12. Yes.
13. Yes, it does for white people. To quote a friend, "It is easy for anybody to be respectful and courteous to a million dollars." This is especially true of Americans.
| Educational Progress[85] | 1866 | 1919 | Gain in Fifty-three Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per cent literate | 10 | 80 | 70 |
| Colleges and normal schools | 15 | 500 | 485 |
| Students in public schools | 100,000 | 1,800,000 | 1,700,000 |
| Teachers in all schools | 600 | 38,000 | 37,400 |
| Property for higher education | $60,000 | $22,000,000 | $21,940,000 |
| Annual expenditures for education | $700,000 | $15,000,000 | $14,300,000 |
| Raised by Negroes | $80,000 | $1,700,000 | $1,620,000 |
Question: Do you believe that if Negroes were 100 per cent literate it would make any great difference in race relations? Are general and higher education likely to widen the breach between Negroes and white persons, increase intolerance, resentment, sensitiveness to insults, or can a quieted process of adjustment or complete fusion of interests be expected?
Answers:
1. Education will help decidedly, especially that kind of education which gives Negroes a command of some special accomplishment in any field of endeavor. Higher education will not in my opinion widen the breach if Negroes will consciously and deliberately set out to educate white people as to their ideals, ability and character, and at the same time labor to increase the spirit of self-help and self-confidence among their own group which will serve to decrease ignorance and irresponsibility among the less fortunate and untrained members of the race.
2. I conceive that literacy in itself is a cure for nothing except illiteracy. One-hundred-per-cent literate Negroes without proper use of their literacy may even make matters worse. General and higher education may be expected to make matters better only if there is general and higher education among whites and the education on both sides is of the right kind. In America, at present, education, where it touches race lines, appears to be more propaganda than education. It is reported that some histories of reconstruction taught to Negroes by the state in parts of the United States emphasize and detail their shortcomings and omit their virtues. Obviously such education is education for mistrust, unrest, conflict. It educates the races apart, and its logical consequence is conflict. I am ready to answer, then, that general and higher education which emphasizes likeness and passes over without undue attention unlikeness, education which aims to have men live in harmony and cooperation and does not aim to array classes against classes and races against races by omissions and emphasis, may be expected to better our race relations in the United States provided it finds lodgment in the school systems of both races.
3. If 10,000,000 literate Negroes were environed with 100,000,000 white men, the majority of whom were below their cultural level, the dominant minds among the whites would arouse ethnic antagonisms as an economic weapon to be used in promoting their selfish ends. I believe that there is not a single force, ethical, religious, or of any type, sufficiently powerful to cause an individual to forego what he believes to be his highest advantage, and the appeal to group instincts is the easiest method of securing mass action.
4. If Negroes were 100 per cent literate they would certainly be more sensitive to insults and more resentful. I should expect a great increase in racial differences, unless those Negroes imbibed a tendency to non-resistance. That, however, is far from likely. With universal literacy, a larger acquaintance with current events and conditions, Negroes could immeasurably improve their living conditions, but their contacts with the whites would be far more unpleasant.
5. One hundred per cent literacy among Negroes would make a huge difference. In the long run it would lessen the breach between Negroes and white persons, for Negroes would strive for equality. The most essential thing is to produce a change in the mental equipment of the Negro. The white man's mind will take care of itself. What is needed is a more balanced and equal meeting of the minds. But there would be bloodshed at the beginning.