Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-rnpqb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T08:56:49.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

White Views of Black Minds: Schooling in King Leopold's Congo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Barbara A. Yates
Barbara A. Yates*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Research on the educability of Africans in the past focused narrowly on the learning process: could blacks learn as well as whites? Did they learn in the same manner? More recently attention has turned to broader themes. One recent interpretation of white views about black minds holds that philosophical and psychological preconceptions influenced both the amount and the type of schooling provided for blacks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Other recent works suggest the past psychological focus has obscured the basic question of who should be educated and for what purposes? Thus, one may ask, were white views about black minds only philosophical and psychological guides to pedagogical practice or were they also bulwarks to perpetuate class and caste structures? Moreover, how did such white views serve the self-interests of those who expounded them? This essay examines these questions during the formative years of the educational system in Belgian Africa—the Leopoldian Period (1879–1908). The educational system then established underwent little change until after World War II.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , Spring 1980 , pp. 27 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © 1980 by History of Education Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

∗ I wish to thank Professors C. Arnold Anderson, Walter Feinberg, and Alan Peshkin for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

1. Evans, Judith, Children in Africa: A Review of Psychological Research (New York, 1970).Google Scholar

2. Lyons, Charles H., To Wash an Aethiop White: British Ideas About Black African Educability 1530–1960 (New York, 1975).Google Scholar

3. Chase, Alan, The Legacy of Malthus (New York, 1977) is but one recent work which has questioned the relationship between white views on minority groups and the prevailing social structure.Google Scholar

4. Guinness, Fanny E., The New World of Central Africa: With a History of the First Christian Mission on the Congo (London, 1890), p. 115.Google Scholar

5. Rev. Morrison, quoted in Vinson, T. C., William McCutchan Morrison: Twenty Years in Central Africa (Richmond, 1921), p. 30.Google Scholar

6. Other Protestant societies included three American groups; the [Northern] Baptists, the Disciples of Christ, and the American [Southern] Presbyterian Congo Mission.Google Scholar

7. These included the majority of Catholic groups (Trappists, Redemptorists, Premonstratensians, Sacred Heart Fathers, Mill Hill Fathers, and Jesuits) and a minority of Protestant mission societies (the Plymouth Brethren, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Congo Balolo Mission). Data were not found for the English Westcott Inland Mission and the Belgian Holy Ghost Fathers. The former refused to send information to the periodic Protestant society meetings that began in 1902 and published no journal; the latter did not arrive in the Congo until 1907, insufficient time to evaluate their views during the Leopoldian period.Google Scholar

For examples of ambivalent views on African minds, see Guinness, Fanny, pp. 31–32; Regions Beyond, November 1897, p. 422; Brothers Boniface and Stanislas to Abbot of Westmalle, December 29, 1895 and November 15, 1896, Messager de Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur, juillet 22, 1896, p. 250 and mai 7, 1897, p. 173; Sept Années au Congo 1899–1906 (Bruxelles, 1906), p. 39; La Voix du Redempteur, avril 1909, p. 141; Msgr. Van Hoof, undated from Idembo, Mouvement Antiesclavagiste belge; Revue Congolaise et Africaine, janvier 1902, p. 26; Jeanroy, V., Notice sur la Mission des Falls fondée et dirigée par les prêtres du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus (Bruxelles, 1904), p. 2.Google Scholar

8. Roelens, Msgr. in Missions des Pères blancs, décembre 1907, p. 356 and in Mouvement des Missions Catholiques au Congo, mars 1908, p. 26.Google Scholar

9. Joseph Van Wing, S. J., La Vingt-cinquième anniversaire de la Mission du Kwango (Bruxelles, s.d. [1918]), pp. 17–18.Google Scholar

10. de Vos, Jesuit Father, diary entry of November 23, 1905, Missions belges de la Compagnie de Jésus, mai 1906, p. 183.Google Scholar

11. de Wilde, Father J., March 10, 1895 from Nouvelle-Anvers, , Missions en Chine et au Congo, août 1895, pp. 105–107.Google Scholar

