Negro Education
TAFT
The White House,
Washington, D. C.
"I am not one of those who be¬
lieve that it is well to educate the
mass of Negroes with academic or
university education. On the con¬
trary, I am firmly convinced that
the hope of the Negro is in indus¬
trial education throughout the
South, and in teaching him to be a
better farmer, a better carpenter, a
better machinist, and a better
blacksmith than he is now, and to
make more blacksmiths and more
good farmers than there are now
amongst the Negroes.
"But I have studied the matter
considerably and have also be¬
come convinced that it is necessary
to have a few high-class Negro
universities for those who are to be
leaders of the race and who are to
figure prominently in a professional
way—their ministers, their physi¬
cians, their lawyers and teachers,
because WE HAVE GOT
TO TREAT THE RACE
AS DISTINCT FROM THE
WHITE RACE."
(An extract from President Taft's letter
read at 45th commencement, Fisk Univer¬
sity, at Nashville, Tenn., June 14, 1911.)
ROOSEVELT
" I most earnestly commend
your work. You do not need
to be told how emphatically I
favor industrial education for
the COLORED man no less
than for the WHITE; but I
cordially agree with Booker
Washington in his support of
Fisk, because it is eminently
undesirable that the Negro
should have only a chance
to get technical education
in industry and agriculture.
"With the NEGRO as with
the WHITE, while such train¬
ing is that of which there is
fundamentally the greatest
need for the greatest number,
it is imperative for the sake of
the race that there shall be op¬
portunity of furnishing a dif¬
ferent type of training for cer¬
tain portions of the race."
(Extract from Colonel Roosevelt's
letter, read at the 45th commence¬
ment, Fisk University, Nashville,
Tenn., June 14, 1911.