could be induced to sever their connection with them and turn them
fully into the hands of Negroes, although the colleges are already
built, equipped and advertised, yet, chiefly on account of our
poverty, we should have to close the majority of them at once. This
would be a most serious loss. The amount of ignorance and the lack of
trained leaders among us, together with the small pittance done for us
in the direction of even high-school education by the states and
cities in which we live certainly do not suggest the advisability of
ridding ourselves of even one agency for enlightenment. Far better
would it be for us and for the country if they were increased tenfold.
This view takes into consideration the fact that the great majority of
people who give of their means to support the schools do so because
they have confidence in the ability, integrity and experience of those
who control them. And if any one is so credulous as to believe that
the schools under the management of Negroes could command the amount,
of interest and support as they now receive, I would ask him, why
_have_ Negroes, from Mr. Booker T. Washington down, who are trying to
gain public confidence and assistance for their work, _find_ it
necessary to invite white men to accept membership on their boards of
trustees? One need not go far to find the correct answer. In this
connection, it will be in order to inquire also if there are, under
the control of Negroes, any colleges that receive anything like the
amount of money for their support that is received by similar
institutions under the management of white men?
Furthermore, the placing of the colleges referred to wholly into the
hands of Negroes would be an unnecessary drawing of the race line, and
would very effectually close our mouths against making protest or
complaint on account of our being discriminated against for similar
reasons.
Again, at this time, when there seems to be, on the part of certain
persons of influence, a foul conspiracy against the Negro, it is of
great importance that we have among us persons whose knowledge of the
facts, and whose intellectual and social standing with those whose
good opinion we value enable and impel them to speak out in our
behalf. I recall with much gratification several instances where white
persons connected with Negro schools have used the superior
opportunities afforded them by the accident of race to say good things
of us at a time when a spokesman who had the ear of the king was
sorely needed. If, under present conditions, this class of people be
sent from among us, I fear it might in a measure be with us as it was
with a certain people in ancient times when "a new king arose who knew
not Joseph."
And finally, would it not be highly presumptive and insolent on our
part to demand of others that they deliver into our keeping, without
price, property which they have purchased with their own money, and of
which we have had the use and benefit for a third of a century? Until
we shall be able to buy these colleges and properly support them, even
the serious discussion of the question, it seems to me, is
inappropriate and puerile. When, therefore, you ask me, if in my
opinion the time has come when the Negro colleges in the South should
be put into the hands of Negro teachers, I must answer you frankly,
_no_.
I would not be understood, however, as placing my approval upon
everything pertaining to the management of the schools under
consideration. I do not deny that in some cases teachers are employed
who are not possessed of the proper spirit for doing the best work
among us. They are sometimes haughty, unsocial, and unsympathetic, and
find themselves among us because there is offered better pay for less
work than was found in their own neighborhoods. But these do not
vitiate the schools; they are exceptions. I think, too, that the
faculties of the several schools, together with the boards of
trustees, should be as largely composed of competent, worthy Negroes
as the interests of the institutions will allow. I am sure that such a
policy would both encourage our people and train them in the
management of such interests, and would be fully in harmony with the
spirit and purpose of the institutions' founders. But we cannot state
this as a demand based on what is justly ours; let it stand rather on
its soundness as to what is best as a policy designed to accomplish
the highest results. Before we find too many faults, though, with
these missionary colleges, we ought to show by our full, loyal support
of the few colleges we do control, that we are both able and willing
to do the proper thing when the time shall come, if ever, for placing
the Negro colleges in the South into the hands of Negro teachers.
THIRD PAPER.
IS IT TIME FOR THE NEGRO COLLEGES IN THE SOUTH TO BE PUT INTO THE
HANDS OF NEGRO TEACHERS?
BY PROF. GEORGE A. GOODWIN.
[Illustration: Prof. G. A. Goodwin]
REV. GEORGE A. GOODWIN.
