She
Condition and Education
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v v The Negro v v
T5he
Condition and Education of the Negro
DELIVERED BY
Bishop W. J. Gaines. D. D.
AT THE
OF
tg^e cH2sl ^neahioDal 0ci2f r*e^-
Clt (gett^el Ci. E. C^Fel?
pai% /). J.
September 1st. 1909
PHILADELPHIA, PA.,
f. M. E. BOOK CONCERN.
631 PIKE STREET
The Condition and Education of
the Negro
By Bishop W. J. Gaines, D.D.
There are problems to solve in every situation of
life. It seems that the Creator placed us in a world
where questions for settlement would confront us at
every step—questions that should tax the utmost
power of the mind to determine rightly, and hence¬
forth become the basis upon which to proceed in
thought and action.
Individuals have their problems to settle. No
man has ever lived rightly and nobly who has not
wrestled with great questions—who has not spent
hours and days and years in considering the mys¬
terious propositions which his life presents and en¬
deavoring to dispose of them as wisely as it was
given him to do.
Nations and races have their difficulties to sur¬
mount and the problems of their destiny to settle.
No nation has ever risen to greatness and glory
4 THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO
which did not meet tremendous obstacles and which
did not carve out of their very dangers the path to
dominion and power.
Greece had such a problem to solve when the mil¬
lions of Persia were swarming on their shores, but
she went bravely to the battlefield, and Marathon
and Salamis was the result.
Rome had the problem of her destiny to solve
when Hannibal, with his Carthegenians, was knock¬
ing at her gates. England had the problem of her
destiny to solve when Bonaparte had Europe at his
feet, but with undaunted courage she marshalled
her armies and bore down the eagles of France on
the field of Waterloo. America had the problem
of her destiny to solve when Britain refused her
prayer and denied her representation in the coun¬
cils of her government, but with a faith, that knew
no doubt, and a courage which despised to fear, she
went forth in the invincible power of her might and
saw at last her cause triumph on the field of historic
Yorktown.
Such a time has come in the history of the Negro
on this continent of America. He finds himself con¬
fronted with questions as grave and far-reaching in
their scope and bearing as were ever presented to
5
any people in any age for settlement. I am not
alarmed for the final issue to my people when I
look into the face of these tremendous problems.
I believe that that Providence which permitted our
coming to these shores, and the working out of 300
years of slavery, far from the land of our fathers,
is yet guiding us on to a great destiny, and for one,
I look forward to the coming years, not with fear¬
ful heart and foreboding doubt but with a sublime
and unfaltering faith, believing that the clouds
which now overhang our skies shall break away,
and the sunlight of a glorious future burst upon us
with unclouded splendor.
This destiny will not be wrought out by the
sword as has been the case with other peoples in
other ages of the world. The .day of blood and bat¬
tlefields, thank God, is passing away. The triumphs
of the future are on far nobler fields.
The roar of artillery, the rattle of musketry, the
shout of advancing columns rushing in embattled
battalions will not be the music which shall inspire
the soldier who wins the victories on the battle¬
fields of the future. Ah, no, the conflict which is
coming, aye, which is already begun, is to be a
peaceful one, fought out' on the arena of the mind,
6 THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO
and in the peaceful paths of toil and industry and
honest, intelligent and well-directed labor. The
great general of the future will not march his
armies to the bloody field, but the factory, the
workshop, the cotton mill, the mines, the forest, the
smelting-furnace and the power-house.
The age in which we live is a practical one.
Mind is unlocking the secrets of matter and fathom¬
ing the mysteries of the universe. Science is tun-,
neling the mountains, spanning rivers with steel
and girdling the world with electric wires. Her
compass points the ships to far distant ports and
marks out their paths for them across the widest
seas. Her telescope discovers the distant stars and
in her lexicon is written all their names. In a
moment she flashes her messages around the world
and lo, the islands and the continents come in speak¬
ing distance with each other.
The race or nation that fails to get in touch with
this mighty movement of progress, with this tide
of civilization that is subjecting all things to its use
and furtherance, must drop out of the advancing
tide and perish from the earth.
The hope, then, as I see it, for the Negro, or any
other race of people, is to learn, as speedily as pos-
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO
T
sible, how to take hold of the great forces that make
for their industrial betterment. No nation has ever
risen to a great position that did not first take hold
of material agencies and make the forces of nature
contribute to wealth and progress.
The four great empires of the ancient world held
all the wealth of the earth in their coffers. Greece
and Rome, at a later period, rose to dominion and
power through the resources they subsidized and
the wealth they amassed by their industrial and
commercial activity. It is true that they eventually
became the most intelligent and enlightened people,
but they laid the foundation of their intellectual
greatness first in their material and industrial en¬
terprise and activity.
