1 ^/ PAMPHLET No. S. THE WOl OF HALF A GENERATION AMONG in AN ADDRESS Key. M. E. STEIEBY. Published by the American Missionary Association, Office 56 Reade Street. isrs. mmtmx PAMPHLET No. S. THE WORK OF HALF k GlERATIOi AMONG 11 AN ADDRESS Rev. M. E. STEIEBY. %ox% : Published by the American Missionary Association, Office, 56 Reade Street. 1878. Ilm^rm JlissiniiEri ^mmMm, 56 READE STREET, N. Y. PRESIDENT. Hon. E. S. TOBET, Boston. VICE-PRESIDENTS. Hon. P. D. Pakish, Ohio. Rev. G. F. Magoun, D.D., Iowa. Col. C. G. Hammond, 111. Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis. Hon. WiLLT.iM Claplin, Mass. Rev. Stephen Thurston, D.D., Me. Rev. S.iMUEL Harris, D.D., Ct. William C. Chopin, Esq., R. I. Rev. W. T. EusTis, Mass. Hon. A. C. Barstow, R. I. Rev. Thatcher Thayer, D.D.,R. I. Rev. Rat Palmer, D.D., N. Y. Rev. J. M. Sturtbvant, D.D.,I11. Rev. W. W. Patton, D.D., D. C. Hon. Seymour Straight, La. Horace Hallock, Esq., Mich. Rev. Gyrus Wallace, D.D.,N.H. Rev. Edward Hawbs, Ct. Douglas Putnam, Esq., Ohio. Hon. Thaddbus Fairbanks, Vt. Samuel U. Porter, Esq., N. Y. Rev. M. M. G. Dana, D.D., Minn. Rev. H. W. Bbbcher, N. Y. Gen. O. O. Howard, Creadon. Edward Spaulding, M.D., N. H. David Ripley, Esq., N. J. Rev. W. M. Barbour, D.D., Ct. Bev. W. L. Gage, Ct. A. S. Hatch, Esq., N. Y. Rev. J. H. Fairchild, D.D., Ohio. Rev. H. A. Stimson, Minn. Rev. J. W. Strong, D.D., Minn. Rev. Geo. Thatcher, LL.D., Iowa. Rev. A. L. Stone, D.D., Cal. Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D.D., Oregon. Bev. J. E. Rankin, D.D., D. C. Rev. A. L. Chopin, D.D., Wis. S. D. Smith, Esq., Mass. Peter Smith, Esq., Mass. Dea. John Whiting, Mass. Rev. William Patton, D. D., Ct. Hon. J. B. Grinnell, Iowa. Bev, William F. Carr, Ct. Rev. Horace Winslow, Ct. Sir Peter Coats, Scotland. [Eng. Rev. Henry Allon, D.D., London, William E. Whiting, Esq., N. Y. J. M. PiNKERTON, Esq., Mass. Rev. P. A. Noble, D.D., Ct. Daniel Hand, Esq., Ct. A. L. Williston, Esq., Mass. Rev. A. F. Beard, D.D., N. Y. Frederick Billings, Esq., Vt. Joseph Carpenter, Esq., R. I. corresponding secretary, Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., K Y. DISTRICT secretaries. Rev. CHARLES L. WOODWORTH, Bosion. Rev. G. D. PIKE, New York. Rev. JAMES POWELL, Chicago. EDGAR KETCHUM, Esq., Treasurer, N. Y. H. W. HUBB.\RD, Esq., Assistant Treasurer. N. Y. Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, Recording Secretary, N. Y. executive committee. Alonzo S. Ball, Augustus E. Graves, A. S. Barnes, S. B. Haluday, Edward Beecher, Samuel Holmes, Georgb M. Boynton, S. S. Jocelyn, William B. Buown, Andrew Lester, Clinton B. Fiske, Charles L. Mead, A. P. Foster, John H. Washburn, G. B. WiLLCOX. THE WORK OF HALF A GENERATION AMONG THE FREEDMEN. Thirty-three years are allotted to a generation. Half that period has elapsed since efforts began for the eleYation^ of the Freedmen in the United States. The proclamation emancipating them was issued January 1, 1863, or fifteen years and ten months ago, but a large educational and re- ligious work was done among them during a great part of the preyious year, completing the sixteen and a half years. This period is a good milestone for measurement, and I therefore announce as my theme, " The Wokk of Half a Gekbeatiost among the Pkbedmen." Great changes in the outer condition of a people may take place in less time than half a generation. The Amer- ican Revolution, transforming thirteen dependent colonies into an independent nation, occupied bub seven years. Our Civil War, freeing four and a half millions of slaves, lasted four years. The recent war between Eussia and Turkey, of but a few months, changed the map of Europe. But changes affecting the character of the individual man or the civilization of the nation, as seen in the progress of in- telligence, virtue, and the attainment of property, are of much slower growth. The transit here of half a generation is so quick as scarcely to give the means of taking on ob- 4 WORK OS HALE A GENERATION serYation — unless, indeed, the change is of very marked character. Nay, more : the great revolutions among igno- rant people, though ultimately beneficial, are often attend- ed with present disappointment. For example, in the case most nearly parallel, the Hebrew people both in coming out of Egypt and, subsequently, in settling in their new home in the land of Canaan, retrograded fearfully. Though they came out of Egypt and crossed the Bed Sea under the. inspiration of mighty miracles — ^though they had Moses as a leader, nay, the glorious Shekinah itself as a Guide and Shield — though they had manna given daily as food — though their " raiment waxed not old" — though they had the law given them under the awful manifestations of Sinai — yet in much less time than half a generation, they had so utterly forfeited the favor of the Almighty that they were a doomed people, and the only thing left for them was to die in the wilderness and give place to their chil- dren. It was scarcely better when they came to settle in their own land, chosen for them by the good hand of the Lord — "a land flowing with milk and honey" — where Je- hovah fulfilled completely the promise made to them by Moses, " God will give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all good things which thou fiUedst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees which thou plantedst not." In this land, with all these advantages, their early experi- ences were disastrous. The chronology of the book of Judges is not well settled by scholars, but according to the best light I have, it was hardly half a generation after the conquest of Canaan and the death of Joshua and his com- peers, until departure from God's service and misrule and AMONG THE FEBEDMBN". 5 disorder were everywhere prevalent. The impressive words of Scripture are : " In those days there was no king [i. e., constituted authority] in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." , In the light of this example what could have been ex- pected .of the Freedmen, especially in view of the immeas- urable disadvantages, as compared with the Hebrews, under which they began their new life ? As Col. Preston, of Virginia, has justly said : " Fifteen years ago the colored people did not own themselves, and under our law, in this respect less liberal- than the Eoman, they could not own anything else." In fact, they came out of their bondage into their Canaan in absolute destitution and without help or guide. They were without land, homes, money or credit —with barely clothes to cover them. They had no educa- tion, no business habits, no experience in self-support or self-reliance. They were left in the midst of the people who owned all the property, who were enraged at their eman- cipation, and still more at their enfranchisement, and who were opposed to any efforts to elevate them above the posi- tion of servants. On the other hand, they knew little of their friends at the North, and many who came thence, professedly to befriend them, came for speculation or polit- ical adventure. If, under these circumstances, they had become utterly despondent, and