman_ in twoparts, pp. 58 and 73. ]

Thus following the theories of the revolutionary leaders theseliberal-minded men promulgated along with the doctrine of individualliberty that of the freedom of the mind. The best expression of thisadvanced idea came from the Methodist Episcopal Church, which reachedthe acme of antislavery sentiment in 1784. This sect then boldlydeclared: "We view it as contrary to the golden law of God and theprophets, and the inalienable rights of mankind as well as everyprinciple of the Revolution to hold in deepest abasement, in a moreabject slavery than is perhaps to be found in any part of the world, except America, so many souls that are capable of the image ofGod. "[1]

[Footnote 1: Matlack, _History of American Slavery and Methodism_, pp. 29 _et seq_. ; McTyeire, _History of Methodism_, p. 28. ]

Frequently in contact with men who were advocating the right of theNegroes to be educated, statesmen as well as churchmen could noteasily evade the question. Washington did not have much to say aboutit and did little more than to provide for the ultimate liberation ofhis slaves and the teaching of their children to read. [1] Less aid tothis movement came from John Adams, although he detested slavery tothe extent that he never owned a bondman, preferring to hire freemenat extra cost to do his work. [2] Adams made it clear that he favoredgradual emancipation. But he neither delivered any inflammatoryspeeches against slaveholders neglectful of the instruction of theirslaves, nor devised any scheme for their enjoyment of freedom. So wasit with Hamilton who, as an advocate of the natural rights of man, opposed the institution of slavery, but, with the exception of whatassistance he gave the New York African Free Schools[3] said and didlittle to promote the actual education of the colored people. 

[Footnote 1: Lossing, _Life of George Washington_, vol. Iii. , p. 537. ]

[Footnote 2: Adams, _Works of John Adams_, vol. Viii. , p. 379; vol. Ix. , p. 92; vol. X. , p. 380. ]

[Footnote 3: Andrews, _History of the New York African Free Schools_, p. 57. ]

Madison in stating his position on this question was a little moredefinite than some of his contemporaries. Speaking of the necessarypreparation of the colored people for emancipation he thought it waspossible to determine the proper course of instruction. He believed, however, that, since the Negroes were to continue in a stateof bondage during the preparatory period and to be within thejurisdiction of commonwealths recognizing ample authority over them, "a competent discipline" could not be impracticable. He said furtherthat the "degree in which this discipline" would "enforce the neededlabor and in which a voluntary industry" would "supply the defect ofcompulsory labor, were vital points on which it" might "not be safeto be very positive without some light from actual experiment. "[1]Evidently he was of the opinion that the training of slaves todischarge later the duties of freemen was a difficult task but, ifwell planned and directed, could be made a success. 

[Footnote 1: Madison, _Works of_, vol. Iii. , p. 496. ]

No one of the great statesmen of this time was more interested in theenlightenment of the Negro than Benjamin Franklin. [1] He was for along time associated with the friends of the colored people and turnedout from his press such fiery anti-slavery pamphlets as those of Layand Sandiford. Franklin also became one of the "Associates of Dr. Bray. " Always interested in the colored schools of Philadelphia, the philosopher was, while in London, connected with the English"gentlemen concerned with the pious design, "[2] serving as chairman ofthe organization for the year 1760. He was a firm supporter of AnthonyBenezet, [3] and was made president of the Abolition Society ofPhiladelphia which in 1774 founded a successful colored school. [4]This school was so well planned and maintained that it continued abouta hundred years. 

[Footnote 1: Smyth, _Works of Benjamin Franklin_, vol. V. , p. 431. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , vol. Iv. , p. 23. ]

[Footnote 3: Smyth, _Works of Benjamin Franklin_, vol. V. , p. 431. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , vol. X. , p. 127; and Wickersham, _History ofEducation in Pennsylvania_, p. 253. ]

John Jay kept up his interest in the Negro race. [1] In the Conventionof 1787 he coöperated with Gouverneur Morris, advocating the abolitionof the slave trade and the rejection of the Federal ratio. His effortsin behalf of the colored people were actuated by his early convictionthat the national character of this country could be retrieved onlyby abolishing the iniquitous traffic in human souls and improvingthe Negroes. [2] Showing his pity for the downtrodden people of coloraround him, Jay helped to promote the cause of the abolitionists ofNew York who established and supported several colored schools inthat city. Such care was exercised in providing for the attendance, maintenance, and supervision of these schools that they soon took rankamong the best in the United States. 

[Footnote 1: Jay, _Works of John Jay_, vol. I. , p. 136; vol. Iii, p. 331. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , vol. Iii. , p. 343. ]

More interesting than the views of any other man of this epoch on thesubject of Negro education were those of Thomas Jefferson. Born ofpioneer parentage in the mountains of Virginia, Jefferson neverlost his frontier democratic ideals which made him an advocate ofsimplicity, equality, and universal freedom. Having in mind when hewrote the Declaration of Independence the rights of the blacks as wellas those of whites, this disciple of John Locke, could not but feelthat the slaves of his day had a natural right to education andfreedom. Jefferson said so much more on these important questions thanhis contemporaries that he would have been considered an abolitionist, had he lived in 1840. 

Giving his views on the enlightenment of the Negroes he assertedthat the minds of the masters should be "apprized by reflection andstrengthened by the energies of conscience against the obstacles ofself-interest to an acquiescence in the rights of others. " The ownerswould then permit their slaves to be "prepared by instruction andhabit" for self-government, the honest pursuit of industry, and socialduty. [1] In his scheme for a modern system of public schools Jeffersonincluded the training of the slaves in industrial and agriculturalbranches to equip them for a higher station in life, else he thoughtthey should be removed from the country when liberated. [2] Capable ofmental development, as he had found certain men of color to be, theSage of Monticello doubted at times that they could be made theintellectual equals of white men, [3] and did not actually advocatetheir incorporation into the body politic. 

[Footnote 1: Washington, _Works of Jefferson_, vol. Vi. , p. 456. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , vol. Viii. , p. 380; and Mayo, _EducationalMovement in the South_, p. 37. ]

[Footnote 3: As to what Jefferson thought of the Negro intellectwe are still in doubt. Writing in 1791 to Banneker, the Negromathematician and astronomer, he said that nobody wished to see morethan he such proofs as Banneker exhibited that nature has given to ourblack brethren talents equal to those of men of other colors, and thatthe appearance of a lack of such native ability was owing only totheir degraded condition in Africa and America. Jefferson expressedhimself as being ardently desirous of seeing a good system commencedfor raising the condition both of the body and the mind of the slavesto what it ought to be as fast as the "imbecility" of their thenexistence and other circumstances, which could not be neglected, wouldadmit. Replying to Grégoire of Paris, who wrote an interesting essayon the _Literature of Negroes_, showing the power of their intellect, Jefferson assured him that no person living wished more sincerelythan he to see a complete refutation of the doubts he himself hadentertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted tothem by nature and to find that in this respect they are on a parwith white men. These doubts, he said, were the result of personalobservations in the limited sphere of his own State where "theopportunities for the development of their genius were not favorable, and those of exercising it still less so. " He said that he hadexpressed them with great hesitation; but "whatever be the degree oftheir talent, it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir IsaacNewton was superior to others in understanding, he was not thereforelord of the person or property of others. " In this respect he believedthey were gaining daily in the opinions of nations, and hopefuladvances were being made toward their reëstablishment on an equalfooting with other colors of the human family. He prayed, therefore, that God might accept his thanks for enabling him to observe the "manyinstances of respectable intelligence in that race of men, which couldnot fail to have effect in hastening the day of their relief. " Yeta few days later when writing to Joel Barlow, Jefferson referred toBishop Grégoire's essay and expressed his doubt that this pamphlet wasweighty evidence of the intellect of the Negro. He said that the wholedid not amount in point of evidence to what they themselves knew ofBanneker. He conceded that Banneker had spherical knowledge enough tomake almanacs, but not without the suspicion of aid from Ellicottwho was his neighbor and friend, and never missed an opportunity ofpuffing him. Referring to the letter he received from Banneker, hesaid it showed the writer to have a mind of very common statureindeed. See Washington, _Works of Jefferson_, vol. V. , pp. 429 and503. ]

So much progress in the improvement of slaves was effected with all ofthese workers in the field that conservative southerners in the midstof the antislavery agitation contented themselves with the thoughtthat radical action was not necessary, as the institution wouldof itself soon pass away. Legislatures passed laws facilitatingmanumission, [1] many southerners emancipated their slaves to give thema better chance to improve their condition, regulations unfavorable tothe assembly of Negroes for the dissemination of information almostfell into desuetude, a larger number of masters began to instructtheir bondmen, and persons especially interested in these unfortunatesfound the objects of their piety more accessible. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Locke, Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 14. ]

[Footnote 2: Brissot de Warville, _New Travels_, vol. I. , p. 220;Johann Schoepf, _Travels in the Confederation_, p. 149. ]

Not all slaveholders, however, were thus induced to respect this newright claimed for the colored people. Georgia and South Carolinawere exceptional in that they were not sufficiently stirred by therevolutionary movement to have much compassion for this degradedclass. The attitude of the people of Georgia, however, was then morefavorable than that of the South Carolinians. [1] Nevertheless, theGeorgia planters near the frontier were not long in learning that thegeneral enlightenment of the Negroes would endanger the institution ofslavery. Accordingly, in 1770, at the very time when radical reformerswere clamoring for the rights of man, Georgia, following in the wakeof South Carolina, reënacted its act of 1740 which imposed a penaltyon any one who should teach or cause slaves to be taught or employthem "in any manner of writing whatever. "[2] The penalty, however, was less than that imposed in South Carolina. [3] The same measureterminated the helpful mingling of slaves by providing for theirdispersion when assembled for the old-time "love feast" emphasized somuch among the rising Methodists of the South. 

[Footnote 1: The laws of Georgia were not so harsh as those of SouthCarolina. A larger number of intelligent persons of color werefound in the rural districts of Georgia. Charleston, however, wasexceptional in that its Negroes had unusual educational advantages. ]

[Footnote 2: Marbury and Crawford, _Digest of the Laws of the State ofGeorgia_, p. 438. ]

[Footnote 3: Brevard, _Digest of the Public Statutes of SouthCarolina_, vol. Ii. , p. 243. ]

Those advocating the imposition of restraints upon Negroes acquiringknowledge were not, however, confined to South Carolina and Georgiawhere the malevolent happened to be in the majority. The other Stateshad not seen the last of the generation of those who doubted thateducation would fit the slaves for the exalted position of citizens. The retrogressives made much of the assertion that adult slaves latelyimported, were, on account of their attachment to heathen practicesand idolatrous rites, loath to take over the Teutonic civilization, and would at best learn to speak the English language imperfectlyonly. [1] The reformers, who at times admitted this, maintained thatthe alleged difficulties encountered in teaching the crudest elementof the slaves could not be adduced as an argument against thereligious instruction of free Negroes and the education of theAmerican born colored children. [2] This problem, however, was not aserious one in most Northern States, for the reason that the smallnumber of slaves in that section obviated the necessity for muchapprehension as to what kind of education the blacks should have, and whether they should be enlightened before or after emancipation. Although the Northern people believed that the education of the raceshould be definitely planned, and had much to say about industrialeducation, most of them were of the opinion that ordinary trainingin the fundamentals of useful knowledge and in the principles ofChristian religion, was sufficient to meet the needs of thosedesignated for freedom. 

[Footnote 1: Meade, _Sermons of Thomas Bacon_, pp. 81-87. ]

[Footnote 2: Porteus, _Works of_, vol. Vi. , p. 177; Warburton, _ASermon_, etc. , pp. 25 and 27. ]

On the other hand, most southerners who conceded the right of theNegro to be educated did not openly aid the movement except with theunderstanding that the enlightened ones should be taken from theirfellows and colonized in some remote part of the United States orin their native land. [1] The idea of colonization, however, was notconfined to the southern slaveholders, for Thornton, Fothergill, andGranville Sharp had long looked to Africa as the proper place forenlightened people of color. [2] Feeling that it would be wrong toexpatriate them, Benezet and Branagan[3] advocated the colonization ofsuch Negroes on the public lands west of the Alleghanies. There wassome talk of giving slaves training in the elements of agricultureand then dividing plantations among them to develop a small class oftenants. Jefferson, a member of a committee appointed in 1779 by theGeneral Assembly of that commonwealth to revise its laws, reported aplan providing for the instruction of its slaves in agriculture andthe handicrafts to prepare them for liberation and colonization underthe supervision of the home government until they could take care ofthemselves. [4]

[Footnote 1: _Writings of James Monroe_, vol. Iii. , pp. 261, 266, 292, 295, 321, 322, 336, 338, 349, 351, 352, 353, 378. ]

[Footnote 2: Brissot de Warville, _Travels_, vol. I. , p. 262. ]

[Footnote 3: _Tyrannical Libertymen_, pp. 10-11; Locke, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , pp. 31-32; Branagan, _Serious Remonstrance_, p. 18. ]

[Footnote 4: Washington, _Works of Jefferson_, vol. Iii. , p. 296; vol. Iv. , p. 291 and vol. Viii. , p. 380. ]

Without resorting to the subterfuge of colonization, not a fewslaveholders were still wise enough to show why the improvement of theNegroes should be neglected altogether. Vanquished by the logic ofDaniel Davis[1] and Benjamin Rush, [2] those who had theretoforejustified slavery on the ground that it gave the bondmen a chance tobe enlightened, fell back on the theory of African racial inferiority. This they said was so well exhibited by the Negroes' lack ofwisdom and of goodness that continued heathenism of the race wasjustifiable. [3] Answering these inconsistent persons, John Wesleyinquired: "Allowing them to be as stupid as you say, to whom is thatstupidity owing? Without doubt it lies altogether at the door of theinhuman masters who give them no opportunity for improving theirunderstanding and indeed leave them no motive, either from hope orfear to attempt any such thing. " Wesley asserted, too, that theAfricans were in no way remarkable for their stupidity while theyremained in their own country, and that where they had equal motivesand equal means of improvement, the Negroes were not only not inferiorto the better inhabitants of Europe, but superior to some of them. [4]

[Footnote 1: Davis was a logical antislavery agitator. He believedthat if the slaves had had the means of education, if they had beentreated with humanity, making slaves of them had been no more thandoing evil that good might come. He thought that Christianity andhumanity would have rather dictated the sending of books and teachersinto Africa and endeavors for their salvation. ]

[Footnote 2: Benjamin Rush was a Philadelphia physician of Quakerparentage. He was educated at the College of New Jersey and at theMedical School of Edinburgh, where he came into contact with some ofthe most enlightened men of his time. Holding to the ideals of hisyouth, Dr. Rush was soon associated with the friends of the Negroes onhis return to Philadelphia. He not only worked for the abolition ofthe slave trade but fearlessly advocated the right of the Negroesto be educated. He pointed out that an inquiry into the methods ofconverting Negroes to Christianity would show that the means wereill suited to the end proposed. "In many cases, " said he, "Sundayis appropriated to work for themselves. Reading and writing arediscouraged among them. A belief is inculcated among some that theyhave no souls. In a word, every attempt to instruct or convert themhas been constantly opposed by their masters. " See Rush, _An Addressto the Inhabitants_, etc. , p. 16. ]

[Footnote 3: Meade, _Sermons of Rev. Thomas Bacon_, pp. 81-97. ]

[Footnote 4: Wesley, _Thoughts upon Slavery_, p. 92. ]

William Pinkney, the antislavery leader of Maryland, believed alsothat Negroes are no worse than white people under similar conditions, and that all the colored people needed to disprove their so-calledinferiority was an equal chance with the more favored race. [1] Otherslike George Buchanan referred to the Negroes' talent for the fine artsand to their achievements in literature, mathematics, and philosophy. Buchanan informed these merciless aristocrats "that the Africanswhom you despise, whom you inhumanly treat as brutes and whom youunlawfully subject to slavery with tyrannizing hands of despots areequally capable of improvement with yourselves. "[2]

[Footnote 1: Pinkney, _Speech in Maryland House of Delegates_, p. 6. ]

[Footnote 2: Buchanan, _An Oration on the Moral and Political Evil ofSlavery_, p. 10. ]

Franklin considered the idea of the natural inferiority of theNegro as a silly excuse. He conceded that most of the blacks wereimprovident and poor, but believed that their condition was not due todeficient understanding but to their lack of education. He was verymuch impressed with their achievements in music. [1] So disgusting wasthis notion of inferiority to Abbé Grégoire of Paris that he wrote aninteresting essay on "Negro Literature" to prove that people of colorhave unusual intellectual power. [2] He sent copies of this pamphletto leading men where slavery existed. Another writer discussingJefferson's equivocal position on this question said that one wouldhave thought that "modern philosophy himself" would not have the faceto expect that the wretch, who is driven out to labor at the dawn ofday, and who toils until evening with a whip over his head, ought tobe a poet. Benezet, who had actually taught Negroes, declared "withtruth and sincerity" that he had found among them as great variety oftalents as among a like number of white persons. He boldly assertedthat the notion entertained by some that the blacks were inferiorin their capacities was a vulgar prejudice founded on the pride orignorance of their lordly masters who had kept their slaves at such adistance as to be unable to form a right judgment of them. [3]

[Footnote 1: Smyth, _Works of Franklin_, vol. Vi. , p. 222. ]

[Footnote 2: Grégoire, _La Littérature des Nègres_. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 375. ]

CHAPTER IV

ACTUAL EDUCATION

Would these professions of interest in the mental development of theblacks be translated into action? What these reformers would do toraise the standard of Negro education above the plane of rudimentarytraining incidental to religious instruction, was yet to be seen. Would they secure to Negroes the educational privileges guaranteedother elements of society? The answer, if not affirmative, wasdecidedly encouraging. The idea uppermost in the minds of theseworkers was that the people of color could and should be educated asother races of men. 

In the lead of this movement were the antislavery agitators. Recognizing the Negroes' need of preparation for citizenship, theabolitionists proclaimed as a common purpose of their organizationsthe education of the colored people with a view to developing in themself-respect, self-support, and usefulness in the community. [1]

[Footnote 1: Smyth, _Works of Benjamin Franklin_, vol. X. , p. 127;Torrey, _Portraiture of Slavery_, p. 21. See also constitution ofalmost any antislavery society organized during this period. ]

The proposition to cultivate the minds of the slaves came as a happysolution of what had been a perplexing problem. Many Americans whoconsidered slavery an evil had found no way out of the difficulty whenthe alternative was to turn loose upon society so many uncivilized menwithout the ability to discharge the duties of citizenship. [1] Assuredthen that the efforts at emancipation would be tested by experience, a larger number of men advocated abolition. These leaders recommendedgradual emancipation for States having a large slave population, thatthose designated for freedom might first be instructed in the valueand meaning of liberty to render them comfortable in the use of it. [2]The number of slaves in the States adopting the policy of immediateemancipation was not considered a menace to society, for the schoolsalready open to colored people could exert a restraining influenceon those lately given the boon of freedom. For these reasons theantislavery societies had in their constitutions a provision fora committee of education to influence Negroes to attend school, superintend their instruction, and emphasize the cultivation of themind as the necessary preparation for "that state in society uponwhich depends our political happiness. "[3] Much stress was laid uponthis point by the American Convention of Abolition Societies in 1794and 1795 when the organization expressed the hope that freedmen mightparticipate in civil rights as fast as they qualified by education. [4]

[Footnote 1: Washington, _Works of Jefferson_, vol. Vi. , p. 456;vol. Viii. , p. 379; Madison, _Works of_, vol. Iii. , p. 496; Monroe, _Writings of_, vol. Iii. , pp. 321, 336, 349, 378; Adams, _Works ofJohn Adams_, vol. Ix. , p. 92 and vol. X. , p. 380. ]

[Footnote 2: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1797, address. ]

[Footnote 3: The constitution of almost any antislavery society ofthat time provided for this work. See _Proc. Of Am. Conv. _, etc. , 1795, address. ]

[Footnote 4: _Proceedings of the American Convention of AbolitionSocieties_, 1794, p. 21; and 1795, p. 17; and _Rise and Progress ofthe Testimony of Friends_, etc. , p. 27. ]

This work was organized by the abolitionists but was generallymaintained by members of the various sects which did more forthe enlightenment of the people of color through the antislaveryorganizations than through their own. [1] The support of the clergy, however, did not mean that the education of the Negroes would continueincidental to the teaching of religion. The blacks were to be acceptedas brethren and trained to be useful citizens. For better educationthe colored people could then look to the more liberal sects, theQuakers, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians, who prior tothe Revolution had been restrained by intolerance from extensiveproselyting. Upon the attainment of religious liberty they were freeto win over the slaveholders who came into the Methodist and Baptistchurches in large numbers, bringing their slaves with them. [2] Thefreedom of these "regenerated" churches made possible the rise ofNegro exhorters and preachers, who to exercise their gifts managed insome way to learn to read and write. Schools for the training of suchleaders were not to be found, but to encourage ambitious blacks toqualify themselves white ministers often employed such candidatesas attendants, allowing them time to observe, to study, and even toaddress their audiences. [3]

[Footnote 1: The antislavery societies were at first the unitinginfluence among all persons interested in the uplift of the Negroes. The agitation had not then become violent, for men considered theinstitution not a sin but merely an evil. ]

[Footnote 2: Coke, _Journal_, etc. , p. 114; Lambert, _Travels_, p. 175; Baird, _A Collection_, etc. , pp. 381, 387 and 816; James, _Documentary_, etc. , p. 35; Foote, _Sketches of Virginia_, p. 31;Matlack, _History of American Slavery and Methodism_, p. 31; Semple, _History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia_, p. 222. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, and Coke, _Journal_, etc. , pp. 16-18. ]

It must be observed, however, that the interest of these benevolentmen was no longer manifested in the mere traditional teaching ofindividual slaves. The movement ceased to be the concern of separatephilanthropists. Men really interested in the uplift of the coloredpeople organized to raise funds, open schools, and supervise theireducation. [1] In the course of time their efforts became moresystematic and consequently more successful. These educators adoptedthe threefold policy of instructing Negroes in the principles ofthe Christian religion, giving them the fundamentals of the commonbranches, and teaching them the most useful handicrafts. [2] Theindoctrination of the colored people, to be sure, was still animportant concern to their teachers, but the accession to their ranksof a militant secular element caused the emphasis to shift to otherphases of education. Seeing the Negroes' need of mental development, the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Pennsylvania urged the membersof that denomination in 1787 to give their slaves "such good educationas to prepare them for a better enjoyment of freedom. "[3] In reply tothe inquiry as to what could be done to teach the poor black and whitechildren to read, the Methodist Conference of 1790 recommended theestablishment of Sunday schools and the appointment of persons toteach gratis "all that will attend and have a capacity to learn. "[4]The Conference recommended that the Church publish a special text-bookto teach these children learning as well as piety. [5] Men in thepolitical world were also active. In 1788 the State of New Jerseypassed an act preliminary to emancipation, making the teaching ofslaves to read compulsory under a penalty of five pounds. [6]

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention of AbolitionSocieties_, 1797. ]

[Footnote 2: _Proceedings of the American Convention of AbolitionSocieties_, 1797. ]

[Footnote 3: Locke, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 44. ]

[Footnote 4: Washington, _Story of the Negro_, vol. Ii, p. 121. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid. _, p. 121. ]

[Footnote 6: Laws of New Jersey, 1788. ]

With such influence brought to bear on persons in the various walks oflife, the movement for the effective education of the colored peoplebecame more extensive. Voicing the sentiment of the different localorganizations, the American Convention of Abolition Societies of 1794urged the branches to have the children of free Negroes and slavesinstructed in "common literature. "[1] Two years later the AbolitionSociety of the State of Maryland proposed to establish an academy tooffer this kind of instruction. To execute this scheme the AmericanConvention thought that it was expedient to employ regular tutors, to form private associations of their members or other well-disposedpersons for the purpose of instructing the people of color in the mostsimple branches of education. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention of AbolitionSocieties_, 1796, p. 18. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, 1797, p. 41. ]

The regular tutors referred to above were largely indentured servantswho then constituted probably the majority of the teachers of thecolonies. [1] In 1773 Jonathan Boucher said that two thirds of theteachers of Maryland belonged to this class. [2] The contact of Negroeswith these servants is significant. In the absence of rigid castedistinctions they associated with the slaves and the barrier betweenthem was so inconsiderable that laws had to be passed to prevent themiscegenation of the races. The blacks acquired much useful knowledgefrom servant teachers and sometimes assisted them. 

[Footnote 1: See the descriptions of indentured servants in theadvertisements of colonial newspapers referred to on pages 82-84; andBoucher, _A View of the Causes_, etc. , p. 39. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, pp. 39 and 40. ]

Attention was directed also to the fact that neither literary norreligious education prepared the Negroes for a life of usefulness. Heeding the advice of Kosciuszko, Madison and Jefferson, the advocatesof the education of the Negroes endeavored to give them such practicaltraining as their peculiar needs demanded. In the agriculturalsections the first duty of the teacher of the blacks was to show themhow to get their living from the soil. This was the final test oftheir preparation for emancipation. Accordingly, on large plantationswhere much supervision was necessary, trustworthy Negroes were trainedas managers. Many of those who showed aptitude were liberated andencouraged to produce for themselves. Slaves designated for freedomwere often given small parcels of land for the cultivation of whichthey were allowed some of their time. An important result of thisagricultural training was that many of the slaves thus favored amassedconsiderable wealth by using their spare time in cultivating crops oftheir own. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 196. ]

The advocates of useful education for the degraded race had more tosay about training in the mechanic arts. Such instruction, however, was not then a new thing to the blacks of the South, for they had fromtime immemorial been the trustworthy artisans of that section. The aimthen was to give them such education as would make them intelligentworkmen and develop in them the power to plan for themselves. In theNorth, where the Negroes had been largely menial servants, adequateindustrial education was deemed necessary for those who were to beliberated. [1] Almost every Northern colored school of any consequencethen offered courses in the handicrafts. In 1784 the Quakers ofPhiladelphia employed Sarah Dwight to teach the colored girlssewing. [2] Anthony Benezet provided in his will that in the schoolto be established by his benefaction the girls should be taughtneedlework. [3] The teachers who took upon themselves the improvementof the free people of color of New York City regarded industrialtraining as one of their important tasks. [4]

[Footnote 1: See the _Address of the Am. Conv. Of AbolitionSocieties_, 1794; _ibid. _, 1795; _ibid. _, 1797 _et passim. _]

[Footnote 2: Wickersham, _History of Ed. In Pa. _, p. 249. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1869, p. 375. ]

[Footnote 4: Andrews, _History of the New York African Free Schools_, p. 20. ]

None urged this duty upon the directors of these schools morepersistently than the antislavery organizations. In 1794 the AmericanConvention of Abolition Societies recommended that Negroes beinstructed in "those mechanic arts which will keep them mostconstantly employed and, of course, which will less subject them toidleness and debauchery, and thus prepare them for becoming goodcitizens of the United States. "[1] Speaking repeatedly on this wisethe Convention requested the colored people to let it be their specialcare to have their children not only to work at useful trades but alsoto till the soil. [2] The early abolitionists believed that this wasthe only way the freedmen could learn to support themselves. [3]In connection with their schools the antislavery leaders had anIndenturing Committee to find positions for colored students who hadthe advantages of industrial education. [4] In some communities slaveswere prepared for emancipation by binding them out as apprentices tomachinists and artisans until they learned a trade. 

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, 1794, p. 14. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, 1795, p. 29; _ibid. _, 1797, pp. 12, 13, and 31. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, 1797, p. 31. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, 1818, p. 9. ]

Two early efforts to carry out this policy are worthy of notice here. These were the endeavors of Anthony Benezet and Thaddeus Kosciuszko. Benezet was typical of those men, who, having the courage of theirconviction, not only taught colored people, but gladly appropriatedproperty to their education. Benezet died in 1784, leavingconsiderable wealth to be devoted to the purpose of educating Indiansand Negroes. His will provided that as the estate on the death ofhis wife would not be sufficient entirely to support a school, theOverseers of the Public Schools of Philadelphia should join with acommittee appointed by the Society of Friends, and other benevolentpersons, in the care and maintenance of an institution such as hehad planned. Finally in 1787 the efforts of Benezet reached theirculmination in the construction of a schoolhouse, with additionalfunds obtained from David Barclay of London and Thomas Sidney, acolored man of Philadelphia. The pupils of this school were to studyreading, writing, arithmetic, plain accounts, and sewing. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 375. ]

With respect to conceding the Negroes' claim to a better education, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the Polish general, was not unlike Benezet. Noneof the revolutionary leaders were more moved with compassion for thecolored people than this warrior. He saw in education the powerfulleverage which would place them in position to enjoy the newly wonrights of man. While assisting us in gaining our independence, Kosciuszko acquired here valuable property which he endeavored todevote to the enlightenment of the slaves. He authorized ThomasJefferson, his executor, to employ the whole thereof in purchasingNegroes and liberating them in the name of Kosciuszko, "in giving theman education in trades or otherwise, and in having them instructed fortheir new condition in the duties of morality. " The instructors wereto provide for them such training as would make them "good neighbors, good mothers or fathers, good husbands or wives, teaching them theduties of citizenship, teaching them to be defenders of their libertyand country, and of the good order of society, and whatsoever mightmake them useful and happy. "[1] Clearly as this was set forth theexecutor failed to discharge this duty enjoined upon him. The heirs ofthe donor instituted proceedings to obtain possession of the estate, which, so far as the author knows, was never used for the purpose forwhich it was intended. 

[Footnote 1: _African Repository_, vol. Xi. , pp. 294-295. ]

In view of these numerous strivings we are compelled to inquireexactly what these educators accomplished. Although it is impossibleto measure the results of their early efforts, various records of theeighteenth century prove that there was lessening objection to theinstruction of slaves and practically none to the enlightenment offreedmen. Negroes in considerable numbers were becoming well groundedin the rudiments of education. They had reached the point ofconstituting the majority of the mechanics in slaveholdingcommunities; they were qualified to be tradesmen, trustworthy helpers, and attendants of distinguished men, and a few were serving as clerks, overseers, and managers. [1] Many who were favorably circumstancedlearned more than mere reading and writing. In exceptional cases, somewere employed not only as teachers and preachers to their people, butas instructors of the white race. [2]

[Footnote 1: Georgia and South Carolina had to pass laws to preventNegroes from following these occupations for fear that they mightthereby become too well informed. See Brevard, _Digest of PublicStatute Laws of S. C. _, vol. Ii. , p. 243; and Marbury and Crawford, _Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia_, p. 438. ]

[Footnote 2: Bassett, _Slavery in North Carolina_, p. 74; manuscriptsrelating to the condition of the colored people of North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee now in the hands of Dr. J. E. Moorland. ]

A more accurate estimate of how far the enlightenment of the Negroeshad progressed before the close of the eighteenth century, is betterobtained from the reports of teachers and missionaries who wereworking among them. Appealing to the Negroes of Virginia about 1755, Benjamin Fawcett addressed them as intelligent people, commandingthem to read and study the Bible for themselves and consider "howthe Papists do all they can to hide it from their fellowmen. " "Beparticularly thankful, " said he, "for the Ministers of Christ aroundyou, who are faithfully laboring to teach the truth as it is inJesus. "[1] Rev. Mr. Davies, then a member of the Society for Promotingthe Gospel among the Poor, reported that there were multitudes ofNegroes in different parts of Virginia who were "willingly, eagerlydesirous to be instructed and embraced every opportunity ofacquainting themselves with the Doctrine of the Gospel, " and thoughthey had generally very little help to learn to read, yet to hissurprise many of them by dint of application had made such progressthat they could "intelligently read a plain author and especiallytheir Bible. " Pity it was, he thought, that any of them should bewithout necessary books. Negroes were wont to come to him with suchmoving accounts of their needs in this respect that he could not helpsupplying them. [2] On Saturday evenings and Sundays his home wascrowded with numbers of those "whose very Countenances still carry theair of importunate Petitioners" for the same favors with those whocame before them. Complaining that his stock was exhausted, and thathe had to turn away many disappointed, he urged his friends to sendhim other suitable books, for nothing else, thought he, could be agreater inducement to their industry to learn to read. 

[Footnote 1: Fawcett, _Compassionate Address_, etc. , p. 33. ]

[Footnote 2: Fawcett, _Compassionate Address_, etc. , p. 33. ]

Still more reliable testimony may be obtained, not from personsparticularly interested in the uplift of the blacks, but fromslaveholders. Their advertisements in the colonial newspapers furnishunconscious evidence of the intellectual progress of the Negroesduring the eighteenth century. "He's an 'artful, '"[1] "plausible, "[2]"smart, "[3] or "sensible fellow, "[4] "delights much in traffic, "[5]and "plays on the fife extremely well, "[6] are some of the statementsfound in the descriptions of fugitive slaves. Other fugitives werespeaking "plainly, "[7] "talking indifferent English, "[8] "remarkablygood English, "[9] and "exceedingly good English. "[10] In someadvertisements we observe such expressions as "he speaks a littleFrench, "[11] "Creole French, "[12] "a few words of High-Dutch, "[13] and"tolerable German. "[14] Writing about a fugitive a master would oftenstate that "he can read print, "[15] "can read writing, "[16] "can readand also write a little, "[17] "can read and write, "[18] "can writea pretty hand and has probably forged a pass. "[19] These conditionsobtained especially in Charleston, South Carolina, where wereadvertised various fugitives, one of whom spoke French and Englishfluently, and passed for a doctor among his people, [20] another whospoke Spanish and French intelligibly, [21] and a third who could read, write, and speak both French and Spanish very well. [22]

[Footnote 1: _Virginia Herald_ (Fredericksburg), Jan. 21, 1800; _TheMaryland Gazette_, Feb. 27, 1755; _Dunlop's Maryland Gazette andBaltimore Advertiser_, July 23, 1776; _The State Gazette of SouthCarolina_, May 18, 1786; _The State Gazette of North Carolina_, July2, 1789. ]

[Footnote 2: _The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser_ (Charleston, S. C. ), Sept. 26, 1797, and _The Carolina Gazette_, June 3, 1802. ]

[Footnote 3: _The Charleston Courier_, June 1, 1804; _The StateGazette of South Carolina_, Feb. 20, and 27, 1786; and _The MarylandJournal and Baltimore Advertiser_, Feb. 19, 1793. ]

[Footnote 4: _South Carolina Weekly Advertiser_, Feb. 19 and April 2, 1783; _State Gazette of South Carolina_, Feb. 20 and May 18, 1786. ]

[Footnote 5: _The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advocate_, Oct. 17, 1780. ]

[Footnote 6: _The Virginia Herald_ (Fredericksburg), Jan. 21, 1800;and _The Norfolk and Portsmouth Chronicle_, April 24, 1790. ]

[Footnote 7: _The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser_, Jan. 20 andMarch 1, 1800; and _The South Carolina Weekly Gazette_, Oct. 24 to 31, 1759. ]

[Footnote 8: _The City Gaz. And Daily Adv. _, Jan. 20 and March 1, 1800; and _S. C. Weekly Gaz. _, Oct. 24 to 31, 1759. ]

[Footnote 9: _The Newbern Gazette_, May 23 and Aug. 15, 1800; _TheMaryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser_, Feb. 19, 1793; _The CityGazette and Daily Advertiser_ (Charleston, S. C. ), Sept. 26, 1797; Oct. 5, 1798; Aug. 23 and Sept. 9, 1799; Aug. 18 and Oct. 3, 1800; andMarch 7, 1801; and _Maryland Gazette_, Dec. 30, 1746; and April 4, 1754; _South Carolina Weekly Advertiser_, Oct. 24 to 31, 1759; andFeb. 19, 1783; _The Gazette of the State of South Carolina_, Sept. 13and Nov. 1, 1784; and _The Carolina Gazette_, Aug. 12, 1802. ]

[Footnote 10: _The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser_, Sept. 26, 1797;May 15, 1799; and Oct. 3, 1800; _The State Gazette of South Carolina_, Aug. 21, 1786; _The Gazette of the State of South Carolina_, Aug. 26, 1784; _The Maryland Gazette_, Aug. 1, 1754; Oct. 28, 1773; and Aug. 19, 1784; and _The Columbian Herald_, April 30, 1789. ]

[Footnote 11: _The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser_, Oct. 5, 1798;Aug. 18 and Sept. 18, 1800; _The Gazette of the State of SouthCarolina_, Aug. 16, 1784. ]

[Footnote 12: _The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser_, Oct. 5, 1798. ]

[Footnote 13: _The Maryland Gazette_, Aug. 19, 1784. ]

[Footnote 14: _The State Gazette of South Carolina_, Feb. 20 and 27, 1780. ]

[Footnote 15: _The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser_, Oct. 17, 1780. _Dunlop's Maryland Gazette and Baltimore Advertiser_, July23, 1776. ]

[Footnote 16: _The Maryland Gazette_, May 21, 1795. ]

[Footnote 17: _The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser_, Oct. 17, 1780; and Sept. 20, 1785; and _The Maryland Gazette_, May 21, 1795; and January 4, 1798; _The Carolina Gazette_, June 3, 1802; and_The Charleston Courier_, June 29, 1803. _The Norfolk and PortsmouthChronicle_, March 19, 1791. ]

[Footnote 18: _The Maryland Gazette_, Feb. 27, 1755; and Oct. 27, 1768; _The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser_, Oct. 1, 1793;_The Virginia Herald_ (Fredericksburg), Jan. 21, 1800. ]

[Footnote 19: _The Maryland Gazette_, Feb. 1, 1755 and Feb. 1, 1798;_The State Gazette of North Carolina_, April 30, 1789; _The Norfolkand Portsmouth Chronicle_, April 24, 1790; _The City Gazette and DailyAdvertiser_ (Charleston, South Carolina), Jan. 5, 1799; and March 7, 1801; _The Carolina Gazette_, Feb. 4, 1802; and _The Virginia Herald_(Fredericksburg), Jan. 21, 1800. ]

[Footnote 20: _The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser_, Jan. 5, 1799;and March 5, 1800; _The Gazette of the State of South Carolina_, Aug. 16, 1784; and _The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser_, Sept. 20, 1793. ]

[Footnote 21: _The City Gazette of South Carolina_, Jan. 5, 1799. ]

[Footnote 22: The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser (Charleston, SouthCarolina), June 22 and Aug. 8, 1797; April 1 and May 15, 1799. ]

Equally convincing as to the educational progress of the colored racewere the high attainments of those Negroes who, despite the fact thatthey had little opportunity, surpassed in intellect a large number ofwhite men of their time. Negroes were serving as salesmen, keepingaccounts, managing plantations, teaching and preaching, and hadintellectually advanced to the extent that fifteen or twenty per cent. Of their adults could then at least read. Most of this talented classbecame preachers, as this was the only calling even conditionallyopen to persons of African blood. Among these clergymen was GeorgeLeile, [1] who won distinction as a preacher in Georgia in 1782, andthen went to Jamaica where he founded the first Baptist church of thatcolony. The competent and indefatigable Andrew Bryan[2] proved to be aworthy successor of George Leile in Georgia. From 1770 to 1790 Negropreachers were in charge of congregations in Charles City, Petersburg, and Allen's Creek in Lunenburg County, Virginia. [3] In 1801 GowanPamphlet of that State was the pastor of a progressive Baptist church, some members of which could read, write, and keep accounts. [4] LemuelHaynes was then widely known as a well-educated minister of theProtestant Episcopal Church. John Gloucester, who had been trainedunder Gideon Blackburn of Tennessee, distinguished himself inPhiladelphia where he founded the African Presbyterian Church. [5] Oneof the most interesting of these preachers was Josiah Bishop. By 1791he had made such a record in his profession that he was called tothe pastorate of the First Baptist Church (white) of Portsmouth, Virginia. [6] After serving his white brethren a number of years hepreached some time in Baltimore and then went to New York to takecharge of the Abyssinian Baptist Church. [7] This favorable conditionof affairs could not long exist after the aristocratic element in thecountry began to recover some of the ground it had lost during thesocial upheaval of the revolutionary era. It was the objection totreating Negroes as members on a plane of equality with all, that ledto the establishment of colored Baptist churches and to the secessionof the Negro Methodists under the leadership of Richard Allen in 1794. The importance of this movement to the student of education lies inthe fact that a larger number of Negroes had to be educated to carryon the work of the new churches. 

[Footnote 1: He was sometimes called George Sharp. See Benedict, _History of the Baptists_, etc. , p. 189. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 189. ]

[Footnote 3: Semple, _History of the Baptists_, etc. , p. 112. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, p. 114. ]

[Footnote 5: Baird, _A Collection_, etc. , p. 817. ]

[Footnote 6: Semple, _History of the Baptists_, etc. , p. 355. ]

[Footnote 7: _Ibid. _, p. 356. ]

The intellectual progress of the colored people of that day, however, was not restricted to their clergymen. Other Negroes were learning toexcel in various walks of life. Two such persons were found in NorthCarolina. One of these was known as Caesar, the author of a collectionof poems, which, when published in that State, attained a popularityequal to that of Bloomfield's. [1] Those who had the pleasure ofreading the poems stated that they were characterized by "simplicity, purity, and natural grace. "[2] The other noted Negro of North Carolinawas mentioned in 1799 by Buchan in his _Domestic Medicine_ as thediscoverer of a remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake. Buchan learnedfrom Dr. Brooks that, in view of the benefits resulting from thediscovery of this slave, the General Assembly of North Carolinapurchased his freedom and settled upon him a hundred pounds perannum. [3]

[Footnote 1: Baldwin, _Observations_, etc. , p. 20. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 21. ]

[Footnote 3: Smyth, _A Tour in the U. S. _, p. 109; and Baldwin, _Observations_, p. 20. ]

To this class of bright Negroes belonged Thomas Fuller, a nativeAfrican, who resided near Alexandria, Virginia, where he startledthe students of his time by his unusual attainments in mathematics, despite the fact that he could neither read nor write. Once acquaintedwith the power of numbers, he commenced his education by counting thehairs of the tail of the horse with which he worked the fields. Hesoon devised processes for shortening his modes of calculation, attaining such skill and accuracy as to solve the most difficultproblems. Depending upon his own system of mental arithmetic helearned to obtain accurate results just as quickly as Mr. ZerahColburn, a noted calculator of that day, who tested the Negromathematician. [1] The most abstruse questions in relation to time, distance, and space were no task for his miraculous memory, which, when the mathematician was interrupted in the midst of a long andtedious calculation, enabled him to take up some other work and laterresume his calculation where he left off. [2] One of the questionspropounded him, was how many seconds of time had elapsed since thebirth of an individual who had lived seventy years, seven months, andas many days. Fuller was able to answer the question in a minute and ahalf. 

[Footnote 1: Baldwin, _Observations_, p. 21. ]

[Footnote 2: Needles, _An Historical Memoir_, etc. , p. 32. ]

Another Negro of this type was James Durham, a native slave of thecity of Philadelphia. Durham was purchased by Dr. Dove, a physicianin New Orleans, who, seeing the divine spark in the slave, gave hima chance for mental development. It was fortunate that he was thrownupon his own resources in this environment, where the miscegenationof the races since the early French settlement, had given rise to athrifty and progressive class of mixed breeds, many of whom at thattime had the privileges and immunities of freemen. Durham was not longin acquiring a rudimentary education, and soon learned several modernlanguages, speaking English, French, and Spanish fluently. Beginninghis medical education early in his career, he finished his course, and by the time he was twenty-one years of age became one of the mostdistinguished physicians[1] of New Orleans. Dr. Benjamin Rush, thenoted physician of Philadelphia, who was educated at the EdinburghMedical College, once deigned to converse professionally with Dr. Durham. "I learned more from him than he could expect from me, " wasthe comment of the Philadelphian upon a conversation in which he hadthought to appear as instructor of the younger physician. [2]

[Footnote 1: Brissot de Warville, _New Travels_, vol. I. , p. 223. ]

[Footnote 2: Baldwin, _Observations_, etc. , p. 17. ]

Most prominent among these brainy persons of color were PhyllisWheatley and Benjamin Banneker. The former was a slave girl broughtfrom Africa in 1761 and put to service in the household of JohnWheatley of Boston. There, without any training but that which sheobtained from her master's family, she learned in sixteen months tospeak the English language fluently, and to read the most difficultparts of sacred writings. She had a great inclination for Latin andmade some progress in the study of that language. Led to writing bycuriosity, she was by 1765 possessed of a style which enabled her tocount among her correspondents some of the most influential men of hertime. Phyllis Wheatley's title to fame, however, rested not on hergeneral attainments as a scholar but rather on her ability to writepoetry. Her poems seemed to have such rare merit that men marveledthat a slave could possess such a productive imagination, enlightenedmind, and poetical genius. The publishers were so much surprised thatthey sought reassurance as to the authenticity of the poems from suchpersons as James Bowdoin, Harrison Gray, and John Hancock. [1] Glancingat her works, the modern critic would readily say that she was not apoetess, just as the student of political economy would dub Adam Smitha failure as an economist. A bright college freshman who has studiedintroductory economics can write a treatise as scientific as the_Wealth of Nations_. The student of history, however, must not"despise the day of small things. " Judged according to the standardsof her time, Phyllis Wheatley was an exceptionally intellectualperson. 

[Footnote 1: Baldwin, _Observations_, etc. , p. 18; Wright, _Poems ofPhyllis Wheatley_, Introduction. ]

The other distinguished Negro, Benjamin Banneker, was born inBaltimore County, Maryland, November 9, 1731, near the village ofEllicott Mills. Banneker was sent to school in the neighborhood, wherehe learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. Determined to acquireknowledge while toiling, he applied his mind to things intellectual, cultivated the power of observation, and developed a retentive memory. These acquirements finally made him tower above all other Americanscientists of his time with the possible exception of BenjaminFranklin. In conformity with his desire to do and create, his tendencywas toward mathematics. Although he had never seen a clock, watchesbeing the only timepieces in the vicinity, he made in 1770 the firstclock manufactured in the United States, [1] thereby attracting theattention of the scientific world. Learning these things, the owner ofEllicott Mills became very much interested in this man of inventivegenius, lent him books, and encouraged him in his chosen field. Among these volumes were treatises on astronomy, which Banneker soonmastered without any instruction. [2] Soon he could calculate eclipsesof sun and moon and the rising of each star with an accuracy almostunknown to Americans. Despite his limited means, he secured throughGoddard and Angell of Baltimore the publication of the first almanacproduced in this country. Jefferson received from Banneker a copy, for which he wrote the author a letter of thanks. It appears thatJefferson had some doubts about the man's genius, but the fact thatthe philosopher invited Banneker to visit him at Monticello in 1803, indicates that the increasing reputation of the Negro must havecaused Jefferson to change his opinion as to the extent of Banneker'sattainments and the value of his contributions to mathematics andscience. [3]

[Footnote 1: Washington, _Jefferson's Works_, vol. V. , p. 429. ]

[Footnote 2: Baldwin, _Observations_, etc. , p. 16. ]

[Footnote 3: Washington, _Jefferson's Works_, vol. V. , p. 429. ]

So favorable did the aspect of things become as a result of thismovement to elevate the Negroes, that persons observing the conditionsthen obtaining in this country thought that the victory for thedespised race had been won. Traveling in 1783 in the colony ofVirginia, where the slave trade had been abolished and schools forthe education of freedmen established, Johann Schoepf felt that theinstitution was doomed. [1] After touring Pennsylvania five yearslater, Brissot de Warville reported that there existed then a countrywhere the blacks were allowed to have souls, and to be endowed with anunderstanding capable of being formed to virtue and useful knowledge, and where they were not regarded as beasts of burden in order thattheir masters might have the privilege of treating them as such. Hewas pleased that the colored people by their virtue and understandingbelied the calumnies which their tyrants elsewhere lavished againstthem, and that in that community one perceived no difference between"the memory of a black head whose hair is craped by nature, and thatof the white one craped by art. "[2]

[Footnote 1: Schoepf, _Travels in the Confederation_, p. 149. ]

[Footnote 2: Brissot de Warville, _New Travels_, vol. I. , p. 220. ]

CHAPTER V

BETTER BEGINNINGS

Sketching the second half of the eighteenth century, we have observedhow the struggle for the rights of man in directing attention to thoseof low estate, and sweeping away the impediments to religiousfreedom, made the free blacks more accessible to helpful sects andorganizations. We have also learned that this upheaval left the slavesthe objects of piety for the sympathetic, the concern of workers inbehalf of social uplift, a class offered instruction as a prerequisiteto emancipation. The private teaching of Negroes became tolerable, benevolent persons volunteered to instruct them, and some schoolsmaintained for the education of white students were thrown open tothose of African blood. It was the day of better beginnings. In fact, it was the heyday of victory for the ante-bellum Negro. Never had hisposition been so advantageous; never was it thus again until the wholerace was emancipated. Now the question which naturally arises hereis, to what extent were such efforts general? Were these beginningssufficiently extensive to secure adequate enlightenment to a largenumber of colored people? Was interest in the education of this classso widely manifested thereafter as to cause the movement to endure? Abrief account of these efforts in the various States will answer thesequestions. 

In the Northern and Middle States an increasing number of educationaladvantages for the white race made germane the question as to whatconsideration should be shown to the colored people. [1] A generaladmission of Negroes to the schools of these progressive communitieswas undesirable, not because of the prejudice against the race, but onaccount of the feeling that the past of the colored people having beendifferent from that of the white race, their training should be inkeeping with their situation. To meet their peculiar needs manycommunities thought it best to provide for them "special, ""individual, " or "unclassified" schools adapted to their condition. [2]In most cases, however, the movement for separate schools originatednot with the white race, but with the people of color themselves. 

[Footnote 1: _Niles's Register_, vol. Xvi. , pp. 241-243 and vol. Xxiii. , p. 23. ]

[Footnote 2: See _The Proceedings of the Am. Conv. Of AbolitionSocieties_. ]

In New England, Negroes had almost from the beginning of theirenslavement some chance for mental, moral, and spiritual improvement, but the revolutionary movement was followed in that section by ageneral effort to elevate the people of color through the influenceof the school and church. In 1770 the Rhode Island Quakers wereendeavoring to give young Negroes such an education as becomesChristians. In 1773 Newport had a colored school, maintained by asociety of benevolent clergymen of the Church of England, with ahandsome fund for a mistress to teach thirty children reading andwriting. Providence did not exhibit such activity until the nineteenthcentury. Having a larger black population than any other city in NewEngland, Boston was the center of these endeavors. In 1798 a separateschool for colored children, under the charge of Elisha Sylvester, awhite man, was established in that city in the house of Primus Hall, aNegro of very good standing. [1] Two years later sixty-six free blacksof that city petitioned the school committee for a separate school, but the citizens in a special town meeting called to consider thequestion refused to grant this request. [2] Undaunted by this refusal, the patrons of the special school established in the house of PrimusHall, employed Brown and Hall of Harvard College as instructors, until1806. [3] The school was then moved to the African Meeting Housein Belknap Street where it remained until 1835 when, with fundscontributed by Abiel Smith, a building was erected. An epoch in thehistory of Negro education in New England was marked in 1820, when thecity of Boston opened its first primary school for the education ofcolored children. [4]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 357. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 357. ]

[Footnote 3: Next to be instructor of this institution was PrinceSaunders, who was brought to Boston by Dr. Channing and Caleb Binghamin 1809. Brought up in the family of a Vermont lawyer, and experiencedas a diplomatic official of Emperor Christopher of Hayti, PrinceSaunders was able to do much for the advancement of this work. Amongothers who taught in this school was John B. Russworm, a graduate ofBowdoin College, and, later, Governor of the Colony of Cape Palmas inSouthern Liberia. See _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 357; and _African Repository_, vol. Ii. , p. 271. ]

[Footnote 4: _Special Rep. Of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 357. ]

Generally speaking, we can say that while the movement for specialcolored schools met with some opposition in certain portions of NewEngland, in other parts of the Northeastern States the religiousorganizations and abolition societies, which were espousing the causeof the Negro, yielded to this demand. These schools were sometimesfound in churches of the North, as in the cases of the schools inthe African Church of Boston, and the Sunday-school in the AfricanImproved Church of New Haven. In 1828 there was in that city anothersuch school supported by public-school money; three in Boston; one inSalem; and one in Portland, Maine. [1]

[Footnote 1: Adams, _Anti-slavery_, p. 142. ]

Outside of the city of New York, not so much interest was shown inthe education of Negroes as in the States which had a larger coloredpopulation. [1] Those who were scattered through the State were allowedto attend white schools, which did not "meet their special needs. "[2]In the metropolis, where the blacks constituted one-tenth of theinhabitants in 1800, however, the mental improvement of the dark racecould not be neglected. The liberalism of the revolutionary era ledto the organization in New York of the "Society for Promoting theManumission of Slaves and Protecting such of them as have been or maybe liberated. " This Society ushered in a new day for the free personsof color of that city in organizing in 1787 the New York AfricanFree School. [3] Among those interested in this organization and itsenterprises were Melancthon Smith, John Bleecker, James Cogswell, Jacob Seaman, White Matlock, Matthew Clarkson, Nathaniel Lawrence, andJohn Murray, Jr. [4] The school opened in 1790 with Cornelius Davis asa teacher of forty pupils. In 1791 a lady was employed to instruct thegirls in needle-work. [5] The expected advantage of this industrialtraining was soon realized. 

[Footnote 1: La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, _Travels_, etc. , p. 233. ]

[Footnote 2: _Am. Conv. _, 1798, p. 7. ]

[Footnote 3: Andrews, _History of the New York African Free Schools_, p. 14. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, pp. 14 and 15. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid. _, p. 16. ]

Despite the support of certain distinguished members of the community, the larger portion of the population was so prejudiced against theschool that often the means available for its maintenance wereinadequate. The struggle was continued for about fifteen years with anattendance of from forty to sixty pupils. [1] About 1801 the communitybegan to take more interest in the institution, and the Negroes"became more generally impressed with a sense of the advantages andimportance of education, and more disposed to avail themselves ofthe privileges offered them. "[2] At this time one hundred and thirtypupils of both sexes attended this school, paying their instructor, a "discreet man of color, " according to their ability andinclination. [3] Many more colored children were then able to attendas there had been a considerable increase in the number of coloredfreeholders. As a result of the introduction of the Lancastrian andmonitorial systems of instruction the enrollment was further increasedand the general tone of the school was improved. Another impetus wasgiven the work in 1810. [4] Having in mind the preparation of slavesfor freedom, the legislature of the State of New York, made itcompulsory for masters to teach all minors born of slaves to read theScriptures. [5]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 17. ]

[Footnote 2: _Proceedings of the American Convention of AbolitionSocieties_, 1801, p. 6. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, 1801, Report from New York. ]

[Footnote 4: Andrews, _History of the New York African Free Schools_, p. 20. ]

[Footnote 5: _Proceedings of the American Convention of AbolitionSocieties_, 1812, p. 7. ]

Decided improvement was noted after 1814. The directors then purchaseda lot on which they constructed a building the following year. [1] Thenucleus then took the name of the New York "African Free Schools. "These schools grew so rapidly that it was soon necessary to rentadditional quarters to accommodate the department of sewing. This workhad been made popular by the efforts of Misses Turpen, Eliza J. Cox, Ann Cox, and Caroline Roe. [2] The subsequent growth of the classeswas such that in 1820 the Manumission Society had to erect a buildinglarge enough to accommodate five hundred pupils. [3] The instructorswere then not only teaching the elementary branches of reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography, but also astronomy, navigation, advanced composition, plain sewing, knitting, and marking. [4] Knowingthe importance of industrial training, the Manumission Society thenhad an Indenturing Committee find employment in trades for coloredchildren, and had recommended for some of them the pursuit ofagriculture. [5] The comptrollers desired no better way of measuringthe success of the system in shaping the character of its studentsthan to be able to boast that no pupils educated there had ever beenconvicted of crime. [6] Lafayette, a promoter of the emancipationand improvement of the colored people, and a member of the New YorkManumission Society, visited these schools in 1824 on his return tothe United States. He was bidden welcome by an eleven-year-old pupilin well-chosen and significant words. After spending the afternooninspecting the schools the General pronounced them the "bestdisciplined and the most interesting schools of children" he had everseen. [7]

[Footnote 1: Andrews, _History of the New York African Free Schools_, p. 18. ]

[Footnote 2: Andrews, _History of the New York African Free Schools_, p. 17. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, p. 18. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, p. 19. ]

[Footnote 5: _Proceedings of the Am. Convention of Abolition Soc. _, 1818, P. 9; Adams, _Anti-slavery_, p. 142. ]

[Footnote 6: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1820. ]

[Footnote 7: Andrews, _History of the New York African Free Schools_, p. 20. ]

The outlook for the education of Negroes in New Jersey was unusuallybright. Carrying out the recommendations of the Haddonfield QuarterlyMeeting in 1777, the Quakers of Salem raised funds for the educationof the blacks, secured books, and placed the colored children ofthe community at school. The delegates sent from that State, to theConvention of the Abolition Societies in 1801, reported that there hadbeen schools in Burlington, Salem, and Trenton for the education ofthe Negro race, but that they had been closed. [1] It seemed thatnot much attention had been given to this work there, but that theinterest was increasing. These delegates stated that they did not thenknow of any schools among them exclusively for Negroes. In most partsof the State, and most commonly in the northern division, however, they were incorporated with the white children in the various smallschools scattered over the State. [2] There was then in the city ofBurlington a free school for the education of poor children supportedby the profits of an estate left for that particular purpose, and madeequally accessible to the children of both races. Conditions were justas favorable in Gloucester. An account from its antislavery societyshows that the local friends of the indigent had funds of about onethousand pounds established for schooling poor children, white andblack, without distinction. Many of the black children, who wereplaced by their masters under the care of white instructors, receivedas good moral and school education as the lower class of whites. [3]Later reports from this State show the same tendency toward democraticeducation. 

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1801, p. 12. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 12, and Quaker Pamphlet, p. 40. ]

[Footnote 3: _Proceedings of the American Conv. _, etc. , 1801, p. 12. ]

The efforts made in this direction in Delaware, were encouraging. TheAbolition Society of Wilmington had not greatly promoted the specialeducation of "the Blacks and the people of color. " In 1801, however, aschool was kept the first day of the week by one of the members ofthe Society, who instructed them gratis in reading, writing, andarithmetic. About twenty pupils generally attended and by theirassiduity and progress showed themselves as "capable as white personslaboring under similar disadvantages. "[1] In 1802 plans for theextension of this system were laid and bore good fruit the followingyear. [2] Seven years later, however, after personal and pecuniary aidhad for some time been extended, the workers had still to lament thatbeneficial effects had not been more generally experienced, andthat there was little disposition to aid them in their friendlyendeavors. [3] In 1816 more important results had been obtained. Through a society formed a few years prior to this date for theexpress purpose of educating colored children, a school had beenestablished under a Negro teacher. He had a fair attendance of brightchildren, who "by the facility with which they took in instructionwere silently but certainly undermining the prejudice"[4] againsttheir education. A library of religious and moral publications hadbeen secured for this institution. In addition to the school inWilmington there was a large academy for young colored women, gratuitously taught by a society of young ladies. The course ofinstruction covered reading, writing, and sewing. The work in sewingproved to be a great advantage to the colored girls, many of whomthrough the instrumentality of that society were provided with goodpositions. [5]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 20. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, 1802, p. 17. ]

[Footnote 3: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1809, p. 20. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , 1816, p. 20. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid_. , 1821, p. 18. ]

In Pennsylvania the interest of the large Quaker element caused thequestion of educating Negroes to be a matter of more concern to thatcolony than it was to the others. Thanks to the arduous labors ofthe antislavery movement, emancipation was provided for in 1780. The Quakers were then especially anxious to see masters give their"weighty and solid attention" to qualifying slaves for the libertyintended. By the favorable legislation of the State the poor wereby 1780 allowed the chance to secure the rudiments of education. [1]Despite this favorable appearance of things, however, friends of thedespised race had to keep up the agitation for such a construction ofthe law as would secure to the Negroes of the State the educationalbenefits extended to the indigent. The colored youth of Pennsylvaniathereafter had the right to attend the schools provided for whitechildren, and exercised it when persons interested in the blacksdirected their attention to the importance of mental improvement. [2]But as neither they nor their defenders were numerous outside ofPhiladelphia and Columbia, not many pupils of color in other parts ofthe State attended school during this period. Whatever special effortwas made to arouse them to embrace their opportunities came chieflyfrom the Quakers. 

[Footnote 1: _A. M. E. Church Review_, vol. Xv. , p. 625. ]

[Footnote 2: Wickersham, _History of Education in Pa_. , p. 253. ]

Not content with the schools which were already opened to Negroes, thefriends of the race continued to agitate and raise funds to extendtheir philanthropic operations. With the donation of Anthony Benezetthe Quakers were able to enlarge their building and increase the scopeof the work. They added a female department in which Sarah Dwight[1]was teaching the girls spelling, reading, and sewing in 1784. Thework done in Philadelphia was so successful that the place became therallying center for the Quakers throughout the country, [2] and was ofso much concern to certain members of this sect in London that in1787 they contributed five hundred pounds toward the support of thisschool. [3] In 1789 the Quakers organized "The Society for the FreeInstruction of the Orderly Blacks and People of Color. " Taking intoconsideration the "many disadvantages which many well-disposed blacksand people of color labored under from not being able to read, write, or cast accounts, which would qualify them to act for themselves orprovide for their families, " this society in connection with otherorganizations established evening schools for the education of adultsof African blood. [4] It is evident then that with the exception of theschool of the Abolition Society organized in 1774, and the effortsof a few other persons generally coöperating like the anti-slaveryleaders with the Quakers, practically all of the useful education ofthe colored people of this State was accomplished in their schools. Philadelphia had seven colored schools in 1797. [5]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 251. ]

[Footnote 2: Quaker Pamphlet, p. 42. ]

[Footnote 3: Wickersham, _History of Ed. In Pa_. , p. 252. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , p. 251. ]

[Footnote 5: Turner, _The Negro in Pa_. , p. 128. ]

The next decade was of larger undertakings. [1] The report of thePennsylvania Abolition Society of 1801 shows that there had been anincreasing interest in Negro education. For this purpose the societyhad raised funds to the amount of $530. 50 per annum for threeyears. [2] In 1803 certain other friends of the cause left for thispurpose two liberal benefactions, one amounting to one thousanddollars, and the other to one thousand pounds. [3] With thesecontributions the Quakers and Abolitionists erected in 1809 a handsomebuilding valued at four thousand dollars. They named it Clarkson Hallin honor of the great friend of the Negro race. [4] In 1807 the Quakersmet the needs of the increasing population of the city by founding anadditional institution of learning known as the Adelphi School. [5]

[Footnote 1: Parish, _Remarks on the Slavery_, etc. , p. 43. ]

[Footnote 2: _Proceedings of the American Conv_. , 1802, p. 18. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , 1803, p. 13. ]

[Footnote 4: _Statistical Inquiry into the Condition of the ColoredPeople of Philadelphia_, p. 19. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid_. , p. 20. ]

After the first decade of the nineteenth century the movement for theuplift of the Negroes around Philadelphia was checked a little by themigration to that city of many freedmen who had been lately liberated. The majority of them did not "exhibit that industry, economy, andtemperance" which were "expected by many and wished by all. "[1] Notdeterred, however, by this seemingly discouraging development, thefriends of the race toiled on as before. In 1810 certain Quaker womenwho had attempted to establish a school for colored girls in 1795apparently succeeded. [2] The institution, however, did not last manyyears. But the Clarkson Hall schools maintained by the AbolitionSociety were then making such progress that the management wassatisfied that they furnished a decided refutation of the charge thatthe "mental endowments of the descendants of the African race areinferior to those possessed by their white brethren. "[3] They assertedwithout fear of contradiction that the pupils of that seminary wouldsustain a fair comparison with those of any other institution in whichthe same elementary branches were taught. In 1815 these schools wereoffering free instruction to three hundred boys and girls, and to anumber of adults attending evening schools. These victories had beenachieved despite the fact that in regard to some of the objects of theSociety for the Abolition of the Slave Trade "a tide of prejudice, popular and legislative, set strongly against them. "[4] After 1818, however, help was obtained from the State to educate the coloredchildren of Columbia and Philadelphia. 

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Conv_. , 1809, p. 16, and1812, p. 16. ]

[Footnote 2: Wickersham, _History of Ed. In Pa_. , p. 252. ]

[Footnote 3: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1812, Report from Philadelphia. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , 1815, Report from Phila. ]

The assistance obtained from the State, however, was not taken as apretext for the cessation of the labors on the part of those who hadborne the burden for more than a century. The faithful friends of thecolored race remained as active as ever. In 1822 the Quakers in theNorthern Liberties organized the Female Association which maintainedone or more schools. [1] That same year the Union Society founded in1810 for the support of schools and domestic manufactures for thebenefit of the "African race and people of color" was conducting threeschools for adults. [2] The Infant School Society of Philadelphia wasalso doing good work in looking after the education of small coloredchildren. [3] In the course of time crowded conditions in the coloredschools necessitated the opening of additional evening classes and theerection of larger buildings. 

[Footnote 1: Wickersham, _History of Education in Pa. _, p. 252. ]

[Footnote 2: One of these was at the Sessions House of the ThirdPresbyterian Church; one at Clarkston Schoolhouse, Cherry Street; onein the Academy on Locust Street. See _Statistical Inquiry intothe Condition of the Colored People of Philadelphia_, p. 19; andWickersham, _Education in Pa. _, p. 253. ]

[Footnote 3: _Statistical Inquiry_, etc. , p. 19. ]

At this time Maryland was not raising any serious objection to theinstruction of slaves, and public sentiment there did not seem tointerfere with the education of free persons of color. Maryland waslong noted for her favorable attitude toward her Negroes. We havealready observed how Banneker, though living in a small place, waspermitted to attend school, and how Ellicott became interested in thisman of genius and furnished him with books. Other Negroes of thatState were enjoying the same privilege. The abolition delegates fromMaryland reported in 1797 that several children of the Africans andother people of color were under a course of instruction, and that anacademy and qualified teachers for them would be provided. [1] TheseNegroes were then getting light from another source. Having morefreedom in this State than in some others, the Quakers were allowed toteach colored people. 