12. For representative comments on African intellect by optimistic missionaries see Dye, Eva N., Bolenge: A Story of Gospel Triumphs on the Congo (Cincinnati, 1913), pp. 24–26; Hensey, Andrew F., My Children of the Forest (New York, 1924), p. 118; Weeks, John H., Among Congo Cannibals (London, 1913), p. 177; Sutton Smith, H., Yakusu, the Very Heart of Africa, Being an Account of the Protestant Mission at Stanley Falls, Upper Congo (London, 1912) pp. xiv–xvii, 175, and 207; Missionary Herald, January 1879, 13, April 1880, 120, October 1883, 348, March 1885, 100, June 1885, 222, May 1900, 256, and May 1902, 236; Missionary, October 1892, 415, March 1894, 101, March 1898, 125, February 1900, 70, and July 1901, p. 326; Victor Roelens (Msgr.), Notre Vieux Congo, 1891–1917, Souvenirs du premier eveque du Congo belge (Namur, 1948), II, pp. 170–171; Missions d'Afrique des Peres blancs, janvier 1899, p.3, février 1899,. 62; Missions des Peres blancs, november 1907, 347 and décembre 1907, 356; and Nils Westlind of the Swedish Missionary Society quoted in Axelson, Sigbert, Culture Confrontation in the Lower Congo (Falköping, Sweden, 1970), p. 224.Google Scholar

For optimistic comments on African intellect by Jesuit missionaries, see, for example, letters from Sister Superior Ignatia de la Croix, Van Hencxthoven, Father Superior Emile and Butaye, Father in Missions belges …, septembre 1900, 342, février 1902, 56, and juillet 1903, 272.Google Scholar

13. Van Leuven, Father G., October 22, 1901 from Mayumbe area, Missions en Chine et au Congo, avril 1902, 91.Google Scholar

14. DeCleene, Father N., “La colonie scolaire de Boma,” Missions en Chine et au Congo, juillet 1898, 91. See also De Cleene's letter of October 4, 1900 in Missions en Chine et au Congo, février 1901, 20.Google Scholar

15. de Wilde, Father, March 10, 1895 from Nouvelle-Anvers, , Missions en Chine et au Congo, août 1895, 108–109. See also de Wilde comments of May 11, 1891 when he was at Marie, Berghe-St., in ibid., décembre 1891, 556.Google Scholar

16. Quoted in Garmyn, Father, “Race blanche et race Noire,” Missions en Chine et au Congo, juin 1903, 133–140. This was not Father Garmyn's view. He was one of the few Scheutists who, in published letters, thought the African could improve. In this article he puts himself at variance to the views of his colleagues.Google Scholar

17. Arthur Vermeersch, (S.J.), La Question Congolaise (Bruxelles, 1906), p. 57. See also Brielman, Jesuit Fathers and Lauwers, August, Missions belges…, février 1901, 61 and mars 1903, 102–103.Google Scholar

18. DeCleene, Father N., “La colonie scolaire de Boma,” Missions en Chine et au Congo, juillet 1898, 91.Google Scholar

19. de Wilde, Father J., March 10, 1895 from Nouvelle-Anvers, , Missions en chine et au Congo, août 1895, 107.Google Scholar

20. Huys, August Msgr., “Le Congolais est-il susceptible de formation?,” Mouvement des Missions Catholiques au Congo, juin 1909, 58.Google Scholar

21. Roelens, quoted in Le Noir congolais vu par nos ecrivains (Bruxelles, 1951), p. 166.Google Scholar

22. Huys, , pp. 62, 64. See also Alexis, Frère Marie G., Les Congolais (Liège. 1899), pp. 135–136 and Roelens, , “La Question Sociale au Congo,” Missions des Peres blancs, fevrier 1900, 45–49.Google Scholar

