_How_ shall this be done? In this manner; use
every means, strain every nerve to master some important mechanical
art. At present, the facilities for doing so are few--institutions of
learning are more readily opened to you than the work-shop; but the
Lord helps them who will help themselves, and we have no doubt that
new facilities will be presented as we press forward.
If the alternative were presented to us of learning a trade or of
getting an education, we would learn the trade, for the reason, that
with the trade we could get the education while with the education we
could not get the trade. What we, as a people, most need, is the means
for our own elevation.--An educated colored man, in the United States,
unless he has within him the heart of a hero, and is willing to engage
in a lifelong battle for his rights, as a man, finds few inducements
to remain in this country. He is isolated in the land of his
birth--debarred by his color from congenial association with whites;
he is equally cast out by the ignorance of the _blacks_. The remedy
for this must comprehend the elevation of the masses; and this can
only be done by putting the mechanic arts within the reach of colored
men.
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