t that, in addition to the
munificence of Northern philanthropists and the appropriations of the
Southern state governments from common taxation, with the efforts of
the Negro himself, we have now reached a point at which the solution
of this problem is drawing to its aid some of the most thoughtful and
cultured white men and women of the South, as is indicated by the
article to which I have already referred, from the pen of Professor
John Roach Straton.

SECOND PAPER.

WILL THE EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO SOLVE THE RACE PROBLEM?

BY PROF. J. R. HAWKINS.

[Illustration: Prof. John R. Hawkins]

JOHN RUSSELL HAWKINS.

John Russell Hawkins, the oldest son of Ossian and
Christiana Hawkins, was born in the town of Warrenton,
Warren County, North Carolina, on May 31, 1862. At the age
of six years, he began attending the public school of his
native town and made rapid progress in his studies.

When old enough to help his father work, he had to stop
attending school regularly and apply himself to work on his
father's farm. In the mean time, he kept up studies by
attending night school and employing private tutors. At the
age of fifteen, he went with four members of the highest
class in the regular graded school to take the public
examination for school teacher. Of the five examined, he
made the highest grades and received an appointment as
assistant teacher in the same school where he had received
his first training.

In 1881, he left home and went to Hampton Institute,
Hampton, Va., where he spent one year in special study
preparatory for business.

In 1882, he left Hampton and accepted a position in the
Government service, as railway postal clerk, on the line
between Raleigh, N. C., and Norfolk, Va. Here he soon made a
record that classed him among the best clerks in the
service. In 1885, Mr. Hawkins returned to his native town
and was elected as principal of the graded school. Here he
spent two years teaching and reading law under private
tutors.

In 1887, he was asked to go to Kittrell, N. C., to fill the
position as business manager and treasurer of Kittrell
College, then known as Kittrell Normal and Industrial
Institute. So acceptably did Mr. Hawkins fill this position
that in 1890 he was elected to the Presidency of Kittrell
Coll