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 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.
[Illustration: 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
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.
[Illustration: BISHOP D. A. PAYNE, D. D., LL. D.,
_First President of Wilberforce_.]
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 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. 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.
[Illustration: 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.
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
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.
[Illustration: REV. SAMUEL T. MITCHELL, A. M., LL. D.,
_President of Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio_.]
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 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 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 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 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
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.
[Illustration: 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 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 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.
[Illustration: 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 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.
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. 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 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.
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.
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. 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 offering 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 of the
leading churches in Atlanta and other large towns of the South.
[Illustration: 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.
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.