Part 1 (1/2)

The Education Of The Negro Prior To 1861

by Carter Godwin Woodson

PREFACE

About two years ago the author decided to set forth in a sro education, thinking that he would have to deal largely with theover docuround for recent achievements in this field, he discovered that he would write abook should he confine himself to the ante-bellus of Negroes for enlightenment under most adverse circumstances read like beautiful ro as is this phase of the history of the Aro, it has as a field of profitable research attracted only MB Goodho published in the Special Report of the United States Commissioner of Education of 1871 an exhaustive _History of the Schools for the Colored Population in the District of Columbia_ In that saal Status of the Colored Population in Respect to Schools and Education in the Different States_ But although the author of the latter collected a mass of valuable h Other publications touching this subject have dealt either with certain localities or special phases

Yet evident as lected aspect of our history, the author of this dissertation is far fro that he has exhausted the subject With the hope of vitally interesting soned has endeavored to narrate in brief how benevolent teachers of both races strove to give the ante-belluained freedohest and best sense

The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr JE

Moorland, International Secretary of the Young Men's Christian association, for valuable inforroes of Ohio

CG Woodson

Washi+ngton, DC _June 11, 1919_

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Brought fro class of a pioneering society in the neorld, the heathen slaves had to be trained to uent masters that slaves who had souage of their owners would be more valuable than rude men hom one could not communicate The questions, however, as to exactly what kind of training these Negroes should have, and how far it should go, were to the white race then as much athat slaves could not be enlightened without developing in the for liberty, not a few masters maintained that the more brutish the bondmen the more pliant they become for purposes of exploitation It was this class of slaveholders that finally won theand deterroes should not be educated

The history of the education of the ante-belluroes, therefore, falls into two periods The first extends from the time of the introduction of slavery to the climax of the insurrectionary movement about 1835, when the majority of the people in this country answered in the affirmative the question whether or not it was prudent to educate their slaves Then followed the second period, when the industrial revolution changed slavery from a patriarchal to an econoed by abolitionists, anize servile insurrections that the pendulu the other way By this time most southern white people reached the conclusion that it was i overmuch self-assertion

The early advocates of the education of Negroes were of three classes: first, masters who desired to increase the economic efficiency of their labor supply; second, sympathetic persons ished to help the oppressed; and third, zealous e of divine love cae that they h the kindness of the first class, slaves had their best chance for mental improvement Each slaveholder dealt with the situation to suit hiardless of public opinion Later, when measures were passed to prohibit the education of slaves, some masters, always a law unto theroes in defiance of the hostile legislation Sympathetic persons were not able to accomplish much because they were usually reformers, who not only did not own slaves, but dwelt in practically free settlements far from the plantations on which the bondmen lived

The Spanish and French missionaries, the first to face this probleroes throughout America Some of these early heralds of Catholicisroes, and advocated the enslavement of the Africans rather than that of the Red Men But being anxious to see the Negroes enlightened and brought into the Church, they courageously directed their attention to the teaching of their slaves, provided for the instruction of the nuranted freedhest classes Put to shalish colonists had to find a way to overcohtenht not lead to servile insurrection, nevertheless feared that their conversion ency the colonists secured, through legislation by their assemblies and foration of the law that a Christian could not be held as a slave Then allowed access to the bondland, sent out by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel an Parts, undertook to educate the slaves for the purpose of extensive proselyting

Contemporaneous with these early workers of the Established Church of England were the liberal Puritans, who directed their attention to the conversion of the slaves long before this sect advocated abolition

Many of this connection justified slavery as established by the precedent of the Hebrews, but they felt that persons held to service should be instructed as were the servants of the household of Abraharess of the cause was ioted class of Puritans, who did not think well of the policy of incorporating undesirable persons into the Church so closely connected then with the state The first settlers of the Aroes the saes they provided for persons of their own race, were the Quakers Believing in the brotherhood of ht the colored people to read their own ”instruction in the book of the law that theyas was the aspect of things after these early efforts, the contelect to instruct the slaves show that the cause lacked soeneral Then cahts ofthe civilized world After 1760 the nascent social doctrine found response a the Aroes A new day then dawned for the dark-skinned race Men like Patrick Henry and James Otis, who demanded liberty for themselves, could not but concede that slaves were entitled at least to freedom of body The frequent acts of e in attitude toward persons of color, turned loose upon society a large nu in the duties of citizenshi+p To enlighten these freedmen schools, missions, and churches were established by benevolent and religious workers These colaborers included at this time the Baptists and Methodists who, thanks to the spirit of toleration incident to the Revolution, were allowed access to Negroes bond and free

With all of these new opportunities Negroes exhibited a rapid ent colored men proved to be useful and trustworthy servants; they became much better laborers and artisans, and many of theee plantations Moreover, better rudimentary education served her attainroes learned to appreciate and write poetry and contributed so todisproved the theories of their mental inferiority, soestion of Cotton Mather, were e these evidences of a general uplift of the Negroes, certain educators advocated the establish of these institutions, however, must not be understood as a movement to separate the children of the races on account of caste prejudice The dual system resulted froing froe It was easily seen that their education should no longer be doroes in mind, their friends tried to unite the benefits of practical and cultural education The teachers of colored schools offered courses in the industries along with advanced work in literature,took lessons in French

So startling were the rapid strides made by the colored people in their mental development after the revolutionary era that certain southerners who had not seriously objected to the enlightenan to favor the half reactionary policy of educating them only on the condition that they should be colonized The colonization movement, however, was supported also by soress of the colored people during the period of better beginnings, felt that they should be given an opportunity to be transplanted to a free country where they ht develop without restriction

Timorous southerners, however, soon had other reasons for their uncharitable attitude During the first quarter of the nineteenth century two effective forces were rapidly increasing the nuradually prohibited the education of the colored people in all places except certain urban coroes had been sufficiently enlightened to provide their own school facilities The first of these forces was the ide industrialthat the resulting increased deave rise to the plantation systeer nu too numerous to be considered as included in the body politic as conceived by Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone, the slaves were generally doohtenht it unwise to educate men thus destined to live on a plane with beasts, but considered itseven years and buy another in his stead than to teach and hu his efficiency

The other force conducive to reaction was the circulation through intelligent Negroes of antislavery accounts of the wrongs to colored people and the well portrayed exploits of Toussaint L'Ouverture