Feeling that the Church held the only satisfactory answer to this question, in that the purpose of education in the Church is to train mind and soul and body for a Christian citizenship, the idea of a Church Institute was suggested in 1905, and its incorporation was strongly and successfully advocated by Bishop Greer and Mr. George Foster Peabody of New York. This proposal was approved by the Board of Missions, and, in 1906, the Institute began its work. The Rev. Samuel H. Bishop, as General Agent, was the happy choice of the corporation. He immediately made a thorough survey of the educational system of the South, and a second, equally thorough, of the work of the Church in educating the Negroes. The ultimate purpose was to be of assistance to all the schools in the Dioceses, but it was necessary for the new Institute to walk before it could run. The South was doing much, though with inadequate resources, and the North had become somewhat apathetic because of the many independent appeals by individuals with no organizations behind, or authority over, them. Confidence had to be restored in order that interest might be awakened. So the Institute was virtually an authorized medium of good faith between the northern helper and the southern school worker.
It was expected that this special organization would tend to emphasize the obligation of the Church for the moral and spiritual advancement of the Negro together with his intellectual advance. Its purpose was to give unity to the educational work already being done by the Church among the Negroes, and to make clear the great need of extension and thorough organization. The intention was that it should come to the relief of every Southern Diocese by developing in each at least one Industrial High School for the Christian training of teachers and leaders of the negro race.
The founding of the Institute was to many a doubtful venture since it began its career without an endowment, and with an exceedingly limited list of subscribers; but the faith of its founders has been justified. In 1906, only three schools, St. Paul’s, St. Augustine’s, and the Bishop Payne Divinity School, accepted the supervision of the Institute. Today there are ten schools affiliated with it, with an annual enrollment of from 2,700 to 3,000 students.
The three largest and best defined of our schools—St. Augustine’s, Raleigh, N. C., St. Paul’s, Lawrenceville, and Bishop Payne Divinity School, Petersburg, Virginia—were chosen as institutions out of which “to create typical examples of successful correlation and development,” as Mr. Bishop advised. These represented respectively a high degree of industrial excellence, advanced collegiate standards, and thorough training for the ministry. The first two furnished models for future Institute Schools in every needed feature of education. The Payne Divinity School should furnish all that the Church will need, for many generations, in its special sphere.
St. Augustine’s, Raleigh, N. C., the oldest, owed its birth to the Church Freedman’s Bureau. It was incorporated in 1867, and opened its doors in 1868, the Rev. J. B. Smith, D. D., being Principal. As soon as the Civil War was over, the need for teachers to instruct the millions of freedmen was recognized, and this was St. Augustine’s first motive. As in the case of Major Cooke’s School in Virginia, the need for clergymen was felt in North Carolina, and a theological department was opened about 1875. Here were trained such excellent men as Alston, McDuffey, Perry and Delany.
From the beginning, the collegiate department has been emphasized, and it now has no superior among the schools for Negroes in the South. All departments, however, are allied with the industrial and mechanical. Several of the school buildings are testimonials of the skill and industry of the students in carpentry and masonry, and there is abundant witness to that of the young women in the furnishing of rooms, hospital, and chapel, and in the making of their own clothing. There are 110 acres occupied by the school, affording both recreational grounds and agricultural training in intensive farming. St. Agnes’ Hospital, founded in 1896 on the school grounds, has long established its reputation both for its benefits to school and community and as a training school for nurses. From sixty to eighty patients from the two Carolinas are generally in the wards, and thirty nurses continually under training in a three years’ course.[1]
The fruits of St. Augustine’s have gone forth to nourish the Negroes of every State beyond the seas and in every profession. Clergymen, trained in this school, have laid the foundations of negro parishes and missions everywhere. Teachers, like Alfred Griffin, Professor Atkins of the A. M. E. Zion Church, Wm. A. Perry of our St. Athanasius’ School, are everywhere multiplying the influence of their Alma Mater in geometrical ratio. Young men and women of St. Augustine’s, wherever met, are holding up the high standard which made them what they are. Physicians, like young Delany of Raleigh (son of Bishop Delany), nurses, teachers, etc., have gone forth steadily from the student-body grown from the three of twenty years ago to the nearly five hundred of today.
St. Paul’s Normal and Industrial School at Lawrenceville, Va., was founded in 1888 by the Rev. James S. Russell, now familiarly known to the whole Church as “Archdeacon Russell.”[2]Confidence was soon established, the school increased, and in 1888, the Rev. Dr. Saul, of Philadelphia, furnished a building adequate for the needs of the time. Mr. Russell’s ideals enlarged with the progress of his work. Property was secured upon other people’s trust in the integrity of the hard-working young clergyman; for there was no money as yet, only faith. Gradual extensions were made, industries were introduced, buildings were erected by the pupils, and the farm was made productive.
Today the school has 1,600 acres and 40 buildings, large and small, three of which are permanent brick structures. The brick and much of the lumber are products of the school’s lands and student-labor. There are fifty officers and teachers, and quite 500 pupils from twenty-six States, as well as from Cuba, Porto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, and even Africa. Fully one-fifth of the negro clergy have been its students. It has sent out 600 graduates, and given training to 5,000 other undergraduates.
Doctor Frissell said of Brunswick County that St. Paul’s School “has well-nigh revolutionized it.” Literacy has risen from 12 per cent to 75 per cent. Moral standards have advanced, and the jail is deserted. Industrial standards share the impetus, and negro farmers occupy their own homes in great numbers in the two contiguous counties. County school houses have been improved, the sessions lengthened, and local self-taxation enlarged; while new schools have risen to meet the increased demand. The missionary spirit of St. Paul’s is strong in its students. Numerous are the chapels and schools which owe their existence to its graduates. Doctor Frissell’s judgment is more than justified.