Chapter XVI: Efficiency of Negro

The records of the conduct of Negroes in office, with the exception of the rascality of those in power in the South during the Reconstruction Period, are creditable indeed, to the race from which they sprang. Responsibility for the scandals attaching to the rule of the race in some of the Southern States directly after the war are chargeable not to the Negro but to the corruption of the white men who imposed on the Negro by taking advantage of his ignorance and making him the cat’s paw with which they attempted to extricate themselves from many difficulties without the stain of dishonor.

The first Negroes to become members of the legislature of any State in the Union were Edward G. Walker and Charles L. Mitchell of Massachusetts in 1866. The records show they discharged their duties with intelligence and honor.

The first holding a position under appointment by the government was Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett of Philadelphia who was appointed minister resident and consul general to the government of Hayti in 1869.

He was an educated Negro of great ability and was engaged in teaching for many years. The “Hand Book of Hayti,” of which he was the author, has been translated into many languages.

He was a member of the American Geographical Society and of the Connecticut Historical Society.

The number of colored officers, clerks and other employees in the service of the United States Government at the present time is 22,440 with salaries aggregating an annual income of $12,456,760.00.

The qualification of the large majority of these employees was tested under civil service rules and so it is seen this large number got into the service through merit alone.

Out of a population of 12,000,000 people, with a force of 20,000 trained in the government of the country it is idle to assume a sufficient number for the proper administration of the laws of the territory could not be secured.

In the matter of military genius and personal bravery as well as in preparation for statesmanship by reason of education and patriotism the records show the Negro to be well equipped.

There are eleven colored officers in the regular army of the United States at the present time. Three Negroes have been graduated from West Point.

At the order of the government for service in Mexico, the first to go to the front in search of Villa and his bandits was the Tenth cavalry composed of Negroes which has distinguished itself for service in this punitive expedition as it distinguished itself at the battle of Las Guasimas in Cuba when it came to the rescue of Colonel Roosevelt and his Rough Riders.

The first to go to the front in the Spanish-American War, in 1898, were the four NEGRO regiments, the Tenth Cavalry, the Twenty-fifth Infantry, which took a prominent part in the battle of El Caney, the Ninth Cavalry, which with the Twenty-fourth Infantry and the Tenth Cavalry, rendered heroic service in the battle of San Juan Hill. The Ninth and Tenth Cavalry have the reputation of being the best Indian fighters in the United States Army.

It does not appear from the records of the Military Secretary at Washington that the Negro is lacking in any essential quality for the performance of the duty of a soldier.

The people of that section of the country where most of the argument against his ability as a soldier originates were quite willing enough to enlist him in the Confederate States Army, or that portion of the race which had been made free previous to the Emancipation Proclamation.

In 1864 the Confederate Congress, at Richmond, passed an act making all male Negroes, with certain exceptions, between the ages of eighteen and fifty liable for the performance of such duties in the Confederate Army, in the way of work in connection with the military defenses as the Secretary of War might prescribe, and provided for them in rations, clothing and compensation. Provision was also made at the same time for the employment of 20,000 Negro slaves for similar duty by the Secretary of War.

In November, 1861, at a review of 28,000 Confederate troops in New Orleans, one of the most prominent regiments was colored, consisting of 1,400 free Negroes. The members of the companies comprising this regiment according to The Picayune of that city, supplied themselves with arms without aid from the Confederate Government.

The worst that can be said against this regiment is that it existed at all for the defense of a government that sought to continue its members in perpetual slavery.

Nearly 200,000 Negro soldiers were employed in the United States Army in the Civil War. These formed 161 regiments of which 141 were infantry or cavalry, 12 heavy artillery and 1 light artillery.

The Negro troops fought gloriously in many of the bloodiest battles of the war. Among the engagements in which they were particularly distinguished for bravery and heroism were the battles of Milliken’s Bend on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg, in July 1863, the assault on Port Hudson near Baton Rouge, La., in 1863, at Fort Wagner, a Charleston, S. C., defence, in 1863, and at all the assaults on Petersburg, Va., in 1864 as well as in the battle of Nashville, Tenn., fought in December 1864.

