Colored children should be taught that Thought will improve their good points and will eradicate any objectionable points. They should be taught their good points and their bad points, and should be encouraged to improve their personal appearance, as far as objectionable racial characteristics are concerned.
As the girl grows she should be taught the value of personal appearance as a factor in her life problem and ultimate success.
A little colored girl who wants to be pretty should be taught what "pretty" really is. The old proverb says, "Pretty is as pretty does," thus recognizing the power of the inward Sculptor Thought, and its controlling and cultivating forces.
At an early age the child should be given subjects to think about. She should be taught to see the beautiful in Nature and Art that the reflection may be seen in her face and in her actions. Ask her if she saw the sun rise this morning or the sun set last night, or if she noticed the moon light, or the grandeur of the low black clouds, or the fleeciness of the soft white clouds; tell her to listen to the language of the birds and insects, and the sighing of the winds through the trees. Tell her to listen to the teeming of the earth and ask where and when the earth smells the sweetest. Teach her to walk and talk with Mother Nature and to recognize her voice in everything, until Nature will appear more, mean more, and teach more. Companionship with flowers and the cultivation of plants is to be recommended, even in the most congested flat life.
The colored child should be taught Negro History that she may be proud of her dark skin. It is a long interesting story way back to the days of Ethiopian glory, for the Negro is the sub-strata of that race. Tell the child how fair races from the North invaded Africa, and until today the present colored race can trace its black blood back to African kings and queens, and its white blood to the kings and queens of the Old World.[A]
Let her know that the black man was the author of much of the world's history, and that Moro, the capital of Ethiopia, was at one time the great seat of learning. She should be taught early in life to read Ancient History, that she may see what the black man has done for the world, that she may have pride in her black blood as well as in her white blood. Tell her the record of the Negro as a soldier, statesman, and explorer. Read to her about the brave part that he played in the war of 1812 and subsequent wars, even in the recent terrible war, he was among the bravest. Help her to make a scrap book that she may pass her knowledge on to others. While authorities in history say that a race once great, can never attain greatness again, as truly as the pendulum swings this mixed race will surely come into its own. The colored race comes from several lines of white ancestry, and as fruit is grafted to a finer degree of species, so the colored race will some day show its latent powers. The child of today is to be the mother of the great child that is to be, and each one must do her part to help prepare for the future great colored child.
Teach the colored girl about prejudice. Parents should read up the World's history of persecution and note the accounts of race and religious persecution in England, France, Germany, Russia, Turkey and Spain. Even today there is English hatred of the East Indian, Russian persecution of the Jew, and Turkish persecution of the Armenians. Then, too, Europeans are only just beginning to regard the Oriental nations as human beings. Prejudice is hard to explain and hard to conquer. It has taken generations in other instances and the world has always kicked the under dog. Tell the colored child how these other persecuted nations are conquering prejudice; tell her that each colored child must be a race missionary and prove her worth and powers, thus winning friends for the race.
She must be taught the application of the story of Esther to her race. Tell her that each colored girl may be an Esther, especially in all matters of cleanliness, manners, and self sacrifice, to advance and change the prevalent opinion of the Negro. Each colored woman, not only bears her own burden, but she bears the burden of posterity and the burden of the race. Each one must fit herself for the triple burden. Not even a talent should be used wholly for personal gain nor solely for present uses. Her education must be a process of development of powers not only to fit her for citizenship and life, but it must fit her for her race's burdens.
Some one has said:
"To educate a boy is but the education of an individual—but when one educates a girl, the education of a family results."