Journal of Communication Studies
Volume 19, 1, Fall 2002
Quakers and African-American Education in the Arkansas Delta:
The Role of Rhetoric at Southland College and Normal Institute,
1902-1910
Elisabeth Olsson*
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
As part of the trivium, rhetoric was at the core of the curriculum in the colleges in British colonial America and the early national period in the United States, educating privileged white males in the Classical tradition of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintillian as well as in the 18th century texts of Campbell, Whately, and Blair.
However, in late 19th and early 20th century America, rhetorical instruction grew in popularity, and its impact reached far beyond the traditional white male university student to "the general populace" (Kates 53). The importance of rhetorical instruction was particularly significant within African-American communities throughout the nation; politically disfranchised and silenced, African Americans recognized the value of rhetorical practice and seized the opportunity to develop a persuasive style that could aid in their efforts to enhance their political and social status in America.
Interest in elocution also was high at the turn of the century, and it was a popular form of public entertainment within both white and African-American communities; plays were performed, poems recited, and essays read at places ranging from "parlors, clubs, and churches" (Kates 53). Within black communities, excluded from much of the public sphere of the larger society, such venues also presented a more rare but much valued opportunity for practicing rhetorical skills in addition to the entertainment value.
In Arkansas, African-American students at Southland College and Normal Institute were offered a unique opportunity to be educated in rhetoric rather than elocution. This important phenomenon in both Arkansas history and in the history of communication education has either been overlooked or ignored in the academic literature, and this essay contributes to our knowledge by filling that scholarly void.
Education in rhetoric, however, was not a pressing issue when a small group of Indiana Quakers, together with the Freedmen's Bureau, established Southland in 1864.1 Located near Helena, Arkansas, the school first operated as an "'Orphan Asylum'" (Bellis and Fransisco 5), meeting the needs of "a large number of lost and abandoned black children" (Kennedy 209) in the aftermath of the Civil War.2 A rudimentary curriculum was soon incorporated into the daily routine at Southland, and in 1869 a normal course was added in order to meet the pressing need for African-American teachers. The school acquired college status in 1873, and awarded a total of sixty-seven diplomas for bachelor's degrees and almost four hundred teaching certificates before closing its doors in 1925.
By 1884 the curriculum at "Arkansas' first private institution of higher education for African Americans" (Olsson 3) had expanded to include instruction in rhetoric in addition to such subjects as "science, natural history, German, Latin, .and Greek" (Kennedy 213). All college freshmen were required to take a course in rhetoric, which was intended to prepare them for their sophomore year of study (Catalogue 1910-1911 18). It is significant to note that rhetoric was taught in addition to English and elocution at Southland. Only a few colleges such as Harvard and Yale included rhetoric as a subject separate from English throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (Hochmuth and Murphy 153-177). For example, speech training at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, according to Rea, included only courses in elocution and oratory in the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century (1-3). 3
It is not surprising that the Quakers at Southland should place emphasis on rhetorical training. Having been on the frontline of social reform since the late seventeenth century, the Quakers had developed a strong rhetorical tradition through political involvement in causes such as abolition and education for Native Americans and African Americans. 4 In addition, African Americans recognized the importance of public speech to attain equality, and Finley explains that "blacks organized . debating clubs . and equal rights leagues throughout the South" (65), suggesting that Southland students were keenly aware of the importance of sound rhetorical training as well as public speaking opportunities.
Southland freshmen learned to develop persuasive arguments and debating tactics from Gardiner, Kittredge & Arnold's Manual of Composition and Rhetoric, and students were "required to make practical application of the principles learned" (Catalogue, 1910-1911 18). Although effective writing strategies were included in the text, the 1907 edition of the text provides instructions for effective debate strategies as well. Students were instructed to ensure that the question slated for debate was indeed debatable, and the importance of studying both sides of the question to be debated was addressed as well.
The text also discuss appropriate topics for debate, suggesting, "the most profitable subjects for debate are questions of policy . [because they] include innumerable questions which are intelligible and interesting to a great variety of persons; and they call into play both the reasoning powers of the debaters and their persuasive skills" (Gardiner et al 243). The authors then suggest that "those subjects are the best for debate which lie within the experience of the debaters or touch their actual interests" (Gardiner et al 243).