It is true to-day that national power and glory
are built upon material foundations. Our wonder¬
ful civilization has been wrought out through the
mastery of nature and her wonderful resources.
America has been the greatest industrial nation that
has ever flourished on the earth. The result is that
our wealth surpasses that of England, France and
Germany combined. Who will deny that our
greatness has been built up by our inventive and in¬
dustrial spirit and enterprise.
8 THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO
Our agricultural products, our diversified indus¬
tries of every order and magnitude have given us
the greatest wealth, the greatest civilization, the
greatest power that has ever been possessed by any
nation that has ever existed in the world.
If these propositions be true, then does it not
follow that the Negro, to keep pace with advancing
civilization, to make and to hold a place among pro¬
gressive people, must turn his attention to indus¬
trial pursuits, must learn how to make use of all
the mechanical appliances which will help him to
attain position.
First, then, we must turn our attention to tech¬
nical education. I do not discount any of the work
that is being done in the public schools or in our
secondary schools, or in our colleges and universi¬
ties. On the other hand, I am proud of the record
we have made and the success we have achieved
along the lines of education as laid out by these
great institutions. They have done a vast amount
of good. And I hope never to see any decrease in
the facilities which the Negro enjoys for common
school and for college and university education
On the other hand, I want to see them multiplied a
thousandfold.
9
But the time has come for the Negro, as a race
to take a new departure, to recognize the fact that
there is now an urgent necessity that he become a
skilled laborer, and educated artisan, a worker in
brass, and iron, and steel, and electricity. Turn
which way you will, and you will find a demand for
men who know more than there is in books. Men
who understand manufacturing—men who can
manage electric devices and direct machinery—■
men who can build houses and bridges and viaducts
—men who can wield the force, finger the telegraph
board, carve wood into forms of utility and beauty,
chisel marble into sculptural shapes and swing the
granite blocks into piles of architectural grandeur
and symmetry.
The Negro can no longer be content to hold the
place of an unskilled laborer and receive only the
wages which under-workmen receive. He must as¬
pire to a master-workman, to make for himself a
place among the educated, trained laborer of this
country. Americans once thought that they could
never compete with the trained labor of England
and France, and not until within the last 50 years
have they developed their latent talent and artisans.
I can remember when nearly all the manufactured
10 THE CONDITION OP THE NEGRO
g'oods in this country came from England—iron and
steel goods, machinery of every description—crock¬
ery, cutlery, guns, glass-ware, dress-goods and al¬
most every manufactured product that was in this
country. But what a marvelous revolution has
taken place since Americans have turned to indus¬
trial pursuits and become a race of manufacturers.
England is now trembling for her supremacy as she
comes into competition with American manufactur¬
ed goods in nearly every market in the world. The
consequence is that American export trade is grow¬
ing in tremendous proportions, and in a short time
this country will surpass all nations of the earth
in the number and value of manufactured articles.
As a people, we must read the signs of the times.
We must develop, as the white people of this coun¬
try have done, our mechanical and inventive powers.
To do this, we must turn our attention to this
great and pressing matter. We must begin to found
and endow schools for the technical education of
our people. We must wisely follow the lead which
the Hon. Booker T. Washington has set for us, and
make practical industrial training a prominent fea¬
ture in our system of education.
Prof. Washington has demonstrated, beyond
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO 11
question, that the Negro has the talent for indus¬
trial success—he has shown that he can become an
artisan of the first class—that he can succeed in all
technical labors equally as well as his white brother.
It would be a revelation to the white people, as well
as the people of my own race, to visit, as I have
done, the institution of which Mr. Booker T. Wash¬
ington is President, at Tuskegee, Ala. Here is the
amplest demonstration of the Negro's capacity to
accomplish the most difficult and complicated tasks
involved in technical education. As I look upon
those splendid products, wrought out by the hands
of young men and women of my own race, I felt a
thrill of pride in my soul. I saw here the practical
proof of the capacity of the Negroes of this coun¬
try to enter the field of industrial activity and stand
shoulder to shoulder with their white brethren in
the race for progress and wealth. I saw the com4
plete answer to the oft-repeated declaration that the
Negro was incapacitated to perform any other than
the most menial labor.
As I see it, the time has now fully come for oui
leaders to open a new chapter in the Negro's his¬
tory, to launch him forth upon a career of industrial
activity and development that-will secure his place
12
THE CONDITION OP THE NEGRO
in the progressive development of this country.
