"The Lord Jesus Christ is now saying to you, as he did to Peter, when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren....

"Therefore let me entreat you to look upon your Country-men around you, and pity them, not so much for their being Fellow-Captives with you in a strange Land; as for this, that they are not yet, like you, delivered from the Power of Darkness....

"Invite them to learn to read, and direct them where they may apply for Assistance, especially to those faithful Ministers, who have been your Instructors and Fathers in Christ...."—Fawcett's Address to the Negroes in Virginia, etc., pp. 8, 17, 18, 24, 25.

EXTRACT FROM THE APPENDIX OF BENJAMIN FAWCETT'S "ADDRESS TO THE CHRISTIAN NEGROES IN VIRGINIA"

"The first Account, I ever met with, of any considerable Number of Negroes embracing the Gospel, is in a letter written by Mr. Davies, Minister at Hanover in Virginia, to Mr. Bellamy of Bethlehem in New England, dated June 28, 1751. It appears that the Letter was designed for Publication; and I suppose, was accordingly printed at Boston in New England. It is to be seen in vol. ii., pages 330-338, of the Historical Collections relating to remarkable Periods of the Success of the Gospel, and eminent Instruments employed in promoting it; Compiled by Mr. John Gillies, one of the Ministers of Glasgow: Printed by Foulis in 1754. Mr. Davies fills the greatest part of his Letter, with an Account of the declining State of Religion in Virginia, and the remarkable Means used by Providence to revive it, for a few Years before his Settlement there, which was in 1747; not in the character of a Missionary, but that of a dissenting Minister, invited by a particular People, and fixed with them. Such, he observes, was the scattered State of his Congregation, that he soon found it necessary to license seven Meeting-Houses, the nearest of which are twelve or fifteen Miles distant from each other, and the extremes about Forty; yet some of his People live twenty, thirty, and a few forty Miles from the nearest Meeting-House. He computes his Communicants at about three Hundred. He then says, 'There is also a Number of Negroes. Some times I see a Hundred and more among my Hearers. I have baptized about Forty of them within the last three Years, upon such a Profession of Faith as I then judged credible. Some of them, I fear, have apostatized; but others, I trust, will persevere to the End. I have had as satisfying Evidences of the sincere Piety of several of them, as ever I had from any Person in my Life; and their artless Simplicity, their passionate Aspirations after Christ, their incessant Endeavors to know and do the Will of God, have charmed me. But, alas! while my Charge is so extensive, I cannot take sufficient Pains with them for their Instruction, which often oppresses my Heart....'"

At the Close of the above Letter, in the Historical Collections (vol. ii., page 338), there is added the following Marginal Note.—"May 22, 1754. Mr. G. Tennent and Mr. Davies being at Edinburgh, as Agents for the Trustees of the College of New Jersey, Mr. Davies informs,—that when he left Virginia in August last, there was a hopeful Appearance of a greater Spread of a religious Concern amongst the Negroes;—And a few weeks before he left Home, he baptized in one Day fifteen Negroes, after they had been catechized for some Months, and given credible Evidences of their sincerely embracing the Gospel."

After these Gentlemen had finished the Business of their late Mission in this part of the World, Mr. Davies gave the following Particulars to his Correspondent in London, in a letter which he wrote in the Spring of the previous Year, six Weeks after his safe return to his Family and Friends.—"The Inhabitants of Virginia are computed to be about 300,000 Men, the one-half of which Number are supposed to be Negroes. The Number of those who attend my Ministry at particular Times is uncertain, but generally about three Hundred who give a stated Attendance. And never have I been so much struck with the Appearance of an Assembly, as when I have glanced my Eye to that Part of the Meeting-House, where they usually sit; adorned, for so it had appeared to me, with so many black Countenances, eagerly attentive to every Word they hear, and frequently bathed in Tears. A considerable Number of them, about a Hundred, have been baptized, after the proper Time for Instruction, and having given credible Evidences, not only of their Acquaintance with the important Doctrines of the Christian Religion, but also a deep Sense of them upon their Minds, attested by a Life of the strictest Piety and Holiness. As they are not sufficiently polished to dissemble with a good Grace, they express the sentiments of their Souls so much in the Language of simple Nature, and with such genuine Indications of Sincerity, that it is impossible to suspect their Professions, especially when attended with a truly Christian Life and exemplary Conduct.—My worthy Friend, Mr. Tod, Minister of the next Congregation, has near the same Number under his Instructions, who, he tells me, discover the same serious Turn of Mind. In short, Sir, there are Multitudes of them in different Places, who are willing, and eagerly desirous to be instructed, and embrace every Opportunity of acquainting themselves with the Doctrines of the Gospel; and tho' they have generally very little Help to learn to read, yet, to my agreeable Surprise, many of them, by the Dint of Application in their Leisure-Hours, have made such a Progress, that they can intelligibly read a plain Author, and especially their Bibles; and Pity it is that many of them should be without them. Before I had the Pleasure of being admitted a Member of your Society [Mr. Davies here means the Society for promoting religious Knowledge among the Poor, which was first begun in London in August, 1750] the Negroes were wont frequently to come to me, with such moving Accounts of their Necessities in this Respect, that I could not help supplying them with Books to the utmost of my small Ability; and when I distributed those among them, which my Friends with you sent over, I had Reason to think that I never did an Action in all my Life, that met with so much Gratitude from the Receivers. I have already distributed all the Books I brought over, which were proper for them. Yet still, on Saturday Evenings, the only Time they can spare [they are allowed some short Time, viz., Saturday afternoon, and Sunday, says Dr. Douglass in his Summary. See the Monthly Review for October, 1755, page 274] my House is crowded with Numbers of them, whose very Countenances still carry the air of importunate Petitioners for the same Favors with those who came before them. But, alas! my Stock is exhausted, and I must send them away grieved and disappointed.—Permit me, Sir, to be an Advocate with you, and, by your Means, with your generous Friends in their Behalf. The Books I principally want for them are, Watts' Psalms and Hymns, and Bibles. The two first they cannot be supplied with any other Way than by a Collection, as they are not among the Books which your Society give away. I am the rather importunate for a good Number of these, and I cannot but observe, that the Negroes, above all the Human Species that I ever knew, have an Ear for Musick, and a kind of extatic Delight in Psalmody; and there are no Books they learn so soon, or take so much Pleasure in as those used in that heavenly Part of divine Worship. Some Gentlemen in London were pleased to make me a private Present of these Books for their Use, and from the Reception they met with, and their Eagerness for more, I can easily foresee, how acceptable and useful a larger Number would be among them. Indeed, Nothing would be a greater Inducement to their Industry to learn to read, than the Hope of such a Present; which they would consider, both as a Help, and a Reward for their Diligence"....—Fawcett's Address to the Christian Negroes in Virginia, etc., pp. 33. 34. 35. 36, 37. 38.

EXTRACT FROM JONATHAN BOUCHER'S "A VIEW OF THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION"(1763)

"If ever these colonies, now filled with slaves, be improved to their utmost capacity, an essential part of the improvement must be the abolition of slavery. Such a change would be hardly more to the advantage of the slaves than it would be to their owners....

"I do you no more than justice in bearing witness, that in no part of the world were slaves better treated than, in general, they are in the colonies.... In one essential point, I fear, we are all deficient; they are nowhere sufficiently instructed. I am far from recommending it to you, at once to set them free; because to do so would be an heavy loss to you, and probably no gain to them; but I do entreat you to make them some amends for the drudgery of their bodies by cultivating their minds. By such means only can we hope to fulfil the ends, which we may be permitted to believe, Providence had in view in suffering them to be brought among us. You may unfetter them from the chains of ignorance; you may emancipate them from the bondage of sin, the worst slavery to which they can be subjected; and by thus setting at liberty those that are bruised, though they still continue to be your slaves, they shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God."—Jonathan Boucher's A View of the Causes and Consequences, etc., pp. 41, 42, 43.

BOUCHER ON AMERICAN EDUCATION IN 1773

"You pay far too little regard to parental education....

"What is still less credible is that at least two-thirds of the little education we receive is derived from instructors who are either indented servants or transported felons. Not a ship arrives either with redemptioners or convicts, in which schoolmasters are not as regularly advertised for sale as weavers, tailors, or any other trade; with little other difference, that I can hear of, excepting perhaps that the former do not usually fetch so good a price as the latter....

"I own, however, that I dislike slavery and among other reasons because as it is here conducted it has pernicious effects on the social state, by being unfavorable to education. It certainly is no necessary circumstance, essential to the condition of a slave, that he be uneducated; yet this is the general and almost universal lot of the slaves. Such extreme, deliberate, and systematic inattention to all mental improvement, in so large portion of our species, gives far too much countenance and encouragement to those abject persons who are contented to be rude and ignorant."—Jonathan Boucher's A View of the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution, pp. 183, 188, 189.

A PORTION OF AN ESSAY OF BISHOP PORTEUS TOWARD A PLAN FOR THE MORE EFFECTUAL CIVILIZATION AND CONVERSION OF THE NEGRO SLAVES ON THE TRENT ESTATE IN BARBADOES BELONGING TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. (WRITTEN IN 1784)

"We are expressly commanded to preach the gospel to every creature; and therefore every human creature must necessarily be capable of receiving it. It may be true, perhaps, that the generality of the Negro slaves are extremely dull of apprehension, and slow of understanding; but it may be doubted whether they are more so than some of the lowest classes of our own people; at least they are certainly not inferior in capacity to the Greenlanders, many of whom have made very sincere Christians. Several travellers of good credit speak in very favorable terms, both of the understandings and dispositions of the native Africans on the coast of Guinea; and it is a well-known fact, that many even of the Negro slaves in our islands, although laboring under disadvantages and discouragements, that might well depress and stupefy even the best understandings, yet give sufficient proofs of the great quickness of parts and facility in learning. They have, in particular, a natural turn to the mechanical arts, in which several of them show much ingenuity, and arrive at no small degree of perfection. Some have discovered marks of genius for music, poetry, and other liberal accomplishments; and there are not wanting instances among them of a strength of understanding, and a generosity, dignity, and heroism of mind, which would have done honour to the most cultivated European. It is not, therefore, to any natural or unconquerable disability in the subject we had to work upon, that the little success of our efforts is to be ascribed. This would indeed be an insuperable obstacle, and must put an effectual stop to all future attempts of the same nature; but as this is far from being the case, we must look for other causes of our disappointment; which may perhaps appear to be, though of a serious, yet less formidable nature, and such as it is in the power of human industry and perseverance, with the blessing of Providence, to remove. The principal of them, it is conceived, are these which here follow:

1. "Although several of our ministers and catechists in the college of Barbadoes have been men of great worth and piety, and good intentions, yet in general they do not appear (if we may judge from their letters to the Board) to have possessed that peculiar sort of talents and qualifications, that facility and address in conveying religious truths, that unconquerable activity, patience, and perseverance, which the instruction of dull and uncultivated minds requires, and which we sometimes see so eminently and successfully displayed in the missionaries of other churches.

"And indeed the task of instructing and converting near three hundred Negro slaves, and of educating their children in the principles of morality and religion, is too laborious for any one person to execute well; especially when the stipend is too small to animate his industry, and excite his zeal.

2. "There seems also to have been a want of other modes of instruction, and of other books and tracts for that purpose, besides those made use of hitherto by our catechists. And there is reason moreover to believe, that the time allotted to the instruction of the Negroes has not been sufficient.

3. "Another impediment to the progress of our slaves in Christian knowledge has been their too frequent intercourse with the Negroes of the neighboring plantations, and the accession of fresh slaves to our own, either hired from other estates, or imported from Africa. These are so many constant temptations in their way to revert to their former heathenish principles and savage manners, to which they have always a strong natural propensity; and when this propensity is continually inflamed by the solicitations of their unconverted brethren, or the arrival of new companions from the coast of Guinea, it frequently becomes very difficult to be resisted, and counteracts, in a great degree, all the influence and exhortations of their religious teachers.

4. "Although this society has been always most honourably distinguished by the gentleness with which the negroes belonging to its trust estates have been generally treated, yet even these (by the confession of our missionaries) are in too abject, and depressed, and uncivilized a state to be proper subjects for the reception of the divine truths of revelation. They stand in need of some further marks of the society's regard and tenderness for them, to conciliate their affections, to invigorate their minds, to encourage their hopes, and to rouse them out of that state of languor and indolence and insensibility, which renders them indifferent and careless both about this world and the next.

5. "A still further obstacle to the effectual conversion of the Negroes has been the almost unrestrained licentiousness of their manner, the habits of vice and dissoluteness in which they are permitted to live, and the sad examples they too frequently see in their managers and overseers. It can never be expected that people given up to such practices as these, can be much disposed to receive a pure and undefiled religion: or that, if after their conversion they are allowed, as they generally are, to retain their former habits, their christianity can be anything more than a mere name.

"These probably the society will, on inquiry, find to have been the principal causes of the little success they have hitherto had in their pious endeavors to render their own slaves real christians. And it is with a view principally to the removal of these obstacles that the following regulations are, with all due deference to better judgments, submitted to their consideration.

"The first and most essential step towards a real and effectual conversion of our Negroes would be the appointment of a missionary (in addition to the present catechist) properly qualified for that important and difficult undertaking. He should be a clergyman sought out for in this country, of approved ability, piety, humanity, industry, and a fervent, yet prudent zeal for the interests of religion, and the salvation of those committed to his care; and should have a stipend not less than 200 f. sterling a year if he has an apartment and is maintained in the College, or 300 f. a year if he is not.

"This clergyman might be called (for a reason to be hereafter assigned) 'The Guardian of the Negroes'; and his province should be to superintend the moral and spiritual concern of the slaves, to take upon himself the religious instruction of the adult Negroes, and to take particular care that all the Negro children are taught to read by the catechist and the two assistant women (now employed by the society) and also that they are diligently instructed by the catechist in the principles of the Christian religion, till they are fifteen years of age, when they shall be instructed by himself with the adult Negroes.

"This instruction of the Negro children from their earliest years is one of the most important and essential parts of the whole plan; for it is to the education of the young Negroes that we are principally to look for the success of our spiritual labours. These may be easily taught to understand and to speak the English language with fluency; these may be brought up from their earliest youth in habits of virtue, and restrained from all licentious indulgences: these may have the principles and the precepts of religion impressed so early upon their tender minds as to sink deep, and to take firm root, and bring forth the fruits of a truly Christian life. To this great object, therefore, must our chief attention be directed; and as almost everything must depend on the ability, the integrity, the assiduity, the perseverance of the person to whom we commit so important a charge, it is impossible for us to be too careful and too circumspect in our choice of a CATECHIST. He must consider it his province, not merely to teach the Negroes the use of letters, but the elements of Christianity; not only to improve their understandings, but to form their hearts. For this purpose they must be put into his hands the moment they are capable of articulating their words, and their instruction must be pursued with unrelenting diligence. So long as they continue too young to work, they may be kept constantly in the school; as they grow fit to labour, their attendance on the CATECHIST must gradually lessen, till at length they take their full share of work with the grown Negroes.

"A school of this nature was formerly established by the society of Charlestown in South Carolina, about the year 1745, under the direction of Mr. Garden, the Bishop of London's commissary in that province. This school flourished greatly, and seemed to answer their utmost wishes. There were at one time sixty scholars in it, and twenty young Negroes were annually sent out from it well instructed in the English language, and the Christian faith. Mr. Garden, in his letters to the society, speaks in the highest terms of the progress made by his scholars, and says, that the Negroes themselves were highly pleased with their own acquirements. But it is supposed that on a parochial establishment being made in Charlestown by government, this excellent institution was dropt; for after the year 1751, no further mention is made of it in the minutes of the society. From what little we know of it, however, we may justly conceive the most pleasing hopes from a similar foundation at Barbadoes."—The Works of Bishop Porteus, vi., pp., 171-179.

EXTRACT FROM "THE ACTS OF DR. BRAY'S VISITATION HELD AT ANNAPOLIS IN MARYLAND, MAY 23, 24, 25, ANNO 1700"

Words of Dr. Bray

"I think, my REVEREND BRETHREN, that we are now gone through such measures as may be necessary to be considered for the more universal as well as successful Catechising, and Instruction of Youth. And I heartily thank you for your so ready Concurrence in every thing that I have offered to you: And which, I hope, will appear no less in the Execution, than it has been to the Proposals.

"And that proper Books may not be wanting for the several Classes of Catechumens, there is care taken for the several sorts, which may be all had in this Town. And it may be necessary to acquaint you, that for the poor Children and Servants, they shall be given Gratis."—Hawks's Ecclesiastical History of the United States, vol. ii., pp. 503-504.

EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS....

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY, 1774

"And having grounds to conclude that there are some brethren who have these poor captives under their care, and are desirous to be wisely directed in the restoring them to liberty: Friends who may be appointed by quarterly and monthly meetings on the service now proposed, are earnestly desired to give their weighty and solid attention for the assistance of such who are thus honestly and religiously concerned for their own relief, and the essential benefit of the negro. And in such families where there are young ones, or others of suitable age, that they excite the masters, or those who have them, to give them sufficient instruction and learning, in order to qualify them for the enjoyment of liberty intended, and that they may be instructed by themselves, or placed out to such masters and mistresses who will be careful of their religious education, to serve for such time, and no longer, as is prescribed by law and custom, for white people."—A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and the Slave Trade. Published by direction of the Yearly Meeting, held in Philadelphia, in the Fourth Month, 1843, p. 38.

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF PHILADELPHIA AND NEW JERSEY, 1779

"A tender Christian sympathy appears to be awakened in the minds of many who are not in religious profession with us, who have seriously considered the oppressions and disadvantages under which those people have long laboured; and whether a pious care extended to their offspring is not justly due from us to them, is a consideration worthy of our serious and deep attention; or if this obligation did not weightily lay upon us, can benevolent minds be directed to any object more worthy of their liberality and encouragement, than that of laving a foundation in the rising generation for their becoming good and useful men? remembering what was formerly enjoined, 'If thy brethren be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.'"—Ibid., p. 38.

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF CHESTER

"The consideration of the temporal and spiritual welfare of the Africans, and the necessary instruction of their offspring now being resumed, and after some time spent thereon, it is closely recommended to our several monthly meetings to pay due attention to the advice of the Yearly Meeting on this subject, and proceed as strength may be afforded, in looking after them in their several habitations by a religious visit; giving them such counsel as their situation may require."—Ibid., p. 39.

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE HADDONFIELD QUARTERLY MEETING

"In Haddonfield Quarterly Meeting, a committee was kept steadily under appointment for several years to assist in manumissions, and in the education of the negro children. Religious meetings were frequently held for the people of color; and Haddonfield Monthly Meeting raised on one occasion 131 pounds, for the education of negro children.

"In Salem Monthly Meeting, frequent meetings of worship for the people of color were held by direction of the monthly meeting; funds were raised for the education of their children, and committees appointed in the different meetings to provide books, place the children at school, to visit the schools, and inspect their conduct and improvement.

"Meetings for Divine worship were regularly held for people of color, at least once in three months, under the direction of the monthly meetings of Friends in Philadelphia; and schools were also established at which their children were gratuitously instructed in useful learning. One of these, originally instituted by Anthony Benezet, is now in operation in the city of Philadelphia, and has been continued under the care of one of the monthly meetings of Friends of that city, and supported by funds derived from voluntary contributions of the members, and from legacies and bequests, yielding an income of about $1000 per annum. The average number of pupils is about sixty-eight of both sexes."—Ibid., pp. 40-41.

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE RHODE ISLAND QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS, 1769

A committee reported "that having met, and entered into a solemn consideration of the subject, they were of the mind that a useful alteration might be made in the query referred to; yet apprehending some further Christian endeavors in labouring with such who continue in possession of slaves should be first promoted, by which means the eyes of Friends may be more clearly opened to behold the iniquity of the practice of detaining our fellow creatures in bondage, and a disposition to set such free who are arrived to mature age; and when the labour is performed and report made to the meeting, the meeting may be better capable of determining what further step to take in this affair, which hath given so much concern to faithful Friends, and that in the meantime it should be enforced upon Friends that have them in possession, to treat them with tenderness; impress God's fear on their minds; promote their attending places of religious worship; and give such as are young, so much learning, that they may be capable of reading.

"Are Friends clear of importing, buying, or any ways disposing of negroes or slaves; and do they use those well who are under their care, and not in circumstances, through nonage or incapacity, to be set at liberty? And do they give those that are young such an education as becomes Christians; and are the others encouraged in a religious and virtuous life? Are all set at liberty that are of age, capacity, and ability suitable for freedom?"—Ibid., pp. 45,46.

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF VIRGINIA IN 1757 AND 1773

"Are Friends clear of importing or buying negroes to trade on; and do they use those well which they are possessed of by inheritance or otherwise, endeavoring to train them in the principles of the Christian religion?"

The meeting of 1773 recommended to Friends, "seriously to consider the circumstances of these poor people, and the obligation we are under to discharge our religious duties to them, which being disinterestedly pursued, will lead the professor to Truth, to advise and assist them on all occasions, particularly in promoting their instruction in the principles of the Christian religion, and the pious education of their children; also to advise them in their worldly concerns, as occasions offer; and it advised that Friends of judgment and experience may be nominated for this necessary service, it being the solid sense of this meeting, that we, of the present generation, are under strong obligations to express our love and concern for the offspring of those people, who, by their labours, have greatly contributed toward the cultivation of these colonies, under the afflictive disadvantage of enduring a hard bondage; and many amongst us are enjoying the benefit of their toil."—Ibid., pp. 51, 52, and 54.

EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE METHODIST CONFERENCE, 1785

"Q. What directions shall we give for the promotion of the spiritual welfare of the colored people?

"A. We conjure all our ministers and preachers, by the love of God and the salvation of souls, and do require them, by all the authority that is invested in us, to leave nothing undone for the spiritual benefit and salvation of them, within their respective circuits or districts; and for this purpose to embrace every opportunity of inquiring into the state of their souls, and to unite in society those who appear to have a real desire of fleeing from the wrath to come, to meet such a class, and to exercise the whole Methodist Discipline among them."

"Q. What can be done in order to instruct poor children, white and black to read?

"A. Let us labor, as the heart of one man, to establish Sunday schools, in or near the place of public worship. Let persons be appointed by the bishop, elders, deacons, or preachers, to teach gratis all that will attend or have the capacity to learn, from six o'clock in the morning till ten, and from two o'clock in the afternoon till six, where it does not interfere with public worship. The council shall compile a proper school book to teach them learning and piety."—Rev. Charles Elliott's History of the Great Secession front the Methodist Episcopal Church, etc., p. 35.

A PORTION OF AN ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN 1800.

The Assembly recommended:

"2. The instruction of Negroes, the poor and those who are destitute of the means of grace in various parts of this extensive country; whoever contemplates the situation of this numerous class of persons in the United States, their gross ignorance of the plainest principles of religion, their immorality and profaneness, their vices and dissoluteness of manners, must be filled with anxiety for their present welfare, and above all for their future and eternal happiness.

"3. The purchasing and disposing of Bibles and also of books and short essays on the great principles of religion and morality, calculated to impress the minds of those to whom they are given with a sense of their duty both to God and man, and consequently of such a nature as to arrest the attention, interest the curiosity and touch the feelings of those to whom they are given."—Act and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in the Year 1800, Philadelphia.

AN ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN 1801

"The Assembly resumed the consideration of the communication from the Trustees of the General Assembly and having gone through the same, thereupon resolved,

"5. That there be made a purchase of so many cheap and pious books as a due regard to the other objects of the Assembly's funds will admit, with a view of distributing them not only among the frontiers of these States, but also among the poorer classes of people, and the blacks, or wherever it is thought useful; which books shall be given away, or lent, at the discretion of the distributor; and that there be received from Mr. Robert Aitken, toward the discharge of his debt, books to such amount as shall appear proper to the Trustees of the Assembly, who are hereby requested to take proper measures for the distribution of same."—Act and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

PLAN FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE FREE BLACKS

The business relative to free blacks shall be transacted by a committee of twenty-four persons, annually elected by ballot at a meeting of this Society, in the month called April, and in order to perform the different services with expedition, regularity and energy this committee shall resolve itself into the following sub-committees, viz.:

I. A Committee of Inspection, who shall superintend the morals, general conduct, and ordinary situation of the free negroes, and afford them advice and instruction, protection from wrongs, and other friendly offices.

II. A Committee of Guardians, who shall place out children and young people with suitable persons, that they may (during a moderate time of apprenticeship or servitude) learn some trade or other business of subsistence. The committee may effect this partly by a persuasive influence on parents and the persons concerned, and partly by cooeperating with the laws, which are or may be enacted for this and similar purposes. In forming contracts of these occasions, the committee shall secure to the Society as far as may be practicable the right of guardianship over the person so bound.

III. A Committee of Education, who shall superintend the school instruction of the children and youth of the free blacks. They may either influence them to attend regularly the schools already established in this city, or form others with this view; they shall, in either case, provide, that the pupils may receive such learning as is necessary for their future situation in life, and especially a deep impression of the most important and generally acknowledged moral and religious principles. They shall also procure and preserve a regular record of the marriages, births, and manumissions of all free blacks.

IV. The Committee of Employ, who shall endeavor to procure constant employment for those free negroes who are able to work; as the want of this would occasion poverty, idleness, and many vicious habits. This committee will by sedulous inquiry be enabled to find common labor for a great number; they will also provide that such as indicate proper talents may learn various trades, which may be done by prevailing upon them to bind themselves for such a term of years as shall compensate their masters for the expense and trouble of instruction and maintenance. The committee may attempt the institution of some simple and useful manufactures which will require but little skill, and also may assist, in commencing business, such as appear to be qualified for it.

Whenever the Committee of Inspection shall find persons of any particular description requiring attention, they shall immediately direct them to the committee of whose care they are the proper objects.

In matters of a mixed nature, the committee shall confer, and, if necessary, act in concert. Affairs of great importance shall be referred to the whole committee.

The expense incurred by the prosecution of this plan, shall be defrayed by a fund, to be formed by donations or subscriptions for these particular purposes, and to be kept separate from the other funds of the Society.

The Committee shall make a report on their proceedings, and of the state of their stock, to the Society, at their quarterly meetings, in the months called April and October.—Smyth's Writings of Benjamin Franklin, vol. x, p. 127.

