Our Colored Brethren The PRESBYTERIAN and REFORMED CHURCHES in Co-operation for their Betterment in the South. Published by the PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON WORK AMONG COLORED PEOPLE For additional copies, free, address the Secretaries of the Boards of the respective Churches of the Presbyterian Council, or the Secretary of this Committee, Rev. W. J. Darby, Evansville, Ind. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/ourcoloredbrethrOOpres Our Colored Brethren The PRESBYTERIAN and REFORMED CHURCHES in Co-operation for their Betterment in the South. Published by the PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON WORK AMONG COLORED PEOPLE For additional copies, free, address the Secretaries of the Boards of the respective Churches of the Presbyterian Council, or the Secretary of this Committee, Rev. W. J. Darby, Evansville, Ind. Omens of Promise. “That there is ability in the Negro race has been abundantly demonstrated. One thing is clearly manifest, namely, that the leadership developed among them has been of manifold benefit in the direction of the forces of the race. More than it is aware the public is indebted to that leadership. Challenging the ad- miration and confidence of the better whites, these same leaders have succeeded in building up increased interest in behalf of their race. The loftier tone of sentiment in the South is steadily turning toward the welfare of the Negro. The leading press of the country is manifesting signs of interest in the Negro’s behalf which seem to promise much for his future good. Now, there is a gradual reascendency of the better South. That higher and dominant class of other years is coming again to the front. This class has never ceased to be the friends of the Negro. He has never had sincerer friends than they. They have understood him as have no others. They know aUke his weaknesses and his merits. Nor have they participated in the cruelties which have been visited on him. Most fortunate for the Negro is this reaction taking place just at this time when the prospects of his people are brightening under the conditions already named. The better elements of the two races are get- ting together. While the Negro leaders recognize the importance of keep- ing the race well within itself in its inherent progress, and while they recognize the necessity and the wisdom of the race thinking for itself rather than have another race to think for it, at the same time, it equally recognizes the importance of keeping in vital touch with the influential members of the stronger race. By means of this, there is an exchange of ideas from which comes a propulsion of force helpful to the Negro, and it may be said equally helpful to the philanthropic spirit of the white man. Nor is the public unobservant of the efforts, most pathetic in themselves, on the part of the higher type of the Negro race to reach and influence the baser elements of their people. It is doubtful if any other people on the globe are doing more, with proportionate means at command, than the Negroes of the South in genuine philanthropic effort. So long as the race of Negroes proves its worth, as it is constantly doing, just so long will it continue to elicit the esteem and aid of the better whites who hve among them and elsewhere.” fRiley, in “The White Man’s Burden.”) THE COUNCIL OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES IN AMERICA HOLDING THE PRESBYTERIAN SYSTEM. THE CONSTITUENT CHURCHES. The Reformed Church in America — 8 delegates. Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A — 30 delegates. Presbyterian Church in the U. S. — 12 delegates. Associate Reformed Synod of the South— 2 delegates. Reformed Church in the United States — 12 delegates. United Presbyterian Church — 8 delegates. Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Colored — 4 delegates. OFFICERS FOR 1912—14. President, Rev. John H. Prugh, D. D., Pittsburgh, Pa. Vice-President, Hon. Elisha A. Fraser, Detroit, Mich. Stated Clerk, Rev'. \Vm. H. Roberts, D. D., Philadelphia. Permanent Clerk, Rev. Walter A. Brooks, D. D., Trenton, N. J. Treasurer, Rev. D. F. McGill, D. D., Ben Avon, Pa. STANDING COMMITTEES FOR 1912—14. Foreign Missions, Rev. J. F. Cannon, D. D., St. Louis, Mo., Chairman. Home Missions, Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D., Richmond, Va., Chairman. Christian Education, Rev. J. Preston Searle, D. D., New Brunswick, N. J., Chairman. Correspondence, Rev. T. H. Mackenzie, D. D., Flushing, N. Y., Chairman. Work among Colored People, Rev. W. J. Darby, D. D., Evansville, Ind., Chairman; Rev. James Gray Bolton, D. D., Philadelphia; Rev. J. S. Lyons, D. D., Louisville, Ky.; Rev. D. F. McGill, D. D., Ben Avon, Pa.; Rev. T. H. Mackenzie, D. D., Flushing, N. Y.; Hon. Elisha A. Fraser, Detroit, Mich.; Rev. A. E. Dahlmann, D. D., Sheboygan, Wis.; Rev. Frank Getty, Philadelphia; Rev. J. M. W. DeShong, Fayetteville, Tenn.; Mr. J. L. Twaddell, Philadelphia. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. The OfBcers and Chairmen of the Standing Committees. Meetings of the Councii.. New York, Collegiate Reformed Church, December, 1907; New Orleans, Pry- tania St. Presbyterian Church, March, 1909; Louisville, Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Kentucky, March, 1910; Philadelphia, Westminster Hall, Wither- spoon Bldg., February, 1911; Pittsburgh, Grace Reformed Church, March,. 