<emph>Some Efforts of American Negroes for Their Own Social Betterment. Report of an Investigation under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Third Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, Held at Atlanta University, May 25-26, 1898:</emph> Electronic Edition.

]> <emph>Some Efforts of American Negroes for Their Own Social Betterment. Report of an Investigation under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Third Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, Held at Atlanta University, May 25-26, 1898:</emph> Electronic Edition. DuBois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963, Ed. Funding from the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition supported the electronic publication of this title. Text scanned (OCR) by Apex Data Servies, Inc. Images scanned by Jill Kuhn Text encoded by Apex Data Services, Inc. and Jill Kuhn First edition, 2000 ca. 275K Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000.

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Some Efforts of American Negroes for Their Own Social Betterment. Report of an Investigation under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Third Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, Held at Atlanta University, May 25-26, 1898. Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, Ph. D. 66 p. Atlanta Atlanta University Press 1898 Atlanta University Publications No. 3 Call number E185.5 .A88 no. 1-5 (Rare Book Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

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Library of Congress Subject Headings, 21st edition, 1998 English African Americans -- Social conditions. African Americans -- Societies, etc. African Americans -- Charities. African Americans -- History. Cooperative societies -- United States. 2001-07-18, Celine Noel and Wanda Gunther revised TEIHeader and created catalog record for the electronic edition. 2000-08-16, Jill Kuhn, project manager, finished TEI-conformant encoding and final proofing. 2000-07-26, Apex Data Services, Inc. finished transcription and TEI/SGML encoding

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SOME EFFORTS OF AMERICAN NEGROES FOR THEIR OWN SOCIAL BETTERMENT. Report of an investigation under the direction of Atlanta University; together with the proceedings of the Third Conference for the study. of the Negro Problems, held at Atlanta University, May 25-26, 1898. Edited by W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS, Ph. D., Corresponding Secretary of the Conference. ATLANTA, GA. ATLANTA UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1898.

The Corresponding Secretary of the Atlanta Conference will upon request undertake to furnish correspondents with information upon the Negro problems, so far as possible; or will point out such sources as exist, where data may be obtained. No charge will be made except for actual expenses incurred.

CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION . . . . . 3 I. RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION THE EDITOR. 1. THE SCOPE OF THE INQUIRY . . . . . 42. GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE ORGANIZATIONS . . . . . 43. THE CHURCH . . . . . 54. THE SECRET SOCIETY . . . . . 125. BENEFICIAL AND INSURANCE SOCIETIES . . . . . 186. COOPERATIVE BUSINESS . . . . . 217. BENEVOLENCE . . . . . 278. GENERAL SUMMARY . . . . . 42 II. PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE . . . . . 45 RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE . . . . . 47 III. PAPERS SUBMITTED TO THE CONFERENCE . . . . . 49 THE CHURCH AS AN INSTITUTION FOR SOCIAL BETTERMENT; Rev. H. H. Proctor . . . . . 50SECRET AND BENEFICIAL SOCIETIES OF ATLANTA, GA.; Dr. H. R. Butler . . . . . 52ORGANIZED EFFORTS OF NEGROES FOR THEIR OWN SOCIAL BETTERMENT IN PETERSBURG, VA.; Prof. J. M. Colson . . . . . 54THE WORK OF THE WOMAN'S LEAGUE, WASHINGTON, D. C.; Mrs. Helen A. Cook . . . . . 57THE CARRIE STEELE ORPHANAGE; Miss Minnie L. Perry . . . . . 60MORTALITY OF NEGROES L. M. Hershaw . . . . . 62 “The sky of brightest grey seems dark To one whose sky was ever white, To one who never knew a spark Thro' all his life of love or light, The greyest cloud seems overbright.” —Dunbar. INTRODUCTION.

Atlanta University is an institution for the higher education of Negro youth. It seeks by maintaining a high standard of scholarship and deportment, to sift out and train thoroughly, talented members of this race to be leaders of thought and missionaries of culture among the masses.

Furthermore, Atlanta University recognizes that it is its duty as a seat of learning to throw as much light as possible upon the intricate social problems affecting these masses, for the enlightenment of its graduates and of the general public. It has therefore for the last three years sought to unite its own graduates, the graduates of similar institutions, and educated Negroes in general, throughout the South, in an effort to study carefully and thoroughly certain definite aspects of the Negro problems.

Graduates of Fisk University, Berea College, Lincoln University, Spelman Seminary, Howard University, the Meharry Medical College, and other institutions have kindly joined in this movement and added their efforts to those of the graduates of Atlanta, and have in the last three years helped to conduct three investigations: One in 1896 into the Mortality of Negroes in Cities; another in 1897 into the General Social and Physical Condition of 5,000 Negroes living in selected parts of certain Southern cities; finally, in 1898, inquiry has been made to ascertain what efforts Negroes are themselves making to better their social condition by means of organization.

