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LINCOLN INSTITUTE 
 
 OF 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 AT 
 
 SIMPSONVILLE ON THE MAIN RAILROAD 
 LINE BETWEEN LOUISVILLE 
 AND LEXINGTON 
 
 BY MRS. CLARA PORTER COLTON 
 
 220 CENTER ST., DORCHESTER CENTER 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/lincolninstituteOOcolt 
 
Lincoln Institute of Kentucky. 
 
 “What! another advanced colored school in the 
 South, when so much has been given for this purpose?” 
 
 Thus perhaps some may remark when first hearing 
 of the establishment of Lincoln Institute, Kentucky. 
 It is true that ever since the close of the civil war, 
 which left the South so impoverished and so burdened 
 with an illiterate and dependent Negro population, 
 northern philanthropists have rendered generous as- 
 sistance for this great need. The States south of 
 Kentucky have had the advantage of the uplift of the 
 colored race through the fine schools provided for 
 them by the liberal benefactions of the friends of 
 Negro education. 
 
 A Forgotten Field and Its Needs. 
 
 Unfortunately, perhaps because of its northerly 
 position, these showers of blessings failed to fall upon 
 Kentucky, although the conditions of need there were 
 the same as in the other southern States. 
 
 Thus it has come to pass that Kentucky, except 
 Berea College, closed to the Negroes in 1904 by hostile 
 legislation, has been almost unaided in its educational 
 and industrial problems resulting from the great up- 
 heaval of the rebellion. 
 
 And yet, Kentucky never seceded from the Union, 
 and within its borders were two humble, little homes 
 famed in fiction and in history, in connection with 
 
2 
 
 slavery ; the cabin where the martyred friend of the 
 freedmen, Abraham Lincoln, was born ; and “Uncle 
 Tom’s Cabin,” portrayed with such forceful appeal 
 for the cause of emancipation by the inspired genius 
 of Mrs. Stowe. 
 
 The need in Kentucky of such a school as the great 
 institutions which have done so much for the advance 
 of the Negro in the farther South, cannot be exag- 
 gerated. Kentucky is not a rich State. The people 
 who have surplus means are few. Public provision, 
 commensurate with State funds, has been made for 
 Negro education, but without the benevolent aid be- 
 stowed upon other southern States through all the 
 years since the war, it is not strange that Kentucky 
 has had no first-class school for furnishing a good 
 academic or industrial education to colored youths, 
 and that a low standard of grade schools prevails as 
 the natural result of poorly trained negro teachers. 
 
 The “Courier-Journal” of Louisville, January 22, 
 1912, says : — “In many respects the Kentucky Negro 
 is possessed of privileges and opportunities equal to 
 those in other States. In one respect, however, he 
 finds himself greatly limited. No other southern 
 State, border or otherwise, gives him so poor educa- 
 tional opportunities.” It was recently found that 
 49.2 per cent, of the colored voters of Shelby County 
 cannot read or write. 
 
 Moreover, there is no place in Kentucky where a 
 Negro can learn a trade properly. He is barred from 
 the trades unions. Unable to fit himself as a carpen- 
 ter, machinist or even as a brick-layer, the city offers 
 opportunities only in minor job work. The country is 
 
3 
 
 the desirable place for the majority of his race, but 
 there is small inducement for him there since the door 
 to sciences of soil culture, poultry raising, horticulture 
 and dairying is not open to him. 
 
 Near Hampton Institute is a county in which 90 
 per cent, of the Negro farmers own their farms, main- 
 ly a result of the instruction given them in that institu- 
 tion. Such provision, together with trade training, 
 should be made in Kentucky for the grandchildren of 
 “Uncle Tom,” for whom the excellent colored schools 
 of the farther south are at too great a distance to be 
 accessible. 
 
 Christian Colored Schools. Their High Aim 
 and Fine Work. 
 
 It should be remembered that colored schools of the 
 type of Lincoln Institute exert a far higher and broad- 
 er influence than that of fitting their students to pass 
 better examinations for teaching or for becoming ex- 
 perts in a useful trade. The great value is recognized 
 of moral and religious training, which shall inspire 
 them with a sense of personal responsibility to God 
 and to their fellow men, so that wherever the gradu- 
 ates of the great Christian colored schools are placed 
 they become guardians of the best interests of the 
 community, exerting a restraining and uplifting force 
 upon their race. 
 
 Figures and Facts. 
 
 Recently a set of statistics was carefully gathered 
 from ten prominent colored schools of the South as to 
 
4 
 
 the standing' of their graduates, records of whom have 
 been kept for many years. The result was most grati- 
 fying. In round numbers, out of the nearly 8,000 
 graduates of these schools, chosen at random, only 
 one in 800 has ever been convicted of a criminal of- 
 fence, making the very low percentage of .000128 for 
 criminality. Those competent to judge of such mat- 
 ters say that this is a remarkable record, and that it is 
 doubtful whether so fine a set of figures could be 
 shown by the same number of white colleges in any 
 given section of our country. 
 
 When educated, the Negro becomes an ally of good 
 order. A Christian school does more to prevent law- 
 lessness than ten times its cost spent for courts and 
 jails. A further fact from statistics shows the effect 
 of Christian colored schools upon the life purpose of 
 their students. More than one hundred of the gradu- 
 ates of the ten schools furnishing the figures quoted 
 above are useful ministers of the Gospel, and nearly 
 2,350 are teachers. The careful and earnest instruc- 
 tion of students in schools like Lincoln Institute is 
 that they carry the destiny of their race, and they are 
 sent forth having a realization of this responsibility, 
 which is shared equally by those trained for handiwork 
 as a means of support and those entering professions. 
 
 Local Loyalty to Lincoln Institute. 
 
 Those at a distance from any enterprise which they 
 assist, like to know how it is regarded in its own 
 vicinity, and what local aid is given. Generous gifts 
 from friends in Louisville have amounted to more than 
 
5 
 
 $ 60 , 000 . 00 ; a large sum has also been contributed by 
 the white people of the State outside the metropolis ; 
 strong endorsement has been given by leading citizens 
 of central and western Kentucky ; many pledges have 
 been made by Negroes themselves of goodly contribu- 
 tions from their meager incomes. These facts show the 
 strong foundation of local good will upon which this 
 new and much-needed school is built. 
 
 Lincoln Institute an Outgrowth of Berea. 
 
 It is not known to all that Lincoln Institute is a 
 daughter of Berea College, and that President Frost 
 has given the same wise and devoted effort for its es- 
 tablishment which has marked his masterly leadership 
 of Berea. President Frost continues duty as one of 
 the Board of Trustees of the new school, and it is 
 with pleasure that the following endorsement from 
 him is given : — 
 
 To Friends of Southern Education : 
 
 This is to commend to your favorable consideration 
 Lincoln Institute of Kentucky. 
 
 This Institution is most favorably located on the 
 main line between Kentucky’s two chief cities — Louis- 
 ville and Lexington — and near the center of its col- 
 ored population. It has been peculiarly happy in 
 adopting those features which have proved most ser- 
 viceable in Negro education, and in securing the inter- 
 est of a considerable portion of the white people of 
 this commonwealth. 
 
 For various reasons Kentucky has been backward 
 in the matter of Negro education and very much de- 
 
6 
 
 pends upon the proper equipment and support of this 
 new institution. It has such unusual resources, such 
 well considered plans, and such efficient management 
 as to make it certain that money contributed to its sup- 
 port will not only do good, but the greatest good possi- 
 ble. Faithfully yours, 
 
 Wm. Goodell Frost. 
 
 “ Man Proposes , God Disposes for Christian 
 Progress. 
 
 Berea College was always handicapped as to its 
 benefits offered to the Negroes of Kentucky, because 
 of its distance from their zone of habitation, which is 
 in the central and western part of the State, their 
 number being about 260,000. For this large and 
 needy Negro population much more can be done now 
 than if Berea’s doors had remained open to colored youth, 
 because an institution has been established easily ac- 
 cessible from all parts of the State, located as it is 
 at Simpsonville, 22 miles east of Louisville. Thus the 
 passage of the Day Law, requiring separate race edu- 
 cation, under God’s guiding power and gracious help 
 has worked out for the greater advantage and broader 
 opportunity of “our brother in black.” 
 
 Proofs of Permanency. 
 
 (1) The Instructors. The famous saying, “Mark 
 Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the 
 other would make a college,” expresses the fact that 
 the fitness and forcefulness of the teaching staff of any 
 
i 
 
 school is the foundation of its success. Proper pro- 
 fessional preparation of the teachers is expected in any 
 good institution of learning, but that is only part, par- 
 ticularly when we consider colored schools. There 
 must be a sympathizing heart combined with a firm, 
 guiding hand. There must be patience, coming from 
 an understanding of the peculiar needs and conditions 
 of the pupils. No less important is the ability to kindle 
 and keep burning the fires of ambition, to inspire 
 scholars to do their very best, to enjoy the thorough per- 
 formance of hard work ; but above all, there is essen- 
 tial on the part of instructors of colored youth a spirit 
 of consecrated, Christian devotion. The writer of 
 these pages, as an outsider, can state without hesita- 
 tion that Lincoln Institute, in its Principal, Rev A. 
 Eugene Thomson, D. D., and his assistants, has a 
 group of expert workers who possess the above quali- 
 fications in a high degree. 
 
