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!
"Look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye
were digged."-Isaiah 51:1.
From Darkness To Light
The historic incidents, having an uplifting
influence that occurred among the Choctaw
Freedmen of Indian Territory, from the time
of their first instruction in the Bible to
the establishment and present development of
Oak Hill Industrial Academy, when briefly
summarized, seem like a reproduction on a
miniature scale of those greater events that
occurred among the Christian nations of
Europe and America preceding the adoption of
their systems of public instruction.
I. The Choctaw Freedmen
Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, a generous hearted
missionary to the Indians, having charge of
a Church building at Doaksville, encourages
the slaves in the vicinity to meet in it
occasionally on Sabbath afternoons, for the
purpose of receiving instruction in the
Bible and shorter catechism.
This Bible instruction does not result in
the organization of a Church at that place,
but opportunity is given for the
manifestation and development of the
religious instinct of a number of persons,
amongst whom there are two young men, who
were destined later to become influential
leaders among the enslaved people whom they
represented.
After their emancipation, one locates on
the west bank of the Kiamichi river and
later becomes known as Parson Stewart, the
organizer and circuit rider of a sufficient
number of Churches, at the time of his
decease in 1896, to form the Presbytery of
Ki a mich i.
The other, accompanied by several
personal friends, migrates fifteen miles
eastward and founds a home in the Oak Hill
neighborhood. In the course of a short time
he is visited by the parson and his home
becomes a house of worship, where a Church
is organized and Henry Crittenden is
ordained as its ruling elder.
A Sunday school for Bible instruction
follows the establishment of public worship,
and two years later it is followed by the
establishment of a week-day school, for the
benefit of all the children and youth in the
neighborhood. Eight years later, when the
trained missionary teacher arrives, the
inspiration of a new life is infused into
the Church and Sunday school, and the
week-day school becomes an important
industrial academy, where the Bible is the
basis of the moral and religious
instruction. In 1905 they receive an
allotment of lands that they may become
independent owners of their own homes. In
1908 statehood brings the rural public
school and in 1912, an intelligent Freedman
is entrusted with the management of the
Industrial Academy, Church and farm.
This sequence of events includes the dark
period of slavery and illiteracy followed by
instruction in the Bible, the light of the
world; the development of the native
preacher of the gospel as a leader, the
organization of the Church, followed by the
Sunday school, the week-day school, the
academy, normal, public school and finally a
native superintendent of the academy and
independent ownership of land.
II. The Europeans And Americans
The Dark Ages
The period from the 8th to the 12th
centuries of the Christian era has been
classed by historians as the "Dark Ages" of
the world, because of the general prevalence
in Europe of ignorance, superstition and
barbarism. Some of the leading events that
occurred during this gloomy period,
immediately following the decline and fall
of the Roman Empire, tended almost wholly to
check the spread of intelligence and the
prosperity of the people, rather than to
promote their welfare. The Scriptures were
neglected and the clergy as well as the
people became worldly, ignorant, selfish and
superstitious.
The Saracens And Normans
These unfavorable events included, at the
beginning of this period, the invasion of
Palestine and southern Europe including
Spain, its most western state, by the
Mohammedans of Arabia, often called Saracens
and Infidels, who were fanatically inflamed
with a passion to destroy with the sword all
the people of the world, who would not obey
Mohammed, their prophet. During the next
century Germany, Britain, Holland and
France, then called Gaul, were ruthlessly
invaded by conquering hordes of the
adventurous and barbarous Normans, who came
from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, countries
north of the Baltic Sea.
The Crusaders Or Cross-Bearers
These invasions were followed by the period
of the Crusaders, 1096 to 1271, when as many
as seven great armies or multitudes of
people were assembled at the call of the
popes, and wearing crosses on their
shoulders, marched through the intervening
countries to Palestine. Their object was to
rescue the city of Jerusalem and the Holy
Sepulchre from the infidels. The first
crusade was organized in France, and it
enlisted an army of 800,000. Godfrey, duke
of Lorraine, was placed in command, and the
multitude was arranged for the march in
three divisions. Peter, the hermit, a
wrong-headed monk, was appointed leader of
the first division and experienced an
inglorious and irreparable defeat on the
way. Godfrey, after the siege and conquest
of Jerusalem in 1099, was chosen King to
rule over Palestine and the holy city, as
his kingdom. At the time of his coronation
he made the noble remark, that,
"He could not bear the thought of wearing a
crown of gold in that city, where the King
of Kings had been crowned with thorns."
