THE CHATTANOOGA EPISODE.
An educational convention was held in Athens, Tennessee, in 1882, composed of delegates from nearly all our conferences, composed exclusively of white people, for the purpose of “looking after the educational interests of the work among the whites.” The question of the establishment of a university for the benefit of the white members and patrons of our Church in the central South was decided upon, and a plan was adopted for the co-operation of the conferences and Freedmen’s Aid Society in founding and locating the same, subject to the approval of the conferences. “This action was heartily and unanimously concurred in by the pastors and educators among the whites.” Considering their modus operandi “the best for intellectual and spiritual culture,” as well as the most direct and practical “exercise of a free and unconstrained choice in all social relations, as a principle at once American, Methodistic, and Scriptural,” it was accepted by “those on the ground and more immediately concerned,” and “left to their choice and administration.” Chattanooga was chosen as the seat of the great university in the central South for whites. Now, if no other reason could have been given for that choice, the fact that from Lookout Mountain the rebel soldiers were driven by General Grant during the late civil war was sufficient for historical prestige. The relevancy of the following quotation from Ridpath’s History, giving an account of the movements of General Grant around that city during the civil war, may not at once appear to all. He says: “General Grant, being promoted to the chief command, assumed the direction of affairs at Chattanooga. General Sherman also arrived with his divisions, and offensive operations were at once renewed. A position seemingly more impregnable could hardly be conceived of.” Chattanooga having been selected as the place for “a central university for the South,” fourteen acres of ground, costing thirty-one thousand dollars, were purchased, and a magnificent structure, costing forty thousand dollars, was erected thereon. Of this amount the citizens of the city contributed fifteen thousand dollars. It has been suggested that some of the contributors of that sum, at least, gave their money with the distinct understanding that the university was to be for the benefit of white pupils exclusively. This intelligence was not received from the managers of the Freedmen’s Aid Society, as such; so that, if at all, it may have been received from some of “those on the ground and more immediately concerned.” When the university opened, September 15, 1886, everything looked hopeful, indeed, to “those on the ground and more immediately concerned.” But soon it was found that the brightness of those prospects was but the silver lining of an approaching cloud. Two incidents happened shortly afterward that gave that institution more prominence than any other two incidents in its history can possibly ever do. Among the students who applied for admittance into the institution were four colored youths of that city or vicinity. The trustees of the institution refused to admit them. The board of trustees, by contract with the Freedmen’s Aid Society, reserved the right, not only to appoint the teachers, but to purchase the property whenever they became able to pay back seventy-five thousand dollars to the society, and give the university an endowment of two hundred thousand dollars. But one of the incidents happened before anything was said about the rejection of colored students. One of the professors in the university—Professor Caulkins—met and was introduced to the pastor of our colored Church in Chattanooga, Rev. B. H. Johnson, by Rev. Dr. T. C. Carter, and he refused to shake hands with or recognize him “on general principles,” as he declared. The following, which appeared in the Western Christian Advocate, is explicit and to the point: