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Title: Evidences of Progress Among Colored People

Author: G. F. Richings

Release date: January 19, 2021 [eBook #64338]
Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Credits: hekula03, Alan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS AMONG COLORED PEOPLE ***

# 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.

[Pg iii]

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The pages of this book will take the place of the canvas; the dim light of the lantern will be superseded by the clear light of reason, and the race that has been so long misrepresented will appear in a new[Pg iv] light as the representative characters of this book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[Pg v] 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.

[Pg vi]
[Pg vii]

## 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[Pg viii] 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.[Pg ix] "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.[Pg x] 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 mys[Pg xi]terious 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[Pg xii] 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 per[Pg xiii]sons 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.

[Pg xiv]

CONTENTS.

Introduction. | iii
Preface. | vii
CHAPTER I.
BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE | 17
CHAPTER II.
BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE | 41
CHAPTER III.
CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOLS | 71
CHAPTER IV.
EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS | 88
CHAPTERS V. AND VI.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS | 97
CHAPTER VII.
A. M. E. SCHOOLS | 117
CHAPTER VIII.
A. M. E. ZION SCHOOL | 143
CHAPTER IX.
PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE | 154
CHAPTER X.
PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE | 158
CHAPTER XI.
TUSKEGEE AND NORMAL, BOTH IN ALABAMA | 189
CHAPTER XII.
ECKSTEIN NORTON UNIVERSITY, GLOUCESTER, AND OTHER SCHOOLS | 218[Pg xv]
CHAPTER XIII.
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY AND BEREA COLLEGE | 248
CHAPTER XIV.
INSTITUTE FOR COLORED YOUTH, CAMP NELSON, AND SCHOOL WORK IN WASHINGTON | 254
CHAPTER XV.
NASHVILLE, TENN. | 264
CHAPTER XVI.
ATLANTA, GA., AND INDIANAPOLIS, IND. | 273
CHAPTER XVII.
FINE PENMEN | 278
CHAPTER XVIII.
COLORED LAWYERS | 284
CHAPTER XIX.
J. H. LEWIS AND OTHER BUSINESS MEN | 297
CHAPTER XX.
WALTER P. HALL AND OTHER SUCCESSFUL MERCHANTS | 316
CHAPTER XXI.
BANKS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, ETC. | 334
CHAPTER XXII.
PATENTS AND OTHER BUSINESS INTERESTS | 342
CHAPTER XXIII.
COLORED EDITORS AND JOURNALISTS | 349
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHURCHES | 375
CHAPTER XXV.
HOSPITALS AND HOMES | 392
CHAPTER XXVI.
PROMINENT COLORED WOMEN | 411
CHAPTER XXVII.
DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS AND HIS PRIVATE SANATORIUM | 429
CHAPTER XXVIII.
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS, BOYDTON INSTITUTE, AND CHRISTIANSBURG INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE | 436[Pg xvi]
CHAPTER XXIX.
HAMPTON INSTITUTE, HAMPTON, VA. | 445
CHAPTER XXX.
STATE SCHOOLS AND CALHOUN SETTLEMENT | 461
CHAPTER XXXI.
C. M. E. SCHOOLS | 472
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS | 476
CHAPTER XXXIII.
COLEMAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY | 481
CHAPTER XXXIV.
RICHMOND, VA. | 486
CHAPTER XXXV.
HERE AND THERE | 498
CHAPTER XXXVI.
NATIONAL BAPTIST PUBLISHING BOARD | 564
CHAPTER XXXVII.
COLORED SOLDIERS | 569
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CONCLUSION | 572
INDEX TO PORTRAITS OF PEOPLE | 574

[Pg 17]

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[Pg 18] 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.

[Pg 19]

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 ex[Pg 20]pected 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 re[Pg 21]spect 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[Pg 22] 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 [Pg 23]
[Pg 24]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[Pg 25] 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.[Pg 26] 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[Pg 27] 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.

[Pg 28]

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 [Pg 29]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[Pg 30] 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.

[Pg 31]

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 [Pg 32]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.

[Pg 33]

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.

[Pg 34]

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[Pg 35] 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.

[Pg 36]

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[Pg 37] 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[Pg 38] 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,[Pg 39] 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[Pg 40] 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.

[Pg 41]

## 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[Pg 42] 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[Pg 43] 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[Pg 44] 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,[Pg 45] 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[Pg 46] 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[Pg 47] 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[Pg 48] 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,[Pg 49] 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[Pg 50] 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[Pg 51] 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.[Pg 52] 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[Pg 53] 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 [Pg 54]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[Pg 55] 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 Asso[Pg 56]ciation 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.[Pg 57] 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[Pg 58] 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[Pg 59] 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.[Pg 60] 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[Pg 61] 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.

[Pg 62]

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.

[Pg 63]

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[Pg 64] 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.

[Pg 65]

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.[Pg 66] 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 [Pg 67]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 Asso[Pg 68]ciation 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[Pg 69] 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[Pg 70] 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.

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## 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.'

[Pg 72]

"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[Pg 73] 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.

[Pg 74]

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.

[Pg 75]

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[Pg 76] 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[Pg 77] 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[Pg 78] 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[Pg 79] 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,[Pg 80] 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[Pg 81] 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[Pg 82] 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[Pg 83] 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[Pg 84] 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[Pg 85] 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[Pg 86] 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[Pg 87] 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.

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## 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 [Pg 89]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[Pg 90] 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[Pg 91] 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[Pg 92] 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 [Pg 93]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[Pg 94] 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[Pg 95] 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[Pg 96] 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.

[Pg 97]

## 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. [Pg 98]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[Pg 99] 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.

[Pg 100]

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[Pg 101] 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?"

[Pg 102]

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[Pg 103] 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.[Pg 104] 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[Pg 105] 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[Pg 106] 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.

[Pg 107]

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.

[Pg 108]

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[Pg 109] 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.

[Pg 110]

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.

[Pg 111]

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[Pg 112] 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.

[Pg 113]

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 accommo[Pg 114]date 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, [Pg 115]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.

[Pg 116]

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[Pg 117] 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[Pg 118] 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[Pg 119] 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.

[Pg 120]

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[Pg 121] 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.[Pg 122] 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.

[Pg 123]

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[Pg 124] 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.

[Pg 125]

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[Pg 126] 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 [Pg 127]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[Pg 128] 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[Pg 129] 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[Pg 130] 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[Pg 131] 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[Pg 132] 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[Pg 133] 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.

[Pg 134]

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.[Pg 135] 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[Pg 136] 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.

[Pg 137]

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.

[Pg 138]

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.[Pg 139] 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 offer[Pg 140]ing 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[Pg 141] 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.

[Pg 142]

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.

[Pg 143]

## 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 [Pg 144]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[Pg 145] 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 [Pg 146]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, [Pg 147]
[Pg 148]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[Pg 149] 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[Pg 150] 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 [Pg 151]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[Pg 152] 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[Pg 153] 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.

[Pg 154]

## 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[Pg 155] 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,[Pg 156] 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[Pg 157] 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.

[Pg 158]

## 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[Pg 159] 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[Pg 160] 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 [Pg 161]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[Pg 162] 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[Pg 163] 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[Pg 164] 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[Pg 165] 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[Pg 166] 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,[Pg 167] 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 know[Pg 168]ing 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., [Pg 169]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[Pg 170] 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.

[Pg 171]

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 [Pg 172]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[Pg 173] 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."

[Pg 174]

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[Pg 175] 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[Pg 176] 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[Pg 177] 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,[Pg 178] 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[Pg 179] 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[Pg 180] 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,[Pg 181] 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 [Pg 182]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.

[Pg 183]

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[Pg 184] 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.[Pg 185] 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,[Pg 186] 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.[Pg 187] 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[Pg 188] 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.

[Pg 189]

## 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[Pg 190] 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[Pg 191] 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[Pg 192] 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[Pg 193] 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 enthusi[Pg 194]asm, 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,[Pg 195] 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[Pg 196] 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[Pg 197] 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[Pg 198] 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,[Pg 199] 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[Pg 200] 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[Pg 201] 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.

[Pg 202]

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[Pg 203] 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.

[Pg 204]

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[Pg 205] 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 [Pg 206]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[Pg 207] 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 [Pg 208]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[Pg 209] 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[Pg 210] 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.

[Pg 211]

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,[Pg 212] 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[Pg 213] 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 [Pg 214]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[Pg 215] 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 [Pg 216]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 [Pg 217]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.

[Pg 218]

## 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 [Pg 219]
[Pg 220]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[Pg 221] 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.

[Pg 222]

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[Pg 223] 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[Pg 224] 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[Pg 225] 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[Pg 226] 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.

[Pg 227]

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[Pg 228] 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[Pg 229] 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[Pg 230] 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 [Pg 231]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[Pg 232] 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.

[Pg 233]

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.

[Pg 234]

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[Pg 235] 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 sup[Pg 236]port. 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[Pg 237] 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.

[Pg 238]

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."

[Pg 239]

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.

The institution has grown considerably during the last few years. The work is quietly carried on without attracting any great amount of notice from other towns or cities. With the aid of Northern benefactors and a few friends of the neighborhood, several buildings have been erected, but these are fast becoming insufficient, owing to the rapid growth of the school.

Mrs. Pace is assisted by three other teachers, who are also either graduates or under-graduates of Atlanta University.

MRS. DINAH P. PACE.

The children of the "family" spend their vacation in the country, taking care of a farm upon which [Pg 240]many articles of food for the winter are produced. As far as the means at hand permits, the children are being trained industrially, as well as intellectually. The work is not confined to any one denomination; It is entirely unsectarian. Especial effort is being made to prepare those under her charge for the higher duties of life, both as citizens and Christians. Like most institutions of this character, the "Reed Home" is greatly in need of means. It is to be[Pg 241] hoped, however, that a brighter future awaits it, and that the noble work may be abundantly prospered. No one can realize what it is to care for a large number of children, bestowing upon each a mother's affection—none can know but those who have undertaken such a labor of love.

THE A. & M. COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. C.

The A. & M. College, at Greensboro, N. C., is a State school for the education of the colored youth of North Carolina. The buildings and appointments are the best of any school in the South, except Fisk University. While the main object at this institution is to prepare teachers for the State, they have a splendid industrial department. In the machine shop a young man made a perfect steam engine, which was the first made by a colored man in the State. Another student made in the wood shop a valuable office desk and another a handsome pulpit. I think I can safely say that the wood shop and machine shop have the best set of tools and machinery I have seen anywhere. Prof. Jas. B. Dudley, A. M., who is president of this school, is a native of Wilmington, N. C. He received his education at the public schools of Wilmington, and he also attended the Institute for colored youths at Philadelphia, Pa., and Shaw University at Raleigh, N. C. Prof. Dudley began teaching in the public schools of his native State in 1876, and has been thus engaged ever since. As president of[Pg 242] the State College he has improved the condition of the school and also increased the attendance very much. He has been prominent in the literary world as a writer for both papers and magazines.

PROF. JAS. B. DUDLEY, A. M.

THE GEORGIA STATE INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE.

The Georgia State Industrial College is a State in[Pg 243]stitution, the only one of its kind in Georgia for colored youths. It is endowed by the General Government and supported by the State. The grounds contain about eighty-six acres, consisting of thirty-five acres in the campus and fifty-one acres in the college farm. The campus, shaded by tall live-oaks, festooned by pretty pendant moss, is, for natural scenery, the most attractive in the State. The location is perfectly healthful.

The college farm is separated from the campus only by the railroad, by which passengers are conveyed from the city to their grounds. There are at present the following buildings on the grounds: Dormitory, two school buildings, chapel, farm house, blacksmith shop, wheelwright and carpenter shops and four cottages for the professors.

The courses at present established are the industrial, sub-normal and collegiate.

Richard R. Wright, A. M., LL. D., who is president of the Georgia State College, was born of slave parents, and is a very remarkable man, and one of the best-educated men of his race, and one of the most prominent educators in the country. I was very much impressed with the most excellent work at the State school, both in the class-room and workshop. There is no doubt but a great work is being done for the colored youth through Prof. Wright's very able efforts.

PROF. RICHARD R. WRIGHT, A. M., L.L. D.

In the late war with Spain Mr. Wright was appointed as one of the regular paymasters, and did the work with great credit to himself and his race. He [Pg 244]has been something of a political leader in the State of Georgia; but his greatest work has been as an educator. In 1878 he called the first convention of colored teachers ever assembled in Georgia, and for three years was president of that convention. Mr. Wright is the founder of the Ware High School at Augusta, Ga., the first high school for colored[Pg 245] youths, and the only one supported by city funds in the State.

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

The Slater Industrial Academy was incorporated September 28, 1892. The State Normal School was established March 13, 1895; the Legislature appropriating $1,000 per annum for its maintenance. This institution is located at Winston-Salem, N. C.; Prof. S. G. Atkins, A. M., Principal.

[Pg 246]

The Governor of North Carolina has the following to say for him:

State of North Carolina,

Executive Department,

Raleigh, June 21, 1894.

Prof. S. G. Atkins is a distinguished educator, and a man of great moral worth and fine intellectual capacity.

He is deeply interested in the moral, intellectual and material advancement of his race, and his untiring efforts in this direction should have the recognition and support of all who desire the improvement of their fellow-beings.

His high standing in this State is beyond question, and entitles his claims to your earnest consideration, and I trust that you will lend him what assistance you can.

Prof. Atkins has been an earnest worker in the field of education, and his example and personal endeavors have exerted a beneficial influence on the fortunes of his race. I take pleasure in endorsing him. I have the honor to be,

Very respectfully yours,

Elias Carr, Governor N. C.

Mr. Atkins may feel proud of the high praise given him by the Governor. His school opened in a small building, 20 × 40, with one teacher and 25 pupils. The school now has twelve teachers and last session enrolled 250 pupils in all departments, and has property valued at $25,000.

[Pg 247]

PROF. S. G. ATKINS, A. M.

This institution is founded on the idea that intellectual development and industrial training should go hand in hand.

The departments of instruction may be denominated as follows: 1. Industrial. 2. Literary. 3. Musical. The literary department has in view chiefly the preparing of teachers for the public schools of the State.

Both races have contributed help, and especially white men of means in Winston-Salem.

DELAWARE STATE COLLEGE.

Established in 1891.

The State of Delaware has at last been aroused to a sense of its duty toward the education of the Negro, and in 1891 the Legislature of Delaware gave $8,000, and in 1893 $1,000. The first $8,000 was for buildings. The school is located two miles north of Dover, the State Capital, on the Loockerman farm, a tract of about one hundred acres. A workshop has been erected and fitted with tools and machinery for teaching the industrial arts. Rev. W. C. Jason, A. M., D. D., a very able young colored man, has been elected president of this State Institution. Mr. Jason is a graduate of Drew Theological Seminary. Professor Lorenzo D. Hileland has charge of the departments of Mathematics and Physics, also is superintendent of industrial work.

This Institution is the most northern State School now in operation for the education of the race.

[Pg 248]

## CHAPTER XIII.

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY.

Atlanta University—Rev. Horace Bumstead, D. D., President—located at Atlanta, Ga., has special claims for recognition and support because of the somewhat unique character of its work for the Negro. It is not duplicating the educational work done by the State or most other private institutions. It is supplementing and strengthening the work of the public schools and of private industrial and trade schools by furnishing thoroughly trained teachers and manual training superintendents to carry on the elementary and industrial education of the masses. It is elevating and purifying the domestic and civic life of the Negroes, by furnishing those moral and spiritual forces needed to counteract the gross materialism which threatens to engulf them. It is providing intelligent and conscientious leaders for this race so sadly deficient in power of organization, so that it may become self-directing and cease to be, what it has so long been, a dependent race. To accomplish all this Atlanta University is now, more than almost any other institution in the South, confining itself to the work of Higher Education. It receives no students who have not had a good grammar-school training or its equivalent.

Higher Education is not given to the Negro in[Pg 249] Atlanta University in any merely sentimental spirit, but with a practical end in view. No attempt is made to force it upon the masses of the race, but to give it to the few for the sake of the masses. It is not given to these selected few as a luxury, but as a trust; not as a mere means of personal profit and enjoyment, but as an equipment for the service of others. It does not educate the students away from labor, but from lower to higher forms of labor, more profitable to himself and others. It does not dishonor manual toil even in its humblest forms.

INDUSTRIAL BUILDING.BOYS' HALL.STONE HALL.GIRLS' HALL.

Industrial training is an integral part of the Higher Education which Atlanta University gives, and it is compulsory upon all students. It differs, however, from that which is found in the more distinctively industrial or trade schools. No attempt is made at productive industry. The methods are educational rather than commercial. The shop exists for the[Pg 250] boy rather than the boy for the shop. As soon as skill is acquired that might have some commercial value in some one particular direction, the boy is set to learning something else that he may have skill in many directions. He is himself the product of the shop rather than the table or wheelbarrow which he might make for the shop.

Graduates to the number of nearly 300 have been sent out during the past twenty-six years from the College and Normal courses. Of these about two-thirds are teaching, mostly in public grammar and high schools, in Southern cities and towns. In the other third of the living graduates are ministers, lawyers, doctors, business men, and married women.

Students to the number of 265 are enrolled this year in Collegiate, Normal, and Sub-normal classes under twenty-three officers and teachers. Rather more than half of the students are young women. Nine-tenths of the whole number are members of churches.

The institution is chartered, is controlled by an independent Board of Trustees, is undenominational but earnestly Christian in its religious influence, owns sixty-five acres in the city of Atlanta with four large brick buildings, and other property, valued at $250,000. In strategic location, efficient organization, successful maintenance of high standards, and opportunities for future development and usefulness, few institutions present so strong a claim for liberal support and permanent endowment.

An endowment of at least $500,000 is needed.[Pg 251] Of this amount less than $5,000 is as yet secured. The institution has about $28,000 of scholarship and library funds, but these are not available for general current expenses. It is earnestly hoped that the needed endowment maybe provided by friends either in their wills or, better still, by their generous gifts while living. The corporate name of the institution is "The Trustees of the Atlanta University," in Atlanta, Ga.

Donations to the amount of $25,000 a year are needed to provide for the present unendowed work. Scholarships of forty, fifty and sixty dollars each are solicited to cover the cost of the tuition of one student for one year over and above the nominal tuition fees paid by the student. Gifts of any amount, large or small, for general current expenses are asked for.

Remittances may be made, or requests for further information sent to the president either at Atlanta, Ga., or at his Northern address:

President Horace Bumstead,

Care of the J. F. Bumstead Co.,

340 Boylston street, Boston.

BEREA COLLEGE.

This remarkable institution, which has done in some respects more for the colored race than any other, is a monument of the old anti-slavery sentiment of the South. It was founded before the war among liberal-minded Southerners—John G. Fee, Cassius M. Clay, and others—and the first principal,[Pg 252] Rev. J. A. R. Rogers, and his wife were so popular that they attracted the sons and daughters of slave-holders even while the school was running the gantlet of mobs and persecutions.

Soon after the war colored students were admitted on the same terms as whites—the first, and to this day, almost the only instance in the South. In the words of Geo. W. Cable, "Berea is a college which predicts the millennium."

This just and fearless course has led to none of the evils which were feared by many good people. There has never been a collision between white and colored students, and the relation of the two races is more pure and natural in the sphere of Berea's influence than in any other part of the South.

BOARDING HALL, CHAPEL, LINCOLN HALL.

The college has given well-trained teachers to the colored schools of Kentucky and other States, men like J. H. Jackson of the Normal School of Missouri, J. W. Bate of Danville, Ky., J. C. Lewis of Cairo, Ill., Green P. Russell of Lexington, Kirke Smith of Lebanon, Ky., E. H. Woodford of Manassas, Va.—besides those in other occupations like Rev. James Bond of Nashville, Tenn., and Lieut. Woodford of the 8th U. S. I.

[Pg 253]

Berea enables young people of color to measure themselves by the standard of the race which has had greatest opportunities in the past, and teaches white young people to know the merits and respect the worth of colored students.

The school, like Hampton, is earnestly Christian, and managed by a board of trustees representing all the leading Christian bodies, no one of which has a controlling influence. It has buildings and equipments valued at above $150,000, including a library of over 15,000 volumes, and was attended in 1898 by 674 students, 169 of whom were colored. Alone among Southern schools it has had superior advantages sufficient to draw a considerable number of white students from the North.

The institution includes Collegiate, Normal, and Industrial Departments, and is making decided progress under the presidency of Wm. Goodell Frost, Ph. D., formerly of Oberlin College, who is a grandson of Wm. Goodell, the great anti-slavery editor. Associated with him are Geo. T. Fairchild, LL. D., late President of the State Agricultural College of Kansas, Mrs. General Putnam, and about thirty other instructors.

Receiving no aid from any State or society, Berea is mainly dependent upon individual gifts. Remittances should be made to the treasurer, and bequests to the trustees, of Berea College, Berea, Madison Co., Kentucky.

This college is now doing much good for the so-called "mountain whites" as well as for colored people.

[Pg 254]

## CHAPTER XIV.

Continuation of Independent Schools.

"INSTITUTE FOR COLORED YOUTH."

Philadelphia is known for her facilities for education. Few American cities are better equipped with schools, public and private—free schools and those in which tuition fees are demanded—schools devoted to languages, schools devoted to art. In short, everything that one might desire as a means for obtaining an education in any known branch is provided for the student, and the road to knowledge is made about as easy as it can possibly be made.

But of all the schools provided for the instruction of children, youths and adults, none is of greater importance, perhaps, than that known as the "Institute for Colored Youth." Strange to say, it had its origin in the kindly forethought of one who had once been a slave-holder. In the year 1832 Richard Humphreys, a native of the West Indies, but at that time a citizen of Philadelphia, died, leaving $10,000 to found an institution, "having," as he worded it, "for its object the benevolent design of instructing the descendants of the African race in school-learning, in the various branches of the mechanic arts and trades, and in agriculture, in order to prepare, fit and qualify them to act as teachers."

This sum was left with the Society of Friends (of which sect he was a member), with the provision that[Pg 255] this society should have the care of the institution. In accordance with this bequest and stipulation, in 1837 the "Institute" was founded, the sum of money left for the purpose amounting at this time, through careful investment, to about $13,300. The charter was not obtained from the State of Pennsylvania until 1842. Shortly after this the sum of $18,000 was left by another Friend for educational purposes, which was given to further the interests of the Institute.

From time to time, different sums were bequeathed and bestowed for this enterprise by philanthropic people until, in 1851, buildings were erected on Lombard street for the permanent establishment of this institution of learning, in which location it remained until 1866. At that time it had become clearly evident that the enterprise had reached such proportions that more ample and convenient accommodations were urgently required. A movement, therefore, was set on foot to accomplish the work, if possible, and a sufficient number of interested friends were found to erect the large and commodious building now situated on Bainbridge street, above Ninth, at a cost of $40,000, including the ground.

The officers and committees of the corporation are men belonging to the Society of Friends, but most of the teachers are women who have worked hard to obtain the education necessary to make them capable instructors of their own race. The principal, Mrs. Fanny L. Jackson Coppin, whose attainments fit her for the principalship of any of the highest grade schools, has received an education that would graduate her[Pg 256] from any of our first-class colleges. Besides this she is a woman of strong common sense. The following persons are the instructors:

Principal, Fanny L. Jackson Coppin; principal of the female department, Frazelia Campbell; teacher of natural and physical science, Edward A. Bouchet; teachers of English studies, Charles L. Moore, Charlotte Bassett, Julia F. Jones, Fanny A. Ramsey; teacher of sewing, Martha F. Minton; teacher of drawing, Katharine H. Ringwalt.

One splendid feature of this school is its practicality, an instance of which is shown in the fact that the boys are taught to sew as well as the girls. Realizing that the time will probably come to most of them when they will be obliged to do for themselves in every way, they are taught sewing on buttons, patching, darning and buttonhole-making. A boy who goes out from the Institute need never have his clothes in a dilapidated condition because he has no "women folks" to take care of them.

"Heed life's demands" is the watchword of the principal, and everything is made to conserve to that idea. Again, with this in mind, there is established in connection with the regular school of education what is known as a "kitchen garden." In this the little girls are taught housework in a limited way. They learn to sweep and scrub and make beds and all the rest of that kind of work, not only in a practical way, but from a common-sense point of view.

They are not merely taught that part of sweeping a room is wiping the finger-marks off of the doors,[Pg 257] but they learn that when they bring the pail in for that purpose they must also bring with them a piece of carpet, or some such thing, upon which to set the pail and thus prevent an ugly ring or splashes upon the carpet or matting upon the floor. This is indeed a practical education. "We have this kitchen garden," says the principal, "for many of our pupils leave before they have completed the school course to go out to service or to remain at home. When they go from us they are not ignorant of the duties which await them."

In connection with the Institute there is an industrial department open to adults on three evenings of the week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Men who are otherwise employed through the day can come here to learn bricklaying, carpentry, painting, shoemaking, tailoring, plastering and shorthand and typewriting. This part of the school is under the supervision of George Astley, an instructor in the Manual Training School at Seventeenth and Wood streets. For women, three afternoons in the week are given; there are lessons in dressmaking, millinery and cooking, under the following instructors: Ida A. Burrell, instructor in dressmaking; M. Anna Earns, instructor in cooking.

There are other schools supported by the Friends, not only in the State of Pennsylvania, but in other States. Each one of these schools is well managed and is well supported. I am sorry that I cannot devote more space to this work, for it is so helpful and so characteristic of the Quakers.

[Pg 258]

MRS. FANNY L. JACKSON COPPIN.

Mrs. Fanny L. Jackson Coppin was born in Washington, D. C., and was educated at Oberlin University, Oberlin, Ohio, from which institution she graduated. In 1865, she came, by invitation, to Philadelphia, Pa., and accepted a position as teacher in the "Institute for Colored Youth," where she has taught constantly ever since; for the past twenty-eight years she has filled the position of principal. Under her management [Pg 259]the Industrial Department was originated and is now an important part of the work of this splendid school. She is also the originator of the "Woman's Exchange."

MRS. FANNY L. JACKSON COPPIN.

While there are a great many persons in Philadelphia who know and admire Mrs. Coppin for her great executive ability, few really know what a remarkable woman she is. And yet but a brief conversation with her, or a few moments contact and association, suffices to convince any one that she is not only a woman of marked intellectual power, but one of a wide and diverse scope of knowledge, both abstruse and applied.

She is a credit to womankind and while her work as a teacher has been among colored people, few women are better known as educators and few if any schools have done a better work in the interest of the race, than the one she is at the head of. I am told that the "Institute for Colored Youth" was in the first place started as an experiment, because it was generally believed that the Negro could not master the higher branches of education. But in that the colored youth has proven quite as able as the whites and the results have been most satisfactory.

CAMP NELSON ACADEMY.

Camp Nelson Academy is situated in Jessimine Co., Ky., near Nicholasville, and is midway between Lexington and Danville.

The academy has one good school building and a dormitory 30 × 60, three stories high.

[Pg 260]

To the academy lot is added one hundred and fifteen acres of land, as endowment, thus far.

The design is to establish a first-class Normal School with an Industrial Department.

More lands are needed, and can be secured. The academy has a charter from the State Legislature, by which the school is opened to all of good moral character—colored or white.

Practically, at present, the school is colored. The buildings are adjacent to the village of Camp Nelson, composed of colored citizens who settled there immediately after the war.

Of the forty-four families in the village, forty-two have their own homesteads.

The village has a charter from the State Legislature and no intoxicating liquors are sold in it.

The situation is central, high, and beautiful. In the county of Jessimine and the five counties adjacent there are over forty thousand colored people. These with Christian culture and skilled labor could be a great power for social well-being in that centre of the State.

Who will help uplift and save?

Mr. John G. Fee is President of the Board of Trustees of Camp Nelson Academy, and much could be said about him that would be of interest to the public. Few men have suffered more for the colored people than Mr. Fee, not only in a social way, but he has suffered from mob-violence because of the stand he took in favor of the race in their educational interest and their rights as American citizens.

[Pg 261]

SCHOOL WORK IN WASHINGTON, D. C.

On my first visit to Washington, D. C., in 1892, I took advantage of the opportunity offered me to study the school question in that city. I shall ever feel grateful to Prof. G. F. T. Cook, for the kindness shown me, in giving me useful information on that subject. Those who regard the colored man incapable of looking after his own educational interests, need only visit the public schools of Washington to have his views very much changed. In the high school I found the greatest interest. That building is under the control of Prof. F. L. Cardoso, who has been for years a very useful man in the educational interest of the race. He received a fine University training in Glasgow, Scotland, before the war, and afterwards, I think, secured a scholarship at Oxford. In the early days of freedom, he founded in the interest of the A. M. A. Society what is known as Avery Institute, Charleston, S. C., a school that has done grand work for the race.

At the High School, I met Mr. Hugh Brown, who is beyond doubt one of the finest scholars in America, white or colored. He called my attention to a phase of Negro education I knew nothing of. In the department of Elementary Physics, he showed me a first-class telephone, made entirely by colored students; the phone was then in use. I saw in print a statement from Mr. Bell, of the Bell Telephone Co., in which he said, "I regard this telephone, made entirely by these students, as good as any I have ever[Pg 262] tested." Mr. Brown also showed me quite a number of electrical appliances, all made by students.

MRS. MARY C. TERRELL.

For competent teachers, earnest men and women who are doing a noble work for the elevation of the race, there are not, to my knowledge, to be found anywhere in the United States a larger number than in Washington, D. C.

One feature of the school work of Washington is the industrial departments of the public schools.

[Pg 263]

I am endebted to Prof. G. F. T. Cook for these splendid observations, and during my visit to Washington he told me much more that would make not only interesting reading, but valuable study to those who are seeking the truth as regards the educational forces in operation in Washington for the improvement of the colored citizens. The noble work of Prof. Cook is aided by the following persons who are supervising principals: H. P. Montgomery, W. S. Montgomery, J. H. N. Waring, F. L. Cardoso, Miss L. E. Moten, H. F. Grant, T. W. Hunster, J. H. Hill, Mrs. M. B. Cook, Mrs. C. E. Syphax, Mrs. M. P. Evans.

I want to say in this connection, that Mrs. Mary C. Terrell is one of the Board of Trustees of Public Schools for the District of Columbia, and she is the first colored lady to be so honored in any city in the United States to my knowledge. I present her portrait.

Mrs. Terrell is interested in every movement that will advance the cause of colored people and especially colored women. I am told that she has just been elected as President of the Federation of Afro-American Women, and succeeds Mrs. Booker T. Washington, who was the first president.

She is a graduate of Oberlin College, Ohio, and was at one time a teacher at Wilberforce University, Ohio, where she was much loved.

[Pg 264]

## CHAPTER XV.

NASHVILLE, TENN.

Under this heading I shall call attention to the advance made by the colored people of this great city. Nashville certainly has all the essentials of a great city; it has a rich tributary country, a healthful climate, river and rail transportation, proximity of abundant raw material, and a sturdy, healthy industrious population.

Having all of these then, Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, situated in the centre of a realm unequalled in variety and amount of production on the American continent, with 100,000 people largely native to the soil through long generations, is assuredly a great city.

It has been just thirty-one years since the war closed. Nashville then contained a scant 25,000 people. Ten years later her population was 40,000. In 1885 it was 60,000, and to-day within her borders there are more than 100,000 souls. No better evidence of the advance and the prosperity of the city than that could be given.

And through this entire history, the colored people have figured conspicuously during every step of her progress.

During the many years I have spent in the South among the colored people, I have made a special[Pg 265] study of the development of many of the towns and cities. I have done this to ascertain what part the colored man is playing in this development. In view of the fact that Nashville has three large colleges for advanced studies and a number of well-equipped day-schools, I devoted special attention to this city.

It is a well-known fact that a very small percentage of all the educated people, white or colored, put their education to any practical use. I claim that there are as many, if not more, of the colored people who make good use of their education as any other class in this country. I found in this city (Nashville) men of culture and refinement, who possessed all the energy, enterprise and push that characterize any thoroughly civilized people.

I think I can safely say that Nashville, for its size, can boast of a larger number of colored business and professional men than any other Southern city. Among those I met in person was Dr. D. L. Martin, who has the honor of being the first colored druggist in the State. He has succeeded in building up a fine drug trade, and has purchased some very good property. Speaking of colored Doctors, I am told that there are not less than six in the city. And they each have a good practice. One of this number is Dr. L. W. Crostwait, who is of the School of Homœopathy; but few colored men have gone into that branch of medicine.

[Pg 266]

DR. R. F. BOYD.

DR. R. F. BOYD.

Those who have attended my illustrated lectures will doubtless remember Dr. Boyd, one of the most progressive colored physicians in the South. I have never met a man with whom I became more favorably impressed than I was with Dr. Boyd. He is a man of deep thought, lofty aspirations and untiring zeal. His work at Meharry Medical and Pharmaceutical College marks him as one of the[Pg 267] most useful men of the race. He is a graduate from this institution; and I feel that if it had never turned out but one such man, it would have accomplished wonders. He came out of this school after a hard struggle for an education, and cast his lot among the people he had come in contact with from day to day in that community. You have only to go into his office any day and see the number of patients waiting for him; then see the splendid horses and carriages used in his practice, to form an idea of his success. Still, one of the best evidences of his prosperity to me was the fact that all over the city he owns houses which are rented.

BOYD BUILDING.

The new Boyd Building has twenty-eight rooms which are rented to Colored business and professional men.

[Pg 268]

J. C. NAPIER.

Another interesting character in Nashville is Mr. J. C. Napier, attorney-at-law, who has a large practice, and has also accumulated quite a bit of valuable property. Mr. Napier owns one building that was of special interest to me. He calls it "Napier Court." The building is divided into offices. Every room is occupied by a colored professional man. I think there are nine offices in the upper part of the building. I have never found in any other city buildings owned by colored men where each room was rented to colored men. I am pleased to note that Mr. Napier has been selected as the head of the colored people's exhibit for the Centennial to be held in Nashville in 1897, but has since resigned.

After Mr. Napier came out of school he was for several years active in politics, and has held several government positions. His home is without doubt one of the most attractive it has ever been my pleasure to visit. Mrs. Napier, who is a daughter of the Hon. John Mercer Langston, is indeed a most charming lady.

While I am referring to lawyers, I must not forget to mention the firm of Crostwait & Young, who also have a good practice.

In 1884 I met, for the first time, Mr. S. A. McElwee, who was then keeping a small grocery store at Brownsville, Tenn. Since that time I have watched his progress with much pleasure. He has served two terms in the Legislature and finished his course in law at Fisk University. He, like Dr.[Pg 269] Boyd, began his practice where he received his education. His success has been almost phenomenal.

I have visited his office a great many times and each time I found quite a number of white and colored people waiting to consult him in regard to legal matters.

He owns a very neat little home that is furnished in a most exquisite manner, and is just opposite Central Tennessee College.

Among the business men of the city, I wish to mention the firm of Harris & Barbour, furniture dealers. These men make a specialty of dealing in antique furniture. Many an old piece of household furniture has been bought by these enterprising men, fixed up, advertised, and often sold in New York and Boston at high prices.

REV. PRESTON TAYLOR.

Mr. Taylor is a man who will impress you when you meet him as thoroughly in earnest. He is never idle, always with new plans, warm-hearted, generous, sympathetic and a true brother to all men who deserve the recognition of earnest, faithful workers for Christ.

In the spring of 1888, he embarked in the undertaker's business, and has met with unbounded success. He stands at the head of his profession, not only as a funeral director, but as a safe and wise business man. It is said by men competent to know, that he does the largest business of any man of his race engaged in the same business in the country. He[Pg 270] owns and occupies the large two-story brick at 449 North Cherry street; the building is 42 × 180 feet and it is divided and furnished in the most convenient style, with reception hall, office, chapel, show rooms, supply rooms, trimming rooms, dry rooms, carpenter shop, paint shop and a morgue. In the rear stands a large stable occupied by eighteen horses, seven carriages, hearses and all kinds of vehicles used in the undertaker's business. The entire building is lighted by electricity and fitted up with electric bells. He is the only man in the city who manufactures his own goods. He works sixteen men in his establishment and often is compelled to call in extra help. He has the honor of managing the largest funeral that ever passed through the streets of Nashville. It was the three colored firemen who were killed on January 2, 1892, in a great conflagration. He built a large catafalque with his own men, which held all three of the caskets, which were drawn by six beautiful black horses, followed by sixty carriages two abreast, accompanied by all the officials of the city, the police and fire departments, the schools, the lodges and citizens by the thousands. In all his business enterprises he ascribes his marvelous success to his Heavenly Father, and he never neglects his chosen calling, the preaching of the word of God. In the last few years he has bought and built one of the handsomest and most convenient churches in the city, the Lee Avenue Christian Church, of which he is now the pastor.

[Pg 271]

Mr. W. T. Hightower started in business as a dealer in old rags and iron with a capital of 25 cents. He now owns a large brick building and a beautiful home.

Mr. Joseph Brown, who lives just outside of the city limits, operates a large nursery and hot-house. He does a very successful business among the best people of Nashville.

Mr. H. C. Gibson, a blacksmith, who started in business on a capital of $2.00, has made wonderful progress and employs quite a number of men in his shop. His bills for stock used in his shop amount to upwards of $150 per month.