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1797, p. 16. ]

Most interest in the cause in Maryland was manifested near the citiesof Georgetown and Baltimore. [1] Long active in the cause of elevatingthe colored people, the influence of the revolutionary movement washardly necessary to arouse the Catholics to discharge their duty ofenlightening the blacks. Wherever they had the opportunity to giveslaves religious instruction, they generally taught the unfortunateseverything that would broaden their horizon and help them tounderstand life. The abolitionists and Protestant churches were alsoin the field, but the work of the early fathers in these cities wasmore effective. These forces at work in Georgetown made it, by thetime of its incorporation into the District of Columbia, a centersending out teachers to carry on the instruction of Negroes. Soliberal were the white people of this town that colored children weresent to school there with white boys and girls who seemed to raiseno objection. [2] Later in the nineteenth century the efforts made toeducate the Negroes of the rural districts of Maryland were eclipsedby the better work accomplished by the free blacks in Baltimore andthe District of Columbia. 

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , pp. 195 _etseq_. , and pp. 352-353. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 353. ]

Having a number of antislavery men among the various sects buoyantwith religious freedom, Virginia easily continued to look with favorupon the uplift of the colored people. The records of the Quakers ofthat day show special effort in this direction there about 1764, 1773, and 1785. In 1797 the abolitionists of Alexandria, some of whom wereQuakers, had been doing effective work among the Negroes of thatsection. They had established a school with one Benjamin Davis as ateacher. He reported an attendance of one hundred and eight pupils, four of whom "could write a very legible hand, " "read the Scriptureswith tolerable facility, " and had commenced arithmetic. Eight othershad learned to read, but had made very little progress in writing. Among his less progressive pupils fifteen could spell words of threeor four syllables and read easy lessons, some had begun to write, while the others were chiefly engaged in learning the alphabet andspelling monosyllables. [1] It is significant that colored childrenof Alexandria, just as in the case of Georgetown, attended schoolsestablished for the whites. [2] Their coeducation extended not onlyto Sabbath schools but to other institutions of learning, which someNegroes attended during the week. [3] Mrs. Maria Hall, one of the earlyteachers of the District of Columbia, obtained her education in amixed school of Alexandria. [4] Controlled then by aristocratic peoplewho did not neglect the people of color, Alexandria also became a sortof center for the uplift of the blacks in Northern Virginia. 

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the Am. Conv_. , etc. , 1797, p. 35. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , 1797, p. 36. ]

[Footnote 3: _Proceedings of the Am. Conv. _, p. 17; _ibid. _, 1827, p. 53. ]

[Footnote 4: _Special Report of U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 198. ]

Schools for the education of Negroes were established in Richmond, Petersburg, and Norfolk. An extensive miscegenation of the races inthese cities had given rise to a very intelligent class of slaves anda considerable number of thrifty free persons of color, in whom thebest people early learned to show much interest. [1] Of the schoolsorganized for them in the central part of the commonwealth, thoseabout Richmond seemed to be less prosperous. The abolitionists ofVirginia, reporting for that city in 1798, said that considerableprogress had been made in the education of the blacks, and that theycontemplated the establishment of a school for the instruction ofNegroes and other persons. They were apprehensive, however, that theirfunds would be scarcely sufficient for this purpose. [2] In 1801, oneyear after Gabriel's Insurrection, the abolitionists of Richmondreported that the cause had been hindered by the "rapaciousdisposition which emboldened many tyrants" among them "to trample uponthe rights of colored people even in the violation of the laws of theState. " For this reason the complainants felt that, although theycould not but unite in the opinion with the American Convention ofAbolition Societies as to the importance of educating the slaves forliving as freedmen, they were compelled on account of a "domineeringspirit of power and usurpation"[3] to direct attention to the Negroes'bodily comfort. 

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 393. ]

[Footnote 2: _Proceedings of the Am. Conv. _, etc. , 1798, p. 16. ]

[Footnote 3: _Proceedings of the Am. Conv_. , 1801, p. 15. ]

This situation, however, was not sufficiently alarming to deter allthe promoters of Negro education in Virginia. It is remarkable howRobert Pleasants, a Quaker of that State who emancipated his slavesat his death in 1801, had united with other members of his sect toestablish a school for colored people. In 1782 they circulated apamphlet entitled "Proposals for Establishing a Free School for theInstruction of Children of Blacks and People of Color. "[1] Theyrecommended to the humane and benevolent of all denominationscheerfully to contribute to an institution "calculated to promotethe spiritual and temporal interests of that unfortunate part of ourfellow creatures in forming their minds in the principles of virtueand religion, and in common or useful literature, writing, ciphering, and mechanic arts, as the most likely means to render so numerous apeople fit for freedom, and to become useful citizens. " Pleasantsproposed to establish a school on a three-hundred-and-fifty-acretract of his own land at Gravelly Hills near Four-Mile Creek, HenricoCounty. The whole revenue of the land was to go toward the support ofthe institution, or, in the event the school should be establishedelsewhere, he would give it one hundred pounds. Ebenezer Maule, another friend, subscribed fifty pounds for the same purpose. [2]Exactly what the outcome was, no one knows; but the memorial onthe life of Pleasants shows that he appropriated the rent of thethree-hundred-and-fifty-acre tract and ten pounds per annum to theestablishment of a free school for Negroes, and that a few years afterhis death such an institution was in operation under a Friend atGravelly Run. [3]

[Footnote 1: Weeks, _Southern Quakers_, p. 215. ]

[Footnote 2: Weeks, _Southern Quakers_, p. 216. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 216. ]

Such philanthropy, however, did not become general in Virginia. Theprogress of Negro education there was decidedly checked by the rapiddevelopment of discontent among Negroes ambitious to emulate theexample of Toussaint L'Ouverture. During the first quarter of thenineteenth century that commonwealth tolerated much less enlightenmentof the colored people than the benevolent element allowed them in theother border States. The custom of teaching colored pauper childrenapprenticed by church-wardens was prohibited by statute immediatelyafter Gabriel's Insurrection in 1800. [1] Negroes eager to learn werethereafter largely restricted to private tutoring and instructionoffered in Sabbath-schools. Furthermore, as Virginia developed fewurban communities there were not sufficient persons of color in anyone place to coöperate in enlightening themselves even as much aspublic sentiment allowed. After 1838 Virginia Negroes had practicallyno chance to educate themselves. 

[Footnote 1: Hening, _Statutes at Large_, vol. Xvi. , p. 124. ]

North Carolina, not unlike the border States in their good treatmentof free persons of color, placed such little restriction on theimprovement of the colored people that they early attained rank amongthe most enlightened ante-bellum Negroes. This interest, largelyon account of the zeal of the antislavery leaders and Quakers, [1]continued unabated from 1780, the time of their greatest activity, to the period of the intense abolition agitation and the servileinsurrections. In 1815 the Quakers were still exhorting their membersto establish schools for the literary and religious instruction ofNegroes. [2] The following year a school for Negroes was opened fortwo days in a week. [3] So successful was the work done by the Quakersduring this period that they could report in 1817 that most coloredminors in the Western Quarter had been "put in a way to get a portionof school learning. "[4] In 1819 some of them could spell and a fewcould write. The plan of these workers was to extend the instructionuntil males could "read, write, and cipher, " and until the femalescould "read and write. "[5]

[Footnote 1: Weeks, _Southern Quakers_, p. 231; Levi Coffin, _Reminiscences_, pp. 69-71; Bassett, _Slavery in North Carolina_, p. 66. ]

[Footnote 2: Weeks, _Southern Quakers_, p. 232. ]

[Footnote 3: Thwaites, _Early Travels_, vol. Ii. , p. 66. ]

[Footnote 4: Weeks, _Southern Quakers_, p. 232. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid_. , 232. ]

In the course of time, however, these philanthropists met with somediscouragement. In 1821 certain masters were sending their slaves toa Sunday-school opened by Levi Coffin and his son Vestal. Before theslaves had learned more than to spell words of two or three syllablesother masters became unduly alarmed, thinking that such instructionwould make the slaves discontented. [1] The timorous element threatenedthe teachers with the terrors of the law, induced the benevolentslaveholders to prohibit the attendance of their Negroes, and had theschool closed. [2] Moreover, it became more difficult to obtain aidfor this cause. Between 1815 and 1825 the North Carolina ManumissionSocieties were redoubling their efforts to raise funds for thispurpose. By 1819 they had collected $47. 00 but had not increased thisamount more than $2. 62 two years later. [3]

[Footnote 1: Coffin, _Reminiscences_, p. 69. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 70. ]

[Footnote 3: Weeks, _Southern Quakers_, p. 241. ]

The work done by the various workers in North Carolina did not affectthe general improvement of the slaves, but thanks to the humanitarianmovement, they were not entirely neglected. In 1830 the GeneralAssociation of the Manumission Societies of that commonwealthcomplained that the laws made no provision for the moral improvementof the slaves. [1] Though learning was in a very small degree diffusedamong the colored people of a few sections, it was almost unknown tothe slaves. They pointed out, too, that the little instruction some ofthe slaves had received, and by which a few had been taught tospell, or perhaps to read in "easy places, " was not due to any legalprovision, but solely to the charity "which endureth all things" andis willing to suffer reproach for the sake of being instrumental in"delivering the poor that cry" and "directing the wanderer in theright way. "[2] To ameliorate these conditions the associationrecommended among other things the enactment of a law providing forthe instruction of slaves in the elementary principles of language atleast so far as to enable them to read the Holy Scriptures. [3] Thereaction culminated, however, before this plan could be properlypresented to the people of that commonwealth. 

[Footnote 1: An Address to the People of North Carolina on the Evilsof Slavery by the Friends of Liberty and Equality, _passim_. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _]

During these years an exceptionally bright Negro was serving as ateacher not of his own race but of the most aristocratic white peopleof North Carolina. This educator was a freeman named John Chavis. Hewas born probably near Oxford, Granville County, about 1763. Chaviswas a full-blooded Negro of dark brown color. Early attracting theattention of his white neighbors, he was sent to Princeton "to seeif a Negro would take a collegiate education. " His rapid advancementunder Dr. Witherspoon "soon convinced his friends that the experimentwould issue favorable. "[1] There he took rank as a good Latin and afair Greek scholar. 

[Footnote 1: Bassett, _Slavery in North Carolina_, p. 73. ]

From Princeton he went to Virginia to preach to his own people. In1801 he served at the Hanover Presbytery as a "riding missionary underthe direction of the General Assembly. "[1] He was then reported alsoas a regularly commissioned preacher to his people in Lexington. In1805 he returned to North Carolina where he often preached to variouscongregations. [2] His career as a clergyman was brought to a closein 1831 by the law enacted to prevent Negroes from preaching. [3]Thereafter he confined himself to teaching, which was by far hismost important work. He opened a classical school for white persons, "teaching in Granville, Wake, and Chatham Counties. "[4] The bestpeople of the community patronized this school. Chavis counted amonghis students W. P. Mangum, afterwards United States Senator, P. H. Mangum, his brother, Archibald and John Henderson, sons of ChiefJustice Henderson, Charles Manly, afterwards Governor of thatcommonwealth, and Dr. James L. Wortham of Oxford, North Carolina. [5]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 74; and Baird, _A Collection_, etc. , pp. 816-817. ]

[Footnote 2: Paul C. Cameron, a son of Judge Duncan of North Carolina, said: "In my boyhood life at my father's home I often saw John Chavis, a venerable old negro man, recognized as a freeman and as a preacheror clergyman of the Presbyterian Church. As such he was received by myfather and treated with kindness and consideration, and respected as aman of education, good sense and most estimable character. " Mr. GeorgeWortham, a lawyer of Granville County, said: "I have heard him readand explain the Scriptures to my father's family repeatedly. HisEnglish was remarkably pure, containing no 'negroisms'; his manner wasimpressive, his explanations clear and concise, and his views, as Ithen thought and still think, entirely orthodox. He was said to havebeen an acceptable preacher, his sermons abounding in strong commonsense views and happy illustrations, without any effort at oratoryor sensational appeals to the passions of his hearers. " See Bassett, _Slavery in N. C_. , pp. 74-75. ]

[Footnote 3: See Chapter VII. ]

[Footnote 4: Bassett, _Slavery in North Carolina_, p. 74. ]

[Footnote 5: John S. Bassett, Professor of History at Trinity College, North Carolina, learned from a source of great respectability thatChavis not only taught the children of these distinguished families, but "was received as an equal socially and asked to table by the mostrespectable people of the neighborhood. " See Bassett, _Slavery inNorth Carolina_, p. 75. ]

We have no evidence of any such favorable conditions in SouthCarolina. There was not much public education of the Negroes of thatState even during the revolutionary epoch. Regarding education as amatter of concern to persons immediately interested South Carolinianshad long since learned to depend on private instruction for thetraining of their youth. Colored schools were not thought of outsideof Charleston. Yet although South Carolina prohibited the education ofthe slaves in 1740[1] and seemingly that of other Negroes in 1800, [2]these measures were not considered a direct attack on the instructionof free persons of color. Furthermore, the law in regard to theteaching of the blacks was ignored by sympathetic masters. Coloredpersons serving in families and attending traveling men shared withwhite children the advantage of being taught at home. Free persons ofcolor remaining accessible to teachers and missionaries interested inthe propagation of the gospel among the poor still had the opportunityto make intellectual advancement. [3]

[Footnote 1: Brevard, _Digest of the Public Statute Law of SouthCarolina_, vol. Ii. , p. 243. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 243. ]

[Footnote 3: Laws of 1740 and 1800, and Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 1078. ]

Although not as reactionary as South Carolina, little could beexpected of Georgia where slavery had such a firm hold. Unfavorable asconditions in that State were, however, they were not intolerable. Itwas still lawful for a slave to learn to read, and free persons ofcolor had the privilege of acquiring any knowledge whatsoever. [1] Thechief incentive to the education of Negroes in that State came fromthe rising Methodists and Baptists who, bringing a simple message toplain people, instilled into their minds as never before the idea thatthe Bible being the revelation of God, all men should be taught toread that book. [2]

[Footnote 1: Marbury and Crawford, _Digest of the Laws of the State ofGeorgia_, p. 438. ]

[Footnote 2: Orr, _Education in the South_. ]

In the territory known as Louisiana the good treatment of the mixedbreeds and the slaves by the French assured for years the privilegeto attend school. Rev. James Flint, of Salem, Massachusetts, receivedletters from a friend in Louisiana, who, in pointing out conditionsaround him, said: "In the regions where I live masters allow entireliberty to the slaves to attend public worship, and as far as myknowledge extends, it is generally the case in Louisiana. We have, "said he, "regular meetings of the blacks in the building where Iattend public worship. I have in the past years devoted myselfassiduously, every Sabbath morning, to the labor of learning them toread. I found them quick of apprehension, and capable of grasping therudiments of learning more rapidly than the whites. "[1]

[Footnote 1: Flint, _Recollections of the Last Ten Years_, p. 345. ]

Later the problem of educating Negroes in this section became moredifficult. The trouble was that contrary to the stipulation in thetreaty of purchase that the inhabitants of the territory of Louisianashould be admitted to all the rights and immunities of citizens of theUnited States, the State legislation, subsequent to the transfer ofjurisdiction, denied the right of education to a large class of mixedbreeds. [1] Many of these, thanks to the liberality of the French, hadbeen freed, and constituted an important element of society. Not a fewof them had educated themselves, accumulated wealth, and ranked withwhite men of refinement and culture. [2]

[Footnote 1: Laws of Louisiana. ]

[Footnote 2: Alliot, _Collections Historiques_, p. 85; and Thwaites, _Early Western Travels_, vol. Iv. , pp. 320 and 321; vol. Xii. , p. 69;and vol. Xix. , p. 126. ]

Considering the few Negroes found in the West, the interest shownthere in their mental uplift was considerable. Because of the scarcityof slaves in that section they came into helpful contact with theirmasters. Besides, the Kentucky and Tennessee abolitionists, being muchlonger active than those in most slave States, continued to emphasizethe education of the blacks as a correlative to emancipation. Furthermore, the Western Baptists, Methodists, and Scotch-IrishPresbyterians early took a stand against slavery, and urged themasters to give their servants all the proper advantages for acquiringthe knowledge of their duty both to man and God. In the large townsof Tennessee Negroes were permitted to attend private schools, and inLouisville and Lexington there were several well-regulated coloredschools. 

Two institutions for the education of slaves in the West are mentionedduring these years. In October, 1825, there appeared an advertisementfor eight or ten Negro slaves with their families to form a communityof this kind under the direction of an "Emancipating Labor Society"of the State of Kentucky. In the same year Frances Wright suggested aschool on a similar basis. She advertised in the "Genius of UniversalEmancipation" an establishment to educate freed blacks and mulattoesin West Tennessee. This was supported by a goodly number of persons, including George Fowler and, it was said, Lafayette. A letter from aPresbyterian clergyman in South Carolina says that the first slavefor this institution went from York District of that State. Theenterprise, however, was not well supported, and little was heard ofit in later years. Some asserted it was a money-making scheme for theproprietor, and that the Negroes taught there were in reality slaves;others went to the press to defend it as a benevolent effort. Bothsides so muddled the affair that it is difficult to determine exactlywhat the intentions of the founders were. [1]

[Footnote 1: Adams, _Anti-slavery_, p. 152. ]

CHAPTER VI

EDUCATING THE URBAN NEGRO

Such an impetus was given Negro education during the period of betterbeginnings that some of the colored city schools then established haveexisted even until to-day. Negroes learned from their white friends toeducate themselves. In the Middle and Southern States, however, muchof the sentiment in favor of developing the intellect of the Negropassed away during the early part of the nineteenth century. Thisreform, like many others of that day, suffered when Americans forgotthe struggle for the rights of man. Recovering from the socialupheaval of the Revolution, caste soon began to claim its own. Todiscourage the education of the lowest class was natural to thearistocrats who on coming to power established governments based onthe representation of interests, restriction of suffrage, and theineligibility of the poor to office. After this period the work ofenlightening the blacks in the southern and border States was largelyconfined to a few towns and cities where the concentration of thecolored population continued. 

The rise of the American city made possible the contact of the coloredpeople with the world, affording them a chance to observe what thewhite man was doing, and to develop the power to care for themselves. The Negroes who had this opportunity to take over the westerncivilization were servants belonging to the families for which theyworked; slaves hired out by their owners to wait upon persons; andwatermen, embracing fishermen, boatmen, and sailors. Not a few slavesin cities were mechanics, clerks, and overseers. In most of theseemployments the rudiments of an education were necessary, and what themaster did not seem disposed to teach the slaves so situated, theyusually learned by contact with their fellowmen who were betterinformed. Such persons were the mulattoes resulting frommiscegenation, and therefore protected from the rigors of the slavecode; house servants, rewarded with unusual privileges for fidelityand for manifesting considerable interest in things contributing tothe economic good of their masters; and slaves who were purchasingtheir freedom. [1] Before the close of the first quarter of thenineteenth century not much was said about what these classes learnedor taught. It was then the difference in circumstances, employment, and opportunities for improvement that made the urban Negro moreintelligent than those who had to toil in the fields. Yet, theproportion did not differ very much from that of the previousperiod, as the first Negroes were not chiefly field hands but to aconsiderable extent house servants, whom masters often taught to readand write. 

[Footnote 1: Jones, _Religious Instruction_, p. 117. ]

Urban Negroes had another important advantage in their opportunity toattend well-regulated Sunday-schools. These were extensively organizedin the towns and cities of this country during the first decades ofthe last century. The "Sabbath-school" constituted an important factorin Negro education. Although cloaked with the purpose of bringing theblacks to God by giving them religious instruction the institutionpermitted its workers to teach them reading and writing when they werenot allowed to study such in other institutions. [1] Even the radicalslaveholder was slow to object to a policy which was intended tofacilitate the conversion of men's souls. All friends especiallyinterested in the mental and spiritual uplift of the race hailed thismovement as marking an epoch in the elevation of the colored people. 

[Footnote 1: See the reports of almost any abolition society of thefirst quarter of the nineteenth century. _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 200; and Plumer, _Thoughts on the ReligiousInstruction of Negroes_. ]

In the course of time racial difficulties caused the development ofthe colored "Sabbath-school" to be very much like that of the AmericanNegro Church. It began as an establishment in the white churches, then moved to the colored chapels, where white persons assisted asteachers, and finally became an organization composed entirely ofNegroes. But the separation here, as in the case of the church, was productive of some good. The "Sabbath-schools, " which at firstdepended on white teachers to direct their work, were thereaftercarried on by Negroes, who studied and prepared themselves to performthe task given up by their former friends. This change was easily madein certain towns and cities where Negroes already had churches oftheir own. Before 1815 there was a Methodist church in Charleston, South Carolina, with a membership of eighteen hundred, more than onethousand of whom were persons of color. About this time, Williamsburgand Augusta had one each, and Savannah three colored Baptist churches. By 1822 the Negroes of Petersburg had in addition to two churches ofthis denomination, a flourishing African Missionary Society. [1] InWashington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston the freeblacks had experienced such a rapid religious development that coloredchurches in these cities were no longer considered unusual. 

[Footnote 1: Adams, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , pp. 73 and 74. ]

The increase in the population of cities brought a larger number ofthese unfortunates into helpful contact with the urban element ofwhite people who, having few Negroes, often opposed the institution ofslavery. But thrown among colored people brought in their crude stateinto sections of culture, the antislavery men of towns and citiesdeveloped from theorists, discussing a problem of concern to personsfar away, into actual workers striving by means of education to pavethe way for universal freedom. [1] Large as the number of abolitionistsbecame and bright as the future of their cause seemed, the more theantislavery men saw of the freedmen in congested districts, the moreinclined the reformers were to think that instant abolition was anevent which they "could not reasonably expect, and perhaps could notdesire. " Being in a state of deplorable ignorance, the slaves did notpossess sufficient information "to render their immediate emancipationa blessing either to themselves or to society. "[2]

[Footnote 1: As some masters regarded the ignorance of the slaves asan argument against their emancipation, the antislavery men's problembecame the education of the master as well as that of the slave. Believing that intellectual and moral improvement is a "safe andpermanent basis on which the arch of freedom could be erected, " JesseTorrey, harking back to Jefferson's proposition, recommended thatit begin by instructing the slaveholders, overseers, their sons anddaughters, hitherto deprived of the blessing of education. Then hethought that such enlightened masters should see to it that everyslave less than thirty years of age should be taught the art ofreading sufficiently for receiving moral and religious instructionfrom books in the English language. In presenting this scheme Torreyhad the idea of most of the antislavery men of that day, who advocatedthe education of slaves because they believed that, whenever theslaves should become qualified by intelligence and moral cultivationfor the rational enjoyment of liberty and the performance of thevarious social duties, enlightened legislators would listen to thevoice of reason and justice and the spirit of the social organization, and permit the release of the slave without banishing him as a traitorfrom his native land. See Torrey's _Portraiture of Domestic Slavery_, p. 21. ]

[Footnote 2: Sidney, _An Oration Commemorative of the Abolition of theSlave Trade in the United States_, p. 5; and Adams, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , pp. 40, 43, 65, and 66. ]

Yet in the same proportion that antislavery men convinced masters ofthe wisdom of the policy of gradual emancipation, they increased theirown burden of providing extra facilities of education, for liberatedNegroes generally made their way from the South to urban communitiesof the Northern and Middle States. The friends of the colored people, however, met this exigency by establishing additional schools andrepeatedly entreating these migrating freedmen to avail themselvesof their opportunities. The address of the American Convention ofAbolition Societies in 1819 is typical of these appeals. [1] Theyrequested free persons of color to endeavor as much as possible to useeconomy in their expenses, to save something from their earningsfor the education of their children ... And "let all those who byattending to this admonition have acquired means, send their childrento school as soon as they are old enough, where their morals willbe an object of attention as well as their improvement in schoollearning. " Then followed some advice which would now seem strange. They said, "Encourage, also, those among you who are qualified asteachers of schools, and when you are able to pay, never send yourchildren to free schools; for this may be considered as robbing thepoor of their opportunities which are intended for them alone. "[2]

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1819, p. 21. ]

[Footnote 2: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1819, p. 22. ]

The concentration of the colored population in cities and towns wherethey had better educational advantages tended to make colored cityschools self-supporting. There developed a class of self-educatingNegroes who were able to provide for their own enlightenment. Thiscondition, however, did not obtain throughout the South. Being aproslavery farming section of few large towns and cities, that part ofthe country did not see much development of the self-sufficient class. What enlightenment most urban blacks of the South experienced resultedmainly from private teaching and religious instruction. There weresome notable exceptions, however. A colored "Santo Dominican" namedJulian Troumontaine taught openly in Savannah up to 1829 when suchan act was prohibited by law. He taught clandestinely thereafter, however, until 1844. [1] In New Orleans, where the Creoles and freedmencounted early in the nineteenth century as a substantial element insociety, persons of color had secured to themselves better facilitiesof education. The people of this city did not then regard it as acrime for Negroes to acquire an education, their white instructorsfelt that they were not condescending in teaching them, and childrenof Caucasian blood raised no objection to attending special andparochial schools accessible to both races. The educational privilegeswhich the colored people there enjoyed, however, were largely paid forby the progressive freedmen themselves. [2] Some of them educated theirchildren in France. 

[Footnote 1: Wright, _Negro Education in Georgia_, p. 20. ]

[Footnote 2: Many of the mixed breeds of New Orleans were leadingbusiness men. ]

Charleston, South Carolina, furnished a good example of a center ofunusual activity and rapid strides of self-educating urban Negroes. Driven to the point of doing for themselves, the free people of colorof this city organized in 1810 the "Minor Society" to secure to theirorphan children the benefits of education. [1] Bishop Payne, whostudied later under Thomas Bonneau, attended the school founded bythis organization. Other colored schools were doing successful work. Enjoying these unusual advantages the Negroes of Charleston wereearly in the nineteenth century ranked by some as economically andintellectually superior to any other such persons in the UnitedStates. A large portion of the leading mechanics, fashionable tailors, shoe manufacturers, and mantua-makers were free blacks, who enjoyed "aconsideration in the community far more than that enjoyed by any ofthe colored population in the Northern cities. "[2] As such positionsrequired considerable skill and intelligence, these laborers had ofnecessity acquired a large share of useful knowledge. The favorablecircumstances of the Negroes in certain liberal southern cities likeCharleston were the cause of their return from the North to the South, where they often had a better opportunity for mental as wellas economic improvement. [3] The return of certain Negroes fromPhiladelphia to Petersburg, Virginia, during the first decade of thenineteenth century, is a case in evidence. [4]

[Footnote 1: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 1078. ]

[Footnote 2: _Niles Register_, vol. Xlix. , p. 40. ]

[Footnote 3: _Notions of the Americans_, p. 26. ]

[Footnote 4: Wright, _Views of Society and Manners in America_, p. 73. ]

The successful strivings of the race in the District of Columbiafurnish us with striking examples of Negroes making educationalprogress. When two white teachers, Henry Potter and Mrs. Haley, invited black children to study with their white pupils, the coloredpeople gladly availed themselves of this opportunity. [1] Mrs. MariaBillings, the first to establish a real school for Negroes inGeorgetown, soon discovered that she had their hearty support. She hadpupils from all parts of the District of Columbia, and from as far asBladensburg, Maryland. The tuition fee in some of these schools wasa little high, but many free blacks of the District of Columbiawere sufficiently well established to meet these demands. The rapidprogress made by the Bell and Browning families during this periodwas of much encouragement to the ambitious colored people, who werelaboring to educate their children. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, pp. 195_et seq. _]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 195. ]

The city Negroes, however, were learning to do more than merely attendaccessible elementary schools. In 1807 George Bell, NicholasFranklin, and Moses Liverpool, former slaves, built the first coloredschoolhouse in the District of Columbia. Just emerging from bondage, these men could not teach themselves, but employed a white man totake charge of the school. [1] It was not a success. Pupils of colorthereafter attended the school of Anne Maria Hall, a teacher fromPrince George County, Maryland, and those of teachers who instructedwhite children. [2] The ambitious Negroes of the District of Columbia, however, were not discouraged by the first failure to provide theirown educational facilities. The Bell School which had been closed andused as a dwelling, opened again in 1818 under the auspices of anassociation of free people of color of the city of Washington calledthe "Resolute Beneficial Society. " The school was declared open then"for the reception of free people of color and others that ladiesand gentlemen may think proper to send to be instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, or other branches of educationapposite to their capacities, by steady, active and experiencedteachers, whose attention is wholly devoted to the purpose described. "The founders presumed that free colored families would embrace theadvantages thus presented to them either by subscription to the fundsof the Society or by sending their children to the school. Since theimprovement of the intellect and the morals of the colored youth werethe objects of the institution, the patronage of benevolent ladiesand gentlemen was solicited. They declared, too, that "to avoiddisagreeable occurrences no writing was to be done by the teacher fora slave, neither directly nor indirectly to serve the purpose of aslave on any account whatever. "[3] This school was continued until1822 under Mr. Pierpont, of Massachusetts, a relative of the poet. He was succeeded two years later by John Adams, a shoemaker, who wasknown as the first Negro to teach in the District of Columbia. [4]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, 196. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, 197. ]

[Footnote 3: _Daily National Intelligencer_, August 29, 1818. ]

[Footnote 4: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 198. ]

Of equal importance was the colored seminary established by HenrySmothers, a pupil of Mrs. Billings. Like her, he taught first inGeorgetown. He began his advanced work near the Treasury building, having an attendance of probably one hundred and fifty pupils, generally paying tuition. The fee, however, was not compulsory. Smothers taught for about two years, and then was succeeded by JohnProut, a colored man of rare talents, who later did much in oppositionto the scheme of transporting Negroes to Africa before they had thebenefits of education. [1] The school was then called the "ColumbianInstitute. " Prout was later assisted by Mrs. Anne Maria Hall. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, 1871, p. 199. ]

[Footnote 2: Other schools of importance were springing up from yearto year. As early as 1824 Mrs. Mary Wall, a member of the Societyof Friends, had opened a school for Negroes and received so manyapplications that many had to be refused. From this school came manywell-prepared colored men, among whom were James Wormley and JohnThomas Johnson. Another school was established by Thomas Tabbs, whoreceived "a polished education from the distinguished Maryland familyto which he belonged. " Mr. Tabbs came to Washington before the Warof 1812 and began teaching those who came to him when he had aschoolhouse, and when he had none he went from house to house, stopping even under the trees to teach wherever he found pupils whowere interested. See _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, pp. 212, 213, and 214. ]

Of this self-educative work of Negroes some of the best wasaccomplished by colored women. With the assistance of Father Vanlomen, the benevolent priest then in charge of the Holy Trinity Church, MariaBecraft, the most capable colored woman in the District of Columbia atthat time, established there the first seminary for the education ofcolored girls. She had begun to teach in a less desirable section, butimpressed with the unusual beauty and strong character of this girl, Father Vanlomen had her school transferred to a larger building onFayette Street where she taught until 1831. She then turned over herseminary to girls she had trained, and became a teacher in a conventat Baltimore as a Sister of Providence. [1] Other good results wereobtained by Louisa Parke Costin, a member of one of the oldestcolored families in the District of Columbia. Desiring to diffuse theknowledge she acquired from white teachers in the early mixed schoolsof the District, she decided to teach. She opened her school justabout the time that Henry Smothers was making his reputation as aneducator. She died in 1831, after years of successful work had crownedher efforts. Her task was then taken up by her sister, Martha, who hadbeen trained in the Convent Seminary of Baltimore. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 204. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 203. ]

Equally helpful was the work of Arabella Jones. Educated at the St. Frances Academy at Baltimore, she was well grounded in the Englishbranches and fluent in French. She taught on the "Island, " calling herschool "The St. Agnes Academy. "[1] Another worker of this classwas Mary Wormley, once a student in the Colored Female Seminary ofPhiladelphia under Sarah Douglass. This lady began teaching about1830, getting some assistance from Mr. Calvert, an Englishman. [2] Theinstitution passed later into the hands of Thomas Lee, during theincumbency of whom the school was closed by the "Snow Riot. " Thiswas an attempt on the part of the white people to get rid of theprogressive Negroes of the District of Columbia. Their excuse forsuch drastic action was that Benjamin Snow, a colored man running arestaurant in the city, had made unbecoming remarks about the wivesof the white mechanics. [3] John F. Cook, one of the most influentialeducators produced in the District of Columbia, was driven out of thecity by this mob. He then taught at Lancaster, Pa. 

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 211. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 211. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, p. 201. ]

While the colored schools of the District of Columbia suffered as aresult of this disturbance, the Negroes then in charge of them weretoo ambitious, too well-educated to discontinue their work. Thesituation, however, was in no sense encouraging. With the exception ofthe churches of the Catholics and Quakers who vied with each other inmaintaining a benevolent attitude toward the education of the coloredpeople, [1] the churches of the District of Columbia, in the Sabbathschools of which Negroes once sat in the same seats with whitepersons, were on account of this riot closed to the darker race. [2]This expulsion however, was not an unmixed evil, for the coloredpeople themselves thereafter established and directed a larger numberof institutions of learning. [3]

[Footnote 1: The Catholics admitted the colored people to theirchurches on equal footing with others when they were driven to thegalleries of the Protestant churches. Furthermore, they continuedto admit them to their parochial schools. The Sisters of Georgetowntrained colored girls, and the parochial school of the Aloysius Churchat one time had as many as two hundred and fifty pupils of color. Manyof the first colored teachers of the District of Columbia obtainedtheir education in these schools. See _Special Report of U. S. Com. OfEd. _, 1871, p. 218 _et. Seq. _]

[Footnote 2: _Sp. Report_, etc. 187, pp. 217, 218, 219, 220, 221. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, pp. 220-222. ]

The colored schools of the District of Columbia soon resumed theirgrowth recovering most of the ground they had lost and exhibitingevidences of more systematic work. These schools ceased to beelementary classes, offering merely courses in reading and writing, but developed into institutions of higher grade supplied withcompetent teachers. Among other useful schools then flourishing inthis vicinity were those of Alfred H. Parry, Nancy Grant, BenjaminMcCoy, John Thomas Johnson, James Enoch Ambush, and Dr. John H. Fleet. [1] John F. Cook returned from Pennsylvania and reopened hisseminary. [2] About this time there flourished a school established byFannie Hampton. After her death the work was carried on by MargaretThompson until 1846. She then married Charles Middleton and becamehis assistant teacher. He was a free Negro who had been educated inSavannah, Georgia, while attending school with white and coloredchildren. He founded a successful school about the time that Fleet andJohnson[3] retired. Middleton's school, however, owes its importance to the fact that it was connected withthe movement for free colored public schools started by Jesse E. Dow, an official of the city, and supported by Rev. Doctor Wayman, thenpastor of the Bethel Church. [4] Other colaborers with these teacherswere Alexander Cornish, Richard Stokes, and Margaret Hill. [5]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, pp. 212, 213, and 283. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 200. ]

[Footnote 3: Compelled to leave Washington in 1838 because of thepersecution of free persons of color, Johnson stopped in Pittsburgwhere he entered a competitive teacher examination with two whiteaspirants and won the coveted position. He taught in Pittsburgseveral years, worked on the Mississippi a while, returned later toWashington, and in 1843 constructed a building in which he openedanother school. It was attended by from 150 to 200 students, most ofwhom belonged to the most prominent colored families of the Districtof Columbia. See _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 214. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, p. 215. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid. _, pp. 214-215. ]

Then came another effort on a large scale. This was the school ofAlexander Hays, an emancipated slave of the Fowler family of Maryland. Hays succeeded his wife as a teacher. He soon had the support of suchprominent men as Rev. Doctor Sampson, William Winston Seaton and R. S. Coxe. Joseph T. And Thomas H. Mason and Mr. And Mrs. Fletcher wereHays's contemporaries. The last two were teachers from England. On account of the feeling then developing against white personsinstructing Negroes, these philanthropists saw their schoolhousesburned, themselves expelled from the white churches, and finallydriven from the city in 1858. [1] Other white men and women wereteaching colored children during these years. The most prominent ofthese were Thomas Tabbs, an erratic philanthropist, Mr. Nutall, anEnglishman; Mr. Talbot, a successful tutor stationed near the presentsite of the Franklin School; and Mrs. George Ford, a Virginian, conducting a school on New Jersey Avenue between K and L Streets. [2]The efforts of Miss Myrtilla Miner, their contemporary, will bementioned elsewhere. [3]

[Footnote 1: Besides the classes taught by these workers there wasthe Eliza Ann Cook private school; Miss Washington's school; a selectprimary school; a free Catholic school maintained by the St. Vincentde Paul Society, an association of colored Catholics in connectionwith St. Matthew's Church. This institution was organized by thebenevolent Father Walter at the Smothers School. Then there wereteachers like Elizabeth Smith, Isabella Briscoe, Charlotte Beams, James Shorter, Charlotte Gordon, and David Brown. Furthermore, variouschurches, parochial, and Sunday-schools were then sharing the burdenof educating the Negro population of the District of Columbia. See_Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, pp. 214, 215, 216, 217, 218 _et seq. _]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 214. ]

[Footnote 3: O'Connor, Myrtilla Miner, p. 80. ]

The Negroes of Baltimore were almost as self-educating as those of theDistrict of Columbia. The coming of the refugees and French Fathersfrom Santo Domingo to Baltimore to escape the revolution[1] marked anepoch in the intellectual progress of the colored people of that city. Thereafter their intellectual class had access to an increasing blackpopulation, anxious to be enlightened. Given this better workingbasis, they secured from the ranks of the Catholics additionalcatechists and teachers to give a larger number of illiterates thefundamentals of education. Their untiring co-worker in furnishingthese facilities, was the Most Reverend Ambrose Maréchal, Archbishopof Baltimore from 1817 to 1828. [2] These schools were such animprovement over those formerly opened to Negroes that colored youthsof other towns and cities thereafter came to Baltimore for highertraining. [3]

[Footnote 1: Drewery, _Slave Insurrections in Virginia_, p. 121. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 205. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, p. 205. ]

The coming of these refugees to Baltimore had a direct bearing on theeducation of colored girls. Their condition excited the sympathy ofthe immigrating colored women. These ladies had been educated both inthe Island of Santo Domingo and in Paris. At once interested in theuplift of this sex, they soon constituted the nucleus of the societythat finally formed the St. Frances Academy for girls in connectionwith the Oblate Sisters of Providence Convent in Baltimore, June 5, 1829. [1] This step was sanctioned by the Reverend James Whitefield, the successor of Archbishop Maréchal, and was later approved by theHoly See. The institution was located on Richmond Street in a buildingwhich on account of the rapid growth of the school soon gave way tolarger quarters. The aim of the institution was to train girls, allof whom "would become mothers or household servants, in such solidvirtues and religious and moral principles as modesty, honesty, andintegrity. "[2] To reach this end they endeavored to supply the schoolwith cultivated and capable teachers. Students were offered courses inall the branches of "refined and useful education, including all thatis regularly taught in well regulated female seminaries. "[3] Thisschool was so well maintained that it survived all reactionary attacksand became a center of enlightenment for colored women. 

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 205. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 206. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, p. 206. ]

At the same time there were other persons and organizations in thefield. Prominent among the first of these workers was Daniel Coker, known to fame as a colored Methodist missionary, who was sent toLiberia. Prior to 1812 he had in Baltimore an academy which certainstudents from Washington attended when they had no good schools oftheir own, and when white persons began to object to the co-educationof the races. Because of these conditions two daughters of GeorgeBell, the builder of the first colored schoolhouse in the District ofColumbia, went to Baltimore to study under Coker. [1] An adult Negroschool in this city had 180 pupils in 1820. There were then in theBaltimore Sunday-schools about 600 Negroes. They had formed themselvesinto a Bible association which had been received into the connectionof the Baltimore Bible Society. [2] In 1825 the Negroes there had a dayand a night school, giving courses in Latin and French. Four yearslater there appeared an "African Free School" with an attendance offrom 150 to 175 every Sunday. [3]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 196. ]

[Footnote 2: Adams, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 14. ]

[Footnote 3: Adams, _Anti-Slavery_, etc. , pp. 14 and 15. ]

By 1830 the Negroes of Baltimore had several special schools of theirown. [1] In 1835 there was behind the African Methodist Church in SharpStreet a school of seventy pupils in charge of William Watkins. [2] W. Livingston, an ordained clergyman of the Episcopal Church, had then acolored school of eighty pupils in the African Church at the corner ofSaratoga and Ninth Streets. [3] A third school of this kind was kept byJohn Fortie at the Methodist Bethel Church in Fish Street. Five or sixother schools of some consequence were maintained by free women ofcolor, who owed their education to the Convent of the Oblate Sistersof Providence. [4] Observing these conditions, an interested personthought that much more would have been accomplished in that community, if the friends of the colored people had been able to find workersacceptable to the masters and at the same time competent to teach theslaves. [5] Yet another observer felt that the Negroes of Baltimore hadmore opportunities than they embraced. [6]

[Footnote 1: Buckingham, _America, Historical_, etc. , vol. I. , p. 438. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 438; Andrews, _Slavery and the Domestic SlaveTrade_, pp. 54, 55, and 56; and Varle, _A Complete View of Baltimore_, p. 33. ]

[Footnote 3: Varle, _A Complete View of Baltimore_, p. 33; andAndrews, _Slavery and the Domestic Slave Trade_, pp. 85 and 92. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, p. 33. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid. _, p. 54. ]

[Footnote 6: _Ibid. _, p. 37. ]

These conditions, however, were so favorable in 1835 that whenProfessor E. A. Andrews came to Baltimore to introduce the work ofthe American Union for the Relief and Improvement of the ColoredPeople, [1] he was informed that the education of the Negroes of thatcity was fairly well provided for. Evidently the need was that the"systematic and sustained exertions" of the workers should springfrom a more nearly perfect organization "to give efficiency to theirphilanthropic labors. "[2] He was informed that as his society was ofNew England, it would on account of its origin in the wrong quarter, be productive of mischief. [3] The leading people of Baltimorethought that it would be better to accomplish this task through theColonization Society, a southern organization carrying out the verypolicy which the American Union proposed to pursue. [4]

[Footnote 1: On January 14, 1835, a convention of more than onehundred gentlemen from ten different States assembled in Boston andorganized the "American Union for the Relief and Improvement of theColored Race. " Among these workers were William Reed, Daniel Noyes, J. W. Chickering, J. W. Putnam, Baron Stow, B. B. Edwards, E. A. Andrews, Charles Scudder, Joseph Tracy, Samuel Worcester, and Charles Tappan. The gentlemen were neither antagonistic to the antislavery nor to thecolonization societies. They aimed to do that which had been neglectedin giving the Negroes proper preparation for freedom. Knowing thatthe actual emancipation of an oppressed race cannot be effected bylegislation, they hoped to provide religious and literary instructionfor all colored children that they might "ameliorate their economiccondition" and prepare themselves for higher usefulness. See the_Exposition of the Object and Plans of the American Union_, pp. 11-14. ]

[Footnote 2: Andrews, _Slavery and the Domestic Slave Trade_, p. 57. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 188. ]

[Footnote 4: Andrews, _Slavery_, etc. , p. 56. ]

The instruction of ambitious blacks in this city was not confined tomere rudimentary training. The opportunity for advanced study wasoffered colored girls in the Convent of the Oblate Sisters ofProvidence. These Negroes, however, early learned to help themselves. In 1835 considerable assistance came from Nelson Wells, one of theirown color. He left to properly appointed trustees the sum of $10, 000, the income of which was to be appropriated to the education of freecolored children. [1] With this benefaction the trustees concernedestablished in 1835 what they called the Wells School. It offeredNegroes free instruction long after the Civil War. 

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 353. ]

In seeking to show how these good results were obtained by theNegroes' coöperative power and ability to supply their own needs, weare not unmindful of the assistance which they received. To say thatthe colored people of Baltimore, themselves, provided all thesefacilities of education would do injustice to the benevolent elementof that city. Among its white people were found so much tolerationof opinion on slavery and so much sympathy with the efforts for itsremoval, that they not only permitted the establishment of Negrochurches, but opened successful colored schools in which white menand women assisted personally in teaching. Great praise is duephilanthropists of the type of John Breckenridge and Daniel Raymond, who contributed their time and means to the cause and enlisted theefforts of others. Still greater credit should be given to WilliamCrane, who for forty years was known as an "ardent, liberal, and wisefriend of the black man. " At the cost of $20, 000 he erected in thecentral part of the city an edifice exclusively for the benefit ofthe colored people. In this building was an auditorium, severallarge schoolrooms, and a hall for entertainments and lectures. Theinstitution employed a pastor and two teachers[1] and it was oftenmentioned as a high school. 

[Footnote 1: A contributor to the _Christian Chronicle_ found in thisinstitution a pastor, a principal of the school, and an assistant, all of superior qualifications. The classes which this reporter heardrecite grammar and geography convinced him of the thoroughness of thework and the unusual readiness of the colored people to learn. See_The African Repository_, vol. Xxxii. , p. 91. ]

In northern cities like Philadelphia and New York, where benevolentorganizations provided an adequate number of colored schools, the freeblacks did not develop so much of the power to educate themselves. TheNegroes of these cities, however, cannot be considered exceptions tothe rule. Many of those of Philadelphia were of the most ambitiouskind, men who had purchased their freedom or had developed sufficientintelligence to delude their would-be captors and conquer theinstitution of slavery. Settled in this community, the thrifty classaccumulated wealth which they often used, not only to defray theexpenses of educating their own children, but to provide educationalfacilities for the poor children of color. 

Gradually developing the power to help themselves, the free peopleof color organized a society which in 1804 opened a school with JohnTrumbull as teacher. [1] About the same time the African Episcopaliansfounded a colored school at their church. [2] A colored man gave threehundred pounds of the required funds to build the first coloredschoolhouse in Philadelphia. [3] In 1830 one fourth of the twelvehundred colored children in the schools of that city paid for theirinstruction, whereas only two hundred and fifty were attending thepublic schools in 1825. [4] The fact that some of the Negroes were ableand willing to share the responsibility of enlightening their peoplecaused a larger number of philanthropists to come to the rescueof those who had to depend on charity. Furthermore, of the manyachievements claimed for the colored schools of Philadelphia none wereconsidered more significant than that they produced teachers qualifiedto carry on this work. Eleven of the sixteen colored schools inPhiladelphia in 1822 were taught by teachers of African descent. In1830 the system was practically in the hands of Negroes. [5]

[Footnote 1: Turner, _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, p. 129. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 130. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 377. ]

[Footnote 4: _Proceedings of the American Convention_, etc. , 1825, p. 13. ]

[Footnote 5: _Proceedings of the Am. Convention_, etc. , 1830, p. 8; andWickersham, _History of Education in Pennsylvania_, p. 253. ]

The statistics of later years show how successful these early effortshad been. By 1849 the colored schools of Philadelphia had developedto the extent that they seemed like a system. According to the_Statistical Inquiry into the Condition of Colored People in and aboutPhiladelphia_, published that year, there were 1643 children of colorattending well-regulated schools. The larger institutions were mainlysupported by State and charitable organizations of which the Societyof Friends and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society were the mostimportant. Besides supporting these institutions, however, theintelligent colored men of Philadelphia had maintained smaller schoolsand organized a system of lyceums and debating clubs, one of which hada library of 1400 volumes. Moreover, there were then teaching in thecolored families and industrial schools of Philadelphia many men andwomen of both races. [1] Although these instructors restricted theirwork to the teaching of the rudiments of education, they did much tohelp the more advanced schools to enlighten the Negroes who came tothat city in large numbers when conditions became intolerable forthe free people of color in the slave States. The statistics of thefollowing decade show unusual progress. In the year 1859 there werein the colored public schools of Philadelphia, 1031 pupils; in thecharity schools, 748; in the benevolent schools, 211; in privateschools, 331; in all, 2321, whereas in 1849 there were only 1643. [2]

[Footnote 1: About the middle of the nineteenth century coloredschools of various kinds arose in Philadelphia. With a view to givingNegroes industrial training their friends opened "The School for theDestitute" at the House of Industry in 1848. Three years later SarahLuciana was teaching a school of seventy youths at this House ofIndustry, and the Sheppard School, another industrial institution, was in operation in 1850 in a building bearing the same name. In 1849arose the "Corn Street Unclassified School" of forty-seven childrenin charge of Sarah L. Peltz. "The Holmesburg Unclassified School" wasorganized in 1854. Other institutions of various purposes were "TheHouse of Refuge, " "The Orphans' Shelter, " and "The Home forColored Children. " See Bacon, _Statistics of the Colored People ofPhiladelphia_, 1859. 

Among those then teaching in private schools of Philadelphia wereSolomon Clarkson, Robert George, John Marshall, John Ross, JonathanTudas, and David Ware. Ann Bishop, Virginia Blake, Amelia Bogle, AnneE. Carey, Sarah Ann Douglass, Rebecca Hailstock, Emma Hall, EmmelineHiggins, Margaret Johnson, Martha Richards, Dinah Smith, Mary Still, and one Peterson were teaching in families. See _Statistical Inquiry_, etc. , 1849, p. 19; and Bacon, _Statistics of the Colored People ofPhiladelphia_, 1859. ]

[Footnote 2: _Statistical Inquiry into the Condition of the ColoredPeople of Philadelphia_, in 1859. ]

Situated like those of Philadelphia, the free blacks of New York Citydid not have to maintain their own schools. This was especially trueafter 1832 when the colored people had qualified themselves to takeover the schools of the New York Manumission Society. They then gotrid of all the white teachers, even Andrews, the principal, who hadfor years directed this system. Besides, the economic progress ofcertain Negroes there made possible the employment of the increasingnumber of colored teachers, who had availed themselves of theopportunities afforded by the benevolent schools. The stigma thenattached to one receiving seeming charity through free schoolsstimulated thrifty Negroes to have their children instructed either inprivate institutions kept by friendly white teachers or by teachers oftheir own color. [1] In 1812 a society of the free people of color wasorganized to raise a fund, the interest of which was to sustain afree school for orphan children. [2] This society succeeded later inestablishing and maintaining two schools. At this time there werein New York City three other colored schools, the teachers of whichreceived their compensation from those who patronized them. [3]

[Footnote 1: See the Address of the American Convention, 1819. ]

[Footnote 2: _Proceedings of the Am. Convention_, etc. , 1812, p. 7. 

Certain colored women were then organized to procure and make fordestitute persons of color. See Andrews, _History of the New YorkAfrican Free Schools_, p. 58. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, p. 58. ]

Whether from lack of interest in their welfare on the part of thepublic, or from the desire of the Negroes to share their own burdens, the colored people of Rhode Island were endeavoring to provide forthe education of their children during the first decades of the lastcentury. _The Newport Mercury_ of March 26, 1808, announced that theAfrican Benevolent Society had opened there a school kept by NewportGardner, who was to instruct all colored people "inclined to attend. "The records of the place show that this school was in operation eightyears later. [1]

[Footnote 1: Stockwell, _History of Ed. In R. I. _, p. 30. ]

In Boston, where were found more Negroes than in most New Englandcommunities, the colored people themselves maintained a separateschool after the revolutionary era. In the towns of Salem, Nantucket, New Bedford, and Lowell the colored schools failed to make muchprogress after the first quarter of the nineteenth century on accountof the more liberal construction of the laws which provided fordemocratic education. This the free blacks were forced to advocate forthe reason that the seeming onerous task of supporting a dual systemoften caused the neglect, and sometimes the extinction of the separateschools. Furthermore, either the Negroes of some of these towns weretoo scarce or the movement to furnish them special facilities ofeducation started too late to escape the attacks of the abolitionists. Seeing their mistake of first establishing separate schools, theybegan to attack caste in public education. 

In the eastern cities where colored school systems thereaftercontinued, the work was not always successful. The influx of fugitivesin the rough sometimes jeopardized their chances for education bymenacing liberal communities with the trouble of caring for anundesirable class. The friends of the Negroes, however, received moreencouragement during the two decades immediately preceding the CivilWar. There was a change in the attitude of northern cities towardthe uplift of the colored refugees. Catholics, Protestants, andabolitionists often united their means to make provision for theeducation of accessible Negroes, although these friends of theoppressed could not always agree on other important schemes. Even thecolonizationists, the object of attack from the ardent antislaveryelement, considerably aided the cause. They educated for work inLiberia a number of youths, who, given the opportunity to attendgood schools, demonstrated the capacity of the colored people. Moreimportant factors than the colonizationists were the free people ofcolor. Brought into the rapidly growing urban communities, theseNegroes began to accumulate sufficient wealth to provide permanentschools of their own. Many of these were later assimilated bythe systems of northern cities when their separate schools weredisestablished. 

CHAPTER VII

THE REACTION

Encouraging as had been the movement to enlighten the Negroes, therehad always been at work certain reactionary forces which impeded theintellectual progress of the colored people. The effort to enlightenthem that they might be emancipated to enjoy the political rightsgiven white men, failed to meet with success in those sections whereslaves were found in large numbers. Feeling that the body politic, asconceived by Locke and Montesquieu, did not include the slaves, manycitizens opposed their education on the ground that their mentalimprovement was inconsistent with their position as persons held toservice. For this reason there was never put forward any systematiceffort to elevate the slaves. Every master believed that he had adivine right to deal with the situation as he chose. Moreover, evenbefore the policy of mental and moral improvement of the slaves couldbe given a trial, some colonists, anticipating the "evils of thescheme, " sought to obviate them by legislation. Such we have observedwas the case in Virginia, [1] South Carolina, [2] and Georgia. [3] Tocontrol the assemblies of slaves, North Carolina, [4] Delaware, [5] andMaryland[6] early passed strict regulations for their inspection. 

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 391. ]

[Footnote 2: Brevard, _Digest of the Public Statute Law of S. C. _, vol. Ii. , p. 243. ]

[Footnote 3: Marbury and Crawford, _Digest of Laws of the State ofGeorgia_, p. 438. ]

[Footnote 4: _Laws of North Carolina_, vol. I. , pp. 126, 563, and741. ]

[Footnote 5: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 335. ]

[Footnote 6: _Ibid. _, p. 352. ]

The actual opposition of the masters to the mental improvement ofNegroes, however, did not assume sufficiently large proportions toprevent the intellectual progress of that race, until two forces thenat work had had time to become effective in arousing southern plantersto the realization of what a danger enlightened colored men wouldbe to the institution of slavery. These forces were the industrialrevolution and the development of an insurrectionary spirit amongslaves, accelerated by the rapid spreading of the abolition agitation. The industrial revolution was effected by the multiplication ofmechanical appliances for spinning and weaving which so influenced theinstitution of slavery as seemingly to doom the Negroes to heathenism. These inventions were the spinning jenny, the steam engine, the powerloom, the wool-combing machine, and the cotton gin. They augmentedthe output of spinning mills, and in cheapening cloth, increased thedemand by bringing it within the reach of the poor. The result wasthat a revolution was brought about not only in Europe, but also inthe United States to which the world looked for this larger supply ofcotton fiber. [1] This demand led to the extension of the plantationsystem on a larger scale. It was unfortunate, however, that many ofthe planters thus enriched, believed that the slightest amount ofeducation, merely teaching slaves to read, impaired their valuebecause it instantly destroyed their contentedness. Since they did notcontemplate changing their condition, it was surely doing them an illservice to destroy their acquiescence in it. This revolution then hadbrought it to pass that slaves who were, during the eighteenth centuryadvertised as valuable on account of having been enlightened, were inthe nineteenth century considered more dangerous than useful. 

[Footnote 1: Turner, _The Rise of the New West_, pp. 45, 46, 47, 48, and 49; and Hammond, _Cotton Industry_, chaps. I. And ii. ]

With the rise of this system, and the attendant increased importationof slaves, came the end of the helpful contact of servants with theirmasters. Slavery was thereby changed from a patriarchal to an economicinstitution. Thereafter most owners of extensive estates abandoned theidea that the mental improvement of slaves made them better servants. Doomed then to be half-fed, poorly clad, and driven to death in thiscotton kingdom, what need had the slaves for education? Some plantershit upon the seemingly more profitable scheme of working newlyimported slaves to death during seven years and buying another supplyrather than attempt to humanize them. [1] Deprived thus of helpfuladvice and instruction, the slaves became the object of pity not onlyto abolitionists of the North but also to some southerners. Not afew of these reformers, therefore, favored the extermination of theinstitution. Others advocated the expansion of slavery not to extendthe influence of the South, but to disperse the slaves with a view tobringing about a closer contact between them and their masters. [2]This policy was duly emphasized during the debate on the admission ofthe State of Missouri. 

[Footnote 1: Rhodes, _History of the United States_, vol. I. , p. 32;Kemble, Journal, p. 28; Martineau, _Society in America_, vol. I. , p. 308; Weld, _Slavery_, etc. , p. 41. ]

[Footnote 2: Annals of Congress, First Session, vol. I. , pp. 996 _etseq. _ and 1296 _et seq. _]

Seeking to direct the attention of the world to the slavery of men'sbodies and minds the abolitionists spread broadcast through the Southnewspapers, tracts, and pamphlets which, whether or not they had mucheffect in inducing masters to improve the condition of their slaves, certainly moved Negroes themselves. It hardly required enlightenmentto convince slaves that they would be better off as freemen than asdependents whose very wills were subject to those of their masters. Accordingly even in the seventeenth century there developed in theminds of bondmen the spirit of resistance. The white settlers of thecolonies held out successfully in putting down the early riots ofNegroes. When the increasing intelligent Negroes of the South, however, observed in the abolition literature how the condition of theAmerican slaves differed from that of the ancient servants and evenfrom what it once had been in the United States; when they fullyrealized their intolerable condition compared with that of white men, who were clamoring for liberty and equality, there rankled in thebosom of slaves that insurrectionary passion productive of the daringuprisings which made the chances for the enlightenment of coloredpeople poorer than they had ever been in the history of this country. 

The more alarming insurrections of the first quarter of the nineteenthcentury were the immediate cause of the most reactionary measures. It was easily observed that these movements were due to the mentalimprovement of the colored people during the struggle for the rightsof man. Not only had Negroes heard from the lips of their masterswarm words of praise for the leaders of the French Revolution but haddeveloped sufficient intelligence themselves to read the story of theheroes of the world, who were then emboldened to refresh the treeof liberty "with the blood of patriots and tyrants. "[1] Theinsurrectionary passion among the colored people was kindled, too, around Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, and New Orleans by certainNegroes who to escape the horrors of the political upheaval in SantoDomingo, [2] immigrated into this country in 1793. The education of thecolored race had paved the way for the dissemination of their ideas ofliberty and equality. Enlightened bondmen persistently made troublefor the white people in these vicinities. Negroes who could not read, learned from others the story of Toussaint L'Ouverture, whose examplecolored men were then ambitious to emulate. 

[Footnote 1: Washington, _Works of Jefferson_, vol. Iv. , p. 467. ]

[Footnote 2: Drewery, _Insurrections in Virginia_, p. 121. ]

The insurrection of Gabriel in Virginia and that of South Carolina inthe year 1800 are cases in evidence. Unwilling to concede that slavescould have so well planned such a daring attack, the press of thetime insisted that two Frenchmen were the promoters of the affair inVirginia. [1] James Monroe said there was no evidence that any whiteman was connected with it. [2] It was believed that the generaltendency of the Negroes toward an uprising had resulted from Frenchideas which had come to the slaves through intelligent colored men. [3]Observing that many Negroes were sufficiently enlightened to seethings as other men, the editor of the _Aurora_ asserted that innegotiating with the "Black Republic" the United States and GreatBritain had set the seal of approval upon servile insurrection. [4]Others referred to inflammatory handbills which Negroes extensivelyread. [5] Discussing the Gabriel plot in 1800, Judge St. George Tuckersaid: "Our sole security then consists in their ignorance of thispower (doing us mischief) and their means of using it--a securitywhich we have lately found is not to be relied on, and which, small asit is, every day diminishes. Every year adds to the number of thosewho can read and write; and the increase in knowledge is the principalagent in evolving the spirit we have to fear. "[6]

[Footnote 1: _The New York Daily Advertiser_, Sept. 22, 1800; and _TheRichmond Enquirer_, Oct. 21, 1831. ]

[Footnote 2: _Writings of James Monroe_, vol. Iii. , p. 217. ]

[Footnote 3: Educated Negroes then constituted an alarming element inMassachusetts, Virginia, and South Carolina. See _The New York DailyAdvertiser_, Sept. 22, 1800. ]

[Footnote 4: See _The New York Daily Advertiser_, Sept. 22, 1800. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid. _, Oct. 7, 1800. ]

[Footnote 6: Letter of St. George Tucker in Joshua Coffin's _SlaveInsurrections. _]

Camden was disturbed by an insurrection in 1816 and Charleston in1822 by a formidable plot which the officials believed was due to the"sinister" influences of enlightened Negroes. [1] The moving spirit ofthis organization was Denmark Vesey. He had learned to read and write, had accumulated an estate worth $8000, and had purchased his freedomin 1800[2] Jack Purcell, an accomplice of Vesey, weakened in thecrisis and confessed. He said that Vesey was in the habit of readingto him all the passages in the newspapers, that related to SantoDomingo and apparently every accessible pamphlet that had anyconnection with slavery. [3] One day he read to Purcell the speeches ofMr. King on the subject of slavery and told Purcell how this friend ofthe Negro race declared he would continue to speak, write, and publishpamphlets against slavery "the longest day he lived, " until theSouthern States consented to emancipate their slaves. [4]

[Footnote 1: _The City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser_(Charleston, South Carolina), August 21, 1822. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, August 21, 1822. ]

[Footnote 3: _The City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser_, August 21, 1822. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , August 21, 1822. ]

The statement of the Governor of South Carolina also shows theinfluence of the educated Negro. This official felt that Monday, theslave of Mr. Gill, was the most daring conspirator. Being able to readand write he "attained an extraordinary and dangerous influence overhis fellows. " "Permitted by his owner to occupy a house in the centralpart of this city, he was afforded hourly opportunities for theexercise of his skill on those who were attracted to his shop bybusiness or favor. " "Materials were abundantly furnished in theseditious pamphlets brought into the State by equally culpableincendiaries, while the speeches of the oppositionists in Congress tothe admission of Missouri gave a serious and imposing effect to hismachinations. "[1] It was thus brought home to the South that theenlightened Negro was having his heart fired with the spirit ofliberty by his perusal of the accounts of servile insurrections andthe congressional debate on slavery. 

[Footnote 1: _The Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald_, Aug. 30, 1822. ]

Southerners of all types thereafter attacked the policy of educatingNegroes. [1] Men who had expressed themselves neither one way nor theother changed their attitude when it became evident that abolitionliterature in the hands of slaves would not only make themdissatisfied, but cause them to take drastic measures to secureliberty. Those who had emphasized the education of the Negroes toincrease their economic efficiency were largely converted. Theclergy who had insisted that the bondmen were entitled to, at least, sufficient training to enable them to understand the principles of theChristian religion, were thereafter willing to forego the benefitsof their salvation rather than see them destroy the institution ofslavery. 

[Footnote 1: Hodgson, _Whitney's Remarks during a Journey throughNorth America_, p. 184. ]

In consequence of this tendency, State after State enacted morestringent laws to control the situation. Missouri passed in 1817 anact so to regulate the traveling and assembly of slaves as to makethem ineffective in making headway against the white people byinsurrection. Of course, in so doing the reactionaries deprivedthem of the opportunities of helpful associations and of attendingschools. [1] By 1819 much dissatisfaction had arisen from the seemingdanger of the various colored schools in Virginia. The GeneralAssembly, therefore, passed a law providing that there should be nomore assemblages of slaves, or free Negroes, or mulattoes, mixing orassociating with such slaves for teaching them reading and writing. [2]The opposition here seemed to be for the reasons that Negroes werebeing generally enlightened in the towns of the State and that whitepersons as teachers in these institutions were largely instrumental inaccomplishing this result. Mississippi even as a Territory had triedto meet the problem of unlawful assemblies. In the year 1823 it wasdeclared unlawful for Negroes above the number of five to meet foreducational purposes. [3] Only with the permission of their masterscould slaves attend religious worship conducted by a recognized whiteminister or attended by "two discreet and reputable persons. "[4]

[Footnote 1: _Laws of Missouri Territory_, etc. , p. 498. ]

[Footnote 2: Tate, _Digest of the Laws of Virginia_, pp. 849-850. ]

[Footnote 3: Poindexter, _Revised Code of the Laws of Mississippi_, p. 390. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , p. 390. ]

The problem in Louisiana was first to keep out intelligent persons whomight so inform the slaves as to cause them to rise. Accordingly in1814[1] the State passed a law prohibiting the immigration of freepersons of color into that commonwealth. This precaution, however, wasnot deemed sufficient after the insurrectionary Negroes of New Berne, Tarborough, and Hillsborough, North Carolina, [2] had risen, and DavidWalker of Massachusetts had published to the slaves his fiery appealto arms. [3] In 1830, therefore, Louisiana enacted another measure, providing that whoever should write, print, publish, or distributeanything having the tendency to produce discontent among the slaves, should on conviction thereof be imprisoned at hard labor for life orsuffer death at the discretion of the court. It was provided, too, that whoever used any language or became instrumental in bringing intothe State any paper, book, or pamphlet inducing this discontent shouldsuffer practically the same penalty. All persons who should teach, orpermit or cause to be taught, any slave to read or write, should beimprisoned not less than one month nor more than twelve. [4]

[Footnote 1: Bullard and Curry, _A New Digest of the Statute Laws ofthe State of Louisiana_, p. 161. ]

[Footnote 2: Coffin, _Slave Insurrections_, p. 22. ]

[Footnote 3: Walker mentioned "our wretchedness in consequenceof slavery, our wretchedness in consequence of ignorance, ourwretchedness in consequence of the preachers of the religion of JesusChrist, and our wretchedness in consequence of the colonization plan. "See _Walker's Appeal_. ]

[Footnote 4: Acts passed at the Ninth Session of the Legislature ofLouisiana, p. 96. ]

Yielding to the demand of slaveholders, Georgia passed a year later alaw providing that any Negro who should teach another to read or writeshould be punished by fine and whipping. If a white person should sooffend, he should be punished with a fine not exceeding $500 and withimprisonment in the common jail at the discretion of the committingmagistrate. [1]

[Footnote 1] Dawson, _A Compilation of the Laws of the State ofGeorgia_, etc. , p. 413. 

