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Educate the White Masses.To the Editor of Ths Georgian:The people of Georgia are beginning to look upon you as the truest expression of Southern IilonIs. and the ablest exponent of Southern sentiment. Your paper, The Georgian, Is destined to become the great paper of the South. The people everywhere are hungry for a clean, fearless, vital dally newspaper— a paper thnt stands for something be-•Ides sensational news and partisan politics. I notice also thnt many think In* people are substituting The Georgian for ull other dallies.believing that you can command and hold the nttentlon pf the people of this nate nnd of the South more firmly than any other Georgian, I appeal to you upon n subject which carries the hopes of the present and the destinies of the future. This question, this subject. Is that of the education of the white masses in Georgia. We need—we must have—a campaign of education In every community, In every village *nd in every city In this state. We ''ant It to begin now. We want It to he vital, kindling an irresistible, con-sumlng tire, growing brighter and higher until the grent danger which now threatens us shall have disappeared.I Inclose a map. The black spots represent counties In which there are more blacks than whites attending the public schools. If you have studied the iast report of the state school commissioner you have seen thnt there are '•O’few counties In the entire state nirh have more than a bare majority of white children In the public schools. Did you notice the report of the schools of Bibb county? Here the schools showed a considerable decrease in white attendance. The city schools showed only a very slight Increase in white attendance. For tho colored race the rural schools and the city schools showed a very large Increase. The same may be said of many counties where the population of the ’• aobul equal. Tho (net *. the negroes are Intensely Interested m setting educated while the whites fJTj'f'mlnally careless and woefully mfiifferent. The negroes are rapidlyacquiring wealth, or property, rather. In both farms nnd town and city property. The white Methodists and Baptists here worship In churches that cost less than $*,000, while ths negroes have Just about completed an edifice at a cost of *4,000. They ride In buggies as fine as any owned by ths whites, and they are learning to order goods from mall order houses. Ttaer are taking papers and they are reading them. They ate buying good books And they are studying them.I see something else that alarms me. I see white farmers coming to town riding by the side of negroes In the latter’s buggies. I see negroes riding with white men In their buggies. I see them chatting together on, the streets and In the lots, not as one talks with an Inferior, but apparently on terms of equality. This Is the case only where Ignorance of the whites predominates. What does It mean? Does It point to negro supremacy or to amalgamation of the race*?I have had the good fortune to mingle freely with the maaaes In southwest Georgia for the last fifteen years.I have lived In Lee, Thomas, Mitchell. Grady. Decatur and Calhoun counties. Conditions vary very little. Wherever you find the whitea better educated you will nlso find that the negroes have likewise progressed.What are we going to do about It? Are we going to sit with Idle and empty hands—are we to romalr. with apathetic Intellects and unresponsive hearts— while our people, our sons and our daughters, Blnk Into a state of Inferiority nnd dependence more galling and Ignoble than death or exile?I have never met you, but I have been reading after you for fifteen years, and 1 feel that I know you Intimately. And I nm writing you because J bellevo you can and will Inaugurate some plan—keep In motion some sort of force—thnt will cause a rattling of the dry bones In our public school sys-.Vote—The map spoken of elscwhAre which I promised to Inclose I have been unable to find; but If y«ju willexamine the report of the state school commissioner you can easily locate them. Tho map referred to was one of my own design and only enabled one to get a forceful view of the situation.Very respectfully,1. R. BLANTON.S.Arlington, Ga., Aug. 25, 190$.
Newspaper Details
Atlanta Georgian
Atlanta, Georgia, US
Sat, Sep 08, 1906
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Andrea H.
GA, USA 01 Oct 2021
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