The Cleveland gazette. [volume], October 20, 1883, Image 1

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The Cleveland Gazette.
VOL. 1.-NO. 9.
CJH A. ■ M
H :,ircr"
• v_y • V^/e
I “d L-” < —■■■■. r ■ J ;
ISqLUEiI Kig-tits
Is our motto. We recognize no distinction of race,
class or color.
Honest Value
Will be given every man, rich and poor, white and
black alike.
..
Our £3.00 Overcoat
Is for every man. It will not cost the rich man more
thans3.oo nor the poor man less than $2.00. j
Our 4.00 Suit,
. Heavy, well-made, well-lined and serviceable in every
way, is for every man.
IVo Distinction
Ever made in favor of any one. We court the friend
ship and natronage of the poor man who earns a
dollar a day Just the same as the man who earns
fifty a day.
jitstich to ^.x-.Xji
Is the Rule by which we measure our
dealings with the publie. The Result
is that people of all classes like to
Trade with us.
CLEVELAND CLOTHING
COMPANY,
MAMVMCTVBKBS AID RETAILERS,
T^os. ISO, 1.22 and I^4 Ontario Street.
PIANOS.
GEO. HAXX’S
Great Western Depot
38 Public Sq., CLEVELAND, 0.,
FOK THE SALE OF
PIANOSIORGANS
exclusively.
This institution was started thirty-three years
ago with the avowed purpose of furnishing
good reliable instruments at reasonable prices
to the people, of whatever name, nation or
.color, and howeverdistant from the city. Thou
sands of instrumentshave been ordered and
sent to parties who never saw them Until they
were delivered at their doors, a large propor
tion of which were paid for in advance, and the
parties have, without exception, been perfectly
satisfied with their purchase. A great deal of
needless concern. worry and expense might be
avoided in the purchase of pimps and organs,
if people would apply to old reHable established
bouses, leaving the matter to them, with a
guarantee, etc., instead of listening to the use
less talk of irresponsible agentsand dealers
who have but little reputation to suffer if they
deceive you ,
For an age in the life of man our business
has ixeen conducted on a strictly uniform basis
of fair dealing, always giving faithful repre
sentations of our instruments, with written
guarantees when desired.
We have now no traveling agents, having of
late adopted the policy of filling orders and
selling direct to the consumer, thereby saving
commissions and expenses which before fell
upon those who buy to use
Partita however distant from here in want
of pianos or organs, who will write us, may
rely upon faithful representatiou*. in every
particular relative to makes, etc. Please be
free to write. HAUL.
September 30,1883.
TEACHER OF MUSIC.
Mrs. J. F. Lightfoot,
28 WEBSTER STREET,
PUNO INSTRUCTION GIVEN.
BEGIMMBBS TAKEN
as well as
ADVANCED SCHOLARS.
TERMS:
<IO.OO per Quarter, 94 Lesaone a
Term.
COAL!
HL C. QIIftLKY
SELLS THE
BestHardiSoftCoal
IN THE CITY.
Telephone 32, at 132 Seneca St.
C. SELZER,
311 Euclid Avenue, - - CLEVELAND, 0.
Fino Gm Fixrtnree,
Artistic Potteries,
Bro Mes and Bric-a-Brac, Eto.
CLEVELAND, OHIO, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1883.
EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM.
Ms Discussion Before the National Col
ored Convention by D., A. Straker,
of South Carolina. *
* - .
Duty of the Nation Tswari the Southern
States la filvtnw them AIS to KSa
sate their Illiterate Mames.
The following address was delivered
by D. A. Straker, Esq., Chairman, of
the Committee on Education and La
bor, at the National Colored Convention
held in Louisville, Ky%, in submitting
the report of hisYoiUmittee: .
It is not easy to conceive of any sub
ject presented for the consideration of
this Convention of greater and graver
importance than the subject of the ed
ucation of the illiterate masses of the
South, and the duty of the National
Government thereto. The general ef
fect of education upon any and all
classes of citizens were most beauti
fully expressed by Daniel Webeter,
who said of it: • “If we work upon
marble it w ill perish; if we work upon
brass time will efface it; if we rear tem
ples they will crumble to dust; but if we
work upon our immortal minds, if we
imbue them with principles, with fear
of God .and love of onr fellow men, we
engrave on those tablets something
which will brighten for all eternity.
