EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS
AMONG
COLORED PEOPLE.

BY

G. F. RICHINGS,

Originator of Illustrated Lectures on Race Progress.

EIGHTH EDITION.

PHILADELPHIA:
GEO. S. FERGUSON CO.,

1902.

Copyrighted, 1902, by G. F. Richings.

INTRODUCTION.

It is a pleasant thing to introduce an individual or a friend to another individual or a friend; but to introduce a book is more important than an individual introduction. Books are good and they are bad, just in proportion as their contents tend to producing right or wrong action of life; or convey truth or error. When the mission of a book is to present facts versus theory about an individual or a race, it ought to be encouraged by all who believe in fair play.

The author of this book has for a number of years been collecting facts in relation to the Progress of the Race since Emancipation. He has traveled East and West, North and South, with his eyes and ears open. For several years he has thrown these facts on the canvas to be seen and read in the New and Old World. He now proposes to present them to a larger and greater audience. It was impossible for all to attend his entertainments, but now he proposes to send the entertainments to the audience.

The pages of this book will take the place of the canvas; the dim light of the lantern will be superseded by the clear light of reason, and the race that has been so long misrepresented will appear in a new light as the representative characters of this book pass a thorough examination as to their capability of self-culture, self-improvement, self-support and self-defence.

BISHOP B. W. ARNETT.

The Home, the Store, the School and Church, and the Factory are the infallible signs of civilization; the people who support these exhibit the true signs of enlightenment.

In this volume you will have an opportunity of learning how the leading schools were started by the friends of the race. You will learn how men and women left their homes of ease and comfort and went among the new-born Freedmen, and assisted in reconstructing the individual and home life. You will also learn the names of noble men and women who have founded, supported and endowed institutions for the training of the head, hand and heart of the coming generation.

An account will be given of the schools founded, manned and supported by the race itself; and, for the first time, the world will be enlightened as to what the race is doing for its own education; illustrations of buildings, presidents, professors and students will gladden your eyes.

Short sketches of men and women who have shown skill in the professions, and achieved success in business, will be presented, calculated to give inspiration to the youth of the future.

Having witnessed the instructive exhibitions of the author of this volume, and heard with pleasure his instructive Lectures, I take great pleasure in introducing to the present and future generations "Evidences of Progress Among Colored People." For I know no man better qualified by his knowledge of the history of the race and by his personal examination and careful study of our problem, also his intimate acquaintance with individuals about whom he writes, than Mr. G. F. Richings.

I am yours for God and the Race,

Benjamin W. Arnett.

Tawawa Chimney Corner,

Wilberforce, Ohio, March 20, 1896.

PREFACE.

There seems to be a general impression and a growing sentiment in this country that the colored people, as a class, have not, and are not, making any progress; or, that they have not improved the educational opportunities offered them by the philanthropic white people who have proven themselves friendly to the cause of Negro education. This feeling has developed from two causes: First, we have a large and wealthy class of white people who go South every year during the cold season for either their health or pleasure, and while in the South, they see a great many colored people on the streets of Southern cities who appear to have no employment. In many cases this may be true; sometimes because they do not want to work; but in the majority of cases the true cause of so much idleness among the colored people in the South lies in the fact that they are not able to get work, no matter how much they may seek it. Let this be as it may, the presence of these people on the streets, dressed as the unemployed usually dress in the South, gives these Northern white people an unfavorable impression of the colored brother and an erroneous idea of the real condition of these people. Hence they return to their Northern homes with a very pessimistic story to tell regarding the Southern colored people.

The second reason for this erroneous impression regarding the condition of the colored people of the South, lies in the fact that white people never look in the right direction for evidences of race progress, but are continually drawing their comparisons from the lowest types and judging the whole race by a few who occupy only the lowest levels in common society. For an illustration: A country girl from the South, who has never spent six days of her life in a school-room, is employed in a Northern family to do menial work. The mistress of the household finds her ignorant and sometimes absolutely stupid, and instead of classing this girl where she belongs, as all races are divided into classes, she immediately arrives at the conclusion that because the girl hails from the South, she must be a fair specimen and a true representative of all the colored people in that section. And she further concludes that all this talk about the wonderful progress made by the Negro since the war is mere talk, having no foundation in fact, and that this talk is kept up in order that the people may be misled into subscribing their money for educational work.

I have talked with a great many white people on this subject, and they have, in almost every instance, expressed about the same sentiment I have given above. One lady, in Boston, Mass., said to me: "But colored people are so ignorant." I asked her with whom she was acquainted among colored people. "Why," said she, "we have employed colored help for years, and one colored woman has washed for our family ever since I was a child." It will be seen that her conclusions were drawn from a very low level, and that her contact with colored people had always been limited to the poorer, working classes. Indeed, so general is the impression among white people that no real progress has been made by the ex-slaves, that at least seven out of every ten seem to think of the colored people as a worthless, inflexible element, incapable of mental, moral and other developments essential to a high state of civilization.

I think that I can safely say that the only white people who are willing to admit that there is a better class of colored people, are those who have either taught in their institutions, or have intimate friends engaged in that kind of work. Friends who are anxious to help the race, find that these wrong impressions have been so thoroughly established, that the educational work is very much hampered and interfered with from year to year; and the success of Southern schools, dependent on Northern philanthropy, has been very much hindered on account of the gloomy aspect given by Northern people visiting Southern cities. The contributions from the North to these schools, have been very meagre and, of course, the higher possibilities of negro education have not been reached. Enemies of the race, and those laboring under false impressions, are led to believe that the money invested in Southern Educational Institutions has been simply thrown away. We cannot hope for a change for the better as long as colored people are only known as coachmen, waiters, cooks, and washerwomen.

I have called your attention to a very gloomy aspect of the Southern situation. But while the aspect is a gloomy one, it represents the true attitude of the American people, with a few exceptions. I have put forth this effort to set my friends right on this important question, and I sincerely believe that the time is not far distant when the white people will see to it that these Southern Institutions are guaranteed more liberal support and better encouragement. I see the colored people in a much brighter light and in a more hopeful condition than the men of my race who visit the South for the purpose of making superficial observations. And because I have found so many interesting "Evidences of Progress Among Colored People," I offer this as my apology for writing this book. The facts contained in this work have been gathered during sixteen years of actual labor and contact with the colored people in all parts of the United States. I have had to go deeper into the question, to secure my information, than merely to visit street-corners and hold casual conversation with the unfortunate and the unemployed, North or South.

When those who read this book take into consideration the fact that many of the characters herein mentioned started some thirty years ago without a dollar, without a home, and without education, except here and there a few who had, in some mysterious way, learned to read and write, they will, I am sure, be willing to admit that some progress has been made by the people in whose interest this book is published. I wish to make prominent four phases of the race question, namely: (1) The schools which have been built for colored people and managed by whites; (2) The schools managed by colored people; (3) The church work carried on among them, and (4) The business and professional development as the result of education.

I am well aware that, had it not been for the philanthropists who gave their money so freely at the close of the Civil War for the education of the freedmen, and the Christian and unselfish missionaries who went South to teach the ex-slaves, I would not have been able to present so many interesting and, in many cases, startling "Evidences of Progress Among Colored People." I want to mention most of the schools started by white friends. But I shall deal more at length and in greater detail with the school work carried on by the colored people themselves. There are many who are asking if the colored people are doing anything for themselves in an educational way. This question will be clearly answered in this book. I do not claim that colored people support entirely all of the schools managed by them, nor have the white people a right to expect that they should be able to do so, in so short a time. For my part, I shall feel that they will have accomplished a great deal if, in the next hundred years, they will have reached that point where they can support their own schools and meet all the financial obligations involved. I have no doubt but that many who shall read this book will be, as I was, greatly surprised, yes, astonished; for some of the sketches read like romances more than the ordinary things of life.

I shall mention the names of one or more of the many men and women I have found engaged in all the pursuits and walks of life. I present in many cases the portraits of characters whose sketches appear, in order that the white people may make a study of their faces. Some, in fact many, of them are very dark. I mention this because I have been led to believe that it is the general opinion among Americans that quite a percentage of white blood runs through the veins of colored people who have proven their susceptibility to higher education. I believe, and I am confident, that the contents of this book will help me to demonstrate that the color of the skin, the texture of the hair, and the formation of the head, have nothing whatever to do with the development and expansion of the mind. I only hope that the white friends may be made to feel that the colored people are entitled to more consideration and ought to be given a better opportunity to fill the places for which they are being fitted, in the commercial and business life of this country.

Among the colored readers I hope to stimulate a greater interest in these institutions and thereby help to bring the race up to a higher educational and social level. In order that my book might not be too large, I had to omit a great many sketches of worthy persons and institutions; but I tried to mention one or more persons engaged in the different branches of business and professions. So any who are omitted will please attribute it to a want of space and not a neglect or oversight on my part.

I shall feel that I have accomplished a good work if I have set before my readers food for earnest thought on the questions involved.

G. F. Richings.

CONTENTS.

EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS AMONG
COLORED PEOPLE.

CHAPTER I.

BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE.

In 1865 four million colored people suddenly emerged from bondage, poor, ignorant, and in many cases with very crude notions of religion or morality. Not one-third of those who had arrived to years of understanding at that time can be found among the eight millions of colored population to-day. And consequently, the younger element of this race know little or nothing about the great conflict, the culmination of which brought to their fathers and mothers that boon of all human aspiration—liberty. "With the mutations of time in Egypt, a king arose who knew not Joseph. In these changes here, a new generation comes on, to whom occurrences of the past are but dim and sometimes distorted traditions."

To my mind, the last generation has been characterized by greater conflicts and has been freighted with more thrilling events than any generation through which the history of this country has brought us. Through ignorance, and sometimes indifference, we are in serious danger of depreciating the wonderful agencies that have been such potent factors in the growth and development of a people. It is, therefore, important that some close observer of events constantly keep before the people, in whose interest these factors have been set in operation, full accounts of all the developments, that the young may be inspired to noble aims and lofty endeavors.

While such a task is not an easy one, I feel it my duty to attempt its performance. All the data and every observation set forth in these chapters have been the result of personal investigation among the colored people. I shall give in this chapter a brief history of the schools conducted by white people of the Baptist denomination for the education of colored people. In this work the American Baptist Home Mission Society has expended since 1862 $3,000,000. The value of school property acquired by the society amounts to $900,000.

When before this society "came the vision of emancipated millions, desperately needy, in dire distress and full of forebodings, stretching forth their unshackled, but empty, unskilled and helpless hands for friendly aid and guidance," this society at once took them in and offered them shelter and comfort. The society has accomplished wonders for the colored people, and I am sure that the colored people appreciate all that it has done for them.

I shall begin my history of Baptist schools with Spelman Seminary.

SPELMAN SEMINARY.

The history of Spelman Seminary reads like a romance. Beginning in 1881, in the gloomy basement of the Friendship Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga., a church owned by the colored people, without any of the accessories needed for successful school work, with but two teachers, Miss S. B. Packard and Miss Harriet E. Giles, and with less than a dozen pupils, it has grown to be the largest and best equipped school for the training of colored girls in the United States.

The institution has a magnificent location, and all of the buildings are specially suited to its needs. Spelman has a large and able faculty of earnest, devoted teachers, an attendance of pupils numbered by the hundreds, a constituency of friends and patrons rapidly extending in numbers and interest, and has made for itself a large place in the educational forces of the South, and established a reputation of a very high order.

The question of the education of the colored people as a preparation for citizenship, just after the war, demanded careful thought and prompt treatment, and among the noble women who ventured into the South, fully equipped to do the service they felt was needed, were Miss S. B. Packard and Miss H. E. Giles. The Southern white people could not reasonably be expected to throw to the winds all their cherished traditions and preconceptions simply because they had acknowledged defeat at the hands of the Northern people. They could not even be expected to at once admit their former slaves into political fellowship, recognizing them as equals in all the rights of citizenship; nor could they be expected to provide schools for the education of these people. Out of a consideration of these facts, Northern people, moved by noble and unselfish impulses, made their way to the South and established these great institutions for the education of colored people.

Both Miss Packard and Miss Giles had made for themselves a reputation before moving from their homes in New England to Atlanta. They were identified with the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society and had indicated their zeal for the promotion of the Society's interest in the most practical manner. The work done at Spelman is a practical Christian work, and the young ladies who graduate from that institution are the very best specimens of cultured and refined womanhood. This school is modeled after those of like grade established for white people. This should be the case with all Southern schools. There are required the same qualifications in the teachers, the same text-books, the same course of study, the same kinds of discipline that are found in similar institutions. There seems to be no point in the equipment or general management of these institutions where they can diverge safely from those which the history of education has shown to be most desirable and best adapted to their purpose. The grounds, buildings, furniture, libraries, text-books, apparatus, endowments of a Negro school in Georgia, should not differ in any respect from the equipment of a similar institution for white pupils in Massachusetts.

Spelman Seminary is a power for good, and since the death of Miss S. B. Packard is managed by Miss H. E. Giles, principal, and Miss L. H. Upton, associate principal.

ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY.

Roger Williams University was founded in 1863 by Rev. D. W. Phillips, D. D., who was for many years its president. Its present president is the Rev. P. B. Guernsey, A. M. The total enrolment for 1900 was 222—122 young men and 100 young women. The school is beautifully situated in the suburbs of the city of Nashville, in the State of Tennessee.

Nashville has become the chief centre of education in the South, both for the white and colored people. No other city south of the Ohio offers so many advantages as the seat of an institution for higher learning. The University grounds lie close to the city limits, on the Hillsboro' turnpike, just beyond the Vanderbilt University. The location is high and airy, and commands an unsurpassed prospect of the city and surrounding country.

It is a school for both sexes. It has Collegiate, Biblical and Theological, Academic, Normal, English, Musical and Industrial Departments.

The Collegiate Department aims at a thorough liberal education which gives the student the possession of his faculties developed and trained, a general acquaintance with the broad principles of all human knowledge, and a preparation for a special study of any of the learned professions. This department has two courses: the classical, leading to the degree of B. A., and the scientific, leading to the degree of B. S.

The Biblical and Theological Department has a general and special aim. Its general aim is to make the Bible a living book to each student. Every pupil in the school receives during his entire course a daily lesson in the Bible. Its special aim is to furnish better preachers of the Gospel and better pastors of the churches. Every year a "ministers' class" is conducted for ten weeks, beginning with the first day of January. Members of the class have three recitations daily. They may also attend such other classes as they can with profit to themselves.

The Academic Department prepares for college. It consists of a three years' course in classic and mathematic studies that link the English Department to the college work.

The Normal Department aims to furnish, for the public schools of the land, teachers that will raise the tone of education and make these schools more efficient. It consists of a three years course in subjects best adapted for this purpose.

The English Department aims to give the pupil a thorough drill in the elements of common intelligence. Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Grammar, Geography, Spelling and History are taught by the best of teachers, so that the young people are prepared to take their places as citizens alongside of pupils of the most favored city schools. Parents who live in rural districts and in country towns, where the public schools are of short duration and scant equipments and feeble teaching, will find here facilities for English education that are not surpassed in the South.

Roger Williams University, Nashville, Tenn.

The Musical Department aims to give a musical education, both vocal and instrumental, that will make the young people efficient workers in church and Sabbath school and elevating and refining members of the home and social circles.

The Industrial Department does not aim to fit students for the various mechanical trades, but it does aim to give them instruction and experience, that will train their eyes and hands and make them handy in the use of tools.

The school has a total teaching force of sixteen persons. Six of these are graduates of the best Northern Universities. Others are teachers of excellent education and wide experience.

The young ladies are under the close and affectionate watchcare of a New England lady, whose treatment of them is noted for its conscientiousness, its piety and its motherliness.

A number of the male teachers live in the building with the young men and thus become to them constant advisers, counsellors and friends.

The religious influences of the school are pure, constant and strong.

The University is grandly located for accessibility, healthfulness, and beauty. It is near enough to the city of Nashville to give it all the advantages of city life. Yet it is so far removed from the crowded city with its slums, saloons and other evils, that it is virtually in the country.

The property of the school is valued at $80,000. It has a small endowment fund of less than $1,000. Several Indian youths from the Indian Territory have been students in this institution. The graduates are widely scattered throughout the South, occupying positions of influence and usefulness.

VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY.

Virginia Union University has been formed out of two very excellent schools, where a great work has been done for the education and advancement of the colored people, namely, Wayland College, which was located at Washington, D. C., and Richmond Theological Seminary, at Richmond, Va. Both of these schools have a very interesting history. Wayland Seminary, as it was called, was founded at Washington, D. C., in 1865. Rev. G. M. P. King was president of it for twenty-seven years. The work began in 1865, was vigorously followed up by the purchase of property on "I" street at a cost of $1,500 from monies contributed by women of the North. The school was named in honor of President Francis Wayland, of Brown University. In 1871 a new site, 150 feet square, on Meridian Hill, in the northern part of the city, was purchased at a cost of $3,375. The erection of a new building was begun in 1873. It was a fine four-story building, with basement and accommodations for seventy-five students, with recitation rooms and rooms for the faculty. It cost about $20,000. The walls, from the foundation to the crowning, were constructed by colored bricklayers under the supervision of a master workman, an ex-slave from Virginia, who purchased his freedom before the war. Wayland Seminary has turned out some very able men, among them Rev. Harvey Johnson, D. D., of Baltimore, Md., who is one of the most noted colored preachers in the country. He has held charge of one of the largest Colored Baptist churches in the United States for nearly thirty years.

The Richmond Theological Seminary, at Richmond, Va., has a very remarkable history. It was first commenced in 1868, and started its work in Lumpkin's Slave Jail, and was first known as Colver Institute. In 1876 it was incorporated as the Richmond Institute. Subsequently the trustees and officers of the American Baptist Home Missionary Society decided to make it a school for ministers only, and in 1886 the name was changed to the Richmond Theological Seminary. Rev. Charles Corey, A. M., D. D., was elected president in 1868, and remained in charge until 1899, when the school went into the Union University. In speaking of the work, Rev. Corey said: "Of students there have been in attendance nearly 1,100; total preparing for the ministry, 540; graduates with diplomas from Richmond Institute, 73; total graduates with degree of B. D. from Richmond Theological Seminary, 27. Some of these graduates are now in charge of institutions of learning, others are professors in seminaries and universities. Six entered the foreign mission field. The former students of the Richmond Theological Seminary are to be found from Canada to Texas, and in the lands far beyond the sea." The school has had among its teachers such men as Prof. J. E. Jones, D. D., and Prof. D. N. Vassar, D. D. Both of these men are well educated and represent a high type of true manhood, and they have done much to advance the race they are identified with. Now Wayland College and Seminary and Richmond Theological Seminary are united under one board of trustees. They have at present the Theological Department, the College Department, the Academic Department and the Preparatory Department. An industrial plant will, it is hoped, be built. They already teach the students in a practical way the art of printing and of managing the steam and electrical plant. This last gives them quite a knowledge of engineering. The new buildings number eight—a fine library building, including a chapel and library, a lecture hall, a dining hall, a dormitory, a power plant, two residences and a stable. They are constructed of the finest granite, and could not be duplicated for $300,000. They are situated on a hill about fifty feet above the valley—a beautiful location in the centre of thirty acres. The buildings contain every modern improvement—steam heat in all the rooms and halls, electric lighting and a complete telephone system for the different buildings and floors, and most approved toilet and bath arrangements. It is said to be the finest group of buildings in the whole South.

Rev. M. MacVicar, Ph. D., LL. D., is the president of the University, George Rice Hovey the dean of Wayland Seminary and College, Rev. George F. Genung, D. D., the dean of the Theological School. The faculty consists of fifteen teachers of unusual ability, graduates of the best colleges, some of whom have made a name for themselves already. About one-half are white. The courses of study are equal to those of the ordinary Northern schools of similar grade. Virginia Union University will doubtless be the largest Baptist school operated for colored people, and it is located in a part of the country where the colored population is very large, and especially among the Baptists.

ATLANTA BAPTIST SEMINARY.

On the corner of Hunter and Elliott streets, in the city of Atlanta, Ga., there stands a smoke-begrimed and somewhat dilapidated brick building bearing the inscription, "American Baptist Home Mission Society, 1879." Directly in front of the building lies the shunting-yard of the Southern Railroad. The locality is one of the nosiest, dustiest and smokiest in the city. It was in this building, among these unfavorable surroundings, that the work of the Atlanta Baptist Seminary was carried on from 1879 till 1890.

In the old building no provision was made for dormitories. The students, most of whom were from the country, were left to find boarding-houses where they could, and besides living in close and crowded homes, where the atmosphere was not specially intellectual and where the opportunities for quiet study were not great, they were, except for the few hours of school each day, beyond the control and watchcare of the teachers and exposed to the distractions and temptations of the city.

For twelve years prior to the year 1879 the Seminary had been located at Augusta, Ga., and was known as "The Augusta Institute."

Upon the death of Rev. Joseph T. Robert, LL. D., president for fourteen years, which occurred in 1884, Rev. Samuel Graves, D. D., was appointed. Dr. Graves was quick to see that the first requisite to the vigorous growth of the school was a transplanting. Accordingly, he set to work to secure ground and building. As the result of his efforts the present campus was secured and the present building erected, and in the spring of 1890 the Seminary bade farewell to the old building and its noisy neighbors and took up its abode in its new home.

The main building of the institution was erected in 1889 at a cost of $27,000. In this beautiful building the visitor will find chapel, library, eight class-rooms, president's apartments and rooms for six teachers, dormitory accommodation for about one hundred students, besides kitchen, dining-room and storerooms, laundry, printing office, workshop and boiler-room. Rev. George Sales is president.

SHAW UNIVERSITY.

Shaw University is beautifully located in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, within ten minutes' walk of the post-office and capital. The grounds, upon which have been erected five large brick buildings and several of wood, are among the finest in the city, and include several acres. This institution furnishes by far the largest accommodations of any colored school in North Carolina, and, in the large number of advanced pupils, it is not surpassed by any colored school in the country.

Shaw University was founded in 1865 by Dr. H. M. Tupper, D. D., who conceived the desire for school work among the colored people while serving as a soldier in our late war. He started his first school, which has grown into the present university, in a cabin scarcely ten by twenty feet. The large brick structures, which now form a part of the institution, are looked upon with great interest because of the fact that the bricks in them were made by student labor under the direction of Dr. Tupper.

There are normal, collegiate, scientific, music and industrial departments, as well as schools of pharmacy, law and medicine, and a missionary training school, and all doing good work. Every graduate of the pharmacy school, class of 1900, recently appeared before the State Board of Examiners and obtained certificates as required by law. Prof. Chas. F. Meserve is its present president, since the death of Dr. Tupper.

The Baptists have cause to be proud of the good work done at Shaw University. Preachers and teachers by the hundreds have been educated at this excellent institution for home and foreign mission work.

BISHOP COLLEGE.

Bishop College is located in the city of Marshall, the county-seat of Harrison county, Texas. For beauty of situation, commodiousness of buildings, and completeness of outfit for the work, this institution is unsurpassed by any school for the colored people west of the Mississippi.

The Rev. N. Wolverton has been succeeded as president by the Rev. Albert Loughridge, who will push the work with the same degree of vigor. The dormitories are spacious and pleasant, the grounds are ample for recreation, and those who go there to live find all the advantages of a Christian home.

Every student must understand that, in entering the school, he stands pledged to willing and cheerful conformity to the regulations prescribed by the faculty for its government.

This institution was founded in 1881. It now employs nine white teachers and seven colored. Total number of students in attendance daily about two hundred. Amount of money expended yearly for the support of the school, $7,434.

BENEDICT COLLEGE.

In 1870 a desirable site for an institution for the education of colored people was found available at Columbia, S. C. As this was the capital of the State, and central, it was decided to locate it here. A noble woman in New England, Mrs. B. A. Benedict, of Providence, R. I., gave $10,000 towards its purchase, the cost being $16,000. The property consisted of nearly eighty acres of land. In honor of the deceased husband of the donor, Dea. Stephen Benedict, brother of David Benedict, the historian, the Board called the school "Benedict Institute."

It was opened December 1, 1870, under the charge of Rev. Timothy S. Dodge, as principal. The first pupil was a colored preacher, sixty years old. In October, 1887, Rev. Lewis Colby succeeded Mr. Dodge under appointment of the Board.

Upon his resignation in 1879, Rev. E. J. Goodspeed, D. D., was appointed. He entered upon his work in October, continuing until his death, in the summer of 1881. Rev. C. E. Becker was selected as his successor and went to Columbia in October, 1882, but at this writing the president is Rev. A. C. Osborn, D. D.

During 1879-80, Rev. Lewis Colby, deeply impressed with the need of better accommodations, especially for girls, devoted his time without compensation, and with the approval of the Board, to raising $5,000 for a girls' building. This amount being secured, together with an additional offering from Mrs. Benedict, two frame buildings were erected in 1881. Towards the furnishing of the buildings, the colored people of the State gave over $1,600. The girls' building is known as "Colby Hall." Better quarters for the young men are greatly needed. By special act of the South Carolina Legislature, through the efforts of President Becker and the co-operation of leading Baptists, the institution in 1882 was exempted from taxation.

LELAND UNIVERSITY.

Leland University was founded in 1870 for the higher education of such men and women as desired to fit themselves for Christian citizenship, either as ministers, teachers, or tradesmen. It is open to all persons who are fitted to enjoy its advantages, without distinction of race, color, or religious opinions. The University owes its existence to the late Holbrook Chamberlain, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., who erected the buildings, assisted in its management, and at his death left to it the bulk of his property, about $100,000, as an endowment fund, the interest of which goes to the payment of teachers.

The University has a library and reading-room, which is supplied with the leading journals and periodicals of the day.

There is a Literary Society, the "Philomathean," composed of young men and young women, which holds weekly meetings for mutual improvement.

The students also constitute a recognized branch of the International Young Men's Christian Association and of the National Society of Christian Endeavor.