In the Revolutionary War as well as in the War of 1812, Negroes were enlisted and served with such distinction in the latter as to inspire the following address by General Andrew Jackson, afterwards President of the United States.

“To the men of color--Soldiers: I knew before your enlistment that you could endure the hardships of hunger and thirst and brave the dangers of war. I knew that you loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves you had to defend all that is most dear to man. But you have surpassed my hopes. I have found in you, united to these qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deeds.

“Soldiers! The President of the United States shall be informed of your conduct on the present occasion; and the voices of the Representatives of the American nation shall applaud your valor as your General now praises your ardor.”

It was the distinguished service of two battalions of 500 Negroes that elicited this eulogy from the Commander in Chief of the forces engaged in the second war with England.

Commodore Perry used equally forcible language in his praise of the bravery and conduct of the Negroes under his command at the battle of Lake Erie. He said that Negro soldiers seemed to be absolutely insensible to danger.

There were about 3,000 Negroes employed in the Revolutionary War by General Washington. An equal or greater number were employed by the British.

Some of the most heroic deeds of the war for Independence were performed by the men of color. Major Pitcairn, in charge of the British forces at the battle of Bunker Hill, was killed by a Negro named Peter Salem. A petition was drawn by some of the principal officers of the American Army to secure recognition by the Massachusetts Colony for Solomon Poor, a Negro, for distinguished service at the battle of Bunker Hill. Crispus Attucks, a Negro, was the first American to become a martyr in the Boston massacre.

The Black Legion of Count D’Estaing saved the defeated American and French Army from complete annihilation at the siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779, by covering the retreat and repulsing the charge of the British.

In every war fought on American soil, the Negroes whenever allowed to participate, have displayed a courage and heroism that is not only a credit to the race but a credit to mankind.

In poetry and literature, as well as war, the Negro has arisen to distinction. Indeed, the first woman, either white or black, to attain to literary distinction in this country was a Negro, a slave at that.

She was Phyllis Wheatly of Boston, who wrote poems on various subjects, religious and moral, of high literary value. One of the poems was addressed to General Washington and was appreciated by him as reference to it by him was made in a letter to Joseph Reed under date of February 10, 1776. Through the endorsement of several men distinguished in literature her poems were collected and published in London under the title, “Poems of Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, by Phyllis Wheatly, a Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatly of Boston, in New England.”

Paul Lawrence Dunbar, born in 1872, was a noted Negro poet.

William Stanley Braithwaite, author of “The Book of Georgian Verse” and the reviewer of poetry appearing in the standard magazines is classed among the geniuses of American verse writers.

“A Little Dreaming” is a volume by Fenton Johnson of Chicago that has been favorably commented on in this country and Europe.

The most famous of the Negro Shakesperian scholars was Ira Aldridge of Bel Air Maryland. He is said to have had no equal in the personification of Othello, the Moor. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the First Class for “Art and Science” by the King of Prussia, a distinction that had never before been awarded to any but Humbolt, Spentini, the composer and Liszt, the musician. His title in England was that of “Royal Saxe Ernest House Order,” a title of higher degree than that of “Sir” so much coveted in Britain. He was a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg.

Bert Williams, another Negro actor, bears the distinction of being the “Greatest Comedian on the American Stage.”

The inventive genius of the Negro is to be seen in the records of the patent office at Washington. These show the application of a wide range of inventive talent, including agricultural implements, in wood and metal working machines, in land conveyances on road and steel rail tracks, in ocean going vessels, in chemistry and chemical compounds, in electricity in all its wide range of uses, in aereonautics, in new designs of house furniture and bric-a-brac, in mechanical toys and amusement devices.

It is said that a Negro really invented the cotton gin, or gave to Ely Whitney, who was the patentee of it, the suggestions which aided in the completion of this invention. As early as 1834 a Negro, Henry Blair, of Maryland, secured a patent on a corn harvester.

Soon after the Dred Scott Decision in 1857 the Patent Office rendered a decision that a Negro could not take out a patent on an invention, but since 1862, when the decision was rescinded, no restrictions have been placed on the use of the office by Negroes and a great number of useful inventions have been patented by them.

Robert Pelham, of Detroit, an employee in the Census Bureau, has devised a machine that tabulates the statistics from the manufacturer’s schedules in a way that displaces a dozen men in a given quantity of work, doing the work economically, speedily and with faultless precision. The returns in royalties from his invention, which is patented, greatly exceeds the income Mr. Pelham receives from the Government salary paid him for services in the office of the Census Bureau.

At the present time there are nearly 50,000 Negro business enterprises of various kinds, some requiring a knowledge of banking, insurance, manufacturing, undertaking and hospital training.

The combined business of these enterprises total over one billion dollars annually.

There are about 66 banks in all with a capital and surplus of over $2,000,000.00.

Reference elsewhere made in this book to the progress of the Negro in farming operations indicates that he is advancing more rapidly in agriculture than any of the other pursuits. In educational and church work it is shown, also, that he is well prepared to take care of himself should the separation of the races ever become a reality. The church denominational statistics show there are about 40,000 Negro Churches of Christ in America, with communicants numbering over 4,000,000. The value of Negro church property is about $60,000,000.00.

From $200,000.00 to $250,000.00 is spent annually on home missions. For foreign missions the race spends from $100,000.00 to $150,000.00 annually.

By every test or qualification and efficiency the Negro, in government, in the science of war, in the art of agriculture, in manufacturing, invention, medicine, law and literature is well prepared to assume the government of his race in a territory of his own. This insures him the same protection from the persecution and injustices of the stronger race that enabled the latter to succeed so famously when they, too, in the course of human events, found it necessary to dissolve the political bonds that united them to a dominant authority that gave them no justice.

INCIDENTS IN MISS SCHOFIELD’S LIFE.

Martha Schofield’s conception of an education included a great deal more than the mere matter of acquiring a fund of knowledge. She taught that knowledge without the ability to use it was worthless, and inspired every one coming under her influence with the necessity for a means of practicing what they were taught. This made her work intensely practical and enabled her students to succeed in overcoming difficulties as they saw her overcome them. The operation of her school, including the farm, the store and boarding house dormitories became a part of the curriculum and each student was provided with practical, concrete examples of every day business life with a solution for each worked out before the eyes of the whole school. The success which has and is attending the efforts of her students in many lines of endeavor is one of the best arguments we have to advance for the extension of practical instruction, especially among the Negroes who have evidenced a singular ability in assimilating it and imparting its usefulness afterwards.

While every Schofield scholar received a deep impression of the power which knowledge gives no want of attention was directed to the evil which invariably attends the wrong use of it. This developed a course in moral philosophy which, it is to be supposed, is responsible for the high average maintained by the graduates of this school in the deportment of their lives. Not one of the many receiving their education at the school has ever been convicted of crime or sentenced to jail or servitude in a penal institution. This contradicts and discredits the statement often heard that the education of the Negro has been attended by an increase of crime among the members of the race. While unsupported by the facts with regard to the students of all other Negro schools the statement could have basis only in those schools and colleges where the relation of morals to breeding is ignored altogether or made of secondary importance only. Certain it is that Martha Schofield impressed each one of her students with a higher regard for truth and virtue than for anything else in this world.

Without the morality to live and act honorably education to her was a curse, and she had the faculty of making her students a co-partner with her in sharing her convictions along lines of right conduct and moral grandeur as well as excelling in efficiency in all the arts taught.

Martha Schofield was impelled by a power in her heart which inspired sympathy to give the very best of her life in help of the Negro. So she was very particular in her work that what she imparted really should inspire her disciples to think right and live right. This enforced the necessity for a discipline that may be considered severe by some but many are there today who bless her from the bottom of their hearts for holding them strictly to account in their work that in the final result they might be the possessors of a future worthy of the instruction received at her hands. She never enforced iron-hand discipline without the glove of charity and her advice always sparkled with such sincerity and sympathy as to make it palatable.

Not only was the work of Miss Schofield opposed by the antagonism of race prejudice, but opposed by a want of a precedent. There were few Negroes of education to refer to as examples of what education may be expected to do for one with the intelligence and industry necessary to acquire it. Only a few years before Miss Schofield began her work the instruction of Negroes was made unlawful by some of the States in the South and as a result the greatest ignorance prevailed among them. Not five per cent. could either read or write and quite a number possessed no Christian name at all. They lived principally in one room cabins, whole families of them, and subsisted on the coarsest and most unwholesome food imaginable. There was no respect anywhere for sanitary science laws and all this had the effect to greatly handicap Miss Schofield at the beginning of her effort.

One of the rules of her school which she enforced early in her career was that no child could enter school who did not have a name. As all were eager to learn and made tremendous sacrifices that their children might do so this rule produced a mild sensation among some of the older people who had not the intuition to go about the work of obtaining a name for their offspring. But the ruling finally served to obtain names for all, and these in time became legal, some of them appearing just as Martha Schofield gave them on the tax books to this very day.

Perhaps the origin of the name Rahab Obedience, for many years an employe in Miss Schofield’s room, was one among the most unique. Accompanied by her child, who had been sent home the day before for want of a name, Rahab called early one morning on Miss Schofield and expressed great distress over the possibility of her not being able to comply with the entrance regulations and keep her little boy in school.

“Missus,” spoke Rahab, “Banjo be’n tellin’ me dat yo’ sais he mus’ hab some trimmins’ ’fore he kin com’ to yo’ sc’ool an’ clear befo’ dee Lawd, Missus, he aint got non’ ’side frum Banjo’ and hee jist caint git non.’ Dat chile nebber aint had any daddy, Missus!”

“Every child that enters this school” said Miss Schofield, “must have a name or be given one, else we can not teach him. Perhaps, we may give your son a name.

“What is your name? All children without a father bear their mother’s name.”

“Mer name, Missus?” queried Rahab in surprise. “I be’n tinkink yo’ no’ mer name lon’ time.”

“Yes, I know; but what is your Christian name--the other part of your name? Rahab who?”

“O, yas’am, I ’noes w’at yo’ means now, but dats all de name I habs--jest Rahab,” said the woman as she looked hopefully at Miss Schofield for some means by which a name could be found for her son and he be allowed to remain in school.

“Well, can’t you suggest some name for your son?” asked Miss Schofield. “What name would you like for him to be known by?”

“We’l Missus,” said Rahab, “mer old marster allus tol’ us dat Obedience wus der bes trate in de karecter of a cullud pusson an’ so I bleeves I’d jest lak to hab mer boi call’d Banjo Obedience.”

“Very well,” replied Miss Schofield, “hereafter he shall be known as Banjo Obedience and we shall know you as Rahab Obedience.”

“Dat’s jest alritee ef Banjo kin cum ter sc’ool wid dat name. Don’t care w’at yo’ cal’ ’em nor how much yo’ beats ’em jest so yo larns em sometings, som’ gud man’ers lak he ole marster had.”

In a very few days after this unusual interview Rahab herself was given a position in the Schofield household where she was employed for many years.

Among all the mourners at the funeral none there were more deeply affected by the passing of Miss Schofield than the servants of her household.

One of the most beautiful traits of Miss Schofield’s character is to be seen in her treatment of the Negro servants in her employ. The excellent service which “Aunt Amy” rendered to her gave her a high appreciation of the Negro for domestic duties, and inspired the sentiment now common over the country that the Southern white people do not appreciate the value of Negro servants because they have never had the dissatisfaction attending the employment of other domestics of different nationality.

“Aunt Ann,” another employe for thirty-five years, equally distinguished the race by excelling in the art of domestic service. Rahab Obedience, Darius Bauknight and Charlotte, all so well pleased Miss Schofield with the quality and quantity of their services that each received recognition in her Will.

Martha Schofield was not only admired and loved by all her students and servants--she was idolized by them. Wherever she went in the South or North she always found a number to do her honor, and honor shown her by the humblest and lowest of the Negro race was to all appearances as much appreciated as that shown by the great poets and writers, many of whom knew her and delighted in showing her the respect which one great mind has for another.

