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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.