The founders believed that "the most successful method of elevating
the moral and intellectual character of the descendants of Africa, as
well as of improving their social condition, is to extend to them the
benefits of a good education, and to instruct them in the knowledge of
some useful trade or business, whereby they may be enabled to obtain a
comfortable livelihood by their own industry; and through these means
to prepare them for fulfilling the various duties of domestic and
social life with reputation and fidelity as good citizens and pious
men."[2] Directing their attention first to things practical the
association purchased in 1839 a piece of land in Bristol township,
Philadelphia County, where they offered boys instruction in farming,
shoemaking, and other useful trades. Their endeavors, so far as
training in the mechanic arts was concerned, proved to be a failure.
In 1846, therefore, the management decided to discontinue this
literary, agricultural, and manual labor experiment. The trustees then
sold the farm and stock, apprenticed the male students to mechanical
occupations, and opened an evening school. Thinking mainly of
classical education thereafter, the trustees of the fund finally
established the Institute for Colored Youth of which we have spoken
elsewhere.
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