■•■f -W
AND YE SHALL KNOW THE (TRUTH. AND THE TRUTH
CHARLOTTE, N. C„
VOL. LHL
JO
■ ■, W J
I faL I
THE njNQION OF THE CO EDUCATIONAL
SCHOOL IN OUR MISSION PROGRAM
By Dr. (i. C. Shaw
(Paper read at the recent Presbyterian Workers' Confer
ence, held at Johnson C. Smith University, February 2*5.)
The spirit of inquiry has
captured the modern mind.
Reality commands our think
ing and guides our actions.
What are the facts? is the
question with which we chal
lenge and are challenged. If
we have regard for moral real
ity and intellectual integrity
we should not seek to evade
this challenge. Old theories and
even holy practices should be
commanded to give the pass
word bdfore they proceed. We
should not be like Peter, who,
when he was commanded to
rise, slay and eat, deemed it a
sufficient reply to say, “I've
never done so." We are living
in an ever-changing world—at
a time when old machines are
being scrapped for new and
better ones. And outworn ideas
and practices in industry, bus
iness, agriculture and education
are being discarded for those
that are more serviceable.
An idea of organization
that has any chance of flour
ishing now, must have more
than age to commend it. A
practice must have more to
support it than the assertion
that “We’ve always done the
thing in this way.” It's a new
America in which our mission
program of today must func
tion.
Before attempting to state
the functions of co-educational
schools in our mission program*
' let us consider for, a moment
what our mjsskrn program is.
--.Ite^i&tbnary progranr °f
years ago by our Home Mis
sion Congress is:
First: To win men and wo
men to discipleship of Jesus
Christ, to unite them with
other disciples in the fel
lowship of the Christian
Church, and to educate them
for worship and service at
home and abroad, by helping
them to discover and to accept
for themselves and for society
a large and full consequence of
Christian discipleship.
Second : To make the Church
available to those sections of
America which lack its minis
try.
Tnira: to appiy »uc4uaLC
ehurch leadership where the
work of the present church is
unsuccessful or inadequate.
Fourth: In thcj case of handi
capped or retarded areas, or un
derprivileged groups, to assist
in providing those institutions
and services which are the ne
cessary elements of a Christian
standard of living, to the end
that the Christian community
life may be developed.
Fifth: To bring the Christian
impulses to bear upon the broad
social and civic question of our
day.
With this full explanation and
fine comprehension of the ob
jective of our mission program
as given by our Home Mission
Congress I feel that we are pre
pared to discuss the function
of co-educational schools in
bringing about these objectives.
We need not consider our sub
ject as it relates to each of the
five objectives stated by the
Congress. Time will not permit
us to do so. I shall consider it
as it applies to the statement
in the fifth objective stated by
the Congress which says: “In
the case of handicapped or re
tarded areas or underprivileged
groups, to assist in providing
those institutions and services
which are the necessary ele
ments of a Christian standard
of living, to the end that the
Christian community life may
be developed.” In considering
our subject as it bears upon the
above statement, we need not
restrict it to any particular
group or section of religious ac
tivities of our Church. As sin
it: universal and has the same
effect upon all whom it mas
ters, and as ignorance is blind
ing and depressing wherever it
reigns, and as the human race
is the same everywhere in sin,
and the same when freed from
sin. we are safe and right in
thinking of our subject as be
ing larger than race and broth
er than any section. The sub
ject is inclusive and general
rather than exclusive or partic
ular.^
We have lifted up education
as king and have said he and
he alone shall rule over us. We
have erected to him altars on
every hill and in every valley
throughout this fair land of
ours, and have graced our cities
with his temples and have
commanded that at the sound
of the coronet, flute, harp, sack
but, psaltery and dulcemer the
knee of every youth shall bow
before bitty and he who bows
shall not be thrown into the
fiery furnace of ignorance.
Tfaving enthroned education as
the head of the Church and the
kmg of nations, it is time that
we consider plans and means
of educating our king. In other
words, we want to know how to
educate pur education.
The function, then, of co
education in our mission pro
gram is to educate our educa
tion. We have over-exerted bur
selves in efforts to educate the
brain andjtrain the hands. But
now the Church and S^ate are
called upon to awake to our
iear|ul..xonditip.n and; tp /adopt
ana pursue an educational sys
tem that will educate our edu
cation.This king, education,
that we have enthroned, like
Saul of old, is making confec
tionaries of our daughters and
reckless charioteers of our sons,
sending them driving through
life like Jehu of old. We do not
desire to dethrone this king,
but to educate him.
I have had the opportunity
and pleasure of expressing my
self before in your presence on
this subject. I have not changed
my mind in the least in regards
to it. I believe co-education
functions from the kindergar
ten to the university in train
ing men and women for Chris
ten leadership. I believe it is
the only ideal kind of educa
tion. I believe this because God
planned and perpetuates this
kind of education for our
home The home that has sev
eral children all of one sex is
the exception. The ideal home
is a home with boys and girls.
Show me a man unfortunate
enough to have been born and
brought up in a home where
there was no sister, and attend
ed a boys’ elementary school,
and a boys’ high school, a col
lege where there were no worn
on, find an uiuverany 1U1
only, and I will show you a
monstrosity in society, an in
valid in church work and a mis
fit in civic affairs. On the other
hand, show me a man who was
horn in a home and brought
up surrounded by loving sis
ters and who attended a prima
ry, elementary and high school
with them, and entered a co
educational college and univer
sity and you have in such a
man the qualities for leader
ship in religious and civic af
fairs. Men and women studying
together and working together
are the hope of the world.
They are entering business
and the professions together
why not the same schools?
Studying together leads to a
ootter understanding of men
and women as well as different
races and groups.
It has been my good fortune
to have been at the head of a
co-educational school for forty
two years. I have seen boys and
girls come and go. I have seen
carelessness in dress end per
son, on the part of giris, disr
appear,,as it were, over nig££
when brought in daily contact
with young men. I have seen
awkward, uncouth, and gauky
boys transformed into gallant
and courteous “Chesterfields,”
by daily contact with girls. I
have seen table manners and
politeness developed with an
amazing rapidity, as I believe
could not possibly have been
developed so beautifully and
so rapidly under any other
conditions
At Mary Potter our monthly
socials are the most helpful
and -effective means of disci
plining that we have. They car
ry with them their own re
wards or punishments. We
have a radio in our dining
hall in the girls’ dormitory.
The boys are allowed to go over
every Saturday evening from 7
to 8 o’clock. The girls come
down, and there, under the su
pervision of teachers, they
hear and enjoy the best music
and. lectures that are on the
air. The boys also have a radio
in their building that is equally
as good as the,one in the girls’
dormitory, but they say the
music is never so sweet, nor
Lowell Thomas,’ talks so inter
esting as when heard over the
girls’ radio with the girls pres
ent. And I am sure, if modes
tv would not prevent it, 'tne
girls would say that of all the
music that comes over the ra
dio there is none so sweet to
them as that ./that comes in
Saturday evening from 7 to $■
This contact is educating their
education, without which edu
cation is a liability to society
instead of >an asset.
But this ^pol|sh’ and refine
ment which come to youth
through co-education is not the
on]*$3Mr£unaent. i|j >. its “
mission program as well as in
public school programs, by
cutting down expenses, and at
the same time giving better
equipment in the way of lab
oratories, buildings, libraries,
shops, etc. We can have better
teaching staffs, more teachers,
and, therefore, (better trained
pupils. The economic advantag
es of co-education are begin
ning to appeal more and more to
both public and private schools.
Ninety-six per cent of all the
pupils in the United States en
rolled in elementary schools
are in mixed schools. In public
secondary scnoois mnery-nve
per cent are in mixed schools.
The products of co-educationa!
institutions equal, if they do
not surpass those of segregat
ed schools, as the Mission Con
gress says, “To carry out, or
even in a small degree, to put
in operation a force that will
function in handicapped or re
tarded areas, by assisting un
derprivileged groups in provid
ing institutions and services
which are the necessary ele
ments of a Christian standard
of living, to the end that a
Christian community life may
be developed.” If that, as it is
s+ated by our Mission Con
gress, is the aim, of our mis
sion work, then, it is hard to
conceive of attaining the end
desired other than through co
education, but co-education will
only become an effective weap
on when it is thorough and
Christian. The establishment,
then, of co-educational schools,
is a long stride towards our ob
jective. It means, as has been
&eid, fewer schools,1 but better
schools. If two persons educat
ed in segregated schools are en
gaged in doing the same educa
tional job, and can do it better
by laboring together, it stands
to reason that they could do
it better still if they were edu
cated together. We are having
better politics because women
are entering politics along by
the side of men. We are having
better law-enforcement leagues
because women are entering
with men. There is not a phase
of our religious or civic life
(Continued on page 4)
f POVERTY OF
NOT A1
—
By Dr. Carte
> It -
“Few things in this world
tr3u?We pcjopie more than pov
erty,-dr fear of poverty,”
?ays Hos#i Ballou, “and indeed
it; is a g^re afAction; but like
all other;llls that flesh is heir
H it haslits antidote, its relia
bly, remedy. The judicious ap
plication of industry, prudence
arid temperance is a certain
cure.” ‘IThe (inevitable conse
quence of poverty is depen
dence,” djsays Johnson; and
Franklin believed that pover
ty often’deprives a man of all.
