The Anti-Slavery Examiner Volume II Part 18

Yes, except the children in St. John's, most of whom were free before.

5. Are the teachers negroes, colored, or white?

One white, four colored, and sixteen black.[A]

[Footnote A: This number includes only salaried teachers, and not the gratuitous.]

6. How many of the teachers were slaves prior to the first of August, 1834?

Thirteen.

7. What were their opportunities for learning?

The Sunday and night schools; and they have much improved themselves since they have been in their present employment.

8. What are their qualifications for teaching, as to education, religion, zeal, perseverance, &c.?

The white and two of the colored teachers, I presume, are well calculated, in all respects, to carry on a school in the ablest manner.

The others are deficient in education, but are zealous, and very persevering.

9. What are the wages of these teachers?

The teachers' pay is, some four, and some three dollars per month. This sum is far too small, and would be greater if the funds were sufficient.

10. How and by whom are the expenses of superintendent, teachers, and schools defrayed?

The superintendent's salary, &c., is paid by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. The expenses of teachers and schools are defrayed by charitable societies and friends in England, particularly the Negro Education Society, which grants 50l. sterling per annum towards this object, and pays the rent of the Church Missionary Society's premises in Willoughby Bay for use of the schools. About 46l. sterling per annum is also raised from the children; each child taught writing and needle-work, pays 1-1/2d. sterling per week.

11. Is it your opinion that the negro children are as ready to receive instruction as white children?

Yes, perfectly so.

12. Do parents manifest interest in the education of their children?

They do. Some of the parents are, however, still very ignorant, and are not aware how much their children lose by irregular attendance at the schools.

13. Have there been many instances of _theft_ among the scholars?

Not more than among any other cla.s.s of children.

RESULTS.

Besides an attendance upon the various schools, we procured specific information from teachers, missionaries, planters, and others, with regard to the past and present state of education, and the weight of testimony was to the following effect:

First, That education was by no means extensive previous to emanc.i.p.ation. The testimony of one planter was, that not a _tenth part_ of the present adult population knew the letters of the alphabet. Other planters, and some missionaries, thought the proportion might be somewhat larger; but all agreed that it was very small. The testimony of the venerable Mr. Newby, the oldest Moravian missionary in the island, was, that such was the opposition among the planters, it was impossible to teach the slaves, excepting by night, secretly. Mr. Thwaites informed us that the children were not allowed to attend day school after they were six years old. All the instruction they obtained after that age, was got at night--a very unsuitable time to study, for those who worked all day under an exhausting sun. It is manifest that the instruction received under six years of age, would soon be effaced by the incessant toil of subsequent life. The account given in a former connection of the adult school under the charge of Mr. Morrish, at Newfield, shows most clearly the past inattention to education. And yet Mr. M. stated that his school was a _fair specimen of the intelligence of the negroes generally_. One more evidence in point is the acknowledged ignorance of Mr. Thwaites' teachers. After searching through the whole freed population for a dozen suitable teachers of children. Mr. T. could not find even that number who could _read well_. Many children in the schools of six years old read better than their teachers.

We must not be understood to intimate that up to the period of the Emanc.i.p.ation, the planters utterly prohibited the education of their slaves. Public sentiment had undergone some change previous to that event. When the public opinion of England began to be awakened against slavery, the planters were indured, for peace sake, to _tolerate_ education to some extent; though they cannot be said to have _encouraged_ it until after Emanc.i.p.ation. This is the substance of the statements made to us. Hence it appears that when the active opposition of the planters to education ceased, it was succeeded by a general indifference, but little less discouraging. We of course speak of the planters as a body; there were some honorable exceptions.

Second, Education has become very extensive _since_ emanc.i.p.ation. There are probably not less than _six thousand_ children who now enjoy daily instruction. These are of all ages under twelve. All cla.s.ses feel an interest in _knowledge_. While the schools previously established are flourishing in newness of life, additional ones are springing up in every quarter. Sabbath schools, adult and infant schools, day and evening schools, are all crowded. A teacher in a Sabbath school in St.

John's informed us, that the increase in that school immediately after emanc.i.p.ation was so sudden and great, that he could compare it to nothing but the rising of the mercury when the thermometer is removed _out of the shade into the sun_.

