Twentieth Century Negro Literature Part 18

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 a.s.sistance 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 Inst.i.tute, 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 princ.i.p.alship 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 Inst.i.tute, Augusta, Ga. He was the prime factor in the movement which resulted in the organization of the present Georgia State Teachers' a.s.sociation, of which he was secretary for a number of years. In the organization of the Florida Teachers' a.s.sociation he was one of the original members. As an inst.i.tute 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 grat.i.tude 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 a.s.sertion. 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 inst.i.tutions 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 pa.s.sed, 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 a.s.sociates 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 const.i.tuency that consideration which a superior statesmanship and a practical Christianity dictate.

These inst.i.tutions, under their present management, have met the exigencies of the times. Granting that no human effort is perfect, the fact remains that these inst.i.tutions 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 circ.u.mstances will allow, Does well, acts n.o.bly, 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 G.o.d's image. The Negro colleges in the South, with scarcely an exception, were built up by Northern philanthropy. They are the best inst.i.tutions 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 circ.u.mstances 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 const.i.tutionally 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 cla.s.s 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 inst.i.tutions wholly run by the Negro! Many of them are striking ill.u.s.trations 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 a.s.sume entire control of these great inst.i.tutions 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 inst.i.tutions. 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 inst.i.tution. 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 inst.i.tutions 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; a.s.suming 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 circ.u.mstances 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 cla.s.s. 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 compet.i.tors 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 inst.i.tutions for the more unfortunate cla.s.s of the stronger race, there would be no question about the color of teachers though they be Indian or j.a.panese. The means used in maintaining these inst.i.tutions 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.

IS IT TIME FOR THE NEGRO COLLEGES IN THE SOUTH TO BE PUT INTO THE HANDS OF NEGRO TEACHERS?

BY MRS. PAUL L. DUNBAR.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. Paul L. Dunbar]

MRS. PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR.

Mrs. Paul Laurence Dunbar (Alice Ruth Moore) was born in New Orleans, La., July 19, 1875. Attended public schools there and Straight University, and was graduated from the latter inst.i.tution in 1892. Taught in the public schools of New Orleans until 1896, when she went to Boston and New York for study, taking a course in Manual Training at the Teachers'

College. Was appointed a teacher in the public schools of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1897, and taught there until her marriage to Mr. Paul Laurence Dunbar, in March, 1898.

In 1895, Mrs. Dunbar's first book, "Violets and Other Tales," was published by the Monthly Review Publishing Company, Boston. The next book, "The Goodness of St.

Rocque," published by Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, in 1899, was favorably received by some of the best critics. Mrs.

Dunbar has written a number of short stories for some of the leading magazines and newspapers in the country, among them McClures, the Smart Set, Ladies' Home Journal, the Southern Workman, Leslie's Weekly, the New York Sun, Boston Transcript, and for over a year did regular work on the Chicago News.

While teaching in Brooklyn, Mrs. Dunbar was actively interested in mission work on the East Side of New York, conducting cla.s.ses in manual training and kindergarten after the regular hours of public school work was over. Since her marriage, Mrs. Dunbar has resided in Washington, and has done some of her best work in short story writing, as well as acting as secretary and general helpmeet for her husband.

It seems a rather incongruous fact that so many of our Negro colleges in the South, whose purpose is avowedly the insistence of higher education of Negro youth, should deny that youth not only the privilege of teaching in the very inst.i.tutions which have taught him, but also deny him the privilege of looking up to and reverencing his own people. For so long have the whites been held up to the young people as the only ones whom it is worth while taking as models; for so long have the ignorant of the race been taught that their best efforts after all, are hardly worth while, that wherever possible, it behooves us to place over the ma.s.ses those of their own race who have themselves attained to that dignity to which the education of the schools tend.

It has been my good or ill fortune to number among my acquaintances a number of young boys and girls who could rattle off with fluency the names of Greek philosophers of ancient days; who could at a moment's notice tell you the leading writers of the Elizabethan period, or the minor Italian poets of the fifteenth century, but who were hopelessly ignorant of what members of their own race had done. They had, perhaps, a vague idea of an occasional name here and there, but what the owner of that name had done was a mystery. Happily these instances are decreasing in proportion as our schools are filled with teachers of our own race who can teach a proper appreciation of, and pride in the deeds of that race.

It is unreasonable to suppose that any teacher of another race, no matter how conscientious and scrupulous, is going to take the same interest in putting before his pupils the achievements of that people in contradistinction to the accepted course of study as laid down by the text books. How many young students of history in the white-taught schools remember being drilled to revere the glorious memory of Lincoln, and Sumner and Garrison and Wendell Phillips, and how few remember being drilled to remember Crispus Attucks and the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth Ma.s.sachusetts? How many students of literature are taught of the first woman writer in America to earn distinction, Margaret Hutchinson, but how few are reminded of her contemporary, Phyllis Wheatley? How many students remember the lachrymose career of Byron and how few know of his contemporary, Poushkin? The student of natural science is taught about Franklin, but not of Benjamin Banneker; the elocution cla.s.ses remember Booth and Macready, and even how excellent an actor was Shakespeare, but they seldom hear of Ira Aldridge. How many of the mathematical students remember that Euclid was a black man? And the elementary cla.s.ses in art, how glibly they can discuss Turner and Ruskin and the pre-Raphaelites and the style of Gibson, but they are likely not to know the name of the picture that the Paris Salon hung for Henry Tanner.

It is unreasonable, of course, to expect any Caucasian to remember these things, or if remembering them, to be able to point them out with the same amount of pride and persistence that a Negro in the same position would. And therein lies the secret of the foundation of a family, a government, a nation--pride. Pride in what has been done, in what may be done, in the ability to reach the very highest point that may be reached. With that quality instilled in the young from the very first, the foundation for individual achievement is firmly laid; and what more can we ask of any education?

It has been said that Negro boys and girls hearing of the deeds of some great man or woman have exclaimed, "Oh, well, no colored person could do that!" Fortunately, there are few of these now, but how much it is to be regretted that such an expression could ever have been made--at least within the last thirty years?

By all means let us have Negro teachers in our Negro schools and colleges. Let the boy who wants to be a farmer carry with him the memory of successful Negro farmers and of a Negro who knew enough about scientific agriculture to teach him to compete with the best white farmers in the country. It will be easier for him to reach his goal, and he will have more respect for his own ability and less cringing, servile admiration for his Caucasian rivals. Let the boy or girl whose inclinations tend to a profession get their instruction from some one whose complexion is akin to their own. It is a spur to ambition, a goal to be reached. The "what man has done, man may do" is so much easier from a successful brother than from a successful, though supercilious, neighbor.

Of course, the good effect of Negro teachers upon the youthful minds is the only point thus far touched upon. The other side of the question is obvious. What is the use of training teachers, of spending time and money acquiring college training if there is no place to use such training? There is room, and plenty of it, for the college bred man and woman, and for every place filled by our own teachers there is so much more money saved to our own race.

The closer the corporation, the wealthier it is. The tighter the lines drawn about distributing money outside our own great family the more affluent our family becomes. Every cent is an important item. More money for ourselves, a better opinion of our own achievements and ability to do more, higher regard for the raising of Negro ideals, and a deeper sense of the responsibility imposed on each individual to do his part towards leavening the lump; these things are dependent upon our teachers in our own schools.

By all means let us have Negro teachers in Negro colleges.

TOPIC IX.

WILL THE EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO SOLVE THE RACE PROBLEM?

BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Booker T. Washington.]

PROF. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, A. M.