Dr. R. W. Perkins was elected president in 1901 to fill the place of Pres. Mitchell, deceased. He will be supported by a corps of earnest, faithful teachers.

The University is situated on St. Charles avenue, New Orleans, La., and its retirement from the crowded part of the city renders it peculiarly adapted to study.

HARTSHORN MEMORIAL COLLEGE.

This institution was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia, March 13, 1884, with full collegiate and university powers.

Hartshorn Memorial College is located at the west end of Leigh street, Richmond, Va. The grounds comprise eight and one-half acres, well elevated, and shaded in part by a belt of native forest trees. The object of the institution is to train colored women for practical work in the broad harvest of the world.

The president, Rev. Lyman B. Tefft, D. D., claims that among the millions of colored women in the United States there is the same need and the same field for trained and cultured Christian service as among the whites. Life for them has the same meaning as for any other race. They have the same social, intellectual and spiritual necessities. They are a people essentially by themselves. There is, therefore, for the educated colored woman, the same wide and ready field of Christian work and influence as for any others.

THE MATHER INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.

This school is located on a bluff in the suburbs of Beaufort, S. C. It was established just after the war, by Mrs. Rachel C. Mather, of Boston, Mass., who is still its principal, assisted by six other white teachers.

Mrs. Mather was a teacher in the public schools of Boston during the Civil War, and just after the conflict was over she went South to do the work of her life. The history of her efforts are interesting in every detail and inspires the reader with an appreciation for the noble work of a noble woman.

Mrs. Mather conducts an orphanage in connection with the school, and during the twenty-seven years of her labors in this section, a great many orphan children have been cared for and trained from childhood to noble manhood and womanhood.

It is the aim of this school to reach the homes of the common people and develop the good qualities in the young men and young women of the race.

I regard this work as being one of the most important schools in the South. This lady has borne all the cares, anxieties and difficulties engendered in this peculiar work for these many years, with remarkable fortitude and courage.

People who have always lived in the North cannot appreciate what it means to go South and take charge of a colored school. I have talked with many of the men and women now at the head of such institutions, and they tell me that it is the rarest thing for the Southern white people to ever come near them, or even speak of them, except in the most disrespectful manner. In fact, in the early days of freedom Northern teachers could hardly stay, because of their treatment on the part of the whites. There has been a great change, and many of the Southern people are willing now to admit that the white teachers have done a most excellent work for the race, but they still let them good and well alone. But in many cases it is a great help to be let alone, and especially when their recognition would not be friendly.

DAWES ACADEMY.

Dawes Academy is located at Berwin, I. T. Rev. Geo. Horne, principal. This school has an average attendance of about 100. It is developing rapidly. Rev. Horne is assisted by three teachers.

JACKSON COLLEGE.

This institution, as Natchez College, was founded by the A. B. H. Miss. Soc. at Natchez, Miss., in 1878. In 1883, as Jackson College, it was established in Jackson, the State capital. Rev. Luther G. Barrett, A. M., is president, a graduate of Harvard College and of Newton Theological Institution, a practical educator, and who was for a time professor in Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C. It is beautifully and healthfully situated in the outskirts of the city, with fine buildings and an able corps of ten teachers. Its field is immense, Mississippi having 800,000 negroes. It had, up to the present yellow fever scourge, 200 students, and will, no doubt, with the passing of the fever, soon eclipse this number, as under its present efficient management it is fast gaining in popularity. It does superior work, its academical and classical departments comparing favorably with those of similar first-class institutions of the North, while it is just beginning regular college work. It has also a fine preparatory department and excellent graded musical course. It is pre-eminently a Christian school, the Bible being taught in grades one hour daily. Revivals are frequent, and generally each session closes with nearly every student a Christian. Its students stand high in the State as teachers, while many go on to professional schools of law, medicine and theology. Its great aim is to supply leaders.

STORER COLLEGE—FREE-WILL BAPTISTS.

At Harper's Ferry, W. Va., within sight of where John Brown made his famous raid, stands Storer College. The beautiful valley of the Shenandoah could not contain anything that would add more to its beauty than this splendid institution of learning.

This school has a most interesting history. Just after the Civil War, when the glare of cannon and the din of gun had faded away, this school was started.

The school is conducted by the Free-will Baptists.

In February of 1867, President O. B. Cheney visited Mr. John Storer, of Sanford, Me., in behalf of Bates College. Although not a Free-will Baptist, Mr. Storer was deeply interested in the history and aims of the denomination. During the conversation he said to Dr. Cheney: "I have determined to give $10,000 to some society which will raise an equal amount toward the founding of a school in the South for the benefit of the colored people. I should prefer that your denomination have this money, only that I fear that they will not or can not meet my condition. I am old and I desire to see the school started before I die; so as you came I was about writing to the American Missionary Association, making them this proposal, and I am confident they will accept and rapidly advance the project."

In reply Dr. Cheney pleaded that he be allowed to make an effort. He told him of the Southern enterprise, of its needs, and added: "A school there is just what we must have in order to carry forward the work. We shall feel that God has heard our prayers and is blessing our labor if you will give us your support. You may set your own time—one year, six months, or less—only let us try."

Mr. Storer came to a favorable decision before twelve o'clock that night.

Monday, Oct. 2, 1867, Storer College commenced its noble work—the outcome of which eternity alone can truly unfold. It began with nineteen pupils (from the immediate vicinity) and with one assistant teacher, Mrs. M. W. L. Smith, of Maine, under Mr. Brackett as principal. The school opened in the government building—known as the "Lockwood House"—and this one building served for dwelling-house, school and church.

The efforts to obtain a gift of this property were now redoubled. Dr. James Calder of Harrisburg, Pa., was especially active in furthering this project. Finally, through the earnest support of Mr. Fessenden in the Senate and of Gen. Garfield in the House, a bill to this effect passed Congress Dec. 3, 1868, and the four buildings, with seven acres of land, worth about $30,000, became the property of the institution. Had this failed, the site of the school would have been at the Bolivar Farm. As it was, the farm, through cultivation and sale of lots, largely assisted in supporting the school during its infancy.

In September of 1867 the Freedmen's Bureau donated $500, which was used in making needed repairs, and soon after the school opened, paid over the promised $6,000 to a temporary Stock Company organized under the laws of West Virginia. But the "Bureau" did far more than it promised, and as long as it existed ceased not to render generous and efficient aid. Among its further benefactions were $4,000 to renovate the shattered government buildings, and about $1,500 toward the running expenses. Altogether, including about $4,000 for the erection, in 1868, of Lincoln Hall—a boarding-hall for boys—the Freedmen's Bureau contributed $18,000 toward the upbuilding of Storer College. How the institution could have flourished or even lived without this external aid, it is difficult to realize, for the denomination was heavily freighted with the needs of other important enterprises.

The school is now in a flourishing condition and is doing a noble and elevating work in behalf of civilization.

Crowning, as they do, the heights of Harper's Ferry, the buildings of Storer College are conspicuous objects in every direction. A passing allusion should be made to the wondrous scenery which surrounds Storer College—to witness which, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "It were worth a journey across the Atlantic." And the most unappreciative observer can but feel that the outspread grandeur and beauty must exert an elevating influence.

The institution has three departments—Preparatory, Normal, and Classical. It has had over 1,200 different pupils, has sent out more than 300 teachers and about 30 ministers. In one year its students have numbered 232, and both total and average attendance are constantly increasing. In 1875 a summer term for teachers was inaugurated. Its session holds through June and July, and it is greatly appreciated by those whose only opportunity for further study and progress is at this time.

No one can visit Harper's Ferry without coming away overflowing with wonder and enthusiasm. One stands abashed before the brave spirit, the devotion and never-mentioned sacrifices of our toilers there.

Rev. N. C. Brackett served this institution as its president from its beginning until 1897, when he was succeeded by Rev. Ernest Earle Osgood, a young man of most excellent qualifications for such a position. He comes of that class of New England people who have done so much for the education of colored people. Rev. Osgood will doubtless, because of his youth, add vigor and energy to the school that will be helpful in bringing a larger attendance.

CHAPTER II.

BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE.

In this chapter I shall deal with the Baptist schools managed by colored people. Many of these schools have had a very hard struggle; but by the patriotism and race pride of the colored people, they have been constantly growing and developing, until to-day they are among the very best educational institutions in this country.

I open this chapter with a brief sketch of "The Western College," located at Macon, Mo., because I regard it as one of the best schools of the kind in the West.

THE WESTERN COLLEGE.

One of the best institutions in the West for the education of Negroes is The Western College located at Macon, Mo. Since it was founded, in January, 1890, its growth has been extraordinary, and to-day (1901) its temporary buildings are crowded with earnest young men and women anxious to secure a Christian education. Believing that religious principles should underlie all true education, the Negro Baptists of Missouri, several years prior to 1890, had in mind the establishment of a Christian institution in which ministers might receive biblical training and where hundreds of men and women might be educated and thoroughly trained for teaching and other useful pursuits in life. They realized that the Christian college is one of the greatest forces in the aid of Christianity, inasmuch as its great aim is to build up a character in accord with the principles of God's Word. When first opened, the school was conducted in rented quarters at Independence, Mo., for a part of two sessions. In the Fall of 1891 the Board of Trustees purchased twelve acres of land, conveniently located within the city limits, at a cost of $4,000. The school was opened here in January, 1892. At present two buildings are occupied, but the growth of the school has rendered these wholly inadequate for the demands of the work. The colored Baptists themselves have raised a large amount of money for paying on the property, for current expenses and for building purposes. In this work they have been kindly assisted by The Home Mission Society of New York, which has contributed annually toward the payment of teachers. But for its timely aid, the work, so well begun, must have suffered.

Located as this school is, in the northern part of Missouri, it has a large territory from which to draw. Students have matriculated from Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi and Alabama. With enlarged facilities in the way of commodious buildings and apparatus, the power of this institution in the development of the Negro race in Missouri and the West will be beyond calculation. In view of these facts the college should receive substantial encouragement from those who are philanthropically inclined.

PROF. E. L. SCRUGGS, B. D.

Realizing that the lives of public men are in some sense the property of the world, and also that true lives are not lived for self, but for humanity, it affords the writer pleasure to speak of one of Missouri's noble sons, President Enos L. Scruggs, B. D., one who has risen by gradual steps to the position he now holds, overcoming many flinty obstacles to progress. He is an example of a self-made man. Having been left both motherless and fatherless early in life, he was left to combat with the world without the loving and tender care and helpful influences of a mother. By great perseverance and earnest efforts he completed with credit the course of study at Lincoln Institute, Jefferson City, Mo.

PROF. E. L. SCRUGGS, B. D.

Early in life he professed a hope in Christ, and feeling that he was called to the work of the ministry, he prepared himself by a course of study in the Union Baptist Theological Seminary, Morgan Park, Ill., which has recently become "The Divinity School" of the University of Chicago, graduating from there with honor with the degree of B. D. He accepted a call immediately to the Second Baptist Church, of Ann Arbor, Mich. Ever seeking to go higher and higher intellectually, he availed himself of the opportunities afforded him at the University of Michigan. After a very successful pastorate of twenty-eight months, he resigned October 1, 1892, to accept the Presidency of the Western College, where he has most creditably filled the position ever since, doing a noble work in this field. He is building a monument by his earnest efforts and faithfulness to duty that will always be an honor to him, to the race and to the denomination. As he is a young man and constantly striving for richer and better results, we wish for him continued success and that no record will reveal greater riches than his, and that his may present to all a heritage of heroic deeds.

THE BIBLE AND NORMAL INSTITUTE.

The above-named institution was founded and incorporated in Memphis, Tenn., in the year 1887, through the philanthropy of Mr. Peter Howe, of Winona, Ill. Located as it is near the lines of three States—Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas—the school has great possibilities among the host of Baptists in that section, under whose auspices it is conducted.

The Howe building, which the school occupies, is a brick structure two stories above the basement, and is valued at nearly $18,000. The primary department is conducted in the basement. The first floor contains the principal's office, the chapel, and recitation-rooms, while a commodious and well-fitted lecture-room and several "living rooms" comprise the second floor.

As the charter of incorporation indicates, the institution was established for the purposes of giving Bible, literary, scientific, and industrial instruction; training preachers and teachers and other Christian workers. The history of the institution is a proof of the fact that these objects have constantly been before the management of the same. Many of the very best teachers, preachers, and other missionary workers in the section from which the school draws its patronage owe their success directly to its instruction and influence.

The success of the women's missionary and nurse training and the theological departments has been very marked.

PROF. JOSHUA LEVISTER, A. B.

The session of 1896 and 1897 was the first under the control of a colored principal, Prof. Nathaniel H. Pius, a graduate of Leland University, New Orleans, La., who held the position for two years, when he was succeeded by Prof. Joshua Levister, A. B., who is a graduate from Shaw University, at Raleigh, N. C. Prof. Levister is a native of North Carolina. He is a young man of splendid character and very much thought of by all who know him.

The statistics for the session of 1897 and 1898 show the following figures: Enrollment, males, 85; females, 90; number preparing to teach, 35; number preparing to preach, 19; number pursuing missionary and nurse-training course, 30.

At present the faculty consists of seven members, five colored and two white.

The school is located among thousands of Baptists, and will in time take its place as one of the very large Baptist schools. Prof. Levister is a young and energetic man, who will be able to push the work with vigor. They will in time be able to add more of the industrial work, which will be of great help to certain classes of students who do not care to take the higher courses, and will find industrial education very helpful to them.

VIRGINIA BAPTIST SEMINARY.

The Virginia Seminary was founded by the Virginia Baptist State Convention during its annual session of May, 1887, at Alexandria, Va., and was incorporated February 24, 1888, by an act of the General Assembly. The aim of the Seminary is to give a thorough and practical education to the colored youth. Under the provisions of the charter a committee was appointed to purchase suitable grounds, which committee purchased the present site at Lynchburg. The corner-stone was laid in July, 1888. The school was opened January 13, 1890. The property is held in trust by a Board of Managers for the Virginia Baptist State Convention. The school is supported by the colored Baptists of Virginia, who number more than 200,000.

VIRGINIA BAPTIST SEMINARY, LYNCHBURG, VA.

At the time this sketch was written the valuation of the entire property of the institution was estimated at $40,000. The enrolment of students for 1900 numbered 250. The development of this institution has been most creditable to the Baptists of the State of Virginia.

The following compose the faculty of this institution for 1896:

Prof. Gregory W. Hayes, A. M., President, Prof. Bernard Tyrrell, A. M., Prof. J. M. Arter, A. M., Prof. U. S. G. Patterson, George Moore, Mrs. Mittie E. Tyler, Miss Lula E. Johnson, R. Lee Hemmings, Lewis W. Black, Miss Carrie L. Callaway, Walter W. Johnson, Miss Minnie Norvell.

The chairman of the Board of Managers is Rev. R. Spiller; secretary, Rev. P. F. Morris.

Rev. P. F. Morris, D. D., was the first president of the Seminary, but on account of failing health he resigned the position before the institution had been completed.

PROF. GREGORY W. HAYES, A. M.

When President G. W. Hayes was appointed to take charge of the work, he had to start under many disadvantages, a depleted treasury on the part of the Baptist State Convention, and with no available sources from which financial aid could readily be procured. By his zeal and enterprise a large building now crowns one of the most beautiful hills in the vicinity of Lynchburg.

Prof. Gregory W. Hayes was born of slave parents in Amelia county, Va., September 8, 1862. He graduated from Oberlin, one of the first institutions of learning in the State of Ohio, in the class of '88 and was elected to the chair of pure mathematics in the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, which position he held for three years. He was the first president of the National Baptist Educational Convention for the United States and was commissioner-in-chief from Virginia for the Southern Inter-State Exposition. He was elected president of Virginia Seminary in 1891.

PROF. GREGORY W. HAYES, A. M.

In young men like Prof. Hayes rests the future of the race. He is an able orator, and whenever he speaks to a body of people he enlightens them. The future before him is bright. Modest, unassuming, brilliant, he stands tip-toe upon the threshold of success and justice bids him enter.

ARKADELPHIA ACADEMY.

The Arkadelphia Academy was organized Aug. 15, 1890, as Arkadelphia Industrial College. In 1892 the name was changed to the Arkadelphia Academy, and it was made tributary to the Arkansas Baptist College at Little Rock, Ark. The school had few friends and no money when started; but in 1896 the property was valued at $12,000.

F. L. Jones, A. M., is the principal. The object of the school is to train workers for the Sabbath school and other departments of church and Christian work; to this end every person in the school is required to study the Bible, as the Bible is the foundation of all instruction given, and with it go all the cognate studies. The institution is located at Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE.

The history of "The Florida Institute," at Live Oak, Fla., is interwoven with every effort of the colored Baptists of the State. As early as 1868, when the colored Baptist churches in Florida were very few, the fathers of the church in that section took the initiatory steps toward the establishment of this institution.

After much deliberation Live Oak was chosen as the place of location. About three and a half acres of land, with an incomplete building, originally intended for a court house, were purchased at a cost of $2,000. This money was raised by the colored Baptists of Florida. The final payment was made in 1876. The school was incorporated the same year. The school was opened October 1, 1860. Rev. J. L. A. Fish was the first president. He was assisted in the work by his wife and other teachers from the North. Under his wise management the school rose rapidly, against many odds, and took rank among the best of its kind in the State. His administration lasted ten years, during which time the school developed into a power for good, and its influence became far-reaching. Many of the ablest teachers and ministers of the State were trained in this institution. Others, who have made success in business and in professions, received their training in the Florida Institute.

In 1882 a two-story frame building for the accommodation of girls was erected. In 1884 additional grounds and a building for a boys' dormitory were purchased, making in all about ten acres of land, a school building, two dormitories, and the president's residence. Total valuation, about $15,000.

From 1882 to 1887 Dr. Fish edited and published The Florida Baptist, the denominational State organ. The work was done chiefly by the students. Also in the Institute's printing office the work of printing the minutes of the State Convention and the various associations was conducted for several years. The Florida Institute Messenger is now published monthly by the school.

The library of the school contains about 1,000 volumes, many of which are of great value.

The annual enrolment averages about 125. Many of the students are from the best families, and represent every part of the State, and some from other States.

The courses of study embrace the Normal Preparatory, Academic, Theological, and Industrial.

About twenty acres of land near the school are rented at moderate cost, making in all about twenty-five acres cultivated by the students under the direction of a competent professor.

The religious character of the school is a marked feature.

PROF. H. B. LAWRENCE.

Prof. Lawrence, of Massachusetts, served as president during the school year 1890-1891. Rev. M. W. Gilbert was appointed to succeed him in 1891. His administration lasted one year. This year (1896), for the first time, the entire faculty is colored.

October 1, 1892, Rev. G. P. McKinney was appointed president, and now serves his fourth year.

The school is enshrined in the hearts of the colored Baptists of Florida. This is evidenced by the large and liberal contributions they make annually for its support.

REV. GEO. P. MCKINNEY.

In May of 1892, Rev. George P. McKinney was called upon to take the presidency of this institution, the same school in which he began his student life ten years previous.

As president of Florida Institute, pastor of the African Baptist Church, president of Florida Baptist Congress, corresponding secretary State Convention, vice-president State Teachers' Association, and vice-president of the Sunday-school State Convention, he has indicated his fitness and ability.

REV. GEO. P. McKINNEY.

His field of labor is the State of Florida, and as a bold defendant of truth, virtue and morality, he feels himself specially appointed to attack the wrong wherever it is found. By his bold and unmitigating attacks he does not always receive compliments from the assaulted. He teaches the young men under his care to stand by the right even though you be left alone in doing so. In giving this advice to his students, with a serious look into the future, zealous that they should rise up and bless the world, his profound earnestness discloses the fact that he is a man who knows what he wants and goes straight to his goal.

STATE UNIVERSITY.

The State University of Louisville, Ky., is the oldest, largest and most influential institution in the State owned and operated by the colored people.

This institution is the outcome of a general discussion which followed the close of the war, among the colored people, as to the best means of elevating the race and teaching true citizenship. In these discussions the Baptists were foremost, and took the first steps looking forward to bringing about some of the wise suggestions made by those who had spent their lives as slaves and had just been given the rights of American citizens by the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln.

A call for a convention issued by the leading Baptist ministers to be held in August, 1865, at the Fifth Street Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky., was responded to by a large delegation.

Annual meetings were held at such times and places as agreed upon by each annual gathering. In 1869, the necessity for fostering an institution where colored men and women could obtain a Christian education was brought up and practical steps were taken to perfect the organization.

The session held at Lexington, Ky., made application to the State Legislature for a charter. This petition was granted by a charter to the General Association of Colored Baptists, authorizing them to establish a school in the State.

The purchase of ground and the erection of an edifice was the next thing to receive attention. Subscriptions were taken by the leaders, and collections raised in all the churches. It resulted in Old Fort Hill at Frankfort being purchased, but it was found that it could not be utilized for the purpose for which it was bought, and it was sold.

Contributions were raised, the trustees were kept busy looking out for another site, a few young and active men were members of the Board and rendered good service. Among them was William H. Steward, who was employed in the Louisville post-office as carrier, and a representative of his race.

In February, 1879, the school was opened by Rev. E. P. Marrs, with his brother, H. C. Marrs, as assistant, and the attendance was large. Mr. Steward was elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Thus the work progressed and students came in from all parts of the State. At the close of the first year the work looked encouraging.

William H. Steward is termed the pioneer of colored Baptists in Kentucky. This distinction he has won by personal attention to the religious and educational work. In order that the new institution meet with success, he has given hundreds of dollars at a time to assist in prosecuting the work of this University.

Through the efforts of Mr. Steward, the State University is the great institution that it is to-day. It was through his efforts that the services of the late Rev. William J. Simmons, D. D., as president of the institution, and also that the present president, Rev. Charles L. Purce, D. D., were secured.

The faculty of State University is composed of some of the best educated men and women of the country. It consists of Rev. C. L. Purce, D. D., President, Theology and Philosophy; Prof. R. S. Wilkinson, A. M., Languages and Political Science; Prof. W. H. Huffman, A. B., Mathematics and Natural Sciences; Prof. A. G. Gilbert, M. D., English and Hygienic Science; Prof. L. M. Seeley, English and History; Prof. L. V. Jones, English and Cognate Branches; Mrs. M. E. Steward, Music; Mrs. F. R. Givens, Art; Mrs. M. B. Wallace, Matron.

This institution is well supported by the colored people of the State and its work is deserving of high praise.

REV. CHARLES L. PURCE, A. B., D. D.

Dr. Purce is one of the best known educators in this country. He was for ten years president of the Selma University, located at Selma, Ala. He accepted the presidency in 1894, and has done good work for the elevation of the denomination.

He succeeded in paying off the debt of Selma University of $8,000, and by his pluck and perseverance he made many additions to the school and improved the system of education in it. He is a man of good common sense as well as of high mental attainments. He never allows himself to suffer defeat under any circumstances. As a leader among the colored people, he is highly esteemed and acknowledged.

REV. CHARLES L. PURCE, A. B., D. D.,
President of State University, Louisville, Ky.

The following letter from Mrs. M. C. Reynolds, corresponding secretary of the New England Women's Home Mission Society, of Boston, Mass., will show in what light Dr. Purce is regarded by noble white people in the North:

"Dr. Purce is highly esteemed by me. I visited his work, in Selma, Ala., and I liked him very much. He is one of the few colored men who now are fitted to lead. So many are impetuous, sensitive, not well balanced. So many fail to see that it takes time to bring order out of this race chaos. Patience is what is needed. Some have it, some have it not. Some are far-sighted and are willing to bide God's time; these are the leaders."

The corps of competent instructors under Dr. Purce at State University are busily engaged daily in the theological, college, normal, grammar, art, music, sewing and printing departments, preparing young men and young women for future usefulness.

Never before in the history of Kentucky were there so many boys and girls, men and women, striving to get an education. And this desire has been inspired by the noble life and character of Rev. C. L. Purce.

WALKER BAPTIST INSTITUTE.

Walker Institute was founded at Augusta, Ga. Incorporated in 1885. Teachers employed are all colored. The school has an average attendance of over one hundred. This institution takes its name from the Walker Baptist Association under whose auspices it exists. For the last few years the work has made rapid strides forward, winning the patronage of Baptists in both the city and adjoining counties. Two classes have graduated, and the young people are leading useful lives as teachers and preachers. The Walker Baptist Institute aims at Christian education and the perpetuity of the church which gave it birth. It aims at the highest good of man at home and abroad. Its course of study is academic, and, since this is the golden mean between the common school and the higher and professional institutions of learning, it aims at a happy combination of quality and quantity. Its management is in hearty accord with higher training as the shortest and safest route to successful leadership in literary or professional life. The main support of this work is derived from the following organizations for stated purposes: the American Baptist Home Mission Society, Walker Baptist Association, the Home Board of the Southern Baptist Convention; while a small part of the current expense is met by tuition fees and subscriptions by a few friends.

PROF. N. W. CURTWRIGHT, A. B.

PROF. N. W. CURTWRIGHT, A. B.

Prof. N. W. Curtwright, principal of Walker Baptist Institute, is a native of Georgia. He had but very little time in his younger life that he could devote to his education. But being by nature a close student made the most of what time he did have to attend school. In 1888 he received his first certificate to teach in the public schools of his State. In 1889 he entered the junior preparatory class of Atlanta University at Atlanta, Ga. During his seven years' course in this school he was regarded as a very hard and energetic student and made rapid progress in his studies. When he graduated in 1896 he was chosen to represent his class at commencement. Immediately after graduation he was called to the chair of Latin and Greek at Haine's Normal and Industrial Institute at Augusta, Ga. He served in this position one year and part of the second year, when he resigned to accept the principalship of Eddy High School at Milledgeville, Ga. At the close of the year was re-elected. But on the same day was elected as principal of Walker Baptist Institute, which position he had never in any way sought. We feel that the trustees have made no mistake in placing Prof. Curtwright at the head of this institution.