In Virginia where the prohibition did not then extend to freedmen, there was enacted in 1831 a law providing that any meeting of freeNegroes or mulattoes for teaching them reading or writing should beconsidered an unlawful assembly. To break up assemblies for thispurpose any judge or justice of the peace could issue a warrant toapprehend such persons and inflict corporal punishment not exceedingtwenty lashes. White persons convicted of teaching Negroes to reador write were to be fined fifty dollars and might be imprisoned twomonths. For imparting such information to a slave the offender wassubject to a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hundreddollars. [1]

[Footnote 1]_Laws of Virginia_, 1830-1831, p. 108, Sections 5 and 6. 

The whole country was again disturbed by the insurrection inSouthampton County, Virginia, in 1831. The slave States then had astriking example of what the intelligent Negroes of the South mighteventually do. The leader of this uprising was Nat Turner. Precociousas a youth he had learned to read so easily that he did not rememberwhen he first had that attainment. [1] Given unusual social andintellectual advantages, he developed into a man of considerable"mental ability and wide information. " His education was chieflyacquired in the Sunday-schools in which "the text-books for the smallchildren were the ordinary speller and reader, and that for the olderNegroes the Bible. "[2] He had received instruction also from hisparents and his indulgent young master, J. C. Turner. 

[Footnote 1] Drewery, _Insurrections in Virginia_, p. 27. 

[Footnote 2: Drewery, _Insurrections in Virginia_, p. 28. ]

When Nat Turner appeared, the education of the Negro had made the waysomewhat easier for him than it was for his predecessors. Negroes whocould read and write had before them the revolutionary ideas of theFrench, the daring deeds of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the bold attempt ofGeneral Gabriel, and the far-reaching plans of Denmark Vesey. Thesewere sometimes written up in the abolition literature, the circulationof which was so extensive among the slaves that it became a nationalquestion. [1]

[Footnote 1: These organs were _The Albany Evening Journal, The NewYork Free Press, The Genius of Universal Emancipation_, and _TheBoston Liberator_. See _The Richmond Enquirer_, Oct. 21, 1831. ]

Trying to account for this insurrection the Governor of the State laysit to the charge of the Negro preachers who were in position to fomentmuch disorder on account of having acquired "great ascendancy over theminds" of discontented slaves. He believed that these ministers werein direct contact with the agents of abolition, who were using coloredleaders as a means to destroy the institutions of the South. TheGovernor was cognizant of the fact that not only was the sentiment ofthe incendiary pamphlets read but often the words. [1] To prevent the"enemies" in other States from communicating with the slaves of thatsection he requested that the laws regulating the assembly of Negroesbe more rigidly enforced and that colored preachers be silenced. TheGeneral Assembly complied with this request. [2]

[Footnote 1: _The Richmond Enquirer_, Oct. 21, 1831. ]

[Footnote 2: _The Laws of Virginia_, 1831-1832, p. 20. ]

The aim of the subsequent reactionary legislation of the South was tocomplete the work of preventing the dissemination of informationamong Negroes and their reading of abolition literature. This theyendeavored to do by prohibiting the communication of the slaves withone another, with the better informed free persons of color, and withthe liberal white people; and by closing all the schools theretoforeopened to Negroes. The States passed laws providing for a morestringent regulation of passes, defining unlawful assemblies, andfixing penalties for the same. Other statutes prohibited religiousworship, or brought it under direct supervision of the owners of theslaves concerned, and proscribed the private teaching of slaves in anymanner whatever. 

Mississippi, which already had a law to prevent the mental improvementof the slaves, enacted in 1831 another measure to remove from them themore enlightened members of their race. All free colored persons wereto leave the State in ninety days. The same law provided, too, thatno Negro should preach in that State unless to the slaves of hisplantation and with the permission of the owner. [1] Delaware saw fitto take a bold step in this direction. The act of 1831 provided thatno congregation or meeting of free Negroes or mulattoes of more thantwelve persons should be held later than twelve o'clock at night, except under the direction of three respectable white persons who wereto attend the meeting. It further provided that no free Negro shouldattempt to call a meeting for religious worship, to exhort or preach, unless he was authorized to do so by a judge or justice of the peace, upon the recommendation of five "respectable and judicious citizens. "[2] This measure tended only to prevent the dissemination ofinformation among Negroes by making it impossible for them toassemble. It was not until 1863 that the State of Delaware finallypassed a positive measure to prevent the assemblages of coloredpersons for instruction and all other meetings except for religiousworship and the burial of the dead. [3] Following the example ofDelaware in 1832, Florida passed a law prohibiting all meetings ofNegroes except those for divine worship at a church or place attendedby white persons. [4] Florida made the same regulations more stringentin 1846 when she enjoyed the freedom of a State. [5]

[Footnote 1] Hutchinson, _Code of Mississippi_, p. 533. 

[Footnote 2] _Laws of Delaware_, 1832, pp. 181-182. 

[Footnote 3] _Ibid. _, 1863, p. 330 _et seq. _

[Footnote 4: _Acts of the Legislative Council of the Territory ofFlorida, 1832_, p. 145. ]

[Footnote 5: _Acts of Florida, 1846_, ch. 87, sec. 9. ]

Alabama had some difficulty in getting a satisfactory law. In 1832this commonwealth enacted a law imposing a fine of from $250 to $500on persons who should attempt to educate any Negro whatsoever. The actalso prohibited the usual unlawful assemblies and the preaching orexhorting of Negroes except in the presence of five "respectableslaveholders" or unless the officiating minister was licensed by someregular church of which the persons thus exhorted were members. [1] Itsoon developed that the State had gone too far. It had infringed uponthe rights and privileges of certain creoles, who, being residentsof the Louisiana Territory when it was purchased in 1803, had beenguaranteed the rights of citizens of the United States. Accordingly in1833 the Mayor and the Aldermen of Mobile were authorized by law togrant licenses to such persons as they might deem suitable to instructfor limited periods, in that city and the counties of Mobile andBaldwin, the free colored children, who were descendants of coloredcreoles residing in the district in 1803. [2]

[Footnote 1: Clay, _Digest of the Laws of the State of Alabama_, p. 543. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 323. ]

Another difficulty of certain commonwealths had to be overcome. Apparently Georgia had already incorporated into its laws provisionsadequate to the prevention of the mental improvement of Negroes. Butit was discovered that employed as they had been in various positionseither requiring knowledge, or affording its acquirement, Negroeswould pick up the rudiments of education, despite the fact that theyhad no access to schools. The State then passed a law imposing apenalty not exceeding one hundred dollars for the employment of anyslave or free person of color "in setting up type or other labor abouta printing office requiring a knowledge of reading and writing. "[1]In 1834 South Carolina saw the same danger. In addition to enacting amore stringent law for the prevention of the teaching of Negroes bywhite or colored friends, and for the destruction of their schools, it provided that persons of African blood should not be employed asclerks or salesmen in or about any shop or store or house used fortrading. [2]

[Footnote 1: Cobb, _Digest of the Laws of Georgia_, p. 555; andPrince, _Digest of the Laws of Georgia_, p. 658. ]

[Footnote 2: Laws of South Carolina, 1834. ]

North Carolina was among the last States to take such drastic measuresfor the protection of the white race. In this commonwealth the whitesand blacks had lived on liberal terms. Negroes had up to this timeenjoyed the right of suffrage there. Some attended schools open toboth races. A few even taught white children. [1]

[Footnote 1: Bassett, _Slavery in North Carolina_, p. 74; andtestimonies of various ex-slaves. ]

The intense feeling against Negroes engendered by the frequencyof insurrections, however, sufficed to swing the State into thereactionary column by 1835. An act passed by the Legislature that yearprohibited the public instruction of Negroes, making it impossiblefor youth of African descent to get any more education than whatthey could in their own family circle. [1] The public school systemestablished thereafter specifically provided that its benefits shouldnot extend to any descendant from Negro ancestors to the fourthgeneration inclusive. [2] Bearing so grievously this loss of theirsocial status after they had toiled up from poverty, many ambitiousfree persons of color, left the State for more congenial communities. 

[Footnote 1: _Revised Statutes of North Carolina_, 578. ]

[Footnote 2: _Laws of North Carolina, 1835_, C. 6, S. 2. ]

The States of the West did not have to deal so severely with theirslaves as was deemed necessary in Southern States. Missouri found itadvisable in 1833 to amend the law of 1817[1] so as to regulate morerigorously the traveling and the assembling of slaves. It was notuntil 1847, however, that this commonwealth specifically providedthat no one should keep or teach any school for the education ofNegroes. [2] Tennessee had as early as 1803 a law governing themovement of slaves but exhibited a little more reactionary spirit in1836 in providing that there should be no circulation of seditiousbooks or pamphlets which might lead to insurrection or rebellionamong Negroes. [3] Tennessee, however, did not positively forbid theeducation of colored people. Kentucky had a system of regulating theegress and regress of slaves but never passed any law prohibitingtheir instruction. Yet statistics show that although the education ofNegroes was not penalized, it was in many places made impossible bypublic sentiment. So was it in the State of Maryland, which did notexpressly forbid the instruction of anyone. 

[Footnote 1: _Laws of the Territory of Missouri_, p. 498. ]

[Footnote 2: _Laws of the State of Missouri_, 1847, pp. 103 and 104. ]

[Footnote 3: _Public Acts passed at the First Session of the GeneralAssembly of the State of Tennessee_, p. 145, chap. 44. ]

These reactionary results were not obtained without some opposition. The governing element of some States divided on the question. Theopinions of this class were well expressed in the discussion betweenChancellor Harper and J. B. O'Neal of the South Carolina bar. Theformer said that of the many Negroes whom he had known to be capableof reading, he had never seen one read anything but the Bible. Hethought that they imposed this task upon themselves as a matterof duty. Because of the Negroes' "defective comprehension and thelaborious nature of this employment to them"[1] he considered suchreading an inefficient method of religious instruction. He, therefore, supported the oppressive measures of the South. The other memberof the bar maintained that men could not reflect as Christians andjustify the position that slaves should not be permitted to read theBible. "It is in vain, " added he, "to say there is danger in it. Thebest slaves of the State are those who can and do read the Scriptures. Again, who is it that teaches your slaves to read? It is generallydone by the children of the owners. Who would tolerate an indictmentagainst his son or daughter for teaching a slave to read? Such lawslook to me as rather cowardly. "[2] This attorney was almost ofthe opinion of many others who believed that the argument that toChristianize and educate the colored people of a slave commonwealthhad a tendency to elevate them above their masters and to destroy the"legitimate distinctions" of the community, could be admitted onlywhere the people themselves were degraded. 

[Footnote 1: DeBow, _The Industrial Resources of the Southern andWestern States_, vol. Ii. , p. 269. ]

[Footnote 2: DeBow, _The Industrial Resources of the Southern andWestern States_, vol. Ii. , p. 279. ]

After these laws had been passed, American slavery extended notas that of the ancients, only to the body, but also to the mind. Education was thereafter regarded as positively inconsistent with theinstitution. The precaution taken to prevent the dissemination ofinformation was declared indispensable to the system. The situation inmany parts of the South was just as Berry portrayed it in the VirginiaHouse of Delegates in 1832. He said: "We have as far as possibleclosed every avenue by which light may enter their [the slaves']minds. If we could extinguish the capacity to see the light, our workwould be completed; they would then be on a level with the beasts ofthe field and we should be safe! I am not certain that we would notdo it, if we could find out the process, and that on the plea ofnecessity. "[1]

[Footnote 1: Coffin, _Slave Insurrections_, p. 23; and Goodell, _SlaveCode_, p. 323. ]

It had then come to pass that in the South, where once were founda considerable number of intelligent Negroes, they had becomeexceedingly scarce or disappeared from certain sections altogether. Onplantations of hundreds of slaves it was common to discover thatnot one of them had the mere rudiments of education. In some largedistricts it was considered almost a phenomenon to find a Negro whocould read the Bible or sign his name. [1]

[Footnote 1:_Ibid. _, pp. 323-324. ]

The reactionary tendency was in no sense confined to the SouthernStates. Laws were passed in the North to prevent the migration ofNegroes to that section. Their education at certain places wasdiscouraged. In fact, in the proportion that the conditions in theSouth made it necessary for free blacks to flee from oppression, thepeople of the North grew less tolerant on account of the large numberof those who crowded the towns and cities of the free States near theborder. The antislavery societies at one time found it necessary todevote their time to the amelioration of the economic condition of therefugees to make them acceptable to the white people rather than todirect their attention to mere education. [1] Not a few northerners, dreading an influx of free Negroes, drove them even from communitiesto which they had learned to, repair for education. 

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention_. ]

The best example of this intolerance was the opposition encounteredby Prudence Crandall, a well-educated young Quaker lady, who hadestablished a boarding-school at Canterbury, Connecticut. Troublearose when Sarah Harris, a colored girl, asked admission to thisinstitution. [1] For many reasons Miss Crandall hesitated to admit herbut finally yielded. Only a few days thereafter the parents of thewhite girls called on Miss Crandall to offer their objections tosending their children to school with a "nigger. "[2] Miss Crandallstood firm, the white girls withdrew, and the teacher advertised foryoung women of color. The determination to continue the school on thisbasis incited the townsmen to hold an indignation meeting. They passedresolutions to protest through a committee of local officials againstthe establishment of a school of this kind in that community. At thismeeting Andrew T. Judson denounced the policy of Miss Crandall, whilethe Rev. Samuel J. May ably defended it. Judson was not only opposedto the establishment of such a school in Canterbury but in any part ofthe State. He believed that colored people, who could never risefrom their menial condition in the United States, should not tobe encouraged to expect to elevate themselves in Connecticut. Heconsidered them inferior servants who should not be treated as equalsof the Caucasians, but should be sent back to Africa to improvethemselves and Christianize the natives. [3] On the contrary, Mr. Maythought that there would never be fewer colored people in this countrythan were found here then and that it would be unjust to exile them. He asserted that white people should grant Negroes their rights orlose their own and that since education is the primal, fundamentalright of all men, Connecticut was the last place where this should bedenied. [4]

[Footnote 1: Jay, _An Inquiry_, etc. , p. 30. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , pp. 32 _et seq_. ]

[Footnote 3: Jay, _An Inquiry, etc. _, p. 33; and _Special Report ofthe U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, pp. 328 _et seq. _]

[Footnote 4: Jay, _An Inquiry_, etc. , p. 33. ]

Miss Crandall and her pupils were threatened with violence. Accommodation at the local stores was denied her. The pupils wereinsulted. The house was besmeared and damaged. An effort was made toinvoke the law by which the selectmen might warn any person not aninhabitant of the State to depart under penalty of paying $1. 67 forevery week he remained after receiving such notice. [1] This failed, but Judson and his followers were still determined that the "niggerschool" should never be allowed in Canterbury nor any town of theState. They appealed to the legislature. Setting forth in its preamblethat the evil to be obviated was the increase of the black populationof the commonwealth, that body passed a law providing that no personshould establish a school for the instruction of colored people whowere not inhabitants of the State of Connecticut, nor should any oneharbor or board students brought to the State for this purpose withoutfirst obtaining, in writing, the consent of a majority of the civilauthority and of the selectmen of the town. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 331;and May, _Letters to A. T. Judson, Esq. , and Others_, p. 5. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 5. ]

The enactment of this law caused Canterbury to go wild with joy. MissCrandall was arrested on the 27th of June, and committed to await hertrial at the next session of the Supreme Court. She and her friendsrefused to give bond that the officials might go the limit inimprisoning her. Miss Crandall was placed in a murderer's cell. Mr. May, who had stood by her, said when he saw the door locked and thekey taken out, "The deed is done, completely done. It cannot berecalled. It has passed into the history of our nation and age. " MissCrandall was tried the 23d of August, 1833, at Brooklyn, the countyseat of the county of Windham. The jury failed to agree upon averdict, doubtless because Joseph Eaton, who presided, had given it ashis opinion that the law was probably unconstitutional. At the secondtrial before Judge Dagget of the Supreme Court, who was an advocate ofthe law, Miss Crandall was convicted. Her counsel, however, filed abill of exceptions and took an appeal to the Court of Errors. Thecase came up on the 22d of July, 1834. The nature of the law was ablydiscussed by W. W. Ellsworth and Calvin Goddard, who maintained thatit was unconstitutional, and by A. T. Judson and C. F. Cleveland, whoundertook to prove its constitutionality. The court reserved itsdecision, which was never given. Finding that there were defects inthe information prepared by the attorney for the State, the indictmentwas quashed. Because of subsequent attempts to destroy the building, Mr. May and Miss Crandall decided to abandon the school. [1]

[Footnote 1: Jay, _An Inquiry, etc. _, p. 26. ]

It resulted then that even in those States to which free blacks hadlong looked for sympathy, the fear excited by fugitives from the morereactionary commonwealths had caused northerners so to yield to theprejudices of the South that they opposed insuperable obstacles to theeducation of Negroes for service in the United States. The coloredpeople, as we shall see elsewhere, were not allowed to locate theirmanual labor college at New Haven[1] and the principal of the NoyesAcademy at Canaan, New Hampshire, saw his institution destroyedbecause he decided to admit colored students. [2] These fastidiouspersons, however, raised no objection to the establishment of schoolsto prepare Negroes to expatriate themselves under the direction of theAmerican Colonization Society. [3]

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the Third Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color_, p. 14. ]

[Footnote 2: _Fourth Annual Report of the American AntislaverySociety_, p. 34. ]

[Footnote 3: Alexander, _A History of Colonization on the WesternContinent_, p. 348. ]

Observing these conditions the friends of the colored people couldnot be silent. The abolitionists led by Caruthers, May, and Garrisonhurled their weapons at the reactionaries, branding them asinconsistent schemers. After having advanced the argument of themental inferiority of the colored race they had adopted the policyof educating Negroes on the condition that they be removed from thecountry. [1] Considering education one of the rights of man, theabolitionists persistently rebuked the North and South for theirinhuman policy. On every opportune occasion they appealed to the worldin behalf of the oppressed race, which the hostile laws had removedfrom humanizing influences, reduced to the plane of beasts, and madeto die in heathenism. 

[Footnote 1: Jay, _An Inquiry_, etc. , p. 26; Johns Hopkins UniversityStudies, Series xvi. , p. 319; and _Proceedings of the New York StateColonization Society_, 1831, p. 6. ]

In reply to the abolitionists the protagonists of the reactionariessaid that but for the "intrusive and intriguing interference ofpragmatical fanatics"[1] such precautionary enactments would neverhave been necessary. There was some truth in this statement; forin certain districts these measures operated not to prevent thearistocratic people of the South from enlightening the Negroes, but tokeep away from them what they considered undesirable instructors. The southerners regarded the abolitionists as foes in the field, industriously scattering the seeds of insurrection which could thenbe prevented only by blocking every avenue through which they couldoperate upon the minds of the slaves. A writer of this periodexpressed it thus: "It became necessary to check or turn aside thestream which instead of flowing healthfully upon the Negro ispolluted and poisoned by the abolitionists and rendered the sourceof discontent and excitement. "[2] He believed that education thusperverted would become equally dangerous to the master and the slave, and that while fanaticism continued its war upon the South themeasures of necessary precaution and defense had to be continued. Heasserted, however, that education would not only unfit the Negro forhis station in life and prepare him for insurrection, but would provewholly impracticable in the performance of the duties of a laborer. [3]The South has not yet learned that an educated man is a better laborerthan an ignorant one. 

[Footnote 1: Hodgkin, _An Inquiry into the Merits of the Am. Col. Soc_. , p. 31; and _The South Vindicated from the Treason andFanaticism of the Abolitionists_, p. 68. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 69. ]

[Footnote 3: _The South Vindicated from the Treason and Fanaticism ofthe Abolitionists_, p. 69. ]

CHAPTER VIII

RELIGION WITHOUT LETTERS

Stung by the effective charge of the abolitionists that thereactionary legislation of the South consigned the Negroes toheathenism, slaveholders considering themselves Christians, felt thatsome semblance of the religious instruction of these degraded peopleshould be devised. It was difficult, however, to figure out exactlyhow the teaching of religion to slaves could be made successful and atthe same time square with the prohibitory measures of the South. Forthis reason many masters made no effort to find a way out of thepredicament. Others with a higher sense of duty brought forward ascheme of oral instruction in Christian truth or of religion withoutletters. The word instruction thereafter signified among thesoutherners a procedure quite different from what the term meant inthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when Negroes were taught toread and write that they might learn the truth for themselves. 

Being aristocratic in its bearing, the Episcopal Church in the Southearly receded from the position of cultivating the minds of thecolored people. As the richest slaveholders were Episcopalians, theclergy of that denomination could hardly carry out a policy whichmight prove prejudicial to the interests of their parishioners. Moreover, in their propaganda there was then nothing which requiredthe training of Negroes to instruct themselves. As the qualificationsof Episcopal ministers were rather high even for the education of thewhites of that time, the blacks could not hope to be active churchmen. This Church, therefore, soon limited its work among the Negroes ofthe South to the mere verbal instruction of those who belonged to thelocal parishes. Furthermore, because this Church was not exceedinglymilitant, and certainly not missionary, it failed to grow rapidly. Inmost parts it suffered from the rise of the more popular Methodistsand Baptists into the folds of which slaves followed their mastersduring the eighteenth century. 

The adjustment of the Methodist and Baptist churches in the South tothe new work among the darker people, however, was after the firstquarter of the nineteenth century practically easy. Each of thesedenominations had once strenuously opposed slavery, the Methodistsholding out longer than the Baptists. But the particularizing forceof the institution soon became such that southern churches of theseconnections withdrew most of their objections to the system and, ofcourse, did not find it difficult to abandon the idea of teachingNegroes to read. [1] Moreover, only so far as it was necessary toprepare men to preach and exhort was there an urgent need for literaryeducation among these plain and unassuming missionaries. They came, not emphasizing the observance of forms which required so muchdevelopment of the intellect, but laying stress upon the quickeningof man's conscience and the regeneration of his soul. In the States, however, where the prohibitory laws were not so rigidly enforced, the instruction received in various ways from workers of thesedenominations often turned out to be more than religion withoutletters. [2]

[Footnote 1: Matlack, _History of Methodism_, etc. , p. 132; Benedict, _History of the Baptists_, p. 212. ]

[Footnote 2: Adams, _South-side View_, p. 59. ]

The Presbyterians found it more difficult to yield on this point. Fordecades they had been interested in the Negro race and had in 1818reached the acme of antislavery sentiment. [1] Synod after synoddenounced the attitude of cruel masters toward their slaves and tooksteps to do legally all they could to provide religious instructionfor the colored people. [2] When public sentiment and reactionarylegislation made the instruction of the Negroes of the Southimpracticable the Presbyterians of New York and New Jersey were activein devising schemes for the education of the colored people at pointsin the North. [3] Then came the crisis of the prolonged abolitionagitation which kept the Presbyterian Church in an excited state from1818 to 1830 and resulted in the recession of that denomination fromthe position it had formerly taken against slavery. [4] Yielding to thereactionaries in 1835, this noble sect which had established schoolsfor Negroes, trained ambitious colored men for usefulness, andendeavored to fit them for the best civil and religious emoluments, thereafter became divided. The southern connection lost much of itsinterest in the dark race, and fell back on the policy of the verbalinstruction and memory training of the blacks that they might neverbecome thoroughly enlightened as to their condition. 

[Footnote 1: Baird, _Collections_, etc. , pp. 814-817. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 815. ]

[Footnote 3: _Enormity of the Slave Trade_, etc. P. 67. ]

[Footnote 4: Baird, _Collections_, etc. , pp. 816, 817. ]

Despite the fact that southern Methodists and Presbyterians generallyceased to have much anti-slavery ardor, there continued still inthe western slave States and in the mountains of Virginia and NorthCarolina, a goodly number of these churchmen, who suffered nodiminution of interest in the enlightenment of Negroes. In the Statesof Kentucky and Tennessee friends of the race were often left free toinstruct them as they wished. Many of the people who settled thoseStates came from the Scotch-Irish stock of the Appalachian Mountains, where early in the nineteenth century the blacks were in some casestreated as equals of the whites. [1]

[Footnote 2: _Fourth Annual Report of the American AntislaverySociety_, New York, 1837, P. 31; _The New England AntislaveryAlmanac_, 1841, p. 31; and _The African Repository_, vol. Xxxii. , p. 16. ]

The Quakers, and many Catholics, however, were as effective as themountaineers in elevating Negroes. They had for centuries laboredto promote religion and education among their colored brethren. Soearnest were these sects in working for the uplift of the Negro racethat the reactionary movement failed to swerve them from their course. When the other churches adopted the policy of mere verbal training, the Quakers and Catholics adhered to their idea that the Negroesshould be educated to grasp the meaning of the Christian religion justas they had been during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. [1]This favorable situation did not mean so much, however, since with theexception of the Catholics in Maryland and Louisiana and the Quakersin Pennsylvania, not many members of these sects lived in communitiesof a large colored population. Furthermore, they were denied access tothe Negroes in most southern communities, even when they volunteeredto work as missionaries among the colored people. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, pp. 217-221. ]

[Footnote 2: In several Southern States special laws were enacted toprevent the influx of such Christian workers. ]

How difficult it was for these churchmen to carry out their policyof religion without letters may be best observed by viewing theconditions then obtaining. In most Southern States in which Negropreachers could not be deterred from their mission by publicsentiment, they were prohibited by law from exhorting their fellows. The ground for such action was usually said to be incompetency andliability to abuse their office and influence to the injury of thelaws and peace of the country. The elimination of the Christianteachers of the Negro race, and the prevention of the immigration ofworkers from the Northern States rendered the blacks helplessand dependent upon a few benevolent white ministers of the slavecommunities. During this period of unusual proselyting among thewhites, these preachers could not minister to the needs of their ownrace. [1] Besides, even when there was found a white clergyman who waswilling to labor among these lowly people, he often knew little aboutthe inner workings of their minds, and failing to enlighten theirunderstanding, left them the victims of sinful habits, incident to theinstitution of slavery. 

[Footnote 1: Jones, _Religious Instruction_, p. 175. ]

To a civilized man the result was alarming. The Church as aninstitution had ceased to be the means by which the Negroes of theSouth could be enlightened. The Sabbath-schools in which so manycolored people there had learned to read and write had by 1834restricted their work to oral instruction. [1] In places where theblacks once had the privilege of getting an elementary education, onlyan inconceivable fraction of them could rise above illiteracy. Most ofthese were freedmen found in towns and cities. With the exception ofa few slaves who were allowed the benefits of religious instruction, these despised beings were generally neglected and left to dielike heathen. In 1840 there were in the South only fifteen coloredSabbath-schools, with an attendance of about 1459. 

[Footnote 1: Goodell, _Slave Code_, p. 324. ]

There had never been any regular daily instruction in Christiantruths, but after this period only a few masters allowed field handsto attend family prayers. Some sections went beyond this point, prohibiting by public sentiment any and all kinds of religiousinstruction. [1] In South Carolina a formal remonstrance signed by over300 planters and citizens was presented to a Methodist preacher chosenby a conference of that State as a "cautious and discreet person"[2]especially qualified to preach to slaves, and pledged to confinehimself to verbal instruction. In Falmouth, Virginia, several whiteladies began to meet on Sunday afternoons to teach Negro children theprinciples of the Christian religion. They were unable to continuetheir work a month before the local officials stopped them, althoughthese women openly avowed that they did not intend to teach readingand writing. [3] Thus the development of the religious education ofthe Negroes in certain parts of the South had been from literaryinstruction as a means of imparting Christian truth to the policyof oral indoctrination, and from this purely memory teaching to noeducation at all. 

[Footnote 1: The cause of this drastic policy was not so much racehatred as the fear that any kind of instruction might cause theNegroes to assert themselves. ]

[Footnote 2: Olmsted, _Back Country_, pp. 105, 108. ]

[Footnote 3: Conway, _Testimonies Concerning Slavery_, p. 5. ]

Thereafter the chief privilege allowed the slaves was to congregatefor evening prayers conducted by themselves under the surveillanceof a number of "discreet persons. " The leader chosen to conduct theservices, would in some cases read a passage from the Scriptures and"line a hymn, " which the slaves took up in their turn and sang in atune of their own suitable to the meter. In case they had present noone who could read, or the law forbade such an exercise, some exhorteramong the slaves would be given an opportunity to address the people, basing his remarks as far as his intelligence allowed him on somememorized portion of the Bible. The rest of the evening would bedevoted to individual prayers and the singing of favorite hymns, developed largely from the experience of slaves, who while bearingtheir burdens in the heat of the day had learned to sing away theirtroubles. 

For this untenable position the slave States were so severelycriticized by southern and northern friends of the colored people thatthe ministers of that section had to construct a more progressivepolicy. Yet whatever might be the arguments of the critics of theSouth to prove that the enlightenment of Negroes was not a danger, itwas clear after the Southampton insurrection in 1831 that two factorsin Negro education would for some time continue generally eliminated. These were reading matter and colored preachers. 

Prominent among the southerners who endeavored to readjust theirpolicy of enlightening the black population, were Bishop WilliamMeade, [1] Bishop William Capers, [2] and Rev. C. C. Jones. [3] BishopMeade was a native of Virginia, long noted for its large element ofbenevolent slaveholders who never lost interest in their Negroes. Hewas fortunate in finishing his education at Princeton, so productivethen of leaders who fought the institution of slavery. [4] Immediatelyafter his ordination in the Protestant Episcopal Church, Bishop Meadeassumed the role of a reformer. He took up the cause of the coloredpeople, devoting no little of his time to them when he was inAlexandria and Frederick in 1813 and 1814. [5] He began by preaching tothe Negroes on fifteen plantations, meeting them twice a day, and inone year reported the baptism of forty-eight colored children. [6]Early a champion of the colonization of the Negroes, he was sent on asuccessful mission to Georgia in 1818 to secure the release of certainrecaptured Africans who were about to be sold. Going and returningfrom the South he was active in establishing auxiliaries of theAmerican Colonization Society. He helped to extend its sphere alsointo the Middle States and New-England. [7]

[Footnote 1: Goodloe, _Southern Platform_, pp. 64-65. ]

[Footnote 2: Wightman, _Life of Bishop William Capers_, p. 294. ]

[Footnote 3: Jones, _Religious Instruction_, Introductory Chapter. ]

[Footnote 4: Goodloe, _Southern Platform_, p. 64. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid_. , p. 65. ]

[Footnote 6: _Ibid_. , p. 66. ]

[Footnote 7: _Niles Register_, vol. Xvi. , pp. 165-166. ]

Bishop Meade was a representative of certain of his fellow-churchmenwho were passing through the transitory stage from the position ofadvocating the thorough education of Negroes to that of recommendingmere verbal instruction. Agreeing at first with Rev. Thomas Bacon, Bishop Meade favored the literary training of Negroes, and advocatedthe extermination of slavery. [1] Later in life he failed to urgehis followers to emancipate their slaves, and did not entreat hiscongregation to teach them to read. He was then committed to thepolicy of only lessening their burden as much as possible withoutdoing anything to destroy the institution. Thereafter he advocated theeducation and emancipation of the slaves only in connection with thescheme of colonization, to which he looked for a solution of theseproblems. [2]

[Footnote 1: Meade, _Sermons of Rev. Thos. Bacon_, p. 2; and Goodell, _The Southern Platform_, pp. 64, 65. ]

[Footnote 2:_Ibid_. , p. 65. ]

Wishing to give his views on the religious instruction of Negroes, theBishop found in Rev. Thomas Bacon's sermons that "every argument whichwas likely to convince and persuade was so forcibly exerted, and thatevery objection that could possibly be made, so fully answered, andin fine everything that ought to be said so well said, and the samethings so happily confirmed ... " that it was deemed "best to referthe reader for the true nature and object of the book to the bookitself. "[1] Bishop Meade had uppermost in his mind Bacon's logicalarraignment of those who neglected to teach their Negroes theChristian religion. Looking beyond the narrow circle of his own sect, the bishop invited the attention of all denominations to this subjectin which they were "equally concerned. " He especially besought "theministers of the gospel to take it into serious consideration as amatter for which they also will have to give an account. Did notChrist, " said he, "die for these poor creatures as well as for anyother, and is it not given in charge of the minister to gather hissheep into the fold?"[2]

[Footnote 1: Meade, _Sermons of Rev. Thos. Bacon_, pp. 31, 32, 81, 90, 93, 95, 104, and 105. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 104. ]

Another worker in this field was Bishop William Capers of theMethodist Episcopal Church of South Carolina. A southerner to themanner born, he did not share the zeal of the antislavery men whowould educate Negroes as a preparation for manumission. [1] Regardingthe subject of abolition as one belonging to the State and entirelyinappropriate to the Church, he denounced the principles of thereligious abolitionists as originating in false philosophy. Capersendeavored to prove that the relation of slave and master isauthorized by the Holy Scriptures. He was of the opinion, however, that certain abuses which might ensue, were immoralities to beprevented or punished by all proper means, both by the Churchdiscipline and the civil law. [2] Believing that the neglect of thespiritual needs of the slaves was a reflection on the slaveholders, heset out early in the thirties to stir up South Carolina to the duty ofremoving this stigma. 

[Footnote 1: Wightman, _Life of William Capers_, p. 295. ]

[Footnote 2: Wightman, _Life of William Capers_, p. 296. ]

His plan of enlightening the blacks did not include literaryinstruction. His aim was to adapt the teaching of Christian truth tothe condition of persons having a "humble intellect and a limitedrange of knowledge by means of constant and patient reiteration. "[1]The old Negroes were to look to preachers for the exposition of theseprinciples while the children were to be turned over to catechistswho would avail themselves of the opportunity of imparting thesefundamentals to the young at the time their minds were in the plasticstate. Yet all instructors and preachers to Negroes had to be carefulto inculcate the performance of the duty of obedience to their mastersas southerners found them stated in the Holy Scriptures. Any one whowould hesitate to teach these principles of southern religion shouldnot be employed to instruct slaves. The bishop was certain that sucha one could not then be found among the preachers of the MethodistEpiscopal Church of South Carolina. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 298. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, p. 296. ]

Bishop Capers was the leading spirit in the movement instituted inthat commonwealth about 1829 to establish missions to the slaves. Sogenerally did he arouse the people to the performance of this dutythat they not only allowed preachers access to their Negroes butrequested that missionaries be sent to their plantations. Suchpetitions came from C. C. Pinckney, Charles Boring, and LewisMorris. [1] Two stations were established in 1829 and two additionalones in 1833. Thereafter the Church founded one or two others everyyear until 1847 when there were seventeen missions conducted bytwenty-five preachers. At the death of Bishop Capers in 1855 theMethodists of South Carolina had twenty-six such establishments, whichemployed thirty-two preachers, ministering to 11, 546 communicantsof color. The missionary revenue raised by the local conference hadincreased from $300 to $25, 000 a year. [2]

[Footnote 1: Wightman, _Life of William Capers_, p. 296. ]

[Footnote 2; _African Repository_, vol. Xxiv. , p. 157. ]

The most striking example of this class of workers was the Rev. C. C. Jones, a minister of the Presbyterian Church. Educated at Princetonwith men actually interested in the cause of the Negroes, and locatedin Georgia where he could study the situation as it was, Jones becamenot a theorist but a worker. He did not share the discussion of thequestion as to how to get rid of slavery. Accepting the institution asa fact, he endeavored to alleviate the sufferings of the unfortunatesby the spiritual cultivation of their minds. He aimed, too, not totake into his scheme the solution of the whole problem but to appealto a special class of slaves, those of the plantations who were leftin the depths of ignorance as to the benefits of right living. In thisrespect he was like two of his contemporaries, Rev. Josiah Law[1] ofGeorgia and Bishop Polk of Louisiana. [2] Denouncing the policy ofgetting all one could out of the slaves and of giving back as littleas possible, Jones undertook to show how their spiritual improvementwould exterminate their ignorance, vulgarity, idleness, improvidence, and irreligion; Jones thought that if the circumstances of the Negroeswere changed, they would equal, if not excel, the rest of the humanfamily "in majesty of intellect, elegance of manners, purity ofmorals, and ardor of piety. "[3] He feared that white men might cherisha contempt for Negroes that would cause them to sink lower in thescale of intelligence, morality, and religion. Emphasizing the factthat as one class of society rises so will the other, Jones advocatedthe mingling of the classes together in churches, to create kindlierfeelings among them, increase the tendency of the blacks tosubordination, and promote in a higher degree their mental andreligious improvement. He was sure that these benefits could neverresult from independent church organization. [4]

[Footnote 1: Rev. Josiah Law was almost as successful as Jones incarrying the gospel to the neglected Negroes. His life is a largechapter in the history of Christianity among the slaves of thatcommonwealth. See Wright, _Negro Education in Georgia_, p. 19. ]

[Footnote 2: Rhodes, _History of the U. S_. , vol. I. , p. 331. ]

[Footnote 3: Jones, _Religious Instruction_, p. 103. ]

[Footnote 4: Jones, _Religious Instruction_, pp. 106, 217. ]

Meeting the argument of those who feared the insubordination ofNegroes, Jones thought that the gospel would do more for the obedienceof slaves and the peace of the community than weapons of war. Heasserted that the very effort of the masters to instruct their slavescreated a strong bond of union between them and their masters. [1]History, he believed, showed that the direct way of exposing theslaves to acts of insubordination was to leave them in ignorance andsuperstition to the care of their own religion. [2] To disprove thefalsity of the charge that literary instruction given in Neau's schoolin New York was the cause of a rising of slaves in 1709, he producedevidence that it was due to their opposition to becoming Christians. The rebellions in South Carolina from 1730 to 1739, he maintained, were fomented by the Spaniards in St. Augustine. The upheaval in NewYork in 1741 was not due to any plot resulting from the instructionof Negroes in religion, but rather to a delusion on the part of thewhites. The rebellions in Camden in 1816 and in Charleston in 1822were not exceptions to the rule. He conceded that the SouthamptonInsurrection in Virginia in 1831 originated under the color ofreligion. It was pointed out, however, that this very act itself wasa proof that Negroes left to work out their own salvation, had fallenvictims to "ignorant and misguided teachers" like Nat Turner. Suchundesirable leaders, thought he, would never have had the opportunityto do mischief, if the masters had taken it upon themselves toinstruct their slaves. [3] He asserted that no large number of slaveswell instructed in the Christian religion and taken into the churchesdirected by white men had ever been found guilty of taking part inservile insurrections. [4]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , pp. 212, 274. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 215. ]

[Footnote 3: Jones, _Religious Instruction_, etc. , p. 212. ]

[Footnote 4: Plumer, _Thoughts_, etc. , p. 4. ]

To meet the arguments of these reformers the slaveholders found amonglaymen and preachers able champions to defend the reactionary policy. Southerners who had not gone to the extreme in the prohibition of theinstruction of Negroes felt more inclined to answer the critics oftheir radical neighbors. One of these defenders thought that theslaves should have some enlightenment but believed that the domesticelement of the system of slavery in the Southern States afforded"adequate means" for the improvement, adapted to their condition andthe circumstances of the country; and furnished "the natural, safe, and effectual means"[1] of the intellectual and moral elevation of theNegro race. Another speaking more explicitly, said that the factthat the Negro is such per se carried with it the "inference or thenecessity that his education--the cultivation of his faculties, or thedevelopment of his intelligence, must be in harmony with itself. " Inother words, "his instruction must be an entirely different thing fromthe training of the Caucasian, " in regard to whom "the term educationhad widely different significations. " For this reason these defendersbelieved that instead of giving the Negro systematic instruction heshould be placed in the best position possible for the development ofhis imitative powers--"to call into action that peculiar capacity forcopying the habits, mental and moral, of the superior race. "[2] Theyreferred to the facts that slaves still had plantation prayers andpreaching by numerous members of their own race, some of whom couldread and write, that they were frequently favored by their masterswith services expressly for their instruction, that Sabbath-schoolshad been established for the benefit of the young, and finally thatslaves were received into the churches which permitted them to hearthe same gospel and praise the same God. [3]

[Footnote 1: Smith, _Lectures on the Philosophy and Practice ofSlavery_, pp. 228 _et seq_. ]

[Footnote 2: Van Evrie, _Negroes and Negro Slavery_, p. 215. ]

[Footnote 3: Smith, _Lectures on the Philosophy of Slavery_, p. 228. ]

Seeing even in the policy of religious instruction nothing but dangerto the position of the slave States, certain southerners opposed itunder all circumstances. Some masters feared that verbal instructionwould increase the desire of slaves to learn. Such teaching mightdevelop into a progressive system of improvement, which, without anyspecial effort in that direction, would follow in the natural order ofthings. [1] Timorous persons believed that slaves thus favored wouldneglect their duties and embrace seasons of religious worship fororiginating and executing plans for insubordination and villainy. Theythought, too, that missionaries from the free States would therebybe afforded an opportunity to come South and inculcate doctrinessubversive of the interests and safety of that section. [2] It wouldthen be only a matter of time before the movement would receive suchan impetus that it would dissolve the relations of society as thenconstituted and revolutionize the civil institutions of the South. 

[Footnote 1: Jones, _Religious Instruction_, p. 192; Olmsted, _BackCountry_, pp. 106-108. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 106. ]

The black population of certain sections, however, was not reducedto heathenism. Although often threatening to execute the reactionarylaws, many of which were never intended to be rigidly enforced, the southerners did not at once eliminate the Negro as a religiousinstructor. [1] It was fortunate that a few Negroes who had learned theimportance of early Christian training, organized among themselveslocal associations. These often appointed an old woman of theplantation to teach children too young to work in the fields, to sayprayers, repeat a little catechism, and memorize a few hymns. [2] Butthis looked too much like systematic instruction. In some States itwas regarded as productive of evils destructive to southernsociety and was, therefore, discouraged or prohibited. [3] To localassociations organized by kindly slaveholders there was lessopposition because the chief aim always was to restrain strangers andundesirable persons from coming South to incite the Negroes to servileinsurrection. Two good examples of these local organizations werethe ones found in Liberty and McIntosh counties, Georgia. Theconstitutions of these bodies provided that the instruction should bealtogether oral, embracing the general principles of the Christianreligion as understood by orthodox Christians. [4]

[Footnote 1: This statement is based on the testimonies of ex-slaves. ]

[Footnote 2: Jones, _Religious Instruction_, pp. 114, 117. ]

[Footnote 3: While the laws in certain places were not so drastic asto prohibit religious assemblies, the same was effected by patrols andmobs. ]

[Footnote 4: The Constitution of the Liberty County Association forthe Religious Instruction of Negroes, Article IV. ]

Directing their efforts thereafter toward mere verbal teaching, religious workers depended upon the memory of the slave to retainsufficient of the truths and principles expounded to effect hisconversion. Pamphlets, hymn books, and catechisms especially adaptedto the work were written by churchmen, and placed in the hands ofdiscreet missionaries acceptable to the slaveholders. Among otherpublications of this kind were Dr. Capers's Short Catechism for theUse of Colored Members on _Trial in the Methodist Episcopal Church inSouth Carolina; A Catechism to be Used by Teachers in the ReligiousInstruction of Persons of Color in the Episcopal Church of SouthCarolina_; Dr. Palmer's _Cathechism_; Rev. John Mine's _Catechism_;and C. C. Jones's _Catechism of Scripture, Doctrine and PracticeDesigned for the Original Instruction of Colored People. _ Bishop Meadewas once engaged in collecting such literature addressed particularlyto slaves in their stations. These extracts were to be read to themon proper occasions by any member of the family. [1]

[Footnote 1: Meade, _Sermons of Rev. Thomas Bacon_, p. 2. ]

Yet on the whole it can be safely stated that there were fewsocieties formed in the South to give the Negroes religious and moralinstruction. Only a few missionaries were exclusively devoted to workamong them. In fact, after the reactionary period no propaganda ofany southern church included anything which could be designated assystematic instruction of the Negroes. [1] Even owners, who tookcare to feed, clothe, and lodge their slaves well and treatedthem humanely, often neglected to do anything to enlighten theirunderstanding as to their responsibility to God. [Footnote 1:Madison's Works, vol. In. , p. 314; Olmsted, _Back Country_, p. 107;Birney, _The American Churches_, etc. , p. 6; and Jones, _ReligiousInstruction_, etc. , p. 100. ]

Observing closely these conditions one would wonder little that manyNegroes became low and degraded. The very institution of slaveryitself produced shiftless, undependable beings, seeking reliefwhenever possible by giving the least and getting the most from theirmasters. When the slaves were cut off from the light of the gospel bythe large plantation system, they began to exhibit such undesirabletraits as insensibility of heart, lasciviousness, stealing, and lying. The cruelty of the "Christian" master to the slaves made the latterfeel that such a practice was not altogether inhuman. Just as thewhite slave drivers developed into hopeless brutes by having humanbeings to abuse, so it turned out with certain Negroes in theirtreatment of animals and their fellow-creatures in bondage. If someNegroes were commanded not to commit adultery, such a prohibition didnot extend to the slave women forced to have illicit relations withmasters who sold their mulatto offspring as goods and chattels. If thebondmen were taught not to steal the aim was to protect the suppliesof the local plantation. Few masters raised any serious objection tothe act of their half-starved slaves who at night crossed over to someneighboring plantation to secure food. Many white men made it theirbusiness to dispose of property stolen by Negroes. 

In the strait in which most slaves were, they had to lie forprotection. Living in an environment where the actions of almost anycolored man were suspected as insurrectionary, Negroes were frequentlycalled upon to tell what they knew and were sometimes forced to saywhat they did not know. Furthermore, to prevent the slaves fromcoöperating to rise against their masters, they were often taught tomistreat and malign each other to keep alive a feeling of hatred. Thebad traits of the American Negroes resulted then not from an instinctcommon to the natives of Africa, but from the institutions of theSouth and from the actual teaching of the slaves to be low anddepraved that they might never develop sufficient strength to become apowerful element in society. 

As this system operated to make the Negroes either nominal Christiansor heathen, the anti-slavery men could not be silent. [1] James G. Birney said that the slaveholding churches like indifferent observers, had watched the abasement of the Negroes to a plane of beasts withoutremonstrating with legislatures against the iniquitous measures. [2]Moreover, because there was neither literary nor systematic oralinstruction of the colored members of southern congregations, unitingwith the Church made no change in the condition of the slaves. Theywere thrown back just as before among their old associates, subjectedto corrupting influences, allowed to forego attendance at publicworship on Sundays, and rarely encouraged to attend family prayers. [3]In view of this state of affairs Birney was not surprised that itwas only here and there that one could find a few slaves who had anintelligent view of Christianity or of a future life. 

[Footnote 1: Tower, _Slavery Unmasked_, p. 394. ]

[Footnote 2: Birney, _American Churches_, p. 6. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 7. ]

William E. Charming expressed his deep regret that the whole lot ofthe slave was fitted to keep his mind in childhood and bondage. ToChanning it seemed shameful that, although the slave lived in a landof light, few beams found their way to his benighted understanding. Hewas given no books to excite his curiosity. His master provided forhim no teacher but the driver who broke him almost in childhood to theservile tasks which were to fill up his life. Channing complained thatwhen benevolence would approach the slave with instruction it wasrepelled. Not being allowed to be taught, the "voice which would speakto him as a man was put to silence. " For the lack of the privilegeto learn the truth "his immortal spirit was systematically crusheddespite the mandate of God to bring all men unto Him. "[1]

[Footnote 1: Channing, _Slavery_, p. 77. ]

Discussing the report that slaves were taught religion, Channingrejoiced that any portion of them heard of that truth "which givesinward freedom. "[1] He thought, however, that this number was verysmall. Channing was certain that most slaves were still buried inheathen ignorance. But extensive as was this so-called religiousinstruction, he did not see how the teaching of the slave to beobedient to his master could exert much power in raising one to thedivinity of man. How slavery which tends to debase the mind ofthe bondman could prepare it for spiritual truth, or how he couldcomprehend the essential principles of love on hearing it from thelips of his selfish and unjust owner, were questions which no defenderof the system ever answered satisfactorily for Channing. Seeing thenno hope for the elevation of the Negro as a slave, he became a moredetermined abolitionist. 

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 78. ]

William Jay, a son of the first Chief Justice of the United States, and an abolition preacher of the ardent type, later directed hisattention to these conditions. The keeping of human beings in heathenignorance by a people professing to reverence the obligation ofChristianity seemed to him an unpardonable sin. He believed that thenatural result of this "compromise of principle, this suppressionof truth, this sacrifice to unanimity, " had been the adoption ofexpediency as a standard of right and wrong in the place of therevealed will of God. [1] "Thus, " continued he, "good men andgood Christians have been tempted by their zeal for the AmericanColonization Society to countenance opinions and practicesinconsistent with justice and humanity. "[2] Jay charged to thisdisastrous policy of neglect the result that in 1835 only 245, 000 ofthe 2, 245, 144 slaves had a saving knowledge of the religion ofChrist. He deplored the fact that unhappily the evil influence of thereactionaries had not been confined to their own circles but had to alamentable extent "vitiated the moral sense" of other communities. The proslavery leaders, he said, had reconciled public opinion to thecontinuance of slavery, and had aggravated those sinful prejudiceswhich subjected the free blacks to insult and persecution and deniedthem the blessings of education and religious instruction. [3]

[Footnote 1: Jay, _An Inquiry_, etc. , p. 24. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 25. ]

[Footnote 3: Jay, _An Inquiry_, etc. , p. 26. ]

Among the most daring of those who censured the South for itsreactionary policy was Rev. John G. Fee, an abolition minister ofthe gospel of Kentucky. Seeing the inevitable result in States wherepublic opinion and positive laws had made the education of Negroesimpossible, Fee asserted that in preventing them from reading God'sWord and at the same time incorporating them into the Church asnominal Christians, the South had weakened the institution. Withoutthe means to learn the principles of religion it was impossible forsuch an ignorant class to become efficient and useful members. [1]Excoriating those who had kept their servants in ignorance to securethe perpetuity of the institution of slavery, Fee maintained thatsealing up the mind of the slave, lest he should see his wrongs, wastantamount to cutting off the hand or foot in order to prevent hisescape from forced and unwilling servitude. [2] "If by our practice, our silence, or our sloth, " said he, "we perpetuate a system whichparalyzes our hands when we attempt to convey to them the bread oflife, and which inevitably consigns the great mass of them to unendingperdition, can we be guiltless in the sight of Him who hath made usstewards of His grace? This is sinful. Said the Saviour: 'Woe unto youlawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered notin yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. "'[3]

[Footnote 1: Fee, _Antislavery Manual_, p. 147. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 148. ]

[Footnote 3: Fee, _Antislavery Manual_, p. 149. ]

CHAPTER IX

LEARNING IN SPITE OF OPPOSITION

Discouraging as these conditions seemed, the situation was notentirely hopeless. The education of the colored people as a publiceffort had been prohibited south of the border States, but there wasstill some chance for Negroes of that section to acquire knowledge. Furthermore, the liberal white people of that section considered theseenactments, as we have stated above, not applicable to southernersinterested in the improvement of their slaves but to mischievousabolitionists. The truth is that thereafter some citizens disregardedthe laws of their States and taught worthy slaves whom they desired toreward or use in business requiring an elementary education. As theseprohibitions in slave States were not equally stringent, white andcolored teachers of free blacks were not always disturbed. In fact, just before the middle of the nineteenth century there was so muchwinking at the violation of the reactionary laws that it looked as ifsome Southern States might recede from their radical position and letNegroes be educated as they had been in the eighteenth century. 

The ways in which slaves thereafter acquired knowledge aresignificant. Many picked it up here and there, some followedoccupations which were in themselves enlightening, and others learnedfrom slaves whose attainments were unknown to their masters. Ofteninfluential white men taught Negroes not only the rudiments ofeducation but almost anything they wanted to learn. Not a few slaveswere instructed by the white children whom they accompanied to school. While attending ministers and officials whose work often lay open totheir servants, many of the race learned by contact and observation. Shrewd Negroes sometimes slipped stealthily into back streets, wherethey studied under a private teacher, or attended a school hidden fromthe zealous execution of the law. 

The instances of Negroes struggling to obtain an education read likethe beautiful romances of a people in an heroic age. Sometimes Negroesof the type of Lott Carey[1] educated themselves. James Redpathdiscovered in Savannah that in spite of the law great numbersof slaves had learned to read well. Many of them had acquired arudimentary knowledge of arithmetic. "But, " said he, "blazon it to theshame of the South, the knowledge thus acquired has been snatched fromthe spare records of leisure in spite of their owners' wishes andwatchfulness. "[2] C. G. Parsons was informed that although poor mastersdid not venture to teach their slaves, occasionally one with a thirstfor knowledge secretly learned the rudiments of education without anyinstruction. [3] While on a tour through parts of Georgia, E. P. Burkeobserved that, notwithstanding the great precaution which was takento prevent the mental improvement of the slaves, many of them "stoleknowledge enough to enable them to read and write with ease. "[4]Robert Smalls[5] of South Carolina and Alfred T. Jones[6] of Kentuckybegan their education in this manner. 

[Footnote 1: Mott, _Biographical Sketches_, p. 87. ]

[Footnote 2: Redpath, _Roving Editor_, etc. , p. 161. ]

[Footnote 3: Parsons, _Inside View_, etc. , p. 248. ]

[Footnote 4: Burke, _Reminiscences of Georgia_, p. 85. ]

[Footnote 5: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 126. ]

[Footnote 6: Drew, _Refugee_, p. 152. ]

Probably the best example of this class was Harrison Ellis of Alabama. At the age of thirty-five he had acquired a liberal education by hisown exertions. Upon examination he proved himself a good Latin andHebrew scholar and showed still greater proficiency in Greek. Hisattainments in theology were highly satisfactory. _The EufaulaShield_, a newspaper of that State, praised him as a man courteous inmanners, polite in conversation, and manly in demeanor. Knowing howuseful Ellis would be in a free country, the Presbyterian Synod ofAlabama purchased him and his family in 1847 at a cost of $2500 thathe might use his talents in elevating his own people in Liberia. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Niles Register_, vol. Lxxi. , p. 296. ]

Intelligent Negroes secretly communicated to their fellow men whatthey knew. Henry Banks of Stafford County, Virginia, was taught byhis brother-in-law to read, but not write. [1] The father of BenedictDuncan, a slave in Maryland, taught his son the alphabet. [2] M. W. Taylor of Kentucky received his first instruction from his mother. H. O. Wagoner learned from his parents the first principles of thecommon branches. [3] A mulatto of Richmond taught John H. Smythe whenhe was between the ages of five and seven. [4] The mother of Dr. C. H. Payne of West Virginia taught him to read at such an early age thathe does not remember when he first developed that power. [5] Dr. E. C. Morris, President of the National Baptist Convention, belonged to aGeorgia family, all of whom were well instructed by his father. [6]

[Footnote 1: Drew, _Refugee_, etc. , p. 72. ]

[Footnote 2: Ibid. , p. 110. ]

[Footnote 3: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 679. ]

[Footnote 4: Ibid. , p. 873. ]

[Footnote 5: Ibid. , p. 368. ]

[Footnote 6: This is his own statement. ]

The white parents of Negroes often secured to them the educationalfacilities then afforded the superior race. The indulgent teacher ofJ. Morris of North Carolina was his white father, his master. [1]W. J. White acquired his education from his mother, who was a whitewoman. [2] Martha Martin, a daughter of her master, a Scotch-Irishmanof Georgia, was permitted to go to Cincinnati to be educated, whileher sister was sent to a southern town to learn the milliner'strade. [3] Then there were cases like that of Josiah Settle's whitefather. After the passage of the law forbidding free Negroes to remainin the State of Tennessee, he took his children to Hamilton, Ohio, to be educated and there married his actual wife, their coloredmother. [4]

[Footnote 1: This is based on an account given by his son. ]

[Footnote 2: _The Crisis_, vol. V. , p. 119. ]

[Footnote 3: Drew, _Refugee_, p. 143. ]

[Footnote 4: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 539. ]

The very employment of slaves in business establishments acceleratedtheir mental development. Negroes working in stores often acquireda fair education by assisting clerks. Some slaves were clerksthemselves. Under the observation of E. P. Burke came the notable caseof a young man belonging to one of the best families of Savannah. Hecould read, write, cipher, and transact business so intelligentlythat his master often committed important trusts to his care. [1] B. K. Bruce, while still a slave, educated himself when he was working atthe printer's trade in Brunswick, Missouri. Even farther south whereslavery assumed its worst form, we find that this condition obtained. Addressing to the New Orleans _Commercial Bulletin_ a letter onAfrican colonization, John McDonogh stated that the work imposed onhis slaves required some education for which he willingly provided. In1842 he had had no white man over his slaves for twenty years. He hadassigned this task to his intelligent colored manager who did his workso well that the master did not go in person once in six months to seewhat his slaves were doing. He says, "They were, besides, my men ofbusiness, enjoyed my confidence, were my clerks, transacted all myaffairs, made purchases of materials, collected my rents, leased myhouses, took care of my property and effects of every kind, andthat with an honesty and fidelity which was proof against everytemptation. "[2] Traveling in Mississippi in 1852, Olmsted foundanother such group of slaves all of whom could read, whereas themaster himself was entirely illiterate. He took much pride, however, in praising his loyal, capable, and intelligent Negroes. [3]

[Footnote 1: Burke, _Reminiscences of Georgia_, p. 86. 

Frances Anne Kemble gives in her journal an interesting account of herobservations in Georgia. She says: "I must tell you that I have beendelighted, surprised, and the very least perplexed, by the suddenpetition on the part of our young waiter, Aleck, that I will teach himto read. He is a very intelligent lad of about sixteen, and preferredhis request with urgent humility that was very touching. I will do it;and yet, it is simply breaking the laws of the government under whichI am living. Unrighteous laws are made to be broken--perhaps--butthen you see, I am a woman, and Mr. ---- stands between me and thepenalty--. I certainly intend to teach Aleck to read; and I'll teachevery other creature that wants to learn. " See Kemble, _Journal_, p. 34. ]

[Footnote 2: McDonogh, "Letter on African Colonization. "]

[Footnote 3: Olmsted, _Cotton Kingdom_, vol. Ii. , p. 70. ]

White persons deeply interested in Negroes taught them regardlessof public opinion and the law. Dr. Alexander T. Augusta of Virginialearned to read while serving white men as a barber. [1] A prominentwhite man of Memphis taught Mrs. Mary Church Terrell's mother Frenchand English. The father of Judge R. H. Terrell was well-groundedin reading by his overseer during the absence of his master fromVirginia. [2] A fugitive slave from Essex County of the same State wasnot allowed to go to school publicly, but had an opportunity to learnfrom white persons privately. [3] The master of Charles Henry Green, aslave of Delaware, denied him all instruction, but he was permittedto study among the people to whom he was hired. [4] M. W. Taylor ofKentucky studied under attorneys J. B. Kinkaid and John W. Barr, whomhe served as messenger. [5] Ignoring his master's orders againstfrequenting a night school, Henry Morehead of Louisville learned tospell and read sufficiently well to cause his owner to have the schoolunceremoniously closed. [6]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 258. ]

[Footnote 2: This is based on the statements of Judge and Mrs. Terrell. ]

[Footnote 3: Drew, _Refugee_, p. 335. ]

[Footnote 4: Ibid. , p. 96. ]

[Footnote 5: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 933. ]

[Footnote 6: Drew, _Refugee_, p. 180. ]

The educational experiences of President Scarborough and of BishopTurner show that some white persons were willing to make unusualsacrifices to enlighten Negroes. President Scarborough began to attendschool in his native home in Bibb County, Georgia, at the age of sixyears. He went out ostensibly to play, keeping his books concealedunder his arm, but spent six or eight hours each day in school untilhe could read well and had mastered the first principles of geography, grammar, and arithmetic. At the age of ten he took regular lessons inwriting under an old South Carolinian, J. C. Thomas, a rebel of thebitterest type. Like Frederick Douglass, President Scarboroughreceived much instruction from his white playmates. [1]

[Footnote 1: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 410. ]

Bishop Turner of Newberry Court House, in South Carolina, purchaseda spelling book and secured the services of an old white lady and awhite boy, who in violation of the State law taught him to spell asfar as two syllables. [1] The white boy's brother stopped him fromteaching this lad of color, pointing out that such an instructor wasliable to arrest. For some time he obtained help from an old coloredgentleman, a prodigy in sounds. At the age of thirteen his motheremployed a white lady to teach him on Sundays, but she was soonstopped by indignant white persons of the community. When he attainedthe age of fifteen he was employed by a number of lawyers in whosefavor he ingratiated himself by his unusual power to please people. Thereafter these men in defiance of the law taught him to read andwrite and explained anything he wanted to know about arithmetic, geography, and astronomy. [2]

[Footnote 1: Bishop Turner says that when he started to learn therewere among his acquaintances three colored men who had learned to readthe Bible in Charleston. See Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 806. ]

[Footnote 2: Ibid. , p. 806. ]

Often favorite slaves were taught by white children. By hiding booksin a hayloft and getting the white children to teach him, James W. Sumler of Norfolk, Virginia, obtained an elementary education. [1]While serving as overseer for his Scotch-Irish master, DanielJ. Lockhart of the same commonwealth learned to read under theinstruction of his owner's boys. They were not interrupted in theirbenevolent work. [2] In the same manner John Warren, a slave ofTennessee, acquired a knowledge of the common branches. [3] JohnBaptist Snowden of Maryland was secretly instructed by his owner'schildren. [4] Uncle Cephas, a slave of Parson Winslow of Tennessee, reported that the white children taught him on the sly when they cameto see Dinah, who was a very good cook. He was never without booksduring his stay with his master. [5] One of the Grimké Sisters taughther little maid to read while brushing her young mistress's locks. [6]Robert Harlan, who was brought up in the family of Honorable J. M. Harlan, acquired the fundamentals of the common branches from Harlan'solder sons. [7] The young mistress of Mrs. Ann Woodson of Virginiainstructed her until she could read in the first reader. [8] Abdyobserved in 1834 that slaves of Kentucky had been thus taught to read. He believed that they were about as well off as they would havebeen, had they been free. [9] Giving her experiences on a Mississippiplantation, Susan Dabney Smedes stated that the white childrendelighted in teaching the house servants. One night she was formallyinvited with the master, mistress, governess, and guests by atwelve-year-old school mistress to hear her dozen pupils recitepoetry. One of the guests was quite astonished to see his servantrecite a piece of poetry which he had learned for this occasion. [10]Confining his operations to the kitchen, another such teacher of thisplantation was unusually successful in instructing the adult maleslaves. Five of these Negroes experienced such enlightenment that theybecame preachers. [11]

[Footnote 1: Drew, _Refugee_, p. 97. ]

[Footnote 2: Ibid. , p. 45. ]

[Footnote 3: Ibid. , p. 185. ]

[Footnote 4: Snowden, _Autobiography_, p. 23. ]

[Footnote 5: Albert, _The House of Bondage_, p. 125. ]

[Footnote 6: Birney, _The Grimké Sisters_, p. 11. ]

[Footnote 7: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 613. ]

[Footnote 8: This fact is stated in one of her letters. ]

[Footnote 9: Abdy, _Journal of a Residence and Tour in U. S. A. _, 1833-1834. P. 346. ]

[Footnote 10: Smedes, _A Southern Planter_, pp. 79-80. ]

[Footnote 11: Ibid. , p. 80. ]

Planters themselves sometimes saw to the education of their slaves. Ephraim Waterford was bound out in Virginia until he was twenty-one onthe condition that the man to whom he was hired should teach him toread. [1] Mrs. Isaac Riley and Henry Williamson, of Maryland, did notattend school but were taught by their master to spell and read butnot to write. [2] The master and mistress of Williamson Pease, ofHardman County, Tennessee, were his teachers. [3] Francis Fredric beganhis studies under his master in Virginia. Frederick Douglass wasindebted to his kind mistress for his first instruction. [4] Mrs. Thomas Payne, a slave in what is now West Virginia, was fortunatein having a master who was equally benevolent. [5] Honorable I. T. Montgomery, now the Mayor of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, was, while aslave of Jefferson Davis's brother, instructed in the common branchesand trained to be the confidential accountant of his master'splantation. [6] While on a tour among the planters of East Georgia, C. G. Parsons discovered that about 5000 of the 400, 000 slaves therehad been taught to read and write. He remarked, too, that such slaveswere generally owned by the wealthy slaveholders, who had themschooled when the enlightenment of the bondmen served the purposes oftheir masters. [7]

[Footnote 1: Drew, _A North-Side View of Slavery_, p. 373. ]

[Footnote 2: Ibid. , p. 133. ]

[Footnote 3: Ibid. , p. 123. ]

[Footnote 4: Lee, _Slave Life in Virginia and Kentucky_, p. X. ]

[Footnote 5: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 368. ]

[Footnote 6: This is his own statement. ]

[Footnote 7: Parsons, _Inside View_, etc. , p. 248. ]

The enlightenment of the Negroes, however, was not limited to whatcould be accomplished by individual efforts. In many southerncommunities colored schools were maintained in defiance of publicopinion or in violation of the law. Patrick Snead of Savannah was sentto a private institution until he could spell quite well and then toa Sunday-school for colored children. [1] Richard M. Hancock wrote ofstudying in a private school in Newbern, North Carolina;[2] John S. Leary went to one in Fayetteville eight years;[3] and W. A. Pettifordof this State enjoyed similar advantages in Granville County duringthe fifties. He then moved with his parents to Preston County where heagain had the opportunity to attend a special school. [4] About 1840, J. F. Boulder was a student in a mixed school of white and coloredpupils in Delaware. [5] Bishop J. M. Brown, a native of the samecommonwealth, attended a private school taught by a friendly woman ofthe Quaker sect. [6] John A. Hunter, of Maryland, was sent to a schoolfor white children kept by the sister of his mistress, but his secondmaster said that Hunter should not have been allowed to study andstopped his attendance. [7] Francis L. Cardozo of Charleston, SouthCarolina, entered school there in 1842 and continued his studies untilhe was twelve years of age. [8] During the fifties J. W. Morris of thesame city attended a school conducted by the then distinguished SimeonBeard. [9] In the same way T. McCants Stewart[10] and the Grimkébrothers [11] were able to begin their education there prior toemancipation. 

