North American Negro Department by A. J. HAYSMER

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 19, 1913

North American Negro Department

By A. J. HAYSMER

Population

In 1863 there were 4,500,000 colored people in the United States. There are now 10,000,000. This is a population of 3,000,000 more than the population of Belgium. It is greater than that of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, and one ninth of the total population of the United States. It is equal to the white population of the States of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,

Alaska, and the Hawaiian Islands.

Over 7,500,000 of these are in the Southern, Southeastern, and Southwestern Union Conferences. The colored population in some of the union conferences is as follows: Southern, 3,208,664; Southeastern, 3,177,055; Columbia, 1,488,256; Southwestern, 1,270,523; Central, 230,500; Lake, 160,939; Atlantic, 158,327.

Occupation

Fifty years ago practically all the colored people in the South had but one occupation,—tilling the soil. There were no physicians, surgeons, pharmacists, graduate nurses, lawyers, teachers, dentists, architects, electricians, photographers, wholesale merchants, insurance agents, editors, undertakers, real estate dealers; no owners of mines, cotton-mills, dry-goods stores, newspapers, publishing houses, etc. At the present time there are more than 300,000 working at trades and other occupations requiring skill. There are more than 2,400 physicians, 20,000 graduate nurses, 21,000 teachers, 15,000 clergymen, 14,000 masons, 24,000 dressmakers, 10,000 engineers and firemen, 10,000 blacksmiths, 21,000 carpenters, and they edit 400 newspapers and periodicals.

A few years ago it was unlawful for a colored person to hold any United States government position. At present there are 22,400 employed, of whom 3,950 are in the different branches of the postal service.

Property

Fifty years ago the colored people in the South were without lands, money, stock, or homes. Today they not only have money in the bank, but own 20,000,000 acres of land, which if placed in a body would be about 31,000 square miles, or equal to the combined area of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. They cultivate 890,140 farms, or 100,000,000 acres, and own domestic animals to the value of $177,273,975; poultry, $5,113,756; implements and machinery, $36,861,418; land and buildings, $273,501,065. They now own 300 drug stores, and more than 20,000 grocery and other stores, 400 newspapers and periodicals, 100 insurance companies, 64 banks capitalized at $1,600,000, and do an annual business of $20,000,000. Their total wealth is over $700,000,000.

Education

Fifty years ago the education of the colored people in this country had just begun; 95 per cent could neither read nor write. However, a great change has taken place. In 1900 the illiteracy had been reduced to 44.5 per cent. There were only four States, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Louisiana, with an illiteracy of over 50 per cent. In 1910, only one State, Louisiana, with 48.2, remained above 40 per cent, and the average for the United States had been reduced to 30.4 per cent, a decrease of 14 per cent in the last ten years.

There are now 50 colleges, 13 institutions for the higher education of women, 26 theological schools and departments, 3 schools of law, 5 of medicine, 4 of pharmacy, 17 State agricultural and normal colleges, and more than 400 normal and industrial schools. The value of school property is now estimated at $17,000,000. In 1912 over $4,400,000 were expended for higher and industrial training, and $8,600,000 in their public schools.

They have taken a deep interest in the education of their own children. From 1866-70 they raised $700,000 for school buildings and the support of teachers. They are now raising annually $1,000,000 for educational purposes, and they own $17,000,000 worth of school buildings.

Although there has been great progress, the equipment and facilities in their schools are, on the whole, far below those in white schools. The majority of the rural schools in the South are still without adequate buildings, and the average length of terms is from three to five months.

The colored people constitute about 11 per cent of the total population of the United States. A little less than 2 per cent of the $7,000,000,000 expended for education annually, is spent upon them. Of more than $600,000,000 spent for public schools, the colored people receive about 15 per cent.

There is no question, in my mind, but that the Lord interposed, and freedom was granted the colored people at the time it was, so they might be in a condition to accept this gospel message. However, it was a long time before we, as a people, began to realize the responsibility that rested upon us. Many years passed before any effort was put forth for them. For years the Lord kept sending us message after message through the spirit of prophecy, urging us to enter and work this field.

