Mr. Calhoun was then, as much as any other American, an exponent of the nation’s mind upon this point. Antagonistic as they were upon other subjects, upon the rejection of the Negro intellect they were a unit. And this, measurably, is the attitude of the American mind today:—measurably, I say, for thanks to the Almighty, it is not universally so. There has always been a school of philanthropists in this land who have always recognized mind in the Negro; and while recognizing the limitations which individual capacity demanded, claimed that for the RACE, there was no such thing possible for its elevation save the widest, largest, highest, improvement. Such were our friends and patrons in New England in New York, Pennsylvania, a few among the Scotch Presbyterians and the “Friends” in grand old North Carolina; a great company among the Congregationalists of the East, nobly represented down to the present, by the “American Missionary Society,” which tolerates no stint for the Negro intellect in its grand solicitudes. But these were exceptional. [Pg 12]Down to the year 1825, I know of no Academy or College which would open its doors to a Negro.[3] In the South it was a matter of absolute legal disability. In the North, it was the ostracism of universal caste-sentiment. The theological schools of the land, and of all names, shut their doors against the black man. An eminent friend of mine, the noble, fervent, gentlemanly Rev. Theodore S. Wright, then a Presbyterian licentiate, was taking private lessons in theology, at Princeton; and for this offense was kicked out of one of its halls. [Pg 12] In the year 1832 Miss Prudence Crandall opened a private school for the education of colored girls; and it set the whole State of Connecticut in a flame. Miss Crandall was mobbed, and the school was broken up. The year following, the trustees of Canaan Academy in New Hampshire opened its doors to Negro youths; and this act set the people of that state on fire. The farmers of the region assembled with 90 yoke of oxen, dragged the Academy into a swamp, and a few weeks afterward drove the black youths from the town. These instances will suffice. They evidence the general statement, i. e. that the American mind has refused to foster and to cultivate the Negro intellect. Join to this a kindred fact, of which there is the fullest evidence. Impelled, at times, by pity, a modicum of schooling and training has been given the Negro; but even this, almost universally, with
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