In 1884, the Quaker leadership hired a former Southland student, George W. Bell to teach rhetoric at the school.5 Bell, a Lincoln University graduate who from 1890 to 1894 served as Arkansas state senator for the seventeenth district,6 was recognized as a powerful orator and led the opposition of the now-famed Tillman bill, or separate coach law introduced in 1891 (Gatewood 222).7
Whether or not Southland students practiced debating in the classroom under the tutelage of Bell is not known; however, evidence suggests that they practiced both their public speaking and rhetorical skills in debates when attending meetings of the Sterge Clarksonian Literary Society.
The Sterge (sic) Clarksonian Literary Society was established Dec. 12, 1902, at Southland College with the purpose of promoting a "literary culture among its members and the obtainment of parliamentary drill" (SCLS ledger 27).8 Membership was open to "any student in the Normal or College course," and faculty members were allowed to become honorary members (SCLS 27). The Society ledger dated 1902 to 1910 delineates the organizational structure of the society and lists a range of activities, which, unfortunately, are not always described in great detail. The paucity of in-depth description, however, does not pose a significant challenge if analyzed in relation to Quaker history as well as the cultural location of Southland students. Thus, a careful analysis of the Literary Society can yield a wealth of information regarding the political and social concerns of Southland students.
According to the Society by-laws, under no "circumstances shall any disputant be entitled to the floor more than once during the debates, unless for personal explanations, or by permission of the majority of the members present" (SCLS 31). The time allotted for each speech was not to "exceed twelve minutes unless by consent of the society, and the closing speech on the affirmative . [was] .limited to seven minutes" (SCLS 31). After both sides had presented their arguments, three judges gave their decision. Two of the judges were "chosen respectively by the debators [sic] on the affirmative and by the debators [sic] on the negative" (SCLS 31). The two judges already selected chose the third judge (SCLS 31). The opportunity to serve on the debate team and at other times as judge certainly gave students a chance to evaluate the art of argumentation from two perspectives, adding valuable insight as to what debate strategy seemed to be the most persuasive.
The name of the Society itself is significant as it reflects the Quaker rhetorical tradition in relation to abolition. Quaker historian Thomas Hamm agrees that the Society was named in honor of Thomas Clarkson and Joseph Sturge, both of whom were very active abolitionists during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (Hamm, e-mail). Clarkson (1760-1846), an English non-Quaker, led a crusade against the African slave trade from the 1780s and joined forces with the Quakers in 1787 in an effort to further the abolitionist cause (Punshon 168). A prolific writer, Clarkson produced numerous essays and pamphlets condemning the slave trade, urging statesmen on both sides of the Atlantic to abolish slavery. 9 Also an Englishman, Sturge (1793-1859) was a well-known Quaker abolitionist who supported many charitable causes financially,10 most notably adult education and increased educational opportunities for African Americans (Punshon 186-187).
Two of the three debates recorded in the society ledger reflect the spirit of both Sturge and Clarkson.11 On Nov. 13, 1903, the debate asked participants to resolve if "the Indian has received worse treatment from the hand of the white man than the Negro has" (SCLS 57). Only two students participated in the debate, Ernest C. Newsome arguing the affirmative and Moses G. Weaver for the negative (SCLS 57).12
Two points of interest regarding the issue to resolve are worthy of additional comment. First, the fact that students chose to focus on American Indians illustrates that they were concerned with other minorities' relationship to the white power structure, not just their own unique cultural experience. Secondly, it shows that students were aware of Quaker political and social history concerning Native Americans, providing students with examples of persuasive arguments for equality.
