EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS

                           AMONG

                      COLORED PEOPLE.


                            BY

                      G. F. RICHINGS,

  _Originator of Illustrated Lectures on Race Progress_.


                     _EIGHTH EDITION._


                       PHILADELPHIA:
                   GEO. S. FERGUSON CO.,
                           1902.




Copyrighted, 1902, by G. F. RICHINGS.




INTRODUCTION.


It is a pleasant thing to introduce an individual or a friend to
another individual or a friend; but to introduce a book is more
important than an individual introduction. Books are good and they are
bad, just in proportion as their contents tend to producing right or
wrong action of life; or convey truth or error. When the mission of a
book is to present facts _versus_ theory about an individual or a race,
it ought to be encouraged by all who believe in fair play.

The author of this book has for a number of years been collecting facts
in relation to the Progress of the Race since Emancipation. He has
traveled East and West, North and South, with his eyes and ears open.
For several years he has thrown these facts on the canvas to be seen
and read in the New and Old World. He now proposes to present them to
a larger and greater audience. It was impossible for all to attend his
entertainments, but now he proposes to send the entertainments to the
audience.

The pages of this book will take the place of the canvas; the dim light
of the lantern will be superseded by the clear light of reason, and
the race that has been so long misrepresented will appear in a new
light as the representative characters of this book pass a thorough
examination as to their capability of self-culture, self-improvement,
self-support and self-defence.

[Illustration: BISHOP B. W. ARNETT.]

The Home, the Store, the School and Church, and the Factory are the
infallible signs of civilization; the people who support these exhibit
the true signs of enlightenment.

In this volume you will have an opportunity of learning how the leading
schools were started by the friends of the race. You will learn how
men and women left their homes of ease and comfort and went among the
new-born Freedmen, and assisted in reconstructing the individual and
home life. You will also learn the names of noble men and women who
have founded, supported and endowed institutions for the training of
the head, hand and heart of the coming generation.

An account will be given of the schools founded, manned and supported
by the race itself; and, for the first time, the world will be
enlightened as to what the race is doing for its own education;
illustrations of buildings, presidents, professors and students will
gladden your eyes.

Short sketches of men and women who have shown skill in the
professions, and achieved success in business, will be presented,
calculated to give inspiration to the youth of the future.

Having witnessed the instructive exhibitions of the author of this
volume, and heard with pleasure his instructive Lectures, I take
great pleasure in introducing to the present and future generations
"EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS AMONG COLORED PEOPLE." For I know no man
better qualified by his knowledge of the history of the race and by
his personal examination and careful study of our problem, also his
intimate acquaintance with individuals about whom he writes, than Mr.
G. F. Richings.

I am yours for God and the Race,

  BENJAMIN W. ARNETT.

  TAWAWA CHIMNEY CORNER,
  WILBERFORCE, OHIO, _March 20, 1896_.




PREFACE.


There seems to be a general impression and a growing sentiment in this
country that the colored people, as a class, have not, and are not,
making any progress; or, that they have not improved the educational
opportunities offered them by the philanthropic white people who have
proven themselves friendly to the cause of Negro education. This
feeling has developed from two causes: First, we have a large and
wealthy class of white people who go South every year during the cold
season for either their health or pleasure, and while in the South,
they see a great many colored people on the streets of Southern cities
who appear to have no employment. In many cases this may be true;
sometimes because they do not want to work; but in the majority of
cases the true cause of so much idleness among the colored people in
the South lies in the fact that they are not able to get work, no
matter how much they may seek it. Let this be as it may, the presence
of these people on the streets, dressed as the unemployed usually
dress in the South, gives these Northern white people an unfavorable
impression of the colored brother and an erroneous idea of the real
condition of these people. Hence they return to their Northern homes
with a very pessimistic story to tell regarding the Southern colored
people.

The second reason for this erroneous impression regarding the condition
of the colored people of the South, lies in the fact that white people
never look in the right direction for evidences of race progress, but
are continually drawing their comparisons from the lowest types and
judging the whole race by a few who occupy only the lowest levels in
common society. For an illustration: A country girl from the South, who
has never spent six days of her life in a school-room, is employed in a
Northern family to do menial work. The mistress of the household finds
her ignorant and sometimes absolutely stupid, and instead of classing
this girl where she belongs, as all races are divided into classes, she
immediately arrives at the conclusion that because the girl hails from
the South, she must be a fair specimen and a true representative of all
the colored people in that section. And she further concludes that all
this talk about the wonderful progress made by the Negro since the war
is mere talk, having no foundation in fact, and that this talk is kept
up in order that the people may be misled into subscribing their money
for educational work.

I have talked with a great many white people on this subject, and they
have, in almost every instance, expressed about the same sentiment I
have given above. One lady, in Boston, Mass., said to me: "But colored
people are so ignorant." I asked her with whom she was acquainted among
colored people. "Why," said she, "we have employed colored help for
years, and one colored woman has washed for our family ever since I
was a child." It will be seen that her conclusions were drawn from a
very low level, and that her contact with colored people had always
been limited to the poorer, working classes. Indeed, so general is
the impression among white people that no real progress has been made
by the ex-slaves, that at least seven out of every ten seem to think
of the colored people as a worthless, inflexible element, incapable
of mental, moral and other developments essential to a high state of
civilization.

I think that I can safely say that the only white people who are
willing to admit that there is a better class of colored people, are
those who have either taught in their institutions, or have intimate
friends engaged in that kind of work. Friends who are anxious to help
the race, find that these wrong impressions have been so thoroughly
established, that the educational work is very much hampered and
interfered with from year to year; and the success of Southern schools,
dependent on Northern philanthropy, has been very much hindered on
account of the gloomy aspect given by Northern people visiting Southern
cities. The contributions from the North to these schools, have been
very meagre and, of course, the higher possibilities of negro education
have not been reached. Enemies of the race, and those laboring under
false impressions, are led to believe that the money invested in
Southern Educational Institutions has been simply thrown away. We
cannot hope for a change for the better as long as colored people are
only known as coachmen, waiters, cooks, and washerwomen.

I have called your attention to a very gloomy aspect of the Southern
situation. But while the aspect is a gloomy one, it represents the true
attitude of the American people, with a few exceptions. I have put
forth this effort to set my friends right on this important question,
and I sincerely believe that the time is not far distant when the white
people will see to it that these Southern Institutions are guaranteed
more liberal support and better encouragement. I see the colored people
in a much brighter light and in a more hopeful condition than the men
of my race who visit the South for the purpose of making superficial
observations. And because I have found so many interesting "Evidences
of Progress Among Colored People," I offer this as my apology for
writing this book. The facts contained in this work have been gathered
during sixteen years of actual labor and contact with the colored
people in all parts of the United States. I have had to go deeper
into the question, to secure my information, than merely to visit
street-corners and hold casual conversation with the unfortunate and
the unemployed, North or South.

When those who read this book take into consideration the fact that
many of the characters herein mentioned started some thirty years ago
without a dollar, without a home, and without education, except here
and there a few who had, in some mysterious way, learned to read and
write, they will, I am sure, be willing to admit that some progress
has been made by the people in whose interest this book is published.
I wish to make prominent four phases of the race question, namely:
(1) The schools which have been built for colored people and managed
by whites; (2) The schools managed by colored people; (3) The church
work carried on among them, and (4) The business and professional
development as the result of education.

I am well aware that, had it not been for the philanthropists who gave
their money so freely at the close of the Civil War for the education
of the freedmen, and the Christian and unselfish missionaries who went
South to teach the ex-slaves, I would not have been able to present so
many interesting and, in many cases, startling "Evidences of Progress
Among Colored People." I want to mention most of the schools started by
white friends. But I shall deal more at length and in greater detail
with the school work carried on by the colored people themselves.
There are many who are asking if the colored people are doing anything
for themselves in an educational way. This question will be clearly
answered in this book. I do not claim that colored people support
entirely all of the schools managed by them, nor have the white people
a right to expect that they should be able to do so, in so short a
time. For my part, I shall feel that they will have accomplished a
great deal if, in the next hundred years, they will have reached that
point where they can support their own schools and meet all the
financial obligations involved. I have no doubt but that many who shall
read this book will be, as I was, greatly surprised, yes, astonished;
for some of the sketches read like romances more than the ordinary
things of life.

I shall mention the names of one or more of the many men and women I
have found engaged in all the pursuits and walks of life. I present
in many cases the portraits of characters whose sketches appear, in
order that the white people may make a study of their faces. Some, in
fact many, of them are very dark. I mention this because I have been
led to believe that it is the general opinion among Americans that
quite a percentage of white blood runs through the veins of colored
people who have proven their susceptibility to higher education. I
believe, and I am confident, that the contents of this book will help
me to demonstrate that the color of the skin, the texture of the hair,
and the formation of the head, have nothing whatever to do with the
development and expansion of the mind. I only hope that the white
friends may be made to feel that the colored people are entitled to
more consideration and ought to be given a better opportunity to fill
the places for which they are being fitted, in the commercial and
business life of this country.

Among the colored readers I hope to stimulate a greater interest in
these institutions and thereby help to bring the race up to a higher
educational and social level. In order that my book might not be too
large, I had to omit a great many sketches of worthy persons and
institutions; but I tried to mention one or more persons engaged in
the different branches of business and professions. So any who are
omitted will please attribute it to a want of space and not a neglect
or oversight on my part.

I shall feel that I have accomplished a good work if I have set before
my readers food for earnest thought on the questions involved.

  G. F. RICHINGS.




CONTENTS.


  INTRODUCTION                                                     iii

  PREFACE                                                          vii


  CHAPTER I.

  BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE                           17


  CHAPTER II.

  BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE                         41


  CHAPTER III.

  CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOLS                                            71


  CHAPTER IV.

  EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS                                                 88


  CHAPTERS V. AND VI.

  METHODIST EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS                                       97


  CHAPTER VII.

  A. M. E. SCHOOLS                                                 117


  CHAPTER VIII.

  A. M. E. ZION SCHOOL                                             143


  CHAPTER IX.

  PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE                     154


  CHAPTER X.

  PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE                   158


  CHAPTER XI.

  TUSKEGEE AND NORMAL, BOTH IN ALABAMA                             189


  CHAPTER XII.

  ECKSTEIN NORTON UNIVERSITY, GLOUCESTER, AND OTHER SCHOOLS        218


  CHAPTER XIII.

  ATLANTA UNIVERSITY AND BEREA COLLEGE                             248


  CHAPTER XIV.

  INSTITUTE FOR COLORED YOUTH, CAMP NELSON, AND SCHOOL
  WORK IN WASHINGTON                                               254


  CHAPTER XV.

  NASHVILLE, TENN.                                                 264


  CHAPTER XVI.

  ATLANTA, GA., AND INDIANAPOLIS, IND.                             273


  CHAPTER XVII.

  FINE PENMEN                                                      278


  CHAPTER XVIII.

  COLORED LAWYERS                                                  284


  CHAPTER XIX.

  J. H. LEWIS AND OTHER BUSINESS MEN                               297


  CHAPTER XX.

  WALTER P. HALL AND OTHER SUCCESSFUL MERCHANTS                    316


  CHAPTER XXI.

  BANKS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, ETC.                                 334


  CHAPTER XXII.

  PATENTS AND OTHER BUSINESS INTERESTS                             342


  CHAPTER XXIII.

  COLORED EDITORS AND JOURNALISTS                                  349


  CHAPTER XXIV.

  CHURCHES                                                         375


  CHAPTER XXV.

  HOSPITALS AND HOMES                                              392


  CHAPTER XXVI.

  PROMINENT COLORED WOMEN                                          411


  CHAPTER XXVII.

  DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS AND HIS PRIVATE SANATORIUM                   429


  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  UNITED PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS, BOYDTON INSTITUTE, AND
  CHRISTIANSBURG INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE                              436


  CHAPTER XXIX.

  HAMPTON INSTITUTE, HAMPTON, VA.                                  445


  CHAPTER XXX.

  STATE SCHOOLS AND CALHOUN SETTLEMENT                             461


  CHAPTER XXXI.

  C. M. E. SCHOOLS                                                 472


  CHAPTER XXXII.

  CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS                                                476


  CHAPTER XXXIII.

  COLEMAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY                                    481


  CHAPTER XXXIV.

  RICHMOND, VA.                                                    486


  CHAPTER XXXV.

  HERE AND THERE                                                   498


  CHAPTER XXXVI.

  NATIONAL BAPTIST PUBLISHING BOARD                                564


  CHAPTER XXXVII.

  COLORED SOLDIERS                                                 569


  CHAPTER XXXVIII.

  CONCLUSION                                                       572

  INDEX TO PORTRAITS OF PEOPLE                                     574




EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS AMONG COLORED PEOPLE.




CHAPTER I.

BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE.


In 1865 four million colored people suddenly emerged from bondage,
poor, ignorant, and in many cases with very crude notions of religion
or morality. Not one-third of those who had arrived to years of
understanding at that time can be found among the eight millions of
colored population to-day. And consequently, the younger element
of this race know little or nothing about the great conflict, the
culmination of which brought to their fathers and mothers that boon of
all human aspiration--liberty. "With the mutations of time in Egypt, a
king arose who knew not Joseph. In these changes here, a new generation
comes on, to whom occurrences of the past are but dim and sometimes
distorted traditions."

To my mind, the last generation has been characterized by greater
conflicts and has been freighted with more thrilling events than any
generation through which the history of this country has brought us.
Through ignorance, and sometimes indifference, we are in serious danger
of depreciating the wonderful agencies that have been such potent
factors in the growth and development of a people. It is, therefore,
important that some close observer of events constantly keep before the
people, in whose interest these factors have been set in operation,
full accounts of all the developments, that the young may be inspired
to noble aims and lofty endeavors.

While such a task is not an easy one, I feel it my duty to attempt its
performance. All the data and every observation set forth in these
chapters have been the result of personal investigation among the
colored people. I shall give in this chapter a brief history of the
schools conducted by white people of the Baptist denomination for the
education of colored people. In this work the American Baptist Home
Mission Society has expended since 1862 $3,000,000. The value of school
property acquired by the society amounts to $900,000.

When before this society "came the vision of emancipated millions,
desperately needy, in dire distress and full of forebodings, stretching
forth their unshackled, but empty, unskilled and helpless hands
for friendly aid and guidance," this society at once took them in
and offered them shelter and comfort. The society has accomplished
wonders for the colored people, and I am sure that the colored people
appreciate all that it has done for them.

I shall begin my history of Baptist schools with Spelman Seminary.


SPELMAN SEMINARY.

The history of Spelman Seminary reads like a romance. Beginning
in 1881, in the gloomy basement of the Friendship Baptist Church,
Atlanta, Ga., a church owned by the colored people, without any of the
accessories needed for successful school work, with but two teachers,
Miss S. B. Packard and Miss Harriet E. Giles, and with less than a
dozen pupils, it has grown to be the largest and best equipped school
for the training of colored girls in the United States.

The institution has a magnificent location, and all of the buildings
are specially suited to its needs. Spelman has a large and able faculty
of earnest, devoted teachers, an attendance of pupils numbered by the
hundreds, a constituency of friends and patrons rapidly extending in
numbers and interest, and has made for itself a large place in the
educational forces of the South, and established a reputation of a very
high order.

The question of the education of the colored people as a preparation
for citizenship, just after the war, demanded careful thought and
prompt treatment, and among the noble women who ventured into the
South, fully equipped to do the service they felt was needed, were
Miss S. B. Packard and Miss H. E. Giles. The Southern white people
could not reasonably be expected to throw to the winds all their
cherished traditions and preconceptions simply because they had
acknowledged defeat at the hands of the Northern people. They could
not even be expected to at once admit their former slaves into
political fellowship, recognizing them as equals in all the rights of
citizenship; nor could they be expected to provide schools for the
education of these people. Out of a consideration of these facts,
Northern people, moved by noble and unselfish impulses, made their way
to the South and established these great institutions for the education
of colored people.

Both Miss Packard and Miss Giles had made for themselves a reputation
before moving from their homes in New England to Atlanta. They were
identified with the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society and had
indicated their zeal for the promotion of the Society's interest in
the most practical manner. The work done at Spelman is a practical
Christian work, and the young ladies who graduate from that institution
are the very best specimens of cultured and refined womanhood. This
school is modeled after those of like grade established for white
people. This should be the case with all Southern schools. There are
required the same qualifications in the teachers, the same text-books,
the same course of study, the same kinds of discipline that are found
in similar institutions. There seems to be no point in the equipment
or general management of these institutions where they can diverge
safely from those which the history of education has shown to be most
desirable and best adapted to their purpose. The grounds, buildings,
furniture, libraries, text-books, apparatus, endowments of a Negro
school in Georgia, should not differ in any respect from the equipment
of a similar institution for white pupils in Massachusetts.

Spelman Seminary is a power for good, and since the death of Miss S.
B. Packard is managed by Miss H. E. Giles, principal, and Miss L. H.
Upton, associate principal.


ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY.

Roger Williams University was founded in 1863 by Rev. D. W. Phillips,
D. D., who was for many years its president. Its present president
is the Rev. P. B. Guernsey, A. M. The total enrolment for 1900 was
222--122 young men and 100 young women. The school is beautifully
situated in the suburbs of the city of Nashville, in the State of
Tennessee.

Nashville has become the chief centre of education in the South, both
for the white and colored people. No other city south of the Ohio
offers so many advantages as the seat of an institution for higher
learning. The University grounds lie close to the city limits, on
the Hillsboro' turnpike, just beyond the Vanderbilt University. The
location is high and airy, and commands an unsurpassed prospect of the
city and surrounding country.

It is a school for both sexes. It has Collegiate, Biblical and
Theological, Academic, Normal, English, Musical and Industrial
Departments.

The Collegiate Department aims at a thorough liberal education which
gives the student the possession of his faculties developed and
trained, a general acquaintance with the broad principles of all human
knowledge, and a preparation for a special study of any of the learned
professions. This department has two courses: the classical, leading to
the degree of B. A., and the scientific, leading to the degree of B. S.

The Biblical and Theological Department has a general and special aim.
Its general aim is to make the Bible a living book to each student.
Every pupil in the school receives during his entire course a daily
lesson in the Bible. Its special aim is to furnish better preachers of
the Gospel and better pastors of the churches. Every year a "ministers'
class" is conducted for ten weeks, beginning with the first day of
January. Members of the class have three recitations daily. They may
also attend such other classes as they can with profit to themselves.

The Academic Department prepares for college. It consists of a three
years' course in classic and mathematic studies that link the English
Department to the college work.

The Normal Department aims to furnish, for the public schools of the
land, teachers that will raise the tone of education and make these
schools more efficient. It consists of a three years course in subjects
best adapted for this purpose.

The English Department aims to give the pupil a thorough drill in the
elements of common intelligence. Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Grammar,
Geography, Spelling and History are taught by the best of teachers, so
that the young people are prepared to take their places as citizens
alongside of pupils of the most favored city schools. Parents who live
in rural districts and in country towns, where the public schools are
of short duration and scant equipments and feeble teaching, will find
here facilities for English education that are not surpassed in the
South.

[Illustration: Roger Williams University, Nashville, Tenn.]

The Musical Department aims to give a musical education, both vocal
and instrumental, that will make the young people efficient workers in
church and Sabbath school and elevating and refining members of the
home and social circles.

The Industrial Department does not aim to fit students for the various
mechanical trades, but it does aim to give them instruction and
experience, that will train their eyes and hands and make them handy in
the use of tools.

The school has a total teaching force of sixteen persons. Six of these
are graduates of the best Northern Universities. Others are teachers of
excellent education and wide experience.

The young ladies are under the close and affectionate watchcare
of a New England lady, whose treatment of them is noted for its
conscientiousness, its piety and its motherliness.

A number of the male teachers live in the building with the young men
and thus become to them constant advisers, counsellors and friends.

The religious influences of the school are pure, constant and strong.

The University is grandly located for accessibility, healthfulness, and
beauty. It is near enough to the city of Nashville to give it all the
advantages of city life. Yet it is so far removed from the crowded
city with its slums, saloons and other evils, that it is virtually in
the country.

The property of the school is valued at $80,000. It has a small
endowment fund of less than $1,000. Several Indian youths from the
Indian Territory have been students in this institution. The graduates
are widely scattered throughout the South, occupying positions of
influence and usefulness.


VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY.

Virginia Union University has been formed out of two very excellent
schools, where a great work has been done for the education and
advancement of the colored people, namely, Wayland College, which was
located at Washington, D. C., and Richmond Theological Seminary, at
Richmond, Va. Both of these schools have a very interesting history.
Wayland Seminary, as it was called, was founded at Washington, D. C.,
in 1865. Rev. G. M. P. King was president of it for twenty-seven years.
The work began in 1865, was vigorously followed up by the purchase of
property on "I" street at a cost of $1,500 from monies contributed by
women of the North. The school was named in honor of President Francis
Wayland, of Brown University. In 1871 a new site, 150 feet square,
on Meridian Hill, in the northern part of the city, was purchased at
a cost of $3,375. The erection of a new building was begun in 1873.
It was a fine four-story building, with basement and accommodations
for seventy-five students, with recitation rooms and rooms for the
faculty. It cost about $20,000. The walls, from the foundation to the
crowning, were constructed by colored bricklayers under the supervision
of a master workman, an ex-slave from Virginia, who purchased his
freedom before the war. Wayland Seminary has turned out some very able
men, among them Rev. Harvey Johnson, D. D., of Baltimore, Md., who is
one of the most noted colored preachers in the country. He has held
charge of one of the largest Colored Baptist churches in the United
States for nearly thirty years.

The Richmond Theological Seminary, at Richmond, Va., has a very
remarkable history. It was first commenced in 1868, and started its
work in Lumpkin's Slave Jail, and was first known as Colver Institute.
In 1876 it was incorporated as the Richmond Institute. Subsequently
the trustees and officers of the American Baptist Home Missionary
Society decided to make it a school for ministers only, and in 1886 the
name was changed to the Richmond Theological Seminary. Rev. Charles
Corey, A. M., D. D., was elected president in 1868, and remained in
charge until 1899, when the school went into the Union University. In
speaking of the work, Rev. Corey said: "Of students there have been
in attendance nearly 1,100; total preparing for the ministry, 540;
graduates with diplomas from Richmond Institute, 73; total graduates
with degree of B. D. from Richmond Theological Seminary, 27. Some of
these graduates are now in charge of institutions of learning, others
are professors in seminaries and universities. Six entered the foreign
mission field. The former students of the Richmond Theological Seminary
are to be found from Canada to Texas, and in the lands far beyond the
sea." The school has had among its teachers such men as Prof. J. E.
Jones, D. D., and Prof. D. N. Vassar, D. D. Both of these men are well
educated and represent a high type of true manhood, and they have done
much to advance the race they are identified with. Now Wayland College
and Seminary and Richmond Theological Seminary are united under one
board of trustees. They have at present the Theological Department,
the College Department, the Academic Department and the Preparatory
Department. An industrial plant will, it is hoped, be built. They
already teach the students in a practical way the art of printing
and of managing the steam and electrical plant. This last gives them
quite a knowledge of engineering. The new buildings number eight--a
fine library building, including a chapel and library, a lecture
hall, a dining hall, a dormitory, a power plant, two residences and a
stable. They are constructed of the finest granite, and could not be
duplicated for $300,000. They are situated on a hill about fifty feet
above the valley--a beautiful location in the centre of thirty acres.
The buildings contain every modern improvement--steam heat in all the
rooms and halls, electric lighting and a complete telephone system for
the different buildings and floors, and most approved toilet and bath
arrangements. It is said to be the finest group of buildings in the
whole South.

Rev. M. MacVicar, Ph. D., LL. D., is the president of the University,
George Rice Hovey the dean of Wayland Seminary and College, Rev. George
F. Genung, D. D., the dean of the Theological School. The faculty
consists of fifteen teachers of unusual ability, graduates of the best
colleges, some of whom have made a name for themselves already. About
one-half are white. The courses of study are equal to those of the
ordinary Northern schools of similar grade. Virginia Union University
will doubtless be the largest Baptist school operated for colored
people, and it is located in a part of the country where the colored
population is very large, and especially among the Baptists.


ATLANTA BAPTIST SEMINARY.

On the corner of Hunter and Elliott streets, in the city of Atlanta,
Ga., there stands a smoke-begrimed and somewhat dilapidated
brick building bearing the inscription, "American Baptist Home
Mission Society, 1879." Directly in front of the building lies the
shunting-yard of the Southern Railroad. The locality is one of the
nosiest, dustiest and smokiest in the city. It was in this building,
among these unfavorable surroundings, that the work of the Atlanta
Baptist Seminary was carried on from 1879 till 1890.

In the old building no provision was made for dormitories. The
students, most of whom were from the country, were left to find
boarding-houses where they could, and besides living in close and
crowded homes, where the atmosphere was not specially intellectual
and where the opportunities for quiet study were not great, they
were, except for the few hours of school each day, beyond the control
and watchcare of the teachers and exposed to the distractions and
temptations of the city.

For twelve years prior to the year 1879 the Seminary had been located
at Augusta, Ga., and was known as "The Augusta Institute."

Upon the death of Rev. Joseph T. Robert, LL. D., president for
fourteen years, which occurred in 1884, Rev. Samuel Graves, D. D., was
appointed. Dr. Graves was quick to see that the first requisite to the
vigorous growth of the school was a transplanting. Accordingly, he set
to work to secure ground and building. As the result of his efforts the
present campus was secured and the present building erected, and in the
spring of 1890 the Seminary bade farewell to the old building and its
noisy neighbors and took up its abode in its new home.

The main building of the institution was erected in 1889 at a cost
of $27,000. In this beautiful building the visitor will find chapel,
library, eight class-rooms, president's apartments and rooms for six
teachers, dormitory accommodation for about one hundred students,
besides kitchen, dining-room and storerooms, laundry, printing office,
workshop and boiler-room. Rev. George Sales is president.


SHAW UNIVERSITY.

Shaw University is beautifully located in the city of Raleigh, North
Carolina, within ten minutes' walk of the post-office and capital. The
grounds, upon which have been erected five large brick buildings and
several of wood, are among the finest in the city, and include several
acres. This institution furnishes by far the largest accommodations
of any colored school in North Carolina, and, in the large number of
advanced pupils, it is not surpassed by any colored school in the
country.

Shaw University was founded in 1865 by Dr. H. M. Tupper, D. D., who
conceived the desire for school work among the colored people while
serving as a soldier in our late war. He started his first school,
which has grown into the present university, in a cabin scarcely ten by
twenty feet. The large brick structures, which now form a part of the
institution, are looked upon with great interest because of the fact
that the bricks in them were made by student labor under the direction
of Dr. Tupper.

There are normal, collegiate, scientific, music and industrial
departments, as well as schools of pharmacy, law and medicine, and a
missionary training school, and all doing good work. Every graduate
of the pharmacy school, class of 1900, recently appeared before the
State Board of Examiners and obtained certificates as required by law.
Prof. Chas. F. Meserve is its present president, since the death of Dr.
Tupper.

The Baptists have cause to be proud of the good work done at Shaw
University. Preachers and teachers by the hundreds have been educated
at this excellent institution for home and foreign mission work.


BISHOP COLLEGE.

Bishop College is located in the city of Marshall, the county-seat of
Harrison county, Texas. For beauty of situation, commodiousness of
buildings, and completeness of outfit for the work, this institution
is unsurpassed by any school for the colored people west of the
Mississippi.

The Rev. N. Wolverton has been succeeded as president by the Rev.
Albert Loughridge, who will push the work with the same degree of
vigor. The dormitories are spacious and pleasant, the grounds are ample
for recreation, and those who go there to live find all the advantages
of a Christian home.

Every student must understand that, in entering the school, he
stands pledged to willing and cheerful conformity to the regulations
prescribed by the faculty for its government.

This institution was founded in 1881. It now employs nine white
teachers and seven colored. Total number of students in attendance
daily about two hundred. Amount of money expended yearly for the
support of the school, $7,434.


BENEDICT COLLEGE.

In 1870 a desirable site for an institution for the education of
colored people was found available at Columbia, S. C. As this was the
capital of the State, and central, it was decided to locate it here. A
noble woman in New England, Mrs. B. A. Benedict, of Providence, R. I.,
gave $10,000 towards its purchase, the cost being $16,000. The property
consisted of nearly eighty acres of land. In honor of the deceased
husband of the donor, Dea. Stephen Benedict, brother of David Benedict,
the historian, the Board called the school "Benedict Institute."

It was opened December 1, 1870, under the charge of Rev. Timothy S.
Dodge, as principal. The first pupil was a colored preacher, sixty
years old. In October, 1887, Rev. Lewis Colby succeeded Mr. Dodge under
appointment of the Board.

Upon his resignation in 1879, Rev. E. J. Goodspeed, D. D., was
appointed. He entered upon his work in October, continuing until his
death, in the summer of 1881. Rev. C. E. Becker was selected as his
successor and went to Columbia in October, 1882, but at this writing
the president is Rev. A. C. Osborn, D. D.

During 1879-80, Rev. Lewis Colby, deeply impressed with the need of
better accommodations, especially for girls, devoted his time without
compensation, and with the approval of the Board, to raising $5,000
for a girls' building. This amount being secured, together with an
additional offering from Mrs. Benedict, two frame buildings were
erected in 1881. Towards the furnishing of the buildings, the colored
people of the State gave over $1,600. The girls' building is known as
"Colby Hall." Better quarters for the young men are greatly needed.
By special act of the South Carolina Legislature, through the efforts
of President Becker and the co-operation of leading Baptists, the
institution in 1882 was exempted from taxation.


LELAND UNIVERSITY.

Leland University was founded in 1870 for the higher education of such
men and women as desired to fit themselves for Christian citizenship,
either as ministers, teachers, or tradesmen. It is open to all persons
who are fitted to enjoy its advantages, without distinction of race,
color, or religious opinions. The University owes its existence to the
late Holbrook Chamberlain, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., who erected the
buildings, assisted in its management, and at his death left to it
the bulk of his property, about $100,000, as an endowment fund, the
interest of which goes to the payment of teachers.

The University has a library and reading-room, which is supplied with
the leading journals and periodicals of the day.

There is a Literary Society, the "Philomathean," composed of young men
and young women, which holds weekly meetings for mutual improvement.

The students also constitute a recognized branch of the International
Young Men's Christian Association and of the National Society of
Christian Endeavor.

Dr. R. W. Perkins was elected president in 1901 to fill the place of
Pres. Mitchell, deceased. He will be supported by a corps of earnest,
faithful teachers.

The University is situated on St. Charles avenue, New Orleans, La., and
its retirement from the crowded part of the city renders it peculiarly
adapted to study.


HARTSHORN MEMORIAL COLLEGE.

This institution was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia, March
13, 1884, with full collegiate and university powers.

Hartshorn Memorial College is located at the west end of Leigh street,
Richmond, Va. The grounds comprise eight and one-half acres, well
elevated, and shaded in part by a belt of native forest trees. The
object of the institution is to train colored women for practical work
in the broad harvest of the world.

The president, Rev. Lyman B. Tefft, D. D., claims that among the
millions of colored women in the United States there is the same need
and the same field for trained and cultured Christian service as among
the whites. Life for them has the same meaning as for any other race.
They have the same social, intellectual and spiritual necessities. They
are a people essentially by themselves. There is, therefore, for the
educated colored woman, the same wide and ready field of Christian work
and influence as for any others.


THE MATHER INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.

This school is located on a bluff in the suburbs of Beaufort, S. C.
It was established just after the war, by Mrs. Rachel C. Mather, of
Boston, Mass., who is still its principal, assisted by six other white
teachers.

Mrs. Mather was a teacher in the public schools of Boston during the
Civil War, and just after the conflict was over she went South to do
the work of her life. The history of her efforts are interesting in
every detail and inspires the reader with an appreciation for the noble
work of a noble woman.

Mrs. Mather conducts an orphanage in connection with the school, and
during the twenty-seven years of her labors in this section, a great
many orphan children have been cared for and trained from childhood to
noble manhood and womanhood.

It is the aim of this school to reach the homes of the common people
and develop the good qualities in the young men and young women of the
race.

I regard this work as being one of the most important schools in the
South. This lady has borne all the cares, anxieties and difficulties
engendered in this peculiar work for these many years, with remarkable
fortitude and courage.

People who have always lived in the North cannot appreciate what it
means to go South and take charge of a colored school. I have talked
with many of the men and women now at the head of such institutions,
and they tell me that it is the rarest thing for the Southern white
people to ever come near them, or even speak of them, except in the
most disrespectful manner. In fact, in the early days of freedom
Northern teachers could hardly stay, because of their treatment on the
part of the whites. There has been a great change, and many of the
Southern people are willing now to admit that the white teachers have
done a most excellent work for the race, but they still let them good
and well alone. But in many cases it is a great help to be let alone,
and especially when their recognition would not be friendly.


DAWES ACADEMY.

Dawes Academy is located at Berwin, I. T. Rev. Geo. Horne, principal.
This school has an average attendance of about 100. It is developing
rapidly. Rev. Horne is assisted by three teachers.


JACKSON COLLEGE.

This institution, as Natchez College, was founded by the A. B. H. Miss.
Soc. at Natchez, Miss., in 1878. In 1883, as Jackson College, it was
established in Jackson, the State capital. Rev. Luther G. Barrett,
A. M., is president, a graduate of Harvard College and of Newton
Theological Institution, a practical educator, and who was for a time
professor in Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C. It is beautifully and
healthfully situated in the outskirts of the city, with fine buildings
and an able corps of ten teachers. Its field is immense, Mississippi
having 800,000 negroes. It had, up to the present yellow fever scourge,
200 students, and will, no doubt, with the passing of the fever, soon
eclipse this number, as under its present efficient management it is
fast gaining in popularity. It does superior work, its academical
and classical departments comparing favorably with those of similar
first-class institutions of the North, while it is just beginning
regular college work. It has also a fine preparatory department and
excellent graded musical course. It is pre-eminently a Christian
school, the Bible being taught in grades one hour daily. Revivals are
frequent, and generally each session closes with nearly every student
a Christian. Its students stand high in the State as teachers, while
many go on to professional schools of law, medicine and theology. Its
great aim is to supply leaders.


STORER COLLEGE--FREE-WILL BAPTISTS.

At Harper's Ferry, W. Va., within sight of where John Brown made
his famous raid, stands Storer College. The beautiful valley of the
Shenandoah could not contain anything that would add more to its beauty
than this splendid institution of learning.

This school has a most interesting history. Just after the Civil War,
when the glare of cannon and the din of gun had faded away, this school
was started.

The school is conducted by the Free-will Baptists.

In February of 1867, President O. B. Cheney visited Mr. John Storer,
of Sanford, Me., in behalf of Bates College. Although not a Free-will
Baptist, Mr. Storer was deeply interested in the history and aims of
the denomination. During the conversation he said to Dr. Cheney: "I
have determined to give $10,000 to some society which will raise an
equal amount toward the founding of a school in the South for the
benefit of the colored people. I should prefer that your denomination
have this money, only that I fear that they will not or can not meet
my condition. I am old and I desire to see the school started before
I die; so as you came I was about writing to the American Missionary
Association, making them this proposal, and I am confident they will
accept and rapidly advance the project."

In reply Dr. Cheney pleaded that he be allowed to make an effort. He
told him of the Southern enterprise, of its needs, and added: "A school
there is just what we must have in order to carry forward the work. We
shall feel that God has heard our prayers and is blessing our labor if
you will give us your support. You may set your own time--one year, six
months, or less--_only let us try_."

Mr. Storer came to a favorable decision before twelve o'clock that
night.

Monday, Oct. 2, 1867, Storer College commenced its noble work--the
outcome of which eternity alone can truly unfold. It began with
nineteen pupils (from the immediate vicinity) and with one assistant
teacher, Mrs. M. W. L. Smith, of Maine, under Mr. Brackett as
principal. The school opened in the government building--known as the
"Lockwood House"--and this one building served for dwelling-house,
school and church.

The efforts to obtain a gift of this property were now redoubled. Dr.
James Calder of Harrisburg, Pa., was especially active in furthering
this project. Finally, through the earnest support of Mr. Fessenden in
the Senate and of Gen. Garfield in the House, a bill to this effect
passed Congress Dec. 3, 1868, and the four buildings, with seven acres
of land, worth about $30,000, became the property of the institution.
Had this failed, the site of the school would have been at the Bolivar
Farm. As it was, the farm, through cultivation and sale of lots,
largely assisted in supporting the school during its infancy.

In September of 1867 the Freedmen's Bureau donated $500, which was
used in making needed repairs, and soon after the school opened, paid
over the promised $6,000 to a temporary Stock Company organized under
the laws of West Virginia. But the "Bureau" did far more than it
promised, and as long as it existed ceased not to render generous and
efficient aid. Among its further benefactions were $4,000 to renovate
the shattered government buildings, and about $1,500 toward the running
expenses. Altogether, including about $4,000 for the erection, in
1868, of Lincoln Hall--a boarding-hall for boys--the Freedmen's Bureau
contributed $18,000 toward the upbuilding of Storer College. How the
institution could have flourished or even lived without this external
aid, it is difficult to realize, for the denomination was heavily
freighted with the needs of other important enterprises.

The school is now in a flourishing condition and is doing a noble and
elevating work in behalf of civilization.

Crowning, as they do, the heights of Harper's Ferry, the buildings of
Storer College are conspicuous objects in every direction. A passing
allusion should be made to the wondrous scenery which surrounds Storer
College--to witness which, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "It were worth a
journey across the Atlantic." And the most unappreciative observer can
but feel that the outspread grandeur and beauty must exert an elevating
influence.

The institution has three departments--Preparatory, Normal, and
Classical. It has had over 1,200 different pupils, has sent out more
than 300 teachers and about 30 ministers. In one year its students have
numbered 232, and both total and average attendance are constantly
increasing. In 1875 a summer term for teachers was inaugurated. Its
session holds through June and July, and it is greatly appreciated by
those whose only opportunity for further study and progress is at this
time.

No one can visit Harper's Ferry without coming away overflowing with
wonder and enthusiasm. One stands abashed before the brave spirit, the
devotion and never-mentioned sacrifices of our toilers there.

Rev. N. C. Brackett served this institution as its president from
its beginning until 1897, when he was succeeded by Rev. Ernest Earle
Osgood, a young man of most excellent qualifications for such a
position. He comes of that class of New England people who have done so
much for the education of colored people. Rev. Osgood will doubtless,
because of his youth, add vigor and energy to the school that will be
helpful in bringing a larger attendance.




CHAPTER II.

BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE.


In this chapter I shall deal with the Baptist schools managed by
colored people. Many of these schools have had a very hard struggle;
but by the patriotism and race pride of the colored people, they have
been constantly growing and developing, until to-day they are among the
very best educational institutions in this country.

I open this chapter with a brief sketch of "The Western College,"
located at Macon, Mo., because I regard it as one of the best schools
of the kind in the West.


THE WESTERN COLLEGE.

One of the best institutions in the West for the education of Negroes
is The Western College located at Macon, Mo. Since it was founded, in
January, 1890, its growth has been extraordinary, and to-day (1901)
its temporary buildings are crowded with earnest young men and women
anxious to secure a Christian education. Believing that religious
principles should underlie all true education, the Negro Baptists of
Missouri, several years prior to 1890, had in mind the establishment
of a Christian institution in which ministers might receive biblical
training and where hundreds of men and women might be educated and
thoroughly trained for teaching and other useful pursuits in life.
They realized that the Christian college is one of the greatest forces
in the aid of Christianity, inasmuch as its great aim is to build up
a character in accord with the principles of God's Word. When first
opened, the school was conducted in rented quarters at Independence,
Mo., for a part of two sessions. In the Fall of 1891 the Board of
Trustees purchased twelve acres of land, conveniently located within
the city limits, at a cost of $4,000. The school was opened here in
January, 1892. At present two buildings are occupied, but the growth
of the school has rendered these wholly inadequate for the demands of
the work. The colored Baptists themselves have raised a large amount of
money for paying on the property, for current expenses and for building
purposes. In this work they have been kindly assisted by The Home
Mission Society of New York, which has contributed annually toward the
payment of teachers. But for its timely aid, the work, so well begun,
must have suffered.

Located as this school is, in the northern part of Missouri, it has
a large territory from which to draw. Students have matriculated
from Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi and Alabama. With enlarged
facilities in the way of commodious buildings and apparatus, the power
of this institution in the development of the Negro race in Missouri
and the West will be beyond calculation. In view of these facts the
college should receive substantial encouragement from those who are
philanthropically inclined.


PROF. E. L. SCRUGGS, B. D.

[Illustration: PROF. E. L. SCRUGGS, B. D.]

Realizing that the lives of public men are in some sense the property
of the world, and also that true lives are not lived for self, but for
humanity, it affords the writer pleasure to speak of one of Missouri's
noble sons, President Enos L. Scruggs, B. D., one who has risen by
gradual steps to the position he now holds, overcoming many flinty
obstacles to progress. He is an example of a self-made man. Having
been left both motherless and fatherless early in life, he was left to
combat with the world without the loving and tender care and helpful
influences of a mother. By great perseverance and earnest efforts
he completed with credit the course of study at Lincoln Institute,
Jefferson City, Mo.

Early in life he professed a hope in Christ, and feeling that he was
called to the work of the ministry, he prepared himself by a course of
study in the Union Baptist Theological Seminary, Morgan Park, Ill.,
which has recently become "The Divinity School" of the University of
Chicago, graduating from there with honor with the degree of B. D.
He accepted a call immediately to the Second Baptist Church, of Ann
Arbor, Mich. Ever seeking to go higher and higher intellectually, he
availed himself of the opportunities afforded him at the University of
Michigan. After a very successful pastorate of twenty-eight months,
he resigned October 1, 1892, to accept the Presidency of the Western
College, where he has most creditably filled the position ever since,
doing a noble work in this field. He is building a monument by his
earnest efforts and faithfulness to duty that will always be an honor
to him, to the race and to the denomination. As he is a young man and
constantly striving for richer and better results, we wish for him
continued success and that no record will reveal greater riches than
his, and that his may present to all a heritage of heroic deeds.


THE BIBLE AND NORMAL INSTITUTE.

The above-named institution was founded and incorporated in Memphis,
Tenn., in the year 1887, through the philanthropy of Mr. Peter
Howe, of Winona, Ill. Located as it is near the lines of three
States--Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas--the school has great
possibilities among the host of Baptists in that section, under whose
auspices it is conducted.

The Howe building, which the school occupies, is a brick structure
two stories above the basement, and is valued at nearly $18,000. The
primary department is conducted in the basement. The first floor
contains the principal's office, the chapel, and recitation-rooms,
while a commodious and well-fitted lecture-room and several "living
rooms" comprise the second floor.

As the charter of incorporation indicates, the institution was
established for the purposes of giving Bible, literary, scientific,
and industrial instruction; training preachers and teachers and other
Christian workers. The history of the institution is a proof of the
fact that these objects have constantly been before the management
of the same. Many of the very best teachers, preachers, and other
missionary workers in the section from which the school draws its
patronage owe their success directly to its instruction and influence.

The success of the women's missionary and nurse training and the
theological departments has been very marked.

[Illustration: PROF. JOSHUA LEVISTER, A. B.]

The session of 1896 and 1897 was the first under the control of a
colored principal, Prof. Nathaniel H. Pius, a graduate of Leland
University, New Orleans, La., who held the position for two years, when
he was succeeded by Prof. Joshua Levister, A. B., who is a graduate
from Shaw University, at Raleigh, N. C. Prof. Levister is a native of
North Carolina. He is a young man of splendid character and very much
thought of by all who know him.

The statistics for the session of 1897 and 1898 show the following
figures: Enrollment, males, 85; females, 90; number preparing to teach,
35; number preparing to preach, 19; number pursuing missionary and
nurse-training course, 30.

At present the faculty consists of seven members, five colored and two
white.

The school is located among thousands of Baptists, and will in time
take its place as one of the very large Baptist schools. Prof. Levister
is a young and energetic man, who will be able to push the work with
vigor. They will in time be able to add more of the industrial work,
which will be of great help to certain classes of students who do not
care to take the higher courses, and will find industrial education
very helpful to them.


VIRGINIA BAPTIST SEMINARY.

The Virginia Seminary was founded by the Virginia Baptist State
Convention during its annual session of May, 1887, at Alexandria,
Va., and was incorporated February 24, 1888, by an act of the General
Assembly. The aim of the Seminary is to give a thorough and practical
education to the colored youth. Under the provisions of the charter a
committee was appointed to purchase suitable grounds, which committee
purchased the present site at Lynchburg. The corner-stone was laid
in July, 1888. The school was opened January 13, 1890. The property
is held in trust by a Board of Managers for the Virginia Baptist
State Convention. The school is supported by the colored Baptists of
Virginia, who number more than 200,000.

[Illustration: VIRGINIA BAPTIST SEMINARY, LYNCHBURG, VA.]

At the time this sketch was written the valuation of the entire
property of the institution was estimated at $40,000. The enrolment of
students for 1900 numbered 250. The development of this institution has
been most creditable to the Baptists of the State of Virginia.

The following compose the faculty of this institution for 1896:

Prof. Gregory W. Hayes, A. M., President, Prof. Bernard Tyrrell, A.
M., Prof. J. M. Arter, A. M., Prof. U. S. G. Patterson, George Moore,
Mrs. Mittie E. Tyler, Miss Lula E. Johnson, R. Lee Hemmings, Lewis W.
Black, Miss Carrie L. Callaway, Walter W. Johnson, Miss Minnie Norvell.

The chairman of the Board of Managers is Rev. R. Spiller; secretary,
Rev. P. F. Morris.

Rev. P. F. Morris, D. D., was the first president of the Seminary,
but on account of failing health he resigned the position before the
institution had been completed.


PROF. GREGORY W. HAYES, A. M.

When President G. W. Hayes was appointed to take charge of the work,
he had to start under many disadvantages, a depleted treasury on the
part of the Baptist State Convention, and with no available sources
from which financial aid could readily be procured. By his zeal and
enterprise a large building now crowns one of the most beautiful hills
in the vicinity of Lynchburg.

Prof. Gregory W. Hayes was born of slave parents in Amelia county,
Va., September 8, 1862. He graduated from Oberlin, one of the first
institutions of learning in the State of Ohio, in the class of '88 and
was elected to the chair of pure mathematics in the Virginia Normal and
Collegiate Institute, which position he held for three years. He was
the first president of the National Baptist Educational Convention for
the United States and was commissioner-in-chief from Virginia for the
Southern Inter-State Exposition. He was elected president of Virginia
Seminary in 1891.

In young men like Prof. Hayes rests the future of the race. He is an
able orator, and whenever he speaks to a body of people he enlightens
them. The future before him is bright. Modest, unassuming, brilliant,
he stands tip-toe upon the threshold of success and justice bids him
enter.

[Illustration: PROF. GREGORY W. HAYES, A. M.]


ARKADELPHIA ACADEMY.

The Arkadelphia Academy was organized Aug. 15, 1890, as Arkadelphia
Industrial College. In 1892 the name was changed to the Arkadelphia
Academy, and it was made tributary to the Arkansas Baptist College at
Little Rock, Ark. The school had few friends and no money when started;
but in 1896 the property was valued at $12,000.

F. L. Jones, A. M., is the principal. The object of the school is to
train workers for the Sabbath school and other departments of church
and Christian work; to this end every person in the school is required
to study the Bible, as the Bible is the foundation of all instruction
given, and with it go all the cognate studies. The institution is
located at Arkadelphia, Arkansas.


THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE.

The history of "The Florida Institute," at Live Oak, Fla., is
interwoven with every effort of the colored Baptists of the State. As
early as 1868, when the colored Baptist churches in Florida were very
few, the fathers of the church in that section took the initiatory
steps toward the establishment of this institution.

After much deliberation Live Oak was chosen as the place of location.
About three and a half acres of land, with an incomplete building,
originally intended for a court house, were purchased at a cost of
$2,000. This money was raised by the colored Baptists of Florida. The
final payment was made in 1876. The school was incorporated the same
year. The school was opened October 1, 1860. Rev. J. L. A. Fish was
the first president. He was assisted in the work by his wife and other
teachers from the North. Under his wise management the school rose
rapidly, against many odds, and took rank among the best of its kind
in the State. His administration lasted ten years, during which time
the school developed into a power for good, and its influence became
far-reaching. Many of the ablest teachers and ministers of the State
were trained in this institution. Others, who have made success in
business and in professions, received their training in the Florida
Institute.

In 1882 a two-story frame building for the accommodation of girls
was erected. In 1884 additional grounds and a building for a boys'
dormitory were purchased, making in all about ten acres of land, a
school building, two dormitories, and the president's residence. Total
valuation, about $15,000.

From 1882 to 1887 Dr. Fish edited and published _The Florida Baptist_,
the denominational State organ. The work was done chiefly by the
students. Also in the Institute's printing office the work of printing
the minutes of the State Convention and the various associations was
conducted for several years. _The Florida Institute Messenger_ is now
published monthly by the school.

The library of the school contains about 1,000 volumes, many of which
are of great value.

The annual enrolment averages about 125. Many of the students are from
the best families, and represent every part of the State, and some from
other States.

The courses of study embrace the Normal Preparatory, Academic,
Theological, and Industrial.

About twenty acres of land near the school are rented at moderate
cost, making in all about twenty-five acres cultivated by the students
under the direction of a competent professor.

The religious character of the school is a marked feature.


PROF. H. B. LAWRENCE.

Prof. Lawrence, of Massachusetts, served as president during the school
year 1890-1891. Rev. M. W. Gilbert was appointed to succeed him in
1891. His administration lasted one year. This year (1896), for the
first time, the entire faculty is colored.

October 1, 1892, Rev. G. P. McKinney was appointed president, and now
serves his fourth year.

The school is enshrined in the hearts of the colored Baptists of
Florida. This is evidenced by the large and liberal contributions they
make annually for its support.


REV. GEO. P. MCKINNEY.

In May of 1892, Rev. George P. McKinney was called upon to take the
presidency of this institution, the same school in which he began his
student life ten years previous.

As president of Florida Institute, pastor of the African Baptist
Church, president of Florida Baptist Congress, corresponding secretary
State Convention, vice-president State Teachers' Association, and
vice-president of the Sunday-school State Convention, he has indicated
his fitness and ability.

[Illustration: REV. GEO. P. McKINNEY.]

His field of labor is the State of Florida, and as a bold defendant
of truth, virtue and morality, he feels himself specially appointed to
attack the wrong wherever it is found. By his bold and unmitigating
attacks he does not always receive compliments from the assaulted. He
teaches the young men under his care to stand by the right even though
you be left alone in doing so. In giving this advice to his students,
with a serious look into the future, zealous that they should rise up
and bless the world, his profound earnestness discloses the fact that
he is a man _who knows what he wants and goes straight to his goal_.


STATE UNIVERSITY.

The State University of Louisville, Ky., is the oldest, largest and
most influential institution in the State owned and operated by the
colored people.

This institution is the outcome of a general discussion which followed
the close of the war, among the colored people, as to the best means of
elevating the race and teaching true citizenship. In these discussions
the Baptists were foremost, and took the first steps looking forward to
bringing about some of the wise suggestions made by those who had spent
their lives as slaves and had just been given the rights of American
citizens by the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln.

A call for a convention issued by the leading Baptist ministers to be
held in August, 1865, at the Fifth Street Baptist Church, Louisville,
Ky., was responded to by a large delegation.

Annual meetings were held at such times and places as agreed upon
by each annual gathering. In 1869, the necessity for fostering an
institution where colored men and women could obtain a Christian
education was brought up and practical steps were taken to perfect the
organization.

The session held at Lexington, Ky., made application to the State
Legislature for a charter. This petition was granted by a charter to
the General Association of Colored Baptists, authorizing them to
establish a school in the State.

The purchase of ground and the erection of an edifice was the next
thing to receive attention. Subscriptions were taken by the leaders,
and collections raised in all the churches. It resulted in Old Fort
Hill at Frankfort being purchased, but it was found that it could not
be utilized for the purpose for which it was bought, and it was sold.

Contributions were raised, the trustees were kept busy looking out for
another site, a few young and active men were members of the Board
and rendered good service. Among them was William H. Steward, who was
employed in the Louisville post-office as carrier, and a representative
of his race.

In February, 1879, the school was opened by Rev. E. P. Marrs, with his
brother, H. C. Marrs, as assistant, and the attendance was large. Mr.
Steward was elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Thus the work
progressed and students came in from all parts of the State. At the
close of the first year the work looked encouraging.

William H. Steward is termed the pioneer of colored Baptists in
Kentucky. This distinction he has won by personal attention to the
religious and educational work. In order that the new institution meet
with success, he has given hundreds of dollars at a time to assist in
prosecuting the work of this University.

Through the efforts of Mr. Steward, the State University is the great
institution that it is to-day. It was through his efforts that the
services of the late Rev. William J. Simmons, D. D., as president of
the institution, and also that the present president, Rev. Charles L.
Purce, D. D., were secured.

The faculty of State University is composed of some of the best
educated men and women of the country. It consists of Rev. C. L. Purce,
D. D., President, Theology and Philosophy; Prof. R. S. Wilkinson,
A. M., Languages and Political Science; Prof. W. H. Huffman, A. B.,
Mathematics and Natural Sciences; Prof. A. G. Gilbert, M. D., English
and Hygienic Science; Prof. L. M. Seeley, English and History; Prof. L.
V. Jones, English and Cognate Branches; Mrs. M. E. Steward, Music; Mrs.
F. R. Givens, Art; Mrs. M. B. Wallace, Matron.

This institution is well supported by the colored people of the State
and its work is deserving of high praise.


REV. CHARLES L. PURCE, A. B., D. D.

Dr. Purce is one of the best known educators in this country. He was
for ten years president of the Selma University, located at Selma, Ala.
He accepted the presidency in 1894, and has done good work for the
elevation of the denomination.

He succeeded in paying off the debt of Selma University of $8,000, and
by his pluck and perseverance he made many additions to the school and
improved the system of education in it. He is a man of good common
sense as well as of high mental attainments. He never allows himself to
suffer defeat under any circumstances. As a leader among the colored
people, he is highly esteemed and acknowledged.

[Illustration: REV. CHARLES L. PURCE, A. B., D. D.,
_President of State University, Louisville, Ky._]

The following letter from Mrs. M. C. Reynolds, corresponding secretary
of the New England Women's Home Mission Society, of Boston, Mass., will
show in what light Dr. Purce is regarded by noble white people in the
North:

"Dr. Purce is highly esteemed by me. I visited his work, in Selma,
Ala., and I liked him very much. He is one of the few colored men who
now are fitted to lead. So many are impetuous, sensitive, not well
balanced. So many fail to see that it takes time to bring order out of
this race chaos. Patience is what is needed. Some have it, some have it
not. Some are far-sighted and are willing to bide God's time; these are
the leaders."

The corps of competent instructors under Dr. Purce at State University
are busily engaged daily in the theological, college, normal, grammar,
art, music, sewing and printing departments, preparing young men and
young women for future usefulness.

Never before in the history of Kentucky were there so many boys and
girls, men and women, striving to get an education. And this desire has
been inspired by the noble life and character of Rev. C. L. Purce.


WALKER BAPTIST INSTITUTE.

Walker Institute was founded at Augusta, Ga. Incorporated in 1885.
Teachers employed are all colored. The school has an average attendance
of over one hundred. This institution takes its name from the Walker
Baptist Association under whose auspices it exists. For the last few
years the work has made rapid strides forward, winning the patronage
of Baptists in both the city and adjoining counties. Two classes have
graduated, and the young people are leading useful lives as teachers
and preachers. The Walker Baptist Institute aims at Christian education
and the perpetuity of the church which gave it birth. It aims at
the highest good of man at home and abroad. Its course of study is
academic, and, since this is the golden mean between the common school
and the higher and professional institutions of learning, it aims at
a happy combination of quality and quantity. Its management is in
hearty accord with higher training as the shortest and safest route
to successful leadership in literary or professional life. The main
support of this work is derived from the following organizations for
stated purposes: the American Baptist Home Mission Society, Walker
Baptist Association, the Home Board of the Southern Baptist Convention;
while a small part of the current expense is met by tuition fees and
subscriptions by a few friends.


PROF. N. W. CURTWRIGHT, A. B.

Prof. N. W. Curtwright, principal of Walker Baptist Institute, is a
native of Georgia. He had but very little time in his younger life that
he could devote to his education. But being by nature a close student
made the most of what time he did have to attend school. In 1888 he
received his first certificate to teach in the public schools of his
State. In 1889 he entered the junior preparatory class of Atlanta
University at Atlanta, Ga. During his seven years' course in this
school he was regarded as a very hard and energetic student and made
rapid progress in his studies. When he graduated in 1896 he was chosen
to represent his class at commencement. Immediately after graduation
he was called to the chair of Latin and Greek at Haine's Normal and
Industrial Institute at Augusta, Ga. He served in this position one
year and part of the second year, when he resigned to accept the
principalship of Eddy High School at Milledgeville, Ga. At the close of
the year was re-elected. But on the same day was elected as principal
of Walker Baptist Institute, which position he had never in any way
sought. We feel that the trustees have made no mistake in placing Prof.
Curtwright at the head of this institution.

[Illustration: PROF. N. W. CURTWRIGHT, A. B.]


COLEMAN ACADEMY.

Coleman Academy was founded at Gibsland, La., and incorporated in 1887.
The teachers employed are all colored, and there are six in number.
This institution was founded by Prof. O. L. Coleman, who saw the need
of such a school in north Louisiana, as there was a wide scope of
country where there had never been a high school for colored people.
The school was first opened in a church building in Gibsland, La., in
1887, with only ten pupils. The school has grown rapidly, and during
the first five years of its history but little money was received by
the principal or teachers, as they allowed their salary to go toward
building better and more suitable buildings for their purpose. The
institution has six departments, and a full and competent faculty. An
industrial and ministerial department were added in 1897. The school
has an enrollment of over 200 from some four different States. Ten
acres of land, three large two-story buildings, one kitchen laundry
building, and a new barn constitute the property of the institution.


PROF. O. L. COLEMAN, A. M.

Prof. O. L. Coleman is a native of Livingston, Miss. He first attended
the public school of that town. He afterwards went to Alcorn College,
then Alcorn University. He also attended school at Washington, D. C. At
that time he thought of reading medicine, but gave that up to devote
his life as a teacher. He took a course at Chautauqua University, New
York, of four years in the study of classics, elocution, and pedagogy.

[Illustration: PROF. O. L. COLEMAN, A. M.]


ARKANSAS BAPTIST COLLEGE.

This school is located at Little Rock, Ark. It was originated by the
colored Baptists, in their convention in session at Hot Springs,
August, 1884. In the following autumn, school was begun and operated as
"The Baptist Institute," using the Mt. Zion house of worship in this
city as its first schoolroom. In 1885 Mt. Pleasant house of worship
was secured. In that same year, with the aid of Rev. Harry Woodsmall,
articles of association were drawn up, and the Institute was legally
organized and incorporated under the laws of the State, and known
henceforth as the Arkansas Baptist College, with capital stock of
$50,000, divided up into shares of $50 each, payable in instalments of
$10 a year.

While the "Pastors' Course" was the most prominent feature of the
school to begin with, this served as a nucleus around which popular
interest collected and grew, and as fast as possible Literary Courses
of study were developed and taught, and students from different
parts of the State increased in attendance every year, until now the
institution has grown in numbers, work and workers, to a very favorable
comparison with other colleges in the South.

The spirit of the school is decidedly of a missionary nature. It was
established, more than for anything else, to aid teachers and preachers
in a higher fitness for their work. Indeed, it aims to specially train
preachers and teachers on moral questions, religious obligations and
spiritual work. But it also aims to give liberal education in those
branches of science, arts, literature and language commonly taught in
American colleges, and to give practical training in the industrial and
business features of lifework. It is quite unpretentious in all its
work, aiming to be, rather than to seem.

The school owns one block, in the southwest part of the city. This
property was bought by the colored people at a cost of $5,000. The site
is high and desirable, overlooking its surroundings in every direction.


PROF. J. A. BOOKER, A. M.

Rev. Joseph A. Booker is the president of this school, and his services
are highly appreciated by the citizens of the State.

[Illustration: PROF. J. A. BOOKER, A. M.]


WATERS' NORMAL INSTITUTE.

Waters' Normal Institute, located at Winton, N. C., was incorporated
in 1887. Rev. C. S. Brown is its principal. Four colored teachers are
employed in this school and excellent work is being done. Rev. Brown
has, by energy and determination, built up this work, and as some of
the evidences of the thoroughness of the instruction given, a large
number of teachers, holding first grade certificates have gone out of
this school to teach in the public schools of Hertford and adjacent
counties. The Baptists in Eastern North Carolina appreciate his
executive ability and they render him hearty support in his enterprise.

[Illustration: WATERS' NORMAL INSTITUTE.]


REV. CALVIN S. BROWN, A. B.

Rev. C. S. Brown is an interesting character. He was born of slave
parents. He became a teacher in one of the public schools of Salisbury,
N. C., at the age of fifteen, having stood an examination before the
school board of that city and received a first grade certificate. In
1880 he entered Shaw University for the purpose of studying theology.
Six years later he graduated and was valedictorian of his class. He
is not only an active man as the principal of the Waters' Normal
Institute, but is the successful pastor of a large Baptist church at
Pleasant Plains, in Hertford county, near Winton, N. C. At one time
he held four churches with an aggregate membership of 2,500. For some
years he was the editor of _The Baptist Pilot_, secretary of the State
Ministerial Association and secretary of the State Baptist Association.

[Illustration: REV. CALVIN S. BROWN, A. B.]


SELMA UNIVERSITY.

This institution is located in the suburbs of Selma, Alabama, on what
was known as the agricultural fair grounds. The property was bought in
1878, comprising thirty-six acres of land with one small building, at
a cost of $3,000. Not only did the colored people of the State pay for
this, but proceeded to make improvements, and at the same time gave
money for the support of the school. The property is now valued at
$15,000.

Rev. C. S. Dinkins is president of the school. He is assisted by two
white and eight colored teachers.


HEARNE ACADEMY.

Hearne Academy, at Hearne, Texas, is one of the best institutions of
the kind in the State. The colored people contribute $2,405 toward the
support of this school yearly, and while the enrolment of students only
numbers 76 for 1896, the influence of the school is felt throughout the
entire State. Rev. J. F. Anderson is principal. Five colored teachers
are employed. Rev. Anderson will push the work at Hearne in a faithful
and vigorous manner which will bring to the institution both friends
and success.


NATCHEZ COLLEGE.

Natchez College is located at Natchez, Miss. This school is one of very
great interest, and one that the colored people are very proud of, from
the fact that the support of this institution comes entirely from the
colored Baptists of the State. The school is attended by about two
hundred students, mostly from the State of Mississippi. Prof. S. H. C.
Owen, president.


PROF. S. H. C. OWEN, A. M.

[Illustration: PROF. S. H. C. OWEN, A. M.]

Prof. Samuel Henry Clay Owen, president of Natchez College, was born at
Durhamville, Tenn., March 6, 1856. He is a graduate of Roger Williams
University. Prof. Owen has been twice elected president of the Natchez
College. He is doing a most excellent work there and has made the
school one of the leading institutions of the South.


JERUEL ACADEMY.

Jeruel Academy, located at Athens, Ga., is a small school, but it is
doing a splendid work. Rev. J. H. Brown is its principal. There are
upward of sixty young men and women in regular attendance.


HOWE INSTITUTE.

Howe Institute, at New Iberia, La., was established in 1888; Rev. E. N.
Smith, principal. Considering the many disadvantages of the locality,
the school has done remarkably well. Rev. Mr. Smith is aided by three
colored teachers.


SPILLER ACADEMY.

Spiller Academy, located at Hampton, Va., was founded by Rev. R.
Spiller, and in 1897 became affiliated with the Virginia Union
University; Rev. G. E. Read, principal, 1898; colored teachers, 4. Rev.
Spiller, the founder of this institution, has been for years one of the
most prominent Baptist pastors in Virginia.


FLORIDA BAPTIST ACADEMY.

This school is located at Jacksonville, Fla. It was incorporated in
1892. Prof. N. W. Collier is its principal. There are six colored
teachers at work in this institution, and the reports from this school
are very encouraging. The colored people in the State contributed
$1,320 toward its support in 1895.




CHAPTER III.

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.




CHAPTER IV.

EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS.


While the Episcopal Church has not built up as many schools for the
education of colored people in the South as many other denominations,
the work it has accomplished is of the most thorough and systematic
character.


REV. JAMES S. RUSSELL, ARCHDEACON OF VIRGINIA.

Mr. Russell's early training was under sober, illiterate Christian
parents. In very early life he made a profession of religion, was
baptized and joined a neighboring denominational church. His membership
remained here until he had read the book of Common Prayer, when he
at once changed his faith and offered himself as a candidate for the
ministry in the Protestant Episcopal Church. He at first felt that he
would like to be a missionary to Africa, and his mind was so made up
until it was changed by the earnest persuasions of his aged mother,
whose only child he was. He has long since felt that rich fields, white
and ready to be harvested, awaited him in his own native State, where
his ministry is considered a success.

[Illustration: REV. JAMES S. RUSSELL.]

Mr. Russell had been appointed on different committees in the diocese
of Virginia, and at the council in Norfolk in 1893, diocese of Southern
Virginia, he was made a member of the Committee of the State of the
church. He was also notified by Bishop Randolph at this council that he
had nominated him for his Arch-deacon of the diocese, to have general
charge of the colored work in Southern Virginia. This nomination was
confirmed at the meeting of the Church Commission in Washington,
October 11th, of the same year, and the Venerable Arch-deacon Russell
entered upon his new duties immediately thereafter. This new office
relieves him of none of the work already carried by him as principal
of the school, for he has the entire care of raising funds to operate
his large school at Lawrenceville, situated in the heart of the "Black
Belt" of Virginia. The school is inculcating the self-help principle in
its students. The education of head, hand and heart are combined.

The industries carried on at present are Blacksmithing, Wheelwrighting,
Carpentering, Printing, Shoemaking, Farming, Grist and Saw-Milling
for the boys, and Cutting, Fitting, Dress-Making, Tailoring, Cooking,
Washing and Ironing for the girls. Machinery and material for these
departments are needed and earnestly solicited.

The school has been, and is still, dependent upon voluntary support
from the friends of industrial education.

The cost of educating a student in St. Paul's is only $75.00 a year,
and the student is required to pay $50.00 in money and labor, and
the friends of the school are asked to give the $25.00, styled a
scholarship.

There were over 300 students in attendance for session 1895-96. The
graduating class numbers twenty, and they represent nine distinct
States. The school has students from sixteen States in the Union.

No discrimination is made on account of one's religious belief, but all
are treated alike and all are required to comply with the rules and
regulations as laid down.

The Arch-deacon would find no trouble in admitting 500 or more students
if he only had the necessary accommodations for them. The Arch-deacon
is meeting with great success in the mission work of his church in the
diocese of Southern Virginia.


COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA.

This is one of the most interesting Institutions I know of in the
South. It was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia, in the year
1889, and is established for the benefit of colored orphans of the
whole continent, to rescue them from brutal treatment, ignorance, vice,
and lives of shame and crime, and to endeavor to make of them sensible,
sober, chaste, industrious, religious, and useful members of society.

No higher education is here contemplated, exceptional cases aside, than
to make of them intelligent farmers, mechanics, cooks, etc.

This is a much-needed work. Most abject poverty, ignorance and
improvidence cause the death of many, whose offspring are left to the
mercy of the poor neighbor. The orphan, originally received out of
kindness, is kept as a slave, when it is able to do any kind of work;
and no one suspects that there are innumerable orphans scattered in
cabins, who are practically slaves, groaning under the bitter burden
of work and the lash of taskmasters of their own race. The slavery of
adults has been abolished, and the slavery of children has been made
more bitter and more brutal. Now brutal treatment produces brutes; the
man avenges by crime society's guilt in heartlessly neglecting innocent
childhood in its sufferings and degradation.

Sufficient as is the direct object of redeeming neglected orphans, by
itself, to appeal to the heart and conscience, it is also the most
promising work for the elevation of the whole race.

This race needs examples of new life to free itself from the influences
of the past. It needs examples, not so much of college-bred men who
follow the professions, as of pure men and women who walk in the
common paths of life, and who can lead in the way of sensible, honest,
industrious, cleanly, and thrifty living, that the sense of sin and
virtue, of the morally right and wrong, may be developed. This is
the noblest and most promising of charities, because it is for the
youngest, the weakest and the lowest.

The institution occupies a farm of one hundred and a fraction acres,
in a most healthful spot, affording as fine an opportunity for the
bringing up of children as is to be found in the whole country. When
completed, several hundred children will be comfortably provided
for and trained for their life's work. One wing has been built, and
shelters between fifty and sixty children, who range in age from
infancy to fifteen or sixteen. A second wing is in progress of erection
at this writing. A steam brick yard furnishes the brick and will also
form part of the industrial system.

[Illustration: HOFFMAN WING OF COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM AND INDUSTRIAL
SCHOOL.]

As to results, so far, it is but the literal truth to say that orphans
who would otherwise have been doomed to child slavery and devoted to
destruction of body and soul, not only wonderfully prosper in health,
but are manifestly influenced by the regular occupation, the firm
discipline, the atmosphere of honesty and fidelity in work, and the
mental and religious instruction. The Rev. Paul Sterling, of Melrose,
Mass., writes to the New York _Churchman_: "It goes without saying
that such a work is doing good, but its beneficial effects are very
evident, even in the case of the youngest child, and are the best
possible endorsement of the wisdom and capacity of those who have the
Institution in charge. The scrupulous cleanliness and orderliness that
prevail is also a thing that commends the Institution to the observer."

[Illustration: THREE ORPHAN SISTERS AT LYNCHBURG SCHOOL.]

This Institution is without any endowment and is entirely dependent for
building fund and for daily bread upon voluntary contributions. The
small sum of sixty dollars a year rescues, shelters, trains, feeds and
clothes one child! In consideration of the great need of such work as
this institution is doing, and of the many well-equipped Institutions
all over the South for meeting the other needs of the race, it is to be
hoped that means will be soon forthcoming to complete and endow this
noble work. Contributions may be sent to Rev. A. Jaeger, D. D., general
manager, or to Rev. C. Breckinridge Wilmer, Superintendent, Lynchburg,
Virginia.


ST. AUGUSTINE'S SCHOOL.

While mission work of various kinds must be carried on, it is evident
that, through the work of schools, the Church will accomplish its
greatest work. The ambition of the people for education is very great,
and it must be along these lines that the Church will not only satisfy
the longings of the people, but also give them the greatest training in
Christian discipline.

St. Augustine's School, at Raleigh, N. C., has led the way in this
training. It has already sent out from its walls hundreds of teachers
and over twenty of the colored clergy. A large number of the teachers
and clergy now at work under the Commission for Work among the Colored
People received their training here. It was founded just after the war
by the Rev. J. Brinton Smith, D. D., from the diocese of Pennsylvania,
with the hearty co-operation of Bishop Atkinson, of North Carolina. Dr.
Smith secured money with which its land was purchased and buildings
erected.

Its work is carried on along three lines--Industrial, Normal and
Collegiate. With the exception of a cook and farm hand, with occasional
assistance, the whole work of the school is done by the students.
The girls have the care of the household, the young men the care of
the grounds. Besides that, the girls receive thorough and systematic
training in both cooking and sewing, the courses extending over several
years. Instruction has been given to the young men in carpentering
and in brick-laying. It is greatly to be desired that this trade
instruction might be furthered by the establishment of a trade school,
modelled after the New York Trade School, founded by Col. Auchmuty
and so well endowed by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. The skilled mechanics
of the South were largely trained in the days of slavery, and, with
the passing of this generation, it is important that younger men
should be thoroughly trained and enabled to earn an honest living. The
development of the South depends not alone upon its rich and various
resources, nor upon the muscle of the colored laborers, but also upon
the brain and skill of those laborers.

In its normal work, the school is continually sending forth a stream
of teachers for the public schools as well as for the Church schools.
There is little danger of carrying on higher education, as some have
thought. The greatest difficulty is in securing, at this stage of the
race's development, students who have the grit to persevere in their
school work so as to reach the higher classes.

The school has an endowment of about $30,000, of which $25,000 reverts
to the Board of Managers of Missions, in case of impairment or misuse.
There are large buildings for both girls and young men. Two of the
buildings have been erected almost entirely by the students.




CHAPTERS V. AND VI.

METHODIST SCHOOLS.


The Methodist Church has been very active in its educational work at
the South, and its schools rank among the very best. It is noticeable
that this church has paid special attention to industrial education
among the colored people. I have visited some of these schools and I
was pleased to see how highly the young men and young women appreciate
the opportunities afforded them to learn trades and professions.


WALDEN UNIVERSITY.

At the close of the Rebellion in 1865, the condition of the emancipated
slaves attracted the attention of patriots, philanthropists, and
Christians North and South. There were millions of them ignorant of
books and of their duty as freedmen. They were poor, having only the
clothes they wore, or if they had other property, it could usually
be carried in a bundle in the hand or on the head. All the leading
religious denominations of the North entered this field of missionary
work--the Methodist Episcopal Church among the first. In 1865 the
missionary society of this church appropriated $10,000 to establish a
school for the freedmen in the South. This sum was placed under the
direction of Rev. Bishop D. W. Clark, D. D., who, having visited
Nashville, authorized Rev. John Seys and Rev. O. O. Knight to open a
school in Clark Chapel, a church building purchased from the M. E.
Church, South, and then known as Andrew Chapel. Rev. O. O. Knight was
principal, assisted by Mrs. Julia North, Mrs. Mary Murphy, and Miss O.
D. Barber. All of the assistants were colored. The school was composed
of scholars of all ages and sizes--grandparents and grandchildren,
parents and children, were in the same classes. They were poorly
clad, and mostly homeless wanderers from the plantations. They found
shelter in the army barracks, in abandoned houses, in cellars or
garrets, stables, or other out-houses--whatever would afford them
a present shelter. Yet in the midst of this destitution they were
hungry for education. Never did teachers have more earnest pupils.
The crowded condition of the church soon led the teachers to seek for
better accommodations, and the next year the school was moved into the
building known as the Gun Factory.

[Illustration: WALDEN UNIVERSITY.
_Dr. J. Benson Hamilton, President._]

The school was chartered in 1866 by the Legislature of Tennessee. A
large portion of the students have been teachers, and are at school
preparing for more advanced work.

Since this school has had its charter, we know of none where a greater
amount of good has been accomplished. The graduates from there are
found in all parts of the country engaged in all useful walks of life.
There is a theological training given to young men wishing to enter the
ministry. Also a splendid law department where young men are prepared
to plead in the highest courts of the land. Dr. J. Braden, D. D., who
has for years stood at the head of this Institution as its president,
is one man among a million, for when he went to Nashville, it was
worth more than mere talk for a white man to declare himself a friend
to negro education. He grew old in the work, and was much beloved by
all who knew him. At his death he was succeeded as president by Dr. J.
Benson Hamilton, a man who is known as a strong leader, and doubtless
one who will take up the work Dr. Braden had for years carried on with
such marked success, and continue to make Walden University one of
the best known schools. It was for years known as Central Tennessee
College.


MEHARRY MEDICAL, DENTAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL DEPARTMENTS OF WALDEN
UNIVERSITY.

 G. W. HUBBARD, M. D., DEAN.

The Meharry Medical Department was organized in October, 1876, and was
the first school opened in the Southern States for the education of
Colored Physicians. Since that date, 482 students have been enrolled,
263 of whom have received the degree of M. D., and most of whom are now
engaged in the practice of their profession in the Southern States, and
have been cordially received by the White Physicians; they consult with
them in serious cases and assist in difficult surgical operations.

The success which has attended the professional work of their alumni
has been very encouraging, and the professional reputation they have
acquired is such as any college might well be proud of.

Ever since the organization of Meharry Medical College, the want of
means has been greatly felt. Every year, many students have been
unable to attend on account of the lack of sufficient means. With few
exceptions, they are entirely dependent on their own labor to meet
their college expenses, and many have younger brothers or sisters to
assist or families of their own to support. During the session of
1894-95, one of their students sacrificed his life in his efforts
to supply the needs of his family and carry on his medical studies.
The applications are frequent asking for a little aid, or for an
opportunity to work to help pay their college expenses.

The Dental and Pharmaceutical Hall contains a clinical amphitheatre
capable of seating two hundred students, a Dental Infirmary, Dental
Laboratory, two rooms for pharmaceutical work, a laboratory for
analytical chemistry and a museum.

The twenty-first annual session of the college opened September 14,
1896.

The Meharry Dental Department was opened in 1885, and since that time
twenty-two have completed a course in dentistry and received the degree
of Doctor of Dental Surgery.

A most promising and useful field is now open in this profession, as
there is a large and increasing demand for dental work, and good and
competent Dentists will find plenty of work and fair remuneration.

This school is a member of the "American Association of Dental
Faculties," and diplomas from this college receive due recognition
wherever they are presented.

The Pharmaceutical Department has been in successful operation for
five years, during which time thirty-one students have finished the
course and have been fitted for the responsible position of practical
druggists. With scarcely an exception the graduates in pharmacy have
made good records before the different State Boards of Pharmacy, and
most of them are either owners or managers of drug stores in different
parts of the South.

The question is often asked, "What are the young men of the colored
race doing after they have obtained a college or professional
education?"

The following table will show what the graduates of Meharry are doing:
Teaching, 9; Preaching, 4; Employees of U. S. Government, 3; Editor,
1; Sunday School Agent, 1; Occupation unknown, 6; Practising medicine,
218. Total number living, 242.


CLARK UNIVERSITY.

Clark University is a Christian school, founded in the year 1870 by
the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. It is open to students of all classes regardless of
sex or color, the sole conditions of admission being a desire to learn,
good moral character, and obedience to lawfully constituted authority.

The buildings and grounds are located just south of the corporation
line of the city of Atlanta, Ga. The campus is sufficiently elevated
to overlook the city, and has perfect natural drainage on all sides.
It is beautifully shaded with oak and pine, which with its great
elevation--1,200 feet above sea level--makes it a delightful retreat
in midsummer. It would be difficult to find a more healthful location
in the United States--an assertion proven by the fact that, among the
thousands who have been in attendance, but one has died on the grounds
during eight years of operation.

Rev. Charles Manly Melden, Ph D., is at this time president of Clark
University. I am told that he has taken hold of the work with that
sort of energy and earnestness which always brings success. He has
around him a very able body of teachers, among them Prof. Wm. Henry
Crogman, A. M., as teacher of Latin and Greek languages and literature.
Prof. Crogman is the author of a very useful and well-written book on
the subject of race progress, entitled "The Remarkable Advancement of
the Negro Race." His book is full of very instructive and interesting
matter, giving a great many valuable facts touching upon the history
and progress of the race in this country, in such a way that no family
can well afford to be without a copy.

Too much cannot be said in favor of books written by colored authors
upon the subject of race progress. While the race is making such marked
and rapid progress, a new book could appear each year full of useful
information.

The industrial features of Clark University are interesting in the
extreme. I found well equipped shops where wagons and carriages are
made by students, also a splendid harness shop, where several young
men have been taught the trade and have since started harness shops of
their own. Large express and ice wagons, now in use in Atlanta, were
made at Clark University entirely by student labor. Every young man
above the age of sixteen and below the college classes is required
to devote two hours per day to manual training, consisting both of
theoretical and practical work. Pupils are required not only to
construct miniature models, but products for the market as well, and
thus are prepared for the struggle of life, should no professional
position open to them. Not all students can fill professions. Skilled
bread-winners are second only to skilled soul-winners. The great need
of the South and especially of the Colored people, is skilled workmen
who can wield a deft hand and teach others to do the same--men who can
earn $2.50 per day while others are earning 75 cents.

Clark University is endeavoring to supply this want through
her Industrial Department. It teaches Carpentry, Wagon-making,
Carriage-trimming, Harness-making, Painting and Printing.


THAYER HOME.

This home, as its name indicates, is modeled after a real home, and is
furnished with all modern improvements. It can accommodate about twenty
young ladies, who are taught to cook, keep house and do other things
practised in a well ordered home.

Miss Flora Mitchell, who superintends this home, is in my opinion, one
of the finest specimen of noble womanhood I have ever met.

The work of the home is done by the occupants alternately, so as to
give all a practical knowledge of model housekeeping. Lectures are
given on domestic science, food, dress, physical culture and social
ethics. In short, the aim of the Home is to fit young ladies to conduct
and adorn a model Christian home.

Too much cannot be said in praise of the excellent work done at Thayer
Home, and especially when we take into consideration the very crude
homes that many of the girls come from who are students there. I
had the pleasure of eating a meal at the Home on one occasion and I
was very much impressed with the extreme neatness of the place. Miss
Mitchell told me many interesting things about the Home and its work,
also showed me quite a lot of needlework done by the girls. She said,
"I have visited several homes of students from here who have married,
and it was such a pleasure to see our girls located in neat, clean
homes of their own when both husband and wife were happy, and it was
positive proof to me that our labor had brought forth good results."
I met in Philadelphia Mrs. Rev. P. O'Connell who was at one time a
student under Miss Mitchell, and she is very enthusiastic over the good
work done at "Thayer Home" for Colored girls. I will say in conclusion
that if Mrs. O'Connell's home is a specimen of other homes kept by
students from there, then "Thayer Home" is indeed a blessing.


CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY.

The existence of Claflin University is due largely to the generosity of
the Hon. Lee Claflin and family, of Boston, Mass.

In 1869 this property was purchased and set apart to its present
purpose and is now one of the most interesting schools in existence for
the education of the Colored youth; located at Orangeburg, S. C., where
the Colored Methodists are strong in number. Rev. L. M. Dunton, A. M.,
D. D., president of Claflin, went South as a preacher in the early
days of freedom and has remained ever since. Claflin University has now
one hundred acres of ground that are worked by students. The school
has been assisted by the Peabody and John F. Slater funds at different
times. It is the only Methodist school in the State under the auspices
of the M. E. Church or its aid and educational society. There have been
enrolled since 1869, when the school was founded, about 8,000 different
students. It is estimated that one thousand Christian teachers, besides
many ministers, mechanics, and intelligent laborers, have been educated
there. It is impossible to make an estimate as to the great good that
has been done by preparing Christian young men and women to be laborers
among their own race. The number of teachers required to man the school
is about nineteen and the property is estimated at one hundred thousand
dollars in value, and has some twenty buildings connected with the
institution. Besides the Collegiate, College Preparatory, Normal and
English courses, twenty distinct industries are taught.


NEW ORLEANS UNIVERSITY.

The University is situated at 1428 St. Charles avenue, in one of the
most beautiful and healthful sections of the city of New Orleans, La.
The ground includes nearly two squares.

The main building is of brick, five stories high, furnished with the
best of furniture.

Besides large parlors and society rooms, there are rooms for 150
students in the building.

The heating is by steam and every precaution has been taken for comfort
and for safety.

A frame building is used exclusively for recitation rooms. It will
accommodate 350 students, so that ample provision has been made for all
who can attend.

The value of the entire property is $100,000.

It has an industrial school in connection, in the way of
carpenter-shop, printing office, tin-shop, and surgery school.

In about 1889 there was a Medical School established at New Orleans
University, and up to 1892 the first class graduated. The charter of
the institution admits students of this school to practise in its
wards; also admits them to practise in the State of Louisiana.

Rev. L. G. Adkinson, A. M., D. D., the president, is a man of great
ability and has accomplished great good during his professorship.


COOKMAN INSTITUTE.

Cookman Institute is located at Jacksonville, Fla. The beginning of
this Institute was very unpretentious. It was started in 1872, simply
to do good among the colored people in the immediate locality. Prof. H.
R. Bankerd is president.

In an old church, then in an unfinished building, and finally in a
small, two-story wooden building, Cookman Institute took on its more
permanent growth.

Property adjoining the Methodist Episcopal Church was purchased by
the Freedmen's Aid Society, and upon it began the long and laborious
task of erecting buildings suitable for the work, and also the greater
difficulty of raising the money to pay for them. The institution has
buildings worth $25,000, accommodating one hundred boarders and 400
day pupils. These serve for the present size of the school. They are
constructed of brick, and convey the idea of strength and durability.

Of far greater value than building has been the desire to see the
intellectual work carried forward. This has been no easy task. To
organize the various departments, get the classes well defined and
students brought on to fill the several stations in the progress of the
work, has taken years of patient toil and the expenditure of much money.

Those who have been with the school have won for themselves many golden
opinions. The graduates honor themselves in their success in life, and
show what education will do for the people when extended courses of
study are pursued.


LAGRANGE ACADEMY.

This school is located at LaGrange, Ga. The faculty consists of Miss
Carrie King, Principal; Carrie E. Campbell and Julia Gilmore, Tutors.

This school was organized in 1876, and is now under the auspices of
the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society. Its design is to
meet the great demand for a thorough and systematic course through
the English, Normal and Academic studies. The Academy is an auxiliary
to Clark University, and the text-books used are the same as at the
University. The building is situated in the northwestern part of the
town, three-fourths of a mile from the station.


RUST UNIVERSITY.

This Institution is located at Holly Springs, Miss., and was started in
the early days of freedom by the Freedmen's Aid Society and represents
one of the best schools in the South for the education of the colored
youth. Being a Methodist School, it has a large number of families
to draw its scholars from, for Mississippi is largely made up of
Methodists and Baptists. I found a much better state of affairs in
Mississippi from an educational standpoint among the colored Methodists
than I expected, and I am sure the credit is largely due to the very
excellent work done at Rust University. I found that, in addition to
the Academic, Normal and Collegiate courses taught there, they give
industrial training in printing, sewing, plumbing, rustic work, and
domestic industry. They also have a splendid model home for girls. The
president, William W. Foster, Jr., D. D., is a most excellent man.
He comes to this institution from the East, where he has served some
of the leading M. E. Churches as pastor. He is a graduate of Boston
University, and comes well fitted to take charge of such a school as
Rust. Mrs. Foster, who is as well known in the church as her husband,
will be of great help and inspiration to him in this new field.


PRINCESS ANNE ACADEMY.

This school is located at Princess Anne, Md. Princess Anne Academy was
founded as a branch of Morgan College, Baltimore, Md., in September,
1886, and in 1891 was also made the Eastern Branch of the Maryland
Agricultural College.

A good farm containing 121 acres, together with barns, stock, farming
implements, &c., have been added for practical instruction in Farming
and Gardening; also shops, tools and materials for teaching Carpentry,
Blacksmithing, Shoemaking, Tailoring, Masonry, &c., have been
provided for the boys; and facilities for teaching the girls Cooking,
Laundering, Sewing, and the general proprieties of housekeeping, have
been added, and very gratifying results have followed.

Students are allowed to select their own trades, at which they are
required to work one hour daily except on Saturday, when they devote
five hours. They rise at 5.45 A. M., and retire at 9.45 P. M., thus
devoting at least eight hours to rest and sleep; of the remaining
time about ten hours are spent in Literary Work and Manual Training.
The course of study is broad, thorough, and perfectly in keeping with
the spirit and needs of the times. Nearly one thousand persons have
received more or less training since the organization of the Academy,
and few have any difficulty in securing profitable employment as soon
as they leave school.

Since the death of Prof. B. O. Bird, the founder of Princess Anne
Academy, Rev. P. O'Connell, a most excellent man, has been selected as
principal.


WILEY UNIVERSITY.

Wiley University is located at Marshall, Texas, a quiet city of ten
thousand inhabitants. It is now enjoying a period of unparalleled
prosperity along all lines. For the years 1897-98, the enrollment
reached 352. These pupils come from Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, and
represent some of the best homes in this section.

[Illustration: REV. M. W. DOGAN, A. M.]

It is the aim of the management to keep the courses of study fully
abreast of the best in the South. To this end the departments are
being constantly strengthened. In addition to a well-equipped college
department, the following departments are successfully operated:
preparatory, normal, English, musical, and industrial.

Wiley University is distinctively a Christian institution and no
apology is made for insisting on Christian instruction. The pupils are
taught that the most enduring education has Christianity for its basis.

The faculty of Wiley is composed of 15 professors and instructors,
all colored but two. Rev. M. W. Dogan, A. M., is a young man of
most excellent educational qualifications for the place he holds as
president of Wiley University. He has taught at some of the best
schools in the South.


MORGAN COLLEGE.

Morgan College is located in Baltimore, Md., Rev. F. J. Wagner, A. M.,
D. D., president, and for years has played an important part in the
education of the race. It has its representatives as graduates all over
the State of Maryland. The higher grades are taught there, and the
teachers employed are the best. In addition to its regular work it has
two branches, in the way of the Lynchburg, Va., Annex and Princess Anne
Academy, located at Princess Anna, Md., which is mentioned in another
write-up. Mr. Wagner is very much thought of by colored people, and he
has shown himself an untiring worker for the elevation of the race.


BENNETT COLLEGE.

Located at Greensboro', N. C., in a part of the State where the colored
population is very large. This school when first opened had a white
president in the person of Rev. E. O. Thayer, but of recent years the
board has had colored teachers in charge. Rev. C. N. Grandison at one
time was president. At this time Prof. J. D. Chavis, A. M., B. D., is
president with a good corps of colored teachers under him. I regret
that I am unable to present his picture, for I am of the opinion that
he is a most worthy young man.


BROWNING HOME.

An industrial and high-grade school for girls, is located in the
historic town of Camden, S. C., within the bounds of the district. The
work done there and the discipline are so thorough that it deserves
more than mere mention. The Home was built in 1887 by the Woman's Home
Missionary Society of the M. E. Church, to educate girls and young
women along the line of practical housekeeping. Since the opening of
the school, about one hundred and twenty-five have received training.
Connected with the Home is a day-school of high grade, having a regular
course of study, from which three classes have graduated. The school
this year is well attended, having an enrollment of over two hundred;
and thirty-seven girl boarders in the Home.

The Home will be enlarged so as to accommodate all who may come. Total
expenses for board and tuition, five dollars per month.

Mrs. Gordon, the superintendent, and her _corps_ of teachers, are a
noble band of self-sacrificing women, who came from the North. They
have been the subjects of opposition, and abuse, and ostracism, in
their efforts to elevate a downtrodden people, and they deserve, and
ought to have, the patronage, sympathy, and good-will of all.


GAMMON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

Gammon Theological Seminary, at Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest
theological school for the exclusive education of colored men in
the United States. It stands to-day a monument to the philanthropy
of Elijah H. Gammon, of Maine, a noble gentleman, who endowed the
school with nearly half a million dollars. Dr. Gammon was certainly
a philanthropist. This fact is plainly indicated by his splendid
beneficence.

He did not wait till in sight of the grave and then cast off his
wealth as a possession he could no longer use; but _living_, he
poured out his treasures; yea, more, he gave the ripe thought of his
last years--planned and wrought for the equipment of this Seminary.
The measure of his philanthropy is not in that he gave $10,000 to
Garrett, $5,000 to the Maine Wesleyan, thousands to churches and aid
to many struggling students. The mere catalogue of benefactions is no
measure of the real philanthropist. The _man himself_, his motive,
his purpose, his sacrifice, his unselfish enthusiasm, his giving of
thought and time and heart for humanity--these are the tests of genuine
philanthropy.

He did not endow this school merely for the sake of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. He wanted to help all his fellow-men through all the
churches. It was entrusted to the care and direction of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, as best adapted through its spirit, organization and
government in the South, to carry out his plans.

His benefactions took the form of a theological school because he
believed that the ministers held the centre of power, and were to be
the leaders of their race for years to come.

He established an institution opened especially for the Negro race, not
because they were black, but because they were the most needy of all
men. He simply gave practical expression to his faith in the fatherhood
of God and the brotherhood of man. He was no sentimentalist as regards
the Negro. He simply had a heart as broad as humanity--a great heart
backed by _conscience_--and without prejudice, it went out to this race
as a part of God's family, needing the touch of Christ's hand, through
him.

Rev. Wilbur P. Thirkield, D. D., President of Gammon Theological
Seminary, is laboring hard and earnestly to make the institution all
that Dr. Gammon, its founder, had aimed to have it; and the class of
young men who are receiving their training for the ministry in this
school is certainly a compliment to the endeavors of its president.

There has been something over one hundred young ministers who have
graduated from Gammon Theological Seminary.

Dr. J. W. E. Bowen, one of the best educated colored men in this
country, is one of the instructors in this institution; and his work is
regarded as being very fruitful and effectual.

The position Dr. Bowen holds at Gammon Theological Seminary is one that
could only be filled by a man of a splendid education. He is Professor
of Church History.

Dr. Bowen was a representative to the last General Conference of the
M. E. Church, which met in Cleveland, Ohio, in May, 1896. He secured
a large vote for the Bishopric, but I am sorry indeed to say was not
elected. I was in hopes that the M. E. Church had grown magnanimous
enough to at least elect such a worthy colored man to preside over the
thousands of colored members they have, if no others.

In addition to the schools already mentioned in the M. E. work, I wish
to mention Philander Smith College at Little Rock, Ark., Rev. J. M.
Cox, D. D., president; George R. Smith College, Sedalia, Mo., E. A.
Robertson, principal; Central Alabama Academy, Huntsville, Ala., A. W.
McKinney, principal; Gilbert College, Baldwin, La., A. E. P. Albert,
principal; Meridian Academy, Meridian, Miss., J. L. Wilson, principal;
Morristown Academy, Morristown, Tenn., J. L. Hill, principal. I regret
that want of space will not admit of special mention of all the
above schools, for I can assure my readers that they are all worthy
institutions that are playing a great part in the education of the race.

Rev. M. C. B. Mason, D. D., was elected as a general corresponding
secretary of the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Educational Society.
Mr. Mason is a graduate of New Orleans University, also of Gammon
Theological Seminary. He is the first colored man to hold this position
in the history of the Society. The Methodist Church will doubtless find
places for a larger number of the educated colored students from her
schools to labor in the different departments of the church than have
been employed in the past.




CHAPTER VII.

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.




CHAPTER VIII.

A. M. E. ZION SCHOOL.


In this chapter I present a brief history of the great work started by
the late Dr. J. C. Price. This institution is one of great interest.


LIVINGSTONE COLLEGE.

Among the evidences of Negro ability to establish and control great
institutions, we have no better example than Livingstone College. In
a quiet, antiquated-looking town of historic connection with those
stirring times of our American Revolution, and with those more than
rebellious times of our country's civil strife, where the Confederate
Government inhumanly treated Union soldiers in one of their most noted
prison-pens, in the town of Salisbury, N. C., and under the shadow of
that prison, is Livingstone College--the pride of a great church, an
honor to the Negro race. This institution stands as a towering monument
to the heroes of that bloody struggle whose lives were lost for their
country's sake and to make an enslaved people free.

[Illustration: THE LATE REV. J. C. PRICE, A. M., D. D.,
_President of Livingstone College, Salisbury, N. C._]

The A. M. E. Zion Church had long desired an institution for a thorough
education of its children, and accordingly a school under the auspices
of the North Carolina Conference was started in 1879 in the town of
Concord, N. C. It was incorporated under the name of Zion Wesley
Institute, and after two sessions, depending upon collections from
the churches of that conference, it was forced to close its doors.
Therefore it was in May, 1881, when it became apparent that the school
must close--then being taught by Prof. A. S. Richardson. The Ecumenical
Conference of the Methodist Church was held this year in England and in
this month of May. Bishop J. W. Hood, D. D., who was president of the
Board of Trustees of the Institute, and Rev. J. C. Price, with other
representatives of the Zion Church, were in attendance.

Bishop Hood, recognizing the ability of Dr. Price, who was then a young
man just out of school, prevailed upon him to become an agent for the
school and to remain in England after the close of the conference.

During the conference Dr. Price made himself famous among the delegates
and visitors as an eloquent orator and after its close had no trouble
in getting before the English people, who welcomed him everywhere
and responded to his appeals in a sum amounting to $9,100. This, of
course, was great encouragement to the Trustees and the Church. The
congregation of the Zion Church, in Concord, offered seven acres of
land for a site to erect buildings and locate the school permanently.
But the trustees decided that Salisbury would be a more favorable place
and the school was located in that city.

It was in the spring of 1882 that Bishops Hood and Lomax, with $3,000
of the money raised by Prof. Price in England and $1,000 donated by
the business men of Salisbury, purchased the site now occupied by
Livingstone College. There was on the place one two-story building with
ten rooms including basement. The tract of land consisted of forty
acres and the total cost of the place amounted to $4,600.

The Board of Bishops at the meeting in Chester, S. C., in September,
1882, adopted Zion Wesley Institute as a connectional school, electing
a faculty with Rev. J. C. Price, president, Rev. C. R. Harris, Prof. E.
Moore, instructors; Mrs. M. E. Harris as matron.

October 9, 1882, the Institute was opened on its own premises in
Salisbury. The name was soon changed to Zion Wesley College, and in
'86 or '87 became Livingstone College, in honor of the great African
explorer, David Livingstone.

It may not be out of place to mention here that the president and
faculty felt that in the scope of the work the institution aimed to
do, it would be less hampered by the new name. The wisdom of this has
doubtless been seen by those intimately associated with the College.

The first day the school opened there were five day students, but no
boarders. About the middle of October the first student from abroad
came--Miss Lizzie Williams, of Newbern, N. C. When the session closed,
however, there were in all ninety-three students. A small frame
building (16 × 40) for boys had been erected and the girls were crowded
in rooms with two beds each, and so great was the need for rooms that
they were compelled in some instances to sleep three in a bed.

[Illustration: Bird's-eye View of Livingstone College--Buildings and
Grounds.]

When the second session began, another teacher was added, this being
necessary because the president was required to travel and solicit
donations. Dr. W. H. Goler, a personal friend and college-mate of
the president, was the teacher added. The institution was very much
strengthened by this new addition, for, besides the literary
advantages to the school, the business tact of Dr. Goler, as well
as his practical knowledge along certain industrial lines, made the
addition very valuable. It may be well to mention here that Dr. Goler
had the distinction of preaching the first annual or baccalaureate
sermon, and the late Bishop S. T. Jones of delivering the first annual
address.

[Illustration: REV. W. H. GOLER, D. D.]

In the middle of the second session, when the number of students
reached 120, the building for boys was taken for girls and rented
houses in the community were provided for the boys. This meant to the
young men inconvenience and a sacrifice of comfortable quarters, but
they were in full sympathy with the school and its struggles, and bore
the hardships without a murmur. These days are often referred to as
the "Dark Days" of Livingstone College for both teachers and students.
Then it was that some of the teachers were laboring without knowing
what they would receive for salary, and Dr. Goler often says "he never
received a penny during his first year's work."

The faithful discharge of duty by Prof. Moore, Prof. Harris (now Bishop
Harris), Mrs. Harris as matron, and Prof. Goler, was of incalculable
value to the president in these struggling years of the school for
existence.

In 1884 an addition (42 × 56) was made to the original ten-room house,
for a chapel, a dining room and dormitories for girls. Mr. C. P.
Huntington was the chief donor, and the building, "Huntington Hall," is
named for him. The dimensions of the building are 91 × 38. It is four
stories high, including basement.

In the fall of 1885 the necessity for more buildings caused Dr. Price
to visit the Pacific coast. After lecturing about four months he
secured the donation of $5,000 from the late Senator Leland Stanford
and $1,000 from Mrs. Mark Hopkins. The entire amount collected by Dr.
Price on the coast was about $9,000. Only a little over $1,000 was
needed to make up the sum of $20,000. The Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, who had
assisted Mr. Price through school, promised him a donation of $5,000
if he should raise that sum. Mr. Price lost no time in securing the
residue and Mr. Dodge kept his word.

In March, 1886, ground was broken for the erection of a dormitory for
boys--Dodge Hall--a four-story brick building 60 × 40, and a four-story
brick, 100 × 40, for girls, known as Hopkins Hall, forming a nucleus
to Stanford Seminary. It will be observed that all these buildings are
named for their principal donors.

In 1887, Mr. Stephen F. Ballard of New York erected the Ballard
Industrial Hall (60 × 39) and fitted it up with complete outfits for
the department of carpentry, shoemaking and printing. The entire
valuation of the buildings and grounds (now about fifty acres) is
estimated at $100,000.

The aim of the school has been to give a thorough literary training
to colored young men and women. The industrial feature has not been
neglected, although recently the school has not been able to do as much
in that line as formerly. The reason for this has been the withdrawal
of the Slater Fund. However, this department has been operating with
such means as the officers have been able to obtain. The students
in the carpentry shop make and repair all the furniture used in the
school, such as bedsteads, chairs, tables, desks, washstands and
dressers. The printing office is well equipped and much minute and
pamphlet work has been done besides the publishing of the College
journal, which is now conceded to be one of the best, if not the best,
College magazine published by a colored institution in the country.
The institution has been running but little over a decade. It boasts,
however, of a prominence equal to any institution in the south founded
and sustained by colored men. The character of its graduates and the
showing they have made bespeak the thoroughness of its work. In fact,
the officers of the institution, while recognizing the need and the
cry for the industrial training of the Negro, have stoutly maintained
that industrial education should not supplant the higher educational
development of the Negro. The success of the 130 graduates since '85
has been sufficient argument for them to hold this point.

The young men who have entered the ministry are all prominent in the
great church under whose auspices the school works. Many of the largest
and most prominent churches in the connection are held by them, and
they have merited each place. In the law and in medicine they are not
behind, and in the schoolroom as teachers, many brilliant records have
been made by its young men and women. As teachers, they are in demand,
and in most cases give entire satisfaction.

The work of Dr. Price, in his efforts to lift the race to a higher
plane of intellectual and moral development, is well known on both
sides of the Atlantic. To speak of Livingstone and its aim is to speak
of the one great desire of its lamented president. So thoroughly
wedded was he to this idea and its development through the work of
Livingstone College that no honor in church or state, however tempting
the emolument attached to it, could induce him to give it up.

His great influence rests upon his successor and his associates--ten in
number. These are making noble self-sacrifices to carry on the work.

The maintenance of this work is wonderful when it is remembered that
Livingstone has no endowment fund for teachers, no scholarship fund for
students, and only a small appropriation from the church under whose
auspices it is operated--only a little over half of this being received
annually to carry on the work and pay teachers.

The death of Dr. Price occurred Oct. 25, 1893. To him directly is due
the permanent establishment of the institution.

Dr. W. H. Goler, the new president, took charge with a vim that
delighted all. His ability, his friendship for and acquaintance with
Dr. Price, and his experience give him a confidence that makes success
doubly sure.

During the past five or six years the school has averaged an enrolment
of over 200 students. The enrolment one year was about 300. Students
representing New England, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, and
all the States along the coast, from Massachusetts to Florida, as well
as Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, have been
enrolled. Besides these, representatives of Liberia, West coast of
Africa, and the West Indies are among the number.

The death of Dr. Price was a great blow to Livingstone. Its friends
were thrown into a state of anxiety for its future. But many believed
that Price's work was accomplished when he demonstrated to the world
his practical production of his great lectures--"Negro Capabilities."
When Livingstone started, the world had not learned that a College
could be established and controlled entirely by Negroes.


CLINTON INSTITUTE.

Clinton Institute is located south of Rock Hill, S. C., in a section of
the State densely populated with colored people.

I was very much impressed with the work done at Clinton Institute. The
school is under the auspices of the A. M. E. Zion connection, but has
some help from outside. Prof. R. J. Crokett, who is president of the
school, is a graduate of Livingstone College, and is a most excellent
and worthy young man. The school has a graded department, in which
are taught the ordinary and higher English branches. It has a normal
department, in which are taught some of the sciences, and in which is
the practice school for young teachers--who work in the more rural
districts. It has an industrial department, in which it is designed to
introduce all the industrial arts that are of practical benefit to the
colored people in the South.




CHAPTER IX

PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE.


It is a great pleasure to me to note, in these sketches, the splendid
work done by the Presbyterian Church for the education of the colored
people.


LINCOLN UNIVERSITY.

_Rev. I. N. Randall, D. D., President._

Among the instrumentalities through which the friends of the Negro may
convey to him the blessings of education, Lincoln University especially
deserves the confidence of the Christian public. She was the first to
enter this field. Lincoln University was chartered by the State of
Pennsylvania to give a liberal Scientific, Classical and Theological
education to colored youth of the male sex in 1854, six years before
the war which resulted in emancipation. The school is located in
Chester county, half a mile from Lincoln University Station. A liberal
Christian education was the policy adopted by Lincoln University for
the elevation of our colored population before the body of them became
freedmen.

Four hundred and ninety-five have been graduated from the Collegiate
Department, after a course of instruction extending through four and,
in many cases, seven years. Most of these graduates are engaged in
professional and educational labors in the Southern States. Two hundred
and sixteen of the students of Lincoln University have received
ordination as ministers in Evangelical Protestant denominations.
Thirteen students have gone to Africa as missionaries. Three young men
from Liberia are now in the University.

Such men as J. C. Price, W. H. Goler and hundreds of others are the
class of men educated at Lincoln University. There can be no question
but that this institution has accomplished more for the colored people
both North and South than any other north of Mason and Dixon's line.


SCOTIA SEMINARY.

Scotia Seminary is one of the most interesting schools I have ever
visited. It was founded to bring within the reach of colored girls in
and about Concord, N. C., where it is located, the advantages of a
thorough Christian education and to aid in building up the Presbyterian
Church among the colored people. It is chartered by the State of North
Carolina. Says Rev. D. J. Satterfield, D. D., the president:

"Our aim has always been to appeal to the nobler natures of our
students in order to secure compliance with our wishes. Our rules
prohibit what is unlady-like and disorderly and require only what is
necessary to provide for the mental, moral and physical welfare of all.

"For the enforcement of these rules we hold students as well as
teachers responsible. We propose to maintain a moral sentiment in the
school, which will make anything vulgar or vicious so much out of
place here, that it cannot stay."


MARY ALLEN SEMINARY.

This institution is located at Crockett, Texas, and was founded by Mrs.
Mary Allen, who was a true friend to the colored people, and especially
to colored women. The purpose of this school is to train up colored
women in such arts and sciences as are taught in schools of high
grade, in all kinds of domestic duties. Rev. Jno. B. Smith, D. D., is
president, and he is assisted by an able body of teachers.


MARY HOLMES SEMINARY.

Mary Holmes was founded and is now sustained by the Board of Missions
for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church. The school was first located
at Jackson, Miss., and was built as a memorial to Mrs. Mary Holmes,
wife of Rev. Mead Holmes, of Rockford, Ill. The buildings at Jackson
were destroyed by fire, and the school was then moved to West Point,
Miss. The object of this institution is the higher education for
colored women. Rev. H. N. Payne, D. D., is president.


BARBER MEMORIAL SEMINARY.

Barber Memorial Seminary is the thoughtful and loving gift of a
Christian woman for the education and elevation of colored girls.
Ardently interested in the welfare of the colored people, Mrs. P.
M. Barber, of Philadelphia, has founded this school as a memorial to
her late husband, whose expressed purpose it had been to provide an
institution of this kind. The school is located at Anniston, Ala. Rev.
S. M. Davis, D. D., president.


BRAINERD INSTITUTE.

Brainerd Institute, established for the Christian education of Colored
youth of both sexes, is located in Chester, S. C. John S. Marquis,
Principal.

The school grounds comprise 13 acres. There are two large buildings;
one being principal's home, young women's dormitories, dining room and
kitchen; the other containing class-rooms, printing office, and young
men's dormitories.

Brainerd Institute has turned out some very useful men and women. Rev.
George W. Clinton, now a Bishop in the A. M. E. Zion Church, was at one
time a student there.


INGLESIDE SEMINARY.

Ingleside is located at Burkville, Va., and, like Mary Holmes, Mary
Allen, and Barber Memorial, this seminary was founded for the higher
education of colored girls. In addition to the literary work, they have
an industrial department, where sewing and other domestic work are
taught. Rev. Graham C. Campbell, A. M., president.

In addition to the schools mentioned in the Presbyterian work they have
quite a number of large parochials which are doing splendid work.




CHAPTER X.

PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE.


It will be noticed that quite a number of the Presbyterian Schools are
under the management of colored people. These schools are very well
managed and reflect great credit on the ability of colored men.


SWIFT MEMORIAL INSTITUTE.

Swift Memorial Institute is located at Rogersville, Tenn. It was
begun by Rev. W. H. Franklin in 1883, under the most unfavorable
circumstances. He began at the very bottom and had no other capital
save intellectual ability, school-training, strong purpose,
perseverance, and unswerving faith in God and the righteousness
of his cause. It is true that he had the hearty endorsement and
co-operation of the Presbytery of Holsten, the Synod of Tennessee,
and the Freedmen's Board, but they were not in a condition to render
him the assistance required and the conduct of the whole work, for a
number of years rested upon his shoulders. In the face of opposition,
discouragement and prejudice of every kind, the work had a gradual and
solid growth. Each year found the school advancing and intrenching
itself in the confidence of the people at home and abroad. Mr. Franklin
did not lose any opportunity to earnestly present the necessity and the
claims of the school in Tennessee, in Ohio and in Michigan. In 1887,
when the founder had raised a subscription of $500, the Freedmen's
Board appropriated $1000 to purchase a desirable site which had been
selected. The school soon outgrew its new accommodations. In 1890, the
school had prospered to such an extent, and had so favorably commended
itself to the Board that it pledged $5,000 for a suitable building
provided that the friends of Rev. E. E. Swift, D. D., of Allegheny,
for whom the school was named, would raise $5,000 additional. After
two years of soliciting, pleading, praying and hoping, the Board and
the Ladies of the Church in Pennsylvania, Illinois and elsewhere
took hold of the matter in real earnest and soon the building was
erected. The site was enlarged and made more desirable by an additional
purchase. May, 1893, found the school in an elegant and substantial
brick building, 116 × 42, and three stories high, erected at a cost
of $15,000. The building has all the modern improvements and is much
admired by all visitors for its simplicity, its neatness and its
conveniences. It has many visitors. The whole plant, site, building and
furniture, cost about $25,000. These funds have been supplied by the
Freedmen's Board, Women's Societies and benevolent individuals, besides
many gifts annually for current expenses and scholarships.

The literary work will compare most favorably with that done in
other like institutions of the best grades. The students have taught
in this State and in other States and are much in demand. It is a
Christian centre and is giving a thorough Christian training to all
of its students. Its industrial and domestic departments are giving
such training as will revolutionize the home life, give intelligent
direction to the applied hand, and give business-like system to all the
activities. The present year marks the most interesting and prosperous
one in its history. All the rooms in the girls' dormitory are occupied,
and no place can be found for the boys. The great, pressing and
immediate want of the institution, is a dormitory for the boys. With
this want supplied, the ability of the school to do a much-needed and
urgent work for Christ and humanity will be increased many fold. Few
schools under the auspices of the _Freedmen's Board_ have a better
field and a better opportunity to do a great, useful and permanent work
for a needy, meritorious, and appreciative people. With timely and
sufficient aid, few schools have a brighter, more fruitful, or a more
glorious future. The faculty of the school is as follows:

Rev. W. H. Franklin, A. M., Mr. J. J. Johnson, A. B., Miss Ada G.
Battle, N. S., Mrs. Flora E. Elms, N., Mrs. Ida V. Penland Love, N.,
and Mrs. Laura C. Franklin, Matron.


REV. W. H. FRANKLIN.

[Illustration: REV. W. H. FRANKLIN, A. M.]

Rev. W. H. Franklin, A. M., was born at Knoxville, Tenn., April 14,
1852. His parents were free and enjoyed the respect and confidence
of all who knew them. His father was a competent brick mason and
was much in demand in his trade. His mother is a modest and sensible
woman. The ancestors of both parents were influential. His grandmother,
with several members of her family, went to Liberia in 1850. Mr.
Franklin had the opportunity of attending school one month, just as
the Rebellion began. He learned to read and to write his name in that
month. When Burnside came to Knoxville in 1865, he entered school
again. He was generally acknowledged not only the head of his class,
but also the head of the school he attended. He attended the schools of
Knoxville until 1870. He then taught school at Hudsonville, Marshall
Co., Miss., for two terms and saved sufficient money to help build a
better house for his mother and to enter Maryville College, Maryville,
Tenn. In that institution he took high rank in his class, and in the
college. His talents received immediate recognition. The first year he
appeared as Vice-President of the Athenian Society and a participant
in its annual exercises, delivering a recitation and the diplomas to
the graduates of the society. From that time his recognition and place
was secured until his graduation in 1880 from the classical course.
His graduating oration was said to be the best on the occasion. He
entered Lane Theological Seminary in Sept., 1880, and graduated from
it in 1883, in a class known for its high ability. The _Commercial
Gazette_ awarded him the highest medal of praise. From Lane he came in
June of the same year to Rogersville, Tenn., which was to be his future
field of labor. He was ordained minister by Union Presbytery, Synod of
Tennessee, in 1883. In June he took charge of his work at Rogersville.
He began the work of making a real church and of founding a school
for the higher education of colored youth. The task was to make brick
without straw and in the face of persistent, opposition and prejudice.
He disregarded both. The result is that he has succeeded in building up
a strong church work and a splendid school. He has a plant estimated
to be worth $25,000 and a full school of students representing four
different States.

He has done much other work in the interest of the race. He has
corresponded with newspapers, represented his people in conventions,
represented his Presbytery in the memorable Centennial General Assembly
and is now a director of Maryville College. His _alma mater_ conferred
A. M. upon him several years ago. Mr. Franklin has the respect and
confidence of all his acquaintances in Church and State, and is known
as a scholar, educator, orator and preacher of no mean ability. He
has never sought notoriety, but has been contented to do his duty
conscientiously and efficiently in the field which he has chosen for
his labors.


HAINES NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.

The Haines Normal and Industrial Institute is the product of the great
missionary effort of Miss Lucy C. Laney, formerly of Macon, Ga. It
was established in Augusta, Ga., in 1886, where it is now located and
successfully managed by its founder, to whose personal efforts its
existence for the first three or four years is solely due.

After that time she succeeded in having it placed under the auspices of
the Northern Presbyterian Church, and it is to-day under the care of
the Freedman's Board of that church.

The present usefulness of the school has doubtless outreached the
expectations of its founder and the Board. The original design was
to make it simply a home where a few girls might receive an all-round
development, and a means for furnishing day-school advantages to
as many as could be cared for. It is now a large boarding school,
furnishing _home_ accommodations in the main buildings for sixty or
seventy girls, and in rented cottages for fifteen or twenty boys;
_class-room_ facilities for 550 pupils, the highest number reached
being 436; _industrial_ training in sewing, laundrying, nursing,
printing, shoemaking and general house-cleaning.

[Illustration: HAINES NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.]

The following selection taken from an article written by Rev. E. P.
Cowan, D. D., Secretary of the Freedmen's Board of the Presbyterian
Church, in the August number of _The Church at Home and Abroad_ (1893),
presents very forcibly the real character of this school growing
out of the character of its founder and present head. "He (referring
to Rev. David Laney, who died a year ago,) has put no son into the
Gospel ministry to succeed him, but his worthy daughter Lucy is to-day
practically doing the work of a faithful minister or servant of Christ.
Miss Laney is a graduate of Atlanta University, and has an education of
which no woman in this land, white or colored, need be ashamed.

[Illustration: LUCY C. LANEY.]

"Equipped for the work and fired with a dauntless zeal for the
elevation of her race, of whom she always speaks as 'my people,' she
entered Augusta, Ga., single-handed and alone and began teaching
the few children she could at the beginning draw around her. As she
taught, her school increased. No one stood with her at the first. The
Freedmen's Board was back of her, but we scarcely knew her value at
the time, commissioning her for the work, but giving her only what she
could collect for her services on the field. On this point her success
brought us the information we needed. We did not help her at the first
as we would now. Her courage, patience, self-forgetfulness, and withal
her good common sense, attracted attention. She began with a few and
at the end of the first year reported seventy-five scholars under her
care. At the end of the second year she reported 234. The progress of
her work was so satisfactory that when the opportunity to place $10,000
in some particular educational work in the South came to the Board,
the unanimous opinion of the members was that Miss Laney's school had
merited the proposed help.

"When the Assembly met at Minneapolis in 1886, Miss Laney met the late
Mrs. F. E. H. Haines, who was then President of the Women's Executive
Committee of Home Missions, and was so impressed with her earnest
Christian character and her deep interest in the colored people of the
South, that she went home and named her school the Haines School."

The literary department of Haines School consists of College
Preparatory course, Higher English, Grammar School, Primary and
Kindergarten. The school contains the material for a strictly Normal
course, and more than a dozen young women have graduated from the
higher English or high-school course. Trained teachers are needed to
put such a course into effect.

The Grammar School department, except the highest grade, furnishes
practice work for these young women and it is preparatory to the higher
English course.

The College Preparatory course aims to prepare students for college.
With a very few exceptions all of the graduates from this course have
entered Lincoln University, making at entrance Sophomore class. One
entered Junior class two years ago.

The Higher English course aims to prepare the average young man and
woman for active life as well as to stimulate them to further study in
school.

The Kindergarten is complete in itself. Its furnishing, the training
of the Kindergartner and her salary, are a gift to the school from its
friends in Buffalo, N. Y. Though but lately added to the school, the
Kindergarten is the result of the long-cherished plans and personal
efforts of Miss Laney. Not only the Kindergarten, but the entire
success of the school, is due to contributions from friends who have
been reached and impressed with the actual needs of the Negro by Miss
Laney in her numerous speeches to Northern audiences; "a mission," says
Dr. Cowan in the same article quoted from, "for which she has a rare
gift, apparently without knowing it." No less able is she to impress,
by her own life of sacrifice, Christian character and native ability.