Mr. Geo. W. Frazher holds a position that, for the South, is indeed unique. He is the cutter and fitter for E. Fuller & Co.'s shoeshop, where he is the only colored man employed.

Dr. Hadley has been a cripple the greater part of his life, but notwithstanding that fact, he has had great success. He owns valuable property in Nashville, and is at the head of the Immaculate Society, a society organized for the purpose of caring for the sick and burying the dead. His daughter Willa has the honor of being the first graduate in music from Fisk University.

Mr. J. C. Crawley, a successful teacher of Nashville, is another gentleman worthy of special mention. He, like many others, has, by hard work and strict economy, accumulated property and is living well.

I have left until the last to be mentioned, a man who ought to be known throughout this entire[Pg 272] country. I refer to Lewis Winters, who is the largest egg and poultry dealer south of the Ohio River. Mr. Winters was born a slave, and has never had any educational advantages whatever. But while that is true, he has a knowledge of all the essential qualities of a successful business man. Mr. Winters has shipped goods to New York by the train load. I found him a very active worker in the A. M. E. Church.

While I have mentioned quite a number I have not called your attention to all, and among those not named are Lowery & McGavock, shoe dealers and makers. There are also two colored men in Nashville who manufacture brooms, and have quite a large trade.

Mention at least should be made of Dr. F. A. Stewart, A. M., who is one of the leading colored physicians of Nashville. He, like Dr. Boyd, has a very large practice. In addition to his very extensive practice he is engaged as teacher of Pathology at Meharry Medical College. Dr. Stewart is a graduate of Howard University, Washington, D. C., and stands very high in his profession. He also owns very valuable property.

[Pg 273]

## CHAPTER XVI.

ATLANTA, GA., AND INDIANAPOLIS, IND.

Atlanta, Ga., is another educational centre. I found over fifty colored men in this city engaged in business, professional and other pursuits.

I can only mention a few of these. I met in Atlanta a very successful colored undertaker in the person of David T. Howard, who was prompted to go into that business because of the way white undertakers treated the colored people when they had their funerals in charge. Mr. Howard has succeeded in building up a very large business. Atlanta can boast of one of the largest contractors among colored people in the country. I refer to Alexander Hamilton, an ex-slave. Mr. Hamilton showed me a number of very fine residences owned by the leading white people in the city, which he had the contract to build. He also drew his own plans and specifications to work from.

There were two men in Atlanta who should have special mention, namely, Mr. Joseph Rivers, and Mr. Jacob McKinley. The latter, I am sorry to say, is numbered among the dead. Both of these men were born slaves and they were uneducated. Mr. Rivers was, by trade, a blacksmith, and began life for himself without one penny. He owns quite a deal of property, among which is what is known as[Pg 274] "Rivers Block," and the business rooms are rented to white business men. Jacob McKinley made quite a large fortune in the manufacture of brick and dealing in real estate. I am glad to note that several of those connected with school work in Atlanta report that Mr. McKinley was always willing to contribute of his means for the education of his race. He was very much loved by both white and colored.

Atlanta has several colored doctors. Among them are Drs. Butler and Slater. They came out of school together, and for some years carried on their practice in partnership. Dr. Slater now owns an interest in a drug store, while Dr. H. R. Butler devotes all of his time to a very extensive practice. He is also Grand Master of Georgia of the Free and Accepted Masons. Dr. Butler's wife is a graduate of Spelman Seminary, and I want no better evidence of the very excellent work done at that school than the doctor's very neatly-kept home.

Dr. O. A. Lockhart is another young man with a good practice and the owner of a successful drug store. He is a self-made man, who had a hard struggle to get an education.

Mr. F. H. Crumbly, who has for some years been in the regular army, has returned and opened a dry goods and notions store. Mr. Crumbly is a graduate of Atlanta University, and is a man who is much thought of by both white and colored people, and is meeting with success in his business because of his popularity and good judgment. He stood high as a soldier, and was a commissioned officer in the late war with Spain. He gave up a business to go in the army.

[Pg 275]

On the same street is to be found Mr. Peter Eskridge, who learned while a slave the blacksmith's trade, which he followed until 1880, when he started a grocery business, and in this he has succeeded. He had not the educational advantages needed for a successful business man, but he educated his daughters and since they have been of great help to their father in keeping his accounts.

I have always claimed that in most cases in the South white people would give some of their patronage to colored merchants, and I am more and more of that opinion since I met Mr. Willis Murphy & Son, who carry on a large and very successful grocery business in a part of the city of Atlanta where they reach a great number of the working people among the whites, and most of the trade comes from that class.

Mr. G. M. Howell, a young man, does quite a good business as a merchant tailor in one of the rooms under the Kimble House. I can speak for Mr. Howell's workmanship as a tailor from the fact that I have had work done by him. I think a large portion of his patronage comes from white people.

Mrs. M. A. Pennamone, of Atlanta, does quite a business as a milliner, and strange to say most of her customers are white people. I have often wondered why there were not more colored women in the millinery business.

In addition to those already mentioned from Atlanta, there are many engaged in various walks of life, such as conducting wood yards, coal yards, draying [Pg 276]and doing just what white people do who want to earn an honest living. Atlanta has six educational institutions, to say nothing of the city or public schools, in which there are employed some seventy-five colored teachers. I have been told by the better class of white men in the South, that "colored people own far more property and are getting along much better than the middle and lower classes of the whites." I have heard it said that the only progress being made by colored people in this country was in the South. I am indeed willing to give the South credit for its wonderful development, but as a friend to the race in all parts of the country, I must say that the colored people are also making progress in the North. True, many of our successful men in the North came from the South; but they built up their business in the North.

I met while in Indianapolis, Ind., some very successful people in the persons of the following gentlemen:

Capt. J. Porter is employed as a bank clerk in a white bank. He is the only colored man I have met holding just such a position. The men at the head of the bank regard him as a very reliable and competent man.

The late Benjamin Thornton, of Indianapolis, established for himself a great reputation as a first-class detective. He stood alone in this respect as a colored man. He has often been sent for to work up large cases in some of our leading cities where large amounts of money and jewels have been stolen. Mr.[Pg 277] Thornton was quite a public-spirited man, and has done a great deal to help others secure homes, and well thought of by both white and colored.

The city can boast of two magnificent barber shops owned by colored men. One at the Hotel Dennison is owned by Messrs. Moore and Lanear, costing about $6,000. The other one is owned by Geo. L. Knox at the Bates House. Some twenty men are employed there, and several ladies in the ladies' hairdressing department. This shop is said to have cost $10,000. Mr. Knox is also the publisher of the Freeman, which is mentioned in another part of my book.

Mr. Baptist, of Indianapolis, is a very successful contractor, and in 1893 built for John C. New a $10,000 residence. There were quite a number of white contractors competing for the work.

Mr. Puryear, of Indianapolis, does a large express business, giving employment to quite a number of men. Mr. Puryear was at one time, and perhaps is yet, a member of the city council.

H. L. SANDERS.

Mr. H. L. Sanders, of Indianapolis, is the only colored man in the country doing the kind of work he is engaged in. In 1889 he began in a small way to make jackets for butchers, waiters' and cooks' outfits, also barbers' coats for shop wear. At first he did not have work enough to keep one woman busy, but now he has several at work all the time, and his sewing machines are operated by steam. And aside from his manufacturing he carries a splendid line of gents' furnishing goods.

[Pg 278]

## CHAPTER XVII.

FINE PENMEN.

I devote an entire chapter to Penmen, because I regard this art as one of the special evidences of race progress. The delicacy of the work and the close application to study required to succeed in it make it doubly hard to command any considerable attention.

PROF. RICHARD HILL.

PROF. RICHARD HILL, NASHVILLE, TENN.

Prof. Richard Hill, who is principal of Writing, Drawing and Music in the colored schools in Nashville, Tenn., has much to be proud of. Mr. Hill is a native of Nashville; he attended the city schools until he had gone through the ninth grade. At that time the colored schools were not carried any higher. In order that he might better prepare himself for a useful life in the interest of his race, he earned money by blacking boots on the streets until he saved enough to attend Gaines High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. At nineteen years of age he came home, and began teaching in the same room where he himself had been taught his letters. We feel warranted in saying that Mr. Hill is the only colored man in the country who has been placed in charge of Writing, Drawing and Music in so many schools. He has seven buildings, fifty-six teachers, nearly 4,000 children under his care in the branches named. In 1893 the [Pg 279]Penman's Art Journal, of New York, held a public school writing contest. The colored children in the Nashville schools were allowed to enter on equal footing with the whites. There were two prizes offered and I am glad to say that the colored schools won them both. But we are sorry to say the colored schools have not been asked to take part in any other contests. Penman's Art Journal said recently: "Superintendent Webb, of Nashville, Tenn., writes [Pg 280]us that 'the winners of the two certificates awarded to Nashville in The Journal's public school competition, as well as three other pupils whose names were included in the roll of honor, are pupils in the colored schools of that city. Richard Hill, Assistant Supervisor of Drawing and Writing, has charge of the work in these schools, and to him should be given the credit that, without this explanation, would naturally be given to me.' This speaks very well for the colored schools of Nashville and their Supervisor, himself a colored man, and the only one we know of who occupies this responsible post. He is a fine writer and skilled in ornamental work. We are reliably informed that he acquired this skill and knowledge at the cost of great personal sacrifice, his preceptor being our friend, Lyman D. Smith, the well known author and teacher, whose methods he closely follows. The Journal takes pleasure in according this deserved recognition to Mr. Hill, his pupils and his race."

FREDERIC S. MONROE.

Mr. Frederic S. Monroe, of New Bedford, Mass., is employed as stenographer and typewriter to the Pairpoint Mfg. Co. (a corporation with a paid-in capital of $825,000, a weekly pay-roll from $6,000 to $8,000, employing a force of several hundred skilled workmen), and engaged in the manufacture of gold and silver plated ware, casket hardware, fine cut glass, decorated ware and decorated French china. The company has stores in New York, Chicago,[Pg 281] San Francisco and Montreal; from each of these places as well as from the factory a force of traveling salesmen are sent out, who cover the whole of the United States and Canada.

FREDERIC S. MONROE.

He has held this position for four years, and has given perfect satisfaction. He resigned a clerkship in the book and stationery store of Robert W. Taber to accept his present position. Was in the employ of Mr. Taber for about two years and a half, and[Pg 282] prior to that time had filled the same position with his predecessor in this business, Jas. M. Lawton, Jr. Was with Mr. Lawton for about twelve years, and for the last three had entire charge of the book and stationery department, when he increased the business by the purchase of a music and art store.

So far as the character of the service rendered in these different positions is concerned, I think the length and regularity of the employment will speak for him.

Speaking to Mr. Monroe regarding the position he now holds, he said: "I taught myself stenography as a boy of twenty, and after having mastered it tried to maintain such proficiency in it as to be ready at any time to accept a position in which a knowledge of stenography would be a prerequisite. Have never thought that 'luck' had anything to do with the opportunities I have had, and rather think they are due to hard work in making myself competent, and then, when a chance was offered, to try and be a little more than equal to the demands made on me."

CHAS. J. BECKER.

While traveling in New England a few years ago, I visited New Bedford, Mass., where I met Mr. Chas. J. Becker. This young man executes some of the finest penmanship I ever saw in my life. He is employed in one of the largest and best business colleges in New England. He has held his present position for five years.

C. J. BECKER.

Mr. Becker was born in Fitchburg, Mass., in 1858, [Pg 283]commenced his life-work in Chas. B. Dennis's Insurance Office at nine years of age; at twelve he wrote a good business hand; at fourteen wrote all the policies and daily reports for that firm—at sixteen his writing showed up to Mr. Dennis so well, that he sent him to Boston to attend Kendall's Normal Writing Institution where he took a three months' course.

[Pg 284]

## CHAPTER XVIII.

COLORED LAWYERS.

In this chapter, I do not attempt to call attention to anything like all of the successful colored lawyers. I simply select from the hundreds of prominent men practising law in courts throughout the United States, two: D. Augustus Straker and T. McCants Stewart.

D. AUGUSTUS STRAKER.

D. Augustus Straker was born in Bridgetown, in the Island of Barbadoes, one of the West Indies, on July 11, in the year 1842.

His early education was fostered by his mother, a pious and industrious woman, who took great pride in her only child, and strove by the labor of her hands to give him a liberal education, his father having died when he was eleven months old.

He received a good English education at the Central High or Preparatory School of the island, under Robert Pierre Elliott, of Battersea, England, and afterwards received supplementary training in philosophy from lectures given by R. R. Rawle, Principal of Codrington College, as well as private instructions in Latin, Greek and French, from Rev. Joseph N. Durant, D. D., of said island. At the early age of seventeen years he became school-master of one of the principal schools of the island.

HON. D. AUGUSTUS STRAKER.

In 1867, he was induced, with two others, by the invitation of Rt. Rev. B. B. Smith, of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, U. S. A., on hearing preached [Pg 285]a sermon on the cruelties of slavery and the deplorable ignorance of his race in the United States, upon their emancipation from bondage, to come to the United States and engage in the uplifting of his race, by teaching in the schools of Kentucky, under the auspices of the Avery P. E. Institute and the Freedmen's Bureau, under the superintendence of the Christian soldier, statesman and humanitarian, General O. O. Howard. Before leaving his native land he had[Pg 286] commenced the study of law, preparatory to entering the Middle Temple, England. While teaching school in Kentucky he was persuaded to prepare for the ministry in the P. E. Church, but did not enter upon such duties, owing to the prejudice against color and his race, even in said church, an inconsistency which he could not reconcile with Christian practices.

In 1868 Hon. John M. Langston, then Dean of the Law School of Howard University, was engaged in lecturing through the South, upon the advantages of said institute to the colored race, and the opportunity afforded to receive a professional education therein. Mr. Straker attended one of such lectures, and was attracted to the University. He gave up his theological studies and returned to his first love, entering Howard University Law School as a law student in 1869, in a class six months advanced. He graduated in 1871, with honor and distinction, and at Commencement delivered an address on "The Necessity for a Common Tribunal Among Nations for the Arbitration of International Disputes." His views then are greatly verified as to the necessity of such a tribunal, by the experiences of the present day. His learning in the law and masterly discussion of the subject secured him the praise and commendation of the scholar and statesman, Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts.

While studying law, he secured a clerkship in the Sixth Auditor's office of the U. S. Treasury, in which post he remained until 1875. In 1871 he was married in Detroit, Mich., to Miss Annie M. Carey, his[Pg 287] present wife, with whom he now lives, having had no children born to them.

In 1875, he resigned his position in the Treasury Department, and went to South Carolina as Inspector of Customs, at Charleston.

In 1876, he resigned said post, and began the practice of his profession in the town of Orangeburg, S. C., and soon was recognized as a capable criminal lawyer by his white brethren at that bar, and the community in general. In the fall season of said year, he was elected to the General Assembly of that State, and took his seat in the famous House, well known as the Hampton-Mackey dual Legislature, by which Governor Chamberlain, the duly elected Governor of the State, was driven from his post. Mr. Straker was not long a member, because of his eviction with others, on account of his politics, he being one of the most prominent Republicans of the State. During this period Mr. Straker suffered much persecution at the hands of his political opponents, the Democrats, in this struggle. He returned to his constituents and was re-elected in 1878. He was again denied his seat. He was again elected in 1880, and again denied his seat, although on both occasions receiving larger majorities than his political opponents. The grounds of objection were that "he was not a citizen," although his naturalization papers were produced and the proof of his citizenship evident and conclusive.

In 1882 he was elected by the Trustees, Dean and Professor of Common Law in the University Law[Pg 288] School of Allen University, Columbia, S. C., an incorporated institution of learning, under the auspices of the A. M. E. Church. In 1883, he presented a class of four colored youths to the Supreme Court of that State for examination for admission to practise law, the result of his sole instruction—the institution being too poor to hire a corps of law instructors. These colored youths, the first in the history of the State, were examined in open court, and having passed a most creditable examination, as told by the court in open session, were admitted to practice, and became members of the learned profession, and the peers under the law of those who, but less than a quarter of a century before, held them or their parents in slavery. In 1884, another class was presented by Mr. Straker, examined and admitted by the court. Mr. Straker, having now severed his connection with the law school, resumed the practice of his profession at Columbia, S. C. He won great distinction in the management as attorney for the defendant in the celebrated murder case of the State vs. Coleman, reported in 12th S. C., the defence being insanity, in which Mr. Straker was declared to have shown deep research in the law of the plea of transitoria mania.

The prejudice of the community keeping distinct all business between black and white of a professional character, Mr. Straker was unable to support himself and family by his profession in the South, and after giving the same a fair test, and spending fourteen years of his life in the endeavor to uplift[Pg 289] his race in the South, was compelled to seek a new field. He came to Detroit, Mich., in 1887, bringing with him, from his white fellow-citizens, the highest testimonials of ability and character, who, while they disliked him politically, admired and recognized his legal ability. This, with his own natural energy and legal acumen, soon gave him distinction in his new home. He soon found himself in a fairly lucrative practice, and had for his clients a large number of whites, his own race being too poor to afford such. He distinguished himself as an advocate of ability, as was seen in his victory of the Civil Rights case of Ferguson vs. Gies, 82d Michigan, which decision settled the status of the colored citizen within Michigan, as to his right to accommodation in public places, equally with his white fellow-citizen. His legal argument in this case fully showed him a capable and learned attorney-at-law.

He rose at once to great distinction at the bar of Detroit, and his white brethren at the bar soon recognized him as a good lawyer, a gentleman in his manners, and a faithful advocate. This recognition was made manifest in his election in 1893, to the office of Circuit Court Commissioner for Wayne County, Michigan, a District at that time accredited with a Democratic majority of 4,000 voters; while Mr. Straker was an uncompromising Republican. Mr. Straker's opponents for this office were all white citizens. He was re-elected to same office in 1895, by a majority of over 7,000—his opponents again being all white citizens. He now holds said office,[Pg 290] and is spoken of for a third term, which he is likely to obtain, if not deprived through the divisions of a few of his own race, who seem in many instances not content to see one of their own rise to distinction.

Mr. Straker is widely known throughout the United States, having lectured in many States, and attended wellnigh all of the principal conventions, held by his race, since emancipation. He is a contributor to the newspapers and magazines of his race, and also of some of the Anglo-Saxon.

He is an author, having written a book entitled, "The New South Investigated," which has received the widest commendation for its cleverness, impartiality and good taste. He has also written a unique law pamphlet, on the "Larceny of Dogs," showing conclusively that punishment for stealing dogs can only be by statute, dogs being at common law of no value. His pamphlet on "Reflections on the Life and Times of Toussaint-Louverture" is interesting and shows great race pride in the writer.

On December 14, 1895, at a Conference of Colored Men of the United States, held in the city of Detroit, Mich., Mr. Straker was chosen President of the National Federation of Colored Men of the United States of America; an organization established by said conference for the purpose of seeking a remedy, or putting an end to the barbarous practice of lynching colored men in the Southern States, for alleged offences, without trial by law. Already Mr. Straker has placed this organization in the confidence of his race and their white sympathizers, and much[Pg 291] good is expected from the agitation created by it of the wrongs done the colored people in the South, both as to their civil, as well as their political rights.

T. McCANTS STEWART.

Mr. T. McCants Stewart is one of the most remarkable colored men in the United States: he is a lawyer of unusual ability. He was born in Charleston, S. C., December 28, 1854.

After graduating from the common schools in June, 1869, he entered the Preparatory Department of Howard University, Washington, D. C., and finished the course, entering college in September, 1871. He stood at the head of his class throughout the course, making special record in the foreign languages, in belles lettres, and as a public speaker. In the summer of 1871, he lectured at various places in Virginia. Although a very young man, being then only seventeen years of age, he was heard by large audiences and took back to Howard University enough money to get well started in his college course. In the midst of his junior year, feeling that the facilities for the study of the sciences were better in the University of South Carolina than at Howard University, Mr. Stewart left the latter and entered the former institution, and in December, 1875, he graduated, at the head of his class, from the College and Law Departments of the University of South Carolina, delivering the valedictory oration, and receiving the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws.

[Pg 292]

T. McCANTS STEWART, ESQ.

Gen. Robert B. Elliott, one of the ablest men of his day, and, at that time, one of the most successful practitioners at the South Carolina bar, took Mr. Stewart into partnership and formed the law firm of Elliott, Dunbar & Stewart, which firm was retained in many important cases. Mr. Stewart began his professional career in a murder case, in which there was unusual interest in every part of the State. The ablest attorneys and counsel appeared for the people[Pg 293] and Gen. Elliott and Mr. Stewart appeared for the defence. The General guided his young partner, but imposed upon him the burden of the work.

Mr. Dunbar died early in 1876, and Hon. D. Augustus Straker, now Circuit Court Commissioner, Detroit, Michigan, entered the law firm which then became Elliott, Stewart & Straker. The firm practised in several counties of the State. Wherever he appeared, Mr. Stewart's management of his cases was highly skilful, and he was usually successful. The Clarendon Press, a newspaper edited and published by Southern white men at Manning, S. C., makes this reference to Mr. Stewart's appearance in court there: "We must admit that Mr. Stewart displayed signal ability in the management of several cases. His respectful manner and modesty have created for him a favorable impression amongst the people."

In 1877, Mr. Stewart accepted the chair of Professor of Mathematics in the State Agricultural College of South Carolina, at Orangeburg, S. C. He resigned in 1878 to attend the post-graduate course of philosophy at Princeton College under Dr. James McCosh, and he also pursued the theological course in the seminary there. He went to New York in 1880, and made a national reputation in the ministry as an earnest and eloquent preacher. In November, 1882, he resigned from the church to accept the position of Professor of Belles Lettres and Law in the College of Liberia, on the West Coast of Africa. After traveling in Europe, he went to Liberia, remaining there until January, 1884. He returned to the[Pg 294] United States and was appointed General Agent for Industrial Education in Liberia, West Africa. He traveled extensively in the New England States, making addresses in the principal cities. He was everywhere received with great enthusiasm, and Joseph Cook gave up the platform of Tremont Temple to Mr. Stewart, who made a brilliant address there on March 23, 1885, to an audience which applauded him heartily, and his address was subsequently published in full in the New York Independent of April 2, 1885.

In the fall of 1885, Mr. Stewart decided to return to the practice of law, and in January, 1886, he was admitted before the General Term of the Supreme Court of the State in New York City. The New York Freeman of January 9, 1886, contained this reference to the proceedings in Court:

"On Wednesday morning, before the Supreme Court in General Term, Algernon S. Sullivan, Esq., rose and submitted the papers of T. McCants Stewart, signed by Chief Justice Simpson of the South Carolina Supreme Court; and after a brief and generous reference to Mr. Stewart's ability and character, moved that he be admitted to practise law in the courts of New York. Hon. A. M. Keiley, late minister to Austria, seconded the motion. Mr. Keiley said he deemed it a great privilege to speak in behalf of this learned and well-beloved member of the African race, and was sure the members of the bar would extend to Mr. Stewart a fraternal welcome. Mr. Stewart was then sworn in. Ex-Governor Chamberlain, who[Pg 295] was absent from the city, joined Mr. Keiley in seconding the motion for admission."

Mr. Stewart has been a very successful practitioner, and has appeared in several important cases. He has confined himself to the civil practice, and enjoys the unusual distinction of having his efforts at the bar commended in the written and published opinions of several judges. In a decision, rendered by the Court of Appeals, which is the tribunal of final resort, the court says: "On the argument here, the accused (convicted of murder) was represented by counsel of his own race, who argued the case with courage and zeal, and a professional ability worthy of commendation" (140 N. Y., 359). In an opinion by the Surrogate's Court of the city and county of New York, the Surrogate says: "The masterly argument of counsel for the contestant greatly impressed me. His conduct of the proceeding has been so admirable that I feel it to be my duty to commend him. He has throughout the case displayed all the qualities of a safe adviser and a skilled and eloquent advocate. His appearance before me will always be welcomed, as his unusual ability, learning and industry will greatly aid me in disposing of any proceedings in which he may be employed" (5 N. Y. Sup., 23).

Mr. Stewart ranks high as an orator. He is also an author, his best-known book being "Liberia; The Americo-African Republic," and he is a frequent contributor to literary publications. He was a member of the Board of Education of the city of[Pg 296] Brooklyn, N. Y., 1891 to 1895. Served as chairman of the Committee on Rules and Regulations, and on the Committee on Law, on Studies, and on Free Scholarships. While on the Board, he succeeded in removing the word "colored" entirely from the school system and was instrumental in having colored teachers appointed to mixed classes of white and colored children.

Since the first edition of this book was issued Mr. Stewart has given up his practice in New York and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he is meeting with very great success in his profession.

[Pg 297]

## CHAPTER XIX.

J. H. LEWIS.

J. H. LEWIS.

In this and the next chapter I shall call attention to a few prominent business men. I begin here with Mr. J. H. Lewis, the second largest merchant tailor in the State of Massachusetts, and the fourth largest[Pg 298] merchant tailor in the United States. He is a remarkable man to say the least. His birthplace was at Heathsville, N. C. The first eighteen years of his life were spent on a farm. He went to Concord, N. H., in 1875 or '76 to learn the tailoring business. After working three or four years at the business in Concord, he moved to Boston, Mass. He started in business on a capital of $100; by close attention, he soon began to make money, and now (1896) his business is estimated at $150,000 per year. Mr. Lewis devotes his personal attention to all of his customers, and to this fact, as much as any other, is his marvelous success due. His store is at 417 Washington street, Boston, Mass.

W. Q. ATWOOD.

Mr. W. Q. Atwood, of East Saginaw, Mich., is one of the largest lumber dealers in the United States.

Mr. Atwood was born a slave, but in spite of that fact he is a well-informed man in every way. He was born in Alabama, but left there for East Saginaw, Mich., in 1863. He has been a successful land, real estate and lumber dealer ever since he landed in the city.

In 1863, he located 1600 acres of land and sold the same during the same year, clearing $4,000. This was his first deal.

In 1868, with thirty men and eight teams, he cut and put in 3,000,000 feet of pine saw logs, and manufactured the same into lumber during the following year. He continued lumbering each year, cutting[Pg 299] from one to five million feet, until 1877, and has made from ten to twenty-five dollars per thousand feet.

W. Q. ATWOOD.

Mr. Atwood has given employment to large bodies of men. In all his business transactions he has endeavored to use his own capital, and has invested it very carefully. He is worth about $100,000. He is a leader in political, social and commercial matters in his city. He is the only colored member of the Board of Trade.

[Pg 300]

I regard his career a worthy example of what can be accomplished by men of the race, possessing the requisite qualities of patience, enterprise and foresight.

SAMUEL HARRIS.

I present here a picture of Mr. Samuel Harris. The subject of this brief sketch lives at Williamsburg, Va. I had occasion to visit that town a few years ago, and when it became known to the white[Pg 301] people that I was interested in colored people, the hotel proprietor where I stopped seemed very anxious to give me all the information he could regarding the condition of the race in that section of Virginia. After telling me all that he knew, and much that he did not know, he said he wanted to take me to see a store owned by a colored man by the name of Harris. I was only too glad to go. To see a large store owned by a colored man was to me a thing of wonderful interest. We went, and I am unable to put in words how much I was helped and inspired by what I saw in that store. I got while there these very interesting facts.

SAMUEL HARRIS.

Mr. Harris started in business about twenty-five years ago. His capital amounted to seventy dollars, He is now doing a business of $55,000 a year; owns ninety-six building lots in his town; four large farms in the State, and property in Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News. All of the goods sold in his store are shipped in his own vessel that is manned by his own crew.

WILLIAM H. DAVIS.

WILLIAM H. DAVIS.

William H. Davis, who has a well-equipped shoe store in Louisville, Ky., deserves special mention in our publication. Mr. Davis is a young man of about 26 years of age and owes his success entirely to his own efforts. He was at one time engaged as private secretary by the mayor of that city. He afterwards taught type-writing and short-hand in the schools there. It might be well to mention that he taught [Pg 302]himself both type-writing and short-hand, as none of the schools there where those branches were taught would admit colored students. There are but very few colored men engaged in the shoe business, and I know of none who have as large a stock and are in every way as well prepared to suit all kinds of trade as Mr. Davis. He has in connection with his stock of boots and shoes a fine line of furnishing goods, also employs a first-class workman, so that he can take orders for fine hand-made shoes for men and women. I hope that this short sketch and picture of Mr. Davis may inspire other young men to start in some business enterprise. The sooner colored men begin to represent some of the business interests of this country the better for the race. There is not a city in the country where the colored population is[Pg 303] large that several business enterprises could not be started by colored men with success. Every store owned and controlled by a colored man with success not only helps him, but it in a way lifts up the entire race, and shows that colored men can do other things besides clean houses and drive coal-carts. Mr. Davis finds to his surprise that he has a fair trade among the white people; that fact alone should encourage other young men to make an effort to go into some business. As long as colored men own no stores, they have no right to complain of their treatment in stores owned by white people. When colored men are felt as competitors in business, then, and not until then, will white men see the need of making any special effort to secure and hold colored people's trade. Then, too, when members of the race own large stores, they can give employment to young women as clerks, and by so doing take a large number of colored girls out of wash-tubs and cook kitchens. Mr. Davis says that he has not had the support he had hoped for from the better class of colored people, such as the teachers and other professional people. But he feels that that will come in time. In closing this sketch I regret to say that Louisville has for a city with such a large colored population a very small number of colored men engaged in any kind of business. In fact, the whole State of Kentucky is behind in that respect. I have found but very few towns in the State that had colored men doing any kind of business. Mr. Davis desires that any young men who want to go into[Pg 304] business, and feel that they would like some advice and information as how to start, should write to him, and he will gladly help them in the way of giving them an account of how he started and his methods of carrying on his business. I have often thought that in towns where no one colored man felt able to start some business enterprise alone several men could put their means together and start a co-operative store, and in that way encourage a business effort among the people, and at the same time furnish employment for members of the race.

J. E. REED.

J. E. REED.

Mr. J. E. Reed was born of free parents in North Carolina, and knew nothing of slavery. He came to New Bedford, Mass., in 1878, where he attended school for two years; at the end of that time, in 1880, he secured employment as errand boy in Mr. G. F. Parlow's photograph galleries of that city. Mr. Parlow found that the young man possessed very excellent qualities of mind, and as an evidence of his appreciation, asked him if he would like to learn photography. I need not add that Mr. Reed was only too glad to accept the offer. After mastering the profession he worked as an assistant to Mr. Parlow until 1888, when he formed a partnership with Mr. P. C. Headly, a young white man. The two young men bought out the gallery where Mr. Reed had learned his profession. This firm of Headly & Reed continued in business until 1895, when Mr. [Pg 305]Reed bought out the interest of Mr. Headly. These young men were regarded as by far the best workmen in their line the city afforded. Their patrons were numbered among the very best people in New Bedford. To me, the most interesting phase of Mr. Reed's work was his partnership with Mr. Headly, for I have always felt that one of the very best things that could be done, in solving what is called in this country the "Race question," would be to bring white[Pg 306] and colored men together in a business way, where they will have an opportunity to study each other as only those whose financial interests are blended can. I have no doubt but many comments, and doubtless unpleasant ones too, were made about the co-partnership of a white and colored man. But the fact that they succeeded, and won the respect and confidence of the best people in New Bedford, makes me hope we may hear of more such firms, in other parts of the country, for I am sure that it will prove helpful to both races to be brought more together in a business way. I can speak for Mr. Reed's ability as an artist, having had work done in his gallery. I am also pleased to note that Mr. Reed is a very useful and energetic church and Sunday-school worker.

JOHN S. TROWER.

JOHN S. TROWER.

John S. Trower, as a successful business man, ranks among the leading men of this country. He was born in the State of Virginia. When a young man, in 1870, he moved to Philadelphia, Pa. He found employment in various lines of work, until ambition led him to commence an enterprise of his own. He started and conducted for fifteen years on Chelten avenue a catering business. By much economy and a strict adherence to his work, he soon found his project assuming much larger proportions than he had ever hoped for, and in 1887 he purchased the old Germantown Savings Bank for $25,000. This building has been put in good shape, with all the modern improvements, with[Pg 307] telephone, and all that goes to make up a first-class business house. His business office is presided over by three competent clerks, all of whom are colored. On the second floor he has a magnificent parlor with every evidence of culture and comfort. Mr. Trower has won high distinction in his business.

[Pg 308]

C. H. SMILEY.

I know of but few others who are doing what might be regarded as a very large business in that line; one is Mr. C. H. Smiley, of Chicago. He went there some years ago from Philadelphia and started out in 1880 as a waiter. His first experience as a caterer was in a very small way. But his success has been something phenomenal. I had the pleasure, while in Chicago attending the World's Fair in 1893, of going through his establishment.

At that time he was giving employment to twenty people and owned the building in which he carried on his enterprise. In fact he was then getting ready to build a larger building more suited to his purpose. His patrons were only among the very best people, and he thought nothing of serving banquets or weddings, when his bill alone would run as high as one or more thousand dollars. I found him a most generous man. On one occasion I went to him, asking aid for a department of church and educational work I had been commissioned to raise funds for. I had hardly stated my case, when he handed me a $100 bill. I am told that he has given many such gifts to churches and other Christian societies. Many who have attended my illustrated lectures will remember a picture of Mr. Smiley. I regret that I am unable to produce it in this book.

E. I. MASTERSON.

E. I. MASTERSON.

Mr. E. I. Masterson is a successful merchant-tailor in Louisville, Ky. We present his cut and a few [Pg 309]words about him, with a great deal of pleasure, because he is a graduate from the tailoring department of Booker T. Washington's great school at Tuskegee, Ala. It has been said by those who are not friendly to the Industrial Schools that we never "see any of the industrial graduates putting any of their industrial education into practice." Then, again, it has been said that the "industrial training given in these schools is never thorough enough to be of any practical benefit to the students." So as an[Pg 310] offset to these objections, we are glad to introduce Mr. Masterson as a successful tailor. Not that he is the only one engaged in business as a result of an education received at a trade school. In fact, we know of some printers, blacksmiths, harness-makers, and others who learned their trades at the different Industrial Schools. Mr. Masterson is patronized by both white and colored people, and having had clothing made by him I can recommend his workmanship as first class.

CHARLES A. WEBB.

I shall give in this sketch what I consider a very interesting history. The latter months of 1876 saw the dawn of a business career which was destined to spread itself like the mighty Mississippi, though small in its incipiency; having been retarded by many obstructions, which were gradually removed, it worked its way through valleys and plains, finally broadening and deepening itself as it went; having gathered volume and velocity, it is no longer mindful of such small obstructions as hindered its course in the beginning.

Such has been the business career of C. A. Webb, whose cut adorns page 311, and who is the president of the Webb-Jameson Co.

Like many others, he saw the light of freedom without money, education or friends, but being possessed of courage and a determination that always succeeds, having worked a few years as a laborer[Pg 311] and in a few other minor capacities, he decided to venture for himself.

CHARLES A. WEBB.

His first venture was teaming and making gravel streets and alleys. After a time, a new field was opened, and he began buying and selling wood in car lots to the large pork-packers for smoking purposes. Being successful thus far, he established a coal and wood yard to supply small consumers. Little by little the business grew, and in those days when the[Pg 312] winters were more severe in Indianapolis than they are now, and natural gas was unknown, the coal and wood business was a busy one. So much so, that after the business was run a few years, and the borders of trade extended, it became necessary, in order to supply the demand promptly, to employ a steam-splitter and saw, instead of men who usually performed this work, and two to four teams, instead of one. The business up to this time had increased from $500 to $5,000 per year.

MOVING A HOUSE.

Still broadening itself, heavy draught and lumber-hauling were added, which required more teams and men to do the work, until now this branch of the business, which belongs to Mr. Webb individually, amounts to $10,000 per year.

All radical changes in the life of a city bring about changes in established business, and cause new ventures to spring up. In 1887, natural gas having been[Pg 313] discovered near Indianapolis, all was excitement. The general topic in the papers and at the fireside was cheap fuel, which of course meant death or a meagre existence to the coal and wood dealers.

Whenever natural gas was mentioned the brow of the coal and wood dealers became clouded, but this could not remove the difficulty.

About this time J. W. Davis & Co., one of the oldest house and safe moving firms in the city, desired to retire from business, and here the light began to shine.

The opportunity was presented and accepted to purchase the outfit of tools and appliances commonly used in that branch of business.

The outfit as stated together with the good will and name of the firm were purchased for $1,000. The company at that time consisted of C. A. Webb, Walter Jameson and Samuel Smith. The firm as such did not have a dollar to start with. Mr. Webb, who had been long in business, and had broad acquaintance, assumed the debt and according to contract, within eighteen months after the firm began under the name of Webb, Jameson & Co., they were able to settle the debt besides living off the net earnings of the business at the same time.

Messrs. Jameson and Smith were practical movers, having worked at the business for the same firm whom they united in buying out. Mr. Jameson having been employed in the capacity of foreman.

In the organization of the firm, Mr. Webb had charge of all financial matters and the making of[Pg 314] contracts; Mr. Jameson general superintendent of the work and Mr. Smith assistant.

The firm proceeded in this way, declaring weekly dividends from May 28, 1889, the time of its organization, until May 1, 1892.

The business increased so from the start that it was considered unnecessary to use the name of the old firm in operating the business.

By judicious advertising and skilful management, the firm under the name of Webb, Jameson & Co. became well known at home and throughout the State.

The reputation of the firm having been established for their reliability, honesty and responsibility, always fulfilling their contracts to the letter, was often able to secure better prices than other contractors.

The business having increased to such an extent during the first three years, it was decided to increase the capital stock and incorporate the company. Accordingly the corporation was formed May 1, 1892, under the name of The Webb-Jameson Co. The capital stock was $3,000, fully paid. The stockholders consisted of C. A. Webb, Walter Jameson, Samuel Smith and Mrs. Ida M. Bryant. At the first meeting of the stockholders, officers were elected as follows: C. A. Webb, President; Walter Jameson, Vice-President; Samuel Smith, Superintendent, and Mrs. I. M. Bryant, Secretary and Treasurer, with the same officers as directors. The business has gone on adjusting itself to the conditions of the times, but never losing ground, not even in the trying times of 1893-4, from which the country has not even yet fully recovered.

[Pg 315]

Notwithstanding the increased competition which each year brings forth, The Webb-Jameson Company maintains their position in the lead. The entire business operated under the management of C. A. Webb amounts to from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars per year. This volume of business necessitates the employing of twenty-five to thirty clerks and workmen, and six teams to prosecute the work, and during the busy season more are required.

The expenses of the company in wages, the purchase of new and improved tools, repairs, taxes, advertising and insurance, amount to several thousand dollars per year—all of which goes to show that they are doing business according to the methods approved by the best and most conservative business men of the opposite race. Much more might be said of the business of The Webb-Jameson Company, but be it said to their credit that many who seek business relations with them are surprised to meet colored men. So great is their surprise, they often make the ludicrous statement, "I thought Mr. Webb was a white man," and frequently add, "Well, who is Mr. Jameson?" thereby showing that the general idea, without positive knowledge, is that The Webb-Jameson Company is conducted by white instead of colored men.

Besides the business already mentioned, Mr. Webb is president of a building and loan association, conducted entirely by colored men and patronized entirely by the colored people. This enterprise thus far has been very successful.

[Pg 316]

## CHAPTER XX.

WALTER P. HALL.

I met Mr. Walter P. Hall for the first time in 1892, when giving my first course of Illustrated Lectures on "Race Progress" in Philadelphia.

It seems that our subject never spent more than one year in school, on account of his father's death. He had to help support his mother, and other members of the family. From the age of seven years to sixteen he worked very hard, and was his mother's main support. When he had arrived at the age of sixteen, our country was then engaged in the great civil war. Mr. Hall's love for his race, his patriotism and love for our country prompted him to enlist as a soldier in the 24th United States Regiment. At the close of the war he returned to Philadelphia, where he secured work and assumed the responsibility of supporting his mother, sister and younger brother. In 1871 he was employed by Mr. Oscar Robbins in the old Fifth Street Market. His employer was the largest poultry and game dealer in Philadelphia. Mr. Hall held his position for over ten years. In a short while after leaving Mr. Robbins, he started in business for himself. Having but little money, and a great deal of opposition to contend with, it was for a while an awful struggle, so much so, that he frankly admits, that had it not been for his noble and[Pg 317] loving wife he would on several occasions have given up. True merit will always win in the end, and this proved true in his case; for to-day, Mr. Hall has one of the largest wholesale and retail poultry and game stalls in the 12th Street Market. He employs four men, paying each of them the same salary he received when on a salary himself.

WALTER P. HALL, PHILADELPHIA.

One need only see how well his home is managed and kept, to fully realize that it is a happy home. You[Pg 318] also behold the power and usefulness of a true and loving wife. In addition to his regular business he finds time to do great good in church-work as a class leader. He has filled that position for seventeen years, and has been a trustee for fifteen years, and a Sunday-school teacher for five years, having a large class of young men in whom he feels great interest. His class he had to give up on account of being elected as Sunday-school Superintendent. Then to add to his church-work he has been made president of the Southeast Branch of the Y. M. C. A. For seven years Mr. Hall has been the president of the Pioneer Building and Loan Association of Philadelphia, which stands second to none of its kind in the country. Many poor people have this association to thank for the homes they live in to-day.

I think our readers need not be told that Mr. Hall is a busy man. Rev. John M. Palmer, his pastor, says, "Few men so prosperous in business, so comfortable in possession of this world's goods, show such ardent devotion for church-work and active participation in all its varied forms, as does Mr. Walter Hall, at the same time meeting the requirements of the several positions which he holds. As class leader, trustee, steward, and Sunday-school superintendent, he is always on hand. Among the members of his class none are so poor but that he will hunt them up when sick, to offer with them a word of prayer, and very often giving them financial aid. One old member said, before passing away, 'How he has helped me! God will bless him!'"

[Pg 319]

S. L. PARKER.

S. L. PARKER, LAUREL, DEL.

Mr. S. L. Parker, whose picture I give here, belongs to that class of men who are able to not only do what they have seen others do, but able to create something out of almost nothing. Mr. Parker, when a mere boy, began business for himself in the town of Laurel, Delaware, in the month of May, 1885, with a stock of $19.50 worth of goods, bought on credit of a friend. At that time for a colored man to[Pg 320] attempt to sell anything in Laurel, except gingerbread on the street corners, or fish on the street, was looked upon with no little curiosity, for, while Delaware is practically a Northern State, I was surprised to see what a great amount of race prejudice existed in it. At first, Mr. Parker was regarded as a lazy fellow, trying to get his living without hard work. But we are glad to note that he was fairly well patronized from the beginning of his business career. On account of his lack of business knowledge he met with several reverses during his first three years' experience; but, by constant efforts on his part, he gradually gained a footing that is regarded by even his opposers as firm and secure. So great has been his progress that last year his business amounted to over $10,000. He now conducts a general grocery store, manufactures ice cream for both wholesale and retail, having over $1,300 worth of machinery for that use. He has two ice cream parlors, which are well patronized by the very best people in the town, without any discrimination whatever. He also handles the ice business of the place, running two delivery wagons. He has packed this year 1,000 tons of ice for his next season's trade. In addition to his business already mentioned, Mr. Parker, during the season, ships large amounts of fruit and produce. I am glad to add to what has been said of our subject, I found, while in the town, that he had the respect and esteem of the very best people.

[Pg 321]

H. A. TANDY.

H. A. Tandy is a successful contractor and builder of brick buildings. Some of the largest brick structures in Lexington, Ky., where he resides, have been built by him. Mr. Tandy has a partner whose name is Bird. These very successful contractors have in addition to many other large buildings been awarded the brick-work on the new court house that is now in progress of building in the fall of 1898. The court house is to be one of the finest and largest in the United States. Several million bricks will be used to complete their part of the work. There were many other bids put in for this work by contractors from all over the State, and some from other States. The fact that the firm of Tandy & Bird got the contract shows in what high esteem they are held by the public in a business way. In order that my readers may fully appreciate the importance of Mr. Tandy's work there are a few things that must be considered. First, one must take into account the extreme and uncalled-for prejudice against the colored man in a business way, both North and South. Then all of the labor unions have refused to admit colored members. That in itself would have much to do in discouraging any colored man to try to compete with white men as contractors and builders. Then, too, a colored man would find it harder to secure skilled mechanics to help him complete the work after he had obtained the contract. But all of[Pg 322] the things referred to that would hinder a colored man has been overcome by Mr. Tandy. He is a first-class workman in his line, and by doing business in a straightforward manner he has made men recognize his true worth as a man, regardless of color.

H. A. TANDY.

Mr. Tandy has made himself both helpful and useful to his race, not only by giving employment to many of them, but he has taken an active part in church and Sunday-school work in the A. M. E.[Pg 323] Church. He has also been active in the Masonic Order, and is serving his second term as State Grand Master of the Order known as U. B. F. and S. M. T. Mr. Tandy is also connected with the Colored Fair Association of Lexington, which is the largest thing of its kind in the world carried on by colored people.

DANIEL PURDY.

DANIEL PURDY, CHESTER, PA.

Mr. Daniel Purdy, of Chester, Pa., is another of the men I regard as being worthy of special mention. He was born a slave, left Virginia when a small boy in 1864, was brought to Washington, D. C., and was bound out until he was eighteen years of age, with the understanding that he was to have three months of schooling each year, and when he arrived at his eighteenth year, was to have $100. But none of these conditions were fulfilled by those who had taken the boy to raise. So that at eighteen he found himself without education and without money. From the time Mr. Purdy was eighteen years of age until he was twenty, he worked at whatever he could find in the State of Maryland. He then came to Chester, his present home. His first wages in Chester were about $1.00 per day, but by close application to his work, he so gained the confidence of his employers that they advanced his salary from time to time until he received $18 per week, which was regarded as very large pay for a colored man. In 1886, Mr. Purdy, after working in the iron mills for several years, had saved quite a sum of money, and decided to go into business for himself. He has [Pg 324]built up a large grocery trade and owns the building in which his store is situated, also his residence. It is a fine brick structure on the corner of two prominent streets. In addition to his grocery store he does a general contracting business, employing during the summer months about twenty-five men, owns six horses, and keeps two clerks employed in the store. He tells me that the principal part of his trade is among the white people. I did not press[Pg 325] him as to what he is really worth, but he said I could safely say $15,000, and that he does a business of from $20,000 to $25,000 per year. Who will say that Mr. Purdy should not be classed among the successful business men, both white and colored, and especially when we take into consideration the fact that all of his success has been accomplished without education or business experience. I only wish some of our white college graduates would do as well.

DR. W. T. DINWIDDIE.

DR. W. T. DINWIDDIE.

Dr. W. T. Dinwiddie, a young man who is engaged in the practice of dentistry at Lexington, Ky., is a credit to the race. He is a native of Danville, Ky., where he attended the public schools of that city, afterwards taking a two years' course in the Knoxville College at Knoxville, Tenn. Dr. Dinwiddie first learned the carpenter's trade, and was regarded as a very fine workman; but, having a natural desire to practice dentistry, he decided to enter Meharry Medical and Dental College at Nashville, Tenn., and fit himself for the practice of that profession. After a three years' course he graduated with high honors, and was called by the President and Faculty of Meharry Dental College to accept a professorship; and he took the chair of Prosthetic Dentistry, which position he held with both success and honor, until he resigned to enter into the practice of his profession at Lexington, Ky., where he has by his most excellent workmanship and genial manners built up a very large practice.

[Pg 326]

JAMES E. DIXON.

Mr. James E. Dixon, of Providence, R. I., belongs to that class of men who are helpful to my book in enabling me to demonstrate that the colored people are entering all the professions and business walks of life in which white men enter and succeed.

J. E. DIXON.

Mr. Dixon went to the North from Richmond, Va.[Pg 327] Having lost both his parents at a very early age, it left him to look after himself, just at the time when a loving mother is most needed. What he has in the way of an education was obtained at New Bedford, Mass. But having a desire to travel, he accepted an offer to go to sea, which vocation he followed for a number of years, rounding the globe at least seven times, visiting one or more parts of every continent, inclusive of Australia, New Zealand and[Pg 328] a number of Islands in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Finding it to his advantage, he hailed from an English port, and stuck to the English Merchant Service. He secured a mate's certificate, and worked himself up to a position as chief officer of one of the finest sailing ships under the English flag. But by an unfortunate accident in Calcutta, July 4, 1884, he lost his right arm. He then returned to New Bedford, Mass., and after a hard struggle against big odds, mastered telegraphy. The Western Union Telegraph Co., in recognition of his services in their main office, appointed him on June 11, 1889, as manager of their branch office at the Parker House, New Bedford, which place he held until he resigned June 3, 1893, to take charge of his present position at Signal Tower on the main line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail Road, at Providence, R. I. Some idea of his work and responsibilities is given in this statement. In 1894, 34,284 trains passed this point, and the number is never under this. The operator has to know and report the exact condition of every train. In addition he has to give a signal to each train whether or not it is all right to go ahead. The position held by Mr. Dixon is indeed one of great responsibility, and should he fail to discharge his whole duty in giving each train the proper signal, great loss of life and property would result. So well has the company been pleased with his work, that they offer employment to other members of the race when they can show that they are properly fitted for duty.

[Pg 329]

PHILIP J. ALLSTON.

Mr. Philip J. Allston, of Boston, Mass., is holding what I consider a very unique position. After leaving the public school of Boston he accepted a position in the firm of Weeks & Potter, wholesale and retail druggists and chemists of that city. He was first employed as a bottle washer in 1878, but had not been in the establishment very long when he had learned the business of manufacturing the famous articles sold by that firm.

PHILIP J. ALLSTON.

Mr. Warren B. Potter, of the firm, took great interest in Mr. Allston, and when a vacancy occurred in the laboratory he asked him if he would like to enter the laboratory. He said he would. After a year the chemist went on a vacation, leaving Mr. Allston in full charge of the laboratory. Mr. Potter being impressed with his work, asked him if he could take charge of the new laboratory erected at 135 and 137 Columbus avenue. He said: "Give me a trial." In 1882 he took charge of the laboratory with one man assistant. During this time he attended the Star School for drawing, and the English Evening High School, receiving instructions in the advanced branches. In 1889 Mr. Potter allowed him to take a course in Analytical, General and Qualitative Chemistry, as well as Practical Pharmacy, which he followed until Mr. Potter's death, in 1892. The laboratory is, without dispute, the finest in New England, ($10,000) ten thousand dollars being laid out in the summer of 1895 for repairs. Many appliances and[Pg 330] improvements at Mr. Allston's suggestion has been added, and many new devices for facilitating the work. He has now five men under him, all members of his race, and all receiving twice the amount in wages he received when he began work for the company. He is well known among the pharmacists of Boston. In 1895, a personal letter from Prof. Capen, of Tufts College, presented him to every druggist in the city, he being a member of the com[Pg 331]mittee on finance which raised over ($23,000) twenty-three thousand dollars for the Christian Endeavor fund.

In 1892 he married Miss Maggie A. Whiting, formerly of Virginia.

He has always been an active member of the A. M. E. Zion Church, having held the following positions: Teacher in the Sunday school; president of Clinton Literary Association; conductor of choir; assistant superintendent; superintendent, and now a member of the Board of Trustees. He is a member of the Suffolk Investment Association, secretary of the Wendell Phillips Club and secretary of the Crispus Attucks Club.

He has had many offers to fill other laboratories, but declined them, as well as inducements to fill positions in the South.

DR. JARED CAREY.

Dr. Jared Carey, Chiropodist and Manicure, is a very interesting character. My attention was called to him while lecturing in Cincinnati. He is a native of North Carolina, but left his native State before the war, coming to Ohio with some Quakers and free colored people. In his early life he worked on a farm and engaged in all kinds of hard work, and many a month got as pay only $6.00, which in those days was considered large wages for a farm hand.

DR. JARED CAREY.

Dr. Carey had a great desire to travel and took up the profession of Chiropody in order that he might better his own condition and in his profession visit [Pg 332]some of the larger cities, which he did in both the United States and Canada. I do not find many colored men engaged as Chiropodists, and none that I have met are as well prepared to do the work as Dr. Carey. He has several rooms handsomely fitted up for his work at 43 Arcade, up-stairs, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Carey gives employment to at least six people all the time. His patrons are among the best people in Cincinnati. In addition to his regular work[Pg 333] he has written a book on Chiropody and Manicure. For quite a number of years he has, in connection with his profession, conducted a school of Chiropody, and quite a number of his pupils are engaged in their profession in other large cities. Dr. Carey is assisted in his work by his wife, who is quite an expert at both Chiropody and Manicure. She is a very refined and pleasant lady, who is much thought of by their patrons. Dr. Carey has by good management been able to purchase some valuable property. He has been an active and useful member of the M. E. Church. Any young person, either lady or gentleman, desiring to learn Chiropody or Manicure would do well to write Dr. J. Carey at 43 Arcade, Cincinnati, for full particulars as to terms. I am confident that in most any large town a good Chiropodist could do well, and I should like to see more of the colored people thus engaged.

[Pg 334]

## CHAPTER XXI.

BANKS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, ETC.

There has been an impression in the public mind that colored men had not the ability to successfully conduct such enterprises as Banks, Insurance Companies and Building and Loan Associations. But this impression is an erroneous one. I have come in contact with a great many of the men who have embarked in the Banking, Insurance, and Building and Loan Associations, and I have positive proof that they are as successful as the average white man who starts out in these lines of business.

In Washington, D. C., the colored people are successfully running a Savings Bank. It is known as the "Capitol Savings Bank." Hon. John R. Lynch is its president. While this bank was established by colored men, I am pleased to inform my readers that its patrons are not confined to colored people. The building occupied by the bank belongs to the company, and is situated in the central part of the city. Dr. Wilder, Mr. Bailey, Mr. McCary, and Henry E. Baker were all connected with the bank when I visited it in 1893. I found these men all able, reliable, and cultured gentlemen. Dr. Wilder as a physician can boast of a large practice among both white and colored. Mr. Bailey owns very fine property in the city. Henry E. Baker is in my esti[Pg 335]mation one of the ablest young men it has ever been my pleasure to meet.

CAPITAL SAVINGS BANK.
Washington, D. C.

The True Reformers, of Richmond, Va., was started by W. W. Browne, at his own residence; and while I fully believe that Mr. Browne knew just what he wanted to do, I don't think that even he foresaw the gigantic affair the True Reformers have turned out to be. They have their headquarters at Richmond, Va., in a splendid building of their own, which is three stories high. In the upper story they have a very excellent opera house; in the second lodge rooms, and in the first the largest bank in the[Pg 336] world owned by colored people. I shall now give an account of the work of the True Reformers furnished me by Mr. W. P. Burrell, General Secretary of the society:

"The Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers, founded by Wm. W. Browne in Virginia in January, 1881, now numbers 1500 Fountains, 400 Rosebud Societies and 1000 Class Circles. The total benefited membership is 50,000. The order operates in twenty-two States and holds forty pieces of real estate, valued at more than $2,000,000. It has paid in death benefits over $500,000 and more than $1,000,000 in sick dues.

"Besides the purely benevolent part of the order there is connected with it their Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain, with a capital stock of $100,000 and deposits exceeding $200,000. The Reformers' Mercantile and Industrial Association, organized April, 1900, now does a business of $1500 a week. The Old Folks' Home Department, organized for the benefit of the old members of the race, is in good shape. A farm of 624 acres has been bought and paid for, and arrangements are now being pushed to put about 100 old colored people at the Home.

"In 1881 Rev. Wm. W. Browne started the order, being assisted by one clerk and boy of all work, Mr. W. P. Burrell. At the death of Rev. Browne, in 1897, he was succeeded by Rev. W. L. Taylor, who had for twelve years been connected with the work as an organizer. While under Mr. Browne the work[Pg 337] succeeded beyond expectations, yet the growth under Rev. Taylor has been phenomenal. The plans as laid by Rev. Browne have been more appreciated since his death than before. Many new features have been introduced, and the order continues to increase.

"The management is divided into departments, and at the main office there are over eighty clerks employed.

"The following are the general officers of the organization: Rev. W. L. Taylor, Grand Master and President; W. P. Burrell, General Secretary; R. T. Hill, Cashier; E. W. Brown, Editor of the Reformer; J. C. Robertson, Attorney and Chief of Real Estate; T. W. Taylor, Chief of Old Folks' Home; Edward Ellis, Jr., Accountant.

"Under Rev. Taylor there are a large host of deputies and field workers, at the head of whom are Rev. E. T. Anderson, Vice Grand Master and Deputy General of the Southern Field; Rev. J. T. Carpenter, Deputy General of the Western Field; Mr. C. A. Puryear, Deputy General of the Northern Field.

"Since the organization of the bank, in 1888, there have been handled by it $6,000,000. The Reformers' Hotel is conveniently located, is steam-heated, and has first-class accommodations for 105 guests. It is at the corner of Sixth and Baker streets, and a line of street-cars pass the door.

"The work of the main office is commenced with prayer each morning; the clerks assemble at eight o'clock."

[Pg 338]

REV. W. W. BROWNE.
Founder of True Reformers.

I am sure that my readers will agree with me that the account given by Secretary Burrell, showing what has been done by the True Reformers, is worthy of more than passing comment. It is a matter that should demand the greatest interest and consideration of the colored people in all parts of our country. To me there is one grand lesson taught in the success of this order that all may profit by if they will, and that is that colored people can[Pg 339] successfully manage a large business enterprise without any assistance or advice on the part of the whites. Now comes the question that doubtless many will ask. If the colored people can organize and push on with great success the bank, hotel and wholesale and retail grocery store, as Mr. Burrell's statement proves beyond a doubt, then why cannot colored people in all parts of this country organize societies and stock companies for the purpose of getting members of the race into all kinds of business, which would not only help those engaged in the different enterprises, but it would give the colored people as a race dignity and standing among the better class of the whites that would prove helpful beyond my power to express? Let us hope that the time is not far distant when we may count with pride many such grand societies as the True Reformers.

TRUE REFORMERS' BANK BUILDING.

[Pg 340]

ALABAMA PENNY SAVING AND LOAN COMPANY, LOCATED
AT BIRMINGHAM, ALA., AND CONTROLLED ENTIRELY
BY COLORED PEOPLE.

It was opened for business the 15th of October, 1890. Rev. W. R. Pettiford was elected President, which position he now holds, being elected seven consecutive times. Mr. B. H. Hudson as Cashier has held his position from the first. Mr. Peter F. Clark is Vice-President; to these are added as Directors—Rev. J. I. Jackson, Thomas Benford, Prof. F. S. Hayel, Rev. T. W. Walker, T. D. Davis and Rev. J. Q. A. Wilhite who has charge of the Institution. These men sold stock sufficient to be incorporated Feb. 16th, 1894, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, ($25,000) with the privilege of increasing to one hundred thousand. There is deposited from one hundred thousand to one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars per year. They carry $28,000 on deposit now. The bank owns its business house of three story brick, which is well tenanted and from this and other Real Estate, it has a rental income of one thousand two hundred and ninety-seven dollars, ($1,297) per year. The Real Estate is worth over ten thousand dollars. The bank has made rapid progress under the present management and is now regarded as a fixture. It has four persons in its employ, a good safe vault and a neat set of oak finish fixtures which makes the appearance attractive.

This bank pulling through the panic and buying a nice three story brick building on 20th street, has greatly strengthened confidence in its business.

[Pg 341]

WASHINGTON COMMISSION AND SUPPLY CO.

The Washington Commission and Supply Company of Washington, D. C., started in 1897, is a movement on the part of a number of Colored men of this city to control much of the trade among the Colored residents and to give the youth an opportunity in business pursuits. It is a co-operative concern, but somewhat restrictive as to membership. Those who started the enterprise decided, in order to insure success, it should be self-supporting. Thirty men of families, fifteen of whom were clergymen and fifteen laymen, joined heartily in the enterprise. It was estimated that these families would spend from $20 to $40 each for table supplies. If these men would patronize their own interests, the store would do a business from $600 to $1000 per month independent of outside trade.

The store has been in operation but three months. Three clerks are employed and five agents are at work. The store has sold a little over $1800.00 worth of goods in these three months. Indications are flattering for a larger business.

The last week before writing this, was the best in its history. It contemplates opening branch stores all over the city. The authorities believe in moving continuously. They believe it is only a matter of time when through the pastors connected with them and through their many friends they will control much of the trade of the 85,000 colored people in the District of Columbia. They will add a boot and shoe business.

[Pg 342]

## CHAPTER XXII.

PATENTS AND OTHER BUSINESS INTERESTS.

Among the colored people we find a few inventors whose patents are being used throughout this country. Mr. E. McCoy, of Detroit, Mich. invented the "Lubricator," and it is being used on nearly all the railroad engines in the United States. A large factory has been built in Detroit for the manufacture of the Lubricator. The late Mr. D. F. Black, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., had invented several patents, and was before his death engaged in manufacturing a cocoanut food, and, I understand, met with fair success. Rev. J. B. Randolph, of Trenton, N. J., has taken out a patent on an apparatus for heating and cooking, claiming that at least one-half of the fuel now used in heating a house can be saved by the use of his patent.

Mr. H. Creamer, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has invented an automatic steam pump that seems to have made a good impression among those who have tested it, for it is very highly spoken of.

I shall mention in this chapter a few colored men I have met who are engaged in various lines of business. Mr. W. A. Hazel, of St. Paul, Minn., is a decorator and designer. Some of the handsomest window glass used for churches is designed by Mr. Hazel.

Mr. Jas. H. Matthews, of New York City, has[Pg 343] built up a very large business as an undertaker. His patrons are among all classes of people. He has been an active member of the Undertakers' Association of the State. In fact, he has held responsible positions in the association.

It is quite a common thing to find colored men engaged in large business enterprises in the South, where the colored population is large. There are, however, a few North who are engaged in business to a greater or lesser degree. In Trenton, N. J., I met Mr. J. W. Rodman, who has built a splendid brick building, in which he conducts a very successful grocery business, and I am sure the largest trade he has is among the white people.

At Evansville, Ind., I found Mr. John Neville and Mr. McWhorter. These gentlemen were conducting a fine barber shop and a magnificent Turkish bath-house. It is the only place of its kind I ever found operated by colored men. That was in 1893, and I suppose they are still engaged in the same work.

Providence, R. I., has a colored man by the name of Richard Grant who was in his younger days a slave in North Carolina. He began life in Providence as a common day-laborer. He now owns and controls the street-sprinkling business of that city, having five wagons made for that special work.

Hopkinsville, Ky., can boast of one, at least, very successful colored merchant in Mr. Peter Postel, who was once a slave. He owns a very large brick building where his business is conducted, besides houses he has to rent. I am unable to say what his wealth[Pg 344] is, but I am told that he is quite a wealthy man. While he has been deprived of an education, he has given his children every advantage along that line.

Mr. E. Watts, of South Chester, Pa., has by hard work and close attention to his business built up a good trade in the grocery business. His brother, Mr. John A. Watts, who has passed away, began in Chester at hard work, and when he died owned a fine grocery store and several houses.

At Boston, Mass., one of the most successful wig-makers is a colored man who conducts what is known as Gilbert & Co.'s Wig Manufactory. He owns the establishment he learned his trade in. His name is Gilbert Harris.

The late Thomas H. Boling, of Philadelphia, Pa., operated quite a wholesale and retail store where choice flour, soaps, starch, and a general line of groceries were sold. In speaking of his success he said: "When I started this business I did not have as many hundred dollars as I can muster thousands now." And yet he did not try to impress me with the fact that he was wealthy. But it is generally known that Mr. Boling has been a very successful man.

JOSEPH H. DICKINSON.

Joseph H. Dickinson was born June 22, 1855. He attended school in Detroit, Mich. At the age of fifteen he enlisted in the United States Revenue Service. At seventeen years he entered the employ of the Clough & Warren Organ Co., where he now is, [Pg 345]and in whose service some of his best work has been accomplished. In 1880, he married Miss Eva Gould, of Lexington, Mich., and two years after formed a partnership with his father-in-law, known as the Dickinson-Gould Organ Co., for the manufacture of parlor and chapel organs. This firm sent to the New Orleans exhibition a large chapel organ as an exhibit showing the progress of the colored people in manufacturing. Prior to this, for the Centennial[Pg 346] Exposition in 1876, Mr. Dickinson helped to construct a large combination organ for the Clough & Warren Organ Co., which received a diploma and medal. In 1886, Mr. Dickinson returned to the employ of Clough & Warren and his chief work lies in superintending the building of the higher grade of organs.

J. H. DICKINSON.

Mr. Dickinson is a practical workman of an inventive turn of mind, a good draughtsman and designer, and an expert in all kinds of organ-building. A few years ago he built and finished two organs for the royal family of Portugal. A pipe organ built on new methods is one of the products of the Clough & Warren Co., and is pushing its way into many places. The Christian Church, St. Matthews P. E. Church, and the Church of the Sacred Heart, all of Detroit, have organs built on this method, that were designed by and constructed under his superintendency. Last year, against the competition of Eastern manufacturers, this company secured the contract for putting in a large pipe organ for the Tabernacle Methodist Church, at Camden, N. J. The case for the same was also subject to competition, and the design of Mr. Dickinson was chosen in preference to that of Eastern designers and architects.

The reed organs of Clough & Warren are celebrated and are largely made so through the ideas and supervision of the subject of this sketch. He is now engaged in perfecting a reed organ that possesses some of the qualities and tones of a pipe organ—a tubular pneumatic action—that bids fair[Pg 347] to be very successful. An organ on this plan is being used at the Sunday evening services at the Detroit Opera House.

Mr. Dickinson possesses good, strong, sterling characteristics.

TRADE UNION CORPORATION OF WINSTON-SALEM, N. C.

On May 3, 1897, a few persons, led by Rev. John T. Martin, joined themselves together for the purpose of buying and selling groceries, etc. About sixty dollars was collected and paid over to Rev. Martin, who was made business manager.

A room belonging to the business manager was rented and the money invested in goods. Thus was formed the foundation of the successful organization known as the Trade Union.

In the fall a lot was purchased on the corner of Eighth and Lendon streets, and a building 20 × 40 feet was erected thereon. The following summer a great addition was made to this structure, and now the Trade Union building contains an area of 3,200 square feet of floor space, and is now the largest store building owned by colored people in the city of Winston-Salem.

On January 9, 1899, a charter was granted by the Secretary of State, and the Trade Union became a corporate body, with a capital privilege of ten thousand ($10,000) dollars; also rights and powers which enable the Directors to deal in all manner of real and personal property. On the second anniversary[Pg 348] of this company the assets amounted to more than $3,000.

It is the purpose of the Union to open a savings bank in connection with their business. Mr. J. S. Hill, a most excellent man, is now president of the company.

THREE PROMINENT ARTISTS.

While in Boston, Mass., in 1895, I met Mr. Nelson A. Primus, who painted that wonderful picture (18 × 24 feet), "Christ Before Pilate." This gentleman is certainly a remarkable artist and his portrait work is received in Boston alongside of the productions of the very finest artists of the city.

Mr. M. E. Bannister, of Providence, R. I., painted the picture called "Under the Oaks," that was awarded the first gold medal at the great Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1876. His painting was sold for $1,500.

Prof. H. O. Tanner has painted a picture called "The Banjo Lesson," that sold for $800.

The colored race has produced a great many exceptionally fine artists, and it is in the realm of art that the highest possibilities of any race are indicated.

Prof. Tanner has recently sold to the French Government for the Luxembourg Gallery a large picture representing "The Raising of Lazarus." Mr. Tanner is the second American artist who has sold one of his paintings to the French Art Gallery.

[Pg 349]

## CHAPTER XXIII.

COLORED EDITORS AND JOURNALISTS.

There are published in the United States to-day between 250 and 300 newspapers and periodicals devoted to the interests of the colored people. The prices of these, compared with the many other articles of luxury for which they pay so freely, are ridiculously low; and yet no field of labor for educated men and women of the race is so perplexing and encumbered with so many difficulties.

But among those who have made a success of journalism are the men and women mentioned in this chapter.

T. THOMAS FORTUNE.

Mr. T. Thomas Fortune, the best-known journalist, both among white and colored people, is really the pioneer among the colored journalists of the United States. He has labored as an editorial writer on the New York Sun for a great many years, and he is the only colored man whose opinions on important questions are published at length in white newspapers. His work on the Times-Herald, of Chicago, Ill., and other great dailies, has been the most creditable, and has been the subject of more liberal discussion than that of any other writer.

T. THOMAS FORTUNE.

Mr. Fortune's stand for right and justice to all classes of American citizens has endeared him to [Pg 350]every man and woman who appreciates fair play. He is in Negro journalism what Charles Dana, Esq., is to white journalism—a leader. He has been publishing the New York Age for a great many years, and that paper is recognized to-day as the official organ of the colored people. Wherever Mr. Fortune goes he is always sought out by the leading newspaper and professional men and accorded a royal[Pg 351] reception. I regard him as the most valuable man in his line living to-day.

E. E. COOPER.

Edward Elder Cooper is a man of Southern birth, full of vim, energy, enterprise and pluck. He is the founder of the Indianapolis Freeman, which attained a national reputation under his skilful management some years ago. He removed to Washington, D.C., in 1892, after disposing of his interest in the Freeman, where he established the Colored American, an eight-page illustrated newspaper. Mr. Cooper's strong point is as a business manager. He has had phenomenal success with the Colored American, among the solid business men of Washington, who know it as a safe, reliable and useful advertising medium. One of the great features of the Colored American is its portraits of eminent Negroes, which it publishes from week to week; this feature is a big card for the paper and is greatly appreciated by the masses. The Colored American is national in its scope and work and publishes the news from every section of the country. A competent force of Negro compositors and correspondents, which include some of the best writers among the race, make the Colored American a very desirable and welcome weekly visitor in the homes of thousands of the best people of both races.

E. E. COOPER.

Mr. Cooper is comparatively a young man; he is not yet forty. He has, through his paper, popularized [Pg 352]more struggling Negroes, who have been hitherto unknown, than any other publisher of a race paper. The subscription to the Colored American is two dollars per annum. It is published at 829 7th street N. W., Washington, D. C., in one of the most central business locations in the capital city. In connection with his newspaper, Mr. Cooper keeps on sale at his counting-room all of the most prominent Negro journals published, and has also undertaken to cater to the[Pg 353] wants of those desiring Negro literature. All the latest books, pamphlets, public addresses of colored authors, writers and speakers can be obtained from the Colored American office on application. And there are many good books by Negro authors and by others friendly to the race which may be found on his shelves. This paper recently issued a mammoth edition of 50,000 copies which is said to be the largest edition ever issued by a Negro publisher. Mr. Cooper is popular with the members of the profession, and never hesitates to lend a helping hand to his struggling brethren of the press. He is a genial, open-hearted, open-handed, rollicking good fellow, who makes friends easily and who knows how to keep them. He exercises a sort of hypnotic influence over prospective advertisers who generally come his way. The American is strictly a newspaper in the broader sense of the term newspaper, and is conscientiously devoted to the moral and material uplifting and advancement of the race whose necessities have called it into being. He deserves great credit for his courage and his unyielding faith in the possibilities of Negro journalism; and he will, in the future, command the admiration of his race, which has now but small appreciation for the sacrifices, and self-denial, of the brave men who fight its battles through the media of the Negro press of the country.

PROF. W. S. SCARBOROUGH, LL. D.

Prof. Scarborough is the most distinguished scholar of the race to-day. His experience in teach[Pg 354]ing has been large and varied. Clear in explanation, polished in language and bearing, profound in scholarship, always the perfect gentleman, he has impressed himself upon many young minds as few young men have been able to do. Add to these characteristics a most laudable ambition, an unflinching steadfastness of purpose, unwavering uprightness and straightforward devotion to principle, and we find wherein lies the power which has enabled him[Pg 355] to attain the heights and win the fame which is undeniably his. But his has not been the mere routine of a teacher's life; he has been an incessant student, an indefatigable worker. During 1880 he prepared his "First Lessons in Greek," which was published by A. S. Barnes & Co., in June, 1881. This book, the first of the kind ever written by a colored man, has received the highest encomiums from the press, while its merits have been recognized and acknowledged by some of the finest scholars in the land. It has also received the most practical recognition—that of adoption—by schools and colleges, both white and colored.

PROF. W. S. SCARBOROUGH, LL. D.

Mr. Scarborough is a regular contributor to Harper's Magazine, the Forum, and the North American Review.

REV. H. T. JOHNSON, D. D., PH. D.

Rev. Henry Theodore Johnson was born at Georgetown, S. C., October 10, 1857.

His early life was spent in the public schools of his native town until his fourteenth year.

He has attended the State Normal School at Columbia, the South Carolina University, Howard University at Washington, D. C., and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

His "Elements of Psychic Philosophy," a clear cut but brief treatise on mental science, and his "How to Get On," an admirably written and highly instructive series of essays, are two of his books. Having[Pg 356] been called to the chair of mental and moral philosophy by the trustees of Allen University in South Carolina, he taught but a short time, when he resigned for a more inviting field in Tennessee. Under the auspices of his church, he here founded the institution known as Slater College. In connection with his school presidency, he was presiding elder of a large district for three years.

REV. H. T. JOHNSON, D. D., PH. D.

His "Divine Logos" was written and published in 1891. As a unique Christological treatise it was spoken of in the highest terms. Some idea of the[Pg 357] recognized ability of Dr. Johnson is indicated by his having been clothed with the editorial responsibility of the leading organ of his church and race at the session of the General Conference in May, 1892. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred on him by Paul Quinn College, while that of Doctor of Divinity was granted by Wilberforce University. Dr. Johnson has already exerted an abiding influence upon his race.

REV. J. W. SMITH.

Rev. J. W. Smith was elected at the last General Conference of the A. M. E. Zion Church, which met in Mobile, Ala., in May, 1896, as the Editor of the Star of Zion, which is the official organ of the church. As a writer Mr. Smith is an able one, and I am sure that the general feeling is that a wiser choice could not have been made. The paper is published at Charlotte, N. C., where the Zion Church owns a splendid property known as their publishing department. I have known Rev. Smith for years, and I am glad for the good of the connection that he has been chosen as their editor.