[Footnote 1: Drew, _Refugee_, p. 99. ]

[Footnote 2: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 406. ]

[Footnote 3: Ibid. , p. 432. ]

[Footnote 4: Ibid. , p. 469]

[Footnote 5: Ibid. , p. 708. ]

[Footnote 6: Ibid. , 930. ]

[Footnote 7: Drew, _Refugee_, p. 114. ]

[Footnote 8: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, 428]

[Footnote 9: Ibid. , p. 162]

[Footnote 10: Ibid. , p. 1052]

[Footnote 11: This is their own statement. ]

More schools for slaves existed than white men knew of, for it wasdifficult to find them. Fredrika Bremer heard of secret schools forslaves during her visit to Charleston, but she had extreme difficultyin finding such an institution. When she finally located one andgained admission into its quiet chamber, she noticed in a wretcheddark hole a "half-dozen poor children, some of whom had an aspect thattestified great stupidity and mere animal life. "[1] She was informed, too, that there were in Georgia and Florida planters who hadestablished schools for the education of the children of their slaveswith the intention of preparing them for living as "good free humanbeings. "[2] Frances Anne Kemble noted such instances in her diary. [3]The most interesting of these cases was discovered by the Union Armyon its march through Georgia. Unsuspected by the slave power andundeterred by the terrors of the law, a colored woman by the name ofDeveaux had for thirty years conducted a Negro school in the city ofSavannah. [4]

[Footnote 1: Bremer, _The Homes of the New World_, vol. Ii. , p. 499. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 491; Burke, _Reminiscences of Georgia_, p. 85. ]

[Footnote 3: Kemble, _Journal_, etc. , p. 34. ]

[Footnote 4: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 340. ]

The city Negroes of Virginia continued to maintain schools despitethe fact that the fear of servile insurrection caused the State toexercise due vigilance in the execution of the laws. The father ofRichard De Baptiste of Fredericksburg made his own residence a schoolwith his children and a few of those of his relatives as pupils. The work was begun by a Negro and continued by an educatedScotch-Irishman, who had followed the profession of teaching in hisnative land. Becoming suspicious that a school of this kind wasmaintained at the home of De Baptiste, the police watched the placebut failed to find sufficient evidence to close the institution beforeit had done its work. [1]

[Footnote 1: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 352. ]

In 1854 there was found in Norfolk, Virginia, what the radicallyproslavery people considered a dangerous white woman. It wasdiscovered that one Mrs. Douglass and her daughter had for three yearsbeen teaching a school maintained for the education of Negroes. [1] Itwas evident that this institution had not been run so clandestinelybut that the opposition to the education of Negroes in that city hadprobably been too weak to bring about the close of the school at anearlier date. Mrs. Douglass and her pupils were arrested and broughtbefore the court, where she was charged with violating the laws of theState. The defendant acknowledged her guilt, but, pleading ignoranceof the law, was discharged on the condition that she would not committhe same "crime" again. Censuring the court for this liberal decisionthe _Richmond Examiner_ referred to it as offering "a very convenientway of getting out of the scrape. " The editor emphasized the factthat the law of Virginia imposed on such offenders the penalty of onehundred dollars fine and imprisonment for six months, and that itspositive terms "allowed no discretion in the community magistrate. "[2]

[Footnote 1: Parsons, _Inside View of Slavery_, p. 251; and Lyman, _Leaven for Doughfaces_, p. 43. ]

[Footnote 2: _13th Annual Report of the American and ForeignAntislavery Societies_, 1853, p. 143. ]

All such schools, however, were not secretly kept. Writing fromCharleston in 1851 Fredrika Bremer made mention of two coloredschools. One of these was a school for free Negroes kept with opendoors by a white master. Their books which she examined were the sameas those used in American schools for white children. [1] The Negroesof Lexington, Kentucky, had in 1830 a school in which thirty coloredchildren were taught by a white man from Tennessee. [2] This gentlemanhad pledged himself to devote the rest of his life to the uplift ofhis "black brethren. "[3] Travelers noted that colored schools werefound also in Richmond, Maysville, Danville, and Louisville decadesbefore the Civil War. [4] William H. Gibson, a native of Baltimore, wasafter 1847 teaching at Louisville in a day and night school withan enrollment of one hundred pupils, many of whom were slaves withwritten permits from their masters to attend. [5] Some years later W. H. Stewart of that city attended the schools of Henry Adams, W. H. Gibson, and R. T. W. James. Robert Taylor began his studies there in RobertLane's school and took writing from Henry Adams. [6] Negroes hadschools in Tennessee also. R. L. Perry was during these years attendinga school at Nashville. [7] An uncle of Dr. J. E. Moorland spent sometime studying medicine in that city. 

[Footnote 1: Bremer, _The Homes of the New World_, vol. Ii. , p. 499. ]

[Footnote 2: Abdy, _Journal of a Residence and Tour in U. S. A_. , 1833-34, p. 346. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , pp. 346-348. ]

[Footnote 4: Tower, _Slavery Unmasked_; Dabney, _Journal of a Tourthrough the U. S. And Canada_, p. 185; _Niles Register_, vol. Lxxii. , p. 322; and Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 631. ]

[Footnote 5: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 603. ]

[Footnote 6: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 629. ]

[Footnote 7: _Ibid. _, p. 620. ]

Many of these opportunities were made possible by the desire toteach slaves religion. In fact the instruction of Negroes after theenactment of prohibitory laws resembled somewhat the teaching ofreligion with letters during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Thousands of Negroes like Edward Patterson and Nat Turner learnedto read and write in Sabbath-schools. White men who diffused suchinformation ran the gauntlet of mobs, but like a Baptist preacher ofSouth Carolina who was threatened with expulsion from his church, ifhe did not desist, they worked on and overcame the local prejudice. When preachers themselves dared not undertake this task it was oftendone by their children, whose benevolent work was winked at as anindulgence to the clerical profession. This charity, however, wasnot restricted to the narrow circle of the clergy. Believing withchurchmen that the Bible is the revelation of God, many laymencontended that no man should be restrained from knowing his Makerdirectly. [1] Negroes, therefore, almost worshiped the Bible, andtheir anxiety to read it was their greatest incentive to learn. Manysoutherners braved the terrors of public opinion and taught theirNegroes to read the Scriptures. To this extent General Coxe ofFluvanna County, Virginia, taught about one hundred of his adultslaves. [2] While serving as a professor of the Military Instituteat Lexington, Stonewall Jackson taught a class of Negroes in aSunday-school. [3]

[Footnote 1: Orr, "An Address on the Need of Education in the South, 1879. "]

[Footnote 2: This statement is made by several of General Coxe'sslaves who are still living. ]

[Footnote 3: _School Journal_, vol. Lxxx. , p. 332. ]

Further interest in the cause was shown by the Evangelical Societyof the Synods of North Carolina and Virginia in 1834. [1] LaterPresbyterians of Alabama and Georgia urged masters to enlighten theirslaves. [2] The attitude of many mountaineers of Kentucky was well setforth in the address of the Synod of 1836, proposing a plan for theinstruction and emancipation of the slaves. [3] They complained thatthroughout the land, so far as they could learn, there was but oneschool in which slaves could be taught during the week. The lightof three or four Sabbath-schools was seen "glittering through thedarkness" of the black population of the whole State. Here and thereone found a family where humanity impelled the master, mistress, orchildren, to the laborious task of private instruction. In consequenceof these undesirable conditions the Synod recommended that "slaves beinstructed in the common elementary branches of education. "[4]

[Footnote 1: _African Repository_, vol. X. , pp. 174, 205, and 245. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, vol. Xi. , pp. 140 and 268. ]

[Footnote 3: Goodell, _Slave Code_, pp. 323-324. ]

[Footnote 4: _The Enormity of the Slave Trade, etc_. , p. 74. ]

Some of the objects of such charity turned out to be interestingcharacters. Samuel Lowry of Tennessee worked and studied privatelyunder Rev. Mr. Talbot of Franklin College, and at the age of sixteenwas sufficiently advanced to teach with success. He united with theChurch of the Disciples and preached in that connection until 1859. [1]In some cases colored preachers were judged sufficiently informed, not only to minister to the needs of their own congregations, but topreach to white churches. There was a Negro thus engaged in the Stateof Florida. [2] Another colored man of unusual intelligence and muchprominence worked his way to the front in Giles County, Tennessee. In1859 he was the pastor of a Hard-shell Baptist Church, the membershipof which was composed of the best white people in the community. Hewas so well prepared for his work that out of a four days' argumenton baptism with a white minister he emerged victor. From thisappreciative congregation he received a salary of from six to sevenhundred dollars a year. [3]

[Footnote 1: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 144. ]

[Footnote 2: Bremer, _Homes of the New World_, vol. Ii. , pp. 488-491. ]

[Footnote 3: _The Richmond Enquirer_, July, 1859; and _Afr. Repository_, vol. Xxxv. , p. 255. ]

Statistics of this period show that the proportionately largest numberof Negroes who learned in spite of opposition were found among theScotch-Irish of Kentucky and Tennessee. Possessing few slaves, andhaving no permanent attachment to the institution, those mountaineersdid not yield to the reactionaries who were determined to keep theNegroes in heathendom. Kentucky and Tennessee did not expressly forbidthe education of the colored people. [1] Conditions were probablybetter in Kentucky than in Tennessee. Traveling in Kentucky about thistime, Abdy was favorably impressed with that class of Negroes whothough originally slaves saved sufficient from their earnings topurchase their freedom and provide for the education of theirchildren. [2]

[Footnote 1: In 1830 one-twelfth of the population of Lexingtonconsisted of free persons of color, who since 1822 had had a Baptistchurch served by a member of their own race and a school in whichthirty-two of their children were taught by a white man fromTennessee. He had pledged himself to devote the rest of his life tothe uplift of his colored brethren. One of these free Negroes inLexington had accumulated wealth to the amount of $20, 000. InLouisville, also a center of free colored population, efforts werebeing made to educate ambitious Negroes. Travelers noted that coloredschools were found there generations before the Civil War andmentioned the intelligent and properly speaking colored preachers, who were bought and supported by their congregations. Charles Dabney, another traveler through this State in 1837, observed that the slavesof this commonwealth were taught to read and believed that they wereabout as well off as they would have been had they been free. SeeDabney, _Journal of a Tour through the U. S. And Canada_, p. 185. ]

[Footnote 2: Abdy, _Journal of a Tour_, etc. , 1833-1834, pp. 346-348. ]

It was the desire to train up white men to carry on the work of theirliberal fathers that led John G. Fee and his colaborers to establishBerea College in Kentucky. In the charter of this institution wasincorporated the declaration that "God has made of one blood allnations that dwell upon the face of the earth. " No Negroes wereadmitted to this institution before the Civil War, but they came insoon thereafter, some being accepted while returning home wearingtheir uniforms. [1] The State has since prohibited the co-education ofthe two races. 

[Footnote 1: Catalogue of Berea College, 1896-1897. ]

The centers of this interest in the mountains of Tennessee wereMaryville and Knoxville. Around these towns were found a goodly numberof white persons interested in the elevation of the colored people. There developed such an antislavery sentiment in the former town thathalf of the students of the Maryville Theological Seminary becameabolitionists by 1841. [1] They were then advocating the social upliftof Negroes through the local organ, the _Maryville Intelligencer_. From this nucleus of antislavery men developed a community with idealsnot unlike those of Berea. [2]

[Footnote 1: Some of the liberal-mindedness of the people of Kentuckyand Tennessee was found in the State of Missouri. The question ofslavery there, however, was so ardently discussed and prominently keptbefore the people that while little was done to help the Negroes, muchwas done to reduce them to the plane of beasts. There was not so muchof the tendency to wink at the violation of the law on the part ofmasters in teaching their slaves. But little could be accomplished byprivate teachers in the dissemination of information among Negroesafter the free persons of color had been excluded from the State. ]

[Footnote 2: _Fourth Annual Report of the American AntislaverySociety_, New York, 1837, p. 48; and the _New England AntislaveryAlmanac_ for 1841, p. 31. ]

The Knoxville people who advocated the enlightenment of the Negroesexpressed their sentiment through the _Presbyterian Witness_. Theeditor felt that there was not a solitary argument that might be urgedin favor of teaching a white man that might not as properly be urgedin favor of enlightening a man of color. "If one has a soul that willnever die, " said he, "so has the other. Has one susceptibilities ofimprovement, mentally, socially, and morally? So has the other. Is onebound by the laws of God to improve the talents he has received fromthe Creator's hands? So is the other. Is one embraced in the command'Search the Scriptures'? So is the other. "[1] He maintained thatunless masters could lawfully degrade their slaves to the condition ofbeasts, they were just as much bound to teach them to read the Bibleas to teach any other class of their population. 

[Footnote 1: _African Repository_, vol. Xxxii. , p. 16. ]

But great as was the interest of the religious element, the movementfor the education of the Negroes of the South did not again become ascheme merely for bringing them into the church. Masters had morethan one reason for favoring the enlightenment of the slaves. Georgiaslaveholders of the more liberal class came forward about the middleof the nineteenth century, advocating the education of Negroes as ameans to increase their economic value, and to attach them to theirmasters. This subject was taken up in the Agricultural Conventionat Macon in 1850, and was discussed again in a similar assemblythe following year. After some opposition the Convention passed aresolution calling on the legislature to enact a law authorizing theeducation of slaves. The petition was presented by Mr. Harlston, whointroduced the bill embodying this idea, piloted it through the lowerhouse, but failed by two or three votes to secure the sanction of thesenate. [1] In 1855 certain influential citizens of North Carolina[2]memorialized their legislature asking among other things that theslaves be taught to read. This petition provoked some discussion, butdid not receive as much attention as that of Georgia. 

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, p. 339]

[Footnote 2: _African Repository_, vol. Xxxi. , pp. 117-118. ]

In view of this renewed interest in the education of the Negroesof the South we are anxious to know exactly what proportion ofthe colored population had risen above the plane of illiteracy. Unfortunately this cannot be accurately determined. In the firstplace, it was difficult to find out whether or not a slave could reador write when such a disclosure would often cause him to be dreadfullypunished or sold to some cruel master of the lower South. Moreover, statistics of this kind are scarce and travelers who undertook toanswer this question made conflicting statements. Some persons of thatday left records which indicate that only a few slaves succeeded inacquiring an imperfect knowledge of the common branches, whereasothers noted a larger number of intelligent servants. Arfwedsonremarked that the slaves seldom learned to read; yet elsewherehe stated that he sometimes found some who had that ability. [1]Abolitionists like May, Jay, and Garrison would make it seem that theconditions in the South were such that it was almost impossible for aslave to develop intellectual power. [2] Rev. C. C. Jones[3] believedthat only an inconsiderable fraction of the slaves could read. Witnesses to the contrary, however, are numerous. Abdy, Smedes, Andrews, Bremer, and Olmsted found during their stay in the Southmany slaves who had experienced unusual spiritual and mentaldevelopment. [4] Nehemiah Adams, giving the southern view of slaveryin 1854, said that large numbers of the slaves could read andwere furnished with the Scriptures. [5] Amos Dresser, who traveledextensively in the Southwest, believed that one out of every fiftycould read and write. [6] C. G. Parsons thought that five thousandout of the four hundred thousand slaves of Georgia had theseattainments. [7] These figures, of course, would run much higher werethe free people of color included in the estimates. Combining the twoit is safe to say that ten per cent. Of the adult Negroes had therudiments of education in 1860, but the proportion was much less thanit was near the close of the era of better beginnings about 1825. 

[Footnote 1: Arfwedson, _The United States and Canada_, p. 331. ]

[Footnote 2: See their pamphlets, addresses, and books referred toelsewhere. ]

[Footnote 3: Jones, _Religious Instruction of Negroes_, p. 115. ]

[Footnote 4: Redpath, _The Roving Editor_, p. 161. ]

[Footnote 5: Adams, _South-Side View of Slavery_, pp. 52 and 59. ]

[Footnote 6: Dresser, _The Narrative of Amos Dresser_, p. 27; Dabney, _Journal of a Tour through the United States and Canada_, p. 185. ]

[Footnote 7: Parsons, _Inside View of Slavery_, p. 248. ]

CHAPTER X

EDUCATING NEGROES TRANSPLANTED TO FREE SOIL

While the Negroes of the South were struggling against odds to acquireknowledge, the more ambitious ones were for various reasons makingtheir way to centers of light in the North. Many fugitive slavesdreaded being sold to planters of the lower South, the free blacks ofsome of the commonwealths were forced out by hostile legislation, and not a few others migrated to ameliorate their condition. Thetransplanting of these people to the Northwest took place largelybetween 1815 and 1850. They were directed mainly to Columbia andPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania; Greenwich, New Jersey; and Boston, Massachusetts, in the East; and to favorable towns and coloredcommunities in the Northwest. [1] The fugitives found ready helpersin Elmira, Rochester, Buffalo, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;Gallipolis, Portsmouth, Akron, and Cincinnati, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan. [2] Colored settlements which proved attractive to thesewanderers had been established in Ohio, Indiana, and Canada. That mostof the bondmen in quest of freedom and opportunity should seek theNorthwest had long been the opinion of those actually interested intheir enlightenment. The attention of the colored people had beenearly directed to this section as a more suitable place for theirelevation than the jungles of Africa selected by the AmericanColonization Society. The advocates of Western colonization believedthat a race thus degraded could be elevated only in a salubriousclimate under the influences of institutions developed by Westernnations. 

[Footnote 1: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 32. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, pp. 32 and 37. ]

The rôle played by the Negroes in this migration exhibited thedevelopment of sufficient mental ability to appreciate this truth. It was chiefly through their intelligent fellows that prior to thereaction ambitious slaves learned to consider the Northwest Territorythe land of opportunity. Furthermore, restless freedmen, deniedpolitical privileges and prohibited from teaching their children, didnot always choose to go to Africa. Many of them went north of the OhioRiver and took up land on the public domain. Observing this longingfor opportunity, benevolent southerners, who saw themselves hinderedin carrying out their plan for educating the blacks for citizenship, disposed of their holdings and formed free colonies of their slaves inthe same section. White men of this type thus made possible a new eraof uplift for the colored race by coming north in time to aid theabolitionists, who had for years constituted a small minorityadvocating a seemingly hopeless cause. 

A detailed description of these settlements has no place in thisdissertation save as it has a bearing on the development of educationamong the colored people. These settlements, however, are importanthere in that they furnish the key to the location of many of the earlycolored churches and schools of the North and West. Philanthropistsestablished a number of Negroes near Sandy Lake in NorthwesternPennsylvania. [1] There was a colored settlement near BerlinCrossroads, Ohio. [2] Another group of pioneering Negroes emigratingto this State found homes in the Van Buren township of Shelby County. Edward Coles, a Virginian, who in 1818 emigrated to Illinois, of whichhe later became Governor, made a settlement on a larger scale. Hebrought his slaves to Edwardsville, where they constituted a communityknown as "Coles' Negroes. "[3] The settlement made by Samuel Gist, anEnglishman possessing extensive plantations in Hanover, Amherst, andHenrico Counties, Virginia, was still more significant. He provided inhis will that his slaves should be freed and sent to the North. It wasfurther directed "that the revenue from his plantation the last yearof his life be applied in building schoolhouses and churches for theiraccommodation, " and "that all money coming to him in Virginia beset aside for the employment of ministers and teachers to instructthem. "[4] In 1818, Wickham, the executor of this estate, purchasedland and established these Negroes in what was called the Upper andLower Camps of Brown County, Ohio. 

[Footnote 1: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 249. ]

[Footnote 2: Langston, _From the Virginia Plantation to the NationalCapitol_, p. 35. ]

[Footnote 3: Davidson and Stuvé, _A Complete History of Illinois_, pp. 321-322; and Washburne, _Sketch of Edward Cole, Second Governor ofIllinois_, pp. 44 and 53. ]

[Footnote 4: _History of Brown County_, pp. 313 _et seq. _; and Lane, _Fifty Years and over of Akron and Summit County, Ohio_, pp. 579-580. ]

Augustus Wattles, a native of Connecticut, made a settlement ofNegroes in Mercer County early in the nineteenth century. [1] About theyear 1834 many of the freedmen, then concentrating at Cincinnati, wereinduced to take up 30, 000 acres of land in the same vicinity. [2] JohnHarper of North Carolina manumitted his slaves in 1850 and had themsent to this community. [3] John Randolph of Roanoke freed his slavesat his death, and provided for the purchase of farms for them inMercer County. [4] The Germans, however, would not allow them to takepossession of these lands. Driven later from Shelby County[5] also, these freedmen finally found homes in Miami County. [7] Then there wasone Saunders, a slaveholder of Cabell County, now West Virginia, wholiberated his slaves and furnished them homes in free territory. Theyfinally made their way to Cass County, Michigan, where philanthropistshad established a prosperous colored settlement and supplied itwith missionaries and teachers. The slaves of Theodoric H. Greggof Dinwiddie County, Virginia, were liberated in 1854 and sent toOhio, [7] where some of them were educated. 

[Footnote 1: Howe, _Ohio Historical Collections_, p. 356. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 356. ]

[Footnote 3: Manuscript in the hands of Dr. J. E. Moreland. ]

[Footnote 4: _The African Repository_, vol. Xxii. , pp. 322-323. ]

[Footnote 5: Howe, _Ohio Historical Collections_, p. 465. ]

[Footnote 6: _Ibid. _, p. 466. ]

[Footnote 7: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 723. ]

Many free persons of color of Virginia and Kentucky went north aboutthe middle of the nineteenth century. The immediate cause in Virginiawas the enactment in 1838 of a law prohibiting the return of suchcolored students as had been accustomed to go north to attend schoolafter they were denied this privilege in that State. [1] Prominentamong these seekers of better opportunities were the parentsof Richard De Baptiste. His father was a popular mechanic ofFredericksburg, where he for years maintained a secret school. [2] Apublic opinion proscribing the teaching of Negroes was then renderingthe effort to enlighten them as unpopular in Kentucky as it was inVirginia. Thanks to a benevolent Kentuckian, however, an importantcolored settlement near Xenia, Greene County, Ohio, was then takingshape. The nucleus of this group was furnished about 1856 by NoahSpears, who secured small farms there for sixteen of his formerbondmen. [3] The settlement was not only sought by fugitive slavesand free Negroes, but was selected as the site for WilberforceUniversity. [4]

[Footnote 1: Russell, _The Free Negro in Virginia_, Johns HopkinsUniversity Studies, Series xxxi. , No. 3, p. 492; and _Acts of theGeneral Assembly of Virginia_, 1848, p. 117. ]

[Footnote 2: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 352. ]

[Footnote 3: Wright, "Negro Rural Communities" (_Southern Workman_, vol. Xxxvii. , p. 158). ]

[Footnote 4: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, p. 373; and_Non-Slaveholder_, vol. Ii. , p. 113. ]

During the same period, and especially from 1820 to 1835, a morecontinuous and effective migration of southern Negroes was beingpromoted by the Quakers of Virginia and North Carolina. [1] One oftheir purposes was educational. Convinced that the "buying, selling, and holding of men in slavery" is a sin, these Quakers with a view tofuture manumission had been "careful of the moral and intellectualtraining of such as they held in servitude. "[2] To elevate theirslaves to the plane of men, southern Quakers early hit upon the schemeof establishing in the Northwest such Negroes as they had by educationbeen able to equip for living as citizens. When the reaction in theSouth made it impossible for the Quakers to continue their policy ofenlightening the colored people, these philanthropists promoted themigration of the blacks to the Northwest Territory with still greaterzeal. Most of these settlements were made in Hamilton, Howard, Wayne, Randolph, Vigo, Gibson, Grant, Rush, and Tipton Counties, Indiana, andin Darke County, Ohio. [3] Prominent among these promoters was LeviCoffin, the Quaker Abolitionist of North Carolina, and reputedPresident of the Underground Railroad. He left his State and settledamong Negroes at Newport, Indiana. [4] Associated with these leadersalso were Benjamin Lundy of Tennessee and James G. Birney, once aslaveholder of Huntsville, Alabama. The latter manumitted his slavesand apprenticed and educated some of them in Ohio. [5]

[Footnote 1: Wright, "Negro Rural Communities" (_Southern Workman_, vol. Xxxvii. , p. 158); and Bassett, _Slavery in North Carolina_, p. 68. ]

[Footnote 2: A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of theTestimony, etc. ]

[Footnote 3: Wright, "Rural Negro Communities in Indiana" (_SouthernWorkman_, vol. Xxxvii. , pp. 162-166); and Bassett, _Slavery in NorthCarolina_, pp. 67 and 68. ]

[Footnote 4: Coffin, _Reminiscences_, p. 106. ]

[Footnote 5: Birney, _James G. Birney and His Times_, p. 139. ]

The importance of this movement to the student of education lies inthe fact that it effected an unequal distribution of intelligentNegroes. The most ambitious and enlightened ones were fleeing to freeterritory. As late as 1840 there were more intelligent blacks in theSouth than in the North. [1] The number of southern colored people whocould read was then decidedly larger than that of such persons foundin the free States. The continued migration of Negroes to the North, despite the operation of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, made thisdistribution more unequal. While the free colored population of theslave States increased only 23, 736 from 1850 to 1860, that of thefree States increased 29, 839. In the South only Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina showed a noticeable increase in thenumber of free persons of color during the decade immediatelypreceding the Civil War. This element of the population had onlyslightly increased in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. Thenumber of free Negroes of Florida remained practically constant. Thoseof Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas diminished. In the North, ofcourse, the tendency was in the other direction. With the exception ofMaine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, which had about the samefree colored population in 1860 as they had in 1850, there was ageneral increase in the number of Negroes in the free States. Ohioled in this respect having had during this period an increase of11, 394. [2]

[Footnote 1: Jones, _Religious Instruction of the Negroes_, p. 115. ]

[Footnote 2: See statistics on pages 237-240. ]

On comparing the educational statistics of these sections this truthbecomes more apparent. In 1850 there were 4, 354 colored childrenattending school in the South, but by 1860 this number had droppedto 3, 651. Slight increases were noted only in Alabama, Missouri, Delaware, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. Georgiaand Mississippi had then practically deprived all Negroes of thisprivilege. The former, which reported one colored child as attendingschool in 1850, had just seven in 1860; the latter had none in 1850and only two in 1860. In all other slave States the number of pupilsof African blood had materially decreased. [1] In the free States therewere 22, 107 colored children in school in 1850, and 28, 978 in 1860. Most of these were in New Jersey, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania, which in 1860 had 2, 741; 5, 671; 5, 694; and 7, 573, respectively. [2]

[Footnote 1: STATISTICS OF THE FREE COLORED POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1850

 ATTENDING ADULTS UNABLE SCHOOL TO READ STATE Population Males Females Total Males Females Total

 Alabama 2, 265 33 35 68 108 127 235 Arkansas 608 6 5 11 61 55 116 California 962 1 0 1 88 29 117 Connecticut 7, 693 689 575 1, 264 292 273 567 Delaware 18, 073 92 95 187 2, 724 2, 921 5, 645 Florida 932 29 37 66 116 154 270 Georgia 2, 931 1 0 1 208 259 467 Illinois 5, 436 162 161 323 605 624 1, 229 Indiana 11, 262 484 443 927 1, 024 1, 146 2, 170 Iowa 333 12 5 17 15 18 33 Kentucky 10, 011 128 160 288 1, 431 1, 588 3, 029 Louisiana 17, 462 629 590 1, 219 1, 038 2, 351 3, 389 Maine 1, 356 144 137 281 77 58 135 Maryland 74, 723 886 730 1, 616 9, 422 11, 640 21, 062 Massachusetts 9, 064 726 713 1, 439 375 431 806 Michigan 2, 583 106 101 207 201 168 369 Mississippi 930 0 0 0 75 48 123 Missouri 2, 618 23 17 40 271 226 497 New Hampshire 520 41 32 73 26 26 52 New Jersey 23, 810 1, 243 1, 083 2, 326 2, 167 2, 250 4, 417 New York 49, 069 2, 840 2, 607 5, 447 3, 387 4, 042 7, 429 North Carolina 27, 463 113 104 217 3, 099 3, 758 6, 857 Ohio 25, 279 1, 321 1, 210 2, 531 2, 366 2, 624 4, 990 Pennsylvania 53, 626 3, 385 3, 114 6, 499 4, 115 5, 229 9, 344** [** was 6, 344 in error. **] Rhode Island 3, 670 304 247 551 130 137 267 South Carolina 8, 960 54 26 80 421 459 880 Tennessee 6, 422 40 30 70 506 591 1, 097 Texas 397 11 9 20 34 24 58 Vermont 718 58 32 90 32 19 51 Virginia 54, 333 37 27 64 5, 141 6, 374 11, 515 Wisconsin 635 32 35 67 55 37 92 District of Columbia 10, 059 232 235 467 1, 106 2, 108 3, 214 Minnesota 30 0 2 2 0 0 0 New Mexico 207 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oregon 24 2 0 2 3 2 5 Utah 22 0 0 0 1 0 1

 Total 434, 495 13, 864 12, 597 26, 461 40, 722 49, 800 90, 522

 See Sixth Census of the United States, 1850. ]

[Footnote 2: See statistics on pages 237-240. ]

The report on illiteracy shows further the differences resulting fromthe divergent educational policies of the two sections. In 1850 therewere in the slave States 58, 444 adult free Negroes who could not read, and in 1860 this number had reached 59, 832. In all such commonwealthsexcept Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, and Mississippi there was anincrease in illiteracy among the free blacks. These States, however, were hardly exceptional, because Arkansas and Mississippi had suffereda decrease in their free colored population, that of Florida hadremained the same, and the difference in the case of Louisiana wasvery slight. The statistics of the Northern States indicate just theopposite trend. Notwithstanding the increase of persons of colorresulting from the influx of the migrating element, there was in allfree States exclusive of California, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania a decrease in the illiteracy of Negroes. Butthese States hardly constitute exceptions; for California, Wisconsin, and Minnesota had very few colored inhabitants in 1850, and the othershad during this decade received so many fugitives in the rough thatrace prejudice and its concomitant drastic legislation impeded theeducational progress of their transplanted freedmen. [1] In theNorthern States where this condition did not obtain, the benevolentwhites had, in coöperation with the Negroes, done much to reduceilliteracy among them during these years. 

[Footnote 1: STATISTICS OF THE FREE COLORED POPULATION OF THE UNITEDSTATES IN 1860

 STATE Population| ATTENDING SCHOOL | ADULTS UNABLE TO READ +----- +----- +------ +-------- +------- +---- -- Males | Males Females | Females Total | Total ---------------- +-------- +----- +------- +------- +------- +------- +------ Alabama 2, 690 48 65 114 192 263 455 Arkansas 144 3 2 5 10 13 23 California 4, 086 69 84 153 497 207 704 Connecticut 8, 627 737 641 1, 378 181 164 345 Delaware 19, 829 122 128 250 3, 056 3, 452 6, 508 Florida 932 3 6 9 48 72 120 Georgia 3, 500 3 4 7 255 318 573 Illinois 7, 628 264 347 611 632 695 1, 327 Indiana 11, 428 570 552 1, 122 869 904 1, 773 Iowa 1, 069 77 61 138 92 77 169 Kansas 625 8 6 14 25 38 63 Kentucky 10, 684 102 107 209 1, 113 1, 350 2, 463 Louisiana 18, 647 153 122 275 485 717 1, 202 Maine 1, 327 148 144 292 25 21 46 Maryland 83, 942 687 668 1, 355 9, 904 11, 795 21, 699 Massachusetts 9, 602 800 815 1, 615 291 368 659 Michigan 6, 797 555 550 1, 105 558 486 1, 044 Minnesota 259 8 10 18 6 6 12 Mississippi 773 0 2 2 50 60 110 Missouri 3, 572 76 79 155 371 514 885 New Hampshire 494 49 31 80 15 19 34 New Jersey 25, 318 1, 413 1, 328 2, 741 1, 720 2, 085 3, 805 New York 49, 005 2, 955 2, 739 5, 694 2, 653 3, 260 5, 913 North Carolina 30, 463 75 58 133 3, 067 3, 782 6, 849 Ohio 36, 673 2, 857 2, 814 5, 671 2, 995 3, 191 6, 186 Oregon 128 0 0 2 7 5 12 Pennsylvania 56, 949 3, 882 3, 691 7, 573 3, 893 5, 466 9, 359 Rhode Island 3, 952 276 256 532 119 141 260 South Carolina 9, 914 158 207 365 633 783 1, 416 Tennessee 7, 300 28 24 52 743 952 1, 695 Texas 355 4 7 11 25 37 62 Vermont 709 65 50 115 27 20 47 Virginia 58, 042 21 20 41 5, 489 6, 008 12, 397 Wisconsin 1, 171 62 50 112 53 45 98

 TERRITORIES

 Colorado 46 No returns Dakota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 District Columbia 11, 131 315 363 678 1, 131 2, 224 3, 375 Nebraska 67 1 1 2 6 7 13 Nevada 45 0 0 0 6 1 7 New Mexico 85 0 0 0 12 15 27 Utah 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 Washington 30 0 0 0 1 0 1

 Total 488, 070 16, 594 16, 035 32, 629 41, 275 50, 461 91, 736

 See Seventh Census of the United States, vol. 1. ]

How the problem of educating these people on free soil was solved canbe understood only by keeping in mind the factors of the migration. Some of these Negroes had unusual capabilities. Many of them hadin slavery either acquired the rudiments of education or developedsufficient skill to outwit the most determined pursuers. Owing somuch to mental power, no man was more effective than the successfulfugitive in instilling into the minds of his people the value ofeducation. Not a few of this type readily added to their attainmentsto equip themselves for the best service. Some of them, like ReverendJosiah Henson, William Wells Brown, and Frederick Douglass, becameleaders, devoting their time not only to the cause of abolition, butalso to the enlightenment of the colored people. Moreover, the freeNegroes migrating to the North were even more effective than thefugitive slaves in advancing the cause of education. [1] A largernumber of the former had picked up useful knowledge. In fact, theprohibition of the education of the free people of color in the Southwas one of the reasons they could so readily leave their nativehomes. [2] The free blacks then going to the Northwest Territory provedto be decidedly helpful to their benefactors in providing coloredchurches and schools with educated workers, who otherwise would havebeen brought from the East at much expense. 

[Footnote 1: Howe, _The Refugee from Slavery_, p. 77. ]

[Footnote 2: Russell, _The Free Negro in Virginia_ (Johns HopkinsUniversity Studies, series xxxi. , No. 3, p. 107). ]

On perusing this sketch the educator naturally wonders exactly whatintellectual progress was made by these groups on free soil. Thisquestion cannot be fully answered for the reason that extant recordsgive no detailed account of many colored settlements which underwentupheaval or failed to endure. In some cases we learn simply that asocial center flourished and was then destroyed. On "Black Friday, "January 1, 1830, eighty Negroes were driven out of Portsmouth, Ohio, at the request of one or two hundred white citizens, set forth in anurgent memorial. [1] After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of1850 the colored population of Columbia, Pennsylvania, dropped fromnine hundred and forty-three to four hundred and eighty-seven. [2] TheNegro community in the northwestern part of that State was broken upentirely. [3] The African Methodist and Baptist churches of Buffalolost many communicants. Out of a membership of one hundred andfourteen, the colored Baptist church of Rochester lost one hundred andtwelve, including its pastor. About the same time eighty-four membersof the African Baptist church of Detroit crossed into Canada. [4] Thebreak-up of these churches meant the end of the day and Sunday-schoolswhich were maintained in them. Moreover, the migration of theseNegroes aroused such bitter feeling against them that theirschoolhouses were frequently burned. It often seemed that it was justas unpopular to educate the blacks in the North as in the South. Ohio, Illinois, and Oregon enacted laws to prevent them from coming intothose commonwealths. 

[Footnote 1: Evans, _A History of Scioto County, Ohio_, p. 613. ]

[Footnote 2: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 249. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 249. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , p. 250. ]

We have, however, sufficient evidence of large undertakings to educatethe colored people then finding homes in less turbulent parts beyondthe Ohio. In the first place, almost every settlement made by theQuakers was a center to which Negroes repaired for enlightenment. In other groups where there was no such opportunity, they had thecoöperation of certain philanthropists in providing facilities fortheir mental and moral development. As a result, the free blacks hadaccess to schools and churches in Hamilton, Howard, Randolph, Vigo, Gibson, Rush, Tipton, Grant, and Wayne counties, Indiana, [1] andMadison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties, Illinois. There were coloredschools and churches in Logan, Clark, Columbiana, Guernsey, Jefferson, Highland, Brown, Darke, Shelby, Green, Miami, Warren, Scioto, Gallia, Ross, and Muskingum counties, Ohio. [2] Augustus Wattles said that withthe assistance of abolitionists he organized twenty-five such schoolsin Ohio counties after 1833. [3] Brown County alone had six. Not manyyears later a Negro settlement in Gallia County, Ohio, was paying ateacher fifty dollars a quarter. [4]

[Footnote 1: Wright, "Negro Rural Communities in Indiana, " _SouthernWorkman_, vol. Xxxvii. , p. 165; Boone, _The History of Education inIndiana_, p. 237; and Simmons, _Men of Mark_, pp. 590 and 948. ]

[Footnote 2: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 948; and Hickok, _The Negro inOhio_, p. 85. ]

[Footnote 3: Howe, _Historical Collections of Ohio_, p. 355. ]

[Footnote 4: Hickok, _The Negro in Ohio_, p. 89. ]

Still better colored schools were established in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in Springfield, Columbus, and Cincinnati, Ohio. While the enlightenment of the few Negroes in Pittsburgh did notrequire the systematic efforts put forth to elevate the raceelsewhere, much was done to provide them educational facilities inthat city. Children of color first attended the white schools therejust as they did throughout the State of Pennsylvania. [1] But whenlarger numbers of them collected in this gateway to the Northwest, either race feeling or the pressing needs of the migrating freedmenbrought about the establishment of schools especially adapted to theirinstruction. Such efforts were frequent after 1830. [2] John ThomasJohnson, a teacher of the District of Columbia, moved to Pittsburghin 1838 and became an instructor in a colored school of that city. [3]Cleveland had an "African School" as early as 1832. John Malvin, themoving spirit of the enterprise in that city, organized about thattime "The School Fund Society" which established other colored schoolsin Cincinnati, Columbus, and Springfield. [4]

[Footnote 1: Wickersham, _Education in Pennsylvania_, p. 248. ]

[Footnote 2: _Life of Martin R. Delaney_, p. 33. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 214. ]

[Footnote 4: Hickok, _The Negro in Ohio_, p. 88. ]

The concentration of the freedmen and fugitives at Cincinnati wasfollowed by efforts to train them for higher service. The Negroesthemselves endeavored to provide their own educational facilities inopening in 1820 the first colored school in that city. This schooldid not continue long, but another was established the same year. Thereafter one Mr. Wing, who kept a private institution, admittedpersons of color to his evening classes. On account of a lack ofmeans, however, the Negroes of Cincinnati did not receive anysystematic instruction before 1834. After that year the tide turned infavor of the free blacks of that section, bringing to their assistancea number of daring abolitionists, who helped them to educatethemselves. Friends of the race, consisting largely of the students ofLane Seminary, had then organized colored Sunday and evening schools, and provided for them scientific and literary lectures twice a week. There was a permanent colored school in Cincinnati in 1834. In 1835the Negroes of that city contributed $150 of the $1000 expended fortheir education. Four years later, however, they raised $889. 03 forthis purpose, and thanks to their economic progress, this sacrificewas less taxing than that of 1835. [1] In 1844 Rev. Hiram Gilmoreopened there a high school which among other students attracted P. B. S. Pinchback, later Governor of Louisiana. Mary E. Miles, a graduateof the Normal School at Albany, New York, served as an assistant ofGilmore after having worked among her people in Massachusetts andPennsylvania. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 83. ]

[Footnote 1: Delany, _The Condition of the Colored People_, etc. , 132. ]

The educational advantages given these people were in no sensedespised. Although the Negroes of the Northwest did not always keeppace with their neighbors in things industrial they did not permitthe white people to outstrip them much in education. The freedmenso earnestly seized their opportunity to acquire knowledge andaccomplished so much in a short period that their educational progressserved to disabuse the minds of indifferent whites of the idea thatthe blacks were not capable of high mental development. [1] Theeducational work of these centers, too, tended not only to produce mencapable of ministering to the needs of their environment, but to serveas a training center for those who would later be leaders of theirpeople. Lewis Woodson owed it to friends in Pittsburgh that he becamean influential teacher. Jeremiah H. Brown, T. Morris Chester, James T. Bradford, M. R. Delany, and Bishop Benjamin T. Tanner obtained muchof their elementary education in the early colored schools of thatcity. [2] J. C. Corbin, a prominent educator before and after the CivilWar, acquired sufficient knowledge at Chillicothe, Ohio, to qualify in1848 as an assistant in Rev. Henry Adams's school in Louisville. [3]John M. Langston was for a while one of Corbin's fellow-students atChillicothe before the former entered Oberlin. United States SenatorHiram Revels of Mississippi spent some time in a Quaker seminary inUnion County, Indiana. [4] Rev. J. T. White, one of the leading spiritsof Arkansas during the Reconstruction, was born and educated in ClarkCounty in that State. [5] Fannie Richards, still a teacher at Detroit, Michigan, is another example of the professional Negro equippedfor service in the Northwest before the Rebellion. [6] From othercommunities of that section came such useful men as Rev. J. W. Malone, an influential minister of Iowa; Rev. D. R. Roberts, a very successfulpastor of Chicago; Bishop C. T. Shaffer of the African MethodistEpiscopal Church; Rev. John G. Mitchell, for many years the Dean ofthe Theological Department of Wilberforce University; and PresidentS. T. Mitchell, once the head of the same institution. [7]

[Footnote 1: This statement is based on the accounts of variouswestern freedmen. ]

[Footnote 2: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 113. ]

[Footnote 3: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 829. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, p. 948. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid. _, p. 590. ]

[Footnote 6: _Ibid. _, p. 1023. ]

[Footnote 7: Wright, "Negro Rural Communities in Indiana, " _SouthernWorkman_, vol. Xxxvii. , p. 169. ]

In the colored settlements of Canada the outlook for Negro educationwas still brighter. This better opportunity was due to the highcharacter of the colonists, to the mutual aid resulting from theproximity of the communities, and to the coöperation of the Canadians. The previous experience of most of these adventurers as sojourners inthe free States developed in them such noble traits that they did nothave to be induced to ameliorate their condition. They had alreadycome under educative influences which prepared them for a larger taskin Canada. Fifteen thousand of sixty thousand Negroes in Canada in1860 were free born. [1] Many of those, who had always been free, fledto Canada[2] when the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made it possiblefor even a dark-complexioned Caucasian to be reduced to a state ofbondage. Fortunately, too, these people settled in the same section. The colored settlements at Dawn, Colchester, Elgin, Dresden, Windsor, Sandwich, Queens, Bush, Wilberforce, Hamilton, St. Catherines, Chatham, Riley, Anderton, Maiden, Gonfield, were all in SouthernOntario. In the course of time the growth of these groups produced apopulation sufficiently dense to facilitate coöperation in matterspertaining to social betterment. The uplift of the refugees was madeless difficult also by the self-denying white persons who were theirfirst teachers and missionaries. While the hardships incident to thispioneer effort all but baffled the ardent apostle to the lowly, hefound among the Canadian whites so much more sympathy than among thenortherners that his work was more agreeable and more successful thanit would have been in the free States. Ignoring the request that therefugees be turned from Canada as undesirables, the white people ofthat country protected and assisted them. [3] Canadians later underwentsome change in their attitude toward their newcomers, but theseBritish-Americans never exhibited such militant opposition to theNegroes as sometimes developed in the Northern States. [4]

[Footnote 1: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 222. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, pp. 247-250. ]

[Footnote 3: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, pp. 201 and 233. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, 233. ]

The educational privileges which the refugees hoped to enjoy inCanada, however, were not easily exercised. Under the Canadian lawthey could send their children to the common schools, or use theirproportionate share of the school funds in providing other educationalfacilities. [1] But conditions there did not at first redound to theeducation of the colored children. [2] Some were too destitute toavail themselves of these opportunities; others, unaccustomed to thisequality of fortune, were timid about having their children minglewith those of the whites, and not a few clad their youths so poorlythat they became too unhealthy to attend regularly[3]. Besides, raceprejudice was not long in making itself the most disturbing factor. In 1852 Benjamin Drew found the minds of the people of Sandwich muchexercised over the question of admitting Negroes into the publicschools. The same feeling was then almost as strong in Chatham, Hamilton, and London[4]. Consequently, "partly owing to thisprejudice, and partly to their own preference, the colored people, acting under the provision of the law that allowed them to haveseparate schools, set up their own schools in Sandwich and in manyother parts of Ontario"[5]. There were separate schools at Colchester, Amherstburg, Sandwich, Dawn, and Buxton[6]. It was doubtless becauseof the rude behavior of white pupils toward the children of the blacksthat their private schools flourished at London, Windsor, and otherplaces[7]. The Negroes, themselves, however, did not object to thecoeducation of the races. Where there were a few white childrenin colored settlements they were admitted to schools maintainedespecially for pupils of African descent. [8] In Toronto no distinctionin educational privileges was made, but in later years thereflourished an evening school for adults of color. [9]

[Footnote 1: Howe, _The Refugees from Slavery_, p. 77. ]

[Footnote 2: Drew said: "The prejudice against the African race ishere [Canada] strongly marked. It had not been customary to levyschool taxes on the colored people. Some three or four years since atrustee assessed a school tax on some of the wealthy citizens of thatclass. They sent their children at once into the public school. Asthese sat down the white children near them deserted the benches: andin a day or two the white children were wholly withdrawn, leaving theschoolhouse to the teacher and his colored pupils. The matter wasat last 'compromised': a notice 'Select School' was put on theschoolhouse: the white children were selected _in_ and the black wereselected _out_. " See Drew's. _A North-side View of Slavery_, etc. , p. 341. ]

[Footnote 3: Mitchell, _The Underground Railroad_, pp. 140, 164, and165. ]

[Footnote 4: Drew, _A North-side View of Slavery_, pp. 118, 147, 235, and 342. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid_. , p. 341. ]

[Footnote 6: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 229. ]

[Footnote 7: _Ibid_. , p. 229. ]

[Footnote 8: _First Annual Report of the Anti-slavery Society ofCanada_, 1852, Appendix, p. 22. ]

[Footnote 9: _Ibid_. , p. 15. ]

The most helpful schools, however, were not those maintained by thestate. Travelers in Canada found the colored mission schools witha larger attendance and doing better work than those maintained atpublic expense. [1] The rise of the mission schools was due to theeffort to "furnish the conditions under which whatever appreciationof education there was native in a community of Negroes, or whatevertaste for it could be awakened there, " might be "free to assert itselfunhindered by real or imagined opposition. "[2] There were no suchschools in 1830, but by 1838 philanthropists had established the firstmission among the Canadian refugees. [3] The English Colonial Churchand School Society organized schools at London, Amherstburg, andColchester. Certain religious organizations of the United States sentten or more teachers to these settlements. [4] In 1839 these workerswere conducting four schools while Rev. Hiram Wilson, their inspector, probably had several other institutions under his supervision. [5] In1844 Levi Coffin found a large school at Isaac Rice's mission at FortMaiden or Amherstburg. [6] Rice had toiled among these people sixyears, receiving very little financial aid, and suffering unusualhardships. [7] Mr. E. Child, a graduate of Oneida Institute, was lateradded to the corps of mission teachers. [8] In 1852 Mrs. Laura S. Haviland was secured to teach the school of the colony of "Refugees'Home, " where the colored people had built a structure "for school andmeeting purposes. "[9] On Sundays the schoolhouses and churches werecrowded by eager seekers, many of whom lived miles away. Among theseearnest students a traveler saw an aged couple more than eightyyears old. [10] These elementary schools broke the way for a higherinstitution at Dawn, known as the Manual Labor Institute. 

[Footnote 1: Drew, _A North-side View of Slavery_, pp. 118, 147, 235, 341, and 342. ]

[Footnote 2: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 229. ]

[Footnote 3: _Father Henson's Story of His Own Life_, p. 209. ]

[Footnote 4: _First Annual Report of the Anti-slavery Society ofCanada_, 1852, p. 22. ]

[Footnote 5: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 199. ]

[Footnote 6: "While at this place we made our headquarters at Isaac J. Rice's missionary buildings, where he had a large school for coloredchildren. He had labored here among the colored people, mostlyfugitives, for six years. He was a devoted, self-denying worker, hadreceived very little pecuniary help, and had suffered many privations. He was well situated in Ohio as pastor of a Presbyterian Church, andhad fine prospects before him, but believed that the Lord called himto this field of missionary labor among the fugitive slaves, whocame here by hundreds and by thousands, poor, destitute, ignorant, suffering from all the evil influences of slavery. We entered intodeep sympathy with him and his labors, realizing the great need therewas here for just such an institution as he had established. He hadsheltered at his missionary home many hundred of fugitives till otherhomes for them could be found. This was the great landing point, theprincipal terminus of the Underground Railroad of the West. " SeeCoffin's _Reminiscences_, p. 251. ]

[Footnote 7: _Ibid_. , pp. 249-251. ]

[Footnote 8: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 202. ]

[Footnote 9: Haviland, _A Woman's Work_, pp. 192, 196, 201. ]

[Footnote 10: Haviland, _A Woman's Work_, pp. 192, 193. ]

With these immigrants, however, this was not a mere passiveparticipation in the work of their amelioration. From the verybeginning the colored people partly supported their schools. Withoutthe coöperation of the refugees the large private schools at London, Chatham, and Windsor could not have succeeded. The school at Chathamwas conducted by Alfred Whipper, [1] a colored man, that at Windsor byMary E. Bibb, the wife of Henry Bibb, [2] the founder of the Refugees'Home Settlement, and that at Sandwich by Mary Ann Shadd, ofDelaware. [3] Moreover, the majority of these colonists showedincreasing interest in this work of social uplift. [4] Foregoing theireconomic opportunities many of the refugees congregated in towns ofeducational facilities. A large number of them left their first abodesto settle near Dresden and Dawn because of the advantages offeredby the Manual Labor Institute. Besides, the Negroes organized "TrueBands" which effected among other things the improvement of schoolsand the increase of their attendance[5]. 

[Footnote 1: Drew, _A North-side View of Slavery_, p. 236. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 322. ]

[Footnote 3: Delany, _The Condition of the Colored People_, etc. , 131. ]

[Footnote 4: Howe, _The Refugees from Slavery_, pp. 70, 71, 108, and110. ]

[Footnote 5: According to Drew a True Band was composed of coloredpersons of both sexes, associated for their own improvement. "Itsobjects, " says he, "are manifold: mainly these:--the members are totake a general interest in each other's welfare; to pursue such plansand objects as may be for their mutual advantage; to improve allschools, and to induce their race to send their children into theschools; to break down all prejudice; to bring all churches as far aspossible into one body, and not let minor differences divide them; toprevent litigation by referring all disputes among themselves to acommittee; to stop the begging system entirely (that is, going to theUnited States and thereby representing that the fugitives are starvingand suffering, raising large sums of money, of which the fugitivesnever receive the benefit, --misrepresenting the character of thefugitives for industry and underrating the advance of the country, which supplies abundant work for all at fair wages); to raise suchfunds among themselves as may be necessary for the poor, the sick, and the destitute fugitive newly arrived; and prepare themselvesultimately to bear their due weight of political power. " See Drew, _ANorth-side View of Slavery_, p. 236. ]

The good results of these schools were apparent. In the same degreethat the denial to slaves of mental development tended to brutalizethem the teaching of science and religion elevated the fugitives inCanada. In fact, the Negroes of these settlements soon had idealsdiffering widely from those of their brethren less favorablycircumstanced. They believed in the establishment of homes, respectedthe sanctity of marriage, and exhibited in their daily life a moralsense of the highest order. Travelers found the majority of themneat, orderly, and intelligent[1]. Availing themselves of theiropportunities, they quickly qualified as workers among their fellows. An observer reported in 1855 that a few were engaged in shop keepingor were employed as clerks, while a still smaller number devotedthemselves to teaching and preaching. [2] Before 1860 the culture ofthese settlements was attracting the colored graduates of northerninstitutions which had begun to give men of African blood anopportunity to study in their professional schools. 

[Footnote 1: According to the report of the Freedmen's InquiryCommission published by S. G. Howe, an unusually large proportion ofthe colored population believed in education. He says: "Those from thefree States had very little schooling in youth; those from the slaveStates, none at all. Considering these things it is rather remarkablethat so many can now read and write. Moreover, they show their esteemfor instruction by their desire to obtain it for their children. Theyall wish to have their children go to school, and they send them allthe time that they can be spared. 

"Canada West has adopted a good system of public instruction, whichis well administered. The common schools, though inferior to those ofseveral of the States of the United States, are good. Colored childrenare admitted to them in most places; and where a separate school isopen for them, it is as well provided by the government with teachersand apparatus as the other schools are. Notwithstanding the growingprejudice against blacks, the authorities evidently mean to dealjustly by them in regard to instruction; and even those who advocateseparate schools, promise that they shall be equal to white schools. 

"The colored children in the mixed schools do not differ in theirgeneral appearance and behavior from their white comrades. They areusually clean and decently clad. They look quite as the whites; andare perhaps a little more mirthful and roguish. The associationis manifestly beneficial to the colored children. " See Howe, _TheRefugees_, etc. , p. 77. ]

[Footnote 2: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 226. ]

CHAPTER XI

HIGHER EDUCATION

The development of the schools and churches established for thesetransplanted freedmen made more necessary than ever a higher educationto develop in them the power to work out their own salvation. Itwas again the day of thorough training for the Negroes. Theiropportunities for better instruction were offered mainly by thecolonizationists and abolitionists. [1] Although these workers hadradically different views as to the manner of elevating the coloredpeople, they contributed much to their mental development. The moreliberal colonizationists endeavored to furnish free persons ofcolor the facilities for higher education with the hope that theirenlightenment would make them so discontented with this countrythat they would emigrate to Liberia. Most southern colonizationistsaccepted this plan but felt that those permanently attached to thiscountry should be kept in ignorance; for if they were enlightened, they would either be freed or exterminated. During the period ofreaction, when the elevation of the race was discouraged in the Northand prohibited in most parts of the South, the colonizationistscontinued to secure to Negroes, desiring to expatriate themselves, opportunities for education which never would have been given thoseexpecting to remain in the United States. [2]

[Footnote 1: The views of the abolitionists at that time were wellexpressed by Garrison in his address to the people of color in theconvention assembled in Philadelphia in 1830. He encouraged them toget as much education as possible for themselves and their offspring, to toil long and hard for it as for a pearl of great price. "Anignorant people, " said he, "can never occupy any other than a degradedplace in society; they can never be truly free until they areintelligent. It is an old maxim that knowledge is power; and not onlyis it power but rank, wealth, dignity, and protection. That capitalbrings highest return to a city, state, or nation (as the case maybe) which is invested in schools, academies, and colleges. If I hadchildren, rather than that they should grow up in ignorance, I wouldfeed upon bread and water: I would sell my teeth, or extract the bloodfrom my veins. " See _Minutes of the Proceedings of the Convention forthe Improvement of the Free People of Color_, 1830, pages 10, 11. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, pp. 213-214; and _The African Repository_, under the captions of"Education in Liberia, " and "African Education Societies, " _passim_. ]

The policy of promoters of African colonization, however, did notimmediately become unprogressive. Their plan of education differedfrom previous efforts in that the objects of their philanthropy wereto be given every opportunity for mental growth. The colonizationistshad learned from experience in educating Negroes that it was necessaryto begin with the youth. [1] These workers observed, too, that theexigencies of the time demanded more advanced and better endowedinstitutions to prepare colored men to instruct others in science andreligion, and to fit them for "civil offices in Liberia and Hayti. "[2]To execute this scheme the leaders of the colonization movementendeavored to educate Negroes in "mechanic arts, agriculture, science, and Biblical literature. "[3] Exceptionally bright youths were tobe given special training as catechists, teachers, preachers, andphysicians. [4] A southern planter offered a plantation for theestablishment of a suitable institution of learning, [5] a few masterssent their slaves to eastern schools to be educated, and men organized"education societies" in various parts to carry out this work atshorter range. In 1817 colonizationists opened at Pasippany, NewJersey, a school to give a four-year course to "African youth" whoshowed "talent, discretion, and piety" and were able to read andwrite. [6] Twelve years later another effort was made to establish aschool of this kind at Newark in that State, [7] while other promotersof that faith were endeavoring to establish a similar institution atHartford, Connecticut, [8] all hoping to make use of the Kosciuszkofund. [9]

[Footnote 1: _African Repository_, vol. I. , p. 277. ]

[Footnote 2: _African Repository_, vol. Ii. , p. 223. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, vol. Xxviii. , pp. 271, 347; Child, _An Appeal_, p. 144. ]

[Footnote 4: _African Repository_, vol. I. , p. 277. ]

[Footnote 5: _Report of the Proceedings at the Organization of theAfrican Education Society_, p. 9. ]

[Footnote 6: _African Repository_, vol. I. , p. 276, and Griffin, _APlea for Africa_, p. 65. ]

[Footnote 7: _African Repository_, vol. Iv. , pp. 186, 193, and 375;and vol. Vi. , pp. 47, 48, 49, and _Report of the Proceedings of theAfrican Education Society_, p. 7. ]

[Footnote 8: _Ibid_. , pp. 7 and 8 and _African Repository_, vol. Iv. , p. 375. ]

[Footnote 9: What would become of this plan depended upon the changingfortunes of the men concerned. Kosciuszko died in 1817; and as ThomasJefferson refused to take out letters testamentary under this will, Benjamin Lincoln Lear, a trustee of the African Education Society, whointended to apply for the whole fund, was appointed administrator ofit. The fund amounted to about $16, 000. Later Kosciuszko Armstrongdemanded of the administrator $3704 bequeathed to him by T. Kosciuszkoin a will alleged to have been executed in Paris in 1806. The bill wasdismissed by the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, and thedecision of the lower Court was confirmed by the United States SupremeCourt in 1827 on the grounds that the said will had not been admittedto probate anywhere. To make things still darker just about thetime the trustees of the African Education Society were planning topurchase a farm and select teachers and mechanics to instruct theyouth, the heirs of General Kosciuszko filed a bill against Mr. Lear in the Supreme Court of the United States on the ground of theinvalidity of the will executed by Kosciuszko in 1798. The death ofMr. Lear in 1832 and that of William Wirt, the Attorney-General ofthe United States, soon thereafter, caused a delay in having the casedecided. The author does not know exactly what use was finally made ofthis fund. See _African Repository_, vol. It. , pp. 163, 233; also 7Peters, 130, and 8 Peters, 52. ]

The schemes failed, however, on account of the unyielding oppositionof the free Negroes and abolitionists. They could see no philanthropyin educating persons to prepare for doom in a deadly climate. Theconvention of the free people of color assembled in Philadelphia in1830, denounced the colonization movement as an evil, and urged theirfellows not to support it. Pointing out the impracticability of suchschemes, the convention encouraged the race to take steps toward itselevation in this country. [1] Should the colored people be properlyeducated, the prejudice against them would not continue such as tonecessitate their expatriation. The delegates hoped to establish aManual Labor College at New Haven that Negroes might there acquirethat "classical knowledge which promotes genius and causes man to soarup to those high intellectual enjoyments and acquirements which placehim in a situation to shed upon a country and people that scientificgrandeur which is imperishable by time, and drowns in oblivion's cuptheir moral degradation. "[2]

[Footnote 1: Williams, _History of the Negro Race_, p. 67. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 68; and _Minutes of the Proceedings of theThird Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, pp. 9, 10, and 11. ]

Influential abolitionists were also attacking this policy of thecolonizationists. William Jay, however, delivered against them suchdiatribes and so wisely exposed their follies that the advocatesof colonization learned to consider him as the arch enemy of theircause. [1] Jay advocated the education of the Negroes for livingwhere they were. He could not see how a Christian could prohibit orcondition the education of any individual. To do such a thing wastantamount to preventing him from having a direct revelation of God. How these "educators" could argue that on account of the hopelessnessof the endeavors to civilize the blacks they should be removed to aforeign country, and at the same time undertake to provide for themthere the same facilities for higher education that white men enjoyed, seemed to Jay to be facetiously inconsistent. [2] If the Africans couldbe elevated in their native land and not in America, it was due to theCaucasians' sinful condition, for which the colored people should notbe required to suffer the penalty of expatriation. [3] The desirablething to do was to influence churches and schools to admit students ofcolor on terms of equality with all other races. 

[Footnote 1: Reese, _Letters to Honorable William Jay. _]

[Footnote 2: Jay, _Inquiry_, p. 26; and _Letters_, p. 21. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, p. 22. ]

Encountering this opposition, the institutions projected by thecolonization society existed in name only. Exactly how and why theorganization failed to make good with its educational policy is wellbrought out by the wailing cry of one of its promoters. He assertedthat "every endeavor to divert the attention of the community or evena portion of the means which the present so imperatively calls for, from the colonization society to measures calculated to bind thecolored population to this country and seeking to raise them to alevel with the whites, whether by founding colleges or in any otherway, tends directly in the proportion that it succeeds, to counteractand thwart the whole plan of colonization. "[1] The colonizationists, therefore, desisted from their attempt to provide higher education forany considerable number of the belated race. Seeing that they couldnot count on the support of the free persons of color, they fearedthat those thus educated would be induced by the abolitionists toremain in the United States. This would put the colonizationists inthe position of increasing the intelligent element of the coloredpopulation, which was then regarded as a menace to slavery. Consequently these timorous "educators" did practically nothingduring the reactionary period to carry out their plan of establishingcolleges. 

[Footnote 1: Hodgkin, _Inquiry into the Merits of the Am. Col. Soc. _, p. 31. ]

Thereafter the colonizationists found it advisable to restrict theirefforts to individual cases. Not much was said about what they weredoing, but now and then appeared notices of Negroes who had beenprivately prepared in the South or publicly in the North forprofessional work in Liberia. Dr. William Taylor and Dr. Fleet werethus educated in medicine in the District of Columbia. [1] In thesame way John V. DeGrasse, of New York, and Thomas J. White, [2] ofBrooklyn, were allowed to complete the Medical Course at Bowdoin in1849. Garrison Draper, who had acquired his literary education atDartmouth, studied law in Baltimore under friends of the colonizationcause, and with a view to going to Liberia passed the examination ofthe Maryland Bar in 1857. [3] In 1858 the Berkshire Medical Schoolgraduated two colored doctors, who were gratuitously educated by theAmerican Colonization Society. The graduating class thinned out, however, and one of the professors resigned because of theirattendance. [4]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, and_African Repository_, vol. X. , p. 10. ]

[Footnote 2: _Niles Register_, vol. Lxxv. , p. 384. ]

[Footnote 3: _African Repository_, vol. Xxxiv. , pp. 26 and 27. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, p. 30. ]

Not all colonizationists, however, had submitted to this policy ofmere individual preparation of those emigrating to Liberia. Certain oftheir organizations still believed that it was only through educatingthe free people of color sufficiently to see their humiliation that alarge number of them could be induced to leave this country. As longas they were unable to enjoy the finer things of life, they could notbe expected to appreciate the value and use of liberty. It wasargued that instead of remaining in this country to wage war on itsinstitutions, the highly enlightened Negroes would be glad to go to aforeign land. [1] By this argument some colonizationists were inducedto do more for the general education of the free blacks than theyhad considered it wise to do during the time of the bold attempts atservile insurrection. [2] In fact, many of the colored schools of thefree States were supported by ardent colonizationists. 

[Footnote 1: Boone, _The History of Education in Indiana_, p. 237; and_African Repository_, vol. Xxx. , p. 195. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 195. ]

The later plan of most colonizationists, however, was to educate theemigrating Negroes after they settled in Liberia. Handsome sumswere given for the establishment of schools and colleges in whichprofessorships were endowed for men educated at the expense ofchurches and colonization societies. [1] The first institution ofconsequence in this field was the Alexander High School. To thisschool many of the prominent men of Liberia owed the beginning oftheir liberal education. The English High School at Monrovia, theBaptist Boarding School at Bexley, and the Protestant Episcopal HighSchool at Cape Palmas also offered courses in higher branches. [2]Still better opportunities were given by the College of West Africaand Liberia College. The former was founded in 1839 as the head of asystem of schools established by the Methodist Episcopal Church inevery county of the Republic. [3] Liberia College was at the requestof its founders, the directors of the American Colonization Society, incorporated by the legislature of the country in 1851. As it tooksome time to secure adequate funds, the main building was notcompleted, and students were not admitted before 1862. 