The Quakers and Native American relations go back as far as to the colonial period. As always, "Quakers tried to be just in their dealings with various tribes of American Indians and to influence the colonial governments to do likewise" (Bacon 124). Concerned for the well being of Native Americans, "Friends always.sought to prevent them from being cheated, legally or illegally" (Punshon 177), often representing them at treaty signings and in court (Bacon 124). By 1796, Friends "had begun to set up missions to protect . [and] . educate the Indians left in reservations as the frontier rolled westward" (Punshon 177). Quaker influence on government policy regarding Native American issues varied over the years; President Ulysses Grant "took the imaginative step of calling on the Society of Friends . to supervise many of the Indian reservations and treaty areas" which had been established after the Indian Wars of the 1850s and 1860s (Punshon 178). Under President Hayes, however, Friends were no longer allowed to continue their work among the Native Americans. Despite this setback, Friends continued to argue for better treatment of Native Americans. Thus Quaker rhetoric regarding Native American issues-albeit unsuccessful in the end-was well known to Southland students who surely drew upon the rich rhetorical tradition of the Quakers throughout the debate.
The second debate of interest occurred on Feb. 12, 1904, and its topic was of even more significance to Southland students. The debate on the table that evening was to resolve "That Lincoln's desire to preserve the union exceeded his desire to free the slaves" (SCLS 69). Four students debated the issue: Lily C. Jones and Emmitt Burke for the affirmative, and Mattie Burke and Grant T. Thomas for the negative (SCLS 69).13
The political undertone of the Lincoln debate was significant as it brings to light the different motives of the president credited with abolishing slavery and the Quakers. As already mentioned, the Quakers were avid abolitionists and worked relentlessly to convince others through both lectures and essays that slavery was indeed immoral. Hamm explains that the Quakers "were concerned about the outrages and hardships . slaves suffered" (10); however, "at the heart of the Quaker antislavery protest lay concerns for purity and responsibility. Slavery was an abomination for the slave . [because].it deprived slaves of the freedom to work out their lives according to the light within them" (10). Thus, the Quakers' motives for their involvement in the abolitionist movement were grounded in their religious beliefs. The ideological basis for their involvement in the anti-slavery campaign certainly explains their seemingly endless energies involving the matter; the Society of Friends was the first religious group to condemn slavery in America, and they also played a crucial role in the Underground Railroad. Indeed, many Quakers risked imprisonment and personal injury throughout their anti-slavery involvement. Their zealousness paid off, however, and they did meet with Lincoln in the hope of persuading him to not only free the slaves but end the Civil War as well.
Lincoln, however, had other motives for abolishing slavery in the Southern states. Lincoln's opposition to slavery was grounded in the argument that "if the nation could accept that blacks were not entitled to basic human rights, . then it could accept that other groups-immigrant laborers, for example-could be deprived of rights, too" (Brinkley 358). Thus Lincoln's belief rested on the notion that free labor was crucial to the nation's future. Instead of abolishing slavery, Lincoln argued, restricting it to the South would eventually lead to its extinction (Brinkley 358). Perhaps Southland students recognized the irony that "Abraham Lincoln, who was prepared to compromise slavery and go to war to preserve the Union . ended up the great emancipator" (Punshon 180).
The social and political concerns of Southland students are indeed revealed in the debates; moreover, the topics chosen for debate illustrate a keen awareness by the students of Quaker involvement with social reform. It is evident that the students as well as the Quakers recognized the power of rhetoric as a vehicle for social change and as an avenue to obtain political rights. The Literary Society played a large role in developing the students' public speaking skills, too; however, the Society did not remain active until Southland closed its doors in the spring of 1925. It is not known when the Society ceased to exist; it is described in the 1911-1912 Catalogue (12) but is not included in the 1923-24 Catalogue. It is important to note, however, that public speaking activities at Southland did not end with the demise of the Literary Society.
Oratorical contests, theatrical performances, and a number of visiting speakers provided both entertainment and an opportunity listen to others lecture on topics of social and political concerns to Southland students. Bell frequently visited the campus, and his political stance regarding racial equality and rhetorical skills undoubtedly exerted a powerful influence on the students. In 1923, L. Hollingsworth Wood, then president of the National Urban League, paid a two-day visit to Southland (News release). Also a Quaker, Wood was committed to the betterment of blacks (Weiss 154), and his visit illustrates the continued interest in political and social equality at Southland. Evidence also suggests that oratorical contests continued well into the 20th century; in 1924, Luella Bobo (Fig. 1) won an oratorical contest, and that same year the Southland Spring Fair and Exhibit presented the president of Helena Chamber of Commerce, Mr. E. C. Hornor, as a speaker (Fig. 2).