He succeeds Rev. Geo. W. Clinton, D. D., who was elected to the Bishopric at the last General Conference.

WM. H. STEWART.

Wm. H. Stewart is a native of Louisville, Ky. He has always taken an active part in all public affairs, and is an active member of the Baptist Church. He is the superintendent of the Sunday-school of the 5th[Pg 358] Street Baptist Church and leader of its choir, which is one of the best in the country. Mr. Stewart is chairman of Board of Trustees of State University, located in Louisville, Ky., and is secretary of the National Baptist Convention; he has held this position for many years.

WM. H. STEWART.

Mr. Stewart also has charge of the Sunday-school work of the State, for the American Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia. He is manager and publisher of the American Baptist, which is the[Pg 359] oldest and most extensively circulated newspaper in the denomination. Mr. Stewart holds other useful places, where he is helpful to the race. He owns a beautiful home, and has some very refined and cultured children. His daughters, at least two of them, have taken a course in art, and they paint beautifully; most of the fine paintings in his home were painted by them.

L. J. COPPIN.

Rev. L. J. Coppin, D. D., who for eight years was editor of the A. M. E. Church Review, is a[Pg 360] bright literary light. He is the author of quite a number of interesting books. The following are the titles of some of them: "The Sunday School: Its Work and How to Do it;" "In Memoriam: Katie S. Campbell Beckett;" "The Relation of Baptized Children to the Church," and a "Key to Scriptural Interpretation."

REV. L. J. COPPIN, D. D.

Rev. Coppin is a graduate of the P. E. Divinity School of Philadelphia, Pa. He was elected editor of the A. M. E. Church Review in May, 1888, and re-elected in 1892. The work has been admirably done under his editorship. He now gives way to his successor, Prof. H. T. Kealing, B. S., A. M., who was elected at the last General Conference.

WILLIAM H. ANDERSON.

Mr. Anderson is one of the bright literary lights among the young men of the race. His work, with that of Mr. Stowers, a novel, entitled "Appointed," is a very creditable showing of his ability as a writer. His first work as a writer was done when he was employed as the mailing clerk of the Detroit Free Press. After his graduation from the city high school he entered the employ of Newcomb, Endicott & Co., to carry parcels. He has been working for this company ever since. He now has charge of the books and credits for the carpet department of Newcomb, Endicott & Co. No goods come into his department unless checked by him and none go out without his signature.

W. H. ANDERSON.

Mr. Anderson's editorials, written for the Plaindealer on social and economic questions, were read[Pg 361] with great interest. He was also a part owner of the Plaindealer, which was a magnificent paper.

J. E. BRUCE.

John Edward Bruce (Bruce Grit) was born a slave in the State of Maryland. He attended school in the District of Columbia, at the close of the war, for a period of three months, when he became a student in the University of Adversity, where he acquired distinction as a racy and trenchant writer. He has been[Pg 362] a regular contributor to newspapers and special correspondent since 1874.

J. E. BRUCE.

He is the author of a well-written pamphlet, entitled "The Blot on the Escutcheon," which treats of the lynching evil in the South. Has written numerous short stories for race papers, more or less meritorious, and which show him to have the journalistic instinct. He has a larger acquaintance with public men than any other Negro newspaper correspondent[Pg 363] in America, and has been the recipient of hundreds of autograph letters from eminent men concerning public questions affecting the Negro. Among them are such distinguished men as Wm. E. Gladstone, Roscoe Conkling, Levi P. Morton, John A. Logan, Geo. F. Hoar, J. S. Clarkson, A. W. Tourgee and many others. Mr. Bruce has possibly as fine a collection of scrap-books as one would wish to see. Among them (there are three of them) is one which contains over a thousand columns of matter from his own pen, the result of his labors since 1874. Another contains important correspondence valued for the autographs of the distinguished writers; in this scrap-book is contained a letter from Mr. Gladstone, with his autograph, the autographs of Grover Cleveland, Chester A. Arthur, Cardinal Gibbons, Baron H. Von Lindern, of Amsterdam, Holland, James Russell Lowell, John Hay, W. W. Astor, Frederick Douglass, James Freeman Clark, R. G. Ingersoll, William McKinley, J. N. Bonaparte, Geo. F. Edmunds, Geo. William Curtis, William Mahone, William E. Dodge, Bishop Phillips Brooks, James Theodore Holly, Bishop of Hayti, Hon. John W. Foster, Rev. Alexander Crummell, Hon. Edward Wilmot Blyden and other distinguished personages. Mr. Bruce is a voluminous and witty writer, and represents over a dozen of the best Negro newspapers now published.

JOURNALISM IN PHILADELPHIA.

In noting the journalistic efforts of the colored[Pg 364] people, Philadelphia can proudly boast of having eight live newspapers and two magazines that reflect real credit on the colored race. The first to be considered is the Weekly Tribune, one of the very few colored papers in the United States that is actually making money. It was founded in 1884 by Mr. Christopher J. Perry, and has steadily advanced as the years rolled on, until now it is established on a solid financial basis. It is bright, crisp, newsy, and the most popular newspaper among the colored people in the city.

The Standard-Echo began publication in 1883, with Mr. Abel P. Caldwell as managing editor. The Echo has enjoyed all the experiences of the average Negro journal.

The Sunday Journal, a new feature in Negro journalism, was founded by the late Robert G. Still, in 1895. After his death Messrs. Hart & Gee assumed the management of it, and through their combined efforts it is rapidly nearing the goal of success.

For workmanship, bright and crisp news, the Sunday Herald has no superior. It was established by T. Wallace Swann, January, 1896. The paper has struck the public's vein, and bids fair to outstrip some of the older journals.

The Christian Banner is a Baptist paper, and is largely circulated throughout the United States. Rev. G. L. P. Taliaferro is the editor.

REV. C. H. PHILLIPS, D. D.

Rev. C. H. Phillips is the editor of the Christian[Pg 365] Index, which is the official organ of the C. M. E. Church. Their publishing house is located at Jackson, Tenn., where they own their building and a splendid printing plant. Dr. Phillips was born at Milledgeville, Ga., in 1858. He is a graduate from Central Tennessee College, and has been prominent since then both as teacher and pastor. Rev. Phillips has made the Index one of the leading church papers published in the country, and the church may well be proud of him.

ADAMS BROTHERS.

Remarkable types in Negro journalism are Cyrus Field Adams and John Quincy Adams, of the Chicago Appeal. The Appeal is regarded as one of the best weekly newspapers published.

HON. H. C. SMITH.

A musician, a composer, and an editor, a composite body, is Hon. Harry C. Smith, editor and publisher of the Cleveland Gazette. He is a born artist, a deep thinker, liberal and fair-minded. A valuable acquisition to Negro journalism.

HON. JOHN C. DANCY.

HON. J. C. DANCY.

Hon. John C. Dancy, editor of the A. M. E. Zion Quarterly, published at Wilmington, N. C., in the interest of the A. M. E. Zion Church, has held many responsible positions in the State and Nation. His ability as an editor, and as an orator, has already been acknowledged by the most reliable newspapers[Pg 366] in this country. Mr. Dancy is well known throughout the United States and Europe. His career has been remarkable, and his attitude in defence of human rights is stern and unsympathetic.

WILLIAM HOWARD DAY.

Rev. William Howard Day, financial secretary of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, is one of the brightest men in the United States. He has [Pg 367]had, in addition to a fine collegiate training, the advantage of much travel and experience. Mr. Day has the honor of being the only colored man I know of who holds just such a position as he now occupies. In 1891, he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Harrisburg and Steelton, Pa.; he has held the position up to this time (1896) with credit to himself, and has so conducted the school work that the general verdict is in his favor. Men holding[Pg 368] this position are only elected for one year at a time; so this makes his position all the more interesting, from the fact that he has been re-elected each year since 1891.

REV. WM. HOWARD DAY, D. D.

I wish to call the attention of my readers to a very important feature of his work, which I feel is a great advantage to the colored people. He has been able to unite the schools, not only in allowing white and colored scholars to attend in the same building, but he has succeeded in getting white and colored teachers as well. Mr. Day has been a regular contributor to the daily press of Harrisburg, and weekly and monthly periodicals throughout this country.

REV. I. B. SCOTT, A. M., D. D.

Rev. I. B. Scott, A. M., D. D., who was president of Wiley University at Marshall, Texas, was at the last General Conference of the M. E. Church, held in Cleveland, Ohio, in May, 1896, elected as editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate, which is published in the interest of the Colored members of the M. E. Church.

THE GEORGIA BAPTIST.

Published by the Georgia Baptist Printing Co., Augusta, Ga., began publication in October, 1880. Has come out regularly every week. Rev. W. J. White has been editor from beginning, and also business manager. The plant is worth about $3,000, has one large cylinder and two first-class job presses, employs the year round twelve to eighteen hands, all colored, and prints minutes for about sixty religious bodies, conventions and associations.

[Pg 369]

GEO. L. KNOX.

Mr. George L. Knox, the publisher of the Freeman, at Indianapolis, Ind., has given the colored people one of the best illustrated weekly papers ever issued in this country. Mr. Knox is a hard worker, and the Freeman is doing a most creditable work.

WALTER H. STOWERS.

W. H. STOWERS.

Mr. Walter H. Stowers is a city clerk in Detroit,[Pg 370] Mich. He is one of the bright minds among young colored men. He is Deputy County Clerk for Wayne County, Mich., his special duty being clerk of one of the Circuit Court rooms. He has also been admitted to the bar, and is a member of the law firm of Barnes & Stowers. He was at one time one of the editors of the Plaindealer. Mr. Stowers and Mr. Wm. Anderson wrote "Appointed," an American novel, which has attracted considerable attention.

MR. CHARLES STEWART.

Mr. Stewart has for years done work on white daily papers as a regular reporter. At the last General Conference of the A. M. E. Church, which met in Wilmington, N. C., Mr. Stewart took all of the conference reports, and the Wilmington Messenger has this to say of him:

"The Messenger gave full and readable reports of the proceedings of the conference, and we take this opportunity to commend Mr. Charles Stewart for the excellent and satisfactory manner in which he made the reports for us. It was a laborious piece of work, and all who read the reports can testify that the work was efficiently and cleverly done.

Mr. Stewart is a native of Kentucky, and began newspaper work on the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1880. Subsequently he was engaged by the Chicago Inter-Ocean and worked as a reporter on that paper from 1885 to 1892, since which time he has been on the editorial staff of the Chicago Dispatch. He is said to be the only Negro holding such a position in journalism.

[Pg 371]

THE WOMAN'S ERA.

MRS. J. ST. P. RUFFIN,
Editor of The Woman's Era.

The Woman's Era, published at Boston, Mass., is strictly a woman's journal. It is issued monthly, and Mrs. Josephine St. P. Ruffin is its editor. The Era is the organ of the Federation of Afro-American Women. It is beautifully illustrated, and the literary matter is of the very best quality.

The Woman's Era is a much-needed publication, and to my mind is filling a long-felt want. I am[Pg 372] personally acquainted with Mrs. Ruffin and I am sure she is well suited for the work she has in hand as the editor of the Woman's Era. We need more such bright intellectual lights as Mrs. Ruffin to penetrate the dark clouds of prejudice that hang over this country North and South.

I. GARLAND PENN.

This young man has written and published several books. His first book, "The Afro-American Press," gave short sketches of the colored editors and writers. The book had large sale all over the country. Mr. Penn is at the head of the Colored schools of Lynchburg, Va., his native town. He was appointed chief commissioner of the Cotton States and International Exposition, at Atlanta, Ga., for the Colored people's department. He is a very young man to have accomplished so much and we feel sure that he has before him a bright and useful future.

PROF. E. JOHNSON.

Prof. E. Johnson, of Raleigh, N. C., now a teacher in the law department of Shaw University, has written the only school history now in use in Colored schools, which makes any reference to what Colored people have done. I feel that Mr. Johnson did a grand work to get his book into the public schools of North Carolina, and I only wish such books could be in use in all Colored schools, for all over this country, Colored children are being taught out of books which make no reference whatever to what progress has been made by the race. It is very hard to stimulate race pride without race information.

[Pg 373]

PROF. H. T. KEALING, B. S., A. M.

PROF. H. T. KEALING, B. S., A. M.

The present editor of the A. M. E. Church Review, who takes Dr. Coppin's place, is indeed a unique character and has filled some important positions as an educator and writer. He was elected Assistant Principal of Prairie View State Normal School of Texas in 1883. While here he attracted much attention throughout the country by an impromptu speech before the National Educational Association in To[Pg 374]peka, Kan., which the New England Journal of Education pronounced the brightest and wittiest piece of oratory in the whole session. He contributed in 1886 to The Century Magazine, of New York, for which he was well paid. He at one time was supervisor of the Colored schools in Austin, Tex. The position was created by the board for him. I know of no other such case. For four years he was President of Paul Quinn College at Waco, Tex. While there he added several new features to its curriculum. During his vacations he spent his time in the South and Northwest as a lecturer, and is now known as one of the best platform speakers in the country regardless of color. His lecture, "The American Jonah," is unique, witty, forcible, and a popular favorite. As an editor he has had some experience before and has been a regular contributor to Inter-Ocean, N. E. Journal of Education, Texas School Journal, Galveston News and many other leading papers of the country. I am sure the A. M. E. Review has fallen into good hands. Mr. Kealing was elected to his present position in May, 1896, at Wilmington, N. C.

PAUL L. DUNBAR

whose book of poems brought forth high praise from the Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Reilly. His book also attracted the attention of William Dean Howell who wrote a splendid review of it in Harper's Magazine, in which he said, "Mr. Dunbar's poems have given me a much higher estimate of the Negro."

[Pg 375]

## CHAPTER XXIV.

CHURCHES.

I shall not attempt to give a history of the various denominations with which the colored people are identified. I simply desire to set forth a few facts which indicate that they have, by vigorous efforts, made the same wonderful progress along church lines that they have along educational, industrial and professional lines.

The colored people are represented in nearly every denomination known in the United States.

The Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Methodists Episcopal, African Methodists Episcopal, African Methodists Episcopal Zion, Colored Methodists Episcopal, Congregational Methodists Episcopal, the Presbyterians, and other denominations are very well supported by the colored people, and the church work has been a great help to the race since 1865.

I cannot give the amount of space to this phase of the so-called Negro problem that it deserves; but in order that my readers may get some idea of the development of the race along religious lines, I offer here a brief sketch of the Bethel A. M. E. Church, of Philadelphia, Pa., for this is a fair representation of church work among the colored people throughout the United States. And what is said of Bethel will[Pg 376] apply to all other denominations in proportion to their membership.

BETHEL A. M. E. CHURCH.

In November, 1787, the colored people belonging to the Methodist Society of Philadelphia (St. George's) convened together, in order to take into consideration the evils under which they labored, growing out of the unkind treatment of their white brethren, who considered them a nuisance in the house of worship, and even pulled them off their knees while in the act of prayer and ordered them to the back seats.

THE BEGINNING OF AFRICAN METHODISM.

For these and various other acts of unchristian conduct, they considered it their duty to devise plans to build a house of their own, that they might wor[Pg 377]ship God under their own vine and fig-tree unmolested.

The causes which produced Bethel were race prejudice on the one hand and an innate desire of the heart for religious liberty and determination on the other to be content with nothing less than an opportunity for the exercise of the fullest Christian manhood in the house of God.

Hence the organization in 1787 (November) of Bethel Society, the oldest colored church organization in America. In 1793, Richard Allen, a preacher and leading spirit among his brethren, proposed the erection of a house of worship on his own ground, at his own expense, which being acceded to by his brethren, the first church edifice was erected on the present site of Bethel, Sixth street below Pine, Philadelphia, Pa., which house of worship was duly consecrated and opened for divine service by Francis Asbury, the then Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at the invitation of Richard Allen. And the house was named Bethel notwithstanding the severest persecutions at the hands of their white brethren for a number of years. Bethel continued to grow in usefulness and influence, both locally and generally. So that in the year 1816 the spirit of Allen and his coadjutors had become so powerful that the hour was ripe for the organization of a connection to carry on the work everywhere so well begun by Bethel in Philadelphia.

Rev. Richard Allen now became to the connection what he had been for twenty-five years to Bethel—[Pg 378]the acknowledged and honored leader, as the first Bishop of the connection, Bethel remaining the pivotal centre, around which the spirit of religious liberty and Christian manhood revolved; ever extending its influence until, like in the family, all over the connection it came to be known and called by the endearing name of "Mother Bethel."

RICHARD ALLEN.

This first Bethel served to meet the demands of the growing congregation up to 1841, when it was found expedient to rebuild, and June 2, 1841, the corner-stone of the Second Bethel Church was formally laid with appropriate ceremonies by Rt. Rev. Morris Brown, the acting Bishop, Bishop Allen[Pg 379] having died in 1831. This church was completed in the following year at a cost of $14,000, the first church having been valued at about $10,000.

BETHEL A. M. E. CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Projected and Built under the Pastorate of Rev. C. T.
Shaffer, M. D., D. D.

A most remarkable feature of this church has been, that notwithstanding the fact that Union, Little Wesley (now Murray Chapel), Zion Chapel, and finally Allen Chapel, were all colonies from this church, all of which are now flourishing organizations,[Pg 380] Bethel has maintained such a hold on the community as to carry a congregation commensurate with the capacity of the building, through the century of her history, and for more than half a century sustained a membership ranging from 1,500 to 1,600 strong.

For some years the congregation, and especially the more advanced thinkers, had felt the necessity of a new church, the old one being both unsightly and unsafe, though no practical efforts had been put forth in that direction until 1889.

The Rev. C. T. Shaffer, M. D., was appointed to the pastorate of Bethel, May, 1888. He at once set about unifying and organizing, for the purpose of rebuilding. He soon had plans laid, the church inspired with larger hope, so that the people had a mind to work. And, during his first year, had struck a blow for the new Bethel by conducting a rally, the money being banked for the building.

REV. C. T. SHAFFER, M. D., D. D.

On his return from Conference, and entering his second year, on the first Sunday of June, he held another rally, the last service in the old Bethel. The next Sabbath worship was held in Horticultural Hall, on Broad street, adjoining the Academy of Music. The old Bethel was torn down, and, on August 8, 1889, at 9:15 A. M., ground was broken for the new building, excavations made, and on November 7, 1889, the corner-stone of the new Bethel was laid, with imposing ceremonies, by the Rt. Rev. H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., assisted by the pastor, C. T. Shaffer, D. D., and associate pastors of the city and vicinity, from which time there was hardly a day lost by the [Pg 381]workmen until the church was completed, which was done and formally dedicated to the worship of Almighty God, October 23, 1890, and a congregation[Pg 382] equal to the capacity of the new Bethel returned to continue the worship of God on this sacred spot which they have held in undisputed possession for one hundred and three years as a church site, and the first piece of ground ever bought, and now held for church purposes, by colored people in the United States, and on which three churches have been erected by the congregation: the first in 1793; the second in 1841-2; and the third in 1889-90. This building is heated throughout with steam, and is one of the most completely modern in all its appointments, solid and massive in construction, of this great city of churches, and has not a superior in the whole connection of which it is the mother.

The cost of this building was about $50,000 and it is valued to-day at $85,000.

The Revs. W. H. Heard, D. D., Consul General to Liberia, and W. D. Cook, D. D., have served with marked success as pastors since the erection of the New Bethel, and the Rev. Theo. Gould, who served this church very successfully twenty years ago, is its present pastor.

The connection of which this church is the mother has fourteen Bishops, eleven general secretaries of departments, 4,365 itinerants, and 15,885 local preachers, full membership, 543,604, probationers, 35,287; total membership, 599,141. Church edifices, 4,575, valuation, $8,650,155; parsonages, 1,650, value, $75,950; schools, colleges and universities, 41, value of buildings and grounds, $756,475; grand total valuation of property, $9,482,580.

[Pg 383]

What hath God not wrought!

Is not this the fulfilment of that prophecy, "And Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand unto God?"

Verily it would seem so.

Dr. C. T. Shaffer, the builder of Bethel Church, has a very interesting history. I am only sorry that space will not admit of a full account of his life. He is a splendid type of manhood that shows what can be done by push and energy. Dr. Shaffer is a native of Ohio; in his younger days he learned and worked at the plastering trade and in that way earned money enough to educate himself and a younger sister. He graduated at Berea College. He also had the honor of serving his country as a soldier in our late war. As a pastor, he has held the largest and best appointments in the connection. While he was pastor of different churches in Philadelphia, he took advantage of the opportunity and read medicine, graduating with honor in a class of 208 in 1888 from the Jefferson Medical College, Phila. He has never engaged in the practice of his profession, although it would pay him far better than church work, but he feels called upon to serve his church. At the present time he is general corresponding secretary and treasurer of the church extension department. This department of church work he created and has been twice elected to fill his present position.

Before closing this chapter I wish to mention the names of the general officers of the A. M. E. Church, in order that my readers who may not be familiar with the great work of the "African Metho[Pg 384]dist Episcopal Church" may form some idea what a work is being done, also a better knowledge of the men who stand at the head of the connection. I only wish I had the space to give a short history of each of the men whose names will be mentioned. To begin with, the church has fourteen Bishops, who are all able men, and we head our list with the senior Bishop, H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., who is a native of South Carolina. He was never a slave. I regard Bishop Turner as one of the most remarkable men I have ever met. He was the first colored man appointed a commissioned officer by President Lincoln, his appointment was as Chaplain of the First United States Infantry during the late war. When mustered out he was recommissioned a Chaplain in the regular service of the United States Army by President Johnson. He has been a member of the Georgia Constitutional Convention, and has served two terms as a member of the Georgia Legislature, was twice appointed to positions of honor by President Grant. He now represents the Liberian Government in the United States. He at one time was the manager of the publishing department of the A. M. E. Church, and was consecrated a Bishop in 1880. So it is very easy to see that Bishop Turner has led a busy and useful life. I have been personally acquainted with the Bishop for years, and I am only one of thousands who know him to love him. In the State of Georgia, where Bishop Turner resides, I found him very much thought of by the leading white people.

[Pg 385]

Bishop W. J. Gaines, D.D., is a native of Georgia and at one time was owned by that famous Toombs family. His first work in the church was in a very humble way, that of member. As a preacher he did a great deal for the church in Georgia. He wrote a book on African Methodism in the South that was both interesting and useful. It was through the efforts of Bishop Gaines that Morris Brown College was established at Atlanta. He was elected as Bishop in 1888.

Bishop B. W. Arnett, D.D., is a native of Pennsylvania and is entirely a self-made man. He, like Bishop Turner, has held some high positions of honor. He was at one time a member of the Ohio Legislature and while serving his district in that capacity he introduced a bill, known as the Arnett Bill, that wiped out the old and infamous black laws that were a disgrace to the State of Ohio. Just before he was elected Bishop in 1888, he served the church as financial secretary. He is the father of several very intelligent sons. Is also very active in Christian Endeavor work.

Bishop B. T. Tanner, D. D., is also a native of Pennsylvania. He began life as a barber, and has held every position from lay member up to the Bishopric. He was editor of the A. M. E. Review, and at one time editor of the Recorder, the church organ. Bishop Tanner was elected in 1888 as Bishop. Few men in this country have been harder students than Bishop Tanner; he has a magnificent library, and one can see at once that he has taken[Pg 386] advantage of his fine collection of books, and is regarded by the connection a very able man.

Bishop A. Grant, D.D., is a native of Florida and was born a slave and, what makes this man more remarkable, was born in an ox-cart, while his poor mother was being taken from one plantation to another where she had been sold. Some men are born to lead others, and it would seem that Bishop Grant was one of them. I have never met any man who had such a magnetic influence over his hearers. I had the pleasure of being present at the A. M. E. Missionary Jubilee held at Ocean Grove, July 24th, 1896, when the Bishop presided, and his address to the thousands who heard it was a gem. He was elected Bishop in 1888.

Bishop M. B. Salter, D.D., was elected to the Bishopric in 1892. He is a native of South Carolina, and he too was born a slave. His owner was a watchmaker, and he taught the trade to Mr. Salter when he was a young man; that of course made him a valuable piece of property. And when freedom came it was a great blessing to Mr. Salter to have a trade. Bishop Salter grew in the church from the walks of a member up to the Bishopric, and is much loved by men under him.

Bishop Jas. A. Handy, D.D., was elected Bishop in 1892. He is a native of Maryland, and I am told never had any schooling except what he got in night school. He is regarded as a very able man, and is a great lover of education. He at one time represented the church as its financial secretary, and when[Pg 387] in the ministry was pastor of some of the largest churches in the connection.

Bishop B. F. Lee, D.D., is a native of New Jersey. He went when a young man to Wilberforce University, Ohio, to obtain an education, but being poor, he had to work his way through. In thirteen years from the time he went there as a student he was elected President of the University. He was for quite a number of years editor of the Christian Recorder. Bishop Lee was made a Bishop in 1892 and I am sure the church never did a better thing for its interest than to elect him. He is not only a Christian, but a magnificent scholar.

Bishop J. C. Embry, D.D., who was elected as Bishop in 1896, was one of the most profound scholars in the church. For twelve years he managed the A. M. E. Book Concern in Philadelphia, Pa. He only lived about two years after his election.

Bishop J. H. Armstrong, D.D., was elected as Bishop in 1896. For four years he had filled the office of financial secretary with great credit to himself. He lived about three years after his election.

Bishop W. B. Derrick, D.D., was elected Bishop in 1896 by a very large vote. For eight years he had been secretary of Missions. Dr. Derrick was known far and wide as a powerful orator, and has been associated in great meetings with some of our greatest white leaders. I give here a beautiful tribute he paid to the American flag, on one occasion.

"The American flag has been washed, and cleansed from the foul stain of Negro slavery until[Pg 388] it is to-day among the most beautiful of national emblems. The stars represent the stars of heaven; the blue the sky; the white a higher Christian civilization; the red the blood of the various nationalities who fought to make the principles of the Republic more lofty and enduring. It is our purpose to continue agitating until beneath its silken folds shall stand as equals before the law the inventive German, the wily and industrious Irishman, the trafficking and cunning Jew, the musical and wandering Italian, the polite Frenchman, the hospitable and tenacious Englishman, the granite-minded and scholarly Scotchman, the pagan Chinese, the unconquered Indian, and last, but not least, the industrious, kind-hearted and forgiving Negro."

Bishop Evans Tyree, D.D., was elected as Bishop in 1900. He was born Aug. 19, 1854, of slave parents, and was twice sold as a slave. His education was received at Central Tennessee College. Bishop Tyree never held a general office before his election as Bishop. He received a very large vote—in fact the largest ever given any one man.

Bishop M. M. Moore, D.D., was elected to the bishopric in 1900. For four years he had served the church as financial secretary. He was a native of Georgia. He was elected Bishop in May, 1900, and died in November of the same year.

Bishop Charles S. Smith, D.D., who is a native of Canada, was elected as Bishop in 1900. He was for seventeen years manager of the Sunday-School Union, a department of church work he created.[Pg 389] As a scholar he is regarded as one of the best in this connection.

Bishop C. T. Shaffer, M.D., D.D., was elected as Bishop in 1900. He had been for eight years secretary of the church extension department. Splendid mention of Bishop Shaffer will be found on page 383 of this book.

Bishop L. J. Coppin, D.D., who was for eight years editor of the A. M. E. Church Review, was elected as Bishop in 1900. Mention of his life and work can be found on page 359 of this book.

Rev. H. B. Parks, who is a very able man and was for years a prominent pastor, is now secretary of the missionary department.

Rev. R. H. W. Leak, of North Carolina, is now business manager of the A. M. E. Publishing House, 631 Pine street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Rev. P. A. Hubbard is secretary of the financial department of the church located at Washington, D.C.

Prof. John R. Hawkins, A.M., secretary of education, is mentioned on page 132 of this book.

Rev. W. D. Chappelle, D.D., of South Carolina, is secretary of the Sunday-School Union, at Nashville, Tenn.

Rev. H. T. Johnson, D.D., Ph.D., editor of the Christian Recorder, is mentioned on page 356.

Prof. H. T. Kealing, editor of the A. M. E. Church Review, is mentioned on page 373.

Rev. G. E. Taylor is editor of the Southern Christian Record, located at Atlanta, Ga.

[Pg 390]

Rev. John T. Jenifer, D.D., is Secretary of the Preachers' Aid Society, located at Baltimore, Md. I regret that, for want of space, I am not able to give a more extensive account of the general officers, who are all worthy men, and most of them have been prominent pastors, holding charge of some of the largest churches in the connection.

The next largest body of Methodists among Colored people is the A. M. E. Zion Church, which is organized on the same principle as the A. M. E. Church, with an able force of Bishops. They also have a publishing department, located at Charlotte, N.C.

Bishop J. W. Hood, D.D., stands as the leading spirit of the Zion connection. He has done a great work for the church and the race at large. He is the author of two books, in the way of a book of Sermons and a history of the Zion Church.

Bishop C. R. Harris, D.D., is a graduate and was, before his election to the Bishopric, connected with educational work at Livingstone College, also general steward of the Zion Church.

Bishop C. C. Petty, D.D., is also a graduate and before he was made Bishop was one of the leading pastors.

Bishop I. C. Clinton, of South Carolina, has been one of the most useful men in the connection as a church builder and organizer.

Bishop A. Walters, D.D., was, when elected, the youngest Bishop in the country. He is a very[Pg 391] energetic and hard worker for the cause of his Church.

Bishop T. H. Lomax, of N.C., is also known as a church builder. At their last General Conference at Mobile, Ala., in May, 1896, they elected three new Bishops in the persons of Rev. George W. Clinton, D.D., Rev. J. B. Small, D.D., and Rev. J. Holliday.

Rev. Clinton I have known for years, and I regard him by far one of the ablest men in the connection, both as a speaker and writer.

Rev. J. B. Small is one of the best scholars in the country, and should have been a Bishop long ago.

William Howard Day, who is mentioned in another part of my book, is their financial secretary, and Rev. J. W. Smith, also mentioned, is editor of the Star of Zion.

Bishop J. W. Alstork was elected as Bishop at the last General Conference, held by the A. M. E. Zion Church in 1900, at Washington, D.C. Rev. Alstork is regarded an able man.

[Pg 392]

## CHAPTER XXV.

THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AND
TRAINING SCHOOL.

The Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School was organized during the month of July, 1895, through the earnest effort of Dr. N. F. Mossell. Its purpose is to give larger opportunities for the training of colored girls as nurses, this class of learners in this profession being to a large extent excluded from the other training schools in Philadelphia. Girls of no race will be debarred from the course of training offered in this hospital. This institution is open to all without regard to race or creed.

The building is located at 1512 Lombard street. The money necessary to equip and furnish the building has been raised through the efforts of the management and four lady auxiliaries. The special need of the work at the present time is support for free beds. The hospital has been in operation four months, and its success up to the present date (April, 1896) shows both the feasibility and necessity for its establishment. The class of nurses in training are progressing in efficiency. There have been admitted a number of cases that have been successfully treated.

Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School.

The wards are light and airy, and are equipped with the most recent appliances for hospital work;[Pg 393]
[Pg 394] they are entirely aseptic, the furniture consisting of enamelled iron and glass; the walls and floors have been properly treated to preserve this condition, the operating room is a perfect gem. The out-patient department is thoroughly equipped for the various clinics. The drainage, plumbing and ventilation are of the best. One fact worthy of notice is the hearty co-operation in the work shown by both the best elements of colored and white citizens, through contributions and subscriptions, also by the patronage of all entertainments given for the benefit of the hospital. Desiring to receive patients from all parts of the country, the management feel that, as the work is not localized, the support should not be, and in many cases friends at a distance have shown their kindly interest by liberal donations. As the hospital stands, it offers a notable proof of self-reliance and self-sacrificing devotion.

Mr. Jacob C. White, the able principal of the Robert Vaux School, is President of the Board of Management; Mr. S. J. M. Brock, Vice-president; Mr. Henry M. Minton, Secretary; S. B. Henry, Esq., Treasurer; N. F. Mossell, M.D., Chief of Staff; Miss Minnie M. Clemens, Head Nurse and Matron; A. A. Mossell, Esq., Solicitor.

Medical Staff—Consulting Surgeons: John B. Deaver, M.D., Thos. S. K. Morton, M.D.; Consulting Physicians: James Tyson, M.D., Roland G. Curtin, M.D.; Consulting Gynecologists: B. F. Baer, M.D., Hannah T. Croasdale, M.D.; Attending Surgeons: J. P. Tunis, M.D., N. F. Mossell, M.D.;[Pg 395] Attending Physicians: E. C. Howard, M.D., Wm. H. Warrick, M.D., James T. Potter, M.D.; Attending Gynecologists: Caroline V. Anderson, M.D., Theo. A. Erck, M.D.; Assistants: George R. Hilton, M.D., D. W. Ogden, M.D.; ophthalmologist, H. F. Hansell, M.D.; Pathologist, A. A. Stevens, M.D.; Dermatologist, J. Abbott Cantrell, M.D.; Dental Surgeon, Wm. A. Jackson, D.D.S.; Pharmacist, Henry M. Minton, Ph.G.

The first benefit for the hospital was given February 26, 1896, at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, with the "Black Patti" as the star. The ticket-selling on this occasion broke the record for concerts given at the Academy. Amount raised, over $3,000; amount cleared, $1,600. This institution is without doubt the greatest memorial yet established in honor of that great friend of humanity, Frederick Douglass.

NATHAN F. MOSSELL, A.M., M.D.

Dr. N. F. Mossell, of Philadelphia, was born in Hamilton, Canada, in July, 1856. He entered Lincoln University in 1874, graduating in 1879 with honor, delivering the philosophical oration and receiving the Bradley medal for excellence in physical sciences. In the fall of 1879 he entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, being the first colored student to enter that department of the University. And after bearing the taunts and scoffs of his fellow-students during the first year, he won their confidence and respect and at graduation was photographed with his class. His grade[Pg 396] was sufficient at graduation to call forth the following comment from Dr. James Tyson, Secretary of the Faculty, and the same appeared in the Medical News of May 20, 1882.

N. F. MOSSELL, A.M., M.D.

"Dr. Mossell had graduated with an average higher than three-fourths of his class"—the comment being called forth during a discussion as to the necessity for separate colleges for colored students.

He was the first colored member admitted to the[Pg 397] Philadelphia County Medical Society, February, 1888. He has for a number of years secured support for from one to two students in the Medical Department of the University. The appointment of Mrs. Minnie Hogan, the first and only colored graduate of the University Hospital, was secured by Dr. Mossell. Since his graduation he has built up a lucrative practice.

He has systematized the beneficial departments of the various secret orders of which he is a member.

He is deservedly one of the most popular men among his race in the city. His watchword, enunciated in one of his addresses, while yet a stripling student in the college, was then and is yet, "He who spares his toil spares his honor."

J. C. WHITE, JR.

Mr. Jacob C. White, the president of the Board of Directors of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School, is better known to the colored people of Philadelphia as the "pioneer educator."

From the year of his graduation from the Institute for Colored Youth, in 1856, Jacob C. White, Jr., has been continuously engaged as a school teacher, his nearly forty years of service having been spent in two schools. For thirty years he has been principal of the Robert Vaux School, and in that position has won the highest esteem of all connected with public school work.

J. C. WHITE.

Mr. White comes of one of the oldest and best-known [Pg 398]colored families in Pennsylvania. His maternal great grandfather, one of the Bustil family, which intermarried with Lenni Lenape Indians, was a baker in Washington's army. His grandparents were all Philadelphians, and his father was secretary of the very first organized society of the famous "Underground Railroad," which aided slaves to escape to Canada. Robert Purvis was president of[Pg 399] the organization. As a lad young Jacob assisted in caring for the fugitives, who came here in a wretched condition, and he tells many an interesting story of those who sought escape from slavery, a score of whom would be hidden at one time in the garret of his father's house.

Mr. White has always been actively identified with movements for the betterment of the colored people. He is a member of the Teachers' Institute, Annuity and Aid Association, Educational Club and the Teachers' Beneficial Association.

DANIEL H. WILLIAMS, M.D.

Dr. Daniel H. Williams, one of the best physicians in this country, white or colored, of Chicago, Ill., now of Washington, D.C., was born January 18, 1858, at Hollidaysburg, Pa. He attended the Janesville, Wis., High School, and was graduated from Janesville Classical Academy in 1878. Commenced the study of medicine at Janesville in 1880, under Surgeon-General Henry Palmer; attended three courses of lectures at Chicago Medical College, from which he was graduated March 28, 1883, his education having been obtained through his own exertions, his parents being unable to render financial assistance. In May, 1883, he located permanently in the practice of medicine in Chicago.

DANIEL H. WILLIAMS, M. D.

Dr. Williams is a member of the American Medical Association; Illinois State Medical Society; Chicago Medical Society; Ninth International Medical Congress. He was a surgeon to South Side[Pg 400] Dispensary, Chicago, 1884-92; surgeon to Provident Hospital, 1890-93; physician to Protestant Orphan Asylum, 1884-93; member of Illinois State Board of Health, 1889; reappointed in 1891. He is also a member of the Hamilton Club, of Chicago. Was appointed surgeon in charge to the Freedmen's Hospital, Washington, D. C., February 15, 1894.