spirit andj virtue. Yet this was
hardly trfie in the ease of the
latter, »gr few ever had less
than Frafcklin in boyhood, and
few lateb reached a higher po
sition of) comfort, ease and in
fluence than he did.
|“Wealth and poverty are
seen for. what they are,” says
Fmersopp “It begins to be seen
that the 'poor are only they
who fee! poor, and poverty con
sists hireling poor. The rich,
ns we reckon them, and among
thjem the very rich, in a true
scale weUld be found very indi
gent arid ragged.” Franklin,
then, Was probably always rich,
because’; although without
worldly £ foods, he never felt
poor..
in tms pnuosopny oi lire tne
Negro tnay learn a great les
son. Wfiile we are poor and ap
parent^ becoming poorer we
must not let the depression de
press us. It may diminish our
wardrobe and depreciate our
property, but it must not con
quer’ i*r spirit. This has al
ways ifeen one of the dangers
people; and we
must oe more ain^ent~noW tKaii
ever that the Negro may not
lose his morale and give up the
tight against odds.
Thinking of the large num
ber of Negroes now reduced to
charity because of being dis
placed by white employees
pushed downward into the low
er pursuits of labor, a friend of
mine recently asserted that the
Negroes in the United Stales
w’li soon be re-enslaved or ex
terminated. This may sound
alarming, but such an end is
inevitable, if the Negroes do not
develop their own way of think
ing and abandon the popular
standard of living for one de
termined by their indigent cir
cumstances.* With a recon
structed program there is a
wav nut of novertv.
Some of us, of course, will
suffer when we find it necessa
ry to bring our minds down to
our circumstanced, for “not he
who has little, but he who
wishes for more is poor. The
poor trying to imitate the pow
erful perish,” says Paley. “The
man is to ibe accounted poor
of whatever rank he be, whose
expenses exceed his resources;
and no man is, properly speak
ing, poor, but he.”
“It is not poverty so much as
pretense that harasses a ruined
man—the struggle between a
proud mind and an empty purse
—the keeping of a hollow show
that must soon come to an
end. Have the courage to ap
pear poor and you disarm pov
erty of its sharpest sting.” Do
net be ashamed to walk while
others ride in fine conveyanc
es. Do not be ashamed to wear
patched shoes jand “slick
trousers when others display
the most expensive attire.
“Poverty is relative and
therefore, not ignoble, for as
society advances the standard
of poverty rises. Poverty has,
in large cities, very different
appearances,” says Johnson,
“It is often concealed in splen
dor, and often in extravagance.
It is the care of a very great
part of mankind to conceal
their indigence from the rest,
They support themselves by
temporary expedients, and eve
ry day is lost in contriving foi
THE DEPRESSION
mm
r G. Woodson
tomorrow.” After all, then,
poverty is more desirable than
covetousness, for, as Shakes
peare says, “’Tis not so well
that I am poor; though many
of the rich ibe damned.”
“There is nothing that keeps
longer than a middling fortune,”
says another, “and nothing
melts away sooner than a great
one. Poverty treads upon the
heels of great and expected
riches.
“Poverty, labor and calami
ty,” moreover, “are not without
their luxuries, which the rich,
the indolent and the fortunate
in vain seek for.” “Without
frugality,” says Johnson, “none
can be rich, and with it very
few would be poor. Nature
makes us poor only when we
want necessaries, but custom
gives the name of poverty to
the want of superfluities.”
“Not to be able to bear pov
erty is a shameful thing,” said
Pericles, “but not to know how
+o chase it away is ' a more,
shameful thing yet.” “Pover
ty,” as seen by Plutarch, “is
dishonorable, not in itself, but
when it is proof of laziness,
’ntemperance, luxury and care
lessness, whereas in a person
that is temperate, just and
valiant, and who uses all his
virtues for the public good, it
shows a great and lofty mind.”
According to Heine, poverty
has sat by the cradle of all
great men and rocked them up
to manhood; “and this meager
festering mother remains their
faithful companion through
out me. '
I have never wanted wealth.