A lasting influence for good in this school, and especially in the home
life, now lives, sacred to the memory of Miss Cora Freeman, who was
associated with Miss Laney, when the foundation of the work was being
laid, and who shared bravely the hard things which necessarily attend
the beginning of a large, unselfish work of this kind. She died after a
service of three years.

Miss Irene Smallwood, the present Kindergartner, Mr. Frank P. Laney
and Mr. James Smith, both of Washington, D. C., at present, were also
associated with Miss Laney in the earlier work of the school.

A large four-story brick building, a wooden building for the industrial
work and Kindergarten, one acre of land, three rented cottages,
together with radiating Christian influences, constitute Haines
School, one of the evidences of the native ability and disposition
of the Negro, of the hopeful results of Christian education for the
Negro, of Northern devotion to the Negro, and the promise of a fuller
development of better things for the Negro eager to be uplifted, and
for consecrated hearts, willing to give.


MONTICELLO SEMINARY.

The story of the development of this school is better told when
interwoven with the life of Rev. C. S. Mebane, its founder. Rev. C. S.
Mebane, A. M., Principal of Monticello Seminary, Monticello, Ark., was
born of slave parents in Alamance county, N. C., in the year 1857.
At the close of the late war he and six other children with penniless
parents witnessed the hardships that confronted those who were thrown
out upon the frozen charities of the world. A few years of earnest
toil rewarded the once poverty-stricken family with a comfortable
living. Having reached the years of manhood he was not content with a
common school education, but had a thirst for higher training, and as
soon as the necessary arrangements could be made he entered Lincoln
University, Chester county, Pa., for the purpose of fitting himself
for the ministry. Here he made the acquaintance of the late Mr. W. R.
Davenport, of Erie, Pa., who supported him through school in honor
of his deceased son, Frank R. Davenport. Having completed his course
in school he entered upon the church and school work at Monticello,
Ark., in the fall of 1888. Of a self-denying, fatherly disposition,
he has often cared for the suffering and unfortunate both with hands
and purse. He revised the old organization, infused new life into it,
gathered about him the handful of members, selected officers, and began
the race to success. A Sabbath School was organized and regularly kept
up, and preaching service was at first observed twice a month.

[Illustration: REV. C. S. MEBANE, A. M.]

But before the church work was well on footing, he entered the
schoolroom; and here the struggle began in earnest.

The school session continues eight months and is divided into four
departments: the Primary, Preparatory, the Teacher's and Higher courses.

The boarding pupils live in the "Home" and are taught domestic work in
connection with their studies.

The last two years have been the most successful in the history of the
school. The enrolment for the first passed the 200 line; and while it
may not go beyond that this year on account of "hard times," it has
drawn upon larger areas and new territory.


IMMANUEL TRAINING SCHOOL.

This work was begun in a small dilapidated frame building at Aiken, S.
C., in 1882. That building constituted a part of the first real estate,
which, through the aid of Dr. Derby, Mrs. H. G. Burlingame, Miss E.
M. Greenleaf, and many other friends, was purchased for the colored
people's use in April, 1882. As witnesses to the lawful execution of
the deed, Dr. Derby and his brother-in-law, Mr. George H. Kennedy, who
was spending the season in Aiken, signed their names to it.

That unfinished boarding house, which has since been used as a home,
church, school and boarding hall for students, all at the same time,
was, in a sense, the foundation of what is now Derby Hall--one of
the best buildings of the school. To accommodate it to the various
demands of the work, changes were made from time to time. But after
the erection of a house of worship and a school building, there
remained but one thing more to do, and that was to reconvert the entire
structure into a boarding hall principally for the accommodation of
students from a distance. The new mansard roof was put on and other
necessary alterations and improvements made during the summer of 1891,
at a cost of $1,600. The building now contains twenty-six rooms.

All of the helpful branches of industry are taught in this school.


REV. W. R. COLES.

Rev. W. R. Coles, the superintendent of the Immanuel Training School,
and pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church, of Aiken, S. C., was one
of the first graduates of Lincoln University. Speaking of his work as
founder of the Immanuel Church, he had the following to say:

[Illustration: REV. W. R. COLES.]

"Laboring as Synodical Missionary, by appointment of the Synod of
Atlantic (and approved by the Presbyterian Committee of Missions for
Freedmen), I came to Aiken on the 23d day of May, A. D. 1881, seeking
a home for my family, and to look after the general interests of our
work. While here (June 10, 1881), I received a communication from the
Freedmen's Committee, informing me that my work as Synodical Missionary
would terminate with June 30, and that it was the will of the Committee
that I locate again in the pastorate.

"I, therefore, settled in Aiken, and commenced missionary work, holding
services in my own house from June 30 till the latter part of November,
when we moved into a rented house, the property of Henry Smith, on
Newberry street. This building was, on the night of the third Sabbath
in November, 1881, formally set apart as a place of worship, under the
name of 'The Newberry Street Presbyterian Mission.' The way being clear
we organized a Sabbath School on the fourth Sabbath in November, 1881,
with thirteen members: Mr. J. F. Chestnut, Superintendent; teachers,
Mr. James F. Chestnut, W. R. Coles, Mrs. R. E. Coles; Librarian,
Mr. T. G. Bronson; Treasurer, Mrs. R. E. Coles. Thus established,
we labored, preaching and conducting Sabbath School every Sunday,
holding prayer-meeting one night during the week, and visiting, etc.,
till the fifth Sabbath in January, 1882, when, at the request of nine
communicants, I, acting as an evangelist, assisted by Rev. T. P. Hay,
of the First Presbyterian Church of Aiken, S. C., formally organized
The Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Aiken, S. C. Messrs. Alexander
Johnson and Vincent Green were elected, ordained and installed as
Ruling Elders; John Mayes as Deacon."


DAYTON ACADEMY.

The history of Dayton Academy and the career of Rev. Henry D. Wood must
go together.

[Illustration: REV. HENRY D. WOOD.]

Rev. Henry D. Wood, A. M., Principal of Dayton Academy, Carthage,
N. C., was born in Trenton, N. J., Feb. 10, 1847. He received his
early training in the public school of that city. A youth of sixteen
years (1863) he enlisted in the famous 54th Massachusetts Regiment
and served in defence of his country and for the freedom of his
people until these were accomplished. He returned to Brooklyn, N.
Y., and for several years found employment with the Orington Bros.,
Importers, working his way from the position of porter to a clerkship
in the shipping department of that house. United with the Siloam
Presbyterian Church, and was at once made an elder in that church, and
though holding a lucrative position, was so impressed with his call
to the ministry that he resolved to make preparation for that work.
He entered Lincoln University, where he held high rank in character
and proficiency in studies, and was graduated from the Theological
Department in '78. In 1880 he was commissioned by the "Presbyterian
Board of Missions for Freedmen," ordained by the Presbytery of Yadkin,
and entered upon the work in which he is now engaged. He found here a
destitute, neglected field, an organization of about forty members in
two churches, no Sabbath schools, public schools limited to two months,
and the people too poor to better their condition.

He made known the condition of things to personal friends North, who
generously responded to his appeal for help, and arousing his people
to effort in their own behalf, soon succeeded in erecting one of the
neatest and most comfortable churches in this part of the country.

The people were encouraged to deeper interest in their own improvement.
Day school was opened in his residence, but it proved too small;
many were crowded out. The Board established a parochial school and
each year it was enlarged. In '86 it was found necessary to advance
the grade, hence "Dayton Academy," a handsome three-story building
comprising class-rooms and girls' dormitory, also a boys' dormitory,
with dining-room and kitchen.

Three church buildings are valued at about $3,500; school property
about $1,500; church membership about 400; Sabbath school about 450;
Day school scholars, 260; five teachers in Academy.

This school supplies teachers for the public schools, and they are
found doing good service in Sabbath schools and in churches, and
everywhere.


ALBION ACADEMY.

The Albion Academy, at Franklinton, N. C., was founded in the year
1877, by the late Moses A. Hopkins, Minister to the Republic of
Liberia. At the time of the founding of this Academy there were no
adequate facilities to serve a liberal education in the community.
Aided by friends at the North, the late William Shaw, of Pittsburg,
Pa., and John Hall, and the First Presbyterian Church, of Albion,
N. Y., the Academy was organized and established amid the strenuous
efforts of bitter opponents to resist it.

The first principal of the school was its founder, the late Rev. Moses
A. Hopkins.

Many young men and women have been sent from this institution to
higher schools, as Lincoln University, Pa., Biddle University, N. C.,
Fisk University, Tenn., and Howard University, D. C., etc. The school
is designed for the education of the many thousands in this section
of the State. It is the only educational centre of the Presbyterian
Church, in Eastern North Carolina, for the Negro race. It offers the
benefits of a liberal education to the Negroes of the South, as well as
the State of North Carolina.

[Illustration: REV. JOHN A. SAVAGE, D. D.]

Many friends in the North have given largely to the support of the
Academy. There are three halls. The Stamford Hall, and the Darling
Hall, are for the young ladies. The Academy Hall contains eight
recitation-rooms and a chapel hall.


REV. JOHN A. SAVAGE, D. D.

After the resignation of Rev. Samuel S. Sevier in the year of 1892,
as the principal of the Academy, Rev. John A. Savage, D. D., was
called and appointed by the Board of Trustees to the presidency of the
Academy. Since his government the Academy has taken a fresh start in
every direction.

Rev. Mr. Savage, the president of Albion Academy, is a graduate of
Lincoln University. He is an unassuming gentleman of much natural
ability and his work in the State of North Carolina is most creditable.
The school has been rapidly built up under his charge, and many young
men and women in the community are thankful to Rev. Savage for his kind
attention and earnest interest in their education.


BIDDLE UNIVERSITY.

This University is located at Charlotte, N. C., and is named in memory
of the late Henry J. Biddle, of Philadelphia, whose widow, Mrs. Mary D.
Biddle, has been one of its most liberal supporters. It is chartered
by the Legislature of the State, and is under the auspices of the
Presbyterian Church in the United States.

The object of the institution is the education of colored teachers and
preachers, and leaders for the race in other walks of life.

It stands at the terminus of seven railroads, in the midst of a dense
and comparatively intelligent colored population, and occupies a site
of sixty acres in the suburbs of the city.

[Illustration: BIDDLE UNIVERSITY.]

It is situated in the heart of the South Atlantic region, which
contains the two Synods of Atlantic and Catawba, having 290 colored
churches, 180 ministers, scores of young men in preparation for the
ministry, with a large number of schools and academies under their
care. These schools and churches must be furnished with intelligent
Christian teachers and preachers, who must be largely educated on
the field, and in contact with the people among whom they are to
labor. Such a training is given here at less expense than it could
be elsewhere; the student has the best opportunities for a liberal
education together with the refining influence of a Christian home, and
he is kept at the same time in contact and sympathy with the people.

[Illustration: REV. D. J. SANDERS, D. D.,
_President of Biddle University, Charlotte, N. C._]

This institution has a colored president and I think that he has
demonstrated the ability of the colored man to govern. I regard Rev. D.
J. Sanders, D. D., as a very able man, and I think he has done as well
at Biddle as any other man could have done, considering the period
through which the institution has just passed.

No institution in the care of the Presbyterian Church has a wider field
or greater opportunities. Its students are gathered from all the South
Atlantic States, and are scattered in their school and church work
through all this vast region, and as far west as Texas.

It is the only institution of its kind maintained by our Presbyterian
Church in the South; and it certainly is one of the most important
agencies in the hands of the Church for the accomplishment of good
among 8,000,000 of colored people. It commends itself to the prayers
and gifts of all good men.

The _importance_ in the eyes of the Church, of the interests which
Biddle University represents, is forcibly put in the language of a
recent circular addressed to churches on its behalf by the _Board of
Missions for Freedmen_:

"What is done," say they, "for Biddle University, will, in a great
measure, determine the success of our whole work among the Freedmen."


FERGUSON ACADEMY.

Ferguson Academy is situated at Abbeville, S. C. The property was
acquired by the Freedmen's Board of the Presbyterian Church in 1891.
In 1892 Rev. Thomas H. Amos, A. M., then pastor of the First African
Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, was elected principal to succeed
Rev. E. W. Williams. The enrolment then consisted of sixty-two
students, which have grown from that number to 210.

The property consists of three buildings valued at $7,000 or $8,000,
free of debt.

[Illustration: REV. THOMAS H. AMOS, A. M.]

The course of instruction is divided into nine grades. The faculty
consists of Rev. T. H. Amos, A. M., Principal; Prof. Joseph W. Lee,
Mrs. Ida B. Amos, Eliza A. Pindle, Misses Carrie M. Richie and Mattie
F. Barr.

There is an industrial department connected with the school, and
most of the work is done by the students. The management of the
work is economical; the instruction painstaking and thorough, the
discipline kind, and the graduates have the reputation of being moral
and efficient teachers. There is no doubt but that the influences of
such a school are uplifting to the masses of colored youth in the
community. Those who have investigated the work of the school praise
the management and thank its benefactors for what it is doing. The
friends of Negro education may have confidence in Ferguson Academy, and
find it an appropriate channel through which the rising generation of
this people can be helped to places of usefulness and respectability.
The religious tone of the instruction is deep and in addition to this
the diligence and experience of its faculty and the supervision of the
officers of the Presbyterian Board guarantee that this is a light to
scatter the night in the regions where its graduates, both male and
female, will go forth.


HARBISON INSTITUTE.

Harbison Institute is located at Beaufort, South Carolina; Rev. G. M.
Elliott, President.

The aim of Harbison Institute is to give thorough training in those
studies laid down in the course, and thereby fit those who attend upon
its instruction for practical life, and help them to succeed in the
work of their choice.

Persons whose moral character, or whose general influence would be
detrimental to the good of the school, will not be received or retained
in the school.

The use of intoxicating liquors, tobacco, profane or indecent language,
card-playing, and everything tending to immoral life, are strictly
forbidden.

Immoral or vicious conduct; insubordination to school authority;
habitual tardiness, or truancy; habitual uncleanliness of person, or
indecency in dress; persistent disorder, or misdemeanor on street,
while going to or from school, will be deemed sufficient grounds for
suspending the offender from the privileges of the school.

This school is doing just the kind of work needed in the locality where
it is situated.


J. B. SWANN.

Rev. J. B. Swann, who is conducting an Industrial School, at Lothian
(Anne Arundel county), Maryland, has been a very active worker in
behalf of Negro education, from the time he entered Lincoln University
in the fall of 1867, up to the present time.

He started out as a Missionary teacher under the Board of Home Missions
for Freedmen during the summer months while attending Lincoln, and
succeeded in building his first day-school at Mocksville, N. C., in
1869. From Mocksville, he was commissioned by the Board to West River,
Md., where he labored for twelve years. From this place he was sent to
Greensborough, N. C. Here he took charge of a school which had been
previously organized and he made quite a success of the work. A few
years later Mr. Swann returned to Lincoln for the purpose of taking a
theological course. After finishing his studies he began his present
work. His success has been marked and the results of his untiring
efforts have been gratifying both to him and the Board.

[Illustration: REV. J. B. SWANN.]


MARY POTTER MEMORIAL SCHOOL.

Mary Potter Memorial School is located at Oxford, N. C., and is under
the management of Prof. G. C. Shaw.

[Illustration: PROF. G. C. SHAW.]

This school is named in honor of Mrs. Mary Potter, of Schenectady,
N. Y., who was very much interested in the Freedmen and contributed
liberally toward their educational improvement. She donated the money
to start this school, and after it had become too small for the
accommodation of the many young people who crowded into it, friends
of Mrs. Potter and friends of the colored people contributed to its
enlargement. It is now in a splendid condition and very creditable work
is being accomplished.

Professor Shaw, the principal of this school, was born of slave parents
at Louisburg, N. C., June 19, 1863. He entered Lincoln University in
1881 and graduated in 1886. Devoted one year to the study of theology
at Princeton Theological Seminary. Graduated from Auburn Theological
Seminary, of Auburn, N. Y., in 1890.

It was while he was at Auburn that he made the acquaintance of Mrs.
Potter, who offered him encouragement in the line of work he had mapped
out for his life.

While in Oxford, he has succeeded in organizing a church and building
up the school. Mr. Shaw tells me that he contemplates adding an
industrial department to the school shortly and thereby increasing its
usefulness.


COTTON PLANT ACADEMY.

Cotton Plant Academy is located at Cotton Plant, Ark. Rev. F. C.
Potter, Principal. It is a school for co-education, and is doing very
good work for the moral uplifting of the colored people in the section
where it is located.


RICHARD ALLEN INSTITUTE.

Named after Rev. R. H. Allen, D. D., late Secretary of Board of
Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church; is the outgrowth of
the Mission established in 1885 by the Presbytery of Pine Bluff, Ark.

The school was opened November 7, 1887, in the dwelling-house of
the principal, and at first occupied one room; a second and then a
third were soon in demand; from an enrolment of twenty-one pupils it
increased to 138, and has steadily advanced until the roll has reached
nearly 300. With the assistance of Messrs. W. B. Alexander, J. W.
Crawford, J. B. Speers, Judge W. S. McCain, J. R. Westbrooks, _et al._;
a title with no encumbrance was secured to the property, and a building
commenced, foundation and studding in place, when the weather prevented
further work. When completed, this building had four rooms below, two
rooms in second story, and one extended room on the third floor. In
this, from 250 to 300 pupils were accommodated. The loss of this house
by fire on the 17th of January, 1894, was a severe blow, entailing a
loss of $5,000, confining the whole school in the dormitory of Richard
Allen Institute, which was erected in 1892, by the assistance of Miss
Mary E. Holmes, and fitted up to accommodate a number of pupils.

This is a chartered Institute under the laws of Arkansas, and is
supported like all other Missions under the Board of Missions for
Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church.

Rev. Lewis Johnston, Principal.




CHAPTER XI.

INDEPENDENT AND STATE SCHOOLS.


In this and the next two chapters I shall deal with the Independent and
State schools. I open this chapter with Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute because it has created a greater amount of interest and has
been the subject of more discussion in recent years than any other.


THE TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.

Charles Dickens says somewhere: "There is not an atom in Tom's
slime, not a cubic inch in any pestilential gas in which he lives,
not one obscenity, or degradation about him, not an ignorance, not
a wickedness, not a brutality of his committing, but shall work its
retribution through every order of society, up to the proudest of the
proud and the highest of the high."

Ignorance and degradation among the people clearly menace the South,
and not only the South, but the entire country. The action and
reaction of human life is such that no class of persons, however wise
or wealthy, can stand aloof from those lower, and remain unaffected,
even though unmoved, by their misfortunes. More and more is this fact
being recognized, and, as a means of self-protection, as well as from
philanthropic motives, a widespread interest is being taken in the
education of the Negro.

Perhaps the phase of this question which has aroused the greatest
discussion is, "What kind of education does the Negro need?" Yet,
probably, if we would try better to understand each other, there
would be less difference of opinion. He who claims that there are
those who should receive the higher education, and he who contends
that what the masses need is an English course and a trade, are not
necessarily antagonistic in their views. They may simply stand each
for the prominent presentation of a special phase of the work to be
done for the race. Bright colored girls and boys who wish to go to
college and can do so, certainly should be encouraged to go. We have
need of men and women with trained and disciplined minds. Besides
there are individuals who are endowed with special gifts which can be
used, to the greatest advantage, for the race and for humanity, only
by giving them the highest possible degree of culture. On the other
hand, there are the masses, who, like the masses of any race, are not
able, either intellectually or financially, to take a college course,
and who, besides, are destined to callings which require training other
than that the college gives. What is to be done for them? This Booker
T. Washington is ably demonstrating at Tuskegee. Both of these cases
should be presented in equity, and the importance of either should not
cause the other to be overlooked.

[Illustration: PROF. B. T. WASHINGTON, A. M.,
_Principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Ala._]

The success of the Tuskegee School is due, in a large measure, to the
fact that it meets what is recognized as a great educational need. It
carries along with the training of the head the training of the hand
makes possible an education to the poorest boy and girl in the land,
and sends each graduate out into the world familiar with some form
of labor to the extent that he can earn thereby his daily bread. The
experiment of this kind of training in solving the much-talked-of
problem, is being watched on all sides with eager curiosity.

[Illustration: ARMSTRONG HALL.
_Built by Students._]

Tuskegee is no more Hampton than Hampton is the little school in the
Sandwich Islands, from which General Armstrong received those earliest
conceptions of the industrial education, afterwards realized on
American soil in behalf of the American Negro. The peculiar exigencies
of the situation gave rise to features in the more Southern school
which are not to be found in the one nearer Mason and Dixon's line,
and, in like manner, account for the absence in the younger school, of
certain characteristics belonging to the older institution.

As those acquainted with the history of Tuskegee know, the school
started in 1881 in an humble church and two shanties in the town of
Tuskegee. There was then one teacher with thirty pupils; no land, no
buildings, no apparatus, nothing but the $2,000 appropriated by the
State for the payment of salaries. There are now over one hundred
persons connected with the school in the capacity of instructors of
some kind, nearly 1,200 pupils, including those attending the Training
School; more than forty buildings erected by student labor, 2,600 acres
of land, and a property valued at $225,000, unincumbered by mortgage.

[Illustration: ALABAMA HALL.
_Built by Students._]

This marvelous growth is due mainly to one man, Booker T. Washington,
the principal of the school; and his success may be attributed to a
combination of qualities--marked executive ability, high enthusiasm,
keen, prophetic vision, and a wonderful power to see and to state the
value of things commonly considered of small account. Some one has
characterized Mr. Washington as "the man with a genius for common
sense," and, probably, one might use many words in telling of him
without giving so good a description as that conveyed in this terse
expression.

[Illustration: PHELPS HALL.
_Built by Students._]

Tuskegee stands for the education of the head, the hand, and the heart,
the three H's which include the three R's and much more. It gives a
good Normal course, which fits one fairly well for the race of life,
or serves as an excellent foundation for a more advanced course.
Stress is laid on the study of pedagogy and practice in the training
school; for the institution acts on the theory, which in most cases
is correct, that these young people, after graduation, will teach at
some time, whether or not during their schooldays they expect to do so,
and, therefore, protects the future pupils of these embryo teachers by
requiring every one who aspires to a diploma to receive training in the
theory and practice of teaching.

[Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S COTTAGE.
_Built by Students._]

The Phelps Hall Bible School, connected with the Tuskegee Institute,
is the gift of a Northern friend, and is designed especially to help
the ministers of the South, among whom it is doing a great work.
Many pastors in charge of churches, learning of the advantages of
the institution and the possibility of getting through school with
very little money, resign their churches to come here and better fit
themselves for the work. Others, nearer, enter the school and trudge
several miles on Saturday or Sunday to meet and minister to their
congregations. Those not pastoring churches while in school, carry on
some form of mission work, and so keep in touch with the people and
help lift up others even while they are being lifted up.

There are over twenty-five industries operated by students under
experienced and efficient instructors. A limited number of young men
and women work during the day and attend school at night, in this
manner supporting themselves and laying by a surplus for expenses when
they enter the day-school, besides fortifying themselves with the
knowledge of a trade. In order to teach the dignity of labor, as well
as for the sake of the skill thus acquired by each student in some
industry, all are required to do a certain amount of work.

Besides the literary societies of the school, of which there are four,
doing good service along the lines usually adopted by such student
bodies, there are several religious organizations. The Y. M. C. A. has
a large membership and is doing a most effective work. The young men
belonging to this association are of an especially high type of young
manhood, and they are exerting a most helpful and healthful influence
on the morals of the school. After a great deal of worthy effort
they have succeeded in getting a pretty well-stocked reading-room
and library, and they are now bending their energies toward securing
a building of their own. They feel that they have outgrown the one
little room which is all the school can afford to give them.

The Y. P. S. C. E. is full of vigorous life. Its presidents have
always been teachers, while the various committees are composed of
both teachers and students. Besides the Executive Committee there is
a Lookout Committee, which looks out for the welfare of the society,
and keeps trace of the members who are absent from the consecration
meetings; a Prayer Meeting Committee which has charge of all the prayer
meetings; a Flower Committee, which carries flowers to the sick, and
decorates the chapel for special exercises, and a Mission Committee,
which does work in the neighborhood among the poor, carrying food and
clothing to them from time to time during the year.

The Mite Society is a branch of the W. H. M. S. Besides general work
among the poor in the vicinity of the school, it has given special care
to the old people of the county poorhouse. This society exacts one cent
weekly from its members, and when this cannot be given, accepts, in
lieu thereof, a sheet of paper, a stamp, an envelope, or anything which
may be sold by a committee appointed for that purpose.

The Tuskegee Women's Club is not, like the organizations already
mentioned, for the students; but, as an outgrowth of the school,
and one of the most helpful influences in the community, it may be
mentioned here. This club is composed of the women connected with
the institution, either as teachers or the wives of teachers. At
the regular semi-monthly meetings a literary and musical program
is rendered, and there is a sub-organization which meets weekly for
an informal discussion of current topics; but these efforts for
self-improvement do not limit the activity of the club. Among the
branch organizations conducted by its members are social purity clubs
among the girls of the institution, a humane society, to which both
boys and girls belong, a club for the ministers' wives of the town
and vicinity, where they are helped to a fuller realization of the
responsibilities and opportunities of their position, and are shown
how they may best work among the girls and women of the churches,
a club for mutual improvement having as members girls attending
the institution, but living in town, a Y. W. C. T. U., and a club
conducted in the town on Saturday afternoons in the special interest
of the country women, who flock in on that day to see the sights and
to do their small shopping. This club was organized by Mrs. Booker T.
Washington, several years ago, even before the organization of the main
club of which it is now considered a branch, and it has done much to
elevate the morals and improve the manners of the women in and near
Tuskegee.

The influence of the school is still further extended by means of
the farmers' conferences, with which the public is very generally
acquainted. These conferences are held annually, towards the latter
part of February or the first of March, and are largely attended. The
men are advised to buy land and to cultivate it thoroughly, to raise
more food supplies, to build houses with more than one room, to tax
themselves to build better school houses, and to extend the term to
at least six months, to give more attention to the character of their
leaders, especially ministers and teachers, to keep out of debt, to
avoid law suits, to treat their women better, and where practicable,
to hold similar conferences in their several communities. A woman's
conference is held on the afternoon of the same day, and topics
relating to the home and the care of children are discussed. The next
day there is a congress of workers, which is attended by teachers and
others who labor for the elevation of the colored people.

Tuskegee not only advises the people to get homes, but, through the
generosity of a friend who established a fund for this purpose, she
has been enabled to help several families to this end. The sum of
$4,500 was given to be loaned in amounts ranging from $30 to $300,
to graduates of the school or to other worthy persons. Already more
than twenty homes have been secured in this manner, and, as a result,
Greenwood, a model little community, is growing up just beyond the
school grounds.

The Summer Assembly furnishes help of another kind. This is a
sort of Southern Chautauqua, modified to meet the needs of the
section and of the people for whose benefit it is held. Here tired
teachers, preachers, and others meet annually and combine pleasure
with instruction, holding daily morning sessions at which papers on
subjects of practical importance are read and discussed, and spending
afternoons and evenings in rest and recreation.

These are influences emanating directly from the school, but what of
the work of its graduates, of the indirect influences thus set in
motion? Their name is legion. These graduates and undergraduates are
scattered throughout the South, engaged in the great work of trying to
elevate a race. We find them in the shops, comparing favorably with
their white fellow-workmen, at the head of industrial departments in
smaller schools planned after the order of the Tuskegee Institute;
preaching among the people, trying to clear their minds of ignorance
and superstition, and seeking to raise the standard of the ministry of
which they form a part; teaching in remote country districts, probably
for salaries hardly more than sufficient to pay their board, perhaps
building with their own hands the schoolhouse they have induced the
people to assist in erecting; on their own little pieces of land
farming after the improved methods they learned at school; nursing,
sewing, caring for their own homes and children--all, we trust, many,
we know--lights in the communities in which they reside and living
embodiments of the principles for which the beloved parent institution
stands.

The aim has always been to have the instructors at Tuskegee persons
of ability; frequently they have been also persons of considerable
reputation. One of the most remarkable characters ever connected with
the school and the one to whom, more than to any other, with the
exception of Mr. Washington himself, is due Tuskegee's phenomenal
progress, was Mrs. Olivia Davidson Washington, the now deceased wife
of the principal. She was Mr. Washington's assistant almost from the
first, and being a woman of great enthusiasm, earnestness, and fixity
of purpose, and being, besides, widely and favorably known in the
North where she received her education, she made many friends for the
institution, and brought to it many gifts.

Mrs. Warren Logan, who is yet teaching in the school, was associated
very early in the work with Mr. Washington and Miss Davidson, she
and Miss Davidson being for some time the only women teachers in the
school. Mrs. Logan helped to train many of the teachers who have gone
out from Tuskegee, and has done other work in that line, having been
appointed at various times to hold teachers' institutes in different
parts of Alabama and of Georgia.

Mr. Logan, the secretary and treasurer, holds a position in the
institution second in importance only to that of the principal, and has
proved his worth by long years of faithful service. The head teacher,
Mr. Nathan B. Young, is a graduate of Oberlin College; he is a close
student and a man of recognized scholarship.

Mr. R. R. Taylor, who is in charge of the department of architectural
and mechanical drawing, was graduated from the Boston School of
Technology.

Rev. E. J. Penney, at the head of the Phelps Hall Bible Training
School, is of the Yale Divinity School.

Prof. J. W. Hoffman, an agricultural specialist, is a member of the
American Academy of Natural Sciences, and of several English and
continental scientific bodies.

At one time Miss Hallie Quinn Brown, the noted elocutionist, served as
lady principal.

Dr. Tanner's talented daughter, Dr. Hallie Tanner Dillon, was resident
physician until she married, and her husband accepted the presidency of
Allen University in South Carolina.

Something may be judged of Mrs. Booker T. Washington from what has been
already told of her work among the women. She is now more widely known,
perhaps, as the President of the National Federation of Afro-American
Women; but it is in the State of Alabama, the heart of the Black Belt,
where her influence is really exerted and felt, as it can be exerted
and felt nowhere else. Mrs. Washington is a very strong character, and
is truly a helpmeet for the husband who has chosen her.

Of Mr. Washington, the whole country knows how he struggled for an
education at Hampton, was selected by General Armstrong to take charge
of the work at Tuskegee, and with one bound has leaped to the front,
making himself the most prominent figure among living colored men and
his school the greatest educational influence in the South at the
present day.

This brief mention gives some idea of the status of the men and women
who compose the teaching force of the school at Tuskegee. The best
talent is none too good for such work. The school is in the centre of
a vast Negro population, where the blacks outnumber the whites three to
one. Here are unparalleled opportunities for helping the masses of the
people; and in their redemption, even more than in the higher education
of a gifted few, the welfare of the country is involved.


NORMAL.

While the State Normal and Industrial School, at Normal, Alabama, has
made little display through the public prints, it is a fact that it
is doing a great work for Negro Education, and stands among the best
schools of the land.

This institution, like many others in the South, is the work of
sacrifice and charity. The early teachers taught for a bare living in
order to make the school a fixture. Prof. Councill, the founder and
president of the school, gave his entire earnings for more than ten
years to the work. The documents which the teachers signed, donating
their salaries to the cause of education of the Negro race, is a part
of the records of the institution, and a witness of their devotion and
consecration to the work.

[Illustration: OLD SLAVE CABIN--PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, 1891-94.]

The school began its existence in the city of Huntsville, Ala., May 1,
1875. It was first taught in a little church, and then in rented houses
about the city until, September 1, 1882, a beautiful lot consisting of
five acres of land, on which stood several buildings, was purchased and
the school permanently located.

[Illustration: ONLY SCHOOL PROF. COUNCILL EVER ATTENDED.]

Beginning May 1, 1875, with not one dollar in property, only one
teacher, nineteen pupils, annual income of $1,000, in 1878, its work
was so satisfactory that the annual appropriation was increased to
$2,000, and it then had four teachers and over 200 pupils. The Peabody
and Slater funds made liberal contributions to its support. In 1884,
the Alabama Legislature increased the annual appropriation to $4,000,
the city of Huntsville gave aid, and warm friends, North and South,
contributed liberally. The old buildings on the grounds were improved,
and by 1890, two large handsome brick buildings, one large frame
dormitory for young men, and a commodious industrial building had
been erected and fitted up; the faculty had been increased to eleven
teachers, and more than 300 students were receiving instruction in a
thorough Normal Course and in important industries. The Legislature
of Alabama, in further recognition of the merits of this institution,
selected it as the recipient of that portion of the Congressional grant
under act approved August 30, 1890, known as the Morrill Fund "for the
more complete endowment and maintenance of colleges for the benefit
of agriculture and the mechanic arts," given to Alabama for Negro
Education. This action of the Legislature gave new force and broader
scope to the work. It was seen that larger quarters were necessary,
that the beautiful grounds, handsome buildings supplied with gas and
water, must be given up and the school removed from Huntsville to some
suitable place near by. A great many locations were offered, and,
after due consideration, the present location was purchased. Palmer
Hall and Seay Hall, a barn and a dairy were erected and the session
opened for 1891-2, September 1, in its new quarters--three months
after the closing of the session, June 1, 1891. The new location was
commonly known as Green Bottom Inn, or Connally Race-Track. It has
an interesting history, as old almost as the State itself. There once
stood upon these grounds a famous inn, a large distillery, grog-shop,
slave cabins, rows of stables in which were kept the great trotting
horses of fifty years ago, while in the beautiful valley, circling at
the foot of the hill, was the race-course, where thousands of dollars
were lost and won. Stretching far away to the south, west and north
of the hill (now Normal) are broad fields wherein worked hundreds of
Africa's dusky sons, filling the air with merry songs accompanying
plow or hoe, or with silent prayers to heaven for deliverance from
bondage. Here men, as well as horses, were bought and sold, and often
blood was drawn from human veins by the lash like the red wine from
bright decanters. But what a change! The famous old inn is no more.
The distillery has crumbled to dust. Not a vestige of those stables
remain. The old grog-shop, too, has gone forever. However,

  "There are still some few remaining,
  Who remind us of the past."

[Illustration: PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, 1895.]

The beautiful mountains and the same broad fields, made more beautiful
by Freedom's touch, still stretch far, far away; the race-course
is gone, but a little higher up the hillside is a road along which
thousands of slaves have passed from the Carolinas and Virginia to
the bottoms of the Mississippi, and the road now is a main street of
Normal; four of the old slave cabins remain, one of which for three
years served as the president's office and three repaired and occupied
by teachers and their families; the great old gin-house, built of logs,
where so many slaves trembled at the reckoning evening hour, now used
as Normal's blacksmith shop, wheelwright shop, broom factory, mattress
factory; the old log barn, repaired, and with additions, serving as
Normal's laundry; the little saddle house whose framework is put
together entirely with pegs instead of nails, now serves as barber
shop; the carriage house, which has served as sewing room and printing
office; and last the grand old residence of the "lord of the manor,"
partly of stone (walls three feet thick) and partly of wood covered
with cedar shingles, under a heavy coating of moss, containing in all
eight rooms. In this typical, hospitable Southern home, the great
Andrew Jackson, once President of the United States, was entertained
when he attended the races and bet his eagles on the trotters. This
home is now the residence of the President of Normal who was himself a
slave. The mutations of time!

[Illustration: ANTE-BELLUM HOME, NOW PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE.]

The income is derived from the State of Alabama, U. S. Government
(Morrill Fund), and charitable sources. This is steadily increasing
every year.

Since the organization, the institution has sent forth 218 graduates
from its various departments. Besides these graduates, there are
hundreds of undergraduates doing great work among thousands of the
Negro population of the country.

In the Literary Department of Normal there are six well organized
schools or courses of study, to wit:

1. Normal or Professional School, with a course of three years.

2. Normal Preparatory School, two years.

3. Model School, four years.

4. Bible Training School, two years.

5. School of Music--Instrumental and Vocal.

6. Business Course, including Bookkeeping, Shorthand, Type-writing,
Telegraphy and Commercial Law.

Normal has, also, a liberal Post-Graduate Course.

[Illustration: CLASS IN MECHANICAL DRAWING.]

The Industrial Department has twenty schools or courses, from one
to three years, in Cooking, Sewing, Sick Nursing, Laundering,
Housekeeping, Network, Blacksmithing, House Carpentry, Wheelwright,
Cabinet-making, Shoe-making, Painting, Printing, Broom-making,
Mattress-making, Plumbing, Agriculture, Horticulture, Dairy Farming,
Stock Raising.

Normal is fortunate in her abundant water supply.

The school has an excellent laboratory, and a very good library
consisting of choice books, and a reading room, wherein are some of the
best magazines and journals of the country.

There are quite a number of Religious Societies which are doing much
good.

There are more than twenty buildings of various sizes and uses upon the
grounds.

A post-office has been established on the Elora branch of the N. C.
& St. L. R. R., right at the school, and the station has been named
Normal, Alabama, in honor of the school. Fearns is the name of the
station on the M. & C. R. R., situated also on the school grounds.
Normal does registry and money-order business. It has also an express
office and telegraph station.

All work, including building, repairing, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting,
painting, broom-making, printing, shoe-making, mattress-making,
farming, cooking, dining-room and general house-work, is performed by
the students.

[Illustration: SCENE IN SHOE FACTORY.]

The shops are well supplied with ordinary machinery and tools.

The farm comprises about 200 acres of land, on which are cultivated for
general and experimental purposes many varieties of cotton, grain, and
all kinds of vegetables. The farm is well stocked with mules, horses,
Devon, Holstein and Jersey cows, best breeds of hogs and poultry;
vehicles and implements of every kind.

The various fruits of this section are found in the orchards of the
farm.

The healthfulness of this entire section is generally known. But
this school is particularly favored in this regard on account of
its excellent location and surroundings. Normal is 1,200 feet above
sea-level, with a natural drainage unsurpassed in the United States.
The atmosphere is pure and bracing at all times.

Very few of the students of Normal received other help than a chance to
work out their destinies.

The teachers contribute a portion of their salaries to our "Student Aid
Fund" and other causes for the promotion of the work.

The work of elevating the plantation life of the Negro is one of the
most important connected with the work of education in the South. It
is hard for the schools to reach these people. Hence the importance
of special effort in this direction. Normal has organized to meet the
demand. Young women are trained especially for this work. Those who
will dedicate their lives to this work on the plantation, to work
regardless of pay, have all of their expenses paid in school while they
are in preparation. Normal hopes to do much in this line.

[Illustration: A CLASS IN COOKING.]

The young men are also organized for Sunday-school Mission Work.
Many of them walk five to ten miles every Sabbath, to organize and
conduct Sunday schools. Everywhere they go, school-houses are built and
repaired, homes are refined and general intelligence scattered among
the people. The ingenuity displayed by these young men to overcome the
poverty which confronts them in their work is quite remarkable. One
of them bought Sunday-school literature and started a library, on a
collection of one egg each Sunday, from those who could afford to make
such a contribution.

The U. S. Government has made Normal a Weather Service Station, and
the signals are read by the farmers for miles away. Normal has a brass
band, also an excellent string band.

Prof. W. H. Councill owns a farm adjoining Normal, and occupying
a portion of the triangle between the two great railroad lines
approaching each other after passing on either side of Normal. He has
laid a portion of this land off in lots, streets, avenues, alleys,
and gives the odd numbers to _bona fide_ settlers, who will build a
specified house, and subscribe to certain other conditions, such as
keeping up fences, streets, sidewalks, etc. Men who can turn their
brains and muscles into things of use are encouraged to settle here.


PRESIDENT W. H. COUNCILL.

W. H. Councill was born in Fayetteville, N. C., in 1848, and brought
to Alabama by the traders in 1857, through the famous Richmond Slave
Pen. He is a self-made man, having had only few school advantages.
He attended one of the first schools opened by kind Northern friends
at Stevenson, Ala., in 1865. Here he remained about three years, and
this is the basis of his education. He has been a close and earnest
student ever since, often spending much of the night in study. He has
accumulated quite an excellent library and the best books of the best
masters are his constant companions, as well as a large supply of the
best current literature. By private instruction and almost incessant
study, he gained a fair knowledge of some of the languages, higher
mathematics and the sciences. He read law and was admitted to the
Supreme Court of Alabama in 1883. But he has never left the profession
of teaching for a day, although flattering political positions have
been held out to him. He has occupied high positions in church and
other religious, temperance and charitable organizations, and has
no mean standing as a public speaker. And thus by earnest toil,
self-denial, hard study, he has made himself, built up one of the
largest institutions in the South and educated scores of young people
_at his own expense_.

[Illustration: PROF. W. H. COUNCILL,
_Principal of State Normal and Industrial School, Normal, Ala._]

Just before closing this sketch, I want to say that I regard Mr.
Councill as being one of the most remarkable colored men in the United
States to-day. I have known him for a great many years and I recognize
in him the true, honest man--in every sense a _man_.




CHAPTER XII.

ECKSTEIN NORTON UNIVERSITY.


This school was founded by one of the most successful educators of the
race, the late Rev. Wm. J. Simmons, D. D., and his associate, Rev. C.
H. Parrish, A. M., who is its worthy president. In 1890 it opened under
the most favorable auspices, and each year has succeeded beyond the
sanguine expectations of its friends. For purity of atmosphere, for
development of the physical powers, for freedom from the allurements
and unwholesome amusements of city life, no better place could have
been selected than Cane Spring, Bullitt county, Ky., twenty-nine miles
from Louisville.

[Illustration: Eckstein Norton University, Cane Spring, Ky.]

The object is to teach the students how to work; to teach the dignity
of labor, that hands must be used as well as heads and that both can
be successfully used together. It teaches manliness and race pride;
that skill tells regardless of skin or parentage. It gives, besides the
industries, a literary training which begins with the primary and ends
with the college. As much is required from the study of the Bible as
from any other book.

This school has had its adversities in deaths of teachers and
conflagration of buildings, yet it has bravely struggled through all.

Its session for 1896 opened with students from fourteen different
States, and with prospects bright and encouraging. Students who enter
this University must come with a purpose and must use with profit their
time. Anything short of this will not be tolerated.

[Illustration: Eckstein Norton Conservatory of Music Cane Spring Ky.]

Children who come as young as eight years are under a special matron
who cares for them as a mother. In the Industrial Department will
be found carpentry, blacksmithing, farming, printing, plain sewing,
dressmaking, tailoring, cooking, etc. Business Department includes
Shorthand, Typewriting, Bookkeeping, etc.

The Musical Conservatory is the first of the race manned by teachers
from the best Conservatories of Music of this country. The course
of study is in accord with Oberlin, Boston, Chicago and others. A
Conservatory building is now being erected under the direction of
Prof. Hattie A. Gibbs, who has traveled extensively through the East in
its interest.

Many of the graduates who have gone out from this institution are
successfully teaching in the various districts of their counties, and
some are assistants in the schools of their towns. Many of these young
men and women return after their schools close and take up their duties
in the College Department. Classes and studies are so arranged that
students may study what is most desirable, leave off at any stage,
recruit their health or finances, and return to complete the course at
any future time. The time to finish any course is the least possible,
consistent with thorough work in all departments. The school recognizes
annually the 16th of December (birthday of Honorable Eckstein Norton,
after whom the school is named), Donor's Day, at which time the work
is reviewed and the memory of those who have helped the institution,
living or dead, is kept fresh and revered by students and friends;
letters of encouragement are read and contributions announced.

The faculty is competent and consists of the following persons:

Rev. C. H. Parrish, A. B., A. M., President; P. T. Frazier, A. B; Mary
V. Cook, A. B., A. M.; Alice P. Kelley, A. B., A. M.; Hattie A. Gibbs,
Oberlin Conservatory; Minnetta B. James, Minnesota; Cornelia Burk,
Virginia; Amanda V. Nelson, Matron.


REV. CHARLES HENRY PARRISH, A. B., A. M.

One of the most remarkable men among the Negro educators of this
country is Rev. C. H. Parrish. He is a native Kentuckian, and worked
his way up from errand boy in a dry goods store to the presidency of a
flourishing school, and one of the most noted ministers in the Baptist
denomination. In infancy his mother beheld a son in whom her soul could
delight. Obedient, true and faithful were traits in his character so
conspicuous that he was a favorite in his town among all people.

He entered State University, Louisville, Ky., September, 1880, with Dr.
William J. Simmons as president, and graduated May, 1886, at the head
of his class with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1886 he became
pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church, where he still remains greatly
beloved by a large membership, and enjoys the respect and confidence
of all who know him as being an efficient minister and a Christian
gentleman who loves truth for its own sake and pursues it faithfully
regardless of everything.

Many honors have come to him as delegate to State, Educational and
National Conventions--holding offices of trust in many. At this time he
is President of the State Teachers' Association, and Chairman of the
Executive Board of the General Association of Colored Baptists.

He stands at the head of the Eckstein Norton University, an institution
devoted to the training of the head, heart and hand, and therefore
gives to the Negro youth the kind of education best adapted to his
development. He has traveled extensively in the interest of the school,
and by his strict attention to business he has made the work a success.

[Illustration: CHAS. H. PARRISH, A. B., A. M.]

Though Rev. Parrish leads a busy life, he finds time to look after
race interests. He is author of "What We Believe," a hand-book for
Baptist Churches. So highly was this work prized that the American
Baptist Publication Society compiled it with works by Dr. John A.
Broadus, Dr. Alvah Hovey, Dr. J. L. Burrows and others. Rev. Parrish
ranks high as an educator, pulpit orator, president and author. He is
clear, comprehensive and convincing in the presentation of his views
upon all subjects, and adds to this fact a beauty of language, grace of
rhetoric, and forceful logic, which stamps him at once as extraordinary
in his gifts and acquirements.


MISS MARY V. COOK, A. B., A. M.

The subject of this sketch is a native of Bowling Green, Ky. Her life
was uneventful till she reached school age, when her ability for
learning asserted itself. By her persistent efforts and her insatiable
desire for knowledge, she soon outgrew the educational facilities of
the place, and was chafing for better advantages, when Dr. Wm. J.
Simmons made it possible for her to enter the State University at
Louisville, Ky.

After her graduation she was elected permanent teacher and made
principal of the Normal Department, and professor of Latin and
Mathematics in the State University, which position she held until a
few years ago, when she was called to a like position in the Eckstein
Norton University.

Miss Cook has appeared on the programmes of some of the most noted
bodies of the race, read a paper on Afro-American women at the
Educational Congress in Chicago, 1893, and has addressed crowded houses
throughout the New England States under the auspices of the Baptist
Women's Home Mission Society.

[Illustration: MISS MARY V. COOK, A. B., A. M.]

In 1892, when a fight was made against the enactment of the Separate
Coach Law, she, with three other ladies, was invited to the State
Capital to enter protest before the Legislature. She has traveled
extensively through the South land and made a close study of her
people, their progress, etc. She has gone as far west as California
in the interest of the work in which she is engaged, and the school
is now reaping the benefits of that trip. She has recently accepted a
place on the Executive Board of the National Federation of Women, of
which Mrs. Victoria Mathews is chairman.

Miss Cook is a thorough business woman; her industry and close
application to affairs intrusted to her is of marked comment. She
is conscientiously consistent with an honest conviction of right,
to which she adheres with admirable fearlessness. She is, by her
very constitution, compassionate, gentle, patient, self-denying,
loving, hopeful, trustful, and by the power of her own pure soul she
unconsciously molds the lives of those under her. It would be utterly
impossible to live on day after day with Miss Cook, and not feel the
desire for as noble a life springing up in your own heart. She has a
wonderful influence over her pupils, who love her with the love that
casteth out fear. And she not only influences them, but all who come in
contact with her are wonderfully impressed.

Miss Cook is an intelligent little woman, a deep thinker; keeps abreast
of the times and holds no mean place in the galaxy of distinguished
colored women.

The women of her own State delight to honor her and have conferred upon
her some of the highest offices in the organizations of which she is a
member. Miss Cook has a literary inclination; being a strong, graceful
writer, she has contributed much that is good to colored journalism.

When she has appeared on the public platform, she has never failed
to carry her audience by the force of her terse style and convincing
argument. She was recently appointed Commissioner of the State of
Kentucky to the Women's Congress which convened at Atlanta, Ga.,
December, 1895, before which body she read an interesting paper.

Slowly and surely, step by step, Miss Cook has risen to this high plane
of usefulness and her life is an inspiration, modestly displaying the
great unselfish heart of the woman, whose highest ambition is to be of
use to her race and humanity.


MISS HATTIE A. GIBBS.

Miss Hattie A. Gibbs is the youngest of five children of Hon. Mifflin
W. Gibbs, of Little Rock, Ark., and his amiable wife, Mrs. Anna
Alexander Gibbs.

Miss Gibbs entered the Oberlin Public School at six, and began the
study of music at nine under the direction of her sister, who at that
time had made considerable advancement in that study. At eleven she
entered the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and also kept up her studies
in school for three years, after which she entered the high school and
devoted all her time to those studies. After two years of hard study
of Greek, Latin and Mathematics, she graduated with honors before her
fifteenth birthday.

As a student she was an untiring worker, her hours for study
encompassed almost the entire day. She accustomed herself to rising at
four o'clock to begin her practice.

[Illustration: PROF. HATTIE A. GIBBS.]

In the Conservatory Department of Oberlin College the attendance is
about 500, and out of this number the average attendance of colored
students is eight or ten. Students are required to finish a course
of three studies before a diploma is awarded. Besides finishing the
studies of piano, pipe organ and harmony, she had the advantage of
several terms in voice culture, and since her graduation she has made
special study of the violin in order to better prepare herself as
director of Eckstein Norton Conservatory of Music, of which she was a
founder and of which she is now in charge.

The women of the race should be proud of her. The people of Kentucky
should be proud that one so able has placed her services within reach,
and ought to show the colored peoples' appreciation, by contributing
money toward erecting such suitable buildings, as will stand long after
the founder is numbered with the dead--a race monument in itself.

In disposition Miss Gibbs is amiable; in mind she is great; in heart
she is noble; in manners she is gentle; she has a steadfast and
undeviating love of truth, fearless and straightforward in action and
integrity and an honor ever unsullied by an unworthy word or deed, and
after all, these traits so prominent in her make-up make her greater
than her worldly success in her art, for in themselves they constitute
greatness.

She has a clever handicraft at all the arts commonly styled "woman's
work." Not only have her hands been trained to glide dexterously over
the keyboard, but she has made every day of her life tell, and the
result of her industry is that she is skilled in painting, crayon work,
artistic embroidery, dressmaking, cooking and all that goes to make up
an accomplished woman.

This brief sketch has been given with the hope that young people, who
wish to accomplish any particular pursuit in life, may herein find an
example of what a woman can do, and the truth may be brought to them
that "there is no excellence without great labor."


GLOUCESTER AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.

[Illustration: PROF. W. B. WEAVER.]

Professor W. B. Weaver, the principal of the Gloucester Agricultural
and Industrial School--was born April 7, 1852, at Winton, N. C. The
first school he attended was taught by his oldest brother under a cart
shelter, from there to a log hut which had been used as a barn, making
seats out of boxes and plank boards. In 1869 he spent a few months
in a public school, where he was advanced to the grade from which he
could enter Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va. He
worked his way through, and in 1873 began teaching his first school, in
his native State, having in his school 112 pupils. In 1875 and 1876 he
taught in the Valley of Virginia, in 1878, at Williamsport, Pa., and in
the fall of 1879, he returned to Virginia, and looking for a fruitful
field, was sent by Gen. S. C. Armstrong to Gloucester county, where he
began this noble effort for the uplifting of his race. He opened school
in December, 1879, in a little log cabin, which was used by slaves as
a meeting-house before the war. In this dark room he taught over 75
pupils. He soon caused the people in the community to see and feel the
need of education; and securing the co-operation of the School Board
and by the aid of the colored people, a two-story building was erected
known as Bethel Public School-house. Here 196 pupils were in attendance
and three teachers employed. His school did not close at the end of the
public school term of five months as other schools; but by keeping the
people interested, he raised money enough to continue for eight months.

[Illustration: THE LOG CABIN.]

Seeing the need of an industrial school for Gloucester and surrounding
counties, he gave up the public school work and entered upon the work
of establishing an industrial school. An educational mass-meeting
was called in which the Board of Trustees were elected. Prof. Weaver
then commenced the work of raising money for the proposed school. In
October, 1888, he opened school with four pupils in a board house once
used for a store. Coming out of a well-arranged crowded school-room
into this dilapidated make-shift with only four pupils, made him feel
strange. But having made a start in the direction which he believed
to be right, he did not look back, but daily pressed on the work of
teaching.

[Illustration: BETHEL PUBLIC SCHOOL.]

In 1890, thirty-three acres of land were bought and Richmond Hall
commenced. In October of that year he opened school in this building
though only partly finished.

[Illustration: RICHMOND HALL.]

Since that time 120 acres more of land have been purchased, a large
farm put under cultivation, other buildings erected, and industrial
shops opened. One large building known as Douglass Hall has recently
been erected and in use, though not completed. It is a three-story
building 78 × 60 in size and will cost, when completed, upward of
$6,000.

The school is located in Gloucester county, on York river, and is
accessible by a daily line of steamers plying between Baltimore and
West Point.

It is in easy reach of over 30,000 colored people. It has sent out
several graduates, who are doing good work among their people and for
their country. There are at present ninety-seven pupils on roll, and
the school property is valued at $15,000.

[Illustration: DOUGLASS HALL.]

Mrs. A. B. Weaver, the wife of Prof. Weaver, has been a strong helper
with him in this work. He says that his success is largely due to her
constant work, wise counsel and strong faith in God. Many times, when
the way would be dark, and to continue in this industrial school work
looked impossible, she would encourage him to hold on a few days
longer. She graduated from the Albany High School of New York in 1880,
and in '81 became one of his assistant teachers in the Bethel Public
School, and she has stuck firmly to the work ever since.

[Illustration: MRS. ANNA B. WEAVER.]

The object of this school is to make good and useful citizens, to train
teachers, preachers, mechanics, farmers and leaders for the race.

The school depends largely on charity for support. The colored people
in Gloucester are very proud of this school, its work and its workers,
and contribute freely of their small means to its support. It is an
outgrowth of the Hampton school and is known as Hampton's second son,
and shows the wonderful influence of that school. It also shows how the
colored people are striving to help themselves, and how they succeed
when they have had a chance in such schools.


SCHOFIELD SCHOOL.

This school was established in 1868 by Martha Schofield.

It was started in a little frame schoolhouse which was soon crowded to
its utmost capacity. To-day the property, entirely free from debt, is
worth $30,000, and includes two substantial brick buildings, and two
frame buildings in Aiken, S. C., with a farm of 281 acres three miles
distant.

Through all these years it has influenced and moulded many lives. In
the North and South, in the city and country, you will find colored men
and women who will tell you that they received their education at the
Schofield School.

Much has been done, much remains to be done. In the country places,
in the towns and villages of the South, are hundreds of young men
and women growing up in the densest ignorance--in ignorance of the
commonest decencies and proprieties of life--with minds capable of
greatest effort, but darkened and obscured; with immortal souls
clouded with superstition and the teachings of ignorant preachers. They
reach out their hands to us with the cry: "Come over and help us!" What
can we do for them?

In our schoolrooms they receive thorough training in the branches of a
common-school education. In the boarding department they may receive
industrial instruction which will fit them to take up the duties of
everyday life. Daily contact and association with refined, cultured
teachers will develop latent possibilities, will arouse new ambitions
and longings for a higher, purer life. Even a few months' sojourn at
the institution leaves an indelible mark on the character. When a
student comes back year after year until he has completed the required
course of study, his growth is more rapid, the results of incalculable
value. Not until one realizes the narrowness, the poverty of the
environment from which such a student comes, can one fully estimate
the benefit of such an institution. Nor does the good stop with the
one directly benefited. As the scholars go out into their homes to be
teachers and workers, they carry the knowledge gained, and the light
in their own hearts, and thus reach multitudes with whom we never,
directly, come in contact.

There are those whose lives are consecrated to this work, whose daily
time and strength are spent among these people for their uplifting.
There are constant calls on their sympathy, constant appeals for help,
but unless the help and support comes from the North they cannot
respond.

Their greatest need is a larger Endowment Fund to meet the current
expenses, that the labor and care connected with the raising of money
may be rendered unnecessary, when there would be more time and strength
to meet the demands of the work at their doors.

Can there be a greater privilege than to use the money the Lord has
sent them than bringing into the fold some of His stray lambs? "For
I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me
drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; I was naked and ye clothed
me; I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me."

Who will open the door of knowledge to these minds, held in the
bondage of ignorance; who will help to feed the souls hungering and
thirsting for the bread of life; who will aid them in their attempt to
clothe these rude, untrained spirits in the garments of refinement and
culture, in which even they may stand arrayed? "Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done unto me."


THE REED ORPHAN HOME.

The Reed Orphan Home, at Covington, Ga., was founded by Mrs. Dinah P.
Pace, who was graduated from Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga., in 1883.
During this year (1883) Mrs. Pace went to Covington to teach for a
few months only, but while there she became greatly interested in the
work of uplifting her race. Her labors did not end with the routine
of ordinary school duties, for she visited the homes and assisted in
caring for the little ones of the families, very few of which did not
greatly need her services. Her interest in both mother and children
soon caused her to take under her roof several children who were left
orphans.

The institution has grown considerably during the last few years. The
work is quietly carried on without attracting any great amount of
notice from other towns or cities. With the aid of Northern benefactors
and a few friends of the neighborhood, several buildings have been
erected, but these are fast becoming insufficient, owing to the rapid
growth of the school.

Mrs. Pace is assisted by three other teachers, who are also either
graduates or under-graduates of Atlanta University.

[Illustration: MRS. DINAH P. PACE.]

The children of the "family" spend their vacation in the country,
taking care of a farm upon which many articles of food for the winter
are produced. As far as the means at hand permits, the children are
being trained industrially, as well as intellectually. The work is not
confined to any one denomination; It is entirely unsectarian. Especial
effort is being made to prepare those under her charge for the higher
duties of life, both as citizens and Christians. Like most institutions
of this character, the "Reed Home" is greatly in need of means. It is
to be hoped, however, that a brighter future awaits it, and that the
noble work may be abundantly prospered. No one can realize what it is
to care for a large number of children, bestowing upon each a mother's
affection--none can know but those who have undertaken such a labor of
love.


THE A. & M. COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. C.

The A. & M. College, at Greensboro, N. C., is a State school for the
education of the colored youth of North Carolina. The buildings and
appointments are the best of any school in the South, except Fisk
University. While the main object at this institution is to prepare
teachers for the State, they have a splendid industrial department. In
the machine shop a young man made a perfect steam engine, which was the
first made by a colored man in the State. Another student made in the
wood shop a valuable office desk and another a handsome pulpit. I think
I can safely say that the wood shop and machine shop have the best set
of tools and machinery I have seen anywhere. Prof. Jas. B. Dudley, A.
M., who is president of this school, is a native of Wilmington, N. C.
He received his education at the public schools of Wilmington, and he
also attended the Institute for colored youths at Philadelphia, Pa.,
and Shaw University at Raleigh, N. C. Prof. Dudley began teaching in
the public schools of his native State in 1876, and has been thus
engaged ever since. As president of the State College he has improved
the condition of the school and also increased the attendance very
much. He has been prominent in the literary world as a writer for both
papers and magazines.

