development of the Negro. This development should lie at the
foundation of all of his attainments, for men cannot reasonably hope
to rise permanently along other lines while they neglect moral
culture. The moral influence of the pulpit is now creating correct
views of life in the Negro and leading him to good citizenship. The
practical pulpit teaching along this line is having its effect in the
moral uplift of the Negro. In this way the pulpit is serving as an
uplifting force. Moral stability is the only solid foundation of an
enduring elevation.
Considered from an intellectual point of view, the pulpit is of great
value to the Negro race. The example set by the Negro pulpit in
acquiring its intellectual status is worthy of imitation, and the
youth of the rising generation will profit by it. The positive
instruction and counsel coming from safe and trusted leaders will
certainly yield its fruit. We cannot estimate the worth of the pulpit
as the moulder of the thought, the character and the destiny of the
race.
The financial status of the pulpit, under existing conditions, may be
considered comparatively good. It has been made what it now is by
industry, economy and self-denial, and stands as an object lesson for
the benefit of those wishing to better their condition. The salaries
paid Negro preachers are usually small, even less than the wages of
mechanics. But these small earnings are carefully saved and wisely
invested. As a result many of the Negro preachers have comfortable
homes, while others of them have small bank accounts. The Negro
minister has learned the dignity of labor and does not hesitate to
labor with head and hands in order to attain to the position of
usefulness and influence in the world. The people are taught in this
practical manner the lessons of industry and economy more forcibly
than in any other way, and they are thus led to secure homes, to enter
into business and to educate their children.
Our elegant church edifices are largely due to the taste, tact and
business qualities of the pulpit. These beautiful edifices exert a
refining and uplifting influence upon the lives of men.
The spiritual power of the pulpit--this is the chief power that it is
expected to wield in the world, for its mission is spiritual, and this
great fact should ever be remembered. Our deepest needs are of a
spiritual nature, and the pulpit offers to supply these deep-seated
needs and to assist us to rise to the rank of "the sons of God."
The Gospel is the divinely appointed means to elevate men in Christian
character. The promulgation of the Gospel and the exhibition of
practical Christianity are the essential elements to an onward and
upward progress.
FOURTH PAPER.
TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE NEGRO PULPIT UPLIFTING THE RACE?
BY REV. I. D. DAVIS, D. D.
[Illustration: Rev. I. D. Davis, D. D.]
REV. I. D. DAVIS, D. D.
The subject of this sketch was born at Laurens, S. C., in
1858. His parents were Nelson and Sarah Davis. In 1870 Rev.
Charles Thompson (a Presbyterian Missionary from the North)
came to Laurens and began services in a part of the town
known as "Tin Pot Ally." The first to be enrolled in his
Sunday School was the subject of our sketch.
After Rev. Thompson left Laurens our little hero went to
school to another veteran, Mr. Wright, who soon learned to
regard him highly. The late Rev. D. Gibbs now took charge of
the church, and our subject was the first to enter his
Sunday School. While the Rev. Gibbs was boarding at his
father's home, the seed of the Presbyterian ministry was
planted.
He now entered school under Rev. and Mrs. McDowell, and
began the study of the Shorter Catechism. A polyglot Bible
was offered for the most perfect recitation of the
Catechism, and he won the first prize. In 1874 he took the
examination and won the county scholarship for the State
Normal at Columbia. From this examination he was given a
teachers' certificate and taught his first school in the
country; at the close of this school he accompanied Rev. and
Mrs. McDowell to Statesville, N. C., and in November Rev.
McDowell had arranged for him to go to Biddle University,
Charlotte, N. C.