[Pg 401]THE PROVIDENT HOSPITAL.

Provident Hospital, Chicago, was instituted in January, 1891, by a few gentlemen of that city, who saw the need of an opening for colored physicians, as well as for colored women. At that time there was not a hospital in the United States that admitted colored men as resident physicians or internes. There was no place, in fact, that a colored man could get a good practical experience so necessary for the proper equipment of the young men in the practice of medicine and surgery; as well to colored women, there were no institutions where they could be admitted into the higher scientific work of nursing. There may have been one or two exceptions in which persons of very light color, who could not possibly be detected, were admitted into one or two of the Eastern institutions for the higher education of women as nurses.

Each year, Provident Hospital has graduated a class of ladies who have scattered themselves throughout the United States; and in every instance they are succeeding and doing commendable work, demonstrating at once the necessity of opening a field of usefulness to colored women who are debarred from every avenue of employment on account of color.

Provident Hospital, since its inception, has been blessed in having as its supporters sincere and honest helpers, white and colored, in Chicago. It has done, already, a good work, and is on the road to prosperity. In March, 1896, ground was broken for the erection[Pg 402] of a new building, the like of which will not be seen anywhere in the West. Fifty thousand dollars has been donated by a philanthropic gentleman, in Chicago, for the erection of the building, his only request being that his name be not mentioned. This building is to be erected in the southern part of the city, and with all the modern improvements. Another gentleman, Mr. H. H. Kohlsaat, one of the persistent and faithful friends of the colored people in this country, gave the ground on which the building is to be erected. Mr. George H. Webster, the partner of Mr. Armour, of Chicago, and a member of the Board of Trustees, is a sincere and sympathetic friend of the colored people in their efforts to upbuild and maintain Provident Hospital. The gentlemen composing the Board of Trustees, a mixed board of Chicago's prominent citizens, are untiring in their endeavors to promote the interests of the institution.

THE FREEDMEN'S HOSPITAL.

Within the past eighteen months, Freedmen's Hospital, Washington, D.C., has been entirely reorganized. In the fall of 1894 the reorganization began by instituting a training school for nurses. A competent superintendent was had, and reorganization, reform and improvement went hand in hand until the present time. Now, there is a training school of forty nurses, all colored, selected from hundreds of applicants and from every State in the Union. The work of the training school is commended by everyone who takes the trouble to study it. Marked[Pg 403] change in every department of the institution was manifested by the advent of these intelligent women, who brought new life and a new future to the hospital. Instead of remaining a political institution, it was converted, at once, into a scientific institution for the education and upbuilding of the more progressive members who have selected this as their life-work. You cannot overestimate the good that will come from the education of the young men and women in this institution.

In connection with other features, a corps of internes has been added. These are young graduates of medical colleges who are giving a service of twelve months of practical work in the several departments of the hospital. At the expiration of this service, they receive certificates which commend them at once to the people in the communities in which they are to reside.

In keeping with other lines of progress, an ambulance, with all the modern improvements, has been added to the service within the last year. This ambulance is complete in all its appointments, with the quickest emergency service to any part of the city. This feature of hospital work is one that has been neglected by colored people in this country, and one which they are particularly adapted to succeed in.

It is a marvel to the observer of human affairs that this institution has existed, for over twenty years, receiving an annual appropriation of over fifty thousand dollars, without an ambulance in its service,[Pg 404] in a city like Washington, where a great many of the people are poor and depend upon charity in cases of sickness and distress. This ambulance makes as many as sixty or seventy-five emergency calls per month, furnishing a rich field of surgical study to the internes and nurses in the institution.

I have given in this sketch but a brief outline of the noble work of Dr. Williams. I can testify to his ability as a physician, and I take great pleasure in so doing. He is one of the cultured and polished gentlemen who reflect credit on the race.

HOME FOR AGED AND INFIRM COLORED PERSONS.

The Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, in West Philadelphia, Pa., is one of the best institutions of the character in the United States. The society, under whose auspices the home was founded, was organized September 28, 1864, in a private dwelling on South Front street.

The first Board of Managers and principal promoters of this most noble charity was composed of Friends and colored persons, whose circumstances gave them the confidence of and influence in the community, and was elected in the month of November, 1864, whose names are as follows: Officers; Dellwyn Parrish, President; Stephen Smith, Vice-President; Marcellus Balderson, Secretary; Samuel R. Shipley, Treasurer; William J. Alston, William Still, William H. Bacon, Abram Fields, Joshua Brown, Maurice Hall, Israel H. Johnson, Joseph M. Truman, Jr., Henry Gorden, Clayton Miller, Jacob C.[Pg 405]
[Pg 406] White, Sr., and John S. Hills. Female members: Sarah M. Douglas, Helen Johnson, Rachel T. Jackson, Anna M. Laws, Catharine M. Shipley, Priscilla H. Heniszey, Sarah Parrish, Mary Jeanes, Eliza Harris, Alice Hudson, Grace Mapes and Mary Shaw.

Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, Philadelphia, Pa.

The original constitution was adopted on the 25th day of the tenth month (October), 1864, the preamble of which most clearly reveals the noble impulses and sentiments which burned upon the altar of these noble hearts, and actuated this noble band of true disciples of the blessed Christ to such splendid deeds.

The preamble reads as follows: "For the relief of that worthy class of colored persons who have endeavored through life to maintain themselves, but who from various causes are finally dependent on the charity of others, an association is hereby organized under the name of 'The Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons.'"

The number of persons admitted to the home within the first thirteen months, or up to the twelfth month, 1865, was (21) twenty-one, and all women, representing the States of New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, West Indies and far-away Africa; their ages ranging from (70) seventy to (102) one hundred and two years, which clearly indicates how nobly they had struggled on in the race of life against all odds.

The receipts for the establishment and mainten[Pg 407]ance of the home during the first fiscal year were $6,033.80.

REV. STEPHEN SMITH.

The work of the home was conducted in the house at 340 South Front street until 1871, when, through the munificence of Rev. Stephen Smith and his wife, colored persons of considerable means, one acre of ground on the corner of Girard avenue and Belmont avenue was given the Board, together with a magnificent four-story brick building, valued at $40,000. The inmates of the home on Front street moved to West Philadelphia. This building was opened June 29, 1871, since which time it has stood there as an ornament to the city and an enduring and fitting monument to the memory of its noble donors, and[Pg 408] with ever-widening influence, power and helpfulness, standing for and fulfilling all that is involved in the term "Home" for that worthy and deserving class of Aged and Infirm Colored Men and Women.

Mr. Edward T. Parker, of Philadelphia, who died October 3d, 1887, gave $85,000 to the institution for the purpose of erecting the annex to the old building. Additions have been made to the home in recent years at a cost of $85,000, thus making the entire plant cost upward of $150,000, with capacity for the maintenance of a family of near 200 persons, and giving us a home at once the most complete, extensive and far-reaching in its benefits of any institution of its kind in the city, and for the class whom it is designed to bless, possibly in the world. The total number cared for by the home has been: men, 116; women, 427; total, 543, while the present number in the home is 138; or the whole family, help and all, 160; the maintenance of which requires an expenditure monthly of from $1,500 to $1,600, or near $20,000 per annum. With the enlarged facilities come greatly increased demands and largely increased outlays.

The chief need now, therefore, is more means, that the Home may always be able to extend the hand of help to worthy applicants, and comfortably maintain this large and most interesting family of worthy aged and infirm colored persons, up to the full capacity of the building to accommodate.

This noble charity has been supported largely by members of the Society of Friends, they constituting[Pg 409] the principal portion of the Board of Managers. Yet the colored people themselves have contributed to this institution between $175,000 and $200,000 since its establishment.

EDWARD T. PARKER.

[Pg 410]

The present Board of Management consists of sixteen men and fifteen women, with a co-operative committee of nineteen women, all of whom are most earnest and self-sacrificing in behalf of the Home and the family of old people.

Officers of the corporation are: Wm. Still, 244 South Twelfth street, President; Joseph M. Truman, 1500 Race st., Vice Pres.; Walter Penn Shipley, 404 Girard Building, Treas.; Thos. H. McCollin, 1030 Arch st., Secty.; C. T. Shaffer, M.D., 1821 Camac st., Chairman of Board of Managers.

Communications addressed to any one of the above-named gentlemen will receive prompt, courteous, and careful attention.

[Pg 411]

## CHAPTER XXVI.

PROMINENT COLORED WOMEN.

As a splendid type of noble womanhood I know of no better subject than Dr. Hallie Tanner Johnson.

DR. HALLIE TANNER JOHNSON.

She is a daughter of Bishop B. T. Tanner, of the A. M. E. Church, who is justly proud of her.

[Pg 412]

Not only as teachers have colored women labored for the race, but they can be found in most of the professions also. The subject in question saw and felt the need of lady physicians, and, acting upon her feelings in the matter, she read medicine at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia, and graduated with high honor. There being an opening at Tuskegee Institute for a resident physician, Dr. Johnson went to fill the place. But before she could practise medicine in the State of Alabama, she had to stand an examination before a State Board of Examiners. She has the distinction of being the first lady, white or colored, to receive a certificate to practise medicine in the State of Alabama. It is with the greatest regret that I call my readers' attention to the fact that since the first edition of my book came out Dr. Johnson has passed away. She died at her home in Nashville, Tenn.

There are other interesting characters among colored ladies who have read and are now engaged in the practice of medicine, one of whom is Dr. Caroline V. Anderson, of Philadelphia. Her experience has been very interesting and useful, for her practice has been about evenly divided between white and colored people, and among the whites she has been called into some of the very best families. I regard Mrs. Anderson as one of the most intellectual women I have ever met. She is a daughter of Mr. William Still, who wrote that most interesting book, "The Underground Railroad."

Among the earliest to graduate as lady physicians[Pg 413] from the Women's Medical College, of New York, is Dr. Susan McKinney.

Dr. Alice Woodby McKane has lately organized a nurses' training school, at Savannah, Ga. Dr. Georgia L. Patton, who is a graduate of Meharry Medical College, now enjoys a good practice at Memphis, Tenn.

Miss L. C. Fleming, who worked for five years in the Congo, has just finished her medical course at the Women's Medical College of Philadelphia, and, I am told, returned to Africa.

Dr. S. B. Jones, who is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and has done good work as the Resident Physician at Spelman Seminary, Atlanta, Ga., and since had a splendid practice at St. Louis, Mo., is successful.

Colored women have also gone into the practice of dentistry.

In the profession of law we have three colored ladies who have graduated. Mrs. Mary Shadd Cary, of Washington, D.C.; Miss Florence Ray, of New York; and Miss Ida Platt, of Chicago. The first named is well known as a brilliant speaker. Miss Ida B. Platt is the only representative of the race now practising at the bar.

I have found quite a number of colored women engaged in various branches of business. At St. Johns, New Brunswick, Mrs. Georgia Whetzell controls the entire ice business of that city, giving employment to 75 men each winter, packing ice.

At Milford, Del., I found Miss Serrenna Palmer,[Pg 414] who began business in 1889 with a cash capital of $7, which she invested in notions. She has had wonderful success, and in addition to a good-sized stock of goods she has paid for two houses.

MRS. VICTORIA EARLE MATTHEWS.

Among the highly cultured and brilliant women of America I present here a portrait of Mrs. Victoria Earle Matthews, who has done grand service for the race as President of the Women's Loyal Union, of New York and Brooklyn. Mrs. Matthews began life in Georgia as a slave, but came North when quite young, and made the very best of her educational advantages.

[Pg 415]

Mrs. Matthews is now doing a splendid work in what is known as the White Rose Mission, which was the outcome of a desire on the part of a few Christian women to create sympathy and practical interest in the isolated condition of the Afro-American woman and girl in New York City. At the urgent solicitation of Rev. H. G. Miller, of Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church, the neighborhood surrounding East 97th Street was decided upon as a basis of work. Mr. Winthrop E. Phelps offered free use of rooms for a year. A small company of Afro-American women volunteered regular service and contributions of furniture. For more than eighteen months it has successfully conducted Neighborhood Visiting, Mothers' and Young People's Meetings, also classes in Sewing, Dressmaking, Cooking, and Kindergarten.

While I am making mention of a few writers, I will call your attention to Mrs. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who has been a writer of ability for many years. She is also a well-known temperance worker, and at one time had charge of the colored work for the W. C. T. U. among colored women. The literary effort of her life is the beautiful story, entitled, "Iola Leroy; or, The Shadows Uplifted."

This book is indeed a gem and should be read by every one. I am confident if such books written by Colored writers could be read by the leading White people of our country, much good might be done in breaking down the awful prejudice which now exists. Her book received many very fine press comments from the leading White papers of this country; for want of space I can only give one:

[Pg 416]

"The story of 'Iola Leroy' is well worth reading. The plot is natural and the characters are to be found in everyday life. The dialogue is exceedingly clever, full of pathos, humor, and authentic. The plot covers periods before, during, and after the war, and gives abundant opportunity for changing scenes and dramatic effects. Mrs. Harper has never written to better effect nor with a more worthy object in view. The book will greatly increase her popularity as a writer and prove vastly beneficial to the cause of her brethren."—Public Ledger, Philadelphia.

MRS. FRANCES E. W. HARPER.

The Chicago Inter-Ocean, New York Independent,[Pg 417] Daily Evening Telegraph, Philadelphia, and Boston Herald all spoke in the highest praise of "Iola Leroy."

Oberlin College, in Oberlin, Ohio, has turned out quite a number of colored graduates who have done good work for humanity. Among them is Mrs. A. J. Cooper, who is connected with the High School at Washington, D.C. I wish to speak more especially of her book, "A Voice From the South," by a black woman of the South. It is just what Mrs. Mossell says—"One of the finest contributions yet made toward the solution of the Negro problem." One gets in reading her book a sense of her strong intellectual and spiritual power. As an educated woman we have none better, white or colored. I have had, for some time, a picture of Mrs. Cooper in my illustrated lecture on "Race Progress," and while I was in England her face created quite an interest among the cultured people who attended the lectures.

Mrs. N. F. Mossell is a native of Philadelphia, Penna. She is an ex-pupil of the Robert Vaux Grammar School. Since her sixteenth year she has been a constant contributor to the Christian Recorder, Standard Echo, and other journals at a later date. As editor of the Women's Departments of the New York Age and the Indianapolis World, Mrs. Mossell became widely known. Becoming the wife of Dr. N. F. Mossell, during the year 1880, she assisted him for two years in the publication of the Alumni Magazine. For seven years she worked on[Pg 418] three of the most influential dailies in Philadelphia, The Press, Times, and Inquirer.

MRS. N. F. MOSSELL AND HER DAUGHTERS.

Some of her best literary efforts have appeared in A. M. E. Review, A. M. E. Zion Review, Our Women and Children, and Ringswood's Magazine. In the past year Mrs. Mossell has been the editor of the "Open Court," an ably-edited department of the Woman's Era.

"The Work of The Afro-American Woman," her first attempt at authorship, was given an exceptionally kindly reception. An edition of 1,000 copies was soon exhausted. Many of the finest comments ever received by any race author fell to the happy[Pg 419] lot of this lady. Such journals as the New York Independent, Chicago Inter-Ocean and Springfield Republican spoke in high terms of her publication.

A talented young woman, and a noteworthy representative of the educated, cultured and refined class of colored women in the United States to-day, is Miss Alice Ruth Moore, of New Orleans, La.

MISS ALICE RUTH MOORE.

As a gifted author, Miss Moore is entitled to unusual consideration, while her versatility in other directions proves that she is a worthy type of progressive womanhood.

[Pg 420]

She was a quick, apt scholar during her school days, and developed such talent for composition that she was encouraged to devote special attention to English literature and the classics, and to what end her efforts in this direction were expended is plainly noticeable in the excellence of her style of writing. The warmth and vigor of imagination which characterizes all of her writings, inspires and helps one to appreciate the true joys of an ever-varying and fluctuating life.

The colored race has produced some very sweet singers. I shall name a few of them in this chapter. Many of my readers will remember the "Original Fisk Jubilee Singers," who created such wide interest in all sections of this country and in Europe. Among the ladies were Miss Maggie Porter-Cole, who is still singing, and Miss Jennie De Hart Jackson, who has retired. Among those of more recent date I would mention Madame Selika, who has appeared in all of the principal cities of the world; Madame Sisseretta Jones, who has just returned from an extensive trip through Europe; Miss Bessie Lee, of Philadelphia, who has a very sweet voice, and Miss Jennie Robinson Stewart, who comes of a musical family. While I was attending the World's Fair in Chicago, I met, for the first time, Gertrude Hawkins. I have heard many singers, but a sweeter voice I have never heard.

I have left until the last Madam Flora Batson Bergen, because I want to present a picture of her, and make special mention of her work as a singer. Some singers render a class of music either in some foreign[Pg 421] language, or else give us music that is on such a high plane that ordinary people can not understand it. But Madam Bergen gives us the old songs we heard when we were children, and she sings them in such a way as to reach our very souls.

MADAM FLORA BATSON BERGEN.

On Thursday, March 19, 1896, the funeral service of Rev. R. H. Stitt, one of our young men who had just passed away, was held in A. M. E. Zion Church, Philadelphia. Madam Bergen sang two selections on[Pg 422] that occasion, and never will I forget the impression made upon me by her sweet voice. She sang "No Tears in Heaven." That may be true. But there were plenty of tears shed by that audience while she was singing the song. I am positive that all of these great singers must be a help to the race in educating white people up to a better knowledge of what the race can do. It might be well at this point to call attention to the elocutionists of the race. I feel that some day they must play a prominent part in the dramatic world. In a small way, they have done that already, among themselves.

In 1893, Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis organized a colored company in Chicago, and produced "Dessalines," a play written by William Edgar Easton, of Texas, a bright young colored man. While the production in some ways was crude, I am sure that when we take into consideration how great were the disadvantages under which Miss Davis had to labor, I feel that the general verdict would be in her favor. Among those who took part in the play was Miss Fannie Hall, of Chicago, who is without question a fine dramatic reader, and who should, by all means, be kept more prominently before the public.

One of the first colored ladies to take up elocution as a profession was Miss Hallie Quinn Brown, who is well known and admired throughout the United States. Miss Brown has great powers in winning friends, and great control over an audience. For several years she spent her time in England. I had the pleasure of being present at her first entertain[Pg 423]ment in London after her arrival. She has had the distinction of displaying her talent to a greater number of white people than any other colored lady of her calling.

Mrs. Florida D. Carr, of Savannah, Ga., has made a splendid reputation as an elocutionist. She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and Elocution. I was very much impressed with her power as a reader. Mrs. Carr has a wonderful voice and perfect control of it in both humorous and pathetic selections.

In Atlanta, Ga., my attention was called to Mrs. Carrie Steel Logan, who began a home for orphan children a few years ago; I think in 1889. She started in a miserable little hut with some five fatherless and motherless children. At first it was hard to get any help from either the colored or white people. But right will, as a rule, prevail, and so it proved in this case, for now I am told that there is not a colored church in Atlanta that does not give something to support this Home. The city gave her four acres of ground a short while ago, on which has been erected a fine brick house. When I visited the Home in 1894 there were fifty-three children being cared for in this institution. Mrs. Logan visits the merchants of Atlanta from time to time, and by these visits procures provisions enough to help in the support of these children.

Mrs. Lucy Thurman, from Jackson, Mich., who has given the best part of her life to temperance work, is now managing the work among the colored people. As a public speaker she ranks among the best.

[Pg 424]

Mrs. Julia Ringwood Coston, who published Ringwood's Journal, which took the place in a way of The Ladies' Home Journal, is one of the remarkable literary women of the race.

Mrs. Harvey Johnson, of Baltimore, has written two very useful books, which have been published by the American Baptist Publication Society, one called "Clarence and Corinne," and the other, "The Hazeley Family." Both were regarded as especially adapted to Sunday-school purposes.

Her husband, Rev. Harvey Johnson, said, in speaking of his wife's ability: "I can't understand how she does it, but although she has the care of this house, and does a great deal of her own work, she in some way finds time to write." And I could add that what she writes is of the very best quality.

When referring to the women who have made a name for themselves in the musical world, I failed to call attention to Mrs. E. Lyons, of New York, who delights the people of New York with her sweet voice. She has just organized a quartette of young colored ladies, which is the only one of the kind in the country.

Philadelphia, Pa., can boast of a few colored ladies who are engaged in large business enterprises, namely: Mrs. Henry Jones, whose husband in his life was a large and successful caterer. At his death, instead of her giving up the work, she went on with it, and although she is quite an elderly lady now, she is still actively engaged in the business. In her[Pg 425] case I am sure it is genuine enterprise, for I am told her husband left ample means for the support of the family.

There are two very successful lady undertakers in Philadelphia, in the persons of Mrs. Henrietta Duterte and Mrs. Addison Foster. Mrs. Duterte is the oldest colored undertaker in the city. Mrs. Foster, who is a younger woman, and for that reason more active, is doing a very large business.

Mrs. Elizabeth Ralls, who has been engaged in mission work in Philadelphia, and who organized the Sarah Allen Mission and Faith Home, is worthy of special mention; not because she is wealthy or highly intellectual, but because she has a heart full of love for God and humanity. Every year she serves a Christmas dinner to the poor. At some of these dinners over 500 poor colored men and women have been present.

Among the lady writers who are doing good work in general I invite your attention to a publication called Light and Love, a journal for Home and Foreign Missions, published by Mrs. Lida Lowry and Mrs. Emma Ranson. These two ladies are regarded as very energetic and useful workers in the "Mite Missionary Society of the A. M. E. Church."

The great work that is being done for the elevation of the colored people by the untiring workers, such as Mrs. Victoria Matthews, Mrs. Booker T. Washington and Mrs. Libbie C. Anthony, and others, who are leaders in what is known as the Federation of Afro-American Women. The object of this organization[Pg 426] is the "concentration of the dormant energies of the women of the Afro-American race into one broad band of sisterhood; for the purpose of establishing needed reforms, and the practical encouragement of all efforts being put forth by various agencies, religious, educational, ethical and otherwise, for the upbuilding, ennobling and advancement of the race; (2) To awaken the women of the race to the great need of systematic effort in home making and the divinely imposed duties of motherhood.

The need of rescue work among our people by our women. The establishment of Christian homes and asylums for our fallen and wayward.

The separate car law.

Prison reform.

The plantation woman and child.

The John Brown Memorial Association.

The proposed international exposition in Paris, 1900; the part Afro-American women should take.

The need of a National Afro-American woman's paper.

Plans for raising necessary money and securing necessary support for the same.

How can the National Federation of Afro-American Women be made to serve the best interests and needs of our women?

The strength of this new national organization, even while yet in its infancy, gives encouragement of its ultimate power among the people it represents. The roll now includes fifty organizations, the average number composing a local organization being seventy-[Pg 427]five members, many of the clubs having on roll as many as 250 names.

Mrs. Booker T. Washington, wife of that great educator, has a very interesting history. She is a Southern-born woman, having first seen the light of day at Macon, Miss., in 1865. She is truly a self-made woman, the story of her life and struggles to attain intellectual life being full of pathetic interest. A mere outline is inadequate to do justice to the heroic efforts that have placed her to-day as one of the prominent women of her race. One of a large family, of which the mother was bread-winner, her father having died when she was a small child, she would have had no opportunity for education had she not through her own exertions created for herself a way into the school life. Until her graduation from the Fisk University she gave her own labor in payment of board and tuition, gaining spending money through services rendered teachers and pupils—and by teaching at fifteen, it can be readily seen that all the usual pleasures of youth were sacrificed in the cause of education. Her experience as a teacher well fitted her to accept the offer that came to her on graduating, of a place in the faculty of Tuskegee Institute. She immediately entered upon her duties there, and at the time of her marriage to the principal of the institution, she was lady principal. Appreciating her own struggles, she stands, it is said, as a changeless friend to every girl working her way through school.

She is one of the leading spirits of this grand or[Pg 428]ganization that is destined to do wonders for the colored people as a race. She was succeeded as president by Mrs. Mary C. Terrell, whose portrait is given and of whom mention is made in connection with school work in Washington in another part of this book.

MRS. MAMIE E. STEWART.

Mrs. M. E. Stewart, of Louisville, Ky., is the wife of Wm. H. Stewart, who is editor of the American Baptist. Mrs. Stewart is a very intelligent and refined lady, and one of the most useful women in the State. She is an accomplished musician, having completed a course in the National Music School of Chicago. For many years she has had charge of the musical department of State University in Louisville, and has made an enviable record as an instructor. Her pupils are among the most accomplished musicians of the young people. At the meetings of the National Baptist Convention, of which she is a member, her services are always in demand, as she is an expert performer on the pipe organ. For a number of years she has been organist of the 5th St. Baptist Church, and has the record of never being tardy nor absent. She is a leading member and officer of the Baptist Women's Educational Convention of Kentucky. Mrs. Stewart's home life is beautiful and her children show the influence of a refined and cultured mother.

[Pg 429]

## CHAPTER XXVII.

DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS AND HIS PRIVATE SANATORIUM.

DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS.

Dr. John R. Francis is distinctly a product of Washington, D.C., having first seen the light of day in that city. He is the only son of one of the city's [Pg 430]most worthy citizens, Richard Francis, his mother being Mrs. Mary E. Francis. He has been loyal to his place of birth, having remained constantly there except during his absence in other states in the pursuit of his education. His early school days were spent in the private and public schools of the District of Columbia; his academic education was received at Wesleyan academy at Wilbraham, Mass. His professional course was taken at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., where he graduated with high honors in the class of 1878, which class is noted for the fact that some of its members are the most distinguished scientists of the world to day. His career since graduation has been that of the typical doctor. He has devoted his time and energy during that period to the relief of suffering humanity. With Dr. Francis it has not been a mercenary pursuit, but the relief of the wounded and sick has always been his first thought when called upon. Indeed his career has been such that he has been invariably sought by the people of Washington as a most desirable person to assume the several respon[Pg 431]sible positions that have fallen to him. He has served that city and the colored people faithfully, and has done most excellent service in the many offices of trust and honor which he has held. Among his works we find that individuality and originality of thought and action which is doing so much at the present time to draw, to the colored citizens of this country, the attention of the civilized world, and to command its respect for the former's intellectual ability and skill to cope with the other American citizens in the upbuilding of the government and the development of its grand institution.

DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS' private SANATORIUM.

As a member of the school board of the District of Columbia Dr. Francis was very progressive, and equally as aggressive in his attempt to bring about the many needed reforms in the public schools of that city. Although having done much good, on account of the lack of support by the colored citizens, being ahead of the times as they saw it, he resigned his position on the board because he saw the impossibility of accomplishing the desired good and securing for them the many benefits it was possible to gain at that time. His strengthening of the teaching ability of the Washington High School and his improvement of the Normal school, with the subsequent retrogressions is but a fair example of his good work and the difficulties he had to overcome.

While acting surgeon-in-chief of Freedmen's Hospital during the several months' illness of the surgeon-in-chief, he instituted reforms there in the conduct of its professional workings, notably the surgical and[Pg 432] obstetrical department; in the management of ward work and the installment of the present training school for nurses, which his characteristic modesty has kept from the outside world and for which he has never been given credit.

He is now obstetrician to the Freedmen's Hospital[Pg 433] and demonstrator and clinical lecturer of obstetrics in the medical department of Howard University.

One of his most worthy contributions, however, to the District of Columbia and to the professional ability and business tact of the colored man is the[Pg 434] Francis Sanatorium at 2112 Pennsylvania Ave., N. W., Washington, D.C.

This institution is established for the care of sick persons whose home environments, as is well known, so often prevent proper treatment and rapid convalescence. The object is to guarantee to such persons[Pg 435] the careful scientific treatment of the hospital combined with the comforts of home.

OFFICE AT SANATORIUM.

OPERATING ROOM.

DIET KITCHEN.

Any physician in good standing is permitted to enter and treat here proper cases, from his private practice, the compensation being as usual, a matter of agreement between himself and his patient. In such cases a fee is charged only for room, board, nursing, ordinary medicine, and any assistance by Dr. Francis which may be desired.

A corps of trained nurses is constantly on hand by day and night.

No insane, contagious or other objectionable cases admitted.

All surgical operations will be charged for according to agreement made, in advance.

Trained nurses are furnished, any hour of the day or night, to families in the city where such services are needed.

This institution is conspicuous in being the only place of its kind in the United States, established, owned and managed by a colored man. Indeed we believe it is the only one in the world.

The works of this man are a credit to any community in which they exist, and we advise the youth of to-day to imitate the example of Dr. John R. Francis.

[Pg 436]

## CHAPTER XXVIII.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS, BOYDTON INSTITUTE,
AND CHRISTIANSBURG INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.

In this chapter I wish to mention the school-work done for the race by the United Presbyterian Church. This matter should have appeared with the other Presbyterian work, but for the fact that I was unable to secure the data when the first edition was published. I shall also mention in this chapter some other school-work that came too late.

KNOXVILLE COLLEGE.

Knoxville College is located at Knoxville, Tenn., and is under the control of the Board of Missions to the Freedmen of the United Presbyterian Church of North America. By arrangement with the University of Tennessee the college is also the industrial department of the university for colored students. For this purpose the university has added largely to the equipment of the agricultural department and mechanical department, provides for the salaries of the professors of these departments, and sets aside $600 annually to pay for the labor of students in these departments. Thus they are enabled to earn somewhat of their expenses, and especially is each one taught a trade. Aside from the funds received[Pg 437] from the university as indicated above, the college is supported by voluntary contributions of the church.

The faculty of the college, including matrons and instructors in the industrial department, numbers twenty-five. The president of the college is Rev. R. W. McGranahan, D. D., who has been in that position since 1899, succeeding at that time Dr. J. S. McCulloch, who had served the institution as president for twenty-two years.

Knoxville stands for the most thorough training possible in an intellectual way, and at the same time provides for the most helpful industrial training. It is in hearty sympathy with all efforts to teach the trades to the colored people, and is maintaining a thorough industrial department for that purpose. At the same time the literary standard is not lowered one whit, but is being constantly elevated. The courses of study offered are classical, scientific, theological, normal and common school. The industrial department offers training in agriculture, carpentering, electrical work, printing, sewing and housework.

The college occupies a commanding site on one of the hills made historic by the siege of Knoxville during the Civil War. The buildings consist of a recitation hall, McCulloch Hall (boys' dormitory), Elnathan Hall (girls' dormitory), boys' home, girls' home, mechanical building, heating plant, president's cottage and barn. Its property is valued at $110,000.

The work the college is doing is best seen in the lives of those who have gone out from it. The[Pg 438] profession of teaching claims the larger number; but these, for the most part, do not confine their efforts to one profession, but teach, both by example and precept, some manual art—farming, sewing, printing, or some other useful occupation.

NORFOLK MISSION COLLEGE.

Located at Norfolk, Virginia, is under the management of the United Presbyterian Church. Rev. Wm. M'Kirahan, is Principal at this time, and has under him an able body of teachers. The teachers employed are both white and colored.

The wisdom of the Board of Freedmen's Missions of the United Presbyterian Church in the location of one of its Schools in Norfolk is easy of vindication. In behalf of the Mission College appeal may confidently be made both to its supporters in the North and its patrons in the South. Nearly ten thousand colored children of school age have their homes within a radius of four miles of its walls. Two-thirds of these are not in any school.

A good Normal course is given there, and an Industrial training is given in sewing, garment-making and fancy work for girls.

Boys are taught the trade of printing. That department gives employment to 28 pupils for a short time each day. The training given here includes the application of the rules of grammar and rhetoric as well as instruction in composition and press-work. Several of the boys who spent some time in this de[Pg 439]partment are now employed as compositors on one of the city papers.

The graduates of the Mission College number one hundred and thirty-four. Nearly all are usefully employed. More than half are teachers. A good number are in colleges and professional schools receiving further preparation for life's work.

THYNE INSTITUTE.

Thyne Institute is located at Chase City, Va., on the Richmond and Danville Railroad. The location is one of the most beautiful in South Side Virginia.

The buildings are four in number, and are fitted up in modern style. Every appliance necessary for successful school-work has been provided.

The aim of the officers of the Institute is to educate the students along lines tending to fit them for life's work in the home, in society, as teachers in the public schools, and as religious instructors. The moral, mental, and industrial are united.

Rev. J. M. Moore, A.M., Ph.D., is Principal, with an able body of teachers. The course taught there is Normal, and they have a fine Industrial Home for girls, where they are taught all kinds of housework. The school is under the control of the United Presbyterian Church.

HENDERSON NORMAL INSTITUTE.

The Henderson Normal Institute, located at Henderson, N. C., is a school established and conducted to afford the colored people an opportunity[Pg 440] of obtaining a good education. It is a part of the missionary work of the United Presbyterian Church, which has always taken a deep interest in the welfare of the colored race. Having opposed slavery as a principle, it was natural that as soon as slavery was abolished, this church should show its interest in the future of the freedmen by doing what it could for their moral and intellectual development. The members of the church in the North have given freely of their means to support the work and to afford the colored people an opportunity of rising and enjoying the blessings and advantages which God has opened to all in this free land. The United Presbyterian Church gives each year nearly $50,000 in money, besides many contributions in other forms, to carry on the work it has undertaken for the colored people.

Rev. C. L. McCracken, A.M., is Principal, and is assisted by able teachers.

The course of study embraces the ordinary English branches from the primary to the high school and normal grade.

For four years a sewing department has been maintained in connection with the school. The purpose of this department is to teach all the girls in the school to do plain sewing, and to cut and make their own garments. A competent teacher gives her whole time to this department, and from 120 to 150 girls, in six classes, receive instruction nearly one hour each day. During the year many hundred garments are made, and these are sold to the pupils for less than the cost of the materials.

[Pg 441]

An industrial department has been added for the boys. The colored people are making rapid progress in knowledge, and taking a more intelligent interest in business and politics. In consequence they are beginning to publish their own papers; and each year the papers published by them and in their interest will increase.

In addition to the schools just mentioned, the United Presbyterian Church has some smaller schools in other parts of the South, as follows:

At Blue Stone, Va., with an attendance of about 200 pupils. One at Athens, Tenn., with nearly 200 pupils, and at Miller's Ferry, N. C., of over 200 students. One at Prairie Bluff, Ala., of about 200, and at Camden, Ala., of 200. One at Canton Bend, Ala., of 50, and one at Summerfield, Ala., of nearly 200.

The data given regarding these schools will enable my readers to see that the United Presbyterian Church is doing its share in educating the colored people.

BOYDTON INSTITUTE.

The institute is located in a beautiful grove of oaks, a mile from Boydton, Mecklenburg County, Va. The Atlantic and Danville Railroad passes through the town of Boydton. President, Mrs. Lucretia A. Cullis, Boston, Mass.; Principal, Rev. D. F. Lamson; Associate Principal, Mrs. H. B. Sharpe; Treasurer, Miss Mary H. Ware.

In 1878, the "Randolph Macon" property, con[Pg 442]sisting of a four-story brick college building, steward's house, and about 425 acres of land, was purchased by Dr. Charles Cullis, of Boston, Mass., with funds donated for the purpose. It was regularly incorporated as a branch of the "Faith Work," and a school for colored people immediately opened. The college building has a chapel, school-rooms, and library, with sleeping-rooms for more than one hundred students. The dormitories have fire-places, which enable the students to be comfortable in the coldest weather.

This institute is intended for the education of colored young men and women, who wish to fit themselves for usefulness among their own people.

In addition to the common English branches, provision is made for classes in English Literature, Rhetoric, Civil Government, and the Theory and Practice of Teaching. The principal also gives instruction in Bible History and Interpretation, in Theology and in Evangelistic and Pastoral work. Special attention will be given to the needs of post-graduates and of ministers.

CHRISTIANSBURG INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE, CAMBRIA, VA.

CHARLES L. MARSHALL, PRINCIPAL.

The Christiansburg Industrial Institute, at Cambria, Va., is supported by the Friends' Freedmen Association of Philadelphia, and is situated in the southwestern part of Virginia, in the town of Cam[Pg 443]bria, on the Norfolk and Western Railroad. The location is healthful and quiet.

For the sake of pure, moral and religious training, which is so much needed by both boys and girls, the boarding department has been established. Students living at a distance can secure board, room furnished, fuel and lights, for $7.50 per month.

The design of this institution is to send out young men and women well qualified for the great work of life; young men and women who will lead the way to the highest usefulness. To send forth such a class of students it will be necessary to train their heads as well as their hearts, and their hands as well as their heads.

We are certain that at this institute a good English course of study and the most needed industries can be carried on without conflict, and to a very great advantage to all who may attend the school.

The prime object of this institution, aside from the literary training, is to put within the hands of each young man and woman some industry by which they will be able to secure a livelihood in the world.

It will be modeled after the Tuskegee Industrial Institute at Tuskegee, Ala., and the Friends are advancing every effort to put it practically on the same basis.