[Illustration: PROF. JAS. B. DUDLEY, A. M.]


THE GEORGIA STATE INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE.

The Georgia State Industrial College is a State institution, the only
one of its kind in Georgia for colored youths. It is endowed by the
General Government and supported by the State. The grounds contain
about eighty-six acres, consisting of thirty-five acres in the campus
and fifty-one acres in the college farm. The campus, shaded by tall
live-oaks, festooned by pretty pendant moss, is, for natural scenery,
the most attractive in the State. The location is perfectly healthful.

The college farm is separated from the campus only by the railroad, by
which passengers are conveyed from the city to their grounds. There
are at present the following buildings on the grounds: Dormitory, two
school buildings, chapel, farm house, blacksmith shop, wheelwright and
carpenter shops and four cottages for the professors.

The courses at present established are the industrial, sub-normal and
collegiate.

Richard R. Wright, A. M., LL. D., who is president of the Georgia
State College, was born of slave parents, and is a very remarkable
man, and one of the best-educated men of his race, and one of the most
prominent educators in the country. I was very much impressed with the
most excellent work at the State school, both in the class-room and
workshop. There is no doubt but a great work is being done for the
colored youth through Prof. Wright's very able efforts.

[Illustration: PROF. RICHARD R. WRIGHT, A. M., L.L. D.]

In the late war with Spain Mr. Wright was appointed as one of the
regular paymasters, and did the work with great credit to himself and
his race. He has been something of a political leader in the State
of Georgia; but his greatest work has been as an educator. In 1878
he called the first convention of colored teachers ever assembled in
Georgia, and for three years was president of that convention. Mr.
Wright is the founder of the Ware High School at Augusta, Ga., the
first high school for colored youths, and the only one supported by
city funds in the State.


STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

[Illustration: PROF. S. G. ATKINS, A. M.]

The Slater Industrial Academy was incorporated September 28, 1892. The
State Normal School was established March 13, 1895; the Legislature
appropriating $1,000 per annum for its maintenance. This institution is
located at Winston-Salem, N. C.; Prof. S. G. Atkins, A. M., Principal.

The Governor of North Carolina has the following to say for him:

  STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,
  EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
  RALEIGH, June 21, 1894.

 Prof. S. G. Atkins is a distinguished educator, and a man of great
 moral worth and fine intellectual capacity.

 He is deeply interested in the moral, intellectual and material
 advancement of his race, and his untiring efforts in this direction
 should have the recognition and support of all who desire the
 improvement of their fellow-beings.

 His high standing in this State is beyond question, and entitles his
 claims to your earnest consideration, and I trust that you will lend
 him what assistance you can.

 Prof. Atkins has been an earnest worker in the field of education, and
 his example and personal endeavors have exerted a beneficial influence
 on the fortunes of his race. I take pleasure in endorsing him. I have
 the honor to be,

  Very respectfully yours,
  ELIAS CARR, Governor N. C.

Mr. Atkins may feel proud of the high praise given him by the Governor.
His school opened in a small building, 20 × 40, with one teacher and 25
pupils. The school now has twelve teachers and last session enrolled
250 pupils in all departments, and has property valued at $25,000.

This institution is founded on the idea that intellectual development
and industrial training should go hand in hand.

The departments of instruction may be denominated as follows: 1.
Industrial. 2. Literary. 3. Musical. The literary department has in
view chiefly the preparing of teachers for the public schools of the
State.

Both races have contributed help, and especially white men of means in
Winston-Salem.


DELAWARE STATE COLLEGE.

_Established in 1891._

The State of Delaware has at last been aroused to a sense of its duty
toward the education of the Negro, and in 1891 the Legislature of
Delaware gave $8,000, and in 1893 $1,000. The first $8,000 was for
buildings. The school is located two miles north of Dover, the State
Capital, on the Loockerman farm, a tract of about one hundred acres.
A workshop has been erected and fitted with tools and machinery for
teaching the industrial arts. Rev. W. C. Jason, A. M., D. D., a very
able young colored man, has been elected president of this State
Institution. Mr. Jason is a graduate of Drew Theological Seminary.
Professor Lorenzo D. Hileland has charge of the departments of
Mathematics and Physics, also is superintendent of industrial work.

This Institution is the most northern State School now in operation for
the education of the race.




CHAPTER XIII.

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY.


Atlanta University--Rev. Horace Bumstead, D. D., President--located
at Atlanta, Ga., has special claims for recognition and support
because of the somewhat unique character of its work for the Negro.
It is not duplicating the educational work done by the State or most
other private institutions. It is supplementing and strengthening
the work of the public schools and of private industrial and trade
schools by furnishing thoroughly trained teachers and manual training
superintendents to carry on the elementary and industrial education of
the masses. It is elevating and purifying the domestic and civic life
of the Negroes, by furnishing those moral and spiritual forces needed
to counteract the gross materialism which threatens to engulf them.
It is providing intelligent and conscientious leaders for this race
so sadly deficient in power of organization, so that it may become
self-directing and cease to be, what it has so long been, a dependent
race. To accomplish all this Atlanta University is now, more than
almost any other institution in the South, confining itself to the work
of Higher Education. It receives no students who have not had a good
grammar-school training or its equivalent.

Higher Education is not given to the Negro in Atlanta University in
any merely sentimental spirit, but with a practical end in view. No
attempt is made to force it upon the masses of the race, but to give
it to the few for the sake of the masses. It is not given to these
selected few as a luxury, but as a trust; not as a mere means of
personal profit and enjoyment, but as an equipment for the service of
others. It does not educate the students away from labor, but from
lower to higher forms of labor, more profitable to himself and others.
It does not dishonor manual toil even in its humblest forms.

[Illustration: INDUSTRIAL BUILDING. BOYS' HALL. STONE HALL. GIRLS'
HALL.]

Industrial training is an integral part of the Higher Education which
Atlanta University gives, and it is compulsory upon all students. It
differs, however, from that which is found in the more distinctively
industrial or trade schools. No attempt is made at productive industry.
The methods are educational rather than commercial. The shop exists for
the boy rather than the boy for the shop. As soon as skill is acquired
that might have some commercial value in some one particular direction,
the boy is set to learning something else that he may have skill in
many directions. He is himself the product of the shop rather than the
table or wheelbarrow which he might make for the shop.

Graduates to the number of nearly 300 have been sent out during the
past twenty-six years from the College and Normal courses. Of these
about two-thirds are teaching, mostly in public grammar and high
schools, in Southern cities and towns. In the other third of the living
graduates are ministers, lawyers, doctors, business men, and married
women.

Students to the number of 265 are enrolled this year in Collegiate,
Normal, and Sub-normal classes under twenty-three officers and
teachers. Rather more than half of the students are young women.
Nine-tenths of the whole number are members of churches.

The institution is chartered, is controlled by an independent Board of
Trustees, is undenominational but earnestly Christian in its religious
influence, owns sixty-five acres in the city of Atlanta with four large
brick buildings, and other property, valued at $250,000. In strategic
location, efficient organization, successful maintenance of high
standards, and opportunities for future development and usefulness,
few institutions present so strong a claim for liberal support and
permanent endowment.

An endowment of at least $500,000 is needed. Of this amount less
than $5,000 is as yet secured. The institution has about $28,000 of
scholarship and library funds, but these are not available for general
current expenses. It is earnestly hoped that the needed endowment maybe
provided by friends either in their wills or, better still, by their
generous gifts while living. The corporate name of the institution is
"The Trustees of the Atlanta University," in Atlanta, Ga.

Donations to the amount of $25,000 a year are needed to provide for the
present unendowed work. Scholarships of forty, fifty and sixty dollars
each are solicited to cover the cost of the tuition of one student for
one year over and above the nominal tuition fees paid by the student.
Gifts of any amount, large or small, for general current expenses are
asked for.

Remittances may be made, or requests for further information sent to
the president either at Atlanta, Ga., or at his Northern address:

  PRESIDENT HORACE BUMSTEAD,
  Care of the J. F. Bumstead Co.,
  340 Boylston street, Boston.


BEREA COLLEGE.

This remarkable institution, which has done in some respects more
for the colored race than any other, is a monument of the old
anti-slavery sentiment of the South. It was founded before the war
among liberal-minded Southerners--John G. Fee, Cassius M. Clay, and
others--and the first principal, Rev. J. A. R. Rogers, and his
wife were so popular that they attracted the sons and daughters of
slave-holders even while the school was running the gantlet of mobs and
persecutions.

Soon after the war colored students were admitted on the same terms
as whites--the first, and to this day, almost the only instance in
the South. In the words of Geo. W. Cable, "Berea is a college which
predicts the millennium."

This just and fearless course has led to none of the evils which were
feared by many good people. There has never been a collision between
white and colored students, and the relation of the two races is more
pure and natural in the sphere of Berea's influence than in any other
part of the South.

[Illustration: BOARDING HALL, CHAPEL, LINCOLN HALL.]

The college has given well-trained teachers to the colored schools of
Kentucky and other States, men like J. H. Jackson of the Normal School
of Missouri, J. W. Bate of Danville, Ky., J. C. Lewis of Cairo, Ill.,
Green P. Russell of Lexington, Kirke Smith of Lebanon, Ky., E. H.
Woodford of Manassas, Va.--besides those in other occupations like Rev.
James Bond of Nashville, Tenn., and Lieut. Woodford of the 8th U. S. I.

Berea enables young people of color to measure themselves by the
standard of the race which has had greatest opportunities in the past,
and teaches white young people to know the merits and respect the worth
of colored students.

The school, like Hampton, is earnestly Christian, and managed by a
board of trustees representing all the leading Christian bodies, no one
of which has a controlling influence. It has buildings and equipments
valued at above $150,000, including a library of over 15,000 volumes,
and was attended in 1898 by 674 students, 169 of whom were colored.
Alone among Southern schools it has had superior advantages sufficient
to draw a considerable number of white students from the North.

The institution includes Collegiate, Normal, and Industrial
Departments, and is making decided progress under the presidency of Wm.
Goodell Frost, Ph. D., formerly of Oberlin College, who is a grandson
of Wm. Goodell, the great anti-slavery editor. Associated with him are
Geo. T. Fairchild, LL. D., late President of the State Agricultural
College of Kansas, Mrs. General Putnam, and about thirty other
instructors.

Receiving no aid from any State or society, Berea is mainly dependent
upon individual gifts. Remittances should be made to the treasurer,
and bequests to the trustees, of Berea College, Berea, Madison Co.,
Kentucky.

This college is now doing much good for the so-called "mountain whites"
as well as for colored people.




CHAPTER XIV.

_Continuation of Independent Schools._


"INSTITUTE FOR COLORED YOUTH."

Philadelphia is known for her facilities for education. Few American
cities are better equipped with schools, public and private--free
schools and those in which tuition fees are demanded--schools devoted
to languages, schools devoted to art. In short, everything that one
might desire as a means for obtaining an education in any known branch
is provided for the student, and the road to knowledge is made about as
easy as it can possibly be made.

But of all the schools provided for the instruction of children, youths
and adults, none is of greater importance, perhaps, than that known as
the "_Institute for Colored Youth_." Strange to say, it had its origin
in the kindly forethought of one who had once been a slave-holder.
In the year 1832 Richard Humphreys, a native of the West Indies, but
at that time a citizen of Philadelphia, died, leaving $10,000 to
found an institution, "having," as he worded it, "for its object the
benevolent design of instructing the descendants of the African race
in school-learning, in the various branches of the mechanic arts and
trades, and in agriculture, in order to prepare, fit and qualify them
to act as teachers."

This sum was left with the Society of Friends (of which sect he was a
member), with the provision that this society should have the care of
the institution. In accordance with this bequest and stipulation, in
1837 the "Institute" was founded, the sum of money left for the purpose
amounting at this time, through careful investment, to about $13,300.
The charter was not obtained from the State of Pennsylvania until 1842.
Shortly after this the sum of $18,000 was left by another Friend for
educational purposes, which was given to further the interests of the
Institute.

From time to time, different sums were bequeathed and bestowed for
this enterprise by philanthropic people until, in 1851, buildings were
erected on Lombard street for the permanent establishment of this
institution of learning, in which location it remained until 1866. At
that time it had become clearly evident that the enterprise had reached
such proportions that more ample and convenient accommodations were
urgently required. A movement, therefore, was set on foot to accomplish
the work, if possible, and a sufficient number of interested friends
were found to erect the large and commodious building now situated on
Bainbridge street, above Ninth, at a cost of $40,000, including the
ground.

The officers and committees of the corporation are men belonging to the
Society of Friends, but most of the teachers are women who have worked
hard to obtain the education necessary to make them capable instructors
of their own race. The principal, Mrs. Fanny L. Jackson Coppin, whose
attainments fit her for the principalship of any of the highest grade
schools, has received an education that would graduate her from any of
our first-class colleges. Besides this she is a woman of strong common
sense. The following persons are the instructors:

Principal, Fanny L. Jackson Coppin; principal of the female department,
Frazelia Campbell; teacher of natural and physical science, Edward
A. Bouchet; teachers of English studies, Charles L. Moore, Charlotte
Bassett, Julia F. Jones, Fanny A. Ramsey; teacher of sewing, Martha F.
Minton; teacher of drawing, Katharine H. Ringwalt.

One splendid feature of this school is its practicality, an instance of
which is shown in the fact that the boys are taught to sew as well as
the girls. Realizing that the time will probably come to most of them
when they will be obliged to do for themselves in every way, they are
taught sewing on buttons, patching, darning and buttonhole-making. A
boy who goes out from the Institute need never have his clothes in a
dilapidated condition because he has no "women folks" to take care of
them.

"Heed life's demands" is the watchword of the principal, and everything
is made to conserve to that idea. Again, with this in mind, there is
established in connection with the regular school of education what
is known as a "kitchen garden." In this the little girls are taught
housework in a limited way. They learn to sweep and scrub and make beds
and all the rest of that kind of work, not only in a practical way, but
from a common-sense point of view.

They are not merely taught that part of sweeping a room is wiping the
finger-marks off of the doors, but they learn that when they bring
the pail in for that purpose they must also bring with them a piece of
carpet, or some such thing, upon which to set the pail and thus prevent
an ugly ring or splashes upon the carpet or matting upon the floor.
This is indeed a practical education. "We have this kitchen garden,"
says the principal, "for many of our pupils leave before they have
completed the school course to go out to service or to remain at home.
When they go from us they are not ignorant of the duties which await
them."

In connection with the Institute there is an industrial department open
to adults on three evenings of the week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Men who are otherwise employed through the day can come here to learn
bricklaying, carpentry, painting, shoemaking, tailoring, plastering
and shorthand and typewriting. This part of the school is under the
supervision of George Astley, an instructor in the Manual Training
School at Seventeenth and Wood streets. For women, three afternoons in
the week are given; there are lessons in dressmaking, millinery and
cooking, under the following instructors: Ida A. Burrell, instructor in
dressmaking; M. Anna Earns, instructor in cooking.

There are other schools supported by the Friends, not only in the State
of Pennsylvania, but in other States. Each one of these schools is well
managed and is well supported. I am sorry that I cannot devote more
space to this work, for it is so helpful and so characteristic of the
Quakers.


MRS. FANNY L. JACKSON COPPIN.

[Illustration: MRS. FANNY L. JACKSON COPPIN.]

Mrs. Fanny L. Jackson Coppin was born in Washington, D. C., and was
educated at Oberlin University, Oberlin, Ohio, from which institution
she graduated. In 1865, she came, by invitation, to Philadelphia,
Pa., and accepted a position as teacher in the "Institute for Colored
Youth," where she has taught constantly ever since; for the past
twenty-eight years she has filled the position of principal. Under her
management the Industrial Department was originated and is now an
important part of the work of this splendid school. She is also the
originator of the "Woman's Exchange."

While there are a great many persons in Philadelphia who know and
admire Mrs. Coppin for her great executive ability, few really know
what a remarkable woman she is. And yet but a brief conversation with
her, or a few moments contact and association, suffices to convince any
one that she is not only a woman of marked intellectual power, but one
of a wide and diverse scope of knowledge, both abstruse and applied.

She is a credit to womankind and while her work as a teacher has been
among colored people, few women are better known as educators and few
if any schools have done a better work in the interest of the race,
than the one she is at the head of. I am told that the "Institute for
Colored Youth" was in the first place started as an experiment, because
it was generally believed that the Negro could not master the higher
branches of education. But in that the colored youth has proven quite
as able as the whites and the results have been most satisfactory.


CAMP NELSON ACADEMY.

Camp Nelson Academy is situated in Jessimine Co., Ky., near
Nicholasville, and is midway between Lexington and Danville.

The academy has one good school building and a dormitory 30 × 60, three
stories high.

To the academy lot is added one hundred and fifteen acres of land, as
endowment, thus far.

The design is to establish a first-class Normal School with an
Industrial Department.

More lands are needed, and can be secured. The academy has a charter
from the State Legislature, by which the school is opened to all of
good moral character--colored or white.

Practically, at present, the school is colored. The buildings are
adjacent to the village of Camp Nelson, composed of colored citizens
who settled there immediately after the war.

Of the forty-four families in the village, forty-two have their own
homesteads.

The village has a charter from the State Legislature and no
intoxicating liquors are sold in it.

The situation is central, high, and beautiful. In the county of
Jessimine and the five counties adjacent there are over forty thousand
colored people. These with Christian culture and skilled labor could be
a great power for social well-being in that centre of the State.

Who will help uplift and save?

Mr. John G. Fee is President of the Board of Trustees of Camp Nelson
Academy, and much could be said about him that would be of interest to
the public. Few men have suffered more for the colored people than Mr.
Fee, not only in a social way, but he has suffered from mob-violence
because of the stand he took in favor of the race in their educational
interest and their rights as American citizens.


SCHOOL WORK IN WASHINGTON, D. C.

On my first visit to Washington, D. C., in 1892, I took advantage of
the opportunity offered me to study the school question in that city.
I shall ever feel grateful to Prof. G. F. T. Cook, for the kindness
shown me, in giving me useful information on that subject. Those who
regard the colored man incapable of looking after his own educational
interests, need only visit the public schools of Washington to have
his views very much changed. In the high school I found the greatest
interest. That building is under the control of Prof. F. L. Cardoso,
who has been for years a very useful man in the educational interest of
the race. He received a fine University training in Glasgow, Scotland,
before the war, and afterwards, I think, secured a scholarship at
Oxford. In the early days of freedom, he founded in the interest of the
A. M. A. Society what is known as Avery Institute, Charleston, S. C., a
school that has done grand work for the race.

At the High School, I met Mr. Hugh Brown, who is beyond doubt one
of the finest scholars in America, white or colored. He called my
attention to a phase of Negro education I knew nothing of. In the
department of Elementary Physics, he showed me a first-class telephone,
made entirely by colored students; the phone was then in use. I saw in
print a statement from Mr. Bell, of the Bell Telephone Co., in which
he said, "I regard this telephone, made entirely by these students,
as good as any I have ever tested." Mr. Brown also showed me quite a
number of electrical appliances, all made by students.

[Illustration: MRS. MARY C. TERRELL.]

For competent teachers, earnest men and women who are doing a noble
work for the elevation of the race, there are not, to my knowledge,
to be found anywhere in the United States a larger number than in
Washington, D. C.

One feature of the school work of Washington is the industrial
departments of the public schools.

I am endebted to Prof. G. F. T. Cook for these splendid observations,
and during my visit to Washington he told me much more that would make
not only interesting reading, but valuable study to those who are
seeking the truth as regards the educational forces in operation in
Washington for the improvement of the colored citizens. The noble work
of Prof. Cook is aided by the following persons who are supervising
principals: H. P. Montgomery, W. S. Montgomery, J. H. N. Waring, F. L.
Cardoso, Miss L. E. Moten, H. F. Grant, T. W. Hunster, J. H. Hill, Mrs.
M. B. Cook, Mrs. C. E. Syphax, Mrs. M. P. Evans.

I want to say in this connection, that Mrs. Mary C. Terrell is one of
the Board of Trustees of Public Schools for the District of Columbia,
and she is the first colored lady to be so honored in any city in the
United States to my knowledge. I present her portrait.

Mrs. Terrell is interested in every movement that will advance the
cause of colored people and especially colored women. I am told
that she has just been elected as President of the Federation of
Afro-American Women, and succeeds Mrs. Booker T. Washington, who was
the first president.

She is a graduate of Oberlin College, Ohio, and was at one time a
teacher at Wilberforce University, Ohio, where she was much loved.




CHAPTER XV.

NASHVILLE, TENN.


Under this heading I shall call attention to the advance made by
the colored people of this great city. Nashville certainly has all
the essentials of a great city; it has a rich tributary country, a
healthful climate, river and rail transportation, proximity of abundant
raw material, and a sturdy, healthy industrious population.

Having all of these then, Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, situated
in the centre of a realm unequalled in variety and amount of production
on the American continent, with 100,000 people largely native to the
soil through long generations, is assuredly a great city.

It has been just thirty-one years since the war closed. Nashville then
contained a scant 25,000 people. Ten years later her population was
40,000. In 1885 it was 60,000, and to-day within her borders there are
more than 100,000 souls. No better evidence of the advance and the
prosperity of the city than that could be given.

And through this entire history, the colored people have figured
conspicuously during every step of her progress.

During the many years I have spent in the South among the colored
people, I have made a special study of the development of many of
the towns and cities. I have done this to ascertain what part the
colored man is playing in this development. In view of the fact that
Nashville has three large colleges for advanced studies and a number of
well-equipped day-schools, I devoted special attention to this city.

It is a well-known fact that a very small percentage of all the
educated people, white or colored, put their education to any practical
use. I claim that there are as many, if not more, of the colored
people who make good use of their education as any other class in
this country. I found in this city (Nashville) men of culture and
refinement, who possessed all the energy, enterprise and push that
characterize any thoroughly civilized people.

I think I can safely say that Nashville, for its size, can boast of a
larger number of colored business and professional men than any other
Southern city. Among those I met in person was Dr. D. L. Martin, who
has the honor of being the first colored druggist in the State. He has
succeeded in building up a fine drug trade, and has purchased some
very good property. Speaking of colored Doctors, I am told that there
are not less than six in the city. And they each have a good practice.
One of this number is Dr. L. W. Crostwait, who is of the School of
Homœopathy; but few colored men have gone into that branch of medicine.


DR. R. F. BOYD.

[Illustration: DR. R. F. BOYD.]

Those who have attended my illustrated lectures will doubtless remember
Dr. Boyd, one of the most progressive colored physicians in the South.
I have never met a man with whom I became more favorably impressed than
I was with Dr. Boyd. He is a man of deep thought, lofty aspirations and
untiring zeal. His work at Meharry Medical and Pharmaceutical College
marks him as one of the most useful men of the race. He is a graduate
from this institution; and I feel that if it had never turned out
but one such man, it would have accomplished wonders. He came out of
this school after a hard struggle for an education, and cast his lot
among the people he had come in contact with from day to day in that
community. You have only to go into his office any day and see the
number of patients waiting for him; then see the splendid horses and
carriages used in his practice, to form an idea of his success. Still,
one of the best evidences of his prosperity to me was the fact that all
over the city he owns houses which are rented.

[Illustration: BOYD BUILDING.]

The new Boyd Building has twenty-eight rooms which are rented to
Colored business and professional men.


J. C. NAPIER.

Another interesting character in Nashville is Mr. J. C. Napier,
attorney-at-law, who has a large practice, and has also accumulated
quite a bit of valuable property. Mr. Napier owns one building that was
of special interest to me. He calls it "Napier Court." The building is
divided into offices. Every room is occupied by a colored professional
man. I think there are nine offices in the upper part of the building.
I have never found in any other city buildings owned by colored men
where each room was rented to colored men. I am pleased to note that
Mr. Napier has been selected as the head of the colored people's
exhibit for the Centennial to be held in Nashville in 1897, but has
since resigned.

After Mr. Napier came out of school he was for several years active
in politics, and has held several government positions. His home is
without doubt one of the most attractive it has ever been my pleasure
to visit. Mrs. Napier, who is a daughter of the Hon. John Mercer
Langston, is indeed a most charming lady.

While I am referring to lawyers, I must not forget to mention the firm
of Crostwait & Young, who also have a good practice.

In 1884 I met, for the first time, Mr. S. A. McElwee, who was then
keeping a small grocery store at Brownsville, Tenn. Since that time I
have watched his progress with much pleasure. He has served two terms
in the Legislature and finished his course in law at Fisk University.
He, like Dr. Boyd, began his practice where he received his education.
His success has been almost phenomenal.

I have visited his office a great many times and each time I found
quite a number of white and colored people waiting to consult him in
regard to legal matters.

He owns a very neat little home that is furnished in a most exquisite
manner, and is just opposite Central Tennessee College.

Among the business men of the city, I wish to mention the firm of
Harris & Barbour, furniture dealers. These men make a specialty of
dealing in antique furniture. Many an old piece of household furniture
has been bought by these enterprising men, fixed up, advertised, and
often sold in New York and Boston at high prices.


REV. PRESTON TAYLOR.

Mr. Taylor is a man who will impress you when you meet him as
thoroughly in earnest. He is never idle, always with new plans,
warm-hearted, generous, sympathetic and a true brother to all men who
deserve the recognition of earnest, faithful workers for Christ.

In the spring of 1888, he embarked in the undertaker's business,
and has met with unbounded success. He stands at the head of his
profession, not only as a funeral director, but as a safe and wise
business man. It is said by men competent to know, that he does the
largest business of any man of his race engaged in the same business
in the country. He owns and occupies the large two-story brick at
449 North Cherry street; the building is 42 × 180 feet and it is
divided and furnished in the most convenient style, with reception
hall, office, chapel, show rooms, supply rooms, trimming rooms, dry
rooms, carpenter shop, paint shop and a morgue. In the rear stands a
large stable occupied by eighteen horses, seven carriages, hearses and
all kinds of vehicles used in the undertaker's business. The entire
building is lighted by electricity and fitted up with electric bells.
He is the only man in the city who manufactures his own goods. He
works sixteen men in his establishment and often is compelled to call
in extra help. He has the honor of managing the largest funeral that
ever passed through the streets of Nashville. It was the three colored
firemen who were killed on January 2, 1892, in a great conflagration.
He built a large catafalque with his own men, which held all three of
the caskets, which were drawn by six beautiful black horses, followed
by sixty carriages two abreast, accompanied by all the officials of
the city, the police and fire departments, the schools, the lodges and
citizens by the thousands. In all his business enterprises he ascribes
his marvelous success to his Heavenly Father, and he never neglects
his chosen calling, the preaching of the word of God. In the last few
years he has bought and built one of the handsomest and most convenient
churches in the city, the Lee Avenue Christian Church, of which he is
now the pastor.

Mr. W. T. Hightower started in business as a dealer in old rags and
iron with a capital of 25 cents. He now owns a large brick building and
a beautiful home.

Mr. Joseph Brown, who lives just outside of the city limits, operates a
large nursery and hot-house. He does a very successful business among
the best people of Nashville.

Mr. H. C. Gibson, a blacksmith, who started in business on a capital of
$2.00, has made wonderful progress and employs quite a number of men
in his shop. His bills for stock used in his shop amount to upwards of
$150 per month.

Mr. Geo. W. Frazher holds a position that, for the South, is indeed
unique. He is the cutter and fitter for E. Fuller & Co.'s shoeshop,
where he is the only colored man employed.

Dr. Hadley has been a cripple the greater part of his life, but
notwithstanding that fact, he has had great success. He owns valuable
property in Nashville, and is at the head of the Immaculate Society, a
society organized for the purpose of caring for the sick and burying
the dead. His daughter Willa has the honor of being the first graduate
in music from Fisk University.

Mr. J. C. Crawley, a successful teacher of Nashville, is another
gentleman worthy of special mention. He, like many others, has, by hard
work and strict economy, accumulated property and is living well.

I have left until the last to be mentioned, a man who ought to be known
throughout this entire country. I refer to Lewis Winters, who is the
largest egg and poultry dealer south of the Ohio River. Mr. Winters was
born a slave, and has never had any educational advantages whatever.
But while that is true, he has a knowledge of all the essential
qualities of a successful business man. Mr. Winters has shipped goods
to New York by the train load. I found him a very active worker in the
A. M. E. Church.

While I have mentioned quite a number I have not called your attention
to all, and among those not named are Lowery & McGavock, shoe dealers
and makers. There are also two colored men in Nashville who manufacture
brooms, and have quite a large trade.

Mention at least should be made of Dr. F. A. Stewart, A. M., who is one
of the leading colored physicians of Nashville. He, like Dr. Boyd, has
a very large practice. In addition to his very extensive practice he is
engaged as teacher of Pathology at Meharry Medical College. Dr. Stewart
is a graduate of Howard University, Washington, D. C., and stands very
high in his profession. He also owns very valuable property.




CHAPTER XVI.

ATLANTA, GA., AND INDIANAPOLIS, IND.


Atlanta, Ga., is another educational centre. I found over fifty colored
men in this city engaged in business, professional and other pursuits.

I can only mention a few of these. I met in Atlanta a very successful
colored undertaker in the person of David T. Howard, who was prompted
to go into that business because of the way white undertakers treated
the colored people when they had their funerals in charge. Mr. Howard
has succeeded in building up a very large business. Atlanta can boast
of one of the largest contractors among colored people in the country.
I refer to Alexander Hamilton, an ex-slave. Mr. Hamilton showed me a
number of very fine residences owned by the leading white people in the
city, which he had the contract to build. He also drew his own plans
and specifications to work from.

There were two men in Atlanta who should have special mention, namely,
Mr. Joseph Rivers, and Mr. Jacob McKinley. The latter, I am sorry to
say, is numbered among the dead. Both of these men were born slaves and
they were uneducated. Mr. Rivers was, by trade, a blacksmith, and began
life for himself without one penny. He owns quite a deal of property,
among which is what is known as "Rivers Block," and the business
rooms are rented to white business men. Jacob McKinley made quite a
large fortune in the manufacture of brick and dealing in real estate.
I am glad to note that several of those connected with school work in
Atlanta report that Mr. McKinley was always willing to contribute of
his means for the education of his race. He was very much loved by both
white and colored.

Atlanta has several colored doctors. Among them are Drs. Butler and
Slater. They came out of school together, and for some years carried
on their practice in partnership. Dr. Slater now owns an interest in a
drug store, while Dr. H. R. Butler devotes all of his time to a very
extensive practice. He is also Grand Master of Georgia of the Free and
Accepted Masons. Dr. Butler's wife is a graduate of Spelman Seminary,
and I want no better evidence of the very excellent work done at that
school than the doctor's very neatly-kept home.

Dr. O. A. Lockhart is another young man with a good practice and the
owner of a successful drug store. He is a self-made man, who had a hard
struggle to get an education.

Mr. F. H. Crumbly, who has for some years been in the regular army,
has returned and opened a dry goods and notions store. Mr. Crumbly is
a graduate of Atlanta University, and is a man who is much thought of
by both white and colored people, and is meeting with success in his
business because of his popularity and good judgment. He stood high as
a soldier, and was a commissioned officer in the late war with Spain.
He gave up a business to go in the army.

On the same street is to be found Mr. Peter Eskridge, who learned while
a slave the blacksmith's trade, which he followed until 1880, when he
started a grocery business, and in this he has succeeded. He had not
the educational advantages needed for a successful business man, but he
educated his daughters and since they have been of great help to their
father in keeping his accounts.

I have always claimed that in most cases in the South white people
would give some of their patronage to colored merchants, and I am more
and more of that opinion since I met Mr. Willis Murphy & Son, who carry
on a large and very successful grocery business in a part of the city
of Atlanta where they reach a great number of the working people among
the whites, and most of the trade comes from that class.

Mr. G. M. Howell, a young man, does quite a good business as a merchant
tailor in one of the rooms under the Kimble House. I can speak for Mr.
Howell's workmanship as a tailor from the fact that I have had work
done by him. I think a large portion of his patronage comes from white
people.

Mrs. M. A. Pennamone, of Atlanta, does quite a business as a milliner,
and strange to say most of her customers are white people. I have
often wondered why there were not more colored women in the millinery
business.

In addition to those already mentioned from Atlanta, there are many
engaged in various walks of life, such as conducting wood yards, coal
yards, draying and doing just what white people do who want to earn
an honest living. Atlanta has six educational institutions, to say
nothing of the city or public schools, in which there are employed some
seventy-five colored teachers. I have been told by the better class
of white men in the South, that "colored people own far more property
and are getting along much better than the middle and lower classes
of the whites." I have heard it said that the only progress being
made by colored people in this country was in the South. I am indeed
willing to give the South credit for its wonderful development, but as
a friend to the race in all parts of the country, I must say that the
colored people are also making progress in the North. True, many of
our successful men in the North came from the South; but they built up
their business in the North.

I met while in Indianapolis, Ind., some very successful people in the
persons of the following gentlemen:

Capt. J. Porter is employed as a bank clerk in a white bank. He is the
only colored man I have met holding just such a position. The men at
the head of the bank regard him as a very reliable and competent man.

The late Benjamin Thornton, of Indianapolis, established for himself
a great reputation as a first-class detective. He stood alone in this
respect as a colored man. He has often been sent for to work up large
cases in some of our leading cities where large amounts of money and
jewels have been stolen. Mr. Thornton was quite a public-spirited man,
and has done a great deal to help others secure homes, and well thought
of by both white and colored.

The city can boast of two magnificent barber shops owned by colored
men. One at the Hotel Dennison is owned by Messrs. Moore and Lanear,
costing about $6,000. The other one is owned by Geo. L. Knox at the
Bates House. Some twenty men are employed there, and several ladies in
the ladies' hairdressing department. This shop is said to have cost
$10,000. Mr. Knox is also the publisher of the _Freeman_, which is
mentioned in another part of my book.

Mr. Baptist, of Indianapolis, is a very successful contractor, and in
1893 built for John C. New a $10,000 residence. There were quite a
number of white contractors competing for the work.

Mr. Puryear, of Indianapolis, does a large express business, giving
employment to quite a number of men. Mr. Puryear was at one time, and
perhaps is yet, a member of the city council.


H. L. SANDERS.

Mr. H. L. Sanders, of Indianapolis, is the only colored man in the
country doing the kind of work he is engaged in. In 1889 he began in a
small way to make jackets for butchers, waiters' and cooks' outfits,
also barbers' coats for shop wear. At first he did not have work enough
to keep one woman busy, but now he has several at work all the time,
and his sewing machines are operated by steam. And aside from his
manufacturing he carries a splendid line of gents' furnishing goods.




CHAPTER XVII.

FINE PENMEN.


I devote an entire chapter to Penmen, because I regard this art as one
of the special evidences of race progress. The delicacy of the work and
the close application to study required to succeed in it make it doubly
hard to command any considerable attention.


PROF. RICHARD HILL.

[Illustration: PROF. RICHARD HILL, NASHVILLE, TENN.]

Prof. Richard Hill, who is principal of Writing, Drawing and Music in
the colored schools in Nashville, Tenn., has much to be proud of. Mr.
Hill is a native of Nashville; he attended the city schools until he
had gone through the ninth grade. At that time the colored schools
were not carried any higher. In order that he might better prepare
himself for a useful life in the interest of his race, he earned money
by blacking boots on the streets until he saved enough to attend
Gaines High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. At nineteen years of age he
came home, and began teaching in the same room where he himself had
been taught his letters. We feel warranted in saying that Mr. Hill is
the only colored man in the country who has been placed in charge of
Writing, Drawing and Music in so many schools. He has seven buildings,
fifty-six teachers, nearly 4,000 children under his care in the
branches named. In 1893 the _Penman's Art Journal_, of New York, held
a public school writing contest. The colored children in the Nashville
schools were allowed to enter on equal footing with the whites. There
were two prizes offered and I am glad to say that the colored schools
won them both. But we are sorry to say the colored schools have not
been asked to take part in any other contests. _Penman's Art Journal_
said recently: "Superintendent Webb, of Nashville, Tenn., writes us
that 'the winners of the two certificates awarded to Nashville in _The
Journal's_ public school competition, as well as three other pupils
whose names were included in the roll of honor, are pupils in the
colored schools of that city. Richard Hill, Assistant Supervisor of
Drawing and Writing, has charge of the work in these schools, and to
him should be given the credit that, without this explanation, would
naturally be given to me.' This speaks very well for the colored
schools of Nashville and their Supervisor, himself a colored man, and
the only one we know of who occupies this responsible post. He is a
fine writer and skilled in ornamental work. We are reliably informed
that he acquired this skill and knowledge at the cost of great personal
sacrifice, his preceptor being our friend, Lyman D. Smith, the well
known author and teacher, whose methods he closely follows. _The
Journal_ takes pleasure in according this deserved recognition to Mr.
Hill, his pupils and his race."


FREDERIC S. MONROE.

Mr. Frederic S. Monroe, of New Bedford, Mass., is employed as
stenographer and typewriter to the Pairpoint Mfg. Co. (a corporation
with a paid-in capital of $825,000, a weekly pay-roll from $6,000 to
$8,000, employing a force of several hundred skilled workmen), and
engaged in the manufacture of gold and silver plated ware, casket
hardware, fine cut glass, decorated ware and decorated French china.
The company has stores in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and
Montreal; from each of these places as well as from the factory a force
of traveling salesmen are sent out, who cover the whole of the United
States and Canada.

[Illustration: FREDERIC S. MONROE.]

He has held this position for four years, and has given perfect
satisfaction. He resigned a clerkship in the book and stationery store
of Robert W. Taber to accept his present position. Was in the employ of
Mr. Taber for about two years and a half, and prior to that time had
filled the same position with his predecessor in this business, Jas.
M. Lawton, Jr. Was with Mr. Lawton for about twelve years, and for the
last three had entire charge of the book and stationery department,
when he increased the business by the purchase of a music and art store.

So far as the character of the service rendered in these different
positions is concerned, I think the length and regularity of the
employment will speak for him.

Speaking to Mr. Monroe regarding the position he now holds, he said: "I
taught myself stenography as a boy of twenty, and after having mastered
it tried to maintain such proficiency in it as to be ready at any time
to accept a position in which a knowledge of stenography would be a
prerequisite. Have never thought that 'luck' had anything to do with
the opportunities I have had, and rather think they are due to hard
work in making myself competent, and then, when a chance was offered,
to try and be a little more than equal to the demands made on me."


CHAS. J. BECKER.

While traveling in New England a few years ago, I visited New Bedford,
Mass., where I met Mr. Chas. J. Becker. This young man executes some of
the finest penmanship I ever saw in my life. He is employed in one of
the largest and best business colleges in New England. He has held his
present position for five years.

[Illustration: C. J. BECKER.]

Mr. Becker was born in Fitchburg, Mass., in 1858, commenced his
life-work in Chas. B. Dennis's Insurance Office at nine years of
age; at twelve he wrote a good business hand; at fourteen wrote all
the policies and daily reports for that firm--at sixteen his writing
showed up to Mr. Dennis so well, that he sent him to Boston to attend
Kendall's Normal Writing Institution where he took a three months'
course.




CHAPTER XVIII.

COLORED LAWYERS.


In this chapter, I do not attempt to call attention to anything like
all of the successful colored lawyers. I simply select from the
hundreds of prominent men practising law in courts throughout the
United States, two: D. Augustus Straker and T. McCants Stewart.


D. AUGUSTUS STRAKER.

D. Augustus Straker was born in Bridgetown, in the Island of Barbadoes,
one of the West Indies, on July 11, in the year 1842.

His early education was fostered by his mother, a pious and industrious
woman, who took great pride in her only child, and strove by the labor
of her hands to give him a liberal education, his father having died
when he was eleven months old.

He received a good English education at the Central High or Preparatory
School of the island, under Robert Pierre Elliott, of Battersea,
England, and afterwards received supplementary training in philosophy
from lectures given by R. R. Rawle, Principal of Codrington College,
as well as private instructions in Latin, Greek and French, from Rev.
Joseph N. Durant, D. D., of said island. At the early age of seventeen
years he became school-master of one of the principal schools of the
island.

[Illustration: HON. D. AUGUSTUS STRAKER.]

In 1867, he was induced, with two others, by the invitation of Rt. Rev.
B. B. Smith, of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, U. S. A., on hearing
preached a sermon on the cruelties of slavery and the deplorable
ignorance of his race in the United States, upon their emancipation
from bondage, to come to the United States and engage in the uplifting
of his race, by teaching in the schools of Kentucky, under the auspices
of the Avery P. E. Institute and the Freedmen's Bureau, under the
superintendence of the Christian soldier, statesman and humanitarian,
General O. O. Howard. Before leaving his native land he had commenced
the study of law, preparatory to entering the Middle Temple, England.
While teaching school in Kentucky he was persuaded to prepare for the
ministry in the P. E. Church, but did not enter upon such duties, owing
to the prejudice against color and his race, even in said church, an
inconsistency which he could not reconcile with Christian practices.

In 1868 Hon. John M. Langston, then Dean of the Law School of Howard
University, was engaged in lecturing through the South, upon the
advantages of said institute to the colored race, and the opportunity
afforded to receive a professional education therein. Mr. Straker
attended one of such lectures, and was attracted to the University.
He gave up his theological studies and returned to his first love,
entering Howard University Law School as a law student in 1869,
in a class six months advanced. He graduated in 1871, with honor
and distinction, and at Commencement delivered an address on "The
Necessity for a Common Tribunal Among Nations for the Arbitration of
International Disputes." His views then are greatly verified as to the
necessity of such a tribunal, by the experiences of the present day.
His learning in the law and masterly discussion of the subject secured
him the praise and commendation of the scholar and statesman, Hon.
Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts.

While studying law, he secured a clerkship in the Sixth Auditor's
office of the U. S. Treasury, in which post he remained until 1875. In
1871 he was married in Detroit, Mich., to Miss Annie M. Carey, his
present wife, with whom he now lives, having had no children born to
them.

In 1875, he resigned his position in the Treasury Department, and went
to South Carolina as Inspector of Customs, at Charleston.

In 1876, he resigned said post, and began the practice of his
profession in the town of Orangeburg, S. C., and soon was recognized as
a capable criminal lawyer by his white brethren at that bar, and the
community in general. In the fall season of said year, he was elected
to the General Assembly of that State, and took his seat in the famous
House, well known as the Hampton-Mackey dual Legislature, by which
Governor Chamberlain, the duly elected Governor of the State, was
driven from his post. Mr. Straker was not long a member, because of his
eviction with others, on account of his politics, he being one of the
most prominent Republicans of the State. During this period Mr. Straker
suffered much persecution at the hands of his political opponents,
the Democrats, in this struggle. He returned to his constituents
and was re-elected in 1878. He was again denied his seat. He was
again elected in 1880, and again denied his seat, although on both
occasions receiving larger majorities than his political opponents. The
grounds of objection were that "he was not a citizen," although his
naturalization papers were produced and the proof of his citizenship
evident and conclusive.

In 1882 he was elected by the Trustees, Dean and Professor of Common
Law in the University Law School of Allen University, Columbia, S.
C., an incorporated institution of learning, under the auspices of the
A. M. E. Church. In 1883, he presented a class of four colored youths
to the Supreme Court of that State for examination for admission to
practise law, the result of his sole instruction--the institution being
too poor to hire a corps of law instructors. These colored youths,
the first in the history of the State, were examined in open court,
and having passed a most creditable examination, as told by the court
in open session, were admitted to practice, and became members of the
learned profession, and the peers under the law of those who, but
less than a quarter of a century before, held them or their parents
in slavery. In 1884, another class was presented by Mr. Straker,
examined and admitted by the court. Mr. Straker, having now severed his
connection with the law school, resumed the practice of his profession
at Columbia, S. C. He won great distinction in the management as
attorney for the defendant in the celebrated murder case of the State
vs. Coleman, reported in 12th S. C., the defence being insanity, in
which Mr. Straker was declared to have shown deep research in the law
of the plea of _transitoria mania_.

The prejudice of the community keeping distinct all business between
black and white of a professional character, Mr. Straker was unable to
support himself and family by his profession in the South, and after
giving the same a fair test, and spending fourteen years of his life in
the endeavor to uplift his race in the South, was compelled to seek
a new field. He came to Detroit, Mich., in 1887, bringing with him,
from his white fellow-citizens, the highest testimonials of ability
and character, who, while they disliked him politically, admired and
recognized his legal ability. This, with his own natural energy and
legal acumen, soon gave him distinction in his new home. He soon found
himself in a fairly lucrative practice, and had for his clients a
large number of whites, his own race being too poor to afford such. He
distinguished himself as an advocate of ability, as was seen in his
victory of the Civil Rights case of Ferguson vs. Gies, 82d Michigan,
which decision settled the status of the colored citizen within
Michigan, as to his right to accommodation in public places, equally
with his white fellow-citizen. His legal argument in this case fully
showed him a capable and learned attorney-at-law.

He rose at once to great distinction at the bar of Detroit, and his
white brethren at the bar soon recognized him as a good lawyer, a
gentleman in his manners, and a faithful advocate. This recognition
was made manifest in his election in 1893, to the office of Circuit
Court Commissioner for Wayne County, Michigan, a District at that
time accredited with a Democratic majority of 4,000 voters; while Mr.
Straker was an uncompromising Republican. Mr. Straker's opponents for
this office were all white citizens. He was re-elected to same office
in 1895, by a majority of over 7,000--his opponents again being all
white citizens. He now holds said office, and is spoken of for a
third term, which he is likely to obtain, if not deprived through the
divisions of a few of his own race, who seem in many instances not
content to see one of their own rise to distinction.

Mr. Straker is widely known throughout the United States, having
lectured in many States, and attended wellnigh all of the principal
conventions, held by his race, since emancipation. He is a contributor
to the newspapers and magazines of his race, and also of some of the
Anglo-Saxon.

He is an author, having written a book entitled, "The New South
Investigated," which has received the widest commendation for its
cleverness, impartiality and good taste. He has also written a unique
law pamphlet, on the "Larceny of Dogs," showing conclusively that
punishment for stealing dogs can only be by statute, dogs being at
common law of no value. His pamphlet on "Reflections on the Life and
Times of Toussaint-Louverture" is interesting and shows great race
pride in the writer.

On December 14, 1895, at a Conference of Colored Men of the United
States, held in the city of Detroit, Mich., Mr. Straker was chosen
President of the National Federation of Colored Men of the United
States of America; an organization established by said conference for
the purpose of seeking a remedy, or putting an end to the barbarous
practice of lynching colored men in the Southern States, for alleged
offences, without trial by law. Already Mr. Straker has placed
this organization in the confidence of his race and their white
sympathizers, and much good is expected from the agitation created by
it of the wrongs done the colored people in the South, both as to their
civil, as well as their political rights.


T. McCANTS STEWART.

Mr. T. McCants Stewart is one of the most remarkable colored men in
the United States: he is a lawyer of unusual ability. He was born in
Charleston, S. C., December 28, 1854.

After graduating from the common schools in June, 1869, he entered the
Preparatory Department of Howard University, Washington, D. C., and
finished the course, entering college in September, 1871. He stood at
the head of his class throughout the course, making special record in
the foreign languages, in belles lettres, and as a public speaker. In
the summer of 1871, he lectured at various places in Virginia. Although
a very young man, being then only seventeen years of age, he was heard
by large audiences and took back to Howard University enough money to
get well started in his college course. In the midst of his junior
year, feeling that the facilities for the study of the sciences were
better in the University of South Carolina than at Howard University,
Mr. Stewart left the latter and entered the former institution, and
in December, 1875, he graduated, at the head of his class, from the
College and Law Departments of the University of South Carolina,
delivering the valedictory oration, and receiving the degrees of
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws.

[Illustration: T. McCANTS STEWART, ESQ.]

Gen. Robert B. Elliott, one of the ablest men of his day, and, at that
time, one of the most successful practitioners at the South Carolina
bar, took Mr. Stewart into partnership and formed the law firm of
Elliott, Dunbar & Stewart, which firm was retained in many important
cases. Mr. Stewart began his professional career in a murder case, in
which there was unusual interest in every part of the State. The ablest
attorneys and counsel appeared for the people and Gen. Elliott and Mr.
Stewart appeared for the defence. The General guided his young partner,
but imposed upon him the burden of the work.

Mr. Dunbar died early in 1876, and Hon. D. Augustus Straker, now
Circuit Court Commissioner, Detroit, Michigan, entered the law firm
which then became Elliott, Stewart & Straker. The firm practised in
several counties of the State. Wherever he appeared, Mr. Stewart's
management of his cases was highly skilful, and he was usually
successful. The Clarendon _Press_, a newspaper edited and published
by Southern white men at Manning, S. C., makes this reference to
Mr. Stewart's appearance in court there: "We must admit that Mr.
Stewart displayed signal ability in the management of several cases.
His respectful manner and modesty have created for him a favorable
impression amongst the people."

In 1877, Mr. Stewart accepted the chair of Professor of Mathematics in
the State Agricultural College of South Carolina, at Orangeburg, S. C.
He resigned in 1878 to attend the post-graduate course of philosophy
at Princeton College under Dr. James McCosh, and he also pursued the
theological course in the seminary there. He went to New York in
1880, and made a national reputation in the ministry as an earnest
and eloquent preacher. In November, 1882, he resigned from the church
to accept the position of Professor of Belles Lettres and Law in the
College of Liberia, on the West Coast of Africa. After traveling in
Europe, he went to Liberia, remaining there until January, 1884. He
returned to the United States and was appointed General Agent for
Industrial Education in Liberia, West Africa. He traveled extensively
in the New England States, making addresses in the principal cities.
He was everywhere received with great enthusiasm, and Joseph Cook gave
up the platform of Tremont Temple to Mr. Stewart, who made a brilliant
address there on March 23, 1885, to an audience which applauded him
heartily, and his address was subsequently published in full in the New
York _Independent_ of April 2, 1885.

In the fall of 1885, Mr. Stewart decided to return to the practice of
law, and in January, 1886, he was admitted before the General Term of
the Supreme Court of the State in New York City. The New York _Freeman_
of January 9, 1886, contained this reference to the proceedings in
Court:

"On Wednesday morning, before the Supreme Court in General Term,
Algernon S. Sullivan, Esq., rose and submitted the papers of T. McCants
Stewart, signed by Chief Justice Simpson of the South Carolina Supreme
Court; and after a brief and generous reference to Mr. Stewart's
ability and character, moved that he be admitted to practise law in
the courts of New York. Hon. A. M. Keiley, late minister to Austria,
seconded the motion. Mr. Keiley said he deemed it a great privilege
to speak in behalf of this learned and well-beloved member of the
African race, and was sure the members of the bar would extend to Mr.
Stewart a fraternal welcome. Mr. Stewart was then sworn in. Ex-Governor
Chamberlain, who was absent from the city, joined Mr. Keiley in
seconding the motion for admission."

Mr. Stewart has been a very successful practitioner, and has appeared
in several important cases. He has confined himself to the civil
practice, and enjoys the unusual distinction of having his efforts at
the bar commended in the written and published opinions of several
judges. In a decision, rendered by the Court of Appeals, which is the
tribunal of final resort, the court says: "On the argument here, the
accused (convicted of murder) was represented by counsel of his own
race, who argued the case with courage and zeal, and a professional
ability worthy of commendation" (140 N. Y., 359). In an opinion by the
Surrogate's Court of the city and county of New York, the Surrogate
says: "The masterly argument of counsel for the contestant greatly
impressed me. His conduct of the proceeding has been so admirable
that I feel it to be my duty to commend him. He has throughout the
case displayed all the qualities of a safe adviser and a skilled and
eloquent advocate. His appearance before me will always be welcomed,
as his unusual ability, learning and industry will greatly aid me in
disposing of any proceedings in which he may be employed" (5 N. Y.
Sup., 23).

Mr. Stewart ranks high as an orator. He is also an author, his
best-known book being "Liberia; The Americo-African Republic," and he
is a frequent contributor to literary publications. He was a member of
the Board of Education of the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., 1891 to 1895.
Served as chairman of the Committee on Rules and Regulations, and on
the Committee on Law, on Studies, and on Free Scholarships. While on
the Board, he succeeded in removing the word "colored" entirely from
the school system and was instrumental in having colored teachers
appointed to mixed classes of white and colored children.

Since the first edition of this book was issued Mr. Stewart has given
up his practice in New York and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he is
meeting with very great success in his profession.




CHAPTER XIX.

J. H. LEWIS.


[Illustration: J. H. LEWIS.]

In this and the next chapter I shall call attention to a few prominent
business men. I begin here with Mr. J. H. Lewis, the second largest
merchant tailor in the State of Massachusetts, and the fourth largest
merchant tailor in the United States. He is a remarkable man to say
the least. His birthplace was at Heathsville, N. C. The first eighteen
years of his life were spent on a farm. He went to Concord, N. H.,
in 1875 or '76 to learn the tailoring business. After working three
or four years at the business in Concord, he moved to Boston, Mass.
He started in business on a capital of $100; by close attention, he
soon began to make money, and now (1896) his business is estimated at
$150,000 per year. Mr. Lewis devotes his personal attention to all of
his customers, and to this fact, as much as any other, is his marvelous
success due. His store is at 417 Washington street, Boston, Mass.


W. Q. ATWOOD.

Mr. W. Q. Atwood, of East Saginaw, Mich., is one of the largest lumber
dealers in the United States.

Mr. Atwood was born a slave, but in spite of that fact he is a
well-informed man in every way. He was born in Alabama, but left there
for East Saginaw, Mich., in 1863. He has been a successful land, real
estate and lumber dealer ever since he landed in the city.

In 1863, he located 1600 acres of land and sold the same during the
same year, clearing $4,000. This was his first deal.

In 1868, with thirty men and eight teams, he cut and put in 3,000,000
feet of pine saw logs, and manufactured the same into lumber during the
following year. He continued lumbering each year, cutting from one to
five million feet, until 1877, and has made from ten to twenty-five
dollars per thousand feet.

[Illustration: W. Q. ATWOOD.]

Mr. Atwood has given employment to large bodies of men. In all his
business transactions he has endeavored to use his own capital, and has
invested it very carefully. He is worth about $100,000. He is a leader
in political, social and commercial matters in his city. He is the only
colored member of the Board of Trade.

I regard his career a worthy example of what can be accomplished by men
of the race, possessing the requisite qualities of patience, enterprise
and foresight.


SAMUEL HARRIS.

[Illustration: SAMUEL HARRIS.]

I present here a picture of Mr. Samuel Harris. The subject of this
brief sketch lives at Williamsburg, Va. I had occasion to visit that
town a few years ago, and when it became known to the white people
that I was interested in colored people, the hotel proprietor where I
stopped seemed very anxious to give me all the information he could
regarding the condition of the race in that section of Virginia. After
telling me all that he knew, and much that he did not know, he said he
wanted to take me to see a store owned by a colored man by the name
of Harris. I was only too glad to go. To see a large store owned by a
colored man was to me a thing of wonderful interest. We went, and I am
unable to put in words how much I was helped and inspired by what I saw
in that store. I got while there these very interesting facts.

Mr. Harris started in business about twenty-five years ago. His capital
amounted to seventy dollars, He is now doing a business of $55,000 a
year; owns ninety-six building lots in his town; four large farms in
the State, and property in Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News. All
of the goods sold in his store are shipped in his own vessel that is
manned by his own crew.


WILLIAM H. DAVIS.

[Illustration: WILLIAM H. DAVIS.]

William H. Davis, who has a well-equipped shoe store in Louisville,
Ky., deserves special mention in our publication. Mr. Davis is a young
man of about 26 years of age and owes his success entirely to his own
efforts. He was at one time engaged as private secretary by the mayor
of that city. He afterwards taught type-writing and short-hand in the
schools there. It might be well to mention that he taught himself
both type-writing and short-hand, as none of the schools there where
those branches were taught would admit colored students. There are
but very few colored men engaged in the shoe business, and I know of
none who have as large a stock and are in every way as well prepared
to suit all kinds of trade as Mr. Davis. He has in connection with his
stock of boots and shoes a fine line of furnishing goods, also employs
a first-class workman, so that he can take orders for fine hand-made
shoes for men and women. I hope that this short sketch and picture
of Mr. Davis may inspire other young men to start in some business
enterprise. The sooner colored men begin to represent some of the
business interests of this country the better for the race. There is
not a city in the country where the colored population is large that
several business enterprises could not be started by colored men with
success. Every store owned and controlled by a colored man with success
not only helps him, but it in a way lifts up the entire race, and shows
that colored men can do other things besides clean houses and drive
coal-carts. Mr. Davis finds to his surprise that he has a fair trade
among the white people; that fact alone should encourage other young
men to make an effort to go into some business. As long as colored men
own no stores, they have no right to complain of their treatment in
stores owned by white people. When colored men are felt as competitors
in business, then, and not until then, will white men see the need of
making any special effort to secure and hold colored people's trade.
Then, too, when members of the race own large stores, they can give
employment to young women as clerks, and by so doing take a large
number of colored girls out of wash-tubs and cook kitchens. Mr. Davis
says that he has not had the support he had hoped for from the better
class of colored people, such as the teachers and other professional
people. But he feels that that will come in time. In closing this
sketch I regret to say that Louisville has for a city with such a large
colored population a very small number of colored men engaged in any
kind of business. In fact, the whole State of Kentucky is behind in
that respect. I have found but very few towns in the State that had
colored men doing any kind of business. Mr. Davis desires that any
young men who want to go into business, and feel that they would like
some advice and information as how to start, should write to him, and
he will gladly help them in the way of giving them an account of how
he started and his methods of carrying on his business. I have often
thought that in towns where no one colored man felt able to start some
business enterprise alone several men could put their means together
and start a co-operative store, and in that way encourage a business
effort among the people, and at the same time furnish employment for
members of the race.


J. E. REED.

[Illustration: J. E. REED.]

Mr. J. E. Reed was born of free parents in North Carolina, and
knew nothing of slavery. He came to New Bedford, Mass., in 1878,
where he attended school for two years; at the end of that time,
in 1880, he secured employment as errand boy in Mr. G. F. Parlow's
photograph galleries of that city. Mr. Parlow found that the young
man possessed very excellent qualities of mind, and as an evidence of
his appreciation, asked him if he would like to learn photography.
I need not add that Mr. Reed was only too glad to accept the offer.
After mastering the profession he worked as an assistant to Mr. Parlow
until 1888, when he formed a partnership with Mr. P. C. Headly, a
young white man. The two young men bought out the gallery where Mr.
Reed had learned his profession. This firm of Headly & Reed continued
in business until 1895, when Mr. Reed bought out the interest of Mr.
Headly. These young men were regarded as by far the best workmen in
their line the city afforded. Their patrons were numbered among the
very best people in New Bedford. To me, the most interesting phase of
Mr. Reed's work was his partnership with Mr. Headly, for I have always
felt that one of the very best things that could be done, in solving
what is called in this country the "Race question," would be to bring
white and colored men together in a business way, where they will
have an opportunity to study each other as only those whose financial
interests are blended can. I have no doubt but many comments, and
doubtless unpleasant ones too, were made about the co-partnership of a
white and colored man. But the fact that they succeeded, and won the
respect and confidence of the best people in New Bedford, makes me hope
we may hear of more such firms, in other parts of the country, for I
am sure that it will prove helpful to both races to be brought more
together in a business way. I can speak for Mr. Reed's ability as an
artist, having had work done in his gallery. I am also pleased to note
that Mr. Reed is a very useful and energetic church and Sunday-school
worker.


JOHN S. TROWER.

[Illustration: JOHN S. TROWER.]

John S. Trower, as a successful business man, ranks among the leading
men of this country. He was born in the State of Virginia. When a young
man, in 1870, he moved to Philadelphia, Pa. He found employment in
various lines of work, until ambition led him to commence an enterprise
of his own. He started and conducted for fifteen years on Chelten
avenue a catering business. By much economy and a strict adherence to
his work, he soon found his project assuming much larger proportions
than he had ever hoped for, and in 1887 he purchased the old Germantown
Savings Bank for $25,000. This building has been put in good shape,
with all the modern improvements, with telephone, and all that goes to
make up a first-class business house. His business office is presided
over by three competent clerks, all of whom are colored. On the second
floor he has a magnificent parlor with every evidence of culture and
comfort. Mr. Trower has won high distinction in his business.


C. H. SMILEY.

I know of but few others who are doing what might be regarded as a very
large business in that line; one is Mr. C. H. Smiley, of Chicago. He
went there some years ago from Philadelphia and started out in 1880 as
a waiter. His first experience as a caterer was in a very small way.
But his success has been something phenomenal. I had the pleasure,
while in Chicago attending the World's Fair in 1893, of going through
his establishment.

At that time he was giving employment to twenty people and owned the
building in which he carried on his enterprise. In fact he was then
getting ready to build a larger building more suited to his purpose.
His patrons were only among the very best people, and he thought
nothing of serving banquets or weddings, when his bill alone would run
as high as one or more thousand dollars. I found him a most generous
man. On one occasion I went to him, asking aid for a department of
church and educational work I had been commissioned to raise funds
for. I had hardly stated my case, when he handed me a $100 bill. I am
told that he has given many such gifts to churches and other Christian
societies. Many who have attended my illustrated lectures will remember
a picture of Mr. Smiley. I regret that I am unable to produce it in
this book.


E. I. MASTERSON.

[Illustration: E. I. MASTERSON.]

Mr. E. I. Masterson is a successful merchant-tailor in Louisville, Ky.
We present his cut and a few words about him, with a great deal of
pleasure, because he is a graduate from the tailoring department of
Booker T. Washington's great school at Tuskegee, Ala. It has been said
by those who are not friendly to the Industrial Schools that we never
"see any of the industrial graduates putting any of their industrial
education into practice." Then, again, it has been said that the
"industrial training given in these schools is never thorough enough to
be of any practical benefit to the students." So as an offset to these
objections, we are glad to introduce Mr. Masterson as a successful
tailor. Not that he is the only one engaged in business as a result
of an education received at a trade school. In fact, we know of some
printers, blacksmiths, harness-makers, and others who learned their
trades at the different Industrial Schools. Mr. Masterson is patronized
by both white and colored people, and having had clothing made by him I
can recommend his workmanship as first class.


CHARLES A. WEBB.

I shall give in this sketch what I consider a very interesting history.
The latter months of 1876 saw the dawn of a business career which was
destined to spread itself like the mighty Mississippi, though small
in its incipiency; having been retarded by many obstructions, which
were gradually removed, it worked its way through valleys and plains,
finally broadening and deepening itself as it went; having gathered
volume and velocity, it is no longer mindful of such small obstructions
as hindered its course in the beginning.

Such has been the business career of C. A. Webb, whose cut adorns page
311, and who is the president of the Webb-Jameson Co.

Like many others, he saw the light of freedom without money, education
or friends, but being possessed of courage and a determination that
always succeeds, having worked a few years as a laborer and in a few
other minor capacities, he decided to venture for himself.

[Illustration: CHARLES A. WEBB.]

His first venture was teaming and making gravel streets and alleys.
After a time, a new field was opened, and he began buying and selling
wood in car lots to the large pork-packers for smoking purposes. Being
successful thus far, he established a coal and wood yard to supply
small consumers. Little by little the business grew, and in those days
when the winters were more severe in Indianapolis than they are now,
and natural gas was unknown, the coal and wood business was a busy
one. So much so, that after the business was run a few years, and the
borders of trade extended, it became necessary, in order to supply the
demand promptly, to employ a steam-splitter and saw, instead of men who
usually performed this work, and two to four teams, instead of one. The
business up to this time had increased from $500 to $5,000 per year.

[Illustration: MOVING A HOUSE.]

Still broadening itself, heavy draught and lumber-hauling were added,
which required more teams and men to do the work, until now this branch
of the business, which belongs to Mr. Webb individually, amounts to
$10,000 per year.

All radical changes in the life of a city bring about changes in
established business, and cause new ventures to spring up. In 1887,
natural gas having been discovered near Indianapolis, all was
excitement. The general topic in the papers and at the fireside was
cheap fuel, which of course meant death or a meagre existence to the
coal and wood dealers.

Whenever natural gas was mentioned the brow of the coal and wood
dealers became clouded, but this could not remove the difficulty.

About this time J. W. Davis & Co., one of the oldest house and safe
moving firms in the city, desired to retire from business, and here the
light began to shine.

The opportunity was presented and accepted to purchase the outfit of
tools and appliances commonly used in that branch of business.

The outfit as stated together with the good will and name of the firm
were purchased for $1,000. The company at that time consisted of C. A.
Webb, Walter Jameson and Samuel Smith. The firm as such did not have a
dollar to start with. Mr. Webb, who had been long in business, and had
broad acquaintance, assumed the debt and according to contract, within
eighteen months after the firm began under the name of Webb, Jameson
& Co., they were able to settle the debt besides living off the net
earnings of the business at the same time.

Messrs. Jameson and Smith were practical movers, having worked at the
business for the same firm whom they united in buying out. Mr. Jameson
having been employed in the capacity of foreman.

In the organization of the firm, Mr. Webb had charge of all
financial matters and the making of contracts; Mr. Jameson general
superintendent of the work and Mr. Smith assistant.

The firm proceeded in this way, declaring weekly dividends from May 28,
1889, the time of its organization, until May 1, 1892.

The business increased so from the start that it was considered
unnecessary to use the name of the old firm in operating the business.

By judicious advertising and skilful management, the firm under the
name of Webb, Jameson & Co. became well known at home and throughout
the State.

The reputation of the firm having been established for their
reliability, honesty and responsibility, always fulfilling their
contracts to the letter, was often able to secure better prices than
other contractors.

The business having increased to such an extent during the first three
years, it was decided to increase the capital stock and incorporate
the company. Accordingly the corporation was formed May 1, 1892, under
the name of The Webb-Jameson Co. The capital stock was $3,000, fully
paid. The stockholders consisted of C. A. Webb, Walter Jameson, Samuel
Smith and Mrs. Ida M. Bryant. At the first meeting of the stockholders,
officers were elected as follows: C. A. Webb, President; Walter
Jameson, Vice-President; Samuel Smith, Superintendent, and Mrs. I. M.
Bryant, Secretary and Treasurer, with the same officers as directors.
The business has gone on adjusting itself to the conditions of the
times, but never losing ground, not even in the trying times of 1893-4,
from which the country has not even yet fully recovered.

Notwithstanding the increased competition which each year brings forth,
The Webb-Jameson Company maintains their position in the lead. The
entire business operated under the management of C. A. Webb amounts to
from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars per year. This volume of
business necessitates the employing of twenty-five to thirty clerks
and workmen, and six teams to prosecute the work, and during the busy
season more are required.

The expenses of the company in wages, the purchase of new and improved
tools, repairs, taxes, advertising and insurance, amount to several
thousand dollars per year--all of which goes to show that they are
doing business according to the methods approved by the best and
most conservative business men of the opposite race. Much more might
be said of the business of The Webb-Jameson Company, but be it said
to their credit that many who seek business relations with them are
surprised to meet colored men. So great is their surprise, they often
make the ludicrous statement, "I thought Mr. Webb was a white man,"
and frequently add, "Well, who is Mr. Jameson?" thereby showing that
the general idea, without positive knowledge, is that The Webb-Jameson
Company is conducted by white instead of colored men.

Besides the business already mentioned, Mr. Webb is president of a
building and loan association, conducted entirely by colored men and
patronized entirely by the colored people. This enterprise thus far has
been very successful.




CHAPTER XX.

WALTER P. HALL.


I met Mr. Walter P. Hall for the first time in 1892, when giving my
first course of Illustrated Lectures on "Race Progress" in Philadelphia.

It seems that our subject never spent more than one year in school, on
account of his father's death. He had to help support his mother, and
other members of the family. From the age of seven years to sixteen
he worked very hard, and was his mother's main support. When he had
arrived at the age of sixteen, our country was then engaged in the
great civil war. Mr. Hall's love for his race, his patriotism and love
for our country prompted him to enlist as a soldier in the 24th United
States Regiment. At the close of the war he returned to Philadelphia,
where he secured work and assumed the responsibility of supporting
his mother, sister and younger brother. In 1871 he was employed by
Mr. Oscar Robbins in the old Fifth Street Market. His employer was
the largest poultry and game dealer in Philadelphia. Mr. Hall held
his position for over ten years. In a short while after leaving Mr.
Robbins, he started in business for himself. Having but little money,
and a great deal of opposition to contend with, it was for a while an
awful struggle, so much so, that he frankly admits, that had it not
been for his noble and loving wife he would on several occasions have
given up. True merit will always win in the end, and this proved true
in his case; for to-day, Mr. Hall has one of the largest wholesale and
retail poultry and game stalls in the 12th Street Market. He employs
four men, paying each of them the same salary he received when on a
salary himself.

[Illustration: WALTER P. HALL, PHILADELPHIA.]

One need only see how well his home is managed and kept, to fully
realize that it is a happy home. You also behold the power and
usefulness of a true and loving wife. In addition to his regular
business he finds time to do great good in church-work as a class
leader. He has filled that position for seventeen years, and has been a
trustee for fifteen years, and a Sunday-school teacher for five years,
having a large class of young men in whom he feels great interest. His
class he had to give up on account of being elected as Sunday-school
Superintendent. Then to add to his church-work he has been made
president of the Southeast Branch of the Y. M. C. A. For seven years
Mr. Hall has been the president of the Pioneer Building and Loan
Association of Philadelphia, which stands second to none of its kind in
the country. Many poor people have this association to thank for the
homes they live in to-day.

I think our readers need not be told that Mr. Hall is a busy man.
Rev. John M. Palmer, his pastor, says, "Few men so prosperous in
business, so comfortable in possession of this world's goods, show such
ardent devotion for church-work and active participation in all its
varied forms, as does Mr. Walter Hall, at the same time meeting the
requirements of the several positions which he holds. As class leader,
trustee, steward, and Sunday-school superintendent, he is always on
hand. Among the members of his class none are so poor but that he will
hunt them up when sick, to offer with them a word of prayer, and very
often giving them financial aid. One old member said, before passing
away, 'How he has helped me! God will bless him!'"


S. L. PARKER.

[Illustration: S. L. PARKER, LAUREL, DEL.]

Mr. S. L. Parker, whose picture I give here, belongs to that class of
men who are able to not only do what they have seen others do, but able
to create something out of almost nothing. Mr. Parker, when a mere
boy, began business for himself in the town of Laurel, Delaware, in
the month of May, 1885, with a stock of $19.50 worth of goods, bought
on credit of a friend. At that time for a colored man to attempt to
sell anything in Laurel, except gingerbread on the street corners, or
fish on the street, was looked upon with no little curiosity, for,
while Delaware is practically a Northern State, I was surprised to see
what a great amount of race prejudice existed in it. At first, Mr.
Parker was regarded as a lazy fellow, trying to get his living without
hard work. But we are glad to note that he was fairly well patronized
from the beginning of his business career. On account of his lack of
business knowledge he met with several reverses during his first three
years' experience; but, by constant efforts on his part, he gradually
gained a footing that is regarded by even his opposers as firm and
secure. So great has been his progress that last year his business
amounted to over $10,000. He now conducts a general grocery store,
manufactures ice cream for both wholesale and retail, having over
$1,300 worth of machinery for that use. He has two ice cream parlors,
which are well patronized by the very best people in the town, without
any discrimination whatever. He also handles the ice business of the
place, running two delivery wagons. He has packed this year 1,000 tons
of ice for his next season's trade. In addition to his business already
mentioned, Mr. Parker, during the season, ships large amounts of fruit
and produce. I am glad to add to what has been said of our subject, I
found, while in the town, that he had the respect and esteem of the
very best people.


H. A. TANDY.

H. A. Tandy is a successful contractor and builder of brick buildings.
Some of the largest brick structures in Lexington, Ky., where he
resides, have been built by him. Mr. Tandy has a partner whose name is
Bird. These very successful contractors have in addition to many other
large buildings been awarded the brick-work on the new court house that
is now in progress of building in the fall of 1898. The court house
is to be one of the finest and largest in the United States. Several
million bricks will be used to complete their part of the work. There
were many other bids put in for this work by contractors from all over
the State, and some from other States. The fact that the firm of Tandy
& Bird got the contract shows in what high esteem they are held by the
public in a business way. In order that my readers may fully appreciate
the importance of Mr. Tandy's work there are a few things that must
be considered. First, one must take into account the extreme and
uncalled-for prejudice against the colored man in a business way, both
North and South. Then all of the labor unions have refused to admit
colored members. That in itself would have much to do in discouraging
any colored man to try to compete with white men as contractors and
builders. Then, too, a colored man would find it harder to secure
skilled mechanics to help him complete the work after he had obtained
the contract. But all of the things referred to that would hinder a
colored man has been overcome by Mr. Tandy. He is a first-class workman
in his line, and by doing business in a straightforward manner he has
made men recognize his true worth as a man, regardless of color.

[Illustration: H. A. TANDY.]

Mr. Tandy has made himself both helpful and useful to his race, not
only by giving employment to many of them, but he has taken an active
part in church and Sunday-school work in the A. M. E. Church. He has
also been active in the Masonic Order, and is serving his second term
as State Grand Master of the Order known as U. B. F. and S. M. T. Mr.
Tandy is also connected with the Colored Fair Association of Lexington,
which is the largest thing of its kind in the world carried on by
colored people.


DANIEL PURDY.

[Illustration: DANIEL PURDY, CHESTER, PA.]

Mr. Daniel Purdy, of Chester, Pa., is another of the men I regard as
being worthy of special mention. He was born a slave, left Virginia
when a small boy in 1864, was brought to Washington, D. C., and was
bound out until he was eighteen years of age, with the understanding
that he was to have three months of schooling each year, and when he
arrived at his eighteenth year, was to have $100. But none of these
conditions were fulfilled by those who had taken the boy to raise.
So that at eighteen he found himself without education and without
money. From the time Mr. Purdy was eighteen years of age until he was
twenty, he worked at whatever he could find in the State of Maryland.
He then came to Chester, his present home. His first wages in Chester
were about $1.00 per day, but by close application to his work, he so
gained the confidence of his employers that they advanced his salary
from time to time until he received $18 per week, which was regarded
as very large pay for a colored man. In 1886, Mr. Purdy, after working
in the iron mills for several years, had saved quite a sum of money,
and decided to go into business for himself. He has built up a large
grocery trade and owns the building in which his store is situated,
also his residence. It is a fine brick structure on the corner of
two prominent streets. In addition to his grocery store he does a
general contracting business, employing during the summer months about
twenty-five men, owns six horses, and keeps two clerks employed in the
store. He tells me that the principal part of his trade is among the
white people. I did not press him as to what he is really worth, but
he said I could safely say $15,000, and that he does a business of from
$20,000 to $25,000 per year. Who will say that Mr. Purdy should not be
classed among the successful business men, both white and colored, and
especially when we take into consideration the fact that all of his
success has been accomplished without education or business experience.
I only wish some of our white college graduates would do as well.


DR. W. T. DINWIDDIE.

[Illustration: DR. W. T. DINWIDDIE.]

Dr. W. T. Dinwiddie, a young man who is engaged in the practice of
dentistry at Lexington, Ky., is a credit to the race. He is a native
of Danville, Ky., where he attended the public schools of that city,
afterwards taking a two years' course in the Knoxville College at
Knoxville, Tenn. Dr. Dinwiddie first learned the carpenter's trade,
and was regarded as a very fine workman; but, having a natural desire
to practice dentistry, he decided to enter Meharry Medical and Dental
College at Nashville, Tenn., and fit himself for the practice of
that profession. After a three years' course he graduated with high
honors, and was called by the President and Faculty of Meharry Dental
College to accept a professorship; and he took the chair of Prosthetic
Dentistry, which position he held with both success and honor, until
he resigned to enter into the practice of his profession at Lexington,
Ky., where he has by his most excellent workmanship and genial manners
built up a very large practice.




JAMES E. DIXON.

[Illustration: J. E. DIXON.]

Mr. James E. Dixon, of Providence, R. I., belongs to that class of
men who are helpful to my book in enabling me to demonstrate that the
colored people are entering all the professions and business walks of
life in which white men enter and succeed.

Mr. Dixon went to the North from Richmond, Va. Having lost both his
parents at a very early age, it left him to look after himself, just
at the time when a loving mother is most needed. What he has in the
way of an education was obtained at New Bedford, Mass. But having a
desire to travel, he accepted an offer to go to sea, which vocation
he followed for a number of years, rounding the globe at least seven
times, visiting one or more parts of every continent, inclusive of
Australia, New Zealand and a number of Islands in both the Pacific
and Atlantic Oceans. Finding it to his advantage, he hailed from an
English port, and stuck to the English Merchant Service. He secured
a mate's certificate, and worked himself up to a position as chief
officer of one of the finest sailing ships under the English flag. But
by an unfortunate accident in Calcutta, July 4, 1884, he lost his right
arm. He then returned to New Bedford, Mass., and after a hard struggle
against big odds, mastered telegraphy. The Western Union Telegraph Co.,
in recognition of his services in their main office, appointed him on
June 11, 1889, as manager of their branch office at the Parker House,
New Bedford, which place he held until he resigned June 3, 1893, to
take charge of his present position at Signal Tower on the main line of
the New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail Road, at Providence, R. I.
Some idea of his work and responsibilities is given in this statement.
In 1894, 34,284 trains passed this point, and the number is never under
this. The operator has to know and report the exact condition of every
train. In addition he has to give a signal to each train whether or not
it is all right to go ahead. The position held by Mr. Dixon is indeed
one of great responsibility, and should he fail to discharge his whole
duty in giving each train the proper signal, great loss of life and
property would result. So well has the company been pleased with his
work, that they offer employment to other members of the race when they
can show that they are properly fitted for duty.


PHILIP J. ALLSTON.

Mr. Philip J. Allston, of Boston, Mass., is holding what I consider
a very unique position. After leaving the public school of Boston he
accepted a position in the firm of Weeks & Potter, wholesale and retail
druggists and chemists of that city. He was first employed as a bottle
washer in 1878, but had not been in the establishment very long when he
had learned the business of manufacturing the famous articles sold by
that firm.

[Illustration: PHILIP J. ALLSTON.]

Mr. Warren B. Potter, of the firm, took great interest in Mr. Allston,
and when a vacancy occurred in the laboratory he asked him if he
would like to enter the laboratory. He said he would. After a year
the chemist went on a vacation, leaving Mr. Allston in full charge of
the laboratory. Mr. Potter being impressed with his work, asked him
if he could take charge of the new laboratory erected at 135 and 137
Columbus avenue. He said: "Give me a trial." In 1882 he took charge of
the laboratory with one man assistant. During this time he attended the
Star School for drawing, and the English Evening High School, receiving
instructions in the advanced branches. In 1889 Mr. Potter allowed him
to take a course in Analytical, General and Qualitative Chemistry,
as well as Practical Pharmacy, which he followed until Mr. Potter's
death, in 1892. The laboratory is, without dispute, the finest in New
England, ($10,000) ten thousand dollars being laid out in the summer of
1895 for repairs. Many appliances and improvements at Mr. Allston's
suggestion has been added, and many new devices for facilitating the
work. He has now five men under him, all members of his race, and all
receiving twice the amount in wages he received when he began work for
the company. He is well known among the pharmacists of Boston. In 1895,
a personal letter from Prof. Capen, of Tufts College, presented him
to every druggist in the city, he being a member of the committee on
finance which raised over ($23,000) twenty-three thousand dollars for
the Christian Endeavor fund.

In 1892 he married Miss Maggie A. Whiting, formerly of Virginia.

He has always been an active member of the A. M. E. Zion Church,
having held the following positions: Teacher in the Sunday school;
president of Clinton Literary Association; conductor of choir;
assistant superintendent; superintendent, and now a member of the Board
of Trustees. He is a member of the Suffolk Investment Association,
secretary of the Wendell Phillips Club and secretary of the Crispus
Attucks Club.

He has had many offers to fill other laboratories, but declined them,
as well as inducements to fill positions in the South.


DR. JARED CAREY.

Dr. Jared Carey, Chiropodist and Manicure, is a very interesting
character. My attention was called to him while lecturing in
Cincinnati. He is a native of North Carolina, but left his native State
before the war, coming to Ohio with some Quakers and free colored
people. In his early life he worked on a farm and engaged in all kinds
of hard work, and many a month got as pay only $6.00, which in those
days was considered large wages for a farm hand.

[Illustration: DR. JARED CAREY.]

Dr. Carey had a great desire to travel and took up the profession of
Chiropody in order that he might better his own condition and in his
profession visit some of the larger cities, which he did in both
the United States and Canada. I do not find many colored men engaged
as Chiropodists, and none that I have met are as well prepared to do
the work as Dr. Carey. He has several rooms handsomely fitted up for
his work at 43 Arcade, up-stairs, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Carey gives
employment to at least six people all the time. His patrons are among
the best people in Cincinnati. In addition to his regular work he
has written a book on Chiropody and Manicure. For quite a number of
years he has, in connection with his profession, conducted a school
of Chiropody, and quite a number of his pupils are engaged in their
profession in other large cities. Dr. Carey is assisted in his work by
his wife, who is quite an expert at both Chiropody and Manicure. She
is a very refined and pleasant lady, who is much thought of by their
patrons. Dr. Carey has by good management been able to purchase some
valuable property. He has been an active and useful member of the M. E.
Church. Any young person, either lady or gentleman, desiring to learn
Chiropody or Manicure would do well to write Dr. J. Carey at 43 Arcade,
Cincinnati, for full particulars as to terms. I am confident that in
most any large town a good Chiropodist could do well, and I should like
to see more of the colored people thus engaged.




CHAPTER XXI.

BANKS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, ETC.


There has been an impression in the public mind that colored men had
not the ability to successfully conduct such enterprises as Banks,
Insurance Companies and Building and Loan Associations. But this
impression is an erroneous one. I have come in contact with a great
many of the men who have embarked in the Banking, Insurance, and
Building and Loan Associations, and I have positive proof that they are
as successful as the average white man who starts out in these lines of
business.

In Washington, D. C., the colored people are successfully running a
Savings Bank. It is known as the "Capitol Savings Bank." Hon. John R.
Lynch is its president. While this bank was established by colored men,
I am pleased to inform my readers that its patrons are not confined
to colored people. The building occupied by the bank belongs to the
company, and is situated in the central part of the city. Dr. Wilder,
Mr. Bailey, Mr. McCary, and Henry E. Baker were all connected with the
bank when I visited it in 1893. I found these men all able, reliable,
and cultured gentlemen. Dr. Wilder as a physician can boast of a large
practice among both white and colored. Mr. Bailey owns very fine
property in the city. Henry E. Baker is in my estimation one of the
ablest young men it has ever been my pleasure to meet.

[Illustration: CAPITAL SAVINGS BANK. _Washington, D. C._]

The True Reformers, of Richmond, Va., was started by W. W. Browne,
at his own residence; and while I fully believe that Mr. Browne knew
just what he wanted to do, I don't think that even he foresaw the
gigantic affair the True Reformers have turned out to be. They have
their headquarters at Richmond, Va., in a splendid building of their
own, which is three stories high. In the upper story they have a very
excellent opera house; in the second lodge rooms, and in the first the
largest bank in the world owned by colored people. I shall now give
an account of the work of the True Reformers furnished me by Mr. W. P.
Burrell, General Secretary of the society:

"The Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers, founded by Wm.
W. Browne in Virginia in January, 1881, now numbers 1500 Fountains,
400 Rosebud Societies and 1000 Class Circles. The total benefited
membership is 50,000. The order operates in twenty-two States and holds
forty pieces of real estate, valued at more than $2,000,000. It has
paid in death benefits over $500,000 and more than $1,000,000 in sick
dues.

"Besides the purely benevolent part of the order there is connected
with it their Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain, with a capital stock
of $100,000 and deposits exceeding $200,000. The Reformers' Mercantile
and Industrial Association, organized April, 1900, now does a business
of $1500 a week. The Old Folks' Home Department, organized for the
benefit of the old members of the race, is in good shape. A farm of
624 acres has been bought and paid for, and arrangements are now being
pushed to put about 100 old colored people at the Home.

"In 1881 Rev. Wm. W. Browne started the order, being assisted by one
clerk and boy of all work, Mr. W. P. Burrell. At the death of Rev.
Browne, in 1897, he was succeeded by Rev. W. L. Taylor, who had for
twelve years been connected with the work as an organizer. While under
Mr. Browne the work succeeded beyond expectations, yet the growth
under Rev. Taylor has been phenomenal. The plans as laid by Rev. Browne
have been more appreciated since his death than before. Many new
features have been introduced, and the order continues to increase.

"The management is divided into departments, and at the main office
there are over eighty clerks employed.

"The following are the general officers of the organization: Rev. W. L.
Taylor, Grand Master and President; W. P. Burrell, General Secretary;
R. T. Hill, Cashier; E. W. Brown, Editor of the _Reformer_; J. C.
Robertson, Attorney and Chief of Real Estate; T. W. Taylor, Chief of
Old Folks' Home; Edward Ellis, Jr., Accountant.

"Under Rev. Taylor there are a large host of deputies and field
workers, at the head of whom are Rev. E. T. Anderson, Vice Grand Master
and Deputy General of the Southern Field; Rev. J. T. Carpenter, Deputy
General of the Western Field; Mr. C. A. Puryear, Deputy General of the
Northern Field.

"Since the organization of the bank, in 1888, there have been handled
by it $6,000,000. The Reformers' Hotel is conveniently located, is
steam-heated, and has first-class accommodations for 105 guests. It is
at the corner of Sixth and Baker streets, and a line of street-cars
pass the door.

"The work of the main office is commenced with prayer each morning; the
clerks assemble at eight o'clock."

[Illustration: REV. W. W. BROWNE.
_Founder of True Reformers._]

I am sure that my readers will agree with me that the account given by
Secretary Burrell, showing what has been done by the True Reformers,
is worthy of more than passing comment. It is a matter that should
demand the greatest interest and consideration of the colored people
in all parts of our country. To me there is one grand lesson taught
in the success of this order that all may profit by if they will, and
that is that colored people can successfully manage a large business
enterprise without any assistance or advice on the part of the whites.
Now comes the question that doubtless many will ask. If the colored
people can organize and push on with great success the bank, hotel
and wholesale and retail grocery store, as Mr. Burrell's statement
proves beyond a doubt, then why cannot colored people in all parts of
this country organize societies and stock companies for the purpose of
getting members of the race into all kinds of business, which would
not only help those engaged in the different enterprises, but it would
give the colored people as a race dignity and standing among the
better class of the whites that would prove helpful beyond my power to
express? Let us hope that the time is not far distant when we may count
with pride many such grand societies as the True Reformers.

[Illustration: TRUE REFORMERS' BANK BUILDING.]


ALABAMA PENNY SAVING AND LOAN COMPANY, LOCATED AT BIRMINGHAM, ALA., AND
CONTROLLED ENTIRELY BY COLORED PEOPLE.

It was opened for business the 15th of October, 1890. Rev. W. R.
Pettiford was elected President, which position he now holds, being
elected seven consecutive times. Mr. B. H. Hudson as Cashier has held
his position from the first. Mr. Peter F. Clark is Vice-President; to
these are added as Directors--Rev. J. I. Jackson, Thomas Benford, Prof.
F. S. Hayel, Rev. T. W. Walker, T. D. Davis and Rev. J. Q. A. Wilhite
who has charge of the Institution. These men sold stock sufficient to
be incorporated Feb. 16th, 1894, with a capital stock of twenty-five
thousand dollars, ($25,000) with the privilege of increasing to one
hundred thousand. There is deposited from one hundred thousand to one
hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars per year. They carry $28,000
on deposit now. The bank owns its business house of three story brick,
which is well tenanted and from this and other Real Estate, it has a
rental income of one thousand two hundred and ninety-seven dollars,
($1,297) per year. The Real Estate is worth over ten thousand dollars.
The bank has made rapid progress under the present management and
is now regarded as a fixture. It has four persons in its employ, a
good safe vault and a neat set of oak finish fixtures which makes the
appearance attractive.

This bank pulling through the panic and buying a nice three story brick
building on 20th street, has greatly strengthened confidence in its
business.


WASHINGTON COMMISSION AND SUPPLY CO.

The Washington Commission and Supply Company of Washington, D. C.,
started in 1897, is a movement on the part of a number of Colored men
of this city to control much of the trade among the Colored residents
and to give the youth an opportunity in business pursuits. It is a
co-operative concern, but somewhat restrictive as to membership. Those
who started the enterprise decided, in order to insure success, it
should be self-supporting. Thirty men of families, fifteen of whom were
clergymen and fifteen laymen, joined heartily in the enterprise. It
was estimated that these families would spend from $20 to $40 each for
table supplies. If these men would patronize their own interests, the
store would do a business from $600 to $1000 per month independent of
outside trade.

The store has been in operation but three months. Three clerks are
employed and five agents are at work. The store has sold a little
over $1800.00 worth of goods in these three months. Indications are
flattering for a larger business.

The last week before writing this, was the best in its history. It
contemplates opening branch stores all over the city. The authorities
believe in moving continuously. They believe it is only a matter of
time when through the pastors connected with them and through their
many friends they will control much of the trade of the 85,000 colored
people in the District of Columbia. They will add a boot and shoe
business.




CHAPTER XXII.

PATENTS AND OTHER BUSINESS INTERESTS.


Among the colored people we find a few inventors whose patents are
being used throughout this country. Mr. E. McCoy, of Detroit, Mich.
invented the "Lubricator," and it is being used on nearly all the
railroad engines in the United States. A large factory has been built
in Detroit for the manufacture of the Lubricator. The late Mr. D. F.
Black, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., had invented several patents, and was
before his death engaged in manufacturing a cocoanut food, and, I
understand, met with fair success. Rev. J. B. Randolph, of Trenton, N.
J., has taken out a patent on an apparatus for heating and cooking,
claiming that at least one-half of the fuel now used in heating a house
can be saved by the use of his patent.

Mr. H. Creamer, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has invented an automatic steam
pump that seems to have made a good impression among those who have
tested it, for it is very highly spoken of.

I shall mention in this chapter a few colored men I have met who are
engaged in various lines of business. Mr. W. A. Hazel, of St. Paul,
Minn., is a decorator and designer. Some of the handsomest window glass
used for churches is designed by Mr. Hazel.

Mr. Jas. H. Matthews, of New York City, has built up a very large
business as an undertaker. His patrons are among all classes of people.
He has been an active member of the Undertakers' Association of the
State. In fact, he has held responsible positions in the association.

It is quite a common thing to find colored men engaged in large
business enterprises in the South, where the colored population is
large. There are, however, a few North who are engaged in business to
a greater or lesser degree. In Trenton, N. J., I met Mr. J. W. Rodman,
who has built a splendid brick building, in which he conducts a very
successful grocery business, and I am sure the largest trade he has is
among the white people.

At Evansville, Ind., I found Mr. John Neville and Mr. McWhorter. These
gentlemen were conducting a fine barber shop and a magnificent Turkish
bath-house. It is the only place of its kind I ever found operated by
colored men. That was in 1893, and I suppose they are still engaged in
the same work.

Providence, R. I., has a colored man by the name of Richard Grant
who was in his younger days a slave in North Carolina. He began life
in Providence as a common day-laborer. He now owns and controls the
street-sprinkling business of that city, having five wagons made for
that special work.

Hopkinsville, Ky., can boast of one, at least, very successful colored
merchant in Mr. Peter Postel, who was once a slave. He owns a very
large brick building where his business is conducted, besides houses he
has to rent. I am unable to say what his wealth is, but I am told that
he is quite a wealthy man. While he has been deprived of an education,
he has given his children every advantage along that line.

Mr. E. Watts, of South Chester, Pa., has by hard work and close
attention to his business built up a good trade in the grocery
business. His brother, Mr. John A. Watts, who has passed away, began in
Chester at hard work, and when he died owned a fine grocery store and
several houses.

At Boston, Mass., one of the most successful wig-makers is a colored
man who conducts what is known as Gilbert & Co.'s Wig Manufactory. He
owns the establishment he learned his trade in. His name is Gilbert
Harris.

The late Thomas H. Boling, of Philadelphia, Pa., operated quite a
wholesale and retail store where choice flour, soaps, starch, and a
general line of groceries were sold. In speaking of his success he
said: "When I started this business I did not have as many hundred
dollars as I can muster thousands now." And yet he did not try to
impress me with the fact that he was wealthy. But it is generally known
that Mr. Boling has been a very successful man.


JOSEPH H. DICKINSON.

[Illustration: J. H. DICKINSON.]

Joseph H. Dickinson was born June 22, 1855. He attended school in
Detroit, Mich. At the age of fifteen he enlisted in the United States
Revenue Service. At seventeen years he entered the employ of the
Clough & Warren Organ Co., where he now is, and in whose service some
of his best work has been accomplished. In 1880, he married Miss Eva
Gould, of Lexington, Mich., and two years after formed a partnership
with his father-in-law, known as the Dickinson-Gould Organ Co., for
the manufacture of parlor and chapel organs. This firm sent to the
New Orleans exhibition a large chapel organ as an exhibit showing the
progress of the colored people in manufacturing. Prior to this, for
the Centennial Exposition in 1876, Mr. Dickinson helped to construct
a large combination organ for the Clough & Warren Organ Co., which
received a diploma and medal. In 1886, Mr. Dickinson returned to the
employ of Clough & Warren and his chief work lies in superintending the
building of the higher grade of organs.

Mr. Dickinson is a practical workman of an inventive turn of mind,
a good draughtsman and designer, and an expert in all kinds of
organ-building. A few years ago he built and finished two organs for
the royal family of Portugal. A pipe organ built on new methods is one
of the products of the Clough & Warren Co., and is pushing its way
into many places. The Christian Church, St. Matthews P. E. Church,
and the Church of the Sacred Heart, all of Detroit, have organs
built on this method, that were designed by and constructed under
his superintendency. Last year, against the competition of Eastern
manufacturers, this company secured the contract for putting in a large
pipe organ for the Tabernacle Methodist Church, at Camden, N. J. The
case for the same was also subject to competition, and the design of
Mr. Dickinson was chosen in preference to that of Eastern designers and
architects.

The reed organs of Clough & Warren are celebrated and are largely made
so through the ideas and supervision of the subject of this sketch. He
is now engaged in perfecting a reed organ that possesses some of the
qualities and tones of a pipe organ--a tubular pneumatic action--that
bids fair to be very successful. An organ on this plan is being used
at the Sunday evening services at the Detroit Opera House.

Mr. Dickinson possesses good, strong, sterling characteristics.


TRADE UNION CORPORATION OF WINSTON-SALEM, N. C.

On May 3, 1897, a few persons, led by Rev. John T. Martin, joined
themselves together for the purpose of buying and selling groceries,
etc. About sixty dollars was collected and paid over to Rev. Martin,
who was made business manager.

A room belonging to the business manager was rented and the money
invested in goods. Thus was formed the foundation of the successful
organization known as the Trade Union.

In the fall a lot was purchased on the corner of Eighth and Lendon
streets, and a building 20 × 40 feet was erected thereon. The following
summer a great addition was made to this structure, and now the Trade
Union building contains an area of 3,200 square feet of floor space,
and is now the largest store building owned by colored people in the
city of Winston-Salem.

On January 9, 1899, a charter was granted by the Secretary of State,
and the Trade Union became a corporate body, with a capital privilege
of ten thousand ($10,000) dollars; also rights and powers which enable
the Directors to deal in all manner of real and personal property. On
the second anniversary of this company the assets amounted to more
than $3,000.

It is the purpose of the Union to open a savings bank in connection
with their business. Mr. J. S. Hill, a most excellent man, is now
president of the company.


THREE PROMINENT ARTISTS.

While in Boston, Mass., in 1895, I met Mr. Nelson A. Primus, who
painted that wonderful picture (18 × 24 feet), "Christ Before Pilate."
This gentleman is certainly a remarkable artist and his portrait work
is received in Boston alongside of the productions of the very finest
artists of the city.

Mr. M. E. Bannister, of Providence, R. I., painted the picture called
"Under the Oaks," that was awarded the first gold medal at the great
Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1876. His painting was
sold for $1,500.

Prof. H. O. Tanner has painted a picture called "The Banjo Lesson,"
that sold for $800.

The colored race has produced a great many exceptionally fine artists,
and it is in the realm of art that the highest possibilities of any
race are indicated.

Prof. Tanner has recently sold to the French Government for the
Luxembourg Gallery a large picture representing "The Raising of
Lazarus." Mr. Tanner is the second American artist who has sold one of
his paintings to the French Art Gallery.




CHAPTER XXIII.

COLORED EDITORS AND JOURNALISTS.


There are published in the United States to-day between 250 and 300
newspapers and periodicals devoted to the interests of the colored
people. The prices of these, compared with the many other articles of
luxury for which they pay so freely, are ridiculously low; and yet no
field of labor for educated men and women of the race is so perplexing
and encumbered with so many difficulties.

But among those who have made a success of journalism are the men and
women mentioned in this chapter.


T. THOMAS FORTUNE.

Mr. T. Thomas Fortune, the best-known journalist, both among white and
colored people, is really the pioneer among the colored journalists
of the United States. He has labored as an editorial writer on the
_New York Sun_ for a great many years, and he is the only colored man
whose opinions on important questions are published at length in white
newspapers. His work on the _Times-Herald_, of Chicago, Ill., and other
great dailies, has been the most creditable, and has been the subject
of more liberal discussion than that of any other writer.

[Illustration: T. THOMAS FORTUNE.]

Mr. Fortune's stand for right and justice to all classes of American
citizens has endeared him to every man and woman who appreciates fair
play. He is in Negro journalism what Charles Dana, Esq., is to white
journalism--a leader. He has been publishing the New York _Age_ for a
great many years, and that paper is recognized to-day as the official
organ of the colored people. Wherever Mr. Fortune goes he is always
sought out by the leading newspaper and professional men and accorded
a royal reception. I regard him as the most valuable man in his line
living to-day.


E. E. COOPER.

Edward Elder Cooper is a man of Southern birth, full of vim, energy,
enterprise and pluck. He is the founder of the Indianapolis _Freeman_,
which attained a national reputation under his skilful management some
years ago. He removed to Washington, D.C., in 1892, after disposing
of his interest in the _Freeman_, where he established the _Colored
American_, an eight-page illustrated newspaper. Mr. Cooper's strong
point is as a business manager. He has had phenomenal success with
the _Colored American_, among the solid business men of Washington,
who know it as a safe, reliable and useful advertising medium. One
of the great features of the _Colored American_ is its portraits of
eminent Negroes, which it publishes from week to week; this feature
is a big card for the paper and is greatly appreciated by the masses.
The _Colored American_ is national in its scope and work and publishes
the news from every section of the country. A competent force of Negro
compositors and correspondents, which include some of the best writers
among the race, make the _Colored American_ a very desirable and
welcome weekly visitor in the homes of thousands of the best people of
both races.

[Illustration: E. E. COOPER.]

Mr. Cooper is comparatively a young man; he is not yet forty. He has,
through his paper, popularized more struggling Negroes, who have
been hitherto unknown, than any other publisher of a race paper. The
subscription to the _Colored American_ is two dollars per annum. It is
published at 829 7th street N. W., Washington, D. C., in one of the
most central business locations in the capital city. In connection with
his newspaper, Mr. Cooper keeps on sale at his counting-room all of
the most prominent Negro journals published, and has also undertaken
to cater to the wants of those desiring Negro literature. All the
latest books, pamphlets, public addresses of colored authors, writers
and speakers can be obtained from the _Colored American_ office on
application. And there are many good books by Negro authors and by
others friendly to the race which may be found on his shelves. This
paper recently issued a mammoth edition of 50,000 copies which is said
to be the largest edition ever issued by a Negro publisher. Mr. Cooper
is popular with the members of the profession, and never hesitates to
lend a helping hand to his struggling brethren of the press. He is a
genial, open-hearted, open-handed, rollicking good fellow, who makes
friends easily and who knows how to keep them. He exercises a sort of
hypnotic influence over prospective advertisers who generally come his
way. The _American_ is strictly a newspaper in the broader sense of
the term _newspaper_, and is conscientiously devoted to the moral and
material uplifting and advancement of the race whose necessities have
called it into being. He deserves great credit for his courage and his
unyielding faith in the possibilities of Negro journalism; and he will,
in the future, command the admiration of his race, which has now but
small appreciation for the sacrifices, and self-denial, of the brave
men who fight its battles through the _media_ of the Negro press of the
country.


PROF. W. S. SCARBOROUGH, LL. D.

[Illustration: PROF. W. S. SCARBOROUGH, LL. D.]

Prof. Scarborough is the most distinguished scholar of the race to-day.
His experience in teaching has been large and varied. Clear in
explanation, polished in language and bearing, profound in scholarship,
always the perfect gentleman, he has impressed himself upon many
young minds as few young men have been able to do. Add to these
characteristics a most laudable ambition, an unflinching steadfastness
of purpose, unwavering uprightness and straightforward devotion to
principle, and we find wherein lies the power which has enabled him
to attain the heights and win the fame which is undeniably his. But
his has not been the mere routine of a teacher's life; he has been an
incessant student, an indefatigable worker. During 1880 he prepared
his "First Lessons in Greek," which was published by A. S. Barnes &
Co., in June, 1881. This book, the first of the kind ever written by
a colored man, has received the highest encomiums from the press,
while its merits have been recognized and acknowledged by some of the
finest scholars in the land. It has also received the most practical
recognition--that of adoption--by schools and colleges, both white and
colored.

Mr. Scarborough is a regular contributor to _Harper's Magazine_, the
_Forum_, and the _North American Review_.


REV. H. T. JOHNSON, D. D., PH. D.

Rev. Henry Theodore Johnson was born at Georgetown, S. C., October 10,
1857.

His early life was spent in the public schools of his native town until
his fourteenth year.

He has attended the State Normal School at Columbia, the South Carolina
University, Howard University at Washington, D. C., and Lincoln
University in Pennsylvania.

His "Elements of Psychic Philosophy," a clear cut but brief treatise
on mental science, and his "How to Get On," an admirably written and
highly instructive series of essays, are two of his books. Having been
called to the chair of mental and moral philosophy by the trustees of
Allen University in South Carolina, he taught but a short time, when he
resigned for a more inviting field in Tennessee. Under the auspices of
his church, he here founded the institution known as Slater College.
In connection with his school presidency, he was presiding elder of a
large district for three years.

[Illustration: REV. H. T. JOHNSON, D. D., PH. D.]

His "Divine Logos" was written and published in 1891. As a unique
Christological treatise it was spoken of in the highest terms. Some
idea of the recognized ability of Dr. Johnson is indicated by his
having been clothed with the editorial responsibility of the leading
organ of his church and race at the session of the General Conference
in May, 1892. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred on him
by Paul Quinn College, while that of Doctor of Divinity was granted
by Wilberforce University. Dr. Johnson has already exerted an abiding
influence upon his race.


REV. J. W. SMITH.

Rev. J. W. Smith was elected at the last General Conference of the
A. M. E. Zion Church, which met in Mobile, Ala., in May, 1896, as
the Editor of the _Star of Zion_, which is the official organ of the
church. As a writer Mr. Smith is an able one, and I am sure that the
general feeling is that a wiser choice could not have been made. The
paper is published at Charlotte, N. C., where the Zion Church owns a
splendid property known as their publishing department. I have known
Rev. Smith for years, and I am glad for the good of the connection that
he has been chosen as their editor.

He succeeds Rev. Geo. W. Clinton, D. D., who was elected to the
Bishopric at the last General Conference.


WM. H. STEWART.

Wm. H. Stewart is a native of Louisville, Ky. He has always taken an
active part in all public affairs, and is an active member of the
Baptist Church. He is the superintendent of the Sunday-school of the
5th Street Baptist Church and leader of its choir, which is one of the
best in the country. Mr. Stewart is chairman of Board of Trustees of
State University, located in Louisville, Ky., and is secretary of the
National Baptist Convention; he has held this position for many years.

[Illustration: WM. H. STEWART.]

Mr. Stewart also has charge of the Sunday-school work of the State, for
the American Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia. He is manager
and publisher of the _American Baptist_, which is the oldest and most
extensively circulated newspaper in the denomination. Mr. Stewart
holds other useful places, where he is helpful to the race. He owns a
beautiful home, and has some very refined and cultured children. His
daughters, at least two of them, have taken a course in art, and they
paint beautifully; most of the fine paintings in his home were painted
by them.


L. J. COPPIN.

[Illustration: REV. L. J. COPPIN, D. D.]

Rev. L. J. Coppin, D. D., who for eight years was editor of the _A.
M. E. Church Review_, is a bright literary light. He is the author
of quite a number of interesting books. The following are the titles
of some of them: "The Sunday School: Its Work and How to Do it;"
"In Memoriam: Katie S. Campbell Beckett;" "The Relation of Baptized
Children to the Church," and a "Key to Scriptural Interpretation."

Rev. Coppin is a graduate of the P. E. Divinity School of Philadelphia,
Pa. He was elected editor of the _A. M. E. Church Review_ in May, 1888,
and re-elected in 1892. The work has been admirably done under his
editorship. He now gives way to his successor, Prof. H. T. Kealing, B.
S., A. M., who was elected at the last General Conference.


WILLIAM H. ANDERSON.

Mr. Anderson is one of the bright literary lights among the young men
of the race. His work, with that of Mr. Stowers, a novel, entitled
"Appointed," is a very creditable showing of his ability as a writer.
His first work as a writer was done when he was employed as the mailing
clerk of the _Detroit Free Press_. After his graduation from the city
high school he entered the employ of Newcomb, Endicott & Co., to carry
parcels. He has been working for this company ever since. He now has
charge of the books and credits for the carpet department of Newcomb,
Endicott & Co. No goods come into his department unless checked by him
and none go out without his signature.

[Illustration: W. H. ANDERSON.]

Mr. Anderson's editorials, written for the _Plaindealer_ on social and
economic questions, were read with great interest. He was also a part
owner of the _Plaindealer_, which was a magnificent paper.


J. E. BRUCE.

John Edward Bruce (_Bruce Grit_) was born a slave in the State of
Maryland. He attended school in the District of Columbia, at the close
of the war, for a period of three months, when he became a student in
the University of Adversity, where he acquired distinction as a racy
and trenchant writer. He has been a regular contributor to newspapers
and special correspondent since 1874.

[Illustration: J. E. BRUCE.]

He is the author of a well-written pamphlet, entitled "The Blot on
the Escutcheon," which treats of the lynching evil in the South.
Has written numerous short stories for race papers, more or less
meritorious, and which show him to have the journalistic instinct.
He has a larger acquaintance with public men than any other Negro
newspaper correspondent in America, and has been the recipient of
hundreds of autograph letters from eminent men concerning public
questions affecting the Negro. Among them are such distinguished men
as Wm. E. Gladstone, Roscoe Conkling, Levi P. Morton, John A. Logan,
Geo. F. Hoar, J. S. Clarkson, A. W. Tourgee and many others. Mr. Bruce
has possibly as fine a collection of scrap-books as one would wish
to see. Among them (there are three of them) is one which contains
over a thousand columns of matter from his own pen, the result of his
labors since 1874. Another contains important correspondence valued
for the autographs of the distinguished writers; in this scrap-book
is contained a letter from Mr. Gladstone, with his autograph, the
autographs of Grover Cleveland, Chester A. Arthur, Cardinal Gibbons,
Baron H. Von Lindern, of Amsterdam, Holland, James Russell Lowell,
John Hay, W. W. Astor, Frederick Douglass, James Freeman Clark, R.
G. Ingersoll, William McKinley, J. N. Bonaparte, Geo. F. Edmunds,
Geo. William Curtis, William Mahone, William E. Dodge, Bishop
Phillips Brooks, James Theodore Holly, Bishop of Hayti, Hon. John W.
Foster, Rev. Alexander Crummell, Hon. Edward Wilmot Blyden and other
distinguished personages. Mr. Bruce is a voluminous and witty writer,
and represents over a dozen of the best Negro newspapers now published.


JOURNALISM IN PHILADELPHIA.

In noting the journalistic efforts of the colored people, Philadelphia
can proudly boast of having eight live newspapers and two magazines
that reflect real credit on the colored race. The first to be
considered is the _Weekly Tribune_, one of the very few colored papers
in the United States that is actually making money. It was founded in
1884 by Mr. Christopher J. Perry, and has steadily advanced as the
years rolled on, until now it is established on a solid financial
basis. It is bright, crisp, newsy, and the most popular newspaper among
the colored people in the city.

The _Standard-Echo_ began publication in 1883, with Mr. Abel P.
Caldwell as managing editor. The _Echo_ has enjoyed all the experiences
of the average Negro journal.

The _Sunday Journal_, a new feature in Negro journalism, was founded by
the late Robert G. Still, in 1895. After his death Messrs. Hart & Gee
assumed the management of it, and through their combined efforts it is
rapidly nearing the goal of success.

For workmanship, bright and crisp news, the _Sunday Herald_ has no
superior. It was established by T. Wallace Swann, January, 1896. The
paper has struck the public's vein, and bids fair to outstrip some of
the older journals.

The _Christian Banner_ is a Baptist paper, and is largely circulated
throughout the United States. Rev. G. L. P. Taliaferro is the editor.


REV. C. H. PHILLIPS, D. D.

Rev. C. H. Phillips is the editor of the _Christian_ _Index_, which is
the official organ of the C. M. E. Church. Their publishing house is
located at Jackson, Tenn., where they own their building and a splendid
printing plant. Dr. Phillips was born at Milledgeville, Ga., in 1858.
He is a graduate from Central Tennessee College, and has been prominent
since then both as teacher and pastor. Rev. Phillips has made the
_Index_ one of the leading church papers published in the country, and
the church may well be proud of him.


ADAMS BROTHERS.

Remarkable types in Negro journalism are Cyrus Field Adams and John
Quincy Adams, of the Chicago _Appeal_. The _Appeal_ is regarded as one
of the best weekly newspapers published.


HON. H. C. SMITH.

A musician, a composer, and an editor, a composite body, is Hon. Harry
C. Smith, editor and publisher of the Cleveland _Gazette_. He is a born
artist, a deep thinker, liberal and fair-minded. A valuable acquisition
to Negro journalism.


HON. JOHN C. DANCY.

[Illustration: HON. J. C. DANCY.]

Hon. John C. Dancy, editor of the _A. M. E. Zion Quarterly_, published
at Wilmington, N. C., in the interest of the A. M. E. Zion Church,
has held many responsible positions in the State and Nation. His
ability as an editor, and as an orator, has already been acknowledged
by the most reliable newspapers in this country. Mr. Dancy is well
known throughout the United States and Europe. His career has been
remarkable, and his attitude in defence of human rights is stern and
unsympathetic.


WILLIAM HOWARD DAY.

[Illustration: REV. WM. HOWARD DAY, D. D.]

Rev. William Howard Day, financial secretary of the African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church, is one of the brightest men in the United
States. He has had, in addition to a fine collegiate training, the
advantage of much travel and experience. Mr. Day has the honor of being
the only colored man I know of who holds just such a position as he
now occupies. In 1891, he was elected superintendent of the public
schools of Harrisburg and Steelton, Pa.; he has held the position up
to this time (1896) with credit to himself, and has so conducted the
school work that the general verdict is in his favor. Men holding
this position are only elected for one year at a time; so this makes
his position all the more interesting, from the fact that he has been
re-elected each year since 1891.

I wish to call the attention of my readers to a very important feature
of his work, which I feel is a great advantage to the colored people.
He has been able to unite the schools, not only in allowing white and
colored scholars to attend in the same building, but he has succeeded
in getting white and colored teachers as well. Mr. Day has been a
regular contributor to the daily press of Harrisburg, and weekly and
monthly periodicals throughout this country.


REV. I. B. SCOTT, A. M., D. D.

Rev. I. B. Scott, A. M., D. D., who was president of Wiley University
at Marshall, Texas, was at the last General Conference of the M. E.
Church, held in Cleveland, Ohio, in May, 1896, elected as editor of the
_Southwestern Christian Advocate_, which is published in the interest
of the Colored members of the M. E. Church.


THE GEORGIA BAPTIST.

Published by the Georgia Baptist Printing Co., Augusta, Ga., began
publication in October, 1880. Has come out regularly every week.
Rev. W. J. White has been editor from beginning, and also business
manager. The plant is worth about $3,000, has one large cylinder and
two first-class job presses, employs the year round twelve to eighteen
hands, all colored, and prints minutes for about sixty religious
bodies, conventions and associations.


GEO. L. KNOX.

Mr. George L. Knox, the publisher of the _Freeman_, at Indianapolis,
Ind., has given the colored people one of the best illustrated weekly
papers ever issued in this country. Mr. Knox is a hard worker, and the
_Freeman_ is doing a most creditable work.


WALTER H. STOWERS.

[Illustration: W. H. STOWERS.]

Mr. Walter H. Stowers is a city clerk in Detroit, Mich. He is one of
the bright minds among young colored men. He is Deputy County Clerk
for Wayne County, Mich., his special duty being clerk of one of the
Circuit Court rooms. He has also been admitted to the bar, and is a
member of the law firm of Barnes & Stowers. He was at one time one of
the editors of the _Plaindealer_. Mr. Stowers and Mr. Wm. Anderson
wrote "Appointed," an American novel, which has attracted considerable
attention.


MR. CHARLES STEWART.

Mr. Stewart has for years done work on white daily papers as a regular
reporter. At the last General Conference of the A. M. E. Church, which
met in Wilmington, N. C., Mr. Stewart took all of the conference
reports, and the _Wilmington Messenger_ has this to say of him:

"The _Messenger_ gave full and readable reports of the proceedings of
the conference, and we take this opportunity to commend Mr. Charles
Stewart for the excellent and satisfactory manner in which he made the
reports for us. It was a laborious piece of work, and all who read the
reports can testify that the work was efficiently and cleverly done.

Mr. Stewart is a native of Kentucky, and began newspaper work on the
Louisville _Courier-Journal_ in 1880. Subsequently he was engaged by
the Chicago _Inter-Ocean_ and worked as a reporter on that paper from
1885 to 1892, since which time he has been on the editorial staff of
the Chicago _Dispatch_. He is said to be the only Negro holding such a
position in journalism.


THE WOMAN'S ERA.

[Illustration: MRS. J. ST. P. RUFFIN,
_Editor of The Woman's Era_.]

_The Woman's Era_, published at Boston, Mass., is strictly a woman's
journal. It is issued monthly, and Mrs. Josephine St. P. Ruffin is
its editor. The _Era_ is the organ of the Federation of Afro-American
Women. It is beautifully illustrated, and the literary matter is of the
very best quality.

_The Woman's Era_ is a much-needed publication, and to my mind is
filling a long-felt want. I am personally acquainted with Mrs. Ruffin
and I am sure she is well suited for the work she has in hand as the
editor of the _Woman's Era_. We need more such bright intellectual
lights as Mrs. Ruffin to penetrate the dark clouds of prejudice that
hang over this country North and South.


I. GARLAND PENN.

This young man has written and published several books. His first book,
"_The Afro-American Press_," gave short sketches of the colored editors
and writers. The book had large sale all over the country. Mr. Penn
is at the head of the Colored schools of Lynchburg, Va., his native
town. He was appointed chief commissioner of the Cotton States and
International Exposition, at Atlanta, Ga., for the Colored people's
department. He is a very young man to have accomplished so much and we
feel sure that he has before him a bright and useful future.


PROF. E. JOHNSON.

Prof. E. Johnson, of Raleigh, N. C., now a teacher in the law
department of Shaw University, has written the only school history now
in use in Colored schools, which makes any reference to what Colored
people have done. I feel that Mr. Johnson did a grand work to get
his book into the public schools of North Carolina, and I only wish
such books could be in use in all Colored schools, for all over this
country, Colored children are being taught out of books which make no
reference whatever to what progress has been made by the race. It is
very hard to stimulate race pride without race information.


PROF. H. T. KEALING, B. S., A. M.

[Illustration: PROF. H. T. KEALING, B. S., A. M.]

The present editor of the _A. M. E. Church Review_, who takes Dr.
Coppin's place, is indeed a unique character and has filled some
important positions as an educator and writer. He was elected Assistant
Principal of Prairie View State Normal School of Texas in 1883. While
here he attracted much attention throughout the country by an impromptu
speech before the National Educational Association in Topeka, Kan.,
which the _New England Journal of Education_ pronounced the brightest
and wittiest piece of oratory in the whole session. He contributed in
1886 to _The Century Magazine_, of New York, for which he was well
paid. He at one time was supervisor of the Colored schools in Austin,
Tex. The position was created by the board for him. I know of no other
such case. For four years he was President of Paul Quinn College at
Waco, Tex. While there he added several new features to its curriculum.
During his vacations he spent his time in the South and Northwest as
a lecturer, and is now known as one of the best platform speakers in
the country regardless of color. His lecture, "The American Jonah,"
is unique, witty, forcible, and a popular favorite. As an editor he
has had some experience before and has been a regular contributor to
_Inter-Ocean_, _N. E. Journal of Education_, _Texas School Journal_,
_Galveston News_ and many other leading papers of the country. I am
sure the _A. M. E. Review_ has fallen into good hands. Mr. Kealing was
elected to his present position in May, 1896, at Wilmington, N. C.


