SOUTHERN FIELD NOTES.
BY REV. GEORGE W. MOORE.
Quite a number of students and graduates of our A. M. A. schools are in business and professional life in northern and western cities, as well as in the South. A growing number of colored youth from the North attend our Southern institutions. Thus Dr. Dubois, the noted negro scholar and writer, came from Massachusetts to Tennessee to take his college training at Fisk University. But it is of the Southern field, as I have seen it during the last six weeks, that I wish to speak.
Our Chandler Institute at Lexington, Ky., is filled with earnest students, under the direction of Miss Fanny J. Webster and her associates. Every year well-trained young people go out from this school to their life-work. During a gospel meeting recently held with the Lexington Church, more than fifty of the pupils of Chandler School avowed their faith in Christ.
The church is built upon the site of an old slave-pen, the key of which is preserved as a relic of those dark days. The neat chapel now stands as a symbol of light and truth to the people. The pastor, Rev. W. L. Johnson, is a graduate of Fisk, and his wife is from Le Moyne Institute. She has taught in our service at Memphis and Mobile.
Some of the most representative and influential citizens are members of our Lexington Church, among whom are the two leading physicians, the supervising principal and several teachers of the public schools.
A directory of the negro in business reports: four physicians, two dentists, two lawyers, an editor, two undertaking establishments, several groceries, a drug store and other business enterprises, besides mechanics, farmers, etc. They support a home for orphans, and maintain a number of benevolent organizations.
The colored people of Lexington hold an Annual Fair at the State Fair Grounds, which is a most attractive feature of Kentucky life. During the week of the Fair the city is crowded, and the daily attendance numbers thousands of the best people of both races. The Negro Fair Association is entirely under the management of colored men, and has a paid-up capital of several thousand dollars.
The thrift and intelligence of the colored people can be seen by the large number of neat and well-appointed homes owned by them.
Plymouth Church, at Louisville, is making hopeful progress under the ministry of Rev. E. G. Harris. Among the members of this church are three teachers of the Colored High School, who are Fisk graduates. The president of the Christian Endeavor is Dr. Whipple, a physician of note, and the superintendent of the Sunday-school is Professor Perry, the principal of a large public school of over a thousand pupils. Some of the most active workers are mechanics and people in humble life.
Rev. Gilbert Walton was present at one of our meetings and gave an interesting address on the work among the people of the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee.
The colored people of Louisville are also making encouraging, material progress. Dr. Whedbee and other colored physicians have opened a medical school under the auspices of the Colored State College. They have also opened a free sanitarium in the central part of the city, which is supported by the colored people.
Our school at Florence, Ala., is crowded with boys and girls who are eager for an education. Many of them walk in from the country a distance of several miles. Among the pupils are two men who are preachers. Miss M. L. Corpier and Miss Nicholson are in charge of this school. They are both graduates of Fisk University. A revival of great spiritual power was held in connection with the Florence church and school. Four men of mature life and heads of families were among the converts. The church is growing in numbers and influence under the ministry of Rev. R. J. McCann, a graduate of Talladega College.
We visited eight families of the church who lived in the country. In one of these country homes we held a service in which four persons were converted, whom we baptized. Two small children were also baptized. There was joy in that home.
One of the most unique institutions of Birmingham, Ala., is the Penny Savings Bank, under the management of colored men. This bank has stood the storms of several panics and has been in successful operation for more than a decade; it has the confidence of the entire community. Mr. B. H. Hudson, the cashier, a graduate of Talladega College, is a leading member of our Congregational Church.
Rev. Abraham Simmons is pastor of the church. At our closing service at Birmingham, the three principals of the public schools, and a number of teachers who graduated at A. M. A. schools, a graduate of Fisk and now a theological student of Oberlin, several business men, and men and women of humble life, all testified to their loyalty to Christ and joy in His service.
A successful revival service was also held at Knoxville, Tenn., in which more than thirty conversions were reported. I was greatly cheered on Thanksgiving Day by the receipt of twenty-five messages from these young disciples of their love to Christ and desire to serve Him.