The attendance of all the schools under this board, including Lincoln University, was 8,915, of whom 7,833 were elementary pupils, 930 secondary, and 152 in college studies. Lincoln University had 130 students reported as of collegiate grade and Biddle University 22 in college subjects. The teachers and workers in these institutions are 423 in number of whom 84 are white and 339, or 80 per cent. are colored; 115 are men and 308, or 70 per cent., are women; and 373, or 88 per cent., are academic.
These percentages indicate that the schools under the Freedmen’s board have an usual proportion of colored teachers. As the secretary recently reported, “an overwhelming number of their workers belong to the colored race. There are only six white men in our employ.” White workers are now limited to the five girls’ seminaries and one other school. These comments do not refer to Lincoln University, whose teachers are with two exceptions white men.
The Presbyterian Church began work among Negroes as early as 1864. Two committees, with headquarters at Indianapolis and Philadelphia, were combined by the general assembly at Pittsburgh in 1865. In 1870 a committee doing similar work in New York was consolidated with the Pittsburgh committee. In 1882 this committee was incorporated under the present name of the board. The woman’s department of the board was organized in 1884. Through this department the women of the church rendered valuable aid to the schools.
The name and locations of the larger Presbyterian schools are given below:
SCOTIA SEMINARY, CONCORD, N. C.
A splendid girls’ school. Founded in 1866. Owned and supported by the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church. Teachers, 20; Attendance, 300; Property, $65,000.
Barber Memorial Seminary, Anniston, Alabama; Miller Memorial School, Birmingham, Alabama; Arkadelphia Academy, Arkadelphia, Arkansas; Cotton Plant Academy, Cotton Plant, Arkansas; Boggs Academy, Keyesville, Georgia; Gillespie Normal Academy, Cordele, Georgia; Haines Institute, Augusta, Georgia; Hodge Academy, Washington, Georgia; McClelland Academy, Newman, Georgia; Seldon Normal and Industrial School, Brunswick, Georgia; Union Point Normal and Industrial School, Union Point, Georgia; Bowling Green Academy, Bowling Green, Kentucky; Free Memorial Institute, Camp Nelson, Kentucky; Mary Holmes Seminary, West Point, Mississippi; Albion Academy, Franklinton, North Carolina; Biddle University, Charlotte, North Carolina; Mary Potter Memorial School, Oxford, North Carolina; Scotia Seminary, Concord, North Carolina; Alice Lee Elliott Memorial School, Valliant, Oklahoma; Andrew Robertson Institute, Aiken, South Carolina; Brainerd Institute, Chester, South Carolina; Coulter Memorial School, Cheram, South Carolina; Goodwill Parochial School, Mayeville, South Carolina; Harbison College, Irmo, South Carolina; Kendall Institute, Sumter, South Carolina; Mayers Industrial School, Knoxville, Tennessee; Newton Normal School, Chattanooga, Tennessee; Swift Memorial School; Mary Allen Seminary, Crockett, Texas; Danville High and Industrial School, Danville, Virginia; Ingleside Seminary, Burkville, Virginia; Lincoln University, Lincoln, Pennsylvania.
Protestant Episcopal Boards.—The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church has general supervision of all of the Episcopal schools. The American Church Institute for Negroes, a subordinate organization to the society, was incorporated in 1906, for the purpose of assisting in the religious education of Negroes. Its first secretary was the Rev. Samuel H. Bishop, whose faithful service was ended by death in 1914. The Rev. Robert W. Patton, the secretary of the Fourth Provincial Synod, now gives partial time to the raising of funds and the supervision of the eight schools receiving aid from the institute. These schools are as follows:
- St. Augustine’s School, Raleigh, N. C.
- St. Paul’s Industrial School, Lawrenceville, Va.
- Bishop Payne Divinity School, Petersburg, Va.
- St. Athanasius’ School, Brunswick, Ga.
- Vicksburg School, Vicksburg, Miss.
- St. Mark’s School, Birmingham, Ala.
- St. Mary’s School, Columbia, S. C.
- Fort Valley School, Fort Valley, Ga.
The church, through the Missionary Society, appropriates about $50,000 annually for the education of Negroes in the United States. These gifts are made on the suggestion and advice of the bishops of the various dioceses. Appropriations for the larger institutions are sent directly to their treasurers. The small parochial schools are aided through the bishops of their diocese. These are frequently only little groups of children taught in the church. A state summary of the Episcopal schools follows: