FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO WILLIAM E. MATTHEWS¹William E. Matthews (1845–94) was a free black born in Baltimore, Maryland. Before obtaining a law degree from Howard University in 1873, Matthews was a principal speaker for the Gailbraith Lyceum, a real estate agent, and the first black person appointed to a clerkship in the U.S. Post Office (1870). In 1881 he opened a real estate and broker’s office in Washington, D.C. Matthews managed Douglass’s finances before the latter went to Europe in 1866. In several letters to Matthews, Douglass alluded to tensions and differences between them, but always considered the bond of their common cause decisive. Their political collaboration was long-standing; both men were members of the delegation of blacks who interviewed President Andrew Johnson on 7 February 1866. Douglass to William E. Matthews, 20 September 1882, 1 July 1889, General Correspondence File, reel 3, frames 635–36, reel 5, frames 415–16, FD Papers, DLC; Simmons, Men of Mark, 246–51.

[n.p. 14 February 1880.]

MY DEAR MATTHEWS:—

I regret that I cannot be with you to-night in Baltimore.²On the night of 13 February 1880, a meeting convened at the Presbyterian Church on Madison Street regarding the employment of black teachers in the segregated schools of Baltimore, Maryland. This event was part of a long campaign; Douglass had spoken in its behalf at the Bethel A.M.E. Church the previous December, along with many other notable speakers, including J. D. Kennedy of New Orleans, and William E. Matthews and Wyatt Archer of Washington, D.C. Those not in attendance who offered letters endorsing the gathering included John W. Cromwell, editor of the Washington People’s Advocate; Howard University professor Richard T. Greener; and Douglass. Matthews read Douglass’s letter to the assembled crowd. Washington People’s Advocate, 29 November 1879, 31 January, 14 February 1880; Philadelphia Christian Recorder, 1 January 1880. The cause which
you are to plead to-night in company with other eloquent friends is plainly
enough a righteous cause. There is every reason in the world why colored teachers should be employed to teach colored schools, and there
is no good reason for the discrimination against them now practiced in
Baltimore. I am in favor of such teachers because colored teachers are
not employed to teach white schools, and because white teachers may
be fairly presumed to share the common prejudices of their race against
colored people. I hold that nothing can be well done that is not lovingly
done; that the painter cannot make his picture beautiful unless he does

his work lovingly; that the preacher cannot successfully preach unless
he loves his congregation; that the physician cannot so well administer
to his patient, or the lawyer attend the case of his client unless he has a
direct interest in the welfare of patient and client, and that this principle
applies pre-eminently to teachers and pupils. I am in favor, secondly, of
employing colored teachers for colored schools because such teachers are
abundantly qualified by their attainments to teach, and are eager for the
work. Thirdly, I am in favor of the employment of such teachers because
there are so few avocations opened to colored persons, and especially to
the educated class. Fourth[l]y, I am in favor of the employment of colored teachers because blood is thicker than water, and such teachers have
everything in common with such pupils, and must fail or flourish with
them, and because their work as teachers is in the line of their race pride,
race love, and race ambi[t]ion, and these elements enter largely in the work
of education. Fifth, I am in favor of the employment of such teachers because their non-employment brands them with the stigma of unfitness to
teach, and degrades them in their own eyes, and in the eyes of the children
of their race, and instead of teaching them to respect themselves, it tends
to make them despise themselves[.] Sixth, I am in favor of employing colored teachers, because I am for giving all an equal chance in the race of
life, and for hindering none.

As I told the people of Baltimore, when in company with you I spoke
to them on this subject, I tell them now that Baltimore is too great to be
small; she has advanced too far in the cause of liberty and equal rights to
keep longer alive the prejudice inherited from a by-gone condition, and
that she should make haste to put herself in harmony with the civilization
of the age, and with the Constitution of the United States, which makes
no discrim[i]nation against men on account of race or previous condition.

Please say to the meeting that they are wise in continuing this agitation; that the powers that be in Baltimore, though slow to act, are still open
to the influence of a just public sentiment, and, sooner or later, will yield
to the righteous claim you are now making.

Very truly yours,

(SIGNED.)

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

PLSr: Washington , 14 February 1880.