CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOLS.
In this chapter, I propose to set forth the important educational work
carried on in the South by the American Missionary Association. This
work has certainly been significant, and I can do nothing better than
quote from Mr. L. B. Moore, Professor at Howard University, Washington,
D. C., these words on the industrial schools:
"These industrial schools have been sending to the country places
and to the small towns a host of young people who have gone forth as
skilled mechanics, and they have gathered them in from the hills and
valleys and said, 'Go and learn how to farm with improved implements;
go and learn the carpenter's trade with the best tools; learn painting
and shoemaking and blacksmithing, and carry the knowledge of these
things back to the homes whence you came.' They have been teaching the
dignity of labor.
"These industrial schools have also been teaching the value of free
labor. The South is just waking up to see what it has lost by slavery.
If the white man of the South had been as shrewd as the white man of
the East was, he would not now be groaning in poverty and saying, 'We
would like to help in this work, but we are so poor.'
"The colleges of this Association are sending out leaders for the
people, and oh, how my people need leaders! I can take you to places
where the blind are leading the blind, and they are both falling into
the ditch together. How important it is that there should be leaders
among this people to instruct and help them! These colleges have sent
forth 1,000 college-bred men who are going to teach that people; and
I tell you the time is coming when that thousand will be increased by
another thousand, and the ignorant and ofttimes immoral leaders will
have to give way before the light which is now rising.
"Now, why ought this work to be sustained? The first reason is, it
pays, and that is the business reason. When a man invests money he
wants to know whether it is going to yield him a large income. Can
you show me a work that has brought a larger income than the work of
the American Missionary Association? Can you show me a people in all
history that has made the progress which has been made by the black
people in the South according to your own testimony and the testimony
of white men in the South?
"Then there is another thing: this work is but justice. It is but just
to the slave who toiled for 250 years and accumulated the wealth of
this nation. The white man and the colored man were in partnership
together for 250 years--John Smith & Co.: but when the dividends were
declared, John Smith got them all and the poor colored man has yet to
get a settlement. So he is just asking for a share in the dividends."
FISK UNIVERSITY.
Fisk University is located at Nashville, Tenn. Rev. J. G. Merrill, D.
D., is the president.
The work of founding Fisk University was begun in October, 1865, by the
purchase of a half square of ground in Nashville and securing the large
Government hospital that had been erected during the war. The Fisk
School was opened January 6, 1866, and the attendance for the first
year was over 1,000. There were then no public schools in Nashville for
colored children.
[Illustration: FISK UNIVERSITY, NASHVILLE, TENN.]
The charter for the incorporation of the University under the laws of
Tennessee was secured August 22, 1867.
The Jubilee Singers were sent forth to raise money for the University
October 6, 1871. The net result of their campaign was $150,000 in
money, besides valuable apparatus, books for the library, and several
valuable portraits. This success led to the establishment of the
University on its present most beautiful and commanding site, one and a
quarter miles north-west of the State capital.
The University has in successful operation the following departments:
1. The Common English, which has been maintained to meet a continued
need on the part of many of the patrons of the University.
2. The Normal, which has a course of study extending over four years,
beginning with Latin and Algebra.
3. The College Preparatory, which has a course of study extending over
three years, beginning with Latin and Algebra, and requiring two years
of Greek.
4. The College, which has a four years course of study additional to
that provided in the College Preparatory course.
5. Department of Music, with an extended course in both instrumental
music and voice culture. There are 150 pupils in this department. In
addition, vocal music is taught throughout all the courses of study.
The Mozart Society studies and renders the classics in music.
6. Industrial. Printing and Carpentry are taught to young men. The
young women are instructed in Nursing, Cooking and Sewing.
7. Theological. For the use of this Department the Theological Hall,
represented in the cut on page 73, has been erected. The course of
study extends over three years.
The University has a campus of thirty-five acres with buildings
and other appliances for its educational work, which could not be
replaced for $350,000. Number of officers and teachers, thirty. Number
of students last year, 478, representing twenty-three States and
Territories.
The constant aim in Fisk University has been to build up a great
central institution for the higher education of colored youth of both
sexes. The faculty and trustees have held undeviatingly to this purpose
and the result is that Fisk offers unusual advantages to those who are
seeking earnestly for a thorough education.
For healthfulness and beauty of location, in buildings and apparatus,
the University is justly ranked as foremost.
Already 291 have been graduated from the College and Normal
Departments. The Theological Department, though the last established,
offers excellent facilities to those who wish to prepare themselves for
the Christian ministry.
The Department of Music numbers over one hundred and offers superior
advantages for the study of piano-forte, organ and voice culture.
TALLADEGA COLLEGE.
