Johnson C Smith University - Golden Bull Yearbook (Charlotte, NC)

Page 13 text:

Front row, left to right President D. J. Sanders; Back row, left to right - THE FACULTY — 1891-92 First Predominantly Negro Faculty W. F. W. M. Frierson; G. E. Davis; Brool s: J, C. Johnson; Hargrave; S. B. Pride; G. Carson; H. A. Hunt; A. P. Bissell; F. C. Mabry. (When Dr. Sanders was elected President all the white staff with the exception of Dr. Bissell resigned.) These men were hurriedly trained becau.se the need was urgent. Their training, however, was at the hands of well tutored, consecrated, and dedi- cated instructors. They captured the spirit of their tutors and in turn Kave their best in the same spirit to the eager men who came to the Hill-top, glad to learn and glad to teach.

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In 1891, the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., elected Reverend Daniel J. Sanders, a Negro, to the Office of Pres- ident of the Institution. This step caused no little controversy in Church annals but the Board was adamant. One of the first significant projects of the new administration was to provide adequate library facilities for the Institution and through negotia- tion with Mr. Andrew Carnegie, a fund raising campaign was begun immediately to match the provisional gift of $12,500. A substantial dormitory for men was also a vital necessity. This was made possible by a gift from Mrs. Mary A. Carter of Geneva, New York. In 1896, The Freedmen ' s Board of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. estimated the total value of the Institution, thirteen buildings and grounds, to be $12.5,000. After sixteen years of cre- ative leadership. President Sanders died on March 6, 1907 and was succeeded by Reverend Henry L. McCrorey. i Dr. Daniel Jackson Sanders, 1891 - 1907 Dr. Sanders was born February 15. 1847 near Winnsboro, South Carolina on the plantation of Thomas Hall, a Methodist minister, to whom his mother was enslaved. When the master died, his estate including his slaves, was sold to Major Samuel Barkley, the owner of Dr. Sander ' s father. The family was thus brought together under one master, w here they re- mained until the Emancipation Proclamation was declared. The Sanders ' son was given the rudiments of education in the Barkley home for at the age of sixteen he had acquired considerable learning and was a skilled boot and shoemaker. After over-coming many difficulties, he was brought to Brainerd Institute, Chester, South Caro- lina, where his academic and leadership abilities soon became known. In 1870, he was licensed to preach by Fairfield Presbytery and in 1871 he enrolled in Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pennsyl- vania, from which he graduated with prizes in He- brew and Sanscrit three years later. Immediately after graduating in 1874, he went to Wilmington, North Carolina and began a career of church and school work which Lincoln University rewarded with honorary degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Divinity. After sixteen years at the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, he resigned to go abroad in the interest of the Board of Missions for Freedmen ' s Program of Education. In 1879, he began publishing The Africo-American Presby- terian and broujrht it with him to Charlotte when he was elected President of Biddle.

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1 he University Printing Press On January 1. 1879, The Africo-American I ' res- byterian, a religious and educational journal, was started in Wilmington, North Carolina by Reverend Daniel J. Sanders, as a semi-monthly publication. Three months later. Reverend Sanders bought the goodwill of The Southern Evangelist, merged their purposes and consolidated their subscription lists. The Southern Evangelist, was, itself, the result of a previous merger. During the spring of 1874, Reverend J. H. Shedd, Biddle Professor, began pub- lishing a monthly folio, 6 x 10 inches, called The Christian Freedr ' en, devoted to the interest of Chris- tian Education and the Presbyterian wc.k among Freedmen. In 1875, one year later, The Christian Freedmen was merged with The Southern Evan- gelist, which was started in 1869 by Mr. W. A. Pat- ton of Charleston, South Carolina and Professor Shedd ana published in Charleston. When Dr. Sanders effected a merger of The South- ern Evangelist and The Afrito-. merican I ' resbj - terian. The Christian Freedman became a full-blown, three-in-one Christian journal. When I)i-. Sander came to Biddle in 1891, he brought with him the three-in-one journal thus returning the merged Christian Freedman back to its birthplace. Mr. W. E. Hii:, Sr., As.sociate Editor of The Africo- American Presbyterian came with Dr. Sanders to Biddle and assumed a greater portion of the busi- ness of publication for the campus. Among the invaluable and worthy contributors to The Africo-American Presbyterian was the Rever- end William L. Metz, The Sage of Edisto Island who will be long remembered, among many things of scholarly value, for the series of articles pub- lished by the Journal under the title of Blazers and Chips.