Education then, we see, is the intellect
ual and moral lever of all mankind of
all classes, conditions and color. No
one reviewing the history of the past in
the Southern States can fail to discover
how woefully absent has been this great
elevator of man. in hfs moral, intel
lectual, social and political condition.
Without attempting to recite the
causes so well known which have led
to the alarming state of ignorance
which blights tne South of to-day as
much as slavery, its author, did so
years past, I will attempt to state the
reasons why this condition should no
longer be allowed to exist. First, be
cause such a large proportion of igno
rance in the South as the late census
shows, is a standing menace to the har
mony of the several States, as regard
ing their composite races and the pros
perity of the Union. It is a corroding
element in the vitals of the Union, as
seen in the discord of the white and’
black races in the Sbnth socially wnA
politically. It is the root of all the
evil we at present endure in the South
in the shape of Ku-Klux Klans, ballot
box stuffing and fraudulent and uncon
stitutional election laws, under the
specious guise of “good honest govern
ment” (?)
Let me illustrate this by my own
State, with which I am more acquaint
ed than any other, but which is a fair
example of the sister States in the
South as regards the consequences of
the illiteracy of the masses. Prof.
Dart, a prominent public educator in
Soath Carolina, says: “The school pop
ulation is 281,664 children: of this num
ber 180.475, according to the United
States census of 1880, are colored, and
only 183,458 attended the public schools
that year, leaving 157,206 who did not
attend school. Not more than 23,206
attended private schools and academies.
Of the total balance, 125,000, who . re
ceived no educational training, 75,000
were colored children. The general
school fund in 1880 was 8452,965.44.”
The average school term,” continues
Prof. Daft, “was 3} months.
Had all the children attended
school the term w-ould have been less
than two months after deducting neces
sary expenses.” Mr. Harrison Logan,
in an essay delivered before the South
Carolina Teacher's Association, as ap
pears in its printed minutes of 1883,
enters into detail upon this subject.
He says that the census of 1880 shows
the number of colored inhabitants of
the State to be 604,332; white, 391,105;
Indians, 131; Cninese, 9; making a total
population of 995,577. Whole number
of colored persons 10 years of age and
upwards in the State, 394,750; whole
number of white persons 10 years of
age and upwards in the State, 272,706;
total population 10 years of age and
upwards, 667,456. Total number of
illiterate colored persons 10 years of
age and upwards is 310,071; total num
ber of illiterate white persons 10 years
of age and upwards, 59.787; making a
total of 369,848 illiterate persons of 10
years of age and upwards in the State,
and Mr. Logan pathetically closes that
“Alas! ’tis true ’tis pity,"and pity 'tis
’tis true.” Does not this show how
it is South Carolina is politically as she
is, and now my dear fellow citizens, is
not this an alarming recital of ignor
ance in one State?
Now whose business is this to see th at
education in its fullness is within the
grasp of every citizen. North, South,
East and West alike? Is it the duty of
the colored man only, or is it the duty
ofboth Nack and white? Is it the duty
«f the State alone, or is it the duty of
the State and Nation together? I
answer that under the peculiar circum
stances under which the illiteracy of the
South has been brought about, it is the
bounden duty of both the State and the
Nation to see to the education, full and
equal, of the newly enfranchised race.
It is the peculiar duty of the Nation to
aid the Southern States in the educa
tion of its colored citizens and also the
white, but especially the colored citizen.
It is the duty of the National Govern
ment to provide for the enjoyment of
the privileges of education by all its
citizens, in as special a manner as it
provides for their protection from for
eign foes by the building of ships and
the erection of arsenals. Ignorance is
a more dangerous foe within, than arms
and batteries without. To provide for
the education of the colored citizen of the
South ought not to be confined to the
several States in the South only, be
cause the effect of this ignorance is un
confined. Why are the persons in Con-
Kess to-day representing the several
uthern States representatives of
fraud, ballot-box stuffiing and other
wrongs perpetrated in the name of
“honest government” in the South? It
is because the ignorance of a majority
of the voters enable these frauds to be
perpetrated. Is not this then a matter
of National interest? And ought not
Congress to provide against it? Legis
lation has proved ineffectual. The
power of the Government by force of
gms is declared contrary to the
S>irit of free Republican institutions.
et Congress therefore see what virtue
there is in education. I venture to
Erediot that if the means of education
i put within the grasp of every colored
citizen in the South, fully and equally
as the white citizen, in regard to teach
ers, the method of teaching, and the
full opportunity to receive the same,
there will be no more ballot box stuffing
©or other frauds at elections. In the
first place it will not be necessary; in
the next place it cannot be done. Power
rests to resist wrong not in numbers
but in knowledge.