EXTRACT FROM THE "ADDRESS OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION OF DELEGATES FROM THE ABOLITION SOCIETIES, 1795"

"We cannot forbear expressing to you our earnest desire, that you will continue, without ceasing, to endeavor, by every method in your power which can promise any success, to procure, either an absolute repeal of all the laws in your state, which countenance slavery, or such an amelioration of them as will gradually produce an entire abolition. Yet, even should that great end be happily attained, it cannot put a period to the necessity of further labor. The education of the emancipated, the noblest and most arduous task which we have to perform, will require all our wisdom and virtue, and the constant exercise of the greatest skill and discretion. When we have broken his chains, and restored the African to the enjoyment of his rights, the great work of justice and benevolence is not accomplished—The new born citizen must receive that instruction, and those powerful impressions of moral and religious truths, which will render him capable and desirous of fulfilling the various duties he owes to himself and to his country. By educating some in the higher branches of science, and all the useful parts of learning, and in the precepts of religion and morality, we shall not only do away with the reproach and calumny so unjustly lavished upon us, but confound the enemies of truth, by evincing that the unhappy sons of Africa, in spite of the degrading influence of slavery, are in no wise inferior to the more fortunate inhabitants of Europe and America.

"As a means of effectuating, in some degree, a design so virtuous and laudable, we recommend to you to appoint a committee, annually, or for any other more convenient period, to execute such plans, for the improvement of the condition and moral character of the free blacks in your state, as you may think best adapted to your particular situation."—Minutes of the Proceedings of the Second Convention of Delegates, 1795.

A PORTION OF THE "ADDRESS OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION OF DELEGATES TO THE FREE AFRICANS AND OTHER FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR, 1796"

"In the first place, We earnestly recommend to you, a regular attention to the duty of public worship; by which means you will evince gratitude to your CREATOR, and, at the same time, promote knowledge, union, friendship, and proper conduct among yourselves.

"Secondly, we advise such of you, as have not been taught reading, writing, and the first principles of arithmetic, to acquire them as early as possible. Carefully attend to the instruction of your children in the same simple and useful branches of education. Cause them, likewise, early and frequently to read the holy Scriptures. They contain, among other great discoveries, the precious record of the original equality of mankind, and of the obligations of universal justice and benevolence, which are derived from the relation of the human race to each other in a COMMON FATHER.

"Thirdly, Teach your children useful trades, or to labor with their hands in cultivating the earth. These employments are favorable to health and virtue. In the choice of masters, who are to instruct them in the above branches of business, prefer those who will work with them; by this means they will acquire habits of industry, and be better preserved from vice, than if they worked alone, or under the eye of persons less interested in their welfare. In forming contracts for yourselves or children, with masters, it may be useful to consult such persons as are capable of giving you the best advice, who are known to be your friends, in order to prevent advantages being taken of your ignorance of the laws and customs of your country."—Minutes of the Proceedings of the Third Convention of Delegates, 1796. American Convention of Abolition Societies, Minutes, 1795-1804

A PORTION OF THE ADDRESS TO THE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR BY THE AMERICAN CONVENTION FOR PROMOTING THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY, 1819

"The great work of emancipation is not to be accomplished in a day;—it must be the result of time, of long and continued exertions: it is for you to show by an orderly and worthy deportment that you are deserving of the rank which you have attained. Endeavor as much as possible to use economy in your expenses, so that you may be enabled to save from your earnings, something for the education of your children, and for your support in time of sickness and in old age: and let all those who by attending to this admonition, have acquired the means, send their children to school as soon as they are old enough, where their morals will be the object of attention, as well as their improvement in school learning; and when they arrive at a suitable age, let it be your especial care to have them instructed in some mechanical art suited to their capacities, or in agricultural pursuits; by which they may afterwards be enabled to support themselves and a family. Encourage also, those among you who are qualified as teachers of schools, and when you are of ability to pay, never send your children to free schools; this may be considered as robbing the poor, of the opportunities which were intended for them alone."

THE WILL OF KOSCIUSZKO

I, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, being just on my departure from America, do hereby declare and direct, that, should I make no other testamentary disposition of my property in the United States, I hereby authorize my friend, Thomas Jefferson, to employ the whole thereof in purchasing Negroes from his own or any others, and giving them liberty in my name, in giving them an education in trade or otherwise, and in having them instructed for their new condition in the duties of morality, which may make them good neighbors, good fathers or mothers, husbands or wives in their duties as citizens, teaching them to be defenders of their liberty and country, and of the good order of society, and in whatsoever may make them happy and useful. And I make the said Thomas Jefferson my executor of this.

(Signed) T. KOSCIUSZKO. May 5, 1798. [See African Repository, vol. xi., p. 294.]

FROM WASHINGTON'S WILL

"Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the slaves whom I now hold in my own right shall receive their freedom.... And whereas among those who will receive freedom according to this devise, there may be some who, from old age or bodily infirmities, and others who on account of their infancy will be unable to support themselves, it is my will and desire that all who come under the first and second description, shall be comfortably clothed and fed by my heirs while they live; and that such of the latter description as have no parents living, or if living are unable or unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the court until they shall arrive at the age of twenty-five years; and in cases where no record can be produced, whereby their ages can be ascertained, the judgement of court upon its own view of the subject shall be adequate and final. The negroes thus bound are (by their masters or mistresses) to be taught to read and write, and to be brought up to some useful occupation, agreeable to the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, providing for the support of orphan and other poor children."—Benson J. Lossing's Life of George Washington, vol. iii., p. 537.

THIS INTERESTING DIALOGUE WAS WRITTEN BY AN AMERICAN ABOUT 1800

The following dialogue took place between Mr. Jackson the master of a family, and the slave of one of his neighbors who lived adjoining the town, on this occasion. Mr. Jackson was walking through the common and came to a field of this person's farm. He there saw the slave leaning against the fence with a book in his hand, which he seemed to be very intent upon; after a little time he closed the book, and clasping it in both his hands, looked upwards as if engaged in mental prayer; after this, he put the book in his bosom, and walked along the fence near where Mr. Jackson was standing. Surprised at seeing a person of his color engaged with a book, and still more by the animation and delight that he observed in his countenance; he determines to enquire about it, and calls to him as he passes.

Mr. J. So I see you have been reading, my lad?

Slave. Yes, sir.

Mr. J. Well, I have a great curiosity to see what you were reading so earnestly; will you show me the book?

Slave. To be sure, sir. (And he presented it to him very respectfully.)

Mr. J. The Bible!—Pray when did you get this book? And who taught you to read it?

Slave. I thank God, sir, for the book. I do not know the good gentleman who gave it to me, but I am sure God sent it to me. I was learning to read in town at nights, and one morning a gentleman met me in the road as I had my spelling book open in my hand: he asked me if I could read, I told him a little, and he gave me this book and told me to make haste and learn to read it, and to ask God to help me, and that it would make me as happy as any body in the world.

Mr. J. Well did you do so?

Slave. I thought about it for some time, and I wondered that any body should give me a book or care about me; and I wondered what that could be which could make a poor slave like me so happy; and so I thought more and more of it, and I said I would try and do as the gentleman bid me, and blessed be God! he told me nothing but the truth.

Mr. J. Who is your master?

Slave. Mr. Wilkins, sir, who lives in that house.

Mr. J. I know him; he is a very good man; but what does he say to your leaving his work to read your book in the field?

Slave. I was not leaving his work, sir. This book does not teach me to neglect my master's work. I could not be happy if I did that.—I have done my breakfast, sir, and am waiting till the horses are done eating.

Mr. J. Well, what does that book teach you?

Slave. Oh, sir! every thing that I want to know—all I am to do, this book tells me, and so plain. It shew me first that I was a wretched, ruined sinner, and what would become of me if I died in that state, and then when I was day and night in dread of God's calling me to account for my wickedness, and did not know which way to look for my deliverance, reading over and over again those dreadful words, "depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire," then it revealed to me how Jesus Christ had consented to come and suffer punishment for us in our stead, and bought pardon for us by his blood, and how by believing on him and serving him, I might become a child of God, so that I need be no more terrified by the thoughts of God's anger but sure of his forgiveness and love....

(Here Mr. J. pursued his walk; but soon reflecting on what he had heard, he resolved to walk by Mr. Wilkins's house and enquire into this affair from him. This he did, and finding him the following conversation took place between them.)

Mr. J. Sir, I have been talking with a man of yours in that field, who was engaged, while his horses were eating, in reading a book; which I asked him to shew me and found it was the Bible; thereupon I asked him some questions and his answers, and the account he gave of himself, have surprised me greatly.

Mr. W. I presume it was Will—and though I do not know what he may have told you, yet I will undertake to say that he has told you nothing but the truth. I am always safe in believing him, and do not believe he would tell me an untruth for any thing that could be offered him....

Mr. J. Well, sir, you have seen I trust in your family, good fruits from the beginning.

Mr. W. Yes indeed, sir, and that man was most instrumental in reconciling and encouraging all my people in the change. From that time I have regarded him as more a friend and assistant, than a slave. He has taught the younger ones to read, and by his kindness and example, has been a great benefit to all. I have told them that I would do what I could to instruct and improve them; and that if I found any so vicious, that they would not receive it and strive to amend, I would not keep them; that I hoped to have a religious, praying family, and that none would be obstinately bent on their own ruin. And from time to time, I endeavored to convince them that I was aiming at their own good. I cannot tell you all the happiness of the change, that God has been pleased to make among us, all by these means. And I have been benefited both temporally and spiritually by it; for my work is better done, and my people are more faithful, contented, and obedient than before; and I have the comfort of thinking that when my Lord and master shall call me to account for those committed to my charge, I shall not be ashamed to present them.—Bishop William Meade's "Tracts and Dialogues," etc., in the Appendix of Thomas Bacon's Sermons Addressed to Masters and Servants.

