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.
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.
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.
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.