THE HAMPTON LEAFLETS
Eatered at Hamptaa, VIrfiaia, u second-class Hatter, nader Act of Congress of Jalr 16,1894
Vol. VI January 1913 No. 10
Fifty Years of Negro Progress
ISSUED IN DECEMBER, JANUARY, FEBRU¬
ARY, AND MARCH BY THE HAMPTON
NORMAL AND AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE
The Press of
The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute
Hampton, Virginia
1913
FIFTY YEARS OF NEGRO PROGRESS
BY MONROE N. WORK'
Editor of the "Negro Year Book"
It is fifty years since the Emancipation Proclamation was
issued and freedom given to the slaves. The progress which
these freedmen have made in that time is remarkable and
worthy of consideration. In 1863, there were 4,500,000 Ne¬
groes in the United States. There are now 10,000,000. This
is a population three millions greater than that of Belgium. It
is greater than that of Holland and Switzerland combined, or
the combined population of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
The progress that these 10,000,000 Negroes have made
since their emancipation may, for convenience, be summarized
under three heads ; namely, educational, economic, and re¬
ligious. Fifty years ago, Negro religious denominations were
just beginning to be organized in the South. In a few places,,
as Savannah and Augusta, Georgia, the Negroes owned church
buildings. In many instances, as at Beaufort, South Carolina,
they worshiped with the white congregations. In most cases,,
however, they worshiped in rude praise houses, which were
often nothing more than bush arbors. After Emancipation
they immediately began to replace these rude places of wor¬
ship by more respectable churches. No other people have
given a larger percentage of their earnings for religious work.
Over eight per cent of the total wealth of the Negro is in
church property. Fifty years ago the value of all the church
property which they owned was only a few thousand dollars.
Now they own church property to the value of about
$57,000,000.
Fifty years ago it was difficult for a Negro minister to
obtain a competent training anywhere in the United States.
Only three institutions of higher learning—the Lutheran Sem¬
inary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Oberlin College, Oberlin,.
Ohio; and the Oneida Institute, Whitesboro, New York—were
open to them. In contrast with that time, there are now for
4
the training of Negro ministers 26 theological schools and de¬
partments. Fifty years ago the only demand made of Negro
ministers was that they should have good lung power and be
able to give the "rousements." Now, the demand every¬
where is for a trained and efficient ministry. The general con¬
ferences of the A. M. E. Church and the A. M. E. Zion
Church held in May, 1912, placed great emphasis upon the
importance of having trained and efficient ministers. As an
example of the standard now outlined for Negro ministers
it is interesting to note the educational qualifications of the
four recently elected bishops of the A. M. E. Church.
Bishop Jones is a graduate of Claflin University, South
Carolina, and was for eight years president of Wilberforce
University. Bishop Chappelle is a graduate of Allen
University, Columbia, South Carolina, and was for six
years president of that institution. Bishop Hurst is a
graduate of Wilberforce University, and Bishop Connor is a
graduate of the Theological Department of Shorters College,
Little Rock, Arkansas.
As early as 1847 the A. M. E. Church organized mission¬
ary societies. It was not, however, until after Emancipation
that Negro churches had an opportunity to do aggressive
missionary work. All the important Negro denominations
now maintain home and foreign missionary departments.
Negro churches are contributing every year over $100,000 for
home missions. They are supporting 200 home missionaries
and giving aid to more than 350 needy churches. This is a
larger number of churches and ministers than there were in
regularly organized Negro denominations in 1863. Negro
churches are contributing annually over $50,000 to ioreign
missions. The Negro Baptists are carrying on missionary work
in five foreign countries. They have 132 stations and sup¬
port 97 missionaries. The A. M. E. Church carries on mis¬
sionary work in eight foreign countries. This denomination
has two bishops stationed in Africa. The A. M. E. Zion
Church is carrying on an aggressive missionary work in Africa
and the West Indies.
5
Another evidence of religious progress among Negroes is
the Laymen's Movement which is being developed in all the
denominations. At the last general conference of the A.M.E.
Church a regular laymen's department was organized, with
a secretary and a board of directors. As in the Laymen's
Movement in white denominations, the great object is to get a
larger number of men and boys into the church, to educate
and inspire them along the lines of missions, home and foreign,
to make the work of the men and boys more efficient, and to
have a more liberal giving of life and means.
