Toward The Horizon (1949) | Education for Negroes in the South | HBCU

[Music] the great Emancipator looks out upon the nation he looks north east west yes and south southward toward the rolling red tinged cotton lands southward toward those Americans of Negro origin to whom he offered the seed of freedom and who are even now striving to reap the harvest of their heritage [Music] more than half of the nation's Negro population live by the land men and women caught in the grim toils of the one crop system here in the south cotton is king a cruel and imperious monarch who destroys the earth which nourishes him and terrorizes the people who bring him to life yes there is an air of melancholy hovering about the Emancipator as he looks out upon the poverty of those Americans he freed the land on which they live holds a promise which ever eludes their grass for three-fourths of those who till the soil are sharecroppers and day laborers they must work hard harder ever harder and with it grow older poorer deeper in debt Paget people the strongest avenue of consolation and hope is religion and thus sunday is the gladdest day of the long week for it means off to church it means rekindling the Ember of Hope in weary high it means rediscovering that freedom before God and man which is denied them six days a week in the white man's world and they enter into their worship with every fiber of their being the center of the Negro's life is the southern town and once a week the family cart rattles through its streets the towns are much the same Winfield Carthage Starkville Wilkesboro Shelbyville Moultrie sleepy towns glimmering under the bald bright Sun the rich melodious tones of Negro voices hover in the warm air as the men gather to discuss the crop and pass the time of day for the women as well as the men the town is a social center the mainspring of gossip and human relations [Music] [Applause] it is by their spontaneity in play or at work that we glimpse the innate grace of these people for these Americans the great cities of the south are only a multiplication of misery the slums of these cities are the shame of a nation and yet out of these slums has come the basis of hope for a new world ahead out of these slums have come educational experiments which are experiments no longer they have succeeded in pointing the way toward the fact of freedom rather than the dream [Music] nursery schools have made their appearance and though they are pitifully few in the face of the great need they are doing their work well here children are given social instruction taught how to hold their own in a world which emphasizes manners here they play traffic policeman learning the precaution needed for life on city streets the children are taught how to dress themselves how to keep themselves clean and neat [Music] they are taught personal hygiene to use their own combs and toothbrushes and to wash themselves almost as thoroughly as their mothers would wash them of course children have never surrendered without a protest to their arch enemies soap and water but a nursery school the surrender is painless [Music] and there is always recreation to compensate for hard work playing bunnies on the lawn is always fun public schools such as this have always been inadequate for the Negro and the method of providing education has always been unjust black and white are taxed equally and yet for every dollar spent on the education of a Negro child five dollars are spent on the education of a white Negro children go to segregated schools without not enough books or instructors to go around and yet such is the nature of these children such is the desire of their parents to see them given access to the strength of knowledge that the standards of education are slowly but steadily rising how can such a child is this so bright so intent be denied the knowledge she seeks in the face of enormous odds primary and high schools are expanding both in the quantity of students they educate and in the quality of instruction this is reflected in the increased stature of Negro institutions of higher learning colleges like Spelman Morehouse Howard and Virginia Union have in the past decade raised their academic standards so few students can afford a higher education an individual preparation varies so greatly that the Negro college student is faced by an enormous challenges all conceivable pressures converge on the boy or girl he or she must make good perhaps their greatest pressure comes from the knowledge that they are destined to be leaders of their race and this is a spur that drives deep [Music] the selection of applicants for Negro colleges is a painstaking and often a painful task [Music] colleges cannot begin to meet the demand because they are so few in number and so limited in facilities there is always the dilemma of maintaining high standards and yet trying to accommodate hopeful students who have been inadequately prepared at lower schools an institution of learning can only be as good as the members of its faculty and the development of first-rate teachers has been a basic problem in Negro education in 1916 70% of all Negro teachers in the south had less than six grades of elementary schooling but that situation has steadily improved and today many Negro colleges possess highly competent stars members of which have been selected to hold important national and international posts Negro colleges place a strong emphasis on scientific instruction they're conscious of the nation's need for skilled physicists and chemists yes and they are conscious of their own racial need for doctors nurses and dentists today there is approximately one colored physician to every 3,500 Negroes as contrasted with one white physician to every 500 persons and of the nation was 14 million Negroes less than 300 are chemists [Music] feigned nurses to what badly-needed there are so few Negro hospitals to provide advanced nurses training but many girls will never have the opportunity to practice that desperately needed skill yet Negro girls continue to forge ahead in their quest for nursing careers patiently steadily making their own way these girls will serve not only in hospitals and dental offices but as teachers for the waves of other hopeful girls to come the problems of Negro education are so great and the time so short that Negro colleges intelligently point not for tomorrow but for the day after tomorrow [Music] one of the most serious needs of the race is for dentist incredible as it sounds there is still but one dentist to almost every eleven thousand Negro inhabitants recognizing the deficiency Negro colleges and universities have made every effort to build up their dental curriculum the cost of equipment is high and that which has been secured has come with much sacrifice but today it is possible for a Negro to receive a first-rate dental education the course includes direct application of dental techniques the students work