The brave soldier and manly man, who gave
expression to this noble sentiment, died the
next year.
Under weak and unskillful chiefs the
crusaders while on the way wandered about
like undisciplined bands of robbers,
plundering cities, committing the most
abominable enormities, and spreading misery
and desolation where-ever they passed. There
was no kind of insolence, injustice and
barbarity of which they were not guilty. The
seven successive crusades drained the wealth
of the fairest provinces and caused the loss
of a prodigious number of people.
Those of the first crusade that remained in
Palestine were divided by sordid ambition
and avarice, and in 1187 Saladin, sultan of
Egypt and Syria, the most valiant chief of
the Mohammedan warriors, recaptured
Jerusalem and subsequent crusaders were not
able to regain it.
First Rays Of Light
The first rays of light, that serve to
dispel the darkness of prevailing night, may
be briefly summarized in the following
leading events.
In 901 Alfred the Great, king of England,
founds a seminary at Oxford to promote the
study of sacred literature. Later it becomes
a university, the first one in Europe, and
it is still distinguished as one of the
greatest institutions in the world for
publishing the Scriptures in a form suited
for the use of preachers and Christian
teachers. Two centuries later the second
university is founded at Cambridge, England.
About 1170 Peter Waldo of Lyons, France,
committing to memory such portions of the
Scriptures as he could obtain, and taking
for his favorite saying, the command of our
Lord to the rich youth, "If thou wilt be
perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come, follow me,"
commences to preach the gospel, as the
Apostles had done, in the homes of the
people and in their market places. As he
attracts followers, who also commit portions
of the Scriptures, he sends them out like
the seventy, two and two, to preach the Word
of God. They are called Waldenses, after the
name of their leader, and oppose corrupt
doctrines and practices with the plain
truths of the Word of God. They oppose the
crusades, as fanatical expeditions on the
part of those who were not Jews, and
therefore were unjust and unlawful. They
insist the Church consists not merely of the
clergy or priests, but includes the whole
family of believers.
The advocacy of these principles and by
laymen, causes them to be excommunicated,
then anathematized and finally to be
condemned by a council at Rome in 1179.
Peter Waldo, their leader, flees from land
to land, preaching as he goes and dies in
Bohemia in 1197.
In 1215, King John of England, yielding
to the insistent demand of the barons,
issued the Magna Charta, (Great Charter) the
first grant of English constitutional
liberty, pledging the right of trial by jury
and protection of life, liberty and property
from unlawful deprivation. It is immediately
denounced by the pope, Innocent III, who
absolves the king from all obligation to
keep the pledges therein expressed and
solemnized by the royal oath.
In 1366 John Wiclif, a graduate of Oxford
and member of the English Parliament,
presents to that body indisputable reasons,
why, without the approval of the Parliament,
not even the king of England could make
their lands subject to a tax claimed by a
foreign sovereign, representing the papacy.
As a religious leader, he instructs his
followers, called "poor priests," to pass
from village to village and city to city,
and to preach, admonish and instruct the
people in "God's Law." He accomplishes the
translation of the Latin Vulgate into the
English of his day, that his countrymen
might have the Scriptures in their own
language.
Charles V, king of France, has the
scriptures translated into the French
language, for the enlightenment of his
people.
During this 14th century seventeen
universities are founded and they include
the one at Geneva in Switzerland, Heidelberg
in Germany and Prague in Bohemia.
Biddle University,
Charlotte, N. C.
Bethesda Mission,
Wynnewood, Okla.
The Morning Star
In 1401 John Huss of Bohemia, the Morning
Star or John Baptist of the Reformation,
appears as "the voice of one crying in the
wilderness." His mother, left a widow in
early life, gave him to the service of the
Lord as he lay in the cradle, and later,
like Hannah of old, took him to the school
at Prague.
Campus From
South
Hospital &
Heating Plant
Campus From
North
University
Houston Library Chapel
Lincoln University,
Chester County, Pa.