1912. Next meeting to be held in Philadelphia with the United Presbyterian Churches. EXTRACTS FROM COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS. New York— 1907. “Resolved: That it is the sense of this Council that the principle of co-opera- tion which has worked so admirably in the foreign field, should be applied as far as possible to work among the Colored People of our country, as conducted by the constituent bodies of this Council.” New Orleans — 1909. “The negro race, as well as the white race, needs th'e influence of a strong Presbyterian Church, and its benefits in aU the particulars mentioned will not be confined to its own membership, but will exert a wholesome influence upon all the denominations. “Our colored brethren have a distinct mission to the people of their own race in this country, as well as in Africa or elsewhere. If needless divisions put them at a disadvantage, it is our duty and theirs, by every possible sacrifice or service, to reduce the hurtful effects of such division to a minimum. To enable these 60,000 Presbyterian negroes to concentrate their efforts most effectively on the evangelization of their own people in the South, and to enlist most effectively all white Presbyterians in support of their efforts, is the two-fold business to which this Council should direct the earnest and prayerful attention of the people of all of our Churches.” • Louisville — 1910. “It is to be distinctly remembered, that the province of this Council, as we understand it, is not to supplant or in the least degree to interfere with or disturb any of the existing agencies of the constituent Churches, but to bring about a better mutual understanding, to diffuse and extend information, to^promote closer co-opera- tion, and to stimulate to greater activity wherever there may be need of it among our Reformed Churches. “ The fields of operation in which these several Presbyterian Churches are conducting their work, including that of the C. P. Church, Colored, are so distinct as not to overlap to any appreciable extent. There is but little duplicating in any part of the field and no unseemly rivalry anywhere, a thing for which we have occasion to be devoutly thankful, and there still remains very much to do. “A glance at the map, particularly that portion called ‘ the black belt,’ impresses us with the vastness of the field untouched by our Presbyterian Churches, a field in which we know there is abundant room and crying need for all the evangelistic and educational work that the Presbyterians of this country can do.” Philadelphia — 1911. “The Council of the Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterian System recommends to the supreme judicatories of the constituent Churches, for their action, the following: 1. That the constituent Churches of this Council should unify, through exist- ing Agencies, or Agencies to be established by the supreme judicatories, their work for the colored people of the United States of America. 2. That, to this end, a Permanent Committee shall be formed, to be com- posed of the Secretary and two members of each Board or Agency, already at work among the colored people, together with three representatives to be elected from the Reformed Church in the United States and three from the Reformed Church in America; the representatives to be chosen by the Boards or other Agencies, desig- nated by the supreme judicatories of the constituent Churches. 2 3. That this Permanent Committee shall have power to plan the co-operative work, and to put plans into operation, when approved by the Boards and other Agencies appointing the Committees, subject to the supervisory power of the supreme judicatories.” Pittsburgh-1912. “Without repeating the facts and figures that have been presented to the Council at previous meetings, we desire to place emphasis upon the fact, that the educational and training work done by Presbyterians among the negroes of the .South is recognized as of supreme importance. The uplift and betterment of the ten millions of negroes that form a part of our common citizenship cannot be real- ized in any other way in the providence of God, than under the leadership of men and women of their own race, of strong Christian character and with such training as will enable them to command the confidence and following of their people. “We are pleased to report that under direction of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, their Board of Home Missions is expending this year in work among the negroes of the South the sum of .SI, 200, and the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States has decided to enter into this work and has authorized its Home Board to make an appropriation thereto of .S3 ,000 per year for three years. It is a matter of great satisfaction that the supreme Judicatories of these Churches of the Reformed Faith have adopted this policy rather than entrance upon new work of their own, thus avoiding further divisions in our ranks where there are already too many among the colored people of the South. “The reception of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Colored, by unani- mous vote, to membership in this Council, is an event of unusual interest, and we trust it may mean much for the betterment of the negro race in the South. “We recommend that this Permanent Committee on Co-operative Work be called to meet in the First Presbyterian Church of the City of Pittsburgh, at 10 o’clock A. M., on Thursday, April 25, for the purpose of organization, and, as far as possible, the outlining of plans, to the end that the most helpful report possible may be submitted through the Executive Committee of the Council to the supreme judicatories at their approaching meetings.” 3 PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON WORK AMONG COLORED PEOPLE. Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. Established by the Supreme Judicatories of the Constituent Churches, at the suggestion of the Council meeting in Philadelphia, February, 1911. MEMBERS. Reformed Church in America — Rev. J. Brownlee Voorhees, 25 E. 22d St., New York; Rev. J. Preston Searle, D. D., New Brunswick, N. J. Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.— Rev. S. J. Fisher, D. D., Rev. E. P. Cowan, D. D. and Mr. R. S. Davis, all of Pittsburgh. Presbyterian Church in the U. S. — Rev. S. L. Morris, D. D., Atlanta, Ga.; Rev. J. G. Snedecor, L. L. D., Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Rev. J. S. Lyons, D. D., Louis- ville, Ky/.^ Reformed Church in the United States — Rev. C. E. Schaefifer, D. D., 15th and Race Sts., Philadelphia; Rev. J. C. Leonard, D. D., Lexington, N. C., and Rev. J. L. Murphy, D. D., Hickory, N. C. United Presbyterian Church — Rev. J. W. Witherspoon, D. D., Pittsburgh; Rev. D. A. McClenahan, D. D., Pittsburgh and Rev. Dr. R. W. McGranahan, D. D., Knoxville, Tenn. Colored Cumberland Presbyterian Church — Elder P. F. Hill, Nashville, Tenn.; Rev. James Edwards, D. D., Huntingdon, Tenn., and Rev. W. J. Darby, D. D., Evansville, Ind., (of Advisory Board). OFFICERS FOR 1912—13. Chairman — Rev. J. G. Snedecor, LL.D., Tuscaloosa, Ala. Vice-Chairman — Rev. J. Preston Searle, D. D., New Brunswick, N. J. Sec’y-Treas. — Rev. Wm. J. Darby, D. D., Evansville, Ind. Executive Com. — The officers and Rev. E. P. Cowan, D. D., Pittsburgh, Rev. C. E. Schaeffer, D. D., Philadelphia and Pres. R. W. McGrana- han, D. D., Knoxville, Tenn. PLATFORM FOR CO-OPERATIVE WORK. Resolutions adopted by the Permanent Committee at Pittsburgh, April 25, 1912, by unanimous vote, endorsed unanimously by the appropriate Boards and Committees of the constituent churches and approved by the Supreme Judicatories of the constituent churches meeting in 1912. 1. “Resolved: That our comparison in this conference, of our respective fields, shows that there is no conflict or ‘overlapping’ in these fields and that there is much room unoccupied. 2. Resolved: That this Committee will gladly welcome for consideration any suggestions looking to the extension and increased efficiency of this work which any of the Administrative Agencies may desire to make. _3. Resolved: That the Permanent Committee recommends to the Adminis- trative Agencies consideration of the desirability of seeking from the iudicatories which they respectively serve such action as both these Agencies and the local ecclesiastical judicatories of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches may desire to undertake in order to initiate and develop plans for co-operation in evangelical work in cities with a large colored population, similar to those which have been put in operation in Louisville, Ky. 4. Resolved: That we recommend to the Adminstrative Agencies considera- tion of the possible and desirable co-operation of the Sunday School Agencies of the respective churches, in counsel and in service, in work among the colored people. 5. The educational, missionary, evangelistic and other general interests of the Colored Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the independent Afro-American Presbyterian Synod shall constitute part of the ‘co-operative work’ of the Perma- nent Committee, provided the General Assembly in the one case and the Synod in the other shall so request and the supreme judicatories of the constituent Churches of the Council shall approve. In that event, it shall be the duty of the Executive Committee appointed by this Permanent Committee, if the above bodies approve. 4 to give special attention to the general interests of these brethren, by visiting their schools and church judicatories, when possible, or by correspondence, counseling with and assisting them in the upbuilding and extension of their independent denomi- national work, as far as this may be done. 6. Resolved: That the Administrative Agencies be requested to consider the possible desirability of seeking from the judicatories such authority for the Educational Boards and Committees under their respective control as shall enable the latter to aid in finding worthy candidates for the ministry of the colored churches and to extend aid to such candidates, in Churches where this authority has not already been conferred. 7. Resolved: That the Permanent Committee suggests to the delegates from the constituent churches that they report to the bodies from which they respec- tively come the conviction of the Committee that the Publishing Agencies of these churches can greatly aid in work among the colored people by developing singly or in co-operation, literature of a two-fold character. (a) Literature bringing the members of our churches information concern- ing the field and the work being done by each of our churches. (b) Literature, educational and devotional for the colored people them- selves. 8. Resolved: That joint Institutes in the judgment of the Permanent Com- mittee may afford opportunity for a form of co-operation making for economy and for the larger interests and effectiveness of such gatherings.” THE WORK OF THE CHURCHES Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. Officers of the Board. Rev. S. J. Fisher, U. D., President. Rev. E. P. Cowan, 1). D., Cor. -Sec. and Treasurer. Rev. John M. Gaston, Associate Secretary. Mrs. Susan L. Storer, Gen. Sec. Women’s Dept., Bessemer Bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa. AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. The Presbyterian Church North began Missionary work among the negroes of the South fully a year before the close of the Civil War. Two committees were at work under the direction of the General Assembly fO. S.), as early as 1864, one with headquarters at Indianapolis and the other at Philadelphia. In May, 1865, the General Assembly meeting in Pittsburgh, united these committees under one general committee entitled "the General Assembly’s Committee on Freedmen.” It met by order of the Assembly in the lecture room of the First Church, Pittsburgh, and was organized June 22, 1865. Before the reunion there was another work similar in character and purpose, with headquarters in New York, carried on as a “Freed- men’s Department” in connection with the Presbyterian Committee of Home Mis- sions IN. S.) This “Freedmen’s Department” existed only two years, making its second annual report in 1870. When the two Assemblies united in 1870, the work among the Freedmen as carried on from New York and Pittsburgh was