Fig. 1. Luella Bobo, winner of the Oratorical Contest, 1924. Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Fig. 2. Mr. E. C. Hornor, president of Helena Chamber of Commerce speaking at Southland Spring Fair and Exhibit, 1924. Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Evidence suggest that Southland students were taught the art of persuasion rather than only elocution, and the continued efforts to bring speakers to Southland's campus illustrates that the interest in public speaking did not disappear with the demise of the Literary Society. Preliminary research indicates that public speech was part of the curriculum at Pine Bluff as well, suggesting a correlation between African-American education and rhetorical instruction in Arkansas. Future research could confirm and enrich the claims of this study by comparing rhetorical education at Southland College with that provided to blacks at Philander Smith College, a Methodist institution at Little Rock, and Branch Normal College at Pine Bluff. 14
Works Cited
Bacon, Margaret H. The Quiet Rebels: The Story of the Quakers in America. New York: Basic Books, 1969.
Bellis, Edward and Charles A. Francisco. Southland College, 1864-1895. Richmond, IN: Nicholson Printing and Mfg., 1895.
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.
Catalogue of Southland College and Normal institute, 1898. Southland College. Papers (MC 577), series 8, box 16. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Catalogue of Southland College and Normal Institute, 1911-1912. Southland College Papers (MC 577), series 8, box 16. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Catalogue of the University of Arkansas, 1902-1903. Mullins Library, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Catalogue of the University of Arkansas, 1903-1904. Mullins Library, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Clarkson, Thomas. A Portraiture of Quakerism. New York: Samuel Stansbury, 1806.
Du Bois, W. E. B. "How Negroes Have Taken Advantage of Educational Opportunities Offered by Friends." The Journal of Negro Education 7: 2 (April, 1938): 124-131.
Finley, Randy. From Slavery to Uncertain Freedom: The Freedmen's Bureau in Arkansas, 1865-1869. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1996.
Gardiner, John H., Kittredge, George L. Kittredge and Sarah L Arnold. Manual of Composition and Rhetoric. Boston: Ginn & Co., 1907.
Gatewood Jr., Willard B. "Negro Legislators in Arkansas, 1891: A Document." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 31: 3 (1972): 220-225.
Hamm, Thomas D. "Sterge Clarksonian Literary Society." E-mail to Elisabeth Olsson. 7 July, 2000.
-----. The Transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800-1907. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1988.
Hochmuth, Marie and Richard Murphy."Rhetorical and Elocutionary Training In Nineteenth-Century Colleges." History of Speech Education in America. Ed. Karl R. Wallace. New York: Appleton, 1954. 153-177.
Kates, Susan. "Elocution and African American Culture: The Pedagogy of Hallie Quinn Brown." Activist Rhetorics and American Higher Education, 1885-1937. 53-74. Southern Illinois UP, 2002.
Kennedy, Thomas C. "Another Kind of Emigrant: Quakers in the Arkansas Delta, 1864-1925." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 55: 2 (1996): 199-220.
-----. "Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 41:2 (1983): 207-238.
News releases, 1923. Southland College Papers (MC 577), series 1, box 2. Special Collections, Mullins Library, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Olsson, Elisabeth. A Sense of Place: The Development of Community Identity Among African Americans at Southland, Arkansas, 1864-1925. M.A. Thesis, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 2001.
Photograph of Luella Bobo, winner of the Oratorical Contest, 1924. Southland College Papers (MC 577), series 10, box 23, photograph number 55. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Photograph of Mr. E. C. Horner, President of Helena Chamber of Commerce speaking at Southland Spring Fair and Exhibit, 1924. Southland College Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Punshon, John. Portrait in Grey: A Short History of the Quakers. London: Quaker Home Service, 1984.
Rea, Richard G. "Ninety Years of Academic Growth of Speech Training at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville." Journal of Communication Studies, 1:2 (1983): 1-5.
Separate Coach Law. Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas. Morrilton, AR: Pilot Printing Co., 1891.
Sterge Clarksonian Literary Society ledger. Southland College Papers (MC 577), series 8, box 16. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
Weiss, Nancy J. The National Urban League, 1910-1940. New York: Oxford UP, 1974.