This institution was founded in 1867 by the American Missionary
Association at Talladega, Ala., and incorporated for the purpose of
affording "facilities for the education and training of youth, from
which no one shall be debarred on account of race or color."
It is easily accessible from all parts of the State, and is so far
removed from the great cotton belt as to escape the more intense heat
and malaria of that region. The buildings, shaded by trees, stand on
high ground, about half a mile from the village of Talladega.
In the vicinity of coal fields, surrounded by hills filled with iron,
in the midst of a rapidly increasing population, with clear air and
pure water, Talladega College is not surpassed in advantages of
location and beauty of scenery by any institution in the South.
The departments of study are Theological, College Preparatory, Normal,
Grammar and lower grades, Vocal and Instrumental Music.
The industries are Agriculture, Architectural Drawing, Carpentry,
Cooking, Housekeeping, Nursing, Printing, Sewing. There are twenty-four
instructors and officers. Over 500 pupils in annual attendance,
representing most of the Southern States.
Graduates from various departments of the College are occupying
prominent positions as pastors and teachers, or in business. Seven
mission Sunday schools in the vicinity of Talladega, enrolling 350
pupils, are maintained by students during term time. At least 3,000
pupils are in attendance upon the country district schools in charge
of undergraduates. An institute for the farmers of the county is
statedly held under Collegiate auspices and annual meetings of several
days' length are conducted in three or four of the counties of the
State for the benefit of teachers. In these and similar ways the
College is proving itself a mighty and growing force in promoting the
physical, intellectual and moral welfare of the people.
From numerous testimonials concerning the worth and work of the
College, the following are here given. The County Superintendent of
Education writes:
"I have a favorable opportunity of knowing the thoroughness with which
your students are taught. Many of the undergraduates have applied to
me for certificates of qualification to teach in the public schools.
They show that they have been successfully instructed in both manners
and matter. It is quite observable that the influence of the College
is seen and felt by both races; and I cheerfully recommend it to all
lovers of fallen humanity."
An editorial in the _Mountain Home_, the principal paper in the county,
makes this statement: "In two particulars we had the same impression
in all cases, namely: that the teachers are thoroughly equipped in
all that constitutes efficiency as instructors, and that the students
showed remarkable proficiency in their studies."
Rev. G. A. Lofton, D. D., in writing to the _New York Examiner_, says:
"It would be impossible to tell the moral effect of this school as
immediately felt upon this section of the State. Especially does it lay
an excellent moral foundation upon which the students build character;
and culture and refinement in all directions are everywhere manifest."
TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY.
This institution is located in the beautiful little village of
Tougaloo, in the very middle of the State of Mississippi, a few miles
from Jackson, the capital. It is in the heart of the Black Belt, where
the colored people outnumber the whites. The standards in this school
are very good, while the teaching is especially excellent.
Rev. Frank G. Woodworth, D. D., is its president. The number of pupils
in all the departments of this institution for 1896 was upwards of 400.
Industrial education is thoroughly graded and ably taught. Students are
not only made familiar with the use of tools, but are required to make
out bills of material, working plans, plans for construction, etc.,
and to execute them intelligently. In agriculture, the plantation of
Tougaloo comprises 640 acres, and about 150 acres are under excellent
cultivation, and pupils are practically taught the care of cattle,
horses, and mules, plowing and planting, cultivation of crops,
gardening, fruit-culture, steam-sawing and the like. In nurse-training
this school has had special advantages. Instruction is daily given in
nursing and hygiene, with a special course of two years for those who
desire to make nursing the sick a profession. The course in cooking,
and in sewing and dressmaking, is excellent.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY.
This institution was established by the friends of the
freedmen--especially through the instrumentality of the distinguished
soldier whose name it bears, and whose spirit its teachers seek
to emulate--immediately after the war. It has always welcomed all
nationalities alike. Its work of years is now before the country. Every
year the Trustees seek to enlarge its scope and fit it for greater
usefulness. Important additions have lately been made to its teaching
force, and to its literary and scientific appliances.
[Illustration: HOWARD UNIVERSITY.]
The institution occupies an elevated and beautiful site at the northern
edge of the city of Washington, on a twenty-acre campus, fronting a
park of ten acres, and having the Reservoir Lake immediately adjacent
on the east. The University edifice, four stories in height, contains
recitation and lecture rooms, chapel, library, and laboratory rooms,
museum, and offices. The Medical Building is on the south of the Park,
and the Law Building is on the west side of Judiciary Square. Miner
Hall, presided over by the Matron and Preceptress, is set apart for
young lady students. Clark Hall is for young men. Spaulding Industrial
Hall (named after Martha Spaulding, of Lowell, Mass.) is devoted to
instruction in various trades.