George Augustus Goodwin was born at Augusta, Ga., February
20, 1861, being the eldest son of Mr. George and Mrs.
Catherine Goodwin. His parents taught him until he was old
enough to enter the public schools taught by "Yankee
teachers." Having lost his father at an early age, he
subsequently experienced some difficulty in remaining in
school. However, his now sainted mother, by the assistance
of his uncle, Mr. Charles Goodwin, kept him in school. For
two consecutive years it was necessary for him to walk
twelve miles daily in order to secure proper school
advantages. While yet a lad he attracted the attention of
both races and was several times offered good positions as a
public school teacher. He, however, taught a private school
four miles from the city and was thereby able to attend the
Augusta Institute, now the Atlanta Baptist College. In the
spring of 1879 he united with the historic Springfield
Baptist Church, Augusta, Ga., where, for three generations,
his parents and paternal grandparents had worshiped. May 29,
1884, he graduated from the Atlanta Baptist College as
salutatorian.
On leaving school he took up teaching as a profession, in
which he has been eminently successful in developing
hundreds of young people. He has filled with credit and
satisfaction the principalship of Eddy High School at
Milledgeville, Ga., Union Academy, Gainesville, Fla.,
Preparatory Department, Livingstone College, Salisbury,
N. C.; also Atlanta Baptist College and Waller Baptist
Institute, Augusta, Ga. He was the prime factor in the
movement which resulted in the organization of the present
Georgia State Teachers' Association, of which he was
secretary for a number of years. In the organization of the
Florida Teachers' Association he was one of the original
members. As an institute lecturer he is helpful in many
ways.
Having received a call to the pastorate of the Second
Baptist Church at Gainesville, Fla., his church at Augusta,
Ga., ordained him to the ministry, January 6, 1889. He was
very successful in this work in connection with his school
duties. In July, 1895, he was happily married to the
talented Miss Anna Laura Gardner of Augusta, Ga.
In attempting to answer this question, I do so fully cognizant of the
widely differing opinions which are superinduced by the present
restive state of society. It is a delicate task. In this brief article
it is not possible to be very extensive. Condensation is a necessity.
Taking observations from ancient and modern civilizations as external
evidence, and corroborating the experiences of the present age as
internal evidence, my conclusion is reached. If my judgment is faulty,
let us remember that trite aphorism: "To err is human, to forgive,
divine."
If this be the question of the fawning element among us, then let us
beware of the leaven of the separatists. If the liberal philanthropist
makes the inquiry, let us demonstrate the wisdom of his investment by
our exhibitions of gratitude and common sense. It cannot be a serious
question with the learned sociologist, for he is too conversant with
the philosophy of history and the laws of psychology. Of the popular
idea of the over-ardent lovers of the race, it may be more comforting
to an oppressed people; but truth is better than fiction--facts
than theories. Therefore, with a conscience void of offence to all,
and with the sincere hope that right will ultimately triumph before
all is lost in the mad rush of the enthusiasts, I venture to express
some of my convictions regarding this question. The proposition
categorically stated would be: it is time for the Negro colleges in
the South to be put in the hands of Negro teachers. Such an
affirmation would imply, at least, that these colleges are elsewhere
than in the South; that the colleges in the South are not wholly nor
partially taught by Negro teachers; that those who teach in them for
some cause, real or imaginary, are not equal to the demands of the
times; that the Negro, exclusively, is superior for educating the
Negro in the South; that a crisis is upon us making it imperative to
man Negro colleges with Negro teachers. These inferences
might be indefinitely multiplied; but they are harsh and
fallacious--implications unworthy of the best thought interested in an
issue involving the destiny of a race and this great republic. The
facts in the case are so potent that I shall not attempt a critical
refutation of the inferences deduced, but will consider the subject
more freely on another line, in this way avoiding what might be a
fearful indictment of those least prepared for it. Critically
considering every contingency I see no valid reason for such a course
as the question suggests. In answer thereto wisdom replies, "_It is
NOT time for the Negro colleges in the South to be put in the hands of
Negro teachers._"
This is an intensely practical age; in many respects, it is
utilitarian. "The survival of the fittest," is the almost universal
creed of the age. The American civilization is distinctly Anglo-Saxon.
