Attention was directed also to the fact that neither literary nor
religious education prepared the Negroes for a life of usefulness.
Heeding the advice of Kosciuszko, Madison and Jefferson, the advocates
of the education of the Negroes endeavored to give them such practical
training as their peculiar needs demanded. In the agricultural
sections the first duty of the teacher of the blacks was to show them
how to get their living from the soil. This was the final test of
their preparation for emancipation. Accordingly, on large plantations
where much supervision was necessary, trustworthy Negroes were trained
as managers. Many of those who showed aptitude were liberated and
encouraged to produce for themselves. Slaves designated for freedom
were often given small parcels of land for the cultivation of which
they were allowed some of their time. An important result of this
agricultural training was that many of the slaves thus favored amassed
considerable wealth by using their spare time in cultivating crops of
their own.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871, p. 196.]


The advocates of useful education for the degraded race had more to
say about training in the mechanic arts. Such instruction, however,
was not then a new thing to the blacks of the South, for they had from
time immemorial been the trustworthy artisans of that section. The aim
then was to give them such education as would make them intelligent
workmen and develop in them the power to plan for themselves. In the
North, where the Negroes had been largely menial servants, adequate
industrial education was deemed necessary for those who were to be
liberated.[1] Almost every Northern colored school of any consequence