Rev. J. E. Rankin, D. D., LL. D., is the president; James B. Johnson,
secretary and treasurer. The work at Howard University is thorough
and systematic. A great many applicants are refused admission to
this institution from year to year, because they cannot meet the
necessary requirements. Howard graduates are usually regarded as
thoroughly-equipped men and women.
TILLOTSON COLLEGE.
This institution is located at Austin, Tex.; Marshall R. Gaines,
President. It was established by the American Missionary Association,
and is maintained under its supervision. It was opened to students in
January, 1881. The Institute was named in honor of the late Rev. George
J. Tillotson, of Wethersfield, Conn., whose generous contributions and
earnest efforts were greatly instrumental in purchasing the lot and
erecting Allen Hall. It has enjoyed a steady growth in the public
confidence from the first.
During the present year a new charter has been granted and the name
changed to Tillotson College.
There are two entirely separate buildings, especially designed
and erected as dormitories, and for school purposes. These will
accommodate, without crowding, 125 students, besides the rooms for
members of the faculty. The boys and girls are, therefore, in different
buildings. The boarding department is in the girls' hall, 600 feet
north of Allen Hall.
The object of the College is to furnish an opportunity to acquire a
thoroughly practical common-school education; to prepare those who
propose to take a more extended course for entrance to the highest
educational institutions of the land; to train teachers for all
positions in the public schools. It is a Christian institution,
conducted in the belief that Christian faith is the true source of the
highest culture.
STRAIGHT UNIVERSITY.
Straight University is located at New Orleans, La.; Oscar Atwood, A.
M., President. The first building for this school was erected by the
United States Government about three years after the war, upon land
purchased by the American Missionary Association.
The history of the University is a record of steady growth and
expanding influence. It was the pioneer school in this section of the
South, in offering the recently emancipated race the opportunity for
an education leavened with the spirit of the Gospel--an opportunity
of which, from the very first, they availed themselves with grateful
appreciation. During all the years since, though not without those
trials which have tested the faith and devotion of her friends, her
progress has been steady and salutary, keeping pace with the growing
intelligence of the people, her courses of study being enlarged from
time to time to meet their higher intellectual wants, the manifest
fruit, in large part, of her own faithful educational ministry.
Thus her history is, in some respects, the intellectual history of
the colored people in this part of the South, since they received the
gift of freedom, the successive additions of the Normal, Collegiate
and Theological Departments marking and measuring the moral and
intellectual advancement of the race.
The institution received its name from Hon. Seymour Straight, of
Hudson, Ohio, in grateful acknowledgment of his liberal gifts and wise
counsel. Mr. Straight is still the President of the Board of Trustees.
Stone Hall, with the ground upon which it stands, is a fine monument to
the considerate generosity of Mrs. Valeria G. Stone, of Malden, Mass.
It is a dormitory for the girls, and the home of the President and most
of the teachers. Here, too, are the kitchen and the cool and spacious
dining room.
The general housekeeping is under the supervision of an efficient
matron, and an experienced and competent preceptress teaches the girls
how to care for their rooms and their health, and trains them in the
manners of a refined, Christian home. In a word, the whole management
of Stone Hall, with the constant inculcation of the principles of good
breeding by precept and example, is an impressive object-lesson to the
students of what constitutes the ideal Christian family.
Whitin Hall, a dormitory for boys, is a memorial of the generosity of
Hon. Seymour Straight and the late John C. Whitin, of Massachusetts.
This is under the charge of an accomplished matron.
BEACH INSTITUTE.
Beach Institute is located at Savannah, Ga.; Miss M. L. Graham,
Principal.
The educational movement which finally took the name "Beach Institute"
began thus:
Soon after the surrender of Savannah to General Sherman, educational
work for colored people was begun under the direction of an
"Educational Commission," organized by Rev. J. W. Alvord and Rev. M.
French. The first schools were opened by Rev. W. F. Richardson with the
aid of colored teachers in the old slave mart and the Styles building
in Yamacraw.
Soon after, Rev. S. W. Magill, a native of Georgia and agent of the
American Missionary Association in Connecticut, came from the North
with a corps of competent teachers and opened a school in the Methodist
Church on South Broad street. At the close of the first week 300
children and 118 women were enrolled. The school soon outgrew its
quarters and was removed to the Massie school on Gordon street, which
building was assigned to this service by General Grover, commander of
the district.
Previous to 1867 the colored Methodist Church, New street; Lamar Hall,
Liberty street; the lecture rooms of First and Bryan Baptist Churches;
Sturtevant Hall, an old wooden structure on the site of present
buildings at corner of Price and Harris streets, sheltered this A. M.
A. work.
In 1867 commodious buildings were erected by the American Missionary
Association, and dedicated as Beach Institute, in honor of Alfred E.