[Footnote 1: _African Repository_, under the caption of "Education inLiberia" in various volumes; and Alexander, _A History of Col. _, pp. 348, 391. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, p. 348. ]

[Footnote 3: Monroe, _Cyclopaedia of Education_, vol. Iv. , p. 6. ]

Though the majority of the colored students scoffed at the idea ofpreparing for work in Liberia their education for service in theUnited States was not encouraged. No Negro had graduated from acollege before 1828, when John B. Russworm, a classmate of Hon. JohnP. Hale, received his degree from Bowdoin. [1] During the thirtiesand forties, colored persons, however well prepared, were generallydebarred from colleges despite the protests of prominent men. We haveno record that as many as fifteen Negroes were admitted to higherinstitutions in this country before 1840. It was only after muchdebate that Union College agreed to accept a colored student oncondition that he should swear that he had no Negro blood in hisveins. [2]

[Footnote 1: Dyer, Speech in Congress on the Progress of the Negro, 1914. ]

[Footnote 2: Clarke, _The Condition of the Free People of Color_, 1859, p. 3, and the _Sixth Annual Report of the American AntislaverySociety_, p. 11. ]

Having had such a little to encourage them to expect a generaladmission into northern institutions, free blacks and abolitionistsconcluded that separate colleges for colored people were necessary. The institution demanded for them was thought to have an advantageover the aristocratic college in that labor would be combined withstudy, making the stay at school pleasant and enabling the poorestyouth to secure an education. [1] It was the kind of higher institutionwhich had already been established in several States to meet the needsof the illiterate whites. Such higher training for the Negroes wasconsidered necessary, also, because their intermediate schools wereafter the reaction in a languishing state. The children of color wereable to advance but little on account of having nothing to stimulatethem. The desired college was, therefore, boomed as an institution togive the common schools vigor, "to kindle the flame of emulation, ""to open to beginners discerning the mysteries of arithmetic othermysteries beyond, " and above all to serve them as Yale or Harvard didas the capstone of the educational system of the other race. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the Third Convention of Free People ofColor held in Philadelphia in 1836_, pp. 7 and 8; _Ibid. , FourthAnnual Convention_, p. 26; _Proceedings of the New England AntislaverySociety_, 1836, p. 40. ]

[Footnote 2: _Minutes and Proceedings of the Third Annual Conventionof the Free People of Color_, 1836; Garrison's Address. ]

In the course of time these workers succeeded in various communities. The movement for the higher education of the Negroes of the Districtof Columbia centered largely around the academy established by MissMyrtilla Miner, a worthy young woman of New York. After variousdiscouragements in seeking a special preparation for life's work, shefinally concluded that she should devote her time to the moral andintellectual improvement of Negroes. [1] She entered upon her career inWashington in 1851 assisted by Miss Anna Inman, a native of New York, and a member of the Society of Friends. After teaching the girlsFrench one year Miss Inman returned to her home in Southfield, RhodeIsland. [2] Finding it difficult to get a permanent location, MissMiner had to move from place to place among colored people who weregenerally persecuted and threatened with conflagration for having awhite woman working among them. Driven to the extremity of buildinga schoolhouse for her purpose, she purchased a lot with money raisedlargely by Quakers of New York, Philadelphia, and New England, andby Harriet Beecher Stowe. [3] Miss Miner had also the support of Mrs. Means, an aunt of the wife of President Franklin Pierce, and of UnitedStates Senator W. H. Seward. [4] Effective opposition, however, was notlong in developing. Articles appeared in the newspapers protestingagainst this policy of affording Negroes "a degree of instruction sofar above their social and political condition which must continue inthis and every other slaveholding community. "[5] Girls were insulted, teachers were abused along the streets, and for lack of policesurveillance the house was set afire in 1860. It was sighted, however, in time to be saved. [6]

[Footnote 1: O'Connor, _Myrtilla Miner_, pp. 11, 12. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 207. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, 1871, p. 208. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid. _, pp. 208, 209, and 210. ]

[Footnote 5: _The National Intelligencer. _]

[Footnote 6: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 209. ]

Undisturbed by these efforts to destroy the institution, Miss Minerpersisted in carrying out her plan for the higher education of coloredgirls of the District of Columbia. She worked during the winter, andtraveled during the summer to solicit friends and contributions tokeep the institution on that higher plane where she planned it shouldbe. She had the building well equipped with all kinds of apparatus, utilized the ample ground for the teaching of horticulture, collecteda large library, and secured a number of paintings and engravings withwhich she enlightened her pupils on the finer arts. In addition to theconventional teaching of seminaries of that day, Miss Miner providedlectures on scientific and literary subjects by the leading men ofthat time, and trained her students to teach. [1] She hoped some day tomake the seminary a first-class teachers' college. During the CivilWar, however, it was difficult for her to find funds, and healthhaving failed her in 1858 she died in 1866 without realizing thisdream. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 210. ]

[Footnote 2: Those who assisted her were Helen Moore, Margaret Clapp, Anna H. Searing, Amanda Weaver, Anna Jones, Matilda Jones, and LydiaMann, the sister of Horace Mann, who helped Miss Miner considerablyin 1856 at the time of her failing health. Emily Holland was her firmsupporter when the institution was passing through the crisis, andstood by her until she breathed her last. See _Special Report of theU. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 210. ]

Earlier in the nineteenth century the philanthropists of Pennsylvaniahad planned to establish for Negroes several higher institutions. Chief among these was the Institute for Colored Youth. The foundingof an institution of this kind had been made possible by RichardHumphreys, a Quaker, who, on his death in 1832, devised to a Boardof Trustees the sum of $10, 000 to be used for the education of thedescendants of the African race. [1] As the instruction of Negroes wasthen unpopular, no steps were taken to carry out this plan until 1839. The Quakers then appointed a Board and undertook to execute thisprovision of Humphreys's will. In conformity with the directions ofthe donor, the Board of Trustees endeavored to give the coloredyouth the opportunity to obtain a good education and acquire usefulknowledge of trades and commercial occupations. Humphreys desired that"they might be enabled to obtain a comfortable livelihood by theirown industry, and fulfill the duties of domestic and social lifewith reputation and fidelity as good citizens and pious men. "[2]Accordingly they purchased a tract of land in Philadelphia County andtaught a number of boys the principles of farming, shoemaking, andother useful occupations. 

[Footnote 1: Wickersham, _History of Education in Pa. _, p. 249. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 379. ]

Another stage in the development of this institution was reached in1842, the year of its incorporation. It then received several smallcontributions and the handsome sum of $18, 000 from another Quaker, Jonathan Zane. As it seemed by 1846 that the attempt to combine theliterary with the industrial work had not been successful, it wasdecided to dispose of the industrial equipment and devote the funds ofthe institution to the maintenance of an evening school. An effort atthe establishment of a day school was made in 1850, but it was noteffected before 1852. A building was then erected in Lombard Streetand the school known thereafter as the Institute for Colored Youth wasopened with Charles L. Reason of New York in charge. Under him theinstitution was at once a success in preparing advanced pupils ofboth sexes for the higher vocations of teaching and preaching. Theattendance soon necessitated increased accommodations for which JosephDawson and other Quakers liberally provided in later years. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the United States Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 380. ]

This favorable tendency in Pennsylvania led to the establishment ofAvery College at Alleghany City. The necessary fund was bequeathed byRev. Charles Avery, a rich man of that section, who left an estate ofabout $300, 000 to be applied to the education and Christianization ofthe African race. [1] Some of this fund was devoted to missionarywork in Africa, large donations were made to colored institutions oflearning, and another portion was appropriated to the establishmentof Avery College. This institution was incorporated in 1849. Soonthereafter it advertised for students, expressing willingness to makeevery provision without regard to religious proclivities. The schoolhad a three-story brick building, up-to-date apparatus for teachingvarious branches of natural science, a library of all kindsof literature, and an endowment of $25, 000 to provide for itsmaintenance. Rev. Philotas Dean, the only white teacher connected withthis institution, was its first principal. He served until 1856 whenhe was succeeded by his assistant, M. H. Freeman, who in 1863 wassucceeded by George B. Vashon. Miss Emma J. Woodson was an assistantin the institution from 1856 to 1867. After the din of the Civil Warhad ceased the institution took on new life, electing a new corps ofteachers, who placed the work on a higher plane. Among these were Rev. H. H. Garnett, president, B. K. Sampson, Harriet C. Johnson, and ClaraG. Toop. [2]

[Footnote 1: _African Repository_, vol. Xxxiv. , p. 156. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 381. ]

It was due also to the successful forces at work in Pennsylvania thatthe Ashmun Institute, now Lincoln University, was established in thatState. The need of higher education having come to the attention ofthe Presbytery of New Castle, that body decided to establish withinits limits an institution for the "scientific, classical, andtheological education of the colored youth of the male sex. " In 1853the Synod approved the plans of the founders and provided that theinstitution should be under the supervision and control of thePresbytery or Synod within whose bounds it might be located. Acommittee to solicit funds, find a site, and secure a charter for theschool was appointed. They selected for the location Hensonville, Chester County, Pennsylvania. [1] The legislature incorporated theinstitution in 1854 with John M. Dickey, Alfred Hamilton, Robert P. DuBois, James Latta, John B. Spottswood, James Crowell, Samuel J. Dickey, Alfred Hamilton, John M. Kelton, and William Wilson astrustees. Sufficient buildings and equipment having been provided by1856, the doors of this institution were opened to young colored menseeking preparation for work in this country and Liberia. [2]

[Footnote 1: Baird, _A Collection_, etc. , p. 819. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the United States Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 382. ]

An equally successful plan of workers in the West resulted in thefounding of the first higher institution to be controlled by Negroes. Having for some years believed that the colored people needed acollege for the preparation of teachers and preachers, the CincinnatiConference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in session in 1855appointed Rev. John F. Wright as general agent to execute this design. Addressing themselves immediately to this task Rev. Mr. Wright and hisassociates solicited from philanthropic persons by 1856 the amount of$13, 000. The agents then made the purchase payment on the beautifulsite of Tawawa Springs, long known as the healthy summer resort nearXenia, Ohio. [1] That same year the institution was incorporated asWilberforce University. From 1856 to 1862 the school had a fairstudent body, consisting of the mulatto children of southernslaveholders. [2] When these were kept away, however, by the operationsof the Civil War, the institution declined so rapidly that it had tobe closed for a season. Thereafter the trustees appealed again to theAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church which in 1856 had declined theinvitation to coöperate with the founders. The colored Methodists hadadhered to their decision to operate Union Seminary, a manual laborschool, which they had started near Columbus, Ohio. [3] The propositionwas accepted, however, in 1862. For the amount of the debt of $10, 000which the institution had incurred while passing through the crisis, Rev. Daniel A. Payne and his associates secured the transfer ofthe property to the African Methodist Episcopal Church. These newdirectors hoped to develop a first-class university, offering coursesin law, medicine, literature, and theology. The debt being speedilyremoved the school showed evidences of new vigor, but was checked inits progress by an incendiary, who burned the main building while theteachers and pupils were attending an emancipation celebration atXenia, April 14, 1865. With the amount of insurance received anddonations from friends, the trustees were able to construct a morecommodious building which still marks the site of these earlylabors. [4]

[Footnote 1: _The Non-Slaveholder_, vol. Ii. , p. 113. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, pp. 372-373. ]

[Footnote 3: _History of Greene County, Ohio_, chapter on Wilberforce;and _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 373. ]

[Footnote 4: _The Non-Slaveholder_, vol. Ii. , p. 113. ]

A brighter day for the higher education of the colored people at home, however, had begun to dawn during the forties. The abolitionistswere then aggressively demanding consideration for the Negroes. Men"condescended" to reason together about slavery and the treatment ofthe colored people. The northern people ceased to think that they hadnothing to do with these problems. When these questions were openlydiscussed in the schools of the North, students and teachers graduallybecame converted to the doctrine of equality in education. Thisrevolution was instituted by President C. B. Storrs, of Western ReserveCollege, then at Hudson, Ohio. His doctrine in regard to the trainingof the mind "was that men are able to be made only by putting youthunder the responsibilities of men. " He, therefore, encouraged the freediscussion of all important subjects, among which was the appeal ofthe Negroes for enlightenment. This policy gave rise to a spirit ofinquiry which permeated the whole school. The victory, however, wasnot easy. After a long struggle the mind of the college was carried byirresistible argument in favor of fair play for colored youth. Thisinstitution had two colored students as early as 1834. [1]

[Footnote 1: _First Annual Report of the American Anti-SlaverySociety_, p. 42. ]

Northern institutions of learning were then reaching the third stagein their participation in the solution of the Negro problem. At firstthey had to be converted even to allow a free discussion of thequestion; next the students on being convinced that slavery was a sin, sought to elevate the blacks thus degraded; and finally these workers, who had been accustomed to instructing the neighboring colored people, reached the conclusion that they should be admitted to their schoolson equal footing with the whites. Geneva College, then at Northfield, Ohio, now at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, was being moved in thismanner. [1]

[Footnote 1: _First Annual Report of the American Anti-slaverySociety_, 1834. P. 43. ]

Lane Seminary, however, is the best example of a school which passedthrough the three stages of this revolution. This institution waspeculiar in that the idea of establishing it originated with asoutherner, a merchant of New Orleans. It was founded largely by fundsof southern Presbyterians, was located in Cincinnati about a mile fromslave territory, and was attended by students from that section. [1]When the right of free discussion swept the country many of theproslavery students were converted to abolition. To southerners itseemed that the seminary had resolved itself into a society for theelevation of the free blacks. Students established Sabbath-schools, organized Bible classes, and provided lectures for Negroes ambitiousto do advanced work. Measures were taken to establish an academy forcolored girls, and a teacher was engaged. But these noble efforts putforth so near the border States soon provoked firm opposition fromthe proslavery element. Some of the students had gone so far in themanifestation of their zeal that the institution was embarrassed bythe charge of promoting the social equality of the races. [2] Ratherthan remain in Cincinnati under restrictions, the reform element ofthe institution moved to the more congenial Western Reserve where anucleus of youth and their instructors had assumed the name of OberlinCollege. This school did so much for the education of Negroes beforethe Civil War that it was often spoken of as an institution for theeducation of the people of color. 

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 43. ]

[Footnote 2: _First Annual Report of the American Anti-SlaverySociety_, p. 43. ]

Interest in the higher education of the neglected race, however, wasnot confined to a particular commonwealth. Institutions of otherStates were directing their attention to this task. Among others werea school in New York City founded by a clergyman to offer Negroes anopportunity to study the classics, [1] New York Central College atMcGrawville, Oneida Institute conducted by Beriah Green at Whitesboro, Thetford Academy of Vermont, and Union Literary Institute in thecenter of the communities of freedmen transplanted to Indiana. Manyother of our best institutions were opening their doors to students ofAfrican descent. By 1852 colored students had attended the Instituteat Easton, Pennsylvania; the Normal School of Albany, New York;Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine; Rutland College, Vermont; JeffersonCollege, Pennsylvania; Athens College, Athens, Ohio; Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio; and Hanover College near Madison, Indiana. Negroeshad taken courses at the Medical School of the University of New York;the Castleton Medical School in Vermont; the Berkshire Medical School, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; the Rush Medical School in Chicago; theEclectic Medical School of Philadelphia; the Homeopathic College ofCleveland; and the Medical School of Harvard University. Coloredpreachers had been educated in the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; the Dartmouth Theological School; and the TheologicalSeminary of Charleston, South Carolina. [2]

[Footnote 1: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 530. ]

[Footnote 2: These facts are taken from M. R. Delany's _The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the UnitedStates Practically Considered_, published in 1852; the _Reports ofthe Antislavery and Colonization Societies_, and _The AfricanRepository_. ]

Prominent among those who brought about this change in the attitudetoward the education of the free blacks was Gerrit Smith, one ofthe greatest philanthropists of his time. He secured privileges forNegroes in higher institutions by extending aid to such as would opentheir doors to persons of color. In this way he became a patron ofOneida Institute, giving it from $3, 000 to $4, 000 in cash and 3, 000acres of land in Vermont. Because of the hospitality of Oberlin tocolored students he gave the institution large sums of money and20, 000 acres of land in Virginia valued at $50, 000. New York CentralCollege which opened its doors alike to both races obtained from himseveral donations. [1] This gentleman proceeded on the presumption thatit is the duty of the white people to elevate the colored and that theeducation of large numbers of them is indispensable to the uplift ofthe degraded classes. [2] He wanted them to have the opportunity forobtaining either a common or classical education; and hoped that theywould go out from our institutions well educated for any work towhich they might be called in this country or abroad. [3] He himselfestablished a colored school at Peterboro, New York. As thisinstitution offered both industrial and literary courses we shallhave occasion to mention it again. Both a cause and result of theincreasing interest in the higher education of Negroes was that theseunfortunates had made good with what little training they had. Manyhad by their creative power shown what they could do in business, [4]some had convinced the world of the inventive genius of the man ofcolor, [5] others had begun to rank as successful lawyers, [6] not afew had become distinguished physicians, [7] and scores of intelligentNegro preachers were ministering to the spiritual needs of theirpeople. [8] S. R. Ward, a scholar of some note, was for a few years thepastor of a white church at Courtlandville, New York. Robert Morrishad been honored by the appointment as Magistrate by the Governor ofMassachusetts, and in New Hampshire another man of African blood hadbeen elected to the legislature. [9]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 367. ]

[Footnote 2: _African Repository_, vol. X. , p. 312. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 312. ]

[Footnote 4: Among these were John B. Smith, Coffin Pitts, RobertDouglas, John P. Bell, Augustus Washington, Alexander S. Thomas, HenryBoyd, P. H. Ray, and L. T. Wilcox. ]

[Footnote 5: A North Carolina Negro had discovered a cure forsnakebite; Henry Blair, a slave of Maryland, had invented acorn-planter; and Roberts of Philadelphia had made a machine forlifting railway cars from the tracks. ]

[Footnote 6: The most noted of these lawyers were Robert Morris, Malcolm B. Allen, G. B. Vashon, and E. G. Walker. ]

[Footnote 7: The leading Negroes of this class were T. Joiner White, Peter Ray, John DeGrasse, David P. Jones, J. Gould Bias, James Ulett, Martin Delany, and John R. Peck. James McCrummill, Joseph Wilson, Thos. Kennard, and Wm. Nickless were noted colored dentists ofPhiladelphia. ]

[Footnote 8: The prominent colored preachers of that day were TitusBasfield, B. F. Templeton, W. T. Catto, Benjamin Coker, John B. Vashon, Robert Purvis, David Ruggles, Philip A. Bell, Charles L. Reason, William Wells Brown, Samuel L. Ward, James McCune Smith, HighlandGarnett, Daniel A. Payne, James C. Pennington, M. Haines, and John F. Cook. ]

[Footnote 9: Baldwin, _Observations_, etc. , p. 44. ]

Thanks to the open doors of liberal schools, the race could boast of anumber of efficient educators. [1] There were Martin H. Freeman, JohnNewton Templeton, Mary E. Miles, Lucy Stratton, Lewis Woodson, JohnF. Cook, Mary Ann Shadd, W. H. Allen, and B. W. Arnett. Professor C. L. Reason, a veteran teacher of New York City, was then so well educatedthat in 1844 he was called to the professorship of Belles-Lettres andthe French Language in New York Central College. Many intelligentNegroes who followed other occupations had teaching for theiravocation. In fact almost every colored person who could read andwrite was a missionary teacher among his people. 

[Footnote 1: James B. Russworm, an alumnus of Bowdoin, was the firstNegro to receive a degree from a college in this country. ]

In music, literature, and journalism the Negroes were also doing well. Eliza Greenfield, William Jackson, John G. Anderson, and William Appomade their way in the musical world. Lemuel Haynes, a successfulpreacher to a white congregation, took up theology about 1815. PaulCuffee wrote an interesting account of Sierra Leone. Rev. DanielCoker published a book on slavery in 1810. Seven years later camethe publication of the _Law and Doctrine of the African MethodistEpiscopal Church_ and the _Standard Hymnal_ written by Richard Allen. In 1836 Rev. George Hogarth published an addition to this volume andin 1841 brought forward the first magazine of the sect. Edward W. Moore, a colored teacher of white children in Tennessee, wrote anarithmetic. C. L. Remond of Massachusetts was then a successfullecturer and controversialist. James M. Whitefield, George Horton, and Frances E. W. Harper were publishing poems. H. H. Garnett and J. C. Pennington, known to fame as preachers, attained success also aspamphleteers. R. B. Lewis, M. R. Delany, William Nell, and Cattoembellished Negro history; William Wells Brown wrote his _Three Yearsin Europe_; and Frederick Douglass, the orator, gave the world hiscreditable autobiography. More effective still were the journalisticefforts of the Negro intellect pleading its own cause. [1] Colorednewspapers varying from the type of weeklies like _The North Star_ tothat of the modern magazine like _The Anglo-African_ were published inmost large towns and cities of the North. 

[Footnote 1: In 1827 John B. Russworm and Samuel B. Cornish began thepublication of _The Freedom's Journal_, appearing afterward as_Rights to All_. Ten years later P. A. Bell was publishing _The WeeklyAdvocate_. From 1837 to 1842 Bell and Cornish edited _The ColoredMan's Journal_, while Samuel Ruggles sent from his press _The Mirrorof Liberty_. In 1847, one year after the appearance of Thomas VanRensselaer's _Ram's Horn_, Frederick Douglass started _The North Star_at Rochester, while G. Allen and Highland Garnett were appealing tothe country through _The National Watchman_ of Troy, New York. Thatsame year Martin R. Delany brought out _The Pittsburg Mystery_, andothers _The Elevator_ at Albany, New York. At Syracuse appeared The_Impartial Citizen_ established by Samuel R. Ward in 1848, three yearsafter which L. H. Putnam came before the public in New York City with_The Colored Man's Journal_. Then came _The Philadelphia Freeman_, _The Philadelphia Citizen_, _The New York Phalanx_, _The BaltimoreElevator_, and _The Cincinnati Central Star_. Of a higher order was_he Anglo-African_, a magazine published in New York in 1859 by ThomasHamilton, who was succeeded in editorship by Robert Hamilton andHighland Garnett. In 1852 there were in existence _The ColoredAmerican_, _The Struggler_, _The Watchman_, _The Ram's Horn_, _TheDemosthenian Shield_, _The National Reformer_, _The PittsburgMystery_, _The Palladium of Liberty_, _The Disfranchised American_, _The Colored Citizen_, _The National Watchman_, _The Excelsior_, _The Christian Herald_, _The Farmer_, _The Impartial Citizen_, _TheNorthern Star_ of Albany, and The _North Star_ of Rochester. ]

CHAPTER XII

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

Having before them striking examples of highly educated colored menwho could find no employment in the United States, the free Negroesbegan to realize that their preparation was not going hand in handwith their opportunities. Industrial education was then emphasized asthe proper method of equipping the race for usefulness. The advocacyof such training, however, was in no sense new. The early anti-slaverymen regarded it as the prerequisite to emancipation, and theabolitionists urged it as the only safe means of elevating thefreedmen. But when the blacks, converted to this doctrine, began toenter the higher pursuits of labor during the forties and fifties, there started a struggle which has been prolonged even into our day. Most northern white men had ceased to oppose the enlightenment of thefree people of color but still objected to granting them economicequality. The same investigators that discovered increased facilitiesof conventional education for Negroes in 1834 reported also that thereexisted among the white mechanics a formidable prejudice againstcolored artisans. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color_, p. 26. ]

In opposing the encroachment of Negroes on their field of labor thenortherners took their cue from the white mechanics in the South. Atfirst laborers of both races worked together in the same room and atthe same machine. [1] But in the nineteenth century, when more whitemen in the South were condescending to do skilled labor and trying todevelop manufactures, they found themselves handicapped by competitionwith the slave mechanics. Before 1860 most southern mechanics, machinists, local manufacturers, contractors, and railroad men withthe exception of conductors were Negroes. [2] Against this customof making colored men such an economic factor the white mechanicsfrequently protested. [3] The riots against Negroes occurring inCincinnati, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington during the thirtiesand forties owed their origin mainly to an ill feeling between thewhite and colored skilled laborers. [4] The white artisans prevailedupon the legislatures of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia to enactmeasures hostile to their rivals. [5] In 1845 the State of Georgia madeit a misdemeanor for a colored mechanic to make a contract for therepair or the erection of buildings. [6] The people of Georgia, however, were not unanimously in favor of keeping the Negro artisandown. We have already observed that at the request of the AgriculturalConvention of that State in 1852 the legislature all but passed a billproviding for the education of slaves to increase their efficiency andattach them to their masters. [7]

[Footnote 1: Buckingham, _Slave States of America_, vol. Ii. , p. 112. ]

[Footnote 2: Du Bois and Dill, _The Negro American Artisan_, p. 36. ]

[Footnote 3: Du Bois and Dill, _The Negro American Artisan_, pp. 31, 32, 33. ]

[Footnote 4: Du Bois and Dill, _The Negro American Artisan_, p. 34, and _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 365. ]

[Footnote 5: Du Bois and Dill, _The Negro American Artisan_, pp. 31, 32. ]

[Footnote 6: Du Bois and Dill, _The Negro American Artisan_, p. 32. ]

[Footnote 7: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 339. ]

It was unfortunate that the free people of color in the North hadnot taken up vocational training earlier in the century before thelaboring classes realized fraternal consciousness. Once pitted againstthe capitalists during the Administration of Andrew Jackson theworking classes learned to think that their interests differedmaterially from those of the rich, whose privileges had multiplied atthe expense of the poor. Efforts toward effecting organizations tosecure to labor adequate protection began to be successful duringVan Buren's Administration. At this time some reformers were boldlydemanding the recognition of Negroes by all helpful groups. One of thetests of the strength of these protagonists was whether or not theycould induce the mechanics of the North to take colored workmen tosupply the skilled laborers required by the then rapid economicdevelopment of our free States. Would the whites permit the blacksto continue as their competitors after labor had been elevated abovedrudgery? To do this meant the continuation of the custom of takingyouths of African blood as apprentices. This the white mechanics ofthe North generally refused to do. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Minutes of the Third Annual Convention of the FreePeople of Color_, p. 18. ]

The friends of the colored race, however, were not easily discouragedby that "vulgar race prejudice which reigns in the breasts of workingclasses. "[1] Arthur Tappan, Gerrit Smith, and William Lloyd Garrisonmade the appeal in behalf of the untrained laborers. [2] Although theyknew the difficulties encountered by Negroes seeking to learn trades, and could daily observe how unwilling master mechanics were to receivecolored boys as apprentices, the abolitionists persisted in sayingthat by perseverance these youths could succeed in procuringprofitable situations. [3] Garrison believed that their failure to findemployment at trades was not due so much to racial differences as totheir lack of training. Speaking to the free people of color in theirconvention in Philadelphia in 1831, he could give them no betteradvice than that "wherever you can, put your children to trades. Agood trade is better than a fortune, because when once obtained itcannot be taken away. " Discussing the matter further, he said: "Now, there can be no reason why your sons should fail to make as ingeniousand industrious mechanics, as any white apprentices; and when theyonce get trades, they will be able to accumulate money; money begetsinfluence, and influence respectability. Influence, wealth, andcharacter will certainly destroy those prejudices which now separateyou from society. "[4]

[Footnote 1: _Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color_, p. 26. ]

[Footnote 2: This statement is based on articles appearing in _TheLiberator_ from time to time. ]

[Footnote 3: _Minutes of the Second Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color_, 1831, p. 10. ]

[Footnote 4: _Minutes of the Second Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color_, 1831, p. II. ]

To expect the coöperation of the white working classes in thuselevating the colored race turned out to be a delusion. They reachedthe conclusion that in making their headway against capital they had abetter chance without Negroes than with them. White mechanics of theNorth not only refused to accept colored boys as apprentices, butwould not even work for employers who persisted in hiring Negroes. Generally refused by the master mechanics of Cincinnati, a coloredcabinet-maker finally found an Englishman who was willing to hire him, but the employees of the shop objected, refusing to allow the newcomereven to work in a room by himself. [1] A Negro who could preach in awhite church of the North would have had difficulty in securing thecontract to build a new edifice for that congregation. A colored mancould then more easily get his son into a lawyer's office to learn lawthan he could "into a blacksmith shop to blow the bellows and wieldthe sledge hammer. "[2]

[Footnote 1: _The Liberator_, June 13, 1835. ]

[Footnote 2: Douglass, _Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass_, p. 248. ]

Left then in a quandary as to what they should do, northern Negroeshoped to use the then popular "manual labor schools" to furnish thefacilities for both practical and classical education. These schoolsas operated for the whites, however, were not primarily trade schools. Those which admitted persons of African descent paid more attention toactual industrial training for the reason that colored students couldnot then hope to acquire such knowledge as apprentices. This tendencywas well shown by the action of the free Negroes through theirdelegates in the convention assembled in Philadelphia in 1830. Conversant with the policy of so reshaping the educational system ofthe country as to carry knowledge even to the hovels, these leaderswere easily won to the scheme of reconstructing their schools "on themanual labor system. " In this they saw the redemption of the freeNegroes of the North. These gentlemen were afraid that the coloredpeople were not paying sufficient attention to the development of thepower to use their hands skillfully. [1] One of the first acts of theconvention was to inquire as to how fast colored men were becomingattached to mechanical pursuits, [2] and whether or not there was anyprospect that a manual labor school for the instruction of the youthwould shortly be established. The report of the committee, to whichthe question was referred, was so encouraging that the conventionitself decided to establish an institution of the kind at New Haven, Connecticut. They appealed to their fellows for help, calledthe attention of philanthropists to this need of the race, andcommissioned William Lloyd Garrison to solicit funds in GreatBritain. [3] Garrison found hearty supporters among the friends offreedom in that country. Some, who had been induced to contributeto the Colonization Society, found it more advisable to aid the newmovement. Charles Stewart of Liverpool wrote Garrison that he couldcount on his British co-workers to raise $1000 for this purpose. [4] Atthe same time Americans were equally active. Arthur Tappan subscribed$1000 on the condition that each of nineteen other persons shouldcontribute the same amount. [5]

[Footnote 1: _Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color_, p. 26; and _The Liberator_, October 22, 1831; and _The Abolitionist_, November, 1833 (p. 191). ]

[Footnote 2: _Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color_, p. 27. ]

[Footnote 3: _Minutes of the Third Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color_, p. 34. ]

[Footnote 4: _The Abolitionist_ (November 1833), p. 191. ]

[Footnote 5: _The Liberator_, October 22, 1831. ]

Before these well-laid plans could mature, however, unexpectedopposition developed in New Haven. Indignation meetings were held, protests against this project were filed, and the free people of colorwere notified that the institution was not desired in Connecticut. [1]It was said that these memorialists feared that a colored college sonear to Yale might cause friction between the two student bodies, andthat the school might attract an unusually large number of undesirableNegroes. At their meeting the citizens of New Haven resolved "That thefounding of colleges for educating colored people is an unwarrantableand dangerous undertaking to the internal concerns of other states andought to be discouraged, and that the mayor, aldermen, common council, and freemen will resist the movement by every lawful means. "[2] Inview of such drastic action the promoters had to abandon their plan. No such protests were made by the citizens of New Haven, however, whenthe colonizationists were planning to establish there a mission schoolto prepare Negroes to leave the country. 

[Footnote 1: Monroe, _Cyclopaedia of Education_, vol. Iv. , p. 406. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, vol. Iv. , p. 406; and _The Liberator_, July 9, 1831. ]

The movement, however, was not then stopped by this outburst of raceprejudice in New Haven. Directing attention to another community, theNew England Antislavery Society took up this scheme and collectedfunds to establish a manual labor school. When the officials had onhand about $1000 it was discovered that they could accomplish theiraim by subsidizing the Noyes Academy of Canaan, New Hampshire, andmaking such changes as were necessary to subserve the purposesintended. [1] The plan was not to convert this into a colored school. The promoters hoped to maintain there a model academy for theco-education of the races "on the manual labor system. " The treasurerof the Antislavery Society was to turn over certain moneys to thisacademy to provide for the needs of the colored students, who thennumbered fourteen of the fifty-two enrolled. But although it hadbeen reported that the people of the town were in accord with theprincipal's acceptance of this proposition, there were soon evidencesto the contrary. Fearing imaginary evils, these modern Canaanitesdestroyed the academy, dragging the building to a swamp with a hundredyoke of oxen. [2] The better element of the town registered againstthis outrage only a slight protest. H. H. Garnett and AlexanderCrummell were among the colored students who sought education at thisacademy. 

[Footnote 1: _The Liberator_, July 4, 1835. ]

[Footnote 2: _Minutes and Proceedings of the Third Annual Conventionfor the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, p. 34; and Monroe, _Cyclopaedia of Education_, vol. Iv. , p. 406. ]

This work was more successful in the State of New York. There, too, the cause was championed by the abolitionists. [1] After theemancipation of all Negroes in that commonwealth by 1827 the New YorkAntislavery Society devoted more time to the elevation of the freepeople of color. The rapid rise of the laboring classes in thisswiftly growing city made it evident to their benefactors that theyhad to be speedily equipped for competition with white mechanics or bedoomed to follow menial employments. The only one of that section tooffer Negroes anything like the opportunity for industrial training, however, was Gerrit Smith. [2] He was fortunate in having sufficientwealth to carry out the plan. In 1834 he established in MadisonCounty, New York, an institution known as the Peterboro Manual LaborSchool. The working at trades was provided not altogether to teach themechanic arts, but to enable the students to support themselves whileattending school. As a compensation for instruction, books, room, fuel, light, and board furnished by the founder, the student wasexpected to labor four hours daily at some agricultural or mechanicalemployment "important to his education. "[3] The faculty estimated thefour hours of labor as worth on an average of about 12-1/2 cents foreach student. 

[Footnote 1: _Minutes and Proceedings of the Third Annual Conventionfor the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, p. 25. ]

[Footnote 2: _African Repository_, vol. X. , p. 312. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, vol. X. , p. 312. ]

Efforts were then being made for the establishment of anotherinstitution near Philadelphia. These endeavors culminated in theabove-mentioned benefaction of Richard Humphreys, by the will ofwhom $10, 000 was devised to establish a school for the purpose ofinstructing "descendants of the African race in school learning inthe various branches of the mechanical arts and trades andagriculture. "[1] In 1839 members of the Society of Friends organizedan association to establish a school such as Humphreys had planned. The founders believed that "the most successful method of elevatingthe moral and intellectual character of the descendants of Africa, aswell as of improving their social condition, is to extend to them thebenefits of a good education, and to instruct them in the knowledge ofsome useful trade or business, whereby they may be enabled to obtain acomfortable livelihood by their own industry; and through these meansto prepare them for fulfilling the various duties of domestic andsocial life with reputation and fidelity as good citizens and piousmen. "[2] Directing their attention first to things practical theassociation purchased in 1839 a piece of land in Bristol township, Philadelphia County, where they offered boys instruction in farming, shoemaking, and other useful trades. Their endeavors, so far astraining in the mechanic arts was concerned, proved to be a failure. In 1846, therefore, the management decided to discontinue thisliterary, agricultural, and manual labor experiment. The trustees thensold the farm and stock, apprenticed the male students to mechanicaloccupations, and opened an evening school. Thinking mainly ofclassical education thereafter, the trustees of the fund finallyestablished the Institute for Colored Youth of which we have spokenelsewhere. 

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 379. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, 1871, p. 379. ]

Some of the philanthropists who promoted the practical educationof the colored people were found in the Negro settlements of theNorthwest. Their first successful attempt in that section was theestablishment of the Emlen Institute in Mercer County, Ohio. Thefounding of this institution was due manly to the efforts of AugustusWattles who was instrumental in getting a number of emigratingfreedmen to leave Cincinnati and settle in this county about 1835. [1]Wattles traveled in almost every colored neighborhood of the State andlaid before them the benefits of permanent homes and the education fortheir children. On his first journey he organized, with the assistanceof abolitionists, twenty-five schools for colored children. Interestedthereafter in providing a head for this system he purchased forhimself ninety acres of land in Mercer County to establish a manuallabor institution. He sustained a school on it at his own expense, till the 11th of November, 1842. Wattles then visited Philadelphiawhere he became acquainted with the trustees of the late Samuel Emlen, a Friend of New Jersey. He had left by his will $20, 000 "for thesupport and education in school learning and mechanic arts andagriculture of boys of African and Indian descent whose parentswould give such youths to the Institute. "[2] The means of the twophilanthropists were united. The trustees purchased a farm andappointed Wattles as superintendent of the establishment, calling itEmlen Institute. Located in a section where the Negroes had sufficientinterest in education to support a number of elementary schools, thisinstitution once had considerable influence. [3] It was removed toBucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1858 and then to Warminster in the samecounty in 1873. 

[Footnote 1: Howe, _Ohio Historical Collections_, p. 355. ]

[Footnote 2: Howe, _Ohio Historical Collections_, p. 356. ]

[Footnote 3: Wickersham, _History of Education in Pa. _, p. 254. ]

Another school of this type was founded in the Northwest. This was theUnion Literary Institute of Spartanburg, Indiana. The institution owesits origin to a group of bold, antislavery men who "in the heat ofthe abolition excitement"[1] stood firm for the Negro. They soon hadopposition from the proslavery leaders who impeded the progress ofthe institution. But thanks to the indefatigable Ebenezer Tucker, its first principal, the "Nigger School" weathered the storm. TheInstitute, however, was founded to educate both races. Its charterrequired that no distinction should be made on account of race, color, rank, or religion. Accordingly, although the student body was fromthe beginning of the school partly white, the board of trusteesrepresented denominations of both races. Accessible statistics do notshow that colored persons ever constituted more than one-third ofthe students. [2] It was one of the most durable of the manual laborschools, having continued after the Civil War, carrying out to someextent the original designs of its founders. As the plan to continueit as a private institution proved later to be impracticable theestablishment was changed into a public school. [3]

[Footnote 1: Boone, _The History of Education in Indiana_, p. 77. ]

[Footnote 2: According to the _Report of the United StatesCommissioner of Education_ in 1893 the colored students thenconstituted about one-third of those then registered at thisinstitution. See p. 1944 of this report. ]

[Footnote 3: Records of the United States Bureau of Education. ]

Scarcely less popular was the British and American Manual LaborInstitute of the colored settlements in Upper Canada. This school wasprojected by Rev. Hiram Wilson and Josiah Henson as early as 1838, butits organization was not undertaken until 1842. The refugees were thencalled together to decide upon the expenditure of $1500 collected inEngland by James C. Fuller, a Quaker. They decided to establish atDawn "a manual labor school, where children could be taught thoseelements of knowledge which are usually the occupations of a grammarschool, and where boys could be taught in addition the practice ofsome mechanic art, and the girls could be instructed in those domesticarts which are the proper occupation and ornament of their sex. "[1] Atract of three hundred acres of land was purchased, a few buildingswere constructed, and pupils were soon admitted. The managersendeavored to make the school, "self-supporting by the employment ofthe students for certain portions of the time on the land. "[2] Theadvantage of schooling of this kind attracted to Dresden and Dawnsufficient refugees to make these prosperous settlements. Rev. HiramWilson, the first principal of the institution, began with fourteen"boarding scholars" when there were no more than fifty colored personsin all the vicinity. In 1852 when the population of this communityhad increased to five hundred there were sixty students attendingthe school. Indian and white children were also admitted. Among thestudents there were also adults varying later in number fromfifty-six to one hundred and sixteen. [3] This institution became veryinfluential among the Negroes of Canada. Travelers mentioned theInstitute in accounting for the prosperity and good morals of therefugees. [4] Unfortunately, however, after the year 1855 when theschool reached its zenith, it began to decline on account of badfeeling probably resulting from a divided management. 

[Footnote 1: Henson, _Life of Josiah Henson_, pp. 73, 74. ]

[Footnote 2: Henson, _Life of Josiah Henson_, p. 115. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid. _, p. 117. ]

[Footnote 4: Drew, _A North-Side View of Slavery_, p. 309; and Coffin, _Reminiscences_, pp. 249, 250. ]

Studying these facts concerning the manual labor system of education, the student of education sees that it was not generally successful. This may be accounted for in various ways. One might say that coloredpeople were not desired in the higher pursuits of labor and that theirpreparation for such vocations never received the support of the rankand file of the Negroes of the North. They saw then, as they oftendo now, the seeming impracticability of preparing themselves foroccupations which they apparently had no chance to follow. Moreover, bright freedmen were not at first attracted to mechanical occupations. Ambitious Negroes who triumphed over slavery and made their way to theNorth for educational advantages hoped to enter the higher walks oflife. Only a few of the race had the foresight of the advocates ofindustrial training. The majority of the enlightened class desiredthat they be no longer considered as "persons occupying a menialposition, but as capable of the highest development of man. "[1]Furthermore, bitterly as some white men hated slavery, and deeply asthey seemingly sympathized with the oppressed, they were loath tosupport a policy which they believed was fatal to their economicinterests. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Minutes and Proceedings of the Third Annual Convention_, etc. , p. 25. ]

[Footnote 2: _The Fifth Report of the American Antislavery Society_, p. 115; Douglass, _The Life and Times of_, p. 248. ]

The chief reason for the failure of the new educational policy wasthat the managers of the manual labor schools made the mistakes oftencommitted by promoters of industrial education of our day. At firstthey proceeded on the presumption that one could obtain a classicaleducation while learning a trade and at the same time earn sufficientto support himself at school. Some of the managers of industrialschools have not yet learned that students cannot produce articles formarket. The best we can expect from an industrial school to-day is agood apprentice. 

Another handicap was that at that time conditions were seldomsufficiently favorable to enable the employer to derive profit enoughfrom students' work to compensate for the maintenance of the youthat a manual labor school. Besides, such a school could not befar-reaching in its results because it could not be so conducted as toaccommodate a large number of students. With a slight change in itsaims the manual labor schools might have been more successful inthe large urban communities, but the aim of their advocates was toestablish them in the country where sufficient land for agriculturaltraining could be had, and where students would not be corrupted bythe vices of the city. 

It was equally unfortunate that the teachers who were chosen to carryout this educational policy lacked the preparation adequate totheir task. They had any amount of spirit, but an evident lack ofunderstanding as to the meaning of this new education. They failedto unite the qualifications for both the industrial and academicinstruction. It was the fault that we find to-day in our industrialschools. Those who were responsible for the literary training knewlittle of and cared still less for the work in mechanic arts, andthose who were employed to teach trades seldom had sufficienteducation to impart what they knew. The students, too, in theirefforts to pursue these uncorrelated courses seldom succeeded inmaking much advance in either. We have no evidence that many Negroeswere equipped for higher service in the manual labor schools. Statistics of 1850 and 1860 show that there was an increase in thenumber of colored mechanics, especially in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Columbus, the Western Reserve, and Canada. [1] But this was probablydue to the decreasing prejudice of the local white mechanics towardthe Negro artisans fleeing from the South rather than to formalindustrial training. [2]

[Footnote 1: Clarke, _Present Condition of the Free People of Color ofthe United States_, 1859, pp. 9, 10, 11, 13, and 29. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid. _, pp. 9, 10, and 23. ]

Schools of this kind tended gradually to abandon the idea of combininglabor and learning, leaving such provisions mainly as cataloguefictions. Many of the western colleges were founded as manuallabor schools, but the remains of these beginnings are few andinsignificant. Oberlin, which was once operated on this basis, stillretains the seal of "Learning and Labor, " with a college building inthe foreground and a field of grain in the distance. A number of ourinstitutions have recitations now in the forenoon that students maydevote the afternoon to labor. In some schools Monday instead ofSaturday is the open day of the week because this was wash-day for themanual labor colleges. Even after the Civil War some schools had theirlong vacation in the winter instead of the summer because the latterwas the time for manual labor. The people of our day know little aboutthis unsuccessful system. 

It is evident, therefore, that the leaders who had up to that timedictated the policy of the social betterment of the colored people hadfailed to find the key to the situation. This task fell to the lotof Frederick Douglass, who, wiser in his generation than most of hiscontemporaries, advocated actual vocational training as the greatestleverage for the elevation of the colored people. Douglass was givenan opportunity to bring his ideas before the public on the occasion ofa visit to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. She was then preparing to goto England in response to an invitation from her admirers, who wereanxious to see this famous author of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ and to giveher a testimonial. Thinking that she would receive large sums of moneyin England she desired to get Mr. Douglass's views as to how it couldbe most profitably spent for the advancement of the free people ofcolor. She was especially interested in those who had become free bytheir own exertions. Mrs. Stowe informed her guest that several hadsuggested the establishment of an educational institution pure andsimple, but that she had not been able to concur with them, thinkingthat it would be better to open an industrial school. Douglass wasopposed both to the establishment of such a college as was suggested, and to that of an ordinary industrial school where pupils shouldmerely "earn the means of obtaining an education in books. " He desiredwhat we now call the vocational school, "a series of workshops wherecolored men could learn some of the handicrafts, learn to work iniron, wood, and leather, while incidentally acquiring a plain Englisheducation. "[1]

[Footnote 1: Douglass, _The Life and Times of_, p. 248. ]

Under Douglass's leadership the movement had a new goal. The learningof trades was no longer to be subsidiary to conventional education. Just the reverse was true. Moreover, it was not to be entrusted toindividuals operating on a small scale; it was to be a public effortof larger scope. The aim was to make the education of Negroes soarticulate with their needs as to improve their economic condition. Seeing that despite the successful endeavors of many freedmen toacquire higher education that the race was still kept in penury, Douglass believed that by reconstructing their educational policy thefriends of the race could teach the colored people to help themselves. Pecuniary embarrassment, he thought, was the cause of all evil tothe blacks, "for poverty kept them ignorant and their lack ofenlightenment kept them degraded. " The deliverance from these evils, he contended, could be effected not by such a fancied or artificialelevation as the mere diffusion of information by institutions beyondthe immediate needs of the poor. The awful plight of the Negroes, ashe saw it, resulted directly from not having the opportunity to learntrades, and from "narrowing their limits to earn a livelihood. "Douglass deplored the fact that even menial employments were rapidlypassing away from the colored people. Under the caption of "LearnTrades or Starve, " he tried to drive home the truth that if thefree people of color did not soon heed his advice, foreigners thenimmigrating in large numbers would elbow them from all lucrativepositions. In his own words, "every day begins with the lesson andends with the lesson that colored men must find new employments, newmodes of usefulness to society, or that they must decay under thepressing wants to which their condition is bringing them. "[1]

[Footnote 1: Douglass, _The Life and Times of_, p. 248. ]

Douglass believed in higher education and looked forward to that stagein the development of the Negroes when high schools and colleges couldcontribute to their progress. He knew, however, that it was foolishto think that persons accustomed to the rougher and harder modes ofliving could in a single leap from their low condition reach that ofprofessional men. The attainment of such positions, he thought, wascontingent upon laying a foundation in things material by passing"through the intermediate gradations of agriculture and the mechanicarts. "[1] He was sure that the higher institutions then open to thecolored people would be adequate to the task of providing for them allthe professional men they then needed, and that the facilities forhigher education so far as the schools and colleges in the free Stateswere concerned would increase quite in proportion to the future needsof the race. 

[Footnote 1: _Ibid. _, p. 249. ]

Douglass deplored the fact that education and emigration had gonetogether. As soon as a colored man of genius like Russworm, Garnett, Ward, or Crummell appeared, the so-called friends of the race reachedthe conclusion that he could better serve his race elsewhere. Seeingthemselves pitted against odds, such bright men had had to seekmore congenial countries. The training of Negroes merely to aid thecolonization scheme would have little bearing on the situation at homeunless its promoters could transplant the majority of the free peopleof color. The aim then should be not to transplant the race but toadopt a policy such as he had proposed to elevate it in the UnitedStates. [1]

[Footnote 1: Douglass, _The Life and Times_, p. 250. ]

Vocational education, Douglass thought, would disprove the so-calledmental inferiority of the Negroes. He believed that the blacks shouldshow by action that they were equal to the whites rather than dependon the defense of friends who based their arguments not on facts buton certain admitted principles. Believing in the mechanical genius ofthe Negroes he hoped that in the establishment of this institutionthey would have an opportunity for development. In it he saw a benefitnot only to the free colored people of the North, but also to theslaves. The strongest argument used by the slaveholder in defense ofhis precious institution was the low condition of the free people ofcolor of the North. Remove this excuse by elevating them and youwill hasten the liberation of the slaves. The best refutation ofthe proslavery argument is the "presentation of an industrious, enterprising, thrifty, and intelligent free black population. "[1] Anelement of this kind, he believed, would rise under the fostering careof vocational teachers. 

[Footnote 1: Douglass, _The Life and Times of_, p. 251. ]

With Douglass this proposition did not descend to the plane of meresuggestion. Audiences which he addressed from time to time wereinformed as to the necessity of providing for the colored peoplefacilities of practical education. [1] The columns of his paperrendered the cause noble service. He entered upon the advocacy of itwith all the zeal of an educational reformer, endeavoring to show howthis policy would please all concerned. Anxious fathers whose mindshad been exercised by the inquiry as to what to do with their sonswould welcome the opportunity to have them taught trades. It would bein line with the "eminently practical philanthropy of the Negroes'trans-Atlantic friends. " America would scarcely object to it as anattempt to agitate the mind on slavery or to destroy the Union. "Itcould not be tortured into a cause for hard words by the Americanpeople, " but the noble and good of all classes would see in the effort"an excellent motive, a benevolent object, temperately, wisely, andpractically manifested. "[2] The leading free people of color heededthis message. Appealing to them through their delegates assembled inRochester in 1853, Douglass secured a warm endorsement of his plan ineloquent speeches and resolutions passed by the convention. 

[Footnote 1: _African Repository_, vol. Xxix. , p. 136. ]

[Footnote 2: Douglass, _Life and Times of_, p. 252. ]

This great enterprise, like all others, was soon to encounteropposition. Mrs. Stowe was attacked as soliciting money abroad for herown private use. So bitter were these proslavery diatribes that HenryWard Beecher and Frederick Douglass had some difficulty in convincingthe world that her maligners had no grounds for this viciousaccusation. Furthermore, on taking up the matter with Mrs. Stowe afterher return to the United States, Douglass was disappointed to learnthat she had abandoned her plan to found a vocational institution. He was never able to see any force in the reasons for the change ofpolicy; but believed that Mrs. Stowe acted conscientiously, althoughher action was decidedly embarrassing to him both at home andabroad. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 252. ]

CHAPTER XIII

EDUCATION AT PUBLIC EXPENSE

The persistent struggle of the colored people to have their childreneducated at public expense shows how resolved they were to beenlightened. In the beginning Negroes had no aspiration to secure suchassistance. Because the free public schools were first regarded as asystem to educate the poor, the friends of the free blacks turnedthem away from these institutions lest men might reproach them withbecoming a public charge. Moreover, philanthropists deemed it wise toprovide separate schools for Negroes to bring them into contact withsympathetic persons, who knew their peculiar needs. In the course oftime, however, when the stigma of charity was removed as a resultof the development of the free schools at public expense, Negroesconcluded that it was not dishonorable to share the benefits ofinstitutions which they were taxed to support. [1] Unable then to copewith systems thus maintained for the education of the white youth, thedirectors of colored schools requested that something be appropriatedfor the education of Negroes. Complying with these petitions boardsof education provided for colored schools which were to be partly orwholly supported at public expense. But it was not long before theabolitionists saw that they had made a mistake in carrying out thispolicy. The amount appropriated to the support of the special schoolswas generally inadequate to supply them with the necessary equipmentand competent teachers, and in most communities the white peoplehad begun to regard the co-education of the races as undesirable. Confronted then with this caste prejudice, one of the hardeststruggles of the Negroes and their sympathizers was that fordemocratic education. 

[Footnote 1: The Negroes of Baltimore were just prior to the Civil Warpaying $500 in taxes annually to support public schools which theirchildren could not attend. ]

The friends of the colored people in Pennsylvania were among the firstto direct the attention of the State to the duty of enlightening theblacks as well as the whites. In 1802, 1804, and 1809, respectively, the State passed, in the interest of the poor, acts which althoughinterpreted to exclude Negroes from the benefits therein provided, were construed, nevertheless, by friends of the race as authorizingtheir education at public expense. Convinced of the truth of thiscontention, officials in different parts of the State began to yieldin the next decade. At Columbia, Pennsylvania, the names of suchcolored children as were entitled to the benefits of the law for theeducation of the poor were taken in 1818 to enable them to attend thefree public schools. Following the same policy, the Abolition Societyof Philadelphia, seeing that the city had established public schoolsfor white children in 1818, applied two years later for the share ofthe fund to which the children of African descent were entitled bylaw. The request was granted. The Comptroller opened in Lombard Streetin 1822 a school for children of color, maintained at the expense ofthe State. This furnished a precedent for other such schools whichwere established in 1833, and 1841. [1] Harrisburg had a colored schoolearly in the century, but upon the establishment of the Lancastrianschool in that city in the thirties, the colored as well as thewhite children were required to attend it or pay for their educationthemselves. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 379. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 379. ]

In 1834 the legislature of Pennsylvania established a system of publicschools, but the claims of the Negroes to public education wereneither guaranteed nor denied. [1] The school law of 1854, however, seems to imply that the benefits of the system had always beenunderstood to extend to colored children. [2] This measure providedthat the comptrollers and directors of the several school districts ofthe State could establish within their respective districts separateschools for Negro and mulatto children wherever they could be solocated as to accommodate twenty or more pupils. Another provision wasthat wherever such schools should "be established and kept open fourmonths in the year" the directors and comptrollers should not becompelled to admit colored pupils to any other schools of thatdistrict. The law was interpreted to mean that wherever suchaccommodations were not provided the children of Negroes could attendthe other schools. Such was the case in the rural districts where afew colored children often found it pleasant and profitable to attendschool with their white friends. [3] The children of Robert B. Purvis, however, were turned away from the public schools of Philadelphiaon the ground that special educational facilities for them had beenprovided. [4] It was not until 1881 that Pennsylvania finally sweptaway all the distinctions of caste from her public school system. 

[Footnote 1: _Purdon's Digest of the Laws of Pa_. , p. 291, sections1-23. ]

[Footnote 2: Stroud and Brightly, _Purdon's Digest_, p. 1064, section23. ]

[Footnote 3: Wickersham, _History of Education in Pa_. , p. 253. ]

[Footnote 4: Wigham, _The Antislavery Cause in America_, p. 103. ]

As the colored population of New Jersey was never large, there was notsufficient concentration of such persons in that State to give riseto the problems which at times confronted the benevolent people ofPennsylvania. Great as had been the reaction, the Negroes of NewJersey never entirely lost the privilege of attending school withwhite students. The New Jersey Constitution of 1844 provided that thefunds for the support of the public schools should be applied for theequal benefit of all the people of that State. [1] Considered thenentitled to the benefits of this fund, colored pupils were earlyadmitted into the public schools without any social distinction. [2]This does not mean that there were no colored schools in thatcommonwealth. Negroes in a few settlements like that of Springtown hadtheir own schools. [3] Separate schools were declared illegal by an actof the General Assembly in 1881. 

[Footnote 1: Thorpe, _Federal and State Constitutions_, vol. V. , p. 2604. ]

[Footnote 2: _Southern Workman_, vol. Xxxvii. , p. 390. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 400. ]

Certain communities of New York provided separate schools for coloredpupils rather than admit them to those open to white children. Onrecommendation of the superintendent of schools in 1823 the Stateadopted the policy of organizing schools exclusively for coloredpeople. [1] In places where they already existed, the State could aidthe establishment as did the New York Common Council in 1824, when itappropriated a portion of its fund to the support of the African FreeSchools. [2] In 1841 the New York legislature authorized any district, with the approbation of the school commissioners, to establish aseparate school for the colored children in their locality. Thesuperintendent's report for 1847 shows that schools for Negroes hadbeen established in fifteen counties in the State, reporting anenrollment of 5000 pupils. For the maintenance of these schoolsthe sum of $17, 000 had been annually expended. Colored pupils wereenumerated by the trustees in their annual reports, drew public moneyfor the district in which they resided, and were equally entitledwith white children to the benefit of the school fund. In the ruraldistricts colored children were generally admitted to the commonschools. Wherever race prejudice, however, was sufficiently violent toexclude them from the village school, the trustees were empoweredto use the Negroes' share of the public money to provide for theireducation elsewhere. At the same time indigent Negroes were to beexempted from the payment of the "rate bill" which fell as a chargeupon the other citizens of the district. [3]

[Footnote 1: Randall, _Hist. Of Common School System of New York_, p. 24. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 48. ]

[Footnote 3: Randall, _Hist. Of Common School System of New York_, p. 248. ]

Some trouble had arisen from making special appropriations forincorporated villages. Such appropriations, the superintendent hadobserved, excited prejudice and parsimony; for the trustees of somevillages had learned to expend only the special appropriations forthe education of the colored pupils, and to use the public moneyin establishing and maintaining schools for the white children. Hebelieved that it was wrong to argue that Negroes were any more aburden to incorporated villages than to cities or rural districts, andthat they were, therefore, entitled to every allowance of money toeducate them. [1]

[Footnote 1: Randall, _Hist. Of Common School System of New York_, p. 249. ]

In New York City much had already been done to enlighten the Negroesthrough the schools of the Manumission Society. But as the increasingpopulation of color necessitated additional facilities, theManumission Society obtained from the fund of the Public SchoolSociety partial support of its system. The next step was to unite theAfrican Free Schools with those of the Public School Society to reducethe number of organizations participating in the support of Negroeducation. Despite the argument of some that the two systems shouldbe kept separate, the property and schools of the Manumission Societywere transferred to the New York Public School Society in 1834. [2]Thereafter the schools did not do as well as they had done before. Theadministrative part of the work almost ceased, the schools lost inefficiency, and the former attendance of 1400 startlingly dropped. Aninvestigation made in 1835 showed that many Negroes, intimidated byfrequent race riots incident to the reactionary movement, had left thecity, while others kept their children at home for safety. It seemed, too, that they looked upon the new system as an innovation, did notlike the action of the Public School Society in reducing their schoolsof advanced grade to that of the primary, and bore it grievously thatso many of the old teachers in whom they had confidence, had beendropped. To bring order out of chaos the investigating committeeadvised the assimilation of the separate schools to the white. Thereupon the society undertook to remake the colored schools, organizing them into a system which offered instruction in primary, intermediate, and grammar departments. The task of reconstruction, however, was not completed until 1853, when the property of thecolored schools was transferred to the Board of Education of NewYork. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 366. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 366. ]

The second transfer marked an epoch in the development of Negroeducation in New York. The Board of Education proceeded immediatelyto perfect the system begun at the time of the first change. The newdirectors reclassified the lower grades, opened other grammar schools, and established a normal school according to the recommendation ofthe investigating committee of 1835. Supervision being more rigidthereafter, the schools made some progress, but failed to accomplishwhat was expected of them. They were carelessly intrusted forsupervision to the care of ward officers, some of whom partlyneglected this duty, while others gave the work no attention whatever. It was unfortunate, too, that some of these schools were situated inparts of the city where the people were not interested in the upliftof the despised race, and in a few cases in wards which were almostproslavery. Better results followed after the colored schools werebrought under the direct supervision of the Board of Education. 

Before the close of the Civil War the sentiment of the people of theState of New York had changed sufficiently to permit colored childrento attend the regular public schools in several communities. This, however, was not general. It was, therefore, provided in the revisedcode of that State in 1864 that the board of education of any city orincorporated village might establish separate schools for children andyouth of African descent provided such schools be supported in thesame manner as those maintained for white children. The last vestigeof caste in the public schools of New York was not exterminated until1900, in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt as Governor of NewYork. The legislature then passed an act providing that no one shouldbe denied admittance to any public school on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Laws of New York_, 1900, ch. 492. ]

In Rhode Island, where the black population was proportionately largerthan in some other New England States, special schools for persons ofcolor continued. These efforts met with success at Newport. In theyear 1828 a separate school for colored children was established atProvidence and placed in charge of a teacher receiving a salary of$400 per annum. [1] A decade later another such school was opened onPond Street in the same city. About this time the school law of RhodeIsland was modified so as to make it a little more favorable to thepeople of color. The State temporarily adopted a rule by which theschool fund was thereafter not distributed, as formerly, accordingto the number of inhabitants below the age of sixteen. It was to beapportioned, thereafter, according to the number of white personsunder the age of ten years, "together with five-fourteenths of thesaid [colored] population between the ages of ten and twenty-fouryears. " This law remained in force between the years 1832 and 1845. Under the new system these schools seemingly made progress. In 1841they were no longer giving the mere essentials of reading and writing, but combined the instruction of both the grammar and the primarygrades. [2]

[Footnote 1: Stockwell, _Hist. Of Education in R. I_. , p. 169. ]

[Footnote 2: Stockwell, _Hist. Of Education in R. I_. , p. 51. ]

Thereafter Rhode Island had to pass through the intense antislaverystruggle which had for its ultimate aim both the freedom of the Negroand the democratization of the public schools. Petitions were sent tothe legislature, and appeals were made to representatives asking fora repeal of those laws which permitted the segregation of the coloredchildren in the public schools. But intense as this agitation became, and urgently as it was put before the public, it failed to gainsufficient momentum to break down the barriers prior to 1866 when thelegislature of Rhode Island passed an act abolishing separate schoolsfor Negroes. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Public Laws of the State of Rhode Island_, 1865-66, p. 49. ]

Prior to the reactionary movement the schools of Connecticut were, like most others in New England at that time, open alike to black andwhite. It seems, too, that colored children were well received andinstructed as thoroughly as their white friends. But in 1830, whetheron account of the increasing race prejudice or the desire to do forthemselves, the colored people of Hartford presented to the SchoolSociety of that city a petition that a separate school for persons ofcolor be established with a part of the public school fund which mightbe apportioned to them according to their number. Finding this requestreasonable, the School Society decided to take the necessary steps tocomply with it. As such an agreement would have no standing at lawthe matter was recommended to the legislature of the State, whichauthorized the establishment in that commonwealth of several separateschools for persons of color. [1] This arrangement, however, soonproved unsatisfactory. Because of the small number of Negroes inConnecticut towns, they found their pro rata inadequate to themaintenance of separate schools. No buildings were provided for them, such schools as they had were not properly supervised, the teacherswere poorly paid, and with the exception of a little help from a fewphilanthropists, the white citizens failed to aid the cause. In 1846, therefore, the pastor of the colored Congregational Church sent to theSchool Society of Hartford a memorial calling attention to the factthat for lack of means the colored schools had been unable to securesuitable quarters and competent teachers. Consequently the educationof their children had been exceedingly irregular, deficient, andonerous. The School Society had done nothing for these institutionsbut to turn over to them every year their small share of the publicfund. These gentlemen then decided to raise by taxation an amountadequate to the support of two better equipped schools and proceededat once to provide for its collection and expenditure. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 334. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 334. ]

The results gave general satisfaction for a while. But as it was atime when much was being done to develop the public schools of NewEngland, the colored people of Hartford could not remain contented. They saw the white pupils housed in comfortable buildings andattending properly graded classes, while their own children continuedto be crowded into small insanitary rooms and taught as unclassifiedstudents. The Negroes, therefore, petitioned for a more suitablebuilding and a better organization of their schools. As this requestcame at the time when the abolitionists were working hard toexterminate caste from the schools of New England, the SchoolCommittee called a meeting of the memorialists to decide whether theydesired to send their children to the white or separate schools. [1]They decided in favor of the latter, provided that the colored peopleshould have a building adequate to their needs and instruction of thebest kind. [2] Complying with this decision the School Society erectedthe much-needed building in 1852. To provide for the maintenance ofthe separate schools the property of the citizens was taxed at such arate as to secure to the colored pupils of the city benefits similarto those enjoyed by the white pupils. [3]

[Footnote 1: _Minority Report_, etc. , p. 21. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 22. ]

[Footnote 3: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 334. ]

Ardent antislavery men believed that this segregation in the schoolswas undemocratic. They asserted that the colored people would neverhave made such a request had the teachers of the public schools takenthe proper interest in them. The Negroes, too, had long since beenconvinced that the white people would not maintain separate schoolswith the same equipment which they gave their own. This arrangement, however, continued until 1868. The legislature then passed an actdeclaring that the schools of the State should be open to all personsalike between the ages of four and sixteen, and that no person shouldbe denied instruction in any public school in his school district onaccount of race or color. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Public Acts of the General Assembly of Conn_. , 1868, p. 296. ]

In the State of Massachusetts the contest was most ardent. Bostonopened its first primary school for colored children in 1820. In othertowns like Salem and Nantucket, New Bedford and Lowell, where thecolored population was also considerable, the same policy was carriedout. [1] Some years later, however, both the Negroes and their friendssaw the error of their early advocacy of the establishment of specialschools to escape the stigma of receiving charity. After the changein the attitude toward the public free schools and the furtherdevelopment of caste in American education, there arose inMassachusetts a struggle between leaders determined to restrict theNegroes' privileges to the use of poorly equipped separate schools andthose contending for equality in education. 

[Footnote 1: _Minority Report_, etc. , p. 35. ]

Basing their action on the equality of men before the law, theadvocates of democratic education held meetings from which wentfrequent and urgent petitions to school committees until Negroes wereaccepted in the public schools in all towns in Massachusetts exceptBoston. [1] Children of African blood were successfully admitted to theNew Bedford schools on equality with the white youth in 1838. [2] In1846 the school committee of that town reported that the coloredpupils were regular in their attendance, and as successful in theirwork as the whites. There were then ninety in all in that system; fourin the high school, forty in grammar schools, and the remainder in theprimary department, all being scattered in such a way as to have oneto four in twenty-one to twenty-eight schools. At Lowell the childrenof a colored family were not only among the best in the schools butthe greatest favorites in the system. [3]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 20, and _Niles Register_, vol. Lxvi. , p. 320. ]

[Footnote 2: _Minority Report_, etc. , p. 23. ]

[Footnote 3: _Minority Report_, etc. , p. 25. ]

The consolidation of the colored school of Salem with the others ofthat city led to no disturbance. Speaking of the democracy of theseschools in 1846 Mr. Richard Fletcher said: "The principle of perfectequality is the vital principle of the system. Here all classes ofthe community mingle together. The rich and the poor meet on terms ofequality and are prepared by the same instruction to discharge theduties of life. It is the principle of equality cherished in the freeschools on which our government and free institutions rest. Destroythis principle in the schools and the people would soon cease to befree. " At Nantucket, however, some trouble was experienced because ofthe admission of pupils of color in 1843. Certain patrons criticizedthe action adversely and withdrew fourteen of their children from theSouth Grammar School. The system, however, prospered thereafter ratherthan declined. [1] Many had no trouble in making the change. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 6. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 23. ]

These victories having been won in other towns of the State by 1846, it soon became evident that Boston would have to yield. Not only wereabolitionists pointing to the ease with which this gain had been madein other towns, but were directing attention to the fact that in thesesmaller communities Negroes were both learning the fundamentals andadvancing through the lower grades into the high school. Boston, whichhad a larger black population than all other towns in Massachusettscombined, had never seen a colored pupil prepared for a secondaryinstitution in one of its public schools. It was, therefore, evidentto fair-minded persons that in cities of separate systems Negroeswould derive practically no benefit from the school tax which theypaid. 