COLEMAN ACADEMY.

Coleman Academy was founded at Gibsland, La., and incorporated in 1887. The teachers employed are all colored, and there are six in number. This institution was founded by Prof. O. L. Coleman, who saw the need of such a school in north Louisiana, as there was a wide scope of country where there had never been a high school for colored people. The school was first opened in a church building in Gibsland, La., in 1887, with only ten pupils. The school has grown rapidly, and during the first five years of its history but little money was received by the principal or teachers, as they allowed their salary to go toward building better and more suitable buildings for their purpose. The institution has six departments, and a full and competent faculty. An industrial and ministerial department were added in 1897. The school has an enrollment of over 200 from some four different States. Ten acres of land, three large two-story buildings, one kitchen laundry building, and a new barn constitute the property of the institution.

PROF. O. L. COLEMAN, A. M.

PROF. O. L. COLEMAN, A. M.

Prof. O. L. Coleman is a native of Livingston, Miss. He first attended the public school of that town. He afterwards went to Alcorn College, then Alcorn University. He also attended school at Washington, D. C. At that time he thought of reading medicine, but gave that up to devote his life as a teacher. He took a course at Chautauqua University, New York, of four years in the study of classics, elocution, and pedagogy.

ARKANSAS BAPTIST COLLEGE.

This school is located at Little Rock, Ark. It was originated by the colored Baptists, in their convention in session at Hot Springs, August, 1884. In the following autumn, school was begun and operated as "The Baptist Institute," using the Mt. Zion house of worship in this city as its first schoolroom. In 1885 Mt. Pleasant house of worship was secured. In that same year, with the aid of Rev. Harry Woodsmall, articles of association were drawn up, and the Institute was legally organized and incorporated under the laws of the State, and known henceforth as the Arkansas Baptist College, with capital stock of $50,000, divided up into shares of $50 each, payable in instalments of $10 a year.

While the "Pastors' Course" was the most prominent feature of the school to begin with, this served as a nucleus around which popular interest collected and grew, and as fast as possible Literary Courses of study were developed and taught, and students from different parts of the State increased in attendance every year, until now the institution has grown in numbers, work and workers, to a very favorable comparison with other colleges in the South.

The spirit of the school is decidedly of a missionary nature. It was established, more than for anything else, to aid teachers and preachers in a higher fitness for their work. Indeed, it aims to specially train preachers and teachers on moral questions, religious obligations and spiritual work. But it also aims to give liberal education in those branches of science, arts, literature and language commonly taught in American colleges, and to give practical training in the industrial and business features of lifework. It is quite unpretentious in all its work, aiming to be, rather than to seem.

The school owns one block, in the southwest part of the city. This property was bought by the colored people at a cost of $5,000. The site is high and desirable, overlooking its surroundings in every direction.

PROF. J. A. BOOKER, A. M.

PROF. J. A. BOOKER, A. M.

Rev. Joseph A. Booker is the president of this school, and his services are highly appreciated by the citizens of the State.

WATERS' NORMAL INSTITUTE.

Waters' Normal Institute, located at Winton, N. C., was incorporated in 1887. Rev. C. S. Brown is its principal. Four colored teachers are employed in this school and excellent work is being done. Rev. Brown has, by energy and determination, built up this work, and as some of the evidences of the thoroughness of the instruction given, a large number of teachers, holding first grade certificates have gone out of this school to teach in the public schools of Hertford and adjacent counties. The Baptists in Eastern North Carolina appreciate his executive ability and they render him hearty support in his enterprise.

WATERS' NORMAL INSTITUTE.

REV. CALVIN S. BROWN, A. B.

Rev. C. S. Brown is an interesting character. He was born of slave parents. He became a teacher in one of the public schools of Salisbury, N. C., at the age of fifteen, having stood an examination before the school board of that city and received a first grade certificate. In 1880 he entered Shaw University for the purpose of studying theology. Six years later he graduated and was valedictorian of his class. He is not only an active man as the principal of the Waters' Normal Institute, but is the successful pastor of a large Baptist church at Pleasant Plains, in Hertford county, near Winton, N. C. At one time he held four churches with an aggregate membership of 2,500. For some years he was the editor of The Baptist Pilot, secretary of the State Ministerial Association and secretary of the State Baptist Association.

CALVIN S. BROWN, A. B.

SELMA UNIVERSITY.

This institution is located in the suburbs of Selma, Alabama, on what was known as the agricultural fair grounds. The property was bought in 1878, comprising thirty-six acres of land with one small building, at a cost of $3,000. Not only did the colored people of the State pay for this, but proceeded to make improvements, and at the same time gave money for the support of the school. The property is now valued at $15,000.

Rev. C. S. Dinkins is president of the school. He is assisted by two white and eight colored teachers.

HEARNE ACADEMY.

Hearne Academy, at Hearne, Texas, is one of the best institutions of the kind in the State. The colored people contribute $2,405 toward the support of this school yearly, and while the enrolment of students only numbers 76 for 1896, the influence of the school is felt throughout the entire State. Rev. J. F. Anderson is principal. Five colored teachers are employed. Rev. Anderson will push the work at Hearne in a faithful and vigorous manner which will bring to the institution both friends and success.

NATCHEZ COLLEGE.

Natchez College is located at Natchez, Miss. This school is one of very great interest, and one that the colored people are very proud of, from the fact that the support of this institution comes entirely from the colored Baptists of the State. The school is attended by about two hundred students, mostly from the State of Mississippi. Prof. S. H. C. Owen, president.

PROF. S. H. C. OWEN, A. M.

PROF. S. H. C. OWEN, A. M.

Prof. Samuel Henry Clay Owen, president of Natchez College, was born at Durhamville, Tenn., March 6, 1856. He is a graduate of Roger Williams University. Prof. Owen has been twice elected president of the Natchez College. He is doing a most excellent work there and has made the school one of the leading institutions of the South.

JERUEL ACADEMY.

Jeruel Academy, located at Athens, Ga., is a small school, but it is doing a splendid work. Rev. J. H. Brown is its principal. There are upward of sixty young men and women in regular attendance.

HOWE INSTITUTE.

Howe Institute, at New Iberia, La., was established in 1888; Rev. E. N. Smith, principal. Considering the many disadvantages of the locality, the school has done remarkably well. Rev. Mr. Smith is aided by three colored teachers.

SPILLER ACADEMY.

Spiller Academy, located at Hampton, Va., was founded by Rev. R. Spiller, and in 1897 became affiliated with the Virginia Union University; Rev. G. E. Read, principal, 1898; colored teachers, 4. Rev. Spiller, the founder of this institution, has been for years one of the most prominent Baptist pastors in Virginia.

FLORIDA BAPTIST ACADEMY.

This school is located at Jacksonville, Fla. It was incorporated in 1892. Prof. N. W. Collier is its principal. There are six colored teachers at work in this institution, and the reports from this school are very encouraging. The colored people in the State contributed $1,320 toward its support in 1895.

CHAPTER III.

CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOLS.

In this chapter, I propose to set forth the important educational work carried on in the South by the American Missionary Association. This work has certainly been significant, and I can do nothing better than quote from Mr. L. B. Moore, Professor at Howard University, Washington, D. C., these words on the industrial schools:

"These industrial schools have been sending to the country places and to the small towns a host of young people who have gone forth as skilled mechanics, and they have gathered them in from the hills and valleys and said, 'Go and learn how to farm with improved implements; go and learn the carpenter's trade with the best tools; learn painting and shoemaking and blacksmithing, and carry the knowledge of these things back to the homes whence you came.' They have been teaching the dignity of labor.

"These industrial schools have also been teaching the value of free labor. The South is just waking up to see what it has lost by slavery. If the white man of the South had been as shrewd as the white man of the East was, he would not now be groaning in poverty and saying, 'We would like to help in this work, but we are so poor.'

"The colleges of this Association are sending out leaders for the people, and oh, how my people need leaders! I can take you to places where the blind are leading the blind, and they are both falling into the ditch together. How important it is that there should be leaders among this people to instruct and help them! These colleges have sent forth 1,000 college-bred men who are going to teach that people; and I tell you the time is coming when that thousand will be increased by another thousand, and the ignorant and ofttimes immoral leaders will have to give way before the light which is now rising.

"Now, why ought this work to be sustained? The first reason is, it pays, and that is the business reason. When a man invests money he wants to know whether it is going to yield him a large income. Can you show me a work that has brought a larger income than the work of the American Missionary Association? Can you show me a people in all history that has made the progress which has been made by the black people in the South according to your own testimony and the testimony of white men in the South?

"Then there is another thing: this work is but justice. It is but just to the slave who toiled for 250 years and accumulated the wealth of this nation. The white man and the colored man were in partnership together for 250 years—John Smith & Co.: but when the dividends were declared, John Smith got them all and the poor colored man has yet to get a settlement. So he is just asking for a share in the dividends."

FISK UNIVERSITY.

Fisk University is located at Nashville, Tenn. Rev. J. G. Merrill, D. D., is the president.

The work of founding Fisk University was begun in October, 1865, by the purchase of a half square of ground in Nashville and securing the large Government hospital that had been erected during the war. The Fisk School was opened January 6, 1866, and the attendance for the first year was over 1,000. There were then no public schools in Nashville for colored children.

FISK UNIVERSITY, NASHVILLE, TENN.
GYMNASIUM AND WORKSHOP
JUBILEE HALL
FISH MEMORIAL CHAPEL
THEOLOGICAL HALL
LIVINGSTONE HALL

The charter for the incorporation of the University under the laws of Tennessee was secured August 22, 1867.

The Jubilee Singers were sent forth to raise money for the University October 6, 1871. The net result of their campaign was $150,000 in money, besides valuable apparatus, books for the library, and several valuable portraits. This success led to the establishment of the University on its present most beautiful and commanding site, one and a quarter miles north-west of the State capital.

The University has in successful operation the following departments:

1. The Common English, which has been maintained to meet a continued need on the part of many of the patrons of the University.

2. The Normal, which has a course of study extending over four years, beginning with Latin and Algebra.

3. The College Preparatory, which has a course of study extending over three years, beginning with Latin and Algebra, and requiring two years of Greek.

4. The College, which has a four years course of study additional to that provided in the College Preparatory course.

5. Department of Music, with an extended course in both instrumental music and voice culture. There are 150 pupils in this department. In addition, vocal music is taught throughout all the courses of study. The Mozart Society studies and renders the classics in music.

6. Industrial. Printing and Carpentry are taught to young men. The young women are instructed in Nursing, Cooking and Sewing.

7. Theological. For the use of this Department the Theological Hall, represented in the cut on page 73, has been erected. The course of study extends over three years.

The University has a campus of thirty-five acres with buildings and other appliances for its educational work, which could not be replaced for $350,000. Number of officers and teachers, thirty. Number of students last year, 478, representing twenty-three States and Territories.

The constant aim in Fisk University has been to build up a great central institution for the higher education of colored youth of both sexes. The faculty and trustees have held undeviatingly to this purpose and the result is that Fisk offers unusual advantages to those who are seeking earnestly for a thorough education.

For healthfulness and beauty of location, in buildings and apparatus, the University is justly ranked as foremost.

Already 291 have been graduated from the College and Normal Departments. The Theological Department, though the last established, offers excellent facilities to those who wish to prepare themselves for the Christian ministry.

The Department of Music numbers over one hundred and offers superior advantages for the study of piano-forte, organ and voice culture.

TALLADEGA COLLEGE.

This institution was founded in 1867 by the American Missionary Association at Talladega, Ala., and incorporated for the purpose of affording "facilities for the education and training of youth, from which no one shall be debarred on account of race or color."

It is easily accessible from all parts of the State, and is so far removed from the great cotton belt as to escape the more intense heat and malaria of that region. The buildings, shaded by trees, stand on high ground, about half a mile from the village of Talladega.

In the vicinity of coal fields, surrounded by hills filled with iron, in the midst of a rapidly increasing population, with clear air and pure water, Talladega College is not surpassed in advantages of location and beauty of scenery by any institution in the South.

The departments of study are Theological, College Preparatory, Normal, Grammar and lower grades, Vocal and Instrumental Music.

The industries are Agriculture, Architectural Drawing, Carpentry, Cooking, Housekeeping, Nursing, Printing, Sewing. There are twenty-four instructors and officers. Over 500 pupils in annual attendance, representing most of the Southern States.

Graduates from various departments of the College are occupying prominent positions as pastors and teachers, or in business. Seven mission Sunday schools in the vicinity of Talladega, enrolling 350 pupils, are maintained by students during term time. At least 3,000 pupils are in attendance upon the country district schools in charge of undergraduates. An institute for the farmers of the county is statedly held under Collegiate auspices and annual meetings of several days' length are conducted in three or four of the counties of the State for the benefit of teachers. In these and similar ways the College is proving itself a mighty and growing force in promoting the physical, intellectual and moral welfare of the people.

From numerous testimonials concerning the worth and work of the College, the following are here given. The County Superintendent of Education writes:

"I have a favorable opportunity of knowing the thoroughness with which your students are taught. Many of the undergraduates have applied to me for certificates of qualification to teach in the public schools. They show that they have been successfully instructed in both manners and matter. It is quite observable that the influence of the College is seen and felt by both races; and I cheerfully recommend it to all lovers of fallen humanity."

An editorial in the Mountain Home, the principal paper in the county, makes this statement: "In two particulars we had the same impression in all cases, namely: that the teachers are thoroughly equipped in all that constitutes efficiency as instructors, and that the students showed remarkable proficiency in their studies."

Rev. G. A. Lofton, D. D., in writing to the New York Examiner, says: "It would be impossible to tell the moral effect of this school as immediately felt upon this section of the State. Especially does it lay an excellent moral foundation upon which the students build character; and culture and refinement in all directions are everywhere manifest."

TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY.

This institution is located in the beautiful little village of Tougaloo, in the very middle of the State of Mississippi, a few miles from Jackson, the capital. It is in the heart of the Black Belt, where the colored people outnumber the whites. The standards in this school are very good, while the teaching is especially excellent.

Rev. Frank G. Woodworth, D. D., is its president. The number of pupils in all the departments of this institution for 1896 was upwards of 400.

Industrial education is thoroughly graded and ably taught. Students are not only made familiar with the use of tools, but are required to make out bills of material, working plans, plans for construction, etc., and to execute them intelligently. In agriculture, the plantation of Tougaloo comprises 640 acres, and about 150 acres are under excellent cultivation, and pupils are practically taught the care of cattle, horses, and mules, plowing and planting, cultivation of crops, gardening, fruit-culture, steam-sawing and the like. In nurse-training this school has had special advantages. Instruction is daily given in nursing and hygiene, with a special course of two years for those who desire to make nursing the sick a profession. The course in cooking, and in sewing and dressmaking, is excellent.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY.

This institution was established by the friends of the freedmen—especially through the instrumentality of the distinguished soldier whose name it bears, and whose spirit its teachers seek to emulate—immediately after the war. It has always welcomed all nationalities alike. Its work of years is now before the country. Every year the Trustees seek to enlarge its scope and fit it for greater usefulness. Important additions have lately been made to its teaching force, and to its literary and scientific appliances.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY.

The institution occupies an elevated and beautiful site at the northern edge of the city of Washington, on a twenty-acre campus, fronting a park of ten acres, and having the Reservoir Lake immediately adjacent on the east. The University edifice, four stories in height, contains recitation and lecture rooms, chapel, library, and laboratory rooms, museum, and offices. The Medical Building is on the south of the Park, and the Law Building is on the west side of Judiciary Square. Miner Hall, presided over by the Matron and Preceptress, is set apart for young lady students. Clark Hall is for young men. Spaulding Industrial Hall (named after Martha Spaulding, of Lowell, Mass.) is devoted to instruction in various trades.

Rev. J. E. Rankin, D. D., LL. D., is the president; James B. Johnson, secretary and treasurer. The work at Howard University is thorough and systematic. A great many applicants are refused admission to this institution from year to year, because they cannot meet the necessary requirements. Howard graduates are usually regarded as thoroughly-equipped men and women.

TILLOTSON COLLEGE.

This institution is located at Austin, Tex.; Marshall R. Gaines, President. It was established by the American Missionary Association, and is maintained under its supervision. It was opened to students in January, 1881. The Institute was named in honor of the late Rev. George J. Tillotson, of Wethersfield, Conn., whose generous contributions and earnest efforts were greatly instrumental in purchasing the lot and erecting Allen Hall. It has enjoyed a steady growth in the public confidence from the first.

During the present year a new charter has been granted and the name changed to Tillotson College.

There are two entirely separate buildings, especially designed and erected as dormitories, and for school purposes. These will accommodate, without crowding, 125 students, besides the rooms for members of the faculty. The boys and girls are, therefore, in different buildings. The boarding department is in the girls' hall, 600 feet north of Allen Hall.

The object of the College is to furnish an opportunity to acquire a thoroughly practical common-school education; to prepare those who propose to take a more extended course for entrance to the highest educational institutions of the land; to train teachers for all positions in the public schools. It is a Christian institution, conducted in the belief that Christian faith is the true source of the highest culture.

STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY.

Straight University is located at New Orleans, La.; Oscar Atwood, A. M., President. The first building for this school was erected by the United States Government about three years after the war, upon land purchased by the American Missionary Association.

The history of the University is a record of steady growth and expanding influence. It was the pioneer school in this section of the South, in offering the recently emancipated race the opportunity for an education leavened with the spirit of the Gospel—an opportunity of which, from the very first, they availed themselves with grateful appreciation. During all the years since, though not without those trials which have tested the faith and devotion of her friends, her progress has been steady and salutary, keeping pace with the growing intelligence of the people, her courses of study being enlarged from time to time to meet their higher intellectual wants, the manifest fruit, in large part, of her own faithful educational ministry.

Thus her history is, in some respects, the intellectual history of the colored people in this part of the South, since they received the gift of freedom, the successive additions of the Normal, Collegiate and Theological Departments marking and measuring the moral and intellectual advancement of the race.

The institution received its name from Hon. Seymour Straight, of Hudson, Ohio, in grateful acknowledgment of his liberal gifts and wise counsel. Mr. Straight is still the President of the Board of Trustees.

Stone Hall, with the ground upon which it stands, is a fine monument to the considerate generosity of Mrs. Valeria G. Stone, of Malden, Mass. It is a dormitory for the girls, and the home of the President and most of the teachers. Here, too, are the kitchen and the cool and spacious dining room.

The general housekeeping is under the supervision of an efficient matron, and an experienced and competent preceptress teaches the girls how to care for their rooms and their health, and trains them in the manners of a refined, Christian home. In a word, the whole management of Stone Hall, with the constant inculcation of the principles of good breeding by precept and example, is an impressive object-lesson to the students of what constitutes the ideal Christian family.

Whitin Hall, a dormitory for boys, is a memorial of the generosity of Hon. Seymour Straight and the late John C. Whitin, of Massachusetts. This is under the charge of an accomplished matron.

BEACH INSTITUTE.

Beach Institute is located at Savannah, Ga.; Miss M. L. Graham, Principal.

The educational movement which finally took the name "Beach Institute" began thus:

Soon after the surrender of Savannah to General Sherman, educational work for colored people was begun under the direction of an "Educational Commission," organized by Rev. J. W. Alvord and Rev. M. French. The first schools were opened by Rev. W. F. Richardson with the aid of colored teachers in the old slave mart and the Styles building in Yamacraw.

Soon after, Rev. S. W. Magill, a native of Georgia and agent of the American Missionary Association in Connecticut, came from the North with a corps of competent teachers and opened a school in the Methodist Church on South Broad street. At the close of the first week 300 children and 118 women were enrolled. The school soon outgrew its quarters and was removed to the Massie school on Gordon street, which building was assigned to this service by General Grover, commander of the district.

Previous to 1867 the colored Methodist Church, New street; Lamar Hall, Liberty street; the lecture rooms of First and Bryan Baptist Churches; Sturtevant Hall, an old wooden structure on the site of present buildings at corner of Price and Harris streets, sheltered this A. M. A. work.

In 1867 commodious buildings were erected by the American Missionary Association, and dedicated as Beach Institute, in honor of Alfred E. Beach, Esq., editor of the Scientific American, who donated the funds to purchase the site.

There were 600 scholars, with ten teachers, at this time.

The teachers' home, 30 Harris street, was first occupied on Thanksgiving day, 1867.

The attendance and teaching force remained at about the same numbers until 1875, when the building was rented to the city for the use of the public school conducted by the Board of Education.

In 1879 the Association again assumed charge in order to secure a higher grade of instruction than the public school authorities thought it wise for them to furnish.

AVERY INSTITUTE.

The Avery Institute at Charleston, S. C., is doing a splendid work for the educational and moral uplifting of the colored people of the State. I do not know of a single school in the State where so many children are in constant attendance. I have visited this school and I have always found every seat in the chapel occupied; in fact, the entire building is usually crowded.

The following is a complete list of all the normal and graded schools conducted by the American Missionary Association in the South:

Gregory Institute, Wilmington, N. C., Washburn Seminary, Beaufort, N. C., Lincoln Academy, All Healing, N. C., Skyland Institute, Blowing Rock, N. C., Saluda Seminary, Saluda, N. C., Brewer Normal School, Greenwood, S. C., Dorchester Academy, McIntosh, Ga., Storrs School, Atlanta, Ga., Ballard Normal Institute, Macon, Ga., Allen Normal and Industrial School, Thomasville, Ga., Knox Institute, Athens, Ga., Normal Institute, Albany, Ga., Normal School, Orange Park, Fla., Union School, Martin, Fla., Trinity School, Athens, Ala., Normal School, Marion, Ala., Emerson Institute, Mobile, Ala., Burrell School, Selma, Ala., Green Academy, Nat, Ala., Industrial Training School, Anniston, Ala., Carpenter High School, Florence, Ala., Le Moyne Institute, Memphis, Tenn., Warner Institute, Jonesboro', Tenn., Slater Training School, Knoxville, Tenn., Grand View Academy, Grand View, Tenn., Pleasant Hill, Tenn., Cumberland Gap, Tenn., Crossville, Tenn., Chandler Normal School, Lexington, Ky., Williamsburg, Ky., Meridian, Miss., Jackson, Miss., Almeda Gardner School, Moorehead, Miss., Helena Normal School, Helena, Ark.

Total number of schools, 84; total instructors, 408; total pupils, 12,604.

Theological, 113; Collegiate, 55; Collegiate Preparatory, 151; Normal, 1,455; Grammar, 2,770; Intermediate, 3,241; Primary, 4,937. Total, 12,604.

Some of these schools are located in the remote districts of the South among what might be classed the neglected classes of the colored people. It is a hard matter to correctly calculate the real worth of these institutions.

DORCHESTER ACADEMY.

Dorchester Academy, McIntosh, Ga., is but one type of a class. It is in the rice fields of Georgia. Beginning with one teacher, it now numbers 413 pupils, five of whom are in the advanced normal grade. The principal writes us: "Although my boys and girls wear dark skins, and come from the rice fields and turpentine swamps, and their native speech is sometimes little better than a jargon, still I would not have hesitated in an exhaustive review of as much of the work of the year as could be covered in two days' examination to have put them beside boys and girls coming from far more favorable surroundings. It was a thorough test and was well met."

This is a school which, with many variations, may stand for many. Next, we advance to schools of higher grade, such as Beach Institute, in Savannah; Gregory Institute, in Wilmington; Ballard Normal Institute, in Macon; Allen Normal, in Thomasville; Orange Park Normal, in Florida; Le Moyne Institute, in Memphis; and Avery Institute, in Charleston (which has merited its place among chartered institutions); and in the entire field twenty-seven more, each deserving consideration, which together form a system of schools where disciplined and experienced instructors are preparing youth for worthy life and many to be worthy teachers for their less privileged people. These schools, though unlike in their environments and characteristics, are yet similar in purpose and not dissimilar in their courses of study. Northern visitors often express surprise in their discovery of the quality of their work.

In referring again to Le Moyne Normal Institute, I will say it was founded in 1871 by the American Missionary Association, and named after Dr. F. Julius Le Moyne of Washington, Pa., who gave some $20,000 for that purpose.

The course of study is English only, including the training of teachers through a good normal course and with considerable attention to manual training, including woodworking and printing for the boys, and sewing, cooking, and nursing for the girls. The school was originally designed to accommodate about 250 pupils, but has grown to a capacity of over 600 in regular attendance, with an annual enrollment of over 750. The buildings are good and well adapted to the work carried on in them.

The principal of this school, Mr. A. J. Steele, has had charge of the work since January, 1874.

CHAPTER IV.

EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS.

While the Episcopal Church has not built up as many schools for the education of colored people in the South as many other denominations, the work it has accomplished is of the most thorough and systematic character.

REV. JAMES S. RUSSELL, ARCHDEACON OF VIRGINIA.

Mr. Russell's early training was under sober, illiterate Christian parents. In very early life he made a profession of religion, was baptized and joined a neighboring denominational church. His membership remained here until he had read the book of Common Prayer, when he at once changed his faith and offered himself as a candidate for the ministry in the Protestant Episcopal Church. He at first felt that he would like to be a missionary to Africa, and his mind was so made up until it was changed by the earnest persuasions of his aged mother, whose only child he was. He has long since felt that rich fields, white and ready to be harvested, awaited him in his own native State, where his ministry is considered a success.

REV. JAMES S. RUSSELL.

Mr. Russell had been appointed on different committees in the diocese of Virginia, and at the council in Norfolk in 1893, diocese of Southern Virginia, he was made a member of the Committee of the State of the church. He was also notified by Bishop Randolph at this council that he had nominated him for his Arch-deacon of the diocese, to have general charge of the colored work in Southern Virginia. This nomination was confirmed at the meeting of the Church Commission in Washington, October 11th, of the same year, and the Venerable Arch-deacon Russell entered upon his new duties immediately thereafter. This new office relieves him of none of the work already carried by him as principal of the school, for he has the entire care of raising funds to operate his large school at Lawrenceville, situated in the heart of the "Black Belt" of Virginia. The school is inculcating the self-help principle in its students. The education of head, hand and heart are combined.