Among the distinguished people who expressed a deep appreciation of her strength of character and firmness of purpose in carrying on her work was John G. Whittier, the Quaker Poet, who wrote her several pleasing commendatory letters, and dedicated all his works to the spirit which inspired her to carry on her work in the face of difficulties that would have discouraged into inactivity anybody but Martha Schofield. Other notable people who paid tribute to Miss Schofield were Lucretia Mott, the distinguished reformer and Miss Francis Willard.

At her home in Aiken she was highly respected for her strength of character in holding fast to her convictions and for her intelligence and absolute honesty.

The following resolutions by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, a white organization to which Miss Schofield belonged, were passed at a recent session:

“RESOLUTIONS.

“Aiken, S. C., April 17th, 1916.

“_Whereas_, God, in His infinite wisdom, has seen fit to take from us, our sister and earnest co-worker, Miss Martha Schofield; We, the members of the W. C. T. U., Aiken, S. C., do hereby offer the following resolutions:

“1st. That in her passing away the W. C. T. U. has lost one of its earnest workers.

“2nd. That we extend to her neice and to her companion, Mrs. Taylor, our deepest sympathy.

“3rd. That a page in our Minute Book be inscribed to her memory.

“4th. That a copy of these resolutions be sent to her neice, to Mrs. Taylor and to the County papers for publication.

META SUMMERALL,
HATTIE P. HILL,
TWEETIE M. CARTER,
Committee.”

If one ever questioned whether the services of Miss Schofield were appreciated by the colored people of Aiken all doubts must have been removed by the demonstration of Negroes at the funeral on Monday, February 3, and again on the same day as the casket was borne from the Schofield home to the railroad station. The line of march included over 1,000 school children and citizens and the mass was so great at the train shed as to interfere with the movement of all traffic. As the train moved off the citizens joined in the favorite song of the lamented lady and sang so sadly and feelingly as to bring tears to the eyes of all: “Steal Away, Steal Away to Jesus.”

Among hundreds of telegrams, letters and personal messages received at the school following the death of Miss Schofield, the latter are typical:

“I am here to give my testimony of the value of the life of Martha Schofield to my race. She was one of the bravest, kindest women I ever knew. It is true that Martha Schofield was a fighter. She dared to contend for what she believed was right, but always took counsel, weighed things carefully, and, when she took a stand that she believed was right, believing she was right, there was no earthly power to turn her from her course. Martha Schofield is not dead--she lives in the memory of her students scattered all over South Carolina and other States. She will live in the memory of their children and their children’s children, for there are few colored homes in which her name and deeds are not recounted in the family circle.”

LUCY LANEY,
Principal Haines Institute, Augusta, Ga.

“In the death of Miss Martha Schofield the Negroes have lost a true friend of long standing, and the cause of the great social uplift here in the South has lost an earnest and effective worker.

“Miss Schofield was my personal friend and adviser for many years. I think she has accomplished a most unselfish life work and very effective.”

WALTER S. BUCHANAN,
President Agricultural & Mechanical College,
Normal, Alabama.

Miss Schofield did a valuable, a useful, a noble work for my race, and I am glad so many of the colored people in Georgia and South Carolina have joined in the general chorus of sorrow and sympathy in consequence of her death. A hundred years from now, when the history of the South shall be written anew, the brightest page in the story will be that on which shall be recorded the lives, labor, and sacrifices of the white men and women from the North who came into the South directly after the war and brought the torch of civilization to a freed race and taught them the way of truth and righteousness.

PROF. S. X. FLOYD,
Principal Gwinnett School,
Augusta, Ga.

The following resolution was unanimously adopted by the faculty of the Schofield school, in respect to the memory of Miss Schofield:

“_Resolved_, That the Schofield School most sorrowfully realizes that in the translation of the spirit of this truly great woman, it has sustained an irreparable loss. In the departure from our midst of this illustrious character, we solemnly obligate ourselves to ever reserve prominent places in our memories for the most worthy example set before us by the founder and friend of the great work. The greatest monument to the life of Miss Schofield is the school which bears her name. This most splendid plant, now in the flower of its prosperity, marks the fruitful result of the untiring zeal and the dauntless courage possessed, and the patient efforts put forth by the Founder who so faithfully labored for and among the freedmen of our community.”