Another evidence of religious progress is the establish¬
ment in various cities of institutional churches. The more im¬
portant ones are in Kansas City, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois ;
and Jacksonville, Florida. The Bethel Baptist Institutional
Church located at the last named place was erected at a cost of
over $50,000. It has an auditorium, a kindergarten room, a
young men's recreation room, a kitchen, a dining-room, a
library and reading room, bath and toilet rooms for men and
women, a printing office, a gymnasium, and two rooms for do¬
mestic-science work. There are popular lecture courses,
business courses, English classes, sewing classes, cooking
classes, Bible classes, and theological classes for ministers.
The pastor, John E. Ford, is a graduate of the Divinity School
of the University of Chicago. In the past five years this
church raised $44,000 among the colored people of Jacksonville.
Fifty years ago the organization of Sunday schools among
the Negroes of the South was just beginning. There was at
first not much difference between the day schools and the
Sunday schools ; for in each the people had to be taught the
rudiments of learning. In 1863 there were in all the Southland
probably less than 100 colored Sunday schools with less than
10,000 pupils. In 1913 there are more than 35,000 of these
schools with over 1,750,000 pupils. In June, 1912, just fifty
years from the time that the first draft of the Emancipation
Proclamation was made, the Sunday-school Congress of the
National Baptist Convention met at Tuskegee Institute, Ala.
In those parts of the country where, fifty years before, the
6
Negroes in Sunday schools were being taught to read and write,
these Sunday-school workers traveled in special Pullman cars
and met in a national organization. They had their own litera¬
ture and singing books, with songs and anthems written by
Negroes who themselves had either been slaves or were the
descendants of slaves. At this Sunday-school Congress there
were seventeen editions of song books which had been written
by Negroes and published in Negro publishing houses. There
are now four large publishing houses which devote all of their
output to supplying the demand for Negro church literature.
These houses are the A. M. E. Book Concern, of Philadel¬
phia ; the A. M. E. Sunday-school Union Publishing House,
■of Nashville; the National Baptist Publishing Board of
Nashville; and the A. M. E. Zion Publishing Board, of
Charlotte, North Carolina. The National Baptist Publishing
Board is one of the largest business concerns established
by Negroes. It owns a plant valued at $350,000, employs
over 150 people, and has a payroll of $200,000.
Fifty years ago the education of the Negro in the South
bad just begun. There were less than 100 schools devoted to
this purpose. In 1867 there were only 1839 schools for the
f reedmen, with 2087 teachers, of whom 699 were colored. There
were 111,442 pupils, 18,758 of whom were studying the alpha¬
bet ; 4661 were studying the higher branches. Thirty-five in¬
dustrial schools were reported, in which there were 2124 stu¬
dents who were taught sewing, knitting, straw-braiding, and
repairing and making garments. In 1912-13 there are over
1,700,000 Negro children enrolled in the public schools of the
South and over 100,000 in the normal schools and colleges.
The 699 colored teachers of 1867 have increased to over
34,000, of whom 3000 are teachers in colleges and in normal
and industrial schools.
In 1863 there were in the South no institutions for the
higher and secondary education of the Negro. There were
only four in the entire United States. In 1913 there are in
the South 50 colleges, 13 institutions for the education of
Negro women, 26 theological schools and departments, 3
7
schools of law, 5 of medicine, 2 of dentistry, 4 of pharmacy, 17
state agricultural and mechanical colleges, and over 400 nor¬
mal. and industrial schools.
Fifty years ago the value of the school property used in
the education of the freedmen was small. The value of the
property now owned by institutions for secondary and higher
training is over $17,000,000. Fifty years ago only a few thou¬
sand dollars were being expended for the education of the
Negroes. In 1912 over $4,400,000 were expended for their
higher and industrial training and $8,600,000 in their public
schools.
Fifty years ago there were no funds specially devoted to
the education of Negroes. Now there are eight educational
funds from which the Negro is deriving some assistance.
These are the Miner, the Cushing, the Peabody, the John F.
Slater, the Daniel Hand, the Anna T. Jeanes, the Phelps-
Stokes, and the General Education Board.
From the very first establishment of schools among the
freedmen they contributed liberally for their support. In
1867 they supported entirely 555 schools and partially 501.
It is estimated that from 1866 to 1870, out of their poverty,
the freedmen contributed over $700,000 for school buildings
and the support of teachers. After fifty years their interest
and self-help in education has in no wise abated. The Negroes
are each year raising a million dollars for the support of
their schools. Negro religious denominations are maintain¬
ing about 175 colleges and industrial schools.
Although there has been great progress in Negro educa¬
tion during the past fifty years, the equipments and facilities
in Negro schools are, on the whole, far below those in white
schools. The majority of the rural schools in the South are
still without adequate school buildings, and the average length
of their terms is from three to five months. The Negroes
constitute about eleven per cent of the total population of the
country. A little less than two per cent of the expenditures
of over $700,000,000 expended annually for education is spent
upon them. Of the over $600,000,000 spent on public schools
the Negroes receive about one and one-half per cent.
8
Fifty years ago there were no national organizations
among the Negroes. There are now for their educational
advancement the American Negro Academy, the National
Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, and the Negro
National Educational Congress ; for their economic advance,
there are the National Negro Business League, the National
Bankers' Association, and the National Association of Funeral
Directors ; for their professional advancement, there are the
National Medical Association, the National Association of
Colored Graduate Nurses, the National Negro Bar Associa¬
tion, the National Negro Press Association, and the National
Association of Colored Music and Art Clubs. In the interest
of Negro women there is the National Association of Colored
Women's Clubs.
In 1803 there were 3,960,000 slaves in the South. Their
value was approximately $2,000,000,000, or about $500 each.
At the present time about this same number of Negroes in the
South are engaged in various gainful occupations. Their eco¬
nomic value is approximately $2500 each, and their total value
as an asset of the South is ten million dollars. Fifty years
ago, with the exception of a few carpenters, blacksmiths, and
masons, practically all the Negroes in the South were agricul¬
tural workers. Freedom gave them an opportunity to engage
in all sorts of occupations. The census reports show that there
are now very few, if any, pursuits followed by whites in which
there are not some Negroes. There are over 50,000 in the
professions—teachers, preachers, laymen, doctors, dentists,
editors, etc. There are some 30,000 engaged in business of
various sorts. Fifty years ago there were in the South no
Negro architects, electricians, photographers, druggists, phar¬
macists, dentists, physicians, or surgeons; no Negro owners
of mines, cotton mills, dry goods stores, insurance companies,
publishing houses, or theatres ; no wholesale merchants ; no
newspapers or editors ; no undertakers ; no real-estate dealers;
and no hospitals managed by Negroes. In 1913 there are
Negroes managingall the above kinds of enterprises. They
are editing 400 newspapers and periodicals. They own 100
9
insurance companies, 300 drug stores, and over 20,000 grocery
and other stores. There are 300,000 or more Negroes work¬
ing in the trades and in other occupations requiring skill—
blacksmiths, carpenters, cabinetmakers, masons, miners, en¬
gineers, iron and steel workers, factory operators, printers,
lithographers, engravers, gold and silver workers, tool and
cutlery makers, etc.
Fifty years ago it was unlawful for a Negro to be employed
in the postal service; for, in 1810, when the Post Office De¬
partment was organized, it was enacted that, under a penalty
of $50, "No other than a free white person shall be employed
in carrying the mail of the United States either as postrider
or driver of a carriage carrying the mail." There are now
more than 3950 colored persons in the Government postal
service. Altogether there are now over 22,440 Negroes in the
employ of the United States Government.
Fifty years ago it was unlawful to issue a patent to a slave,
and the Attorney General of the United States had just ruled
that, in spite of the "Dred Scott" decision, patents might still
be issued to free persons of color. Since that time about 1000
patents have been granted to Negroes. These inventions have
mostly been mechanical appliances and labor-saving devices.
Some of the things which Negroes have invented during the
past year are a telephone register, a hydraulic scrubbing brush,
a weight motor for running machinery, aeroplanes, an auto¬
matic car-switch, and an automatic feed attachment for adding
machines.
In 1863 it was not in the imagination of the most opti¬
mistic that within fifty years Negroes would be making good
in the field of finance, be receiving ratings in the financial
world, or be successful operators of banks. When in 1888 the
the Legislature of Virginia was asked to grant a charter for a
Negro bank, the request was at first treated as a joke. There
are now 12 Negro banks in that state and 64 in the entire
country. They are capitalized at about $1,600,000. They do
an annual business of about $20,000,000. One of the strongest
of these banks, the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, of Bir-
10
mingham, at the close of business August 20, 1912, had re¬
sources amounting to $477,000.
Great progress has been made in agriculture. In 1863
there were in all the United States only a few farms controlled
by Negroes. They now operate in the South 890,140 farms,
which are 217,800 more than there were in this section in 1863.