There are no industries from which can be obtained such profitable and immediate results as those of scientific agriculture, stock-raising, fruit-growing, mattress-making, carpentry, wheelwrighting, black[Pg 444]smithing, dressmaking, printing, and methodical cooking and housekeeping.

The Friends' Freedmen Association of Philadelphia have placed the Christiansburg Industrial Institute for the coming year under the supervision of the officers of the Tuskegee Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Ala., which gives Booker T. Washington a general oversight of that work.

[Pg 445]

## CHAPTER XXIX.

HAMPTON INSTITUTE, HAMPTON, VA.

The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute first opened its doors for the reception of the freedmen in April, 1868. Of its beginning and purpose, General Armstrong, its founder and for twenty-five years its principal, writes:

"Two and a half years' service with the Negro soldiers (after a year as Captain and Major in the 125th New York Volunteers), as Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel of the Ninth and Eighth Regiments of U. S. Colored Troops, convinced me of the excellent qualities and capacities of the freedmen. Their quick response to good treatment and to discipline was a constant surprise. Their tidiness, devotion to their duty and their leaders, their dash and daring in battle, and ambition to improve—often studying their spelling books under fire—showed that slavery was a false, though doubtless, for the time being, an educative condition, and that they deserved as good a chance as any people.

"In March, 1866, I was placed by General O. O. Howard, Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, in charge of ten counties in Eastern Virginia, with headquarters at Hampton, the great 'contraband' camp, to manage Negro affairs and adjust, if possible, the relation of the races.

[Pg 446]

HAMPTON ROADS, FROM PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE.

"I soon felt the fitness of this historic and strategic spot for a permanent and great educational work. The suggestion was cordially received by the American Missionary Association, which authorized the purchase, in June, 1867, of 'Little Scotland,' an estate of 125 acres on Hampton River, looking out[Pg 447] over Hampton Roads. Not expecting to have charge, but only to help, I was surprised, one day, by a letter from Secretary E. P. Smith, of the A. M. A., stating that the man selected for the place had declined, and asking me if I could take it. I replied, 'Yes.' Till then my own future had been blind; it had only been clear that there was a work to be done for the ex-slaves and where and how it should be done.

"A day-dream of the Hampton School, nearly as it is, had come to me during the war a few times; once in camp during the siege of Richmond, and once one beautiful evening on the Gulf of Mexico, while on the wheel-house of the transport steamship Illinois, enroute for Texas with the 25th Army Corps (Negro) for frontier duty on the Rio Grande River, whither it had been ordered, under General Sheridan, to watch and if necessary defeat Maximilian in his attempted conquest of Mexico.

"The thing to be done was clear: to train selected Negro youth who should go out and teach and lead their people, first by example by getting land and homes; to give them not a dollar that they could earn for themselves; to teach respect for labor; to replace stupid drudgery with skilled hands; and, to these ends, to build up an industrial system, for the sake not only of self-support and intelligent labor, but also for the sake of character. And it seemed equally clear that the people of the country would support a wise work for the freedmen."

HAMPTON INSTITUTE, 1868.

Thus, under a man of the broadest views and al[Pg 448]most prophetic foresight, the school had its beginning. Two teachers and fifteen students found living room and class room in the dismantled mansion, the old brick mill and the newer barracks, relics of the slavery days and of the civil war. At the end of the [Pg 449]school's twenty-fifth year Gen. Armstrong died, seeing, as it is given to few to see, great and tangible results from his years of self-sacrificing labor. Since his death, the work has been carried on by Rev. H.[Pg 450] B. Frissell, D. D., who has taken up with wisdom and courage the task laid upon him and has a record behind him now of five years, during which the institution has shown steady growth and improvement.

HAMPTON INSTITUTE, 1898.

At the beginning of the present year there were on the grounds 1,001 students; of these 135 are Indians representing ten States and Territories; 361 are children coming from the immediate neighborhood, who are instructed in the Whittier Primary School. There are 630 boarders—383 boys and 247 girls. Of the eighty officers, teachers, and assistants, about one-half are in the industrial department.

TRADE SCHOOL BUILDING.

Instead of the old barracks, there are now over fifty-five buildings, including dormitories, academic and science buildings, a large trade school, domestic science and agricultural buildings, a beautiful church, a large saw-mill and shops where students help to earn their board and clothes and receive instruction in blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, painting, house-building, cabinet-making, upholstery, shoemaking, tailoring, harness-making, printing, and engineering. Two large farms with greenhouses, barns, and experiment stations give employment to students and instruction in agriculture. The laundry, dining-rooms, kitchens, and sewing-rooms give employment to the girls, and in them they receive instruction in sewing, dressmaking, laundering, and other branches which fit them to instruct their people in these lines. All the domestic work of the place is performed by the students. The average age of the pupils is nineteen years.

[Pg 451]
[Pg 452]

ACADEMIC CLASS-ROOM.

In 1870 this institution was chartered by special act of the General Assembly of Virginia. It is not owned or controlled by State or government, but by a Board of seventeen Trustees, representing different sections of the country, and six religious denominations, no one of which has a majority. The school now has a property worth over $600,000, free from[Pg 453] debt, and an endowment fund of over a half-million. It receives aid through the State of Virginia for its agricultural work and from the general government toward the board and clothes of Indians, but it is obliged to appeal to the public for $80,000 a year.

The Slater Fund Board makes a generous yearly appropriation toward its trade-school work, and help is received from the Peabody Fund, but the school depends for the large part of its yearly expenses upon charitable contributions.

GIRLS' MANUAL TRAINING.

Twenty-five years ago the imperative need of the Negro was teachers in the country public schools of the South, who could show the people by example, as well as by precept, how to live, how to get land and build decent houses. This need still remains, but, with the improvement of the colored race, more thoroughly equipped teachers are necessary, not only for the public schools, but for the workshops, and for the industrial and agricultural schools that have started up all through the South and among the Indians of the West. To meet this need Hampton provides an Academic Department with a corps of able teachers, mostly graduates of normal schools and colleges, who give thorough instruction in the English branches. Beside this, manual training is given to the boys, and sewing, cooking, and bench work to the girls. Those of the boys who show aptitude for trades in the manual training classes can receive thorough instruction in the Trade School, a building costing $50,000 and especially adapted to the work. Competent instruction in carpentry, wood [Pg 454]turning, cabinet-making, bricklaying, plastering, wheelwrighting, blacksmithing, painting, machine work, and mechanical drawing carry students through a systematic course in their different departments,[Pg 455] fitting them to be teachers of trades. Chance is also given to do actual work in the sixteen productive industries on the school grounds.

KINDERGARTEN CLASS.

Those of the girls who wish trades can be admitted into the Domestic Science Department where they[Pg 456] are fitted to be teachers of sewing, cooking, and laundering, with an opportunity to do actual work in the school's laundry and kitchen.

All students of the school receive instruction in agriculture, but those who wish to devote themselves especially to it can receive special instruction in the Agricultural Department, with experiments in the laboratory and practical work upon the school's two farms.

Those who wish to fit themselves to become teachers in the public schools, after graduation from the Academic Department, enter the Normal Department, where they receive instruction in methods of teaching, and have practice in the Whittier School, in which there are over three hundred children, with kindergarten and classes in cooking, gymnastics, and the English branches.

The boys are formed into a battalion under the Commandant of Cadets, a graduate of the school, from whom they receive military drill and gymnastic training. A United States officer from Fort Monroe assists in this work. The care of persons, quarters, and grounds are largely under the care of the officers of the school battalion. The girls are similarly organized under their matrons and are instructed in habits and manners.

The school is non-sectarian but earnestly Christian. Careful instruction in the Bible is given by teachers representing different denominations. The Chaplain is assisted by the clergymen of Hampton in the religious work of the school.

[Pg 457]

TRADE SCHOOL PAINT SHOP.

Six thousand young people of the Negro and Indian races have had the advantages of the school's training and gone out as teachers, farmers, and business men, to lift their people to a higher level. Nearly 1,000 have graduated from the school's Academic Department, and of these 90 per cent. have be[Pg 458]come teachers. The great majority have gone into the public schools. Whole counties have been transformed by their work. Homes, churches, and schools have been built, land purchased, and the morals of the community improved.

Booker T. Washington, a graduate of Hampton, founded the Tuskegee School in Alabama, and over forty other graduates have gone to help him in his work. Schools at Calhoun and Mt. Meigs, Alabama, Kittrell, North Carolina, Lawrenceville and Gloucester, Virginia, are established on the Hampton plan and carried on by graduates of the school. Under the teachers who have gone out from Hampton and its offshoots more than 150,000 children have received instruction. Of the 500 Indians who have been trained at Hampton, 87 per cent. are engaged as teachers, farmers, missionaries, and in other regular occupations. Twenty years ago, Capt. Pratt brought fifteen prisoners of war from Fort Marion, St. Augustine, to Hampton and remained there one year, bringing in the meantime other Indians from the West. So successful was that first experiment in industrial education that Carlisle School was established and now hundreds of thousands of dollars, which were formerly devoted to fighting the Indians, are given by the government to training their children in industrial schools.

Hampton has given an impetus to industrial education among the Negroes which is felt in every State of the South. But 75 per cent. of the race still live in one-room cabins on rented land, in ignorance[Pg 459] and poverty. Teachers of agriculture and home builders are needed.

WHEELWRIGHT SHOP.

There is danger that the blacks will lose the trades, which were their best heritage from slavery, unless[Pg 460] industrial education is pushed. Well-trained young women must go out to reconstruct the homes.

In addition to the work done by the school directly for its pupils in class-room and industrial-training shop, it reaches out continually into the home life of its graduates and ex-students. Its graduate missionaries visit in many homes, inspiring interest in land purchase, home building, school-term extension, thrift, temperance, and good citizenship. Its monthly paper, the Southern Workman, deals in a spirit of free inquiry and broad humanity with the race question in its many phases, and publishes in its columns articles of value from leading men and women of both the Negro and white races. Its Summer Conference, held in the vacation season, calls together for earnest discussion some of the best thinkers, white and colored, in the country; and the Virginia Teachers' Institute, assembling each summer on the school grounds, keeps the school in touch with the educational system of the State in which it works. Its aim is, and has been from its beginning, to lay firm and broad the foundation of character upon which all true civilization is built.

[Pg 461]

## CHAPTER XXX.

STATE SCHOOLS AND CALHOUN SETTLEMENT—VIRGINIA
NORMAL AND COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE.

This is an institution supported by the State of Virginia for the education of the colored youth. The aim of the institution is to impart knowledge, discipline the mind and train the hand and heart, so that those who leave its walls shall be better prepared for the diversified duties of life. In the Normal course of three years, the training has special reference to preparing the student to become a successful teacher. It is to this department that most of the students naturally find their way. This course is comprehensive and endeavors to give all that is essential to fit their graduates to teach any of the public schools of Virginia. Although the course covers a wide field,[Pg 462] they endeavor to so drill the student in the branches taught that his knowledge is thorough, and not a mere smattering. Considerable time is given to actual teaching of little children under the supervision of the Model School teacher.

STATE NORMAL INSTITUTE, PETERSBURG, VA.

The college course is designed to give a higher[Pg 463] and broader culture to those of their youth who are able to remain longer in school, or desire to pursue the professions. This course covers four years. The school is young, and quality, not quantity or number, being their standard of success, they have thus far labored to prepare thoroughly those who have taken the college studies before admitting them to this department. Their curriculum will compare favorably with the best. The advantages here offered for obtaining a college education at small cost are unparalleled.

JAMES HUGO JOHNSTON.

James Hugo Johnston, A. M., Ph. D., president and Professor of Psychology and Moral Science, is indeed a self-made man. His first work in life was that of a newsboy on the streets of Richmond. In fact he kept his paper route for some time after he began teaching in the public schools of that city. His most excellent work as president of the institute at Petersburg places him among the most prominent educators of his race. He has under him a very able set of teachers.

CALHOUN COLORED SCHOOL

Is a school and social settlement in the blackest belt county of Alabama. Opened and incorporated, 1892. Trustees: Hon. John Bigelow, President, New York, N. Y.; Mr. B. T. Washington, Vice-President, Tuskegee, Ala.; Mr. R. P. Hallowell, Auditor, Boston, Mass.; Rev. Pitt Dillingham, Secretary, Calhoun, Ala.; Miss C. R. Thorn, Treasurer, Calhoun, Ala.; Rev. H. B. Frissell, D. D., Hampton, Va.; Col. T. W.[Pg 464] Higginson, Cambridge, Mass.; Mr. C. F. Dunbar, Buffalo, N. Y.; Rev. Silas Jones, Mount Meigs, Ala. Principals: Rev. Pitt Dillingham and Miss C. R. Thorn.

The school is located at Calhoun, Lowndes Co., Alabama, on Louisville and Nashville R. R., 28 miles southwest of Montgomery. It is a one-room cabin and crop-mortgage region.

The plant is a farm of 100 acres, with stock and tools, eleven buildings, namely, two schoolhouses, two dormitories, three teachers' cottages, office, industrial building, barn and farmhouse.

Students number 350 and upwards; 46 boarding students; 32 of the 46 work all day and attend night school. Three hundred and more from the cabins of the county.

Their teaching staff is seven white teachers from the North, four colored teachers from Hampton, one graduate of Calhoun, five other workers—seventeen in all.

The departments are Academic—with Kindergarten and eight years' Common School Course. Industrial—with Agriculture for boys and Domestic Training for girls.

Our graded school makes a natural centre for community-life. Calhoun is in the midst of 28,000 plantation negroes. It lives in touch with all the life of its township and county, and limits its aim to this social group.

They have Farmers' Conferences, Mothers' Meetings, Sunday and Mission Services. Cabin, School,[Pg 465] Church and Plantation Visiting. Agricultural Fairs, Teachers' Institutes, Celebration of National Holidays, and Christian Festivals. Thrift and Land Buying Meetings, Sociological Study of the County, etc.

To change the crop-mortgage peon into an American small farmer, with land and home of his own, is our problem and opportunity. "The family is the foundation of the nation."

From three to four thousand acres are being bought at $6 and $7 an acre. 75 families (500 individuals) are being planted near the school. A Southern white planter and neighbor is assisting.

Calhoun believes in the educational and religious value of work and property. It stands for a vital and practical Christianity.

In my opinion the Calhoun School and Social Settlement is based on the right principle to solve the so-called race problem. When the colored people in the South own their own homes, as they can under the system that has been established at Calhoun, they will not only be more independent, but more prosperous, and, as a result of the very practical training given there, they will not only send out farmers, but teachers, mechanics, and merchants as well. As colored men are able to start stores in the South they will be able to furnish employment to graduates from such schools as clerks and bookkeepers. I am sure that if the people in the North could only understand what a real blessing such an institution is to the South, it would, at least, not want for means to carry on its wonderful work.

[Pg 466]

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL FOR COLORED PERSONS AT
FRANKFORT, KY.

The State Normal School is situated about one and one-half miles from Frankfort on a beautiful hill overlooking the city. The site comprises about thirty acres of tillable land and meadow, upon which are located the main school building, with recitation-room and chapel, a new mechanical shop, forty feet by sixty feet, with modern equipments and furnishings, the "Ladies' Hall," recently built, and cottages for the resident professors. Our students are free from the many temptations and social demands incident to those who attend school in a city.

Our location, being "elevated, healthful, and delightful," renders our students less liable to malaria and other diseases due to impurities, both in the water and in the atmosphere.

Nothing in our power will be neglected which can add to the mental, moral, and manual training of our students, or which can in the least contribute to their comfort and general welfare.

"The object" of this State Normal School, established and maintained by Act of the General Assembly, "shall be the preparation of teachers for teaching in the Colored Public Schools of Kentucky."

I have had the pleasure of making a visit to this school, and was very well impressed with the institution. I found there an able body of teachers and a very fine-looking and intelligent class of students.

[Pg 467]

COLORED NORMAL, INDUSTRIAL, AGRICULTURAL AND
MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

This school is located at Orangeburg, S. C., and in my opinion is one of the best State schools in the South for the education of the colored youth. They have very excellent buildings, not only good, but beautiful. The course of study there is, as in all State schools, normal. Their object is to prepare teachers for the public schools of the State. Many students, however, attend there who do not expect to teach. Special attention is given to the industrial training of both boys and girls. The wood shop has, I think, about the best equipment in the way of tools and up-to-date machinery I saw in any of the Southern schools. The attendance is large; in fact, they often have to send students away for want of room. Hon. Thos. E. Miller, L.L. D., who is president, I found a very pleasant and able man. He is assisted by a strong force of competent teachers, who have been educated in the best schools of our country. I am sure the people at large will agree with me in saying that South Carolina deserves great credit for the establishment of such an excellent school for the race.

LINCOLN INSTITUTE.

Lincoln Institute is located at Jefferson City, Mo., and had its origin in a fund of $6,379, contributed by the 62d and 65th Regiments of U. S. Colored Infantry, when discharged from service in January, 1865, of which the 62d gave $5,000. The only condition of[Pg 468] the gift was that a school be established in Missouri open to the colored people.

The Board of Trustees, ten in number, was organized on June 25, 1865, and the school was opened September 17, 1866.

Mr. R. B. Foster was principal for the first two years, Mr. W. H. Payne the third year, and Mr. Foster again for two years. During all this time the school was taught in rented buildings, and had many obstacles to meet.

In June, 1871, the main building was completed. It was a substantial brick building, 60 × 70 feet, three stories, conveniently arranged, and eligibly located upon a prominent hill, just outside the limits of Jefferson City, commanding a view of a large part of it. The grounds contain twenty acres.

"The Legislature of 1879 appropriated $15,000 for the support of the institute, provided $5,000 should be applied to the payment of its indebtedness. This appropriation was contained in the general appropriation bill, and was a grant to a corporation managing a charity. The Constitution provides: 'The General Assembly shall have no power to make any grant * * * * * * of public money or thing of value to any individual, association of individuals, municipal, or other corporation whatever.' The grant was in violation of that part of the Constitution just quoted." Governor Phelps, from whose message to the Legislature the above is taken, held the bill until the Board of Trustees met and unanimously voted to transfer the institute to the State.[Pg 469] The bill was immediately approved. This friendly act of the late Governor enabled the trustees to pay every dollar of the debt which for several years had embarrassed them, and to place the institute on a more permanent basis.

Since the institute became a State school, the Legislature has not only made large appropriations for its maintenance, but has also given money to erect dormitories, to purchase scientific apparatus, to make additions to the library and repair the main building.

By an act of the Thirty-fourth General Assembly a college and a college preparatory school were established in connection with the institute.

The same Assembly also passed an act which provides that the Normal diplomas shall entitle their holders to teach in the schools of the State without further examination; also that the graded certificates, which are granted upon the completion of the two years' course, shall entitle their holders to teach the several branches therein named for a period of two years from the day of graduation. Provision is made in the act for annulling these diplomas and certificates whenever it is found to be necessary.

By an act of the Thirty-sixth General Assembly an industrial department was established in connection with the institute.

There is no doubt but that Lincoln Institute is one of the best equipped State schools in the country for the education of colored people. Prof. J. H. Jackson, A. B., A. M., a graduate from Berea College, is President of Lincoln Institute. President Jackson[Pg 470] has just entered upon the first year of his presidency of the institution, and it is fitting that a sketch of his life, though brief and inadequate, should be given to our readers.

PROF. J. H. JACKSON, A. B., A. M.

Having been born in Kentucky, his early education was in the public schools of that old Blue-Grass State. Having the advantages that many others had not, he entered Berea College soon after he completed the public school course, and was graduated in June, 1874, with high honors, having the distinction of[Pg 471] being the first Negro to be graduated in Kentucky. After his graduation, he taught for a number of years in the public schools of Lexington, Ky.

Prof. Jackson had a desire to retire from school life. He left Kentucky in 1881, and went to Kansas, to engage in tilling the soil. After reaching Kansas City, however, he was called to the principalship of the Lincoln High School in that city. He remained there until 1887, when he was recalled to Kentucky to take charge of the State Normal, located at Frankfort. Prof. Jackson remained at the head of that institution until June, 1898, when he was elected to his present position, to which he comes with ripe experience and scholarly attainments.

Few men are better fitted to take charge of such a school as Lincoln Institute than Prof. Jackson, and the people of Missouri have reason to be proud of the fact that he has been secured.

[Pg 472]

## CHAPTER XXXI.

C. M. E. SCHOOLS.

In this chapter I shall give brief mention of the schools managed by the "Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America." The connection was organized in 1870, and set apart from the M. E. Church South. They have at this time five Bishops, namely: Bishop Isaac Lane, Bishop J. A. Beebe, Bishop L. H. Holsey, D. D., Bishop R. S. Williams, D. D., Bishop Elias Cottrell, D. D. The church has since its organization made very rapid progress, and is along with other religious bodies raising a great deal of money for educational purposes.

LANE COLLEGE.

Lane College is located at Jackson, Tenn. It was founded by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America, and is still under its fostering care. The school takes its name from Bishop Isaac Lane, who has been the leading spirit in establishing the institution. The work done at Lane College will compare favorably with other schools in the South.

The main building was erected at cost of $15,000. It is a fine three-story brick, with stone trimmings, artistically covered with malleable iron, with two beautiful lofty towers.

[Pg 473]

Lane College, like all institutions, is in need of funds to put the school in excellent condition. Anyone desiring to bless a worthy educational enterprise would find the school in great need of means to better equip it for the training of young men and women to advance Christian civilization. Let your gifts be ever so small, they will be duly credited and rightly applied.

Their wonderful progress thus far is largely attributed to the untiring labors of Bishop Isaac Lane.

In addition to the other branches of studies, and recognizing the fact that the mind is often cultivated at the expense of the body, and that trades are mediums through which young men may obtain occupations, giving them a capital to fall back on should they fail to make practical what they have learned from books, industrial features are added. Girls will be given lessons in needlework, cutting, sewing, and cooking. Young men will be given lessons in elements of gardening and carpentry.

An experienced teacher will have charge of each department.

The president of Lane College is Rev. T. F. Sanders. He is a Southern white man, who has taken up the work in that Christian spirit which means to lift up humanity to a higher intellectual and spiritual condition, regardless of race or color.

Rev. Robert T. Brown, A. M., is teacher of language and mathematics. I regard Prof. Brown as a very able man, and one who desires very much to see his race educated in order that the colored[Pg 474] people may take a more active part in the professional and business world.

PAINE INSTITUTE.

Paine Institute is another of the C. M. E. Schools. It is located at Augusta, Ga. The school is doing about the same grade of work as that done at Lane College. They have a beautiful brick structure known as "Haygood Memorial Hall;" it is named in honor of the late Bishop Haygood of the M. E. Church South. He was far in advance of the church in his desire to see the colored people educated. The bishop wrote a most excellent work on the race question, entitled "Our Brother in Black." The book had a large sale both North and South. He, like Booker T. Washington, believed that the masses of colored people should have an industrial education. But he also recognized that those who felt called to teach or preach should have the best education they could secure.

The president of Paine Institute is Rev. G. W. Walker. He is a Southern white man who sees the great work that must be done for the colored people, and is willing to help do it. I am told that he takes an active part in everything that is of interest to the school and scholars, making the students feel that his heart is in the work. His family is also helpful to him in his great effort. I hope it will not be many years until a large number of Southern white people will see the need of just such work as[Pg 475] Rev. Walker is doing, and be willing to assist in the labor.

There are a few smaller schools managed by the C. M. E. Church, but for want of space we must omit mention of them, at least until they are more prominent.

[Pg 476]

## CHAPTER XXXII.

This chapter will be devoted to the work of the Christian Church. The schools operated by that church in the interest of the race are not as numerous nor as large as other connectional institutions, but what they have are doing a splendid work.

FRANKLINTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE.

Franklinton Christian College is situated in Franklinton, Franklin County, North Carolina, on the Seaboard Air-Line Railroad, twenty-seven miles northeast from the city of Raleigh. The college buildings are on high ground, which is well drained; and there is a grove of beautiful oak trees on the campus, which, with other immediate surroundings, makes the location one of special attraction.

The college entered on its mission of education in 1878 as a common school. Professor Henry E. Long was placed in charge, and the interest taken in the new movement by the colored people was so general that an assistant teacher was employed to aid Professor Long in his work. In 1880 Rev. George Young, of Carlisle, New York, was appointed principal of the school, under the direction of Rev. J. P. Watson, D. D., who was at that time Secretary of the Children's Mission. It was during the first year[Pg 477] of Professor Young's administration of the school that the college building was erected and the school formally opened under the name, "The Franklinton Theological and Literary Institute." The institute remained under the supervision of the Secretary of Missions until the meeting of the American Christian Convention in 1886. The convention at that meeting received the institute to its care, and appointed a board of control to take direct supervision of its work and interests. The Board of Control obtained a charter for the institute in 1890, and its name was changed to Franklinton Christian College. In this, its corporate name, the college has authority to give diplomas and confer degrees. It may be said of the college that its work has from the first been progressive in character. Its constant aim has been to assist the student to high moral and intellectual attainments.

In addition to the regular course of studies taught they have some industrial work in the way of sewing and fancy work for the girls, and it is hoped that this department will soon be extended to include all that is essential to good housekeeping and home decoration. Rev. Zenas A. Poste is president, and is assisted by five other teachers.

THE LOUISVILLE CHRISTIAN BIBLE SCHOOL

Is a missionary school, inaugurated by the General Christian Missionary Convention, now the American Christian Missionary Society: Headquarters, Cincinnati, Ohio, and under the immediate supervision of[Pg 478] the Board of Negro Education and Evangelization: Headquarters, Louisville, Kentucky.

While it is not the present purpose of the school to maintain classes in those branches of study which do not properly constitute part of a theological course in English; yet, to meet the needs of such students as have not had the advantage of proper instruction in the subjects of Course I, classes will be maintained, continuously in a number of them, and in others will be formed from time to time as the necessity may arise.

The purpose of the school is to do what it can in supplying one of the greatest needs of the colored people of this county, namely, preachers and other religious workers of their own race, who shall be deeply imbued with the knowledge and spirit of the Word of God. In doing this work it is not the aim of the school to give extended courses of instruction in anything save in the English Scriptures. These it proposes to teach as thoroughly as possible to colored candidates for the ministry, whether, in the common use of the terms, such candidates be educated or uneducated.

Adoniram Judson Thomson, A. M., is principal. He impressed me as a very fine man, who is much interested in the elevation of the colored people. Prof. Thomson is assisted by Prof. Octavius Singleton, B. L., who is a very able young man and a credit to the race.

THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE.

The plantation upon which the Southern Christian[Pg 479] Institute is located contains eight hundred acres of land, being a mile and a quarter long by a mile wide. It is located on the Big Black River, on the direct road between Jackson and Vicksburg, being twenty-five miles from the former and eighteen miles from the latter. It is two miles from Edwards, which is its postoffice. The name of the plantation is Mount Beulah. The Vicksburg and Meridian Railroad passes directly through the plantation, in which there is a flag station. It is only six miles from the famous battlefield of Champion Hill, and Pemberton's soldiers retreated directly across it; and the battle of the "Big Black" was fought partly upon it. The east end of the plantation is rolling, containing most of the timber and all the buildings connected with the institution: the old plantation building, to which has been added the dining-room, kitchen and office, and a girls' dormitory; a separate building for schoolhouse and boys' dormitory; a barn and eight cabins, six of which are located at this end of the plantation. The timber is nearly all of the hard-wood variety, such as oak, hickory, sweet gum, beech, etc. All rough-bark trees are covered with long festoons of Spanish moss. This part of the plantation has a beautiful situation on a bluff, which rises about fifty feet from the river. The western part of the plantation, containing about five hundred acres, is level, but is located in what is called the second river bottom, and hence is never overflowed.

The plantation contains such fertile soil, and has[Pg 480] such a location, that all the crops that are raised in the North can be raised here to advantage.

J. B. Lehman, President, has six assistant teachers, while A. T. Ross is superintendent of Industrial Department, and Mrs. A. T. Ross is matron of the institution. The enrollment of the school now reaches 125. We have every reason to believe that it will be much larger the coming year. The course of instruction is divided into Primary, Normal, Classical, Biblical, and Industrial Departments. The Industrial Department includes practical housekeeping, sewing, broom-making, the making of molasses from sugar-cane, farming, fruit-canning, carpentry, and printing, and the new machinery plant will add new industries.

THE LUM GRADED SCHOOL AT LUM, ALA.

The Lum Graded School was started four years ago, with Robert Brooks as principal. Robert Brooks was educated at the Southern Christian Institute, completing the full course there. He took the Alabama teachers' examination, receiving the highest certificate given, and then returned to his home in Lowndes County, Alabama, and opened a school in a miserable shanty at Lum. In this undertaking he was encouraged and directed, and to a small extent aided financially, by the Board of Negro Education and Evangelization. The school having this humble origin is now known to us and through all the section of the country where it is located as "The Lum Graded School," and last year enrolled one hundred and eleven pupils.

[Pg 481]

## CHAPTER XXXIII.

COLEMAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, AN ORGANIZATION
CHARTERED UNDER THE LAWS OF NORTH
CAROLINA, TO DO BUSINESS OF ALL KINDS OF
MANUFACTURING.

Can the negro race successfully own and operate cotton mills? This question, so long in doubt, is about to be answered, and we believe in the affirmative. The first great stride in that direction was taken when, on the 8th of February, 1898, was laid with Masonic honors the corner-stone of the handsome three-story brick building, 80 × 120 feet in dimensions, of the Coleman cotton mill. It was indeed a marked epoch in the history of the negro race, and pronounced by all present an entire success. Noted speakers from all over the United States were invited, and the railroads gave reduced rates from all points. Following the laying of the corner-stone was the annual election of old officers, who are as follows: R. B. Fitzgerald, of Durham, N. C., president; E. A. Johnson, of Raleigh, N. C., vice-president; and W. C. Coleman, of Concord, N. C., secretary and treasurer. The following gentlemen constitute the Board of Directors: Rev. S. C. Thompson, Camden, S. C.; L. P. Berry, Statesville, N. C.; John C. Dancy, Salisbury, N. C.; Prof. S. B. Pride, Charlotte, N. C.; Prof.[Pg 482] C. F. Meserve, Raleigh, N. C.; and Robert McRee, Concord, N. C. Among these are some of the highest lights of the negro race, and under their careful direction we have no doubts as to the final results of the enterprise. The promoter of this enterprise, W. C. Coleman, is the wealthiest negro in the State, and he has rallied around him not only the leaders of his race, but has the endorsement of many of the most successful financiers among our white citizens throughout the State.

WARREN C. COLEMAN.

[Pg 483]

The mill is to have from 7,000 to 10,000 spindles, and from 100 to 250 looms, and, by their charter, will be allowed to spin, weave, manufacture, finish, and sell warps, yarns, cloth, prints, or other fabrics made of cotton, wool, or other material. They own at present, in connection with the plant, about 100 acres of land on the main line of the Southern Railway, and near the site of the mill. The mill and machinery with all the fixtures complete will represent an outlay of nearly $66,000, and will give employment to a number of hands. The building is now completed and ready for machinery.

Let us add that Concord has reason to and does feel proud of the fact that she has the only cotton mill in the world owned, conducted, and operated by the negro race.

At a meeting of the directors recently the capital stock was increased $50,000, and those wishing a good safe investment should secure some of this stock. The mill will be under good and safe management, and will, no doubt, be a paying institution.

Special inducements will be offered to any party or parties who desire to establish enterprises that colored labor may be employed. Full particulars can be obtained from the secretary and treasurer, W. C. Coleman, Concord, N. C.

When the Coleman Manufacturing Company demonstrates to the world, as it will, that colored girls can weave cloth, and that this enterprise is a paying one, there will be other men who will start similar institutions throughout the South. I am sure that my[Pg 484] readers will read this article with more race pride than they have ever felt before when they realize that, while they read it, cloth is being woven by colored girls. This cotton mill, which is the result of Mr. Coleman's push and energy, will give the colored man a standing in the business world he has never had before, and will be, indeed, helpful.

COLEMAN COTTON MILL.

Warren C. Coleman is a most remarkable man, starting as he did from slavery, without money or education; in fact, he only had one term of schooling in Howard University, Washington, D. C. Mr. Coleman has for years operated a successful grocery store. He has met with heavy losses, caused by fire, to the amount of several thousand dollars. Many a man would have given up with the idea that fate was against him. Mr. Coleman is one of the largest[Pg 485] owners of real estate in Concord. He also operates several farms in that county. He has educated out of his resources a number of young colored men and women. Mr. Coleman is doubtless one of the richest colored men in the United States.

The Southern Age, of Atlanta, Ga., on February 6, 1897, among other things, says of W. C. Coleman: "The greatness of the man appears particularly in the way he makes obstacles and difficulties helps and not hindrances. He will rank with Abraham Lincoln as their practical friend and benefactor. One gave them freedom—the other will give them an industrial position."

[Pg 486]

## CHAPTER XXXIV.

RICHMOND, VA.

This chapter is devoted to the business interests of the colored people in Richmond, and I am sure my readers will find it a valuable addition to my book.

[Pg 487]

RICHMOND BENEFICIAL AND INSURANCE COMPANY,
CAPITAL STOCK $5,000.

In July, 1894, a company of twenty men was formed and began this work with $200. They started against many odds; their chief opposers were the agents of white insurance companies.

Three years have told the story. They now have a membership of 15,000, and employ seventy persons as managers, clerks, and agents. They own their[Pg 488] own property, a handsome three-story building, valued at $6,000, and every cent of it paid for. The worth of the company is $13,000. They are beginning to branch out in all cities of Virginia, and are very cautious and careful with their money, their intention being the founding of an organization that shall "stay" permanently, and are doing a business now of $30,000 yearly.

REV. W. F. GRAHAM, PRESIDENT.

Rev. W. F. Graham, the founder and president of this company, was born of slave parents, in the State of Mississippi, attended school in Arkansas, and finished at Wayland Seminary, Washington, D. C. He is also pastor of one of the largest and finest Baptist churches in the South, and is what I regard as a splendid type of manhood.

MR. JOHN T. TAYLOR, SECRETARY.

Mr. John T. Taylor is secretary and business manager for the company. Mr. Taylor taught school for several years, and gave up that work to accept his present position. He is regarded as a very competent and energetic business man.

WILLIAM ISAAC JOHNSON.

Richmond has one of the most successful colored undertakers in the country in the person of William Isaac Johnson. His place of business and residence is located at 207 Fonshee Street. Mr. Johnson owns a magnificent brick building, three stories high. The basement is used for his workshop and stables for his horses. The ground floor is used as an office and storeroom for ready-made coffins and trimmings. The second story is used as a residence for his family,[Pg 489] and the third story is divided into lodge-rooms, which are rented to different colored societies that hold monthly meetings there.

The horses and hearse, also the carriages, used in Mr. Johnson's business are as fine as any owned by the leading white undertakers in Richmond. I found him a pleasant and a very thorough business man.

A. D. PRICE.

Mr. A. D. Price, of Richmond, is also an undertaker, who owns good horses, hearse, and carriages for his work.

PAUL C. EASLEY.

Mr. Paul C. Easley has an ice-cream parlor, also manages a steam ice-cream manufactory, and has a large trade, both wholesale and retail.

THOMPSON & BENSON.

One of the best drug stores owned by colored men in the country is at Richmond, carried on by Thompson & Benson, two young and intelligent men, who are both, as the result of a splendid education, competent to manage just what they have—a splendid drug store. I was very much impressed with the cleanliness, neatness, and perfect system that I found throughout the entire building. Of all places that ought to be clean and neat is a drug store.

G. W. BRAGG.

Richmond Steam Laundry is owned by G. W. Bragg, a very progressive colored man, who has, be[Pg 490]yond doubt, the largest and best-equipped steam laundry owned by a colored man in the United States. Every modern machine for doing first-class laundry work can be seen at his establishment. He employs the most intelligent colored girls he can secure, and has so far had but very little trouble in teaching them to handle the different machines. I am pleased to note also that his patrons are made up of the best white families in Richmond. Mr. Bragg has a brother in Farmville, Va., who also owns a laundry, but on a much smaller scale.

NICKEL SAVINGS BANK,

at 601 North Thirtieth Street, Richmond, Va., is a splendid enterprise, that has been put on foot by such men as Rev. Evans Payne, R. F. Tancil, Rev. W. S. Christian, E. A. Washington, Anderson Evans, R. J. Bass, J. Henry Jones, who are the board of directors. In order that my readers may get some idea of the method adopted by the Nickel Savings Bank, I reproduce some matter that appeared on a circular handed me by the cashier:

"The bank safe is a nickel-plated brass bank, with combination lock, and is highly ornamental and convenient. All sizes of coin or paper money can be put into it.

"These banks are loaned to anyone free of charge who has or will deposit $1.50 with us (for which we give a pass-book); it being understood that if you lose the bank, or fail to return it in reasonably good condition when we call for it, we charge you $1.50[Pg 491] for the box, but you may return it at any time and get all the money you have on deposit. It is understood that in consideration of our loaning you a bank free of charge you will deposit your savings with us once in three months or oftener.

"Money deposited in this safe can be taken out only at the Nickel Savings Bank, as they keep the key. When brought to us the safe is opened and the amount is counted in your presence, and placed to your credit on your pass-book.