consolidated and a new committee appointed. This new committee was organized by direction of the reunited General Assembly, June 10, 1870 in Pittsburgh, Pa. This committee continued to work without change of plan or organization for twelve years, but the question of ownership of property necessary to the work and the handling of bequests made it evident that it would be better to have the committee incorporated. In 1882, the Assembly at Springfield; 111., sanctioned the change and the committee obtained a charter September 16, 1882, and became a corporate body under the name of “The Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church in the United 'States of America.” PRESENT CONDITION. Church Work. There are now four Colored Synods and sixteen Colored Presbyteries in our work. The Synods are Catawba, Atlantic, East Tennessee and Canadian. Catawba Synod has four Presbyteries; Atlantic Synod has five; East Tennessee Synod has three. Canadian Synod has three. Lincoln Presbytery f colored) is in Kentucky Synod fwhite). These Synods have in them 398 churches and missions; 24,862 communicants; 386 Sabbath Schools and 22,978 Sabbath School scholars. 5 These colored churches raised last year for their own support, $68,118. They gave to the Freedman’s Board $870; to all the other Boards .$2,190. They added to their churches 1542 new members on confession of their faith. The average amount the Freedman’s Board gives as supplementary aid to min- isters under its care is .$20 per month. ST. JAMES CHURCH, GREENSBORO, N. C. School Work. The Board maintained last year 131 schools. In these schools there were 15,045 pupils. The Bible and the Shorter Catechism are required to be taught in all of our schools. Only Christian teachers are employed, and, as a rule, they must be members of the Presbyterian Church. Our schools are classified as follows: (1) One large school for men only — Biddle University, at Charlotte, X. C., with both College and Theological Departments. Harbison Agricultural College at Irmo, S. C., for boys and young men. The teachers in these schools are all colored. TYPICAL PAROCHIAL SCHOOL 6 ( 2 ) Five large seminaries for girls only, presided over by white ministers, with mostly white teachers, as follows: Scotia Seminary at Concord, X. C.; Ingleside Seminary, at Burkeville, Va.; Mary Holmes Seminary, at West Point, Miss.; Mary Allen Seminary, at Crockett, Texas; and Barber Memorial Seminary, at Anniston, Ala. These five Seminaries have in them 996 students. SCOTIA SEMINARY, CONCORD, N. C. f3) Sixteen Co-Educational Boarding Schools, in which are 3,335 pupils. (4) One hundred and nine other schools, under the names of Parochial, Academy, Institute, etc. These schools raised last year for their own support S77,838 in addition to what they received from the Board. Scholarships for one year in Biddle, $80; in the Seminaries, $60; in the co-educa- tional schools, $50. Money Received From All Sources Last Year. Church Collections $ 76,784.73 Young Peoples’ Societies 10,727.24 Sabbath Schools 11,023.07 Women’s Societies 62,532.99 Miscellaneous Sources 34,468 . 20 Interest on Invested Funds 16,246.63 Legacies 43 ,63 5 . 30 Total $255,418. 16 Whole Number of Workers in Church and School 568. Ministers who preach only 138 Ministers who teach and preach 85 Ministers who teach only 17 Laymen who teach 23 Women who teach 295 8 James McGranahan, D. D., President SUMMARY. Permanent Investments S 201, 752 . 50 School Property owned and used by the Board 880,200 . 00 Church and Manse Property owned by the Board 12.3,615.00 Notes and Mortgages held by the Board 15,9.57,. 59 School property held by trustees 10,200.00 Church and Manse Property held by trustees 541,600.00 Pittsburgh, Pa. .SI ,779,325. 09 JOHN M. GASTON, Associate Secretary The United Presbyterian Church The United Presbyterian Church has eighteen Mission Stations among the colored people. These are located in the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Caro- lina, Alabama and Indiana. The support of these eighteen Missions involves an outlay from the Church of S85,000 annually. The number of workers employed is 162. The colored membership of the Church is 1300. The enrollment in the schools is 4,199 and in the Sabbath Schools, 3,554. The contributions of the Mis- sions themselves the past year amounted to $7,252. A GROWING INFLUENCE. In almost every Mission of the United Presbyterian Church there is hearty co-operation with the intelligent white Christian citizens of the community. This is an important part of the work of the colored missions. The work of Knoxville College is especially noteworthy in this regard, the white churches of the city hold- ing a most favorable attitude towards the work of that institution. EDUCATIONAL FEATURES PRE-EMINENT. In all but one of the United Presbyterian Missions the educational feature is at the basis of the work. The one exception is the Witherspoon Memorial Church in Indianapolis. All the others have a nine months school session with a corps of teachers adequate for giving thorough and varied instruction, both literary and industrial. The schools are standardized on the basis of a well-developed sj'-stem. Knoxville College is the only one of full college rank, offering complete courses in preparation for the ministry. College courses leading to the usual degrees, and also Normal and Agricultural courses. Five of the others offer a full Normal course, while the rest stop with the Eighth grade. A daily recitation in the Bible is had in all the Missions. KNOXVILLE COLLEGE’S RANK AMONG COLORED COLLEGES. Under the direction of Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, assisted by other competent men, the Slater fund publishes each year an exhaustive study of some phase of the negro life and problem. This year the subject was the “College Bred American Negro,” and some very interesting findings were made. It is shown that there are thirty- two