While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
"He loveth our nation and hath built us a synagogue."
The educational needs of the Freedman
have called forth several large benefactions
from individual contributors. George
Peabody of Danvers,
Massachusetts, in 1867 and 1869, established
a fund of $3,500,000 for the promotion of
general education in the South. One half of
this amount happened to prove unavailable. A
large part of the remainder was used in the
establishment and endowment of the Peabody
teachers college for whites at Nashville,
Tennessee, leaving only a small part of it
for use among the Freedmen.
In 1882, John F. Slater
of Norwich, Connecticut, created a trust
fund of $1,000,000, for the purpose of
uplifting the emancipated population of the
southern states and their posterity. The
income of this fund, now increased to
$1,500,000, is used to promote normal and
industrial education.
In 1888 Daniel Hand of
Guilford, Connecticut, gave the American
Missionary Association of the Congregational
Church $1,000,000, and a residuary estate of
$500,000 to aid in the education of the
Negro.
In 1895 Miss Emiline
Cushing of Boston left $23,000 for the
same object.
In 1907 Miss Anna T. Jeanes
of Philadelphia, Pa., left an endowment fund
of $1,000,000 to aid in maintaining
elementary schools among the Freedmen.
Booker T. Washington was named as one of two
trustees of this fund. Its distribution
contemplates a three fold plan. First,
something additional is to be secured from
the school authorities. Second, the
co-operative efforts of the people are
essential. Third, the effectiveness of the
school is improved and its neighborhood
influence widened by the introduction of
industrial features. In 1911, the income
from this fund was so widely distributed as
to reach the work in as many as 111 counties
in 12 different states; and summer schools
were aided in six of them.
In 1909 Miss Caroline Phelps
Stokes created a fund
of $300,000 for the erection of tenement
houses in New York City; and the education
of Negroes and Indians, through industrial
schools.
From 1902 to 1909, John D.
Rockefeller gave
$53,000,000 to establish a fund for the
promotion of general education in the United
States. The schools of the Freedmen have
received from this fund $532,015.
Negro Philanthropists
The Freedmen have fallen heir to the estates
of some free Negroes, that became wealthy.
It is interesting to note the following
ones.
Tommy Lafon of New Orleans, a dealer in dry
goods and real estate, in 1893, left for
charitable purposes among his people, an
estate appraised at $413,000.
Mary E. Shaw of New York City, left Tuskegee
Colored Institute $38,000.
Col. John McKee of Philadelphia, at his
death in 1902, left about $1,000,000 worth
of property for education, including a
provision for the establishment of a college
to bear his name.
Anna Marie Fisher, of Brooklyn, N. Y., in
1911, having an estate of $65,000 left
$26,000 for educational institutions.
The successful achievement of these four
free Negroes and their generous regard for
the welfare of their kin-folks, suggest the
possibilities of which they are capable, as
financiers and philanthropists, when
circumstances are favorable.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Choctaw Freedmen and Oak Hill Industrial
Academy, 1914, Robert Elliott Flickinger
