Those blacks who did
belong to such white denominations usually attended all-black
congregations within the larger institutional structure. Negro
colleges also sprang up throughout the South as well as an
occasional one in the North. These included such well-known
schools as Howard, Hampton, Tuskegee, and Fisk. The churches and
colleges became training grounds for a growing middle-class and
for future community leaders. Each in its own way provided a
debating center in which racial problems closing in from all
sides were considered.
As Negroes were frequently denied employment by whites,
they began to develop businesses of their own. Because their
capital was almost always small, their task was made more
difficult. White-owned banks hesitated to lend money to Negroes,
forcing them into developing banks of their own. By 1900 blacks
had founded four banks which appealed mainly to a Negro
clientele. They had a combined capital of more than $90,000.
White-owned insurance companies often refused to sell insurance
policies to Negroes. Standardized mortality charts showed that
Negroes died at an earlier age than whites.
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