The results of this last investigation are presented in this pamphlet. Next year some phases of the economic situation of the Negro will be studied. It is hoped that these studies will have the active aid and co-operation of all those who are interested in this method of making easier the solution of the Negro problems.

RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION. BY THE EDITOR. 1. The Scope of the Inquiry.

—The aim of this study is to make a tentative inquiry into the organized life of American Negroes. It is often asked What is the Negro doing to help himself after a quarter century of outside aid? The main answers to this question hitherto have naturally recorded individual efforts in education, the accumulation of property and the establishment of homes. The real test, however, of the advance of any group of people in civilization is the extent to which they are able to organize and systematise their efforts for the common weal; and the highest expression of organized life is the organization for purely benevolent and reformatory purposes. An inquiry then into the organizations of American Negroes which have the social betterment of the mass of the race for their object, would be an instructive measure of their advance in civilization. To be of the highest value such an investigation should be exhaustive, covering the whole country, and recording all species of effort. Funds were not available for such an inquiry. The method followed therefore was to choose nine Southern cities of varying size and to have selected in them such organizations of Negroes as were engaged in benevolent and reformatory work. The cities from which returns were obtained were: Washington, D. C., Petersburg, Va., Augusta, Ga., Atlanta, Ga., Mobile, Ala., Bowling Green, Ky., Clarkesville, Tenn., Fort Smith, Ark., and Galveston, Tex. Graduates of Atlanta University, Fisk University, Howard University, the Meharry Medical College, and other Negro institutions co-operated in gathering the information desired.

No attempt was made to catalogue all charitable and reformatory efforts but rather to illustrate the character of the work being done by typical examples. In one case, Petersburg, Va., nearly all efforts of all kinds were reported in order to illustrate the full activity of one group. The report for one large city, Washington, was pretty full, although not exhaustive. In all of the other localities only selected organizations were reported. The returns being for the most part direct and reduced to a basis of actual figures seem to be reliable.

2. General Character of the Organizations.

—It is natural that to-day the bulk of organized efforts of Negroes in any direction should centre in the Church. The Negro Church is the only social institution of the Negroes which started in the African forest and survived slavery; under the leadership of the priest and medicine man, afterward of the Christian pastor, the Church preserved in itself the remnants of African tribal life and became after emancipation the centre of Negro social life. So that to-day the Negro population of the United States is virtually divided into Church congregations, which are the real units of the race life. It is natural therefore that charitable and rescue work among Negroes should first be found in the churches and reach there its greatest development. Of the 236 efforts and institutions reported in this inquiry, seventy-nine are churches.

Next in importance to churches come the Negro secret societies. When the mystery and rites of African fetishism faded into the simpler worship of the Methodists and Baptists, the secret societies rose especially among the Free Negroes as a substitute for the primitive love of mystery. Practical insurance and benevolence, always a feature of such societies, were then cultivated. Of the organizations reported ninety-two were secret societies—some, branches or imitations of great white societies, some original Negro inventions.

Both the above organizations have efforts for social betterment as activities secondary to some other main object. There are, however, many Negro organizations whose sole object is to aid and reform. First among these come the beneficial societies. Like the burial societies among the serfs of the Middle Ages, there arose early in the Nineteenth century among Free Negroes and slaves, organizations which did a simple accident and life insurance business, charging small weekly premiums. These beneficial organizations have spread until to-day there are many thousands of them in the United States. They are mutual benefit associations and are usually connected with churches. Of such societies twenty-six are returned in this report.

Coming now to more purely benevolent efforts we have reported twenty-one organizations and institutions of various sorts which represent distinctly the efforts of the better class of Negroes to rescue and uplift the unfortunate and vicious. Finally, we have a few instances of co-operative business effort reported which typify the economic efforts of the weak to find strength in unity. Let us review each of the classes.

3. The Church.

The following table presents the returns of seventy-nine Negro churches in nine Southern cities; the queries sought to bring out especially the economic situation of these corporations, and their social and benevolent activity:

TABLE NO. I.—CHURCHES. WASHINGTON, D. C. NAME. Denomination. Enrolled Members. Active Members. Value of Real Estate. Indebtedness. Religious Meetings Weekly. Entertainm'nts per year. Lectures, Lit'ry Exercises pr yr Suppers and Socials per year. Fairs per year. Concerts per year 1 Mt. Carmel Baptist 1,404 1,000 $26,000 $ 2,500 6 24 1 2 Y. P. Tabernacle Baptist 40 40 7,000 750 3 12 6 4 2 4 3 Asbury M. E. 787 500 80,000 8 12 1 1 1 4 Liberty Baptist 850 400 30,000 4 5 Rehoboth Baptist 350 200 1,500 5 30 1 3 6 Union Baptist 20 12 5 6 6 7 Grace Chapel A. M. E. 52 35 1,500 275 4 21 5 3 3 8 Northeastern Baptist 100 25 4 25 24 1 9 St. Luke. Baptist 300 150 10,000 140 5 40 1 20 10 Rock Creek Baptist 300 160 1,000 100 4 30 11 18th Street Baptist 1,500 800 80,000 10,000 7 1 10 1 5 12 Galbraith AME, Z 350 300 35,000 16,000 2 13 First W Washt'n Baptist 700 700 16,000 4 4 14 Metropolitan A. M. E. 800 500 90,000 24,000 5 30 4 1 5 15 Virginia Baptist 400 350 17,000 3,400 4 50 13 25 2 10 16 Shorter's Chapel A. M. E. 26 12 4,000 3 4 4 17 M. Wesley AME, Z 500 200 50,000 7,500 5 20 50 2 1 1 18 Fifteenth Street. Presby. 312 160 60,000 7,000 1 6 4 2 1 2 19 Berean Baptist 264 150 24,000 12,500 3 20 Macedonia Baptist 119 73 1,900 4 27 20 5 1 9 21 Campbell. A. M. E. 150 5,000 2,400 5 20 22 Miles Chapel C. M. E. 207 90 24,000 16,000 4 23 St. Luke's P. E 500 400 70,000 8,000 5 45 30 4 1 6 24 Metropolitan Baptist 700 450 65,000 25,000 4 15 2 3 25 Plymouth Congr'l 227 158 25,000 5,000 2 4 10 6 26 Vermont Avenue Baptist 3,300 1,500 75,000 15,000 5 50 20 5 1 10 27 Israel C.M.E. 400 200 60,000 8,000 10 20 16 1 3 28 Ebenezer M. E. 784 500 50,000 20,000 9 47 2 29 U. P. Temple Congr'l 100 100 3,000 8 15 50 3 2 30 Third Baptist 975 450 40,000 17,000 3 50 1 4 31 Mt. Zion. M. E. 650 550 27,500 2,800 22 10 5 1 4 32 Zion Baptist 2,139 45,000 12 24 5 12 33 Lincoln Mem. Congr'l 188 125 25,000 4 4 8 6 1 3 34 John Wesley AME, Z 265 150 75,000 15,000 5 50 10 1 1 5 35 Our Redeemer. Luther. 50 30 9,000 6 40 40 2 36 Bethlehem Baptist 145 75 2,500 3 6 37 Second Baptist 1,650 950 50,000 18,500 4 10 52 3 1 38 Shiloh Baptist 900 600 40,000 11,000 4 50 4 PETERSBURG, VA. 39 St. Matthew Baptist 50 30 $ 800 $ 300 3 21 12 5 4 40 Zion Baptist 227 102 3,000 928 3 30 15 3 1 4 41 Union Street C.M.E. 75 65 8,000 500 4 8 1 4 3 42 St. Stephen's P. E. 111 80 3,500 100 5 12 2 4 6 43 First Baptist 2,700 400 28,000 5 13 8 5 44 Tabernacle Baptist 1,200 874 8,000 6 45 Gilfield Baptist 2,612 1,996 35,360 3 12 46 Central Presby. 39 19 2,500 800 1 4 2 47 Oak Street. A. M. E. 400 250 23,000 1,515 6 25 10 10 6 48 High Street. Baptist 80 60 4 11 4 1 6 49 Bethany Baptist 100 75 600 257 3 1 50 Third Baptist 374 111 2,000 179 5 37 18 4 15

