Evidences Of Progress Among Colored People - free ebook by G. F. Richings

EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS AMONG COLORED PEOPLE.

BY G. F. RICHINGS, Originator of Illustrated Lectures on Race Progress . EIGHTH EDITION. PHILADELPHIA: GEO. S. FERGUSON CO., 1902. Copyrighted, 1902, by G. F. Richings ....

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INTRODUCTION.

It is a pleasant thing to introduce an individual or a friend to another individual or a friend; but to introduce a book is more important than an individual introduction. Books are good and they are bad, just in proportion as their contents tend to producing right or wrong action of life; or convey truth or error. When the mission of a book is to present facts versus theory about an individual or a race, it ought to be encouraged by all who believe in fair play. The author of this book has for

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PREFACE.

There seems to be a general impression and a growing sentiment in this country that the colored people, as a class, have not, and are not, making any progress; or, that they have not improved the educational opportunities offered them by the philanthropic white people who have proven themselves friendly to the cause of Negro education. This feeling has developed from two causes: First, we have a large and wealthy class of white people who go South every year during the cold season for either the

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CHAPTER I.

BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE. In 1865 four million colored people suddenly emerged from bondage, poor, ignorant, and in many cases with very crude notions of religion or morality. Not one-third of those who had arrived to years of understanding at that time can be found among the eight millions of colored population to-day. And consequently, the younger element of this race know little or nothing about the great conflict, the culmination of which brought to their fathers and mothers t

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CHAPTER II.

BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE. In this chapter I shall deal with the Baptist schools managed by colored people. Many of these schools have had a very hard struggle; but by the patriotism and race pride of the colored people, they have been constantly growing and developing, until to-day they are among the very best educational institutions in this country. I open this chapter with a brief sketch of "The Western College," located at Macon, Mo., because I regard it as one of the best s

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CHAPTER III.

CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOLS. In this chapter, I propose to set forth the important educational work carried on in the South by the American Missionary Association. This work has certainly been significant, and I can do nothing better than quote from Mr. L. B. Moore, Professor at Howard University, Washington, D. C., these words on the industrial schools: "These industrial schools have been sending to the country places and to the small towns a host of young people who have gone forth as skilled mecha

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CHAPTER IV.

EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS. While the Episcopal Church has not built up as many schools for the education of colored people in the South as many other denominations, the work it has accomplished is of the most thorough and systematic character. REV. JAMES S. RUSSELL, ARCHDEACON OF VIRGINIA. Mr. Russell's early training was under sober, illiterate Christian parents. In very early life he made a profession of religion, was baptized and joined a neighboring denominational church. His membership remained her

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CHAPTERS V. AND VI.

METHODIST SCHOOLS. The Methodist Church has been very active in its educational work at the South, and its schools rank among the very best. It is noticeable that this church has paid special attention to industrial education among the colored people. I have visited some of these schools and I was pleased to see how highly the young men and young women appreciate the opportunities afforded them to learn trades and professions. WALDEN UNIVERSITY. At the close of the Rebellion in 1865, the conditi

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CHAPTER VII.

A. M. E. SCHOOLS. I desire to call the reader's attention to the fact that all of the A. M. E. Schools are supported entirely by the colored people. In this regard they are unlike other denominational institutions. WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY. It is a beautiful coincidence, full of historic value, that appears in the planting of two institutions in Greene county, Ohio, some four miles apart. Between them runs a highway over which passed, some thirty-five years ago, that mysterious line known in histo

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CHAPTER VIII.

A. M. E. ZION SCHOOL. In this chapter I present a brief history of the great work started by the late Dr. J. C. Price. This institution is one of great interest. LIVINGSTONE COLLEGE. Among the evidences of Negro ability to establish and control great institutions, we have no better example than Livingstone College. In a quiet, antiquated-looking town of historic connection with those stirring times of our American Revolution, and with those more than rebellious times of our country's civil strif

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CHAPTER IX

PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE. It is a great pleasure to me to note, in these sketches, the splendid work done by the Presbyterian Church for the education of the colored people. LINCOLN UNIVERSITY. Rev. I. N. Randall, D. D., President. Among the instrumentalities through which the friends of the Negro may convey to him the blessings of education, Lincoln University especially deserves the confidence of the Christian public. She was the first to enter this field. Lincoln Universit

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CHAPTER X.

PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS MANAGED BY COLORED PEOPLE. It will be noticed that quite a number of the Presbyterian Schools are under the management of colored people. These schools are very well managed and reflect great credit on the ability of colored men. SWIFT MEMORIAL INSTITUTE. Swift Memorial Institute is located at Rogersville, Tenn. It was begun by Rev. W. H. Franklin in 1883, under the most unfavorable circumstances. He began at the very bottom and had no other capital save intellectual ability

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CHAPTER XI.

INDEPENDENT AND STATE SCHOOLS. In this and the next two chapters I shall deal with the Independent and State schools. I open this chapter with Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute because it has created a greater amount of interest and has been the subject of more discussion in recent years than any other. THE TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE. Charles Dickens says somewhere: "There is not an atom in Tom's slime, not a cubic inch in any pestilential gas in which he lives, not one obsc

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CHAPTER XII.

ECKSTEIN NORTON UNIVERSITY. This school was founded by one of the most successful educators of the race, the late Rev. Wm. J. Simmons, D. D., and his associate, Rev. C. H. Parrish, A. M., who is its worthy president. In 1890 it opened under the most favorable auspices, and each year has succeeded beyond the sanguine expectations of its friends. For purity of atmosphere, for development of the physical powers, for freedom from the allurements and unwholesome amusements of city life, no better pla

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CHAPTER XIII.

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY. Atlanta University —Rev. Horace Bumstead, D. D., President—located at Atlanta, Ga., has special claims for recognition and support because of the somewhat unique character of its work for the Negro. It is not duplicating the educational work done by the State or most other private institutions. It is supplementing and strengthening the work of the public schools and of private industrial and trade schools by furnishing thoroughly trained teachers and manual training superinte

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CHAPTER XIV.

Continuation of Independent Schools. "INSTITUTE FOR COLORED YOUTH." Philadelphia is known for her facilities for education. Few American cities are better equipped with schools, public and private—free schools and those in which tuition fees are demanded—schools devoted to languages, schools devoted to art. In short, everything that one might desire as a means for obtaining an education in any known branch is provided for the student, and the road to knowledge is made about as easy as it can pos

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CHAPTER XV.

NASHVILLE, TENN. Under this heading I shall call attention to the advance made by the colored people of this great city. Nashville certainly has all the essentials of a great city; it has a rich tributary country, a healthful climate, river and rail transportation, proximity of abundant raw material, and a sturdy, healthy industrious population. Having all of these then, Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, situated in the centre of a realm unequalled in variety and amount of production on the A

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CHAPTER XVI.

ATLANTA, GA., AND INDIANAPOLIS, IND. Atlanta , Ga., is another educational centre. I found over fifty colored men in this city engaged in business, professional and other pursuits. I can only mention a few of these. I met in Atlanta a very successful colored undertaker in the person of David T. Howard, who was prompted to go into that business because of the way white undertakers treated the colored people when they had their funerals in charge. Mr. Howard has succeeded in building up a very lar

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CHAPTER XVII.

FINE PENMEN. I devote an entire chapter to Penmen, because I regard this art as one of the special evidences of race progress. The delicacy of the work and the close application to study required to succeed in it make it doubly hard to command any considerable attention. PROF. RICHARD HILL. PROF. RICHARD HILL, NASHVILLE, TENN. Prof. Richard Hill, who is principal of Writing, Drawing and Music in the colored schools in Nashville, Tenn., has much to be proud of. Mr. Hill is a native of Nashville;

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CHAPTER XVIII.

COLORED LAWYERS. In this chapter, I do not attempt to call attention to anything like all of the successful colored lawyers. I simply select from the hundreds of prominent men practising law in courts throughout the United States, two: D. Augustus Straker and T. McCants Stewart. D. AUGUSTUS STRAKER. D. Augustus Straker was born in Bridgetown, in the Island of Barbadoes, one of the West Indies, on July 11, in the year 1842. His early education was fostered by his mother, a pious and industrious w

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CHAPTER XIX.

