All these and many more have gone before and left their influence as a
continuing operative force for good.
Let us mention one Colored American woman who is still among us, Amanda
Smith, distinguished as an evangelist of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
This eminent lady taught herself to read and write by cutting out large
letters from newspapers, laying them on the window sill and getting her
mother to make them into words.
Her evangelical labors extended to Africa, India, England and Scotland.
The remainder of her useful days she is spending in charge of the Amanda
Smith Orphans’ Home for Colored children, at Harvey, Illinois, a suburb
of Chicago.
Through the influence of the Christian labors of the past and gone
apostles, and the apostleship of their enlightened and pious followers
and successors, religion has developed amazingly among our Colored
Americans.
Of Colored American members of white denominational churches, numbering
5,377, there are 477,792 communicants.
Of Colored American members of Independent Negro denominations numbering
31,393 churches, there are 3,207,305 communicants.