They lived and ate together,
studied and worked, hoped and harkened in the dawning
light. In actual formal content their curriculum was doubtless
old-fashioned, but in educational power it was supreme, for it
was the contact of living souls.
From such schools about two thousand Negroes have gone
forth with the bachelor's degree. The number in itself is
enough to put at rest the argument that too large a proportion
of Negroes are receiving higher training. If the ratio to population
of all Negro students throughout the land, in both college and
secondary training, be counted, Commissioner Harris assures
us "it must be increased to five times its present average" to
equal the average of the land.
Fifty years ago the ability of Negro students in any appre-
ciable numbers to master a modern college course would have
been difficult to prove. To-day it is proved by the fact that
four hundred Negroes, many of whom have been reported as
brilliant students, have received the bachelor's degree from
Harvard, Yale, Oberlin, and seventy other leading colleges.
Here we have, then, nearly twenty-five hundred Negro gradu-
ates, of whom the crucial query must be made, How far did
their training fit them for life? It is of course extremely
difficult to collect satisfactory data on such a point,--difficult
to reach the men, to get trustworthy testimony, and to gauge
that testimony by any generally acceptable criterion of suc-
cess.
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