This agitation for the abolition of caste in the public schoolsassumed its most violent form in Boston during the forties. Theabolitionists then organized a more strenuous opposition to the castesystem. Why Sarah Redmond and the other children of a family payingtax to support the schools of Boston should be turned away from apublic school simply because they were persons of color was a problemtoo difficult for a fair-minded man. [1] The war of words came, however, when in response to a petition of Edmund Jackson, H. J. Bowditch, and other citizens for the admission of colored people tothe public schools in 1844, the majority of the school committeerefused the request. Following the opinion of Chandler, theirsolicitor, they based their action of making distinction in thepublic schools on the natural distinction of the races, which "nolegislature, no social customs, can efface, " and which "renders apromiscuous intermingling in the public schools disadvantageous bothto them and to the whites. "[2] Questioned as to any positive lawproviding for such discrimination, Chandler gave his opinion that theSchool Committee of Boston, under the authority perhaps of the CityCouncil, had a legal right to establish and maintain special primaryschools for the blacks. He believed, too, that in the exercise oftheir lawful discretionary power they could exclude white pupils fromcertain schools and colored pupils from certain other schools when, in their judgment, the best interests of all would thereby bepromoted. [3]

[Footnote 1: Wigham, _The Antislavery Cause in America_, p. 103. ]

[Footnote 2: _Minority Report_, etc. , p. 31. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 30. ]

Encouraged by the fact that colored children were indiscriminatelyadmitted to the schools of Salem, Nantucket, New Bedford, and Lowell, in fact, of every city in Massachusetts but Boston, the friends ofthe colored people fearlessly attacked the false legal theories ofSolicitor Chandler. The minority of the School Committee argued thatschools are the common property of all, and that each and all arelegally entitled without "let or hindrance" to the equal benefits ofall advantages they might confer. [1] Any action, therefore, whichtended to restrict to any individual or class the advantages andbenefits designed for all, was an illegal use of authority, and anarbitrary act used for pernicious purposes. [2] Their republicansystem, the minority believed, conferred civil equality and legalrights upon every citizen, knew neither privileged nor degradedclasses, made no distinctions, and created no differences between richand poor, learned and ignorant, or white and black, but extended toall alike its protection and benefits. [3] The minority considered it amerit of the school system that it produced the fusion of all classes, promoted the feeling of brotherhood, and the habits of equality. Thepower of the School Committee, therefore, was limited and constrainedby the general spirit of the civil policy and by the letter and spiritof the laws which regulated the system. [4] It was further maintainedthat to debar the colored youth from these advantages, even if theywere assured the same external results, would be a sore injustice andwould serve as the surest means of perpetuating a prejudice whichshould be deprecated and discountenanced by all intelligent andChristian men. [5]

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_. , p. 3. ]

[Footnote 2: _Minority Report_, etc. Pp. 4 and 5. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , pp. 3 _et. Seq_. ]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_. , p. 4. ]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid_. , p. 5. ]

To the sophistry of Chandler, Wendell Phillips also made a logicalreply. He asserted that as members of a legal body, the SchoolCommittee should have eyes only for such distinctions among theirfellow-citizens as the law recognized and pointed out. Phillipsbelieved that they had precedents for the difference of age and sex, for regulation of health, etc. , but that when they opened their eyesto the varied complexion, to difference of race, to diversity ofcreed, to distinctions of caste, they would seek in vain through thelaws and institutions of Massachusetts for any recognition of theirprejudice. He deplored the fact that they had attempted to foist intothe legal arrangements of the land a principle utterly repugnantto the State constitution, and that what the sovereignty of theconstitution dared not attempt a school committee accomplished. ToPhillips it seemed crassly inconsistent to say that races permitted tointermarry should be debarred by Mr. Chandler's "sapient committee"from educational contact. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Minority Report_, etc. , p. 27. ]

This agitation continued until 1855 when the opposition had grown toostrong to be longer resisted. The legislature of Massachusetts thenenacted a law providing that in determining the qualifications of ascholar to be admitted to any public school no distinction shouldbe made on account of the race, color, or religious opinion of theapplicant. It was further provided that a child excluded from schoolfor any of these reasons might bring suit for damages against theoffending town. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Acts and Resolves of the General Court of Mass_. , 1855, ch. 256. ]

In other towns of New England, where the black population wasconsiderable, separate schools were established. There was one even inPortland, Maine. [1] Efforts in this direction were made in Vermont andNew Hampshire, but because of the scarcity of the colored people theseStates did not have to resort to such segregation. The Constitution ofVermont was interpreted as extending to Negroes the benefits of theBill of Rights, making all men free and equal. Persons of color, therefore, were regarded as men entitled to all the privileges offreemen, among which was that of education at the expense of theState. [2] The framers of the Constitution of New Hampshire wereequally liberal in securing this right to the dark race. [3] But whenthe principal of an academy at Canaan admitted some Negroes to hisprivate institution, a mob, as we have observed above, broke up theinstitution by moving the building to a swamp, while the officials ofthe town offered no resistance. Such a spirit as this accounts for therise of separate schools in places where the free blacks had the rightto attend any institution of learning supported by the State. 

[Footnote 1: Adams, _Anti-slavery_, etc. , p. 142. ]

[Footnote 2: Thorpe, _Federal and State Constitutions_, vol. Vi. , p. 3762. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , vol. Iv. , p. 2471. ]

The problem of educating the Negroes at public expense was perplexingalso to the minds of the people of the West. The question becamemore and more important in Ohio as the black population in thatcommonwealth increased. The law of 1825 provided that moneys raisedfrom taxation of half a mill on the dollar should be appropriated tothe support of common schools in the respective counties and thatthese schools should be "open to the youth of every class and gradewithout distinction. "[1] Some interpreted this law to include Negroes. To overcome the objection to the partiality shown by school officialsthe State passed another law in 1829. It excluded colored people fromthe benefits of the new system, and returned them the amount accruingfrom the school tax on their property. [2] Thereafter benevolentsocieties and private associations maintained colored schools inCincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, and the southern counties of Ohio. [3]But no help came from the cities and the State before 1849 when thelegislature passed a law authorizing the establishment of schools forchildren of color at public expense. [4]

[Footnote 1: _Laws of Ohio_, vol. Xxiii. , pp. 37 _et seq_. ]

[Footnote 2: Hickok, _The Negro in Ohio_, p. 85. ]

[Footnote 3: Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 374. ]

[Footnote 4: _Laws of Ohio_, vol. Liii. , pp. 117-118. ]

The Negroes of Cincinnati soon discovered that they had not won agreat victory. They proceeded at once to elect trustees, organized asystem, and employed teachers, relying on the money allotted themby the law on the basis of a per capita division of the school fundreceived by the Board of Education of Cincinnati. So great was theprejudice that the school officials refused to turn over the requiredfunds on the grounds that the colored trustees were not electors, and therefore could not be office holders qualified to receive anddisburse public funds. [1] Under the leadership of John I. Gaines thetrustees called indignation meetings, and raised sufficient money toemploy Flamen Ball, an attorney, to secure a writ of mandamus. Thecase was contested by the city officials even in the Supreme Court ofthe State which decided against the officious whites. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, pp. 371, 372. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , 1871, p. 372. ]

Unfortunately it turned out that this decision did not mean very muchto the Negroes. There were not many of them in certain settlements andthe per capita division of the fund did not secure to them sufficientmeans to support schools. Even if the funds had been adequate to payteachers, they had no schoolhouses. Lawyers of that day contended thatthe Act of 1849 had nothing to do with the construction of buildings. After a short period of accomplishing practically nothing material, the law was amended so as to transfer the control of such coloredschools to the managers of the white system. [1] This was taken as areflection on the standing of the blacks of the city and tended tomake them refuse to coöperate with the white board. On account of thefailure of this body to act effectively prior to 1856, the people ofcolor were again given power to elect their own trustees. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Laws of the State of Ohio_, vol. Liii. , p. 118. ]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_. , p. 118. ]

During the contest for the control of the colored schools certainNegroes of Cincinnati were endeavoring to make good their claim thattheir children had a right to attend any school maintained by thecity. Acting upon this contention a colored patron sent his son to apublic school, which on account of his presence became the center ofunusual excitement. [1] Miss Isabella Newhall, the teacher to whom hewent, immediately complained to the Board of Education, requestingthat he be expelled on account of his race. After "due deliberation"the Board of Education decided by a vote of fifteen to ten that hewould have to withdraw from that school. Thereupon two members of thatbody, residing in the district of the timorous teacher, resigned. [2]

[Footnote 1: New York _Tribune_, Feb. 19, 1855. ]

[Footnote 2: New York _Tribune_, Feb. 19, 1855; and Carlier, _L'Esclavage_, etc. , p. 339. ]

Thereafter some progress in the development of separate schools inCincinnati was noted. By 1855 the Board of Education of that city hadestablished four public schools for the instruction of Negro youths. The colored pupils were showing their appreciation by regularattendance, manly deportment, and rapid progress in the acquisition ofknowledge. Speaking of these Negroes in 1855, John P. Foote said thatthey shared with the white citizens that respect for education, and the diffusion of knowledge, which has ever been one of their"characteristics, " and that they had, therefore, been more generallyintelligent than free persons of color not only in other States but inall other parts of the world. [1] It was in appreciation of the worthof this class of progressive Negroes that in 1858 Nicholas Longworthbuilt a comfortable school-house for them in Cincinnati, leasing itwith the privilege of purchasing it in fourteen years. [2] They metthese requirements within the stipulated time, and in 1859 securedthrough other agencies the construction of another building in thewestern portion of the city. [3]

[Footnote 1: Foote, _The Schools of Cincinnati_, p. 92. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed_. , 1871, p. 372. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 372. ]

The agitation for the admission of colored children to the publicschools was not confined to Cincinnati alone, but came up throughoutthe section north of the Ohio River. [1] Where the black population waslarge enough to form a social center of its own, Negroes and theirfriends could more easily provide for the education of coloredchildren. In settlements, however, in which just a few of them werefound, some liberal-minded man usually asked the question why personstaxed to support a system of free schools should not share itsbenefits. To strengthen their position these benevolent men referredto the rapid progress of the belated people, many of whom withinless than a generation from their emergence from slavery had becomeintelligent, virtuous, and respectable persons, and in not a fewcases had accumulated considerable wealth. [2] Those who insisted thatchildren of African blood should be debarred from the regular publicschools had for their defense the so-called inequality of the races. Some went so far as to concede the claims made for the progressiveblacks, and even to praise those of their respective communities. [3]But great as their progress had been, the advocates of the restrictionof their educational privileges considered it wrong to claim for themequality with the Caucasian race. They believed that society wouldsuffer from an intermingling of the children of the two races. 

[Footnote 1: Hickok, _The Negro in Ohio_, ch. Iii. ; and Boone, _History of Education in Indiana_, p. 237. ]

[Footnote 2: Foote, _The Schools of Cincinnati_, p. 93. ]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_. , p. 92. ]

In Indiana the problem of educating Negroes was more difficult. R. G. Boone says that, "nominally for the first few years of the educationalexperience of the State, black and white children had equal privilegesin the few schools that existed. "[1] But this could not continue long. Abolitionists were moving the country, and freedmen soon found enemiesas well as friends in the Ohio valley. Indiana, which was in 1824 sovery "solicitous for a system of education which would guard againstcaste distinction, " provided in 1837 that the white inhabitants aloneof each congressional township should constitute the local schoolcorporation. [2] In 1841 a petition was sent to the legislaturerequesting that a reasonable share of the school fund be appropriatedto the education of Negroes, but the committee to which it wasreferred reported that legislation on that subject was inexpedient. [3]With the exception of prohibiting the immigration of such persons intothat State not much account of them was taken until 1853. Then thelegislature amended the law authorizing the establishment of schoolsin townships so as to provide that in all enumerations the childrenof color should not be taken, that the property of the blacks andmulattoes should not be taxed for school purposes, and that theirchildren should not derive any benefit from the common schools of thatState. [4] This provision had really been incorporated into the formerlaw, but was omitted by oversight on the part of the engrossingclerk. [5]

[Footnote 1: Boone, _History of Ed. In Indiana_, p. 237. ]

[Footnote 2: _Laws of a General Nature of the State of Indiana_, 1837, p. 15. ]

[Footnote 3: Boone, _History of Education in Indiana_, p. 237. ]

[Footnote 4: _Laws of a General Nature of the State of Indiana_, 1855, p. 161. ]

[Footnote 5: Boone, _History of Education in Indiana_, p. 237. ]

A resolution of the House instructing the educational committee toreport a bill for the establishment of schools for the education ofthe colored children of the State was overwhelmingly defeated in 1853. Explaining their position the opponents said that it was held "to bebetter for the weaker party that no privilege be extended to them, "as the tendency to such "might be to induce the vain belief that theprejudice of the dominant race could ever be so mollified as to breakdown the rugged barriers that must forever exist between their socialrelations. " The friends of the blacks believed that by elevating themthe sense of their degradation would be keener, and so the greaterwould be their anxiety to seek another country, where with the spiritof men they "might breathe fresh air of social as well as politicalliberty. "[1] This argument, however, availed little. Before the CivilWar the Negroes of Indiana received help in acquiring knowledge fromno source but private and mission schools. 

[Footnote 1: Boone, _History of Education in Indiana_, p. 237. ]

In Illinois the situation was better than in Indiana, but far fromencouraging. The constitution of 1847 restricted the benefits of theschool law to white children, stipulating the word white throughoutthe act so as to make clear the intention of the legislators. [1] Itseemed to some that, in excluding the colored children from the publicschools, the law contemplated the establishment of separate schoolsin that it provided that the amount of school taxes collected fromNegroes should be returned. Exactly what should be done with suchmoney, however, was not stated in the act. But even if that were theobject in view, the provision was of little help to the people ofcolor for the reason that the clause providing for the return ofschool taxes was seldom executed. In the few cases in which it wascarried out the fund thus raised was not adequate to the support ofa special school, and generally there were not sufficient coloredchildren in a community to justify such an outlay. In districts havingcontrol of their local affairs, however, the children of Negroes wereoften given a chance to attend school. 

[Footnote 1: The Constitution of Illinois, in the _Journal of theConstitution of the State of Illinois_, 1847, p. 344. ]

As this scant consideration given Negroes of Illinois left one-halfof the six thousand of their children out of the pale of education, earnest appeals were made that the restrictive word white be strickenfrom the school law. The friends of the colored people sought to showhow inconsistent this system was with the spirit of the constitutionof the State, which, interpreted as they saw it, guaranteed allpersons equality. [1] They held meetings from which came renewedpetitions to their representatives, entreating them to repeal or amendthe old school law. It was not so much a question as to whether or notthere should be separate schools as it was whether or not the peopleof color should be educated. The dispersed condition of their childrenmade it impossible for the State to provide for them in specialschools the same educational facilities as those furnished the youthof Caucasian blood. Chicago tried the experiment in 1864, but failingto get the desired result, incorporated the colored children intothe white schools the following year. [2] The State Legislature hadsufficient moral courage to do away with these caste distinctions in1874. [3]

[Footnote 1: Thorpe, _Federal and State Constitutions_, Const. OfIllinois. ]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 343. ]

[Footnote 3: Starr and Curtis, _Annotated Statutes of Illinois_, ch. 105, p. 2261. ]

In other States of the West and the North where few colored peoplewere found, the solution of the problem was easier. After 1848 Negroeswere legal voters in the school meetings of Michigan. Coloredchildren were enumerated with others to determine the basis for theapportionment of the school funds, and were allowed to attend thepublic schools. Wisconsin granted Negroes equal school privileges. [1]After the adoption of a free constitution in 1857, Iowa "determined noman's rights by the color of his skin. " Wherever the word white hadserved to restrict the privileges of persons of color it was strickenout to make it possible for them not only to bear arms and to vote butto attend public schools. [2]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U. S. Com. Of Ed. _, 1871, p. 400. ]

[Footnote 2: _Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the State ofIowa_, 1857, p. 3 of the Constitution. ]

APPENDIX

DOCUMENTS

The following resolutions on the subject treated in this part(the instruction of Negroes) are from the works of Dr. CottonMather. --Bishop William Meade. 

1st. I would always remember, that my servants are in some sense mychildren, and by taking care that they want nothing which may be goodfor them, I would make them as my children; and so far as the methodsof instituting piety into the mind which I use with my children, may be properly and prudently used with my servants, they shall bepartakers in them--Nor will I leave them ignorant of anything, whereinI may instruct them to be useful to their generation. 

2d. I will see that my servants be furnished with bibles and be ableand careful to read the lively oracles. I will put bibles and othergood and proper books into their hands; will allow them time to readand assure myself that they do not misspend this time--If I candiscern any wicked books in their hands, I will take away thosepestilential instruments of wickedness. 

3d. I will have my servants present at the religious exercises of myfamily; and will drop, either in the exhortations, in the prayers ordaily sacrifices of the family such pages as may have a tendency toquicken a sense of religion in them. 

4th. The article of catechising, as far as the age or state of theservants will permit it to be done with decency, shall extend to themalso, --And they shall be concerned in the conferences in which I maybe engaged with my family, in the repetition of the public sermons. Ifany of them when they come to me shall not have learned the catechism, I will take care that they do it, and will give them a reward whenthey have accomplished it. 

5th. I will be very inquisitive and solicitous about the companychosen by my servants; and with all possible earnestness will rescuethem from the snares of evil company, and forbid their being thecompanions of fools. 

6th. Such of my servants as may be capable of the task, I will employto teach lessons of piety to my children, and will recompense them forso doing. But I would, by a particular artifice, contrive them to besuch lessons, as may be for their own edification too. 

7th. I will sometimes call my servants alone; talk to them about thestate of their souls; tell them to close with their only servant, charge them to do well and "lay hold on eternal life, " and show themvery particularly how they may render all they do for me a service tothe glorious Lord; how they may do all from a principle of obedienceto him, and become entitled to the "reward of the heavenlyinheritance. "

To those resolutions did I add the following pages as an appendix:

Age is nearly sufficient, with some masters to obliterate every letterand action in the history of a meritorious life, and old services aregenerally buried under the ruins of an old carcase. It is a barbarousinhumanity in men towards their servants, to account their smallfailings as crimes, without allowing their past services to have beenvirtues; gracious God, keep thy servants from such base ingratitude!

But then O servants, if you would obtain "the reward of inheritance, "each of you should set yourself to enquire "how shall I approve myselfsuch a servant, that the Lord may bless the house of my master, themore for my being in it?" Certainly there are many ways by whichservants may become blessings. Let your studies with your continualprayers for the welfare of the family to which you belong: and theexample of your sober carriage render you such. If you will butremember four words and attempt all that is comprised in them, Obedience, Honesty, Industry, and Piety, you will be the blessings andJosephs of the families in which you live. Let these four words bedistinctly and frequently recollected; and cheerfully perform all yourbusiness from this consideration--that it is obedience to heaven, andfrom thence will leave a recompense. It was the observation even of apagan, "That a master may receive a benefit from a servant"; and "whatis done with the affection of a friend, ceases to be the act of a mereservant. " Even the maid-servants of a house may render a great serviceto it, by instructing the infants and instilling into their minds thelessons of goodness. --In the Appendix of Rev. Thomas Bacon's _SermonsAddressed to Masters and Servants_. 

EDIT DU ROI

Concernant les Esclaves Négres des Colonies, qui seront amenés, ouenvoyés en France. Donné à Paris au mois d'Octobre 1716. 

I. Nous avons connu la nécessité qu'il y a d'y soutenir l'exécutionde l'édit du mars 1685, qui en maintenant la discipline de l'EgliseCatholique, Apostolique et Romaine, pourvoit à ce qui concerne l'étatet la qualité des Esclaves Nègres, qu'on entretient dans lesditescolonies pour la culture des terres; et comme nous avons été informésque plusieurs habitans de nos Isles de l'Amérique désirent envoyeren France quelques-uns de leur Esclaves pour les confirmer dans lesInstructions et dans les Exercices de notre Religion, et pour leurfaire apprendre en même tems quelque Art et Métier dont les coloniesrecevroient beaucoup d'utilité par le retour de ces Esclaves; mais queles habitans craignaient que les Esclaves ne pretendent être libres enarrivant en France, ce qui pourroit causer auxdits habitans une perteconsidérable, et les détourner d'un objet aussi pieux et aussi utile. 

 * * * * *

II. Si quelques-uns des habitans de nos colonies, ou officiersemployés sur l'Etat desdites colonies, veulent amener en France aveceux des Esclaves Nègres, de l'un & de l'autre sexe, en qualité dedomestique ou autrement pour les fortifier davantage dans notreReligion, tant par les instructions qu'ils recevront, que parl'exemple de nos autre sujets, et pour leur faire apprendre en mêmetems quelque Art et Métier, dont les colonies puissent retirer del'utilité, par le retour de ces Esclaves, lesdits propriétairesseront tenus d'en obtenir la permission des Gouverneurs Généraux, ouCommandans dans chaque Isle, laquelle permission contiendra le nom dupropriétaire, celui des Esclaves, leur age & leur signalement. --CodeNoir ou Recueil d'édits, declarations, et arrêts concernant desEsclaves Nègres Discipline el le commerce des Esclaves Nègres desisles françaises de l'Amérique (in Recueil de règlemens, edits, declarations, et arrêts concernant le commerce, l'administration dela justice et la police des colonies françaises de l'Amérique et lesEngages avec le Code Noir et l'addition audit Code) (Jefferson'scopy). A Paris chez les Libraires Associés, 1745. 

A PROPOSITION FOR ENCOURAGING THE CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF INDIAN, NEGRO, AND MULATTO CHILDREN AT LAMBETH, VIRGINIA, 1724

"It being a duty of Christianity very much neglected by masters andmistresses of this country (America) to endeavor the good instructionand education of their heathen slaves in the Christian faith, --thesaid duty being likewise earnestly recommended by his Majesty'sinstructions, --for the facilitating thereof among the young slavesthat are born among us; it is, therefore, humbly proposed that everyIndian, Negro, or mulatto child that shall be baptized and afterwardbrought to church and publicly catechized by the minister in church, and shall, before the fourteenth year of his or her age, give adistinct account of the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments, and whose master or mistress shall receive a certificate from theminister that he or she hath so done, such Indian, Negro or mulattochild shall be exempted from paying all levies till the age ofeighteen years. "--Bishop William Meade's _Old Churches, Ministers, andFamilies of Virginia_, vol. I. , p. 265. 

PASTORAL LETTER OF BISHOP GIBSON OF LONDON

To the Masters and Mistresses of Families in the English Plantationsabroad; exhorting them to encourage and promote the instruction oftheir Negroes in the Christian Faith. (About 1727. )

The care of the Plantations abroad being committed to the Bishop ofLondon as to Religious Affairs; I have thought it my duty to makeparticular Inquiries into the State of Religion in those Parts, and tolearn among other Things, what numbers of slaves are employed withinthe several Governments, and what Means are used for their Instructionin the Christian Faith: I find the Numbers are prodigiously great; andam not a little troubled to observe how small a Progress has been madein a Christian country, towards the delivering those poor Creaturesfrom the Pagan Darkness and Superstition in which they were bred, and the making them Partakers in the Light of the Gospel, and theBlessings and Benefits belonging to it. And what is yet more to belamented, I find there has not only been very little Progress madein the work but that all Attempts toward it have been by too manyindustriously discouraged and hindered; partly by magnifying theDifficulties of the Work beyond what they really are; and partly bymistaken Suggestions of the Change which Baptism would make in theCondition of the Negroes, to the Loss and Disadvantage of theirMasters. 

As to the Difficulties; it may be pleaded, That the Negroes are grownPersons when they come over, and that having been accustomed to thePagan Rites and Idolatries of their own Country, they are prejudicedagainst all other Religions, and more particularly against theChristian, as forbidding all that Licentiousness which is usuallypracticed among the Heathens.... But a farther Difficulty is that theyare utter Strangers to our Language, and we to theirs; and the Gift ofTongues being now ceased, there is no Means left of instructing themin the Doctrines of the Christian Religion. And this, I own is a realDifficulty, as long as it continues, and as far as it reaches. But, ifI am rightly informed, many of the Negroes, who are grown Persons whenthey come over, do of themselves obtain so much of our Language, asenables them to understand, and to be understood, in Things whichconcern the ordinary Business of Life, and they who can go so far oftheir own Accord, might doubtless be carried much farther, if properMethods and Endeavors were used to bring them to a competent Knowledgeof our Language, with a pious view to instructing them in theDoctrines of our Religion. At least, some of them, who are morecapable and more serious than the rest, might be easily instructedboth in our Language and Religion, and then be made use of to conveyInstruction to the rest in their own Language. And this, one wouldhope, may be done with great Ease, wherever there is a hearty andsincere Zeal of the Work. 

But what Difficulties there may be in instructing those who aregrown-up before they are brought over; there are not the likeDifficulties in the Case of their Children, who are born and bred inour Plantations, who have never been accustomed to Pagan Rites andSuperstitions, and who may easily be trained up, like all otherChildren, to any Language whatsoever, and particularly to our own; ifthe making them good Christians be sincerely the Desire andIntention of those, who have Property in them, and Government overthem. --Dalcho's _An Historical Account of the Protestant EpiscopalChurch in South Carolina_, pp. 104-106. 

ANOTHER PASTORAL LETTER OF BISHOP GIBSON OF LONDON

To the Missionaries in the English Plantations (about 1727). 

DEAR BROTHER, Having understood by many Letters from the Plantations, and by theAccounts of Persons who have come from thence, that very littleprogress hath hitherto been made in the conversion of the Negroes tothe Christian Faith; I have thought it proper for me to lay beforeMasters and Mistresses the Obligations they are under, and to promoteand encourage that pious and necessary Work.... 

As to those Ministers who have Negroes of their own; I cannot butesteem it their indispensable Duty to use their best Endeavors toinstruct them in the Christian Religion, in order to their beingbaptised; both because such Negroes are their proper and immediateCare, and because it is in vain to hope that other Masters andMistresses will exert themselves in this Work, if they see it whollyneglected, or but coldly pursued, in the Families of the Clergy ... 

I would also hope that the Schoolmasters in the several Parishes, part of whose Business it is to instruct Youth in the Principles ofChristianity, might contribute somewhat towards the carrying on ofthis Work; by being ready to bestow upon it some of their LeisureTime, and especially on the Lord's Day, when both they and the Negroesare most at liberty and the Clergy are taken up with the public Dutiesof their Function. --Dalcho's _An Historical Account of the ProtestantEpiscopal Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in SouthCarolina_, pages 112-114. 

AN EXTRACT FROM A SERMON PREACHED BY BISHOP SECKER OF LONDON IN 1741

"The next Object of the Society's Concern, were the poor Negroes. These unhappy Wretches learn in their Native Country, the grossestIdolatry, and the most savage Dispositions: and then are sold to thebest Purchaser: sometimes by their Enemies, who would else put themto Death; sometimes by the nearest Friends, who are either unable orunwilling to maintain them. Their Condition in our Colonies, though itcannot well be worse than it would have been at Home, is yet nearly ashard as possible: their Servitude most laborious, their Punishmentsmost severe. And thus many thousands of them spend their wholeDays, one Generation after another, undergoing with reluctant Mindscontinual Toil in this World, and comforted with no Hopes of Rewardin a better. For it is not to be expected that Masters, too commonlynegligent of Christianity themselves, will take much Pains to teach ittheir slaves; whom even the better Part of them are in a great Measurehabituated to consider, as they do their Cattle, merely with a viewto the Profit arising from them. Not a few, therefore, have openlyopposed their Instruction, from an Imagination now indeed proved andacknowledged to be groundless, that Baptism would entitle them toFreedom. Others by obliging them to work on Sundays to providethemselves Necessaries, leave them neither Time to learn Religion, norany Prospect of being able to subsist, if once the Duty of resting onthat Day become Part of their Belief. And some, it may be feared, have been averse to their becoming Christians because after that, no Pretence will remain for not treating them like Men. When theseObstacles are added to the fondness they have for their old HeathenishRites, and the strong Prejudices they must have against Teachers fromamong those, whom they serve so unwillingly; it cannot be wondered, if the Progress made in their Conversion prove slow. After someExperience of this kind, Catechists were appointed in two Places, byWay of Trial for Their Instruction alone: whose Success, where itwas least, hath been considerable; and so great in the Plantationbelonging to the Society that out of two hundred and thirty, atleast seventy are now Believers in Christ. And there is lately anImprovement to this Scheme begun to be executed, by qualifying andemploying young Negroes, prudently chosen, to teach their Countrymen:from which in the Opinion of the best Judges, we may reasonablypromise ourselves, that this miserable People, the Generality of whomhave hitherto sat in Darkness, will see great Light. "--Seeker's _ASermon Preached before the Incorporated Society for the Propagation ofthe Gospel in Foreign Parts_, 1741. 

EXTRACTS FROM THE SERMONS OF REV. THOMAS BACON ADDRESSED TO MASTERSAND SERVANTS ABOUT 1750

"Next to our children and brethren by blood, our servants, andespecially our slaves, are certainly in the nearest relation to us. They are an immediate and necessary part of our households, by whoselabors and assistance we are enabled to enjoy the gifts of Providencein ease and plenty; and surely we owe them a return of what is justand equal for the drudgery and hardships they go through in ourservice.... 

"It is objected, They are such stubborn creatures, there is no dealingwith them. 

"_Answer_. Supposing this to be true of most of them (which I believewill scarcely be insisted on:) may it not fairly be asked, whence doththis stubbornness proceed?--Is it from nature?--That cannot be:--for Ithink it is generally acknowledged that _new Negroes_, or those bornin and imported from the coast of _Guinea_, prove the best and mosttractable servants. Is it then from education?--for one or the otherit must proceed from. --But pray who had the care of bringing up thosethat were born here?--Was it not ourselves?--And might not an earlycare, of instilling good principles into them when young, haveprevented much of that stubbornness and untractableness you complainof in country-born negroes?--These, you cry out, are wickeder than theothers:--and, pray, where did they learn that wickedness?--Was itnot among ourselves?--for those who come immediately from their owncountry, you say, have more simplicity and honesty. A sad reproachto a Christian people indeed! that such poor ignorant heathens shallbring better morals and dispositions from home with them, that theycan learn or actually do contract amongst us!

 * * * * *

"It is objected, --they are so ignorant and unteachable, they cannot bebrought to any knowledge in these matters. 

"_Answer_. This objection seems to have little or no truth in it, withrespect to the bulk of them. --Their ignorance, indeed, about mattersof religion, is not to be disputed;--they are sunk in it to a sad andlamentable degree, which has been shown to be chiefly owing tothe negligence of their owners. --But that they are so stupid andunteachable, as that they cannot be brought to any competent knowledgein these matters, is false, and contrary to fact and experience. Inregard to their work, they learn it, and grow dexterous enough in ashort time. Many of them have learned trades and manufactures, whichthey perform well, and with sufficient ingenuity:--whence it isplain they are not unteachable; do not want natural parts andcapacities. --Most masters and mistresses will complain of their artand cunning in contriving to deceive them. --Is it reasonable to denythen they can learn what is good, when it is owned at the same timethey can be so artful in what is bad?--Their ignorance, therefore, if born in the country, must absolutely be the fault of theirowners:--and such as are brought here from Africa may, surely, betaught something of advantage to their own future state, as well as towork for their masters' present gain. --The difference plainly consistsin this;--that a good deal of pains is taken to shew them how tolabour, and they are punished if they neglect it. --This sort ofinstruction their owners take care to give them every day, and lookwell to it that it be duly followed. --But no such pains are taken inthe other case. --They are generally left to themselves, whether theywill serve God, or worship Devils--whether they become christians, orremain heathens as long as they live: as if either their souls werenot worth the saving, or as if we were under no obligation of givingthem any instruction:--which is the true reason why so many of themwho are grown up, and lived many years among us, are as entirelyignorant of the principles of religion, as if they had never come intoa christian country:--at least, as to any good or practical purposes. 

 * * * * *

"I have dwelt the longer upon this head, because it is of the utmostimportance, and seems to be but little considered among us. --For thereis too much reason to fear, that the many vices and immoralities socommon among white people;--the lewdness, drunkenness, quarrelling, abusiveness, swearing, lying, pride, backbiting, overreaching, idleness, and sabbath-breaking, everywhere to be seen among us, are agreat encouragement to our Negroes to do the like, and help stronglyto confirm them in the habits of wickedness and impiety. 

"We ought not only to avoid giving them bad examples, and abstain fromall appearance of evil, but also strive to set a daily good examplebefore their eyes, that seeing us lead the way in our own person, theymay more readily be persuaded to follow us in the wholesome paths ofreligion and virtue. 

 * * * * *

"We ought to make this reading and studying the holy scriptures, andthe reading and explaining them to our children and slaves, and thecatechizing or instructing them in the principles of the Christianreligion, a stated duty. 

 * * * * *

"We ought in a particular manner to take care of the children, andinstil early principles of piety and religion into their minds. 

"If the grown up slaves, from confirmed habits of vice, are hard to bereclaimed, the children surely are in our power, and may be trained upin the way they should go, with rational hopes that when they are old, they will not depart from it. --We ought, therefore, to take chargeof their education principally upon ourselves, and not leave thementirely to the care of their wicked parents. --If the presentgeneration be bad, we may hope by this means that the succeeding oneswill be much better. One child well instructed, will take care whengrown up to instruct his children; and they again will teach theirposterity good things. --And I am fully of opinion, that the commonnotion of _wickedness running in the blood_, is not so general in factas to be admitted for an axiom. And that the vices we see descendingfrom parents to their children are chiefly owing to the malignantinfluence of bad example and conversation. --And though some personsmay be, and undoubtedly are, born with stronger passions andappetites, or with a greater propensity to some particulargratifications or pursuits than others, yet we do not want convincinginstances how effectually they may be restrained, or at leastcorrected and turned to proper and laudable ends, by the force of anearly care, and a suitable education. 

"To you of the female sex, (whom I have had occasion more than once totake notice of with honor in this congregation) I would address a fewwords on this head. --You, who by your stations are more confined athome, and have the care of the younger sort more particularly underyour management, may do a great deal of good in this way. --I know notwhen I have been more affected, or my heart touched with stronger andmore pleasing emotions, than at the sight and conversation of a littlenegro boy, not above seven years old, who read to me in the newtestament, and perfectly repeated his catechism throughout, and allfrom the instruction of his careful, pious mistress, now I hope withGod, enjoying the blessed fruits of her labours while on earth. --Thisexample I would recommend to your serious imitation, and to enforce itshall only remark, that a shining part of the character of Solomon'sexcellent daughter is, that she looketh well to the ways of herhousehold. "--Rev. Thomas Bacon's _Sermons Addressed to Masters andServants_, pp. 4, 48, 49, 51, 64, 65, 69, 70, 73, 74. 

PORTIONS OF BENJAMIN FAWCETT's ADDRESS TO THE CHRISTIAN NEGROES INVIRGINIA ABOUT 1755

"Rejoice and be exceeding glad, that you are delivered either from theFrauds of Mohamet, or Pagan Darkness, and Worship of Daemons; and arenot now taught to place your Dependence upon those other dead Men, whom the Papists impiously worship, to the Neglect and Dishonor ofJesus Christ, the one only Mediator between God and Men. Christ, tho'he was dead, is alive again, and liveth forever-more. It is Christ, who is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God byhim, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Bless God, with all your Heart, that the Holy Scriptures are put into your Hands, which are able to make you wise unto Salvation, thro' Faith which isin Christ Jesus. Read and study the Bible for yourselves; and considerhow Papists do all they can to hide it from their Followers, for Fearsuch divine Light should discover the gross Darkness of their falseDoctrines and Worship. Be particularly thankful to the Ministers ofChrist around you, who are faithfully labouring to teach you the Truthas it is in Jesus.... 

"Contrary to these evident Truths and precious Comforts of the Wordof God, you may perhaps be tempted very unjustly to renounce yourFidelity and Obedience to your Old Masters, in Hope of finding newones, with whom you may live more happily. At one time or other itwill probably be suggested to you, that the French will make betterMasters than the English. But I beseech you to consider, that yourHappiness as Men and Christians exceedingly depends upon your doingall in your Power to support the British Government, and that kind ofChristianity which is called the Protestant Religion; and likewise inopposing, with all your Might, the Power of the French, the Delusionsof Popish Priests, and all the Rage and Malice of such Indians, as arein the French Interest. If the Power of France was to prevail in theCountry where you now live, you have Nothing to expect but the mostterrible Increase of your Sufferings. Your Slavery would then, notmerely extend to Body, but also to the Soul; not merely run thro' yourDays of Labour, but even thro' your Lord's Days. Your Bibles wouldthen become like a sealed Book, and your Consciences would be fetteredwith worse than Iron-Chains. Therefore be patient, be submissive andobedient, be faithful and true, even when some of your Masters aremost unkind. This is the only way for you to have Consciences voidof Offense towards God and Man. This will really be taking the mosteffectual Measures, to secure for yourselves a Share in the invaluableBlessings and Privileges of the glorious Gospel of the Blessed God, which you have already received thro' the Channel of the BritishGovernment, and which no other Government upon the Face of the Earthis so calculated to support and preserve. 

"The Lord Jesus Christ is now saying to you, as he did to Peter, whenthou art converted strengthen thy Brethren.... 

"Therefore let me entreat you to look upon your Country-men aroundyou, and pity them, not so much for their being Fellow-Captives withyou in a strange Land; as for this, that they are not yet, like you, delivered from the Power of Darkness.... 

"Invite them to learn to read, and direct them where they may applyfor Assistance, especially to those faithful Ministers, who have beenyour Instructors and Fathers in Christ.... "--Fawcett's _Address to theNegroes in Virginia_, etc. , pp. 8, 17, 18, 24, 25. 

EXTRACT FROM THE APPENDIX OF BENJAMIN FAWCETT'S "ADDRESS TO THECHRISTIAN NEGROES IN VIRGINIA"

"The first Account, I ever met with, of any considerable Number ofNegroes embracing the Gospel, is in a letter written by Mr. Davies, Minister at Hanover in Virginia, to Mr. Bellamy of Bethlehem in NewEngland, dated June 28, 1751. It appears that the Letter was designedfor Publication; and I suppose, was accordingly printed at Bostonin New England. It is to be seen in vol. Ii. , pages 330-338, of the_Historical Collections_ relating to remarkable Periods of the Successof the Gospel, and eminent Instruments employed in promoting it;Compiled by Mr. John Gillies, one of the Ministers of Glasgow: Printedby Foulis in 1754. Mr. Davies fills the greatest part of his Letter, with an Account of the declining State of Religion in Virginia, andthe remarkable Means used by Providence to revive it, for a few Yearsbefore his Settlement there, which was in 1747; not in the characterof a Missionary, but that of a dissenting Minister, invited by aparticular People, and fixed with them. Such, he observes, was thescattered State of his Congregation, that he soon found it necessaryto license seven Meeting-Houses, the nearest of which are twelve orfifteen Miles distant from each other, and the extremes about Forty;yet some of his People live twenty, thirty, and a few forty Miles fromthe nearest Meeting-House. He computes his Communicants at about threeHundred. He then says, 'There is also a Number of Negroes. Some timesI see a Hundred and more among my Hearers. I have baptized about Fortyof them within the last three Years, upon such a Profession of Faithas I then judged credible. Some of them, I fear, have apostatized; butothers, I trust, will persevere to the End. I have had as satisfyingEvidences of the sincere Piety of several of them, as ever I had fromany Person in my Life; and their artless Simplicity, their passionateAspirations after Christ, their incessant Endeavors to know and dothe Will of God, have charmed me. But, alas! while my Charge isso extensive, I cannot take sufficient Pains with them for theirInstruction, which often oppresses my Heart.... '"

At the Close of the above Letter, in the _Historical Collections_(vol. Ii. , page 338), there is added the following MarginalNote. --"May 22, 1754. Mr. G. Tennent and Mr. Davies being atEdinburgh, as Agents for the Trustees of the College of New Jersey, Mr. Davies informs, --that when he left Virginia in August last, therewas a hopeful Appearance of a greater Spread of a religious Concernamongst the Negroes;--And a few weeks before he left Home, he baptizedin one Day fifteen Negroes, after they had been catechized for someMonths, and given credible Evidences of their sincerely embracing theGospel. "

After these Gentlemen had finished the Business of their late Missionin this part of the World, Mr. Davies gave the following Particularsto his Correspondent in London, in a letter which he wrote in theSpring of the previous Year, six Weeks after his safe return to hisFamily and Friends. --"The Inhabitants of Virginia are computed to beabout 300, 000 Men, the one-half of which Number are supposed to beNegroes. The Number of those who attend my Ministry at particularTimes is uncertain, but generally about three Hundred who give astated Attendance. And never have I been so much struck with theAppearance of an Assembly, as when I have glanced my Eye to that Partof the Meeting-House, where they usually sit; adorned, for so it hadappeared to me, with so many black Countenances, eagerly attentive toevery Word they hear, and frequently bathed in Tears. A considerableNumber of them, about a Hundred, have been baptized, after the properTime for Instruction, and having given credible Evidences, not onlyof their Acquaintance with the important Doctrines of the ChristianReligion, but also a deep Sense of them upon their Minds, attestedby a Life of the strictest Piety and Holiness. As they are notsufficiently polished to dissemble with a good Grace, they express thesentiments of their Souls so much in the Language of simple Nature, and with such genuine Indications of Sincerity, that it is impossibleto suspect their Professions, especially when attended with a trulyChristian Life and exemplary Conduct. --My worthy Friend, Mr. Tod, Minister of the next Congregation, has near the same Number under hisInstructions, who, he tells me, discover the same serious Turn ofMind. In short, Sir, there are Multitudes of them in different Places, who are willing, and eagerly desirous to be instructed, and embraceevery Opportunity of acquainting themselves with the Doctrines of theGospel; and tho' they have generally very little Help to learn toread, yet, to my agreeable Surprise, many of them, by the Dint ofApplication in their Leisure-Hours, have made such a Progress, thatthey can intelligibly read a plain Author, and especially theirBibles; and Pity it is that many of them should be without them. Before I had the Pleasure of being admitted a Member of your Society[Mr. Davies here means the Society for promoting religious Knowledgeamong the Poor, which was first begun in London in August, 1750] theNegroes were wont frequently to come to me, with such moving Accountsof their Necessities in this Respect, that I could not help supplyingthem with Books to the utmost of my small Ability; and when Idistributed those among them, which my Friends with you sent over, Ihad Reason to think that I never did an Action in all my Life, that met with so much Gratitude from the Receivers. I have alreadydistributed all the Books I brought over, which were proper for them. Yet still, on Saturday Evenings, the only Time they can spare [theyare allowed some short Time, viz. , Saturday afternoon, and Sunday, says Dr. Douglass in his Summary. See the _Monthly Review_ forOctober, 1755, page 274] my House is crowded with Numbers of them, whose very Countenances still carry the air of importunate Petitionersfor the same Favors with those who came before them. But, alas!my Stock is exhausted, and I must send them away grieved anddisappointed. --Permit me, Sir, to be an Advocate with you, and, byyour Means, with your generous Friends in their Behalf. The Books Iprincipally want for them are, Watts' Psalms and Hymns, and Bibles. The two first they cannot be supplied with any other Way than by aCollection, as they are not among the Books which your Society giveaway. I am the rather importunate for a good Number of these, and Icannot but observe, that the Negroes, above all the Human Species thatI ever knew, have an Ear for Musick, and a kind of extatic Delight inPsalmody; and there are no Books they learn so soon, or take so muchPleasure in as those used in that heavenly Part of divine Worship. Some Gentlemen in London were pleased to make me a private Present ofthese Books for their Use, and from the Reception they met with, andtheir Eagerness for more, I can easily foresee, how acceptable anduseful a larger Number would be among them. Indeed, Nothing would be agreater Inducement to their Industry to learn to read, than the Hopeof such a Present; which they would consider, both as a Help, and aReward for their Diligence".... --_Fawcett's Address to the ChristianNegroes in Virginia_, etc. , pp. 33. 34. 35. 36, 37. 38. 

EXTRACT FROM JONATHAN BOUCHER'S "A VIEW OF THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCESOF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION"(1763)

"If ever these colonies, now filled with slaves, be improved to theirutmost capacity, an essential part of the improvement must be theabolition of slavery. Such a change would be hardly more to theadvantage of the slaves than it would be to their owners.... 

"I do you no more than justice in bearing witness, that in no part ofthe world were slaves better treated than, in general, they are in thecolonies.... In one essential point, I fear, we are all deficient;they are nowhere sufficiently instructed. I am far from recommendingit to you, at once to set them free; because to do so would be anheavy loss to you, and probably no gain to them; but I do entreatyou to make them some amends for the drudgery of their bodies bycultivating their minds. By such means only can we hope to fulfil theends, which we may be permitted to believe, Providence had in view insuffering them to be brought among us. You may unfetter them from thechains of ignorance; you may emancipate them from the bondage of sin, the worst slavery to which they can be subjected; and by thus settingat liberty those that are bruised, though they still continue to beyour slaves, they shall be delivered from the bondage of corruptioninto the glorious liberty of the Children of God. "--Jonathan Boucher's_A View of the Causes and Consequences_, etc. , pp. 41, 42, 43. 

BOUCHER ON AMERICAN EDUCATION IN 1773

"You pay far too little regard to parental education.... 

"What is still less credible is that at least two-thirds of the littleeducation we receive is derived from instructors who are eitherindented servants or transported felons. Not a ship arrives eitherwith redemptioners or convicts, in which schoolmasters are not asregularly advertised for sale as weavers, tailors, or any other trade;with little other difference, that I can hear of, excepting perhapsthat the former do not usually fetch so good a price as the latter.... 

"I own, however, that I dislike slavery and among other reasonsbecause as it is here conducted it has pernicious effects on thesocial state, by being unfavorable to education. It certainly is nonecessary circumstance, essential to the condition of a slave, that hebe uneducated; yet this is the general and almost universal lot of theslaves. Such extreme, deliberate, and systematic inattention to allmental improvement, in so large portion of our species, gives far toomuch countenance and encouragement to those abject persons who arecontented to be rude and ignorant. "--Jonathan Boucher's _A View of theCauses and Consequences of the American Revolution_, pp. 183, 188, 189. 

A PORTION OF AN ESSAY OF BISHOP PORTEUS TOWARD A PLAN FOR THE MOREEFFECTUAL CIVILIZATION AND CONVERSION OF THE NEGRO SLAVES ON THE TRENTESTATE IN BARBADOES BELONGING TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OFTHE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. (WRITTEN IN 1784)

"We are expressly commanded to preach the gospel to every creature;and therefore every human creature must necessarily be capable ofreceiving it. It may be true, perhaps, that the generality ofthe Negro slaves are extremely dull of apprehension, and slow ofunderstanding; but it may be doubted whether they are more so thansome of the lowest classes of our own people; at least they arecertainly not inferior in capacity to the Greenlanders, many of whomhave made very sincere Christians. Several travellers of good creditspeak in very favorable terms, both of the understandings anddispositions of the native Africans on the coast of Guinea; and it isa well-known fact, that many even of the Negro slaves in our islands, although laboring under disadvantages and discouragements, that mightwell depress and stupefy even the best understandings, yet givesufficient proofs of the great quickness of parts and facility inlearning. They have, in particular, a natural turn to the mechanicalarts, in which several of them show much ingenuity, and arrive at nosmall degree of perfection. Some have discovered marks of genius formusic, poetry, and other liberal accomplishments; and there are notwanting instances among them of a strength of understanding, and agenerosity, dignity, and heroism of mind, which would have done honourto the most cultivated European. It is not, therefore, to any naturalor unconquerable disability in the subject we had to work upon, thatthe little success of our efforts is to be ascribed. This would indeedbe an insuperable obstacle, and must put an effectual stop to allfuture attempts of the same nature; but as this is far from being thecase, we must look for other causes of our disappointment; which mayperhaps appear to be, though of a serious, yet less formidable nature, and such as it is in the power of human industry and perseverance, with the blessing of Providence, to remove. The principal of them, itis conceived, are these which here follow:

1. "Although several of our ministers and catechists in the college ofBarbadoes have been men of great worth and piety, and good intentions, yet in general they do not appear (if we may judge from their lettersto the Board) to have possessed that peculiar sort of talents andqualifications, that facility and address in conveying religioustruths, that unconquerable activity, patience, and perseverance, whichthe instruction of dull and uncultivated minds requires, and whichwe sometimes see so eminently and successfully displayed in themissionaries of other churches. 

"And indeed the task of instructing and converting near three hundredNegro slaves, and of educating their children in the principles ofmorality and religion, is too laborious for any one person to executewell; especially when the stipend is too small to animate hisindustry, and excite his zeal. 

2. "There seems also to have been a want of other modes ofinstruction, and of other books and tracts for that purpose, besidesthose made use of hitherto by our catechists. And there is reasonmoreover to believe, that the time allotted to the instruction of theNegroes has not been sufficient. 

3. "Another impediment to the progress of our slaves in Christianknowledge has been their too frequent intercourse with the Negroes ofthe neighboring plantations, and the accession of fresh slaves to ourown, either hired from other estates, or imported from Africa. Theseare so many constant temptations in their way to revert to theirformer heathenish principles and savage manners, to which they havealways a strong natural propensity; and when this propensity iscontinually inflamed by the solicitations of their unconvertedbrethren, or the arrival of new companions from the coast of Guinea, it frequently becomes very difficult to be resisted, and counteracts, in a great degree, all the influence and exhortations of theirreligious teachers. 

4. "Although this society has been always most honourablydistinguished by the gentleness with which the negroes belonging toits trust estates have been generally treated, yet even these (by theconfession of our missionaries) are in too abject, and depressed, anduncivilized a state to be proper subjects for the reception of thedivine truths of revelation. They stand in need of some further marksof the society's regard and tenderness for them, to conciliate theiraffections, to invigorate their minds, to encourage their hopes, and to rouse them out of that state of languor and indolence andinsensibility, which renders them indifferent and careless both aboutthis world and the next. 

5. "A still further obstacle to the effectual conversion of theNegroes has been the almost unrestrained licentiousness of theirmanner, the habits of vice and dissoluteness in which they arepermitted to live, and the sad examples they too frequently see intheir managers and overseers. It can never be expected that peoplegiven up to such practices as these, can be much disposed to receive apure and undefiled religion: or that, if after their conversion theyare allowed, as they generally are, to retain their former habits, their christianity can be anything more than a mere name. 

"These probably the society will, on inquiry, find to have been theprincipal causes of the little success they have hitherto had in theirpious endeavors to render their own slaves real christians. And it iswith a view principally to the removal of these obstacles that thefollowing regulations are, with all due deference to better judgments, submitted to their consideration. 

"The first and most essential step towards a real and effectualconversion of our Negroes would be the appointment of a missionary(in addition to the present catechist) properly qualified for thatimportant and difficult undertaking. He should be a clergyman soughtout for in this country, of approved ability, piety, humanity, industry, and a fervent, yet prudent zeal for the interests ofreligion, and the salvation of those committed to his care; and shouldhave a stipend not less than 200 f. Sterling a year if he has anapartment and is maintained in the College, or 300 f. A year if he isnot. 

"This clergyman might be called (for a reason to be hereafterassigned) 'The Guardian of the Negroes'; and his province should beto superintend the moral and spiritual concern of the slaves, to takeupon himself the religious instruction of the adult Negroes, and totake particular care that all the Negro children are taught to readby the catechist and the two assistant women (now employed by thesociety) and also that they are diligently instructed by the catechistin the principles of the Christian religion, till they are fifteenyears of age, when they shall be instructed by himself with the adultNegroes. 

"This instruction of the Negro children from their earliest years isone of the most important and essential parts of the whole plan; forit is to the education of the young Negroes that we are principallyto look for the success of our spiritual labours. These may be easilytaught to understand and to speak the English language with fluency;these may be brought up from their earliest youth in habits of virtue, and restrained from all licentious indulgences: these may have theprinciples and the precepts of religion impressed so early upon theirtender minds as to sink deep, and to take firm root, and bring forththe fruits of a truly Christian life. To this great object, therefore, must our chief attention be directed; and as almost everything mustdepend on the ability, the integrity, the assiduity, the perseveranceof the person to whom we commit so important a charge, it isimpossible for us to be too careful and too circumspect in our choiceof a CATECHIST. He must consider it his province, not merely to teachthe Negroes the use of letters, but the elements of Christianity; notonly to improve their understandings, but to form their hearts. Forthis purpose they must be put into his hands the moment they arecapable of articulating their words, and their instruction must bepursued with unrelenting diligence. So long as they continue too youngto work, they may be kept constantly in the school; as they grow fitto labour, their attendance on the CATECHIST must gradually lessen, till at length they take their full share of work with the grownNegroes. 

"A school of this nature was formerly established by the societyof Charlestown in South Carolina, about the year 1745, under thedirection of Mr. Garden, the Bishop of London's commissary in thatprovince. This school flourished greatly, and seemed to answer theirutmost wishes. There were at one time sixty scholars in it, and twentyyoung Negroes were annually sent out from it well instructed in theEnglish language, and the Christian faith. Mr. Garden, in his lettersto the society, speaks in the highest terms of the progress madeby his scholars, and says, that the Negroes themselves were highlypleased with their own acquirements. But it is supposed that on aparochial establishment being made in Charlestown by government, thisexcellent institution was dropt; for after the year 1751, no furthermention is made of it in the minutes of the society. From what littlewe know of it, however, we may justly conceive the most pleasinghopes from a similar foundation at Barbadoes. "--_The Works of BishopPorteus_, vi. , pp. , 171-179. 

EXTRACT FROM "THE ACTS OF DR. BRAY'S VISITATION HELD AT ANNAPOLIS INMARYLAND, MAY 23, 24, 25, ANNO 1700"

_Words of Dr. Bray_

"I think, my REVEREND BRETHREN, that we are now gone through suchmeasures as may be necessary to be considered for the more universalas well as successful Catechising, and Instruction of Youth. And Iheartily thank you for your so ready Concurrence in every thing thatI have offered to you: And which, I hope, will appear no less in theExecution, than it has been to the Proposals. 

"And that proper Books may not be wanting for the several Classes ofCatechumens, there is care taken for the several sorts, which may beall had in this Town. And it may be necessary to acquaint you, that for the poor Children and Servants, they shall be givenGratis. "--Hawks's _Ecclesiastical History of the United States_, vol. Ii. , pp. 503-504. 

EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY OFFRIENDS.... 

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF PENNSYLVANIAAND NEW JERSEY, 1774

"And having grounds to conclude that there are some brethren who havethese poor captives under their care, and are desirous to be wiselydirected in the restoring them to liberty: Friends who may beappointed by quarterly and monthly meetings on the service nowproposed, are earnestly desired to give their weighty and solidattention for the assistance of such who are thus honestly andreligiously concerned for their own relief, and the essential benefitof the negro. And in such families where there are young ones, orothers of suitable age, that they excite the masters, or those whohave them, to give them sufficient instruction and learning, in orderto qualify them for the enjoyment of liberty intended, and that theymay be instructed by themselves, or placed out to such masters andmistresses who will be careful of their religious education, to servefor such time, and no longer, as is prescribed by law and custom, forwhite people. "--_A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of theTestimony of the Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and theSlave Trade_. Published by direction of the Yearly Meeting, held inPhiladelphia, in the Fourth Month, 1843, p. 38. 

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF PHILADELPHIAAND NEW JERSEY, 1779

"A tender Christian sympathy appears to be awakened in the minds ofmany who are not in religious profession with us, who have seriouslyconsidered the oppressions and disadvantages under which those peoplehave long laboured; and whether a pious care extended to theiroffspring is not justly due from us to them, is a consideration worthyof our serious and deep attention; or if this obligation did notweightily lay upon us, can benevolent minds be directed to any objectmore worthy of their liberality and encouragement, than that of lavinga foundation in the rising generation for their becoming good anduseful men? remembering what was formerly enjoined, 'If thy brethrenbe waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relievehim; yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may livewith thee. '"--_Ibid_. , p. 38. 

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF CHESTER

"The consideration of the temporal and spiritual welfare of theAfricans, and the necessary instruction of their offspring now beingresumed, and after some time spent thereon, it is closely recommendedto our several monthly meetings to pay due attention to the advice ofthe Yearly Meeting on this subject, and proceed as strength may beafforded, in looking after them in their several habitations by areligious visit; giving them such counsel as their situation mayrequire. "--_Ibid_. , p. 39. 

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE HADDONFIELD QUARTERLY MEETING

"In Haddonfield Quarterly Meeting, a committee was kept steadily underappointment for several years to assist in manumissions, and in theeducation of the negro children. Religious meetings were frequentlyheld for the people of color; and Haddonfield Monthly Meeting raisedon one occasion 131 pounds, for the education of negro children. 

"In Salem Monthly Meeting, frequent meetings of worship for the peopleof color were held by direction of the monthly meeting; funds wereraised for the education of their children, and committees appointedin the different meetings to provide books, place the childrenat school, to visit the schools, and inspect their conduct andimprovement. 

"Meetings for Divine worship were regularly held for people of color, at least once in three months, under the direction of the monthlymeetings of Friends in Philadelphia; and schools were also establishedat which their children were gratuitously instructed in usefullearning. One of these, originally instituted by Anthony Benezet, isnow in operation in the city of Philadelphia, and has been continuedunder the care of one of the monthly meetings of Friends of that city, and supported by funds derived from voluntary contributions of themembers, and from legacies and bequests, yielding an income of about$1000 per annum. The average number of pupils is about sixty-eight ofboth sexes. "--_Ibid_. , pp. 40-41. 

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE RHODE ISLAND QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS, 1769

A committee reported "that having met, and entered into a solemnconsideration of the subject, they were of the mind that a usefulalteration might be made in the query referred to; yet apprehendingsome further Christian endeavors in labouring with such who continuein possession of slaves should be first promoted, by which means theeyes of Friends may be more clearly opened to behold the iniquityof the practice of detaining our fellow creatures in bondage, and adisposition to set such free who are arrived to mature age; and whenthe labour is performed and report made to the meeting, the meetingmay be better capable of determining what further step to take in thisaffair, which hath given so much concern to faithful Friends, and thatin the meantime it should be enforced upon Friends that have them inpossession, to treat them with tenderness; impress God's fear on theirminds; promote their attending places of religious worship; and givesuch as are young, so much learning, that they may be capable ofreading. 

"Are Friends clear of importing, buying, or any ways disposing ofnegroes or slaves; and do they use those well who are under theircare, and not in circumstances, through nonage or incapacity, tobe set at liberty? And do they give those that are young such aneducation as becomes Christians; and are the others encouraged in areligious and virtuous life? Are all set at liberty that are of age, capacity, and ability suitable for freedom?"--_Ibid_. , pp. 45, 46. 

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF VIRGINIA IN1757 AND 1773

"Are Friends clear of importing or buying negroes to trade on; anddo they use those well which they are possessed of by inheritanceor otherwise, endeavoring to train them in the principles of theChristian religion?"

The meeting of 1773 recommended to Friends, "seriously to consider thecircumstances of these poor people, and the obligation we are under todischarge our religious duties to them, which being disinterestedlypursued, will lead the professor to Truth, to advise and assist themon all occasions, particularly in promoting their instruction in theprinciples of the Christian religion, and the pious education of theirchildren; also to advise them in their worldly concerns, as occasionsoffer; and it advised that Friends of judgment and experience may benominated for this necessary service, it being the solid sense ofthis meeting, that we, of the present generation, are under strongobligations to express our love and concern for the offspring of thosepeople, who, by their labours, have greatly contributed toward thecultivation of these colonies, under the afflictive disadvantage ofenduring a hard bondage; and many amongst us are enjoying the benefitof their toil. "--_Ibid. _, pp. 51, 52, and 54. 

EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE METHODIST CONFERENCE, 1785

"Q. What directions shall we give for the promotion of the spiritualwelfare of the colored people?

"A. We conjure all our ministers and preachers, by the love of God andthe salvation of souls, and do require them, by all the authority thatis invested in us, to leave nothing undone for the spiritual benefitand salvation of them, within their respective circuits or districts;and for this purpose to embrace every opportunity of inquiring intothe state of their souls, and to unite in society those who appear tohave a real desire of fleeing from the wrath to come, to meet such aclass, and to exercise the whole Methodist Discipline among them. "

"Q. What can be done in order to instruct poor children, white andblack to read?

"A. Let us labor, as the heart of one man, to establish Sundayschools, in or near the place of public worship. Let persons beappointed by the bishop, elders, deacons, or preachers, to teachgratis all that will attend or have the capacity to learn, from sixo'clock in the morning till ten, and from two o'clock in the afternoontill six, where it does not interfere with public worship. Thecouncil shall compile a proper school book to teach them learning andpiety. "--Rev. Charles Elliott's _History of the Great Secession frontthe Methodist Episcopal Church_, etc. , p. 35. 

A PORTION OF AN ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHIN 1800. 

The Assembly recommended:

"2. The instruction of Negroes, the poor and those who are destituteof the means of grace in various parts of this extensive country;whoever contemplates the situation of this numerous class of personsin the United States, their gross ignorance of the plainest principlesof religion, their immorality and profaneness, their vices anddissoluteness of manners, must be filled with anxiety for theirpresent welfare, and above all for their future and eternal happiness. 

"3. The purchasing and disposing of Bibles and also of books and shortessays on the great principles of religion and morality, calculatedto impress the minds of those to whom they are given with a sense oftheir duty both to God and man, and consequently of such a nature asto arrest the attention, interest the curiosity and touch the feelingsof those to whom they are given. "--_Act and Proceedings of the GeneralAssembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. In the Year 1800_, Philadelphia. 

AN ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN 1801

"The Assembly resumed the consideration of the communication from theTrustees of the General Assembly and having gone through the same, thereupon resolved, "5. That there be made a purchase of so many cheap and pious books asa due regard to the other objects of the Assembly's funds will admit, with a view of distributing them not only among the frontiers of theseStates, but also among the poorer classes of people, and the blacks, or wherever it is thought useful; which books shall be given away, orlent, at the discretion of the distributor; and that there be receivedfrom Mr. Robert Aitken, toward the discharge of his debt, books tosuch amount as shall appear proper to the Trustees of the Assembly, who are hereby requested to take proper measures for the distributionof same. "--_Act and Proceedings of the General Assembly of thePresbyterian Church in the U. S. A. _

PLAN FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE FREE BLACKS

The business relative to free blacks shall be transacted by acommittee of twenty-four persons, annually elected by ballot at ameeting of this Society, in the month called April, and in order toperform the different services with expedition, regularity and energythis committee shall resolve itself into the following sub-committees, viz. :

I. A Committee of Inspection, who shall superintend the morals, general conduct, and ordinary situation of the free negroes, andafford them advice and instruction, protection from wrongs, and otherfriendly offices. 

II. A Committee of Guardians, who shall place out children and youngpeople with suitable persons, that they may (during a moderate timeof apprenticeship or servitude) learn some trade or other businessof subsistence. The committee may effect this partly by a persuasiveinfluence on parents and the persons concerned, and partly bycoöperating with the laws, which are or may be enacted for thisand similar purposes. In forming contracts of these occasions, thecommittee shall secure to the Society as far as may be practicable theright of guardianship over the person so bound. 

III. A Committee of Education, who shall superintend the schoolinstruction of the children and youth of the free blacks. Theymay either influence them to attend regularly the schools alreadyestablished in this city, or form others with this view; they shall, in either case, provide, that the pupils may receive such learning asis necessary for their future situation in life, and especially a deepimpression of the most important and generally acknowledged moral andreligious principles. They shall also procure and preserve a regularrecord of the marriages, births, and manumissions of all free blacks. 

IV. The Committee of Employ, who shall endeavor to procure constantemployment for those free negroes who are able to work; as the want ofthis would occasion poverty, idleness, and many vicious habits. Thiscommittee will by sedulous inquiry be enabled to find common labor fora great number; they will also provide that such as indicate propertalents may learn various trades, which may be done by prevailing uponthem to bind themselves for such a term of years as shall compensatetheir masters for the expense and trouble of instruction andmaintenance. The committee may attempt the institution of some simpleand useful manufactures which will require but little skill, and alsomay assist, in commencing business, such as appear to be qualified forit. 

Whenever the Committee of Inspection shall find persons of anyparticular description requiring attention, they shall immediatelydirect them to the committee of whose care they are the properobjects. 

In matters of a mixed nature, the committee shall confer, and, ifnecessary, act in concert. Affairs of great importance shall bereferred to the whole committee. 

The expense incurred by the prosecution of this plan, shall bedefrayed by a fund, to be formed by donations or subscriptions forthese particular purposes, and to be kept separate from the otherfunds of the Society. 

The Committee shall make a report on their proceedings, and of thestate of their stock, to the Society, at their quarterly meetings, inthe months called April and October. --Smyth's _Writings of BenjaminFranklin_, vol. X, p. 127. 

EXTRACT FROM THE "ADDRESS OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION OF DELEGATES FROMTHE ABOLITION SOCIETIES, 1795"

"We cannot forbear expressing to you our earnest desire, that you willcontinue, without ceasing, to endeavor, by every method in your powerwhich can promise any success, to procure, either an absolute repealof all the laws in your state, which countenance slavery, or such anamelioration of them as will gradually produce an entire abolition. Yet, even should that great end be happily attained, it cannot puta period to the necessity of further labor. The education of theemancipated, the noblest and most arduous task which we have toperform, will require all our wisdom and virtue, and the constantexercise of the greatest skill and discretion. When we have broken hischains, and restored the African to the enjoyment of his rights, thegreat work of justice and benevolence is not accomplished--The newborn citizen must receive that instruction, and those powerfulimpressions of moral and religious truths, which will render himcapable and desirous of fulfilling the various duties he owes tohimself and to his country. By educating some in the higher branchesof science, and all the useful parts of learning, and in the preceptsof religion and morality, we shall not only do away with the reproachand calumny so unjustly lavished upon us, but confound the enemies oftruth, by evincing that the unhappy sons of Africa, in spite of thedegrading influence of slavery, are in no wise inferior to the morefortunate inhabitants of Europe and America. 