in clinics where the neediest dental patients are treated free of charge and we're under the supervision of instructors the students themselves derive personal experience it is in the realm of the Fine Arts that the Negro most consistently distinguishes himself his sensitivity his feelings for rhythm color and design here have an opportunity to express themselves in tangible form some Negro men and women already rank among the world's greatest masters of oil painting [Music] Negroes have offered a revitalizing touch to the ancient art of pottery bringing to this form of expression the qualities of freshness originality and imagination [Music] in modeling and sculpture is equally proficient [Music] he seems to bring to this art the strength that it requires together with a feeling for mass and Composition in sculpture as in painting and music the American Negro seems joyfully at home there is poetry inherent in him and given the easel or the pen the hammer or the stringed instrument that poetry freely and beautifully flows forth [Music] physical training and athletics are offered at all Negro colleges for their objectives are the development of sound minds and sound bodies the fame of Negro athletes has reached Olympic proportions and the incredible coordination exhibited by these tumblers is an indication of Negro athletic skill [Music] boxing is a sport which also requires coordination as well as speed and strength and the Negro has made a definite impression on the history of the ring the lyric grace of a Negro broad jumper reminds one of the great Jesse Owens who still holds the world record of 26 feet eight and one quarter inches at Negro colleges the football game is the highlight of the autumn week just as at white schools there are traditional college rivalries and each Saturday afternoon finds the greatest part of the student body pleading for a touchdown [Music] yes the crowd really loves it and the impartial observer here this afternoon cannot help but wonder as he would at any intercollegiate game whether most of the interest is on the field or in the stands [Music] after the game the college town soda fountain becomes the center of social activity in the large and friendly room students enjoy the welcome relaxation after week of study [Music] graduation is the harvest reaped after so many years of study and self-sacrifice for the Negro student it is a proud victory he or she has managed to move into the forefront of the race has assumed a role of leadership in the long and tortuous march toward the horizon of integration in the total pattern of American life but on each of these students rests a great responsibility the educated American of Negro origin must speak for the thousands who are inarticulate their parents have struggled to equip them with the tools of knowledge and those tools must be wielded well deep in the mind of the educated Negro stands the living example of Booker T Washington this figure is the embodiment of freedom through education he rose from slavery to the eminent position of one of the greatest figures of his time he is the sponsor of that contemporary generation of Negroes who are the hope of their race what is the future of this generation many will be clergymen teachers and journalists yes and those who choose journalism will find places with such publications as the Atlanta world the Chicago Defender the Pittsburgh courier evany magazine with such publications as time and life and the New York Herald Tribune they will be editors reporters and copy readers immersing themselves in the stream of life sounding its bottom gauging it's tied with open eyes and open minds they will set the type that spells out the words of intelligent and educated leadership they will man the presses that multiply those words bringing the truth within reach of Negroes everywhere in the cities and towns in the mills and on the farms what is the future of this generation of Negro graduates they will be accountants lawyers stenographers and businessmen they will wield the machines of Commerce quickly adeptly accurately they will strike responsive chords on these keys creating the music of economic self-sufficiency in commerce as in all fields of endeavor the Negro graduate will serve not only his race or the south but will serve Americans everywhere in the nation [Music] they will be nurses bringing their skill and patience to bear where needed most regardless of race or creed they will be doctors overburdened by the sheer weight of the numbers who need them but making them merciful knowledge felt dentists one to every 11,000 there will be painters catching the spirit of their times on the tips of their brushes capturing the image of beauty on canvas [Applause] sculptors infusing the illusion of life into the humble clay shaping the form of their expression with strong and subtle hands yes they will be leaders dedicated to the task of erasing the bitterness the injustice the degradation that their people have suffered for 150 years they will sponsor surveys probing the conditions under which their people live they will hear the pathetic reports of mothers who live constantly on the fringe of despair and they will read the confirmations of those reports in the faces of the children they will hear the words and read the faces and they will note these things there are less than 500 architects and engineers in the whole of the Negro population but their ranks are increasing and they are making themselves felt they have their eyes on the future and they see beyond the pathetic reports of the census takers they see the clean red brick of housing developments standing where shacks once stood they see the lines of bright new buildings homes conducive to a decent way of life they see these things and eager minds and they prepare their blueprints but no blueprint for a new world ahead can be drawn without including religion as a foundation the church has ever been the rock of the Negros life and so will it ever remain hyah Negro education has been made possible largely through the efforts of religious organizations the church has always been in the forefront of the war against prejudice and intolerance the greatest hope on the horizon for the 14 million Americans of Negro origin yes and for the nation's other myriad minorities is the religion of the brotherhood of man the sign which points the way toward the horizon the clearest symbol of faith and hope is the sign of the Cross since the white man made him captive the Negro has walked through an interminable valley of despair with his faith in God alone giving him strength to go on but today he is making his way out of that Valley toward his rightful place as an American today he finds himself strengthened by knowledge but first by faith today he walks the road toward the horizon [Music] you

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Length: 24min 3sec (1443 seconds)

Published: Sat May 12 2018