A TRUE ACCOUNT OF A PIOUS NEGRO

(Written about 1800)

Some years ago an English gentleman had occasion to be in North America, where, among other adventures, the following circumstances occurred to him which are related in his own words.

"Every day's observation convinces me that the children of God, viz. those who believe in him, and on such terms are accepted by him through Jesus Christ, are made so by his own especial grace and power inclining them to what is good, and, assisting them when they endeavor to be and continue so.

"In one of my excursions, while I was in the province of New York, I was walking by myself over a considerable plantation, amused with its husbandry, and comparing it with that of my own country, till I came within a little distance of a middle aged negro, who was tilling the ground. I felt a strong inclination to converse with him. After asking him some little questions about his work, which he answered very sensibly, I wished him to tell me, whether his state of slavery was not disagreeable to him, and whether he would not gladly exchange it for his liberty?"

"Massah," said he, looking seriously upon me, "I have wife and children; my massah takes care of them, and I have no care to provide anything; I have a good massah, who teach me to read; and I read good book, that makes me happy." "I am glad," replied I, "to hear you say so; and pray what is the good book you read?" "The Bible, massah, God's own good book." "Do you understand, friend, as well as read this book? for many can read the words well, who cannot get hold of the true and good sense." "O massah," says he, "I read the book much before I understand; but at last I found things in the book which made me very uneasy." "Aye," said I, "and what things were they?" "Why massah, I found that I was a sinner, massah, a very great sinner, I feared that God would destroy me, because I was wicked, and done nothing as I should do. God was holy, and I was very vile and naughty; so I could have nothing from him but fire and brimstone in hell, if I continued in this state." In short, he fully convinced me that he was thoroughly sensible of his errors, and he told me what scriptures came to his mind, which he had read, that both probed him to the bottom of his sinful heart, and were made the means of light and comfort to his soul. I then inquired of him, what ministry or means he made use of and found that his master was a Quaker, a plain sort of man who had taught his slaves to read, and had thus afforded him some means of obtaining religious knowledge, though he had not ever conversed with this negro upon the state of his soul. I asked him likewise, how he got comfort under all his trials? "O massah," said he, "it was God gave me comfort by his word. He bade me come unto him, and he would give me rest, for I was very weary and heavy laden." And here he went through a line of the most striking texts in the Bible, showing me, by his artless comment upon them as he went along, what great things God had done in the course of some years for his soul....—Bishop William Meade's "Tracts, Dialogues," etc., in the Appendix of Thomas Bacon's Sermons Addressed to Masters and Servants.

LETTER TO ABBE GREGOIRE, OF PARIS, 1809

I have received the favor of your letter of August 19th, and with it the volume you were so kind as to send me on the Literature of Negroes. Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely than I do to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted to them by nature and to find that in this respect they are on par with ourselves. My doubts were the result of personal observation in the limited sphere of my own state, where the opportunities for the development of their genius were not favorable, and those of exercising it still less so. I expressed them therefore with great hesitation; but whatever be their degree of talent it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding, he was not therefore lord of the person and property of others. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of nations, and hopeful advances are making towards their re-establishment on an equal footing with the other colors of the human family. I pray you therefore to accept my thanks for the many instances you have enabled me to observe of respectable intelligence in that race of men, which cannot fail to have effect in hastening the day of their relief; and to be sure of the sentiments of the high and just esteem and consideration which I tender to yourself with all sincerity.—Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition, 1904, vol. xii., p. 252.

PORTION OF JEFFERSON'S LETTER TO M.A. JULIEN, JULY 23, 1818

Referring to Kosciuszko, Jefferson said:

"On his departure from the United States in 1798 he left in my hands an instrument appropriating after his death all the property he had in our public funds, the price of his military services here, to the education and emancipation of as many of the children of bondage in this country as this should be adequate to. I am now too old to undertake a business de si longue haleine; but I am taking measures to place it in such hands as will ensure a faithful discharge of the philanthropic intentions of the donor. I learn with pleasure your continued efforts for the instruction of the future generations of men, and, believing it the only means of effectuating their rights, I wish them all possible success, and to yourself the eternal gratitude of those who will feel their benefits, and beg leave to add the assurance of my high esteem and respect."—Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition. 1904, vol. xv., pp. 173-174.

FROM MADISON'S LETTER TO MISS FRANCES WRIGHT, SEPTEMBER 1, 1825

"Supposing these conditions to be duly provided for, particularly the removal of the emancipated blacks, the remaining questions relate to the aptitude and adequacy of the process by which the slaves are at the same time to earn funds, entire or supplemental, required for their emancipation and removal; and to be sufficiently educated for a life of freedom and of social order....

"With respect to the proper course of education, no serious difficulties present themselves. As they are to continue in a state of bondage during the preparatory period, and to be within the jurisdiction of States recognizing ample authority over them, a competent discipline cannot be impracticable. The degree in which this discipline will enforce the needed labour, and in which a voluntary industry will supply the defect of compulsory labour, are vital points, on which it may not be safe to be very positive without some light from actual experiment.

"Considering the probable composition of the labourers, and the known fact that, where the labour is compulsory, the greater the number of labourers brought together (unless, indeed, where co-operation of many hands is rendered essential by a particular kind of work or of machinery) the less are the proportional profits, it may be doubted whether the surplus from that source merely, beyond the support of the establishment, would sufficiently accumulate in five, or even more years, for the objects in view. And candor obliges me to say that I am not satisfied either that the prospect of emancipation at a future day will sufficiently overcome the natural and habitual repugnance to labour, or that there is such an advantage of united over individual labour as is taken for granted.

"In cases where portions of time have been allotted to slaves, as among the Spaniards, with a view to their working out their freedom, it is believed that but few have availed themselves of the opportunity by a voluntary industry; and such a result could be less relied on in a case where each individual would feel that the fruits of his exertions would be shared by others, whether equally or unequally making them, and that the exertions of others would equally avail him, notwithstanding a deficiency in his own. Skilful arrangements might palliate this tendency, but it would be difficult to counteract it effectually.

"The examples of the Moravians, the Harmonites, and the Shakers, in which the united labours of many for a common object have been successful, have, no doubt, an imposing character. But it must be recollected that in all these establishments there is a religious impulse in the members, and a religious authority in the head, for which there will be no substitutes of equivalent efficacy in the emancipating establishment. The code of rules by which Mr. Rapp manages his conscientious and devoted flock, and enriches a common treasury, must be little applicable to the dissimilar assemblage in question. His experience may afford valuable aid in its general organization, and in the distribution of details of the work to be performed. But an efficient administration must, as is judiciously proposed, be in hands practically acquainted with the propensities and habits of the members of the new community."

FROM FREDERICK DOUGLASS'S PAPER, 1853: "LEARN TRADES OR STARVE"

These are the obvious alternatives sternly presented to the free colored people of the United States. It is idle, yea even ruinous, to disguise the matter for a single hour longer; every day begins and ends with the impressive lesson that free negroes must learn trades, or die.

The old avocations, by which colored men obtained a livelihood, are rapidly, unceasingly and inevitably passing into other hands; every hour sees the black man elbowed out of employment by some newly arrived emigrant, whose hunger and whose color are thought to give him a better title to the place; and so we believe it will continue to be until the last prop is levelled beneath us.

As a black man, we say if we cannot stand up, let us fall down. We desire to be a man among men while we do live; and when we cannot, we wish to die. It is evident, painfully evident to every reflecting mind, that the means of living, for colored men, are becoming more and more precarious and limited. Employments and callings formerly monopolized by us, are so no longer.

White men are becoming house-servants, cooks and stewards on vessels—at hotels.—They are becoming porters, stevedores, wood-sawers, hod-carriers, brick-makers, white-washers and barbers, so that the blacks can scarcely find the means of subsistence—a few years ago, a white barber would have been a curiosity—now their poles stand on every street. Formerly blacks were almost the exclusive coachmen in wealthy families: this is so no longer; white men are now employed, and for aught we see, they fill their servile station with an obsequiousness as profound as that of the blacks. The readiness and ease with which they adapt themselves to these conditions ought not to be lost sight of by the colored people. The meaning is very important, and we should learn it. We are taught our insecurity by it. Without the means of living, life is a curse, and leaves us at the mercy of the oppressor to become his debased slaves. Now, colored men, what do you mean to do, for you must do something? The American Colonization Society tells you to go to Liberia. Mr. Bibb tells you to go to Canada. Others tell you to go to school. We tell you to go to work; and to work you must go or die. Men are not valued in this country, or in any country, for what they are; they are valued for what they can do. It is in vain that we talk of being men, if we do not the work of men. We must become valuable to society in other departments of industry than those servile ones from which we are rapidly being excluded. We must show that we can do as well as be; and to this end we must learn trades. When we can build as well as live in houses; when we can make as well as wear shoes; when we can produce as well as consume wheat, corn and rye—then we shall become valuable to society. Society is a hard-hearted affair.—With it the helpless may expect no higher dignity than that of paupers. The individual must lay society under obligation to him, or society will honor him only as a stranger and sojourner. How shall this be done? In this manner; use every means, strain every nerve to master some important mechanical art. At present, the facilities for doing so are few—institutions of learning are more readily opened to you than the work-shop; but the Lord helps them who will help themselves, and we have no doubt that new facilities will be presented as we press forward.