The industries carried on at present are Blacksmithing, Wheelwrighting, Carpentering, Printing, Shoemaking, Farming, Grist and Saw-Milling for the boys, and Cutting, Fitting, Dress-Making, Tailoring, Cooking, Washing and Ironing for the girls. Machinery and material for these departments are needed and earnestly solicited.

The school has been, and is still, dependent upon voluntary support from the friends of industrial education.

The cost of educating a student in St. Paul's is only $75.00 a year, and the student is required to pay $50.00 in money and labor, and the friends of the school are asked to give the $25.00, styled a scholarship.

There were over 300 students in attendance for session 1895-96. The graduating class numbers twenty, and they represent nine distinct States. The school has students from sixteen States in the Union.

No discrimination is made on account of one's religious belief, but all are treated alike and all are required to comply with the rules and regulations as laid down.

The Arch-deacon would find no trouble in admitting 500 or more students if he only had the necessary accommodations for them. The Arch-deacon is meeting with great success in the mission work of his church in the diocese of Southern Virginia.

COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL,
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA.

This is one of the most interesting Institutions I know of in the South. It was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia, in the year 1889, and is established for the benefit of colored orphans of the whole continent, to rescue them from brutal treatment, ignorance, vice, and lives of shame and crime, and to endeavor to make of them sensible, sober, chaste, industrious, religious, and useful members of society.

No higher education is here contemplated, exceptional cases aside, than to make of them intelligent farmers, mechanics, cooks, etc.

This is a much-needed work. Most abject poverty, ignorance and improvidence cause the death of many, whose offspring are left to the mercy of the poor neighbor. The orphan, originally received out of kindness, is kept as a slave, when it is able to do any kind of work; and no one suspects that there are innumerable orphans scattered in cabins, who are practically slaves, groaning under the bitter burden of work and the lash of taskmasters of their own race. The slavery of adults has been abolished, and the slavery of children has been made more bitter and more brutal. Now brutal treatment produces brutes; the man avenges by crime society's guilt in heartlessly neglecting innocent childhood in its sufferings and degradation.

Sufficient as is the direct object of redeeming neglected orphans, by itself, to appeal to the heart and conscience, it is also the most promising work for the elevation of the whole race.

This race needs examples of new life to free itself from the influences of the past. It needs examples, not so much of college-bred men who follow the professions, as of pure men and women who walk in the common paths of life, and who can lead in the way of sensible, honest, industrious, cleanly, and thrifty living, that the sense of sin and virtue, of the morally right and wrong, may be developed. This is the noblest and most promising of charities, because it is for the youngest, the weakest and the lowest.

The institution occupies a farm of one hundred and a fraction acres, in a most healthful spot, affording as fine an opportunity for the bringing up of children as is to be found in the whole country. When completed, several hundred children will be comfortably provided for and trained for their life's work. One wing has been built, and shelters between fifty and sixty children, who range in age from infancy to fifteen or sixteen. A second wing is in progress of erection at this writing. A steam brick yard furnishes the brick and will also form part of the industrial system.

HOFFMAN WING OF COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM AND INDUSTRIAL
SCHOOL.

As to results, so far, it is but the literal truth to say that orphans who would otherwise have been doomed to child slavery and devoted to destruction of body and soul, not only wonderfully prosper in health, but are manifestly influenced by the regular occupation, the firm discipline, the atmosphere of honesty and fidelity in work, and the mental and religious instruction. The Rev. Paul Sterling, of Melrose, Mass., writes to the New York Churchman: "It goes without saying that such a work is doing good, but its beneficial effects are very evident, even in the case of the youngest child, and are the best possible endorsement of the wisdom and capacity of those who have the Institution in charge. The scrupulous cleanliness and orderliness that prevail is also a thing that commends the Institution to the observer."

THREE ORPHAN SISTERS AT LYNCHBURG SCHOOL.

This Institution is without any endowment and is entirely dependent for building fund and for daily bread upon voluntary contributions. The small sum of sixty dollars a year rescues, shelters, trains, feeds and clothes one child! In consideration of the great need of such work as this institution is doing, and of the many well-equipped Institutions all over the South for meeting the other needs of the race, it is to be hoped that means will be soon forthcoming to complete and endow this noble work. Contributions may be sent to Rev. A. Jaeger, D. D., general manager, or to Rev. C. Breckinridge Wilmer, Superintendent, Lynchburg, Virginia.

ST. AUGUSTINE'S SCHOOL.

While mission work of various kinds must be carried on, it is evident that, through the work of schools, the Church will accomplish its greatest work. The ambition of the people for education is very great, and it must be along these lines that the Church will not only satisfy the longings of the people, but also give them the greatest training in Christian discipline.

St. Augustine's School, at Raleigh, N. C., has led the way in this training. It has already sent out from its walls hundreds of teachers and over twenty of the colored clergy. A large number of the teachers and clergy now at work under the Commission for Work among the Colored People received their training here. It was founded just after the war by the Rev. J. Brinton Smith, D. D., from the diocese of Pennsylvania, with the hearty co-operation of Bishop Atkinson, of North Carolina. Dr. Smith secured money with which its land was purchased and buildings erected.

Its work is carried on along three lines—Industrial, Normal and Collegiate. With the exception of a cook and farm hand, with occasional assistance, the whole work of the school is done by the students. The girls have the care of the household, the young men the care of the grounds. Besides that, the girls receive thorough and systematic training in both cooking and sewing, the courses extending over several years. Instruction has been given to the young men in carpentering and in brick-laying. It is greatly to be desired that this trade instruction might be furthered by the establishment of a trade school, modelled after the New York Trade School, founded by Col. Auchmuty and so well endowed by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. The skilled mechanics of the South were largely trained in the days of slavery, and, with the passing of this generation, it is important that younger men should be thoroughly trained and enabled to earn an honest living. The development of the South depends not alone upon its rich and various resources, nor upon the muscle of the colored laborers, but also upon the brain and skill of those laborers.

In its normal work, the school is continually sending forth a stream of teachers for the public schools as well as for the Church schools. There is little danger of carrying on higher education, as some have thought. The greatest difficulty is in securing, at this stage of the race's development, students who have the grit to persevere in their school work so as to reach the higher classes.

The school has an endowment of about $30,000, of which $25,000 reverts to the Board of Managers of Missions, in case of impairment or misuse. There are large buildings for both girls and young men. Two of the buildings have been erected almost entirely by the students.

CHAPTERS V. AND VI.

METHODIST SCHOOLS.

The Methodist Church has been very active in its educational work at the South, and its schools rank among the very best. It is noticeable that this church has paid special attention to industrial education among the colored people. I have visited some of these schools and I was pleased to see how highly the young men and young women appreciate the opportunities afforded them to learn trades and professions.

WALDEN UNIVERSITY.

At the close of the Rebellion in 1865, the condition of the emancipated slaves attracted the attention of patriots, philanthropists, and Christians North and South. There were millions of them ignorant of books and of their duty as freedmen. They were poor, having only the clothes they wore, or if they had other property, it could usually be carried in a bundle in the hand or on the head. All the leading religious denominations of the North entered this field of missionary work—the Methodist Episcopal Church among the first. In 1865 the missionary society of this church appropriated $10,000 to establish a school for the freedmen in the South. This sum was placed under the direction of Rev. Bishop D. W. Clark, D. D., who, having visited Nashville, authorized Rev. John Seys and Rev. O. O. Knight to open a school in Clark Chapel, a church building purchased from the M. E. Church, South, and then known as Andrew Chapel. Rev. O. O. Knight was principal, assisted by Mrs. Julia North, Mrs. Mary Murphy, and Miss O. D. Barber. All of the assistants were colored. The school was composed of scholars of all ages and sizes—grandparents and grandchildren, parents and children, were in the same classes. They were poorly clad, and mostly homeless wanderers from the plantations. They found shelter in the army barracks, in abandoned houses, in cellars or garrets, stables, or other out-houses—whatever would afford them a present shelter. Yet in the midst of this destitution they were hungry for education. Never did teachers have more earnest pupils. The crowded condition of the church soon led the teachers to seek for better accommodations, and the next year the school was moved into the building known as the Gun Factory.

WALDEN UNIVERSITY.
Dr. J. Benson Hamilton, President.
(inset) Meharry Medical Department.

The school was chartered in 1866 by the Legislature of Tennessee. A large portion of the students have been teachers, and are at school preparing for more advanced work.

Since this school has had its charter, we know of none where a greater amount of good has been accomplished. The graduates from there are found in all parts of the country engaged in all useful walks of life. There is a theological training given to young men wishing to enter the ministry. Also a splendid law department where young men are prepared to plead in the highest courts of the land. Dr. J. Braden, D. D., who has for years stood at the head of this Institution as its president, is one man among a million, for when he went to Nashville, it was worth more than mere talk for a white man to declare himself a friend to negro education. He grew old in the work, and was much beloved by all who knew him. At his death he was succeeded as president by Dr. J. Benson Hamilton, a man who is known as a strong leader, and doubtless one who will take up the work Dr. Braden had for years carried on with such marked success, and continue to make Walden University one of the best known schools. It was for years known as Central Tennessee College.

MEHARRY MEDICAL, DENTAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL
DEPARTMENTS OF WALDEN UNIVERSITY.

G. W. HUBBARD, M. D., DEAN.

The Meharry Medical Department was organized in October, 1876, and was the first school opened in the Southern States for the education of Colored Physicians. Since that date, 482 students have been enrolled, 263 of whom have received the degree of M. D., and most of whom are now engaged in the practice of their profession in the Southern States, and have been cordially received by the White Physicians; they consult with them in serious cases and assist in difficult surgical operations.

The success which has attended the professional work of their alumni has been very encouraging, and the professional reputation they have acquired is such as any college might well be proud of.

Ever since the organization of Meharry Medical College, the want of means has been greatly felt. Every year, many students have been unable to attend on account of the lack of sufficient means. With few exceptions, they are entirely dependent on their own labor to meet their college expenses, and many have younger brothers or sisters to assist or families of their own to support. During the session of 1894-95, one of their students sacrificed his life in his efforts to supply the needs of his family and carry on his medical studies. The applications are frequent asking for a little aid, or for an opportunity to work to help pay their college expenses.

The Dental and Pharmaceutical Hall contains a clinical amphitheatre capable of seating two hundred students, a Dental Infirmary, Dental Laboratory, two rooms for pharmaceutical work, a laboratory for analytical chemistry and a museum.

The twenty-first annual session of the college opened September 14, 1896.

The Meharry Dental Department was opened in 1885, and since that time twenty-two have completed a course in dentistry and received the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery.

A most promising and useful field is now open in this profession, as there is a large and increasing demand for dental work, and good and competent Dentists will find plenty of work and fair remuneration.

This school is a member of the "American Association of Dental Faculties," and diplomas from this college receive due recognition wherever they are presented.

The Pharmaceutical Department has been in successful operation for five years, during which time thirty-one students have finished the course and have been fitted for the responsible position of practical druggists. With scarcely an exception the graduates in pharmacy have made good records before the different State Boards of Pharmacy, and most of them are either owners or managers of drug stores in different parts of the South.

The question is often asked, "What are the young men of the colored race doing after they have obtained a college or professional education?"

The following table will show what the graduates of Meharry are doing: Teaching, 9; Preaching, 4; Employees of U. S. Government, 3; Editor, 1; Sunday School Agent, 1; Occupation unknown, 6; Practising medicine, 218. Total number living, 242.

CLARK UNIVERSITY.

Clark University is a Christian school, founded in the year 1870 by the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is open to students of all classes regardless of sex or color, the sole conditions of admission being a desire to learn, good moral character, and obedience to lawfully constituted authority.

The buildings and grounds are located just south of the corporation line of the city of Atlanta, Ga. The campus is sufficiently elevated to overlook the city, and has perfect natural drainage on all sides. It is beautifully shaded with oak and pine, which with its great elevation—1,200 feet above sea level—makes it a delightful retreat in midsummer. It would be difficult to find a more healthful location in the United States—an assertion proven by the fact that, among the thousands who have been in attendance, but one has died on the grounds during eight years of operation.

Rev. Charles Manly Melden, Ph D., is at this time president of Clark University. I am told that he has taken hold of the work with that sort of energy and earnestness which always brings success. He has around him a very able body of teachers, among them Prof. Wm. Henry Crogman, A. M., as teacher of Latin and Greek languages and literature. Prof. Crogman is the author of a very useful and well-written book on the subject of race progress, entitled "The Remarkable Advancement of the Negro Race." His book is full of very instructive and interesting matter, giving a great many valuable facts touching upon the history and progress of the race in this country, in such a way that no family can well afford to be without a copy.

Too much cannot be said in favor of books written by colored authors upon the subject of race progress. While the race is making such marked and rapid progress, a new book could appear each year full of useful information.

The industrial features of Clark University are interesting in the extreme. I found well equipped shops where wagons and carriages are made by students, also a splendid harness shop, where several young men have been taught the trade and have since started harness shops of their own. Large express and ice wagons, now in use in Atlanta, were made at Clark University entirely by student labor. Every young man above the age of sixteen and below the college classes is required to devote two hours per day to manual training, consisting both of theoretical and practical work. Pupils are required not only to construct miniature models, but products for the market as well, and thus are prepared for the struggle of life, should no professional position open to them. Not all students can fill professions. Skilled bread-winners are second only to skilled soul-winners. The great need of the South and especially of the Colored people, is skilled workmen who can wield a deft hand and teach others to do the same—men who can earn $2.50 per day while others are earning 75 cents.

Clark University is endeavoring to supply this want through her Industrial Department. It teaches Carpentry, Wagon-making, Carriage-trimming, Harness-making, Painting and Printing.

THAYER HOME.

This home, as its name indicates, is modeled after a real home, and is furnished with all modern improvements. It can accommodate about twenty young ladies, who are taught to cook, keep house and do other things practised in a well ordered home.

Miss Flora Mitchell, who superintends this home, is in my opinion, one of the finest specimen of noble womanhood I have ever met.

The work of the home is done by the occupants alternately, so as to give all a practical knowledge of model housekeeping. Lectures are given on domestic science, food, dress, physical culture and social ethics. In short, the aim of the Home is to fit young ladies to conduct and adorn a model Christian home.

Too much cannot be said in praise of the excellent work done at Thayer Home, and especially when we take into consideration the very crude homes that many of the girls come from who are students there. I had the pleasure of eating a meal at the Home on one occasion and I was very much impressed with the extreme neatness of the place. Miss Mitchell told me many interesting things about the Home and its work, also showed me quite a lot of needlework done by the girls. She said, "I have visited several homes of students from here who have married, and it was such a pleasure to see our girls located in neat, clean homes of their own when both husband and wife were happy, and it was positive proof to me that our labor had brought forth good results." I met in Philadelphia Mrs. Rev. P. O'Connell who was at one time a student under Miss Mitchell, and she is very enthusiastic over the good work done at "Thayer Home" for Colored girls. I will say in conclusion that if Mrs. O'Connell's home is a specimen of other homes kept by students from there, then "Thayer Home" is indeed a blessing.

CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY.

The existence of Claflin University is due largely to the generosity of the Hon. Lee Claflin and family, of Boston, Mass.

In 1869 this property was purchased and set apart to its present purpose and is now one of the most interesting schools in existence for the education of the Colored youth; located at Orangeburg, S. C., where the Colored Methodists are strong in number. Rev. L. M. Dunton, A. M., D. D., president of Claflin, went South as a preacher in the early days of freedom and has remained ever since. Claflin University has now one hundred acres of ground that are worked by students. The school has been assisted by the Peabody and John F. Slater funds at different times. It is the only Methodist school in the State under the auspices of the M. E. Church or its aid and educational society. There have been enrolled since 1869, when the school was founded, about 8,000 different students. It is estimated that one thousand Christian teachers, besides many ministers, mechanics, and intelligent laborers, have been educated there. It is impossible to make an estimate as to the great good that has been done by preparing Christian young men and women to be laborers among their own race. The number of teachers required to man the school is about nineteen and the property is estimated at one hundred thousand dollars in value, and has some twenty buildings connected with the institution. Besides the Collegiate, College Preparatory, Normal and English courses, twenty distinct industries are taught.

NEW ORLEANS UNIVERSITY.

The University is situated at 1428 St. Charles avenue, in one of the most beautiful and healthful sections of the city of New Orleans, La. The ground includes nearly two squares.

The main building is of brick, five stories high, furnished with the best of furniture.

Besides large parlors and society rooms, there are rooms for 150 students in the building.

The heating is by steam and every precaution has been taken for comfort and for safety.

A frame building is used exclusively for recitation rooms. It will accommodate 350 students, so that ample provision has been made for all who can attend.

The value of the entire property is $100,000.

It has an industrial school in connection, in the way of carpenter-shop, printing office, tin-shop, and surgery school.

In about 1889 there was a Medical School established at New Orleans University, and up to 1892 the first class graduated. The charter of the institution admits students of this school to practise in its wards; also admits them to practise in the State of Louisiana.

Rev. L. G. Adkinson, A. M., D. D., the president, is a man of great ability and has accomplished great good during his professorship.

COOKMAN INSTITUTE.

Cookman Institute is located at Jacksonville, Fla. The beginning of this Institute was very unpretentious. It was started in 1872, simply to do good among the colored people in the immediate locality. Prof. H. R. Bankerd is president.

In an old church, then in an unfinished building, and finally in a small, two-story wooden building, Cookman Institute took on its more permanent growth.

Property adjoining the Methodist Episcopal Church was purchased by the Freedmen's Aid Society, and upon it began the long and laborious task of erecting buildings suitable for the work, and also the greater difficulty of raising the money to pay for them. The institution has buildings worth $25,000, accommodating one hundred boarders and 400 day pupils. These serve for the present size of the school. They are constructed of brick, and convey the idea of strength and durability.

Of far greater value than building has been the desire to see the intellectual work carried forward. This has been no easy task. To organize the various departments, get the classes well defined and students brought on to fill the several stations in the progress of the work, has taken years of patient toil and the expenditure of much money.

Those who have been with the school have won for themselves many golden opinions. The graduates honor themselves in their success in life, and show what education will do for the people when extended courses of study are pursued.

LAGRANGE ACADEMY.

This school is located at LaGrange, Ga. The faculty consists of Miss Carrie King, Principal; Carrie E. Campbell and Julia Gilmore, Tutors.

This school was organized in 1876, and is now under the auspices of the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society. Its design is to meet the great demand for a thorough and systematic course through the English, Normal and Academic studies. The Academy is an auxiliary to Clark University, and the text-books used are the same as at the University. The building is situated in the northwestern part of the town, three-fourths of a mile from the station.

RUST UNIVERSITY.

This Institution is located at Holly Springs, Miss., and was started in the early days of freedom by the Freedmen's Aid Society and represents one of the best schools in the South for the education of the colored youth. Being a Methodist School, it has a large number of families to draw its scholars from, for Mississippi is largely made up of Methodists and Baptists. I found a much better state of affairs in Mississippi from an educational standpoint among the colored Methodists than I expected, and I am sure the credit is largely due to the very excellent work done at Rust University. I found that, in addition to the Academic, Normal and Collegiate courses taught there, they give industrial training in printing, sewing, plumbing, rustic work, and domestic industry. They also have a splendid model home for girls. The president, William W. Foster, Jr., D. D., is a most excellent man. He comes to this institution from the East, where he has served some of the leading M. E. Churches as pastor. He is a graduate of Boston University, and comes well fitted to take charge of such a school as Rust. Mrs. Foster, who is as well known in the church as her husband, will be of great help and inspiration to him in this new field.

PRINCESS ANNE ACADEMY.

This school is located at Princess Anne, Md. Princess Anne Academy was founded as a branch of Morgan College, Baltimore, Md., in September, 1886, and in 1891 was also made the Eastern Branch of the Maryland Agricultural College.

A good farm containing 121 acres, together with barns, stock, farming implements, &c., have been added for practical instruction in Farming and Gardening; also shops, tools and materials for teaching Carpentry, Blacksmithing, Shoemaking, Tailoring, Masonry, &c., have been provided for the boys; and facilities for teaching the girls Cooking, Laundering, Sewing, and the general proprieties of housekeeping, have been added, and very gratifying results have followed.

Students are allowed to select their own trades, at which they are required to work one hour daily except on Saturday, when they devote five hours. They rise at 5.45 A. M., and retire at 9.45 P. M., thus devoting at least eight hours to rest and sleep; of the remaining time about ten hours are spent in Literary Work and Manual Training. The course of study is broad, thorough, and perfectly in keeping with the spirit and needs of the times. Nearly one thousand persons have received more or less training since the organization of the Academy, and few have any difficulty in securing profitable employment as soon as they leave school.

Since the death of Prof. B. O. Bird, the founder of Princess Anne Academy, Rev. P. O'Connell, a most excellent man, has been selected as principal.

WILEY UNIVERSITY.

Wiley University is located at Marshall, Texas, a quiet city of ten thousand inhabitants. It is now enjoying a period of unparalleled prosperity along all lines. For the years 1897-98, the enrollment reached 352. These pupils come from Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, and represent some of the best homes in this section.

REV. M. W. DOGAN, A. M.

It is the aim of the management to keep the courses of study fully abreast of the best in the South. To this end the departments are being constantly strengthened. In addition to a well-equipped college department, the following departments are successfully operated: preparatory, normal, English, musical, and industrial.

Wiley University is distinctively a Christian institution and no apology is made for insisting on Christian instruction. The pupils are taught that the most enduring education has Christianity for its basis.

The faculty of Wiley is composed of 15 professors and instructors, all colored but two. Rev. M. W. Dogan, A. M., is a young man of most excellent educational qualifications for the place he holds as president of Wiley University. He has taught at some of the best schools in the South.

MORGAN COLLEGE.

Morgan College is located in Baltimore, Md., Rev. F. J. Wagner, A. M., D. D., president, and for years has played an important part in the education of the race. It has its representatives as graduates all over the State of Maryland. The higher grades are taught there, and the teachers employed are the best. In addition to its regular work it has two branches, in the way of the Lynchburg, Va., Annex and Princess Anne Academy, located at Princess Anna, Md., which is mentioned in another write-up. Mr. Wagner is very much thought of by colored people, and he has shown himself an untiring worker for the elevation of the race.

BENNETT COLLEGE.

Located at Greensboro', N. C., in a part of the State where the colored population is very large. This school when first opened had a white president in the person of Rev. E. O. Thayer, but of recent years the board has had colored teachers in charge. Rev. C. N. Grandison at one time was president. At this time Prof. J. D. Chavis, A. M., B. D., is president with a good corps of colored teachers under him. I regret that I am unable to present his picture, for I am of the opinion that he is a most worthy young man.

BROWNING HOME.

An industrial and high-grade school for girls, is located in the historic town of Camden, S. C., within the bounds of the district. The work done there and the discipline are so thorough that it deserves more than mere mention. The Home was built in 1887 by the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the M. E. Church, to educate girls and young women along the line of practical housekeeping. Since the opening of the school, about one hundred and twenty-five have received training. Connected with the Home is a day-school of high grade, having a regular course of study, from which three classes have graduated. The school this year is well attended, having an enrollment of over two hundred; and thirty-seven girl boarders in the Home.

The Home will be enlarged so as to accommodate all who may come. Total expenses for board and tuition, five dollars per month.

Mrs. Gordon, the superintendent, and her corps of teachers, are a noble band of self-sacrificing women, who came from the North. They have been the subjects of opposition, and abuse, and ostracism, in their efforts to elevate a downtrodden people, and they deserve, and ought to have, the patronage, sympathy, and good-will of all.

GAMMON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

Gammon Theological Seminary, at Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest theological school for the exclusive education of colored men in the United States. It stands to-day a monument to the philanthropy of Elijah H. Gammon, of Maine, a noble gentleman, who endowed the school with nearly half a million dollars. Dr. Gammon was certainly a philanthropist. This fact is plainly indicated by his splendid beneficence.

He did not wait till in sight of the grave and then cast off his wealth as a possession he could no longer use; but living, he poured out his treasures; yea, more, he gave the ripe thought of his last years—planned and wrought for the equipment of this Seminary. The measure of his philanthropy is not in that he gave $10,000 to Garrett, $5,000 to the Maine Wesleyan, thousands to churches and aid to many struggling students. The mere catalogue of benefactions is no measure of the real philanthropist. The man himself, his motive, his purpose, his sacrifice, his unselfish enthusiasm, his giving of thought and time and heart for humanity—these are the tests of genuine philanthropy.

He did not endow this school merely for the sake of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He wanted to help all his fellow-men through all the churches. It was entrusted to the care and direction of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as best adapted through its spirit, organization and government in the South, to carry out his plans.

His benefactions took the form of a theological school because he believed that the ministers held the centre of power, and were to be the leaders of their race for years to come.

He established an institution opened especially for the Negro race, not because they were black, but because they were the most needy of all men. He simply gave practical expression to his faith in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. He was no sentimentalist as regards the Negro. He simply had a heart as broad as humanity—a great heart backed by conscience—and without prejudice, it went out to this race as a part of God's family, needing the touch of Christ's hand, through him.

Rev. Wilbur P. Thirkield, D. D., President of Gammon Theological Seminary, is laboring hard and earnestly to make the institution all that Dr. Gammon, its founder, had aimed to have it; and the class of young men who are receiving their training for the ministry in this school is certainly a compliment to the endeavors of its president.

There has been something over one hundred young ministers who have graduated from Gammon Theological Seminary.