J. H. LEWIS. J. H. LEWIS. In this and the next chapter I shall call attention to a few prominent business men. I begin here with Mr. J. H. Lewis, the second largest merchant tailor in the State of Massachusetts, and the fourth largest merchant tailor in the United States. He is a remarkable man to say the least. His birthplace was at Heathsville, N. C. The first eighteen years of his life were spent on a farm. He went to Concord, N. H., in 1875 or '76 to learn the tailoring business. After worki

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CHAPTER XX.

WALTER P. HALL. I met Mr. Walter P. Hall for the first time in 1892, when giving my first course of Illustrated Lectures on "Race Progress" in Philadelphia. It seems that our subject never spent more than one year in school, on account of his father's death. He had to help support his mother, and other members of the family. From the age of seven years to sixteen he worked very hard, and was his mother's main support. When he had arrived at the age of sixteen, our country was then engaged in the

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CHAPTER XXI.

BANKS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, ETC. There has been an impression in the public mind that colored men had not the ability to successfully conduct such enterprises as Banks, Insurance Companies and Building and Loan Associations. But this impression is an erroneous one. I have come in contact with a great many of the men who have embarked in the Banking, Insurance, and Building and Loan Associations, and I have positive proof that they are as successful as the average white man who starts out in thes

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CHAPTER XXII.

PATENTS AND OTHER BUSINESS INTERESTS. Among the colored people we find a few inventors whose patents are being used throughout this country. Mr. E. McCoy, of Detroit, Mich. invented the "Lubricator," and it is being used on nearly all the railroad engines in the United States. A large factory has been built in Detroit for the manufacture of the Lubricator. The late Mr. D. F. Black, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., had invented several patents, and was before his death engaged in manufacturing a cocoanut f

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CHAPTER XXIII.

COLORED EDITORS AND JOURNALISTS. There are published in the United States to-day between 250 and 300 newspapers and periodicals devoted to the interests of the colored people. The prices of these, compared with the many other articles of luxury for which they pay so freely, are ridiculously low; and yet no field of labor for educated men and women of the race is so perplexing and encumbered with so many difficulties. But among those who have made a success of journalism are the men and women men

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CHAPTER XXIV.

CHURCHES. I shall not attempt to give a history of the various denominations with which the colored people are identified. I simply desire to set forth a few facts which indicate that they have, by vigorous efforts, made the same wonderful progress along church lines that they have along educational, industrial and professional lines. The colored people are represented in nearly every denomination known in the United States. The Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Methodists Episcopal,

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CHAPTER XXV.

THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL. The Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School was organized during the month of July, 1895, through the earnest effort of Dr. N. F. Mossell. Its purpose is to give larger opportunities for the training of colored girls as nurses, this class of learners in this profession being to a large extent excluded from the other training schools in Philadelphia. Girls of no race will be debarred from the course of training offered

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CHAPTER XXVI.

PROMINENT COLORED WOMEN. As a splendid type of noble womanhood I know of no better subject than Dr. Hallie Tanner Johnson. DR. HALLIE TANNER JOHNSON. She is a daughter of Bishop B. T. Tanner, of the A. M. E. Church, who is justly proud of her. Not only as teachers have colored women labored for the race, but they can be found in most of the professions also. The subject in question saw and felt the need of lady physicians, and, acting upon her feelings in the matter, she read medicine at the Wom

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CHAPTER XXVII.

DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS AND HIS PRIVATE SANATORIUM. DR. JOHN R. FRANCIS. Dr. John R. Francis is distinctly a product of Washington, D.C., having first seen the light of day in that city. He is the only son of one of the city's most worthy citizens, Richard Francis, his mother being Mrs. Mary E. Francis. He has been loyal to his place of birth, having remained constantly there except during his absence in other states in the pursuit of his education. His early school days were spent in the private an

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS, BOYDTON INSTITUTE, AND CHRISTIANSBURG INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE. In this chapter I wish to mention the school-work done for the race by the United Presbyterian Church. This matter should have appeared with the other Presbyterian work, but for the fact that I was unable to secure the data when the first edition was published. I shall also mention in this chapter some other school-work that came too late. KNOXVILLE COLLEGE. Knoxville College is located at Knoxville, Tenn.,

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CHAPTER XXIX.

HAMPTON INSTITUTE, HAMPTON, VA. The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute first opened its doors for the reception of the freedmen in April, 1868. Of its beginning and purpose, General Armstrong, its founder and for twenty-five years its principal, writes: "Two and a half years' service with the Negro soldiers (after a year as Captain and Major in the 125th New York Volunteers), as Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel of the Ninth and Eighth Regiments of U. S. Colored Troops, convinced me of the e

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CHAPTER XXX.