He returned home every summer and taught. So acceptable were
his services that scholars were offered to him and held
until his return from school. In 1877 on account of failing
health he remained out of school, and was chosen as the
principal of the city school at his native home. He was
always known as the "Mocking Bird" of Laurens. He was the
chorister in Sunday School and church. Returning to Biddle
University in the fall of 1878, was taken under the care of
Catawba Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry, and
graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1881. In October,
1881, he entered the seminary of Biddle University, was
licensed to preach the gospel in 1883, and was placed in
charge of the Pleasant View Church, Greenville County, South
Carolina, where he served so acceptably that he was desired
as a settled pastor. In 1884 he graduated from the seminary,
and was ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry the
next day after graduating.
He took charge of the work at Lincolnton, N. C., where he
served six years and six months, conducting both church and
school, and was then re-elected principal of the city
school.
The new church at McClintock was built under his
administration. He was chosen moderator of the Presbytery of
Catawba at Monroe, N. C., and in 1887 was sent as a
commissioner from Catawba Presbytery to the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, which met
at Omaha, Neb. In 1888 the degree of A. M. was conferred by
Biddle University. In 1890 he accepted the call to
Winnsboro, S. C., continuing in the church and school work
here for four years very acceptably. In 1892 was sent as
commissioner to the General Assembly at Saratoga, N. Y. In
1894 he accepted the work at Goodwill, Sumter Co., S. C.,
where he now serves the largest Colored Presbyterian Church
in the United States. He administered communion to 2,000
communicants.
In connection with the church he has charge of the Goodwill
Academy, with an enrollment of about 100 students. In 1895
he was chosen stated clerk of Fairfield Presbytery, which
position he fills with accuracy and ability until to-day. In
1900 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Biddle
University.
He has been Moderator of Fairfield Presbytery and Atlantic
Synod. He is the secretary of the Sunday School Convention,
chairman of the Committee on Vacancies and Supplies of the
Fairfield Presbytery, and chairman of the Committee on
Foreign Mission, Atlantic Synod.
The influence of the Negro pulpit on the race is immeasurable. It is
to the race what the lighthouse is to the ship laden with human souls
upon the tempestuous sea. At the close of the war when the Negroes
were in darkness, the Negro preachers were the first to come forward
to lead them to the light, and whatever may be said to the contrary,
the Negro preachers have done more for the Negro's uplift since his
emancipation than any other class of persons. We delight to boast that
the Negroes pay taxes on $400,000,000.00 worth of property, that they
have thousands of well educated men and women, that their illiteracy
has been reduced forty-five per cent, that they have hundreds of
newspapers, that they have four hundred or more skilled physicians who
are making good money, that they have hundreds of men who are engaged
in business enterprises, that they have thousands of honest, sober,
upright Christian men and women.
Now, to whom are we more indebted for all this than to the Negro
preachers, who have faithfully taught their people to save their money
and buy homes and lands, who have constantly advised them to send
their sons and daughters to the schools, who have urged their people
to patronize Negro business enterprises and Negro physicians and
lawyers, who have shown their people the importance of taking Negro
papers, who have enjoined them to be honest, sober, industrious
citizens?
TOPIC VIII.
IS IT TIME FOR THE NEGRO COLLEGES IN THE SOUTH TO BE PUT INTO THE
HANDS OF NEGRO TEACHERS?
BY PROF. N. B. YOUNG.
[Illustration: Prof. Nathan B. Young]
NATHAN B. YOUNG.
Nathan B. Young was born in Newbern, Ala., September 18th,
1862. He was educated in the private schools at Tuscaloosa,
Ala., at Talladega College, and at Oberlin College. He has
taught school in Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.
He is now President of the Florida State Normal and
Industrial College, Tallahassee.
The answer to this question depends upon what is meant by placing
these schools in the hands of Negro teachers. If it means that they
are to be manned and managed by them I answer, no. If, on the other
hand, it means that they should have some hand in managing these
schools, I answer, yes.
For two reasons I claim that the time has not arrived for the passing
of these institutions into his sole control: the first is a
_financial_ reason, the second is an _intellectual_ or _cultural_
reason.