Whatever does not attain to that standard is out of harmony with real
conditions. The Negro is here to stay. Two radically different
civilizations cannot thrive in one country at the same time. One
advances, the other retrogrades. Every chapter in history verifies the
assertion. It is providential that the American Negro is brought into
close touch with the highest ideals of American life through his most
enlightened Anglo-Saxon brother. Only in this way can the Negro meet
the rigid requirements of the ever-advancing standard of the proud,
progressive Anglo-Saxon. The dominant race is naturally the criterion.
Any other alternative would be abnormal and destructive in its
far-reaching results. The ruling people in this country have the
prestige of centuries of culture. Had the Negro's days of enslavement
been years of culture and refinement equal to that of the best people
about him, present conditions would be greatly changed. However
desirable it may be to elevate the Negro to places of dignity, it
should be borne in mind that his color is not a qualification. These
institutions will, in time, be more generally under the management of
Negro teachers, if the future proves the work of the present _regime_
non-productive of the highest results. Such a change will greatly
depend upon the ability of the Negro to appreciate his real condition
and to utilize, to the best advantage, the means and opportunities now
afforded him. Error now will prove abortive and, perhaps, postpone
indefinitely what might otherwise sooner come in the natural course of
events. Such a transition must not be revolutionary, but evolutionary
if come it must, and come it will. It were better to hope that all
schools in the South were as they are in the North for the most part.
That the Negro himself should so soon contemplate this as practical is
an anomaly. That some evils exist I do not deny. But would separation
and exclusion be a remedy? No. It is praiseworthy in the Negro that
he, in a measure, has kept abreast with the march of this
civilization. He has been responsive to the magic touch and the benign
influences of those who came to rescue him from intellectual and moral
darkness. The Northern teachers and a few Southern heroes began the
work of educating the Negro, at a time, when teaching the Negro was an
extremely delicate innovation--nay, dangerous experiment. Through what
perils, privations, ridicule, and ostracism they passed, only such
pioneers as Drs. H. M. Tupper, D. W. Phillips, C. H. Corey, J. T.
Robert, E. A. Ware, E. M. Cravath, Gen. Armstrong, Miss S. B. Packard,
and others of the immortal galaxy, are permitted to speak from their
high citadel of triumph. Shall these of blessed memory, together with
their associates and workers of less prominence, be forgotten? Shall
they be revered, or shall they be calumniated? Dumb be the lip, and
palsied the hand that would, in any wise, dishonor them and their
efforts to uplift humanity! It will not be remiss on my part to ask
for their successors in spirit and labor, and for their constituency
that consideration which a superior statesmanship and a practical
Christianity dictate.
These institutions, under their present management, have met the
exigencies of the times. Granting that no human effort is perfect, the
fact remains that these institutions have lived up to the high purpose
for which they were founded, and are still being liberally supported
and endowed. What more could be required by rational beings? This
couplet may be suggestive:
"He who does as best his circumstances will allow,
Does well, acts nobly, angels can do no more."
That others could have done better or equally as well remains to be
seen. The history of the country from 1619-20 to 1865 is valid
testimony. It was the influence of the Northern teachers, for the most
part, that the best educated men among us were matriculated at the
great Northern universities. It was by them that Negro schools were
first operated in the South. The needs and magnitude of Negro
education in the South have greatly intensified the philanthropic
spirit of the Northern missionary societies and workers, each year
resulting in a vast expenditure of money and energy. Shall those who
believe "culture is colorless" be affronted; and shall their
representatives be exiled by the beneficiaries? Is the wounded, dying
traveler under the healing ministrations of the good Samaritan
competent to protest against the merciful steward? Is such the
subsequent of all human action? Let justice and reason answer!
