History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth United States Congresses, 1861-65, by Henry Wilson, 1865.

CHAPTER VIII.

EDUCATION OF COLORED YOUTH IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

MR. GRIMES'S BILL. — MR. GRIMES'S REPORT. — MR. WILSON'S AMENDMENT. — REMARKS OF MR. WILSON. — PASSAGE OF THE BILL. — BILL REPORTED IN THE HOUSE BY MR. ROLLINS, — PASSAGE OF THE BILL. — MR. LOVEJOY'S BILL, — REPORTED BY MR. FESSENDEN, — PASSAGE OF THE BILL. — BILL REPORTED IN THE SENATE BY MR. GRIMES. — PASSAGE OF THE BILL. — MR. WILSON'S BILL. — REPORTED FROM THE DISTRICT COMMITTEE. — REMARKS BY MR. CARLILE. — MR. GRIMES. — MR. DAVIS, — MR. MORRILL, — PASSAGE OF THE BILL IN THE SENATE. — PASSAGE IN THE HOUSE. — MR. WILSON'S BILL. — MR. GRIMES'S BILL. — PASSAGE IN THE SENATE, — MR. PATTERSON'S SUBSTITUTE. — PASSAGE OF THE BILL.

THE census of 1860 revealed the fact, that there were more than three thousand colored youth in the District of Columbia. These children were not permitted to enter the public schools, and no public provision whatever was made for their instruction. The property of colored parents was taxed for the support of schools from which their own children were excluded. The abolition of slavery, the repeal of the black code and ordinances, in the District, more distinctly revealed this neglect of colored children, and this injustice towards colored parents.

In the Senate, on the 29th of April, 1862, Mr. Grimes (Rep.) of Iowa introduced a bill providing for the education of colored children in the city of Washington. On the presentation of his bill, Mr. Grimes said, " In order that there may be no misapprehension Page 185 as to what this bill seeks, I desire to say now, before it is referred, that, according to the census of 1860, there are three thousand one hundred and seventy- two colored children in this District. The amount of real estate then and now owned by colored persons within the District is in value $650,000. There is now levied a tax upon that property amounting to $36,000, The school-tax, as I understand, is ten per centum of that amount, or $3,600, which goes to the support of schools which are devoted exclusively to the education of white children. This bill simply provides that the tax which is levied on the property of colored persons shall be used exclusively in the education of colored children."

The bill was referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia; and, on the 30th, Mr. Grimes reported It with amendments. The Senate, on the 8th of May, on the motion of Mr. Grimes, proceeded to Its consideration, and the amendments of the committee were agreed to. The bill, as amended, made it the duty of the municipal authorities of Washington and Georgetown to set apart ten per cent of the amount received from taxes levied on the real and personal property owned by persons of color, to be appropriated for the purpose of initiating a system of primary schools for the education of colored children. The board of trustees of public schools were to have sole control of the fund arising from the tax, as well as from contributions by persons disposed to aid in the education of the colored race, or from any other source, and to provide suitable rooms and teachers for such a number of schools as in their opinion would best accommodate the colored children, Page 186

Mr. Wilson (Rep.) of Massachusetts moved to amend the bill by adding as an additional section, —

" That all persons of color in the District of Columbia, or in the corporate limits of the cities of Washington and Georgetown, shall be subject and amenable to the same laws and ordinances to which free white persons are or may be subject or amenable ; that they shall be tried for any offences against the laws in the same manner as free white persons are or may be tried for the same offences ; and that, upon being legally convicted of any crime or offence against any law or ordinance, such persons of color shall be liable to the same penalty or punishment, and no other, as would be im posed or inflicted upon free white persons for the same crime or offence : and all acts, or parts of acts, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed."

In support of his amendment, Mr. Wilson said, "We have some laws that everybody admits are very oppressive upon the colored population of this District ; some of them old laws made by Maryland and others, ordinances of the cities of Washington and Georgetown. As we are now dealing with their educational interests, I think we may as well at the same time relieve them from these oppressive laws, and put them, so far as crime is concerned, and so far as offences against the laws are concerned, upon the same footing, and have them tried in the same manner, and subject them to the same punishments, as the rest of our people." The amendment was agreed to, the bill was reported to the Senate as amended, the amendment was concurred in, and the bill ordered to be engrossed. Mr. Saulsbury (Dem.) of Delaware demanded the yeas and nays on its passage, — yeas 27, nays 6. There being no quorum, the Senate adjourned.

