CHAPTER XVI Religious Influences at Tuskegee
In the rapid growth of the institution along academic and industrial lines, the spiritual side of the school has not been neglected. During the last fifteen years a regularly appointed chaplain, an ordained evangelical minister, has been connected with the school, which is non-denominational, but by no means non-religious. It has much of the machinery of most regularly organised churches, although, for good reasons, it has not seemed best, yet, to organise a church in connection with the institution. It has, in fact, a much better equipment than most churches about it, both as to its house of worship and auxiliary services.
First: There is, each Sunday, a regular preaching service, at which teachers and students are expected to be present.
Second: Every Sunday morning, during the months of school, a large and enthusiastic Christian Endeavour Society meets for an hour's appropriate exercises. Teachers and students alike belong to it, serve on its committees, and, in many ways, are very helpful to the religious side of the school. The selections of scripture read or repeated and commented upon, the prayers offered, and the songs contributed by the students, show that they are preparing themselves for leadership in religion as well as for usefulness in shop and class room when they leave Tuskegee.
Third: The students are divided into thirty-six Sunday-school classes, each Sunday, to study the international lesson. There is also a Junior Sunday-school, composed of the children of teachers and of families near the school.
Fourth: A flourishing organisation of the Y. M. C. A., ably officered by students, makes itself felt for good both among the young men students as well as by visits, through committees, to the surrounding country, each Sunday, to look after sick and needy persons, especially the aged poor.
Fifth: The young women students, under the leadership of lady teachers, sustain three societies among themselves, viz.: The One Cent Missionary Society, the oldest in the institution. It is auxiliary to the Woman's Home Missionary Association of Boston, to which it sends $5 annually. The Edna D. Chaney Missionary Club has its own special work, as has also the Y. W. C. T. U. Recently, there has been organised a Y. W. C. A. to reach a younger class of girls. Each of these organisations has proved itself a potent factor for good, not only in the school and its immediate environs, but beyond; for it is the policy of the Tuskegee Institute to spread its various influences to other towns and communities, wherever its graduates and students find work, in whatever capacity.
Sixth: The Humane Society has done much to teach the students the proper care of dumb animals.
Seventh: The Tuskegee Women's Club, a branch of the National Association of Coloured Women, which meets twice a month to discuss such topics as look to the betterment of the women and girls of the Negro race in the United States. Another society, more local, is called Mothers' Council. Here the married women meet to discuss household matters. One of the members of this body, the wife of an instructor, though herself not a teacher, has for several years been conducting a Sunday afternoon meeting for neglected children in one of the tenement sections of the town of Tuskegee. The room in which the meetings are held is rented for this purpose by the students of the Bible School and paid for out of their weekly contributions.