Dr. J. W. E. Bowen, one of the best educated colored men in this country, is one of the instructors in this institution; and his work is regarded as being very fruitful and effectual.

The position Dr. Bowen holds at Gammon Theological Seminary is one that could only be filled by a man of a splendid education. He is Professor of Church History.

Dr. Bowen was a representative to the last General Conference of the M. E. Church, which met in Cleveland, Ohio, in May, 1896. He secured a large vote for the Bishopric, but I am sorry indeed to say was not elected. I was in hopes that the M. E. Church had grown magnanimous enough to at least elect such a worthy colored man to preside over the thousands of colored members they have, if no others.

In addition to the schools already mentioned in the M. E. work, I wish to mention Philander Smith College at Little Rock, Ark., Rev. J. M. Cox, D. D., president; George R. Smith College, Sedalia, Mo., E. A. Robertson, principal; Central Alabama Academy, Huntsville, Ala., A. W. McKinney, principal; Gilbert College, Baldwin, La., A. E. P. Albert, principal; Meridian Academy, Meridian, Miss., J. L. Wilson, principal; Morristown Academy, Morristown, Tenn., J. L. Hill, principal. I regret that want of space will not admit of special mention of all the above schools, for I can assure my readers that they are all worthy institutions that are playing a great part in the education of the race.

Rev. M. C. B. Mason, D. D., was elected as a general corresponding secretary of the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Educational Society. Mr. Mason is a graduate of New Orleans University, also of Gammon Theological Seminary. He is the first colored man to hold this position in the history of the Society. The Methodist Church will doubtless find places for a larger number of the educated colored students from her schools to labor in the different departments of the church than have been employed in the past.

CHAPTER VII.

A. M. E. SCHOOLS.

I desire to call the reader's attention to the fact that all of the A. M. E. Schools are supported entirely by the colored people. In this regard they are unlike other denominational institutions.

WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY.

It is a beautiful coincidence, full of historic value, that appears in the planting of two institutions in Greene county, Ohio, some four miles apart. Between them runs a highway over which passed, some thirty-five years ago, that mysterious line known in history as the Underground Railroad. It was while the slave was yet hastening his flight from the tobacco patches, the cotton fields, the sugar plantations of the Central South to the sterner clime of England's Colony, cold yet free, that Wilberforce University rose, right beside his perilous path, to offer freedom of mind and heart to him who dared remain. The war came with its carnage and death. Twenty years later Ohio built a home where the orphan of the soldier who died to free the slave might be succored in the years of its helplessness. In sight of each other and on opposite sides of the fugitive's path to liberty, stand these historic monuments, the results of a civilization that is the glory of the century.

WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY.

Wilberforce University was organized in 1856 by the M. E. Church. Its object was higher educational facilities for colored youth. In its first Board of twenty-four Trustees was Hon. Salmon P. Chase, then governor of Ohio, and the fugitive slave's powerful advocate; also Rev. Richard S. Rust and Bishop Daniel A. Payne. Its first active president was Dr. R. S. Rust, and its students were largely "the natural children of Southern and Southwestern planters." On the beautiful premises, for which Nature has done so much, with its sparkling mineral springs, its varying landscape, its superb repose, the young institution grew and flourished. But the dark days of civil strife closed in upon it and its patronage from the South ceased, its operations were suspended.

BISHOP D. A. PAYNE, D. D., LL. D.,
First President of Wilberforce.

While the war was still in progress, the future, full of misgivings, without a dollar and alone, on the night of the 10th of March, 1863, Bishop Payne purchased the college property for $10,000. He at once associated with himself Rev. James A. Shorter, afterward Bishop, and Prof. J. G. Mitchell, now Dean of Payne Theological Seminary. An act of incorporation was duly taken out, with the broad principle embodied in it that "there shall never be any distinction among the trustees, faculty or students on account of race, color or creed."

The financial obligations which Bishop Payne had assumed were being promptly met through his indefatigable efforts, and everything indicated a prosperous future, when, on the 14th of April, 1865, and by the hand of incendiaries, the beautiful edifice went up in flame and smoke. That night Lincoln laid his life on Freedom's Altar. Undismayed, President Payne began the labor of reconstruction. A four-story brick building was commenced on the original site. Congress was importuned, and through the influence of Senators John Sherman, Charles Sumner and others, $28,000 was appropriated to complete and equip the work. The consecrated efforts of the Founder of Wilberforce University were fruitful in other directions. Through his influence, the society for the promotion of Collegiate and Theological education at the west made appropriations from its funds, of $1,800 per annum for two years. The American Unitarian Association supported a lecture course from 1868 to 1875 at an outlay of $6,000. The will of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase contained as its first bequest, $10,000 for Wilberforce University, and the executors of the Avery estate in Allegheny City added $10,000 to its endowment.

For thirteen years Bishop Payne presided over the affairs of the University. He called to his aid such instructors as Dr. Wm. Kent, of England, Prof. T. E. Sullot, of Edinburgh, Scotland, Dr. J. G. Mitchell, of Oberlin, Prof. W. B. Adams, of Amherst, Prof. B. K. Sampson, of Oberlin, and Prof. J. P. Shorter, of Wilberforce, Ohio. Among the ladies who rendered valuable service were Miss Esther T. Maltby and Miss Sarah Jane Woodson, of Oberlin, Mrs. Alice M. Adams, of Holyoke, and Miss Mary McBride, of Oswego.

From under Bishop Payne's hand went out such graduates as Dr. J. T. Jenifer, Dr. T. H. Jackson, Prof. J. P. Shorter, Bishop B. F. Lee, Dr. J. W. Beckett, President S. T. Mitchell, Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the Misses Copeland and others of large acquirements and wide influence, known over the continent. In the undergraduate column were Bishop Cain, Bishop Salter, Dr. Wm. Hunter, Hon. C. L. Maxwell, Poet A. A. Whitman and others. President Payne left his impress on every line of college development. He organized the Trinity Church, the Society of Inquiry on Missions and the Women's College Aid Society.

In the summer of 1879 his earnest endeavors placed in position our most valuable teaching auxiliary, the Payne Museum, built by Prof. Henry A. Ward, of Rochester, and illustrating the various departments of Natural Science. The Museum is worth $2,000. Bishop Payne resigned the presidency in 1876 and it was in the administration of his successor that this important acquisition was made.

REV. B. F. LEE, D. D.

President Lee brought to the conduct of the affairs of the University splendid moral, mental and physical abilities. In all the elements of devotion to a great enterprise, of personal sacrifice, of tireless industry, of uprightness of character, of accurate judgment, he was a worthy successor to the great Founder.

And the University grew in usefulness, in popularity, in the scope and character of its departments. On the 20th of June, 1878, the buildings and grounds were dedicated and a bright era dawned. President Lee held most of the faculty for a period and joined to it such talent as Prof. W. S. Scarborough, Mrs. S. C. Bierce, Miss E. R. George and others.

Through the Missionary Department of the church, the island of Hayti was brought into close relations and five of her sons entered upon various courses of study. Under the efficient management of Mrs. Bierce (now Mrs. Scarborough), a graduate of Oswego, N. Y., the Normal Department rapidly developed into a most vigorous arm of the University work. President Lee organized and sent out the Wilberforce Concert Company that sang its way to the hearts of thousands in the West and Northwest. Financially it was not a success, but the good it accomplished was inestimable.

This administration gave to the world a brilliant galaxy of cultured young men and women, for the pulpit, for the schoolroom and for general service. It included such graduates as Profs. H. A. Talbert, Ex-Professor of Languages at Wilberforce University; F. S. Delany, Principal High School, Madison, Ind.; Edward A. Clark, War Department, Washington, D. C.; M. H. Vaughn, D. M. Ashby, J. R. Gibson, Principal High School, Galveston, Tex.; G. W. Prioleau, Chaplain 9th Cavalry, U. S. A.; Drs. W. H. Yeocum, I. M. Burgan, Ex-President Paul Quinn College, J. R. Scott, President Edward Waters College, Jacksonville, Fla.; Miss Georgiana White, Mrs. Alice E. Cary, Principal of one of the largest public schools in Atlanta; Miss A. H. Jones, and others. The University reached its highest enrolment, for the first twenty years, in '79-'80, a total of 171 students. All through these years revivals occurred with the return of every session and hundreds of young men and young women learned life's noblest lesson of consecrated purpose to the cause of God and mankind.

REV. SAMUEL T. MITCHELL, A. M., LL. D.,
President of Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio.

In 1884, President Lee accepted the Editorial Chair of the Christian Recorder, Philadelphia, from which he rose to the highest station in the gift of his church—the bishopric. The presidency came to the hands of another of Bishop Payne's graduates, Prof. S. T. Mitchell, of class of '73. It is preferable to let another speak, and Prof. W. S. Scarborough, in the Ohio State Journal, of February 5, 1894, has the following comment:

"President Mitchell's incumbency has been fraught with nothing but good for the college. He is to be congratulated on the marvelous success that has attended his efforts of upbuilding and enlarging the usefulness as well as the domains of the institution."

The last decade has witnessed a continuation of the steady growth of the University. Four Departments now represent its work. The Collegiate, including law, music and art, with its preparatory courses; the Normal and Industrial, under State patronage; the Theological, under the name of the Payne Theological Seminary; and the Military, under the National Government. The second of these departments came into existence in 1887 under a statute of law providing both for its organization and maintenance.

From that time until the present (April 10, 1896), the State has appropriated $100,000 to support the department, and the 72d General Assembly of Ohio, by a majority vote greater than that given to any other State Institution, authorized a levy on the grand tax duplicate of the State that will yield a permanent revenue of $17,500 at the beginning, to increase annually with the financial growth of the commonwealth. No greater endorsement of a Colored Institution can be found anywhere in the United States. It has a faculty of nine members who give instruction in Normal branches, business course, shorthand, typewriting, nurse training, vocal culture, dressmaking, cooking, carpentry and printing.

The faculty is exceptionally strong. Oswego Normal School, New York, furnishes the principal of the Normal Department; from Central Commercial College, Iowa, comes the business professor; Ann Arbor gives a trained medical doctor (a lady), resident physician and head of the nurse-training department. An experienced mantua-maker, who in Washington, D. C., counted among her patrons Presidents', senators' and diplomats' wives and daughters, trains the girls in dressmaking, using McDowell's system, of highest honors at the World's Fair. A graduate of Mrs. Rorer, head of the cooking department at the Columbian Exposition, teaches cooking; an experienced, thoroughly competent instructor, whose education was obtained in Boston, trains in vocal culture. Skilled workmen of ten and fourteen years' experience, teach the trades of carpentry and printing. By a provision of the statute, every member of the General Assembly may nominate a student resident in the State, whose tuition, room rent, fuel and incidentals are furnished free.

The equipment includes the splendid Normal Hall, provided with office, library, reception room, cooking apparatus for instruction, rooms for sewing and nurse-training and teachers' and ladies' resident room. It is heated by the Gurney system of hot water, and is supplied with bath rooms, laundry room, dining room and every convenience. A fire-escape at each end of the building furnishes ready exit from every floor. The printing office, carpenter shop, and cooking school, each fully equipped for its work, are operated in a new three-story brick industrial building, constructed by students. Here is located a forty-five horse-power engine, and an electric plant sufficient for all purposes of water supply, illumination and general work.

A magnificent mineral spring of 2,500 bbl. capacity per diem is the source of water.

To the sixty-two acres of ground now occupied will be added the beautiful estate of Robert Kendall, just adjoining, and which contains 130 acres.

The University also owns 1,250 acres of eastern Kentucky coal lands.

The typewriting, stenography, and business department of the Normal and Industrial classes have quarters in the Main University Hall.

The Payne Theological Seminary was organized under distinct management in 1891, with Bishop Payne as its Dean, with whom were associated Dr. J. G. Mitchell, D. D., Prof. W. S. Scarborough, LL. D., and Prof. G. W. Prioleau, B. D., succeeded by Prof. George W. Woodson, of Drew Seminary. The hall is a beautiful and substantial structure of brick and is well equipped. Each conference in the A. M. E. connection is expected to maintain a conference student. To this Seminary, Bishop Payne left three-fifths of the main portion of his real estate for an endowment fund, and Bishops Campbell, Ward and Wayman their valuable libraries.

To the University faculty, of experienced, earnest, competent, Christian instructors, graduates mainly of the University, and including a Ph. D. of Harvard and a post-graduate student at Berlin, is added the professor of military science and tactics by the appointment of the President of the United States. No other colored institution in America enjoys such a distinction; no other colored officer has received such a promotion.

Lieutenant Charles Young, the only colored graduate from West Point, now in the U. S. A., competent, vigorous, soldierly, is achieving splendid results in that department.

An examination of the Alumni Register will show a list of exceptionally strong graduates, such as Profs. Scott, Roberts, Arnett, Revs. Jones, Ransom, Johnson, Misses Clark, Jackson and others who are rapidly rising to prominence because they are capable. It is a high mark of confidence that the president of the University is called upon not only to recommend Wilberforce's trained workmen for important positions, but to send them in answer to urgent letters and telegrams. Just recently Metropolis, Ill., made such a call; later, the Alabama Normal and Industrial Institute summoned an instructor for its agricultural department. Now, a graduate of our C. N. and I. Department is pursuing a special course preparatory to taking a position in Prof. Booker T. Washington's school at Tuskegee, Ala.

Wilberforce University is consecrated to the Christian enlightenment of the race, and the attendance grows larger from year to year. In June, 1900, Pres. S. T. Mitchell resigned as President on account of failing health, and Rev. Joshua H. Jones, D. D., was elected in his place. Rev. Jones was born in South Carolina, and received his education at Claflin University, at Orangeburg, S. C., and at Howard University, Washington, D. C. He afterwards took his theological course at Wilberforce, where he is now President. I regard Rev. Jones as a strong man, who has for years rendered the church great service, and I feel confident he will make a most excellent President for the University, who will doubtless be able to still increase the attendance.

EDWARD WATERS COLLEGE.

The Edward Waters College, Jacksonville, Fla., is an institution of learning founded in 1885 by the A. M. E. Church in Florida, and has been sustained and operated by that organization ever since. Its object is to give the Negro youth of its section a thorough training both intellectually and industrially. Its courses of study extend from that of the Grammar School to the College. Some instruction has been given in sewing, printing and tailoring; but the authorities recognize the fact that in order to reach the great mass of colored people in the South, and do the greatest good, the school must make it possible to give a student a trade along with his college course. This serves several purposes: it helps the student through school, teaches him to rely upon his own powers, and gives something to lean upon when he has gone from school.

PROF. A. ST. GEORGE RICHARDSON, B. A.

The president receives numerous letters every year from young men and women who desire an education, but are too poor to pay their way. They are willing to work, but he has not sufficient for them. Hence, every year scores of worthy young men and women, eager to obtain an education, are turned away.

Prof. Richardson is now making an earnest appeal to the friends of education and progress everywhere to charitably help him build up an industrial department to his school, in which he can teach the young men and women who apply, some of the useful trades, thus helping them to become more worthy citizens. Grateful acknowledgment of all amounts received will be made in their annual catalogue.

They now have an excellent three-story brick building, and two board structures, a strong faculty, and usually enroll more than 200 students. Anything that will help them to broaden their field of usefulness or increase their facilities for doing the best work in the best way, will be highly appreciated.

PROF. A. ST. GEORGE RICHARDSON, B. A.

A. St. George Richardson, President of Edward Waters College, Jacksonville, Fla., is regarded by all who know him as one of the bright young men of the race who has by hard work acquired a splendid education.

KITTRELL COLLEGE.

This school now ranks as one of the best in the South, being conducted on the plan of combining the education of heart, head and hand. Founded in 1886 and incorporated in 1887, the growth of the school from year to year has been most remarkable and it bids fair to still greater usefulness. This school is located at Kittrell, N. C. The school property is valued at $15,000, consisting of sixty acres of land and four buildings, with livestock of most kinds.

PROF. JOHN R. HAWKINS, A. M.

The work is so arranged as to give all students a chance to work out a part of their schooling, and at the same time pursue their regular course of study in either the Scientific, Normal or Intermediate Departments.

The principal of this institute is Joseph S. Williams, A. M., who is devoted to his work and pushes it with courage and vigor. There are associated with Mr. Williams seven teachers and officers, all of whom are in sympathy with their leader and stand by him in the belief that a very high standard of excellence should be maintained in all school work. The school is largely dependent upon the charitable public for support, and has won the respect and confidence of many benevolent friends who are able to help support it.

At the last General Conference of the A. M. E. Church, held in Wilmington, N. C., in May of 1896, Mr. John R. Hawkins, the founder of Kittrell Institute, was elected as the secretary of education of the A. M. E. Church. This is the first time in the history of the Church that a layman has held this position. But his election to this place is due entirely to his most excellent fitness for the position. Mr. Hawkins is now reaping the reward that always comes in the end to those who are worthy. He has been a hard student all his life, and many a night when other young men were seeking amusements, or asleep, Mr. Hawkins could have been found in the late hours of night hard at work over his books. He has to-day an honored position, while some of his associates have gone to the bad. I am told Mr. Hawkins has, since his election as secretary of education, been able to very much enlarge the educational work of the A. M. E. Church, and increase the amount of money given for connectional schools in all parts of the country.

ALLEN UNIVERSITY.

Allen University is the outgrowth of Payne Institute, which was established in the romantic and historic town of Cokesbury, S. C., July 29, 1870.

Allen University, established Dec. 24, 1880, is pleasantly situated in the eastern suburbs of the city of Columbia, S. C., and comprises four acres of excellent ground, four cottages, and one main building, which has forty-two rooms. The Girls' Industrial Hall is considered one of the finest structures in the State. It is a silent but eloquent monument of the zeal, labor, ability, unselfish devotion of Negroes devoted to the cause of Christian education. All efforts that are the results of Negro self-dependence should always merit our devotion and steadfast encouragement. The departments are as follows: Theological, Law, Classical, Normal, Musical, Intermediate, Graded, and Domestic Economy.

Rev. David Henry Johnson, D. D., is president of Allen University. He is a fine scholar and regarded as one of the leading educators.

WAYMAN INSTITUTE.

Wayman Institute is located at Harrodsburg, Ky. The course of studies taught there are College Preparatory, English, Theological, Normal, Music, Domestic Economy. This institution takes its name from the late Bishop A. W. Wayman, in whose honor it was built. The president, Rev. I. H. Welch, D. D., is a very able man and will doubtless make Wayman Institute one of the leading schools of the connection. He has been for years one of the prominent pastors of the church. As a scholar he ranks among the leading men of the race, and is in every way prepared for the work he now has in hand.

In that part of Kentucky the A. M. E. Church has a large membership, and there is no reason why an A. M. E. school should not succeed in building up a large work. Harrodsburg is situated in the very best part of Kentucky as far as the wealth of the State is concerned, and there are many well-to-do people in that section of the State.

MORRIS BROWN COLLEGE.

The site upon which these buildings, Morris Brown College, are erected, was purchased by W. J. Gaines, of Atlanta, Ga., February, 1881—now bishop.

He paid the first $1,000 out of his own pocket.

This ground was bought at a cost of $3,500. The buildings and grounds now are worth $7,500. It contains four acres of ground, fronts three streets, Boulevard, Houston and Howell, and is situated in the heart of Atlanta. The money to buy and complete these buildings was raised by the Georgia, North Georgia, and Macon, Ga., Conferences. Bishop Gaines raised a good deal of money by subscriptions. He raised $2,600 by advertisement with James Armstrong Soap Company, Baltimore, Md. The first building, which fronts Houston street, was erected while the bishop was presiding elder of Atlanta District. The other building was erected after he was elected bishop in 1888 and appointed to the Sixth Episcopal District.

When the bishop left the district there was $3,500 indebtedness upon the property.

The bishop says he owes lasting gratitude to the ministers of the three Georgia Conferences for standing by him in this the greatest struggle of his life.

The number of students is now between 300 and 400.

For the first time in the history of Morris Brown College it is to have a president in the person of Rev. James M. Henderson, D. D., an exceedingly able man. He graduated from Oberlin College, Ohio, with fine honor. Is also a graduate in law and theology. Morris Brown must under the management of such a man become one of the great schools for the education of the Colored youth. Mr. Henderson is the choice of Bishop H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., now in charge of the diocese Morris Brown College is in. Mr. Henderson began his work at this school in the fall session of 1896.

PAUL QUINN COLLEGE.

REV. I. M. BURGAN, A. M., PRESIDENT.

Paul Quinn College is not the result of an impulse, but of well-considered promptings. While the establishment of the school in its present scope may be dated from 1881, the real beginning of the institution took place in Austin, in 1874, when, after discussion and prayer, it was decided to found a "Conference High School" in Austin, which was done.

It was thought best, however, to broaden the purpose of the school and locate it in the town or city that offered the best inducements. Several places vied for the location, and after a very interesting canvass of the State, Waco, by reasons of liberal donations, eligible and beautiful situation, was chosen as the site.

The promoters were, in the main, uneducated men, with no experience in, and but little observation of, school matters; but all were impressed with two things: first, the necessity of a school for higher learning in Texas; secondly, the need of the negro's assuming responsibility and depending upon self-help, if he would ever reach the full stature of manhood. While grateful for schools established in the South by members of the other race, and appreciating fully their benefactions, the founders of Paul Quinn thought that self-reliance was an essential part of a perfect education, and that could only come through the onus of managing enterprises calling for sacrifice, planning, devising, suffering, triumphing, in the first person.

Paul Quinn College is under Negro management, and is doing as much as any institution in the land to teach the lesson of self-help. It is an object lesson of Negro capacity to plan, manage, and promote enterprises involving self-denial and hard work.

The growth of the school has been steady and solid. Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, while agent for the Slater fund, visited it and said it was the best managed and conducted school he had seen.

The school property consists of twenty acres of land, worth $65,000; two brick buildings and one brick addition; ten frame buildings; eight teachers; 225 students enrolled.

For the second time in the history of this school Rev. I. M. Burgan, A. M., has been elected as President of Paul Quinn College. He is a graduate of Wilberforce, and the institution has just cause to be proud of him. His election this time is to succeed Prof. H. T. Kealing, who was elected as editor of the A. M. E. Review. The fact that Mr. Burgan has been the second time placed at the head of this institution speaks well for his ability as an educator.

WESTERN UNIVERSITY, QUINDARO, WYANDOTTE CO.,
KANSAS.

This institution is pleasantly located about four miles from Kansas City, Kans., on a high bluff overlooking the Missouri River. The location is one of the healthiest centres in one of the healthiest States in the American Union. It is in easy walking distance from the West Side Electric Line and has the advantages accruing to a suburb of a great metropolis. It offers a full course of instruction in the following departments:

Theological, Preparatory Normal, Normal Industrial and Collegiate.

Western University: tuition, room rent, fuel and board eight dollars and fifty cents per school month in advance. Each room is comfortably furnished. Students are expected to bring bedclothes and towels.

The president of Western University at this time is Rev. W. T. Vernon, A. M., who is regarded as an able man for the place.

CAMPBELL-STRINGER COLLEGE, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI.

Campbell and Stringer College owes its existence to the policy of the African Methodist Episcopal Church to establish schools in every State where its membership is very large. The movement was inaugurated in 1887, headed by the chartered trustees and located in the cities of Vicksburg and Friars Point, where for a number of years they remained. Owing to their unfavorable location, and in order that the endowment of the church would not be divided between several educational institutions, through the wisdom of Rt. Rev. W. B. Derrick, D. D., Bishop of the A. M. E. Church, presiding over the Eighth Episcopal District, and the trustees of said colleges, it was agreed upon to unite these two institutions of learning, and locate them in the city of Jackson.

The progress of the college is due to the active service of the ministers and laymen of the A. M. E. Church in Mississippi, who have given labor and money to promote liberal learning in its borders, in the effort of elevating those of the race who previously have been deprived of the opportunities now offered them.

We plan to meet the needs of the negro youth of the last quarter of the nineteenth century in offering them the advantages of an English, Classical, Theological, Missionary, and Industrial education. It aims to give ample preparation to young men and women for personal success and usefulness, and it endeavors to correct the effects of too great specialization on the one hand and extreme diffusion on the other.

The College campus is on the highest point of ground in West Jackson, at foot of Lynch Street. Nature and art have combined to make the surroundings pleasant and attractive. During the summer months it is one of the most inviting spots in the city.

The main building is a good substantial frame structure, two and a-half stories high. In this building are the chapel, the library, the halls for the literary societies, also recitation rooms. The school is near a large number of African Methodists, and will be a great help to the church in that part of the South.

Rev. Daniel Hunter Butler, D. D., who at this time is President of Campbell College, is a native of Mississippi, having been born of slave parents. His early life was one of privation and suffering, having lost his parents while young. He worked his way through school, and graduated with high honors at Jackson College, located at Jackson, Miss. He at one time attended Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, but could not remain for want of funds.

Rev. Butler has been a very successful teacher and pastor. He has been principal of some of the large public schools in both Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. As a pastor he has had charge of some of the leading churches in Atlanta and other large towns of the South.

REV. DANIEL HUNTER BUTLER, D. D.

His theological training was received at Gammon Theological Seminary. Since Prof. Butler took charge of Campbell College the school has taken on new life, and the attendance has been increased very much, and the outlook for the school is much brighter.

PAYNE UNIVERSITY.

Payne University is located at Selma, Ala. It is now being conducted in a frame building, and is well attended. The school is in a part of the South where the African Methodist Church has a large membership, and as a connectional school will do great good. The courses of study are College, Normal and Academic. Prof. J. S. Moten, A. M., LL. B., is president of Payne University, and is regarded by all who know him as a fine scholar. He has had charge of this work for several years, and the school has grown both in attendance and popularity under his management. Prof. Moten is assisted by his very able and accomplished wife, besides other able teachers. I was very favorably impressed with the school as a power for good.

SHORTER COLLEGE.