PAUL L. DUNBAR

whose book of poems brought forth high praise from the Hoosier poet,
James Whitcomb Reilly. His book also attracted the attention of William
Dean Howell who wrote a splendid review of it in _Harper's Magazine_,
in which he said, "Mr. Dunbar's poems have given me a much higher
estimate of the Negro."




CHAPTER XXIV.

CHURCHES.


I shall not attempt to give a history of the various denominations with
which the colored people are identified. I simply desire to set forth
a few facts which indicate that they have, by vigorous efforts, made
the same wonderful progress along church lines that they have along
educational, industrial and professional lines.

The colored people are represented in nearly every denomination known
in the United States.

The Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Methodists Episcopal,
African Methodists Episcopal, African Methodists Episcopal Zion,
Colored Methodists Episcopal, Congregational Methodists Episcopal, the
Presbyterians, and other denominations are very well supported by the
colored people, and the church work has been a great help to the race
since 1865.

I cannot give the amount of space to this phase of the so-called Negro
problem that it deserves; but in order that my readers may get some
idea of the development of the race along religious lines, I offer here
a brief sketch of the Bethel A. M. E. Church, of Philadelphia, Pa., for
this is a fair representation of church work among the colored people
throughout the United States. And what is said of Bethel will apply to
all other denominations in proportion to their membership.


BETHEL A. M. E. CHURCH.

[Illustration: THE BEGINNING OF AFRICAN METHODISM.]

In November, 1787, the colored people belonging to the Methodist
Society of Philadelphia (St. George's) convened together, in order to
take into consideration the evils under which they labored, growing out
of the unkind treatment of their white brethren, who considered them a
nuisance in the house of worship, and even pulled them off their knees
while in the act of prayer and ordered them to the back seats.

For these and various other acts of unchristian conduct, they
considered it their duty to devise plans to build a house of their
own, that they might worship God under their own vine and fig-tree
unmolested.

The causes which produced Bethel were race prejudice on the one
hand and an innate desire of the heart for religious liberty and
determination on the other to be content with nothing less than an
opportunity for the exercise of the fullest Christian manhood in the
house of God.

Hence the organization in 1787 (November) of Bethel Society, the oldest
colored church organization in America. In 1793, Richard Allen, a
preacher and leading spirit among his brethren, proposed the erection
of a house of worship on his own ground, at his own expense, which
being acceded to by his brethren, the first church edifice was erected
on the present site of Bethel, Sixth street below Pine, Philadelphia,
Pa., which house of worship was duly consecrated and opened for divine
service by Francis Asbury, the then Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, at the invitation of Richard Allen. And the house was named
Bethel notwithstanding the severest persecutions at the hands of their
white brethren for a number of years. Bethel continued to grow in
usefulness and influence, both locally and generally. So that in the
year 1816 the spirit of Allen and his coadjutors had become so powerful
that the hour was ripe for the organization of a connection to carry on
the work everywhere so well begun by Bethel in Philadelphia.

Rev. Richard Allen now became to the connection what he had been for
twenty-five years to Bethel--the acknowledged and honored leader,
as the first Bishop of the connection, Bethel remaining the pivotal
centre, around which the spirit of religious liberty and Christian
manhood revolved; ever extending its influence until, like in the
family, all over the connection it came to be known and called by the
endearing name of "Mother Bethel."

[Illustration: RICHARD ALLEN.]

This first Bethel served to meet the demands of the growing
congregation up to 1841, when it was found expedient to rebuild, and
June 2, 1841, the corner-stone of the Second Bethel Church was formally
laid with appropriate ceremonies by Rt. Rev. Morris Brown, the acting
Bishop, Bishop Allen having died in 1831. This church was completed in
the following year at a cost of $14,000, the first church having been
valued at about $10,000.

[Illustration: BETHEL A. M. E. CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
_Projected and Built under the Pastorate of Rev. C. T.
Shaffer, M. D., D. D._]

A most remarkable feature of this church has been, that notwithstanding
the fact that Union, Little Wesley (now Murray Chapel), Zion Chapel,
and finally Allen Chapel, were all colonies from this church, all of
which are now flourishing organizations, Bethel has maintained such a
hold on the community as to carry a congregation commensurate with the
capacity of the building, through the century of her history, and for
more than half a century sustained a membership ranging from 1,500 to
1,600 strong.

For some years the congregation, and especially the more advanced
thinkers, had felt the necessity of a new church, the old one being
both unsightly and unsafe, though no practical efforts had been put
forth in that direction until 1889.

The Rev. C. T. Shaffer, M. D., was appointed to the pastorate of
Bethel, May, 1888. He at once set about unifying and organizing, for
the purpose of rebuilding. He soon had plans laid, the church inspired
with larger hope, so that the people had a mind to work. And, during
his first year, had struck a blow for the new Bethel by conducting a
rally, the money being banked for the building.

[Illustration: REV. C. T. SHAFFER, M. D., D. D.]

On his return from Conference, and entering his second year, on the
first Sunday of June, he held another rally, the last service in the
old Bethel. The next Sabbath worship was held in Horticultural Hall,
on Broad street, adjoining the Academy of Music. The old Bethel was
torn down, and, on August 8, 1889, at 9:15 A. M., ground was broken
for the new building, excavations made, and on November 7, 1889, the
corner-stone of the new Bethel was laid, with imposing ceremonies, by
the Rt. Rev. H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., assisted by the pastor, C. T.
Shaffer, D. D., and associate pastors of the city and vicinity, from
which time there was hardly a day lost by the workmen until the church
was completed, which was done and formally dedicated to the worship
of Almighty God, October 23, 1890, and a congregation equal to the
capacity of the new Bethel returned to continue the worship of God on
this sacred spot which they have held in undisputed possession for one
hundred and three years as a church site, and the first piece of ground
ever bought, and now held for church purposes, by colored people in the
United States, and on which three churches have been erected by the
congregation: the first in 1793; the second in 1841-2; and the third in
1889-90. This building is heated throughout with steam, and is one of
the most completely modern in all its appointments, solid and massive
in construction, of this great city of churches, and has not a superior
in the whole connection of which it is the mother.

The cost of this building was about $50,000 and it is valued to-day at
$85,000.

The Revs. W. H. Heard, D. D., Consul General to Liberia, and W. D.
Cook, D. D., have served with marked success as pastors since the
erection of the New Bethel, and the Rev. Theo. Gould, who served this
church very successfully twenty years ago, is its present pastor.

The connection of which this church is the mother has fourteen Bishops,
eleven general secretaries of departments, 4,365 itinerants, and 15,885
local preachers, full membership, 543,604, probationers, 35,287; total
membership, 599,141. Church edifices, 4,575, valuation, $8,650,155;
parsonages, 1,650, value, $75,950; schools, colleges and universities,
41, value of buildings and grounds, $756,475; grand total valuation of
property, $9,482,580.

What hath God not wrought!

Is not this the fulfilment of that prophecy, "And Ethiopia shall
stretch forth her hand unto God?"

Verily it would seem so.

Dr. C. T. Shaffer, the builder of Bethel Church, has a very interesting
history. I am only sorry that space will not admit of a full account
of his life. He is a splendid type of manhood that shows what can
be done by push and energy. Dr. Shaffer is a native of Ohio; in his
younger days he learned and worked at the plastering trade and in
that way earned money enough to educate himself and a younger sister.
He graduated at Berea College. He also had the honor of serving his
country as a soldier in our late war. As a pastor, he has held the
largest and best appointments in the connection. While he was pastor
of different churches in Philadelphia, he took advantage of the
opportunity and read medicine, graduating with honor in a class of 208
in 1888 from the Jefferson Medical College, Phila. He has never engaged
in the practice of his profession, although it would pay him far better
than church work, but he feels called upon to serve his church. At the
present time he is general corresponding secretary and treasurer of the
church extension department. This department of church work he created
and has been twice elected to fill his present position.

Before closing this chapter I wish to mention the names of the general
officers of the A. M. E. Church, in order that my readers who may not
be familiar with the great work of the "African Methodist Episcopal
Church" may form some idea what a work is being done, also a better
knowledge of the men who stand at the head of the connection. I only
wish I had the space to give a short history of each of the men whose
names will be mentioned. To begin with, the church has fourteen
Bishops, who are all able men, and we head our list with the senior
Bishop, H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., who is a native of South Carolina.
He was never a slave. I regard Bishop Turner as one of the most
remarkable men I have ever met. He was the first colored man appointed
a commissioned officer by President Lincoln, his appointment was as
Chaplain of the First United States Infantry during the late war. When
mustered out he was recommissioned a Chaplain in the regular service
of the United States Army by President Johnson. He has been a member
of the Georgia Constitutional Convention, and has served two terms as
a member of the Georgia Legislature, was twice appointed to positions
of honor by President Grant. He now represents the Liberian Government
in the United States. He at one time was the manager of the publishing
department of the A. M. E. Church, and was consecrated a Bishop in
1880. So it is very easy to see that Bishop Turner has led a busy and
useful life. I have been personally acquainted with the Bishop for
years, and I am only one of thousands who know him to love him. In the
State of Georgia, where Bishop Turner resides, I found him very much
thought of by the leading white people.

Bishop W. J. Gaines, D.D., is a native of Georgia and at one time was
owned by that famous Toombs family. His first work in the church was in
a very humble way, that of member. As a preacher he did a great deal
for the church in Georgia. He wrote a book on African Methodism in the
South that was both interesting and useful. It was through the efforts
of Bishop Gaines that Morris Brown College was established at Atlanta.
He was elected as Bishop in 1888.

Bishop B. W. Arnett, D.D., is a native of Pennsylvania and is entirely
a self-made man. He, like Bishop Turner, has held some high positions
of honor. He was at one time a member of the Ohio Legislature and while
serving his district in that capacity he introduced a bill, known as
the Arnett Bill, that wiped out the old and infamous black laws that
were a disgrace to the State of Ohio. Just before he was elected Bishop
in 1888, he served the church as financial secretary. He is the father
of several very intelligent sons. Is also very active in Christian
Endeavor work.

Bishop B. T. Tanner, D. D., is also a native of Pennsylvania. He began
life as a barber, and has held every position from lay member up to
the Bishopric. He was editor of the _A. M. E. Review_, and at one time
editor of the _Recorder_, the church organ. Bishop Tanner was elected
in 1888 as Bishop. Few men in this country have been harder students
than Bishop Tanner; he has a magnificent library, and one can see at
once that he has taken advantage of his fine collection of books, and
is regarded by the connection a very able man.

Bishop A. Grant, D.D., is a native of Florida and was born a slave and,
what makes this man more remarkable, was born in an ox-cart, while his
poor mother was being taken from one plantation to another where she
had been sold. Some men are born to lead others, and it would seem that
Bishop Grant was one of them. I have never met any man who had such
a magnetic influence over his hearers. I had the pleasure of being
present at the A. M. E. Missionary Jubilee held at Ocean Grove, July
24th, 1896, when the Bishop presided, and his address to the thousands
who heard it was a gem. He was elected Bishop in 1888.

Bishop M. B. Salter, D.D., was elected to the Bishopric in 1892. He is
a native of South Carolina, and he too was born a slave. His owner was
a watchmaker, and he taught the trade to Mr. Salter when he was a young
man; that of course made him a valuable piece of property. And when
freedom came it was a great blessing to Mr. Salter to have a trade.
Bishop Salter grew in the church from the walks of a member up to the
Bishopric, and is much loved by men under him.

Bishop Jas. A. Handy, D.D., was elected Bishop in 1892. He is a native
of Maryland, and I am told never had any schooling except what he got
in night school. He is regarded as a very able man, and is a great
lover of education. He at one time represented the church as its
financial secretary, and when in the ministry was pastor of some of
the largest churches in the connection.

Bishop B. F. Lee, D.D., is a native of New Jersey. He went when a young
man to Wilberforce University, Ohio, to obtain an education, but being
poor, he had to work his way through. In thirteen years from the time
he went there as a student he was elected President of the University.
He was for quite a number of years editor of the _Christian Recorder_.
Bishop Lee was made a Bishop in 1892 and I am sure the church never did
a better thing for its interest than to elect him. He is not only a
Christian, but a magnificent scholar.

Bishop J. C. Embry, D.D., who was elected as Bishop in 1896, was one of
the most profound scholars in the church. For twelve years he managed
the A. M. E. Book Concern in Philadelphia, Pa. He only lived about two
years after his election.

Bishop J. H. Armstrong, D.D., was elected as Bishop in 1896. For four
years he had filled the office of financial secretary with great credit
to himself. He lived about three years after his election.

Bishop W. B. Derrick, D.D., was elected Bishop in 1896 by a very large
vote. For eight years he had been secretary of Missions. Dr. Derrick
was known far and wide as a powerful orator, and has been associated in
great meetings with some of our greatest white leaders. I give here a
beautiful tribute he paid to the American flag, on one occasion.

"The American flag has been washed, and cleansed from the foul stain of
Negro slavery until it is to-day among the most beautiful of national
emblems. The stars represent the stars of heaven; the blue the sky;
the white a higher Christian civilization; the red the blood of the
various nationalities who fought to make the principles of the Republic
more lofty and enduring. It is our purpose to continue agitating until
beneath its silken folds shall stand as equals before the law the
inventive German, the wily and industrious Irishman, the trafficking
and cunning Jew, the musical and wandering Italian, the polite
Frenchman, the hospitable and tenacious Englishman, the granite-minded
and scholarly Scotchman, the pagan Chinese, the unconquered Indian, and
last, but not least, the industrious, kind-hearted and forgiving Negro."

Bishop Evans Tyree, D.D., was elected as Bishop in 1900. He was born
Aug. 19, 1854, of slave parents, and was twice sold as a slave. His
education was received at Central Tennessee College. Bishop Tyree never
held a general office before his election as Bishop. He received a very
large vote--in fact the largest ever given any one man.

Bishop M. M. Moore, D.D., was elected to the bishopric in 1900. For
four years he had served the church as financial secretary. He was a
native of Georgia. He was elected Bishop in May, 1900, and died in
November of the same year.

Bishop Charles S. Smith, D.D., who is a native of Canada, was
elected as Bishop in 1900. He was for seventeen years manager of the
_Sunday-School Union_, a department of church work he created. As a
scholar he is regarded as one of the best in this connection.

Bishop C. T. Shaffer, M.D., D.D., was elected as Bishop in 1900. He
had been for eight years secretary of the church extension department.
Splendid mention of Bishop Shaffer will be found on page 383 of this
book.

Bishop L. J. Coppin, D.D., who was for eight years editor of the _A. M.
E. Church Review_, was elected as Bishop in 1900. Mention of his life
and work can be found on page 359 of this book.

Rev. H. B. Parks, who is a very able man and was for years a prominent
pastor, is now secretary of the missionary department.

Rev. R. H. W. Leak, of North Carolina, is now business manager of the
A. M. E. Publishing House, 631 Pine street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Rev. P. A. Hubbard is secretary of the financial department of the
church located at Washington, D.C.

Prof. John R. Hawkins, A.M., secretary of education, is mentioned on
page 132 of this book.

Rev. W. D. Chappelle, D.D., of South Carolina, is secretary of the
_Sunday-School Union_, at Nashville, Tenn.

Rev. H. T. Johnson, D.D., Ph.D., editor of the _Christian Recorder_, is
mentioned on page 356.

Prof. H. T. Kealing, editor of the _A. M. E. Church Review_, is
mentioned on page 373.

Rev. G. E. Taylor is editor of the _Southern Christian Record_, located
at Atlanta, Ga.

Rev. John T. Jenifer, D.D., is Secretary of the Preachers' Aid Society,
located at Baltimore, Md. I regret that, for want of space, I am not
able to give a more extensive account of the general officers, who are
all worthy men, and most of them have been prominent pastors, holding
charge of some of the largest churches in the connection.

The next largest body of Methodists among Colored people is the A. M.
E. Zion Church, which is organized on the same principle as the A. M.
E. Church, with an able force of Bishops. They also have a publishing
department, located at Charlotte, N.C.

Bishop J. W. Hood, D.D., stands as the leading spirit of the Zion
connection. He has done a great work for the church and the race at
large. He is the author of two books, in the way of a book of Sermons
and a history of the Zion Church.

Bishop C. R. Harris, D.D., is a graduate and was, before his election
to the Bishopric, connected with educational work at Livingstone
College, also general steward of the Zion Church.

Bishop C. C. Petty, D.D., is also a graduate and before he was made
Bishop was one of the leading pastors.

Bishop I. C. Clinton, of South Carolina, has been one of the most
useful men in the connection as a church builder and organizer.

Bishop A. Walters, D.D., was, when elected, the youngest Bishop in the
country. He is a very energetic and hard worker for the cause of his
Church.

Bishop T. H. Lomax, of N.C., is also known as a church builder. At
their last General Conference at Mobile, Ala., in May, 1896, they
elected three new Bishops in the persons of Rev. George W. Clinton,
D.D., Rev. J. B. Small, D.D., and Rev. J. Holliday.

Rev. Clinton I have known for years, and I regard him by far one of the
ablest men in the connection, both as a speaker and writer.

Rev. J. B. Small is one of the best scholars in the country, and should
have been a Bishop long ago.

William Howard Day, who is mentioned in another part of my book, is
their financial secretary, and Rev. J. W. Smith, also mentioned, is
editor of the _Star of Zion_.

Bishop J. W. Alstork was elected as Bishop at the last General
Conference, held by the A. M. E. Zion Church in 1900, at Washington,
D.C. Rev. Alstork is regarded an able man.




CHAPTER XXV.

THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL.


The Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School was
organized during the month of July, 1895, through the earnest effort
of Dr. N. F. Mossell. Its purpose is to give larger opportunities for
the training of colored girls as nurses, this class of learners in this
profession being to a large extent excluded from the other training
schools in Philadelphia. Girls of no race will be debarred from the
course of training offered in this hospital. This institution is open
to all without regard to race or creed.

The building is located at 1512 Lombard street. The money necessary to
equip and furnish the building has been raised through the efforts of
the management and four lady auxiliaries. The special need of the work
at the present time is support for free beds. The hospital has been in
operation four months, and its success up to the present date (April,
1896) shows both the feasibility and necessity for its establishment.
The class of nurses in training are progressing in efficiency. There
have been admitted a number of cases that have been successfully
treated.

[Illustration: Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training
School.]

The wards are light and airy, and are equipped with the most recent
appliances for hospital work; they are entirely aseptic, the
furniture consisting of enamelled iron and glass; the walls and
floors have been properly treated to preserve this condition, the
operating room is a perfect gem. The out-patient department is
thoroughly equipped for the various clinics. The drainage, plumbing and
ventilation are of the best. One fact worthy of notice is the hearty
co-operation in the work shown by both the best elements of colored
and white citizens, through contributions and subscriptions, also
by the patronage of all entertainments given for the benefit of the
hospital. Desiring to receive patients from all parts of the country,
the management feel that, as the work is not localized, the support
should not be, and in many cases friends at a distance have shown their
kindly interest by liberal donations. As the hospital stands, it offers
a notable proof of self-reliance and self-sacrificing devotion.

Mr. Jacob C. White, the able principal of the Robert Vaux School,
is President of the Board of Management; Mr. S. J. M. Brock,
Vice-president; Mr. Henry M. Minton, Secretary; S. B. Henry, Esq.,
Treasurer; N. F. Mossell, M.D., Chief of Staff; Miss Minnie M. Clemens,
Head Nurse and Matron; A. A. Mossell, Esq., Solicitor.

Medical Staff--Consulting Surgeons: John B. Deaver, M.D., Thos. S.
K. Morton, M.D.; Consulting Physicians: James Tyson, M.D., Roland G.
Curtin, M.D.; Consulting Gynecologists: B. F. Baer, M.D., Hannah T.
Croasdale, M.D.; Attending Surgeons: J. P. Tunis, M.D., N. F. Mossell,
M.D.; Attending Physicians: E. C. Howard, M.D., Wm. H. Warrick, M.D.,
James T. Potter, M.D.; Attending Gynecologists: Caroline V. Anderson,
M.D., Theo. A. Erck, M.D.; Assistants: George R. Hilton, M.D., D. W.
Ogden, M.D.; ophthalmologist, H. F. Hansell, M.D.; Pathologist, A. A.
Stevens, M.D.; Dermatologist, J. Abbott Cantrell, M.D.; Dental Surgeon,
Wm. A. Jackson, D.D.S.; Pharmacist, Henry M. Minton, Ph.G.

The first benefit for the hospital was given February 26, 1896, at the
Academy of Music, Philadelphia, with the "Black Patti" as the star. The
ticket-selling on this occasion broke the record for concerts given at
the Academy. Amount raised, over $3,000; amount cleared, $1,600. This
institution is without doubt the greatest memorial yet established in
honor of that great friend of humanity, Frederick Douglass.


NATHAN F. MOSSELL, A.M., M.D.

Dr. N. F. Mossell, of Philadelphia, was born in Hamilton, Canada,
in July, 1856. He entered Lincoln University in 1874, graduating in
1879 with honor, delivering the philosophical oration and receiving
the Bradley medal for excellence in physical sciences. In the fall
of 1879 he entered the Medical Department of the University of
Pennsylvania, being the first colored student to enter that department
of the University. And after bearing the taunts and scoffs of his
fellow-students during the first year, he won their confidence and
respect and at graduation was photographed with his class. His grade
was sufficient at graduation to call forth the following comment from
Dr. James Tyson, Secretary of the Faculty, and the same appeared in the
_Medical News_ of May 20, 1882.

[Illustration: N. F. MOSSELL, A.M., M.D.]

"Dr. Mossell had graduated with an average higher than three-fourths of
his class"--the comment being called forth during a discussion as to
the necessity for separate colleges for colored students.

He was the first colored member admitted to the Philadelphia County
Medical Society, February, 1888. He has for a number of years secured
support for from one to two students in the Medical Department of
the University. The appointment of Mrs. Minnie Hogan, the first and
only colored graduate of the University Hospital, was secured by Dr.
Mossell. Since his graduation he has built up a lucrative practice.

He has systematized the beneficial departments of the various secret
orders of which he is a member.

He is deservedly one of the most popular men among his race in the
city. His watchword, enunciated in one of his addresses, while yet a
stripling student in the college, was then and is yet, "He who spares
his toil spares his honor."


J. C. WHITE, JR.

Mr. Jacob C. White, the president of the Board of Directors of the
Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School, is better
known to the colored people of Philadelphia as the "pioneer educator."

From the year of his graduation from the Institute for Colored Youth,
in 1856, Jacob C. White, Jr., has been continuously engaged as a
school teacher, his nearly forty years of service having been spent
in two schools. For thirty years he has been principal of the Robert
Vaux School, and in that position has won the highest esteem of all
connected with public school work.

[Illustration: J. C. WHITE.]

Mr. White comes of one of the oldest and best-known colored families
in Pennsylvania. His maternal great grandfather, one of the Bustil
family, which intermarried with Lenni Lenape Indians, was a baker
in Washington's army. His grandparents were all Philadelphians, and
his father was secretary of the very first organized society of the
famous "Underground Railroad," which aided slaves to escape to Canada.
Robert Purvis was president of the organization. As a lad young Jacob
assisted in caring for the fugitives, who came here in a wretched
condition, and he tells many an interesting story of those who sought
escape from slavery, a score of whom would be hidden at one time in the
garret of his father's house.

Mr. White has always been actively identified with movements for the
betterment of the colored people. He is a member of the Teachers'
Institute, Annuity and Aid Association, Educational Club and the
Teachers' Beneficial Association.


DANIEL H. WILLIAMS, M.D.

Dr. Daniel H. Williams, one of the best physicians in this country,
white or colored, of Chicago, Ill., now of Washington, D.C., was born
January 18, 1858, at Hollidaysburg, Pa. He attended the Janesville,
Wis., High School, and was graduated from Janesville Classical Academy
in 1878. Commenced the study of medicine at Janesville in 1880, under
Surgeon-General Henry Palmer; attended three courses of lectures at
Chicago Medical College, from which he was graduated March 28, 1883,
his education having been obtained through his own exertions, his
parents being unable to render financial assistance. In May, 1883, he
located permanently in the practice of medicine in Chicago.

[Illustration: DANIEL H. WILLIAMS, M. D.]

Dr. Williams is a member of the American Medical Association; Illinois
State Medical Society; Chicago Medical Society; Ninth International
Medical Congress. He was a surgeon to South Side Dispensary, Chicago,
1884-92; surgeon to Provident Hospital, 1890-93; physician to
Protestant Orphan Asylum, 1884-93; member of Illinois State Board of
Health, 1889; reappointed in 1891. He is also a member of the Hamilton
Club, of Chicago. Was appointed surgeon in charge to the Freedmen's
Hospital, Washington, D. C., February 15, 1894.




THE PROVIDENT HOSPITAL.

Provident Hospital, Chicago, was instituted in January, 1891, by a few
gentlemen of that city, who saw the need of an opening for colored
physicians, as well as for colored women. At that time there was not
a hospital in the United States that admitted colored men as resident
physicians or internes. There was no place, in fact, that a colored
man could get a good practical experience so necessary for the proper
equipment of the young men in the practice of medicine and surgery; as
well to colored women, there were no institutions where they could be
admitted into the higher scientific work of nursing. There may have
been one or two exceptions in which persons of very light color, who
could not possibly be detected, were admitted into one or two of the
Eastern institutions for the higher education of women as nurses.

Each year, Provident Hospital has graduated a class of ladies who
have scattered themselves throughout the United States; and in every
instance they are succeeding and doing commendable work, demonstrating
at once the necessity of opening a field of usefulness to colored women
who are debarred from every avenue of employment on account of color.

Provident Hospital, since its inception, has been blessed in having
as its supporters sincere and honest helpers, white and colored, in
Chicago. It has done, already, a good work, and is on the road to
prosperity. In March, 1896, ground was broken for the erection of a
new building, the like of which will not be seen anywhere in the West.
Fifty thousand dollars has been donated by a philanthropic gentleman,
in Chicago, for the erection of the building, his only request being
that his name be not mentioned. This building is to be erected in
the southern part of the city, and with all the modern improvements.
Another gentleman, Mr. H. H. Kohlsaat, one of the persistent and
faithful friends of the colored people in this country, gave the
ground on which the building is to be erected. Mr. George H. Webster,
the partner of Mr. Armour, of Chicago, and a member of the Board of
Trustees, is a sincere and sympathetic friend of the colored people in
their efforts to upbuild and maintain Provident Hospital. The gentlemen
composing the Board of Trustees, a mixed board of Chicago's prominent
citizens, are untiring in their endeavors to promote the interests of
the institution.


THE FREEDMEN'S HOSPITAL.

Within the past eighteen months, Freedmen's Hospital, Washington, D.C.,
has been entirely reorganized. In the fall of 1894 the reorganization
began by instituting a training school for nurses. A competent
superintendent was had, and reorganization, reform and improvement went
hand in hand until the present time. Now, there is a training school
of forty nurses, all colored, selected from hundreds of applicants
and from every State in the Union. The work of the training school is
commended by everyone who takes the trouble to study it. Marked change
in every department of the institution was manifested by the advent
of these intelligent women, who brought new life and a new future to
the hospital. Instead of remaining a political institution, it was
converted, at once, into a scientific institution for the education and
upbuilding of the more progressive members who have selected this as
their life-work. You cannot overestimate the good that will come from
the education of the young men and women in this institution.

In connection with other features, a corps of internes has been added.
These are young graduates of medical colleges who are giving a service
of twelve months of practical work in the several departments of the
hospital. At the expiration of this service, they receive certificates
which commend them at once to the people in the communities in which
they are to reside.

In keeping with other lines of progress, an ambulance, with all the
modern improvements, has been added to the service within the last
year. This ambulance is complete in all its appointments, with the
quickest emergency service to any part of the city. This feature of
hospital work is one that has been neglected by colored people in this
country, and one which they are particularly adapted to succeed in.

It is a marvel to the observer of human affairs that this institution
has existed, for over twenty years, receiving an annual appropriation
of over fifty thousand dollars, without an ambulance in its service,
in a city like Washington, where a great many of the people are poor
and depend upon charity in cases of sickness and distress. This
ambulance makes as many as sixty or seventy-five emergency calls per
month, furnishing a rich field of surgical study to the internes and
nurses in the institution.

I have given in this sketch but a brief outline of the noble work of
Dr. Williams. I can testify to his ability as a physician, and I take
great pleasure in so doing. He is one of the cultured and polished
gentlemen who reflect credit on the race.


HOME FOR AGED AND INFIRM COLORED PERSONS.

The Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, in West Philadelphia,
Pa., is one of the best institutions of the character in the United
States. The society, under whose auspices the home was founded, was
organized September 28, 1864, in a private dwelling on South Front
street.

The first Board of Managers and principal promoters of this most
noble charity was composed of Friends and colored persons, whose
circumstances gave them the confidence of and influence in the
community, and was elected in the month of November, 1864, whose names
are as follows: Officers; Dellwyn Parrish, President; Stephen Smith,
Vice-President; Marcellus Balderson, Secretary; Samuel R. Shipley,
Treasurer; William J. Alston, William Still, William H. Bacon, Abram
Fields, Joshua Brown, Maurice Hall, Israel H. Johnson, Joseph M.
Truman, Jr., Henry Gorden, Clayton Miller, Jacob C. White, Sr., and
John S. Hills. Female members: Sarah M. Douglas, Helen Johnson, Rachel
T. Jackson, Anna M. Laws, Catharine M. Shipley, Priscilla H. Heniszey,
Sarah Parrish, Mary Jeanes, Eliza Harris, Alice Hudson, Grace Mapes and
Mary Shaw.

[Illustration: Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, Philadelphia,
Pa.]

The original constitution was adopted on the 25th day of the tenth
month (October), 1864, the preamble of which most clearly reveals the
noble impulses and sentiments which burned upon the altar of these
noble hearts, and actuated this noble band of true disciples of the
blessed Christ to such splendid deeds.

The preamble reads as follows: "For the relief of that worthy class
of colored persons who have endeavored through life to maintain
themselves, but who from various causes are finally dependent on the
charity of others, an association is hereby organized under the name of
'The Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons.'"

The number of persons admitted to the home within the first thirteen
months, or up to the twelfth month, 1865, was (21) twenty-one, and all
women, representing the States of New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, West Indies and
far-away Africa; their ages ranging from (70) seventy to (102) one
hundred and two years, which clearly indicates how nobly they had
struggled on in the race of life against all odds.

The receipts for the establishment and maintenance of the home during
the first fiscal year were $6,033.80.

[Illustration: REV. STEPHEN SMITH.]

The work of the home was conducted in the house at 340 South Front
street until 1871, when, through the munificence of Rev. Stephen
Smith and his wife, colored persons of considerable means, one acre
of ground on the corner of Girard avenue and Belmont avenue was given
the Board, together with a magnificent four-story brick building,
valued at $40,000. The inmates of the home on Front street moved to
West Philadelphia. This building was opened June 29, 1871, since which
time it has stood there as an ornament to the city and an enduring
and fitting monument to the memory of its noble donors, and with
ever-widening influence, power and helpfulness, standing for and
fulfilling all that is involved in the term "Home" for that worthy and
deserving class of Aged and Infirm Colored Men and Women.

Mr. Edward T. Parker, of Philadelphia, who died October 3d, 1887, gave
$85,000 to the institution for the purpose of erecting the annex to the
old building. Additions have been made to the home in recent years at a
cost of $85,000, thus making the entire plant cost upward of $150,000,
with capacity for the maintenance of a family of near 200 persons, and
giving us a home at once the most complete, extensive and far-reaching
in its benefits of any institution of its kind in the city, and for the
class whom it is designed to bless, possibly in the world. The total
number cared for by the home has been: men, 116; women, 427; total,
543, while the present number in the home is 138; or the whole family,
help and all, 160; the maintenance of which requires an expenditure
monthly of from $1,500 to $1,600, or near $20,000 per annum. With
the enlarged facilities come greatly increased demands and largely
increased outlays.

The chief need now, therefore, is more means, that the Home may
always be able to extend the hand of help to worthy applicants, and
comfortably maintain this large and most interesting family of worthy
aged and infirm colored persons, up to the full capacity of the
building to accommodate.

This noble charity has been supported largely by members of the Society
of Friends, they constituting the principal portion of the Board of
Managers. Yet the colored people themselves have contributed to this
institution between $175,000 and $200,000 since its establishment.

[Illustration: EDWARD T. PARKER.]

The present Board of Management consists of sixteen men and fifteen
women, with a co-operative committee of nineteen women, all of whom are
most earnest and self-sacrificing in behalf of the Home and the family
of old people.

Officers of the corporation are: Wm. Still, 244 South Twelfth street,
President; Joseph M. Truman, 1500 Race st., Vice Pres.; Walter Penn
Shipley, 404 Girard Building, Treas.; Thos. H. McCollin, 1030 Arch
st., Secty.; C. T. Shaffer, M.D., 1821 Camac st., Chairman of Board of
Managers.

Communications addressed to any one of the above-named gentlemen will
receive prompt, courteous, and careful attention.




CHAPTER XXVI.

PROMINENT COLORED WOMEN.


As a splendid type of noble womanhood I know of no better subject than
Dr. Hallie Tanner Johnson.

[Illustration: DR. HALLIE TANNER JOHNSON.]

She is a daughter of Bishop B. T. Tanner, of the A. M. E. Church, who
is justly proud of her.

Not only as teachers have colored women labored for the race, but they
can be found in most of the professions also. The subject in question
saw and felt the need of lady physicians, and, acting upon her feelings
in the matter, she read medicine at the Women's Medical College in
Philadelphia, and graduated with high honor. There being an opening
at Tuskegee Institute for a resident physician, Dr. Johnson went to
fill the place. But before she could practise medicine in the State
of Alabama, she had to stand an examination before a State Board of
Examiners. She has the distinction of being the first lady, white or
colored, to receive a certificate to practise medicine in the State
of Alabama. It is with the greatest regret that I call my readers'
attention to the fact that since the first edition of my book came out
Dr. Johnson has passed away. She died at her home in Nashville, Tenn.

There are other interesting characters among colored ladies who have
read and are now engaged in the practice of medicine, one of whom is
Dr. Caroline V. Anderson, of Philadelphia. Her experience has been very
interesting and useful, for her practice has been about evenly divided
between white and colored people, and among the whites she has been
called into some of the very best families. I regard Mrs. Anderson as
one of the most intellectual women I have ever met. She is a daughter
of Mr. William Still, who wrote that most interesting book, "The
Underground Railroad."

Among the earliest to graduate as lady physicians from the Women's
Medical College, of New York, is Dr. Susan McKinney.

Dr. Alice Woodby McKane has lately organized a nurses' training school,
at Savannah, Ga. Dr. Georgia L. Patton, who is a graduate of Meharry
Medical College, now enjoys a good practice at Memphis, Tenn.

Miss L. C. Fleming, who worked for five years in the Congo, has
just finished her medical course at the Women's Medical College of
Philadelphia, and, I am told, returned to Africa.

Dr. S. B. Jones, who is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and
has done good work as the Resident Physician at Spelman Seminary,
Atlanta, Ga., and since had a splendid practice at St. Louis, Mo., is
successful.

Colored women have also gone into the practice of dentistry.

In the profession of law we have three colored ladies who have
graduated. Mrs. Mary Shadd Cary, of Washington, D.C.; Miss Florence
Ray, of New York; and Miss Ida Platt, of Chicago. The first named
is well known as a brilliant speaker. Miss Ida B. Platt is the only
representative of the race now practising at the bar.

I have found quite a number of colored women engaged in various
branches of business. At St. Johns, New Brunswick, Mrs. Georgia
Whetzell controls the entire ice business of that city, giving
employment to 75 men each winter, packing ice.

At Milford, Del., I found Miss Serrenna Palmer, who began business in
1889 with a cash capital of $7, which she invested in notions. She has
had wonderful success, and in addition to a good-sized stock of goods
she has paid for two houses.

[Illustration: MRS. VICTORIA EARLE MATTHEWS.]

Among the highly cultured and brilliant women of America I present
here a portrait of Mrs. Victoria Earle Matthews, who has done grand
service for the race as President of the Women's Loyal Union, of New
York and Brooklyn. Mrs. Matthews began life in Georgia as a slave, but
came North when quite young, and made the very best of her educational
advantages.

Mrs. Matthews is now doing a splendid work in what is known as the
White Rose Mission, which was the outcome of a desire on the part of
a few Christian women to create sympathy and practical interest in
the isolated condition of the Afro-American woman and girl in New
York City. At the urgent solicitation of Rev. H. G. Miller, of Mt.
Tabor Presbyterian Church, the neighborhood surrounding East 97th
Street was decided upon as a basis of work. Mr. Winthrop E. Phelps
offered free use of rooms for a year. A small company of Afro-American
women volunteered regular service and contributions of furniture. For
more than eighteen months it has successfully conducted Neighborhood
Visiting, Mothers' and Young People's Meetings, also classes in Sewing,
Dressmaking, Cooking, and Kindergarten.

While I am making mention of a few writers, I will call your attention
to Mrs. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who has been a writer of ability
for many years. She is also a well-known temperance worker, and at
one time had charge of the colored work for the W. C. T. U. among
colored women. The literary effort of her life is the beautiful story,
entitled, "Iola Leroy; or, The Shadows Uplifted."

This book is indeed a gem and should be read by every one. I am
confident if such books written by Colored writers could be read by
the leading White people of our country, much good might be done in
breaking down the awful prejudice which now exists. Her book received
many very fine press comments from the leading White papers of this
country; for want of space I can only give one:

"The story of 'Iola Leroy' is well worth reading. The plot is natural
and the characters are to be found in everyday life. The dialogue is
exceedingly clever, full of pathos, humor, and authentic. The plot
covers periods before, during, and after the war, and gives abundant
opportunity for changing scenes and dramatic effects. Mrs. Harper has
never written to better effect nor with a more worthy object in view.
The book will greatly increase her popularity as a writer and prove
vastly beneficial to the cause of her brethren."--_Public Ledger,
Philadelphia._

[Illustration: MRS. FRANCES E. W. HARPER.]

The Chicago _Inter-Ocean_, New York _Independent_, _Daily Evening
Telegraph_, Philadelphia, and Boston _Herald_ all spoke in the highest
praise of "Iola Leroy."

Oberlin College, in Oberlin, Ohio, has turned out quite a number of
colored graduates who have done good work for humanity. Among them is
Mrs. A. J. Cooper, who is connected with the High School at Washington,
D.C. I wish to speak more especially of her book, "A Voice From the
South," by a black woman of the South. It is just what Mrs. Mossell
says--"One of the finest contributions yet made toward the solution of
the Negro problem." One gets in reading her book a sense of her strong
intellectual and spiritual power. As an educated woman we have none
better, white or colored. I have had, for some time, a picture of Mrs.
Cooper in my illustrated lecture on "Race Progress," and while I was in
England her face created quite an interest among the cultured people
who attended the lectures.

Mrs. N. F. Mossell is a native of Philadelphia, Penna. She is an
ex-pupil of the Robert Vaux Grammar School. Since her sixteenth year
she has been a constant contributor to the _Christian Recorder_,
_Standard Echo_, and other journals at a later date. As editor of
the Women's Departments of the _New York Age_ and the _Indianapolis
World_, Mrs. Mossell became widely known. Becoming the wife of Dr. N.
F. Mossell, during the year 1880, she assisted him for two years in the
publication of the _Alumni Magazine_. For seven years she worked on
three of the most influential dailies in Philadelphia, _The Press_,
_Times_, and _Inquirer_.

[Illustration: MRS. N. F. MOSSELL AND HER DAUGHTERS.]

Some of her best literary efforts have appeared in _A. M. E. Review_,
_A. M. E. Zion Review_, _Our Women and Children_, and _Ringswood's
Magazine_. In the past year Mrs. Mossell has been the editor of the
"Open Court," an ably-edited department of the _Woman's Era_.

"The Work of The Afro-American Woman," her first attempt at authorship,
was given an exceptionally kindly reception. An edition of 1,000
copies was soon exhausted. Many of the finest comments ever received
by any race author fell to the happy lot of this lady. Such journals
as the _New York Independent_, _Chicago Inter-Ocean_ and _Springfield
Republican_ spoke in high terms of her publication.

A talented young woman, and a noteworthy representative of the
educated, cultured and refined class of colored women in the United
States to-day, is Miss Alice Ruth Moore, of New Orleans, La.

[Illustration: MISS ALICE RUTH MOORE.]

As a gifted author, Miss Moore is entitled to unusual consideration,
while her versatility in other directions proves that she is a worthy
type of progressive womanhood.

She was a quick, apt scholar during her school days, and developed
such talent for composition that she was encouraged to devote special
attention to English literature and the classics, and to what end her
efforts in this direction were expended is plainly noticeable in the
excellence of her style of writing. The warmth and vigor of imagination
which characterizes all of her writings, inspires and helps one to
appreciate the true joys of an ever-varying and fluctuating life.

The colored race has produced some very sweet singers. I shall name
a few of them in this chapter. Many of my readers will remember the
"Original Fisk Jubilee Singers," who created such wide interest in all
sections of this country and in Europe. Among the ladies were Miss
Maggie Porter-Cole, who is still singing, and Miss Jennie De Hart
Jackson, who has retired. Among those of more recent date I would
mention Madame Selika, who has appeared in all of the principal cities
of the world; Madame Sisseretta Jones, who has just returned from an
extensive trip through Europe; Miss Bessie Lee, of Philadelphia, who
has a very sweet voice, and Miss Jennie Robinson Stewart, who comes of
a musical family. While I was attending the World's Fair in Chicago, I
met, for the first time, Gertrude Hawkins. I have heard many singers,
but a sweeter voice I have never heard.

I have left until the last Madam Flora Batson Bergen, because I want
to present a picture of her, and make special mention of her work as a
singer. Some singers render a class of music either in some foreign
language, or else give us music that is on such a high plane that
ordinary people can not understand it. But Madam Bergen gives us the
old songs we heard when we were children, and she sings them in such a
way as to reach our very souls.

[Illustration: MADAM FLORA BATSON BERGEN.]

On Thursday, March 19, 1896, the funeral service of Rev. R. H. Stitt,
one of our young men who had just passed away, was held in A. M. E.
Zion Church, Philadelphia. Madam Bergen sang two selections on that
occasion, and never will I forget the impression made upon me by her
sweet voice. She sang "No Tears in Heaven." That may be true. But there
were plenty of tears shed by that audience while she was singing the
song. I am positive that all of these great singers must be a help to
the race in educating white people up to a better knowledge of what
the race can do. It might be well at this point to call attention to
the elocutionists of the race. I feel that some day they must play a
prominent part in the dramatic world. In a small way, they have done
that already, among themselves.

In 1893, Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis organized a colored company in
Chicago, and produced "Dessalines," a play written by William Edgar
Easton, of Texas, a bright young colored man. While the production in
some ways was crude, I am sure that when we take into consideration
how great were the disadvantages under which Miss Davis had to labor,
I feel that the general verdict would be in her favor. Among those who
took part in the play was Miss Fannie Hall, of Chicago, who is without
question a fine dramatic reader, and who should, by all means, be kept
more prominently before the public.

One of the first colored ladies to take up elocution as a profession
was Miss Hallie Quinn Brown, who is well known and admired throughout
the United States. Miss Brown has great powers in winning friends,
and great control over an audience. For several years she spent her
time in England. I had the pleasure of being present at her first
entertainment in London after her arrival. She has had the distinction
of displaying her talent to a greater number of white people than any
other colored lady of her calling.

Mrs. Florida D. Carr, of Savannah, Ga., has made a splendid reputation
as an elocutionist. She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory
of Music and Elocution. I was very much impressed with her power as a
reader. Mrs. Carr has a wonderful voice and perfect control of it in
both humorous and pathetic selections.

In Atlanta, Ga., my attention was called to Mrs. Carrie Steel Logan,
who began a home for orphan children a few years ago; I think in 1889.
She started in a miserable little hut with some five fatherless and
motherless children. At first it was hard to get any help from either
the colored or white people. But right will, as a rule, prevail, and so
it proved in this case, for now I am told that there is not a colored
church in Atlanta that does not give something to support this Home.
The city gave her four acres of ground a short while ago, on which
has been erected a fine brick house. When I visited the Home in 1894
there were fifty-three children being cared for in this institution.
Mrs. Logan visits the merchants of Atlanta from time to time, and by
these visits procures provisions enough to help in the support of these
children.

Mrs. Lucy Thurman, from Jackson, Mich., who has given the best part of
her life to temperance work, is now managing the work among the colored
people. As a public speaker she ranks among the best.

Mrs. Julia Ringwood Coston, who published _Ringwood's Journal_, which
took the place in a way of _The Ladies' Home Journal_, is one of the
remarkable literary women of the race.

Mrs. Harvey Johnson, of Baltimore, has written two very useful books,
which have been published by the American Baptist Publication Society,
one called "Clarence and Corinne," and the other, "The Hazeley Family."
Both were regarded as especially adapted to Sunday-school purposes.

Her husband, Rev. Harvey Johnson, said, in speaking of his wife's
ability: "I can't understand how she does it, but although she has the
care of this house, and does a great deal of her own work, she in some
way finds time to write." And I could add that what she writes is of
the very best quality.

When referring to the women who have made a name for themselves in the
musical world, I failed to call attention to Mrs. E. Lyons, of New
York, who delights the people of New York with her sweet voice. She has
just organized a quartette of young colored ladies, which is the only
one of the kind in the country.

Philadelphia, Pa., can boast of a few colored ladies who are engaged in
large business enterprises, namely: Mrs. Henry Jones, whose husband in
his life was a large and successful caterer. At his death, instead of
her giving up the work, she went on with it, and although she is quite
an elderly lady now, she is still actively engaged in the business. In
her case I am sure it is genuine enterprise, for I am told her husband
left ample means for the support of the family.

There are two very successful lady undertakers in Philadelphia, in the
persons of Mrs. Henrietta Duterte and Mrs. Addison Foster. Mrs. Duterte
is the oldest colored undertaker in the city. Mrs. Foster, who is a
younger woman, and for that reason more active, is doing a very large
business.

Mrs. Elizabeth Ralls, who has been engaged in mission work in
Philadelphia, and who organized the Sarah Allen Mission and Faith Home,
is worthy of special mention; not because she is wealthy or highly
intellectual, but because she has a heart full of love for God and
humanity. Every year she serves a Christmas dinner to the poor. At some
of these dinners over 500 poor colored men and women have been present.

Among the lady writers who are doing good work in general I invite
your attention to a publication called _Light and Love_, a journal for
Home and Foreign Missions, published by Mrs. Lida Lowry and Mrs. Emma
Ranson. These two ladies are regarded as very energetic and useful
workers in the "Mite Missionary Society of the A. M. E. Church."

The great work that is being done for the elevation of the colored
people by the untiring workers, such as Mrs. Victoria Matthews, Mrs.
Booker T. Washington and Mrs. Libbie C. Anthony, and others, who are
leaders in what is known as the Federation of Afro-American Women.
The object of this organization is the "concentration of the dormant
energies of the women of the Afro-American race into one broad band
of sisterhood; for the purpose of establishing needed reforms, and
the practical encouragement of all efforts being put forth by various
agencies, religious, educational, ethical and otherwise, for the
upbuilding, ennobling and advancement of the race; (2) To awaken the
women of the race to the great need of systematic effort in home making
and the divinely imposed duties of motherhood.

The need of rescue work among our people by our women. The
establishment of Christian homes and asylums for our fallen and wayward.

The separate car law.

Prison reform.

The plantation woman and child.

The John Brown Memorial Association.

The proposed international exposition in Paris, 1900; the part
Afro-American women should take.

The need of a National Afro-American woman's paper.

Plans for raising necessary money and securing necessary support for
the same.

How can the National Federation of Afro-American Women be made to serve
the best interests and needs of our women?

The strength of this new national organization, even while yet in its
infancy, gives encouragement of its ultimate power among the people
it represents. The roll now includes fifty organizations, the average
number composing a local organization being seventy-five members, many
of the clubs having on roll as many as 250 names.

Mrs. Booker T. Washington, wife of that great educator, has a very
interesting history. She is a Southern-born woman, having first seen
the light of day at Macon, Miss., in 1865. She is truly a self-made
woman, the story of her life and struggles to attain intellectual life
being full of pathetic interest. A mere outline is inadequate to do
justice to the heroic efforts that have placed her to-day as one of the
prominent women of her race. One of a large family, of which the mother
was bread-winner, her father having died when she was a small child,
she would have had no opportunity for education had she not through her
own exertions created for herself a way into the school life. Until her
graduation from the Fisk University she gave her own labor in payment
of board and tuition, gaining spending money through services rendered
teachers and pupils--and by teaching at fifteen, it can be readily seen
that all the usual pleasures of youth were sacrificed in the cause
of education. Her experience as a teacher well fitted her to accept
the offer that came to her on graduating, of a place in the faculty
of Tuskegee Institute. She immediately entered upon her duties there,
and at the time of her marriage to the principal of the institution,
she was lady principal. Appreciating her own struggles, she stands, it
is said, as a changeless friend to every girl working her way through
school.

She is one of the leading spirits of this grand organization that
is destined to do wonders for the colored people as a race. She was
succeeded as president by Mrs. Mary C. Terrell, whose portrait is
given and of whom mention is made in connection with school work in
Washington in another part of this book.


MRS. MAMIE E. STEWART.

Mrs. M. E. Stewart, of Louisville, Ky., is the wife of Wm. H. Stewart,
who is editor of the _American Baptist_. Mrs. Stewart is a very
intelligent and refined lady, and one of the most useful women in the
State. She is an accomplished musician, having completed a course in
the National Music School of Chicago. For many years she has had charge
of the musical department of State University in Louisville, and has
made an enviable record as an instructor. Her pupils are among the most
accomplished musicians of the young people. At the meetings of the
National Baptist Convention, of which she is a member, her services are
always in demand, as she is an expert performer on the pipe organ. For
a number of years she has been organist of the 5th St. Baptist Church,
and has the record of never being tardy nor absent. She is a leading
member and officer of the Baptist Women's Educational Convention of
Kentucky. Mrs. Stewart's home life is beautiful and her children show
the influence of a refined and cultured mother.




CHAPTER XXVII.

DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS AND HIS PRIVATE SANATORIUM.


[Illustration: DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS.]

Dr. John R. Francis is distinctly a product of Washington, D.C.,
having first seen the light of day in that city. He is the only son of
one of the city's most worthy citizens, Richard Francis, his mother
being Mrs. Mary E. Francis. He has been loyal to his place of birth,
having remained constantly there except during his absence in other
states in the pursuit of his education. His early school days were
spent in the private and public schools of the District of Columbia;
his academic education was received at Wesleyan academy at Wilbraham,
Mass. His professional course was taken at the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Mich., where he graduated with high honors in the class of
1878, which class is noted for the fact that some of its members are
the most distinguished scientists of the world to day. His career since
graduation has been that of the typical doctor. He has devoted his time
and energy during that period to the relief of suffering humanity.
With Dr. Francis it has not been a mercenary pursuit, but the relief
of the wounded and sick has always been his first thought when called
upon. Indeed his career has been such that he has been invariably
sought by the people of Washington as a most desirable person to assume
the several responsible positions that have fallen to him. He has
served that city and the colored people faithfully, and has done most
excellent service in the many offices of trust and honor which he has
held. Among his works we find that individuality and originality of
thought and action which is doing so much at the present time to draw,
to the colored citizens of this country, the attention of the civilized
world, and to command its respect for the former's intellectual ability
and skill to cope with the other American citizens in the upbuilding of
the government and the development of its grand institution.

[Illustration: DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS' private SANATORIUM.]

As a member of the school board of the District of Columbia Dr. Francis
was very progressive, and equally as aggressive in his attempt to bring
about the many needed reforms in the public schools of that city.
Although having done much good, on account of the lack of support by
the colored citizens, being ahead of the times as they saw it, he
resigned his position on the board because he saw the impossibility of
accomplishing the desired good and securing for them the many benefits
it was possible to gain at that time. His strengthening of the teaching
ability of the Washington High School and his improvement of the Normal
school, with the subsequent retrogressions is but a fair example of his
good work and the difficulties he had to overcome.

While acting surgeon-in-chief of Freedmen's Hospital during the several
months' illness of the surgeon-in-chief, he instituted reforms there
in the conduct of its professional workings, notably the surgical
and obstetrical department; in the management of ward work and the
installment of the present training school for nurses, which his
characteristic modesty has kept from the outside world and for which he
has never been given credit.

[Illustration: OFFICE AT SANATORIUM.]

He is now obstetrician to the Freedmen's Hospital and demonstrator and
clinical lecturer of obstetrics in the medical department of Howard
University.

[Illustration: OPERATING ROOM.]

One of his most worthy contributions, however, to the District of
Columbia and to the professional ability and business tact of the
colored man is the Francis Sanatorium at 2112 Pennsylvania Ave., N.
W., Washington, D.C.

[Illustration: DIET KITCHEN.]

This institution is established for the care of sick persons whose home
environments, as is well known, so often prevent proper treatment and
rapid convalescence. The object is to guarantee to such persons the
careful scientific treatment of the hospital combined with the comforts
of home.

Any physician in good standing is permitted to enter and treat here
proper cases, from his private practice, the compensation being as
usual, a matter of agreement between himself and his patient. In
such cases a fee is charged only for room, board, nursing, ordinary
medicine, and any assistance by Dr. Francis which may be desired.

A corps of trained nurses is constantly on hand by day and night.

No insane, contagious or other objectionable cases admitted.

All surgical operations will be charged for according to agreement
made, in advance.

Trained nurses are furnished, any hour of the day or night, to families
in the city where such services are needed.

This institution is conspicuous in being the only place of its kind in
the United States, established, owned and managed by a colored man.
Indeed we believe it is the only one in the world.

The works of this man are a credit to any community in which they
exist, and we advise the youth of to-day to imitate the example of Dr.
John R. Francis.




CHAPTER XXVIII.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS, BOYDTON INSTITUTE, AND CHRISTIANSBURG
INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.


In this chapter I wish to mention the school-work done for the race
by the United Presbyterian Church. This matter should have appeared
with the other Presbyterian work, but for the fact that I was unable
to secure the data when the first edition was published. I shall also
mention in this chapter some other school-work that came too late.


KNOXVILLE COLLEGE.

Knoxville College is located at Knoxville, Tenn., and is under the
control of the Board of Missions to the Freedmen of the United
Presbyterian Church of North America. By arrangement with the
University of Tennessee the college is also the industrial department
of the university for colored students. For this purpose the university
has added largely to the equipment of the agricultural department and
mechanical department, provides for the salaries of the professors of
these departments, and sets aside $600 annually to pay for the labor of
students in these departments. Thus they are enabled to earn somewhat
of their expenses, and especially is each one taught a trade. Aside
from the funds received from the university as indicated above, the
college is supported by voluntary contributions of the church.

The faculty of the college, including matrons and instructors in the
industrial department, numbers twenty-five. The president of the
college is Rev. R. W. McGranahan, D. D., who has been in that position
since 1899, succeeding at that time Dr. J. S. McCulloch, who had served
the institution as president for twenty-two years.

Knoxville stands for the most thorough training possible in an
intellectual way, and at the same time provides for the most helpful
industrial training. It is in hearty sympathy with all efforts to
teach the trades to the colored people, and is maintaining a thorough
industrial department for that purpose. At the same time the literary
standard is not lowered one whit, but is being constantly elevated.
The courses of study offered are classical, scientific, theological,
normal and common school. The industrial department offers training
in agriculture, carpentering, electrical work, printing, sewing and
housework.

The college occupies a commanding site on one of the hills made
historic by the siege of Knoxville during the Civil War. The buildings
consist of a recitation hall, McCulloch Hall (boys' dormitory),
Elnathan Hall (girls' dormitory), boys' home, girls' home, mechanical
building, heating plant, president's cottage and barn. Its property is
valued at $110,000.

The work the college is doing is best seen in the lives of those who
have gone out from it. The profession of teaching claims the larger
number; but these, for the most part, do not confine their efforts to
one profession, but teach, both by example and precept, some manual
art--farming, sewing, printing, or some other useful occupation.


NORFOLK MISSION COLLEGE.

Located at Norfolk, Virginia, is under the management of the United
Presbyterian Church. Rev. Wm. M'Kirahan, is Principal at this time, and
has under him an able body of teachers. The teachers employed are both
white and colored.

The wisdom of the Board of Freedmen's Missions of the United
Presbyterian Church in the location of one of its Schools in Norfolk
is easy of vindication. In behalf of the Mission College appeal may
confidently be made both to its supporters in the North and its patrons
in the South. Nearly ten thousand colored children of school age have
their homes within a radius of four miles of its walls. Two-thirds of
these are not in any school.

A good Normal course is given there, and an Industrial training is
given in sewing, garment-making and fancy work for girls.

Boys are taught the trade of printing. That department gives employment
to 28 pupils for a short time each day. The training given here
includes the application of the rules of grammar and rhetoric as well
as instruction in composition and press-work. Several of the boys who
spent some time in this department are now employed as compositors on
one of the city papers.

The graduates of the Mission College number one hundred and
thirty-four. Nearly all are usefully employed. More than half are
teachers. A good number are in colleges and professional schools
receiving further preparation for life's work.


THYNE INSTITUTE.

Thyne Institute is located at Chase City, Va., on the Richmond and
Danville Railroad. The location is one of the most beautiful in South
Side Virginia.

The buildings are four in number, and are fitted up in modern style.
Every appliance necessary for successful school-work has been provided.

The aim of the officers of the Institute is to educate the students
along lines tending to fit them for life's work in the home, in
society, as teachers in the public schools, and as religious
instructors. The moral, mental, and industrial are united.

Rev. J. M. Moore, A.M., Ph.D., is Principal, with an able body
of teachers. The course taught there is Normal, and they have a
fine Industrial Home for girls, where they are taught all kinds of
housework. The school is under the control of the United Presbyterian
Church.


HENDERSON NORMAL INSTITUTE.

The Henderson Normal Institute, located at Henderson, N. C., is a
school established and conducted to afford the colored people an
opportunity of obtaining a good education. It is a part of the
missionary work of the United Presbyterian Church, which has always
taken a deep interest in the welfare of the colored race. Having
opposed slavery as a principle, it was natural that as soon as slavery
was abolished, this church should show its interest in the future of
the freedmen by doing what it could for their moral and intellectual
development. The members of the church in the North have given freely
of their means to support the work and to afford the colored people an
opportunity of rising and enjoying the blessings and advantages which
God has opened to all in this free land. The United Presbyterian Church
gives each year nearly $50,000 in money, besides many contributions in
other forms, to carry on the work it has undertaken for the colored
people.

Rev. C. L. McCracken, A.M., is Principal, and is assisted by able
teachers.

The course of study embraces the ordinary English branches from the
primary to the high school and normal grade.

