SUNDAY SCHOOL AND THE NEGRO

MR. W. N. HARTSHORN, BOSTON, MASS.

Sunday school work among the colored people had its inception under the direction of the International Sunday School Association in August, 1895, when the executive committee appointed Rev. L. B. Maxwell of Georgia as field worker. Two years later Prof. Silas X. Floyd of Georgia was appointed associate field worker, serving two years.

Rev. Maxwell continued until his death in March, 1902, his duties calling him to the several southern states for conventions, conferences, and visits to individual Sunday schools in the endeavor to interest the people of his race in doing better work for this important department of the church.

At the close of the Denver international convention, 1902, the work was resumed by the appointment of Prof. James E. Shepard of North Carolina and Prof. G. G. Marcus of Tennessee as field workers. Prof. Marcus died in 1904 and Prof. Shepard continued in the service until the Louisville convention, 1908.

The methods employed by the International Association for the work among colored people were those familiar to the work among the white people. From 1895 to 1908 more than $24,000 was expended in salaries by the committee.

In August, 1905, after the international convention at Toronto, where special emphasis had been placed upon the Sunday school needs of the race, the central committee of the International Association met at Clifton, Mass., with the committee on work among the negroes, to plan for the extension and development of the work.

To attempt to meet the needs of the race it was voted that if any southern states, to the number of five, would organize a negro state Sunday school association, select a suitable man as state secretary to give his entire time to the work, subject to the approval of the committee on work among the negroes, and contribute $450 a year for salary and expenses, the international committee would contribute an equal amount for the same purpose. The proposition was immediately accepted by five states, and in each a secretary was appointed.

The Field Superintendent was instructed to give careful attention to the supervision of this new state work in addition to his other duties among the Sunday-schools of the southern states, without negro secretaries, in the hope that by this practical coöperation, on the part of the international forces, the new plan would produce good results.

The work of the State Secretaries was to visit the centers of popula tion-both cities and towns-hold conferences with pastors, superintendents and other Sunday-school officials, and, where possible, work up interdenominational conventions. It was definitely understood that the work was not in the interests of any special denominations, but to bring all together for the consideration of approved methods for doing better work, in the hope that they might adapt them to the needs of their individual Sunday-schools. This new plan of work was given an honest trial by the International Committee, and every possible coöperation was extended to the Negro State Associations and the Negro State Secretaries. Before the close of the first year several of the Negro State organizations found it exceedingly difficult to secure funds with which to meet the promised monthly payments to their secretaries, and the secretaries in the field failed in their efforts to secure the financial coöperation of their race. Other obstacles presented themselves to be met by these faithful State Secretaries, and as the difficulties multiplied, it was evident that new plans were needed if the work was to be successful.

The committee on Work Among the Negroes found it difficult to secure reliable information as to exact conditions, either from the Field Superintendent or the State Secretaries, and repeated correspondence yielded unsatisfactory results. A conference was held at Greensboro, N. C., early in 1907, when the Chairman of the Executive Committee, General Secretary Lawrance, and Chairman N. B. Broughton of North Carolina,

of the Committee on Work Among the Negroes, met the Field Superintendent, the Negro State Secretaries and others interested.

Each State Secretary told, in turn, what he had tried to do, and related interesting facts bearing upon conditions and needs in his own field.

It was discovered, at this conference, that the negroes are intense denominationalists in their church relations. They have 36,000 churches, with 3,750,000 members, and control church property valued at $60,000,000. More than ninety per cent. of the race are Baptists or Methodists, and they were loyal to their own denominations, and attached to the varied organizations, state, county and town in their churches. When they have met-as far as they can-the demands which these denominational organizations make upon them, in time and money, they have little of either left for interdenominational organizations or work.

They are limited in their ability to give money for religious causes, on account of meager income, and when they can give, their denomination comes first, and they are unable to attend and support county or state interdenominational conventions.

Because of inexperience and no previous training, there was a lamentable lack of practical knowledge and experience in Sunday-school work on the part of the Negro State Secretaries, and they were unprepared for Sunday-school leadership.

Added to these hindrances there was no suitable literature for distribution among the people, and no literature that would serve pastors, Sunday-school Superintendents and teachers.

The conviction was very clear, as a result of this conference, that the negroes were not ready to reap the advantages of interdenominational coöperative Sunday-school work.