 Dr. Thomson was a distinguished scholar in his 
 college days, and had he remained as teacher in his 
 alma mater, as he might have done, he would un- 
 doubtedly have attained high rank in that profession. 
 But his deep spiritual nature led him to dedicate his 
 life to the ministry. He was eminently successful as 
 a pastor, and in general evangelistic work. In 1903 
 he was called to the pastorate of the college church in 
 Berea, Kentucky. From the first he became a strong 
 factor in the work of that great institution, serving on 
 the Board of Trustees and the Prudential Committee, be- 
 sides his pastoral duties. 
 
 After the passage of the Day Law, Dr. Thomson 
 gave invaluable aid in the establishment of Lincoln 
 
8 
 
 Institute, and when the time came for its organization, 
 the colored people of Kentucky, with one accord, 
 urged his eminent fitness for the principalship of the 
 new school. To give up his beloved work in Berea, 
 called for no small sacrifice, and it was only after long 
 and prayerful consideration that Dr. Thomson’s deep 
 sense of duty led him to respond affirmatively to the 
 unanimous vote of the Trustees of the Institute making 
 him its first Principal. The rest of the working force 
 has been selected with the same care which marked 
 the choosing of the Principal, and is divided be- 
 tween the races. 
 
 (2) Trustees. The same wise management which 
 has commended Berea College to discriminating philan- 
 thropists has marked the plans of Lincoln Institute. The 
 Board is composed of twenty-one Trustees, well known 
 men of affairs in professional and business life, from 
 different sections of the country, together with equally 
 prominent local representatives of both races. 
 
 By order of the Trustees, the books of Lincoln In- 
 stitute are annually audited by a professional ac- 
 countant and a Prudential Committee supervises its 
 affairs between its Trustee meetings. 
 
 (3) Further Equipment. A working outfit of 
 well constructed and sightly buildings ; a large tract 
 of excellent land ; equipment in part for industrial 
 training and a body of earnest and able students who 
 are the best selected from numerous applicants ; these 
 facts briefly outline the guarantee of good faith for 
 benefactors who bestow their charities by the care- 
 ful exercise of “consecrated common sense.” 
 
9 
 
 Lincoln Institute Provides Practical Education 
 for the Real Needs of the Negro. 
 
 The best is none too good for the Negroes in view 
 of their oppression for years in this civilized land, but 
 the best education for them must meet their special 
 needs and conditions. Lincoln Institute stands for the 
 fullest, largest possible training for the Negro and 
 hopes some time to be a great university. It will, 
 however, begin with the practical task of present 
 needs, that of giving him the mental training which will 
 enlarge his view of life and his ability to command 
 respect, and also fit him for some trade or profession 
 by which he can support his family and attain the 
 higher ideals whose value he will have learned. 
 
 A Lhre e-fold Purpose and Plan. 
 
 Lincoln Institute has a three-fold purpose and plan, 
 viz : to fit teachers for the colored grade schools in its 
 normal department ; to give to all students a thorough 
 training in some useful trade in its industrial depart- 
 ment ; and to add to this a course in practical, funda- 
 mental studies in its academic department. Thus, with 
 trained minds and skillful hands the colored youth 
 will become self-reliant, intelligent and useful citizens, • 
 able to establish for themselves happy% Christian homes 
 and to add to the welfare and prosperity of the 
 country. 
 
10 
 
 Does Lincoln Institute Need Money ? 
 Special Needs. 
 
 Well worthy of quotation is an aphorism of Dr. 
 Thomson’s : — “A great institution can be as poor as 
 a small one. Poverty is not having sufficient means 
 to do one’s work properly.” 
 
 There are three lines of special need just now for 
 Lincoln Institute. 
 
 The first is of money for “current expense.” 
 Though the Institution has an endowment, it will sup- 
 ply not more than half the money needed for support 
 of the school. Student fees are made as low as 
 possible, and will give little help. The first year will 
 bring a thousand unexpected demands for money in 
 providing equipment which had not been and could 
 not be foreseen, and in new but necessary expenses 
 to give the school its highest efficiency. A debt had 
 to be incurred in order to build the great plant, and 
 interest will accrue on this. In order to furnish the 
 best educational opportunities, teachers of high train- 
 ing have been secured and must be paid. The Insti- 
 tute must first live. For this ten thousand dollars is 
 needed this year outside of ordinary income. 
 
