The American Missionary

In Short

This monthly periodical from the late 1870s details the nationwide financial, educational, and spiritual work of the American Missionary Association. Through regional reports, financial ledgers, administrative rosters, and opinion pieces, the publication documents efforts to build schools for freedmen in the American South, support missions in West Africa, track Indian demographics, and defend Chinese immigrants in California. The journal has endured as an irreplaceable historical record, preserving the voices of formerly enslaved students, field workers, and Northern organizers who sought to transform post-Civil War America through Christian benevolence, racial equality, and institutional literacy.

The Story

The volume opens with administrative details, financial receipts, and organizational lists that establish the wide reach of the American Missionary Association across the United States. Early pages record small donations alongside major bequests, establishing a narrative of grass-roots support. The focus quickly moves to the Reconstruction-era South, where northern educators and Southern freedmen collaborate to erect schools and churches despite persistent hardship, tragic building fires, and severe poverty. Newly freed men, women, and children scrape together their own meager earnings—giving away nickels, dimes, and single dollars—to support the Association's growing financial debt and rebuild essential facilities like Straight University and Emerson Institute.

The narrative scope then expands to global and national mission fields. It traces the providential opportunities of African evangelization, highlighting how mid-century explorations of the African continent matched major financial gifts to send black missionaries abroad. Reports from the Mendi Mission in West Africa describe the long, difficult sea voyage taken by new missionaries, their arrival in Sierra Leone, and their warm reception by local residents as they set up industrial schools and permanent stations.

Simultaneously, the journal turns its attention to broader socio-political debates regarding minority populations within North America. It surveys conflicting data on the post-war mortality rates of freedmen, pushing back against claims of their inevitable decline by emphasizing the robust health and high birth rates of Southern black children. In Western territories and coastal states, the journal tracks changing Native American population figures over decades while reporting on the legal and social persecution of Chinese immigrants in California. Arguments from white businessmen and church workers alike defend the Chinese against punitive taxes, highlighting their economic value, temperance, and openness to Christian schooling.

As the issue draws toward its conclusion, it brings readers back to the local level through direct communications from Southern field workers and former students. Excerpts from primary-school essays reveal young learners wrestling with basic grammar, moral duty, and scriptural lessons. The issue ends by laying out the Association’s formal constitution, asserting its standing prohibition against accepting the fruits of slave labor, and offering commercial advertisements for textbooks, machinery, and religious publications. Ultimately, the work concludes on a note of institutional permanence, offering a clear blueprint for expanding its circulation and maintaining its evangelical mission.

How It Unfolds

The network assembles The issue opens by introducing the leaders, vice presidents, executive committee members, and regional secretaries who direct the organization from its headquarters in New York.

Sacrifices from the South Reports highlight the heartfelt financial contributions coming directly from impoverished Southern freedmen, students, and local church groups eager to help clear the Association's mounting debt.

Venturing to West Africa Letters from newly assigned missionaries describe a perilous fifty-seven-day ocean voyage to Sierra Leone and their subsequent travel to establish permanent educational stations at Sherbro.

Rebuilding amid hardship Dispatches from Southern cities detail the construction of brick schools to replace burned facilities, describing overcrowded classrooms where cold winter winds test the resolve of dedicated teachers.

Defending vulnerable populations Statistical surveys and editorial notes refute theories about the decline of the black population while defending Chinese laborers in California against harsh discriminatory legislation.

Voices from the classroom Short essays written by former students illustrate the daily realities of mission schools, where young scholars reflect on kindness, church attendance, and their personal moral obligations.

The institutional charter The issue closes with the official constitution of the Association, defining its administrative rules, anti-slavery mandate, and commercial notices aimed at supporting its monthly publication.

The People

• Rev. M. E. Strieby serves as the Corresponding and Recording Secretary of the Association. He directs organizational communications, manages the flow of dispatches from regional secretaries, and coordinates the society's broader institutional strategy.
• Rev. G. S. Pope works as a leader in Tougaloo, Mississippi. He originates the idea of collecting small holiday donations from Southern field stations to help clear the central treasury's financial debt.
• Rev. Fletcher Clark leads a congregation in Selma, Alabama. He works to foster an encouraging, temperance-minded church community focused on organizing weekly women's prayer groups and supporting young men.
• General Armstrong writes for the Southern Workman from Hampton, Virginia. He uses demographic observations to refute claims that the black population is dying out, arguing instead for their resilience and vitality.
• Rev. Mr. Snelson acts as a newly arrived missionary to West Africa. He navigates severe sea sickness and transportation delays to reach Bonthe, eager to consult with fellow workers and begin mission operations.
• Peter S. Hancock is a student writing from a Fourth Reader class. He expresses his belief in the moral value of Sunday school while criticizing a classmate who callously killed a sparrow.

In Its Own Voice

"I will give a dollar for that, if I have to go without meat and bread for a week."

An elderly, impoverished Southern church member expresses his deep commitment to supporting the Association despite his own severe personal need.

"The sea is a bad road to ride. All of us were sick some, and Mr. and Mrs. Snelson, Mrs. James and Mrs. Pardoe’s little boy, we thought would not be able to make the voyage."

A newly assigned missionary describes the grueling physical toll of the two-month ocean passage taken by the mission band heading to Sierra Leone.

"Dat’s ’nough of dat story; dat ain’t so, kase if it was, de white man would a went dar long ago, and the niggers neber would hah known nuffin ’bout it."

A wise freedman in Louisiana skeptical of emigration promises rejects exaggerated claims about effortless living conditions waiting across the ocean in Africa.

What It's Really About

Beneath its administrative lists and mission field dispatches, the volume acts as an argument for the moral, intellectual, and civic capacity of marginalized races in post-Civil War America. The text insists that freed slaves, Native Americans, and Chinese immigrants are fully capable of spiritual growth, educational achievement, and self-governance when granted equal rights and Christian guidance.

The work also highlights the friction between systemic poverty and institutional ambition. By contrasting the immense wealth of Northern donors with the sacrificial nickels given by impoverished black children, the publication demonstrates how deeply invested the subjects of mission work were in their own uplifting. It frames racial justice not merely as a matter of political reform, but as an urgent evangelical duty that connects domestic reconstruction directly to global missionary enterprise.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers interested in Reconstruction-era history, the African American church, and nineteenth-century social reform will find this periodical a compelling primary document. Rather than offering a smoothed-over historical retrospective, it presents an immediate, unfiltered look at the logistical, financial, and racial realities of 1870s America. The text captures the authentic voices of historical actors ranging from prominent Northern abolitionists to newly literate Southern children writing their very first compositions.

Reading the volume requires patience with period administrative structures, itemized donor receipts, and outdated social language. The excerpts contain direct reflections of nineteenth-century paternalism, racial classifications, and localized dialect spellings that reflect the era's attitudes. Yet, these difficulties are counterbalanced by the collection's emotional authenticity and historical clarity. What stays with the reader is the profound determination of former slaves striving for literacy under harsh conditions, alongside the tireless efforts of field workers attempting to build a more equitable society through education and faith.