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THE FEDERATION
Page 3
^impses^f .Palmer Memorial Insiitui
* * raoM
(CONTINOTt)
PAGE 1)
she questionsTfI'*’ter''6h^^eamed from the
of th,'
pi incipal
anidous -jo
at the girl was
Henderson,
her mbtj
rrf
me of
_r grand-
SHp family
Itl
_ __ ^received
best Natur-
^._..__Jinp^ to aid the boys and
■gn»s^iff*her dwn-^ate. but further im
pressing her with the need was an elderly
lady she met on a between-home-and-
i school train trip. This lady told her of
i the work the American Missionary So-
* ¥ Ti-r- i-r>T>¥^i.¥ * , i cietv was doing in North Carolina, and of
ALICE FREEMAN PALMER BUILDING ; teachers.
therefore wished to further her educa- go in 1902 we find her. with high hopes.
_ arriving at McLeansville. a mere sign
Mis. Palmers interest made it possible | post, five miles from Sedalia. and the
foi hei to attend the State Normal School j nearest stop. Trudging part of the dis-
at Salem, Massachusetts, after finishing 1 tance. and riding the rest in a wagon,
high school. Charlotte Hawkins was the | Charlotte Hawkins arrived at her des-
giil so anxious to aid her race and now jination. The school, to which she had
Piesident of Palmer Institute. She gives | been sent was a ramshackled building.
two reasons why she chose North Caro
lina for her venture.
First on June 1, 1833. she was born in
with half of the window panes gone, and
the two teachers and a few students had
to sleep in a loft overhead, and in a log
rJ*
-
1
Coirmunily Church Where School Began
cabin on the place.
Soon the church lost interest but not
this pioneer. She tells of sleepless nights,
when she knelt through the long hours
by her bedside and watei-ed it with tears,
praying not for money, but that she might
discover enough of God in herself to be
willing to trust Him to work out her
plans. Today the institute is a model com
munity, with an enrollment of 300, and
is housed in buildings valued at half a
million dollars, situated on 300 acres of
land.
It is the aim of the school to aid Negro
students mentally, morally, socially, phy
sically. and so its program is vei-y broad.
The objectives of the institution are to
give ‘A’ grade academic work of junior
and senior high school level, combined
with college preparatory ti'aining. that
(COXriNUED ON PAGE 4)
The shanty in which Charlotte Hawkins Brown lived and taught some of her
first classes in October, 1901. when she began her life's work in the backwoods '
of North Carolina, and out of which grew the Palmer Memorial Institute of today. |
\m\
A Graduating Class in the Triangle of Achievement
iggg»Sg«»cwa8WaE!grw> iiwfi aw'M)
ALICE FREEMAN PALMER BUILDING
This is the main Administrative Build
ing, a part of a one-half million dollar
plant provided largely by Boston and
Cambridge people through their interest
in Charlotte Hawkins Brown, the founder
and builder, in memory of her friend.
Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer, who was
attracted to her as a senior in the English
! high school one spring day on the streets
I of Cambridge while she was wheeling a
j baby carriage and reading Virgil. She
owes her further education for this task
to Mrs. Palmer's continued interest.