AND YE SjpALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH SHALT, MAKE YOU'REB.*J~Jaliii viii:32.
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1988
THE VALUE OF THE TEACHER TRAINING
DEPARTMENT AT MARY HOLMES SEMINARY
By Miss Mary E. Foresman, Dean, Mary Holmes Seminary
(A paper read at the 24th Annual Workers’ Conference, held
Johnson C. Smith University, March 7th to 11th.)
Mary Holmes Seminary and
Junior College, in West Point,
Mississippi, is one of the five
schools which were originally
boarding schools for Negro
girls under the Presbyterian
Board of National Missions.
Like three of the others, it has
enlarged its field of usefulness
by becoming co-educational and
rvruarntirr if a fn Hair afn_
dents. From less than one
hundred students in 1933 the
enrollment has grown to three
hundred and thirty-seven in
1938, with three departments—
teacher training, high school,
and practice school of eight
grades. It is of the teacher
training department that I am
to speak.
Assuming that the value of
any unit of educational work
lies in its organization to meet
the needs of the constituency
which it serves; and that the
proof of its worth is found in
the lives and service of the stu
dents which it trains, then I
can best prove the worth of
our teacher training depart
ment at Mary Holmes by giv
ing you a word picture of the
educational neecfc of the Negro
people of Mississippi, and by
telling both how we prepare
our students to meet those
needs, and what our graduates
.and former students are doing
in their fields of service.
Mississippi is largely a rural
State. Eighty-three and one
tenth per cent of its popula
tion live in the country. Sixty
seven per cent of the people
are engaged in agriculture. The
educational problem is princi
pally a rufgr*fltfSBiem. ~ Also it'
is not a wealthy State. Ac
cording to statistics in 1929 the
per capita wealth was the low
est in the list of States—$1,242.
It is said to be much lower
now. The social income of the
people was the lowest in the
country at that time, and there
is no reason to suppose that it
has changed.
Mississippi has the largest
percentage of Negro population
of any State in the Union. Ac
cording to the 1930 census the
population is made up of one
million, nine thousand, seven
hundred, eighteen Negroes,
and nine hundred ninety-six
thousand, eight hundred fifty
six whites. In 1930 there
were 471,704 families of which
46.7 per cent were white, and
53.1 per cent were Negro. Only
31.8 per cent of the total were
property owners. Sixty-six and
one-tenth per cent were ten
ants. The proportion would be
about the same now.
Of 22,125 rural homes in all
parts of the State which were
surveyed recently in a CWA
project, 90 per cent were lack
ing in all the conveniences and
, comforts of life. One of the
poorest homes that could be
imagined was described as hav
ing beds made by sewing to
gether grain sacks and throw
ing them over old rusty springs.
There was filth everywhere,
and the only food in the house
was a bag of corn meal. Such
an unsanitary and barren con
dition cannot be charged alto
gether to poverty. Ignorance
plays a large part. For this
home is on a plantation in the
\ Delta, the richest farming land
N'*jn the world. Mattresses could
hfefe been made from straw.
have been canned. When asked j
how they would get food for
the winter the woman of the
house replied that they would
get it at the store, and pay for
it out of the next crop. It is
quite probable that a vast num
ber of rural homes, both white
and colored, are without com
fortable furnishings, pictures,
books, magazines, or musical
instruments.
Where poverty abounds
health conditions are also poor.
In 1933 infant mortality per
one thousand live births was I
and vegetables could
63.4 per cent, and the mater
nal death rate -was 6.8. In 18§2
a little less than 50 per cent of
births were attended by a phy
sician. It costs a Negro baby
11.56 years of life to be born
in Mississippi. During one year
20 per cent of all deaths each
month were without medical at
tention. Many counties in Miss
issippi have but one dentist.
Three have no dentists. Only
twenty-four out of eighty-inm
counties have health depart
ments.
In 1930 Mississippi ranked
fourth from the bottom in illit
eracy, ' the proportion being
2.9 among the white people, and
23.2 among the Negroes. The
reason ifor the Negro people
being so far behind is that prior
to 1915 very little had been
done in the way of public
school education for Negroes.