STATE SCHOOLS AND CALHOUN SETTLEMENT—VIRGINIA NORMAL AND COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. This is an institution supported by the State of Virginia for the education of the colored youth. The aim of the institution is to impart knowledge, discipline the mind and train the hand and heart, so that those who leave its walls shall be better prepared for the diversified duties of life. In the Normal course of three years, the training has special reference to preparing the student to become a successful teacher

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CHAPTER XXXI.

C. M. E. SCHOOLS. In this chapter I shall give brief mention of the schools managed by the "Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America." The connection was organized in 1870, and set apart from the M. E. Church South. They have at this time five Bishops, namely: Bishop Isaac Lane, Bishop J. A. Beebe, Bishop L. H. Holsey, D. D., Bishop R. S. Williams, D. D., Bishop Elias Cottrell, D. D. The church has since its organization made very rapid progress, and is along with other religious bodies rai

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CHAPTER XXXII.

This chapter will be devoted to the work of the Christian Church. The schools operated by that church in the interest of the race are not as numerous nor as large as other connectional institutions, but what they have are doing a splendid work. FRANKLINTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. Franklinton Christian College is situated in Franklinton, Franklin County, North Carolina, on the Seaboard Air-Line Railroad, twenty-seven miles northeast from the city of Raleigh. The college buildings are on high ground, w

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CHAPTER XXXIII.

COLEMAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, AN ORGANIZATION CHARTERED UNDER THE LAWS OF NORTH CAROLINA, TO DO BUSINESS OF ALL KINDS OF MANUFACTURING. Can the negro race successfully own and operate cotton mills? This question, so long in doubt, is about to be answered, and we believe in the affirmative. The first great stride in that direction was taken when, on the 8th of February, 1898, was laid with Masonic honors the corner-stone of the handsome three-story brick building, 80 × 120 feet in dimensions, of

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CHAPTER XXXIV.

RICHMOND, VA. This chapter is devoted to the business interests of the colored people in Richmond, and I am sure my readers will find it a valuable addition to my book. RICHMOND BENEFICIAL AND INSURANCE COMPANY, CAPITAL STOCK $5,000. In July, 1894, a company of twenty men was formed and began this work with $200. They started against many odds; their chief opposers were the agents of white insurance companies. Three years have told the story. They now have a membership of 15,000, and employ seve

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CHAPTER XXXV.

HERE AND THERE. In this chapter it is my purpose to mention some men and women engaged in different lines of business throughout the country. MR. E. H. DIBBLE. Mr. Dibble is a native of South Carolina, and is at present operating a large store in Camden, S. C., where he keeps a stock of dry goods, boots, shoes, fancy and family groceries. Aside from the store he owns he also has an interest in another one in the same town, which is operated by his brother. The patrons at either one of the stores

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CHAPTER XXXVI.

NATIONAL BAPTIST PUBLISHING BOARD. REV. R. H. BOYD, D. D. The National Baptist Publishing Board, located at Nashville, Tenn., is, beyond doubt, the largest and by far the best equipped printing plant operated by colored people. This establishment was started for the purpose of giving some of the enormous amount of printing done for the colored people, in the way of Sunday-school literature and regular church publications, into the hands of the race, in order that employment might be given to tho

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CHAPTER XXXVII.

COLORED SOLDIERS. In this chapter we introduce to our readers Lieutenant Charles Young, who is the second colored graduate from West Point. He was for some four years Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Wilberforce, Ohio. Mr. Young, as can be seen from his picture, is a man of splendid military appearance, and is regarded by all who know him as a most excellent young man. It is well known that in our Civil War the colored soldiers made a reputation for themselves as brave men. It has no

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CHAPTER XXXVIII.

CONCLUSION. I have now come to the most difficult part of this work. The conclusion to a book is rarely perfectly satisfactory to all readers, and I think rarely satisfactory to the author. I can only offer this apology: I did not at the beginning attempt a "literary" work. I have only aimed to set forth a few facts, which are incontrovertible evidences of the progress made by colored people, and these facts I have stated in the simplest form of English so that every person who reads the book ma

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