en 19th-century Americans wanted to persuade the government to help them, they often te and signed petitions, or letters explaining what they wanted. If they could not write, y showed support by marking petitions with an "X." Read the following passage. Then ow the instructions below. Freedmen's Bureau official, 1866 I saw one [petition] . . . at least 30 feet in length, representing 10,000 negroes. It was affecting to examine it and note the names and marks ( \( x \) ) of such a long list of parents, ignorant themselves, but begging that their children might be educated. negroes: an old term for people of African heritage affecting: emotional or moving ignorant: uneducated John W. Alvord, quoted in James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (1988). omplete the text. jobs schools health care food According to the passage, many African American parents signed a petition saying that they wanted the state government to provide \( \square \)