"As a means of effectuating, in some degree, a design so virtuous andlaudable, we recommend to you to appoint a committee, annually, orfor any other more convenient period, to execute such plans, for theimprovement of the condition and moral character of the free blacksin your state, as you may think best adapted to your particularsituation. "--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Second Convention ofDelegates, 1795. _

A PORTION OF THE "ADDRESS OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION OF DELEGATES TOTHE FREE AFRICANS AND OTHER FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR, 1796"

"In the first place, We earnestly recommend to you, a regularattention to the duty of public worship; by which means you willevince gratitude to your CREATOR, and, at the same time, promoteknowledge, union, friendship, and proper conduct among yourselves. 

"Secondly, we advise such of you, as have not been taught reading, writing, and the first principles of arithmetic, to acquire themas early as possible. Carefully attend to the instruction of yourchildren in the same simple and useful branches of education. Causethem, likewise, early and frequently to read the holy Scriptures. Theycontain, among other great discoveries, the precious record of theoriginal equality of mankind, and of the obligations of universaljustice and benevolence, which are derived from the relation of thehuman race to each other in a COMMON FATHER. 

"Thirdly, Teach your children useful trades, or to labor with theirhands in cultivating the earth. These employments are favorable tohealth and virtue. In the choice of masters, who are to instruct themin the above branches of business, prefer those who will work withthem; by this means they will acquire habits of industry, and bebetter preserved from vice, than if they worked alone, or under theeye of persons less interested in their welfare. In forming contractsfor yourselves or children, with masters, it may be useful to consultsuch persons as are capable of giving you the best advice, who areknown to be your friends, in order to prevent advantages being takenof your ignorance of the laws and customs of your country. "_--Minutesof the Proceedings of the Third Convention of Delegates, 1796. American Convention of Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1795-1804_

A PORTION OF THE ADDRESS TO THE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR BY THE AMERICANCONVENTION FOR PROMOTING THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY, 1819

"The great work of emancipation is not to be accomplished in aday;--it must be the result of time, of long and continued exertions:it is for you to show by an orderly and worthy deportment that you aredeserving of the rank which you have attained. Endeavor as much aspossible to use economy in your expenses, so that you may be enabledto save from your earnings, something for the education of yourchildren, and for your support in time of sickness and in old age: andlet all those who by attending to this admonition, have acquired themeans, send their children to school as soon as they are old enough, where their morals will be the object of attention, as well as theirimprovement in school learning; and when they arrive at a suitableage, let it be your especial care to have them instructed in somemechanical art suited to their capacities, or in agriculturalpursuits; by which they may afterwards be enabled to supportthemselves and a family. Encourage also, those among you who arequalified as teachers of schools, and when you are of ability to pay, never send your children to free schools; this may be considered asrobbing the poor, of the opportunities which were intended for themalone. "

THE WILL OF KOSCIUSZKO

I, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, being just on my departure from America, dohereby declare and direct, that, should I make no other testamentarydisposition of my property in the United States, I hereby authorize myfriend, Thomas Jefferson, to employ the whole thereof in purchasingNegroes from his own or any others, and giving them liberty in myname, in giving them an education in trade or otherwise, and in havingthem instructed for their new condition in the duties of morality, which may make them good neighbors, good fathers or mothers, husbandsor wives in their duties as citizens, teaching them to be defenders oftheir liberty and country, and of the good order of society, and inwhatsoever may make them happy and useful. And I make the said ThomasJefferson my executor of this. 

(Signed) T. KOSCIUSZKO. May 5, 1798. [See _African Repository_, vol. Xi. , p. 294. ]

FROM WASHINGTON'S WILL

"Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all theslaves whom I now hold in my own right shall receive their freedom.... And whereas among those who will receive freedom according to thisdevise, there may be some who, from old age or bodily infirmities, and others who on account of their infancy will be unable to supportthemselves, it is my will and desire that all who come under the firstand second description, shall be comfortably clothed and fed by myheirs while they live; and that such of the latter description as haveno parents living, or if living are unable or unwilling to provide forthem, shall be bound by the court until they shall arrive at the ageof twenty-five years; and in cases where no record can be produced, whereby their ages can be ascertained, the judgement of court upon itsown view of the subject shall be adequate and final. The negroes thusbound are (by their masters or mistresses) to be taught to read andwrite, and to be brought up to some useful occupation, agreeable tothe laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, providing for the support oforphan and other poor children. "--Benson J. Lossing's _Life of GeorgeWashington_, vol. Iii. , p. 537. 

THIS INTERESTING DIALOGUE WAS WRITTEN BY AN AMERICAN ABOUT 1800

The following dialogue took place between Mr. Jackson the master of afamily, and the slave of one of his neighbors who lived adjoining thetown, on this occasion. Mr. Jackson was walking through the common andcame to a field of this person's farm. He there saw the slave leaningagainst the fence with a book in his hand, which he seemed to be veryintent upon; after a little time he closed the book, and clasping itin both his hands, looked upwards as if engaged in mental prayer;after this, he put the book in his bosom, and walked along the fencenear where Mr. Jackson was standing. Surprised at seeing a person ofhis color engaged with a book, and still more by the animation anddelight that he observed in his countenance; he determines to enquireabout it, and calls to him as he passes. 

_Mr. J_. So I see you have been reading, my lad?

_Slave_. Yes, sir. 

_Mr. J_. Well, I have a great curiosity to see what you were readingso earnestly; will you show me the book?

_Slave_. To be sure, sir. (And he presented it to him veryrespectfully. )

_Mr. J_. The Bible!--Pray when did you get this book? And who taughtyou to read it?

_Slave_. I thank God, sir, for the book. I do not know the goodgentleman who gave it to me, but I am sure God sent it to me. I waslearning to read in town at nights, and one morning a gentleman met mein the road as I had my spelling book open in my hand: he asked me ifI could read, I told him a little, and he gave me this book and toldme to make haste and learn to read it, and to ask God to help me, andthat it would make me as happy as any body in the world. 

_Mr. J_. Well did you do so?

_Slave_. I thought about it for some time, and I wondered that anybody should give me a book or care about me; and I wondered what thatcould be which could make a poor slave like me so happy; and so Ithought more and more of it, and I said I would try and do as thegentleman bid me, and blessed be God! he told me nothing but thetruth. 

_Mr. J_. Who is your master?

_Slave_. Mr. Wilkins, sir, who lives in that house. 

_Mr. J_. I know him; he is a very good man; but what does he say toyour leaving his work to read your book in the field?

_Slave_. I was not leaving his work, sir. This book does not teach meto neglect my master's work. I could not be happy if I did that. --Ihave done my breakfast, sir, and am waiting till the horses are doneeating. 

_Mr. J_. Well, what does that book teach you?

_Slave_. Oh, sir! every thing that I want to know--all I am to do, this book tells me, and so plain. It shew me first that I was awretched, ruined sinner, and what would become of me if I died in thatstate, and then when I was day and night in dread of God's calling meto account for my wickedness, and did not know which way to look formy deliverance, reading over and over again those dreadful words, "depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, " then it revealed tome how Jesus Christ had consented to come and suffer punishment forus in our stead, and bought pardon for us by his blood, and how bybelieving on him and serving him, I might become a child of God, sothat I need be no more terrified by the thoughts of God's anger butsure of his forgiveness and love.... 

(Here Mr. J. Pursued his walk; but soon reflecting on what he hadheard, he resolved to walk by Mr. Wilkins's house and enquire intothis affair from him. This he did, and finding him the followingconversation took place between them. )

_Mr. J_. Sir, I have been talking with a man of yours in that field, who was engaged, while his horses were eating, in reading a book;which I asked him to shew me and found it was the Bible; thereupon Iasked him some questions and his answers, and the account he gave ofhimself, have surprised me greatly. 

_Mr. W_. I presume it was Will--and though I do not know what hemay have told you, yet I will undertake to say that he has told younothing but the truth. I am always safe in believing him, and donot believe he would tell me an untruth for any thing that could beoffered him.... 

_Mr. J_. Well, sir, you have seen I trust in your family, good fruitsfrom the beginning. 

_Mr. W_. Yes indeed, sir, and that man was most instrumental inreconciling and encouraging all my people in the change. From thattime I have regarded him as more a friend and assistant, than a slave. He has taught the younger ones to read, and by his kindness andexample, has been a great benefit to all. I have told them that Iwould do what I could to instruct and improve them; and that if Ifound any so vicious, that they would not receive it and strive toamend, I would not keep them; that I hoped to have a religious, praying family, and that none would be obstinately bent on their ownruin. And from time to time, I endeavored to convince them that I wasaiming at their own good. I cannot tell you all the happiness of thechange, that God has been pleased to make among us, all by thesemeans. And I have been benefited both temporally and spiritually byit; for my work is better done, and my people are more faithful, contented, and obedient than before; and I have the comfort ofthinking that when my Lord and master shall call me to account forthose committed to my charge, I shall not be ashamed to presentthem. --Bishop William Meade's "Tracts and Dialogues, " etc. , inthe Appendix of Thomas Bacon's _Sermons Addressed to Masters andServants_. 

A TRUE ACCOUNT OF A PIOUS NEGRO

(Written about 1800)

Some years ago an English gentleman had occasion to be in NorthAmerica, where, among other adventures, the following circumstancesoccurred to him which are related in his own words. 

"Every day's observation convinces me that the children of God, viz. Those who believe in him, and on such terms are accepted by himthrough Jesus Christ, are made so by his own especial grace and powerinclining them to what is good, and, assisting them when they endeavorto be and continue so. 

"In one of my excursions, while I was in the province of New York, Iwas walking by myself over a considerable plantation, amused with itshusbandry, and comparing it with that of my own country, till I camewithin a little distance of a middle aged negro, who was tilling theground. I felt a strong inclination to converse with him. After askinghim some little questions about his work, which he answered verysensibly, I wished him to tell me, whether his state of slavery wasnot disagreeable to him, and whether he would not gladly exchange itfor his liberty?"

"Massah, " said he, looking seriously upon me, "I have wife andchildren; my massah takes care of them, and I have no care to provideanything; I have a good massah, who teach me to read; and I read goodbook, that makes me happy. " "I am glad, " replied I, "to hear you sayso; and pray what is the good book you read?" "The Bible, massah, God's own good book. " "Do you understand, friend, as well as read thisbook? for many can read the words well, who cannot get hold of thetrue and good sense. " "O massah, " says he, "I read the book muchbefore I understand; but at last I found things in the book which mademe very uneasy. " "Aye, " said I, "and what things were they?" "Whymassah, I found that I was a sinner, massah, a very great sinner, I feared that God would destroy me, because I was wicked, and donenothing as I should do. God was holy, and I was very vile and naughty;so I could have nothing from him but fire and brimstone in hell, if Icontinued in this state. " In short, he fully convinced me that he wasthoroughly sensible of his errors, and he told me what scriptures cameto his mind, which he had read, that both probed him to the bottom ofhis sinful heart, and were made the means of light and comfort to hissoul. I then inquired of him, what ministry or means he made use ofand found that his master was a Quaker, a plain sort of man who hadtaught his slaves to read, and had thus afforded him some means ofobtaining religious knowledge, though he had not ever conversed withthis negro upon the state of his soul. I asked him likewise, how hegot comfort under all his trials? "O massah, " said he, "it was Godgave me comfort by his word. He bade me come unto him, and he wouldgive me rest, for I was very weary and heavy laden. " And here he wentthrough a line of the most striking texts in the Bible, showing me, byhis artless comment upon them as he went along, what great things Godhad done in the course of some years for his soul.... --Bishop WilliamMeade's "Tracts, Dialogues, " etc. , in the Appendix of Thomas Bacon's_Sermons Addressed to Masters and Servants_. 

LETTER TO ABBÉ GRÉGOIRE, OF PARIS, 1809

I have received the favor of your letter of August 19th, and withit the volume you were so kind as to send me on the Literature ofNegroes. Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely thanI do to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myselfentertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted tothem by nature and to find that in this respect they are on par withourselves. My doubts were the result of personal observation in thelimited sphere of my own state, where the opportunities for thedevelopment of their genius were not favorable, and those ofexercising it still less so. I expressed them therefore with greathesitation; but whatever be their degree of talent it is no measureof their rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others inunderstanding, he was not therefore lord of the person and propertyof others. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinionsof nations, and hopeful advances are making towards theirre-establishment on an equal footing with the other colors of thehuman family. I pray you therefore to accept my thanks for the manyinstances you have enabled me to observe of respectable intelligencein that race of men, which cannot fail to have effect in hastening theday of their relief; and to be sure of the sentiments of the high andjust esteem and consideration which I tender to yourself with allsincerity. --_Writings of Thomas Jefferson_, Memorial Edition, 1904, vol. Xii. , p. 252. 

PORTION OF JEFFERSON'S LETTER TO M. A. JULIEN, JULY 23, 1818

Referring to Kosciuszko, Jefferson said:

"On his departure from the United States in 1798 he left in my handsan instrument appropriating after his death all the property he hadin our public funds, the price of his military services here, to theeducation and emancipation of as many of the children of bondagein this country as this should be adequate to. I am now too old toundertake a business _de si longue haleine_; but I am taking measuresto place it in such hands as will ensure a faithful discharge of thephilanthropic intentions of the donor. I learn with pleasure yourcontinued efforts for the instruction of the future generations ofmen, and, believing it the only means of effectuating their rights, Iwish them all possible success, and to yourself the eternal gratitudeof those who will feel their benefits, and beg leave to add theassurance of my high esteem and respect. "--_Writings of ThomasJefferson_, Memorial Edition. 1904, vol. Xv. , pp. 173-174. 

FROM MADISON'S LETTER TO MISS FRANCES WRIGHT, SEPTEMBER 1, 1825

"Supposing these conditions to be duly provided for, particularly theremoval of the emancipated blacks, the remaining questions relate tothe aptitude and adequacy of the process by which the slaves are atthe same time to earn funds, entire or supplemental, required fortheir emancipation and removal; and to be sufficiently educated for alife of freedom and of social order.... 

"With respect to the proper course of education, no seriousdifficulties present themselves. As they are to continue in a stateof bondage during the preparatory period, and to be within thejurisdiction of States recognizing ample authority over them, acompetent discipline cannot be impracticable. The degree in which thisdiscipline will enforce the needed labour, and in which a voluntaryindustry will supply the defect of compulsory labour, are vitalpoints, on which it may not be safe to be very positive without somelight from actual experiment. 

"Considering the probable composition of the labourers, and the knownfact that, where the labour is compulsory, the greater the number oflabourers brought together (unless, indeed, where co-operation ofmany hands is rendered essential by a particular kind of work or ofmachinery) the less are the proportional profits, it may be doubtedwhether the surplus from that source merely, beyond the support of theestablishment, would sufficiently accumulate in five, or even moreyears, for the objects in view. And candor obliges me to say that I amnot satisfied either that the prospect of emancipation at a futureday will sufficiently overcome the natural and habitual repugnance tolabour, or that there is such an advantage of united over individuallabour as is taken for granted. 

"In cases where portions of time have been allotted to slaves, asamong the Spaniards, with a view to their working out their freedom, it is believed that but few have availed themselves of the opportunityby a voluntary industry; and such a result could be less relied onin a case where each individual would feel that the fruits of hisexertions would be shared by others, whether equally or unequallymaking them, and that the exertions of others would equally avail him, notwithstanding a deficiency in his own. Skilful arrangements mightpalliate this tendency, but it would be difficult to counteract iteffectually. 

"The examples of the Moravians, the Harmonites, and the Shakers, in which the united labours of many for a common object have beensuccessful, have, no doubt, an imposing character. But it must berecollected that in all these establishments there is a religiousimpulse in the members, and a religious authority in the head, forwhich there will be no substitutes of equivalent efficacy in theemancipating establishment. The code of rules by which Mr. Rappmanages his conscientious and devoted flock, and enriches a commontreasury, must be little applicable to the dissimilar assemblagein question. His experience may afford valuable aid in its generalorganization, and in the distribution of details of the work to beperformed. But an efficient administration must, as is judiciouslyproposed, be in hands practically acquainted with the propensities andhabits of the members of the new community. "

FROM FREDERICK DOUGLASS'S PAPER, 1853: "LEARN TRADES OR STARVE"

These are the obvious alternatives sternly presented to the freecolored people of the United States. It is idle, yea even ruinous, todisguise the matter for a single hour longer; every day begins andends with the impressive lesson that free negroes must learn trades, or die. 

The old avocations, by which colored men obtained a livelihood, arerapidly, unceasingly and inevitably passing into other hands; everyhour sees the black man elbowed out of employment by some newlyarrived emigrant, whose hunger and whose color are thought to give hima better title to the place; and so we believe it will continue to beuntil the last prop is levelled beneath us. 

As a black man, we say if we cannot stand up, let us fall down. Wedesire to be a man among men while we do live; and when we cannot, we wish to die. It is evident, painfully evident to every reflectingmind, that the means of living, for colored men, are becoming moreand more precarious and limited. Employments and callings formerlymonopolized by us, are so no longer. 

White men are becoming house-servants, cooks and stewards onvessels--at hotels. --They are becoming porters, stevedores, wood-sawers, hod-carriers, brick-makers, white-washers and barbers, so that the blacks can scarcely find the means of subsistence--a fewyears ago, a _white_ barber would have been a curiosity--now theirpoles stand on every street. Formerly blacks were almost the exclusivecoachmen in wealthy families: this is so no longer; white men are nowemployed, and for aught we see, they fill their servile station withan obsequiousness as profound as that of the blacks. The readiness andease with which they adapt themselves to these conditions ought not tobe lost sight of by the colored people. The meaning is very important, and we should learn it. We are taught our insecurity by it. Withoutthe means of living, life is a curse, and leaves us at the mercy ofthe oppressor to become his debased slaves. Now, colored men, what doyou mean to do, for you must do something? The American ColonizationSociety tells you to go to Liberia. Mr. Bibb tells you to go toCanada. Others tell you to go to school. We tell you to go to work;and to work you must go or die. Men are not valued in this country, orin any country, for what they are; they are valued for what they can_do_. It is in vain that we talk of being men, if we do not the workof men. We must become valuable to society in other departments ofindustry than those servile ones from which we are rapidly beingexcluded. We must show that we can _do_ as well as be; and to this endwe must learn trades. When we can build as well as live in houses;when we can _make_ as well as _wear_ shoes; when we can produce aswell as consume wheat, corn and rye--then we shall become valuable tosociety. Society is a hard-hearted affair. --With it the helpless mayexpect no higher dignity than that of paupers. The individual must laysociety under obligation to him, or society will honor him only as astranger and sojourner. _How_ shall this be done? In this manner; useevery means, strain every nerve to master some important mechanicalart. At present, the facilities for doing so are few--institutions oflearning are more readily opened to you than the work-shop; but theLord helps them who will help themselves, and we have no doubt thatnew facilities will be presented as we press forward. 

If the alternative were presented to us of learning a trade or ofgetting an education, we would learn the trade, for the reason, thatwith the trade we could get the education while with the education wecould not get the trade. What we, as a people, most need, is the meansfor our own elevation. --An educated colored man, in the United States, unless he has within him the heart of a hero, and is willing to engagein a lifelong battle for his rights, as a man, finds few inducementsto remain in this country. He is isolated in the land of hisbirth--debarred by his color from congenial association with whites;he is equally cast out by the ignorance of the _blacks_. The remedyfor this must comprehend the elevation of the masses; and this canonly be done by putting the mechanic arts within the reach of coloredmen. 

We have now stated pretty strongly the case of our colored countrymen;perhaps some will say, _too_ strongly, but we know whereof we affirm. 

In view of this state of things, we appeal to the abolitionists. What Boss anti-slavery mechanic will take a black boy into hiswheelwright's shop, his blacksmith's shop, his joiner's shop, hiscabinet shop? Here is something _practical_; where are the whitesand where are the blacks that will respond to it? Where are theantislavery milliners and seamstresses that will take colored girlsand teach them trades, by which they can obtain an honorable living?The fact that we have made good cooks, good waiters, good barbers, andwhite-washers, induces the belief that we may excel in higher branchesof industry. _One thing is certain; we must find new methods ofobtaining a livelihood, for the old ones are failing us very fast_. 

We, therefore, call upon the intelligent and thinking ones amongstus, to urge upon the colored people within their reach, in allseriousness, the duty and the necessity of giving their childrenuseful and lucrative trades, by which they may commence the battleof life with weapons, commensurate with the exigencies ofconflict. --_African Repository_, vol. Xxix. , pp. 136, 137. 

EDUCATION OF COLORED PEOPLE

(_Written by a highly respectable gentleman of the South in_ 1854)

Several years ago I saw in the _Repository_, copied from the_Colonization Herald_, a proposal to establish a college for theeducation of young colored men in this country. Since that time I haveneither seen nor heard anything more of it, and I should be glad tohear whether the proposed plan was ever carried into execution. 

Four years ago I conversed with one of the officers of theColonization Society on the subject of educating in this countrycolored persons intending to emigrate to Liberia, and expressed myfirm conviction of the paramount importance of high moral and mentaltraining as a fit preparation for such emigrants. 

To my great regret the gentleman stated that under existingcircumstances the project, all important as he confessed it to be, wasalmost impracticable; so strong being the influence of the enemies ofcolonization that they would dissuade any colored persons so educatedfrom leaving the United States. 

I know that he was thoroughly acquainted with the subject in all itsbearings, and therefore felt that he must have good reasons for whathe said; still I hoped the case was not so bad as he thought, and, at any rate, I looked forward with strong hope to the time when thecolored race would, as a body, open their eyes to the miserable, unnatural position they occupy in America; when they would see whowere their true friends, those who offered them real and completefreedom, social and political, in a land where there is no white raceto keep them in subjection, where they govern themselves by their ownlaws; or those pretended friends who would keep the African where hecan never be aught but a serf and bondsman of a despised caste, andwho, by every act of their pretended philanthropy, make the coloredman's condition worse. 

Most happily, since that time, the colored race has been aroused to adegree never before known, and the conviction has become general amongthem that they must go to Liberia if they would be free and happy. 

Under these circumstances the better the education of the coloredman the more keenly will he feel his present situation and the moreclearly he will see the necessity of emigration. 

Assuming such to be the feelings of the colored race, I think theimmense importance of a collegiate institution for the education oftheir young must be felt and acknowledged by every friend of therace. Some time since the legislature of Liberia passed an act toincorporate a college in Liberia, but I fear the project has failed, as I have heard nothing more of it since. Supposing however the fundsraised for such an institution, where are the professors to come from?They _must_ be educated in this country; and how can that be donewithout establishing an institution specially for young colored men?

There is not a college in the United States where a young man of colorcould gain admission, or where, supposing him admitted, he couldescape insult and indignity. Into our Theological Seminaries a few areadmitted, and are, perhaps, treated well; but what difficulty theyfind in obtaining a proper preparatory education. The cause ofreligion then, no less than that of secular education, calls for sucha measure. 

I think a strong and earnest appeal ought to be made to every friendof colonization throughout the United States to support the schemewith heart, hand and purse. Surely there are enough friends of thecause to subscribe at least a moderate sum for such a noble object;and in a cause like this, wealthy colored persons ought to, anddoubtless will, subscribe according to their means. In addition to thegeneral appeal through the _Repository_, let each individual friendof colonization use all his influence with his personal friends andacquaintances, especially with such as are wealthy. I know from my ownexperience how much can be done by personal application, even in caseswhere success appears nearly hopeless. --I will pledge myself to use myhumble endeavors to the utmost with my personal acquaintances. A largesum would not be _absolutely necessary_ to found the college; and itwould certainly be better to commence in the humblest way than to giveup the scheme altogether. 

Buildings for instance might be purchased in many places for a verymoderate sum that would answer every purpose, or they might be builtin the cheapest manner; in short, everything might be commenced on themost economical scale and afterwards enlarged as funds increased. 

Those who are themselves engaged in teaching, such as the faculties ofcolleges, etc. , would, of course, be most competent to prepare aplan for the proposed institution, and the ablest of them should beconsulted; meantime almost anyone interested in the cause may offersome useful hint. In that spirit, I would myself offer a few briefsuggestions, in case this appeal should be favorably received. 

Probably few men of my time of life have studied the character andcondition of the African race more attentively than I have, with whatsuccess I cannot presume to say, but the opinion of any one devotingso much of his time to the subject ought to be of _some_ value. 

My opinion of their capacity has been much raised during my attemptsat instructing them, but at the same time, I am convinced that theyrequire a _totally different mode of training from whites_, and thatany attempt to educate the two races together must prove a failure. I now close these desultory remarks with the hope that some one morecompetent than myself will take up the cause and urge it until somedefinite plan is formed. --_African Repository_, vol. Xxx. , pp. 194, 195, 196. 

FROM A MEMORIAL TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NORTH CAROLINA, CIRCULATED AMONGTHE CITIZENS OF THAT STATE IN 1855, TO SECURE THE MODIFICATION OFCERTAIN LAWS REGULATING SLAVES AND FREE PERSONS OF COLOR. 

ELEVATION OF THE COLORED RACE

The Memorial is thus introduced:

"Your memorialists are well aware of the delicate nature of thesubject to which the attention of the Legislature is called, andof the necessity of proceeding with deliberation and caution. Theypropose some radical changes in the law of slavery, demanded by ourcommon christianity, by public morality, and by the common weal ofthe whole South. At the same time they have no wish or purposeinconsistent with the best interests of the slaveholder, and suggestno reform which may impair the efficiency of slave labor. On thecontrary, they believe that the much desired modifications of ourslave code will redound to the welfare of all classes, and to thehonor and character of the State throughout the civilized world. "

The attention of the Legislature was then asked to the followingpropositions: "1. That it behooves us as christian people to establishthe institution of matrimony among our slaves, with all its legalobligations and guarantees as to its duration between the parties. 2. That under no circumstances should masters be permitted to disregardthese natural and sacred ties of relationship among their slaves, orbetween slaves belonging to different masters. 3. That the parentalrelation to be acknowledged by law; and that the separation of parentsfrom their young children, say of twelve years and under, be strictlyforbidden, under heavy pains and penalties. 4. That the laws whichprohibit the instruction of slaves and free colored persons, by teaching them to read the Bible and other good books, berepealed. "--_African Repository_, vol. Xxxi. , pp. 117, 118. 

A LAWYER FOR LIBERIA

On the sailing of almost every expedition we have had occasion tochronicle the departure of missionaries, teachers, or a physician, butnot until the present time, that of a lawyer. The souls and bodies ofthe emigrants have been well cared for; now, it is no doubt supposed, they require assistance in guarding their money, civil rights, etc. Most professional emissaries have been educated at public expense, either by Missionary or the Colonization Societies, but the firstlawyer goes out independent of any associated aid. Mr. GarrisonDraper, a colored man of high respectability, and long a resident ofOld Town, early determined on educating his only son for Africa. Hekept him at some good public school in Pennsylvania till fitted forcollege, then sent him to Dartmouth where he remained four years andgraduated, maintaining always a very respectable standing, socially, and in his class. After much consultation with friends, he determinedupon the study of law. Mr. Charles Gilman, a retired member of theBaltimore Bar, very kindly consented to give young Draper professionalinstruction, and for two years he remained under his tuition. Nothaving any opportunities for acquiring a knowledge of the routine ofprofessional practice, the rules, habits, and courtesy of the Bar, in Baltimore, Mr. Draper spent some few months in the office of adistinguished lawyer in Boston. On returning to the city to embarkfor Liberia, he underwent an examination by Judge Lee of the SuperiorCourt, and obtained from him a certificate of his fitness to practicethe profession of law, a copy of which we append hereto. 

We consider the settlement of Mr. Draper in the Republic as an eventof no little importance. It seemed necessary that there should be oneregularly educated lawyer in a community of several thousand people, in a Republic of freemen. True, there are many very intelligent, wellinformed men now in the practice of law in Liberia, but they have notbeen educated to the profession, and we believe, no one makes that hisexclusive business. We doubt not that they will welcome Mr. Draper asone of their fraternity. To our Liberia friends we commend him as awell-educated, intelligent man, of good habits and principles; one inwhom they may place the fullest confidence, and we bespeak for him, attheir hands, kind considerations and patronage. 

STATE OF MARYLAND, CITY OF BALTIMORE, October 29, 1857. 

Upon the application of Charles Gilman, Esq. , of the Baltimore Bar, I have examined Edward G. Draper, a young man of color, who has beenreading law under the direction of Mr. Gilman, with the view ofpursuing its practice in Liberia, Africa. And I have found himmost intelligent and well informed in his answers to the questionspropounded by me, and qualified in all respects to be admitted to theBar in Maryland, if he was a free white citizen of this State. Mr. Gilman, in whom I have the highest confidence, has also testified tohis good moral character. 

This certificate is therefore furnished to him by me, with a view topromote his establishment and success in Liberia at the Bar there. 

Z. COLLINS LEE, Judge of Superior Court, Balt. , Md. 

_African Repository_, vol. Xxxiv. , pp. 26 and 27. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

There is no helpful bibliography on the early education of theAmerican Negro. A few books treating the recent problems of educationin this country give facts about the enlightenment of the coloredpeople before their general emancipation, but the investigator has todepend on promiscuous sources for adequate information of this kind. With the exception of a survey of the _Legal Status of the ColoredPopulation in Respect to Schools and Education in the DifferentStates_, published in the Report of the United States Commissioner ofEducation in 1871, there has been no attempt at a general treatmentof this phase of our history. This treatise, however, is too brief toinculcate an appreciation of the extensive efforts to enlighten theante-bellum Negro. 

Considered as a local problem this question has received moreattention. A few writers have undertaken to sketch the movement toeducate the colored people of certain communities before the CivilWar. Their objective point, however, has been rather to treat of laterperiods. The books mentioned below give some information with respectto the period treated in this monograph. 

BOOKS ON EDUCATION

Andrews, C. C. _The history of the New York African Free Schools fromtheir Establishment in 1787 to the Present Time_. (New York, 1830. )Embraces a period of more than forty years, also a brief account ofthe successful labors of the New York Manumission Society, with anappendix containing specimens of original composition, both inprose and verse, by several of the pupils; pieces spoken at publicexaminations; an interesting dialogue between Doctor Samuel L. Mitchell, of New York, and a little boy of ten years old, and linesillustrative of the Lancastrian system of instruction. Andrews wasa white man who was for a long time the head of this colored schoolsystem. 

Boese, Thomas. _Public Education in the City of New York, Its History, Condition, and Statistics, an Official Report of the Board ofEducation_. (New York, 1869. ) While serving as clerk of the Board ofEducation Boese had an opportunity to learn much about the New YorkAfrican Free Schools. 

Boone, R. G. _A History of Education in Indiana. _ (New York, 1892. )Contains a brief account of the work of the Abolitionists in behalf ofthe education of the Negroes of that commonwealth. 

BUTLER, N. M. _Education in the United States_. A series of monographs. (New York, 1910. )

FOOTE, J. P. _The Schools of Cincinnati and Its Vicinity_. (Cincinnati, 1855. ) A few pages of this book are devoted to the establishment andthe development of colored schools in that city. 

GOODWIN, M. B. "History of Schools for the Colored Population in theDistrict of Columbia. " (Published in the Report of the United StatesCommissioner of Education in 1871. ) This is the most thorough researchhitherto made in this field. The same system has been briefly treatedby W. S. Montgomery in his _Historical Sketch of Education for theColored Race in the District of Columbia_, 1807-1907. (Washington, D. C. , 1907. ) A less detailed account of the same is found in JamesStorum's "_The Colored Public Schools of Washington, --Their Origin, Growth, and Present Condition. " (A. M. E. Church Review_, vol. V. , p. 279. )

JONES, C. C. _The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the UnitedStates_. (Savannah, 1842. ) In trying to depict the spiritual conditionof the colored people the writer tells also what he thought abouttheir intellectual status. 

MERIWETHER, C. _History of Higher Education in South Carolina, witha Sketch of the Free School System_. (Washington, 1889. ) The authoraccounts for the early education of the colored people in thatcommonwealth but gives no details. 

MILLER, KELLY. "_The Education of the Negro_. " Constitutes ChapterXVI. Of the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education forthe year 1901. Contains a brief sketch of the early education of theNegro race in this country. 

ORR, GUSTAVUS. _The Need of Education in the South_. (Atlanta, 1880. )An address delivered before the Department of Superintendence of theNational Educational Association in 1879. Mr. Orr referred to thefirst efforts to educate the Negroes of the South. 

PLUMER, W. S. _Thoughts on the Religious Instruction of Negroes_. Reference is made here to the early work of the Moravians among thecolored people. 

RANDALL, SAMUEL SIDWELL. _The Common School System of the State of NewYork_. (New York, 1851. ) Comprises the several laws relating to commonschools, together with full expositions, instructions, and forms, towhich is prefixed an historical sketch of the system. Prepared inpursuance of an act of the legislature, under the direction of theHonorable Christopher Morgan, Superintendent of Common Schools. 

STOCKWELL, THOMAS B. _A History of Public Education in Rhode Islandfrom 1636 to 1876_. (Providence, 1876. ) Compiled by authority of theBoard of Education of Providence. Takes into account the variousmeasures enacted to educate the Negroes of that commonwealth. 

WICKERSHAM, J. P. _A History of Education in Pennsylvania, Private andPublic, Elementary and Higher, from the Time the Swedes Settled on theDelaware to the Present Day_. (Lancaster, Pa. , 1886. ) Considerablespace is given to the education of the Negroes. 

WRIGHT, R. R. , SR. _A Brief Historical Sketch of Negro Education inGeorgia_. (Savannah, 1894. ) The movement during the early period inthat State is here disposed of in a few pages. 

_A Brief Sketch of the Schools for the Black People and theirDescendants, Established by the Society of Friends_, etc. (Philadelphia, 1824. )

BOOKS OF TRAVEL BY FOREIGNERS

ABDY, E. S. _Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States fromApril, 1833, to October, 1834_. Three volumes. (London, 1835. ) Abdywas a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. 

ALLIOT, PAUL. _Réflexions historiques et politigues sur la Louisiane_. (Cleveland, 1911. ) Good for economic conditions. Valuable forinformation concerning New Orleans about the beginning of thenineteenth century. 

ARFWEDSON, C. D. _The United States and Canada in 1833 and 1834_. Twovolumes. (London, 1834. ) Somewhat helpful. 

BREMER, FREDERIKA. _The Homes of the New World; Impressions ofAmerica_. Translated by M. Howitt. Two volumes. (London, 1853. ) Theteaching of Negroes in the South is mentioned in several places. 

BRISSOT DE WARVILLE, J. P. _New Travels in the United States ofAmerica: including the Commerce of America with Europe, particularlywith Great Britain and France_. Two volumes. (London, 1794. ) Givesgeneral impressions, few details. 

BUCKINGHAM, J. S. _America, Historical, Statistical, and Descriptive_. Two volumes. (New York, 1841. )

---- _Eastern and Western States of America_. Three volumes. (Londonand Paris, 1842. ) Contains useful information. 

BULLOCK, W. _Sketch of a Journey through the Western States of NorthAmerica from New Orleans by the Mississippi, Ohio, City of Cincinnati, and Falls of Niagara to New York_. (London, 1827. ) The author makesmention of the condition of the Negroes. 

COKE, THOMAS. _Extracts from the Journals of the Rev. Dr. Coke's ThreeVisits to America_. (London, 1790. ) Contains general information. 

---- _A Journal of the Reverend Doctor Coke's Fourth Tour on theContinent of America_. (London, 1792. ) Brings out the interest of thischurchman in the elevation of the Negroes. 

CUMING, F. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country through theStates of Kentucky and Ohio; a Voyage down the Ohio and MississippiRivers and a Trip through the Mississippi Territory and Part of WestFlorida, Commenced at Philadelphia in the Winter of 1807 and Concludedin 1809_. (Pittsburg, 1810. ) Gives a few facts. 

FAUX, W. _Venerable Days in America_. (London, 1823. ) A "journal ofa tour in the United States principally undertaken to ascertain bypositive evidence, the condition and probable prospects of Britishemigrants, including accounts of Mr. Kirkbeck's settlement in Illinoisand intended to show men and things as they are in America. " TheNegroes are casually mentioned. 

HUMBOLDT, FRIEDRICH HEINRICH ALEXANDER, FREIHERR VON. _The Travels andResearches of Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt. _ (London, 1833. ) The author gives a "condensed narrative of his journeys inthe equinoctial regions in America and in Asiatic Russia. " The workcontains also analyses of his important investigations. He throwsa little light on the condition of the mixed breeds of the WesternHemisphere. 

KEMBLE, FRANCES ANNE. _Journal of a Residence on a Plantation in1838-1839. _ (New York, 1863. ) This diary is quoted extensively as oneof the best sources for Southern conditions before the Civil War. 

LAMBERT, JOHN. _Travels through Canada and the United States, in theYears 1806, 1807, and 1808. _ Two volumes. (London, 1813. ) To thisjournal are added notices and anecdotes of some of the leadingcharacters in the United States. This traveler saw the Negroes. 

PONS, FRANÇOIS RAYMOND DE. _Travels in Parts of South America, duringthe Years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804. _ (London, 1806. ) Contains adescription of Caracas; an account of the laws, commerce, and naturalproductions of that country; and a view of the customs and manners ofthe Spaniards and native Indians. Negroes are mentioned. 

PRIEST, WILLIAM. _Travels in the United States Commencing in the Year1793 and ending in the Year 1797. _ (London, 1802. ) Priest made twovoyages across the Atlantic to appear at the theaters of Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia. He had something to say about the conditionof the Negroes. 

ROCHEFOUCAULD-LIANCOURT, DUC DE. _Travels through the United States ofAmerica, the Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada in the Years1795, 1796, and 1797. _ (London, 1799. ) The author discusses theattitude of the people toward the uplift of the Negroes. 

SCHOEPF, JOHANN DAVID. _Reise durch der Mittlern und SudlichenVereinigten Nordamerikanischen Staaten nach Ost-Florida und den BahamaInseln unternommen in den Jahren 1783 und 1784. _ (Cincinnati, 1812. )A translation of this work was published by Alfred J. Morrison atPhiladelphia in 1911. Gives general impressions. 

SMYTH, J. F. D. _A Tour in the United States_. (London, 1848. ) Thiswriter incidentally mentions the people of color. 

SUTCLIFF, ROBERT. _Travels in Some Parts of North America in the Years1804, 1805, and 1806_. (Philadelphia, 1812. ) While traveling in slaveterritory Sutcliff studied the mental condition of the colored people. 

BOOKS OF TRAVEL BY AMERICANS

BROWN, DAVID. _The Planter, or Thirteen Years in the South_. (Philadelphia, 1853. ) Here we get a Northern white man's view of theheathenism of the Negroes. 

BURKE, EMILY. _Reminiscences of Georgia_. (Oberlin, Ohio, 1850. )Presents the views of a woman who was interested in the uplift of theNegro race. 

EVANS, ESTWICK. _A Pedestrious Tour of Four Thousand Miles through theWestern States and Territories during the Winter and Spring of 1818_. (Concord, N. H. , 1819. ) Among the many topics treated is theauthor's contention that the Negro is capable of the highest mentaldevelopment. 

OLMSTED, FREDERICK LAW. _A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, withRemarks on their Economy_. (New York, 1859. )

---- _A Journey in the Back Country_. (London, i860. )

---- _Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom_. (London, 1861. ) Olmsted was a New York farmer. He recorded a few importantfacts about the education of the Negroes immediately before the CivilWar. 

PARSONS, E. G. _Inside View of Slavery, or a Tour among the Planters_. (Boston, 1855. ) The introduction was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was published to aid the antislavery cause, but in describing thecondition of Negroes the author gave some educational statistics. 

REDPATH, JAMES. _The Roving Editor, or Talks with Slaves in SouthernStates_. (New York 1859. ) The slaves are here said to be telling theirown story. 

SMEDES, MRS. SUSAN (DABNEY). _Memorials of a Southern Planter_. (Baltimore, 1887. ) The benevolence of those masters who had theirslaves taught in spite of public opinion and the law, is well broughtout in this volume. 

TOWER, REVEREND PHILO. _Slavery Unmasked_. (Rochester, 1856. ) Valuablechiefly for the author's arraignment of the so-called religiousinstruction of the Negroes after the reactionary period. 

WOOLMAN, JOHN. _Journal of John Woolman, with an Introduction by JohnG. Whittier_. (Boston, 1873. ) Woolman traveled so extensively in thecolonies that he probably knew more about the mental state of theNegroes than any other Quaker of his time. 

LETTERS

JEFFERSON, THOMAS. Letters of Thomas Jefferson to Abbé Grégoire, M. A. Julien, and Benjamin Banneker. In _Jefferson's Works_, MemorialEdition, xii. And xv. He comments on Negroes' talents. 

MADISON, JAMES. Letter to Prances Wright. _In Madison's Works_, vol. Iii. , p. 396. The training of Negroes is discussed. 

MAY, SAMUEL JOSEPH. _The Right of the Colored People to Education_. (Brooklyn, 1883. ) A collection of public letters addressed to AndrewT. Judson, remonstrating on the unjust procedure relative to MissPrudence Crandall. 

MCDONOGH, JOHN. "A Letter of John McDonogh on African Colonizationaddressed to the Editor of _The New Orleans Commercial Bulletin_, "McDonogh was interested in the betterment of the colored people anddid much to promote their mental development. 

SHARPE, H. ED. _The Abolition of Negro Apprenticeship_. A letter toLord Brougham. (London, 1838. )

_A Southern Spy, or Curiosities of Negro Slavery in the South. Lettersfrom a Southern to a Northern Gentleman_. The comment of a passer-by. 

_A Letter to an American Planter from his Friend in London in 1781_. The writer discussed the instruction of Negroes. 

BIOGRAPHIES

BIRNEY, CATHERINE H. _The Grimké Sisters; Sara and Angelina Grimké, the First American Women Advocates of Abolition and Woman's Rights_. (Boston, 1885. ) Mentions the part these workers played in the secreteducation of Negroes in the South. 

BIRNEY, WILLIAM. _James G. Birney and His Times_. (New York, 1890. ) Asketch of an advocate of Negro education. 

BOWEN, CLARENCE W. _Arthur and Lewis Tappan_. A paper read at thefiftieth anniversary of the New York Anti-Slavery Society, at theBroadway Tabernacle, New York City, October 2, 1883. An honorablemention of two promoters of the colored manual labor schools. 

CHILD, LYDIA MARIA. _Isaac T. Hopper: A True Life_. (Boston andCleveland, 1853. )

CONWAY, MONCURE DANIEL. _Benjamin Banneker, the Negro Astronomer_. (London, 1864. )

(COOPER, JAMES F. ) _Notions of the Americans Picked up by a TravelingBachelor_. (Philadelphia, 1828. ) General. 

DREW, BENJAMIN. _A North-side View of Slavery. The Refugee: or theNarratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada_. Related by themselves, withan Account of the History and Condition of the Colored Population ofUpper Canada. (New York and Boston, 1856. )

GARRISON, FRANCIS AND WENDELL P. _William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879. The Story of his Life told by his Children_. Four volumes. (Bostonand New York, 1894. ) Includes a brief account of what he did for theeducation of the colored people. 

HALLOWELL, A. D. _James and Lucretia Mott; Life and Letters_. (Boston, 1884. ) These were ardent abolitionists who advocated the education ofthe colored people. 

JOHNSON, OLIVER. _William Lloyd Garrison and his Times_. (Boston, 1880. New edition, revised and enlarged, Boston, 1881. )

LOSSING, BENSON J. _Life of George Washington, a Biography, Militaryand Political_. Three volumes. (New York, 1860. ) Gives the will ofGeorge Washington, who provided that at the stipulated time his slavesshould be freed and that their children should be taught to read. 

MATHER, COTTON. _The Life and Death of the Reverend John Elliot whowas the First Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians in America_. Thethird edition carefully corrected. (London, 1694. ) Sets forth theattitude of John Elliot toward the teaching of slaves. 

MOTT, A. _Biographical Sketches and Interesting Anecdotes of Personsof Color; with a Selection of Pieces of Poetry_. (New York, 1826. )Some of these sketches show how ambitious Negroes learned to read andwrite in spite of opposition. 

SIMMONS, W. J. _Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive, and Rising, withan Introductory Sketch of the Author by Reverend Henry M. Turner_. (Cleveland, Ohio, 1891. ) Accounts for the adverse circumstances underwhich many ante-bellum Negroes acquired knowledge. 

SNOWDEN, T. B. _The Autobiography of John B. Snowden_. (Huntington, W. Va. , 1900. )

WIGHTMAN, WILLIAM MAY. _Life of William Capers, one of the Bishops ofthe Methodist Episcopal Church South; including an Autobiography_. (Nashville, Tenn. , 1858. ) Shows what Capers did for the religiousinstruction of the colored people. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

ASBURY, BISHOP FRANCIS. _The Journal of the Reverend Francis Asbury, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from August 7, 1781, toDecember 7, 1815_. Three volumes. (New York, 1821. )

COFFIN, LEVI. _Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, reputed President of theUnder Ground Railroad_. (Second edition, Cincinnati, 1880. ) Mentionsthe teaching of slaves. 

DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. _Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, asan American Slave_. Written by himself. (Boston, 1845. ) Gives severalcases of secret Negro schools. 

---- _The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass from 1817 to 1882_. Written by himself. Illustrated. With an Introduction by the RightHonorable John Bright, M. P. Edited by John Loeb, F. R. G. S. , of the_Christian Age_, Editor of _Uncle Tom's Story of his Life_. (London, 1882. ) Contains Douglass's appeal in behalf of vocational training. 

FLINT, TIMOTHY. _Recollections of the last Ten Years_. A series ofletters to the Reverend James Flint of Salem, Massachusetts, by T. Flint, Principal of the Seminary of Rapide, Louisiana. (Boston, 1826. )Mentions the teaching of Negroes. 

GENERAL HISTORIES

BANCROFT, GEORGE. _History of the United States_. Ten volumes. (Boston, 1857-1864. )

HART, A. B. , Editor. _American History told by Contemporaries_. Fourvolumes. (New York, 1898. )

---- _The American Nation; A history, etc_. Twenty-seven volumes. (NewYork, 1904-1908. ) The volumes which have a bearing on the subjecttreated in this monograph are Bourne's _Spain in America_, EdwardChanning's _Jeffersonian System_, F. J. Turner's _Rise of the NewWest_, and Hart's _Slavery and Abolition_. 

HERRERA Y TORDESILLAS, ANTONIO DE. _Historia General de los hechos delos Castellanos en las islas i tierra firme del mar oceano. Escritopor Antonio herrera coronista mayor de Sr. M. De las Indias y sicoronista de Castilla. En Quatro decadas desde el año de 1492 hasta elde 1554. Decada primera del rey Nuro Señor_. (En Madrid en la Imprentareal de Nicolas Rodriguez Franco, año 1726-1727. )

MCMASTER, JOHN B. _History of the United States_. Six volumes. (NewYork, 1900. )

RHODES, J. F. _History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850to the Final Restoration of Home Rule in the South_. (New York andLondon, Macmillan & Company, 1892-1906. )

VON HOLST, HERMAN. _The Constitutional and Political History of theUnited States of America_. (Seven volumes. Chicago, 1877. )

STATE HISTORIES

ASHE, S. A. _History of North Carolina_. (Greensboro, 1908. )

BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE. _History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888_. (San Francisco, 1890. )

BEARSE, AUSTIN. _Reminiscences of Fugitive Slave Days in Boston_. (Boston, 1880. )

BETTLE, EDWARD. "Notices of Negro Slavery as Connected withPennsylvania. " Read before the Historical Society of

Pennsylvania, 8th Mo. , 7th, 1826. _Memoirs of Historical Society ofPennsylvania_. 

BRACKETT, JEFFREY R. _The Negro in Maryland_. Johns Hopkins UniversityStudies. (Baltimore, 1889. )

COLLINS, LEWIS. _Historical Sketches of Kentucky_. (Maysville, Ky. , and Cincinnati, Ohio, 1847. )

JONES, CHARLES COLCOCK, JR. _History of Georgia_. (Boston, 1883. )

MCCRADY, EDWARD. _The History of South Carolina under the RoyalGovernment, 1719-1776_, by Edward McCrady, a Member of the Bar ofSouth Carolina and President of the Historical Society of SouthCarolina, Author of _A History of South Carolina under the ProprietaryGovernment_. (New York and London, 1899. )

STEINER, B. C. _History of Slavery in Connecticut_. (Johns HopkinsUniversity Studies, 1893. )

STUVÉ, BERNARD, and Alexander Davidson. _A Complete History ofIllinois from 1673 to 1783_. (Springfield, 1874. )

TREMAIN, MARY M. A. _Slavery in the District of Columbia_. (Universityof Nebraska Seminary Papers, April, 1892. )

_History of Brown County, Ohio_. (Chicago, 1883. )

"_Slavery in Illinois, 1818-1824. " (Massachusetts Historical SocietyCollections_, volume x. )

CHURCH HISTORIES

BANGS, NATHAN. _A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church_. Fourvolumes. (New York, 1845. )

BENEDICT, DAVID. _A General History of the Baptist Denomination inAmerica and in Other Parts of the World_. (Boston, 1813. )

---- _Fifty Years among the Baptists_. (New York, 1860. )

DALCHO, FREDERICK. _An Historical Account of the Protestant EpiscopalChurch in South Carolina, from the First Settlement of the Province tothe War of the Revolution_; with notices of the present State of theChurch in each Parish: and some Accounts of the early Civil History ofCarolina never before published. To which are added: the Laws relatingto Religious Worship, the Journal and Rules of the Convention of SouthCarolina; the Constitution and Canons of the Protestant EpiscopalChurch and the Course of Ecclesiastical Studies. (Charleston, 1820. )

DAVIDSON, REV. ROBERT. _History of the Presbyterian Church in theState of Kentucky; with a Preliminary Sketch of the Churches in theValley of Virginia. _ (New York, Pittsburgh, and Lexington, Kentucky, 1847. )

HAMILTON, JOHN T. _A History of the Church Known as the MoravianChurch, or the Unitas Fratrum, or the Unity of Brethren during theEighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. _ (Bethlehem, Pa. , 1900. )

HAWKS, FRANCIS L. _Ecclesiastical History of the United States. _ (NewYork, 1836. )

JAMES, CHARLES P. _Documentary History of the Struggle for ReligiousLiberty in Virginia. _ (Lynchburg, Va. , 1900. )

MATLACK, LUCIUS. _The History of American Slavery and Methodism from1780 to 1849: and History of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection ofAmerica. In Two Parts with an Appendix. _ (New York, 1849. )

MCTYEIRE, HOLLAND N. _A History of Methodism; comprising a View of theRise of the Revival of Spiritual Religion in the First Half of theEighteenth Century, and the Principal Agents by whom it was promotedin Europe and America, with some Account of the Doctrine and Polity ofEpiscopal Methodism in the United States and the Means and Manner ofits Extension down to 1884. _ (Nashville, Tenn. , 1884. ) McTyeire wasone of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. 

REICHEL, L. T. _The Early History of the Church of the United Brethren(Unitas Fratrum) commonly Called Moravians in North America, from 1734to 1748. _ (Nazareth, Pa. , 1888. )

RUSH, CHRISTOPHER. _A Short Account of the African Methodist EpiscopalChurch in America. _ Written by the aid of George Collins. Also a viewof the Church Order or Government from Scripture and from some of thebest Authors relative to Episcopacy. (New York, 1843. )

SEMPLE, R. B. _History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists inVirginia. _ (Richmond, 1810. )

SERMONS, ORATIONS, ADDRESSES

BACON, THOMAS. _Sermons Addressed to Masters and Servants. _ Publishedin 1743. Republished with other tracts by Rev. William Meade. (Winchester, Va. , 1805. )

BOUCHER, JONATHAN. "American Education. " This address is found in theauthor's volume entitled _A View of the Causes and Consequences ofthe American Revolution_; in thirteen discourses, preached in NorthAmerica between the years 1763 and 1775: with an historical preface. (London, 1797. )

BUCHANAN, GEORGE. _An Oration upon the Moral and Political Evil ofSlavery_. Delivered at a Public Meeting of the Maryland Society forPromoting the Abolition of Slavery, and Relief of Free Negroesand others unlawfully held in Bondage. Baltimore, July 4, 1791. (Baltimore, 1793. )

CATTO, WILLIAM T. _A Semicentenary Discourse Delivered in the FirstAfrican Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, on the 4th Sabbath of May, 1857_: with a History of the Church from its first organization;including a brief Notice of Reverend John Gloucester, its FirstPastor. Also an appendix containing sketches of all the ColoredChurches in Philadelphia. (Philadelphia, 1857. ) The author was thenpastor of this church. 

DANA, JAMES. _The African Slave Trade_. A Discourse delivered in theCity of New Haven, September 9, 1790, before the Connecticut Societyfor the Promotion of Freedom. (New Haven, 1790. ) Dr. Dana was at thattime the pastor of the First Congregational Church of New Haven. 

FAWCETT, BENJAMIN. _A Compassionate Address to the Christian Negroesin Virginia, and other British Colonies in North America_. Withan appendix containing some account of the rise and progress ofChristianity among that poor people. (The second edition, Salop, printed by F. Edwards and F. Cotton. )

GARRISON, WILLIAM LLOYD. _An Address Delivered before the Free Peopleof Color in Philadelphia, New York, and other Cities during the Monthof June, 1831_. (Boston, 1831. )

GRIFFIN, EDWARD DORR. _A Plea for Africa_. A Sermon preached October26, 1817, in the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New Yorkbefore the Synod of New York and New Jersey at the Request of theBoard of Directors of the African School established by the Synod. (New York, 1817. ) The aim was to arouse interest in this school. 

JONES, CHARLES COLCOCK. _The Religious Instruction of Negroes_. ASermon delivered before the Association of the Planters in Liberty andMcIntosh Counties, Georgia. (Princeton, N. J. , 1832. ) Jones was thenengaged in the work which he was discussing. 

MAYO, A. D. "Address on Negro Education. " (_Springfield Republican_, July 9, 1897; and the _New England Magazine_, October, 1898. )

RUSH, BENJAMIN. _An Address to the Inhabitants of the BritishSettlements in America upon Slave Keeping_. The second edition withobservations on a pamphlet entitled _Slavery not Forbidden bythe Scripture or a Defense of the West Indian Planters by aPennsylvanian_. (Philadelphia, 1773. ) The Negroes' need of educationis pointed out. 

SECKER, THOMAS, Archbishop of Canterbury. _A Sermon Preached beforethe Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in ForeignParts_; at their Anniversary Meeting in the Parish Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, on Friday, February 20, 1741. (London 1741. ) In thisdiscourse Secker set forth his plan of teaching the Negroes to elevatethemselves. 

SIDNEY, JOSEPH. _An Oration Commemorative of the Abolition of theSlave Trade in the United States Delivered before the WilberforcePhilanthropic Association in the City of New York on January 2, 1809_. (New York, 1809. ) The speaker did not forget the duty of all men touplift those unfortunates who had already been degraded. 

SMITH, THOMAS P. _An Address before the Colored Citizens of Boston inOpposition to the Abolition of Colored Schools, 1849_. (Boston, 1850. )

WARBURTON, WILLIAM, Bishop of Gloucester. _A Sermon Preached beforethe Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in ForeignParts_; at their Anniversary Meeting in the Parish Church of St. Mary-le-Bow on Friday, February 21, 1766. (London, 1766. ) The speakerurged his hearers to enlighten the Indians and Negroes. 

REPORTS ON THE EDUCATION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE

_Report of the Proceedings at the Formation of the African EducationSociety_; instituted at Washington, December 28, 1829. With an Addressto the Public by the Board of Managers. (Washington, 1830. )

_Report of the Minority of the Committee of the Primary School Boardon the Caste Schools of the City of Boston. _ With some remarks on theCity Solicitor's Opinion, by Wendell Phillips. (Boston, 1846. )

_Report of a Special Committee of the Grammar School Board of Boston, Massachusetts. _ Abolition of the Smith Colored School. (Boston, 1849. )

_Report of the Primary School Committee, Boston, Massachusetts. _Abolition of the Colored Schools. (Boston, 1846. )

_Report of the Minority of the Committee upon the Petition of J. T. Hilton and other Colored Citizens of Boston, Praying for the Abolitionof the Smith Colored School. _ (Boston, 1849. )

_Opinion of Honorable Richard Fletcher as to whether Colored Childrencan be Lawfully Excluded from Free Public Schools. _ (Boston, 1846. )

_Special Report of the Commissioner of Education on the Improvementof the Public Schools in the District of Columbia_, containing M. B. Goodwin's "History of Schools for the Colored Population in theDistrict of Columbia. " (Washington, 1871. )

_Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the New York Public School Society, 1842. _ (New York, 1842. )

STATISTICS

CLARKE, J. F. _Present Condition of the Free Colored People of theUnited States. _ (New York and Boston, the American AntislaverySociety, 1859. ) Published also in the March number of the _ChristianExaminer_. 

_Condition of the Free People of Color in Ohio. _ With interestinganecdotes. (Boston, 1839. )

_Institute for Colored Youth. _ (Philadelphia, 1860-1865. ) Contains alist of the officers and students. 

_Report of the Condition of the Colored People of Cincinnati, 1835. _(Cincinnati, 1835. )

_Report of a Committee of the Pennsylvania Society of Abolition onPresent Condition of the Colored People, etc. _, 1838. (Philadelphia, 1838. )

_Statistical Inquiry into the Condition of the People of Color of theCity and Districts of Philadelphia. _ (Philadelphia, 1849. ) _Statisticsof the Colored People of Philadelphia in 1859_, compiled by Benj. C. Bacon. (Philadelphia, 1859. )

_Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1898. _ Prepared by theBureau of Statistics. (Washington, D. C. , 1899. )

_Statistical View of the Population of the United States, A_, 1790-1830. (Published by the Department of State in 1835. )

_The Present State and Condition of the Free People of Color of thecity of Philadelphia and adjoining districts as exhibited by theReport of a Committee of the Pennsylvania Society for Promotingthe Abolition of Slavery. _ Read First Month (January), 5th, 1838. (Philadelphia, 1838. )

_Trades of the Colored People. _ (Philadelphia, 1838. )

United States Censuses of 1790, 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, and 1860. 

VARLE, CHARLES. _A Complete View of Baltimore_; with a StatisticalSketch of all the Commercial, Mercantile, Manufacturing, Literary, Scientific Institutions and Establishments in the same Vicinity ... Derived from personal Observation and Research. (Baltimore, 1833. )

CHURCH REPORTS

_A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the Testimony ofFriends against Slavery and the Slave Trade. _ Published by directionof the Yearly Meeting held in Philadelphia in the Fourth Month, 1843. Shows the action taken by various Friends to educate the Negroes. 

_A Collection of the Acts, Deliverances, and Testimonies of theSupreme Judicatory of the Presbyterian Church, from its Origin inAmerica to the Present Time. _ By Samuel J. Baird. (Philadelphia, 1856. )

_Acts and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the PresbyterianChurch in the United States of America in the Year 1800. _(Philadelphia, 1800. ) The question of instructing the Negroes came upin this meeting. 

PASCOE, C. F. _Classified Digest of the Records of the Society forthe Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1701-1892, with muchSupplementary Information. _ (London, 1893. ) A good source for theaccounts of the efforts of this organization among Negroes. 

"Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1785. " Found in Rev. CharlesElliott's _History of the Great Secession from the Methodist EpiscopalChurch_, etc. This conference discussed the education of the coloredpeople. 

REPORTS OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION, 1794-1831

American Convention of Abolition Societies. _Minutes of theProceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societiesestablished in different Parts of the United States, assembled atPhiladelphia on the first Day of January, one thousand seven hundredand ninety-four, and continued by Adjournments, until the seventh Dayof the same Month, inclusive. _ (Philadelphia, 1794. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Second Convention of Delegatesfrom the Abolition Societies established in different Parts of theUnited States, assembled at Philadelphia on the seventh Day ofJanuary, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, and continued byAdjournments until the fourteenth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _(Philadelphia, 1795. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Third Convention of Delegatesfrom the Abolition Societies established in different Parts of theUnited States, assembled at Philadelphia on the first Day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, and continued, byAdjournments, until the seventh Day of the same Month, inclusive. _(Philadelphia, 1796. )

--_Address to Free Africans and other Free People of Colour in theUnited States. _ (1796. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Fourth Convention of Delegatesfrom the Abolition Societies established in different Parts of theUnited States, assembled at Philadelphia on the third Day of May, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, and continued byAdjournments, until the ninth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _(Philadelphia, 1797. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Fifth Convention of Delegatesfrom the Abolition Societies established in different Parts of theUnited States, assembled at Philadelphia on the first Day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and continued, byAdjournments, until the sixth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _(Philadelphia, 1798. )

American Convention of Abolition Societies. _Minutes of theProceedings of the Sixth Convention of Delegates from the AbolitionSocieties established in different parts of the United States, assembled at Philadelphia, on the fourth Day of June, one thousandeight hundred, and continued by Adjournments, until the sixth Day ofthe same Month, inclusive. _ (Philadelphia, 1800. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Seventh Convention of Delegatesfrom the Abolition Societies established in different parts of theUnited States, assembled at Philadelphia on the third Day of June, onethousand eight hundred and one, and continued by Adjournments untilthe sixth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _ (Philadelphia, 1801. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Eighth Convention of Delegatesfrom the Abolition Societies established in different parts of theUnited States, assembled at Philadelphia, on the tenth Day of January, one thousand eight hundred and three, and continued by Adjournmentsuntil the fourteenth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _ (Philadelphia, 1803. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Ninth American Convention forpromoting the Abolition of Slavery and improving the Condition of theAfrican Race; assembled at Philadelphia on the ninth Day of January, one thousand eight hundred and four, and continued by Adjournmentsuntil the thirteenth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _ (Philadelphia, 1804. )

--_Address of the American Convention for promoting the Abolition ofSlavery and improving the Condition of the African Race, assembled atPhiladelphia, in January, 1804, to the People of the United States. _(Philadelphia, 1804. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Tenth American Convention forpromoting the Abolition of Slavery and improving the Condition ofthe African Race; assembled at Philadelphia on the fourteenth Dayof January, one thousand eight hundred and five, and continued byAdjournments until the seventeenth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _(Philadelphia, 1805. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Eleventh American Convention forpromoting the Abolition of Slavery and improving the Condition of theAfrican Race; assembled at Philadelphia, on the thirteenth Dayof January, one thousand eight hundred and six, and continued byAdjournments until the fifteenth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _(Philadelphia, 1806. )

--_Minutes of the Proceedings of a Special Meeting of the FifteenthAmerican Convention for promoting the Abolition of Slavery andimproving the Condition of the African Race; assembled at Philadelphiaon the tenth Day of December, 1818, and continued by Adjournmentsuntil the fifteenth Day of the same Month, inclusive. _ (Philadelphia, 1818. )

--_Constitution of the American Convention for promoting the Abolitionof Slavery, and improving the Condition of the African Race. Adoptedon the eleventh Day of December, 1818, to take effect on the fifth Dayof October, 1819. _ (Philadelphia, 1819. )

--_Minutes of the Eighteenth Session of the American Convention forpromoting the Abolition of Slavery, and improving the Condition of theAfrican Race. Convened at Philadelphia, on the seventh Day of October, 1823. _ (Philadelphia, 1823. )

--_To the Clergy and Pastors throughout the United States. _ (DatedPhiladelphia, September 18, 1826. )

--_Minutes of the Adjourned Session of the Twentieth Biennial AmericanConvention for promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Held at Baltimore, November 28. _ (Philadelphia, 1828. )

REPORTS OF ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES

_The Annual Report of the American and Foreign Anti-SlaverySocieties, presented at New York, May 6, 1847, with the Addresses andResolutions. _ (New York, 1847. )

_The Annual Report of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Societies, with the Addresses and Resolutions. _ (New York, 1851. )

_The First Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society, withthe Speeches Delivered at the Anniversary Meeting held in ChathamStreet Chapel in the City of New York, on the sixth Day of May byAdjournment on the eighth, in the Rev. Dr. Lansing's Church, and theMinutes of the Society for Business. _ (New York, 1834. )

_The Second Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society, heldin the City of New York, on the twelfth of May, 1835, and the Minutesand Proceedings of the Society for Business. _ (New York, 1835. )

_The Third Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society, withthe Speeches delivered at the Anniversary Meeting held in the City ofNew York on May the tenth, 1836, and Minutes of the Meetings of theSociety for Business. _ (New York, 1836. )

_The Fourth Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society, withthe Speeches delivered at the Anniversary Meeting held in the City ofNew York on the ninth of May, 1837. _ (New York, 1837. )

_The Fifth Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society, withthe Speeches delivered at the Anniversary Meeting and the Minutes andProceedings of the Society for Business. _ (New York, 1838. )

_The Sixth Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society, withthe Speeches delivered at the Anniversary Meeting held in the Cityof New York, on the seventh Day of May, 1839, and the Minutes of theMeetings of the Society for Business, held on the evenings of thethree following days. _ (New York, 1839. )

_The Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society by theExecutive Committee for the year ending May 1, 1859. _ (New York, 1860. )

_The Third Annual Report of the Managers of the New EnglandAnti-Slavery Society presented June 2, 1835_. (Boston, 1835. )

_Annual Reports of the Massachusetts (or New England) Anti-SlaverySociety, 1831-end_. 

_Reports of the National Anti-Slavery Convention, 1833-end_. 

REPORTS OF COLONIZATION SOCIETIES

_Reports of the American Colonization Society, 1818-1832_. 

_Report of the New York Colonization Society, October 1, 1823_. (NewYork, 1823. )

_The Seventh Annual Report of the Colonization Society of the City ofNew York_. (New York, 1839. )

_Proceedings of the New York State Colonization Society, 1831_. (Albany, 1831. )

_The Eighteenth Annual Report of the Colonization Society of the Stateof New York_. (New York, 1850. )

REPORTS OF CONVENTIONS OF FREE NEGROES

_Minutes and Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of the Peopleof Color. Held by Adjournment in the City of Philadelphia, from thesixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive_, 1831. 

