Publication: THE FREEDMEN'S RECORD (THE FREEDMEN'S JOURNAL)
Date: JUNE 1, 1869
M.G. KimballTitle: REPORT OF THE TEACHERS' COMMITTEE FOR THE YEAR ENDING APRIL
FOR THE YEAR ENDING APRIL 7, 1869.
OUR work has gone on so steadily and quietly during the past year, that our report at its close would be almost a repetition of our anticipations at its beginning. We held our sanguine hopes under such steady control that few of them have been disappointed, and, in most cases, we have accomplished more than we dared to hope for.
Some few of our branch societies have lessened or stopped their aid, but they have generally shown a generous and steady persistence in the work which has strengthened our hearts and enabled us to lay our plans for the schools early and confidently.
The last school-year ended on the first of July. We then had ninety-five teachers in six different States. We kept none of the schools open during the summer, as experience has shown that it is too great a risk for the health of the northern teacher. Some of our southern teachers, and a few of our advanced pupils, however, opened pay schools during the summer, so that the business of education did not entirely stop. Some of these pupils have become assistants in our schools. Others have come back to the Normal Schools, knowing better what a teacher needs to learn, from having tried the experiment of teaching.
The Baltimore Society were anxious that Mr. Hartwell should have a special class for teachers during the summer months; but the attendance was not large enough to make it desirable to repeat the experiment.
Our teachers generally returned in better health than in former years, and it was pleasant to find that the band was unbroken, —no death having occurred during the year.
The welcome-festival was very fully attended, and was, as usual, very delightful to all engaged in it.
The Teachers' Committee took a recess for about six weeks, and resumed their regular meetings September 2. As far as possible, the schools were re-opened on the first Monday in October. Of the ninty-five teachers who came home, fifty-nine, or over sixty-two per cent, returned to their work; usually to the same schools, only a few changes being made. The advantage gained by having so many teachers already familiar with their work is obvious. The schools were promptly organized and many of them were in full operation early in October.
The southern teachers especially, are far more useful after two or three years spent in their schools. We have some who have now been with us several years, and they have improved very much, especially in regard to discipline and method.
In December we had ninety-four teachers in the field. By occasional additions, the number has increased, so that one hundred and seven have been employed in the course of the year. Thus, instead of being forced to diminish our work, as we feared, we have increased it a little. Some of the teachers on our list, however, receive very little, and others no salary from us, being supported by the colored people, or by other friends, or by their private means.
When we remember the many discouraging circumstances under which the year began, especially the fact that kindred societies were proposing to disband and give up the work entirely, it is with pride and pleasure, that we record this proof of the steady perseverance of New England in this cause. Owing to the better organization of the schools, the work of the committee has never been so light or so agreeable. It is to the unfailing energy of the officers of the branch societies that they are mainly indebted for this cheering measure of success.
We will now briefly review the number and condition of the schools in each department.
MARYLAND.
In Maryland, we have, as heretofore, acted with the Baltimore Association. The importance of the work here is very great, and we made great efforts to sustain and if possible, increase the number of teachers. The colored people are very eager for education, but the prejudice as obstinate against them as in any Southern State. But, having a small but determined body of white friends, and many their own race having had freedom a some education for a long time, they will claim and have a State-school system before long. But until this very desirable result is accomplished, it is important to keep the present system of schools, and make it as perfect as possible; for nothing will influence the public so much. The Southerner, jealous of Northern ideas, will be far more likely to vote for education for the negro, if he finds that he is now getting it with the accompaniment of Northern teachers and Northern lessons; and the better the schools already existing, the higher will probably be the character of those established by the State.
The city has taken much better care of the colored schools this year than last. They are pretty well supplied with furniture and books. The city government have published an entire series of books for the use of their own schools, from which dangerous lessons in freedom and patriotism have been eliminated. They are far inferior as aids to the teacher, to those which they displaced. Neither do the teachers as far as I have seen them (with one exception), show that faith in their pupils and zeal for their improvement which we find in the schools of the societies. Still, when we consider what Baltimore was, and is, it is a great step gained that she has admitted the right of her colored population to education at all.
With the Howard Normal School to set her an example of what a colored school may be, we may hope for a constant improvement in the public schools.