institutions by the name of college or university exclusively for Negroes. Of these, eleven measure up to the standard of the Southern institutions in their entrance requirements of 14 units or more. Of these, Knoxville College is one. Another classification is on the basis of “'Thoroughness of Work Done,” and only four are ranked “excellent,” one of which is Knoxville College. Under “Adherence to Catalogue Announcements,” the same four enjoy the pre-eminence of “excellent.” Under “Quality of Work Done,” Knoxville College is one of the six standing first. As this is the first attempt at standardization of the colleges for the colored youth, the report has awakened much interest and it is gratifying that the showing is so excellent for our own institution. RURAL MISSIONS. A group of five Missions in Wilcox Co., Alabama, are located in the midst of the thickly settled plantation life of the negroes. The results are most gratifying. A large percentage remain on the farms and a multitude is reached that would not otherwise receive even a rudimentary education. A large planter in each neigh- borhood is the friend and patron of the Mission. 10 11 mi. GROUP OF COLORED MINISTERS TRAINED BY THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH The Mission at Arlington, Ala., is in a distinctly Cumberland Presbyterian Community. The Cumberland Church has a good congregation at that point, but has no school. The United Presbyterian School is large and offers splendid facilities for educational training. DEPARTMENTS. Thorough training is provided in the three fundamental lines; intellectual, re- ligious and industrial. While the great emphasis of late has been placed upon the Industrial Department, yet there has been no lowering in any way of the literary and religious standards. A determined effort has been made to correlate the literary and industrial work, and the success of such correlation is exceedingly gratifying, t By maintaining the two side by side, most healthful notions of both literary and industrial activity are inculcated. There is no inconsistency between the highest literary and the most thorough industrial training. Three Hospitals are maintained where girls are given full courses in nurse training and the afflicted in the community are given a fine opportunity for treat- ment and hospital care that would otherwise be impossible. At Knoxville College, Henderson, N. C. Institute and Miller’s Ferry, Ala. Institute, the hospitals are maintained. Nurse training for colored young women is not only the most lucrative of open- ings for them, but affords most effective ministry to the colored people. It has a special opportunity for contributing to the better feeling of the races as competent young women take their places in white families as trained nurses. The represen- tative white people of the South are eager to have colored nurses. RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL. The prime object of Knoxville College is to train lives for the Kingdom of Christ, and all of the departments are made to converge to this great end. The comparatively small membership of the United Presbyterian Church as a result of the Mission Work done among the negroes is often the subject of inquiry. The explanation is that our field of work is located with regard to the need of the negro rather than with regard to the possibility of building up the United Presbyterian denomination. It is notable that among all our Mission stations only two, Hender- son, N. C. and Arlington, Ala., are in what might be known as a Presbyterian com- munity of colored people, and excepting the few members that are received from the Presbyterian Church in these fields, all our recruits have come from outside of Presbyterian affiliations entirely. The work is essentially altruistic. The contri- bution from our work to other denominations is quite a good deal larger than that to the United Presbyterian Church. Even those who are members of our own church, when they go out into the world after graduation, frequently are thrown into places where there is no possibility of identifying themselves with our own church. Hence the work is essentially altruistic and is not less far-reaching because the greater part of the fruit is borne on ecclesiastical trees other than our own. It is gratifying that ministers of all denominations ivho have been trained in our Mis- sions have invariably stood for a high standard in morals, fidelity to the old faith, and evangelistic effort in reaching the unsaved. J. W. WITHERSPOON, Pittsburgh, Pa. Secretary. Presbyterian Church in the U. S. Historical Sketch. Before the war Presbyterians who owned slaves in the South were noted for the Christian zeal with which they prosecuted religious instruction among the black people. As a rule, Presbyterian Churches, especially in the country, were built with large galleries, where were seated the negro members. It is estimated that there were 35,000 negro members of Presbyterian white churches at the time of the disruption of the church in 1861. These people were instructed carefully and their morals were kept to a high standard by the careful oversight of the Sessions. They listened to the same preachers, and communed at the same time with their white brethren. In localities where the negroes greatly outnumbered the whites and in several cities, separate churches were built for the negroes; but white minis- ters were generally employed. An example of this arrangement was in Charleston, S. C., where Dr. Girardeau preached to a large negro congregation in a building. 