A few private schools like Mary
Holmes, Tougaloo, Jackson Col
lege and others provided high
school courses.
A State Bulletin says, “No
cause for this condition can be
assigned other than that the
sentiment of the people had not
been cultivated to the extent
that Negro education even in a
very elementary form was con
sidered worth while.” The gen
eral idea seems to have been
that of the planter who said to
the new teacher, a college grad
uate, “You can teach them
readin’, writin,’ and some fig
uring but not much of that,
and don’t use any new-fangled
ways of teachin.’ ” Throughout
the existence of the Division of
Negro Education in the State
Department, o£. Education, es
tablished twenty-three years
ago, the chief task has been to
create sentiment among white
leaders in favor of public sup
port of Negro education not
only of secondary but even of
elementary level.
The first step in raising the
standard of Negro education
was taken in 1929 when a com
mittee, with Dr. Newbold of
North Carolina as chairman,
made a partial survey of the
State primarily to investigate
the preparation of Negro teach
ers for their work and what
teacher training facilities ex
isted for the training of teach
ers. They found that fifty per
cent of the teachers in the ele
mentary schools had less than
four years of high school train
ing, and twenty-five per cent
had never attended high school.
As to the number of high
schools in the State at that
time, there were sixteen pub
lic and sixteen private four
year high schools. One out of
every 120 high school educables
was in school. For training of
teachers there was one State
college, and that was not pri
marily a teachers’ college.
Counting fifty pupils to a teach
er, 9769 teachers were needed,
and only 5972 were employed.
This condition remains the
same.
i nave pictured to you condi
tions as they were in 11929-1930;
as they are also in many, many
places in 1938. Last Summer
several educators from Africa
visited Mississippi to study Ne
gro conditions in this country.
1 After they had traveled over
the State and visited schools
and homes of all types and con
ditions, they said, “The Ne
groes of Uganda are/in clover
compared with Negroes in
Mississippi.” Does the picture
seem overdrawn? I have quot
ed to you from the “Mississippi
Educational Journal,” from our
State Agent of Negro Schools,
and from interviews with
Jeanes teachers, with our stu
dents, and other Negro people.
There is an encouraging and
inspiring side to this problem.
Progress has been made during
the eight years since the sur
vey. The Negro teachers are
organized into county, district,
and Statie teachers’ associa
tions. A few days ago one of
the district associations met on I
our campus for their annual !
meeting—a splendid group of
teachers from eleven counties.
All school principals, meet- :
ing once a year, little by little
have been trained to take posi
tions of leadership in their;
communities. Last Fall I at
tended a most inspiring meet- .
ing where fifty earnest, enthu-i
siastic young Jeanes teachers
were commissioned to go out
into fifty-four counties of Miss
issippi to lift their people out!;
of the bondage of degradation
and ignorance. In their work ;
they were instructed to stress -
improvement of homes as i
much as improvement of
schools. In this group of fifty i
were who had received all
or part of their training in two <
of our Presbyterian schools— 1
Mary Holmes and Margaret ;
Barber. One of these, now our
local Jeanes teacher, said, “They <
are sending us out as mission
aries.” And that is the spirit <
of most of our teacher-training 1
girls who go out to teach. I;
New school buildings have ,
taken the place of some of the
old tumble down shacks. In
others steps have beeij built
and windows put in. Money
has been secured for equipment,
teachers have' gone to summer
schools and summer schools ,
have been reorganized to give
teachers a chance to get con- ,
tinuous high school training, 3
This Spring we along with oth
er colleges have been asked to
permit rural teachers as their ;
schools close to come in for the
Spring quarter.
Four four-year colleges and
three two-year colleges of
which Mary Holmes is 6ne,
have been accredited as teach
er training institutions. Steps
are being taken to have one
college specialize in training
rural teachers.