The Howard Normal school in Baltimore is admirable in its appointments, and is producing great results. The large class of free colored people in Baltimore furnish better prepared material than elsewhere. Many of its pupils have already taught one or two terms, and come back conscious of their needs and anxious to obtain further instruction.
The little model primary school is full very nice little children, and the experience here gained must be of great service the pupils.
We have a constant demand for colored teachers to go into the county schools in Maryland.
It has been asked, if colored teachers are desired, because the places are less important or agreeable than others? Not at all. But as the colored people provide the board it is very difficult for a teacher to get boarded in any white family, and it excites a great prejudice if she boards with a colored family. As the board is provided, the teachers in Maryland are a little better paid than those of a similar grade in other States.
We have good reports from all our schools in Maryland. The teachers have generally been for some years in the same places, and understand the work and the people well. We have in Maryland twenty-one schools, twenty-one teachers, twelve hundred and twenty-four pupils.
VIRGINIA.
Our schools in Virginia are about the same as last year.
We have this year, both the teachers in the Normal School at Richmond, the New York Society having withdrawn entirely from it. The excellent Superindendent of Education, Mr. Manley, takes a strong personal interest in this school, established mainly through his efforts. He is ably seconded by our faithful old teacher Bessy Canedy and her assistant, Miss Anna F. Clarke. The school is thoroughly satisfactory. Its high moral tone, its vitality, and its quiet and order, as well as its intellectual progress impress one very strongly. How many teachers it will send out we cannot tell, for it is hard for the pupils to give time enough to fit themselves properly for teaching;—they must work for their support now,—but we are sure it will send out many noble men and women who will do their part bravely in whatever calling they may choose.
The group of Bakery Schools began their work early, and have gone on steadily and prosperously. Most of the teachers are veterans fully competent to their work. The schools are well organized and graded, and are all doing good work. One of the new primary teachers is a pupil of the Normal School, and bids fair to be very useful in the education of his people.
The Industrial School has also gone on doing its benevolent work. Miss Harriet Carter, formerly engaged in similar work in Washington, has aided Miss Francis this winter, and together they have done an excellent work. They find a large field for their efforts. They teach both women and children sewing in various branches, and provide them with work as far as possible.
In the beginning of the year they had a large contract from the Bureau which enabled them to give employment to many women, but since then they have been obliged to refuse many whom they would gladly supply.
Under such management, this school is of very great value, and we most earnestly wish that work could be supplied to these poor women, under the direction of these true friends. They have tried to introduce straw braiding as a new resource when sewing fails. Woman's labor is scantily and poorly enough paid everywhere, but in communities so disorganized as our Southern States now are, she fares yet more hardly. I think we can ill afford to neglect anyopportunity to teach her how she may use her labor to provide for herself and her family.
The committee have not felt that they could organize Industrial Schools elsewhere without withdrawing too much of their attention and means from the common schools; but, this one, so largely supported by the devotion of its teachers, and costing the Society so little, ought to be maintained.
At Charlottesville, the Normal School is in a very flourishing condition. Miss Anna Gardner, the principal, who was among our earliest teachers, gives her whole life and soul to the work, and inspires her pupils with her own enthusiasm. Miss Philena Carkin, the next teacher in grade, also a veteran, admirably seconds her by her thorough instruction and excellent discipline. The two other teachers, Mrs. Isabella Gibbins and Paul Lewis, are among the best of our colored teachers, and are doing themselves and us great credit. The Bureau is about to build them a school-house.
We have four teachers at Gordonsville and its suburb, Mechanicsville. This being the junction of two of the great Virginia Railroads, is an important position. The teachers have been changed this year, and owing to the character of the place, they have had in some respects, a hard time. They say there is much intemperance among the people, and they are using all the influence they possess against it. The railroad facilities offer opportunities for transient work which draws the pupils away from school.
The teachers are hard-working and faithful, and we think their labors are beginning to tell in the improvement of their school and the population around them.
Mr. and Mrs. Pratt continue their school at Orange Court House, and Miss Chase labors far beyond her strength at Louisa. She has a young asistant, whom she herself educated, with her. Mrs. McNulty is at Culpepper. Her husband since the close of the Bureau has become a permanent resident. They have a nice new schoolhouse, and we feel that their influence on the people will be lasting and beneficial.
