Self Sustaining . . .

Self Sustaining.---It was said, during the years of Slavery, that the slaves, if set free, could not sustain themselves---were too ignorant and lazy. There are a great many freedmen in and around the city of Mt. Pleasant. As a class of people, they are industrious and thrifty---moral, good citizens, and many of them are accumulating property. The children of these sable sons and daughters of toll are being educated, and many of the adults, shut out from education in a state of slavery, now, that they enjoy liberty, at their Sunday schools in the two colored churches of this city, are being taught by a noble band of young ladies and gentlemen of the white race. Ladies and gentlemen, engaged in this God-like work of teaching the freedmen how to read, you are sowing the seed which, shall yet produce a golden harvest---a harvest which God himself shall own---the harvest of a higher civilization, a higher morality, a higher religion.

(“Mount Pleasant Journal”, Friday, February 1, 1867, page 3)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Resource provided by Henry County Heritage Trust, Mount Pleasant, Iowa; transcription done by Liam Christensen, University of Northern Iowa Public History Field Experience Class, Spring 2025.

Contributed to Henry County IAGenWeb 19 Feb 2025.