At present the majority of the Negro colleges and institutions of
higher and professional learning are supported by white people, either
directly or indirectly, and the withdrawal of white faculties and
boards of trustees will mean a withdrawal of white supporters. Whether
this withdrawal will be logical or ethical, it will nevertheless be a
fact. Those whose duty it is to collect funds for these schools can
testify to the certainty of such a result if the experiment should be
made.
The white man is a very careful giver to charitable institutions of
any kind, and he takes every precaution to see that his donations are
wisely expended, and that, too, according to his standards. Hence,
when he makes a charitable contribution he feels safer when one of his
own race is a trustee, or dispenser of the contribution. This explains
the fact that in cases where Negro schools under Negro management make
an appeal for large endowment funds they find it necessary to appoint
a white endowment committee to manage the fund.
The Negro has no standing in the financial world, because he has made
no financial record. This is not so much his fault as it is his
misfortune. He is without the financial experience that he would need
in order to manage successfully large sums of money such as he would
be called upon to collect and to manage in colleges. Without aid from
the white donors these colleges would be unable to do the work of a
college--in other words, with possibly one notable exception, it
takes a white man to get a white man's money, and since it is
necessary to get a white man's money to support these institutions, it
is also necessary to put their management into his hands. This
condition will gradually change as the Negro race accumulates wealth
within itself. This will naturally bring with it that experience which
will eventually enable him to be a successful manager of these
institutions.
It is generally known among those who are familiar with college
management that the financial feature is the most difficult feature in
this work. It requires a rare combination of qualities in a man to
carry on successfully this phase of college work. The managing boards
of white colleges find it exceedingly difficult to find white men
fully equal to the task. If this takes place in the green tree, what
may we expect in a dry?
At present the Negro race, to say the least, is too poor to take on
itself the complete control of its colleges. Such a transfer would be
a calamity, indeed, for under the white management these institutions
are leading only a tolerable existence, are progressing but slowly and
some of them not at all. To take these feeble institutions, then, and
to connect them with a poorer source of supply would be practically to
destroy them--certainly seriously to handicap them.
Besides, even if their financial support were guaranteed, at present a
more serious obstacle would present itself. It would be impossible
from the present supply of educated Negro men and women to get
faculties for them. I mean, to get faculties every whit prepared for
their progressive management. An up-to-date college must have not only
strong financial backing but it must also have strong intellectual and
moral backing. Each teacher should be so trained, intellectually and
morally as to have a very keen appreciation of the deep significance
of the work in which he is engaged. This means that he must in
addition to a careful formal training, have a sort of intellectual and
culture background to cause him to stand out in clear relief before
his students as an embodiment of what he would have them become. He
should, in very truth, be "a scholar and a gentleman."
The fact that a man or a woman is a graduate from some of these
misnamed Southern "_universities_" or "_brevet_" colleges does not
argue that he has a liberal education. The fact is that there are no
Negro universities in this country and less than half a dozen "_bona
fide_" colleges. These reputed "universities" and colleges are but
indifferent high-schools for the most part, and their graduates
without additional study, are not prepared to take a place on a
college faculty. Strange to say, very few of these graduates feel the
necessity of doing additional study before becoming anxious candidates
for presidents of colleges or for professorships.
I stand by the statement that there are not enough really educated men
fully equipped to manage the colleges such as we have, not to say
anything of those that we ought to have. The race is not yet far
enough removed from slavery to have that intellectual and moral
background necessary to the bringing out of college professors and
college presidents. It has taken the white race many generations to
develop an Eliot, a Dwight, a Hadley, and an Angell, not to say
anything about the Butlers, the Harrises, and the Wheelers. These men
are developments--the very cream of the intellectual history of the
Anglo-Saxon race in America. As I have indicated elsewhere, the
trustees find it hard to fill their places when vacant.
The incipient Negro teacher and educator might as well admit the fact
of their incompetency and with the admission bend themselves with
renewed energy to hard study, laying aside all bogus degrees and
meaningless titles, and acknowledge the fact that they are yet
intellectual pigmies. If they will do this, perchance they themselves
may not only add to their own statures but they may also become the
ancestors of intellectual giants, fully competent to occupy the
positions which they fain would hold in the educational world.