Transcriber’s Notes

Page 7: “envitable civil conflict” changed to “inevitable civil conflict”

Page 8: “dsirable an end” changed to “desirable an end”

Page 10: “moral degredation” changed to “moral degradation” “in immense volumne” changed to “in immense volume” “pitted their poor brothers” changed to “pitied their poor brothers”

Page 12: “trenchent pen” changed to “trenchant pen”

Page 13: “at Tuskeegee” changed to “at Tuskegee”

Page 17: “life as made” changed to “life was made”

Page 18: “Wadlamaw to Edisto” changed to “Wadmalaw to Edisto”

Page 19: “instinct to enage” changed to “instinct to engage”

Page 20: “Brightnesss of Martha’s Pupils.” changed to “Brightness of Martha’s Pupils.” “Nothwithstanding” changed to “Notwithstanding”

Page 24: “concluded trat” changed to “concluded that”

Page 27: “on Februay” changed to “on February” “by the municipalites” changed to “by the municipalities” “oustide influence” changed to “outside influence”

Page 29: “science is suppossed” changed to “science is supposed”

Page 31: “phenominal rise” changed to “phenomenal rise”

Page 40: “his dristrict” changed to “his district”

Page 41: “had preceeded” changed to “had preceded”

Page 42: “the communty” changed to “the community” “prompt and preemptory” changed to “prompt and peremptory”

Page 44: “precipitated the demorilization” changed to “precipitated the demoralization”

Page 45: “recognizing the advanage” changed to “recognizing the advantage”

Page 46: “Mackie Meriwether” changed to “Makie Meriwether”

Page 47: “domoniac form” changed to “demoniac form” “most conspecious part” changed to “most conspicuous part”

Page 48: “which followd” changed to “which followed” “resulted in Conress” changed to “resulted in Congress”

Page 49: “firey speech” changed to “fiery speech”

Page 50: “reign of lawlessnes” changed to “reign of lawlessness”

Page 52: “gov-government’s” changed to “government’s?” “be arrainged” changed to “be arraigned”

Page 53: “wha was given” changed to “who was given”

Page 54: “between the the” changed to “between the”

Page 56: “the maurauders” changed to “the marauders”

Page 60: “enconomic reasons” changed to “economic reasons”

Page 62: “the enforcemnet” changed to “the enforcement”

Page 64: “barbaraties of those” changed to “barbarities of those”

Page 66: “disfranchisemnt laws” changed to “disfranchisement laws”

Page 67: “that that” changed to “than that”

Page 69: “althuogh” changed to “although”

Page 71: “firmly deternmied” changed to “firmly determined” “make him Emporer” changed to “make him Emperor”

Page 72: “his bethrothed” changed to “his betrothed” “his jounrey” changed to “his journey”

Page 78: “generousnes of God” changed to “generousness of God” “stragetic ability” changed to “strategic ability”

Page 81: “manuel of important information” changed to “manual of important information”

Page 83: “is phenominal” changed to “is phenomenal”

Page 87: “inflamatory conditions” changed to “inflammatory conditions” “she sympatized” changed to “she sympathized”

Page 89: “compeling those responsible” changed to “compelling those responsible”

Page 93: “for off China” changed to “far off China” “espcially” changed to “especially”

Page 95: “well enough inwormed” changed to “well enough informed”

Page 97: “own populatoin” changed to “own population”

Page 110: “the fitnss” changed to “the fitness”

Page 115: “seige of Savannah” changed to “siege of Savannah”

Page 116: “the genuises” changed to “the geniuses”

Page 117: “Patent Offce” changed to “Patent Office”

Page 120: “her diciples” changed to “her disciples” “palatible” changed to “palatable”

Page 123: “Lucreta Mott” changed to “Lucretia Mott”