Page 187 On the 9th, the vote was taken, and resulted — yeas 29, nays 7. So the bill was passed In the Senate, and its title so amended as to make it read, " A bill providing for the education of colored children in the cities of Washington and Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes." In the House, on the 15th, Mr. Rollins (Rep.) of New Hampshire, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, reported back the bill without amendment, and demanded the previous question on its passage. It was ordered ; the bill was passed, and approved by the President on the 21st of May, 1862.

In the House of Representatives, on the 23d of June, 1862, Mr. Lovejoy (Rep.) of Illinois introduced a bill relating to schools for the education of colored children in the cities of Washington and Georgetown, in the District of Columbia ; and it was read twice, and referred to the District Committee. The bill provided that the duties imposed on the board of trustees of the public schools in the cities of Washington and George town, by the act providing for the education of colored children in the cities of Washington and Georgetown, approved May 21, 1862, be transferred to Daniel Breed, Sayles J. Bowen, and Zenas C. Robbins, and their successors in office, who are created a board of trustees of the schools for colored children, and who shall possess all the powers and perform all the duties conferred upon and required of the trustees of public schools in the cities of Washington and Georgetown by that act. On the 3d of July, Mr. Fessenden (Rep.) of Maine, from the Committee on the District to whom was referred Mr. Lovejoy’s bill, reported it back Page 188 without amendment, and It passed the House. In the Senate, Mr. Grimes, on the 5th of July, reported back the bill from the District Committee ; and, on his motion, it was enacted on the llth of July, 1862.

In the Senate, on the 17th of February, 1863, Mr. Wilson (Rep.) of Massachusetts introduced a bill to incorporate " the institution for the education of colored youth," to be located In the District of Columbia. The objects of the institution were to educate and improve the moral and intellectual condition of such colored youth of the nation as may be placed under its care and influence. The bill was read twice, and referred to the District Committee. Mr. Grimes, on the 24th, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom the bill was referred, reported it without amendment. On the 27th, the Senate, on motion of Mr. Grimes, proceeded to its consideration. " I should like to know," said Mr. Carlile (Dem.) of Virginia, "if these negroes cannot be educated without an act of incorporation." He did not " see any very good reason why the Government of the limited States should enter upon the scheme of educating negroes." He understood " the reason assigned for the government of a State undertaking the education of the citizens of the State is that the citizens in this country are the governors ; " but he presumed " we have not yet reached the point when it is proposed to elevate to the condition of voters the negroes of the. land." Mr. Grimes in reply said, "It may be true, that, in that section of the country where the senator is most acquainted, the whole idea of education proceeds from the fact, that the person who is to be educated is merely Page 189 to be educated because he is to exercise the elective franchise ; but I thank God that I was raised in a section of the country where there are nobler and loftier sentiments entertained in regard to education. We entertain the opinion, that all human beings are account able beings. We believe that every man should be taught, so that he may be able to read the law by which he Is to be governed, and under which he may be punished. We believe that every accountable being should be able to read the word of God, by which he should guide his steps in this life, and shall be judged in the life to come. We believe that education is necessary in order to elevate the human race. We believe that it is necessary in order to keep our jails and our penitentiaries and our alms-houses free from inmates. In my section of the "country, we do not educate any race upon any each low and groveling ideas as those that seems to be entertained by the senator from Virginia." Mr. Davis (Opp.) of Kentucky thought the subject might be dropped. "I recollect," he said, "a fact in relation to the Island of St. Lucia, one of the West-India islands. When it became one of the British possessions, a great many Irish who spoke the Gaelic language migrated from the Island of Erin to St. Lucia. In the course of a few years, they possessed themselves of African slaves, — slaves from the continent; and, in adhering to their Gaelic language, the Africans whom they introduced, and the young ones that were raised, of course learned to speak the Gaelic too. After a while, some of their kinsfolk, who had been left behind in the mother country, visited the Island of St. Lucia, and they discovered all the negroes there talking the real Gaelic, the genuine Page 190 Irish; and they wrote back to their countrymen, for God's Bake no more of them to come to St. Lucia ; and, as they loved St. Patrick, not to come to St. Lucia, because all the Irish turned to be negroes there. I really think, sir, that, if the subject of negroes is handled much longer in the Senate, there is very great danger of some senators meeting such a fate as was feared by these visitors from Ireland would happen to their countrymen." Mr. Morrill (Rep.) of Maine thought the opposition to the bill, and the sentiments expressed, were extraordinary. " The senator from Virginia puts his opposition upon the ground of a protest against public education. Gracious God, sir, has it come to this, that In the American Congress, and at this late day, an honorable senator shall rise here, and enter his protest against a measure of public popular education? Coming from the region of country I do, I confess that it excites wonder and astonishment in my mind. Is there a civilized nation on the globe, that has not, within the last fifty years, turned its attention to the subject of the education of the people, and that has not embarked in it, and made it a matter of State concern, if you please, the highest State concern, not only as beneficial to the individual, the social compact, but to the security of the State? I should like to know what sort of American statesmanship that is which enables a senator to rise here in his place, and arraign a measure designed to educate the people : for that, allow me to say, was one of the positions taken by the senator from Virginia ; and he prided himself apparently on the fact, that, in the region of country in which he was raised, education was left to private 'enterprise. How well that great duty has been Page 191 there performed, I care not to say : the history of the country shows. But, sir, I come from a region of country the people of which prize public education ; who hold public education as a great duty, the first great duty of the State, to be religiously performed ; and, if New England can boast of any thing, it is her system of education, her system of public instruction, which gives to every child, no matter whether he is high or low born, a fair chance in life, a fair chance to succeed in the world. That is her glory ; and to-day, sir, amid the menaces, impotent as they are, that fall about New England, if there be any thing which will enable her to put them at defiance, it will be her moral power on the continent by reason of her system of public education. . . . The legislation of my State has adopted a system of education which enjoins it upon the people of every town and city to educate every child, with out regard to color or complexion. The negro, if you please, in that regard, stands on an equal footing with every other child in the State. The law knows no complexion in its duty of public education, and the system of public education throughout New England knows no distinction whatever." Mr. Davis's motion to postpone the bill was lost, and the bill ordered to be engrossed. Mr. Carlile demanded the yeas and nays on its passage, and they were ordered ; and, being taken, resulted — yeas 29, nays 9. In the House, on the 2d of March, the bill was taken from the Speaker's table. Mr. Wilson (Rep.) of Iowa called for the previous question : it was passed, and approved by the President on the 3d of March, 1863.