J I see nothing more potent to harmon
ize the now inharmonious condition of
the two races 4 in the South and to pro
duce a common interest than the edu
cation of the masses in the South. The
political status of the colored citizen of
the South must be measured hereafter
by his intelligence and not by numbers.
But the question is sometimes asked,
Why should the North be taxed to edu
cate the citizen of the South? Has she
not her own quota of ignorance to pro
vide against? I answer, the Preamble
to the Constitution declares that the
^people of the United States (not of the
North, South, East or West separately,
-but of the whole States,) in order to
Epromote the general welfare, etc., do
’’ordain and establish this Constitution.
Is there any greater promoter of the
general welfare of all the States than
the education of the citizens of the
whole United States?
' Next, isn’t it true that the author of
"the prevailing ignorance of the South
•is the slavery which existed in its
midst? Did not the North connive at
•this most potent cause of ignorance,
,until it well nigh destroyed the Union,
and ought not the North to share in re
mpving its consequence?
A further reason why Congress should
aid in the education of the colored citi
zen of the South is because this class of
citizens ought to engage more largely
in a knowledge of the indsutries of the
country than they do at present, to the
end of becoming a material portion of
the country by their manufactures and in
ventions; which privilege although now
denied chiefly through prejudice, must
soon, in the spirit of progress, be avail
able to all classes according to their
fitness. I can find no stronger reason,
among the others I have already men
tioned, ■why National aid should be
given to the South in the education of
its illiterate classes, than that if a citi
zen of the United States violate any of
the laws of the National Government.
Congress has provided laws, courts and
juries for the prevention and punish
ment of such offenders in any State,
upon the ground that it is a violation of
the laws by one of the citizens of the
United States. Even so, ought Con
gress to provide for the education of all
the citizens of the Nation as a means of
lessening the violation of its laws and
the maintenance of good government.
But does this state of ignorance, so
baneful in its effects as I have endeav
ored to show, result only from the
want of National aid, and is it derived
entirely from slavery? Are not the
States to blame for the present condi
tion of ignorance in their midst and
ought therefore to be most zealous in
giving the fullest education to each and
every one of its citizens? First, the
South nourished and cherished the
abominable system of slavery within
its midst for more than two hundred
years. This system of human bondage
deprived its "victims of the light of
knowledge as a necessity for its preser
vation. Since the emancipation of the
Negro race in the South the advocates
of human slavery, who in one manner
or the other have had to do with the
education of the colored citizen, have
either in the spirit of revenge, indiffer
ence or the desire to keep the colored
citizen in a state of ignorance, that he
might the more easily defraud and op
press him, made that education a mere
mockery where it is not totally denied.
It is easy then to see that a continuance
of ignorance among the colored people
of the South will be the means of keep
ing them in a state of villeinage suita
able to the perpetuation of the idea that
they are designed to be only “hewers
of wood and drawers of water.”
At least this condition of the education
of the Negro lasted during the past ten
years which succeeded their emancipa
tion. The burning of school-houses
and the whipping of school-teachers
did not totally destroy the education of
the Negro in the South. For every
school-house that was burnt ten others
were erected by friends at the North.
The white teachers who were perse
cuted became stronger in their purpose,
and the time sped on in which the ad
vancement made by the Negro showed
that he soon was to become the self
educator of his race and the architect
of a great and influential destiny
among the races of men.
The Xlllth, XlVth and XVth
Amendments to the Constitution en
abled the Negro, as a voter, to take
part in the Government of which he be
came a full citizen. He took part in
making its laws and in discharging the
functions of Government through the
various offices he held; but in this
condition and for these high respon
sibilities he was not generally pre
pared. He became the dupe of designing
politicians and demagogues, andl the
Southern slaveholder soon saw it did
not remedy the evil by killing the Ne
gro, nor burning the school-house.
There has been for the past ten years a
slow but steady adherence to the prin
ciples of universal education; but nev
ertheless, as I have shown, a large pro
portion of ignorance yet remains in
the South to-day, and why? First, be
cause the Southern States are unable
to meet the demands for the education
of all their citizens. The war undoubt
edly devastated the South; her waste
places are still to be seen. She has no
surplus of capital. This is the chief
reason why education is at so low an
ebb in the Southern States. This in a
measure accounts for the poor school
houses, and for the inadequacy of com
petent teachers. I speak now chiefly
of schools for the colored citizen. Until
recently, in South Carolina, Normal
Schools tor training the colored citi
zens to become teachers were unknown.
But I cannot forget that poverty is
not the only hindrance to the advance
ment of the education of the colored
citizen in the South. There is a far
stronger reason. It is the disposition
among some of the whites to keep the
Negro in total ignorance that they
might control him politically the more
easily, and among others to give him a
partial education, sufficient only to fit
him for the ordinary positions of life,
which they deem him designed for; and
among others still, the opinion is en
tertained that he is mentally incapable
of receiving intellectual development.
These conflicting forces, all working at
the same time, have had much to do
with retarding the progress of educa
tion among the colored citizen in the
South. Some people ask how' is it that
so much money has been spent in the
South with so little result. I answer
because the money has been gen
erally misspent. Many Northern
white teachers who have come among
thp colored people of the South to
teach them, have done so in earnest and
good faith, and because they desired’to
see the advancement of the Negro; oth
ers have taken the opposite course—
they have taught as a means of earning
a livelihood only. They measured then
work by the number of dollars they re
ceived.* The Negro has also to with
stand being frequently taught by the
Southern white teacher, whose earliest
education was at variance with Negro
advancement in learning. He doles
out education to the Negro to fit him to
Be an intelligent laborer; the situation
best adapted for his wants. Thus we
see that if there are to be any new steps
taken in the education of the Negro "in
the South, a different method of teach
ing and different teachers must be had.
I recognize that the Southern govern
ments have of late showed a decided
zeal and interest in the education of
the colored citizen, but I also recognize
that there are elements at work wuthin
these States to thwart the efforts of the
States.
It is for these" reasons that I think
that this convention, while urging upon
Congress to grant aid to the South in
the education of its citizens, should at
the same time ask that this grant be
lade in a manner and under such reg
dations as will best effect the end de
sired. In short, that we should recom
mend that the furyls appropriated by
Congress for education in the South be
given to the trustees of the several in
stitututions of learning engaged in the
public education of the masses, and
that no institution of learning be enti
tled to said aid whose rules and regula
tions prescribe distinctions in the edu
cation of the races, or refuse to edu
cate any one on account of color. And
why this? Because Congress cannot
afford to foster caste prejudice in the
uses of the taxes of the whole people.
Again, it is befitting the Nation that it
should show its disapproval of the dis
tinctions and discriminations exercised
against the colored citizen in his educa
tion in the South, and at least endeavor
to break down the barriers which are
set up against the negro citizen on ac
count of color.
In the method of distribution Con
gress should also see to it that the one
great need—the self development of the
Negro—be promoted. We ask that
Negro teachers exclusively be employed
to teach Negro schools, academies and
other institutions of learning for the
education of the colored youth, so long
as the white schools shut their doors
against the admission of the Negro on
account of his color, and refuse to’em
ploy colored teachers. My fellow citi
zens, let us set to work in "full earnest
in seeing after the education and rights
of our race. Our success is half achieved
when we shall here determine that our
rights shall be respected both in secur
ing us equal facilities for education
with the white youth of the land and
equal political "protection under the
laws of the land.
An old retired naval officer living in
this city has so arranged his affairs that
he has given his housekeeper, a colored
lady, the house he lived in, valued at
$3,500, and $5,500 in cash, as a reward
for the faithful manner in which she
has taken care of him. He is now at
the point of death, and made :»nd de
livered the deed to the property, to
gether with the money, to Ker last week,
in order to prevent "any possibility of
her having trouble after his death from
his relatives, whom he has not seen for
twenty years. Since his retirement
from the navy he has been employed as
a translator in one of the departments.
—Boston Hub.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
Writtbm fob ths Gazbttb.
HISTOIRE DES HEROS D’AFRIQUE
Ilans L’Ue da Ste. Daminffa,
BY PAUL GASTOM.
No ll.—Toussaint L’Ouverture.