 Second. A building debt of forty thousand dollars 
 has been incurred. This was authorized by the 
 Trustees, who saw that it would be false economy to 
 reduce the plans any further than had already been 
 done. The debt is smaller than was expected by the 
 Trustees. Gifts are needed to extinguish this debt. 
 
 Third. A Student Labor Fund. Nothing is more 
 needed with these colored students than to develop 
 
11 
 
 a spirit of independence and self-reliance. It is there- 
 fore planned to furnish work to enable the more needy 
 ones to earn their own way in full or in part. It will 
 take them longer to get their education, but it will have 
 benefited them more when gained. Every one of 
 either race, seems to commend this proposition most 
 heartily. It is doubtful if as many as ten of the 
 students will have sufficient resources to pay their own 
 way. Some are asking for an opportunity to work 
 out nearly all their expenses, and the average need will 
 be well up toward one half the year’s expense. This 
 must be largely met by labor, which, though valuable, 
 will be unremunerative to the school, and which can- 
 not be afforded if funds are not provided for the pur- 
 pose. Profitable labor can be given to a large degree, 
 but not to the extent required. Therefore friends 
 must be asked to give money for the Student Labor 
 Fund. 
 
 A Living Endowment. 
 
 Where there are ten persons who can give $1,000 
 each, there are a hundred who can give $100 each ; 
 there are two hundred who can give $50 each, four 
 hundred who can give $25 each and a thousand who 
 can give $10 each to enable Lincoln Institute to carry 
 on its much-needed work. 
 
 Pledges for the annual payment of a certain sum, 
 may constitute a “living endowment,” if sufficient are 
 received. It often happens that the kindly mention 
 of Lincoln Institute to others, by those who can make 
 only small gifts, leads, under God’s providence, to 
 new sources of large donations. The sympathy and 
 
12 
 
 intelligent interest of friends of the freedmen make 
 contributions doubly valuable. 
 
 School Beginning , October , 1912. Extracts 
 from a Letter by one of the Faculty. 
 
 The Kind of Students Lincoln 
 Institute is Getting. 
 
 “We are limiting our students as to age, educational 
 attainments and general fitness so that we have cut out 
 a large number who would otherwise be with us. 
 This is the better policy for the standing of the school. 
 They are now a choice company of students and are 
 showing a willingness to work and an enthusiasm 
 which is very encouraging indeed. 
 
 Many letters are truly pathetic, showing hunger 
 for education which it seems almost a crime against 
 humanity to deny. New applications are constantly 
 being received. 
 
 However, until the Lord raises up friends who 
 will complete our buildings for us we must place part 
 of these earnest young people on the waiting list.” 
 
 Needy Studen ts and Their Gratitude for Help. 
 
 Response to the right appeal made to colored youth 
 to attain to nobler ideals in life comes heartily, and 
 the earnest desire and self-sacrificing efforts for ob- 
 taining even a little schooling which they often dis- 
 play touches every sympathetic heart. This fact of 
 appreciation should be made known to the donors to 
 Lincoln Institute. Could they know it personally, it 
 
13 
 
 would surely be gratifying, especially to the kind 
 friends who furnish financial help in order that work 
 may be given to poor students to pay their way. The 
 old adage, “Heaven helps those who help themselves,” 
 in its best sense, is instilled into the minds of students 
 in Lincoln Institute. The dignity of labor is realized 
 as it becomes more than mere drudgery to maintain a 
 meager existence. 
 
 One young woman came, not having enough money 
 I for her opening bills. She promised to bring the rest 
 after a week. She will have to work her entire way 
 because her mother is doing her utmost in sending a 
 younger daughter to school. The older daughter 
 is one of the promising students, and will be a leader 
 among the girls for good. She said that she was 
 ready to cook, sew, scrub or do anything so that she 
 can make her way. 
 
 Two young men came from Lexington, a little more 
 than a week before the opening of the school, in re- 
 sponse to a call for prospective students who would 
 help in cleaning buildings. These two showed their 
 worth at once. They worked from early morning till late 
 at night, and at the end of a little more than a week, 
 one had earned sixteen dollars, and the other had 
 done nearly as well. 
 
 Another young man came and secured work in cut- 
 ting corn before the school opened. The Farm Super- 
 intendent says that he has never had a better worker. 
 He has had very little opportunity for an education but 
 his earnest determination is warrant for faith in his 
 future. 
 
14 
 
 Extracts from Letters of Application by Pros- 
 pective Students. 
 