23. Lewis, Thomas, These Seventy Years: An Autobiography (London, 1929), p. 253.Google Scholar

24. Alexis, , Les Congolais, p. 136.Google Scholar

25. Huys, , “La Congolais,” pp. 62–63.Google Scholar

26. Smith, , Yakusu, pp. 11–13, 175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27. Weeks, , Among Congo Cannibals, pp. 177–178.Google Scholar

28. Roelens, , September 10, 1898 and undated, Missions d'Afrique des Perès blancs, février 1899, 62; and octobre 1899. 313; Sheppard, Mrs., November 22, 1897 and Rev. De Yampert, L. A., undated, from Luebo, , Missionary, March 1898, 125 and July 1905, 333; Foreign Christian Mission Society, “Annual Report of 1901–02,” Missionary Intelligencer, November 1902, p. 364; Holman Bentley, W., Pioneering on the Congo (New York, 1900), I, p. 160; Guinness, Fanny E., pp. 31–32; and Van Straelen, C., Missions Catholiques et Protestantes au Congo (Bruxelles, 1898), p. 19; Weeks, p. 178; and Axelson, , p. 225. Some Jesuit missionaries shared these cultural views, See Van Wing, pp. 18–19 and diaries of Fathers Cus and de Vos in Missions belges, novembre 1900, p. 420 and juillet 1907, 245–246; and letters from Butaye, Father, ibid., février 1902, 59–61 and août 1904, 293.Google Scholar

29. Yates, Barbara A., “Shifting Goals of Industrial Education in the Congo, 1879–1908” African Studies Review, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (April 1978), 33–48.Google Scholar

30. Grossett, Thomas F., Race; the History of an Idea in America (Dallas, 1963), pp. 176–197.Google Scholar

31. Lyons, , To Wash a Aethiop White, p. 77.Google Scholar

32. Ibid., p. 124.Google Scholar

33. Ibid., p. 149.Google Scholar

34. Bradfor, Lt. J. H., Au pays du sommeil et de la mort (Bruxelles, 1908), pp. 26–28.Google Scholar

35. Bedinger, Robert D., Triumphs of the Gospel in Belgium Congo (Richomond, Va.: 1920), pp. 61–62. See also Rev. Morrison, W. M., undated, Missionary, July 1901, 326.Google Scholar

36. For an interesting discussion of this point see Axelson, , pp. 222, 270–272.Google Scholar

37. Huys, , p. 66. See also Roelens, Bishop in Missions d'Afrique des Perès blancs, octobre 1899, 312–313.Google Scholar

38. Msgr. Roelens to the Executive Committee on the Oeuvre de Missions Catholiques au Congo, undated, Mouvement Antiesclavagiste: Revue Congolaise et Africaine, juillet 1900, 159.Google Scholar

39. Redemptorist Heinz, Father to his father, undated, La Voix du Rédempteur, février 1904, 76.Google Scholar

40. Van Wing, , La Vingt-cinquieme, pp. 18–19.Google Scholar

41. Slade, Ruth, English-Speaking Missions in the Congo Independent State (1878–1908) (Bruxelles, 1959), p. 65.Google Scholar

42. Axelson, , Cultural Confrontation, p. 277.Google Scholar

43. Banckaert, Jesuit Superior Julien, Mouvement des Missions Catholiques au Congo, mars 1909, 20–21.Google Scholar

44. Bell, John, Miracle of African Missions: The Story of Matula. A Congo Convert, (New York, s.d. [1903]), p. 63.Google Scholar

45. Cameron, George Mrs., “Should School Work Precede Gospel Preaching?” Missionary Conference 1906. A report of the third General Conference of Missionaries of the Protestant Societies working in Congoland. Held at Kinshassa, Stanley Pool, Congo State, January 9–14, 1906 (Bongandanga: 1906), pp. 43–47.Google Scholar