"This is one of the best plans ever devised for encouraging economy and frugality in children, as money once placed in the safe cannot be taken out except at our bank, and there it must be deposited. At the same time it gives a child valuable business experience, and the first lessons of economy are more easily learned if the savings are for some fixed or definite purpose.

"Laboring men and women who are able to lay aside a small amount daily or weekly will find these safes the most convenient and effectual means of accomplishing that end."

My object in reproducing a part of their circular is to furnish the matter that it may be the incentive or suggestion to people in other cities to start similar institutions for the benefit of the poor.

THE PLANET.

THE PLANET BUILDING.

The Planet, published by John Mitchell, Jr., has, without doubt, the largest circulation of any paper published by a colored man. Had the South [Pg 492]a few more men who are as brave as John Mitchell has shown himself, the lynchings of the South would not have been so numerous. The Planet has not only the largest circulation, but The Planet office is the best-equipped printing establishment[Pg 493] owned by a colored man in this country. Mr. Mitchell has recently purchased a dwelling-house at 311 North Fourth Street, Richmond, Va., and had the house entirely made over to suit his purpose.

John Mitchell, Jr., was born in Henrico County, Va., about three miles from Richmond, Va., at a place called Laburnum. His parents were slaves. He attended the public schools of Richmond, and graduated from the Richmond Normal School, June 14, 1881, with the highest honors. He received a gold medal for scholarship, and was awarded a special gold medal for excellence in map-drawing. He taught public school in Fredericksburgh, Va., two years, and also in those of Richmond one year. His editorial career began in 1884. He has made a specialty of lynchings and Southern outrages, etc. His efforts to prevent the hanging of Simon Walker, a fifteen-year-old colored boy, was crowned with success. He was threatened with hanging if he visited Charlotte County, Va. His bold reply in the columns of the Richmond Planet, supplemented by the arming of himself and going alone into the county and visiting the scene of the lynching of the unfortunate Richard Walker, caused the late Rev. Dr. J. W. Simmons to denominate him the "bravest Negro editor on the continent."

JOHN MITCHELL, JR.

Mr. Mitchell secured the release of Isaac Jenkins in 1893, the colored man who was beaten, shot, and hanged, but still lives. His last great feat was the saving of the lives of the three Lunenburg County women, who were charged with the murder of Mrs.[Pg 494] Lucy Jane Pollard, near Fort Mitchell, Va. Governor O'Ferrall used the troops of the State to prevent their lynching, and editor Mitchell employed Hon. Geo. D. Wise, Hon. A. B. Guigon, and Hon. H. W. Flournoy to defend them. The women—Pokey and Mary Barnes and Mary Abernathy—were acquitted and now reside in this city.

[Pg 495]

The Richmond Planet continues its crusade against these outrages.

In February, 1897, the present building, in which the plant is now located, was purchased, and with the improvements cost $5,000. The presses, type, engine, stereotype outfit, cost $4,000. The office force consists of fifteen persons.

J. C. FARLEY.

J. C. Farley, the well-known colored photographer[Pg 496] of Richmond, Va., was born in Prince Edward County, Va., August 10, 1854. He came to Richmond in 1861 and engaged in the bakery business. He entered the photographic establishment of C. R. Rees & Co. in 1872. He left there and labored in the service of Mr. G. W. Davis, with whom he remained until 1895. It was while there that he became the operator, his rare talent winning for him commendation and promotion from his employer. He has been for years one of the most accomplished photographers in the South, his work ranking with that of the best artists in this country and Europe.

MR. J. C. FARLEY.

In August, 1895, he entered into the photographic business for himself, under the style and title of the Jefferson Fine Art Gallery, and is at present conducting a profitable business upon the most fashionable business thoroughfare in Richmond. Some of the leading society and business leaders in the State have sought Mr. Farley in order to secure the benefit of his truly wonderful ability.

He married Miss Rebecca P. Roberts, of Amelia County, Va., in 1876, and has a promising family of seven girls.

T. C. JOHNSON.

Among the colored lawyers at Richmond, Va., is Mr. T. C. Johnson, who was born of slave parents. He attended Springfield (Mass.) Institute, then read law and was admitted to the bar. Mr. Johnson has an office in both Richmond and Petersburg, Va. He has the honor of being the local attorney for two[Pg 497] large white companies doing business in Richmond, which is another evidence of the fact that a colored man can do business in the South with white people.

THE TRUE REFORMERS.

Mention will be found of this order in Chapter XXI. of this publication.

[Pg 498]

## CHAPTER XXXV.

HERE AND THERE.

In this chapter it is my purpose to mention some men and women engaged in different lines of business throughout the country.

MR. E. H. DIBBLE.

Mr. Dibble is a native of South Carolina, and is at present operating a large store in Camden, S. C., where he keeps a stock of dry goods, boots, shoes, fancy and family groceries. Aside from the store he owns he also has an interest in another one in the same town, which is operated by his brother. The patrons at either one of the stores are not all colored by any means, but a large percentage of their trade comes from a splendid class of white people. My object in making mention of so many men engaged in business in the South is to stimulate among my readers, and especially in the North, a determination to at least make some effort along that line.

ROBERT G. WALKER.

Robert G. Walker, of Springfield, Ohio, is a carpenter and contractor the race may be proud of. He was born in Ohio. At one time he was the leading[Pg 499] contractor of Hill City, Kansas, and gave employment to fourteen men as carpenters. He built the courthouse, jail, and many of the store buildings. He also served there as city clerk. He returned to Springfield because of hard times in the West, and began contracting for himself after working a while as foreman for a white contractor. Mr. Walker has built some of the finest houses in Springfield owned by white people. He is very much thought of by his race and the better class of the whites.

JAMES NELSON,

manufacturer of "IXL" and Whiteley plows, two and four-horse wagons, carts, etc., in Springfield, Ohio. Mr. Nelson was born a slave in the State of Kentucky, and learned his trade as blacksmith while a slave. He has carried on a business in Springfield for himself, with a great deal of success, for quite a number of years. He bought out the entire right to manufacture the "IXL" and Whiteley plows, and has very much improved the plow and worked up a splendid sale for it, principally throughout the various Middle, Western, and Southern States.

He also makes a specialty of manufacturing an iron tank-wagon, used by men who are in the oil business and deliver oil from house to house. He has shipped these tank-wagons to several of the different States.

JOHN H. ANDERSON.

John H. Anderson, of Urbana, Ohio, is the leading contractor and builder of that city. He has had and[Pg 500] finished some very large contracts. He built the Y. M. C. A. building in Piqua, Ohio, also a beautiful passenger station at same place. Mr. Anderson had a contract to build a factory in Urbana that cost one hundred thousand dollars. His finest work, he says, was done on a residence in Urbana that cost forty thousand dollars. Most of the men employed by Mr. Anderson are white; but whenever he can secure a good workman among colored men, he is only too glad to give him work. I regard him as one of the leading colored contractors in the country.

CAPTAIN HENRY.

Mr. Henry, of Pocomoke City, Md., better known as "Captain Henry," owns several sailing vessels that are manned by colored men, which he operates between Pocomoke City, Md., and Philadelphia, Pa. He ships large cargoes of wood, used in Philadelphia for fuel. Mr. Henry also has a large dry goods and grocery store in Pocomoke City.

MR. GEORGE H. WHITE.

Mr. George H. White, of Staunton, Va., has a large and well-stocked grocery store, and very nearly all of his patrons are white. He was born a slave in Virginia, and spent the early part of his life at the blacksmith trade. He has been in the grocery business since 1892, and his trade has been growing larger ever since. He owns a beautiful home and has the confidence and respect of the best citizens, both white and colored.

[Pg 501]

FRANK T. WARE.

Frank T. Ware was born a slave at Staunton, Va., May 15, 1843. His master "hired him out" until 1860, when he was sold to Negro traders, who took him to Vicksburgh, Miss. There he served as dining-room waiter until the beginning of the war. He was then taken as a body servant into the Confederate Army, but was soon captured by the Federal troops. He then became a soldier in the Union Army, and rose to the position of orderly sergeant and continued as such until the war closed. He then came back to Staunton and went into the express business, which he followed for twelve years. Next he embarked into the hardware and furniture business, and is now said to be the leading colored man in that line of business in the United States. His store is three stories high and is packed from bottom to top. It is in the business center of Staunton. His race identity is no barrier to his success. He buys from the best firms in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Richmond, and a large number of his customers are of his own race, but the bulk of his patrons are the white people of this city and adjoining counties. Scrupulously honest in his dealings, he has won an enviable business reputation and enjoys the implicit confidence of all. He is a man of means and influence, and every good cause receives his aid.

MR. A. R. COOPER.

Mr. A. R. Cooper, of Findley, Ohio, has invented a strictly water-proof shoe. Manufacturers of shoes[Pg 502] have always claimed to make them water-proof, but who ever wore them? Mr. Cooper is a practical shoemaker, and for a long time has been giving this matter serious thought and consideration, until now his efforts have been rewarded by the invention of this shoe. It is not only guaranteed by the maker to be water-proof, but also protects the foot from any dampness whatever. The shoe will be easier, warmer, and cheaper than the ordinary make.

ROBERT ORRICK.

Robert Orrick owns the largest livery, sale, and feed stable in the city of Winchester, Va. Mr. Orrick was born a slave. He began business for himself in 1859, which was before freedom was granted. This he did by paying to his master a certain amount of money for his time. He married a freeborn woman, and as a slave could not transact any business, all business matters had to be done in his wife's name. The amount named for his time by his owner was $65 per year. His first business venture was hauling baggage and freight, and by degrees his work developed into a regular livery business. He now owns forty horses and some forty-five different kinds of vehicles. His residence and stable join, and are valued at about ten thousand dollars. In the country he has two farms of three hundred acres, valued at one hundred dollars per acre.

MR. N. T. GANT.

Mr. N. T. Gant, of Zanesville, Ohio, is a very in[Pg 503]teresting man; looks enough like the late Frederick Douglass to pass for his brother. Mr. Gant was born a slave in Virginia. He bought his own and wife's freedom. For his wife he paid fifteen hundred dollars. He moved to Zanesville before the war, and began life as a truck farmer. He made money like magic, and owns several farms now, after giving all of his children good homes. The property now used as "Gant Park" was sold by him for twenty thousand dollars, with the understanding that no intoxicating drinks were to be sold on the ground. His residence in Zanesville was a part of the park. He has one of the best-furnished homes in the State of Ohio. Among the leading business and moneyed men of Zanesville, Mr. Gant is considered one of them.

CASPER TITUS.

Norfolk, Va., can boast of a progressive man in the person of Casper Titus, a thriving florist, in Huntersville, Norfolk, Va.; carries about 3,000 feet of glass; grows plants, flowers, and vegetables; has a good patronage from white as well as colored; is the leading colored florist south of Baltimore; began business with ten lilies and eight geraniums, the few brought to him by his wife. The total number of lilies to-day is 500, with a spring sale of about 5,000 plants of different varieties.

MR. J. STEPHENSON.

Mr. J. Stephenson, watchmaker and jeweler, does[Pg 504] a good business in Norfolk, Va., and has a splendid stock of goods. He began first by repairing watches and clocks, until he had built up a trade, and at the same time saved enough money to put in a small stock of goods. His trade is by no means confined to colored people. His success simply shows what can be done when the proper effort is put forth.

MR. W. J. OVERTON.

Mr. Overton, of Clarksville, Tenn., was for years before his death foreman and manager of the Clarksville ice factory. He began work there as a fireman. Mr. Overton had the confidence and respect of the best people in the city. He, by hard work and good management, saved enough money to purchase splendid property.

J. W. PAGE.

Mr. J. W. Page is also of Clarksville, Tenn., and is regarded by all as a very prominent man. For years he was one of the city councilmen, and much of the public improvement in his ward has been done through his effort. He owns a great deal of property, which is rented. At his home he operates a grocery business that is well patronized in that portion of the city. Mr. Page takes an active part in church and Sunday-school work; in fact, in all things that will in any way lift up his people.

BOTTS & HENSLEY.

Messrs. Botts & Hensley, at Mt. Sterling, Ky., own[Pg 505] and operate one of the leading grocery stores of that city. Both of these men stand high and own good homes. Their patrons are mostly white.

J. R. HAWKINS.

Mr. J. R. Hawkins, of Hopkinsville, Ky., has a very large and well-furnished grocery store. His trade is about equally divided between the white and colored people. As for his white patrons, he has some of the leading families in the city who deal there. He owns a splendid home, and is very highly respected by all.

A. C. BRENT.

Mr. A. C. Brent, also of Hopkinsville, Ky., is engaged in the grocery business. He has a large trade and many white patrons. Hopkinsville has many things of interest among colored people. In addition to Mr. Hawkins' and Mr. Brent's grocery business, Mr. Peter Postell has a large store, which is mentioned in another part of this publication.

MR. E. W. GLASS.

Mr. E. W. Glass, of Hopkinsville, Ky., is a successful undertaker. He is a native of Hopkinsville, and has always taken an active part in all movements that would advance his people. Mr. Glass has been one of the city teachers, and for some four years was engaged in the revenue service as United States storekeeper. He was at one time an alderman in his ward. As an undertaker he is a success, and is re[Pg 506]garded as one of the leading men in that line in the State.

MRS. C. HODGES.

Mrs. C. Hodges, a colored woman, is holding the position of Deputy Meat Inspector in one of Mr. Armour's large packing houses at Kansas City, Kan.

MRS. M. M. BROWN.

Mrs. M. M. Brown, of Staunton, Va., has a good dressmaking business. She keeps on hand a large stock of ladies' ready-made clothing of all kinds. She owns a splendid building on Main Street. The most of her customers are white.

MISS ELIZABETH B. SLAUGHTER.

MISS E. B. SLAUGHTER.

Miss E. B. Slaughter, of Louisville, Ky., is a young lady who deserves more than passing mention. She is engaged in the millinery business, and has built up a splendid trade among both white and colored patrons. Miss Slaughter learned her trade in the "Armour Institute" at Chicago, Ill., where she, in part, worked her way through that institution. Her store is well and neatly furnished, and she keeps on hand a line of goods that will please the best class of patrons among both races. I regard her work of great interest from the fact that she is one of the first among colored ladies who have made an effort along this line. We publish a splendid picture of Miss Slaughter in this edition in the hope that it, along with this short sketch of her work and success, may [Pg 507]inspire some other young lady to start in business of some sort. When colored people, and especially ladies, are engaged in different business enterprises, such as women take up as a means of support, white people will then be compelled to see them not only as cooks and washerwomen, but as business women and competitors. Then, too, when colored ladies can operate successful millinery stores, that in itself will at least have a tendency to make white women engaged in such business treat their colored customers[Pg 508] with more consideration. Miss Slaughter is a graduate from the schools of this city. She is very highly respected, and I am sure that the better class of colored ladies are proud of the fact that Louisville has a colored milliner. At Lexington, Ky., Mrs. J. C. Jackson and Mrs. Hathaway have opened a millinery and notion store, and they are meeting with success.

MR. ANDREW HAYDEN.

Andrew Hayden, of Cynthiana, Ky., a blacksmith by trade and an ex-slave, has, by very hard work and good business judgment, built up quite a start in life in the way of good property. He owns, in addition to his residence, which is a beautiful brick structure, several houses, which are rented—one as a business house, and some ten others as dwellings. Mr. Hayden has his own home in the most aristocratic part of the town, and his family are the only colored people on that street. His house is well furnished, and his wife takes great pride in her home. She has a very large and fine collection of house plants, and Mr. Hayden built her a very fine pit to keep them in during the cold weather. He has but little education, but a large stock of good common sense. I regard him as a credit to the town.

PEOPLE'S DRUG STORE.

MR. R. F. WHITE.

The People's Drug Store, located at Louisville, Ky., is another evidence of colored people's ability to manage business enterprises of their own. The store [Pg 509]is well equipped with a good stock of goods, and is patronized by both races. It is kept neat and clean. Mr. R. F. White, who has charge of the store, is a graduate in pharmacy from Howard University, at Washington, D. C., and stands high in his profession. In speaking of the class of people who give the most support to race enterprises, Mr. White thinks "that the middle-class seem to have more interest and pride in the places of business started by colored men than those who have had better advantages, and ought,[Pg 510] because of their ability, feel a deeper interest in all things that would help in any way the business development of the race." Of all stores that would be helpful to the colored people a drug store would be one of them, from the fact that the business could only be carried on by educated people, and the more of that class who can be brought into prominent places the better for the entire race. Mr. White is a native of Florida and is much thought of by his people. He is progressive, and believes in perfect system and order, and conducts the drug store on that principle.

GREENE BROTHERS.

Greene Brothers, of Holly Springs, Miss., are merchants on a very large scale. They handle a general line of all sorts of goods that can be found in what is known in the South as a general store. They furnish quite a number of planters from year to year, and of course take their chances on the results of the crops for their pay. They are young men and owe their success to the very close attention they give to the business. Their store is not only one of the leading places of business in Holly Springs, but is one of the best in the State. I live in hope that the time is not far distant when just such places of business can be found in every town in the South owned by colored men.

REV. I. H. ANDERSON.

Rev. I. H. Anderson, of Jackson, Tenn., is another evidence of Negro success. Mr. Anderson has been[Pg 511] for years a minister in what is known as the C. M. E. Church, and for some years managed the publishing house of that connection at Jackson, Tenn. He has retired from active work in the ministry and gone into business. Mr. Anderson has built a very fine brick block in Jackson, where he keeps a line of groceries, dry goods, boots and shoes; in fact, a general store. He has a large white trade. I am informed that in addition to his store he owns a large amount of property.

FITE'S STUDIO.

Mr. S. Fite, owner of Fite's Studio, at Owensboro, Ky., is in a position to render the race a great service. It is acknowledged that he is by far the best photographer in that city, and his patrons are not only the leading white people there, but they come from other towns to have work done. Mr. Fite had a hard struggle when he first located at Owensboro, because of the unfair means used by the white men engaged in the same line of work to defeat him. But he has more than won the fight, and stands at the head as an example of what push and pluck will do.

J. G. HIGGINS.

Mr. and Mrs. Higgins, at Chattanooga, Tenn., are engaged in business in a way that will be helpful to the race. Mrs. Higgins is a manufacturer of human hair goods, in such things as switches, wigs, waves, bangs, and vest-chains. Her patrons are about all white, and their store is in the heart of the business[Pg 512] part of the city, and is one of the neatest stores in that line I ever saw. Mr. Higgins is a practical watchmaker, and has a splendid trade repairing and cleaning watches.

J. W. MOORE.

J. W. Moore, at Paducah, Ky., is another successful business man. Mr. Moore is a native of Louisville, Ky. He was at one time a clerk in the Mileage Department of the C. & O. & S. W. R. R. office, and was also a letter-carrier for three years at Paducah. He operates now a very large grocery store; in fact, one of the best in the city. He has something to show for his labor, in the way of some eight houses, seven of which are rented. I found him interested in all that will help and advance the race.

JORDAN C. JACKSON.

Jordan C. Jackson, the subject of this sketch, was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, February 25, 1848. He is a remarkable example of what pluck and energy can do for a man without scholastic training. Mr. Jackson has been a prominent figure in the State for twenty years, and has attended every Republican convention held in the State within that time.

JORDAN C. JACKSON.

He was alternate delegate to the late Hon. W. C. Goodloe to the National Republican Convention, which met in Cincinnati in 1876, and delegate-at-large to the National Republican Convention which met at Minneapolis to nominate Benjamin Harrison the second time as President of the United States—an honor [Pg 513]which only one other man of the race has had conferred upon him from Kentucky. Mr. Jackson was twice elected lay trustee of Wilberforce University, and is now, and has been for the past twelve years, trustee of Berea College, the most unique institution on the American continent. He stands ready with might and means to do his part in any and all movements for the advancement of his race. Mr. Jackson has been United States storekeeper and gauger for a[Pg 514] number of years, and has always taken rank as a first-class officer. He is now a member of the undertaking firm of Porter & Jackson, and has won for the firm and himself a place in the confidence of the people that can be had only by fair business transactions and personal integrity. He was a most valued contributor to the Standard for a year, and was known to the many readers as "Observer," a title that befits him well, as all who have read his able articles will readily attest. Owing to his many business cares, he has for a time retired from the literary field, and in losing him the Standard has lost one of its most highly prized writers. Writing under the nom de plume of Uncle Eph, he also furnished a number of most valuable articles for the American Citizen. He combines qualities that every man is not possessed of—literary talent and business qualification. Mr. Jackson is one of the most enthusiastic workers against the enactment of the separate-coach law of Kentucky, and was one of the first men appointed to wait on Governor Brown for the purpose of preventing the passage of the now obnoxious law. He is a member of the State Central Committee, and there is no man on the entire committee who is more in the struggle that we are now undergoing. He believes that if sufficient money is collected to test the constitutionality of the law, that it will be wiped from the statute-book of the Commonwealth. Mr. Jackson was elected temporary chairman of the separate-coach convention held in Lexington, Ky., June 22, 1892.

[Pg 515]

REV. A. H. MILLER.

REV. A. H. MILLER.

Rev. A. H. Miller, the subject of this brief sketch, was born a slave in St. Francis county, Arkansas, March 12, 1849. He has lived in Arkansas all his life, with the exception of a brief period just after the war, which was spent in St. Louis, Mo. After remaining in St. Louis about one year he returned to Arkansas, worked by the day, and saved enough money to give himself one session in Southland College, near Helena, which constitutes the major por[Pg 516]tion of his school advantage. He was chosen by the people of his county to represent them in the Arkansas General Assembly, in 1874, and served his whole term honorably. It was with the small amount of money he saved while a member of the State Legislature that he began his remarkable career as a financier. He is a man of economical habits, and gives close attention to his personal business. He has amassed a handsome little fortune, being regarded as one of the wealthiest negroes in East Arkansas. Rev. Miller has travelled extensively, and is well known in the Baptist denomination. He is somewhat a philanthropist, and has the credit of being one of the first to make a personal gift to the National Baptist Publishing House. He has filled many important places in the work of his denomination. He is prominent as a local leader, and is at present a member of the Helena School Board. Mr. Miller owns and rents some fifty houses in Helena, and is building more for that purpose.

MR. S. BOYCE.

MR. S. BOYCE.

Mr. Stansbury Boyce, of Jacksonville, Florida, has made a start in the right direction, and I hope that many colored men will follow in the lead he has taken. I have mentioned many men who have stores and are doing a successful business, but Mr. Boyce is the first one I have found who operates a regular department store on the plan of a city store of the same kind. Each department is in the hands of a colored girl, who has been trained by Mr. Boyce as [Pg 517]a saleslady, and I am very confident that the girls in his store understand their work and know the quality of goods quite as well as white girls doing the same work. The store is patronized as much by white people as it is by colored, and Mr. Boyce said that in the "millinery department most of his trade came from the best class of white ladies." I hope those who read this short sketch will see what a great blessing stores like this would prove to the colored people if we had them all over the country, not only[Pg 518] to make money for the owner, but for the purpose of giving employment to a large number of well-educated girls who can't find anything to do outside of teaching and domestic work. I found Mr. Boyce not only a successful merchant, but a very intelligent and polished gentleman. His wife has charge of the millinery department, and she thoroughly understands her work.

ISAAC JOHNSON.

Isaac Johnson, Manufacturer and Dealer in Florida Curiosities, Jewelry, Novelties, Live and Stuffed Alligators, Chameleons, Shells, Palmetto Fans, Fly Brushes and all kinds of Alligator Tooth Jewelry—such is the wording of the billhead handed me by Mr. Johnson, the only colored man in the country who owns a store where all kinds of curiosities are made and sold. His store is in Jacksonville, Florida, and when walking down Hogan street your attention is frequently attracted to large crowds gathered on the left-hand side of the street. This is the great curio establishment sometimes known as the "Alligator Store," and is owned and operated by Mr. Isaac Johnson.

Mr. Johnson, when a boy, was employed on the very spot where he is now proprietor to assist around the store. He showed great ability, and as time went on this boy began to take hold of the work and manifested a deep interest in all curiosities. And from stuffing alligators he began to make very many pretty designs from different parts of this animal,[Pg 519] thus showing his ability in various directions, which was soon recognized by those who employed him.

ISAAC JOHNSON.

He not only displayed his ability, but he took special training, thus fitting himself for the work, which is one of an expert nature. Before very many years went by Mr. Johnson, by his honesty, thrift and diligence, not only acquired and mastered the trade, but was able when the opportunity presented itself to buy out the business, and to-day he is doing a large trade and is able to help others of his race.

[Pg 520]

HOWARD BROTHERS.

E. E. HOWARD.

P. W. & E. E. Howard, of Jackson, Miss., are engaged in the mercantile business on quite a large scale. They handle a general line of dry goods and groceries. I have mentioned several men who are engaged in the same line of business, in different parts of the country, and some who own larger stores, but when we take into consideration the age of these young men their effort becomes a thing of great interest to the public at large. Mr. E. E.[Pg 521] Howard, whose cut appears in connection with this sketch, is only about 21 years of age, while his brother, P. W. Howard, is only 24. These young men both attended Rust University, at Holly Springs, Miss., and there and at the public schools prepared themselves for their life's work. The money they have invested in their business is entirely their own earnings—from boyhood they have been saving what they could earn with a view of some time going into some line of business. I have no doubt but what a large number of young men who have lived only to enjoy life will read this sketch with a degree of sadness when they look over their past life and think how different things might have gone for them had they followed in the footsteps of such energetic and progressive young men as the Howard Brothers.

MR. E. E. FLUKER.

MR. E. E. FLUKER.

E. E. Fluker, of Pine Bluff, Ark., is another of the successful merchants of the South. Mr. Fluker, like most men, began business on a small amount of money, and has had some heavy losses that were hard to stand and remain in business. He has a large store, and does both a wholesale and retail trade in dry goods, hats, caps, boots and shoes and groceries. Mr. Fluker handles cotton on a large scale, and thinks nothing of buying and selling twelve thousand bales per year. He furnishes dry goods and provisions to a large number of poor planters who can only pay their bills once a year, and that is when they sell their cotton. Mr. Fluker[Pg 522] has also been active in society work and has been instrumental in getting large numbers of colored people into benevolent societies, where they could get help when sick and in need. He owns a fine brick block in Pine Bluff, where his business is conducted, and in part of his building one of the city banks is operated. The room where the bank is is rented to white people, who carry on that business.

MR. R. J. PALMER.

MR. R. J. PALMER.

R. J. Palmer, of Columbia, S. C., the subject of this short sketch, is one of the successful and leading business men of that city. Mr. Palmer is a merchant tailor by occupation. His patrons are numbered among the leading white citizens of Columbia, who give him their work because of the confidence they[Pg 523] have in him as an honest business man and an excellent workman in his line. Mr. Palmer keeps on hand a full and complete stock of foreign and domestic woolens and a good line of gents' furnishing goods. He employs only the best of workmen, and he does all the cutting and fitting, and his business is carried on in a good brick building, which is owned by himself. He also owns a good home. He is an active and prominent member of the M. E. Church. Mr. Palmer is a native of South Carolina, and has all his life enjoyed the respect and confidence of the best people of both races.

[Pg 524]

MR. LOUIS KASTOR.

MR. LOUIS KASTOR.

Louis Kastor, of Natchez, Miss., is the only colored man I have found in my travels engaged in the line of work he represents, at least on so large a scale as he carries on his business. He is a first-class harness-maker by trade and owns one of the largest and best-equipped stores in his line in the country. In addition to the harness he makes he keeps on hand a large stock of ready-made harness, bridles,[Pg 525] saddles, whips, rugs, in fact, a large and complete stock of all goods sold by men in his business. Mr. Kastor began first with $65.00, and is now doing a business of some $22,000 a year. He owns a fine property for a residence, and has the respect and confidence of the best people in Natchez. In addition to his own residence Mr. Kastor owns three other houses, which he has rented. I found him a very intelligent man, and one who is very anxious to see the colored people advance in every department of life. He feels that they must be engaged in all lines of work and business in order that they may succeed.

MISSISSIPPI COTTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

This company is located at Jackson, Miss., for the purpose of building a large cotton mill where colored labor only will be employed.

On nearly every sidewalk, at every railway station from the country store to the great city, the highways are crowded with idle colored boys. It is very difficult for them to find employment in the commercial pursuits of any kind. They would gladly seize an opportunity to earn a livelihood along the industrial lines if they were permitted. Hence the necessity of the erection of the cotton factory. The Mississippi Cotton Manufacturing Company is incorporated under the laws of the State of Mississippi for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and woolen goods and such other articles as the directors from time to time may see fit. Such an enterprise was proposed by the[Pg 526] lamented Frederick Douglass in 1893, who was president of the Freedom Manufacturing Company, of which Hon. James Hill was vice-president. Owing to the money panic of '93, Mr. Douglass decided to wait until after the panic had subsided and business confidence was restored. On the eve of this restoration of business confidence Mr. Douglass died. The idea has heretofore prevailed that the negro is not competent to manage or operate any manufacturing concern or any great business enterprise. We cannot yield assent to that idea. The young people who are being educated in the various colleges of this country should not all seek to go into the professions, and the main object of this company is to build this factory and give the deserving boys and girls in that State an opportunity to follow the industrial as well as the professional walks of life.

The capital stock of the company is $250,000. The shares of stock are placed at $10 each. Any person, however, can purchase as many shares of stock as he may desire.

Mississippi is one of the greatest cotton-producing States in the Union, and the negro produces the major part of said product, and he should feel a deep interest in the manufacture of this raw material, thereby doing something to advance civilization and adding something substantial to the commonwealth and the welfare of its people.

HON. JAMES HILL.
President of Cotton Mill Company.

Hon. James Hill is president of the above company. Mr. Hill is a man of high standing and well known in all parts of this country. He has been a[Pg 527] political leader for years, and has held some very important positions. He was at one time Postmaster of Vicksburg, Miss., the largest town in the State. Mr. Hill is now, in 1900, in the United States Land Office at Jackson, Miss. He was appointed to this position by President McKinley.

Rev. E. W. Lampton, first vice-president of the company, is also a well-known man. He has been a very active man in the A. M. E. Church. His home[Pg 528] is at Greenville, Miss., where he owns valuable property. Mr. Lampton has been at the head of the Masonic order for the State of Mississippi, and thousands of dollars have been disbursed by him for the benefit of widows and orphans annually.

MR. EUGENE BURKINS.

EUGENE BURKINS,
Inventor of the Burkins Automatic Machine-Gun.

Eugene Burkins, inventor of the "Burkins Automatic Machine-Gun," was at one time a bootblack in the city of Chicago. He never had any education[Pg 529] outside of learning how to read and write. Nor had he ever been a soldier, or had any experience with guns of any description; and for that reason his invention is all the more wonderful. He began first to make a careful study of the picture that appeared in the papers, showing the guns on the "Battleship Maine." Mr. Burkins saw in what way he could improve the machine-gun by increasing its rapid-firing capacity, and along that line he began to work. His first model was mostly made with a pocket-knife. Some of the leading colored people helped him secure his patent. Mr. Madden, a wealthy man in Chicago, furnished over $3,000 to make a perfect model. Admiral Dewey said it was "by far the best machine-gun ever made." It shoots seven times more a minute than the Gatling gun, and will doubtless take the place of other machine-guns. Several foreign countries have offered large sums for the right to manufacture it for their navies; but Mr. Burkins and Mr. Madden, his partner, proposed to control the manufacturing interest in this country.

MR. GEO. E. JONES.

MR. GEO. E. JONES.

Mr. Geo. E. Jones, of Little Rock, Ark., is beyond doubt one of the most successful business men among the colored people. He began life a very poor boy, without friends or capital, and has by hard work and close economy placed himself among the most prominent business men of his city. Mr. Jones is engaged in the undertaking business, and can say what no other colored man engaged in that line of work in the South can say, and that is—he has about [Pg 530]as much patronage among the white people as he has with his own race. Mr. Jones first started in business as a merchant on a small amount of money, and finally worked into the undertaking business. He owns now in Little Rock quite a large amount of property, and among the different buildings there he has two large brick blocks, one on Main street, where he has his undertaking establishment, and one on West Ninth street, which is rented. In the Ninth street block Mr. Jones has in one room a fine drug[Pg 531] store, which he employs a young druggist to attend to. He owns a fine lot of horses and carriages used in his business as an undertaker. His residence is by far the best furnished home I ever saw owned by a colored man. Mrs. Jones, his wife, is a very refined and cultured lady.

MR. G. W. HIGGINS.

MR. G. W. HIGGINS.

G. W. Higgins was born in South Carolina, and lived for some time at Newberry, S. C. He began at[Pg 532] an early age to acquire an education in order that he might be of some help to himself and race. Mr. Higgins attended Biddle University at Charlotte, N. C., where he took a course in theology. He was at one time principal of the public school at Old Fort, N. C., and while teaching there he established a Presbyterian Church, which is still in existence. After leaving the Presbyterian work he joined the A. M. E. Zion Connection, and was appointed pastor at Abington, Va., and afterwards at Johnson City, Tenn. There he became interested in the industrial advancement of the colored people, and set about to learn some trade, and secured work in a first-class steam laundry, and learned the business thoroughly, and afterwards operated a laundry of his own. Mr. Higgins came to Cincinnati, O., in 1893 and secured employment with the Oil and Grease Company of Chas. H. Moore & Co. After five years of faithful work for that firm he became an expert in the compounding of the oils and greases made by the firm, and was offered a larger salary by Burchard & Co., of Cincinnati, who are refiners of lard oil. For this firm, Mr. Higgins has charge as foreman of the oil and grease department. He is much thought of by his employers.

MR. A. MEANS.

A. Means, of Memphis, Tenn., is a practical hatter, and is the only colored man I know of engaged in that line of work. He has a large trade and keeps on hand a select assortment of the latest styles in[Pg 533] hats and caps. Mr. Means does a large business in cleaning and repairing hats.

MR. J. E. HENDERSON.

J. E. Henderson, of Little Rock, Ark., is engaged in the jewelry business. Mr. Henderson is regarded as a good workman in his line, and for some years before he began business for himself he did the repair work for one of the leading jewelry houses of Little Rock. He gets a great deal of his work now from the white people. I hope before many years to see a larger number of colored men engaged in the jewelry trade.

SOUTHERN MERCANTILE COMPANY.

The Southern Mercantile Company, Pine Bluff, Ark., is a company of excellent business men, who are demonstrating that colored men can manage a successful business enterprise. They handle a large stock of dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes and plantation supplies. They do both a wholesale and retail business. The firm has in it such men as Wiley Jones, Fred. Havis, who is president of the company, and Mr. M. R. Perry, as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Perry is a graduate from one of the best schools in the country and regarded as a splendid business man.

MR. L. CARTER.

L. Carter, of Greenville, Miss., was born of slave parents at Carthage, Tenn. He has been in Mississippi since 1866. Mr. Carter owns and operates[Pg 534] the only large book store in the country owned by a colored man. He keeps a splendid stock of school books, blank books, stationery, periodicals and a good assortment of story books and toys. In speaking of where he got the greater part of his support, he said that at least two-thirds of his patronage came from the white people, and among the best class of them. Mr. Carter owns good property in Greenville as a residence, and is regarded as one of the prominent citizens.

DAVIS & ROBINSON.

Davis & Robinson, of Jacksonville, Fla., are the leading commission merchants of that city. They do both a wholesale and retail business in oranges, fruits, strawberries, northern produce, turkeys, chickens, eggs, early vegetables. They handle melons in car-load lots and keep all kinds of game in season. They also supply the large hotels there with all they need in their line. Both of these men are respected and regarded as excellent business men by the leading people.

MRS. ELLA HENDERSON.

Mrs. Ella Henderson, who is located at Natchez, Miss., has opened a very excellent millinery store, where she keeps a splendid stock of goods in that line of trade. As I have stated in other parts of this book, there are very few colored ladies engaged in the millinery business. This is to be regretted, for there is an opening for some one to do well in all towns where the colored population is large. Mrs.[Pg 535] Henderson has taken special training to thoroughly prepare herself for the successful management of her business. She started in a small way, and has twice since she opened her store had to enlarge the room in order to meet the demands of her trade. She buys her stock from the best houses in the country. The travelling salesmen who visit the town with millinery goods call on her and give her the same attention to secure her patronage as they do the white ladies in the same business. I hope that many colored ladies who may read this short sketch will be inspired to at least try and start some kind of business.

RISHER BAKERY COMPANY.

Mr. H. T. Risher, of Jackson, Miss., who owns and operates a very large and successful bakery business, has taken a new departure in the line of business for colored people. I have only found two men engaged in that line of work. One was Mr. Jones, at Danville, Va., and Mr. Risher, of Jackson. His place of business is equipped with all the modern appliances for a first-class bake shop. Mr. Risher's trade extends to many of the towns in the State, where he supplies merchants who sell his bread. He has several delivery wagons that are used to supply his city patrons. Mr. Risher is regarded as a very excellent man, who is much interested in all that will advance the cause of his race in a business and educational way. He has been one of the leading spirits in building up Campbell College at Jackson,[Pg 536] one of the A. M. E. schools. Mr. Risher owns splendid property and enjoys the respect of both white and colored people.

