education is first to gather the children and buy them spelling books and
hoes; afterward men may look about for teachers, if haply they may find
them; or again they would teach men Work, but as for Life--why, what has
Work to do with Life, they ask vacantly.

Was the work of these college founders successful; did it stand the test
of time? Did the college graduates, with all their fine theories of life,
really live? Are they useful men helping to civilize and elevate their
less fortunate fellows? Let us see. Omitting all institutions which have
not actually graduated students from a college course, there are to-day in
the United States thirty-four institutions giving something above high
school training to Negroes and designed especially for this race.

Three of these were established in border States before the War; thirteen
were planted by the Freedmen's Bureau in the years 1864-1869; nine were
established between 1870 and 1880 by various church bodies; five were
established after 1881 by Negro churches, and four are state institutions
supported by United States' agricultural funds. In most cases the college
departments are small adjuncts to high and common school work. As a matter
of fact six institutions--Atlanta, Fisk, Howard, Shaw, Wilberforce and
Leland, are the important Negro colleges so far as actual work and number
of students are concerned. In all these institutions, seven hundred and
fifty Negro college students are enrolled. In grade the best of these
colleges are about a year behind the smaller New England colleges and a
typical curriculum is that of Atlanta University. Here students from the
grammar grades, after a three years' high school course, take a college
course of 136 weeks. One-fourth of this time is given to Latin and Greek;
one-fifth, to English and modern languages; one-sixth, to history and
social science; one-seventh, to natural science; one-eighth to
mathematics, and one-eighth to philosophy and pedagogy.