46. Two examples are illustrative from those which could have been chosen. An address by Léger, Senator, a Catholic Party senator, in the Upper Assembly of the Belgian parliament noted that the educational achievements of blacks in the American South “demonstrated the susceptibility of intellectual development, equal to that of the white” (quoted in Missions belges…, octobre 1908, 367). A Congo Balolo missionary pointed out to metropolitan supporters that in the United States “the adult and adolescent negro seems to have no difficulty in acquiring head knowledge” so that only future generations would “prove whether it [arrested intellectual theory] is or is not an insuperable obstacle to the elevation of the negro race to the level of the white.” (Mrs. Ruskin at Bongandanga, undated, Regions Beyond, October 1900, 397).Google Scholar

47. Slade, Ruth, The Belgian Congo (London, 1960), p. 35.Google Scholar

48. Jones, Thomas Jesse (ed.), Education in Africa: A Study of West, South, and Equatorial Africa (New York, 1922).Google Scholar

49. Extract in Missions des Perès blancs , février 1900, 45–49. See Also Holman Bentley, W. to a benefactor, October 6, 1893 from Pool, Stanley, Missionary Herald, March 1884, 93–94; and Weeks, , p. 76.Google Scholar

50. De Wilde, , March 10, 1895, p. 109.Google Scholar

51. de Wyels, Chevalier, “Les Oeuvres de propagande en faveur des mission Catholiques,” Oeuvres Catholiques au Congo. Vième Section Rapport du Congrès Catholique des Malines, 23–26 septembre 1909 (Bruxelles, 1909), pp. 1–2 and “L'Oeuvre des Vieux Timbres au Seminaire de Liège,” Missions belges …, mai 1900 153–156.Google Scholar

52. Missions des perès blancs, novembre 1900, 336; Van Wing, , p. 2; Van Straelen, , p. 65; and Laveille, E., L'Evangile au centre de l'Afrique . Van Hencxthoven, Le Pere Emile S. J., fondateur de la Mission du Kwango (Congo belge) 1852–1906 (Louvain, 1926), pp. 205–206.Google Scholar

53. Missionary Herald, May 1890, 205, May 1895, 216, May 1901, 254; Foreign Christian Missionary Society, “Annual Report for 1905–06.” Missionary Intelligencer, November 1906, 414, 419; Christian, and Alliance, Missionary, Annual Report for 1906, p. 144. Belgian Protestant youth groups also collected money for Wathen schools, but their financial contribution was small. See Bentley, , II, p. 401 and Annual Report for the Baptist Missionary Society for 1908, p. 55.Google Scholar

54. See Missionary Herald, July 1885, 260; Annual Report of the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society for 1904, p. 105; for 1908, p. 68; Missions belges …, juin 1902, 237; Echoes of Service, September 1904, 339; and Kassai Herald, April 1903 20.Google Scholar

55. Editorial note, Missions en Chine et au Congo, août 1895, 106.Google Scholar

56. See, for example, Roelens, , I, p. 199.Google Scholar

57. Brifant, Valentin, “Rapport du Secretaire de l'Oeuvre des Missions catholiques au Congo,” Mouvement Antiesclavagiste; Revue Congolaise et Africaine, avril 1900, 66.Google Scholar

58. Text reproduced in Mouvement des Missions catholiques au Congo , décembre 1908, 146–147.Google Scholar

59. Editorial introduction to Huys, , p. 58.Google Scholar

60. de Pierpont, Ivan, “Les Fermes-Chapelles au point de vue économique et civilisateur,” Bulletin de la Société belge d'Études Coloniales, XIX, No. 5 (mai 1912), pp. 375–376.Google Scholar

61. Vanuyten, Canon A. to Rev. Prelate of Tongerloo, May 7, 1904 from Bumba, , Mouvement des Missions Catholiques au Congo, octobre 1904, 291.Google Scholar

62. Christian, and Alliance, Missionary, Annual Report for 1906, p. 26.Google Scholar

63. Weeks, , p. 178.Google Scholar

64. Glennie, Robert, The Congo and Its People: A Handbook (London, s.d. [1926]), p. 33.Google Scholar

65. Huys, , “La Congolais”, pp. 59–62.Google Scholar