Elder J. E. White, having a burden to do something for this people, went to Mississippi with a few workers. While the prejudice and trials were great, they toiled on, and thus a beginning was made, under the name of the Southern Missionary Society. Mission schools were started, and much good was accomplished. Later the work was placed, for a time, under the counsel of the Southern Union Conference, and the work extended to other States. The Lord blessed the self-sacrificing efforts of those who labored for the education and evangelization of the colored people during those years.

In 1894 there were only about fifty colored Seventh-day Adventists in this country. As the result of the earnest efforts for the next fifteen years, or until 1909, the number was augmented to about 900.

As the great work of getting the message before them was carefully considered by the leading workers in the South, it was the general opinion that, in order for the work to be carried on as it should be, it ought to become a part of the regular organized work of the General Conference. Accordingly, at the session held in Washington, D. C., in 1909 the work for the colored people in this country was organized into the North American Negro Department. The work formerly carried on by the Southern Missionary Society was taken over. Elder J. W. Christian was elected department secretary. However, it was some months before he could arrange his other duties so that he could take up the work; then he remained in the South only a short time, as the climate did not agree with his health. Upon his resignation, in the latter part of the year, I was asked to take the work. The work really suffered during the delay, as those who had been conducting it laid off their responsibility when the department was organized.

My first work was to study the field and its needs. The more I became acquainted with the situation, the more I realized the greatness of the work that the department had taken upon itself. Only a few sections of the great South had been touched, and the 5,500,000 in the Northern cities were as yet unwarned. Some of the first great needs that confronted us were the scarcity of efficient workers and lack of means and facilities. We found a scarcity of tents or anything to work with. Many of the workers, and especially the mission-school teachers, had entered the field before receiving sufficient training.

We felt that the matter of better equipping our training-school at Huntsville, Ala., should receive immediate attention. We visited some of the Northern camp-meetings and raised money to erect some new and much-needed buildings and put in other improvements, also to put in more industries, so we could better train the students and furnish work for those who could not otherwise attend.

The Lord has blessed these efforts, and today, while there are many more things we should have to make the school what it should be, as it is the only training-school for the United States and the West Indian Union Conference, we are prepared to do good work and accommodate about one hundred students. The attendance this year has reached over ninety, the largest in the history of the school. These are principally from the Southern States and the West Indian Union. We have graduates this year in the ministerial, normal, business, and nursing courses,—fourteen in all.

It has been necessary to close some of the mission schools that were accomplishing the least, and encourage the teachers to attend the Oakwood school, and get a preparation to do better work. As far as possible Bible workers have been put in the cities to carry on the work started by the mission schools. While there have been many perplexing problems to meet in the development of the organization, we believe the Lord has been guiding, and while there are many chances for improvement, we believe that the work is in the best condition it has ever been. With few exceptions, the colored people are pleased with the organization, and have settled down to do hard, active work.

The Lord has blessed the efforts put forth to place workers in different States and localities where the work has never been started, and many persons are now rejoicing in the truth. The evangelical efforts in tents, halls, etc., have been especially blessed. Tent efforts have been held in nearly every State where there are large numbers of colored people. As the result, several good, substantial companies have been raised up and others strengthened.

The membership has more than doubled in the last four years. The Southern Union has 588 Sabbath-keepers; the Southeastern, 794; Southwestern, 205; Columbia, 275; Atlantic, 219; Lake, 131; Central, 111; and scattered, 91; making the total number of Sabbath-keepers 2,414. We have 24 ordained ministers, 11 licentiates, 29 teachers, 55 canvassers, and 23 other workers. The offerings for 1912 amounted to $3,702.50, and the tithe was $16,325.02.

Conclusion

We feel that the Lord is making bare his arm to do a mighty work in the Southland. Much work remains to be

done. The Lord has told us that special efforts should be made in the large cities. “The great work before us all, as Christians, is to extend Christ’s kingdom as rapidly as possible, in accordance with the divine commission.” “Thousands of colored people in the South may now be uplifted, and become human agents to help their own race, if they can receive the help God is calling upon us to give them.” A. J. HAYSMER, Secretary.