Small as our number of schools is in Virginia, compared to its population, yet we feel that they together with those of other Northern Societies will exert a mighty influence upon the future education of the South. Richmond is well supplied. Any child anxious to learn, can there have a fair opportunity for the rudiments of learning. The people now know what good schools are, and we do not believe they will under any circumstances be contented to do without them.
We have in Virginia, twenty-one schools, thirty teachers, and fourteen hundred and sixty pupils. (Two not reported.)
NORTH CAROLINA.
At Raleigh and Snow Hill, we have same teachers as last year, who rep well of their schools. North Carolina better supplied with teachers than a other State, and we look with great hop to their future school system.
Before the war, the State had taken steps to secure a good adminstration of education; and when they have finally settled down to peace, we hope they will do justice to all their citizens and give black and white a fair chance.
We have in North Carolina, only two schools, three teachers, and two hundred and ninety-five pupils.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
In Charleston, we have the Shaw School, which we are striving to make worthy in every respect of the glorious memory to which it is consecrated.
It was said of Col. Robert G. Shaw, that he was the finest flower of New-England culture. If the seed of such character can be sown in his name, and bear fruit after its kind, we shall hope for a rich harvest. Mr. Arthur Sumner has taken the greatest pains to perfect the order and methods of his school, and especially to correct the two common faults of unpunctuality and absence for slight causes. He has succeeded so well, that he reports an average punctual attendance of three hundred and eighty-four. Any one who knows the easy habits of Southern life will see what a task he has accomplished. He has six Northern and three Southern assistants in his school. It is throughly graded, with a Normal class fittting for teachers.
We are very glad to state also that Mr. Sumner writes that the Morris-Street School, which was given up by the Bureau to the city on condition that it should be open to colored pupils, is very well conducted. This is a most hopeful sign for the future.
The other schools in South Carolina, have remained mostly in the same hands as last year, and have been doing well. We must here express our hearty thanks to Mr. Reuben Tomlinson, formerly the Bureau Superintendent of Education, for the continuation of his valuable services. Although no longer holding that office, and pressed by many duties (being one of the leading men in the State Legislature, with its burden of reconstructive work to do), he has still acted as our agent, overseeing our schools and disbursing the money expended in South Carolina, with his usual care and fidelity. He visited us during the winter and gave us an encouraging account of the work.
Rev. B. F. Whittemore also, though engaged in Congress, retains his warm interest in the schools on the Eastern shore, and reported to us of their progress this winter.
In our darkest field, the Sea Islands, we have Miss Botume and Miss Langford, who are trying to educate their people, not only by books but by well-ordered labor; and we commission three teachers, two of whom are employed on Mr. Eustis' plantation on Ladies' Island.
We have in South Carolina, twenty-six schools, forty-two teachers, and two thousand seven hundred and forty pupils.
GEORGIA.
We have one school in Columbus, with four teachers. A new building has been provided by the Bureau to which the school has just been removed. It is named (in honor of the President of our Society (Claflin College.
It is a graded school with a normal class, and we hope it will soon equal in excellence those of Richmond, Charlottesville, Baltimore, and Charleston.
Our work has been seriously injured here by the severe illness of Mrs. Clarke, an experienced teacher whom we had appointed to be principal. After a few weeks work, she was obliged to return home. The other teachers have striven hard to supply her place; and Miss Alfred, although not taking precisely the position of principal, has been most valuable in organizing the school and arranging it in its new location. She writes that they are now well settled there, and “the school is going on like clock-work.”
Miss Holmes, at Jonesboro', has a nice school, which has gone steadily on through the winter,
We have in Georgia, two schools, five teachers, four hundred and thirty-two pupils.
FLORIDA.
We have three teachers in Florida; Mrs. Hawkes' school house has been burned; but she has an interesting class of twenty-five, eager as ever for knowledge She is a constant power and influence, teaching the children, nursing the sick, encouraging the down-hearted, and infusing her own life and hope into those about her. The unusually severe wrinter has produced much suffering in Florida.
Misses Lucy and Sarah Chase are working at Lake City, which they say was not unjustly described to them as the “worst spot in the world.” They are fighting a good fight against ignorance, intemperance, and lawlessness, however, and are full of zeal and courage. They are encouraged already; saying, “our pupils are more tidy, less pugilistic, and we have less bad language than when we came.”
Florida needs many more workers. Would that we could send them there!