Negro farm laborers and Negro farmers in the South now
cultivate approximately 100,000,000 acres of land, of which
42,500.000 acres are under the control of Negro farmers. The
increase of Negro farm owners in the South in the past fifty
years compares favorably with the increase of white farm
owners. In i860 practically all the white farmers in the South
owned their farms. In fifty years the number of farms opera¬
ted by white farmers increased 1,529,000. Of this number
663,300, or 49.6 per cent, were owners, and 866,278, or 50.3
per cent, were tenants. In this same period 890,141 colored
persons acquired control of farms. Of this number 219,647,
or 25.7 per cent, own their farms, and 670,494, or 75.2 per
cent, are tenants. When at the close of the Civil War the
Negroes started on their career as farmers, they had no land
and no experience as farm owners or tenants. None of them
became farm owners by inheritance, nor did any of them in¬
herit money with which to purchase land. Of the million and
a half white farmers added since 1863 a large number were
the children of landowners, and inherited farms or the where¬
withal to purchase them. When the great difference in the
condition of white and black farmers fifty years ago is taken
into account, the fact that the relative number of owners
among the Negro farmers in the South is now more than one-
half as great as the relative number of owners among white
farmers, makes a very commendable showing. The Negroes
of this country now own 20,000,000 acres of land, or 31,000
square miles. If all the land they own were placed in one
body, it would equal the area of the states of Vermont, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
During the past fifty years there has been a rapid increase
in the wealth of the Negroes of the South. This increase has
II
been especially marked in the past ten years, during which
time the value of domestic animals which they own increased
from $85,216,337 to $177,273,785, or 107 per cent; poultry
from $3,788,792 to $5,113,756, or 35 per cent; implements and
machinery from $18,586,225 to $36,861,418 or 98 per cent;
land and buildings from $69,636,420 to $273,501,665, or 293
per cent. From 1900 to 1910 the total value of farm property
owned by the colored farmers of the South increased from
$177,404,688 to $492,898,218, or 177 per cent.
In 1863 the total wealth of the Negroes of this country
was about $20,000,000. Now their total wealth is over
$700,000,000. No other emancipated people have made so
great a progress in so short a time. The Russian serfs were
emancipated in 1861. Fifty years after, it was found that
14,000,000 of them had accumulated about $500,000,000 worth
of property, or about $36 per capita, an average of $200 per
family. Fifty years after their emancipation only about 30 per
cent of the Russian peasants were able to read and write.
After fifty years of freedom the ten million Negroes in the
United States have accumulated over $700,000,000 worth of
property, or about $70 per capita, which is an average of $350
per family. After fifty years of freedom 70 per cent of them
have some education in books.
The Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of Emancipation
After consultation with a number of the leading men and women of
our race I have taken upon myself the responsibility of asking our people
•to devote the week of October 19 to 26 to the celebration of the Fiftieth
Anniversary of our freedom.
There is now no reason to believe that Congress will appropriate any
sum for a national exposition, and if such appropriation should be made,
it would not be available until July next, which is entirely too late to ar¬
range for a national exposition that would do credit to the progress of
the race.
Something has already been done, however, in several parts of the
country, towards carrying into effect the plan already suggested for local
celebrations. In order that these various local celebrations may be car¬
ried out harmoniously and in such a way that each local celebration will
contribute to a national total, the following recommendations are sub¬
mitted :
(1) That October 19-26, 1913, be known as Fiftieth Anniversary
Week.
(2 ) That schools, churches, and all other societies and organiza¬
tions in every part of the United States, where there is a considerable
number of our people, unite and co-operate for the purpose of holding
local celebrations; these celebrations to take the form, where that is pos¬
sible, of an exposition of the progress in commercial, professional, intel¬
lectual, moral, and religious directions, made by members of the race in
that community.
( 3 ) Where possible, these local expositions should be held in con¬
nection with existing county or state fair associations. Where this is
done it will be necessary to make the date of the celebration conform to
that of the county or state fair in connection with which it is held.
(4) Wherever it is feasible the county should be made the unit of
organization of the celebration and in every case an effort should be
made to obtain city, county, or state aid to carry the plans of the local
committee into effect.
( 5 ) In addition to the exposition referred to, an effort should be
made to secure the strongest and most representative man obtainable,
North or South, as principal speaker.
( 6 ) It is suggested that Sunday, October 26, be set apart as a day
for raising contributions to a fund to clear off the debt upon the Fred¬
erick Douglass Home, in the District of Columbia, and to set aside a
sufficient sum to maintain this national memorial of the colored people.
(7 ) In conclusion, it is strongly urged that our people begin now to
prepare for the Fiftieth Anniversary Week, and that this be made at
once a means and an occasion for calling the attention of the world to
the tremendous progress which the Negro race has made during its first
fifty years of freedom in America.
It is my earnest hope and desire that the above suggestions be read
before the various churches, lodges, and other organizations of our
people, to the end that the Fiftieth Anniversary Week of Freedom
shall be generally observed everywhere.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, February, 1913