The Journal of Negro History Volume III Part 10

[110] _Ibid._, V, p. 296.

[111] _Ibid._, VI, p. 349.

[112] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, VII, p. 168.

[113] _Ibid._, VII, p. 167.

[114] _Ibid._, VIII, p. 340.

[115] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, VIII, p. 104.

[116] _Ibid._, VIII, p. 162.

[117] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, VIII, pp. 161, 163.

[118] _Ibid._, VIII, p. 119.

[119] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, VIII, p. 492.

[120] _Ibid._, IX, p. 477.

[121] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, IX, p. 478.

[122] _Ibid._, IX, p. 477.

[123] _Ibid._, IX, p. 478.

[124] _Ibid._, IX, p. 479.

[125] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, IX, p. 515.

[126] _Ibid._, X, p. 76.

[127] _Ibid._, X, p. 76.

[128] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, X, p. 157.

[129] _Ibid._, X, p. 158.

[130] Jefferson MSS. Rayner, 164.

[131] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, I, p. 5.

[132] _Ibid._, I, p. 51.

[133] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, VII, p. 310.

[134] _Ibid._, X, p. 200.

[135] _Ibid._, X, p. 292.

[136] _Ibid._, X, p. 293.

[137] In 1817 Jefferson had written Thomas Humphreys:

I have not perceived the growth of this disposition (to emanc.i.p.ate the slaves and settle them elsewhere) in the rising generation, of which I once had sanguine hopes. No symptoms inform me that it will take place in my day. I leave it, therefore, to time, and not at all without hope that the day will come, equally desirable and welcome to us as to them. Perhaps the proposition now on the carpet at Washington to provide an establishment on the coast of Africa for voluntary emigrations of people of color may be the corner stone of this future edifice.--Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, X, p. 77.

[138] Ford edition of _Jefferson's Writings_, X, p. 344.

[139] _Ibid._, X, p. 385.

SOME UNDISTINGUISHED NEGROES

A LITTLE SLAVE BOY was intrusted with a card which he was to bear to a person to whom it was directed and so charmed was he with the beautiful inscription drawn upon it that he was seized with an unconquerable desire to learn the mystery it contained. To this end he persuaded a little boy of his master's to teach him the letters of the alphabet. He was discovered in the act and whipped. His curiosity, however, to learn the secret, which was locked up in those mysterious characters, was only increased, and he was detected in another attempt, and accordingly chastised. By this time he had so far penetrated the secret that nothing could deter him from further effort. A third time he was detected, and whipped almost to death.

Still he persevered; and then to keep the matter secret, if possible, he crept into a hogshead, which lay in a rather retired place and leaving just hole enough to let in a little light, he sat there on a little straw, and thus prosecuted his object. He knew he must be whipped for being absent; and he often had to lie to conceal the cause; but such were the strivings of his n.o.ble nature, such his irrepressible longings after the hidden treasures of knowledge, that nothing could subdue them, and he accomplished his purpose.[140]

EDWARD MITCh.e.l.l, a colored man, was brought from the South by President Brown of Dartmouth College. He soon indicated a desire for mental culture on being brought within its influence at college. At first there was some hesitation about admitting him as the children of southerners sometimes attended Dartmouth and one of them had recently instructed his son to withdraw should the inst.i.tution admit a Negro to his cla.s.ses. Mitch.e.l.l was prepared for entering the Freshman cla.s.s, was received as a regular student and was promoted through all other cla.s.ses to a full honorable graduation. He was uniformly treated with respect by his fellow students throughout his collegiate career. Upon graduating in 1828 he was settled as a pastor of a Baptist church in the State of Vermont, where he rendered creditable service.[141]

LUKE MULBER came to Steubenville, Ohio, in 1802, hired himself to a carpenter during the summer at ten dollars a month, and went to school in the winter. This course he pursued for three years, at the expiration of which he had learned to do rough carpenter work.

Industry and economy crowned his labors with success. In 1837 he was a contractor hiring four or five journeymen, two of whom were his sons, having calls for more work than they could do. He lived in a fine brick house which he had built for himself on Fourth Street, valued at two thousand five hundred dollars and owned other property in the city. Persons who came into contact with Mulber found him a quiet, humble, Christian man, possessing those characteristics expected of a useful member of society.[142]

SAMUEL MARTIN, a man of color, and the oldest resident of Port Gibson, Mississippi, emanc.i.p.ated six of his slaves in 1844, bringing them to Cincinnati where he believed they would have a better opportunity to start life anew. These were two mulatto women with their four quadroon children, the color of whom well ill.u.s.trated the moral condition of that State, in that each child had a different father and they retained few marks of their partial African descent. Mr. Martin was himself a slave until 1829. He purchased his freedom for a large sum most of which he earned by taking time from sleep for work. Thereafter he acquired considerable property. He was not a slaveholder in the southern sense of that word. His purpose was to purchase his fellowmen in bondage that he might give them an opportunity to become free.[143]

FOOTNOTES:

[140] _The Philanthropist_, July 28, 1837.

[141] _Ibid._

[142] _The Philanthropist_, June 2, 1837.

[143] _Cincinnati Morning Herald_, June 1, 1844.

BOOK REVIEWS

_Negro Education, A Study of Private and Higher Schools for Colored People in the United States._ By THOMAS JESSE JONES. United States Bureau of Education in Cooperation with the Phelps-Stokes Fund. Issued as Bulletins, 1916, Nos. 38 and 39. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1917. Vol. I, pp. 700. Vol. II, pp. 700.

This report is the result of a survey of Negro education made during the past four years under the direction of Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, specialist in the education of racial groups, United States Bureau of Education. This is the most comprehensive and authoritative report relating to Negro education that has been made. The report covers all Negro private schools above the elementary grades. The total number of schools described is 748, of which 635 are private schools, 28 are state inst.i.tutions, 68 are public high schools, and 27 are county training schools. Reports are also made on 43 special inst.i.tutions such as hospitals, orphanages and reformatories.

It appears that no form of education for Negroes is satisfactorily equipped or supported. The striking facts in the study of the financial support of Negro education are, first, the wide divergencies in the per capita of public school expenditures for white and Negro children: $10.06 for each white child and $2.89 for each Negro child, and second, the extent to which schools for Negroes are dependent upon private aid. It also appears that the private schools provide the greater proportion of all educational opportunities above the elementary grades. They also offer practically all the instruction in agriculture, medicine and religion.