Formerly for the Negro literary culture was a sort of forbidden fruit
in the Edenic South. For more than two centuries the cherubim of
social pollution and moral degradation stood at the school-house gate
with sword-like lash in hand, under governmental authority, to defy
the return of the Negro to his pristine eminence in literary culture
and moral probity held many years prior to the rise and supremacy of
his now dominant kinsman. It was the northern missionaries, for such
they are, who threw open the wicket-gate of opportunity unto the
despairing Negro causing him to reach forth his hand unto the tree of
life manifesting itself in the development of the higher faculties of
a being with God's image. The Negro colleges in the South, with
scarcely an exception, were built up by Northern philanthropy. They
are the best institutions available to a great majority of those
seeking the fullest possible development of their intellectual powers.
As a rule, they are superior in equipment, in both standards of
scholarship and discipline at least. This is true by virtue of the
power vouchsafed to their management and teaching force through
superior years of splendid environment. Under such circumstances the
Northern missionary teachers are in their normal condition in
prosecuting the work of Negro education. They are usually dispensers
of exact scholarship, consecrated service, and broad culture. It is
scarcely possible that the Negro, in less than forty years, a creature
of misfortune many years prior to his enslavement, should now be the
equal of his more favored brother in the acquisition of knowledge or
his over-match in teaching ability. Physiologists are quite unanimous
in making the Negro a member of the human race. He, therefore, has the
same faculties and susceptibilities as other members of the human
family. He is governed by the same laws of thought. In what then is
the Negro constitutionally a better educator of the Negro? There is
absolutely nothing in his skin nor sympathies that makes him a
superior teacher of the Negro. Other things being equal preparation is
the only synonym for superiority in teaching. If now the race has
idiosyncrasies entirely different from the rest of the human family,
as some wiseacres would imply by their persistency in making this
demand for a change in the colleges, then maybe it were better to
gratify their wish.
These colleges are more than so much material and apparatus. Through
them the white brother is best prepared to represent the Negro to
those who are to help in his uplift. The peculiar customs in the South
weaken the authority of the Negro teacher in comparison with the
_fiat_ of the Anglo-Saxon teacher. The Negro teacher in the public
schools, and in the schools distinctly his own, is not more
successful, to be charitable, than the Northern teacher in securing
and holding pupils. Nor has it been shown that the Negro teacher
develops the powers of the child any faster, or in better ways of
thinking and acting than does the Northern teacher. Coming to us as
they do, their ability is rarely questioned. They are never anxious to
advertise their fitness for the place by resorting to that unique
process in promotions which seems so often the _naivete_ of many
another in similar spheres without hereditary influences as his
legacy. At some time, in some way, I have been closely connected with
schools of all grades in the South for the Negro--schools owned by the
Negro, taught by the Negro exclusively, schools taught by the Negro
and the Anglo-Saxon. I have been the pupil of Northern and Southern
white teachers; for a brief while a pupil of the Negro teacher; and at
one time janitor of a leading white academy in which help was mutually
given by the janitor-tutor. I confess that I have yet to see the
slightest difference in the general character of receiving and
imparting knowledge, or in developing character on the principle of
color _versus_ culture. To accept any such doctrine would be
pernicious.
These colleges are too important to be used as experimental stations
even to gratify the caprice of the most cautious. Such a change in the
work of these colleges, as the question suggests, should be looked
upon with some degree of suspicion and as inimical to the best
interests of the Negro. Without undervaluing the great importance of
the public schools, it were better to try the experiment with them and
the few secondary schools for Negro education connected with the
several Southern States and managed by white trustees exclusively.
What has been the history of the local academies and schools
transferred to the Negro trustees and teachers not many years after
the Civil War? What of those operated in later years as a monument to
the creative genius of the Negro? For the most part, they remind us
that they have seen better days. They speak a mighty truth which
should be borne in mind by every class of inquirers on this subject.