Jiignt tour-year nign scnoois* '
of which Maty Holmes is one,
have heCQ ^edredraedr and ten
are on probation. Three high
schools and one college are in
the Southern Association. Home
demonstration agents in twen
ty-three counties work with the
Jeanes teachers to improve
homes, and where there are
no demonstration agents the
Jeanes teacher works to the
same end. Their plan is to con
vert one home in each commu
nity into a model home.
Health conditions have im
proved. This last month (Feb
ruary) nurses were sent out by
the State ^Department of
Health to vaccinate all the
school children of the State
against small pox. One nurse
who stayed with us told amus
ing stories of children in some
schools running to the woods
to hide, or going for their
mothers to protect them. Most
of the mothers were convinced
that the nurse knew best. One
mother who refused to have
her children touched the first
day came back the next with
her husband and six children,
saying, “I don’t want them
down on me to be nursed.” In
another district where the
teacher had paved the way for
the nurse by health instruction,
all the people of the community,
from babes in arms to people
in their seventies, were waiting
for the nurse when she ar
rived.
Miawives are now oeing
trained by the State and coun
ty nurses. On one plantation a
cabin has been built as a model
room for expectant mothers.
Fathers, mothers, and young
girls come to see what prepa
ration should be made for the
comfort of the mother, and the
assurance of a healthy baby.
One planter built a road two
miles long, so that nurses
could come to inoculate his
tenants against typhoid fever.
On a 3000 acre plantation the
owner built a cabin as a clinic
for a doctor, sent by the gov
ernment from Howard Univer
sity, and a nurse from the
State Department of Health to
test the 2500 Negro tenants
for syphilis. Eighty-five per
cent were affected by this ter
rible scourge. The owner pro
vided the medicine, and the
nurse stayed to administer it.
A five-year study for the im
provement of instruction in all
the schools of the State is just
being completed. Prom it a
definite program for Negro
schools has evolved. It calls
for comfortable school houses,
properly equipped with tables,
leaks, blackboards, stoves, and
teaching materials. “In each
school we want a good teacher
yf character, training, and per
sonality, to teach the children
bow to read and to write, how
to use numbers, how to use
their hands in doing their work,
tnd in earning a living; how to
be clean and healthy, how to be
truthful, Jionest, and courte
ous, and-how to respect prop
irty.” “In each county we
pant a good high school. Two
bounties could go together if
sparsely settled. Agricultural
>r vocational high schools will
oest meet the need. These
schools should emphasize above
iverything else , health and
jconomic efficiency.”
With all these facts in mind
>f what value is teacher train
ing at Marry Holmes? No
school has ever had any great
sr opportunity to help in a
worthy ihovement. We have
this privilege not only of our
selves preparing boys and girls
to become worthy cozens, but
ilso of training tfpchers who
prill go into the towns, villages,
sind rural communities to teach
children and parents how to
live decently, comfortably, and
more abundantly.
At Mary Holmes we use the
curriculum planned by the
State. We give the students
content courses to broaden their
knowledge of subjects they are
to teach: psychology, that they
may understand the child and
the process of learning; meth
ods in guiding the work of the
children; industrial art that
they may teach the hands to
work to provide comforts and
beautiful environment; nature
that they may teach the
iklren to appreciateT GrodTai
_ ggiMBMia
ter like?
the Bible that they may
an
team iruiix tue iviasLer i eacner.
They learn the principles of
health that they may help their
pupils to develop healthy bod
ies, and to fight disease in
their communities. Where there
are no nurses in the counties
they must instruct the mothers
how to have sanitary homes
and healthy babies.
They make teaching materi
als to supplement and oftew;to
take the place of textrbooke.
Reading charts of wrapping
paper, maps on muslin, * and
numbers on milk bottle tops are
inexpensive but effective means
of presenting ideas.
