Cotton Mather Quotes
Would we Read, in the ancient Histories, how zealous the more discreet Pagans were to maintain Schools among them; it might put us Christians to the Blush, among whom 'tis common for Schools to starve and sink;
Cotton Mather, 1663-1728, Massachusetts Cleric and Historian, The Education of Children
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Although much opposition to education comes from religious groups, it is noteworthy that the Lutheran founder saw education per se as an weapon against the Devil and that view was promulgated in Colonial America. This particular quotation was used by Cotton Mather of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in his treatise on the importance of education. See also {612014}
Mississippi has always had one of the poorer education systems of the nation. But in the early 20th Century, it was far, far behind other states. It was terrible for whites and abysmal and almost non-existent for Blacks. The Federal Government began some limited aid to education and many segregationists of the South feared that if the money were spent to improve Negro education as well as white education, the Southern, segregationist way of life was threatened. Vardaman was absolutely right to worry for what he and the other racists of the South feared most actually came to pass. See {584325} for another segregationists fear of educating African Americans.
The organization was initially called the National Negro Committee. The following year the name was changed to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Note that at the time, even for Blacks, the concept of desegregation was so far from reality that their efforts were simply to have segregated schools with the same resources as the white children had. The “separate but equal” doctrine was the method of the segregationists.
Oliver was a right wing, racist, fanatic and extremist. His quotations are interesting because he often said in public what many right wing extremists only said in private. Paranoia and conspiracy theories were common with the extremists, then as now. In this case, they actually believed that Communists had infiltrated and taken over the 30,000 different school districts in the United States.
- Born: February 12, 1663
- Died: February 13, 1728
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Minister
Cotton Mather /ˈmæðər/ FRS was a New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer. One of the most important intellectual figures in English-speaking colonial America, Mather is remembered today chiefly for his Magnalia Christi Americana (1702) and other works of history, for his scientific contributions to plant hybridization and to the promotion of inoculation as a means of preventing smallpox and other infectious diseases, and for his involvement in the events surrounding the Salem witch trials of 1692–3. He also promoted the new Newtonian science in America and sent many scientific reports to the Royal Society of London, which formally elected him as a fellow in 1723. A controversial figure in his own day, he sought unsuccessfully the presidency of Harvard College, which had been held by his father Increase, another important Puritan intellectual.
