ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE OFFICERS OF the Board of EDUCATION FOR NEGROES.. Frontispiece SECRETARIES OF THE FREEDMEN'S AID SOCIETY, 1866-1912.. 20 THE STUDENTS OF ONE SCHOOL.. 26 LOCATION OF SCHOOLS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR 31 LEARNING TO MAP THE PARISH, GAMMON THEOLOGICAL SEM- 45 PRESIDENT EMERITUS GEORGE W. HUBBARD, M.D., AND THE MEHARRY COLLEGES AND SOLVING DENTAL PROBLEMS.. SUPERINTENDENT T. RESTIN HEATH, M.D., AND MRS. HEATH 62 FLINT-GOODRIDGE. 65 INTRODUCTION FOR the first time in the long years in which the Methodist Episcopal Church has labored for the education of the American Negro, a coordinated presentation of the remarkable story is now presented. It is a romance in education, and brings to the thousands of Methodists who have invested in the work of the Freedmen's Aid Society, now the Board of Education for Negroes, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, an adequate statement of the large returns their money has made possible. The author, the Rev. Jay S. Stowell, a member of the Publicity Staff of the Committee on Conservation and Advance of the Council of Boards of Benevolence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, has had an unusual opportunity to secure his facts and impressions. In addition to the records and the history of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose work for Negro girls is closely related to that of the Board of Education for Negroes, he had the privilege of a personal visit to each of the schools. This gives to the book that value which only firsthand knowledge makes possible. The achievement of the Methodist Episcopal Church in this field of service emphasizes the magnitude of the task to be done. It lays bare the ur 9 gent needs for buildings, equipment, and larger faculties for the schools. Men and women trained in these schools are now professors and college presidents in the schools in which they received their training. But more leaders are sorely needed. We read here of the sacrificial devotion of pioneers with warming hearts. We think of the Negro leaders, whom we know, with new interest and pride. The faithful secretaries of the Board of Education for Negroes who heralded the needs, the bishops who interested men and women of wealth to erect buildings and provide endowment, and the church editors who have scattered the story broadcast week by week-all stand forth in a new way in the light of the results recorded here. The wisdom of those who start new ventures in Church or State is always questioned. Would that all those who participated in the organization of the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church might know how their wisdom has been justified. The facts recorded by Mr. Stowell are given a fine philosophical treatment. He does the unusual --but praiseworthy-thing of paying tribute to those who achieved while they are yet alive, and he inspires the reader to a new conception of the place of the American Negro in American life. "Methodist Adventures in Negro Education" is of value to the Negro race, to the nation and to the church. It is a permanent contribution to the literature of the evolution of a race from slavery to |