If the alternative were presented to us of learning a trade or of getting an education, we would learn the trade, for the reason, that with the trade we could get the education while with the education we could not get the trade. What we, as a people, most need, is the means for our own elevation.—An educated colored man, in the United States, unless he has within him the heart of a hero, and is willing to engage in a lifelong battle for his rights, as a man, finds few inducements to remain in this country. He is isolated in the land of his birth—debarred by his color from congenial association with whites; he is equally cast out by the ignorance of the blacks. The remedy for this must comprehend the elevation of the masses; and this can only be done by putting the mechanic arts within the reach of colored men.

We have now stated pretty strongly the case of our colored countrymen; perhaps some will say, too strongly, but we know whereof we affirm.

In view of this state of things, we appeal to the abolitionists. What Boss anti-slavery mechanic will take a black boy into his wheelwright's shop, his blacksmith's shop, his joiner's shop, his cabinet shop? Here is something practical; where are the whites and where are the blacks that will respond to it? Where are the antislavery milliners and seamstresses that will take colored girls and teach them trades, by which they can obtain an honorable living? The fact that we have made good cooks, good waiters, good barbers, and white-washers, induces the belief that we may excel in higher branches of industry. One thing is certain; we must find new methods of obtaining a livelihood, for the old ones are failing us very fast.

We, therefore, call upon the intelligent and thinking ones amongst us, to urge upon the colored people within their reach, in all seriousness, the duty and the necessity of giving their children useful and lucrative trades, by which they may commence the battle of life with weapons, commensurate with the exigencies of conflict.—African Repository, vol. xxix., pp. 136, 137.

EDUCATION OF COLORED PEOPLE

(Written by a highly respectable gentleman of the South in 1854)

Several years ago I saw in the Repository, copied from the Colonization Herald, a proposal to establish a college for the education of young colored men in this country. Since that time I have neither seen nor heard anything more of it, and I should be glad to hear whether the proposed plan was ever carried into execution.

Four years ago I conversed with one of the officers of the Colonization Society on the subject of educating in this country colored persons intending to emigrate to Liberia, and expressed my firm conviction of the paramount importance of high moral and mental training as a fit preparation for such emigrants.

To my great regret the gentleman stated that under existing circumstances the project, all important as he confessed it to be, was almost impracticable; so strong being the influence of the enemies of colonization that they would dissuade any colored persons so educated from leaving the United States.

I know that he was thoroughly acquainted with the subject in all its bearings, and therefore felt that he must have good reasons for what he said; still I hoped the case was not so bad as he thought, and, at any rate, I looked forward with strong hope to the time when the colored race would, as a body, open their eyes to the miserable, unnatural position they occupy in America; when they would see who were their true friends, those who offered them real and complete freedom, social and political, in a land where there is no white race to keep them in subjection, where they govern themselves by their own laws; or those pretended friends who would keep the African where he can never be aught but a serf and bondsman of a despised caste, and who, by every act of their pretended philanthropy, make the colored man's condition worse.

Most happily, since that time, the colored race has been aroused to a degree never before known, and the conviction has become general among them that they must go to Liberia if they would be free and happy.

Under these circumstances the better the education of the colored man the more keenly will he feel his present situation and the more clearly he will see the necessity of emigration.

Assuming such to be the feelings of the colored race, I think the immense importance of a collegiate institution for the education of their young must be felt and acknowledged by every friend of the race. Some time since the legislature of Liberia passed an act to incorporate a college in Liberia, but I fear the project has failed, as I have heard nothing more of it since. Supposing however the funds raised for such an institution, where are the professors to come from? They must be educated in this country; and how can that be done without establishing an institution specially for young colored men?

There is not a college in the United States where a young man of color could gain admission, or where, supposing him admitted, he could escape insult and indignity. Into our Theological Seminaries a few are admitted, and are, perhaps, treated well; but what difficulty they find in obtaining a proper preparatory education. The cause of religion then, no less than that of secular education, calls for such a measure.

I think a strong and earnest appeal ought to be made to every friend of colonization throughout the United States to support the scheme with heart, hand and purse. Surely there are enough friends of the cause to subscribe at least a moderate sum for such a noble object; and in a cause like this, wealthy colored persons ought to, and doubtless will, subscribe according to their means. In addition to the general appeal through the Repository, let each individual friend of colonization use all his influence with his personal friends and acquaintances, especially with such as are wealthy. I know from my own experience how much can be done by personal application, even in cases where success appears nearly hopeless.—I will pledge myself to use my humble endeavors to the utmost with my personal acquaintances. A large sum would not be absolutely necessary to found the college; and it would certainly be better to commence in the humblest way than to give up the scheme altogether.

Buildings for instance might be purchased in many places for a very moderate sum that would answer every purpose, or they might be built in the cheapest manner; in short, everything might be commenced on the most economical scale and afterwards enlarged as funds increased.

Those who are themselves engaged in teaching, such as the faculties of colleges, etc., would, of course, be most competent to prepare a plan for the proposed institution, and the ablest of them should be consulted; meantime almost anyone interested in the cause may offer some useful hint. In that spirit, I would myself offer a few brief suggestions, in case this appeal should be favorably received.

Probably few men of my time of life have studied the character and condition of the African race more attentively than I have, with what success I cannot presume to say, but the opinion of any one devoting so much of his time to the subject ought to be of some value.

My opinion of their capacity has been much raised during my attempts at instructing them, but at the same time, I am convinced that they require a totally different mode of training from whites, and that any attempt to educate the two races together must prove a failure. I now close these desultory remarks with the hope that some one more competent than myself will take up the cause and urge it until some definite plan is formed.—African Repository, vol. xxx., pp. 194, 195, 196.

FROM A MEMORIAL TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NORTH CAROLINA, CIRCULATED AMONG THE CITIZENS OF THAT STATE IN 1855, TO SECURE THE MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN LAWS REGULATING SLAVES AND FREE PERSONS OF COLOR.

ELEVATION OF THE COLORED RACE

The Memorial is thus introduced:

"Your memorialists are well aware of the delicate nature of the subject to which the attention of the Legislature is called, and of the necessity of proceeding with deliberation and caution. They propose some radical changes in the law of slavery, demanded by our common christianity, by public morality, and by the common weal of the whole South. At the same time they have no wish or purpose inconsistent with the best interests of the slaveholder, and suggest no reform which may impair the efficiency of slave labor. On the contrary, they believe that the much desired modifications of our slave code will redound to the welfare of all classes, and to the honor and character of the State throughout the civilized world."

The attention of the Legislature was then asked to the following propositions: "1. That it behooves us as christian people to establish the institution of matrimony among our slaves, with all its legal obligations and guarantees as to its duration between the parties. 2. That under no circumstances should masters be permitted to disregard these natural and sacred ties of relationship among their slaves, or between slaves belonging to different masters. 3. That the parental relation to be acknowledged by law; and that the separation of parents from their young children, say of twelve years and under, be strictly forbidden, under heavy pains and penalties. 4. That the laws which prohibit the instruction of slaves and free colored persons, by teaching them to read the Bible and other good books, be repealed."—African Repository, vol. xxxi., pp. 117, 118.

A LAWYER FOR LIBERIA

On the sailing of almost every expedition we have had occasion to chronicle the departure of missionaries, teachers, or a physician, but not until the present time, that of a lawyer. The souls and bodies of the emigrants have been well cared for; now, it is no doubt supposed, they require assistance in guarding their money, civil rights, etc. Most professional emissaries have been educated at public expense, either by Missionary or the Colonization Societies, but the first lawyer goes out independent of any associated aid. Mr. Garrison Draper, a colored man of high respectability, and long a resident of Old Town, early determined on educating his only son for Africa. He kept him at some good public school in Pennsylvania till fitted for college, then sent him to Dartmouth where he remained four years and graduated, maintaining always a very respectable standing, socially, and in his class. After much consultation with friends, he determined upon the study of law. Mr. Charles Gilman, a retired member of the Baltimore Bar, very kindly consented to give young Draper professional instruction, and for two years he remained under his tuition. Not having any opportunities for acquiring a knowledge of the routine of professional practice, the rules, habits, and courtesy of the Bar, in Baltimore, Mr. Draper spent some few months in the office of a distinguished lawyer in Boston. On returning to the city to embark for Liberia, he underwent an examination by Judge Lee of the Superior Court, and obtained from him a certificate of his fitness to practice the profession of law, a copy of which we append hereto.