When he became a preacher he
found the Lord's vineyard a desert, the
ministers of religion, the priests,
ignorant, worldly and dissolute, and the
popes of that period no better than the
priests. The people, designedly chained to
the basest superstitions and following the
example of their leaders, have cast aside
the restraints of chastity and morality. His
heart touched with pity at the sight of the
religious destitution of the people, his
anger, like that of Moses "waxed hot"
against those, who should have given them
the gospel of their salvation. Encouraged by
the example of Wiclif to make known the
truth, he affirms the supreme authority of
the scriptures proclaims against the abuse
of the clergy and endeavors to regenerate
the religious life of both priests and
people. His glowing zeal for the honor of
God and the Church move the people in a way
until then unknown; but the priests,
unwilling to reform or longer endure his
piercing protests, falsely accuse him of
heresy. In 1416, after fifteen years of self
denying and heroic service, he is condemned
at Constance and suffers martyrdom at the
stake. A century later Luther, who imbibed
his heroic spirit, said of him, "The gospel
we now have was born out of the blood of
John Huss."
The First Printed Bible
The art of printing is invented and the
Vulgate, a Latin Bible, is the first book
printed. It is issued in 1450 and is printed
on a hand press at Mentz, Germany. Previous
to this event and date all books were in the
form of costly manuscripts and their number
could be increased, only one copy at a time,
by penmen called copyists.
The mariners compass is invented and in 1492
Columbus discovers America, and thirty years
later Magellan sails around the world.
During this 15th century the universities of
Glasgow and St. Andrews are founded in
Scotland, Mentz and eighteen others, on the
continent.
III. The Reformation
Martin Luther
"Arise, shine, for thy Light is Come."
In 1517, Martin Luther, the
apostle of the German nation, a man of
learning and undaunted courage, whose equal
had not been known since the days of Paul,
appears as the valiant and steadfast leader
of the Reformation in Germany. In 1530 he
becomes the founder of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, and aided by Melancthon,
succeeds in translating and giving to the
German people the Bible in their own
language, and in preparing the Augsburg
confession that has since served as a
standard of faith and bond of union for the
Lutheran Churches in Europe and America.
Emotion and imaginative piety have become
the hand-maids of superstition; and
patriotism, lacking courage, has covered its
face. He writes hymns and patriotic songs
that inspire the German heart with loyalty
to the truth and devotion to their
Fatherland.
John Calvin
In 1527, John Calvin, a man of great
learning and glowing eloquence with burning
zeal for the honor of his Master, appears as
the leader of the Reformation in France, but
nine years later, joins Farrel, the
successor of the zealous but fallen Zwingli,
in Switzerland, and becomes head of the
university at Geneva. He secures the
adoption of a constitution, that gave and
also limited the authority of the Church to
spiritual, and of the state to temporal
matters; and thus prepares the way for the
separation anew of Church and state, and the
enjoyment of civil and religious liberty.
Educated for the priesthood, he is assigned
a parish and there obtained a copy of the
Scriptures. When he discovered the erroneous
teaching and practices of the Church of
Rome, he resigns his charge and completes a
course in law and another in theology in the
University of Paris. He becomes a man void
of fear and is borne onward on the wings of
a living faith. Following the example of
Paul in his letters to the Churches, and of
Augustine, bishop of Hippo (391-446) in
North Africa, he undertakes to state in a
systematic form the great facts and
doctrines of the Bible, as one of the best
means of opposing and overcoming prevailing
errors and corrupt practices in Church and
state.
He feels the Spirit of God
moving him to blazon triumphantly, the
thought of God's sovereignty and man's utter
dependency, in order to dash in pieces the
prevalent self righteousness. His writings,
by emphasizing the supreme authority of the
Divine Word, have tended to raise the moral
standard of individuals and communities, and
by emphasizing the moral law, to lessen the
distinction between the "sins" of the Bible
and "crimes" of the civil law. Their
tendency has been to make the moral law the
rule for states as well as persons.
Presbyterianism, or government of the Church
by ruling elders and presbyters as in the
apostolic period, and Republicanism,
government by representatives, are advocated
with transcendent ability, and success.
After the death of Luther in 1546, Calvin
exerts a great influence over the thinking
men of that notable period in Switzerland,
France, Germany, Holland, Italy, England and
Scotland. The young preachers, sent out from
the university at Geneva, establish 2,150
reformed congregations in these countries,
and in 1564, the last year of his life, the
confession of the reformed Churches in
France is officially recognized by the
state.
An ardent and effective friend of civil
liberty, he makes the city of his adoption
the nursery of a pure, noble civilization;
and the little republic of Geneva becomes
the sun of the European world. Animated by
his example and principles, William, prince
of Orange, in 1580, establishes the Dutch
Republic in Holland, and it becomes "the
first free nation to put a girdle of empire
around the world."
Bancroft, the
historian, in summarizing the influences
that contributed to American Independence
makes this creditable reference to
Calvinism.
"We are proud of the free states that fringe
the Atlantic. The Pilgrims of Plymouth were
Calvinists; the best influences in South
Carolina came from the Calvinists of France.
William Penn was a disciple of the
Huguenots; the ships from Holland, that in
1614 brought the first colonists to
Manhattan (New York), were filled with
Calvinists. He that will not honor the
memory and respect the influence of Calvin,
knows but little of the origin of American
Liberty."
William Tyndale
In 1530 Henry VIII aided by William Tyndale,
the new translator of the New Testament and
Pentateuch, and in 1547 Edward VI, his
successor, promote the establishment of the
Reformation in England. A change of rulers
in 1553 leads to the martyrdom of Archbishop
Cranmer, bishops, Latimer and Ridley, and of
John Rogers, the zealous reformer-four of
the noblest men England ever produced.
It was the noble-hearted, youthful Tyndale
who, when he came to perceive that the Word
of God was the gift of God to all mankind
and all had a right to read it, that
declared to one of the clergy opposing him,
"If God spares my life, ere many years, I
will cause a boy that driveth the plow to
know more of the Scriptures than you do."
John Knox
In 1560, John Knox, a pupil of Calvin,
establishes the Reformation in Scotland and
under his leadership the Church of Scotland
from the first adopts the system of
doctrines and the forms of worship and of
government established at Geneva.
Huguenots of France
In 1557, Admiral Coligny, taken prisoner at
the battle of St. Quentin, is confined at
Gaud in Spain. Securing a copy of the
Scriptures he reads it, and, after his
release, becomes the enthusiastic leader of
the Huguenots of France. They represent the
most moral, industrious and intelligent of
the French people, but those who love the
"Mass", which involves no moral obligation,
hate them on account of their chaste and
devout lives. In 1572, when a bloody
persecution arises against them, they begin
to emigrate to England, Germany,
Netherlands, Switzerland and the Colonies of
North America.
It was Fenelon, one of the
preachers of the Huguenots in France under
the feudal system, about the year 1710, that
gave utterance to the patriotic sentiment,
emphasized in this country since the rise of
the great trusts, "That governments exist
and have a right to exist, only for the good
of the people, and that the many are not
made for the use and enjoyment of one."
The Bible
In 1559 the Puritans protest against the act
of uniformity passed by the English
Parliament, imposing uniformity in religious
worship.
The Bible has now come to be regarded as of
so much importance to the clergy and people,
that as many as fifty-five learned men
during this 16th century devote their time
and attention to its exposition and
illustration; and twenty-seven new
universities are established.
The Reformation is an insurrection or
revolution against ecclesiastical monarchy
and absolute power in the Church, or
spiritual matters. It establishes freedom of
inquiry and liberty of mind in Europe. The
Bible and theology occupy the attention of
the greatest minds, and every question,
whether philosophical, political or
historical is considered from the religious
point of view.
The Inquisition
In 1235, Pope Gregory IX, establishes the
Inquisition, a cruel court of inquiry for
the suppression of those who question the
authority of the papacy to rule over them in
the Church. It becomes very active in Italy,
France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. It is
not suppressed in France until 1834, after a
period of six centuries.
In 1540, Ignatius Loy o la, an illiterate
Spanish soldier and priest, with papal
authority, organizes the society of the
Jesuits, to require Christians to renounce
whatever opinions may separate them, and,
accepting the doctrines and worship of the
Roman Catholic Church to acknowledge the
pope as Christ's sole vicegerent on earth.
The Inquisition had previously proved a
bloody court but this order is intended to
make it more effective in suppressing
freedom of thought and action in matters
relating to education and religion.
The events that occur during the period of
the Inquisition are harrowing to relate. The
historians of that period have recorded,
among others, the following executions and
massacres.
The duke of Alva, a Spanish general and
persecutor, who died in 1582, condemned
36,000 of his countrymen to be executed.