MR. F. B. COFFIN.

F. B. Coffin, of Little Rock, Ark., is a druggist by profession. He operates a very fine drug store at Little Rock for Mr. Geo. E. Jones. Mr. Coffin is a graduate from Meharry Medical College, at Nashville, Tenn. In addition to his work as a druggist he has written a book of poems, entitled "Coffin's Poems." The book has 248 pages, and contains some very interesting matter, which shows his ability as a writer. Part of his book is devoted to the question of Lynch law, and he speaks out like a true and brave man against that awful curse to this country.

MR. J. E. BUSH.

J. E. Bush was born in Moscow, Tenn., in 1856. His parents moved to Arkansas during the rebellious unpleasantness of 1862. At an early age he manifested the energy and self-reliance that has developed him into the useful prominence of a worthy and highly respected citizen. He earned his tuition at school by moulding brick. He may have made "bricks without straw," but his manliness has never allowed him to complain of the many hardships he has endured to overcome the difficulties in his experience or surmount the obstacles with which he has so often been brought into contact. Mr. Bush was educated in the schools of Little Rock, Ark.[Pg 537] He has been successful in life and owns valuable property there. He has also held some important political positions, and was appointed in 1898 by President McKinley as Receiver of the United States Land Office at Little Rock.

DR. G. W. BELL.

Dr. G. W. Bell, of Pine Bluff, Ark., is a graduate of Lincoln University, and he took his medical training at "The University of Michigan." He has a very large practice. Dr. Bell has established, in connection with his profession, a private sanitarium for the benefit of those who come to him from a distance for treatment. He has built a comfortable building for that purpose, and I think it is the only institution of the kind carried on by a colored doctor in the State.

MISS MATTIE JENNETE JOHNSON.

Miss Mattie J. Johnson is employed as a saleslady in Siegel, Cooper & Company's large store in the city of Chicago. She began work for them in 1893, and has been there ever since. Miss Johnson is in the grocery department, and is looked upon by her employers as one of the most competent women in their store. She has many warm friends among the patrons of the establishment. While Miss Johnson is the first colored lady thus employed, knowing that she was colored when they engaged her, I am sure she will not be the last, and I hope many young women will prepare themselves for some useful place.

[Pg 538]

DR. T. M. DORAM, M. D. V.

DR. T. M. DORAM, M. D. V.

Dr. Doram will doubtless be quite a bit of interest to the readers of this book, from the fact that he is the first and only negro graduate to receive a diploma from a veterinary college in the United States. He was born in Danville, Ky., where his parents own valuable farm land. His father was a carpenter, and when Dr. Doram was young he worked with him at the trade. After he had finished at the public school, in 1892, he entered Eckstein Norton Uni[Pg 539]versity at Cane Spring, Ky. While there the building was destroyed by fire. Dr. Doram then found his knowledge of the carpenter's trade of great value to him and the school, in helping to rebuild the college building. In 1896 he entered the McKillip Veterinary College at Chicago, Ill. At the close of the first year he was at the head of his class in materia medica, and the second year he led his class in pharmacy, and during his last year he was made senior instructor of his class, an honor of which he may be justly proud. In 1899, when he graduated, he came to Evanston, Ill., where he enjoys a good practice, and he is called in his profession by the best people in that very wealthy and aristocratic community. I very much hope that a few at least of the young colored men who may read this sketch may be inspired to take up the profession of veterinary medicine and surgery, for I am confident that many could succeed in different parts of the country.

MR. J. W. ADAMS.

MR. J. W. ADAMS.

In presenting a few words about Mr. J. W. Adams and his business I feel that I am doing the people at large a great favor to give them an opportunity to know something about this eminently successful colored business man. My attention was first called to Mr. Adams by Prof. Booker T. Washington while I was lecturing at Tuskegee. I changed my plans somewhat in order that I might visit Montgomery, Ala., and see both the man and his place of business. Mr. Adams was born in 1867. He began [Pg 540]business for himself about 1899. But before that he picked up some knowledge of business by working for a large clothing house in Montgomery. He first went there as a porter, but in time they allowed him to sell goods. Mr. Adams always saved his money, and when he had about three hundred and fifty dollars he decided to make an effort for himself. He now operates a large store, where he sells dry goods, clothing, millinery, boots and shoes, hats, caps, trunks, notions, etc. Mr. Adams carries a stock of over twenty thousand dollars, and his store covers[Pg 541] over four thousand square feet; but he first started in a room only 18 by 19 feet. His patrons are about evenly divided between white and colored people. He gives employment to a large number of clerks, all colored. In the millinery department I found two young ladies who had learned their trade at Tuskegee. Many of the white ladies in Montgomery buy their hats at Mr. Adams' store. I need not tell you that he is of great importance and help to the race, for we all know what a great inspiration such a man must be in stimulating a feeling among young men to at least try to build up some business interest.

MR. H. A. LOVELESS.

MR. H. A. LOVELESS.

Mr. H. A. Loveless is also a resident of Montgomery, Ala., and must be classed among the successful business men of the race. He, like Mr. Adams, began business on a small scale, and by hard work and an untiring effort he has made a showing no man need to be ashamed of. Mr. Loveless operates a coal and wood yard, where he gives employment to a large force of men. He also owns teams and does general hauling, and has nine fine carriages that are kept on the street for the benefit of the general public. Then, in addition to what I have referred, Mr. Loveless has a very large undertaker's establishment, which also gives quite a number of people employment. He owns fine town property, and is regarded by both white and colored people as a very excellent man. He takes an active part in church work, and is especially in[Pg 542]terested in every movement that will advance the colored people in the development of business interest. He along with other leading men of the race feel that industrial education, and a good business training for the young, will prove a great factor in the solution of what we call a "race problem."

PROF. R. B. HUDSON.

PROF. R. B. HUDSON.

Prof. R. B. Hudson is a resident of Selma, Ala., where he is principal of the city school for colored [Pg 543]youths. The school is a very large one, and is regarded by such men as B. T. Washington, W. H. Councill and others as the best public school in the State. Mr. Hudson has been very active in educational and religious work, and for over fifteen years has been superintendent of a large Sunday-school, and president of the largest District Sunday-school Convention in the State. He is also secretary for the Baptist State Convention, and statistician for the Baptist denomination in the State. Prof. Hudson[Pg 544] was for six years secretary of the State Teachers' Association, and was then elevated to the presidency. So one can see that in a religious and educational work Mr. Hudson has been a very useful man, and I am glad to inform my readers that he has also done something in a business way, that is of great value to the race in starting a large coal and wood yard in Selma, where he gives employment to quite a force of men. There are six coal and wood yards in the city, and Prof. Hudson has the second in size. His business in that line brings him an income of over ten thousand dollars per year, and his customers are made up of all classes, among them bankers, lawyers and leading merchants among the white people. Prof. Hudson is still young, and I am sure has a great future ahead of him.

DR. L. L. BURWELL.

Dr. Burwell is also a resident of Selma, Ala., and a young man the people seem very fond of. He worked his way through school and graduated with high honors at Selma University, after which he entered Leonard Medical College, at Raleigh, N. C., and by hard work finished the four-year course in three. Dr. Burwell located at Selma, and has built up a very extensive practice. He owns valuable property, and operates one of the largest drug stores in the South, and perhaps the largest owned by a colored man. The country people have great confidence in him, not only as a physician, but as a splendid business man, and from far in the country people[Pg 545] come to get his opinion on some business matter. In our late war with Spain the doctor induced over thirty colored men to enlist, on the ground that they ought to show their loyalty to the American government. I regret that I am unable to present a picture of the doctor.

JOHN M. BROWN.

Mr. John M. Brown is to me a very interesting character. My attention was first called to him by a white man who sells the goods manufactured by Mr. Brown. The white man was a Southerner, but seemed quite proud of him. He is located in Macon, Ga., and operates a broom factory on quite a large scale, so much so that most of the time he has fifteen people employed. He makes only a high grade of brooms and sells them to the white merchants. Mr. Brown does not send out a white man to sell his goods, but goes himself and presents his claim for their patronage on the merits of his manufactured article. I am glad to tell my readers that only on one or two occasions has his color been a hindrance to him in the State of Georgia, as far as the sale of his brooms are concerned. Just one other point of interest that will, I am sure, be appreciated, and that is, Mr. Brown has taught colored men the trade of broom making, and employs only members of the race.

MR. CHARLES W. CHESTNUT.

Few people are aware of the fact that Mr. Charles W. Chestnut, whose volumes of character sketches and short stories have made him famous, is a colored[Pg 546] man. His home is in Cleveland, and to meet him on the street one would take him for a clerk in a store rather than an author. Until within the past couple of years Mr. Chestnut was a court stenographer in Cleveland and employed several assistants. He has reported dozens of large conventions in this city, and he is known to thousands as a stenographer. Mr. Chestnut is of medium size and of very slight build. His hair is light and he has a small, light mustache. His hair has a slight tendency to kink, but this is hardly noticeable. His complexion is very fair, so much so that many Cleveland people believe him a white man.

PROVIDENT HOSPITAL.

Provident Hospital and Training School, St. Louis, Mo., opened for the care of colored patients in this city on the 4th day of April, 1899, with a staff of nine colored physicians and a consulting staff of nine white.

It has a Board of Managers composed of colored citizens of this city, it is a regular chartered institution, and has a capacity of fifteen beds, modern operating room, and three young colored women in training. Some of the most difficult operations known to surgery have been performed at the hospital during the past year. The hospital has been furnished entirely by the colored people of this city.

This institution meets a long-felt want, as the colored people are not admitted to the white hospitals in St. Louis. Miss J. E. Valentine, a graduate of the[Pg 547] Freedmen's Hospital Training School, is head nurse. The course in the training school is two years.

Dr. Samuel P. Stafford, a graduate of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and lately one of the internes of Freedmen's Hospital and Douglass Hospital, is the physician in charge. The future of the hospital is full of hope and growing in usefulness. Dr. Curtis is President of the Board of Managers; W. E. Jackson, Secretary; C. H. Dodge, Treasurer.

This data should have appeared in chapter twenty-five on Hospitals and Homes, but came too late. It, however, will be of interest to my readers.

WARREN KING.

Mr. Warren King, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is making a most excellent impression among the better class of white people as to his qualifications as a splendid business man. Mr. King has taken charge of the restaurant in what is known as the Cumberland Flats. Only the very best people live in those Flats, and they must be persons of means to afford it. Mr. King boards all who live in those magnificent buildings. He has a great many friends, and is regarded by those who take meals in his restaurant as a most excellent manager.

J. A. BRABOY & SONS.

I have stated in several places in this book that colored people are here and there engaging in all kinds of business. It is with pleasure that I call at[Pg 548]tention to Mr. J. A. Braboy & Sons, of Kokomo, Ind. These gentlemen operate what is known as a "Temple of Music." They keep on hand a good assortment of high grade pianos and organs; in fact, they handle only the best that is on the market. In addition to their stock of pianos and organs, they keep a general line of music and musical instruments. Mr. Braboy owns splendid property, and is respected by the leading people in Kokomo.

MR. Z. E. WALKER.

Mr. Z. E. Walker, of Sumter, S. C., is one of the most successful merchants in that city. He operates what is known as a general store, where all kinds of goods are sold. He owns a great deal of very valuable property in town and one or two plantations in the country. He stands high in business, church and society. Mr. Walker began business with a very small amount of money, but is now looked upon as a very well-to-do man.

MR. W. G. JOHNSON.

Mr. W. G. Johnson, of Macon, Ga., has one of the best shoe stores in that city. His stock is not only large, but is in every way up to date. Mr. Johnson feels that if he buys the best goods made his people, and especially the better class of colored people, cannot have that as an excuse for giving their patronage to the white merchants. Aside from his shoe store, he owns some very excellent property; in fact, he owns the whole block in which his store is kept. He is[Pg 549] a young man, and I believe has a useful future before him.

JAMES A. JOYCE.

Mr. James A. Joyce, of Cleveland, Ohio, is employed by the King Iron Bridge Co. of that city. Mr. Joyce is the only colored man engaged as a bridge draftsman in the U. S. A. His work for that company is making designs for high grade bridge work. Mr. Joyce has on several occasions been sent out on large contracts to oversee the construction of some very difficult work in their line. I am sorry that I am unable to give a picture of Mr. Joyce in connection with this brief mention of what I regard as a very important character in race history.

R. B. FITZGERALD.

Mr. Fitzgerald is a resident of Durham, N. C., and is one of the largest brick manufacturers in the United States. He makes a specialty of fine and ornamental brick. Mr. Fitzgerald lives in one of the handsomest residences in Durham. He is also interested in what is known as the Durham Real Estate, Mercantile and Manufacturing Company. It is not a "trust" or grasping monopoly; on the contrary, it is a trust for the people, through which, on the most generous plan, they can with absolute safety and ease become stockholders, do business and become factors in the mercantile world.

This corporation is formed under the laws of the State of North Carolina to promote manufacturing and mercantile interests, thus becoming a factor in[Pg 550] the development of nature's resources as they exist in North Carolina, thereby opening up an avenue heretofore unknown to colored people.

The shares are low, within the reach of all. For $10.00 one can become a stockholder and will be entitled to an equal share of all profit, which dividends will be declared and paid at such periods as will be designated by their by-laws.

With ample capital, backed by such well known parties as R. B. Fitzgerald, P. H. Smith, D. A. Lane, and others, under its agreements consolidating large interests, it is able to provide homes and investments, large or small, at a great benefit to its patrons, and, with absolute safety and ease, enable one to become the owner of the most precious thing on earth—a home for his family.

HOSPITAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL FOR NURSES.

The hospital and training school located at Charleston, S. C., was organized in 1897, for the purpose of training colored women as nurses. That such an institution was needed in that community is evidenced by the fact that their nurses are always in demand, and graduates find ready employment.

Students have been admitted to the institution, not only from Charleston and vicinity, but from all parts of this State, and from some adjoining States.

The course extends through two years, the first year being devoted to lectures and practical work in the hospital, and the second year to practical work in the hospital and to outside cases.

[Pg 551]

Thorough training is given in all branches of the nurse's profession, including the nursing of surgical cases. Tuition is free, and nurses are given board and lodging in the hospital building. Candidates for admission to the training school must be of good character, in good health, and have a common school education.

Further information may be procured by addressing the Surgeon-in-Chief, Dr. A. C. McClennan, at the hospital, No. 135 Cannon St., Charleston, S. C.

The general public is asked to give what aid they can for the support and development of this most worthy institution. If those who have means to give would take into consideration that by educating some young colored lady as a trained nurse they have helped one more of the race to leave somebody's cook kitchen, and enter a life where they can not only be self-sustaining, but their position would give both dignity and standing to the race.

Dr. A. C. McClennan, who is in charge of the hospital, I found a very pleasant gentleman, and one who is kept busy with a large practice outside of the hospital work. This information came too late to be mentioned with other such institutions written up in my book.

DR. L. J. HARRIS.

Dr. L. J. Harris is a native of Virginia and a son of Samuel Harris, of Williamsburg, the noted merchant referred to on page 300 of this book. Dr. Harris is a graduate of Harvard, and has taken a special course of study in the treatment of the eye,[Pg 552] ear, nose and throat, and has located in Boston, and gives all of his time to this special work. There have been a large number of colored doctors educated, and I think that, as a rule, they are succeeding in their profession as regular practitioners. But Dr. Harris is the first to establish himself as a specialist. We most certainly wish him well in this departure from a regular line of practice, and hope his success may inspire other young men to follow in his footsteps.

MR. EDWARD C. BERRY.

MR. E. C. BERRY.

Mr. E. C. Berry, owner and proprietor of a $60,000 hotel at Athens, Ohio, is a man that I feel the world ought to know. He was born at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1855; his education was received at Albany, a hamlet in Athens county. When fifteen years of age he went to Athens and was employed as a hodcarrier on the Hospital for the Insane, then in course of building. Mr. Berry was married in 1875, and for a time he boarded his wife at his own people's home. His first business venture was a lunch counter, which he started without any means, and was already $40.00 in debt. After he had got fairly started his wife joined him, and in 1878 they opened a restaurant in a small building on the site of the present hotel, and Mr. Berry's peculiar talent for serving palatable viands made him the popular caterer of the town. His restaurant was often patronized by traveling men who would arrive too late to get a meal at the hotel, and because of the most excellent meals served at his restaurant those men would ask, Why do you not [Pg 553]open a hotel? and at the same time would say, If you will, you can count on my being one of your patrons. So many of those who took meals at his restaurant said about the same thing to him that he felt encouraged to make the effort. In 1892 Mr. Berry purchased the adjoining building and commenced the erection of a twenty-room hotel. From the very first the business paid; the house was new, neat and clean, and always full of people, so much so that [Pg 554]Mr. Berry soon found that his house was inadequate for the business. In 1894 he built two large sample rooms, over which he arranged four more sleeping rooms. But one year later was—because of the increase in his trade—forced to again enlarge his house. Up to that time he had spent very near five thousand dollars in improvements. In 1899 Mr. Berry enlarged his house to its present capacity, which is forty-six sleeping rooms, a dining room with a seating capacity of seventy-five, a light, well-ven[Pg 555]tilated room used exclusively for writing 20 by 40 feet, one reading room 15 by 30 feet, four good, light sample rooms on ground floor, and the whole house is heated with three large hot-water heaters, with public bath-rooms on each floor, and several rooms with bath. The success that has come to Mr. Berry in the hotel business is due wholly to the fact that he is a natural-born caterer and a splendid manager. I have traveled for years in this and other countries, and I am free to say that the "Hotel Berry" is one of the best furnished houses I ever saw. Mr. Berry gives his personal attention to every detail that will make those who are guests in his house comfortable. His trade comes only from the best people on the road. He employs two clerks, one white and one colored. Colored people who are refined and represent the same class of whites who stop there are never turned away. I was pleased to hear him say that much of his success was due to the constant oversight his wife had of affairs in the inside management of the house. I only wish I could write an article that would paint a word-picture strong enough to make the American people see what a magnificent hotel Mr. Berry really keeps. Aside from his very busy life, he finds time to do a lot of church work, and is looked upon as the leading man in the colored Baptist church of Athens.

E. C. BERRY'S $60,000 HOTEL.

MR. DUMAR WATKINS.

MR. DUMAR WATKINS.

Dumar Watkins is another member of the race [Pg 556]who should be known by the American people at large. Mr. Watkins is holding a position and doing a line of work that has never been done by any colored man in connection with a white institution such as the one with which he is associated. My attention was called to him while lecturing at Princeton, N. J., by Rev. J. Q. Johnson. I am sure it will be as much a surprise to my readers, and I hope as much of a pleasure, as it was to me, when I learned that the[Pg 557] pathologist of Princeton University was a colored man in the person of Dumar Watkins. When we called upon him we found him at his work, preparing some pathological slides for microscopic use. He is much liked at the university, and is considered very proficient in his work. The picture I present here of Mr. Watkins is a splendid likeness of the man. I need not tell my readers that Princeton University is regarded as one of the greatest schools in the world, and it ought to very much increase the colored people's race pride to know that a member of the race holds such a position there as Mr. Watkins occupies.

MR. LEWIS H. LATIMER.

MR. LEWIS H. LATIMER.

Lewis H. Latimer, of New York city, is the only member of the race engaged in the line of work he represents. In 1880 Mr. Latimer entered the employ of the United States Electric Lighting Company as a draftsman and private secretary to Sir Hiram S. Maxim, of Maxim gun fame. In 1881 Mr. Latimer was sent to England by the above-named company to establish the manufacture of the incandescent electric lamps in the factory of the Maxim, Weston Electric Light Company of London. He returned in the latter part of 1882, and continued only a few months in the employment of the company who sent him abroad. For some time he served as draftsman and electrician in several minor companies. He was employed by the Edison Electric Light Company in 1886, and has remained [Pg 558]with them practically ever since, although that company has been absorbed by the General Electric Lighting Company. Mr. Latimer is kept in what is known as the legal expert department, and is regarded as a very competent man in his profession. He stands almost alone in his work as a colored man. I have only known of about three members of the race who have made any effort along that line, but the other two never succeeded in making any headway, at least not enough to become known to any[Pg 559] extent. Now, one can easily see that the people who employ Mr. Latimer must hold him in high esteem and place in him the most implicit confidence, or they would never have sent him to another country to represent their business. This mention of Mr. Latimer is another evidence that colored people are gradually but surely getting into all lines of business and professions, and I hope that in time we may call attention to other successful electricians among the race.

MR. J. S. ATWOOD.

MR. J. S. ATWOOD.

Mr. J. S. Atwood, of Ripley, Ohio, is a member of the race who has a great many friends and admirers among both white and colored people. At present Mr. Atwood is engaged in the livery business on a very large scale. His horses and carriages are the best, and his trade comes from the leading people in the city. He not only owns the large building where his business is carried on, but he owns quite a number of others in the place. He was born a slave in Alabama, and is a brother of Mr. W. Q. Atwood, of Saginaw, Mich., who is also mentioned in this book. For years he has been active in the interest of his race, especially in defending their rights. He was one who urged Bishop Arnett to introduce the bill in the Ohio legislature that mixed the schools of the State, and in that way gave several thousand colored children an educational opportunity who had before that been kept out of school, as there were only [Pg 560]colored schools in towns where the colored population was large. For sixteen years Mr. Atwood was a member of the board of councilmen of Ripley, Ohio. He has always been a strong and very influential Republican, but his general popularity as a leader and strong man was such that he was chosen by a Democratic governor to take the presidency of the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind, located at Columbus, Ohio. He served as president of[Pg 561] this institution for five years, and while there brought about many reforms in the interest of the race. Before he went there colored people had never held positions of any kind at the institution; in fact, colored children had been put off by themselves to both eat and sleep. Mr. Atwood soon put a stop to that sort of thing, and he also appointed several colored people to different positions about the institution, such as clerks and teachers. Some of the colored teachers appointed by him gave such general satisfaction that they are still retained, although he has been away for years. At Ripley Mr. Atwood is looked upon as a very important citizen, and his color in no way stands in the way of his popularity and usefulness.

GEORGE W. FRANKLIN, JR.

GEORGE W. FRANKLIN, JR.

George W. Franklin, Jr., was born in Rome, Ga., December 11, 1865. He learned the blacksmith trade with his father, who is still living and engaged at his trade. Mr. Franklin saved his money from childhood, and by the time he was a man he had enough to start business with. His first effort in a business way was a hack line and livery stable; in this he succeeded. Seeing the need of a colored undertaker in Rome, he began by making his own hearse, which was the first ever owned by a colored man in Rome. In time he wanted a larger field for his business, and moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., and opened an undertaker's establishment on a larger scale. In five years' time he built up a business that [Pg 562]brought him several thousand dollars per year. He now owns three beautiful funeral cars and landau carriages, dead wagons and a beautiful lot of white horses. Mr. Franklin has over ten thousand dollars invested in his business and is out of debt. He is recognized by white undertakers to the extent that when either he or they have large funerals they will exchange carriages with each other. He buys only the best of everything used in his business, and has bought a large tract of land for burial[Pg 563] purposes, which is known as East View Cemetery. I found him a very pleasant man. He is much interested in the race, and when Booker T. Washington called a meeting in 1900 of the colored business men of this country, which met in Boston, Mass., Mr. Franklin took an active part, and, in fact, gave an address there that was regarded as very able by the press of Boston.

[Pg 564]

## CHAPTER XXXVI.

NATIONAL BAPTIST PUBLISHING BOARD.

REV. R. H. BOYD, D. D.

The National Baptist Publishing Board, located at Nashville, Tenn., is, beyond doubt, the largest and by far the best equipped printing plant operated by colored people. This establishment was started for the purpose of giving some of the enormous amount of printing done for the colored people, in the way of Sunday-school literature and regular church publications, into the hands of the race, in order that employment might be given to those who were already competent printers, and at the same time encourage others to learn the trade. Rev. R. H. Boyd, D. D., is the general secretary. He has shown himself a very active and efficient man in his place. The success of this enterprise has far surpassed their most sanguine hopes. The board does all kinds of printing, even book work of a high order. I think it no more than fair to them and the public that I give here a part of the secretary's yearly report for 1900 and a part of 1901:

"The work of our Publishing Board has been conducted this year on the same plan as the past four years, by a board of managers, a secretary, treasurer and general manager. The literary department has been conducted by an editor-in-chief, with an editorial staff. We are glad to say that every department of[Pg 565] this work has been conducted on strict business principles. Our board has held three meetings in the rooms of the publishing house, examining the machinery and plant thoroughly, and has appointed an auditor, who has gone carefully over all of the books and accounts and attached his certificate to each quarterly report rendered by the Publishing Board. We are glad to say that the work is no longer an experiment, but a reality. We have the best and most thoroughly equipped publishing plant in America owned and operated by negroes. In our judgment, seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) is a very low estimate for this plant, for if it were capitalized for one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) it would pay a reasonable dividend. This plant has only a small debt, and this is mostly on the real estate. It is strange that all of this has been paid for out of the profit arising from the business, and yet the Publishing Board has made large appropriations each year to missions.

"Last year we called your attention to the fact that there had been so great an increase in the volume of business that we were compelled to make general improvements. We did not expect, however, at the time to make the improvements so extensive, but the great enthusiasm created by the delegates on returning from the convention at Richmond aroused such interest everywhere, that the volume of business has far surpassed the most sanguine expectations of the most hopeful friend of the Publishing Board.

"The improvements begun last year are fully com[Pg 566]pleted. We have also added a machine known as the arithmometer and two typewriters to our clerical department. We have added one roller backer machine and one book and pamphlet trimmer, together with a great deal of bookbinders' appliances to our bindery. We have added one more steam-engine and a full electric light plant to our power-house, three more printing presses to our press-room, a[Pg 567] full set of linotype machinery, together with a large supply of printing material to our composing-room.

"The greatest need to-day of our publishing plant is more room. We occupy three brick buildings, one, two and three stories respectively. These are crowded to their utmost capacity, and yet the board has work of its own and uncompleted contracts which are more than ninety days behind.

"THE BUSINESS DEPARTMENT.

"This department is almost exclusively under the management of the secretary and general manager, who has conducted the business in such a way as to challenge the admiration and confidence of the commercial world, bringing respect and honor to the denomination and credit to himself. We are glad to say that his careful business management has brought almost unlimited credit to our publishing concern in commercial circles.

"It would be well under this head to call the attention of the members of the convention to the profits or income arising from this business to the denomination. By referring to our financial statement, it will be seen that after meeting all expenses of publication the Publishing Board was able to pay cash for $6,000 worth of machinery, which will stand as a permanent fund, and has an uncollected account standing out in open accounts and negotiable notes to the amount of over $2,425.37, and still made an appropriation of over $8,000 to missions, thus showing that the Publishing Board is not only self-sup[Pg 568]porting, but has paid a dividend to the denomination this year of $16,425.37.

"Our Publishing Board is not only publishing pamphlets and Sunday-school magazines in their own name, but is really doing the work. All typesetting, presswork and binding is done by our own people. They are also engaged in real bookbinding. This is furnishing employment to a large number of skilled mechanics who could not obtain like employment in any other institution."

I am sure that the statements made by Secretary Boyd will be very encouraging to all who read them. One of the leading men in this great work is the Rev. E. C. Morris, D. D., who is president of the National Baptist Convention. He is a very progressive man, and has done much for the elevation of the colored people at large. From the fact that Rev. Morris has been president of the national convention for years shows the high esteem he is held in by the Baptist denomination.

[Pg 569]

## CHAPTER XXXVII.

COLORED SOLDIERS.

In this chapter we introduce to our readers Lieutenant Charles Young, who is the second colored graduate from West Point. He was for some four years Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Wilberforce, Ohio. Mr. Young, as can be seen from his picture, is a man of splendid military appearance, and is regarded by all who know him as a most excellent young man. It is well known that in our Civil War the colored soldiers made a reputation for themselves as brave men. It has not, as yet, been much written about by those who have given a history of that war. But merit will win and become known in time. I reproduce here mention made of colored soldiers by General Guy V. Henry, U. S. A., himself a veteran soldier, who, in a recent report, speaking of colored American troops, says: "In garrison they are clean, self-respecting, and proud of their uniform; in the field, patient and cheerful under hardships and privations, never growling or discontented, doing what is required of them without a murmur."

LIEUTENANT CHARLES YOUNG.

I also give an article that appeared in the Pittsburg Times relating to the colored troops in our late war with Spain:

"Amid all the praise that has been bestowed on [Pg 570]our fighters on land and sea since hostilities began but little has been said of the colored troops, of whom there were several regiments in the thick of the fighting around Santiago. When the Rough-Riders received their baptism of fire the country rang with their praises, but few paused to note that the colored troops fought side by side with them with equal bravery, and, in fact, rescued them from their perilous[Pg 571] position. In the subsequent fighting at El Caney and at San Juan, before Santiago, they were second to none in the bravery of their fighting and in the intrepidity of their charges. They met the deadly rain of bullets as unflinchingly as the best of their white comrades, and, in proportion to their numbers, they furnished as numerous victims to the missiles of the enemy as any of the other commands. Under their dark skins was the same warlike and patriotic spirit that throbbed in the nerves of their paler fellow-soldiers.

"On that field they once more vindicated the wisdom that has given them citizenship, and showed that they are made of the stuff which constitutes the modern American and causes him to be respected and admired. No men ever fought for their country more bravely than did all the men who were engaged at Santiago, and among them all none exceeded the colored men in all the attributes of true soldiers and patriots. They were there, Americans of the Americans, battling for their country, and the difference in the color of their skin made no difference in the quality of their courage or service. It is to be hoped that when all come to thoroughly understand the quality of the negro as a soldier a little more consideration may be paid to his rights as a citizen."

[Pg 572]

## CHAPTER XXXVIII.

CONCLUSION.

I have now come to the most difficult part of this work. The conclusion to a book is rarely perfectly satisfactory to all readers, and I think rarely satisfactory to the author. I can only offer this apology: I did not at the beginning attempt a "literary" work. I have only aimed to set forth a few facts, which are incontrovertible evidences of the progress made by colored people, and these facts I have stated in the simplest form of English so that every person who reads the book may understand. I have indicated, I think, that the colored people have the same ambitions and aspirations which characterize all progressive races; and that when they are given equal opportunity and a fair chance in the various industrial and professional walks of life, they measure up to the white man in point of excellence, proficiency and ultimate success.

I have not exhausted my subject, for there are hundreds of men and women of the race not mentioned in this book, who are just as successful, just as remarkable in their careers as those mentioned. It would require a book many times the size of this one to give anything like a passing mention of these progressive, intelligent people. I have, as I stated in my preface, only pointed out a few of the evi[Pg 573]dences of progress. I have only given a few brief sketches.

These glowing facts, thus presented to the world, are the results of my personal contact, association and experience of sixteen years among colored people, both North and South, and it is my earnest hope that I have succeeded in presenting to my readers food for thought on the Negro question in the United States.

I have devoted a great deal of space to Wilberforce University, Livingstone College, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Normal and other independent and State schools managed by colored people, because these institutions typify the ability of the colored man to govern and control enterprises for himself.

I have not mentioned the political leaders of the race, such as Messrs. Douglass, Bruce, Lynch and others, simply because I am not giving a history of the race, and it has been more my purpose to deal with the educators and business men.

## INDEX TO PORTRAITS OF PEOPLE.

- Bishop B. W. Arnett, iv
- Prof. E. L. Scruggs, B. D., 43
- Prof. Joshua Levister, 46
- Prof. Gregory W. Hayes, A. M., 50
- Rev. Geo. P. McKinney, 54
- Rev. C. L. Purce, A. B., D. D., 58
- Prof. N. W. Curtwright, A. B., 61
- Prof. O. L. Coleman, A. M., 63
- Prof. J. A. Booker, A. M., 65
- Rev. Calvin S. Brown, A. B., 67
- Prof. S. H. C. Owen, A. M., 69
- Rev. James S. Russell, 89
- Three Orphan Sisters, 94
- Rev. M. W. Dogan, A. M., 111
- Bishop D. A. Paine, D.D., LL.D., 119
- Rev. B. F. Lee, D. D., 122
- Rev. S. T. Mitchell, A.M., LL.D., 124
- Prof. A. St. George Richardson, B. A., 130
- Prof. J. R. Hawkins, A. M., 132
- Rev. Daniel H. Butler, 141
- Rev. J. C. Price, A. M., D. D., 144
- Rev. W. H. Goler, D. D., 148
- Rev. W. H. Franklin, A. M., 161
- Lucy C. Laney, 165
- Rev. C. S. Mebane, A. M., 169
- Rev. W. R. Coles, 172
- Rev. Henry D. Wood, 174
- Rev. J. A. Savage, D. D., 177
- Rev. D. J. Sanders, D. D., 180
- Rev. T. H. Amos, A. M., 182
- Rev. J. B. Swann, 185
- Prof. G. C. Shaw, 186
- Prof. B. T. Washington, A.M., 191
- Prof. W. H. Council, 216
- C. H. Parrish, A. B., A. M., 223
- Miss Mary V. Cook, A. B., A. M., 225
- Prof. Hattie A. Gibbs, 228
- Prof. W. B. Weaver, 230
- Mrs. Anna B. Weaver, 235
- Mrs. Dinah P. Pace, 240
- Prof. Jas. B. Dudley, A. M., 242
- Prof. Richard R. Wright, A. M., LL.D., 244
- Prof. S. G. Atkins, A. M., 245
- Mrs. Fanny L. Jackson Coppin, 258
- Mrs. Mary C. Terrell, 262
- Dr. R. F. Boyd, 266
- Prof. Richard Hill, 279
- Frederic S. Monroe, 281
- C. J. Becker, 283
- Hon. D. Augustus Straker, 285
- T. McCants Stewart, Esq., 292
- J. H. Lewis, 297
- W. Q. Atwood, 299
- Samuel Harris, 300
- William H. Davis, 302
- J. E. Reed, 305
- John S. Trower, 307
- E. I. Masterson, 309
- Charles A. Webb, 311
- Walter P. Hall, 317
- S. L. Parker, 319
- H. A. Tandy, 322
- Daniel Purdy, 324
- Dr. W. T. Dinwiddie, 326
- J. E. Dixon, 327
- Philip J. Allston, 330
- Dr. Jared Carey, 332
- Rev. W. W. Browne, 338
- J. H. Dickinson, 345
- T. Thomas Fortune, 350
- E. E. Cooper, 352
- Prof. W. S. Scarborough, LL.D., 354
- Rev. H. T. Johnson, D.D., Ph.D., 356
- Wm. H. Stewart, 358
- Rev. L. J. Coppin, D. D., 359
- W. H. Anderson, 361
- J. E. Bruce, 362
- Hon. J. C. Dancy, 366
- Rev. Wm. H. Day, D. D., 367
- W. H. Stowers, 369
- Mrs. J. St. P. Ruffin, 371
- Prof. H. T. Kealing, B. S., A. M., 373
- Richard Allen, 378
- Rev. C. T. Shaffer, M. D., D. D., 381
- N. F. Mossell, A. M., M. D., 396
- J. C. White, 398
- Daniel H. Williams, M. D., 400
- Rev. Stephen Smith, 407
- Edward T. Parker, 409
- Dr. Hallie Tanner Johnson, 411
- Mrs. Victoria E. Matthews, 414
- Mrs. Frances E. W. Harper, 416
- Mrs. N. F. Mossell and her daughters, 418
- Miss Alice Ruth Moore, 419
- Madam Flora Batson Bergen, 421
- Dr. John R. Francis, 429
- James Hugo Johnston, 462
- Prof. J. H. Jackson, A. B., A. M., 470
- Warren C. Coleman, 482
- Rev. W. F. Graham, 486
- Mr. John T. Taylor, 487
- John Mitchell, Jr., 494
- Mr. J. C. Farley, 495
- Miss E. B. Slaughter, 507
- Mr. R. F. White, 509
- Jordan C. Jackson, 513
- Rev. A. H. Miller, 515
- Mr. S. Boyce, 517
- Isaac Johnson, 519
- E. E. Howard, 520
- Mr. E. E. Fluker, 522
- Mr. R. J. Palmer, 523
- Mr. Louis Kastor, 524
- Hon. James Hill, 527
- Eugene Burkins, 528
- Mr. Geo. E. Jones, 530
- Mr. G. W. Higgins, 531
- T. M. Doram, M. D. V., 538
- J. W. Adams, 540
- H. A. Loveless, 542
- R. B. Hudson, 543
- E. C. Berry, 553
- Dumar Watkins, 556
- L. H. Latimer, 558
- J. S. Atwood, 560
- G. W. Franklin, Jr., 562
- Rev. R. H. Boyd, D. D., 566
- Lieutenant Charles Young, 570

Transcriber's Notes:

Illustrations have been moved out of mid-paragraph.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.

Punctuation has been retained as published.

In the INDEX TO PORTRAITS OF PEOPLE, T. M. Doram, J. W. Adams, H. A. Loveless, R. B. Hudson, and E. C. Berry have been moved to their correct numerical positions. Lieutenant Charles Young has also been correctly positioned and the page number corrected to 570.

On Pg. 359 the missing caption for 'L. J. Coppin' has been added.

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