He must wake up to the fact that he is in the
midst of the most magnificent material and indus¬
trial civilization the world has ever known, that
through agencies of storm and electricity the world
is growing richer every day, and that he must enter
these channels of activity if he shall have a place
among the prosperous, thrifty and happy people of
this world.
This course is imperative, so far as the Negro is
concerned, for several reasons: First. The Negro
on account of social conditions in the South is prac¬
tically shut out from the professions. There is lit¬
tle or no chance for him at present in the legal pro¬
fession. The few who have entered this field have
failed, not so much for lack of ability, as for want
of patronage. The social conditions are such that
it is impossible for even the most competent and
aspiring of my race to attain success in this field of
effort. And the same is true of all other profes7
sions, whether it be that of medicine or chemistry,
or journalism, or any other that might be mention¬
ed. It is not germane to the subject in hand tq
discuss the reason of this state of things. To mere¬
ly stfite tfiesg facts, however, i§ sufficient all
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO 13
observant persons will admit them. This being-
true, the Negro must look elsewhere than to learned
professions for the betterment of his condition in
this, country. But if the learned professions were
open to the colored people of this country in this
junction of their history, I would advise them to
look in other directions for the permanent better¬
ment of their condition. Indeed, I would counsel
them as never before to any race or nation that has
ever lived in the world.
The Yankee was shrewd enough fifty years ago
to direct his thought, his energy, his talent, in this
direction. The pursuit of agriculture was too slow
a process in the bleak valleys and on the wind¬
swept hills of New England to amass wealth and
improve his social condition. With all his might
and resistence, he turned his attention to invention
and kindred industrial work. What is the conse¬
quence to-day? The barren hills of New England
are teeming with ten thousand plants of industry
and the once poverty-stricken people of the East
are now the richest and most prosperous people
on the face of Gods' green earth.
The South is just waking up to the possibilities
before her, ■ Here in her soils are all the minerals
14
THE CONDITION OF THK NEGRO
of iron and copper and coal that are necessary to
put her in the forefront of industrial prosperity.
God has given us the climate and the natural re¬
sources, and to let them lie idle and undeveloped,
or to allow others to come and take from us our
heritage is to commit a crime against ourselves and
our children who are to come after us. If like Eng¬
land, we shall realize the greatness of our oppor¬
tunities and improve them, we too shall reap our
reward—the untold blessings of wealth and inde¬
pendence.
This certainly is the opportunity of the Negro.
There is no opposition to his entrance in this field.
On the other hand, he is invited to go in and work
with might and energy. If for no other reason, he
is wanted here for his muscle, his endurance, his
reliability as a laborer.
But to turn this opportunity to the fullest ac¬
count, the Negro must be trained and skilled. He
must learn how to adapt his work to the best re¬
sults. lie must be able to take the raw material
and convert it into the manufactured product.
Then will he become an expert, a scientific adept,
and get from his labor not the bare wages of the
crude and unskilled workman, but the wealth of the
experienced and competent artisan.
THE CONDITION OP THE NEGRO ]5
Heretofore, the Negro has depended upon agri¬
culture and the profits therefrom for a livelihood.
Nearly the whole of his energy has been directed to
the raising of cotton and corn. I would not be un¬
derstood as underrating the importance and the
necessity of this great calling, or as urging my
people as a whole to abandon it. Agriculture will
ever be at the base of our pursuits—a vocation on
which largely all vocations must depend.
But even as our white brothers are learning, we
must learn also that it is diversified industry that
makes for the betterment of a people. A people
wholly devoted to agriculture must ever remain
poor, because in that case over-production is sure
to follow, and the product of their labor can find no
adequate market. Besides, the experience of more
than 45 years has taught us that we can never rise
to independence if we depend solely upon agricul¬
ture. We must introduce a new departure and turn
a portion of our energy at least into different chan¬
nels. We must touch our magnificent forests with
the hand of artists and transform them into the
beautiful and useful products for which the Al¬
mighty designed them. We must lift the sleeping
ore from its bed, put it under the manipulation of
id
THE CONDITION 01^ T'HE NEGIllO
skill and fit it and adapt it to the wants of man.
The field is open and offers inviting returns, and
we shall be recreant to our high responsibilities if
we fail to follow the leadings of Providential oppor¬
tunity and allow aliens, foreigners, to reap our herit¬
age and gather our reward.