Another important conference was held in December, 1907, at Raleigh, N. C., participated in by negro pastors, educators and Sunday-school leaders from ten states, who were present as guests of the Committee, even to traveling expenses, in addition to the Presidents of Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C.; Virginia Union University, Richmond, Va.; Chairman Broughton, General Secretary Lawrance, the Chairman of the Executive Committee, and a number of pastors of white churches.

The purpose of this conference was to discover, if possible, some plan upon which Sunday-school work among the colored people might be projected, with the hope of rendering effective service.

During the three days the conference was in session it was discovered that the present plans must be abandoned or greatly modified; the money was all gone; several of the Negro State Secretaries were in

financial distress because of the unpaid portion of the salary due from Negro State Associations; it was evident that no further contributions could be secured by these Associations with which to continue the work, on present plans, and the International Committee could not assume the entire expense of the work.

These were actual conditions, not theories, and after serious and careful consideration it was decided that the state and county convention plan should be discontinued and an endeavor made to reach the people in Sunday-school work by a course or courses of study in the institutions for the education of the negro already at work in the South, so that when the students leave these institutions and go to the churches and schools in their homes, they will have some knowledge that will enable them to put into operation practical and improved methods for organizing, conducting and teaching individual Sunday-schools.

Shortly after the Louisville convention of 1908 there was held "The Clifton Conference," at Clifton, Mass., at the home of the Chairman of the Executive Committee, August 19-21, 1908. This was a by-product of years of investigation of the problem of moral and religious education of the negroes of the South, undertaken with a view to the more effective promotion of Sunday-school work.

Seventy prominent educators, publicists, pastors, business men, officials of the International Sunday School Association and other leaders in the religious world were in attendance for three days to consider great problems related to the moral and religious education of a race. Nearly two-thirds of the entire company came from the southern states, and among the number were about thirty prominent negroes who are considered representative men of their race. Seventeen states, thirtyseven colleges and schools, nine denominational Missionary organizations and twelve of the great religious denominations were represented.

Rev. Dr. John E. White, pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga., who was president of the conference, said in his opening address that the conference represented "more intelligence and more experience with the question of the negro, his welfare and his progress than was ever before assembled in this country."

The conference had a clearly defined purpose of wide scope. It was "to discover the present mental, moral and religious condition of the negro; how this condition has been reached; its practical effect upon his daily life; what is needed; how obtained; how applied; the result."'

Many important facts were learned, and the conviction was clear, in the conference, that past methods had not produced desired results; that a new plan of work must be adopted, and that the foundations of the

higher and more permanent progress of the colored people must be laid in their moral and spiritual life.

As a result of three days of prayerful, sincere and purposeful consideration, the Clifton Conference reached a unanimous agreement as to the needs and plans and the "Findings" declared that:

"The fundamental need in the present condition of the negro is the devolopment of right moral motives and high standards in the mass of the race.

"That the permanent uplifting of the race must be through the moral and religious instruction of the children and youth in the homes, schools and churches; and

"That the Sunday school, when properly organized and conducted, is a great and effective agency for imparting the principles of the Christian religion and the saving knowledge of God's Word."

A committee of ten members of the Conference was appointed to cooperate with the International Committee on Work Among the Negroes, in carrying out the plans for the inauguration of systematic and thorough courses of Sunday-school instruction and training in colleges and schools for negroes.

It was clearly understood that no part of the plan provided for new schools, but that all the work should be done in the universities, colleges and schools already organized and in operation, with students already enrolled and at work in other studies.

For more than two years your Chairman, supplementing previous years of careful investigation, made numerous visits to the South to study prevailing conditions and to become better acquainted with the field and the institutions in which the Committee could carry on its plans of work. This investigation took a wide range. Information was sought and obtained from many sources: Interviews and conferences with representative men and women of the South, both white and colored; through the great denominational Home Mission Boards and Organizations; by personal visits to more than one hundred of the two hundred and fiftynine educational institutions of college or seminary grade for the education of the negro, and from other reliable sources.

Conferences were held with Sunday-school leaders in many cities of the South from Richmond, Va., and Jacksonville, Fla., on the east; to New Orleans on the south, where leaders from three states were in conference; to Dallas, Texas, and to Louisville, Ky., covering every southern state and reaching men and women of large experience and varying opinions. The dominant thought after this period of study, which con