Much has been said at this forum and elsewhere about historians assuring the 
accuracy of their history accountings.  Can you tell us, Fred, what was the 
'actual' supposed quote without your extensive editorial paraphrasing?  And 
what was this quotation taken from, "page 52" of what I wonder, a speech by 
Congressman Stephens before a committee, the house or what?  And did he 
assuredly state these exact words or were they simply "attributed to 
[Stephens]" by an unknown source?

Congressman Stephens was "elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fifth and to 
the nine succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1897-March 3, 1917); chairman, 
Committee on Indian Affairs (Sixty-second through Sixty-fourth Congresses); 
unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1916," according to several 
internet sources that anyone may find.  He dedicatedly served his country as 
federal Congressman from Texas for 20 years -- this was during an era 
firstly of Spanish-American War times ending with World War I issues and 
federal budgets.

Was there really a "race issue [resulting] in the loss of federal funding" 
as you say (citings?), or was there simply a loss of federal funding, I must 
wonder.  Did all or the vast majority of those House members and Senators in 
Washington who apparently voted for lesser funding in those early times 
actually have racially "biased belief [and complete agreement]" with your 
stated quote "attributed to" Congressman John Hall Stephens (1847-1924), as 
you state??  This obviously begs the question of factual citations.

Paul, I greatly admire and respect your writings and contributions to this 
list.  It just seems to me that your words here smack of bias themselves.  I 
hope there can be more discussion and factual contributions about a supposed 
quote that terribly 'smears' the legacy of a dedicated American (and all of 
his counterpart Representaives and Senators) of a prior era -- whom I knew 
nothing about until your severe posting, and I'm not even a Texan.

Regards to all,
Neil McDonald


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Frederick Fausz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 4:18 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Indian Schools


> The more recent education of Indians IN VIRGINIA is recounted most
> engagingly, with suberb photographs, in Mary Lou Hultgren and
> Paulette Fairbanks Molin, TO LEAD AND TO SERVE: AMERICAN
> INDIAN EDUCATION AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE, 1878-1923 (Virginia
> Foundation for the Humanities, 1989). This exhibit catalogue revealed
> Hampton's wonderful collection of Indian artifacts, which many of the
> students brought with them.
>
> In those years, almost 1,400 Indian students from 65 different tribes
> were educated along with African Americans at Hampton, and the
> gutsy experiment in biracial education was much praised and well
> supported for a time.  Unfortunately, however, by the early 20th cen-
> tury, the race issue resulted in the loss of federal funding, in the
> biased belief that it was preferable to "elevate the red race [including
> warriors who had fought against the USA] to the level of the white
> race ... [rather than] degrade and humiliate him by sinking him to the
> lowplane of the negro race" (attributed to Texas Congressman John
> Hall Stephens, Chairman of the House Committee on Indian Affairs,
> quoted on p 52).
>
> Best from St. Louis,
>
> Fred Fausz
>
>
> **************************************
> See what's free at
> http://www.aol.com.
>