sunk down into a race of paupers, beggars or tramps, a burden and a terror to the community, it would not have been surprising. Before beginning to unfold the record of their progress, I wish to say that the views I shall express are not merely the results of my own observation, I have written to a 6 WOEK OF HALF A GBNEKATION few intelligent Southerners, and to a number of the older and more experienced of our ministers and teachers in the South, and have received answers of such value as to aid me very greatly. In what I am about to say I shall make free use of these papers, and for this reason shall claim the greater confidence for my utterances. I will add, moreover, that I wish to guard myself and the public against sweeping statements or hasty generalizations in regard to the condition of the Freedmen. I have no confidence in the man who paints the picture with rainbow tints only, and as little confidence in him who uses nothing but lamp-black. The fact is, that this people have neither moved up hill in a body, nor have they all marched down hill. I expect to show tw'o things: 1. That there has been such remarkable progress among the Preedmen during the last half generation, as to challenge comparison with any people on earth, under like disadvantageous circumstances, and hence to give the assurance that if adequate measures are used, their safety can be secured. 2. That there is yet so large a mass of them still in ignorance and vice as will, if left untouched, drag the rest down to ruin and bring irretrievable injury upon the nation. The case is like that of a man who has received an in- jury in one of his limbs, and mortification has set in. If active remedies check and reduce the mortification, there is hope that a complete cure will attend the vigorous use of such remedies; but inevitably, if they are not used, or used tardily and inefficiently, the gangrene must gain the ascendancy, reconquer the healing already achieved, and at last spread over the limb and the body, with death as the end ! AMOI^G THE SBBEDMBN'. 7 I. PROGRESS OF THE EBEEDMEST IN MATERIAL PROSPERITY. 1. The foundation of all progress here depends upon their industry. The cotton crop since, as before the war, is mainly the work of the colored people. The test, then — variation of seasons being allowed for — is the number of bales produced. I see it stated that, from trustworthy in- formation, it is estimated that the cotton crop for the present year will be from five and a quarter to five and a half millions of bales, the largest crop ever grown. 2. The acquisition of property is a more decisive crite- rion of material prosperity. On this point it is difficult to obtain official statistics, for, in most States, the tax lists make no discriminations " on account of color, race or previous condition of servitude." One method of reaching the facts is to obtain statistics of small localities, gathered by absolutely reliable persons, from which generalizations may with due care be made. Permit me to lay before you some such data. Judge Watkins, of Farmville, Va., writes: " In 1878 the Freedmen of Prince Edwards County, Va., owned in fee simple 2,305 acres of land, assessed for taxa- tion at $39,423 ; in 1870, 458 acres, assessed for taxation at $8,171 ; — increase, 1,847 acres, assessed at $31,252. The number of owners in 1878 of real estate embraced in the above list is 135, mainly heads of families. In 1870 there were 41 landowners." In 1862, of course, none. Col. Preston, of Lexington, Va., says in the Weiv Eng- lander : " In my tax district in the county of Rockbridge, Va., are about six thousand inhabitants — two thousand of them blacks. The latter are assessed for about $50,000 of real est te and $10,000 of personal property, and are rated 1* 8 WOEK OF HALF A GBif EEATIOST for about $1,800 tax, of which they pay $1,500, not more than $300 being returned insolvent." Eev. John G. Pee, of Berea, Ky., writes : " In Berea and vicinity, within an area or circle described by a radius of one mile from Berea College, there are 66 colored families, 59 of which own little homesteads of their own, and most of these now paid for, and every one of these families have come in since the close of the war. These support them- selves, feed, clothe and educate their children. "Within the same area there are 76 white families, 59 of these having their homesteads almost all paid for. While it is true that there are exactly an equal number of colored with whites who own their own homesteads, the white families have the larger and more valuable properties. At Camp Nelson in Jessamine county, Ky., there is a little village of 32 families ; 18 have their homesteads, 14 are tenants. These are all colored. They have not done so well as those in Berea, though in a much more fertile region. Their surroundings have not been so favorable." Kev. Mr. Silsby, of Mary ville, Tenn., writes : " The village of Maryville and vicinity, forming the ninth civil district of Blount county, Tenn., has a population of about 1,500 ; the colored population of the same, 500. There are 59 colored owners of real estate in the district, whose aggre- gate property is assessed at $21,475. Outside of this civil district, in the remaining 14 districts, there are about 1,000 colored people whose aggregate wealth is supposed to be about the same as this one district, omitting one man who is worth much more than the average. There are 40 col- ored property holders in the village of Maryville, and 75 families owning their own houses in Blount county." AMONG THE FBEEDMEN. 9 Eey. Mr. Markham, of Savannah, Ga., says: "Five miles west of Savannah there are 40 families, which have bought from five acres to twenty acres of land each, and paid for it, and have built houses. These 40 families are all in a space not over two miles square, and this has been done within 18 months. In Liberty county, Ga., in the vicinity of Midway, a large majority of the land belongs to the colored people, and most of the families of the Congrega- tional Church there have bought land." Prof. McPherron reports the following as taken from the official records of Montgomery, Ala. : " In that city and a distinct suburb there are 457 colored persons holding real estate. The aggregate assessed value is $110,146 ; personal property, $19,381 ; total, $129,427. With almost no excep- tion this property has all been acquired since the war." The State of Georgia reports separately the valuation of the property owned by its colored population. I give the following summary of the official statistics : " The colored population of the State is 545,142. In 1876 the value of land owned by them was $1,234,104 city and town prop- erty, $1,790,725, with other property, making an aggregate of $6,134,829. The amount of their taxes is $26,444.30, to which must be added a poll-tax of one dollar each on 84,164 colored voters." As there are few delinquents, the total taxes paid by the colored people of that State must ex- ceed $100,000 annually. These figures, though derived from a single State, and from a few places, taken almost at random from four