Excerpts from the June 15, 1846 report of the Primary School Committee of the City of Boston responding to the parents’ petition
REPORT
In Primary School Committee,
Boston, June 15, 1846.
The Sub-Committee, to whom was referred the Petition of sundry colored persons, praying for the abolition of the special schools for colored children, respectfully
REPORT:
That they have given to this Petition, and to the subject embraced in it, their most respectful and careful consideration. They have listened to the arguments of able Counsel employed by the Petitioners, and to the testimony of several colored persons interested in the objects of the Petition; and, after having diligently sought for all the information which they could obtain, will now endeavor to present to the Board, such a view of the whole subject, as shall be both just and kind to the colored people, and for the best good of all the schools under our charge. . . .
We maintain, that the true interests of’ both races require, that they should be kept distinct. Amalgamation is degradation. We would urge on our brethren of the African race, the duty of cultivating the genuine virtues, peculiar to that race. Is it degrading to them to be unmingled with their pale-faced neighbors? Confound the tongue that would utter such slander upon them! Let them not lean upon, nor look up to, the whites; but trust, under God, to their own native energies, unmingled and uncorrupted. Let them cultivate a respect for themselves, for their own race, their own blood, aye, and for their own color. Let them not come to us with the humiliating confession, that they cannot make their separate schools as good as those for the white children and tell us that their children, if put by themselves, even under the best instruction, must sink, unless they have the white children to pull them up. We will not believe this, we pronounce it a slander on the colored people; but we do say, that this course of policy will never elevate them, nor cause them to be respected.
We are bound, too, to consult the interests of the white children. Even if the colored children would be the gainers by the proposed change, we are bound to ask, whether the white children will not be, in an equal degree, at least, the losers? It is quite obvious, that disagreements and troubles, of various kinds, would immediately arise, if the change should be made, and that much injury would be done to the schools. How serious it would be, it is impossible to say. It is probable, too, that the attendance of the colored children would, in the aggregate, be seriously diminished. And we are unable to see that any good would accrue, to counterbalance these evils.
While, therefore, your Committee maintain, that the reasonable request, of even one colored parent, should be scrupulously respected, yet we also maintain, that if “the greatest good of the greatest number” will be promoted by our present arrangement, it ought to be retained. If these separate schools were abolished, and the colored children were mingled promiscuously in the other schools, the white children would not associate cordially with them. The whites would vex and insult the colored children, who would retort by blows, and thus continual quarrels would arise. It is also certain, that many scholars would be driven from our schools, by such a change. Many parents would not allow their children to associate with colored children; and these, too, from among the class who most need instruction; for the prejudices against color are strongest among the most ignorant. Another consequence would be, to impair the present high standing of our schools, by introducing a cause of discord, which would drive away some of the best scholars. . . .
One of the most serious evils in our schools, which has long been a subject of complaint, is, the injury arising from the irregular and inconstant attendance of a portion of the scholars.
Now, the average absences, in all our Primary Schools, has usually been about nineteen or twenty per cent.;—in some schools only four, five, and six per cent. : but in the Schools for colored children, it has been, as stated in past Reports, forty-four, forty-five, forty-nine, and even fifty-three per cent. For the last six months, while the average absences, in all the Primary Schools has been about twenty percent in the School for colored children; in District No. 1, it has been more than thirty-eight per cent. ; and that in the District No.2, it has been fifty-nine per cent. It cannot be supposed that these children would attend any more regularly if they were sent to the Schools for white children; and this Board would not certainly be justified, in causelessly introducing such an additional source of irregularity into those Schools. And your Committee submit, whether, if any other class of children could be found, so irregular in their attendance, it would not be legal, right, and expedient, for the Board to provide special and separate schools for their instruction, on this ground alone; in order to lessen the evils which are hereby occasioned to our schools. . . .
In looking into the history of the separate Schools for colored children, your Committee have been much impressed with the fact, that these special Schools were established at the urgent and repeated requests of the colored people themselves.
Thus it appears, that, although it must be confessed that the colored people have not manifested much interest in the education of their children, yet the request for the establishment of a separate school for this purpose came from them.
Our inquiries into the origin and history of these Schools have also convinced us, that the leading motive for their establishment was precisely the opposite of a design to degrade the colored people, as has been so frequently charged upon them
The question arises, by what means the views and feelings of the colored people, in reference to these special schools for their benefit, have been so mysteriously changed. The Petition now before your Committee holds the following very extraordinary language: “The establishment of separate schools for our children is believed to be unlawful, and it is felt to be, if not in intention, in fact, insulting.” Is this the kind return of the present generation of colored men, to the City of Boston, for granting the petition of their sires?
After spending far more money for the education of the colored children, in proportion, than for the children of her white citizens, in the very way in which it was asked, is the munificence of this, perhaps too generous, certainly too indulgent City, to be declared insulting? Unworthy successors of Primus Hall, of Gyrus Vassall, and of Prince Sanders!
In applying these principles to the case of colored children, we maintain,
1. That their peculiar physical, mental, and moral structure, requires an educational treatment, different, in some respects, from that of white children. Teachers of schools in which they are intermingled, remark, that, in those parts of study and instruction in which progress depends on memory, or on the imitative faculties, chiefly, the colored children will often keep pace with the white children; but, when progress comes to depend chiefly on the faculties of invention, comparison, and reasoning, they quickly fall behind.
2. That the number of colored children, in Boston, is so great, that they can be advantageously placed in separate schools, where all needful stimulus, arising from numbers and competition, may be felt, without their being degraded or discouraged.
3. That they live so compactly, that in very few (if in any) cases, is it at all inconvenient to attend the special Schools provided for them.
4. That the facts, connected with the origin and history of these Schools, show, that, without them, the colored people would have remained ignorant and degraded, and very few would have been found in the Schools.
5. That if these special Schools were now abolished, the number of colored children in the Public Schools would be greatly diminished, while serious injury would also be done to the other Schools, and no benefit would result.
6. That the majority of the colored, and most of the white people, prefer the present system.
As, then, there is no statute, nor decision of the civil Courts, against classifying children in schools according to a distinction in races, color, or mental and physical peculiarities, the Committee believe that we have the right to classify on these principles; nor do they believe, that, by so doing, we defeat the intent, or violate the spirit, of the law, the Constitution, or the invaluable common-school system established by our fathers; nor in any way infringe the rights of the colored child, or degrade the colored people. These Schools were established for their special benefit: for the same reason we would have them vigorously sustained. No man, colored or white, who understands their real value to the colored people, would seek their destruction. While, therefore, your Committee propose no change in the policy of this Board, they recommend the adoption of the annexed Resolution, as expressive of their opinions.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM CROWELL,
JOSEPH W. INGRAHAM,
DAVID KIMBALL.
Resolved, That, in the opinion of this board, the continuance of the separate Schools for colored children, and the regular attendance of all such children upon those Schools, is not only legal and just, but is best adapted to promote the education of that class of our population.
(Document 3.7.8)