DRESSMAKING AT TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.
they had and what proportion of the children were attending school. We did not stop with these matters; we took up the moral and religious condition of the communities, had them state to what extent, for example, people had been sent to jail from their communities; how many were habitual drinkers; what kind of minister they had; whether or not he was able to lead the people in morality as well as in spiritual affairs.
After we had got hold of facts which enabled us to judge of the actual state of affairs existing, we spent the afternoon of the first day in hearing from the lips of these same people in what way, in their opinion, the present condition of things could be improved, and it was most interesting as well as surprising to see how clearly these people saw into their present condition, and how intelligently they discussed their weak points as well their strong points. It was generally agreed that the mortgage system, the habit of buying on credit and paying large rates of interest, was at the bottom of much of the evil existing among the people, and the fact that so large a proportion of them live on rented land also had much to do with keeping them down. The condition of the schools was discussed with equal frankness and means were suggested for prolonging the school term and building school-houses. Almost without exception they agreed that the fact that so large a proportion of the people live in one-room cabins, where there was almost no opportunity for privacy or separation of the sexes, was largely responsible for the moral condition of many communities.
When I asked how many in the audience owned their homes only twenty-three hands went up.
Aside from the colored people who were present at the Conference who reside in the “Black Belt,” there were many prominent white and colored men from various parts of the country, especially representatives of the various religious organizations engaged in educational work in the South, and officers and teachers from several of the larger institutions working in the South. There were correspondents present representing such papers as the New York Independent, Evening Post, New York Weekly Witness, New York Tribune, Christian Union, Boston Evening Transcript, Christian Register, The Congregationalist, Chicago Inter-Ocean, Chicago Advance, and many others.
At the conclusion of the first Conference the following set of declarations was adopted as showing the concensus of opinion of those composing the Conference: