If no
other consideration had convinced me of the value of the Christian
life, the Christlike work which the Church of all denominations in
America has done during the last thirty-five years for the elevation
of the black man would have made me a Christian. In a large degree it
has been the pennies, the nickels, and the dimes which have come from
the Sunday-schools, the Christian Endeavour societies, and the
missionary societies, as well as from the church proper, that have
helped to elevate the Negro at so rapid a rate.
This speaking of small gifts reminds me to say that very few
Tuskegee graduates fail to send us an annual contribution. These
contributions range from twenty-five cents up to ten dollars.
Soon after beginning our third year's work we were surprised to
receive money from three special sources, and up to the present time
we have continued to receive help from them. First, the State
Legislature of Alabama increased its annual appropriation from two
thousand dollars to three thousand dollars; I might add that still
later it increased this sum to four thousand five hundred dollars a
year. The effort to secure this increase was led by the Hon. M.F.
Foster, the member of the Legislature from Tuskegee. Second, we
received one thousand dollars from the John F.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193