Gilbert Academy and Agricultural College, Winsted, Louisiana: sketches and incidents; selections from journal

Dedication

WE ARE UNSPEAKABLY GRATEFUL TO GOD FOR HIS ANSWER TO OUR PRAYERS.

OUR HEARTS ARE FULL OF THANKSGIVING TO THE MANY FRIENDS WHO

HAVE AIDED AND ENCOURAGED OUR LABORS IN EIGHTEEN

Preface

We believe that the magnitude of the work in progress among our fellow-citizens of African descent in the Southern States is not known to the people of the United States. The reports of the several societies that direct the work of uplift by educational and missionary movements are not read. So far as read they are not fully appreciated. Imagination, guided by some analagous experience, must associate itself with the apprehension of figures and general statements before anyone can grasp the situation and comprehend what teachers and missionaries are actually doing and achieving.

In effect we workers are in a foreign land. In fact, our work is home work of the most intimate kind. The economic and the moral conditions of the people of the United States are as directly and as effectually influenced by the status and the habits of life of our colored citizens as by the activities and the character of any other seven mil-

6 PREFACE.

lions in our great aggregate of population. Peace, good order, strict morality, temperance, and thrift signify in Louisiana just what they do in Massachusetts. It is just as vital to the integrity of the American republic to reduce vice to a minimum among the blacks of Mississippi, Louisiana, or Georgia, as to do the same thing in the slums in the city of New York. The nation has just as real and serious an interest in making lynching in the rural districts of the South impracticable as it has in correcting and preventing riots and bloodshed in the city of New Orleans.

In view of such considerations it is well the people of North and South should study the problem, or problems, that we are trying to solve. To help them in this study is a leading aim in the presentation to the public of this unpretending volume. Many things herein may seem to the casual reader quite trivial and very personal ; yet we are modestly inclined to think that every item and every incident will give the intelligent inquirer some real and valuable light on the situation. This is, at least, our hope. We hope, too, that this little book may find favor with all lovers of humanity and with all truly patriotic citizens be-- cause of the end to which it is devoted.

PREFACE.

Gilbert Academy and Agricultural College is already a great power for good in Louisiana. In the language of Hon. D. Caffery, a very distinguished and influential citizen of that State, " No people on the globe stand more in need of the stimulating effects of mental discipline than the colored people. Any endowment of schools established to educate -them by large-hearted and big-brained philanthropists reflects as much luster on them as it confers incalculable benefits on the beneficiaries. Gilbert Seminary will be a power in the land to elevate the ignorant and enlighten the benighted."

This institution has furnished to State and Church as many influential, capable, and useful men and women of the colored race as any other institution that can be named in Louisiana. We earnestly desire to see its usefulness increased. We desire to enlarge its facilities. We aim at stability and perpetuity. It must not be left dependent on the fluctuating offerings of charity. These have been and are rich, and causes of much rejoicing and gratitude ; but in addition to these pleasing, gracious contributions, that speak so much for the loyalty, humanity, and benevolence of American Christians, there should be a perma-

8 PREFACE.

nent, imperishable fund. This will keep away adversity in days of poor crops and changing markets, and will substitute the consciousness of strength for the fears of weakness.

Trusting, therefore, in Gods goodness and in the large-heartedness of the American people, we launch our little ship.

Contents

Hon. William L. Gilbert 13

Why Help Our Colored Brother? 29

Rev. Emperor Williams 46