Student teachers are told that
their work includes helping the
church in their community?* Ed
ucation Week in our State
starts; with a Sunday school
rally. In the first year of lour
department Mr. Campbell*
gested that we take charge of
the Mission Sunday school as
our religious project. Each
yea* since our students have
superintended the school,
taught the classes, played; the
piano, and visited the chil
dren’s homes. This year they
organized a Christian Endeav
or Society for the high school
pupils who board or live in the
neighborhood, and a Junior
C. E. for the younger children.
This department was started
in 1932. In six : years we: have
sixteen graduates, including
four who finish, this year; twen
ty-three one year students, and
twenty-five teachers whorTiave
come in for later afternoon, or
Saturday classes^ or for the
Spring quarter. Sixty-four to
represent us in this great mis
sion field—the number seems
small! But We have to remem
ber the scarcity of four-year
high schools from which to
draw students. Twelve of the
counties which are still without
four-year high schools are in
our northeastern quarter of
Mississippi. Three of them
border our county, and five
more border these three. About
one-fourth of our high school
graduates return; the others
who teach begin without spe
cial training.
We also have to remember
(Continued on Pace 3)
WHITE RIVER
PRESBYTERY
By Rev: Geo. E. Caesar. S. C.
White River Presbytery met,
in Allison chapel, Ninth and!
Gaines Sts., Little Rock, Ark.,
on Wednesday, April 13, 1938,
and was opened by a sermon by
the Moderator, Rev. T. B. Har
grave, on the words from Isai
ah: “And the residue thereof
he maketh a god, even his grav
en image; he falleth down unto
it, and worshippeth it, and
prayeth unto it, and saith, ]De
liver me; for thou art my god.”
Rev. G. E. Caesar, Stated
Clerk of the Presbytery; Rev.
L. A. Ellis, and Rev. William
Sample, assisted in the service.
The Presbytery was consti
tuted with prayer. The roll was
called. A quorum being found
present, the Presbytery was
ready for business, and went
into the election of officers.
Rev. L. W. Davis waa unani
mously elected Modexmor, and
Rev. C. N. Shropshire was
unanimously elected Tempora
ry Clerk. The docket was pre
sented to the ’Presbytery andj
was adopted.
Rev. Chilton Christian, pas
tor of the First Congregational
church, and Rev. G. G. Walker,
pastor of St. Philip’s Episcopal
church, were introduced by
Rct. G. E. Caesar, and were ac
corded seats as corresponding
members. Those ministers
made appropriate remarks,
Rev. Christian bringing greet
ings from the Interdenomina
tional Ministerial Alliance of
Little Rock. Rev. R. J. Christ
mas responded to their remarks.
The Moderator announced
the Standing Committees. The
local committee made its re
port to the Presbytery through
its chairman, Mr. E. D. Alex
ander. An offering was taken.
After which, the Presbytery ad
journed with prayer, by the
Jgpderator until S o’elock Thurs
day morning, April 14.
Thursday Morning, April 14
The • Presbytery reconvened
mi the above date, at 9 o'clock,
the first half hour being given
to devotional service, led by
Rev. S. J. Grier. Prayer was
offered by Rev. R. J. Christmas,
rhe roll was called. The min
utes of the previous session
wore read and were aproved.
The Stated Clerk presented
the usual documents to the
Presbytery, which were direct
ed to be given to the Standing
Committee on Bills and Over
tures.
Reports on the Boards were
called for. The reports were
made through the chairmen of
the committees on the Boards.
After discussion, they were ap
proved.
The reports on churches and
Sunday schools were made
through their representatives,
rhe reports were discussed at
length, y^nd showed numerical
and financial gains in the ma
jority of the churches and
Sunday schools.
The report on the American
Bible Society was presented
through the committee chair
man, Rev. N. B. Bynum, and
was approved. The Presbytery
took recess until 1:45 and was
closed with prayer by the Mod
erator.
Thursday Afternoon.
The Presbytery was favored
with an address on Evangelism
by Rev. T. B. Hargrave. The
address was inspiring. The
Committee on Vacancy and
Supply presented a report
through its chairman, Rev.
L. W. Davis. The report showed
that all the churches in the
Presbytery were supplied with
the exception of two.
The commissioners to the last
General Assembly were called
on to present their reports.