12 13 STILLMAN INSTITUTE, TUSCALOOSA, ALA. Rev. J. G. Snedecor, L. L. D., Superintendent which still stands — a monument to the Christian liberality of the Presbyterians of that city. Incidentally, that Church stands as a remembrance of a neglected oppor- tunity of the Southern Presbyterians, for it now shelters a colored congregation that does not belong to our Assembly. After the organization of the Southern Presbyterian Church in 1861, work among the negroes was per force interrupted, but a reading of the minutes of the early sessions of the General Assembly shows an amazing number of references to Missionary work among the negroes and much consideration of plans and principles upon which the work might be prosecuted. In 1876, Dr. Charles A. Stillman presented to the General Assembly an over- ture from the session of the Gainesville, Alabama, church urging the establishment of a school for the training of colored ministers. This received the earnest support of Dr. B. M. Palmer, and others, and the school was located at Tuscaloosa, Ala- bama, where Dr. Stillman had meantime moved as pastor. He was appointed superintendent, and for twenty years managed the Tuscaloosa Institute, as it was called, with consummate tact and patience, and at the same time retaining, through all those troublous times, his popularity as pastor of the aristocratic old church at Tuscaloosa. During this period the work was under the care of the Assembly’s committee of Home Missions. In 1891, the Assembly created an Executive Committee of Colored Evangelization, and appointed as Secretary, Rev. A. L. Phillips, pastor of vSouth Highlands Church at Birmingham. Dr. Stillman was called to his reward in 1895, and the school has since been called Stillman Institute. His memorial is written in the lives of the good men whom he trained to preach the Gospel to their perishing people. The history of colored evangelization is a continued story of consecration by the very best men of our Southern church, and also, sad to recall, of unappreciated effort and constant discouragement. The gifted Andrew Flinn Dickson was the first teacher, followed by such men as James W. Kerr, D. C. Rankin, W. H. Richardson, J. J. Anderson, D. D. Sander- son, J. G. Praigg, J. R. Howerton, R. B. McAlpine, D. D. Little and others. In 1898, Dr. Phillips with all his splendid energy and enthusiasm was com- pelled to resign because of the indifference of the church and a consequent lack of support. Rev. D. C. Lilly, then pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa, was elected Secretary, and for a while gave much time while still pastor towards arousing an interest in the work. He was ably assisted by another most godly and conse- crated man. Rev. O. B. Wilson, then a teacher at the Institute. It has been said of Mr. Wilson, that, “When one of God’s workers has been removed another is always ready to take his place — but so far there has been found no other Wilson.’’ When Mr. Wilson was killed by lightning while talking over the telephone to Dr. Lilly, and the latter’s life was spared, he felt called as if by God to give his entire time to the work. He shortly afterwards resigned the pastorate of the church to give himself fully to the Secretaryship. In 1903, owing to failing health and great nervous strain from indifference and lack of support of the church, he resigned and Rev. Jas. G. Snedecor, of Birmingham, was made Secretary. During the last five years there has been a slow, but steady growth in the interest of our people in this cause, as indicated by the increase in the receipts of the Assembly’s Committee from $8,500 in 1903, to $16,500 in 1910. But still the income has never been adequate to the opportunities for extending the work and the present wide-spread hopelessness and skepticism of our church is a matter that should receive the most earnest and prayerful attention of every missionar\’ gather- ing. THE SCOPE OF THE WORK. The church has organized the following lines of effort : 1. To educate and train good, sensible preachers at Stillman Institute. 2. To assist in building neat churches. 3. To supervise, encourage and partially support the pastors of Colored Pres- byterian Churches, who shall conduct parochial schools. 4. To organize Sunday School Missions taught by white people, such as may be found at Louisville, Memphis, Atlanta, and many smaller places. This is a com- bination of Home and Foreign Missions — a work among foreign people in the home land. The Assembly at Lewisburg, Va., recognized the relationship and ordered the consolidation of the committee on colored evangelization with that of Home Missions. Hereafter, when we give to Home Missions let us enlarge our gifts, for we are now giving to all the alien and dependent races gathered on American soil. 14 PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS. It is difficult to itemize the needs of such an undertaking. Opportunities are apparent at every cross-roads in the “black belt,” as those districts are described where the negro population is densest. Missionaries can find heathen along every lane. Schools are needed every- where. The most urgent need is of a godly and intelligent ministry. Such a work cannot be measured by denominational lines, and therefore the Southern Presby- terian Church is glad to welcome Methodists and Baptists to her Bible Training School at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In order to accommodate all who may apply, Stillman Institute needs a new dor- mitory to be built of brick and to cost not less than $10,000. The enrollment of young men seeking preparation for the ministry, or of ministers seeking better training, has averaged more than thirty the past three years. An endowment for Stillman Institute is becoming an imperative need. For thirty-five years the barest necessities of this beneficent missionary agency have been supplied by the gifts of churches and faithful friends. The professors, all Southern white men, have been poorly paid, and only their devotion to the end in view has enabled the management to keep such capable men in charge. An endowment of $150,000 would be a fine monument to the good negroes of the past, and a proper token of appreciation and gratitude on the part of the white people of the South, for the faithful