By the educational statistics of the last census there were 124
institutions for the instruction of the colored race, having an
enrolment of 15,404 students, requiring 576 instructors.
The greater number of institutions devoted exclusively to Negro
education are situated in the South. The larger portion of the work has
been and still is carried on by denominational enterprise. Possibly the
most important part of the work has been under the supervision of the
American Missionary Association, the Presbyterian Board of Missions for
Freedmen, and the Freedmen’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal
Church.
It is a _well known fact_ that a few of these institutions employ
colored men in their Faculties; and we have endeavored to secure
information as to the _actual percentage_ of colored persons serving as
Professors in institutions, but have failed to receive a reply to our
queries.
Although a number of these institutions have been in existence from
20 to 30 years, this absence is noticeable. Unlike other educational
institutions, the preference (where it is possible) is not given to
their own alumni. At the time of the founding of these institutions the
colored race had within its bounds few men of superior education; but
with the aid of such institutions, and the opening of the doors of all
the higher grade colleges of the North, East, and West, the reverse
has now become true and large numbers of colored men and women are now
thoroughly competent for such positions.
The _continued failure_ of these institutions to acknowledge this fact,
to employ any considerable number of colored men in the Faculties, and
to seek the patronage of colored men of wealth and culture as advisers
on the Board of Trustees, has led the colored alumni, and many friends
of education, to feel that there is a _deep-seated cause_ for this
neglect of colored graduates; and that the explanation lies in caste
prejudice. This charge, when made by the colored men, is parried with
such excuses as the following:
1st. The presence of colored men in Faculty positions would retard
the work; they would be unable to secure funds from the white patrons
of such institutions.
2d. That benefactors would not be so liberal if the distribution of
the funds were left to the discretion of the beneficiaries.
3d. The ambition, though laudable and legitimate, is premature.
4th. The colored people do not contribute largely to endowments and
should not expect to have any voice in the control.
5th. The colored man has a lack of confidence in himself and his race.
The fallacy of the first and second objections was brought forcibly to
our mind by a conversation with Rev. J. C. Price, D. D., the honored
and successful President of Livingston University, Salisbury, N. C.
Said Mr. Price: “In speaking to a gentleman on whom I called for aid
for our work, I remarked, ‘I come to you at a disadvantage, being a
black man,’ the usual custom being for white men to make the plea for
such a cause. He interrupted me by saying, ‘Not so; I would give you
ten dollars where I would give a white man one, for I believe the
colored man to be more sincerely interested in himself and his race
than a white man can be for him.’”
The success of Livingston College, Tuskegee Normal School, Ala., and
Wilberforce University of the A. M. E. Church, successfully refute the
two first-named objections.
This is from the _Atlanta Defiance_: Not long since $7000 were given to
the Normal School at Tuskegee, Alabama. This institution is run by 17
colored officers and teachers and the donors are two whites of Boston,
Mass. A few years ago no such faith as this would have been entertained
in the _executive ability_ of the Negro. Gradually, the Negro grows in
ability and in confidence of the balance of mankind.
This is worthy of note, and if the confidence here mentioned is to
be measured by dollars, then North Carolina is far ahead. Livingston
College at Salisbury, a school managed entirely by colored men, has
received four or five times $7000 from similar sources.