Black congregations financed their own women’s higher education institutions

Evidence

Blacks themselves urged the Home Mission Society to open the doors of its schools to women. In the early 1880s black churches in Atlanta and Richmond pledged money for women’s education, since northern Baptists had provided only for men in the two cities. Their financial as well as verbal support proved a persuasive argument. … The church basement served as the founding site of Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary (renamed Spelman), and for two years the church housed the school. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 128

Categorization

• XREF: Spelman College’s founding through black Baptist initiative connects to broader narratives of black institution-building covered elsewhere in the reader’s library. — connects to: Local black women’s clubs rapidly multiplied and raised growing sums for education. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 421; Poor black women’s small donations financially sustained their national institutions — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 746; Black Baptist women prized institutions owned and staffed by their own race — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 308 (+6 more)
• SEED: Possible essay angle on how white missionary philanthropy and black self-help converged to found black women’s colleges.

Broader Connections

• Black Baptist women’s conventions financed black educational institutions #expands (0.90) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 308
• Separate female institutions gave black Baptist women greater authority #expands (0.85) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 389
• Black Baptist women prized institutions owned and staffed by their own race #corroborates (0.82) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 308
• The black women’s movement grew out of the church’s separate institution-building #expands (0.80) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 237
• Black church women were central to the church’s public role as racial self-help #expands (0.78) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 37
• Black congregations funded white-run colleges yet still lost control over where support went #complicates (0.75) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 291
• Male denominational leaders tried to subordinate autonomous black women’s organizations #complicates (0.72) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 738