WASHINGTON, D. C. Other Entertainm'ts per yr. No. of Church Organizations. Literary Societies. Benevolent Societies. Missionary Societies. Societies to aid Church. Annual Income. Annual Expense. Expenditure for Charity. Number of Persons Aided. Work in Slums and Jails, etc. REMARKS. 1 7 1 1 5 $ 2,406 $ 2,406 $288 10 Two workers. 2 4 8 1 4 1 2 700 700 20 6 3 12 2 5 2 3 4,000 3,800 250 Miss'n for jails. 4 4 4 1,250 1,250 78 30 5 6 1 5 3,000 3,000 6 1 1 75 50 7 10 3 1 1 600 595 5 5 8 4 1 3 900 900 9 1 1 1,060 1,060 100 10 2 2 1,000 1,000 100 11 2 20 3 3 4 5 5,714 2,840 432 Some. 12 4 1 1 1 1 3,000 3,000 200 13 3 3 *2,000 2,000 150 Owns 2 tenements 14 11 1 4 2 4 10,000 9,000 226 50 Some. Has Asst. Pastor 15 12 1 1,500 1,000 200 250 Two churches have split off from this. 16 300 300 5 Visits to slums. 17 25 6 2 1 3 2,120 2,000 100 30 18 10 3 1 1 2,000 2,000 19 8 1 2 5 2,480 2,200 180 20 12 7 1 2 1 3 200 200 7 13 Much work. 21 1,200 1,200 22 1 1 3 2,087 2,000 23 4 12 3 9 3,500 3,500 500 120 24 10 5 1 4 3,900 4,160 75 25 25 1 1 1 1,785 1,785 62 5 Receives $300 a year from A. M. A. 26 4 3 1 4,000 3,500 200 Three workers. 27 1 1 5 3,450 2,291 50 7 Occasional. 28 22 1 1 20 4,926 4,926 75 Much work. 29 5 19 2 1 1,500 1,500 50 Much inst'l wk 30 1 1 6 4,000 4,000 84 36 Occasional. 31 8 2 2 2 2 3,000 2,800 140 25 Some. 32 11 1 Mission. 33 3 6 1 1 4 1,226 1,500 75 25 Visits. Receives $300 from A. M. A. 34 33 1 7 2,200 2,000 50 10 35 2 2 400 600 Receives aid. 36 3 1 1 1 550 500 50 Some. 37 12 1 2 2 7 6,000 5,900 150 $1.25 a piece usually given charity applic'nts 38 13 2 4 1 6 4,500 4,425 400 100 Seven workers. PETERSBURG, VA. 39 3 1 1 1 $ 250 $ $ 10 30 40 7 4 1 1 1 1 800 850 41 1 1 300 350 10 5 42 2 1 1 492 664 12 43 3 1 1 1 7,500 7,500 400 Three missions 44 1 2 1 1,231 1,130 378 An orphanage. 45 5 1 1 3 2,350 2,350 46 2 3 1 1 1 600 600 25 12 1 Missionary. 47 5 2 1 1 1 1,000 900 50 25 Mission. Owns church, parsonage, mission house and tenement. 48 330 400 49 400 400 15 4 50 5 2 1 1 2 400 400

* This probably does not include pastors' salary: the total income must be $4,000 or $5,000.

AUGUSTA, GA. Other Entertainm'ts per yr. No. of Church Organizations. Literary Societies. Benevolent Societies. Missionary Societies. Societies to aid Church. Annual Income. Annual Expense. Expenditure for Charity. Number of Persons Aided. Work in Slums and Jails, etc. REMARKS. 51 3 1 1 1 $ 3,000 $ 2,400 $ 3 Irregular 52 5 3 1 2 3,500 3,500 125 89 53 3 1 1 1 2,000 2,000 50 54 3 2 1 1,000 1,000 50 20 BOWLING GREEN, KY. 55 4 1 1 1 $ 500 $ 450 $ 7 6 Some. 56 8 1 1 1 800 900 10 5 57 7 4 2 1 1 1,300 1,000 20 15 MOBILE, ALA. 58 6 $ 1,500 $ 1,400 $600 75 Visits. 59 1 4 6,214 6,214 387 200 Twelve visits. Value par. $1,500; organ, $1,000. 60 9 4 1 1 2 2,000 1,900 125 61 4 2 2 2 425 425 25 10 $300 from A.M.A. FORT SMITH, ARK. 62 1 1 1 1 1 $ 1,059 $ 1,059 $150 25 63 1 1 982 980 42 10 64 2 1 1 1,300 1,300 75 GALVESTON, TEX. 65 3 1 3 1 $ 1,200 $ 1,200 $300 10 Eight visits. 66 2 1 1,250 1,230 150 75 Visit hospitals. monthly. 67 1 1 1,600 1,600 68 3 1 1 1 1,550 1,500 300 125 Ten visits Parish school. CLARKESVILLE, TENN. 69 3 1 1 2 1 $ 2,000 $ 2,000 $ 75 15 ATLANTA, GA. 70 5 1 2 1 1 $ 2,000 $ 1,800 $200 20 Some. Publishes paper. 71 2,046 19 Some. One mission. 72 1 3,000 1500 Some. Two missions and Home for Aged. 73 1 6,000 80 74 2,300 25