Rev. C. N. Shropshire, commis
sioner, gave a glowing report
to the Presbytery, which
showed that he had an eye sin
gle to the business of the Gen
eral Assembly. Elder Ernest
Polk, lay commissioner, was ab
sent from the Presbytery; hence,
did not report.
The Committee^ on Necrology
conducted memorial services in
memory of Rev. H. M. Stinson,
D. D., who labored long and
faithfully in the Presbytery,
and wap called on December
10, 1937, from the church mil
itant to the church triumphant.
Committee was composed of
Rev. R. J. Christmas, Rev.
William Sample, and Elder
L. H. Means.
Rev. L. W. Davis and Elder
Moses A. Railey were unani
mously elected principal min
isterial and principal lay com
missioners to the next General
Assembly, and Rev. G. E. Cae
sar and Elder Israel karrison
were unanimously elected al
ternates.
The Committee on Resolu
tions of Thanks presented a re
port through its chairman,
Rev. William Sample. The re
port was approved.
The minutes of the previous
session were read and approved.
The Presbytery took recess
until 7:30 Thursday night, and
was closed with prayer by the
Moderator.
Popular Meeting
The usual Popular meeting
was conducted Thursday night
at 7:30 o'clock, Rev. William
Sample and Rev. L. A. Ellis,
participating. The Woman’s
Presbyterial Society conducted
its usual program, Mrs. C. N.
Shropshire* President, presid
ing. The program was very
interesting. The occasion was
highly favored with music by
Shorter College. The Rev. A. G:
Gregg, President of the College;
was present. There was an ap
preciative audience.
The members and friends of
Allison chapel spared no pains
in entertaining the Presbytery.
And the Presbytery expressed
to them, in glowing terms, its
appreciation of their hospitali
ty.
The Presbytery adjourned
with prayer to meet in Gibson
chapel, Springfield, Mo., the
second Wednesday in April;
1939, D. V.
McClelland
-; PRESBYTERY . ..
By Rev. L. E. Ginn, Stated Clerk
McClelland Presbytery held
its ISpring meeting with Salem
Presbyterian church at Ander
son, S. C., opening Thursday,
April 7th, at 7:30 P. M.
The opening sermon was
preadhed by the Moderator,
who used as his text Hebrews
12:1-2. The sermon, backed up •
by the Salem church choir, with
its spiritual songs, made this a
very impressive service indeed.
After this . the Presbytery ■,
was constituted with prayer
and went into the election of
Moderator and Temporary
Clerk. The Rev. B. H. McFad
den was elected Moderator and
Rev. H. Y. Kennedy was chosen
as Temporary Clerk. The Mod
erator made a few remarks on
receiving the gavel of author
ity concerning the ministers
and churches cooperating with
him in the great work that lay
before him. The docket of
business was then presented
and read by the Stated Clerk.
Addresses of welcome were
delivered on behalf of the
churches of Anderson, by Rev.
G. S. Sawyer, of the M. E.
church; on behalf of the busi
ness people by Mr. W. I. Peek;
and on behalf of the schools by
Prof. S. C. Perry. The Mode
rator made choice of Rev. P. A.
Flack to respond to these very
cordial words of * welcome,
which he did in a pleasing and
ditmified manner.
Rev. J. H. Toatley, of Fair
field Presbytery; Rev. A. A.
Thompson of Hodge Presbyte
ry and Rev. G. S. Sawyer, of
the Methodist Episcopal Church,
were accorded seats as corre
sponding members of Presby
tery.
The offering was taken, the
doxology was sung and Presby
tery closed with prayer to meet
Friday morning at 9 o’clock.
Friday morning, April &th,
Presbytery met at 9 o’clock and
was opened with prayer. The
roll was called by the clerk.
The minutes of our last stated
meeting were read by the Stat
ed Clerk as information.
Appointment of Temporary
Committees by the Moderator
was as follows': (1) Bills and
Overtures, Rev. A. H. Reason
(Continued on Page 4)