Education of the Negro | Page 5

our
civilization. The negro was taught to work, to be an agriculturist, a
mechanic, a material producer of something useful. He was taught this
fundamental thing. Our higher education, applied to him in his present
development, operates in exactly the opposite direction.
This is a serious assertion. Its truth or falsehood cannot be established
by statistics, but it is an opinion gradually formed by experience, and
the observation of men competent to judge, who have studied the
problem close at hand. Among the witnesses to the failure of the result
expected from the establishment of colleges and universities for the
negro are heard, from time to time, and more frequently as time goes on,
practical men from the North, railway men, manufacturers, who have
initiated business enterprises at the South. Their testimony coincides
with that of careful students of the economic and social conditions.
There was reason to assume, from our theory and experience of the
higher education in its effect upon white races, that the result would be
different from what it is. When the negro colleges first opened, there
was a glow of enthusiasm, an eagerness of study, a facility of
acquirement, and a good order that promised everything for the future.
It seemed as if the light then kindled would not only continue to burn,
but would penetrate all the dark and stolid communities. It was my
fortune to see many of these institutions in their early days, and to

believe that they were full of the greatest promise for the race. I have
no intention of criticising the generosity and the noble self- sacrifice
that produced them, nor the aspirations of their inmates. There is no
doubt that they furnish shining examples of emancipation from
ignorance, and of useful lives. But a few years have thrown much light
upon the careers and characters of a great proportion of the graduates,
and their effect upon the communities of which they form a part, I
mean, of course, with regard to the industrial and moral condition of
those communities. Have these colleges, as a whole,--[This sentence
should have been further qualified by acknowledging the excellent
work done by the colleges at Atlanta and Nashville, which, under
exceptionally good management, have sent out much-needed teachers. I
believe that their success, however, is largely owing to their practical
features.-- C.D.W.]--stimulated industry, thrift, the inclination to settle
down to the necessary hard work of the world, or have they bred
idleness, indisposition to work, a vaporous ambition in politics, and
that sort of conceit of gentility of which the world has already enough?
If any one is in doubt about this he can satisfy himself by a sojourn in
different localities in the South. The condition of New Orleans and its
negro universities is often cited. It is a favorable example, because the
ambition of the negro has been aided there by influence outside of the
schools. The federal government has imposed upon the intelligent and
sensitive population negro officials in high positions, because they
were negroes and not because they were specially fitted for those
positions by character or ability. It is my belief that the condition of the
race in New Orleans is lower than it was several years ago, and that the
influence of the higher education has been in the wrong direction.
This is not saying that the higher education is responsible for the
present condition of the negro.
Other influences have retarded his elevation and the development of
proper character, and most important means have been neglected. I
only say that we have been disappointed in our extravagant
expectations of what this education could do for a race undeveloped,
and so wanting in certain elements of character, and that the millions of
money devoted to it might have been much better applied.

We face a grave national situation. It cannot be successfully dealt with
sentimentally. It should be faced with knowledge and candor. We must
admit our mistakes, both social and political, and set about the solution
of our problem with intelligent resolution and a large charity. It is not
simply a Southern question. It is a Northern question as well. For the
truth of this I have only to appeal to the consciousness of all Northern
communities in which there are negroes in any considerable numbers.
Have the negroes improved, as a rule (always remembering the
exceptions), in thrift, truthfulness, morality, in the elements of
industrious citizenship, even in States and towns where there has been
the least prejudice against their education? In a paper read at the last
session of this Association, Professor W. F. Willcox of Cornell
University showed by statistics that in proportion to population there
were more negro criminals in the North than in the South. "The negro
prisoners in the Southern States