other States, are encouraging evidences of material prosperity, showing that the people are coming up out of their chaos, that the dry land is beginning to appear for them, and that 10 WORK OF HALF A GENERATION they are planting their feet upon it with the solid tread of ownership. "We have, moreover, in these figures a basis (as I have be- fore intimated) of some approximate generalizations as to the individual and aggregate wealth of the colored people. If we take the Georgia statistics for our data, they give $11.25 as the average wealth of every colored man, woman and child in the Southern States, and an aggregate to the • whole colored population of those States of $50,328,945. And this, it will be recollected, is the assessed value for tax- ation, which is, of course, far below the actual value. Whether these figures are above or below the real average is a matter on which intelligent persons will differ. Col. Preston thinks it is "much above the average;" yet he immediately adds: "fifteen years ago the slarea of Georgia were not superior to those of other States," and I will add still further that so far as I am aware their advantages since have not been very much superior. On the whole, I am inclined to think the average a fair one. The other statistics I have given, though covering much less territory, and some of that exceptionally favorable, would yield a far higher average. For example, the Mont- gomery figures would give an aggregate value of property of more than double the Georgia basis. But to make the matter more simple, let us take the averages and not aggre- gates, which are cumbrous : The Georgia average, as we have seen, is $11.25 ; the Montgomery, $25 ; the Lexington, $30 ; the Maryville, $43. But more of this anon. I could easily furnish corroborative testimony by citing well-authenticated instances of individual prosperity — e.g., of two colored cotton merchants, in a Southern city, who AMONG THE FEEEDMBJSr. 11 buy large amounts and are doing well ; of one colored man who brought to Savannah and sold there $2,000 worth of cotton which he himself raised; of a colored man in Tennessee, said to be worth $15,000, who liyes in a good brick house, owns a large farm, well stocked, and has money loaned at interest. I might also point to the improved personal appearance of the colored people, as seen in their places of worship. Just after the war the women often came to meeting with bandannas on their head, as in the days of slavery, and the men in the cast-off garments of their former masters. Now this is changed, except in out-of-the-way places, with sometimes, in the cities, a little tip toward the other ex- treme. The large number of new, neat, and often substantial church edifices, built by the colored people since the war, is another evidence of their increased wealth. They have usually done this without much help from the white people, and often with great self-denial. I confess, however, that in one thing, as to church building, they are shamefully be- hind the ISTorthern white churches; they don't seem to know anything about making splendid church debts! 3. There is one other point to which I wish to call special attention. The greatest progress in accumulating property, and in the improvement of homes, is near our Christian schools, and our churches, and others like them. This is most obvious to those who have regularly visited the South or have been engaged there as teachers or ministers. In the few statistics I have given this fact is manifest, even on a cursory examination. For example, in Maryville, Tenn., where there is an excellent colored school, the average 1** 13 WORK OS HALF A GENEBATIOIT wealth is nearly four times greater than the Georgia ayer- age ; while the 500 colored people of the village (where the school is) own as much property as the 1,000 people do in the rest of the county. In Berea, the seat of Berea College, the still more remarkable showing is that, out of 66 families, 59 haye homes of their own; that there are in the same area 76 white families (or 10 more than the blacks), and only the same number as the blacks own homes! The homes of the whites are, of course, more valuable. Rev. Mr. Ashley, pastor of the Congregational Church in Atlanta, Ga., the location of the Atlanta University, illus- trates the point before us in another form : " In the First Congregational Church of this city the membership is al- most entirely colored. Of the one hundred and eighty members, three-fourths are engaged in almost every branch of manual labor. Yet, during the season of hard times, very few — not more than two or three — have lacked em- ployment. Almost all the heads of families connected with the church and congregation own their homes, and many are engaged in profitable trades. This is an illustra- tion of the industrial improvement in almost every locality through the South, where missionary efforts have been made." These facts are very significant, as indicating the true leverage for the elevation of the colored people. They ■show, by actual experiment, that among them, as among ■others, it is the Christian school and the intelligent church that beget the love for the Christian home — that awaken the purity that makes the home happy and the taste that adorns it — that nerve the arm to honest toil, give the wis- dom to direct, the prudence that saves, and the freedom from AMOSfG THE FEEBDMBN-. 13 expensive and wasteful vice, all which are essential to the accumulation of property. If, then, we had no higher aim than the material wealth of the colored people, we should push forward the work of Christian education, and the planting and fostering of pure and intelligent churches. 4. Before leaving this part of my suhject, I have a further duty to do. I have thus far called your attention only to the foreground of the picture — a foreground made bright by the little homes of the people, their cultivated lands, their growing intelligence and virtue. But there is that dark and deep background which it is my duty to point out,, and yours to examine. The one is a narrow strip, the other the broad area : the one contains a few thousands of the people, the other millions ; the one is occupied by the in- dustrious and intelligent, who throng around the schools and seek an educated ministry ; the other by the compar- atively idle, who are not drawn to the schools, and who love- tlie old exciting worship, and are more or less a prey to- their vices — indolence, intemperance, licentiousness and. theft. This view shows the great work still before us.. The masses of the people not yet reached are vastly greater,, and more difficult to move, than those who have been reach- ed, for they have resisted or neglected the good influences; which the others have gladly accepted. If the task before^ us is thus seen to be greater than that already done, the duty is all the more imperative. If a part of this moral waste has been made to blossom, under diligent culture,, the rest of the low grounds, breeding moral malaria, must be reclaimed, lest contagion spread all over the land. God scourged the whole