Williams, C. Fred et al. A Documentary History of Arkansas. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1984.
Notes
* Elisabeth Olsson (M.A., Anthropology, University of Arkansas) is a doctoral student in Environmental Dynamics at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. An earlier version of this article was developed in Methods of Communication Research.
1 The Indiana Quakers had "in 1863 created a Freedmen's Committee charged with caring for physical as well as educational and religious needs of ex-slaves in the Ohio-Mississippi Valley" (Olsson 3; also in Kennedy 208-209). The four-member group entering the Delta was led by Calvin and Alida Clark, who served as superintendent and matron at Southland College from its inception in 1864 to 1886 (Olsson 25, 63; Kennedy 236).
2 The school and orphanage opened in Helena in 1864 but was relocated in 1866 to a sparsely populated area nine miles north of Helena, near Lexa, Arkansas (Olsson 3). The decision to relocate the school was not based on racial tensions, according to documentary sources. The buildings housing the orphanage-school in Helena were to be returned to their original owners, and the Quakers asserted "the necessity of getting away form the influence of the town" (Catalogue of Southland College and Normal Institute 1898 4; Olsson 3).
3 The 1902-1903 Catalogue of the University of Arkansas lists rhetoric as a part of the English curriculum for second-year students (119).
4 W. E. B. Du Bois recognized the Quaker contribution to African-American education, stating that despite their focus on industrial education they always kept "the door of opportunity open for the individual Negro who showed unusual [academic] talent" (131).
5 In the midst of discontent among the local African-American population, Bell in 1885 brought charges against the Quaker management at Southland. An investigation by the Indiana Missionary Board cleared the Clarks of any wrong-doing (Kennedy 214).
6 The seventeenth senatorial district included Desha and Chicot counties.
7 Introduced by State Senator J. N. Tillman of Fayetteville, the bill was an effort to enact a separate coach law in Arkansas (Gatewood 221-222). It passed with a vote of 26 to 2 (Williams et al. 157) and was approved on February 23, 1891 (Separate Coach Law 17).
8 Three literary societies had been formed at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville by this date, of which only one allowed participation of "collegiate students of both sexes" (Catalogue 1903-1004 97). Here students performed plays, recited poems, and debates were also part of the literary societies' programs (98).
9 Clarkson also wrote a three-volume treatise on the Society of Friends, A Portraiture of Quakerism in an effort "to exhibit to the rest of the world many excellent customs [of the Quakers], of which they were ignorant but which it might be useful to them to know" (ii). Admiring the Quakers' strong beliefs regarding social injustices, Clarkson professed a need "to do them justice; for ignorance and prejudice had invented many expressions concerning them, to the detriment of their character, which their conduct never gave me reason to suppose, during all my intercourse with them, to be true" (ii). The Quakers admired Clarkson, too; many nineteenth-century American Friends named their sons Thomas Clarkson, and Hamm explains that Clarkson's treatise was circulated "as a definite description of Quakerism" (e-mail).
10 Sturge was instrumental in the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies, and worked tirelessly for the worldwide abolition of slavery. In 1841, Sturge gave an anti-slavery lecture tour of the United States, traveling together with the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, also a Quaker (Bacon 109).
11 One of the three debates, "Resolve that anxiety shortens life" (SCLS 41), is outside the scope of this paper and thus will not be discussed. The other two debates, however, indicates clearly the link between the social and political awareness of the students and Quaker social reform.
12 Both Newsome and Weaver graduated from the Normal department in 1902 and 1903, respectively (Catalogue 37).
13 Jones and Mattie Burke graduated from the Normal department in 1902, and both were listed as teachers residing at Southland, Arkansas, in the 1911-1912 Catalogue alumni listing (36). Jones also graduated from the college department in 1905, and later married James Pruitt, another Southland debater (Catalogue 33). Emmitt Burke and Thomas graduated from the Normal department in 1903, and both are listed as teachers in the alumni rolls (Catalogue 36). Emmitt and Mattie were brother and sister, and a number of their siblings also attended Southland over the years.
14 Branch Normal College opened in 1875 as a branch of the Arkansas Industrial University (now the University of Arkansas).
