Oakwood University - Acorn Yearbook (Huntsville, AL)

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states legislatures had passed laws against education for the colored, and it was feared that similar action might close Oakwood. Elder Daniels made a report of his visit through the Review and Herald, and Elder G. I. Butler made strong appeals in behalf of the school through the paper. In the following year there came a real turning point for the school, and a new program was inaugurated. A meeting of the executive committee of the Southern Union Conference was held at Oakwood itself and thus brought on to the grounds our responsible leaders of the work in the South. Mrs. E. G. White and her son, W. C. White, were also in attendance. Thorough inspection of the school farm and buildings was made by the company. Two impressive talks were given by Mrs. White. She told how the Lord had shown her, years before, various features of the place, many of which she pointed out: buildings, fruit trees, and the general appearance. She spoke in the highest terms of the school and its prospects and the possibilities of the soil when properly worked, adding 'not one foot of this land should be sold. In visualizing the possible future of the school she said that instead of fifty students in attendance there should be a hundred. W. C. White estimated a possible attendance of 150 to 250 under proper management. At this time some six or eight small schools had developed in the South, particularly in Mississippi. Considerable feeling had been created as to the relative importance of these schools and the one at Huntsville, affecting quite a bit the attendance at the latter. With the question of how to secure closer cooperation of all, F. R. Rogers, who was in charge of the schools in Mississippi, was elected superf intendent of Oakwood. A Summer School held in July of 1905 gave a bit more impetus to Oakwoods progress. The enrollment of Oak' wood proper was now seventy students, including five from Panama. Thirteen converts among the students could be counted that year, leaving only four or five not taking their stand. With the erection of Study Hall, serving also as boys' dormitory, the new day for Oakwood seemed indeed materializing. Then on October 10, came one of Oakwood's most poignant sorrows, the burning of this, its main building. In a very little time the Ere destroyed it all,-the new bathrooms, broommaking machinery, carpenter shop and tools, carpet loom, forty tons of coal, everything except one chair and one typewriter. One boy, Will Willingham, against the earnest appeals of others, went back into the burning building for some of his belongings and was lost. Another boy, John Green, had a very narrow escape by carefully working his way along the eave roof to another room. Well do I remember the sad morning four days later when our Southern Union Conference Committee viewed the ruins. And I have not forgotten the allfnight session of our committee in the old mansion as we worked out a rebuilding program and the further development of the school. Elder Butler, our Union president, was a hard man when it came to committee work, he could persevere to the very end. That allfnight session had to go through. Daylight came with a brighter outlook for Oakwood. Instead of one building we voted for five, one for school use only, including chapel, recitation rooms and offices, a boys' dormitory, a onefstory building for bath and treatf ment roomsg a workshop and a kitchenfdining room building. These were to be scattered some distances apart for prof tection against firefspread. Further assured support for the school was given at the Union Conference Session in january of 1906, when a number of individuals pledged suflicient amounts to support each student for a year. That meant a very definite interest in the work at Oakwood, and when the school reported, near the close of the year, twenty two students baptized that interest seemed Well warranted. Only three students

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-....,,sM 'Thus the walls were finished. during this session to join the faculty. Four of the eleven faculty members were colored. Professor J. A. Tucker came in the summer of 1923, and continued the policy of adding qualified Negro teachers to the facultyg and by 192930 eight of twenty faculty mem? bers were Negroes. Nine of fourteen faculty members in 1932 were Negroes. C01 Small Beginnings at Cakwood The initial conception of Cakwood school would doubtf less have found it diflicult to visualize the magnitude of its present size and scope. Looking at it today, one would also find it hard to see it as it was at its beginning. Oakwood is a splendid example of the truth that it is not so much what we are at the beginning as what we are at the finish. That is not to say that Oakwood is at the Hnishg no telling what it may yet become and what it may do. When the farm of 360 acres was purchased for its prof posed use as a school for colored youth, little favor was shown in Huntsville and vicinity to its purposes or to its promotors. It took a few years to break down the prejudice which at first was quite strong. A change of feeling did come, and visitors came to study its teaching and farming methods. Business men of Huntsville became friendly. The farm, purchased at a cost of 86,480.00 or 318.00 per acre, was considered a fair price. It was much in the condition of most of the South at that time, run down and neglected. The land was well worn out and given over to a heavy growth of underbrush. There was scarcely a rod of good fence. About its biggest boast was that Andrew Jackson had attended parties in its Cld Mansion. The mansion itself was in none too good repair. Its foundation required early attention. That building had to be the main part of the school for some time. In 1901, the sale of fruit and other produce paid all living expenses with S400 to the goodg in 1902, there was a tidy sum of S700 gain. The farm was now one of the best in the section. Chattanooga was a source of needed help when in 1896, the sum of 81,000 was loaned the school by Mrs. A. S. Steele, who was conducting an orphanage for the colored in that city. I well remember her earnest and vigorous pleas in behalf of the work in the South when she had opportunity to talk to gatherings in the North. She helped to inspire interest and courage in the Southern work. It took close financial budgeting to get through school with not a dollar to begin with, as was the case with most students. At first, students were permitted to work their 'K -11 , '1'Z,,. . . WI MU' ,fy Student crmvassers of 1915. way through entirely by their labor of five hours a day. But this could not be kept up if the school was to keep up. In fact, finance was becoming a serious problem to the school itself as its enrollment grew. There was no little feeling with some that the school should be closed and the farm sold. In February of 1902, the Southern Union Conference Session gave study to the schools needs. It was voted to try to make it more nearly selffsupporting and to require tuition in whole or part. Action was taken looking to appealing to friends throughout the world for donations to a tuition fund. It was also voted to raise 3500 for a cottage for the principal, 5250 for an orchard and the preservation of fruit and 31,000 for material for a girls' dormitory. The need for this last item became a very pressing one when in some cases as many as 16 girls were crowded into one room. But this was only one of the urgent needs. A furnace for the school room was badly needed. There was not a bathroom on the placeg and, for that matter, if there had been a bathroom, there was no water for a bath. The water supply had always been a problem. Stock had to be driven three miles to water. The farm was badly in need of implements. Among other needs were a milk house and a laundry. Fruit canning was done in an open shed, if we can say in, when speaking of a mere roof on supports. When in January of 1904, the General Conference President, Elder A. C. Daniells, made his first visit to Cakf wood, he found for himself a situation of considerable conf cern. The sentiment for closing the school was still strong enough to make trouble. It was difficult to get leading brethern to serve as members of the Board. A number of Lum berjaclqs 49'