I*do not know what would be
come of me if I had to spend
twenty-five thousand dollars a
."ear on myself. I would rather
have an allowance of twelve
dollars and a half a week. The
only need I have for money is to
relieve the distress of others.
It would take up too much of
my valuable time to devise self
ish schemes for throwing away
a large fortune and I would not
have time to help humanity. I
would say, then, with Seneca,
“All I desirt is, that my pover
ty may not be a burden to my
self, or make me so to others;
and that is the best state of
fortune that is neither directly
necessitous nor far from it. A
mediocrity of fortune with
gentleness of mind, will pre
serve us from fear or envy;
which is a desirable condition;
for no man wants power to do
mischief.”
yjur puvcity snuuiu nut nixi"
der us from making progress.
Ry co-operation we can devise
some plan for earning a living
honestly, and although, every
one of us can not have luxuries,
we can do much to make our
selves and others happier by
contributing the cultural and
ennobling things of life. A poor
man can write a more beautiful
poem than one who is surfeit
ed. The man in the hovel com
poses a more charming song
than the one in the palace. The
painter in the ghetto gets an
inspiration for a more striking
painting than his landlord can
appreciate. The fll ^ed sculp
tor lives more abundantly than
the millionaire who purchases
the expression of thought in
marble and bronze. For the Ne
gro, then, the door of opportu
nity is wide open. Let him pre
pare himself to enter this field
where competition is no handi
cap. In such a sphere we may
learn to lead the world while
keeping pace with it in the de
velopment of the material
things of life.
His lamp am I,
To shine where He shall say,
And lamps are not for sunny
rooms,
Nor for the light of day,
But for the dark places of the
earth. —Selected.
BY THE WAY
By “Unde Billie”
Brother Editor:
These are dart days through
whidh we are passing, like '66,
73 and '81. We are passing
through deep water against a
swift ebb tide and on a strand
ed wreck, assaying to land on an
uninviting shore in quest of the
least resistance for existence.
Thofe of us who lose patience
and force providence will be
come miserable and lose out in
the conflict; while those who
follow the star of hope,
strengthened by opposition,
failures, and loss of friends or
the neglectful action of friends,
have something to gain if only
defeated manhood at an! honest
task.
Days of Pruning
These are days of pruning
Every wise group is getting
rid of something that it feels
w.H reduce the cost of opera
tion. Tnis is one of the princi
ples by which great business
enterprises and institutions
keep their doors open and
wheels turning; and the Church
is no exception to this rule so
often consulted in the business
world.
OUr Church, about twelve
years ago, reduced the number
of Boards from about nine to
four—a little over fifty per cent
—to save “overhead expenses;”
and when this was accomplished
quite a number of the colored
group sent up a joyful shout
and made the welkin ring from
Dan to Beersheba, saying, “It
w<ll mean more to us.” But on
account of my stupidity I could
not and hitherto do not see the
“mean more to us;” but I feel
very much satisfied that the
shouting group, as one man,
se£s the less “moire to-fttS;**
Overhead Expenses
There are yet overhead ex
penses so great at such a time
as this that we are not able to
strengthen the few things that
remain. To reduce overhead ex
penses the administrative de
partment of our Church is cut
ting down and cutting off and
leaving the axe at the root of
the tree that seems barren or
unprofitable in production. The
Negro group occupies a relation
in this equation that does not
seem to satisfy the equation;
and this relation is so peculiar
as it touches our great Church
4 hat elimination is now being
consulted and—I hope with wis
dom-applied. Many of our pa
rochial schools have been elim
inated and turned into com
munity centers. Perhaps this is
wisdom to apply this conclusion
of the Church to all of our
work in the South since the
States provide amply for Negro
education in every section of the
South—say. South Carolina and
Georgia—as amply as do North
Carolina, Virginia and Tennes
see; then you might include
Maryland and Delaware. Then,
too, we in South Carolina have
a complsory school law and very
strict truant officers to see
that you attend school at least
eight months during the year
yto'dei* iwell-prepared leachem.
Of course this is labeled white.
Negro Church Group Doefe Not
Grow in the South
The colored group of our
Church is accused of falling off
in membership. The statisti
cians of our Church say so; and
I should be unwise to place my
knowledge against that of men
who deal daily in statistics of
our Church Perhaps we are
falling off. Perhaps our group
is in the wrong Church to de
velop and grow in membership.
One good white brotljir said in
my presence that the colored
group would do better if the
Church would let it go where
it naturally belongs, to the
3aptist and to the Methodist
Churches. Now, perhaps, he
stated the truth. The colored
group may be more adapted to
(Continued on page 2)