The Negro Problem | Page 9

lowest soil of Truth. And so they did begin; they founded colleges, and up from
the colleges shot normal schools, and out from the normal schools went teachers, and
around the normal teachers clustered other teachers to teach the public schools; the
college trained in Greek and Latin and mathematics, 2,000 men; and these men trained
full 50,000 others in morals and manners, and they in turn taught thrift and the alphabet
to nine millions of men, who to-day hold $300,000,000 of property. It was a miracle--the
most wonderful peace-battle of the 19th century, and yet to-day men smile at it, and in
fine superiority tell us that it was all a strange mistake; that a proper way to found a
system of education is first to gather the children and buy them spelling books and hoes;
afterward men may look about for teachers, if haply they may find them; or again they
would teach men Work, but as for Life--why, what has Work to do with Life, they ask
vacantly.
Was the work of these college founders successful; did it stand the test of time? Did the
college graduates, with all their fine theories of life, really live? Are they useful men
helping to civilize and elevate their less fortunate fellows? Let us see. Omitting all
institutions which have not actually graduated students from a college course, there are
to-day in the United States thirty-four institutions giving something above high school
training to Negroes and designed especially for this race.
Three of these were established in border States before the War; thirteen were planted by
the Freedmen's Bureau in the years 1864-1869; nine were established between 1870 and
1880 by various church bodies; five were established after 1881 by Negro churches, and
four are state institutions supported by United States' agricultural funds. In most cases the
college departments are small adjuncts to high and common school work. As a matter of
fact six institutions--Atlanta, Fisk, Howard, Shaw, Wilberforce and Leland, are the
important Negro colleges so far as actual work and number of students are concerned. In
all these institutions, seven hundred and fifty Negro college students are enrolled. In
grade the best of these colleges are about a year behind the smaller New England colleges
and a typical curriculum is that of Atlanta University. Here students from the grammar
grades, after a three years' high school course, take a college course of 136 weeks.
One-fourth of this time is given to Latin and Greek; one-fifth, to English and modern
languages; one-sixth, to history and social science; one-seventh, to natural science;
one-eighth to mathematics, and one-eighth to philosophy and pedagogy.
In addition to these students in the South, Negroes have attended Northern colleges for
many years. As early as 1826 one was graduated from Bowdoin College, and from that
time till to-day nearly every year has seen elsewhere, other such graduates. They have, of

course, met much color prejudice. Fifty years ago very few colleges would admit them at
all. Even to-day no Negro has ever been admitted to Princeton, and at some other leading
institutions they are rather endured than encouraged. Oberlin was the great pioneer in the
work of blotting out the color line in colleges, and has more Negro graduates by far than
any other Northern college.
The total number of Negro college graduates up to 1899, (several of the graduates of that
year not being reported), was as follows:
---------------+---------------+----------------- |Negro Colleges.| White Colleges.
---------------+---------------+----------------- Before '76 | 137 | 75 '75-80 | 143 | 22 '80-85 |
250 | 31 '85-90 | 413 | 43 '90-95 | 465 | 66 '96-99 | 475 | 88 Class Unknown | 57 | 64
---------------+---------------+----------------- Total | 1,914 | 390
---------------+---------------+-----------------
Of these graduates 2,079 were men and 252 were women; 50 per cent. of Northern-born
college men come South to work among the masses of their people, at a sacrifice which
few people realize; nearly 90 per cent. of the Southern-born graduates instead of seeking
that personal freedom and broader intellectual atmosphere which their training has led
them, in some degree, to conceive, stay and labor and wait in the midst of their black
neighbors and relatives.
The most interesting question, and in many respects the crucial question, to be asked
concerning college-bred Negroes, is: Do they earn a living? It has been intimated more
than once that the higher training of Negroes has resulted in sending into the world of
work, men who could find nothing to do suitable to their talents. Now and then there
comes a rumor of a colored college man working at menial service, etc. Fortunately,
returns as to occupations of college-bred Negroes, gathered by the Atlanta conference,
are quite full--nearly sixty per cent. of the total number of graduates.
This enables