On the night of August 24, 1572, the
anniversary of St. Bartholomew, Charles IX,
of France, by offering his sister in
marriage to the prince of Navarro, a
Huguenot, assembles at the nuptials in Paris
five hundred of the most prominent of the
Huguenots, including Admiral Coligny, their
venerable leader, and, at a given signal an
unparalleled scene of horror ensues. Before
the break of day, these noble leaders and
10,000 of their faithful followers, in Paris
that night, are ruthlessly slaughtered. The
horrid carnage, against these defenseless
friends of truth and right, is extended to
Lyons, Orleans, Rouen and other cities until
50,000 are massacred at this particular
time. The total loss of France by the
Inquisition has been estimated at 100,000
persons.
It is estimated that, during
a period of seven years Pope Julius II
effected the massacre of 200,000 persons.
The Irish massacre at Ulster in 1641 cost
Ireland the loss of more than 100,000 of her
best citizenship. It is estimated that
during a period of thirty years as many as
900,000 persons suffered martyrdom for the
truth at the hands of the secret order of
Jesuits. During the entire period of
persecution by the papacy, a vast multitude,
numbering many millions in addition to
these, were proscribed, banished, starved,
suffocated, drowned, imprisoned for life,
buried alive, burned at the stake or
assassinated.1
These dark historic events illustrate the
price that had to be paid for letting the
light shine when darkness prevailed in the
high places of the world. Every martyr for
the truth was a torch bearer, whose light
was extinguished. The countries that
suffered the greatest loss of their best
citizenship received a check of more than a
century's growth. The hand on the dial of
progress was turned backward wherever the
blighting inquisition was felt. Its
blighting effects may yet be seen in Italy,
Spain, Portugal, Ireland and other countries
where the papacy exerts a controlling
influence. Men, whose deeds are evil and
they are unwilling to repent, hate the light
and endeavor to suppress it, by killing the
torch bearer, "lest their deeds should be
reproved."
A knowledge of these conditions that
prevailed at the time is necessary to enable
one to appreciate the importance and
greatness of the work of the Reformers and
their faithful followers during the 16th
century in giving the Bible to the people at
the risk of their lives.
Independent Ownership of Land
In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers, bringing with
them the Bible as a precious treasure,
establish a colony at Plymouth Rock,
Massachusetts, where they hope to enjoy
civil and religious liberty to a fuller
extent than they were able to do elsewhere.
Other colonies are established along the
Atlantic coast, from New England to Georgia,
but no one of them exerts a moral influence,
quite so potent as this one, in the events
and councils that precede the laying of the
foundations for this great government.
They now enjoy individual or independent
ownership of lands, a privilege they did not
enjoy under the feudal system that had its
rise in the 10th century and was continued
until the French Revolution in 1799. Under
the feudal system the land was owned by
dukes, earls and barons, who, as members of
the House of Lords, alone participated in
the government.
The orators of the pulpit, commonly called
preachers of the gospel, aside from the
academies, colleges and universities, are
the principal teachers of the people, and
for the purpose of instruction, they use but
one book-the Bible.
In 1635 other colonies of
Puritans, under Roger Williams and Thomas
Hooker settle Rhode Island and Connecticut,
respectively; and religious liberty is
accorded Rhode Island by its charter in
1663.
Westminster Assembly
In 1648, the Westminster Assembly, convened
by the Long Parliament five years previous,
and composed of 10 Lords, 20 Commoners and
121 Clergymen, representing the Churches in
England, Scotland and Ireland, to prepare a
statement of the doctrines of the Bible,
that might form the basis of religious
liberty and a bond of union of the
Protestant Churches, completes its work, by
publishing a Confession of Faith, Form of
Government, Larger and Shorter Catechisms.
This confession does not give rise to any
new denominations nor result in any union;
but it is received and adopted as the
standard of faith by all the branches of the
Presbyterian Church in England, Scotland,
Ireland and America. This confession is a
natural sequence of the authorized King
James Version of the Bible in 1611.
In 1704, the newspaper is established in
America; and the first post office, in 1710.
Rise Of Methodism
In 1738 John and Charles Wesley, young
preachers of the Church of England, having
spent three years as missionaries among the
Moravians in Georgia, return to London,
where, preaching the gospel as a
proclamation of free forgiveness to sinners,
and with it, repentance and faith in Christ,
they soon find the pulpits of that city
closed against them. Supported by Lady
Huntington and aided at the first by George
Whitefield, the most gifted of their early
associates and the first Methodist to preach
in the open air, they lay the foundations
that soon develop into the Methodist Church,
by establishing now congregations and
organizing them into classes, each under a
local leader, who by means of weekly
testimonies, exhortations and corrections
was to look after the moral conduct and
promote the spiritual life of the members.
