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viii
Introduction

The duty of the hour to the Negro is far plainer to the men of to-day than it was to our forbears in the slavery years of a century ago.

One of the writers in this book stated in an eloquent public address that the Negro question needed for its solution a triple alliance that should combine the best intelligence and conscience of the South, the North, and the Negro. He is right.

Each element of this threefold combination, and all people represented by each, needs to know the best about present Negro conditions. Only when this comes about can the best be done to help the Negro to help himself. The debt due by the country to the formerly enslaved race must be paid by education and opportunity. The obligation of society to the best Afro-Americans for service rendered in the public interest needs to be understood and appreciated. The vast contribution to material production, law and order and individual happiness made by the teachers of the Negro race, despite great limitations, has never been recognized at its true value.

The situation demands truth about Negro educational prospects and progress, clearly stated. And now comes the valuable symposium of this book as a response to that demand. Experienced men of both races contribute the several chapters. They are not theoretical enthusiasts, but thought-

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