Shorter College is located at Argenta, Ark., and is a great help to the A. M. E. Church in that State. They have a splendid frame building and an able body of teachers. Courses there are College, Normal, Classical English, Theological and Industrial. The school is indeed fortunate in having Dr. Thos. H. Jackson as its president, as he is known to be one of the best scholars in the United States, and will be a great blessing to the school and church in that section of the South.

CHAPTER VIII.

A. M. E. ZION SCHOOL.

In this chapter I present a brief history of the great work started by the late Dr. J. C. Price. This institution is one of great interest.

LIVINGSTONE COLLEGE.

Among the evidences of Negro ability to establish and control great institutions, we have no better example than Livingstone College. In a quiet, antiquated-looking town of historic connection with those stirring times of our American Revolution, and with those more than rebellious times of our country's civil strife, where the Confederate Government inhumanly treated Union soldiers in one of their most noted prison-pens, in the town of Salisbury, N. C., and under the shadow of that prison, is Livingstone College—the pride of a great church, an honor to the Negro race. This institution stands as a towering monument to the heroes of that bloody struggle whose lives were lost for their country's sake and to make an enslaved people free.

THE LATE REV. J. C. PRICE, A. M., D. D.,
President of Livingstone College, Salisbury, N. C.

The A. M. E. Zion Church had long desired an institution for a thorough education of its children, and accordingly a school under the auspices of the North Carolina Conference was started in 1879 in the town of Concord, N. C. It was incorporated under the name of Zion Wesley Institute, and after two sessions, depending upon collections from the churches of that conference, it was forced to close its doors. Therefore it was in May, 1881, when it became apparent that the school must close—then being taught by Prof. A. S. Richardson. The Ecumenical Conference of the Methodist Church was held this year in England and in this month of May. Bishop J. W. Hood, D. D., who was president of the Board of Trustees of the Institute, and Rev. J. C. Price, with other representatives of the Zion Church, were in attendance.

Bishop Hood, recognizing the ability of Dr. Price, who was then a young man just out of school, prevailed upon him to become an agent for the school and to remain in England after the close of the conference.

During the conference Dr. Price made himself famous among the delegates and visitors as an eloquent orator and after its close had no trouble in getting before the English people, who welcomed him everywhere and responded to his appeals in a sum amounting to $9,100. This, of course, was great encouragement to the Trustees and the Church. The congregation of the Zion Church, in Concord, offered seven acres of land for a site to erect buildings and locate the school permanently. But the trustees decided that Salisbury would be a more favorable place and the school was located in that city.

It was in the spring of 1882 that Bishops Hood and Lomax, with $3,000 of the money raised by Prof. Price in England and $1,000 donated by the business men of Salisbury, purchased the site now occupied by Livingstone College. There was on the place one two-story building with ten rooms including basement. The tract of land consisted of forty acres and the total cost of the place amounted to $4,600.

The Board of Bishops at the meeting in Chester, S. C., in September, 1882, adopted Zion Wesley Institute as a connectional school, electing a faculty with Rev. J. C. Price, president, Rev. C. R. Harris, Prof. E. Moore, instructors; Mrs. M. E. Harris as matron.

October 9, 1882, the Institute was opened on its own premises in Salisbury. The name was soon changed to Zion Wesley College, and in '86 or '87 became Livingstone College, in honor of the great African explorer, David Livingstone.

It may not be out of place to mention here that the president and faculty felt that in the scope of the work the institution aimed to do, it would be less hampered by the new name. The wisdom of this has doubtless been seen by those intimately associated with the College.

The first day the school opened there were five day students, but no boarders. About the middle of October the first student from abroad came—Miss Lizzie Williams, of Newbern, N. C. When the session closed, however, there were in all ninety-three students. A small frame building (16 × 40) for boys had been erected and the girls were crowded in rooms with two beds each, and so great was the need for rooms that they were compelled in some instances to sleep three in a bed.

Bird's-eye View of Livingstone College—Buildings and Grounds.

When the second session began, another teacher was added, this being necessary because the president was required to travel and solicit donations. Dr. W. H. Goler, a personal friend and college-mate of the president, was the teacher added. The institution was very much strengthened by this new addition, for, besides the literary advantages to the school, the business tact of Dr. Goler, as well as his practical knowledge along certain industrial lines, made the addition very valuable. It may be well to mention here that Dr. Goler had the distinction of preaching the first annual or baccalaureate sermon, and the late Bishop S. T. Jones of delivering the first annual address.

REV. W. H. GOLER, D. D.

In the middle of the second session, when the number of students reached 120, the building for boys was taken for girls and rented houses in the community were provided for the boys. This meant to the young men inconvenience and a sacrifice of comfortable quarters, but they were in full sympathy with the school and its struggles, and bore the hardships without a murmur. These days are often referred to as the "Dark Days" of Livingstone College for both teachers and students. Then it was that some of the teachers were laboring without knowing what they would receive for salary, and Dr. Goler often says "he never received a penny during his first year's work."

The faithful discharge of duty by Prof. Moore, Prof. Harris (now Bishop Harris), Mrs. Harris as matron, and Prof. Goler, was of incalculable value to the president in these struggling years of the school for existence.

In 1884 an addition (42 × 56) was made to the original ten-room house, for a chapel, a dining room and dormitories for girls. Mr. C. P. Huntington was the chief donor, and the building, "Huntington Hall," is named for him. The dimensions of the building are 91 × 38. It is four stories high, including basement.

In the fall of 1885 the necessity for more buildings caused Dr. Price to visit the Pacific coast. After lecturing about four months he secured the donation of $5,000 from the late Senator Leland Stanford and $1,000 from Mrs. Mark Hopkins. The entire amount collected by Dr. Price on the coast was about $9,000. Only a little over $1,000 was needed to make up the sum of $20,000. The Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, who had assisted Mr. Price through school, promised him a donation of $5,000 if he should raise that sum. Mr. Price lost no time in securing the residue and Mr. Dodge kept his word.

In March, 1886, ground was broken for the erection of a dormitory for boys—Dodge Hall—a four-story brick building 60 × 40, and a four-story brick, 100 × 40, for girls, known as Hopkins Hall, forming a nucleus to Stanford Seminary. It will be observed that all these buildings are named for their principal donors.

In 1887, Mr. Stephen F. Ballard of New York erected the Ballard Industrial Hall (60 × 39) and fitted it up with complete outfits for the department of carpentry, shoemaking and printing. The entire valuation of the buildings and grounds (now about fifty acres) is estimated at $100,000.

The aim of the school has been to give a thorough literary training to colored young men and women. The industrial feature has not been neglected, although recently the school has not been able to do as much in that line as formerly. The reason for this has been the withdrawal of the Slater Fund. However, this department has been operating with such means as the officers have been able to obtain. The students in the carpentry shop make and repair all the furniture used in the school, such as bedsteads, chairs, tables, desks, washstands and dressers. The printing office is well equipped and much minute and pamphlet work has been done besides the publishing of the College journal, which is now conceded to be one of the best, if not the best, College magazine published by a colored institution in the country. The institution has been running but little over a decade. It boasts, however, of a prominence equal to any institution in the south founded and sustained by colored men. The character of its graduates and the showing they have made bespeak the thoroughness of its work. In fact, the officers of the institution, while recognizing the need and the cry for the industrial training of the Negro, have stoutly maintained that industrial education should not supplant the higher educational development of the Negro. The success of the 130 graduates since '85 has been sufficient argument for them to hold this point.

The young men who have entered the ministry are all prominent in the great church under whose auspices the school works. Many of the largest and most prominent churches in the connection are held by them, and they have merited each place. In the law and in medicine they are not behind, and in the schoolroom as teachers, many brilliant records have been made by its young men and women. As teachers, they are in demand, and in most cases give entire satisfaction.

The work of Dr. Price, in his efforts to lift the race to a higher plane of intellectual and moral development, is well known on both sides of the Atlantic. To speak of Livingstone and its aim is to speak of the one great desire of its lamented president. So thoroughly wedded was he to this idea and its development through the work of Livingstone College that no honor in church or state, however tempting the emolument attached to it, could induce him to give it up.

His great influence rests upon his successor and his associates—ten in number. These are making noble self-sacrifices to carry on the work.

The maintenance of this work is wonderful when it is remembered that Livingstone has no endowment fund for teachers, no scholarship fund for students, and only a small appropriation from the church under whose auspices it is operated—only a little over half of this being received annually to carry on the work and pay teachers.

The death of Dr. Price occurred Oct. 25, 1893. To him directly is due the permanent establishment of the institution.

Dr. W. H. Goler, the new president, took charge with a vim that delighted all. His ability, his friendship for and acquaintance with Dr. Price, and his experience give him a confidence that makes success doubly sure.

During the past five or six years the school has averaged an enrolment of over 200 students. The enrolment one year was about 300. Students representing New England, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, and all the States along the coast, from Massachusetts to Florida, as well as Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, have been enrolled. Besides these, representatives of Liberia, West coast of Africa, and the West Indies are among the number.

The death of Dr. Price was a great blow to Livingstone. Its friends were thrown into a state of anxiety for its future. But many believed that Price's work was accomplished when he demonstrated to the world his practical production of his great lectures—"Negro Capabilities." When Livingstone started, the world had not learned that a College could be established and controlled entirely by Negroes.

CLINTON INSTITUTE.

Clinton Institute is located south of Rock Hill, S. C., in a section of the State densely populated with colored people.

I was very much impressed with the work done at Clinton Institute. The school is under the auspices of the A. M. E. Zion connection, but has some help from outside. Prof. R. J. Crokett, who is president of the school, is a graduate of Livingstone College, and is a most excellent and worthy young man. The school has a graded department, in which are taught the ordinary and higher English branches. It has a normal department, in which are taught some of the sciences, and in which is the practice school for young teachers—who work in the more rural districts. It has an industrial department, in which it is designed to introduce all the industrial arts that are of practical benefit to the colored people in the South.

CHAPTER IX

PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE.

It is a great pleasure to me to note, in these sketches, the splendid work done by the Presbyterian Church for the education of the colored people.

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY.
Rev. I. N. Randall, D. D., President.

Among the instrumentalities through which the friends of the Negro may convey to him the blessings of education, Lincoln University especially deserves the confidence of the Christian public. She was the first to enter this field. Lincoln University was chartered by the State of Pennsylvania to give a liberal Scientific, Classical and Theological education to colored youth of the male sex in 1854, six years before the war which resulted in emancipation. The school is located in Chester county, half a mile from Lincoln University Station. A liberal Christian education was the policy adopted by Lincoln University for the elevation of our colored population before the body of them became freedmen.

Four hundred and ninety-five have been graduated from the Collegiate Department, after a course of instruction extending through four and, in many cases, seven years. Most of these graduates are engaged in professional and educational labors in the Southern States. Two hundred and sixteen of the students of Lincoln University have received ordination as ministers in Evangelical Protestant denominations. Thirteen students have gone to Africa as missionaries. Three young men from Liberia are now in the University.

Such men as J. C. Price, W. H. Goler and hundreds of others are the class of men educated at Lincoln University. There can be no question but that this institution has accomplished more for the colored people both North and South than any other north of Mason and Dixon's line.

SCOTIA SEMINARY.

Scotia Seminary is one of the most interesting schools I have ever visited. It was founded to bring within the reach of colored girls in and about Concord, N. C., where it is located, the advantages of a thorough Christian education and to aid in building up the Presbyterian Church among the colored people. It is chartered by the State of North Carolina. Says Rev. D. J. Satterfield, D. D., the president:

"Our aim has always been to appeal to the nobler natures of our students in order to secure compliance with our wishes. Our rules prohibit what is unlady-like and disorderly and require only what is necessary to provide for the mental, moral and physical welfare of all.

"For the enforcement of these rules we hold students as well as teachers responsible. We propose to maintain a moral sentiment in the school, which will make anything vulgar or vicious so much out of place here, that it cannot stay."

MARY ALLEN SEMINARY.

This institution is located at Crockett, Texas, and was founded by Mrs. Mary Allen, who was a true friend to the colored people, and especially to colored women. The purpose of this school is to train up colored women in such arts and sciences as are taught in schools of high grade, in all kinds of domestic duties. Rev. Jno. B. Smith, D. D., is president, and he is assisted by an able body of teachers.

MARY HOLMES SEMINARY.

Mary Holmes was founded and is now sustained by the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church. The school was first located at Jackson, Miss., and was built as a memorial to Mrs. Mary Holmes, wife of Rev. Mead Holmes, of Rockford, Ill. The buildings at Jackson were destroyed by fire, and the school was then moved to West Point, Miss. The object of this institution is the higher education for colored women. Rev. H. N. Payne, D. D., is president.

BARBER MEMORIAL SEMINARY.

Barber Memorial Seminary is the thoughtful and loving gift of a Christian woman for the education and elevation of colored girls. Ardently interested in the welfare of the colored people, Mrs. P. M. Barber, of Philadelphia, has founded this school as a memorial to her late husband, whose expressed purpose it had been to provide an institution of this kind. The school is located at Anniston, Ala. Rev. S. M. Davis, D. D., president.

BRAINERD INSTITUTE.

Brainerd Institute, established for the Christian education of Colored youth of both sexes, is located in Chester, S. C. John S. Marquis, Principal.

The school grounds comprise 13 acres. There are two large buildings; one being principal's home, young women's dormitories, dining room and kitchen; the other containing class-rooms, printing office, and young men's dormitories.

Brainerd Institute has turned out some very useful men and women. Rev. George W. Clinton, now a Bishop in the A. M. E. Zion Church, was at one time a student there.

INGLESIDE SEMINARY.

Ingleside is located at Burkville, Va., and, like Mary Holmes, Mary Allen, and Barber Memorial, this seminary was founded for the higher education of colored girls. In addition to the literary work, they have an industrial department, where sewing and other domestic work are taught. Rev. Graham C. Campbell, A. M., president.

In addition to the schools mentioned in the Presbyterian work they have quite a number of large parochials which are doing splendid work.

CHAPTER X.

PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE.

It will be noticed that quite a number of the Presbyterian Schools are under the management of colored people. These schools are very well managed and reflect great credit on the ability of colored men.

SWIFT MEMORIAL INSTITUTE.

Swift Memorial Institute is located at Rogersville, Tenn. It was begun by Rev. W. H. Franklin in 1883, under the most unfavorable circumstances. He began at the very bottom and had no other capital save intellectual ability, school-training, strong purpose, perseverance, and unswerving faith in God and the righteousness of his cause. It is true that he had the hearty endorsement and co-operation of the Presbytery of Holsten, the Synod of Tennessee, and the Freedmen's Board, but they were not in a condition to render him the assistance required and the conduct of the whole work, for a number of years rested upon his shoulders. In the face of opposition, discouragement and prejudice of every kind, the work had a gradual and solid growth. Each year found the school advancing and intrenching itself in the confidence of the people at home and abroad. Mr. Franklin did not lose any opportunity to earnestly present the necessity and the claims of the school in Tennessee, in Ohio and in Michigan. In 1887, when the founder had raised a subscription of $500, the Freedmen's Board appropriated $1000 to purchase a desirable site which had been selected. The school soon outgrew its new accommodations. In 1890, the school had prospered to such an extent, and had so favorably commended itself to the Board that it pledged $5,000 for a suitable building provided that the friends of Rev. E. E. Swift, D. D., of Allegheny, for whom the school was named, would raise $5,000 additional. After two years of soliciting, pleading, praying and hoping, the Board and the Ladies of the Church in Pennsylvania, Illinois and elsewhere took hold of the matter in real earnest and soon the building was erected. The site was enlarged and made more desirable by an additional purchase. May, 1893, found the school in an elegant and substantial brick building, 116 × 42, and three stories high, erected at a cost of $15,000. The building has all the modern improvements and is much admired by all visitors for its simplicity, its neatness and its conveniences. It has many visitors. The whole plant, site, building and furniture, cost about $25,000. These funds have been supplied by the Freedmen's Board, Women's Societies and benevolent individuals, besides many gifts annually for current expenses and scholarships.

The literary work will compare most favorably with that done in other like institutions of the best grades. The students have taught in this State and in other States and are much in demand. It is a Christian centre and is giving a thorough Christian training to all of its students. Its industrial and domestic departments are giving such training as will revolutionize the home life, give intelligent direction to the applied hand, and give business-like system to all the activities. The present year marks the most interesting and prosperous one in its history. All the rooms in the girls' dormitory are occupied, and no place can be found for the boys. The great, pressing and immediate want of the institution, is a dormitory for the boys. With this want supplied, the ability of the school to do a much-needed and urgent work for Christ and humanity will be increased many fold. Few schools under the auspices of the Freedmen's Board have a better field and a better opportunity to do a great, useful and permanent work for a needy, meritorious, and appreciative people. With timely and sufficient aid, few schools have a brighter, more fruitful, or a more glorious future. The faculty of the school is as follows:

Rev. W. H. Franklin, A. M., Mr. J. J. Johnson, A. B., Miss Ada G. Battle, N. S., Mrs. Flora E. Elms, N., Mrs. Ida V. Penland Love, N., and Mrs. Laura C. Franklin, Matron.

REV. W. H. FRANKLIN.

Rev. W. H. Franklin, A. M., was born at Knoxville, Tenn., April 14, 1852. His parents were free and enjoyed the respect and confidence of all who knew them. His father was a competent brick mason and was much in demand in his trade. His mother is a modest and sensible woman. The ancestors of both parents were influential. His grandmother, with several members of her family, went to Liberia in 1850. Mr. Franklin had the opportunity of attending school one month, just as the Rebellion began. He learned to read and to write his name in that month. When Burnside came to Knoxville in 1865, he entered school again. He was generally acknowledged not only the head of his class, but also the head of the school he attended. He attended the schools of Knoxville until 1870. He then taught school at Hudsonville, Marshall Co., Miss., for two terms and saved sufficient money to help build a better house for his mother and to enter Maryville College, Maryville, Tenn. In that institution he took high rank in his class, and in the college. His talents received immediate recognition. The first year he appeared as Vice-President of the Athenian Society and a participant in its annual exercises, delivering a recitation and the diplomas to the graduates of the society. From that time his recognition and place was secured until his graduation in 1880 from the classical course. His graduating oration was said to be the best on the occasion. He entered Lane Theological Seminary in Sept., 1880, and graduated from it in 1883, in a class known for its high ability. The Commercial Gazette awarded him the highest medal of praise. From Lane he came in June of the same year to Rogersville, Tenn., which was to be his future field of labor. He was ordained minister by Union Presbytery, Synod of Tennessee, in 1883. In June he took charge of his work at Rogersville. He began the work of making a real church and of founding a school for the higher education of colored youth. The task was to make brick without straw and in the face of persistent, opposition and prejudice. He disregarded both. The result is that he has succeeded in building up a strong church work and a splendid school. He has a plant estimated to be worth $25,000 and a full school of students representing four different States.

REV. W. H. FRANKLIN, A. M.

He has done much other work in the interest of the race. He has corresponded with newspapers, represented his people in conventions, represented his Presbytery in the memorable Centennial General Assembly and is now a director of Maryville College. His alma mater conferred A. M. upon him several years ago. Mr. Franklin has the respect and confidence of all his acquaintances in Church and State, and is known as a scholar, educator, orator and preacher of no mean ability. He has never sought notoriety, but has been contented to do his duty conscientiously and efficiently in the field which he has chosen for his labors.

HAINES NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.

The Haines Normal and Industrial Institute is the product of the great missionary effort of Miss Lucy C. Laney, formerly of Macon, Ga. It was established in Augusta, Ga., in 1886, where it is now located and successfully managed by its founder, to whose personal efforts its existence for the first three or four years is solely due.

After that time she succeeded in having it placed under the auspices of the Northern Presbyterian Church, and it is to-day under the care of the Freedman's Board of that church.

The present usefulness of the school has doubtless outreached the expectations of its founder and the Board. The original design was to make it simply a home where a few girls might receive an all-round development, and a means for furnishing day-school advantages to as many as could be cared for. It is now a large boarding school, furnishing home accommodations in the main buildings for sixty or seventy girls, and in rented cottages for fifteen or twenty boys; class-room facilities for 550 pupils, the highest number reached being 436; industrial training in sewing, laundrying, nursing, printing, shoemaking and general house-cleaning.

HAINES NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.

The following selection taken from an article written by Rev. E. P. Cowan, D. D., Secretary of the Freedmen's Board of the Presbyterian Church, in the August number of The Church at Home and Abroad (1893), presents very forcibly the real character of this school growing out of the character of its founder and present head. "He (referring to Rev. David Laney, who died a year ago,) has put no son into the Gospel ministry to succeed him, but his worthy daughter Lucy is to-day practically doing the work of a faithful minister or servant of Christ. Miss Laney is a graduate of Atlanta University, and has an education of which no woman in this land, white or colored, need be ashamed.

LUCY C. LANEY.

"Equipped for the work and fired with a dauntless zeal for the elevation of her race, of whom she always speaks as 'my people,' she entered Augusta, Ga., single-handed and alone and began teaching the few children she could at the beginning draw around her. As she taught, her school increased. No one stood with her at the first. The Freedmen's Board was back of her, but we scarcely knew her value at the time, commissioning her for the work, but giving her only what she could collect for her services on the field. On this point her success brought us the information we needed. We did not help her at the first as we would now. Her courage, patience, self-forgetfulness, and withal her good common sense, attracted attention. She began with a few and at the end of the first year reported seventy-five scholars under her care. At the end of the second year she reported 234. The progress of her work was so satisfactory that when the opportunity to place $10,000 in some particular educational work in the South came to the Board, the unanimous opinion of the members was that Miss Laney's school had merited the proposed help.

"When the Assembly met at Minneapolis in 1886, Miss Laney met the late Mrs. F. E. H. Haines, who was then President of the Women's Executive Committee of Home Missions, and was so impressed with her earnest Christian character and her deep interest in the colored people of the South, that she went home and named her school the Haines School."

The literary department of Haines School consists of College Preparatory course, Higher English, Grammar School, Primary and Kindergarten. The school contains the material for a strictly Normal course, and more than a dozen young women have graduated from the higher English or high-school course. Trained teachers are needed to put such a course into effect.

The Grammar School department, except the highest grade, furnishes practice work for these young women and it is preparatory to the higher English course.

The College Preparatory course aims to prepare students for college. With a very few exceptions all of the graduates from this course have entered Lincoln University, making at entrance Sophomore class. One entered Junior class two years ago.

The Higher English course aims to prepare the average young man and woman for active life as well as to stimulate them to further study in school.

The Kindergarten is complete in itself. Its furnishing, the training of the Kindergartner and her salary, are a gift to the school from its friends in Buffalo, N. Y. Though but lately added to the school, the Kindergarten is the result of the long-cherished plans and personal efforts of Miss Laney. Not only the Kindergarten, but the entire success of the school, is due to contributions from friends who have been reached and impressed with the actual needs of the Negro by Miss Laney in her numerous speeches to Northern audiences; "a mission," says Dr. Cowan in the same article quoted from, "for which she has a rare gift, apparently without knowing it." No less able is she to impress, by her own life of sacrifice, Christian character and native ability.

A lasting influence for good in this school, and especially in the home life, now lives, sacred to the memory of Miss Cora Freeman, who was associated with Miss Laney, when the foundation of the work was being laid, and who shared bravely the hard things which necessarily attend the beginning of a large, unselfish work of this kind. She died after a service of three years.

Miss Irene Smallwood, the present Kindergartner, Mr. Frank P. Laney and Mr. James Smith, both of Washington, D. C., at present, were also associated with Miss Laney in the earlier work of the school.

A large four-story brick building, a wooden building for the industrial work and Kindergarten, one acre of land, three rented cottages, together with radiating Christian influences, constitute Haines School, one of the evidences of the native ability and disposition of the Negro, of the hopeful results of Christian education for the Negro, of Northern devotion to the Negro, and the promise of a fuller development of better things for the Negro eager to be uplifted, and for consecrated hearts, willing to give.

MONTICELLO SEMINARY.

The story of the development of this school is better told when interwoven with the life of Rev. C. S. Mebane, its founder. Rev. C. S. Mebane, A. M., Principal of Monticello Seminary, Monticello, Ark., was born of slave parents in Alamance county, N. C., in the year 1857. At the close of the late war he and six other children with penniless parents witnessed the hardships that confronted those who were thrown out upon the frozen charities of the world. A few years of earnest toil rewarded the once poverty-stricken family with a comfortable living. Having reached the years of manhood he was not content with a common school education, but had a thirst for higher training, and as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made he entered Lincoln University, Chester county, Pa., for the purpose of fitting himself for the ministry. Here he made the acquaintance of the late Mr. W. R. Davenport, of Erie, Pa., who supported him through school in honor of his deceased son, Frank R. Davenport. Having completed his course in school he entered upon the church and school work at Monticello, Ark., in the fall of 1888. Of a self-denying, fatherly disposition, he has often cared for the suffering and unfortunate both with hands and purse. He revised the old organization, infused new life into it, gathered about him the handful of members, selected officers, and began the race to success. A Sabbath School was organized and regularly kept up, and preaching service was at first observed twice a month.

REV. C. S. MEBANE, A. M.

But before the church work was well on footing, he entered the schoolroom; and here the struggle began in earnest.

The school session continues eight months and is divided into four departments: the Primary, Preparatory, the Teacher's and Higher courses.

The boarding pupils live in the "Home" and are taught domestic work in connection with their studies.

The last two years have been the most successful in the history of the school. The enrolment for the first passed the 200 line; and while it may not go beyond that this year on account of "hard times," it has drawn upon larger areas and new territory.

IMMANUEL TRAINING SCHOOL.

This work was begun in a small dilapidated frame building at Aiken, S. C., in 1882. That building constituted a part of the first real estate, which, through the aid of Dr. Derby, Mrs. H. G. Burlingame, Miss E. M. Greenleaf, and many other friends, was purchased for the colored people's use in April, 1882. As witnesses to the lawful execution of the deed, Dr. Derby and his brother-in-law, Mr. George H. Kennedy, who was spending the season in Aiken, signed their names to it.

