A conference on Rural Industrial Schools for Colored People in the
South was held in New York April 17-18. The conference was called
by six colored principals: Leslie Pinckney Hill, of Manassas, Va.;
William E. Benson, of Kowaliga, Ala.; W. J. Edwards, of Snow Hill,
Ala.; W. A. Hunt, of Fort Valley. Ga.; W. D. Holtzclaw, of Utica,
Miss., and Emma Wilson of Mayesville, S. C. Between one and two
hundred people attended the various sessions, and nearly every
southern state was represented.
There are about 200 schools for Negroes in the South which are
supported by private philanthropy. Some of these schools are
supported by such bodies as the American Missionary Association
but a larger number have been organized by the initiative of their
principals and have no backing save that of their individual boards.
Mr. Hill, in his opening address, pleaded for co-operation among
the principals and the boards of Negro schools. Under the present
system he said each school works for itself, determines its own
educational standard, buys its supplies and unaided raises its
money. He recommended co-operation in the raising of funds, in the
standardizing of studies, in the standardizing of accounts and in the
buying of supplies.
These four suggestions were the central themes of the conference.
The problem of how to raise money received the most attention. At
present the members of the board of the school and the principal
appeal to any person of means who can be approached. As the number
of schools increases the same people are solicited again and again,
and the raising of money becomes increasingly difficult. The colored
principal jeopardizes his school by his continued absences, and he
often grows despondent as he knocks, frequently in vain, at the door
of office or home.
Clarence H. Kelsey, president of the Title Guarantee and Trust
Company of New York declared that the present system of money-raising
is breaking down. Many of the smaller schools, he said, would in the
future find it impossible to continue unless they could enlarge their
plans for self-support.
Oswald Garrison Villard, editor of the New York _Evening Post_
and chairman of the board of directors of the Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, suggested that the field be divided
and one section of the country assigned to one school, another
section to another. Instead for instance of twenty-five schools
trying to get support from a city like Rochester, two or three should
use this territory.
The city would then feel responsible he argued for a definite amount
of support, and would take a keener interest in doing a good deal
for a few schools than in doing a little for a score or two. The
conference came to no decision on this matter.
The discussion on co-operation in the raising of funds incidentally
indicated the need for carrying out Mr. Hill’s next two suggestions,
the standardizing of the curriculum, and the standardizing of
accounts. The curriculum in the Negro schools is left to the
principal and his board. While recognizing the different conditions
in different southern states, it was agreed that some uniformity
in courses of study should be secured. The need of good academic
training was strongly emphasized by the conference. It was argued
that in his zeal for industrial work, the principal must not forget
the foundation of all school work, the ability to read and write
well, to use numbers, and to reason clearly and intelligently.
Standardizing studies it was recognized would facilitate the
standardizing of accounts. A suggestive paper was read on this
subject by Charles E. Mitchell, certified public accountant of the
West Virginia Colored Institute.
The fourth suggestion that the schools might save by co-operative
buying was a new idea to most of the people present, and was felt to
be worth looking into carefully. Mr. Hill pointed to the co-operative
movement in Germany, where the farmers, each insignificant as a unit,
as a co-operative body can command a credit of 200,000,000 marks.
“Why,” he said, “should not the schools buy their flour from the same
mill, their coal from the same mine? Such an arrangement would save
them tens of thousands of dollars each year.”
While the conference was concerned with the smaller secondary schools
of the South, delegates were present from Hampton and Tuskegee.
The conference closed with the formation of a temporary
organization consisting of W. D. Holtzclaw, president; Emma Wilson,
vice-president, Leslie Pinckney Hill, secretary and treasurer, and
four other board members W. A. Hunt, W. J. Edwards, W. T. B. Williams
and O. L. Coleman. These officers are to hold a meeting in Atlanta
on June 17, and will submit their conclusions to the larger body of
school principals in November. It was the hope of the meeting that a
practical plan of co-operation might be presented.