services of the slave of past days. It is inter- esting to note here, that by the will of the late William Birthwright, a highly esteemed colored citizen of Missouri, the Stillman Institute will eventually acquire about one-third of the above endowment. RESULTS. While numerically the results of our work in behalf of the colored people do not run into large figures, it has been worth while as a mark of our own sincerity in missionary matters. It would indicate little control of prejudice, and little devo- tion to the spirit of Christ, if we found it easy to supply and support missionaries to .Africa, and could find neither men nor money for work among the Afro-Americans, who are our neighbors. At Stillman Institute five men have been educated for missionary work in the Congo Free State, thirty-five have charge of Presbyterian Churches in the South and as many more are serving in churches of other denorninations. Just at this time there is much to encourage the Southern Church to press for- ward with this phase of Home Missions. The proffered co-operation of other Pres- byterian and Reformed bodies, the proposed formation of a colored independent Presbyterian body, to include the Afro-American Synod, and the Colored Cumber- land Presbyterian As.sembly are movements full of promise. The guiding, sustain- ing and educating such a body of Colored Presbyterians will prove an opening door of privilege. GENERAL EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS. In the department of the general education of colored youth the Southern Presbyterian Church, just arising from the poverty and distress entailed by the Civil War, has not attempted any extensive work. Parochial schools, taught by the pastors of our colored churches, have been encouraged. A model school of this sort with industrial features is conducted by Rev. R. D. Roulhac, Pastor at Selma, Alabama, and this list should be extended to include Rev. A. M. Plant, Texarkana, Texas: Rev. B. B. Palmer, Milton, \. C.; Rev. J. W. Lee, Baton Rouge, La.; Rev. G. W. Gideon, Homer, Ga.; Rev. J. S. Morrow, N. Wilkesboro, N. C., and many others. Rev. Henry C. Ray, at Florence, S. C., will open a similar school this Fall, with the kind help of the Board of Domestic Missions of the Reformed Church in America. This is a most fruitful field of missionary effort, and if funds were avail- able, we should be glad to give each pastor an assistant in a parochial school and a school-house hard-by the church. The education of the mothers of the coming generation is a matter, the import- ance of which is not confined to the darker races, but among them it is peculiarly an inviting field. The general lack of proper home influences is a calamity which faces the large majority of negro girls. Some years ago, our Committee took over the Ferguson- Williams School at Abbeville, S. C., but we have poorly seconded the efforts of Rev. E. W. Williams and his efficient wife in their efforts to develop a first-class girls’ training school. At the date of this publication, a propitious effort is being made to give this school for girls a new equipment. An influential Board of Trustees has undertaken 15 the local management. Through the generosity of a friend of the president, money has been supplied for purchasing forty acres for the new buildings and a farm. A quarry of beautiful granite has been opened on this land, and it now awaits some magic touch to raise this stone into a modern school building. An inevitable conclusion from this meager sketch is that the work of the Southern Presbyterian Church in colored evangelization is still before us. Perhaps our best work in the past has been to contribute a mite towards lessening public prejudice, and to contribute something to the campaign of education that is going on, which is finally to bring all the Christian forces of the country into a tolerant and Christ- like effort to help our backward brother. JAMES G. SNEDECOR, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Superintendent Colored Evangelization. Colored Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Their Origin. This is an independent denomination of Presbyterian negroes, which now has membership in the Council and is thereby officially recognized as a part of the Presbyterian family in the United States. Their existence as a separate denomina- tion was made necessary by the events following the Civil War. Previously the Christian negroes on the plantations of white Cumberland Presbyterians were mem- bers of the church of their masters, with their names on the same register, claiming the same pastor, having their appointed seats in the same house of worship and communing together at the Lord’s table. After the war, it became necessaiy' for them literally to “set up housekeeping for themselves’’ and this applied also to their Church home. In the erection of their crude houses of worship and in building better ones later on, they were always assisted liberally by their white friends, but never by any Board or organized process of “Home Missions’’ or “Church Erec- tion.” With the genuine evangelistic spirit, they prospered and increased, growing into Presbyteries and a General Assembly, occupying a considerable part of the territory of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas and Missouri. In their 4 Synods and 16 Presbyteries they have 185 Churches, 163 ordained ministers, 65 licentiates and a membership, which in the absence of complete statistics, may be fairly estimated at probably 15,000. Their remarkable growth, under the evange- listic spirit, in the years immediately following the war, was halted naturally by reason of their lack of funds for building and maintaining schools and securing the necessary training for preachers, teachers and other leaders. They made heroic sacrifices to secure these training agencies, having no systematic aid whatever from any white church. TRAINING OF LEADERS. At Bowling