Americus Institute

File:Major W Reddick.jpg

The idea for a secondary school in Americus, Georgia designed to educate the African American youth of the area began in 1878 amongst the members of the Southwestern Colored Baptist Association.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}}{{refn|group=note|Also referred to as the "Southwestern Georgia Baptist Association".{{sfn|New Georgia Encyclopedia}}}} Americus was located in Georgia's Black Belt,{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=191}} with about 1 million African Americans living within {{convert|100|mi|km}} of the city.{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=509}} Despite the large population, the area lacked adequate educational facilities for African Americans.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=191}} Within a few years, the organization had raised roughly $1,300 in cash and had acquired about {{convert|17|acre|ha}} of land to serve as the school's campus.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}} However, by the 1890s, the money raised for the school had been mishandled and the size of the campus had shrunk significantly.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}}{{refn|group=note|Sources vary on the size of the school at this time, with one source stating a size of roughly {{convert|3|acre|ha}}{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}} and another stating a size of less than {{convert|2|acre|ha}}.{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=509}}}} Additionally, the initial enthusiasm for the school had subsided within the group.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}} Despite this, the school, known as Americus Institute, was officially founded in 1897.{{sfn|New Georgia Encyclopedia}}{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=509}} According to an article in the Southern Workman, the school's founders had three goals for the school:{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=509}}

1. To provide a thorough high-school education for Negro youth.
2. To develop a spirit of self-support in Negro education.
3. To stimulate friendly relationship between the races.

Major W. Reddick, a graduate from Atlanta Baptist College's first graduating class,{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=189}}{{sfn|Hartshorn|Penniman|1910|p=122}} served as the initial principal,{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}} with a total faculty of two.{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=509}}{{refn|group=note|This included both Reddick and an assistant of his.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}}}} The school held its first class on October 2, 1897,{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}} with nine students in a small two-room cottage.{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=509}} In its first year of existence, the owners of the school donated roughly $400 for the school's maintenance.{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=510}}

In the years following its establishment, the school grew steadily.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}} The two-room cottage was expanded with additional rooms and a second floor, and a dining hall and dormitories for boys and girls were also built on the campus.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=190}} By 1907, the faculty had grown to eight, of whom seven had had professional training in education and six had graduated from Spelman Seminary.{{sfn|Sale|1907|pp=190–191}} Additionally, the number of students had increased to 175 students from Southwest Georgia and Florida.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=191}} That same year, on April 11, one of the dormitories was destroyed in a fire, with Reddick requesting $10,000 in donations to help improve the school.{{sfn|Sale|1907|p=192}} By 1908, the school had 193 students,{{sfn|Hartshorn|Penniman|1910|p=370}} and in May of that year, noted African American leader Booker T. Washington spoke at the school.{{sfn|Anderson|2016}} By 1909, the school was one of 26 that received financial support from the American Baptist Home Mission Society.{{sfn|Hartshorn|Penniman|1910|p=132}} The school's annual expenses at this time were about $8,500, while the value of the school's property was about $21,000.{{sfn|Hartshorn|Penniman|1910|p=74}} In a report from Atlanta Baptist College President George Sale, he spoke highly of the school during this time, stating, "No institution I know of bids so fair to become a great academy for Negro pupils as Americus".{{sfn|Hartshorn|Penniman|1910|p=122}}

File:Students at Americus.jpg

In 1917, the school was covered in a report published by the United States Office of Education, which had visited the school in both November 1913 and February 1916.{{sfn|United States Office of Education|1917|p=243}} In their report, the office stated that the school "serves as a central institution in which pupils may supplement the training received in the rural schools".{{sfn|United States Office of Education|1917|p=241}} Additionally, they noted that the school's "good management is seriously handicapped by lack of funds".{{sfn|United States Office of Education|1917|p=242}} The school at this time had 14 teachers and 98 students, though the enrollment for the entire year was 200.{{sfn|United States Office of Education|1917|p=242}} As part of the office's conclusions for the school, they recommended that more emphasis be placed on industrial education and that the school needed additional financial support.{{sfn|United States Office of Education|1917|p=242}}

File:Americus Institute historical marker.jpg

By 1921, the school, with an enrollment of 229 students,{{sfn|Negro Year Book|1922|p=278}} was receiving funding from the General Education Board.{{sfn|Negro Year Book|1922|p=260}} Additional funding from this time came from the school's {{convert|153|acre|ha}} farm, which generated a net profit of $1,387 in 1922.{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=509}} While the school continued to promote a curriculum of practice over theory, many students from Americus matriculated to some of the best historically black colleges and universities in the country.{{sfn|Southern Workman|1923|p=509}} By 1929, the school became one of five secondary schools to become affiliated with Morehouse College (the new name of Atlanta Baptist College).{{sfn|Brackney|2008|p=182}} The school filed for bankruptcy in 1930{{sfn|Butler Herald|1930|p=22}} and permanently closed in 1932.{{sfn|New Georgia Encyclopedia}} The city purchased the property in 1934 to build a new African American high school.{{sfn|The Atlanta Constitution|1934|p=12}}

A historical marker now stands on the former grounds of the school.{{sfn|New Georgia Encyclopedia}} In February 2020, as part of Black History Month celebrations, the Americus Welcome Center held a tour of the city that highlighted locations of importance to the city's African American history, with Americus Institute being included on the tour.{{sfn|Jones|2020}}

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{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

• {{Cite web|last=Anderson|first=Alan|date=November 21, 2016|orig-date=July 18, 2003|title=Americus|url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/americus/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226015801/https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/americus/|archive-date=February 26, 2022|access-date=March 1, 2022|website=New Georgia Encyclopedia}}
• {{Cite news |date=December 3, 1934 |title=New Negro School |pages=12 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/398099654/?terms=%22Americus%20Institute%22&match=1 |via=Newspapers.com |ref={{harvid|The Atlanta Constitution|1934}}}}
• {{Cite book|last=Brackney|first=William H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wq8w4rJ4Am8C|title=Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education|publisher=Mercer University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-88146-130-5|location=Macon, Georgia|author-link=William H. Brackney}}
• {{Cite news |date=December 11, 1930 |title=State News Summary |pages=22 |work=Butler Herald |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/georgia/butler/butler-herald/1930/12-11/page-22/ |location=Butler, Georgia|ref={{harvid|Butler Herald|1930}}}}
• {{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/eraofprogresspro00hart_0|title=An Era of Progress and Promise, 1863–1910: The Religious, Moral, and Educational Development of the American Negro since his Emancipation|publisher=The Priscilla Publishing Company|year=1910|editor-last=Hartshorn|editor-first=W. N.|editor-link=William N. Hartshorn|location=Boston|editor-last2=Penniman|editor-first2=George W.}}
• {{Cite web|last=Jones|first=Alex|date=February 17, 2020|title=Black History Trolley Tour gives you a glimpse of African-American history in Americus|url=https://www.wtvm.com/2020/02/17/black-history-trolley-tour-gives-you-glimpse-african-american-history-americus/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301190528/https://www.wtvm.com/2020/02/17/black-history-trolley-tour-gives-you-glimpse-african-american-history-americus/|archive-date=March 1, 2022|access-date=March 1, 2022|website=WTVM}}
• {{Cite web|last=McCarthur|first=Georgia|date=February 16, 2020|title=African-American tour explores Americus' historic past|url=https://www.walb.com/2020/02/16/african-american-tour-explores-americus-historic-past/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229042415/https://www.walb.com/2020/02/16/african-american-tour-explores-americus-historic-past/|archive-date=February 29, 2020|access-date=March 1, 2022|website=WALB}}
• {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHLXAAAAMAAJ|title=Negro Year Book: An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1921–1922|publisher=Negro Year Book Publishing Company|year=1922|location=Tuskegee, Alabama|ref={{harvid|Negro Year Book|1922}}}}
• {{Cite web|others=Image from Michael Rivera|title=Americus Institute|url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/americus-institute_001.jpg|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301181341/https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/americus/m-3154/|archive-date=March 1, 2022|access-date=March 1, 2022|website=New Georgia Encyclopedia|ref={{harvid|New Georgia Encyclopedia}}}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Sale|first=George|date=May 1907|title=Americus Institute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjXPAAAAMAAJ|journal=The Baptist Home Mission Monthly|publisher=American Baptist Home Mission Society|volume=XXIX|issue=5|pages=189–192}}
• {{Cite journal |date=October 1923 |title=Americus Institute |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fJNAAAAMAAJ |journal=Southern Workman |location=Hampton, Virginia |publisher=Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute |pages=508–510|ref={{harvid|Southern Workman|1923}}}}
• {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hoFKAAAAYAAJ|title=Negro Education: A Study of the Private and Higher Schools for Colored People in the United States|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|others=United States Office of Education|year=1917|volume=II|location=Washington, D.C.|ref={{harvid|United States Office of Education|1917}}}}

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• {{Commons category-inline|Americus Institute}}

Category:1897 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:1932 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:African-American history of Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Baptist schools in the United States

Category:Christian schools in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Defunct Christian schools in the United States

Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 1932

Category:Educational institutions established in 1897

Category:Schools in Sumter County, Georgia