Second. This field is not only open to us but it
offers the only prospects, as I have already indi¬
cated, to wealth and independence. We may talk
as much as we please about social equality and
political rights, but as true as the God lives, the
Negro and the poor whites in this country cannot
look for recognition until their condition improves
—until they amass sufficient wealth to make them
independent and self-respecting citizens. A people
in straightened circumstances—such as poverty en¬
tails—can never hold a high and commanding posi¬
tion. This may sound strange, coming from one
holding the position I occupy, but it is time that
we should hear strange things, if they be true.
What influence can we exert, clothed in rags and
ignorance because we have not the means to rightly
educate ourselves and our children? The time is at
hand when we must wake up or perish.
I have said that this industrial awakening offers
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO 17
us the only prospect for independence, and I believe
it with all the depth of conviction which the truth
forces upon me. A man has only to open his eyes
and see. Is there any hope for wealth so long as
we remain farmers in the country, and barbers and
boot-blacks and dray men in the city? I cannot see
it. The men of our color who. command the best
wages, as a class, are the skilled workmen—such as
the carpenter, the brick-mason, the blacksmith.
Alas, there are so few of these. Alas, that our in¬
dustrial education has been so neglected that in¬
stead of having only a few hundreds of skilled arti¬
sans, we have hundreds of thousands.
This is the problem that we must set ourselves
to solve. We do not want to remain poor always.
We do nut want to be left behind always in the
race for wealth, and there is no way to secure it
until, as a people, we are fitted for industrial pur¬
suits by a system of technical training—such as the
white people of this country are putting into.opera¬
tion in almost every State in the Union.
We have now arrived at the stage in our history
where it is practical to begin on a large scale this
industrial education. For more than 45 years we
have been struggling to teach our people the rudi¬
ments of knowledge, to give them what is called a
18
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO
common school education, and a few of them the
blessings of secondary and higher education, or col¬
lege training-. We have made rapid strides on these-
lines and so great has been our success that we can
say to the world—58 per cent, of the colored people
of America can read and write, in other words,,
five millions of Negroes in this country can read'
and Avrite. We have therefore never been ready un¬
til now to divert our efforts for the education of the
Negroes into the channels of technical training for
the simple reason that we had to teach them first to-
read and write.
But I believe that in the Providence of God the
hour has arrived for us to take this new departure.
The foundation has been laid and now we must be¬
gin work upon it by introducing this new feature
of technical culture so that we, as a race, may seize
the opportunity of making ourselves trained arti¬
sans.
A great technological school for Negro boys
should be erected in every Southern State, and an
industrial school for our colored girls. The exigen¬
cies of the times demand it and the necessity for it
is so great that no sensible and thoughful person
can fail to see it.
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO 1&<
As I have intimated, the white people are waking
to this pressing necessity as never before. The-
State of Georgia has two of these institutions, one
for boys in Atlanta and one for girls in Milledge-
ville. And what is true of Georgia is true of the
other States.
Are the Negroes of the South to sit idly by and
make no effort in this direction? Are they content
to remain "hewers of wood and drawers of water"
while these white institutions are turning out, year
by year, so many trained and skilled men? If they
do, my word for it, we shall grow poorer and poorer.
All the lucrative and responsible positions will be
filled by the whites and we shall still continue to be
slaves in everything but name.
We must bestir ourselves on this most vital ques¬
tion. The philantrophy of Northern men which has
prompted them to erect schools and colleges in the
South for the higher education of the Negro will be
to a large extent wasted, if they do not see to it that
these schools and colleges are supplemented by in¬
dustrial pursuits of life, and hand in hand will go-
the cultured citizen and' the educated artisan.
We must not think of failure. Wherever an hon¬
est and intelligent effort has been made to build
schools of this character, help has been found.
.20
the condition of the negro
Hon. Booker T. Washington finds no difficulty in
sustaining- his school because its wise purpose com¬
mends itself to the liberality of friends of the Negro
all over this country.
If we follow the leadings of Providence and put
ourselves into the work of building technical
schools we need not doubt but that God will raise
up help for us all over this land and that we shall
succeed even beyond our hopes.
I confess, as I see it, this is now the only wise
course to pursue. This is the solution of the eco¬
nomic problem which now confronts us and is the
rainbow of promise that arches our skies.
I love my race—I long to see my people stand
upon a firm footing of prosperity—I long to see them
independent, self-respecting and progressive. 1
wish for them, as I wish for nothing else in the
world, a happy, peaceful, glorious future. I want to
see our young men intelligent, industrious, capable,
thrifty. I want to see our young women refined,
virtuous, diligent and self-respecting. I cannot
hope for these things except through the constant
betterment of their condition by intelligent train¬
ing, not only in our primary and secondary schools,
hut in those schools also which teach them to wise-
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO 2V
ly labor, to intelligently work, and to master those
branches of technical education which will make
them trained mechanics and artisans.
