14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE TRUSTEES
the work done by the Hampton Institute, under the direction
of General Armstrong, the Board is familiar. The results
accomplished at this institution have called attention to the
desirableness and practicability of making instruction in books
coincident with industrial training. It is proper to say that
some of the most experienced workers in this field are not con¬
vinced of the wisdom of making industrial training an impor¬
tant feature in their plans and efforts. Many, equally experi¬
enced, entertain no doubts on this subject, They believe that
industrial training is not only desirable as affording the means
of making a more self-reliant and self-supporting population,
but necessary as furnishing some of the conditions of the best
intellectual and moral discipline of the colored people—espec¬
ially of those who are to be the teachers and guides of their
people. In this opinion your Agent entirely concurs.
In some of these institutions hopeful beginnings have been
made in the introduction of industrial departments. Schools
of carpentry have been introduced with good results in a few
of them. Some have introduced forges and turning lathes;
tentative efforts in shoe-making and cabinet work have been
made in a few institutions; two or three have accomplished
much in brick-making; a number have made some progress
in farm work. There is not much opportunity for diversified
instruction in handicraft in the schools for colored girls ; most
of the schools, however, seek to teach them all that belongs to
housekeeping and home-making, and with encouraging results.
I find a growing conviction of the utility—not to say neces¬
sity—of industrial training. I believe that nearly all of the
best institutions are now ready, so far as their opinion of its
utility is concerned, to begin work in the direction indicated
by the Board at its meeting last April. Without exception
they lack the necessary means to erect and equip industrial
Permalink: http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/nhj0b