nation on account of the oppressed 14 WORK OF HALF A GENBEATIOIT slave. He may chastise it on account of the neglected Preedman ! Let me here explain some of the discouragements of the black man in his industrial struggle. First of all was the unwillingness of the old masters to sell their lands, and with this the more serious difficulty growing out of accounts and settlements. The white man drew the coniracts and kept the accounts, and the colored man so often found him- self, owing to his ignorance or extravagance, in debt to the landowner, that the stimulus to labor was taken out of him. Then came the high price of cotton after the war, with its encouragement to whites and blacks to increased activ- ity and extravagance. But the price of cotton fell, debts could not be paid, and land that had been bought, and partly paid for, was forfeited. The black man was tempted to think that he that had toiled the hardest only lost the most. The failure of the Freedmen's Bank, and its widespread losses of hard-earned savings, sometimes led the industrious man from the foreground of our picture to shake hands with the idle man on the background, and agree with him that it was not worth while to work too hard, and that it was just as well to spend as fast as the money was earned. The Ku-Klux days made everything insecure for the col- ored man in certain localities; often, his very accumula- tions, in house and barn and field, seemed to be the motive for the midnight raid. A permanent feeling of discourage- ment sunk down deep in many a heart, and the fear that such scenes may be renewed at any fresh turn of affairs, still causes many industrious hands to hang down. The recent events, in the South do not tend to allay this fear. AMONG THE BREEBMEN 15 We have a duty in regard to some of these discourage- ments. As to-the danger from broken savings banks and from hard times after great extravagance, I don't think we can greatly aid the Freedman. We have bought our wit in the same dear school where he got his. The only differ- ence is that we have been the greater fools, and have bought the most. The surplus, like good advice, we can sell too cheaply to be worth much. But in regard to accounts and contracts, we can teach him the knack of reading and writing, and thus put him, in that respect, on a par with the landowner. As to Ku-Klux raids, it seems that some of these days we shall wake up to the idea that, if the army and navy of the United States can be brought into requi- sition to protect an American citizen in the Barbary States, there ought to be some way in which the Government can protect an American citizen in South Carolina. Technical lawyers could not find the power to put down the Eebellion. But it was done ! If there is no way to protect American citizens in South Carolina, we must make one. II. — PKOGKBSS OE THE EREEDMBN IN EDUCATION. Ambrose Headen, an intelligent and pious colored mart in Talladega, Ala., said recently that he did not expect any greater change in passing from earth to heaven, than had. come over the colored people during the last sixteen and a half years. The history of Ambrose Headen gives empha- sis to this remark. Before the war he was a slave ; and be- ing a good carpenter, his master, who had subscribed $900 towards a building for a Baptist college, set him to work out the subscription. While thus employed, the slave, who had four children, often sighed at the gloomy thought that 16 WOEK OF HALF A GENEEATION they could never be educated. But, lo ! three of his chil- dren have already graduated, and a fourth -will graduate next June, from the highest department of our Talladega College, which occupies that very building ! What earthly transition could be greater ? In no respect was the change from slavery to freedom more marked than in regard to education. When that slave- carpenter toiled on that building, there was not a public school in all the slaveholding States for four millions of slaves. It was held to be a high crime by the laws of all those States to teach a colored man to read or write. The slave parent could only look into the deep gloom of bond- age and of perpetual ignorance for his children and chil- dren's children, till the end of time! That was the darkest hour before the dawn, and the dawn came not slowly, as in our cold clime, but suddenly, as in his warm sky. JTever was a change received with more joyous welcome; nor was there ever a more enthusiastic uprising for knowl- edge. The jubilee had come. The spelling-book was the key to the Bible, and knowledge was the talisman of power. The people — the old, the young, the men and the women — crowded the schools — the day, the night and the Sunday- school — and eagerly and successfully strove to learn. G-randly was that enthusiasm met at first. Hundreds of pious, cultured and self-denying teachers — mostly ladies — entered the field. A nobler band never accepted Christian duty. The American Missionary Association withdrew from the Home Mission Field in the West and turned its main efforts to the South ; Freedmen's Aid Societies were formed, with branches in almost every city and village in AMONG THE EREEDMBN. 17 the ISTorth ; the system of free Bchools was inaugurated in the South; the Freedmen's Bureau poured forth its mil- lions, and generous aid came from Great Britain, and some from the continent. If that grand impulse had continued for one generation, our great American problem would have been solved. But ere the third of a generation had passed, the reaction began. It came steadily, and marched on terribly. The stream of beneYolent contribution began to diminish; the school laws were modified ; the Freedmen's Bureau was closed ; the Freedmen's Aid Societies expired, and the pov- erty of the colored people on the fall of the price of cotton diminished their resources for self-help. But all is not lost. The retreat is ended, and the columns are once more on the march to conquest, and, if well oflacered, provisioned and supplied with moral armor, will push on to victory. We can now take a survey of the field with some ac- curacy, and note the real progress in education in the first half generation since the battle began. 1. The Public Schools of the South. The Bureau of Edu- cation at Washington kindly furnishes me with its most recent and reliable statistics. These are not claimed to be absolutely accur:ite, as some few items are supplied by es- timate. They give the total colored population of school age, in the Southern States, as 1,579,097 and the enrolment as 573,896, or 36 per cent. If now we add to these aston- ishing figures the scholars taught in the schools of the A. M. A. and other benevolent organizations, which we es- timate at 20,000, we have a total of 593,896, being 38 per cent, of the whole. When we regard the brief time, and 18 WOKE OF HALF A GEITEEATIOM- the untoward circumstances, we believe no such resi\]ts can be elsewhere shown in the history of mankind. But we must add some particulars in order to do full justice to Southern people. The old mother State of Vir- ginia has devoted the avails of $95,000 (or one-third) of her Agricultural Land Scrip to the Agricultural Department of Hampton Institute — a fair proportion, for her colored population is about one-third of the whole The State of Georgia, the Empire State of the South, appropriates 18,000' per annum to the Atlanta University — a colored school; and this is given (in the face of some opposition), as justly due to the colored people. These noble examples deserve to be mentioned at the North, and imitated at the South. Some cities in the Southern States are worthy of special mention for their ample and equal provision for colored schools. In the city of Louisville, Ky., eight years ago, there were five or six white teachers from the North, sustained by the A. M. A., instructing the colored children, and ignored by all but a half dozen of the white popula- tion. Now there are 36 colored schools, instructed by colored teachers, with three large brick school-houses of ten rooms each, all under the supervision of the City School Board and Superintendent. They pursue the same studies as the white schools, are examined at the same time with the same questions, and, as the superintendent says, stand as well as the white schools. A similar, though hardly so groat a change, has taken place in Lexington. The School Commissioner of Madison county declares tliat the colored schools of that county are better instructed and better managed than the white schools, because the teachers are better qualified. AMONG THE EBBEDMEST 19 2. Schools Sustained ly Benevolent Societies. I do not •wish to overstate the value of the educational efforts of these societies, but I am sure that I give the united opinion of our most judicious teachers who have been longest in the South when I quote these words from one of their number: "It is safe to say that the impetus which has been given to educational efforts in the Southern States owes its existence to the work of the A. M. A. and kindred societies. These enabled the Preedmen's Bureau to be so widely effective. They aided the reconstructed State' Constitutional Conventions, which in every State Or- dained free public schools. They scattered through the South an army of enthusiastic practical educators, who at all principal points established schools. Thus the Preed- men obtained a taste of letters, and became clamorous for an education. Thus it was practically shown to opposers that it was possible and profitable to educate the laborer. Thus the poor white people were led to see that the knowl- edge to be acquired in the public schools was a necessity and a blessing, and that the free school was not necessarily a pauper school. I will only add that the work of these societies is laying broad and deep the foundation for the real elevation of the Freedmen. They lay them in the Christian character of their schools; in the higher education they furnish, which the States do not give ; and in the army of well-trained teachers they prepare for the Preedmen, thus supplying one of the most urgent wants recognized by both whites and blacks alike. If, again, there were no other results from the labors of these societies, the teachers they have trained, and who are now instructing more than 200,000 30 WORK OF HALE A GENERATION pupils, would fully vindicate their claim to the confidence and gratitude of both the North and the South. I should do no justice to my subject if I did not furnish some proof of the capacity of the colored people to acquire an education — not only in the primary but in the higher studies. First of all, I quote the testimony of the very in- fluential committee appointed by the Governor of Georgia in 1871. After a thorough examination of the scholars of the Atlanta University, extending through three days, the conviction, embodied in the following words, was forced upon them, against their .previous belief: " At every step of the examination we were impressed with the fallacy of the popular idea (which is common with thousands of others), a majority of the undersigned have heretofore entertained that the members of the African race are not capable of a high grade of intellectual culture. The rigid tests to which the classes in algebra and geometry, and in Latin, and Greek, were subjected, unequivocally demonstrated that, under judicious training, and with persevering study, there are many members of the African race who can attain a high grade of intellectual culture. They prove that they can master intricate problems in mathematics, and fully comprehend the construction of difiicult passages in the classics." One of our most competent teachers now in the South, says : " My experience in teaching is quite extensive, and permits, or rather compels me to say that, in schools of equal size, I find as many Southern colored children who excel in scholarship as I have found among Northern white children." President Fairchild, of Berea, furnishes this item: "In AMONG THE EEEEDMEN. 21 our county two colored young men were examined for teaching at the same time with several white teachers, and the commissioner reported that they stood higher than any of the white teachers." A teacher in the South writes : " A race that in fifteen years of freedom can produce a boy who will walk 300 miles across the country, to be in attendance the first day of school, is certainly making progress. A boy that will take a pig under his arm, his sole property, and start for College, has within him the elements of progress. A man who will sit down to a breakfast of corn bread and a cup of cold water, morning after morning, for the sake of an education, is no mean man, and has sprung from a race that has in it the elements of endurance and progress. Such instances are common among us." A friend in the South has given me this item, among ! many others : " Newspapers are published by colored men in Philadelphia, Nashville, Lquisville, New _Pjleans^harles2___^ ton, Montgomery, New Yorfe City, Washington, Paris, Ky., Lexington, Ky." From this array of facts, well may I repeat the words of the little boy in the Atlanta school, when Gen. Howard asked what he should say for them to the people of the North, " Tell them, General, that we are rising ! " But, there is a less favorable aspect of this subject which I must present. In the first place, the number of pupils in the colored schools is given by enrolment, and not by average attend- ance, which would greatly reduce the figures. Then, the time in which the public colored schools are taught in the South, rarely exceeds five months (in the cities more, in 22 WOKK OF HALF A GENERATION the country less), which, compared with instruction giren to white children at the North, is scarcely half the time. Added to this, the usually inferior qualifications of the teachers, and you have an aggregate of instruction vastly less in quantity and quality than is enjoyed by the children at the North. Truth compels me also to say that in some of the Southern States, where we might expect better things, the provision for the education of colored children is miserably inade- quate. Thus, in the State of Kentucky, whose noble cities