There are many prophets of evil—men who look
with doubt on the Negro's future and predict his
gradual but certain passing away either by extinc¬
tion or deportation. The prophets have been busy
with their dark foretellings ever since the day of
Appomattox. But in spite of all theories and all
gloomy predictions, the Negro has gone on increas¬
ing both in population and general intelligence.
To-day his condition is a thousandfold more hope¬
ful than when he first felt the boon of freedom. The
few cases of rape that have met with as much hor¬
ror and condemnation from the intelligent Negroes
of this country as from the whites themselves, have-
not lessened our faith in the future of the Negro.
The Negro will never be the apologist of crime and
punishing the wretches who are guilty. No friction
will come between the races on this question, but
the white people will find the great masses of the
colored people in perfect accord and harmony with
them on all these vital issues which relate to the
peace and good order of society.
I know not what Providence has in store for the-
l22 THE CONDITION OP THE NEGRO
colored people in the distant future, what may be
His plans for the final disposition of the Negro in
the centuries to come.
But I know that it is the purpose of God for him
to stand in his lot for the present—to do well and
wisely what lies before him to-day, to enter upon
■the open doors that are now inviting him, to seize
the opportunities that are now offered him and
make the best possible use of his present environ¬
ment.
We will come through this night of conflict. We
will see the stars, which have sprinkled our skies
and have guided us with their dim light as far as we
■have come, give way to the bright sun which shall
dawn upon us and bring to us the bright and glori¬
ous day of light, knowledge and peace.
We will not falter. The serpents and thirst and
hunger of the wilderness will not dismiss us.
The slain of our hosts, as they fall by the wayside,
shall not turn our feet from the path to hope, joy
and life.
Wre shall pass on. The pillar of cloud by day
and the pillar of fire by night shall guide our wan¬
dering feet. We shall endure. Patiently, we shall
bear, but triumphantly we shall press on.
Our faces are turned toward the morning. We
liave said farewell to the Past—farewell to Egypt
-—farewell to the Night of Darkness—To-day, we
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO
23
are shouting—"All hail to the future—All hail to
the light, All hail to the sun of righteousness."
And as we lift our songs like Mariam, we see tlie
land of darkness receding, we see the hills of Canaan
rising, blooming with flowers and radiant with
beauty. We see the grapes of Eschal purpling for
the harvest and all the valley of the Jordan smiling
with corn.
The Moabites and the Amelites will not destroy
our confidence in our destiny. All the dangers that
lie along our path will not affright us or turn us
back to the land of night and darkness. We shall
go on, and by our devotion, fidelity and faith, reach
the goal of our hopes and the reward of our toils.
In the peaceful pursuits of industry, in the wise
and intelligent direction of our thoughts, our ener^
gies and our labors, we shall emerge from poverty
and ignorance. Our hands shall be taught the les¬
sons of skill, and under the touch of our educated
brains, we shall enter upon a career of industrial
prosperity that shall amaze even the most hopeful
of our people.
We shall always cultivate the best relations with
our brother in white. We shall admire his genius,
his knowledge, his boundless power. We want no
conflict, we will have no war of races. Rather is
our highest ambition to imitate his splendid ex¬
ample, to follow his shining footsteps. Thrown in
the Providence of God under his tutorship and pro¬
tection, we will rather look to him for protection.
24
THE CONDITION OF THE NEGRO
We will rather look to him for help and instruction,
and feel that we are happy to have the magnificent
civilization, which he has wrought out to inspire
our minds and stimulate our aspirations.
We would say to the Negroes of this country—
turn away from all those questions which irritate
and disturb, concentrate your mightiest efforts,,
your vastest energies upon the amelioration of your
social, your industrial, your religious condition.
Find your music in the noise of the hammer, the
buzz of the saw, the roon of the mill, the whirl of
buildings and bridges and factories going up in the
the machinery, the rattle of the engines, the sound of
land. Toil—intelligent toil, is the watchword. La¬
bor, educated labor—is the motto. Character—
noble, lofty character, is the grand end to be sought
and the glorious object to be attained.
Along these lines there is hope—abundant hope
for my people. The God of our fathers will be with
us if we shall be faithful to these high ends, and. all
our problems will be solved in the best and most
satisfactory way.
For; this I shall labor. My eyes will not behold
the complete working out of this magnificent des¬
tiny, but it will come to pass, and 'if the spirits of
men are permitted to look down upon mortals be¬
low. it would add to my happiness in that glorious
world to know that I have contributed one mite of
.nfluence to the accomplishment of this great an<|
beneficent end.