Black and White Part 16

--A. We already consider him so.

Q. The question is settled?

--A. I thought you were speaking personally of the man I referred to.

Q. No; I was speaking of the negro generally--the negro race.

--A. Let me understand your question exactly.

Q. Do you see any reason why the negroes, as a component part of the American population, may not, with a fair chance, come to be useful, industrious, and competent to the discharge of the duties of citizens.h.i.+p?

--A. I think they may as a cla.s.s, but it will take probably generations for them to arrive at that standard.

Q. It has taken us generations to arrive at the standard, has it not?

--A. Yes, sir.

Q. There is some talk about our ancestors having been pirates, I believe. Now, will you state to us what the existing facilities for education are among the negroes?

--A. I can only speak as regards Arkansas. Of course I do not know much of the other States. In Arkansas we have in each county a school board. These boards examine and employ teachers. We are taxed for a school fund, from which these teachers are paid.

Q. What proportion of the colored children attend school, do you think?

--A. On my own property there are five schools, and I think the larger portion, I might say nearly all that are capable of going to school, do go to school.

Q. How many children are there on your own property?

--A. I could scarcely form an idea.

Q. There are five schools?

--A. There are five schools, and I should suppose from 300 to 500 children.

Q. Those are educated in public schools?

--A. Yes, sir.

Q. I understand you to say that nearly all of them attend?

--A. Yes, sir.

Q. For how long a time each year is school kept open?

--A. The schools extend all the year except vacation, I think, which is about three months; but a number of the negroes will withdraw their children from school during cotton-picking season, to help them pick the crop.

Q. Between what ages do they actually attend school?

--A. From 6 to 19. I know a great many of them who are going to school who are 17, 18, and 19, who can just begin to read and write a little.

Q. Do you find any inclination among the older negroes who are past school age to endeavor to read and write?

--A. Not very much, but they are anxious their children should, and appeal to them. In almost every instance where a man has a child who can read and write, he will bring him along with him when he makes a contract. They are very proud of their children being able to read and write.

Q. Are they satisfied, as a rule, with their simply becoming able to read and write, or do they like to have them make a little further progress in mathematics, geography, &c.?

--A. As a cla.s.s they look to them simply to read and write.

They think when they have got that far they know everything; but then there are certain ones who have ambition, just as it is with our own race. There are some men who have tastes for literature, and receive a better education than others do, but it is not the same proportion of the negro race of course that it is with our own. There are instances where negroes are also anxious to obtain a collegiate education, and become school teachers.

Q. I do not know that you are able to state to what extent they actually attend school in the hill districts?

--A. I am not.

Q. You speak both of your own plantation and of other plantations as well as your own in that regard?

--A. I am speaking of the alluvial lands along the Mississippi River.

Q. In Arkansas?

--A. Not only in Arkansas, but in Louisiana and Mississippi; I will say the alluvial lands on the Mississippi River between Memphis and Vicksburg.

Q. Are the negroes on those lands generally having the same opportunities for education that they do on your plantation?

--A. Oh, yes, sir; there is a common school system.

Q. And it is as prevalent in Louisiana and Mississippi as in Arkansas?

--A. I think it is.

Q. What is the nativity of those teachers, as a rule?

--A. They are generally colored people from either the East or the Northwest. There are some white teachers, but very few.

Q. Are any of the white teachers Southern in birth?

--A. There is not a white teacher on my own property; they are all colored teachers on my own property. The proportion of white teachers is very small.

Q. How much do these colored teachers themselves know?

--A. Some of them are remarkably well educated.

Q. And generally earnestly devoted to their work?

--A. Perfectly so.

Q. Or is it simply to get their money?

--A. No; I think some of them really have a desire to see their scholars advance.

Q. Some pride in their race, to have them get on, I suppose?

--A. I think there is a certain pride in that respect; and, again, they want to gain a reputation as teachers.

Q. What compensation does a teacher get?

--A. I think about from $50 to $100 a month.

Q. Do they pay their own expenses, board and shelter?

--A. Yes, sir; but board is cheap, merely nominal.

Q. About what amount?

--A. I should say these teachers can get board for $10 a month.

Q. Is the cost of clothing in your part of the country about the same as here?

--A. This is our market.

Q. You buy the ready-made clothing largely for the population in general, I suppose?

--A. We buy both ready-made clothing and cloth to make up.

Q. I suppose the colored population hardly buy custom goods?

--A. A great many of them buy the cloth, and some of their women are as good tailoresses as you would find anywhere.

They buy the cloth and make it up themselves.

Q. That must bring a suit of clothes pretty cheap in a colored family; they really expend nothing but buy the cloth themselves?

--A. They sell very good jeans cloth there at 35 or 40 cents a yard; they generally wear jeans.