Self-help and worthy ambitions are commendable, but should be
rational. The Negro needs the help of the Anglo-Saxon without regard
to sections of country. He can advance more safely and rapidly as he
walks arm in arm with his brother North and South. Far be it from me
that I should, in any way, underestimate the heroic efforts of
institutions wholly run by the Negro! Many of them are striking
illustrations of what united effort can do; they serve a purpose which
cannot be overlooked. Only in proportion as he is more a producer than
a consumer, and as wealth and intelligence become common factors in
his social life, will the Negro be able to assume entire control of
these great institutions founded for him by the Northern societies. As
to the ability of some members of the race to adorn any position in
the gift of these colleges no one denies. There are men of superior
scholarship, broad culture, sound character, tact, and executive
ability even to grace similar places in white institutions. They are
exceptions; and yet I do not hesitate to say that were their services
in demand they could do so with comparatively more ease and
satisfaction than if at the head of a strictly Negro institution. The
reason is apparent to those experienced in such matters. Ability and
adaptability are not the only requisites for this work.
If the Negro has not been able to acquire similar institutions by his
own efforts aided by friends North and South, is there any guarantee
that he would properly appreciate them if thus thrust upon him? To ask
such a concession would be an admission of the point at issue. The
South, commercially, believes in free trade; assuming it is right, it
then would not be right to close the intellectual ports of the Negro
against the cultured wares of his time honored benefactors in literary
commerce. The Negro least of all should not ask it.
In Southern courts, where life and great interests are involved, the
most intelligent Negro finds it to his advantage to employ legal
talent of the opposite race because he is conditioned by the peculiar
circumstances of a white judge and jury who, in most cases, seem to
interpret law and weigh evidence in accordance with the prevailing
opinions of the dominant class. In the work of Negro education vital
interests are involved. The Anglo-Saxon teachers have the culture and
the means at their command. They are actual competitors with the Negro
and every other people in this particular missionary endeavor. They
have given the world its highest civilization. Through them, as
instrumentalities, the torch-light of civilization progresses;
Christianity brightens every prospect in every land. Why should they
be discriminated against in educating the Negro in the South? Should
this service and philanthropy be directed to founding and supporting
similar institutions for the more unfortunate class of the stronger
race, there would be no question about the color of teachers though
they be Indian or Japanese. The means used in maintaining these
institutions is not obtained from the Negro nor by his influence.
Would a change in the policy of the teaching force help or hinder in
securing this aid? This change would establish more rigidly the color
line so objectionable to the Negro himself. It would be a backward
movement. In all probability the color of the darker races is due more
largely to some sort of skin disease, than to other causes,
transmitted through the ages since the flood. That is a very
charitable Negro who wishes isolation to prevent inoculating the
Anglo-Saxon if permitted to teach the Negro. The Negro has ample
opportunity for his individuality in his societies and churches. He
has gained absolutely nothing by completely divorcing himself from the
fostering care of the Anglo-Saxon. Observe the contrast between those
Negro churches wholly separated from the Anglo-Saxon and those
partially controlled by the dominant race. Those who have been
somewhat under the guardianship of the stronger race are usually the
highest types of intelligent Christianity. Both races have suffered
by the separation; but it is needless to say how much greater the
Negro has suffered. The Negro has more to gain by co-operation with
his Anglo-Saxon neighbors. Intelligence must be handed down from
generation to generation, from race to race by contact, from
individual to individual. In the schools of the American Baptist Home
Mission Society, for the year 1898-1899, the annual report shows that
out of 321 teachers employed, 124 were Negroes. It will be borne out
by the report of each succeeding year. In a large measure, the other
missionary societies North and South are about as liberal in
recognizing the Negro teacher. Therefore to mix the faculties and
boards of trustees of all these schools would be ideal in most
respects. This would be a happy golden mean. Let us be patient,
considerate, and faithful.
FOURTH PAPER.