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A 412 RFAL Vol 13 '68
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The foregoing report embraces all the information which I have been able to collect with regard to the present condition and wants of the freedmen in the matter of education. In the present impoverished condition of the State, without any funds in the public treasury for the establishment of public Schools, but little can be done during the present year toward the establishment of free schools throughout the State. Tho colored people are so poor, & their agricultural & laboring interests so unsettled, that they are utterly unable to help themselves. To secure to them the advantages of freedom, & to fit them for becoming useful citizens of the State, every effort must be made to deliver them speedily from the slavery of ignorance. Had the work of education been more generally and thoroughly commenced at the close of the war, on the principle that through education only can permanent elevation be secured, the race might now be left to itself with safety to all concerned. Regrets, however, are useless. All that can be done now is to put into active operation every means for the education & elevation of the colored people of Alabama. We ask, therefore, on behalf of these uneducated thousands the largest possible aid from the Bureau consistent with the claims of other states. We trust also that the plan of cooperation adopted by the State Board of Education, & herewith submitted, will meet your cordial approval.

With great regard
Your Obt Servt
R.D. Harper
Supt. of Education