In the Senate, May 2, 1864, Mr. Wilson introduced Page 192 a bill granting one million acres of public land to the cities of Washington and Georgetown and the county of Washington, the proceeds to be used for the support of the public schools in proportion to the number of children. The bill also authorized the school commissioners to assess a poll-tax of one dollar on men of color for the education of colored children. The bill was referred to the Committee on Public Lands. The Senate, on the 18th of February, 1864, on motion of Mr. Grimes, proceeded to the consideration of his bill to provide for the public instruction of youth in the primary schools throughout the county of Washington, In the District of Columbia, without the limits of the cities of Washington and Georgetown. Mr. Grimes suggested that the Senate consider the amendment reported from the District Committee as a substitute. This amendment established a public-school system in the county of Washington for the instruction of youth. The eighteenth section authorized the Levy Court at Its discretion to levy a tax of one-eighth of one per cent on all taxable property owned by persons of color, for the purpose of initiating a system of education for colored children. The bill passed the Senate without a division.

In the House, on the 8th of June, Mr. Patterson (Rep.) of New Hampshire reported back, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, the Senate bill to provide for the public instruction of youth in the county of Washington. A professor in Dartmouth College, familiar with the public-school systems of the Northern States, Mr. Patterson was admirably fitted to devise an improved system of public instruction for the Page 193 national capital. The substitute reported by Mr. Patterson, with the unanimous approval of the District Committee, provided in the seventeenth and eighteenth sections, and in the proviso to the nineteenth section, for separate schools for colored children of the District. "To accomplish this," said Mr. Patterson, "we have provided that such a proportion of the entire school fund shall be set apart for this purpose as the number of colored children between the ages of six and seventeen bear to the whole number of children in the District, . . . We may have differences of opinion in regard to the proper policy to be pursued in respect to slavery ; but we all concur in this, that we have been brought to a juncture in our national affairs in which four millions of a degraded race, lying far below the average civilization of the age, and depressed by an almost universal prejudice, are to be set free in our midst. The question now is. What is our first duty in regard to them? ... I think there can be no difference of opinion on this, that it is our duty to give to this people the means of education, that they may be prepared for all the privileges which we may desire to give them hereafter." Mr. Patterson's substitute was adopted, and the bill passed the House as amended. The Senate readily concurred in the House amendment; and the bill received the approval of the President on the 25th of June, 1864.

By this beneficent act of legislation, it is made the duty of the school commissioners to establish public schools for colored children, to provide school-houses, to employ school-teachers, and " to appropriate a proportion of the school find, to be determined by the numbers of white and colored children between the ages of Page 194 six and seventeen years." Nearly four thousand colored children in the national capital have by the enactment of this law, in the public schools, the same rights and privileges as white children.

Source: Wilson, Henry. History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-Seventh and Thirty-Eighth United States Congresses, 1861-1865, Boston: Walker, Fuller, & Co., 1865.