The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1907-11-25
new SOLUTION
FOR CEORG'A'S
RACE PROBLEM

Rev. IL. III. Proctor negro Yale gradu-
ate. proposes 10 build a model church for
the eolored people OF Atlanta as an en-
tering wedge IN solving the race question
OF he South. lie gave three lectures in
this city yesterday. telling about his prop
osition and what he expects will come OF
H. He intends TO install I'm this new model
church facilities that Will enable the ne
groes 10 rise 10 plane whereby they can
earn "A sufficient wage 20 live right He
believes that the spirit OF caste ,an large
ly be done away with by the practical ap-
pHcatlon or religion. and with that end
I'm view he has undertaken to establish
an institutional church at "A cost OF $JOOIJ
DIR. Proctor spoke in the forenoon at
the Hope Street Congregational church,
In the afternoon at the Central Congre-
gationai and last evening at the Benen-
cent congregational church on Weybos-
set street He took for his theme for the
evening sermon. Rum Riot and Recon
struction In Georgia" He spoke In part
as follows:
There are good and bad In both races
OF the South. The trouble Is that when
difficulty starts with the bad the good
of each race VIII iifie M, with their bad
The only thing for the good people OF
both races I'm the South TO do is 10 get
u.
only way 10 get rid OF the bad = ople
Is 20 make good people out Of 1hem.
Fortunately both races in the South are
responsive 10 the religious appeal. but
unfortunately their religion Is individual
and sentimental rather than social and
practical. In the practical application OF
their religious life lies the solution OF
the question which confronts the South
ern people, white and black.
nd r11a L.
dinary facilities OF a church there will be
a reading room and library. model Sunday
school room, gymnasium. free bath.
model kitchen, sewing room and womens
parlor. Each of these facilities meets
specific need OF the colored people in At
lanta For instance, there Is no reading
room for the $1,000 colored people in At
lanta. BY the operation of the color line
they are shut out from the free public IL
brary supported by their taxation. This IL
brary will meet a long-felt want. We sup
ply the cooks 81 Atlanta and there is no
place there where a colored girl can
learn this art except three colleges. The
servant girl rarely goes to the college;
~ she does she never comes back 10 the
kitchen. I shall touch therefore the
neglected class.
by increasing her efficiency she will
earn sufficient wage 10 put her above
OF Selling DeT soul and
body. and thus the stability OF the
womanhood OF the colored woman OF
the South will be strengthened In this
industrial temple ] would dedicate the
book and the paper. the dumb-bel and
the needle. the skillet and the tub to the
glory OF God and the redemption of a
race that needs a social redemption. All
this is the more urgent in view of the
fact that the saloon is to be abolished
from Georgia the first of next January.
This gives the churches new opportunity
and serious responsibility. To meet the
needs of the whites they are building not
near my church institutional facilities for
themselves TO cost over half a million. But
what is being done for the blacks? Alb
solutely nothing except that which pro-
pose to do. The cost OF IL Is a mere
bagatelle-only $4,000 for erection and
endowment. or the building fund OF SIS 900
my own people are giving over half and
the white people of Atlanta are giving
$500. The securing OF the rest OF this
will put in the South Its first institu-
tlonal church for the colored people OF
the South and furnish a point for the
harmonious cooperation of the races as
we'll as give practical turn to the re-
ligious life of the colored race