Part 25 (2/2)
The friends of the colored race, however, were not easily discouraged by that ”vulgar race prejudice which reigns in the breasts of working classes”[1] Arthur Tappan, Gerrit Smith, and William Lloyd Garrison made the appeal in behalf of the untrained laborers[2] Although they knew the difficulties encountered by Negroes seeking to learn trades, and could daily observe hoilling master mechanics were to receive colored boys as apprentices, the abolitionists persisted in saying that by perseverance these youths could succeed in procuring profitable situations[3] Garrison believed that their failure to find employment at trades was not due soSpeaking to the free people of color in their convention in Philadelphia in 1831, he could give them no better advice than that ”wherever you can, put your children to trades A good trade is better than a fortune, because when once obtained it cannot be taken away” Discussing the matter further, he said: ”Now, there can be no reason why your sons should fail to enious and industrious et trades, they will be able to accuets influence, and influence respectability Influence, wealth, and character will certainly destroy those prejudices which now separate you from society”[4]
[Footnote 1: _Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, p 26]
[Footnote 2: This state in _The Liberator_ from time to time]
[Footnote 3: _Minutes of the Second Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, 1831, p 10]
[Footnote 4: _Minutes of the Second Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, 1831, p II]
To expect the cooperation of the white working classes in thus elevating the colored race turned out to be a delusion They reached the conclusion that in ainst capital they had a better chance without Negroes than with them White mechanics of the North not only refused to accept colored boys as apprentices, but would not even work for eroes
Generally refused by the master mechanics of Cincinnati, a colored cabinet- to hire hi to allow the newcoro who could preach in a white church of the North would have had difficulty in securing the contract to build a new edifice for that congregation A colored et his son into a lawyer's office to learn law than he could ”into a blackse hammer”[2]
[Footnote 1: _The Liberator_, June 13, 1835]
[Footnote 2: Douglass, _Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass_, p 248]
Left then in a quandary as to what they should do, northern Negroes hoped to use the then popular ”manual labor schools” to furnish the facilities for both practical and classical education These schools as operated for the whites, however, were not primarily trade schools
Those which admitted persons of African descent paidfor the reason that colored students could not then hope to acquire such knowledge as apprentices This tendency ell shown by the action of the free Negroes through their delegates in the convention assembled in Philadelphia in 1830
Conversant with the policy of so reshaping the educational systee even to the hovels, these leaders were easily won to the sche their schools ”on the manual labor systeroes of the North These gentle sufficient attention to the development of the power to use their hands skillfully[1] One of the first acts of the convention was to inquire as to how fast coloredattached to mechanical pursuits,[2] and whether or not there was any prospect that a manual labor school for the instruction of the youth would shortly be established The report of the coing that the convention itself decided to establish an institution of the kind at New Haven, Connecticut They appealed to their fellows for help, called the attention of philanthropists to this need of the race, and commissioned William Lloyd Garrison to solicit funds in Great Britain[3] Garrison found hearty supporters a the friends of freedom in that country Some, who had been induced to contribute to the Colonization Society, found it more advisable to aid the new movement Charles Stewart of Liverpool wrote Garrison that he could count on his British co-workers to raise 1000 for this purpose[4] At the same time Americans were equally active Arthur Tappan subscribed 1000 on the condition that each of nineteen other persons should contribute the same amount[5]
[Footnote 1: _Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, p 26; and _The Liberator_, October 22, 1831; and _The Abolitionist_, November, 1833 (p 191)]
[Footnote 2: _Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, p 27]
[Footnote 3: _Minutes of the Third Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, p 34]
[Footnote 4: _The Abolitionist_ (November 1833), p 191]
[Footnote 5: _The Liberator_, October 22, 1831]
Before these well-laid plans could mature, however, unexpected opposition developed in New Haven Indignation ainst this project were filed, and the free people of color were notified that the institution was not desired in Connecticut[1]
It was said that these ht cause friction between the two student bodies, and that the school roes At theirof colleges for educating colored people is an unwarrantable and dangerous undertaking to the internal concerns of other states and ought to be discouraged, and that the mayor, aldermen, common council, and freemen will resist the movement by every lawful means”[2] In view of such drastic action the promoters had to abandon their plan
No such protests were made by the citizens of New Haven, however, when the colonizationists were planning to establish there a roes to leave the country
[Footnote 1: Monroe, _Cyclopaedia of Education_, vol iv, p 406]
[Footnote 2: _Ibid_, vol iv, p 406; and _The Liberator_, July 9, 1831]
The movement, however, was not then stopped by this outburst of race prejudice in New Haven Directing attention to another coland Antislavery Society took up this scheme and collected funds to establish a manual labor school When the officials had on hand about 1000 it was discovered that they could acco the Noyes Acadees as were necessary to subserve the purposes intended[1] The plan was not to convert this into a colored school
The promoters hoped to maintain there a model academy for the co-education of the races ”on the manual labor system” The treasurer of the Antislavery Society was to turn over certain moneys to this academy to provide for the needs of the colored students, who then nuh it had been reported that the people of the toere in accord with the principal's acceptance of this proposition, there were soon evidences to the contrary Fearing iinary evils, theseto a sith a hundred yoke of oxen[2] The better eleht protest HH Garnett and Alexander Cruht education at this academy
[Footnote 1: _The Liberator_, July 4, 1835]