For four years a sewing department has been maintained in connection
with the school. The purpose of this department is to teach all the
girls in the school to do plain sewing, and to cut and make their own
garments. A competent teacher gives her whole time to this department,
and from 120 to 150 girls, in six classes, receive instruction nearly
one hour each day. During the year many hundred garments are made, and
these are sold to the pupils for less than the cost of the materials.

An industrial department has been added for the boys. The colored
people are making rapid progress in knowledge, and taking a more
intelligent interest in business and politics. In consequence they
are beginning to publish their own papers; and each year the papers
published by them and in their interest will increase.

In addition to the schools just mentioned, the United Presbyterian
Church has some smaller schools in other parts of the South, as follows:

At Blue Stone, Va., with an attendance of about 200 pupils. One at
Athens, Tenn., with nearly 200 pupils, and at Miller's Ferry, N. C.,
of over 200 students. One at Prairie Bluff, Ala., of about 200, and
at Camden, Ala., of 200. One at Canton Bend, Ala., of 50, and one at
Summerfield, Ala., of nearly 200.

The data given regarding these schools will enable my readers to see
that the United Presbyterian Church is doing its share in educating the
colored people.


BOYDTON INSTITUTE.

The institute is located in a beautiful grove of oaks, a mile from
Boydton, Mecklenburg County, Va. The Atlantic and Danville Railroad
passes through the town of Boydton. President, Mrs. Lucretia A. Cullis,
Boston, Mass.; Principal, Rev. D. F. Lamson; Associate Principal, Mrs.
H. B. Sharpe; Treasurer, Miss Mary H. Ware.

In 1878, the "Randolph Macon" property, consisting of a four-story
brick college building, steward's house, and about 425 acres of land,
was purchased by Dr. Charles Cullis, of Boston, Mass., with funds
donated for the purpose. It was regularly incorporated as a branch of
the "Faith Work," and a school for colored people immediately opened.
The college building has a chapel, school-rooms, and library, with
sleeping-rooms for more than one hundred students. The dormitories have
fire-places, which enable the students to be comfortable in the coldest
weather.

This institute is intended for the education of colored young men and
women, who wish to fit themselves for usefulness among their own people.

In addition to the common English branches, provision is made for
classes in English Literature, Rhetoric, Civil Government, and the
Theory and Practice of Teaching. The principal also gives instruction
in Bible History and Interpretation, in Theology and in Evangelistic
and Pastoral work. Special attention will be given to the needs of
post-graduates and of ministers.


CHRISTIANSBURG INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE, CAMBRIA, VA.

CHARLES L. MARSHALL, PRINCIPAL.

The Christiansburg Industrial Institute, at Cambria, Va., is supported
by the Friends' Freedmen Association of Philadelphia, and is situated
in the southwestern part of Virginia, in the town of Cambria, on the
Norfolk and Western Railroad. The location is healthful and quiet.

For the sake of pure, moral and religious training, which is so much
needed by both boys and girls, the boarding department has been
established. Students living at a distance can secure board, room
furnished, fuel and lights, for $7.50 per month.

The design of this institution is to send out young men and women well
qualified for the great work of life; young men and women who will
lead the way to the highest usefulness. To send forth such a class of
students it will be necessary to train their heads as well as their
hearts, and their hands as well as their heads.

We are certain that at this institute a good English course of study
and the most needed industries can be carried on without conflict, and
to a very great advantage to all who may attend the school.

The prime object of this institution, aside from the literary training,
is to put within the hands of each young man and woman some industry by
which they will be able to secure a livelihood in the world.

It will be modeled after the Tuskegee Industrial Institute at Tuskegee,
Ala., and the Friends are advancing every effort to put it practically
on the same basis.

There are no industries from which can be obtained such profitable and
immediate results as those of scientific agriculture, stock-raising,
fruit-growing, mattress-making, carpentry, wheelwrighting,
blacksmithing, dressmaking, printing, and methodical cooking and
housekeeping.

The Friends' Freedmen Association of Philadelphia have placed the
Christiansburg Industrial Institute for the coming year under the
supervision of the officers of the Tuskegee Industrial Institute,
Tuskegee, Ala., which gives Booker T. Washington a general oversight of
that work.




CHAPTER XXIX.

HAMPTON INSTITUTE, HAMPTON, VA.


The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute first opened its doors
for the reception of the freedmen in April, 1868. Of its beginning and
purpose, General Armstrong, its founder and for twenty-five years its
principal, writes:

"Two and a half years' service with the Negro soldiers (after a
year as Captain and Major in the 125th New York Volunteers), as
Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel of the Ninth and Eighth Regiments of
U. S. Colored Troops, convinced me of the excellent qualities and
capacities of the freedmen. Their quick response to good treatment
and to discipline was a constant surprise. Their tidiness, devotion
to their duty and their leaders, their dash and daring in battle,
and ambition to improve--often studying their spelling books under
fire--showed that slavery was a false, though doubtless, for the time
being, an educative condition, and that they deserved as good a chance
as any people.

"In March, 1866, I was placed by General O. O. Howard, Commissioner of
the Freedmen's Bureau, in charge of ten counties in Eastern Virginia,
with headquarters at Hampton, the great 'contraband' camp, to manage
Negro affairs and adjust, if possible, the relation of the races.

[Illustration: HAMPTON ROADS, FROM PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE.]

"I soon felt the fitness of this historic and strategic spot for a
permanent and great educational work. The suggestion was cordially
received by the American Missionary Association, which authorized the
purchase, in June, 1867, of 'Little Scotland,' an estate of 125 acres
on Hampton River, looking out over Hampton Roads. Not expecting to
have charge, but only to help, I was surprised, one day, by a letter
from Secretary E. P. Smith, of the A. M. A., stating that the man
selected for the place had declined, and asking me if I could take it.
I replied, 'Yes.' Till then my own future had been blind; it had only
been clear that there was a work to be done for the ex-slaves and where
and how it should be done.

"A day-dream of the Hampton School, nearly as it is, had come to me
during the war a few times; once in camp during the siege of Richmond,
and once one beautiful evening on the Gulf of Mexico, while on the
wheel-house of the transport steamship Illinois, enroute for Texas with
the 25th Army Corps (Negro) for frontier duty on the Rio Grande River,
whither it had been ordered, under General Sheridan, to watch and if
necessary defeat Maximilian in his attempted conquest of Mexico.

"The thing to be done was clear: to train selected Negro youth who
should go out and teach and lead their people, first by example by
getting land and homes; to give them not a dollar that they could earn
for themselves; to teach respect for labor; to replace stupid drudgery
with skilled hands; and, to these ends, to build up an industrial
system, for the sake not only of self-support and intelligent labor,
but also for the sake of character. And it seemed equally clear that
the people of the country would support a wise work for the freedmen."

[Illustration: HAMPTON INSTITUTE, 1868.]

Thus, under a man of the broadest views and almost prophetic
foresight, the school had its beginning. Two teachers and fifteen
students found living room and class room in the dismantled mansion,
the old brick mill and the newer barracks, relics of the slavery days
and of the civil war. At the end of the school's twenty-fifth year
Gen. Armstrong died, seeing, as it is given to few to see, great and
tangible results from his years of self-sacrificing labor. Since his
death, the work has been carried on by Rev. H. B. Frissell, D. D., who
has taken up with wisdom and courage the task laid upon him and has a
record behind him now of five years, during which the institution has
shown steady growth and improvement.

[Illustration: HAMPTON INSTITUTE, 1898.]

At the beginning of the present year there were on the grounds 1,001
students; of these 135 are Indians representing ten States and
Territories; 361 are children coming from the immediate neighborhood,
who are instructed in the Whittier Primary School. There are 630
boarders--383 boys and 247 girls. Of the eighty officers, teachers, and
assistants, about one-half are in the industrial department.

[Illustration: TRADE SCHOOL BUILDING.]

Instead of the old barracks, there are now over fifty-five buildings,
including dormitories, academic and science buildings, a large trade
school, domestic science and agricultural buildings, a beautiful
church, a large saw-mill and shops where students help to earn
their board and clothes and receive instruction in blacksmithing,
wheelwrighting, painting, house-building, cabinet-making, upholstery,
shoemaking, tailoring, harness-making, printing, and engineering. Two
large farms with greenhouses, barns, and experiment stations give
employment to students and instruction in agriculture. The laundry,
dining-rooms, kitchens, and sewing-rooms give employment to the
girls, and in them they receive instruction in sewing, dressmaking,
laundering, and other branches which fit them to instruct their people
in these lines. All the domestic work of the place is performed by the
students. The average age of the pupils is nineteen years.

[Illustration: ACADEMIC CLASS-ROOM.]

In 1870 this institution was chartered by special act of the General
Assembly of Virginia. It is not owned or controlled by State or
government, but by a Board of seventeen Trustees, representing
different sections of the country, and six religious denominations,
no one of which has a majority. The school now has a property worth
over $600,000, free from debt, and an endowment fund of over a
half-million. It receives aid through the State of Virginia for its
agricultural work and from the general government toward the board
and clothes of Indians, but it is obliged to appeal to the public for
$80,000 a year.

The Slater Fund Board makes a generous yearly appropriation toward
its trade-school work, and help is received from the Peabody Fund,
but the school depends for the large part of its yearly expenses upon
charitable contributions.

[Illustration: GIRLS' MANUAL TRAINING.]

Twenty-five years ago the imperative need of the Negro was teachers in
the country public schools of the South, who could show the people by
example, as well as by precept, how to live, how to get land and build
decent houses. This need still remains, but, with the improvement of
the colored race, more thoroughly equipped teachers are necessary,
not only for the public schools, but for the workshops, and for the
industrial and agricultural schools that have started up all through
the South and among the Indians of the West. To meet this need Hampton
provides an Academic Department with a corps of able teachers, mostly
graduates of normal schools and colleges, who give thorough instruction
in the English branches. Beside this, manual training is given to the
boys, and sewing, cooking, and bench work to the girls. Those of the
boys who show aptitude for trades in the manual training classes can
receive thorough instruction in the Trade School, a building costing
$50,000 and especially adapted to the work. Competent instruction in
carpentry, wood turning, cabinet-making, bricklaying, plastering,
wheelwrighting, blacksmithing, painting, machine work, and mechanical
drawing carry students through a systematic course in their different
departments, fitting them to be teachers of trades. Chance is also
given to do actual work in the sixteen productive industries on the
school grounds.

[Illustration: KINDERGARTEN CLASS.]

Those of the girls who wish trades can be admitted into the Domestic
Science Department where they are fitted to be teachers of sewing,
cooking, and laundering, with an opportunity to do actual work in the
school's laundry and kitchen.

All students of the school receive instruction in agriculture, but
those who wish to devote themselves especially to it can receive
special instruction in the Agricultural Department, with experiments in
the laboratory and practical work upon the school's two farms.

Those who wish to fit themselves to become teachers in the public
schools, after graduation from the Academic Department, enter the
Normal Department, where they receive instruction in methods of
teaching, and have practice in the Whittier School, in which there are
over three hundred children, with kindergarten and classes in cooking,
gymnastics, and the English branches.

The boys are formed into a battalion under the Commandant of Cadets,
a graduate of the school, from whom they receive military drill and
gymnastic training. A United States officer from Fort Monroe assists
in this work. The care of persons, quarters, and grounds are largely
under the care of the officers of the school battalion. The girls are
similarly organized under their matrons and are instructed in habits
and manners.

The school is non-sectarian but earnestly Christian. Careful
instruction in the Bible is given by teachers representing different
denominations. The Chaplain is assisted by the clergymen of Hampton in
the religious work of the school.

[Illustration: TRADE SCHOOL PAINT SHOP.]

Six thousand young people of the Negro and Indian races have had the
advantages of the school's training and gone out as teachers, farmers,
and business men, to lift their people to a higher level. Nearly 1,000
have graduated from the school's Academic Department, and of these 90
per cent. have become teachers. The great majority have gone into the
public schools. Whole counties have been transformed by their work.
Homes, churches, and schools have been built, land purchased, and the
morals of the community improved.

Booker T. Washington, a graduate of Hampton, founded the Tuskegee
School in Alabama, and over forty other graduates have gone to help him
in his work. Schools at Calhoun and Mt. Meigs, Alabama, Kittrell, North
Carolina, Lawrenceville and Gloucester, Virginia, are established on
the Hampton plan and carried on by graduates of the school. Under the
teachers who have gone out from Hampton and its offshoots more than
150,000 children have received instruction. Of the 500 Indians who
have been trained at Hampton, 87 per cent. are engaged as teachers,
farmers, missionaries, and in other regular occupations. Twenty years
ago, Capt. Pratt brought fifteen prisoners of war from Fort Marion,
St. Augustine, to Hampton and remained there one year, bringing in the
meantime other Indians from the West. So successful was that first
experiment in industrial education that Carlisle School was established
and now hundreds of thousands of dollars, which were formerly devoted
to fighting the Indians, are given by the government to training their
children in industrial schools.

Hampton has given an impetus to industrial education among the Negroes
which is felt in every State of the South. But 75 per cent. of the
race still live in one-room cabins on rented land, in ignorance and
poverty. Teachers of agriculture and home builders are needed.

[Illustration: WHEELWRIGHT SHOP.]

There is danger that the blacks will lose the trades, which were their
best heritage from slavery, unless industrial education is pushed.
Well-trained young women must go out to reconstruct the homes.

In addition to the work done by the school directly for its pupils in
class-room and industrial-training shop, it reaches out continually
into the home life of its graduates and ex-students. Its graduate
missionaries visit in many homes, inspiring interest in land purchase,
home building, school-term extension, thrift, temperance, and good
citizenship. Its monthly paper, the _Southern Workman_, deals in a
spirit of free inquiry and broad humanity with the race question in
its many phases, and publishes in its columns articles of value from
leading men and women of both the Negro and white races. Its Summer
Conference, held in the vacation season, calls together for earnest
discussion some of the best thinkers, white and colored, in the
country; and the Virginia Teachers' Institute, assembling each summer
on the school grounds, keeps the school in touch with the educational
system of the State in which it works. Its aim is, and has been from
its beginning, to lay firm and broad the foundation of character upon
which all true civilization is built.




CHAPTER XXX.

STATE SCHOOLS AND CALHOUN SETTLEMENT--VIRGINIA NORMAL AND COLLEGIATE
INSTITUTE.


[Illustration: STATE NORMAL INSTITUTE, PETERSBURG, VA.]

This is an institution supported by the State of Virginia for the
education of the colored youth. The aim of the institution is to
impart knowledge, discipline the mind and train the hand and heart,
so that those who leave its walls shall be better prepared for the
diversified duties of life. In the Normal course of three years, the
training has special reference to preparing the student to become a
successful teacher. It is to this department that most of the students
naturally find their way. This course is comprehensive and endeavors to
give all that is essential to fit their graduates to teach any of the
public schools of Virginia. Although the course covers a wide field,
they endeavor to so drill the student in the branches taught that his
knowledge is thorough, and not a mere smattering. Considerable time is
given to actual teaching of little children under the supervision of
the Model School teacher.

[Illustration: JAMES HUGO JOHNSTON.]

The college course is designed to give a higher and broader culture
to those of their youth who are able to remain longer in school, or
desire to pursue the professions. This course covers four years. The
school is young, and quality, not quantity or number, being their
standard of success, they have thus far labored to prepare thoroughly
those who have taken the college studies before admitting them to this
department. Their curriculum will compare favorably with the best. The
advantages here offered for obtaining a college education at small cost
are unparalleled.

James Hugo Johnston, A. M., Ph. D., president and Professor of
Psychology and Moral Science, is indeed a self-made man. His first
work in life was that of a newsboy on the streets of Richmond. In
fact he kept his paper route for some time after he began teaching in
the public schools of that city. His most excellent work as president
of the institute at Petersburg places him among the most prominent
educators of his race. He has under him a very able set of teachers.


CALHOUN COLORED SCHOOL

Is a school and social settlement in the blackest belt county of
Alabama. Opened and incorporated, 1892. Trustees: Hon. John Bigelow,
President, New York, N. Y.; Mr. B. T. Washington, Vice-President,
Tuskegee, Ala.; Mr. R. P. Hallowell, Auditor, Boston, Mass.; Rev. Pitt
Dillingham, Secretary, Calhoun, Ala.; Miss C. R. Thorn, Treasurer,
Calhoun, Ala.; Rev. H. B. Frissell, D. D., Hampton, Va.; Col. T. W.
Higginson, Cambridge, Mass.; Mr. C. F. Dunbar, Buffalo, N. Y.; Rev.
Silas Jones, Mount Meigs, Ala. Principals: Rev. Pitt Dillingham and
Miss C. R. Thorn.

The school is located at Calhoun, Lowndes Co., Alabama, on Louisville
and Nashville R. R., 28 miles southwest of Montgomery. It is a one-room
cabin and crop-mortgage region.

The plant is a farm of 100 acres, with stock and tools, eleven
buildings, namely, two schoolhouses, two dormitories, three teachers'
cottages, office, industrial building, barn and farmhouse.

Students number 350 and upwards; 46 boarding students; 32 of the 46
work all day and attend night school. Three hundred and more from the
cabins of the county.

Their teaching staff is seven white teachers from the North, four
colored teachers from Hampton, one graduate of Calhoun, five other
workers--seventeen in all.

The departments are Academic--with Kindergarten and eight years' Common
School Course. Industrial--with Agriculture for boys and Domestic
Training for girls.

Our graded school makes a natural centre for community-life. Calhoun is
in the midst of 28,000 plantation negroes. It lives in touch with all
the life of its township and county, and limits its aim to this social
group.

They have Farmers' Conferences, Mothers' Meetings, Sunday and Mission
Services. Cabin, School, Church and Plantation Visiting. Agricultural
Fairs, Teachers' Institutes, Celebration of National Holidays, and
Christian Festivals. Thrift and Land Buying Meetings, Sociological
Study of the County, etc.

To change the crop-mortgage peon into an American small farmer, with
land and home of his own, is our problem and opportunity. "The family
is the foundation of the nation."

From three to four thousand acres are being bought at $6 and $7 an
acre. 75 families (500 individuals) are being planted near the school.
A Southern white planter and neighbor is assisting.

Calhoun believes in the educational and religious value of work and
property. It stands for a vital and practical Christianity.

In my opinion the Calhoun School and Social Settlement is based on
the right principle to solve the so-called race problem. When the
colored people in the South own their own homes, as they can under the
system that has been established at Calhoun, they will not only be
more independent, but more prosperous, and, as a result of the very
practical training given there, they will not only send out farmers,
but teachers, mechanics, and merchants as well. As colored men are able
to start stores in the South they will be able to furnish employment to
graduates from such schools as clerks and bookkeepers. I am sure that
if the people in the North could only understand what a real blessing
such an institution is to the South, it would, at least, not want for
means to carry on its wonderful work.


STATE NORMAL SCHOOL FOR COLORED PERSONS AT FRANKFORT, KY.

The State Normal School is situated about one and one-half miles from
Frankfort on a beautiful hill overlooking the city. The site comprises
about thirty acres of tillable land and meadow, upon which are located
the main school building, with recitation-room and chapel, a new
mechanical shop, forty feet by sixty feet, with modern equipments and
furnishings, the "Ladies' Hall," recently built, and cottages for the
resident professors. Our students are free from the many temptations
and social demands incident to those who attend school in a city.

Our location, being "elevated, healthful, and delightful," renders our
students less liable to malaria and other diseases due to impurities,
both in the water and in the atmosphere.

Nothing in our power will be neglected which can add to the mental,
moral, and manual training of our students, or which can in the least
contribute to their comfort and general welfare.

"The object" of this State Normal School, established and maintained by
Act of the General Assembly, "shall be the preparation of teachers for
teaching in the Colored Public Schools of Kentucky."

I have had the pleasure of making a visit to this school, and was very
well impressed with the institution. I found there an able body of
teachers and a very fine-looking and intelligent class of students.


COLORED NORMAL, INDUSTRIAL, AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF
SOUTH CAROLINA.

This school is located at Orangeburg, S. C., and in my opinion is
one of the best State schools in the South for the education of the
colored youth. They have very excellent buildings, not only good, but
beautiful. The course of study there is, as in all State schools,
normal. Their object is to prepare teachers for the public schools of
the State. Many students, however, attend there who do not expect to
teach. Special attention is given to the industrial training of both
boys and girls. The wood shop has, I think, about the best equipment in
the way of tools and up-to-date machinery I saw in any of the Southern
schools. The attendance is large; in fact, they often have to send
students away for want of room. Hon. Thos. E. Miller, L.L. D., who is
president, I found a very pleasant and able man. He is assisted by
a strong force of competent teachers, who have been educated in the
best schools of our country. I am sure the people at large will agree
with me in saying that South Carolina deserves great credit for the
establishment of such an excellent school for the race.


LINCOLN INSTITUTE.

Lincoln Institute is located at Jefferson City, Mo., and had its origin
in a fund of $6,379, contributed by the 62d and 65th Regiments of U.
S. Colored Infantry, when discharged from service in January, 1865, of
which the 62d gave $5,000. The only condition of the gift was that a
school be established in Missouri open to the colored people.

The Board of Trustees, ten in number, was organized on June 25, 1865,
and the school was opened September 17, 1866.

Mr. R. B. Foster was principal for the first two years, Mr. W. H. Payne
the third year, and Mr. Foster again for two years. During all this
time the school was taught in rented buildings, and had many obstacles
to meet.

In June, 1871, the main building was completed. It was a substantial
brick building, 60 × 70 feet, three stories, conveniently arranged,
and eligibly located upon a prominent hill, just outside the limits of
Jefferson City, commanding a view of a large part of it. The grounds
contain twenty acres.

"The Legislature of 1879 appropriated $15,000 for the support of
the institute, provided $5,000 should be applied to the payment of
its indebtedness. This appropriation was contained in the general
appropriation bill, and was a grant to a corporation managing a
charity. The Constitution provides: 'The General Assembly shall have
no power to make any grant * * * * * * of public money or thing of
value to any individual, association of individuals, municipal, or
other corporation whatever.' The grant was in violation of that part
of the Constitution just quoted." Governor Phelps, from whose message
to the Legislature the above is taken, held the bill until the Board
of Trustees met and unanimously voted to transfer the institute to
the State. The bill was immediately approved. This friendly act of
the late Governor enabled the trustees to pay every dollar of the
debt which for several years had embarrassed them, and to place the
institute on a more permanent basis.

Since the institute became a State school, the Legislature has not
only made large appropriations for its maintenance, but has also given
money to erect dormitories, to purchase scientific apparatus, to make
additions to the library and repair the main building.

By an act of the Thirty-fourth General Assembly a college and a college
preparatory school were established in connection with the institute.

The same Assembly also passed an act which provides that the Normal
diplomas shall entitle their holders to teach in the schools of the
State without further examination; also that the graded certificates,
which are granted upon the completion of the two years' course, shall
entitle their holders to teach the several branches therein named for
a period of two years from the day of graduation. Provision is made in
the act for annulling these diplomas and certificates whenever it is
found to be necessary.

By an act of the Thirty-sixth General Assembly an industrial department
was established in connection with the institute.

There is no doubt but that Lincoln Institute is one of the best
equipped State schools in the country for the education of colored
people. Prof. J. H. Jackson, A. B., A. M., a graduate from Berea
College, is President of Lincoln Institute. President Jackson has just
entered upon the first year of his presidency of the institution, and
it is fitting that a sketch of his life, though brief and inadequate,
should be given to our readers.

[Illustration: PROF. J. H. JACKSON, A. B., A. M.]

Having been born in Kentucky, his early education was in the public
schools of that old Blue-Grass State. Having the advantages that many
others had not, he entered Berea College soon after he completed
the public school course, and was graduated in June, 1874, with
high honors, having the distinction of being the first Negro to be
graduated in Kentucky. After his graduation, he taught for a number of
years in the public schools of Lexington, Ky.

Prof. Jackson had a desire to retire from school life. He left Kentucky
in 1881, and went to Kansas, to engage in tilling the soil. After
reaching Kansas City, however, he was called to the principalship
of the Lincoln High School in that city. He remained there until
1887, when he was recalled to Kentucky to take charge of the State
Normal, located at Frankfort. Prof. Jackson remained at the head
of that institution until June, 1898, when he was elected to his
present position, to which he comes with ripe experience and scholarly
attainments.

Few men are better fitted to take charge of such a school as Lincoln
Institute than Prof. Jackson, and the people of Missouri have reason to
be proud of the fact that he has been secured.




CHAPTER XXXI.

C. M. E. SCHOOLS.


In this chapter I shall give brief mention of the schools managed by
the "Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America." The connection
was organized in 1870, and set apart from the M. E. Church South. They
have at this time five Bishops, namely: Bishop Isaac Lane, Bishop J.
A. Beebe, Bishop L. H. Holsey, D. D., Bishop R. S. Williams, D. D.,
Bishop Elias Cottrell, D. D. The church has since its organization made
very rapid progress, and is along with other religious bodies raising a
great deal of money for educational purposes.


LANE COLLEGE.

Lane College is located at Jackson, Tenn. It was founded by the Colored
Methodist Episcopal Church in America, and is still under its fostering
care. The school takes its name from Bishop Isaac Lane, who has been
the leading spirit in establishing the institution. The work done at
Lane College will compare favorably with other schools in the South.

The main building was erected at cost of $15,000. It is a fine
three-story brick, with stone trimmings, artistically covered with
malleable iron, with two beautiful lofty towers.

Lane College, like all institutions, is in need of funds to put the
school in excellent condition. Anyone desiring to bless a worthy
educational enterprise would find the school in great need of means
to better equip it for the training of young men and women to advance
Christian civilization. Let your gifts be ever so small, they will be
duly credited and rightly applied.

Their wonderful progress thus far is largely attributed to the untiring
labors of Bishop Isaac Lane.

In addition to the other branches of studies, and recognizing the fact
that the mind is often cultivated at the expense of the body, and that
trades are mediums through which young men may obtain occupations,
giving them a capital to fall back on should they fail to make
practical what they have learned from books, industrial features are
added. Girls will be given lessons in needlework, cutting, sewing, and
cooking. Young men will be given lessons in elements of gardening and
carpentry.

An experienced teacher will have charge of each department.

The president of Lane College is Rev. T. F. Sanders. He is a Southern
white man, who has taken up the work in that Christian spirit which
means to lift up humanity to a higher intellectual and spiritual
condition, regardless of race or color.

Rev. Robert T. Brown, A. M., is teacher of language and mathematics. I
regard Prof. Brown as a very able man, and one who desires very much to
see his race educated in order that the colored people may take a more
active part in the professional and business world.


PAINE INSTITUTE.

Paine Institute is another of the C. M. E. Schools. It is located at
Augusta, Ga. The school is doing about the same grade of work as that
done at Lane College. They have a beautiful brick structure known
as "Haygood Memorial Hall;" it is named in honor of the late Bishop
Haygood of the M. E. Church South. He was far in advance of the church
in his desire to see the colored people educated. The bishop wrote a
most excellent work on the race question, entitled "Our Brother in
Black." The book had a large sale both North and South. He, like Booker
T. Washington, believed that the masses of colored people should have
an industrial education. But he also recognized that those who felt
called to teach or preach should have the best education they could
secure.

The president of Paine Institute is Rev. G. W. Walker. He is a Southern
white man who sees the great work that must be done for the colored
people, and is willing to help do it. I am told that he takes an active
part in everything that is of interest to the school and scholars,
making the students feel that his heart is in the work. His family is
also helpful to him in his great effort. I hope it will not be many
years until a large number of Southern white people will see the need
of just such work as Rev. Walker is doing, and be willing to assist in
the labor.

There are a few smaller schools managed by the C. M. E. Church, but for
want of space we must omit mention of them, at least until they are
more prominent.




CHAPTER XXXII.


This chapter will be devoted to the work of the Christian Church. The
schools operated by that church in the interest of the race are not as
numerous nor as large as other connectional institutions, but what they
have are doing a splendid work.


FRANKLINTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE.

Franklinton Christian College is situated in Franklinton, Franklin
County, North Carolina, on the Seaboard Air-Line Railroad, twenty-seven
miles northeast from the city of Raleigh. The college buildings are on
high ground, which is well drained; and there is a grove of beautiful
oak trees on the campus, which, with other immediate surroundings,
makes the location one of special attraction.

The college entered on its mission of education in 1878 as a common
school. Professor Henry E. Long was placed in charge, and the interest
taken in the new movement by the colored people was so general that an
assistant teacher was employed to aid Professor Long in his work. In
1880 Rev. George Young, of Carlisle, New York, was appointed principal
of the school, under the direction of Rev. J. P. Watson, D. D., who
was at that time Secretary of the Children's Mission. It was during
the first year of Professor Young's administration of the school that
the college building was erected and the school formally opened under
the name, "The Franklinton Theological and Literary Institute." The
institute remained under the supervision of the Secretary of Missions
until the meeting of the American Christian Convention in 1886. The
convention at that meeting received the institute to its care, and
appointed a board of control to take direct supervision of its work and
interests. The Board of Control obtained a charter for the institute
in 1890, and its name was changed to Franklinton Christian College. In
this, its corporate name, the college has authority to give diplomas
and confer degrees. It may be said of the college that its work has
from the first been progressive in character. Its constant aim has been
to assist the student to high moral and intellectual attainments.

In addition to the regular course of studies taught they have some
industrial work in the way of sewing and fancy work for the girls, and
it is hoped that this department will soon be extended to include all
that is essential to good housekeeping and home decoration. Rev. Zenas
A. Poste is president, and is assisted by five other teachers.


THE LOUISVILLE CHRISTIAN BIBLE SCHOOL

Is a missionary school, inaugurated by the General Christian
Missionary Convention, now the American Christian Missionary Society:
Headquarters, Cincinnati, Ohio, and under the immediate supervision
of the Board of Negro Education and Evangelization: Headquarters,
Louisville, Kentucky.

While it is not the present purpose of the school to maintain classes
in those branches of study which do not properly constitute part of a
theological course in English; yet, to meet the needs of such students
as have not had the advantage of proper instruction in the subjects of
Course I, classes will be maintained, continuously in a number of them,
and in others will be formed from time to time as the necessity may
arise.

The purpose of the school is to do what it can in supplying one of the
greatest needs of the colored people of this county, namely, preachers
and other religious workers of their own race, who shall be deeply
imbued with the knowledge and spirit of the Word of God. In doing
this work it is not the aim of the school to give extended courses
of instruction in anything save in the English Scriptures. These it
proposes to teach as thoroughly as possible to colored candidates for
the ministry, whether, in the common use of the terms, such candidates
be educated or uneducated.

Adoniram Judson Thomson, A. M., is principal. He impressed me as a
very fine man, who is much interested in the elevation of the colored
people. Prof. Thomson is assisted by Prof. Octavius Singleton, B. L.,
who is a very able young man and a credit to the race.


THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE.

The plantation upon which the Southern Christian Institute is located
contains eight hundred acres of land, being a mile and a quarter long
by a mile wide. It is located on the Big Black River, on the direct
road between Jackson and Vicksburg, being twenty-five miles from
the former and eighteen miles from the latter. It is two miles from
Edwards, which is its postoffice. The name of the plantation is Mount
Beulah. The Vicksburg and Meridian Railroad passes directly through
the plantation, in which there is a flag station. It is only six miles
from the famous battlefield of Champion Hill, and Pemberton's soldiers
retreated directly across it; and the battle of the "Big Black" was
fought partly upon it. The east end of the plantation is rolling,
containing most of the timber and all the buildings connected with the
institution: the old plantation building, to which has been added the
dining-room, kitchen and office, and a girls' dormitory; a separate
building for schoolhouse and boys' dormitory; a barn and eight cabins,
six of which are located at this end of the plantation. The timber is
nearly all of the hard-wood variety, such as oak, hickory, sweet gum,
beech, etc. All rough-bark trees are covered with long festoons of
Spanish moss. This part of the plantation has a beautiful situation
on a bluff, which rises about fifty feet from the river. The western
part of the plantation, containing about five hundred acres, is level,
but is located in what is called the second river bottom, and hence is
never overflowed.

The plantation contains such fertile soil, and has such a location,
that all the crops that are raised in the North can be raised here to
advantage.

J. B. Lehman, President, has six assistant teachers, while A. T. Ross
is superintendent of Industrial Department, and Mrs. A. T. Ross is
matron of the institution. The enrollment of the school now reaches
125. We have every reason to believe that it will be much larger
the coming year. The course of instruction is divided into Primary,
Normal, Classical, Biblical, and Industrial Departments. The Industrial
Department includes practical housekeeping, sewing, broom-making, the
making of molasses from sugar-cane, farming, fruit-canning, carpentry,
and printing, and the new machinery plant will add new industries.


THE LUM GRADED SCHOOL AT LUM, ALA.

The Lum Graded School was started four years ago, with Robert Brooks
as principal. Robert Brooks was educated at the Southern Christian
Institute, completing the full course there. He took the Alabama
teachers' examination, receiving the highest certificate given, and
then returned to his home in Lowndes County, Alabama, and opened
a school in a miserable shanty at Lum. In this undertaking he was
encouraged and directed, and to a small extent aided financially, by
the Board of Negro Education and Evangelization. The school having this
humble origin is now known to us and through all the section of the
country where it is located as "The Lum Graded School," and last year
enrolled one hundred and eleven pupils.




CHAPTER XXXIII.

COLEMAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, AN ORGANIZATION CHARTERED UNDER THE LAWS
OF NORTH CAROLINA, TO DO BUSINESS OF ALL KINDS OF MANUFACTURING.


Can the negro race successfully own and operate cotton mills? This
question, so long in doubt, is about to be answered, and we believe in
the affirmative. The first great stride in that direction was taken
when, on the 8th of February, 1898, was laid with Masonic honors the
corner-stone of the handsome three-story brick building, 80 × 120 feet
in dimensions, of the Coleman cotton mill. It was indeed a marked
epoch in the history of the negro race, and pronounced by all present
an entire success. Noted speakers from all over the United States
were invited, and the railroads gave reduced rates from all points.
Following the laying of the corner-stone was the annual election of
old officers, who are as follows: R. B. Fitzgerald, of Durham, N.
C., president; E. A. Johnson, of Raleigh, N. C., vice-president;
and W. C. Coleman, of Concord, N. C., secretary and treasurer. The
following gentlemen constitute the Board of Directors: Rev. S. C.
Thompson, Camden, S. C.; L. P. Berry, Statesville, N. C.; John C.
Dancy, Salisbury, N. C.; Prof. S. B. Pride, Charlotte, N. C.; Prof.
C. F. Meserve, Raleigh, N. C.; and Robert McRee, Concord, N. C. Among
these are some of the highest lights of the negro race, and under
their careful direction we have no doubts as to the final results of
the enterprise. The promoter of this enterprise, W. C. Coleman, is the
wealthiest negro in the State, and he has rallied around him not only
the leaders of his race, but has the endorsement of many of the most
successful financiers among our white citizens throughout the State.

[Illustration: WARREN C. COLEMAN.]

The mill is to have from 7,000 to 10,000 spindles, and from 100 to
250 looms, and, by their charter, will be allowed to spin, weave,
manufacture, finish, and sell warps, yarns, cloth, prints, or other
fabrics made of cotton, wool, or other material. They own at present,
in connection with the plant, about 100 acres of land on the main line
of the Southern Railway, and near the site of the mill. The mill and
machinery with all the fixtures complete will represent an outlay of
nearly $66,000, and will give employment to a number of hands. The
building is now completed and ready for machinery.

Let us add that Concord has reason to and does feel proud of the fact
that she has the only cotton mill in the world owned, conducted, and
operated by the negro race.

At a meeting of the directors recently the capital stock was increased
$50,000, and those wishing a good safe investment should secure some of
this stock. The mill will be under good and safe management, and will,
no doubt, be a paying institution.

Special inducements will be offered to any party or parties who desire
to establish enterprises that colored labor may be employed. Full
particulars can be obtained from the secretary and treasurer, W. C.
Coleman, Concord, N. C.

When the Coleman Manufacturing Company demonstrates to the world, as it
will, that colored girls can weave cloth, and that this enterprise is a
paying one, there will be other men who will start similar institutions
throughout the South. I am sure that my readers will read this article
with more race pride than they have ever felt before when they realize
that, while they read it, cloth is being woven by colored girls. This
cotton mill, which is the result of Mr. Coleman's push and energy, will
give the colored man a standing in the business world he has never had
before, and will be, indeed, helpful.

[Illustration: COLEMAN COTTON MILL.]

Warren C. Coleman is a most remarkable man, starting as he did from
slavery, without money or education; in fact, he only had one term
of schooling in Howard University, Washington, D. C. Mr. Coleman has
for years operated a successful grocery store. He has met with heavy
losses, caused by fire, to the amount of several thousand dollars. Many
a man would have given up with the idea that fate was against him.
Mr. Coleman is one of the largest owners of real estate in Concord.
He also operates several farms in that county. He has educated out of
his resources a number of young colored men and women. Mr. Coleman is
doubtless one of the richest colored men in the United States.

The _Southern Age_, of Atlanta, Ga., on February 6, 1897, among other
things, says of W. C. Coleman: "The greatness of the man appears
particularly in the way he makes obstacles and difficulties helps and
not hindrances. He will rank with Abraham Lincoln as their practical
friend and benefactor. One gave them freedom--the other will give them
an industrial position."




CHAPTER XXXIV.

RICHMOND, VA.


This chapter is devoted to the business interests of the colored people
in Richmond, and I am sure my readers will find it a valuable addition
to my book.

RICHMOND BENEFICIAL AND INSURANCE COMPANY, CAPITAL STOCK $5,000.

In July, 1894, a company of twenty men was formed and began this work
with $200. They started against many odds; their chief opposers were
the agents of white insurance companies.

[Illustration: REV. W. F. GRAHAM, PRESIDENT.]

[Illustration: MR. JOHN T. TAYLOR, SECRETARY.]

Three years have told the story. They now have a membership of 15,000,
and employ seventy persons as managers, clerks, and agents. They own
their own property, a handsome three-story building, valued at $6,000,
and every cent of it paid for. The worth of the company is $13,000.
They are beginning to branch out in all cities of Virginia, and are
very cautious and careful with their money, their intention being the
founding of an organization that shall "stay" permanently, and are
doing a business now of $30,000 yearly.

Rev. W. F. Graham, the founder and president of this company, was born
of slave parents, in the State of Mississippi, attended school in
Arkansas, and finished at Wayland Seminary, Washington, D. C. He is
also pastor of one of the largest and finest Baptist churches in the
South, and is what I regard as a splendid type of manhood.

Mr. John T. Taylor is secretary and business manager for the company.
Mr. Taylor taught school for several years, and gave up that work to
accept his present position. He is regarded as a very competent and
energetic business man.


WILLIAM ISAAC JOHNSON.

Richmond has one of the most successful colored undertakers in the
country in the person of William Isaac Johnson. His place of business
and residence is located at 207 Fonshee Street. Mr. Johnson owns a
magnificent brick building, three stories high. The basement is used
for his workshop and stables for his horses. The ground floor is used
as an office and storeroom for ready-made coffins and trimmings. The
second story is used as a residence for his family, and the third
story is divided into lodge-rooms, which are rented to different
colored societies that hold monthly meetings there.

The horses and hearse, also the carriages, used in Mr. Johnson's
business are as fine as any owned by the leading white undertakers in
Richmond. I found him a pleasant and a very thorough business man.


A. D. PRICE.

Mr. A. D. Price, of Richmond, is also an undertaker, who owns good
horses, hearse, and carriages for his work.


PAUL C. EASLEY.

Mr. Paul C. Easley has an ice-cream parlor, also manages a steam
ice-cream manufactory, and has a large trade, both wholesale and retail.


THOMPSON & BENSON.

One of the best drug stores owned by colored men in the country is at
Richmond, carried on by Thompson & Benson, two young and intelligent
men, who are both, as the result of a splendid education, competent
to manage just what they have--a splendid drug store. I was very much
impressed with the cleanliness, neatness, and perfect system that I
found throughout the entire building. Of all places that ought to be
clean and neat is a drug store.


G. W. BRAGG.

Richmond Steam Laundry is owned by G. W. Bragg, a very progressive
colored man, who has, beyond doubt, the largest and best-equipped
steam laundry owned by a colored man in the United States. Every
modern machine for doing first-class laundry work can be seen at his
establishment. He employs the most intelligent colored girls he can
secure, and has so far had but very little trouble in teaching them
to handle the different machines. I am pleased to note also that his
patrons are made up of the best white families in Richmond. Mr. Bragg
has a brother in Farmville, Va., who also owns a laundry, but on a much
smaller scale.


NICKEL SAVINGS BANK,

at 601 North Thirtieth Street, Richmond, Va., is a splendid enterprise,
that has been put on foot by such men as Rev. Evans Payne, R. F.
Tancil, Rev. W. S. Christian, E. A. Washington, Anderson Evans, R. J.
Bass, J. Henry Jones, who are the board of directors. In order that my
readers may get some idea of the method adopted by the Nickel Savings
Bank, I reproduce some matter that appeared on a circular handed me by
the cashier:

"The bank safe is a nickel-plated brass bank, with combination lock,
and is highly ornamental and convenient. All sizes of coin or paper
money can be put into it.

"These banks are loaned to anyone free of charge who has or will
deposit $1.50 with us (for which we give a pass-book); it being
understood that if you lose the bank, or fail to return it in
reasonably good condition when we call for it, we charge you $1.50 for
the box, but you may return it at any time and get all the money you
have on deposit. It is understood that in consideration of our loaning
you a bank free of charge you will deposit your savings with us once in
three months or oftener.

"Money deposited in this safe can be taken out only at the Nickel
Savings Bank, as they keep the key. When brought to us the safe is
opened and the amount is counted in your presence, and placed to your
credit on your pass-book.

"This is one of the best plans ever devised for encouraging economy
and frugality in children, as money once placed in the safe cannot be
taken out except at our bank, and there it must be deposited. At the
same time it gives a child valuable business experience, and the first
lessons of economy are more easily learned if the savings are for some
fixed or definite purpose.

"Laboring men and women who are able to lay aside a small amount daily
or weekly will find these safes the most convenient and effectual means
of accomplishing that end."

My object in reproducing a part of their circular is to furnish the
matter that it may be the incentive or suggestion to people in other
cities to start similar institutions for the benefit of the poor.


THE PLANET.

[Illustration: THE PLANET BUILDING.]

_The Planet_, published by John Mitchell, Jr., has, without doubt,
the largest circulation of any paper published by a colored man.
Had the South a few more men who are as brave as John Mitchell has
shown himself, the lynchings of the South would not have been so
numerous. _The Planet_ has not only the largest circulation, but _The
Planet_ office is the best-equipped printing establishment owned by
a colored man in this country. Mr. Mitchell has recently purchased a
dwelling-house at 311 North Fourth Street, Richmond, Va., and had the
house entirely made over to suit his purpose.

John Mitchell, Jr., was born in Henrico County, Va., about three miles
from Richmond, Va., at a place called Laburnum. His parents were
slaves. He attended the public schools of Richmond, and graduated from
the Richmond Normal School, June 14, 1881, with the highest honors.
He received a gold medal for scholarship, and was awarded a special
gold medal for excellence in map-drawing. He taught public school in
Fredericksburgh, Va., two years, and also in those of Richmond one
year. His editorial career began in 1884. He has made a specialty
of lynchings and Southern outrages, etc. His efforts to prevent the
hanging of Simon Walker, a fifteen-year-old colored boy, was crowned
with success. He was threatened with hanging if he visited Charlotte
County, Va. His bold reply in the columns of the _Richmond Planet_,
supplemented by the arming of himself and going alone into the county
and visiting the scene of the lynching of the unfortunate Richard
Walker, caused the late Rev. Dr. J. W. Simmons to denominate him the
"bravest Negro editor on the continent."

[Illustration: JOHN MITCHELL, JR.]

Mr. Mitchell secured the release of Isaac Jenkins in 1893, the colored
man who was beaten, shot, and hanged, but still lives. His last great
feat was the saving of the lives of the three Lunenburg County women,
who were charged with the murder of Mrs. Lucy Jane Pollard, near
Fort Mitchell, Va. Governor O'Ferrall used the troops of the State
to prevent their lynching, and editor Mitchell employed Hon. Geo. D.
Wise, Hon. A. B. Guigon, and Hon. H. W. Flournoy to defend them. The
women--Pokey and Mary Barnes and Mary Abernathy--were acquitted and now
reside in this city.

The _Richmond Planet_ continues its crusade against these outrages.

In February, 1897, the present building, in which the plant is now
located, was purchased, and with the improvements cost $5,000. The
presses, type, engine, stereotype outfit, cost $4,000. The office force
consists of fifteen persons.


J. C. FARLEY.

[Illustration: MR. J. C. FARLEY.]

J. C. Farley, the well-known colored photographer of Richmond, Va.,
was born in Prince Edward County, Va., August 10, 1854. He came to
Richmond in 1861 and engaged in the bakery business. He entered the
photographic establishment of C. R. Rees & Co. in 1872. He left there
and labored in the service of Mr. G. W. Davis, with whom he remained
until 1895. It was while there that he became the operator, his rare
talent winning for him commendation and promotion from his employer. He
has been for years one of the most accomplished photographers in the
South, his work ranking with that of the best artists in this country
and Europe.

In August, 1895, he entered into the photographic business for himself,
under the style and title of the Jefferson Fine Art Gallery, and is
at present conducting a profitable business upon the most fashionable
business thoroughfare in Richmond. Some of the leading society and
business leaders in the State have sought Mr. Farley in order to secure
the benefit of his truly wonderful ability.

He married Miss Rebecca P. Roberts, of Amelia County, Va., in 1876, and
has a promising family of seven girls.


T. C. JOHNSON.

Among the colored lawyers at Richmond, Va., is Mr. T. C. Johnson, who
was born of slave parents. He attended Springfield (Mass.) Institute,
then read law and was admitted to the bar. Mr. Johnson has an office in
both Richmond and Petersburg, Va. He has the honor of being the local
attorney for two large white companies doing business in Richmond,
which is another evidence of the fact that a colored man can do
business in the South with white people.


THE TRUE REFORMERS.

Mention will be found of this order in Chapter XXI. of this
publication.




CHAPTER XXXV.

HERE AND THERE.


In this chapter it is my purpose to mention some men and women engaged
in different lines of business throughout the country.


MR. E. H. DIBBLE.

Mr. Dibble is a native of South Carolina, and is at present operating
a large store in Camden, S. C., where he keeps a stock of dry goods,
boots, shoes, fancy and family groceries. Aside from the store he
owns he also has an interest in another one in the same town, which
is operated by his brother. The patrons at either one of the stores
are not all colored by any means, but a large percentage of their
trade comes from a splendid class of white people. My object in making
mention of so many men engaged in business in the South is to stimulate
among my readers, and especially in the North, a determination to at
least make some effort along that line.


ROBERT G. WALKER.

Robert G. Walker, of Springfield, Ohio, is a carpenter and contractor
the race may be proud of. He was born in Ohio. At one time he was
the leading contractor of Hill City, Kansas, and gave employment to
fourteen men as carpenters. He built the courthouse, jail, and many of
the store buildings. He also served there as city clerk. He returned to
Springfield because of hard times in the West, and began contracting
for himself after working a while as foreman for a white contractor.
Mr. Walker has built some of the finest houses in Springfield owned by
white people. He is very much thought of by his race and the better
class of the whites.


JAMES NELSON,

manufacturer of "IXL" and Whiteley plows, two and four-horse wagons,
carts, etc., in Springfield, Ohio. Mr. Nelson was born a slave in the
State of Kentucky, and learned his trade as blacksmith while a slave.
He has carried on a business in Springfield for himself, with a great
deal of success, for quite a number of years. He bought out the entire
right to manufacture the "IXL" and Whiteley plows, and has very much
improved the plow and worked up a splendid sale for it, principally
throughout the various Middle, Western, and Southern States.

He also makes a specialty of manufacturing an iron tank-wagon, used by
men who are in the oil business and deliver oil from house to house. He
has shipped these tank-wagons to several of the different States.


JOHN H. ANDERSON.

John H. Anderson, of Urbana, Ohio, is the leading contractor and
builder of that city. He has had and finished some very large
contracts. He built the Y. M. C. A. building in Piqua, Ohio, also a
beautiful passenger station at same place. Mr. Anderson had a contract
to build a factory in Urbana that cost one hundred thousand dollars.
His finest work, he says, was done on a residence in Urbana that cost
forty thousand dollars. Most of the men employed by Mr. Anderson are
white; but whenever he can secure a good workman among colored men, he
is only too glad to give him work. I regard him as one of the leading
colored contractors in the country.


CAPTAIN HENRY.

Mr. Henry, of Pocomoke City, Md., better known as "Captain Henry,"
owns several sailing vessels that are manned by colored men, which he
operates between Pocomoke City, Md., and Philadelphia, Pa. He ships
large cargoes of wood, used in Philadelphia for fuel. Mr. Henry also
has a large dry goods and grocery store in Pocomoke City.


MR. GEORGE H. WHITE.

Mr. George H. White, of Staunton, Va., has a large and well-stocked
grocery store, and very nearly all of his patrons are white. He was
born a slave in Virginia, and spent the early part of his life at the
blacksmith trade. He has been in the grocery business since 1892, and
his trade has been growing larger ever since. He owns a beautiful home
and has the confidence and respect of the best citizens, both white and
colored.


FRANK T. WARE.

Frank T. Ware was born a slave at Staunton, Va., May 15, 1843. His
master "hired him out" until 1860, when he was sold to Negro traders,
who took him to Vicksburgh, Miss. There he served as dining-room waiter
until the beginning of the war. He was then taken as a body servant
into the Confederate Army, but was soon captured by the Federal troops.
He then became a soldier in the Union Army, and rose to the position
of orderly sergeant and continued as such until the war closed. He
then came back to Staunton and went into the express business, which
he followed for twelve years. Next he embarked into the hardware and
furniture business, and is now said to be the leading colored man in
that line of business in the United States. His store is three stories
high and is packed from bottom to top. It is in the business center
of Staunton. His race identity is no barrier to his success. He buys
from the best firms in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Richmond, and a
large number of his customers are of his own race, but the bulk of
his patrons are the white people of this city and adjoining counties.
Scrupulously honest in his dealings, he has won an enviable business
reputation and enjoys the implicit confidence of all. He is a man of
means and influence, and every good cause receives his aid.


MR. A. R. COOPER.

Mr. A. R. Cooper, of Findley, Ohio, has invented a strictly water-proof
shoe. Manufacturers of shoes have always claimed to make them
water-proof, but who ever wore them? Mr. Cooper is a practical
shoemaker, and for a long time has been giving this matter serious
thought and consideration, until now his efforts have been rewarded by
the invention of this shoe. It is not only guaranteed by the maker to
be water-proof, but also protects the foot from any dampness whatever.
The shoe will be easier, warmer, and cheaper than the ordinary make.


ROBERT ORRICK.

Robert Orrick owns the largest livery, sale, and feed stable in the
city of Winchester, Va. Mr. Orrick was born a slave. He began business
for himself in 1859, which was before freedom was granted. This he
did by paying to his master a certain amount of money for his time.
He married a freeborn woman, and as a slave could not transact any
business, all business matters had to be done in his wife's name. The
amount named for his time by his owner was $65 per year. His first
business venture was hauling baggage and freight, and by degrees his
work developed into a regular livery business. He now owns forty
horses and some forty-five different kinds of vehicles. His residence
and stable join, and are valued at about ten thousand dollars. In the
country he has two farms of three hundred acres, valued at one hundred
dollars per acre.


MR. N. T. GANT.

Mr. N. T. Gant, of Zanesville, Ohio, is a very interesting man; looks
enough like the late Frederick Douglass to pass for his brother.
Mr. Gant was born a slave in Virginia. He bought his own and wife's
freedom. For his wife he paid fifteen hundred dollars. He moved to
Zanesville before the war, and began life as a truck farmer. He made
money like magic, and owns several farms now, after giving all of his
children good homes. The property now used as "Gant Park" was sold
by him for twenty thousand dollars, with the understanding that no
intoxicating drinks were to be sold on the ground. His residence in
Zanesville was a part of the park. He has one of the best-furnished
homes in the State of Ohio. Among the leading business and moneyed men
of Zanesville, Mr. Gant is considered one of them.


CASPER TITUS.

Norfolk, Va., can boast of a progressive man in the person of Casper
Titus, a thriving florist, in Huntersville, Norfolk, Va.; carries about
3,000 feet of glass; grows plants, flowers, and vegetables; has a good
patronage from white as well as colored; is the leading colored florist
south of Baltimore; began business with ten lilies and eight geraniums,
the few brought to him by his wife. The total number of lilies to-day
is 500, with a spring sale of about 5,000 plants of different varieties.


MR. J. STEPHENSON.

Mr. J. Stephenson, watchmaker and jeweler, does a good business in
Norfolk, Va., and has a splendid stock of goods. He began first by
repairing watches and clocks, until he had built up a trade, and at
the same time saved enough money to put in a small stock of goods. His
trade is by no means confined to colored people. His success simply
shows what can be done when the proper effort is put forth.


MR. W. J. OVERTON.

Mr. Overton, of Clarksville, Tenn., was for years before his death
foreman and manager of the Clarksville ice factory. He began work there
as a fireman. Mr. Overton had the confidence and respect of the best
people in the city. He, by hard work and good management, saved enough
money to purchase splendid property.


J. W. PAGE.

Mr. J. W. Page is also of Clarksville, Tenn., and is regarded by all as
a very prominent man. For years he was one of the city councilmen, and
much of the public improvement in his ward has been done through his
effort. He owns a great deal of property, which is rented. At his home
he operates a grocery business that is well patronized in that portion
of the city. Mr. Page takes an active part in church and Sunday-school
work; in fact, in all things that will in any way lift up his people.


BOTTS & HENSLEY.

Messrs. Botts & Hensley, at Mt. Sterling, Ky., own and operate one of
the leading grocery stores of that city. Both of these men stand high
and own good homes. Their patrons are mostly white.


J. R. HAWKINS.

Mr. J. R. Hawkins, of Hopkinsville, Ky., has a very large and
well-furnished grocery store. His trade is about equally divided
between the white and colored people. As for his white patrons, he has
some of the leading families in the city who deal there. He owns a
splendid home, and is very highly respected by all.


A. C. BRENT.

Mr. A. C. Brent, also of Hopkinsville, Ky., is engaged in the grocery
business. He has a large trade and many white patrons. Hopkinsville
has many things of interest among colored people. In addition to Mr.
Hawkins' and Mr. Brent's grocery business, Mr. Peter Postell has a
large store, which is mentioned in another part of this publication.


MR. E. W. GLASS.

Mr. E. W. Glass, of Hopkinsville, Ky., is a successful undertaker. He
is a native of Hopkinsville, and has always taken an active part in
all movements that would advance his people. Mr. Glass has been one of
the city teachers, and for some four years was engaged in the revenue
service as United States storekeeper. He was at one time an alderman in
his ward. As an undertaker he is a success, and is regarded as one of
the leading men in that line in the State.


MRS. C. HODGES.

Mrs. C. Hodges, a colored woman, is holding the position of Deputy Meat
Inspector in one of Mr. Armour's large packing houses at Kansas City,
Kan.


MRS. M. M. BROWN.

Mrs. M. M. Brown, of Staunton, Va., has a good dressmaking business.
She keeps on hand a large stock of ladies' ready-made clothing of all
kinds. She owns a splendid building on Main Street. The most of her
customers are white.


MISS ELIZABETH B. SLAUGHTER.

[Illustration: MISS E. B. SLAUGHTER.]

Miss E. B. Slaughter, of Louisville, Ky., is a young lady who deserves
more than passing mention. She is engaged in the millinery business,
and has built up a splendid trade among both white and colored patrons.
Miss Slaughter learned her trade in the "Armour Institute" at Chicago,
Ill., where she, in part, worked her way through that institution. Her
store is well and neatly furnished, and she keeps on hand a line of
goods that will please the best class of patrons among both races. I
regard her work of great interest from the fact that she is one of the
first among colored ladies who have made an effort along this line. We
publish a splendid picture of Miss Slaughter in this edition in the
hope that it, along with this short sketch of her work and success,
may inspire some other young lady to start in business of some sort.
When colored people, and especially ladies, are engaged in different
business enterprises, such as women take up as a means of support,
white people will then be compelled to see them not only as cooks
and washerwomen, but as business women and competitors. Then, too,
when colored ladies can operate successful millinery stores, that in
itself will at least have a tendency to make white women engaged in
such business treat their colored customers with more consideration.
Miss Slaughter is a graduate from the schools of this city. She is
very highly respected, and I am sure that the better class of colored
ladies are proud of the fact that Louisville has a colored milliner.
At Lexington, Ky., Mrs. J. C. Jackson and Mrs. Hathaway have opened a
millinery and notion store, and they are meeting with success.


MR. ANDREW HAYDEN.

Andrew Hayden, of Cynthiana, Ky., a blacksmith by trade and an
ex-slave, has, by very hard work and good business judgment, built up
quite a start in life in the way of good property. He owns, in addition
to his residence, which is a beautiful brick structure, several houses,
which are rented--one as a business house, and some ten others as
dwellings. Mr. Hayden has his own home in the most aristocratic part of
the town, and his family are the only colored people on that street.
His house is well furnished, and his wife takes great pride in her
home. She has a very large and fine collection of house plants, and
Mr. Hayden built her a very fine pit to keep them in during the cold
weather. He has but little education, but a large stock of good common
sense. I regard him as a credit to the town.


PEOPLE'S DRUG STORE.

[Illustration: MR. R. F. WHITE.]

The People's Drug Store, located at Louisville, Ky., is another
evidence of colored people's ability to manage business enterprises
of their own. The store is well equipped with a good stock of goods,
and is patronized by both races. It is kept neat and clean. Mr. R.
F. White, who has charge of the store, is a graduate in pharmacy
from Howard University, at Washington, D. C., and stands high in his
profession. In speaking of the class of people who give the most
support to race enterprises, Mr. White thinks "that the middle-class
seem to have more interest and pride in the places of business started
by colored men than those who have had better advantages, and ought,
because of their ability, feel a deeper interest in all things that
would help in any way the business development of the race." Of all
stores that would be helpful to the colored people a drug store would
be one of them, from the fact that the business could only be carried
on by educated people, and the more of that class who can be brought
into prominent places the better for the entire race. Mr. White is
a native of Florida and is much thought of by his people. He is
progressive, and believes in perfect system and order, and conducts the
drug store on that principle.


GREENE BROTHERS.

Greene Brothers, of Holly Springs, Miss., are merchants on a very large
scale. They handle a general line of all sorts of goods that can be
found in what is known in the South as a general store. They furnish
quite a number of planters from year to year, and of course take their
chances on the results of the crops for their pay. They are young men
and owe their success to the very close attention they give to the
business. Their store is not only one of the leading places of business
in Holly Springs, but is one of the best in the State. I live in hope
that the time is not far distant when just such places of business can
be found in every town in the South owned by colored men.