Green, Ky., they have an excellent school with its Biblical Depart- ment for the training of candidates for the ministry and its Normal Department for the training of teachers. During the seven years since the Cumberland Union they have enjoyed the first systematic aid in this school that has ever been accorded any part of their work. This came through the Treasury of the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the U. S. A. Church, through contributions sent that Board by the former Cumberland Churches. The Board also from its separate Treasury pays the salary of the principal teacher in the Biblical Department. This school also has the promise of aid from the Reformed Church in the United States and the out- look is encouraging. They need scholarships for at least twenty young men who are preparing for the ministry. These twenty scholarships of $50 each would soon, of themselves, guarantee through this school a marked advance in the type of educated ministers for this denomination. Churches, Sunday Schools and indi- viduals are reminded of this admirable opportunity for advancing Ministerial training among the negroes of the .South. 16 |i| . MAIN BUILDING— ACADEMY— BOWLING GREEN, KY. Rev. R. L. Hyde, I). D„ President ■MINISTERIAL STUDENTS OF THE C. P. CHURCH, COLORED, AND THEIR TEACHERS— DARBY BIBLE SCHOOL— BOWLING GREEN, KY. Rev. William Wolfe, of Lincoln University, Dean 17 At Milan, Tennessee, a school of the Biblical and Industrial type is being estab- lished and the denomination also has some secondary schools in the State of Ala- bama. .Aid for its educational work is the one great need of this denomination. EVANGELISTIC. Illustrative of the process of building up independent self-sustaining churches in a number of towns and cities may be mentioned the church at Huntsville, .Ala- bama. COLORED CU.MBERL.WD PRESBYTERI.AX CHURCH, HUNTSVILLE, .A.L.\. Rev. tv. H. Lampley, Pastor .As a further illustration of how the cause suffers in this church for the lack of organized and liberal assistance, there has been for many years a struggling little band of faithful Cumberland Presbyterians of the negro race in the city of Nashville, but they have had no suitable house of worship and there has been no Missionary Fund to aid them in procuring a pastor. Hence, no material progress has been made through these long years. Believing they can now secure the needed aid through the new relations into which they have entered, this struggling little band has just contracted for a neat Church House that was sold to them by one of the white con- gregations. If they can have proper aid, they should soon have a flourishing con- gregation in this city where the negro population is so numerous. The same is true in many other towns and cities throughout the territory which this church occupies. 18 THE OPEN DOOR. Having no special alliance with anyone of the white Presbyterian Churches, being entirely independent in all their relations and transactions, these colored Cumberland Presbyterians desire to conduct their work in such a way as to command the sympathetic aid of all their white brethren of the Presbyterian family. They proclaim theirs as missionary territory and they announce an open door everjrwhere throughout their field for Evangelistic, Missionary, Sunday School and all other forms of church work. Having realized the great benefit accruing from the system- atic aid accorded them the past few years by the Freedmen’s Board of one of these churches, they are hopeful of being made the recipients of a like ministry from others and they pledge their most loyal endeavor in the right use of all facilities for better work that may be placed in their hands. Their General Assembly has called into existence an Advisory Board composed of white men representing several of the Presbyterian Churches, which Board counsels with them in all their plans and policies. W. J. DARBY, Evansville, Ind. Chairman. Reformed Church in the United States. The Reformed Church in the United States for a number of years past, has felt the urgent need of aggressive Christian work among the Colored People of the South. From time to time within the bounds of that denomination there have been individual and sporadic efforts put forth in this direction. Thus, General John E. Roller, a member of the Reformed Church at Harrisonburg, Virginia, of his own initiative and relying upon his own resources, has been carrying on a modest work among these people in the State of \'irginia. Rev. Dr. J. L. Murphy, Pastor of the Reformed Church at Hickory, N. C., has for a number of years gathered at least once a week in his own study the colored ministers of his community for the purpose of giving them instruction in the jjreparation of their sermons and the art of preaching. Kentucky Classis of the Synod of the North-west, in affiliation with the Louisville Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S., and the Presby- tery of Louisvdlle of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., has been carrying for- ward an extensive and encouraging work among the Colored People of Louisville, Ky. From time to time overtures and appeals have come before the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the U. S., urging definite action on its part. At its meeting in York, 1908, the General Synod took the following action; "That there is a large field for usefulness in the further uplift of the colored race in this country is a demonstrated fact. Your Committee, in full recog- nition of this fact, would suggest the following: R'ESOLV'ED, That the Board of Home Missions be requested to do what- soever it can or may in this matter, either by co-operating with individuals, organizations, or upon its own initiative.” Encouraged by this definite action, the Board, through its representatives, at a meeting of the Council of Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterian System, at Phila