That unfinished boarding house, which has since been used as a home, church, school and boarding hall for students, all at the same time, was, in a sense, the foundation of what is now Derby Hall—one of the best buildings of the school. To accommodate it to the various demands of the work, changes were made from time to time. But after the erection of a house of worship and a school building, there remained but one thing more to do, and that was to reconvert the entire structure into a boarding hall principally for the accommodation of students from a distance. The new mansard roof was put on and other necessary alterations and improvements made during the summer of 1891, at a cost of $1,600. The building now contains twenty-six rooms.

All of the helpful branches of industry are taught in this school.

REV. W. R. COLES.

Rev. W. R. Coles, the superintendent of the Immanuel Training School, and pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church, of Aiken, S. C., was one of the first graduates of Lincoln University. Speaking of his work as founder of the Immanuel Church, he had the following to say:

REV. W. R. COLES.

"Laboring as Synodical Missionary, by appointment of the Synod of Atlantic (and approved by the Presbyterian Committee of Missions for Freedmen), I came to Aiken on the 23d day of May, A. D. 1881, seeking a home for my family, and to look after the general interests of our work. While here (June 10, 1881), I received a communication from the Freedmen's Committee, informing me that my work as Synodical Missionary would terminate with June 30, and that it was the will of the Committee that I locate again in the pastorate.

"I, therefore, settled in Aiken, and commenced missionary work, holding services in my own house from June 30 till the latter part of November, when we moved into a rented house, the property of Henry Smith, on Newberry street. This building was, on the night of the third Sabbath in November, 1881, formally set apart as a place of worship, under the name of 'The Newberry Street Presbyterian Mission.' The way being clear we organized a Sabbath School on the fourth Sabbath in November, 1881, with thirteen members: Mr. J. F. Chestnut, Superintendent; teachers, Mr. James F. Chestnut, W. R. Coles, Mrs. R. E. Coles; Librarian, Mr. T. G. Bronson; Treasurer, Mrs. R. E. Coles. Thus established, we labored, preaching and conducting Sabbath School every Sunday, holding prayer-meeting one night during the week, and visiting, etc., till the fifth Sabbath in January, 1882, when, at the request of nine communicants, I, acting as an evangelist, assisted by Rev. T. P. Hay, of the First Presbyterian Church of Aiken, S. C., formally organized The Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Aiken, S. C. Messrs. Alexander Johnson and Vincent Green were elected, ordained and installed as Ruling Elders; John Mayes as Deacon."

DAYTON ACADEMY.

The history of Dayton Academy and the career of Rev. Henry D. Wood must go together.

REV. HENRY D. WOOD.

Rev. Henry D. Wood, A. M., Principal of Dayton Academy, Carthage, N. C., was born in Trenton, N. J., Feb. 10, 1847. He received his early training in the public school of that city. A youth of sixteen years (1863) he enlisted in the famous 54th Massachusetts Regiment and served in defence of his country and for the freedom of his people until these were accomplished. He returned to Brooklyn, N. Y., and for several years found employment with the Orington Bros., Importers, working his way from the position of porter to a clerkship in the shipping department of that house. United with the Siloam Presbyterian Church, and was at once made an elder in that church, and though holding a lucrative position, was so impressed with his call to the ministry that he resolved to make preparation for that work. He entered Lincoln University, where he held high rank in character and proficiency in studies, and was graduated from the Theological Department in '78. In 1880 he was commissioned by the "Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen," ordained by the Presbytery of Yadkin, and entered upon the work in which he is now engaged. He found here a destitute, neglected field, an organization of about forty members in two churches, no Sabbath schools, public schools limited to two months, and the people too poor to better their condition.

He made known the condition of things to personal friends North, who generously responded to his appeal for help, and arousing his people to effort in their own behalf, soon succeeded in erecting one of the neatest and most comfortable churches in this part of the country.

The people were encouraged to deeper interest in their own improvement. Day school was opened in his residence, but it proved too small; many were crowded out. The Board established a parochial school and each year it was enlarged. In '86 it was found necessary to advance the grade, hence "Dayton Academy," a handsome three-story building comprising class-rooms and girls' dormitory, also a boys' dormitory, with dining-room and kitchen.

Three church buildings are valued at about $3,500; school property about $1,500; church membership about 400; Sabbath school about 450; Day school scholars, 260; five teachers in Academy.

This school supplies teachers for the public schools, and they are found doing good service in Sabbath schools and in churches, and everywhere.

ALBION ACADEMY.

The Albion Academy, at Franklinton, N. C., was founded in the year 1877, by the late Moses A. Hopkins, Minister to the Republic of Liberia. At the time of the founding of this Academy there were no adequate facilities to serve a liberal education in the community. Aided by friends at the North, the late William Shaw, of Pittsburg, Pa., and John Hall, and the First Presbyterian Church, of Albion, N. Y., the Academy was organized and established amid the strenuous efforts of bitter opponents to resist it.

The first principal of the school was its founder, the late Rev. Moses A. Hopkins.

Many young men and women have been sent from this institution to higher schools, as Lincoln University, Pa., Biddle University, N. C., Fisk University, Tenn., and Howard University, D. C., etc. The school is designed for the education of the many thousands in this section of the State. It is the only educational centre of the Presbyterian Church, in Eastern North Carolina, for the Negro race. It offers the benefits of a liberal education to the Negroes of the South, as well as the State of North Carolina.

Many friends in the North have given largely to the support of the Academy. There are three halls. The Stamford Hall, and the Darling Hall, are for the young ladies. The Academy Hall contains eight recitation-rooms and a chapel hall.

REV. JOHN A. SAVAGE, D. D.

After the resignation of Rev. Samuel S. Sevier in the year of 1892, as the principal of the Academy, Rev. John A. Savage, D. D., was called and appointed by the Board of Trustees to the presidency of the Academy. Since his government the Academy has taken a fresh start in every direction.

REV. JOHN A. SAVAGE, D. D.

Rev. Mr. Savage, the president of Albion Academy, is a graduate of Lincoln University. He is an unassuming gentleman of much natural ability and his work in the State of North Carolina is most creditable. The school has been rapidly built up under his charge, and many young men and women in the community are thankful to Rev. Savage for his kind attention and earnest interest in their education.

BIDDLE UNIVERSITY.

This University is located at Charlotte, N. C., and is named in memory of the late Henry J. Biddle, of Philadelphia, whose widow, Mrs. Mary D. Biddle, has been one of its most liberal supporters. It is chartered by the Legislature of the State, and is under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

The object of the institution is the education of colored teachers and preachers, and leaders for the race in other walks of life.

It stands at the terminus of seven railroads, in the midst of a dense and comparatively intelligent colored population, and occupies a site of sixty acres in the suburbs of the city.

BIDDLE UNIVERSITY.

It is situated in the heart of the South Atlantic region, which contains the two Synods of Atlantic and Catawba, having 290 colored churches, 180 ministers, scores of young men in preparation for the ministry, with a large number of schools and academies under their care. These schools and churches must be furnished with intelligent Christian teachers and preachers, who must be largely educated on the field, and in contact with the people among whom they are to labor. Such a training is given here at less expense than it could be elsewhere; the student has the best opportunities for a liberal education together with the refining influence of a Christian home, and he is kept at the same time in contact and sympathy with the people.

REV. D. J. SANDERS, D. D.,
President of Biddle University, Charlotte, N. C.

This institution has a colored president and I think that he has demonstrated the ability of the colored man to govern. I regard Rev. D. J. Sanders, D. D., as a very able man, and I think he has done as well at Biddle as any other man could have done, considering the period through which the institution has just passed.

No institution in the care of the Presbyterian Church has a wider field or greater opportunities. Its students are gathered from all the South Atlantic States, and are scattered in their school and church work through all this vast region, and as far west as Texas.

It is the only institution of its kind maintained by our Presbyterian Church in the South; and it certainly is one of the most important agencies in the hands of the Church for the accomplishment of good among 8,000,000 of colored people. It commends itself to the prayers and gifts of all good men.

The importance in the eyes of the Church, of the interests which Biddle University represents, is forcibly put in the language of a recent circular addressed to churches on its behalf by the Board of Missions for Freedmen:

"What is done," say they, "for Biddle University, will, in a great measure, determine the success of our whole work among the Freedmen."

FERGUSON ACADEMY.

Ferguson Academy is situated at Abbeville, S. C. The property was acquired by the Freedmen's Board of the Presbyterian Church in 1891. In 1892 Rev. Thomas H. Amos, A. M., then pastor of the First African Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, was elected principal to succeed Rev. E. W. Williams. The enrolment then consisted of sixty-two students, which have grown from that number to 210.

The property consists of three buildings valued at $7,000 or $8,000, free of debt.

REV. THOMAS H. AMOS, A. M.

The course of instruction is divided into nine grades. The faculty consists of Rev. T. H. Amos, A. M., Principal; Prof. Joseph W. Lee, Mrs. Ida B. Amos, Eliza A. Pindle, Misses Carrie M. Richie and Mattie F. Barr.

There is an industrial department connected with the school, and most of the work is done by the students. The management of the work is economical; the instruction painstaking and thorough, the discipline kind, and the graduates have the reputation of being moral and efficient teachers. There is no doubt but that the influences of such a school are uplifting to the masses of colored youth in the community. Those who have investigated the work of the school praise the management and thank its benefactors for what it is doing. The friends of Negro education may have confidence in Ferguson Academy, and find it an appropriate channel through which the rising generation of this people can be helped to places of usefulness and respectability. The religious tone of the instruction is deep and in addition to this the diligence and experience of its faculty and the supervision of the officers of the Presbyterian Board guarantee that this is a light to scatter the night in the regions where its graduates, both male and female, will go forth.

HARBISON INSTITUTE.

Harbison Institute is located at Beaufort, South Carolina; Rev. G. M. Elliott, President.

The aim of Harbison Institute is to give thorough training in those studies laid down in the course, and thereby fit those who attend upon its instruction for practical life, and help them to succeed in the work of their choice.

Persons whose moral character, or whose general influence would be detrimental to the good of the school, will not be received or retained in the school.

The use of intoxicating liquors, tobacco, profane or indecent language, card-playing, and everything tending to immoral life, are strictly forbidden.

Immoral or vicious conduct; insubordination to school authority; habitual tardiness, or truancy; habitual uncleanliness of person, or indecency in dress; persistent disorder, or misdemeanor on street, while going to or from school, will be deemed sufficient grounds for suspending the offender from the privileges of the school.

This school is doing just the kind of work needed in the locality where it is situated.

J. B. SWANN.

Rev. J. B. Swann, who is conducting an Industrial School, at Lothian (Anne Arundel county), Maryland, has been a very active worker in behalf of Negro education, from the time he entered Lincoln University in the fall of 1867, up to the present time.

He started out as a Missionary teacher under the Board of Home Missions for Freedmen during the summer months while attending Lincoln, and succeeded in building his first day-school at Mocksville, N. C., in 1869. From Mocksville, he was commissioned by the Board to West River, Md., where he labored for twelve years. From this place he was sent to Greensborough, N. C. Here he took charge of a school which had been previously organized and he made quite a success of the work. A few years later Mr. Swann returned to Lincoln for the purpose of taking a theological course. After finishing his studies he began his present work. His success has been marked and the results of his untiring efforts have been gratifying both to him and the Board.

REV. J. B. SWANN.

MARY POTTER MEMORIAL SCHOOL.

Mary Potter Memorial School is located at Oxford, N. C., and is under the management of Prof. G. C. Shaw.

This school is named in honor of Mrs. Mary Potter, of Schenectady, N. Y., who was very much interested in the Freedmen and contributed liberally toward their educational improvement. She donated the money to start this school, and after it had become too small for the accommodation of the many young people who crowded into it, friends of Mrs. Potter and friends of the colored people contributed to its enlargement. It is now in a splendid condition and very creditable work is being accomplished.

PROF. G. C. SHAW.

Professor Shaw, the principal of this school, was born of slave parents at Louisburg, N. C., June 19, 1863. He entered Lincoln University in 1881 and graduated in 1886. Devoted one year to the study of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Graduated from Auburn Theological Seminary, of Auburn, N. Y., in 1890.

It was while he was at Auburn that he made the acquaintance of Mrs. Potter, who offered him encouragement in the line of work he had mapped out for his life.

While in Oxford, he has succeeded in organizing a church and building up the school. Mr. Shaw tells me that he contemplates adding an industrial department to the school shortly and thereby increasing its usefulness.

COTTON PLANT ACADEMY.

Cotton Plant Academy is located at Cotton Plant, Ark. Rev. F. C. Potter, Principal. It is a school for co-education, and is doing very good work for the moral uplifting of the colored people in the section where it is located.

RICHARD ALLEN INSTITUTE.

Named after Rev. R. H. Allen, D. D., late Secretary of Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church; is the outgrowth of the Mission established in 1885 by the Presbytery of Pine Bluff, Ark.

The school was opened November 7, 1887, in the dwelling-house of the principal, and at first occupied one room; a second and then a third were soon in demand; from an enrolment of twenty-one pupils it increased to 138, and has steadily advanced until the roll has reached nearly 300. With the assistance of Messrs. W. B. Alexander, J. W. Crawford, J. B. Speers, Judge W. S. McCain, J. R. Westbrooks, et al.; a title with no encumbrance was secured to the property, and a building commenced, foundation and studding in place, when the weather prevented further work. When completed, this building had four rooms below, two rooms in second story, and one extended room on the third floor. In this, from 250 to 300 pupils were accommodated. The loss of this house by fire on the 17th of January, 1894, was a severe blow, entailing a loss of $5,000, confining the whole school in the dormitory of Richard Allen Institute, which was erected in 1892, by the assistance of Miss Mary E. Holmes, and fitted up to accommodate a number of pupils.

This is a chartered Institute under the laws of Arkansas, and is supported like all other Missions under the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church.

Rev. Lewis Johnston, Principal.

CHAPTER XI.

INDEPENDENT AND STATE SCHOOLS.

In this and the next two chapters I shall deal with the Independent and State schools. I open this chapter with Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute because it has created a greater amount of interest and has been the subject of more discussion in recent years than any other.

THE TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.

Charles Dickens says somewhere: "There is not an atom in Tom's slime, not a cubic inch in any pestilential gas in which he lives, not one obscenity, or degradation about him, not an ignorance, not a wickedness, not a brutality of his committing, but shall work its retribution through every order of society, up to the proudest of the proud and the highest of the high."

Ignorance and degradation among the people clearly menace the South, and not only the South, but the entire country. The action and reaction of human life is such that no class of persons, however wise or wealthy, can stand aloof from those lower, and remain unaffected, even though unmoved, by their misfortunes. More and more is this fact being recognized, and, as a means of self-protection, as well as from philanthropic motives, a widespread interest is being taken in the education of the Negro.

Perhaps the phase of this question which has aroused the greatest discussion is, "What kind of education does the Negro need?" Yet, probably, if we would try better to understand each other, there would be less difference of opinion. He who claims that there are those who should receive the higher education, and he who contends that what the masses need is an English course and a trade, are not necessarily antagonistic in their views. They may simply stand each for the prominent presentation of a special phase of the work to be done for the race. Bright colored girls and boys who wish to go to college and can do so, certainly should be encouraged to go. We have need of men and women with trained and disciplined minds. Besides there are individuals who are endowed with special gifts which can be used, to the greatest advantage, for the race and for humanity, only by giving them the highest possible degree of culture. On the other hand, there are the masses, who, like the masses of any race, are not able, either intellectually or financially, to take a college course, and who, besides, are destined to callings which require training other than that the college gives. What is to be done for them? This Booker T. Washington is ably demonstrating at Tuskegee. Both of these cases should be presented in equity, and the importance of either should not cause the other to be overlooked.

PROF. B. T. WASHINGTON, A. M.,
Principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute,
Tuskegee, Ala.

The success of the Tuskegee School is due, in a large measure, to the fact that it meets what is recognized as a great educational need. It carries along with the training of the head the training of the hand makes possible an education to the poorest boy and girl in the land, and sends each graduate out into the world familiar with some form of labor to the extent that he can earn thereby his daily bread. The experiment of this kind of training in solving the much-talked-of problem, is being watched on all sides with eager curiosity.

ARMSTRONG HALL.
Built by Students.

Tuskegee is no more Hampton than Hampton is the little school in the Sandwich Islands, from which General Armstrong received those earliest conceptions of the industrial education, afterwards realized on American soil in behalf of the American Negro. The peculiar exigencies of the situation gave rise to features in the more Southern school which are not to be found in the one nearer Mason and Dixon's line, and, in like manner, account for the absence in the younger school, of certain characteristics belonging to the older institution.

As those acquainted with the history of Tuskegee know, the school started in 1881 in an humble church and two shanties in the town of Tuskegee. There was then one teacher with thirty pupils; no land, no buildings, no apparatus, nothing but the $2,000 appropriated by the State for the payment of salaries. There are now over one hundred persons connected with the school in the capacity of instructors of some kind, nearly 1,200 pupils, including those attending the Training School; more than forty buildings erected by student labor, 2,600 acres of land, and a property valued at $225,000, unincumbered by mortgage.

ALABAMA HALL.
Built by Students.

This marvelous growth is due mainly to one man, Booker T. Washington, the principal of the school; and his success may be attributed to a combination of qualities—marked executive ability, high enthusiasm, keen, prophetic vision, and a wonderful power to see and to state the value of things commonly considered of small account. Some one has characterized Mr. Washington as "the man with a genius for common sense," and, probably, one might use many words in telling of him without giving so good a description as that conveyed in this terse expression.

PHELPS HALL.
Built by Students.

Tuskegee stands for the education of the head, the hand, and the heart, the three H's which include the three R's and much more. It gives a good Normal course, which fits one fairly well for the race of life, or serves as an excellent foundation for a more advanced course. Stress is laid on the study of pedagogy and practice in the training school; for the institution acts on the theory, which in most cases is correct, that these young people, after graduation, will teach at some time, whether or not during their schooldays they expect to do so, and, therefore, protects the future pupils of these embryo teachers by requiring every one who aspires to a diploma to receive training in the theory and practice of teaching.

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S COTTAGE.
Built by Students.

The Phelps Hall Bible School, connected with the Tuskegee Institute, is the gift of a Northern friend, and is designed especially to help the ministers of the South, among whom it is doing a great work. Many pastors in charge of churches, learning of the advantages of the institution and the possibility of getting through school with very little money, resign their churches to come here and better fit themselves for the work. Others, nearer, enter the school and trudge several miles on Saturday or Sunday to meet and minister to their congregations. Those not pastoring churches while in school, carry on some form of mission work, and so keep in touch with the people and help lift up others even while they are being lifted up.

There are over twenty-five industries operated by students under experienced and efficient instructors. A limited number of young men and women work during the day and attend school at night, in this manner supporting themselves and laying by a surplus for expenses when they enter the day-school, besides fortifying themselves with the knowledge of a trade. In order to teach the dignity of labor, as well as for the sake of the skill thus acquired by each student in some industry, all are required to do a certain amount of work.

Besides the literary societies of the school, of which there are four, doing good service along the lines usually adopted by such student bodies, there are several religious organizations. The Y. M. C. A. has a large membership and is doing a most effective work. The young men belonging to this association are of an especially high type of young manhood, and they are exerting a most helpful and healthful influence on the morals of the school. After a great deal of worthy effort they have succeeded in getting a pretty well-stocked reading-room and library, and they are now bending their energies toward securing a building of their own. They feel that they have outgrown the one little room which is all the school can afford to give them.

The Y. P. S. C. E. is full of vigorous life. Its presidents have always been teachers, while the various committees are composed of both teachers and students. Besides the Executive Committee there is a Lookout Committee, which looks out for the welfare of the society, and keeps trace of the members who are absent from the consecration meetings; a Prayer Meeting Committee which has charge of all the prayer meetings; a Flower Committee, which carries flowers to the sick, and decorates the chapel for special exercises, and a Mission Committee, which does work in the neighborhood among the poor, carrying food and clothing to them from time to time during the year.

The Mite Society is a branch of the W. H. M. S. Besides general work among the poor in the vicinity of the school, it has given special care to the old people of the county poorhouse. This society exacts one cent weekly from its members, and when this cannot be given, accepts, in lieu thereof, a sheet of paper, a stamp, an envelope, or anything which may be sold by a committee appointed for that purpose.

The Tuskegee Women's Club is not, like the organizations already mentioned, for the students; but, as an outgrowth of the school, and one of the most helpful influences in the community, it may be mentioned here. This club is composed of the women connected with the institution, either as teachers or the wives of teachers. At the regular semi-monthly meetings a literary and musical program is rendered, and there is a sub-organization which meets weekly for an informal discussion of current topics; but these efforts for self-improvement do not limit the activity of the club. Among the branch organizations conducted by its members are social purity clubs among the girls of the institution, a humane society, to which both boys and girls belong, a club for the ministers' wives of the town and vicinity, where they are helped to a fuller realization of the responsibilities and opportunities of their position, and are shown how they may best work among the girls and women of the churches, a club for mutual improvement having as members girls attending the institution, but living in town, a Y. W. C. T. U., and a club conducted in the town on Saturday afternoons in the special interest of the country women, who flock in on that day to see the sights and to do their small shopping. This club was organized by Mrs. Booker T. Washington, several years ago, even before the organization of the main club of which it is now considered a branch, and it has done much to elevate the morals and improve the manners of the women in and near Tuskegee.

The influence of the school is still further extended by means of the farmers' conferences, with which the public is very generally acquainted. These conferences are held annually, towards the latter part of February or the first of March, and are largely attended. The men are advised to buy land and to cultivate it thoroughly, to raise more food supplies, to build houses with more than one room, to tax themselves to build better school houses, and to extend the term to at least six months, to give more attention to the character of their leaders, especially ministers and teachers, to keep out of debt, to avoid law suits, to treat their women better, and where practicable, to hold similar conferences in their several communities. A woman's conference is held on the afternoon of the same day, and topics relating to the home and the care of children are discussed. The next day there is a congress of workers, which is attended by teachers and others who labor for the elevation of the colored people.

Tuskegee not only advises the people to get homes, but, through the generosity of a friend who established a fund for this purpose, she has been enabled to help several families to this end. The sum of $4,500 was given to be loaned in amounts ranging from $30 to $300, to graduates of the school or to other worthy persons. Already more than twenty homes have been secured in this manner, and, as a result, Greenwood, a model little community, is growing up just beyond the school grounds.

The Summer Assembly furnishes help of another kind. This is a sort of Southern Chautauqua, modified to meet the needs of the section and of the people for whose benefit it is held. Here tired teachers, preachers, and others meet annually and combine pleasure with instruction, holding daily morning sessions at which papers on subjects of practical importance are read and discussed, and spending afternoons and evenings in rest and recreation.

These are influences emanating directly from the school, but what of the work of its graduates, of the indirect influences thus set in motion? Their name is legion. These graduates and undergraduates are scattered throughout the South, engaged in the great work of trying to elevate a race. We find them in the shops, comparing favorably with their white fellow-workmen, at the head of industrial departments in smaller schools planned after the order of the Tuskegee Institute; preaching among the people, trying to clear their minds of ignorance and superstition, and seeking to raise the standard of the ministry of which they form a part; teaching in remote country districts, probably for salaries hardly more than sufficient to pay their board, perhaps building with their own hands the schoolhouse they have induced the people to assist in erecting; on their own little pieces of land farming after the improved methods they learned at school; nursing, sewing, caring for their own homes and children—all, we trust, many, we know—lights in the communities in which they reside and living embodiments of the principles for which the beloved parent institution stands.

The aim has always been to have the instructors at Tuskegee persons of ability; frequently they have been also persons of considerable reputation. One of the most remarkable characters ever connected with the school and the one to whom, more than to any other, with the exception of Mr. Washington himself, is due Tuskegee's phenomenal progress, was Mrs. Olivia Davidson Washington, the now deceased wife of the principal. She was Mr. Washington's assistant almost from the first, and being a woman of great enthusiasm, earnestness, and fixity of purpose, and being, besides, widely and favorably known in the North where she received her education, she made many friends for the institution, and brought to it many gifts.

Mrs. Warren Logan, who is yet teaching in the school, was associated very early in the work with Mr. Washington and Miss Davidson, she and Miss Davidson being for some time the only women teachers in the school. Mrs. Logan helped to train many of the teachers who have gone out from Tuskegee, and has done other work in that line, having been appointed at various times to hold teachers' institutes in different parts of Alabama and of Georgia.

Mr. Logan, the secretary and treasurer, holds a position in the institution second in importance only to that of the principal, and has proved his worth by long years of faithful service. The head teacher, Mr. Nathan B. Young, is a graduate of Oberlin College; he is a close student and a man of recognized scholarship.

Mr. R. R. Taylor, who is in charge of the department of architectural and mechanical drawing, was graduated from the Boston School of Technology.

Rev. E. J. Penney, at the head of the Phelps Hall Bible Training School, is of the Yale Divinity School.

Prof. J. W. Hoffman, an agricultural specialist, is a member of the American Academy of Natural Sciences, and of several English and continental scientific bodies.

At one time Miss Hallie Quinn Brown, the noted elocutionist, served as lady principal.

Dr. Tanner's talented daughter, Dr. Hallie Tanner Dillon, was resident physician until she married, and her husband accepted the presidency of Allen University in South Carolina.

Something may be judged of Mrs. Booker T. Washington from what has been already told of her work among the women. She is now more widely known, perhaps, as the President of the National Federation of Afro-American Women; but it is in the State of Alabama, the heart of the Black Belt, where her influence is really exerted and felt, as it can be exerted and felt nowhere else. Mrs. Washington is a very strong character, and is truly a helpmeet for the husband who has chosen her.

Of Mr. Washington, the whole country knows how he struggled for an education at Hampton, was selected by General Armstrong to take charge of the work at Tuskegee, and with one bound has leaped to the front, making himself the most prominent figure among living colored men and his school the greatest educational influence in the South at the present day.

This brief mention gives some idea of the status of the men and women who compose the teaching force of the school at Tuskegee. The best talent is none too good for such work. The school is in the centre of a vast Negro population, where the blacks outnumber the whites three to one. Here are unparalleled opportunities for helping the masses of the people; and in their redemption, even more than in the higher education of a gifted few, the welfare of the country is involved.

NORMAL.

While the State Normal and Industrial School, at Normal, Alabama, has made little display through the public prints, it is a fact that it is doing a great work for Negro Education, and stands among the best schools of the land.

This institution, like many others in the South, is the work of sacrifice and charity. The early teachers taught for a bare living in order to make the school a fixture. Prof. Councill, the founder and president of the school, gave his entire earnings for more than ten years to the work. The documents which the teachers signed, donating their salaries to the cause of education of the Negro race, is a part of the records of the institution, and a witness of their devotion and consecration to the work.

OLD SLAVE CABIN—PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, 1891-94.

The school began its existence in the city of Huntsville, Ala., May 1, 1875. It was first taught in a little church, and then in rented houses about the city until, September 1, 1882, a beautiful lot consisting of five acres of land, on which stood several buildings, was purchased and the school permanently located.

ONLY SCHOOL PROF. COUNCILL EVER ATTENDED.

Beginning May 1, 1875, with not one dollar in property, only one teacher, nineteen pupils, annual income of $1,000, in 1878, its work was so satisfactory that the annual appropriation was increased to $2,000, and it then had four teachers and over 200 pupils. The Peabody and Slater funds made liberal contributions to its support. In 1884, the Alabama Legislature increased the annual appropriation to $4,000, the city of Huntsville gave aid, and warm friends, North and South, contributed liberally. The old buildings on the grounds were improved, and by 1890, two large handsome brick buildings, one large frame dormitory for young men, and a commodious industrial building had been erected and fitted up; the faculty had been increased to eleven teachers, and more than 300 students were receiving instruction in a thorough Normal Course and in important industries. The Legislature of Alabama, in further recognition of the merits of this institution, selected it as the recipient of that portion of the Congressional grant under act approved August 30, 1890, known as the Morrill Fund "for the more complete endowment and maintenance of colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," given to Alabama for Negro Education. This action of the Legislature gave new force and broader scope to the work. It was seen that larger quarters were necessary, that the beautiful grounds, handsome buildings supplied with gas and water, must be given up and the school removed from Huntsville to some suitable place near by. A great many locations were offered, and, after due consideration, the present location was purchased. Palmer Hall and Seay Hall, a barn and a dairy were erected and the session opened for 1891-2, September 1, in its new quarters—three months after the closing of the session, June 1, 1891. The new location was commonly known as Green Bottom Inn, or Connally Race-Track. It has an interesting history, as old almost as the State itself. There once stood upon these grounds a famous inn, a large distillery, grog-shop, slave cabins, rows of stables in which were kept the great trotting horses of fifty years ago, while in the beautiful valley, circling at the foot of the hill, was the race-course, where thousands of dollars were lost and won. Stretching far away to the south, west and north of the hill (now Normal) are broad fields wherein worked hundreds of Africa's dusky sons, filling the air with merry songs accompanying plow or hoe, or with silent prayers to heaven for deliverance from bondage. Here men, as well as horses, were bought and sold, and often blood was drawn from human veins by the lash like the red wine from bright decanters. But what a change! The famous old inn is no more. The distillery has crumbled to dust. Not a vestige of those stables remain. The old grog-shop, too, has gone forever. However,

"There are still some few remaining,

Who remind us of the past."

PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, 1895.

The beautiful mountains and the same broad fields, made more beautiful by Freedom's touch, still stretch far, far away; the race-course is gone, but a little higher up the hillside is a road along which thousands of slaves have passed from the Carolinas and Virginia to the bottoms of the Mississippi, and the road now is a main street of Normal; four of the old slave cabins remain, one of which for three years served as the president's office and three repaired and occupied by teachers and their families; the great old gin-house, built of logs, where so many slaves trembled at the reckoning evening hour, now used as Normal's blacksmith shop, wheelwright shop, broom factory, mattress factory; the old log barn, repaired, and with additions, serving as Normal's laundry; the little saddle house whose framework is put together entirely with pegs instead of nails, now serves as barber shop; the carriage house, which has served as sewing room and printing office; and last the grand old residence of the "lord of the manor," partly of stone (walls three feet thick) and partly of wood covered with cedar shingles, under a heavy coating of moss, containing in all eight rooms. In this typical, hospitable Southern home, the great Andrew Jackson, once President of the United States, was entertained when he attended the races and bet his eagles on the trotters. This home is now the residence of the President of Normal who was himself a slave. The mutations of time!

ANTE-BELLUM HOME, NOW PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE.

The income is derived from the State of Alabama, U. S. Government (Morrill Fund), and charitable sources. This is steadily increasing every year.

Since the organization, the institution has sent forth 218 graduates from its various departments. Besides these graduates, there are hundreds of undergraduates doing great work among thousands of the Negro population of the country.

In the Literary Department of Normal there are six well organized schools or courses of study, to wit:

1. Normal or Professional School, with a course of three years.

2. Normal Preparatory School, two years.

3. Model School, four years.

4. Bible Training School, two years.

5. School of Music—Instrumental and Vocal.

6. Business Course, including Bookkeeping, Shorthand, Type-writing, Telegraphy and Commercial Law.

Normal has, also, a liberal Post-Graduate Course.

CLASS IN MECHANICAL DRAWING.

The Industrial Department has twenty schools or courses, from one to three years, in Cooking, Sewing, Sick Nursing, Laundering, Housekeeping, Network, Blacksmithing, House Carpentry, Wheelwright, Cabinet-making, Shoe-making, Painting, Printing, Broom-making, Mattress-making, Plumbing, Agriculture, Horticulture, Dairy Farming, Stock Raising.

Normal is fortunate in her abundant water supply.

The school has an excellent laboratory, and a very good library consisting of choice books, and a reading room, wherein are some of the best magazines and journals of the country.

There are quite a number of Religious Societies which are doing much good.

There are more than twenty buildings of various sizes and uses upon the grounds.

A post-office has been established on the Elora branch of the N. C. & St. L. R. R., right at the school, and the station has been named Normal, Alabama, in honor of the school. Fearns is the name of the station on the M. & C. R. R., situated also on the school grounds. Normal does registry and money-order business. It has also an express office and telegraph station.

All work, including building, repairing, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, painting, broom-making, printing, shoe-making, mattress-making, farming, cooking, dining-room and general house-work, is performed by the students.

SCENE IN SHOE FACTORY.

The shops are well supplied with ordinary machinery and tools.

The farm comprises about 200 acres of land, on which are cultivated for general and experimental purposes many varieties of cotton, grain, and all kinds of vegetables. The farm is well stocked with mules, horses, Devon, Holstein and Jersey cows, best breeds of hogs and poultry; vehicles and implements of every kind.

The various fruits of this section are found in the orchards of the farm.

The healthfulness of this entire section is generally known. But this school is particularly favored in this regard on account of its excellent location and surroundings. Normal is 1,200 feet above sea-level, with a natural drainage unsurpassed in the United States. The atmosphere is pure and bracing at all times.

Very few of the students of Normal received other help than a chance to work out their destinies.

The teachers contribute a portion of their salaries to our "Student Aid Fund" and other causes for the promotion of the work.

The work of elevating the plantation life of the Negro is one of the most important connected with the work of education in the South. It is hard for the schools to reach these people. Hence the importance of special effort in this direction. Normal has organized to meet the demand. Young women are trained especially for this work. Those who will dedicate their lives to this work on the plantation, to work regardless of pay, have all of their expenses paid in school while they are in preparation. Normal hopes to do much in this line.

A CLASS IN COOKING.

The young men are also organized for Sunday-school Mission Work. Many of them walk five to ten miles every Sabbath, to organize and conduct Sunday schools. Everywhere they go, school-houses are built and repaired, homes are refined and general intelligence scattered among the people. The ingenuity displayed by these young men to overcome the poverty which confronts them in their work is quite remarkable. One of them bought Sunday-school literature and started a library, on a collection of one egg each Sunday, from those who could afford to make such a contribution.

The U. S. Government has made Normal a Weather Service Station, and the signals are read by the farmers for miles away. Normal has a brass band, also an excellent string band.

Prof. W. H. Councill owns a farm adjoining Normal, and occupying a portion of the triangle between the two great railroad lines approaching each other after passing on either side of Normal. He has laid a portion of this land off in lots, streets, avenues, alleys, and gives the odd numbers to bona fide settlers, who will build a specified house, and subscribe to certain other conditions, such as keeping up fences, streets, sidewalks, etc. Men who can turn their brains and muscles into things of use are encouraged to settle here.

PRESIDENT W. H. COUNCILL.

W. H. Councill was born in Fayetteville, N. C., in 1848, and brought to Alabama by the traders in 1857, through the famous Richmond Slave Pen. He is a self-made man, having had only few school advantages. He attended one of the first schools opened by kind Northern friends at Stevenson, Ala., in 1865. Here he remained about three years, and this is the basis of his education. He has been a close and earnest student ever since, often spending much of the night in study. He has accumulated quite an excellent library and the best books of the best masters are his constant companions, as well as a large supply of the best current literature. By private instruction and almost incessant study, he gained a fair knowledge of some of the languages, higher mathematics and the sciences. He read law and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Alabama in 1883. But he has never left the profession of teaching for a day, although flattering political positions have been held out to him. He has occupied high positions in church and other religious, temperance and charitable organizations, and has no mean standing as a public speaker. And thus by earnest toil, self-denial, hard study, he has made himself, built up one of the largest institutions in the South and educated scores of young people at his own expense.

PROF. W. H. COUNCILL,
Principal of State Normal and Industrial School, Normal, Ala.

Just before closing this sketch, I want to say that I regard Mr. Councill as being one of the most remarkable colored men in the United States to-day. I have known him for a great many years and I recognize in him the true, honest man—in every sense a man.

CHAPTER XII.

ECKSTEIN NORTON UNIVERSITY.

This school was founded by one of the most successful educators of the race, the late Rev. Wm. J. Simmons, D. D., and his associate, Rev. C. H. Parrish, A. M., who is its worthy president. In 1890 it opened under the most favorable auspices, and each year has succeeded beyond the sanguine expectations of its friends. For purity of atmosphere, for development of the physical powers, for freedom from the allurements and unwholesome amusements of city life, no better place could have been selected than Cane Spring, Bullitt county, Ky., twenty-nine miles from Louisville.

Eckstein Norton University, Cane Spring, Ky.

The object is to teach the students how to work; to teach the dignity of labor, that hands must be used as well as heads and that both can be successfully used together. It teaches manliness and race pride; that skill tells regardless of skin or parentage. It gives, besides the industries, a literary training which begins with the primary and ends with the college. As much is required from the study of the Bible as from any other book.

This school has had its adversities in deaths of teachers and conflagration of buildings, yet it has bravely struggled through all.

Its session for 1896 opened with students from fourteen different States, and with prospects bright and encouraging. Students who enter this University must come with a purpose and must use with profit their time. Anything short of this will not be tolerated.

Eckstein Norton
Conservatory of Music
Cane Spring Ky.

Children who come as young as eight years are under a special matron who cares for them as a mother. In the Industrial Department will be found carpentry, blacksmithing, farming, printing, plain sewing, dressmaking, tailoring, cooking, etc. Business Department includes Shorthand, Typewriting, Bookkeeping, etc.

The Musical Conservatory is the first of the race manned by teachers from the best Conservatories of Music of this country. The course of study is in accord with Oberlin, Boston, Chicago and others. A Conservatory building is now being erected under the direction of Prof. Hattie A. Gibbs, who has traveled extensively through the East in its interest.

Many of the graduates who have gone out from this institution are successfully teaching in the various districts of their counties, and some are assistants in the schools of their towns. Many of these young men and women return after their schools close and take up their duties in the College Department. Classes and studies are so arranged that students may study what is most desirable, leave off at any stage, recruit their health or finances, and return to complete the course at any future time. The time to finish any course is the least possible, consistent with thorough work in all departments. The school recognizes annually the 16th of December (birthday of Honorable Eckstein Norton, after whom the school is named), Donor's Day, at which time the work is reviewed and the memory of those who have helped the institution, living or dead, is kept fresh and revered by students and friends; letters of encouragement are read and contributions announced.

The faculty is competent and consists of the following persons:

Rev. C. H. Parrish, A. B., A. M., President; P. T. Frazier, A. B; Mary V. Cook, A. B., A. M.; Alice P. Kelley, A. B., A. M.; Hattie A. Gibbs, Oberlin Conservatory; Minnetta B. James, Minnesota; Cornelia Burk, Virginia; Amanda V. Nelson, Matron.

REV. CHARLES HENRY PARRISH, A. B., A. M.

One of the most remarkable men among the Negro educators of this country is Rev. C. H. Parrish. He is a native Kentuckian, and worked his way up from errand boy in a dry goods store to the presidency of a flourishing school, and one of the most noted ministers in the Baptist denomination. In infancy his mother beheld a son in whom her soul could delight. Obedient, true and faithful were traits in his character so conspicuous that he was a favorite in his town among all people.

He entered State University, Louisville, Ky., September, 1880, with Dr. William J. Simmons as president, and graduated May, 1886, at the head of his class with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1886 he became pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church, where he still remains greatly beloved by a large membership, and enjoys the respect and confidence of all who know him as being an efficient minister and a Christian gentleman who loves truth for its own sake and pursues it faithfully regardless of everything.

Many honors have come to him as delegate to State, Educational and National Conventions—holding offices of trust in many. At this time he is President of the State Teachers' Association, and Chairman of the Executive Board of the General Association of Colored Baptists.

He stands at the head of the Eckstein Norton University, an institution devoted to the training of the head, heart and hand, and therefore gives to the Negro youth the kind of education best adapted to his development. He has traveled extensively in the interest of the school, and by his strict attention to business he has made the work a success.

CHAS. H. PARRISH, A. B., A. M.

Though Rev. Parrish leads a busy life, he finds time to look after race interests. He is author of "What We Believe," a hand-book for Baptist Churches. So highly was this work prized that the American Baptist Publication Society compiled it with works by Dr. John A. Broadus, Dr. Alvah Hovey, Dr. J. L. Burrows and others. Rev. Parrish ranks high as an educator, pulpit orator, president and author. He is clear, comprehensive and convincing in the presentation of his views upon all subjects, and adds to this fact a beauty of language, grace of rhetoric, and forceful logic, which stamps him at once as extraordinary in his gifts and acquirements.

MISS MARY V. COOK, A. B., A. M.

The subject of this sketch is a native of Bowling Green, Ky. Her life was uneventful till she reached school age, when her ability for learning asserted itself. By her persistent efforts and her insatiable desire for knowledge, she soon outgrew the educational facilities of the place, and was chafing for better advantages, when Dr. Wm. J. Simmons made it possible for her to enter the State University at Louisville, Ky.

After her graduation she was elected permanent teacher and made principal of the Normal Department, and professor of Latin and Mathematics in the State University, which position she held until a few years ago, when she was called to a like position in the Eckstein Norton University.

Miss Cook has appeared on the programmes of some of the most noted bodies of the race, read a paper on Afro-American women at the Educational Congress in Chicago, 1893, and has addressed crowded houses throughout the New England States under the auspices of the Baptist Women's Home Mission Society.

MISS MARY V. COOK, A. B., A. M.

In 1892, when a fight was made against the enactment of the Separate Coach Law, she, with three other ladies, was invited to the State Capital to enter protest before the Legislature. She has traveled extensively through the South land and made a close study of her people, their progress, etc. She has gone as far west as California in the interest of the work in which she is engaged, and the school is now reaping the benefits of that trip. She has recently accepted a place on the Executive Board of the National Federation of Women, of which Mrs. Victoria Mathews is chairman.

Miss Cook is a thorough business woman; her industry and close application to affairs intrusted to her is of marked comment. She is conscientiously consistent with an honest conviction of right, to which she adheres with admirable fearlessness. She is, by her very constitution, compassionate, gentle, patient, self-denying, loving, hopeful, trustful, and by the power of her own pure soul she unconsciously molds the lives of those under her. It would be utterly impossible to live on day after day with Miss Cook, and not feel the desire for as noble a life springing up in your own heart. She has a wonderful influence over her pupils, who love her with the love that casteth out fear. And she not only influences them, but all who come in contact with her are wonderfully impressed.

Miss Cook is an intelligent little woman, a deep thinker; keeps abreast of the times and holds no mean place in the galaxy of distinguished colored women.

The women of her own State delight to honor her and have conferred upon her some of the highest offices in the organizations of which she is a member. Miss Cook has a literary inclination; being a strong, graceful writer, she has contributed much that is good to colored journalism.

When she has appeared on the public platform, she has never failed to carry her audience by the force of her terse style and convincing argument. She was recently appointed Commissioner of the State of Kentucky to the Women's Congress which convened at Atlanta, Ga., December, 1895, before which body she read an interesting paper.

Slowly and surely, step by step, Miss Cook has risen to this high plane of usefulness and her life is an inspiration, modestly displaying the great unselfish heart of the woman, whose highest ambition is to be of use to her race and humanity.

MISS HATTIE A. GIBBS.

Miss Hattie A. Gibbs is the youngest of five children of Hon. Mifflin W. Gibbs, of Little Rock, Ark., and his amiable wife, Mrs. Anna Alexander Gibbs.

Miss Gibbs entered the Oberlin Public School at six, and began the study of music at nine under the direction of her sister, who at that time had made considerable advancement in that study. At eleven she entered the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and also kept up her studies in school for three years, after which she entered the high school and devoted all her time to those studies. After two years of hard study of Greek, Latin and Mathematics, she graduated with honors before her fifteenth birthday.

As a student she was an untiring worker, her hours for study encompassed almost the entire day. She accustomed herself to rising at four o'clock to begin her practice.

PROF. HATTIE A. GIBBS.

In the Conservatory Department of Oberlin College the attendance is about 500, and out of this number the average attendance of colored students is eight or ten. Students are required to finish a course of three studies before a diploma is awarded. Besides finishing the studies of piano, pipe organ and harmony, she had the advantage of several terms in voice culture, and since her graduation she has made special study of the violin in order to better prepare herself as director of Eckstein Norton Conservatory of Music, of which she was a founder and of which she is now in charge.

The women of the race should be proud of her. The people of Kentucky should be proud that one so able has placed her services within reach, and ought to show the colored peoples' appreciation, by contributing money toward erecting such suitable buildings, as will stand long after the founder is numbered with the dead—a race monument in itself.

In disposition Miss Gibbs is amiable; in mind she is great; in heart she is noble; in manners she is gentle; she has a steadfast and undeviating love of truth, fearless and straightforward in action and integrity and an honor ever unsullied by an unworthy word or deed, and after all, these traits so prominent in her make-up make her greater than her worldly success in her art, for in themselves they constitute greatness.

She has a clever handicraft at all the arts commonly styled "woman's work." Not only have her hands been trained to glide dexterously over the keyboard, but she has made every day of her life tell, and the result of her industry is that she is skilled in painting, crayon work, artistic embroidery, dressmaking, cooking and all that goes to make up an accomplished woman.

This brief sketch has been given with the hope that young people, who wish to accomplish any particular pursuit in life, may herein find an example of what a woman can do, and the truth may be brought to them that "there is no excellence without great labor."

GLOUCESTER AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.

PROF. W. B. WEAVER.

Professor W. B. Weaver, the principal of the Gloucester Agricultural and Industrial School—was born April 7, 1852, at Winton, N. C. The first school he attended was taught by his oldest brother under a cart shelter, from there to a log hut which had been used as a barn, making seats out of boxes and plank boards. In 1869 he spent a few months in a public school, where he was advanced to the grade from which he could enter Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va. He worked his way through, and in 1873 began teaching his first school, in his native State, having in his school 112 pupils. In 1875 and 1876 he taught in the Valley of Virginia, in 1878, at Williamsport, Pa., and in the fall of 1879, he returned to Virginia, and looking for a fruitful field, was sent by Gen. S. C. Armstrong to Gloucester county, where he began this noble effort for the uplifting of his race. He opened school in December, 1879, in a little log cabin, which was used by slaves as a meeting-house before the war. In this dark room he taught over 75 pupils. He soon caused the people in the community to see and feel the need of education; and securing the co-operation of the School Board and by the aid of the colored people, a two-story building was erected known as Bethel Public School-house. Here 196 pupils were in attendance and three teachers employed. His school did not close at the end of the public school term of five months as other schools; but by keeping the people interested, he raised money enough to continue for eight months.

THE LOG CABIN.

Seeing the need of an industrial school for Gloucester and surrounding counties, he gave up the public school work and entered upon the work of establishing an industrial school. An educational mass-meeting was called in which the Board of Trustees were elected. Prof. Weaver then commenced the work of raising money for the proposed school. In October, 1888, he opened school with four pupils in a board house once used for a store. Coming out of a well-arranged crowded school-room into this dilapidated make-shift with only four pupils, made him feel strange. But having made a start in the direction which he believed to be right, he did not look back, but daily pressed on the work of teaching.

BETHEL PUBLIC SCHOOL.

In 1890, thirty-three acres of land were bought and Richmond Hall commenced. In October of that year he opened school in this building though only partly finished.

RICHMOND HALL.

Since that time 120 acres more of land have been purchased, a large farm put under cultivation, other buildings erected, and industrial shops opened. One large building known as Douglass Hall has recently been erected and in use, though not completed. It is a three-story building 78 × 60 in size and will cost, when completed, upward of $6,000.

The school is located in Gloucester county, on York river, and is accessible by a daily line of steamers plying between Baltimore and West Point.

It is in easy reach of over 30,000 colored people. It has sent out several graduates, who are doing good work among their people and for their country. There are at present ninety-seven pupils on roll, and the school property is valued at $15,000.

DOUGLASS HALL.

Mrs. A. B. Weaver, the wife of Prof. Weaver, has been a strong helper with him in this work. He says that his success is largely due to her constant work, wise counsel and strong faith in God. Many times, when the way would be dark, and to continue in this industrial school work looked impossible, she would encourage him to hold on a few days longer. She graduated from the Albany High School of New York in 1880, and in '81 became one of his assistant teachers in the Bethel Public School, and she has stuck firmly to the work ever since.

MRS. ANNA B. WEAVER.

The object of this school is to make good and useful citizens, to train teachers, preachers, mechanics, farmers and leaders for the race.

The school depends largely on charity for support. The colored people in Gloucester are very proud of this school, its work and its workers, and contribute freely of their small means to its support. It is an outgrowth of the Hampton school and is known as Hampton's second son, and shows the wonderful influence of that school. It also shows how the colored people are striving to help themselves, and how they succeed when they have had a chance in such schools.

SCHOFIELD SCHOOL.

This school was established in 1868 by Martha Schofield.

It was started in a little frame schoolhouse which was soon crowded to its utmost capacity. To-day the property, entirely free from debt, is worth $30,000, and includes two substantial brick buildings, and two frame buildings in Aiken, S. C., with a farm of 281 acres three miles distant.

Through all these years it has influenced and moulded many lives. In the North and South, in the city and country, you will find colored men and women who will tell you that they received their education at the Schofield School.

Much has been done, much remains to be done. In the country places, in the towns and villages of the South, are hundreds of young men and women growing up in the densest ignorance—in ignorance of the commonest decencies and proprieties of life—with minds capable of greatest effort, but darkened and obscured; with immortal souls clouded with superstition and the teachings of ignorant preachers. They reach out their hands to us with the cry: "Come over and help us!" What can we do for them?

In our schoolrooms they receive thorough training in the branches of a common-school education. In the boarding department they may receive industrial instruction which will fit them to take up the duties of everyday life. Daily contact and association with refined, cultured teachers will develop latent possibilities, will arouse new ambitions and longings for a higher, purer life. Even a few months' sojourn at the institution leaves an indelible mark on the character. When a student comes back year after year until he has completed the required course of study, his growth is more rapid, the results of incalculable value. Not until one realizes the narrowness, the poverty of the environment from which such a student comes, can one fully estimate the benefit of such an institution. Nor does the good stop with the one directly benefited. As the scholars go out into their homes to be teachers and workers, they carry the knowledge gained, and the light in their own hearts, and thus reach multitudes with whom we never, directly, come in contact.

There are those whose lives are consecrated to this work, whose daily time and strength are spent among these people for their uplifting. There are constant calls on their sympathy, constant appeals for help, but unless the help and support comes from the North they cannot respond.

Their greatest need is a larger Endowment Fund to meet the current expenses, that the labor and care connected with the raising of money may be rendered unnecessary, when there would be more time and strength to meet the demands of the work at their doors.

Can there be a greater privilege than to use the money the Lord has sent them than bringing into the fold some of His stray lambs? "For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; I was naked and ye clothed me; I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me."

Who will open the door of knowledge to these minds, held in the bondage of ignorance; who will help to feed the souls hungering and thirsting for the bread of life; who will aid them in their attempt to clothe these rude, untrained spirits in the garments of refinement and culture, in which even they may stand arrayed? "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done unto me."

THE REED ORPHAN HOME.

The Reed Orphan Home, at Covington, Ga., was founded by Mrs. Dinah P. Pace, who was graduated from Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga., in 1883. During this year (1883) Mrs. Pace went to Covington to teach for a few months only, but while there she became greatly interested in the work of uplifting her race. Her labors did not end with the routine of ordinary school duties, for she visited the homes and assisted in caring for the little ones of the families, very few of which did not greatly need her services. Her interest in both mother and children soon caused her to take under her roof several children who were left orphans.