of Louisville and Lexington have made such generous and impartial provision for the education of the colored chil- dren, the school law of the State itself appropi'iates to the colored schools only the tax they pay themselves, and no portion of the tax of white people. The consequence is that the colored schools receive but about 50 cents per scholar, while the white schools receive about two dollars. The colored children are enumerated from the age of six to sixteen, and the white from six to twenty. And when, finally, we consider that the children now in the colored schools are the brightest in scholarship, the most eager for learning, and are helped forward by parents most willing to make sacrifices for their education, we can readily see that the mass that is left is more stolid, less easily moved, less appreciative of their new position, and far more ready to yield to the pressure of indolence, indifference and vice — a weight upon those that are pushing upward. The success achieved by a part is an encourage- ment to earnest effort with the rest; but if the rest are left to themselves, they will not only sink, but will drag the others down. A mighty effort is needed — a heavy lift, and AMONG THE FBEEDMEN'. 23 a lift altogether. The toilers in this work may well say to the idlers, as the colored man, who was straining himself at a heavy load, said to one who was helping feebly : " Sam, do you expect to go to heaven ? " " Yes." " Well, then, take hold and lift." III. THE BELIGIOUS PROGEESS OF THE EREBDMEN". The negro belongs to a tropical race, muscular in person, of warm blood and strong animal passions. His mental traits are, a fervid imagination, ardent and impulsive feel- ings, and a natural faith. I am free to admit that slavery in America lifted him above his condition in the jungles of Africa, but it entailed upon him some almost ineifaceable injuries. Slavery was a struggle between the power and intelligence of the master, and the craft — the only weapon — of the slave. He felt that the master robbed him of everything, and that it was only a fair reprisal to secure what he could by deception and pilfering. Both the greed and the lust of the master crushed the chastity of the blacks. The marriage tie was broken when the master re- quired. The slave woman was held at the caprice of his passions, and the slave children were reared for his markets. Christianity did for the slave what was possible under the circumstances. It sent a deep faith into his warm heart, and developed the noble traits of love and joy and hope, in remarkable measure ; but in the lack of intelli- gence, fervor was mistaken for piety. The great drawback was in the separation of morality and religion — they largely had no relation to each other. The white-caps of excite- ment might cover the whole surface, and seem to be drift- ing in one direction, while really the deep undertow of im- purity was rushing in the other. The native ministers 34 WOEK OS HALF A GBNEEATION were like the people. In the days of slavery, the only out- let for genius was in preaching. The slave could not be a lawyer, a doctor, an editor or an artist. He could preach ; and as there were no doctorates of divinity bestowed, there were no credentials except success. The man who could win and hold his audience, who had the voice, the imagination, and the magnetic influence, was to them " the great power of God," though he might be both igno- rant and licentious. This was the moral and spiritual condition of this people when emancipation set them free, and we must look for their spiritual improvement in the line of increased intel- ligence and morality; and it is precisely here where the work of Christian education done by this Association and similar organizations has had so direct and potent an in- fluence. Indeed, nearly all that has been done in this re- spect, and which I have detailed in my remarks on their educational progress, is almost equally applicable to their religious advancement. It is this work of Christian education that has created both the demand and the supply of better educated minis- ters among them. One of our teachers says: "The less educated of their ministers are gradually losing ground and falling out, and the ranks are closing up with the more intelligent and better educated. A colored minister of another denomination, of about thirty-five years of age, of good standing among his brethren and beloved by his people, said the other day, 'I want to join your church and put myself in the way of an education, for I see that in five or six years there will be nothing for such a man as me to do.' This is the conviction of a great number." AMONG THE FEEBDMEST. 35 Another intelligent correspondent writes : " The young people are outgrowing their preachers. They detect mis- takes in grammar, geography and history, and in pronun- ciation. Many of the preachers oppose the schools because they say the children are getting the 'big head,' and think , the earth is round and turns 'round." This call for educated ministers is met to some degree by the theological instruction of colored students in the in- stitutions of learning founded in the South since the war. Col.Preston enumerates twenty institutions in which the- ological or Biblical instruction is given to them, and adds : "A moderate estimate from these statistics would give not less than three hundred young men preparing for the min- istry." Some measure of Biblical instruction is given to a much larger number of colored pupils who have the min- istry in view. The eagerness with which this knowledge is sought is thus stated by one of the theological professors in the South: "I have never before seen such examples of de- votion to the purpose of becoming an intelligent Christian minister as I have seen among them during the last three years." From the minutes of the conferences of the A. M. E. (colored) Church I extract two sentences : Prom the Mississippi Conference, this — "The growing intelligence of our people demands at our hands an educated ministry." Prom the IvTorth Georgia Conference, this — " We are firm in the belief that general education must be the true eman- cipation of our race." The influence of these Christian schools has been potent in inducing a quieter worship in the church, and in the organization of ministerial conferences and associations, who conduct their business with such order, intelligence 26 WOKK OF HALF A GENEEATIOH" and efBciency as to move the admiration of the white visi- tor who looks in upon their proceedings. These schools, also, have taken the lead in the organiza- tion of many Sunday-schools and Temperance Societies connected with the colored churches of the South. Ala- bama reports a thousand Sabbath-schools for all classes ; probably one half of these are among the colored people. I presume that proportion is greater in Alabama than else-- where, for that State has been foremost in the organization of colored Sunday-schools. In this connection I must not withhold this testimonial from a trustworthy source in regard to the progress of the Congregational churches in the State of Alabama: "The- Congregational churches have a complete system of evan- gelization established in this State. Half a generation ago we were unknown here. Now we have our Christian col- lege and theological school, the best in the State ; our 14 churches and nearly 700 communicants, and $1,200 or $1,500 a year in contributions — two dollars to the member. Thirteen of these churches have comfortable houses of worship. We have over 20 theological studentsj our State Conference is well organized ; and so is our S. S. Conven- tion. What the Iowa band did for that State in its early history, that your missionary band in this State seems destined to do for it. Our State S. S. Convention has been organized more than seven years, and was the first ever organized in this State. So great was the interest it awakened that three other similar State organizations fol- lowed by different denominations." To these same Christian schools must also be attributed the grand impulse which now stirs the Freedmen to an AMOSTG THE JREBDMEir. 