as possible for themselves and their offspring,
to toil long and hard for it as for a pearl of great price. "An
ignorant people," said he, "can never occupy any other than a degraded
place in society; they can never be truly free until they are
intelligent. It is an old maxim that knowledge is power; and not only
is it power but rank, wealth, dignity, and protection. That capital
brings highest return to a city, state, or nation (as the case may
be) which is invested in schools, academies, and colleges. If I had
children, rather than that they should grow up in ignorance, I would
feed upon bread and water: I would sell my teeth, or extract the blood
from my veins." See _Minutes of the Proceedings of the Convention for
the Improvement of the Free People of Color_, 1830, pages 10, 11.]

[Footnote 2: _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871, pp.
213-214; and _The African Repository_, under the captions of
"Education in Liberia," and "African Education Societies," _passim_.]

The policy of promoters of African colonization, however, did not
immediately become unprogressive. Their plan of education differed
from previous efforts in that the objects of their philanthropy were
to be given every opportunity for mental growth. The colonizationists
had learned from experience in educating Negroes that it was necessary
to begin with the youth.[1] These workers observed, too, that the
exigencies of the time demanded more advanced and better endowed
institutions to prepare colored men to instruct others in science and
religion, and to fit them for "civil offices in Liberia and Hayti."[2]
To execute this scheme the leaders of the colonization movement
endeavored to educate Negroes in "mechanic arts, agriculture, science,
and Biblical literature."[3] Exceptionally bright youths were to
be given special training as catechists, teachers, preachers, and
physicians.[4] A southern planter offered a plantation for the
establishment of a suitable institution of learning,[5] a few masters
sent their slaves to eastern schools to be educated, and men organized
"education societies" in various parts to carry out this work at
shorter range. In 1817 colonizationists opened at Pasippany, New
Jersey, a school to give a four-year course to "African youth" who
showed "talent, discretion, and piety" and were able to read and
write.[6] Twelve years later another effort was made to establish a
school of this kind at Newark in that State,[7] while