_White church boards._—With these developments under the leadership of
the bureau, the people who had maintained the previous operations began
to turn their minds to schools of a higher grade; and at this point
appear indications of denominational purpose. During the war,
considerations of patriotism and humanity were dominant, and churches of
every name united in the efforts undertaken; but, with the return of
peace, missionary enterprise took into view the churches that were to
grow up among the Freedmen, and shaped itself more or less in their
behalf. This was most natural in those churches whose affiliations in
the South had been strongest before the war—the Baptist, Methodist and
Presbyterian churches. For the sake of these churches that were to be,
they took measures to build up schools of higher learning at carefully
chosen centers, which they hoped might become favorite resorts for
scholars, rallying points for religious organization and institutions of
Christian culture and enlightenment for all the region around.
The Baptists instituted Shaw University at Raleigh, in 1865, Roger
Williams at Nashville and Morehouse at Atlanta, in 1867, Leland at New
Orleans, in 1869, and Benedict at Columbia, in 1871; and the Free
Baptists established Storer at Harper’s Ferry in 1867. The Methodist
Episcopal Church instituted Walden at Nashville, in 1865, Rust at Holly
Springs, in 1866, Morgan at Baltimore, in 1867, Haven Academy at
Waynesboro, in 1868, Claflin at Orangeburg, in 1869, and Clark at
Atlanta, in 1870. The Presbyterians already had their important school
in Pennsylvania, called Ashmun Institute, now Lincoln University,
founded in 1854; to which was added Biddle University, in 1867. The
Episcopal Church instituted St. Augustine’s at Raleigh, in 1867. The
Congregational Church, through the American Missionary was one of the
earliest denominations to enter the field of Negro education
systematically. In 1865, it had Avery Institute at Charleston, Ballard
Normal at Macon, and Washburn at Beaufort, N. C.; in 1866, Trinity at
Athens, Ala., Gregory at Wilmington, N. C., and Fisk University at
Nashville; in 1867, Talladega College in Alabama, Emerson at Mobile,
Storrs at Atlanta, and Beach at Savannah; in 1868, Hampton Institute in
Virginia, Knox at Athens, Ga., Burwell at Selma, Ala., since removed to
Florence, and the Ely Normal, now a public school in Louisville; in
1869, Straight University at New Orleans, Tougaloo in Mississippi, Le
Moyne at Memphis, and Lincoln at Marion, Ala.; in 1870, Dorchester
Academy at McIntosh, and the Albany Normal in Georgia.
The United States Government in 1867 chartered Howard University “for
the education of youth in the liberal arts and sciences,” with special
provision for the higher education of negroes, but designed for all who
might wish to study there, with no race discriminations.
Several notable schools were started in this early period by
representatives of the Society of Friends; in 1862 Miss Towne and Miss
Murray opened the Penn School on Helena Island, in the neighborhood of
Hilton Head; in 1865 Cornelia Hancock, of Philadelphia, opened the Laing
School at Mount Pleasant, in the vicinity of Charleston, and carried it
on until 1869, when it passed into the charge of Abby D. Munro, of
Bristol, R. I., who continued it for upwards of forty years; in 1868
Martha Schofield, of Pennsylvania, founded the industrial school at
Aiken, which bears her name and was under her management till very
recently, when she resigned on account of the infirmities of age. In
1864, Calvin and Alida Clark, with the support of the Society of Friends
in Indiana, started a work for colored orphans in Helena; and then, in
1869, the education want having become paramount, removed some ten miles
to a farm in the country and established there the Southland College.
The growth of educational forces throughout the field is shown by the
continual establishment of new schools as well as by the increasing
effectiveness of the older ones. Several churches that have not been
referred to have had an important share in the movement. The Reformed
Presbyterians had their workers among the Negro refugees at Beaufort,
Fernandina, Washington, and Natchez during the war, and between 1864 and
1866 they maintained a school at Natchez with an enrollment of some 300
pupils; but in 1874 they undertook a more permanent work in Selma, Ala.,
with the planting of Knox Academy, which has kept to high educational
standards and exerted a most important influence. The United
Presbyterians, likewise, had a school in Nashville in 1863, which was
carried on in a quiet way till 1875, when Knoxville College was started
to do normal work, and forthwith took its position as a central station
from which a whole group of schools was directed, several in east
Tennessee, others in North Carolina and Virginia, and a number of rural
schools in Wilcox County, Ala. In 1878 a school was opened at
Franklinton, N. C., which was maintained by the “American Christian
Convention” and in 1890 was chartered as the Franklinton Christian
College. The Southern Presbyterians, in 1876, established Stillman
Institute at Tuscaloosa for the education of Negroes for the Christian
ministry. The Southern Methodist Episcopal Church in 1884 founded Paine
College at Augusta, Ga. Thus the several bodies of Christian people each
had its own organized activities in behalf of the colored people.
_Negro church boards._—Meanwhile, as these people became better
educated, their churches grew in numbers and strength, and the
conviction began to find expression that they ought to have schools
under their own management. The African Methodist Church had already had
Wilberforce in Ohio, founded in 1817, and Western in Kansas, founded in
1864; but they felt that the time had come for other institutions, which
should be planted at important centers of power in the South. So, in
1880, this church secured ground in Columbia, S. C., began to build as
soon as they were able, and in 1881 opened Allen University; then steps
were taken to establish another school in Atlanta, and in 1885 Morris
Brown was opened to students; now they have schools at Waco, Tex.;
Jackson, Miss.; Selma, Ala., and elsewhere. At about the same time the
Zion Methodist Church moved for the establishment of Livingstone
College, which was incorporated in 1879, and began work on its present
site at Salisbury in 1882; this church now has other smaller schools
also. The Colored Methodist Church which is closely affiliated with the
Southern Methodist Church, projected Lane College, at Jackson,
Tennessee, in 1878 and in 1882, a building was erected and the school
opened; this body now has other schools at Birmingham, Ala.; Holly
Springs, Miss.; and Tyler, Tex. The Colored Baptists have shown similar
enterprise, often in cooperation with the Home Mission Society of the
Northern Baptists, but particularly through their own conventions.