We have in Florida, three teachers, two schools, and one hundred and fifty-six pupils.
In all, we have, teachers, 104; schools, 68; and 6,490 pupils.
We have made special efforts this year to furnish the Normal Schools with libraries. We have sent about a thousand volumes to Baltimore, and are now collecting them for Charlottesville and other places. The books sent in have been very valuable, and we hear already of the eagerness with which they are being read. Although we cannot longer send them by government-transportation, we shall still be glad to receive and forward books suitable for libraries. Our teachers on their return, will be very willing to take care of an extra box containing books, or we can forward them by water at very low rates; so that we shall be happy to receive them during the summer to send South in readiness for the opening of the schools.
It will thus be seen that our work has fallen off neither in the number of teachers or of pupils, and yet its expense has been lessened. We have given the largest number of pupils reported in each school during the year, as they vary from month to month from local causes. The decrease in expense has been partly from dispensing with the services of a general agent and from cutting off all collecting agencies,— relying solely on the voluntary efforts of Branch Societies and friends of the cause; partly from the aid given us by the Bureau, and partly from the money raised by the people, which has paid the petty expenses of the schools, and, in some cases, the board of the teacher. The same reported number of pupils also, really represents a greater amount of effective education than ever before, because the schools are so much better established and the average attendance so much greater.
And yet much as has been done, we have left a great deal undone. We have had constant appeals from every State for more teachers, as well as for aid to the schools established by the people themselves.
We think it highly important that the work should be continued for the present, in full vigor. This being the only Unsectarian Society at work, exercises an influence which anyone of liberal mind acquainted with the South must feel to be very important.
We regret that the Central Commission and the New-York Branch have felt obliged to discontinue their labor; but, as we began this great work alone, so we shall carry it on, until we can see clearly that it is safe in other hands.
After a thorough inspection of our schools, we shall concentrate our powers upon those promising the largest and most permanent results.
We shall try to have in every State, where such schools are not sustained by other Societies, at least one or two well graded schools with a Normal class, to be especially fitted for teachers. These schools will need help and guidance from the North for some years to come; yet we shall strive to make the people aid in their support as far as possible. We feel that every school will thus be a model which will be a stimulus and encouragement to all around them.
One part of our work we may consider accomplished: We have demonstrated the capacity of the colored race for education. The results attained in the best schools afford no room for a doubt that this race can equal any other under similar conditions in its desire for knowledge and its capacity for acquiring it.
We see no cause for discouragement; but believe that the same spirit of energy and devotion which has accomplished so much will carry us on till the result for which we hope is attained; and yet the friends of the cause will have to continue their exertions without flagging, to keep up even the present number of teachers. Our expenses will be increased this year by the cessation of all free transportation by the government. Other expenses are liable to be increased also. As long as any are willing to work with them, the committee will do their best to make every dollar do its full duty.
NEW-ENGLAND BRANCH FREEDMEN'S
UNION COMMISSION,
RECEIPTS.
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PAYMENTS.
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TOTAL OF PAYMENTS.
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E. W. HOOPER,
BOSTON, March 5, 1869.
BOSTON, April 6, 1869.
I have examined the accounts of Edward W. Hooper, Treasurer New-England Branch Freedmen's Union Commission, for the year ending March 5, 1869, and find the same to be correct.
WILLIAM ENDICOTT, JR.,
The general remarks made by the treasurer in his last Annual Report are applicable to this, and will not therefore be repeated at length. It must be rembered, however, that this, although an exact statement of receipts, payments, and balances between two dates a year apart, does not show the real financial condition of the Society.
The large balance usually on hand at this season of the year is only nominal, as many of the Branch Societies pay far in advance for their adopted teachers, and many of the teachers leave a large part of their salary in the treasury for several months after it is due.
After as close an estimate of the real condition of the Society as the treasurer is able now to make—many accounts being still open, and the financial condition of many of the Branch Socities being uncertain— it appears probable, that, with such further contributions as we may fairly expect during the next few months, all the teachers now in service can be maintained to July 1, the close of this school-year. To make this sure, and to provide us with enough to warrant the re-engagement for next season of at least some of the best of our old teachers, we shall need the continued help of all past friends.
RECEIPTS FROM BRANCH SOCIETIES, &C.
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RECEIPTS FOR SUPPORT OF UNADOPTED
TEACHERS.
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