Beach, Esq., editor of the _Scientific American_, who donated the funds
to purchase the site.
There were 600 scholars, with ten teachers, at this time.
The teachers' home, 30 Harris street, was first occupied on
Thanksgiving day, 1867.
The attendance and teaching force remained at about the same numbers
until 1875, when the building was rented to the city for the use of the
public school conducted by the Board of Education.
In 1879 the Association again assumed charge in order to secure a
higher grade of instruction than the public school authorities thought
it wise for them to furnish.
AVERY INSTITUTE.
The Avery Institute at Charleston, S. C., is doing a splendid work for
the educational and moral uplifting of the colored people of the State.
I do not know of a single school in the State where so many children
are in constant attendance. I have visited this school and I have
always found every seat in the chapel occupied; in fact, the entire
building is usually crowded.
* * * * *
The following is a complete list of all the normal and graded schools
conducted by the American Missionary Association in the South:
Gregory Institute, Wilmington, N. C., Washburn Seminary, Beaufort, N.
C., Lincoln Academy, All Healing, N. C., Skyland Institute, Blowing
Rock, N. C., Saluda Seminary, Saluda, N. C., Brewer Normal School,
Greenwood, S. C., Dorchester Academy, McIntosh, Ga., Storrs School,
Atlanta, Ga., Ballard Normal Institute, Macon, Ga., Allen Normal and
Industrial School, Thomasville, Ga., Knox Institute, Athens, Ga.,
Normal Institute, Albany, Ga., Normal School, Orange Park, Fla., Union
School, Martin, Fla., Trinity School, Athens, Ala., Normal School,
Marion, Ala., Emerson Institute, Mobile, Ala., Burrell School, Selma,
Ala., Green Academy, Nat, Ala., Industrial Training School, Anniston,
Ala., Carpenter High School, Florence, Ala., Le Moyne Institute,
Memphis, Tenn., Warner Institute, Jonesboro', Tenn., Slater Training
School, Knoxville, Tenn., Grand View Academy, Grand View, Tenn.,
Pleasant Hill, Tenn., Cumberland Gap, Tenn., Crossville, Tenn.,
Chandler Normal School, Lexington, Ky., Williamsburg, Ky., Meridian,
Miss., Jackson, Miss., Almeda Gardner School, Moorehead, Miss., Helena
Normal School, Helena, Ark.
Total number of schools, 84; total instructors, 408; total pupils,
12,604.
Theological, 113; Collegiate, 55; Collegiate Preparatory, 151; Normal,
1,455; Grammar, 2,770; Intermediate, 3,241; Primary, 4,937. Total,
12,604.
Some of these schools are located in the remote districts of the South
among what might be classed the neglected classes of the colored
people. It is a hard matter to correctly calculate the real worth of
these institutions.
DORCHESTER ACADEMY.
Dorchester Academy, McIntosh, Ga., is but one type of a class. It is
in the rice fields of Georgia. Beginning with one teacher, it now
numbers 413 pupils, five of whom are in the advanced normal grade.
The principal writes us: "Although my boys and girls wear dark skins,
and come from the rice fields and turpentine swamps, and their native
speech is sometimes little better than a jargon, still I would not have
hesitated in an exhaustive review of as much of the work of the year
as could be covered in two days' examination to have put them beside
boys and girls coming from far more favorable surroundings. It was a
thorough test and was well met."
This is a school which, with many variations, may stand for many. Next,
we advance to schools of higher grade, such as Beach Institute, in
Savannah; Gregory Institute, in Wilmington; Ballard Normal Institute,
in Macon; Allen Normal, in Thomasville; Orange Park Normal, in Florida;
Le Moyne Institute, in Memphis; and Avery Institute, in Charleston
(which has merited its place among chartered institutions); and in the
entire field twenty-seven more, each deserving consideration, which
together form a system of schools where disciplined and experienced
instructors are preparing youth for worthy life and many to be worthy
teachers for their less privileged people. These schools, though unlike
in their environments and characteristics, are yet similar in purpose
and not dissimilar in their courses of study. Northern visitors often
express surprise in their discovery of the quality of their work.
In referring again to Le Moyne Normal Institute, I will say it was
founded in 1871 by the American Missionary Association, and named after
Dr. F. Julius Le Moyne of Washington, Pa., who gave some $20,000 for
that purpose.
The course of study is English only, including the training of teachers
through a good normal course and with considerable attention to manual
training, including woodworking and printing for the boys, and sewing,
cooking, and nursing for the girls. The school was originally designed
to accommodate about 250 pupils, but has grown to a capacity of over
600 in regular attendance, with an annual enrollment of over 750. The
buildings are good and well adapted to the work carried on in them.
The principal of this school, Mr. A. J. Steele, has had charge of the
work since January, 1874.