27 enthusiasm for the conTersion of Africa. Failing in with the great awakening of interest in regard to that dark continent, this enthusiasm giyes a meaning to the providence of God in the emancipation of the slaves. Are not these descend- ants of degraded Africa fitted by color and descent to win the confidence of the people there, and by their constitu- tion to endure the climate ? Are they not God's chosen instrument for Africa's redemption ? The welcome which they give to this great thought, and the zeal and self-denial with which they consecrate themselves to it, are auspicious of the success they will have in it. But once more I am compelled to turn to the darker and less hopeful side of the picture. The great drawback to this people is not merely in the ignorance which still dark- ens their minds, but in the immorality which corrupts their hearts. Col. Preston, who, though a white man and a Southerner, is undeniably their friend, says : " There is a grievous inconsistency between their religious profession and their practical morality. They are alarmingly deficient in honesty, truth, chastity and industry. Family discipline is almost unknown, and, worst of all, there is no such sense of character as to make immorality, or even crime, a cause of social degradation among them." A gentleman originally from the North, an abolitionist from his early days, and who has spent several years as an educator of this people, bears this reluctant testimony: " We were mistaken as to the piety of the colored people. They are very religious, and very immoral. They are often heard to say that God does not expect them to keep the Commandments. Slavery taught them this." 28 "WOEK OF HALF A GENEEATION' And now I have run over my imperfect outline of facts. We have seen how the morning light is breaking on the mountain tops, gladdened by the homes and farms of the colored people and by their schools and churches. But we have seen, also, that the valleys and morasses are still dark with cloud and fog and the deadly malaria of ignorance and vice. We have seen how the foremost, the most enterpris- ing and far-seeing have discovered their grand opportunity, and, laying hold of the helps afforded, have stretched them- ' selves up to these heights of prosperity and knowledge : but we have also seen that the ignorant and indolent and degraded are still homeless and landless, indifferent to schools, and the victims of vice, not helping them- selves, but, by their presence and example, tending to drag the others down again to their level ;. we have seen how the benevolent and Christian public at the North, by personal consecration, by contributions and by prayers, have helped forward those in the vanguard of this grand movement. But we have seen here, also, that the mass they have not reached, and the ignorance and vice they have not removed, are far greater than the good achieved. We have all seen or heard of the Great Bend on the Pennsylvania Eailroad, where the track goes down the mountain on one side of the great valley, turns sharply around at the bottom and then ascends on the other side. Now, mark that railway train moving out from Altoona towards the Bend. See the large number of cars, loaded with passengers. How smoothly, nay, almost with fearful ra-pidity the train glides down the slope! How majestically it sweeps around the Bend ! With what steady march it begins the ascent, moving grandly around the projecting AMONG THE FEEEDMEN'. 39 points and- along the sheer edge of the great valley till, as it nears the summit, yon behold with wonder and alarm that its speed slackens rapidly. What is the cause ? The track is all right, the couplings are all strong, the engine is in complete order, and the officers and hands, from con- ductor to brakeman, are all at their posts. The engine, the tender and a few of the forward cars have almost attained the level. If they can but move on, the whole train will soon be in safety ; but if not, the weight of the mass still on the slope will soon begin to be felt, and the whole train must be borne backward with increasing velocity, to be precipitated from one of the curves down into the dreadful abyss below. We repeat. What is the trouble ? It is simply a lack of fuel. If, now, the men who started that train should be present where it hangs in fearful suspense, should have plenty of coal near at hand and should refuse to give it, or give it in such small quan- tities as to be useless, though importuned by engineer, con- ductor and brakeman, backed by the earnest prayers of the passengers, who could measure the responsibility of that refusal ? I need not linger on the application of my illustration. This nation, and in large measure the North, sent out the train laden with these Freedmen. The nation has the fuel — it sees the danger — it hears the importunate call of those to whom it has entrusted the care of the train, and the cry of the people. Men, brethren, patriots. Christians, give the fuel ! — not grudgingly, but abundantly, and send forward this train to its appointed destination ! But it may be said, " We have done enough for this people ; let them go." I once asked a wealthy, benevolent 30 WOBK OF HALP A GB^rEKATIOlT and Christian man : " Mr. H., tell me frankly what you think is the duty we owe to these colored people ?" He re- plied : " I will tell you frankly. We must sustain our foreign missions and we must keep up our home missions in the West; but as for these Freedmen, we have set them free and sent them some ministers, teachers and Bibles, and now they ought to take care of themselves." Is that sound Christian logic? We ought surely to sus- tain our foreign missions, yea, more abundantly than we do ; but must we send the Gospel to China, India and J apan, and leave these people to perish before our eyes for want of it ? We ought to maintain our home mission work in the West steadily and earnestly. But why ? The West is wealthy, intelligent and prosperous. Its people open their broad farms, build their great factories, start their beautiful towns and villages, and found their great cities. They can establish their schools and colleges and churches ; they know their value and how to make them prosperous. Why, then, send help to the West ? Simply because the wealth of the West is not all consecrated to Christ, and the feeble churches and colleges must be assisted. But if this be so, what shall we say of the Freedmen ? In the South there is, as compared with the West, little wealth, and that little is in the hands of those who are jealous of the progress of the Freedmen, while the Freedmen themselves have neither the wealth nor intelligence to found and sustain schools and churches like the people of the West. Shall we give to the less needy, and shall we leave the far more needy to take care of themselves ? But there is another aspect of the subject. This whole nation is one, not merely in territorial aggregation, nor AMOITG THE FEEEDMBK. 