The American Missionary

In Short

This volume is a monthly issue of an organizational periodical, documenting the educational and religious initiatives of the American Missionary Association in the spring of 1889. It serves as both a progress report and a solicitation for funds, offering a window into the era’s missionary philosophy. By detailing the establishment of schools, the dedication of buildings, and the daily lives of teachers and students, the work captures a pivotal moment in the post-Civil War reconstruction of American social and educational life, preserved as a record of historical advocacy.

The Story

The narrative arc of the volume begins with an urgent editorial appeal regarding the "remedy" for illiteracy and social instability in the South. The Association argues that Northern resources—both financial and pedagogical—are essential for the moral and intellectual uplift of newly emancipated African Americans. The discourse shifts from high-level institutional policy to the granular details of field operations: the dedication of new buildings, the arrival of school organs, and the specific challenges faced by missionaries in locations ranging from rural Georgia to the Dakota territories.

Central to this progression is the recurring tension between the scale of the need and the inadequacy of current resources. The writers emphasize that a population of eight million people requires a massive, sustained influx of support, framing this not merely as charity but as a national imperative for the security of the republic. As the account moves into the experiences of specific missionaries, the story becomes one of incremental progress: a small school in Alabama flourishes, a new high school in Nashville graduates its first class, and students demonstrate academic growth that challenges prevailing racial prejudices.

The account also pivots to the American West, detailing efforts among Native American communities at reservations such as S'kokomish. Here, the narrative centers on communal integration, temperance, and the introduction of Western-style schooling. Simultaneously, the text explores the "Chinese problem" on the Pacific Coast, arguing that the only moral solution to anti-Chinese sentiment is the "Christianization" of the immigrant population. The volume concludes with a comprehensive financial audit, grounding the preceding idealism in the hard reality of bookkeeping. The ledger lists thousands of individual donations—small-town church collections, personal contributions from "old-time friends," and large bequests—all directed toward the maintenance of the Association’s network. The final image left with the reader is of a vast, decentralized web of human effort, where the donation of a barrel of clothing or a few dollars for student aid is elevated to a crucial component in a larger project of national reform.

How It Unfolds

The call to action The editorial board establishes the primary objective: the North’s moral obligation to provide education and religious instruction to the South. They highlight the staggering illiteracy rates and the failure of existing public funds to provide for religious or moral training.

The institutional struggle Reports from field superintendents describe the constant pressure of limited facilities and the difficulty of managing independent local school enterprises. They advise Northern donors to exercise extreme caution before funding local schools that lack oversight or financial stability.

Voices from the field Individual missionaries share accounts of their daily work, which includes everything from teaching sewing and temperance to conducting religious services. These vignettes demonstrate the versatile, often overwhelming demands placed upon those living in remote or impoverished stations.

The bridge to integration The text highlights milestones such as the graduation of the first colored high school class in Nashville, which followed the same curriculum as white schools. This serves as a rhetorical tool to argue that racial prejudice is softening under the influence of persistent, practical education.

Expanding the mission The focus shifts briefly to Native American reservations, where teachers use community feasts and holiday celebrations to build rapport. These reports emphasize the success of schooling in fostering cleanliness and "proper" habits among the youth.

The final accounting The volume concludes with extensive lists of financial receipts and donors. This section serves as a testament to the collective nature of the movement, mapping the geographical reach of the Association’s base of support.

The People

The figures in these pages are divided between the institutional leadership—secretaries and committee members operating out of New York—and the field missionaries working in the South and West. Rev. M.E. Strieby and his fellow secretaries serve as the voices of the organization, drafting arguments that frame their work as a struggle for the soul of the nation. In contrast, figures like the unnamed "colored missionary teacher" in North Carolina exemplify the grassroots dedication of the movement; she is depicted as a person of deep conviction, choosing to donate a tenth of her modest salary to further the Association’s cause.

Field workers such as Prof. Frank G. Woodworth and Mrs. T.L. Riggs are presented as heroic, self-sacrificing agents. They are the ones navigating the "volcanic upheavals" of the South or the isolation of the Dakota frontier. They act as mediators between the donor class of the North and the communities they serve. Finally, the "donors" themselves appear as a collective character—the "old-time friend" at eighty-one years of age or the "little sunbeams" of local church societies—who are portrayed as the backbone of the movement. Their participation is not just financial; it is a personal connection to the mission, and they are encouraged to see their contributions as part of a grand, historically significant effort to redefine the American character.

In Its Own Voice

"We have a Negro population of eight millions, which has doubled in the last twenty years, and increases at the rate of six hundred per day--requiring, if adequately supplied, the founding of a new Fisk University or Talladega College every twenty-four hours."

This passage from the editorial section illustrates the overwhelming sense of urgency the Association felt regarding the scale of the crisis they were attempting to address.

"When a man has lived for ten years in the South, he will begin to see how deeply rooted and immovably imbedded in the Southern mind is the sentiment of inborn contempt for the Negro."

In a reflection on the progress of his decade of work, a missionary offers this candid assessment of the cultural resistance his schools faced.

What It's Really About

At its core, the book is an argument for the role of private, religious-based philanthropy in solving systemic national problems. It proceeds from the assumption that the government’s failure to adequately educate all citizens—specifically the formerly enslaved and indigenous peoples—must be corrected by the benevolent, organized efforts of Northern Congregationalists. The text grapples with the "Negro problem" and the "Indian problem" through the lens of paternalistic, moralizing reform. It poses a fundamental question: Can a divided nation be unified through the aggressive spread of Protestant, middle-class values? The answers provided are rooted in a firm, if dated, belief that education and religious instruction are the primary, perhaps only, vehicles for achieving social stability and racial progress.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in the history of American social reform, the origins of the private school system in the post-Reconstruction South, or the sociology of religious philanthropy will find this volume deeply illuminating. It is a dense, repetitive, and often didactic read, reflecting the specific stylistic conventions of 19th-century periodical literature. A contemporary reader must be prepared for the period-specific attitudes, which are often paternalistic and reflect the racial hierarchies of the era. The text does not shy away from the harsh realities of the time, such as the overt prejudice in the South or the restrictive labor conditions in California, but it interprets these through a lens of moralizing optimism that feels distant from modern sensibilities.

What lingers after reading is the sheer logistical magnitude of the effort: the thousands of small, personal acts of charity aggregated into a massive, nationwide network. You will walk away with a vivid understanding of how deeply embedded the concept of "mission" was in the American civic consciousness of the late 1800s. While the dialect used in the "doctrinal sermon" and the occasional moralizing tone may pose challenges to a modern reader, the book provides an unfiltered look at the language, anxieties, and ambitions of a society in the midst of a profound, painful, and unfinished reconstruction.