Although the time has not yet come, as I believe, for the entire
management of Negro colleges by Negroes, yet the time has come when he
should have some hand in managing both as teacher and as trustee. It
would be a sad commentary upon the Negro race and upon its white
teachers to have these schools remain permanently under white tutelage
and management. It would also be a sad commentary upon the Negro to
have an alien race to continue giving its money to educate his
children. He must be brought gradually to see the necessity of his
supporting and managing his own institutions of learning. The only way
to do this is to gradually place the managing of them upon his
shoulders. Every Negro college ought to have one or more Negro
trustees on the board, as well as one or more Negro teachers on the
faculty. The only way to learn how to swim is to go into the
water--the only way for the Negro to learn how to manage his
institutions is for him to have a hand in managing them.
Of the large number of Negro youth that are graduated every year from
our colleges, there are not a few among them who have in them the
making of fine professors if they were stimulated by the sure hope of
securing a place on the faculty of their "alma mater." It is the
imperative duty of the faculties of these schools to inspire these men
to their best efforts and when they have done so it is the duty of the
trustees to give them a place on the faculty.
I would not, however, make vacancies for them by moving efficient
white teachers, but, when these white teachers fall out because of age
or other reasons, I would appoint in their places competent Negro men.
This policy would at once keep the support of the white donors and
also the support of the Negro patrons. The Negro must have a larger
hand in managing his institutions of learning even from the lowest to
the highest.
I answer, then, that the time has not yet come for the complete
transfer of Negro colleges to Negro management because the Negro is
not yet able to assume the financial control of these institutions,
nor the intellectual control; but he is able to have a larger hand in
controlling them as donor, as trustee, and as teacher. This policy is
being pursued by some of the educational agencies now at work in the
South.
The efforts of the Negro churches, especially of the A. M. E. Zion
church, the A. M. E. church, of the C. M. E. church, and a _wing_ of
the Baptist church, are to be commended in so far as they do not
assume a hostile attitude toward other agencies which pursue a
slightly different policy. There cannot be too much educational
activity among Negroes for Negroes, and there certainly should be no
antagonism among these agencies growing out of differences of opinion
as to policies and methods of work. They should all make "a long pull,
a strong pull, and a pull all together" for the educational, moral,
and spiritual uplift of the masses of the Negro people.
SECOND PAPER.
IS IT TIME FOR THE NEGRO COLLEGES IN THE SOUTH TO BE PUT INTO THE
HANDS OF NEGRO TEACHERS?
BY PROF. D. J. JORDAN, M. S., LL. B.
[Illustration: D. J. Jordan, LL. B.]
PROF. D. J. JORDAN, M. S., LL. B.
Nature has not been extravagant in her gift of geniuses.
What has come to most of our leading men has come by hard
work.
Although Prof. D. J. Jordan possesses talents about the
average, he owes his success largely to persistent work. He
was born near Cuthbert, Ga., October 18, 1866. His father
was Rev. Giles D. Jordan who was for twenty-five years a
highly respected minister in the A. M. E. Church in Georgia.
He inherits many of his excellent traits of character from
his mother, Julia Jordan.
In his early life he was unable to attend school more than
three months of the year, but by close application while in
school and faithful study during vacations, he was always
able to make the next higher class at the beginning of the
following school year.
After finishing the English branches he attended Payne High
School at Cuthbert. In 1892 he graduated at Allen
University, Columbia, S. C., with the degrees of B. S. and
LL. B.
His record at this institution was in many respects
remarkable. He was successful in passing the written
examination given by the Supreme Court of South Carolina,
and was admitted to practice in all the courts of that
state, May, 1892.
After his graduation, he returned to his native city, taught
a term and made preparations to enter upon the practice of
the legal profession, but he was prevailed upon to accept a
position on the faculty of Morris Brown College, in 1893.
