Spelman founders treated black emotional worship and home life as needing correction

Evidence

Similar to other northern white missionaries in the South, Spelman’s founders voiced concern over the expressive character of black religion. They spoke of their work as if they had embarked upon a foreign mission field, and frequently referred to the “heathenism” in both Atlanta and Africa. They strove to rid black worship of emotionalism. Viewing the homes of their students as a retrogressive and debasing influence, Packard and Giles argued for the necessity of boarding school facilities. They sought to surround their students with refined manners, “correct” Baptist doctrine, and “proper” religious and social deportment. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 185

Categorization

• XREF: This is the external white missionary encoding of ‘respectability’ that black Baptist women would later reframe as their own politics-of-respectability strategy. — connects to: Black communities and families resisted Spelman’s Victorian reform ideals as divisive — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 199; Spelman founders justified industrial training as correcting assumed black indolence — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 181; Northern white missionaries founded Spelman with Rockefeller money as black women’s higher education — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 177
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Spelman founders justified industrial training as correcting assumed black indolence #expands (0.90) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 181
• Northern white missionaries founded Spelman with Rockefeller money as black women’s higher education #expands (0.80) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 177