Sunday Schools and Missionary Societies
In 1782 when there are a sufficient number
of printed Bibles available for use, Robert
Raikes of London makes the suggestion and
Sunday schools are established, that the
people in every worshipping congregation may
co-operate with their preachers in
instructing the young and rising generation
in the great truths contained in the Bible.
From 1792 to 1800, the three great modern
missionary societies of England are
organized, and during the next ten years the
first two are organized in this country.
In 1804, the British and Foreign Bible
Society, and in 1816, the American Bible
Society, are established in London and New
York, to promote the multiplication and
circulation of the Bible.
Civil and Religious Liberty
In 1776 the Declaration of Independence and
American Revolution develop brave and
patriotic leaders like George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, John
Witherspoon and others, who fight the
battles and solve the problems of civil and
religious liberty in America. Liberty and
independence become familiar watchwords.
In 1787 when the Constitution of the United
States is adopted, civil and religious
liberty is assured. Protection is to be
given to religion but there shall be no
taxation for its support in Church or
school, and public education is left to the
several states.
Those, who framed this
remarkable Constitution and thus prepared
the way for America to become the land of
"Liberty Enlightening the World," expressed
their sentiments in regard to the urgent
need of general instruction in the Bible, in
the ordinance for the government of the
Northwest-the country north of the Ohio, as
follows: "Religion, morality and knowledge,
being necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, schools and the means
of education shall forever be encouraged."
In 1841 Congress makes provision for grants
of unoccupied lands in the states for the
better support of the public schools and the
establishment of state universities.
In 1862 Congress makes
provision by further grants of unoccupied
lands for the establishment of State
Agricultural Colleges. About this same
period Normal Schools are established in the
states and they gradually take the place of
many of the Academies previously established
by Christian people.
In 1863 Abraham Lincoln in order to maintain
the Union "one and inseparable," becomes the
emancipator of 4,000,000 slaves; and America
becomes "the land of the free" as well as
"the home of the brave."
The Boston News Letter, the first American
newspaper is established in 1704, and the
New England Courant, the second one in 1720.
The first Colonial post office is
established in 1710. In 1765, when the Stamp
Act was passed, there are forty newspapers
published in America; and one of the most
influential of these is the Philadelphia
Gazette, by Benjamin Franklin, the man who
"wrested the lightning from heaven and
scepters from tyrants."
The religious papers of the Presbyterian
Church are established a half century later,
and as follows: The Herald and Presbyter, at
Cincinnati in 1830; the Presbyterian at
Philadelphia in 1831; and the Interior, now
Continent, at Chicago in 1870. As a
civilizing agency the press not only rivals
but increases many fold the power of the
pulpit.
The public press, especially the religious
newspaper, noting the progress of events
relating to the extension of the Redeemer's
Kingdom becomes a very potent factor in
promoting an enlightened Christian
civilization.
Uplifting Inventions
During the 19th century civilization
receives a general and wonderful uplift as a
result of many important inventions that, to
a greater or less extent, are enjoyed by all
the people. They include the steam engine,
steamer, railway, telegraph, telephone,
phonograph, cylinder printing press and
folder, electric light and motor, gasoline
and kerosene engines, cotton gin, spinning
jenny, sewing machine, mower, reaper, steam
thresher and separator, mammoth corn sheller,
tractor, gang plow, typewriter, automobile,
bicycle, aeroplane, vaccine, serum and
wireless telegraph.
The Comparison
The intelligent American citizen of the
present time is the product of all these
forces, to the extent he has come under
their uplifting influences. He is the
product of centuries of enlightened struggle
and successful effort. If the early Roman
was proud of his history and privileges as a
citizen much more profoundly thankful may be
the American of this twentieth century.
The forces that have given him the uplift
from the Dark Ages include the Bible in his
own language, the faithful preacher of the
Gospel, the Evangelical Reformer, the brave
Military Leader, the God-fearing Statesman,
the Church, Sunday school, the public, high
and Normal school, the Academy, Christian
College, Agricultural College, University,
ownership of land, civil and religious
liberty.
What these institutions have done for the
intelligent American citizen they are now
beginning to do for the Freedman, as he is
brought under their uplifting influence.
They suggest both to him and his friends,
the greatest or most important needs of the
Freedmen.
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
