Trends of Philanthropy in Negro Education: A Survey

Abstract

Prior to the eighteenth century, organized effort toward the-education of the slave and the free Negro was almost wholly restricted to that of the different religious sects. The Puritans, the Quakers, the French and Spanish Catholics, and later, the Baptists and Methodists worked with some consistency to educate the slave and his child. This work remained, however, a minor part of the activities of these religious orders throughout this period. Its greatest merit is that, first, it was sufficiently successful to justify the extension of the work by these sects during the eighteenth century; and, second, it inspired the organization of an agency, the sole purpose of which was to aid and enlighten the underprivileged in this country. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the first philanthropic organization was created for the distinct purpose of enlightenment of the Negro. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was organized in the year 1701 within the established Church of London for missionary and educational work among Negroes and Indians. Dr. Thomas Bray, who had been in the colonies and had seen the need for effort in behalf of the education of the slave, led the movement to establish this organization.1 In the year 1701 the first educational foundation definitely established to benefit the Negro in North America came into existence. Dr. Bray secured an endowment of nine hundred pounds from the private secretary of King William at The Hague, the proceeds of which were to be used in the instruction of the Negroes in the West Indies and in North America. In honor of his leadership, upon Dr. Bray's death, an association was formed, called the Associates of Dr. Bray, which maintained educational work in the colonies for practically a century, using the proceeds from the above endowment as well as from other funds, in behalf of the Negro, both slave and free.2 Inspired by earlier successes, the Quakers greatly extended their efforts for the enlightenment of the Negro during the eighteenth century. Leadership was assumed along the following lines. A large and permanent