We consider the settlement of Mr. Draper in the Republic as an event of no little importance. It seemed necessary that there should be one regularly educated lawyer in a community of several thousand people, in a Republic of freemen. True, there are many very intelligent, well informed men now in the practice of law in Liberia, but they have not been educated to the profession, and we believe, no one makes that his exclusive business. We doubt not that they will welcome Mr. Draper as one of their fraternity. To our Liberia friends we commend him as a well-educated, intelligent man, of good habits and principles; one in whom they may place the fullest confidence, and we bespeak for him, at their hands, kind considerations and patronage.

STATE OF MARYLAND,

CITY OF BALTIMORE,

October 29, 1857.

Upon the application of Charles Gilman, Esq., of the Baltimore Bar, I have examined Edward G. Draper, a young man of color, who has been reading law under the direction of Mr. Gilman, with the view of pursuing its practice in Liberia, Africa. And I have found him most intelligent and well informed in his answers to the questions propounded by me, and qualified in all respects to be admitted to the Bar in Maryland, if he was a free white citizen of this State. Mr. Gilman, in whom I have the highest confidence, has also testified to his good moral character.

This certificate is therefore furnished to him by me, with a view to promote his establishment and success in Liberia at the Bar there.

Z. COLLINS LEE,

Judge of Superior Court, Balt., Md.

African Repository, vol. xxxiv., pp. 26 and 27.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

There is no helpful bibliography on the early education of the American Negro. A few books treating the recent problems of education in this country give facts about the enlightenment of the colored people before their general emancipation, but the investigator has to depend on promiscuous sources for adequate information of this kind. With the exception of a survey of the Legal Status of the Colored Population in Respect to Schools and Education in the Different States, published in the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education in 1871, there has been no attempt at a general treatment of this phase of our history. This treatise, however, is too brief to inculcate an appreciation of the extensive efforts to enlighten the ante-bellum Negro.

Considered as a local problem this question has received more attention. A few writers have undertaken to sketch the movement to educate the colored people of certain communities before the Civil War. Their objective point, however, has been rather to treat of later periods. The books mentioned below give some information with respect to the period treated in this monograph.

BOOKS ON EDUCATION

Andrews, C.C. The history of the New York African Free Schools from their Establishment in 1787 to the Present Time. (New York, 1830.) Embraces a period of more than forty years, also a brief account of the successful labors of the New York Manumission Society, with an appendix containing specimens of original composition, both in prose and verse, by several of the pupils; pieces spoken at public examinations; an interesting dialogue between Doctor Samuel L. Mitchell, of New York, and a little boy of ten years old, and lines illustrative of the Lancastrian system of instruction. Andrews was a white man who was for a long time the head of this colored school system.

Boese, Thomas. Public Education in the City of New York, Its History, Condition, and Statistics, an Official Report of the Board of Education. (New York, 1869.) While serving as clerk of the Board of Education Boese had an opportunity to learn much about the New York African Free Schools.

Boone, R.G. A History of Education in Indiana. (New York, 1892.) Contains a brief account of the work of the Abolitionists in behalf of the education of the Negroes of that commonwealth.

BUTLER, N.M. Education in the United States. A series of monographs. (New York, 1910.)

FOOTE, J.P. The Schools of Cincinnati and Its Vicinity. (Cincinnati, 1855.) A few pages of this book are devoted to the establishment and the development of colored schools in that city.

GOODWIN, M.B. "History of Schools for the Colored Population in the District of Columbia." (Published in the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education in 1871.) This is the most thorough research hitherto made in this field. The same system has been briefly treated by W.S. Montgomery in his Historical Sketch of Education for the Colored Race in the District of Columbia, 1807-1907. (Washington, D.C., 1907.) A less detailed account of the same is found in James Storum's "The Colored Public Schools of Washington,—Their Origin, Growth, and Present Condition." (A.M.E. Church Review, vol. v., p. 279.)

JONES, C.C. The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States. (Savannah, 1842.) In trying to depict the spiritual condition of the colored people the writer tells also what he thought about their intellectual status.

MERIWETHER, C. History of Higher Education in South Carolina, with a Sketch of the Free School System. (Washington, 1889.) The author accounts for the early education of the colored people in that commonwealth but gives no details.

MILLER, KELLY. "The Education of the Negro." Constitutes Chapter XVI. of the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for the year 1901. Contains a brief sketch of the early education of the Negro race in this country.

ORR, GUSTAVUS. The Need of Education in the South. (Atlanta, 1880.) An address delivered before the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association in 1879. Mr. Orr referred to the first efforts to educate the Negroes of the South.

PLUMER, W.S. Thoughts on the Religious Instruction of Negroes. Reference is made here to the early work of the Moravians among the colored people.

RANDALL, SAMUEL SIDWELL. The Common School System of the State of New York. (New York, 1851.) Comprises the several laws relating to common schools, together with full expositions, instructions, and forms, to which is prefixed an historical sketch of the system. Prepared in pursuance of an act of the legislature, under the direction of the Honorable Christopher Morgan, Superintendent of Common Schools.

STOCKWELL, THOMAS B. A History of Public Education in Rhode Island from 1636 to 1876. (Providence, 1876.) Compiled by authority of the Board of Education of Providence. Takes into account the various measures enacted to educate the Negroes of that commonwealth.

WICKERSHAM, J.P. A History of Education in Pennsylvania, Private and Public, Elementary and Higher, from the Time the Swedes Settled on the Delaware to the Present Day. (Lancaster, Pa., 1886.) Considerable space is given to the education of the Negroes.

WRIGHT, R.R., SR. A Brief Historical Sketch of Negro Education in Georgia. (Savannah, 1894.) The movement during the early period in that State is here disposed of in a few pages.

A Brief Sketch of the Schools for the Black People and their Descendants, Established by the Society of Friends, etc. (Philadelphia, 1824.)

BOOKS OF TRAVEL BY FOREIGNERS

ABDY, E.S. Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States from April, 1833, to October, 1834. Three volumes. (London, 1835.) Abdy was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.

ALLIOT, PAUL. Reflexions historiques et politigues sur la Louisiane. (Cleveland, 1911.) Good for economic conditions. Valuable for information concerning New Orleans about the beginning of the nineteenth century.

ARFWEDSON, C.D. The United States and Canada in 1833 and 1834. Two volumes. (London, 1834.) Somewhat helpful.

BREMER, FREDERIKA. The Homes of the New World; Impressions of America. Translated by M. Howitt. Two volumes. (London, 1853.) The teaching of Negroes in the South is mentioned in several places.

BRISSOT DE WARVILLE, J.P. New Travels in the United States of America: including the Commerce of America with Europe, particularly with Great Britain and France. Two volumes. (London, 1794.) Gives general impressions, few details.

BUCKINGHAM, J.S. America, Historical, Statistical, and Descriptive. Two volumes. (New York, 1841.)

—— Eastern and Western States of America. Three volumes. (London and Paris, 1842.) Contains useful information.

BULLOCK, W. Sketch of a Journey through the Western States of North America from New Orleans by the Mississippi, Ohio, City of Cincinnati, and Falls of Niagara to New York. (London, 1827.) The author makes mention of the condition of the Negroes.

COKE, THOMAS. Extracts from the Journals of the Rev. Dr. Coke's Three Visits to America. (London, 1790.) Contains general information.

—— A Journal of the Reverend Doctor Coke's Fourth Tour on the Continent of America. (London, 1792.) Brings out the interest of this churchman in the elevation of the Negroes.

CUMING, F. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country through the States of Kentucky and Ohio; a Voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and a Trip through the Mississippi Territory and Part of West Florida, Commenced at Philadelphia in the Winter of 1807 and Concluded in 1809. (Pittsburg, 1810.) Gives a few facts.

FAUX, W. Venerable Days in America. (London, 1823.) A "journal of a tour in the United States principally undertaken to ascertain by positive evidence, the condition and probable prospects of British emigrants, including accounts of Mr. Kirkbeck's settlement in Illinois and intended to show men and things as they are in America." The Negroes are casually mentioned.

HUMBOLDT, FRIEDRICH HEINRICH ALEXANDER, FREIHERR VON. The Travels and Researches of Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt. (London, 1833.) The author gives a "condensed narrative of his journeys in the equinoctial regions in America and in Asiatic Russia." The work contains also analyses of his important investigations. He throws a little light on the condition of the mixed breeds of the Western Hemisphere.

KEMBLE, FRANCES ANNE. Journal of a Residence on a Plantation in 1838-1839. (New York, 1863.) This diary is quoted extensively as one of the best sources for Southern conditions before the Civil War.

LAMBERT, JOHN. Travels through Canada and the United States, in the Years 1806, 1807, and 1808. Two volumes. (London, 1813.) To this journal are added notices and anecdotes of some of the leading characters in the United States. This traveler saw the Negroes.

PONS, FRANCOIS RAYMOND DE. Travels in Parts of South America, during the Years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804. (London, 1806.) Contains a description of Caracas; an account of the laws, commerce, and natural productions of that country; and a view of the customs and manners of the Spaniards and native Indians. Negroes are mentioned.