He served here as Professor of Science and Dean of Law until
November, 1895, when he resigned to accept the Presidency of
Edward Waters College at Jacksonville, Fla.
He was married December 31, 1895, by Bishop A. Grant, to
Miss Carrie J. Thomas, principal of one of the public
schools of Atlanta. Four children have been born to them.
He was elected as a lay delegate to the General Conference
of the A. M. E. Church which was held at Wilmington, N. C.,
in 1896.
In the spring of '96 he accepted the position of Professor
of Literature at Morris Brown College, which position he
held until September, 1898, when he was appointed Professor
of Mathematics and Vice-President of the same institution.
The degree of M. S. was conferred upon him by Allen
University in 1900. In the Summer school, held at Clark
University in 1901, Professor Jordan was instructor in
mathematics. He has developed with the institution with
which he has been connected, fitting himself for every
promotion which has come to him.
Professor Jordan has an experience of eighteen years in the
class room and is an excellent disciplinarian. The fact that
he has filled four different chairs with credit is
sufficient argument that he is an able "all-round scholar."
His greatest strength, however, lies in his knowledge of
English. His language is chaste; his diction, pure.
As one of the best writers and speakers of the race, he has
contributed articles to our leading periodicals, including
the "Atlanta Constitution," "Atlanta Journal," "A. M. E.
Review" and "Indianapolis Freemen," and has delivered
several commencement addresses.
I am asked to say whether or not it is time for the Negro colleges in
the South to be put into the hands of Negro teachers? The education of
a people is the greatest question that can possibly concern them. It
touches every phase of human interest and holds the key to the
solution of every rational problem arising out of man's duty and
destiny. The foundations of every helpful institution known to our
social system rest upon such conceptions of right and wrong as the
people's intelligence has called into being: for true teaching is not
only the application of methods for the development of one's powers,
but is also a directing or turning of those powers into proper
channels. With any people it will not matter ultimately who now writes
the laws, issues decrees, or enforces judgments if their youth are
kept under wise, efficient instructors. How necessary, then, must it
be to a race so conditioned as is the Negro in America that their
schools should be conducted by only those who are most capable and
worthy!
However, before we attempt to answer the question propounded, it is
important that we fully comprehend its meaning. As I understand it,
the matter might be stated in other words thus: Should Negroes
exclusively be placed now on the faculties of the several missionary
colleges which Northern philanthropy has established in the South
since the close of the Civil War? There were then not only no schools
for us, but there were no teachers and no money with which to employ
teachers. No night in Egypt in the time of Israel was darker than
those years immediately following the Negro's emancipation. And what
must have been our condition to-day had not those pillars of light
been placed in our starless sky? But what is more, for thirty years
the same spirit and the same people who first made these colleges
possible among us, have continued their aid, and still make them
possible to-day.
And now let us see what advantages could be reasonably expected from
such a change in management as the subject suggests. So far as I know,
they who advocate the change establish themselves upon this
proposition, namely, "_Negro teachers_ are best for Negro schools."
And this is true, say they, (1) because being of the same race, there
must of necessity exist such a spirit of sympathy and helpfulness
between teacher and student as we could not reasonably expect were the
teacher and the taught of different races; (2) because placing before
students competent men and women of their own race as teachers sets
before them an example and an object lesson of what the students
themselves may become and do, that cannot fail to be inspiring; (3)
because the employing of Negro teachers in Negro schools furnishes an
honorable vocation to a large number of our own people who otherwise
would possibly be unemployed; (5) because Negro teachers in Negro
colleges, by their presence and work, increase the race pride among
ourselves and win for us greater confidence and respect from others.
These are weighty considerations, and, _per se_, have my most hearty
approval. But however complete may be our endorsement, we must not
forget that unqualifiedly acting upon them in the matter under
discussion would not be without its losses. Let us now consider what
these might be, and then we shall be prepared to decide whether we
would not--
"* * * rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others we know not of."