The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1908 no. 179

              Number 179                                      Atlanta, Georgia                                  February, 1908 Gleanings from the Inauguration Exercises Dr. Hall on Negro Education Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall has twice had the distinguished honor of the Haskell lectureship, which has taken him to India to deliver courses of lectures on the Christian religion. In his opening remarks as presiding officer of the inauguration exercises, he gave expression to certain convictions which have grown out of his experience with the races in India. He firmly believes that each race has its peculiar mission in the fulfilment of God's purposes for His kingdom on earth. There is a certain parallel between the Indian and the Negro races, each having been for fifty years under the influence of English education and training. All that is best and most noble of English literature and culture has been, through the government schools, placed within the reach of the educated Indian. The same is true, through the service of institutions like Atlanta University, with reference to the educated Negro in America. Dr. Hall has observed that as a result of his English education the Indian is not less but more loyal to the traditions of his own race and people. He is more of an Indian than ever. Carrying out this idea with reference to the Negro race in America, he believes that the highest opportunities of education should be given to them in order that they may have the greatest incentive and encouragement in contributing to civilization those things which, by inheritance and nature, they are better able to contribute than any other race. Being, as they are in this country, a nation within a nation, they should attempt to realize their own national possibilities and constantly develop and increase racial self-dependence and racial self-respect. The Bond of Unity Pres. James G. Merrill, speaking on behalf of sister institutions, expressed the common purpose of these institutions and Atlanta University in the figure of a cord with three strands, by which we are all bound together. The first strand is belief in the education of the whole man, the cultivation of the head, the hand and  the  heart;  the second strand, loyalty to humanity, which means a full recognition of the brotherhood of man, but which does not prevent a belief in the aristocracy of learning. "The third strand in this threefold cord," said President Merrill, "is our loyalty to Jesus Christ; not the Christ perhaps Of our fathers, who knew Him as divine and ignored His humanity; not perhaps the Christ of today, where the emphasis has been placed upon His humanity, but the Christ who is both God and man, whose name is inscribed upon all our institutions of learning, whose power is felt not only in Atlanta University but in all her sister institutions as the source of all modern learning." Education of Individuals Chancellor David C. Barrow of the University of Georgia addressing his remarks as an old teacher, to President Ware as a young teacher, reminding him that the mortality of college presidents was greater than that of any other profession, urged him to take care of his health, and amidst his endless duties, to cultivate the spirit of serenity and peace. He concluded with the following advice, in view of the peculiar problems which confront the teachers of the Negro race, "Don't let any theory about the race question come into your dealing with your pupils. What they need is to realize that they are individuals. Whatever you do, recognize the individual. Don't undertake to educate a race, a class, a section of a class. Educate the individual in your school. That is what I want you to do." Yale University to Atlanta University New Haven, Conn., Dec. 19, 1907. To the Board of Trustees, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia. Gentlemen: Yale University sends its special greeting to you on the occasion of the inauguration of the Rev. Edward Twichell Ware as President. Yale has always taken a special interest, in Atlanta owing to the fact that both its first President, Rev Edmund Asa Ware, and his successor, Rev. Horace Bum-stead, D. D., were honored , graduates. The University is glad to feel that this special reason for interest is to be continued because of the election of Rev. Edward Twichell Ware, a graduate of Yale in the Class of 1897, as Dr. Bum-stead's successor. The authorities of the University sincerely hope and believe that Atlanta will have a successful administration under the new president and that it will continue to be a powerful force in the upbuilding of the people to whose development it is consecrated. I am, in behalf of the University, Very truly yours, Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr., Sec. Through some unaccountable oversight in the list of institutions represented at the inauguration, Hampton Institute was omitted. We were delighted to have with us, as the representative of Hampton on that occasion, Mr. William Scoville, the son-in-law of Gen. Armstrong. An Institutional Church for Atlanta The Saturday evening talk, January 11th, was given by Rev. H. H. Proctor, D.D., of the First Congregational Church in this city. He recently returned from a successful trip in the North, the purpose of which was to complete a fund of $25,000 for the erection of an institu- tional church. One of the most encouraging features of his effort is the fact that over half of the money needed has been subscribed by the citizens of Atlanta, a large part of it by the members of his own church. The building, soon to be erected, will be provided with all of the facilities of an up-to-date institutional church and it is expected that hundreds of the young people of the Negro race will by this means be diverted from places of evil influence and have all their energies directed in wholesome and uplifting channels. When Dr. Proctor left on his trip for the North he remarked that over half of his congregation were Atlanta University people, and in many places he has found that this fact has quickened the interest of his audiences. We have a natural pride in the success of this church, whose history from its establishment has been so closely connected with that of Atlanta University.