PRIEST, WILLIAM. Travels in the United States Commencing in the Year 1793 and ending in the Year 1797. (London, 1802.) Priest made two voyages across the Atlantic to appear at the theaters of Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia. He had something to say about the condition of the Negroes.

ROCHEFOUCAULD-LIANCOURT, DUC DE. Travels through the United States of America, the Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797. (London, 1799.) The author discusses the attitude of the people toward the uplift of the Negroes.

SCHOEPF, JOHANN DAVID. Reise durch der Mittlern und Sudlichen Vereinigten Nordamerikanischen Staaten nach Ost-Florida und den Bahama Inseln unternommen in den Jahren 1783 und 1784. (Cincinnati, 1812.) A translation of this work was published by Alfred J. Morrison at Philadelphia in 1911. Gives general impressions.

SMYTH, J.F.D. A Tour in the United States. (London, 1848.) This writer incidentally mentions the people of color.

SUTCLIFF, ROBERT. Travels in Some Parts of North America in the Years 1804, 1805, and 1806. (Philadelphia, 1812.) While traveling in slave territory Sutcliff studied the mental condition of the colored people.

BOOKS OF TRAVEL BY AMERICANS

BROWN, DAVID. The Planter, or Thirteen Years in the South. (Philadelphia, 1853.) Here we get a Northern white man's view of the heathenism of the Negroes.

BURKE, EMILY. Reminiscences of Georgia. (Oberlin, Ohio, 1850.) Presents the views of a woman who was interested in the uplift of the Negro race.

EVANS, ESTWICK. A Pedestrious Tour of Four Thousand Miles through the Western States and Territories during the Winter and Spring of 1818. (Concord, N.H., 1819.) Among the many topics treated is the author's contention that the Negro is capable of the highest mental development.

OLMSTED, FREDERICK LAW. A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, with Remarks on their Economy. (New York, 1859.)

—— A Journey in the Back Country. (London, i860.)

—— Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom. (London, 1861.) Olmsted was a New York farmer. He recorded a few important facts about the education of the Negroes immediately before the Civil War.

PARSONS, E.G. Inside View of Slavery, or a Tour among the Planters. (Boston, 1855.) The introduction was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was published to aid the antislavery cause, but in describing the condition of Negroes the author gave some educational statistics.

REDPATH, JAMES. The Roving Editor, or Talks with Slaves in Southern States. (New York 1859.) The slaves are here said to be telling their own story.

SMEDES, MRS. SUSAN (DABNEY). Memorials of a Southern Planter. (Baltimore, 1887.) The benevolence of those masters who had their slaves taught in spite of public opinion and the law, is well brought out in this volume.

TOWER, REVEREND PHILO. Slavery Unmasked. (Rochester, 1856.) Valuable chiefly for the author's arraignment of the so-called religious instruction of the Negroes after the reactionary period.

WOOLMAN, JOHN. Journal of John Woolman, with an Introduction by John G. Whittier. (Boston, 1873.) Woolman traveled so extensively in the colonies that he probably knew more about the mental state of the Negroes than any other Quaker of his time.

LETTERS

JEFFERSON, THOMAS. Letters of Thomas Jefferson to Abbe Gregoire, M.A. Julien, and Benjamin Banneker. In Jefferson's Works, Memorial Edition, xii. and xv. He comments on Negroes' talents.

MADISON, JAMES. Letter to Prances Wright. In Madison's Works, vol. iii., p. 396. The training of Negroes is discussed.

MAY, SAMUEL JOSEPH. The Right of the Colored People to Education. (Brooklyn, 1883.) A collection of public letters addressed to Andrew T. Judson, remonstrating on the unjust procedure relative to Miss Prudence Crandall.

MCDONOGH, JOHN. "A Letter of John McDonogh on African Colonization addressed to the Editor of The New Orleans Commercial Bulletin," McDonogh was interested in the betterment of the colored people and did much to promote their mental development.

SHARPE, H. ED. The Abolition of Negro Apprenticeship. A letter to Lord Brougham. (London, 1838.)

A Southern Spy, or Curiosities of Negro Slavery in the South. Letters from a Southern to a Northern Gentleman. The comment of a passer-by.

A Letter to an American Planter from his Friend in London in 1781. The writer discussed the instruction of Negroes.

BIOGRAPHIES

BIRNEY, CATHERINE H. The Grimke Sisters; Sara and Angelina Grimke, the First American Women Advocates of Abolition and Woman's Rights. (Boston, 1885.) Mentions the part these workers played in the secret education of Negroes in the South.

BIRNEY, WILLIAM. James G. Birney and His Times. (New York, 1890.) A sketch of an advocate of Negro education.

BOWEN, CLARENCE W. Arthur and Lewis Tappan. A paper read at the fiftieth anniversary of the New York Anti-Slavery Society, at the Broadway Tabernacle, New York City, October 2, 1883. An honorable mention of two promoters of the colored manual labor schools.

CHILD, LYDIA MARIA. Isaac T. Hopper: A True Life. (Boston and Cleveland, 1853.)

CONWAY, MONCURE DANIEL. Benjamin Banneker, the Negro Astronomer. (London, 1864.)

(COOPER, JAMES F.) Notions of the Americans Picked up by a Traveling Bachelor. (Philadelphia, 1828.) General.

DREW, BENJAMIN. A North-side View of Slavery. The Refugee: or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Related by themselves, with an Account of the History and Condition of the Colored Population of Upper Canada. (New York and Boston, 1856.)

GARRISON, FRANCIS AND WENDELL P. William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879. The Story of his Life told by his Children. Four volumes. (Boston and New York, 1894.) Includes a brief account of what he did for the education of the colored people.

HALLOWELL, A.D. James and Lucretia Mott; Life and Letters. (Boston, 1884.) These were ardent abolitionists who advocated the education of the colored people.

JOHNSON, OLIVER. William Lloyd Garrison and his Times. (Boston, 1880. New edition, revised and enlarged, Boston, 1881.)

LOSSING, BENSON J. Life of George Washington, a Biography, Military and Political. Three volumes. (New York, 1860.) Gives the will of George Washington, who provided that at the stipulated time his slaves should be freed and that their children should be taught to read.

MATHER, COTTON. The Life and Death of the Reverend John Elliot who was the First Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians in America. The third edition carefully corrected. (London, 1694.) Sets forth the attitude of John Elliot toward the teaching of slaves.

MOTT, A. Biographical Sketches and Interesting Anecdotes of Persons of Color; with a Selection of Pieces of Poetry. (New York, 1826.) Some of these sketches show how ambitious Negroes learned to read and write in spite of opposition.

SIMMONS, W.J. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive, and Rising, with an Introductory Sketch of the Author by Reverend Henry M. Turner. (Cleveland, Ohio, 1891.) Accounts for the adverse circumstances under which many ante-bellum Negroes acquired knowledge.

SNOWDEN, T.B. The Autobiography of John B. Snowden. (Huntington, W. Va., 1900.)

WIGHTMAN, WILLIAM MAY. Life of William Capers, one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church South; including an Autobiography. (Nashville, Tenn., 1858.) Shows what Capers did for the religious instruction of the colored people.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

ASBURY, BISHOP FRANCIS. The Journal of the Reverend Francis Asbury, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from August 7, 1781, to December 7, 1815. Three volumes. (New York, 1821.)

COFFIN, LEVI. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, reputed President of the Under Ground Railroad. (Second edition, Cincinnati, 1880.) Mentions the teaching of slaves.

DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, as an American Slave. Written by himself. (Boston, 1845.) Gives several cases of secret Negro schools.

—— The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass from 1817 to 1882. Written by himself. Illustrated. With an Introduction by the Right Honorable John Bright, M.P. Edited by John Loeb, F.R.G.S., of the Christian Age, Editor of Uncle Tom's Story of his Life. (London, 1882.) Contains Douglass's appeal in behalf of vocational training.

FLINT, TIMOTHY. Recollections of the last Ten Years. A series of letters to the Reverend James Flint of Salem, Massachusetts, by T. Flint, Principal of the Seminary of Rapide, Louisiana. (Boston, 1826.) Mentions the teaching of Negroes.

GENERAL HISTORIES

BANCROFT, GEORGE. History of the United States. Ten volumes. (Boston, 1857-1864.)

HART, A.B., Editor. American History told by Contemporaries. Four volumes. (New York, 1898.)

—— The American Nation; A history, etc. Twenty-seven volumes. (New York, 1904-1908.) The volumes which have a bearing on the subject treated in this monograph are Bourne's Spain in America, Edward Channing's Jeffersonian System, F.J. Turner's Rise of the New West, and Hart's Slavery and Abolition.

HERRERA Y TORDESILLAS, ANTONIO DE. Historia General de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas i tierra firme del mar oceano. Escrito por Antonio herrera coronista mayor de Sr. M. de las Indias y si coronista de Castilla. En Quatro decadas desde el ano de 1492 hasta el de 1554. Decada primera del rey Nuro Senor. (En Madrid en la Imprenta real de Nicolas Rodriguez Franco, ano 1726-1727.)