31 under the bonds of a -written constitution, but by the unalterable decree of the Almighty. The whole cannot sever its connection with a part ; especially we cannot sepa- rate ourselves from these colored people. We have tried it. They came not hel-e voluntarily, as the rest of us did. "We forced them here, and made them slaves. We tried to be- lieve that we had no responsibility for them ; that they had good masters, and, at all events, that the whole question was one with which we at the North had nothing to do; that the South could take care of itself. But God held us together, the whole responsible for every part; and war and blood, a million of graves, mourning in almost every home, a pressure on all business enterprise, and a poverty that drives thousands out to become beggars and tramps — these are the terrible teachings of the Almighty, to show us that we are one. The illustration used a few moments since is inadequate. This whole nation is linked in one vast train —the North, the West and South. No part can be cut off from the rest. The whole train must move up on the plat- eau of intelligence and piety, or all must be dragged down to perdition by the preponderating weight of ignorance and vice. But I am persuaded better things of this nation, and things that accompany salvation, though I thus speak. We will pull through. Our fathers did, in the Eevolutionary War, giving liberty to the nation ; this generation did, in the late Civil War, giving liberty to the slave ; and we will, in this closing struggle, giving spiritual liberty to the Freed- man. We will do it for America's sake, for Africa's sake; and, above all, for Christ's sake ! THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOOIATIOF. Statistics of its Work and Workers— General Summary. WORKERS. Missionaries — At the South, 69 ; among the Indians, 1 ; in the . Foreign field, 9. Total 79 Teachebs — At the South, 150 ; among the Chinese, 17; among the Indians, 10; native helpers in the Foreign field, G. Total 183 Matbons, 9 ; in Business Department, 9. Total 18 Total number of Workers 280 CHURCHES. Churches at the South, 64 ; among the Indians, 1 ; in the Foreign lield, 1. Total 66 Church members at the South, 4,189; among the Indians, 19; in the Foreign field, 44. Total 4,252 Total number Sabbath-school Scholars 7,517 SCHOOLS. Schools at the South, ,S7 ; among the Chinese, 11 ; among the Indians, 6; in the Foreign field, 3.- Total 57 Pupils at the South, 7,229; among the Chinese, 1, 492 ; among' the Indians, 245 ; in the Foreign field, 177. Total 9,143 DETAILS OF SCHOOL WORK AT THE SOUTH. CHARTERED INSTITUTIONS, 8. Hampton N. and A. Institute, Hampton, Va. Number of Pupils, 332 ; Boarding accommodations for 180. Bekea College, Berea, Ky. Number of Pupils, 273 ; Boarding accommodations for 180. FisK Univeesity, NashTille, Tenn. Number of Pupils, 338 ; Boarding accommodations for 150. Atlanta Univebsity, Atlanta, Ga. Number of Pupils, 244 ; Boarding accommodations for 150. Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. Number of Pupils, 272 ; Boarding accommodations for 100. TouGALOo Univebsity, Tougaloo, Miss. Number of Pupils, 193 ; Boarding accommodations for 115. Steaight Univebsity, New Orleans, La. Number of Pupils, 287 ; no Boarding accommodations. NoEMAL Institute, Austin, Texas— Number of Pupils, 146. OTHER INSTITUTIONS, 11. Williston School, Wilmington, N. C, number of pupils, 126 ; Washington School, Kaleigh, N. C.,435; Avery Institute, Charleston, S. C, 294; Brewer Normal School, Greenwood, S. C, 58; Storrs School, Atlanta, Ga. ,701; Lewis High School, Macon, Ga., 93; Trinity School, Athens, Ala., 158 ; Emerson Institute, Mobile, Ala., 117 ; Swayne School, Montgomery, Ala., 486; Burrell School, Selma, Ala., 421 ; Le Moyne School, Memphis, Tenn. , 184 ; Common Schools, 18. Total 37 PUPILS CLASSIFIED. Theological, 88 ; Law, 17 ; Collegiate, 106 ; Collegiate Prepar- atory, 160; Normal, 1,459; Grammar, 1,016; Intermedi- ate, 2,048; Primary, 2,398 7,292 Studying in two grades 63 7,229 Scholars in the South taught by our former Pupils, estimated at 100,000 AMERICiN MISSIOSABY ASSOCIATION. No. r,(} READE STREET, NEW YORK. LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS relating to tlic Association sliould be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary, Rev. M. E. Stkieby, 56 Eeade Sti-eet, New Yorli City. DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS may be sent to H. W. Hubbaiid, Esq., 56 Reade Street, New Yorli; Rev. C. L. WooDWOKTH, 21 Congregationalllouse, Boston, Mass. ; Rev. James Powell, 112 West Wasliington Street, Cliieago, 111. Drafts or Checks, sent to New Yorlc, sliould be made payable to 11, W. Hubbard, Assistant Treasurer. MEMBERSHIP. A payment of Thirty Dollars, at one time, or several payments to that amount within a yeai-, will constitute a person a Lilc Membei-. LEGACIES. Important legacies have been lost to the Association by informality. Care should be taken to give the full name: "The American Mission- ary Association." The following form of bequest may be used : I nEijtiEATH to my executor [or executors] the sum of dollars, in trust, to pay the same in days after my decease, to the persou who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the "American Missionary Association," New Ifork City, to be applied under the direction of the Executive Committee of that Associatiou, to its charitable uses and purposes. The Will should be attested by tliree witnesses (in some States three are i-equired ; in otlier States only two), who should write against their names their places of residence, (if in cities, the street and number). The following form of attestation will answer for every State in the Union: " Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said (A. B.) as his last Will and Testament, in the preseuoe of us, who, at the request of the said (A. B.) and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subBcrlbed our names as witnesses." In some States it is required tluit charitable bequests should be nmde at least two montlis before tlie death of the testator. THE AITIERICAIV ITIIBSIOIVjLRV is published monthly, at .56 Reade Street. Terms, "Fifty Cents pur year, payable in advance. 6