(Philadelphia, 1831. )

_Minutes and Proceedings of the Second Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color in these United States. Heldby Adjournments in the City of Philadelphia, from the 4th to the 13thof June, inclusive, 1832_, (Philadelphia, 1832. )

_Minutes and Proceedings of the Third Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color in these United States. Heldby Adjournments in the city of Philadelphia, in 1833. (New York, 1833. )_ These proceedings were published also in the New YorkCommercial Advertiser, April 27, 1833. 

_Minutes and Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Convention for theImprovement of the Free People of Color in the United States. Held byAdjournments in the Asbury Church, New York, from the 2d to the 12thof June, 1834. _ (New York, 1834. )

_Proceedings of the Convention of the Colored Freedmen of Ohio atCincinnati, January 14, 1852. _ (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1852. )

MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS

ADAMS, ALICE DANA. _The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery in America. _Radcliffe College Monographs No. 14. (Boston and London, 1908. )Contains some valuable facts about the education of the Negroes duringthe first three decades of the nineteenth century. 

ADAMS, JOHN. _The Works of John Adams, Second President of the UnitedStates_; with a Life of the Author, Notes, and Illustrations by hisGrandson, Charles Francis Adams. Ten volumes. Volume x. , shows theattitude of James Otis toward the Negroes. 

ADAMS, NEHEMIAH. _A South-Side View of Slavery; or Three Months atthe South in 1854. _ (Boston, 1854. ) The position of the South on theeducation of the colored people is well set forth. 

AGRICOLA (pseudonym). _An Impartial View of the Real State of theBlack Population in the United States. _ (Philadelphia, 1824. )

ALBERT, O. V. _The House of Bondage_; or Charlotte Brooks and otherSlaves Original and Life-like as they appeared in their Plantationand City Slave Life; together with pen Pictures of the peculiarInstitution, with Sights and Insights into their new Relations asFreedmen, Freemen, and Citizens, with an Introduction by ReverendBishop Willard Mallalieu. (New York and Cincinnati, 1890. )

ALEXANDER, A. _A History of Colonization on the Western Continent ofAfrica. _ (Philadelphia, 1846. ) Treats of education in "An Account ofthe Endeavors used by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel inForeign Parts, to instruct Negroes in the City of New York, togetherwith two of Bishop Gibson's Letters on that subject, being an Extractfrom Dr. Humphrey's Historical Account of the Incorporated Society forthe Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts from its Foundation inthe Year 1728. " (London, 1730. )

_An Address to the People of North Carolina on the Evils of Slavery, by the Friends of Liberty and Equality, 1830. _ (Greensborough, 1830. )

_An Address to the Presbyterians of Kentucky proposing a Plan for theInstruction and Emancipation of their Slaves by a Committee of theSynod of Kentucky. _ (Newburyport, 1836. )

ANDERSON, MATTHEW. _Presbylerianism--Its Relation to the Negro. _(Philadelphia, 1897. )

ANDREWS, E. E. _Slavery and the Domestic Slave Trade in the UnitedStates. _ In a series of letters addressed to the Executive Committeeof the American Union for the Relief and Improvement of the ColoredRace. (Boston, 1836. )

BALDWIN, EBENEZER. _Observations on the Physical and Moral Qualitiesof our Colored Population with Remarks on the Subject of Emancipationand Colonization. _ (New Haven, 1834. )

BASSETT, J. S. _Slavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina. _(Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. Fourteenth Series, iv. -v. Baltimore, 1896. )

---- _Slavery in the State of North Carolina. _ (Johns HopkinsUniversity Studies in Historical and Political Science. Series XVII. , Nos. 7-8. Baltimore, 1899. )

---- _Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina. _ (Johns HopkinsUniversity Studies in Historical and Political Science. Series XVI. , No. 6. Baltimore, 1898. )

BAXTER, RICHARD. _Practical Works. _ Twenty-three volumes. (London, 1830. )

BENEZET, ANTHONY. _A Caution to Great Britain and Her Colonies in aShort Representation of the calamitous state of the enslaved Negro inthe British Dominions. _ (Philadelphia, 1784. )

---- _The Case of our Fellow-Creatures, the Oppressed Africans, respectfully recommended to the serious Consideration of theLegislature of Great Britain, by the People called Quakers. _ (London, 1783. )

---- _Observations on the enslaving, importing, and purchasing ofNegroes; with some advice thereon, extracted from the Epistle of theYearly-Meeting of the People called Quakers, held at London in theYear 1748. _ (Germantown, 1760. )

---- _The Potent Enemies of America laid open: being some Account ofthe baneful Effects attending the Use of distilled spirituous Liquors, and the Slavery of the Negroes. _ (Philadelphia. )

---- _A Short Account of that Part of Africa, inhabited by theNegroes. With respect to the Fertility of the Country; the goodDisposition of many of the Natives, and the Manner by which the SlaveTrade is carried on. _ (Philadelphia, 1792. )

---- _Short Observations on Slavery, Introductory to Some Extractsfrom the Writings of the Abbé Raynal, on the Important Subject. _

---- _Some Historical Account of Guinea, its Situation, Produce, andthe General Disposition of its Inhabitants. With an Inquiry intothe Rise and Progress of the Slave Trade, its Nature and LamentableEffects. _ (London, 1788. )

BIRNEY, JAMES G. _The American Churches, the Bulwarks of AmericanSlavery, by an American. _ (Newburyport, 1842. )

BIRNEY, WILLIAM. _James G. Birney and his Times. The Genesis of theRepublican Party, with Some Account of the Abolition Movements in theSouth before 1828. _ (New York, 1890. )

BOURNE, WILLIAM O. _History of the Public School Society of the Cityof New York, with Portraits of the Presidents of the Society. _ (NewYork, 1870. )

BRACKETT, JEFFERY R. _The Negro in Maryland. A Study of the Institutionof Slavery. _ (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, 1889). 

BRANAGAN, THOMAS. _A Preliminary Essay on the Oppression of the ExiledSons of Africa, Consisting of Animadversions on the Impolicy andBarbarity of the Deleterious Commerce and Subsequent Slavery of theHuman Species_. (Philadelphia: Printed for the Author by John W. Scott, 1804. )

BRANAGAN, T. _Serious Remonstrances Addressed to the Citizens of theNorthern States and their Representatives, being an Appeal to theirNatural Feelings and Common Sense; Consisting of Speculations andAnimadversions, on the Recent Revival of the Slave Trade in theAmerican Republic_. (Philadelphia, 1805. )

BROWN, W. W. _My Southern Home_. (Boston, 1882. )

CHILD, LYDIA MARIA. _An Appeal in Favor of that Class of AmericansCalled Africans_. (Boston: Allen & Ticknor, 1833, and New York: J. S. Taylor, 1836. )

CHANNING, WILLIAM E. _Slavery_. (Boston: J. Munroe & Co. , 1835. )

---- _Remarks on the Slavery Question_. (Boston: J. Munroe & Co. , 1839. )

COBB, T. R. R. _An Historical Sketch of Slavery_. (Philadelphia: T. &J. W. Johnson, 1858. )

---- _An Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery in the United Statesof America. To which is Prefixed an Historical Sketch of Slavery byThomas R. R. Cobb of Georgia_. (Philadelphia and Savannah, 1858. )

COFFIN, JOSHUA. _An Account of Some of the Principal SlaveInsurrections and Others which have Occurred or been attempted inthe United States and Elsewhere during the Last Two Centuries. WithVarious Remarks. Collected from Various Sources_. (New York, 1860. )

CONWAY, MONCURE DANIEL. _Testimonies Concerning Slavery_. (London:Chapman & Hall, 1865. ) The author was a native of Virginia. 

CULP, D. W. _Twentieth Century Negro Literature, or a Cyclopedia ofThought, Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro by One Hundred ofAmerica's Greatest Negroes_. (Toronto, Naperville, Ill. , and Atlanta, Ga. , 1902. )

DE BOW, J. D. B. _Industrial Resources of the Southern and WesternStates_. (New Orleans, 1852-1853. )

DELANY, M. R. _The Condition of the Colored People in United States_. (Boston, 1852. )

DRESSER, AMOS. _The Narrative of Amos Dresser with Stone's Lettersfrom Natchez--an Obituary Notice of the Writer and Two Letters fromTallahassee Relating to the Treatment of Slaves_. (New York, 1836. )

DREWERY, WILLIAM SIDNEY. _Slave Insurrections in Virginia, 1830-1865. _(Washington, 1900. )

DUBOIS, W. E. B. _The Philadelphia Negro. _ (Philadelphia, 1896. )

---- _The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United Statesof America, 1638-1870. _ Harvard Historical Studies, Vol. I. (New York, London, and Bombay, 1896. )

---- Atlanta University Publications, _The Negro Common School. _(Atlanta, 1901. )

---- _The College-Bred Negro. _ (Atlanta, 1900. )

---- _The Negro Church. _ (Atlanta, 1903. )

---- and Dill, A. G. _The College-Bred Negro American. _ (Atlanta, 1910. )

---- _The Common School and the Negro American. _ (Atlanta, 1911. )

---- _The Negro American Artisan. _ (Atlanta, 1912. )

ELLIOTT, REV. CHARLES. _History of the Great Secession from theMethodist Episcopal Church, etc. _

_Exposition of the Object and Plan of the American Union for theRelief and Improvement of the Colored Race. _ (Boston, 1835. )

FEE, JOHN G. _Anti-Slavery Manual. _ (Maysville, 1848. )

FISH, C. R. _Guide to the Materials for American History in Roman andOther Italian Archives. _ (Washington, D. C. , Carnegie Institution, 1911. )

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. _The Writings of Benjamin Franklin Collected andEdited with a Life and Introduction by Albert Henry Smyth. _ (New York, 1905-1907. )

FROST, W. G. "Appalachian America. " In vol. I. Of _The Americana_ (NewYork, 1912. )

GARNETT, H. H. _The Past and Present Condition and the Destiny of theColored Race. _ (Troy, 1848. )

GOODLOE, D. R. _The Southern Platform. _ (Boston, 1858. )

GRÉGOIRE, BISHOP. _De la Littêrature des Nègres. _ (Paris, 1808. )Translated and published by D. B. Warden at Brooklyn, in 1810. 

HARRISON, SAMUEL ALEXANDER. _Wenlock Christison, and the EarlyFriends in Talbot County, Maryland. _ A Paper read before the MarylandHistorical Society, March 9, 1874. (Baltimore, 1878. )

HENSON, JOSIAH. _The Life of Josiah Henson. _ (Boston, 1849. )

HICKOK, CHARLES THOMAS. _The Negro in Ohio_, 1802-1870. (Cleveland, 1896. )

HODGKIN, THOMAS A. _Inquiry into the Merits of the AmericanColonization Society and Reply to the Charges Brought against it, withan Account of the British African Colonization Society_. (London, 1833. )

HOLLAND, EDWIN C. _Refutation of Calumnies Circulated against theSouthern and Western States_. (Charleston, 1822. )

HOWE, SAMUEL G. _The Refugees from Slavery in Canada West. Report tothe Freedmen's Inquiry Committee_. (Boston, 1864. )

INGLE, EDWARD. _The Negro in the District of Columbia_. (Johns HopkinsStudies in Historical and Political Sciences, vol. Xi. , Baltimore, 1893. )

JAY, JOHN. _The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, FirstChief Justice of the United States and President of the ContinentalCongress, Member of the Commission to Negotiate the Treaty ofIndependence, Envoy to Great Britain, Governor of New York, etc_. , 1782-1793. (New York and London, 1891. ) Edited by Henry P. Johnson, Professor of History in the College of the City of New York. 

JAY, WILLIAM. _An Inquiry into the Character and Tendencies of theAmerican Colonization and American Anti-Slavery Societies_. Secondedition. (New York, 1835. )

JEFFERSON, THOMAS. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Memorial Edition. Autobiography, Notes on Virginia, Parliamentary Manual, OfficialPapers, Messages and Addresses, and Other Writings Official andPrivate, etc. (Washington, 1903. )

Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. H. B. Adams, Editor. (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press. )

JONES, C. C. _A Catechism of Scripture, Doctrine, and Practice_. (Philadelphia, 1852. )

KIRK, EDWARD E. _Educated Labor, etc_. (New York, 1868. )

LANGSTON, JOHN M. _From the Virginia Plantation to the NationalCapital; or, The First and Only Negro Representative in Congress fromthe Old Dominion_. (Hartford, 1894. )

_L'Esclavage dans les États Confédérés par un missionaire_. Deuxièmeédition. (Paris, 1865. )

LOCKE, M. S. _Anti-Slavery in America, from the Introduction of AfricanSlaves to the Prohibition of the Slave Trade_, 1619-1808. RadcliffeCollege Monographs, No. 11. (Boston, 1901. )

LONG, J. D. _Pictures of Slavery in Church and State, IncludingPersonal Reminiscences, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes, etc. , withAppendix Containing the Views of John Wesley and Richard Watson onSlavery_. (Philadelphia, 1857. )

LOWERY, WOODBURY. _The Spanish Settlements within the Present Limitsof the United States. Florida_, 1562-1574. (New York and London, 1905. )

MADISON, JAMES. _Letters and Other Writings of James Madison Publishedby Order of Congress_. Four volumes. (Philadelphia, 1865. )

MALLARY, R. O. _Maybank: Some Memoirs of a Southern ChristianHousehold; Family Life of C. C. Jones_. 

MAY, S. J. _Some Recollections of our Anti-Slavery Conflict_. 

MCLEOD, ALEXANDER. _Negro Slavery Unjustifiable. A Discourse by theLate Alexander McLeod, 1802, with an Appendix_. (New York, 1863. )

MEADE, BISHOP WILLIAM. _Old Churches, Ministers, and Families, ofVirginia_. (Philadelphia, 1897. )

MONROE, JAMES. _The Writings of James Monroe, Including a Collectionof his Public and Private Papers and Correspondence now for the FirstTime Printed, Edited by S. M. Hamilton_. (Boston, 1900. )

MOORE, GEORGE H. _Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusettsby George H. Moore, Librarian of the New York Historical Society andCorresponding Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society_. (NewYork, 1866. )

MORGAN, THOMAS J. _The Negro in America_. (Philadelphia, 1898. )

NEEDLES, EDWARD. _Ten Years' Progress, or a Comparison of the Stateand Condition of the Colored People in the City and County ofPhiladelphia from 1837 to 1847_. (Philadelphia, 1849. )

OTHELLO (PSEUDONYM). "Essays on Negro Slavery. " Published in _TheAmerican Museum_ in 1788. Othello was a free Negro. 

OVINGTON, M. W. _Half-a-Man_. (New York, 1911. ) Treats of the Negro inthe State of New York. A few pages are devoted to the education of thecolored people. 

PARRISH, JOHN. _Remarks on the Slavery of the Black People; Addressedto the Citizens of the United States, Particularly to those who are inLegislative or Executive Stations in the General or State Governments;and also to Such Individuals as Hold them in Bondage_. (Philadelphia, 1806. )

PLUMER, W. S. _Thoughts on the Religious Instruction of the Negroes ofthis Country_. (Savannah, 1848. )

Plymouth Colony, New. _Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in NewEngland_. Printed by Order of the Legislature of the Commonwealthof Massachusetts. Edited by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Member of theMassachusetts Historical Society, and Fellow of the Antiquarians ofLondon. (Boston, 1855. )

PORTEUS, BISHOP BEILBY. _The Works of the Rev. Beilby Porteus, D. D. , Late Bishop of London, with his Life by the Rev. Robert Hodgson, A. M. , F. R. S. , Rector of St. George's, Hanover Square, and One of theChaplains in ordinary to His Majesty_. A new edition in six volumes. (London, 1816. )

POWER, REV. JOHN H. _Review of the Lectures of William A. Smith, D. D. , on the Philosophy and Practice of Slavery as Exhibited in theInstitution of Domestic Slavery in the United States, with the Dutiesof Masters to Slaves in a Series of Letters addressed to the Author_. (Cincinnati, 1859. )

Quaker Pamphlet. 

RICE, DAVID. _Slavery Inconsistent with Justice and Good Policy:Proved by a Speech Delivered in the Convention Held at Danville, Kentucky_. (Philadelphia, 1792, and London, 1793. )

SCOBER, J. _Negro Apprenticeship in the Colonies_. (London, 1837. )

SECKER, THOMAS. _The Works of the Right Reverend Thomas Seeker, Archbishop of Canterbury with a Review of his Life and Character by B. Porteus_. (New edition in six volumes, London, 1811. )

SIEBERT, WILBUR H. _The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom, by W. H. Siebert, Associate Professor of History in the Ohio StateUniversity, with an Introduction by A. B. Hart_. (New York, 1898. )

SMITH, WILLIAM A. _Lectures on the Philosophy and Practice of Slaveryas Exhibited in the Institution of Domestic Slavery in the UnitedStates, with the Duties of Masters to Slaves_. (Nashville, Tenn. , 1856. ) Doctor Smith was the President and Professor of Moral andIntellectual Philosophy of Randolph-Macon College. 

_Slavery and the Internal Slave Trade in the United States of America, being Inquiries to Questions Transmitted by the Committee of theBritish and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society for the Abolition of Slaveryand the Slave Trade throughout the World. Presented to the GeneralAnti-Slavery Convention Held in London, June, 1840, by the ExecutiveCommittee of the American Anti-Slavery Society. _ (London, 1841. )

_The Enormity of the Slave Trade and the Duty of Seeking the Moraland Spiritual Elevation of the Colored Race. _ (New York. ) This workincludes speeches of Wilberforce and other documents. 

_The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Travels, and Explorationsof the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791. The OriginalFrench, Latin, and Italian Texts with English Translations and Notes;Illustrated by Portraits, Maps, and Facsimiles. Edited by Reuben GoldThwaites, Secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. _(Cleveland, 1896. )

_The South Vindicated from the Treason and Fanaticism of the NorthernAbolitionists. _ (Philadelphia, 1836. )

THOMPSON, GEORGE. _Speech at the Meeting for the Extinction of NegroApprenticeship. _ (London, 1838. )

---- _The Free Church Alliance with Manstealers. Send Back the Money. Great Anti-Slavery Meeting in the City Hall, Glasgow, Containing theSpeeches Delivered by Messrs. Wright, Douglass, and Buffum, fromAmerica, and by George Thompson of London, with a Summary Account ofa Series of Meetings Held in Edinburgh by the Abovenamed Gentlemen. _(Glasgow, 1846. )

TORREY, JESSE, JR. _A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery in the UnitedStates, with Reflections on the Practicability of Restoring the MoralRights of the Slave, without Impairing the Legal Privileges of thePossessor, and a Project of a Colonial Asylum for Free Persons ofColor, Including Memoirs of Facts on the Interior Traffic in Slaves, and on Kidnapping, Illustrated with Engravings by Jesse Torrey, Jr. , Physician, Author of a Series of Essays on Morals and the Diffusion ofKnowledge. _ (Philadelphia, 1817. )

---- _American Infernal Slave Trade; with Reflections on the Projectfor forming a Colony of Blacks in Africa_. (London, 1822. )

TOWER, PHILO. _Slavery Unmasked: Being a Truthful Narrative of ThreeYears' Residence and Journeying in Eleven Southern States; to whichis Added "The Invasion of Kansas, " Including the Last Chapter of herWrongs_. (Rochester, 1856. )

TURNER, E. R. _The Negro in Pennsylvania_. (Washington, 1911. )

_Tyrannical Libertymen: a Discourse upon Negro Slavery in the UnitedStates; Composed at---- in New Hampshire; on the Late FederalThanksgiving Day_. (Hanover, N. H. , 1795. )

VAN EVRIE, JOHN H. _Negroes and Negro Slavery_, by J. H. Van Evrie, M. D. _Introductory Chapter: Causes of Popular Delusion on theSubject_. (Washington, 1853. )

---- _White Supremacy and Negro Subordination; or, Negroes aSubordinate Race, and So-called Slavery its Normal Condition. With anAppendix Showing the Past and Present Condition of the Countries Southof us_. (New York, 1868. )

WALKER, DAVID. _Walker's Appeal in Four Articles, together with aPreamble, to the Colored Citizens of the World, but in Particular andvery Expressly to those of the United States of America. Written inBoston, State of Massachusetts, September_ 28, 1820. Second edition. (Boston, 1830. ) Walker was a Negro who hoped to arouse his race toself-assertion. 

WASHINGTON, B. T. _The Story of the Negro_. Two volumes (New York, 1909. )

WASHINGTON, GEORGE. _The Writings of George Washington, being hisCorrespondence, Addresses, Messages, and other Papers, Official andPrivate, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts withthe Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by Jared Sparks_. (Boston, 1835. )

WEEKS, STEPHEN B. _Southern Quakers and Slavery. A Study inInstitutional History_. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1896. )

---- _The Anti-Slavery Sentiment in the South; with UnpublishedLetters from John Stuart Mill and Mrs. Stowe_. (Southern HistoryAssociation Publications. Volume ii. , No. 2, Washington, D. C, April, 1898. )

WESLEY, JOHN. _Thoughts upon Slavery. In the Potent Enemies of AmericaLaid Open.... London, printed: Reprinted in Philadelphia with Notes, and Sold by Joseph Cruikshank_. 1774. 

WIGHAM, ELIZA. _The Anti-Slavery Cause in America and its Martyrs_. (London, 1863. )

WILLIAMS, GEORGE W. _History of the Negro Race in the United Statesfrom 1619-1880. Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens:together with a Preliminary Consideration of the Unity of the HumanFamily, an Historical Sketch of Africa and an Account of the NegroGovernments of Sierra Leone and Liberia_. (New York, 1883. )

WOOLMAN, JOHN. _The Works of John Woolman. In two parts. Part I: aJournal of the Life, Gospel-Labors, and Christian Experiences of thatFaithful Minister of Christ, John Woolman, Late of Mount Holly, in theProvince of New Jersey_. (London, 1775. )

---- _Same. Part Second. Containing his Last Epistle and otherWritings_. (London, 1775. )

---- _Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes. Recommended tothe Professors of Christianity of every Denomination_. (Philadelphia, 1754. )

---- _Considerations on Keeping Negroes; Recommended to the Professorsof Christianity of every Denomination. Part Second_. (Philadelphia, 1762. )

WRIGHT, R. R. , JR. _The Negro in Pennsylvania_. (Philadelphia, 1912. )

MAGAZINES

_The Abolitionist, or Record of the New England Anti-Slavery Society_. Edited by a committee. Appeared in January, 1833. 

_The African Methodist Episcopal Church Review_. Valuable for thefollowing articles:

"The Colored Public Schools of Washington, " by James Storum, vol. V. , p. 279. 

"The Negro as an Inventor, " by R. R. Wright, vol. Ii. , p. 397. "NegroPoets, " vol. Iv. , p. 236. 

"The Negro in Journalism, " vols. Vi. , 309, and xx. , 137. 

_The African Repository_. Published by the American ColonizationSociety from 1826 to 1832. A very good source for the development ofNegro education both in this country and Liberia. Some of its mostvaluable articles are: "Learn Trades or Starve, " by FrederickDouglass, vol. Xxix. , pp. 136 and 137. Taken from Frederick Douglass'sPaper. 

"Education of the Colored People, " by a highly respectable gentlemanof the South, vol. Xxx. , pp. 194, 195, and 196. 

"Elevation of the Colored Race, " a memorial circulated in NorthCarolina, vol. Xxxi. , pp. 117 and 118. 

"A Lawyer for Liberia, " a sketch of Garrison Draper, vol. Xxxiv. , pp. 26 and 27. 

Numerous articles on the religious instruction of the Negroes occurthroughout the foregoing volumes. Information about the actualliterary training of the colored people is given as news items. 

_The American Museum_, or _Repository of Ancient and Modern FugitivePieces, etc. , Prose and Poetical_. Vols. I. -iv. (First and secondeditions, Philadelphia, 1788. Third edition, Philadelphia, 1790. )Contains some interesting essays on the intellectual status of theNegroes, etc. , contributed by "Othello, " a free Negro. 

_The Colonizationist and Journal of Freedom_. The author has been ableto find only the volume which contains the numbers for the year 1834. 

_The Crisis_. A record of the darker races published by the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People. 

_The Maryland Journal of Colonization_. Published as the officialorgan of the Maryland Colonization Society. Among its importantarticles are: "The Capacities of the Negro Race, " vol. Iii. , p. 367;and "The Educational Facilities of Liberia, " vol. Vii. , p. 223. 

_The Non-Slaveholder_. Two volumes of this publication are now foundin the Library of Congress. 

_The School Journal_. 

_The Southern Workman_. Volume xxxvii. Contains Dr. R. R. Wright'svaluable dissertation on "Negro Rural Communities in Indiana. "

NEWSPAPERS

 District of Columbia. _The Daily National Intelligencer_. 

 Louisiana _The New Orleans Commercial Bulletin. _

 Maryland. _The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser. _ _The Maryland Gazette. _ _Dunlop's Maryland Gazette_ or _The Baltimore Advertiser. _

 Massachusetts. _The Liberator. _

 New York. _The New York Daily Advertiser. _ _The New York Tribune. _

 North Carolina. _The State Gazette of North Carolina. _ _The Newbern Gazette. _

 Pennsylvania. _The Philadelphia Gazette. _

 South Carolina. _The City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser. _ _The State Gazette of South Carolina. _ _The Charleston Courier. _ _The South Carolina Weekly Advertiser. _ _The Carolina Gazette. _ _The Columbian Herald. _

 Virginia. _The Richmond Enquirer. _ _The Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald. _ _The Virginia Herald. _ (Fredericksburg. ) _The Norfolk and Portsmouth Chronicle. _

LAWS, DIGESTS, CHARTERS, CONSTITUTIONS, AND REPORTS

GENERAL

Code Noir ou Recueil d'édits, déclarations et arrêts concernant laDiscipline et le commerce des esclaves Nègres des isles françaises del'Amérique (in Recueils de réglemens, édits, déclarations et arrêts, concernant le commerce, l'administration de la justice et la policedes colonies françaises de l'Amérique, et les engagés avec le CodeNoir, et l'addition audit code). (Paris, 1745. )

GOODELL, WILLIAM. _The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice: ItsDistinctive Features Shown by its Statutes, Judicial Decisions, andIllustrative Facts. _ (New York, 1853. )

PETERS, RICHARD. _Condensed Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged inthe Supreme Court of the United States. _ Six volumes. (Philadelphia, 1830-1834. )

THORPE, F. N. _Federal and State Constitution, Colonial Charters, andOther Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now orheretofore Forming the United States of America. Compiled and Editedunder an Act of Congress, June 30, 1906. _ (Washington, 1909. )

STATE

 Alabama. _Acts of the General Assembly Passed by the State of Alabama. _ CLAY, C. C. _Digest of the Laws of the State of Alabama to 1843. _ (Tuscaloosa, 1843. )

 Connecticut. _Public Acts Passed by the General Assembly of Connecticut. _

 Delaware. _Laws of the State of Delaware Passed by the General Assembly. _

 District of Columbia. BURCH, SAMUEL. _A Digest of the Laws of the Corporation of the City of Washington, with an Appendix of the Laws of the United States Relating to the District of Columbia. _ (Washington, 1823. )

 Florida. _Acts of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida. _ _Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of Florida. _

 Georgia. _Laws of the State of Georgia. _ COBB, HOWELL. _A Digest of the Statutes of Georgia in General Use to 1846. _ (New York, 1846. ) DAWSON, WILLIAM. _A Compilation of the Laws of the State of Georgia to 1831. _ (Milledgeville, 1831. ) PRINCE, O. H. _A Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia to 1837. _ (Athens, 1837. )

 Illinois. _Laws of the State of Illinois Passed by the General Assembly. _ STARR, M. , and RUSSELL H. CURTIS. _Annotated Statutes of Illinois in Force, January 1, 1885. _

 Indiana. _Laws of a General Nature Passed by the State of Indiana. _

 Kentucky. _Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. _

 Louisiana. _Acts Passed by the Legislature of the State of Louisiana. _ BULLARD, HENRY A. , and THOMAS CURRY. _A New Digest of the Statute Laws of the State of Louisiana to 1842. _ (New Orleans, 1842. )

 Maryland. _Laws Made and Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Maryland. _

 Massachusetts. _Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts. _ QUINCY, JOSIAH, JR. _Reports of Cases, Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 1761-1772. _ (Boston, 1865. )

 Mississippi. _Laws of the State of Mississippi Passed at the Regular Sessions of the Legislature. _ POINDEXTER, GEORGE. _Revised Code of the Laws of Mississippi. _ (Natchez, 1824. ) HUTCHINSON, A. _Code of Mississippi. _ (Jackson, 1848. )

 Missouri. _Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri. _

 New Jersey. _Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey. _

 New York. _Laws of the State of New York. _

 Ohio. _Acts of a General Nature Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio. _ _Acts of a Local Nature Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio. _

 Pennsylvania. _Laws of the General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania. _ BRIGHTLY, FRANK F. _A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania. _ STROUD, G. M. _Purdon's Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania from 1700 to 1851. _ (Philadelphia, 1852. )

 Rhode Island. _Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. _

 South Carolina. _Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina. _ BREVARD, JOSEPH. _An Alphabetical Digest of the Public Statute Laws of South Carolina from 1692 to 1813. _ Three volumes. (Charleston, 1814. )

 Tennessee. _Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee. _

 Virginia. _Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia. _ HENING, W. W. _Statutes at Large: A Collection of all the Laws of Virginia from the First Session of the Legislature in the Year 1816. _ (Richmond, 1819 to 1823. ) Published pursuant to an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed on the 5th of February, 1808. The work was extended by S. Shepherd who published three additional volumes in 1836. Chief source of historical material for the history of Virginia. TATE, Joseph. _A Digest of the Laws of Virginia. _ (Richmond, 1841. )

INDEX

 Abdy, E. S. , learned that slaves were taught Abolitionists, interested in the enlightenment of Negroes Account of a pious Negro Actual education after the revolutionary period Adams, Rev. Henry, teacher at Louisville Adams, John, report of James Otis's argument on the Writs of Assistance; views on slavery Address of the American Convention of Abolition Societies African Benevolent Society of Rhode Island, school of African Episcopalians of Philadelphia, school of African Free School of Baltimore African Free Schools of New York African Methodist Episcopal Church, established Union Seminary; purchased Wilberforce Agricultural Convention of Georgia recommended that slaves be taught to read Alabama, law of 1832; provision for teaching Negroes at Mobile; Presbyterians of, interested Albany Normal School, colored student admitted Alexandria, Virginia Quakers of, instructed Negroes; Benjamin Davis, a teacher of Allen, Richard, organized A. M. E. Church; author Allen, W. H. , teacher of Negroes Ambush, James E. , teacher in the District of Columbia American Colonization Society, The, efforts of, to educate Negroes American Convention of Abolition Societies, The, interested in the education of Negroes; recommended industrial education; addresses of American Union, The, organized; names of its promoters (see note 1 on page 142) Amherstburg, Canada, opened a colored school; established a mission school Anderson, John G. , musician Andrew, one of the first two colored teachers in Carolina Andrews, C. C. Principal of New York African Free Schools Andrews, E. A. , student of the needs of the Negroes Anti-slavery agitation, effect of, on education in cities Appalachian Mountains, settled by people favorable to Negroes Appo, William, musician Arnett, B. W. , teacher in Pennsylvania Ashmun Institute, founded; names of the trustees Athens College, admitted colored students Attainments of Negroes at the close of the eighteenth century Auchmutty, Reverend, connected with the school established by Elias Neau Augusta, Dr. A. T. , learned to read in Virginia Avery College, established Avery, Rev. Charles, donor of $300, 000 for the education and Christianization of the African race

 Bacon, Rev. Thomas, sermons on the instruction of Negroes Baldwin County, Alabama, provision for teaching Negroes Baltimore, several colored churches; colored schools of; an adult school of 180 pupils; Sunday-schools; day and night school; Bible Society; African Free School; donation of Wells; donation of Crane; school tax paid by Negroes, note on page---- Banks, Henry, learned to read in Virginia Banneker, Benjamin, studied in Maryland; made a clock; took up astronomy; encouraged by Ellicott; corresponded with Thomas Jefferson Baptist preacher, taught Negroes in South Carolina Baptists, aided the education of Negroes; established school at Bexley, Liberia; changed attitude toward the uplift of Negroes Barclay, David, gave money to build school-house Barclay, Reverend, instructed Negroes in New York Barr, John W. , taught M. W. Taylor in Kentucky Baxter, Richard, instructed masters to enlighten their slaves Beard, Simeon, had a school in Charleston Becraft, Maria, established a school in the District of Columbia Bell family, progress of Bell, George, built first colored school-house in District of Columbia Bell School established Benezet, Anthony, advocated the education of Negroes; taught Negroes; believed in western colonization; opinion on Negro intellect; bequeathed wealth to educate Negroes; school-house built with the fund;(see note giving sketch of his career) Berea College, founded Berkshire Medical School had trouble admitting Negroes; graduated colored physicians Berry's portraiture of the Negroes' condition after the reaction Bibb, Mary E. , taught at Windsor, Canada Billings, Maria, taught in the District of Columbia Birney, James G. , criticized the church; helped Negroes on free soil Bishop, Josiah, preached to white congregation in Portsmouth, Virginia Bishop of London, declared that the conversion of slaves did not work manumission "Black Friday, " Portsmouth, Ohio, Negroes driven out Blackstone, studied to justify the struggle for the rights of man; his idea of the body politic forgotten Bleecker, John, interested in the New York African Free Schools Boone, R. G. , sketch of education in Indiana Boston, Massachusetts, colored school opened; opened its first primary school; school in African Church; several colored churches; struggle for democratic education; (see also Massachusetts) Boucher, Jonathan, interested in the uplift of Negroes; an advocate of education; (see note on, 56); extract from address of Boulder, J. F. , student in a mixed school in Delaware Bowditch, H. J. , asked that Negroes be admitted to Boston public schools Bowdoin College, admitted a Negro Bradford, James T. , studied at Pittsburgh Branagan advocated colonization of the Negroes in the West Bray, Dr. Thomas, a promoter of the education of Negroes; "Associates of Dr. Bray, "; plan of, for the instruction of Negroes Brearcroft, Dr. , alluded to the plan for the enlightenment of Negroes Breckenridge, John, contributed to the education of the colored people of Baltimore Bremer, Fredrika, found colored schools in the South; observed the teaching of slaves British American Manual Labor Institute, established at Dawn, Canada Brown, a graduate of Harvard College, taught colored children in Boston Brown County, Ohio, colored schools of, established Brown, Jeremiah H. , studied at Pittsburgh Brown, J. M. , attended school in Delaware Brown, William Wells, author; leader and educator Browning family, progress of Bruce, B. K. , learned to read, Bryan, Andrew, preacher in Georgia Buchanan, George, on mental capacity of Negroes Buffalo, colored Methodist and Baptist churches of, lost members Burke, E. P. , found enlightened Negroes in the South mentioned case of a very intelligent Negro Burlington, New Jersey, Quakers of, interested in the uplift of the colored people Butler, Bishop, urged the instruction of Negroes Buxton, Canada, separate schools established in

 Caesar, a Negro poet of North Carolina Calvert, Mr. , an Englishman who taught Negroes in the District of Columbia Camden Insurrection, effect of Cameron, Paul C. , sketch of John Chavis Canaan, New Hampshire, academy broken up Canada, education of Negroes in; names of settlements with schools; difficulties of races; separate schools; mission schools; results obtained; (see Drew's note on condition of) Capers, Bishop William, opinion on reconstructing the policy of Negro education; plan of, to instruct Negroes; work of, among the colored people; catechism of Cardozo, F. L. , entered school in Charleston Carey, Lott, educated himself Cass County, Michigan, school facilities in the colored settlement of Castleton Medical School, admitted Negroes Catholics, interested in the education of Negroes Catto, Rev. William T. , author and preacher Cephas, Uncle, learned from white children Chandler, solicitor, of Boston, opinion on the segregation of colored pupils Channing, William, criticized the church for its lack of interest in the uplift of the Negroes Charleston, colored members of church of; Minor Society of; colored schools of, attended by Bishop Daniel A. Payne; insurrection of; theological seminary of, admitted a Negro Charlton, Reverend, friend of Negroes in New York Chatham, Canada, colored schools of Chavis, John, educated at Princeton; a teacher of white youths in North Carolina Chester, T. Morris, student at Pittsburgh Chicago, separate schools of; disestablished Child, M. E. , teacher in Canada Churches, aided education through Sabbath-schools Christians not to be held as slaves Cincinnati, colored schools of; Negroes of; sought public support for their schools; a teacher of, excluded a colored boy from a public school; law of City, the influences of, on the education of Negroes; attitude of anti-slavery societies of, toward the education of the Negroes Clapp, Margaret, aided Myrtilla Miner in the District of Columbia; (see note 2) Clarkson Hall Schools of Philadelphia Clarkson, Matthew, a supporter of the New York African Free Schools Cleveland, C. F. , Argument of, in favor of Connecticut law against colored schools Cleveland, colored schools of Code Noir, referred to; (see note, 23) Co-education of the races Coffin, Levi, taught Negroes in North Carolina; promoted the migration of Negroes to free soil; traveled in Canada Coffin, Vestal, assistant of his father in North Carolina Cogswell, James, aided the New York African Free Schools Coker, Daniel, a teacher in Baltimore Colbura, Zerah, a calculator who tested Thomas Fuller Colchester, Canada, mission school at Cole, Edward, made settlement of Negroes in Illinois Colgan, Reverend; connected with Neau's school in New York College of West Africa established Colleges, Negroes not admitted; manual labor idea of; change in attitude of Colonization scheme, influence of, on education Colonizationists, interest of, in the education of Negroes Colored mechanics, prejudice against; slight increase in Columbia, Pennsylvania, Quakers of, interested in the uplift of Negroes Columbian Institute established in the District of Columbia Columbus, Ohio, colored schools of Condition of Negroes, in the eighteenth century; at the close of the reaction Connecticut, defeated the proposed Manual Labor College at New Haven; spoken of as place for a colored school of the American Colonization Society; allowed separate schools at Hartford; inadequately supported colored schools; struggle against separate schools of; disestablishment of separate schools of Convention of free people of color, effort to establish a college Convent of Oblate Sisters of Providence, educated colored girls in academy of Cook, John F. , teacher in the District of Columbia; forced by the Snow Riot to go to Pennsylvania Corbin, J. C. Student at Chillicothe, Ohio Cornish, Alexander, teacher in the District of Columbia Costin, Louisa Parke, teacher in the District of Columbia Cox, Ann, teacher in New York African Free Schools Coxe, Eliza J. , teacher in the New York African Free Schools Coxe, General, of Fluvanna County, Virginia, taught his slaves to read the Bible Coxe, R. S. , a supporter of Hays's school in the District of Columbia Crandall, Prudence, admitted colored girls to her academy; opposed by whites; law against her enacted; arrested, imprisoned, and tried; abandoned her school Crane, William, erected a building for the education of Negroes in Baltimore Crummell, Alexander, sought admission to the academy at Canaan, New Hampshire Cuffee, Paul, author

 D'Alone, contributor to a fund for the education of Negroes Dartmouth, theological school of, admitted Negroes Davies, Reverend, teacher of Negroes in Virginia Davis, Benjamin, taught Negroes in Alexandria, Virginia Davis, Cornelius, teacher of New York African Free Schools Davis, Rev. Daniel, interest of, in the uplift of the people of color Dawn, Canada, colored schools of Dawson, Joseph, aided colored schools Dean, Rev. Philotas, principal of Avery College De Baptiste, Richard, student in a school at his father's home in Fredericksburg De Grasse, Dr. John V. , educated for Liberia Delany, M. R. , attended school at Pittsburgh Delaware, abolition Society of, provided for the education of the Negroes; law of 1831; law of 1863 Detroit, African Baptist Church of; separate schools of Dialogue on the enlightenment of Negroes about 1800 District of Columbia, separate schools of; churches of, contributed to education of Negroes Douglass, Mrs. , a white teacher of Negroes in Norfolk Douglass, Frederick, learned to read; leader and advocate of education; author; opinion of, on vocational education; extract from paper of Douglass, Sarah, teacher of Philadelphia Dove, Dr. , owner of Dr. James Durham Dow, Dr. Jesse E. , co-worker of Charles Middleton of the District of Columbia Draper, Garrison, studied law after getting education at Dartmouth; an account of Drew, Benjamin, note of, on Canada; found prejudice in schools of Canada Duncan, Benedict, taught by his father Durham, James, a colored physician of New Orleans Dwight, Sarah, teacher of colored girls

 _Édit du'roi_, _Education of Colored People_, Education of colored children at public expense, (see also Chapter XIII, ) Edwards, Mrs. Haig, interest of, in the uplift of slaves, Eliot, Rev. John, appeal in behalf of the conversion of slaves, Ellis, Harrison, educated blacksmith, Ellsworth, W. W. , argument of, against the constitutionality of the Connecticut law prohibiting the establishment of colored schools, Emancipation of slaves, effects of, on education, Emlen Institute established in Ohio, Emlen, Samuel, philanthropist, England, ministers of the Church of, maintained a school for colored children at Newport, English Colonial Church established mission schools in Canada, English High School established at Monrovia, Essay of Bishop Porteus, Established Church of England directed attention to the uplift of the slaves, Everly, mentioned resolutions bearing on the instruction of slaves, Evidences of the development of the intellect of Negroes, Falmouth colored Sunday-school broken up, Fawcett, Benjamin, address to Negroes of Virginia, extract from, Fee, Rev. John G. , criticized church because it neglected the Negroes, founded Berea College, Fleet, Dr. John, educated for Liberia, teacher in the District of Columbia, Fleetwood, Bishop, urged that Negroes be instructed, (see note on p. ) Fletcher, Mr. And Mrs. , teachers in the District of Columbia, Flint, Rev. James, received letters bearing on the teaching of Negroes, Florida, law of, unfavorable to the enlightenment of Negroes, a more stringent law of, Foote, John P. , praised the colored schools of Cincinnati, Ford, George, a Virginia lady who taught pupils of color in the District of Columbia, Fort Maiden, Canada, schools of, Fortie, John, teacher in Baltimore, Fothergill, on colonization, Fox, George, urged Quakers to instruct the colored people, Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio, admitted colored students, Franklin, Benjamin, aided the teachers of Negroes, Franklin, Nicholas, helped to build first schoolhouse for colored children in the District of Columbia, Frederic, Francis, taught by his master, Free schools not sought at first by Negroes, Freeman, M. H. , teacher; principal of Avery College French, the language of, taught in colored schools; educated Negroes Friends, minutes of the meetings of, bearing on the instruction of Negroes Fugitive Slave Law, effects of Fuller, James C, left a large sum for the education of Negroes Fuller, Thomas, noted colored mathematician

 Gabriel's insurrection, effect of Gaines, John I. , led the fight for colored trustees in Cincinnati, Ohio Gallia County, Ohio, school of Gardner, Newport, teacher in Rhode Island Garnett, H. H. , was to be a student at Canaan, New Hampshire; author; president of Avery College Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, appeal of, in behalf of the education of Negroes; speech of, on education; solicited funds for colored manual labor school Geneva College, change in attitude of Georgetown, teachers and schools of Georgia, prohibitive legislation of; objections of the people of, to the education of Negroes; colored mechanics of, opposed; Presbyterians of, taught Negroes; slaveholders of, in Agricultural Convention urged the enlightenment of Negroes Gettysburg Theological Seminary, admitted a Negro Gibson, Bishop, of London, appeal in behalf of the neglected Negroes; letters of Giles County, Tennessee, colored preacher of, pastor of a white church Gilmore, Rev. H. , established a high school in Cincinnati Gist, Samuel, made settlement of Negroes Gloucester, New Jersey, Quakers of, interested in teaching Negroes Gloucester, John, preacher in Philadelphia Goddard, Calvin, argument of, against the constitutionality of the law prohibiting colored schools in Connecticut Goodwyn, Morgan, urged that Negroes be elevated Grant, Nancy, teacher in the District of Columbia Green, Charles Henry, studied in Delaware Greenfield, Eliza, musician Gregg of Virginia, settled his slaves on free soil Grégoire, H. , on the mental capacity of Negroes Grimké brothers, students in Charleston

 Haddonfield, New Jersey, Quakers of, instructed Negroes Haiti and Santo Domingo, influence of the revolution of Halgy, Mrs. , teacher in the District of Columbia Hall, a graduate of Harvard University, teacher in the Boston colored school, Hall, Anna Maria, student in Alexandria, teacher, Hall, Primus, established a colored school at his home in Boston, Hamilton, Alexander, advocate of the rights of man, Hampton, Fannie, teacher in District of Columbia, Hancock, Richard M. , studied at Newberne, Hanover College, Indiana, accepted colored students, Harlan, Robert, learned to read in Kentucky, Harper, Chancellor, views of, on the instruction of Negroes, Harper, Frances E. W. , poet, Harper, John, took his slaves from North Carolina to Ohio and liberated them, Harry, one of the first two colored teachers in Carolina, Hartford, separate schools of, dissatisfaction of the Negroes of, with poor school facilities, struggle of some citizens of, against caste in education, separate schools of, disestablished, Haviland, Laura A. , teacher in Canada, Hays, Alexander, teacher in District of Columbia, Haynes, Lemuel, pastor of a white church, Heathenism, Negroes reduced to, Henry, Patrick, views of, on the rights of man, Henson, Rev. Josiah, leader and educator, Higher education of Negroes urged by free people of color, change in the attitude of some Negroes toward, promoted in the District of Columbia, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, Hildreth, connected with Neau's school in New York, Hill, Margaret, teacher in the District of Columbia, Hillsborough, North Carolina, influence of the insurrection of, Homeopathic College, Cleveland, admitted colored students, Horton, George, poet, Huddlestone, connected with Neau's school, Humphreys, Richard, gave $10, 000 to educate Negroes, Hunter, John A. , attended a mixed school, Illinois, schools of, for benefits of whites, separate schools of, a failure, unfavorable legislation of, separate schools of, disestablished, Indiana, schools in colored settlements of, attitude of, toward the education of the colored people, prohibitive legislation of, Industrial education recommended, Industrial revolution, effect of, on education, Inman, Anna, assistant of Myrtilla Miner, Institute for Colored Youth established at Philadelphia, Institute of Easton, Pennsylvania, admitted a Negro, Instruction, change in meaning of the word Inventions of Negroes; (see note 1) Insurrections, slave, effect of Iowa, Negroes of, had good school privileges

 Jackson, Edmund, demanded the admission of colored pupils to Boston schools Jackson, Stonewall, teacher in a colored Sunday-school Jackson, William, musician Jay, John, a friend of the Negroes Jay, William, criticized the Church for its failure to elevate the Negroes; attacked the policy of the colonizationists Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, admitted Negroes Jefferson, Thomas, views of, on the education of Negroes; (see note); letter of, to Abbé H. Grégoire; letter to M. A. Julien; failed to act as Kosciuszko's executor; corresponded with Banneker Jesuits, French, instructed slaves Jesuits, Spanish, teachers of Negroes Johnson, Harriet C. , assistant at Avery College Johnson, John Thomas, teacher in the District of Columbia; teacher in Pittsburgh Jones, Alfred T. , learned to read in Kentucky Jones, Anna, aided Myrtilla Miner Jones, Arabella, teacher in the District of Columbia Jones, Rev. C. C. , a white preacher among Negroes of Georgia; Argument of, for the religious instruction of Negroes; catechism of, for religious instruction; estimate of those able to read Jones, Matilda, supported Myrtilla Miner Journalistic efforts of Negroes; (see note) Judson, A. T. , denounced Prudence Crandall's policy; upheld the law prohibiting the establishment of colored schools in Connecticut

 Keith, George, advocated religious training for the Negroes Kemble, Frances Anne, discovered that the Negroes of some masters were taught to read; (see note 4) Kentucky, Negroes of, learned the rudiments of education; work of the Emancipating Labor Society of; work of the Presbyterians of; public opinion of; colored schools of Kinkaid, J. B. , taught M. W. Taylor of Kentucky Knoxville, people of, favorable to the uplift of the colored race Kosciuszko, T. , plan of, to educate Negroes; (see note); will of; fund of

 Lafayette, Marquis de, visited New York African Free Schools; said to be interested in a colored school in the West Lancastrian method of instruction, effect of Lane Seminary, students of, taught Negroes Langston, J. M. , student at Chillicothe and Oberlin Latin, taught in a colored school Law, Rev. Josiah, instructed Negroes in Georgia; (see note 1) Lawrence, Nathaniel, supporter of New York colored schools _Lawyer for Liberia_, a document Lawyers, colored, recognized in the North; (see note 2) Lay, Benjamin, advocate of the instruction of slaves Leary, John S. , went to private school Lee, Thomas, a teacher in the District of Columbia Leile, George, preacher in Georgia and Jamaica Le Jeune, taught a little Negro in Canada Le Petit instructed Negroes Lewis, R. B. , author Lexington, Kentucky, colored school of; (see note 1, p. 223) Liberia, education of Negroes for; education of Negroes in Liberia College, founded Liberty County, Georgia, instruction of Negroes in Liverpool, Moses, one of the founders of the first colored school in the District of Columbia Livingston, W. , teacher in Baltimore Locke, John, influence of Lockhart, Daniel J. , instructed by white boys London, Bishop of, formal declarations of, abrogating the law that a Christian could not be held a slave London, Canada, private school; mission school Longworth, Nicholas, built a school-house for Negroes Louisiana, education of Negroes in; hostile legislation of; Bishop Polk of, on instruction of Negroes Louisville, Kentucky, colored schools of L'Ouverture, Toussaint, influence of Lowell, Massachusetts, colored schools of; disestablished Lowry, Rev. Samuel, taught by Rev. Talbot of Franklin College Lowth, Bishop, interested in the uplift of the heathen Lucas, Eliza, teacher of slaves Lundy, Benjamin, helped Negroes on free soil Lunenburg County, Virginia, colored congregation of

 Madison, James, on the education of Negroes; letter of Maine, separate school of Malone, Rev. J. W. , educated in Indiana Malvin, John, organized schools in Ohio cities Mangum, P. H. , and W. P. , pupils of John Chavis, a colored teacher Manly, Gov. Charles, of North Carolina, taught by John Chavis Mann, Lydia, aided Myrtilla Miner, Manual Labor College, demand for, Manumission, effect of the laws of, Martin, Martha, sent to Cincinnati to be educated, sister sent to a southern town to learn a trade, Maréchal, Rev. Ambrose, helped to maintain colored schools, Maryland, Abolition Society of, to establish an academy for Negroes, favorable conditions, public opinion against the education of Negroes, law of, against colored mechanics, Maryville Theological Seminary, students of, interested in the uplift of Negroes, Mason, Joseph T. And Thomas H. , teachers in the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, schools of, struggles for democratic education, disestablishment of separate schools, Mather, Cotton, on the instruction of Negroes, resolutions of, Matlock, White, interest of, in Negroes, Maule, Ebenezer, helped to found a colored school in Virginia, May, Rev. Samuel, defender of Prudence Crandall, McCoy, Benjamin, teacher in the District of Columbia, McDonogh, John, had educated slaves, McIntosh County, Georgia, religious instruction of Negroes, McLeod, Dr. , criticized the inhumanity of men to Negroes, Meade, Bishop William, interested in the elevation of Negroes, work of, in Virginia, followed Bacon's policy, collected literature on the instruction of Negroes, Means, supported Myrtilla Miner, Mechanics, opposed colored artisans, Medical School of Harvard University open to colored students, Medical School of the University of New York admitted colored students, Memorial to Legislature of North Carolina, the education of slaves urged, Methodist preacher in South Carolina, work of, stopped by the people, Methodists, enlightened Negroes, change in attitude of, founded Wilberforce, Michigan, Negroes admitted to schools of, Middleton, Charles, teacher in the District of Columbia, Miles, Mary E.. Assistant of Gilmore in Cincinnati, Milton, influence of, Miner, Myrtilla, teacher in the District of Columbia, founded a school, Minor Society of Charleston established a school for Negroes, Minority report of Boston School Committee opposed segregation of colored pupils, Minutes of Methodist Episcopal Conference, resolution on the instruction of Negroes Minutes of the Meetings of Friends, action taken to elevate the colored people Missionaries, English, interested in uplift of Negroes French Spanish Missouri, prohibitive legislation of Mitchell, John G. , student in Indiana Mitchell, S. T. , began his education in Indiana Mobile, provision for the education of the Negroes Montgomery, I. T. , educated under the direction of his master Moore, Edward W. , teacher, and author of an arithmetic Moore, Helen, helped Myrtilla Miner Moorland, Dr. J. E. , an uncle of, studied medicine Moravian Brethren, instructed colored people Morris, Dr. E. C, instructed by his father Morris, J. , taught by his white father Morris, J. W. , student in Charleston Morris, Robert, appointed magistrate Murray, John, interested in the New York African Free Schools

 Nantucket, Massachusetts, colored schools of Neau, Elias, founded a colored school in New York City Negroes, learning to read and write free education of learning in spite of opposition instructing white persons reduced to heathenism Neill, Rev. Hugh, missionary teacher of Negroes in Pennsylvania Nell, Wm. , author New Bedford, Massachusetts, colored schools of disestablished Newbern, North Carolina, effects of insurrection of New Castle, Presbytery of, established Ashmun Institute New England, schools in Anti-Slavery Society of planned to establish a manual labor college sent colored students to Canaan, New Hampshire Newhall, Isabella, excluded a colored boy from school New Hampshire, academy of, broken up schools of, apparently free to all New Haven, separate schools of colored Manual Labor College not wanted interested in the education of persons for Africa and Haiti New Jersey, Quakers of, endeavored to elevate colored people law of, to teach slaves Negroes of, in public schools Presbyterians of, interested in Negroes separate schools caste in schools abolished New Orleans, education of the Negroes of Newport, Rhode Island, separate schools New York, Quakers of, taught Negroes Presbyterians of, interested in Negroes, work of Anti-Slavery Society of, separate schools of, schools opened to all, New York Central College, favorable to Negroes, New York City, African Free Schools, transfer to Public School Society, transfer to Board of Education, society of free people of color of, organized a school, Newspapers, colored, gave evidence of intellectual progress, (see note 1, ) North Carolina, Quakers of, instructed Negroes, Presbyterians of, interested in the education of Negroes, Tryon's instructions against certain teachers, manumission societies of, promoting the education of colored people, reactionary laws of, memorial sent to Legislature of, for permission to teach slaves, Northwest Territory, education of transplanted Negroes, settlements of, with schools, Noxon, connected with Neau's school in New York City, Nutall, an Englishman, taught Negroes in New York, Oberlin grew out of Lane Seminary, Objections to the instruction of Negroes considered and answered, Ohio, colored schools of (see Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, and Northwest Territory); struggle for education at public expense, unfavorable legislation, law of 1849, Olmsted, P. L. , found a plantation of enlightened slaves, O'Neal of South Carolina Bar discussed with Chancellor Harper the question of instructing Negroes, Oneida Institute contributed to the education of Negroes, Oregon, law of, hostile to Negroes, Othello, a free Negro, denounced the policy of neglecting the Negroes, Otis, James, on the rights of all men, Palmer, Dr. , catechism of, Pamphlet, Gowan, a preacher in Virginia, Parry, Alfred H. , successful teacher, Parsons, C. G. , observed that some Negroes were enlightened, _Pastoral Letters of Bishop Gibson of London_, Patterson, Edward, learned to read in a Sabbath-school, Payne, Dr. C. H. , taught by his mother to read, Payne, Bishop Daniel, student in Charleston, agent to purchase Wilberforce, Payne, Mrs. Thomas, studied under her master, Pease, W. , instructed by his owner, Penn, William, believed in emancipation to afford Negroes an opportunity for improvement, Pennington, J. C, writer, teacher, and preacher of influence, Pennsylvania, work of Quakers of, favorable legislation, law of, against colored mechanics, (see also Quakers, Friends, Presbyterians, and Philadelphia) Perry, R. L. , attended school at Nashville Peterboro School of New York established Petersburg, Virginia, colored schools of, colored churches Pettiford, W. A. , attended private school in North Carolina Philadelphia, Negroes of, taught by Quakers, early colored schools, public aid secured for the education of Negroes, names of teachers public and private, statistics of colored schools, (see Quakers, Presbyterians, and Pennsylvania) Phillips, Wendell, argument against the segregation of colored people in Boston Physicians, colored, (see note 3, 279) Pinchback, P. B. S. , studied in the Gilmore High School in Cincinnati Pinkney, William, views on the mental capacity of Negroes _Pious Negro, True Account of_, a document Pittsburgh, colored schools of _Plan for the Improvement of the Free Black_, a document Plantation system, the rise of, effects of, on the enlightenment of the Negroes Pleasants, Robert, founder of a colored manual labor school Polk, Bishop, of Louisiana, advocate of the instruction of Negroes Porteus, Bishop, a portion of his essay on the uplift of Negroes (see also, note 2) Portland, Maine, colored schools of Potter, Henry, taught Negroesin the District of Columbia Preachers, colored, preached to Negroes (see note 4). Preached to white people Presbyterians, taught Negroes, struggles of, Acts of Synods of, a document _Presbyterian Witness_, criticized churchmen neglectful of the Negroes _Proposition for encouraging the Christian education of Indian and Mulatto children at Lambeth, Virginia_ Protestant Episcopal High School at Cape Palmas, Liberia Prout, John, a teacher in the District of Columbia Providence, Rhode Island, separate schools of Providence Convent of Baltimore, influence of Purcell, Jack, bearing of the confession of Puritans, attitude of, toward the uplift of Negroes

 Quakers, educational work among Negroes, promoting education in the Northwest Territory, (see also Friends)

 Racial inferiority, the argument of Randolph, John, slaves of, sent to Ohio Raymond, Daniel, contributed to the education of Negroes Reaction, the effect of Reason, Chas. L. , teacher in Institute for Colored Youth Redmond, Sarah, denied admission to Boston School Redpath, James, observation in the South Refugees from Haiti and Santo Domingo, influence of; bearing of, on insurrection Refugees Home School established Religious instruction discussed by Churchmen Remond, C. L. , lecturer and orator Resolute Beneficial Society established a school Revels, U. S. Senator Hiram, student in Quaker Seminary Rhode Island, work of Quakers of; efforts of colored people of; African Benevolent Society of; school laws of; separate schools disestablished Rice, Rev. David, complained that slaves were not enlightened Rice, Rev. Isaac, mission of, in Canada Richards, Fannie, teacher in Detroit Riley, Mrs. Isaac, taught by master Riots of cities, effect of Roberts, Rev. D. R. , attended school in Indiana Rochester, Baptist Church of, lost members Roe, Caroline, teacher in New York African Free Schools Rush, Dr. Benjamin, desire to elevate the slaves; objections of masters considered; interview with Dr. James Durham; Rush Medical School admitted colored student Russworm, John B. , first colored man to graduate from college Rutland College, Vermont, opened to colored students

 Sabbath-schools, a factor in education; separation of the races St. Agnes Academy established in the District of Columbia St. Frances Academy established in Baltimore Salem, Massachusetts, colored school of Salem, New Jersey, work of Quakers of Sampson, B. K. , assistant teacher of Avery College Samson, Rev. Dr. , aided Hays, a teacher of Washington Sanderson, Bishop, interest in the uplift of the heathen Sandiford, Ralph, attacked slavery Sandoval, Alfonso, opposed keeping slaves Sandwich, Canada, separate school of Sandy Lake Settlement broken up Saunders of Cabell County, West Virginia, settled his slaves on free soil Savannah, colored schools of churches of Scarborough, President W. S. , early education of Schoepf, Johann, found conditions favorable Seaman, Jacob, interest of, in New York colored schools Searing, Anna H. , a supporter of Myrtilla Miner Seaton, W. W. , a supporter of Alexander Hays's School Secker, Bishop, plan of, for the instruction of Negroes had Negroes educated for Africa extract from sermon of Settle, Josiah T. , was educated in Ohio Sewell, Chief Justice, on the instruction of Negroes Shadd, Mary Ann, teacher in Canada Shaffer, Bishop C. T. , early education of, in Indiana Sharp, Granville, on the colonization of Negroes Sidney, Thomas, gave money to build school-house Slave in Essex County, Virginia, learned to read Slavery, ancient, contrasted with the modern Small, Robert, student in South Carolina Smedes, Susan Dabney, saw slaves instructed Smith, Gerrit, contributed money to the education of the Negro founder of the Peterboro School appeal in behalf of colored mechanics Smith, Melancthon, interest of, in the New York African Free Schools Smothers, Henry, founded a school in Washington Snow riot, results of Snowden, John Baptist, instructed by white children Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, efforts of South Carolina, schools of unfavorable conditions prohibitive legislation governor of, discussed the Vesey insurrection Spain, King of, desired trade in enlightened slaves only Spanish missionaries taught Negroes in America Springfield, colored schools of Statistics on the intellectual condition of Negroes Stewart, Rev. , a missionary in North Carolina Stewart, T. McCants, student in Charleston Stokes, Richard, teacher in the District of Columbia Storrs, C. B. , advocate of free discussion influence of Stowe, H. B. , assisted Myrtilla Miner interest of, in industrial education Stratton, Lucy, taught Negroes Sturgeon, Rev. William, work of, in Philadelphia Sumler, Jas. W. , learned to read with difficulty Sylvester, Elisha, efforts of, in Boston

 Tabbs, Thomas, teacher in the District of Columbia Talbot County, Maryland, the education of the Negro in Talbot, Mr. , tutor in the District of Columbia, Talbot, Reverend, taught Samuel Lowry at Franklin College, Tappan, Arthur, work of, in behalf of Negroes, Tanner, Bishop Benjamin Tucker, attended school in Pennsylvania, Tarborough, North Carolina, effect of the insurrection of, Tatem, Isaac, instructed Negroes, Taylor, M. W. , taught by his mother, Taylor, Dr. Wm. , educated for service in Liberia, Taylor, Reverend, interest of, in the enlightenment of Negroes, Templeton, John N. , educational efforts of, Tennessee, education of the Negroes of, legislation of, Terrell, Mary Church, mother of, taught by white gentleman, Terrell, Robert H. , father of, learned to read, Thetford Academy opened to Negroes, Thomas, J. C. Teacher of W. S. Scarborough, Thomas, Rev. Samuel, teacher in South Carolina, Thompson, Margaret, efforts of, in the District of Columbia, Thornton, views of, on colonization, Toop, Clara G. , an instructor at Avery College, Toronto, Canada, evening school organized, Torrey, Jesse, on education and emancipation, Trenton, New Jersey, Quakers of, interested, Troumontaine, Julian, teacher in Savannah, "True Bands, " educational work of, in Canada, (see also note 1, ) Trumbull, John, teacher in Philadelphia, Tucker, Ebenezer, principal of Union Literary Institute, Tucker, Judge St. George, discussed slave insurrections, Turner, Bishop Henry M. , early education of, Turner, Nathaniel, the education of, effects of the insurrection of, Union College admitted a Negro, Union Literary Institute, Indiana, favorable to the instruction of Negroes, Vanlomen, Father, aided Maria Becraft, Vashon, George B. , principal of Avery College, Vermont, required practically no segregation, Vesey, Denmark, effect of the insurrection of, Vesey, Reverend, interest of, in Neau's school, Virginia, question of instructing Negroes of, education of Negroes of, given legal sanction, colored schools of, work of abolitionists of, interest of Quakers of, efforts of Presbyterians of, prohibitive legislation of, Vocational training emphasized by Frederick Douglass, interest of H. B. Stowe in, Wagoner, H. O. , taught by his parents, Walker, David, appeal of, Wall, Mary, teacher in the District of Columbia, (see note 1) Ward, S. R. , attainments of, Warren, John W. , studied under white children, Warville, Brissot de, found desirable conditions, Washington, George, attitude of, will of, Waterford, Ephraim, taught by his employer, Watkins, Wm. , teacher in Baltimore, Watrum, François Philibert, inquiry of, about instructing Negroes, Wattles, Augustus, philanthropist and educator, Wayman, Reverend, advocate of the instruction of Negroes, Wayman, Rev. Dr. , interest of, in free schools, Weaver, Amanda, assisted Myrtilla Miner, Wells, Nelson, bequeathed $10, 000 to educate Negroes, Wesley, John, opinion of, on the intellect of Negroes, Western Reserve converted to democratic education, Wetmore, Reverend, a worker connected with Neau's school, Wheatley, Phyllis, education of, poetry of, White, j. T. , attended school in Indiana, White, Dr. Thomas J. , educated for Liberia, White, W. J. , educated by his white mother, Whitefield, Rev. George, interest in the uplift of Negroes, plan of, to establish a school, Whitefield, Rev. James, promoted education in Baltimore, Whitefield, James M. , poet, Wickham, executor of Samuel Gist, Williams, Bishop, urged the duty of converting the Negroes, Williamson, Henry, taught by his master, Wilmington, Delaware, educational work of abolitionists of, Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, published a pamphlet on the uplift of the Negroes, contributed money to educate the Negroes of Talbot County, Maryland, Wilson, Rev. Hiram, inspector of schools in Canada, founder of a manual labor school, Windsor, Canada, school privileges of, Wing, Mr. , teacher in Cincinnati, Winslow, Parson, children of, indulgent to Uncle Cephas, Wisconsin, equal school facilities of, Woodson, Ann, taught by her young mistress, Woodson, Emma J. , instructor at Avery College, Woodson, Louis, teacher in Pittsburgh, Woolman, John, interest of, Wormley, James, efforts of, in the District of Columbia, (see note 1) Wormley, Mary, teacher in the District of Columbia, Wortham, Dr. James L. , pupil of John Chavis Wright, Rev. John F. , one of the founders of Wilberforce University

 Xenia, Ohio, settlement of, Wilberforce University established near

 Zane, Jonathan, gave $18, 000 for the education of Negroes