REV. I. H. ANDERSON.

Rev. I. H. Anderson, of Jackson, Tenn., is another evidence of Negro
success. Mr. Anderson has been for years a minister in what is known
as the C. M. E. Church, and for some years managed the publishing house
of that connection at Jackson, Tenn. He has retired from active work in
the ministry and gone into business. Mr. Anderson has built a very fine
brick block in Jackson, where he keeps a line of groceries, dry goods,
boots and shoes; in fact, a general store. He has a large white trade.
I am informed that in addition to his store he owns a large amount of
property.


FITE'S STUDIO.

Mr. S. Fite, owner of Fite's Studio, at Owensboro, Ky., is in a
position to render the race a great service. It is acknowledged that he
is by far the best photographer in that city, and his patrons are not
only the leading white people there, but they come from other towns to
have work done. Mr. Fite had a hard struggle when he first located at
Owensboro, because of the unfair means used by the white men engaged
in the same line of work to defeat him. But he has more than won the
fight, and stands at the head as an example of what push and pluck will
do.


J. G. HIGGINS.

Mr. and Mrs. Higgins, at Chattanooga, Tenn., are engaged in business in
a way that will be helpful to the race. Mrs. Higgins is a manufacturer
of human hair goods, in such things as switches, wigs, waves, bangs,
and vest-chains. Her patrons are about all white, and their store is in
the heart of the business part of the city, and is one of the neatest
stores in that line I ever saw. Mr. Higgins is a practical watchmaker,
and has a splendid trade repairing and cleaning watches.


J. W. MOORE.

J. W. Moore, at Paducah, Ky., is another successful business man. Mr.
Moore is a native of Louisville, Ky. He was at one time a clerk in the
Mileage Department of the C. & O. & S. W. R. R. office, and was also a
letter-carrier for three years at Paducah. He operates now a very large
grocery store; in fact, one of the best in the city. He has something
to show for his labor, in the way of some eight houses, seven of which
are rented. I found him interested in all that will help and advance
the race.


JORDAN C. JACKSON.

Jordan C. Jackson, the subject of this sketch, was born in Fayette
County, Kentucky, February 25, 1848. He is a remarkable example of what
pluck and energy can do for a man without scholastic training. Mr.
Jackson has been a prominent figure in the State for twenty years, and
has attended every Republican convention held in the State within that
time.

[Illustration: JORDAN C. JACKSON.]

He was alternate delegate to the late Hon. W. C. Goodloe to the
National Republican Convention, which met in Cincinnati in 1876, and
delegate-at-large to the National Republican Convention which met at
Minneapolis to nominate Benjamin Harrison the second time as President
of the United States--an honor which only one other man of the race
has had conferred upon him from Kentucky. Mr. Jackson was twice elected
lay trustee of Wilberforce University, and is now, and has been for
the past twelve years, trustee of Berea College, the most unique
institution on the American continent. He stands ready with might and
means to do his part in any and all movements for the advancement of
his race. Mr. Jackson has been United States storekeeper and gauger for
a number of years, and has always taken rank as a first-class officer.
He is now a member of the undertaking firm of Porter & Jackson, and
has won for the firm and himself a place in the confidence of the
people that can be had only by fair business transactions and personal
integrity. He was a most valued contributor to the _Standard_ for a
year, and was known to the many readers as "Observer," a title that
befits him well, as all who have read his able articles will readily
attest. Owing to his many business cares, he has for a time retired
from the literary field, and in losing him the _Standard_ has lost
one of its most highly prized writers. Writing under the nom de plume
of Uncle Eph, he also furnished a number of most valuable articles
for the _American Citizen_. He combines qualities that every man is
not possessed of--literary talent and business qualification. Mr.
Jackson is one of the most enthusiastic workers against the enactment
of the separate-coach law of Kentucky, and was one of the first men
appointed to wait on Governor Brown for the purpose of preventing the
passage of the now obnoxious law. He is a member of the State Central
Committee, and there is no man on the entire committee who is more in
the struggle that we are now undergoing. He believes that if sufficient
money is collected to test the constitutionality of the law, that it
will be wiped from the statute-book of the Commonwealth. Mr. Jackson
was elected temporary chairman of the separate-coach convention held in
Lexington, Ky., June 22, 1892.


REV. A. H. MILLER.

[Illustration: REV. A. H. MILLER.]

Rev. A. H. Miller, the subject of this brief sketch, was born a slave
in St. Francis county, Arkansas, March 12, 1849. He has lived in
Arkansas all his life, with the exception of a brief period just after
the war, which was spent in St. Louis, Mo. After remaining in St.
Louis about one year he returned to Arkansas, worked by the day, and
saved enough money to give himself one session in Southland College,
near Helena, which constitutes the major portion of his school
advantage. He was chosen by the people of his county to represent
them in the Arkansas General Assembly, in 1874, and served his whole
term honorably. It was with the small amount of money he saved while
a member of the State Legislature that he began his remarkable career
as a financier. He is a man of economical habits, and gives close
attention to his personal business. He has amassed a handsome little
fortune, being regarded as one of the wealthiest negroes in East
Arkansas. Rev. Miller has travelled extensively, and is well known in
the Baptist denomination. He is somewhat a philanthropist, and has
the credit of being one of the first to make a personal gift to the
National Baptist Publishing House. He has filled many important places
in the work of his denomination. He is prominent as a local leader,
and is at present a member of the Helena School Board. Mr. Miller owns
and rents some fifty houses in Helena, and is building more for that
purpose.


MR. S. BOYCE.

[Illustration: MR. S. BOYCE.]

Mr. Stansbury Boyce, of Jacksonville, Florida, has made a start in
the right direction, and I hope that many colored men will follow
in the lead he has taken. I have mentioned many men who have stores
and are doing a successful business, but Mr. Boyce is the first one
I have found who operates a regular department store on the plan of
a city store of the same kind. Each department is in the hands of a
colored girl, who has been trained by Mr. Boyce as a saleslady, and
I am very confident that the girls in his store understand their work
and know the quality of goods quite as well as white girls doing the
same work. The store is patronized as much by white people as it is by
colored, and Mr. Boyce said that in the "millinery department most of
his trade came from the best class of white ladies." I hope those who
read this short sketch will see what a great blessing stores like this
would prove to the colored people if we had them all over the country,
not only to make money for the owner, but for the purpose of giving
employment to a large number of well-educated girls who can't find
anything to do outside of teaching and domestic work. I found Mr. Boyce
not only a successful merchant, but a very intelligent and polished
gentleman. His wife has charge of the millinery department, and she
thoroughly understands her work.


ISAAC JOHNSON.

Isaac Johnson, Manufacturer and Dealer in Florida Curiosities, Jewelry,
Novelties, Live and Stuffed Alligators, Chameleons, Shells, Palmetto
Fans, Fly Brushes and all kinds of Alligator Tooth Jewelry--such is the
wording of the billhead handed me by Mr. Johnson, the only colored man
in the country who owns a store where all kinds of curiosities are made
and sold. His store is in Jacksonville, Florida, and when walking down
Hogan street your attention is frequently attracted to large crowds
gathered on the left-hand side of the street. This is the great curio
establishment sometimes known as the "Alligator Store," and is owned
and operated by Mr. Isaac Johnson.

Mr. Johnson, when a boy, was employed on the very spot where he is now
proprietor to assist around the store. He showed great ability, and as
time went on this boy began to take hold of the work and manifested
a deep interest in all curiosities. And from stuffing alligators he
began to make very many pretty designs from different parts of this
animal, thus showing his ability in various directions, which was soon
recognized by those who employed him.

[Illustration: ISAAC JOHNSON.]

He not only displayed his ability, but he took special training,
thus fitting himself for the work, which is one of an expert nature.
Before very many years went by Mr. Johnson, by his honesty, thrift and
diligence, not only acquired and mastered the trade, but was able when
the opportunity presented itself to buy out the business, and to-day he
is doing a large trade and is able to help others of his race.


HOWARD BROTHERS.

[Illustration: E. E. HOWARD.]

P. W. & E. E. Howard, of Jackson, Miss., are engaged in the mercantile
business on quite a large scale. They handle a general line of dry
goods and groceries. I have mentioned several men who are engaged in
the same line of business, in different parts of the country, and some
who own larger stores, but when we take into consideration the age of
these young men their effort becomes a thing of great interest to the
public at large. Mr. E. E. Howard, whose cut appears in connection
with this sketch, is only about 21 years of age, while his brother, P.
W. Howard, is only 24. These young men both attended Rust University,
at Holly Springs, Miss., and there and at the public schools prepared
themselves for their life's work. The money they have invested in their
business is entirely their own earnings--from boyhood they have been
saving what they could earn with a view of some time going into some
line of business. I have no doubt but what a large number of young men
who have lived only to enjoy life will read this sketch with a degree
of sadness when they look over their past life and think how different
things might have gone for them had they followed in the footsteps of
such energetic and progressive young men as the Howard Brothers.


MR. E. E. FLUKER.

[Illustration: MR. E. E. FLUKER.]

E. E. Fluker, of Pine Bluff, Ark., is another of the successful
merchants of the South. Mr. Fluker, like most men, began business
on a small amount of money, and has had some heavy losses that were
hard to stand and remain in business. He has a large store, and does
both a wholesale and retail trade in dry goods, hats, caps, boots and
shoes and groceries. Mr. Fluker handles cotton on a large scale, and
thinks nothing of buying and selling twelve thousand bales per year. He
furnishes dry goods and provisions to a large number of poor planters
who can only pay their bills once a year, and that is when they sell
their cotton. Mr. Fluker has also been active in society work and
has been instrumental in getting large numbers of colored people into
benevolent societies, where they could get help when sick and in
need. He owns a fine brick block in Pine Bluff, where his business
is conducted, and in part of his building one of the city banks is
operated. The room where the bank is is rented to white people, who
carry on that business.


MR. R. J. PALMER.

[Illustration: MR. R. J. PALMER.]

R. J. Palmer, of Columbia, S. C., the subject of this short sketch,
is one of the successful and leading business men of that city. Mr.
Palmer is a merchant tailor by occupation. His patrons are numbered
among the leading white citizens of Columbia, who give him their work
because of the confidence they have in him as an honest business man
and an excellent workman in his line. Mr. Palmer keeps on hand a full
and complete stock of foreign and domestic woolens and a good line of
gents' furnishing goods. He employs only the best of workmen, and he
does all the cutting and fitting, and his business is carried on in a
good brick building, which is owned by himself. He also owns a good
home. He is an active and prominent member of the M. E. Church. Mr.
Palmer is a native of South Carolina, and has all his life enjoyed the
respect and confidence of the best people of both races.


MR. LOUIS KASTOR.

[Illustration: MR. LOUIS KASTOR.]

Louis Kastor, of Natchez, Miss., is the only colored man I have found
in my travels engaged in the line of work he represents, at least on
so large a scale as he carries on his business. He is a first-class
harness-maker by trade and owns one of the largest and best-equipped
stores in his line in the country. In addition to the harness he
makes he keeps on hand a large stock of ready-made harness, bridles,
saddles, whips, rugs, in fact, a large and complete stock of all goods
sold by men in his business. Mr. Kastor began first with $65.00, and is
now doing a business of some $22,000 a year. He owns a fine property
for a residence, and has the respect and confidence of the best people
in Natchez. In addition to his own residence Mr. Kastor owns three
other houses, which he has rented. I found him a very intelligent man,
and one who is very anxious to see the colored people advance in every
department of life. He feels that they must be engaged in all lines of
work and business in order that they may succeed.


MISSISSIPPI COTTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

This company is located at Jackson, Miss., for the purpose of building
a large cotton mill where colored labor only will be employed.

On nearly every sidewalk, at every railway station from the country
store to the great city, the highways are crowded with idle colored
boys. It is very difficult for them to find employment in the
commercial pursuits of any kind. They would gladly seize an opportunity
to earn a livelihood along the industrial lines if they were permitted.
Hence the necessity of the erection of the cotton factory. The
Mississippi Cotton Manufacturing Company is incorporated under the laws
of the State of Mississippi for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and
woolen goods and such other articles as the directors from time to time
may see fit. Such an enterprise was proposed by the lamented Frederick
Douglass in 1893, who was president of the Freedom Manufacturing
Company, of which Hon. James Hill was vice-president. Owing to the
money panic of '93, Mr. Douglass decided to wait until after the panic
had subsided and business confidence was restored. On the eve of this
restoration of business confidence Mr. Douglass died. The idea has
heretofore prevailed that the negro is not competent to manage or
operate any manufacturing concern or any great business enterprise.
We cannot yield assent to that idea. The young people who are being
educated in the various colleges of this country should not all seek
to go into the professions, and the main object of this company is to
build this factory and give the deserving boys and girls in that State
an opportunity to follow the industrial as well as the professional
walks of life.

The capital stock of the company is $250,000. The shares of stock are
placed at $10 each. Any person, however, can purchase as many shares of
stock as he may desire.

Mississippi is one of the greatest cotton-producing States in the
Union, and the negro produces the major part of said product, and he
should feel a deep interest in the manufacture of this raw material,
thereby doing something to advance civilization and adding something
substantial to the commonwealth and the welfare of its people.

[Illustration: HON. JAMES HILL.
_President of Cotton Mill Company._]

Hon. James Hill is president of the above company. Mr. Hill is a man
of high standing and well known in all parts of this country. He has
been a political leader for years, and has held some very important
positions. He was at one time Postmaster of Vicksburg, Miss., the
largest town in the State. Mr. Hill is now, in 1900, in the United
States Land Office at Jackson, Miss. He was appointed to this position
by President McKinley.

Rev. E. W. Lampton, first vice-president of the company, is also a
well-known man. He has been a very active man in the A. M. E. Church.
His home is at Greenville, Miss., where he owns valuable property.
Mr. Lampton has been at the head of the Masonic order for the State of
Mississippi, and thousands of dollars have been disbursed by him for
the benefit of widows and orphans annually.


MR. EUGENE BURKINS.

[Illustration: EUGENE BURKINS,
Inventor of the Burkins Automatic Machine-Gun.]

Eugene Burkins, inventor of the "Burkins Automatic Machine-Gun," was
at one time a bootblack in the city of Chicago. He never had any
education outside of learning how to read and write. Nor had he ever
been a soldier, or had any experience with guns of any description; and
for that reason his invention is all the more wonderful. He began first
to make a careful study of the picture that appeared in the papers,
showing the guns on the "Battleship Maine." Mr. Burkins saw in what
way he could improve the machine-gun by increasing its rapid-firing
capacity, and along that line he began to work. His first model was
mostly made with a pocket-knife. Some of the leading colored people
helped him secure his patent. Mr. Madden, a wealthy man in Chicago,
furnished over $3,000 to make a perfect model. Admiral Dewey said it
was "by far the best machine-gun ever made." It shoots seven times more
a minute than the Gatling gun, and will doubtless take the place of
other machine-guns. Several foreign countries have offered large sums
for the right to manufacture it for their navies; but Mr. Burkins and
Mr. Madden, his partner, proposed to control the manufacturing interest
in this country.


MR. GEO. E. JONES.

[Illustration: MR. GEO. E. JONES.]

Mr. Geo. E. Jones, of Little Rock, Ark., is beyond doubt one of the
most successful business men among the colored people. He began life
a very poor boy, without friends or capital, and has by hard work and
close economy placed himself among the most prominent business men
of his city. Mr. Jones is engaged in the undertaking business, and
can say what no other colored man engaged in that line of work in the
South can say, and that is--he has about as much patronage among the
white people as he has with his own race. Mr. Jones first started in
business as a merchant on a small amount of money, and finally worked
into the undertaking business. He owns now in Little Rock quite a large
amount of property, and among the different buildings there he has two
large brick blocks, one on Main street, where he has his undertaking
establishment, and one on West Ninth street, which is rented. In the
Ninth street block Mr. Jones has in one room a fine drug store, which
he employs a young druggist to attend to. He owns a fine lot of horses
and carriages used in his business as an undertaker. His residence is
by far the best furnished home I ever saw owned by a colored man. Mrs.
Jones, his wife, is a very refined and cultured lady.


MR. G. W. HIGGINS.

[Illustration: MR. G. W. HIGGINS.]

G. W. Higgins was born in South Carolina, and lived for some time at
Newberry, S. C. He began at an early age to acquire an education in
order that he might be of some help to himself and race. Mr. Higgins
attended Biddle University at Charlotte, N. C., where he took a course
in theology. He was at one time principal of the public school at Old
Fort, N. C., and while teaching there he established a Presbyterian
Church, which is still in existence. After leaving the Presbyterian
work he joined the A. M. E. Zion Connection, and was appointed pastor
at Abington, Va., and afterwards at Johnson City, Tenn. There he became
interested in the industrial advancement of the colored people, and
set about to learn some trade, and secured work in a first-class steam
laundry, and learned the business thoroughly, and afterwards operated
a laundry of his own. Mr. Higgins came to Cincinnati, O., in 1893 and
secured employment with the Oil and Grease Company of Chas. H. Moore
& Co. After five years of faithful work for that firm he became an
expert in the compounding of the oils and greases made by the firm,
and was offered a larger salary by Burchard & Co., of Cincinnati, who
are refiners of lard oil. For this firm, Mr. Higgins has charge as
foreman of the oil and grease department. He is much thought of by his
employers.


MR. A. MEANS.

A. Means, of Memphis, Tenn., is a practical hatter, and is the only
colored man I know of engaged in that line of work. He has a large
trade and keeps on hand a select assortment of the latest styles
in hats and caps. Mr. Means does a large business in cleaning and
repairing hats.


MR. J. E. HENDERSON.

J. E. Henderson, of Little Rock, Ark., is engaged in the jewelry
business. Mr. Henderson is regarded as a good workman in his line, and
for some years before he began business for himself he did the repair
work for one of the leading jewelry houses of Little Rock. He gets a
great deal of his work now from the white people. I hope before many
years to see a larger number of colored men engaged in the jewelry
trade.


SOUTHERN MERCANTILE COMPANY.

The Southern Mercantile Company, Pine Bluff, Ark., is a company of
excellent business men, who are demonstrating that colored men can
manage a successful business enterprise. They handle a large stock of
dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes and plantation supplies. They do
both a wholesale and retail business. The firm has in it such men as
Wiley Jones, Fred. Havis, who is president of the company, and Mr. M.
R. Perry, as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Perry is a graduate from one
of the best schools in the country and regarded as a splendid business
man.


MR. L. CARTER.

L. Carter, of Greenville, Miss., was born of slave parents at
Carthage, Tenn. He has been in Mississippi since 1866. Mr. Carter owns
and operates the only large book store in the country owned by a
colored man. He keeps a splendid stock of school books, blank books,
stationery, periodicals and a good assortment of story books and toys.
In speaking of where he got the greater part of his support, he said
that at least two-thirds of his patronage came from the white people,
and among the best class of them. Mr. Carter owns good property in
Greenville as a residence, and is regarded as one of the prominent
citizens.


DAVIS & ROBINSON.

Davis & Robinson, of Jacksonville, Fla., are the leading commission
merchants of that city. They do both a wholesale and retail business
in oranges, fruits, strawberries, northern produce, turkeys, chickens,
eggs, early vegetables. They handle melons in car-load lots and keep
all kinds of game in season. They also supply the large hotels there
with all they need in their line. Both of these men are respected and
regarded as excellent business men by the leading people.


MRS. ELLA HENDERSON.

Mrs. Ella Henderson, who is located at Natchez, Miss., has opened a
very excellent millinery store, where she keeps a splendid stock of
goods in that line of trade. As I have stated in other parts of this
book, there are very few colored ladies engaged in the millinery
business. This is to be regretted, for there is an opening for some one
to do well in all towns where the colored population is large. Mrs.
Henderson has taken special training to thoroughly prepare herself for
the successful management of her business. She started in a small way,
and has twice since she opened her store had to enlarge the room in
order to meet the demands of her trade. She buys her stock from the
best houses in the country. The travelling salesmen who visit the town
with millinery goods call on her and give her the same attention to
secure her patronage as they do the white ladies in the same business.
I hope that many colored ladies who may read this short sketch will be
inspired to at least try and start some kind of business.


RISHER BAKERY COMPANY.

Mr. H. T. Risher, of Jackson, Miss., who owns and operates a very large
and successful bakery business, has taken a new departure in the line
of business for colored people. I have only found two men engaged in
that line of work. One was Mr. Jones, at Danville, Va., and Mr. Risher,
of Jackson. His place of business is equipped with all the modern
appliances for a first-class bake shop. Mr. Risher's trade extends to
many of the towns in the State, where he supplies merchants who sell
his bread. He has several delivery wagons that are used to supply his
city patrons. Mr. Risher is regarded as a very excellent man, who is
much interested in all that will advance the cause of his race in a
business and educational way. He has been one of the leading spirits in
building up Campbell College at Jackson, one of the A. M. E. schools.
Mr. Risher owns splendid property and enjoys the respect of both white
and colored people.


MR. F. B. COFFIN.

F. B. Coffin, of Little Rock, Ark., is a druggist by profession. He
operates a very fine drug store at Little Rock for Mr. Geo. E. Jones.
Mr. Coffin is a graduate from Meharry Medical College, at Nashville,
Tenn. In addition to his work as a druggist he has written a book of
poems, entitled "Coffin's Poems." The book has 248 pages, and contains
some very interesting matter, which shows his ability as a writer. Part
of his book is devoted to the question of Lynch law, and he speaks out
like a true and brave man against that awful curse to this country.


MR. J. E. BUSH.

J. E. Bush was born in Moscow, Tenn., in 1856. His parents moved to
Arkansas during the rebellious unpleasantness of 1862. At an early
age he manifested the energy and self-reliance that has developed
him into the useful prominence of a worthy and highly respected
citizen. He earned his tuition at school by moulding brick. He may
have made "bricks without straw," but his manliness has never allowed
him to complain of the many hardships he has endured to overcome the
difficulties in his experience or surmount the obstacles with which he
has so often been brought into contact. Mr. Bush was educated in the
schools of Little Rock, Ark. He has been successful in life and owns
valuable property there. He has also held some important political
positions, and was appointed in 1898 by President McKinley as Receiver
of the United States Land Office at Little Rock.


DR. G. W. BELL.

Dr. G. W. Bell, of Pine Bluff, Ark., is a graduate of Lincoln
University, and he took his medical training at "The University of
Michigan." He has a very large practice. Dr. Bell has established, in
connection with his profession, a private sanitarium for the benefit
of those who come to him from a distance for treatment. He has built
a comfortable building for that purpose, and I think it is the only
institution of the kind carried on by a colored doctor in the State.


MISS MATTIE JENNETE JOHNSON.

Miss Mattie J. Johnson is employed as a saleslady in Siegel, Cooper &
Company's large store in the city of Chicago. She began work for them
in 1893, and has been there ever since. Miss Johnson is in the grocery
department, and is looked upon by her employers as one of the most
competent women in their store. She has many warm friends among the
patrons of the establishment. While Miss Johnson is the first colored
lady thus employed, knowing that she was colored when they engaged her,
I am sure she will not be the last, and I hope many young women will
prepare themselves for some useful place.


DR. T. M. DORAM, M. D. V.

[Illustration: DR. T. M. DORAM, M. D. V.]

Dr. Doram will doubtless be quite a bit of interest to the readers of
this book, from the fact that he is the first and only negro graduate
to receive a diploma from a veterinary college in the United States. He
was born in Danville, Ky., where his parents own valuable farm land.
His father was a carpenter, and when Dr. Doram was young he worked
with him at the trade. After he had finished at the public school,
in 1892, he entered Eckstein Norton University at Cane Spring, Ky.
While there the building was destroyed by fire. Dr. Doram then found
his knowledge of the carpenter's trade of great value to him and the
school, in helping to rebuild the college building. In 1896 he entered
the McKillip Veterinary College at Chicago, Ill. At the close of the
first year he was at the head of his class in materia medica, and the
second year he led his class in pharmacy, and during his last year he
was made senior instructor of his class, an honor of which he may be
justly proud. In 1899, when he graduated, he came to Evanston, Ill.,
where he enjoys a good practice, and he is called in his profession by
the best people in that very wealthy and aristocratic community. I very
much hope that a few at least of the young colored men who may read
this sketch may be inspired to take up the profession of veterinary
medicine and surgery, for I am confident that many could succeed in
different parts of the country.


MR. J. W. ADAMS.

[Illustration: MR. J. W. ADAMS.]

In presenting a few words about Mr. J. W. Adams and his business I
feel that I am doing the people at large a great favor to give them an
opportunity to know something about this eminently successful colored
business man. My attention was first called to Mr. Adams by Prof.
Booker T. Washington while I was lecturing at Tuskegee. I changed my
plans somewhat in order that I might visit Montgomery, Ala., and see
both the man and his place of business. Mr. Adams was born in 1867. He
began business for himself about 1899. But before that he picked up
some knowledge of business by working for a large clothing house in
Montgomery. He first went there as a porter, but in time they allowed
him to sell goods. Mr. Adams always saved his money, and when he had
about three hundred and fifty dollars he decided to make an effort
for himself. He now operates a large store, where he sells dry goods,
clothing, millinery, boots and shoes, hats, caps, trunks, notions,
etc. Mr. Adams carries a stock of over twenty thousand dollars, and
his store covers over four thousand square feet; but he first started
in a room only 18 by 19 feet. His patrons are about evenly divided
between white and colored people. He gives employment to a large number
of clerks, all colored. In the millinery department I found two young
ladies who had learned their trade at Tuskegee. Many of the white
ladies in Montgomery buy their hats at Mr. Adams' store. I need not
tell you that he is of great importance and help to the race, for we
all know what a great inspiration such a man must be in stimulating
a feeling among young men to at least try to build up some business
interest.


MR. H. A. LOVELESS.

[Illustration: MR. H. A. LOVELESS.]

Mr. H. A. Loveless is also a resident of Montgomery, Ala., and must
be classed among the successful business men of the race. He, like
Mr. Adams, began business on a small scale, and by hard work and an
untiring effort he has made a showing no man need to be ashamed of.
Mr. Loveless operates a coal and wood yard, where he gives employment
to a large force of men. He also owns teams and does general hauling,
and has nine fine carriages that are kept on the street for the benefit
of the general public. Then, in addition to what I have referred, Mr.
Loveless has a very large undertaker's establishment, which also gives
quite a number of people employment. He owns fine town property, and is
regarded by both white and colored people as a very excellent man. He
takes an active part in church work, and is especially interested in
every movement that will advance the colored people in the development
of business interest. He along with other leading men of the race feel
that industrial education, and a good business training for the young,
will prove a great factor in the solution of what we call a "race
problem."


PROF. R. B. HUDSON.

[Illustration: PROF. R. B. HUDSON.]

Prof. R. B. Hudson is a resident of Selma, Ala., where he is principal
of the city school for colored youths. The school is a very large
one, and is regarded by such men as B. T. Washington, W. H. Councill
and others as the best public school in the State. Mr. Hudson has been
very active in educational and religious work, and for over fifteen
years has been superintendent of a large Sunday-school, and president
of the largest District Sunday-school Convention in the State. He is
also secretary for the Baptist State Convention, and statistician for
the Baptist denomination in the State. Prof. Hudson was for six years
secretary of the State Teachers' Association, and was then elevated
to the presidency. So one can see that in a religious and educational
work Mr. Hudson has been a very useful man, and I am glad to inform
my readers that he has also done something in a business way, that
is of great value to the race in starting a large coal and wood yard
in Selma, where he gives employment to quite a force of men. There
are six coal and wood yards in the city, and Prof. Hudson has the
second in size. His business in that line brings him an income of over
ten thousand dollars per year, and his customers are made up of all
classes, among them bankers, lawyers and leading merchants among the
white people. Prof. Hudson is still young, and I am sure has a great
future ahead of him.


DR. L. L. BURWELL.

Dr. Burwell is also a resident of Selma, Ala., and a young man the
people seem very fond of. He worked his way through school and
graduated with high honors at Selma University, after which he entered
Leonard Medical College, at Raleigh, N. C., and by hard work finished
the four-year course in three. Dr. Burwell located at Selma, and has
built up a very extensive practice. He owns valuable property, and
operates one of the largest drug stores in the South, and perhaps
the largest owned by a colored man. The country people have great
confidence in him, not only as a physician, but as a splendid business
man, and from far in the country people come to get his opinion on
some business matter. In our late war with Spain the doctor induced
over thirty colored men to enlist, on the ground that they ought to
show their loyalty to the American government. I regret that I am
unable to present a picture of the doctor.


JOHN M. BROWN.

Mr. John M. Brown is to me a very interesting character. My attention
was first called to him by a white man who sells the goods manufactured
by Mr. Brown. The white man was a Southerner, but seemed quite proud of
him. He is located in Macon, Ga., and operates a broom factory on quite
a large scale, so much so that most of the time he has fifteen people
employed. He makes only a high grade of brooms and sells them to the
white merchants. Mr. Brown does not send out a white man to sell his
goods, but goes himself and presents his claim for their patronage on
the merits of his manufactured article. I am glad to tell my readers
that only on one or two occasions has his color been a hindrance to
him in the State of Georgia, as far as the sale of his brooms are
concerned. Just one other point of interest that will, I am sure, be
appreciated, and that is, Mr. Brown has taught colored men the trade of
broom making, and employs only members of the race.


MR. CHARLES W. CHESTNUT.

Few people are aware of the fact that Mr. Charles W. Chestnut, whose
volumes of character sketches and short stories have made him famous,
is a colored man. His home is in Cleveland, and to meet him on the
street one would take him for a clerk in a store rather than an
author. Until within the past couple of years Mr. Chestnut was a court
stenographer in Cleveland and employed several assistants. He has
reported dozens of large conventions in this city, and he is known to
thousands as a stenographer. Mr. Chestnut is of medium size and of very
slight build. His hair is light and he has a small, light mustache. His
hair has a slight tendency to kink, but this is hardly noticeable. His
complexion is very fair, so much so that many Cleveland people believe
him a white man.


PROVIDENT HOSPITAL.

Provident Hospital and Training School, St. Louis, Mo., opened for the
care of colored patients in this city on the 4th day of April, 1899,
with a staff of nine colored physicians and a consulting staff of nine
white.

It has a Board of Managers composed of colored citizens of this city,
it is a regular chartered institution, and has a capacity of fifteen
beds, modern operating room, and three young colored women in training.
Some of the most difficult operations known to surgery have been
performed at the hospital during the past year. The hospital has been
furnished entirely by the colored people of this city.

This institution meets a long-felt want, as the colored people are not
admitted to the white hospitals in St. Louis. Miss J. E. Valentine, a
graduate of the Freedmen's Hospital Training School, is head nurse.
The course in the training school is two years.

Dr. Samuel P. Stafford, a graduate of the Medical Department of
the University of Pennsylvania, and lately one of the internes of
Freedmen's Hospital and Douglass Hospital, is the physician in charge.
The future of the hospital is full of hope and growing in usefulness.
Dr. Curtis is President of the Board of Managers; W. E. Jackson,
Secretary; C. H. Dodge, Treasurer.

This data should have appeared in chapter twenty-five on Hospitals
and Homes, but came too late. It, however, will be of interest to my
readers.


WARREN KING.

Mr. Warren King, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is making a most excellent
impression among the better class of white people as to his
qualifications as a splendid business man. Mr. King has taken charge of
the restaurant in what is known as the Cumberland Flats. Only the very
best people live in those Flats, and they must be persons of means to
afford it. Mr. King boards all who live in those magnificent buildings.
He has a great many friends, and is regarded by those who take meals in
his restaurant as a most excellent manager.


J. A. BRABOY & SONS.

I have stated in several places in this book that colored people are
here and there engaging in all kinds of business. It is with pleasure
that I call attention to Mr. J. A. Braboy & Sons, of Kokomo, Ind.
These gentlemen operate what is known as a "Temple of Music." They
keep on hand a good assortment of high grade pianos and organs; in
fact, they handle only the best that is on the market. In addition to
their stock of pianos and organs, they keep a general line of music
and musical instruments. Mr. Braboy owns splendid property, and is
respected by the leading people in Kokomo.


MR. Z. E. WALKER.

Mr. Z. E. Walker, of Sumter, S. C., is one of the most successful
merchants in that city. He operates what is known as a general store,
where all kinds of goods are sold. He owns a great deal of very
valuable property in town and one or two plantations in the country. He
stands high in business, church and society. Mr. Walker began business
with a very small amount of money, but is now looked upon as a very
well-to-do man.


MR. W. G. JOHNSON.

Mr. W. G. Johnson, of Macon, Ga., has one of the best shoe stores in
that city. His stock is not only large, but is in every way up to date.
Mr. Johnson feels that if he buys the best goods made his people, and
especially the better class of colored people, cannot have that as an
excuse for giving their patronage to the white merchants. Aside from
his shoe store, he owns some very excellent property; in fact, he owns
the whole block in which his store is kept. He is a young man, and I
believe has a useful future before him.


JAMES A. JOYCE.

Mr. James A. Joyce, of Cleveland, Ohio, is employed by the King Iron
Bridge Co. of that city. Mr. Joyce is the only colored man engaged as
a bridge draftsman in the U. S. A. His work for that company is making
designs for high grade bridge work. Mr. Joyce has on several occasions
been sent out on large contracts to oversee the construction of some
very difficult work in their line. I am sorry that I am unable to give
a picture of Mr. Joyce in connection with this brief mention of what I
regard as a very important character in race history.


R. B. FITZGERALD.

Mr. Fitzgerald is a resident of Durham, N. C., and is one of the
largest brick manufacturers in the United States. He makes a specialty
of fine and ornamental brick. Mr. Fitzgerald lives in one of the
handsomest residences in Durham. He is also interested in what is known
as the Durham Real Estate, Mercantile and Manufacturing Company. It is
not a "trust" or grasping monopoly; on the contrary, it is a trust for
the people, through which, on the most generous plan, they can with
absolute safety and ease become stockholders, do business and become
factors in the mercantile world.

This corporation is formed under the laws of the State of North
Carolina to promote manufacturing and mercantile interests, thus
becoming a factor in the development of nature's resources as they
exist in North Carolina, thereby opening up an avenue heretofore
unknown to colored people.

The shares are low, within the reach of all. For $10.00 one can become
a stockholder and will be entitled to an equal share of all profit,
which dividends will be declared and paid at such periods as will be
designated by their by-laws.

With ample capital, backed by such well known parties as R. B.
Fitzgerald, P. H. Smith, D. A. Lane, and others, under its agreements
consolidating large interests, it is able to provide homes and
investments, large or small, at a great benefit to its patrons, and,
with absolute safety and ease, enable one to become the owner of the
most precious thing on earth--a home for his family.


HOSPITAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL FOR NURSES.

The hospital and training school located at Charleston, S. C., was
organized in 1897, for the purpose of training colored women as nurses.
That such an institution was needed in that community is evidenced by
the fact that their nurses are always in demand, and graduates find
ready employment.

Students have been admitted to the institution, not only from
Charleston and vicinity, but from all parts of this State, and from
some adjoining States.

The course extends through two years, the first year being devoted to
lectures and practical work in the hospital, and the second year to
practical work in the hospital and to outside cases.

Thorough training is given in all branches of the nurse's profession,
including the nursing of surgical cases. Tuition is free, and nurses
are given board and lodging in the hospital building. Candidates for
admission to the training school must be of good character, in good
health, and have a common school education.

Further information may be procured by addressing the Surgeon-in-Chief,
Dr. A. C. McClennan, at the hospital, No. 135 Cannon St., Charleston,
S. C.

The general public is asked to give what aid they can for the support
and development of this most worthy institution. If those who have
means to give would take into consideration that by educating some
young colored lady as a trained nurse they have helped one more of the
race to leave somebody's cook kitchen, and enter a life where they can
not only be self-sustaining, but their position would give both dignity
and standing to the race.

Dr. A. C. McClennan, who is in charge of the hospital, I found a very
pleasant gentleman, and one who is kept busy with a large practice
outside of the hospital work. This information came too late to be
mentioned with other such institutions written up in my book.


DR. L. J. HARRIS.

Dr. L. J. Harris is a native of Virginia and a son of Samuel Harris, of
Williamsburg, the noted merchant referred to on page 300 of this book.
Dr. Harris is a graduate of Harvard, and has taken a special course
of study in the treatment of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and has
located in Boston, and gives all of his time to this special work.
There have been a large number of colored doctors educated, and I think
that, as a rule, they are succeeding in their profession as regular
practitioners. But Dr. Harris is the first to establish himself as a
specialist. We most certainly wish him well in this departure from a
regular line of practice, and hope his success may inspire other young
men to follow in his footsteps.


MR. EDWARD C. BERRY.

[Illustration: MR. E. C. BERRY.]

Mr. E. C. Berry, owner and proprietor of a $60,000 hotel at Athens,
Ohio, is a man that I feel the world ought to know. He was born at
Oberlin, Ohio, in 1855; his education was received at Albany, a hamlet
in Athens county. When fifteen years of age he went to Athens and
was employed as a hodcarrier on the Hospital for the Insane, then in
course of building. Mr. Berry was married in 1875, and for a time
he boarded his wife at his own people's home. His first business
venture was a lunch counter, which he started without any means, and
was already $40.00 in debt. After he had got fairly started his wife
joined him, and in 1878 they opened a restaurant in a small building
on the site of the present hotel, and Mr. Berry's peculiar talent
for serving palatable viands made him the popular caterer of the
town. His restaurant was often patronized by traveling men who would
arrive too late to get a meal at the hotel, and because of the most
excellent meals served at his restaurant those men would ask, Why do
you not open a hotel? and at the same time would say, If you will,
you can count on my being one of your patrons. So many of those who
took meals at his restaurant said about the same thing to him that he
felt encouraged to make the effort. In 1892 Mr. Berry purchased the
adjoining building and commenced the erection of a twenty-room hotel.
From the very first the business paid; the house was new, neat and
clean, and always full of people, so much so that Mr. Berry soon found
that his house was inadequate for the business. In 1894 he built two
large sample rooms, over which he arranged four more sleeping rooms.
But one year later was--because of the increase in his trade--forced to
again enlarge his house. Up to that time he had spent very near five
thousand dollars in improvements. In 1899 Mr. Berry enlarged his house
to its present capacity, which is forty-six sleeping rooms, a dining
room with a seating capacity of seventy-five, a light, well-ventilated
room used exclusively for writing 20 by 40 feet, one reading room 15
by 30 feet, four good, light sample rooms on ground floor, and the
whole house is heated with three large hot-water heaters, with public
bath-rooms on each floor, and several rooms with bath. The success
that has come to Mr. Berry in the hotel business is due wholly to the
fact that he is a natural-born caterer and a splendid manager. I have
traveled for years in this and other countries, and I am free to say
that the "Hotel Berry" is one of the best furnished houses I ever saw.
Mr. Berry gives his personal attention to every detail that will make
those who are guests in his house comfortable. His trade comes only
from the best people on the road. He employs two clerks, one white and
one colored. Colored people who are refined and represent the same
class of whites who stop there are never turned away. I was pleased to
hear him say that much of his success was due to the constant oversight
his wife had of affairs in the inside management of the house. I only
wish I could write an article that would paint a word-picture strong
enough to make the American people see what a magnificent hotel Mr.
Berry really keeps. Aside from his very busy life, he finds time to
do a lot of church work, and is looked upon as the leading man in the
colored Baptist church of Athens.

[Illustration: E. C. BERRY'S $60,000 HOTEL.]


MR. DUMAR WATKINS.

[Illustration: MR. DUMAR WATKINS.]

Dumar Watkins is another member of the race who should be known by the
American people at large. Mr. Watkins is holding a position and doing a
line of work that has never been done by any colored man in connection
with a white institution such as the one with which he is associated.
My attention was called to him while lecturing at Princeton, N. J.,
by Rev. J. Q. Johnson. I am sure it will be as much a surprise to my
readers, and I hope as much of a pleasure, as it was to me, when I
learned that the pathologist of Princeton University was a colored man
in the person of Dumar Watkins. When we called upon him we found him at
his work, preparing some pathological slides for microscopic use. He is
much liked at the university, and is considered very proficient in his
work. The picture I present here of Mr. Watkins is a splendid likeness
of the man. I need not tell my readers that Princeton University is
regarded as one of the greatest schools in the world, and it ought
to very much increase the colored people's race pride to know that a
member of the race holds such a position there as Mr. Watkins occupies.


MR. LEWIS H. LATIMER.

[Illustration: MR. LEWIS H. LATIMER.]

Lewis H. Latimer, of New York city, is the only member of the race
engaged in the line of work he represents. In 1880 Mr. Latimer
entered the employ of the United States Electric Lighting Company as
a draftsman and private secretary to Sir Hiram S. Maxim, of Maxim
gun fame. In 1881 Mr. Latimer was sent to England by the above-named
company to establish the manufacture of the incandescent electric lamps
in the factory of the Maxim, Weston Electric Light Company of London.
He returned in the latter part of 1882, and continued only a few months
in the employment of the company who sent him abroad. For some time he
served as draftsman and electrician in several minor companies. He was
employed by the Edison Electric Light Company in 1886, and has remained
with them practically ever since, although that company has been
absorbed by the General Electric Lighting Company. Mr. Latimer is kept
in what is known as the legal expert department, and is regarded as a
very competent man in his profession. He stands almost alone in his
work as a colored man. I have only known of about three members of the
race who have made any effort along that line, but the other two never
succeeded in making any headway, at least not enough to become known
to any extent. Now, one can easily see that the people who employ Mr.
Latimer must hold him in high esteem and place in him the most implicit
confidence, or they would never have sent him to another country to
represent their business. This mention of Mr. Latimer is another
evidence that colored people are gradually but surely getting into all
lines of business and professions, and I hope that in time we may call
attention to other successful electricians among the race.


MR. J. S. ATWOOD.

[Illustration: MR. J. S. ATWOOD.]

Mr. J. S. Atwood, of Ripley, Ohio, is a member of the race who has a
great many friends and admirers among both white and colored people. At
present Mr. Atwood is engaged in the livery business on a very large
scale. His horses and carriages are the best, and his trade comes from
the leading people in the city. He not only owns the large building
where his business is carried on, but he owns quite a number of others
in the place. He was born a slave in Alabama, and is a brother of Mr.
W. Q. Atwood, of Saginaw, Mich., who is also mentioned in this book.
For years he has been active in the interest of his race, especially in
defending their rights. He was one who urged Bishop Arnett to introduce
the bill in the Ohio legislature that mixed the schools of the State,
and in that way gave several thousand colored children an educational
opportunity who had before that been kept out of school, as there were
only colored schools in towns where the colored population was large.
For sixteen years Mr. Atwood was a member of the board of councilmen
of Ripley, Ohio. He has always been a strong and very influential
Republican, but his general popularity as a leader and strong man was
such that he was chosen by a Democratic governor to take the presidency
of the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind, located at
Columbus, Ohio. He served as president of this institution for five
years, and while there brought about many reforms in the interest of
the race. Before he went there colored people had never held positions
of any kind at the institution; in fact, colored children had been
put off by themselves to both eat and sleep. Mr. Atwood soon put a
stop to that sort of thing, and he also appointed several colored
people to different positions about the institution, such as clerks
and teachers. Some of the colored teachers appointed by him gave such
general satisfaction that they are still retained, although he has been
away for years. At Ripley Mr. Atwood is looked upon as a very important
citizen, and his color in no way stands in the way of his popularity
and usefulness.


GEORGE W. FRANKLIN, JR.

[Illustration: GEORGE W. FRANKLIN, JR.]

George W. Franklin, Jr., was born in Rome, Ga., December 11, 1865. He
learned the blacksmith trade with his father, who is still living and
engaged at his trade. Mr. Franklin saved his money from childhood, and
by the time he was a man he had enough to start business with. His
first effort in a business way was a hack line and livery stable; in
this he succeeded. Seeing the need of a colored undertaker in Rome,
he began by making his own hearse, which was the first ever owned
by a colored man in Rome. In time he wanted a larger field for his
business, and moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., and opened an undertaker's
establishment on a larger scale. In five years' time he built up a
business that brought him several thousand dollars per year. He now
owns three beautiful funeral cars and landau carriages, dead wagons and
a beautiful lot of white horses. Mr. Franklin has over ten thousand
dollars invested in his business and is out of debt. He is recognized
by white undertakers to the extent that when either he or they have
large funerals they will exchange carriages with each other. He buys
only the best of everything used in his business, and has bought a
large tract of land for burial purposes, which is known as East View
Cemetery. I found him a very pleasant man. He is much interested in the
race, and when Booker T. Washington called a meeting in 1900 of the
colored business men of this country, which met in Boston, Mass., Mr.
Franklin took an active part, and, in fact, gave an address there that
was regarded as very able by the press of Boston.




CHAPTER XXXVI.

NATIONAL BAPTIST PUBLISHING BOARD.


[Illustration: REV. R. H. BOYD, D. D.]

The National Baptist Publishing Board, located at Nashville, Tenn.,
is, beyond doubt, the largest and by far the best equipped printing
plant operated by colored people. This establishment was started for
the purpose of giving some of the enormous amount of printing done
for the colored people, in the way of Sunday-school literature and
regular church publications, into the hands of the race, in order that
employment might be given to those who were already competent printers,
and at the same time encourage others to learn the trade. Rev. R. H.
Boyd, D. D., is the general secretary. He has shown himself a very
active and efficient man in his place. The success of this enterprise
has far surpassed their most sanguine hopes. The board does all kinds
of printing, even book work of a high order. I think it no more than
fair to them and the public that I give here a part of the secretary's
yearly report for 1900 and a part of 1901:

"The work of our Publishing Board has been conducted this year on the
same plan as the past four years, by a board of managers, a secretary,
treasurer and general manager. The literary department has been
conducted by an editor-in-chief, with an editorial staff. We are glad
to say that every department of this work has been conducted on strict
business principles. Our board has held three meetings in the rooms of
the publishing house, examining the machinery and plant thoroughly, and
has appointed an auditor, who has gone carefully over all of the books
and accounts and attached his certificate to each quarterly report
rendered by the Publishing Board. We are glad to say that the work
is no longer an experiment, but a reality. We have the best and most
thoroughly equipped publishing plant in America owned and operated by
negroes. In our judgment, seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) is a
very low estimate for this plant, for if it were capitalized for one
hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) it would pay a reasonable dividend.
This plant has only a small debt, and this is mostly on the real
estate. It is strange that all of this has been paid for out of the
profit arising from the business, and yet the Publishing Board has made
large appropriations each year to missions.

"Last year we called your attention to the fact that there had been so
great an increase in the volume of business that we were compelled to
make general improvements. We did not expect, however, at the time to
make the improvements so extensive, but the great enthusiasm created by
the delegates on returning from the convention at Richmond aroused such
interest everywhere, that the volume of business has far surpassed the
most sanguine expectations of the most hopeful friend of the Publishing
Board.

"The improvements begun last year are fully completed. We have also
added a machine known as the arithmometer and two typewriters to our
clerical department. We have added one roller backer machine and one
book and pamphlet trimmer, together with a great deal of bookbinders'
appliances to our bindery. We have added one more steam-engine and
a full electric light plant to our power-house, three more printing
presses to our press-room, a full set of linotype machinery, together
with a large supply of printing material to our composing-room.

"The greatest need to-day of our publishing plant is more room. We
occupy three brick buildings, one, two and three stories respectively.
These are crowded to their utmost capacity, and yet the board has work
of its own and uncompleted contracts which are more than ninety days
behind.


"THE BUSINESS DEPARTMENT.

"This department is almost exclusively under the management of the
secretary and general manager, who has conducted the business in such
a way as to challenge the admiration and confidence of the commercial
world, bringing respect and honor to the denomination and credit to
himself. We are glad to say that his careful business management has
brought almost unlimited credit to our publishing concern in commercial
circles.

"It would be well under this head to call the attention of the members
of the convention to the profits or income arising from this business
to the denomination. By referring to our financial statement, it will
be seen that after meeting all expenses of publication the Publishing
Board was able to pay cash for $6,000 worth of machinery, which will
stand as a permanent fund, and has an uncollected account standing out
in open accounts and negotiable notes to the amount of over $2,425.37,
and still made an appropriation of over $8,000 to missions, thus
showing that the Publishing Board is not only self-supporting, but has
paid a dividend to the denomination this year of $16,425.37.

"Our Publishing Board is not only publishing pamphlets and
Sunday-school magazines in their own name, but is really doing the
work. All typesetting, presswork and binding is done by our own
people. They are also engaged in real bookbinding. This is furnishing
employment to a large number of skilled mechanics who could not obtain
like employment in any other institution."

I am sure that the statements made by Secretary Boyd will be very
encouraging to all who read them. One of the leading men in this great
work is the Rev. E. C. Morris, D. D., who is president of the National
Baptist Convention. He is a very progressive man, and has done much for
the elevation of the colored people at large. From the fact that Rev.
Morris has been president of the national convention for years shows
the high esteem he is held in by the Baptist denomination.




CHAPTER XXXVII.

COLORED SOLDIERS.


In this chapter we introduce to our readers Lieutenant Charles Young,
who is the second colored graduate from West Point. He was for some
four years Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Wilberforce,
Ohio. Mr. Young, as can be seen from his picture, is a man of splendid
military appearance, and is regarded by all who know him as a most
excellent young man. It is well known that in our Civil War the colored
soldiers made a reputation for themselves as brave men. It has not,
as yet, been much written about by those who have given a history of
that war. But merit will win and become known in time. I reproduce here
mention made of colored soldiers by General Guy V. Henry, U. S. A.,
himself a veteran soldier, who, in a recent report, speaking of colored
American troops, says: "In garrison they are clean, self-respecting,
and proud of their uniform; in the field, patient and cheerful under
hardships and privations, never growling or discontented, doing what is
required of them without a murmur."

[Illustration: LIEUTENANT CHARLES YOUNG.]

I also give an article that appeared in the Pittsburg _Times_ relating
to the colored troops in our late war with Spain:

 "Amid all the praise that has been bestowed on our fighters on land
 and sea since hostilities began but little has been said of the
 colored troops, of whom there were several regiments in the thick of
 the fighting around Santiago. When the Rough-Riders received their
 baptism of fire the country rang with their praises, but few paused to
 note that the colored troops fought side by side with them with equal
 bravery, and, in fact, rescued them from their perilous position. In
 the subsequent fighting at El Caney and at San Juan, before Santiago,
 they were second to none in the bravery of their fighting and in the
 intrepidity of their charges. They met the deadly rain of bullets as
 unflinchingly as the best of their white comrades, and, in proportion
 to their numbers, they furnished as numerous victims to the missiles
 of the enemy as any of the other commands. Under their dark skins was
 the same warlike and patriotic spirit that throbbed in the nerves of
 their paler fellow-soldiers.

 "On that field they once more vindicated the wisdom that has given
 them citizenship, and showed that they are made of the stuff which
 constitutes the modern American and causes him to be respected and
 admired. No men ever fought for their country more bravely than did
 all the men who were engaged at Santiago, and among them all none
 exceeded the colored men in all the attributes of true soldiers and
 patriots. They were there, Americans of the Americans, battling for
 their country, and the difference in the color of their skin made no
 difference in the quality of their courage or service. It is to be
 hoped that when all come to thoroughly understand the quality of the
 negro as a soldier a little more consideration may be paid to his
 rights as a citizen."




CHAPTER XXXVIII.

CONCLUSION.


I have now come to the most difficult part of this work. The conclusion
to a book is rarely perfectly satisfactory to all readers, and I think
rarely satisfactory to the author. I can only offer this apology: I
did not at the beginning attempt a "literary" work. I have only aimed
to set forth a few facts, which are incontrovertible evidences of the
progress made by colored people, and these facts I have stated in the
simplest form of English so that every person who reads the book may
understand. I have indicated, I think, that the colored people have
the same ambitions and aspirations which characterize all progressive
races; and that when they are given equal opportunity and a fair chance
in the various industrial and professional walks of life, they measure
up to the white man in point of excellence, proficiency and ultimate
success.

I have not exhausted my subject, for there are hundreds of men
and women of the race not mentioned in this book, who are just as
successful, just as remarkable in their careers as those mentioned. It
would require a book many times the size of this one to give anything
like a passing mention of these progressive, intelligent people.
I have, as I stated in my preface, only pointed out a few of the
evidences of progress. I have only given a few brief sketches.

These glowing facts, thus presented to the world, are the results of
my personal contact, association and experience of sixteen years among
colored people, both North and South, and it is my earnest hope that
I have succeeded in presenting to my readers food for thought on the
Negro question in the United States.

I have devoted a great deal of space to Wilberforce University,
Livingstone College, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Normal
and other independent and State schools managed by colored people,
because these institutions typify the ability of the colored man to
govern and control enterprises for himself.

I have not mentioned the political leaders of the race, such as Messrs.
Douglass, Bruce, Lynch and others, simply because I am not giving a
history of the race, and it has been more my purpose to deal with the
educators and business men.




INDEX TO PORTRAITS OF PEOPLE.


  Bishop B. W. Arnett, iv
  Prof. E. L. Scruggs, B. D., 43
  Prof. Joshua Levister, 46
  Prof. Gregory W. Hayes, A. M., 50
  Rev. Geo. P. McKinney, 54
  Rev. C. L. Purce, A. B., D. D., 58
  Prof. N. W. Curtwright, A. B., 61
  Prof. O. L. Coleman, A. M., 63
  Prof. J. A. Booker, A. M., 65
  Rev. Calvin S. Brown, A. B., 67
  Prof. S. H. C. Owen, A. M., 69
  Rev. James S. Russell, 89
  Three Orphan Sisters, 94
  Rev. M. W. Dogan, A. M., 111
  Bishop D. A. Paine, D.D., LL.D., 119
  Rev. B. F. Lee, D. D., 122
  Rev. S. T. Mitchell, A.M., LL.D., 124
  Prof. A. St. George Richardson, B. A., 130
  Prof. J. R. Hawkins, A. M., 132
  Rev. Daniel H. Butler, 141
  Rev. J. C. Price, A. M., D. D., 144
  Rev. W. H. Goler, D. D., 148
  Rev. W. H. Franklin, A. M., 161
  Lucy C. Laney, 165
  Rev. C. S. Mebane, A. M., 169
  Rev. W. R. Coles, 172
  Rev. Henry D. Wood, 174
  Rev. J. A. Savage, D. D., 177
  Rev. D. J. Sanders, D. D., 180
  Rev. T. H. Amos, A. M., 182
  Rev. J. B. Swann, 185
  Prof. G. C. Shaw, 186
  Prof. B. T. Washington, A.M., 191
  Prof. W. H. Council, 216
  C. H. Parrish, A. B., A. M., 223
  Miss Mary V. Cook, A. B., A. M., 225
  Prof. Hattie A. Gibbs, 228
  Prof. W. B. Weaver, 230
  Mrs. Anna B. Weaver, 235
  Mrs. Dinah P. Pace, 240
  Prof. Jas. B. Dudley, A. M., 242
  Prof. Richard R. Wright, A. M., LL.D., 244
  Prof. S. G. Atkins, A. M., 245
  Mrs. Fanny L. Jackson Coppin, 258
  Mrs. Mary C. Terrell, 262
  Dr. R. F. Boyd, 266
  Prof. Richard Hill, 279
  Frederic S. Monroe, 281
  C. J. Becker, 283
  Hon. D. Augustus Straker, 285
  T. McCants Stewart, Esq., 292
  J. H. Lewis, 297
  W. Q. Atwood, 299
  Samuel Harris, 300
  William H. Davis, 302
  J. E. Reed, 305
  John S. Trower, 307
  E. I. Masterson, 309
  Charles A. Webb, 311
  Walter P. Hall, 317
  S. L. Parker, 319
  H. A. Tandy, 322
  Daniel Purdy, 324
  Dr. W. T. Dinwiddie, 326
  J. E. Dixon, 327
  Philip J. Allston, 330
  Dr. Jared Carey, 332
  Rev. W. W. Browne, 338
  J. H. Dickinson, 345
  T. Thomas Fortune, 350
  E. E. Cooper, 352
  Prof. W. S. Scarborough, LL.D., 354
  Rev. H. T. Johnson, D.D., Ph.D., 356
  Wm. H. Stewart, 358
  Rev. L. J. Coppin, D. D., 359
  W. H. Anderson, 361
  J. E. Bruce, 362
  Hon. J. C. Dancy, 366
  Rev. Wm. H. Day, D. D., 367
  W. H. Stowers, 369
  Mrs. J. St. P. Ruffin, 371
  Prof. H. T. Kealing, B. S., A. M., 373
  Richard Allen, 378
  Rev. C. T. Shaffer, M. D., D. D., 381
  N. F. Mossell, A. M., M. D., 396
  J. C. White, 398
  Daniel H. Williams, M. D., 400
  Rev. Stephen Smith, 407
  Edward T. Parker, 409
  Dr. Hallie Tanner Johnson, 411
  Mrs. Victoria E. Matthews, 414
  Mrs. Frances E. W. Harper, 416
  Mrs. N. F. Mossell and her daughters, 418
  Miss Alice Ruth Moore, 419
  Madam Flora Batson Bergen, 421
  Dr. John R. Francis, 429
  James Hugo Johnston, 462
  Prof. J. H. Jackson, A. B., A. M., 470
  Warren C. Coleman, 482
  Rev. W. F. Graham, 486
  Mr. John T. Taylor, 487
  John Mitchell, Jr., 494
  Mr. J. C. Farley, 495
  Miss E. B. Slaughter, 507
  Mr. R. F. White, 509
  Jordan C. Jackson, 513
  Rev. A. H. Miller, 515
  Mr. S. Boyce, 517
  Isaac Johnson, 519
  E. E. Howard, 520
  Mr. E. E. Fluker, 522
  Mr. R. J. Palmer, 523
  Mr. Louis Kastor, 524
  Hon. James Hill, 527
  Eugene Burkins, 528
  Mr. Geo. E. Jones, 530
  Mr. G. W. Higgins, 531
  T. M. Doram, M. D. V., 538
  J. W. Adams, 540
  H. A. Loveless, 542
  R. B. Hudson, 543
  E. C. Berry, 553
  Dumar Watkins, 556
  L. H. Latimer, 558
  J. S. Atwood, 560
  G. W. Franklin, Jr., 562
  Rev. R. H. Boyd, D. D., 566
  Lieutenant Charles Young, 570




  Transcriber's Notes:

  Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.

  Small capitals have been capitalised.

  Illustrations have been moved out of mid-paragraph.

  Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.

  Punctuation has been retained as published.

  In the INDEX TO PORTRAITS OF PEOPLE, T. M. Doram, J. W. Adams,
  H. A. Loveless, R. B. Hudson, and E. C. Berry have been moved
  to their correct numerical positions. Lieutenant Charles Young
  has also been correctly positioned and the page number corrected
  to 570.

  On Pg. 359 the missing caption for 'L. J. Coppin' has been added.