Tonight at 8pm Meet Jamel Robinson, founder of the Jamel Robinson Child Welfare Reform Initiative(JRCWRI). After spending 21 years in the foster care system without being adopted, he beat the odds and is now a successful child welfare reform advocate. Click here bit.ly/Teen_Foster_Children ------- Listen in tonight Author - AMANDA SMITH, a remarkable and world renowned African American, established the first orphanage in Chicago Illinois for African American children. Click herebit.ly/Teen_Foster_Children From her Autobiography and subsequent biographical research, a fairly clear outline of most of her life and work is available. At the time of her death in 1915, the Chicago Defender called the well-traveled Amanda Berry Smith, the greatest woman that this race has ever given to the world. For fifty years following the Civil War, she followed paths which led her to prominence as a black woman. She gained visibility in the Womens Christian Temperance Union and was closely connected to the work of the Colored Womens Clubs. These clubs were a major element in the African American expression of the Progressive Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Amanda Smith was born in slavery in January, 1837, the oldest of thirteen children. Although she had only a few months of formal education, she was a compelling speaker and singer, and wherever she traveled, people responded to her engaging personality and spiritual power. She preached in African Methodist Episcopal churches, to gatherings of Methodists, and at holiness meetings throughout the eastern and midwestern parts of the United States. ENGLAND & INDIA: In 1878, friends suggested that she consider working with churches in England. She responded to this offer, and after a year in England, spent two years working with churches in India. Years later, a Methodist bishop who had served in India wrote that During the seventeen years that I have lived in Calcutta, I have . . . never known anyone who could draw and hold so large an audience as Mrs. Smith. . . I had learned more that had been of actual value to me as a preacher of Christian truth from Amanda Smith than from any other person I had ever met. LIBERIA: After returning to England in 1881, she traveled to Liberia and spent almost eight years in ministry in West Africa. There she worked with churches and helped to establish temperance societies. In 1890, she returned to the United States, and after two years of preaching and related work in the East, she came to settle in the Chicago area. During this period, she was a national representative for the Womens Christian Temperance Union and a friend of Frances Willard. While living on the East Coast, she was urged to write her autobiography. Written at the home of friends in Newark, New Jersey, it was published in Chicago. Originally published in 1893, it has been reprinted in at least six editions during the past one hundred years. An Autobiography, The Story of the Lords Dealing with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the Colored Evangelist has become one of the better-known works by nineteenth century African American women writers. From her Autobiography and subsequent biographical research, a fairly clear outline of most of her life and work is available. However, information has been scattered concerning the final phase of her life in Harvey, Illinois, and the opening of the orphanage. In October 1905, Charles Virden became the States inspector. On his first visit he found Amanda Smith, an elderly colored woman ... in charge and she furnished funds by solicitation among friends and interested parties, gathering a large portion of same from a number of eastern states as she was widely known as a colored evangelist. He noted that despite Smiths valiant efforts, the Home faced a major problem with its debt. On subsequent visits he observed a lack of proper supervision, which he attributed to the fact that Miss Smith was absent gathering funds a great deal of the time and because of her advanced age she was confined to her room much of the time that she was at the institution. Virden states that although the Smith Home did not meet minimum requirements for State certification, its certificate was renewed, because this was the only institution of importance in the state for the care of colored children. Thus, the Home had its certification renewed every year until it was destroyed by fire in 1918. It never reopened. Amanda Smith provided direction and care for the Home until illness forced her to retire in the autumn of 1912. George Sebring, a wealthy supporter and real estate developer, offered her a cottage for her retirement in Sebring, Florida. Several months after moving, she wrote to the editor of a journal at the Tuskegee Institute and included these observations: Through failing health I was obliged to give up the work of the Amanda Smith Home in Harvey, Ill., and I told the Board that they must get someone to take charge of the work. I was not able to carry it any longer and they succeeded in getting a man and his wife and the work has been turned over to them. They are young and am so glad to be relieved of the care and the burden which became too much for me at my time of life I am already past my 76th birthday, Jan. 23rd. Some kind white friends have given me a home here during my life time, will look after my other needs so that I am relieved of the care and anxiety. The mild climate suits my condition of health and I am better since I came here. Amanda Smith died on February 24, 1915, and George Sebring arranged for her body to be returned to Chicago and buried near Harvey. A group of white clergymen accompanied her casket to the train in Sebring, Florida. On March 1, 1915, one of the largest funerals in the history of the African American community in Chicago honored her memory. The link to Mrs. Smiths book ~ docsouth.unc.edu/neh/smitham/menu.html For more info about The Freeman Institute Black History Collection: freemaninstitute/bhc.htm
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 23:33:47 +0000
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