On the reception of these tidings the
Creoles at once dispatched one of their
number to Paris to lay their claims to
equal rights before the Constitutional
Assembly. Vincent Oge, their accred
ited envoy, was gladly received and
welcomed at Paris by Lafayette, Bris
sot, Barnave, and Gregoire. He was
admitted to a seat in that imposing as
sembly, where he eloquently portrayed
the wrongs of his brethren, whose
claims he urged in glowing accents,
and in a burst of his native pathos, he
exclaimed: “If full, free and entire
equal rights be denied 113 here, nous
avons un re-sort dernierre acela, nous
serrous appel,” (we have but one last
resort, ana to this we will appeal.) At
this burst of eloquence the Deputy Bar
nave sprang to his feet, stamped upon
the tassalated floor, and cried in tones
such as none but he could utter:
“Perish the Colonies, rather than the
principles of Liberty be tarnished!
Perish every Colonial planter, rather
than a child of France be wronged!”
The assembly, as one man sprang
to its feet, the Utmost excitement
and disorder for a while pre
vailed, but before being re-seated a de
cree was passed granting the full de
mands of tne Creoles, and the intrepid
Vincent Oge returned in triumph, bear
ing the precious boon to his waiting
brethren.
Unhappily, the news of his success
preceded him to the Island. The plant
ers armed themselves, met the young
Deputy on his landing, a battle ensued,
the Creoles rallied to a man around the
brave Oge, but were defeated, taken,
tortured and many of them broken alive
on the wheel.
The prospect of freedom seemed
clouded for a while, but the blood of
Vincent Oge and his brave companions
silently bubbled in the hearts of their
race, and there, on that fatal field and
on bended knee they swore to avenge
them,
AND THEY KEPT THEIR OATH!
The announcement of the murder of
Oge, at Paris, created the most intense
excitement. The streets, barricades
and boulevards of the “World’s Me
tropolis” resounded with oaths and
threats of vengeance. Gregoire ve
hemently defended the Creoles, saying,
“If liberty is right in France, it is also
right in Ste. Domingo. Shall our
brethren there enjoy this right because
they are men, or shall they be denied
it because they are colored?”
Another, decree was passed by the
assembly that France send an army to
Ste. Domingo to enforce the laws; but
the planters defeated the army, defied
the Government and refused to" take the
civic oath. The planters residing in
France were invited to return and aid
in securing the independence of the
island.
Then it was that the hitherto haughty
Creoles earnestly appealed to the slaves
to aid them in their struggle for civil
and religious liberty, and tne result of
that appeal was simply appalling. The
slaves seemed to awake as from an om
inous dream, and sword, ax or clubs in
hand, rushed forth demanding their
rights, which were, of course, indignant
ly refused. Then the long-oppressed
beings became perfect maniacs in the
Imrsuit of that freedom for which they
>od so long pined, so long panted.
Such indeed was their fury that in only
eight days from the commencement the
storm of deadly conflict had swept over
the entire island. The splendid villas,
the rich factories, the imposing public
buildings with every inflammable ele
ment yielded to the irresistible fury of
the devouring flames.
Such were the feelings and actions
ci a people whoso ancestors had been
ruthlessly torn from their native land
and bartered away for gold in the
slave-shambles of Ste. Domingo.
And now the planters found they
had raised a storm they could not con
trol. Still thev endeavored to terrify
and convince the slaves that they could
never secure their freedom, and every'
slave taken with arras upon him was
murdered on the spot, until thousands
had paid of their lives. The struggle
was watched with intense interest by
the friends of the slave in Europe, and
all that seemed wanting to insure final
success was a black chief, equal to the
emergency, for the want of such a lead
er the now well-disciplined planters be
gan to gain upon the blacks and had
already won several battles. The
blacks began to lose ground and were
on the eve of retreating before the
planters, when, in the very midst of
this despairing prospect, Toussaint
L’Ouverture Appeared.
(to be continued. )
Mr. John F. Quarles, the attorney 01
Dr. J. N. Gloucester, has effected a
satisfactory settlement of the disputed
will of Mrs. Dr. J. N. Gloucester, in
which some $250,000 was involved, by
which Dr. Gloucester receives one
quarter of the estate in addition to
what was left him by the will. — H. F.
Globe. Mrs. Gloucester was reported as
the wealthiest colored person, and died
about three months ago.
As a result of readjuster rule in
Richmond, Va., all the colored Schools
have colored principals and teachers.
Capt. R. A. Paul is a member of the
school committee. The colored schools
in Virginia are on a better educational
footing to-day than any other of her
sister "Southern States.