We learned that the Bible was the princ.i.p.al book taught in all the schools throughout the island. As soon as the children have learned to read, the Bible is put into their hands. They not only read it, but commit to memory portions of it every day:--the first lesson in the morning is an examination on some pa.s.sage of scripture. We have never seen, even among Sabbath school children, a better acquaintance with the characters and events recorded in the Old and New Testaments, than among the negro children in Antigua. Those pa.s.sages which inculcate _obedience to law_ are strongly enforced; and the prohibitions against stealing, lying, cheating, idleness, &c., are reiterated day and night.

Great attention is paid to _singing_ in all the schools.

The songs which they usually sung, embraced such topics as Love to G.o.d--the presence of G.o.d--obedience to parents--friendship for brothers and sisters and schoolmates--love of school--the sinfulness of sloth, of lying, and of stealing. We quote the following hymn as a specimen of the subjects which are introduced into their songs: often were we greeted with this sweet hymn, while visiting the different schools throughout the island.

BROTHERLY LOVE.

CHORUS.

We're all brothers, sisters, brothers, We're sisters and brothers,

And heaven is our home.

We're all brothers, sisters, brothers, We're sisters and brothers, And heaven is our home.

The G.o.d of heaven is pleased to see That little children all agree; And will not slight the praise they bring, When loving children join to sing: We're all brothers, sisters, brothers, &c.

For love and kindness please him more Than if we gave him all our store; And children here, who dwell in love, Are like his happy ones above.

We're all brothers, sisters, brothers, &c.

The gentle child that tries to please, That hates to quarrel, fret, and teaze, And would not say an angry word-- That child is pleasing to the Lord.

We're all brothers, sisters, brothers, &c.

O G.o.d! forgive, whenever we Forget thy will, and disagree; And grant that each of us, may find The sweet delight of being kind.

We're all brothers, sisters, brothers, &c.

We were convinced that the negroes were as capable of receiving instruction as any people in the world. The testimony of teachers, missionaries, clergymen, and planters, was uniform on this point.

Said one planter of age and long experience on the island, "The negroes are as capable of culture as any people on earth. _Color makes no difference in minds_. It is slavery alone that has degraded the negro."

Another planter, by way of replying to our inquiry on this subject, sent for a negro child of five years, who read with great fluency in any part of the Testament to which we turned her. "Now," said the gentleman, "I should be ashamed to let you hear my own son, of the same age with that little girl, read after her." We put the following questions to the Wesleyan missionaries: "Are the negroes as _apt to learn_, as other people in similar circ.u.mstances?" Their written reply was this: "We think they are; the same diversified qualities of intellect appear among them, as among other people." We put the same question to the Moravian missionaries, to the clergymen, and to the teachers of each denomination, some of whom, having taught schools in England, were well qualified to judge between the European children and the negro children; and we uniformly received substantially the same answer. Such, however, was the air of surprise with which our question was often received, that it required some courage to repeat it. Sometimes it excited a smile, as though we could not be serious in the inquiry. And indeed we seldom got a direct and explicit answer, without previously stating by way of explanation that we had no doubts of our own, but wished to remove those extensively entertained among our countrymen. After all, we were scarcely credited in Antigua. Such cases as the following were common in every school: children of four and five years old reading the Bible; children beginning in their A, B, C's, and learning to read in four months; children of five and six, answering a variety of questions on the historical parts of the Old Testament; children but a little older, displaying fine specimens of penmanship, performing sums in the compound rules, and running over the multiplication table, and the pound, shilling, and pence table, without mistake.

We were grieved to find that most of the teachers employed in the instruction of the children, were exceedingly unfit for the work. They are very ignorant themselves, and have but little skill in the management of children. This however is a necessary evil. The emanc.i.p.ated negroes feel a great anxiety for the education of their children. They encourage them to go to school, and they labor to support them, while they have strong temptation to detain them at home to work.

They also pay a small sum every week for the maintenance of the schools.

In conclusion, we would observe, that one of the prominent features of _regenerated_ Antigua, is its _education_. An intelligent religion, and a religious education, are the twin glories of this emanc.i.p.ated colony.

It is comment enough upon the difference between slavery and freedom, that the same agents which are deprecated as the destroyers of the one, are cherished as the defenders of the other.

Before entering upon a detail of the testimony which bears more directly upon slavery in America, we deem it proper to consider the inquiry.

"What is the amount of freedom in Antigua, as regulated by law?"

1st. The people are entirely free from the whip, and from all compulsory control of the master.

2d. They can change employers whenever they become dissatisfied with their situation, by previously giving a month's notice.

3d. They have the right of trial by jury in all cases of a serious nature, while for small offences, the magistrate's court is open. They may have legal redress for any wrong or violence inflicted by their employers.