The American Missionary — Volume 54, No. 04, October, 1900

The death of President Erastus M. Cravath removes from the counsel and service of the American Missionary Association one of its most prominent and successful missionaries. Few men have so largely affected the life of the nation through educational lines as has President Cravath. After some years of service in the office of the Association he became President of Fisk University, and has brought that institution to the foremost rank in the intellectual and moral development of the Negroes of this country. An extended obituary notice is given on other pages of this magazine. Here, the writer, having had close personal association with President Cravath for many years, desires to bear his testimony with earnest and loving emphasis to the large and strong character of the man, and his single and unwavering purpose to accomplish the largest and best service possible for those to whom he gave his ministry in unstinted measure. No one can fill his place, for it was not only large but unique. He was a leader who came to the front in the most trying period in the history of the Negroes, and he led them with soundest judgment as well as heroic fortitude. These people have lost not only a friend, but a steady and strong guide.

The work of the American Missionary Association among the Chinese in America is illustrated in the financial statement of the American Board. Rev. Jee Gam, who has charge of the work among his fellow Chinamen in San Francisco, has just sent a check of one hundred dollars to the American Board for the North China Christian Relief Fund. This money was all contributed by members of the Chinese churches on the Pacific Slope. Other contributions are promised. No one can doubt that a large element in the evangelization of China must be the Chinese of America.

The Cumberland Valley Association of Congregational Churches met in Jellico, Tenn., September 14th. The churches of the association were generally represented. Churches of other denominations at Jellico welcomed the meeting of the association and cordially entertained the delegates. The increase in the population of Jellico and the surrounding districts has greatly emphasized the importance of our work in that region.

The Cumberland Plateau Association of Congregational Churches and Sunday schools met with the church at Grand View, Tenn., September 26-27th. The meeting was one of unusual interest. The work on the Plateau, as represented in the reports from the churches, was on the whole encouraging.

An interesting convention of colored men was held in Boston, August 23d-24th. This convention, known as the Negro Business Men's Conference, was a meeting of great importance and interest. Principal Booker T. Washington and other prominent colored men were present, and large attention was given to the consideration of the Negroes in the business world, their place and opportunities. The topics covered a large field bearing upon the self-support and business opportunities and responsibilities of the Negroes. The gathering was largely representative from different parts of the country, and the discussions were able and comprehensive. A permanent organization was formed to be known as a business league, the purpose of which is to promote and develop business methods and to create larger confidence on the part of the Negroes themselves in their own ability. As a whole the convention was very encouraging and hopeful.

Several friends have sent contributions to this office to help those who have suffered from the terrible storm in Galveston and the interior of Texas. These gifts have been forwarded to a missionary pastor near Galveston and will be wisely administered.

The school bears the honored name of one who, in the long years of the anti-slavery agitation, was known as an uncompromising friend of human freedom. It stands, with its nearly thirty years of successful work, a most fitting memorial of his life and labors for humanity. A personal friend and an associate of Dr. Strieby of sacred memory, in the anti-slavery crusade, Dr. F. Julius Le Moyne, of Washington, Pa., seeing the great need of education and practical training for the freed people of the South and anticipating a bequest made in his will, advanced to the American Missionary Association some twenty thousand dollars for the establishment of the school at Memphis.

The school building and a "Home" for the workers, made necessary by the needs of the work and the adverse feeling toward teachers of colored schools, were erected and the school was opened in October, 1871. From that time till now the American Missionary Association has had charge of this school.

It was the wish of Dr. Le Moyne that the work of the school should be prosecuted along the most practical lines, to meet the more pressing demands of an untrained race, and to this end he stipulated that the so-called "dead languages" should form no part of its course of study, and that it should be adapted to the relief of the most pressing wrongs and needs of the colored people in the struggle for life to which emancipation had brought them. His wishes have been respected and the school has remained distinctively an English school, with as great attention to industrial training as time and means would allow.

The growth of the school, in all that counts to strengthen and confirm its influence and usefulness, has been steady and uninterrupted from the beginning, with its attendance of 250 pupils of low grades, to the present year, with an enrollment of over 700, distributed through its twelve years of study and training, over 200 of whom are in the Normal Department fitting for the work of teaching.

The first class of two was graduated in 1876; since that over two hundred young people have received the diploma of the school, most of whom are living useful, self-respecting lives in the many communities where they have found homes.

To meet the needs of this constant growth the buildings have been enlarged repeatedly and a separate building for manual training, woodworking, printing, etc., has been erected.

Probably the most apparent work accomplished by the school has been the training of teachers for the public schools, hundreds of whom have gone out from our training and are now doing good work in Tennessee and the adjoining States of Arkansas and Mississippi.

Under the direction of the same principal for all but the first two years of its existence, the school has become the centre of many lines of influence extending in many directions and affecting many interests among the people. A library of some three thousand volumes has been gathered and has proved of great value to the students and to the community. Nothing else so directly and surely acts to train to thoughtful and self-respecting lives as an acquaintance with the literature of the English language and with the personalities of the great minds who have produced it.