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,.....,-c..... .,.. Dairy Barn were reported as unconverted. Oakwood was fulfilling its mission of preparing workers. The school management was ever alert for suitable industries. A greenhouse was built under the direction of W. H. Williams. This was the beginning of what grew into a fairsized business of handling bulbs, plants, and nursery stock. On one occasion a whole carload of caladium and tuberose bulbs was shipped to the Hastings Seed Company of Atlanta. The Chase Nursery of Huntsville took much of the shrubbery and plant stock. As much as fortyftwo acres was given at one time to growing bulbs and stock. Shoe cobbling was put in as a very practical line, serving to keep students' shoes in economical repair. A mechanical department taught the use and care of tools. These various industries came into good play in the year of 1906, when the drought was so severe that the ground could not be worked. From a small beginning of two or three students, not used to doing much work for a living, trying to pay their way through a few hours of indifferent labor, Oakwood, in 1906, had grown to a well conducted industrial school. Producefawas still being sold to about S500 worth. More garden produce and less cotton was now the order. Twelve acres of peanuts were planted. Fruit growing was done scientifically. Agriculture and horticulture were of recognized value as school activities. Besides the farm and garden interests, there were other industrial features, such as blacksmithing, carpentry, poultry Riding the plant setter 1908 ia 1g --'T 1 i i 5 5 fig '- 'ixr vi 4. :M , Q '.'..L, limi? i .Nr na, , .. aw. ' ' 'WA-i ,f , , 3- ,A - --1:-r-P , .. .--. Y . . ,..,..-4----,- V ..,.- .,-., ew -asf- . .- . Mg.. L .. .- fag. 11... .. A -, -lei... f? g -. f '-1-2I '! Part of dairy herd 1909 raising, carpet weaving, cooking, plain sewing lessons to good advantage. Bee culture and the sale of honey was included. Considerable fruit was put up for school use, for example, 1600 cans in the season of 1906. The appearance of Oakwood was constantly improving, with the buildings going up and shrubbery planted and landscaping going on. In the earliest days of my visits to the place I have more than once walked out from Huntsville and learned the turns of the road pretty well. The grounds, with its then fourteen line large oaks, from which Oakwood got its name, always loomed in welcome sight as l neared the end of the tiresome walk carrying my suitcase. ln later years the approach by automobile was no less welcome as one could note something new being added. The name of Anna Knight should be mentioned as that of a sound, sensible, and sincere supporter of the school and its interests. Besides her earnest and hard work in pioneering a school by herself, under most difficult conditions, she gave herself unsparingly to Oakwood's progress. As a member of the Board for many years, she by her counsel and influence has contributed much toward the school's welfare. Oonlining this sketchy account to the smaller beginnings of Oakwood, we must leave the bigger things for others to tell. Probably no one person can cover them all. l dare say no one can come anywhere near telling what Oakwood may yet accomplish. Louis A. HANSEN Takoma Park, lviaryland, March, 1946 X T . ru- 's I I1 I XX + 1653931 4 I Q . v r- '1'. i vi I 4 4 . f : EY- .Q E A1527 fl . l! . ,rpg