CONGREGATIONALISM IN THE SOUTH.
2. Since the War.
DIST. SEC. C. L. WOODWORTH, BOSTON.
The denomination which took possession of this country in the name of Christ, which brought in the cabin of the Mayflower the model of a democratic state, as well as of a democratic church, was, practically, ruled out of the South for two hundred and fifty years. Only since 1865 has it been possible for her to enter the South in all the largeness of her freedom and of her faith. If it now be asked, What has she to show for these thirteen years of opportunity among the poorest of the poor, we answer, “Something of which she need not be ashamed.”
Within five months from the time when the first gun of the rebellion sent its shot at the heart of the Union, Congregationalism, through the American Missionary Association, was at Fortress Monroe with bread and clothing, with books and Bibles, with teachers and preachers. Nor was this the only channel of its charity to the needy. It maintained a vast work of physical relief during and after the war, through the New England and National Freedmen’s Aid Societies, and through agencies of more private bounty. And not alone in the way of physical relief, but a large number of teachers were sent out by these same agencies, and kept in the field for years and years. They have passed away, indeed, but the amount expended by them was very large, how large we will not try to estimate even approximately.
The Society first in the field alone remains to do the work for the Congregational churches. No sooner had General Butler established himself at Fortress Monroe than the Association pushed in its workers among the unhoused, half-clothed, half-starved thousands of contrabands that had flocked inside his lines. From that beginning, in 1861, the work has spread into every Southern State, and though its income and its working force are scarcely half what they were in 1870, yet it is among the great societies which our churches cherish and love. It has just completed seventeen full years of labor on the Southern field, and the number of laborers sent out year by year are tabulated below:
| Teachers | |
| 1862 | 15 |
| 1863 | 83 |
| 1864 | 250 |
| 1865 | 300 |
| 1866 | 353 |
| 1867 | 528 |
| 1868 | 532 |
| 1869 | 532 |
| 1870 | 533 |
| 1871 | 321 |
| 1872 | 346 |
| 1873 | 323 |
| 1874 | 273 |
| 1875 | 260 |
| 1876 | 206 |
| 1877 | 203 |
| 1878 | 209 |
| ————— | |
| Total No. of Teachers | 5,267 |
The tangible results of this work, as they appear in permanent Christian institutions, and their natural outcome in the South, will be seen in the statement below:
DETAILS OF SCHOOL WORK AT THE SOUTH.
Chartered Institutions, 8.—Hampton N. and A. Institute, Hampton, Va.: Number of pupils, 332; boarding accommodations for 180. Berea College, Berea, Ky.: Number of pupils, 273; boarding accommodations for 180. Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.: Number of pupils, 338; boarding accommodations for 150. Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga.: Number of pupils, 244; boarding accommodations for 150. Talladega College, Talladega, Ala.: Number of pupils, 272; boarding accommodations for 100. Tougaloo University, Tougaloo, Miss.: Number of pupils, 193; boarding accommodations for 90. Straight University, New Orleans, La.: Number of pupils, 287; no boarding accommodations. Normal Institute, Austin, Texas: Number of pupils, 146.
Other Institutions, 11.—Normal School, Wilmington, N. C.: Number of pupils, 126; Washington School, Raleigh, N. C., 435; Avery Institute, Charleston, S. C., 294; Brewer Normal School, Greenwood, S. C., 58; Storrs’ School, Atlanta, Ga., 701; Lewis High School, Macon, Ga., 93; Trinity School, Athens, Ala., 158; Emerson Institute, Mobile, Ala., 117; Swayne School, Montgomery, Ala., 436; Burrell School, Selma, Ala., 421; Le Moyne School, Memphis, Tenn., 184; Common Schools, 18;—total, 37.
Whole number of pupils, 7,229. Scholars in the South, taught by our former pupils, estimated at 100,000.
Whole number of churches in the South, 64.—Virginia, 1; North Carolina, 5; South Carolina, 2; Georgia, 12; Kentucky, 7; Tennessee, 4; Alabama, 13; Louisiana, 12; Mississippi, 1; Kansas, 2; Texas, 5.
Whole number of church members, 4,189.
From this exhibit it will be seen that eight of the schools are chartered, and contain nearly two thousand students. Four of them are of college grade, and are doing regular college work. The other schools are of Normal grade, and designed to bring forward, as rapidly as possible, the teachers for the untaught millions. They are all children of the Association, and in them are gathered up the fruits of Congregational liberality and labor in behalf of the colored race. These schools are an enduring investment for this work, and hold property in buildings, lands, apparatus and endowments, to the value, probably, of eight hundred thousand dollars. It should be said, however, that many of the buildings were put up by aid from the Freedmen’s Bureau; but this aid was set apart as the proportion of the public moneys which should appropriately flow through Congregational channels. The churches established in the South are a result of the same effort. Their chapels and houses of worship represent a money value of fifty thousand dollars more. What Congregationalism has to show is in these permanent institutions for the mental and moral training of the colored people. It is not all that is needed, but it is an investment of inestimable value, and one which will compare favorably with the work of any other denomination, for thorough educational and religious work among the enfranchised race.