 The illiteracy shown in some of these letters would 
 be amusing were it not a ground for sympathy in view 
 of the lack of common school advantages which puts 
 these adult colored youth educationally, on the level of 
 little boys and girls. 
 
 Number One. “Dear Sir: This is from a young 
 man that wishes to be a student in your school and I 
 write this letter to learn what is the chance of getting 
 there. I can only read and write a little and I would 
 like the best thing in the world to learn more, but my 
 luck was not to get any chance to learn. You can look 
 on your pledges and see my name.” (He refers to a 
 previous gift to Lincoln Institute.) 
 
 Number Two. “Dear Sir : I got your letter and was 
 so glad. Here is my application blank. I would have 
 to work out my expenses if you can only let me do so. 
 T have not got much education, but I want to study 
 some books and learn a trade so much.” 
 
 The spelling in the two foregoing letters might seem a 
 model of some new form of Volapuk, so strangely 
 different is it from the standards of Noah Webster. 
 Have to, becomes “hafter,” student is “stitden,” 
 chance is “chanchst,” ought to, is “orto”. And yet 
 the writers have general intelligence and are excellent 
 workers and eager to “lurne,” as these letters say. 
 They have had a glimpse of a new world, the world of 
 books, brighter and broader than the humdrum of 
 daily drudgery, which, when further opened to them, 
 will lighten the hardest tasks and trials of life. 
 
15 
 
 Number Three. “Dear Sir: I received your Lin- 
 coln Institute book to-day, and I can never thank you 
 enough for sending it to me. I do want to come to 
 your school so very bad. Can I wor k for my school- 
 ing? Of cou rs e I woul d rather work. Tell me 
 please, just what I will have to do to come, and I will 
 thank you so very much.” This appreciation previ- 
 ously expressed is echoed by another young woman 
 who said after a few days at the school, “I like it fine, 
 I would not go home less’n some one was dead.” 
 
 Number Four is from a white lady of Kentucky 
 for a young colored girl of her acquaintance. 
 
 “Dear Sir : Having read no little of the work you are 
 trying to do for our colored people, I am writing you in 
 regard to a little girl of sixteen years, the only child 
 of a colored woman who lives near me and washes for 
 a living. Her husband is given to drink, and from him 
 she gets no help ; indeed, he is rarely at home. This 
 mother is doing all in her power to make a good 
 woman of her child. The girl has finished the eighth 
 grade in our public schools, and I am hoping to have 
 her go to Lincoln Institute. She has quiet, lady-like 
 manners, minus ‘airs.’ She has a soft voice and a 
 pleasant face, and is obedient and industrious. I am 
 a widow, and make my living besides supporting a 
 widowed mother past 75 years of age, or I should ‘cast 
 bread upon the waters,’ and try to help this girl.” 
 Please write me if anything can be done for her.” 
 (As there is no provision for giving the initial school 
 expenses to any student, word had to be sent that this 
 amount must be paid before this girl could be enrolled, 
 which has prevented her coming.) 
 
16 
 
 Last, But Not Least. 
 
 “Friends of the Freedmen are asked to pray for 
 Lincoln Institute. God never lets his children reach 
 a place where they do not need to depend every mo- 
 ment upon his grace. The Institute has been brought 
 to its present position of promise by prayer. There 
 are, however, lions in the way despite our past suc- 
 cess. Only prayer, constant prayer can give safety 
 and true success. We must work as well as pray, but 
 a pound of faith is worth a ton of confidence in man.” 
 Pray, plan and pay; 
 
 God will open the way; 
 
 And all that is best 
 
 For God’s work will be blest. 
 
 To Represent Lincoln Institute. 
 
 “To whom it may concern : — 
 
 Mrs. Clara Porter Colton (Mrs. Alfred E. Colton) 
 of 220 Center Street, Dorchester Center, Boston, 
 Mass., is authorized to represent Lincoln Institute of 
 Kentucky, to solicit, receive and forward pledges and 
 money for the Institute’s support. 
 
 A. Eugene Thomson, 
 
 Sept. 19, 1912. President of the Board of Trustees. 
 SlMPSONVILLE, Ky.” 
 
 Treasurer, Mr. Rufus A. Church, Principal, Rev. 
 A. Eugene Thomson, D. D. Post office address, 
 Simpsonville, Ky. Checks should be made out paya- 
 ble to the Treasurer. Receipts for gifts are always 
 sent promptly to donors. 
 
 Further information and descriptive literature and 
 “The Lincoln Institute Worker,” published quarterly, 
 will gladly be sent to all interested.