As an indication of the progress of the colored people, the extent of these educational facilities and the character of the organization are exceedingly satisfactory.
The 13 larger schools of the A. M. E. Church are: Payne University, Selma, Alabama; Shorter College, Argenta, Arkansas; Edward Waters College, Tallahassee, Florida; Morris Brown University, Atlanta, Georgia; Payne Institute, Cuthbert, Georgia; Central Park Normal and Industrial Institute, Savannah, Georgia; Lampton Literary and Industrial College, Alexandria, Louisiana; Campbell College, Jackson, Mississippi; Kittrell College, Kittrell, North Carolina; Allen University, Columbia South Carolina; Turner Normal School, Shelbyville, Tennessee; Paul Quinn College, Waco Texas; Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio.
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.—The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church has been very active and effective in the establishment and management of schools. Much credit is due Dr. S. G. Atkins, the former educational secretary, through whose tact and ability a number of these schools greatly increased in the value of their work. The leading facts are given below:
| AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| States | Number of Schools | Counted Attendance | Teachers | Income for Current Expenses | Value of Property |
| Total | 11 | 1,207 | 77 | $37,600 | $316,950 |
| Alabama | 1 | 137 | 8 | 4,074 | 25,450 |
| Arkansas | 1 | 77 | 6 | 1,047 | 6,200 |
| Kentucky | 1 | 44 | 6 | 2,282 | 12,600 |
| North Carolina | 4 | 464 | 32 | 22,518 | 219,450 |
| South Carolina | 2 | 422 | 17 | 3,640 | 29,000 |
| Tennessee | 1 | 18 | 2 | 500 | 5,500 |
| Virginia | 1 | 45 | 7 | 3,000 | 18,750 |
The conferences of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church own and maintain 11 schools, of which nine are rated as “larger or more important.” The total income for current expenses is $37,600, and the value of property is $316,950. Livingstone College in North Carolina represents over half of the total of income and property.
The total attendance is 1,207, of whom 923 are elementary, 267 secondary and 17 college subjects. The teachers are 77 in number, of whom 36 are men and 41 women.
The general standards of educational work have been good. This is especially true of the smaller schools.
Lomax Hannon High School, Greenville, Alabama; Walter Institute, Warren, Arkansas; Atkinson College, Madisonville, Kentucky; Edenton’s Normal and Industrial College, Edenton, North Carolina; Eastern North Carolina Industrial Academy, Newbern, North Carolina; Livingstone College, Salisbury, North Carolina; Lancaster Normal and Industrial College, Lancaster, South Carolina; Clinton College, Rock Hill, South Carolina; Dinwiddie Agricultural and Industrial School, Dinwiddie, Virginia.
Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.—The general board of education of the African Methodist Episcopal Church has only recently been organized. Its functions with regard to the schools are advisory. The secretary is, however, doing much to improve the methods of administration and the standards of educational work. His point of view is well stated in the following quotation from his annual report:
The strongest plea for help is first-class work. Our schools must run on business principles and not on sentiment. We must arrange the classification and standards of our schools so that they will be each what its name indicates—not professing to do what we do not do. A good grammar school is greater than a poor high school; a good academy more desirable than a sorry college; a well-conducted college is preferable to a sham university. We must meet present-day needs and demands if we expect to get money.