Transcriber’s Note:
Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.
BRIEF FOR THE HIGHER
EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO
BY
PROF. KELLY MILLER
Howard University
WASHINGTON, D. C.
1903
The Negro’s Traditional Place in Society.
Ridicule and contempt have characterized the habitual attitude ofthe American mind toward the Negro’s higher strivings. The Africanwas brought to this country for the purpose of performing manual andmenial labor. His bodily powers alone were required to accomplishthis industrial mission. No more account was taken of his highersusceptibilities than of the mental and moral faculties of the loweranimals. As the late Mr. Price used to say, the white man saw in theNegro’s mind only what was apparent in his face, “darkness there,and nothing more.” His usefulness in the world is still measured byphysical faculties rather than by qualities of mind and soul. Themerciless proposition of Carlyle that, the Negro is useful to God’screation only as a servant, still finds wide acceptance. It is sonatural to base a theory upon a long-established practice that oneno longer wonders at the prevalence of this belief. The Negro hassustained servile relation to the Caucasian for so long a time that itis easy as it is agreeable to Aryan pride to conclude that servitude ishis ordained place in society. When it was first proposed to furnishmeans for the higher development of this race, some, who assumed thewisdom of their day and generation, entertained the proposition with asneer, others, with a smile.
MANIFESTATIONS OF HIGHER QUALITIES.
As the higher susceptibilities of the Negro were not wanted, theirexistence was at one time denied. The eternal inferiority of therace was assumed as a part of the cosmic order of things. History,literature, science, speculative conjecture, and even Holy Writ wereransacked for evidence and argument to support the ruling dogma.While the slave holder had proved beyond all possibility of doubt theincapacity of the Negro for knowledge, yet he, prudently enough, passedlaws forbidding the attempt. His guilty conscience caused him to makeassurance doubly sure by re-enacting the laws of the Almighty.
For three hundred years the Negro by his marvelous assimilative powerand by striking individual emanations has been constantly manifestingthe higher possibilities of his nature, until now whoever assumes todoubt his susceptibility for better things needs himself to[Pg 4] be pitiedfor his incapacity to grasp the truth. The same Carlyle who regards theNegro as an “amiable blockhead,” and amenable only to the white man’s“beneficent whip,” also declares: “That one man should die ignorant whohad capacity for knowledge, this I call a tragedy, were it to happenforty times in a minute.” When it is known that the Negro has capacityfor knowledge and virtue there can be no further justification forshutting him out from the higher cravings of his nature.
IS THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO WORTH WHILE AS A PRACTICALPHILANTHROPY?
The education of the Negro is not of itself a thing apart, but is anintegral